@fivemack.bsky.social
Make index table of size p^2 to save having to implement binary search.
Memory usage of code is O(N^3/p)
So getting it to fit in RAM as N goes up requires increasing p. At which point the index table stops fitting in RAM. Guess I have to implement binary search now :(
Memory usage of code is O(N^3/p)
So getting it to fit in RAM as N goes up requires increasing p. At which point the index table stops fitting in RAM. Guess I have to implement binary search now :(
February 12, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Make index table of size p^2 to save having to implement binary search.
Memory usage of code is O(N^3/p)
So getting it to fit in RAM as N goes up requires increasing p. At which point the index table stops fitting in RAM. Guess I have to implement binary search now :(
Memory usage of code is O(N^3/p)
So getting it to fit in RAM as N goes up requires increasing p. At which point the index table stops fitting in RAM. Guess I have to implement binary search now :(
After ten weeks on quite a fast computer with 200GB of memory, I discovered that 861^8 + 1953^8 + 2012^8 + 3113^8 = 1128^8 + 2557^8 + 2767^8 + 2823^8.
A few minutes later I discovered that Nuutti Kuosa had found this in 2006, presumably using much less compute :(
A few minutes later I discovered that Nuutti Kuosa had found this in 2006, presumably using much less compute :(
February 10, 2026 at 10:49 PM
After ten weeks on quite a fast computer with 200GB of memory, I discovered that 861^8 + 1953^8 + 2012^8 + 3113^8 = 1128^8 + 2557^8 + 2767^8 + 2823^8.
A few minutes later I discovered that Nuutti Kuosa had found this in 2006, presumably using much less compute :(
A few minutes later I discovered that Nuutti Kuosa had found this in 2006, presumably using much less compute :(
5^10+23^10+34^10+34^10+85^10+92^10 = 16^10+25^10+28^10+32^10+71^10+95^10 is the smallest number that can be written in two ways as a sum of six tenth powers; 1^10+8^10+15^10+26^10+26^10+33^10+38^10 = 22^10+23^10+24^10+29^10+32^10+35^10+36^10 is the smallest with seven.
February 9, 2026 at 4:51 PM
5^10+23^10+34^10+34^10+85^10+92^10 = 16^10+25^10+28^10+32^10+71^10+95^10 is the smallest number that can be written in two ways as a sum of six tenth powers; 1^10+8^10+15^10+26^10+26^10+33^10+38^10 = 22^10+23^10+24^10+29^10+32^10+35^10+36^10 is the smallest with seven.
Most elements cannot be spelled using element-symbols because you can't do -ium. I am amused that the two newest elements, TeNNeSSiNe and OGaNeSSON, can. Also that SiLvEr became spellable when livermorium (116 Lv) was named in 2012.
February 3, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Most elements cannot be spelled using element-symbols because you can't do -ium. I am amused that the two newest elements, TeNNeSSiNe and OGaNeSSON, can. Also that SiLvEr became spellable when livermorium (116 Lv) was named in 2012.
I spend on average a pound a week on Samsung remote controls because we have a dog :(
February 3, 2026 at 10:44 AM
I spend on average a pound a week on Samsung remote controls because we have a dog :(
Is there something about hydrostatic pressure that makes 'transparent plastic water jug should survive a two-metre drop onto tile while full, and also not damage the tile' a difficult design requirement?
February 2, 2026 at 10:40 AM
Is there something about hydrostatic pressure that makes 'transparent plastic water jug should survive a two-metre drop onto tile while full, and also not damage the tile' a difficult design requirement?
I am confused by the reporting here: I’m pretty sure individuals dont pay corporation tax so i dont understand why the analysis mentions corporation tax rates www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Harry Styles and Anthony Joshua among UK's top tax payers
The former One Direction member-turned-solo artist appears on the Sunday Times list for the first time.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 5:12 PM
I am confused by the reporting here: I’m pretty sure individuals dont pay corporation tax so i dont understand why the analysis mentions corporation tax rates www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted
More members of Liz Truss's cabinet are in Reform than in Badenoch's shadow cabinet...
January 26, 2026 at 1:12 PM
More members of Liz Truss's cabinet are in Reform than in Badenoch's shadow cabinet...
Reposted
Weber State with a "WTF did I just watch? (Complimentary)" to win the partner stunt competition at nats
www.instagram.com/reel/DTmAnJx...
www.instagram.com/reel/DTmAnJx...
January 20, 2026 at 5:30 AM
Weber State with a "WTF did I just watch? (Complimentary)" to win the partner stunt competition at nats
www.instagram.com/reel/DTmAnJx...
www.instagram.com/reel/DTmAnJx...
I love this exposition of the Hierarchy of Heaven (‘Santi protettori di Palermo invocano la grazia contro la peste’) - the people ask S. Rosalia who asks the Virgin Mary who asks Jesus who asks God. @adapalmer.bsky.social ‘s translation of grazia as ‘client-patron influence’ is an epiphany
January 19, 2026 at 11:12 AM
I love this exposition of the Hierarchy of Heaven (‘Santi protettori di Palermo invocano la grazia contro la peste’) - the people ask S. Rosalia who asks the Virgin Mary who asks Jesus who asks God. @adapalmer.bsky.social ‘s translation of grazia as ‘client-patron influence’ is an epiphany
A category of devotional object I hadn’t seen before - a manuscript order of service, from the Gloria to the blessing after the Mass, in an almost reliquary-grade frame
January 19, 2026 at 10:28 AM
A category of devotional object I hadn’t seen before - a manuscript order of service, from the Gloria to the blessing after the Mass, in an almost reliquary-grade frame
Somebody looked at the Garden of Unearthly Delights and decided to reproduce bits of it in 3D at tchotchke scale … www.clart-store.com . I do not have luggage space for something this fragile :(
January 19, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Somebody looked at the Garden of Unearthly Delights and decided to reproduce bits of it in 3D at tchotchke scale … www.clart-store.com . I do not have luggage space for something this fragile :(
Arancina con aranciata
January 18, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Arancina con aranciata
Bother, I have followed my nose to a place where the roads don’t link up to where the bus goes from without retracing my steps. But look what beautiful flowering succulents I am lost by!
January 18, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Bother, I have followed my nose to a place where the roads don’t link up to where the bus goes from without retracing my steps. But look what beautiful flowering succulents I am lost by!
I am having trouble thinking of another city in a setting quite so good as Palermo. Lisbon’s not bad, am I missing somewhere obvious on the English coast where the hills go up to 2000 feet around and behind it? Are there places I could take a photo of Los Angeles not unlike this one?
January 18, 2026 at 2:59 PM
I am having trouble thinking of another city in a setting quite so good as Palermo. Lisbon’s not bad, am I missing somewhere obvious on the English coast where the hills go up to 2000 feet around and behind it? Are there places I could take a photo of Los Angeles not unlike this one?
The cathedral construction started in 1174 and the King who ordered it married Joan of England, sister of Richard I, in 1177; so of course the set of saints includes Thomas of Canterbury (martyred 1170, canonised 1172)
January 18, 2026 at 2:54 PM
The cathedral construction started in 1174 and the King who ordered it married Joan of England, sister of Richard I, in 1177; so of course the set of saints includes Thomas of Canterbury (martyred 1170, canonised 1172)
Whoever made this Head of John the Baptist had definitely witnessed a real decapitation!
January 18, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Whoever made this Head of John the Baptist had definitely witnessed a real decapitation!
I have read enough @adapalmer.bsky.social to gasp audibly at a *whole sarcophagus made of porphyry* (William I of Sicily in Monreale cathedral, late C12)
January 18, 2026 at 2:06 PM
I have read enough @adapalmer.bsky.social to gasp audibly at a *whole sarcophagus made of porphyry* (William I of Sicily in Monreale cathedral, late C12)
This is a Persian carpet of ceilings, looking up into one of the towers in the Royal Apartments at the Norman Palace in Palermo
January 18, 2026 at 12:07 PM
This is a Persian carpet of ceilings, looking up into one of the towers in the Royal Apartments at the Norman Palace in Palermo
I wonder which enemy of King Roger of Sicily the rabbit was intended to represent
January 18, 2026 at 12:06 PM
I wonder which enemy of King Roger of Sicily the rabbit was intended to represent
This image ought to win some sort of prize for anatomically implausible bowdlerisation. That is not a good place to wear your lion’s paw.
January 18, 2026 at 11:34 AM
This image ought to win some sort of prize for anatomically implausible bowdlerisation. That is not a good place to wear your lion’s paw.
“Although the concentration of fluoride in seawater is only ~ 1.3 ppm, 11.5% of the dry body weight of the sponge Halichondria moorei constitutes fluorine” (it makes its skeleton out of K2SiF6 !) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Fluorine Is a Major Constituent of the Marine Sponge Halichondria moorei
Fluorine constitutes about 10 percent of the dry weight of the marine sponge Halichondria moorei. The fluorine occurs as potassium fluorosilicate, which is a potent anti-inflammatory agent. A closely ...
www.science.org
January 17, 2026 at 5:50 PM
“Although the concentration of fluoride in seawater is only ~ 1.3 ppm, 11.5% of the dry body weight of the sponge Halichondria moorei constitutes fluorine” (it makes its skeleton out of K2SiF6 !) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
It turns out I am exactly the sort of person who’d rather walk half an hour uphill than try to figure out how to buy a bus ticket in a new Italian town. Fortunately the sidewalks are very generously proportioned.
January 17, 2026 at 3:56 PM
It turns out I am exactly the sort of person who’d rather walk half an hour uphill than try to figure out how to buy a bus ticket in a new Italian town. Fortunately the sidewalks are very generously proportioned.
On a slow train across Sicily, this bit is looking much like the Peak District except for a lack of sheep
January 17, 2026 at 9:07 AM
On a slow train across Sicily, this bit is looking much like the Peak District except for a lack of sheep
It would be foolish to try to change my persona such that I could pull off a bright orange knee length coat, wouldn’t it?
January 16, 2026 at 2:51 PM
It would be foolish to try to change my persona such that I could pull off a bright orange knee length coat, wouldn’t it?