@seattledot Thank you! This area has been so dangerous since the raised street gives pedestrians a false sense of security. Now we'll have a little more protection from the traffic.
Today we are announcing a major breakthrough in the Vesuvius Challenge: we have read the first word from an unopened Herculaneum scroll.
The word is "ΟΞΏΟΟΟ ΟΞ±Ο" which means "purple dye" or "cloths of purple."
https://t.co/mSbHtzNbAl
Congratulations to 21yo computer science student @LukeFarritor who is the first person to see this handwriting in nearly 2000 years. He has won the $40,000 First Letters prize for this world-historical achievement.
We are also awarding a $10,000 First Ink prize to @CJHandmer who was the first person to see ink and multiple letters within an unopened scroll. His work was the basis of Luke's ML model.
And @Youssef_M_Nader has won a $10,000 second-place First Letters prize for producing the clearest and most comprehensive images from inside a scroll yet.
This has been the dream of many people since the scrolls were first discovered in the 1750s. It is also the result of 20 years of work from Dr. Brent Seales and his team at EduceLab, whose years of dedicated work have made this last mile possible.
The $700,000 Vesuvius Challenge Grand Prize is now in sight. Who will claim it?
Did you know the Seattle Parks Department permanently opened Arboretum Drive East to people πΆπ»ββοΈπ§πΎβπ¦½πΆπ»π¨πΌβπ¦―π΄πΏ and closed it to through π traffic in 2009? It was controversial at the time, but today no one is clamoring for through traffic to return. Park streets for park uses.