Cheaper by the Dozen, one of my favorite books, is being made into a film (again), starring Steve Martin and the tween-heroine from Lizzy McGuire. The story is the memoir of two of the children of Frank Gilbreth, an obsessive-compulsive who invented and largely perfected the business of time-motion study and efficiency consulting. This is a man who used a stopwatch to determine the optimal method of buttoning a shirt — bottom-up/top-down — and had his enormous brood of children given sequential tonsilectomies which he filmed in order to establish today's familiar operating-theatre procedure. He also invented touch-typing and much of today's ergonomics and assembly-line best-practices. The memoir is utterly charming, a warm account of a man who was at least one-third tyrant but who was also the most loving of fathers. The style is strongly reminiscent of Heinlein's stories about entrepreneurs, like the Doorway into Summer, serving up an archetype of American commonsense find-a-need-and-fill-it business that feels as homespun as an Andy of Mayberry episode when compared to today's baroque B-school wisdom. I hope that Steve Martin does it justice — he's certainly the kind of ambiguous comic who could bring the character to life. Though, from the plot synopsis, it appears that rather severe liberties have been taken with the storyline.
Cheaper by the Dozen movie with Steve Martin coming
Amazon used a China firm on U.S. blacklist for thermal cameras to monitor workers for COVID-19 fever
• Amazon's new Chinese thermal spycam vendor was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities READ THE REST
Financial Times journalist Mark Di Stefano accused of accessing private Zoom meetings, then publishing the information
Mark Di Stefano of the Financial Times is accused by The Independent of accessing private Zoom meetings held by The Independent and The Evening Standard as journalists were learning how… READ THE REST
Hackers tried to break into WHO, which faces more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks
Hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, Reuters reports. Security experts blame an advanced cyber-espionage hacker group known as DarkHotel.… READ THE REST
Short Post, just one paragraph
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. Dessert cheesecake wafer bear claw fruitcake. Fruitcake chupa chups donut candy canes marzipan. Apple pie sweet… READ THE REST
Save 50% on a 1-year subscription to Dashlane's premium password manager
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by… READ THE REST
The Bite Helper removes the itch of a mosquito bite in seconds
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. While mosquitoes have certainly earned their title as the deadliest animal on earth, their impact on… READ THE REST
