Outsourcing: Lemonade from Lemons
Here is a snippet taken from Wired. The whole article isn’t worth reading, but the first few paragraphs are:
Did you hear the one about the programmer who outsourced his own job? I read about it on Slashdot.org, the “news for nerds” Web site. A pseudonymous poster wrote, “About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,000 for. He’s happy to have the work. I’m happy that I only have to work 90 minutes a day, talking code. My employer thinks I’m telecommuting. Now I’m considering getting a second job and doing the same thing.”
The story is instructive, even if it is apocryphal. (Requests for an interview went unanswered.) It’s a case where everyone wins. By subcontracting out the generic parts of his job, the programmer gives himself a promotion. The Indian developer is well paid. The employer gets good code.”
Of DVD Rental Schemes
The guys at Mentor aren’t the only ones that find my reviews helpful. Sometimes I find the customer reviews on netflix to be most helpful. A while back I found Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. There weren’t many reviews and I certainly knew enough about the film to offer the curious netflix member some advice. Today 49 of 51 people have found my review helpful and it is listed as the #1 customer review on the site. Move over Roger Ebert!
Movie rental plans has been the hot topic here at Unicoi. Several of my co-workers are giving netflix a whirl and they like what they see. During our conversations I learned that Blockbuster has a monthly rental policy similar to netflix. Members are able to rent 2 DVDs at a time and keep them as long as they like for $25 a month. However, the membership is per store. That is, it is not valid at the Blockbuster down the street from the one where the contract was signed. Now Blockbusters aren’t franchises. They are all owned by the Big Ol’ Blockbuster CompanyTM. The stores are connected with a good computer system. One Blockbuster can tell you what movies are available at another and they all know when you have late dues. (I am very familiar with Blockbuster’s late fees.) So why limit my membership to a single store? It would vastly increase the variety and accesibility of their movies. Right now, they are merely able to compete with netflix, but if they followed my advice they could crush the budding dot-com.
Free Stoff: Frappuccino
Starbucks is giving away free complimentary Frappuccinos on Wednesday, June 30.
I Got 4 Eyes, but I still Need Yours
From what I understand, someone has create a magic eye thingy out of plain text. I have never been able to get those things to work so I enlist the help of the 10s of people that read this site. Stare at this web page a bit. No need to feel guilty for taking time to participate in this little exercise. I mean, you’d just be staring at something else on the screen if you were working. Now, tell me what do you see? …and don’t reply “It’s a schooner”
This Just in…
…my neighbor’s bedroom window!
I’m reporting live from outside Chris Sheppard’s apartment where an Indian (real Indian, not Native American) crashed his friend’s Lexus SUV through the lower floor of my apartment complex yesterday evening. He took out the support, pulled the iron staircase away from the wall and went through some lady’s bedroom window. He then put it in reverse and took out a few cars on the other side of the parking lot. No one knows exactly what went down. Some speculate he was drunk or on drugs. For some reason I have trouble imagining someone of Indian decent hopped up on crack. Maybe I’d have an easier time if Ghandi were more like Bob Marley. Others speculate it was his first time driving. However, the parking lot is very narrow and he had so much momentum. I mean, I’m not sure if I could do this much damage if I tried so I have trouble believing someone did it on accident, and then there are the other cars he hit on the other side of the parking lot after he plowed into the bedroom. Someone claims they heard arguing in the apartment before the incident. Now it all makes sense. Some guy got so mad he took his friends luxury spot utility vehicle and plowed it into the neighbors apartment and a few other cars belonging to complete strangers. That’ll teach him! We’ll have more as this story develops (but don’t hold your breathe).
The moral of the story: “Look both ways before going to bed”
