[OT]That's crazy. I grew up not fifty miles from there and never knew it existed. There are a lot of odd little world-class skills being taught in those little community colleges in North Texas. There's a world class Viticulture and Enology program at the community college in Sherman, as well, one of only two in the US, I believe.[/OT]
I nearly cut into the damned thing too, considering that it was sandwiched between the two sides of the "hard plastic with a bubble for the product and is damned impossible to get open" package that cheap electronics are sold in..
That drives me insane. Why do they even do that? I understand trying to stop shoplifting, but there is a line that modern packaging has crossed between "good security" and "if you use a knife or scissors to open this you will destroy the product you have purchased".
From what my dad tells me, when he bought a pair as an impressionable young lad they were made of cardboard, and you were supposed to use them to fool people into thinking that you had x-ray vision. Not nearly as fun, IMHO.
Yes, but as people get less and less responsive to traditional advertising techniques, desperation seems to have set in. That was what I was going for, I think. A lot of commercials are all crazy images, not enough brand name to make the connection.
I can see it now. "That money? No, it's ours. No, definitely ours. We had money at one time, and all money's really the same, after all, isn't it? Yes, it's our money, for certain."
This is (and has been) ridiculous. This is akin to watching a well-known person have a collosal and very public breakdown. If it were a person I would suspect them of having amphetamine psychosis, and avoid them (or recommend treatment quietly to the large men with nets and white suits) accordingly. Nothing new, it's just that every now and then the absurdity of it strikes me all over again.
Agreed. In "In The Beginning There Was The Command Line", it was pointed out that for people who are not heavy readers (or not yet), Disney and its ilk are pumping out lots and lots of moral "lessons" on tolerance and responsibility. These are things that television can do well for our children, provided they watch the right television. I don't have kids, though, so I prefer not to watch it right now.
Tell me about it. Is it just me or has television advertising gotten more poorly done and more desperate in the past five years? "Hi! Please for the love of god pay attention to me! Buy this product! Do something! Anything! Look! I'm acting crazy! I'm not making sense! Please don't turn off the TV and use the internet! PLEEEEEEEAAAASE" *click* And that's half of why I don't watch it anymore. It's all noise, no signal.
It's the great normalizer, or it used to be. Did you ever notice how the kids who didn't have TVs in their homes when they were growing up were socially out of touch with the other kids? Same with most of the homeschooled kids. I think television is pretty crappy entertainment for adults, but for kids I think it's part of what joins them together in a common culture. Up until very recently, it was this way for adults, too. Still is, in some circles. I still have those conversations at work, mind you, and I always wince when they come up.
Yeah, this roughly parallels my experiences. I had already run into a lot of the common pitfalls of the social experience, via flamewars and the like, by the time I was ready to interact with people. Most of the growth then required was personal growth, rather than interpersonal. Well, more of it than I would have thought, anyway. I wonder if this is the new generation of geekdom, some sort of change in the traditional isolation? Doesn't seem to help love lives much, but most of the geeks I know nowadays have fairly large social support networks, as opposed to my non-geek friends.
I can't imagine watching that much television. Now that I've finally gotten used to not watching it (for about three years now, with occasional watching when at other peoples' homes) I can't stand to watch the "evil box" for very long. Every time I sit in front of it for very long at all I become very conscious of the amount of time that I am wasting on it, time that could have been used doing so many much more constructive things. (Or just surfing the net)
I'm sure they weren't really trying to make it impossible to counterfeit, because it would make so many other image processing tasks more difficult, or at least increase the program's overhead. All they have to do is make a cursory effort to sort of say that they tried. Then again, I'm not too clear on the reasons for doing that either, maybe good PR? Still, it seems like it should be pretty readily apparent that this is an impossible task. They probably stopped all the fourteen year old kids counterfeiting perfect 20s, though.
I remember reading about many different attempts made by criminals to replace or eliminate their fingerprints. It leaves a unique scar pattern that renders just as good an ID as the fingerprints. I hear that people working in pineapple plants often have no fingerprints due to enzymatic action dissolving them. (I saw it on Hawaii 5-0 once, but I did look it up to see if it was true or not)
I just want a watch that plays Nethack. My god, I'd get fired so quickly! "Isaac, why are you always staring at your watch?" "Um....I'm waiting on that......invoice..........to, uh.....arrive?" beep! The Baby Red Dragon Hits! You must have been exercising! You feel stronger! "Uh-huh...."
The sad part is, I'm not even all that interested in the solar energy part, but the "42 pockets" really got my attention. *sigh* - sometimes I envy women's purses. I have too much stuff in my pockets all the time.
Ah, but what was the *most* interesting one? That's the one I'd like to see more research on.:)
Re:wont stem employee theft.
on
RFID Casino Chips
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· Score: 3, Funny
Something tells me that their hiring bonuses would cost more than employee theft is currently costing them, if they tried that little stunt.:) Still, it would make for some interesting want ads... "Do you want a fast-paced exciting job with great benefits? Do you not object to daily probing of your rectum? Have we got a job for you!!!" (I think they already have ads like this in Nevada...)
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[OT]That's crazy. I grew up not fifty miles from there and never knew it existed. There are a lot of odd little world-class skills being taught in those little community colleges in North Texas. There's a world class Viticulture and Enology program at the community college in Sherman, as well, one of only two in the US, I believe.[/OT]
I nearly cut into the damned thing too, considering that it was sandwiched between the two sides of the "hard plastic with a bubble for the product and is damned impossible to get open" package that cheap electronics are sold in..
That drives me insane. Why do they even do that? I understand trying to stop shoplifting, but there is a line that modern packaging has crossed between "good security" and "if you use a knife or scissors to open this you will destroy the product you have purchased".
From what my dad tells me, when he bought a pair as an impressionable young lad they were made of cardboard, and you were supposed to use them to fool people into thinking that you had x-ray vision. Not nearly as fun, IMHO.
Yes, but as people get less and less responsive to traditional advertising techniques, desperation seems to have set in. That was what I was going for, I think. A lot of commercials are all crazy images, not enough brand name to make the connection.
I can see it now. "That money? No, it's ours. No, definitely ours. We had money at one time, and all money's really the same, after all, isn't it? Yes, it's our money, for certain."
This is (and has been) ridiculous. This is akin to watching a well-known person have a collosal and very public breakdown. If it were a person I would suspect them of having amphetamine psychosis, and avoid them (or recommend treatment quietly to the large men with nets and white suits) accordingly. Nothing new, it's just that every now and then the absurdity of it strikes me all over again.
Very true...I still cringe when I see filenames longer than that.
I wonder what it feels like to control something with this thing? Like you're controlling part of your arm or something?
Agreed. In "In The Beginning There Was The Command Line", it was pointed out that for people who are not heavy readers (or not yet), Disney and its ilk are pumping out lots and lots of moral "lessons" on tolerance and responsibility. These are things that television can do well for our children, provided they watch the right television. I don't have kids, though, so I prefer not to watch it right now.
You might have some trouble with hardware support. And don't believe the spams that say they can help with this problem, either!
You mean I can't learn Kung Fu instantly? I'll wait until the next version comes out, thank you.
Tell me about it. Is it just me or has television advertising gotten more poorly done and more desperate in the past five years? "Hi! Please for the love of god pay attention to me! Buy this product! Do something! Anything! Look! I'm acting crazy! I'm not making sense! Please don't turn off the TV and use the internet! PLEEEEEEEAAAASE" *click* And that's half of why I don't watch it anymore. It's all noise, no signal.
It's the great normalizer, or it used to be. Did you ever notice how the kids who didn't have TVs in their homes when they were growing up were socially out of touch with the other kids? Same with most of the homeschooled kids. I think television is pretty crappy entertainment for adults, but for kids I think it's part of what joins them together in a common culture. Up until very recently, it was this way for adults, too. Still is, in some circles. I still have those conversations at work, mind you, and I always wince when they come up.
Yeah, this roughly parallels my experiences. I had already run into a lot of the common pitfalls of the social experience, via flamewars and the like, by the time I was ready to interact with people. Most of the growth then required was personal growth, rather than interpersonal. Well, more of it than I would have thought, anyway. I wonder if this is the new generation of geekdom, some sort of change in the traditional isolation? Doesn't seem to help love lives much, but most of the geeks I know nowadays have fairly large social support networks, as opposed to my non-geek friends.
I can't imagine watching that much television. Now that I've finally gotten used to not watching it (for about three years now, with occasional watching when at other peoples' homes) I can't stand to watch the "evil box" for very long. Every time I sit in front of it for very long at all I become very conscious of the amount of time that I am wasting on it, time that could have been used doing so many much more constructive things. (Or just surfing the net)
I'm sure they weren't really trying to make it impossible to counterfeit, because it would make so many other image processing tasks more difficult, or at least increase the program's overhead. All they have to do is make a cursory effort to sort of say that they tried. Then again, I'm not too clear on the reasons for doing that either, maybe good PR? Still, it seems like it should be pretty readily apparent that this is an impossible task. They probably stopped all the fourteen year old kids counterfeiting perfect 20s, though.
I remember reading about many different attempts made by criminals to replace or eliminate their fingerprints. It leaves a unique scar pattern that renders just as good an ID as the fingerprints. I hear that people working in pineapple plants often have no fingerprints due to enzymatic action dissolving them. (I saw it on Hawaii 5-0 once, but I did look it up to see if it was true or not)
I'd be interested in seeing how that one breaks down. I've always had an interest in hobby economies.
I just want a watch that plays Nethack. My god, I'd get fired so quickly! "Isaac, why are you always staring at your watch?" "Um....I'm waiting on that......invoice..........to, uh.....arrive?" beep! The Baby Red Dragon Hits! You must have been exercising! You feel stronger! "Uh-huh...."
The sad part is, I'm not even all that interested in the solar energy part, but the "42 pockets" really got my attention. *sigh* - sometimes I envy women's purses. I have too much stuff in my pockets all the time.
Of course! I lose nerd points with myself for not making an immediate Dr. Who reference here. Tsk, tsk, Isaac....
Better than an anti-personnel computer. "Destroy all humans! Destroy all humans!" :)
Ah, but what was the *most* interesting one? That's the one I'd like to see more research on. :)
Something tells me that their hiring bonuses would cost more than employee theft is currently costing them, if they tried that little stunt. :) Still, it would make for some interesting want ads... "Do you want a fast-paced exciting job with great benefits? Do you not object to daily probing of your rectum? Have we got a job for you!!!" (I think they already have ads like this in Nevada...)
It's all a matter of scale. That's about a single paycheck for me, which is an astronomical sum in my tiny litte universe. :)