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“Just remove the duck” (2013)

rachelbythebay.com

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Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#311

Post by PhasmaFelis »

estebank wrote: post #207
TeMPOraL wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something my friends did on a software engineering class. They were tasked to draw a set of complicated diagrams modeling a software project. When they gave the assignment, the PhD that was grading them said it's wrong and needs a lot of corrections and told them to come back next week with a fixed version. They didn't change anything and just gave the same version again for grading. Instant A.

I had a teacher telling us to change a 120 pages long document back and forth three times. The third time we showed her the hardcopies with her revisions and hand waved it away, trying to gaslight saying it wasn't her handwriting(!). Same person saying that the hardcopy we had of the OMG.org specs[1] was wrong (same class, I believe it was a different day) because she wanted Use Case Diagram[2] didn't have arrows den…

I think it was somewhere in middle school where I had several teachers who insisted that there had to be corrections made between a rough draft and a final draft of a paper, because thirteen-year-olds were obviously incapable of getting anything right the first time. I would write a paper, save it, introduce a few typos, submit that as the first draft, then submit the original a few days later when the final draft was called for.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#312

Post by misuba »

kxo wrote: post #253
omegaham wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Parker and Trey Stone, the creators of South Park, did the exact same thing when making Bigger, Longer, and Uncut . Put completely ridiculous over-the-top NC-17 stuff in there, get it rejected for those parts, and keep the iffy stuff.

I thought that was Team America, World Police.

It was likely both - it's pretty much all films these days, certainly all R-rated ones for the last while.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#313

Post by vellum »

Flemlord wrote: post #152

Putting on my client/product manager hat for a moment, this is incredibly annoying. You are putting me in the position of either (a) fixing the obvious ducks and not looking closely at the real problems, or (b) having to micromanage you and scheduling another review to make further changes. Maybe you get your desired result (a), but my opinion of your work is going to be much lower since you are making obvious duck-s…

A competent PM would notice the duck and any real issues. An incompetent PM would only notice the duck.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#314

Post by protomyth »

yellowapple wrote: post #310
graeme wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. I could never use Apple mice. I hurt my arm muscles typing a few years back. Haven't been able to use them since. (fixed the arm problem with physio and massage) However, the apple trackpad on my macbook air seems to work great. I like this more than even ordinary mice, which can sometimes aggravate the issue.

I personally swear by Logitech's trackball mice (the ones where the trackball is operated with the thumb); less wrist movement involved, meaning less strain there. In contrast, my wrist hurts just thinking about the Mighty Mouse or whatever it's called.

I was very unhappy to find they don't sell the wired version anymore, only the non-Bluetooth wireless. Glad I bought a couple.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#315

Post by Shorel »

Flemlord wrote: post #152

Putting on my client/product manager hat for a moment, this is incredibly annoying. You are putting me in the position of either (a) fixing the obvious ducks and not looking closely at the real problems, or (b) having to micromanage you and scheduling another review to make further changes. Maybe you get your desired result (a), but my opinion of your work is going to be much lower since you are making obvious duck-s…

The duck is not something that is/should-be used often, and it's not to be used with a competent manager.

It's a last resource action.

It means you as a manager are unqualified to manage the project and any idea you have is perceived as a waste of time by the employees, and you make them lose time, in fact, you probably already have a track record of meaningless changes and many man-hours wasted only to satisfy your tiny ego.

Also, in that case your own opinion is as meaningless as the duck.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#316

Post by Aradalf »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #311
estebank wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a teacher telling us to change a 120 pages long document back and forth three times. The third time we showed her the hardcopies with her revisions and hand waved it away, trying to gaslight saying it wasn't her handwriting(!). Same person saying that the hardcopy we had of the OMG.org specs[1] was wrong (same class, I believe it was a different day) because she wanted Use Case Diagram[2] didn't have arrows den…

I think it was somewhere in middle school where I had several teachers who insisted that there had to be corrections made between a rough draft and a final draft of a paper, because thirteen-year-olds were obviously incapable of getting anything right the first time. I would write a paper, save it, introduce a few typos, submit that as the first draft, then submit the original a few days later when the final draft wa…

That reminds me of an English paper I had in freshman year of high school. Final grade on the rubric: 6/6 for each category, but 3/6 for "revisions" because I didn't change anything. Final grade B-.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#317

Post by ptevans »

graeme wrote: post #199
analog31 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My carpal tunnels ache just looking at it.

I agree with you. I could never use Apple mice. I hurt my arm muscles typing a few years back. Haven't been able to use them since. (fixed the arm problem with physio and massage) However, the apple trackpad on my macbook air seems to work great. I like this more than even ordinary mice, which can sometimes aggravate the issue.

Also, trackpads encourage good coding hygiene. Which is say continously using them makes a horrific sweaty mess, so you stay with the keyboard and keep coding. (Unless you really really like w3)

Also I thought "hockey puck mouse" was an old DEC mouse. Dec as in, "my Vaxstation is better than your Mac, cause it has a mouse AND it's still a VAX." (I still like saying "VAX" Side-effect: I start SHIFTING INTO ALL CAPS. )

Paul

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#318

Post by Turing_Machine »

protomyth wrote: post #314
yellowapple wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally swear by Logitech's trackball mice (the ones where the trackball is operated with the thumb); less wrist movement involved, meaning less strain there. In contrast, my wrist hurts just thinking about the Mighty Mouse or whatever it's called.

I was very unhappy to find they don't sell the wired version anymore, only the non-Bluetooth wireless. Glad I bought a couple.

Yes and yes. I hate it when I find a product that's perfect for my needs and then it gets discontinued. The Logitech trackball was one of them. It's one of those tools that (after you get used to it) just becomes an extension of your hand.

The wireless (which is what I'm using at the moment) is okay, but it's not the same.

I've got some dead ones in the junk pile. When I get some time I'm going to see if I can cobble together a working unit from them.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#319

Post by mjcohen »

protomyth wrote: post #314
yellowapple wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally swear by Logitech's trackball mice (the ones where the trackball is operated with the thumb); less wrist movement involved, meaning less strain there. In contrast, my wrist hurts just thinking about the Mighty Mouse or whatever it's called.

I was very unhappy to find they don't sell the wired version anymore, only the non-Bluetooth wireless. Glad I bought a couple.

I have both, and I prefer the wireless. No cords, the battery lasts a long time, and I can program it on my Mac so that, when using Chrome, the extra buttons click on a link, open the link in a new tab, and switch to that tab.

When will Chrome offer the option of switching to a new tab when its link is clicked on? Firefox has had it forever.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#320

Post by thro2 »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #42
mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

Not a huge Steve Jobs fan, but I had a professor who had worked as a designer under Steve Jobs and tried something similar. Steve insisted that a new mouse needed to be just a fraction of a millimetre slimmer so a person's palm was lower and closer to the work surface. They figured he was being an unreasonable "delicate genius" and returned a few days later with the identical mouse and claimed they had reworked it to…

They should've tried making it wider.
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