Slashdot Mirror
Clothes Make the Network
Roland Piquepaille writes "Howard Rheingold is looking at how "wearable computers create ad-hoc wireless communities." Here is the main idea, introduced by Gerd Kortuem, a 38-year-old assistant professor, who recently moved to Lancaster University in England from the University of Oregon's Wearable Computing Lab. "As he sees it, the crowds who surround us every day constitute a huge waste of social capital. If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material. Dynamic networking makes it possible to tap those resources through a momentary alliance among transient interest groups." Check this column for a summary or the full article if you have more time."
Sun: The Panties are the Computer
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
great, now not looking in the eye of a drunk on the corner doesn't excuse me for not offering him a few buck. now his software will spam me until i pay for his next drink.
The physical world is so 20th century. The future is virtual.
The thing I really don't get with all the wearable computer baloney is, what can you not accomplish with a small computer that you have in your pocket (i.e. a cell phone computer) as opposed to a "wearable" one?
I hate people. Now I'll have to keep some around so I can get decent bandwidth.
Just what I've always wanted: something that broadcasts personal information to everybody who passes within 100 feet of me!
Dumbest..Idea...Ever...
This new solution will take the work out of driving, dating, and purchases.
...shit, I'll have nothing to do!
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
I've done many searches on this man, and his sum total of product seems to be spouting off on pseudo-theoretical-future speak that is totally useless to anyone. How did this man become so rich being the Deepak Chopra of tech?
great! now maybe the waitress will bring the katsup i asked her for. just advertise her tip-meter every few seconds to show the rapid decrease in funds.
how long before we become walking talking spamvertising billboards. Computers are great, but there are times when we all need a break from the wire.
Karma: Censored (mostly affected by decency laws)
Awright! I'll finally be able to cancel my Adult Friendfinder membership!
evil adrian
You are not like the others. You can be assimilated.
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
I remember seeing ads for some little keychain thingy you programmed your intrests into and when you passed near someone with similar intrests both persons devices would go off. They didn't really catch on here, but i think they were popular in japan. Here i think so few people had them that if you fond someone with one you could pretty much gaurantee you had some similar intrests *cough*geeks*cough*.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
As he sees it, the crowds who surround us every day constitute a huge waste of johns and hookers. If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a blow job, hand job, or kick in the jimmy (the fun way).
Sex - Find It
If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell,
No longer will drug dealers have to stand suspiciously on corners or in parks!
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
-sniff-...my network needs to be washed.
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
...that this guy was the one at home watching Trek on prom night.
"In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
or consider you as dating material
:-P
Um... This is Slashdot - will that many people consider us geeks as dating material??
(Obligatory smilie here).
A beowolf cluster of people???
a beowulf cluster of these! but seriously, doesn't it add a new dimension to all those jokes that end with "Hey, wanna guess what I'm wearing?"
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Yeah... I can't count the number of homeless people I've met with state of the art networking and computer equipment.
Is the first War-Pantsing going to occur?
"Woah, I sure hope that's a 802.11b antenna poking into my backside!"
What is music when you despise all sound?
... create levels of distrust ... it takes just a couple of hitchdrivers going whacko (admittedly probably overdramaticsed by media) that people be hesitant to stop and pick up strangers. Often our preception (of fears) is stronger than reality (esp crime statistics). It's a good idea encouraging social capital ... I just wonder how easy it is in a big anonymous city where people don't give a damn.
LL
Why would you be wearing a computer that broedcasts your personal information? Sure, they'll be commercial things that do this, but not all will, and if nothing else, carry a linux install (or whatever) in your pocket.
what, is this supposed to replace conversation?
Customers who wear wearale PCs also bought:
- Fushia, sleeveless tops.
- Leather pants.
- Leopard print briefs.
1) Want to stuff you into a barrell.
2) Want to rip you off.
3) Put you in their basement forever.
4) Want to spam you constantly for deals. Can't wait for the first Nigerian coat spam scam.
5) Trolls who will be constantly broadcasting that, "In Russia, you are the wearable computer...Searching for girls named Natilie and grits...First Shirt Post...Hey is this a first of a beowulf of cloths!"
so many victims, so little time.
-You too huh?
Karma: Censored (mostly affected by decency laws)
If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home (find out where you live, and then go rob your house), buy an item you're trying to sell (or sell you an item you don't want to buy - oh look! it says you like *everything* we sell!), or consider you as dating material (or prejudge you as an arrogant academic or stupid jock, etc).
Network makes the clothes!
From the article: "If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material."
So why not open your mouth and talk to some of them ?
that the "borg weekly" ran 250 years ago.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Yeah a HUD will work great when driving. Trying to read an email and drive 65mph at the same time? People can barely drive without distractions as it is, much less talk on a phone.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Most of us spend our time deliberately ignoring each other, as even the smallest new interpersonal relationship can only offer so much in exchange for the necessary work.
Perhaps the article is meant to be more of a projection based on how the internet has change how we build relationships. Speaking only for myself, when I'm on my way home or to the office, the last thing I need is yet another social interaction with a stranger. Especially if this interaction is some banal eBay exchange or "hi want to chat?" ping. I already have enough places to meet people for commerce and dating, thank you very much.
Maybe the same folks who use IRC or instant messenging 24 hours a day will like this kind of anonymous mobile communication. Perhaps they will build fluid and mobile communities that move from area to area.
I just don't it fitting into my life, or anyone I spend time with.
-- clvrmnky
If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material.
Do you really need the computer for this? If the people are right there next to you, couldn't you... gasp... try actually talking to them? Regarding the dating thing, I would think that the fact that you are wearing a wearable computer would kinda decrease your chances of being considered dating material since the fact that you feel compelled to wear a computer clearly labels you as a dork.
Circuitry in my undies.
Surrender YR pattent!
1. Wear computers
2. Send spam to everyone
3. ????
4. Profit.
I was thinking about this last week with a couple of friends. With the new mobile phones that are being released which have Java capabilities, it would likely be trivial to write an app which would scan your area for other bluetooth devices running the same app, and do a comparison of the data you've entered to see if you are a match. Whether you are looking to buy or sell something, find a ride, or find a date, you could enter this info into your phone, and when it finds another in range with matching interests, it can beep/vibrate/send your photo to the other phone/etc.
Unfortunately, I think the latest java compliant nokia doesn't have bluetooth, and my t68i doesn't have java. I think the Ericsson P800 is going to have both, and siemens is supposed to be releasing a new one in january that I think has both of these features. The real barrier to this is getting people to install it on their phones, most people aren't technical enough to know how to do it, most people aren't going to pay for the app so it would have to be free, but probably the best way would be to convince some wireless provider to just preload it on their phones and advertise it as a feature to get more customers. Which may not be so hard to do since it's a very interesting use of technology which real people may have an interest in, and it shouldn't be hard to design either.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
I can't wait till I walk down the street, my wearable stating that I'm single, and I receive a message like "Looking for a guy like you, check out my live web cam and chat at TeenCollegeSluts.com" every ten steps.
If you're posting on slashdot, no woman, no matter how hefty she may be, is going to be hitting you up.
I would personally be interested in altering my social interactions with humans by reworking a small Perl script which would inevitably grow to suit my needs exactly. Those who say "just talk to people" are missing the point entirely. This is about the situations where you wouldn't normally talk to someone, and to me, especially about situations where you wouldn't talk to EVERYONE to see what the best fit for your problem-solution is. There are social limitations and time constraints that this could defeat.
I'm looking forward to the day when/if this becomes commercially viable. This technology will be used by a large number of businesses which have to organise things efficiently - such as businesses which put on events or need to set stages.
I think I'm going to look into following this technology on my own. Thanks /.
Intel Pentium III, 3.0Ghz CPU, 256KB second level cache
256MB SDRAM, PC133 onboard
20GB IDE Hard Disk Drive, 2.5" Internal, High Shock
24X CD-Rom, IDE, Slim style installed
Chipset Intel® 815EG North, I/O: Intel® Hub 2 (South)
Video On Board (DB15) SVGA, 2D/3D
1x -Serial RS-232,
2x -PS/2 for Keyboard and Mouse
3x -USB Ports, 1-front, 2-rear
1x -Firewire, IEEE-1394, Lucent FW323 Chipset, 400Mb transfer rate
1x -Ethernet Port, Intel 82562ET 10/ 100 LAN controller, RJ-45 connector
1x -Parallel Port
Power on, reset buttons with power On and HDD LED's
Audio Software AC 97 Audio CODEC, 1-line-in, 1-Mic-out, 1-Earphone
With the blue cords and white trim
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Now when someone says, "stay away from him -- he's got some kind of virus," it won't just mean someone's got the flu.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Thank you for posting a story about wearable computing that does not involve Steve Mann acting like the asshole that he is.
baby.
-SLAP!-
No, geeks never get any and broadcasting personal preferences in public may get us less.
Karma: Censored (mostly affected by decency laws)
Reminds me of Sun's old moniker "The network is the computer". Makes me wonder if Sun bought out a clothing manufacturer.. "We put the 'Sun' in 'Alfred Sung'..."
Trolling is a art,
there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could ... consider you as dating material.
/., after all...
this is
It probably wouldn't be as grand or massive as wanted unless it was based on open standards and protocols. Would be nice to have something like this that could run on a palm, CE, Zuarus, etc... Maybe cell phone manufactures would jump in a year or so after it gains wide spread acceptance. That being said, we've seen similiar devices and ideas mentioned in the past with no real implementation or actual use. I'd give this a whirl though I think.. "My PDA tells me there are geeks near by"
We all know what the *real* benefit of such technology would be.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
Oh brother . . . . if your profile says no bbw's then why would they want to talk to you anyway??
Already patented by Amazon.Com Holdings, Inc.?
And a pony?
Before you answer, be sure to read the article When personalization runs amok
Speak before you think
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of wireless-enabled people!
100 comments and nothing about networking with Natalie Portman's clothes? Have I been away too long and the trolls have left, or have they just picked a new topic? I've noticed the Soviet Russia posts (you guys need to move on - you've run out of jokes) but I can't believe the trolling community has unanimously voted on a defunct political entity as their grist for the month.
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
You wouldn't know that of course, because you went to a government school. Gerd was the author's name? "Ja, Ich bin ein jelly doughnut," to quote John Kennedy.
The ethics professor at Princeton, Peter Singer, advocates returning any child within 30 days of birth to your local Planned Parenthood clinic for disposal if you're disappointed with its "social quality."
A good description of them with some background and an explanation of how they worked is here. They were never given away but sold for ~US$20 and just didn't catch on, at least never enough to recoup their support costs.
Now gone the way of the iTag, the CueCat and the Modo.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Before someone tries to patent it...
Match people up based on what their tivo's knows you like. I mean, the average nerd and nerdess watches a lot of tivo'd tv, so the tivo already knows who's compatible...
What this article is proposing is basically just an extension of this ...
reminds of me of neal stephenson's the diamond age...to a certain degree. most of the communities in this book were more formal and static, but i remember one community that was a distributed network entirely based upon trust. i.e. one person walks into a room, loads a gun and leaves, another person walks in 5 minutes later, unloads the gun and leaves, then person A walks back in, puts the gun against his/her head and pulls the trigger, trusting that person B has fulfilled their task, entirely independent of each other.
an extension, and less static organization, is the mutual interest concept. i don't believe it would be so smooth in the real world, or maybe people would give each other trust points...for example, the guy who shares his umbrella walking through the rain, you might assign him a few trust points, whereas some asshole who cuts in a line or lets a door slam in the face of an old lady, you could slag him down some points. i'm sure that it would end up fragmenting into a wide variety of smaller networks, but that's how real life is. myself, as a tattooed/pierced punk rock guy, might be viewed as a suspicious character if I offered a ride to a young lady whose car had broken down, whereas if this lady was into the tattoing/punk rock scene, she might view me as a more trustworthy individual than someone who is subculturally less familiar.
this could be very interesting in how it would make your actions have direct repurcussions (sp?), which is something that city culture has somewhat taken away. for example, you can be a total asshole to someone one night, then go out the next night and act totally different, and noone would know if you are in a different area/location. it might restore what i consider a vital part of society : accountability and personal responsibility. or it might just break down into a nightmarish chaos of retribution and personal attacks. who knows, but it would be interesting to find out.
and, yes, I know I'm somewhat off-topic, but these ideas occurred to me and I felt like sharing them.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
"... If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material. .."
...killing you and take all your money...
Yes, also
sure, I'd love a ride home...
There are good reason why we don't talk to stangers more often.
No, it wasn't "introduced" by him. The idea has been kicking around for many, many years. It's found its way into numerous science fiction stories. There have been a number of experiments and demonstrations already as well.
Such broadcasting and recognition is followed by point-to-point communications, commonly referred to as "flirting" (if optical) or small talk (if verbal). Various other optical signaling devices are used and selectively made accessible to the other party in order indicate other interests for point-to-point communications, like "books", "newspapers", "wedding rings previously invisible under clothing", etc.
Over the years, the signaling system has changed somewhat. For example, a near-perfect association between actual social status or wealth and clothing used to be assured, but today, many people advertise more of their inner attitudes and desires than actual status using clothing.
What has also deteriorated somewhat is the ability of some people to read and respond to these cues. For example, some people can't tell the difference between "flirting" and "solicitation". That is perhaps while some people are looking for rule-based electronic alternatives. But where is the fun in that? That's like playing chess by having a chess computer tell you all the moves.
Right Here
it will e-mail you where you can buy that wine, on-line
Right Here
More communism. Just what we needed.
nmap girl.in.corner.of.bar
Muttering to myself...damn, port 79 is closed...
Did I just post this? Gawd I'm a geek....
-- Good judgement comes with experience. -- Experience comes with bad judgement.
Many applications would be about having a need and then trying to locate people who can fill that need. To me it seems problematic how to define that need. If you specify it broadly, you would get false hits. This is the classic information science problem, how to define an information need and then match it against available records with high precision but without missing any.
I guess your cellphone could beep "there's maybe something you should check out" and then let you make the judging call.
Strangers in the Night...Exchanging body fluids^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpersonal information.
"If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell..."
So, I wouldn't worry about virtual panhandlers spamming. I'd worry about targeted spam from vendors you'd rather not have other people know you frequent. Imagine walking past a bar with your AA friends and you're beamed a frequent customer perk. You're with your ladyfriend (who think's she's the only lady friend) when Victoria Secrets sends you a frequent customer discount - but those sexy undies you got were all intended for a diffrent lady friend (or worse, yourself!)
Reading targted spam (or junk mailings) can let you know alot about the target of said spam/mailings. (You'll find gun stuff, camera stuff, computer stuff, and aviation junkmail all over my mailbox and e-mail box for example.)
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
I see you're trying not to collide with this 18 wheeler while trying to silence your fighting children. Would you like some help with that?
Honk 17 times for no.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Sorry geeks. Until you learn to say 'Hi' and interact with the world around you, no technology will help your sorry asses.
It's a novel concept, but I see limited future for it. Most worthwhile conversations originate spontaneously.
;)
It is just not possible to have a computer choose for you who you want to talk with. If it misjudges, false alarms will cause clumsy and/or embarrasing situations.
What if you just dont feel like talking and forget to turn it off? Or perhaps it suggests a perfect personallity match, but when you look at the selected person you want to throw up?
Imagine the most likely common scenario that you walk past someone, your device goes off, their device goes off, but for whatever reason you just arent interested to make conversation. Itll be clumsy just ignoring it, or making up excuses.
And even when both sides are willing just to meet random people and talk. It's clumsy and hardly romantic trying to initiate a conversation "hey babe, my beeper just went off, turns out we have a lot in common, wanna f*ck?"
The only use for personal ad-hoc networking technology is in exams
Saying that, widespread use of WLAN devices carried around your person would have one major use - if it supported routing and dynamic route calculation. It could become a free wireless internet. If you wanted to call someone accross the other end of the town, imagine the decice finding a route from person to person, to whomever you are calling... or to the nearest internet gateway...
I was wandering around a mall here in Victoria, B.C. the other day when I saw an obviously dishevelled and homeless looking guy working away on some kind of PDA. When we start to see truly inexpensive, robust, powerful systems then I think we'll start to see the emergence of wired urban nomads. Sign me up.
For great justice take off every sig.
Although this idea is technologically interesting, it seems to me that a more effective system would be simply to walk around wearing signs like, "Motorcycle for sale," or, "I want to get laid." Then you wouldn't limit yourself to only the people in the crowd who are carrying wireless LAN equipment.
So why aren't people already doing that?
A) Nobody thought of it yet.
B) It's equivalent to shouting, "I'm a dork!"
I'm gonna go with B.
But in his story (the first one in the Good Old Fashioned Future collection) it was used as the basis for an entirely new economy and social system based on gifts. So you would be walking down the street and get a message on your machine saying "enter the laundromat on your right and take the clothes out of the first dryer on the left. Give them to the man with the red hat on the corner." And the man with the red hat would bring them to the person who owned them. And maybe your wife would put out a message on the network that she needed bread and milk, and on your way home a stranger walking down the street towards you would just hand you a bag with the stuff you need.
;-)
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Great... this opens up a whole new world of wireless matchmaking. Guess the "Microsoft Online Matchmaking" is going to lose some customers if this every turns up. And some of us slashdot readers might actually find that one female slashdot reader out there via wireless =P
Interesting idea, but it's got a few problems.
1. Battery power. How convinient would it be to store and charge?
2. Durability. What if the wearer is caught in the rain.
3. Inconvinience. Does the screen permanently impair vision? Does the battery pack set your pants on fire? Does the mouse require micron-accurate hand movements and/or a flat surface? Is it all voice-recognition that will severely mess up during a regular conversation?
4. Functionality. What, precisely, do they expect this to be set up to do?
5. Superiority. How is this better than the flopped "Cybiko?" How is it better than any other PDA out there?
6. Dorkage. How dumb does it look?
Come to think of it, number 6 would probably be the primary influence on this.
Warning: Poster of this comment is a nerd. Just like everybody else here.
Slightly frightening that this was modded as interesting and insightful and not funny.
In light of the FBI's claim that wireless networks are terrorist tools.
This type of mesh networking is the the ultimate in P2P networking. The FBI can't install their Carnivore network sniffer in a prevasively meaningful way in such a system.
I think, therefore, ken_i_m
The basic notion is this: we regularly spend time physically near people we are related to. We can thus go the other way and use physical proximity data to infer relationships between people. For example, during weekday business hours, I am near business colleagues, while at night and on weekends I am near friends and family. By simply observing these patterns of who I am near, when, and for how long, the system can infer the types of relationships I have with the people I encounter (for example, it can distinguish between business and social relationships).
The first application of this idea was Social Net, a system to introduce users to new people. Social Net notices patterns of physical proximity over time (i.e., frequent and/or long encounters) to infer that two people are engaged in a similar activity (or that they share interests). If the two people don't know each other, Social Net looks for a mutual friend (ie, someone who knows both). If a mutual friend is found, he/she receives a message suggesting the two people should be introduced.
Using physical proximity data, over time, allows Social Net to infer shared interests between people without requiring them to identify what those interests are. It has the nice property of filtering out chance encounters with people on the street, since we it considers the duration and frequency of an encounter. Finally, the mutual friend brings accountability into the whole process, so that your device is not telling you to go up to a complete stranger and introduce yourself.
There are other neat things you can do with this data. For example, an app can infer business vs. close interpersonal relationships, then attenuate a cell phone's ringer when the user is near friends or family (since it will be able to infer that the other people are friends or family based on past histories of physical proximity). An app could also automatically exchange music lists between people as suggested by Korteum, but use patterns of physical proximity to infer shared interests, rather than requiring users to manually enter those interests in. The real hurdle to getting these apps out there, of course, is finding the one killer app that makes people less wary of transmitting presence information into the environment.
1: Steal Underpants 2: Network Underpants 3: Profit!!!
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Yeah, after all, all those penis enlargement ads do mean I have a small penis.
In fact, it's so small, it's completely inside out... us women call it a "vagina."
Targeted spam hasn't really gotten all that targeted yet, I'm afraid. (I wish it would hurry up!)
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
Having recently read large chunks of The Logic of Collective Action for an econ paper, I find the idea of an automated interest-sharing system fascinating. My ears pricked up at the use of the term "cooperate" in the article. See, one of the biggest problems we face in society (particularly market-driven society) is that, since we can't count on anyone else to act in our interests, we are constantly compelled to act in our own interests with the assumption that others will act against them. This leads us to situations where people who could collectively get much more satisfactory results end up working separately and getting sub-optimal results.
A system where you could express your interests to the network and search for others who share them would have the potential to reduce or eliminate this problem. Say, for example, you're in a crowded parking lot, trying to leave after a show. You try to get through as best you can, not sure if you should let that other guy in or if it's just going to start a flood that's going to hang you up for days. Tempers get short, people jockey for position, and it all becomes a tangled mess.
What if you could somehow communicate with all of those people and decide you were going to go about things in an orderly fashion? Then have the computers instruct you on what to do to follow the "plan." Everyone gets out of the parking lot faster and goes on their way.
That's a pretty hokey example, but it does kind of work. These kinds of situations come up all the time, usually on a more permanent scale (the public goods problem). But it has potential to revolutionize the way we collaborate. Yeah, it will take 50-100 years to get that far, I'm sure, but I plan to still be around!
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
now stalking you will be even ezzier, as your cloths helpfully allow your stalker to hack them, cool --- just what we always didn't need, noisy clothing.
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit
We already have something like this free in the form of our own eyes. Last year I tried to introduce an initiative for Valentine's Day -- wear a (paper or real) flower the days immediately before to signify your status, i.e. available generally speaking, looking for something to do just for that evening, taken, etc.
It didn't catch on too much, but I know of at least three people who spent Feb 14th in good company thanks to this. And it cost maybe ten cents per unit to implement.
Really, it's just a matter of standards...
Maybe you could enter a list of interests, gender and availibility into your wearable, and have it select a partner for you walking around. I know this has been discussed elsewhere earlier, but not while working as ad-hoc proxies.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
waste of time + CO2 production + uncomfortable ...etc.
Home centers are designed for the do-it-yourselfer who's willing to ...
pay higher prices for the convenience of being able to shop for lumber,
hardware, and toasters all in one location. Notice I say "shop for," as
opposed to "obtain." This is the major drawback of home centers: they are
always out of everything except artificial Christmas trees. The home center
employees have no time to reorder merchandise because they are too busy
applying little price stickers to every object -- every board, washer, nail
and screw -- in the entire store
Let's say a piece in your toilet tank breaks, so you remove the
broken part, take it to the home center, and ask an employee if he has a
replacement. The employee, who has never is his life even seen the inside
of a toilet tank, will peer at the broken part in very much the same way
that a member of a primitive Amazon jungle tribe would look at an electronic
calculator, and then say, "We're expecting a shipment of these sometime
around the middle of next week."
-- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
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