Wikipedia

I love Wikipedia. Sure, the validity of many articles is questionable, but how many encyclopedias have any information on, say, Jack Bauer? I am in Kate's apartment right now and we're shooting the shit like usual, and I was saying how Wikipedia is the closest thing we have to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I remember that the HHGG was really huge if you printed it out, and I was curious how much volume a printed Wikipedia would take. So I went to Wikipedia's technical FAQ to find out.

Here is the most recent information (as of August 2006):

Wikipedia non-thumbnail storage: 1.2 TB
Number of kilobytes in 1.2 TB: 1,288,490,189 KB
Average number of kilobytes per printed page: 2
Number of printed pages for Wikipedia: 644,245,094
Thickness of a piece of paper: 0.05 mm
Height of the stack of one-sided paper: 3221225.4725 mm = 3,221 meters high
In feet: 10,567.59 ft
Height of storage: 11 ft
An 8.5"x11" piece of paper is 0.649305556 ft^2
There are 304.8 mm in a foot
Millimeters in a stack of papers: 304.8 * 11 = 3352.8
Sheets of paper in a stack to the ceiling: 3352.8 / 0.05 = 67,056
Number of stacks: 644,245,094 / 67,056 = 9607.568 each taking up 6,238.2474 square feet.

September 30th, 2006 - An Amazing Day

It's been a long time since I posted as I've been out enjoying the Seattle summer, but now that I'm back indoors and October 4th will conclude my second full year in Seattle and inaugurate my third with the return of our abysmal climate, I suppose it's time to write more into my little blog.

Some huge things have happened to me on Saturday.

I realized I was in love with my girlfriend Kate. This is huge for me because once I committed myself to becoming a pickup artist back in January, I didn't think I would settle down into a serious relationship for a very long time. I figured I would be on my own for at least a year or two, improving my skill set so I could ultimately become a social coach and teach others. I met Kate in mid-August at our usual stomping grounds, Amber. She actually was pretty mean to me on my cold approach, but thankfully I knew her friend Xtine from IBM back in 2003, and Xtine assured her that I was actually an awesome guy.

It turns out she's an amazing woman and we have a whole lot in common. She doesn't like the pickup artist part of me too much, but she knows I really am committed to helping other guys so she is fine with me pursuing my dream. Here's a shot of the two of us at Tia Lou's for my friend Arnab's birthday.

Kate, I'm sorry I didn't remove the red-eye from this photo. (she has huge pupils so she always gets red-eyed). But you look more sinister like this anyway. :-)

I was baptized into Capoeira. I first saw Capoeira in Brazil two years ago on a business trip with Microsoft, and fascinated as I was I didn't get a chance to pursue it until this summer. While I've only been playing for two months, I've really enjoyed the experience so far and I registered for our "batizado" (baptism) that was held this past Saturday. I received my first belt (white) and played mestres (masters) from Brazil who were very good and kicked me down. Here's a shot Kate took during the batizado:

I'm doing a kick we call meia-lua de compasso: It took me a while to get reasonably decent at this kick but I really like doing it (to the right... to the left is still a challenge).

I met my hero and arguably the best social coach / pickup artist on the planet, Wayne Elise (a.k.a. Juggler). He came to our most recent meeting during their workshop this weekend and I had the distinct opportunity to introduce him to the group. His talk was incredibly charismatic and everyone was very excited to meet him. He's a legend in the community and easily my favorite guru out there.

Wayne, thanks for talking to our group. I hope to see you again some day.