FARK.com: (4826766) MIT team wins DARPA balloon challenge. Thanks for all of your effort, Farkers. We put up a good fight

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(DARPA)		MIT team wins DARPA balloon challenge. Thanks for all of your effort, Farkers. We put up a good fight (networkchallenge.darpa.mil)		245
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14647 clicks; posted to Main » on 05 Dec 2009 at 9:14 PM | Favorite | share:

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bulldg4life

2009-12-05 09:16:05 PM

How many did we verify?

I went on a mission to verify the one in Atlanta at Oakland Cemetery that was posted on that 10Balloons website around 10:25 am.

After a 20 minute drive, I found nothing. I have some cool pictures of a blue Atlanta sky to show for it.

Phone_Answering_Monkey

2009-12-05 09:16:38 PM

It's always MIT.

studebaker hoch

2009-12-05 09:16:57 PM

I checked in my backyard, nothing.

CtrlAltDelete

2009-12-05 09:18:02 PM

Yeah, but those sons of b*tches have that really smart janitor or whatever.

It's f*cking cheating.

angelslogic

2009-12-05 09:18:22 PM

Kept my eye out today. Glad Fark played the game.

:)

Next Year!

Calmamity

2009-12-05 09:19:36 PM

So? How did we do?

loudboy

2009-12-05 09:19:49 PM

how in the hell do they pull the same kind of national coverage that we do?

/farkers used satellites

MikeFallopian

2009-12-05 09:19:55 PM

bulldg4life: How many did we verify?

I went on a mission to verify the one in Atlanta at Oakland Cemetery that was posted on that 10Balloons website around 10:25 am.

After a 20 minute drive, I found nothing. I have some cool pictures of a blue Atlanta sky to show for it.

Should have checked out Centennial Park!

Edgewood Dirk

2009-12-05 09:20:05 PM

I looked as well. Didn't see anything up here in Canada, except someone wrote "Jesus is Xenu" in the snow. It was pretty big writing, which means they had a lot of beer. Must have been a Farker.

Phone_Answering_Monkey

2009-12-05 09:20:08 PM

All we've ascertained from satellite photos is it's not on the roof.

rcf1105

2009-12-05 09:20:10 PM

TheNyquilKid

2009-12-05 09:20:26 PM

bulldg4life: How many did we verify?

We had 8. I'm guessing Melissa will give us a detailed account after she recovers.

ragekage

2009-12-05 09:21:35 PM

NO! FARKING NO! TONSLER PARK!?!?!?

That is FARKING bullshiat. I drove right by there, but visibility was shiat today with the weather. Fark, I can see that place from work! GodDAMN it!

bulldg4life

2009-12-05 09:21:47 PM

MikeFallopian: Should have checked out Centennial Park!

Was there really one in Centennial Park?

There was no way I was going to go through Centennial Park in the middle of College Gameday a few hours before the SEC title game.

BGates

2009-12-05 09:21:50 PM

I didn't go look, but I didn't figure there were any in butt fark Wyoming.

Prank Call of Cthulhu

2009-12-05 09:23:34 PM

Beaver trifecta in play?

1lastcall

2009-12-05 09:24:36 PM

Edgewood Dirk: I looked as well. Didn't see anything up here in Canada, except someone wrote "Jesus is Xenu" in the snow. It was pretty big writing, which means they had a lot of beer. Must have been a Farker.

Hilarious.

punkrockgirl

2009-12-05 09:25:10 PM

Thank you guys, seriously. I always get a little choked up when I see this community come together for a good cause, and this is no different. We never could have gotten as far as we did without you.

For the record, I had 5 entered into the actual site, and *just* had put the pieces together on three more I was getting ready to enter. I was still working on two of them.

I'm fried, and I'm going to have a few drinks now.

Itsallaboutme

2009-12-05 09:26:11 PM

Hmm, the 'red' balloons were all in 'blue' democratic areas. This competition was clearly rigged.

Wanebo

2009-12-05 09:26:21 PM

little miss

2009-12-05 09:26:57 PM

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
I wonder which two we were missing.

friedlinx

2009-12-05 09:27:25 PM

MIT, the Georgia Tech of the North.

1lastcall

2009-12-05 09:27:39 PM

punkrockgirl: Thank you guys, seriously. I always get a little choked up when I see this community come together for a good cause, and this is no different. We never could have gotten as far as we did without you.

For the record, I had 5 entered into the actual site, and *just* had put the pieces together on three more I was getting ready to enter. I was still working on two of them.

I'm fried, and I'm going to have a few drinks now.

Yer full of teh awesome. Go drink.

solovus

2009-12-05 09:27:42 PM

FARKIN HAX0RZ!!!1!!1!

oi_piss_me_off

2009-12-05 09:29:06 PM

punkrockgirl

aw, you did good! Maybe next year. Or we could all go out to MIT and beat on some egg heads.

fish500

2009-12-05 09:30:54 PM

We did it for the TV show.

Mr. Cabron

2009-12-05 09:31:04 PM

friedlinx: MIT, the Georgia Tech of the North.

Yeah. GTech had 8-9 and quit for the ACC title game and to drink beer.

And people still ask me why I went to GTech and not MIT

:-)

MaritimeGirl

2009-12-05 09:31:23 PM

How could we not have had a Farker on the MIT team who could feed us details? Next year we need a spy on the inside!

Kaka

2009-12-05 09:32:06 PM

This was all just totally awesome.

Kudos to DARPA for getting $Millions$ in research data for $40,000 in cash and whatever $'s it cost to send out the balloon folks.

Great work by the numerous teams created by The Network Challenge!

DIAF for the "We will pay for a spotting" sites (although, of course this was a significant subject of the experiment)

Congratulations to Team MIT!

Now go find a job like the rest of us : )

Most of all;

Team Fark ROCKED!!! What an amazing example of what The Fark Nation(s) can do!

Thank you Melissa for all of your efforts on this crazy trip!!!

/Drew - you might want to give her a raise...or at least a beer or 12

IStateTheObvious

2009-12-05 09:33:11 PM

If they do this next year, rather than trying to find the balloons, I say everyone goes out and flies a big red (or whatever color they use) balloon.

If you can't beat them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshiat.

buckler

2009-12-05 09:33:41 PM

Ya gotta admire MIT's tactics. I totally expected the to go full-geek with data analysis, probability profiles, etc. Instead, they simply relied on human greed. From an engineering standpoint, it's genius. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about them. The most simple solution is usually the best.

Kaka

2009-12-05 09:34:08 PM

Sorry - but I just have to post the result of the 10Balloon lead again just because there will most likely never be a reason to post this picture again...

TheShavingofOccam123

2009-12-05 09:34:34 PM

MaritimeGirl: How could we not have had a Farker on the MIT team who could feed us details? Next year we need a spy on the inside!

Not a spy. Just a team of hookers from Wellesley College.

angelslogic

2009-12-05 09:34:45 PM

props to punkrockgirl! Keep up the good work :)

bulldg4life

2009-12-05 09:35:12 PM

buckler: Instead, they simply relied on human greed

Do you have a link to how they did it?

Scruffinator

2009-12-05 09:35:29 PM

Aww, they took down the play-map.

Anyways, good jerb Melissa.

TheNyquilKid

2009-12-05 09:36:11 PM

buckler: Ya gotta admire MIT's tactics. I totally expected the to go full-geek with data analysis, probability profiles, etc. Instead, they simply relied on human greed. From an engineering standpoint, it's genius. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about them. The most simple solution is usually the best.

I'm sure they were taking all the unconfirmed sighting and doing crazy MIT math things with them to weed out the bs.

My pr0n name is Tom Seaview

2009-12-05 09:37:01 PM

Damn. One of those balloons was like a mile from my house... which I didn't leave today. If I had gone to the store, I would have driven right past the Glasgow Park balloon in Delaware.

/sorry

buckler

2009-12-05 09:37:50 PM

bulldg4life: buckler: Instead, they simply relied on human greed

Do you have a link to how they did it?

Only second-hand reports from here. I have no doubt they'll release a report soon. Apparently, it was a series of monetary rewards that varied based on whether you had first-hand, second-hand, third-hand knowledge, etc., with the value decreasing depending on your distance from the first-hand account, as long as it was accurate.

TheNyquilKid

2009-12-05 09:39:49 PM

buckler: bulldg4life: buckler: Instead, they simply relied on human greed

Do you have a link to how they did it?

Only second-hand reports from here. I have no doubt they'll release a report soon. Apparently, it was a series of monetary rewards that varied based on whether you had first-hand, second-hand, third-hand knowledge, etc., with the value decreasing depending on your distance from the first-hand account, as long as it was accurate.

From MIT:
We're giving $2000 per balloon to the first person to send us the correct coordinates, but that's not all -- we're also giving $1000 to the person who invited them. Then we're giving $500 whoever invited the inviter, and $250 to whoever invited them, and so on....The remaining $250 is donated to charity.

Mr. Cabron

2009-12-05 09:40:12 PM

TheNyquilKid: buckler: Ya gotta admire MIT's tactics. I totally expected the to go full-geek with data analysis, probability profiles, etc. Instead, they simply relied on human greed. From an engineering standpoint, it's genius. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about them. The most simple solution is usually the best.

I'm sure they were taking all the unconfirmed sighting and doing crazy MIT math things with them to weed out the bs.

Having lived on that campus, I would be willing to bet money that at least half the MIT students are b-tards. So greed, supercomputers and the lulz. Well played.

Delay

2009-12-05 09:40:36 PM

Well, that was a crappy contest. Where were all the midgets and biting dogs? Sheats.

Hung Like A Tic-Tac

2009-12-05 09:41:57 PM

No one ever picks CT. :-(

jaytkay

2009-12-05 09:41:58 PM

Eight is pretty amazing. Good job, people.

bulldg4life: Do you have a link to how they did it?

http://balloon.media.mit.edu/
"We're giving $2000 per balloon to the first person to send us the correct coordinates, but that's not all -- we're also giving $1000 to the person who invited them. Then we're giving $500 whoever invited the inviter, and $250 to whoever invited them, and so on..."

TheNyquilKid

2009-12-05 09:42:19 PM

Mr. Cabron: TheNyquilKid: buckler: Ya gotta admire MIT's tactics. I totally expected the to go full-geek with data analysis, probability profiles, etc. Instead, they simply relied on human greed. From an engineering standpoint, it's genius. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about them. The most simple solution is usually the best.

I'm sure they were taking all the unconfirmed sighting and doing crazy MIT math things with them to weed out the bs.

Having lived on that campus, I would be willing to bet money that at least half the MIT students are b-tards. So greed, supercomputers and the lulz. Well played.

I'm shocked there wasn't a balloon attached to the Great Dome.

bmihura

2009-12-05 09:42:23 PM

FTA: "DARPA salutes the MIT team for successfully completing this complex task less than 9 hours after balloon launch."

!!!

Demetrius

2009-12-05 09:43:03 PM

I read a good part of the thread. You guys kicked ass. Well done.

a4dzac

2009-12-05 09:44:01 PM

Heh...flyover States really don't matter.

perilsensitive

2009-12-05 09:45:46 PM

Canwe get a version of the Derp Derp Derp pic with Darp Darp Darpa
?

get real

2009-12-05 09:46:04 PM

well, if posting on 10balloons.com is a win then you guys are winners...
I think MIT won because they somehow kept everyone informed along the way...you want people to participate keep them informed, fark was like a secret Santa, not exciting, cause you know in the end you are getting coal.

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