What the hell is this?
...than develop a new radiation warning symbol? According to the IAEA, the old symbol had "no intuitive meaning and little recognition beyond those educated in its significance." OK, then. But I'm going to miss this guy:
More like this
The capacity to use and manipulate symbols has been heralded as a uniquely human capacity (although we know at least a few cases where that seems
Time for our second visit with old friends. This time, we're going to check up on "The Lords Witnesses", the bible code geniuses who made somewhere around a dozen attempts at using their code to nail down a date at which the UN building in NYC would be blown up.
Earlier this week, I posted [a brief article][nyc-boom] about the ["True Bible Code"][tbc] folks who claimed that NYC was going to be hit by a terrorist nuclear weapon this weekend.
When it comes to stocks, ticker symbols seem to be extremely important. Instead of evaluating a company's financial fundamentals, investors get seduced by cute abbreviations. As the WSJ notes:
And anyone who sees the new sign will immediately understand that if you leave the foot-warming vent in your car open it will lead to pirates and running men.
My mistake. Make that toothless pirates and running men.
Oh! No!! I think I have one of those!!! on my Weber Grill!!!! On my back porch!!!!! Run Away!!!!!
So the best response to radiation is to turn right, and run.
Despite the potential to get the wrong impression from the direction of the arrow, I like the new sign better.
That's ridiculous. Who doesn't know what the original radiation symbol means? The key is that it's really simple. This new one is too complicated. It doesn't have any obvious meaning, either. It's open to interpretation, e.g. what John McKay said. ;)
It also contains the poison symbol on it, which is confusing. Radiation is not poison! It behaves totally differently. What if somebody sees the new symbol and thinks, "Oh, it's poison. Well, as long as I don't eat it I should be fine."
Bah!
Black and yellow is universally recognized as danger. Yellow and red likewise. But black and red is not. Also, this sign presupposes "reading" the sign, not just see a symbol. Methinks someone's "very talented, really, but the job market is hard right now" niece got themselves a lucrative design contract...
I think the new sign isn't as elegant as the original, but it does convey the best course of action to take. After all, intensity changes with the inverse square of the distance.
Alex, and what if you can't run to the right as the sign says you should?
Does the sign mean I'm supposed to run away, or bad things will happen to me if I do run away?
I spent at least 20 seconds thinking about this before reading the text and learning what this sign was all about.
And how do you know *when* to run? When you see squiggly arrows flying through the air?
I know I'm a bit late to comment on this, but in other words the sign is telling me to stand there and be killed by squiggly lines or run and bash my skull into a black line at the end of a triangle.
No No No Its Obviosly an alien death ray and you should run away to right looking over your shoulder liek the idiots in the movies i cant belive none of you can see that!
What that sign says to me is
I AM SINISTAR
RUN, COWARD
RUN
RUN
One teeny little contradiction I'd like to point out:
The (apparently) obscure and unknown old radiation symbol... is still prominently featured on this new symbol... accompanied by a man running from pirates.
Ignore that previous statement. I just figured out what the symbol really means.
It's a public service announcement against ultraviolet rays.
Basically, it's saying that if you jog or are a pirate (as both activities usually require you to be outdoors), you should wear sunglasses to protect yourself form UV radiation.
Who cares! If you just look at the sign it tells you that there is something bad around. Who cares anyway if which way you run (except for running into it) Neither signs are helpful though.