OK, this is slightly outside my field but I'll throw it out for comment.
Simply, in a closed system we only have the energy contained within that system to play with, anything else destroys the entropy laws. However, what about good old Heisenberg's uncertainty principle that allows us to use some energy for a brief time as long as we give it back.
Could this be used as the power for the demon? Surely this does not break energy conservation rules but may allow the demon to change states. Demon construction might be a challenge.
And as another concept, can we apply the same principle to light i.e. only let through light with higher frequencies etc. Demon construction in this case may be somewhat simpler - although I guess we're outside Maxwell's idea somewhat.
This all sounds quite intertesting - much more so than the gcc cross compiler toolchain I'm trying to build, still I suppose it could be worse;-)
Not sure about anywhere else in the world but at least here in the U.K. a Ph.D or University Degree can be revoked.
The qualification you receive can under exceptional circumstances be revoked by the University that handed it out. The final arbiter over whether you have the qualification or not resides with the educational institute - any scraps of paper with letters on that they handed you at some point don't count for anything. Not that I know of anyone that has gone back to a University to check on qualification, although it may happen.
I have only heard of one case where a Degree has been revoked and can't remember the details now, but I did find it quite interesting at the time that my University still has some control on one aspect of my life.
The expression 'strikes a chord' just doesn't do justice to how closely this anecdote expresses my position.
I'll be on my way out of my current organisation (it's a joke to call it an 'organisation' really as it implies much more than we have) as soon as I am able.
Authoritarian management, lack of respect for engineers, not deferring to engineers for answers, last minute preparations for demonstrations, no significant forward planning.
Some of these things can be smoothed over by the engineers, we can put in some more effort and make things work. There is no reward for this - just more work and pressure. It is counterproductive to cover the cracks too, the same thing will happen next time with the 'culprits' putting in even less effort because they got away with it last time.
I have tried to influence the people/organisation to work in a more professional way. While they respond with the usual platitudes and say that my concerns will be addressed no action is forthcoming. I can wait only so long - any further and I am denying myself the opportunity to further my career in a sensible way.
Luckily I can see the signs of the burnout and can only hope that I can escape before I do something unfortunate. I will however take a few parting shots on the way out, there is no way on Earth I will work for the organisation or any of the management again - this bridge is one I can happily burn.
So I feel for you 'anubi', I can understand your position and can only hope that you are happy now in whatever role you have undertaken.
If I had mod points you'd get them all +5: The Way It Is.
Well I found a Premium 360 finally, and have had mild trouble from the beginning.
No red LEDs but instead I get random lockups. Most notably Kameo locks up (indeed it managed to corrupt my saved game losing me hours of play), magazine disks have locked up too. The most concerning though is that I've had lockups on watching DVDs, I managed to get through two episodes of the Simpsons before it froze. [It's funny when the game locks up during a point where the controller is vibrating - the vibrat^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontroller just keeps on going].
Oddly Call of Duty 2 and PGR3 appear to be fine, and I get no issues playing CDs. I've tried all sorts of things to increase ventilation, I've removed the HD, all to no avail.
I rang Microsoft support but at the time their servers had crashed (how ironic), they suggested some things but nothing that helped so I need to call again to see whats next. It's a bit tricky if they want to replace it as most of the time I'll be at work so I'll need to book time off if it needs to be returned.
I just haven't seen any real figures for 360 failures and haven't seen anybody with my particular freezing issue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the replacement one will be perfect.
5.3: Is the abbreviated pointer comparison "if (p)" to test for non-
null pointers valid?
A: Yes. The construction "if(p)" works, regardless of the internal
representation of null pointers, because the compiler
essentially rewrites it as "if(p != 0)" and goes on to convert 0
into the correct null pointer.
Regardless of this (or maybe becuase of it), I prefer
if (ptr != NULL)
It doesn't require somebody who is looking at the code to understand the minutia of the C standard.
Slashdot Mirror
Whatever you do don't tell Chuck Norris he's not on the list :-)
Or maybe Chuck Norris is so hard he's got the list tattooed on his eyeballs.
OK, this is slightly outside my field but I'll throw it out for comment.
;-)
Simply, in a closed system we only have the energy contained within that system to play with, anything else destroys the entropy laws. However, what about good old Heisenberg's uncertainty principle that allows us to use some energy for a brief time as long as we give it back.
Could this be used as the power for the demon? Surely this does not break energy conservation rules but may allow the demon to change states. Demon construction might be a challenge.
And as another concept, can we apply the same principle to light i.e. only let through light with higher frequencies etc. Demon construction in this case may be somewhat simpler - although I guess we're outside Maxwell's idea somewhat.
This all sounds quite intertesting - much more so than the gcc cross compiler toolchain I'm trying to build, still I suppose it could be worse
Not sure about anywhere else in the world but at least here in the U.K. a Ph.D or University Degree can be revoked.
The qualification you receive can under exceptional circumstances be revoked by the University that handed it out. The final arbiter over whether you have the qualification or not resides with the educational institute - any scraps of paper with letters on that they handed you at some point don't count for anything. Not that I know of anyone that has gone back to a University to check on qualification, although it may happen.
I have only heard of one case where a Degree has been revoked and can't remember the details now, but I did find it quite interesting at the time that my University still has some control on one aspect of my life.
The expression 'strikes a chord' just doesn't do justice to how closely this anecdote expresses my position.
I'll be on my way out of my current organisation (it's a joke to call it an 'organisation' really as it implies much more than we have) as soon as I am able.
Authoritarian management, lack of respect for engineers, not deferring to engineers for answers, last minute preparations for demonstrations, no significant forward planning.
Some of these things can be smoothed over by the engineers, we can put in some more effort and make things work. There is no reward for this - just more work and pressure. It is counterproductive to cover the cracks too, the same thing will happen next time with the 'culprits' putting in even less effort because they got away with it last time.
I have tried to influence the people/organisation to work in a more professional way. While they respond with the usual platitudes and say that my concerns will be addressed no action is forthcoming. I can wait only so long - any further and I am denying myself the opportunity to further my career in a sensible way.
Luckily I can see the signs of the burnout and can only hope that I can escape before I do something unfortunate. I will however take a few parting shots on the way out, there is no way on Earth I will work for the organisation or any of the management again - this bridge is one I can happily burn.
So I feel for you 'anubi', I can understand your position and can only hope that you are happy now in whatever role you have undertaken.
If I had mod points you'd get them all +5: The Way It Is.
Was it just me that read that as 'Indiana Jones China in censoring websites'?
;-)
I was thinking wow that was gonna be a poor fourth movie
Well I found a Premium 360 finally, and have had mild trouble from the beginning.
No red LEDs but instead I get random lockups. Most notably Kameo locks up (indeed it managed to corrupt my saved game losing me hours of play), magazine disks have locked up too. The most concerning though is that I've had lockups on watching DVDs, I managed to get through two episodes of the Simpsons before it froze. [It's funny when the game locks up during a point where the controller is vibrating - the vibrat^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontroller just keeps on going].
Oddly Call of Duty 2 and PGR3 appear to be fine, and I get no issues playing CDs. I've tried all sorts of things to increase ventilation, I've removed the HD, all to no avail.
I rang Microsoft support but at the time their servers had crashed (how ironic), they suggested some things but nothing that helped so I need to call again to see whats next. It's a bit tricky if they want to replace it as most of the time I'll be at work so I'll need to book time off if it needs to be returned.
I just haven't seen any real figures for 360 failures and haven't seen anybody with my particular freezing issue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the replacement one will be perfect.
Well I would definitely volunteer to go out and 'probe' Buffy :-)
At one point in the distant past there was a tax on wallpaper too!
But C is actually even more subtle than that.
There is a special case for 0 and NULL pointers in the C standard.
Remembering off the top of my head it states something about any pointer with the value of 0 will be converted to NULL under test or comparison
From:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/C-faq/abridged/
5.3: Is the abbreviated pointer comparison "if (p)" to test for non- null pointers valid?
A: Yes. The construction "if(p)" works, regardless of the internal representation of null pointers, because the compiler essentially rewrites it as "if(p != 0)" and goes on to convert 0 into the correct null pointer.
Regardless of this (or maybe becuase of it), I prefer
if (ptr != NULL)
It doesn't require somebody who is looking at the code to understand the minutia of the C standard.