Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 July 8

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July 8

store offline

I was looking for The Weather Channel online store. It's nowhere to be found. What's going on with everything regarding The Weather Channel online store?142.255.103.121 (talk) 02:43, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

At [1] they are saying they stopped doing online orders last fall. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:10, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Why's that?142.255.103.121 (talk) 03:36, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Feel free to ask them yourself. Here is their contact information. --McDoobAU93 04:08, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

I would guess that not enough people are willing to pay for the privilege of advertising The Weather Channel to make it profitable. (For brands that can convince people to do so, like Harley-Davidson, it's a good business model.) If I were advising TWC, I'd say they need to spice up their plain text logo, perhaps by adding a tornado. StuRat (talk) 05:47, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Weather patterns tend to vary. No one has control over them.142.255.103.121 (talk) 20:22, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but how is that relevant to your question ? Or did you mean to respond to this question about moving the jet stream, over at the Science Ref Desk: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science#How_to_change_the_way_the_jet_stream_flows ? StuRat (talk) 20:46, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

I was responding to your suggestion of spicing up The Weather Channel logo. A tornado is not the only weather pattern.142.255.103.121 (talk) 04:18, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but who says their logo has to represent every possible weather pattern ? That would make it look rather busy. A picture of fog might be a bit dull, too, don't you think ? Since a tornado and hurricane and maybe a lightning bolt are the most interesting common weather phenomena, I'd go with one of those. A hurricane isn't quite as recognizable, since you can only see it's characteristic shape when viewed from space. A lightning bolt might work too, but there are lots of logos that already use that for products dealing with electricity (I get over 10x as many Google hits as for tornadoes). Of course, if you insist of representing mundane weather; a raindrop, a snowflake, a cloud, and the Sun might work. StuRat (talk) 05:28, 9 July 2012

I hate to bring the bad tidings to a novomundane citizen, but all weather that occurs on planet Earth is by definition mundane. Sic transit, Gloria Mundy.  :) -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 23:37, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Let's just remain with the plain text logo.142.255.103.121 (talk) 08:03, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, then you're back to the original problem: Most people find it boring, and don't buy from the online store, and therefore it closes down. StuRat (talk) 08:11, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

A bit of a tangent but The Weather Channel probably doesn't have the fierce loyalty or fanaticism as something with a bit more "muscle" to it like the aforementioned Harley-Davidson, or John Deere. Dismas|^(talk) 08:24, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

We are intensely loyal to The Weather Channel. No politics, no "reality" shows. μηδείς (talk) 01:37, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

I think there's a market there, if they just cultivated it properly. There are fanatics who just love extreme weather, even up to the point of chasing tornadoes on their own. However, this type of thrill-seeker isn't likely to be excited by a plain text logo. They like to be associated with danger, much like those who collect Harley products. A tornado on their cap might be a start. StuRat (talk) 17:26, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Is there enough of a market? How many storm chasers (or wannabe storm chasers) are there? As an aside to this aside, I heard a story on NPR the other day about how Weather Channel bought Weather Underground. WU had been seen as the weather nerd's weather site since they provide more niggly data and more research tools. It seems the weather nerds are all up in arms that TWC will sort of dumb down their favorite site. Dismas|^(talk) 23:46, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, to sell a few products online and make a profit doesn't require a huge market, but apparently more than they've been able to attract with their plain text logo products. I am a daily user of Weather Underground's Braille page, as it has no ads, video, fancy pics, etc., and loads quickly. I just hope TWC doesn't screw it up. StuRat (talk) 02:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

What could that mean?142.255.103.121 (talk) 02:11, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

What ? The impact of their acquisition of Weather Underground ? Well, they might have realized they've grown their own brand as much as possible, so are now acquiring other brands. This might be related to their choice to close the online store, if they no longer want to push their own brand. IMHO, they've drifted from their original mission, to provide local weather forecasts. Last week they had a show on fireworks displays, which is rather far from this mission. I'm reminded of MTV, which drifted from showing videos to those hated "reality" shows. StuRat (talk) 02:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

I'm on Medeis' side. That user, like myself, is intensely loyal to The Weather Channel. No politics, no "reality" shows.142.255.103.121 (talk) 07:59, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Hera's (FPotD) "facial art" -- tattoo?

Looking at the full version of Hera_Hjartardóttir's portrait the facial art doesn't look like a tattoo at all. The "brush stroke" look would be extremely hard to replicate with a tattoo gun. Is this just some sort of paint that she must reapply the exact same way every day/week/whatever? Or does she change the piece regularly? Interesting photo and would like more detail! The Masked Booby (talk) 07:38, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Our article says she was inspired by "Celtic warrior paint", and I agree that it looks like paint. BTW, what is FPotD ? StuRat (talk) 08:48, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Featured Picture of the Day, I would have thought. Britmax (talk) 08:54, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that makes sense. StuRat (talk) 09:25, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

The designs change slightly between photos - here - so it looks as though they are drawn on. That's confirmed by an interview here that states that she paints the design on herself before she plays: "I put different symbols in it and change it depending on how I feel...". Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:56, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

2012 Open-Source 3D Action Sci-Fi Game

If I am not mistaken, there is a new (or fairly new) open-source 3D action sci-fi game for Microsoft Windows that is inspired by 'Mars Attacks!'. Does anyone know the title of this game? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:57, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, CodeRED: Alien Arena contains characters that do resemble the Mars Attacks aliens, but it's not new, and it's not entirely open source. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:51, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

But most importantly, it is precicely the game I had in mind! Thank you. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:05, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Given the issue is resolved, does precicely mean before Ms Tyson's acting career? μηδείς (talk) 22:02, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, I find it a bit difficult to write on my laptop keyboard. Am much more used to my regular one. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 08:44, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Do not apologize, it just struck me funny because I heard your spelling in my head as pre-Cicely, not precisely. μηδείς (talk) 20:53, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Or before Joel Fleischman graduated med school? —Tamfang (talk) 22:16, 13 July 2012 (UTC)