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But this is different - they have done long term studies following the total life health of 1000s of pilots who have been exposed to these scanners 10x a day fo
by oiuytgfyhujik 16y ago
But this is different - they have done long term studies following the total life health of 1000s of pilots who have been exposed to these scanners 10x a day for their whole careers.
- Anechoic 16y agoLink/source?
- oiuytgfyhujik 16y agobiblo-ref: Journal of Ironic Internet Postings 1 April 2011
- ramchip 16y agoFor added convenience: @ARTICLE{oiuytgfyhujik:11, author = {{oiuytgfyhujik}}, title = {{on: World's largest association of pilots boycotts body scanners}}, year = {2011}, journal = {{Journal of Ironic Internet Postings}}, note = {\url{http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1885309}} }
- dejb 16y agoThere is an apparently dwindling minority of people who would consider this to be sarcasm and not irony. For these few, irony is never merely logical negation. It necessarily involves unintended and opposite consequences flowing from the protagonist's actions. A short internet search suggests I may be the last of this kind.
- ericb 16y agoAlanis Morisette's "Isn't it Ironic?" was an ironic tragedy for us all.
- dejb 16y agoActually I think 'Unfortunate' would have been the appropriate word in that song. Most of the situations described don't involve any direct negation of the protagonists intentions. The only possible qualifier is 'Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought "Well isn't this nice..."' ... but the last line is still sarcasm, not irony.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- ericb 16y ago> Most of the situations described don't involve any direct negation of the protagonists intentions. That was what I was pointing out.
- dejb 16y agoYou are being sarcastic.
- chopsueyar 16y agoPlease clarify: It's like 10,000 spoons, when all you need is a knife. It's like meeting the man of your dreams, and then meeting his beautiful husband. A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break. Does the qualifier "it's like" affect its intent?
- ericb 16y agoTake an example of irony--the story of Oedipus. Oedipus leaves his family specifically to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father, and marry his mother. The action of leaving his home, by which he intends to stop the prophecy by removing himself from proximity to his parents, causes it to come true, because unknown to Oedipus he was adopted. Oedipus causes the prophecy to come true by accidentally returning to his biological parents. So we have the action of a protagonist causing the opposite effect of what was intended--irony. The items Alanis lists are mainly really annoying.
- mcantor 16y agoThe only problem I have with caveats like this is that on all the hundreds of occasions when I've heard someone say, "Actually, that's not irony," the subsequent explanation of what does qualify as irony has been different every single time. This is additionally confounded by the fact that British people really do mean "sarcasm" when they say "irony." (At least, most of the British people I've spoken with do.)
- dejb 16y ago> This is additionally confounded by the fact that British people really do mean "sarcasm" when they say "irony." I've never experienced this in actual conversation with British and/or other non-US English speakers. But the internet definitions I'm finding seem to all include 'sarcastic but somewhat subtle' in the definition of ironic. For me the definitions of sarcasm and irony do not intersect. Sarcasm is intentional whereas irony is at best random or more often a signifier of implied 'fate'.
- chopsueyar 16y agoI concur. The distinction is important.
- oiuytgfyhujik 16y agoSuggested motto for the USA: "We don't understand sarcasm and we carry guns"
- kwantam 16y agoIrony certainly can be random or a signifier of implied fate in the case of literary/dramatic irony. Verbal irony, which is closely related to but not identical to sarcasm (though there is quite a lot of debate on exactly the relationship among psycholinguists) is most certainly intentional. "I don't wear my seat belt because if I'm uncomfortable I'll drive more dangerously." "Sounds like you've really thought that one through." Verbal irony, possibly sarcasm depending on whose definition you buy, but definitely intentional in any case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony#Verbal_irony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony#Verbal_irony discusses this further and refers to specific research on this topic.
- oiuytgfyhujik 16y agoYes it is technically sarcasm - at least in common English usage. Since irony doesn't seem to exist in America I'm not sure if American-English makes the same distinctions.
- nollidge 16y agoFrom http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony: "-Synonyms 1, 2. Irony, sarcasm, satire indicate mockery of something or someone. The essential feature of irony is the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action or expression and the context in which it occurs. In the figure of speech, emphasis is placed on the opposition between the literal and intended meaning of a statement; one thing is said and its opposite implied, as in the comment, 'Beautiful weather, isn't it?' made when it is raining or nasty."
- InclinedPlane 16y agoIt's obviously humor, since backscatter x-ray scanners haven't been invented for as long as a standard pilot's career yet.
- Anechoic 16y agoSorry, this is what too little sleep does to a person.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- BCM43 16y agoFor those confused, I'm pretty sure this is a joke.
- rdtsc 16y agoNo, but they did use mouse pilots in a long term animal study of 3 years (20 years in human pilot equivalent years). Most of the study subjects reported dizziness, headaches and the infamous restless paw syndrome, which made it pretty much impossible for them to continue flying safely.
- mjschultz 16y agoCan you provide a reference for this study please?
- rbanffy 16y agoYou want a reference to a study about mice who fly planes? Seriously?
- rdtsc 16y agoYou know, I debated of spending some time to setup a bogus scientific journal site just for him... Maybe even charge $30 for the full PDF version.
- mjschultz 16y agoHmmm, my coffee must not have kicked in at that point. I skipped right over the "mouse pilots" part and just assumed "mice." It seems entirely plausible that they have exposed mice to backscatter scanners for extended periods and studied the reactions/effects. That study I would be interested in, but it seems rdtsc was making a funny. I understand now.