Comment author: David_Rotor 15 October 2010 04:27:40PM 0 points [-]

It looks like 5 November is the day we'll be arriving in Melbourne, so unfortunately I won't attend this meetup.

Perhaps the next one.

Cheers,

David

Comment author: David_Rotor 20 September 2010 01:37:34PM 1 point [-]

Patrick,

I've just accepted a role in Melbourne. I won't be there until November, but would be interested after we arrive.

Cheers,

David

Comment author: David_Rotor 19 April 2010 12:59:07AM 5 points [-]

Hey ho.

Comment author: AndySimpson 28 May 2009 09:09:11PM 0 points [-]

This seems to broaden the discussion considerably from works of art with fandoms to anything with a following. I think you'll agree that there's a noticeable difference between the attitude of otaku toward anime and F1 followers toward F1 cars and races.

Comment author: David_Rotor 29 May 2009 09:14:12PM 0 points [-]

Perhaps my error ... I didn't read anything in Bond's article that suggested he was only referring to fans of fiction and movies. Are there differences between otaku and tifosi? What are they?

Comment author: Psychohistorian 28 May 2009 10:10:40PM 0 points [-]

I'd, respectfully, suggest that your unfamiliarity with my examples speaks more to your range of cultural, artistic, sporting, and commercial, interests than it does their global fan bases.

You're almost definitely right.

Though I'm curious, do these see the same level of Han-and-Leia-wedding-style fanaticism, or is it just that such levels of fanaticism for these things are normal enough that they don't make the news?

Comment author: David_Rotor 29 May 2009 09:09:46PM 0 points [-]

I'd say that the level of fanaticism can be pretty high in many of the examples I used. F1 fans travel all over the world, dress up in funny costumes, and parade around carrying massive flags showing which team or driver they support. Google "Tifosi" for a flavour.

Lego fans do things like build this 46' self-supporting bridge http://gizmodo.com/5272536/46+foot-long-self+supporting-lego-bridge-to-set-new-world-record.

Each of the other have their own version of fanatic behaviour ... my favourite for sheer lunatic fun remains the annual Bloomsday celebration of Joyce's Ulysses.

Comment author: Psychohistorian 28 May 2009 04:43:46PM 2 points [-]

I don't think many people would be hard pressed to call Barbie flawed.

I can't speak for most of the others you've cited (though the fact that I am not aware they have fanatic fanbases suggests they're several orders of magnitude below, say, Star Trek).

Comment author: David_Rotor 28 May 2009 08:29:37PM 2 points [-]

I'd suggest that Bond didn't restrict his comments to a degree of magnitude of fan base (or for that matter Eliezer with his reference to Vance's books).

But I'm quite willing to state that the fan base of F1, many who spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars of year to attend a single race, and which attracts a global viewing audience of some 50 million per race (1 billon over a season) surely is in the same magnitude of Star Trek.

Or take Playmobil, with something like 2.2 billion sets sold and an annual turnover of close to Euro 500M, and which has inspired many annual conventions all over the world.

I'd, respectfully, suggest that your unfamiliarity with my examples speaks more to your range of cultural, artistic, sporting, and commercial, interests than it does their global fan bases.

Comment author: David_Rotor 28 May 2009 02:16:16PM *  5 points [-]

In the same vein as newerspeak's reference to Proust, how about Joyce fans and their annual bloomsday celebrations?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday

Changing genres, I believe all of these references* have both fans and "conventions", and anyone would be hard-pressed to call any of them "bad" or flawed:

Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright

Jazz: Davis, Coltrane, Peterson, Brubeck

Toys: Lego, Barbie, and Play Mobil

Military aircraft: P51 Mustang

Racing: Volvo Ocean Racing, F1, World Rally, MotoGP

Cars: 1955 Gullwing, 1965 Shelby Cobra, Enzo Ferrari

Birding: The Great Horned Owl

  • and many many more.
Comment author: David_Rotor 16 April 2009 06:42:31PM 2 points [-]
* Handle: David_Rotor
* Name: David
* Location: Ottawa, Canada
* Age: 44
* Gender: Male
* Education: MSc
* Occupation: Procurement, Business Development

I started following this site when it was introduced on Overcoming Bias. I came across OB while doing some refresher work on statistical analysis, more particularly how I could help some clients who were struggling with how to use statistical analysis to make better decisions - or in other words they were ignoring data and going with a gut feel bias. I stuck around because I found the conversations interesting, though I find it more difficult to make them useful.

On the religious front ... atheist from about the same time I figured out Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:43:58PM 2 points [-]

I found more than one ... this one was still up on my browser. Look for "booklet" rather than pamplet. Pamphlets are generally single folded pages.

http://www.printplace.com/printing/booklet-printing.aspx

Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:54:17PM 0 points [-]

Another suggestion ... design it as a tri-fold 11X17 page. 10,000 four colour glossy paper for about $1100 online. This format "stacks very nicely. Again, should be cheaper locally.

http://www.digitalroom.com/Trifold-Brochure-Printing.html

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 April 2009 03:41:59PM 1 point [-]

Can you include the link, please? Your google-fu must be stronger than mine.

Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:43:58PM 2 points [-]

I found more than one ... this one was still up on my browser. Look for "booklet" rather than pamplet. Pamphlets are generally single folded pages.

http://www.printplace.com/printing/booklet-printing.aspx

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