The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Shit I should have learned before today - in Holland maestro is the only reliably accepted debit card

[Sheilbh]

That's really weird

Especially as I think they've a really big/innovative payments industry so surprised it's limited like that.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Hmmm...was using a mastercard debit card there happily enough a few days ago 

[Josquius]

Hmmm...was using a mastercard debit card there happily enough a few days ago 

So far 1 supermarket and restaurant is a no for that or visa.
A cafe took it OK.

And ja. I'm very weirded out by it. The Netherlands isn't the country i would expect it of these days.

[The Larch]

Rise of the machines? 

Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent
Moscow incident occurred because child 'violated' safety rules by taking turn too quickly, says official

Last week, according to Russian media outlets, a chess-playing robot, apparently unsettled by the quick responses of a seven-year-old boy, unceremoniously grabbed and broke his finger during a match at the Moscow Open.

"The robot broke the child's finger," Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the TASS news agency after the incident, adding that the machine had played many previous exhibitions without upset. "This is of course bad."

Video of the 19 July incident published by the Baza Telegram channel shows the boy's finger being pinched by the robotic arm for several seconds before a woman followed by three men rush in, free him and usher him away.

Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, told Baza the robot appeared to pounce after it took one of the boy's pieces. Rather than waiting for the machine to complete its move, the boy opted for a quick riposte, he said.

"There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them. When he made his move, he did not realise he first had to wait," Smagin said. "This is an extremely rare case, the first I can recall," he added.

Lazarev had a different account, saying the child had "made a move, and after that we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried and the robot grabbed him". Either way, he said, the robot's suppliers were "going to have to think again".

Baza named the boy as Christopher and said he was one of the 30 best chess players in the Russian capital in the under-nines category. "People rushed to help and pulled out the finger of the young player, but the fracture could not be avoided," it said.

Lazarev told Tass that Christopher, whose finger was put in a plaster cast, did not seem overly traumatised by the attack. "The child played the very next day, finished the tournament, and volunteers helped to record the moves," he said.

His parents, however, have reportedly contacted the public prosecutor's office. "We will communicate, figure it out and try to help in any way we can," he said. Smagin told RIA Novosti the incident was "a coincidence" and the robot was "absolutely safe".

The machine, which can play multiple matches at a time and had reportedly already played three on the day it encountered Christopher, was "unique", he said. "It has performed at many opens. Apparently, children need to be warned. It happens."

A Russian grandmaster, Sergey Karjakin, said the incident was no doubt due to "some kind of software error or something", adding: "This has never happened before. There are such accidents. I wish the boy good health."

Christopher may have been lucky. While robots are becoming more and more sophisticated, with the most modern models capable not just of interacting but actively cooperating with humans, most simply repeat the same basic actions – grab, move, put down – and neither know nor care if people get in the way.

[Sheilbh]

oh no 

[Josquius]

Given the recent performance of the guidance systems on top of the range Russian cruise missiles I would not be putting my hand within reach of a Russian robot.

[celedhring]

I see that in pure Russian form they are blaming the injuried party

[The Brain]

Sounds like a fake story. It would violate the first law of robotics.

[Maladict]

Hmmm...was using a mastercard debit card there happily enough a few days ago 

So far 1 supermarket and restaurant is a no for that or visa.
A cafe took it OK.

And ja. I'm very weirded out by it. The Netherlands isn't the country i would expect it of these days.

It's exactly because of that. Because we've been using debit cards for everything since the 90s relatively few people have a Visa or MasterCard. I only use them abroad and for online purchases.

[garbon]

one of the 30 best chess players in the Russian capital in the under-nines category

[Eddie Teach]

Chess is a pretty big deal there.

[Josquius]

In a cafe today some music was playing. As is normal.
A song started up.
"oh hey, they're playing the eurovision song. Spaceman" I thought.
Then the singing began.
Wait no... This is are we humans or are we dancers by the killers.
... Might explain why it sounded so familiar.

[Syt]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4axwe3/wildfires-are-setting-off-100-year-old-bombs-on-wwi-battlefields

Wildfires Are Setting Off 100-Year-Old Bombs on WWI Battlefields

There are so many explosions due to the raging fire that officials have stopped counting them, local news reported.

A wildfire is consuming Slovenia and as the blaze moves across areas that were once battlefields during World War I, it's meeting century-old unexploded ordnance with deadly results. According to the Slovenian press, fire swept across a WWI-era bomb on July 22 and detonated it while firefighters worked nearby. Shrapnel buzzed the firefighters but no one was hurt. It's just one of many such bombs that have exploded due to the fire; officials have stopped counting detonations due to their sheer number, local news reported, only marking ones that explode near roads.

As first spotted by Task & Purpose, unexploded ordnance from World War I and II are a major problem in Europe. More than 1,000 firefighters and portions of the Slovenian military are working to contain the blaze, which has spread to almost 5,000 acres of land. "The problem is that because of the unexploded ordnance firefighting units cannot penetrate into the fire but can only act on its edges. This is why the fire is being intensively fought from the air as well," Slovenian defense minister Marjan Šarec told the press.

The area where the fire rages was the site of 12 battles during World War I. More than 200,000 people died and untold numbers of explosives were used. It's a major problem across Europe that lingers to this day. The Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe during World War II alone. Seventy years later, those bombs are still killing people.

Finding and disposing of that material is deadly work. In France, the remnants of the first World War are called the récolte de fer or Iron Harvest. Since the end of World War II, 630 bomb disposal officers have died in France alone.

The heat in Europe is already deadly without the thread of unexploded ordnance thrown in the mix. The wildfires aren't isolated to Slovenia, there's one raging in Spain as well where more than 1,000 people have died from heat and fire related causes. It's so hot in the UK that birds are falling from the sky.

It's estimated that clearing Europe of munitions from the World Wars will take another 100 years. It was already dangerous work and it'll be far more dangerous as the planet continues to heat up, unabated.

[HVC]

Still good after a 100 years? Guess it's true what they say, they just don't build stuff as durable as they used to.