Firmware stores small programs that do not change frequently, such as a computer’s BIOS (discussed below), or a router’s operating system and saved configuration. Various types of ROM chips may store firmware, including PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM.

Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) is fast, expensive memory that uses small latches called “flip-flops” to store bits. Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) stores bits in small capacitors (like small batteries), and is slower and cheaper than SRAM.

The capacitors used by DRAM leak charge, and must be continually refreshed to maintain integrity, typically every few to a few hundred milliseconds, depending on the type of DRAM. Refreshing reads and writes the bits back to memory. SRAM does not require refreshing, and maintains integrity as long as power is supplied

PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) can be written to once, typically at the factory. EPROMs (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) may be “flashed,” or erased and written to multiple times.

The term “flashing” derives from the use of EPROMs: flashing ultraviolet light on a small window on the chip erased the EPROM. The window was usually covered with foil to avoid accidental erasure due to exposure to light. EEPROMs are the modern type of ROM, electrically erasable via the use of flashing programs.

A Programmable Logic Device (PLD) is a field-programmable device, which means it is programmed after it leaves the factory. EPROMs, EEPROMS, and Flash Memory are examples of PLDs.

Flash Memory - Flash memory (such as USB thumb drives) is a specific type of EEPROM, used for small portable disk drives. The difference is any byte of an EEPROM may be written, while flash drives are written by (larger) sectors. This makes flash memory faster than EEPROMs, but still slower than magnetic disks.

I don't really read reviews... That's not where my attention goes.

What is also strange to me is that public libraries have always been in the forefront of opposing censorship.

When I feel the heat I see the light.

A taste of honey is worse than none at all.

I'd never have guessed that, six years after Medicare introduced a drug benefit, it would still be forbidden to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. Health reform might fix that, but it probably won't.

There is nothing harder than working 50 pages a day, working 16 hours a day, trying to be good with only shooting rehearsals.

The financial crisis should not become an excuse to raise taxes which would only undermine the economic growth required to regain our strength.

I'm a workaholic. I also go to the gym a lot - it's my new thing. Yes, I am a compulsive person.

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

When you're independent and not attached to a major media organisation, they just look at you as if to say, 'Who are you again?'

You can spend a lifetime, and, if you're honest with yourself, never once was your work perfect.

I can't control how people are going to react. I try not to worry about what I can't control.

History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.

The early part of my career was the 1990s, and I was living in New York working as an actor. It was the world I was in. A lot of companies had a great deal of money.

You never say never, but I don't think I'd want to do a long-running series.

It would be a dream to do a film with Pedro Almodovar and that whole crew of Spaniards. There's this Argentinian actor who's one of my favorite actors in the whole wide world. His name is Ricardo Darin, and he's a brilliant actor. He does a lot of Argentinian films, and I know he does a lot of European films, as a Spanish actor.

I don't consider myself a celebrity, and I don't consider myself a star.

Leave no nail unclenched.

I do not believe in a universal religion any more than I believe in a universal language. My feeling is that people have to make their own religion as they have to make their arts and their parishes, and that they must find their own salvation; the salvation mongers are of not much avail.

Religious traditions are easy to lose sight of in today's marketing frenzy. Make sure you take time to gently usher your little ones into the rituals that have special meaning for you.

Remember Judy Garland? She retired 40 times.

I do find myself drawn more to pieces that I feel are wrestling with the way that we're living now, what we're all going through.

When I'm writing, quite often I start having a good time when I see there's a chance to make myself look like a real jerk. I start chuckling and having an interesting, rather than a boring, time.

Lay this unto your breast: Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.