McCain

Моя мама меня спросила - "Ну этот кандидат в президенты, Мак как его?"

8 ball weighing problem

The 8 ball problem describes thought inertia of a computer scientist or programmer. When given a problem to find a heavier ball hidden among seven other identical balls using a balance scale using a minimum number of weighings, a CS person would answer that three weighings are required, based on 8 being encoded in three bits, each weighing giving dividing the problem in half. In fact, only two are required, because each weighing gives one of the three answers, so the bits are not binary bits, but ternary bits, reducing the problem set by a factor of three. So, with two weighings you can find a heavier ball hidden among eight identical others.

Federer's new career in fashion writing

According to a photograph in New York Times article "My Invitation Isn’t in the Mail", Roger Federer started a new career in fashion writing... - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/shows/13banned.htm

Tennis word play

In tennis, expression "I overplayed my hand" applies literally as well as metaphorically.
I played too much and now I have a sore elbow. I overplayed my hand.

Another nail in the coffin of DRM

To compete with internet downloads, studios are starting to include into DVDs an unencrypted version of the movie, New York Times writes. I guess it's true that the most convenient format wins, dooming the DRM. Good riddance!

Indeed, the centerpiece of the market rejuvenation effort is something 20th Century Fox calls “digital copy.” Fox DVDs, starting last month, now come with an additional disc holding a digital file of the title. Consumers can download the file to a computer in about five minutes — far less time than via the Internet — and then watch the movie there or transfer it to their iPod.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25dvd.html

Oil dependency riddle

Carcass from Caracas has my car keys...
...Chavez.

A Russian lies to fight traffic ticket ends up in jail for perjury

Why I am not surprised the guy who tried to lie to a traffic judge is a Russian. Is it a stereotype or Russians do tend to think they are smarter than the system?

The article in NYTimes says the guy ran a stop sign, brought a picture of an intersection a block away without a stop sign, was found responsible, appealed to a judge, brought the correct picture to the appeal, got 1 year jail term for perjury from the judge.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/us/01perjury.html

SFGate reports that Bamberg, a former car salesman, was also suspected of switching street signs when the traffic commissioner said she would go investigate herself. "Bamberg acknowledged his fingerprints would be found on the street signs, but said he had to adjust them while taking his photos"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/24/BAGESOA6DF24.DTL