The dog was believed to have drowned and Griffith said the family was devastated. But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St. Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularized by the TV reality show “Survivor”.
She voted other dogs off the island? Ran around in a bikini and considered magazine cover offers? Ok, I confess I never watched the show so the reference is lost on me. Get it? Lost. Haha.
Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.
“And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she’d started eating baby goats,” she said.
Amazing story of survival with a happy ending. I wonder if Tom Hanks will star in the movie version.
The latest skeptic is Thomas Weber, Mercedes chief of research and development. In today’s Ha Aretz, an Israeli newspaper, Weber said that battery-swapping stations for electric cars may, in fact, be dangerous. The Mercedes executive said his company explored a similar plan in the 1970s, and discovered that changing a battery on the road could cause electrocution or fire.
In 1972, Mercedes built an electric bus called the LE 306. The vehicle was limited to 40 miles of range but, according to a company press release, the battery could be replaced using a “push-through horizontal-exchange technology.” The release promised that the process, mostly manual, would take the same time as a fill-up at a gas station. Eighty-nine prototype vehicles were built and the battery swapping system was “extensively tested,” according to the company.
The basis of the critique from Mercedes is very different from others. Most notably, Mercedes is saying that even with a proprietary and closed system they found it not feasible with 1970s technology. Apparently even modern technology would be insufficient. The idea that it could cause a fire is neither here nor there since gasoline stations can and do cause much more dangerous fires. Others point out that the lack of standards between car makers would make swaps impractical. Imagine if every car required a different fuel pump. That seems like a more significant obstacle.
– A guy stoned on drugs is driving his car when he’s stopped by the traffic police enforcing the new traffic rules. “Why aren’t you wearing your belt?” they ask him. “Because I’m not wearing any trousers,” he replies.
– A guy with cross-eyes volunteers to join a militia group. They assign him to the random bombing unit.
– A Jordanian finds a magic lamp. A genie appears and asks him what is his heart’s desire. “Send all these Iraqi refugees back across the border,” the man says. “Why?” asks the genie. “Whatever have we done to you?”
Cute, but the following is some classic security humor that might just show up in a presentation or two:
The other day, a colleague went to the computer market in the centre of Baghdad. When he got back he told us he had been scared stiff.
As he walked among the stalls, a taxi screeched to a halt and three men plus the driver leapt from the vehicle.
Everyone scattered in panic, thinking it was bound to be a car bomb and the men were about to detonate it by remote control. Chaos followed.
It turned out the men had simply stopped their car in a no-parking zone and were hurrying to do their shopping before the traffic police showed up.
Benefit of security #452: faster shopping
a blog about the poetry of information security, since 1995
