What Andy is Excited About

Fascination is a gift for everyone to treasure

Fractals and Fractional Dimension… huh?

Remember your high school geometry? (Don’t worry, there won’t be quiz.) Remember dimensions? A 1D figure is a line, 2D is a plane, and 3D is space. Well it turns out that there are more than just those 3 dimensions…. that’s what what we call a fractal!

What are fractals? Fractals are figures with fractional dimension that often exhibit self-similar properties. In this article, we’ll briefly cover how fractional dimension actually works.

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Written by Andy

September 3rd, 2010 at 12:01 am

Posted in Math & Science

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Yet Another Geeky Comic: Todo List

Yet another silly comic…
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Written by Andy

September 1st, 2010 at 12:01 am

Posted in Comics

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Hashing Part 1: Not just for potatoes!

Mmmm... hash browns.

Mmmm... hash browns.

Hash functions are an often-overlooked staple of good software. Hidden deep within code that you rely on every day are these mathematical gems that tell us what to trust and what to investigate.

The need for hash functions come up pretty often in software, lending themselves to a variety of uses like cryptography, speed, and reliability.

In this 2-part article, we’ll talk about how hash functions can be used in all sorts of ways.

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Written by Andy

August 30th, 2010 at 12:01 am

with 3 comments

Top 8 Reasons to love a Good Discussion

Don't forget the fuel!

If you’ve ever met me, you know that I love a good discussion. If you haven’t met me (and want to…), then go buy me a cup of coffee and get ready to talk. Because we will talk…

And don’t try to fake me out with your internet forums or your email chains. I’ll take my face-to-face interaction, thank you. You can have your texting, give me the ol’ analog dialog.

You know what? I think discussions are so awesome that they deserve capital letters for this post. So here you go: the top 8 reasons that I love a Good Discussion.

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Written by Andy

August 29th, 2010 at 12:01 am

with one comment

Espresso: Coffee’s Delicious Cyborg Cousin

Espresso machines brew at enormous pressure – about 13 atmospheres. That means the pressure in your espresso machine is 13 times the pressure of our current atmosphere. To give you a sense of just how much pressure we’re talking about, your car tires are at about 2.4 atmospheres.

Prior to the industrial revolution, it’s was never practical to mass-produce a machine with such high pressure, so the idea of espresso never really occurred to anybody. Once steam powered machines became more prevalent, however, people discovered that brewing coffee under such high pressure extracted more oils from the grounds.

Now coffee itself has been around for thousands of years. So, relative to the whole history of coffee itself, espresso is quite a recent innovation in coffee technology. That’s why I call it “Coffee’s Delicious Cyborg Cousin”.

Written by Andy

August 28th, 2010 at 12:01 pm

Posted in Coffee

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