posted
I just don't find the Simpsons funny anymore. I mean come on. It's in its 16th season. Everything they do has been repeated hundreds of times.
Maybe one reason I like family guy better is because it will make fun of about anything and take only a few seconds to do so.
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Well, I wouldn't use it if someone was obviously watching. But if nobody seemed to be, and I turned it off and nobody seemed to care, then that would be a net improvement of the environment, for sure. Energy conservation! Decrease in sound and light pollution! Decrease in the load on the air conditioning! Saves wear and tear on the set itself! And prevents the aliens from reading and controlling all our minds through their insidious telepathy/telekineses devices.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote: And prevents the aliens from reading and controlling all our minds through their insidious telepathy/telekineses devices.
They connect to us from televisions? WHy can't they connect through us straight? Are they like little Hive Queens building bridges in each and every TV?
Posts: 2756 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm waiting for a personal cell-phone signal blocker that would make it impossible for people to receive or make calls in a movie theater / restaurant size area.
I'd especially like to block those really really annoying walkie-talkie type phones...can't people step outside to talk on those!
posted
I agree, to a certain extent. The problem is that people talking into cellphones tend to increase the volume of their voice because the cellphone, unlike landline phones, provide no aural feedback of your own voice. Thus, people feel like they have to talk louder in their phones in order to be heard, when really, they could just talk at a normal volume and be fine.
The increased volume, to my mind, is what creates the annoyance. Well, that's what does it for me, anyway.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
True, but that's a courtesy issue, not a technology issue. I think the best way to handle that is to approach any party speaking too loudly for the setting, whether it's into a cell phone or not.
It might be a criminal offense to run such a jammer on property you don't own, or in such a way so that the field extends past your property. It may even be a crime on property you do own.
posted
There's also the problem of people whose job requires them to leave their cell phones in case of an emergency. Of course, even in those situations they should still step out of the theater while they're talking.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I know that feeling...Whenever my mother uses her cell phone, she practically screams into it, and she doesn't believe anyone who tells her what she's doing.
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I wonder if that infomercial you saw actually demonstrated the device by turning off the very set you were watching it on? That would be a great infomercial.
And, yes, the aliens' mind control and reading process requires the technology that's built into every single tv set. It's the act of paying attention to a television set that builds the bridge across your neurons and generates the connection. The more hours you spend with the things, the stronger their coercive power becomes. Most Americans have no volition left whatsover, which apparently explains what happened on November 2nd.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I want them to come up with something similar for car stereos. Drives me crazy to be walking down the street and get blasted by someone's bass cranked so far that the concrete shakes.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote: I want them to come up with something similar for car stereos. Drives me crazy to be walking down the street and get blasted by someone's bass cranked so far that the concrete shakes.
Oh yes. I live in a dorm that surrounds a cul-de-sac, it has amazing accoustic properties. Almost every night someone drives around the circle with their radio blasting. Honestly, on Monday night at 2 am it doesn't take that much thought to realize everyone is in bed and turn down your radio!
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote: I want them to come up with something similar for car stereos. Drives me crazy to be walking down the street and get blasted by someone's bass cranked so far that the concrete shakes.
quote:My new toy, called TV-B-Gone, is essentially a universal remote control that does one thing only: It turns off TVs. I love the heck out of it.
My kids and I have a new mission in life. We have a ready response to companies and institutions that try to stun the unwashed public into submission by drugging us with video Valium. In airport waiting areas, where all people want is a chance to read or sleep, there is finally a way to silence CNN. In queues at the dry cleaner or in the jurors' waiting room, you can finally stop the blaring video messages. TV-B-Gone fits neatly on a key chain. Tuck it in your palm, aim, press and you're back in control of your life.
The power went to my head. At Dryclean Depot, I zapped two screens that were blasting loud promotional videos. It was here that I first discovered the most curious thing about my vigilante video-blanking: Folks who had been dully staring up at the screen simply looked down again when it went blank. No anger, no questions. Just, Okay, that's over, now on with life's live show.
I walked through the Post newsroom, zapping 14 TV screens that provide a video news backdrop to our work. Not a soul noticed.
At the food court during the auto show at the Washington Convention Center, four guys were watching CNN Headline News when my kids and I sat down with our sandwiches. We zapped the TVs, and the guys immediately turned their heads from the screen to each other and commenced a conversation. A victory for social discourse!
On the other hand, when I dared to zap a couple of screens at the ESPN Zone -- yes, I know, this was an irresponsible risk of life and limb -- I did hear a couple of miffed heys. But it had to be done -- all in the interest of social science, of course.
But for that gratuitous bit of obnoxious behavior, my zappings have been undertaken for the good of mankind, as quiet revenge against the media machine and those who would steal away a small piece of our humanity by putting us into couch potato mode in public places.
posted
I have to admit I think about the TV-B-Gone everytime I see a random tv screen where it's completely unecessary. Like in my grocery store, trying to sell me more food. It's a waste of money and electricity.
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