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User: Retric

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  1. Re:SMOKE on Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition? · · Score: 1

    I don't have enough information. The secret to avoiding drug addiction is preventing people from starting. An illegal drug creates a black market which is constantly looking to get people addicted. However, if you can go to CVS and pick up your heroin for 7.50$ then there is not a black market pushing the crap.

    In the end it all comes down to one question why did that fucker first inject that shit. And would a legal but regulated market reduce drug use? Nicotine is as addicting as heroin and it's usage is falling so there is a model which might work, but nicotine usage is higher than heroin so I don't know.

    PS: Looking at china's history with opium addiction would be an interesting study.

  2. Re:Time for vector processing again on IEEE Says Multicore is Bad News For Supercomputers · · Score: 1

    Your .Net app did not need all of that 700MB at the same time. Chances are a lot of that data is vary rarely accessed and by carefully managing what is in 8MB of cache the CPU can dramatically cut down on how often it needs to access the ram. (Think of it this way: To read a single byte from ram wastes ~1 million cycles on the CPU so it's something to be avoided.)

    Graphs cards need to access a much larger working set, they still have ~64kb or so of cache per core because it's really useful but 30 times a second they need to access most of that 512Mb's of RAM so an 8Mbyte would be wasted. The secret is setting up that memory so the GPU does not need to request each byte of Memory and wait for it then send out the next request but to load longer stretches of data and processes them while waiting on the next chunk of data.

    PS: CPU's also load chucks of data from RAM to Cache, and from L3 to L2 / L1 Cache etc. Because for the most part if you need a Byte there is a good chance you are going to need the next one as well. The problem is branching code and complex data structures breaks up how useful this can be.

  3. Re:Ideal location on Hawaii Planning State-Wide Electric Car Network · · Score: 1

    No love for the south east?

  4. Re:Big Island has room for solar power on Hawaii Planning State-Wide Electric Car Network · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hold on, 92 * 92 = 8464 square miles, there are ~300 million people in the US so 8464 / 300 * 1.2 =33.8 square miles. Unless you think the people in Hawaii uses 3% of the electric that the average person in the US.

  5. Re:Time for vector processing again on IEEE Says Multicore is Bad News For Supercomputers · · Score: 3, Informative

    Modern CPU's have 8+ Mega Bytes of L2/L3 cache on chip so RAM is only a problem when your working set it larger than that. The problem super computing folks are having is they want to solve problems that don't really fit in L3 cache which creates significant problems but they still need a large cache. However, because of speed of light issues off chip ram is always going to be high latency so you need to use some type of on chip cache or stream lot's off data to the chip.

    There are really only 2 options for modern systems when it comes to memory you can have lot's of cores and a tiny cache like GPU's or lot's of cache and fewer cores like CPU's. (ignoring type of core issues and on chip interconnects etc.) So there is little advantage to paying 10x per chip to go custom vs using more cheaper chips when they can build supper computers out of CPU's, GPU's, or something between them like the Cell processor.

  6. Re:While we're on analogies: on The Other Side of the Sprint Vs. Cogent Depeering · · Score: 1

    When you increase property taxes the value of homes goes down. So you can't assume a steady state for the value of a home and ignore changes in laws or the cost of construction etc. There is a tendency for homes to end up as a fixed fraction of what people can pay but when interest rates drop what people can pay goes up.

  7. Re:Cliffs notes on Teacher Sells Ads On Tests · · Score: 1

    That's just part of the charm. It's not just testing the material but also people's ability to use it while distracted. I suspect this would more accurately measure peoples long term retention of the materiel.

    So I propose all math tests now take place in strip clubs.

  8. Re:You can spend out of a recession on The Other Side of the Sprint Vs. Cogent Depeering · · Score: 1

    Is that not suggesting that they spent their way out of the great depression?

  9. Re:While we're on analogies: on The Other Side of the Sprint Vs. Cogent Depeering · · Score: 1

    Your ignoring changes in the tax code that alters the fundamental value proposition of home ownership.

  10. Re:Death March on Avoiding Mistakes Can Be a Huge Mistake · · Score: 1

    This seems like great advice, but bad coders reduce productivity. If you have 7 people working for you and you fire the worst 4 of them you now have cash flow pay you good people enough to stay and can add 1 more competent person.

    PS: Look at the development history of Mac OS X to see what can happen when you remove useless people.

  11. Re:Death March on Avoiding Mistakes Can Be a Huge Mistake · · Score: 1

    If you have a bad coder fire them don't hamper everyone with a bad process so idiot's can become mildly productive.

  12. Re:More checks! on Avoiding Mistakes Can Be a Huge Mistake · · Score: 1

    The check is on adding bureaucracy not doing your job. Bureaucracy can be a good thing, but when you assume it's a good thing and has zero cost it's going to bite you in the ass.

  13. Re:need not be stored on Obama Team Considers Cancellation of Ares, Orion · · Score: 1

    A hard freeze is not that important, a new disease like the old "potato famine" is important.

  14. Re:Cut taxes, then on Obama Team Considers Cancellation of Ares, Orion · · Score: 1

    All we need to do is keep the rate of growth of the national debt under inflation and the problem quickly goes away. Our interest rate is 4.6% and inflation is 3% so we need to pay 1.6% per year to prevent growth in the debt. If we bump that to 2% we will reduce true debt at a reasonable rate. 2% of 10.6 trillion is ~200 billion which is not that much money for a country the size of the us.

  15. Re:could be useful though on Obama Team Considers Cancellation of Ares, Orion · · Score: 1

    Only if that food is stored. I think the US GOV should store ~5 years of food for 300 million people and then get out of the farming industry.

  16. Re:Actually that's not a bad idea on IBM's But-I-Only-Got-The-Soup Patent · · Score: 1

    Many systems let you split the table and recreate separate checks. AKA burger and fry's to sub table 1, pasta and beer to sub table 2 after they already created the first check. Most systems let you deduct arbitrary payments from the table, 20 in cash and the rest on the CC. I don't see what other options are needed.

    PS: There is also a lot of really bad software out there that can't do such things.

  17. Re:Interesting on Lenovo Service Disables Laptops With a Text Message · · Score: 1

    They are trying to solve the it was stolen while you where logged in problem. All the security in the world does not help when someone takes your laptop while you are not looking in a public place.

  18. Re:NevergetthatpasttheTSA on MSI Wind U100, Overclocked With Liquid Nitrogen · · Score: 1

    Where are you buying gas at 50c / gallon?

  19. Re:Is this a good idea? on New Nanotech Fabric Never Gets Wet · · Score: 1

    It might work well as a lining for winter clothing. If it repels water it's going to trap air and as long as you can clean the outside it's probably not a big deal it it stains. I expect evaporated moisture would still pass though so you could still get moisture out without letting the rain in.

  20. Re:Nothing of value was lost on Google Terminates Lively · · Score: 1

    Apple had 6.2% of the total US PC market in 06 and it went to 8.1% in O7. Let's say 1% for all other OS's and the rest go to MS ~90% today. But, we don't care what the total the only important fact is what % of your potential user base uses Mac's. For some groups it's running less than 7% others over 15%, but finding out what these number's are and what the trends are comes down to market research.

    So now the real question is how much time and money it costs to go after those users. If it's going to double your dev cost's it's probably a bad idea, but for 5-10% it's probably worth it.

  21. Re:Nothing of value was lost on Google Terminates Lively · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Windows is below 92% of the market and falling fast. Going windows only is probably costing you 10-15% of future sales.

  22. Re:Quick question for anyone with the knowledge on Anti-Matter Created By Laser At Livermore · · Score: 1

    If I am not mistaken this produces both particles and anti particles at the same time. Also if you using antimatter to generate heat to make electricity your only got to be ~40% efficient so it would still be a net loss.

  23. Re:Let's Get a New Dominant Species On This Planet on Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction · · Score: 1

    I think if all humans died out another there is plenty of time for rats to evolve into a space faring race, it only took 65million the last time. Let alone another set of monkey's.

  24. Re:I'm amazed on Woman Admits Sending $400K To Nigerian Scammer · · Score: 1

    ~1 in 40 people are 133+ so it's not that high a bar.

  25. Re:I'm amazed on Woman Admits Sending $400K To Nigerian Scammer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/underserved.htm

    I mostly stuck it out with normal students, but I was classified Exceptionally Gifted / Learning Disabled so they really had no clue what to do with me. For example in Algebra II when I did the end of chapter homework for the next chapter without noticing. In class the next day I was like Hmm, I should probably pay attention next time, but what was I supposed to do when it took the class a 2 weeks to catch up to the idea that 3 unknowns in 3 equations was basically the same as 2 vs. 2 when I got that in around 5 seconds.

    The basic problem seems to be once you start accelerating students they tend to graduate early without being ready for the next step. So what if I could have passed the GED at 12, I was still not ready for collage so what's the point.