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Comment by redcap | Hacker News Reader

Japanese train drivers have a system that's called Pointing and Calling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-ja...

Visual and audio feedback is great for your brain.

For me, I often need to make a 200mL bottle for my child, and each scoop of powder makes only 20mL - meaning that I need to put 10 scoops in. Especially when I have a crying baby it's easy to lose track when you count in your head. But no worries if I vocalize my count.

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New York City subway has adopted this; next time you're waiting for your train, stand in the middle of the platform and you'll see a zebra-striped panel mounted on the wall. When the train arrives, the conductor in the middle of the train will open the window and point at it.

While unfortunately not common in trains across the world, this idea is used in other safety-critical applications.

The one that comes to mind is using defribulators. If you had a good CPR / EFR instructor, they will emphasize not just calling "clear" (like on TV), but physically sweeping your hands over the body head to toe while saying "all clear".

I did my training with 3 guys who collectively had about 60 years of EMT experience in New York City. Like most students, I assume, I sort of half-assed the sweep and was about to push the button. One of the guys grabbed my arm, looked at me, and said "Learn to do it correctly now, cause if you ever have to do it for real when shit is crazy and your heart is beating like mad, it can make the difference between helping one injured person vs creating a second one."

Clearly the lesson stuck with me. :)

I am taking pilot's lessons right now, and this is pretty essential to the process. Talking through a maneuver or procedure, combined with checklists, is very core to what I have so far seen as aviation culture.

As a software veteran I had two observations:

1. A good sysadmin or devops professional will be doing this as they do any operations on a production system.

2. The pilot's checklists, gauges and procedures are like the proto-microcontroller. Before auto-pilot and computerized systems, early pilots had to manage a complex system as it came to life. To see this in action, just watch a youtube video of a pilot starting up an old WW2 plane like a mustang, and imaging writing the arduino flow control for it..

I live in NYC and didn't realize this isn't common elsewhere. Thanks!

Or if you put it on a kitchen scale...

especially since companies are notorious for making the scoops bigger than expected so you go through product quicker.

Source? I have not heard of this. Our nurse emphasized that while a child is on formula, that's really all they consume for both nutrition and hydration, so it needs to be balanced per manufacturer guidelines. They don't have a way to signal "I thirsty" or "My tiny stomach is full of watery stuff but my blood sugar is still low". Their digestive and urinary systems are pretty amazing, but habitually using too much or too little (wrong scoop, wrong ratio, packing it dense) can be unhealthy.

I don't really have a source, but it's common with protein powders.

They'll list 28 grams as a serving size with a scoop that has a line in it about 3/4 of the way up that represents 28 grams. Technically not misleading, but it's absolutely reasonable that people would assume 1 scoop = 1 serving size. The end result is that people go through more product.

If you watch professional bodybuilders who have to be very exacting about their intake, you'll see them tell you to always measure on the scale because you can't trust the scoop.

Oh. Our infant formula powder is a full scoop. I can see how the two industries might be rather different!

That and a few cheap plastic containers with lids. Measure out a handful of those. Keep at least one always ready for those times when the baby's very, um, demanding (loud).

I use verbalization as a memory aid. I speak out loud the number of the gym locker I use and am better able to find it later. It reinforces my visual memory of the location. (I should verbalize parking locations too)

Interesting, I've noticed this is also common in Toyota's US manufacturing facilities.

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