Slashdot Mirror


User: chocapix

chocapix's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
90
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 90

  1. Pizza! on 10 Ways To Celebrate International Pi Day · · Score: 1

    Just remind everyone that the volume of a pizza of radius z and thickness a is pi z z a.

  2. Re:ZERO? on Goldbach Conjecture: Closer To Solved? · · Score: 1

    If you have Maple handy, this one-liner does the trick:

    a := whatever; b := 2; while not(isprime(a-b)) do b := nextprime(b) end do; a-b, b;

    Of course the interesting part is the code for isprime(). You can start here if you want to know how it's done.

  3. At "about a fourth or less the capacity of full-size nuclear units", I'm sorry but it's still too large.

    It just won't fit in my backyard, even if I try.

  4. Re:Wouldn't a giant impact change its orbit? on Was Earth a Migratory Planet? · · Score: 1

    Why the Giant Impactor Theory assumes a different isotope mix for the impactor?

    From what I understand, they had to have rocks brought back from the Moon to actually measure their isotope mix, so my guess is that we don't accurately know the isotope mix of anything besides the Earth and the Moon. How do we know it isn't the same mix everywhere in the solar system?

    Disclaimer: I'm clueless about all this, I'm only asking questions.

  5. Re:Compatibility or conversion on Why New Programming Languages Succeed Or Fail · · Score: 1

    What's wrong with "FooBar foo = null; try { foo = new FooBar(); foo.dosomething();} finally {if (foo != null) foo.freeResources(); foo = null;}"?

    Verbosity. Equivalent C++ for that is "{ FooBar foo; foo.doSomething(); }"

    Or even "Foobar().doSomething();" in this case.

  6. I Know Why on Why New Programming Languages Succeed Or Fail · · Score: 1

    Because excluded middle.

  7. Re:Doomed on New Programming Languages Come From Designers · · Score: 1

    I can do more work in one line of Python than you can do in 100 lines of C.

    I think a few IOCCC winners would disagree with you on this.

  8. Re:Does anyone know a good app.. on Video Captchas are Hard for Computers to Understand but Easy for Humans (Video) · · Score: 1

    I just had this vision of a future where captchas are like:

    "We need to verify that you are human. Please violate the Third Law Of Robotics."

  9. Re:Any sufficiently advanced technology... on The Science Fiction Effect · · Score: 1

    I like it better phrased the other way around.

    Any technology distinguishable from magic isn't sufficiently advanced.

  10. Re:except google on Google Updates Algorithm To Punish Websites With Excessive Ads · · Score: 1

    You are likely correct.

    Oh no, that's the worst kind of correct!

  11. Re:I'm surprised they're surprised. on Comet Lovejoy Plunges Into the Sun and Survives · · Score: 2

    And the best is to have cold feet.

  12. Re:Its Not An Energy Problem, Transportation Fuels on The Myth of Renewable Energy · · Score: 1

    If you solve the energy problem (ie, you can produce eco-friendly electricity cheaply enough), you can make pretty much any hydrocarbons you want out of CO2, water and electricity. Efficiency won't be perfect (or even good), but if your electricity generation is eco-friendly and abundant enough that's not a problem.

    Maybe batteries/capacitors/whatever will improve enough so that we won't need to do that but if they don't, it won't necessarily mean the end of cheap transportation.

  13. Re:Has anyone actually made any worthwhile with th on Doom 3 Source Released · · Score: 1

    Oh, Dungeon Keeper, how I loved that game.

    Mod Parent +1 Nostalgic

  14. Re:I like how they can't decide between 10 and 11 on 11 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do · · Score: 1

    But why don't you just make the ten things a little more amazing, make that the number of amazing things and make that a little more amazing?

  15. Re:Supernovas on OPERA Group Repeats Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Results · · Score: 4, Informative

    No need to know the distance, what was measured was the delay between the neutrino burst and the light burst.

  16. Re:But what about efficiency? on MIT Creates Chip to Model Synapses · · Score: 1

    I know, I run on mostly beer!

  17. Re:But what about efficiency? on MIT Creates Chip to Model Synapses · · Score: 2

    Wow, I never thought about it that way. A human brain consumes less power than a modern CPU (say, 100W).

    Plus, the brain does its own glucose burning and that's counted in the 50W. To compare fairly, you'd need to take into account the PSU efficiency, electrical grid losses and power plant efficiency in the CPU power. If we say 50% efficiency overall, that means 200W for the CPU.

    Just wow.

  18. My favorite IOCCC winning entry on The IOCCC Competition Is Back · · Score: 1

    We've all coded a quine, but this goes at least three steps further. Documentation here.

    I am so looking forward to reading the 2012 winning entries!

  19. Re:The biggest problem with the movie industry... on Movie Industry: Loss of Control Worse Than Piracy · · Score: 1

    Jobs [...] has declined.

    Too soon.

  20. Re:LAND speed record ? on 175 MPH Student-Built EV Smashes Speed Record · · Score: 3, Informative

    Also, it's "for its weight class". Otherwise, there's this 315mph electric car, also built by students.

  21. Radioactivity figures in TFA on Explosion At French Nuclear Site Kills One · · Score: 2

    TFA claims that what they burn averages nearly 10,000Bq/kg, yet the 4 tonnes in the oven accounts for 63,000Bq?

    Maybe they gave an average over their whole activity, and the explosion occured when they were burning extremely low activity waste, but phrased like that it's very confusing. Anyone has more info?

    Note that either way we're talking about a negligible amount of radiation (the average human being generates about 8,000Bq.)

  22. Re:Science vs Religion: Contradictions? on Evangelical Scientists Debate Creation Story · · Score: 1

    So, in day to day life, you think and act completely ignoring god, as if nobody ever introduced you to such a concept?

    If your answer is yes, I say you're an atheist. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I actually mostly share your view on the subject. I can't properly answer the question "do you think god exists?" because noone's ever described "god" in a way that I could understand. That said, when people do ask me the question, and I don't feel like explaining all that, they get the short answer, which is "no".

  23. Re:I'm curious... on The Fanless Spinning Heatsink · · Score: 1

    But how do you use a spinning computer if you're not spinning?

    Just spin the whole world in a cold medium and be done with it. 0.0007rpm at 2.7 Kelvin sounds about right, what do you guys think?

  24. Re:Saving the planet on Long Now Clock Advances With Bezos Cash · · Score: 1

    I can't help but imagine future people discovering this and going mental.

    "OMG, these ancient and wise Americans predicted the end of the world to be on Dec 21, 12012! We're all gonna die!"

  25. K Computer on Japan's 8-petaflop K Computer Is Fastest On Earth · · Score: 1

    According to wikipedia, K Computer (or Kobe Computer) refers to cuts of computer from the Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu semiconductors, raised according to strict tradition in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The output from such computers is generally considered to be a delicacy, renowned for its flavour, tenderness, and fatty, well-marbled texture.