Re: [Patents] Joke: digits of Pi...

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

do you know the source of this text ?


On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 09:25:43AM +0100, pelegrin@labri.fr wrote:
> 
> 
> WARNING: Do NOT calculate Pi in binary. It is conjectured that this number 
>  is normal, meaning that it contains ALL finite bit strings. 
>  If you compute it, you will be guilty of: 
>  *   Copyright infringement (of all books, all short stories, all 
>  newspapers, all magazines, all web sites, all music, all movies, and all 
>  software, including the complete Windows source code) 
>  *   Trademark infringement 
>  *   Possession of child pornography 
>  *   Espionage (unauthorized possession of top secret information) 
>  *   Possession of DVD-cracking software 
>  *   Possession of threats to the President 
>  *   Possession of everyone's SSN, everyone's credit card numbers, 
>  everyone's PIN numbers, everyone's unlisted phone numbers, and everyone's 
>  passwords 
>  *   Defaming Islam.  Not technically illegal, but you'll have to go into 
>  hiding along with Salman Rushdie. 
>  *   Defaming Scientology.  Which IS illegal-just ask Keith Henson. 
> 
>  Also, your computer will contain all of the nastiest known computer 
> viruses. 
>  In fact, all of the nastiest POSSIBLE computer viruses. 
>  Some of the files on my PC are intensely personal, and I for one don't 
> want 
>  you snooping through a copy of them. 
>  You might get away with computing just a few digits, but why risk it? 
>  There's no telling how far into Pi you can go without finding the secret 
>  documents about the JFK assassination, a photograph of your neighbor's six 
>  year old daughter doing the nasty with the family dog, or a complete copy 
> of 
>  the not-yet-released Pearl Harbor movie. So just don't do it. 
>  The same warning applies to e, the square root of 2, Euler's constant, 
> Phi, 
>  the cosine of any non-zero algebraic number, and the vast majority of all 
>  other real numbers. 
>  There's a reason why these numbers are always computed and shown in 
> decimal, 
>  after all. 

-- 
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