People may want to join you, if you treat them well

We’ve all encountered that moment, faced with a corner or a set of stairs, and wondering how in the hell we’re going to fit our couch, fridge, or 42RU server rack around it. Jac Murtagh over at the Scientific American has some great news! The maximum size of an object that can fit around a corner is now knowable: What’s the largest couch that can...

Clara and I were walking down the street last week—as one tends to do when requiring bi-pedalled locomotion to a specific location without encountering a powered vehicle of some sort—when we noticed a large truck depositing a small shower of rocks and other debris on the side of the road after what could best be described as an ill-advised,...

Long-term readers know I love ALDI. With a few rare misses, the German discount supermarket chain has stuff as good as the others, at better prices, and in a well-designed environment that doesn’t trigger anxiety like the blaring lights and music of Colesworth. I wrote more about the enduring appeal of Aldi back in June last year. But I hadn’t...

Yesterday I wrote how people generally don’t care how something works, they only want a solution to their IT problems. Jason of NotJustBikes was joined by Reece from RM Transit to discuss a similar idea. Edited for brevity: Jason: In the Netherlands, the planning seems to be a lot more high level and strategic. “This is the overarching goal that...

I judge the process of cancelling a service against how easy it was to register with the company in the first place. It’s amazing how many companies fail when judged against this! Okay, it’s not amazing at all, it’s entirely routine. Which is frustrating. If you can register online, you must be able to cancel online. If you can register without a...