Nobrainer’s Think Tank

For a bunch of magic people with the ability to fly, why the eff do they walk everywhere?

Around 12:30 today I went to speak to my team leader. “Team Leader,” I asked, “can we cancel today’s weekly update meeting? I don’t have much to update you on and I could really use the time to make progress against my (constantly growing) workplan.”

“Sorry,” he says. He’d really like to catch up.

“Fine.”

2 1/2 hours later, the meeting starts.

Says he, “so, how did that quick-cut analysis go?”

“It confirmed our suspicions,” I replied. And it took about 3-times longer than bossman had estimated. It also proved me right that it was a waste of my time because we already knew the answer and we already knew that we’d proceed regardless of the outcome. “We really shouldn’t spend any more time on it.”

“Ok, that’s good. Do you think you could send me the raw data so I can take a look?”

Fortunately, “I cannot.”

More time passes… Yada yada yada.

Says he, “I sent you an email regarding that conference.”

“Really?” I thought, “you refused to cancel a meeting where 1/3 of it consists of you telling me that you sent me an email.”

A couple more minutes pass and we get to the conclusion. “Well,” team leader adds, “don’t worry about bossman’s latest request, I think your priority should be on your current work plan.”

“Really?” I thought again, “you insisted on having a meeting so that you could tell me to use my time to work on things already assigned? Thanks a fucking lot!”

I have become very sad that I switched the search on my blog from the native WordPress search to a Google search. The Google search seemed better at the time. It had the advantage of linking to my AdSense account which can help earn me upwards of dozens of dollars a year. But the reality is that Google is pretty bad for search… at least on my blog.

Here’s a simple example from yesterday. I wanted to find an old post I wrote with comments about light switches, the motion activated ones that have a built in timer. So I searched for “+timer”. No luck. None whatsoever.

Your search - +timer - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:

* Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
* Try different keywords.
* Try more general keywords.
* Try fewer keywords.

Fortunately I still have the native WordPress search available through the admin pages. So that’s good enough that I could find my old post. But anyone who visits the site in search of something (who knows if Google is even good enough to get them to my site to begin with), is going to have a difficult, if not impossible time, finding anything.

Another problem is that Google doesn’t understand the real structure of the blog. The main page, for example, always has the same address, but the content is different. The same can be said for pages like http://neubranderinc.com/blog/page/2/. Often Google will provide links to these dynamic pages that are out-of-date by the time anyone finds them. It seems to be a rare case when Google will actually link to the specific posts.

Case in point: I wrote a post in March, 2009 titled Idiocy prevails at the San Francisco Chronicle. A site search that includes all the initially omitted results, returns these, and only these, options:

neubranderinc.com/blog/category/shaky-research/
neubranderinc.com/blog/category/adventures/page/2/
neubranderinc.com/blog/category/stupidity/page/4/
neubranderinc.com/blog/2009/03/page/2/
neubranderinc.com/blog/2008/04/page/3/
neubranderinc.com/blog/page/34/

I find it troubling that the post I’m looking for has the specific phrase included in it, even in the url title, and that Google is only returning pages with links to the post, even though the post has a standalone and non-changing URL.

Rant over.

Some time ago I griped a bit about how some genius at UVA had installed motion sensing light switches in bathrooms. Basement bathrooms. Bathrooms with nothing resembling a secondary light source.

Well now my newly remodeled office has these switches. Normally they’re just a bit of a nuisance because I can have them turn off on me about 3 times per day while I’m still in my office (and not even when I’m sleeping!). Perhaps this is a ‘feature’ meant to motivate people to move a little bit and get a tiny bit of extra exercise. But I digress.

After a bit of a power disturbance today, the light switch in my office has become hyperactive. It still turns on with motion, but it turns off after about 20 seconds. Now my goal is to move so little that I can avoid the annoyance of having my office light constantly cycling on an off. Let’s just say that I’m a real happy camper right now.

And as a final point about what a joke these kinds of sensors are, I noticed that all the offices have them, except for the president.

From the NY Times, even.

Economists are trying to measure a home computer’s educational impact on schoolchildren in low-income households. Taking widely varying routes, they are arriving at similar conclusions: little or no educational benefit is found.

Wait for it. Wait for it.

little or no educational benefit is found.

Never the idiots.

Consumer Watchdog focused on a number of high profile politicians whose homes appear on Google’s Street View maps.

It found that Congresswoman Jane Harman, who heads the intelligence sub committee for the House’s Homeland Security Committee, has an open home network that could have leaked out vital information that could have been picked up by Street View vehicles.

Jane Harman, who heads the intelligence sub committee for the House’s Homeland Security Committee might (emphasis on might) be accessing critical information using an unsecured home wireless network and it’s Google who is at fault?

I’m really hoping that Consumer Watchdog, who I suspect are a bunch of useless fuckups, just fucked up on this one.