Nixes the idea of ME getting one too. On the other hand it just might stop those pesky telemarketers from bothering me during dinner. I usually have COL (cat on lap) anyway and don’t get up to answer it. Recently my dog was on my lap with a cat on HIM so neither one of us got up to answer it.
In the book “Infinite Jest”, which takes place in the near future, David Foster Wallace provides an explanation for why, as the technology advances, videophones became LESS popular, until everyone simply went back to voice-only phones.
With a regular telephone, the person talking (a) assumes the person listening is actually paying rapt attention to every word rather than eating, or picking his toenails, or surfing the web, or whatever, and (b) looks presentable. With a videophone, not only do the parties actually have to maintain a respectful semblance of attention, but they have to worry about their hair and their teeth and their clothes, until an unannounced phone call is as stressful as an unannounced visit by Mom. So people first started using prop backgrounds to make it look like the house was clean, then started using digital “masks” of themselves looking their most presentable, then masks which were IDEALIZED versions of themselves, the masks which didn’t resemble themselves at all. By the end, the image broadcast over the videophones was no more a real-time picture of the person talking than the avatars we use in online forums, and it was just pointless to pretend that voice-only phones were anything other than what people really WANTED out of a telephone call, and the videophone idea was abandoned entirely…
Bigmouth—If your attitude pisses enough readers off, they just hit “Flag” which brings it to the attention of the site managers to do what they think best. I don’t recall you or your problem but I’m not likely to forget you soon, thanks to your above comment.
bigmouth, I , too was censored in one of my comments about ‘for better or for worse’— they get a LOT of comments there and all of them react to the strips characters and their appearance and actions as if they were real people. One bunch of comments referred to how much one of the youngsters on the strip looked a lot like her mother on the strip, and how amazing that was…….So, having read all this, I had to comment , reminding folks that these are characters DRAWN on either computer or paper but DRAWN…not real, not actually living human beings…
So, that comment was entirely thrown out!– I used no profanity, I was not belligerent…but the truth offended the Nazis and out it went.
just wanted to throw in my 2cents, if they dont pull this, too
comicgos over 15 years ago
Was this the new feature announced on the Apple iPhones today? So much for that idea!
1cat3dogs over 15 years ago
That is one way to stop the telemarketers call you in the mornings.
bald over 15 years ago
1cat3dogs: i think eno dresses like that almost all day
pibfan868 over 15 years ago
hahahaaha-I think it would truly work 1dog3cats!
Nighthawks Premium Member over 15 years ago
perhaps a little bitty curtain over the screen would be a good idea
pierreandnicole over 15 years ago
Nixes the idea of ME getting one too. On the other hand it just might stop those pesky telemarketers from bothering me during dinner. I usually have COL (cat on lap) anyway and don’t get up to answer it. Recently my dog was on my lap with a cat on HIM so neither one of us got up to answer it.
risitas over 15 years ago
Just don’t point it at yourself…….
teeterman over 15 years ago
pierreandnicole -what a disturbing 3 way. Here, use this pic to remember that humans are good too!!
fritzoid Premium Member over 15 years ago
In the book “Infinite Jest”, which takes place in the near future, David Foster Wallace provides an explanation for why, as the technology advances, videophones became LESS popular, until everyone simply went back to voice-only phones.
With a regular telephone, the person talking (a) assumes the person listening is actually paying rapt attention to every word rather than eating, or picking his toenails, or surfing the web, or whatever, and (b) looks presentable. With a videophone, not only do the parties actually have to maintain a respectful semblance of attention, but they have to worry about their hair and their teeth and their clothes, until an unannounced phone call is as stressful as an unannounced visit by Mom. So people first started using prop backgrounds to make it look like the house was clean, then started using digital “masks” of themselves looking their most presentable, then masks which were IDEALIZED versions of themselves, the masks which didn’t resemble themselves at all. By the end, the image broadcast over the videophones was no more a real-time picture of the person talking than the avatars we use in online forums, and it was just pointless to pretend that voice-only phones were anything other than what people really WANTED out of a telephone call, and the videophone idea was abandoned entirely…
lazygrazer over 15 years ago
Funny read, fritzoid—thanks.
runar over 15 years ago
Hey, is it true that Eno Camino is actually a self-portrait of Glenn McCoy? I think I read that somewhere, but he idealizes the image for his readers.
lazygrazer over 15 years ago
Bigmouth—If your attitude pisses enough readers off, they just hit “Flag” which brings it to the attention of the site managers to do what they think best. I don’t recall you or your problem but I’m not likely to forget you soon, thanks to your above comment.
BTW, I flagged it.
Nighthawks Premium Member over 15 years ago
bigmouth, I , too was censored in one of my comments about ‘for better or for worse’— they get a LOT of comments there and all of them react to the strips characters and their appearance and actions as if they were real people. One bunch of comments referred to how much one of the youngsters on the strip looked a lot like her mother on the strip, and how amazing that was…….So, having read all this, I had to comment , reminding folks that these are characters DRAWN on either computer or paper but DRAWN…not real, not actually living human beings… So, that comment was entirely thrown out!– I used no profanity, I was not belligerent…but the truth offended the Nazis and out it went. just wanted to throw in my 2cents, if they dont pull this, too