Tech

Comment on Foster’s Post

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Just wanted to link: first help desk.

I’ve got to admit that I identify with the clueless monk and am always amazed at the steady patience of the it guys.   Clearly the tone is universal if the language isn’t.

(This was going around a few months ago; sorry if I’m repeating it but can’t find it through googling Chicagoboyz.)     And I suspect there was some of that in the 1930’s; inertia and fear of change are probably at least as motivating as turf battles & definition of status in terms of how many people wait on us.   The break with all those notions was described by Franklin – but I think it is human nature to fear change and want larger acreage.

Senate Technophobia, 1930 Style

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In 1930, U.S. Senator Carter Glass (Virginia) introduced the following resolution:

Whereas dial telephones are more difficult to operate than are manual telephones; and

Whereas senators are required since the installation of dial telephones in the Capitol to perform the duties of telephone operators in order to enjoy the benefits of telephone service; and

Whereas dial telephones have failed to expedite telephone service; therefore, be it

Resolved that the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate is authorized and directed to order the Chesepeake & Potomac Telephone Co., to replace with manual telephones, within 30 days after the adoption of this resolution, all dial telephones in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol and in the Senate Office Building.

The resolution passed.

(source: Visions of Technology, edited by Richard Rhodes)

Millennial Boyz

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I’m on a mission from Lex. On Thu 12 Jul at 5:34 PM CDT, he wrote me:

> Are the Millennials Different?
>
> I know you are a fan. Any response must be cross-posted on CB!

I can think of nothing better to do on a fine Bastille Day evening — having missed the concert by virtue of being 400 miles to the southwest — than consume modest quantities of ethanol in the form of Boulevard Lunar Ale and compose a rambling post for infliction on the readership here. By way of my usual thinning out of my prospective audience, graze on over to Arcturus for what has become known as the Baby Boomer Apocalypse post, which will 1) impart what I think is the most important aspect of Strauss & Howe’s model and 2) very likely cause you to decide you’ve got better things to do than read the rest of this.

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Photography News

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Item 1: Microsoft’s new photo-search technology looks like a big deal.

 
 
 

Item 2: This is great. A guy puts a small digital camera, cleverly modified to take photos at one-minute intervals for 48 hours, on his cat. The cat wanders off and returns with photos of all kinds of things his owner never knew were going on.

A cat is perfect for this experiment, because it is big enough and has a wide enough range of behavior for its travels to be interesting, yet also small enough that it can be allowed to roam. I assume it’s only a matter of time before people start putting cameras on birds and even smaller animals.

“Requirements Kill”

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A commenter on the post immediately preceding this one links to his own thoughtful essay on project management. This kind of thing may be old hat for the PM gurus here but it’s meat to me. You might like the essay if you, like me, are interested in the dynamics of managing big technical projects, and particularly if you are interested in how projects fail.