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Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

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Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#22
How are you surprised that they did it when they knew what high school she went to? Two possibilities:

Option 1: Step 1) Find copies of yearbooks going back a few years, 2) find her face in the yearbook.

Option 2: Step 1) Search facebook for people who went to the same high school as she did in the probable time frame. 2) Look for her in that set, or in the set of friends that the people who matched the search have.

Feel free to sprinkle in face detection on the yearbook/facebook photos to make it more engineer-ey.

As a matter of fact, how did they find out what high school she went to? I can't imagine you telling them that if you were not providing much information about her to anyone else.

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#23

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

tineye.com or similar?

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#24

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

Justin's own phone leaked his location (through some google-lattitude, or Yelp like service or perhaps gps directly) while Justin drove (or rode with her in a taxi) to her home.

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#25
post #23

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

tineye.com or similar?

no luck

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#26

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

Justin's own phone leaked his location (through some google-lattitude, or Yelp like service or perhaps gps directly) while Justin drove (or rode with her in a taxi) to her home.

good idea, but not the case here.

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#27

Why not ask them? If your engineers as self-satisfied about finding her as it sounds, then they'll be happy to describe their process over a beer or two. I've never known an engineer who doesn't like discussing how they solved some riddle.

The engineers were made to beg for info on the girl, so they might be getting some satisfaction from keeping a secret from the author in return. I know I would. Give 'em a taste of his own medicine. Also, if it was a relatively simple solution, it's probably more exciting with some mystery overlaying it rather than just explaining it outright.

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#28

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

Did you go back to the bar where they originally met and talk to the bartender? She probably frequents the bar if she lives in the area.

At that point, if the bartender knows some of her backstory or friends or anything - maybe only has a first name - things get much simpler.

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#29

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

You obviously knew something about her that made it possible, which you even admit Justin doesn't know you had. People are getting bored with your shenanigans, spill it!

Re: Help me figure out how I lost this bet to an engineer

#30

I'm the engineer he's referring to. I still get a laugh seeing Justin's amazement when we told him her name. To answer a few questions... - This isn't the actual photo but looks similar, except that she was alone. Justin was afraid of reposting the same photo after the results of handing over a photo last time :) - There was no useful exif data in the image. - We knew her high school and approximate age in Austin, bu…

Justin's own phone leaked his location (through some google-lattitude, or Yelp like service or perhaps gps directly) while Justin drove (or rode with her in a taxi) to her home.

How would they have gotten my GPS location? And how would they have figured out which one was her house. I was in her neighborhood and stopped multiple places that were 'significant' to her as a kid. Any of them could have been her house. And I wasn't at anyone for more than 60 seconds
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