It’s not very often I see any news about elevators, let alone not one, but two interesting nuggets.
First, apparently, there is a hack to go directly to any floor without making any stops. According to the poster, it’s in place for police use. Makes you wonder how spreading it through the interwebs will be seen, but away we go, damning the torpedos.
Then, I see this piece on how the close button in elevators manufactured since the 1990s don’t do anything, creating a placebo effect for the user. It gets better; seems like office thermostats and crosswalk walk buttons in New York are also there for placebo purposes only.
Did I take the red pill accidentally?
Speaking of elevators, I had a fun adventure with the new elevators in the building where Oracle has its main Portland office. There are no buttons inside them. You summon the elevator from the lobby, telling it which floor you want. It then tells you which elevator to use.
For the uninitiated, it can be a wild ride up and down without any idea why. Good times.
The trick doesn’t work in the elevators in the building I work in…but they are Double Decked ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator
so I’ve got no way of knowing if there is someone in the other car that has requested an intermediate stop.
Interesting, a 13th floor but no 14th.
Ten years ago: http://www.eeggs.com/items/12697.html
Cool, don’t think I’ve ever heard of those, although they aren’t obvious to the rider. Was thinking perhaps this trick is a US-only one, although I suspect if it’s true that manufacturers might sell it abroad as well if the local authorities wanted it.
Nice. Guess it’s been in the wild for a long time. Where are you getting the 13 vs. 14 reference?
Look at the picture in the Totally amazing hack link. Someone noted it in the comments there, too. To me, that is a red flag that it is a joke, but I admit I tried it in the train station. Couldn’t resist.
Taking another look, there are no floors that end in 4. That must be an elevator in Asia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_floor
Wow, this post is becoming a nice compendium of elevator trivia. Did it work for you?
Of course not. I’d be in geeknirvana if it did.
Hrm, I was in an elevator this afternoon and forgot to try, dunno how that happened. Note to self.