Blog

Viewing posts for the category random

Kindness Rules

Posted by: davidkircos in life, random 7 years, 6 months ago

Sometimes I prevent myself from doing something kind for someone else with the thought "I am being too nice, this is weird."

I've decided that whenever I get to that question "Is doing x nice or weird?" to err on the side of being too nice. Based on the notion that I would rather be a little too nice and it be weird, then be slightly rude.

To be short: Kindness Rules. Pass it on.

Google Pixel

Posted by: davidkircos in random 7 years, 6 months ago

I've been an iPhone user since the very first iPhone. I tried Android once for about 2 weeks, that was 5 years ago and I couldn't make the switch then.

My main reservations are one the time it would take to transfer all my information over and two that I'd have to learn the quirks of the Android platform. The Quick Switch Adaptor looks like it could alleviate most of my first reservation, its ability to transfer iMessages is pretty impressive. https://madeby.google.com/phone/switch/

I'm about 40% convinced to try switching again. With some additional small reservations:

• I've bought apps on iOS which would be lost.
• It would surely interrupt my workflow for a month or two.
• I use a Macbook at work and a MacBook Pro at home, Apple has some nice seamless stuff Mac <> iPhone. Though I suspect Google might do these too and possibly better.
• Transferring my massive library of photos.

Since I'm on the edge, I suspect others will actually make the change. Interested to see if Pixel makes a dent in the iPhone users market.

Bill Gates in Cubic Beef

Posted by: davidkircos in random 7 years, 8 months ago

Last night I was out to dinner with a few close friends I've known since high school. We often talk about financial stuff and I jokingly asked the question "If you converted all of Bill Gates wealth into a cube of Beef, how big would that cube be?"

I had brought it up originally because of the classical idea that someone's wealth would be measured in how much cattle they have. Thinking that Bill Gates wealth would be difficult to picture by a number of cows, I thought it would be easier to picture as a cube. And certainly funnier.

The question set off a 15-minute diversion into coming up with the answer.

According to the napkin, Bill Gates is worth 11 million cubic meters of beef. That is a cube with side lengths of 225 meters. 225 meters high, 225 meters wide and 225 meters deep. That's a lot of beef.

There are a few big assumptions that went into our calculation. Such as the density of beef. We found the density to be around 1900 lbs/ m^3. Although the density would be much higher if there were 221 cubic meters on top compressing it. We also used the price 3.70 $ / lb of beef assuming there would be no discount when buying 80 billion dollars at once.

If you'd like to convert your own net worth to cubic beef, I created the Wolfram Alpha widget below. Put in a number and it will spit out the length of each side making up the cube, of beef, representative of your worldly worth.

I suppose my buddy was still entertained by the question after our dinner because he emailed me a spreadsheet this morning containing notable wealthy individuals and their net worth converted to cubes of various substances. Hilarious. Thanks for a great night my friend!

• Page 4 of 4
• ←
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• →