Jilli gets to dance on the good person side of the room. And while I didn't say it earlier, that Dana woman, she's not wrong.

Spy Stuff!

1982 -- Soviet gas pipeline. Operatives working for the Central Intelligence Agency allegedly (.pdf) plant a bug in a Canadian computer system purchased to control the trans-Siberian gas pipeline. The Soviets had obtained the system as part of a wide-ranging effort to covertly purchase or steal sensitive U.S. technology. The CIA reportedly found out about the program and decided to make it backfire with equipment that would pass Soviet inspection and then fail once in operation. The resulting event is reportedly the largest non-nuclear explosion in the planet's history.

Eep!

1985-1987 -- Therac-25 medical accelerator. A radiation therapy device malfunctions and delivers lethal radiation doses at several medical facilities. Based upon a previous design, the Therac-25 was an "improved" therapy system that could deliver two different kinds of radiation: either a low-power electron beam (beta particles) or X-rays. The Therac-25's X-rays were generated by smashing high-power electrons into a metal target positioned between the electron gun and the patient. A second "improvement" was the replacement of the older Therac-20's electromechanical safety interlocks with software control, a decision made because software was perceived to be more reliable.

What engineers didn't know was that both the 20 and the 25 were built upon an operating system that had been kludged together by a programmer with no formal training. Because of a subtle bug called a "race condition," a quick-fingered typist could accidentally configure the Therac-25 so the electron beam would fire in high-power mode but with the metal X-ray target out of position. At least five patients die; others are seriously injured.

to msbelle: pppblllbtttttt!

I am neither nice nor cute.

Nah, you're kinda cute.

I got about an hour left in this joint before I go submit myself to the horrors of PT. Where'd the floorshow go to? Don't make me think about error handling for the sake of Jesus.

Jilli gets to dance on the good person side of the room.

I want to dance with Jilli. Can I do that, If I promise to go right back to my side of the room?

Timelies all!

Aimee, this:

All this "est" is reminding me of a song from Noggin.

"Jams are the jelliest, rain's the umbrelliest..."

Is in turn reminding me of the Austin Lounge Lizards' song "Stupid Texas Song" which has lines like "Our accents are the drawliest".

I have tomorrow off, and will spend some part of it shopping. I need new slacks(this will not be fun), a new everyday purse and a yoga mat.

Then there are the reverse superlatives, e. g. from Benny Hill:

I call the big dog Meany,
On account o' he's the meanest,

And I call the pup Liberace,
On account o' he's the pianist.

I can handle kinda cute.

Hey ita, you should pick this up and then play it with Polgara, and the rest of us can watch and laugh.

I'll be in my bunk.

And a large portion of my family just retired to my bunk, and they have no clear idea why.