h a l f b a k e r y
Birth of a Notion.
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A newborn child is zero years old. After six months, we'll call it one year old, because that's more accurate than zero. At eighteen months, call it a two-year old. A person is thus never more than 6 months older or younger than his or her age.
Many adults become morose and dejected on their
birthday, because they are one tick closer to . . . their last croissant. Now the actual date of birth is six months from a change in the integer representation of their age!
When your age changes, reflect solemnly upon the value of your existence. On your birthday, honor the gift of life by sharing a croissant with your good friends. Have a barbecue, and eat hot dogs, and when there's no meat left don't despair! A ketchupy bread is a terrible thing to waste.
The ARM are the police force of the United Nations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Known_Space
Halfway down the page [normzone, Aug 14 2007]
ARM
http://arm.com/
Microprocessor chip design company [Cosh i Pi, Aug 14 2007]
[link]
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[nuclear hobo] may be right. Should it be a talking robot parrot that corrects people who use the non-rounding system of age representation? That would be more of an invention, but far less perspicuous and far more cracker-consuming. |
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It feels half-baked to me . . . |
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I do this already, with my dogs birthday. Hes 5 years old (or 8 I'm not sure) |
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//less perspicuous and far more cracker-consuming// I'm aiming a pastry at your head, and throwing hard |
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// because they are one tick closer to . . . their last croissant // Or like me, one tick further away. Unless of course any of you good folks care to give me another one sometime. |
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Or will I get a bonus croissant for simply popping my clogs? I shan't appreciate it much. |
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Hmmm, is it really accurate? I prefer the discrete, computer-style method of "if it ain't there yet, it ain't there yet" that believes that 5.9 = 5 |
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Anyway, this is what you get for adopting a numeric system based on labelling things in terms of integers. Tsch! |
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The discrete computer style method gets in a mess with negative numbers, though. Is -5.1 -6, or -5? |
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Okay, negative ages are generally a bit suspect - but if we count ages from birth rather than conception, we do have to deal with up to -9 months - or is it -10? |
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-6 is just 65529 looked at sideways. |
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//65529// Ha - nice integer representation gag [GC]! |
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Here's another: Charles, a 4-byte string variable was talking to his friend Bill, a Boolean Flag.
"Phoar!" says Charles, "Check out that integer representation of -3 over there, petite, tidy, very nice."
"Wait a minute Charlie - He's big-endian!"
etc... |
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// -6 is just 65529 looked at sideways. // Personally I tend to think of it as 65530 myself, but then I was always twice as complementary as anyone else. |
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You are right [Cosh] I wasn't careful. |
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To be truthful, I tend to think of is as 4294967290 rather than 65530, being an ARM chap. But the logic's the same. |
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Amalgamated Regional Militia ? (link) |
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No. Originally Acorn RISC Machine, then Advanced RISC Machines, now just plain ARM. (link) |
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My employers for the last nine years until I retire (Wheee!) next month. |
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[Cosh] I guess you made the processor in my DVR in that case. |
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Well, it seems likely that we designed it, anyway. Any of quite a few companies could have actually made it. My own role was writing the book the engineer who designed the DVR read to understand how to use the chip. |
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