#milo get normal challenge: failed

[milosmantis]

thank you op for inspiring this, i haven't written in MONTHS. small note, there is brief mention of the tattooing process

edit before post: I PROCRASTINATED ON THIS FOR FOREVER :,( PLEASE ENJOY

"What is that?"

The question drags you out of an electronic-induced stupor and away from the ever-intriguing app on your phone. Apparently, they engineered a way to make rubber ducks more adorable- you didn't know they could do that- and finally, you turned towards the sound of your robotic coworker. With all the kids picked up for the day, Sun was taking some much-needed time to relax, which usually meant sticking next to you while you did your own work. Not that you minded, of course, but today was a bit different: Sun hadn't spoken so much as a word to you until now, outside of his usual "Happy to see you, friend!" when you came in the door.

"Hm? What's what?" With Sun not having any pupils, it was always a guessing game trying to figure out what he was looking at, and with a mostly constant expression glued to his faceplate, it was all the harder to tell what he was thinking. Over the time you spent with him in the daycare though, you considered yourself pretty good at reading his robotic mind, minus this time.

"On your leg," he said and pointed to where your left leg sat folded under the office chair. How he could make out anything from across the daycare was beyond you, but that's likely what made him such a great attendant. Looking down at your leg, nothing seemed out of the ordinary: shoe, sock, leg...

"My tattoo? Is that what you're looking at?" With the tug of a pant leg and the extension of your knee, you watched as Sun seemed transfixed to the artwork surrounding your ankle. It was a small piece, nothing too extravagant, but it had definitely felt like it; the ankle was a rough spot for a first tattoo. "I didn't think you could see it from all the way over there. To be honest, I'm more surprised that you haven't seen it yet. It's a couple of years old now."

Sun only stood there, his processors running a mile a minute. There was art... on your body? He knew art to be a thing done on canvas, paper, even paper plates, but never on a person's body. How could such a thing be possible? Did it hurt? What was the process behind it like? Could you put anything on your body? Could you put anything anywhere?

"How... How did you do that?"

"Oh, it was easy. I just went to a tattoo shop, told them what I wanted, and then they did it. There's usually a lot that goes into designing and prepping a tattoo but since mine's so small, it didn't take nearly as long. It did hurt a bit though, especially closer to the bone." The smile after your explanation was sent to the back burner as all the animatronic could think at the moment was 'Pretty...'

As the silence stretched, your grin slowly disappeared, leaving your face etched in confusion while you watched Sun's rays spin lazily back and forth. The daycare attendant was never this quiet, or this still, for so long. "You alright, Sunny?"

Sun hadn't noticed just how far forward he was leaning until your question snapped him back to reality, his spine- do robots have spines?- shooting up straight as a rod. "Yes, yes, of course, sunshine! It's just, um... would you be able to give me, us- US... one?"

The question caught you by surprise, and with a raised brow you asked, "You want me to give you guys tattoos?" Sun played with the ribbon around his wrist, making the bell jingle intermittently, "I-If you don't mind, sunshine. I- We, think yours is pretty... and we want to be pretty like you."

The compliment Sun served you was eaten up on a silver platter, making you feel as warm as if you were standing under his namesake. "I- Well, sure. I, um, I can do that for you guys, we'll just uh... have to great creative, I guess. Since I don't think the traditional needle and ink will work."

Once the two had given you their ideas, you quickly gathered enough materials needed and set to work. Sun's was done fairly quickly, although it was hard to get him to keep still; he was so excited that he kept bouncing in his seat and more than once you nearly messed up his linework. Moon's tattoo was a little more difficult; since the daycare lights had to be switched off, you were left to use the red light from his eyes and your own work flashlight to finish the job. After about an hour and a half, they were complete.

"Well, what do you think?" You watched Sun look over his arm and laughed as he whirled his head around to look at his back. "Not too bad for my first tattoos."

"Oh, sunshine, these are magnificent! I mean truly, these are works of art! And now we match! This is so exciting!" Sun beamed.

"I'm glad you like them," you smiled. "But you'll have plenty of time to look at them later, I want to hear what Moon thinks."

Once the lights were turned off, Moon stood away from you, gazing at his own artwork. "Star... these are beautiful. Thank you." Moon turned to look at you, a soft smile on his face. It was one of the rare times you had seen him smile, outside of his usual wild, shit-eating grin. It made you feel just as warm as Sun's compliment had.

"I'm... happy you like them, Moony. It was nothing, really," you mumbled, watching as your shoes scuffed the rubber floor. You didn't even hear Moon until his shoes entered your vision, and you looked up just in time to see his hand reach to cradle your head. He tilted your head up to his level, forcing you to meet his gaze as he said, "No, star. It means everything."

I bestow upon you, a thing.

I got inspired by tattoos on Pinterest and decided, why not give the boys their own pretty tattoos? Hence, Sunflower and Moonflower.

They lowkey look naked without their ruffles and ribbons.

[milosmantis]

sometimes i get interested in something and im like "oh i need to be so normal about this" then i come on here and see people being a lot less normal about the thing and it makes me feel a lot better

[kaibutsushidousha]

Hop reminds me a bit of Paris. Wannabe hero-worshipping his accomplished hero brother but failing to follow in the footsteps, or even get due to impatience, shortsightedness, and simply missing the point from the get-go. What Hop needs is Hektor, a wise brother figure who already saw up close the consequences of Hop's/Paris's flaws.

Bede is a gratitude monster. Rose visited his orphanage once presumably for publicity reasons, said "you're cool, kid" once, and now he's causing serious harm to himself and to others just to repay this gesture. The kid seriously needs to look at a mirror and see the damage he's causing. And by mirror, I mean the most self-sacrificing gratitude monster he can get. For that I'd go with Corday, not because she has any great pros, but because she's the balanced option compared to my other candidates:

Bedivere. Pros: Probably the quickest to jump to self-sacrificing methods before his Camelot, name and hair color overlap. Cons: Would de-escalate Bede's terribleness too much.

Eliza. Pros: Pink, turned evil by misinterpreting the expectations of adults. Cons: Would escalate Bede's terribleness too much, especially if she's pre-CCC.

Baobhan Sith. Pros: Eliza but a faerie, you can't get more Bede than that. Cons: Would escalate Bede's terribleness even more, she's too Bede of a partner for Bede's arc to function.

Marnie is very attached to Spikemuth, to the point her goal is to revitalize her town (and she speaks with her Welsh accent), so she absolutely demands a Welsh Servant. Gray is actually a perfect fit here due to their shared history of becoming the object of worship of their town against their will. But Gray isn't normally summonable, so the alternative is her partner Kay.

Milo is the first Gym Leader because prioritizes the fun of the battle over winning, and due to being the first Leader, he puts himself in a self-assigned role of teaching Trainers the knacks of the Gym Challenge. I'd go with Chiron for being a teacher figure who is less of a bloodhound than Scathach and Kiichi.

Nessa is in love with the ocean, an ungraceful loser, and a consummate professional both as a Gym Leader and as a model. Bart is the most successful pirate in history, fitting the ocean motif and strong desire for success. He's also the guy who successfully installed a lawcode in a pirate ship, so he'd go well with Nessa's professional, compartmentalized attitude. But her pride as a model wouldn't let her cater to Bart's preferred hairstyle.

Kabu is a guy from Hoenn and national identity is a huge thing for an immigrant, so he should have a Servant from Kyushu. Hoenn's own Fire Gym is located in Amakusa's hometown, so that's the easiest candidate. It's ironic because Kabu is a gramps who keeps saying "I'm still young, so I try to keep things simple" while Amakusa was the guy who died at age 17 because he took the very adult responsibility of leading a revolution.

Bea is a stoic martial artist who believes smiling is a sign of weakness. She really needs a cheerful and open martial artist who is undeniably better at fighting than her to show that's okay to like things. Go with Musashi if you want her story to have a good ending, or Kiara if you want a bad ending.

Allister could get Cursed Arm for the motifs of masks, death, and curses.

Opal gets Baobhan Sith, again, because she's too Bede.

Gordie in a sense lost his mother's love because he wanted to develop his own Rock-Type identity instead of following her Ice-Type footsteps, so he should get a more supportive mother like Europa.

Melony is a mother who wants to reconnect with her son but her pride doesn't allow her to speak up, so she resorts to dumb indirect approaches like being the first person in Gordie's fan club. She really needs some advice from Nagiko, our wise supporter of emotion, completely unrestrainable by any form of social convention.

Like Marnie, Piers is so attached to his hometown that he absolutely needs a Welsh Servant. And if we go if Merlin, "Piers can't Dynamax because Spikemuth doesn't have a Power Spot" is easily translatable to "Piers can't call his Servant to him because he's trapped inside Avalon's tower". Merlin can still communicate through dreams and fight using illusions without having to physically present, so that's not huge harm for his Grail War potential.

Raihan is about dragons, weather, and struggling forever to overcome a seemingly unsurpassable challenge. Vritra is a dragon and a weather phenomenon and gets off to people struggling and overcoming unsurpassable challenges.

Leon is the face of Galar and is choke-full of protagonist traits, so he can have Arthuria, I guess. She brings the exact same flavor of nostalgia appeal as Charizard.

Oleana could work with Carmilla. Her team is all Pokémons who evolved into something beautiful, except for her ace Garbodor, implying a narrative of beautiful metamorphosis that did nothing to make her essence prettier.

And Rose is a villain desperately trying to undo the inevitable downfall of Britain. Literally Morgan. Parallels well with Leon having Arthuria, also.

[pokemonswshbutionlyplayedsword]

Hey have you ever heard of total wipeout where participants have to do Obstacle course but with water everywhere How would the gym leader and the galar kids deal with it or how they feel

I used to love that show. I wanted to be on it so bad (even though I would never have made it past the first obstacle and I can barely swim).

Milo does not do very well. He’s not the most agile. He makes it a little way, but compared to some of the others, he just slips up and goes straight into the drink.

Nessa is experienced with water and slippery surfaces. She is very good with this, and when she falls, she’s a great swimmer, so she spends hardly any time getting back to the course.

Kabu slips a lot. He’s agile, but this isn’t where he thrives. He was doomed to fail just because he’s a fire type trainer.

Bea does very well. She’s used to a dry place, though. She slips a lot, but the obstacles in general, are not an issue for her.

Allister can’t really do well. He hasn’t really honed any athletic skills. He does about as good as a normal person would, but keeping up with the other gym leaders is a challenge.

Opal does not participate.

Gordie struggles. He’s not agile. He slips and falls a lot. He laughs it off, since he knows he’s strong, not agile, but man, he really struggles.

Melony also struggles. She’s not great with water or gymnastics. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Piers does gymnastics, and does very, very well. Not perfectly, and it’ll take him hours for his hair to dry. He’s one of the top times.

Raihan talked a lot of shit before he went in. Fell a lot. Got hit with plenty of things. Has to admit that he didn’t do as well as he planned.

Leon was also very confident. Also gets himself drenched. Though he does better than Raihan, and that he gloats about. He does pretty well, surprisingly, since he’s not the most agile.

Hop doesn’t do the best. He’s fast and has good balance, but when it comes to anything else that hanging on for dear life, he struggles. Still fun, though.

Bede doesn’t know where to even begin. He focused his efforts on training and nothing else, so he doesn’t have anything else. He struggles from the very beginning, but he does not give up. He makes it at the very end.

Marnie is serious about this. Tries really hard. She also does gymnastics, so she’s pretty good, but she hasn’t honed those skills like her brother has. She struggles a little, but she’s determined and makes it with pretty good time.

I actually had to watch an episode of Wipeout while I wrote this.

[pikachu78109]

Galar Kissing Headcanons

More Galar characters, more Galar headcanons! Since we have been introduced to Bede and Marnie, I figured that I should add them into this headcanon. I will also add in other characters too, like Bea, Nessa, and Sonia. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy!

-Victor (male protagonist)

-Victor does not usually give kisses to his s/o. If anything, kissing would be downplayed to being just a peck on the cheek. Nothing too passionate, I mean he’s just a kid. His knowledge on the art of kissing mostly is kept minimal. He would much rather hug you instead, seeing that he prefers that kind of affection over lip contact. Victor isn’t a cold lover; he is just inexperienced. His s/o would make the first move by kissing him on the cheek before planting a gentle kiss on the lips afterwards. It’s sweet and no tongue is involved. Your kisses would leave Victor blushing for awhile and would instantly put him in a good mood.

-Gloria (female protagonist)

-For our beloved Scottish Trainer, Gloria would take a tsundere approach when asking for a kiss. Sometimes her asking would come off as brash, though her intentions deep down are from a good place. Gloria does not exactly know how to express romantic thoughts in a way that is comprehended positively. If anything, it does agitate her that she cannot ask for a simple kiss straight up with a gentle tone. As for her s/o, you do see Gloria’s good intentions and reward her with a kiss on the cheek (like with Victor). If the tables were reversed and if it was Gloria kissing you, her kisses would be rough and uncoordinated. Despite that, Gloria will feel calm and be put in a good mood afterwards.

-Hop

-By trying to be just as good as a romantic partner like his brother, Hop tries way too hard when wanting to kiss you. At first, he attempts to flirt with you in order to make you blush. His flirtations are pretty weak and corny though, but that just makes him all the more lovable! Again, like with Victor and Gloria, Hop will kiss your cheek and sometimes kiss your forehead. If Hop feels a bit daring, he might kiss your lips innocently by brushing his lips against yours. To be honest, Hop finds it hard to kiss you because his brother keeps messing up his funky flow (that is a Steven Universe reference). But whenever you two are alone, Hop will seize the moment and pepper your face with his sweet kisses and adorkable flirting.

-Bede

-Like with Gloria, Bede presents himself as a bit of a tsundere type. He isn’t much of a kisser, but God if the sight of your face doesn’t swell his heart with joy, then he might as well punch himself in the face. Bede would consider himself to be a gentleman in his own way. He tries to act all princely by kissing your hand, giving you the classic kiss from old movies that has stolen the hearts of many. You do like that Bede tries to step out of his comfort zone to kiss you differently, but you don’t force him to. Instead, you would return the favor by kissing his hand as well, which leads Bede to melt into a stuttering blushing mess. He will, of course, ask for permission first before kissing your lips. During this, his face will be as red as a Tamato berry and you would happily oblige! Bede usually gives a quick peck on the lips and turns away, thus hiding his adorable blushing smile.

-Marnie

-This punk goth chick has quite a soft spot for their s/o. Despite putting on an almost stoic personality, Marnie absolutely adores being around you and spending time with you. When she isn’t being followed by Team Yell, she would hang out with you and try to find a secluded area where you two would have some privacy. Unlike the other rivals, Marnie is actually bold and would kiss your entire face from your forehead to your cheeks and then your lips. There’s nothing too wild about Marnie’s way of kissing you. She would get a bit embarrassed for kissing you like that, but you don’t mind. You’re just happy see that she enjoys being around you and it’s the same for you. In return, you would also kiss Marnie’s cheeks, forehead, and her lips to show that you love her no matter what.

-Allister

-As a shy cinnamon roll, Allister is too nervous to ask for a kiss. Still, that does not mean that the spook boy doesn’t at least try. The first few times are pretty nerve wracking for him, but the standard kiss on the cheek is his go to thing. Allister is very innocent, perhaps the most innocent out of everyone here, and he makes sure that you are comfortable first before he kisses you. This would mean he will ask every time he wants to kiss you. Kissing your lips was difficult for Allister, because each attempt he makes fails with him breaking down in to a stuttering mess. Understanding Allister’s efforts, you have the patience of a saint and reward him regardless with an endless supply of butterfly kisses on his face. Very rarely does Allister remove his mask, but he makes an exception for you because he wants to feel your soft, gentle (almost ghost like) lips on his.

((Okay, from here on out, these headcanons will contain a bit more maturity since these are adults. Nothing too major and nothing that goes too deep into the NSFW category though))

-Sonia

-Sonia would have to be the most flirtatious woman in all of Galar. Despite being very knowledgeable and sweet, Sonia hides a passionate side to her that she only reveals to you. Kissing becomes more than just a peck on the cheek. How about kisses all over your body? Sonia likes to feel you all over and would plant small, ticklish kisses on your chest, shoulder, neck, collarbone, etc. You would return the favor by doing the same thing, only you happen to be quite better at it. Sonia would want more and would steal a kiss from you. French kissing is the most common kissing method that Sonia prefers, because she enjoys seeing your blushing face as you try to keep your composure. However, more than once, you have turned the tables and have caused Sonia to blush like crazy when you are dominant over her. With Sonia, kissing you is like a roller coaster, because she loves the rush and thrill whenever you oblige to spend a certain amount of time alone with her.

-Bea

-Bea doesn’t typically kiss you much, because she isn’t the romantic type. She’s rather focused on training and toughening herself and her team up for the next Gym Challenge match. Still, that isn’t to say that she does not mind when you ask to kiss her. Yeah, this time around, you ask for permission. Bea would normally respond by kissing you later, but sometimes a little convincing is needed. Despite trying to be collected and put together, Bea can’t help whenever you hug her from behind. Your adorable begging gets her every time and, eventually, both of you end up on the floor holding each other tightly. Like I said, Bea is not the romantic type so you are doing the most work while kissing her. First, you would balance her on your body while your lips are connected and then you would move your hands down to hold her waist. Bea is absolutely obedient during the entire session and she does her part too. She’ll tug at your clothes and would moan softly in delight as you gently rub her thighs. The kissing session is a lot more awkward for Bea, but if it’s to please you both, then she does not mind at all.

-Nessa

-Unlike Sonia and Bea, Nessa is really shy when it comes to kissing you. Her shyness isn’t that of Allister’s but more like a happy yet flustered lover. Nessa will take time out of her schedule to spend a few minutes being indulged by you. To top it all off, both of you are shy about wanting to kiss each other. It does start off slow before it heats up with both of you grinding into each other. Nessa likes it when you mess with her hair and occasionally nibble her ear lobe. She gets excited and will do her part by putting her hands on your chest, feeling you all over. Her wet lips comes into contact with your warm skin as she kisses your collarbone and down your chest further. Both of you will be hot and flustered once you are done, but hey, just jump in the water and cool yourselves off! Or continue in the water if you haven’t had enough ;)

-Milo

-Oh, Milo. Such an angel. Kissing him is the equivalent of Heaven and it makes him so very happy that you want him to kiss you. Milo is probably the most affectionate man in Galar for how he treats his Pokémon and his s/o. His hugs are warm and cuddly, his compliments are sweet, and his kisses are just amazing. The man loves holding you while kissing you. Though he doesn’t try to do anything too intimate, you encourage him to try. At first, he’s clumsy but soon he will get comfortable and do his best to please you. Very commonly, Milo will have you on his lap and will support you by holding your waist. He adores how you look down at him with your e/c eyes peering through his. You do move your head down so he can kiss your lips and from there, it’s all cutesy and innocently intimate. Milo doesn’t try to get you to moan, but you are a bit more passionate and do kiss his sweet spot (his neck) and that does make him moan and giggle a bit. Milo happens to be ticklish, but keeps his composure while showering you with love.

-Leon

-Finally, the man himself! To cut straight to the point, Leon is very passionate kisser. You know Leon’s preferred kissing method, which is the French kiss, and how handsy he can get. However, Leon does retain his gentlemanly charm and will ask constantly if you are comfortable or if you need a break. During the kissing session, Leon knows where to kiss you. Neck, collarbone, chest, you name it. His kisses are like sweet poison, you instantly melt in his arms. If you want to make him melt, your efforts are a bit flimsy to say the least. You do kiss his neck, which does garner a moan from the Champ, and sometimes you would touch his chest to make him excited and turned him on. Although you try, Leon still has the upper hand on you and continues to prove it by kissing you so much that you become absolutely submissive. There are moments where Leon does break away so that you two can take a break. After all, Leon wants to make sure that you are doing okay and that he isn’t making you uncomfortable. Once everything dies down a bit, Leon will change his usual kissing style to something more gentle and soft. It’s very interesting and fun whenever Leon kisses you because you never know what to expect.

[liliannorman]

A robot referee can really keep its ‘eye’ on the ball

Thwack! Taylor Townsend’s serve sends the tennis ball hurtling over the net. Her opponent returns it, but the ball lands just past the line. “Out,” says a voice. Townsend, a professional tennis player from Chicago, Ill., wins a point.

This may seem like an ordinary tennis match. But who yelled “out”? It wasn’t a real umpire, at least not a living one. It was a computer system. Called Hawk-Eye Live, it tracks each ball in World TeamTennis matches. Its mission: Figure out exactly where a ball lands, then make the call.

In sports, things move quickly. In the summer Olympics, you see tennis serves that propel balls at more than 190 kilometers (120 miles) per hour. Baseball pitches can zoom over the plate at 150 kph (90 mph) or more. A gymnast launching off the vault will flip and twist multiple times within a single second.

Even at these speeds, accuracy matters. A tennis ball must land inside the lines of the court for play to continue. A baseball must pass through an invisible box near the hitter to count as a strike. And gymnasts will be graded based on how many flips and twists they do — and how well they do them.

To make these calls, human referees, umpires and judges train for years. But “the human eye is flawed,” says Bryan Hicks. He’s a tennis umpire and director of officiating for World TeamTennis in Carlsbad, Calif. Human eyes can’t always catch high-speed action. Even the most experienced officials make mistakes. In an Olympic event, an official’s mistake could send the wrong player or team home with the gold medal.

Can technology like Hawk-Eye do a better job at keeping an eye on the ball? Yes, say many coaches, players — and even umpires.

Hicks says that Hawk-Eye Live has made tennis “more accurate.” Similar systems could make many sports fairer. Already, some organizations are experimenting with systems that take over part of the job of a human umpire or judge. You may not see these systems in action yet in professional competitions and Olympic qualifying events. But in coming years, they will likely become common, if not the norm.

A virtual tennis court

In most professional tennis matches, the main umpire — called the chair umpire — sits right beside the net. At the same time, up to nine more umpires watch the lines all around the court. These line umpires decide whether a ball lands in or out of the court. If the ball is in, the player on the receiving side must return it or lose the point. If the ball is out, the other player loses the point.

The Hawk-Eye computer system watches the ball, too. If a player disagrees with the umpire’s call, she can challenge it. Then, the umpires look at Hawk-Eye’s result.

In World TeamTennis, things are different.

This organization runs a series of team-based matches every summer. In 2018, they replaced all human line umpires with a new version of Hawk-Eye that makes live calls. The chair umpire is still responsible for running the game. But the computer system makes all calls at the lines.

“In tennis, it’s a very thin line between in and out [of bounds],” says Townsend. Robots now make most of the calls in her games and she’s glad: “I thought it was great to take human error out.”World TeamTennis

Taylor Townsend says that the system gives her peace of mind. “In tennis, it’s a very thin line between in and out,” she says. “I thought it was great to take human error out.”

Human umps may feel hot or tired. They may have the sun in their eyes or become distracted by a mosquito. They may even unintentionally favor players of certain nationalities, races, ages or backgrounds. A machine will not experience any of these problems.

So how does the machine do it? Engineers must first spend several days setting up each stadium that will use the system. They measure the precise position of all the lines and “create a virtual-reality world to mirror what is in the stadium,” explains Hicks. They also set up 12 cameras. These will watch every part of the area where the game takes place. Then the engineers run tests — lots of them — to make sure everything works as it should.

During a match, those cameras capture a ball’s flight. Software finds the tennis ball in the video. It can do this in bright, overcast or shadowy conditions. A video camera doesn’t capture every single moment of the ball’s flight, however. It actually takes many still photos very quickly. The number of photos it can take in one second is called the frame rate. In each frame, the ball will be in a new position. The system uses math to calculate a smooth path between all these positions. It also takes wind conditions into account.

The Hawk-Eye Live computer system contains a virtual version of an actual tennis court. As a tennis ball flies across the court in real life, its path gets mapped on the screen.World TeamTennis

The system now places this ball’s path into the virtual court. When the ball touches the ground in the real world, it also touches the ground in the virtual one. The system instantly knows which side of the virtual line the ball is on. And it can play back a video of the ball landing in the virtual court.

But is that where it landed in reality? Tests by Hawk-Eye Innovations show the system is accurate to within 2.6 millimeters (a tenth of an inch).

Radar to the rescue

A tennis court’s lines are painted on the ground. In that sense, they are fixed. In baseball, the pitcher aims to throw the ball through something called the strike zone. “It’s an imaginary floating box,” explains Brian deBrauwere of Hershey, Penn. He’s an umpire with Atlantic League baseball, now in its 23rd year. (So far, Major League Baseball teams have signed contracts with more than 100 Atlantic League players.)

The strike zone is as wide as home plate. Its height extends from a batter’s knees to the middle of his chest. So its size varies with the stance and build of a player. This gives each batter a fair chance to hit the ball. If a baseball travels through this imaginary box on its way from the pitcher to the catcher, or if the batter swings and misses, the umpire calls a strike. If the batter doesn’t swing and the baseball doesn’t pass through the strike zone, the umpire calls a ball. (If the pitcher gets three strikes, the batter’s out. A batter who gets four balls gets a free walk to first base.)

Human umpires tend to see this imaginary strike zone somewhat differently. Fred DeJesus, an umpire with Atlantic League baseball, says the strike zone used to “change day to day, umpire to umpire.” In his league today, the zone is much more consistent. That’s because a computer system named TrackMan now calls all balls and strikes.

On July 25, 2019, Fred DeJesus, here, became the first umpire to use the TrackMan “robot” system to call pitches during a regular-season professional baseball game. “Once the pitch comes in and hits the glove,” he notes, “you’ve got a voice in your head saying ‘ball’ or ‘strike.’” Somerset Patriots

TrackMan doesn’t use any cameras. Instead, a box-shaped radar dish located above home plate sends pulses of radio waves toward the pitcher. When these waves hit the moving baseball, they bounce back. The system measures these returning waves to figure out the ball’s position and to figure out how quickly it’s moving. This is called Doppler radar tracking.

TrackMan and similar systems were originally developed to give golfers and baseball players detailed information about how fast they hit or threw the ball and how its arc curved. This can help them improve their skills. But the same system also can act as a robot umpire. All it needs to know is where the strike zone is.

Once again, engineers have to carefully set up the system for each ballpark. They measure the precise position of home plate. They also collect all the players’ heights. The system then maps a strike zone for each successive batter based on his height in its database. The system does not look for the player’s knees or chest. No matter how the player stands, his strike zone will not vary. It will remain in the same place.

As each pitch comes in, the system calculates its path and decides whether the ball goes through that player’s strike zone. The home plate umpire then hears a voice through an earpiece. It says “ball” or “strike.” If the system makes an obvious mistake or fails to track the pitch, the human umpire must make the call.

Here’s the earpiece that Fred DeJesus wore in the first use of the TrackMan system to call balls and strikes in professional baseball. This device is now part of a collection in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

DeBrauwere used this system during the 2019 Atlantic League season. At first, “it was very odd and disconcerting,” he says. He didn’t really like having a computer tell him what to call. Though the experience soon began to feel normal, he thinks the system is not quite good enough. It’s pretty accurate for balls that move in a straight path, he says. But it doesn’t work as well for sliders and curveball pitches, or in windy conditions. In these cases, there’s a greater chance that the computer’s calculations won’t match reality.

Other factors can mess with TrackMan’s results, too. For one thing, players haven’t always been honest about their height. DeJesus says they tended to add a few inches. When they realized how TrackMan worked, though, they had to come clean. Another time, when a player slid into home, the plate moved slightly. The system had no way of knowing that home plate had moved. So it calculated the strike zone where home plate used to be.

“We had to realign home plate,” recalls Rick White, president of the Atlantic League in New York City.

With each such situation, the league has been working out the kinks of its new system. Overall, White says, the goal is for the strike zone to be “a little more consistent and predictable.” Major League Baseball (MLB) sponsored the setup of TrackMan systems in Atlantic League ballparks. Minor League Baseball plans to soon begin using TrackMan to call balls and strikes for its games. If all goes well, within five years MLB parks could start using this technology or something similar.

Flips and twists

If tracking a fast-moving ball’s precise position seems tricky, imagine trying to track how well an entire person spins or flips. This is what gymnastics judges do. In the Olympics and other major competitions, gymnasts are scored on the difficulty and execution of certain moves. Difficulty measures the number and types of flips or twists. But the movements often are so fast that they’re hard for the naked eye to register, explains Brett McClure. A former Olympic athlete, he now coaches the USA Gymnastics men’s team. Judges often guess the number of flips or spins based on how long the athlete stayed in the air and what position he or she landed in.

Gymnasts also get an execution score based on the angle of their joints. For example, in a handstand, the athlete’s arms should be perfectly straight. A judge will deduct points based on the degree of any bending. Once again, human eyes can only guess what the actual angle had been.

Explainer: What are lidar, radar and sonar?

A new computer system doesn’t have to guess. Shoichi Masui and other engineers at Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in Kanagawa, Japan, developed the system. It uses 3D laser-sensor technology, also known as lidar, to capture the contours of a gymnast’s body. It can count twists and flips and measure body angles.

“This project started from a joke,” says Masui. The International Gymnastics Federation is the group that governs the sport of gymnastics. In 2015, its president joked that by 2020 robots would score gymnastics. Now, Masui says, it is no joke. It’s reality.

Movie makers and video-game developers regularly use motion-capture technology to record human actors. Then they map the actor’s motions onto digital characters. Usually, the people being tracked have to wear bright white markers all over their bodies. The markers show the system exactly what to track. But “it is impossible for gymnasts to wear markers in actual competitions,” says Masui. Those markers would get in the way.

Judges and fans weren’t the only ones watching the 2019 Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Lidar equipment watched, too. And an artificial intelligence system turned data on the performances into models of the moving athletes.

Instead, Masui’s team used artificial intelligence. The Fujitsu team built an artificial-intelligence program that could learn to recognize and outline a human skeleton within these motion data.

During the 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, judges could use the system during the pommel horse, still rings and men’s and women’s vault events. They only turned to the system for difficulty scores, and then only if they disagreed with each other or if a coach questioned a gymnast’s score.

McClure and his team were there. Since everyone’s skeleton is different, the gymnasts each had to get measured. They stood on a platform and lifted an arm. Then they lifted a leg. All the while, lidar measured the exact dimensions of their bodies. Once the system had these data, it could track that person’s skeleton. The display looks like “a stick figure flying through the air,” says McClure. “It’s pretty cool.”

This computer system can find and follow an athlete’s arms, legs and torso, no matter how they move. It also measures precise angles. Gymnasts can use the information for training. Judges can use it in competition to grade a performance.Fujitsu Limited

Robots vs. humans

McClure is glad to have a system that can take the guessing out of difficulty scores in gymnastics. Eventually, the system may be tapped to help judge execution scores, too. Still, he notes, there will always be a place for human judges.

In some gymnastics routines, artistry matters. In the women’s floor routine, for instance, the athlete dances to music. “How does a machine tell who is a good dancer and who is a bad dancer?” McClure asks. That’s not something you can figure out with math.

Human umpires in baseball and tennis still have important jobs, too. Hicks points out that a tennis umpire is always paying attention to the players’ moods and how they act on court. Part of his job is to keep things under control — and a computer can’t calm down an upset or angry player. Thanks to Hawk-Eye Live, “the umpire has more attention to give to things that are better for humans to do,” he says. Baseball umpires often similarly attempt to keep the peace.

Technology could certainly make all these sports and many others more consistent and fairer. But is that what fans really want?

“Many people care about sports in the same way they care about music or art,” says Karen Levy. She’s a lawyer and sociologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. You would probably rather watch a person sing your favorite song than see a robot do it. In the same way, you’d probably prefer to watch people play and referee sports.

Sometimes, she points out, human error actually makes the sport more exciting. A bad call or a mistake riles up and energizes the fans.

“People root for sports teams like heroes,” says Levy. And when heroes face difficulty or injustice, it sometimes makes us like them even more.

A robot referee can really keep its ‘eye’ on the ball published first on https://triviaqaweb.tumblr.com/

[duaneodavila]

If #MeToo Goes Gray

When it broke onto the scene, and all over Harvey Weinstein, I didn’t think it had legs to keep going. Eric Turkewitz told me I was wrong when I dismissed the momentum of the #MeToo movement. Turk was right.

In my naïveté, I thought people would be smart enough, mature enough, to recognize that every slight from their past could not be vindicated by mob-shaming. They would grasp that there would be serious cries, and cries so silly and trivial that no one could possibly not laugh.

They would realize that no matter where along the spectrum the tears fell, they could not reinvent history with some hysterical adjectives and lash out. What happened during the Sexual Revolution, that came to a crashing end when AIDS struck the world, obviously couldn’t be judged by today’s puritanical standards. Not even the most passionate kid today could fail to grasp the difference, the shift in norms and goals. No one could be that stupid.

And then there would be liars and crazies taking the moment to exact vengeance or just bask in the glory of victimhood. Men lie. Women lie. People lie. That’s why we require facts before concluding an offense was committed.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.

When they failed to gain traction by lawfare, because it required facts rather than tears, the feminists behind the #MeToo movement shifted their tactics to social media, where there were no rules of evidence, no burdens of proof, and people who preferred to gush rather than prove. It worked. With only the incentive of “likes” and tummy rubs, they told their tales and proved them by excuses. The weak rallied around each other with the promise of hegemony in sight. If they stuck together no matter what, they could beat other women’s boys and delight as if it was that guy who hurt their feelings.

Enter the next phase of the inquisition.

As we near the one-year mark of the public accusations against Harvey Weinstein—that he serially assaulted women; that he used his power to avoid any consequences for doing so—and the subsequent spread of the nationwide #MeToo movement, we are also facing its backlash. The initial ramifications were widespread and stunning: For the first time in history, it became, ostensibly, the mainstream inclination to believe the victims’ stories about sexual assault and harassment.

The next part of the scheme is expand beyond putative offenses, rape or sexual assault as it’s been redefined by removing all semblance of meaning, into the “gray areas” of admittedly lawful conduct by men that nonetheless isn’t the way some women want men to behave.

Yet #MeToo’s next direction is toward a deeper look at some of the most common and harder-to-define experiences. It’s looking toward a more equitable world in which women and other marginalized genders can live less fearfully, by digging deeper into the gray areas and educating all of us about the harm they perpetuate.

What are they talking about? Definitions are for kids, and undermine the core purpose of this scheme. After all, without definitions, wrong is whatever they say is wrong. Wrongs are defined only by claims of pain and fear. Throw in a few adjectives and a bad date becomes trauma for life.

The gray area is really important to talk about because so many of us live in the gray area. People talk a lot about how men are confused about consent and they don’t know if they should touch this or touch that, or ask.

But I also think there are issues around consent for women as well because we’ve been socialized to believe that we have to give in to the whims of men. That you have to well, OK, he asked three times, he asked four times, I gave in on the fifth time. And I’m not saying that giving in is automatically sexual assault, but it definitely is a gray area.

If this strikes you as utterly worthless rhetoric, that’s because you don’t get it. Only by Jezebel logic can women simultaneously be strong, be fierce, yet be so weak that they can’t withstand the emotional coercion of a guy asking for sex. Have they been “socialized”? Even so, are they not capable of overcoming this facile excuse? If you don’t want sex, don’t say yes. But these strong women apparently can’t manage that. Strong isn’t what it used to be.

It was bad enough when the slide from scrutinized claims of rape, proven by competent evidence with the accused being given the opportunity to confront his accuser, challenge the claims, was lost to the mob of sad tears. But at least the allegations were, for the most part (see Aziz Ansari), about conduct that rose to a level of relative impropriety. Yeah, this is a gross overstatement, as enthusiastic consent at the time morphed into regret the next day, but that’s another flagrant fault with the narrative. Now, it’s down to “he negged me, so I was raped by feeling that I had to have sex with him or I feared he would break up with me.”

What did he do? No one is likely to know, as there’s no expectation for facts when stories need only be wrapped in the women’s emotional adjectives. And that will be good enough for the mob to crush.

Nina is blonde, thin, and stands a little over 5’3”. She told Jezebel that she first matched with Smith on Tinder. She said that their first two dates seemed normal, if intense. “Both times, we did have a connection,” she said, and on their second date, on May 19, they had consensual sex. For a few days after, they didn’t see each other because of conflicting schedules; after Smith was unresponsive to several text messages, Nina said she attempted to end their brief relationship, saying it was clear it was going nowhere. Smith texted later, writing, “I’m surprised you couldn’t sense my interest in you; you’re very sensitive to praise (not a criticism).” Nina responded, “ahh, i’m sorry, maybe a lot of this was in my head!! we texted a lot over the weekend and then the quick fall-off/non-replies to the two times i asked you if you were still into it got me thrown off.” She would later characterize this as Smith’s first attempt to gaslight her, by ignoring her and then making her feel that she had interpreted his lack of response incorrectly.

Jezebel even throws in a screen cap of the text messages, lest anyone doubt “Nina’s” cries of “gaslighting” and hesitate’s to destroy the shitlord. Ironically, the shitlord in this case is a public uber-ally to the cause.

Jack Smith IV has made a name for himself over the last year and a half as a senior writer and correspondent covering the extremist right for Mic, a website known for its progressive takes on social justice. His 2017 arrest while covering the Standing Rock protests was a key moment that raised his profile, and he has capitalized on it, writing about incels, MRAs, and neo-Nazis; helming videos about racism and xenophobia; tweeting to his nearly 45,000 followers about the next white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and Milo Yiannopolous; and publicly speaking about, and positioning himself as an authority on, issues of misogyny.

This might seem too absurd to be taken seriously, but then, that was my expectation of the ridiculously irresponsible #MeToo mob. And I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.

If #MeToo Goes Gray republished via Simple Justice