Pete Dudchenko

Happy Halloween – Graph

Pete Dudchenko — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:36:56 +0000

via pdviz.com

Roadtrip!

Pete Dudchenko — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:07:33 +0000

I was going to read this…but I’ll do it later.

Pete Dudchenko — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:30:51 +0000

Fungus+Virus = Honeybee Death

Pete Dudchenko — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Combining a fungus and a virus appears to be a leading cause of the recent honeybee drop off that’s been confusing scientists for the past couple of years.

As you know, honeybees are crucial to food production for humans so some people are responding by starting their own bee colonies around the country. Oddly enough, you can start a bee colony even if you live in NYC!

5 Things They Never Tell You About Becoming A Parent

Pete Dudchenko — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:06:30 +0000

My wife and I recently had a son and while it’s been a blessing and a joy, I can’t help but take a few minutes to share some items that no one prepared me for when they told me about the joys of parenthood:

5. The shooting pains that develop in your lower back.

I don’t know if this is from leaning over to pick him up or from holding him all the time but whatever is the cause, it feels like a small knife in my back whenever I lean over. Oh the joys of getting older.

4. Rocking back and forth for no apparent reason

I first noticed this on a business trip in my hotel room as I was working at night. It was my first trip away from my wife and son and I was typing away at my computer when I noticed that the screen was moving. When I stopped typing I realized that the screen wasn’t moving, I was. Apparently the constant rocking I had been doing to put the little guy to sleep had been so ingrained in my muscle memory that I was doing it without knowing.

3. There’s always a feeling like you have a burp cloth on your shoulder.

I was at work and had the nagging feeling like there was a burp cloth on my shoulder. The weird thing is, those burp clothes will never stay where they need to be to do any good! If he spits up, or as soon as you lean over (Ouch! Back pain!) the burp cloth never fails to fall down or avoid spit up from hitting your clothes.

2. At least one room in your house will look like a clown threw up a rainbow from all the colors of the baby toys laying around.

In our case it’s more like three rooms but as soon as I started my first assembly of some of the toys we had bought or received as gifts, I quickly noticed that color stimulation is a big thing for infants. One would think there is a direct correlation between the number of colors per square inch on a toy and the chances of them going to Harvard.

1. People asking “hows they baby” is really just small talk. They don’t really need a 30 minute explanation.

Can you survive a falling elevator by jumping at the last second?

Pete Dudchenko — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:01:59 +0000

My friend recently sent me a text message,

“Ever been stuck in an elevator? Any ideas on how to pass the time?”

Aside from feeling bad for my friend and passing text messages back and forth to consume the 30 minutes he had to wait before getting rescued, there wasn’t much else I could do. I did however remember about another guy who was stuck in an elevator for 41 hours before finally being discovered. Now that’s a long time to wait. During that time his mind started running through scenarios around the stability of the elevator. Was it damaged for some reason? Was the building on fire? What if he fell to his death?

I wouldn’t doubt that most of us have entertained the idea of a elevator suddenly plummeting towards the ground due to some mechanical failure. Well the good news is that short of a catastrophic event to the building, there are enough safety checks to make sure this never happens.

But what if it does?

I remember watching cartoons as a kid where Daffy Duck was falling out of the sky in a box container and at the last second he steps out of the box and safely walks away unharmed as the container absorbs all of the impact and is crushed. This of course raised the question about the possibility of “jumping” at the last second should I ever be faced with a failed elevator rocketing towards the Earth. Could it work?

Of course I assumed not, this doesn’t seem possible but I was curious what the physics were around the reason and I found a pretty simplistic explanation while reading more about the man trapped for 41 hours. Here’s the answer from an expert:

To the age-old half-serious question of whether a passenger barrelling earthward in a runaway elevator should jump in the air just before impact, Pulling responded…, that you can’t jump up fast enough to counteract the rate of descent. “And how are you supposed to know when to jump?” he said. As for an alternative strategy—lie flat on the floor?—he shrugged: “Dead’s dead.”

So there you have it. If you find yourself in the situation, chances are you’ll be saved by one of the many fail-safes. if those fail, well it was nice knowing ya.

Oh yeah, this looks safe…

Pete Dudchenko — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:53:03 +0000

Fail – Poor Advertising Targeting (Image)

Pete Dudchenko — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Sad to say that an article on the possible extinction of Sturgeon was accompanied by an ad to promote caviar…the very reason the Sturgeon are going extinct.

Proof around the harmful effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Pete Dudchenko — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:22:17 +0000

High Fructose Corn Syrup is in a lot of processed foods. You’d be surprised how much it shows up when you read ingredients. The most common of course is soda. I’ve been aware of its supposed harmful effects ever since I started watching King of Corn or Food Inc. but this article talks about studies that prove the harmful effects of this corn sweeter.

Although many of us suspected this stuff really isn’t healthy for us,
we didn’t actually know how it was affecting our bodies.

Well, a team of Princeton researchers has now released their official
findings on a high fructose corn syrup study with (not so) shocking
conclusions…more

LeWhif gives new meaning to the term “inhaling your food”

Pete Dudchenko — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:46:00 +0000

LeWhif promotes itself with the tagline “As sweet as chocolate, as light as air.” Basically it looks like a fat cigarette that you inhale to get the flavor of chocolate or coffee. Each device offers up to eight “puffs of chocolate” and is basically calorie free.

At what point did it become too time consuming to eat or drink? Personally, I don’t think this is going to curb any cravings one might have around chocolate or coffee but I’m curious if anyone else things this has some merit? If nothing else the site offers some amusing images of people “puffing” on coffee.

Found via dietblog

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Pete Dudchenko — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:32:56 +0000

Pretty funny stuff with Zach and Conan.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns