Quick Thoughts

  • A conversation
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 10th

    P: “how much load is on the bearings?”
    Mike D: “None! they seize up even without any load.”
    P: “that’s really strange.”
    Mike D: “What are some of our options? we really need to provide good bearings to our customers.”
    P: “I agree. I’ll have an engineer call you.”
    Mike D.: “okay. What’s the guy’s name who will be calling me?”
    P: “Rob Schnieder.”
    Mike D.: “Rob Schnieder’s going to call me?”
    P: “yes.”
    Mike D.: “THE Rob Schnieder?”
    P: “No.”
    Mike D.: “oh.”

    1 Comment
  • Back in CT
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 10th

    Updates shortly.

    No comments
  • Flying into Cleveland.
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 7th

    Unique Landscaping.

    3 Comments
  • OHIO!
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 6th

    I’m in Ohio this week. More updates soon.

    No comments
  • Animals on the Underground
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 3rd

    This is totally awesome.

    Animals, appearing in the Tube maps.

    Enjoy.

    No comments
  • Words I dislike
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 2nd

    Registrar.

    ugh.

    hate it.

    2 Comments
  • Weird.
    Author: mike d.
    Oct 1st

    In honor of their 10th birthday, Google has allowed you to step back in time and use its search engine as it appeared in January 2001. MikeDiDonato.com doesn’t exist nor does any reference to September 11th or Facebook.

    It’s kind of strange.

    1 Comment
  • A cute game.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 30th

    In love with the moon.

    find all the endings!

    1 Comment
  • Heavy Meddle.
    Author: Irene
    Sep 29th

    80’s hair-metal rockers Twisted Sister announce that they ‘are now going to take it.’

    Check out the inside scoop here.

    No comments
  • Skatecart.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 29th

    Whenever I’m wheeling a cart around the grocery store or the shop floor at work I am hard pressed not to kick off, jump on, and ride that cart for a few meters.

    I hope I never grow out of this desire.

    1 Comment
  • These guys?
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 26th

    They’re awesome.

    Video.

    2 Comments
  • Credit Crisis Explained
    Author: Ryan Schenk
    Sep 25th

    A couple weeks ago, Ben did a great job of explaining Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to us.

    This episode of This American Life does a great job of explaining the greater “credit crisis” in excellent detail.

    2 Comments
  • One Man AC/DC Cover Band.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 24th

    AWESOME.

    2 Comments
  • Paranoia Song.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 24th

    Enjoy.

    (video)

    1 Comment
  • Habitat for Humanity
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 24th

    Mandy is doing Habitat for Humanity. If you’d like to help her out with a donation, click here.

    No comments
  • child.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 23rd

    I should name my firstborn son “Norman”

    7 Comments
  • Richard Dawkins
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 22nd

    And his talk on our Queer universe on Ted.

    Enjoy!

    No comments
  • Hungry?
    Author: Irene
    Sep 19th

    Try a 100 lb. (45 kg)  burger.

    Just one item on the list of the World’s Top 10 Largest Things 2008, and where to find them.

    3 Comments
  • Avast Mateys!
    Author: Irene
    Sep 19th

    It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Check out the fun here.

    Been a while since you’ve sailed the seas pillaging for booty?  Check out these fantastic guidelines for how to talk like a pirate!

    1 Comment
  • Batter Blaster.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 17th

    Heck yes.

    from Darcy.

    3 Comments
  • Shop Rite.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 16th

    Huge African American Male at ShopRite with sunglasses: Dude. Your hair is awesome.
    Me: Thanks!
    H.A.A.M.@SR.w/SG: Seriously. You’ve got it goin’ on.

    3 Comments
  • Some Links.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 15th

    1. According to Wikipedia, Brian Cox was in a Rock Band before he decided to study physics.

    2. Food day? Yes please. (from shamus)

    3. The creepy cat. (video)

    1 Comment
  • Brian Cox vs. Sir David King.
    Author: mike d.
    Sep 14th

    I roll my eyes at Sir David King’s arguments in this video but perhaps I’m biased because I have a man-crush on Brian Cox.

    3 Comments

New Comments

Calendar

December 2007
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Gettin' Round

    Friends

      Site

      The Horizon

      December 5th, 2007 by mike d. in Geekdom

      currently eating: Ravioli

      Tonight, as I drove along the long stretch of road from Longview to Dallas, Texas, I couldn’t help but wonder how far away the horizon is.

      Now, I’m not completely math illiterate, so I decided to figure it out. The problem is… My answer doesn’t seem right. Perhaps I have done something wrong. See if any of you find a mistake in my method:

      Assumptions:
      The Earth is perfectly round
      Our test subject is 5.8 feet tall.
      Because the Earth is so big, the distance ‘x’ (shown below) is a close enough approximation of the arc length and actual driving distance to the horizon.

      Okay! Calculation time!
      According to Wikipedia, the radius of the earth is an average of about 3956.545 miles * 5280 ft/mile=
      20890557.6 ft

      Add 5.8 feet to that and we get a hypotenuse of 20890563.4 ft

      earthhorizon.PNG

      according to Pythagoras
      20890557.6^2 + x^2 = 20890563.4^2

      or

      436415396838917.76
      +
      x^2
      =
      436415639169419.56

      so x^2 = 24330501.8

      x is about equal to 15566.96 ft

      Divide by 5280 and we get… 2.948 miles. That’s so… short… did I do something wrong?

      Authored by: mike d.

      Fauxtograph

      December 5th, 2007 by mike d. in A Day In The Life...


      Theresa and Andrew from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

      Authored by: mike d.

      Texas and the Network of People.

      December 5th, 2007 by mike d. in travel, Work

      currently eating: ribs.

      And… I’m in Texas.

      redtexas.PNG

      It’s warm here. Tomorrow is scheduled to be around 20 degrees Celsius (65 degrees F). I’ll be here for the next couple days returning Thursday afternoon in time for some late hours at the office, class on Friday, and the return to a semi-normal schedule… at least for a day or two. Then travel might rear its ugly head once again.

      Alicia’s wedding on Saturday, alongside all this business travel, has rekindled my desire for a network of awesome people. In the ideal world I’d love to have a friend in every major US city/state that I could visit when business sends me off. If you’d like to add yourself to that list, fire me an e-mail at MikeDiDonato AT Gmail D0T com. Once the network is complete, I will post an exciting map of all the connections across the country.

      Authored by: mike d.
      Personal Loans - Loans - Debt Consolidation - Debt