Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Bloomberg Business
There are certainly some interesting concepts here. Clearly the environmental benefits are without question and it looks like a beautiful and smartspace to work.

For all of the technology and advancement on show, two things which stand out to me are:

Since workers at the Edge don’t have assigned desks, lockers serve as home base for the day… Employees are discouraged from keeping a single locker for days or weeks… to break people away from their fixed locations and rigid ways of thinking.

So, its 2500 workers sharing 1000 desks:

The concept is called hot desking, and it’s supposed to encourage new relationships, chance interactions, and, just as important, efficient use of space

Neither are new concepts, however upon speaking with colleagues in other companies, talk often turned to wasting up to half an hour or more a day finding a desk, setting things up, clearing it at the end of the day, and repeating the whole process day after day.

The open plan office? Chance interactions and discussion? Yes, just perfect — no need to try to sell me on that one. When I’m sitting trying to work out exactly which data was deleted from the pivot table in the shared excel spreadsheet and all I hear at high volume is how long its been since the Ben & Jerry’s van was giving out free samples down the street at lunch time?

Chance interactions, discussion, inadvertent collaboration. We’ll just leave it to you to somehow find a way to focus in the mayhem surrounding you. What do you mean? Of course that is what we expect you to do. We’ll promote the former by opening things up, over to you for the latter — can’t be that hard can it? (Apologies — mini rant now over)

Concepts are great, my point is simply there need to be significant resources on hand to make them work. That certainly appears to be the case here.
The Smartest Building in the World

 

David Hewson – Medium
I like this idea. A shorter, more thoughtful writing challenge to offset the crash and dash of NaNoWriMo (which does feel like trying to sprint a marathon). Twelve, 800 word pieces submitted each month over the course of a year:

…a good short story is to be cherished. It’s also bloody hard to write.

Once submitted at the end of each month it is locked. Perhaps a few details to be sorted out, however I’d certainly be interested:
After NaNoWriMo how about NaNoSloMo?

 

Nib & Ink
Matthew Morse takes a look at the Karas Kustoms EDK just released as a Massdrop exclusive. I do not own any of the Karas pens, and this one certainly appeals both in form and intended function.

I agree the P8126 refill is a winner, however funnily enough, I also have a bit of a “thing” for how far a refill extends at the tip of a pen. That said, I think the only thing I’ll really have to decide on is which finish combination:
First Look: Karas Kustoms EDK Retractable Pen

And why stop there:

Ed Jelley: Karas Kustoms EDK Everyday Carry Pen Review
Pens! Paper! Pencils!: Karas Kustoms EDK Pen Review
The Pen Addict: Karas Kustoms EDK Review
The Clicky Post: Karas Kustoms EDK Pen – Massdrop Exclusive

 

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
The sets of 3 mini Iroshizuku bottles on offer from various retailers simply present me with a conundrum. Reviews such as these certainly help my cause:
Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao Ink Review

 

Sprudge
I’ve never been there, and only see what you see in these images, however certain designs and layouts just grab me. This being one of those:
Verve West 3rd: The Latest Coffee Bar From Verve Los Angeles

 

DR Wakefield
As my natural coffee processing experiment rolls on, I am beginning to collate some information for an introductory post to kick things off. Outlining the various types of processing methods is obviously part of that:
The difference between semi-washed and fully-washed methods

 

The Guardian
I enjoy the application of nerdy concepts to some of my every day things, however could I humbly suggest before you consider adding a pinch of salt to coffee you consider overly bitter — perhaps take steps to avoid ending up with a bitter brew in the first place. It isn’t as difficult as you might think:
A chemistry teacher’s guide to the perfect cup of coffee

 

Lucky Peach
Speaking of nerdiness — away we go on another beverage I am somewhat fond of — in moderation of course. Those flavours in your whisky? To a large extent they depend on plant matter in the peat which is broken down when burned to dry and halt germination of the barley:

More lignin and you’ll get spicier, vanilla-ier, smokier flavors; more cellulose/hemicellulose and you’ll get more caramel-y, toasty flavors.

Cheers:
The Science of Scotch

 

Chambers Daily
Following up on last week’s link from Bradley Chambers about leaving Evernote, here he offers a few thoughts on what might fix the ailments. Not surprisingly, a greater focus on what made it successful in the first place permeates the list:
Fixing Evernote

 

Pax Coffea
This is a great viewpoint on taste descriptors in coffee. I often find I can detect certain flavours from a description, where I may not have been able to put words to the flavours myself. The power of suggestion? Perhaps, however with experience, I think it becomes more like Rule 1 in this post:

If you describe it, I better taste it

I’d also agree that this can often be the case:

People who feel alienated by tasting notes react in a variety of ways, many of which lead people away from great coffee rather than toward it

Very much enjoyed this post:
A Meditation on the Importance- and Danger- of Tasting Notes

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