Glow with the Show ears explained

[hobie16]

I bet the master computer can turn function off and on too.

You mean...

... the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER?!?!

Sometimes when you're not looking he just sneaks up on you. He looks like a cheap sort of flying saucer about five feet across with a snout-like megaphone apparatus in the front with two big eyes mounted like Appletons with miniature motorized frowning chrome eyebrows over them. Along the side of his disc-like body are several sets of stupid-looking headers and exhaust hoses which apparently propel him and punctuate his dialogue with horrible smelling smoke rings. In the middle of his head we can see an airport wind sock and constantly twirling anemometer. The bottom of him has a landing light and three spoked wheels. In spite of all this, it is obvious that the way he really gets around is by being dangled from place to place by a union guy with a dark green shirt up in the roof who is eating a sandwich (pieces of which drop off every once in a while and lodge themselves near the hole where they put the oil in that makes the cheap smoke).

He hovers into view and speaks to us thusly...

Central Scrutinizer:
This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...it is my responsibility to enforce all the laws that haven't been passed yet. It is also my responsibility to alert each and every one of you to the potential consequences of various ordinary everyday activities you might be performing which could eventually lead to *The Death Penalty* (or affect your parents' credit rating). Our criminal institutions are full of little creeps like you who do wrong things...and many of them were driven to these crimes by a horrible force called MUSIC!

Our studies have shown that this horrible force is so dangerous to society at large that laws are being drawn up at this very moment to stop it forever! Cruel and inhuman punishments are being carefully described in tiny paragraphs so they won't conflict with the Constitution (which, itself, is being modified in order to accommodate THE FUTURE).

I bring you now a special presentation to show what can happen to you if you choose a career in MUSIC...The WHITE ZONE is for loading and unloading only...if you have to load or unload, go to the WHITE ZONE... you'll love it...it's a way of life...Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...Hi, it's me, I'm back. This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...The WHITE ZONE is for loading and unloading only...If yah gotta load, or if yah gotta unload, go to the WHITE ZONE. You'll love it...it's a way of life. That's right, you'll love it, it's a way of life, that's right, you'll love it, it's a way of life, you'll love it. This, is, the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER!

[delsdad]

I thought the same thing - except that the guy says the ear hats can interact with each other. That would indicate some transmit function, wouldn't it?

The transmit could be in the visual spectrum, after all they are doing that anyway. If the ears "see" a specific color from another neighboring hat, they could replicate it. that would help with zones where the signal from master control is blocked to one set, but they can see other ears, and just play along. it improves reliability too.

[delsdad]

You mean...

... the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER?!?!

Sometimes when you're not looking he just sneaks up on you. He looks like a cheap sort of flying saucer about five feet across with a snout-like megaphone apparatus in the front with two big eyes mounted like Appletons with miniature motorized frowning chrome eyebrows over them. Along the side of his disc-like body are several sets of stupid-looking headers and exhaust hoses which apparently propel him and punctuate his dialogue with horrible smelling smoke rings. In the middle of his head we can see an airport wind sock and constantly twirling anemometer. The bottom of him has a landing light and three spoked wheels. In spite of all this, it is obvious that the way he really gets around is by being dangled from place to place by a union guy with a dark green shirt up in the roof who is eating a sandwich (pieces of which drop off every once in a while and lodge themselves near the hole where they put the oil in that makes the cheap smoke).

He hovers into view and speaks to us thusly...

Central Scrutinizer:
This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...it is my responsibility to enforce all the laws that haven't been passed yet. It is also my responsibility to alert each and every one of you to the potential consequences of various ordinary everyday activities you might be performing which could eventually lead to *The Death Penalty* (or affect your parents' credit rating). Our criminal institutions are full of little creeps like you who do wrong things...and many of them were driven to these crimes by a horrible force called MUSIC!

Our studies have shown that this horrible force is so dangerous to society at large that laws are being drawn up at this very moment to stop it forever! Cruel and inhuman punishments are being carefully described in tiny paragraphs so they won't conflict with the Constitution (which, itself, is being modified in order to accommodate THE FUTURE).

I bring you now a special presentation to show what can happen to you if you choose a career in MUSIC...The WHITE ZONE is for loading and unloading only...if you have to load or unload, go to the WHITE ZONE... you'll love it...it's a way of life...Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...Hi, it's me, I'm back. This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...The WHITE ZONE is for loading and unloading only...If yah gotta load, or if yah gotta unload, go to the WHITE ZONE. You'll love it...it's a way of life. That's right, you'll love it, it's a way of life, that's right, you'll love it, it's a way of life, you'll love it. This, is, the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER!

Sounds a bit like Commander Kashogi in We Will Rock You !

[drcorey]

The transmit could be in the visual spectrum, after all they are doing that anyway. If the ears "see" a specific color from another neighboring hat, they could replicate it. that would help with zones where the signal from master control is blocked to one set, but they can see other ears, and just play along. it improves reliability too.

hey, can I get a large copy of your avatar so I can make a button of it?

[hobie16]

Sounds a bit like Commander Kashogi in We Will Rock You !

Frank Zappa.

[200footdrop]

I bring you now a special presentation to show what can happen to you if you choose a career in MUSIC

Uh oh, does this mean that the music major in me needs to heed advice?

[delsdad]

hey, can I get a large copy of your avatar so I can make a button of it?

I will look for the original file from the scan. The coaster itself is now in the possession of Darph. I might have to liberate another coaster from Stout.
In the meantime, there might be a graphic at http://www.hopcity.com that is almost identical.

[SG I Yam]

I thought the same thing - except that the guy says the ear hats can interact with each other. That would indicate some transmit function, wouldn't it?

thats what I was thinking.
they have to be sending and receiving data. I bet the master computer can turn function off and on too.

Serial numbers can be RFID, and thus passive. They can read all the S/N's of all the ears going into any particular area. If they miss a couple, and it doesn't function special, no big deal. All the others around will. Once Disney has the S/N from the RFID, it can do a broadcast back to the ears with instructions via infra-red.

ID from one hat to another, can conceivably be done via the LED ears themselves.

Not sure exactly how the ears operate, since we don't have them at WDW, but I don't see why the LEDs in the ears can't send discrete pulses (i.e. a S/N) via I/R LED, and since the hats can read I/R, identify one another. You could either transmit the owner's S/N or the S/N of a target set of ears. (Point a camcorder with nightshot capability at the ears and see if it's transmitting... You might have to look close, something like a S/N can be transmitted in a fraction of a second and could end up between frames.)

If the I/R streams the hats receive are encoded, it might be very difficult to create a hand controller. On the other hand, I seem to remember palm devices communicating with each other, had to be line of sight, so it was probably I/R. If you had the protocol, you could find an old Palm Pilot and create one...

[hobie16]

Will the secondary effect of the IR give the crowd a nice tan?

[SG I Yam]

Will the secondary effect of the IR give the crowd a nice tan?

Only if you take every show ears ever made and hold them 1/4" away from the subject... :)

I'm talking about the same I/R led's in your TV remote control...