World stats

http://www.worldometers.info/

Interesting.

Anticipated tech: Google Voice

Since I can't take my cell phone into work with me, some people have a hard time reaching me (because they don't have my work number, and because they don't realize that I'm an e-mail addict). With Google Voice, I would be able to have one phone number dial all three of my phones. Brilliant! Unfortunately, Google Voice is only in a closed beta right now. However, the FAQ page indicates that they will opening it up in a matter of weeks. You can learn more about it, including its other cool features, here: https://www.google.com/voice/about#.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is the new "computational knowledge engine" that everybody's talking about (well, all the nerds are). If you don't know what this is or haven't seen a demo, check out this video: http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html. It's kinda long, but you'll probably get the idea after a couple of minutes.

I don't think this is gonna put Google out of business or anything, but it does look pretty awesome.

Meat poisoning and geeking out.

Note to self: don't enter another eating contest against Steve Mitori. A group of 11 coworkers (and some friends/family) got together last night for dinner at Bacana, a classy churrascaria buffet. Steve and I wanted to settle once and for all who had the bigger appetite, as we were uncertain after past dining experiences together. Despite his slight stature (I would guess 5'-5'', 130 lbs), the man can put the food away. This time, I was to match him bite for bite - everything he ate, I had to eat as well.

I hung with him for a good hour or so through many cuts of meat (my favorites were the garlic fillet and the bacon-wrapped chicken), a plate of sides, and a plate of salad. In the end, however, he prevailed by eating an extra cut of tenderloin and a lime mousse desert. The triumphant moment was immortalized in picture, and I don't look forward to its appearance on Facebook. Congratulations, Steve.

After dinner, a few of us joined a few others (11 in total) for the Star Trek movie. The movie was pretty solid (3/5 on the Netflix scale) and I didn't throw up during it from meat poisoning, but there was a guy sitting in front of us whom I wanted to punch in the face several times for making annoying comments that I'm pretty sure only he thought were humorous. Being the grinch that I am, I was also annoyed when the audience erupted into an ovation at the end of the movie - this is one of my pet peeves.

Speaking of Star Trek, I was surprised the other day to find a Star Dates calendar had been added to my Google Calendar account. I later found out that those tricky Google folks had done this automatically for anybody with a Star Trek event in their calendar. Sneaky, sneaky...