4 thoughts on “Oh, this is funny.”

1. The FBI counterfeited the ‘aged’ image. How’s that for irony?

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2. Even more ironic: there do exist real software and techniques and experts who do this kind of thing. It is commonly used for missing persons. The FBI could at least have hired people who knew what they were doing rather than going it alone amateur.

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3. Personally I wouldn’t release “aged” photos even though you can bet on things like lines appearing in certain places, some bits drooping, possibly thinner (or fatter!). The reason being that everyone who does not understand the assumptions and limitations is going to be looking for the wrong person. At any rate, some people are very good at identifying people even though they may have changed a fair bit (hair, whiskers, weight, wrinkles) while most people are really pretty bad at it. I’m in the “so bad I have to rely on photos for positive identification” category.

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4. About 20 years ago, I used to work with a very nice Italian-American guy who was a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein. Always wondered if he got hassled, either for fun or for real, about it. A couple of times I caught myself about to refer to him as “the guy who looks like Saddam Hussein” and fortunately had the self-control to refrain from doing so.

   Now, of course, I’m imagining people phoning the police, the FBI, and the local newspapers, claiming that their brother-in-law’s cousin’s ex-girlfriend in South Bend works in the cubicle next to Osama bin Laden. (Or maybe it’s Wichita. I forget. But her manicurist’s husband’s best friend swears it’s true.)

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