DaVinciLe0's New Writeups

Odd Todd (person)

2003-03-11T04:52:19Z

Odd Todd is the star of a series of flash cartoons presented at www.oddtodd.com. Todd is an unemployed victim of the Bush, Jr. recession. Todd's cartoons illustrate his daily life, including drinking coffee, staring at the wall, having Pringles and fudge stripes cookies for breakfast, watching Spongebob Squarepants ("Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?") and having no money.

Todd has delusions of starting his own business or starting a scam to get some money, but has something of a motivation problem. When in the mood for some comfort food, Todd makes "Cap'n Todd's cheezy tuna surprise." You take some macaroni & cheese, a can of tuna, and some peas. You mix it up. It's good.

Besides his cartoons, Todd maintains an online journal, or blog. He also keeps a list of daily facts he learns from the TV, in which he hints at a crush on Kelly Ripa, and various factoids from Animal Planet (which he…

Zeno's Paradox (idea)

2003-03-08T09:33:43Z

Surprisingly, nobody has yet given the mathematical explanation as to why the "paradox" of Achilles and the tortoise (or the runner and the stadium) is no paradox at all. People have pointed out that with today's understanding of mathematics, we can easily show that the infinite series have a finite sum. Zeno was born somewhere around 495-480 BCE. Newton and Leibniz are credited with the discovery of The Calculus not until the 17th century of the common era.

Let's take a look at the geometric series 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ..., which describes the segments that the runner must move around the stadium.

This geometric series has ratio r=1/2. We will prove that a geometric series with a common ratio whose absolute value is less than 1 converges, and that its sum is described as a/(1-r), where a is its initial term and r its ratio. In the case of the runner, a=1/2 and r=1/2 . This series converges, and its sum is a/(1-r) = (1/2)/(1-1/2) = (1/2)/(1/2) = 1.

Each term of a geometric…

one-handed typing (idea)

2001-01-16T23:10:29Z

Dr. August Dvorak, in addition to his highly efficient two-handed keyboard layout, created two single-handed layouts as well. Colonel Robert Allen had lost an arm in World War II and asked Dr Dvorak to design a keyboard for him so that he could resume his writing. Dvorak created a left-handed and a right-handed keyboard layout. After about 10 weeks of practice, Colonel Allen was able to achieve a speed of about 56 wpm.

The layouts:

right-handed:

`1234jlmfp/
 56q.orsuyb;=\
 78zaehtdck-
  90x,inwvg'

left-handed:

/pfmlj4321
 ;qbyusro.65=\
 -kcdtheaz87
  'xgvwni,09

pepsi one (thing)

2000-12-12T05:18:15Z

Pepsi One is essentially an alternative to Diet Pepsi marketed towards men. Marketing types found that 'diet' drinks are considered by many to be an effeminate choice. Pepsi One is positioned as a one-calorie alternative that men can drink under the guise that it tastes better, rather than admitting that they are dieting. The advertising campaign features Tom Green being anything but effeminate.

It's the domestic equivalent to Pepsi Max , which is found in many countries overseas. They serve the same purpose, though the formula used to mix sodas varies from country to country. I've been told by Irish travelers that all of our sodas in the US taste like chlorine. Elsewhere, sodas may be mixed to taste extremely sweet. Pepsi Max is positioned as an 'extreme' (can you handle it?) soda, much like Mountain Dew's positioning here in the US, backlashing from effeminate to point more at macho.

Blink 182 (person)

2000-12-07T21:31:01Z

Blink-182 is a very popular high-school-punk-ish band. They started off as a high school band in Poway, CA (in San Diego County) known as Blink. After putting out their first album, Cheshire Cat, in 1995, some random Irish band claimed they had previous rights on the name Blink and threatened a suit. Before the next album, Dude Ranch, they changed to Blink-182. Cheshire Cat was a great album -- but I probably only say that because I grew up listening to it all the time in high school. There was nothing better to play driving around with friends in Encinitas after the rest of the town had gone to sleep (around 9:30pm). My first copy of Cheshire Cat just said Blink, without the 182, but since then I gave it away and got a new one with the 182.

Their early sound is reminiscent of NoFX, Green Day, and PennyWise. It's generally characterized by fast guitar and kinda whiny vocals, usually singing about the injustices of adolescence. It doesn't feel bitter, though -- it's more playful than…

Sex for Dummies (idea)

2000-12-07T20:48:01Z

A true service to humanity would be to sell a book called "Sex for Dummies" whose pages contain a complete, detailed manual giving precise, idiot-proof instructions for refinishing hardwood floors, or deep-sea fishing, or some such thing. We all know dummies shouldn't be having sex. If we can get them to read this book and end up doing something productive, all the while believing that whatever activity they're participating in is in fact sex, we'll keep them from multiplying and they won't feel left out around the water cooler on Mondays bragging about the great sex they had this weekend.

Better yet, the manual should contain instructions on microwave oven repair, or some other activity that through irradiation or other means serves to sterilize any who follow the instructions. That way, it becomes a method of reimplementing natural selection as well.

Okay, so maybe really it's unnatural deselection, but who are you to judge?