News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
When buying over the internet, if the seller asks you to pay via wire transfer, then it’s most likely a scam. This is because wire transfers cannot be canceled or disputed. The best practice is to use a credit card for internet purchases.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
It seems like the new thing in computer hardware is to get the most cores. If two is better than one, then why not four, or eight? But the truth of the matter is that processing power doesn’t necessarily increase at the same rate as the number of cores. One of the major problems is the “memory wall”, where the cores still share common memory and you’ll run into a situation where one core is waiting for another to finish using the memory bus. The linked article mentions the case where, for certain types of problems, a 16-core CPU has about the same processing power as a dual-core CPU. Yes, you read that right. The recommended solution is stacking memory on top of the CPU—I’m not sure what exactly that means, but I imagine we’ll be hearing more about it in the coming years.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Regular Chad’s New readers already know about the upcoming broadcast television switch from analog to digital. The linked article has a handy flowchart that you can send to friends or family members, telling them what they need to do. Note: if you need to purchase a converter box then you should probably order the discount coupons now, or you may not get them in time for the switch.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Church tax? Politicians specifying who can attend mass? Thank God for the Bill of Rights.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/…
The linked article covers several theories on the astronomical basis of the Star of Bethlehem. The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter was just recently announced and is my favorite, especially since the period between the major conjunctions was 9 months.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…
I’ve read about organized copper theft in third-world countries, but now it’s made it’s way to the United States. Fortunately there is some amount of natural selection going on.
Link: http://www.networkworld.com/…
(via Slashdot)
The linked video footage shows the path of the airplane that veered off the runway and burst into flames on Saturday. Note the building that it narrowly missed—which happens to be a fire station. Apparently the quick fire response was a significant factor in everyone safely exiting the burning plane.
Link: http://www.truveo.com/…
Chad’s News previously mentioned the DNS security hole now known as the Kaminsky Bug. The linked article has more information about the discovery and revelation of the bug.
Link: http://www.wired.com/…
(via Slashdot)
We’ve all seen it, that iconic picture of a migrant worker and her children facing the reality of the Great Depression. The linked article has an interview with one of the children, who is still alive today.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/…
(via digg)
The ultimate gift for the geek in your life.
Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/…
(via Bureau 42)
First colony collapse disorder and now this.
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
(via Slashdot)
The internet was designed to be decentralized, error-tolerant, and highly variable in how it could route packets from one computer to another. According to Wikipedia, the “internet backbone” is “made up of a large collection of interconnected commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity data routes and core routers that carry data across the countries, continents and oceans of the world.” The internet doesn’t have a backbone in the traditional sense; rather, it’s more like a spider web. Many of the connections referenced in the Wikipedia definition are between major service providers who have cooperative agreements (I’ll carry your traffic if you’ll carry mine). The linked article explains what happens when one of those agreements breaks down, and gives insight into just how fragile the internet can be.
Link: http://www.forbes.com/…
(via digg)
