Comment Re:complex application example (Score 1) 161
Absolutely. Soooo doomed. You cannot guarantee that the UDP packets even get across the wire to your NIC what difference does it matter whether you software gets them all out of the NIC
Comment Re:Binary prefixes: Use them (Score 1) 272
Preaching to the choir, brother !
What gets me about this whole KiB MiB bullshit is that it is revisionist history based on some pointless ideology. Years ago I recognized:
Any ideology taken to an extreme is usually never a good idea in the long run.
IF the terms had been invented back in the '70s, then fine, we _might_ of adopted it. But in 1998? Fuck off. If there really is _that_ much confusion then either put a 2 or 10 subscript below the K or M to distinguish the base.
i.e.
16 G2B = 16384 K2B = 16,777,216 bytes
299 M10m = 299.792458 Mm = 299,792,458 m.
We use B for Bytes, and b for bits. From context we can tell that base-2 is implied.
Submission + - Can the Multiverse be Tested Scientifically? (discovery.com)
astroengine writes: Physicists aren’t afraid of thinking big, but what happens when you think too big? This philosophical question overlaps with real physics when hypothesizing what lies beyond the boundary of our observable universe. The problem with trying to apply science to something that may or may not exist beyond our physical realm is that it gets a little foggy as to how we could scientifically test it. A leading hypothesis to come from cosmic inflation theory and advanced theoretical studies — centering around the superstring hypothesis — is that of the "multiverse," an idea that scientists have had a hard time in testing. But now, scientists at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Ontario, Canada, have, for the first time, created a computer model of colliding universes in the multiverse in an attempt to seek out observational evidence of its existence.
Submission + - Under The Sea: Rokudenashiko, Arrested For Sharing 3D Print Of Genitals (medicaldaily.com)
FilmedInNoir writes: 42-year-old Megumi Igarashi, who works under the pseudonym Rokudenashiko, has come under scrutiny after she shared 3D prints of her vulva to supporters of her vagina boat project. The 42-year-old was accused of a Japanese penal code dating back to 1907, where it is illegal to sell or distribute obscene objects.
Comment Re:They need exactly 63 999 employees (Score 1) 272
> You: 65535
Incorrect. I said 65536. Please quote properly.
The op probably transposed the the last 6 and 3 as you point out, however his argument is completely invalid as I demonstrated with my followup.
Comment Re:But /why/? (Score 2) 152
I don't think anyone can claim that bitcoin cannot have inflation. It has hyperinflation and hyperdeflation in pretty frequent intervals.
Bitcoin has an extremely predictable rate of supply inflation (the kind meant here) which follows an exponential decay curve and will be under 1%/yr. by 2020 or so. There could be some very minor supply deflation after that point due to people losing their keys, but it should never become a major factor.
The price inflation and deflation you allude to is partly due to being a very young high-risk/high-reward venture. If Bitcoin is to reach even a fraction of its potential as a currency, the price per bitcoin must end up several orders of magnitude higher than it is now to match the increased demand, or there simply wouldn't be enough to go around. On the other hand, concerted political opposition could render it useless in most of the major markets. Whether the innovators or the politicians will win in the long run is anyone's guess at this point, thus the risk.
The other part, which is likely to dominate in the long-term if Bitcoin succeeds, is a reflection of normal changes in the demand for money. Central banks usually try to dampen out demand-driven price swings by manipulating the supply of money, but they are in fact an essential part of balancing present and future demand for goods, and suppressing them leads to an economy-wide misallocation of resources.
Comment Re:Untraceable (Score 2) 152
... the blockchain will forever hold every single transaction it has ever processed. It's the complete opposite of untraceable.
That depends on what you're trying to trace. While it's true that the transactions themselves are public knowledge, they don't include any personally identifiable information. Tracing the movement of bitcoins through a series of single-use addresses on the blockchain is easy; tracing the changes in real-world ownership is an entirely different matter. Unlike money moving through a series of bank accounts, there is no central entity to tell you who controls each address.
Comment Re:Binary prefixes: Use them (Score 3, Funny) 272
> Yes, RAM has been traditionally been measured using prefixes that imply powers of 2, but the errors have been getting worse and worse as the numbers get larger.
Total nonsense. You never buy 16,000,000,000 bytes of RAM. You buy 16 GB = 16384 KB of RAM, because the address line is always in base 2, never base 10.
Likewise hard disk drives are intentionally marketed to confuse people. Sectors have always been 256 bytes (Apple ][), 512 bytes (MFM) or 4096 bytes (modern HD)
Clock cycles were measured in MegaHertz, so powers of 10 are natural.
Getting bent out of shape because of some theoretical definition of perfection is a waste of time.
Comment Re:No excuses left (Score 0) 390
Free market capitalism is like a wild horse. Powerful, fast and strong.
Also not terribly productive until you put reigns on it and channel that strength towards useful goals.
The difference is that, unlike wild horses, a free market is made up of free individuals with individual rights. You're talking about putting reins on people and channeling their efforts toward ends you consider productive. Think about that for a moment. There's a word for harnessing people and putting them to work for you without regard for their rights: slavery.
The unharnessed free market may not be quite as "productive" (from your perspective) as a captive, harnessed, non-free market, but a choice between "productive" slavery and "unproductive" freedom is really no choice at all. Slavery isn't an option.
Comment Re:They need exactly 63 999 employees (Score 3, Insightful) 272
> 64K = 64,000
> In no unit of measurement is 64K(anything) = 65635.
How the hell did this ignorance of computer history get modded up??
In the context of [binary] computers, 64K = 65536
In the context of Science, 64K = 64,000
There were many ads showing 64K and there was never any confusion over it. Hell, Microsoft never adapted the KiB notation either.
The retarded term KiB wasn't EVEN invented until 1998!
Comment Re:Where do you see A.I. in 5,10,20, and 30 years? (Score 1) 71
Uh, but how do you tell when you succeed? Are we even close to discovering what consciousness is?
Isn't it possible to build a computer that behaves as if it is conscious but isn't? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
This is one of the big mysteries of the universe. There's no need for us to be conscious but we are. Or at least I am, I can't really be 100% sure about the rest of you...
It's kind of funny that scientists have difficulty explaining one of the very first observations they make.
Comment Re:Individuals are to be taxed too ... (Score 1) 121
So now a number is magically an "asset" ???
The government has -zero- jurisdiction digital bits, er, BitCoin.
Fuck the IRS and their archaic mindset.
Submission + - Russia prepares for internet war over Malaysian jet. 1
An anonymous reader writes: Barely a few hours afer the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukranian rebel held territory is already hotting up. Whilst US and UK news organisations are studiously trying to spread the blame, Russian ITAR, which, just earlier today was celebrating the downing of a large aircraft by rebel missiles in Torez (Google cache) is now reporting that the rebels do not have access to the missiles needed for such attacks. The rebel commander who earlier today was reporting the downing of the aircraft has also issued a correction to earlier reports that they had captured BUK air defence systems with Russian sources now stating that the rebels do not posess such air defences. The Ukraininan president has been attempting to frame the incident as a "terrorist attack", however US president Obama who, after the accident was first made contact with Vladimir Putin has been instead treating it as an accident, a "terrible tragedy" and saying that the priority is investigating whether US citizens were involved. With control of the black box and it's own internet propaganda army Russia may be in a good position to win the propaganda war.
Submission + - Level 3 confirms: Verizon is the cause of Netflix congestion. (level3.com)
althanas writes: Mark Taylor, the Head of Connectivity, Security and Performance at Level 3 Communications, confirms that Verizon is to blame for slow connections to Netflix. Verizon's claims that their network has plenty of capacity only reinforces the fact that they are capable of delivering content, and merely choosing not to. Several of the hotly debated "peering links" between networks remain available and completely unused by Verizon as confirmed by transit provider Level 3.
Submission + - Denver Airpot Rental Car Agencies Inundated With Pot Left Behind By Travelers (cbslocal.com)
schwit1 writes: Rental car workers at Denver International Airport say pot tourists are regularly leaving them with marijuana that travelers don’t want to try to carry through DIA.
“It happens quite often,” a rental car employee at a national chain told a CBS4 employee. “Every couple of days. I just throw it in the trash.” At another major rental car company, an employee told CBS4 pot is handed over to employees “pretty frequently but depends on if there is an occasion.”
“It happens quite often,” a rental car employee at a national chain told a CBS4 employee. “Every couple of days. I just throw it in the trash.” At another major rental car company, an employee told CBS4 pot is handed over to employees “pretty frequently but depends on if there is an occasion.”
