Here is an interesting list of Wolfram|Alpha easter eggs. One that it failed to mention was “how many pickled peppers did peter piper pick?” A second list is available here.
Archive for the ‘Random’ Category
Wolfram|Alpha Easter Eggs
Sunday, May 17th, 2009Econ in Action
Friday, March 13th, 2009I saw the following sign at a gas station today:
It’s good to know the basic principles of microeconomics are still alive and well despite the crazy financial world.
As a refresher, no matter whether the government taxes the consumer or the producer, the tax burden will be split between the consumer and producer in a way that reflects the price elasticity of demand. I think we can guess how elastic the demand for cigarettes is, hence the buyer is paying most of the taxes.
Private & Confidential
Monday, February 9th, 2009I was googling myself today* and I found the 5th search result prominently displayed “Private and Confidential” in its title. That was a little unfortunate, as I’m sure that formal discouragement will encourage anyone searching for me to click on the link.
There isn’t anything wrong with the content. It’s just a link to a PDF of a cell-phone-based credit card authentication system that I was investigating as a startup possibility while I was at UIUC. After I decided the business idea was a no-go I turned it into a project that SigEmbedded worked on for the 2005 EOH.
The annoying part is that I apparently forgot to remove private/confidential designation from the document before giving it out on the mailing list. Openly distributing documents marked confidential can hurt your legal standing on defending other documents marked as confidential in the future. Thankfully, I think these rule apply on a per-corporation basis, not really on a per-person basis.
*No, this was not about ego. Just managing my online identity. But I won’t rule out ego for the future.
Efficient Microwave Usage
Saturday, November 29th, 2008I like hot tea, and when I’m not at work I need to use a microwave to heat the water. This involves setting thing the timer to 2:20. It’s kind of an arbitrary time that I’ve chosen, because I put the tea bag in the cup before hand and then let it steep for up to a half hour afterwards (I frequently forget about it).
Enough background. What frustrates me each time I do this is that I always go through the effort of punching in 2-2-0 on the key pad, even though this number doesn’t need to be at all precise. After I’m done entering the number, I always think to myself “Why didn’t you just do 2:22? It would be more efficient from an effort perspective.” I always intend to do that next time, but usually forget.
So I’m now working on optimizing the times that I enter on the microwave to minimize button pushes. Kind of lame, I know, but it’s a little game to play.
UIUC was Awesome
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008This is an example of why. Not the blackboard system. Just the question. See previous rants.
Lightsabers: The Duct Tape-Tool of the Galaxy
Monday, November 17th, 2008This How Stuff Works article is making its way around the internet again, this time via Slashdot. Still, every time I see it I laugh, so I thought I’d post it.
First Snow 2008
Friday, November 7th, 2008Woke up this morning to the first snow accumulation of the year.
It went from 70 degrees on Monday to this today. Also kind of windy (as you can see by the lawn furnature tossed around on the deck).
Stuff White People Like
Saturday, October 18th, 2008Ran across this great (and scarily accurate) satire Stuff White People Like from the facebook news feed (I forget who’s it was, my apologies). My personal favorites include apprearing to like classical music, outdoor performance clothes, threatening to move to Canada, and Facebook.
One Year Anniversary
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008No, not of being married (I’m coming up on three years of that). Today marked the first anniversary of me starting full time employment. One down, 39 more to go…
Six Month Anniversery
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007Today was my six month anniversery. Not of being married (already passed two years of that), but rather of working full time. Assuming I work 40 years, that means I’m 1/80th of the way there. To correlate that to the previous phase of my life (education — preschool through masters), I’ve just finished the first quarter of my first year of preschool…if preschool were to have quarters. *sigh*