Benchmarks: 

STOCK:  64483627 bytecodes/sec.
CUSTOM: 34801522 bytecodes/sec. (-53%)

STOCK:  2044447 sends/sec. 
CUSTOM: 1587861 sends/sec. (-30%)

STOCK:  39.270 seconds.
CUSTOM: 41.052 seconds (+4% (worse)) 

EEEK!!!!!
Seems like the GCC people deserve a nice hot flame... (assuming I did
these right).

-- 
Linux has more source code than my brain.
http://users.rcn.com/alangrimes/