My Issue with Flax Plus

One of my favourite breakfast cereals is Nature's Path Flax Plus. I'm not sure exactly why I like it so much, probably because it's a very crunchy flake, and stays very crunchy. I hate soggy cereal.

But there's always a problem with everything, and this cereal has a problem, which is that apparently the people who manufacture it don't want you to eat it. Or at least they want to make it difficult.

The top flap of the box of cereal is effectively cemented shut with some kind of industrial grade epoxy. In several years of eating this cereal, I have not once been able to get the top of the box open without ripping the little tab that's supposed to keep the box closed. I have even tried using special tools (well, a kitchen knife) to gently pry open the box without damaging it, but that little tab of cardboard has never failed to tear off.

If that weren't enough, the interior bag of this product is sealed so tight that you can't get it open without scissors. The way this is supposed to work is you tug gently on the two sides of the bag and the top comes unsealed. Then you can pour the cereal out normally. Lots of cereal producers get this right. Just about all of them. Try that with Flax Plus and you'll spray flakes all over your kitchen.

Had to get that off my chest. Sorry.

The Shower Curtain Question

Many years ago I was interviewing a co-op student at Waterloo. I had just asked her one of my favorite interview questions, and she had appreciated it, and in turn told me about one of her favourite questions, purportedly asked by an interviewer from Microsoft. This was during the time when Bill Gates was building his current home on Lake Washington, and the question was tangentally related. The question was this:

"If price were no obstacle, how would you design a shower curtain?"

I always found that question intriguing, but to be honest I never really gave it much in the way of deep thought. I always approached it more as if the question were: "What's the most expensive shower curtain you can design?" and imagined a solid stone wall sliding up from the floor or something equally preposterous.

But a few days ago (while I was in the shower, no less) it occurred to me what the answer should be; at least an answer I'd be happy with if I had asked the question myself. If price were no object, I'd design a shower curtain as a piece of plastic that you drape from a bar reaching across the opening. In other words, just like every other shower curtain in the world. Some things don't need innovation. Use the standard components and then move on. Price may not be an obstacle but time usually is, and wouldn't we rather spend our time on solving more interesting problems?