I Have an Interest in the Garbage Business
Why is garbage collection so different depending on where you live? Shouldn’t this be simple, uniform, and straightforward?
In San Jose, local politicians will organize San Jose Dumpster Days. Originally, this was the practice where dumpster would be dispatched to neighborhoods to dump your unwanted household items. I once rescued a nice and gently-used Webber barbecue once from the claws of recycling.
As folks would show up from outside of the neighborhood to dump stuff, it has now become the equivalent of underground raves from the 90s. You have to subscribe to a list, and be admitted and notified a day before the event of the location.
Dumpster days are nice, but do create a hassle for those without a pickup truck. Luckily my 2005 Volvo station wagon still goes strong and can haul a bunch of stuff.
The city of Santa Clara has a much different approach. Santa Clara organizes an Annual Cleanup. You dump any household garbage in big piles in the street and bulldozers will scoop it up and dump it into dumpster trucks.
https://twitter.com/briansim/status/731145255551033346?s=20
I am surprised two neighboring cities have such a different approach to recycling and garbage collection.
In my native Belgium, recycling and garbage is much more detailed, organized, and costly at the same time. Nevertheless, the system seems to work.
Perhaps the answer lies elsewhere.
December 5, 2020
Afterpay
In the Make me Smart podcast episode 332, there was a question: “Dollar General are popping up everywhere. Yet people will spend $100 on leggings and pay in $15 installments. What’s up with that, the afterpay?”
Afterpay is big business. You may even have noticed a little Affirm logo on websites. Affirm is a new and hot fintech company, that is about to go to IPO to raise $100 million at a $10 billion valuation.
I came to know about afterpay in Argentina, during the crisis. When folks who needed a new fridge but could not pay for it up front, could do so through quotas or installments. (There is also layaway, where you pay a deposit for later purchase. That was also new to me.)
When you consider how wages flattened since 1971, a decreasing personal savings rate, and yet goods became a lot more expensive, it is no surprise that people can not afford new things, and need creative ways to pay for their purchases.
But really, what happened in 1971? (There are a lot of interesting graphs at https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/)
December 2, 2020
Grande Diego
I rarely post these days on Facebook. When I do click on a post or a video, the Facebook algorithms roar to life: He clicked on something … send him more.
And that’s how I got to learn a different side of Diego Maradona. Not the side of the Hand of God, the cocaine, the excesses, nor the scandals. No. These were the videos of Diego, dad to Dalma and Gianinna. This was Diego being a friend of many in the street. Diego who was generous with his time.
For example, in 1984, while playing for Napoli, a friend of friend asked Maradona to arrange a friendly match to help a sick child. The Napoli owner refused to do it, as Lloyds of London only had insured Maradona for official games. So Maradona took everything in his hands and organized a match next to child’s house and 4000 paying fans came to watch it.
If you see the millions paying tribute to Diego in Buenos Aires after this death, it was not just because he brought home a world cup. It was also because people saw a common guy, from Villa Fiorito, who started with Los Cebollitas, and became their hero.
I also discovered Rodrigo Bueno’s, Mano De Dios
En una villa nació, fue deseo de Dios Crecer y sobrevivir a la humilde expresión Enfrentar la adversidad Con afán de ganarse a cada paso la vida
En un potrero forjó una zurda inmortal Con experiencia sedienta, ambición de llegar De cebollita soñaba jugar un mundial Y consagrarse en primera Tal vez jugando pudiera A su familia ayudar
En una villa nació, fue deseo de Dios Crecer y sobrevivir a la humilde expresión Enfrentar la adversidad Con afán de ganarse a cada paso la vida
En un potrero forjó una zurda inmortal Con experiencia sedienta, ambición de llegar De cebollita soñaba jugar un mundial Y consagrarse en primera Tal vez jugando pudiera A su familia ayudar
Al poco que debutó Marado, Marado La doce fue quien coreó Marado, Marado Su sueño tenía una estrella…
And then there is this emotional guitar and bandoneon version:
Grande Diego!
December 2, 2020
Kai, The Kitchen Appliance Inventory Index
In the late 90s, I read that you could you learn more about the economy, while sitting in a truck stop in the middle of the country, than reading economic papers. One famous investor even regularly called the head waitress at a truck stop every month on the dot to know how business was doing. Coffee consumption and how much diesel is filled up at giant truck stops are a leading indicator of how the economy is doing. As a matter of fact, Professor Ed Leamer of UCLA partnered with Ceridian, who manages payment cards for trucking companies—drivers, to create the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index, or PCI.
“Trucking represents inventory and finished goods in motion,” said Leamer. “In a normal economy, the trucking activity is proportional to GDP.”
Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on the other hand favored the Men’s Underwear Index as an unconventional economic indicator. This measure suggests that declines in the sales of men’s underwear indicate a poor overall state of the economy, while upswings in underwear sales predict an improving economy.
After unsuccessfully looking around on Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday, for a common, yet not inexpensive, large kitchen appliance in stock, I conclude it has to be an economic indicator of some sort. How can they be out of this item already? I am purposefully being coy here on the item, as it is a Christmas gift after all.
I called major kitchen appliance stores and department stores from San Francisco to Gilroy. I checked also their online inventories. I visited the manufacturer’s website. Even Amazon didn’t carry the item anymore, except at hugely inflated prices.
I therefore introduce the KAI, or Kitchen Appliance Inventory Index. I don’t really know how to interpret it yet. Perhaps a low inventory means that the factories in China weren’t running due to the covid pandemic. Or perhaps it means that folks are cooking more at home, have depleted the inventory long before the Christmas shopping season, and therefore many restaurants will be at risk. Or it could mean that home exercise equipment will be in high demand, as folks gained a few too many pounds from delicious home-made cakes. It is strange nevertheless.
I’ll get Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal, Molly Wood, or the undergrad economic student living under my roof on the case.
November 28, 2020
A Hectic Thanksgiving Kitchen Is the Best Kitchen
A lot is going on in our little kitchen this Thanksgiving. Four chefs are busy creating various dishes. It is a lot of fun to have a family of foodies.
We’re serving up brie and chorizo or proscuito crackers for appetizer.
The smoked hard lemonade came out just ok. I need to smoke them more time. Although, when it is mixed with bourbon, it was perfect.
There are the Brussels sprouts (in bacon fat), my wife’s famous bread-celery-apple-herb-walnut stuffing, fresh cranberries, a beer-can chicken surrounded by carrots, potatoes, garlic and onions, salmon and mashed potatoes with chives and bacon.
Desert will be a traditional Thanksgiving pie, made with Magdalena big cheese squash from my daughter’s garden club’s loot.
There will be enough food for a few days, regardless of the size of the bird. For me the most important part of Thanksgiving is not the food, but the fun that goes on in our kitchen. It gets messy. The music gets a little crazy. There may be some dancing involved. It is always a good time.
November 26, 2020
Thanksgiving Prep
It will be a big grilling/smoking day tomorrow. We are making a lot of food for our Thanksgiving feast.
- Grilled lemons for a hard smoked lemonade
- Beer can chicken - a turkey is just too big for the four of us.
- Smoked salmon - for the pescatarian in the family
- Smoked bacon - to be added to the mashed potatoes or mashed yams.
- Brussels sprouts
And a few potentials for the weekend, including sausages.
November 26, 2020
Rip Maradona, #10
This morning, Argentine newspaper El Clarin shared the sad news that Maradona had died.
Diego Armando Maradona murió este miércoles tras sufrir un paro cardiorrespiratorio en el barrio San Andrés, en el partido bonaerense de Tigre, donde se había instalado días atrás luego de la operación en la cabeza a la que fue sometido por un hematoma subdural. El 30 de octubre había cumplido 60 años.
It is difficult to grasp the influence Maradona had in this world. He loved the fame and to be infamous. Everybody knew of him, in good and in bad times. On the pitch, on the side lines, with Fidel, or with both middle fingers in the air.
When Kobe died in a helicopter accident, mostly the US mourned. It is different with Maradona. All over the world, people mourn Maradona. People are in the streets of Buenos Aires (obviously), as well as in Napoli.
In the Belgian newspapers they refer to him as Pluisje (La Pelusa), although I never heard of him by that name. To me, he was and always will be Maradona. The hand of god. The goal of the century.
I was still young when he dominated with Argentina and Napoli. I also remember his first defeat against the Red Devils in the opening game of the World Cup in Spain. Yet, I somehow blocked out Maradona’s revenge in the half final in Mexico. (The Belgian Red Devils were already on cloud nine, playing the half-final of a World Cup.)
Throughout the years, Maradona never went away. He kept popping up in the news. There are his multiple visits to Cuba, and with Fidel. His daughter, Dalma, lived across the street of a cousin in law in Buenos Aires. There was the reunion with Pele during his television show, La Noche de Diez. He was the Argentine coach in the World Cup in South Africa. Maradona was even the protagonist on a T-shirt my son received from his cousins in Argentina. It was a drawing of the following picture of Maradona against many Red Devils.
We all watched the recent documentary about Maradona on HBO. What Babe Ruth is to baseball (I guess), or Michael Jordan to basketball, Maradona has been to soccer.
When I think of Maradona, I think of three things: (1) the hand of god, (2) genio!, genio!, genio! and (3) life is life.
https://twitter.com/VitaliosM/status/1331870846156206081
https://twitter.com/robbiestatto/status/1331657814847201280
November 25, 2020
Catching up
Today, Tuesday, I take a mid-week day of vacation. I am stretching this Thanksgiving week longer. As I am grilling some chicken wings for lunch, it is a good moment to catch up on saved TED talk, Youtube videos and podcasts.
The Infinite Game
In the Infinite Game, Simon Sinek discusses some of the principles from his 2019 book.
He makes it sounds so obvious and straight forward that some companies or adversaries work towards a different end goal. The North Vietnamese played to run out the clock. So did Reagan in the cold war against the Russians. The Afghans are the masters of playing the Infinite Game.
In business, it is convenient to trot out Apple or Tesla. They are truly great companies with great products. Though I fear grand theories can be more easily applied to them.
“While Microsoft executives were discussing presentation after presentation how they would beat Apple, their Apple counter parts were focussed on the educational customer and not on their direct competition. They were playing the infinite game.”
And yet, was Steve Jobs avoiding Amazon, the competitor, when Apple strong armed publishers into eBook price fixing?
I would love to read the infinite game plans of some smaller companies, as they transitioned from a small to mid-sized company, and eventually a large company. The struggle will be more real.
Companies that solely focus on competition will die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive.” — Edward de Bono
No Rules Rules
What if your company had no rules? is a Freakonomics book report podcast about Netflix’s Reed Hastings book. He talks about how he stumbled into the now famous Netflix culture, where the focus is all about enabling employees, and isn’t so much about policies and rules. A key tenet of Netflix is to get rid of the normal controls you’d come to expect in a corporate environment. Things like expense reports; approvals for big spending decisions; vacation policies. The idea is to entrust every employee to decide for themselves and provide them the flexibility. That, and a policy of not hiring any brilliant jerks.
Netflix is managing on the edge of chaos. - Reed Hastings
In conversation with current and former Netflix-employees, you do learn that their culture is different, counter to the culture at many other companies. There is a lot more chaos. Nevertheless, I hear a lot of positive feedback, as Netflix lets people build what they believe is the right thing to build.
One form of efficiency is coordinating all the tactics so everybody knows what’s going on. And then, the problem is, as you get big, that gets harder to do, you get slower. So, another way to operate is more loosely coupled, where lots of different departments are doing different things. And then the danger is that they’re going in different directions. So, you want them to be aligned, but not tightly coordinated. And to do that, you have to really set a lot of context, use a lot of examples, a lot of storytelling. But remember that all of Netflix is managing on the edge of chaos. Okay? You want to be right up to that edge where it’s dynamic and there’s freedom. It has not fallen into chaos, but it’s kind of right on the edge of it. And again, that’s only appropriate for some types of businesses.
The Netflix podcast reminds me of the time I worked at Sun Microsystems. There was quite a bit of chaos within. Surely things were uncoordinated because we were growing so fast. Yet, I have to believe it was also by design. At Sun, I regularly ran into competing projects which were going after the same goal. I didn’t feel efficient. I’ve since learned that if you are trying to solve challenging projects, you need competing projects to figure out the right approach.
At my current company, I’ve seen myself evolving. I started when we didn’t have any documented development processes. I then created some structure, and we ended up with a voluminous development manual. Over the past 1-2 years, I’ve been on a quest to put our processes on a serious diet. I’ve killed many documents, and shrunk the various process documents. The goal really is to keep the rules to a minimum, and provide a lot of freedom to the engineers.
The No Rules Rules culture is about preserving the small company culture into puberty and adulthood. I wonder if this is truly Netflix’s grow-up secret, or whether their initial financial success allowed them to continue to be like a small and innovative company. In other words, what’s the chicken and what’s the egg. Probably it’s both.
November 24, 2020
Shed Shelves
“The shed shelves which shelve the stuff you store on shed shelves.”, is my made up tongue twister. It is also my recent weekend project. Ever since we got a backyard shed, I wanted to put in some decent shelves. However, I am a total newby at woodworking. I may not even have the right tools for the job.
After spending a great amount of time on Youtube, I came up with a plan. I liked the shelves approach from Two Feet First.
To get started I did need the right tools. I bought a Kreg R3 Pocket Hole Jig System. I also learned how to use a gifted circular saw.
After a few trips to the local home improvement store, and some backyard sawing and drilling, I am pleased with the results. I built some serious shelves for our shed.
I did learn a few things along the way. If I would do it again, I would leverage more the side walls. I would also pay more attention to how straight the 2x4 lumber is.
Nevertheless, generally I worked out perfectly and I am very happy with the results.
November 22, 2020
This weekend I embarked on a woodworking project I have been planning for a while. I know very little about woodworking. Therefore, I spent a great amount of time on Youtube and on DYI websites to learn and figure things out.
Beyond a few basic tools, I lack the right tools for the job. I do know that the right tool makes a world of difference. I figured out my project would be well served if I got myself a Kreg pocket-hole jig. Since I needed to make a bunch of cuts, do I need to use a circular saw, or borrow a table or mitre saw? Shall I use 2x3 or 2x4 lumber? I have so many questions. (There is a business opportunity here somewhere: DYISlack.)
I made more than a few trips to the nearby Lowe’s home improvement store. Sometimes, it was because I just got the wrong item: I didn’t know my circular saw takes 7 1/4 inch blades and not the 10 inch blade I purchased. In other cases, I bought only a few items, to experiment with, before buying more of the same.
The quality and options in home improvement stores has nose dived steeply in recent years. Now that OSH is out of business, within a 10 mile radius, I am limited to Home Depot or Lowe’s. Both are just large warehouses full of material of dwindling quality. For example, few of the 2x4s were anywhere near straight at Lowe’s.
Worse is the customer service, or the training of the staff. Few employees knew where anything was in the store. Forget about any expert advise. I appreciated that at OSH you may run into a retired craftsman providing expert advise on the type of screw or pipe connector.
Home improvement companies have competed hard on price. Now it is time to bring back expertise. If they want to compete on price, offer a contractor discount. For the common folks, hire plenty of retired or laid-off craftsmen: a woodworker, an electrician, a plumber, an expert in concrete, or just Tim the tool man Taylor. I will gladly pay higher prices for guidance on which tool I should get, or which widget is right for the job.
November 21, 2020