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Comment Re:GCC isn't an IDE, Codebench source is free (Score 1) 1098

Well, maybe because it's the strictest checking compiler you can get for Fortran? It certainly has helped me find bugs that gfortran, ifort and other have missed. You seem to be unaware of the fact that despite gfortran being free and quite good, there are at least five (that I can remember without googling) commercial Fortran compilers available today, e.g. from Nvidia/PGI and from Intel, that are quite popular in the scientific community.

Comment Re:stretching indeed. Recommending != selling (Score 1) 1098

Well, yes and no. Their product is by definition useless without a C compiler. Many (most?) people will use what's recommended, so many (most) people are using nagfor with gcc. A Core i7, on the other hand, works fine without a C compiler of any sort (as long as you only run precompiled binaries, which is true for (definitely this time) most people). But I see your point.

Comment Re:GCC isn't an IDE, Codebench source is free (Score 1) 1098

I'll give you an actual (but perhaps a little stretching-the-rules) example though:
NAG's Fortran compiler. It costs money. It's a Fortran-to-C compiler, and they recommend gcc if you don't have any other preferences. To me (as a compiler user) it's not a great difference if they make a Fortran-to-C compiler where I must provide the C compiler, or if they just shipped a C compiler and did the translation "in secret".

Comment Re:Oh yes (Score 1) 459

Really? To what end?

Well, why not? I found my right-hand little finger was cramping often. Coul be 'cause I use an "ergonomic" keyboard, which is quite good except the slightly bad position of the BackSpace key.

I see you've bound it to the Compose Key. That's utterly useless to me, since I very rarely write non-ascii characters (with the exception of æøå, and those I have dedicated keys for). When I want to write greek/fraktur/whatever, I write
$\alpha \to \infty \implies \sum_0^{\infty} n = -\frac{1}{12}$ etc. and then have the rendering engine (LaTeX) take care of it.

Comment Re:It's a hoax (Score 1) 375

You could do the same already using scuba tanks made from carbon-fibre-titanium-nanotechnology (yeah I'm just adding buzzwords here). Those would be able to hold much more than 300 bars of pressure. You now why no-one's done that? Because during a normal plain-air dive with a 10 L 300 bar, you're not limited by the tank capacity. You're limited by how long you can stay submerged before you need to do decompression stops.

Comment Re:So what happens to the hydrogen? That's usable. (Score 5, Insightful) 375

Very good point. Pure oxygen becomes toxic below 6 meters.

Also, looking at TFA and following the links, this looks like premium-class bullshit. No actual science, no pictures of the proposed device (just 3D renderings), this is just science-fiction.

Comment Re:Bike helmet? (Score 1) 317

Because it's required by the rules of the sport. Where the rules allow the helmets to be removed (e.g. an alpine ascent), the cyclists remove them.

That doesn't rule out the possibility that the sport only allows the helmets to be removed in cases where the risk of a serious collision is much lower (e.g. an ascent, like you mentioned, where the speed is much lower).

Comment Re:Bike helmet? (Score 1) 317

Motorists would have significantly reduced fatalities if they wore motorcycle helmets (which are much more effective but impractical for bicycles), like race car drivers do, but they don't.

Not quite. In addition to a crash helmet, you would also need a HANS (head and neck support) system, six-point seat belt, a net along the window like you see in NASCAR, and a roll cage. And since it would take you longer to exit the car, you would also need an automatic fire suppression system. At that point it's quite a lot more impractical and expensive compared to a normal car than the difference of bike helmet vs. no bike helmet.

Also, you can get full helmets for bicycling. It's standard issue for downhill cycling, see e.g. here. That manufacturer (POC) have been making state-of-the-art crash helmets for skiing (used by many athletes in the Alpine World Cup) and biking for about 10 years now, so I suspect they've got a much better idea of how to do it than some random guy who tried to improve over $10 styrofoam helmets.

Comment Re:Conspiracy (Score 3, Informative) 162

You're very wrong on all points I'm afraid. This will have zero impact on any CFD codes. And where did you get the (slightly ridiculous) idea that CFD programs only solve for special cases? It's true that most restrict themselves in some way, e.g. "subsonic and non-turbulent", but otherwise they are completely general. Source: my PhD work consists of writing a CFD code for Navier-Stokes. (The summary talking about rewriting textbooks is also way off on their understanding. This will likely be incomprehensible without a PhD in the right area of mathematics.)

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