Humans are apparently still evolving. “Up to 10 percent of the human genome appears to be evolving at the maximum rate, more quickly than ever before in human history. ” - Amit Patel
Google claims that its data centers get an average of 1.2 PUE (20% overhead for air conditioning, battery backup, etc.), much lower than the old expected value around 2.0 (100% overhead), and that one of their data centers got 1.15. PUEs are going up in the graph because cooling needs are higher in summer. The EPA expects that with improvements, by 2011 the average data center will reach 1.9, and the very best data centers will get down to 1.2. - Amit Patel
“In the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than we will use to answer your query.” - Sanjeev Singh
One thing that no one ever writes about is how "costly" it is to move electricity, versus how efficient it is to move light/bits. - Christopher Sacca
I'll have to sit down and really read this article later. Looks like somebody's really paying attention to power utilization (and its twin sister heat) - ha3rvey
via fftogo
@Sanjeev: I wonder if and how they're amortizing the offline processing that takes place beforehand in the calculation of "energy...we will use to answer your query". But in any case, kudos! - Ruchira S. Datta
They don't mention if the crawling or indexing, let alone networking (switches, routers) are taken into account when determining how much energy is used to answer a query. - Gabe
I don't think the crawling/indexing is included in that comparison, but It's still pretty amazing if true. - Sanjeev Singh
Gabe, the switches and routers probably take negligible energy compared to the servers. - Sanjeev Singh
Income inequity is increasing in the U.S. Causes: women getting an education leads to more marriages between people with similar educational backgrounds, and educated folk are more likely to make more money; kids of single parents are more likely to make less money; and more people are trying to run their own businesses, which either leads to ruin or wealth, so this increases differences in income. - Amit Patel
This is a good article on the growth of conspiracy theories of late: http://www.spiked-online.com/i... "Sometimes it appears as if Western societies have regressed, adopting a medieval attitude towards calamitous acts." - Andrew Leyden
It's a shame that they don't talk about 'attribution' in the article. It's pretty obvious and well understood that human minds recognize patterns in pretty much whatever we look at. A conspiracy theory arises when people attribute a particular pattern to a group of identifiable, intentional actors, without evidence that the actors themselves exist. For example - it's clearly not a conspiracy theory to say that a group of investors were working in concert to undermine the economy, so the pattern is real.. - Robin Barooah
...it only becomes a conspiracy theory when people say "a group of investors were working in concert to undermine the economy because they are part of a conspiracy to enslave americans, (or whatever).". The part that is shaky is that there is no evidence that the group has such an intention or even identifies itself as a group. - Robin Barooah
OTOH, mature pattern-finders has learned that society doesn't take their skills for granted and tend to explain *irregularities* not with coup'detat but ignorance, complacency and common stupidity ;) - silpol
Just because it's a conspiracy theory, doesn't mean it isn't true. - Chris White
Awesome!! Google's brought back all the code and data needed to run their search engine from 2001. I wonder if they also brought back old hardware for this. - Amit Patel
Government regulation to curb CEO pay may have led to it increasing. - Amit Patel
posted a message
“FriendFeed should allow FriendFeed as one of the services. I tried exporting search results as a feed and then importing as an imaginary friend's blog, but that wasn't allowed.”
I get from Gmail: “Congratulations on creating your brand new Gmail address, xxx@gmail.com. Please keep this email for your records, as it contains an important verification code”... - Amit Patel
The trouble is, I didn't sign up for this. And Gmail's "I didn't sign up for this" help page says to ignore it. Which means: Gmail does not care that the secondary address is valid, or that someone else has your verification code. Some day, when xxx@gmail.com needs to reset their password, it'll go to me, and Gmail doesn't care. - Amit Patel
When the same thing happens with a Yahoo account, Yahoo emails me with a way to tell them that it's the wrong email. (a) I feel better when I can tell them, and (b) they get better information. Even if they don't act on it right away, they have this valuable piece of information, for that day when the person needs to reset their password. - Amit Patel
Yes, sorry, the site moved to Twisteroo after I posted this link. - Amit Patel
Well, I did all 12 Intro quotes. Thanks for posting this! - Ruchira S. Datta
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm going to have to try level 10 again now that I've had a full night of sleep. - Amit Patel
Curse you, I just spent twenty minutes getting through level 10 before I saw the time. - Paul Haahr
I checked back at twisteroo to see if there were any new puzzles as I'd done all the ones there on Sunday morning, but now there seem to be less--there was a song lyrics one before ("They paved Paradise to put up a parking lot") which has disappeared. What's up with that? - Ruchira S. Datta
Well, I spoke too soon--there are 6 in the Palindromes category up. The 5th, though, is not a palindrome. - Ruchira S. Datta
Aw, come on, it's close enough :-) (and btw your Joni Mitchell puzzle is in the "Tongue Twisters" category now) - Doug
Ah, here's the one responsible for this dangerously addictive site! Well, thanks a lot, Doug, I've enjoyed playing. And thanks for not putting too many up at a time. ;-) - Ruchira S. Datta
Article about Google Chrome: “Imagine what would happen if pharma players directly invested in better hospitals and clinics—instead of in trying to own the relationship with doctors, and furiously outspending one another when marketing blockbusters. Imagine what would happen if Wal-Mart invested in town squares and parks—instead of just in featureless warehouses draining what little vitality remains in already bleak exurbs.” - Amit Patel
“Bionic implants that promise to give 45-year-olds the vision of someone 20 years younger could be available in just five years. The 'super lenses' will correct both long and short-sightedness, allowing patients to throw away their glasses for good.” - Amit Patel
“The problem with that is, on the first play through, you’re being mildy entertained and wondering “is this it?”. Spore is a big game - in terms of scope - and its actual experience is actually quite intimate. It’s not blowing you away in the way that you’re expecting it too.
But the game fundamentally changes when you reach the Space stage - it’s the one part of the game which is absolutely on par with any other game of its type - [...]
In fact, it IS the real proper game, and that’s what I mean by point one. You realise that the previous four hours weren’t actually the real game. They were about creating a customised race which you have a degree of affection for, with traits shaped by your actions in four stages. When you downplay the importance of the earlier stages in your mind, they make much more sense. ” - Amit Patel
via Bookmarklet
Spore gets mostly 1-star reviews from people complaining about DRM. - Amit Patel
via Bookmarklet
I just bought the game but the post prompted me to do a quick search on SecuROM. Their official FAQ doesn't inspire much confidence. For example their uninstall instructions are written without much care: "To remove all SecuROM related files [...] type 'cmd' and press on the keyboard. Please type enter the path to the protected executable, e.g. C:\Program Files\My Game\game.exe
Add the following parameter and hit : /uninstall" http://www.securom.com/support... - Simon
They're up to 535 1-star reviews. Sheesh. - Amit Patel
Satellite image showing a very foggy day in California. Yes, most of the white is fog, not snow! The entire central valley is filled with fog. Click the links on the right to see the big image. - Amit Patel
via Bookmarklet
And to think I've driven through it going to LA. On I-5. I deserve to get weeded out of the motorist gene pool for that one. - Richard Chen
A new twist on the standard Diamond roadway interchange: the Diverging Diamond has the smaller road swap left/right lanes, making left turns easier, and then swap back. Watch the animation ("DDI Animation") to get a better sense of how it works. - Amit Patel
Something I don't get, the North-South roadway in the animation are basically at a dead-end and are forced to go East or West? - Olivier Tharan
What they don't show in the animation is that if you wanted to go straight north/south you'd pass underneath and wouldn't go through the interchange at all. - Amit Patel
What's really cool is that the highway department of Missouri is using a wiki for all this stuff. I tried to edit but it required a login. - Amit Patel
A sad tale of how much luck can play a role in people's lives. The tale of Arnel Pinada, lead singer of Journey, randomly discovered on YouTube. - Amit Patel
