0:00:10 - (A): Hey there fellow nerds and tech geeks on Podcast Awesome. We like to talk about icons, design, tech, business and nerdery. And today we'll be going off script just a little bit in an episode that's just for fun. And that fits squarely, definitely into the nerd category, because we're going to be diving deep into the lore of Balmer's Peak, a phenomenon that's part myth, part meme, but most importantly, awesomely entertaining.

0:00:41 - (A): So grab your beverage of choice, though you might want to stick with coffee for now as we unravel this peculiar intersection of programming and, well, party time. Okay, so picture this. It's 3am in a dimly lit office and a developer is staring at their screen trying to crack an impossible bug they've been working at forever, and they reach for their beverage, take a big swig, and suddenly, blammo. The code starts flowing like poetry, and for one brief shining moment, everything in the programming universe starts to come together and make perfect sense.

0:01:31 - (A): Ladies and gentlemen, this sparkly moment is what is known as the Balmer's Peak. Ballmer Peak is a humorous concept invented by Randall Munro and the XKCD webcomic claiming that a programmer who is appropriately intoxicated can achieve a high level of productivity. The concept loosely tied to former Microsoft CEO Ste Steve Ballmer, and is likely a play on Ballmer series of hydrogen spectral lines named for the scientist Johann Balmer.

0:02:03 - (A): But wait just a second. Before you raid the office kegerator, let me explain why this phenomenon shares its name with one of tech's most energetic personalities. But maybe I should back up a little bit. I for one was not aware of this particular phenomenon until about, I'd say, two years ago when I attended a Font Awesome Snuggle. And we know that snuggle sounds a little bit creepy, but it's not. It's just our funny name for our off site, in person meetup that we go to twice a year. Anyway, at the Font Awesome Snuggle we like to have a good time, and that involves a good bit of humor among the team.

0:02:41 - (A): Well, during a particularly riotous outing among the team at a local dinner spot, the phrase Balmer's Peak started to get thrown around pretty liberally. As the evening progressed, someone would exclaim with a smirk on their face, oh, so and so is about to hit that Balmer's Peak again. And then I started to put it together. When this particular person had consumed a few libations, this ordinarily mild mannered guy started cracking more jokes. He became more Animated.

0:03:13 - (A): And he started stringing together some pretty interesting tongue in cheek conspiracy theories. So now it's an ongoing joke at the Snuggles that when Miller Time rolls around, it's time for Ballmer's peak comedy.

0:03:27 - (B): Welcome to Miller time. It's all yours and it's all mine. Bring your thirsty self right here. You've got the time, we've got the deer.

0:03:41 - (A): And as an aside, just so we're covering all of our bases, we are responsible citizens and adults, and we do not advocate alcohol abuse. And really, our social time here between our teammates at the snuggle are pretty mild mannered affair. I mean, come on. Our idea of a raging good time is a round of Star Wars Unlimited that runs until about 10:15. Okay, so back to what is officially considered Ballmer's peak.

0:04:06 - (A): So where did the idea originally come from? Well, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's former CEO, is what you'd get if you somehow combined. I don't know, I'm thinking motivational speaker Matt Foley.

0:04:21 - (C): Now, as your father probably told you, my name is Matt Foley and I.

0:04:28 - (A): Am a motivational speaker or tornado. And somebody who has had way too many espresso shots. And you wrap that up into one human being. This is a guy who once entered a company meeting by literally bursting through a paper wall like the Kool Aid man.

0:04:45 - (B): Oh, yeah.

0:04:50 - (A): But maybe Ballmer's most iconic moment was the legendary developer's chance.

0:04:55 - (C): The key to success is. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Yes.

0:05:15 - (A): And that's not edited, folks. That's just pure unfiltered bomber energy. He wasn't just excited about developers. He was excited about Developers. Developers. Developers. And if that's not the kind of energy you want associated with ushering a technological world domination, I don't know what to tell you, man. Okay, so according to the completely not peer reviewed, totally not real studies documented in the famous XKCD comic, the Balmer peak occurs at a blood alcohol concentration between 0.129%

0:05:53 - (A): and 0.138%. And that's a range that's so specific, it almost sounds scientific. Okay, so let's break down the research here. Below the peak, your code works, but it's about as exciting as vanilla JavaScript. But within the peak, you're suddenly writing elegant algorithms that would make Donald Newth weep with joy. But above the peak, your variable names are now just basically different spellings of potato, and you've somehow converted your entire code base to cobol. The beauty of the Balmer Peak legend is how it's evolved over time in developer culture.

0:06:30 - (A): It's become shorthand for those magical moments when everything just clicks. We've all had that experience where the solution just comes to us in the shower, or while you're walking the do dog or washing the dishes. Or my personal favorite, right as we're explaining the problem to a rubber duck. And that's really what the Balmer Peak represents. The idea that sometimes our best work happens when we stop overthinking and let our minds loosen up a bit. Though preferably not by testing the peak's exact blood alcohol parameters. Of course, this raises the question, what actually helps developers reach their peak performance?

0:07:07 - (A): To find out, I reached out to some of my co workers to see what they had to see say.

0:07:12 - (D): So Isaac took to our Slack channel.

0:07:14 - (A): To check in with the team how.

0:07:16 - (D): They hit the peak, and Corey said, that's a very personal question, Isaac.

0:07:21 - (A): To which Isaac responded, good, then that's.

0:07:24 - (D): The good stuff we need. Corey says, well, it starts with Celine Dion on loop and ends with some kind of alcohol and a ton of code that either works or gets deleted. Wait, what was the question again? Lindsey says, my answer is a VA energy and closing Slack.

0:07:42 - (A): That seems like a healthy choice. Lindsey.

0:07:46 - (D): Mike, always on point, says that he listens to Meshuggah. Okay, here's Corey's real answer. I'm not really sure how to reach Peak every time, but a distraction free area, the right music, usually upbeat and with less vocals. And lately I've been exploring lighting variations. If I turn the main office lights off, switch to dark mode, and turn on my light bar, that seems to.

0:08:17 - (A): Give me a big boost.

0:08:18 - (D): Turning off notifications, especially for emails and other async things, is also a must.

0:08:23 - (A): To stay in the zone.

0:08:24 - (D): And while Celine Dion has some bangers, she's usually not my go to for this. All right, thanks guys.

0:08:32 - (A): The real lesson here, everyone has their own peak, their own optimal state of crushing code and solving problems. It's after a good workout or during your third cup of coffee. And yes, even while channeling your inner Steve Ballmer while you're shouting developers to your rubber duck. The Ballmer Peak has spawned countless memes, several questionable hackathon experiments, and yes, a company that actually created a DIY Breathalyzer so that you can test your blood alcohol level on the job.

0:09:06 - (A): Meet micro masterminds behind a DIY Breathalyzer project created to help you test, yes, test the fabled Balmer Peak with actual data. Microelectronica is a company known for its microcontroller development tools, but they decided to take a playful spin on programming productivity with their custom Breathalyzer kit so you can picture the scene. Imagine you're coating while you're enjoying a nice frothy beverage and you wonder to yourself, hmm, have I hit that mythical sweet spot? Microelectronica's kit lets you measure your blood alcohol content with the idea of correlating it with your productivity. While they didn't exactly create a Nobel winning machine learning model to identify this peak, the Breathalyzer still offers a hands on fun way to explore the Balmer lore. Microelectronica sure knows how to add a dose of humor into the tech world with their Balmer inspired gadget. And who knows, maybe this is just how all great inventions start. Alright folks, I'd say that's about a wrap the tale of the Balmer peak where legend meets laptop and enthusiasm meets enthusiasm. And remember, while the peak might be mythical, the lesson is real.

0:10:23 - (A): Sometimes the best solutions come when you loosen up a little bit, think differently, and maybe, just maybe, channel a little bit of that Balmer energy. Until next time, keep coding, stay curious, and remember that if you find yourself naming variables after potato varieties, it might be time to switch to vitamin water. Alright, so this video episode of Podcast awesome was produced and edited by this guy right here.

0:10:52 - (A): And when it comes to the video stuff, I get a little extra helping hand from our friend Isaac Chase. So thanks for that Isaac. Podcast awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie Martin, musical interstitials were created by Zach Malm, and audio mastering was done by Chris Ends at Lemon Productions.