Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

chrisfenton.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 79 posts

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#61

Post by yard2010 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #56
kqr wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with getting rich gambling is not knowing the probability, it's getting other people to continue paying you when you win large amounts and/or consistently. Even in today's professional gambling establishments (financial markets) big winners are often cut off in the name of stability.

If you know the exact results (like Biff in Back to the Future), winning things like lotteries or horse race results multiple times will draw attention. Actually, any kind of money hoarding - moreso than anyone else - will draw the attention. Which might be OK, of course, but if you make waves that are too big, you'll affect global policy and the course of (economic) history, and all your predictions may be off. But,…

In other words you end up in manure anyway.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#62

Post by hypercube33 »

burningChrome wrote: post #38

My Dad was at the forefront of the computer revolution. He talked about sharing time with Seymour Cray at his computer lab at the University of Minnesota. He said whenever Cray would show up on campus, it was like Mick Jagger or some other rock star type. People would flock to be around him and ask him questions. He then worked alongside Cray and sold many of his computers when they were both at Control Data. He has…

I really feel like Cray was a larger than life person with any of the stories I've read. It really makes me wonder why no one has made a docudrama movie about him...hmm

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#63

Post by technothrasher »

Karellen wrote: post #57
julianeon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My premise for a time travel movie is very simple. 1. Buy a book on probability. Work through the practice exercises. 2. Time travel back to a time before the laws of probability were invented or taken seriously. Pre-1600's would be a good guess. 3. Become a gambler. 4. With the riches that will soon be pouring into your pockets, acquire resources and transform history.

3. Become a bookmaker/start a casino. It's like being a gambler, but you get to stack the odds in your favour, deliberately, tell people you've done so, and have everyone be fine with that . If you use any knowledge of future events to stack a few odds a little more in your favor, no-one's going to know any different, and they'll attribute any weird variances in your income to the punters who all made poor bets, rath…

I used to have a system to play the instant lottery multiple times a day and make every single ticket a winner... I owned a liquor store that sold tickets. We made enough on lottery sales to cover our payroll completely.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#65

Post by pklausler »

hypercube33 wrote: post #62
burningChrome wrote: post #38

My Dad was at the forefront of the computer revolution. He talked about sharing time with Seymour Cray at his computer lab at the University of Minnesota. He said whenever Cray would show up on campus, it was like Mick Jagger or some other rock star type. People would flock to be around him and ask him questions. He then worked alongside Cray and sold many of his computers when they were both at Control Data. He has…

I really feel like Cray was a larger than life person with any of the stories I've read. It really makes me wonder why no one has made a docudrama movie about him...hmm

I had the opportunity to work for Seymour Cray when he split off Cray Computer Corp. from Cray Research in ‘89 and a bunch of us moved to Colorado Springs. He was a fairly quiet and intense guy, always focused on whatever the “pacing item” of the project happened to be that day.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#66

Post by fentonc »

Neywiny wrote: post #46
jcun4128 wrote: post #4

The round displays are so cool Uses an FPGA lol damn that's hardcore

FPGAs were an odd experience of learning for me. I started thinking they were hard to program. Then once I got halfway decent at simple things, I realized just how powerful they can be. So many things just run faster if not instantaneously if you optimize for FPGA. It's incredible. And with modern cheapy low end boards, I hope they get more popular in projects.

FPGAs are particularly amazing for this sort of project where you would otherwise need a custom ASIC that could never be even remotely economical to build (see my 16-core Z80 laptop as another excellent example: http://www.chrisfenton.com/the-zedripper-part-1/). It lets you play 'fantasy computer architect.'

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#67

Post by maxwell »

julianeon wrote: post #49
nabla9 wrote: post #13

This would be a great prop for time travel scifi movie. Protagonist travels to 1991 and tries to convince scientist to help him. When asked for a proof, shows Gray C90 Wristwatch. "Our real computers are different, but I show you this because it does not pollute the timeline."

My premise for a time travel movie is very simple. 1. Buy a book on probability. Work through the practice exercises. 2. Time travel back to a time before the laws of probability were invented or taken seriously. Pre-1600's would be a good guess. 3. Become a gambler. 4. With the riches that will soon be pouring into your pockets, acquire resources and transform history.

Set where? Gambling was criminalized in the UK in 1541 and Europe's first legal gambling house didn't open until 1638.

Maybe they learn roulette strategy and show up right after Pascal invented the roulette wheel while he was trying to produce a perpetual motion machine (which could play a role in the time machine's tech itself too, which could resemble a "grande roue," visually akin to a g-force centrifuge or particle accelerator).

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#68

Post by maxwell »

ponector wrote: post #53
julianeon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My premise for a time travel movie is very simple. 1. Buy a book on probability. Work through the practice exercises. 2. Time travel back to a time before the laws of probability were invented or taken seriously. Pre-1600's would be a good guess. 3. Become a gambler. 4. With the riches that will soon be pouring into your pockets, acquire resources and transform history.

Gambling is not the way to get rich. To get really rich you need to aquire people, their time and productivity. Instead of probability you need means to get people's minds so with them you can conquer territories and establish kingdom to be really rich.

It's always the accent that gives away time travellers.

Only real possibilities to avoid exile/asylum/imprisonment/execution for most of history would seem to hinge on predicting celestial events and making gunpowder, as Twain observed.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#70

Post by wbl »

kqr wrote: post #54
julianeon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My premise for a time travel movie is very simple. 1. Buy a book on probability. Work through the practice exercises. 2. Time travel back to a time before the laws of probability were invented or taken seriously. Pre-1600's would be a good guess. 3. Become a gambler. 4. With the riches that will soon be pouring into your pockets, acquire resources and transform history.

The issue with getting rich gambling is not knowing the probability, it's getting other people to continue paying you when you win large amounts and/or consistently. Even in today's professional gambling establishments (financial markets) big winners are often cut off in the name of stability.

Create life and casualty insurance!
Post reply on HN