Pulling Things Apart

Photo

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:47 -0400

(via Coding Horror: Please Don’t Learn to Code)

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:02:44 -0400

(via Coding Horror: Please Don’t Learn to Code)

"A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside...."

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:17:10 -0400

“A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down the supermarket don’t get pissed off and buy someone else’s product instead.
Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. They solved the problem by using some high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighing less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done.
A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent!” – he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.
It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren’’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.
Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before it, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin. “Oh, that — one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang”, says one of the workers.”

- Lazy is what the jealous call efficiency.

Reddit, my friends call me a scumbag because I automate my work when I was hired to do it manually. Am I? : AskReddit

"Getting the details right is the difference between something that delights, and something customers..."

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:16:23 -0400

“Getting the details right is the difference between something that delights, and something customers tolerate.”

- Coding Horror: This Is All Your App Is: a Collection of Tiny Details

The frequent fliers who flew too much - latimes.com

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:10:22 -0400

The frequent fliers who flew too much - latimes.com:

An amazing story (with Brown mention to boot)

(via Slide To Unlock, The Game)

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:32:53 -0400

(via Slide To Unlock, The Game)

"Which is why I have been so saddened and, yes, angry, about the recent trend in the JavaScript..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 01:16:57 -0400

“Which is why I have been so saddened and, yes, angry, about the recent trend in the JavaScript community; to throw away the best practices we have spent a long time honing in what, to my eyes, is an act of machismo; a revolt against good engineering practices for the sake of revolting rather than to make the world a better place.”

- Best Practices Exist for a Reason : Tom Dale

(via “Sign up in seconds” … and then what? -...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:42:00 -0400

(via “Sign up in seconds” … and then what? - (37signals))

Micah and Alex swinging (Taken with Instagram at Mystic River...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:06:00 -0400

Micah and Alex swinging (Taken with Instagram at Mystic River Park)

"I’m 13. I have a little band. We are so much better than you. Honestly. You are the worst band I..."

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:44:30 -0400

“I’m 13. I have a little band. We are so much better than you. Honestly. You are the worst band I have ever seen in your entire life. You are worse than Rebecca Black. The bass player just hacks the bass and plays one chord. The guitar players are playing out of tune guitars and… well not even playing actually chords. I couldn’t sound worse if I tried. It actually sounds like a joke to me. The drummer is okay. But honestly the vocalist is completely out of tune. Oh and The Black keys have two people and are better than you.”

- Teen Age riot: 13 year-old rips into Sonic Youth on Facebook | Death and Taxes

wtfqrcodes: Se habla QR code!

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:40:09 -0400

wtfqrcodes:

Se habla QR code!

Photo

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:03:10 -0400

"The sale of Instagram brings a harsh reality into focus, the realization that the secret rooms or..."

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:10:15 -0400

“The sale of Instagram brings a harsh reality into focus, the realization that the secret rooms or private spaces online where we can share, chit-chat and hang out with our friends are fading. The few safe havens that do exist are quickly being encroached upon or are next on the shopping list for a company like Google, Apple or Facebook.”

- Digital Diary: Instagram and the Internet’s ‘Secret’ Places - NYTimes.com

sandersak dot tumblr dot com: . @spotify must have the shittiest ad team ever.

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:07:08 -0400

sandersak dot tumblr dot com: . @spotify must have the shittiest ad team ever. :

sandersak:

I’m giving Spotify a try. They are doing their best to make this the worst streaming music experience possible.

I’ve been using the free account for a while and I understand that I’m going to be served ads. That happens to me on Pandora and usually it’s not a problem.

So what gives with…

"Somehow the legal team from the studio found out about a student project, in a small private college..."

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:51:10 -0400

“Somehow the legal team from the studio found out about a student project, in a small private college in the Midwest, with no budget, being shot in a warehouse basement, and decided to issue a cease and desist order. Basically, what that means, is that the studio’s lawyers said to us, “You’re using our property. Stop, or we’ll sue you into the stone age.” I responded by sending them the consent form from the Asimov estate, and explained that it was a student project, not a commercial venture worth litigating. I turned over our script, our shooting notes, our shot list, copies of our tapes and even the concept art drawings.
Instead of the letter recognizing our valiant efforts as students that I expected, I found myself on the tail end of a phone call that changed my life. I was contacted directly by the lead of the studio’s legal team, who explained my situation to me very clearly. He told me that I was technically in my legal right to use Isaac Asimov’s material. However, if I chose to proceed, they would file multiple lawsuits totaling over 2 million dollars against me. In the end, I might win, but it would take hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees just to fight it, but would cost them nothing more than the salaries they already pay their lawyers. It would be 10 years before any type of verdict could be levied, and by then it wouldn’t matter what the outcome was, since their film would be long since released. I was 22. I was working 2 jobs, making about $9 an hour, in addition to attending school. I had taken out every student loan I could get to finance my film, which totaled about $10,000 in debt. I had spent my last dollar to buy breakfast for the crew on the last day of shooting. I was properly fucked. I caved.”

- Burn, Hollywood, Burn | jwz

we-enjoy: Is this Batman equation for real? The President...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:06:07 -0400

we-enjoy:

Is this Batman equation for real?

The President Surrenders

Debt cartoon from 1932 apropos of today

Miranda July: The Future

A Billion Dollars Isn’t Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Basic Human Decency

New York’s Chief Digital Officer Seeks to Connect the City and the Public

For New Yorker on iPad, Words Are the Thing

Computing isn’t just getting cheaper. It’s becoming...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:57:50 -0400

Computing isn’t just getting cheaper. It’s becoming more energy efficient. (via The Computing Trend that Will Change Everything - Technology Review)

Natural selection wall. (via British graffiti. - Imgur)

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:51:41 -0400

Natural selection wall. (via British graffiti. - Imgur)

swap the middle board with a rain gutter for instant Table Top...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:15:59 -0400

swap the middle board with a rain gutter for instant Table Top Bar

Photo

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:15:38 -0400