Posts by The Packrat 16 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Feb 2015
I seem to recall a story (one of Asimov's I think) that involved a scientist bringing Shakespeare forward in time and letting him join an English Literature class so that he could see what people thought about his works so many centuries later. He wound up asking to be sent back to his own time because he was so demoralised and depressed after seeing the sorts of things that people got from his works as well as having flunked the course about himself... Story was told from the viewpoint of the scientist telling off his Lit professor friend for failing Shakespeare, and said Lit professor vaguely recalling a funny speaking individual from his class...
@Mark 85 - This needs to be said more often. The climate has been, and always will be changing. The only real question is what sort of impact (if any) we have on it. In addition to studying the cause, we should also be looking at how to mitigate the effects of changing climate on humanity. The earth as a whole will continue along it's merry way regardless, whether we're along for the ride (as well as what condition we'd be in) remains a mystery.
Re: When is BBC TV going to stream to the world all their channels live...
Same reason a lot of stuff doesn't get done: Licensing of Rights. It's fairly straightforward for them to get basic production rights for broadcast within the UK. It gets really messy trying to spread beyond. Plus, there's the ever popular operating charter. It's part of why they have BBC Worldwide...
Payless Shoe store (don't know if they exist on the right side of the pond) is sort of like this. They have 1 or 2 of every style/colour of shoe/sandal/slipper they sell organised into sections by size. You just go to the section for your size and (hopefully) get one you like. If you find one you like but the size isn't quite right, you can usually just look to the next or previous section. No muss, no fuss (assuming you find something you like that fits). Quality's been a bit hit or miss in recent years though...
Instead of asking a stranger to take a picture of you (and whomever else) in front of whichever attraction (or personage) using your camera, you do it yourself. The problem is that people have taken it to extremes and do it inappropriately, causing damage to surroundings, obstructing others and posing as a general safety hazard.
The main difference between online advertising and advertising in traditional media is metrics. With online advertising you can know exactly how often an ad has been "displayed" and how many have responded (click through on the link). Advertising in traditional media is more vague in that you can't say how many people have actually seen and/or paid attention to it, let alone been convinced to do whatever the ad was for...
I've found that people are quick to think that there's one, and only one, cause of a problem/issue instead of the possibility that multiple factors play a part. I'm sure that lack of appeal is a major factor, but so too is lack of encouragement/support during the formative/developmental stages. Math can be very hard for some people, ridiculously easy for others, and somewhere in between for the rest of us. Depending on where you fall in ability the kind of support, or lack thereof, can be a major contributor. Of course some individuals will manage to persevere in their goal(s) in spite of any obstacles, but how many of them are there and how many just give up, or never even try, and do something else? True equality comes not from having some near perfect 50/50 split, but from ensuring equality of access so that those who would, could pursue those goals...
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