* Posts by MathsFail

4 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Aug 2015

Apple tries to patent facial recognition

MathsFail

bollocks

I fancy a guess that the software is built with an OpenCV library in there somewhere.

Sounds like they're just trying to stop other people from doing something useful. But they wouldn't be the first: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_patents

Apple and Google are KILLING KIDS with encryption, whine lawyers

MathsFail

I like what they're saying

This quartet is my favourite comedy act. I might go and see them at the Edinburgh Fringe. If the show's free.

AIDS? Ebola? Nah – ELECTRO SMOG is our 'biggest problem', says Noel Edmonds

MathsFail

Re: He's possibly right about Ebola: No

Charles, what your Noel's analysis fails to consider is how Ebola differs from those other causes of death:

* the Ebola deaths occurred over a month, the others you quote over 18 months. I leave the linear growth calculations as an exercise (even though disease transmission/death is often exponential);

* the nature of Ebola means that people must avoid contact with others to avoid infection. This isn't the case with the other things you mention and effectively shuts down all activity in affected areas. Think about that happening in a city, eg business district;

* Ebola's infectiousness means that the risk of it spreading outside those countries, eg via human travel on planes or boats, is huge. Imagine what that does to importing/exporting or business travel between neighboring countries. Look at our own response in airport/port controls;

* disease containment and body disposal require new techniques, equipment and facilities. All this costs time and money meaning the response is slow, meaning the disease spreads faster, exacerbating all the above points;

* finally, can you honestly tell me that your personal response (and fear of) Ebola is the same as for flu or a car accident?

Intel doubles its bounty for women and ethnic minorities

MathsFail

Re: Incentive, not enforcement

The only sane comment in a sea of shite.