What Clown On a Unicycle? 284
R3d M3rcury writes "The New York Times has an article about walking and using a cellphone. 'The era of the mobile gadget is making mobility that much more perilous, particularly on crowded streets and in downtown areas where multiple multitaskers veer and swerve and walk to the beat of their own devices.' But the interesting part was an experiment run by Western Washington University this past fall. There was a student who knew how to ride a unicycle and a professor who had a clown suit. They dressed a student up as a clown and had him ride his unicycle around a popular campus square. Then they asked people, 'Did you see the Unicycling Clown?' 71% of the people walking in pairs said that they had. 51% of the people walking alone said that they had. But only 25% of the people talking on a cellphone said that they saw the unicycling clown. On the other hand, when asked 'Did you see anything unusual?' only about one person in three mentioned a unicycling clown. So maybe unicycling clowns aren't enough of a distraction at Western Washington University..."
Alternative hypothesis : didn't care (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Alternative hypothesis : didn't care (Score:5, Interesting)
Not really (Score:5, Insightful)
Pianos don't really fall from windows, and it's exceedingly rare for cars to leave the road.
People pay attention to what they need to. Do you notice every homeless person?
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Anyone actually do that? (Score:2)
If you really have to check facebook before the traffic lights, well, it's not facebook's fault.
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What about the loss to the driver who hits the moron? He'll almost certainloy lose his license and get sued by the blood relatives of the moron, and if in an "at will" state, quite likely lose his job too, whether innocent or not.
I think we need a better law system. Start enforcing fines against jaywalking, "reckless use of mobile devices while riding a bicycle" or "adjusting make-up while oper
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How can you possibly know if you are willfully ignoring all of them?
There is at least a chance that you are ignoring some of them by accident.
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Re:Alternative hypothesis : didn't care (Score:5, Insightful)
Brakes of my car would disagree with you (especially since those are memorable events, one of the very few when ABS engages)
Perhaps starting to slam into those people (when it's another car; would be rather safe, it's usually a car with only a driver inside, cellphone by the ear, that is coming from the opposite direction and turning left just in front of me) would get a message through. And get me a new car...
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As you've taken note, people cross the road not only at crosswalks; and most of those don't have traffic lights anyway...
Anyways, I don't see how that relates to using ABS when I'm driving forward...or turning right...and some other driver, going from the opposite direction and turning left, fails to notice me.
Send in the clowns... (Score:4, Funny)
What the study (or the reporting of it) failed to note is whether clowns, unicycling, or unicycling clowns are common on the campus. For example if everyone at the campus wears a clowns suit or unicycles then one more unicycling clown isn't noticible.
Bad reporting. No donuts.
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But if everyone was wearing a clown suit, then the subjects would probably have noticed at least one of them.
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Not at a Clown College!
Re:Send in the clowns... (Score:5, Funny)
I applied to Clown College, but they just laughed at me.
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Then the question is whether students are able to distinguish clowns from their professors.
To do this correctly, you would require three line-ups:
one with professors only
one with clowns only
one with a mix of clowns and professors.
Then you would need some students who are asked the question whether there is anything unusual in the lineup.
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As a bicyclist I strongly disagree. Sure, you may be looking out for cars when you step out into the road, but that little bit of lower awareness may be all it takes for you to completely miss the cyclist coming down the road and step out in front of them.
Walking around a town can be tricky, between broken sidewalks, people walking dogs, and all sorts of other obstacles. Also... being on the other end of that conversation sucks.
well, here is a case of a dead woman from 2009 (Score:5, Interesting)
28 y.o. Toronto woman was killed by a 5 tonne delivery truck [cp24.com]. She was on her phone and walked under the rear wheels of a truck, that was making a left turn. The driver could not have possibly seen her because of the truck length and the fact that he was making a left turn. She walked under the rear wheels herself because apparently she was unable to evaluate the situation around herself while on her cell phone.
Darwin award, obviously, but it shows a case where a pedestrian was a hazard (this time to herself) because she was so distracted.
Correction (Score:2)
The truck was making the right turn, sorry [toronto.ctv.ca] and in this article they actually mention the cellphone. I just remembered this story from last year and thought it was quite appropriate.
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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/04/aerodynamic-hea.html [greencarcongress.com]
and he
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Particularly if the truck is also expect to travel on, say, building sites, it will need a certain amount of clearance under any skirts to allow for rough ground. For a sizeable vehicle, that's probably more than enough gap to run someone over.
The person shouldn't have walked into the truck. Can anyone give a valid argument against that statement?
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It is standard advice to cyclists in the US to never, ever ride (or stop) to the right of a truck when the truck has the option of making a right t
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Things seem to be different in Canada.
From the (second) linked article: "Police say it is unlikely that charges will be laid against the truck driver."
CC.
Re:Correction (Score:5, Informative)
She walked under the rear tires. It was already finishing its turn, by the time the REAR tires are in the intersection. There is no jury in the world that would say she had the right of way there. Except perhaps in California.
Re:Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
So imagine you are the truck driver, you have waited your turn, made sure nobody was on your turning side, that there were no vehicles coming at the intersection that could collide with you and you start making a turn, you are almost done making it when someone walks into the side of your truck and you do not stop, continue going for another 2-3 meters while they have fallen and are crashed by the wheels.
Question: which way were you looking? Answer: you were looking to your left and straight ahead, but not to your right. After you have made sure that there was enough clear space at your right to make the turn and you started making it, you can assume that it is now responsibility of other actors on the road not to collide with your right side. Everyone was given plenty of warning of your turn and nobody was there when you started it. So now you have to look straight and somewhat to your left not to cross into the incoming traffic from intersection.
At this point someone is not looking and walking into the side of your truck and they fall and are ran over by the rear wheels. Verdict is: it's the pedestrian's fault, and it is correct. Too bad their fault caused them their life, but that's how it is. If you are a pedestrian, whether you are right or wrong, you will die if a truck runs over you, so really, it is your problem to make sure you don't step into or under one.
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Re:Alternative hypothesis : didn't care (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Alternative hypothesis : didn't care (Score:4, Informative)
The original classic test afaik;
http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php [illinois.edu]
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It becomes my problem (Score:2, Insightful)
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I am less aware of my distant environment but still keep a keen picture of everything that could hit me directly.
You mean a keen picture of all things you're aware of that might hit you and that's not good enough.
Nothing To See Here, Move Along (Score:4, Funny)
A lot to see here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you really miss the huge differences between three categories of people, cellphone users during the experiment among them, that were mentioned in TFS?
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Did you really miss the huge differences between three categories of people, cellphone users during the experiment among them, that were mentioned in TFS?
I don't know if this kind of distraction counts, but while typing this the Wild Norseman was talking to his mum on the intercom down from the basement.
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Wazzu is Washington State University, which is on the Eastern border of the state (and yes, has been known to be quite the party school). This article references the University of Western Washington, which probably means Western Washington University.
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Wazoo (or Wazzu, or WSU) is Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington, in the east of the state. Besides beer-drinking, it was also known for being a suspect in the notorious Wazoo/Wazzu Virus [highbeam.com] that plagued the world in the 1990s.
Western Washington University is, surprisingly, to the west of the state. I know they were doing some fantastic work with rotary engines in ancient days, but I don't know what the clowns are doing now.
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Were you talking on a cell phone when you read the summary? WWU is not WSU.
Pointless study (Score:2)
Re:Pointless study (Score:5, Funny)
Who in his right mind would not interpret unicycling clown as extremely threatening?...
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Right. They should have asked "Did you walk into a unicycling clown?"
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People who think they can use a cellphone and driving are just selfish. If ever I saw someone on a cellphone in an accident, assuming they're the only one hurt I wouldn't stop. I would feel the need to be equally selfish and not waste my time.
Awesome Awareness Test Advert (Score:5, Informative)
Reminded me of this observational skills test (by Transport For London to remind drivers to look out for the many cyclists on city streets): http://www.dothetest.co.uk/basketball.html [dothetest.co.uk]
camoflage, not awareness. (Score:3, Insightful)
So in a dark underpass, they cover a guy completely in a dark suit, and in a video the size of a postage stamp, it's supposed to be a surprise you don't see him?
That's camouflage, not "awareness".
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Not to mention that looking out for idiot pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes and other obstacles while driving is de rigeur, while watching for a moonwalking bloke in a black suit is NOT de rigeur when you're effectively asked specifically to ignore the team in black ("How many passes does the team in white make?"). Now if the "did you see" item was a chick on a bicycle, or indeed a damn clown on a unicycle, it might have been relevant.
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Re:camoflage, not awareness. (Score:4, Insightful)
i've been hit by a car before because even though my bike had lights and I was wearing reflective clothing, the driver was only looking for the large twin headlights of a car.
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Without cheating (apart from knowing that something would happen, I counted 10 passes out of 13 and I noticed the bear. I didn't notice that it was moon walking though
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Is there any actual study that shows numbers for how many people actually miss the suprise, really?
It's like when the reporter Mike Royko signed books for his colleagues at a party. He wrote in everyone's book "You were my favorite reporter -- don'
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Nobody I know, including myself, saw it first time round but perhaps we just are from the moron segment of the human race ;-)
The point of the video is to be viral (which it did reasonably well at) so as to spread a useful message. One of the better uses of advertising money I've seen out of public sector, as long as it reached enough people.
My Lawn! (Score:2, Insightful)
Unicycling clown? Unicycling clown? Back in my day, we had to walk uphill to college for miles while dodging unicycling elephants who came downhill. (It may sound absurd, but it makes sense--after all, can you imagine a unicycling elephant going uphill?)
More seriously, it seems to me that the important part of the test isn't necessarily whether you saw the unicycling elephant (or clown), but whether you detected the unicycling clown or elephant as an object that must be avoided. When one is walking in a
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(I have read elsewhere that the rabbit smelled alcohol on the driver's breath, but note that there was no charge of DUI, so legally, not intoxicated.)
Darwin (Score:2)
They aren't going to see the truck coming either.
College campuses are full of unusual (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, when asked 'Did you see anything unusual?' only about one person in three mentioned a unicycling clown. So maybe unicycling clowns aren't enough of a distraction at the University of Western Washington..."
What would have been more interesting would have been including data on how many semesters people had been on campus. I strongly suspect that freshmen would be more likely to notice the guy on the unicycle, and seniors to ignore him.
College is where every flamboyant moron "expresses" himself/herself, so you get used to seeing unusual things. A unicycle is pretty normal for a clown- and a clown isn't that unusual for a college campus.
Re:College campuses are full of unusual (Score:4, Funny)
> ...a clown isn't that unusual for a college campus.
Right. The frats, for example, are populated entirely by clowns.
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Mistake in TFS (Score:4, Informative)
FTA:
“I was trying to think about what kind of distraction we could put out there, and I talked to this student who had a unicycle,” said Ira E. Hyman Jr., a professor in the university’s psychology department. “He said, ‘What’s more, I own a clown suit.’ You don’t have a student who unicycles in a clown suit every day, so you have to take advantage of these things.”
The student owned the clown suit.
Re:Mistake in TFS (Score:5, Funny)
it's about the clown suit (Score:2)
It is obviously about the clown suit, if the professor didn't have one, the student wouldn't know from which end to start and where to finish ;)
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Re:Mistake in TFS (Score:5, Funny)
The submitter must have been talking on his cell phone when he wrote the summary.
U-dub alumnus speakes out (Score:2)
That's not even close to "weird enough to lay down a pointer to something in the days events".
Elephant (Score:2)
If in that campus everyday something weird happens you end not giving them attention. The normal could end being the new weird.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This should not be about mobile phones (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This should not be about mobile phones (Score:5, Insightful)
"If walking alone is the median to start from and placed at 100%, talking on the phone is 50% (as might be expected, as it is a distraction) and walking in pairs is 150% (wich is odd)
As the walking in pairs is the odd one out, that is what the students and professors should be focusing on."
Not really. People walking alone without a cell phone had a probability of seeing the clown of Pa = 0.51. Assume that if one person out of a pair sees a clown he or she will mention it to the other half of the pair. Thus, you'd expect the joint probability of seeing the clown to be the probability that either one of them sees it: Pp = Pa + Pa - Pa^2 = 0.51 + 0.51 - 0.51^2 = 0.76. They actually observed 0.71 which, assuming it is not due to experimental error, could mean that walking in pairs can distract you a little and/or that there is a small probability that the person in the pair who sees the clown won't point it out to the other.
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This being a university, I suspect the chance of not mentioning it is fairly high. It's not the weirdest thing to happen.
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As you suggested: I suspect that if the question was "did you see the unicycling clown?", people together will be less willing to admit they didn't see it. People alone have less incentive to try and impress someone. And people on their phones just weren't paying attention.
Not so unusual (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe if it had been a normal person unicycling, or a clown simply walking, someone would have noticed.
say again? (Score:2)
oh, you mean THAT unicycling clown. Ya, I saw him.
just me (Score:2)
personally, i would have used a gorilla suit
Texting is becoming too dangerous (Score:2)
Man using women's restroom (Score:5, Funny)
At an amusement park, a female friend returned from the restroom relating how a man entered while talking on his cellphone, looked her dead in the eye then turned to enter a stall, talking all the while.
Other women heard him talking and asked "is that a guy in here?" She responded, "Yeah, he doesn't realize he's in the 'ladies', don't worry about it."
He finished the call, finished in the stall, came out and his eyes widened when he saw all the women.
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Other women heard him talking and asked "is that a guy in here?" She responded, "Yeah, he doesn't realize he's in the 'ladies'
I have never understood the obsession of separating sexes in the bathroom. What possible reason could there be? Except maybe a few swinging dicks if the ladies did their best to look over the separators between urinals.
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In Amsterdam they don't even bother with the bathroom (well, for men at least): street urinals [citynoise.org]
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So they're still short on female bathrooms?
(/me is going to hell)
If They'd Done This at The Evergreen State College (Score:2)
. . . it would have been a giant mushroom on a mini-bike.
And nobody would have reported seeing anything unusual that day.
Gorillas (Score:4, Informative)
Not at all unusual (Score:2)
Hell, when I'm thinking about a programming problem I've been known to miss things stranger than that. No cellphone required.
I don't drive without music playing, because the music provides enough stimulation that it keeps me from drifting off into hyperfocus.
Monkeys throwing beachballs (Score:3, Informative)
A similar study was done several years ago using guys dressed up in gorilla suits, throwing beachballs to oneanother. Only about 50% of people noticed at all.
Which is why motorcyclists have to see for other people.
People do stupid crap (Score:2)
People do a lot of stupid crap. I'm sure if there had been a clown on a unicycle on the streets where I live, I wouldn't have noticed. There's car alarms going off, people honking, yelling at each other, handing out leaflets, asking for change, street performers, street painters, street vendors, gawkers, kids running around, gaudy hipsters and fashionistas doing their thing, and public service workers on the job. Most of the time I'm in my own head simply because all of that stuff already seems annoying
Stream of Thought (Score:2)
I suspect this study is fundamentally flawed, or at least the conclusion is. Here's why: it's been my observation that while doing some things (for example driving is a big case, but walking in a crowded place is also very much the same), my brain goes into a stream-of-thought mode. Basically, my brain sees and processes things around me in real time, as I need to deal with them. It pretty instantly makes decisions, I take action, then almost *immediately* forget about them. The brain throws that memory awa
Alternative hypothesis: Not that unusual (Score:2)
If I had seen someone unicycling on my campus, I wouldn't even blink. If I saw someone unicycling in a clown suit on my campus, I might think it was his day off - or he was on his way to a second job as a clown for a kids party. Or I might think that someone was doing an experiment. The only thing out of those three situations that would give me pause would be the thought of "what does unicycling in a clown outfit have to do with real science? is this some weird way to prove the Casimir effect?" (we didn
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Unicycling clowns, a greased yoda up someone's ass, and linux.
Only on the internet would I not question finding these things on the same page.
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I would say that on an university area you can expect to find just about everything. So a clown on a unicycle isn't really strange.
Unusual would be if someone had put a live blue whale on the campus ground.
If students can get away with THIS [bedug.com], a clown on a unicycle is just another event in the day on campus.
Re:WWU (Score:4, Funny)
Ah, so the clown must have been a member of the Judean People's Front!