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May 4

Items thrown on the ice

During many figure skating competitions, including the ones during the Winter Olympics, fans tend to throw flowers, gifts and such out onto the ice. This is after the competitor(s) complete his/her/their performance(s). Other skaters go out onto the ice to retrieve the items. Who are those other skaters? What do the competitor(s) do with the retrieved items?24.90.204.234 (talk) 03:22, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Wall Street Journal (no less) has answers for these burning questions, at least in Vancouver.[1] The picker uppers are volunteers. The competitors keep what they want and donate the rest to charity. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:32, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Why was no SMS used in Demolition Man to send fine notifications?

Demolition man is just 20 years in the future. Tickets are printed out and the fine dispenser causes quite a racket every time someone swears. (Could annoy others nearby, and perhaps even violate noise laws.)

However, with constant increases in available bandwidth and Moore's Law doing its magic every 18 months, text-messaging should keep getting cheaper than ever.

On the other hand, costs of printer ink have historically been quite overpriced, and the labor costs of going to every ticket dispenser in the city and refilling the fine slips (and the fine slips themselves) could seriously add up.

Also, if it's windy that day, the wind could just blow the ticket-slip away before the offender has a chance to collect it. That can't be done with text-messaging.

So with text-messaging fine notifications obviously far easier and cheaper for any municipality, why wasn't this done in the film? --68.102.29.129 (talk) 04:47, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See Future history. Demolition Man was made in 1993. In any type of fiction about the future, authors or writers can only postulate what might happen based on the technology they only know at the time they are writing. The most famous example is the 1960s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which featured developments in space travel and habitation that ended up not actually occurring in real life in 2001. In the case of Demolition Man, it is highly unlikely that the writers of the film, working on the script in the early 1990s, had any notion or idea about what is SMS today. Cheers. Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:59, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, as stated in Demolition Man (film)#Setting, the filmmakers deliberated portrayed their future world in a quirky, satirical manner – with all restaurants being Taco Bell, 20th-century advertising jingles are heard as popular music, toilet paper has been replaced by seashells, and so forth. Thus, that "noisy" ticket dispenser could have also been deliberately designed by the filmmakers as another part of their satirical look at the future. Zzyzx11 (talk) 05:25, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

...President Schwarzenegger... Adam Bishop (talk) 06:57, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Surely the loud rattle would act as a deterrent to criminals. Also, a wizard did it. --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:38, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Space movies

I'm looking for movies that really convey the emptiness and loneliness of outer space. Not exactly a horror film like Alien, more along the the lines of Moon or 2001. Any suggestions?--ChromeWire (talk) 06:24, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Bruce Dern is sure to get lonely in Silent Running. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:34, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oops. Dern's character dies at the end, but the film still fits. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:01, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dark Star, although it's a comedy, or either version of Solaris. Also maybe Sunshine which is firmly in the "space drives you mad" subgenre. --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:41, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Pandorum springs to mind. It got kinda shitty reviews, but I sorta liked it. --Jayron32 22:06, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I always enjoyed Outland (film), although its the isolation in space suits on Io. Dru of Id (talk) 23:04, 5 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's not a movie, but The Twilight Zone episode "The Long Morrow" has the loneliness out there as a major theme. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:31, 6 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Another a tv show: Defying Gravity (TV series). 93.95.251.162 (talk) 15:15, 8 May 2012 (UTC) Martin.[reply]

Photography at concerts

I noticed that sometimes, photography is prohibited in concerts, and sometimes it is allowed. What is with this inconsistency? Why do they sometimes prohibit photography, and sometimes allow it? Is it a copyright thing? And in which places/countries is prohibiting photography during concerts common? And in a related question, in which sports leagues prohibit photography and why? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew

It may be the band's management, or it may be the venue, seeking a monopoly on shots. Obviously with high quality photos and footage from small devices, that is harder to control these days. Those in the photo pit are usually limited to first three songs and no more than 30 seconds of video at a time.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:28, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Reasons not to allow it:

1) Flashes are annoying to both the band and audience. (Yes, flashes do little at those distances, so they should turn them off, but many don't or can't).

2) Copyright infringement.

Reasons to allow it:

3) Added benefit to fans to take home pics.

4) Free advertising.

So, how each band balances those factors will vary. StuRat (talk) 17:12, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And yet, at almost every concert I have been to, there are thousands of flashes going off pretty much constantly, despite the "no cameras" policy and everyone being searched at the entrance. Astronaut (talk) 18:51, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Song at the beginning of Playing for Time (film)

What is the song sung at 0:01:30 in Playing for Time? The film is here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4d3bWAdVA8 I recognised this melody, does anyone know what it's called? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Newbiepedian (talk • contribs) 23:25, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

J'attendrai ---Sluzzelin talk 00:07, 5 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]