Thanks to Buzzfeed and the Sci-Fi Channel.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Gizmag let us know how to get the perfect Christmas tree. University of Sheffield Maths society students Nicole Wrightman and Alex Craig have developed a formula for the perfect Christmas tree. They developed that formula in response to a challenge by U.K. department store Debenhams.
The formula uses the height of a Christmas tree to get that catalog-perfect look. The height tells you how to decorate the tree. The formula calculates the ideal number of baubles, length of tinsel, and length of lights. It even calculates the height of the star, fairy, or angel sitting atop the tree required to get the catalog-perfect look. “The formulas took us about two hours to complete,” Ms. Wrightmas said. “We hope the formulas will play a part in making Christmas that little bit easier for everyone.”
The “treegonometric” formulas are:
For example, a 6 foot tall (180 cm) Christmas tree needs the following decorations. It needs 37 baubles, around 309 feet (919 cm) of tinsel, and 18.5 feet (565 cm) of lights. The star or angel must be 6in (18cm) to achieve the perfect look.
For those without a calculator at hand, an online calculator can be found here.
Sonya Gillam, Debenhams’ Christmas decorations buyer said, “We wanted to create a way for our customers to save time and money while still achieving the perfect looking tree, no matter what the size.”
Or try Treeasy.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
German automaker Mercedes-Benz has created the most expensive way to bake Christmas cookies. PSFK spotted this ad that uses the MB SLS AMG GT3 supercar rather than a kitchen appliance to bake holiday treats while going over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house.
At $500,000 the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 is probably the most expensive and coolest oven to bake Christmas cookies.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
According to some ‘experts’, the Mayans predicted that the end of the world is on or after 12/21/2012. Well if you are reading this the world did not end.
So who were the Mayans? According to this article, the Mayan civilization flourished in what is now the modern-day Central America region which includes parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. The period of their society lasted from roughly 1800 BC to 800 AD. Why the Maya civilization disappeared is subject to debate among scholars, and includes theories such as a multi-year drought, peasant revolt, disease, and possible overpopulation.
The Mayans left many contributions to the world including their hieroglyphic language, Mayan architecture which includes the famous stepped pyramids, and one of their most famous contributions, the Maya Long Count Calendar.
What is the Mayan Calendar? The Mayan Calendar is actually a collection of several calendars the Mayans used to synchronize events for farming, politics, and astrological events such as the Venus cycle. All of these calendars ranged from as short as 13 days up to 584 days. The Mayans designed their calendar (we believe) to be liner in nature so that it could be extended to any date in the future until eternity. BUT IT STOPS! December 21, 2012 is the last possible day of the current Mayan Calendar.
Did they expect a new, updated calendar would be created?
Are you supposed to re-cycle the existing calendar as the Mayan culture was steeped in the recognition of death and rebirth?
What did they intend when they made the current calendar?
