Check out Wolfram Alpha. It’s a neat search tool, which can provide information right away, instead of just giving you a bunch of links to places where you might be able to find the information. It’s new, so it’s still limited. But, it has rather diverse uses. For example, in the search box below, you can type “Daniel” to see when my name was most popular in the US. Or type “Daniel vs David” to see which is more popular. You even get a plot in the results. You can also do fancy math like “integrate cos(x).” Take a look at their page for more uses.

Tags: Nerdy

I recently read the book The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It’s a quick, but very good, read. I especially enjoy reading books that take place in a different country because it gives a taste of the history and culture there, without having to read a boring, nonfiction work. This one takes place in India and gives a depressing account of the lives of poor servants. The slightly deranged narrator of the book is a poor servant who becomes an “entrepreneur.” It is especially interesting to read about Indian culture from his point of view. Of course, this is fiction, so I don’t know how much it resembles reality. But, I’m sure it is based, at least partially, on reality.

Tags: Books

Tonight begins the 8-day holiday of Passover. No leavened bread for Jews for the next few days. In celebration of the holiday, I have a couple funny links to share! Enjoy, and Happy Passover!

A funny retelling of the story of Passover, Facebook-style.

Who let the Jews out?

Updated 04/09/09: Not a funny link, but interesting nonetheless: Obama hosts a seder

Updated 04/12/09: Passover Seder Symbols Song

In celebration of April Fool’s Day, here a couple fun, foolish jokes:

1) Well, of course, Google has one: CADIE. Be sure to look at CADIE’s webpage! Plus, if you are a Windows user, you can download a 3D internet browser!

2) Even astronomers can be funny: Galaxy Zoo (the pdf)

I have always resisted the idea of using livejournal (does anyone use that anymore?) or posting a blog or posting notes on Facebook, but I thought I might try to post some interesting stuff here. I enjoy writing random stuff (and procrastinating writing my paper for publishing my research), and I might enjoy writing these entries more than anyone enjoys reading them. Heck, I might be the only who reads all this. But, I figure if I got to read a bunch of those “20 Interesting Things about Me” posts on Facebook, then I could write a little blog. I won’t write anything too revealing or private. All of my deep, dark secrets will remain that way... secrets. I have so many secrets. For example, when I was 18, I .... Oh wait! Right, it’s a secret!

In the next couple posts, I might write a little more about this website that I created and my recent trips. Eventually, there will be general commentary on anything, rants, hilarious content, etc. Also, I want to add the capability for people to add comments. One step at a time...