This idea occurred to me while I was sick. I’m not sure if my fever induced thoughts were a flash of creativity, insight, genius, stupidity or insanity but now that I’m well enough to type and have caught up on some more urgent tasks, I thought that I’d share them and let the Internet decide.

The basic idea is to sell within a single box everything a person would have in a bathroom. This would include not just items such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, and toilet paper but also less frequently used items such as first aid supplies, cleaners and a plunger. Possible names for the product include: Bathroom Starter Kit, Complete Bathroom Supply Kit, Bathroom Kit, and Bathroom in a Box. The bathroom kit would be sold online and quickly shipped directly to a costumer’s new home.

A full list of items might include:

•     Medical supplies: band-aids, antibiotic cream, rubbing alcohol, a thermometer, hot water bottle, etc.
•     Standard Over the Counter medications: Tylenol, Advil, etc.
•     A hair dryer
•     A waste basket
•     Bathroom cleaner
•     Plunger and toilet brush
•     Shower curtain liner & rings
•     Hand towels
•     Bath rugs
•     Toilet Paper
•     Hand Soap
•     Shampoo and Conditioner
•     Possibly luxury items such as scented candles, bathrobes, etc,

Including a thermometer may seem silly — it’s only used a couple of times a year — but we want the kit to be complete. The reasoning behind including a hair dryer is similar. The idea is that someone should be able to open the box and transform a completely empty bathroom into a well stocked bathroom as you would expect to find in a well maintained home. Depending on the level of demand, we might want to have different level of the product such as standard, deluxe, and luxury.

I see two main use cases for the product: moving and buying a second home. People buying a second home will need to obtain a new set of bathroom items anyway and this would allow them to do so in one shot. Those who could afford to buy a second home would be likely to value the convenience and be willing to pay for it. Furthermore, the convenience offered by having the bathroom kit shipped directly to a second home could be very significant since many second homes are located far from convenient shopping. (No one buys a second home that’s across the street from Walmart.) Beyond the convenience, there would also be the piece of mind of knowing that if one of their kids got sick or hurt, they would have the necessary medical supplies on hand.

Moving

Moving is a hassle. Our bathroom kit would mean one less box that people needed to pack and ship. Furthermore, your stuff often takes a while to arrive if you’re using a professional moving company for a long distance move. If you get our bathroom kit delivered to the new place, you might still sleep on an air mattress and eat pizza delivery for a day or two while waiting for your stuff to arrive but at least you’d have a fully stocked bathroom.

The economics of moving are such that our kit might actually save people money. People’s stuff is often worth less than it costs to ship but people often pack and ship it anyway — largely to avoid the hassle of buying new stuff. In some cases, the money that could be saved by not shipping your bathroom stuff would pay for the cost of our bathroom kit.

I see corporate relocation packages as one of the best customers for our bathroom kit. Most relocation packages provide an incentive to over pack. If the company bears the cost of the move not you, then there is no reason not to pack something even if its shipping cost exceeds its value. Thus offering employees the option of buying the bathroom kit with their relocation funds could well be more efficient. More significantly, the availability of the kit might cause employees to move out of a hotel and into their new place sooner since they’d have a fully stocked bathroom there. The savings from even one less night in a hotel could be substantial enough to pay for the kit.

The benefits to companies go well beyond the mere cost savings. Convincing a potential employee to relocate can be difficult and the existence of a kit like this could make relocation a slightly easier sell. One can imagine a pitch like “Our relocation package not only pays for your moving expenses, we also include a full bathroom kit that even includes scented candles and a terry cloth bathrobe.” Moving to a new city can be a jarring, and our kit — particularly if it includes some luxury products — could make new employees feel welcome and taken care of. More importantly, it would let new employees focus on being productive in their new job/location rather than putting together their new home.

Other Rooms

You could certainly create a similar kit for other rooms such as the kitchen, but there are a number of reasons why it makes the most sense for the bathroom. The items that people would want in a bathroom are generally common across households. By comparison, there is much less agreement about kitchen items. Furthermore, bathroom item are generally low cost. Bathroom items are also mostly transitory items that are used up and replaced. Finally, there is usually less sentimental attachment with bathroom items — you may want to keep a particular favorite set of dishes but are unlikely to be similarly attached to a favorite toilet brush.

Pi-Con 2011

The Internet and the Commerce Clause through the Prism of the Federal Kidnapping Act
Michele Martinez Campbell, Assistant Professor of Law at Vermont Law School

This is my attempt live blog a talk that Michel Martinez Campbell gave at the Berkman Center today. More details on the talk are available here: (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2011/07/campbell)

Warning: I’m live blogging and getting things wrong. Also I’m not a lawyer.

Many crimes have both federal and state law analogues.Prior to 2006 crossing state borders was necessary for there to be a federal kidnapping crime. This changed with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. After this act passed the use of the Internet in a kidnapping can transform it from a state to a federal crime.

Campbell argued that this expansion of federal jurisdiction though controversial is appropriate.

Preamble to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Pub. L. No. 109-248, 120 Stat. 587) states that it’s:

“An Act to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime [and] … to promote Internet safety.”

It amended the Federal Kidnapping Act (18 U.s.c. 1201(a) ) The constitutionality of this amendment has been challenged based on the commerce clause. The commerce clause states that:

“The congress shall have the power… To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes…”

Historically courts have given the federal governement broad leway with application of the commerce clause but this changed in the early 1990s with US vs. Lopez

Lopez established 3 categories of allowable regulation based on the commerce clause

“first, congress may regulate the use of the channels of interstate commerce.”

“second, Congress is empowered to regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce .. even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities.:

“Third, Congress’ commerce authority includes the power to regulate those activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce.”

Currently federalists and state’s rights advocates argue that the economic / noneconomic distinction is the most important test.

Campbell argued that the federalization of kidnapping within this statute is appropriate both as a constitutional matter and as a mater of Internet and law enforcement policy

Among her legal arguments, Campbell pointed out that a number of courts of appeals have held that the Internet is a commerce facility. She also discussed American Booksellers Foundation Vs. Dean, 342 f. 3d 96, 104 (2d Cir. 2003). In that case the court found in was not okay for Vermont to regulate the Internet by banning transmission of pornographic images.

Campbell’s the policy argument is that although these crimes could be addressed at the state level it makes more sense to address them at the federal level. Federal investigators have experience with electronic investigation and a great sensitivity to 4th amendment issues.

Q.) Doesn’t this federalize every kidnapping?

A.) The Internet has to be used in furtherance of the crime. Calling in a ransom demand over the telephone would be enough to satisfy the commerce clause requirements but ordering a pizza during a kidnapping would not be.

Q.) Isn’t the federal government better at prosecating every crime? Shouldn’t the states just be better equiped?

A.) There are many crimes for which the state is equal or better at prosecuting. e.i. local prosecution is adequate or better. Improving state resources is expensive. This is only a small slice of crimes.

Phil Malone: Q.) I wonder about the premise that this is a small slice of crimes. Internet and cell phones are used everwhere. How do we draw the line?
A.That’s a big question. The dominant commerce clause arguments could be applied in lots of places. However, anonymous communication over the Internet is more specific to kidnappings.
Phil Malone: Shouldn’t the statute be child specific?
A. It’s true that the statute has been applied to adult kidnappings.

Q.) Ron Newman: What if the crime had been committed 30 years ago when telephone calls never travelled outside the state?
A.) The phone has been held to be inherently an interstate commerce channel.

Q.) What if a kidnapping occurs entirely within a state but involves an interstate highway? Isn’t the highway also an interstate commerce channel?
A.) That wouldn’t be enough for federal jurisdiction.

Oliver Goodenough: Q.)Ideally how would you redraw this statute? Where should the boundaries be?

A.) You need to trust in the system to shake these things out. Prosecurial discretion and the courts are also a check. Juries are required to find that the Internet and telecommunications facilities are used in the commission of the crime of central. More than just in incidental use of the technology.

Only 3 reported cases on it to date.

Q.) What about parental kidnapping?
A.) That’s a separate statute.

Q.) This is familial abuse case.
A.) Yes.

Q.) How common is it to federally prosecute for attempt or conspiracy if the Internet is used?
A.) This statute has not been used that way as far as I know but there are other statues where attempt is important.

I was recently at a technical presentation that has me wondering about the state of the information technology industry (IT). This presentation was the most extreme example I’ve seen of inappropriate and sexism content. It presented women as sex objects more blatantly than any other presentation I’ve seen and contained content that could have been seen as trivializing violence against woman. I can’t imagine that any reasonable person would attempt to justify this type of content and I’m not sure what the speaker was thinking to create a presentation that so clearly crossed the line. However, I’m more concerned about what it says about our industry that he has a customer facing position on a recognizable product.

It’s possible that this presentation was just an unfortunate outliner. I can’t recall another presentation that I’ve seen at any tech event or conference that came close to this level of inappropriateness. I also don’t have any reason to believe that the attendees approved of the content. In fact, when I contacted the head of the group afterwards, he fully agreed that the presentation was inappropriate and he will now tell future speakers that their presentations cannot contain offensive content. It would be wrong to overly generalize based on a single event however, it’s worth noting that geekfeminism has a long list of other inappropriate presentations.

Within IT, we have an affection for the socially inept nerd stereotype. Some have said that we value brilliance or apparent brilliance above all else often with dire consequences. (See, for example, Are Quirky Developers Brilliant or Dangerous? and its Slashdot discussion.) However, this speaker projected the faux macho persona of a high school or middle school locker room rather than the traditional nerd stereotype. Furthermore, socially inept but “brilliant” engineers are usually kept away from customers. But this individual is product evangelist for a recognizable project. (The speaker seemed to be giving the presentation for himself and not for his company but his company’s product was mentioned prominently in the introduction.) I can only suppose that this individual is socially aware enough to restraint himself in a work context. However, there is also the more disturbing possibility that he deals with mostly male customers who tolerate this type of behavior.

Unlike some other types of socially unacceptable behavior, sexist and offensive content can have real consequences. Although this presentation was not typical of the group, first time attendees might not realize that. It is likely that some audience members of both genders were uncomfortable with the talk and will not attend the next event. The hosting organization has a program to recruit more women members. I didn’t get a chance to talk to any of the women in attendance and will not attempt to speak for them here. However, the content was certainly not consistent with a policy of promoting gender diversity. More importantly, presentations like this don’t just reflect badly on the speaker. This type of unprofessionalism can tarnish everything associated with it — the event, the organization, the attendees, and the community as a whole.

Like it or not, communities are often judged by their most visible and flamboyant members. There are always individuals whose conduct does not reflect that of the broader community. The way the community responds to these individualise determines how it is viewed. Those outside the community often view silence and a failure to set and enforce behavioral norms as tacit approval or they may simply think that the behavior of these individuals reflects that of the broader community. It certainly does not reflect well on us that this speaker has a public position within the industry. It is important that we set a higher standard not just for reasons of community growth and inclusively but also to protect our own reputation. We must not allow the offensive and unprofessional conduct of a few individuals to be seen as representative of our community as a whole.

I will be undertaking a nature retreat from the evening of June 7 until the morning of June 9. During this time, I will not have access to phone, email, Internet, or electricity. I plan to spend this time on reflection, relaxation, and lucubration. I’m looking forward to a break from the interruptions that all too often result from modern communications and will respond to messages after my retreat.

If you must get a hold of me during my retreat, you may contact my brother who I’ve provided with my location in case of emergencies. If he deems the matter of sufficient importance, he will provide you with my location at which time you will be able to send someone into the woods to physically give me a message. Otherwise, I’ll respond to messages when I return to civilization on June 9th.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to be on the House Keeping for Nerds panel at Arisia. Among my co-panelists were Jennifer Hunter – a professional organizer who also runs the blog “Weird Stuff I Found While Organizing”; Michelle Driscoll; and Shana Fuqua.

My contribution to the panel was to discuss the use of technology to improve organization. I’ve previously posted general notes from the panel. In this post, I hope to provide more details on the products that I mentioned in the panel and to explain my ideas in more detail. The opinions expressed here are mine and do not necessarily represent the views of my co-panelists or anyone else. That said, I have a much deeper understanding of this material after presenting it at Arisia and I’d like to give credit to both my co-panelists and the audience for their insightful comments and questions.

Roomba

My strongest technical house keeping recommendation is to buy a Roomba. The Roomba – the robotic vacuum cleaner from iRobot — is probably the single best product you can buy to improve the cleanliness of your home. Clean floors are necessary for a place to feel clean but I’ve always found vacuuming to be tedious and I have really appreciated having a Roomba to do it for me. The Roomba isn’t perfect — it’s not quite as good as an expensive upright but it’s generally good enough. It also has the advantage of being able to easily clean under beds and bookshelves which is difficult to do manually.

The Scooba is similar to the Roomba except it washes the floor instead of vacuuming it. It can be a good investment if you have large amounts of tiled spaces. The only downside of the Scooba is that cleaning and emptying it can be a bit of a hassle. The Roomba and Scooba may seem expensive but consider both that value of your time and the cost of hiring a house cleaning service. There are also deals to be had if you’re willing to buy an older or refurbished model.

Plastic Storage Containers

Plastic stackable storage containers are extremely useful. I typically go with Sterilite Clear Storage Boxes which are available from stores like Target as well as on-line. I prefer the clear kind because you can determine the contents without opening the container or having to rely on a label. They are much easier to work with than cardboard boxes. Because of the way the containers stack, 5 containers stacked nested together don’t take up much more space than a single container.

Storage containers come in very handy for emergency cleaning. If you don’t have time to give your apartment a proper cleaning before company arrives, simply throw the cluttering items into a plastic container and then sort through the container at your leisure after your guests leave. Note: I don’t recommend this type of last minute cleaning as a substitute for planning ahead or general organization. This type of approach can cause you to put off the hard decisions about purging and organizing clutter and I fully acknowledge that it’s suboptimal in the long run. However, sometimes emergency cleaning is necessary. An analogous situation is a college all nighter. It’s usually an unfortunate consequence of procrastination and will not give as good results as planning ahead. That being said it’s likely that there will come a time when it’s the only option and the results are usually good enough.

Japanese Screens

Japanese Screens are a nice tool for organizing and partitioning an apartment. I first used them as a way of dividing a large studio apartment into separate areas giving clear delineation between the living room, bedroom, and office areas. They can also be useful for hiding things that are less pleasant to look at such as hampers, trash, cans and boxes. Essentially Japanese screens can be used to create make shift closets. This is useful in cases where there is a lack of lack closet space or to create a closet equivalent in a more convent location. (My apartment doesn’t have a closet in the bedroom.) Aesthetically, I also like the simple but decorative style of Japanese screens.

Redundant quantities of small item.

I find that a group of identical items takes less mental energy to deal with than a group of similar but different items and that a large group of identical items only takes marginally more mental energy than a single item. You can use this principle to reduce the complexity of your home. For example, I recently standardized on a single to type of dishes and found that it greatly simplified my cupboard organization (see below). You can also take this principle a step further — using the Internet it is possible to cheaply and easily buy large quantities of easily misplaced items. For example, I was able to buy 50 identical nail clippers and 120 identical combs (each set was under $20). The nail clippers are in a small box of only a few cubic inches. When nail clippers are needed, there are always plenty in the box. When nail clippers are found while cleaning the apartment, they can just be returned to the box.

Note: This suggestion was somewhat controversial and it may not work in all circumstances. The important thing about this approach is that the items are small and that there is a place for them. If someone preferred hair brushes to combs, I won’t recommend buying 100 hair brushes.

Dishes

If you live in an urban environment, space is at a premium. I recommend using space efficient dishes to conserve cupboard space. Corelle dishes look like regular dishes but they are actually made of Vitrelle — a laminated tempered glass — and are very thin. They stack very nicely and only take up around ⅓ of the space of regular dishes. After moving to an apartment with less cupboard space, I gave away my regular dishes and standardized entirely on a single pattern of Corelle dishes. I appreciate both the extra room in my cupboard and the simplicity of a single pattern.

Wall mounted Shelves

It often seems like there’s never enough storage especially if you live in a small apartment. Wall mounted shelves are a great way to reclaim unused space. Wall mounted shelves can be used where book shelves can not such as above counters, sink, desks, furniture. Rubbermaid wall shelves are relatively easy to install if you have the right equipment (hint snap toggle bolts) and can be adjusted easily. Ikea wall shelves are another good option especially if you already have a lot Ikea furniture.

Portable Dishwashers

Growing up in a home with a dishwasher, I’ve always found hand washing dishes to be tedious and time consuming. If you live in an apartment without a dishwasher, and also don’t enjoy washing dishes, portable dishwashers can be a life saver. These units attach to the facet and plug into an electrical outlet. There are counter top and free standing dishwashers. I prefer the free standing variety which have wheels and double as a movable kitchen island such as the Kenmore 18″ Portable.

eBook readers

For fans, geeks, and academics, books are both an object of love and a thing of dread. I love reading books, I love having then and seeing them on my shelves but every time I move I dread packing them and schlepping them to my new place. Although no one book is noticeably large, together a library can be overwhelming. For serious bibliophiles, books and their required shelving often take up an unsustainable amount of space. eReaders are a possible solution. Prices have drop dramatically, eBook readers are now below $200 at regular price (less than the cost of a netbook) and can often be found even cheaper. For example, the Barnes and Noble NOOK eReader was recently on sale for $79 via slickdeals).

I purchased the NOOK last fall and really appreciate it’s convenience. (I went with the NOOK but much of what I’ve saying would also apply to the Kindle.) The eInk display is good enough quality that I actually prefer the experience of reading on the NOOK to reading a physical book. I’m now reluctant to acquire new physical books because I know that after I’m done reading them they’ll become another piece of clutter in my apartment.

NOTE: DRM is a significant problem with eBooks. DRM has been extensively discussed elsewhere so I will not attempt to add to the discussion here. However, if you choose to buy a DRMed eBook please be sure you understand its limitations.

Using the Internet to Purge Clutter

Purging is an important though difficult step in organizing. Fortunately, the Internet can help. Craigslist is a great way to get rid of certain types of items. For items such as furniture, which are impractical to ship. it’s probably the only way to go. I’ve also had some luck selling electronics on Craigslist. If you just want to get rid of stuff or if your main concern is that it’s used by somebody who will appreciate it, the ‘Free’ section of Craigslist is a great resource. I’ve posted items to Craigslist as “free to a good home” and then asked those interested say why they felt they could provide a good home. Most free items posted to Craiglist will be claimed very quickly.

Ebay is other way to get rid of things. The big advantage of Ebay is that if your initial price is reasonable, your item will sell and get out of your life. The downside of ebay is the hassle of packing and shipping individual items.

Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) used to be my preferred way of getting rid of books and other mass produced items. The idea behind FBA is that you put your items in a box and mail them to Amazon at which point Amazon lists them on their site and stores them for you until they sell. (You pay for shipping and pay a small storage fee until the item sells.) The big advantage of this approach is that you can get rid of lots of items at once as a batch job. Unfortunately, recent changes to the fee structure mean that small sellers using FBA will actually lose money when selling very low value items. (Basically unless you pay a monthly fee you’re charged an extra commission and cannot offer the same prices as large sellers without losing money on the transaction). FBA is still worth considering if you have books that are selling on Amazon for over $6.

While this blog post is about technology, there are of course time honored low tech ways to get rid of things. For example, donating them to the Salvation Army or Good Will or simply placing them on the side walk with a sign saying “Free’.

Conclusion

Technology is not a panacea but it can make organizing easier. I don’t pretend to be a model of organization and I’m still trying to purge more items. However, my apartment is a functional livable space that I feel comfortable inviting company to. The products and technologies outlined in this post have helped me reach this point.