On Sensors and the Anger They Cause
I tend to be a cynical person.
Airports tend to make me more cynical than usual. Sometimes this comes across as grumpy. Other times it seems funny. sadeyedartist and I spent yesterday dealing with stupid airport problems. Not a single plane was on time, and we were mistold by airline staff that planes would be catchable, etc. We ended up in Orlando something like 6 hours after we were supposed to.
But I was not going to write about that now. I wanted to write about the SkyMall catalog and how fun it is to read.
I am usually pretty down with technology, but some inventions are just stupid. And I think that oftentimes people come up with an idea that sounds wonderful in theory, but practically is terribly annoying.
Point in case: motion sensors -- good idea, very annoying. If they worked as advertised, they would be wonderful. I think that the ideal bathroom would work without you ever having to touch a single germ-infested thing. But they never work. I find it humorous to walk into a public bathroom to find every man and boy waving their hand frantically at every object in the room, simply desiring to wash or dry their hands. Or they curse at the toilets that decide to flush every 10 seconds, thinking their occupants have vacated when they have not.
The latest invention we saw in SkyMall was a sensor trash can. I have one of those trash cans that you step on the lever to open. I love it. I think they are a wonderful invention. Apparently, some people are not talented enough to find the foot lever. How this is, I am not sure, but now, if you want to shell out something like $300, you can own a trash can that opens automatically when you wave your hands in front of it.
Now, I can picture myself with one of these things. I have some nasty, smelly thing that I need to throw out, and I wave my hands around trying to get the thing to open. It ignores me. I wave more vigorously. Nasty particulates go flying. In frustration, I start kicking the can. It does not understand pain. So I, at last, open it by hand, getting icky stuff all over the cover. I wash my hands, the floor, the wall, and the cover, and finally sit down to eat. Of course, at that moment the trash can decides to open of its own volition.
brilliant
Airports tend to make me more cynical than usual. Sometimes this comes across as grumpy. Other times it seems funny. sadeyedartist and I spent yesterday dealing with stupid airport problems. Not a single plane was on time, and we were mistold by airline staff that planes would be catchable, etc. We ended up in Orlando something like 6 hours after we were supposed to.
But I was not going to write about that now. I wanted to write about the SkyMall catalog and how fun it is to read.
I am usually pretty down with technology, but some inventions are just stupid. And I think that oftentimes people come up with an idea that sounds wonderful in theory, but practically is terribly annoying.
Point in case: motion sensors -- good idea, very annoying. If they worked as advertised, they would be wonderful. I think that the ideal bathroom would work without you ever having to touch a single germ-infested thing. But they never work. I find it humorous to walk into a public bathroom to find every man and boy waving their hand frantically at every object in the room, simply desiring to wash or dry their hands. Or they curse at the toilets that decide to flush every 10 seconds, thinking their occupants have vacated when they have not.
The latest invention we saw in SkyMall was a sensor trash can. I have one of those trash cans that you step on the lever to open. I love it. I think they are a wonderful invention. Apparently, some people are not talented enough to find the foot lever. How this is, I am not sure, but now, if you want to shell out something like $300, you can own a trash can that opens automatically when you wave your hands in front of it.
Now, I can picture myself with one of these things. I have some nasty, smelly thing that I need to throw out, and I wave my hands around trying to get the thing to open. It ignores me. I wave more vigorously. Nasty particulates go flying. In frustration, I start kicking the can. It does not understand pain. So I, at last, open it by hand, getting icky stuff all over the cover. I wash my hands, the floor, the wall, and the cover, and finally sit down to eat. Of course, at that moment the trash can decides to open of its own volition.
brilliant