# The Straight Dope is failing in its mission **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 16, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374 "2002-05-16T13:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/1 "2002-05-16T13:12:20Z")
Heard while walking to work this morning, from a young girl - late junior high-, early high- school age: I want one of those new IMacs. Those computers are so cool, you know, they move with you when you move. Now, I’ve paraphrased, as I didn’t have a pen/paper or recorder handy, but as best I could tell, this young lady was serious and not one of her 4-5 friends present called her on it! Please stop the world, I want to get off. _P.S. - for those not in the know, the IMac commercials show an IMac screen moving on its swivel arm, mocking a passerby’s movements, including ejecting a CD when he sticks out his tongue. Not something to be taken literally._ ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/2 "2002-05-16T13:25:13Z")
_Sigh_ It’s not the SDMB… Big as we are, we’d need to be a thousand times bigger to make more than a small dent in the ingnorance daily being shoveled out. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/3 "2002-05-16T13:39:16Z")
I hope she buys one and reaps the full bitter disappointment that it doesn’t nudge an inch for her. But then again a Mac would be wasted on someone so pig-shit-thick, plus she wouldn’t be disappointed for long as they’re such great machines. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/4 "2002-05-16T13:49:16Z")
But it was on TV - it _must_ be true!!! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/5 "2002-05-16T14:04:18Z")
Oh the pure joy, a computer that moves, where can I get one. It’s hearing about things like this that make me feel like the laughing policeman. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/6 "2002-05-16T14:13:13Z")
Silly girl. Doesn’t she realize a mirror with such talents would be preferable to a computer? ---
**Author:** ![Aleq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@Aleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aleq)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/7 "2002-05-16T14:14:50Z")
The greater the circle of light, the greater the circumference of the darkness surrounding it. Keep shovelin’, y’all… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/8 "2002-05-16T14:14:59Z")
These are the people who give life to urban legends about microwave user manuals with instructions like “do not use to dry pets” and the like… ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/9 "2002-05-16T14:20:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aleq \* > \*\*The greater the circle of light, the greater the circumference of the darkness surrounding it. \*\* _Goooood_ one! ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/10 "2002-05-16T14:22:08Z")
CAUTION: Cape does not enable user to fly! ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/11 "2002-05-16T14:27:00Z")
I went to high school with a gal who earnestly believed that soap operas were real people’s lives, recorded with hidden cameras in the rooms. She also thought that when it rained locally, it was raining everywhere in the world. Still makes me shudder, nearly 20 years later. [sub](She graduated, btw)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/12 "2002-05-16T14:28:16Z")
I was thinking the same about the cape. I was also trying to rationalize how a person could think such a thing. I was unsuccessful. Oh well, now I see why infomercials are so successful, despite outright lying about their products. Sometimes, I really wish I could shake this annoying conscience-thingy, and be the one to separate these people from their money with cheap, bogus, barely legal, useless products. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/13 "2002-05-16T14:31:31Z")
The first thing I thought when I saw that new Mac commercial was, uh oh . . . they don’t have a disclaimer like the toy commercials. [sub]_Barbie does not move by herself._[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/14 "2002-05-16T14:50:15Z")
A Mac isn’t a toy and should not need a disclaimer. On the other hand, lawsuits are expensive, and saying the defendant is a stupid twit who should not be allowed to handle money, sharp objects and powered items is not a good defense (actually, I would accept that as a defense, law be damned…guess that’s why I don’t get picked for civil juries). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/15 "2002-05-16T15:01:50Z")
> [@](#): > > I want one of those new IMacs. Color me curious, but how could you tell from the conversation that it was a Capitol i ? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/16 "2002-05-16T15:08:19Z")
A quick jump to [apple.com](http://apple.com) and I stand corrected - iMac (do I get points for at least knowing the M should be capitalized?) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/17 "2002-05-16T15:44:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by D\_Odds \* > \*\*A Mac isn’t a toy and should not need a disclaimer. On the other hand, lawsuits are expensive, and saying the defendant is a stupid twit who should not be allowed to handle money, sharp objects and powered items is not a good defense (actually, I would accept that as a defense, law be damned…guess that’s why I don’t get picked for civil juries). \*\* Actually, it _is_ a good defense. I’m thinking of Leonard v. Pepsico, where the court ruled that any thinking person should have known that the commercial was just a joke. (The citation is 210 F.3d 88, but I can’t find a free link to it presently. It was an offer for a Harrier jet for a certain number of Pepsi points; the case is a very amusing read.) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/18 "2002-05-16T15:52:00Z")
OK, [found one](www.law.pitt.edu/madison/contracts/ leonard\_v\_pepsico.pdf). I would like to read the decision if the girl in the OP brought suit. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/19 "2002-05-16T15:58:39Z")
I remember reading about that. Maybe I can get to sit on a jury then! “Your honor, the jury finds the defendant irreconcilably stupid and bereft of the common sense found in a goldfish. We wish not to waste even a second more as we feel the defendant is contagious and actively reduces the intelligence of all around.” ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374/20 "2002-05-16T16:48:29Z")
what was that Ad for the 4x$ that went crowdsurfing, with the byline reading “Please do not try this”. I cried for humanity when I saw that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-is-failing-in-its-mission/109374.md?page=2)