Go Go Gadget Minisaw

weighn writes "The SMH has this story about an eccentric Frenchman who carries about 1300 useful items attached to his body by various means. A digital camera is mentioned, so I guess there may be some form of computing device nearby. Anyone else a bulging pocketed geek-scout?"

No Picture!?!?!

[Geeyzus]

The story is about a guy who basically has a bunch of tools attached to him, who calls himself "Crazy Eric" (go figure). The whole story is just about how crazy this guy looks, and there is NO PICTURE! What's up with that?

Mark

What an IDIOT!

[Kip Diamond]

I could also carry a great number of "useful" items on my body, but why would anyone want to do that.

Carrying 15kg of items on yourself not only makes you look like an idiot, but also shows that you DO want self publicity.

There is no other reason to wear 1300 items. Does it look cool.....no. Is it helpful? Hell no, not when you are cluttered with 1300 different items!

This guy either just an idiot, an extremely paranoid idiot, or a 30 year-old virgin trying to get self publicity to get laid.

Fuck you Crazy Eric!

Re:MIT cyborgs

[Fnkmaster]

I don't know any of them, but I rode in the elevator with one in the Media Lab back when I was working there as a research assistant a few years back. Fucking spooky when you hear a guy quietly clicking away with his one-handed keyboard-thingie while staring straight ahead. It was like he had no awareness of my presence or any other people around him.

Frankly, that kind of thing isn't good for humankind. I'm all for connectedness, but when we are so connected we lose our connections to the immediate world around us and the people right under our noses so we can email, check weather, and write code all the time - well, we truly lose some of what makes us human. And that's sad.

Re:What an IDIOT!

[Anonymous Coward]

Trust me, this guy is not gonna get laid.

pffft... useful?

[The_dev0]

Everybody knows the towel is most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

Re:MIT cyborgs

[scott1853]

It was like he had no awareness of my presence or any other people around him.

This has nothing to do with technology. Have you ever gone to a grocery store?

A surprisingly large number of people are completely unaware that that they are blocking the aisle when they have there cart on one side of the isle, themselves on the other, and yet they don't realize that you're coming despite your driving of the loudest shopping cart in the store.

Apparently choosing a spaghetti sauce takes a large amount of conentration and puts people in a trance like state.

I for one think that he's pretty cool

[outofpaper]

Un like most of the people ranting about how this man can't get laid and how uncool he is I think that his outfit sound rather cool. From what I understood his clothing is extreamly neat, due to the fact that is probaly has obsesive compulsive disorder. His tools are probably laid rather evenly over most parts of his body that wont be presed up aginst stuff as he goes about his day to day buisines.

I also liked the idea that I got when I heard of the velcro leg pockets. I thought of removable pockets that velcroed on to witchever pants he was going to ware today. For them to work all you would have to do is sew soft velcro patches onto all your pants and then when you got home take of the pockets and that way you don't have to resort your pockets.

If I was going to designe cooltool pants I would just take some strong comphy pants sew velcro on them(the soft fuzzy part), probably as larg patches on the thighs and calves. Then I would find some of that strong synthetic denim stuf that overalls are made of (probaly in black or posibly that realy spiffy blackand white hounds tooth patern), with this fabric I would make my pockets. They would have litle deviders in them so as to seperat all my diferent tools(you know mini renches from philips screw drivers). I might also alow for some sort of modular inter wireing so that I could just plug things into my pants for power and alow sound sent to by shirt where I could have a plug up by my neck for head phones.

Re:argh no no no

[MacAndrew]

Germans can have a great sense of humor! It just tends to be a little ... dark. I find Kafka a riot. :)

I don't condone stereotypes, but the French do have other surrenders [google.com]. But in fairness these should at least be counted against the many French victories -- Napolean and all that. They also gave the fledgling U.S. one heck of a boost during its Revolutionary War. Finally, the (Nazi) Germans were the final surrender, and isn't THAT the one that counts?

Something similar

[Snafoo]

I have a friend who, many years ago, owned a trenchcoat with (a) a well-sewn liner and (b) missing or ruined pockets. Thus she'd typically fill her coat with: All the day's required textbooks and coursepacks, a dozen paperbacks, lunch, notepad, pens, a stapler, a flask, a math set, chemistry goggles, kleenex, and (IIRC) half a dozen moist towelettes. The thing is, most of the above are relatively flat, and so if stacked carefully added absolutely nothing to the coat's outline. Your first clue would be Jen reaching into her pocket and pulling out item after large absurd item...

Re:Who wants to bet...

[jericho4.0]

At the time of Germanys invasion of the Rhineland, France had 50 tank divisions within a 2 days travel. Germany had 6, in total. Germany also had many officers convinced Hitler was mad and waiting for the counter-attack to start so they could kill Hitler. They missed a Big Chance.

France also had a naive millitary command, and very little resistance.

That said, who can blame them? WWII was still a very nasty memory, and none could face the prospect of war again. It was very easy to belive that Hitler only wanted a little bit of Europe, and then he'd be happy. England managed to muster a fight through blind jingoism, and the U.S. had time to wake up to the fact that they were going to have to fight. I don't envy anyone of the time who had to make the big desisions.

Oh yeah... the other reason for the 'France surrenders' joke is the american feeling that they saved Europes asses. Probably true, but they were next, and the war couldn't have been won without Churchill, Turing, DeGaull and thousands upon thousands of young men who gave their lives in the mud.

Napoleon Bonaparte

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the greatest generals in the history of warfare was French. France, at one time, ruled most of Europe.

Those French surrender jokes best describe American ignorance - or stupidity, just repeat whatever joke you heard on Jay Leno last night.

Re:argh no no no

[Metrol]

Anyone else think of the National Missile Defence project when they hear of the Maginot line?

I'm thinking of marking myself off topic for replying to this. Oh well, moderate away.

Your comparison falls short on one major point. The Maginot line was literally the only defense that France put up to the invading Germans. One they walked around it, it was not much more than a contest between artillery and small arms. We all know how that ended.

In contrast, nobody is suggesting that missile defense is the only line of defense we maintain. It's meant to be a means to close a huge opening in the variety of defenses we do have in place.

Yes, even with missile defense there remain other means to move a nuke. Those means aren't totally unstoppable, as missiles are today though. It forces any potential enemy to work a LOT harder to get through to us. It gives our intelligence agencies at least a chance to stop delivery.

Far as I'm concerned, missile defense is worth exactly the cost of having one major city destroyed, and all the people in it killed. Haven't heard many opponents quote that cost into an argument.

Practical?

[JimR]

My favourite quote from the article:

...the Guinness book of records, which in its last edition grants Eric a slot as owner of the world's "most practical suit of clothing".

Eric's outfits weigh 15kg...

Hmmm... this must be some new meaning of the word "practical" that I was hitherto unaware of.

Re:Parker Lewis

[tim_uk]

Hah! Go get one of these [utilikilts.com] and you'll not only have enough capacity to handle a six-pack but you'll also have enough intrigue to attract the laydees...

Tim