From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 07:05:21 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Sun speaks out - but not to the cypherpunks
In-Reply-To: <199511050203.SAA01370@jobe.shell.portal.com>
Message-ID: <495i89$1db@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


anonymous-remailer@shell.portal.com writes:

>The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) detailed a software
>code problem in one of AECL's (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's)
>instruments which deliver penetrating radiation.

>The software which controlled the radiation dose, would periodically
>override the oncologist's calibration and deliver a radiation dose
>100 times what was prescribed. This software "bug" literally killed
>wherever the machine was in use.

 . . .

>Or alternatively, another lesson could be pulled out: To avoid this
>problem, ensure that your code is mathematically provable or utilize
>appropriate hardware overrides.

If this is the same case I read of two or three years back, it
should be noted that not one but three safety interlocks had to fail
simultaneously -- one human, one hardware, one software.  The software
glitch has gotten the biggest play in the press, but it was not the
sole cause of the problem.
-- 
Yea, the heavens shall open and the NP-complete solution given forth.
ATT executives shall give birth to two-headed operating systems, and 
copyrights shall be expunged.  The voice of the GNU shall be heard,
but the faithless will be without transcievers.