Happy Cubic Day!

Today is a very special day - it's a cubic day! (Link in Danish only, sorry.) 14 June 2008 (140608, as it would be written outside the US) is 52^3, and therefore holds very special significance as all sorts of trickery, disasters, destruction and magic can happen today. Maybe even the end of the world before the day is over!

Well, no.  But that's only because the superstitious in the US only recognizes the US date format so that todays date is 61408 or even 80614, both of which are obviously a lot less exciting. For one, there's fewer numbers in them than 140608 and their cubic roots are no magic integer numbers like 52.  Also note that 52 is the number of weeks in a year, so it's obvious that 140608 is an *incredibly* special day - watch out!

The next cubic day, if we survive this one, will be 9 November 2025 (91125 = 45^3) and the last one was 11 May 1995 (110595 = 48^3).

Who do you like?

Via various sources you can find a test tool that apparently tests which of the presidential candidates you *really* support - not just who you say you support, but who your brain likes best. Quite interesting results. I would have thought I disliked Huckabee a lot more than McCain, but anyway, both are way below Obama (#1, yay) and Clinton (just below him). So the overall picture is correct. I had to say, though, that I found the explanation a bit confusing and it wasn't until my 2nd round that I really understood what was going on. But maybe they correct for that when analyzing the data? Anyway, check it out.

Blackberry outage...

From CNN:

NEW YORK (AP) -- An outage has disconnected BlackBerry smart phones across North America. AT&T Inc. says the disruption Monday is affecting all wireless carriers. AT&T first learned about the problem at about 3:30 p.m. ET.

There's no word on the cause or when the problem might be fixed.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.

Emphasis mine...

US on Canadian torture list

And that's where they belong until they close down Gitmo. Canada rocks!

Documented flaw in Apple iBookG4

The Danish Consumer Complaints board (DCC) now have technical evidence that it is a design flaw in the Apple iBook G4 that have caused iBook users all over the world a great deal of pain in the last couple of years. According to the findings of the board, a solder joint between two components loosens slightly every time the computer is turned on and off. Eventually it breaks off completely and the owner is left with a blank screen. The fact that the DCC now has proven that it is a design flaw causing the blank screen means that iBook owners can get their computer fixed even after the 1-year warranty has expired. You can fix the problem yourself, but will totally loose the portability of the iBook...