I had to be up first thing to go for an echocardiogram so I'll post these a little earlier than usual to keep chef from fretting:
Happy invoicing!
- WikiHistory: International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War Page 263 - "Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion." Amusing short story by Desmond Warzel in the form of a forum thread plagued by nuisance members. Now, where have I seen that sort of thing before?
- EXCLUSIVE – Qantas QF32 flight from the cockpit - "On 4 November Qantas flight QF32, an Airbus A380 outbound from Singapore, ran into serious problems when a turbine on its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine suffered an uncontained failure. We caught up with one of the five pilots onboard, who describes how the crew professionally dealt with the incident, the sequence of events, and how the most dangerous period was after they had landed." Surprising to find that when, after landing, it proved impossible to shut down an engine next to a massive fuel leak they decided that the safest thing was to keep everybody on board until a set of steps arrived, but Captain David Evans makes a good case for it.
- Brothels, Baths and Babes: Prostitution in the Byzantine Holy Land - "This research piece by Claudine Dauphin, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris explores both the formal and informal arrangements that developed, typically centring around the triad of the wife, the concubine and the courtesan. It is a fascinating and well researched piece and I hope that you will appreciate the ‘re-discovery’ of this lost article." Interesting examination of a little-studied aspect of history originally published in 1996.
- Sorting Algorithm Animations - "These pages show 8 different sorting algorithms on 4 different initial conditions." Very nice animated illustrations of sorting algorithms in action. Now you can actually see just how atrocious bubble sort is with a list already sorted in reverse order
- What does it feel like to be stupid? An anonymous Quora user explains. - "I had an arterial problem for a couple of years, which reduced blood supply to my heart and brain and depleted B vitamins from my nerves (to keep the heart in good repair). Although there is some vagueness as to the mechanisms, this made me forgetful, slow, and easily overwhelmed. In short I felt like I was stupid compared to what I was used to, and I was... However, once I got used to it and resigned myself, it was great. Even though I knew I had a worrying illness, I was happy as a pig in mud." A good account of how one person's perspective on intelligence was changed by experiencing the other side of the coin.
- Finding security issues in a website (or: How to get paid by Google) - "I received a payment over $2,500 from Google today... the money came though Google’s Vulnerability Reward Program. Recently Google extended the scope of the program to web applications. I took up the challenge and sure enough, in a few hours I found four vulnerabilities in various corners of google.com." Another Plan B opportunity for you. All together now: "Did you really name your son Robert';DROP TABLE Students;--?"
- Plastic Flashback: A Visual History of the Credit Card - "As the story goes, 60 years ago, Frank McNamara, the founder of what's considered the first credit card, was eating out at a restaurant, and when the check arrived, he realized that he had not brought along his wallet. The embarrassing situation led him to eventually create the Diners Club card, which allowed members to pay restaurant bills monthly. The card itself was wallet-sized and made of paper and wasn't any fancier than a library card. But the idea behind it-a third party facilitating a "buy-now, pay-later" process-was revolutionary." Tip of the hat to the American Credit Card Collector's Society
- Everything a hacker needs to know about getting busted by the Feds - "Written By Agent Steal (From Federal Prison, 1997)" Classic textfile tips: "Before I move on to the Life in Prison subpart, let me tell you what this all means. You're going to get busted, lose everything you own, not get out on bail, snitch on your enemies, get even more time than you expected and have to put up with a bunch of idiots in prison. Sound fun? Keep hacking. And, if possible, work on those sensitive .gov sites. That way they can hang an espionage rap on you. That will carry about 12 to 18 years for a first time offender."
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - "I’ve spent the better part of the week serving as the foreman for a jury in a criminal case. As they tell you, you’re not allowed to talk about it with anyone, not even your fellow jurors, during the trial. As they also tell you, once the trial is over you can talk about anything you want. So, here goes." I'm not sure the same rules apply to jurors in the UK, but I would imagine many jury deliberations are as difficult to resolve as this American case.
- Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things - "The dear leader likes to look at things." Or, at least, he likes to be photographed looking at things. Now tumblr is back up after last week's database snafu, you can look at him looking. At things.
Happy invoicing!
Comment