Gregory's ServerAh yes, of course. I've been trying to figure out who the fuck to blame.
 46 comments
   @ct_bergstrom I like the way the Signage Committee included a taxonomist who insisted on calling them “Estuarine” and then the rest of the committee demanded “(Saltwater)” for non-biologists. @ct_bergstrom Fairly meaningless sign hung on a fence surrounding a field of antennas. There never was an inside board in the first place. @ct_bergstrom The choices of languages are interesting - English, German and Japanese (?). Are they the only ones who need to know or are they the ones who do not know? @ct_bergstrom @antsymbiosis That is weird indeed, because neither Germans nor Japanese are in the top 5 of international visitors to Australia. https://www.lexigo.com/post/number-of-international-visitors-to-australia#:~:text=Tourism%20contributed%20significantly%20to%20Australia's,due%20to%20China's%20travel%20restrictions. 🤔 @kiki @ct_bergstrom @antsymbiosis Maybe they are the top international visitors who don't speak English? The top five seem to me all nations with English as main language. @fdr @kiki @ct_bergstrom @antsymbiosis top international visitors being killed by crocodiles?!  @ct_bergstrom @antsymbiosis That's Chinese. German tourists aren't as numerous, but they are significantly more likely than the average to think slomping through a mangrove forest is a more interesting way to spend a vacation than just taking a selfie in front of the opera house and then getting pissed.
@ct_bergstrom I see the problem. People are warned by the red lines in three of the four squares not to engage in those activities, yet no red line warns the crocs not to eat the people in the first square. It still wouldn't have worked. Crocs are colourblind... https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/34/3/776/2996351 This is why you need good accessibility engineers. Unfortunately, all usability tests tend to end the same way. Nothing left but a fat crocodile, a pair of empty boots, and a clipboard.   @ct_bergstrom kinda wondering why you’d clean a fish in the first place, they spend their life bathing. @ct_bergstrom Anyone who takes risks in or near water where there might be salties is a nutter If only the sign had said "WATER'S EDGE", a whole bunch of grammar pedants might still be alive today. Stupid signwriters... @ghost_shit @ct_bergstrom They work in public service, maybe feeding the pendants to crocodiles is a public good. @ct_bergstrom I think what surprises people is that you don’t actually have to be in the water to be killed. And “near” is quite a ways from the water’s edge. This sign, warning of a steep path at a South African crocodile farm, is fairly unambiguous about the potential risks.   @angusm @tchambers @ct_bergstrom @cstross That, or it’s warning that a lot of summer fun is about to commence. https://youtu.be/ALN7362qBdA  @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross If I were a crocodile I'd be camping out at the bottom of this path. @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross You know this had to have happened for there to be a sign. Frightening thought.  @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross Accelerating wheelchairs could harm poor, unsuspecting crocodiles?  @alexshendi @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross beware of wheelchair riders on their way to hug their favourite croc.  @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross this looks like a trailer for a James Bond movie. Felix Leiter can still do field work!   @ct_bergstrom Those hapless sign designers. They should NEVER have consulted scientists 🍸🙀  @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org @ct_bergstrom my mate actually had an issue with a sign like this. It did not clarify esturine means salt water so they thought it was the other kind 🤷♀️ goes to show you should use clear language when communicating science haha |
Unclear signage led to crocodile attacks, study finds.
(photo: Parks Australia)