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The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada. 

 

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. 

 

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability. 

 

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.” 

 

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.” 

 

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels . 

 

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. 

 

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level. 

 

– John Cleese – British writer, actor and tall person

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The world according to Americans – a bit rude, but scarily accurate in many sad ways

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Probabilistic inference

23 September, 2010

Using the following copy, substitute [YourRole] for, well, your role, and [YourBoss], for – you get the idea. Have fun:

[YourRole], who specialise in work for [YourBoss] have the fastest reactions of all, speedily extracting evidence from their surroundings and predicting possible events, a skill known as probabilistic inference.

Unlike standard learning paradigms, which have a specific solution, there is no such specific solution when working for [YourBoss] because situations are rarely, if ever, repeated… the only thing that can be learned is how to rapidly and accurately accumulate this evidence more efficiently.

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A Tram Ride in San Francisco

18 September 2010

A quick ‘n dirty edit of a tram ride taken while out at the SciFoo conference. Went for a grimy ‘The Wire’ look as it was a fairly overcast day.
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Stray ginger cat in Eilat

14 July 2010

Stray ginger cat in Eilat, originally uploaded by manuscript.

A very cute ginger cat came up to our table at a restaurant. With eyes like that I couldn’t resist giving him some fish…
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