h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
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Earascope
listen to the grass grow on the other side of the park, and people talking about it | |
Earascope works like one of those coin activated telescope/binocular devices, except this one features a high-powered directional microphone. (sometimes referred to as a shotgun microphone)
Once your coin drops, the machine turns on for a fixed duration and you can point its microphone to listen to
someone's conversation at a considerable range.
You must of course plug your own headphones into the standard mini-jack connection, but that's about it.
Earascope not responsible for any unfortunate outcomes that may occur as a consequence of unwarranted eavesdropping on private conversations, or accidental pointing at passing aircraft.
What's a PhD good for
http://www.iep.utm....fallacy/#Post%20Hoc
[mouseposture, Jun 19 2010]
[link]
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It has to be shaped like a large ear trumpet though. |
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//someone's conversation// ahhhh..... I was imagining more along the lines of listening to birds and stuff... [ ]; bun apart from that. |
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This is a piece of inspired thinking, and would make a
fortune.
[+] |
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//would make a fortune// that would depend largely on whose conversations you were listening to. |
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Max, how are you so sure? This could easily flop on
grounds that people really just don't care about what
strangers are saying. People pay to watch, not listen. I
suspect listening actually takes more energy. I
like the idea, but not as much as you I guess. Anyways, we
don't differentiate between degrees of goodness here.
Zero and ones and so forth. Here's a One, Xen. [+] |
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//Max, how are you so sure?// |
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Several things. First, you pay the money before you get to
listen. Second, it doesn't matter what you hear - it's the fact
of being able to hear something private. Third, I have a
piece of paper somewhere that says I'm always right. |
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PhDs are good for only two things: getting laid and their
nice, slow paper burn. |
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//PhDs are good for ... getting laid// Wait, what? |
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Smart is the new sexy, man where have you been?! |
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Xenzag, this is a great idea. [+] It would make a great piece of playground equipment even without the coin-op feature. Put two of them on opposite ends of a playground, aimed at each other, and kids would definitely have fun being able to whisper to each other despite the distance. I've seen this in a kids museum and it was popular. |
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EDIT: On second read -- my initial speed-read didn't pick up that this was an electrified listening device, hence the above incongruence. Simple parabolic dishes aimed at each other was my erroneous vision... |
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I have a PhD and subsequently got laid, and I even have the resulting kid to prove it. And, :) just found out another kid is on the way. |
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See, mouse!?... Oh, CONGRATS, [swimswim]! Gonna make
'bakers
out of them?? |
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//Gonna make 'bakers out of them??// |
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I think it is somehow inevitable. |
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Mazel tov, [swimswim] <link> |
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'ts good.
Congrats swimswim. |
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//Deluded is the new smart// Obamaed is the new dumb |
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Ah yes... remote haptics. Now that would require something like a pressure sensitive park bench, where you could feel someone's bum from a remote location. |
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I guess extending your senses beyond their normal
range will always unsettle people, especially when
that attention is direct at them. |
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The idea of ranged touch, often mulled over by my
humble self when writing for superhuman role-playing
games, is a rather pithy ethical question. A key issue
with this is would such a means include feedback? |
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// On the privacy issue - is it any more of an intrusion to listen in on someone than it is to watch them from a distance? |
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In a word, yes. It's all about expectations. We expect to be seen while in public, even by people we're not aware of; we don't expect to be heard, unless we shout. So, for example, covertly taking pictures of someone in a public location is generally legal, but covertly recording them isn't. (Details vary with location and use of the recordings.) |
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So, I'm pretty sure this would be illegal, unless prominent warnings are posted at the destination of the eavesdropping. But I'd still like this a lot! |
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//, covertly taking pictures of someone in a public location is
generally legal, but covertly recording them isn't.// |
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Bugger. You're sure it's that way round? |
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I think recording conversations might be illegal, but listening using an enhancing device would be hard to frame in law. I mean a rolled up newspaper can focus and amplify sound. |
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What about lip-reading through a telescope? |
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What about sonar through this device? |
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But you could film their lips moving through a telescopic lens, that would stand up in court surely? |
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It would be open to interpretation, so it would not stand. |
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Lip reading evidence is not actually inadmissible, in either
the US or the UK, but "The decision is likely to be highly fact
sensitive ... A judge may well rule on the voir dire that any
lip-reading evidence proffered should not be admitted
before the jury." (Keane, 2008) |
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So, would Hal have a conspiracy case against Bowman and
Poole? |
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