Has there ever been a case of mitigated gall?

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://geekthoughts.info/.

chromatic: O(n^3) isn’t so bad when n=1 or 2.

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://geekthoughts.info/.

Google is a much better search engine for everyday calculations in the search bar, like say

[439600 light years / 200 km/sec]

(compare Y!, search.microsoft.com, er, msn.com, er, live.com)

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://geekthoughts.info/.

Blackberry singing in the dead of night

Take these calendars, and do invite

All your life

You are only waiting for this email to arrive

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://geekthoughts.info/.

P.S. Got a better one? Post it. -m

I hereby refuse to eat any fruits or vegetables that are not certifiably carbon-based.

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

The color magenta has no wavelength. It exists only in your mind.

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

By now you’ve likely noticed the Geek Thoughts postings here. This is an experiment on a few different levels.

What makes comics special? To what extent are pictures, often little more than stick figures, a critical part of the web comic experience? Can a web comic still be funny and thought-provoking with only words?

Specifically with regard to yesterday’s posting, an homage to Garfield minus Garfield, and slightly-more-than-homage to xkcd: what does taking away the seeming-essential part reveal? Is it of the same or different nature as before? On the plus side, don’t worry about this blog becoming an xkcd transciption service–that’s not the point. Thinking (and maybe laughing) is.

It’s also an experiment in zero-overhead publishing. Setting up a dedicated blog, separate site, separate comment moderation, all that jazz…would be hard. Lower friction is the difference between a smooth running engine and a smoking heap of metal, and the same goes in life. If Geek Thoughts develops a huge following, maybe some day there will be all of that and T-Shirts too. But for now, it’s easy enough that I can actually do it, which is what matters in the beginning.

If this line of argument seems faintly familiar, it’s because I’ve used it before, with my (still sporadically updated) Patternalia series, inspired by Christopher Alexander’s works.

If you appreciate any of this, the best way to show it is with a link. Thanks! -m

Reporter: So quantum teleportation–

Geek: The name is misleading. It’s a particle statistics thing.

Reporter: So it’s not like Star Trek? That’s boring.

Geek: Okay, I’m sick of this. Every time there’s a paper on quantum teleportation, you reporters write the same disappointed story.

Reporter: But–

Geek: Talk to someone else. I’m going to the Bahamas.

<click>

<vrmmm…>

Attribution: xkcd 465.

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

Without question, the #1 most important success factor in being a Sith Lord is making sure your apprentice cannot kill you.

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

Next time you drive on a freeway, look up to see how many power lines you pass under. Most people never notice these, even on common commuter routes. But once you perceive one, you’ll be seeing them all over the place. What else works this way?

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

To be a Certified Beer Judge, a GeekDrinker needs to score 70/100 on a written test as well as gain 5 experience points, half of that from judging. Talk about leveling up!

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.

Geek Thoughts? It’s like a web comic, minus the stick figures. Occasionally funny, often random, always geeky.

While the Yahoo! board was furiously debating the merits of a Microsoft takeover offer, a heated dispute arose about one PowerPoint slide showing sales figures over a recent quarter. To resolve the dispute, they had to call in a GeekThinker. He carefully examined the data, then said: “Don’t worry. No graph is perfect.”

More collected Geek Thoughts at http://dubinko.info/blog/tags/geekthoughts/.