Monday, December 30, 2002

I came across this while looking for something else, from August of 2000, on the X-Ray Net weblog: Dig this story about e-book(s) on the next President(s) of the United States (scroll down at the linked story): Simon and Schuster has someone writing two bios -- one of Gore, one of Bush -- and will release one just after midnight following the November election. How quaint! That was a time when I thought that just after midnight on election day we would know who had been elected President! 10:55:18 PM    comment []

Like to watch buildings get blown up and fall down? Hey, who doesn't?: Over the past century, explosive demolition has grown from an uncommon experimental procedure into an industry that successfully performs hundreds of projects each year. However, despite the large number of these events worldwide, the vast majority of the general public has still never seen an implosion first-hand. Which is why we developed Implosion Live. Lots of great video. 10:55:12 PM    comment []

How Long Should Dinner Take? Measuring Expected Meal Duration for Restaurant Revenue Management (PDF) The study explores how fast the meal can be before customers feel rushed and satisfaction decreases. One conclusion is that many restaurants may be able to significantly shorten dining duration (some 20% in this study) without compromising customer satisfaction. Furthermore: If average dining time can be decreased by 20%, the expected revenue during peak periods can be increased by some 25%. Even if the restaurant must increase labor costs or incur other expenses, the financial impact can be considerable. I would expect, though, that the subjective feeling of ''being rushed'' reflects factors other than the (objective) duration of the meal. Which doesn't mean the financial impact can't be considerable, particularly if duration can be reduced further without reducing satisfaction, or if satisfaction can be increased while keeping duration constant. 10:55:08 PM    comment []

A Digression on Digression, by Douglas L. Howard, in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Professors and instructors live and die by their lesson plans -- that daily formulation that is based at least as much on "plan" as it is upon "lesson." We prepare three or four hours for every one or two that we lecture and, through some often unusual calculations, we divide knowledge into time and determine exactly how much information can be transferred within a given class. If it's Tuesday, it's the Enlightenment; if it's Friday, it's World War I. . . . No matter how hard I try or how much I plan, things still seem to happen in class that I never expect and cannot predict. Material that seems to capture students' interest one semester is dull and boring to another class. Teaching techniques that work in one course fall flat in a different one. Interruptions take place that always wreak havoc with my schedule. Students respond differently or raise different issues to the same texts. Even I am responsible for breaking rank, inasmuch as I make associations in class that I never factor in during those best-laid plans the previous evening. . . . If I really do want my students to read Updike by the end of the semester, then I should not allow these distractions to keep them from doing it or to turn one week on Poe into two. Digression is the enemy of progress. But either Swift's nightmare has come true and "there is little matter left for instruction," or I am beginning to believe that diversion does play a role in the classroom and that "digressions," when properly applied, can be, in the words of Laurence Sterne, "the sunshine." 10:55:05 PM    comment []

Etymologic: the toughest word game on the Web. In this game you'll be presented with 10 randomly selected word origin or word definition puzzles to solve; in each case the word or phrase is highlighted in bold, and a number of possible answers will be presented. You need to choose the correct answer to score a point for that question. Beware: the false answers will often also seem quite plausible, and some of the true answers are hard to believe, but we have documentation. 10:54:57 PM    comment []