• Anon (unregistered) in reply to anon
    anon:
    <quote>Ever wondered why turn signals still make an audible clicking sound?</quote>

    It's an unintentional side effect of the fact that they're controlled with relays. Relays click. The clicking isn't detrimental, so no one has bothered wasting time eliminating it.

    You guys are completely missing the point. In a car, you do not want to have to look at something to know if it's working. Turn signals click because otherwise you would have to look at your dash to know when they stopped after a turn. It also helps when you use them because it confirms that the arm stuck and that the signal is on.

    If you want to advance the human race, you should definitely expect people to look before crossing rather than relying on noise.

  • aeil urg (unregistered) in reply to DGS
    DGS:
    Jeremy Friesner:
    It's really easy to get ninja'd by an electric car backing out if the driver isn't looking behind him, because (by default, anyway) an electric car that's about to move backwards looks AND sounds very much like a parked car -- silent and still.

    By default, every car that is about to move backwards have the reversing lights turned on. I would only walk across if i see the brakes light on too.

    Indeed. When you see that a driver has brake lights on it means they have their foot on the brake and you can be 100% certain they have seen you and will not be shifting said foot and backing out at a rate of lightyears

  • (cs) in reply to JJ
    JJ:
    You want real pedantry, I've got it.

    I think you mean "IF you want real pedantry, I've got it."

  • (cs) in reply to C-Derb
    C-Derb:
    If the problem is people are getting hit by quiet cars, *a* solution is to make them noisier. The best solution is for people to look for cars, not listen for them.

    Okay, but since an automobile designer doesn't have the authority to install common sense in the general public, he's limited to those potential solutions that are actually achievable.

    Arguing that an increased incidence of fatal pedestrian-involved accidents is the solution, rather than the problem, is quite frankly sociopathic.

  • Daniel (unregistered) in reply to Wyrm

    Exactly! Knowing how to do this one thing is what separates good consultants from terrible ones.

  • Daniel (unregistered) in reply to Wyrm
    Wyrm:
    Don't just ask what the client wants, always ask about the context.

    Exactly. This is what separates great consultants and sales guys from absolutely terrible ones.

  • Jim (unregistered) in reply to Daniel
    Daniel:
    Wyrm:
    Don't just ask what the client wants, always ask about the context.

    Exactly. This is what separates great consultants and sales guys from absolutely terrible ones.

    I know...there's a really good Salesman at my local Unlucky Fried Kitten: Him: "What would you like?" Me: "Zinger Tower Burger Combo, please" Him: "In what context are you wanting the Zinger?" Me: "Shut the Fuck Up, and make my damn lunch" Him: "I only ask, because although you might think you want it, I don't believe it is actually what you want" Me: "Trust me, I know what I want" Him: "And what's that?" Me: "THat fucking Chicken Burger over there on the Wall with that fucking potatoey thinkg in it that looks an inch fucking taller than the rest of them" Him: "See - that's much better, because now we have some context - there's no chicken in that burger, the potato thingummy-bob is just made from flour, and the picture artifically makes the burger look bigger than the others." Me: "By Jove, that rather changes it, doesn't it?" Him: "So if you can specify exactly what you want, I'll be able to choose the best option for you" Me: "I'd like something that will sate my apetite, preferably with something cool on the side, and I think I'd prefer chicken to anything else" Him: "I'm sorry, we have nothing that fits that description here"

    Incidentally, I love how so many "experts" and "consultants" and even "developers" wax eloquent about how requirements gathering is this or that, and then whine when a Big Blue company that happens to work on the same contract as them provides infrastructure that is not even remotely useful because they knew what the client wanted/needed better than the client themselves....Now that's irony!!

  • ILackedAles (unregistered)

    The 'ninja car' thing is totally true in my experience. I drive a hybrid and people in parking lots just stroll along in front of me, completely unaware that a vehicle is approaching. I've also found that applying the horn causes annoyance in others, while revving the engine causes fear. Fear FTW.

  • Jeff Grigg (unregistered)

    This is what they need: http://www.delcomproducts.com/products_USBLMP.asp

    Colored lights. They can flash. And they can buzz.

  • (cs) in reply to Don
    Don:
    uns:
    "if they can't here the printer?"

    Righting is not your strongest skill, innit? ;-)

    And yet, amazingly, you understood the context and intent. Damn pedant Nazi's
    Maybe so, but why should anyone else have to use their brainpower to parse your "noise" & dig out the signal. Imagine how tiresome it would be to read books like that(even for you) Also you didn't finish your reply, because you put a completely superfluous apostrophe in "Nazis", it reads like "Nazi's what?" - car, cock, poodle, nemesis, rapist, what's the missing word? Must be something that belongs to the Nazi in question.Try to use better English, & stop calling people mass murdering racist scum please.

  • Mike MacKenzie (unregistered) in reply to Dev King

    In the "Andromeda Strain" movie, the teletype's bell is blocked by a piece of chad, so the alert is ignored.

    I wonder how many laser printers will alert on a ^G? Many have small speakers for internal alerts.

  • Barf 4Eva (unregistered)

    trwtf are p*ss poor requirements and running with them. Happens...

  • ChristW (unregistered) in reply to Dev King
    Dev King:
    This is why we had a bell on the teletype machine and a character to ring it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_character

    You didn't really need the bell to ring to hear it print, though... And I guess this comment ages me :-)

  • (cs)

    In a similar vein to the printer story...

    A few years back, all the main stations in London (and probably elsewhere, but London was where I was) had huge racks of mechanical departure boards in the entrance hall to show what trains were lining up to leave, made up of revolving slats with different stations printed on them. So every time one train left and a new one appeared there was a lot of noise as all the boards flipped over ... it was great, because then you knew to look up from the book/newspaper you were reading to see if there was any news on your train.

    Now those mechanical boards have all gone, replaced by digital displays that have no sound, and I've often thought how great it would be to play back the clickety-clack noise from the old boards every time the displays changed ...

  • Silent but Deadly (unregistered) in reply to Stevie D

    You would probably be asked to leave.

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