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Comments · 321

  1. Re:The super-imaginary number, j. on Is Mathematics Discovered Or Invented? · · Score: 1

    The limit of 1/x as x approaches zero does not exist (unless, of course, you are using a single unsigned infinity), since if you approach it from the left it approaches negative infinity and if you approach it from the right it approaches positive infinity.

  2. Re:Where's the illegal? on Council of the EU Says "We Cannot Support Linux" · · Score: 1

    Macromedia published specifications for Flash starting with Flash 6 and Adobe continues to do so. The Flash 8 specification is available here. Admittedly it is only free as in beer, comes with usage restrictions and does not fully describe the main video codec (Sorenson Spark, a variation on H.263; though Flash 8 introduces a new one), but it's better than nothing.

  3. Re:Risk assessment is lowered, politics apart on UN Report Downgrades Human Impact on Climate · · Score: 1

    Actually, 30 million cubic kilometres is 30 × 10^15, or 30 quadrillion (short scale) cubic metres. Divide that by the oceanic surface area of 361 million square kilometres and we get 83 metres. (But the world is not flat and gravitation is not uniform, so, eh.)

  4. Re:Boys who cried wolf on Chinese Bloggers Stage Hoax · · Score: 1

    Nationalist Chinese as in Kuomintang Chinese or small-n nationalist Chinese?

  5. Re:An original brain teaser on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    Ah, this is easy.

    The answer is all of the above.

    A is correct, and the polynomial is -41/40320 x^8 + 53/1440 x^7 -1583/2880 x^6 + (4 + 283/720) x^5 - (20 + 2527/5760) x^4 + (56 + 737/1440) x^3 - (90 + 107/10080) x^2 + (78 + 7/120) x - 27.

    B is correct, and the polynomial is -13/13440 x^8 + 353/10080 x^7 - 301/576 x^6 + (4 + 121/720) x^5 - (19 + 1873/5760) x^4 + (53 + 251/1440) x^3 - (84 + 305/2016) x^2 + (72 + 523/840) x - 25.

    C is correct, and the polynomial is -1/1120 x^8 + 163/5040 x^7 - 347/720 x^6 + (3 + 299/360) x^5 - (17 + 943/1440) x^4 + (48 + 121/720) x^3 - (75 + 913/2520) x^2 + (64 + 197/420) x - 22.

    D is correct, and the polynomial is -1/1260 x^8 + 29/1008 x^7 - 77/180 x^6 + (3 + 137/360) x^5 - (15 + 77/180) x^4 + (41 + 71/144) x^3 - (63 + 811/1260) x^2 + (53 + 251/420) x - 18.

    E is correct, and the polynomial is -1/1440 x^8 + 127/5040 x^7 - 269/720 x^6 + (2 + 67/72) x^5 - (13 + 289/1440) x^4 + (34 + 589/720) x^3 - (51 + 37/40) x^2 +
    (42 + 61/84) x - 14.

    F is correct, and the proof is left as an excercise to the reader.

  6. Re:Japan's history on 60 Years Since Hiroshima · · Score: 1

    I do believe that the present Emperor of Japan had visited a Korean shrine on the island of Saipan in June 2005, but otherwise, apologies from the emperors seem sparse. News reports: [1] [2]

    The Prime Ministers on the other hand, seem to have issued many war apology statements.

  7. Re:Am I the only one who likes RFID? on NYT: Wal-Mart Slows RFID Plans, Suppliers Resist · · Score: 1

    With your sig about Douglas N. Adams, you have no idea how funny your comment is.

  8. Re:lamb with a human liver is no more human... on Scientists Give Human Organs to Lamb · · Score: 1

    The DNA of which body part?

  9. Re:Not Such Link on Google Keyhole, Google Scholar · · Score: 1

    http://www.keyhole.com/body.php?c=popup&h=home&t=f aqHome

    However, Keyhole certainly is mentioning Google. See the top of the page.

  10. Re:Impressions of math equitations. on Greatest Equations Ever · · Score: 1

    1 + 1 = 11 = 101 = 1001 = 10001 = 100001 = ...

    For base 1.

  11. Re:If true, the stakes are now higher. on S. Korea Claims N. Korea Has Trained 600 Crackers · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not quite the article, but perhaps North Korea itself is using this as a FUD tool. I saw it yesterday on NHK news, so it should be an official statement from South Korea...

  12. Re:Down with this bill on File Trading Law Would Include 'Willing' Traders · · Score: 1

    Unless, say, the victim was a CEO or someone equally "important" in the corporate structure.

  13. Re:Nice precident in this on Hawaii Puts Old Computers To Work in Linux Labs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And the Wikipedia entry, to further demonstrate:
    ALOHAnet

  14. Re:Why not... on Google Code Jam 2004 · · Score: 1

    "The Google(TM) Code Jam 2004 is being offered by Google Inc. ("Google") and TopCoder, Inc. ("TopCoder"). Google is using the results of the Code Jam 2004 to identify possible employees for their company."

    That's the first two lines of the Terms & Conditions.

    Sometimes reading legalese can help.

  15. Re:Powerbook G5 soon? on Apple Introduces New G5 iMac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A PowerBook should be 1 inch thick, this iMac is 2 inches.

  16. Re:The whole idea is crazy on NSLU2 Now More Useful · · Score: 1

    We will now wait for 16,777,216 (2^24) in accordance to the old maxim, "the computer scientist says that there are 1,024 metres in a kilometre, and the scientist says that there are 1,000 bytes in a kilobyte."

  17. Re:2.6.8 has NFS3 problems on Linux Kernel 2.6.8 Released · · Score: 3, Informative

    2.6.8.1 is out. But not on kernel.org frontpage.

    See http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/

  18. Re:Prime Stock on Google IPO Open for Registration · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's not the only thing, they planned to raise e * 10^9 dollars from this IPO. Bless the geeks at Google, for they may not be there anymore...

  19. Re:Have we really gotten close enough yet? on Tiny Moon is No Space Station · · Score: 1

    And there's no better place to refuel than in the orbit of a hydrogen gas giant, is there?

  20. Re:I do wish on IPv6 is Here · · Score: 1

    Class A... Mmm, do you mean a whole /56 (-8)?

    What would you do with 7.2057594 × 10^16 (72 quintillion) addresses?

    It's too bad that one mole of hydrogen gas (a measly 2g of hydrogen gas, approx. 24 litres at s.t.p.) has approx 8,357,400.87 times more molecules than you have IPv6 addresses in a Class A block.

    Interesting factoid: There are roughly enough IPv6 addresses (assuming all the 2^64 addresses are used) to address one 2^-15 of a mole...

    I wonder how long before we reach one Googol addresses (~2**333). And after that, realise that variable-length addresses are most forward compatible.

  21. Re:About Arthur on Malaysian Government Prefers Open Code · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's highly unlikely that you will find one. I speak as a Malaysian.

    Their sales come from corporate and other large-scale users, like my school and my father's offices. My school paid over RM185,000 (RM3.80 = US$1.00 exactly, due to pegging) in licensing fees this year.

  22. Re:It's not intended to be an *English* service... on Language Tempest At Orkut · · Score: 1

    I believe that is a measure of their first language. I suspect a lot more than 1/6 of the world speak English as a first or second language.

  23. Re:Libraries on Ars Technica Tours Mono · · Score: 1

    Thats basically C#, the VM and the core libraries. What about the APIs that are so harped upon like Windows.Forms or ASP.NET etc.? I think, when people think of .NET, they think of those as well as C#, the VM and the core libraries, rather than only C#, the VM and the core libraries.

  24. Re:What Microsoft gives on The Software Politics Of 2004's Presidential Race · · Score: 4, Informative

    1998: 64% to the Republicans.
    2000: 53% to the Republicans.
    2002: 60% to the Republicans.
    2004: 42% to the Republicans.

    Hmm. General trend, downwards.

  25. Re:Pidgeon Holed on Apple Delays New iMac · · Score: 1

    Bizarrely, my school employs not one, not two, but four full-time network administrators. Granted, there are in excess of three hundred computers in the school, and three thousand students, not to mention at least 10 AD domains, last I checked.

    Yes, Active Directory.

    Then again, my school has relatively high school fees, and the IT spending is typically over the budgeted amount... Not to mention I have a sinking feeling that the school is in some sort of contract with Dell or something, every new shipment of computers to the school (4 of approx. 25 each in the last two years) has been a Dell...