Friday Ephemera
Peeling skillz. (h/t, Dicentra) || Ink-powered leaf. || No, you first. || Can snails fart? || Does it fart? A quiz for all the family. || Infinite patterns. (h/t, Morpork) || Your children, their politics. (h/t, Darleen) || When you want your freshly squeezed in an orange-peel cup. || “Without the proper type of music your programme will be more difficult.” || I hadn’t noticed these. || What are the odds? || Whatever it is, it smells funny. || At last, a decoy keyboard for your cat. || “You’re more likely to become a Navy Seal than click a banner ad.” || “Am I being detained?” || Blind engineer invents interactive smart-cane. || Because you’ve always wanted asymmetrical jeans. || And finally, obviously, hers is bigger than yours.
No Bones About It: People Recognize Objects By Visualizing Their ‘Skeletons’
Job: rat tickler.
That delightful scientific table of animal farts reminded me of one of my favourite tables, this little personal collection of animal sounds in different languages.
Though, to be honest, take some of those spellings with a grain of salt, as animal sounds are in that class of onomatopaeia that people keep on reinventing every day.
Does it fart? A quiz for all the family.
Weekend sorted.
When you want your freshly squeezed in an orange-peel cup.
Marauding rainbow lorikeets are much more efficient at turning navels into orange-peel cups than that gadget.
Weekend sorted.
Also available in book form. Because knowledge is power.
Morning, all.
Western Couple Travel to Middle East to Prove It ‘Gets a Bad Rap’ — End Up in Iranian Prison
https://pluralist.com/jolie-king-mark-firkin-iran-jail/
Western Couple Travel to Middle East to Prove It ‘Gets a Bad Rap’ — End Up in Iranian Prison
You can tell it’s been a good holiday when it ends with a prisoner-exchange scenario.
“Am I being detained?”
Another woke idiot who wants to be arrested for bragging rights.
Another woke idiot who wants to be arrested for bragging rights.
Bear in mind our woke dunderhead shared the video with the world, presumably believing that it makes her look righteous and heroic. Which suggests a certain failure of self-awareness.
And via the Reddit comments, this classic of the genre. Do watch to the end.
Do watch to the end.
LOL
LOL
Chappie may think himself exempt from the laws of the land, but he’s evidently still subject to the laws of physics.
News item of note.
Via Dicentra.
Police in the US may not like it, but it has been decisively ruled by the courts (possibly even up to SCOTUS ?) that a person has a right to film or video the police in action as long as they are not interfering with the activities of the police. A number of people were arrested doing so and many had their camera equipment confiscated, but in numerous rulings, the police actions in doing so have been ruled unlawful, and indeed unconstitutional. So a State or local area cannot pass a law banning such filming.
So that women is indeed allowed to video, but must move appropriately if requested and not hinder the operation being carried out.
Just FWIW.
Can snails fart?
*heads for garden with tape recorder*
Do watch to the end.
“I’m not a US citizen.”
“OK, then. Hey, Chuck, can you give ICE a call to come pick this nutbar up and deport his silly ass ?”
“Wait, what ?”
Elsewhere, another “sovereign citizen” wonders why he got pulled over.
Meanwhile, have you ever been troubled by the sight of honeycomb or strawberries ? If so, then the new $999 (!) iPhone may not be for you.
If so, then the new $999 (!) iPhone may not be for you.
It has to be said, it’s not the prettiest thing.
*heads for garden with tape recorder*
You have to keep very still and be very quiet for a very long time.
I, for one, am glad I am nowhere near the mainstream.
I, for one, am glad I am nowhere near the mainstream.
For some reason, the word condensation came to mind.
It has to be said, it’s not the prettiest thing.
Given that one would spend most of the time either with the thing up to an ear or looking at the face, to me the aesthetics of the back of a phone is sort of like worrying about the aesthetics of the underside of a (non-show) car, but I guess if people are going to drop a grand on a damn phone to be replaced in a year anyway, they are going to want to gaze as longingly at it as Narcissus at his reflection.
Over in the blue check twitter world some guy explains that the Brexit mess is because the referendum question was too vague.
Well, OK, he has a blue check, it must be so.
“You’re more likely to become a Navy Seal than click a banner ad.”
Deliberately click, anyway. With the page content jumping madly around as more and more ads appear, it is now quite easy to accidentally click on one of them. Maddening.
With the page content jumping madly around as more and more ads appear, it is now quite easy to accidentally click on one of them. Maddening.
This. I recently visited the website of a local newspaper in a sort of pity-read. I was asked to turn off my adblocker, which I did, out of morbid curiosity. Immediately, the site became shockingly unusable.
[ Added: ]
Even setting aside the site-crippling effects and general user-hostility, the publishers don’t seem to grasp that online advertising feels much more intrusive and aggravating than other forms precisely because it’s happening on your device.
Remember invisible ads? A seemingly empty area of the screen would, if clicked, take you to an ad site. And now there are ad links that masquerade as topical hyperlinks.
Ads: Just slightly off topic, daytime TV shows, more specifically talk shows aimed at women, have incorporated advertising INTO the programming itself. They “showcase” various products and their prices and then give some away to the studio audience. So clever!
… general user-hostility…
Videos, especially autoplay videos, that pop up in the lower right hand corner as you scroll down a page, no matter how many times you close the damn thing, and, often related, hidden “close” boxes. Oh, the “X” is in 4 point type, one shade lighter than the background, in the far opposite upper corner. Got it.
Keelhauling is too good for those designers.
Keelhauling is too good for those designers.
Online advertisers generally struggle to hide their contempt for the reader, in that the experience is usually bad, often terrible, and doesn’t seem to improve.
As I’ve said before, the people responsible for auto-play videos should be hunted down for sport, especially the videos that, when manually paused, simply shrink a little and move elsewhere on the page, following you, still being irrelevant and thoroughly distracting. And those goddamn things that are timed to slide in and obscure whatever you’re trying to read just as you’re getting immersed, thereby spoiling the experience and making you lose your place – all to nag you about something in which you had absolutely no interest and now, thanks to the intrusion, actively despise. Modal windows, I think they’re called.
I briefly toyed with the idea of having ads on this blog, and occasionally get asked, but almost everything about the prospect is horrible.
Quick! Somebody call Princess Recovery!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/12/video-games-fuel-rise-far-right-violent-misogynist
Meanwhile, have you ever been troubled by the sight of honeycomb or strawberries ? If so, then the new $999 (!) iPhone may not be for you.
Jardine House, Hong Kong.
The House Of A Thousand . . . .
Just slightly off topic, daytime TV shows, more specifically talk shows aimed at women, have incorporated advertising INTO the programming itself.
That’s been going on for years. It really kicked off in 2011, when both Microsoft and Kia started paying prime time TV shows to incorporate favourable mentions of their products into the script. I’m not talking about mere product placement, either. CBS’ The Glades was probably the most egregious example – at one point one of the characters gets a new car, spends 15 seconds talking about its features while the camera slow pans around the interior, and then gets ribbed by one of the other characters for talking like he’s in a car commercial. The Big Bang Theory episode where everyone gets addicted to Age of Conan was originally supposed to be about World of Warcraft (obviously) but Microsoft publishes Age of Conan, and MMO no one played or indeed has ever even heard of. In a related vein, every superhero you see or is mentioned on Big Bang Theory is a DC character, because Warner Entertaiment owns both CBS and DC Comics.
Keelhauling is too good for those designers.
Another example. I was just browsing a pop culture site I hadn’t visited in ages and – after reluctantly disabling my adblocker, a condition of access, and the usual rigmarole of cookies and permissions – I noticed how slow and jerky the page scrolling now is, due to the volume of unwanted crap that has to load.
I was halfway through a film review, when one of the aforementioned auto-play videos – the ones reducing the site to a crawl and which I’d tried to avoid – decided to follow me down the page and hover in the way, obstinately. To add to the irritation, the ‘close’ option didn’t appear until I’d been forced to watch 10 seconds of said video, albeit with no sound. (It’s all but impossible to continue reading anything, or at least to enjoy reading anything, when something is flickering busily in your immediate field of view.)
Then, having finally been able to get rid of the damn thing, I tried to remember whereabouts I’d gotten to in the review. Halfway through the first sentence, a modal window slid across the screen, obscuring the only content I was interested in, and invited me to sign up for the site’s daily newsletter.
By which point, I was considering whether to get on a train to burn down their offices.
Modal windows, I think they’re called.
Hated those things back in the early days of GUI design. Back then it was, to me, a sign of lazy programmer UI design. They’re way over used (IMNSO) in much of even Windows 10 and similar stuff today. I’m kinda surprised it took as long as it did for them to become the nuisance they are today in web ads. Especially as I’ve always been suspicious of any ‘x’ or even ‘close’ button that I’m forced to press because of a modal window. Somewhere underneath who knows what I may have “agreed” to? One day we’re all gonna be part of a giant human centipede. In a certain figurative sense (and when I literally say figurative I literally mean figurative) I think to some degree we already are.
It’s all but impossible to continue reading anything…
On that topic, videos in lieu of text.
OK, some times they are amusing, enteraining, even informative, particularly short.
I get that people these days* are generally more attuned to gluing their glazzies to a screen and can’t be arsed to read, but the information value for me gets lost as I am not particularly arsed to sit through 20 minutes of somebody droning on about that which I could read in three, or an hour interview the transcript of which I could skim in five.
*(Get off my lawn)
Chappie may think himself exempt from the laws of the land, but he’s evidently still subject to the laws of physics.
I actually admire the guy – it’s not often someone sticks so stubbornly to their ideology. The video serves a useful purpose in illustrating a common libertarian/anarchist talking point: that ALL government rules and laws are backed by the violence government officials are willing to inflict, and what violence the citizenry are willing to take.
But LONG gone are the days when Americans sent tax collectors back to DC in body bags, so who cares?
By which point, I was considering whether to get on a train to burn down their offices.
If Niven and Pournelle were writing Inferno today, there would be a scene in which web ad developers are tortured with their own inventions.
I, for one, am glad I am nowhere near the mainstream.
It’s amazing what charlatans will peddle as “mainstream”.
The video serves a useful purpose in illustrating a common libertarian/anarchist talking point: that ALL government rules and laws are backed by the violence government officials are willing to inflict, and what violence the citizenry are willing to take.
As if in the absence of all government our lives would not be constrained by those individuals most willing to commit violence in pursuit of their desires. And the “sovereign citizens” would be among the most vicious.
On that topic, videos in lieu of text.
Preach, brother!
On that topic, videos in lieu of text.
Amen!
All this reminds me of something that occurs in the real world rather than online:
When I was much younger, canvassers and fund-raisers and such ilk would very quickly tell you want they were selling or asking: “Would you like to buy an XYZ for Boy Scout Troop 123?” But now you have to listen to a canned script before you find out what they want.
oops I screwed up the italics.
As if in the absence of all government our lives would not be constrained by those individuals most willing to commit violence in pursuit of their desires.
Of course, but that bit of reasoning magically disappears when people start talking about government policy. Especially when discussing minor laws and regulations.
How exactly to fix the italics?
(Grabs coat, runs out door)
If, for instance, I proposed a minor fine for not closing italics most everyone would be on board. Until, of course, pst refuses to pay and the henchlesbians beat you mercilessly with your own shoes.
I have no objection to minor fine, especially if it either (1) allows David to increase his stock of fine imported wines* or (2) allows Sam and my other friends here to eat more pickled eggs.
* Thunderbird, that’s smooth!
and the henchlesbians beat you mercilessly with your own shoes.
Heh. It’s true. I’ve seen it done.
…the henchlesbians beat you mercilessly with your own shoes.
Some people would pay good money for that.
Other places it is Pay-per-View.
Chappie may think himself exempt from the laws of the land, but he’s evidently still subject to the laws of physics.
Deep in the YT comments, one person posted a couple of updates on the chappie. It’s clear that he’s mentally ill, not just for his beliefs, but for his subsequent behavior (which included bumming around, living off suckers, claiming he’s Jesus with magical powers, etc.)
Sovereign citizen status was just the first step.
Hmmm…how about a gentlexym’s agreement?
How’s, say 10 pounds sterling to the kind host’s paypal for HTML-related faux pas? To be enforced by viscous social shaming. It’s best to avoid shoe beatings.
Who’s in?