Technology is often a matter of faith, oh ye of wetware synapses. This ought to be enough to occasion a few new apostates.
A small camera fitted to the glasses can capture 400 facial images per second and send them to a central computer database storing up to 13 million faces.
The system can compare biometric data at 46,000 points on a face and will immediately signal any matches to known criminals or people wanted by police.
If there is a match a red signal will appear on a small screen connected to the glasses, alerting the police officer of the need to take further action or make an arrest.
…
Major Leandro Pavani Agostini, of Sao Paulo’s Military Police, said: “It’s something discreet because you do not question the person or ask for documents. The computer does it.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Hear ye:
What do you think of this piece of copy?
Tuesday was a great day for W. Roberts, as the junior pitcher threw a perfect game to carry Virginia to a 2-0 victory over George Washington at Davenport Field.
Twenty-seven Colonials came to the plate and the Virginia pitcher vanquished them all, pitching a perfect game. He struck out 10 batters while recording his momentous feat. Roberts got Ryan Thomas to ground out for the final out of the game.
Tom Gately came up short on the rubber for the Colonials, recording a loss. He went three innings, walked two, struck out one, and allowed two runs.
The Cavaliers went up for good in the fourth, scoring two runs on a fielder’s choice and a balk.
I wish I hadn’t known its source before I read it. It’s not bad, though some of the prose is fairly weird for a straight news story (“vanquished them all,” “recording his momentous feat,” “came up short on the rubber”), and sounds like the product of trying too hard.
Turns out the people who might be trying too hard are programmers–this is the product of a “sports writing robot,” which is really just a program. It “won” a writing contest over a human writer. Which makes me wonder just how bad a writer the human must have been. Probably a more useful way to employ technology, if a bit ham-fisted.
