These things?
:) :[ :P
You know these things... They're quick heiroglyphics used to connote larger ideas. But can't we do better? Why not configure the keyboard to insert little portraits of the great thinkers, authors, politicians, and artists of history to connote the wealth of ideas which they expressed as a quick closing remark.
For instance, at the end of filing my on-line tax forms, I could insert a small portrait of Kafka- to glibbly express my sense of oppression by a large and faceless beaurocracy.
Love letters could be made much simpler:
Dear Ms. X, (portrait of Valentino) Love, ASLAN
Portraits of Carl Marx, Groucho Marx, Warhol, the possibilities are endless. Or even portraits of these great icons in various situations- gagging, laughing, looking thoughtful. They could all be sold in various font packages-South American Dictator Font, French Philosopher Font, Presidential Assasin Font. (portrait of Jim Carey looking Serious)-- ASLAN, Dec 16 2002 (?) ASCII Art http://www.geocitie...SoHo/2695/links.htm [my face your, Oct 17 2004] ASCII Quake http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/ss/Absolutely nothing to do with this idea. [my face your, Oct 17 2004] (??) Inspiration for my first annotation http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Emotinons [half, Oct 17 2004] Hail, Trillian! http://www.trillian.ccSo good, it deserves another link. [yamahito, Oct 17 2004] (??) Emoticon Portraits http://www.geocitie...r/2711/emoties.html...from Star Trek, if that counts. [DrCurry, Oct 17 2004] (??) More Emoticons http://members.fcc....isten/emoticon.html...including a bunch of portraits. My favorite is Peter Tork. [DrCurry, Oct 17 2004] Discovery: "A Chat Room Like No Other " http://www.discover...ly_03/feattech.html08 July 03 | An article describing There.com's avatar-based chat room. [bristolz, Oct 17 2004] I hate these things.
You'd have been better off coming up with an idea to filter them out. Everyone would have loved that idea. ;-)-- half, Dec 16 2002 [sd]: I think that was unwarranted :p
[edit]: When I said "I hate these things", I was just parroting the flip side of this idea that came first. The remainder of the anno was a further attempt at humor (hence the winky-smiley thingy). I hope at least [ASLAN] got it.
But, seriously folks, I have to say that the suggested entries in the "Power Pack" are a bit too obscure for me and my pathetic internet communication skills. Heck, I've never even used :[ (until just now, that is).
Those who are more educated and/or intelligent than me (that's all of you) might like them. So, I'll withdraw from the conversation now.-- half, Dec 16 2002 As with the previous idea, my link to Trillian applies. It automatically turns emoticons into icons inline in the text, just like other chat programs. But the icons in Trillian are "skinnable" so you can replace them with whatever you want. See my link on the idea linked to by [half].-- krelnik, Dec 16 2002 Very nicely done, ASLAN. (+) for the second incarnation. [half] - you're anno cheered me up after being deservedly beaten to a pulp by [waugs] elsewhere.-- egbert, Dec 16 2002 If you use HTML mail you can insert whatever crazy images you feel like into your text. Bind 'em to keystrokes if you like, that's pretty easy with macros...-- egnor, Dec 16 2002 It appears that some think I was pummeling [ASLAN]. It was only an attempt at humor. My apologies to [ASLAN].
(see modified anno above)-- half, Dec 16 2002 If you could persuade po to use these things, my in-box would get a lot lighter, I think.-- DrCurry, Dec 16 2002 [half] I got it immediately- almost immediately, after half a second of hackles raised- so cheers to you and of course no offense taken.
[Wee Mad Arthur] //So..what changed?// Well, the idea of the Power Pack was initially intended as an argument against emoticons- the horrible possibility that whole ideologies could be summed up into a graphic bauble. It's like hearing a ten second sound bite for an issue that requires real study. But then I thought, hell, people love having real issues summed up for them in ten seconds- I mean look at television for god's sake.-- ASLAN, Dec 17 2002 Oh- for baked ideas I'll be ending my annotations with a small portrait of Warhol- you know, the same picture reapeated over and over with only slight variations.-- ASLAN, Dec 17 2002 You know these things...;-)...people seem to edit them out when they're reading annos.-- egbert, Dec 17 2002 (Or you could interspace them in the text like this; they wouldn't be system-filtered but might affect you subconsciously)-- FarmerJohn, Dec 17 2002 random, halfbakery