Somebody honks at you, ask yourself, what would Einstein, Aristotle or Socrates do? Honk back immediately while flipping the bird of course. But what if you're busy texting?
Announcing AutoHonkBack. Microphones in your car pick up the offending car honk and immediatly trigger your horn in response. If enough of these get installed, you'd get a chain reaction, similar to when a dog barks and other dogs within hearing distance bark as well.
How far would the chain reaction go? When would it stop? Would it stop? In areas with enough cars so equipped you might honk at somebody in Manhattan and a half hour or so later, Chicago is alive with car horns.
Hmm, that gives me an idea that's actually sort of interesting.
Never mind.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 05 2020 Cassava https://en.wikipedi...#Potential_toxicity"Cassava... should not be consumed raw... contains two cyanogenic glucosides" [8th of 7, Dec 08 2020] Excellent! - I can’t believe this product is not already available-- hippo, Dec 06 2020 I think it might be where I live. You've never seen a more self entitled group of Tesla driving precious richi riches whose time is so incredibly valuable they can't abide by losing even a second to somebody in front of them who isn't moving through that green light fast enough. That light turns green the horns are honking.
I've got another idea, scolding horns. If the light turns green and the horn is activated by the driver in less than 2 seconds, the horn doesn't sound and a recording says to the driver "Calm down asshole!".
Maybe a lower tech version would just be a recording that plays after you hit the horn where a Hal9000 voice says "Was that really necessary?".
When I retire I am so moving away from Silicon Valley.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 06 2020 I think it must have been a more relaxed place when I lived there (more than 20 years ago now)-- hippo, Dec 06 2020 It's so different you wouldn't recognize it. I used to love it here, but it's so based around money now that it represents everything I hate, including being stuck here because it's the only place I can make this kind of money. Ironically.
The local high school has been called "suicide high" because here the students are so driven to success, bringing home an A- meaning you might not get into Harvard and will have to settle for Yale, is reason to jump in front of a train.
It's become a disgusting culture. I've told my kids basically, fuck money beyond having enough for personal freedom but working for prestige among people you don't even like? What a horrible treadmil to live your life on. I've gone to parties here where people compare their Teslas and one gal at a gorgeous estate on the hill overlooking the bay seemed embarrassed to say "We have the exact same house in Sweden." after I complimented it.
Can you imagine the embarrasment of having duplicate mansions in different countries? An oh yea, those Andy Warhol prints in the living room were real.
Nice people and I'm not talking smack about them, I'm just critical of the value system I guess. Maybe I'm just wired not to trust rich people being from the ghetto in my youth or something. Maybe I'm just jealous because my home is smaller and lower down in the valley. Plus looking at an art collection that probably cost more than my house is a little weird.
Anyway, I hate it here and am looking for property on the beach where I'll be on of those old guys surfing.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 06 2020 //scolding horns...a recording says to the driver "Calm down asshole!"// Surely that could be easily implemented in software and remotely uploaded to all the Tesla cars? I bet if they did that their share price would rocket.-- pocmloc, Dec 06 2020 Isn't an anti-scolding 'Om' horn on the Halfbakery R&D proving table?-- wjt, Dec 07 2020 I can confirm that everything [doctorremulac3] says about silicon valley is spot-on. It's not all like that: there are fools like me who do non-software engineering work here, and I tell myself that it's worth it for the joy of working with the other wonderful people who were smart and lacking in common sense enough to move here, and I think for me it is actually worth it. But yes, particularly at the lower end of the "rich" spectrum that mixes with the plebs, there are some people who seem to have shallow and questionable morals, and fundamentally a goal of personal enrichment rather than the noble nerd goal of making war on the unknown. I think this is not unexpected, for if these lower-rich were better people them they would be busy with their own class.
I never felt the appeal of buying art like that. I have seen one or two houses like described, and sure it may be impressive to some people to own things that other people agree are great, but from a nerd perspective if everyone agrees it's great then it's probably boring. Sure, a rich person can decorate their house as a carbon copy of the height of 1965 or 1865 or 1665, but it's unoriginal. If a house is to be personalized, then the personalizations should be interesting, not mere originals that have become cliches. (For myself, I would install reproductions and original work by new artists, and use the savings to build a house combining the best parts of "Biosphere II", Netherfield Manor, and a radio- telescope facility.) But, same as classic cars are cheaper than new luxury cars, classic paintings are cheaper than, say, central banks, so it is understandable to cope by buying original paintings, and criticizing the unoriginality of others' acquisitions would be strategically foolish. I am glad that my relative poverty allows me the freedom to speak, though in the manner of a court jester.
In traffic, everyone gets there at the same speed.
To young people thinking about moving to the Bay Area: take a lesson from the Wright Brothers and don't. The Wright Brothers were doing so great when they worked in a cow field, but then they had all kinds of problems after going to 1900s Paris which is like 2020s SF. To build your grand plan I think you just need one young person who's as crazy as you and one old person who's done it before for occasional wise advice. No need to move here to find that. My .02c
In any case, when driving around here I tend to play rock music inspired by videogames and pretend that any honking is not directed at me. Seems to work ok.-- sninctown, Dec 07 2020 //Would it stop? In areas with enough cars so equipped you might honk at somebody in Manhattan and a half hour or so later, Chicago is alive with car horns.//
It would be capped at the speed of sound no? and you'd be limited by oceans, so the whole phenomenon would be confined to the hellish continent upon which it was first deployed.-- bs0u0155, Dec 07 2020 //To young people thinking about moving to the Bay Area: take a lesson from the Wright Brothers and don't.//
Yup. There's no affordable housing anyway.
If my rants about my home sound like a bitter person talking about an ex wife that used to be loved, that's an apt analogy. I used to love this place. The reason so much of the modern world was invented here was due to very philosophy about the valley created by Leland Stanford, who not only started the University here, but after visiting Harvard to donate a building in his son's name, realized that they were a bunch of useless elitist idiots and decided to build his own university build not on elitism, but on dedication to the practical application of new technologies in the surrounding area.
He was a practical railroad man and was dedicated to getting stuff done, not sashaying around in a toga pontificating about how precious he was like the east coast hoi polloi. That's why the areas surrounding Stanford was so instrumental in creating the modern world. The D in R&D was emphasized.
But it's a god forsaken money grubbing shithole now and I'm looking for new homes by the beach this week. I can't put up with this rat race forever. I've done my part to keep the world connected, now the world can kiss my ass. I'm going surfing.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 07 2020 "To be wroth with one you love doth work like madness in the brain."
Now, ironically, the world seems to be one giant Stanford prison experiment.
The term of art is "capture"; those with ideals and vision and drive, but maybe a bit too much trust, build something beautiful, and bullies, meddlers, and bureaucrats slime their way in and not only wreck it, but act like nothing of value could have been done without their "help". (Bitter? No, I'm not bitter. That's probably just the smell of this special gourmet coffee I made just for you. It's - err - marzipan flavour. Drink up!)-- spidermother, Dec 08 2020 Is that cyanide certified organic? I won't take it otherwise, you know.-- pertinax, Dec 08 2020 Organic cyanide. There's a philosophical idea to be explored with that concept but I don't know know exactly how. The title to a chapter in a book on philosophical sociology maybe? I'd read it just to see what it was referring to. Certainly would get your attention. Nobody would say "Another exploration of organic cyanide, I can skip this chapter.".-- doctorremulac3, Dec 08 2020 // Is that cyanide certified organic? //
Cyanide or its precursors is present in toxic quantities in apple seeds, almonds, and cassava. <link>
Chewing apple seeds in quantity has proved fatal on occasions. They're intended to pass through the gut undamaged by digestive processes, but if the coating is compromised then cyanide is released.
There's no problem with producing those plants "organically" and the cyanogenic glucosides can probably be extracted without undue "chemistry", so yes, "organic" cyanide can be a thing - if you want it to be.
Would you like to try some ? We'll prepare a sample for you to consume.-- 8th of 7, Dec 08 2020 //while flipping the bird of course. But what if you're busy texting?//
Very funny, well not of course if you are actually "too busy texting", in which case not funny. But I still laughed, so it's funny.-- blissmiss, Dec 12 2020 Yes, but your humour threshold is notably low.
Then again, since you're female, any sort of a sense of humour - however feeble and erratic - is to be commended.-- 8th of 7, Dec 12 2020 Wait, was that a *kinda* compliment from you??? Uh oh...Something is very wrong. Are you ill? Do you have covid? Is the Earth still round? Did a giant space ball smash into the planet? (I could easily continue but must go paint.)-- blissmiss, Dec 12 2020 If you examine it closely, you'll see it's very much a Micro$hit complement ... a thin, almost molecular layer of gold leaf concealing the unreconstructed dog turd within.
For your information, your planet is in fact hemispherical (just like your moon - you can't see all the scaffolding round the back, holding it up ...)-- 8th of 7, Dec 12 2020 Bit like yourself then.... a sculpted turd, coated with a thin veneer of normality and secretly supported by an entanglement of chaotic scaffolding that acts as a playground for an army of feral cats.-- xenzag, Dec 12 2020 [doc] your rant was revealing. We always figgered SV was the pinnacle of IT existence on Planet Earth for up-and- coming technonerds looking to stand the world on end and retire in glorious Hotel California style. I suppose every bubble will burst?-- whatrock, Dec 13 2020 Well, to be fair, there are good things and bad things about SV. Here are the good things about SV:
1- Money
2- Money
3- Money
4- Money
Here are the bad things about SV:
1- It sucks.
2- No really, it totally sucks.
3- See 1 and 2.
Although I did see a smiling person who passed me on the street the other day and said "Beautiful day isn't it?" Just kidding obviously.
My concern is that when I'm traveling I need to sync up with actual humans (not money machine automatons) who say stuff like "How are you doing today?" As a Palo Altan, I say "Fine." Then I have to remember to say "Thank you." then after a few moments I need to remind myself to say "How about yourself?". Humans can be very confusing to us SV dwellers.
Their actions and traditions are confusing in that they create neither wide ranging diversified capital investment for a long-term growth strategy or implemented specific targeted capital investments in order to ensure future growth by increasing long term operational capacity in one sector. They just like, smile and stuff.
Now excuse me, I need to go make money, this time I spent here has cost me valuable capital.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 13 2020 I see the system as working (sort-of) like this: Good person has good idea, works to implement it & benefit humanity. Money-hungry "alpha"-type gets wind of it, muscles their way in as "business consultant" or some crap. Good person gets pushed out as money takes over. (See, in particular, the story of MakerBot 3D printers.)-- neutrinos_shadow, Dec 13 2020 // Good person has good idea, works to implement it & benefit humanity. //
"benefit humanity." ??
We think you meant to write "Good , but sadly naïve and unworldly person ..."
If you didn't ...-- 8th of 7, Dec 13 2020 I wonder if SV is deliberately set up as a closed loop system:
Individuals work diligently. Individuals become so depressed over the state of things in their money-grubbing shithole that they visit mental health professionals. After many visits the individuals become aware that they now have less money than before they sought professional help and subsequently increase their working hours to make up the deficit. The additional work requires additional visits. Round and round.-- whatrock, Apr 06 2021 I'll say ONE good thing about this place. If somebody tells you they live here and have tech skills and can't get a job, they're full of it.
And if you have engineering skills that are what I'll call "old tech" electrical, mechanical etc, it's a labor seller's market here.
That being said, people are moving away from here in droves. I'm shopping myself. Just checked, in my city the average home price went up to well over 3 mil, and that ain't for a palace, that's for a 3/1, 3/2 maybe. There are many cities in the US where there are NO homes that are that expensive. And you'd look at it and say "THAT'S 3 million dollars?" Most over valued real estate in history. Bland little boxes that cost millions.
But if you want to work in an office at Google, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc etc, this is the place. Bunch of overvalued glorified tulip fund companies in my opinion but what do I know.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 07 2021 Genius idea [+]. Sorry I’m late, I was out posting a letter. Class comments!-- Frankx, Jul 19 2021 random, halfbakery