The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal - Count the Passes

[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

March 14th, 2008
01:15 pm

[Link]

Previous Entry Add to Memories Tell a Friend Next Entry
Count the Passes
How observant are you? Count the number of basketball passes.

(Tell me I'm full of it)

Comments
 
[User Picture]
From:[info]hollyqueen
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:18 pm (UTC)
(Link)
That was hilarious!
[User Picture]
From:[info]zandperl
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:19 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I'm pretty sure I know exactly which video this's supposed to be, but the page turns up black with some text at the bottom w/o the video in the middle for me.
[User Picture]
From:[info]scifantasy
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:21 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Same for me, both in the "I think I know what it is" and "can't see the video" senses.
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:21 pm (UTC)
(Link)
That kid in the opening is a pretty good contact juggler.
From:[info]annabellecemad
Date:July 16th, 2008 06:54 am (UTC)
(Link)
I’m a pretty good contact juggler 2. I can be seen briefly in a documentary by Norwegian film students 3.
[User Picture]
From:[info]kmg_365
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:22 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I'm not very observant, apparently. Especially when I'm counting basketball passes.
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:24 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yeah, to be honest I don't think the ad gets its point across very well. I think most people will say, "well, you told me to count the passes! It's different when I'm driving!"
[User Picture]
From:[info]veryloud
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:27 pm (UTC)
(Link)
As a cyclist, I can tell you... most motorists aren't looking for us. It's not different when you're driving.
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:28 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I'm not talking about reality, I'm talking about perception. Honestly, living in Boston, about half of the problems I see with cyclists are the fault of the motorist, the other half are cyclists deciding they're cars or pedestrians, whichever happens to be more convenient at the moment.
[User Picture]
From:[info]veryloud
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:10 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Sounds about right - there are assholes everywhere, regardless of transportation venue :D
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:11 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Amen!
From:[info]racqueleboti
Date:July 15th, 2008 02:54 am (UTC)
(Link)
If any venue was too smoky I'd have to leave, which is why I'm in favour of having smoking banned indoors.
[User Picture]
From:[info]wdomburg
Date:March 14th, 2008 09:52 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Here in Buffalo it's almost all cyclist, really. Weaving on and off sidewalks, or into and out of parking lanes. Almost always riding on the wrong side of the street. Running red lights and stop signs.

Even when I was commuting almost exclusively by bicycle (didn't get a driver's license until 31) I was more afraid of them than I was of the cars.
From:[info]vivianidyku
Date:July 16th, 2008 12:52 am (UTC)
(Link)
  Going off riding, out into more wind [all the locals always tell me, "Usually doesn't get this windy out here".
[User Picture]
From:[info]pope_guilty
Date:March 15th, 2008 01:34 am (UTC)
(Link)
the other half are cyclists deciding they're cars or pedestrians,

Bikes do, in fact, have to follow the same laws as cars.
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 15th, 2008 03:29 am (UTC)
(Link)
Oh, I know, and I'm sure the cyclists I'm talking about know; they just choose to ignore it.
From:[info]louisetufeg
Date:July 13th, 2008 11:06 am (UTC)
(Link)
Cyclists must follow the same laws as drivers in cars. When I ride, I also get in the left hand turn lane and crank through just like cars.
[User Picture]
From:[info]wdomburg
Date:March 14th, 2008 09:56 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Motorists might not always be looking, but hopefully they not also being targeted with deliberate misdirection while they're driving either.
From:[info]orsibywez
Date:July 16th, 2008 10:37 am (UTC)
(Link)
Posted by: Peter of Ridgehaven pm May Comment 23 of As a cyclist myself, I can tell you that riding in a bike lane does little to improve the attitude of ¿bike-angry motorists¿.
From:[info]alexaryle
Date:July 16th, 2008 02:29 am (UTC)
(Link)
Apparently I’m not being very observant today. Or maybe I’m just being too introspective to see anything outside of myself.
[User Picture]
From:[info]m31andy
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:23 pm (UTC)
(Link)
We once did that at a work awayday. Out of a room of 300, 275 weren't very observant.
[User Picture]
From:[info]zoethe
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:23 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I got 13 passes, and a "hey, something else dark was in there." But I couldn't identify it as a bear.
[User Picture]
From:[info]kmg_365
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:53 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Ditto. I thought it was the villain from Scream, and I definitely didn't know specifically what it was doing.
[User Picture]
From:[info]jfargo
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:26 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yes.

But I'd seen that test before. The answer was yes to the first time I saw it too.

Good PSA.
[User Picture]
From:[info]lordandrei
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:26 pm (UTC)
(Link)
A stunning display in the art of misdirection. While it looks very free form, there are a lot of techniques used to specifically draw your eye.

Kudos for a well done public service announcement... Though it is a touch manipulative to make the point.
[User Picture]
From:[info]naath
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:41 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Though it is a touch manipulative to make the point.

Oh, just a *little* bit.

Plus IME that's how drivers act "oh, I didn't see you there" is such a common excuse. Now, maybe they are just fibbing... but maybe they mean it, and that's scary (as a cyclist).
From:[info]arashinomoui
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:28 pm (UTC)
(Link)
*Chuckle* My thoughts were "8..9...what the hell is that walking across the screen...11..."
[User Picture]
From:[info]ronin_kakuhito
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:28 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I wish I could have done that particular test. Unfortunately, someone spoiled it for me a while ago.
[User Picture]
From:[info]peterchayward
Date:March 17th, 2008 10:35 pm (UTC)

I guess I'll never know how observant I am...

(Link)
Ditto.
[User Picture]
From:[info]nightskywarlock
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:40 pm (UTC)
(Link)
i *wondered* why one of the black-team players had suddenly decided to moonwalk.

i didn't id it as a person in a bear costume, but i did see it as a "something"
[User Picture]
From:[info]naath
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:42 pm (UTC)
(Link)
They're running it as a TV advert here; totally got me the first time around. Scary.
From:[info]meyerweb.com
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:44 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I didn't even have to go there to know the drill.

This is based on actual psychology research, by the way. I saw a writeup and video of the original research a few years back, and it turns out most observers have the same experience-- to the point of accusing the researchers of swapping tapes before the playback. The research won a 2004 Ig Nobel award, in fact: http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/media/ig.html
[User Picture]
From:[info]theferrett
Date:March 14th, 2008 05:48 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yeah, I cheated. I said, "Oh, I've never seen this video!" and then watched for the background character.

Watching it as I would if I were watching for the ball, I don't think I would have seen it.
[User Picture]
From:[info]teddust
Date:March 16th, 2008 11:55 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Even though I knew to look out for something (I read an article about the video), I was still too preoccupied with counting passes to notice it.
[User Picture]
From:[info]ktar
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:06 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yeah I was going to make much the same comment. I remember reading about that way back when I started this whole psyc thing.

On one hand, nice to see psychology in the mainstream as more than pseudo-freud crap. On the other, sad to see it used as nothing more than sensationalist triva. =/
[User Picture]
From:[info]frizzlefrazzle
Date:March 14th, 2008 07:49 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I had heard of this video before, but this was my first time seeing it. I tried counting the passes and looking for the bear at the same time, but I just couldn't do it, even knowing there was more than just basketball passes in there. I completely missed the bear.
[User Picture]
From:[info]plinko
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:30 pm (UTC)
(Link)
[User Picture]
From:[info]phyphor
Date:March 14th, 2008 08:13 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yeah, that's perhaps the best video of the type I've seen.
[User Picture]
From:[info]sylphslider
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:36 pm (UTC)
(Link)
13, and I saw the moonwalking bear.

To be fair, I saw a different version of this using a gorilla, so I knew what to expect.
[User Picture]
From:[info]edcalaban
Date:March 14th, 2008 10:04 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I've seen the exact same one. Makes taking this "For real" kind of difficult.
[User Picture]
From:[info]revilo
Date:March 14th, 2008 06:57 pm (UTC)
(Link)
worst. moonwalk. ever.
[User Picture]
From:[info]ellipser
Date:March 14th, 2008 09:16 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Very interesting bit of advertising!
[User Picture]
From:[info]draegonhawke
Date:March 14th, 2008 10:01 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Though if you're given a teams in black and white and told to watch the team in white, then it's easy to miss a black-clad, human-sized person in the midst of all the motion. I dunno. It seems if you're told to focus on one set (and thus visually exclude others), then putting in something not terribly differentiated from the set you're excluding is a bit of a sneaky move.

...which may have been the point. Cyclists are sneaky. Like moonwalking bears.
[User Picture]
From:[info]pope_guilty
Date:March 15th, 2008 01:36 am (UTC)
(Link)
I was shocked when this turned out not to be a screamer.
[User Picture]
From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:March 15th, 2008 03:42 am (UTC)
(Link)
Or a rickroll!
From:[info]diatryma
Date:March 15th, 2008 02:34 am (UTC)
(Link)
I meant to look at the gorilla one listed in Mind Hacks, but read past it. It's a nifty trick, though.
[User Picture]
From:[info]kuhpuh
Date:March 15th, 2008 05:29 am (UTC)
(Link)
I didn't see the moonwalking bear and I'm not afraid to admit it.
[User Picture]
From:[info]vienneau
Date:March 15th, 2008 03:05 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Speaking of videos, mtgontario had a link to this gaming comedy video series called "Fear of Girls" that I think you might appreciate:

Episode 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmgLOKRl5J0&NR=1

Episode 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3GYdrW450
The Ferrett's Domain Powered by LiveJournal.com