ATTENTION, FELLOW GEEKS
You know how that smarmy guy on Battlestar Galactica is pretending to develop a Cylon detector? Here's one for geeks: What is your reaction to this page?
(Thanks to Kasey Rogg)
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You know how that smarmy guy on Battlestar Galactica is pretending to develop a Cylon detector? Here's one for geeks: What is your reaction to this page?
(Thanks to Kasey Rogg)
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oooohhhh... cool!
Posted by: DanMan | February 16, 2005 at 12:04 PM
You should post a warning for that page!
Posted by: Shortty | February 16, 2005 at 12:04 PM
and it is updated HOURLY!!
Posted by: cubie | February 16, 2005 at 12:09 PM
All together now
1,3,5,7,11,13,17, Oooh, look, something shiny!
Posted by: igloo | February 16, 2005 at 12:13 PM
Way cool! I love primes! 51 is my favorite random prime.
Posted by: LabSpecimen | February 16, 2005 at 12:14 PM
I'm embarrassed to admit it but . . . I submitted this.
I've lived a narrow and shelted life. Haven't seen sunlight in 3 years.
*returns to TRS-80 restoration project*
Posted by: powerhungry | February 16, 2005 at 12:18 PM
ummm... Lab ?
*never mind*
Posted by: insomniac | February 16, 2005 at 12:18 PM
I'm more of a Fibonacci guy, myself.
But hey, to each their own.
Posted by: D'Artagnan | February 16, 2005 at 12:21 PM
You know, there was a reason I changed my major AWAY from engineering.
(Calculus. The reason was calculus.)
Posted by: Shannon | February 16, 2005 at 12:23 PM
What do you mean, "reaction?" That's my homepage.
Posted by: reneviht | February 16, 2005 at 12:23 PM
my brain hurts
Posted by: moe the bartender | February 16, 2005 at 12:26 PM
"Discusses how big have the largest known primes been historically (and uses that to predict how big they will be)!"
need i say more........
Posted by: akgirl | February 16, 2005 at 12:27 PM
I feel so left out! I know about primal urges but not so much about prime numbers. Why on earth would they need to be updated hourly?
I failed my pre-Calculus class in high school. And the matheletes didn't want me. I love math, but it doesn't seem to love me. Although when I say the matheletes didn't want me, I don't mean they didn't want me; they certainly encouraged me to stick around...but... they were matheletes.
Posted by: Tamara | February 16, 2005 at 12:28 PM
From the FAQ
"Why?" we are often asked, "why would anyone want to find a prime that big?"” . . . [reason #]4. For the glory!
Look at the incredible size of these giant primes! Those who found them are like the athletes in that they outran their competition. They are like the mountain climbers in that they have scaled to new heights. Their greatest contribution to mankind is not merely pragmatic, it is to the curiosity and spirit of man. If we lose the desire to do better, will we still be complete?"
Greatest contribution to mankind?
Aim high.
Posted by: powerhungry | February 16, 2005 at 12:35 PM
Funny how there's not reference to "Prime"-ates.
Primates - Prime Eights, get it?
*Ducks Quickly*
Posted by: Jenny from the Hub | February 16, 2005 at 12:37 PM
I searched through the FAQ's and did not find what must be the most asked FAQ:
WHY!!
Posted by: Bigtom | February 16, 2005 at 12:41 PM
Leetie- hey, that hurts! i'm a contributor to the online encyclopedia of integer sequences!
*realizes now he can never post again*
Posted by: insomniac | February 16, 2005 at 12:47 PM
I'm too excited by this page to comment...
Posted by: Higgy | February 16, 2005 at 12:52 PM
Quick, somebody make a booger joke. I'm sort of losing you on this one.
Posted by: Writer's Cramp | February 16, 2005 at 01:14 PM
I love prime numbers - I don't know what they are, but I love the concept!
Is 51 a prime number????
Posted by: Eleanor | February 16, 2005 at 01:18 PM
El. - no, it isn't since 51 = 3 x 17, I didn't mention it above because having my geekdom 'outed' was too painful.
*shifts into 'lecture' mode:*
"A prime number is a positive whole number greater than 1, which has no factors besides itself and 1."
In other words, 5 is prime because 2,3,4 don't divide evenly into it, only 1 and 5 do. 6 is not prime, because 6 = 2 x 3.
Posted by: insomniac | February 16, 2005 at 01:26 PM
I'm with Tamara. I don't get why it needs updating. Do the prime numbers change with the tides of the moon? Is someone, somewhere adding new numbers? Are there more numbers today than there were this time last year?
Posted by: Debbie | February 16, 2005 at 01:27 PM
Insomniac: Zzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posted by: Debbie | February 16, 2005 at 01:29 PM
OK, that was rude, Insomniac and I'm truly sorry. You are clearly excited by this and if you want to explain about "primes" and "positive whole numbers" well, then I should
zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzz
Posted by: Debbie | February 16, 2005 at 01:33 PM
This page is supported by UTM - U of Tennessee at Martin, which is where my family works and where I was raised (the town, not the college).
We are on Dave's blog! We're going platinum!
Posted by: Federal Duck | February 16, 2005 at 01:33 PM
What does this have to do with Battlestar Galactica?
Posted by: SchadeBoy | February 16, 2005 at 01:36 PM
Okay, I'll admit it. This stuff makes me hot.
I loved Calc and Diff-E-Q
hangs head in shame
But my ex was a bigger geek than me!
PS - I think I actually have a functioning TRS-80 at home - No, it's a TI-85, and a TI-82. And a supercharged HP-86 something or other, too.
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 01:38 PM
Okay, I'll admit it. This stuff makes me hot.
I loved Calc and Diff-E-Q
hangs head in shame
But my ex was a bigger geek than me!
PS - I think I actually have a functioning TRS-80 at home - No, it's a TI-85, and a TI-82. And a supercharged HP-86 something or other, too.
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 01:38 PM
Sorry 'bout that, I was playin' with my Emale
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 01:40 PM
SB: I'm a professional geek, was married to an even bigger geek, and we both watched Battlestar Gallatica. Coincidence? I think not. I had a crush on both the guys, but favored Starbuck for his rebellious nature.
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 01:42 PM
Insomniac - I just want to be clear that my "Zzzzzzz's" are directed at the concept of "math", not at you. I generally LOVE your posts and I'm feeling a bit guilty because I just read on another thread that Eleanor may have possibly zzzz'd in your direction over something else. Rest assured that your poems and comments are funny, pithy, clever and - I think I speak for the rest of the ladies on this blog - VERY sexy. (I don't really know what that means, but I want you to know you are NOT boring!)
Posted by: Debbie | February 16, 2005 at 01:43 PM
I am so into math, I flunked "Math for Liberal Arts Students" in college, the only F I ever got. Unless you count the two times I took Algebra I in high school. Maybe I should make that my homepage. www.girlsgonewildinpeoria.com is wearing thin.
Posted by: philintexas | February 16, 2005 at 01:55 PM
Giddy: I had a TI-83 in high school, when everyone else had TI-82's, and I was Hot Stuff.
Thanks, "Gerald." ;)
Posted by: Tamara | February 16, 2005 at 02:00 PM
I'm worried for the author of the page....Anyone else seen Pi?
Posted by: Bored Silly | February 16, 2005 at 02:03 PM
giddy: on the NEW battlestar galactica, starbuck's a girl ;) and a pretty hot girl if you ask me.
Posted by: judi | February 16, 2005 at 02:07 PM
Thanks Giddy... finally something I can relate to - Battlestar Galactica and Starbuck... she is hot! Seriously, if you haven't noticed on the new Sci-Fi channel series Starbuck is a woman. I only caught the pilot and one other episode but the series kind of snuck up on me. The pilot was done last year with much fanfare but word on the street was that it wasn't going to be picked up by anyone.. then all of the sudden I found it on a couple of weeks ago.
And prime numbers don't excite me in the least. They are positive and as a CPA, I tend to like positives better than negatives, but I'm seriously not getting anything out of the web page.
Posted by: Writer's Cramp | February 16, 2005 at 02:12 PM
Judi:
Haven't had cable or dish
since I kicked that bum out,
Now sexy ol' Starbuck's a chick?
Get the f^^k out!
(pardon)
It's just... it's just.. (sniff)
I get a little sensitive, only having the major broadcast networks (the UNcable), what with 2 kids not yet in school. I miss Nick Jr., Playhouse Disney, Noggin..
Tamara - yer TI-83 must've kicked some mathematic butt! You GO girl!
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 02:17 PM
Disclaimer: don't feel too sorry for me and my teevee antenna, I'll always have my DSL..
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 02:20 PM
Judi - agreed! Starbuck rules! Cylons Drool! (except for the hot blonde one - oh yeah, Cylons can look like humans now... more opportunity for gratuitous hotties!)
Posted by: Writer's Cramp | February 16, 2005 at 02:24 PM
Wasn't Starbuck a charater from Moby Dick?
Posted by: reneviht | February 16, 2005 at 02:27 PM
pi=3.1415 etc., etc.
*proud she knows pi*
*when headache goes away is going to try to think of a prime number without cheating*
insom - thanks for the lesson - I thought it was just division, not multiplication -
Posted by: Eleanor | February 16, 2005 at 02:30 PM
Nah he/she (Starbuck)is an intergalactic terorist sent to wipe out the Earth with overpriced coffee bistros
Posted by: Writer's Cramp | February 16, 2005 at 02:31 PM
The Starbuck I recall wore these tight beige pants with dark brown stripes, and with buns like two perfect scoops of butter pecan ice cream..
(the ice cream quote from Charlotte's gay friend, SATC, season 6)
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 02:32 PM
dammit now the terrorists are taking my r's! (terorists)
Posted by: Writer's Cramp | February 16, 2005 at 02:35 PM
Geek factoid:
I actually fell asleep the other night trying to remember how pi's derived..
(ay is pie are squared, then, it's d-squared over fore times pie.. *gulp* I think I need cable..)
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 02:36 PM
Anybody remember "pie are roound, cornbread are square"?
No? ok then,
e to the x
dy dx
e to the x
dx
cosin
secant
tangent
sin
three point one four four five nine!
Yea engineers!
Posted by: pogo | February 16, 2005 at 02:43 PM
Insomniac,
I am so turned on!...you are sooo super hot!...
and Debbie stop apologizing!..if insomniac is a member of this blog he gets you and the fact that the zzzzs were not directed at him!..now go get a tequila shot baby!...
Posted by: julietine | February 16, 2005 at 02:44 PM
Ooops!
Should have been:
three point one four one five nine!
Posted by: pogo | February 16, 2005 at 02:45 PM
Of course 51 divided by 3 would be 17 - duh!
*awards self prize for bonehead remark of the day*
*fellow blogits take it back because of headache impairment*
Posted by: Eleanor | February 16, 2005 at 02:49 PM
My first online experience was on a borrowed Commodore 64, with like a 300 baud modem.
I think one of my brothers actually had that TRS-80.
Posted by: Giddy | February 16, 2005 at 03:03 PM
Wait a minute! When I was in school, for a number to be prime, it had to, well, be prime.
Now they have "relative prime"? As in the 12 and 25 are relatively prime because the only common denominator they have is 1.
What the hell is this? Some kind of feel good program for non-prime numbers?
Hey! I'm 37 years old. I'm in my prime! Crap, I only have a few months left!
Posted by: Christobol | February 16, 2005 at 03:07 PM
For some real excitement, check out the "Prime Curios" link, where we find that 313, in addition to being Donald Duck's license plate number (honest!), is "the smallest multi-digit palindromic prime of the form n x phi(n) + 1, where phi(n) is the Euler function." Be still, my heart!
Posted by: kj | February 16, 2005 at 04:18 PM
Hey, I'm in my "prime" too! 19 is prime (wait... yeah, it is)
Apparently, the largest prime has over 7 million digits! I may be a little bit of a math geek, but THAT IS INSANE!!!!!
Posted by: Chris | February 16, 2005 at 05:01 PM
Pogo, that brought back old memories...
*clears throat*
*sings*
Bless her little pointed head,
Mother was a Tech coed.
She couldn't cook, she couldn't sew,
But she could fix a radio.
Posted by: ErnieG | February 16, 2005 at 05:58 PM
Technology marches on... whereas in the past I had to be physically present to put people to sleep, I can now put people to sleep in other time zones, for free!
"How ironic, Batman, the Insomniac whose greatest power was to put people to sleep!"
"That's why he's so twisted, old chum."
Posted by: insomniac | February 16, 2005 at 07:35 PM
Love those cheers, pogo/ErnieG ...
So, a prime is a hole number, greater than one ...
One, hole number ...
Two, hole number ...
Three, ... Holy Holes, Batman! (Holey Holes?)
Posted by: U.O. | February 16, 2005 at 07:59 PM
Another of my favorite websites mentioned !
(at my school, we once tried to start a 'team' for math competitions, called M***** University Math Problem Solvers, or MUMPS)
a joke I received today:
For a good Prime, call:
170141183460469231731687303715884105727
Posted by: insomniac | February 17, 2005 at 07:10 AM