Paul@13: actually, it does. Mersenne primes are all of the form 2^N-1, by definition. So every Mersenne prime is the largest possible number representable in N-1 bits (unsigned) or N bits (signed).
There are of course numbers of the form 2^N-1 which are not prime, Mersenne or otherwise. So it's only a one-way implication. But it is nevertheless wrong to say that the two facts are unrelated.
Paul@13: actually, it does. Mersenne primes are all of the form 2^N-1, by definition. So every Mersenne prime is the largest possible number representable in N-1 bits (unsigned) or N bits (signed).
There are of course numbers of the form 2^N-1 which are not prime, Mersenne or otherwise. So it's only a one-way implication. But it is nevertheless wrong to say that the two facts are unrelated.
I didn't know what a Sawyer kit was, so I clicked the link. Looks useful. But I find the Amazon "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" list amusing:
1. The Extractor (the main component of the Sawyer kit, by itself)
2. Premium Snake Bite Kit
3. Snake Bite Kit (not so premium, I guess)
4. Coghlan's Snake Bite Kit
5. "Iron Man" DVD (yeah, the Robert Downey Jr. flick)
So I guess after the snake bite kits the next step is to don a suit of armor so you don't get bit again?
Hey, R. M. Koske . . . are you who I think you are? Rather intimately acquainted with a gentleman who uses the sobriquet Krenath?
Uhm, nuclear end-of-the-world stories? _Alas,_Babylon_ anyone?
Note that the even Global Unity Dates from April on (4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12) all fall on the same day of the week as each other in any given year. This coincidence handles a big chunk of the memorization required for John H. Conway's "Doomsday" technique for calculating the day of the week for any date.
I'm impressed by the obscurity of the article title; "Justa Lotta Animals" are/were meta-fictional constructs within the fictional universe of Captain Carrot, which is already not exactly the most well-known of comic franchises. :)
Third Age of Innocence
The Heart of a Lonely Mountain
Durin One Night
Rune
Ringing in the Dain
I really like "The Beorn Identity" series. "Borin" also works...
Just for pure geek factor:
Eredor Dwarf: Smaug Ups
It could just be an attempt to be more universally understandable. IME, Brits are confused by the American use of "whine" to mean "whinge"; engines whine, people don't.
Or maybe it's just a case of wanting greater precision. I do personally tend to adopt terminology from various jargons and dialects if it makes a convenient distinction that avoids either ambiguity or long strings of modifiers in regular ol' 'Merkan English...
Cinco de Mayo is important because it's my birthday. :) But also because the Battle of Puebla had importance that went beyond that war. If Napoleon III had manged to march on through Mexico more quickly, he was going to go reinforce the Confederates up north. The Civil War might have had a different outcome if not for the Mexicans at Puebla...
The two interpretations both occurred to me before I clicked through to read the actual article - so I was curious which one it would be.
Incidentally, all three panel sets were new to me, though I am a lifelong comic book fan. So thanks!
It seems I was wrong about how well I did; the wrong spellings were just so ingrained that I failed to notice them when correcting my list! In addition to the acknowledged "desiccate" (which I spelled "dessicate"), add me to the list of folks who thought there was an N in "restaurateur" and an -or in "socerer". I also put an extra "e" in "jejune" ("jejeune"). So much for my bright future in copy-editing. :)
I also side with those who feel that "supersede" should be spelled "supercede", but I capitulated to the majority spelling back in high school. (But as long as the alternative spelling is listed in dictionaries, it's still an "adaptor" and not an "adapter", dammit. :))
Definitely should add "minuscule" to the list.
debcha@158: I'm curious, what other meaning of "calendar" is there? I know of only one. Perhaps the word "colander" sounds the same in your dialect of English? They're quite distinct the way I say 'em...
Hm. I think I might have a future in proofreading. The only one of those I got wrong (by having my lovely wife read the list aloud while I wrote) was "desiccate", which I have now added to my mental exceptions list.
The OED clearly has no clue what words people even bother to try to spell when actually, y'know, using the language. :)
galloglass's instructions worked fine here. No idea Word could do that sort of thing. Though simple wildcards with captures is an odd combination to me..
Oh. My. Goodness.
Out of all that shining brilliance, it is somewhat disturbing that what stands out for me is "The Naming of Dogs", which is a bit fluffier than Mike's other works, but an amazing piece of doggerel (ahem) nonetheless.
This is why we miss this man...
I hate that Jim Samples had to step down because of this nonsense. It should have been the Boston Police Chief who lost his job, not the Cartoon CEO.
"With great power comes great responsibility" is, by itself, an accurate and admirable admonition. It's certainly not an invitation to use said power for extralegal justice - even if that's essentially what Spider-Man winds up doing. (Though it's also worth noting that he only fights those who fight first, and he doesn't kill or maim - or rape - but trusses them up for the police afterward. His safety record in that regard would be much harder to maintain in real life, of course.)
I'm not sure the pervasive meme is that violence is a necessary evil, so much as that it's to some degree inevitable. There's a subtle but important difference in attitude there, even if the end result is the same (acceptance due to fatalism being acceptance nonetheless).
Also, regardless of how prevalent rape actually is in prison, its threat certainly adds to the deterrent value. Having the CSI guys capitalize on that is thus natural and realistic . . . which are two adjectives that don't come up often in conjunction with that show. :)
Slightly off-topic, but as a relative newcomer to this blog, I hadn't seen the "Common Fraud" post until you linked it here. As I posted there (before realizing belatedly that I was posting on an old thread and hence would likely go unheard), I found the stuff on "tort reform" fascinating and informative, and was wondering if you know of any similarly useful references on "immigration reform"? Most of the websites I've found seem to shout "PROTECT US FROM THE MARAUDING HORDES!", while a relative few acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, the problem is a little more complex, but don't seem to offer any insight into that complexity.
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