Shuffling in the Age of Computers
Whether learnt from a Hollywood movie or some crude rendition of “Dogs Playing Poker" everyone has some mental picture of the American card-playing experience: the hazy cloud of cigar smoke hovering just above the table; the half-empty bottle of whiskey lying conspicuously closest to the smallest stack of money; the grizzled middle-aged man struggling to intermix a deck of cards. And yet despite this universal imagery, nothing could be further from the truth. I recently spent a weekend at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, a card-club just south of the Twin Cities. Having arrived there at around three in the morning, I became aware that smoking was not allowed at the tables, that drinks were no longer being served, and that even the once immutable middle-aged man had been replaced by an electronic shuffling machine. Of course I realize the hazards of second-hand smoke; I can even find compromise with temperance; however, to replace the shuffle, the game's manifestation of trust and mistrust, was to me unacceptable. Realizing immediately that poker was forever ruined, I returned to Iowa distraught and inconsolable. Why would a card-room want to use a machine to sort cards in a deck? Could the benefits of such a machine really be worth the costs? Is it possible to find happiness in the sullen world of mechanized random? Presently there are three prevailing technologies for card-shuffling: the cutting-edge computerized shufflers used in casinos, the battery-operated home game models, and the archaic, yet ever popular, human hand.
Shuffling, of course, is the process of randomizing a deck of cards so that order is unknown. This sounds pretty straight-forward, but considering there are over 8.06x10^67 permutations of a 52-card deck the task of finding a good method becomes slightly more daunting. For example, in hand shuffling, mathematicians question the reliability of common methods to produce all of these known combinations. Two of the most common hand shuffling techniques are the riffle shuffle (mixing two halves of a deck; the standard bridge shuffle) and Monge’s shuffle (moving cards from one half alternatively to the top and bottom of the other half; see picture above). Although superficially a deck may appear to be rearranged using these shuffles, close examination of the deck tends to show high serial correlation—simply a large probability that patterns exist and can be detected.
The need among Americans to be diverted in ever more imaginative ways -- through high-thrill parks, virtual reality arcades, and theme restaurants, plays right into the hands of Dave Corriveau and Buster Corley, co-founders and CEO’s of Dave and Busters. The duo’s 50,000 square foot complexes include pool hall, an eye popping, cutting edge midway arcade, a formal restaurant, a casual diner, a sports bar and a nightclub rolled into one sprawling complex. In business since 1990, this is a high energy, highly efficient operation that’s comparable to a Vegas extravaganza. As a matter of fact there are even “for fun” cashless blackjack tables, with fake $10,000 chips. Pricey, but not outrageous, and you get value for your money.
Ibeji, Mike. “Black Death: Political and Social Changes.” BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. SIRS
Knox, Ellis L. "The Black Death." ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies. 1999. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
The Black Death was a disease that affected most of Europe's population during the 14th century. It led to many deaths within a short period of time of 8 years after the original outbreak in Central Asia. Furthermore, throughout the epidemic Europeans quickly found out there were different strings of the disease and also that they had different characteristics. Additionally, with this disease, many had tried to cure it with treatments that proved to be unsuccessful. During the 14th century, spreading quickly throughout Europe, the Black Death led to different types of the disease with their own symptoms and led to a positive outlook for survivors by giving them better opportunities in life.
Through the same process, tension generated by the desire to win in a poker game is relieved by successfully dealing one 's self four aces, or when the cult of success has truly flowered, by sagaciously shuffling the cards in a game of solitaire. The faint twinge of uneasiness in the last instance and the surreptitious nature of public delicts indicate clearly that the institutional rules of the game are known to those who evade them. But cultural (or idiosyncratic) exaggeration of the success-goal leads men to withdraw emotional support from the
In 1347, Europe was swept with one of the most devastating human catastrophes recorded in history, the Black Death. During the late 1340s and early 1350s, the lethal pandemic affected parts of western Asia and North Africa and it is believed to have begun in Central Asia in the early 1330s. Historians estimate that “the Black Death killed anywhere from 33 to 60 percent of Europe’s total population—roughly 25 million to 45 million men, women, and children.” (7) The Black Death that swept through Europe during the 1340s was an important event in history because it showed how a plague could easily spread through an unprepared population and the consequences it created.
Shuffle Along easily became the most popular musical of the Harlem Renaissance. Shuffle Along opened on May 23, 1921 at the 63rd Street Theatre (which wasn’t technically considered part of the Broadway stretch at the time) and ran for 504 performances. This was also the longest running black musical on Broadway to date. Revivals of Shuffle Along would appear in later years but none were ever as successful as the original production. This is largely in part due to the time period that Shuffle Along came from. An upswing was given to the New Negro Movement due to the musical Shuffle Along, because it gave African American’s the opportunity to better represent themselves for themselves.
Slack, Paul. “Responses to Plague in Early Modern Europe: The Implications of Public Health.” Social Research 55.3 (1988):433-453. Academic Journal. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
The Black Death plagues had disastrous consequences for Europe in the 14th century. After the initial outbreak in Europe, 1347, it continued for around five years and then mysteriously disappeared. However it broke out again in the 1360s and every few decades thereafter till around 1700. The European epidemic was an outbreak of the bubonic plague, which began in Asia and spread across trade routes. When it reached Europe, a path of destruction began to emerge. Medieval society was tossed into disarray, economies were fractured, the face of culture and religion changed forever. However the plagues devastation was not all chaotic, there were benefits too, such as modern labour movements, improvements in medicine and a new outlook on life. Therefore in order to analyse the impact the Black Death had on societies in the 14th century, this essay will consider the social, economic, cultural and religious factors in order to reach an overall conclusion.
The Black Death discusses the causes and results of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the culture of medieval Europe and the possibility that it expedited cultural change. I found that Robert S. Gottfried had two main theses in the book. He argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of weather systems affect plague. He claimed that the devastation plague causes is partly due to its perpetual recurrences. Plague ravaged Europe in cycles, devastated the people when they were recuperating. As can be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in greater detail, was that the plagues expedited the process of cultural change. The plagues killed a large percentage of each generation, leaving room for change. The Black Death covers the affects that numerous plagues had on the culture. The cycle of the plagues struck each generation. After a plague ravaged Europe from 599-699, plague killed in 608, 618, 628, 640, 654, 684-686, 694-700, 718, and 740-750. In the early stages of the above series, intervals are apparent. These intervals demonstrate the cycles of the rodent and insect life. Robert S. Gottfried also argues, rightfully so, that plague may have hastened cultural change. Along with plagues came the need for a cure. Plague destroyed the existing medical systems, and was replaced by a modern heir. Previous to the plague, scientists based their knowledge on early scientists such as Hippocrates and Galen. Scientists knew little about what they were doing. The medical community was divided into five parts. These divisions were physicians, surgeons, barber-...
According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.
people to keep playing with. Nothing less that psychological warfare is going on at casinos across the country. " The days of shaved dice, missing face cards and rigged roulette wheels are long gone. But the pursuit of profitability in the The corporate era of gambling has turned the average casino into a financial.
When the lottery is mentioned in today’s society, the automatic thought that comes to play is a Powerball number or a scratch-off ticket. Whether it be winnings from a lottery ticket or the drawing of the dreadful piece of paper with a dot, either good or bad, fate is decided. It is also ironic that the discussion of a neighboring village putting a halt to the lottery is seen by the villagers as uncivilized and absurd. Old Man Warner states, “Pack of crazy fools, listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while” (263). The irony of the thought of being uncivilized and ‘living in caves’ is infatuating when in fact the origin of this ritual is unknown, the meaning is withered away, and the possibility of it beginning centuries
Random access memory is an essential resource required by the computational hardware. As the processor speed has attained GHz clock frequency, memory throughput can be a bottleneck to achieve high performance. DRAM can deliver a reasonable solution for such data storage. Typical computational system consists of multiple hardware modules that perform different operations on the data. These modules attempt to access the data concurrently. This leads to a requisite for a memory controller that arbitrates amid requests queried by different modules and exploits maximum throughput. The memory controller interfaces DRAM and other subsystems. Hence it manages the data into and out of memory. The access latency or access speed solely depends on the implementation of memory controller. The work concentrates on the relative study of two memory controllers viz., SDRAM and DDR SDRAM controller. The study comprises area, power and timing analysis of the both. Synopsys Design Compiler tool is used to obtain the necessary results.
Fear is the reason why students are writing an essay for a class. Fear is the anxiety of receiving a failing mark to a final exam that we never show to our parents. Fear is the uneasiness that we feel when our parents learn about a stupid thing that could make them disappointed. Fear is the inability to walk to a dark corridor after watching a horror movie. Fear is the negative state of mind that hinders us from doing anything. These are how we usually describe fear, danger, and suffering, the feeling of uneasiness that overwhelms our body. Understanding the true nature of fear gives us purpose and motivation to do better.