Today's posts contains mainly some memory- and math-related videos I've recently discovered, along with some thoughts they inspired.


The Pi-Reciter Your Man Could Smell Like:


If you're counting, the Old Spice Guy (Isaiah Mustafa) makes it up to 100 digits of Pi, albeit by cheating through editing. Ladies, if you want your man to smell like him, well, use Old Spice.

If you want your man to recite Pi like him, without cheating, have him practice Pimon (Flash required). It's a game much like the classic Simon game, except that it will always light up in the order of the digits of Pi. It's a fun way to push yourself to learn Pi while having fun.


Tom Lehrer's Elements Song, Instant Search Version:


I've featured Tom Lehrer's Elements Song before, but this new version employs the newly released Google Instants, a technology that gives search results as you type. I can see this becoming a very popular internet meme.


Chuck Jones' The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics:


This unusual feature is based on a book of the same name by Norton Juster, first published in 1963. It's a whimsical story, based in mathematics, that builds up to the perfect pun at the end.


Wanna Bet? Barcode Kid Bet:


This clip is from a German show called Wetten Dass...? (Wanna Bet...?). It's a combination talk show and game show, where celebrities come on, and bet on whether ordinary people can truly perform extraordinary feats. The most intriguing of these are the Kinderwette, or “Kid Bet” challenges.

In the video above, two kids claim they can identify grocery store products solely by their barcode. Look closely, though, and you'll notice that they're give barcodes with no numbers on them! Most likely, they're using variation of a binary memory technique to perform this feat. The amount of work they put into memorizing the items is still impressive, though!