When I was a junior in high school and computer lab monitor, I made a suggestion that we install VNC on every computer and it was green lit by the administration. We used an app that could view thumbnails of all screens at the same time. I only enforced the "no porn" rule. Kids could play games, browse the web and I accepted fake hall passes. But if they were watching porn they would be thrown out and banned.
For those out of the loop, the Houston Astros have been accused of stealing signs between the pitcher and catcher by banging on a trash can in the dugout using a camera placed in center field.
There's more to it than just sign stealing. The Astros were the team that, allegedly, made "Moneyball" work well enough to win the Last Game of The Season. That they've been accused of stealing signs is a stain on that legacy.
> So the guy catching the ball tells the guy throwing the ball how to throw the ball?
Not quite. The catcher benefits from knowing the type of pitch in order to actually catch the ball, but only signals pitch options which are accepted or rejected by the pitcher.
They can also huddle if signs are being stolen, but this of course takes much longer (hence the prohibition on sign stealing).
A small correction, stealing signs is not disallowed, and pitchers and catchers will have different sets of signs they use when there is a runner on second base. What is disallowed is the use of technology to steal signs, the camera in center field going to the TV behind the dugout
Sorry, not American but this seems an interesting aspect of a sport I know nothing about!
Is this done because the catcher might know the batter is worse at hitting pitch type X, but is better at pitch type Y, so signals to the pitcher to throw an X?
But the pitcher might think he can't throw a good X right now (for whatever reason), and instead will throw a Z ?
And the pitcher and catcher need to somehow secretly agree on what's being thrown?
Does it ever happen that the catcher fails to catch it? It seems he has a pretty small window that he needs to catch it in, but then I guess sometimes these pitches are crazy fast and can't have much time to react.
Yes, the catcher does miss the ball occasionally. It's common for the pitches to be 90 MPH or higher. I've seen them as high as 104 MPH. The ball will also move; it's not always thrown in a straight line. Some times it cuts across the plate, other times it can drop as it crosses the plate. If the catcher knows where to expect the ball they have a higher probability of catching it.
To be specific, what is disallowed is using technology to steal signs (the camera). You can steal signs if there is a runner on second, although the pitcher and catcher can then change signs. It's one of the 'unwritten rules' in that it happens but they try to be sneaky about it. You don't want to disrespect the other team. More often with good scouting hitters can get an advantage of the pitcher is 'tipping the pitch', i.e. using a different delivery or setup depending on what pitch is coming. For instance, how high they hold the glove
Whenever I'm asked how I managed to do something and want to keep it mysterious, I always plead ignorance and say that Machine Learning told me to do it.
You're assuming it would broadcast long enough to find the station, not a hit and run operation. And even if there was a constant signal, they could be using a repeater.
The T-hunting game is usually pretty spicy, with intermittent transmissions and propagation hacks. A repeater adds no difficulty at all.... just DF the input of the repeater.
Seconded. Just watch any movie of a World War/Doomsday/Zombie Apocalypse level event occurs. The people get information via radio. They don't plug into the internet. The internet may no longer be there. This might be hard to imagine for the younger generations, as they've not known to not have the internet. Radios are very effective for broadcasting "pirate" signals, and are pretty easy to receive as well. It would not be that hard to MacGyvre a crystal radio together. It used to be everybody's first "learn electronics" project. You can even do it from non-digital equipment. Analog signals are "cool" in their low-tech abilities. Here's an example video of how low-tech you can go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqdcU9ULAlA
> Just watch any movie of a World War/Doomsday/Zombie Apocalypse level event occurs. The people get information via radio.
You know these are fictional, right? They're made up. You can't observe a work of fiction and judge from that what people will do in a given situation.
Digital is robust too - you can run mesh networks of phones and wifi equipment.
Hams have a rep for mostly holding on to ancient technology, but they have demonstrated wideband microwave mesh networking with off the shelf hardware and lower bandwidth HF networking. Those goodies are more effective than the CW and SSB depictions in movies.
Digital requires being able to decode the transmission once received. That takes a bit of work on the receiving side that an analog signal would not. Digital has a lot of advantages, but in my opinion the single greatest advantage to analog is its simplicity. Just like an analog vinyl record. Put a pencil in the center hole to spin it, a sewing needle taped perpendicular to a piece of paper rolled into a cone and you have a decoder/player. This is the reason the Library of Congress archives audio to vinyl over any other format.
There are times when "best" isn't the best option.
> they have demonstrated wideband microwave mesh networking with off the shelf hardware.
That's academic if you don't happen to be close to a suitably stocked shelf in an emergency situation. As has been pointed out in other posts, simple analog gear can be improvised using basic and easily obtained components.
The current fashion for getting rid of low-tech backups for important infrastructure reminds me of the Titanic: the ship is "unsinkable" so why not get rid of most of the lifeboats?
Somehow, I expect a crystal radio will survive an EMP that fries every P-N junction in a digital device... That's robust. Crystal radios don't even need batteries.
