news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: What is your favorite hand-rolled malloc?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=741895In a similar vein to http://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html, I'm curious to hear the people's choice for memory pool/slab allocators. My question is a three-parter:1) Allocation size function: Do you allocate fixed size chunks of N objects at a time? Exponential increase in chunk size (I believe valgrind does this for its memchecker)? If exponential, do you also back off exponentially, or linearly? Something else?2) Used/free record keeping: Bitfield? Linked-list? Other?3) New allocations: realloc or array/linked list of pointers (I bet I know the answer to this one)?Some justification would be nice, if you've got the time.Aug 4, 2009 7:21 PM
bing.com
Lieutenant-Commander Max Sheanhttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8a83c35d2848d7a8532ee9677c02c8&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fobituaries%2Fmilitary-obituaries%2Fnaval-obituaries%2F5580622%2FLieutenant-Commander-Max-Shean.html&c=14009419009508073778&mkt=en-usLieutenant-Commander Max Shean, who has died aged 90, was one of the small band of young men who, in the face of extraordinary peril, carried the sea war into enemy harbours; in the process they won a ...Jun 19, 2009 11:28 AM
bing.com
The SM Appliance Center lifestyle goes to Nagahttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8ad4e21d4342d496e6d93b264fccde&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.philstar.com%2Flifestyle%2Fshopping-guide%2F2009%2F05%2F01%2F462566%2Fsm-appliance-center-lifestyle-goes-naga&c=10590332239372473231&mkt=en-usMANILA, Philippines - With its wide selection of popular and quality appliance brands, SM Appliance Center is the ultimate destination for the latest home entertainment center, electronic gadgets, and ...Apr 30, 2009 5:00 PM
news.ycombinator.com
On Buying Silicon Valleyhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=500785Silicon Valley 2If one wishes to replicate the Valley's success and status as a startup hub one needs to mimic the ecosystem and support structures that have grown up around it, the angels, VC funds, (money) legal expertise, financial infrastructure (enabling infrastructure) and entrepreneurial culture (residual). The money and enabling infrastructure will accrete around the residual if it exists, quickly or slowly. Paul Graham has proposed that for US$30m-$100m this could probably be achieved in any US city fulfilling certain criteria, with greater or lesser likelihood of success dependent on the degree to which it fulfils them.The money can realistically come from three types of sources, governments of whatever level, private individuals, or corporate bodies, profit-oriented or not, or some combination of the three, acting in concert. Given the electoral dynamics they labour under it is unlikely that any politician or party in serious danger of being out of power 10 years after the fMar 2, 2009 11:29 PM
iht.com
From books, Obama found his voicehttp://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/19/arts/19read.php?page=1Obama has said that he wrote "very bad poetry" in college and his biographer David Mendell suggests that he once "harbored some thoughts of writing fiction as an avocation." For that matter, "Dreams From My Father" evinces an instinctive storytelling talent (which would later serve the author well on the campaign trail) and that odd combination of empathy and detachment gifted novelists possess. In that memoir, Obama seamlessly managed to convey points of view different from his own (a harbinger, perhaps, of his promises to bridge partisan divides and his ability to channel voters' hopes and dreams) while conjuring the many places he lived during his peripatetic childhood. He is at once the solitary outsider who learns to stop pressing his nose to the glass and the coolly omniscient observer providing us with a choral view of his past.Jan 20, 2009 9:04 AM
news.google.com
Carbon Dioxide Detected on Exoplanet HD 189733bhttps://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxNRlhsTng0VDE2bHdTMEc4LXoxQ0ZmN3NteEtiaE5YQV9USlZNTmxHdUl1QS1wUmhsU1IzVWxPNWZCWkxiYzlyTF9uM3VveU14YUtadDlFUkNlODNHMEVZcUdYRWh1R3RlUmxsZGVjMlF1VVM4eWgyV2lCUUlLZi1mNFpkRmNnNWNEZUN1VnRsRQ?oc=5Carbon Dioxide Detected on Exoplanet HD 189733b Universe TodayDec 9, 2008 8:00 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: Do you think primarily in English?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=387921Rather, do you think primarily in your native language, or more in terms of abstract imagery?I've noticed that rather than forming images in my head to represent ideas, I will instead often think in English. For example, if I'm working through a logic problem, I will repeat the various elements of the problem in my head in English repeatedly until I solve it.I'm unfortunately unilingual. English is the only human language I have ever learned. I've noticed that when I speak phrases in Spanish, I'm actually speaking English in my head. It's like a lookup table. By that I mean, let's say I want to communicate "How are you?". Rather than attempting to reason through this task in Spanish (by trying to communicate the individual elements "how", 'in what way', "are", 'your state of being', and "you" 'the person I am communicating with'), I try to remember the phrase in Spanish that corresponds to the ordered set of words "How are you?". So it is rote memorization -- I'm not thinking in SpanisDec 6, 2008 6:54 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Trader Joe's Is Not Your Average Business (2002)https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=340188One day a few years ago, a guy at a Boston financial firm called up Trader Joe's headquarters and said he'd like to tour a store with a group of visiting Japanese investors. The brass at Trader Joe's was blunt: "You can't come." Not "We'd rather you didn't," or "Please don't." The visit was officially forbidden.This led to a predictable go-round about it being a free country and all, and Trader Joe's finally said okay, okay, you can come, but you don't get a tour. And as the investment company guy tells it, the tension in the air during the visit was thick enough to cut with a machete.Well, you probably can't blame the folk at Trader Joe's. They've got a phenomenal thing going, and don't want to give it all away. Some observers think that sales per square foot at Trader Joe's are hovering at about $1,000 -- twice the level of typical supermarkets. And with between about 70% to 85% of its products being private label (depending on who you ask), Trader Joe's has reached a benchmark otherOct 22, 2008 4:19 PM
news.google.com
What's the Weather Like on Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b?https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimAFBVV95cUxNS2FJaXB2UlVadTE2MTgxOXptVlZ4a09lQ1I4VkZaQUR6ZmtINURCNzBJSDRMVVZ4SjBRSFUxZFI5WHV6WDBlT1l6YjNPdHg5RDV6U1VyQldnNEJhSnd1NmtUczhKSnNDRWxmUUI5RVgzWWE4UzYyODIxbDBORnBjMUlEYm1HN1o2NVJGS1ZvX3VlNlZjTG1rYg?oc=5What's the Weather Like on Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b? Universe TodayJul 15, 2008 7:00 AM
torrentspy.com
Torrentspy shutdownhttp://www.torrentspy.com/Friends of TorrentSpy,We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008.The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves.Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore, we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown.It was a wild ride,The TorrentSpy Team"Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order [...] and the lMar 29, 2008 11:35 PM
bing.com
For Skybus, High Load Factor Doesn't Mean Successhttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8974bd3c44472498d6b18535888b61&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Ffor-skybus-high-load-factor-doesnt-mean-success%2F&c=12739700572773140322&mkt=en-usThe December DOT data is now in, and though I haven't had a lot of time to poke through the data yet, I have found a couple interesting things. For today, let's focus on Columbus-based Skybus. Even ...Mar 18, 2008 3:04 PM
bing.com
Copthorne's gone but not forgottenhttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8a53f0d38b4347b715972af1ee20e8&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coventrytelegraph.net%2Flifestyle%2Fnostalgia%2Fcopthornes-gone-but-not-forgotten-3101667&c=12394211851712656123&mkt=en-usPAUL BUTTLE is so fond of his old school that he has created a web-site to preserve the memories. Paul, who now lives in the Lake District, was a pupil at Copthorne School between 1958 and 1963. The ...Feb 19, 2008 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85ce8cc0ab40399733a19af0b368e9&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85e596e418479499af102e02a8d136&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85e3ccec5f4e93a9fe0de00553dc76&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85d5247cad4cfeb04bb1e47f93d984&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85e05afcd14616a41907412174d7a9&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85c8a506664f38bc8cd194c98d2a5f&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85d28d21554ed8849ececfade62954&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
bing.com
Light-Emitting Wallpaper Does Just What it Sayshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85ce50bb964b06971fddf7763c59b7&url=https%3a%2f%2fgizmodo.com%2flight-emitting-wallpaper-does-just-what-it-says-292565&c=7705361374458473901&mkt=en-usI can’t tell you much about this wallpaper, except for that I think it rules the school. It’s basically a two-dimensional light source that switches on and off. Please, someone put Jonas Samson’s idea ...Aug 23, 2007 4:12 AM
