Wednesday various

  • Scales on bus stop benches to shame people into going to the gym? It sounds like an interesting idea — how much do these thing cost, and easily damaged are they in public places? — but also like a terrible marketing idea. [via]
  • Old age begins at 27? I wish I could say I didn’t believe it. Maybe going to the gym isn’t such a bad idea after all. [via]
  • Missing Doctor Who tapes in Zimbabwe? Time to step up the diplomacy, United Kingdom! [via]
  • Is Diebold even pretending they’re not trying to rig an election anymore? [via]
  • If Fox thinks removing extras from DVDs is going to encourage me to buy instead of rent, they’re sadly mistaken.

7 thoughts on “Wednesday various”

  1. I think you may have misread that article about extras. They’re saying they’re going to start removing extras from rental copies, while leaving them only on purchasable copies. That way, if you like the extras, you will have to buy to get them.

  2. Bear in mind, I do think it’s stupid. The market for people who are so die hard about DVD extras that they’ll buy instead of renting just for the extras is going to be pretty small. Most people who care about them are buying the DVDs already. All in all, I think this is going to cost Fox a lot (in terms of two separate printings, keeping track of which is which, etc) for pretty much no gain at all.

    Now that I think about it, I may have misinterpreted your comment. If so, sorry.

  3. I’ve enjoyed and sought out plenty of extras on DVDs I had no intention of ever buying, or that I wanted to sample before I bought. (The commentary tracks, for instance, are a big part of what sold me initially on Farscape.) That’s what I don’t like about Fox’s decision.

    It doesn’t make me more likely to buy; if anything, it makes me less likely to rent.

  4. I’m pretty sure I peaked around 27. Alas.

    And removing extras from rental DVDs sounds like a great way to de-motivate people from choosing to rent movies legally instead of pirating them. Way to go, Fox!

  5. Not me. I’m still climbing!

    If anything, I think intelligence increases after 27. That’s when people age out of all the flashing media around them and begin thinking at a reasonable speed, rather than having everything spoon-fed to them in ten-second (or less) segments.

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