Jason Filley – SnakeLegs

A coworker and I used to eat lunch out somewhat frequently, and we developed a list of requirements for restaurants.  Most of them are Rules for Waiters.  I wrote them down and subsequently lost the list, but I’ll update this as I remember them.

• The Recovery Zone:  There shall be an 8″ area on the outside of the table.  When you’re done with something, put it there, and the staff will swoop it up without stopping to talk to you.
• Waiters shall not ask, “Do you need change?” when you pay with cash.  It’s presumptious and annoying to think you’re going to get the rest of the money.  It is acceptable, however, to break the change bills into smaller denominations.
• Waiters shall not take your glass away to refill it.  What happens if you need to drink while they’re gone?  What happens if they forget which glass is yours?  Waiters shall bring new filled glasses, and then take your old glass away.
• The waiter must always bring a glass of ice water if the customer only orders coffee.
• There shall be a separate window for pickup orders.
• There shall be separate parking for pickup orders.
• And you know how there are reserved parking for the handicapped, and expectant mothers?  That’s civilized.  There shall also be funny reserved signs (e.g., “Likes Pepsi more than Coke,” “Can’t sing,” “Eats all the cheese dip,” “Snores violently,” etc.,) for all the other spots, just for the hell of it.

After reading Joel Spolsky’s “Choices = Headaches” article, I listened to Prof. Barry Schwartz’s presentation “Too Many Choices: Who Suffers and Why,” which was sufficiently interesting enough for me to read his book “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.”  Read the article, listen to the MP3, and read the book.

Being confronted with too many choices is psychologically disturbing to people.  The research in the psychology of decision-making is very interesting.  I’d bore you with inaccurately regurgitated tales, but you’d do better just listening to the presentation above.  It’s worth your time. I promise.

Schwartz draws heavily on work done by Daniel Kahneman, whose 2002 Nobel prize lecture is worth reading (PDF).

The “Taxicab Problem” is interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

The two handiest email / SMTP references are:

• Daniel J. Bernstein’s Mail Reference, particularly the SMTP Reference.  Online HTML.  Free.
• “Internet Email Protocols: A Developer’s Guide,” by Kevin Johnson.  This one is pre-RFC2821, but excellent nonetheless.  Currently ~$80 used.  Long out of print.

Another dumb movie.

I hadn’t seen Two Moon Junction in 15 years, and I don’t remember it being such a dorky movie.  Couldn’t make it all the way through.

Click on the thumbnail to see full picture.