Recent content by lousydood

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least expensive MySQL data type for storing currency values?

Never use floating point numbers for money. It will only cause trouble. IEEE 754 floating point numbers can't even represent the number 0.10 exactly. It is a repeating decimal in base 2. Just because it has a decimal point does not mean that it can represent all Real numbers -- in fact...
- lousydood
- Post #6
- Sep 2, 2008
- Forum: Programming
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My first CS class is using Scheme...

If nothing else, I want you to fundamentally understand one thing. You cannot escape recursion by dismissing it. Your implementation-dependent problems are just that -- flaws of your code or your compiler. This isn't about stacks, or your operating system's poor design. This is about...
- lousydood
- Post #24
- Jul 27, 2008
- Forum: Programming
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My first CS class is using Scheme...

This is the kind of attitude that I'm talking about. The one that views "recursion" as just some kind of weird alternative to iteration. Sadly, many professors teach in a way to leave this impression. Somewhere, the point is lost that recursion is fundamentally what allows you to compute with...
- lousydood
- Post #21
- Jul 25, 2008
- Forum: Programming
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huge bind exploit

Bind is a security hole, period. If you run it, do so in a chroot jail. I'm a fan of TinyDNS (DJB), personally. Besides that, there are ways for DNS servers to be modified other than changing the zone records directly. DNS allows servers to be setup as slaves to other servers, and they...
- lousydood
- Post #5
- Jul 24, 2008
- Forum: Open Source
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What's more "Green"

No. Most dishwashers are much better about saving water than most humans.
- lousydood
- Post #5
- Jul 22, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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Monitor with dual-inputs is flaky

I have a strange problem. There are two DVI ports on the back of my monitor, the DS-263N. I plug my computer into one of the ports and it usually works. If I plug it into the other port, it works for a moment and then nothing. If I plug another input while the PC is connected, that's ok, but...
- lousydood
- Thread
- Jul 22, 2008
- Replies: 1
- Forum: Computer Building
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My first CS class is using Scheme...

That's the point of teaching it first. Get the good habits in first, make the bad habits feel "wrong."
- lousydood
- Post #14
- Jul 22, 2008
- Forum: Programming
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TV tuner that can Record HD from a HD Cable Box?

How about this thing: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html for $250 it records 1080i from component.
- lousydood
- Post #10
- Jul 21, 2008
- Forum: Audio Components
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Large Hadron Collider

The Collider is now calibrating. The Collider is still calibrating...
- lousydood
- Post #17
- Jul 21, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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Why is it so hard to go to the moon?

Or use that money to help develop commercial fusion power based on Helium-3, which can supply the world's energy efficiently with no radioactive by-product. A fuel which is found in large quantities on the Moon. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/c.../26/content_649325.htm
- lousydood
- Post #33
- Jul 21, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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TV tuner that can Record HD from a HD Cable Box?

I'm in a similar situation, and I took an HDMI->DVI adapter cable and plugged it from my Comcast box into my LCD monitor. However, the picture is red-tinted, snowy, and intermittent. Any idea what that means?
- lousydood
- Post #7
- Jul 21, 2008
- Forum: Audio Components
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Why is it so hard to go to the moon?

First of all, $25 billion in 1969 dollars is about $150 billion in 2007 dollars; not to mention the weakness of the US Dollar atm. Second, when we go back, we want to establish a base -- that's totally new and expensive. Third, we have nothing like the Saturn V anymore; probably the most...
- lousydood
- Post #7
- Jul 17, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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Why is the speed of light our "speed limit"?

Flip your question around: why do massive particles not travel at the speed of light? Every "mass-less" particle travels at the speed of light: photons are simply the bosons which transmit the electromagnetic force. Bosons are a general category of particle -- with integral spin and not...
- lousydood
- Post #7
- Jul 16, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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How did NASA decide who to land on the moon, and who stays in Lunar orbit?

15 seconds of fuel to spare.
- lousydood
- Post #10
- Jun 27, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
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Driving slower = better gas mileage. Fact or myth?

Cars at the time I imagine were mostly American made and with a pushrod design. Those were not well suited to high revs like the other posted suggested. The overhead cam design of many modern engines is much better at high RPMs. It's actually encouraged in european cars like mine to hit 5-6k...
- lousydood
- Post #20
- Jun 26, 2008
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional

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