QR code is largest on record, Minecraftian feat spans 7 acres of corn

[Rick]

Kraay Family Farm, a Canadian-based grower nestled near the town of Lacombe, has set the world's record for creating the largest QR code ever made. If that weren't enough, what makes this QR code even more special is its composition: farmers carved out the QR code from a gigantic corn field. The Minecraftian feat covers 7 acres or about 305,000 square feet and incidentally doubles as the largest corn maze on record.

The Kraay Family has been actively exploring elaborate, corn-based mazes for over 13 years. Although such terrestrial etchings can only be truly appreciated by way of aerial photography, the Kraay family has been hard at work for years, crafting yearly mazes with whimsical designs.

When Kraay was asked about how he came up with the idea, he told Canadian television journalists, "I was just relaxing, reading a magazine and saw a whole bunch of QR codes and I thought, you know, it looked a whole lot like a maze I wonder if we can make one".

QR codes have been gaining traction in recent years amongst advertisers and perhaps more interestingly, malware authors. Just recently, BitInstant announced an upcoming, BitCoin-funded credit card which will also include a QR code for identification purposes.

The QR coding system allows for a far greater number of permutations than traditional barcodes, while up to 30 percent of the code itself can be reserved for error correction -- a feature particularly useful for damaged QR codes and inaccurate readers (I.e. cell phone cameras). The largest standard QR codes can represent up to 23,648 characters (pdf) and thus, may actually be utilized to store small amounts of data. The contents of QR codes can even be encrypted.

Kraay is welcoming visitors to the nerdy agricultural attraction on September 15 for its world record party.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/50115-qr-code-is-largest-on-record-minecraftian-feat-spans-7-acres-of-corn.html

 

[Guest]

Haha, didn't hear about this yet and its only 1 hour away from me

 

[ramonsterns]

Excuse me, what the hell is a "Minecraftian feat"?

 

[Ranger12]

Haha have never heard of "Minecraftian feat" before. Not entirely sure what it is. Only thing I can think of is Minecraft, although I'm not sure what this maze has to do with it.

 

[Wizz-Fizz]

In Minecraft you dug and cut your way through the terrain etc.
A big trend in Minecraft has been to create elaborate mazes and replicas of Fictional and Real Life structures.

I can only assume that by calling it a "Minecraftian Feat" the author is referring to creating art by using similar methods as the game Minecraft.

Pretty cool if you ask me!

 

[ramonsterns]

In Minecraft you dug and cut your way through the terrain etc.
A big trend in Minecraft has been to create elaborate mazes and replicas of Fictional and Real Life structures.

I can only assume that by calling it a "Minecraftian Feat" the author is referring to creating art by using similar methods as the game Minecraft.

Pretty cool if you ask me!

Except terrain art is neither original nor exclusive to Minecraft, much less videogames.

That's like saying a car with excellent mileage is a Toyotian feat.

 

[Wizz-Fizz]

In Minecraft you dug and cut your way through the terrain etc.
A big trend in Minecraft has been to create elaborate mazes and replicas of Fictional and Real Life structures.

I can only assume that by calling it a "Minecraftian Feat" the author is referring to creating art by using similar methods as the game Minecraft.

Pretty cool if you ask me!

Except terrain art is neither original nor exclusive to Minecraft, much less videogames.

That's like saying a car with excellent mileage is a Toyotian feat.

But lets not forget that the common vernacular is very dynamic.

Web searching existed long before, and is not exclusive to any particular company, but we still go online and "Google" what we want information about don't we

 

[ramonsterns]

But lets not forget that the common vernacular is very dynamic.

Web searching existed long before, and is not exclusive to any particular company, but we still go online and "Google" what we want information about don't we

We use "Google" because up until recently, it was the best search engine out there and didn't sell itself out to corporate greed. It's also only been around since 1998.

Ground and Farm carvings have been around for thousands of years by several different cultures, so attributing such a thing to an overrated, poorly made game is both diminishing and insulting.

 

[Wizz-Fizz]

But lets not forget that the common vernacular is very dynamic.

Web searching existed long before, and is not exclusive to any particular company, but we still go online and "Google" what we want information about don't we

We use "Google" because up until recently, it was the best search engine out there and didn't sell itself out to corporate greed. It's also only been around since 1998.

Ground and Farm carvings have been around for thousands of years by several different cultures, so attributing such a thing to an overrated, poorly made game is both diminishing and insulting.

Regardless of whether people agree of the usage of the term in question, in this case "Minecraftian", words such as these do make it into our language and, also in this case, I feel that it fits.

Looking at the particular image associated with this article, it really does look like something right out of Minecraft

 

[ghasmanjr]

It looked like it was from the game at first. I understood how the author used the word without having to really scratch my head. That was a fun game, if you were creative and had a lot of time to kill.

 

[SCJake]

But can it play Crysis?

 

[Rick]

I didn't realize my use of "Minecraftian" would be so controversial.

The QR code itself looks quite Minecraft-like and as another said, carving mazes out of Minecraft terrain is nothing new. Using a pop-culture reference and adding "ian" to the end is also something people have done for at least hundreds of years. I'll point to wellsian as an example -- it may not be in the Oxford english dictionary, but it is widely used and understood.

"We use "Google" because up until recently, it was the best search engine out there and didn't sell itself out to corporate greed. It's also only been around since 1998.

Ground and Farm carvings have been around for thousands of years by several different cultures, so attributing such a thing to an overrated, poorly made game is both diminishing and insulting.

Your emotionally-driven pedantry is very clear, claiming Google didn't "sell out to corporate greed" describing Minecraft as an "overrated, poorly made". While many would agree with these claims, many would also disagree, but that is tangential.

Google not succumbing to greed is no more a reason to validate "Googling" than Minecraft being poorly designed is a reason to invalidate "Minecraftian". I don't see the significance of either.

So, like it or not, I stand by the use of my literary creation. ;-)

 

[tehbanz]

Is anyone able to read the code? my phone isn't detecting it, what does it link to/say?

 

[Guest]

Expert opinion: the code is clearly designed as electronic (or analog in this case) counter-measures against aliens. For you see, when those pesky cow-stealing aliens flying around in their saucers see the code and attempt to scan it with their iPhone, a virus cleverly hidden in the code will activate and take over their computer networks, causing the saucer to crash land and be impounded by local authorities.
This kind of Canadian ingenuity is something United States government desperately needs, and we can only hope that the next administration will make a full effort to implement this anti-alien technology throughout the country within a span of a year.

 

[TJGeezer]

You stand by it, even though I can hear the gods weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth over it from here? My goodness, such recklessness!

Then again, I thought it was a cute turn of phrase when I read it. People (and gods) get upset about the oddest things. Maybe it's the unsettled weather.

 

[ramonsterns]

"We use "Google" because up until recently, it was the best search engine out there and didn't sell itself out to corporate greed. It's also only been around since 1998.

Ground and Farm carvings have been around for thousands of years by several different cultures, so attributing such a thing to an overrated, poorly made game is both diminishing and insulting.

Your emotionally-driven pedantry is very clear, claiming Google didn't "sell out to corporate greed" describing Minecraft as an "overrated, poorly made". While many would agree with these claims, many would also disagree, but that is tangential.

Google not succumbing to greed is no more a reason to validate "Googling" than Minecraft being poorly designed is a reason to invalidate "Minecraftian". I don't see the significance of either.

So, like it or not, I stand by the use of my literary creation. ;-)

The one who seems emotionally-driven here is you since you were upset enough to either read every other word in my post or you purposely ignored some points and preferred to nitpick others.

 

[John Parsons]

Is anyone able to read the code? my phone isn't detecting it, what does it link to/say?

I was able to scan it, using the Qrafter app on my iPhone. Unfortunately, it only goes to the farm's non-mobile-optimized Web site. What a wasted opportunity! There's so much they could have done with that publicity.

 

[Guest]

The one who seems emotionally-driven here is you since you were upset enough to either read every other word in my post or you purposely ignored some points and preferred to nitpick others.

Yeah, cause it's not like you're trying to provoke an emotional response or anything by being unnecessarily crude and sarcastic.

 

[Guest]

This may be the largest QR code but the article is wrong. This is NOT the largest corn maze out there. Cool Patch Pumpkins in California holds the record and this year their corn maze will be 53 acres. Sorry but that puts 7 acres to shame.http://www.coolpatchpumpkins.com/

 

[DelJo63]

So if I scan this QR, do I get a free bag of popcorn?