An article from The Verge all about the unseen and unsung heroes who hang around out in the deep ocean, ready to fix any one of the hundreds of undersea cables that transport our internet (you’re on it right now) all around the world.
It’s a great read – really fascinating stuff – if you can manage with the occasional, but very annoying, graphics, which don’t do much to help illustrate the story.
Still, give it a go here.
I mean, I say that, because I’m not a fan of heights. But actually. I’m really fine with heights as long as I know that I’m attached to something. And these guys – building a 400ft tower (a 122m transmitter in English) – in Ohio do at least seem to be that.
Also, they don’t even have to carry anything up there. It’s dropped in piece by piece from above.
Easy money.
For Midwest Helicopter Airways Incorporated, motto “We put big loads in tight spaces” (eish!), this is their job. You can see them lifting boxes and aircon units on some of their other videos, but this one is the best, giving you (almost) a bird’s eye view of a job you’d never usually get to see.
Just sharing this extension I recently found from Google Chrome (much like the “NeSpReSsO iSn’T rEaL cOfFeE” thing, please don’t @ me telling me how Chrome is the (second) worst browser you can get. Thanks.).
Anyway. It’s called Bonjourr, it describes itself as a “minimalist startpage” and it just makes each of your newly opened tabs look nicer. Like this:
The images change each hour and they are taken from Unsplash, into which I’m definitely going to look further. The whole thing is fully customisable, even down to the actual css code. It’s open source, free, no account or login required, no stealy stealy data stuff and comes highly rated on the Chrome web store.
Sometime we can have nice things. And this is one of them.
6000 recommends…
I’ve been going to the same hairdressing place for several (or more) years now. But no more.
The service has been slipping a bit for a while – nothing really bad – just not as good as it was.
And in retrospect, while the signs were there, I kept going along because there was no one thing that was bad enough to warrant moving elsewhere.
Until today.
A mess up with the online booking system. My stylist running so late that they called me over an hour ahead of time to make another arrangement. But then my original guy was free the entire time I was there and the new guy they gave me was running 20 minutes late. The lady washing my hair fresh in from her smoke break so her breath and hands smelt of fags. The new guy trying to sell me stuff the whole time – NOT FROM THE SALON – FROM HIS HAIRDRESSING SIDE HUSTLE. This included (but was not limited to) prescription drugs that he gets “direct from the supplier”.
Breaking off regularly from his work to chat with colleagues, friends, a passing spaniel called Keith. Michael Jackson’s worst hits (Invincible (2001)) loudly on the music system. A rather poor haircut.
Thankfully, I have the good looks to carry it off.
Wax instead of gel. Rushing me out so he could get his next client in just 15 minutes late.
Ms Fag Hands and the actual haircut itself were enough grounds to find somewhere else but overall the whole experience was just horrible today. I couldn’t wait to get out and I can’t wait not to go back.
I think once you’ve worked in a service industry and dealt with the public, you understand that not everything is going to go right 100% of the time. But you still do your best. You’re still professional, right?
And I’m really not a needy customer. I just want the basics done right, and I know from personal experience that that salon can do it.
Or… it could.
Onward and upward. But just not there.
Somewhere else.
Spotted online the other week. This:
Clever.
Still, while it might be a steep learning curve, I’m sure it will all end well.
Oh. Oh dear.