The Surprise/Delight Ratio
Jan. 3, 2025
When things happen, I often find myself rating them with two vector quantities.
- Surprise - is it surprising or unsurprising?
- Delight - is it horrifying or is it delightful?
Some examples:
- Surprising + Delightful: I found out that Apple Macs, when adjacent and logged into the same iCloud account, will transfer mouse and keyboard input from one device to another. Not just extend the display - actually lets you drag your mouse cursor across devices.
- Unsurprising + Horrifying: The entirely predictable results of me ordering “Spice Level 10” at my Thai restaurant.
- Surprising + Horrifying: My unnamed client who was storing passwords in their database using a “hash” (sic) algorithm that amounted to roughly
ROT13
followed by an XOR
. - Unsurprising + Delightful: The dog excitedly waiting for me when I get home.