How to Beat a Speeding Ticket for Motorists

[Danger]

[*]Danger probably knows what it is even without reading this list of bullets. So if you happen to be Danger, you might consider giving others a chance at least for a few minutes or so.

Well... I was going to say that it's the money you receive when you sue your chiropractor for malpractice, but now you have me intrigued...

edit: For the record, I honestly have no idea. It's not a common word in any field that I've been involved with (unless it's regional). No worries about me popping a spoiler. If I think that I've figured it out before anyone else, I'll PM you to check.

 

[collinsmark]

Well... I was going to say that it's the money you receive when you sue your chiropractor for malpractice, but now you have me intrigued...

It does not involve lawsuits or law. I mentioned that money is involved, but we're only talking a few bucks* or so.

*(dollars, euros, etc. Whatever currency is used in the country where you happen to be in at the time.)

[Edit: Maybe it is regional. In the places I frequent, it's called a backup, but a little research shows that that's probably the less common term. I find that buyback seems more common elsewhere. Now Danger has me wondering if there are more names for this thing than I mentioned, but I'm not sure.]

 

[collinsmark]

Okay, maybe I should give a few more clues.

• If you receive a buyback/backup, a particular type of upside down object will be placed in front of you. This upside down object signifies that you have a buyback/backup. Sometimes the upside down object is called a buyback or backup, but it really isn't; it just serves to signify that a buyback/backup exists.
• Buybacks/backups are abstract, i.e., they are not tangible objects (although the associated upside down objects are tangible). Buybacks/backups can be exchanged for certain tangible things. When a buyback/backup is exchanged, the upside down object is removed in the process.
• It is possible to have more than one buyback/backup at a time. If you receive a new backup before you exchange an existing one, a new upside down object will be placed in front of you in addition to anything else that already might be there, including any existing upside down objects.
• It is possible to purchase buybacks/backups. Normally, one only purchases buybacks/backups for other people. It is not normal for one to purchase a buyback/backup for oneself. [Edit: it is more likely that one would purchase the certain class of tangible object directly for oneself, without dealing with a buyback/backup.]
• It is unlikely that you will receive a buyback/backup if you presently have nothing in front of you in the first place. If somebody purchases a buyback/backup for you, and at that time you don't have a tangible thing that you are presently working on, you would probably just be given the tangible substitution directly instead.
• Buybacks/backups are not part of a game.

So I guess the real question is, for what is a buyback, or backup exchanged? And what specifically is that upside down object?

 

[collinsmark]

My goodness. Nobody?!

Okay, over the last 16 or so hours, I've just polled several friends who are familiar with the subject, on both the employee side and the customer side, who have traveled across the western world (experience with at least four countries and three continents), and I asked them for their feedback on the commonality and frequency of usage of backups (aka. buybacks.)

Feedback shows that buybacks/backups are somewhat common, but not as common as I originally thought. I honestly thought their usage was more common, but that could just be a strange coincidence between me and the universe. So I suppose even more clues are due:

More clues (some of these clues are based on recent feedback):

• Buybacks/backups are only applicable within the boundaries of a certain type of business establishment. But buybacks/backups are not universally common in all such establishments. In some establishments they are common, in some they are not.
• Those business establishments where buybacks/backups are common are likely patronized, to at least a significant fraction, by people who are well acquainted with each other and are regularly returning customers.
• It is less likely to encounter buybacks/backups at those business establishments that function on a more touristy level, where the customers are typically, completely different from day to day. (But even in these such establishments I have seen buybacks/backups in use first hand, so I know they exist! But then again maybe this is the same, strange coincidence between me and the universe.)
• The upside down object is transparent and can fit in the palm of your hand. It is just large enough so that you can grip it and completely close your fingers around it, but just by a little.
• Additional research shows that in some establishments, this upside down object is substituted with a smaller, wooden or plastic, easily stackable disk. But I find that this is even less common, but it might be worthy of mention.
• If the establishment itself purchases you a buyback/backup, it can go by a different name (a name which I have not mentioned). The term buyback or backup is a more general term, since a buyback or backup can be purchased for someone by anybody, the establishment and other customers alike.

 

[Vagrant]

Buyback of shares?

 

[collinsmark]

Buyback of shares?

No. It doesn't involved stocks, bonds, or financial investments at all. A backup/buyback does involve money to some degree, but only a few dollars or so (roughly).

 

[collinsmark]

More feedback coming in. A "marker" is also an acceptable term for what I speak. "marker", "buyback", "backup" are all the same thing.

 

[Danger]

More feedback coming in. A "marker" is also an acceptable term for what I speak. "marker", "buyback", "backup" are all the same thing.

The more you explain it, the more confusing it gets. Where I live, a "marker" is a felt pen, or once in a rare while an IOU.

 

[collinsmark]

New word. What is a buyback? In some circles it's also called a backup (or any variation such as "buy back" or "back up.")

Well, hell. I don't want to hijack this thread with a word that's too obscure, so I'm just going to answer my own move, and move on to a new one. In all honesty, I didn't think it was an unusual term at all, but maybe it was. Let's just move on. My bad, I guess.

http://www.myspace.com/Garreytheyankee/photos/38487464

http://digloss.wordpress.com/travels/bar-etiquette-buy-backs-and-earning-them/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=buy%20back

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/02/from-behind-the-bar-buybacks-free-drinks.html

(The above links refer more to the "comp" specific version of the buyback/backup, but that's what's easiest to find on the Internet. See a few posts below for details.)

Is the establishment a bar?

Is a buyback/backup a temporary substitute for a drink (typically with alcohol)?

Is the upside down object a upside down shotglass?

 

[collinsmark]

Is the establishment a bar?

Is a buyback/backup a temporary substitute for a drink (typically with alcohol)?

Is the upside down object a upside down shotglass?

Yes, yes, and yes. Good job.

 

[collinsmark]

Yes, yes, and yes. Good job.

Could you explain more, please?

 

[collinsmark]

Could you explain more, please?

Why yes, good sir.

When I am out and about, people tend to buy me drinks a lot. I don't comprehend the rationale behind the whole thing, but that's the way it is. I try to repay the favor by buying drinks for the people who bought me drinks. In the end there's a whole lot drinks being bought for people, by a lot of people. 'Lots going on.

If you are in a bar, (assume you are sitting at the bar as opposed to a table), sipping on your drink, and somebody else buys you a drink, it is common (in my circles anyway) that the bartender will inform you that somebody wants to buy you a drink (it could be a stranger, a longtime friend, whoever). If you accept, the bartender will place an upside down shotglass in your vicinity and charge the other person for your next drink. It can now be said that you have a backup (or as some like to say, a buyback). When you finish your current drink and order your next one, instead of paying with cash or credit, the bartender will symbolically take the upside down shotglass as payment (although this is not truly a payment, since the drink was already purchased beforehand; it's a symbolic thing).

Why do this? If the bartender made your new drink immediately, it would get warm or go flat while you are sipping on your current drink. This way the drink isn't made until you are ready to drink it.

I've experienced this not only where I live (which is common in my local pub in the United States) but also all the way from Balina Ireland to the bar in the Narita airport (Tokyo's main international airport. Granted, that was years ago when we were doing backups at Narita, and maybe the particular bartender has moved on since then, but I'm just saying if it can happen there, it can't be too uncommon) and places in between.

By the way, if the bar buys you a drink, it's also called a "comp", but that's a more specific term. A "backup" (or "buyback") is a more general term, referring to a drink that can be purchased either by the bar or by a patron.

But whatever. Maybe it's not as common as I thought. Maybe this is a strange coincidence between me and the particular quantum reality in which we reside. let's move on with a new word then.

 

[collinsmark]

New word. What is a finger?

It's not any of these fingers.

Unlike the last word, this finger is very technical. As a matter of fact, it's more technical than you can shake a stick at.

It involves communication.

 

[mfb]

The finger protocol matches your description perfectly, but it is listed there :(.

 

[collinsmark]

The finger protocol matches your description perfectly, but it is listed there :(.

Not the finger protocol.

 

[collinsmark]

The finger to which I refer, although not directly related, is indirectly related, with a twist or two, to this woman:

One might say she invented the foundation of such technologies where fingers are used (but she didn't specifically invent fingers themselves per se, so don't read too much into this).

 

[Danger]

Okay, I'm pretty sure that I know who the woman is and what she did in relation to the question, but I'm not familiar with the specific term and am not going to look it up right now. If I'm right about the premise, it will be easy enough to check later.
Meanwhile, back to your accursed previous puzzle...
I tended bar for over 20 years, and I'm an alcoholic, and I can guarantee that no such thing as your "buyback" has ever existed anywhere near my locale. Here, if someone buys you a drink it is simply delivered, or you are told about it and then it arrives when you're ready if heating/cooling is an issue. If you don't want it, you can decline but it's already bought and someone else will drink it or it goes down the sink. No "markers" are used; we Canucks have something called "memory".

 

[flatmaster]

Ok. Finger, communication, Black and white photo...

The picture made me think of the time era of rotary phones.

Finger is the number of digits in a phone number. That is, it's the number of times you would need to put your finger in the rotary dial of a phone.

 

[collinsmark]

Ok. Finger, communication, Black and white photo...

The picture made me think of the time era of rotary phones.

Finger is the number of digits in a phone number. That is, it's the number of times you would need to put your finger in the rotary dial of a phone.

Sorry, but no. The finger in question is way more technical.

And by the way, the woman in those black and white photos is not just another, pretty face. She's a very particular woman who is credited for being the first to invent a certain class of communication technology used today in 3G/4G cellular systems, WiFi and Bluetooth. But as a reminder, don't take that too far; her device was comparatively simpler and did not involve fingers.

This use of finger here is very technical. Unless you've had education or experience in this field, you're unlikely to simply guess it.

On the other hand, an Internet search will lead you to the correct answer if your google fu is good.*

*[Quite easily as a matter of fact, with nothing more than the keywords already hinted at. (You might consider first trying to determine the name of that woman.)]

 

[Andre]

pianola wooden fingers?

 

[collinsmark]

pianola wooden fingers?

No, a finger in this context is not made of wood. 'Definitely more high tech than that.

Given your "pianola" guess, I can see you have done some research. But again, don't concentrate on her invention as she invented it. Recall the invention, as she co-designed it at the time, was comparatively basic and did not contain any fingers. Given decades of technological advancement, similar, related systems now might use fingers. Her original invention did not. Fingers are more technologically advanced than what could have been created in her day.

But because of the underlying communication principles of her idea, she is still associated with the things that use fingers. Let google be your friend. (Hint: start simple.)

 

[L4xord]

Going out on a limb here... Is it a person who constantly channel/frequency hops while using a citizens band radio...?

 

[Andre]

Or is it a "have quick" finger frequency hopping channel

 

[Jonathan Scott]

*[Quite easily as a matter of fact, with nothing more than the keywords already hinted at. (You might consider first trying to determine the name of that woman.)]

I already knew who the woman was and what her invention was about, so I thought that could put me ahead a bit, but I was a little surprised to spot that the image link contained her name!

Is this something to do with capacitors containing fingers that make them easily switchable?

 

[collinsmark]

Going out on a limb here... Is it a person who constantly channel/frequency hops while using a citizens band radio...?

Oh, my. Lol (I'm actually laughing out loud [I am]).

This woman's invention does involving "hopping" between different "frequencies." Yes! But not manually!

"Frequency hopping" is a type of "spread spectrum" communication. And yes, this woman's invention was the first frequency hopping device, and the spread spectrum system of any type. So she is associated with the invention of spread spectrum communication technology.

But frequency hopping is not the only type of spread spectrum system. There are others. And some of these others more readily implement fingers than do frequency hopping systems (that's where the "twist" comes in that I mentioned in post #66).

But all systems that use fingers are spread spectrum systems, and as such all systems which use fingers are associated with this woman even though they don't necessarily use frequency hopping. (Edit: and with this fact in mind, you don't really need to make the distinction when you google.)

You're not quite there yet though. I need a bit more regarding what a finger does, or at least what it is specifically part of.

 

[collinsmark]

Or is it a "have quick" finger frequency hopping channel

You're on the right track. Except in the link you provided, in the entire article there is a single use of the word finger, "...signal to interference signal power of each finger frequency hopping channel is the..." and I'm wondering if that use of finger was intentional or not. It might be a typo or editing mistake of some sort. Or more likely it could be a translation error.

Whatever the case, it doesn't explain what a finger actually is, or at least what it is part of. So, you're not quite there yet.

 

[collinsmark]

I already knew who the woman was and what her invention was about, so I thought that could put me ahead a bit, but I was a little surprised to spot that the image link contained her name!

Yes, finding her name shouldn't be too difficult, with that.

Is this something to do with capacitors containing fingers that make them easily switchable?

Sorry, there's nothing about it that involves capacitors in particular. (No more so than any electronic device anyway.)

 

[collinsmark]

And this is something to keep an eye out for, figuratively.

 

[Andre]

Got it but I'm overloaded a bit so I won't have time for a follow up.

 

[Danger]

I know the answer, Mark!
A "finger" is what I'm about to give you...

 

[flatmaster]

The Fourier transform of the signal will have a peak for each frequency. Each peak is a finger.

 

[collinsmark]

I know the answer, Mark!
A "finger" is what I'm about to give you...

The Fourier transform of the signal will have a peak for each frequency. Each peak is a finger.

Oooh, not quite, no. (But not a bad guess.) The operation of a fingers is even more complicated than even Fourier transforms, by themselves. Even systems that use fingers and use Fourier transforms as part of their operation, a finger is still more involved than simply a peak in the frequency response.

But here is general hint that I've been trying to subtly push (or maybe not so subtly): Even if you don't know about or understand the technology, google is really good at finding this sort of stuff for you. Look back at Post #66 and find that woman's name. Also, you know you are looking for something called a "finger." With those couple of pieces of information, do a google search. You might find your answer in the first few hits (maybe even the very first hit. ). Remember, this is the jargon game, so keep an eye out for a hit that contains technical jargon.

[Edit: well that method worked like a charm as of this morning, but now google hits seemed to have changed order. Try throwing in a "spread spectrum" or something, if nothing obvious comes up. You should be able to get to it that way.]

 

[flatmaster]

A receiver picks up not only the direct line-of-sight signal, but also reflections and echoes off of walls, furniture, and tea kettles. These reflections take a longer path and arrive after the line-of-sight signal. Each instance of the signal received is a finger. The fingers can be re-combined to make a stronger signal.

 

[collinsmark]

A receiver picks up not only the direct line-of-sight signal, but also reflections and echoes off of walls, furniture, and tea kettles. These reflections take a longer path and arrive after the line-of-sight signal. Each instance of the signal received is a finger. The fingers can be re-combined to make a stronger signal.

Oh, so close! So close indeed! 'Just a hair way!

As you mention, fingers *do* involve multipath components of a signal (multipath components being the echos, reflections, and the direct line of sight version of the signal), each finger is assigned to a different multipath component. But the "fingers" are not part of the signal itself (or multipath components themselves), rather fingers are part of the ... <== FILL IN BLANK HERE

 

[flatmaster]

Oh, so close! So close indeed! 'Just a hair way!

As you mention, fingers *do* involve multipath components of a signal (multipath components being the echos, reflections, and the direct line of sight version of the signal), each finger is assigned to a different multipath component. But the "fingers" are not part of the signal itself (or multipath components themselves), rather fingers are part of the ... <== FILL IN BLANK HERE

But the "fingers" are not part of the signal itself (or multipath components themselves), rather fingers are the parts of the receiver that take in each multi path component.

So in the following analogy, the ball is the multi-path component and the puppy catching the ball is the finger.

 

[collinsmark]

But the "fingers" are not part of the signal itself (or multipath components themselves), rather fingers are the parts of the receiver that take in each multi path component.

Bingo! flatmaster wins the round.

I would have also accepted any of these terms or a wide variation of them. A finger is:

• Part of a rake receiver (Notice in that link, down in the references section, Main Articles, History, there is a link to Hedy Lamarr. That's why as of this morning anyway, this link was the very first hit when googling "Hedy Lamarr finger".)
• A demodulating element.
• Part of something in a receiver that overcomes multipath fading.
• A despreader.
• A descrambler.
• A fancy doohickey thing that undoes the spreading.
• A correlator.
• Part of the receiver in a 3G cellphone.
• Something that demodulates a particular multipath component.
• A "sub-receiver" in a spread spectrum system.
• A really complicated doodad in a fancy spread spectrum receiver that uncomplicates the signal.

and maybe anything else that was close.

If you haven't guessed the woman in question is Hedy Lamarr.

Fingers, which are parts of a rake receiver were invented in 1956, but they are so complicated that it wasn't even practical to make them until the 1970s (and even then they weren't so practical).

But now if you have a 3G cellphone (such as CDMA, WCDMA phone [not GSM]), your phone contains fingers. If you are reading this thread online, while connected to the Internet by wireless LAN, it's possible that fingers are involved. And fingers or not, all of these things including Bluetooth and 4G cellular systems are loosely based in part on the invention by Hedy Lamar. (Again, some implementations of spread spectrum use fingers and some do not. But any system that does use fingers [per a rake receiver] is definitely spread spectrum.)

With that flatmaster, I hand it over to you.

 

[flatmaster]

Inspired by the original "green weenie", my word is...

"Dead Nuts"

Hint: Not at venereal disease

 

[flatmaster]

Hint: Has to do with measurement

 

[Danger]

Hint: Has to do with measurement

Where I come from, it means perfect as to measurement, proportions, aim, or any other subject requiring accuracy.

 

[flatmaster]

"Dead Nuts" can mean dead on, plumb, level, or exact, but it has a more specific meaning.

When making a precise series of measurements, it's important to "close the loop" to check for error. If you start at (0,0) on a cartesian grid, you should be able to take some path and return to (0,0)

If your real-world measurements of the path close the loop and return you to (0.00,0.00) then you're "dead nuts" and you know you measured well (or made two offsetting errors!).

The internet disagrees with me, but I was told that the extra zeros swinging around are the "dead nuts". Your turn Danger

 

[Danger]

Okay, here's a twist.
I'm going to recycle Andre's last one: "gate".
This time, though, it refers to something involved in my previous profession rather than his. I was a locksmith. Any of the things that he eliminated in his post are also not applicable to this one. It is very obscure, so I won't blame anyone for Googling rather than knowing it right off. (In fact, I don't even know whether or not Google can help.)

 

[flatmaster]

The gate is the array of pins in the tumbler. Every pin in the gate must line up to open the lock.

 

[flatmaster]

The suffix "-gate" is a generic term for a political scandal. The term originates with the Watergate scandal.

 

[Danger]

Nice tries, Flatmaster, but the first one doesn't exist and the second is not applicable.

I'm going to bed now, so don't expect any more replies in the immediate future.

edit: For the record, the array of pins is called the "code". For instance, if you tell me that you need a key for a 47946 code on a Schlage "C" keyway, I can make it for you without ever seeing the lock.

 

[Danger]

Really? Nobody?

 

[collinsmark]

Sigourney Weaver?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnJvsBbELvk

 

[Danger]

Sigourney Weaver?

No, but I love her so much that I'm tempted to give it to you.

Okay, I'll withdraw this question and give an easier one.
Let's get back to Andre's realm: the term is "George".

(A "gate" is the slot in the drive cam at the rear of the wheel pack in a dial-type combination lock, into which the fence falls in order to withdraw the bolt and open the door. I really didn't expect anyone to get it, since I seem to be the only locksmith in residence.)

 

[Danger]

Oh, come on now...
Anybody...?
Hint: Pilot says to co-pilot "Let George do it."

 

[flatmaster]

Otto pilot.

 

[Danger]

Otto pilot. View attachment 58434

Correct! (Although most require less inflation than the one in your photo. Oh, how I envied that little blue bastard...)

Take it away, son...