Google Maps Encourages Swimming

Try this:

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. scroll down to step #23

Or just click this link.

If you don't want to do all that, step #23 says, "swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3462 miles". Google Maps expects that step to take you 29 days to complete. Be sure to pack a lunch. :)

Quote of the Day - Water Glasses

"To an optimist the glass is half full.
To a pessimist the glass is half empty.
To a programmer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be."

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Secret of Google's Search Success

Have you ever wondered how Google is able to return what are, sometimes, eerily precise results to your web searches? Me, too! Well, the answer is... pigeons! Or, more precisely, PigeonRank, a system which arranges pigeons into low-cost pigeon clusters (PCs). Who knew?

Chuck Norris

Of course, you know who Chuck Norris is, right? But how much do you know about him? Here are some facts:

• There is no such thing as global warming. Chuck Norris was cold, so he turned the sun up.
• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
  

More available here, including his own favorites. Check out this video at Google Video for a glimpse of his early life.

super haircut

Have you ever wondered how, exactly, Superman is able to get his hair cut? He is the man of steel after all. If you saw the movie that came out in 2006, you will know that a bullet will bounce off his eyeball. So how does he cut his hair? Red kryptonite is known to have random effects on Kryptonians like Superman. Perhaps he cuts his hair using special kryptonite-laced scissors, made with Batman's help? And what about trimming his fingernails?

These are the kinds of questions that keep me awake at night.

Update

Okay, I just finished watching a National Geographic Channel program from last summer called The Science of Superman. In this program they tackled, among other things, how exactly Superman cuts his hair and shaves his face. The answer will both shock and amaze you, and yet surprise you with how blindingly obvious it truly is. I know when I first heard the answer, I literally almost fell off the couch in amazement!

A New Age Begins

Welcome, one and all! And, yes, you too, to Spike the Wave. I was going to begin this with the opening of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, but decided people might get annoyed with seeing a lot of baaaaa baaaaa babaaaaa, and so on. Have you ever heard the Ray Stevens version of that? The cow's the best part. But I digress.