4 ms·

I distinctly remember a captcha which asked me to identify fire hydrants. Some of the pictures were hydrants, while others were standpipes. These are different

I distinctly remember a captcha which asked me to identify fire hydrants. Some of the pictures were hydrants, while others were standpipes. These are different things, and I answered accordingly. The service refused to acknowledge my humanity until I relented that a standpipe was a hydrant. If at some future date any of us burn to death due to an automated fire truck that misbehaved due to this, we’ll know why.

seanhunter 2y ago
Yup - I recognize this problem. I am a motorcyclist and I frequently have to grit my teeth and misidentify scooters as motorcycles if I want to get past captcha. For non-bikers, a scooter has an automated gearbox and small wheels etc. Think vespa. In the UK at least they are generally a different category of license, although that's because of the size of a standard scooter engine.
- jachee 2y ago
  It's a squares/rectangles issue. Scooters are cycles that have motors, and are thus motorcycles in the most-inclusive definition of such.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    FWIW, I went out looking for a better category (something more like "two-wheeler" but without the engine), and discovered that Wikipedia actually agrees that scooters are motorcycles.
    - bredren 2y ago
      Scooters are arguably more like traditional motorcycles than ebikes. Reminds me of this scene from Police Academy 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil6HFXlccw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil6HFXlccw
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    And electric bicycle is in sense also motorcycle...
- arcanemachiner 2y ago
  My rationale is that they're teaching cars what things they shouldn't drive into, so I'm pretty liberal with what constitutes a motorcycle, including the person on top.
- gsk22 2y ago
  Except scooters are literally motorcycles? From Wikipedia: > A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, .... Scooters are often legally motorcycles as well. For example, I had to get a motorcycle endorsement on my license for a scooter I owned, because the engine displacement was too large for the extremely restrictive "moped" category in my state.
  - andrewflnr 2y ago
    They're not really considered as such by motorcycle people, for decent reasons too. Scooters generally have rather different ergonomics and controls, notably CVTs rather than manual transmissions for "proper" motorcycles. Overall a pretty different experience to ride. There's not really a good umbrella term, either, though.
    - esperent 2y ago
      I live in Vietnam where the entire population drives small motorbikes or scooters. There's no defining feature except for having a cutaway to place your feet in a scooter. Even the engine placement is less of a clear thing now that many of them are electric. There's motorbikes with scooter like controls, there's scooters with motorbike like controls. Many small automatic motorbikes feel basically identical to driving a scooter except that your sitting position is very slightly different.
      - andrewflnr 2y ago
        Presumably an American motorcycle purist's brain would simply explode in such an environment. :)
    - gsk22 2y ago
      The "decent reasons" just sounds like snobbery or a reason to feel superior. Cars are cars, whether manual, automatic, CVT, whatever. Why should bikes be any different? I'm a big fan of two-wheeled transport in all its forms, but wow is there a prevailing toxic attitude among a large group of "true motorcycle" riders. Instead of welcoming people into the fold, it's just tribalism -- you drive a scooter, you're not a true biker; you ride a cruiser, true bikers only drive super sports; you drive an e-bike, but only loud pipes make a true rider!
- gattilorenz 2y ago
  Classic Vespa does not have an automatic gearbox. Last one without it was probably a PX model in the early 2000s, though.
jeltz 2y ago
Fire hydrants in my country are virtually always in the ground covered by a steel lid. The only reason I know the answer is American popular culture. https://fev.se/images/18.7ea68079182e95d391364a41/1663668627173/brandpost%20770x440.jpg https://fev.se/images/18.7ea68079182e95d391364a41/1663668627...

seanhunter 2y ago

Yup - I recognize this problem. I am a motorcyclist and I frequently have to grit my teeth and misidentify scooters as motorcycles if I want to get past captcha. For non-bikers, a scooter has an automated gearbox and small wheels etc. Think vespa. In the UK at least they are generally a different category of license, although that's because of the size of a standard scooter engine.

jachee 2y ago
It's a squares/rectangles issue. Scooters are cycles that have motors, and are thus motorcycles in the most-inclusive definition of such.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  FWIW, I went out looking for a better category (something more like "two-wheeler" but without the engine), and discovered that Wikipedia actually agrees that scooters are motorcycles.
  - bredren 2y ago
    Scooters are arguably more like traditional motorcycles than ebikes. Reminds me of this scene from Police Academy 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil6HFXlccw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil6HFXlccw
- Ekaros 2y ago
  And electric bicycle is in sense also motorcycle...
arcanemachiner 2y ago
My rationale is that they're teaching cars what things they shouldn't drive into, so I'm pretty liberal with what constitutes a motorcycle, including the person on top.
gsk22 2y ago
Except scooters are literally motorcycles? From Wikipedia: > A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, .... Scooters are often legally motorcycles as well. For example, I had to get a motorcycle endorsement on my license for a scooter I owned, because the engine displacement was too large for the extremely restrictive "moped" category in my state.
- andrewflnr 2y ago
  They're not really considered as such by motorcycle people, for decent reasons too. Scooters generally have rather different ergonomics and controls, notably CVTs rather than manual transmissions for "proper" motorcycles. Overall a pretty different experience to ride. There's not really a good umbrella term, either, though.
  - esperent 2y ago
    I live in Vietnam where the entire population drives small motorbikes or scooters. There's no defining feature except for having a cutaway to place your feet in a scooter. Even the engine placement is less of a clear thing now that many of them are electric. There's motorbikes with scooter like controls, there's scooters with motorbike like controls. Many small automatic motorbikes feel basically identical to driving a scooter except that your sitting position is very slightly different.
    - andrewflnr 2y ago
      Presumably an American motorcycle purist's brain would simply explode in such an environment. :)
  - gsk22 2y ago
    The "decent reasons" just sounds like snobbery or a reason to feel superior. Cars are cars, whether manual, automatic, CVT, whatever. Why should bikes be any different? I'm a big fan of two-wheeled transport in all its forms, but wow is there a prevailing toxic attitude among a large group of "true motorcycle" riders. Instead of welcoming people into the fold, it's just tribalism -- you drive a scooter, you're not a true biker; you ride a cruiser, true bikers only drive super sports; you drive an e-bike, but only loud pipes make a true rider!
gattilorenz 2y ago
Classic Vespa does not have an automatic gearbox. Last one without it was probably a PX model in the early 2000s, though.

jeltz 2y ago

Fire hydrants in my country are virtually always in the ground covered by a steel lid. The only reason I know the answer is American popular culture. https://fev.se/images/18.7ea68079182e95d391364a41/1663668627173/brandpost%20770x440.jpg https://fev.se/images/18.7ea68079182e95d391364a41/1663668627...