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DeepBreath: Preventing angry emails with machine learning

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Re: DeepBreath: Preventing angry emails with machine learning

#81
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at red lights as an example. Those are just primitive robots. Yet, when I'm sitting at an empty intersection at night, even though I have excellent, advanced sensors in my eyes, I'm not allowed to just run a red light. Red lights aren't just a "helpful warning." The robots already have the final say in that arena, because human law (for now) backs them up. It's not based on scary movies... primitive robots alrea…

> Red lights aren't just a "helpful warning." The town where I grew up has a red light which only changes when a weight sensor is tripped. But weight sensors are expensive, and the approaching two-lane road only has a sensor in one lane. Worse, it's calibrated for cars, so motorcycles never trip it. Yes, only . If you ride up late at night on a motorcycle, you have a choice between committing a serious traffic offens…

If you ride up late at night on a motorcycle, you have a choice between committing a serious traffic offense and waiting several hours for the light to change. No, this problem isn't ever going to be addressed.

It's probably already addressed: run the light. Check the regulations of your local jurisdiction, but it very likely that the light is treated as "broken", and you are allowed to proceed after verifying that the intersection is clear. Yes, I've tested this IRL.

If it's an intersection you deal with regularly, call the local DOT, tell them about it and they'll come recalibrate the sensor. Yup, tested that IRL, too. Buddy of mine said that in his case they met him at the intersection so they make sure his bike worked when they were done.

And, BTW, it's not a weight sensor but an induction loop. Meaning that turning the bike off and restarting it can trip the light. Something something electricity through the starter windings.

Re: DeepBreath: Preventing angry emails with machine learning

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well in this case your reply IS very condescending. lmao. "I just checked the server manually and the files were there. Could you check again and let me know if they still aren't showing up for you?" would probably be a better way to phrase what you're saying.

Agreed on its own, but I would consider the personality sending it. A manager I worked with sent emails that sounded like Data trying to parse human communication and often seemed condescending, but in person, the guy was very affable. Turns out he is just a poor communicator through text. If I got the above message from a someone in another division, I would think he was being condescending on purpose.

Maybe I should also add that this partner has been a nightmare to work with for well over a year, so perhaps some of my annoyance with them in general is shining through. They have certainly talked down to me before in a very transparent way, when in fact they were the ones in the wrong, so I don't feel all that bad.

For example, there was a multiple day e-mail back-and-forth debating XML namespaces for SOAP requests on another related project. My code generated XML with different namespace labels than those in their examples, so they told me it was "incorrect". I had to send them the specific section of the SOAP spec to illustrate that the labels can be anything as long as they are set to the appropriate URI -- they're labels. They didn't believe me, thought that the differing namespace labels were what were causing the requests to be rejected on their end...until a few days later when it turned out that it was a completely unrelated bug in their system.

Re: DeepBreath: Preventing angry emails with machine learning

#83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Red lights aren't just a "helpful warning." The town where I grew up has a red light which only changes when a weight sensor is tripped. But weight sensors are expensive, and the approaching two-lane road only has a sensor in one lane. Worse, it's calibrated for cars, so motorcycles never trip it. Yes, only . If you ride up late at night on a motorcycle, you have a choice between committing a serious traffic offens…

Are you sure it's a weight sensor? It's usually an inductive loop[1], which detects metal. They're usually supposed to detect motorcycles, but are sometimes incorrectly calibrated. I've been able to trigger most troublesome detectors by tilting my motorcycle while on top of it. Some people also put magnets in their boots[2]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_loop 2. http://www.instructables.com/id/Traffic-Li…

Oh, interesting! I didn't realize that, but thinking back on how it looked, it probably is induction. Didn't know motorcyclists had tricks for that.

Shame they only put the loop in one of two lanes, though...

Re: DeepBreath: Preventing angry emails with machine learning

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Red lights aren't just a "helpful warning." The town where I grew up has a red light which only changes when a weight sensor is tripped. But weight sensors are expensive, and the approaching two-lane road only has a sensor in one lane. Worse, it's calibrated for cars, so motorcycles never trip it. Yes, only . If you ride up late at night on a motorcycle, you have a choice between committing a serious traffic offens…

Does your local jurisdiction allow right turns on red? It'd be legal to turn right and pull U-turns until you get to the direction you want to go.

Sadly it's a T-junction, with the two lane approach (the broken one) lacking a right turn. Definitely a good trick for most broken lights, though.
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