Friday, July 14, 2006

Automated Humour?

I found it mildly amusing that having posted an article explaining how I was scammed by buying some golf clubs on-line, the google Adsense engine decided that it would be a good idea to automatically insert an ad for an on-line golf equipment vendor at the top of my site.

Secrets & Lies

I've just started reading Secrets & Lies by computer [or should I say systems] security guru Bruce Schneier. On p.14 he says "Less than one percent of eBay transactions - mediated long-distance deals between strangers - result in any sort of complaint". Well I am sure that is based on the reports that actually get entered into the eBay feedback mechanism. If my Iceberg theory is correct, then the total number of complaints is ten times that - the paper below explains why 90% of an iceberg is underwater - so that there is a 10% chance of something going wrong. Now this sounds like much less fun.

To see why 90% of an iceberg is underwater read iceberg paper