Here’s a little secret for you. Anyone who actually enjoys making small talk is boring. Do you think I really want to talk about the weather? I don’t have the patience to wait and see if you have anything better to say. Life is too short, there are too many interesting people out there for me to be wasting my time with you.

You don’t want to be Susie Smalltalk, you want to be interesting. What makes someone interesting? They have a passion for things. More specifically, they have an irrational passion for things. It’s far too common to be into cars, fashion, or football. Boring. But being passionate about something that is so random it seems irrational to be so excited about it, now that is interesting.

All you have to do is drop superlatives about a subject the person you’re speaking with has never thought about. Then back it up with supporting arguments that could logically make sense.

“The greatest travesty in the textile industry is that wool has been replaced by inferior technologically advanced materials.”

“Run DMC is the most influential music group of all time.”

This naturally lends itself into teaching them something, which interesting people will enjoy. It also gives your conversational partner the opportunity to challenge you – it is these people that you want to clench on to. Don’t worry if you lose the debate. Yes, the Beatles were also quite an influential band. Good for them. The important thing is that you are having an stimulating conversation and discovering whether the person is worth speaking with again.

Let’s get to thinking … what are some subjects that you are irrationally passionate about?

Photo: Noukka Signe

I am back from two glorious weeks in Costa Rica. The beaches, rainforests, and wildlife made it an unforgettable trip and made me want to explore the rest of the Central America. Rather than turning this into a travel blog, I think the pedantic readers would appreciate some knowledge. So here are some things you probably don’t know about the country – pura vida!
 

• Costa Rica is one of the greenest countries in the world. Yes, the vegetation is thick and vibrant, but I mean the environmental friendly type of green. A whopping 25% of the land is protected by national parks and wildlife reserves (for comparison sake, the world average is around 10%). On top of that, the government put forward a plan to be 100% carbon neutral by 2030 (already 90% of energy comes from renewable resources).

 

• Costa Rica has a tiny pocket of malaria in a remote part of the jungle. The Red Cross has a policy that you should wait 12 months after traveling to “an area” where malaria is found before giving blood (because blood donations are not checked for malaria). Thus, it could be difficult for travelers to Costa Rica to give blood for the following year (although you can show your itinerary and see if they will accept you weren’t in danger of being exposed to malaria).

 

• The Nicoya Peninsula has been identified as one of the five regions in the world where people regularly live to 100 (written about in the book Blue Zones). These regions share the common characteristics of putting family first, non-smoking, plant-based diet, constant moderate physical activity, social engagement, and eating legumes.

 

• Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948, immediately following a bloody civil war, and made it permanent by adding it to their constitution the following year. Instead, the budget is spent on education, culture, and security (they still have Police Guard forces responsible for ground security, law enforcement, counter-narcotics, and border patrol). Costa Rica is one of the largest of the 19 countries without a military and one of the few that is a democracy.

 

• But those Costa Ricans can be shady as well. China built Costa Rica a $105 million dollar stadium earlier this year as a “gift”. Hmmmmm, why is China giving out gifts? Why is a country known for its kickass lifestyle getting so buddy-buddy with a country known for its human rights violations? Check out this story to learn this and why a bridge was unofficially renamed from “Bridge of Friendship” to “Bridge of Backstabbing”.

 

• The country is only 19,653 square miles (imagine a 200 mile by 100 mile plot of land), yet it takes a long time to get anywhere. Many of the roads are still dirt. The roads that are paved are two lane highways – its not uncommon for a bus to stop in the middle of the highway or a cart pulled by oxen to slow down traffic. Despite this, it is one of the most developed countries in Central America.

If you liked this post, check out this one about the Netherlands (I haven’t been there, but did have a few facts to share).

Photo: Rafael Alverez

Oh brogramming! What a beautify made up word. It is a combination of two words I hold near and dear to my heart. BRO + PROGRAMMING = BROGRAMMING. Yes, the meaning matches your current mental picture – a sickass dude programming a computer.

What does this involve? It is up to interpretation, but it definitely involves wearing your sunglasses indoors while using the computer. Lifting weights is important – and don’t forget your protein shakes. Drinking alcohol while programming is encouraged. The more caffeine consumed the better.

You may be absolutely puzzled right now. How the heck did these two worlds collide? Well, in the land of software, the Silicon Valley, pretty much the coolest thing you can do is code. And to show how sweet you are, instead of pictures on your desk of your loved ones, people here decorate their desks by displaying the largest and most intense energy drinks you can find. Yes, it is a unique place.

Starter Kit

Now that I have you excited, how do you join the team? Copy this desk setup:

You must be concerned about health – at least to an extent. Eat healthy food and be sure to pair it with a workout regiment that focuses on the beach muscles. Bicep curls, bench press, calf raises, repeat. Next, (this may seem in direct conflict with the previous point, but just go with it) drinking a ton is cool. Beer, vodka, or Jager. You can drink while at your computer, or alternatively you can return to coding after a wild night in the club. Be sure to have powerful energy drinks within arm reach to stave off the inevitable crash when it arrives.

Congrats, you have passed Brogramming 101 are now a brogrammer! This answer on Quora provides some addition reading material for those of you that want to advance to 201 next semester. Let me give a sneak peak for the Pedantic Post readers that don’t click on links…

Here is a flow chart to study before next semester (programming logic is similar to the logic of flow charts so they are useful for communicating how a program should behave):

If you are ready to start writing code, here is a pretty solid example. Do the same for the song Lip Gloss or any Little Wayne jam and email it to me for extra credit:

 

Why should you care?

Nerdy and cool are colliding whether you like it or not. Need evidence? Chess-boxing is the fastest growing sport in America (I always thought it was hilarious how many sports claimed to the fastest growing in America, so what’s one more claim?):

This collision is great news for everyone. If you are a nerd, you get the opportunity to battle the jocks that made fun of you in high school. If you are a hella chill dude, you get the opportunity to compete with people way smarter than you on a slightly more even playing field. What a great opportunity!

Faithful readers, what bro-sports and dude-tivities can we invent? The top idea gets to challenge me for slammers and/or pink slips.
 

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I don’t think everyone is aware of the huge problem facing mankind. No, not global warming. This one isn’t talked about for some reason, but soon it could be an even bigger problem than global warming. I’m talking about infertility, specifically male infertility.

Children of Men is an excellent movie about the world in 2027, 18 years after the last human was born. That’s right, the human race became sterile – the scary thing is that this scenario is not as ridiculous as you would think. In the movie it is due to a genetic defect in women, but in real life it is more likely to be men that are the downfall.

Sperm counts are dropping like middle school girls running hurdles. It’s bad. In the last 50 years it is estimated that sperm counts have halved. Even worse, they show no signs of stopping – every year sperm counts around the world are dropping 1 to 2 percent. Do I need sources for this? No. I don’t care what the exact numbers are – there is so obviously a correlation, it doesn’t matter if it is only half as bad as I just said. The fact remains, we are doing some real damage.

So what is happening? Unfortunately there isn’t one answer, there are numerous environmental factors that contribute to this decline. Things like plastics, pesticides, soy products, obesity, sitting in an office all day, and more. Pretty much everything in our lives …

There is one that has come up in the last 15 years that should be more publicized – leaving a cell phone on in your pocket! Even a limited exposure of an hour a day has been shown to immensely kill sperm and lower testosterone. Luckily, this is an easy problem to fix. Enter the Save Our Balls Pocket Shield. This is a simple product I am producing that will protect your cojones – simply clip the shield to your pocket before putting on your pants and it will block the radiation from hitting your boys. Perfect!
Keep reading…

Richard Branson is the man (not quite all that is man, but he may make the cut someday). Earlier this week he wrote a letter to all the Virgin Atlantic pilots that are threatening to go on strike. The reason for the strike? The union isn’t happy with a 4% pay raise after a 3 year pay freeze. Richard isn’t the CEO or even involved in running the business anymore, but he is stepping in to try to save his baby.

First, he took an objective look at the company to see if the offer is fair:

In the last week I have spent a lot of time trying to understand whether the management team at the airline has treated everyone fairly and whether the company can afford to go further with its pay offer.

Then he offers to share the information with them that led him to believe it is a fair offer and the best that can be extended:

The management have told me they are happy to share up to date corporate accounts with your union so they can understand the financial context from where the offer has been made. As shareholders we’ve also got to ensure the airline is strong enough to withstand the many challenges it faces in this constantly changing market.

Keep reading …