On 31/01/2011 3:55 PM, Invisible wrote:
> On 31/01/2011 03:46 PM, Stephen wrote:
>
>> I didn't know that there were so many words I did not know until I could
>> look them up.
>
> Yesterday I told my girlfriend "I didn't think hypernatraemia was good
> for hypotension". The look she gave me indicated that I was in danger of
> having the breakfast spoon I was holding shoved somewhere unpleasant...

Not surprising ;-)
But reading between the lines. Breakfast spoon?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 31/01/2011 3:59 PM, Invisible wrote:
>
> Well, news channels are like that.

I know but it still drove me bonkers.
>
> But normal TV should *not* be like this! And I am now sufficiently old
> and demented to claim that it wasn't when I was young.

I bet you can't remember "Rag, Tag and bobtail" :-P

I can only
> imagine they keep repeating everything to pad out the material and make
> it last longer. Feature films don't do this, so clearly it's not because
> the adult human has an attention span shorter than a goldfish.

Attention span is getting shorter as less and less is demanded of people.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:28:23 +0000, Phil Cook v2 wrote:

>> I don't have enough data to say with any certainty.
>>
>> (Also, the only "glib" I know of is the GNOME Foundation utilities
>> library...)
> 
> See this is why you need the Sony eReader with built-in dictionary (been
> slowly reading the "Kindling" thread)

Or indeed just access to dictionary.com. ;-)

Jim

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On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:51:08 +0000, Stephen wrote:

> On 31/01/2011 3:39 PM, Invisible wrote:
>>> Couple of decent ones recently. Though sadly they have gone down the
>>> route of re-explaining things every five minutes. Either they expect
>>> people to tune in late or they consider their audience
>>> memory-deprived.
>>
>> Oh God, I HATE THAT! >_< Why do TV programs have to repeat themselves
>> every 25 seconds these days?! I can only imagine that either they think
>> the people watching are absurdly stupid, or it makes the program
>> cheaper if they just repeat the same shots over and over again.
> 
> Me too!
> I had a job one where I had to have the TV on all the time in my
> workshop. (To make sure that the satellite dish had not lost alignment.)
> Sky News was the only thing I could bare to have on and it repeated
> every 20 minutes. It drove me mad(er)

The one that gets me is programmes that break for a 5-minute commercial 
break and when they come back, you get a recap of everything that 
happened before the break.  Just in case you forgot.

Jim

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>> Yesterday I told my girlfriend "I didn't think hypernatraemia was good
>> for hypotension". The look she gave me indicated that I was in danger of
>> having the breakfast spoon I was holding shoved somewhere unpleasant...
>
> Not surprising ;-)

Hmm. Electroplated nickel enema. Not good. >_<

> But reading between the lines. Breakfast spoon?

Well, it was *actually* nearly noon. What can I say? It took us that 
long to get out of bed. Dancing until midnight two nights back to back 
will do that to you. ;-)

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>> Well, news channels are like that.
>
> I know but it still drove me bonkers.

Oh, I'm not disagreeing.

>> I can only
>> imagine they keep repeating everything to pad out the material and make
>> it last longer. Feature films don't do this, so clearly it's not because
>> the adult human has an attention span shorter than a goldfish.
>
> Attention span is getting shorter as less and less is demanded of people.

Well yes, you do start to wonder.

On the other hand, consider recent films like Lord of the Rings or 
Avatar. Those are pretty damned long, and yet still very popular.

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> The one that gets me is programmes that break for a 5-minute commercial
> break and when they come back, you get a recap of everything that
> happened before the break.  Just in case you forgot.

Oh, don't even get me started on programs that have commercial breaks 
every 3 minutes, where the break lasts 5 minutes. >_<

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On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:15:27 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>> The one that gets me is programmes that break for a 5-minute commercial
>> break and when they come back, you get a recap of everything that
>> happened before the break.  Just in case you forgot.
> 
> Oh, don't even get me started on programs that have commercial breaks
> every 3 minutes, where the break lasts 5 minutes. >_<

You don't need to - I feel the same way about those.  Fortunately, we 
record the programmes on our DVR and skip the commercials.

Jim

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And lo On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:11:24 -0000, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake thusly:

> On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:51:08 +0000, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 31/01/2011 3:39 PM, Invisible wrote:
>>>> Couple of decent ones recently. Though sadly they have gone down the
>>>> route of re-explaining things every five minutes. Either they expect
>>>> people to tune in late or they consider their audience
>>>> memory-deprived.
>>>
>>> Oh God, I HATE THAT! >_< Why do TV programs have to repeat themselves
>>> every 25 seconds these days?! I can only imagine that either they think
>>> the people watching are absurdly stupid, or it makes the program
>>> cheaper if they just repeat the same shots over and over again.
>>
>> Me too!
>> I had a job one where I had to have the TV on all the time in my
>> workshop. (To make sure that the satellite dish had not lost alignment.)
>> Sky News was the only thing I could bare to have on and it repeated
>> every 20 minutes. It drove me mad(er)
>
> The one that gets me is programmes that break for a 5-minute commercial
> break and when they come back, you get a recap of everything that
> happened before the break.  Just in case you forgot.

And the teasing pre-caps "coming up on..." that repeat multiple times  
during the show not just at breaks or at the end for the next episode;  
even the BBC have got into the act.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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On 31/01/2011 04:38 PM, Phil Cook v2 wrote:

> And the teasing pre-caps "coming up on..." that repeat multiple times
> during the show not just at breaks or at the end for the next episode;
> even the BBC have got into the act.

Coming up on tonight's program, X, Y, Z and W.
X.
Coming up after the break: Y, Z and W.

So far, X.
Coming up, Z and W.
But first, Y.
After the break: Z and W.

So far, X and Y.
Coming up, W.
But first, Z.
You may remember X and Y.
And we just say Z.
Coming up: W.

So far, Y and Z.
But it all started with X.
And now, W.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!!?!?!! >_<

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