Railway Workers Get Daily Smile Scans 385
More than 500 workers at Japan's, Keihin Electric Express Railway, must have their faces scanned each morning to determine their optimum smile. The "smile scan" analyzes a smile based on facial characteristics, from lip curves and eye movements to wrinkles. After the program scans you, it produces a smile rating that ranges from zero to 100 depending on the estimated potential of your biggest smile. If your number is sufficient, you can go about your day grinning like a maniac. If your smile number is too low the computer will give you a message such as, "lift up your mouth corners" or "you still look too serious." Every morning employees receive a printout of their daily smile which they are expected to keep with them throughout the day.
If you fail three times... (Score:2, Informative)
...you must watch Koume [youtube.com].
Guaranteed to put a smile on anyone's face.
Re:Omron is the Manufacturer (Score:5, Informative)
as a followup, here is the OAKO [technovelgy.com] Realtime [pinktentacle.com] Smile Recognition [youtube.com] technology probably being employed in the worker scanning. according to the sparse sites the system can operate without calibration.
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:2, Informative)
Did you know Sadness is and has always been one of the seven deadly sins? Nowadays, they call it "Sloth".
Sloth isn't sadness. It's laziness.
Eternal sadness can be viewed as the reward for following the path of the sins, just as eternal happiness is the reward for pursuing the 7 virtues.
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:5, Informative)
It was originally called Acedia. It's an ancient Greek word describing a state of listlessness or torpor.
This was subdivided into Despair (Latin, Tristitia) and Sloth (Latin, Socordia)
It wasn't until around the 17th century that the interpretation of laziness became dominant. It was intended to refer to a sadness and depression that kills the charitable nature of a mans soul, cutting him off from the possibility of redemption.
Nowadays, we label it "mental illness".
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:3, Informative)
My only Southwest experience as of late was a 3 hour flight to Dallas, and we had to stop in Oklahoma City because the pilot realized we didn't have enough fuel. What.the.fuck? Around here they're considered pretty crappy.
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:3, Informative)
"Now, you might ask," said the greasy salesman at the Radio Shack sales meeting I had to attend when I worked there, "Why is a customer going to buy a service plan that costs more than the cheap pair of headphones he is buying? Well, you tell him that when he comes back to the store with that service plan, he'll be a king. He'll be able to replace them no questions asked."
"Anyway, the point is you need to be creative and get your extended service plan sales up..."
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:1, Informative)
Part of this may also be that commuter railroads and subways tend to be heavily unionized. It's near impossible to fire union workers no matter how lazy or inept they are because the union will fight tooth and nail to keep the person. A guy hops off the line to go to the bathroom and wanders back 45 minutes later. He was in the bathroom the whole time reading a magazine, having a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. He gets a reprimand but the union fights it saying there's no rule about how long he could be in there. Answer, make a rule so the next time the union rep can't get the lazy bum off so easily. Lather, rinse, repeat for 40 or 50 years and you end up with an incredibly stupid and colossal set of rules.
This really doesn't surprise me... (Score:3, Informative)
The Japanese take their railways seriously, and why not - they probably have the best railway network in the world. Trains are punctual, spotlessly clean and a pleasure to ride on, from the Shinkansen down to the smallest electric tram. The cost from Kyoto to Osaka can be as little as 400yen. Larger stations are packed with shopping and food malls and have a life of their own outside of the railways. You can get from anywhere, to anywhere on the train.
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Japan is insane. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Pretty much (Score:5, Informative)
"The only first-world country with no laws about racial persecution."
They did outlaw discrimination based on blood type though! That they even needed that law is pretty terrifying though.