POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Prehistoric dust Server Time
8 Oct 2024 21:08:00 EDT (-0400)
  Prehistoric dust (Message 121 to 130 of 145)  
<<< Previous 10 Messages Goto Latest 10 Messages Next 10 Messages >>>
From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 08:03:04
Message: <4bf524f8@news.povray.org>
Stephen wrote:

> Ha ha! You fell for it. :-P

I guess you think that's clever, eh?

Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while 
walking around Hull...


Post a reply to this message

From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 09:20:41
Message: <4bf53729$1@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 1:03 PM, Invisible wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
>
>> Ha ha! You fell for it. :-P
>
> I guess you think that's clever, eh?
>

Yes :-D

> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
> walking around Hull...


Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days about 
ten years ago.


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


Post a reply to this message

From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 11:46:57
Message: <4bf55971$1@news.povray.org>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 12:29:51 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 20/05/2010 4:45 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Maybe a holiday this year, the way the dollar is comparing against the
>> pound, it's looking like this could actually happen this year.:-)
>>
>>
> Keep us updated.

Shall do. :-)

Jim


Post a reply to this message

From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 11:48:44
Message: <4bf559dc$1@news.povray.org>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 09:33:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> That is the human condition.
>> 
>> Yeah, that's true enough.  Passivity is easy; activity is hard.  People
>> tend for the easy.
> 
> When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded
> amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly
> hard to find motivation...

BTDTGTTS.  Taking control takes effort, and it is/can be a trial-and-
error process.  Doesn't mean it's impossible.

> Required XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/187/

That's a good one and extremely relevant. :-)

Jim


Post a reply to this message

From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 13:16:39
Message: <4bf56e77$1@news.povray.org>
>> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
>> walking around Hull...
> 
> Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days about 
> ten years ago.

You'll notice I picked a city that I've actually visited...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


Post a reply to this message

From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 16:31:57
Message: <4bf59c3d@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 6:16 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
>>> walking around Hull...
>>
>> Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days
>> about ten years ago.
>
> You'll notice I picked a city that I've actually visited...
>

Sucker punch :-P


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


Post a reply to this message

From: John VanSickle
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 20:09:48
Message: <4bf5cf4c$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> I had always assumed that the first computers were like current 
> computers, just using relays or whatever instead of transistors, and 
> with vastly inferior specifications.

A lot of the theory behind information processing, and especially on 
finding the most efficient algorithm to accomplish a specific task, 
comes from this era.  When a single clock cycle of computer time costs 
enough money to show up on a balance sheet, efficiency in computing 
becomes something of interest.

> For that matter, does anybody have a broad timeline of when various 
> technologies were in use? What are the dates for things like core 
> memory, drum memory, punch cards, magnetic tape, relays, vacuum tubes, 
> transistors, ICs, etc?

In the early 80s my high school went and bought a card reader for use in 
quickly tallying input from the 2000+ students on things like student 
council elections and so forth.  They wanted me to help get the system 
going, but I never spent more than an hour or so with it.

The US military had 50s-era cryptologic equipment, using vacuum tubes 
and magnetic cores, in active service until the late 80s.  The 
transmitter and receiver together took up an entire equipment rack.  It 
was widely rumored among Air Force crypto technicians that the designer 
of the system had been committed to an insane asylum, and that nobody 
else fully understood how it worked.

Regards,
John


Post a reply to this message

From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:01:55
Message: <4bf5db83@news.povray.org>
On 05/20/10 00:31, scott wrote:
> Yep that happens here with all my Japanese colleagues (I think they have
> words for 10e4 and 10e8 there).  At first I just thought they were

	We have a word for 10e8 here. It's called "billion".


-- 
The meek shall inherit the dearth.


Post a reply to this message

From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:02:45
Message: <4bf5dbb5@news.povray.org>
On 05/19/10 09:51, Darren New wrote:
> scott wrote:
>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
> 
> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always

	Wow. Another one. I wonder how long this has been going on without
people noticing.

	I recently bugged a guy at work for doing this.


-- 
The meek shall inherit the dearth.


Post a reply to this message

From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:12:23
Message: <4bf5ddf7$1@news.povray.org>
Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 05/19/10 09:51, Darren New wrote:
>> scott wrote:
>>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
>> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always
> 
> 	Wow. Another one. I wonder how long this has been going on without
> people noticing.
> 
> 	I recently bugged a guy at work for doing this.

Heh. It's rather confusing to *me* when she starts talking about "there was 
at first a hundred thousand people, then a thousand thousand people!" and 
similar convolutions. We don't have a word for ten thousand as such, or I'm 
sure it would get even more confusing instead of just a pause while the 
translation goes on.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


Post a reply to this message

<<< Previous 10 Messages Goto Latest 10 Messages Next 10 Messages >>>

Copyright 2003-2023 Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.