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The Machine Fired Me

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451–460 of 578 posts

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#451

Post by tomjen3 »

linsomniac wrote: post #448

This reminds me of a co-workers 6 month battle to get his drivers license back. He got a letter from his insurance company saying his car insurance was cancelled. He called them up to find out why and they said it was because his license was suspended. After several calls to the police, he found there was a warrant out for him for ignoring a traffic ticket for being pulled over in Wyoming. Now, my co-worker is from W…

Sounds like he could have saved a bunch of time by getting a lawyer to write them a note - shouldn't be hard to prove damages.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#452

Post by irundebian »

noncoml wrote: post #51
ethicsengineer wrote: post #47

Engineers need to read The Trial by Franz Kafka. I don't think people fear soulless beurocracy without any possible resolution enough.

One of my favorite parts: -- Before the Law A man from the country seeks the law and wishes to gain entry to the law through an open doorway, but the doorkeeper tells the man that he cannot go through at the present time. The man asks if he can ever go through, and the doorkeeper says that it is possible "but not now". The man waits by the door for years, bribing the doorkeeper with everything he has. The doorkeeper…

That was a very interesting piece of text I've never heard of, although I know Kafka. Thank you!

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#453

Post by icebraining »

philliphaydon wrote: post #403
icebraining wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, why did you care? I think I'd just leave the account open.

I never knew I had a negative balance. Until after 2 years of it using PayPal they sent me a random email to inform me I had 30 days before they would pass it to debt collectors. So I figured better to close the account. Never use PayPal anyway.

They were sending your account to debt collectors over $1.27? I think that's an even bigger WTF than the original story.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#454

Post by da_chicken »

bonyt wrote: post #161

This is literally an episode of Better Off Ted.[1] In it, the titular Ted is inadvertenly deleted from the company system when trying to correct a misspelling of his last name. Eventually, he is forced to interview for his own job as the system had already put out an ad for his replacement. I think the most striking part of it, and of the true story from the post, is the human factor - the idea that the humans involv…

> people driving into lakes because their GPS told them to

That one has actually happened: http://bgr.com/2016/05/17/car-gps-mapping-directions-lake/

It's a little unfair, though. There was heavy rain, fog, and a second article [0] says it was also in the middle of the night. The photo there also does make it look easy to mistake as a road.

[0]: http://torontosun.com/2016/05/13/woman-follows-gps-ends-up-i...

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#456

Post by anchpop »

bb611 wrote: post #424
newest_user_ wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social security numbers are not unique, but combine them with a birthday and name, and it gets pretty close.

SSNs should be unique, the only exceptions are fraud or errors. According to the Social Security Administration: > At its inception, the SSN's only purpose was to uniquely identify U.S. workers, enabling employers to submit accurate reports of covered earnings for use in administering benefits under the new Social Security program. That is still the primary purpose for the SSN.

They are not. SSNs can and have been reused

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#457

Post by at-fates-hands »

da_chicken wrote: post #454
bonyt wrote: post #161

This is literally an episode of Better Off Ted.[1] In it, the titular Ted is inadvertenly deleted from the company system when trying to correct a misspelling of his last name. Eventually, he is forced to interview for his own job as the system had already put out an ad for his replacement. I think the most striking part of it, and of the true story from the post, is the human factor - the idea that the humans involv…

> people driving into lakes because their GPS told them to That one has actually happened: http://bgr.com/2016/05/17/car-gps-mapping-directions-lake/ It's a little unfair, though. There was heavy rain, fog, and a second article [0] says it was also in the middle of the night. The photo there also does make it look easy to mistake as a road. [0]: http://torontosun.com/2016/05/13/woman-follows-gps-ends-up-i...

Didn't this happen in an Office episode?

I remember Dwight and Michael arguing in Michael's car over whether the GPS was right as it kept telling them to go right which was directly into a lake.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#458

Post by JoeDaDude »

I am reminded of a short SF story in which a library computer was tagging an overdue book, "Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson. After alerting the authorities, also computers, and the latter discovering that Robert Louis Stevenson was deceased, it turned into a kidnapping case and capital murder crime.

If anyone remembers the name of the story or author, please post or let me know.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#460

Post by nitrogen »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #309
Rjevski wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely it’s an issue with contrast and overall darker skin colour. Can be solved by illuminating the face with IR though, which should work across all ethnicities.

Yes, but then you need special equipment rather than standard cameras (that usually filter IR); which would prove the point that it's about physical limitations rather than racism.

Most cheap cameras actually don't filter out IR; it often shows up as blue or purple. You can use this fact to see if an IR remote is working -- just shine it at your cellphone camera or webcam. Whether there's enough IR sensitivity to be able to illuminate a face is another question.
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