There are many things that are anthropomorphized like this in addition to cars. Ships have been given names for hundreds of years, and in fact it was only relatively recently that a well-respected maritime publication (I think it was Lloyd's of London's insurance books) that ceased to call ships "she", opting instead for the more mundane "it". This move attracted a lot of negative reaction (including from myself) since it flies in the face of longstanding tradition.
Only in a few places have ships been called 'he'; those include the Soviet Union, and the German navy had one exception to the 'she rule', the cruiser Bismarck - due to its size and strength - and in many Star Trek novels, Klingon ships are referred to with male pronouns in part because the Klingons originally were meant to be a stand-in for the Soviet Union and in part because the writers believed that a warrior society wouldn't "demean" its ships by giving them feminine names. Sailors, long a superstitious lot, will say that it's bad luck to change a ship's name, or to launch a ship with no name (German U-boats only had numbers, as did the White Star fleet of Babylon 5; I would bet that German crews unofficially named their ships, as did one White Star captain in the television series... probably to ward off bad luck and just because ships really do seem to have a personality.)
In the Volkswagen enthusiast community, of which I am a part, it is quite common to see people name their cars. While many people follow the common convention and refer to their vehicle as 'she', there are a few cases where the Soviet practice is followed and a masculine name given. I have known people outside the VW community who name their cars, and some non-enthusiasts who do, but in general the naming seems to crop up more often among people who are passionate about the thing they name. Car enthusiasts tend to spend a lot more time with their vehicles, cleaning, repairing, and modifying them with their own hands instead of letting a faceless shop tech do it, so they bond more with the car and the car's personality - they're there, just ask any sailor - will have an influence on the owner.
We also anthropomorphize animals - we name our pets, don't we? And we talk to them as if they could understand (though I would swear that they can, sometimes) and treat them as part of our families. Mergings of humans and animals have been found in folklore for thousands of years (the ancient Egyptian pantheon perhaps being one of the most well-known examples) as have animals that could talk to people or be talked to by people. This is generally accepted and no one thinks much of it.
However, for some reason, more modern interpretations of this practice ("furries" for instance) are generally frowned upon; why I am not certain because past history seems to hint that it's not so unusual to imagine humans with animal qualities, or animals with human qualities. I would be interested in hearing speculation on why this is from some other readers.
So I don't really think it's all that odd that the MER spacecraft have been humanized. They even, to a point, seem to look a bit like us with a 'pair of eyes' and an arm holding out sensors, just like a human can extend its hand to touch something to examine it. After all, history shows that it's...
Oh, I know they're only mostly doing it to be appealing to people, and I know full well they could go a LOT further than they actually are, so far - I read all kinds of stuff on both sides of the issue in addition to the "propaganda". It's still interesting to learn about these programs, and then go look into them on my own. And those ads provide a place to start when asking these companies why the programs they've told us about are mostly just lip service.
But, like you said - at least they're doing SOMEthing. They could just as easily do nothing and tell us all to stuff it. While I'd love it if they did a lot more than they're already doing - it sounds like you would too - it's a start.
As for the natural gas buses? Far, far outdone by those zillions of dirty SUVs Ford sells.
I don't mind those at all since they don't shove themselves into the content screaming at me to BUY BUY BUY! when I'm in soak-up-all-the-info mode during a NOVA or other documentary about a subject that interests me. When I sit down to watch a program, I'm there to learn (my tastes are typically documentaries when I'm watching television, with the occasional Star Trek or similar thrown in; the Trek stuff gets the ads skipped via Tivo; sadly, I've seen most of the ads I skip over at least once because they just run the same ads over and over. I already know whether or not I'm interested in the advertised products).
Typically, the ads in PBS talk about something that actually interests me (while I don't like Ford automobiles and wouldn't buy one - I'm a Volkswagen gal - I found their mention of buses powered by propane - I think it was, anyway - interesting and worthy of following up by websearches sometime when I'm in the mood.) They are also not flashy and annoying like ads on regular TV are; they present their information usually with a narrator describing something (and closed captioning reprinting what he/she is saying; I'm hearing-impaired so I have it on all the time) and simple is sometimes better, or at least quite sufficient.
And I do want to hear about what big companies are doing to preserve the environment and at least try to put something other than profit first, even if it's just a miniscule part of what they do. While sometimes I think they're not doing enough, the fact that they're doing SOMEthing is a good thing and hopefully in the future more will follow, and these companies will continue to improve themselves in that regard.
My parents are a member of the local PBS station, too. So we are also supporting these great programs through direct donation.
Re:D&D spawns STDs! No! Really!
on
D&D Is 30
·
· Score: 1
That's the irony of it, allright. Alas, I couldn't think of a funny post title that addressed both points! (Suggestions welcome, even though there's no edit function!)
D&D spawns STDs! No! Really!
on
D&D Is 30
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I work in a research lab. We have been studying the herpes virus recently. I was quite amused to find out that it's shaped just like a tiny d20! The shape is quite distinctive in our electron microscopy images. In fact, I showed the principal investigator a photograph of a d20 last week from an RPG web store as a sample of other things with the same shape - he was quite amused and surprised!
My blog post earlier today, which links to the same Beeb article, was entitled "30 years of playing games with giant herpes viruses"... I'm just waiting to see what kind of responses I get.
Now that doesn't make any sense. My guess is that perhaps some connector was loose somewhere, or perhaps the bulb was bad (which can happen occasionally) and the dealer jiggled it and gave you an excuse to justify what they probably overcharged you for. I imagine the regular headlights on the non-W8 Passat are very similar to the halogens on the MkIV Golf, which I've changed out several times on my own. And the DRLs are hardwired in, not part of the electronics system (if you tape over the right pin in the headlight switch, they are disableable and the computer can't even tell) so it's not that.
Yes and no. If you think the improvement in visibility is worth the price, then they are a good idea. On most cars that have them, though, they're optional. If you don't think they are worth it, for now halogens are still available. I think the price will come down as they become more prevalent.
I think the MTBF is somewhere around 10-15 years - effectively the life of the car. The VW ones are hard to steal because you have to actually pull the front bumper off to replace the headlight modules. I've done that before.
They will shift in color gradually over about 1-2 minutes and then will stabilize until they are shut off. However, they will still appear whiter/bluish compared to halogen lights because the temperature of the arc created by the bulbs is higher than that of the burning filament in a conventional halogen bulb. This is just basic physics.
Turn on the lights (or have someone else do it) and then stand in front of the car. You'll notice the shift if you specifically look for it.
Not all HIDs have the same color temperature, however.
The radio on VWs also goes through many of the car's computerized systems. The wire that is responsible for this is the "K-wire". Many shops will not even try to hook up their diagnostic computer to a 1999-up VW with an aftermarket stereo because many people hook up this wire incorrectly and so the diagnostic machine would get fried.
The presence of an aftermarket stereo will also apparently cause new VWs to fail the OBDII-diagnostics-based emissions test here in St. Louis County. Fortunately, I like my European Blaupunkt-made VW OEM "Gamma" radio just fine.
You probably (or whoever installed it) mis-wired the K-wire or the Lexus equivalent, though I don't really think it's your fault as it's quite easy to overlook the issue or just plain not know about it (I bet the stereo manual didn't mention it).
Though given how good the stereos are in Lexus automobiles these days, I don't know why anyone would replace the stereo. I think they use Nakamichi - at least they do in the SC430. If the stereo is that good, then why run the risk of having your dealer refuse to hook up their scan tool, your car failing an emissions test, and other hassles? (I realize this isn't your problem, as you get paid to just do what the owners want; it's the owners I don't understand.)
VW (who makes the Passat) does indeed do part sharing. I've got an overhead console out of a Passat W8 in my Golf, for example. (The W8 console has red LED backlighting like the rest of the controls and the Golf part doesn't, and has red LEDs that provide dim but nice nighttime cabin lighting.) The Golf is the Jetta is the New Beetle is the GTI is the Audi TT is a Seat or two is a Skoda or two is a... yougettheidea.
And a lot of the parts are transplantable, like the console is. (Wheels aren't; the Passat has a different lug pattern than the Golf/Jetta/New Beetle.) The Passat has the same 1.8T engine that the Golf, Jetta, and New Beetle do. The Eurovan has the Jetta/Golf GTI VR6. Etc.
Some of the "problem" is engineering philosophies and some of it is foreign currency exchange rates. And VWs are one of the easiest foreign makes to get aftermarket parts for, Honda being the other. There's probably just as much aftermarket VW/Honda stuff available as there is from Mopar and other suppliers of go-fast parts for American cars.
They don't cost that much. You can get a set of OEM VW HIDs for Golfs from importers (these will not blind oncoming traffic if properly installed and aimed) for half that or less. I think the article is quoting the MSRP, which is higher than street price on nearly anything. They do cost more than halogens but they also last a lot longer and give you better visibility.
I've seen the same report that you probably did. And it does make a lot of sense and a lot of the problem probably is explainable by the tendency of humans to look at anything new or different - we're innately curious and anything unexpected gets investigated, whether or not it's detrimental to do so. Odd light of a strange color (xenons aren't really all that blue - they just look like they are compared to the yellowish tinge of filament-based lamps) falls into the category of "strange, needs to be looked at, is it going to hurt me or can I ignore it?".
This gradually changes over time as a new object becomes more and more common, and in fact, given enough time, what was once the norm later becomes unusual - who turns their head to look anymore at a diesel locomotive as a train goes by? It's the chuffing, steaming, pumping smoky steam locomotives that make us stop and stare these days. But ask your grandmother or grandfather which is more unusual, and they might tell you that it's the diesels that are "newfangled contraptions".
In other words, at some point sufficiently far in the future, most cars will have blue-tinged headlamp beams and we will actually look more at halogen headlamps because a car with the old-style halogens will be a classic collector's item, or just sufficiently different from the typical design practices of that time. It's already starting to happen - you can get HID headlamps on cars that are very close to entry level.
I have fog lamps on my car (though they are OEM units) and I plan to get a HID retrofit - they're not available from the factory on this car in the US - since I've spoken with people who have HIDs on their cars and looked at the cars myself and found that they do increase visibility quite a bit. However, I have done several things that most people DO NOT DO (whether through ignorance, laziness, or "it works better if I ignore that advice") which leads to some, but not all, of the current furor:
- Headlamps follow the European standard - they are engineered to focus light on the road and not scatter it around like DOT headlamps do; yes, that's right -- outdated lighting standards are largely to blame!
- The headlamps have been properly aimed and the aim checked, including looking at the car at night from the position of an oncoming driver - this should be done from time to time as vibration and road conditions can knock the lights out of alignment
- The headlights are equipped with electrical levelers that allow them to be aimed downward if the back of the car is weighed down with a heavy load - this is a must-have in Europe if you have HIDs, but not in the US - again, outdated requirements
The car also has fog/driving lights and a rear fog light.
- The front and rear fog lights are only used in inclement weather or in areas with little lighting, not left on all the time to look nice
- Yellow bulbs are used so they actually do what they should - i.e. pierce fog (and yes, they do work.)
Oh, by the way... xenons and HIDs are the same thing. Gas discharge lights often incorporate xenon-filled capsules in their bulbs, which is why they are commonly called "xenon headlamps" and "high intensity discharge" is the technical term for the most common method used to create the brilliant arc. (xenon/HID lamps don't have filaments.)
GSM phones are not hearing aid compatible. All the ones I've tried so far produce a sharp buzzing to the extent that I cannot use the phone and, if forced to borrow a phone to call someone (this has happened if I leave mine at home, intending to be unreachable for a bit, and suddenly have to make a call). If the offered phone is GSM, I have to apologize, explain, thank the person for offering, and hand the phone back.
There is no room in this world for a single system that cannot be used by the millions of people who use hearing aids. If GSM phones can be fixed to solve this problem, then that's fine and dandy. Til the day I find a GSM phone that I like that won't cause that buzzing, I'll stick with CDMA.
One of my coworkers is ticking me off. I tried the "rename the firefox shortcut and change the icon" trick. The idiot STILL manages to load IE. If the machine he does this on ever comes back I'm slapping the policy editor on him and barring IE from accessing the net. No internet for you!
I've seen some suggestions here that look good, like requiring a note from an audiologist (mine would happily write a note for any service I did require) as is the case for handicapped parking placards/plates. It certainly would make sense to implement some such thing.
Blind people and drivers licenses aren't quite the same as TTY services or closed captioning. If someone doesn't use TTY correctly or is deaf and doesn't use captioning, no one gets hurt -- but a person who can't see well enough to operate a car could hurt not only themselves but others, so the requirements are more strict. There are jobs I can't do (911 operator, for instance) because my disability could get someone hurt, and I recognize the necessity of the restrictions.
That seems pretty fair -- though I hope you've come up with a polite way to explain why you don't take relay calls - it might forestall anger from someone who feels slighted. Though if you don't have it already, I'd suggest seeing if there's a way to provide a web-based repair status page -- I find Apple's repair status service to be much, much preferable to calling their tech support line. Sadly, it doesn't seem to provide shipping tracking numbers for completed repairs and seems to be a bit behind what the operators know, which can be frustrating to me at times!
I'm hearing-impaired but not so much so that I can't use regular phones. No relays required. But I've run into the "we don't want to deal with that" kind of attitude before... so I know firsthand that just hanging up on the deaf (or their relay operators) hurts them more than you think it does, emotionally if not physically.
I have yet to run into this, but if I was refused business just because I had to use a relay, while normally-hearing customers were allowed to order over the phone, and the only thing that set me apart was the relay... then hell yes, I would be talking about you to friends/family/acquaintances as a business that discriminated and refused to sell to me just because of my handicap, all other things being equal. And it could be (IANAL, of course, so someone can go look it up) an ADA violation. Maybe.
I don't know that allowing deaf people to come in and buy a computer is "enough", unless NOBODY can order over the phone, to even out the ban.
I'm hearing-impaired. I have to use closed captioning to watch TV. Closed captioning is required of broadcasters/cable channels by law. It's only fair, since some of my tax money supports the television system. If I have to pay something, I should be able to use it. Similarly, many programs broadcast audio descriptions on a second audio track for the blind. Both can be turned off if they aren't desired.
If we have to pay for it (the phone system in the US is partly paid for by taxes), we should be able to use it somehow.
Slashdot Mirror
Random trivia tidbit: if it had square headlights, it was from the VW plant in Westmoreland, PA.
There are many things that are anthropomorphized like this in addition to cars. Ships have been given names for hundreds of years, and in fact it was only relatively recently that a well-respected maritime publication (I think it was Lloyd's of London's insurance books) that ceased to call ships "she", opting instead for the more mundane "it". This move attracted a lot of negative reaction (including from myself) since it flies in the face of longstanding tradition.
... probably to ward off bad luck and just because ships really do seem to have a personality.)
...
Only in a few places have ships been called 'he'; those include the Soviet Union, and the German navy had one exception to the 'she rule', the cruiser Bismarck - due to its size and strength - and in many Star Trek novels, Klingon ships are referred to with male pronouns in part because the Klingons originally were meant to be a stand-in for the Soviet Union and in part because the writers believed that a warrior society wouldn't "demean" its ships by giving them feminine names.
Sailors, long a superstitious lot, will say that it's bad luck to change a ship's name, or to launch a ship with no name (German U-boats only had numbers, as did the White Star fleet of Babylon 5; I would bet that German crews unofficially named their ships, as did one White Star captain in the television series
In the Volkswagen enthusiast community, of which I am a part, it is quite common to see people name their cars. While many people follow the common convention and refer to their vehicle as 'she', there are a few cases where the Soviet practice is followed and a masculine name given. I have known people outside the VW community who name their cars, and some non-enthusiasts who do, but in general the naming seems to crop up more often among people who are passionate about the thing they name. Car enthusiasts tend to spend a lot more time with their vehicles, cleaning, repairing, and modifying them with their own hands instead of letting a faceless shop tech do it, so they bond more with the car and the car's personality - they're there, just ask any sailor - will have an influence on the owner.
We also anthropomorphize animals - we name our pets, don't we? And we talk to them as if they could understand (though I would swear that they can, sometimes) and treat them as part of our families. Mergings of humans and animals have been found in folklore for thousands of years (the ancient Egyptian pantheon perhaps being one of the most well-known examples) as have animals that could talk to people or be talked to by people. This is generally accepted and no one thinks much of it.
However, for some reason, more modern interpretations of this practice ("furries" for instance) are generally frowned upon; why I am not certain because past history seems to hint that it's not so unusual to imagine humans with animal qualities, or animals with human qualities. I would be interested in hearing speculation on why this is from some other readers.
So I don't really think it's all that odd that the MER spacecraft have been humanized. They even, to a point, seem to look a bit like us with a 'pair of eyes' and an arm holding out sensors, just like a human can extend its hand to touch something to examine it. After all, history shows that it's
Only human.
Oh, I know they're only mostly doing it to be appealing to people, and I know full well they could go a LOT further than they actually are, so far - I read all kinds of stuff on both sides of the issue in addition to the "propaganda". It's still interesting to learn about these programs, and then go look into them on my own. And those ads provide a place to start when asking these companies why the programs they've told us about are mostly just lip service.
But, like you said - at least they're doing SOMEthing. They could just as easily do nothing and tell us all to stuff it. While I'd love it if they did a lot more than they're already doing - it sounds like you would too - it's a start.
As for the natural gas buses? Far, far outdone by those zillions of dirty SUVs Ford sells.
I don't mind those at all since they don't shove themselves into the content screaming at me to BUY BUY BUY! when I'm in soak-up-all-the-info mode during a NOVA or other documentary about a subject that interests me. When I sit down to watch a program, I'm there to learn (my tastes are typically documentaries when I'm watching television, with the occasional Star Trek or similar thrown in; the Trek stuff gets the ads skipped via Tivo; sadly, I've seen most of the ads I skip over at least once because they just run the same ads over and over. I already know whether or not I'm interested in the advertised products).
Typically, the ads in PBS talk about something that actually interests me (while I don't like Ford automobiles and wouldn't buy one - I'm a Volkswagen gal - I found their mention of buses powered by propane - I think it was, anyway - interesting and worthy of following up by websearches sometime when I'm in the mood.) They are also not flashy and annoying like ads on regular TV are; they present their information usually with a narrator describing something (and closed captioning reprinting what he/she is saying; I'm hearing-impaired so I have it on all the time) and simple is sometimes better, or at least quite sufficient.
And I do want to hear about what big companies are doing to preserve the environment and at least try to put something other than profit first, even if it's just a miniscule part of what they do. While sometimes I think they're not doing enough, the fact that they're doing SOMEthing is a good thing and hopefully in the future more will follow, and these companies will continue to improve themselves in that regard.
My parents are a member of the local PBS station, too. So we are also supporting these great programs through direct donation.
Actually, there has been one -- STS-51F performed the only in-flight abort ever to occur in the Shuttle program.
More info about Abort-To-Orbit.
That's the irony of it, allright. Alas, I couldn't think of a funny post title that addressed both points! (Suggestions welcome, even though there's no edit function!)
I work in a research lab. We have been studying the herpes virus recently. I was quite amused to find out that it's shaped just like a tiny d20! The shape is quite distinctive in our electron microscopy images. In fact, I showed the principal investigator a photograph of a d20 last week from an RPG web store as a sample of other things with the same shape - he was quite amused and surprised!
... I'm just waiting to see what kind of responses I get.
My blog post earlier today, which links to the same Beeb article, was entitled "30 years of playing games with giant herpes viruses"
Now that doesn't make any sense. My guess is that perhaps some connector was loose somewhere, or perhaps the bulb was bad (which can happen occasionally) and the dealer jiggled it and gave you an excuse to justify what they probably overcharged you for. I imagine the regular headlights on the non-W8 Passat are very similar to the halogens on the MkIV Golf, which I've changed out several times on my own. And the DRLs are hardwired in, not part of the electronics system (if you tape over the right pin in the headlight switch, they are disableable and the computer can't even tell) so it's not that.
Yes and no. If you think the improvement in visibility is worth the price, then they are a good idea. On most cars that have them, though, they're optional. If you don't think they are worth it, for now halogens are still available. I think the price will come down as they become more prevalent.
I think the MTBF is somewhere around 10-15 years - effectively the life of the car. The VW ones are hard to steal because you have to actually pull the front bumper off to replace the headlight modules. I've done that before.
Errrr. uh. Last I knew you didn't have to do anything with the scan tool. Do you have a Passat W8?
They will shift in color gradually over about 1-2 minutes and then will stabilize until they are shut off. However, they will still appear whiter/bluish compared to halogen lights because the temperature of the arc created by the bulbs is higher than that of the burning filament in a conventional halogen bulb. This is just basic physics.
Turn on the lights (or have someone else do it) and then stand in front of the car. You'll notice the shift if you specifically look for it.
Not all HIDs have the same color temperature, however.
The radio on VWs also goes through many of the car's computerized systems. The wire that is responsible for this is the "K-wire". Many shops will not even try to hook up their diagnostic computer to a 1999-up VW with an aftermarket stereo because many people hook up this wire incorrectly and so the diagnostic machine would get fried.
The presence of an aftermarket stereo will also apparently cause new VWs to fail the OBDII-diagnostics-based emissions test here in St. Louis County. Fortunately, I like my European Blaupunkt-made VW OEM "Gamma" radio just fine.
You probably (or whoever installed it) mis-wired the K-wire or the Lexus equivalent, though I don't really think it's your fault as it's quite easy to overlook the issue or just plain not know about it (I bet the stereo manual didn't mention it).
Though given how good the stereos are in Lexus automobiles these days, I don't know why anyone would replace the stereo. I think they use Nakamichi - at least they do in the SC430. If the stereo is that good, then why run the risk of having your dealer refuse to hook up their scan tool, your car failing an emissions test, and other hassles? (I realize this isn't your problem, as you get paid to just do what the owners want; it's the owners I don't understand.)
VW (who makes the Passat) does indeed do part sharing. I've got an overhead console out of a Passat W8 in my Golf, for example. (The W8 console has red LED backlighting like the rest of the controls and the Golf part doesn't, and has red LEDs that provide dim but nice nighttime cabin lighting.) The Golf is the Jetta is the New Beetle is the GTI is the Audi TT is a Seat or two is a Skoda or two is a ... yougettheidea.
And a lot of the parts are transplantable, like the console is. (Wheels aren't; the Passat has a different lug pattern than the Golf/Jetta/New Beetle.) The Passat has the same 1.8T engine that the Golf, Jetta, and New Beetle do. The Eurovan has the Jetta/Golf GTI VR6. Etc.
Some of the "problem" is engineering philosophies and some of it is foreign currency exchange rates. And VWs are one of the easiest foreign makes to get aftermarket parts for, Honda being the other. There's probably just as much aftermarket VW/Honda stuff available as there is from Mopar and other suppliers of go-fast parts for American cars.
They don't cost that much. You can get a set of OEM VW HIDs for Golfs from importers (these will not blind oncoming traffic if properly installed and aimed) for half that or less. I think the article is quoting the MSRP, which is higher than street price on nearly anything. They do cost more than halogens but they also last a lot longer and give you better visibility.
I've seen the same report that you probably did. And it does make a lot of sense and a lot of the problem probably is explainable by the tendency of humans to look at anything new or different - we're innately curious and anything unexpected gets investigated, whether or not it's detrimental to do so. Odd light of a strange color (xenons aren't really all that blue - they just look like they are compared to the yellowish tinge of filament-based lamps) falls into the category of "strange, needs to be looked at, is it going to hurt me or can I ignore it?".
... xenons and HIDs are the same thing. Gas discharge lights often incorporate xenon-filled capsules in their bulbs, which is why they are commonly called "xenon headlamps" and "high intensity discharge" is the technical term for the most common method used to create the brilliant arc. (xenon/HID lamps don't have filaments.)
This gradually changes over time as a new object becomes more and more common, and in fact, given enough time, what was once the norm later becomes unusual - who turns their head to look anymore at a diesel locomotive as a train goes by? It's the chuffing, steaming, pumping smoky steam locomotives that make us stop and stare these days. But ask your grandmother or grandfather which is more unusual, and they might tell you that it's the diesels that are "newfangled contraptions".
In other words, at some point sufficiently far in the future, most cars will have blue-tinged headlamp beams and we will actually look more at halogen headlamps because a car with the old-style halogens will be a classic collector's item, or just sufficiently different from the typical design practices of that time. It's already starting to happen - you can get HID headlamps on cars that are very close to entry level.
I have fog lamps on my car (though they are OEM units) and I plan to get a HID retrofit - they're not available from the factory on this car in the US - since I've spoken with people who have HIDs on their cars and looked at the cars myself and found that they do increase visibility quite a bit. However, I have done several things that most people DO NOT DO (whether through ignorance, laziness, or "it works better if I ignore that advice") which leads to some, but not all, of the current furor:
- Headlamps follow the European standard - they are engineered to focus light on the road and not scatter it around like DOT headlamps do; yes, that's right -- outdated lighting standards are largely to blame!
- The headlamps have been properly aimed and the aim checked, including looking at the car at night from the position of an oncoming driver - this should be done from time to time as vibration and road conditions can knock the lights out of alignment
- The headlights are equipped with electrical levelers that allow them to be aimed downward if the back of the car is weighed down with a heavy load - this is a must-have in Europe if you have HIDs, but not in the US - again, outdated requirements
The car also has fog/driving lights and a rear fog light.
- The front and rear fog lights are only used in inclement weather or in areas with little lighting, not left on all the time to look nice
- Yellow bulbs are used so they actually do what they should - i.e. pierce fog (and yes, they do work.)
Oh, by the way
You haven't seen the vanagon with the WRX engine in it yet. ;)
GSM phones are not hearing aid compatible. All the ones I've tried so far produce a sharp buzzing to the extent that I cannot use the phone and, if forced to borrow a phone to call someone (this has happened if I leave mine at home, intending to be unreachable for a bit, and suddenly have to make a call). If the offered phone is GSM, I have to apologize, explain, thank the person for offering, and hand the phone back.
There is no room in this world for a single system that cannot be used by the millions of people who use hearing aids. If GSM phones can be fixed to solve this problem, then that's fine and dandy. Til the day I find a GSM phone that I like that won't cause that buzzing, I'll stick with CDMA.
I don't have a choice.
One of my coworkers is ticking me off. I tried the "rename the firefox shortcut and change the icon" trick. The idiot STILL manages to load IE. If the machine he does this on ever comes back I'm slapping the policy editor on him and barring IE from accessing the net. No internet for you!
I've seen some suggestions here that look good, like requiring a note from an audiologist (mine would happily write a note for any service I did require) as is the case for handicapped parking placards/plates. It certainly would make sense to implement some such thing.
Blind people and drivers licenses aren't quite the same as TTY services or closed captioning. If someone doesn't use TTY correctly or is deaf and doesn't use captioning, no one gets hurt -- but a person who can't see well enough to operate a car could hurt not only themselves but others, so the requirements are more strict. There are jobs I can't do (911 operator, for instance) because my disability could get someone hurt, and I recognize the necessity of the restrictions.
There are always alternatives for the most esoteric needs, like Birder.
That seems pretty fair -- though I hope you've come up with a polite way to explain why you don't take relay calls - it might forestall anger from someone who feels slighted. Though if you don't have it already, I'd suggest seeing if there's a way to provide a web-based repair status page -- I find Apple's repair status service to be much, much preferable to calling their tech support line. Sadly, it doesn't seem to provide shipping tracking numbers for completed repairs and seems to be a bit behind what the operators know, which can be frustrating to me at times!
Thank you - I just bookmarked that! I'm hard-of-hearing but not so much so that I need these; nevertheless, one never knows!
I'm hearing-impaired but not so much so that I can't use regular phones. No relays required. But I've run into the "we don't want to deal with that" kind of attitude before ... so I know firsthand that just hanging up on the deaf (or their relay operators) hurts them more than you think it does, emotionally if not physically.
... then hell yes, I would be talking about you to friends/family/acquaintances as a business that discriminated and refused to sell to me just because of my handicap, all other things being equal. And it could be (IANAL, of course, so someone can go look it up) an ADA violation. Maybe.
I have yet to run into this, but if I was refused business just because I had to use a relay, while normally-hearing customers were allowed to order over the phone, and the only thing that set me apart was the relay
I don't know that allowing deaf people to come in and buy a computer is "enough", unless NOBODY can order over the phone, to even out the ban.
I'm hearing-impaired. I have to use closed captioning to watch TV. Closed captioning is required of broadcasters/cable channels by law. It's only fair, since some of my tax money supports the television system. If I have to pay something, I should be able to use it. Similarly, many programs broadcast audio descriptions on a second audio track for the blind. Both can be turned off if they aren't desired.
If we have to pay for it (the phone system in the US is partly paid for by taxes), we should be able to use it somehow.