The Google Doodle today is in honour of Heinrich Hertz, who would have been celebrating his 155th birthday  - if he hadn't died from Wegener's granulomatosis in 1894, or something else since then.

Hertz was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves.

In 1930, the Hertz was made the SI unit of frequency which measures the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon.

Google frequently replaces its familiar Goooogle logo with a special design to commemorate special days. It has used animated images such as the Hertz logo only rarely.

Happy birthday, Heinrich.

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Illustration from: Monsieur Cabinet

Tomorrow is Ash Wedneday.

Are you giving up coffee for Lent?

No. Neither am I.

There is good evidence that caffeine provides a stimulus to mental alertness. 

It also acts as a legal performance enhancer for sports - the AIS has a guide to it use. 

(Alex Watson was ahead of his time)

And it is well known that all decent computer software is developed in the early hours of the morning 'under the influence' of caffeine. (What ever happened to Jolt Cola?)

And we have already reported in WILT that Paul Erdos says that "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems"

However, too much caffeine causes sleeplessness, irritability and nausea.

How much to have?

Researchers at Penn State University to the rescue!

Caffeine Zone is an iPhone app that monitors, predicts, and displays a user's caffeine level in real-time based on a pharmacokinetic model and the user's input of when they consume caffeine. 

The app warns you if you're about to consume a coffee that will put you over the sleep threshold, while it also alerts you if you could do with one more cup.

Caffeine Zone users can enter their caffeine consumption and the app generates a line chart of predicted caffeine level for the next 24 hours. It also shows a cognitive active zone, an area of level where most people will feel active, and sleep zone, an area of caffeine level where most people will be able to sleep. These values are adjustable. These zones can be changed to represent individual differences"

How much Caffeine in my drink?

According to the International Coffee Association, an espresso has about 115 mg, Instant Coffee 65, Cup of tea about 60mg, Coca Cola about 50mg and Red Bull 80g.

See you in the green zone.

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It’s nothing.

AWESOME!

Photo from: here

Mine was “Forever Your Girl” by Paula Abdul which was gift-wrapped together with Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” as part of a Christmas present with my new mini-system. Yes, I was ten years old when the boxy Magnasonic arrived under the tree… and I can still remember those CDs vividly. Of course, that’s probably because we went through the four steps of New Record, Tape, or CD Love together:

Step 1: Plenty of fish. Checking posters at the record store, flipping through Columbia House catalogues, flipping through hundreds of plastic-tombed tapes, you’re single and looking for love. Maybe they had a listening booth but most likely you plucked your album based on a song or two from the radio … and the rest was a complete surprise.

Stage 2: The First Time. This is the sweetest stage. All alone in your room you have a quiet moment with your new disc. When you get frustrated with the shrinkwrap you start biting it till it eventually peels off and static-clings to your hand. Next you push the case open, hear the little squeaky crunch as you pull it out of the case, and then gaze at that mirrory scratchless rainbow purity. Quickly peel out the booklet to see what kind of artwork they included and whether the put the lyrics in. Then you put it into the player, hear it spin round, and hold your breath and push play…

Stage 3: Dating Steady. You can’t live without each other. You pop the tape into your Walkman and listen to both sides, both ways, every day. You stick the CD in your car stereo and jam to it every night on your way home. You start memorizing the lyrics, your brain starts hearing the next song after the last one ends, and you start telling everyone about the album…. This is also the stage when you rearrange your life around your new tape or CD. This means taking every other CD out of your dusty tower by your TV and reorder them all alphabetically.

Stage 4: Lost love. It’s not that the love didn’t last. It’s just that your heart moved on and your record or tape didn’t change. You dyed your hair and went punk, fell in love with someone into hip-hop, or maybe got strung out on Top 40 during your blurry Clubland days. Now your first CD or tape sits lonely at the bottom of a shoebox, garage sale pile, or closet. You stumble upon it again and pop it in for a listen down memory lane… with your brain still hearing the next song after the last one ends, the lyrics shooting back to you, and all the memories from that distant time in your life flashing through your brain. You can see the bedspread you sat on listening… see the posters on your wall… and hear your mom calling your for dinner…

Your first album calls back a day when records, tapes, and CDs meant something more. They weren’t just plastic rectangles in paper boxes… they were little keys to your thoughts, doors to your heart, and friends when you were lonely. Lyrics colored in your own feelings, choruses sent you flying away, twisted jams twisted your head around, and every part of it made you today….

AWESOME!

Photos from: here, here, and here