12 ms·

Relevant xkcd: https://www.xkcd.com/1741/ https://www.xkcd.com/1741/

by csours 10y ago

ptrincr 10y ago
I get this exact same feeling, a thousand fold when I'm in a supermarket. To think of the amount of effort it has taken to design, manufacture, package, market and transport all those products (edible or not) is a little overwhelming.
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  Prior to eating a meal I occasionally give thanks a la grace style to someone in that chain. Random things like thanking the person who fitted the alternator belt on the tractor that ploughed the soil the carrots were grown in.
  - vanderZwan 10y ago
    Have you read "Religion for Atheists", by any chance?
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      I haven't. Sounds like the kind of thing that might appeal to me, will look it up.
  - coldpie 10y ago
    This is why food waste killllls me. A field was sown, carrots grown, weeds picked, carrot harvested, inspected, washed, shipped, stored, sold, aaaand... it rots in my fridge and goes straight into the trash can off to the landfill. Ugh.
    - patrick_haply 10y ago
      Or my favorite: life forms that have spent millions of years decomposing and transforming into oil are drilled out of the ground, refined, hauled somewhere, turned into plastic, hauled somewhere else to be formed into a spoon shape, hauled halfway across the globe to reach your table/store/restaurant... just to be thrown out without being used.
- Markoff 10y ago
  i think more about economic side of the things, how can be profitable for all parties (producer, transport company and supermarket chain is bare minimum) to sell me 2l bottle of soda for 0.19€, it's taking quite a lot space weighing 2kg, producer is about 150km away, yet all three parties make profit on this product? the letter itself (flavored soda) has probably lower value than packaging is packaging, transportation and storing in supermarket taking space of other products. is there product which would take more space and weight more while being extremely cheap as soda drink? i can't think of anything as large and cheap as bottle of soda
  - parasubvert 10y ago
    Possibly bleach, and in some countries, gasoline/petrol (taxes are quite variable). https://flowingdata.com/2011/03/22/gallons-of-stuff-that-cost-more-than-gasoline/ https://flowingdata.com/2011/03/22/gallons-of-stuff-that-cos...
    - Markoff 10y ago
      i doubt that chart, gallon (6l) of Pepsi you can get here in promotion around 2 USD (.59€ for 2l bottle), gallon of drinks i buy cost .56€ so roughly around 60 dollar cents, no way bleach is that cheap
    - Markoff 10y ago
      even 1l petrol cost with zero taxes way more than my 2l bottle for 19 eurocents
- mikro2nd 10y ago
  Thank you for thinking of us. -- A Carrot Seed grower and breeder
- Dirlewanger 10y ago
  The fact that one can go to any US municipality over ~5,000 and have access to more or less the same supermarket experience...this is what people mean when the West is in the top X% of the world.
- aaronmdjones 10y ago
  I'm always amazed that one can tip over a soft drink (with the lid on) and then the thing will explode everywhere when you try to open it, yet it was transported possibly thousands of miles over all sorts of rough terrain, jostled about, mishandled, loaded and unloaded quickly by forklifts, then stacked on shelves by hand, and the only thing it does when you open it then is just make a noise.
FabHK 10y ago
Not only relevant, but sure feels like the inspiration for the GP comment.
epimetheus 10y ago
I actually find it extremely interesting that xkcd is so spot on and the term "Relevant xkcd" has almost been "Simponised" in that "Relevant xkcd" comes up as much as "Simpsons did that." I wonder how many other cases of popular culture is so highly cited like this.
josefresco 10y ago
Having recently "invented" and manufactured a physical product, I can attest to how much time and effort is put into seemingly inconsequential product features. Coming from tech/services like many of you I had no idea how much time I'd spend on minor features that happened to be critical to bringing the product to market. That being said, when coding software or accomplishing a purely "tech" task, most of my time is usually spent on the "minor details" so I guess it isn't all that much different.
Arizhel 10y ago
Yep, and many times we end up with lousy products despite all this work. Case in point in the xkcd comic: the switch on the lamp cord. What an utterly idiotic idea; it's only done because it's cheaper, not because it's better for the user. In fact, I'd assert that lamps, in general, have some of the very worst product design for any class of modern product. They haven't improved substantially in many decades. We have amazing LED lighting now (as seen on the headlights of new cars, both the DRL systems and also on some cars which use LEDs for the main headlights), but our table/floor lamps are still unchanged from the 1950s, designed around the ancient Edison bulb, with horrible user interfaces (switch on cord where it's hard to reach, or switch next to bulb where you have to stick your arm up inside the lampshade and try to find it in the dark).

Relevant xkcd: https://www.xkcd.com/1741/ https://www.xkcd.com/1741/

by csours 10y ago

Relevant xkcd: https://www.xkcd.com/1741/ https://www.xkcd.com/1741/

I get this exact same feeling, a thousand fold when I'm in a supermarket. To think of the amount of effort it has taken to design, manufacture, package, market and transport all those products (edible or not) is a little overwhelming.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
Prior to eating a meal I occasionally give thanks a la grace style to someone in that chain. Random things like thanking the person who fitted the alternator belt on the tractor that ploughed the soil the carrots were grown in.
- vanderZwan 10y ago
  Have you read "Religion for Atheists", by any chance?
  - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
    I haven't. Sounds like the kind of thing that might appeal to me, will look it up.
- coldpie 10y ago
  This is why food waste killllls me. A field was sown, carrots grown, weeds picked, carrot harvested, inspected, washed, shipped, stored, sold, aaaand... it rots in my fridge and goes straight into the trash can off to the landfill. Ugh.
  - patrick_haply 10y ago
    Or my favorite: life forms that have spent millions of years decomposing and transforming into oil are drilled out of the ground, refined, hauled somewhere, turned into plastic, hauled somewhere else to be formed into a spoon shape, hauled halfway across the globe to reach your table/store/restaurant... just to be thrown out without being used.
Markoff 10y ago
i think more about economic side of the things, how can be profitable for all parties (producer, transport company and supermarket chain is bare minimum) to sell me 2l bottle of soda for 0.19€, it's taking quite a lot space weighing 2kg, producer is about 150km away, yet all three parties make profit on this product? the letter itself (flavored soda) has probably lower value than packaging is packaging, transportation and storing in supermarket taking space of other products. is there product which would take more space and weight more while being extremely cheap as soda drink? i can't think of anything as large and cheap as bottle of soda
- parasubvert 10y ago
  Possibly bleach, and in some countries, gasoline/petrol (taxes are quite variable). https://flowingdata.com/2011/03/22/gallons-of-stuff-that-cost-more-than-gasoline/ https://flowingdata.com/2011/03/22/gallons-of-stuff-that-cos...
  - Markoff 10y ago
    i doubt that chart, gallon (6l) of Pepsi you can get here in promotion around 2 USD (.59€ for 2l bottle), gallon of drinks i buy cost .56€ so roughly around 60 dollar cents, no way bleach is that cheap
  - Markoff 10y ago
    even 1l petrol cost with zero taxes way more than my 2l bottle for 19 eurocents
mikro2nd 10y ago
Thank you for thinking of us. -- A Carrot Seed grower and breeder
Dirlewanger 10y ago
The fact that one can go to any US municipality over ~5,000 and have access to more or less the same supermarket experience...this is what people mean when the West is in the top X% of the world.
aaronmdjones 10y ago
I'm always amazed that one can tip over a soft drink (with the lid on) and then the thing will explode everywhere when you try to open it, yet it was transported possibly thousands of miles over all sorts of rough terrain, jostled about, mishandled, loaded and unloaded quickly by forklifts, then stacked on shelves by hand, and the only thing it does when you open it then is just make a noise.

FabHK 10y ago

Not only relevant, but sure feels like the inspiration for the GP comment.

epimetheus 10y ago

I actually find it extremely interesting that xkcd is so spot on and the term "Relevant xkcd" has almost been "Simponised" in that "Relevant xkcd" comes up as much as "Simpsons did that." I wonder how many other cases of popular culture is so highly cited like this.

josefresco 10y ago

Having recently "invented" and manufactured a physical product, I can attest to how much time and effort is put into seemingly inconsequential product features. Coming from tech/services like many of you I had no idea how much time I'd spend on minor features that happened to be critical to bringing the product to market. That being said, when coding software or accomplishing a purely "tech" task, most of my time is usually spent on the "minor details" so I guess it isn't all that much different.

Arizhel 10y ago

Yep, and many times we end up with lousy products despite all this work. Case in point in the xkcd comic: the switch on the lamp cord. What an utterly idiotic idea; it's only done because it's cheaper, not because it's better for the user. In fact, I'd assert that lamps, in general, have some of the very worst product design for any class of modern product. They haven't improved substantially in many decades. We have amazing LED lighting now (as seen on the headlights of new cars, both the DRL systems and also on some cars which use LEDs for the main headlights), but our table/floor lamps are still unchanged from the 1950s, designed around the ancient Edison bulb, with horrible user interfaces (switch on cord where it's hard to reach, or switch next to bulb where you have to stick your arm up inside the lampshade and try to find it in the dark).