make faster Richards benchmark

[Peter Hansen]

Simon Wittber wrote:

>>>And Simon: "I just tried the benchmark with Psyco, and cut the run
>>>time for input=10000 from 8.1 seconds to 3.4"
>>>
>>
>>What platform is this on?
> 
> WinXP, P4 2.6GHZ, 512MB RAM

Hmm... did anyone else confirm your numbers, so that I'm
the odd man out?

I'm using Python 2.3.3 and the latest download of Psyco
for it.

If you're using that too, the only apparent difference is
the CPU.  Is it possible that could make such a significant
difference?  (Unlikely at best, I'd say.)

-Peter