Drivel Starved Nation!
This week I head back to China to attend a trade show featuring the Chopstick Master and while I am there we will be developing version 2. I am looking forward to this trip, my fourth to China in the past 12 months. Continue reading
Drivel Starved Nation!
I know it must seem like I croaked, or worse, whatever that means, but here I am spewing a little drivel your way…
I just returned from my annual work retreat and since so many of you wonder about how this works, here is a little insight.
Each year, for the past 15 years or so, I have left the office for two weeks to focus on new ideas, most are new tool ideas.
What I look for in a place to stay is a good chair and work surface and typically a good deal on a hotel. The location is meaningless to me other than it is NOT my work or home office.
Once I arrive I set up my CAD workstation, head to the store for food supplies and then settle in for a brainstorming session with myself. A typical work session starts with a “I wonder what would happen if I tried this…” and then, usually by day two, the muse is in full control. It is, without question, the two most important weeks of the year for me. It is so important that I am actually thinking of doing this every six months.
The first thing that happens is the lack of time consciousness. Since there are no phone calls, no people, and I am disconnected from that pesky little thing we call e-mail, it is amazing what one can do creatively in a few short weeks. There are days where I never leave my accommodations and waking up in the middle of the night happens frequently — it always amazes me as to how the subconscious provides ideas that never materialize while awake.
This year I was able to complete five new products during this retreat, and that is about four more than I will be able to do during the next 50 weeks! That is the drag effect of running a business on the creative mind.
Anyway, this week I am wading through all my neglected emails, which of course is so much fun I can barely contain myself…
One day, I did take about an hour and outline a process as to how I can feed the DSN with copious amounts of drivel and I have some ideas….
Meanwhile, check out this wooden clock from Japan, it writes the time!
-Still Your Tool Potentate
Drivel Starved Nation-
I created this blog as a space where I can act like an idiot, insult our customers, shamelessly plug new product ideas, embarrass my grown children, create mayhem for the staff here, and occasionally share information that is actually interesting. That said, I sadly announce that we have some good news to share. Continue reading
"Creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as it’s about productivity. To find new ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. It’s a pure numbers game." — Robert Sutton
Drivel Starved Nation;
Sunday I leave for China, my third visit in the last six months. I must say, the experiences and friendships I have accumulated are lasting and incredibly rewarding. This may be the most fun six months of my BCTW business life. To think it took 32 years to have this much fun doesn’t say much for me does it? Oh well. Continue reading
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet."— Abraham Lincoln
Drivel Starved Nation:
This Thursday, I will host the final design review for the Chopstick Master—the production prototype is being hand delivered to Portland this week.
Never in my life did I ever expect to be responsible for a product that makes people so happy. Over the last 32 years, it seems all Bridge City has ever accomplished is the ability to piss people off because we don’t have “Made in China” prices. The irony is appropriate I suppose.
"When 99% of people doubt your idea, you're either gravely wrong or about to make history." — Scott Belsky
Dear Drivel Starved Nation-
Several weeks ago, over the Forth of July holiday, I traveled to Taipei to unveil the second generation of the Chopstick Master™. If you have never been to Taipei in July, it is hot. So hot in fact, on my cab ride to the exhibition hall I saw two trees fighting over a dog…
The second generation of the CSM saw the addition of a small sliding table and saw blade for making the pyramidal finial — think mini-Jointmaker Pro without any bells or whistles. Everything went without a hitch, and we made a lot of chopsticks as you will soon see.
Pictured below is version 3 and it is in production.
"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." — Alan Watts
Drivel Starved Nation;
I think I am getting older than I want to admit.
Several posts back I commented that we would never introduce a plane without depth skids unless it makes no sense. And what happened? Yesterday I did just the opposite. OOPS.
"Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course."— Lemony Snicket
Drivel Starved Nation!
Whenever I disappear from this totally awesome and worthless blog it usually means one of two things, either I am in trouble with my parole officer or I am busy with the muse – you do the math… Continue reading
Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities, which we may call intuition and ingenuity. — Alan Turing
Dear Drive Starved Nation:
I just discovered this video and thought it worth sharing. It’s about making. So don’t freak out when you don’t see any wood.
There is another version where he makes a similar project from wood, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as what he does here. It is particularly fascinating how he uses a three jawed chuck and the proper geometry to make a cube on a metal lathe. This is a perfect example of how math can be taught using a real, mind bending idea. I hope you like it-
-John
PS: His choice of music had me reaching for the mute key.
Inspiration is Everywhere – And how thankful we all are for it to be there!!
“The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before.” — Albert Einstein
Drivel Starved Nation;
I spent the month of February working on some new concepts and I finally finished the 2015 Fab 50 tool. Why the name “Fab 50”? Because each year we pick a design and fabricate 50 units and move on to something else the following year. This year’s version is something else…