maxpagels.com » Miscellaneous

The cost of twelve days of Christmas

Max Pagels — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:37:49 +0000

This year it’s $24,203.18, or 3,5 percent more than last year.

A few million monkeys randomly recreate Shakespeare

Max Pagels — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:50:23 +0000

This project comes from one of my favorite Simpsons episodes which has a scene where Mr. Burns brings Homer to his mansion. One of his rooms has a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters. One of the monkeys writes a slightly incorrect line from Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was blurst of times.” The joke is a play on the theory that a million monkeys sitting at a million typewriters will eventually produce Shakespeare. And that is what I did. I created millions of monkeys on Amazon EC2 (then my home computer) and put them at virtual typewriters (aka Infinite Monkey Theorem).

So far, Jesse’s virtual monkeys and typewriters have randomly created The Tempest, The Winters Tale, The Merchant of Venice and many more. I recommend bookmarking his post so you can follow the progress. (via Ars Technica)

Compact Calendar

Max Pagels — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:10:42 +0000

The Compact Calendar is a printable calendar in an Excel spreadsheet, designed to be easy to use for impromptu planning by yourself or with a group of people. It’s provided in three styles, and has been localized for different countries by generous volunteers from around the world.

Great for quick scheduling and time estimation.

New words in the Oxford Dictionary

Max Pagels — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:34:19 +0000

Notable additions include man cave, NSFW, ZOMG and permalink.

(via Neatorama)

Donate to tsunami relief via PSN

Max Pagels — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:46:55 +0000

You can make donations in the amounts of €2, €5, €10, €20 from your wallet in the PlayStation Store. With your donation, you’ll get a free Sunrise Blossom Theme for your PlayStation 3.

A great idea, hats off to Sony.

Assorted links III

Max Pagels — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:41:30 +0000

Eurogamer has an excellent article on Axel Gembe, the boy responsible for leaking the code of Half-Life 2 onto the Internet back in 2004.
Conan’s parody of the iPad 2 is hilarious.
The Twitter Engineering Blog has a post detailing how they made a faster garbage collector for Ruby by adding an additional heap.
The Khronos Group released the final version of their WebGL 1.0 specification today.

Worldwide coffee consumption per capita

Max Pagels — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:31:28 +0000

As far as I can tell, Finland has again nabbed the top spot with 12 kilograms per year per person. The total consumption is greater than that of Greece, despite a population of five million to eleven million.

[via Neatorama]

Assorted links II

Max Pagels — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:24:23 +0000

Grickle — the foundation for Telltale’s Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent.
The Times has an article on speed stacking that is worth a read. Apparently, “up- and down-stacking six pyramids in just over six seconds” is humanly possible.
Valve knows how to properly announce a title being delayed. From the Portal 2 press release: “This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve’s proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time”.

PeevePile – A Pet Peeve Archive

Max Pagels — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:11:26 +0000

Works wonders for one’s productivity.

The new Ubuntu logo

Max Pagels — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:54:11 +0000

Quite stylish.

“Amazing things will happen”

Max Pagels — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:45:00 +0000

An inspiring quote by Conan O’Brien:

All I ask is one thing, particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. It’s my least favorite quality. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and are kind, amazing things will happen.

(found on the Panic Blog)

Rendering a web page

Max Pagels — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:35:29 +0000

A list on the Friendly Bit blog detailing what happens when you visit a web site.

I, too, get annoyed when the above steps take longer than one tenth of a second.

…

Spoiled we are, all of us.

It’s twenty ten, not two thousand and ten

Max Pagels — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:37:35 +0000

I support this notion.

I love fake specification leaks

Max Pagels — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:57:31 +0000

So the iSlate has a built-in video projector.

Images from Atlantis

Max Pagels — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:23:49 +0000

Not from the island, but from the space shuttle. Some breathtaking shots.

[ad] Amazon’s Black Friday deals

Max Pagels — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:40 +0000

A 120GB PS3 with Infamous and Killzone 2 for $299? Or the second season of Mad Men on DVD for $14? Choices, choices.

“Unfriend”

Max Pagels — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:15:12 +0000

Chosen as the Oxford Word of the Year 2009.

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program.

(via Mashable)

Oasis of the Seas

Max Pagels — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:22:44 +0000

Work on world’s largest cruise ship, MS Oasis of the Seas, has been completed. The vessel is set to depart from Turku, Finland to its hometown port in Everglades, Florida in roughly two weeks. The Chairman’s Blog discussing the manufacturing process of the vessel is definitely worth reading.

(via YLE, in Finnish)

Eagles hunting reindeer

Max Pagels — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:05:06 +0000

Extraordinary footage captured in northern Finland.

Max Pagels — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:15:05 +0000

The new Studio Monte Rosa in Zermatt, Switzerland is a mountaineer hut built with two design principles in mind: resistance to extreme weather conditions and self-sufficiency. ESC Research:

In fact, the new Studio Monte Rosa is in the middle of a natural reserve with extreme alpine conditions, yet energetically to 90% self-contained and self-sufficient (90% autarchy).