Slashdot Mirror
USAF Taps ESPN To Compile Drone "Highlight" Video
mbstone writes "The Air Force has a problem: Its drones generate thousands of hours of video (I almost said 'footage.') And most of it is miles of endless desert. USAF needs to distill the highlights, if you will, and nobody does it better than ESPN, the TV sports network. Air Force officials have asked ESPN for help in analyzing the 327,384 hours collected just this year. What we really need in times like these is sportscaster Warner Wolf. 'Let's go to the videotape, pick it up right here, Taliban in the home black.'"
The ESPN guys will carefully add the yellow first down markers so us home viewers will be able to make sense of each operation as it unfolds.
get madden to do the commentary
Reaper connects to Assam deep across the middle... Bam!
Beast of Kandahar throws down the over the horizon hell fire jam... in your face Azim!
Head drone in the red zone. Easy over the middle dump-off to Al Queda, called back by the UN for innocent bystander. Damn replacment observers.
In the not top ten we have a village of children catching a bomb as the clock runs out. Poor situational awareness there Steve.
Captcha: hammered
Like, kinda sorta crowd outsource it to armchair analysts. Just like ESPN does to armchair quarterbacks.
Who would watch hours on end of boring drone video? The same folks who watch the rest of the junk on YouTube. They can like or dislike the important or filler bits.
And let the terrorist squeal with glee, "Hey, I'm on YouTube!"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Someone watches all of those gamed. Every uninteresting baseball inning, every boring back and forth soccer kick, even days long cricket matches.
ESPN has thousands of eyes, most of then not paid by them.
They put up a camera or tap into one used for local consumption, look at the score sheet and cherry pick the highlights off their DVR.
You could scan your twitter feed to know what sections to watch. You can listen to the crowd at the game and know when to hit rewind.
There is no shortcut magic that ESPN has. They just have lots of eyes.
If you don't have that many eyes, Artificial Intelligence has a much better chance of picking up a remote encampment or a caravan of cars, or even pack mules and foot soldiers in hours of desert streaming by. At least it eliminates the 90% of the video stream that holds nothing of interest.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
One thing I cant understand about this whole thing; how is it possible they blanket label everyone on the receiving end of the hellfire missile as 'enemy combatant' or 'a dog', even if theyre just civilians and or children. There used to be this country that stood up for human rights and had war criminals executed over something called the 'command responsibility' and 'war crimes' and 'crimes against humanity'. Can't remember what country that was but I bet theres someone here who can.
FTHeadline:
USAF Taps ESPN To Compile Drone "Highlight" Video
FTA:
Air Force officials have met with the sports cable network ESPN to discuss how it handles large amounts of video that stream in. The visit resulted in no technological breakthroughs, but helped in developing training and expertise, the Air Force said.
C'mon guys. Just a little bit of a clue?
They aren't some kind of "new evil", it just happens theyre pretty much one of the few kinds of evil being *committed right now as we have this discussion* by a country that officially claims to be the champion of human rights and protector(and chief exporter) of democracy. Nice try dodging the argument but you have to try better than that.
And the Taliban is going deep, deep... and INTERCEPTION!... US just bombed the entire defensive line and stole the ball! 90, 80, 70... they're going all the way... wait... you're saying we just blew half the crowd away and a referee? 50! 40, 30...
Yeah. Well, I suppose it would be my country that would turn killing people into a sport. ;(
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
They aren't some kind of "new evil", it just happens theyre pretty much one of the few kinds of evil being *committed right now as we have this discussion* by a country that officially claims to be the champion of human rights and protector(and chief exporter) of democracy. Nice try dodging the argument but you have to try better than that.
I think you miss his point.
A 250lb JDAM dropped from a MQ-9 is treated completely differently (in the press) than the exact same 250lb JDAM dropped from an F-16.
The only real difference between the two aircraft is where the pilot is sitting. But it is still a human pilot hitting the pickle button.
pickle button?
is that some kind of vlassic humor or something?
No, that's the (long term) military slang for the button on the stick that releases the bomb. Generally, it is a red button.
They put one of those electrode caps on some guy, then flashed up satellite images of desert. Once trained, the system could spot the signs of something interesting being noticed - even to the point that the computer could tell when the guy had seen something interesting, even if he wasn't consciously aware of it.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
There's webcam software that can perform motion detection, and do shape recognition. You also have image segmentation and texture classification.
Motion detection looks for changes between two frames. Image segmentation splits an image by looking for edges and creating silhouettes. Texture classification works on looking for different types of texture (walls, ground, trees, bushes, sand). Shape recognition works on trying to convert 2D images into 3D shapes and orientations. Image processing researchers usually end up building these long pipelines of image processing transformations (noise filtering, image perpective processing, edge detection, sharpening), all to just differentiate between cyclists and joggers.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
holy moly, im happy to see him being referenced... he is a great sportsman, ..and funny to boot.
as for the air force needing ESPNs help?!
i bet he would say "COME ON!!!!"
seems silly to me, probably more a part of their recruiting efforts !
And I hold the position that he missed my original point; just because the means of delivery are new does not make the killing of civilians any more OK than with the previous means of delivery, the drones are included in the opening argument because as of now they are the main mains of delivery currently employed, thus; the drones themselves are completely irrelevant in the actual argument, its the murder unarmed civilians going on without any type of reprisal against the aggressors I have my problems with.
*murder of
The "human rights" activist tribe are just a bunch of pretentious and fickle opportunists. None of them complain about human drones who strap suicide vests onto children.
As far as I know, the US military isn't spending my tax dollars to strap suicide vests onto children.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
the drones are included in the opening argument because as of now they are the main mains of delivery currently employed
Not so sure about that. Yes, the percentages are increasing drove v manned aircraft (flight hours and bombing missions). But the majority of actual bombing missions? I could be wrong, but gonna have to ask for a citation for that one.
They are the main ones we hear about, though.
the drones are included in the opening argument because as of now they are the main mains of delivery currently employed Not so sure about that. Yes, the percentages are increasing drove v manned aircraft (flight hours and bombing missions). But the majority of actual bombing missions? I could be wrong, but gonna have to ask for a citation for that one. They are the main ones we hear about, though.
...Mmmmm, you may have something there, but I cant come up with statistics with quick googling and pretty much the only US aerial attacks I've read about for pretty long while have concerned drone strikes, especially in Pakistan operated by the CIA I have made the assumption there are no conventional planes doing regular patrols/bombing runs. Still, my main issue is with all the dead collateral labeled as enemy combatants and dogs, even when theyre clearly civilian casualties.
Still, my main issue is with all the dead collateral labeled as enemy combatants and dogs, even when theyre clearly civilian casualties.
Agreed. Civilian casualties, accidental, intentional or misidentified, has been an issue forever.
A 250lb JDAM dropped from a MQ-9 is treated completely differently (in the press) than the exact same 250lb JDAM dropped from an F-16.
Because the US president treats it differently too.
He doesn't consider using them an act of war requiring approval from Congress:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2011/06/koh_is_my_god_pilot.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/12/10/the-threat-of-drones-ushering-in-invisible-wars/
Let's be honest: is the outcry due to collateral damage (which nearly universally occurs in any war) or the fact that it's not a manned pilot exposing his or hersself life, but rather what people perceive to be a robot (enter skynet fears here).
I think the real outrage (in the US anyway) comes not from the strikes themselves, but rather that the average idiot (read: the general populace) believes that these drones truly operate autonomously. They don't realize there's a human telling that drone what to do. They see it as Terminator incarnate. I think the average way-person sees it as someone sitting there and all of a sudden hearing "TERRORIST. TERRORIST. TERMINATE." followed by the wooshing sound of that hellfire missile firing. Nevermind in actuality they've likely been watching an individual for weeks, if not longer, confirming it's who they think it is before pulling the trigger.
Then again, most /.'ers are conspiracy nuts, as well.
I think the real outrage (in the US anyway) comes not from the strikes themselves, but rather that the average idiot (read: the general populace) believes that these drones truly operate autonomously.
I can see you have trouble placing yourselves in the position of the victims here; theyre going along with their business in their country that as far as they no have no active wars with anyone and suddenly out of the clear blue sky a hellfire missile strikes and kills 4/5ths of the clan during whatever social gathering they were there for; the survivors wont give a fuck what fired the missile and on top of that all the aggressors label all people killed in the strike as enemy combatants regardless of age or actual stance against the US and call it a day.
Civilian deaths should always be part of the decision making process when deciding who to target but it should not be the only criteria. The drone program has introduced fear and uncertainty in those planning or executing attacks and that is a good thing.
Obligatory tangential reference to football type quote:
Oh my god, the quarterback is toast!!!
I think you miss his point.
A 250lb JDAM dropped from a MQ-9 is treated completely differently (in the press) than the exact same 250lb JDAM dropped from an F-16.
The only real difference between the two aircraft is where the pilot is sitting. But it is still a human pilot hitting the pickle button.
There is one major difference you are missing: Pre drone, the CIA didn't have much of an air force, and what it did have was exotic recon gear. The conventional military also operates drones, of course, and there isn't much effort made to attribute any given attack to any specific operator; but one locus of dislike for the drone fleet is really a locus of dislike for the fact that the CIA is now in the business of running a rapidly expanding and not-even-nominally-accountable-to-anybody fleet of ground attack aircraft.
Shhh... pointing out that some of our enemies are real assholes is supposed to be a magical justification for absolutely anything we do, wish to do, or may have done, however tangentially related. How can you be so mean as to oppose this argument?
at any rate I second the sentiment. It's not a War if there is no organized opposition. A few terrorists / Bunch 'o guys with guns != an armed force / Military.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Mod parent up for truth
"Taps" has become a bogus oversensationalized headline, as if there is some great honor fought for by many that some lucky soul is blessed by God to be given the opportunity to perform.
But it's really just a dishonest synonym for "ask": "USAF asks ESPN to compile drone highlight video" or if money has changed hands: "USAF pays ESPN to compile highlight video."
Lets have some truth in language and get rid of these bullshit words.
How did this get modded *4, Funny*?
pickle button?
Developed in the mid-1930s, the Norden bomb-sight was advertised as being so accurate that the operator could put a bomb into a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet.
It was an accurate sight, but complex to use and required skill. But "Pickling those bombs" stuck long after the sight had been retired.
Well, it's not merely a lack of reprisal -- it's total celebration of murder. Democrats are the New GOP, and Old GOP is a parody of itself. That Democrats consider themselves liberals is absolute self-delusion. It has to be the most disgusting party ever, filled to the brim as it is with hypocrites who hated Bush (with good reason) but love Obama when he does the same shit and more.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
It's not just that -- the term "enemy combatant" has been redefined to mean any male more than 12 or 13 years old. It's pretty hard to miss a combatant when you basically target any non-infant male.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
And of course, in classic terrorist tradition, we go for a double tap, targeting the rescuers acting on natural human instinct to help those in need, or funeral attendees wishing to say goodbye to their loved ones.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
People going about their daily business in a foreign country not at war with us, who would probably never earn enough in their lifetime just to get the planefare to the US together, are "insurgents"? What fucked up warped kind of asshole are you?
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
A guy sitting in an observation balloon 100 years ago shooting at ground targets wasn't any different.
A guy in a balloon can see clearly what he is shooting at avoid firing at civilians. He has plenty of time to select military only targets.
A guy flying a drone has a map with an "X" on it, and when his little drone icon gets within a few kilometres he fires a missile and turns around. Obviously he can't do overflights and then study the footage carefully to make sure the X really is an enemy training camp and not a wedding party because that would give the bad guys a chance to get away.
The "human rights" activist tribe are just a bunch of pretentious and fickle opportunists. None of them complain about human drones who strap suicide vests onto children.
I do.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Ran out of points myself.
His post says it all.
The key issue here is that with a manned flight of death you have an actual person in a plane relatively close to the crater-gonna-be. The fallacy here is that with modern bombs you actually see the Red Crescent emblem on the orphanage you are about to bomb because the CIA held the street map upside down. In truth as a pilot you propably won't be even close enough.
But there is always the immense satisfaction of giving thepilot a ticker tape parade when he returns.
What really irks me is how our language gets polluted by political spin. What's all about this calling dropping explosives "surgical strikes". there's nothing surgical about an explosion. It doesn't magically go around people you'd rather not kill. Meticulously planning and sending a bunch of highly trained people with guns to place a bullet between the eyes of an actually worthy target is surgical. Dropping a bomb so that the target might or might not be within the blast radius is a bloody mess.
Yet somehow we buy this as a political "I win" button. And the man who is a huge fan of this is actually a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
People wonder why by now even allies and friendly nations wonder if it weren't better to remove the US from the planet to a remote place somewhere beyond the solar system. With dynamite if neccessary.
The men in charge of this are a fucking disgrace to all of humanity. In that respect Clinton and everybody who came after him made Reagan look like an appeasement softie. Finger always hovering above a button that doesn't release a nuke.
20 minutes into the future
Drone 6257 releases a missile! Its going... going... going... IT COULD GO ALL THE WAY!!! *BOOM!* TOUCHDOWN!
So they don't actually have an automatic system for picking up the content of interest? That's hardly believable.
According to one drone operator they have at least a recording system which helps to label smaller than adult size human objects on two legs as four legged dogs.
Marco Rubio vs: Hilary Clinton 2016, sponsored by the same interested parties, with the same unsavory results.
One of them gets elected.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
This is beyond wrong. It's an obscenity.
What I don't get is why drones are considered to be some kind of "new evil" as compared to regular manned aircraft which have been doing the same thing since before WW1.
Because we are a step away from letting the machines decide whether or not to pull the trigger.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Drones are not a new evil. However, they are a new way to convince yourself psychologically that you're not committing evil, however necessary that evil may be.
The guy in the balloon was deployed to a war zone. The drone pilot commutes to work.
The guy in the balloon was debriefed and demobbed. The drone pilot probably wasn't.
The guy in the balloon physically climbed into the aircraft and traveled the long distance to the targets. The drone pilot sat back in a chair waiting for the AI to move the drone to the target locations.
The guy in the balloon handled the weapon, heard the weapon, probably even smelled the weapon. He was probably full of adrenaline. The drone pilot sat in a comfy chair and pushed a button.
If it helps, think of it this way. Credit default swaps were not a "new evil" compared to the gambling that financial traders used to do with people's homes. But by abstracting it away from physical buildings, by giving it a name which doesn't mention "house" or "mortgage", it's that much less obvious that you're actually gambling with people's homes and, consequently, far more risks were taken.
Alternatively, go read Ender's Game.
Drone pilots probably "know" that they're fighting a war, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. As Slashdot pointed out recently, the USAF is actually trying to take steps to make sure drone pilots don't get bored! That isn't a problem that ever happened to F16 pilots.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Nevermind in actuality they've likely been watching an individual for weeks, if not longer, confirming it's who they think it is before pulling the trigger
Seriously, do you actually believe that? Fucking Air Farce can't tell the difference between a wedding party and a terrorist training camp, and you actually think they are able to follow someone for weeks without being detected? Yeesh.
By the way, I've got a bridge you might want to buy, it's got a great view of the water . . .
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Horseshit. The only people who actually objected to the disgusting display of dick-wagging that went on in Yugoslavia were from the left. The right just complained that their side didn't get to pick out enough of the targets.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
People going about their daily business in a foreign country not at war with us, who would probably never earn enough in their lifetime just to get the planefare to the US together, are "insurgents"?
Yeah. Like this guy:
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1188027.1354977866!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/libya19e-1-web.jpg
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/fbi-questions-suspect-benghazi-attack-hours-article-1.1226081
Not sure what you mean by people going about their business, and the country not having active wars. Afghanistan and regions of Pakistan are in states of war, whether it meets the definition of a "conventional" war is irrelevant. We're talking about places that harbor terrorists, experience bombings (performed by locals) every few days, and produce jihad videos recruiting soldiers. I don't know what you're imagining that you would think it's a country at peace.
Also I wonder how you're getting your information about the targets of drone strikes being innocent. Some of them are, of course, and I have heard acknowledgments of non-combatant deaths in drone strikes. But in the cases where the US claims it hit terrorists, or soldiers, or combatants or whatever, and you claim it hit children, where is your proof? Replacing bodies is a well known tactic by terrorists groups with good PR machines (e.g. Palestinian groups) so it's like the boy who cried wolf -- not a lot of people believe what terrorists say about innocent casualties.
I am not a huge fan of North America sports, but I always get confused by ESPN highlights. Why do they dedicate so much time to showing coaches and officials talking to each other or looking at monitors? They always show some guys in animated conversation or staring at a screen. How does this contribute to the highlights? In other sports (rugby, cricket, soccer, etc.) they show the actual on field highlights.
your untapped reserve of nationalist right-wing, patriottic americans ? gives them something else to do than white the power online
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?