The free alcohol is the one thing that I don't understand. Is the intention to calm down nervous and irritated passengers? If so, it doesn't work well. Planes are dry places, alcohol dries you out even more making the alcohol take even more effect. End result: drunk, unruly passengers making life hell for flight attendants and other passengers and occasionally forcing the pilot to redirect the flight to kick the bum off.
I've had to help tie down and isolate a drunk heroin addict who had already slugged one of the flight attendants on a flight back from Japan.
If they're going to serve alcohol on planes it should all be charged with a set limit on the number of drinks a passenger can have, this ain't a bar for 'Crise-sakes. Anything else should be free. And PLEASE, have a constant stock of heated wet towels like JAL used to have. Nothing feels better than putting that over your face and breathing in some warm moist air.
I'll second the vote on JAL for cabin crew professionalism and entertainment but don't you think their food has degraded to common in-flight crud in the past couple of years?
The point wasn't qualified to teach and as the other poster pointed out, these people aren't there to teach, just be human tape recorders. "Now repeat after Alan-san".
To be understandable to a world of English speakers learning in a neutral accent is best. The kids at this school are not only having difficulty basically pronouncing the word but they are attempting to pronounce it in a way that will inherently limit who will be able to understand them. The specific case here is a *strong* Australian accent. I would probably say the same thing about cockney, Lancastrian or Bronx.
My 13-year-old daughter is spending part of the summer attending middle school in my wife's home town. She was so looking forward to this as she likes Japan itself and was excited about the different school experience.
Now each time we talk on the phone she keeps telling me horror stories about the complete lack of discipline, direction and interest in learning in the classrooms. She feels she's back in kindergarten. She's witnessed ijime (bullying) that has gone unpunished. There's one guy in her class that repeatedly pulls other students pants (plus underwear) down in the middle of class and grabs female student's breasts. (Luckily for him he hasn't tried this with my daughter) Nothing is done. Were this North America the student would have been expelled or in counseling years ago. The school's token gaijin English instructor is an Australian who is just there to pronounce out the words taught by the Japanese English teacher. His pronunciation is, of course, with a strong Australian accent which (no offense to Aussies out there), will make them difficult to understand for other English speakers. As the parent pointed out, it doesn't matter anyway as none of these students can connect more than one or two English words together to hold an even basic conversation.
Japan has some of the world's best technology and some extremely creative people. But the use of technology to help the society as a whole politically and socially is held back by the culture of "it's not our place to change things".
I started off with Spamassassin+CLAMAV and something else and some Exchange server-based rules but the upkeep was time-intensive and the spam were still coming down our wire.
Then I got Postini and the world changed. Upkeep was mindless, the product was really cheap per mailbox and a huge portion of the spam was stopped at Postini's servers hugely reducing the load on our Spamwall and Exchange servers. In addition, it also gave us mail spooling for when we had to take the Exchange server down or if our Internet connection went out. Nothing was ever lost.
This is another case of Google finding an excellent product that fits in with their business direction and will enhance their products, not just a Microsoft-type acquisition intended to stifle competition.
Oh yes. I saw "V". Lovely the way they extend their mouths to munch on guinea pigs.
I don't think too many others remember a miniseries from the 80's and Will Smith kicked serious alien ass in Independence Day so if you show the same imagery now I think more will think "Ah, ripoff of ID4"
I don't know why but my favorite Arthur C. Clarke novel would have to be Childhood's End.
Childhood's End would be good but unfortunately the "huge ships settle over all major cities on earth" imagery has been stolen by Independence Day. And yes, a highly-evolved race saying "religion is a common primitive response in dual-parent species" would not go down too well in modern America. (Maybe that wasn't in Childhood's End)
A more timely adaptation might be The Fountains of Paradise. Space Elevators, yes.
Actually neither did I until I viewed it years later when someone had pointed it out to me. Once you know you can't help but see them every time you watch, hence the distraction.
I think in first viewings you are so captivated by the environment that you have a mental block on such things. Tyrell's office was kick ass then and kick-ass now.
The Japanese, of course, perfected it.
on
ATM Turns 40
·
· Score: 1
The ATMS (or ABMs) in North America at least are painfully limited compared the the ATMS in Japan.
Back in the early 90's even I was able to:
- Deposit and withdraw any amount down to units of 10 yen. Obviously coins as well as bills. - Carry out electronic transfers to any payee at any other bank. (Transferred the down payment on my car to the Toyota dealership this way) - Update bank books. (Common now, but it took until 5 years ago for my local ATMs to be able to do this.
The downside was the ATMs closed at 5:00pm, Just 2 hours after the banks closed at 3:00pm. It was quite the event when CITIbank opened the first 24-hour ATM in Tokyo.
The one thing that did distract from the movie was the extremely obvious wires holding up the spinner in several scenes. That's one "enhancement" I could stand the Special Edition DVD having.
Vancouver started making special exemptions such as discount parking areas for Smart Cars after they became popular here. I've seen at least one parked tail to curb but I'm not sure about the legality. Considering the crappy way some drivers park here sticking WAY further out than a sideways Smart they should make it legal. Sometimes a new paradigm results in laws being changed.
Since it can talk to anything that does H.323 it should work with any standards-compliant VOIP device or software. Were they able to get into the box itself from the LAN side an change the internals??
Interesting concept, but the choice of cellphones in Japan boggled even me. The user interfaces are also way beyond what Obaachan could deal with. We really are in an interesting age where although we and our kids can easily pick up even the most bizarre computer or phone interfaces, some elderly can't even comprehend what is being shown on the screen. A simple phrase like "Click on the dial icon" is completely incomprehensible. What is an icon? What does it mean to "click" on something? and most important of all is the fear of: What happens if I do it wrong?
To show you the level of simplicity I had in mind check out the solution I did discover: D-Link's DVC-1100. A little grey box that sits innocuously under or on top of the TV. You connect it to the TV and a regular old analog phone handset. The caller can dial the other party's regular phone number using the handset and they are connected by way of a directory service if the other party also has a similar unit, or by an on-screen quick-dial list accessed by using a TV-remote-like controller for any other H.323 client.
The software and carrier is not the problem, it is completely the hardware and user interface. It must be as non-threatening as a regular telephone.
I really did find almost exactly what I was looking for in the D-Link DVC-1100. As long as the receiving party has the same type of unit you can dial it with a regular telephone using the recipient's existing phone number. A proprietary directory service maps the telephone number to an endpoint IP address. For other H.323 contacts you can set up quick-dial numbers that are chosen using the TV-remote-like controller. Perfect.
Thanks for the message. You are right that grandkids can be a huge factor in making a change, but for something like this those grandkids need to be right there giving a helping hand. Being 4000 miles away makes that direct contact rather difficult.
It took my wife living at my in-laws house almost continuously for three months to convince Obaachan that it was time to end 60 years of washing clothes in a basin outside the house.
Slashdot Mirror
Not since the pilot started asking questions like:
"Have you ever seen a grown man naked, Billy"
"Do you like gladiator movies?"
The free alcohol is the one thing that I don't understand. Is the intention to calm down nervous and irritated passengers? If so, it doesn't work well. Planes are dry places, alcohol dries you out even more making the alcohol take even more effect. End result: drunk, unruly passengers making life hell for flight attendants and other passengers and occasionally forcing the pilot to redirect the flight to kick the bum off.
I've had to help tie down and isolate a drunk heroin addict who had already slugged one of the flight attendants on a flight back from Japan.
If they're going to serve alcohol on planes it should all be charged with a set limit on the number of drinks a passenger can have, this ain't a bar for 'Crise-sakes. Anything else should be free. And PLEASE, have a constant stock of heated wet towels like JAL used to have. Nothing feels better than putting that over your face and breathing in some warm moist air.
I'll second the vote on JAL for cabin crew professionalism and entertainment but don't you think their food has degraded to common in-flight crud in the past couple of years?
They don't even serve zaru soba any more!
The point wasn't qualified to teach and as the other poster pointed out, these people aren't there to teach, just be human tape recorders. "Now repeat after Alan-san".
To be understandable to a world of English speakers learning in a neutral accent is best. The kids at this school are not only having difficulty basically pronouncing the word but they are attempting to pronounce it in a way that will inherently limit who will be able to understand them. The specific case here is a *strong* Australian accent. I would probably say the same thing about cockney, Lancastrian or Bronx.
My 13-year-old daughter is spending part of the summer attending middle school in my wife's home town. She was so looking forward to this as she likes Japan itself and was excited about the different school experience.
Now each time we talk on the phone she keeps telling me horror stories about the complete lack of discipline, direction and interest in learning in the classrooms. She feels she's back in kindergarten. She's witnessed ijime (bullying) that has gone unpunished. There's one guy in her class that repeatedly pulls other students pants (plus underwear) down in the middle of class and grabs female student's breasts. (Luckily for him he hasn't tried this with my daughter) Nothing is done. Were this North America the student would have been expelled or in counseling years ago. The school's token gaijin English instructor is an Australian who is just there to pronounce out the words taught by the Japanese English teacher. His pronunciation is, of course, with a strong Australian accent which (no offense to Aussies out there), will make them difficult to understand for other English speakers. As the parent pointed out, it doesn't matter anyway as none of these students can connect more than one or two English words together to hold an even basic conversation.
Japan has some of the world's best technology and some extremely creative people. But the use of technology to help the society as a whole politically and socially is held back by the culture of "it's not our place to change things".
Loud, obnoxious Japanese election van.
Turn your volume all the way up to get an sense of how it is to be there.
I don't see why anyone is complaining about the lights they use in the Canadian Football League? They're the same lights used in all stadiums!
Oh, what was that?
Never mind.
</voice>
As was noted in another thread:
"Any sufficiently advanced sarcasm is indistinguishable from offtopic" (or ignorance in this case)
Hopefully I'm not giving too much credit to the grandparent.
I started off with Spamassassin+CLAMAV and something else and some Exchange server-based rules but the upkeep was time-intensive and the spam were still coming down our wire.
Then I got Postini and the world changed. Upkeep was mindless, the product was really cheap per mailbox and a huge portion of the spam was stopped at Postini's servers hugely reducing the load on our Spamwall and Exchange servers. In addition, it also gave us mail spooling for when we had to take the Exchange server down or if our Internet connection went out. Nothing was ever lost.
This is another case of Google finding an excellent product that fits in with their business direction and will enhance their products, not just a Microsoft-type acquisition intended to stifle competition.
Oh yes. I saw "V". Lovely the way they extend their mouths to munch on guinea pigs.
I don't think too many others remember a miniseries from the 80's and Will Smith kicked serious alien ass in Independence Day so if you show the same imagery now I think more will think "Ah, ripoff of ID4"
I don't know why but my favorite Arthur C. Clarke novel would have to be Childhood's End.
Childhood's End would be good but unfortunately the "huge ships settle over all major cities on earth" imagery has been stolen by Independence Day. And yes, a highly-evolved race saying "religion is a common primitive response in dual-parent species" would not go down too well in modern America. (Maybe that wasn't in Childhood's End)
A more timely adaptation might be The Fountains of Paradise. Space Elevators, yes.
Morgan Freeman owns the rights. He wants to have a major part in the film. But hey, Morgan, you're getting on in years. Better do it soon.
Remember, any sufficiently advanced sarcasm is indistinguishable from offtopic.
OK, I seriously Laughed Out Loud. This should go down in the annals of Slashdot history as one the The Great Posts.
Thank you for making my day.
This rivals the BOEINNNNG post above. Much more subtle though.
I like.
Oh man that was funny.
, Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg, Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg, Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg
Now I've got that picture of the cat playing with the spring door stop stuck in my head.
Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg,Boeinnngg
Actually neither did I until I viewed it years later when someone had pointed it out to me. Once you know you can't help but see them every time you watch, hence the distraction.
I think in first viewings you are so captivated by the environment that you have a mental block on such things. Tyrell's office was kick ass then and kick-ass now.
The ATMS (or ABMs) in North America at least are painfully limited compared the the ATMS in Japan.
Back in the early 90's even I was able to:
- Deposit and withdraw any amount down to units of 10 yen. Obviously coins as well as bills.
- Carry out electronic transfers to any payee at any other bank. (Transferred the down payment on my car to the Toyota dealership this way)
- Update bank books. (Common now, but it took until 5 years ago for my local ATMs to be able to do this.
The downside was the ATMs closed at 5:00pm, Just 2 hours after the banks closed at 3:00pm. It was quite the event when CITIbank opened the first 24-hour ATM in Tokyo.
The one thing that did distract from the movie was the extremely obvious wires holding up the spinner in several scenes. That's one "enhancement" I could stand the Special Edition DVD having.
"All this will be lost, like tears in the rain"
"Time to die"
Vancouver started making special exemptions such as discount parking areas for Smart Cars after they became popular here. I've seen at least one parked tail to curb but I'm not sure about the legality. Considering the crappy way some drivers park here sticking WAY further out than a sideways Smart they should make it legal. Sometimes a new paradigm results in laws being changed.
Not far from the truth. For a grad prank at my son's school they parked four inside the school's gathering hall.
This required navigating them up a flight of ten stairs.
Here, let me do you a favour:
"Poor Louie, God bless him... he's not with us anymore. "
You can thank me later.
Since it can talk to anything that does H.323 it should work with any standards-compliant VOIP device or software. Were they able to get into the box itself from the LAN side an change the internals??
Interesting concept, but the choice of cellphones in Japan boggled even me. The user interfaces are also way beyond what Obaachan could deal with. We really are in an interesting age where although we and our kids can easily pick up even the most bizarre computer or phone interfaces, some elderly can't even comprehend what is being shown on the screen. A simple phrase like "Click on the dial icon" is completely incomprehensible. What is an icon? What does it mean to "click" on something? and most important of all is the fear of: What happens if I do it wrong?
To show you the level of simplicity I had in mind check out the solution I did discover: D-Link's DVC-1100. A little grey box that sits innocuously under or on top of the TV. You connect it to the TV and a regular old analog phone handset. The caller can dial the other party's regular phone number using the handset and they are connected by way of a directory service if the other party also has a similar unit, or by an on-screen quick-dial list accessed by using a TV-remote-like controller for any other H.323 client.
And how does she connect to Skype?
The software and carrier is not the problem, it is completely the hardware and user interface. It must be as non-threatening as a regular telephone.
I really did find almost exactly what I was looking for in the D-Link DVC-1100. As long as the receiving party has the same type of unit you can dial it with a regular telephone using the recipient's existing phone number. A proprietary directory service maps the telephone number to an endpoint IP address. For other H.323 contacts you can set up quick-dial numbers that are chosen using the TV-remote-like controller. Perfect.
Thanks for the message. You are right that grandkids can be a huge factor in making a change, but for something like this those grandkids need to be right there giving a helping hand. Being 4000 miles away makes that direct contact rather difficult.
It took my wife living at my in-laws house almost continuously for three months to convince Obaachan that it was time to end 60 years of washing clothes in a basin outside the house.