Humodour

I'll pass; my cheeks are still puffing out after my operation. It's like I've been botox'd. Wise words, wise words.

2^18 = 262,144 < 300,000. no logs required. Oh really? Where did you get x=18 from if you didn't use logs? alanschu wouldn't have known that x=18 was the solution to 2^x < 300000. Do you understand? yes, at least, i do and i kinda got the impression that alanschu does something with programming, which means he probably does too. most people that work with numbers know their powers of 2 pretty far out. taks No. People who work in programming (like myself) know their powers of 2 up to about 12, and then the rest only if they themselves are powers of 2: e.g. 16 and 32. And even that's only by rote - but 2^18 almost never pops up (2^24 does sometimes), so there's zero chance of learning it by exposure. Let me put it this way: the only architectures to use 18 bit words were last used in 1975.

Your face is mundane. Today I'm bullying Krezack, just like any other day! Tough words coming from somebody who won't even man up and come drinking with me!

No, really? But 2^x < 300,000 does require logs, man. Do you honestly think alanschu just knew 2^18 was the closest power of two less than 300,000 off the top of his head, taks?

You're just reiterating all your old points that I've lambasted before, but whatever. I will say that advocating C# as a starting language is pretty silly given the context. It ignores all the reasons for choosing Python as a starting language in the first place. You might as well just dive blind in the deep end with C++ instead like you said originally if you're going to do that.

True, it's a trivial binomial case. But he still would've had to of used logs or a bunch of guesswork. It's a commendable application of mathematics (assuming logs) to an otherwise fairly mundane topic.

No, I'm saying I found that stat out later, and it was interesting. I definitely heard those things when I was out. I wasn't conscious. But you can still often hear things when you're unconscious. When I eventually woke up, I remembered them talking about my diastolic pressure. 15 diastolic is 'normal' when you're been under propofol. But certainly, it's entirely possible to still hear things when you're not breathing, too. Not for long, granted, but I was obviously revived straight away or I wouldn't be here now. Anyway, I don't overly care. It was just an amusing anecdote. And dude, I can't believe you actually bothered to work out the binomial probability of rolling 18 heads or tails in a row. Kudos. Although technically, you should have said "18 heads in a row" since "18 of the same thing" is twice the probability of 18 heads. It's immaterial, though; my calculation of how many people die each year under GA seems far more relevant. It was a choice of all 4 out at once under general, or 2 out at a time under local (2 trips). Not only was the 4 at once option less hassle, less pain, and less worrisome, but it was also half the price. Heh.

He's not an alt so much as an account swap. Re Yuusha: I did not like him. He was an extremist.

No, it was just bad regulation. There are numerous ways to deal with the socioeconomic problems of the underprivileged through government regulation which don't cause the system to collapse. Why they weren't undertaken is beyond me. But again, I would seem it was due to paralysis between those wanting government regulation, and those wanting a pure laissez faire system - to the point that the compromise that evolved was impotent and dangerous. Kind of like McCain's healthcare scheme. The issue here is that something needs to be done about America's low income earners. The subprime mortgages weren't the answer, but by the same token you can't just say "oh well, we tried" and brush them aside for good. Libertarians would probably love to do that since they don't believe in social welfare, and will thus try to pin this purely on any form of government regulation whatsoever, but the truth is that it was a very specific form of intervention that was at fault.

Yes, because I could always opt for local anaesthetic instead of general, so there's no risk of respiratory failure. Or maybe I should just stop reading British medical journals.

Death by lightning isn't under your control, so no, it's not worth worrying about.

Exactly. Quite frankly the problem is not government regulation, it's bad government regulation. So when I hear people like taks screaming about the 'evils' of all government regulation, I naturally take issue. America, to put it simple, has stagnant regulation. I don't know why - I suspect too much interference from free market radicals and corrupt lobbyists. Poor handling of government regulation needn't be the norm, though (and indeed isn't in many other countries). Still waiting for taks to answer my question, of course.

Python is not slow for the purposes it is usually used (scripting). And certainly Python's efficiency is not in question for learning a programming language. If you do actually use Python you might be interested in Psyco: http://psyco.sourceforge.net/ Oh, and I 'ignored' his post because it was a valid statement about algorithms which I had no beef with, thanks. I did not feel it was an argument for or against C++ as a starting language, though. rainwarrior re BASIC: Yes, in some ways Python is a spiritual successor to BASIC. But where BASIC fell down in teaching valid style and algorithm design in a lot of ways, Python instead inherits a lot of the core Java and C syntax and style (where useful), so while I wouldn't these days ever recommend something like BASIC (or VB) as a starting language, Python is a different kettle of fish. Having a good teacher can make learning anything like walking on air, though.

How is that a strawman? I'm not misrepresenting you; I'm asking you a simple question. Will you answer it or not?

Errr, 1 in 300,000 is pretty effing tiny. How many dental operations under GA do you think there are each year? Maybe 30 million? So each year 100 people die under GA. It's tiny, but not tiny enough.

um, regulations to prevent this, fraud protection in particular, are legitimate. i've made that point countless times. government is there to protect the rights of both the seller and buyer, which means it is their job to make sure everyone is equal. fraud protection, full disclosure (which is really a fraud issue anyway), etc. are required "regulations." taks So you agree that government regulation is a good thing, then?

Thankfully Australia's financial system is still very sound (relative to how Europe and the US are coping). Still, I think it might be time to stock up on packets of pasta and powdered milk.

They put gauze in your mouth? I just got stitches and was sent on my way (well, after I woke up). I have to say, my doctor/dentist did an excellent job. I had this team of like 6 doctors and nurses monitoring me the entire time, and the anaesthetics were done really well it seems. Although just reading a dentistry journal now, 1 in 300,000 people die under general anaesthetic dental procedures. That was not a comforting statistic, and gives credence to my earlier feeling that I stopped breathing at once point in the operation.

Well, on the upside, there was this hot chick who had her wisdom teeth taken out too, 10 minutes after me (so I'd guess my operation didn't last long). I sat around chatting with her while we recovered.

I've been in bar brawls before and while I've had to get stiches to my lips, I'm yet to lose any teeth over it. So bring it, bitch.

I hope yours come out as smoothly as mine did! Didn't need anything stronger than ibuprofen to completely kill what little pain I had. Was back to about 95% normal in a week. Hey guys! Well, I survived. I was under general anaesthetic for about 3 hours apparently. I don't remember much, but one minute they're putting an oxygen mask on me and the next I'm 'dreaming' about Bush being elected for a third term and screaming "NO, **** BUSH". The next thing I remember is hearing voices something along the lines of "prep him for emergency", "he's going into shock" and the heart monitor machine was beeping furiously with something like 5 or 6 people crowding around me (based on the number of voices and their frantic pace). I blacked out again then. Then seemingly only seconds later I was half 'awake' again, everything was calm and I remember hearing a relieved voice say "diastolic is 15". That's when I started freaking out, shuddered madly, woke up, and shuddered madly some more, since by my reckoning, a diastolic blood pressure of 15 is clinically dead (mine is normally 110 systolic, 60 diastolic). So I have a feeling at one point there I was not have such a good reaction to the anaesthetics (it would seem my autonomous nervous system temporarily shut down and lead to heart failure). Weird stuff. Anyway, it felt like no time had passed when I woke up. Strangely, I felt more awake and energised when I woke up than when I went under. I put this down to only having 2 hours sleep. Actually, that's possibly also why I almost crashed. Also, apparently that wasn't so much a dream about Bush - they said I was literally screaming "**** BUSH" at the nurses and doctors at one point while I was unconscious. Milk hurts, water is fine, and soup is fine. Odd. There's very little pain unless I drink milk at which point I almost cry from discomfort pain (not so much acute pain).

*sigh* I have to get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I'll be under anaesthetic for the first time in my life, so that'll be interesting. Night.

Obama worked with this guy on anti-poverty work and education fundraising 40 years after those events and you're telling me that somehow makes Obama a bad man? If so, please stop there, because I'm disgusted with you and don't want to discuss this with you anymore.

I'm tempted to put that in my sig.

The bombing occurred in the 60's and Obama worked on completely unrelated education reform with Ayres in the 90's. I think it's safe to say he's completely unrelated to them, yes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers#Co...to_Barack_Obama Re the 'surge': But McCain continually claims that the 'surge' ended sectarian violence. This is, of course, after he claimed that there was no record of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ia. Much like he claimed the economy was fundamentally sound the same day Wall Street was crumbling.