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New Cafeteria Options

                                

MSW has some interesting articles this morning, and I thought I'd share the MSCT2k8-relevant content with all of our external readers (reprinted sans permission)

You spoke, we listened. New combo plates are sure to satisfy.

April 1, 2008
By Jared Subway

Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew), pictured right. 

In a continuing effort to provide employees exactly what they want no matter how much it costs, Microsoft is rolling out a revamped lunch menu with a series of cool new options designed to address the complicated dietary whims of even the most finicky Microsoft employee.

“We challenged ourselves to think outside the box, beyond traditional food-pairing options,” said CIO (Culinary Imagination Officer) Bertha V. Waistline. “Once we let go of our normal thinking on what goes well with what, the brilliant ideas just started flowing in.”

A sampling of the new items follows:

Entrées
• Turkey and Brussels Sprouts Calzone
• Mongolian Lasagna
• Goat Bacon ‘n Chips with Tossed Mango Salad
• Honey-Glazed, Almond Encrusted Oysters with Canteloupe
• Soy Nut Butter and Paprika Corn Muffins

Drinks
• Double Tall Non-Fat Whipped Salmon Mocha Latte—for extra foam, add 25 cents
• Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew)
• Possum Extract Protein Shake

Desserts
• Shredded Pork Yogurt Parfait
• General Tso’s Pudding
• Philly Cheese Steak Pie with Strawberry Glaze

*Special Monthly Featured Item
• Sautéed Rotisserie Snickers Bar au Gratin and Steamed Bluegrass with an Espresso-Ginger Reduction

Rick Astley (allegedly) To Join Microsoft

Something new from the rumor mill at Microsoft (which means I am now making this claim) -- 80's pop diva Rick Astley is set to join the Microsoft management team this month. While no official statements have been made and absolutely no credible information is available to substantiate the claim, it just might be true! We can only assume that he was hired due to his excellent hair care skills, his sweet dance moves, and his extensive collared shirt collection.

You just can't deny the Rick Astley machine! And here's a megamix! Not just a mix, folks -- a MEGA mix. So that's, like, way better. If a regular mix was, say, a four, then this would be a 6! Or at least a 5. Or maybe a 4+. Or a 4 with an * and a footnote at the bottom telling people that it's better than a regular 4.

Pneumatic Capsule Pipelines on Campus

                       

Joel and I were returning to campus after engorging ourselves on tasty pho, and decided to take the back pathway to 36 and drive past all of the construction and get a firsthand view on the construction progress, and once again found ourselves discussing the obvious lack of corporate dialog around the company's (alleged) secret plans to build a vast underground transportation hub to link up the various Puget Sound buildings with the existing (speculation) tube system between campus and Bill's waterfront home. In fact, it is the lack of dialog and, in my opinion, utter absence of content around management's secret plans for a futuristic pod transportation system that make it obvious that pneumatic capsule pipelines are indeed being built underneath the campus. By not saying anything, they reveal everything.

For a brief history of the technology, you can take a look at Wikipedia.

One of the leading minds in the area of Pneumatic Capsule Pipelines (PCP), Mr. Tim Howgego, has spent the past decade working in transport economics and public transport development, and has created a fascinating website that documents the history and science behind this technology. He's also into World of Warcraft, big time. 

From his website:

Simple PCPs follow conventional fluid mechanics principles. Air is blown down and / or extracted from the pipeline, propelling the capsule along the pipe. Both ends of the pipeline are sealed during transport, allowing the air behind the capsule to be above atmospheric pressure, and / or air in front of the capsule to be below atmospheric pressure. Simple PCPs involve a limited number of capsules in the system at any one time (normally just one). This reflects the inefficiency of creating sufficient pressures to propel multiple capsules, and the difficulty in retrieving one capsule from the end of the pipeline while a second capsule was being propelled.

            
Diagram showing Carsten's theory as applied to a simple capsule pipeline system (Source: Based on Carstens).

Modern PCP large diameter systems utilise through flow booster pumps, also known as jet pump injectors. These create the pressure differentials required to propel multiple capsules through a pipeline, while allowing both terminals at atmospheric pressure. This is done by placing a booster pump midway along the pipeline, and designing it in such a way that capsules can pass through the pump.

Hey, with technical-looking diagrams and references to obscure theories, I'm convinced its all legit.

Of course, for me, the real motivation for seeing this dream come to fruition here on campus in the opportunity to wear an orange-colored muscle suit with a bald cap, which seems to be the required standard outfit for riding in any kind of futuristic device. Sort of like how aliens are always in gray or silver jumpsuits. I'm guessing it reduces chaffing during pod rides.

Xbox Tragedy?

We were walking across the street between Buildings 11 and 9 and noticed that both the Windows and the Xbox flags were flying at half-staff. What happened? Did someone die (actually or figuratively)? Or maybe a release date slipped? We just thought it was odd.

                             

Someone's not meeting their commitments....

Communal Segways: Displacing Pneumatic Tube Plans?

                             

Joel and I had lunch today (Japanese, if you must know) and were discussing some of our ideas for improving the gridlock problem on campus. Taking some learning from major metropolitan areas, where specially marked communal bicycles or automobiles are dispersed across an area for anyone in need, Joel came up with the idea of Microsoft Segways. You'd place a row of them in front of every building, and people would jump on and go. He pondered the cost of the current shuttle program, including vehicle cost and maintenance, fuel, and driver salaries compared to the much less expensive and much more hip segways.

My only concern, again looking to examples in San Francisco and other large cities who made similar attempts to provide shared transportation, is theft. What stops someone from just riding off with a Microsoft-branded segway? This could be easily remedied, we surmised, by rigging each segway with an anti-theft shock device and then building a massive "invisible fence" around the campus and the city of Redmond. I'm no accountant, but I have to believe that the cost savings of a couple hundred segways and the cost of the occasional life flight to evacuate a would-be thief who, due to a large electric charge, experiences cardiac arrest, would be huge.

Of course, I had to remind Joel that this concept would disrupt existing plans (ok, they're MY plans) for a giant system of pneumatic tubes inbetween all buildings, allowing employees to jump into a "pod" and rocket off toward their destination. Some minor safety issues to work out, but its otherwise a great idea.

I'm out.  http://buckleyplanet.typepad.com