A Million People Can Call the Mountains a Fiction

I think this sets the perfect tone.

A Lesson Wherein The Protagonist Learns Why 4 = 3

I have 4GB of memory for my computer. 4 Gleaming, shiny artistically designed, deep green, heat sink enshrouded memory chips. This is cool. However, A mystery appears.

When I power up the computer, it does a physical memory check and says it sees 4GB. Good. When it's up and running however, I look ask taskmon and clearly see only 3GB allocated. Nost so good. My page file is 3145196K and my total Limit is 6126444K. Very nice, but not 4GB.

Assuming a hardware problem, I dicked around a while in the case and convinced myself I figured out that one of the chips was bad. [Red Flag: it seemed to be the last oneI tested]. I ordered a new chip. It came yesterday, and I installed it this morning. I was excited because, well, I paided for 4GB and damn it, I want 4GB (despite teh fact I'll never use it all). Closed the case, powered up, BIOS check saw 4GB, started windows, and...... 3GB

Jesus McFuck

It's got to be the OS. Googgle, google, sure enough:
The range of an address space is defined by the native word size of the operating system. For Windows NT based systems, this value has a size of 32 bits, which corresponds to an address space of 2^32 bytes or approximately 4 gigabytes of memory. Thus, all processes on Windows NT platforms are limited to having access to only 4 gigabytes of memory (This limit will be expanded to a range of 2^64, with the introduction of Win64 platforms in the future).This is not the only limitation placed on processes on Windows platforms, though. System addresses are mapped into this address space, so the available address space is further reduced. The amount of address space is utilized by the system is dependent on the version of Windows NT being used. For Windows NT and 2000 Workstation and some versions of Windows NT Server, the upper 2 gigabytes of the address space is reserved for the system. This leaves only 2 gigabytes available to the process for use. For certain Windows Server-class systems (including versions of NT/2000/2003 Server and also Windows XP Professional), the system can be configured such that only the upper 1 gigabyte of the address space is reserved for the system, leaving 3 gigabytes of address space available for use by the process. These limitations are summarized in the following table. (Please consult your system administrator, system documentation or Microsoft for information about configuring your system to use more than 2 GB of memory for process use.)
Operating System
Available Address Space
Windows NT Workstation and Windows Server-class systems
2 Gigabytes
Certain Windows Server-class systems (including NT/2000/2003 Server and XP Professional)
3 GigabytesTo the best of our knowledge, Windows XP also has these same limits. As you will read below, IDL, as a window-based application, does not have access to this full 2 - 3 GB in one contiguous block.SolutionThe only solution for this type of limitation is for the operating system to change. For Windows, a user could move to Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition (or other systems mentioned above) or a 64 bit version of Windows. Of course, a user could also try another platform such as Linux (32-bit) or Solaris (64-bit).

I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I go back to Solaris. There *must* be some tweak I can pull to get the memory count up.
Technically, I have 4GB available, but 1GB is reserved for the OS. It does explain why the system is so damn fast, but ... I want my memory!

Damn those facist Redmond bastards aand their, "I know what's best for you mentaility"!

Know Your Demographic: Males 16-35

Clever

Weeds
To advertise comedy "Weeds", there was created a billboard that had attached three 6-foot high bags filled with giant sandwiches and massive prop marijuana. This latter billboard had a security camera trained upon it and when inevitably the marijuana was stolen, the footage was released as a viral video which received 50,000 views and wide-spread press coverage.
Video 1, Video 2.

Political Science Thesis

with references!
Check this out

1. Eco and textual materialism

“Consciousness is part of the stasis of art,” says Debord. In a sense, in The Name of the Rose, Eco reiterates the subcultural paradigm of discourse; in Foucault’s Pendulum, however, he analyses Sontagist camp.
The characteristic theme of Drucker’s[1] analysis of the subcultural paradigm of discourse is the paradigm, and eventually the economy, of textual sexuality. Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the common ground between class and art. Thus, the example of postcultural narrative depicted in Eco’s The Island of the Day Before emerges again in The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, although in a more textual sense.
Lacan promotes the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to read and modify sexual identity. It could be said that Wilson[2] suggests that we have to choose between Sontagist camp and constructivist desituationism.
Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the fatal flaw, and subsequent genre, of postcultural consciousness. However, the subject is interpolated into a Sontagist camp that includes culture as a totality.
Several theories concerning patriarchial feminism exist. Therefore, Baudrillard suggests the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to deconstruct capitalism.

Battle of the Pointless Views!

Yup, this is what it looks like to me.

Oldie, but Goodie

Last year Geoff and I filled out half of a scientologist's survey. It's actually pretty amusing.

Geoff, when are we going to finish this?

Something I Didn't Know

This is kind of interesting:

Scientists are trying to stop fetal sharks from eating each other in the womb. A mother gray nurse shark carries 40 or so embryos in her two wombs. But once an embryo develops jaws, it starts eating its siblings. Results: 1) Only one embryo survives in each womb. 2) The species is endangered. Solution: Scientists are developing "artificial uteruses" so each embryo can grow without being eaten by others. Crunchy spin: We're saving another of nature's creatures. Extra crunchy spin: This shark's been around for 70 million years. Don't you think nature knows what it's doing? Anti-crunchy spin: This is even dumber than paroling repeat felons.

#include STD_Yuppie_Bashing_Joke.h

New Art

It's been awhile, but I finally finished a piece I've been working on for a few months now. Actually, it turned out to be 2 pieces and may eventually wind up as four.

This one is done, and is in a different mode than I usually use. More "artsy" but I really like it.

Seattle One

This one is a late draft, but not yet complete. It's what I imagine *should* happen every time I see the space needle.

Seattle Two

Constructive criticism is alway welcome.

No Really, I Thought this Was a Joke

They are kidding, right?

Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.
The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.
``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."

So they think what? Human children are like baby birds? That they can't tell the difference? This seems shallow, stupid and little mean.

And what happens when the parent comes home? It could freak the kids out! It could break down their sense of reality!

Besides, it will make Wire Mommy very angry.

More Pluto

I keep getting email about Pluto and planets. Let me clear this up. As an example, lets compare 3 objects against the IAU criteria and see how they classify: The International Space Station, Earth and Pluto

1) does it orbit the Sun?

ISS: orbits NASA funding source
Earth: Orbits Sun
Pluto: Orbits Sun most of the time, stops by Neptune for chinese take-out every now and then

2) Does it clear it's neighborhood of debies?

ISS: Cans and newspapers in yard, rusted '76 firebird in driveway
Earth: Has large Moon, many satellites, Counter-Earth on opposite side of Sun but otherwise free of debris
Pluto: Neptune constantly sweeping up Pluto poop and storing in sanitary bag

3) Does it have sufficient mass to overcome rigid body forces and become sphereical?
ISS: Good god, lets hope not! There are people in there!
Earth: Round, firm, fully-packed
Pluto: Round but with limited parking

4) Would Galactus eat it?

ISS: No, ISS would get caught under front bridgework and under crowns
Earth: Packed with donut-stuffed americans and germans! Yum!
Pluto: Yes, but it's 30K above absolute zero and would stick to his tounge like a popscile from a cold freezer. Not so good.

Conclusion: ISS: Not a planet, Earth: Planet, Pluto: frozen taste treat for world-devouring cosmic force.

“…My kidney belongs to Christ. It will never be Pagan.”

Amazing.
“TUPELO — Aleta Smith, who donated her kidney to a 20-year-old college student last year, wants it back now that the student has changed religions.Smith, a self-described “on-fire Christian,” gave her kidney to Hannah Felks, a Lutheran and regular Christian camp counselor, last year after seeing Felks on the local news.“She was going to die unless she got a kidney,” Smith says, sitting on the porch at her home. “They portrayed her as this nice Christian girl who works with kids. I saw it as a great opportunity to help a sister in the Lord.”The surgery grabbed headlines and Smith was lauded for her selflessness. But shortly after the surgery, Felks embarked on a “spiritual journey” to try out other religions, and settled on a blend of Pagan and Hindu beliefs.“I wanted to get away from the belief system I was raised in and find the truth for myself,” she says. She took a semester off to travel the world visiting spiritualists on three continents.Smith was aghast when she heard of the conversion, and she quickly wrote a letter asking Felks to re-convert to Christianity or return the organ, saying it was donated under false pretenses.“I feel helpless,” she says. “Part of my body, my DNA, is stuck inside a person who’s going to hell.”Smith suffers nightmares of her former organ filtering “strange Asian teas, pig blood and witch doctor brews in Africa,” she says. She wonders if the Lord really wanted her to donate the kidney, or if she acted on a “triple-espresso high” she had that morning. She is also concerned that when her body is resurrected, it might be incomplete.Felks frets that Smith is an “Indian giver,” and says religious affiliation was never an issue.“The kidney’s working fine,” Felks said by phone from Thailand. “I feel bad for Aleta. She did something wonderful for me, but that doesn’t mean she gets to control my life.”In the meantime, Smith has alerted several dozen prayer chains, and her women’s Bible study group is praying 12 hours a day for the re-conversion of Felks — and Smith’s former kidney.“I’m all for spiritual curiosity,” she says, “but you’ve got to settle these things beforehand…”

As with most Christian religions, it all about control. I also find it interesting that the person in question can happily and without dissonance believe her actions were either inspired "by God" or by a "triple espresso". In neither case does she believe her actions are her own.
(via)

OctoParrot

This is very, very amusing. I wish I were this good at PhotoShop, or at genetics.

Square Orbits

Why do some galaxies have barred centers?

Because the stars at the center are in an orbit which closely approximates a square. It a not-all-that-uncommon solution to the restricted three body problem.

Edit: I started to do some drawing for how this works but, of course, the web knows all. Here is a treatment done much better than mine of some of the complicated shapes an orbit can assume in the 3-body problem. One bar producing solution is the Ice Cream Spoon orbit

Unfortunately, the orbits themselves aren't all that stable. What you see in a galatic bar is a statisitical sample of a large number of stars, most of which spend some of their time in a bar-like orbit, but none permanently so.

The best analogy in every day life for square orbits is the Tilt-A-Whirl. There is a central point point around which the arms orbit, and a second point further out around which the cars rotate.
If the central rotation were off, but the roation of the cars was on, you'd just spin in circles. Add it the central roation though, and you get a little circle, swinging around the end of a great big circle. The result is a pattern that, for large parts of the motion, is a nearly straight line followed by corners of high curvature (and high g-forces!). The pattern of this motion strongly resembles the orbits of galactic bar stars.


Which, all in all, is pretty cool. And, these kinds of orbits are not limited to squares. In general almost any polyhedreon can be simulated with the right set of masses and forces, although orbital stability in the general case is not assured.

Except Yours Of Course

From the viewpoint of the outsider, every religion looks pretty silly or awful:


A little heavy handed. I dont see this as persuasive so much as in the category of "feeling good about a decision you have already made, not adding anything new, and making fun of the people you disagree with"

This must be what it feels like for those people who read Instapundit. Except with more words.

(Heh! Watch the whole thing)

Pluto

I'd find it hard to care any less than I already do that Pluto got moved to "dwarf Planet" status. It's had the same impact on my life as say, finding out that owners of Walt Disney's Cryotube have switched from regular liquid nitrogen coolant to decaf.

What kind of Training? Army Training, Sir!

I have avoided posting this, in part because I thought I might be able to change things, and in part because I wanted to avoid dealing with it.

Geoff has finally managed to cajole his way into the Army. He is canceling his co-op work and starting ROTC next semester, joining for 2 more years after he graduates in June 2008. Short of poisoning him and causing him to have a massive asthma attack, there is little I can do to change this course of events.

I’m happy for him in that he’s found a way to do what he wants to do in a way which will make him happy. I am… somewhat less than thrilled that he’s risking his life in a war started for the sole purpose of expanding presidential authority, but it’s his choice.

My advice to him was this, “Negotiate your position up front. Tell them you’ll join but you want to come in as a Major. Now, in the back of your head, be prepared to take Captain or something. Do they still have Sergeant Major?”

“Dad…They..”

“I’m just saying! It much harder to negotiate after you’ve signed a contract. Do the work up front. You wont regret it it”

“No Dad. I will be a second Lieutenant. That’s how it works”

“Screw that! That how it works for other folks. Negotiate now!”

“No. It’s non-negotiable”

“Really?”

“Yes”

“Oh. Then we’ll go with plan B. I’ll get the paper work started”

“No! What’s plan B? What paper work? No! No!”

“You can’t say ‘No’ before you hear the plan!”

“I can with your plans Dad”

“I’m not sacrificing my only son to presidential power-grabs…”

“Fine! Fine! Not again with this! What’s your plan?”
“It’s simple! We’re going to change your name!”

“No!”

“ You’ll like it, it’s very clever!”

“No!”

“Very clever…!!”

”Change it to what?”

“Colonel Powers”

“I told you I can’t be a Colonel! I’ll be a lieutenant.”

“Yes!, but yout first name will be Colonel! They will call you Lieutenant Colonel Powers! Then later, Major Colonel Powers, then Colonel Colonel…”

“Dad! No!”

"Why not? That one guy chnages his name to Optimus Prime for Christ's sake!"

"... you have a valid point but ..."

“Oh! Wait! Forget that! I have a better idea! We’ll change it to General Relativity! That works even better!”

We debated this pros and cons’ of this a while longer. The name change will not be occurring immediately, but I am still hopeful.

It Brings All the Boys to the Yard

And they're like, it's better than yours.



Damn right! It's better than yours!

Rolling My Own

My current computer is almost 4 years old (which nearly 106 in human years!). Moore’s Law seems to have broken down, so there hasn’t been the usual pressure to buy a new machine. My current server is a 3GHz Powerspec box with a lot of trimmings, 1GB mem, 600GB storage, Nvidia 7300 graphics card etc. Not bad at all by current standards, but not the powerhouse it was in 2003. Given the processor speeds are “supposed” to double every 18 months, I expected to be at 10-12 Ghz now. Instead processor speeds are still hovering between 3-5Ghz for single core systems. There are many reasons for this, but from a physics point of view, I suspect the pseudo-optic limit has finally reared it’s head and quashed further progress . The limit occurs when the frequency of electronic signals (usually in the 10s of GHz) implies a wavelength which starts to be of scale with electronics themselves, i.e. the point where things are fast enough that you need to switch from wires to wavesguides.

Intel came out with their new Duo technology which effectively skirts the issue by adding a multiple processors linked together through a high speed bus. This has a number of architectural advantages for multiapplication systems, although 2 3Ghz chips put together is not the same performance as a single 6Ghz chip. There are volumes of reasons for this, but the new technology is pretty good.

In my usual way, I designed up a state of the art system with new process, lots of memory plenty of disk space, a top-of-the-line graphics card etc.
Net cost for the system (via Dell, Gateway and HP) ~$5000

My reaction: “hmm… that’s kind of higher than I wanted to pay”
Geoff’s reaction, “No way! You’re out of your fucking mind! I *need* that money!”

So I challenged Geoff to come up with a spec that met all my criteria for less.
And… he did!
The catch: I have to assemble it myself. From scratch.
Now I haven’t actually done this since …. 1998. A while.
Can I? Probably? Should I? Definitely!
Cost of Geoff’s spec (with 2 day shipping) ~$2500

So, I am going to build a PC sometime in the next few weeks.
Spec below: I’m looking for comments or (god forbid) mistakes of commission/omission

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115002

Processor Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134

Memory:
2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146118

Power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163109

Harddrives:
3x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144423

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133138

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143066

Sound Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102190

DVD:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

How Big is the Earth?

Delightful illustration from a co-worker:

The Armor of God

This is eventually going to cost you or your children (or more likely Blue Cross/Blue Shield) quite a bit at $100/hour as they explain to the therapist, "yeah, my parents dressed me up in felt armor every night to make me feel better. Why do you ask Doc? Do you think that has anything to do with me being a Furry?"