Chad's News

Google is known for the unusual questions it asks job applicants, the most famous of which is “Why are manhole covers round?” The linked articles answer 15 of the actual questions, from a list of 140 collected by a professional interview coach. I was flying high when I knew the answer to “Explain the significance of ‘dead beef’?”, but felt pretty stupid for not getting “How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?”

Link #1 (questions): http://www.businessinsider.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Link #2 (answers): http://www.businessinsider.com/…

Link #3 (main article): http://www.businessinsider.com/…

I’m not quite old enough to remember when phone numbers were something like “WHItehall 1212″, but I’ve seen references to that nomenclature in older movies and books. I do, however, remember only needing to dial the last 5 digits (e.g., 6-4085 versus 856-4085) after moving to Wyoming in 1976. How things have changed in a few short decades—these days I have to dial the full 10 digits because Denver has two area codes. For those like myself who are curious about these types of things, the linked article explains the older numbering system and its history.

Link: http://scheong.wordpress.com/…
(via Neatorama)

Back in 1956, test pilot Tom Attridge managed to shoot himself down while flying a fighter jet. He fired the bullets during a dive, went beneath them, then flew through them at Mach one as they slowed and their trajectory changed. The damage was bad enough that the plane crashed.

Link: http://www.aerofiles.com/…
(via Neatorama)

A bit on the pricey side, but this Jedi-styled bathrobe is pretty neat! Wish it had been available when I was purchasing a robe last year. There’s also a Sith version.

Link: http://shop.starwars.com/…

This year’s Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on September 30^th. Once again it was a fairly weak field, but here are some of the better ones (see the linked article for the full list):

• Management Prize: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random. [Related: The Peter Principle]
• Peace Prize: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
• Medicine Prize: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.

Link: http://improbable.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Knee Defenders are rubber grips that attach to the arms of an airplane tray table and prevent the person in front of you from reclining the seat, thus giving you more space to breath and move. Especially useful for big or tall people.

Link: http://www.gadgetduck.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Nerf toys have come a very long way since I was a kid. The Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS is a fully-automatic Nerf gun that shoots Nerf darts. It comes with three 18-dart magazines and another that holds 6, for a total of 60 darts (included). It also has a riot shield and bipod. See the Hasbro website for a demonstration video showing it in action.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

We’ve all seen the pictures where the splash from a drop of water is caught on high-speed film. Photographer Alexander Augusteijn goes one step further and adds a bullet to the mix. Check out his gallery of high-speed photos, with water drops and more.

Link: http://www.petapixel.com/…
(via Neatorama)

Which properties in Monopoly are the least and most likely to land on? In Clue, which character will give you an immediate advantage? Why don’t you want to be the first player in Jenga? The answers to these questions, and more, are in the linked article.

Link: http://www.mentalfloss.com/…

A US family was facing foreclosure and the loss of the home they’d lived in for decades. Accepting the inevitable, they started sorting and packing the stuff they’d accumulated over the years. And what a surprise they found: issue #1 of Action Comics, the first appearance of Superman. It’s expected to sell at auction for about $250,000 (recent sales of the same comic in better condition have gone for over $1 million). This will save the house from foreclosure, but they had to get a comic book dealer to call the bank and explain the situation.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/…
(via Slashdot)

With so many devices using USB connectors as power/charging sources, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone created the USB power strip. A bit on the expensive side, however, and I prefer the USB-enabled power outlet for sheer geek cred.

Link: http://cubiclebot.com/…

I suppose it was just a matter of time before someone put a sandwich inside a can. Apparently the hard part was developing a shelf-stable form of bread that can stay fresh for up to a year. Here’s hoping the inventor, Mark Kirkland, makes a ton of money from his idea.

Thanks to Kevin for this link.

Link: http://www.aolnews.com/…