From TFA: Players can see who else is logged on and try to beat them to the best pictures. The system waits until the photo is classified consistently by at least two players, and assigns points according to how rare the bird is. Players with higher scores get more influence over where the video camera is positioned.
So if a friend and I both classify a common sparrow as a bald eagle or something, we both get a too-high score and increased priority on the camera? Lather, rinse, repeat.
Christ. I got "Weighted phrase limit exceeded" instead of a Slashdot article the other day. And I just happen to work for a UK government research council.
"Oh n0es, UK thought police are censoring Slashdot!"
Some people round here need to get a grip, definitely.
If you respect a gun, acknowledge that it's always dangerous, and that it's never "safe", it goes a long way toward keeping it safe.
We're forever hearing about workers being mangled in some piece of machinery that must have scared the bejeezus out of them on their first day, just because they got careless. So how do you ensure that you keep that respect for guns over time?
Especially if you carry a gun for work, if you live with the thing holstered, how do you - as a responsible gun owner - stop it becoming just one more thing to toss onto the table with your car keys? (Other than having an idiot wave one at you now and again...)
I wasn't raised around guns. First time I saw a gun up close I was twelve - and the idiot owner had left the damned thing unattended (loaded, though I didn't know it) on the coffee table. What did I do?
I sat down at the other end of the table and stared at the thing, waiting for an adult to come back.
And I thank my parents for giving me the wits not to go and play cowboys and indians with my little brother. Now, if an inquisitive twelve-year-old who's never held a gun has more gun sense than the owner, something's badly, badly wrong.
I honestly don't know about gun control. Idiot-with-gun control, now that I believe in.
Damned mod points expired earlier, so I'll just reply. Yours has to be one of the most insightful posts about guns in all the many I've read in the past few days.
If I ever hear the phrase "the safety's on" (after they've pointed it at me) one more time, I'm killing the dumbass who says it.
There has to be a mechanism for getting those idiots' firearms licence revoked - and if there isn't then there should be. Anyone that stupid and irresponsible should not be trusted with a knife and fork, let alone a gun.
I once had to call my ISP's "support" line for an issue at their end that had persisted over a couple of days. I'd gone through all the checks and knew, for certain, that it was their fault. But I still had to go through the script. All billed at premium rate, of course. (Did I mention that my ISP was also my cellphone operator?) I had to demand a supervisor before I got any sense out of them - and the supervisor confirmed within two minutes that the problem was at their end.
When service was restored, I wrote a filthy email to their Customer Services department, demanding an apology for the worthless "support" along with a full refund. I also asked for an explanation of how they could justify billing me £1.50 a minute to tell them that *they* had a problem, and why a free call to Customer Services couldn't have got a message passed across.
A week or so later, they called me back, to tell me that they were refunding the cost of the call and try to explain. This took about as long as the original call - and that week was the one week I was abroad, so they got as much out of me in roaming charges as they refunded.
A colleague and I once discussed rigging a bucket of water over the bed, with a rope that would be somehow pulled to tip the water over the unsuspecting user at the appropriate time.
It seemed promising, but the lawsuit potential killed it - what if the pilot light on the central heating had gone out overnight, and you actually tipped a block of ice onto the user's head? He'd definitely sleep in, then.
I'm sorry, I can't think of a way to phrase this question without sounding like I doubt it:
Have you?
Would you mind posting a comment about it (or one of them, if - as is quite possible, depending on your line of work - it's happened more than once)? Some real, hard experience from someone who's been there would be a little bit of sanity in a post that's otherwise gone to the dogs. And, I'd be really interested to hear about it.
So what you're saying is, Low human population density == fewer bees?
Right.
Now all we need to do is convince all the girls that having unprotected sex with random strangers will save the cute fluffy bumble-bees, and we're set.:)
"This is your Internet company. Our engineers are seeing signs of a virus on one of your computers. Please visit our security web site at $malware_site. In the meantime, we are taking steps to keep the virus from spreading. This may affect your connection. We will remove these blocks automatically when we see your system is clean. If you have any questions, call us at $premium_rate_engaged_tone_recording. Thank you."
Of course, I don't know whether the return is high enough to justify this sort of tactic, but it could happen.
On my mechatronics course, there was one particular joker who blatantly copied everyone else's work. It was galling, to say the least, but he was incorrigible. The final straw came when I finished a programming exercise, tested it on the device, and had no sooner said, "Yesss!" than he had a floppy in my PC stealing it. Right. You're coming down, bitch.
A few weeks later, we were programming a CNC milling machine. I rattled through the coding as quickly as I could, made some subtle changes, then wandered off in the direction of the coffee machine, letting it be known that I was done. The guy was right in there, quick as a flash, stealing my work. Hee hee, I thought, clicking Undo and sipping sewage-coffee as the lecturer set up the machine with a fresh block of steel.
It all went swimmingly at first - the feed rates, rpm, etc. were spot-on, and the bit followed the correct path. It lifted out ready to start the second cut... wound up to 3000rpm, and smashed down hard. BANG! - followed by the tinkling of bit-bits that had made it over the safety guards and half way across the room. I hadn't expected that! My victim couldn't do anything except stammer. Desperate to deflect the wrath of the lecturer (who had turned a very interesting shade of beetroot), he blurted out: "But.. but I didn't write it!"
I'd wanted to have the thing carve "I am a cheating c***", but that would have been too many coordinate pairs.
Slashdot Mirror
"your right to swing your fist ends where my face starts"
:)
So you wouldn't mind a swift punch in the bollocks, then?
That does make therufus' suggestion of hacking a pterodactyl in significantly easier (assuming you live nearby).
From TFA: Players can see who else is logged on and try to beat them to the best pictures. The system waits until the photo is classified consistently by at least two players, and assigns points according to how rare the bird is. Players with higher scores get more influence over where the video camera is positioned.
So if a friend and I both classify a common sparrow as a bald eagle or something, we both get a too-high score and increased priority on the camera? Lather, rinse, repeat.
Hmmmm.
Christ. I got "Weighted phrase limit exceeded" instead of a Slashdot article the other day. And I just happen to work for a UK government research council.
"Oh n0es, UK thought police are censoring Slashdot!"
Some people round here need to get a grip, definitely.
If you respect a gun, acknowledge that it's always dangerous, and that it's never "safe", it goes a long way toward keeping it safe.
We're forever hearing about workers being mangled in some piece of machinery that must have scared the bejeezus out of them on their first day, just because they got careless. So how do you ensure that you keep that respect for guns over time?
Especially if you carry a gun for work, if you live with the thing holstered, how do you - as a responsible gun owner - stop it becoming just one more thing to toss onto the table with your car keys? (Other than having an idiot wave one at you now and again...)
I wasn't raised around guns. First time I saw a gun up close I was twelve - and the idiot owner had left the damned thing unattended (loaded, though I didn't know it) on the coffee table. What did I do?
I sat down at the other end of the table and stared at the thing, waiting for an adult to come back.
And I thank my parents for giving me the wits not to go and play cowboys and indians with my little brother. Now, if an inquisitive twelve-year-old who's never held a gun has more gun sense than the owner, something's badly, badly wrong.
I honestly don't know about gun control. Idiot-with-gun control, now that I believe in.
Damned mod points expired earlier, so I'll just reply. Yours has to be one of the most insightful posts about guns in all the many I've read in the past few days.
If I ever hear the phrase "the safety's on" (after they've pointed it at me) one more time, I'm killing the dumbass who says it.
There has to be a mechanism for getting those idiots' firearms licence revoked - and if there isn't then there should be. Anyone that stupid and irresponsible should not be trusted with a knife and fork, let alone a gun.
I think it had more to do with the first paragraph under the sub-heading, "Well, shoot, I can't complain"...
Does anyone else's employer have a system where too many weighted phrases too close together on a page sets off alarm bells in IT?
Thanks, Slashdot. Now my employer probably thinks I'm a racist pervert.
No, Steve, not through the window!
I once had to call my ISP's "support" line for an issue at their end that had persisted over a couple of days. I'd gone through all the checks and knew, for certain, that it was their fault. But I still had to go through the script. All billed at premium rate, of course. (Did I mention that my ISP was also my cellphone operator?) I had to demand a supervisor before I got any sense out of them - and the supervisor confirmed within two minutes that the problem was at their end.
When service was restored, I wrote a filthy email to their Customer Services department, demanding an apology for the worthless "support" along with a full refund. I also asked for an explanation of how they could justify billing me £1.50 a minute to tell them that *they* had a problem, and why a free call to Customer Services couldn't have got a message passed across.
A week or so later, they called me back, to tell me that they were refunding the cost of the call and try to explain. This took about as long as the original call - and that week was the one week I was abroad, so they got as much out of me in roaming charges as they refunded.
Now who's the culprit?
You're a sick, twisted individual. I like that.
A colleague and I once discussed rigging a bucket of water over the bed, with a rope that would be somehow pulled to tip the water over the unsuspecting user at the appropriate time.
It seemed promising, but the lawsuit potential killed it - what if the pilot light on the central heating had gone out overnight, and you actually tipped a block of ice onto the user's head? He'd definitely sleep in, then.
I'm sorry, I can't think of a way to phrase this question without sounding like I doubt it:
Have you?
Would you mind posting a comment about it (or one of them, if - as is quite possible, depending on your line of work - it's happened more than once)? Some real, hard experience from someone who's been there would be a little bit of sanity in a post that's otherwise gone to the dogs. And, I'd be really interested to hear about it.
You've got back-ups on audio cassette, right? Try those.
Just, not in the floppy drive.
So what you're saying is, Low human population density == fewer bees?
:)
Right.
Now all we need to do is convince all the girls that having unprotected sex with random strangers will save the cute fluffy bumble-bees, and we're set.
but someone kept shooting at the window....
...Du ckHunt!
So Seven of Nine uses Dvorak? I figured she'd just assimilate the b0xen or something.
The Tamil Tigers are going to love this...
Is that a Chinese mispronunciation? ;)
...because that works really well for banks...
"This is your Internet company. Our engineers are seeing signs of a virus on one of your computers. Please visit our security web site at $malware_site. In the meantime, we are taking steps to keep the virus from spreading. This may affect your connection. We will remove these blocks automatically when we see your system is clean. If you have any questions, call us at $premium_rate_engaged_tone_recording. Thank you."
Of course, I don't know whether the return is high enough to justify this sort of tactic, but it could happen.
On my mechatronics course, there was one particular joker who blatantly copied everyone else's work. It was galling, to say the least, but he was incorrigible. The final straw came when I finished a programming exercise, tested it on the device, and had no sooner said, "Yesss!" than he had a floppy in my PC stealing it. Right. You're coming down, bitch.
A few weeks later, we were programming a CNC milling machine. I rattled through the coding as quickly as I could, made some subtle changes, then wandered off in the direction of the coffee machine, letting it be known that I was done. The guy was right in there, quick as a flash, stealing my work. Hee hee, I thought, clicking Undo and sipping sewage-coffee as the lecturer set up the machine with a fresh block of steel.
It all went swimmingly at first - the feed rates, rpm, etc. were spot-on, and the bit followed the correct path. It lifted out ready to start the second cut... wound up to 3000rpm, and smashed down hard. BANG! - followed by the tinkling of bit-bits that had made it over the safety guards and half way across the room. I hadn't expected that! My victim couldn't do anything except stammer. Desperate to deflect the wrath of the lecturer (who had turned a very interesting shade of beetroot), he blurted out: "But.. but I didn't write it!"
I'd wanted to have the thing carve "I am a cheating c***", but that would have been too many coordinate pairs.
Wow, a computer analogy to describe a car. There's a Soviet Russia joke here, somewhere...
Sorry, but I just can't buy it - any story on Slashdot today is suspect.
I'll believe it when the dupe comes along...