Anthem 2015
Posted by strugatsky 8 years, 11 months ago to Technology
Anthem 2015
75 years later, and the words written two generations ago come to life like a prophesy. To be sure, this was not a unique occurrence, nor have others been spared this over the decades, but some things are so striking, and the words are so completely from the script, that they deserve to be highlighted.
My wife and I own a small bakery. Baking bread is a very labor-intensive occupation and since we are both engineers, we designed a tool that reduces a part of the manual process, while tremendously improving safety (by eliminating any possibility of being burned by the hot oven). The tool is incredibly simple and so effective that we couldn’t even picture going back to the old method. We patented it and built them for sale to bakers. Obviously, we thought, that an excellent venue would be a culinary school – just like Apple, if the tool can be introduced to students, they will ask their future employers to buy it. So, we met with the chef in charge of the department at Sargent J. Reynolds Community College in Richmond. Introduced the tool, demonstrated its use and value and even offered him one free. He declined. The reason, he said, was that this is a new tool, not currently used in all other bakeries, therefore, when his students graduate, they may not have one available. And if everyone does not have it, he won’t teach with it or introduce it!
75 years later, and the words written two generations ago come to life like a prophesy. To be sure, this was not a unique occurrence, nor have others been spared this over the decades, but some things are so striking, and the words are so completely from the script, that they deserve to be highlighted.
My wife and I own a small bakery. Baking bread is a very labor-intensive occupation and since we are both engineers, we designed a tool that reduces a part of the manual process, while tremendously improving safety (by eliminating any possibility of being burned by the hot oven). The tool is incredibly simple and so effective that we couldn’t even picture going back to the old method. We patented it and built them for sale to bakers. Obviously, we thought, that an excellent venue would be a culinary school – just like Apple, if the tool can be introduced to students, they will ask their future employers to buy it. So, we met with the chef in charge of the department at Sargent J. Reynolds Community College in Richmond. Introduced the tool, demonstrated its use and value and even offered him one free. He declined. The reason, he said, was that this is a new tool, not currently used in all other bakeries, therefore, when his students graduate, they may not have one available. And if everyone does not have it, he won’t teach with it or introduce it!
As it happens my step daughter is preparing to become exactly what you are talking about. But in this country it takes a three year after high school degree called Licenciado. Her Mom has the same problem you propose to stop in her own kitchen. Ergo Sum. How do I order one. Better yet three. One for the budding culinary artiste, one for the mom unit, and one for the local school.
Another version that's I'm working on is for strapped (4 loaves) pan. Much more complicated. If this one would work for you, especially in schools, please let me know.
I'll have to introduce my kids to Frank Zappa for them to get the appreciation of his wisdom!
My experience in training for lab work is the flip side of the coin: the training was at least a generation _behind_ the technology in use at the bench in most hospitals. I suspect that when the students graduate from the 'if everyone does not have it we will not teach it' school, they will have to be retrained by their first commercial job - to learn the modern tools a production kitchen has.
This is very like Anthem.
Jan
I said, "in the old days, you would have told me to apply pressure and hold my arm straight up for a minute or so and leave the pad taped on for four hours... Now it's 'hold the pad until I tape it on and remove it in an hour?!' What would my GP say?!"
She replied, "yep, he'd still say that, but we don't any more."
Progress sometimes happens...
And thank you for the suggestion - I'll try the Marketplace.
Edit:sp
In many, if not most cases, people's behavior results from how they're rewarded.
Good luck, and discourage competition by routinely lowering your selling prices. It scares off competition and helps you really determine how large your markets are!
I thought that I had a problem with selling my idea to companies like north face as to how to use the insulation they were using in a better way. they and the rest of the manufacturers located in the usa at the time late 60's said no. their reason was because the synthetic bag that would be made would not look like the synthetic bags they were making; i.e. just like down bags. i said what if it works like a down bag, they insisted the general public would still not buy it. so i started making them myself and today i make more of my bags than all the rest put together that import them from china. the general public never said a word to me about the fact that my synthetic did not look like the rest of them in the market place. today a company or two tries to copy me. my unsolicited recommendation is that you contact as many mom and pop bakeries as you can and market it to them. just don't give up. good luck. that instructors attitude is why he will always be a teacher versus a successful business owner. that attitude is all over the country.
Some of those pseudo-intellectuals were actually the heads of departments.
My calculator says I graduated 42 years ago.
You'd think there would be some improvement by now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
I only took Philosophy 101, just a course in basic logic. I discovered Ayn Rand when the first AS movie was a DVD rental.
I read some neat opinions too.
PC is progressive crud.
I'll never for get a pudgy science teacher who wore a sheathed slide-rule on his belt like a sword.
He really loved to use that slide-rule to calculate a number before a class, always wearing a smug showoff smirk as he took time to do so.
I thought of him when hand calculators were later first being sold. Bet he was heart-broken.
Jan, geeking in the morning
I have nothing against slide rules.
At least that teacher's weirdness with one was amusing.
Slide rules may come back if we have some huge socioeconomic upheaval that turns the power off.
Jan, bragging a bit (but then, how often does one get a chance to brag to an allosaurus about being able to use an abacus?)
I always thought people using an abacus looked cool. (That would only be movie actors in ancient settings).
That means you'd look cool to me for using one of those things regardless of the setting.
Jan, wearing a leather duster
Hear me roar!
Jan
"One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because other people are stupid, that makes me sad."
Richard Buckminster Fuller (US engineer and architect, 1895-1983 )
(Anybody familiar with the Darwin Awards - celebrates death by stupid)