Doctor Dalai’s superb April Fool

I loved Doctor Dalai’s recent April Fool, announcing the partnership between Siemens and Disney:

“Disney and Siemens are two of the world’s most recognized and respected brands, both known for their relentless commitment to innovation. We look forward to working with Disney to grow our relationship and realize the potential of two great companies. This new relationship creates an ideal opportunity to demonstrate Siemens’ innovations to our customers, while also strengthening the Siemens brand in a memorable and relevant way. Viewing medical images, such as CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) scans or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) exams has been limited by our 20th Century-based technology.

“No matter how fast the computers get, or how sharp the image may appear, we are still seeing only a shadow of what is truly present within the body,” notes George Nolen, President & CEO, Siemens Corporation. “With the advanced visualization techniques of Disney’s Pixar division, as well as their expertise in flight simulation as applied to various attractions, we are now able to actually place the physician virtually within the body. The most microscopic of processes will be visible to the eye from this vantage point. This certainly represents a new era in imaging.” Note Doctor Dalai, after contact from Siemens, has now removed the post.

The great added bonus about this joke is that there’s a nice grain of truth embedded in it — as didn’t Pixar start out in part as a manufacturer of medical imaging equipment?

 

 

Bebo’s social networking healing sectarian wounds?

Watching BBC’s Panorama last night I was surprised to see that NI’s sectarian fights had been taken online, particularly the award-winning Bebo. At one point in 2006 the online hostility got so bad: “Representatives of Bebo.com even attended a public meeting in Ballymena in 2006 with an aim to quelling the sectarian tension not on the streets, but online – a 21st century twist to a centuries-old division.” Just checked out Bebo, which has a great page with all the Bebo people on board.