Worst Phone Screen Ever?
-
Better, as in worse?
-
QBASIC was actually my first language, so I was just using its sibling for the sake of a joke...
-
Ποιος χρειάζεται Έλληνες όταν το Google Translate είναι ένα πράγμα;
"Who needs Greek when Google Translate is a thing?"
Except that I don't completely trust Google's translation of that into Greek. I think "Ποιος χρειάζεται ελληνική όταν το Google Translate είναι ένα πράγμα;" would be more accurate, but I'm far from fluent in Greek, much less Modern Greek.
-
Except that I don't completely trust Google's translation of that
Yeah, of the few langauages I know well enough, I can tell that it doesn't do a particularly good job, generally mistranslating idioms and picking the wrong 'sense' of words. I ran a reverse translation to make sure that the meaning was in the right ballpark, but I wouldn't be surprised if the result looked like Engrish (Gleek?) to a native Greek speaker...
-
mistranslating idioms
Idioms are viciously difficult to translate at the best of times. They're even sometimes difficult between different versions of English (e.g., American and Indian) because they're very culturally-sensitive too.
-
Forget idioms. Even with straightforward declarative sentences, computer translation is done basically word by word, rather than translating complete thoughts as a competent human translator would do. Even if it picks the right sense of each word, so the basic meaning is approximately correct, it's likely to read like Engrish. I learned this when my ex-wife and I were publishing a magazine about antique French dolls; we paid a local French teacher to translate for us.
-
Even with straightforward declarative sentences, computer translation is done basically word by word, rather than translating complete thoughts as a competent human translator would do.
I believe that the very best translation systems are moving beyond that now, but it's a major AI challenge.
-
Is Google Translate among the "very best?" Google certainly has enough money to throw at the problem if they choose to use it for that.
-
Is Google Translate among the "very best?" Google certainly has enough money to throw at the problem if they choose to use it for that.
It most certainly is, and it's an area where I believe they're making progress. I was reading an article sometime last month about how they've been investing heavily in AI and how this is one of the areas where they're particularly applying it. What they were doing a few years ago isn't a guide to what they're doing now.
And I can't find the article now.
-
I remember these:
http://kameelvohra.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/OldTelephone.jpg
You had to manually update the screen, which usually showed the number that could be used to call that particular phone. This one's screen isn't in service any more.
-
Google certainly has enough money to throw at the problem if they choose to use it for that.
I thought they were using stuff where they look at a big corpus in an attempt to get beyond translating word for word.
-
A friend of mine often had a Hagenuk MT-900 with him:
That thing weighs about a pound. And it has an answering machine built in. One that works with tapes.
-
My grandparents had one like that, in use up into the '90s. With most old phones you could hold the handset up to your ear with your shoulder if you needed both hands free. Not this one, the handset "handle" was roughly triangular in cross-section; it would either slide out or dig in painfully. (INB4 TWSS)
-
My ex-wife bought an antique-style (modern reproduction) phone somewhat similar to that, and paid extra to get it with a real, working rotary dial.
When the old electromechanical phone mechanisms were replaced by electronics, the makers added chunks of metal for weight, to replicate the familiar feel of heavy old phones.
-
I thought they were using stuff where they look at a big corpus in an attempt to get beyond translating word for word.
Yes, that was what they were doing. (For example, they had things like the corpus of EU directives, which by law had to be translated equally into each of the EU languages, of which I think there's more than the number of member states. Loads of work for translators, producing the world's most boring modern Rosetta Stone equivalent.) But I believe they've moved on to working on AI for the same problem, using those corpora as training materials, and then using their large web archives as starting material for the concept graphs that you have to guide the translations.
I don't know what level of success they've had, but I note that @translator is using Bing's engine, not Google's…
-
I note that @translator is using Bing's engine, not Google's…
It is supposed to be a bad translator...
-
i had @translator using Yandex for a while but it turned out to be twitchy and too prone to erroring out to be funny.
-
-
note to self: lack of red squiggly line does not mean it's spelled correctly.
/me is writing in a small black book titles "THE LIST"
-
You. Yes, you. I have wondered for years what the hell your tagline is about. I mean, it doesn't keep me up nights, but it's always thought-provoking. Who is Yazeran? What are these hammer-related goals all about? Is the hammer a novel form of propulsion, or a travel companion, or something else entirely? Assuage my curiosity, por favor.
-
Damn you sethrin!
-
My ex-wife bought an antique-style (modern reproduction) phone somewhat similar to that, and paid extra to get it with a real, working rotary dial.
My wife got me an actual rotary phone originally from a local very-large business. (It's screen is frozen, but working ;) )...
It's got some weird non-standard plug, probably worked with a one-of PBX. Googling I find some sites for phone-geeks, so the knowledge is probably out there, but.
"I thought it would be cool, and you'd like to play with it!"
When?? When will I be able to do that?
Filed under: it's now on the shelf next to my dead roomba.
-
Well, even if it still works, it's probably pulse dialling. Do modern phone interchanges still support that?
-
Well, even if it still works, it's probably pulse dialling. Do modern phone interchanges still support that?
Not really, no. Well, you might still find some that do, depending on where you are, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
But he did mention a screen... maybe it's a "fake" rotary phone? As in, you spin the dial but it might still send tone signals?
-
I don't know about nowadays, but I remember 10-15 years ago "dialing" a number during a power outage by pressing the hang-up button.
-
But he did mention a screen... maybe it's a "fake" rotary phone?
The screen is an @Boomzilla-mk2 screen that identifies the number you should dial to reach the phone.
Mk2 - instead of a small front tag-plate, mine has the round paper tag that fits in middle of the dial.
-
Ah, so that's called a screen as well these days? Good to know.
-
Well, even if it still works, it's probably pulse dialling. Do modern phone interchanges still support that?
My neighborhood apparently still does, somehow, it seems there are "ways" to do it. At 60 years old, my house is in the new section.
My bigger hurdle will be that it's an internal office phone, not a residential one... the "screen" confirms that - the exchange matches the very-large business.
It's got a big-ol 4-prong plug that I've never seen before, and since it plugged into who-knows what, it'll take a little fiddling.
At least it's Western Electric.
-
My antique 1940s bakelite phone worked on Verizon's switch at the time I cancelled home phone service about 2011.
-
It's got a big-ol 4-prong plug
Doesn't matter. Analog lines have a very simple wiring scheme. It only needs two wires and no power cord.
-
Well, even if it still works, it's probably pulse dialling. Do modern phone interchanges still support that?
The only PBX that support Pulse dialling now is Asterisk. So you can plug that phone in Asterisk and make calls.
-
Analog lines have a very simple wiring scheme. It only needs two wires and no power cord.
All analog lines?
I boogled for a little while and didn't find a specific match - but I did find a good handful of fora[1] that seemed to be populated by
geezersenthusiastic old-phone geeks who all seemed to have CWA cards numbered less than 1000.I'm sure a good free weekend's fiddling could get it going...
I'm also sure I don't see such a free weekend coming along...
[1] Heaven help those guys if their forums get switched to D***.
-
The only PBX that support Pulse dialling now is Asterisk. So you can plug that phone in Asterisk and make calls.
Shit. Don't go around spreading that info, or sooner or later someone is going to badger me to make their batch of 50 rotary phones work though a SIP line...
-
Well I'm a geologist, so what can I say? (although I havent worked with geology for the last 15 years, my current job is more software and hardware engineering).
We geologist usually go 'bang on the rocks' when we can, so in a way you are correct about a travel companion.
I suppose the hammer is to a geologist as a towel is to a intergalactic hitch-hiker
-
That's a standard in-home telephone plug from before they standardized on RJ41. Converters are available. Good luck!
-
It's got a big-ol 4-prong plug
These are pretty common around here, for in-house use. In the past there were 2 power and 2 signal lines, nowadays they're wired with 2 combined power-signal lines and the other two are unused.
Verrassend veel voor weinig
4000+ producten in decoratie, schoonmaak, kado's en meer ✓ Nergens zoveel voordeel ✓ Wisselend aanbod. Bekijk ons assortiment op Budgetland.nl >
-
That's a standard in-home telephone plug from before they standardized on RJ41. Converters are available. Good luck!
...and if memory serves the prongs/contacts are actually arranged in a square. So unlike @PleegWat's .
The Shack™ had RJ41 Phone-to-4-prong-House converters. But not vice-versa.
The boogling I did made me think that both simply dredging up a converter or snipping the cord and installing an RJ41 were contra-indicated.
It may not be bog-standard pulse-dialing.So more research, when I have time.
ahem, kids.
YES! it would be cool project to do with them!
But they asked me to teach them Python first. And how to solder.
And there's camping. LOTS of camping. And pinewood derby cars.
So. Yea.
Filed under: I feel like I suggested re-implementing my phone in a new Lisp-like language that uses whitespace instead of parens. ;)
-
I just gave away a functional phone two years ago:
http://media.tori.net/image/medium/18/1801335959.jpg- not that actual one, though.
Also, it took me some reading to figure that go was a language, not a verb nor game. I guess I've watched too much anime.
-
An excellent answer
Thanks for the mystery, and for resisting the urge to leave me in suspense. I hope you get to go prospecting on Mars one day. Cheers!
-
I'm surprised they didn't ask you why you'd use GOTO so much, since it's apparently harmful.
-
These might be worse: they were flushed down a toilet. Also apparently stomped on:
Wherein we found your phone.
Why was the DNA Pizza women's toilet backed up? Because you flushed your iPhone: AppleCare is totally going to be able to tell that you got it wet. It was in there like, elbow-deep. (That's what she said.) Bootie: Wrestling Author & Punisher Glass Animals + Royal Blood Smoke Season Hubba Hubba:...
-
-
-
What? The place is a bar/nightclub. It's already practically a skating rink by the mere fact of its existence.
-
Do the men take off their wedding rinks before they go in?
-
Do the men take off their wedding rinks before they go in?
I wouldn't know, I've never been to San Francisco.
I think you should make a comment on the post about his atrocious spelling. I bet he'd find that funny.
-
them: That's really too bad. We were really hoping for
the best of the best herea fucking dumb developer who we can shove around until they go nuts and take their own life, so that we can just claim the previous guy "couldn't hack it" or some bullshit, and we were willing to believe that you were it. But it seems that this isn't the case.Translated.
One of the things that really stuck out at us was that you mentioned in your cover letter that you have definitely become the "go-to guy" in many of your work situations. We were thinking that meant you had a lot of experience with go.
Bonus WTF: Failing to have more intelligence than a keyword indexer and implying that their failure to understand was somehow your responsibility.
You dodged a bullet.
-
I know this topic is way old and completely off-topic. But I thought I would go ahead and post newer results.
I had another phone screen that wasn't completely WTF. Then I wrote some code that they looked at. That wasn't WTF. Then I had a final conversation with the CTO today, and they made me an offer. It's a good offer, and I'm taking it.
I like my company. I especially like my boss. He's a good guy and mostly protects me from a lot of company WTFs. I'm going to be sad when I leave. I work with a bunch of really great people.
What's the best way to do this?
I am happy to give 2 weeks of hard work. I'm not planning to just phone it in.
So do I just march into his office Monday morning and say, "I've got an offer, and I've already accepted it."?
Honestly, I don't think I've ever done this before. I'd like to do it as right as possible.
-
So do I just march into his office Monday morning and say, "I've got an offer, and I've already accepted it."?
You basically can do exactly that. If your boss is any kind of satisfactory human being, he'll congratulate you and wish you well. Whether or not they'll have you working in production for your last two weeks probably depends on you and your boss (they might want to you braindump your working expertise into another employee or something), but if you want to work the whole two weeks, there's no reason to expect not to.
I'm on, what, my tenth(?) job at the moment, so I think I've seen every conceivable way this can play out...
-
If your boss is any kind of satisfactory human being, he'll congratulate you and wish you well.
Yes, ...
@glathull said:I especially like my boss. He's a good guy and mostly protects me from a lot of company WTFs.
... but one WTF he might not be able to protect you from. Some companies consider leaving to be an act of treason, and will be having you cleaning out your desk within 30 seconds, with your boss and a security guard watching to make sure you don't even look at anything proprietary on your way out. I had that happen once, but that company was WTFs all the way down.
Verrassend veel voor weinig
