WSC 26 Names and uh stuff

Frank Sinatra

Singer referenced for the idea of approaching an ending through his song 'My Way.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American writer often (mis)credited with the quote 'It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.'

Simba

Character from 'The Lion King', representing being in an in-between stage (not yet fully grown or in power).

I Just Can’t Wait to Be King

Song highlighting eagerness to grow up or reach the next stage of life.

Brad A. Myers

Computer science student who introduced early 'percent-done' progress indicators in 1985.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Quoted for the line about 'the arc of the moral universe' bending toward justice.

Theodore Parker

Earlier source of the 'arc of the moral universe' idea that Martin Luther King Jr. popularized.

Will Crawford

Artist of the 1909 painting titled 'Surely the world is growing better,' used as a prompt about world improvement.

Namco developers

The team behind 'Ridge Racer,' mentioned for adding an Easter egg to loading screens.

Benjamin Franklin + Leonardo Da Vinci

Early famous users of to-do lists.

Umberto Eco

Writer who said 'The list is the origin of culture' and studied lists seriously.

Oliver Burkeman

Associated with the idea of a 'done list,' shifting attention to completed tasks.

Zeigarnik Effect

The tendency to remember unfinished tasks more than completed ones.

Done list

A list that records completed work and may reduce stress.

Practical lists

Functional lists used to organize tasks and actions.

Poetic lists

Lists valued for style, imagination, or expression rather than utility.

Lists and culture

The idea that lists shape how people think, remember, and organize life.

Elizabeth I

Used as an example of delaying succession by not naming an heir.

Caretaker government

A temporary neutral government that runs a country during the election period.

Lame duck

A leader whose power weakens as their term nears its end, especially when unable to run again.

Succession secrecy

Not revealing the next leader until the current one leaves office or dies.

Doomsday Clock

Symbolic measure of how close humanity is to catastrophe.

The Millerites

A religious movement tied to the 1844 apocalyptic prediction.

Hon-Ming Chen

Linked to a 1988 doomsday prediction.

Mayan Apocalypse

The widely discussed 2012 end-of-the-world prediction.

The Large Hadron Collider

Falsely linked by some people to apocalyptic fears in 2008.

Albrecht Dürer

Created 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'.

Michelangelo

Painted 'The Last Judgment'.

Otto Dix

Known for World War I prints showing destruction and trauma.

Olivier Messiaen

Composed 'Quartet for the End of Time'.

Black Sabbath

Performed 'Electric Funeral.'

Leonardo da Vinci

Made 'Mona Lisa' versions to show how a work can evolve from draft to finished form.

Vincent van Gogh

Cited through multiple versions of 'Bedroom in Arles,' showing revisions of the same subject.

Henri Matisse

'Dance (I)' and 'Dance (II)' show a dramatic shift in style and simplification.

La Sagrada Familia

A famously long-running basilica construction project in Spain.

Nusantara Capital City

Indonesia’s planned new capital, an example of a major delayed project.

Berlin Brandenburg Airport

A well-known delayed airport project in Germany.

Crazy Horse Memorial

A South Dakota monument that has taken decades and remains unfinished.

Frederick Taylor

Promoted 'the one best way' through Taylorism.

Max Weber’s bureaucracy

A formal system of rules, hierarchy, and procedures.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

An approach to improving quality across an organization.

Hawthorne Effect

People change behavior when they know they are being observed.

Hofstadter’s Law

Tasks always take longer than expected, even when accounting for delays.

Brooks’ Law

Adding more people to a late project can make it later.

Pareto principle

80% of results often come from 20% of effort.

The Jetsons

Fictional family representing futuristic moving sidewalks and urban life.

New York

Used as an example of an active and social sidewalk environment.

Michigan Theater

Once a theater that became a parking lot.

Liminal space

A threshold or in-between area like sidewalks or parking lots.

Thomas Edison

Used as a symbol of invention and hands-on experimentation.

Mechanical Turk

A famous 'chess-playing machine' that was actually a hoax.

Sketches

Early visual ideas for a product.

Paper prototypes

Simple physical mockups used for testing ideas cheaply.

Low vs. high fidelity

Difference between rough prototypes and polished ones.

Mockup

A visual model showing how a product might look.

User testing

Observing people using a prototype to learn what works.

Minimum viable product

Basic product version with just enough features to launch.

“Fake it ’til you make it”

Presenting something as more complete than it is, hoping it becomes real.

Doorway effect

Tendency to forget something after moving through a doorway.

Immanuel Kant

Philosopher whose idea of beauty helps explain compelling liminal spaces.

Claude Monet

Painter known for capturing steam and motion in 'Gare Saint-Lazare'.

Paul Gauguin

Painter of 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?'.

Frida Kahlo

Her painting 'The Bus' symbolizes migration and social crossing.

Led Zeppelin

Sang 'Immigrant Song,' evoking conquest and displacement.

Fog of World

App that hides unfamiliar map areas to recreate uncertainty.

Bilbo Baggins

A fictional character suggesting the risk and uncertainty of leaving home.

John Masefield

Poet of 'Sea Fever,' expressing longing for motion and travel.

Adolescence

The transition period between childhood and adulthood.

Neophilia

Attraction to novelty and new experiences.

Rites of passage

Cultural milestones marking the transition to adulthood.

Sunk cost fallacy

Continuing a project due to past investments despite better alternatives.

Zeno's dichotomy paradox

Motion seems impossible because one must cross infinitely many halfway points.

The End of History

The idea that liberal democracy would be the final form of governance.

Stargate Universe

An example of unresolved ambiguity due to series cancellation.

The Sopranos

Famous for its abrupt cut-to-black ending.

Life of Pi

Leaves room for interpretation about events.

wodziwob

prophet linked to Ghost Dances and apocalyptic predictions 1869

y2k bug

computer panic 2000

Sandro Botticelli

Mystical Nativity - apocalyptic imagery

Pieter Brugel the Elder

The Triumph of Death

Tomas Cole

The course of empire: destruction

John martin

The great day of his wrath

Victor Schreckengost

apocalypse ‘42

Harry Louis Freund

Four horsemen of the apocalypse

Saby menyhei

the last of us concept art

Kevin Sherwood + James McCawley

Where Are We Going? - song

R.E.M

Its the end of the world as we know it

Edvard Munch

artist of Despair and the Scream showing the difference of groundwork and the final product

The beatles

strawberry fields forever - song about drugs

Lin-Manuel Miranda

sung in the demo ‘this one’s mine” - hamilton

Sofia Ann Caruso

sung the demo - Dead Mom

EJAE

sung Golden + demos

Ryungyon Hotel

unfinished skyscraper - tallest unused building in the world

Wonderland Amusement Park

unfinished amusement park in China

Milan Cathedral

cathedral with extremely long construction work

Egyptian Builders

used gantt chats

Ford assembly line

mass production model build around the devision of labour and standardisation

90-90 rule

90% of the project takes 90% of the time and the last 10% takes another 90%

Conway’s law

systems reflect communication structure of the organisation who built them

Putt’s law

Technology often gets controlled by people who don’t fully understand it.