John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

When You See the Problem as Capitalism Instead of Corruption You Seek to Solve the Wrong Problem.

Tue, 21 Jul 2026

Capitalism has huge benefits and some issues. I am frustrated that we are allowing anti-capitalist ideas to be called capitalist. Those ideas are predominately about allowing huge businesses to subvert markets and corrupt the political process.

Corruption in our political system which then allows corruption of free markets (as favors to those giving politicians cash) is not "Capitalism." It is corruption.

Free trade is good. The secret TPP and other corporate-welfare/copywrong-cartel bill is not.

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A fundamental tenant of capitalism is free markets (based on the idea of perfect competition) in which no actor has the power to subvert the market. This was foreseen from the very beginning (in Wealth on Nations by Adam Smith) as an important criteria without which society would not benefit from capitalism as powerful interests would collude to prevent markets from functioning.

Challenging Conventional Thinking

Tue, 21 Jul 2026

RA Fisher was an outspoken person and not easy to get along with. Being difficult to get along with isn't uncommon for people that do great things - I suspect those that are willing to subsume their opinion to make those around them more comfortable are less likely to find incredible breakthroughs.

Of course you can free your mind from the constraints of conventional thinking while being very friendly and sociable and likeable, it just seems to me not uncommon for people willing to challenge intellectual orthodoxy are also willing to challenge the thinking that social niceties are of utmost importance. They would be more able to win over more people more quickly with behavior based on "you catch more bees honey..." but that seems less common.

Computer Code for NASA’s Apollo Guidance System

Tue, 21 Jul 2026

My aunt was one of those early software engineers. She wrote a chapter for a book, Programming the IBM 360, in the 1960s. My uncle was one of the first employees at NASA and rose to be one of the senior administrators there over his career.

It is great when society is able to capture the value individuals are capable of providing. We need to make sure we allow everyone opportunities to contribute.

Ants and Traffic Jams

Mon, 20 Jul 2026

There are tiny ants all over SE Asia that run amazingly fast. I can see why this is a big advantage. They cover lots of ground. When they find some yummy thing they get back home and tons of buddies follow them to the reward. It is amazing how fast they ram into each other.

These ants are pretty amazing example of evolution. But you also can see how a pretty simple tweak of trying to lay out "lanes" for travel could help. The ones I watch don't seem to use lanes at all, so they are constantly bashing into ants going the other direction. Which they seem to cope with perfectly fine, but it has to slow them down and waste energy.

Evolution is amazing but it does often also end up with designs that have bits you could intelligently tweak to seemingly great advantage.

Selling Out the Country - We are Electing the Wrong People to Control Our Government

Mon, 20 Jul 2026

As long as the parties are lead by people happy to sell out the country and we continue to elect them things won't change. The process of changing that is difficult. There is a system that re-inforces this corrupt systems continuation. With so much of the power structure so corrupt you can't do much with the few crumbs around the edges that are not interested in selling out the country for personal gain.

Lessons for Managers from Wisconsin and Duke Basketball

Mon, 20 Jul 2026

The lesson many people miss is that college teams are mostly about developing a team that wins. Developing individual players is a part of that, but it is subordinate to developing a team. I think college coaches understand this reality much more than most managers do. But a management system that develops a team that succeeds is also critical to the success of business.

Appeasing Rude Selfish People Just Makes them Behave Even More Selfishly

Sun, 19 Jul 2026

Allowing the rudest people to abuse society degrades the public square and tears at the benefits that can strengthen the social contract. Sadly it seems to be a pretty dominate trait in our society these last few decades and it seems likely to just keep getting worse. Hopefully I am wrong.

Exploitation or Economic Support as a Tourist?

Sun, 19 Jul 2026

People can still argue about the benefits and costs of chasing tourist money but when there are significant economic benefits that the people actually get (that are not taken by others) it is very hard for me to say it is wrong.

I do get a bit annoyed at people from rich countries that downplay the importance of money. It is easy to say other things are more important when you have lots of cash.

And that brings me back to a specific point about the quote "must be a very exhausting existence for them." While this may be true it doesn't mean that they would be better off without being bothered. It may well be without the botheration of tourists things would be even worse.

Interview With Travel Blogger John Hunter Of Curious Cat Travels

Sun, 19 Jul 2026

There are too many great places but I think the game parks in East Africa are amazing and something very different from anything else I have seen...

What is your favourite mode of transport? (plane/train/boat/car)

None. I wish I could teleport everywhere. The current mode of transport are all a hassle I have to deal with to get where I want to go.

Which PM Said “The last programme I wrote was a Sudoku solver in C++”?

Sat, 18 Jul 2026

"The last programme I wrote was a Sudoku solver in C++ several years ago, so I’m out of date. My children are in IT, two of them – both graduated from MIT. One of them browsed a book and said, 'Here, read this'. It said 'Haskell – learn you a Haskell for great good', and one day that will be my retirement reading."

Hacking Saved Apollo 13

Sat, 18 Jul 2026

The hacking culture is much more about figuring out ways to make technology work for people than about criminals. We shouldn’t let a small sub-set of hackers defile the term.

When the oxygen tank exploded, Commander Jim Lovell made the famous statement: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The engineers on the ground and astronauts had to devise solutions to several very difficult problems and execute them quickly in order to return the damaged spacecraft to earth.

Motivation and Delivering Solutions When You Work for Yourself

Sat, 18 Jul 2026

When you work for a company you have clear expectations for performance. If you become your own boss, for example as a digital nomad, you operate in an system that doesn’t have the same structures to enforce you focus and deliver. In many ways this is exactly what people seeking the digital nomad life want, but it also can bring challenges...

Tanjung Piai National Park – the Southernmost Point in Asia

Fri, 17 Jul 2026

Tanjung Piai National Park is the Southernmost point in mainland Asia – located in Johor, Malaysia. The park is about 80 km from Johor Bahru.

The part itself has mangrove swamps and nice views of the Straits. The walking trails and nice but pretty short, I would estimate under 3 km total. I enjoyed the park, but it isn’t incredibly special except for being the southernmost point in Asia.

Patient Centered Doesn't Mean Patient Directed

Fri, 17 Jul 2026

We need to have systems that are patient focused but that doesn’t mean patients dictate treatment. And we need to see a much wider system than we normally do. We need to be focused on healthy living not just disease treatment. And given the mess that is the USA health care system we need to focus on reducing the burden of coping with the horrible USA health system bureaucracy - that system does great damage to those having to deal with it (and it is nearly all waste that shouldn't be creating such hardship).

A Bad System Will Beat a Good Person Every Time

Fri, 17 Jul 2026

So what was Dr. Deming trying to convey with this quote? It wasn’t an attempt to get people to give up trying because failure was certain. It was a attempt to get people to understand the importance of the system and the futility of trying to focus on blaming people for failures.

Influential Women in the Field of Quality Management

Thu, 16 Jul 2026

Joyce Orsini and Gipsie Ranney have done lots of good stuff. So has Clare Crawford Mason.

Gertrude Mary Cox isn't known so much for "quality" as statistics but she was an impressive person and a generation or two ahead of others (and it really is related to quality).

Mary Poppendieck has really good stuff at the intersection of quality and software development.

Meg Wheatley...

Knowledge, Personality, and Persuasive Power

Thu, 16 Jul 2026

These traits, while providing a guide to understand your means to influence the organization also provide a guide for potential weaknesses in your management system. There is really no advantage to having decisions unduly influenced by those with persuasive power while ignoring ideas from those without much ability to persuade people. What you really want it to follow the best course of action, not the course championed by the most persuasive person.

A Good Management Culture Encourages the Debate of Ideas

Thu, 16 Jul 2026

I believe much of the reason for fear of critical thinking is insecurity and mistaking respect for people with not making anyone uncomfortable. When people are insecure or unconfident they often take criticisms of ideas, plans, results, etc. as personal attacks. Then misunderstanding of don't be "dis-respectful" to people comes into play.

We Need to Consider Changing Conditions When Looking at Historical Stock Returns

Wed, 15 Jul 2026

Just to over simplify the idea if lets say the market valued the average stock at a PE of 11 and everyone found stocks a wonderful investment. And so more and more people buy stocks and with everyone finding stocks wonderful they keep buying and after awhile the market is valuing the average stock at a PE of 14.

Within the market there is tons of variation those things of course are not nearly that simple, but the idea I think holds. Well if you look back at historical data the returns will include the adjustment of going from a PE of 11 to a PE of 14. Now maybe the new few decades would adjust from PE of 14 to PE of 17 but maybe not. At some point that fundamental re-adjustment will stop.

Helping Others

Wed, 15 Jul 2026

I have long used TrickleUp, Kiva and Global Giving to help (and they each do a good job of engaging donors (tugging on their heartstrings and making them happy to give).

I try to give back to the places I visit. So I integrate this into my digital nomad life. As with many digital nomads I have an affinity for entrepreneurs and my charity often focuses on helping them (Global Giving does other things too – such as providing clean water, electricity, education and training…).

Wealthiest 1% Continue Dramatic Gains Compared to Everyone Else

Wed, 15 Jul 2026

The least trust-fund-baby favoring country cultures are Scandinavian countries. The USA has been moving to an increasingly trust-fund-baby favoring focus over the last few decades with the expected increase in kids incomes being more related to their parents income than any other factor. In the USA now nearly 50% of someone’s income can be “explained” by their parents income.

Quality Comes to City Hall

Wed, 15 Jul 2026

Changing to a culture that has a Deming perspective on customer focus is not easy. When you succeed though the way people think is profoundly changed. The City of Madison police department even did customer surveys for those they arrested and used the results to improve the process in ways that make sense. Obviously there are restrictions on what you can do to please those being arrested but this is really always the case – you can’t give all your products and services away for free even if that would make customers happy.

Finding an International Business Bank as a Digital Nomad

Tue, 14 Jul 2026

Dealing with banking issues is one of the most difficult aspects of a small digital nomad business. Finding a bank for a small business isn’t easy. Add to that dealing with international banking and things get very challenging.

Finding a bank that will accept deposits via wire, provide a credit card for your business, has good online tools and you trust isn’t easy.

Stone Bridge at the Confucius Temple in Jianshui, China

Tue, 14 Jul 2026

Sunday Market, Chiang Mai Thailand

Mon, 13 Jul 2026

The Sunday Market isn’t something I would say can’t be missed. But it is well done for this type of thing and worth going in my opinion. I am not a big shopping fan, but this one is worth taking in (even if you only buy food), and there is some nice stuff if you are looking to buy.

A Healthy Lifestyle is More About Health Care than the Sickness Management That We Call Health Care Is

Mon, 13 Jul 2026

It really is important for giving yourself the best chance for health by taking sensible steps to exercise based on your own situation

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Doing small things like using a treadmill while you watch TV or taking the stairs instead of the elevator for short trips can help. Another option is to walk instead of driving your car, or if you drive parking a few blocks away (or at the far side of the parking lot) walking, or if you are running several errands walk between those that you can even if you are using your car. Biking to work is another healthy lifestyle choice (if you city has made this safe – too often they fail to do sensible things).

How Healthy Is Squid for Us?

Sun, 12 Jul 2026

I try to eat healthfully, especially when I can tweak what I eat to gain a health advantage. I know fish have good qualities. I live in Malaysia now and squid (called sotong here) is often available. I often prefer squid to fish here as the fish use here are often fairly small with bones to deal and not much meat for the effort (it is great sometimes but I am often lazy).

This is what I found out about squid...

Using Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies in Roadless Areas

Sun, 12 Jul 2026

This is an awesome use of technology to tackle important problems. Engineers are great.

Alternative Career Paths Attract Many Women in Science Fields

Sat, 11 Jul 2026

The challenge of how to maximize the opportunities for those interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math is important to all economies. There are difficulties in doing this and so continued focus on this area is good. My personal belief is we focus too much on the gender issue. Yes, we should reduce discrimination. I think we have done well but still have further to go.

Most of the suggested changes in how things should be done help women and also plenty of men that are turned off by the old way of doing things.

Refusal to Follow Scientific Guidance Results in Worms Evolving to Eat Corn Designed to Kill The Worms

Sat, 11 Jul 2026

An understanding of natural selection and evolution is fundamental to understanding science, biology, human health and life. Scientists create wonderful products to improve our lives: vaccines, antibiotics, etc.; if we don’t use them or misuse them it is a great loss to society.

Why Don’t All Ant Species Replace Queens in the Colony, Since Some Do

Fri, 10 Jul 2026

There are lots of examples of method is very effective at creating lots of successful offspring but happens to be less than ideal in some situations. Natural selection is pretty amazing and awesome at creating effective genes but we certainly can look at the results sometimes and see improvements that would be useful.

Likely if losing the queen was very common a good way of dealing with that would be found (or that species would be disadvantaged and at risk). If the queen happens to evolve to being very reliable (and able to produce offspring that produce more - often by leaving to found new colonies) coping with her death becomes less important.

Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

Fri, 10 Jul 2026

I had very positive memories of the photogenic nature of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. But my photos from my last trip were not digital and I haven’t seen them in over 10 years. I was worried I would be disappointed. I wasn’t.

There are so many great views I have only shared a few photos here, see many more photos from my visit to the Grand Palace.

Is it Fair to be Judged for Performance Outside Your Control?

Thu, 9 Jul 2026

Likely more directly relevant the measurement error is often so high that the figures have more to do with measurement than the actual outcome. And when the figures are being used to blame then it dramatically increases the likelihood the figures will be a poor representation of outcomes.

Meet John Hunter of CuriousCat.com

Thu, 9 Jul 2026

I write about what interests me, that is how I decide. I have added numerous blogs for that same reason over the years. If I keep wanting to write posts that I don’t think fit in an existing blog and decide it is worth a new blog I create a new blog.

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The best advice is what I mentioned above; write about what you are passionate about. When you are passionate you are not only able but excited to learn about the topic and then share ideas that are worthwhile with your readers.

How Countries Rank Based on H-index for Science Publications

Thu, 9 Jul 2026

This data makes a good case for the USA, UK, Germany… producing a very high level of very influential science publications. Whether Italy (#7) is obviously more influential than Brazil (#22) or India (#24) I think is fairly questionable. Also the method has a fairly high lag, I believe, so if a country is gaining influence rapidly the h-index will take longer to have that show up.

Data on Medical Errors

Wed, 8 Jul 2026

When there are headlines like 100,000 deaths due to medical error every year that reads to me like John was walking along the street and boom a medical-error/piano dropped on his head and killed him. But I don't believe that is true. I bet it is true that are lots of deaths due to just unforgivable errors - someone is given a drug which was indicated in numerous sensible ways would kill them due an allergy but they were given it anyway and died.

But I don't trust how much of the deaths attributed to error are due nearly entirely to error versus those due nearly entirely to the underlying health and while there was an error it is unclear it really made much of difference at all (yes the person died, but they were going to without the error also).

Is Quality Ambitious Enough?

Wed, 8 Jul 2026

While grand aims don’t amount to much without systems that direct the effort to turn those ideas into practical action such aims are extremely valuable when they are part of a system that acts to consistently strive in that direction.

Magical Day at Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park

Tue, 7 Jul 2026

One of the most enjoyable days of my life began at Glacier National Park (USA) and continued in the Canadian portion of the park (Waterton International Peace Park).

The day started with a great ranger led hike to Iceberg Lake (I kept waiting for good weather for this great hike, which we finally got the day I was scheduled to leave). Then I drove up to Waterton International Peace Park in Canada and enjoyed a wonderful hike.

How to Deal with Motivation Problems

Tue, 7 Jul 2026

Our organizations often demotivate us. We don't need pep talks and reward/carrots to get over the de-motivation. We need the practices that de-motivate us (Dilbert does a good job highlighting many of these) to cease.

The Importance of Leadership by Those Working to Improve Management

Tue, 7 Jul 2026

There is a need to communicate with executives in a language they understand in order to make big changes. That requires an understanding of business and an appreciation for the importance of actually delivering value over talking about good plans.

Don’t Ignore Customer Complaints

Mon, 6 Jul 2026

If the complaint is not something that should be addressed or explored fine. But that has nothing to do with the category of the person (“complainer” or not); it has to do with the merit of the complaint.

Attracting Members and Volunteers to Professional Organizations

Mon, 6 Jul 2026

Organizations frequently get attached to their ways of doing things and fail to adapt to changing conditions.

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many membership organizations... turn from being focused on promoting their mission to being focused on perpetuating their organization.

Leadership While Viewing the Organization as a System

Sun, 5 Jul 2026

Over time, I have become more and more focused on the overall system and figuring out how to look at whatever problem we're having within a larger context. And I find that usually leads me to a better solution. There are a couple of ways to see this in respect to leadership.

The first one is when you have one of Deming's deadly diseases (or his 14 points), like the mobility of top management...

Agile Software Development and Deming's Ideas

Sun, 5 Jul 2026

It's one of the reasons for "people over process" and all that; they believe that a software developer should be respected. Yes, they should. Factory workers should be respected, too. Everyone should be respected. That's what Deming was talking about. So then the idea that Deming was trying to impose on software developers some rigid controls that they shouldn't be subject to is not so. And not only wasn't he doing that, he wasn't doing that to factory workers either.

Strategy Based on Capability and Integrated with Execution

Sun, 5 Jul 2026

“Strategy” without a thorough understanding of the organization as a system or an understanding of the capabilities of the organization is little more than dreams. Planning and strategy without the capability in the organization or a process to turn strategy into action are not much use.

Take Advantage of the Strengths Each Person Brings to Work

Sat, 4 Jul 2026

Managers should be setting up the organization to take maximum advantage of the strengths of the people in the organization while minimizing the impact of weaknesses.

Revolutionary Management Improvement May Be Needed But Most Management Change is Evolutionary

Sat, 4 Jul 2026

Revolutionary change is powerful but very difficult for entrenched people and organizations to actually pull off. It is much easy to dream about doing so.

Often even revolutionary ideas are adopted in a more evolutionary way: partial adoption of some practices based on the insight provided by the revolutionary idea.

Out of Touch Executives Damage Companies: Go to the Gemba

Fri, 3 Jul 2026

The very first thing that needs to happen is executives need to go the gemba and actually understand what their business units are doing. Only amazingly out of touch executives could sit unconcerned in their offices while Comcast practices are creating results so obviously horrible.

Use Urls – Don’t Use Click x, Then Click y, Then Click z Instructions

Fri, 3 Jul 2026

In the 1980s software applications had to use click x, then click y, then click z type instructions to get you to a specific location in a software application (or at least they had a decent excuse to do that). Too many web application development organizations forget that they now have urls to direct people exactly where to go: and that they shouldn’t rely on ancient “click here, then there, then in that other place” type instructions.

A Vision can be a Powerful Driver but Most Often It is Just a Few Pretty Words

Thu, 2 Jul 2026

When the vision is merely a pretty collection of words that doesn’t drive decisions and behavior it is pointless. When it does drive behavior it is powerful. Sadly that is rarely the case.

Children are Amazingly Creative At Solving Problems

Thu, 2 Jul 2026

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.” Daniel Boorstin

Children are Amazingly Creative At Solving Problems

Thu, 2 Jul 2026

Understanding the limits of our knowledge and our tendency to become rigid in our thinking can help us avoid blinding ourselves to options. Our brains overrule options without us consciously even knowing that is happening; it takes effort to overcome this tendency.

Root Cause, Interactions, Robustness and Design of Experiments

Wed, 1 Jul 2026

A single root cause is rare. Normally you can look at the question a bit differently see the scope a bit differently and get a different “root cause.” In my opinion “root cause” is more a decision about what is an effective way to improve the system right now rather than finding a scientifically valid “root cause.”

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 1 Jul 2026

There is great value in creating iterative processes with fast feedback to those attempting to design and improve. Box and Deming (with rapid turns of the PDSA cycle) and others promoted this 20, 30 and 40 years ago and now we get the same ideas tweaked for startups. The lean startup stuff is as closely related to Box’s ideas of experimentation as an iterative process as it is to anything else.

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 1 Jul 2026

With experimentation we are looking to find clues for what to experiment with next. Experimentation is an iterative process. This is very much the mindset of fast iteration and minimal viable product (say minimal viable experimentation as voiced in 1987).

There is great value in creating iterative processes with fast feedback to those attempting to design and improve.

George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Wed, 1 Jul 2026

The Education System

Tue, 30 Jun 2026

“I read them. Not to grade them. No, I read them to see how I am doing. Where am I failing?”

W. Edwards Deming.

Practicing Mistake-Promoting Instead of Mistake-Proofing at Apple

Tue, 30 Jun 2026

Mistake proofing is a wonderful management concept. Design systems not just to be effective when everything goes right but designing them so mistakes are prevented.

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But guess what, the unnecessary steps Apple decided to force me through are broken so I can’t just waste my time to make them happy. No. They have created a failure point where they never should have forced the customer in the first place.

How to Build a Great Software Development Team

Mon, 29 Jun 2026

"Without confidence, honest debate about ideas is suppressed as people are constantly taking things personally instead of trying to find the best ideas (and if doing so means my idea is criticized that is ok).

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This is also one of many areas where the culture within the team was self reinforcing. As new people came on they understood this practice. They saw it in practice. They could see it was about finding good ideas and if their idea was attacked they didn’t take it nearly as personally as most people do in most places."

Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You

Mon, 29 Jun 2026

It is important to understand how our brains work and the ways in which we can easily be led astray if we are not careful.