›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

GeekNights 20111010 - Databases of Facts

MrPeriodMrPeriod
edited October 2011 in GeekNights

Tonight on GeekNights, we talk a but about the problems the maintainers of databases (such as the lawsuit against the time zone database) of fact can face, despite their importance to society and the Internet as a whole. We take more than a moment to mourn the passing of Quickster, and wonder at the future of Google DART, We also have the answer to what "St Oui" was all about.

Download MP3
«1

Comments

  • Jack DraigoJack Draigo
    Well Netflix decision certainly was... Quick.

    *Cues up The Who*
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Just started this episode. Regarding made up quotes in the paper, the Daily Mail recently got stung when publishing the wrong story at the conclusion of a murder trial:

    The Daily Mail has emerged as the major fall guy by mistakenly publishing the wrong online version of the Amanda Knox verdict.

    Knox won her appeal, but the paper's website initially carried a story headlined "Guilty: Amanda Knox looks stunned as appeal against murder conviction is rejected."

    The Mail was not the only British news outlet to make the error. The Sun and Sky News did it too and yes - hands up here - so did The Guardian in its live blog.

    It would appear that a false translation of the judge's summing up caused the problem, leading to papers jumping the gun.

    So why has the Mail suffered the greatest flak? In time-honoured fashion, echoing the hot metal days of Fleet Street, it prepared a story lest the verdict go the other way.

    But it over-egged the pudding by inventing "colour" that purported to reveal Knox's reaction along with the responses of people in the court room.

    It even included quotes from prosecutors that were, self-evidently, totally fake.

    In other words, by publishing its standby story, the Mail exposed itself as guilty of fabrication.

    Here's some of the invented colour writing:

    "As Knox realised the enormity of what judge Hellman was saying she sank into her chair sobbing uncontrollably while her family and friends hugged each other in tears.

    A few feet away Meredith's mother Arline, her sister Stephanie and brother Lyle, who had flown in especially for the verdict remained expressionless, staring straight ahead, glancing over just once at the distraught Knox family.

    Prosecutors were delighted with the verdict and said that 'justice has been done' although they said on a 'human factor it was sad two young people would be spending years in jail'".

    The fiction got better and better. Sorry, I mean worse and worse ...

    "Following the verdict Knox and [Raphael] Sollecito were taken out of court escorted by prison guards and into a waiting van which took her back to her cell at Capanne jail near Perugia and him to Terni jail, 60 miles away.

    Both will be put on a suicide watch for the next few days as psychological assessments are made on each of them but this is usual practice for long term prisoners."
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    You are such a fucking hater Scott. You're probably one of those morons that would by a hockey jersey of the team you hate for $250 just so he can write something derogatory or insulting as the name on it.
  • AprecheApreche
    You are such a fucking hater Scott. You're probably one of those morons that would by a hockey jersey of the team you hate for $250 just so he can write something derogatory or insulting as the name on it.
    No, because I would know that a bunch of that money would actually go to the hated team's coffers and allow them to get better players.
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    You do realize that due to revenue sharing (at least in the NHL) that is already the case for any jersey and other merch, this is already true in limited amounts? But I guess you'd be much more content in wasting your money some other way just to piss of fans of a team you don't like. Must be hard to be a sports fan when you are more concerned with how to piss of fans of the rival team than how to support your own team.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited October 2011
    Must be hard to be a sports fan when you are more concerned with how to piss of fans of the rival team than how to support your own team.
    What is up with you people? Are you all goody-goody fans from St. Louis, who are notorious for cheering their team and being positive and polite no matter how bad they are stinking? I don't think you understand New York sports fandom. This is the town where we boo at our own team if they stink. The only time we cheer is when our own team does something great. We boo 90% of the time.

    Take for example, Denis Potvin. He was a mean piece of shit bastard who played for the New York Islanders in the '70s and '80s. To this day if you go to a NY Rangers home game, they will still do the "Potvin Sucks!" chant, even though Potvin has been retired for a very long time, and even if they aren't playing against the Islanders.


    Go to google.com and type "beat your wife" see what the top recommended search is?
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    So your defense for being a shitty sports fan is that everyone else is too...

    You know what the difference here is? You would have chartered that sky-writer to write "Eagles Suck" over Philadelphia. I would have chartered it to write "Flyers rule" over New York. I think other fans from Philly would agree, considering this here video:


    For those not in the know (so this is not addressed at you specifically, Scott), the Canadiens fans have the habit of chanting "Ole ole" when their team is winning and the game is about to end. It's a chant of celebration. However, fans of other teams hate it because they think it is smug. In this instance the Flyers fans coopt it to piss the Habs off. It's still a celebration, but you also get to rub the smugness of the Habs fans into their own faces.

    There is a difference between pissing off the teams you like by doing something great with your own team, or just something bad for the other team. I want first and foremost my team to succeed. You seem to be more concerned in seeing the teams you don't like fail.
  • NeitoNeito
    Pfft. I hate that kind of fan. "Oh, why do the other team's fans have to be so mean? Everything we do is made of sunshine and candy".

    Also, Philly fans should not be talking about not being mean. They both boo'd Santa Clause and caused a game to be canceled by pelting the field with beer bottles, trying to hit the refs.
  • AprecheApreche
    There is a difference between pissing off the teams you like by doing something great with your own team, or just something bad for the other team. I want first and foremost my team to succeed. You seem to be more concerned in seeing the teams you don't like fail.
    I wan both equally. Also, what's wrong with hating other teams? You are acting like it's a bad thing, but why? What is so bad about it?

    Even at RIT we had tons of negative cheering going on. During player introductions we would all say "YOU SUCK" in unison as each member of the opposing team was announced.

    Also: Rip Rip Rip. Rap Rap Rap. Elmira girls got the *clap* *clap* *clap*
  • RymRym
    Negative banter and grandstanding is just one aspect of the "drama" of sports.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited October 2011
    Negative banter and grandstanding is just one aspect of the "drama" of sports.
    Yep. We even have a word for the negative banter, Sledging, and it's done equally by the players and the Fans. It's most common in cricket, though, where you're in close but non-violent proximity to other players - Merv Hughes, Rod Marsh, and Ian Chappell were all famously vicious.

    You don't get quite as much of the grandstanding here, though - Mostly because down here, It's the tall poppy that gets it's head cut off. That's a distinctly American thing, to us.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • AndrewAndrew
    image
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Grow a backbone and watch a real sport like rugby, where the actual teams challenge each other with tribal war dances before a match.

  • AndrewAndrew
    Rugby was invented by some dude who was so fed up with soccer he decided to say "fuck it, I'll just pick up the ball"
  • ChurbaChurba
    Grow a backbone and watch a real sport like rugby, where the actual teams challenge each other with tribal war dances before a match.
    See, it's odd. I like rugby, but I don't like Rugby players. I've never met a rugby player that's by any measure a good bloke or worth my time, but for Ex-rugby players who have moved on to other things.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Grow a backbone and watch a real sport like rugby, where the actual teams challenge each other with tribal war dances before a match.
    See, it's odd. I like rugby, but I don't like Rugby players. I've never met a rugby player that's by any measure a good bloke or worth my time, but for Ex-rugby players who have moved on to other things.
    I concur. It's a tremendously good sport played by tremendously awful individuals.
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    Did Scott really just have to ask what is so bad about being negative? Why I find that being a dickhead is a worse way of being a sports fan? I think that would be rather self explanatory.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Did Scott really just have to ask what is so bad about being negative?
    Did you really just have to ask if Scott Rubin really just had to ask that?
  • ChurbaChurba
    I concur. It's a tremendously good sport played by tremendously awful individuals.
    I should note - Many of the Pro-level players I've seen down here, and the very few I've met, they all seem to be reasonably nice and level-headed dudes, but honestly, the ones I have met, it's only for a few seconds to a few minutes, it's not like I got to know them or anything. The most time I've spent with a pro rugby player is with this old welsh player called Scott Gibbs(no joke, look him up) who I basically recognised from a photo, and said "Hey, Are you Scott Gibbs? ME TOO!" and we shot the shit for a little while. It's the players everywhere below the top level who seem to be complete arseholes.
  • AprecheApreche
    Did Scott really just have to ask what is so bad about being negative? Why I find that being a dickhead is a worse way of being a sports fan? I think that would be rather self explanatory.
    So far you haven't given one reason that it is bad. Obviously if you go too far, like disgusting Philly fans do, and start physically hurting people and destroying property, that crosses a line. But what is wrong with booing, telling the other team they suck, or verbally abusing your opponent? It's a tradition as old as time.
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    edited October 2011
    Scott, I didn't say it was out and out bad and must be avoided at all cost all the time. What I am telling you is that it is a worse option than the alternative of being a positive, supportive fan of your own team, and any detriment suffered by the team you dislike as a result of it is just an added benefit.

    Why is it bad? It appears you actually have to have it spelled out to you. It is a lesser, non-sexual form of sadism. It is the enjoyment of when other people are having a bad time. It displays and fosters bad character traits in yourself and others, such as Schadenfreude, and simply is nothing other than being an asshole.

    We are also not talking here simply about booing the opponent when you are playing against them. We are talking about the fact that the first thing that came to your mind when discussing skywriting in a funny or interesting manner was to go out of your way in order to piss of the fans of a team you do not like. You are more concerned about annoying the team you don't like than about supporting the team you do like. And that is simply pitiful and makes you a bad sports fan.
    Post edited by chaosof99 on
  • open_sketchbookopen_sketchbook
    All spectator sports and the industry built around it is just a non-lethal form of gladiator fights. All the same emotions, all the same reasons. Simply because nobody is getting stabbed doesn't make it any more civilized, so why would anyone expect a fan to be anything but (metaphorically) bloodthirsty? Scott simply enjoys sports on a more primal level. He'd turn his thumb for the death of a defeated gladiator. I would wager that not hating the other team is representative of you not enjoying sports on the same level.
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    edited October 2011
    All spectator sports and the industry built around it is just a non-lethal form of gladiator fights. All the same emotions, all the same reasons. Simply because nobody is getting stabbed doesn't make it any more civilized, so why would anyone expect a fan to be anything but (metaphorically) bloodthirsty? Scott simply enjoys sports on a more primal level. He'd turn his thumb for the death of a defeated gladiator. I would wager that not hating the other team is representative of you not enjoying sports on the same level.
    No, I do hate certain teams. I also enjoy when they lose or are eliminated from the playoffs. However, I don't go out of my way to watch them lose. I don't celebrate it with some big fanfare when they lose. I wouldn't use a fucking sky-writer to let them know that I don't like them. I don't derive equal enjoyment from their losses as with the wins of my team. I much more enjoy it to see my team win. Sorry, but if Scott really gets equally overjoyed for when the Eagles are eliminated from the playoffs compared to when the Giants won the championship, something is fucking wrong with him.
    Post edited by chaosof99 on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I concur. It's a tremendously good sport played by tremendously awful individuals.
    The most time I've spent with a pro rugby player is with this old welsh player called Scott Gibbs(no joke, look him up) who I basically recognised from a photo, and said "Hey, Are you Scott Gibbs? ME TOO!" and we shot the shit for a little while. It's the players everywhere below the top level who seem to be complete arseholes.
    One of the other Luke Burrages in the world is a rugby player. I know this because I'm friends with him on Facebook. I'm friends with him on Facebook because at one point I searched for all Luke Burrages on Facebook and asked to be their friends. I just searched again and there are six of us now, not just three.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    edited October 2011
    It is a lesser, non-sexual form of sadism.
    And this is bad why? It's consensual. If you step onto the ball field, you expect to get heckled. There's no denying it.
    It displays and fosters bad character traits in yourself and others, such as Schadenfreude
    I disagree that schadenfreude is necessarily a bad or undesirable personality trait. I might call it a "necessary evil," but I don't consider that "bad."
    All spectator sports and the industry built around it is just a non-lethal form of gladiator fights.
    And this. In fact, some of them really aren't even non-lethal, strictly speaking. Nobody watches NASCAR to watch people turn left for 3 hours - you're watching because you're waiting for a crash. We watch sports for the drama, and drama is all about highs and lows.

    Welcome to people. This is what we do. Cheering for loss? It reinforces communities.
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    Wait, what? Yeah, you can expect to get heckled. That doesn't mean that you want to get heckled, that you approve of being heckled, or that you enjoy being heckled. There is no such thing as consensual heckling.
  • AprecheApreche
    There is no such thing as consensual heckling.
    Trash-talk Mario Tennis tournament.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    That doesn't mean that you want to get heckled, that you approve of being heckled, or that you enjoy being heckled.
    Then don't take the job.

    Yes, if you agree to a job, you agree to all sorts of crap that you might not like. We have regulations about some things, but at the end of the day, the job of a professional athlete is to entertain crowds of people. People derive their enjoyment from many sources, and their job is to be there to be that pillar of entertainment.

    Don't be a clown if you don't like being laughed at.
  • ChurbaChurba
    Trash-talk Mario Tennis tournament.
    Oh shit - Mario tennis Trash-talk tournament.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I love getting heckled, and I say that as a professional entertainer. But then again I normally have a microphone, and can work with the crowd to make a better show. As a sports person, I'm not sure I'd have the same fun times.
Sign In or Register to comment.