Have Laptop Will Travel

Microsoft ASCII conversion conspiracy theories

Originally posted on March 12, 2007 @ 2:42 pm

The real name of Microsoft founder Bill Gates is William Henry Gates III. Nowadays he is known as Bill Gates (III).

By converting the letters of his current name to the ASCII-values and adding his (III), you get the following:

B 66
I 73
L 76
L 76
G 71
A 65
T 84
E 69
S 83
I 1
I 1
I 1
————–
666

Ok, so that’s a little creepy… but wait, there’s more!

Take M S – D O S 6 . 3 1 and do the same thing:

77+83+45+68+79+83+32+54+46+50+49 = 666

and one more for my ASCII loving readers… take W I N D O W S 9 5 and convert it to ASCII:

87+73+78+68+79+87+83+57+53+1 = 666

So after this little exercise, do you feel Microsoft is evil? Apparently in ASCII values they are :)

Anyone care to try this with Microsoft Vista?

Please note, this post was done in fun and shouldn’t be tried unless you’re a trained ASCII professional and have an ASCII Exorcist on hand to throw around some holy HTML to save your site and/or content if something evil should happen.

Google Chinese New Year 2007

Originally posted on February 18, 2007 @ 9:12 am

The Lunar New Year, also celebrated by Koreans, Vietnamese, Mongolian, etc. for hundreds of years, is called Korean New Year, Vietnamese New Year, etc. by other peoples and known in Chinese as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year.

It is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays (The second most important one is the Moon Festival).

The festival proper begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival is also known as the fifteenth night.

Google is well known for having Dennis Hwang create witty and colorful logos and today is no exception with their tribute to Chinese New Year 2007 – The year of the pig:

Lunar New Year

Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its neighbors.

These include Koreans, Vietnamese, Miao (Chinese Hmong), Mongolians, Tibetans, the Nepalese and the Bhutanese.

Around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year’s eve.

Google Valentine Logo Mystery Solved

Originally posted on February 14, 2007 @ 1:11 pm

Thanks to Jon over at the Wizard Is Hungry blog, the mystery behind the Google Valentine logo is now solved.

The logo is a reference to Debbie Googe from the band My Bloody Valentine.

According to the official Google blog:

When you look at the logo, you may worry that we forgot our name overnight, skipped a letter, or have decided that “Googe” has a better ring to it. None of the above. I just know that those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately. And if you’re feeling grouchy today, may I suggest eating a strawberry.

Now when I did my post last night at 10:23 PM and also this morning at 7:21 AM, the Google blog had not been updated with the hints to the mystery behind the logo.

Thanks Jon for the heads up.

Google Valentine’s Day Logo 2007

Originally posted on February 13, 2007 @ 10:23 pm

Every February across the country, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.

But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday?

We might never really solve the mystery of “who is Saint Valentine” but thanks to Google, we now have a tasty and chocolate covered Google logo to pay tribute to the day of love and romance:

Happy Valentine's Day

The history of Valentine’s Day and its patron saint is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance.

St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

Today the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.

Ok, now for some fun Valentine trivia…. did you know:

  • 188 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion.
  • Over 50 percent of all Valentine’s Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine’s Day a procrastinator’s delight.
  • Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine’s Day by purchasing a greeting card.
  • There are 119 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages.
  • There are 34 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 or older for every 100 single women of the same ages.
  • 904: The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.

Encase you were wondering, the source of the trivia above came from Hallmark research.

I hope your day is filled with love, romance and of course chocolate and nice smelling flowers.

Change A Bulb – Change Everything

Originally posted on February 23, 2007 @ 12:29 pm

Yahoo! in collaboration with AC Nielsen and a group of companies and government entities has launched a campaign to raise awareness about energy efficient light bulbs.

18seconds.org

18Seconds.org is the location of the attractively-designed campaign, complete with a Yahoo! Maps mashup that lets you see how your city and state rank up in terms of CFL purchases.

The site is filled with energy conservation facts and tips with the site’s name stemming from the average amount of time it takes to swap out a light bulb with a CFL-variant.

Be sure to spread the word about the site and campaign. This is a really good cause and can help everyone around the world.