John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

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.

Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You

Mon, 29 Jun 2026

This webcast provides another view into the area of Deming’s management system on the theory of knowledge (the one most people forget), how we know what we know and how that belief isn’t always right.

Two of the four components of Dr. Deming’s management system were about our brains (psychology is the other) which makes a great deal of sense when you think about how focused he was on the human element in our organizations...

A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

Sun, 28 Jun 2026

"A good management system doesn’t rely on heroic efforts to save the day. The organization is designed to success. It is robust. It will succeed with all the variation thrown at it by the outside world."

A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

Sun, 28 Jun 2026

A good management system doesn’t rely on heroic efforts to save the day. The organization is designed to succeed. It is robust. It will succeed with all the variation thrown at it by the outside world. A good management system takes advantage of the contributions people offer, but it will not perform poorly when others are relied on.

Interview on PDSA, Deming, Strategy and More

Sun, 28 Jun 2026

A really big key between people that use PDSA successfully and those who don’t is that the ones that do it successfully turn the cycle quickly.

More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay

Sat, 27 Jun 2026

Today I see many CEO’s are acting as kleptocrats do – taking food out of others mouths to build their castles. The damage done to everyone else involved is of no concern. Both groups love bankers that flood them with cash for new and larger castles at the expense of the futures of their company (or country).

More Evidence of the Damage Done by Kleptocrat CEO Pay

Sat, 27 Jun 2026

As I have said before I wouldn’t think of having people that demand kleptocrat level wages lead my company. If that is how much they demand to accept the job they are not the person hold a leadership position in the company. I will be happy for them to pass by the chance to lead our organization.

Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide

Sat, 27 Jun 2026

Toyota has always seen robotics as a way to enhance what staff can do. Many USA executives think of robotics as a way to reduce personnel. Toyota wants to use the brainpower of employees to continually improve the organization.

Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide

Sat, 27 Jun 2026

Steve Jobs on Quality, Business and Joseph Juran

Fri, 26 Jun 2026

"The importance of customer focus is obvious at the companies Jobs led. It wasn’t a weak, mere claim of concern for the customer, it was a deep passionate drive to delight customers."

Steve Jobs on Quality, Business and Joseph Juran

Fri, 26 Jun 2026

The importance of customer focus is obvious at the companies Jobs led. It wasn’t a weak, mere claim of concern for the customer, it was a deep passionate drive to delight customers.

Politicians Playing Special Interests and Visa Versa

Fri, 26 Jun 2026

the special interest can pay or cajole politicians to give them a benefit that helps them a lot (they can pay the politician a portion of their benefit and still have a huge gain) while society loses, no one loses enough to care enough to try and pay or cajole politicians to save society from a big loss.

Don't Let the Need to Blame Prevent Safety Improvements

Thu, 25 Jun 2026

Another question this raises is if 20,000 lives a year could be saved by self-driving cars and people didn't use that safety advantage are they liable for choosing a dangerous option (person driven car) even if they were not specifically negligent as far as the facts of the specific case are concerned. If we know drunk driving is more dangerous we pass laws and you can't drive drunk. Even without any proof your actions were at fault your state of being drunk makes you liable. Well, if drive less cars are much safer what is the difference, logically (I realize given the current laws there is a legal difference)?

Government Debt Held Within the Country Versus That Held Externally

Thu, 25 Jun 2026

If you owe debts to other countries you have to pay that money outside the system. So it takes a certain percentage of production (GDP) and pays the benefit of that production to people in other countries. This is what has been going on in the USA for a long time (paying benefits to those holding our debt). Ironically the economic mess created by central banks and too-big-to-fail banks has resulted in a super low interest rate environment which is lousy for lenders and great for debtors (of which the USA and Japanese government are likely the 2 largest in the world).

The Importance of Long Term Disability Insurance

Wed, 24 Jun 2026

Studies show that a 20 year old has a 30% chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age. In the USA, the Social Security Administration provides disability benefits for total disabilities. (but these payments are not very large and do not cover partial disabilities)

The 20 Most Valuable Companies in the World

Wed, 24 Jun 2026

1	Apple	USA	$626 billion
2	Exxon Mobil	USA	$405 billion
3	Microsoft	USA	$383 billion
4	Google	USA	$379 billion
5	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	$337 billion

Debate Should be Encouraged – Calling Judgement “Extremely Paternalistic” is Normally Unwise

Tue, 23 Jun 2026

I also think it is sensible to object to payday loans in the USA. You could make the same argument that such an attitude is paternalistic...

There is No Such Thing as “True Unemployment Rate”

Tue, 23 Jun 2026

As Dr. Deming said: “there is no true value” of any measured process. The results depend on the process which includes the operation definitions used.

Making Credit Cards More Secure and Useful

Mon, 22 Jun 2026

Business should not be allowed to store credit card numbers that can be stolen and used. The credit card providers should generate a unique credit card number for the business to store that will only work for the purchaser at that business.

Chart of Net Government Debt from 1980 to 2013 by Country

Mon, 22 Jun 2026

Bloomberg converted the data to look at debt load per person (looking at gross debt – estimated for 2014). Japan has ill-fortune to lead in this statistic with $99,725 in debt per person (242% of GDP), Ireland is in second with $60, 356 (121% of GDP). USA 3rd $58,604 (107%). Singapore 4th $56,980 (106%). Italy 6th $46,757 (133%). UK 9th $38,939 (95%). Greece 12th $38,444 (174%). Germany 14th $35,881 (78%). Malaysia 32nd $6,106 (57%). China 48th $1,489 (21%). India 53rd $946 (68%). Indonesia 54th $919 (27%).

Modified Cockroach Portfolio

Sun, 21 Jun 2026

I think something along the lines of this would make sense today for someone living in the USA (but I would vary it a fair bit depending on the person’s situation and it would change in different market conditions)

35% Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX)
15% Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX)
10% Vanguard emerging markets fund (VWO), or something similar
20% high quality “dividend aristocrat” type stocks
10% REIT Index Fund (VGSIX) or direct real estate ownership
5% bonds
5% cash

Amazon Using a Costco Strategy?

Sun, 21 Jun 2026

Amazon Prime is in some ways is similar to Costco’s membership fees. Costco make the vast majority of their profit on membership fees and largely breaks even otherwise.

Amazon Prime costs $79 a year (in the USA) and provides free 2 day shipping and access to their streaming video content. Amazon doesn’t disclose the numbers of prime members (that I can find anyway) but educated guesses seem to say 20 million (or more). That would be $1.6 billion a year.

Amazon’s net income for the full year was $274 million. Fees for Prime customers were $1.6 billion

USA Health Expenditures Reached $2.8 trillion in 2012: $8,915 per person and 17.2% of GDP

Sat, 20 Jun 2026

health care spending growing above the rate of inflation is bad news and something that has to change. We have to start addressing the massive excessive costs for health care in the USA versus the rest of the world. The broken USA health care system costs twice as much as other rich countries for worse results. And those are just the direct accounting costs – not the costs of millions without preventative health care, sleepness nights worrying about caring for sick children without health coverage, millions of hours spent on completing forms to try and comply with the requirements of the health care system’s endless demand for paperwork, lives crippled by health care bankruptcies…

Curious Cat Travel Maps

Sat, 20 Jun 2026

I am now making Curious Cat Tourist Maps available online. I used Open Maps (and umap) which I am very pleased with (Here is a link to the Curious Cat Hong Kong Tourist map as another example). I can include those items that interest me (tourist destination, lodging, eating and transit) and include background info (like what subway stop for a particular designation etc.).

Niamey Grand Market, Niger, Africa

Fri, 19 Jun 2026

We lived in Nigeria (my Dad was a Chemical Engineering professor) and took a trip during winter vacation through Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin. I am nearly certain the photo is in Niger and very likely Niamey but it is possible it is elsewhere.

My mom and brother are in the photo, which is likely taken by my father (or maybe by me). In this part of the trip we were quite far off the beaten path. The only foreigners we noticed were a National Geographic film crew at the market.