Ok, here's your project of the day: Pick a former classmate or former coworker that you haven't talked to in five or more years and email them.
You have that "project of the day" backwards. The right challenge, consistent with the GP, is to say: Pick a former classmate or former coworker that you haven't talked to in five years or more that you want to hear from, and see if they can find your email address.
Frankly, anyone I want to talk to, I talk to. I really don't want people looking me up from longer than five years ago. Thanks anyway.
I learned to tell time at a much younger age then I learned how to use a phone or a calculator. And so I learned that numbers are arranged in a circle, with 1 just to the right of the top most point, 3 straight across to the right, 6 at the bottom, and 9 to the left.
Clearly the correct layout for a numeric keypad should reflect this!
Using mod 10 (or, looking at the last digit), the correct layout to match clocks would look something like this:
X 2 X 9 X 3 X 6 X
with the extra key going on the bottom somewhere. Filling in the corner numbers, rounding down, it should look like this:
0 2 1 9 X 3 7 6 4
The middle of a clock often has a couple of circles on an axle - one for the hour hand and one for the minute hand, so it probably makes sense to put the number 8 in the middle (which also has two circles). This leaves 5 for the extra key, and a final configuration of:
0 2 1 9 8 3 7 6 4 - 5 -
Does anybody know where I can get calculators and phones that match this obviously superior design?
I still have documentation (independent reports from the '80's) showing that HP was at the time the manufacturer of the world's most widely installed Database Management System (DBMS). Granted, they gave Image DBMS away with their HP 3000s. The story of Oracle dethroning HP as most widely installed is an interesting tale. Now I'm not sure who the leader is now - MySQL? Oracle? Microsoft?
But HP had a *free* database product and couldn't beat Oracle's outrageously priced DBMS. I wonder what would have happened if HP had invested even more in Image (/TurboImage / Allbase SQL), trying to get it to all major platforms, courting the major software vendors to write enterprise software for it, etc. Maybe even opening up the source for community contributions. Would MySQL have even existed?
The problems started when Fiorina, maybe even before that with the Compaq merger.
Hard to interpret this sentence fragment, but if you are saying that you believe the problems started when they hired Fiorina, or maybe before that with the Compaq merger, I think you have your timeline wrong. Firoina was hired in 1999, but the Compaq merger started in 2002.
Perhaps you mean that the problems started when they fired Fiorina. But I'd disagree with that - I think she was a huge mistake.
It's two days volume, so not without pushing the price down a fair chunk.
No, the past 30 day's volume on the largest exchange (Mt. Gox) is $24 M. So $500K spread out over a week wouldn't be much of a blip at all. $500K spread over a month would be an extra 2% volume.
I think the thieves have a bigger challenge: How to get it out. The money is very well tracked in the Block Chain. They'd be wise to launder it thoroughly first. And every act of laundering can be tracked. So they need to do it via Tor.
You started being incorrect in the third paragraph.
The thief transferred the Bitcoins out of the user's account and into his or her own. At that point, it was too late for "allinvain" to do anything.
But to answer your other question.. what if two people spend Bitcoins at approximately the same time? Well, the "network" spreads the transactions pretty quickly. So the spending would have to be near instantaneous to be confusing to the network. Even a 2 second head start will likely have one transaction HIGHLY favored over the other. None the less, the network can hold two transactions, temporarily, that are in conflict.
And then the miner who solves the next puzzle is the tie-breaker. No miner will have two conflicting transactions. Each miner would reject the 2nd conflicting transaction, and, although different miners may consider different transactions as the "first" one, there will likely be one transaction that is highly favored over the other, and that's the one that is likely to be honored.
It's the same concept as if you have $100 in your checking account, and you mail two $100 checks to two different people. Who wins? Most likely (but not always) the one who receives your check first. Most likely (but not always) the one who cashes it first. And the bank will make an arbitrary decision if they both come in at approximately the same time.
The difference is, with a check you won't know for days. And even after a week, the bankers/government can come and reverse the transaction later. With Bitcoin, you will know within 10 minutes with some degree of certainty, and within an hour with almost absolute certainty.
Even the US dollar is backed by something, in a very indirect way
The US Dollar is backed by.... what?
I'd say that your trust in the US Dollar is really a trust in the US Government - that they won't allow the value of the dollar to wildly fluctuate. That they won't print money too fast. That they will continue to imprison counterfeiters. But it sure isn't backed by gold or anything else. In short, by trusting the dollar, you are trusting a private organization (The Fed) that is led by a guy who is appointed by politicians, and has private member banks. In short, you are trusting a "system" which is ultimately kinda-sorta controlled by the voters. You are also trusting that others will continue to trust the dollar. But there's really no backing.
Trusting the dollar has been a pretty safe bet (relative to alternatives). But trust in the dollar is fading fast. Especially with our national debt issues and political showdowns.
By trusting in Bitcoins, you are trusting a system as well. There ALSO is no backing. Instead of trusting a system of people, appointees, politicians, and member banks, you are trusting mathematicians. You are trusting that it can't be easily counterfeited. And you are trusting that others will continue to trust it.
My belief is that the system is trustworthy, and that people's trust in it will grow. And as people's trust grows, it will become more widely accepted, and therefore more trustworthy. So I am bullish on Bitcoins.
Imagine if Bitcoins become *the* world currency. Imagine how stable they will be, then. Fluctuations in prices of Bitcoins will be more due to the instability of OTHER currencies. An interesting thought.
Put it this way -- SOMETHING will supplant the US Dollar as the most favored currency. My bet is that it will be a new technology - not the same technology from a new nation. Bitcoin currently has the best shot at this.
Well, you might have heard about it if you read Hacker News or Reddit.:-)
I realize what you are saying, and yes, this is a perfect example of the Streisand effect. I am commenting more on how lagged Slashdot has gotten on current news. I read about this (and almost every other Slashdot front page story) on other sources many hours or days ago.
You don't support your sorting argument very well, when you mention 22/7.
Taking a string and reversing it and then sorting it will not achieve your desired sort order (i.e. taking strings holding dates such as "22/7/2011" or "22/7"). "22/7/2011" in reverse is "1102/7/22". "30/12/2009" in reverse is "9002/21/03". So all the dates from 2009 will be after all the year 2011 dates. Years will be all confused. Ten's place of day-of-month is to the left of the one's place. There are so many issues with this, you can't be a competent programmer, if you'd suggest this.
Even if you meant that you reverse the order of the three major components like this for February 12, 2011 -> 12/2/2011 -> 2011/2/12, a string sort won't cut it. Because "2011/2/23" is greater than "2011/12/23". It was you who left the leading zero off your example.
And if you aren't using strings, but are using date types, then really you have nothing to complain about. Date type sorting works just fine for American formats.
This message is intentionally silly because your critique of all Americans is silly. Sorting is just fine. We have no issue with it.
We say "March 14th", which is abbreviated 3/14. Simple. Infinitely better than your suggestion.
As author of the GP, I was really going for "+5 Funny".
I used the quote, and refused to talk about the people or event, but only wanted to discuss the idea - to show I have a great mind. But it apparently went over everyone's head. I guess my mind is either too great, or just not very funny.
The trick may be whether you are referred by Google or by some other link. Note that doing step 1 and then clicking on the link will give you the answer. But clicking on the link in step 2 will NOT give you the answer. They are checking the referrer.
No, I didn't sleep. However, my calculator failed miserably at getting me to the mall.
Not totally off-topic, I still am amazed at the power of my index finger, which can do things that Kings couldn't do 100 years ago. I can move it in a certain way (associated with my keyboard) such that it causes a total stranger to bring food to me - a pizza in 30 minutes or less.
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
I'd like to discuss the idea that you mentioned, including the quotation. I don't really care who said it, or under what circumstances she said it. But the idea itself certainly has merit. I wonder if there's a way we could prove or disprove it.
As awesome as everyone talks up these 'brains' and how incredibly superior they are with only 20 watts, the fastest brain on earth can't even keep up with a 10 dollar pocket calculator that uses a fraction of a watt when it comes to remotely complex arithmetic.
Exactly!
My $50,000 BMW can't keep up with my $10 pocket calculator when it comes to math. And my $10 calculator can't drive me to the mall.
I think it's time for a Firefox Plug-in, or Grease Monkey script or something like that, that auto-clicks "I agree" for the Terms of Service of the top websites (get it to work with Facebook and Google first, and slowly work your way down the Alexa Top Million Sites list).
Some genius on here has got to be smart enough or think this is an interesting enough project to crank something out to do this. With the Plug-In installed, if the user gets to the Terms Of Service click-through agreement, then it auto-clicks.
Then a court challenge would be VERY interesting! "I didn't agree to it! I didn't even SEE the agreement!"....Filing patent now...
Take a stand, man. Grab one side of the argument and defend it with all your might. Facts don't matter. It's your enthusiasm that matters. What, are ya new here?
School children even recite it every day. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands..."
because a "Democracy" would have "Democrat" in it.
This is completely unsupported by the linked article. Either include the proper links to back up your statements, or stop editorializing in your submissions.
Not only is it unsupported by the linked article, but it's completely incorrect.
Is the US a republic [wikipedia.org]? Yes. Does the US use democracy [wikipedia.org]? Yes. Does the US have a constitution [wikipedia.org]? Yes.
So we're a democratic constitutional republic.
Faulty logic there, or you're missing a step.
The statement that the US uses democracy does not prove that the US is a democratic constitutional republic.
There are a number of governments throughout history that used democracy (everyone votes, and every vote is used to line a trash can), but they are not democratic.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, here's your project of the day: Pick a former classmate or former coworker that you haven't talked to in five or more years and email them.
You have that "project of the day" backwards. The right challenge, consistent with the GP, is to say:
Pick a former classmate or former coworker that you haven't talked to in five years or more that you want to hear from, and see if they can find your email address.
Frankly, anyone I want to talk to, I talk to. I really don't want people looking me up from longer than five years ago. Thanks anyway.
What knowledgeable geek puts real information into Facebook?
That'd be crazy!
Ah, I wish I was young. My first phone number only had 6 digits. Well, technically it was 2 letters and 4 digits.
(this was USA)
I learned to tell time at a much younger age then I learned how to use a phone or a calculator. And so I learned that numbers are arranged in a circle, with 1 just to the right of the top most point, 3 straight across to the right, 6 at the bottom, and 9 to the left.
Clearly the correct layout for a numeric keypad should reflect this!
Using mod 10 (or, looking at the last digit), the correct layout to match clocks would look something like this:
X 2 X
9 X 3
X 6 X
with the extra key going on the bottom somewhere. Filling in the corner numbers, rounding down, it should look like this:
0 2 1
9 X 3
7 6 4
The middle of a clock often has a couple of circles on an axle - one for the hour hand and one for the minute hand, so it probably makes sense to put the number 8 in the middle (which also has two circles). This leaves 5 for the extra key, and a final configuration of:
0 2 1
9 8 3
7 6 4
- 5 -
Does anybody know where I can get calculators and phones that match this obviously superior design?
-D. Vorak
No, the enxt question is, What's the "Buy it now" price on HP?
I still have documentation (independent reports from the '80's) showing that HP was at the time the manufacturer of the world's most widely installed Database Management System (DBMS). Granted, they gave Image DBMS away with their HP 3000s. The story of Oracle dethroning HP as most widely installed is an interesting tale. Now I'm not sure who the leader is now - MySQL? Oracle? Microsoft?
But HP had a *free* database product and couldn't beat Oracle's outrageously priced DBMS. I wonder what would have happened if HP had invested even more in Image (/TurboImage / Allbase SQL), trying to get it to all major platforms, courting the major software vendors to write enterprise software for it, etc. Maybe even opening up the source for community contributions. Would MySQL have even existed?
The problems started when Fiorina, maybe even before that with the Compaq merger.
Hard to interpret this sentence fragment, but if you are saying that you believe the problems started when they hired Fiorina, or maybe before that with the Compaq merger, I think you have your timeline wrong. Firoina was hired in 1999, but the Compaq merger started in 2002.
Perhaps you mean that the problems started when they fired Fiorina. But I'd disagree with that - I think she was a huge mistake.
It's two days volume, so not without pushing the price down a fair chunk.
No, the past 30 day's volume on the largest exchange (Mt. Gox) is $24 M. So $500K spread out over a week wouldn't be much of a blip at all. $500K spread over a month would be an extra 2% volume.
I think the thieves have a bigger challenge: How to get it out. The money is very well tracked in the Block Chain. They'd be wise to launder it thoroughly first. And every act of laundering can be tracked. So they need to do it via Tor.
They have quite a challenge on their hands.
You started being incorrect in the third paragraph.
The thief transferred the Bitcoins out of the user's account and into his or her own. At that point, it was too late for "allinvain" to do anything.
But to answer your other question.. what if two people spend Bitcoins at approximately the same time? Well, the "network" spreads the transactions pretty quickly. So the spending would have to be near instantaneous to be confusing to the network. Even a 2 second head start will likely have one transaction HIGHLY favored over the other. None the less, the network can hold two transactions, temporarily, that are in conflict.
And then the miner who solves the next puzzle is the tie-breaker. No miner will have two conflicting transactions. Each miner would reject the 2nd conflicting transaction, and, although different miners may consider different transactions as the "first" one, there will likely be one transaction that is highly favored over the other, and that's the one that is likely to be honored.
It's the same concept as if you have $100 in your checking account, and you mail two $100 checks to two different people. Who wins? Most likely (but not always) the one who receives your check first. Most likely (but not always) the one who cashes it first. And the bank will make an arbitrary decision if they both come in at approximately the same time.
The difference is, with a check you won't know for days. And even after a week, the bankers/government can come and reverse the transaction later. With Bitcoin, you will know within 10 minutes with some degree of certainty, and within an hour with almost absolute certainty.
The US Dollar is backed by .... what?
I'd say that your trust in the US Dollar is really a trust in the US Government - that they won't allow the value of the dollar to wildly fluctuate. That they won't print money too fast. That they will continue to imprison counterfeiters. But it sure isn't backed by gold or anything else. In short, by trusting the dollar, you are trusting a private organization (The Fed) that is led by a guy who is appointed by politicians, and has private member banks. In short, you are trusting a "system" which is ultimately kinda-sorta controlled by the voters. You are also trusting that others will continue to trust the dollar. But there's really no backing.
Trusting the dollar has been a pretty safe bet (relative to alternatives). But trust in the dollar is fading fast. Especially with our national debt issues and political showdowns.
By trusting in Bitcoins, you are trusting a system as well. There ALSO is no backing. Instead of trusting a system of people, appointees, politicians, and member banks, you are trusting mathematicians. You are trusting that it can't be easily counterfeited. And you are trusting that others will continue to trust it.
My belief is that the system is trustworthy, and that people's trust in it will grow. And as people's trust grows, it will become more widely accepted, and therefore more trustworthy. So I am bullish on Bitcoins.
Imagine if Bitcoins become *the* world currency. Imagine how stable they will be, then. Fluctuations in prices of Bitcoins will be more due to the instability of OTHER currencies. An interesting thought.
Put it this way -- SOMETHING will supplant the US Dollar as the most favored currency. My bet is that it will be a new technology - not the same technology from a new nation. Bitcoin currently has the best shot at this.
Well, you might have heard about it if you read Hacker News or Reddit. :-)
I realize what you are saying, and yes, this is a perfect example of the Streisand effect. I am commenting more on how lagged Slashdot has gotten on current news. I read about this (and almost every other Slashdot front page story) on other sources many hours or days ago.
Well, half a second.
I stand by my statement:
Waiting a second would be more accurate:
3/14/15 9:26:54 am is more accurate than
3/14/15 9:26:53 am
Waiting a half second would be more precise.
You don't support your sorting argument very well, when you mention 22/7.
Taking a string and reversing it and then sorting it will not achieve your desired sort order (i.e. taking strings holding dates such as "22/7/2011" or "22/7"). "22/7/2011" in reverse is "1102/7/22". "30/12/2009" in reverse is "9002/21/03". So all the dates from 2009 will be after all the year 2011 dates. Years will be all confused. Ten's place of day-of-month is to the left of the one's place. There are so many issues with this, you can't be a competent programmer, if you'd suggest this.
Even if you meant that you reverse the order of the three major components like this for February 12, 2011 -> 12/2/2011 -> 2011/2/12, a string sort won't cut it. Because "2011/2/23" is greater than "2011/12/23". It was you who left the leading zero off your example.
And if you aren't using strings, but are using date types, then really you have nothing to complain about. Date type sorting works just fine for American formats.
This message is intentionally silly because your critique of all Americans is silly. Sorting is just fine. We have no issue with it.
We say "March 14th", which is abbreviated 3/14. Simple. Infinitely better than your suggestion.
We could easily extend that to
3/14/15 9:26:53 am
And have a real big bash.
You'll be more than a half second early!
Wait a sec, and you'd be more accurate.
As author of the GP, I was really going for "+5 Funny".
I used the quote, and refused to talk about the people or event, but only wanted to discuss the idea - to show I have a great mind.
But it apparently went over everyone's head. I guess my mind is either too great, or just not very funny.
Anytime I end up on ExpertS-exChange, I see the answers at the bottom of the screen. And I never paid them.
Here's a random example:
1. Google sudo site:experts-exchange.com
2. First results take me to a page that has results at the bottom.
The trick may be whether you are referred by Google or by some other link. Note that doing step 1 and then clicking on the link will give you the answer. But clicking on the link in step 2 will NOT give you the answer. They are checking the referrer.
No, I didn't sleep.
However, my calculator failed miserably at getting me to the mall.
Not totally off-topic, I still am amazed at the power of my index finger, which can do things that Kings couldn't do 100 years ago. I can move it in a certain way (associated with my keyboard) such that it causes a total stranger to bring food to me - a pizza in 30 minutes or less.
No, I tried to ask it to calculate 32x12 and it couldn't do it.
But it COULD drive me to the mall.
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
I'd like to discuss the idea that you mentioned, including the quotation. I don't really care who said it, or under what circumstances she said it. But the idea itself certainly has merit. I wonder if there's a way we could prove or disprove it.
As awesome as everyone talks up these 'brains' and how incredibly superior they are with only 20 watts, the fastest brain on earth can't even keep up with a 10 dollar pocket calculator that uses a fraction of a watt when it comes to remotely complex arithmetic.
Exactly!
My $50,000 BMW can't keep up with my $10 pocket calculator when it comes to math. And my $10 calculator can't drive me to the mall.
I think it's time for a Firefox Plug-in, or Grease Monkey script or something like that, that auto-clicks "I agree" for the Terms of Service of the top websites (get it to work with Facebook and Google first, and slowly work your way down the Alexa Top Million Sites list).
Some genius on here has got to be smart enough or think this is an interesting enough project to crank something out to do this. With the Plug-In installed, if the user gets to the Terms Of Service click-through agreement, then it auto-clicks.
Then a court challenge would be VERY interesting! "I didn't agree to it! I didn't even SEE the agreement!" ....Filing patent now...
That's a wishy-washy post, if I ever read one.
Take a stand, man. Grab one side of the argument and defend it with all your might. Facts don't matter. It's your enthusiasm that matters.
What, are ya new here?
School children even recite it every day. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands..."
I remember asking my mom, "Who's Richard Stands?"
because a "Democracy" would have "Democrat" in it.
This is completely unsupported by the linked article. Either include the proper links to back up your statements, or stop editorializing in your submissions.
Not only is it unsupported by the linked article, but it's completely incorrect.
Python-assisted Proof:
>>> "Democracy".find("Democrat")
-1
>>> "Democracy".find("Democra")
0
Is the US a republic [wikipedia.org]? Yes.
Does the US use democracy [wikipedia.org]? Yes.
Does the US have a constitution [wikipedia.org]? Yes.
So we're a democratic constitutional republic.
Faulty logic there, or you're missing a step.
The statement that the US uses democracy does not prove that the US is a democratic constitutional republic.
There are a number of governments throughout history that used democracy (everyone votes, and every vote is used to line a trash can), but they are not democratic.
Thanks for trying though.