Showing tag results for Non-Computer

Why do door lock manufacturers mess up the lock handle design?

Last time, we ended a discussion of vending machine design with a short puzzle: What problems do you see with numbering the products from 1 to 99? I'm not saying that these are the only possible answers, but they are ones that came to mind when I thought about it. Ilya Birman was the first to point out the "bounce-effect" problem, thereby rul...

How hard can it be to design the user interface of a vending machine? You accept money, you have some buttons, the user pushes the button, they get their product and their change. At least in the United States, many vending machines arrange their product in rows and columns (close-up view). To select a product, you type the letter of the row and...

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt have decided to besmirch the institution of marriage by deciding that the "until death do us part" thing was neither legally nor morally binding. "Brad said that they spent the rest of the holiday working out how they would release the news of the split. They worked out together the reasons they would give and how t...

As others have reported, it snowed here in the Seattle area yesterday. One whopping inch. You'd think that Seattle, which gets snow a few times a year, wouldn't go completely apoplectic the moment the flakes starts falling from the sky. Especially since it all melts away in a few hours anyway. I didn't watch the local news last night, but I sus...

Last week, I saw a performance of Circus Contraption at The Seattle Center with some friends. We were all left agape by the aerialists as they climbed ropes, hoisted, hung, and balanced themselves high above the ground. I thought back to seeing acrobats as a child at the circus and realized how much more impressive they are as you get older and ...

Last week, I saw a performance of Circus Contraption at The Seattle Center with some friends. We were all left agape by the aerialists as they climbed ropes, hoisted, hung, and balanced themselves high above the ground. I thought back to seeing acrobats as a child at the circus and realized how much more impressive they are as you get older and ...

Alton Brown, geek cooking hero and Bon Appetit Magazine Cooking Teacher of the Year 2004 will be spending January 2005 promoting his latest book, Food × Mixing + Heat = Baking (I'm Just Here for More Food), sequel to his award-winning debut cookbook Food + Heat = Cooking (I'm Just Here for the Food). Check th...

Small electronics nowadays come in those impossible-to-open plastic packages. A few weeks ago I tried to open one and managed not to slice my hand with the knife I was using. (Those who know me know that knives and I don't get along well.) Unfortunately, I failed to pay close attention to the sharp edges of the cut plastic and ended up cutting thre...

Is there nothing a Game Boy can't do? We already learned that it can be played like a musical instrument. Now we discover that letting children play with a Game Boy before surgery is more effective than tranquilizers or a parent's hand at keeping them calm. You know when you go to the dentist and she asks you, "What flavor fluoride rinse would...