Consider the environment: Do you want a receipt?

Raymond Chen July 2, 2018 Jul 2, 2018 07/2/18

Microsoft dining services installed a self-service store in our building. After you complete your transaction, the kiosk reminds you to consider the environment and asks if you want a receipt. If you say, "No receipt", it spits out a blank piece of paper. So I guess technically you didn't get a receipt. (The problem has since been fixed.) ...

How I learned to type

Raymond Chen June 22, 2018 Jun 22, 2018 06/22/18

Tomorrow is the 150th anniversary of the granting of United States patent 79,265 to Christopher Latham Sholes for a type-writing machine. My daughter asked me how I learned to type. I told her that I learned on a typewriter. This led to a lot of follow-up questions, starting with "What's a typewriter?" It was an Adler Junior typewriter, ...

Woodworking, the opposite of software development

Raymond Chen June 18, 2018 Jun 18, 2018 06/18/18

While waiting for the BoltBus, I met a former software developer, who said that he's now a carpenter. Specifically, he makes furniture out of wood, so a more precise term for his type of work would be something like woodworking. He says he quit software because customers would keep making change requests on short notice, even for features he ...

Even though the brand is called One A Day, none of them actually should be taken one a day

Raymond Chen June 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018 06/13/18

I submit for your consideration One A Day Teen for Her VitaCraves Gummies. According to the product packaging, the serving size is "2 daily." Indeed, of all the One A Day vitamins listed on that page, none of them has a serving size of one. "One a day, for large values of one."¹ ¹ Or small values of day...

Where is the Seattle BoltBus stop?

Raymond Chen June 11, 2018 Jun 11, 2018 06/11/18

The official site says that the bus stops at the corner of 5th and Dearborn, but that is a nasty five-way intersection, and you don't want to be standing on the wrong corner because it'll take you two weeks to cross the street, and you have to do it while dragging your luggage with you. Okay, TL;DR because you're in a hurry: The bus stops on ...

Unusual choice of units: 1.8 billion square millimeters

Raymond Chen June 8, 2018 Jun 8, 2018 06/8/18

The materials for Kraft Heinz's 2018 annual meeting boasts that they "reduc[ed] total packaging by more than 1.8 billion square millimeters of film each year—the equivalent of almost 346 football fields worth of packaging material." Okay, first of all, square millimeters is a strange unit of measure when you have 1.8 billion of them. ...

The alphabet, in alphabetical order, in various languages

Raymond Chen May 29, 2018 May 29, 2018 05/29/18

The first onstage round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place today. Best of luck to all entrants! Bonus chatter: For many years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee FAQ, did not include the question "When does the spelling bee take place?"¹ As a result, every year, I have to guess when it's going to take place, and every year ...

The seasoned pianist’s guide to musical collaborators

Raymond Chen April 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018 04/30/18

What's it like working with others?

Whoa, that fitness tracker is a really expensive watch

Raymond Chen April 17, 2018 Apr 17, 2018 04/17/18

My mom saw that her friend was wearing a new watch. Her friend said, "It also counts how many steps I took today, keeps track of my exercise, even monitors my sleep." My mom replied, "I used to have a watch, but its battery died after only two years! It's such a hassle replacing the battery." Her friend answered, "Oh, you just recharge it ...

Why is it cheaper to fly out of Vancouver for spring break instead of Seattle, while also being cheaper to fly out of Seattle for spring break instead of Vancouver?

Raymond Chen March 30, 2018 Mar 30, 2018 03/30/18

Some relatives from Vancouver, British Columbia came to visit, and we mentioned that when we fly out on vacation for spring break, we found that the airplane tickets are much cheaper if we drive up to Canada and fly out of Vancouver International Airport. On the other hand, they noted that when they fly out on vacation for spring break, they ...