There was a cute article in the Wall Street Journal Saturday about etiquette for using all the new tech gadgets that we’ll encounter. The article taught me a new word, jerkitude:
Let’s face it: Technology of late has been so fun, so easily engrossing, that it’s amplified the jerkitude of the average American. ….
And 2015 is ushering in even more technology that threatens to turn us into cyber-oafs.
The article reminded me of this Halloween prank that dressed a drone as the grim reaper and flew it around to scare people:
I have mixed feelings about the prank. It was extremely clever, but in one version of the video the drone buzzed a fellow on a bicycle and the fellow fell off. I think that’s going too far. Do you think I’m being a fuddy duddy?
January 5, 2015
No, when I saw that video on fb, that was exactly my reaction too. A prank should not cause physical or mental hurt to another.
Indians do not need gadgets to show jerkitude. We are naturally endowed with it by genetic programming. Just go to Silicon Valley and you will see enough examples.
I have to admit, I once had a prejudice against Indians. Bless you for changing that! There was a physicist at Cornell (worked in the same department as Andy) who was friendly enough to his peers but was completely rude to underlings. And I remember going into work about 5 am one morning to work on a program I was having trouble with. It was cold and snowing out when an Indian student came up and wanted help getting his car started. So I went out, got out the flashlight and jumper cables and handed them to him. He chewed me out because I didn’t know which was the plus and which the minus terminals on our batteries. After all, it was my car! Anyway, we got him started, he took off, and I went in and back to work. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I realized he had gone off with my flashlight. So much for a thank you. 🙂
That was over 40 years ago, and I still laugh about it.
Tom got a car without snow tires or chains, stuck in the snow on the way to our cabin. Tom set his sunglasses on the snowbank. The guy took them. I’m not laughing.
i do not like ‘pranks’ of any kind.
and i think practical jokers are jerks.
and if that makes us fuddy duddys then we are in good company.
I agree. Andy knew a fellow who had lost most of his hearing because someone had thrown firecrackers into the bathroom stall he was in. The perpetrators thought he was someone else.
I’ve never liked practical jokes. Stupid stunts like this that frighten could result in injury or even death — imagine a scare like this for someone with a weak heart.
Grim Reaper, indeed!
I was thinking of heart attacks too.
Well OK y’all I loved it. It could be useful keeping crows out of the cornfield.
This was a Halloween prank. Nobody was scared but the little kid at the end of the video.
Speaking of falling off the bike. The first time I wore my bicycle shoes with the clamps that attach to the pedal, bike & I fell over on our sides at the traffic light.
You have to TWIST the foot out of the clamp, instead of just stepping off the pedal.
It was a clever idea, but potentially dangerous. The fellow who fell off the bike could have been seriously hurt if he fell wrong.
Unlikely. You don’t ride a bike. btw Trail bikes on rough terrane bump you off often. That’s what helmets are for.
I overreacted. I’ve never been bumped off a bike. The only thing that frightened me was going around a curve on a steep mountain & worrying that a log was on the road ahead, that fell off a truckload of logs. Some of those looked precarious. It’d throw a car off the road too.
Let’s just say if I were riding a bike and someone did that to me, I would be ticked. Apparently the fellow is a professional comedian and prankster and no one seems to have seriously complained. If it happened to me I might be an exception.
Pranks like that remind me of the people who say something hurtful or demeaning, and then say: hey, I was only kidding. Can’t you take a joke?
Yes. “You’re too sensitive,” is another one.
Before RA hit, I did ride mountain bikes on single tracks. Year round. I loved my Trek made especially for women. I was proud of being one of the only women I ever saw on the trails we rode, and certainly one of the only ones my age. We rode with our son-in-law and his extended family on lots of outings, too. However, his father started out one morning for his every day bike ride and was found by a passing motorist unconscious and off his torn-up bike about twenty minutes later, his helmet split in two. He was in a coma for two days. He broke his hip so seriously that he’s never walked the same since and there was some time when it was thought he might not walk at all and it was only his great physical condition and determination that got him on his feet at all. I agree: fuddy duddy or not, I don’t like this prank that would have put someone on a bike at risk, and I especially didn’t like the sending that thing over the heads of children.
Oh, my! Don’t I sound strident! I think it’s time to take myself off and listen to the Great Bell Chant or something.
Thank you for your input! I agree.
Not a fuddy duddy at all, but perfectly sensible. Any so-called prank that might easily injure other people is not a prank but a stupid bit of attention-seeking. Yes, I do have a sense of humour but it’s confined to innocent fun and not frightening stunts.
Apparently this fellow is a comedian and calls himself a professional prankster. When I Googled for some negative reactions to him, I couldn’t find any. That surprises me.