In a recent Goodwill find, I managed to buy a mint condition $1000 Xeltek Superpro IC programmer for $5. In the process of selling it, it turns out there is a local guy that does an amazing amount of work with these devices as well as PCB repair and a whole host of other electronics work.
Numeric displays typically have seven segments. Artist and engineer Chris Combs linked together 288 four-digit displays for a total 7200 segments once you factor in the colons. It can be programmed to show large digits or other moving images. It’s on display at VisArts’ Concourse Gallery in Rockville, MD through 10.17.21.
Michael Reeves was trying to get ready to do some boxing. He didn’t know anything about boxing, but signed up for the Creator Clash, then came up with the worst possible method of training – a set of TENS machines programmed to shock his muscles into action by zapping his nerves with electricity. He also turned his friends into Rock’em Sock’em sparring robots.
“It’s kind of hard to describe what this feels like. It’s like having 100 bees working together to control your arms.”
This is the craziest thing I ever saw. Skip along to 7:05 to see the madness.
Daoming Town in Sichuan Province, China, is known for its bamboo weaving traditions. “In Bamboo” is an homage to this rich local custom. Constructed in just 52 days back in 2018, the multi-use pavilion stretches 1,800 square meters and contains space for exhibitions, gatherings, and dining. The steel and wood structure supports a twisting, infinity-shaped roof of small ceramic tiles, which slopes down near a reflective pool at the center of the building.
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Amsterdam-based designer Robert van Embricqs wanted a new desk that let “the user to fold that desk away when work is over” and created a now-viral piece that seamlessly transforms from office to artwork.
“Flow Wall Desk” features flush vertical slats that twist and unfold into a tabletop.
Find the desk and other modular designs in van Embricqs’ shop, and follow his work on Instagram. (via Hyperallergic)
MSI Afterburner is probably the best known graphics card overclocking software. Unfortunately, it may be dead due to the war in the Ukraine.
The original developer of graphics card overclocking utility MSI Afterburner has warned that the software is “semi abandoned” and “probably dead”. The dev, Russian national Alexey ‘Unwinder’ Nicolaychuk, posted on the Guru3D forums (good spot by TechPowerUp) that due to economic sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, MSI haven’t paid him for his work on Afterburner in nearly a year.
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I had a great time meeting many of the voice actors for a bunch of famous Valve games at PAX Seattle. Most them were/are Seattle locals and still work extensively in the area. Here were some of the getting started resources they mentioned during their talks (and some of them teach at these locations too) for those interesting in becoming a voice actor:
Here are 9 titles that Elon Musk has said were most influential to his development in life. Compiled by Blinkist:
Hiring is hard. It seems everyone is trying different kinds of experimental hiring techniques. The STAR method is very common these days for assessing critical soft skills. My guess is a bunch of them are not going to pan out, but I did find the “two-hand” hiring process to be promising.
Elon Musk has been using this technique for a long time. It’s called “two hand” testing because he focuses on candidates’ first hand experience, and hands-on testing.
First Hand Experience means to select candidates with real life, first hand experience with the role/tasks needing to be done. Real world experience is a better teacher than universities or classes. You can sometimes get amazing non-traditional candidates if they demonstrate more first-hand experience than those that just took courses.
Hands-on Testing means to give the candidate real world tasks to demonstrate hands on competence. It’s easy to inflate skills and capabilities, but practical tests related to the role give recruiters an excellent gauge of actual ability. This requires a bit more work from the recruiters to build real-world tests – even to the point of giving an actual task they might get with anonymized data.
Japanese companies are barred both by societal and legal constraints that make it very difficult to fire employees. Historically, that led to the phenomenon of the madogiwazoku – literally, the tribe that sits by the windows. Employees whose services were no longer needed, but that the company could not or did not want to fire, would be given a pleasant spot by the window to while away working hours by reading the newspaper. However, as the Japanese economy has had to deal with years upon years of recession, and the increasingly stiff winds of global competition, many Japanese companies are finding themselves with more redundant staff than could fit at the window seats.
The oidashibeya is in a sense madogiwazoku on steroids. Employees are typically placed in a room, often windowless, where they have nothing to do. In many cases their business cards are taken away, and they are forced to do menial, mind-numbing tasks, or given nothing to do at all. Being excluded from the mainstream is particularly painful for those who have dedicated themselves to the company for many years, especially in the context of Japanese culture where murahachibu (ostracism from the group) is a traditional and strong form of punishment.
The idea of the oidashibeya is that stripped of their status, ties with colleagues, and interesting work, the employees who are placed there will eventually quit out of shame and sheer boredom.
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