Science for SEO: geeky facts

Showing posts with label geeky facts. Show all posts

January 23, 2009

TGIF - weeeeeee

Welcome to yet another installment of TGIF, and I do hope that this post finds you well. It has been a long week for a lot of people I have spoken to, some of the adjectives used were "crappy", "boring", "stressful", "@!*%£^&!" and so on. Something must be up with the universe. I think me having a particularly relaxing time on idyllic islands in southern Thailand has put everything out of synch. Fear not, the balance will return very soon.

Without further ado...

Stuff I liked this week:

This cool site shows you how the brain works from top to bottom.

A list of 10 debunked scientific beliefs of the past.

I like Design 21, the Social Design network in partnership with UNESCO - excellent stuff.

My favourite thing this week was Steve Spalding's article called "Why I love the scientific method and so should you" on the "How to split an atom" site.

The scientific method is:

1 - Ask a Question

2 - Do Background Research

3 - Construct a Hypothesis

4 - Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

5 - Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

6 - Communicate Your Results

Oh look, there's my thesis plan all written up and ready (apart from the "further work" section) :)

Quotes:

Computer Science is a science of abstraction -creating the right model for a problem and devising the appropriate mechanizable techniques to solve it. (A.Aho and J. Ullman)

The Analytical Engine weaves Algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves. (The Countess of Lovelace on Babbage's Analytical Engine)

I, myself, have had many failures and I've learned that if you are not failing a lot, you are probably not being as creative as you could be -you aren't stretching your imagination. (J. Backus)

Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming: testing is the treatment. (K.Beck)

Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen. (E. Berard)

I particularly like:

Rules of Optimization:

Rule 1: Don't do it.

Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet.

(M.A Jackson)

Facts:

Macintosh invented the start menu in 1982 and the Recycle bin in 1984

Xerox invented desktop icons in 1981

John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry founded ABC Computer in 1942 thus becoming the 1st computer business.

John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly invented the UNIVAC computer which was able to pick presidential winners

Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston invented the 1st Spreadsheet Software called VisiCalc in 1978 (it paid for itself within 2 weeks of its release)

This is a really cool video made in stop motion with paper - it's simply brilliant.

November 28, 2008

TGIF - let's celebrate :)

Welcome to another weekly installment of TGIF here at SFS. I hope the week has treated you well and that you have had happy surprises along the way, and an excellent Thanksgiving for the American readers amongst you. Everyone else will have to wait for xmas for fun and games and good food. Unless like me you're invited to a posh dinner in your favourite restaurant like I am tonight :)

Without further ado...

Geeky xmas presents you might want to add to your list:

I love these awesome T-shirts from Nerdy T-shirts. I'd quite like the "Reading is for awesome people" and the PacMan one.

ThinkGeek (which is the ultimate geek gift site) do super strong caffeine comestibles, and I love the LED umbrella. They have some very nice geeky baby and kids clothes as well.

Firebox do these very cute lego brick USB keys. Definitely want one. Also feel free to send through this delicious looking box of munchies my way.

Scientifics do the amphibian solar powered car, way cool. And seriously, who wouldn't want a pair of night vision googles like these?

From Amazon (who I buy too many things from) I like the "Geek Logik: 50 Foolproof Equations for Everyday Life" book, and "The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide" - build away. My wish list is huge, so I'll stop there.

Here are or Geeky facts of the week:

The first ever Internet marketing campaign was in 1978, when an advertising note was sent via ARPANET (precursor to the Web) to about 600 people on the thing. It advertised a new computer, and as a result Digital Equipment Corp. sold over 20 of them at about $1 million each.

If you opened up the case of the original Macintosh, you will find 47 signatures, one for each member of Apple's Macintosh division as of 1982.

Your brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.

Some divers in 1901 discovered the oldest mechanical computer ever. It is a 2,100 year old machine and was used to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in the English dictionary. It refers to a lung disease caused by inhaling particles from volcanoes.

Wonder Woman co-creator William Moulton Marston also created the systolic blood-pressure test, which led to the creation of the polygraph (lie detector).

I also took the geek test, and guess what...

77% Geek

November 21, 2008

TGIF - hooray

I hope that you all had a brilliant week full of fulfilling and exciting projects and that the less interesting things eased by. I hope you're looking forward to a nice weekend hiding from the cold or boldly facing it with vigour!

Without further ado...some cool comics this week:

Be sure to check out "Kevin and the Googlebots", it's a brilliant comic strip by, well...Kevin. It's one of my new favourites!

Also check out the Geeky comic, a nice site if you're looking for a smile.

And then there's Monty the inventor of course.

I love Abstruse Goose too, simple and super funny.

I don't need to mention Dilbert, but if you haven't come across him yet...shame on you.

The usual geek facts for your pleasure:

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

By the year 2012 there will be approximately 17 billion devices connected to the Internet.

E-mail has been around longer than the World Wide Web.

The first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in around 1964 and was made of wood.

Microsoft has no idea why the following happens:

Open Microsoft Word and type

=rand (200, 99)

And then press ENTER.

To finish...one of my favourite bits of footage ever...enjoy.

BTW I love the fact that some of you only visit on Friday for the TGIF post - clearly it's my best work :)

November 14, 2008

TGIF - cool

Welcome to another round of TGIF. I hope the week has treated you well and that you're looking to a fun weekend. Make sure you make the most of it, and yake time to chill out.

Without further ado:

Check out this site with a colletion of geek jewellery, I really like the Lego ring, but the USB bracelets are cool too.

Check out the awesome footage from some robot programmers, I'm not sure this is part of their research, but I'd like to be involved!

And do not miss out on the dancing Daleks.

And now for some geeky facts: