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By far the best part of the article: > The United States military when trying to avoid divulging information gives reporters briefings with 25 minutes of inten

By far the best part of the article: > The United States military when trying to avoid divulging information gives reporters briefings with 25 minutes of intentionally dull PowerPoint presentations and 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone who is still awake. The presentations are called hypnotizing chickens.

plafl 7y ago
Thank you very much for pointing this out. Also very interesting the article about the first person to write about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher
_def 7y ago
also this: > Notable people who have discussed chicken hypnotism: > - Werner Herzog. "known to hypnotize chickens; he also hypnotized the cast of his 1976 film Heart of Glass" I wanna watch this movie now. From the movies own wikipedia article: > During shooting, almost all of the actors performed while under hypnosis. [...] The hypnotized actors give very strange performances, which Herzog intended to suggest the trance-like state of the townspeople in the story. Herzog provided the actors with most of their dialogue, memorised during hypnosis. However, many of the hypnotised actors' gestures and movements occurred spontaneously during filming.
wdr1 7y ago
Wow. When I worked at a startup, I had a boss who was a really nice guy, friend with the CEO, but very much in over his head. He had been a DBA who -- literally & by his own words -- had read a 24 hour book on Java and that was the extend of his knowledge. This was early 2000s so crazy, but not that crazy. When I needed his blessing my approach was to start with the details, wait until I visibly see him start to tune out, start looking around the room out of boredom, then ask for permission on what I needed. I never got a no. He was so happy for the meeting to be over he never disagreed. (And these were usually 10 minute tops.)
m463 7y ago
I suspect this is the principle behind all privacy policies, except there is no time for questions.

plafl 7y ago

Thank you very much for pointing this out. Also very interesting the article about the first person to write about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher

_def 7y ago

also this: > Notable people who have discussed chicken hypnotism: > - Werner Herzog. "known to hypnotize chickens; he also hypnotized the cast of his 1976 film Heart of Glass" I wanna watch this movie now. From the movies own wikipedia article: > During shooting, almost all of the actors performed while under hypnosis. [...] The hypnotized actors give very strange performances, which Herzog intended to suggest the trance-like state of the townspeople in the story. Herzog provided the actors with most of their dialogue, memorised during hypnosis. However, many of the hypnotised actors' gestures and movements occurred spontaneously during filming.

wdr1 7y ago

Wow. When I worked at a startup, I had a boss who was a really nice guy, friend with the CEO, but very much in over his head. He had been a DBA who -- literally & by his own words -- had read a 24 hour book on Java and that was the extend of his knowledge. This was early 2000s so crazy, but not that crazy. When I needed his blessing my approach was to start with the details, wait until I visibly see him start to tune out, start looking around the room out of boredom, then ask for permission on what I needed. I never got a no. He was so happy for the meeting to be over he never disagreed. (And these were usually 10 minute tops.)

m463 7y ago

I suspect this is the principle behind all privacy policies, except there is no time for questions.