To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Internet, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military, is running a competition. On December 5th they will be placing moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The first person to submit the precise latitude and longitude of all 10 balloons wins $40000.
I have started a project, along with a few other computer science students here at UNSW, to use social networking and bayesian filtering techniques to try and win the competition, and donate the prize money to charity. We have a website, windarpa.com, where people will be able to submit the locations of balloons they find, along with a vote for which of our short-list of charities they would prefer to see the money go to. Check it out, and tell your friends!
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