Category Archives: Fun

11 mm in 1.25 nanoseconds

Posted on January 12, 2022 by brucedawson

In 2004 I was working for Microsoft in the Xbox group, and a new console was being created. I got a copy of the detailed descriptions of the Xbox 360 CPU and I read it through multiple times and suddenly … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Performance, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

What Would Jesus’s Resume Say?

Posted on January 16, 2018 by brucedawson

Some years ago I saw a set of resumes created by not-yet-graduated university students. They were all three to four pages long. This is too long, and I said to my daughter “Even Jesus Christ’s resume fits on one page”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Vestibular Dysfunction, or, How I Went Half Deaf

Posted on October 17, 2016 by brucedawson

Two weeks ago I had a severe inner-ear episode, presumed to be an infection. One moment I was 100% healthy and then, ten minutes later, I was deaf in one ear, with severe vertigo. The word ‘vertigo’ doesn’t quite capture … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Unicycling | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

A modest proposal for a more natural KB

Posted on March 14, 2016 by brucedawson

I recently wrote a blog post saying that I thought Windows Explorer should use the more natural base-10 meanings of the kB/MB/GB/TB prefixes, instead of the base-2 meanings that are a few percent larger. I convinced nobody. I was told, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Cars in Canada Get Better Mileage than in the US

Posted on March 1, 2016 by brucedawson

Cars in Canada really do get more miles to the gallon. Well, “did”, technically, since Canada now uses liters/100 km for fuel efficiency. The reason why has nothing to do with climate or driving habits and has everything to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun | Tagged | 12 Comments

Jetpacks and flying cars

Posted on July 28, 2012 by brucedawson

For the last n+1 years the geek literati have been waiting for two things: jetpacks, and flying cars. Flying cars are still an impractical dream, but jetpacks are here. However, nobody seems to care. Video is linked below.

Posted in Fun, Math | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments