Good grief. For those paying attention, tools like sudo and the concepts behind them have been around for a really long time. Long enough that I can barely remember working on them, though I agree with this article that I did and it did in fact occur many years before Microsoft’s “invention” of this technology. Microsoft, apparently, doesn’t remember or chooses not to. Read the Groklaw article on this topic for the gory details.
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Over the course of 2009 we’ve embarked on a number of employee-initiated projects to help make Applied Trust a place where we really want to work long term. Dan’s recent blog post about our new and improved third-floor deck is one example. Another of these projects involved introducing healthier beverage options for our employees, clients, and other guests at our office. The primary focus of this initiative was to replace beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – predominantly sodas – with those that are not.
For anyone who’s not familiar with it, HFCS is any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone processing to convert its glucose into fructose and has then been mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to produce a desired sweetness. It became a popular substitute for sugar in the 70s and 80s, as high sugar import tariffs were imposed and government subsidies paid to growers kept the price of corn low. It is used in almost all processed foods, and it is the number one source of calories in the United States.
This past spring Applied Trust took its third-floor deck space to a new level!
Although the deck has always been a desirable aspect of Applied Trust’s office environment, we felt the space wasn’t being used to its full potential. Some employees said that it was too sunny and got too hot to work out there with a laptop. Others said it was the lack of acceptable work space and the presence of pigeons that deterred them from working out there. We decided to make an effort to provide our engineers with a more inviting outdoor workspace that would be fun to use and would add value to our work space for years to come.
After looking into options we decided on some sun shades, some new workspaces, a way of providing music, and deck plants. The plants were a key element; not only do they add to the aesthetics of the deck, but they also add to the “green” image of the office, by helping to offset our carbon output. We chose the following plants to fill the planters: