Author Topic: Technical notes  (Read 158376 times)

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Offline Boingo

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #125 on: April 20, 2015, 12:45:20 PM »

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #126 on: July 08, 2015, 11:51:22 AM »
Since the issue of "shopping" has come up again, I thought I would repost a few old links on fakery. The easiest thing for the photo below would be to search Google to see if anybody else has used the image. Failing that, there are a few online sites where you can upload and analyze photos (here's a link to the analysis page, and here's an explanation of Error-Level Analysis). You can see the different compression levels for the cluebox.
And for some light reading...you can read about fakery here and here and some historical fakes here.


Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #127 on: February 04, 2016, 11:26:59 PM »
The GPO (U.S. Government Printing Office) has created a beta search site GovInfo which they hope will turn into a portal for government stuff. A search for
"amazing race" brings up a former congressman praising Phil and his Ride Across America, and a legal dispute I had not heard of before: COWS vs. TAR (Viacom, specifically)  :). The case was stayed pending the outcome in Canada; it would be interesting to see how it turned out but I don't know how to search Canadian law.

Offline theschnauzers

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #128 on: February 08, 2016, 02:19:16 PM »
I don't have access to Canadian law on lexis.com, but I would suggest trying Google or another search engine with the case name of the Canadian case. That's one way of finding law. A second might be via Wikipedia; either way you may find the entire legal citation (report, volume, starting page and court) and then use that in Google to see if there is an outcome to the case, and what that is.

If you have any of that information from the information you found, get it to me and I'll be glad to see if I can find it.
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Offline theschnauzers

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #129 on: February 08, 2016, 02:24:20 PM »
Separate note:

I posted in the TAR 28 promo, clips, commercials thread about the apparent change in the fanny packs that now have "The Amazing Race" on the outside (when properly worn). This seems new, but it can be useful in filming of future seasons for those tracking on the ground (a) to spot Racers and (b) to help ask locals and bystanders about completed Racer activity during or after a leg is filmed.

Sometimes people might notice the fanny packs, and if prompted they just might remember something or confirm Racers or specific Racers were seen.
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #130 on: February 08, 2016, 05:07:11 PM »
Back to the early days....  :res:
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Offline theschnauzers

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #131 on: February 08, 2016, 05:32:00 PM »
Back to the early days....  :res:

There's nothing saying that the ways of the early days may still help at times, especially if someone isn't on the scene to track and or record. And we still have legs with very little live feed level info, and that is why it is good to have those fallback methods.
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Offline walkingpneumonia

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #132 on: February 10, 2016, 10:47:46 AM »
The GPO (U.S. Government Printing Office) has created a beta search site GovInfo which they hope will turn into a portal for government stuff. A search for
"amazing race" brings up a former congressman praising Phil and his Ride Across America, and a legal dispute I had not heard of before: COWS vs. TAR (Viacom, specifically)  :). The case was stayed pending the outcome in Canada; it would be interesting to see how it turned out but I don't know how to search Canadian law.

Looks like the trademark infringement case was discontinued 2006-05-26 - I'm guessing they settled out of court.:
http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_info_e.php?court_no=T-1340-05&select_court=T
From there to here, and here to there,
funny things are everywhere

Offline theschnauzers

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #133 on: February 10, 2016, 06:45:12 PM »
The GPO (U.S. Government Printing Office) has created a beta search site GovInfo which they hope will turn into a portal for government stuff. A search for
"amazing race" brings up a former congressman praising Phil and his Ride Across America, and a legal dispute I had not heard of before: COWS vs. TAR (Viacom, specifically)  :). The case was stayed pending the outcome in Canada; it would be interesting to see how it turned out but I don't know how to search Canadian law.

Looks like the trademark infringement case was discontinued 2006-05-26 - I'm guessing they settled out of court.:
http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_info_e.php?court_no=T-1340-05&select_court=T

Reading what's given in both the US and Canadian links, looks like Viacom was preparing to sue COWS in Canada, and COW rushed to the courthouse in Utah to file somewhere in the US first (it has a store in Utah although it is a Canadian corporation. The U.S. court didn't feel it could dismiss the U.S. case, but agreed to stay it whie the Canadian case proceeded. Nothing in the Canadian docket sheet for a year when the case there was 'discontinued."  Presumably a settlement, but hard to say what that was. Words alone isn't enough in trademark infringement, graphics and locales of marketing come into play. Since Canada got its own TAR franchise a few years later, it was important for Viacom (which then still included CBS) to protect the value of TAR's trademarks, which likely explained the lawsuit in the first place. (The first franchises for TAR came about the time the lawsuits were settled.)
-- theschnauzers

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #134 on: April 22, 2016, 08:28:06 PM »
Google has released a little Youtube geo-search tool here. I'm not too impressed so far. I gave it a simple task--find Robertino's video. I couldn't do it in a simple search--even with a custom date range. Only when I left the location field blank and
entered "amazing race Argentina" as keywords did it move to the front of the class.


Offline Boingo

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #135 on: May 26, 2016, 01:28:29 PM »

Nothing really new with Google's searching for photos, but latest Chrome 51.x.x.x browser has made it a little more convenient with a "right click" menu item which let's you "Search Google for image" by simply right clicking the picture....  It's not perfect, but could save TAR detectives some time in looking for clues.


Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #136 on: July 27, 2016, 11:02:21 PM »
A tutorial post about geolocation--simple stuff for us, but I thought I'd throw in a quiz as well.
The Circumnavigators Club, which awards the Order of Magellan, wants help in locating a photo (see under "The Last Shot"). It took me about 25 minutes to nail down the country and region, and another half-hour to get the exact location (I'm slowing down in my old age  :)). Best of luck.

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #137 on: October 08, 2016, 10:12:03 PM »

Offline Boingo

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #138 on: October 13, 2016, 10:26:44 AM »

If y'all were like me and ditched Flash Player plug-ins for my browsers (following security warnings) there was no way to view the embedded Flash (.flv) clips littered throughout the RFF forums.  Well, that was until now.  It appears that the latest version of the Chrome 54 rewrites YouTube Flash players to use the YouTube HTML5 embed style (on-the-fly).

I tested it on the BB forum, where tons of embedded Flash prevails, and every one was converted and ready to view in a HTML5 player.  Cool!

So once you remove all traces of Flash Player from your computer, you can download Chrome 54 and view the embedded Flash via the added security of a HTML5 viewer. (The HTML5 player has a slightly different look from the Flash player, or just "right click" the player to see if it's switched).


Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #139 on: November 22, 2016, 12:13:47 AM »
Mapillary is a new contender in the streetview world. The interface and photography are a little crude right now, but it covers several places Google doesn't, like Dar Es Salaam.

Offline G.B.

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #140 on: January 09, 2017, 03:44:38 PM »
Would anyone here like to help contribute to our wiki? Due to spam, user creation has been limited somewhat, but if you send myself or walkingpneumonia a PM, we will be able to create one for you to be able to log in with. Please include an e-mail address, so that you can set your own personal password.
Come check out the Reality Fan Wiki! The LARGEST Amazing Race database on the internet!!! (probably)
--Got something you're curious about? You'll probably find the answer on the Wiki!

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #141 on: January 26, 2017, 09:00:35 PM »
Too little, too late, but I thought I'd mention it anyway...
TheFilmLocations is a search engine specifically for Bureau of Land Management permits. Searching for WRP Group will get you Whitewater (CA) and Gemini Bridges (UT); searching for WorldRace Productions will bring up Pahrump Dry Lake. BLM uses the PLSS system, but there's no need to learn it as maps and lat/long are included.
On a different note, if you need a time-waster before TAR airs, Pursued (you can ignore the app/plugin and just play off the webpage) will keep your Streetview skills in fettle.

Offline Boingo

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #142 on: March 24, 2017, 03:01:45 PM »
Attention all you Flash die-hard fans....   :dancer:

FedEx will pay you $5 to use Flash Player in your browser.

here's the info 

Offline claude_24hrs

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #143 on: March 29, 2017, 05:24:05 AM »
As for Flightstats addicts there for historical flight data usage, there is a LIFETIME subscription for $2.99/standard and $24.99/professional.

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #144 on: March 29, 2017, 10:13:02 AM »
oooooh.  thanks claude!!
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Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #145 on: January 28, 2018, 02:11:45 AM »
Mapy.cz is trying to create a 3D map for all of Czechia. Description here, sample map here. It was a bit slow to load on my computer; once it loads, navigation keys are at the bottom. Think of it like Google Earth, only with more detail and color.

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #146 on: March 20, 2018, 12:59:46 PM »
Quote from: GeorgiaPeach
What do I use to open a kml file? ???
Besides what's already been mentioned, there's a beta feature in Google Earth for Chrome
https://www.google.com/earth/  (you don't have to install anything if you already have Chrome)
1. Open GE in Chrome and click Menu>Settings
2. At the bottom you'll see "Enable KML file import (experimental)" Turn it on and click Save.
3. Click My Places>Import KML File  and find the TAR30 file you saved.

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #147 on: March 20, 2018, 03:20:15 PM »
oooh, that makes it easy! Thank you!!
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Offline Slowhatch

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Re: Technical notes
« Reply #148 on: June 24, 2020, 09:24:51 PM »
Mapillary has been an interesting alternative to Google Streetview. Now it's been swallowed by Facebook. I hope it will stay open for us non-FB folk.