Newer milestone thread

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by kracker

I really don't know/get why javascript is "bad". Can someone enlighten me?

It's often used to side-load all kinds of things like ads and trackers, which are both annoying and considered by some to be an invasion of privacy. mersenne.org has Google Analytics for instance.

The web got much nicer to use once I started selectively enabling JavaScript.

[garo]

If you do want to enable javascript, you have to use NoScript. It allows you to selectively load javascript from different sites - but alas you cannot choose which scripts to load or not from a given site. It also provides some protections against XSS attacks.

Someone here mentioned Ghostery recently and I have installed it and so far am pleased by what I see.

[retina]

Originally Posted by kracker

I really don't know/get why javascript is "bad". Can someone enlighten me?

Allowing everyone else to run arbitrary unsanctioned code on your computer. How can that be considered a good thing? Even though we trust madpoo and George - servers can be compromised, connections can be hijacked, ISPs can (and do) insert their own things, etc.

[kracker]

Originally Posted by retina

Allowing everyone else to run arbitrary unsanctioned code on your computer. How can that be considered a good thing? Even though we trust madpoo and George - servers can be compromised, connections can be hijacked, ISPs can (and do) insert their own things, etc.

Then why are you using a OS?

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by retina

Allowing everyone else to run arbitrary unsanctioned code on your computer. How can that be considered a good thing? Even though we trust madpoo and George - servers can be compromised, connections can be hijacked, ISPs can (and do) insert their own things, etc.

You trust me? Oh you poor fool. LOL You must not be aware of my nefarious past.

On the flip side, a long while back my bro and I had a funny and not really serious idea to make a javascript version of Prime95... wouldn't it be funny to put that on the mersenne.org website so every visitor runs an ECM curve or trial factors a smidgen, or does an iteration or two of LL? Yeah, it was a goofy thought, but it would have been funny.

[retina]

Originally Posted by Madpoo

You trust me? Oh you poor fool. LOL You must not be aware of my nefarious past.

Anyone without a stain in their past record is not to be trusted for anything, they'll sell you out in an instant.

Originally Posted by Madpoo

On the flip side, a long while back my bro and I had a funny and not really serious idea to make a javascript version of Prime95... wouldn't it be funny to put that on the mersenne.org website so every visitor runs an ECM curve or trial factors a smidgen, or does an iteration or two of LL? Yeah, it was a goofy thought, but it would have been funny.

Hehe indeed. Kind of says a lot about the trustworthiness of JS. There were (perhaps there still are) people mining bitcoins using JS in a webpage in an effort to get free resources from unsuspecting visitors.

[Xyzzy]

How crippled is the forum without JS? (Just curious!)

[retina]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

How crippled is the forum without JS? (Just curious!)

Works for me.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by retina

How about we make a deal. If you get rid of the internal table horiz scrollbar on the recent cleared/results reports then I won't complain about the estimated completion date.

Again.

[chris2be8]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

How crippled is the forum without JS? (Just curious!)

In some ways it's better. In particular it's easier to tab from one link to the next with JS disabled (I like to read one thread, alt-leftarrow back to the forum, tab to next thread, etc, as much as possible). This comes from starting my career before mice were commonplace, so I resent having to do things with a mouse when I've already learnt to do it on the keyboard faster.

Chris

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Again.

Sigh...okay.

Back OT: Notice how the milestone page now has the dates and events aligned? I just stuck them all in a table with zero for a border.

Speaking of the page, so I guess the next minor milestone we'll cross is that double-check of all Mp under 10M digits. Any thoughts on what could or should be next?

We're still at a spot where not all of the exponents below M(57885161) have been assigned for a first-time check, so you can't really get a report of those or do even a wild guess on an ETA.

And speaking of the 10M milestone... I found myself going back and forth on the nomenclature. What's the proper, or just best, way of phrasing it? "All exponents below 10M" isn't right, because it's not the exponent, it's the 2^(exponent)-1 that's 10M digits. I think I've used that phrasing as shorthand here and there although I know it's not correct. Is it just like "M(P)", or is there some generally accepted shorthand?

As you see, I stuck with the very literal format of "all 2^p-1 below 10M digits", it just doesn't roll off the tongue. Perhaps "all Mersenne #'s less than 10M digits" ?