Runcible Blog

PyStone results (best of 4 tries for each):

• AMD Sempron 1.5Ghz running FreeBSD 6.0: 29090.9 pystones/sec
• Dual G5 2Ghz desktop running OS 10.4.6: 30120.5 pystones/sec
• Dual G5 2Ghz Xserve running OS 10.3.9: 11261.3 pystones/sec
• Macbook Pro 2Ghz running OS 10.4.6: 45871.6 pystones/sec (1.5x faster than G5)

Yes, I'm sure this isn't a scientific test. The Xserve failed miserably. Even though it did have a light load, I'm guessing OS 10.3.9 played a part in its poor performance. I'm also not sure why my lowly Sempron nearly beat the Dual G5...

(I'll also note that the pystone benchmark running inside a Parallels hosted version of FreeBSD 6.1 on the Macbook performed slightly better than the benchmark running natively in OS X! Explain that one to me. [I'll try the test again later])

One thing is clear, though: As far as pystones go (and whatever a pystone is...), the Macbook Pro trounces the G5 when running the same version of python on the same version of OS X.

I'm convinced -- this thing is fast.

Nyirk

Nyirk City

Nyirk State

Nyirk Times

Nyirk Yankees

Please note: "New York" is not a one syllable word.

Thank you.

Thanks to the wonders of the web, I can be reminded (in the form of spam) of a failed relationship from 4 years ago!

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Consider hair.  Aside from the practical purpose of maintaining wamth, and the secondary function of providing decoration for their owner, those lifeless strands of protein help to mark the passage of time.  What other body part consistently reminds us of who we were last month, last year, or today?  Fingernails, close cousins of hair, are clipped and discarded without much thought, but hair is usually not dealt with so flippantly.

The average human body can grow about six inches of hair in one year.  The process of growing it takes no effort other than the effort of eating a constant supply of nutrients.  After one year of growth and  six inches hanging from one's head, one can grab a handful of it and remember the dinners that played a part in its development – dozens of plates of past of varying quality, burgers, fried food, ice cream, movie popcorn, noodles, salads from a corner restaurant, home made grilled cheese.  Imagine, even, the fluids rich in protein and minerals passed between lovers.  Everything consumed breaks down inside us into pieces suitable for nurishment.  Anything that cannot be broken is flushed out with objective efficiency.  What remains on our heads, we hope, is the stuff our bodies have deemed good enough to keep.

This head of hair marks the result of hundreds of fullfilling meals – and memories.  Whether spent alone or shared with others, the memories live in our brains but die in our hair.

How strange, then, that a year's worth of growth can be chopped off and discarded in minutes.  The products of hundreds of memories are cut at the root and fall to the floor, leaving a bare scalp.  Bare to the elements and open to new possibility.  Even as the old, stagnant threads float onto the shoulders and slide down the back, thousands of follicles are busy breathing, creating, growing.