# Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 5, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657 "2024-01-05T16:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 153
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3041 "2024-12-10T17:10:05Z")
That’s not “clearly” at all. There may well have been plenty of illumination and the issue was one of recognition. In one of the self-driving car threads there was an extensive post mortem (post deerem?) of what I _think_ is this event. Assuming I’m right, the animal happened to be standing in an orientation that looked like nearly nothing with negligible contrast versus the background. A human would probably have run over it too, perhaps realizing what was about to happen far too late to do anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3042 "2024-12-10T20:04:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A human would probably have run over it too, perhaps realizing what was about to happen far too late to do anything about it. In the video that thing seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe the car was exceeding the speed limit to a dangerous level but I couldn’t tell if that was the case, and that’s a different issue from the complaint about being unable to recognize and react to an obstacle. Unfortunately people hit deer all the time, it’s hard to fault an AI for not driving better than a person would be expected to under the same circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3043 "2024-12-10T21:01:46Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > it’s hard to fault an AI for not driving better than a person would be expected to If autopilot is not an improvement over human drivers, there is no value to it. None. If it is not significantly better, it is worse. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3044 "2024-12-10T21:03:49Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If autopilot is not an improvement over human drivers, there is no value to it. None. **Hard** disagree. If it can drive me somewhere as well as I can drive myself, it’s insanely valuable. Then I can do whatever until I reach my destination. I thought that was the whole point! (Not to mention as I get older, I may not even be able to drive at some point, and then I don’t have to hire a driver or use public transportation or whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3045 "2024-12-10T21:31:16Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > > [@Atamasama](#): > > > > it’s hard to fault an AI for not driving better than a person would be expected to > > If autopilot is not an improvement over human drivers, there is no value to it. None. If it is not significantly better, it is worse. Do you want it to be a pure improvement everywhere with _nothing_ it does less well than a typical human, or will you be content with it being a net improvement where it still kills people and crashes cars, just less than humans do/did. And can you accept AI drivers that will sometimes crash in novel ways conscious humans simply would not do? Or is that outcome unacceptable? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3046 "2024-12-10T21:32:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And can you accept AI drivers that will sometimes crash in novel ways conscious humans simply would not do. For me, personally, it depends solely on how cool the YouTube video is afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3047 "2024-12-11T00:54:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@Rebo](#): > > > > Was this story already posted here? (in the last Stupid MFers thread, I mean.) - > > > > [Las Vegas judge attacked in court by defendant: See the video](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/03/defendant-attacks-las-vegas-judge-mary-kay-holthus-video/72101187007/) > > Thread by yours truly. > [Las Vegas judge gets attacked by defendant](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-vegas-judge-gets-attacked-by-defendant/995571) 26 to 65 years. > **['Attack on the judiciary': Man gets hefty sentence for beating judge in...](https://www.rawstory.com/deobra-redden/)** > > A man who leaped over a bench and beat a 62-year-old Las Vegas judge during a court appearance has been sentenced to decades in prison, according to a report.Deobra Redden, 31, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to attempted murder in September stemming... ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3048 "2024-12-11T13:28:45Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > In the video that thing seemed to come out of nowhere. Heh. Yeah. Once, my wife was driving along, and a deer ran into the side of her car. No damage, and apparently the deer was OK. My cousin had a person (on a cell phone of course) walk into the side of her car while my cousin was not moving. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3049 "2024-12-11T13:45:00Z")
I’ve avoided hitting a few deer because of anticipation. Knowing I often see deer on certain stretches of certain roads, I slow way down for a quarter mile, allowing me to avoid what I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. Deer sometimes dart across the road “out of nowhere”. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3050 "2024-12-11T14:53:16Z")
My son hit a deer last month. Luckily, it was mostly cosmetic damage, and we have good insurance. For some reason his dash cam did not catch the actual incident, but the parking feature caught the 30 seconds before and after. When I reviewed the footage, I had to laugh. I was treated to thirty seconds of him and his brother talking about Warhammer. The next clip was him berating his brother for not warning him about the deer that neither of them saw until it jumped in front of the car. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3051 "2024-12-11T15:33:55Z")
The other important thing to remember about deer crossing a road is that they travel in clumps. If you see one, or even a group, that made it across the road, there could be more coming from the same area. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3052 "2024-12-11T15:48:57Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The other important thing to remember about deer crossing a road is that they travel in clumps. - I’ve herd of that. 🦌 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3053 "2024-12-11T15:50:30Z")
A properly designed autopilot should have a few forward-facing IR cameras that can identify objects of mass which cannot be seen in the visual spectrum. But, this discussion is veering like a truck with its brakes out, headed for the ditch full of OT. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3054 "2024-12-11T15:57:31Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The other important thing to remember about deer crossing a road is that they travel in clumps. If you see one, or even a group, that made it across the road, there could be more coming from the same area Yes. There is sometimes more than one child. There is sometimes more than one dog. There is occasionally more than one cat. There is always more than one deer. The only question is whether the others have already crossed. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3055 "2024-12-11T16:25:28Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If autopilot is not an improvement over human drivers, there is no value to it. None. If it is not significantly better, it is worse. I’ve posted this several times elsewhere, but I think my car saved me from hitting a deer that jumped out of a field. I’m nearly positive it hit the brakes before I could, and I was watching for deer (I wasn’t on cruise or had enabled autopilot). I have the camera footage and it was close! Car reaction time \> human reaction time in this case. > [@enipla](#): > > Once, my wife was driving along, and a deer ran into the side of her car. I hit a black bear on a FS road. I was coming around a tight blind corner just as it was charging directly down the steep hillside and across the road. I barely hit it and hopefully did it no damage. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3056 "2024-12-11T16:33:35Z")
> Amairani Salinas was 32 weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they prepped her for an emergency cesarean section, they gave her midazolam, a benzodiazepine commonly prescribed to keep patients calm. A day later, the grieving mother was cradling her stillborn daughter when a social worker stopped by her room to deliver another devastating blow: Salinas was being reported to child welfare authorities. A drug test had turned up traces of benzodiazepine — the very medication that staff had administered before wheeling her into surgery. > **[Hospitals gave patients meds during childbirth, then reported them for...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/11/pregnant-hospital-drug-test-medicine/76804299007/)** > > Hospitals across the country reported mothers to authorities after they tested positive for medications used routinely in millions of births. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3057 "2024-12-11T16:38:08Z")
One of the mothers in that story had her newborn baby and three other children sent to foster care for eleven days. So not a long time, except this was, presumably, the first couple of weeks for the baby and what kind of trauma is that not to be able to bond with your newborn? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3058 "2024-12-11T17:01:49Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I hit a black bear on a FS road. I was coming around a tight blind corner just as it was charging directly down the steep hillside and across the road. I barely hit it and hopefully did it no damage. Yeah, sometimes there isn’t jack you can do. What seriously pisses me off is someone tail gating because you are going the speed limit on a 2 lane mountain road. If I have to slam on the brakes because I don’t want to hit an animal, well, see ya in court ya dumb ass. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3059 "2024-12-11T17:06:27Z")
We have entered the period of slick, icy, snowy highways and it goes on for months. The dumbasses drive way too close for the conditions of the road. I give myself PLENTY of room, but it seems to be I’m the only one that does so. And you can see evidence of folks leaving the road - skid marks, mangled guard rails, or the flipped car in the ditch. Doesn’t seem to help educate the dumbasses. 4-wheel drive doesn’t help you slow down. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/3060 "2024-12-11T17:10:57Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Doesn’t seem to help educate the dumbasses. 4-wheel drive doesn’t help you slow down. We’re having a Secret Santa gift exchange at work. Since we were able to make a ‘wish list’, and since my Secret Santa asked about an item that was out of stock, I _think_ I’m getting a dash cam. Yesterday I thought I should put it in my 1999 Jeep Cherokee when there’s an icy patch at an intersection, and demonstrate how 4WD is useless on ice (when there are no others at the intersection, of course). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657.md?page=152) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657.md?page=154)