And The Next Thing I Knew...
So, there was the Devil (or at least one of his associates) writing out my very own personal contract with an old-fashioned quill pen on parchment (I didn't ask what what he used for ink) and I was looking over his shoulder and pointed out that the word
wept is spelled w - e - p - t and not the rather quaint way he had it, and (rules are rules, you know) he had to tear the whole thing up and start again.
Good thing devils are immortal or they might lose their patience at times like this.
Of course, when I actually got the final copy, it read like a penis enlargement spam ("3-Inch-es E-x-t-r-a or Re-fund to YOU! nu kzf bt") only with penalty clauses and I suddenly realised I had pressing business elsewhere.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:49 AM
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Posted by: Ted at Monday, May 10 2004 09:00 AM (ZjSa7)
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Saturday, May 08
Everything New Is Old Again
Intel's forthcoming "Tejas" processor - a 64-bit version of the Pentium 4 - appears to have been cancelled, according to
these reports in
The Inquirer. Instead, Intel will concentrate on adding 64-bit goodness to its forthcoming
"Jonah",
"Conroe", and "Merom" processors, which will gradually replace the Pentium 4.
Now, the interesting thing is, all of these are descendants of the current Pentium M processors found in many notebook computers, often under the name "Centrino". And the Pentium M - although Intel do not publicise this - is really a modified version of the Pentium III.
Which in turn is a slightly modified version of the Pentium II.
Which is in turn is a slightly modified version of the Pentium Pro - which first appeared back in 1995.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Which is why I've only bought AMD for the last 4 years or so. Oh, and AMD's 64 bit capable processor... gee, it's actually already been on the market for some time, hasn't it? Good old Intel.
Posted by: Light & Dark at Monday, May 10 2004 01:10 AM (Hrm9v)
2
The architecture traces back to the 80386, and I would bet that there are minor details which go all the way back to the 8008.
Posted by: triticale at Friday, June 04 2004 02:36 PM (YmQkS)
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Friday, May 07
A Hat Full of Sky
New Terry Pratchett book. See you tomorrow.
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Not showing off or anything, but I met Terry once. Mrs M and I were on holidays in Queensland and this weird guy in a safari suit turned up. Didn't say much. On the final day in the car back another couple turned to him and told him how much they enjoy his work etc. Mrs M and I headed to a bookstore, saw the shelf devoted to him, and realised that plenty of books can't buy you a good safari suit.
Posted by: Simon at Tuesday, May 11 2004 01:28 AM (GWTmv)
2
Hi,
I wonder...Are we related?
I saw your Blog...Very Interesting..
I'm VJ Pixylight from Colorado USA...:) if we are BTW
Posted by: PixZ at Monday, July 05 2004 04:37 PM (vQE1o)
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Thursday, May 06
Moore's Law (b. 1965 d. 2004)
Somewhere between 130-nm and 90-nm the whole system fell apart. Things stopped working and nobody seemed to notice.
Scaling is already dead but nobody noticed it had stopped breathing and its lips had turned blue.
The problems were already apparent with the 130nm node, and there were hints even at 180nm, but now the awful truth can be told:
After 39 years, the free ride is finally over.
Now chip designers will have to work for a living.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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This has been predicted for a long time. I doubt anyone but the reporters were surprised, and they might just be hyping it up for the story.
Posted by: Ted at Friday, May 07 2004 07:49 AM (blNMI)
2
Wouldn't the speed of light act as a roadblock to processor speed? (That and material limits on the actual parts.)
Posted by: Patrick Chester at Saturday, May 08 2004 07:44 PM (MKaa5)
3
Twenty years ago they were expecting to hit a wall at something like ten microns.
Posted by: triticale at Monday, May 10 2004 08:49 PM (g8I6B)
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Wednesday, May 05
La Confuzzlement
The Confusion, which constitutes books 4 and 5 of Neal Stephenson's
Baroque Cycle (
Quicksilver being books 1 through 3), is a rather better-written and more cohesive work than its predecessor.
Indeed, in many ways it is clear that the main purpose of Quicksilver was to set the scene for The Confusion and the concluding volume (to come), The System of the World. A 900-page introduction is still rather on the wordy side, but I agree with what others have said: That The Confusion retroactively improves Quicksilver; and indeed, the way the ending of the former points towards the opening of the latter (and yes, I meant it that way) is rather neat.
In fact, I am now even willing to give Cryptonomicon another go.
(Neal Stephenson's web site, on the other hand, sucks.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Really? I thought the India and Mexico bits were kind of slow and silly, although I still liked the book. I suppose it was because it felt as if Stephenson's shaggy-dog-story habits were closer to the surface than he usually got with the Turkish and European sections.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Wednesday, May 05 2004 08:47 AM (tVSJJ)
2
Yes, but this time you didn't have to wade through 30-page wads of 17th-century epistlery to get to the good bits. Only a third of
The Confusion needs to be edited out, rather than (as in the case of
Quicksilver) one half.
Sometimes I'm in the mood for a wandering tale like this, but even then
Quicksilver pushed my limits.
I think this one was more of a story, and less trying-to-be-important, which was why I liked it. That and the endless pages of letters in Q. Still, I'd love to see what a writer with, say, Fritz Leiber's skill could have done with the tale.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, May 05 2004 08:58 AM (+S1Ft)
3
Personally I love Stephenson, and at least in part because of the digressions rather than in spite of them. They add character to the story, in my mind. The opposite would be someone like China Mieville (also highly recommended, especially if you like steampunk) who paints in broad strokes and very rarely gives you more than a hint of what he is talking about.
Amazon UK has eaten my copy of Q, so I have no opinion on that as of yet, but I have read most of the rest of the Stephenson canon, and like the later, more prone to digression books more than the earlier ones.
Posted by: Dominic at Thursday, May 06 2004 10:04 AM (0h0BM)
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Tuesday, May 04
I Aten't Dead
Quite.
Ambient Irony should return to it's irregular schedule around about Thursday.
Until then, I leave you with this selection of fine reading:
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Just don't share minds with the birds too long, you might think you are one.
Posted by: tommy at Tuesday, May 04 2004 10:34 AM (v0EoW)
2
...hey, Pixy.. when you gonna help me move?.. I'm sure my entrance visa is about to run out...
Posted by: Eric at Tuesday, May 04 2004 07:25 PM (Py0cM)
3
I've pulled two out of your caldron of blogsites.Thanks for the expansion...Enjoy your hiatus!
Posted by: LOIQ at Wednesday, May 05 2004 02:38 AM (S5E7y)
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Sunday, May 02
Slowsilver
Just finished reading
Quicksilver.
My take: Far too long. Stephenson needs to be ruthlessly edited. Or, you can take the view that it's not a novel, but a collection of short stories and essays, in which case it still needs to be ruthlessly edited.
It's a decent book, and interesting, but it would be a much better book if there was less of it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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I would to agree. Normally, I tear through anything written by Neal Stephenson. Quicksilver, however, is taking me forever. I got the book for Christmas. I'm on page 847, almost done. Anyone who knows me would realize something isn't right.
I've read several other books at the same time and am currently finishing up "1634: The Galileo Affair".
Posted by: Rossz at Monday, May 03 2004 01:00 AM (n5Jbg)
2
Funny, I say that about certain movies....
Posted by: Susie at Monday, May 03 2004 11:36 AM (qnxUP)
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Saturday, May 01
now that i am flu nebraska
Has anyone else noticed that the subject lines in spam are trending towards the surreal? Or is it just me?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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No they are deffinatly getting weird, Maybe they are running out of things to put that will get past anti spam progs. Heres hopeing.
Posted by: Jeremy at Saturday, May 01 2004 12:58 PM (FTWUX)
2
It seems like they're using random word assignments from a "healthy" list. I think they're trying to high weight the emails against Bayesian filters.
Posted by: Jim at Saturday, May 01 2004 01:06 PM (IOwam)
3
If your spam actually achieves the heady status of "surreal", then you're getting a higher grade of electronic pork than I. Mine is word soup, lightly seasoned with obscenities and virii.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Saturday, May 01 2004 10:26 PM (/fXAT)
4
If these mico-messages are meant to entice me, it's not working.Ive gotten something like: Kwiddlyzerp.../ Pundit Mrusn../ and such.DELETE.DELETE.
Posted by: LOIQ at Sunday, May 02 2004 06:35 AM (S5E7y)
5
I meant micro-messages.
Posted by: LOIQ at Sunday, May 02 2004 06:37 AM (S5E7y)
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