Stuffleufagus

  I had an idea over 20 years ago that was very similar to this - except I had an additional twist - when the car was actively accelerating (ie, gas pedal being pushed and not just coasting) a small segment of the tail light glowed a faint green.

That would give followers the ability to know everything you need to know about the momentum of the vehicle in front of you.

In any case, it is about time we update brake lights.

It’s only taken about a million years, but someone has finally decided that improvements are possible in automobile braking lights. Students from Virginia Tech have developed a new system that can show not just whether you’re stopping, but if you’re slowing down, when you’re about to stop, and how quickly you’re pressing the pedal. The concept uses an array of horizontally arranged LED lights — when you begin to slow, lights in the center glow orange, after a certain threshold side lights turn to red, and if you’re slamming on the brake, they’ll all flash red.

Virginia Tech students create "smart" brake lights for cars | My iStop

written by rob

This is part five of a five part series. 

• Part One, Arranger.
• Part Two, Learner.
• Part Three, Restorative.
• Part Four, Individualization.

I’ve covered the first four parts of this "personality profile" over the last week.  I enjoyed taking the test, and I have enjoyed really thinking about the results. 

First, I wish they would have told me what my five "worst points" were as well as telling me what I am good at.  But that being said, of the five top attributes this test claims I have, the fifth is by far the one I am most interested in, and most proud of.

I love to teach.  If the profession had more flexible hours, paid better, and didn’t require teaching credentials then I might well be a teacher

So I am happy to discuss the fifth attribute with you:  Developer.

This isn’t like a computer programmer type of developer - what they mean is "people-developer".

So let’s jump in.

You see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view no individual is fully formed. On the contrary, each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. And you are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow.

I enjoy teaching people how to learn.  That seems like a simple thing, but it seems to be lacking in many of our schools, and most of our companies.  How do you teach people to learn?  It depends.  On the person, the timing, the subject, etc.  Recently one of my blog readers (who I have never met) decided they wanted to host their own WordPress blog - on their own server.  I helped them get started.  I didn’t do a hell of a lot - except to get this person over the initial hump of  just getting started.  A month later they are managing their blog and their server quite well - even upgrading the database without assistance.  I didn’t teach them to upgrade the database - I helped them get to the point where they could learn how to upgrade the database.

And all the while you are on the lookout for the signs of growth—a new behavior learned or modified, a slight improvement in a skill, a glimpse of excellence or of “flow” where previously there were only halting steps. For you these small increments—invisible to some—are clear signs of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction.

This is exactly what my old Chief Petty Officer would have called, "It don’t get no better than this".  When you see someone learn something new, and they first really get it - it is almost magical.  Over the years my kids have had a lot of great teachers - and every one of them taught for this one moment.  The money they needed to live - but it was this single moment of time - this opening of the mind to something completely foreign - this is what they did.  This is why they put up with crappy pay, an inferior social status, unruly children, and overwhelming bureaucratic bullshit.

That one student, in that one moment, makes it all worth it to them.  It is their payday. 

I feel the same way anytime I help someone - and the feeling is so damn rewarding that I am willing to spend a lot of time and money trying to achieve it again, and again.  It is, simply, my drug of choice.

Finally, since this is part five of five, I need to give you an overall impression of how accurately this tool described me.  And if I found it to be of any value.

I think the attributes that the report shows are something I want very much to deserve - I don’t think I have yet.  In some ways I feel as if this tool just picked what it thought I most wanted to be like, and not what I actually am like.  But I have had a lot of discussions about this series so far - with people that do know me.  They tell me that this is me.  Well, hell’s bells - if I am really being perceived that way I am an extremely good actor!

But these things are all important to me - and they are things I have worked on over the years.  When I was in sales I found it easy to sell people - on me.  I didn’t sell my product - I sold them my word, my personality, and my promise. 

I learned this by traveling with my father who was an on the road salesman.  Many of my summers were spent on the back roads of South Texas, traveling from one of my father’s customers to another.  Most considered him a friend.

My father build a network of friends that bought things from him.  And he taught me a hell of a lot about people that I didn’t realize he was teaching to me.

So in all, this little "test" has caused me to look deeper into my own motivations.  To realize that what I really love to do is help people get better at what they are doing.  To see that "Aha!" moment - and to quietly take my little slice of pleasure from it.

And then wait for the next "Aha" moment.

It’s damn fulfilling.

Developer

You see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view no individual is fully formed. On the contrary, each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. And you are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. And all the while you are on the lookout for the signs of growth—a new behavior learned or modified, a slight improvement in a skill, a glimpse of excellence or of “flow” where previously there were only halting steps. For you these small increments—invisible to some—are clear signs of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.

written by rob

[Update - literally just as I posted this WP 2.5 was officially released.  The widget interface is, I am afraid, unchanged from RC1]

I’m sure people worked very hard designing the new Widget admin interface for WordPress 2.5 - and I really don’t like criticizing someone else’s work.  But I don’t understand the thought process here. 

A perfectly functional (and very simple) interface was completely abandoned in favor of a very busy, very dysfunctional interface.

(click images for larger view)

To the left is the old interface. 

To add a widget to a sidebar you grabbed the widget from the bottom selection and dragged it onto the sidebar you wanted it on. 

You dragged the widgets to the order you preferred. 

And you clicked "Save Changes".  Everything was on one page, in one place.

Simple. Elegant, even

Why did it change?  Especially, why did it change to this:

As you can see, I can’t even view all my widgets without scrolling the screen. 

And I can’t view both Sidebars at once. 

Really.

Seriously - you can’t. 

You can’t just drag a widget from Sidebar 2 to Sidebar 1, either.

In fact, it takes three mouse clicks to change from Sidebar 1 to Sidebar 2.

And each widget now consumes a fair amount of screen real-estate in the admin view.  Why?  Just to show the text that tells me a Calendar widget puts a calendar on my blog?  Why not just do that with a tool-tip as I mouse over the widget?

Here’s a suggested new layout:

Note that there are now two columns to display the widgets - less screen scrolling.

Both Sidebars are displayed.  No screen switching.

This would allow you to drag and drop widgets from one Sidebar to the other.

For the most part, the changes I have seen in WordPress 2.5 are nice - and they make sense.

This new interface for managing widgets isn’t in that category.  This is a huge step backwards in usability.

The changes to widget management seem to have done "just because we can" - and they don’t seem to have given much any consideration to the user experience.

But then - this is just a Release Candidate - so things could change before WordPress 2.5 ships.

For the sake and sanity of every WordPress administrator out there, let’s hope this section does change.

written by rob tags: Widgets, Wordpress, WordPress 2.5 RC1, WordPress Admin

Last year, I blogged that I had purchased a new TV.  It is a Mitsubishi 57 inch DLP High Def TV, and I have really enjoyed it.  So have my kids, and their friends.  They’ve played a lot of hours of Halo on this TV!

So this week, 1 year and three weeks after I bought the TV the projection lamp died.  Of course, it was three weeks after the warranty expired.  I called Mitsubishi parts and the woman on the phone was extremely nice.  I was in a good mood, even though I had just found that this bulb would cost me over 250 US dollars!  I was joking around, and making her laugh and she thanked me for not being upset.  I told her that there wasn’t any reason for me to be mad at her, and then I said, "If I would have called you a couple weeks ago when the "lamp" light first came on, I would have had the replacement by now".

Well, my remembering that saved me $250.  Remembering it, and being nice to the lady.  She put me in contact with Mitsubishi Consumer Relations - and they agreed to cover the bulb under warranty, since it started failing during the warranty!

Thanks, Mitsubishi.  I will do business with you again!

written by rob

This is part four of a five part series. 

• Part One, Arranger.
• Part Two, Learner.
• Part Three, Restorative.

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals.

I hope I’ve taught my children this!  Different people have different things that motivate them, different ways of learning, different ways of coping with stress, etc.  I could never understand managers that treated employees as if they were a pool of androids that all had interchangeable parts.

You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.”

Honestly, if I do this, it must be instinctively - I certainly don’t really think about it.  But I do know that it is a hell of a lot more productive to have people do something thy enjoy doing.

Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

I used to do home repair with one of my Uncles.  We did roofing, room additions, etc.  He would always say "Use the right tool for the job, and the job gets easier".  And he was right.  Sure, I could drive a nail with a wrench, but I might also bend the nail or break the wrench.  The hammer is a much better tool for the job.  The same is true when it comes to people - give someone the job that best suits them and they’ll be happier, you’ll see more productivity, and you’ll find it much easy to build a team.  Unhappy people rarely develop into productive teams.

Finally, the next part is Developer. By far my favorite section - and it isn’t about writing software - I should get that out tomorrow sometime. 

Individualization

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.” Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

written by rob