Posts in category Random / Consumerism

Preventing the Spread of Perishables

May26
2011

Summary: it is not always wise to discard an expired food product.
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Sometimes you have to knowingly keep an expired item in the fridge for the very simple reason of avoiding further expiration. This would happen in cases where you cannot soon remove the item from the household. Take for example, an instance where you discover that your mayo (or Miracle Whip!) has been ‘bad’ since two months ago. You may feel upset, and wish to banish the item from the fridge, either as a punitive measure or so that you (or others in house) “won’t be fooled again.” So, you toss it in the trash… then what? The item’s condition will worsen, and the family welfare will suffer for it. Imagine if you did the same with old meat. (Hello buzzards!)

So, unless you are planning to take the trash OUT, you should not simply put the old mayo in the kitchen’s trash bin. Instead, preserve it in the fridge, perhaps in a designated ‘Expired’ zone. Then you can schedule a time to evacuate expired items. Yep.. just like the end of Vietnam. Get yourself a chopper!

Posted in Software / Usability - Tagged

Accepting Data: I’ll see your ten and raise you…

Apr26
2011

Summary: Questions the idea of cancelling a data request when a seemingly more apparent answer becomes known. **
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At Chicago bus stops, a sign gives a code for sending a text and receiving the predicted arrival time. Such trackers are becoming common in cities, for both bus and train ETA, and can be delivered via web, apps, and SMS. This morning I arrived at a stop and entered the code but before I clicked send, the bus became visible about one-half of a mile away. My instinct was to put aside the phone, because the ‘answer’ was right before me… I thought about it, and decided this was short-sighted. I should have completed the data request and gotten the ETA from the authority. Why?

There are many variables that determine the speed of a bus, and a highly influential –and dynamic — component is the quantity of stops. (Anything can happen at a stop.. or nothing at all). Even though the bus was visible, it was still more than 2 stops away, which made it susceptible to further delays. In an opposing situation, the distance (to a newcomer) might seem to include multiple stops, but might be an ‘express’ or be entering a stretch of no stops.

The data provider (the ‘authority’) likely has a long history of each bus line to generate its algorithmic prediction. It is worthwhile to collect this wisdom while we wait as an ADDITIONAL source of data. We can of course still LOOK at the approaching bus. What about the COST of sending and receiving a text? It might be as much as $.20 for those who lack a high-quantity text plan. In that case, one would have to determine the value of receiving the authority’s prediction. It would likely be more valuable to keep the twenty cents, especially since the authority is often inaccurate… HA HA… but the inaccuracy is still of value! It is still data that YOU, as your own ultimate authority, can use, going forward. Example:

Authority predicts 2 minutes; Actual wait was 5 minutes… this provides guidance. It would take a lot of data to generate your own rule set, and you would likely be ruined by a dependence on a simple conclusion such as “authority always underestimates by 3 minutes.” More preferable, would be for the authority itself to constantly be given corrections for each of its predictions. That’s the Google method, but the catch is the eventual Big Brother apparatus.

But for you to collect as much data as you can – by having as much knowledge and experience as possible– you would at least know that that is that and this is this… and isn’t that what life is about?

On the other hand, by busying yourself with texting, you may have missed a smile.

Posted in Math & Science - Tagged , ,

Traffic Jams: 2 lanes merge into one lane

Mar20
2011

Yesterday I was in the slowest-moving traffic of my life experience. A seven-mile trip to Folly Beach removed 75 minutes from my life. There were several factors contributing to the inefficiency, such as it being the first hot weekend beach day in the area; cars not at full capacity (several were with neither passengers nor drivers); hotel check-in period for visitors; two-lane road turning into a one-lane road. This last factor was most important, and the subject of our post. In yesterday’s case, it was the right lane that ends, requiring its cars to move over into the left lane. It is now my belief that the ‘ending’ lane always moves faster than the ‘ceding’ lane, so you should take the non-ceder if you are aware of the situation. This theory is based on human psychology and probability. Here are the issues that favor the ‘dead-end’ lane:

  1. Fear. More people than not want to be safe and not risk depending on the mercy of others. It is also more common to fear angering other motorists, by pestering them for an opening. The fearful lane is more populated; the dead-end lane less populated, so it moves faster. At the point of the merger the driver who fears displeasing another motorist will let other car(s) merge ahead of her.
  2. Reciprocity. Among the occupants of the ceding lane are former dead-enders who migrated to the single lane. Of these, a majority will be prone to let a cohort inside due to empathy and feelings of fair play.
  3. Nature. The true nature of these respective lanes force an action in the drivers’ favor. The dead-end would seem to require ‘yielding’ but actually the ceding lane must yield. That is why it is the ceding lane. A dead-end driver cannot possibly yield to the other lane–there’s no place to go. The traffic must be merged. So given the weight of that necessary movement, it will happen (sooner rather than later). This third factor relates to the aggregate of the lanes and the cars, and is therefore a check on the individual hostilities or whims of people.  Even if many people in the ceding lane are vengeful and hostile, they will, as a whole, cede to the other lane out of necessity.

Conclusion: Take the fast lane and ye shall be rewarded.

Posted in Math & Science, Software / Usability - Tagged

WWW is not Free for All

Mar10
2011

Facebook, Twitter and most web sites are free. All you need is a $500-800 device, and $100 per month to a phone company.

Tagged ,

On-demand production

Mar05
2011

Since Hulu, and Neflix have become popular, people have discussed ‘on-demand’ consumption, wherein the consumer can choose when to consume a movie or TV show, just as she chooses when to listen to a song.

Can there be a similar ‘on-demand’ production paradigm?

I’m thinking of this because I’ve starting publishing a weekly magazine. Magazine’s are usually weekly, and I wanted the challenge of meeting a deadline. But it causes much stress, and there is not a demand to warrant it. I do have to create demand. But do I still have to create an issue each week at the same time?

Welp, of course I do not HAVE to do anything. And of course, often times a brand new thing does not have fans, or demand. But as I try to interest people in the content, I am wary of promising a weekly output.

Output should be constantly POSSIBLE, but collected into something PERIODICALLY. I think that is the new model. So I will switch over to a Blog, and then inform ‘followers’ when a new ‘magazine’ is available.

Posted in Matt News - Tagged ,
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