from the I-award-you-the-Order-of-the-Rat dept.
Rats trained to sniff out landmines in Cambodia
Unexploded devices said to have killed nearly 20,000 Cambodians and wounded 44,000 since 1979
Pit, only two and with just one eye, needed only 11 minutes before he detected a deadly mine buried in a Cambodian field, work that humans with metal detectors could have taken up to five days to investigate. But Pit is not human. He is part of a team of elite rats, imported from Africa, that Cambodia is training to sniff out landmines that still dot the countryside after decades of conflict.
"Under a clear sky, he would have been quicker," said Hul Sokheng, a veteran Cambodian deminer, who oversees training of 12 handlers on how to work with 15 large rats to clear Cambodia's farmland and rural villages of bombs. "These are life-saving rats," he said under rainy skies.
Their work could prove vital in a country where unexploded devices, including mines and unexploded shells, have killed nearly 20,000 Cambodians and wounded about 44,000 since 1979, according to the Cambodian government. Pit is able to smell highly explosive TNT inside landmines, watched over by two handlers who tie him up to a rope as the one-eyed rat searches through the grass.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rats-trained-to-sniff-out-landmines-in-cambodia-1.3149277?cmp=rss
This particular story is "current events", sure enough - but I did a search for these rats and found several other, older stories.
http://www.vice.com/read/this-ngo-trains-giant-rats-to-clear-mine-fields-182
This story is especially interesting, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.detect.landmines/index.html. "Nailing down the regimen was tricky. At one point in APOPO's early days, the rats performed perfectly in trials, making Weetjens suspicious. It turned out the rats were outsmarting the humans."
Oh, not just explosives, but diseases too: http://www.occupyforanimals.net/rats---the-apopo-herorats-detect-landmines-and-tuberculosis.html
Lots more stories here: https://www.apopo.org/en/. So - can we expect to see TSA handlers walking around our airports, with rats on leashes soon?
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @10:05AM
…and most intriguing I've ever seen on soylentdot. A+ would read again!
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday July 14 2015, @06:20PM
Thanks for the 2 cents, Runaway1956.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @10:05AM
We've had these types of expendable creatures for centuries. We call them "peasants".
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @10:21AM
TFS is a paragraph-for-paragraph copy of TFA. Except some paragraphs have been merged post original submission. (So an editor did something)
Even TFA title and subtitle are in TFS, without periods I might add.
This is a pretty terrible summary (& title), for a fairly interesting article.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:12AM
Heroic Rats?
Really? That's all you could come up with as a headline? There's a better one right there at the top of the summary:
Rats trained to sniff out landmines in Cambodia
See how it actually tells you what the story is about?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:24PM
Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good. --fortune
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Geezer on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:48PM
J-school types are taught to write headlines with hooks. Gotta sell, baby! Need those clicks!
With that"Heroic Rats!" we tease the imagination. Rats save baby from burning building! Rats plug leak in sinking cruise ship!
Informative is nice, but ineffective and boring from a journalistic standpoint.
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:16AM
You didn't get that, did you?
Let me spell it, loud an clear: if ever TSA agents and rats will work together, it will be the rats to keep the TSA agents on leash.
Even this is day-dreaming: the rats are simply too intelligent to waste their time using TSA agents; only the govt could think TSA agents are good for something
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 14 2015, @03:41PM
ROFLMAO - I believe you're right!
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:31PM
the rats are simply too intelligent to waste their time using TSA agents;
Sir, I believe those-- hold on, I'm getting some further instructions ... squeak chitter squeak ... those dried cranberries, fresh papayas, and tasty, tasty chocolate chips are under quarantine, and I'll have to confiscate them. Sorry about this sir, just keeping America safe from cats and hawks -- I mean, terrorists.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:45AM
Guys, can you please check the status of this [soylentnews.org] submission?
Look, I don't mind if you reject it but, in my list, it appears "accepted" with a pubdate of Thursday January 01 1970, @12:00AM. Does rehash have a (non-critical) bug and accepts pub dates in the past - or... do you really mean it (is your sense of humour weirder than mine [soylentnews.org]?)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:54AM
It has been rejected - I'm not even sure where you are seeing this story. It doesn't feature on my submission list nor in the released stories. So, while there might be a bug, a bit more information would help pin it down. Thanks.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:07PM
OK c0lo, I'm trying to sort this out. It does indicate as accepted but the date time is as you suggest. It is common practice to move stories that make the story list but are then rejected by the 2nd editor to a date in the past - to a black hole if you will. I'm trying to find out who processed the story and why it was marked as such. It might simply be a typo which made the date unreadable.
It would have helped if you had not sent your query in as a submission - it didn't make sense to me which resulted in your query being rejected. We are all contactable via the usual SN email addresses or via IRC. Alternatively, if you must send a question in as a sub - mark it clearly and please explain what the problem is. You comments about time rifts, Einstein and parallel universes, along with a confusing subject, ensured that you query was binned.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:08PM
Even more, visiting the submission [soylentnews.org], I read the second line as "Accepted submission by c0lo at 2015-07-13 20:56:56". Maybe it would worth looking into the DB?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:18PM
c0lo - it was rejected as a Dupe by the 2nd Editor.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:30PM
Thanks, I googled for blade runner on soylentnews and saw the duped TFA 4 moths ago. (it still doesn't explain why I'm seeing it with an Accepted state in my submission list. Non-critical anyway)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:31PM
It was accepted, someone realized it was a dupe, in order to get rid of it the date was set to 0.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by WillAdams on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:46AM
See the articles on Aki Ra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ra [wikipedia.org]
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Self_Help_Demining [wikipedia.org]
There's a film documentary, book and museum, &c.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday July 14 2015, @12:01PM
I've noticed the dilution of the word hero over the course of my life, when I was a kid it meant that someone consciously decided to go above and beyond the required risks and was gloriously successful. In 2015, all it means is someone wears a uniform of any sort or they're a trained rat.
I'm not saying no heros exist anymore, just saying if I were one I'd be pretty pissed off about being compared to a mere trained rat or some cop who bravely shoots unarmed black dudes in the back. If the stereotypical daydream of "superheros now exist" came true, the assumption is they're be in a good mood, but I suspect reality in 2015 is they're be super-pissed-off about being compared to a F-ing trained rat.
Trained rats are cool and save lives, but they're not heros. They're trained rats.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:17PM
Thank you for your brave words. You are a true patriot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:30PM
We live in a time when the average human finds the irrational satisfaction of feeling safe due to the totally unrelated-to-security act of being groped after queueing for hours before boarding a plane... that's no longer training, that's reflex conditioning
While the meaning of hero is indeed diluted, the trained rat shows more self-determination than the humans; therefore, maybe "hero" is deserved in the context... perhaps even to the point of making a role model from a trained rat.
(enough. I should go to sleep before my acute misanthropy attack gets out of hand).
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:42PM
This hero business started with 9/11.
Military, Cops (yes good cops, bad cops, whatever you want to argue), firemen, ems, and all other emergency response peoples do qualify for the title. Though, to be fair, they voluntarily signed up for the task (draft excluded of course) and get paid.
Though I do 100% agree, the meaning is being cheapened. I always thought of a hero as someone who went above and beyond their normal lives to do something extraordinary. Like a passerby jumping into a river to save someone from drowning. Or a person who voluntarily guides a person through life and helps them through a difficult situation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @03:43PM
You're another of those diluting the meaning of hero. Cops and most military people do not qualify automatically as heroes.
If cops weren't cowards SWATing wouldn't be dangerous for their targets. Plenty more people would still be alive and whole today too if cops weren't too cowardly to put their life on the line to serve and protect. Instead they maim or kill children and unarmed adults.
Most soldiers just follow orders blindly. Is your gun a hero just because it reliably fires a bullet whenever you pull the trigger? No, thus most soldiers aren't heroes.
This guy is a hero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Major#The_first_Distinguished_Conduct_Medal [wikipedia.org]
He's no mere stupid obedient weapon - in many cases he used his brains, judgement and conscience like a hero and didn't follow orders blindly. Instead he captured an entire city/town and thus saved it from being shelled. He didn't just go around mindlessly killing all his enemies either in a number of cases he got them to surrender.
See also: http://www.kvacanada.com/stories_taportraits.htm [kvacanada.com]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:32PM
Read the entire post first before writing a knee jerk reaction.
If you read my post you would have realized that I pointed out why people use the term hero when talking about emergency response personnel. The basic definition can be applied to them if you want to be technical. I then pointed out that I too agree with the dilution of the term.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:35PM
but I suspect reality in 2015 is they're be super-pissed-off about being compared to a F-ing trained rat.
In 2015? After so many decades, they would finally have someone else to put the blame on for all the property damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @09:46PM
There is no heroes. There is no meaning
(Score: 3, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday July 14 2015, @01:40PM
... to admire this: "a team of elite rats".
Wonderful.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @11:05PM
We previously mentioned that rats were once thought to be the champion sniffers.
It is only recently that studies pushed them out of first place.
Elephants: Best Sense of Smell by a Wide Margin [soylentnews.org]
This also reminds me of US Customs' Beagle Brigade. [wikipedia.org]
Folks don't so much mind if a cute little pooch sniffs their stuff.
(...and nobody wants to pet a rat.)
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Wednesday July 15 2015, @02:01AM
The White Rat is pleased.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti