Yeh, I agree to be honest. Pi projects are interesting but I submitted it rather for the message he's trying to convey as part of the art exhibition. Maybe a different article would stimulate more discussion.
It's flying off the shelves, had to vist three news outlets to find one! I got a spare one for a family member too, but if they change their mind I'll gladly post to a UK address.
Having studied environmental and social science for 11 years, published and achieved multiple "degrees of knowledge" for a solid career base; it was so very sad and frustrating that everyone seemingly persisted to "talk" around the elephant.
It drove me bonkers and was labelled a pessimist by my peers. I left academia 3 years ago and now travel the world, programming and documenting tropical flora and fauna. Best decision I ever made, pity it cost me £20,000 to arrive at it though.
I stumbled into a niche that somehow combines both my passions: programming and nature. Started with a linux server I built in a jungle that ran off of an off-grid power source serving over wifi. Many, many months later (and after losing two laptops, two smartphones, two DSLRs and three GPS units to Zeus and a crocodile)... it's a platform that runs across three continents and some days I double-take what I've built (I have no CS qualifications).
I do have to remind myself that it is indeed cool, as some days I just want to pack it all in as I often feel out of my depth. A few months ago I was pulling 20-hour days to "get shit done". I'm not adverse to partnering with the right person to take the strain, in fact I'd welcome it now, alas I'm yet to find someone with similar passions who's also comfortable slumming it in tropics and is confident in high-risk foreign areas.
Waking up to a Tapir in a tropical monsoon is cool, gettin robbed at gun point by narcos whilst rebooting your VM, less so.
Tequila and some venezuelan narcos, those were some good times.
Amazing fly-through video of the Rising Star cave where these discoveries were made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI-JF28T44U
Using a type of subterraneous mapping lasers I imagine as you see some kind of globular markers dotted around the cave as you pass through.
Unable to find exactly what tech they used for this. Would be interesting to hear any more info on this!
I created my account and log in through Tor and don't experience any problems. I don't think I ever logged in outside of Tor, but I don't consider it to be a security requirement and am not sensitive about it, so it's possible there are exception (in particular it's that I misremember creating the account through Tor).
