One hit machines

I believe everybody has the capability to create one good piece of art in as many fields in which they have an interest. Not two good pieces... but probably one in many different fields.


Even though we're not all song writers, painters or industrial designers. I think that we all have it in us to create one good thing in all those fields. That is, if they are of interest to us to start with. If something is interesting to us we think about it in more details and we have a precise mental picture of what the 'best' is for that subject. Let's take song writing as an example. For most of us, since it's just an interest (as opposition to a passion) we don't work in that field and so for years we just roll around that one image of what makes a good song, and the best styles and the kind of subjects we like. We might even catch ourself thinking how cool it would be to hear more songs fitting that bill. So if at a given moment somebody was to ask us “Can you write me lyrics for a good song.” we could say “Yes! I have the perfect song.”. And than the flood gates would open and we would put that song on paper in no time, injecting in it every ideas we've ever had about what would make a good song.

It would, most probably, be our only song. At least for quite some times. This is because all we had went in that one song and we're left with nothing to create a different one.

I could probably ask anybody to design a good cell-phone interface and (if they use cells) they would all have a pretty finite idea on the perfect size, color, finish, button shape and many other details. It's all cool but can they design ten new phones every years? My guess is no. Of course the world is full of exceptions so there are people good at everything and others that couldn't make anything good in fields they love.

Mental pictures let the designer in us give a shot a everything. Unless we actively work at it, I think our 'inner-designer' only works on one concept which is 'the coolest' (for us). Once that concept is used... the tank is empty.

Ignorance is bliss

Eye-Fi just release the first ever ‘Endless’ memory stick. Yes finally a memory stick that never fills up. You can put any amount of videos and pictures on it and you’ll never see the ‘Not enough memory!’ message.


At this point the computer savvy knows there’s a catch somewhere. But let’s plunge back into the average clueless-computer-user brain.

Wow! my last memory card purchase ever. Let’s go to the web site. Mmmm, there are two capacity choices, I wonder why? I’ll take the cheaper 4GB over the 8GB. It won’t make a difference since it is infinite memory anyway.

Welcome to reality! Infinite memory doesn’t exist. It’s advertised, it’s sold and some people even buy it but it doesn’t exist. This mem-stick is only Endless because it deletes the oldest files if it needs space for the new ones. If you have anybody in your family that doesn't know computer much, you know how long it takes just to make them understand how to manage there files. 'Keep them in order.', 'Put them all under the same base-folder, so you know where your stuff is.'. And still they find ways to lose files or overwrite them.

Then after some time, the newbies understand there computer enough not to lose there files. They're almost ready to understand the virtues of backups.

Enters Eye-Fi Endless memory card!

“Where are all our pictures from Hawaii?”
“They're gone dad.”

The small things

I'm optimistic by nature. I can motivate a team of hopeless people by finding the tiniest bit of good in a bad situation. I then proceed into warping reality around that tiny thing until it becomes the only central step. So, for a short time, it turns into the most important part of the work and it creates a new viewpoint (in this case a good one) on the project.

I don't consider this a lie since, like everybody knows, if a lie is a means to an end it becomes a good lie (I like to say that everybody knows that. It makes it alright.). On top of that, since we want to 'do onto others as you would have them do to you' I'm totally okay because I do this to myself all the time.
Yes I do it, I lie to myself every time I attack a big problem and I reach a dead-end. We hear often 'work that big problem by picking at it'. 'Picking' doesn't sound very sexy and interesting all the time. Sometimes you want 'hacking' and 'slashing' because it feels good to move fast and have big results.


Big results. It such a trap since the size or importance of a result is relative. Something which is significant for somebody is noting for an other person. So perspective and mindset is not only important to understand the problem but also to believe in it. You next little task may be the small stone that start the landslide. It doesn't take much to gain momentum in a project and the next task might be the trigger.

Sorry but I don't have a choice, many of my projects are long term monsters barely moving sometimes. You have to appreciate the small things.

What is impossible?

A task is impossible only in the relative point of view of the person describing it as impossible.

Most of the time people come to the conclusion that a task is impossible with this bad induction: "X number of people try to do this and failed. This task must then be impossible."


To me, complex problems are like mountains: Most people attack them head first in a straight line using known and proven methods. Personally, I prefer walking around it and see it from the other angles. Nature as a tendency of creating natural steps here and there. There's nothing worst than reaching the top only to find the ski lift that was on the other face.

Roll manoeuvre

The cheapest way to put something in space (satellite or shuttle) is at the equator while launching due East with an orbital inclination of zero degree (relative to the plane that cuts the earth at the equator). Why is that? Well, at the equator the rotation speed (relative to a fix point in space) is at its maximum and that is free speed that your ship will not have to generate. That would obviously put your ship in an orbit that fly strait above the equator. Logically we want to fly above more than a single strip of land and that's where the roll is used. If you need to fly over land that is half way toward the North Pole you would then have an orbital inclination of 45 degrees. By doing so you lose some of the earth initial speed and your launch would cost more money or you would have to compromise on weight to accelerate faster. The maximum orbital inclination (unless you have money to throw out the window) is then 90 degree and that would put your ship in a polar orbit, which is the most expensive one. So, unless there's a good reason, you always want to launch with as little orbital inclination as you can.

Where is the roll in all that? Normally, your ship on the launch pad is always pointing in the same direction, unless you have a fancy launch pad that can pre-orient the ship before takeoff. This means that the ship will have to rotate (roll) early in the flight to orient itself in the plane of the orbit.

Why is the shuttle rolling if the cheapest way to launch is at an orbital inclination of zero? It all depends on the location of your launch pad. Let's start by saying that the further you are launching from the equator the bigger your minimum orbital inclination will be. Like I mentioned before, at the equator the minimum orbital inclination you can achieve is 0 degree but at the poles the minimum is 90 degrees. This is because you can only achieve an orbit where the orbit plane is cutting the planet through it center of mass. In the case of the earth, since it's fairly round and the density is not uneven, orbit planes would cut the planet in half. The location and orientation of the shuttle launch pad and the target orbital inclination for each mission will, most certainly, force the shuttle to roll to set his orbital plane. The distance from the equator is also why the ISS orbital inclination is 51.6 degrees (far from zero). This is because of the Russian launch pad location is very far from the equator and the minimum orbital inclination that can be achieved from there is 51.6 degrees.