There are...I'm told there are phone apps to control TVs etc. That'd be fun!
I wouldn’t know anything about that.![]()
Right then, you need an uplifting injection of something I often watch, even if in the background!I spend almost all of my time by myself (though with my dog) and really enjoy it...
Without the dog it could become somewhat depressing, these days.
You mean, what if it breaks!?But if you put everything into one thing then you are increasing the vulnerability of everything?
Wise words.Why get "all your remote control devices into one" when it just means that one can be broken, lost, chewed by dogs?
Why brag to me when you say "From this smartphone, I work from home, I control my energy efficiency and exercise regime, I find out from my'fridge what needs to be bought, when my children's birthdays are, I can access my bank and pay for things, I can search for street directions, I can see what weather conditions are not only happening now but will happen (probably), I can translate phrases from English to a foreign language and vice versa and I can find the train times from Dusseldorf to Dortmund" ... and all I need to do is snatch the 'phone from your hand and stamp hard on it? Need a 'phone to contact a copper or your lawyer for what I've done? Ooops. Can you remember your lawyers number or was it on your ... 'phone?
Seriously, I'm in awe and appreciate the scientific gadgets we have these days.
But if you put everything into one thing then you are increasing the vulnerability of everything?
For a moment there, I thought that was a quote from Charles Fort...Single point convenience always entails the opportunity for single point failure.
It's a quote from John Holmes. Probably.For a moment there, I thought that was a quote from Charles Fort...![]()
Most people back up their smartphones' data etc so they can retrieve it if necessary.Why get "all your remote control devices into one" when it just means that one can be broken, lost, chewed by dogs?
Why brag to me when you say "From this smartphone, I work from home, I control my energy efficiency and exercise regime, I find out from my'fridge what needs to be bought, when my children's birthdays are, I can access my bank and pay for things, I can search for street directions, I can see what weather conditions are not only happening now but will happen (probably), I can translate phrases from English to a foreign language and vice versa and I can find the train times from Dusseldorf to Dortmund" ... and all I need to do is snatch the 'phone from your hand and stamp hard on it? Need a 'phone to contact a copper or your lawyer for what I've done? Ooops. Can you remember your lawyers number or was it on your ... 'phone?
Seriously, I'm in awe and appreciate the scientific gadgets we have these days.
But if you put everything into one thing then you are increasing the vulnerability of everything?
Reminds me of the Orson Welles interview where he describes how well hotel reception staff learn to weigh up approaching guests.If serving the public is your job, size the customer up as soon as they step into the room. If the first thing they do is either look up at the ceiling or study the corners of the room, they are going to be a pain in the arse so step backwards and pretend you suddenly need to go to the staff toilet and thus cruelly leaving the rookie staff member to deal with the high maintenance bullshit certainly coming. 'They' almost always look at the ceiling or the corners of the room first, I don't know why. A solid tip from uncle Swifty.
I am exactly the same!If you have a job working with the public, you can tend to value your solitude. I spend almost all of my time by myself (though with my dog) and really enjoy it. Without the dog it could become somewhat depressing, these days. The dog permits me the long hours alone necessary to create visual art, without the compromises necessary to keep a human. Unless you have a proper holding container! "It rubs the lotion on..." I used to be a very social party animal type, but am enjoying my existence better these days.
Yeah but you love it.I am exactly the same!
Used to be the most social person going - since I started working in the shop I LOVE my downtime at home, just me and the dog. I have no idea how people in couples or with families do it - talking small talk and chat to customers all day and then going home and having to answer bloody daft questions about the location of socks or whether there's anything for tea...
Sometimes on a long stretch off, I don't talk to a human for DAYS! It's bliss.
And Swifty, you don't get the chance to dump difficult customers on a noob when you are the only person on the till, not due a break for two hours and there's only two other people working in the whole shop!
I really do! I'm sitting here under the warmth of my duvet, listening to my neighbour shovelling snow like we live in Colorado (there's about 1/4 inch of snow out there) with the dog on my feet and nobody talking to me! And then I will go to work and have seven hours of the same conversation about the snow over and over and over and then directing people to the beans.Yeah but you love it.
A lot of people are alone these days, but the poor bastards just don't enjoy it!I really do! I'm sitting here under the warmth of my duvet, listening to my neighbour shovelling snow like we live in Colorado (there's about 1/4 inch of snow out there) with the dog on my feet and nobody talking to me! And then I will go to work and have seven hours of the same conversation about the snow over and over and over and then directing people to the beans.
I wonder if there's a job going as a hermit anywhere?
There's only me and my wife who works in our business, a shop. We have divided up the various tasks and 'departments' between us, which leads to some quietly funny dialogue with spam sales calls but it means that if an issue turns up, there's only one person dealing with it and not two who may work at cross-purposes. This said, we're both capable - at a pinch - to perform the others roles in the case of emergency.I have no idea how people in couples or with families do it - talking small talk and chat to customers all day and then going home and having to answer bloody daft questions about the location of socks or whether there's anything for tea...
Single point convenience always entails the opportunity for single point failure.
For a moment there, I thought that was a quote from Charles Fort...![]()
For the record ... No, it's not a quote from someone else - it's mine. It's a maxim (with variant phrasings) I've used many times during my working life to caution folks that a design that incorporates everything in one seemingly convenient 'bag' turns all too inconvenient when a single problem negates the entire system's functionality.It's a quote from John Holmes. Probably.
I encountered a travelling salesman once who was offering wallets with phone pouch combined. Yes, you could lose your credit cards and your phone at the same time.For the record ... No, it's not a quote from someone else - it's mine. It's a maxim (with variant phrasings) I've used many times during my working life to caution folks that a design that incorporates everything in one seemingly convenient 'bag' turns all too inconvenient when a single problem negates the entire system's functionality.
A Swiss Army Knife or multi-tool is a great thing .... Until you lose it ...
WTF is that slab of black stuff ?, looks like a bit fell off of the sculpture that Roy made in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, yukThis is how you interact with customers -
Those “guess what that idiot I work with did” conversations must be awkward?There's only me and my wife who works in our business, a shop. We have divided up the various tasks and 'departments' between us, which leads to some quietly funny dialogue with spam sales calls but it means that if an issue turns up, there's only one person dealing with it and not two who may work at cross-purposes. This said, we're both capable - at a pinch - to perform the others roles in the case of emergency.
We have a policy of keeping work at work. We can chat, mind, about personal things at work ... but once we get home, we switch off. We value our privacy. It's possible, again, to chat about work at home; t'missus might get a notification of an email coming in to our work system, read it, then we talk about it ... briefly. The recognised response is "I'll deal with it when I get in to work tomorrow."
When it comes to small talk and chat, we do it many times in the day. But it's social interaction between ourselves. At home, we have our own interests, hobbies, things we like to watch on TV. We give each other 'mental' space.
I guess we have it easy because the system we have is after just under 11 years of being in business together and we haven't ended up strangling each other, the children, the relatives of a customer.
Yet.
As women's clothes generally don't have pockets we are forced to carry our phones some other way. Inventors are always trying to sell us combined purses/phone cases. Everything gets shoved in a handbag instead.I encountered a travelling salesman once who was offering wallets with phone pouch combined. Yes, you could lose your credit cards and your phone at the same time.
Now if only he had put a key-ring on it..
I'd hazard a guess as industrial sized boiled brisket?WTF is that slab of black stuff ?, looks like a bit fell off of the sculpture that Roy made in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, yuk
It's a big hunk of roast beef. For reasons I never quite fathomed it became popular for buffet-style eateries to have an attendant slice off roast beef on demand and serve it to customers passing through the buffet line. I never figured out whether this became common practice to keep the meat juicy or just to make the presentation / service seem more up-scale.WTF is that slab of black stuff ?, looks like a bit fell off of the sculpture that Roy made in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, yuk