The Scott Adams Blog

A different take on familiar topics from the creator of the Dilbert comic strip.

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Breakfast

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Flow

Flow. Apps. Losing it.

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The upside of climate change

Humanity does not have an option of staying the same in hoping everything works out in the long run. The nature of our environment is that it is subject to change if you wait long enough. Eventually the sunburns I don't to use an extreme example. But long before that one would expect any manner of Celeste deal in atmospheric problem to pop up of the type that could wipe out humanity. So wouldn't it be good if we started early to develop the technologies that allow us to quickly scramble and it just too large plantet-wide changes in the distribution of energy and resources. Leave me a change could be the perfect situation. In the sentence it's a relatively slow moving disaster. And that means we have a good fighting chance to adjust without taking a mortal wound. And once we develop technologies for adjusting to climate change I would think we be as a side effect more prepared for and the other huge planetary disaster such as a comet strike or a plague or anything that makes people move from one place to another. If climate change is what causes us to rapidly learn how to get freshwater to all the places it is needed and to generate clean energy then don't we come out ahead? Remember to include my disclaimer on this post. I would think that climate change is more likely to be a boon to poor people then a problem. I base that prediction on the fact that poor people are forced to live on and own the worst property in the worst places. If the rich farmers in one place lose money you're probably gets redistributed to someplace that once was poor but now can become prosperous through agriculture or tourism. I am not predicting this will happen. I am saying that if you believe one likelihood is more likely than the other you are not using data to make that determination.

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What is wrong with my phone interface

Here's an impression of me trying to do any fucking thing on my smart phone: Tap and tap tap tap and now I am distracted by this text tap tap I wish I had that file with me but it is on my workstation and I never figured out how to set up access on my phone I should remember that one of these days I'll get around to it but for now I better take care of this thing I was what the hell was I doing

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Police disincentives

What if law enforcement had an economic incentive to solve crime? Now we have a disincentive in place. The focus today is on how do I rest this guy in front of me without getting hurt and perhaps how do I make my neighborhood safer. But there is really no incentive to reduce crime overall because after all criminals are the raw materials of your profession and if the criminals go away so do the law-enforcement jobs. So what would happen if law-enforcement had a economic incentive to reduce crime? Could you design a model that worked without making something else for worse?

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Blog

Contact lenses that only see certain frequencies. Call up the instructions for any physical object by waving at it. instructions can be seen by anyone with the contacts or glasses but disappear with non-use. Ring and contacts work together but contacts are passive

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I'm testing a feature that lets me email a blog post. I hope someone is reading this. This is a photo of the white board in my garage man-cave. If this doesn't look sucky I might increase my blogging production. The graph is random. I was testing line resolution.

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Google's 20% Policy

You probably already know that Google famously has a policy encouraging employees to use 20% of their time working on their own ideas for future Google products. 

Today there is an article about Marissa Mayer, now CEO of Yahoo, admitting that in her Google days the 20% was never real. It actually meant you could do 120% of your job instead of 100% if you really wanted to.

Do you know who already knew the 20% wasn't real?

Answer: Every person who ever worked for a big company.

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New Site Design for Dilbert.com

The new site design is live! Let me know what you think.

The blog commenting system should be better in every way. I hope you like it.

Why'd it take so long to update the site? The comic syndication business experienced some major consolidation a few years ago and that led to some of the Dilbert contractual rights changing hands a few times. And that state of flux made it impractical to update the site until now. (Yes, I do see the Dilbert irony.)

The good news is that I landed with the strongest company in the field, Universal Uclick. Now we can have some fun. The new site design is just the beginning.

I will be introducing you to some new writers/content providers for the site in the next month. I'll preview their work in this space and then set them up as their own page on the site.

By now you know I treat this sort of thing as a system and not a goal. The new site design will make it easier to test new types of content and refine things as we go. There is no way to know where any of this ends up, but I'm sure the system is improving my odds of something good happening.

Sometimes I think curiosity is my prime motivation in life. I'll be fascinated to see where this goes. And I hope you'll come along for the show.

Scott Adams

Author of: How to Fail Almost Everything And Still Win Big

Newest Dilbert collection: Here

Co-founder of CalendarTree.com     

Twitter Dilbert: @Dilbert_Daily

Twitter for Scott: @ScottAdamsSays

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My deal with Snickers was that she would be obedient 364 days out of every year. But on her birthday she would get to be in charge and I would do whatever she commanded.

Well, that's how it used to be anyway. I didn't know she had a hidden video camera during her last birthday. Now she is blackmailing me by threatening to release the video that was taken after this screen shot. So our new deal is that now I only get to be in charge on my birthday. And I have to wear the orange pumpkin costume. This is exactly why I don't like birthdays.

I think my problem started that time I had a sore neck and Snickers thought I was bowing to her. She's alpha as a mo-fo and it must have triggered something. Anyway, I have to go; Snickers is demanding more treats AGAIN.