We got two of these in the office today. Supposedly, multiple units can be linked together to form a single-system-image with X times the number of processors, RAM, et cetera. But even one of these guys is insanely powerful. That said, I’m sure we’ll find a way for Oracle to bring the pain…
I friggin’ love the fact that this guy is a Flyer. Many people think Peyton Manning is “funny,” but the truth is he can’t hold a candle to Chris Pronger. As for what he’s responding to, it’s this moron who might never play a game in the majors again.
A great read about a very impressive car from an engineering perspective. If I were in the market for a ultra-luxury car, this is almost certainly what I’d get, mostly because it’s a truly great car available at an absolute fire sale price, but also because it’s quite possibly the least ostentatious vehicle in its class.
…which reminds me of the sheer number of BMWs and Lexuses (Lexi?) in my area, most of which are bought more for the badge than any kind of intrinsic satisfaction to be had by driving or riding in one.
In being a huge car nut since I subscribed myself to Motor Trend when I was 9 years old, I’ve gotten to know quite a bit about cars, in most every aspect, including engines. Whether they’re a regular old OHV engine, or an OHC (or, in the case of the flat-4 in my Subaru, two side cams, hah) engine. Whether it has variable valve timing. Whether it’s naturally aspirated, turbocharged, or supercharged. Et cetera.
And one of the other things I notice is whether an engine uses a timing belt or a timing chain. Generally speaking, timing chains are perceived as being better, but why? They generally don’t require maintenance or replacement, as belts do. Or do they? My first car—a 1990 Nissan 240SX—had a timing chain. Said timing chain destroyed its first engine (or at least the engine that was in it when I bought it) when the tensioner failed and allowed the chain to rattle against the front cover of the engine, which had coolant passages in it, which led to coolant in the oil, which led to the bearings on the crank seizing up. I put a rebuilt engine in, and the tensioner on that one failed too, and needed replacement. Likewise, I’ve heard of issues with the tensioners on the F20C in the Honda S2000, and I was just reading about issues certain B6 S4s have with their tensioners.
In short, despite their supposed superiority and lack of “required” maintenance, I see no real advantage to chains over belts. They’re each pretty likely to cost you a fair amount of money: It’s just that in one case, it’s a generally-accepted aspect of ownership, whereas it seems to surprise the owners of cars with chains.
Of course, you could just say screw it and get a car with a rotary engine. In that case, I trust you’ll learn to love apex seals…
I saw this article on Digg a few days ago, and couldn’t wait to read it, mainly because I’ve read a lot about Apple’s history, and the first post-Jobs period was/is particularly interesting. I was hoping to gain some more insight into what was going on at the time, but from what I’ve read, this is just a puff piece blowing smoke up The Turtleneck’s ass.
If Apple Confidential is to be trusted, Steve Jobs actually tried to get Sculley fired while he (Sculley) was on a business trip. If it weren’t for Jean-Louis Gassée informing Sculley of Jobs’ plan, Jobs may have never “left” Apple. Again, if the book is accurate, Sculley returned, and had the board choose sides. Ironically, Jobs got his revenge over a decade later when he managed to sell his company back to Apple when Gassée was trying to do the very same thing.
Anyway, looking at the decision as a mistake is looking at it with glasses that are very much rose in color. Almost all the stories you read about Jobs from back then make him out to be a real asshole, and I don’t doubt that he was (and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he still is). There are lots of suggestions that he was vehemently hated by numerous Apple employees, and he seemed to hurt rather than help any project he “became involved” (i.e., forced himself into a management position), based on what I’ve read. In short, Apple may have been worse off had Jobs hung around, but this article completely dismisses that possibility, or so it seems.
Owning your own domain is the only way to go. Proud “owner” of mine since 2000 (when I was 15, hah)…
It seems like every few months I hit a new milestone with this one.
[elbles@firewall ~]$ uptime
21:48:53 up 1096 days, 11:30, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
From procinfo:
Bootup: Sat May 26 10:18:26 2007
I kind of want to replace it, and the UPS it’s on needs its batteries replaced at some point in the next couple months. But when it’s run this long, you just don’t want to kill it yourself…
There has been much made of the latest iPhone on Verizon rumors. But I still feel like something doesn’t make sense.
Granted, AT&T’s network sucks compared to Verizon’s, in terms of coverage. As someone who lives not in NYC nor California, I can tell you that AT&T’s network is 100% on par…
You’re missing nothing, you’re exactly right. There’s probably no business reason for Apple to offer the iPhone on a network other than AT&T, partially due to how fanatical Apple nut jobs are (and I’m certainly not calling you one of them, at least in this case, hah). I’m sure there’s people on AT&T just so they can have iPhones, and they put up with how bad the service can be (when they’re off the beaten path, as you put it). Would they switch to Verizon if the iPhone came out on that network? Quite possibly. But would they switch away from the iPhone to get on a better network? Almost certainly not. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Even if I thought the iPhone was vastly superior to its competition (and I don’t), I wouldn’t let my phone dictate my network. But plenty of people do…
Apple knows this, and if they’re smart, they’ll use this knowledge to grab AT&T by the balls. “Give us more money, or we create a iPhone on Verizon.” The almighty turtleneck has spoken.
“Richards tried to scoot in there alone, Halak way out of the net, it pinballs to the crease, score!!!!!!” - I’ve probably watched this video 20 times since the game ended. I could watch it a million times more. Way to go Flyers!
P.S.: Please, I know it’s a lot to ask, but just four more wins, please!
I work down by Yale, and with their commencement going on tomorrow, and my own graduation (which I didn’t actually attend, for what it’s worth) having occurred a little over a year ago, it got me thinking about college once again. Since I’ve already said here and elsewhere what a worthless experience it was, I won’t harp on that right now. Especially since I probably did enough to depress anyone reading this with my commencement songs post. Instead, it’s time to talk what I miss about college.
First and foremost, I miss the copious amounts of sleep. My last semester of college, I had to be up before 11 two days a week. The semester before that, I only had classes two days a week (albeit 5 straight classes, the poor thing that I was). Now, as a member of the real world, I’m up at 6 AM five days a week, out of the house a little before 7, and home usually a little before 7 at night. I’m not complaining about that, as it’s just the way things are. But I definitely miss all the sleep. Best aspect of college by far.
Other than that, I can’t think of much else I’m missing. I’m learning quite a bit on the job, which I enjoy. I’m surrounded by people my own age, so I’m not really missing out there either. I sure as hell don’t miss the top two recreational activities being drunken football, and, well, just drinking yourself into a coma.
I know a lot of people graduate from college, and go on for a few years missing it, trying to relive it, or both. Me, I’m happy just to have moved on. That said, if I could go back to school at any given point in time, I’d pick high school long before college…
