Cisco and iRobot Create Sheldonbot-Like Telepresence System 123
sweetpea86 writes "Cisco has teamed up with robotics firm iRobot to create their own enterprise version of the 'Sheldonbot' from US comedy series The Big Bang Theory. The robot, known as Ava 500, brings together iRobot's autonomous navigation with Cisco's TelePresence system to enable a remote worker sitting in front of a video collaboration system to meet with colleagues in an office setting or take part in a facility tour."
A solution looking for a problem (Score:3)
The robot, known as Ava 500, brings together iRobot's autonomous navigation with Cisco's TelePresence system to enable a remote worker sitting in front of a video collaboration system to meet with colleagues in an office setting or take part in a facility tour."
You could take a facility tour or do a video conference with someone holding a smartphone for a LOT less money.
There are excellent uses for telerobotic systems. This is not one of them. This is a solution looking for a problem.
Cost/Benefit (Score:2)
Because a person carrying around a phones time is free.
I can pay someone to carry around a phone for a LOOOOONG time before I could justify paying for a robot to do the same thing. The accounting is pretty easy here. Multi-thousand dollar robot + service staff or cheap intern + smartphone. Not exactly a tough call to make if you care about not wasting money.
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"We do not need telephones, because we have messenger boys" - a British Government - presumably some time in late 1800's.
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You are clearly on a popular strategy here:
"We do not need telephones, because we have messenger boys" - a British Government - presumably some time in late 1800's.
telephones provide instant gratification versus messenger boy, what does this big expensive fragile slow robot give you versus slave with a phone?
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You are clearly on a popular strategy here:
"We do not need telephones, because we have messenger boys" - a British Government - presumably some time in late 1800's.
Your argument depends upon a false equivalency. The basic technology to do the functions of remote presence has been in existence and in use for quite some time now. Telephones permitted vastly improved communication over what was available at the time.
I've been in literally hundreds of manufacturing facilities worldwide and precisely zero of them would allow a self guided device like this loose in their plant. Aside from being stupidly expensive and redundant and solving a problem no one has, they have
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This is a minor annoyance affecting people with lots of money being used to justify the development of technology.
The problems with someone carrying a smartphone are that the view will wobble, the carrier is in control of the movement, the speakerphone may not be sufficiently clear, and the phone itself is too small to be easily recognized as a person.
Sure, a smartphone is fine for giving an ill relative a presence at a family gathering. For a multi-million-dollar contract hinging on the tour of a facility,
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The problems with someone carrying a smartphone are that the view will wobble, the carrier is in control of the movement, the speakerphone may not be sufficiently clear, and the phone itself is too small to be easily recognized as a person.
So mount it to a cart, shout instructions through it, get a better speakerphone and recognize the fact that a robot is not a person. I give facetime tours to family members all the time. It's not perfect but it's fine and having a robot would not actually make the tour better, particularly if there were stairs involved.
For a multi-million-dollar contract hinging on the tour of a facility
If it is a multi-million $ contract you're not going to do that through a remote robot in the real world. You are going yourself or you are sending a trusted agent on your behalf.
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So mount it to a cart, shout instructions through it, get a better speakerphone and recognize the fact that a robot is not a person. I give facetime tours to family members all the time. It's not perfect but it's fine and having a robot would not actually make the tour better, particularly if there were stairs involved.
While it may be amusing to think that executives are willing to shout and wait for someone to follow their orders, people don't work that way. If a person (even an executive) is curious about something, they want to just go look at it, not ask somebody else to push them over toward that whatchamacallit by the thingy under the wossname.
You are going yourself or you are sending a trusted agent on your behalf.
Eventually, yeah... but the first few facility tours don't need to actually involve a physical presence. It's a sniff test to make sure the outfit meets the unwritten require
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While it may be amusing to think that executives are willing to shout and wait for someone to follow their orders, people don't work that way.
Yeah, actually they do. And it doesn't have to be executives doing the shouting either. If you are doing a teleconference where a walkabout is necessary, it's not remotely difficult to get someone to point a camera at the things someone at the other end of the cable wants to look at. I'd be happy to tote around a camera to show off my manufacturing plant to someone remotely should the need ever arise. Not a big deal at all.
Eventually, yeah... but the first few facility tours don't need to actually involve a physical presence.
Do you have the foggiest idea how many facility tours you would have to do to jus
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Do you have the foggiest idea how many facility tours you would have to do to justify one of these things even if the technology provided some advantage?
If the tour makes a good enough impression to land an extra big contract, one.
(and it doesn't provide any advantage)
I work at a financial services firm whose clients are the ones making those multi-million-dollar deals. Yes, they care about doing things themselves, having those little annoyances stripped away, and just getting business done without wasting time giving trivial orders. There are a few old rich folks who want others to do the work for them, but mostly the people who are still making big deals want to be a part of those deals, not
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If the tour makes a good enough impression to land an extra big contract, one.
Not a marketing guy are you? If you want to impress someone this is a really poor way to do it. If I'm the one considering spending millions of dollars my very first question is going to be, "why are you spending tens of thousands of dollars on a frivolous robot?" With the implication that if you are willing to waste money on this, what else are you willing to waste money on?
I work at a financial services firm whose clients are the ones making those multi-million-dollar deals. Yes, they care about doing things themselves, having those little annoyances stripped away, and just getting business done without wasting time giving trivial orders. There are a few old rich folks who want others to do the work for them, but mostly the people who are still making big deals want to be a part of those deals, not be led around on a leash.
Which is why they put their own eyes on what they are investing in. I think you are assuming things you have no direct experience
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You could take a facility tour or do a video conference with someone holding a smartphone for a LOT less money.
There are excellent uses for telerobotic systems. This is not one of them. This is a solution looking for a problem.
You're missing the point, a person holding a smartphone controls what the viewer sees, a robotic system gives the viewer control of what they see which adds to the immersion.
Done right the experience from the viewer should be akin to a first person videogame, and combined with the likes of the Occulus Rift headset it could be a game changer.
We do what we must, because we can (Score:2)
Just one thing (Score:5, Funny)
It needs a robot arm. So that I can buy my Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets at the grocery store without ever leaving my house.
Friendbot 1.0 (Score:3)
It needs a robot arm. So that I can buy my Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets at the grocery store without ever leaving my house.
There is a neat invention for that that already exists. It's called a friend. Try one out sometime.
(I kid, I kid...)
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I had trouble with the whole friend thing, because I didn't see where I could buy one online from my basement. However, eventually I discovered the right place to purchase those services and immediately had a friend come over.
She looked confused when I asked her to go pick me up some Mountain Dew and Cheetos down at the corner, but she came back with them. I thought 300 dollars was a little steep, but I figured that I needed to buy in bulk with this service.
She was actually a pretty attractive friend, de
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Peapod.com
You're welcome.
Hmmm .... (Score:2)
Didn't Wally do this in Dilbert a while back?
Sounds like an idea which most people will wonder why they're doing it.
Demolition man? (Score:2)
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And those of us who were around thought it was a crappy movie and have been trying to forget it since then.
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demolition man
crappy movie
He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!
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He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!
He probably doesn't even eat at Taco Bell.
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You left out vacuuming the floor and providing a mobile bed for the cat
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I keep think about going to the RC Hobby shop for supplies to build an RC Mower I could sit on the deck under the umbrella with a cold drink while mowing. I'm not lazy my back just can't handle it anymore that happens when you get old.
i wonder if you could just use the brains from one of those robotic vaccum cleaners and wire it up to more powerful servos/motors to control the mower that way little or no human interaction is required assuming you mulch the grass rather than bag it.
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You people overthink everything.
1) Get a self-propelled mower
2) Sink a pole into the middle of your lawn
3) Tie a rope from the one side of the mower to the pole
4) Tape the mower handle down so it goes on its own
The rope will keep it going in circles around the pole. Each lap, the rope will wrap around the pole, causing the mower to spiral inwards, cutting nice clean circles of grass until it reaches the center. At that time, put down your lemonade and turn off the mower.
**Works best on lawns that are perfec
You know that it wasn't a prop, right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Sheldonbot is a Texai Remote Presence System from Willow Garage [willowgarage.com], so recreating Sheldonbot is just copying some other company's product.
Re:You know that it wasn't a prop, right? FTFY (Score:2)
"Cisco hasn't done anything innovative for a long time"
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I cried a little when he broke his Apple ][ monitor...
iRobot's Navigation Tech (Score:2)
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I want the consumer version with robotic arms ... (Score:2)
... that way I can hire somebody from India to clean my house, mow the yard, do dishes, and laundry remotely over the internet. At an estimated 70K for this one, I don't think that's going to work out for me anytime soon.
Re:I want the consumer version with robotic arms . (Score:5, Funny)
I bet... (Score:1)
...if I used one at work, no one would notice (until something broke).
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For $99.99 you can have a LASER attached to it's head...
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And for about $2 you can duck tape a pointy stick to it.
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And for about $2 you can duck tape a pointy stick to it.
If you are using $2 worth of duct tape you are using way too much, you don't need the whole roll.
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I was counting the pointy stick as most of that cost. ;-)
But you definitely want your pointy stick to be solidly attached -- that way you can have telepresence robot jousting on Fridays.
But, really, anybody with one of these better be saying "exterminate! exterminate!" at every possible opportunity, or they've missed the point.
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Except, the original term was "duck tape" and not "duct tape" -- because it served as waterproofing for ammunition boxes and had nothing to do with ductwork.
It's actually not a very good use on ducts, since it doesn't do the right things -- in some places, it's against code to use it for ducts.
If you have duck tape on your ducts, whoever put it there was lazy (or cheap).
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A pointy stick is so 20,000 BC
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So are fire and the wheel, but still very effective nonetheless.
Tigers however do not relish the peach (Score:2)
Awesome (Score:1)
Fundamental problem (Score:2)
Many other telepresence robots. (Score:4, Informative)
There have been quite a few of these things. MantaRobot [mantarobot.com], Vgo [vgocom.com], Anybot [anybots.com], and Texai/Suitable [suitabletech.com], all have commercial, mobile, telepresence robots available now. They all shove a videophone in someone's face.
Vgo probably has the best use case. They sell it to medical facilities, so doctors don't have to move around as much. This is an indication of the market. Telepresence only works if the person operating the device is someone the listeners have to suck up to.
Gotta minute? (Score:1)
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until the reach over and flip the volume down to zero and switch off the monitor. cube camping work because they cant turn you off.
Why am I thinking... (Score:2)
...about stairs and elevators shafts?
Comment removed (Score:3)
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This alone justifies the entire research budget!
Surrogates anyone? (Score:2)
Marissa Mayer (Score:2)
Batteries (Score:1)
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This is great, it will be good for about 3 months then the battery won't hold a charge. :-) Just like my two useless Roombas.
Which brings up an interesting idea. Maybe while your telepresence CEO is moving about the office looking for slackers, a built in Roomba in the base could vacuum as he went...maybe follow the walls or shoot off at 45 degrees if he hits an obstacle.
Crap.... (Score:2)
Does this mean... (Score:2)
Because I can totally live with my own version of Sheldonbot.
BBT didn't invent the presence-bot (Score:2)
Cisco has teamed up with robotics firm iRobot to create their own enterprise version of the 'Sheldonbot' from US comedy series The Big Bang Theory.
Presence-bots were around long before Big Bang Theory made them hilarious. This just looks like a fancier version of the same with smoother curves and all the wires on the inside.
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Im thinking your universe has a different Big Bang Theory than mine...
Hilarious is a huge overkill for anything on that show.
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Hilarious is a huge overkill for anything on that show.
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that you're the arbiter of what's funny and what isn't. Everybody? Did you hear? BBT's not funny any more, arkane1234 said!
Of course, I should acknowledge the apparent irony of calling you out for this when I've previously declared it "hilarious" without a six-foot-high disclaimer that that's my personal subjective opinion. The difference, of course, is that that was a throw-away adjective casually tossed in for mild comic effect, and that I didn't post solely to prove my inherent
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Re:iRobU (Score:5, Insightful)
I have always prefered Bernadette myself, She just has curves in the right places.
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I have always prefered Bernadette myself, She just has curves in the right places.
Hidden well under her clothes is the "right place"? Most men would beg to differ. Admit it- you're turned on because her voice sounds like Howard's mother, and that gets you going.
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Not really, Penny is getting pretty fat. There are other shows with much more attractive ladies to look at.
yeah but if you're a really pathetic "nerd"(hipster white knight) then you must watch shows which aren't about boobs to watch boobs.
AANYHOW.. Back to the fucking story. why are we having a story about another one of these? https://www.google.com/search?q=telepresence+robot&num=30&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=fi&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&authuser=0&biw=1472&bih=815 [google.com]
like fuck, did someone really think that the shows writers came up with the idea??
Re:iRobU (Score:5, Insightful)
You must be just a miserable person.
Here is a little tip for life, being overly critical of everything isn't proof that you are smart or know what you are talking about.
I like the show, however sometimes I feel they go too far to try to portate the stereotype of the geek, but once you realise that, just let it slide and enjoy the show. You probably won't get a life awakening moments in it, but get a few chuckles out of it.
It is probably the best show around that express Geek type culture out there without it, being overly negative about it. These guys do find Girls, they do work past some of their personality flaws. They are shown as Humans, not as some sort of freaks. Is it perfect, no. But I wouldn't expect it to be, otherwise it wouldn't appeal to much of an audience.
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You must be just a miserable person.
I disagree. My good friends Gordon Ramsey and Simon Cowell say I am quite fun and an "all-around cheery bloke"
Here is a little tip for life, being overly critical of everything isn't proof that you are smart or know what you are talking about. I like the show, however sometimes I feel they go too far to try to portate the stereotype of the geek, but once you realise that, just let it slide and enjoy the show.
Not to be "overly critical of everything" but you just had two typos.
You probably won't get a life awakening moments in it, but get a few chuckles out of it.
Neither happened. Perhaps this is the new way of the /. in which case I should use my robotic arm to shelve myself and permanently archive any dissension from something as important as "Sheldonbraut".
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Not to be "overly critical of everything" but you just had two typos.
Teh first typo was a normal geek letter transposition I illustrated in the first word of this sentence, the second wasn't a typo but rather British spelling. Both show that he wasn't using a spell checker which shows that he is, in fact, literate.
When you bash fans of that show you're bashing Buzz Aldrin, Stephen Hawking, Nobel-winning astrophysicist George Smoot, and the actor Wil Wheaton, all of whom have said publicly that they are fans
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BBT:Geeks::Al Jolson:Africans
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The IT Crowd is probably the best show around that express Geek type culture out there without being overly negative about it.
FTFY
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I like the show, however sometimes I feel they go too far to try to portate the stereotype of the geek
The four main characters, to me, are all caricatures of me when I was young. That makes it even funnier to me. Apparently to Buzz Aldrin, George Smoot, and Stephen Hawkins, all fans of the show who have appeared on it poking fun at themselves. The Buzz Aldrin one was hilarious; Howard had just returned from the ISS and wouldn't shut up about space until Bernadette gave him a video of Aldrin passing out Hall
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As trolls go, you really suck at it, son. I just visited your comment page, nothing whatever there except trolling and flamebaiting and every single comment at -1. Moron.
How about you just get the fuck off this site, asshole? Why do you do that, just a pussy little cunt who'd like to do it in real life but don't have the guts?
Eat shit and die, loser.
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They could all be factory workers and the show would be pretty much the same.
A show about factory workers would have those factory workers shooting a high powered laser at the moon? Would a show about factory workers have Stephen Hawkings, George Smoot, Buzz Aldrin, and half the casts of STOS and STNG as guest stars? Would a show about factory workers have jokes about subatomic particle physics, astrophysics, and math? Would a show about factory workers have have a joke about someone flash freezing a banana
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A show about factory workers would have those factory workers shooting a high powered laser at the moon?
It may have a character jump over a shark, would that do?
and the people I know IRL who don't think it's funny and don't like it are all uneducated high school dropouts.
Correlation is not causation.
It's often not even correlation but a case of a cherry picked set.
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It may have a character jump over a shark, would that do?
Nope.
Correlation is not causation.
It's often not even correlation but a case of a cherry picked set.
True, but when there is correlation there are four possibles reasons for correlation:
1. A causes B
2. B causes A
3. C causes both A and B
4. Coincidence
Occam says A in this case. One can only come to conclusions with the data one has. Provide further data and I may change my conclusion, which is people who don't think it's funny only hear a loud WOOSH.
Not tryring to be insulting but... (Score:2)
It may have a character jump over a shark, would that do?
Nope.
You kinda missed the point there. It's called a stunt.
You know... basing the episode around an act intended to catch you attention instead of on actual story or plot. Or humor. [insanee.com]
Occam says A in this case.
Actually, Occam says it's what I mentioned above - cherry picking. Also, confirmation bias.
I'm gonna make a wild guess and assume that your "the people I know IRL who don't think it's funny and don't like it are all uneducated high school dropouts" is a rather limited set.
Also, that you did no actual statistical analysis on the subje
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You kinda missed the point there. It's called a stunt.
No, it was a setup for a joke, a way to make fun of stupid people. It played off of a really old Bugs Bunny cartoon and a setup for another joke later in the episode. With Fonzie jumping over a shark the jump itself was the "joke" and was kind of out of character for the character.
I'm gonna make a wild guess and assume that your "the people I know IRL who don't think it's funny and don't like it are all uneducated high school dropouts" is a rather limite
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I'm gonna make a wild guess and assume that your "the people I know IRL who don't think it's funny and don't like it are all uneducated high school dropouts" is a rather limited set.
That would be a logical guess, but no. Most of the people I work with are intelligent and educated, but I chose to live within walking distance from work. I spend very little on gasoline, but the tradeoff is that it's a bad neighborhood. I frequent a bar about fifteen blocks away in an even worse part of town. The bar owner also owns a construction company, and his construction workers are straight out of My Name is Earl. Great fodder for writing even if it is a little dangerous. One guy woke up one morning with a broken leg and had no idea how he broke it! Then there's Crazy John who thinks I'm a space alien, he actually believes he was abducted by aliens a few years ago.
Ummm... Sorry to break it to you, but that's a classic example of a cherry picked set.
It's like going to China and concluding based on a survey taken from people you meet there that no one speaks Portuguese.
Or going to an NRA meeting and concluding that everyone is against gun control.
Or going to an Apple store and concluding that the iPhone is the only brand of mobile phones.
Meeting one Frenchman and concluding that everyone in France is named Pierre.
I'm sure there are, and there are also intelligent people who just don't have a sense of humor - I've known people like that, too.
And that's classic confirmation bias. With a side order
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It's like going to China and concluding based on a survey taken from people you meet there that no one speaks Portuguese.
Well, statistically, nobody does speak Portuguese.
I have that issue with Mr. Bean and most modern sitcoms where intended comedy is a product of greed, ignorance, lying and other negative aspects of personalities of the characters involved.
I haven't seen Mr. Bean, but that's how I feel about Seinfeld. It's like I'm supposed to find meanness and suffering funny. Obviously I'm in a tiny mino
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A show about factor workers would have those factory workers performing different hijinks at work. There would be different guest stars, but there'd still be guest stars. Different ingredients, same formula. And if you pay attention, many of the jokes only use science references as window dressing, when the real punchline is often something like Raj's inadvertent gay innuendo.
The Big Bang Theory is one of the highest rated shows. It is not a niche show that only appeals to intellectuals because of its sophi
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It is a mass-market show that tries harder than you realize to appeal to a broad base.
Well, of course it is. But a show about factory workers would have jokes that might go over my head, and they'd have somebody like Donald Trump or Jeffworthy guest starring (in the case of Foxworthy, probably just starring).
There's a certain "formula" that any story has to follow, whether comedy, drama, TV show, movie, or book. Deviate from that too much and your story will suck, as I discovered when turning the nobot stor
What did you expect? (Score:3)
It's a sitcom for people who enjoy laughing at stereotypes presented in that show.
It's like a show about Asian people where the punchline is "those crazy Asians - they're so funny when they're all Asian and stuff".
Or a show about black people where the punchline is "them crazy niggers - they're so funny when they're black and stuff".
Or a show about women where the punchline is "those crazy cunts - they're so funny when they're all cunty and stuff".
Cases above were inspired by a colleague's review of "Will
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Damn, I wish I'd looked at the front page when I was home at lunch instead of replying to messages in the /. message center; I can't log in here. But DUDE!!!
* Not funny
Not if you're not smart enough to understand the jokes.
Not brainy
The actress who plays Amy holds a PhD in neuroscience [wikipedia.org] (note that she plays a neuroscientist). Nobel winning astrophysicist Dr. George Smoot guest starred in an episode; he's a fan. Hilarious line from Dr. Smoot: "With all due respects, Dr. Cooper, but are you on crack?" Stephen
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Yes, that was me. If you want to respond, respond to this comment or I won't see it.
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You're example of the show's wonderful humor is the line "With all due respects, Dr. Cooper, but are you on crack?" ? wow. That's a great one there... I'm sure you had to be there. ... OR ON CRACK*.
*See what i did there? Not funny at all.
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Obviously you're going to get flame baited here, but those of us that enjoy art would agree. The show sucks. Can't watch it. Its the worst sitcom I've seen in years. It has the quality writing, acting and directing of a Disney Channel show.
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Sorry the jokes on it go so far over your head, Bill. I will agree that the math joke on Sheldon's marker board is a bit long in the tooth, but it's funny if you haven't seen it before.
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They're not over my head, they're just not funny. The level of intelligence required to understand the premise of a joke is in no way corrilated to the humor. It just provides cover and a sense of eliteness for people who don't understand commedy to say "It must go over your head".
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Fail.
I believe you tried to refer to "The Seldon Plan" from Asimov's Fondation series.