So I was following my normal blogs, and I found a really interesting video, so I thought I would forward it on and add a commentary:
So when I first saw this I realized what potential something like this could have. I automatically thought of the advertising market for it: just like in minority report at gap. A computerized sales person could instantly scan a person's clothing, and provide them with sales, or information similar to what they were wearing. Or once the technology got much cheaper, in places where there are automated tours, there could be a more real feeling to the tour with this technology.
Furthermore, they could be used at drive through restaurants. If the recognition became successfully enough, a computer could take people's orders rather than a real person. This could also be extended to selling tickets at movies. But there's one problem with this:
While it's all nice and great to create a more human feeling computer, there are times you just don't want one. Would you really want your iPod to start talking to you every time you change songs? While its nice to be able to have it tell you what song you're listening to if you're driving and can't look at the screen, it would get really annoying to have it start talking to you.
There's a reason why at the movie theaters I always go for the electric machines to buy tickets: they're way faster than the people. I would not want the machine to start asking me questions and have me answer them; I am perfectly content with purchasing the tickets without a human-like user interface. In fact, I would definitely be opposed to this change.
While it is obviously really intriguing to see what kind of artificial intelligence we can create for computers, there are areas of the electronic world which should progress in the opposite direction. Just as there are times when email and text based chat is more convenient and useful than talking on the phone, in person, or on video-chat, so to are there times when technology should not have any human aspects. On the other hand, this is awesome.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Au Bon Pain: Pointless Waste vs. Free Food (a Green Disaster)
So many of us at the University of Chicago have discovered the pleasures of Au Bon Pain: a huge chain bakery / sandwich place that has soup and other foods and such. We have two locations: in the Children's Hospital (open 24 hours), and in Mitchel (the main hospital). The best part of ABP is that (at least in Mitchel, from 10 to 11pm all the baked goods are half off! Its awesome to come and get cookies, croissants, cinnamon rolls, and cake for fairly cheap.
But what do they do with the food at 11pm? Trust me, you'll never guess. They take all the food off the shelf, mark how much it is, and throw it out in the dumpster in the back. Now doesn't that sound like a great idea, not only do they keep the college students from getting free food, but they keep their employees from getting the free food and polute the environment through the waste of creating the food and putting it in the trash.
Now I understand that sometimes restaurants are unable to give away free food for health code and insurance reasons, but there is presidence for this: ABP gave the food to the college students for free. Apparently, a long time ago, they would pack up all the left over food and give it to the students. But then the hospital complained. When they came to pick up the leftovers for the kids, there was none left to give the ER - so ABP had to stop giving out the free food. I understand this, it makes sense. ABP is a part of the hospital, and it should serve the hospital first.
But from what I've been told, the hospital doesn't go get the free baked goods anymore. It now gets tossed out every night to make room for the new (fresh) goods since the café is open 24 hours. I personally think this is a complete waste. Why should they toss all the food out. I understand its a nuissance to bring the food to the students, but why not put everything in a box at 11pm just outside the store, and leave it there until 11:30. Make the food first come first serve, and if people come and eat it, they will get to be happy and enjoy it, but if they don't come, its their loss. This makes a minimal loss to the café, and it provides free food for broke college students with tons of loans. Just take a chance, see what happens ...
Who thinks ABP would agree to this? My guess is, with all the regulations and corporate rules and stuff, they would prefer to throw out food, than give it out for free. :(
But what do they do with the food at 11pm? Trust me, you'll never guess. They take all the food off the shelf, mark how much it is, and throw it out in the dumpster in the back. Now doesn't that sound like a great idea, not only do they keep the college students from getting free food, but they keep their employees from getting the free food and polute the environment through the waste of creating the food and putting it in the trash.
Now I understand that sometimes restaurants are unable to give away free food for health code and insurance reasons, but there is presidence for this: ABP gave the food to the college students for free. Apparently, a long time ago, they would pack up all the left over food and give it to the students. But then the hospital complained. When they came to pick up the leftovers for the kids, there was none left to give the ER - so ABP had to stop giving out the free food. I understand this, it makes sense. ABP is a part of the hospital, and it should serve the hospital first.
But from what I've been told, the hospital doesn't go get the free baked goods anymore. It now gets tossed out every night to make room for the new (fresh) goods since the café is open 24 hours. I personally think this is a complete waste. Why should they toss all the food out. I understand its a nuissance to bring the food to the students, but why not put everything in a box at 11pm just outside the store, and leave it there until 11:30. Make the food first come first serve, and if people come and eat it, they will get to be happy and enjoy it, but if they don't come, its their loss. This makes a minimal loss to the café, and it provides free food for broke college students with tons of loans. Just take a chance, see what happens ...
Who thinks ABP would agree to this? My guess is, with all the regulations and corporate rules and stuff, they would prefer to throw out food, than give it out for free. :(
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
What is Tango? What is Rape? Moulin Rouge !!!
*** I was going to dedicate this post in loving memory of our fallen blogger (the wonderous) Jessica Gutierrez, but I realized the content is not something you want dedicated to you, so think of Jessica's loving memory (and how much I miss her sitting in the MacLabs at the moment) after reading this blog. ***
So yesterday while studying for Game Theory, I had Moulin Rouge playing in the background and I was listening to the script / music while studying. When I got to El Tango de Roxanne, I had to take a break since it's my favorite scene, and I watched the whole thing. It really got me thinking though, how many people really understand the true meaning of "the tango"? My guess is next to none.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the video (ignore the first few seconds):
People watch this and go "oh that dance is really hott" or "it's sexy" or "it's fucking awesome" because it looks cool, and there's clearly a lot of passion and emotion in it. When you combine that with awesome dancing, and good video editing, it looks amazing. What people don't really understand though is how the tango relates to Satine's (Nicole Kidman) rape. Obviously, the dance is extremely violent, maybe saying something about it inevitable, that she is a prostitute and its her time to be herself and have sex for money. But that really isn't the point. If thats what you think the violent dance is about, simply telling Satine's story, then you're pretty much completely off.
All Ballroom dances tell a story: Rumba tells of Love, Samba is a carnival, Jive is a party. Tango is about RAPE. The story of tango is about a woman being raped. But don't think its about some weak old fashioned housewife being raped by her husband or a baron or something (think teen clubber being raped by rich handsome guy). The woman is STRONG! Part of why the tango is so strong is because the woman is fighting back. And boy is she giving him a him a fight for his money. The tango is a fight for power, supremacy, and control. Most people just don't understand that. The reason why the dance is so violent, is because both dancers are embodying violence, pain, suffering, and the need for survival.
But what does this really have to do with Satine and her rape, why is Baz Luhrman so brilliant in his writing and directing of this scene? Why is this my favorite scene in the movie? It has everything to do with Satine: the Tango is about a strong, proud, prostitute being raped. That is why the dance is both romantic and sexy, and disgusting and terrifying. It is telling the tale of a prostitute being raped by her client. But she doesn't like it, and fights back. This brings the constant turns, the strong tension, all the wips, and the insane, and ravashing dips.
Baz works perfectly as he masks this until the end. As the dance begins, it seems like it is about lust, passion, and jealousy: "She'll drive you MAD! At first it seems like the Unconscious Argentinean, played by Jacek Koman is retelling Christian's story: he loves a woman who he cannot have to himself and its driving him crazy. He tells of the passion betweem them, and how he loves her, but he will never know if she loves him back. As the Unconscious Argentinian says: "When love is for the highest bidder, there is no trust. Without trust, there is no love." It is driving Christian crazy ...
Baz even shifts to a scene with Satine and the Duke, where we see him buy her heart with "expensive gifts," and our heart pains for Christian. But as the dance continues, we realize he is jealous, to the point where he will crack. At nearly five minutes in, Christian has declared he cannot live without Satine, and you can see on her face she thinks the same. But this dance is not only about Christian's love and jealousy over a prostitute; it is also about the duke. This becomes very obvious when Satine sings out "Come what may, I will love you until my dying day."
At 5 and a half minutes in, the Tango truly comes out. When jealousy takes control, the fight begins. As the duke throws Satine on the floor, you watch as all the dancers are whipped around violently. You see the pain and fear in both Satine and the dancer's eyes. As she cries on the floor from fear, the men through their dancers to the floor: discarding them like garbage. As the woman crawl away terrified, the Duke rips off Satine's dress. As the Duke takes control of Satine, Caroline O'Connor becomes the object of the dancers' desires as they spin her around violently throwing her between one another.
Just when Satine has lost hope, as she lays on the bed fearing the Duke's wrath, and her imminent death, she is saved. But O'Connor continues the tail. As she is held in the unconscious Argentinians arms, hanging loosely, he cuts her throat. She drops to the floor, laying dead within a circle of dirty men.
Baz brilliantly mixes an ancient, misunderstood dance with a disgusting rape in one of my favorite musical numbers.
So yesterday while studying for Game Theory, I had Moulin Rouge playing in the background and I was listening to the script / music while studying. When I got to El Tango de Roxanne, I had to take a break since it's my favorite scene, and I watched the whole thing. It really got me thinking though, how many people really understand the true meaning of "the tango"? My guess is next to none.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the video (ignore the first few seconds):
People watch this and go "oh that dance is really hott" or "it's sexy" or "it's fucking awesome" because it looks cool, and there's clearly a lot of passion and emotion in it. When you combine that with awesome dancing, and good video editing, it looks amazing. What people don't really understand though is how the tango relates to Satine's (Nicole Kidman) rape. Obviously, the dance is extremely violent, maybe saying something about it inevitable, that she is a prostitute and its her time to be herself and have sex for money. But that really isn't the point. If thats what you think the violent dance is about, simply telling Satine's story, then you're pretty much completely off.
All Ballroom dances tell a story: Rumba tells of Love, Samba is a carnival, Jive is a party. Tango is about RAPE. The story of tango is about a woman being raped. But don't think its about some weak old fashioned housewife being raped by her husband or a baron or something (think teen clubber being raped by rich handsome guy). The woman is STRONG! Part of why the tango is so strong is because the woman is fighting back. And boy is she giving him a him a fight for his money. The tango is a fight for power, supremacy, and control. Most people just don't understand that. The reason why the dance is so violent, is because both dancers are embodying violence, pain, suffering, and the need for survival.
But what does this really have to do with Satine and her rape, why is Baz Luhrman so brilliant in his writing and directing of this scene? Why is this my favorite scene in the movie? It has everything to do with Satine: the Tango is about a strong, proud, prostitute being raped. That is why the dance is both romantic and sexy, and disgusting and terrifying. It is telling the tale of a prostitute being raped by her client. But she doesn't like it, and fights back. This brings the constant turns, the strong tension, all the wips, and the insane, and ravashing dips.
Baz works perfectly as he masks this until the end. As the dance begins, it seems like it is about lust, passion, and jealousy: "She'll drive you MAD! At first it seems like the Unconscious Argentinean, played by Jacek Koman is retelling Christian's story: he loves a woman who he cannot have to himself and its driving him crazy. He tells of the passion betweem them, and how he loves her, but he will never know if she loves him back. As the Unconscious Argentinian says: "When love is for the highest bidder, there is no trust. Without trust, there is no love." It is driving Christian crazy ...
Baz even shifts to a scene with Satine and the Duke, where we see him buy her heart with "expensive gifts," and our heart pains for Christian. But as the dance continues, we realize he is jealous, to the point where he will crack. At nearly five minutes in, Christian has declared he cannot live without Satine, and you can see on her face she thinks the same. But this dance is not only about Christian's love and jealousy over a prostitute; it is also about the duke. This becomes very obvious when Satine sings out "Come what may, I will love you until my dying day."
At 5 and a half minutes in, the Tango truly comes out. When jealousy takes control, the fight begins. As the duke throws Satine on the floor, you watch as all the dancers are whipped around violently. You see the pain and fear in both Satine and the dancer's eyes. As she cries on the floor from fear, the men through their dancers to the floor: discarding them like garbage. As the woman crawl away terrified, the Duke rips off Satine's dress. As the Duke takes control of Satine, Caroline O'Connor becomes the object of the dancers' desires as they spin her around violently throwing her between one another.
Just when Satine has lost hope, as she lays on the bed fearing the Duke's wrath, and her imminent death, she is saved. But O'Connor continues the tail. As she is held in the unconscious Argentinians arms, hanging loosely, he cuts her throat. She drops to the floor, laying dead within a circle of dirty men.
Baz brilliantly mixes an ancient, misunderstood dance with a disgusting rape in one of my favorite musical numbers.
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