Posts by Dr Patrick J R Harkin 804 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Jan 2008
"– classified as those that could cause death, severe injury, or severe illness."
"Death." Check. Understand how bad software in a plane could do that.
"Severe injury." Got that too.
"Severe illness." Eh? Are we talking diabetes here? Rabies? Leukaemia? Just what sort of software is this?
So Apple have gone from "We didn't want anyone to see we could break iPhone security with our proprietary knowledge in case they thought our phones were insecure" to "Actually, you don't need to be Apple to crack an iPhone. World+Dog can do it."
They'd have had rather less security egg on their faces if they'd cracked the phone.
I for one welcome our new surrounding your opponent on a 19x19 grid overlords.
I am reminded of a comment by Trevon Truran, developer of the Discworld game Thud - a loose equivalent of chess/go which recreates the Battle of Koom Valley, where the Trolls and Dwarfs each claim they were ambushed by the other side. It's based on the Icelandic (Nordic, anyway) game hnefatafl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games which is unusual for board games in that it is asymmetrical and a match involves playing two games, one as each side.
In an photo accompanying an early article about it, Trevor is shown staring intently at a game in progress and the caption is "At this point, the best move for the Trolls is to kick over the board and run away". Perhaps that's the best human move here.
Mr Willis, your government needs your skills for a very important assignment.
What? No, of course I know that was a movie and we haven't got the technology to do anything about the planet killer headed our way. I need you to appear in some TV footage which makes it look like we do. We're calling it Project Apollo Eleven Part 2...
"Good morning, Mr. Phelps..."
I got the 7-series box set for my birthday last week and it got me thinking. At the start of each episode (OK, most episodes. Pedants.), Jim goes to a new location, trades code phrases and picks up his mission outline.
But how did he know where to go? They must have contacted him beforehand with the location and password - which was presumably passed on at a secret location after he gave the password which they got to him by...
"See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11805987/Inflatable-space-elevator-invented-by-scientists.htm"
I knew they were remaking Thunderbirds with CGI actors and real sets but I didn't realise the sets were going to be full-scale. Let me guess - the tower springs a leak and the blast of expelled air blows the World President's jet off course into the jungle while the tower looks like it'll fall on Lady Penelope who is trapped in her car and Scott has to prioritise personal feelings against civic duty?
"in Colorado anyone can be a funeral director, in Nevada you need to pay $345 and take an exam, and in California you need an arts degree."
I feel faintly insulted that my science degree in genetics doesn't allow me to dispose of bodies in California. Neither does my medical degree, though it does let me generate them.
If you had the degree of control over the lottery needed to fake the machine ball pick (which, if it's to look like the real machine, is Mission Impossible level gadgetry) surely it's easier to enter a winning ticket in the database of entries retrospectively?
"Sparks burning the patient? Mad." Not TOO mad - surgical diathermy is (vast oversimplification) a deliberate burn intended either to cauterise or cut. I was once on the receiving end of some (non-surgical) low-frequency diathermy when the machine caught fire...
I smiled at the machines powering down until I remembered that it's not unknown for human surgeons to power down (permanently) during operations.
These figures are really interesting but I don't know with what to compare them.
Watches are round because of the rotating hand display; there's no mechanical or aesthetic need for something worn on the wrist to be circular. A screen based watch has no real need to be round. So - are hexagonal batteries a solution looking for a problem?
I wonder if they got any useful recordings.
"We're aiming for the French vote."
"Sorry? You're claiming a trench coat? Why? I though it would be the oil."
"Tea tree oil? I suppose we could deal with that. In exchange for lumber?"
"You want to change to the Humber? OK, I think we could do that."
And repeat until the drinks trolley comes by again...
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