The "Stop Requested" Sequence

There is a string that runs all through the bus. You pull it if you would like to get off the bus at the next stop. When you do, a little chime sounds, and a voice says,"Stop Requested", as the same words light up at the front of the bus.

It's hard to pull the string. Not physically, but sometimes you really have to be lightning fast, or someone else will pull it before you get the chance. This latter scenario is more often the case - which is why everyone loves to pull it - for it will only sound once, before the next stop comes.

On many ocassions, there will be a person who is reaching for the string, and about to pull it, when someone else does. Sometimes unknowingly, sometimes to steal the string pulling, stop signaling pleasure from someone else. It's all good fun.

And that, is the "Stop Requested" Sequence.

Card Readers That Whir

On this oh-so-fabulous technologically advanced campus environment I have chosen for myself (I say this with truth, not sarcasm), there are several computer labs. I have been able to use all of them, and print things out in two.

The printing system here is incredibly fun. It's not like a high school system where you just look up and say,"No one print right now!" Instead, you select the page(s) you would like to print, and go through the motions you would to print them.

(This is the cool part.) Instead of physically printing it, the information is sent to a cache, and the computer's number which you are using, pops up on another screen (the one set up to do all the print jobs, of course). You simply select your computer, and the information pops up, stating what it is you're about to print. If indeed you would like to print it, you simply slip your copy card into the reader, and it whirs about for a few seconds. Once your page is printed, it pops your card right out, and you take it, and your papers without fuss.

Granted, the computers have been running pretty smoothly for me, so I haven't run into many kinks. I'm sure I will as time goes on.

And those, are the card readers that whir.

Actually, it's not really a whir, it's more of a tone it plays as it pushes the card back and forth while reading it to make sure it's got money on it. But whirring sounded good for writing purposes

Pilot: Digital Coughs, and Electronic Sneezes

These were some of the first things that amused me, which I named for the sake of time, and so that they would not be forgotten.

A digital cough is just that: a digital cough. No, it is not a recording of someone coughing that you downloaded from a site. A digital cough is that of an actual person coughing, in reality, and it just so happens to sound digital. By digital, I mean that the cough had various aspects to it which made it sound like it contained something other than the contents which the person was coughing out. The "something other" sounded digital, like a noise a computer would make, or something else hardware-related. Unfortunately, I forget what it exactly sounded like, or I would try to tell you. I just remember thinking that it sounded digital.

The same with the electronic sneeze. The sneeze was there, in addition to some high-pitched frequencies, which sounded like something an electronic device would make.

And that is what a digital cough, and an electronic sneeze are.