bloodyrosemccoy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2015-02-10 09:09 pm
bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2015-02-10 09:09 pm
Entry tags:
Pay No Attention To The Nerd Behind The Desk
Last night was some big schmooze deal at the Space Place, with local politicians and their families coming in to watch shows and be convinced that science is worth funding. I start to feel actively hostile if I have to schmooze, but fortunately my entire job for the evening was to show off the Sphere as people were walking by it on the way to the actual movies, and that was something I could handle.
I had the optiion of using any sort of things, just to catch people's interest. I could put on satellite composites of Earth, or other planets, or moons of other planets (fuck yeah, Io!), or panoramas taken by rovers or telescopes--the possibilities were endless.
And none of them really held anyone's attention for very long.
But there was one thing that absolutely did: GIANT EYEBALL MODE.
Yeah, I've mentioned the eyeball before. Basically I can turn the Sphere into Mr. I from Super Mario 64. From my vantage at an info desk, I use an iPad* to control its movement. Nobody notices the one employee carefully watching the crowd and dicking with a tablet--not when a giant fucking eyeball is pointed at them and following their every move.
This has the extremely entertaining dual effect of delighting the kids and SERIOUSLY creeping out the adults. The kids immediately start running around so the eye will follow them and then trying to trick it--it doesn't ever explode into coins, sadly, but it does get them exercising. Then they'll wave at it, and the eye sort of nods back.**
Adults, on the other hand, test its abilities for a bit, then nervously start trying to figure out how the hell it's doing that. Even if you know something's a trick, it's unsettling. Most of them guess some sort of motion tracker, which is pretty funny as I'm standing behind them the whole time, not even, like, behind a curtain or anything. Every so often one of them notices me and gets that "Ohhhhh" look. But usually, it stumps them.
So it might not be educational, but it sure is fun for the kids. That always surprises me--I think if I were a kid that thing would scare the hell out of me--but hey, as long as they're enjoying it, I like being a part of it.
*Or eyePad.
**One kid figured out that the eye could "nod" and, for lack of a better term, shake its head, and started asking it yes/no questions. I couldn't quite hear all the questions, but I got the gist. "Do you like popcorn?" No "Do you like cookies?" Yes "Do you like Coke?" Yes I wanted that conversation to keep going, but his parents called him away.
I had the optiion of using any sort of things, just to catch people's interest. I could put on satellite composites of Earth, or other planets, or moons of other planets (fuck yeah, Io!), or panoramas taken by rovers or telescopes--the possibilities were endless.
And none of them really held anyone's attention for very long.
But there was one thing that absolutely did: GIANT EYEBALL MODE.
Yeah, I've mentioned the eyeball before. Basically I can turn the Sphere into Mr. I from Super Mario 64. From my vantage at an info desk, I use an iPad* to control its movement. Nobody notices the one employee carefully watching the crowd and dicking with a tablet--not when a giant fucking eyeball is pointed at them and following their every move.
This has the extremely entertaining dual effect of delighting the kids and SERIOUSLY creeping out the adults. The kids immediately start running around so the eye will follow them and then trying to trick it--it doesn't ever explode into coins, sadly, but it does get them exercising. Then they'll wave at it, and the eye sort of nods back.**
Adults, on the other hand, test its abilities for a bit, then nervously start trying to figure out how the hell it's doing that. Even if you know something's a trick, it's unsettling. Most of them guess some sort of motion tracker, which is pretty funny as I'm standing behind them the whole time, not even, like, behind a curtain or anything. Every so often one of them notices me and gets that "Ohhhhh" look. But usually, it stumps them.
So it might not be educational, but it sure is fun for the kids. That always surprises me--I think if I were a kid that thing would scare the hell out of me--but hey, as long as they're enjoying it, I like being a part of it.
*Or eyePad.
**One kid figured out that the eye could "nod" and, for lack of a better term, shake its head, and started asking it yes/no questions. I couldn't quite hear all the questions, but I got the gist. "Do you like popcorn?" No "Do you like cookies?" Yes "Do you like Coke?" Yes I wanted that conversation to keep going, but his parents called him away.
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I think I'd be creeped out a little, too, by a giant eyeball tracking me, but it also sounds really cool!
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I wonder if NASA ought to follow up with that kid to start figuring out how to communicate with aliens. He catches on fast.
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Once when I was a kid I went on a school trip to a science place in Denmark that had a dinosaur exhibition on. In the lobby there was a life size animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex, turning its head and snapping its jaws and sometimes roaring. I don't think there was anybody controlling it, but at one point some guy happened to walk past it just as it leaned forward/down and moved its head left to right, looking EXACTLY like it was tracking him. The guy looked a bit unnerved, to say the least.
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The old natural history museum here had a donation bin that was shaped like an allosaurus coming out of the wall. When you fed it a coin it would trigger a recording of the dinosaur thanking you. The bad audio quality combined with the growly voice and the, y'know, DINOSAUR was certainly memorable.