Nerdgasm

Radiation Dose Chart

2011-03-22T13:00:00.000+02:00

XKCD have created a chart that compares the radiation a person would be exposed to in different situations.

It demonstrates how silly people can be when worrying about some things. I think they should
do another one indicating the amount of mercury found in vaccinations.

Using a cell phone (0 µSv)-a cell phone's transmitter does not
produce ionizing radiation* and does not cause cancer.

* Unless it's a bananaphone.

[via: XKCD]

The State of Wikipedia

2011-01-20T07:29:00.000+02:00

This is an interesting video discussing how Wikipedia was started.

[via: The State of Wikipedia]

Fun with Wolfram Alpha

2011-01-14T07:19:00.000+02:00

The Search Engine Wolfram Alpha, apart from having very useful information, also has some fun, and rather nerdy, "facts", if you can call them that.

For more examples see the website Math Fail.

[via: Math Fail]

Adding events to Google Calendar from your address bar

2011-01-13T09:29:00.000+02:00

By adding custom options to Chrome or Firefox search engine lists, you are able to use the address bar of your browser to add events to your Google Calendar, or even quickly look up Google Map directions from your home.

This quick and easy hack turns your address bar into a simple command line.

How it Works
The gears that make this machine turn are the keyword search tools built into both Firefox and Chrome. These allow you to use short keywords to search tons of different web sites, all from the address bar of your browser. However, you don't have to use them simply for search engines—as long as you have the right URL, you can use the address bar to do just about anything.

It works like this: when you enter text on a web application, the result is often the web page sending that text along to a server as part of a URL. A Google search for lifehacker android results in a URL of http://www.google.com/search?q=lifehacker+android. By finding the right URLs—for Google Calendar events, Google Maps directions, Twitter statuses, and more—we can use keywords in the address bar to submit text to any of those web sites.

Our video demonstration (embedded above) shows how to set up the keyword bookmarks below in Firefox or Chrome. Again, these examples are just meant to get you started. Check out your favorite services, click around, and see if you can't shortcut your text entry by a few clicks.

For more information, please see the full article at lifehacker.

[via: lifehacker]

Self-Heating Coffee

2011-01-04T09:00:00.000+02:00

I am busy drinking Self-Heating coffee, and thought it would be appropriate to post about it on Nerdgasm.

It seems to use a reaction between calcium oxide and water to heat the tin up. I am not big into chemistry, but I remember learning in High School that a reaction will either require heat, or create heat, so using a chemical reaction to heat the coffee up does make a lot of sense to me. If you want more information of calcium oxide (quicklime) I will refer you to Wikipedia.

I tasted it before reading the ingredients at the back of the tin, and right away tasted that it was instant coffee with sugar. I do not add any milk or sugar to coffee when I drink it, and I am not a big fan of instant coffee, so this was a little disappointing, but I am still in love with the idea.

INGREDIENTS:

Water, sugar and instant coffee (1%).

There is a web address on the tin (http://www.fastdrinks2go.com/).

The website has music playing, which I don't like. Opening a website that had music is generally a sure way for me to close it again without reading anything.

Tic-Tac-Toe cheat sheet

2010-12-10T12:25:00.001+02:00

xkcd have created a tic-tac-toe cheat sheet.

Your move is given by the position of the largest red symbol on the grid. When your opponent picks a move, zoom in on the region of the grid where they went. repeat.

There is an X and an O version, depending if you move first or second.

I have not tried it, but it seems very simple. I wonder if anyone will create a web or mobile app for this.

[via: xkcd]

Only in Japan, Holographic Pop star

2010-11-16T11:23:00.000+02:00

So Japan have made a holographic pop-star.
That is awesome.

Holographic idol Hatsune Miku is the creation of the group Crypton Future Media, using software from Vocaloid, and the group has put the avatar on tour with a live band. The sight of thousands of screaming fans waving glow sticks while the the holograph “performs” on stage is straight out of a science fiction novel.
The avatar is huge and incredibly realistic. Check out “her” concert performance below. More videos can be found here.

[via: The huffington Post]

The ultimate LEGO Factory

2010-11-09T13:05:00.001+02:00

I found this website video today.

The factory is capable of building virtually anything using the 95 types of bricks available from the built-in warehouse. Models for the factory are designed using LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) and are interpreted by a custom software written for MS Windows. After interpretting the LDD file (model), the software generates a set of building instructions for the factory to produce the model, and sends them to the factory master NXT which distributes tasks among other four NXTs.

At the respective YouTube description, Martijn reports the following data:

Warehouse: 95 different bricks with a total of 1520 bricks in stock.

Maximum model size: 16 x 22 x 11 (W x L x H, in bricks).

Models designed in Lego Digital Designer (LDD).

Controlled with 5 NXTs.

Total construction time: 4.5 months (Jun-Oct 2010).

Aprox. 150 hours of LEGO building + Aprox. 100 hours of programming (5 NXT's and LDD model processing software).

Total amount of bricks: 25.000 (estimated value).

There are also seven other videos.

Source: [TechnicBRIKSs]

Welcome

2010-11-09T12:50:00.000+02:00

This is the first post.
The idea I have behind this website is to just post anything I find awesome online.