If you haven’t been exposed to “xtranormal” yet, the video below is a good introduction. Xtranormal allows you to create virtual conversations between characters you create. Here, Mike is a chemist in his first day on the job at a major pharma company, while Heidi is charged with his orientation. As you’ll see, life in Big Pharma is not all that Mike had thought it would be.

In a sad turning point in Toyota's history, and, perhaps the whole history of the Lean movement, Toyota  plans to liquidate the Lean showcase NUMMI plant in Fremont, California "by the end of August." Read more from yesterday's story in the San Francisco Business News.