From The Archives: Go-to industrial training film narrator Bud Haggart pitches the infamously fictitious Turboencabulator — a running technobabble in-joke among engineers — in this classic instructional film spoof from 1977.
[h/t: b3ta.]
Archive for July, 2011
How To of the Day
Jul. 31, 2011
How To of the Day: Tacos? The best. Tacos on the go? Impossible. Enter: The Walking Taco.
Haley Pierson-Cox explains:
You just throw your favorite taco ingredients into a single-serve bag of corn chips (the smallest size, or you’ll be overwhelmed by chips), grab a fork, and go! It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Walking just became worthwhile.
[craft.]
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Interspecies Intermingling of the Day
Jul. 31, 2011
Interspecies Intermingling of the Day: Dodo the chimp feeds two-month-old tiger cub Aorn at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo near Bangkok, Thailand.
Dodo’s handlers have trained the two-and-half-year-old primate to feed the zoo’s tiger cubs after noting that he showed no fear in their presence.
“It’s not difficult as he knows how to hold the bottle,” veteran zoo employee Sirinaj is quoted as saying. “I just taught him to hold it and stay with the cub. I’ve been teaching him everyday so he can do it.”
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Burglary N Breakfast of the Day [UPDATED]
Jul. 31, 2011
Burglary N Breakfast of the Day: Background: A blogger named “EJ” returned home from a week-long business trip to find her apartment had been “ransacked” by a paying house guest with whom she had connected through the online rental agency Airbnb.
After EJ recounted the ordeal on her blog, she allegedly received a call from one of the company’s co-founders who asked her to “shut down the blog altogether or limit its access” out of concern for Airbnb’s growth and funding.
Despite Airbnb’s claim that they have been “in close contact with [EJ]” since the incident, she says the extent of the contact since her customer service “liaison” suddenly stopped communicating with her three days after the crime was reported amounted to occasional messages from the same co-founder “directed primarily at my blog post and its activity on Twitter.”
EJ also challenged several other statements put out by the company, including the claim that a suspect was in custody (“I have received no confirmation…that any culprit is in custody for my case”) and the assertion that she had been offered “financial support” to aid her recovery (she says she has not been compensated).
“Obviously, the financial damages have been significant, but it has come down to a matter of principle and how I feel they disregarded me and my situation,” EJ told USA Today. “I still hurt, and I don’t know how you make that right.”
Unable to shove the cat burglar back in the bag, Airbnb has announced the installation of several new security safeguards aimed at avoiding similar incidents in the future. Among the safety improvements: Doubling the size of customer support; creating a Trust & Safety department; enhanced user verification tools; “facilitating richer [pre-booking] communication between guests and hosts”; and providing insurance options to hosts.
A month has passed since the burglary, and EJ, who has been accused of conspiring with the hotel industry to bring down Airbnb and similar services, says she is still “displaced,” and remains “broken” by the experience. “But,” she adds, “in time, and with the support of friends, family, and a generally supportive public, this too shall pass and I will be made whole again.”
[usatoday / hackernews / ejroundtheworld.]
UPDATE: Another Airbnb user, who was the victim of a similar ransacking incident, has come forward to share his story.
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Well This Is Sufficiently Terrifying of the Day
Jul. 31, 2011
Well This Is Sufficiently Terrifying of the Day: Artist collective This Is It (of “Bad Things That Could Happen” fame) returns to form with one of the most creative odes to anti-creativity you’ll ever have the pleasure of being scared to death by.
[hyst.]
Shooting The Messenger of the Day
Jul. 31, 2011
Shooting The Messenger of the Day: A reporter for the LA-based TV station KABC was taken to the hospital after being shot in the hand with a BB gun during a live report in Fontana.
Leanne Suter was reporting on the weather for ABC7 Eyewitness News when she was struck in the hand by a pellet. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for a minor injury and released.
Fontana police say two teenage boys were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment of someone’s eye.
[abc7.]
Quote Out Of Context of the Day
Jul. 30, 2011
Quote Out Of Context of the Day: A news report about a drive-by shooting that aired on Chicago’s CBS 2 (WBBM-TV) included a reaction from a 4-year-old that was edited to make the tyke appear to be headed for a life of crime.
The interview as shown on TV ends with the boy telling a reporter that, rather than stay away from guns when he gets older, he’s “going to have me a gun.” In the unedited interview, the kid goes on to say that he plans on becoming a police officer — but CBS 2 News chose to leave that part out.
Not surprisingly, some people had a problem with this.
The station has since issued a statement apologizing for “the mistakes that were made,” adding that “the video of the child should not have aired,” and follow ups were conducted to ensure everyone learned their lesson. A spokeswoman for WBBM told The Maynard Institute that “corrective steps” were taken against the employees who wrote and edited the story.
