The company…AND THE WORLD.
The president of Canon Electronics Hisashi Sakamaki is also the author of a book called “A company will do well if you get rid of the chairs and computers” - available on Amazon.
According to his book, employees can concentrate on the meeting at hand without chairs and they have been able to half the number of meetings each year.
He also says that by standing at work, the employees develop a closer relationship with each other and that problems are solved much more quicker. The company also saves on the cost of buying chairs as you can see in the photo.
Also in the photo you can see a blue sign on the floor. When Nikkei went to interview the president, while walking in the corridor a siren and flashing lights went off. The corridor was designed to detect whether employees were walking at least 5 meters for every 3.6 seconds.
The blue sign on the floor also says “Lets rush - if we don’t then the company and world will perish.”
My opinion is that standing meetings are an excellent way to reduce meeting times. Threatening employees with the destruction of the earth if they aren’t ultra-productive, though? Not so much.
[WILT] Chefchaouen
When I was in high school, I went on a school trip to Spain, during which we took a day trip to Morocco. I remember the dust, and the bustle, and winding our ways through tiny alleys with overhanging buildings, and Coke bottles in Arabic. But I was about thirteen years old at the time, so I would like to experience it again, with adult eyes.
If (when) I do go back, I’m definitely going to Chefchaouen, a city notable for being almost entirely blue.:
Found via the always excellent Keri Smith.
[WILT] Space pee
“After the astronauts on the International Space Station finished up their communications with Space Shuttle Atlantis yesterday, the crew on the Space Station did something that no other astronaut has ever done before — drank recycled urine and sweat. The previous shuttle crew that recently returned to Earth brought back samples of the recycled water to make sure it was safe to drink, and all tests came back fine. So on Wednesday, the crew took their recycled urine and said ‘cheers’ together and toasted the researches and scientists that made the Urine Recycler possible. After drinking the water, they said the taste was great! They also said the water came with labels on it that said ‘drink this when real water is over 200 miles away.’”
(via someone Twittering a link to Slashdot)
[WILT] Thoreau’s dirty pants
From a Salon interview about a new anthology called “Dirt: The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House”:
What was your favorite story to read or edit?
I really don’t have a favorite, but there is one piece that absolutely doesn’t fit but was just too good not to include. It’s an imaginary conversation by Richard Goodman between Thoreau and someone who’s interviewing him for a job as a housecleaner — apparently he needs a day job. Did you know that Thoreau used to bring a bag of dirty laundry for his mother to wash when he’d go to visit her?
Well, no, I did not.
Neither did I.
Nobody wants the reject donuts
