We interrupt your casual blogging to bring you this special report...Yahoo News:
UCLA group discovers humongous prime number
Sun Sep 28, 11:02 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - "Mathematicians at UCLA have discovered a 13 million-digit prime number, a long-sought milestone that makes them eligible for a $100,000 prize."
Wheeeeeeewie! That's a relief. I didn't know what the world would do if that wily 13 million-digit prime number kept slipping through our fingers! Praise the Lord that all those guys weren't busy on a cure for cancer with that elusive 13 million-digit prime number brazenly on the loose.
When one scientist was asked what he was going to do with his prize money he replied with a reverent far-off look in his eyes,
"I can finally get busy on my lifelong dream of constructing the largest scale-model of the Millennium Falcon!"
Thank God for that!
Now back to your normal blogging. Goodnight.
8 comments:
P.S. I love science, and Starwars. I'm sure that this achievement will benefit mankind in someway, somehow, someday. Just shooting from the hip here, in the name of fun. Scientists are just such easy targets. They are definitely up there with us Evangelicals.
The number was found on a Dell computer running Windows XP.
The Mac people must be really bummed.
The Mac guys are just glad the PC programmers finally learned how to count.
But see? That's just the problem with the PC crowd. They think that people are going to want to run out and buy a Dell now instead of that cool mac that comes standard with an operating system that doesn't crash every single day, at least once.
Could they make the "mac vs. pc guy" parody any more true?
Btw, those new Microsoft-bill gates/Jerry S. commercials... el-lamola.
...cracking up...
that 13 million-digit prime number IS the cure for cancer... they just don't know it yet.
Frank, that would be cool. I'd still buy a mac though.
"I'm sure that this achievement will benefit mankind in someway, somehow, someday."
It already has, as much or more than say, the sitcom you watched on TV last night, depending on who you are. It provided entertainment and enjoyment for thousands of mathematicians, scientists and engineers around the world. As hard as it is to contemplate for some, math can be enjoyable entertainment for some. I mean, really, how many people like fractals for more than the pretty pictures they produce mathematically?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA
Love the pocket protector picture, except that the assortment of pens is pretty rotten. Ideally, it should have 1 mechanical pencil, pens of various colors (e.g., red, black and blue), one narrow highlighter and one tweaker (i.e., small screwdriver the size of a pen). I'll e-mail you a picture of one of my pocket protectors if you would like the lesson.
MB
Do it!
sethward@sbcglobal.net
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