Friday, September 30, 2022

One Word Tweet

A series of one-word tweets recently came online and created lot of interests. It all started with the American train service company Amtrak started with a single word “trains”. Lot of people have started to use this one-word tweet trend. Here are some examples of people/organizations that have used one-word tweet: 

NASA – universe 
President Biden – democracy 
Tendulkar – cricket 
WWE – wrestling 
Starbucks Coffee – coffee 
Google Maps – maps 
Wendy’s – burgers 
FedEx – packages 

Here are my suggestions to some big corporations. Hope they take my suggestion and use this one-word tweet.

AT&T – phones 
Xerox – photocopy 
IBM – computers 

Here is my one-word reply tweet to you know who is mentioned  above:

demented

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Close Caption Faux Pas

Close caption is a text version of spoken part of television, movie or a computer presentation. It was originally developed to aid the hearing-impaired people. Also, caption can be read when audio cannot be heard. I read somewhere it is made possible through a process called encoding. (I have no idea what this means.) 

Sometimes, there is a faux pas in close caption words. Completely different from the audio portion. Most of the times it is hilarious. Here a few examples. 

Baseball game. The announcer says “Longoria at first base. The next hitter will be Carlos Pena”. The close caption showed “The next Hitler will be Carlos Pena” (In cricket it is batsman but in baseball it is hitter,)

Reporter says “President Nixon is in the White House”. The close caption showed “President Nixon is in the White Hoe”. 

“Nancy Reagan a former first lady was back at home”. The close caption showed “Nancy Reagan a former fertile lady was back at home”. 

2007 Malibu Fire. The ABC news reporter said: “Fire fighters to deal with not just the fire with people in the middle of the road evacuating”. The close caption showed “Fire fighters to deal with not just the fire with people in the middle of the road ejaculating”. 

Movie close caption. A guy tells his friend: We have to take a ferry to get there. The close caption showed “We have to take a fairy to get there”. 

These are the 2 close caption faux pas I saw in the TV last week. 

BBC was covering the death of Queen Elizabeth. They showed a picture of Camilla, wife of Prince Charles. Narrator says “Now she has become Camilla, the Queen Consort to King Charles. But Camilla will not be called Queen Regina”. But the close caption showed “Camilla will not be called Queen Vxgina”. 

There was a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A TV reporter was saying: In a few minutes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak. The close caption showed “In a few minutes Indian Prime Minister Indra Modi will speak”. 

If you know any other close caption faux pas, please let me know through your comments. Thanks.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Britain's Double Standard

Queen Elizabeth’s funeral is on September 19. World leaders, about 500 of them, are coming to London to attend the funeral. They are Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens, and other royal families. The British government has put out a strong advice for world leaders to:

Not come in their own planes but travel by commercial airline. 
Do not use limousines and travel by bus with limited security. 

These escorted buses will take them to the Queen’s funeral. When the USA objected to this, they relented and said Biden will be the exception. He can come in his own plane (Air Force 1) and travel in his own limousine. 

This is double standard by Britain. Every world leader will feel their security is as important as Biden’s. If the British Government cannot handle 500 world leaders’ planes, security, and limos, they should tell them not to come. Their countries can be represented by the Ambassadors/High Commissioners residing in London. Anyway, the queen is dead. She is not going to know who came and who did not come. 

I was thinking how the conversation will go inside the escorted bus (without their translators). Here is my imagination. 

French President Emmanuel Macros in French. Il n'y a pas d'air dans ce bus (There is no air inside this bus) 

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame replies in Swahili. Asante. Lakini sikula siku nzima (Thank you. But I did not eat all day) 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in German. Ich habe keine Ahnung, was diese Typen sagen (I have no idea what these guys are saying) 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in English. Please speak in English, mate.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

University of Michigan (Part 3 of 3)

This is the final part of my visit to the University of Michigan. I want to write about the cafeterias at the U. There are 8 cafeterias within the campus. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All cafeterias are open from morning 7 am to evening 8 pm. 

I went for lunch one day in one of the cafeterias. I was pleasantly stunned. If you have ever been on a cruise ship you can visualize what I am saying. It looks like a buffet dining place in a cruise ship – in terms of available foods. 

                                                 Cafeteria Entrance

Sample menu for lunch on the day I visited. Too much to list all.

Students eating

In addition, there are several types of ice creams, cakes, and soft drinks. Also, several different juices. And, coffee, tea, and bottled water. 

It was too much in the menu. Students pay for the meals on a semester basis. It comes out to $13 per day which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I asked my host why too many varieties available for lunch. Is this because of opening day? He said this is the regular food menu and nothing special. He also said this is nothing compared to how many varieties available for dinner. 

I offered to pay for my lunch. I was told this week is free for all the guests because this is a move-in week where students come with family and friends. 

Here is a moving conveyor belt to place the empty dishes to clean (video clip).


Finally, it is always a pleasant experience to land at the San Francisco International Airport. Until a few seconds before landing, you can see water everywhere and feel as if you are going to land on the water.