Interesting Links for 16-05-2023

[andrewducker]

1. The racist history of the sex binary

(tags:racism gender history transgender viaSwampers science )

2. Lib-Lab "Coalition of Chaos" seen as more stable than a Conservative majority

(tags:politics UK libdem labour coalition )

3. I'm curious what makes Jeff Bezos' new yacht a yacht, rather than a schooner. Or a frigate.

(tags:boats money )

4. Games developers say mandatory return-to-office policy has 'cost us some amazing people'

(tags:office work games )

Comments

What makes a yacht...

[channelpenguin]

Definition of a Yacht
"What exactly makes a yacht a yacht, and not just a big boat? There is no nailed down definition of what makes a yacht a yacht, but most boaters consider a yacht to be any type of sea vessel that is used strictly for recreational or pleasure purposes like cruising, entertaining, water sports, fishing, or year-round accommodations"

https://vanislemarina.com/when-is-a-boat-a-yacht/#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20nailed%20down,%2C%20or%20year%2Dround%20accommodations.

Else with 3 masts, it might be thought a ship. Or some sort of schooner maybe.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

I think it is a schooner. It looks like it has a sail plan of fore-and-aft rigged on all 3 masts.

A frigate has guns. In the 18th and 19th Century they were ships with between 20 and 40 smaller guns and usually squared-rigged; smaller than a line-of-battle ship. Also in British parlance a 5th or 6th rate. Used for recon, signalling relays and commerce interdiction.

In the 20th and 21st century they are smaller escort ships (smaller than a destroyer) used for anti-submarine or anti-aircraft protection.

It is not a frigate.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[andrewducker]

I was not, to be clear, serious about it being a frigate. That was more of a "If I was a billionaire, building my own large ship for wandering the oceans..."

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

I would not trust a billionaire not to have actually kitted their superyauct out as a frigate.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[dewline]

Nor would I.

[simont]

I mean sooner or later you'll want to have a secret identity as a superhero or supervillain (delete as appropriate) and then you'll be glad you did.

[danieldwilliam]

I think I'm going to go for both.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[agoodwinsmith]

Hah. I read "superyauct" as "saucyboat" and there we have it. When it is that big, it's a Saucyboat.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

Surely it's only a Saucyboat if it's from Le Saucisson region of France, otherwise it's just a sparkling gravy train.

But Saucyboats ahoy from henceforth.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[channelpenguin]

That's insanely brilliant.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[channelpenguin]

I totally expect they DO have guns. Just how big, that we don't know...

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

I weould be amazed if they didn't have some sort of longer range defensive capabilty and a seriously over-spec sensor package. Some of it unlicensed. There must be a genuine risk of kidnapping or targetted piracy and it's better to be alive to ask forgiveness than dead having not asked permission.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[channelpenguin]

It would only make sense.

I'm not sure what options there are for sensors. Obviously any villains would not have their AIS on, radar is ok but misses small craft, esp in higher waves and wooden/plastic boats do not show up well AT ALL. Small sailing boats like mine actually usually carry specific radar reflectors so we can be seen.

If I was going to try a Superyacht kidnap piracy thing, for quietness I'd probably get close with a small sailing boat at night, (ideally with wooden mast, boom) maybe drop a diver from a distance while moving, come round on a 2nd pass to pick up my guy and my prey. Mid grey/blue hull, ditto sails. Try to avoid tacking (noise of gear and flapping sails) while anywhere too close. Hmm. Needs ideally pretty light winds else I might be going too fast for them for pickup...

(Any sort of prop noise is really audible from within a boat, even just to ears, never mind surveillance gear)

But a few savvy guys on watch with good IR gear might easily see us, I don't know...

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

I think probably IR and some low-light level motion detectors from a 360 video feed would be most useful for spotting a small sail craft.

You'd be okay with a high-false positive rate. The saucyboat is unlikely to be on some sort of stealt mission so as the boat security detail your first response is almost certainly a hail followed up by a request to keep clear.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[andrewducker]

How well do motion detectors work when both the boat and the surrounding area are constantly in motion?

I'm willing to bet "Not that well".

You can probably get something up and running with some more complex visual processing. Nowadays probably fairly easily trainable.

IR, obviously, would work rather well, unless people were actively trying to foil it.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[channelpenguin]

Hmm. If motion detection not fooled by waves. I have no idea if that's tricky. Though it plausiblly might be. Plus the sailboat isnt that close, it's dropping a diver. Who would probably be easier to spot at some point...

Re: What makes a yacht...

[danieldwilliam]

I'm thinking of some analysis and detection software sitting on top of the video feed. So not detecting motion per se but specific types of motion or probably excluding certain types of motion, like waves, so you're left with only interesting motion to draw the attention of the security team to.

But if you are dropping the diver say a kilometer away then your boat is probably not close enough to trigger the detectors or not close enough for the misison to be disrupted by being hailed and then changing course.

Diver detection systems exist but I'm not sure how commercially available they are even if you are a billionaire. Hull mounted underwater cameras might pick up motion caused by 1 or 2 large humans close to the boat.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[andrewducker]

According to people elsewhere it can be a yacht *and* a schooner. Or a yacht and an aircraft carrier. Or like the Royal Yacht Britannia, a rather nice shiny ship, and a yacht. Because, as you point out, one is form and the other is function.

Re: What makes a yacht...

[hairyears]

That is the only definition of 'Yacht' which makes sense of Britannia, formerly the Royal Yacht.