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Getting Your Boss To Buy Lava Lamps
jarich writes "Mike Clark's blog provides directions and code on how to wire up lava lamps to your build system. When a compile or test fails, the red lava lamp gets switched on... The delay in the lamp heating up gives you a few minutes to fix things before it becomes obvious to co-workers that you broke the build. His example uses CruiseControl but you could easily modify it. Very cool stuff and inexpensive to setup."
They'll look great next to the bean-bag chairs and the espresso bar.
I'll ask my boss when he gets back from playing golf with the VC group.
Right is wrong when left is right.
Place any lamp on top of one of those hyper-hot undervented Apple G3 Cubes, and in no-time it melts into lava.
...might be the silliest thing I've ever heard of. I like it.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
granted, this is a neat idea, but how exactly does it make you more productive?
[move
Cool! Awesome!
Sure, it's a good idea to be notified when the build is broken. But does it really require a lavalamp? I know we here at Slashdot love our little toys, but it seems like anyone who knows how to wire up an LED gets a news story.
Putting a hyperlink to a cgi file will cause HTTP 500 errors. Think before you post people.
you can just plug the lamp in and leave it on.
--- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
Since they require X10 hardware/software, forget it. I won't be supporting those damn pop-under ads.
Right is wrong when left is right.
I hope they have one hooked up to their webserver...
That is soooo nifty :P except I so would keep it on all the time. Also, after your coworkers see your light on... they will know that you goofed anyway :P
"But i loveded you PIGGY I LOVEDED YOU!!!!!" *Gir*
A red light that turns on whenever a shell starts on the server.
10 Remove Bulb 20 Work at my leisure... 30 Make as many errors as I want... 40 GOTO 20
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
In my office we use a group-wide email.
Jonathan Pearce jonathan@pearce.name
3EAAFB2A http://www.jonathan.pearce.name/
Hmm, they make these for compiling errors when microsoft compiles their OS...[:-P] -sp0nge
Wire each builder's seat with a voltage generator. Keep the timer aspect (x minutes/hrs to fix), but add voltage increasers for number of errors detected.
Really bad coders would get lauched like a rail gun 'bullet'.
I think we should have an air raid siren hooked up to it. Not only would it alert you to a problem, it would also scare the crap out of everyone and wake them up for a nice productive afternoon.
It's either that or electrodes into your chair.
To be smooth, baby, shouldn't you change 'kill' to 'chill', too?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Most environments in which I coded would prefer a Room 101 model. A cage is placed on your head. When the build is broken, rats are released into the cage. The time it takes the rats to run down the tunnel and into the cage to eat your face gives you time to fix your mistake.... The lava lamp version sounds double-plus good.
Lava lamps are so~ 80s. When are we going to be able to hook this up to heated-seat office chairs... The longer it takes you to fix the problem, the hotter it gets.....
Maybe it's just my net connection, but the first link isn't working for me, and the second one is slow as hell. Might be an interesting idea, especially to wire up to a webserver after a slashdotting.....
+5: Insightful!!
So you're saying the lava lamp switching on means it's time to fix things, as apposed to taking a kind smoke break?
conflicting reports are rising from the break room.
Google cache of article.
voice of Gilbert Godfrey screaming out "I suck at programming! Fire me!" over and over. That would make you debug before you compile...
What about the hack that starts the coffee maker everytime a build fails... it is usually a *long* night when that happens around here.
I'd prefer sirens and flashing LEDs.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I remember seeing that, and thinking, hey, not all ideas that emerge from a cloud of dope smoke are bad.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
...you could just use the time you'd spend setting this crap up to discuss the code with your coworkers and get ideas on how to fix problems. But that's just me. I'm sure most people would rather watch a lava lamp than code.
Guess the lava lamps just blew up.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Wow ... think of a firewall mod with a lava lamp for each open port ... my god!! the lava is boiling ... hackers coming in!!!
Never underestimate the power of idiots in large groups
CruiseControl is a continuous integration tool. Mostly it's for Java but there's a .NET port too. Basically, it regularly compiles a code base to make sure no one broke anything with their commits. Apache uses something similar called GUMP.
Who said Freedom was Fair?
for that DoublePlusUnGood joke.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
...to be of any use.
some magical herbs ;)
http://www.epinions.com/content_152723689092
Bubble, Bubble, Build's In Trouble
Your software is being automatically built and tested on a schedule. It even sends you an email when the code doesn't compile or pass its tests. You're certainly ahead of most projects, but email is just so 90s. Even if you could manage to find those build failure emails amidst all that spam, you're reading yesterday's news. Indeed, you may already be ignoring the status of the scheduled build.
The Monitoring chapter of the book offers alternative, in-your-face, worth-getting-up-for-in-the-morning techniques for monitoring scheduled builds. The most popular technique came by way of a story contributed by Alberto Savoia. He describes how his project uses red and green lava lamps to radiate the status of their scheduled build. Better yet, those lamps are controlled using X10 devices such as those used to turn on your household lamps so that you don't arrive home to a dark house.
Well, as you might imagine, I could hardly wait to build my very own build-monitoring lava lamp kit. And as bonus material for readers of the book, I've crafted a bit o' software that integrates with CruiseControl. So now you too can enjoy red and green bubbles on your project!
Bill of Materials
To get started, you need some automation gear. Think of these gadgets as this year's essential project accessories:
* 4-Piece Firecracker Automation System
This kit includes:
o 1 Firecracker Computer Interface
o 1 Transceiver Module
o 1 Lamp Module
o 1 Palm Pad Remote Control
Cost: $39.99
(Props go to the folks at x10.com for supporting this project by supplying me with a complimentary kit. It all fits in a wee box, so I can carry it from project to project.)
With that kit, you can control two lava lamps -- one plugged into the transceiver module and the other plugged into the lamp module. You can optionally purchase another appliance module if you want to control two appliances. For example, you might want your build process to turn on a coffee pot when the build fails and then kick start your margarita machine when the build is fixed.
* 2 lamps, preferably the kind that boil red and green lava
I used the Hot Rock Lite F/X (yellow earth/blue liquid and red earth/purple liquid). Note for legal purposes that these lamps (shown in pictures below) are not LAVA(R) brand motion lamps, but those will work just as well.
Cost: $9.99 each at Target or Walmart
* Pragmatic Automation X10 software
It's an open source Java library that includes the CruiseControl plug-in, an API to make your wildest X10 dreams come true, detailed instructions, and an ever-so-useful collection of tests.
Way down deep, the library uses the Java Communications API to send bits out over the serial port and into the Firecracker Computer Interface. (Linux users will need the RXTX implementation). Michel Dalal's Java X10 CM17A API library, an implementation of the FireCracker (CM17A) Communications Specification, is used to send out the correct 1s and 0s in response to human-friendly commands. Many thanks to him for doing all the low-level bit twiddling and sharing the goodies with us!
Cost: Free to readers of Pragmatic Project Automation
Assembling the Kit
With that hardware in hand, you're ready to start the assembly process. The Firecracker Automation System includes instructions written for your average home electronics consumer, so your average computer/network geek should have no trouble. I'll spare you all the gory details and instead run through a quick visual tutorial of my setup.
Start by plugging the Firecracker Computer Interface into a serial port of your scheduled build machine:
This little gem sends a wireless signal from the computer to the transceiver module. Notice that you don't lose the serial port. You can plug another serial device
Build fails: Coffee dispenser starts spitting out cups of java.
Build succeeds: Beer dispenser starts spitting out cans of Olde English.
-- "A chicken is an egg's way of making another egg."
I would definitely write bad code on purpose with this set up just to watch the lava.
I are winner
I have a better idea. Hook up the continous build system to the electrical power system, and put small electrodes in developer's chairs. Then configure the build system to figure out which developer caused a build failure, and soon you'll have developers that never forget to run unit tests before commit.
Or, you could try a bit different approach. Instead of shocking the developer at fault, shock all his co-workers. Then the co-workers will make sure he/she never makes the same mistake again.
Simpy
We had the problem of concurrent users locking up a tape drive.
We tried a white board, we tried a sign in/out sheet, it got so bad that we held a meeting and the manager decided we would use the ownership of a certain file to show who was allowed to control the tape drive.
The same manager broke his own rule immediately after the meeting.
My solution was the one that worked.
We used a really cheesy Mardi Gras necklace. Who ever had the necklace in their possession was allowed to access the tape drive. We never had a problem after that.
If you left the necklace on your desk it was perfectly okay for someone else to steal it. If you wore the cheesy thing around your neck, everyone knew you were using the tape drive.
Sometime low tech is easier, more reliable and best of all, funnier.
I live the greatest adventure anyone could wish for. - Tosk the Hunted
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
So it encourages people to fix the problem in a few minutes, rather than to make sure it's fixed right?
Yeah, that'll increase product realiability and eliminate bugs.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Would be a beer cooler. If your code/project/whatever works, beer gets cold. If it fails, beer gets warm. That's real incentive. Ur, except in England.
A better one is here where Lava lamps are used to generate true random bits.
Too bad the website for it appears to be off line. SGI used to be cool, too...
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
mmm...
Three words: DVD Player & Gigli
Now that would be an article worth reading.
I bet all of his fucking lava lamps are burning brightly.
Find funky gifts
We've got a similar system, but it uses the lava-lamp screen saver.
If the keyboard or other input device isn't used within five minutes, a lava-lamp appears on screen.
That way, we can tell if someone hasn't been working within the past five minutes.
Personally, I prefer the futuristic virtual Lava Lamp office, where you're cubicle rises and falls according to how productive you have been.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Yes, it was real, and yes, that's pretty muvh how it worked. Several lamps being viewed by a camera, and the image data was broken down to use as random numbers. You could even click a button to request a kilobyte or so of random digits.
It was hosted for a while at SGI's "personal pages for employees" server, which was decomissioned after it became obvious that the projects people worked on in their spare time were way cooler than anything SGI was officially offering that year. The Lavarand webpages were moved around a little, but may have vanished by now.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
He should have made one for webservers when the apache process hangs.
His datacenter would be groovy right now.
That's a cache of an earlier version of the blog, not the current article.
I'm not sure I would want to put in place something that would encourage designers to make quick fixes. Once the build breaks the "lava lamp penalty" would encourage a designer to keep the lamp from bubbling rather than spend the time to fix the break in the best and safest manner (i.e. one that may take an hour longer.)
Does your build environment allow you to debug, build, and test a loadbuild break in the time it takes a lava lamp to heat up?
Sounds a bit like the Ambient Orb that Thinkgeek offers.
There's also a developer interface where any semi-savvy web programmer can control the color of their Orb with a simple http "get" call. Track how full your hard drive is, traffic on your website, Slashdot posts, or your credit-card debt.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Yeah. Like the average user is going to look at your lava lamp and say, "Geez, looks like Bob borked the sendmail build again . . ."
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
A lava lamp as a warning light? I had a Tandy once that's processor was a lava lamp. I just it just goes to show what kind of progress is being made.
Why not release a swinging blade above your head. Fix the build too slow and... chop!
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
I would rather have compilers include a sound file that will laugh at you (the Return Fire one), when your program does not compile correctly. The Zero Wing one is also good.
[insert obligatory Disco Stu reference here]
Right is wrong when left is right.
You just /.ed google cache ;)
put the what in the where?
SlashDot simply cache the linked sites in their stories. Only the first page off the link. Maybe in a split version like google's cached sites showing the URL and all. That way, if anyone is interested in the rest of the site, they can dig from there.
Yes, off topic. But needs to be addressed. It gets frustrating when links go dead in less than an hour after the story is posted.
Genius!
Why not just set it up so it delievers a 1.21 gigowatt jolt to the balls.
Leave it to corporate America to find a way to make Lava Lamps something to stress out about.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
as a build mananger I just implemented Cruisecontrol on the job this week. it's awesome, no more going to do the build and getting a ton or errors, now if there's an error emails get sent to me, the project manager, and the dev responsible. it's a very nice tool. adding lights to the mix sounds trivial, but hey, if it makes work more fun, why not.
CB
free ipod and free gmail!
...as recognition for being a the company for several years. Actually, they gave my a catalog I could choose from. I chose the lava lamp, which cam inscribed with the company logo and is now in use in my office causing great consternation with managment.
Don't forget the sticks of pot and discount snack machine, so our fellow techies can mellow out after a stressful rush of fixing things in a hurry. (For medical reasons, I assure you.... honest!!)
Why is this modded redundant?
This book already covers using lava lamps and other devices to alert teammembers about build problems.
Pragmatic Project Automation: How to Build, Deply, and Monitor Java Apps by Mike Clark
BTW, I recommend this book if for nothing else as a way to explain how the build process works.
A Google logo LAVA(R) lamp of course. You can pay for it with the money you made on the IPO!
those links do not seem to work for me ..is it just me or is the site haveing issues?
"Your min is only an image to me."
That headline blurb doesn't do this book justice. I was one of the first kids on my block with a copy of this book, and I highly recommend it.
This book is not about lava lamps (although it does talk about them). This book is about using automation to keep your software project on-track... never letting things get broken... using a computer in your office as a 'virtual employee', continually building and running unit tests and letting you know if someone breaks the build.
Yes, there is a reference about automatically turning on a red lava lamp if your unit tests fail... but far more important than that, the build on my project (which uses the ideas from this book) is never broken long enough for a lava lamp to heat up.
If you are interested in Agile process (especially the XP concept of 'continuous integration'), you need this book.
-- /\ndy
Except in my case I'm gonna have the eyes of my Tiki God light up. Then I will start on self correcting code.
Private Pyle has dishonored himself and dishonored the platoon! I have tried to help him, but I have failed! I have failed because you have not helped me! You people have not given Private Pyle the proper motivation!
So, from now on, whenever Private Pyle fucks up, I will not punish him, I will punish all of you! And the way I see it, ladies, you owe me for one jelly doughnut! Now, get on your faces!
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
that you're still getting pop-under ads? Time to get Firefox.
This would be more useful, if it lit up a bowl at 4:20 if the green lamp was going.
Hmmm... All I need is an automated valve and a mini blowtorch...
W.E.P.Unfortunately, the ceiling height won't be changed, so over-achievers get a series of cieling noogies until they settle back down with the dregs.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/ isn't even breaking a sweat here. The parent is a blatant karma whore.
Indeed. If you do that, everybody starts breaking builds just to turn the damn lamp on. Better make it so that when a build breaks, the lamp get's turned OFF so people get angry from not being able to watch it. That way nobody dares to break the build, and somebody does, other people might even come to help fix it, so they can continue their trip^H^H^H^Hwork with proper lighting..
Software should be free as in speech, but if we also get some free beer, all the better.
Someone call Tom Ridge quick and tell him to get 5 colored lava lamps: red, orange, yellow, blue and green (may be able to hold off on the green for a while). Hook it up and let it rip
I think that the public might be more receptive to a terror threat level from a lava lamp- be on the alert for suspicious activities but, hey man, don't get stressed out about it....
Than people complaining about getting modded down in a system that intentionally gives mod points to (pseudo-)random people? But I guess it's obvious that if someone feels their post deserves a certain response and it doesn't get that response, the mod system must be broken as all hell.
Get your boss to buy Java Lamps :D
When the build first breaks, light a big aerial shell firecracker that goes BOOM. Since you're supposed to run these tests once on the hour, the next two would go on the hour while the build was still broken.
The fourth piece would be a flare aimed at the offender's cube. Think of it as a 4-gun salute...
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
nt.
originally we only had one lava lamp that went on when the build broke. but because having the lava lamp going was a good thing we switched to having a red and green!
Just like velvet, velour, and Elvis paintings too?
John Kerry is a Joke!
"colorful programming".
Now, just add some speakers, a dictionary of expletives, and the phrase "FIRE! FIRE!" or the KDE/app sound "Oooh-ah", or the non-zero number/word "Oh!"
(Example: Around 1994 I dialed a wrong extension, which included an errant "zero". The female voice responde with "There IS no EXTENsion: TWO-OH-OH". I was onto something. I hit, 2500300 or something like that. That led to her response, then I just entered all zeroes...
"There IS no EXTENsion: Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!...". That went on for about enough time (with the speaker volume up a bit higher than necesary) for my manager/president to ask me to knock it off. I think later the industry changed the "OH" to "ZERO", but there are still a number of them out there...)
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Or, you could just buy (I know, that's an evil term here on Socialistdot) a tool that allows multiple individual development, like ClearCase.
No one expects the Slashdot Inquisition!
> Who ever had the necklace in their possession was
> allowed to access the tape drive.
Reminds me of an old Dilbert cartoon:
Dilbert: (holding a cable) we have a token ring network.
Boss: So why is it not working?
Dilbert: the token fell out. It must be somewhere in this room...
Boss: (gets on his knees to search)
Everything I google on Firecracker says it is 'X10 Firecracker Automation'...
X10!!! Oh.... my... hell. Slashdot recommending a project that uses *THEM*.
What next, a story on a project that uses SCO software?! Personal firewalls using XP SP2? A softball interview with Jack Valenti or Orin Hatch?
I know, it's not pico/x10/whoever's fault entirely, but after years of X10 popups, I feel tricked/annoyed/dirtied and I haven't even clicked past the google results.
A couple years ago, we were revising a website, with an eye toward better google placement. My tech lead forwarded a spam for a related utility, and I had to read him the riot act on why we'd *never* buy anything from a spammer.
(yeah, I know... I'm goin' to modpoints hell for criticizing the editors.)
Why not just use the xtend/heyu/BottleRocket software - it's C so you can just call it from any script, and you don't have to wait half an hour for the interpreter to start up.
#include <sig.h>
Now, everyone go buy an Ambient Orb so they can mass-produce them more, and then I can finally afford one!
Corporate Gadfly
Jonathan Archer: the most beaten up Enterprise captain in Star Trek history
If you were *really* serious about alerting devs to breaking the code, you wouldn't bother wiring it up to lava lamps.
No. Wire it up to an actual lava volcano and place vents and valves linked to it inside everyone's cubes. If it ain't fixed in 1 hour, the coder resposible gets (literally) fried.
P.S. in my experience, it might be a good idea to invest in ejector seats for everyone. Once the volcano went out of control and we lost the whole widget team.
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
Let me get back to you after I hook up a cinema projector to my pc, so it can display Microsoft's stars screensaver all day long.
It will happen.
if it makes work more fun, why not
heh. work hasn't been fun in a while. chances are pretty slim i could get these corporate to spring for this type of system - it may motivate people, and we wouldn't want that.
First they cam for the Foosball table, but I was not a foosballer - so I said nothing. Then they came for the yearly canoe trip, but I did not canoe - so I did nothing. Then came the salary freeze, but I still had a job. And then they came for the fresh fruit in the lunch room, but I did not eat fruit - so I did little. Then they came for the coffeemaker, and there was no left who could stand up for the coffee.
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
if you're fast enough and the timing is right you fix the build just as it is beginning to get liquid, then it cools with tendrills reaching to the surface.
if you fix it too fast if looks the same as if it took a long time to fix it.
BottleRocket (http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/) for
controlling the X10 Firecracker computer interface under Linux.
Heyu2 (http://www.heyu.org/heyu2/) for controlling X10's CM11A computer interface under Linux/Unix/Mac OSX.
Both are Open Source standalone command-line executables.
Umm, there's no authentication here, right? I can just broadcast commands to device x in house y, and control your lava lamps, coffee maker or whatever?
Seems like we need a password and some quality encryption for this kind of thing. Or we need wires.
For a minute there, I was like.. Did I submit this? Wait a tik I dont own a lava lamp. aha!
Wow, JavaLavaLamps are getting their 15 minutes of fame on Slashdot - I am bubbling with pride. As the original implementor (AFAIK) of the unholy and unlikely combination of CruiseControl + Java(TM) + X10 + Lava (TM) Lamps, and the author of the article in Mike Clark's book, I am thrilled (and a bit concerned that this will be THE contribution to the computing I will be remembered for.) In any case, JavaLavaLamps are just one of the eXtreme Feedback Devices (XFDs) I mentioned in the blog that started it all. You can read about XF and see other XFDs at: http://www.developertesting.com/managed_developer_ testing/000036.html. Have fun.
The lava lamps I've encountered require about three hours warm-up time before they really get going.
Perhaps it's designed for those really big bugs.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
We hooked up the star trek "red alert" siren to the build server via a simple outlook mail rule. This was at a time when we were bringing on new developers and still working on disciplining our selves to run our tests before we chekced in. Needless to say after a couple weeks we got noise compaints from neighboring offices. Our office sounded like the Klingons were attacking every 3 hours. :-)
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
I believe these comfort items are an important part of any office. You should feel comfortable in your surroundings. The office area itself should be decorated to please one's eyes. Forget the plain white wall crap. Go with something more colorful. Hang some pictures. Buy lots of cozy office furniture. Create conversation and thinking areas around the building where people can meet and brainstorm in the hallways. Put a whiteboard on every wall. There's all sorts of things you can do to make the environment more inviting. These are just a few of them.
A single multi-coloured, infra red controlled, lava lamp (available on Ebay), an infrared port on your PC, a simple post-build script that sends out the correct remote control signal, green/blue for build is good, orange/yellow for build with warnings, red for build failed. People on Slashdot need to get with the times and start using the latest technology.
Must be a slow news day for this to be cool.
In a related note. Today is Macaulay Culkin's Birthday.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
(We generally sit down to widdle)
I've been shopping around for some decent control software with C/C++ or Perl APIs (Not Java or X10). Does anyone have any recommendations?
There are lots of interesting applications for these things. Turning lights on if there are unauthorized probes or scans, or some kind of color-coded indicator of network/web traffic. Most of the systems I've seen aren't very Unix-friendly or they're very low level. Any suggestions?
Developpers! Developpers! Developpers!
I've been using CruiseControl for about half a year now, and the Ant Sound task works well. Just crank up the speakers and collect a directory of Success and Failure sounds. It's hard to ignore the audio track from the Psycho shower scene when a build fails, or a snip of the Indiana Jones theme music when it passes.
Our build machine recently switched to a rack mount in the server room, so I wrote a little Ant Task that loops and parses the CruiseControl RSS feed (mentioned in Pragmatic Automation) and sets build status baised on that, playing a set of sounds on a workstation locally. We get punk covers of show tunes (from Me First And the Gimmie Gimmie's "Are A drag") and Office Space quotes when the build fails. The sounds are different from our usual workstation collection, and nothing says you missed a file checkin or config change like Bill Lumberg saying "Uh... we have sort of a Problem here.." at max volume:)
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
very confusing
The project manager will sit in a replica USS Enterprise Captain's Chair (Kirk style).
The build officer will sit behind him at the "Build Station" inspecting CVS commits through a binocular microscope feed.
Ensign, set course for compliance and engage at gcc factor -O3!
And we must not forget this last one. Attractive young females wearing short skirts will deliver messages and coffee to the bridge, and generally stand around looking hot.
Note to self: corporate work sucks donkey balls.
I bow in worship!
Your anonymous and enverifiable claims of coolness impress me!
Now I must wank!
I find it hard enough to get approval for software purchasing - than to ask to get some lava lamps purchased! Although they would look good on my desk...
"When a compile or test fails, the red lava lamp gets switched on... The delay in the lamp heating up gives you a few minutes to fix things before it becomes obvious to co-workers that you broke the build."
I mean, if you're looking for that sort of subterfuge to mask your screwup, why buy one to begin with again? Do you absolutely need a delayed action screw-up beacon. I mean, the moment the damn thing turns on, people are going to know you fucked up anyway even without an undulating blob since the entire lamp GLOWS WITH LIGHT, warm or cold.
I nominate this for the "Weakest Excuse for Lava Lamp Placement in a Workcenter" Award. Thank you.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
oh-wee!
...a stunned silence fell upon the hall.
Shock Collars? I remember the good old days (tm) when, if your code failed to compile, you simply had a beer.
Try switching the red lamp plug with the green one,
No one will notice your build failing all day long.
heh. work hasn't been fun in a while. chances are pretty slim i could get these corporate to spring for this type of system - it may motivate people, and we wouldn't want that.
Just buy it. Somebody on Slashdot taught me this great trick: just pretend that 1% of your salary is a bonus from the company to take care of little things that their budgeting process is too clumsy and stupid to deal with.