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The World Champion largest number, listed in the latest Guinness Book of Records, is an upper bound, derived by R. L. Graham, from a problem in a part of combinatorics called Ramsey theory. Graham’s number cannot be expressed using the conventional notation of powers, and powers of powers. If all the material in the universe were turned into pen and ink it would not be enough to write the number down. Consequently, this special notation, devised by Donald Knuth, is necessary. 3^3 means ‘3 cubed’, as it often does in computer printouts. 3^^3 means 3^(3^3), or 3^27, which is already...

ATLANTA, GA—CDC officials have released official guidelines and recommendations for activity during the pandemic. At the top of the list is a request for people to stop giving them wedgies every time they pass them on the street. "You all need to stop this immature behavior right now!" said CDC official Mortimer Herbie Jr. as he adjusted his glasses and retainer. "Also, stop shoving us in lockers and giving us swirlies and grabbing us by our ankles and shaking us upside down until our lunch money falls out! This is NOT cool you guys!"

Around 1:30 in the morning of Nov. 4, when I went to bed, Trump was leading in the vote count in two Midwest swing states I was closely watching, Wisconsin — about 2%, and Michigan — about 3%, well on his way to an "unexpected" election victory nationwide. Around 4:30 A.M., I woke early and decided to catch up on the election results on my iPhone, being careful not to wake my wife. Imagine my surprise to see that, overnight, Trump's lead had shrunk to less than 1% in Wisconsin and about 1.5% in Michigan. But what really startled me...

...Another project, Forecasting Religiosity and Existential Security with an Agent-Based Model, examines questions about nonbelief: Why aren’t there more atheists? Why is America secularizing at a slower rate than Western Europe? Which conditions would speed up the process of secularization—or, conversely, make a population more religious? {snip} ….Using a separate model, Future of Religion and Secular Transitions (FOREST), the team found that people tend to secularize when four factors are present: existential security (you have enough money and food), personal freedom (you’re free to choose whether to believe or not), pluralism (you have a welcoming attitude to diversity), and education...

During this summer’s D23 Expo 2017, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Bob Chapek revealed a richly detailed scale model of the Star Wars-themed lands slated for Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. The expansions will officially be called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. If all that wasn’t enough for fans to begin booking their next Disney getaway, Chapek also took the wraps off the long-rumored Star Wars-themed resort. With enough fresh info to fill the Millennium Falcon‘s cargo hold, we made like Bothan spies and carefully collected all new and existing intel for your reference. For details...

I am blessed to be running Windows 10 Version 10.0.10586, Build 10586, and have customized it a quite a bit, but under power management (powercfg.cpl) there are processor settings which i never saw before, though i have been there before and adjusted things. " I am looking for for Max performance (and still be able to Sleep), and made sure the Max. CPU state is 100%, but wondered what the best would be for the rest. I have searched the Internet for the best settings for these new options but saw nothing yet. Feel free to chip in (pun not...

I just couldn't resist this:

Silicon Valley and the GOP — together at last? That may seem like a peculiar proposition given all the public soul-searching and dirge-singing since Election Day over the digital failure of Republicans in modern campaigning. But a blast of cheerful California sunshine may be starting to light the way in the form of an underground gang of young, conservative hackers in the Valley assembling via a communal Google Document to brainstorm about what they can do to save the party from the clutches of tech-phobic leaders. “There’s this myth that there aren’t any Republicans out here who are willing to...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lost another high-profile supporter as Anonymous, the hacking collective, said the whistleblowing site had been “ruined by egos”. Anonymous, a loose group of internet “hacktivists”, has been one of WikiLeaks’ closest allies during the past two years, launching cyber attacks against the site’s opponents and, some claim, becoming a source of its material. ...But leading Anonymous accounts on Twitter, which rallied behind WikiLeaks and Mr Assange despite his legal and financial woes, have now withdrawn their support, decrying the freedom-of-information project as a “One Man Julian Assange show”. Calling the split “the end of an...

I was wondering if anyone knows how to slow down a processor without mucking things up too badly? I have a few older video games (D&D - Pools of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, etc...) that we used to play on an old 486 Commodore computer. I want to play them again, but my processor runs way too fast for the game, making it nearly impossible to play. My brother once told me about some program that is supposed to bog your processor down to slow it (some kind of looping program), but that...

If smelling gasoline weren't a health hazard enough, meet the girl who drinks it. Lifting a red gas canister before the cameras, a girl named Shannon demonstrates her claimed addiction of drinking gasoline for TLC'S television program My Strange Addiction. 'It tingles at first and then it, it burns the back of my throat,' Shannon says describing her toxic habit which reaches up to 12 teaspoons a day. 'Even though it hurts me, it makes me feel good,' she says, of either licking the cap or drinking it straight out of the canister which she says is her favorite way.

Opinions? PC tech mystery Last week my hard working Sony VGC RA840G PC (circa 2005), 2.8ghz, 3gb ram, under XP media center (a gift), which came with a hard-to-ID mobo (appears to be a Asus p5lp-vx), would not boot into Windows, but would just hang at the stage when loading settings would take place. It would boot using safe mode, but even booting with only windows services (chosen via msconfig) would result in the same terminal hang. In safe mode I scanned the system with an up to date online scan (Bit Defender), as well as Kapersky root kit scanner...

How exactly has Tim Tebow been winning games? The Denver Broncos have been the beneficiaries of a complete resurgence since Tebow was named the starter. Although Kyle Orton has proven to be a viable starter in the NFL, he could not get the job done with the team they have assembled in Denver. Yet using the exact same team and barely ever throwing the ball, Tebow has very little but win. A group of Harvard students known as the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective recently set out to figure out why that has been the case.

I am posting this in general/chat. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. I am running Windows XP on my desktop, all service packs okay. My icons and taskbar will disappear/reappear...usually I can get them back by opening task manager and "bringing to front" a program. The thing is running notoriously slow. My McAfee is finding some viruses and quarantining them, but it is driving me CRAZY. Also, for no reason, my web browsers (explorer AND Firefox) will suddenly open these "web sites" for "work at home" opportunities...I've never asked for these sites to open, they just do it on...

"In the spirit of the Fourth of July, we’ve put together some posters with a few of our favorite quotes from our Gov (1.0) heroes. They helped define the very principles we want our fellows to realize through Gov 2.0 — democracy, participation, and patriotism — so they couldn’t be more relevant now. Check out all six below; each links to a printable (and text-selectable) pdf. Share, print, and post them to spread the word, and help others see how we’re all — coders, old and new — speaking the same language." Quotes in binary from Kennedy, FDR, Susan B....

The stereotype of computer scientists as geeks who memorize Star Trek lines and never leave the lab may be driving women away from the field, a new study suggests. And women can be turned off by just the physical environment, say, of a computer-science classroom or office that's strewn with objects considered "masculine geeky," such as video games and science-fiction stuff. "When people think of computer science, the image that immediately pops into many of their minds is of the computer geek surrounded by such things as computer games, science-fiction memorabilia and junk food," said lead researcher Sapna Cheryan, an...

Tiger Woods is in a world of hurt! He's been busted cheating on his wife with ten women, his endorsements are drying up and his public image is shot! What's he going to do to repair all this? Simple! He'll follow the same game plan of every other morally bankrupt celeb in damage control mode! NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit is web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread! Thanks a bunch!

News Commentary. Microsoft's "Laptop Hunters" commercials have generated lots of Mac vs. Windows PC debate. Surely there can't be enough, so I'd like to generate even more. Quite unexpectedly, I'm a PC. I don't buy new computers very often, and for a long time I slightly favored Macs over Windows PCs. So no one perhaps is more surprised than me that my now four-month old laptop is a Sony and not an Apple. I found my decision process to be similar to Lauren and Giampaolo, the protagonists of the first two Microsoft "Laptop Hunters" commercials. Microsoft got something right...

In tough times, auto companies will cover your payment if you lose your job. Believe it or not, this is not a new sales tactic... NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thank you!

Richard Garriott is a geek. He loves fantasy; he has two thin braids running down his back that, for pictures, he swings over onto his chest for maximum effect. Back in the 1980s, he developed a series of fantasy role-playing video games under the Ultima umbrella, making him, perhaps, the Henry Ford of gaming. He made a fortune, and he used it to build two houses in Austin, Texas, named after the home of the hero of his video games, Britannia Manor. (The one he lives in now, Britannia Manor Mark 2, is equipped with a set of secret passageways,...