Doorbell "button"

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I've not seen the need for Flash so don't have it installed (one more attack vector eliminated). Seems like it is typically used to deliver *ads* (and silly videos).

I'll have to watch the movie again for the reference. It's been long enough that I only remember a few lines: ("... and what did *you* get from the Monster?" etc.)

Even better:

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you don't need flash to use youtube, would be rather silly of google to require it since ipad doesn't do flash

if you think youtube is just silly videos you haven't looked

-Lasse

Don Y wrote in news:mcfmac$nc1$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

How about presenting them with several door bells. I'm thinking of three of the normal door bells perhaps arranded together or around the entryway. They may or may not provide hints.

I'd then hide the real door bell button in something non-obvious like a brick that you have to touch. I'd use a couple intersecting IR detectors so it could be any brick or location inn the entryway. It might have a subtle hint that it might provide some function. All the other buttons are distractors or perhaps leads to the real button.

What about a doll nailed to the door frame? You know, the kind that "talks" when you pull a string...

Or, maybe a modified X-Acto Boston Model Manual Pencil Sharpener - EPI1031, with a supply of #2 pencils in a nearby cup. Of course, this could get expensive over time depending on how many visitors you have in a year's time.

That would make them think that you are a voodoo witch.

You should use something besides a nail.

youtube complains that "a plugin is required". When there's something that I *really* want to see, I'll look into it! :>

I use the 'net/www for research, not entertainment, etc. So, I am far more interested in *text* that I can access (research/scientific papers, source code, etc.).

Videos aren't searchable (except for the keywords chosen by the person posting it. Nor can you "ask questions" of a video.

Which youtube video will provide me with guidance on creating a set of rules to convert graphemes to phonemes?

Or, help me design the VM system on a particular processor?

Or, provide a recipe for a particular sort of biscotti (I don't need you to SHOW me how to mix flour eggs and sugar in a bowl -- I *do* need to know how *much* of each!)

Or, how to determine if a particular bezier curve is straight, curved in one direction, curved in both directions, contains a discontinuity, etc?

Or, how to configure a firewall/proxy for a particular sort of traffic?

Etc.

And, which of these can NOT be answered WITHOUT youtube??

For years, I surfed the web with lynx -- not even "needing" the "pictures" (and ads!) that were present.

And with a different rhythm, if they knock more than once.

Yes, in my original post, I suggested "a *group* of buttons". But, that probably is only a minor setback -- press them one at a time in succession until someone answers the door, etc.

The "group" could all be non-pushable buttons to further frustrate/confound. Or, *do* "other things" (visible to the visitor -- like turn on the irrigation for the hanging plants; turn on a porch light; etc.). So, the visitor gets distracted into sorting out what the buttons ACTUALLY do instead of trying to "ring the bell" ("Oh, crap! How do I turn that water off now that a button press turned it ON? It's dripping all over the place!!")

The point is to make this an "unsatisfying experience".

I think my best compromise is the HAL9000 approach. It's "unexpected". It contains no explicit (or implicit!) directions as to how it *should* be used (do you look into it? talk to it? wave your hands in front of it? whistle at it? etc.). It's not "cute" like a moving doorbell button might be. It's not aggressive/hostile tempting you to take a swipe at it (when no one is apparently home). It's not "consumable" (like a knocker that falls off in your hand).

And, it gives me an obvious place to put the camera that "watches" the visitor (from the front) and "intercom" (speaker + microphone).

It may take some work coming up with suitable pieces of glass, optics, etc. (a round bottom flask would be a good starting point! but, as they are tempered glass, I suspect they would be hard to "cut" precisely). I think there's a group of glass blowers here in town

9articans) that I could approach for "one off". And, possibly get the *exact* shape that I need (instead of trying to approximate it from bits of existing glassware).

Shave-and-a-haircut....

two-bits!

Make them all part of the process: no one button works, but a particular (maybe timed) sequence does.

George

You do need flash for youtube.

ipads don't run youtube without further assistance.

flash is a bitch, it provides many severe security holes that are being exploited regularly - please not the recent spate of 'critical' flash updates - is it 3 in the last 30 days?

I had a wiring harness for a trailer hitch that needed to go into our van. Confusing pictures in the installation "manual". My son found a video on youtube... Ahh, I see, done.

George H.

I rewatched the original movie. OK, I understand the reference. :-/

Sure! "How To". I had to reset the SRS indicator in one of the vehicles and numerous "videos" popped up in the search.

As did numerous *written* descriptions (including several with photographs: "This is the connector that you need to use"). So, NOT being able to view the videos didn't "cost" me anything.

(IME, people don't *plan* how they will describe something. While at the local library, one day, I took advantage of their "public computers" to research replacing the starter on the Honda (little 4-banger, transverse mount, etc.). Silly idea to think that would be productive! The "process" takes too long -- you'd have to shoot a few seconds of video at each stage: here are the bolts holding the throttle body in place; now I've removed the throttle body and you can see the bolts that hold the intake manifold in place; now I've removed the intake manifold and...

Instead, lots of shakey camera action with a description along the lines of "the starter is located way down there -- behind and under all of this other stuff".

By contrast, when *I* undertook the process, I used a still camera and photographed each step. Wrap some words around it and I've got a "guide" that is far more useful, less ambiguous and more

*concise* than what I had encountered from other "weekend mechanics" armed with cheap cameras! :-/

Yeah, it would undoubtedly frustrate a caller. But, I don't think it would "set him back on his heels"/confound him. He'd eventually treat it as a "broken doorbell".

By contrast, the coin slot, HAL9000, etc. would really catch him off-guard! While N "buttons" might cause him to press *each* of them (instead of "gambling" on a single choice), the coin slot would have him contemplating whether or not he wants to "risk" a quarter (dollar?) to see what the coin slot *does*!

(i.e., make it just issue a "Thank You" message -- and do nothing else! :> )

[I wonder how many folks would actually scratch their curiosity "itch" in this way?]

What's the caller's objective? For most, I'd expect that it is to contact the resident. I'd start banging on the door.

I get few callers. But for those few, almost none ring the doorbell. They knock on the door.

The people you most want to talk to seem to do neither. Guy who came to discuss the fiber install hung a tag on the door and left. When queried, he said it was early and he didn't want to disturb. Cost him another trip...go figger...

Oh boy! mike wants to get all TEMPEST secure!

As if you had anything important to shield.

IF you are smart enough to want and choose the right "fiber install", you are smart enough to do it yourself.

The wire guy is likely in the area every day anyway. Another trip by your place is no big deal. Not like the more hectic cable TV installer regimen.

fiber install

mike

hahahaha

can you say overkill?