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Shadow Analysis Could Spot Terrorists
Hugh Pickens writes "An engineer at Jet Propulsion Labs says it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk — a technique called gait analysis, whose power lies in the fact that a person's walking style is very hard to disguise. Adrian Stoica has written software that recognizes human movement in aerial and satellite video footage by isolating moving shadows and using data on the time of day and the camera angle to correct shadows that are elongated or foreshortened. In tests on footage shot from the sixth floor of a building, Stoica says his software was indeed able to extract useful gait data. Extending the idea to satellites could prove trickier, though. Space imaging expert Bhupendra Jasani at King's College London says geostationary satellites simply don't have the resolution to provide useful detail. 'I find it hard to believe they could apply this technique from space,' says Jasani." Comments on the article speculate on the maximum resolution possible from KH-11 and KH-12 spy satellites.
OK students, today we practice 'Ballet of the Bombs', everyone have their 6-pack strapped on?
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
An engineer at Jet Propulsion Labs says it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk -- a technique called gait analysis, whose power lies in the fact that a person's walking style is very hard to disguise.
I knew it! The Ministry of Silly Walks is really just a subdivision of MI6!
Obviously, but this isn't exactly rocket science.
Just point at the screen and say "Enhance this part!" There you go. If there's something in the way, like a rock, tree, or the roof of a building, just say "Enhance it again" and you'll get all the resolution you need.
If that isn't good enough for you then maybe you could create a GUI interface using Visual Basic to do the job for you.
Would TV lie to me about this kind of thing?
I guess the Ministry of Silly Walks will be accused of aiding and abetting terrorists...
No shit. Next they'll be saying they can identify terrorists by their haircut. Or the school they went to. Or the colour of their front door. Or the explosive vest strapped to their chest. Oh....wait.....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
So if it looks like a terrorist, talks like a terrorist, and now walks like a terrorist, it is a terrorist? We should find a way to see how they taste and smell..
So every one that leans to one side is also a suspected terrorist.
I never go anywhere without a six-pack and a strap-on.
Walk Fremen style and you can stay incognito and avoid Shai-Hulud all at the same time.
(Score:2, Insightful)
I never go anywhere without a six-pack and a strap-on.
Insightful?? I shudder to think what that mod considers funny.
Not to mention the Brothers Gibb, whose extensive research led them to develop a way of using ones walk to demonstrate the fact that you were a woman's man, no time to talk...
Nothing has ever needed modding up like this post does.
In my day, all we had was tappa tappa tappa!
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
And of course the anthropological studies of Bangles Labs who uncovered the ancient lost method of bipedal transportation common to the natives 6 millenia ago in the Nile Basin of Noth East Africa...
The Admin and the Engineer
Well, while we're on the subject, I once met a girl hitch-hiking across country. Came from Miami apparently. Something didn't seem quite right about her, but when I asked about it I couldn't hear the answer because of all the coloured girls going doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo doo...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
i think the mod should stand, and we should develop a way to mod the mod itself +5 funny
Watching 6-7 billion people walk is out of the question for the satellites to cover. So, they specialize in spotting certain gaits before zeroing in and analyzing. Specifically, long, low strides, with one arm out in front, bent at the elbow, sashing a cape (possibly hiding a round, long-fused bomb). The other hand, if twirling a long moustache or rubbing the front brim of a black fedora, will tip off the satellite that it is, in fact, looking at a villain. The tracking of shifty eyes and maniacal cackling were removed for technological shortcomings... and the satellites kept targeting congress.
During testing, the engineers were proud to report the satellite alarmed them to several instances of women being tied to railroad tracks, banks being robbed, and suckers being stolen from infants. When a satellite makes a positive match to one of these terrorists, it will broadcast staccato piano music in a minor key to the area. Citizens are expected to boo and hiss these men if the satellites begin alerting them of their terrorist ways.
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
Ha! I was sure to be right to wear a tinfoil hat! Now I just have to make sure it is wide-brimmed.