Alcatraz and My Birthday 2010

Mike and I went to the city yesterday for my birthday and we had lots of fun. When we got into the city via BART we encountered some unanticipated rain showers so we ducked into the Ferry Building for a bathroom break and some Blue Bottle Coffee. By the time we left the Ferry Building the rain had stopped and we made our way down to the pier where the Alcatraz tours depart. The boat ride over was mostly uneventful, it rained a little and was cold but the bay was calm. It was my third trip to Alcatraz but I really enjoyed seeing it again and it gave me another chance to get some more pictures which is always especially fun for me. We stayed on Alcatraz for a few hours and then headed to Scomas for some lunch.

We needed to be back for a party and to pick up Tyler later in the day so we headed out at 3pm. Mike had a great idea which was to take a petty cab to the BART station and it was a fun $15 ride. When I picked up Tyler from daycare he sung happy birthday to me and it was adorable. Come to think of it, lots of people sang to me and it is a strange tradition isn’t it? I still love it, especially when kids sing (my nephew Evan and sister Jennifer’s version was also quite lovely). Mike and I went to Christina’s parent’s house for dinner.  We played some cards and then before I knew it my birthday was over. Time flies when you are having fun.  Thanks to everyone for making me feel extra special yesterday.

Deacon Dave’s 2010

We made another trip to Deacon Dave’s house in Livermore, CA this year.  Each year the theme and exhibit changes.  If you are interested in visiting you can get more information via the website.  One tip we’ve found is to go the night Livermore has its annual parade.  That way everyone is at the parade and not at the house which is normally jam packed with visitors.

My Boxee Review

I had some time over the holiday break to “geek out” and get some things done I never seem to have time to do.  One of the things I finally got around to was connect Boxee to my living room TV.  You may have heard about the Boxee Box which was recently released by D-Link and sells on Amazon.com for $199 at the time of writing.  I’m running the Boxee software which is based on an open source platform on my Linux box at home but it also runs on Mac and Windows computers as well.  So long story short you don’t need a Boxee Box unless you don’t want to mess with running long cables from your PC to your TV or if you don’t have a decent graphics card and processor.  The video review above takes you through the entire Boxee experience and so far I am in love with it (was up until midnight watching Revision3 shows).

The Person Family Chocolate Chip Pie Recipe

Person Family Chocolate Chip Pie

An Open-Source Family Recipe Better Than Colonel Sanders’ Secret Chicken

Chocolate Chip Pie

Christina made me chocolate chip pie which is my all-time favorite dessert (besides ice cream) for Thanksgiving. Colonel Sanders had his finger licking good chicken, but the Person family has its chocolate chip pie. It isn’t very open source of the Colonel to keep his chicken recipe all to himself.

I’m going to fill you in on this incredibly good dessert so you and your family can also enjoy it:

Ingredients

  • ✓ 1 Cup Milk
  • ✓ 20 Large Marshmallows
  • ✓ 1/4 tsp. Salt
  • ✓ 1/2 Tsp Almond Flavoring
  • ✓ 1 Cup Whipped-Whipping Cream
  • ✓ 1/2 Cup Shaved Unsweetened Chocolate
  • ✓ 1 Baked 9″ Pie Shell

Directions

1

Heat milk & marshmallows and stir until marshmallows dissolve.

2

Add salt & flavorings.

3

Chill the mixture thoroughly.

4

Fold in whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

5

Pour into the baked pie shell.

6

Enjoy!

Helpful Tips

Marshmallow Melting

Use low heat and stir constantly to prevent the marshmallows from burning.

Chocolate Shaving

Use a vegetable peeler on a bar of unsweetened chocolate for perfect chocolate shavings.

Make-Ahead

This pie can be made a day in advance and kept refrigerated until serving time.

Your Thoughts?

Have you tried a chocolate chip pie before? What’s your family’s signature dessert?

Thanksgiving 2010

I’ve been messing around with Instagr.am a new iPhone app that applies filters to your pictures.  I didn’t have my favorite camera with me for Thanksgiving but I did take a few pictures with my iPhone.  I got a little carried away with Instagr.am didn’t I?

UCF Cheating Controversy

UCF Professor Richard Quinn accuses class of cheating [Original]

I first watched the video and admired how the professor handled the situation. However, after watching the video I read some of the comments and discovered some things I hadn’t thought about. Why would a college professor (or any teacher) use a standard test? I had no idea professors (and students) could buy standard tests online, did you? I tried Googling it after watching the video and was surprised to see how many results there were. Why wouldn’t a professor with an advanced degree create his/her own test? I could understand an elementary teacher but not a standard test for a college course. The professor seems to put all the blame on the students but shouldn’t the university also focus on why the professor didn’t create his own test?

If there is a 700 question standard test available and word gets out the professor uses standard questions for his 50 question test, what would you expect? Seems to me the professor was taking shortcuts, which is where things went wrong. Note: over 200 students admitted “cheating” after the lecture. Were the students “cheating” or were they simply doing what the professor was doing (taking a shortcut)? Were the students who studied standard test questions doing the right thing? Was the professor doing the right by using a standard test? Does anyone else have more information or want to weigh in on this?

Key Questions to Consider

Professor’s Responsibility

Does a college professor have a responsibility to create original course materials, especially for tests? What standards should be expected?

Definition of Cheating

Is studying from a test bank truly “cheating” if the professor is using questions directly from that source? Where is the ethical line?

Multiple Perspectives

Student View

Students might argue they were simply being resourceful by studying all available materials, including test banks that the professor chose to use.

Professor View

The professor might argue that accessing test banks without authorization violates academic integrity, regardless of his choice to use standard questions.

University View

The institution might need to evaluate both the students’ actions and faculty practices regarding test materials and academic standards.

Questions for Discussion

  • What constitutes true learning versus simply memorizing answers?
  • How should universities balance convenience (using pre-made materials) with educational rigor?
  • Is there shared responsibility between faculty and students for maintaining academic integrity?
  • How does this situation reflect real-world ethical dilemmas that students might face in their careers?

What Do You Think?

Were the UCF students cheating, or was the professor taking shortcuts by using standard test questions?

Join the Conversation

Share your thoughts on this academic ethics situation and whether blame should be shared between students and faculty.

Retail Company Revenues By Employee

Data Geek Analysis

Comparing Revenue Per Employee Across Major Companies

Geek with computer

Yes, I’m a data geek and I crunch company operating results for fun. Check this out…

Wolframalpha is a public data search engine which allows for lots of complex data analysis. The data below is how much revenue each publicly traded company generates when it is divided by the total number of employees it has (per year).

I work in the retail sector, so I first looked at how much revenue each company makes if it were divided by their number of employees. As you can see below, I for instance was able to determine that Kroger is making $36,841.74 more revenue per employee than Safeway. The numbers are correct and publicly available via calculation, but they don’t make sense to me.

Annual Company Revenue/Employee

Retail Companies

Kroger

$244,659.51

Safeway

$207,817.77

Walmart

$198,398.10

Target

$189,692.31

Tech Companies

Google

$1.81 million

Apple

$1.32 million

Source: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Questions for Discussion

I’ve posted similar things in the past and have had some really smart followers of this blog add to the conversation so I hope this post continues that trend.

  • Why would a Safeway employee create more revenue per year than a Walmart employee?
  • Why would a Kroger employee make $36,841.74 more revenue per year than a Safeway employee?
  • Is sales per square foot the real reason the numbers are so unexpected?
  • Is the number of retail stores a major factor?
  • Did these numbers surprise you?
  • Is looking at annual company revenue by employee even important?
  • Then when you think each retail revenue by employee is high, look at Google and Apple!

“You should look at profits by employee. A more telling story.”

Disclosure: I am in no way representing any company in this post or site. I’m surfacing public data and merely asking what we can derive (if anything) from it. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks for adding to the conversation.

Join the Conversation

What factors do you think contribute to these differences in revenue per employee? Would profit per employee tell a different story?