52 comments

  • tazjin 12 hours ago ago

    I don't think that this produces correct results, as it seems to determine whether each individual number is Numberwang. However, whether a number is Numberwang can also depend on the previous numbers in the sequence or other factors.

    So I think as it stands right now this model can only determine whether a number would be Numberwang as the first number of a sequence, but even for that I still wouldn't rely on this in the actual game show.

    • wrs 12 hours ago ago

      Do we really know that? Or have we only seen the sequences from people searching for Numberwang? Has a number been both Numberwang (or Wangernumb) and not Numberwang (or Wangernumb)?

      • tazjin 12 hours ago ago

        Yeah, we do - there's a famous episode where after rotating the board both contestants stubbornly kept picking 1, and after a couple of iterations one of them was Wangernumb.

        • wrs 11 hours ago ago

          Oh, well, after rotating the board, sure, I get that.

        • debugnik 10 hours ago ago

          I can confirm this is the first episode, which I just watched since I had no idea about Numberwang until a minute ago. So I guess a true Numberwang fan would know that.

          • gaigalas 8 hours ago ago

            Obviously, it depends on whether board has rotated or not. It seems the model doesn't support board rotation yet, so the result is consistent with the limited set of features.

    • aesthesia 12 hours ago ago

      I'm also not sure that we know a non-number can never be Numberwang.

      • aidenn0 8 hours ago ago

        If you think about The Event you can figure it out. (Don't think about The Event).

        • blipvert an hour ago ago

          It is unlikely to be necessary on HN to remind readers to remain indoors.

      • ceocoder 12 hours ago ago

        A non-number could be either a Numberwang OR a Wanganumb - this does depend on whether Yorkshire is a pudding or not.

        • jmcqk6 10 hours ago ago

          It's not well known, but in February of 1983, there was a finch in the Galapagos that was found to be numberwang. And of course there was the famous incident in the 1994 World Series where a homerun was overturned because it turned out it was a wangernumb hit into the stands, and not a standard baseball.

      • TechSquidTV 5 hours ago ago

        Woah believe it or not, that's Numberwang!

  • codeulike 12 hours ago ago

    For those confused by this, here is the Mitchell and Webb "Numberwang" sketch

    https://youtu.be/0obMRztklqU?is=qufDLUkqofpr-K1Y

    • codeulike 30 minutes ago ago

      Sadly OPs explanatory comment has been flagged into oblivion (see far below) because the automod could not comprehend the importance of NUMBERWANG

    • shervinafshar 12 hours ago ago

      And here's the history of Numberwang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ofnDdi-vfw

      • codeulike 12 hours ago ago

        And so OPs app should have been called Colloson I guess

    • pimlottc 11 hours ago ago

      Featuring Academy Award winner Olivia Colman!

    • grufkork 12 hours ago ago

      Rotate the board!

      • BLKNSLVR 10 hours ago ago

        This is the comment I was looking for!

    • doormatt 12 hours ago ago

      And that's a bad miss...

      • toyg 11 hours ago ago

        "Are we the baddies?"

        "WATCH THE FOOTBALL! WATCH IT! IT'S GONNA MOVE!!"

        "This tree smells like cum."

        Mitchell and Webb had so many legendary lines.

        • yoz 6 hours ago ago

          She's gone, sir. They've all gone. And we're back. The incredibly posh people who are still unaccountably waiters.

        • tonymillion 8 hours ago ago

          Now we know...

        • codeulike 10 hours ago ago

          "there's everything to play for ...

          ... And forever to play it in!"

      • tclancy 11 hours ago ago

        My favorite line, especially as an American because I can say it out loud without the person getting upset since they have no frame of reference. And other Anglophiles I could probably handle.

        • tialaramex 10 hours ago ago

          The idea that the snooker commentators are probably drinking is very Britain, and especially Britain from a particular era.

          I think that series came out slightly after that era ended, I remember as a child (so years earlier) realising that snooker players at the time were often tipsy if not actually drunk, and also darts players, but by the time I was an adult the professionalism really changed that, turns out that if you're very good you probably are better at snooker when sober. I think the commentators, being often a previous generation of players, lagged that slightly.

    • gabrielsroka 11 hours ago ago

      There are many sketches

  • bonyt 11 hours ago ago

    You're playing with fire here, don't forget the tragedy of Colosson. Computers weren't meant to do this.

    • Hackbraten 11 hours ago ago

      I AM COLOSSON I AM NUMBERWANG THE WORLD IS NUMBERWANG THEREFORE I AM THE WORLD

  • voidUpdate 17 minutes ago ago

    Is this using the rules from the official board game?

  • jl6 11 hours ago ago

    Amazing, I passed by Mornington Crescent only yesterday!

    • yoz 6 hours ago ago

      I tried to pass Mornington Crescent the other day, but I was in Knip; bloody typical. As you’d expect, I ended up double-shunting onto the Victoria Line.

    • tialaramex 10 hours ago ago

      I happened to be born at the right time for Mornington Crescent to be temporarily closed in the exact window when I was travelling to London often, using the Tube on my own, and listening to ISIHAC and so for a while I assumed the joke was that it'll never open - and then one day of course it re-opened.

  • numberwan9 12 hours ago ago

    Hey! I was not consulted?

  • da02 10 hours ago ago

    How did you all first learn about the original Numberwang? Netflix?

  • karim79 9 hours ago ago

    This is hilarious and I miss numberwang. Also, the history of numberwang. And everything to do with numberwang. It was the most prescient sport back in the day.

    I'm glad that someone has stepped up to revive the legacy of numberwang.

  • karim79 9 hours ago ago

    My friends, this is the single most hilarious thread I have ever experienced on the Interwebs. I am deeply grateful to have found this. I feel like my life is now complete.

  • bosshawg 7 hours ago ago

    what's going on with python that this is considered zero-dependency? requirements.txt, import gradio?

  • TZubiri 9 hours ago ago

    What's the training corpus, just the canonical Mitchell and Webb sketch? Or ancilliary data like comments and references, or worse synthetic data generated on the primary sources?

  • gaigalas 8 hours ago ago

    Looking forward for the wordwang version.

  • rsamtravis 10 hours ago ago

    Numberwang??

  • stackghost 12 hours ago ago

    Hello I have a question, and my question is what the fuck

    • dofm 12 hours ago ago

      That's not even a number.

      • tclancy 11 hours ago ago

        In some bases it is. Numberwang!

        With All Due Love,

        Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, Esq.

        • TZubiri 9 hours ago ago

          In some bases, that's a forbidden number containing the recipe for the atom bomb

          You reckless fool

    • julianz 2 hours ago ago

      Congratulations, you are one of today's 10,000!

  • gregjw 9 hours ago ago

    thats Numberwang!