Sculpture of Whale’s Tail Saves Train
Last Monday, a train in the Netherlands broke past the end of the raised tracks it was riding on. In any other place, that might have been a disaster.
Luckily for the train and its driver, who was the only one on board, there was a large sculpture of a whale’s tail at the end of the track. The sculpture supported the train and kept it from smashing onto the ground 32 feet (10 meters) below.
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Last Monday, a train in the Netherlands broke past the end of the raised tracks it was riding on. Luckily a large sculpture of a whale’s tail at the end of the track supported the train, and kept it from smashing onto the ground.
It’s still not clear why the train didn’t stop in time.
The sculpture, which some people are calling “Saved by the Whale’s Tail”, was created by architect Maarten Struijs in 2002, and is located in Spijkenisse, not far from Rotterdam.
Mr. Struijs said he was surprised the sculpture was so strong. “When plastic has stood for 20 years,” he said, “You don’t expect it to hold up a metro train.”
Artificial Intelligence Mistakes Bald Head for Soccer Ball
Though computer-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown that it can do amazing things, a recent soccer (football) game is a reminder of how easily such systems can go wrong.
A soccer club in Scotland known as Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC hired a company called Pixellot to make videos of their home matches, so that the games could be streamed live to fans.
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The Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC hired a company called Pixellot to make videos of their matches to stream for fans. Pixellot uses AI technology instead of human camera operators to automatically track the ball. Above, Pixellot’s leader giving a talk in 2019.
Pixellot doesn’t use human camera operators. Instead, it uses AI technology to automatically track the ball. At least that’s the idea.
But during a recent match, the Pixellot system got confused repeatedly. Instead of following the soccer ball, the system focused over and over again on the bald head of a referee on the sidelines.
During a recent match, the Pixellot system got confused repeatedly. Instead of following the soccer ball, the system focused over and over again on the bald head of a referee on the sidelines. A soccer fan made this post on Twitter.
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It’s a good reminder that though AI programs can be trained to take on complicated tasks, the way they do this is not at all similar to the way humans think. This means they can sometimes be easily fooled in unexpected ways.
Man in India Pays $41,500 for a Magic Lamp
A doctor in Uttar Pradesh, India went to the police after he was tricked out of $41,500 by two men who made him believe they were selling him Aladdin’s magic lamp.
The doctor was treating a woman whom he believed was the mother of the two men. Over time, the men told him about a magical spirit which visited their home. They encouraged him to meet this spirit.
At one point, the doctor said, the magical spirit actually appeared in front of him. The men offered to sell him a magic lamp that would make him rich, healthy, and lucky.
(Source: ☼☼Jo Zimny☼☼, via Flickr.com.)
The tricksters asked for over $200,000, but settled for $41,500. Only later did the doctor begin to suspect that he had been fooled, and that the ‘spirit’ he had seen was just one of the men dressed up. That’s when he went to the police.
The two men have been arrested, and police are looking for a woman who worked with them.