Algorithms are now more efficient at keeping a processor occupied than hand tweaking, with the complexity of processors being what they are, w/ multiple instruction pipelines and vector processing, multiprocessors and such. C is the equivalent of what ASM used to be. It is the least complicated abstraction language that a processor manufacturer can provide low level developers. Many processors are built with the language in mind. As a result if you want to extract the most performance from your hardware, C is the solution. Many higher level languages are written in C, or the core components that HAVE TO BE fast are written in low-level C.

C is also "almost" portable. Which generally speaking means it can be used across families of processors with greater efficiency, while maintaining performance.

Also there's still a hellalotta stuff, core libraries, drivers, embedded software, and software frameworks written in it... so yeah, it's not going away... I use it daily.

I wonder if true fish population counts might be skewed, if the ones being monitored are all being eaten. It would show that fish populations are smaller than they really are. Which could affect local fisheries and conflate environmental impact concerns.

I'm a native english speaker, and learned a ton of language just by reading D&D books... They use an assortment of words you don't regularly encounter in regular off-the-street speak. :)

A reporter on location reported on NPR this morning that they had a couple witnesses that saw a flash prior to the downing of the launch. Apparently due to the pro-russian population of the village where it was downed, this is a very unpopular confession to make. This is a HUGE snafu for Russia, who has been arming the rebels, so they can continue to humiliate Ukrainian air power. I also think it is ridiculous that Obama is only speaking out of concern for possible US Citizens missing. The Netherlands are a solid ally, this is a terrible attrocity...

I am playing the latest 4X turn based stat game. Age of Wonders III. It's fantastic. I can't imagine this ever being on consoles because there's so much more to it, and it requires me to really focus to play.

Everything Snowden reveals is absolute truth... Why just the other day Iran reported that Snowden revealed the true force behind the US government. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/13/iranian-news-agency-says-the-u-s-is-secretly-run-by-nazi-space-aliens-really/

It might also have to do with competition. If there's little competition for my preferred food source, I will eat it last, knowing it will last longer. My wife hates dark chocolate, but I prefer it, so if there's a bag of chocolate bars and dark chocolate, I'll dig into the milk chocolate first, knowing that my wife will actively consume those as well, then when they're gone, I still have the dark chocolate to enjoy afterwards, while she's without.

So can the phone detect the radiation it is generating and solve that endless debate as to whether cellphones are causing brain tumors?

Well there's the problem right there... they only paid 43 Million dollars. I think that's enough to buy one license of Oracle DB... for maybe a week or so...

As the expense of caring for the Elderly increases, I predict this will become a very popular notion. Sure some will abuse it, but it's not like we don't already treat our elderly people as disposable. At a certain point there will be a deluge of stories like this. There will be stories of "brave" elderly who take their own lives to save their children the inconvenience of their existence, even when they aren't ill... It's kind of the way of a society focused on efficiency and productivity, that no longer really gives a role to the elderly. (There are cultures that value the elderly and see our modern culture as abhorrent, but they don't have wikipedia...)

Yeah there was that one coinkydink, but the visual effects were spectacular, and I can't remember enjoying a superhero movie to the degree I enjoyed this one. Maybe it's because my teenage daughters all have a crush on Thor, but it was a decent fun movie, well made, and worth the price of admission.

One option that's missing is "Fly through Time" (rather than space). Even if it were a few minutes at a time, I would never need be late again.

I still use our local library, though I'm a huge fan of ebooks. There are certain books I don't want to purchase, but can access via library or interlibrary loans, that make accessing the books more feasible. I take my kids there and they have a chance to just look through the shelves and find something they would not normally take home and read on their own. One daughter started reading a series I'd never heard of lately because she was attracted to the covers of some of the later books in the series, we had to place a hold on the first book which wasn't in this branch of our library, then as she started reading, she was a little perturbed by some of the content which she shared with the whole family, reading aloud passages that she thought were a bit gory--though I could tell she was secretly delighted by... This same daughter was a very slow to take to reading and required special reading assistance in grade school when younger, and not til she read the Harry Potter series did she really enjoy it. Now she's in High School and is absolutely thrilled to be reading "classics" like "The Crucible" while the rest of her class are dreading it.

I also like how you only get the book for a couple weeks at a time. To me, it's motivating to read the book or move on... you have to choose to actually pursue the book. You don't collect a hundred of them on your edevice and never finish them...

The nicest thing about a trip to the library is how much I pay to go... I do worry that even with cheaper books to access, the whole "free to read" concept is jeopardized by our need to affix a pricetag to everything.

kind of ironic the story leaked. I don't see why he can't tell us everything... right now... he's kinda made a living on doing that.

Mr. Shuttleworth probably has an Amiga Computer... best darn computer ever (just ask someone who owned one), ahead of its time, and completely forgotten nowadays...