Filed under Math = Awesome + Stupid: The awesome part of the term “yotta,” is that it allows one to introduce terms like “yottasecond” into the vocabulary, which is 32 septillion years. So you get to say pretentious sentences like “It only took a yottasecond for my husband to take out the trash.” The stupid part is—and probably I should have learned this in college at some point—is that my understanding of a number like 32 septillion (32, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000) can not only be computed as zero, but that in French, that number is 32 quadrillion, because the French think in terms of million millions, not thousand millions. In other words, 109 (English billion, French milliard) is 1012 in French, but only if using a base 10, and if using a different (Logic) system, the number is rendered 10002+1 unless in French, where a billion is 10003+1 because I’m guessing the French won’t allow being one-upped by the British, who gave us yards instead of meters, which is why Asian countries are killing the US in math. Well that only took a yottasecond to explain, didn’t it?
Filed under Stuff That Makes You Want to Holler: Congress first passed the Civil Rights Act in 1875, which was subsequently overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1883. That’s four-score and twenty-odd years of devistating lost progress. The ultimate irony: That law was passed by Lincolnesque Republicans, back when Republican meant Democrat.
Filed under Awesomest Bet Ever: Dr. Suess’s editor bet him he couldn’t write a book using only 50 words. The result: Green Eggs and Ham.
Filed under What Engineers Do on Friday Nights When the Rest of the World Is Distracted by Romance: Build ridiculous working Lego factories. This video goes on for eight minutes. Don’t knock it. While still in grad school, the Google guys built Lego printers.
Filed under Somebody Has Missed the Point Entirely: All Free Speech area postings must be approved by the Office of Student Retention and College Life.
Filed under Skills One Can Master When the Cable Is Cut Off: Olympic Bread Tossing.
Filed under Positive Fashion Contributions from Iran: In 2010, Iran barred men from wearing mullets. In related news, the Hijab and Chastity Festival might sound like a hoot, but with no Kentucky Waterfalls allowed, it’s like a party with no Natty Light.
Filed under Stupidest Thing I Ever Heard: Back in 1999, a federal judge dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed by a man whose employment application to the local police was rejected on the grounds he was too smart. According the judge, it wasn’t discrimination because everybody with a too-high IQ test score was rejected. Well, duh, stupid genius! The article doesn’t mention why such a hiring stipulation exists to begin with.
Filed under Is America That Racist?: Black dogs get adopted the least.
Filed under A Long, Long Way from Misunderestimated: President Garfield could write with both hands at the same time in two different dead languages.
Filed under Beginning of the End Again: eBooks now outselling paperbacks.
Filed under I Want to Say About a Million Things But I Can’t Express Myself Monosyllabically Enough for You to Understand Them All, and Besides Nobody Will Know How Pithily I Just Insulted You Anyway: Two old men in Mexico are the last two people on Earth who speak the language Ayapaneco. Naturally, they’re not speaking to each other.