h a l f b a k e r yA few slices short of a loaf.
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For long distance solo drivers, to keep their mind engaged and help
keep them awake at the wheel. I couldn't find anything like it.
[link]
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Most of us have these things called 'friends' that are good
for such uses. You're probably not familiar with the
concept, but don't feel too embarrassed about it. |
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Are your friends willing to stay up talking from midnight til
sunrise, or dusk til dawn as it were? Every night, just for the hell
of it? Somehow I doubt it. |
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Yeah, but that requires buying extra equipment. The idea is for a
phone number to call when you're driving late at night, when
most cellphone carriers provide unlimited talk time. |
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Pretty sure NYC cab drivers have something like this
already. Seems like more often than not when I'd get
into a yellow cab the driver would be mumbling into a
bluetooth headset. I once saw the phone of a taxi
driver who was ahead of me in line to order pizza, and
his call had been going on for about an hour and a half
at that point.
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Anyway, I like this idea. It wouldn't even need to be a
service provided by live operators as such. It could take
the form of a dial-in party line, or perhaps simply a
service that provides you with the phone number of
other people interested in chatting. [+] |
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//Are your friends willing to stay up talking from midnight til sunrise, or dusk til dawn as it were? Every night, just for the hell of it?//
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In these days of the Internet, I'm sure the dedicated socialite can find someone to chat to in whatever time zone takes his fancy. |
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Plus you may stumble across the odd insomniac as well. |
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I don't doubt you could find someone to talk to from chatrooms,
either. The issue is with security. You have to give your number
out to people you may never want to talk to again, or people
who know how to track you down using that information and
might choose to act upon that knowledge. Please keep in mind,
the Halfbakery is frequented by the justifiably paranoid and the
business advisors at 21st Century Quest Staffing have assured
me that they form our most lucrative customer base.
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With a call center staffed by paid professional
conversationalists or, as ytk mentioned, a dial-in party line that
you can choose not to call, you have more peace of mind
knowing your number isn't going to be given out to just
anybody. |
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Do you choose from a menu of conversational topics, or do
the conversations always begin with personal introductions
and then evolve naturually? |
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I think a menu of topics would be best. For instance, press 1 for
politics, 2 for business, 3 for firearms, 4 for automotive, etc...,
with sub menus for each option. Press 1 if you are a Democrat,
2 for Republican, 3 for Tea Party, 4 for independent, etc....
Press 1 if you wish to talk to someone who can teach you more
about your own party affiliation, 2 to learn more about one of
the other parties, 3 if you wish to debate these differences with
one of our party experts, etc... |
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// Pretty sure NYC cab drivers have something like this //
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Yeah, when I was a private security officer at a wind
turbine erection site, I mostly worked the vehicle control
points, and about three quarters of the drivers working for
the specialty transportation company that delivered the
tower components were Filipino guys with Bluetooth bionic
implants in place of their left ears. I don't think a single
one of them was over 5'2"; from in front of these
monstrous trucks, you couldn't even see them behind the
wheel, which is a little disconcerting when you're standing
there directing traffic with a glocone in your hand and
nothing between you and oblivion except a flimsy plastic
safety barrel. Then they'd go roaring past and all you could
see above the sill of the side window was this disembodied
chain-smoking cyborg head chattering away in Tagalog. |
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I always figured the cabbies are talking to other cabbies. |
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Voice-to-text coupled with text-to-voice Halfbakery
postings and annotations? |
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Only if the text to voice is performed by professional voice actors
who are familiar with the poster. |
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//the Halfbakery is frequented by the justifiably
paranoid//
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Wait... How did you know I'm paranoid?! |
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