odd news items from Norway
Fri Aug 25 13:19:16 EDT 2017Norwegian news site sifts out trolls with quiz for commenters
A Norwegian news site has launched a new feature to try to sift out the number of trolls commenting on its articles by having readers take a quiz on the story before they can vent their opinions about it. ... the reader is required to take a quiz answering three multiple choice questions relating to the content of the article they wish to comment on.
"We have updated the quality of our comments section because we want to ensure that everyone who comments has actually read the article in question," the site wrote about its new feature. Like other news organisations, NRK had noted that many commenters often appeared not to have read an article "before launching themselves into the comment field party."
This one's a worry.Turkish cyclist stopped in Oslofjord tunnel after following Google Maps
A cyclist was stopped by police as he was about to begin a three-kilometre incline inside the Oslofjord tunnel after following a Google Maps route into the underpass. The cyclist was escorted out of the tunnel by police....
"The man did not seem to have much experience in cycling long distances, and especially not up hills. He had a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) long incline ahead of him. .... It was going well whilst he went downhill, but he started to struggle when he got to the bottom. He was up on the pavement and then down again. With strong backdrafts from large trucks, that can be dangerous, [the tunnel] is not designed for cyclists."
The tunnel was closed for around 30 minutes in total. Charges will not be pressed against the man, who was dropped off by police in Drøbak....
(I'm thinking "pavement" here means US "sidewalk"? That would imply negotiating a curb in a tight space.) You probably realize that fjords are essentially submerged valleys in very steep terrain. So a tunnel under a fjord is going to go deep and steep. Not the place for most cyclists. (And laden trucks are not going to want to brake on that long climb; they'll want to exploit their momentum.)
I'm pretty sure he didn't use the bike route option of Google Maps. If you ask for directions from Båtstø to Drøbak, the bike button will send you on a much longer route around the whole fjord (through Oslo, as it happens) instead of through the tunnel.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/913372.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
A Norwegian news site has launched a new feature to try to sift out the number of trolls commenting on its articles by having readers take a quiz on the story before they can vent their opinions about it. ... the reader is required to take a quiz answering three multiple choice questions relating to the content of the article they wish to comment on.
"We have updated the quality of our comments section because we want to ensure that everyone who comments has actually read the article in question," the site wrote about its new feature. Like other news organisations, NRK had noted that many commenters often appeared not to have read an article "before launching themselves into the comment field party."
This one's a worry.Turkish cyclist stopped in Oslofjord tunnel after following Google Maps
A cyclist was stopped by police as he was about to begin a three-kilometre incline inside the Oslofjord tunnel after following a Google Maps route into the underpass. The cyclist was escorted out of the tunnel by police....
"The man did not seem to have much experience in cycling long distances, and especially not up hills. He had a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) long incline ahead of him. .... It was going well whilst he went downhill, but he started to struggle when he got to the bottom. He was up on the pavement and then down again. With strong backdrafts from large trucks, that can be dangerous, [the tunnel] is not designed for cyclists."
The tunnel was closed for around 30 minutes in total. Charges will not be pressed against the man, who was dropped off by police in Drøbak....
(I'm thinking "pavement" here means US "sidewalk"? That would imply negotiating a curb in a tight space.) You probably realize that fjords are essentially submerged valleys in very steep terrain. So a tunnel under a fjord is going to go deep and steep. Not the place for most cyclists. (And laden trucks are not going to want to brake on that long climb; they'll want to exploit their momentum.)
I'm pretty sure he didn't use the bike route option of Google Maps. If you ask for directions from Båtstø to Drøbak, the bike button will send you on a much longer route around the whole fjord (through Oslo, as it happens) instead of through the tunnel.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/913372.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]