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Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

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Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#251

Post by mod »

macintux wrote: post #236
krapp wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do that with my keys and wallet whenever I travel because I'm paranoid about losing them.

Traveling is its own house of horrors in this regard because not only is losing something much more disruptive but also your common items tend to be out of place. My keys are never actually in my pockets when I travel, e.g., so my usual pocket patting routine trips me up.

And you can't even keep stuff in one place! I'm stupid about my passport and I end up moving it to 5 or 6 different places at different stages of my trip (security, airport gate, etc).

It drives me nuts, because I'm really not that worried about it, I just want to be able to check that I didn't leave it somewhere.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#252

Post by Moru »

Splines wrote: post #228
dheera wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you forget where you put your car keys ...

I do this too. I always leave my keys and wallet in the same spot. It majorly screws up my routine if I pick up my wallet to pay for something online and forget to put it back where it belongs, and I can't find it the next day. Or I leave it in the office and the next morning I have to remember I left it in the office, and it's not hiding somewhere at home.

Off topic but check if your bank has e-card for buying things online. The last 20 years I have only used temporary e-cards that are limited to one-time charge and a limited amount of money. No need to worry about your card details being stolen.

Some places like paypal might be hard but I don't use paypal anyway because of all the problems they have caused the people I bought things from. If my e-card is not accepted, I can probably do without the item anyway.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#253

Post by cgriswald »

kbenson wrote: post #227
always_good wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, one thing I like about HN is that these sorts of corrections are made, and made respectfully. Their post was interesting because they're right: I'm a native English speaker and I paused on "medicament".

And yet it's a real word, just an uncommon one, so it's not really a correction, but a recommendation to speak differently presented as a correction. That can be fairly easy to take negatively. Personally, if I felt compelled to point out that it was uncommon, I would have said "At first I though medicament was a misspelling or autocorrect mistake, but when I looked it up, I found out it's a real word in English, if…

Your version comes across to me as more negative than how it was originally phrased. You trade a respectful and respectable assertiveness and directness for a passive-aggressive wishy-washiness which protects you from being wrong while simultaneously implying the other party is so tender your words can hurt them.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#254

Post by inopinatus »

cperciva wrote: post #165
jakub_g wrote: post #32

I noticed the problem on myself on several occasions and kind of invented the same solution. For example, sometimes I would take a medicament mechanically while doing something else and just a few minutes later, forget if I took it or not. Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill". Another: sometimes I'd lend some amount money to a colleague, and a few weeks later I'd have a hard time figuring whether they gav…

For example, sometimes I would take a medicament mechanically while doing something else and just a few minutes later, forget if I took it or not. Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill". My solution for this problem: I have a cron job which sends me an email every morning. If I see that email, I 1. Take a pill out of the bottle and put it on my laptop keyboard 2. Delete the email 3. Eat the pill. This seque…

I prepare a week of pills in a 14-slot pill case (mon-sun w/AM & PM). This results in a very simple decision: if the pills are present for the current timeslot, take them (with the sole exception of Sunday night post-refill, which is easily checked because the box is full). I also get at-a-glance evidence of any missed dose. When the case is empty on Sunday night, I refill all the slots.

Process requires careful consideration when crossing the international date line, otherwise has proved robust, and does not require a laptop.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#255

Post by ceejayoz »

cperciva wrote: post #197
finid wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if there's a network issue that prevented the email from being sent?

Then I notice that I'm not getting any email. The cron job runs on my mail server.

What if it malfunctions and the email gets repeatedly delivered? :-p

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#256

Post by Moru »

kpil wrote: post #180
tedajax wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to your argument because I agree with you quite a bit: A post-it stuck on the side of one's monitor seems vastly superior to any sort of app based reminder. It helps that creating the post-it and sticking it somewhere is itself a physical action that is remembered much more than a few taps of a thumb.

If only someone could invent monitors that sticky notes actually stucks...

Someone at work used to have a good portion of the screen covered in notes. In worst case she just used tape to get them to stick but most of them stuck without problem.

(CRT timeframe)

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#257

Post by Ezhik »

LeonM wrote: post #168
cperciva wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example, sometimes I would take a medicament mechanically while doing something else and just a few minutes later, forget if I took it or not. Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill". My solution for this problem: I have a cron job which sends me an email every morning. If I see that email, I 1. Take a pill out of the bottle and put it on my laptop keyboard 2. Delete the email 3. Eat the pill. This seque…

Unless you lose state between step 2 and 3.

How can we make the pill transaction atomic?

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#258

Post by amyjess »

So, in Japan there's a superhero franchise on television called Super Sentai (you might know it as where Power Rangers gets their source footage from). Each year, they do a different Super Sentai series with its own distinct theme. Well, in 2014, they did a train-themed series called ToQger (ToQ being a cutesy spelling of Tokkyū, meaning "express train"). The show is absolutely full of references to everything to do with trains; the theme is present everywhere.

Pre-battle poses are tradition in Super Sentai, and ToQger was no exception. Specifically, the pose ends with the team's leader dramatically pointing while calling shuppatsu shinkō, which basically means "all aboard!".

I always wondered what the pointing was for, and now I know.

You can see the pose here: http://i.imgur.com/0DugYRe.png

Edit: And when they combine their mecha together, they point and call as each of their vehicles link up: http://i.imgur.com/Lct4XQl.png

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#259

Post by _xhok »

braythwayt wrote: post #162

If you don’t point to the knot on your harness when calling out that you are tied in, and we don’t audibly call out “On belay... belay on” to each other, we aren’t climbing together. These exact same rituals have been developed for climbing because everyone, experienced, and inexperienced, can make mistakes. The greatest climber of her generation (of any gender!), Lynn Hill, opens her autobiography with the story of…

Does that say 75 feet? How on earth do you survive that?

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#260

Post by mjevans »

_xhok wrote: post #259
braythwayt wrote: post #162

If you don’t point to the knot on your harness when calling out that you are tied in, and we don’t audibly call out “On belay... belay on” to each other, we aren’t climbing together. These exact same rituals have been developed for climbing because everyone, experienced, and inexperienced, can make mistakes. The greatest climber of her generation (of any gender!), Lynn Hill, opens her autobiography with the story of…

Does that say 75 feet? How on earth do you survive that?

By landing correctly; mostly not on your head, and not at a bad angle for the spine.

Soft ground beneath also helps.

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