#rsquare

If you have been a nerd as long as I have, you probably remember an internet without graphical browsers, and probably even dialing into a bulletin board with your state-of-the-art 1200 baud rate modem.

Since nerds like to express themselves creatively, and there was no easy solution to create images, ASCII-art was born.

Now most people would tediously insert character-by-character until they had created their "pièce de résistance," (usually something phallic, but let's save that for another discussion).

Fast forward to 2010, when ASCII-art is considered retro-nerd, or nerd-chic, but you don't have the time to create your phallus art one character at a time? 

Enter #ASCII Paint!  This is a pretty cool online tool, which will help you discover your artistic side, without all the tedious hunt-and-peck.

Feel free to share anything cool that you create with us.  We'd love to see it! 

So I missed the 100,000 mile anniversary of my car, but I didn’t dare miss this milestone.

1000 nerd points to whoever can tell me why this is really, really nerdy. Contributing editors are ineligible.  Care to guess what makes a picture of my dashboard so nerdy?

UPDATE:  Well first off, to appease xxcoopxx, there is a two-part answer. 1) 101010 is the binary representation of the number 42. 2) For those rare nerds that are unfamiliar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, the number 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

As a self-admitted nerd, I have to say that I absolutely love pizza.  Not just the taste, but there are other reasons, some more nerdy than others:

1.)  I don't have to prepare it, or leave my lair to get it.  While there are other delivery foods, most people think immediately of pizza when they don't feel like cooking, and also don’t feel like even getting in the car to go get food.

2.)  It’s got all the food groups.  While hardly health conscious, I do try pay some measure of attention to what I put in my body.  Burgers and fries cover barely 3 food groups, and its debatable whether a pickle and small piece of lettuce can count as a serving of fruits and vegetables.

3.)  Shelf-life.  I can order a large pizza, and eat only a few slices.  The rest I can put in my refrigerator and eat cold for breakfast, or reheat it quickly if so inclined.  This is particularly important if you are a nerd who is a bit reclusive, since most delivery foods are not meals for one.

4.)  Value.  Pizza places are generally pretty competitive with coupons and such, but lately there has been an all-out price war.  For less than two meals at McDonald’s, you can get a large pizza pie, which usually gives me lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning.

5.)  It is so easy to order.  Traditionally calling is convenient, but ordering on the internet is so much cooler.  Domino’s for instance has a pizza tracker, which will tell you the name of the person making it, what time it went in the oven, and what time it went out for delivery, and the name of the person bringing it.  This should give you ample time to scrounge the sofa cushions to find a suitable tip for the delivery-person.

6.)  It’s customizable.  Burgers and fries can really only be made so many ways, while pizza options and topping combinations are virtually limitless.

7.)  Pizza is round.  Okay, most people probably don’t care what shape their food is, but in my case, I prefer that my “pies” can be measured using R^2.

I think that is pretty compelling evidence that pizza is the ultimate nerd food.  If you disagree, be sure to let me know.  If you can think of other reasons why pizza rules, let me know that too.

I was inspired to think about pizza this morning after reading an interesting article on why Dominos admitted their pizza sucks, and decided to reinvent their wheel.