[Mitch]

Google, being the rather intelligent company that it is, has found a very efficient way to take the burden off themselves for determining individual labels for each picture in their massive image database. Have you do it! Google accomplishes this in the form of a competitive game. Called the non exciting name, Google Image Labeler: http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/

At the site, you will play a short 90 second game with someone that Google selects randomly. The point of the game is for the two of you to guess what the other one has typed in as the appropriate label for a randomly displayed image. Once you both guess the same label, a new image will be displayed. My best score is below, good luck trying to beat it.



Post your best results as a reply in out comments section.

Note 1: One of the images shown to me involved lesbian porn, so be a little weary of whose around when/where you play this game. Although, this only happened once.
Note 2: I'll start collecting good time wasters and will put a link to a collection of them in the menu to the left titled: Grad Student Time Wasters

Mitch

[Mitch]

Made it to today's Top 5

[lemonoman]

I realized while playing that this is a terrible idea on Google's part.  I mean sure, it's kinda fun...but it rewards ambiguity.

Take a look at these examples:

The first one.  They almost look like atomic models.  Of course, I can't really make out what it is, and a layperson wouldn't know they were atoms...so, of course the answer we both agreed on was 'balls'.

The bottom right one...it's probably a specific mineral.  If I type "mineral" into google, and I get this pic, I'd be fine, but what is it really?

Some pictures, which I couldn't take a screenshot of (sorry)....the answer was something really simple that was in the picture.  Like one a man, with a printing press, and a computer on a desk on the right side.  The common answer was, "computer".  If I typed "Computer" into google image search and got that image, I'd have cried.  It was clearly not the focus of the image, but because it was simple and in the picture, that's what we agreed on.

I have a bad feeling about this idea...

[Mitch]

The funny thing is I signed chemicalforums to be included in this google game, so the pic of pictures you just posted might be a part of the game in the near furture.

[Yggdrasil]

I had a similar experience.  I saw a diagram of what was very clearly a chloroplast, showing the two membranes and stacks of thykaloids clearly.  Unfortunately we had to settle on "pill" for the answer.

[constant thinker]

I've been meaning to try this one day. I doubt I'll get a score even remotely close to mitch's though.

[Mitch]

Don't try this one day, try it today.

[mike]

Me and Yggdrasil? on together is that odd?

[Mitch]

Wow, that is odd. If you see a mitchandre that'll be me.

[Yggdrasil]

Yup, that was me.

[Mitch]

Guys should play it through the Time Wasters page.

[constant thinker]

I was going to try it last night, but my internet connection died.

Tonight I have to much work to do.

I procrastinated on my 5 page paper. I've got in 1/2 done though, and it's only 8:17.

[Mitch]

I'm pretty sure the Google Image Labeler takes priority.

[constant thinker]

I tried it today. I was horrible at it, or maybe my partner was.

[FeLiXe]

I hope non-grad students are allowed to waste their time to0

so far I have 1100

I hope I'll meet someone who presses "a" for every picture. then I might get some more