CHI NGS Data Analysis - Sept 2009

[bioinfosm]

is coming up in Sept.. others planning on taking part?

[ECO]

Speaking of which, I have another free admission ticket to give away...anyone have any ideas on how to decide who gets it?

[westerman]

Speaking of which, I have another free admission ticket to give away...anyone have any ideas on how to decide who gets it?

People whose handle starts with a 'W' and whose id starts with a '6'?

[bioinfosm]

I already registered, else would have said = the one with most posts

[nilshomer]

I already registered, else would have said = the one with most posts

I guess I have to post to keep up .

How about a user has to answer 3 questions correctly using the forum to receive the ticket: first person to do it, gets the ticket.

Otherwise, sell it to the highest bidder to pay for the site.

[westerman]

Otherwise, sell it to the highest bidder to pay for the site.

While I like the idea of supporting the site, the problem with this idea is that people who have to money to go probably have already purchased an admission while people who don't have the money also don't have the cash to pony up for bidding. Guess which camp I am in. OTOH I guess as an EDU I should not complain about the pricing too much since, if I could get my boss to pay for it, we do get a 50% or so discount.

As for Nil's other idea of a contest with the first person answering winning, I would suggest that a random pick from people who enter within X number of days (3?). This would encourage active participation in the site without having hit the refresh button every minute.

Ah, my self interests are showing!

[ECO]

Can't sell it. Pesky taxes, reporting on both ends, etc.

I definitely want to reward those that contribute the most...last time around I just sorted by most posts, and started asking privately, that took a while to find someone who was close enough to take advantage, and hadn't registered already. =]

I want to be fair though...so maybe a random drawing from those who post in this thread, normalized by post count (ie, westerman would have 70x more chances than someone with a single post...)...is that fair?

[Joann]

fair

Hi. Need a ticket and close enough to drive!

[Melissa]

And the winner is...?

[ECO]

Ack...this slipped. Will start an official distribution giveaway very soon. I think I'm going to go with my previous suggestion of a random choice of entries normalized by post count.

Or better yet, a real contest for the most helpful post written in the next week...hmmm....

[Joann]

Helpful Post--Monday Aug.24

Will post written notes from the convention and organize a SEQanswers meet-up session in Providence.

[westerman]

Hah. Just got a 'cold call' from CHI in regards to the meeting. The person on the other end of the line wanted to know if I or the other bioinformatics person in my group was going to attend. Either they really want us for our expertise ... or they are desperate for attendees. :-)

[ECO]

OK. I need to give this pass away like immediately. So I will randomly choose a user from those in this thread (who can absolutely confirm that they will go), chances to post in this thread are null and void 24 hours from whatever the timestamp on this post is.

[westerman]

chances to post in this thread are null and void 24 hours from whatever the timestamp on this post is.

Looks like no one posted!

At one time I could have gone but on Sept. 1st I signed up for a different workshop in October. Given the tight funds (no pay/inflation raises this past year) at the University going to two conferences in the span of two months -- even if one offers free admission -- is a no-go. If I was closer to the conference that would be different matter but, sigh, the hotel and travel expenses do mount up quickly.

Maybe you should open up the ticket to the first person who can actually go? Joann seems to have already gotten a ticket otherwise she would be a good choice.

[ECO]

import random

contestants = {'bioinfosm':244,\
                'westerman':107,\
                'nilshomer':145,\
                'Joann':19}

entries = []
winners = []

#make drawing bowl
for user in contestants.keys():
    for i in range(contestants[user]):
        entries.append(user)

#conduct drawing
while entries:
    winner = entries[random.randrange(0,len(entries))]  #pick winner
    winners.append(winner) #record winner
    #remove winner from further drawings
    entries = [user for user in entries if user not in winners] 

#output
print time.ctime()
print winners

And the winner is...

>>> execfile(r'Z:\python\untitled0.py')
Fri Sep 04 14:34:50 2009
['bioinfosm', 'westerman', 'nilshomer', 'Joann']
>>>

I will email all of you so you make sure to know. Someone can't go, it drops to the next person on the list.

And please feel free to make fun of my python.