Shit you just learned (probably from the internet.)

We’re not quite as coarse down here, but, I think I probably understand where you are coming from :sweat_smile:

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Usually abbreviated to GIRFUY so feel free to use when approptiate Mike :grinning:

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:+1: Will do.

Especially effective when the recipient has to google the meaning :ok_hand:

Couldn’t find a suitable thread for this, so it’s here. Guess the animal time…

Muntjac?

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Looks foxy-coloured to me?

They just trot down the pavements here in broad daylight, totally accustomed to people and cars.

Spot on

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Dinner then :wink:

Croatias number 2 keeper

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Firemen brought it in to the vet practice that FoL2 works in. It had got caught up in barbed wire and was too badly injured to help. Chemical euthanasia doesn’t make for a good stew.

Is it an angry Gnu?

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Vampire Bambi - buggers are everywhere round here - good eating when they’re not full of barbiturates…

Saffy chased one of those just down the river from us towards Bewdley. She may have stamina but the muntjac had the acceleration to get the fuck into the woods and disappear.

I was walking through quite a remote (for the Thames valley) field near here a few weeks back when I came across a guy with a seriously long gun (expensive looking telescopic sight, muzzle end of the barrel on a small tripod). He said he was “target shooting, for now” and pointed to a small white speck hanging from a distant tree but added that there were muntjac around and said he might take one or two. He said he had the farmer’s permission to be there and to take any deer he wanted. The muntjac are non-native of course and it seems the farmer regards them as vermin (they breed all year round and will crop plants very close to the ground).

They cause more crop damage than rabbits around here - the rabbits are kept in check by both myxy and viral haemorrhagic disease - but nothing seems to affect the muntjac: tho’ Max & Tara would LOVE to! Even get them in the garden…

What you get when a medical student who is also a good baker does party food
Party fingers

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The dystopia starts now… from Axios:

1 big thing: Robots on patrol
A Cobalt Robotics security robot.

Photo courtesy of Cobalt Robotics

Security robots are starting to replace human guards in workplaces and beyond, Jennifer A. Kingson reports.

Driving the news: Lower costs mean it’s now cheaper for companies to use robots than traditional guards for 24/7 security.

  • Robots can check in visitors and issue badges, respond to alarms, report incidents, and see things security cameras can’t.
  • Security robots don’t get bored, tired, or distracted by their phones — and it’s safer for them to confront intruders and other hazards.
  • Two-way communications systems allow employees to report problems or request human help by talking to the robot.

By the numbers: Using a robot guard vs. a human can save a company $79,000 per year, according to a recent report by Forrester Research.

What they’re saying: “All this money has really poured into service robotics because of the money that has gone into autonomous vehicles,” says Mike LeBlanc, president and COO of Cobalt Robotics, which is leading the charge to populate offices with non-human security guards.

How it works: Cobalt’s robots are built to the specifications of a particular building’s ramps and elevators.

  • They roam hallways looking for possible problems — like unusual motion at night or a door that’s been propped open — and report back to a human-staffed call center.
  • “People can tap on the screen of the robot, a person will come up on the screen, and they’ll be able to ask them what’s going on,” LeBlanc tells Axios. “They can say, ‘There’s a leak or spill over here,’ or ‘There’s someone in the office who’s making me uncomfortable.’”

Case study: Food delivery startup DoorDash is using Cobalt robots across its corporate sites for everything from COVID-19 temperature checks to routine security patrols, alarm responses, and security escort services.

Reality check: Like delivery robots —which can stumble on sidewalks and fall into ditches — security droids have been known to malfunction.

  • Mishaps range from “running over a toddler’s foot to ignoring people in distress,” per Insider.
  • News reports have cast doubt on whether outdoor security robots actually prevent or curtail crime.
  • One Knightscope robot patrolling a shopping mall accidentally drove itself into a fountain; another was escorted from Boston’s Prudential Center by human officers after people got sick of it. (A Knightscope executive did not respond to requests for an interview.)

Our thought bubble: If you’re a person in distress at an office, you might prefer to have a person on-site versus having to rely on someone at a call center — and on the proper functioning of a robot’s communications tech.

Of note: Robot security guards don’t necessarily put human ones out of business — they just allow them to swoop in strategically or work on different tasks, like programming and maintaining the robots.

  • In security work, “the hours are long, stress runs high, isolation is real, and the tasks are tedious,” Forrester’s report argues. “Automation can help.”

The bottom line: High-profile glitches are the exception for security and surveillance robots, which will likely proliferate as the technology improves.

Most Disappointing Episode of Dr Who & The Daleks EVER

I will do this job for $79K

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