Ladd Photos

On the Debian Linux blog that I read there is a neat “meme” (see definition here) going around which draws a colored map of the states you have visited in the US. I decided to give it a shot and was surprised about how large a part of my beautiful country I have visited.

The one inaccuracy of this map is that it’s resolution is only state level, so parts of states are colored that I have actually never scene. For example, I have never been to eastern Washington but have visited most of western Washington. I have also only visited the bottom half of Wyoming and the western border of Missouri (Kansas City, Missouri to be specific). It would be an interesting project to create a program to color in the counties within the states that have been visited.

Here is my map of visited states:

Gazing deeply into the future and into his own soul he searches for his destiny. Does he realize he is not the prettiest of our nephews? Or, is beauty something deeper than flesh to this small pup?

My Grandpa forwarded me a neat math trick which you should try:

1. Grab a calculator.
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)
3. Multiply by 80
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2

The amazing result: Your entire phone number. This is a neat trick. But, being the ubergeek that I am, I had to figure out how it works.

First Step: Write out the instructions as a math equation. Let the first three digits of the phone number be ‘X’ and the last 4 digits be ‘Y’. The expected result will be 10000X + Y (your entire phone number).

[250(80X + 1) + 2Y - 250] / 2 = 10000X + Y

Next Step: Reduce the equation.

[20000X + 250 + 2Y - 250] / 2 = 10000X + Y

[20000X + 2Y] / 2 = 10000X + Y

10000X + Y = 10000X + Y

Final Step: It checks out, both sides are equivalent. Isn’t math fun!

Finally, someone scientifically proves that requiring the males in the household to lower the toilet seat does not minimize “the total cost of toilet seat operations per household.” I have been arguing this point with my wife since the day we moved in together. Now, I have game theory analysis on my side. Unfortunately, because the correctness of leaving the toilet seat up goes against currently entrenched social norms, I don’t see the male gender convincing society that their actions are inefficient anytime soon.

Article: THE SOCIAL NORM OF LEAVING THE TOILET SEAT DOWN: A GAME THEORETIC ANALYSIS

Stolen from Kevin, who stole it from someone else. When did Congress gain power over the sun, and why can’t they cause Seattle to be sunny year round?

It turns out that this article was actually published by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, but the author meant it as satire. Hopefully, the editors of the newspaper realized this as well when they published it.

A few of my cotton based animals just hanging out.

All Gavin needs is a rainbow colored afro and a red ball nose.