Actually this is a perfectly normal problem where the results you get out of a computer will depend a lot on how well you define the problem. If you define the shape of the lawn, the size of the cutter, and the turning characteristics of the mower accurately, I have little doubt that a computer can come up with a more optimal solution than a human (even if only by a small amount). A human with a stopwatch is unlikely to try more than about 15 different routes while a computer in simulation can try millions of routes in a short time.

The question is really "is it worth it". A human can easily come up with a decent route just by looking at the lawn, so it is probably not worth the time of making a simulation and running an optimisation to save 5% of the time unless you are a professional golf course mower.

Well 6,600 pounds is 2,994 kg, so I suspect that the actual value is 3,000 kg and it has been converted to pounds for for certain poor backwards readers.

Linux Mint?

Not true, the Xilinx Spartan-3AN can store the bitstream in internal flash memory.
That is the only family with that feature though.

China already blocked it, so that's another vote for it!

I expect that almost all the 10 million google+ users also have facebook. What I and probably many people will do it use both for a while and then just stop updating the one they like least. So google+ may be gaining users rapidly, but it isn't actually taking many from facebook...yet.

I agree, though I think that personally I am usually looking for what time it is *not* (not time to go home yet, not time for the meeting etc).

It's funny to ask people what time it is immediately after they have looked at their watch.
Most of the time they will have to look at it again, because they don't actually process the time but only notice what time it is not.

I had heard that gmail started notifying people if the account was accessed from china, so I was interested to see what would happen when I went to china for a conference a few weeks ago.

Nothing.

There were no notifications or anything when I got back. I changed my passwords anyway because access to gmail from within china was suspiciously intermittant (monitoring?) while other non-blocked sites were normal.

What, you don't get the barcode emailed to your phone in your country? How primitive...

This is what happens when you try to keep addicts from their fix.

Well since the train designs are stolen^H^H^H similar to the Japanese and German high speed trains, there must be relevent safety standards.

Someone also wasn' thinking when they made the charger for my Razer wireless mouse USB (I forget the model). When I am using the mouse the PC is on, so the charger is on... but the mouse is not in the cradle. When I stop using the mouse and put it back in the cradle to charge, the PC is off, so the charger is off...

I realise some PCs supply USB power when switched off, but I can't see any BIOS settings to allow it on mine.
So I have to use my wireless mouse in wired mode (at least that feature is a good idea).

My present employer is a healthy 40-ish man, I'm pretty sure he will survive more than 5 years, but is unlikely to outlast the sun...

But in order to be useful, the lasers will have to be focussed. That means the power will be high at the focal point, but low where it exits the lens/window into the engine. I would have thought that the entry point where the power is low will get dirty very quickly and block the beam.