The Oldest Businesses Still in Business
So there are two hotels in Japan, founded twelve years apart. The oldest is Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan, founded in (get this) 705 CE. Seriously. It’s had 52 operators since it was founded.
More interesting to me was the one founded just twelve years later: Hoshi Ryokan. This place has been run by the same family, for 46 generations. Let that sink in a moment. Forty-six generations.
Robot Hummingbirds
They fly (more or less) just like real hummingbirds — no propellers, just wings. They’ve been developed for DARPA for surveillance work.
Ice Hotel — Now with Tron Suite
So if you’re an uber-fan of the movie(s) Tron, here’s a great place to take a vacation: the TRON suite, in an ice-hotel. Featuring lights embedded in the ice.
Survive the Apocolypse Home for Sale
Worried about zombies? Don’t be, with this modest ranch-style home built over a converted missile silo and bunker. Shotguns sold separately.
Sometimes Writing Letters Works
So this guy sent a bunch of published authors and critics a survey, asking them about their use of symbolism in their work, or perceived symbols in the work of others. Dry, right? Well, the guy sent the survey to people like Fritz Leiber, Lloyd Biggle Jr., Judith Merril, A. J. Budrys, Jack Kerouac, Ayn Rand, Ralph Ellison, Ray Bradbury, John Updike, Saul Bellow, and Norman Mailer. Why did he do it? Mostly to settle an argument he was having with his high school English teacher — the guy in question (Bruce McAllister) was 16 at the time. Click on the article for the fascinating replies. More than half the people he mailed wrote back.
Visualization of a Magnetic Storm
Slap on your space boots, we’re going some place super-geeky. Scientists created a visualization of a magnetic storm interacting with the upper atmosphere. As Phil Plait said it, anyone else reminded of Forbidden Planet? Full screen it for best effect.
Methane Fountains
There’s a term I didn’t expect to hear about someplace on Earth. You’d think that’d be about some icey moon orbiting Jupiter or something. But no, apparently there are plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the Arctic ocean. Lovely!
Newton’s Marked-Up Copy
Sometimes a marked-up book can be worth more than a pristine one. Like in the case of Isaac Newton’s own first-printing copy of Principa Mathematica, where he made notes about the corrections he wanted to make for the second printing. See the full digitized copy.
Hidden Pools
Because every house should have one of these. Seriously, watch the video. It’s a Bond villain’s swimming pool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7mXLqIJXHs
Kinda Big
A consortium of 40 universities and institutes will embark on a project to build the second largest human-built structure in the world (after the Great Wall of China). What’s it do? Detect neutrinos. Yeah, I know, not very exciting. But it does cool science things. The giant detector will be a stand of vertically-tethered towers, with highly sensitive optical receptors at even intervals along it’s length. Then these things will be tied to the sea floor in the Mediterranean.
In case you have trouble visualizing what this thing will look like, here’s the money shot:
Carved Books
You won’t believe how cool these look until you see the pictures. Yes, sculptures made from books.
20 Best Visualizations of 2011
I know, lists are cheap and charts are the worst. Well, consider this the best of the worst. Actually, they’re better than that sounds. These are some cool ways of visualizing information, sometimes very complex information (like an overview of the US military or every country that has every participated in the Space Race and what they did).
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
Stars over Crater Lake
Another amazing time-lapse video of the star-scape over Crater Lake. Watch for the vault of the heavens view reflected in the smooth surface of the lake about 2/3 of the way into the video. And for the photography geeks out there, details on equipment used at the end of the video.
They Might Be Giants Slashdot Interview
There’s a lot of Geek in this link: pre-eminent indie-rockers They Might Be Giants, Slashdot and Science! For those who might need a reminder, They Might Be Giants are an odd-ball rock band from way back in the 80’s who gave us such songs as “Istanbul (not Constantinople)”, “Particle Man”, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, and “Boss of Me” (better known as the theme song of the TV show “Malcom in the Middle”). So why are they Geeky (capital G)? Because these guys are HUGE geeks. They used USENET groups in 1992 to send notices to their fans about upcoming gigs. They created Dial-a-Song, basically an answering machine people could call to listen to their new music (and some fake ads). They created one of the first artist-owned online music stores, selling MP3s directly to fans before most record companies knew about this Internet thing. I could go on.
This is a Good Sign
More and more kids are getting into the Maker Movement — which is basically Mad Scientist Training Camp, as far as I can see. There are more kids getting into creating things, buying circuit boards and soldering them together, for instance, or making their own marshmallow cannons. Great trend!
Electric-powered Multi-copter Manned Flight
Some German scientists/hobbyists built and flew the first manned multi-copter. What’s a multi-copter, you say? It’s a vehicle that produces lift (and flight) via multiple helicopter-like rotors. It’s like a hovercraft that flies. Watch the video to see what I mean. Interestingly, this is all done via electric motors. The folks behind it estimate that a one hour flight on the final device would cost about 6 euros of electricity to run.
Extreme Light Infrastructure
Or ELI for short! Scientists want to build a laser to “rip a hole in space-time”. Yeah, it’s another start to a scifi movie. To do this, they want to concentrate 10 lasers wielding 200 petawatts of power into one spot for a trillionth of a second. Fun!
Well, the Fake Mars crew is back from Fake Mars. It appears to have been a great success. No murders, for instance. When you consider that 6 guys just spent 520 days in the same space as a bus, stabbing a guy for taking the last pudding cup doesn’t seem that out there. The other great success was that they didn’t leave their fake spacecraft, even though they could at any time — so it’s at least more successful than the Bio-Dome (1 or 2).
288,000 Jelly Beans, One Singer and a Stop-Motion Camera
How to make a music video that’s both simple and amazingly artful. I never imagined that jelly beans could also do surreal sound-scapes, too. The link includes the video, and a behind-the-scenes look at how it was all done. One shocking factoid from the behind-the-scenes video: no green screen was used. The singer lay on top of a glass case over the jelly beans to make the video. Yeah.
3D Volumetric Projection
This is the very early steps towards those cool scifi holograms we’ve seen for 40 years in the theater — only for real! Right now they’re limited to just 10 rotational voxels, but the prof working on it hopes to use over 100 projectors (small ones, I’m guessing) to provide real, crisp resolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijOK_hb18kE
Global Village Construction Set
This group has created and posted the plans for 50 different industrial machines that they consider crucial for a “small civilization with modern comforts”. It includes a 3D printer, and the ability to build a very modern village.
Video Time Machine
Pick a year, and watch what comes up on the screen. It’s a giant archive of the video culture, organized by year, and randomized for your amusement. Sports clips, commercials, video games, news casts, movies, and music.
It’s a Polaroid! Sort-of
So there’s this camera that gives you an immediate print of what you photographed? Sound familiar? Like 1948 all over again? Well, it’s not. The same company that brought you the instant film camera now is coming out with a digital camera (14MP) that’s tied to an instant printer in the same unit. I’m not sure if this is a genius move or using new technology to do something old-fashioned.
Darwin and Human Emotions
Did you know that Darwin conducted an experiment (over 150 years ago) to see whether the facial expressions of human emotions were recognized or used the same regardless of cultural background. He did! They do! And now there’s an international experiment being conducted to further study this effect, only involving as many people as can get to the online website and take the test.
An Airship That Goes Anywhere
I’m sure I’ve posted about this before, but this is the first real video of a working prototype I’ve seen. This company makes what’s called a Hybrid Airship — the hybrid part is because it’s a little like a plane, a helicopter and a regular (helium-filled, thank you) airship. It can take off and land without the need of a runway (or even land, if you’ve got the water-gear on). It can stay aloft for up to 3 weeks at a time (yes WEEKS), and the full version will be 1000 feet long and be able to carry over 1000 tons. I mean, wow! Sure, you’ve heard that all before. How serious is this? The US military has bought a few.
Acoustic Ruler Using iPhone
This is kind of wild. This guy made an iPhone app that measures distance just using acoustics. It has two modes: two phones or 1 (w/headphones). You put one iPhone where you want to measure to, and the first phone where you want to measure from, they play some tones and calculate the difference. Or the same using the headphones.
Amazing Fly-over of Earth
From the International Space Station. For best results, put on HD, full-screen it, and turn up the volume on the trippy musical score.
Raise the Ice Shields!
The capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, is planning on creating artificial glaciers that will very slowly melt over the course of the summer to help cool the city. Read about how they plan on doing that:
Ghost Mountains Explained
And before you get up on your high-horse about silly paranormal photos and PhotoShop, hush. These are mountains in Antarctica, buried under 4 km of ice. Scientists have finally figured out how mountains exist where everyone thought it was just a barren flat wasteland of ice. The article includes a link to an animated explanation.
New Maps of the Moon
Higher resolution topographic maps of the moon are now available, including false-color images showing detail up to 100 meters.
Giant Robot Snake
Designers have created a giant robot snake 35 feet long (because THAT was necessary), and even better, it’s based on a 50-foot long prehistoric serpent. Watch the video so you can see the very realistic movement of the giant robot snake, and also the guy in the spider-leg car (no, I’m not kidding).
Computer Legends First Computers
Speaking of giants, this article asks several giants of the computer age about their first computer experiences. See what Vint Cerf, William Gibson and others remember.
Building the World’s Largest Tesla Coils
Or how to do man-made lightning. By “world’s largest”, they mean tesla coils 10 stories tall, and 260 feet apart. Yes, there is a video.
The 2,100-Year-Old Wrist Watch
Remember the Antikythera mechanism? So last century, right? Well how about this wrist-watch version? Watchmaker’s Hublot have put together a concept piece that replicates the Antikythera’s inner workings in miniature, with a handy time-keeping circuit to show you the time, too. It can accurately show the motions of the 5 planetary objects the Greeks knew about 2200 years ago and predict eclipses. Full video from the watchmaker’s detailing their work.
Worlds lightest material
Remember aerogel? The stuff that’s super-light and non-conductive? Weighs almost nothing? So last century.
They’re Just Cake Sprinkles
Ever wonder how many cake sprinkles you’d need to make a photo-realistic mosaic? About 221,184.
Earthscraper Concept Taking Off
Yes, that’s “earth scraper” as opposed to skyscraper. The idea is to build down (which has happened before). In this case, the idea is to build down BIG. Like arcology big.
Miniatur Wunderland
Think you have a nifty model train set? Think you’ve seen some great miniature setups? Think again. Let’s try 12,000 meters of track (yes, that’s 12 km), 200,000 human figurines or 300,000 lights.
Those pesky time travelers, always trying “fix” things. This guy was caught outside the Large Hadron Collider and admitted to sabotage, claiming to be from the future and intent on stopping it from discovering things and destroying the world.
The priceless quote from the article? “Mr Cole was taken to a secure mental health facility in Geneva but later disappeared from his cell. Police are baffled, but not that bothered.”
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
I don’t mean that euphemistically, because these are varieties of the cocoa bean that have been discovered in the Amazonian jungles of Peru. One of the varieties was recently developed by a Swiss chocolatier who sold them for $60/pound. And the reason it’s on the Geeky News? Scientists are sequencing the plant DNA and plotting the mineral contents of the soil where the varieties grow to figure out what makes them taste different.
Speaking of tiny malicious organisms, scientists have sequenced the genome of the strain of the Black Death (y-pestis) that killed 50 million people back in the 1300’s. Hopefully to better understand it, and not to ransom the world for 1 billion dollars.
So there’s this hotel in Finland that will rent you this cute little cabin specially designed for star-gazing and seeing the Aurora Borealis. Why are they perfect for it? Because they’re geodesic domed “cabins” made of thermal glass (remember, this is Finland, it’s a wee chill).
The DeLorean Car Company is releasing an electric car in 2013. Yes, a gull-winged, all-electric vehicle. No, it’s not powered by fusion. Not yet, anyway.
It’s an off-the-grid, semi-buried, earth-friendly house in Wales. Not exactly a hobbit house, but strongly similar. Looks pretty cool, too.
It’s a Game AND Science!
Protein folding is part of bimolecular science trying to figure out the ideal structures of proteins, and it has possible applications to all sorts of things — HIV/AIDs research, cancer cures, Alzheimer’s. So instead of throwing a fancy screensaver at the problem (ala SETI@home), some clever bunch have come up with a game, and are letting smart-ass gamers find the best folding strategies. That’s right, it’s a video game where winning means curing cancer! Details and science here:
Prosaic title; amazing results. Science fiction means never believing what you see ever again. These guys have come up with a method for inserting computer-generated objects into a real photographic scene, either statically, or as part of an animation, so that they look real. Seriously real. Watch the video if you don’t believe me.
Who doesn’t love airships? All the fun of flying without the jet-fuel headaches. Plus a HECK of a lot more room in the vehicle. Well, now there’s a company working on airships (actual heavier-than-air models) that are powered entirely by photovoltaic panels on the hull. They call them SolarShips. Watch the video to see what the giant-sized cargo hauler looks like.
Only Two Hands!
So this guy is juggling three Rubik’s Cubes. Not that interesting, right? Just juggling. But he’s also solving one of them at the same time as juggling the other two. See for yourself:
There have been a few scifi novels that used bioluminescence for lighting, but no one has really brought the concept to … er … light. Until now! Phillips, yes, the other light-bulb folks, have a working prototype. They power it methane and compost drawn from their concept-home microbial loop system (food waste from the kitchen, basically).
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
3D-Printed Self-Assembling Virus Model
So this professor of Molecular Graphics (now there’s a specialty!) designed and then 3D printed a plastic model that, once you put in the magnets, will go from a jumble of pieces to a full globular model of the virus it’s based on. And there’s video!
You Have 150 Half-siblings, and Counting
This sounds like something from a scifi novel about clones, but no. It’s modern day. Apparently some fertility clinics have let those couples seeking to have children via in vitro fertilization use “popular” sperm donors a little too frequently. Some donor-fathers have upwards of 150 biological children conceived this way, and thus those kids have 149+ half-siblings.
Self-lacing Nikes? Check!
Nike patented the self-lacing sneakers (ala Back to the Future) and are now set to bring them to market. Really. How many more items do we need to come true for Back to the Future to be Right Damn Now?
Abandoned Technology Across the World
Including a sub base! How cool is that? If it wasn’t in Albania, that might be a fun little fixer-upper opportunity.
It Eats Fridges
Because that’s what it’s designed to do. GE has this giant machine that breaks down any old fridge into it’s component parts, for recycling.
Victorian Kitchen Unearthed
So this couple is doing a renovation of their stately mansion and when clearing out the clutter discover a Victorian-era kitchen blocked off and untouched for 60 years. It’s both geeky and gothic.
How the Romans Invented Atomic Theory
Not kidding, not a conspiracy theory. There’s a guy named Lucretius who came up with the idea that everything was made of really tiny particles about 200 years before the birth of Christ. Ironically enough, considering my dating scheme, he also said that the universe was created without the need of gods, spirits, angels or cosmic intelligence. The NPR story is about not only the mind-blowing nature of that theory but how his book survived 2000+ years.
One Car, Printed to Order
Not scifi anymore, this company is actually poised to produce these things en masse. Even if it looks like something a production designer for a scifi film cooked up overnight for his “future car”.
See Your Dreams on YouTube
Because that’s not a scary thought — not at all. Scientists at UC Berkley have had some success in “decoding and reconstructing people’s dynamic visual experiences”. They’re using fMRi technology and some serious computers. Wild stuff.
Electric Light Cycle
Yeah, you heard that right — those crazy motorcycle guys who created a gasoline-powered light-cycle (yours, for a mere $50k) now have an electric version, which just seems cooler overall.
Microbial Messengers
How awesome is a code made up if microbes that fluoresce different colors? Pretty damned awesome.
Trying to Find a Great Book?
Look no further than NPR’s Giant Flowchart of Scifi (and Fantasy). It’s amusing and snarky!
Flying Car? No. Flying Carpet? Yes!
So this PhD student read a paper which changed his research direction from printed circuits using nano-ink to undulating waveforms based on biomimicing manta rays. It’s a weird world, isn’t it? He’s had some success in small-scale trials in making a “flying carpet” — by using magnetics to stimulate air currents and creating the same kind of ground-effect cushion of air that a hover craft has. Neato, huh?
My City Has an Operating System
Let the jokes commence. This company is developing an OS just for running cities (traffic lights, waste systems, energy supply, etc) called UrbanOS.
The Tinyest RPG Ever
So small, it fits on the back of a business card. See it and believe it.
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
More than 700 odd tunnel networks have been discovered in Bavaria, most dating back to Medieval times. Almost nothing has been found in them, “almost as if they were swept clean”. Weird, huh?
For 37 years — since 1974. It’s the city of Nicosia in Cyprus, abandoned when the island was divided between Greek and Turkish parts. Wild photographs worth the stop-over.
So some clever hackers have pieced together an interface to various cracking tools via the Microsoft Kinect — so that you can see the computer like a first-person shooter, and move around by simply waving your arms.
For when you break a bone, and want the hi-tech treatment. The cast monitors the situation with your muscles, the bone’s healing progress and let’s doctors monitor everything in real-time (or later over a martini, if they want).
It could be good. They’ve got Ridley Scott directing it. What’s up in the air is whether it’ll be a prequel (blah), a sequel or just set in the same universe.
It really isn’t — it’s a real live news report. Here’s the headline: “Orange Goo at Alaskan Village Found to be Fungal Spores, Not Eggs”. I just can’t make up stuff that good.
So this 13-year-old kid uses the Fibonacci sequence and the pattern of leaves on trees to create a solar-panel array that is 20-50% more efficient than conventionally arranged arrays. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this kid in the future — hopefully not as he ambles down main street in his death-ray equipped juggernaut armor.
Ok, so not as exciting as it sounds, Copper Man is the name of the all-copper mannequin that US Army researchers used to gauge how well the standard flight gear insulated the crews of airplanes during WWII. Wacky, huh?
Or 1984, or 1384, or whatever floats your boat. Historical weather reports. Handy for those of you writing novels set in the past, rather than the future.
I know, it sounds like I’m describing some kind of Lovecraft-inspired horror movie which is just a remake of a better Japanese horror movie, but no. We’re talking about Portal, the video game, and some fan’s amazing conversion of the portal gun idea into a tiny cinematic romp.
You may, or may not, be familiar with the Beloit College Mindset list, which is a big list of things the incoming freshman class has either always had, always known or never known in their lifetimes. Depending on your age, it’s a frightening and hilarious list. In answer to that, here’s a list of what the class of 1915 (the freshman class from 100 years ago) thought or knew:
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
Guess what folks? It has been one year of the “Geek Month in Review”! I’m so pleased that at least once a month there is a place for comics, science, games, technology, and other geeky things to live here on The Magical Buffet. And if the comments and website views are to be believed, many of you have been amused by this now one year old tradition here on the site too. Sure, I poke fun at the volume of 3D printer or Doctor Who stories John opts to include most months, but at the end of the day….I knew a whole heck of a lot about 3D printers before they showed up on The Colbert Report…..and doesn’t everyone love Doctor Who?
So happy birthday to the “Geek Month in Review”!
By JB Sanders
Writing the Geek Review article has been a lot like sharing links with my friends — with less “seen it” than real life. I read a lot, and frequently come across the oddest little news items. Putting them together into one article has been really a lot of fun — it’s much different than blasting one link across FaceBook. When you see them all pushed up into one place like that, grouped together, it’s a far more surreal and yet somehow pleasant experience.
I think I’m going to call it my Museum of the Geeky Weird. I’ve found some really interesting Curiosities (to me, anyway) and glommed them together into my own Cabinet*. So, please, wander the exhibits, press your nose against the glass, and whatever you do, don’t feed the monkeys.
Below are the best of the best, or what I thought were the most endurably interesting of this past year.
Behind the Scenes Photos
From little movies like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Other shots:
• How they did the Empire Strikes Back text crawl (you’ll be surprised).
• A shot of Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren and some birds.
• A shot inside the giant alien spacecraft in Alien.
• A picture of Max Schreck lounging creepily. (Bonus geek points if you know the Other Movie this ties into, all too eerily.)
• Really, why are you still reading this blurb? Click on the link already!
This is How Science-Fiction Becomes Reality
Austrian scientists have developed a new way to do what rotors on helicopters and airplanes have done before now. Heck, their flying machines don’t even need wings. They produce thrust by using rotating turbine-like blades, and because those blades can be adjusted, the D-Dalus can produce thrust in any direction, 360 degrees. It’s also fine with rough weather and nearly silent.
The Amazing Transforming Apartment
Anyone else reminded of Bruce Willis’ guy from Fifth Element? Watch what this guy packs into 24 square meters:
Concrete Tent
Brilliant, simple idea. Ship a canvas tent that’s been impregnated with concrete, put it up with an air blower, dose it with water and in 24 hours, you have a permanent concrete structure. Awesome!
Lost Pyramids Found
It’s not really news that infrared satellite imaging will reveal hidden structures. It’s certainly not news that Egypt has pyramids. What is news is that these researchers found 17 pyramids, over 1,000 tombs and over 3,000 ancient settlements, all previously unknown. Oh, and the city of Tanis. You remember that one, right? From the first Indiana Jones movie? Buried in the sands thousands of years ago, Ark of the Covenant? Yeah, that Tanis.
Squishy Circuits
Ever wanted to teach your 4-year-old about electrical engineering and circuitry? No? Why not!? How about you show them about battery packs, LED lights and play-dough. Yeah, did you know that regular commercial play-dough can conduct electricity? Or that with a little work, you can make your own play-dough? With a slight variation of the recipe, you can even make a resistive play-dough to help create play-dough circuits. Very cool stuff.
How Much is Smaug Worth, Anyway?
And of course, look no further than Forbes magazine for that answer. The article is a behind-the-scenes (“showing a little ankle” as the author amusingly puts it) look at how Forbes goes about evaluating the “Fictional 15”, or the 15 richest fictional characters. It’s humorous and a little surreal seeing a mainstream discussion of what I would have thought was just a fan-boy discussion of relative fictional fortunes. Possibly the geekiest article I’ve ever linked to.
Who Stole My Volcano?
A blog article about an interview with the man who was the production designer for such movies as “Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang”, “Dr Strangelove” and numerous Bond movies. The subtitle of the blog post is “Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dematerialisation of Supervillain Architecture.” Totally worth a read.
All of Doctor Who in 6 Minutes
A light, and lightning-fast, overview of all of Doctor Who’s 47 years on television in 6 minutes. Fun!
Spacewar, 50 Years On
The venerable first video game, originally coded on a PDP-1, has been ported up to the web. It’s using the original Spacewar code, running on a PDP-1 emulator. Originally the emulator was running in Java; in the latest version it’s been ported to HTML5 tools. Enjoy!
You’re Playing With Them Wrong
Because nothing you did as a kid was as awesome as these Star Wars Lego(tm) action shots. Seriously.
How Much Radiation?
Ever wonder how much radiation you can suck up and not have a problem? Want to see that comparison visually, with solid science behind it? Well, look no further than xkcd, not only a great comic, but purveyors of fine graphs and maps.
Teenager Builds Solar Death Ray
And oddly, doesn’t burn down school. See the sun’s concentrated rays burn through concrete! Steel! Other stuff!
It’s Old, But Still Indecipherable
Remember the Voynich manuscript? That seemingly-old document written in a language no one can understand, and filled with unintelligble diagrams? Yeah, well, they know how old it is now, anyway: about the 15th century. Or 100 years older than everyone thought it was.
Underground Master Plan
And no, I don’t mean mole people invaders. The folks of Helsinki Finland are planning on expanding their city below-ground, forming a master plan that encompasses subterranean sea-water-cooled data centers, municipal swimming pools, coal storage, 60km of tunnels, the city-wide heating system, factories and whatever else “doesn’t need to be seen”.
Once Forgotten Caves Laser-mapped
A series of caves, now thought to be a sand-mine, were recently laser-mapped, providing smoke-like maps of their winding, twisty corridors. It’s thought the “caves” were a working sand mind in the 1700’s and were re-discovered in 1892. Some basements in Nottingham actually open onto the caves. Be sure to watch the movies — there’s a virtual fly-through.
Make It Better
Fun little typographic animation perfectly showcasing the geek’s need to fidget with things until they’re “perfect”. Plus it’s cool.
Voxels Make It More Fun
THere’s a new shoot-em-up video game coming to the Mac/PC world, and it looks like a game that escaped from 1984 and then was hit with the 3D wand. But cooler than I just made that sound.
Avoiding data charges in 1906
Text messages are hardly new to communications — just ask anyone who remembers 1906. Back then, it was called the telegram, and this farming equipment company came up with a great way for their customers to avoid additional charges for ordering: codes.
Fly-over of New York City
You’re expecting this to be some footage from 1982 or something, right? I mean, come on! Who can do a fly-over of NYC in this day and age? These guys, that’s who. In an RC airplane at 7am in the morning (when regular air traffic is light). And sure, the TSA and NYC police talked to them — but no arrests or nasty exchanges. Amazing!
Oh, and for the RC enthusiasts out there, a link to the setup they used:
Burning Liquid Sulfur: Blue Flames!
Ever wonder what a sulphur mine inside a volcano might look like? Wonder no more — awesome photos ahead!
Lego Antikythera Mechanism*
That’s right, you read that correctly. Combine the worlds best make-it-yourself toy (Legos!) with an ancient device discovered in clay jars in a shipwreck. What’s the result? Pure concentrated awesome! (thanks to Alex for the heads-up)
Here There Be RPG’ers
I just love me some maps. This is a beauty sent in by a faithful reader (Hi, Matt!). It shows all the RPG-related forums online, in good-old-fashioned hex-map format, where 1 hex equals 1000 members, and then organized into vaguely related islands. My favorite RPG country? The Sunken Ruins of Usenet (an ancient empire).
Read by the Light of the … Trees?
Scientists have found a way to use gold nano-particles to make tree leaves bioluminescent. Interesting, but what if you turned that into a large-scale civic project to replace street lights with trees that GLOW?
Fishing in a Manhattan Basement
It’s a surrealist picture of an actual life event: in a stream bubbling through the basement of a building in Manhattan, this guy caught a fish. It’s a bit like a scene from an unlikely urban fantasy novel.
Map of Online Communities
What if there was a map, like you get at the front of your better fantasy books, that showed the online communities sized to their relative daily bandwidth? That would be one of xkcd’s wonderful virtual maps. I should have one of these things in every monthly article.
It’s All Tommy Westphall’s Fault
This isn’t new, and it isn’t terribly October-y, but BOY is it geeky. If you’re just about to watch St Elsewhere on DVD for the first time or something, look away now, because I’m going to ruin it all for you. Follow along with the crazy, will you? At the end of the TV series St Elsewhere, the last scene has an autistic boy (Tommy Westphall) shaking a snow globe with a miniature version of the hospital in it. The scene right before that had snow falling on the hospital. And the two other characters in the room with Tommy idly wonder what the boy sees in that snow globe. So the obvious interpretation from this is that the WHOLE series has just been inside Tommy’s head, kind of like a giant “and then she woke up” moment.
Weird, but that’s not the Crazy part. See, several characters from St Elsewhere made cross-over and/or cameo appearances on other TV shows (e.g. Homicide). So that means, by some Law of Contagion, that those series are ALSO all in Tommy’s head, or meta-fictional (fiction within fiction). Cross-eyed yet? Wait, there’s more. If you assume that:
A) St Elsewhere was all in Tommy’s head, and
B) any TV series where a St Elsewhere character also appeared is ALSO in Tommy’s head
Then it logically follows that
C) any characters on a B tv show who themselves appear on another tv show is … yes, you guessed it, in Tommy Westphall’s head.
Which makes like 90% of TV shows in the same damned virtual imagined autistic universe.
Evolution of the Geek
How could I pass this up? It’s a biological evolution flowchart showing how the “geek” has evolved over time, from head-biting to Elite Geekdom.
(For those of you opposed to evolution, just assume that the first geek sprang forth from the forehead of the chicken-biting guy and leave it at that.)
How Good is Your Geek Movie-Fu?
No, not another mindless multiple choice quiz-of-the-week. Not a quiz at all. Just a seriously great bunch of t-shirts with extraordinarily obscure references to some great movies. Man, wish I was getting a cut from these guys. Note: mouse-over the t-shirt to see where the reference comes from, then smack yourself in the head for not remembering it.
Making Stop Motion Animation With Light
Take an iPad, add some custom software to generate animation frames for you, and then a custom app on the iPad to show the frames as you move around. Result? This:
When Computer Keyboards Were Made Like 1950’s Cars
You know, with steel. There are people who swear by their ancient, clunky keyboards and will get violent if someone tries to take them away. And when your keyboard is, in fact, made of steel (NOT plastic), that’s a problem.
But there are different brands of “my favorite keyboard”.
The SciFi Airshow
So, it’s like an air show, only all the “planes” are scifi space vehicles. (It’s not real, though.)
Gore Factor Five!
I know, Dragon Age: Origins has been out, like, forever. The review I’m linking to is even months old. But it’s so damn funny, who cares?!
Best. Map. Ever.
Or even, all maps ever made of the earth, the stars and the universe in general, smushed together. Found out about this amazing map by seeing it on TED, and if you don’t know about the TED talks, I’m sorry. You’re about to have a lot of your free time sucked away by amazing speakers and mind-blowing technology.
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
Need a Post-Apocolypse Movie Location?
Then just fly on down to the Big Easy and check out the former Six Flags New Orleans. All this destruction was a result of 1 month of brackish water (averaging 7 feet deep) and then leaving the front gate of the park open for a few years. Seriously, it’s only been six years, not 100 like these pictures make it seem. Yikes.
Bionic Glasses
For real, people. These glasses sample what the person is seeing (or should be able to see) and figures out what’s there by interfacing with a computer in their pocket. Not an “in 5 years” product, a real thing right now.
The Cartilage Car Fuels Itself
It’s 3D-printing and weirdo concept cars of the future all in one. The car was created using the 3D-printing technique, and the composite artificial material most closely resembles cartilage, which makes the car nearly impervious to impacts. It also creates it’s own biofuel. How? Algae reservoirs (with LED’s for night-time production) in the places in the artificial cartilage body that would otherwise be bone marrow in a creature. Freaked out with the scifi yet?
Star Trek Geeky
I would like to posit that this app is one of the most geeky things in all Geekdom. We’re talking an iPad app that not only looks and acts like it’s out of Star Trek (NG, but still), it also is an an interactive encyclopedia of Star Trek lore.
Food Photos by a Science Geek
See cake sprinkles, chocolate cake, sugar, pineapple, and blueberries (among many other things) through the lens of an electron microscope. Yes, that means everything is very small.
New Evil Dead Movie!
Bruce Campbell has confirmed that there is a new movie in the works.
A Ship So Big…
It needs it’s own zip code? This beast will be 6 times larger than the largest US aircraft carrier. Let that sink in a moment. Six times bigger than those nuclear-powered floating islands. Check out the illustration showing one of those liquid natural gas carriers (with five giant domes on deck) docked next to it.
Looking for that Ideal Island HQ?
For a mere $750,000, this island fortress (circa 1850) could be yours. Comes complete with island. May require some upgrades. Cable-car permit included.
Super Yacht
When super villains build their super-yachts, this is what they wish they looked like. It’s got it’s own escape sub, a missile defense system, an anti-papparrazi laser and a pool that turns into a disco.
Spatially Impossible Hotel, Cheap
So someone was building a level for Duke Nuke’em based on the Overlook Hotel from the movie the Shining. Cool, right? Well, they noticed that there were parts of the hotel, as portrayed in the movie, that were just impossible. They mentioned this to a film professor, and the result is a walk-through of the unworkable.
Wait, Monopoly Can Be Fun?
Ever wonder why a game invented in 1930 is still around, even though everyone agrees it’s boring and takes too long? Here’s why: the house rule in practically everyone’s house has been to ignore one of the fundamental rules of the game, making it … you guessed it, slow and boring. Seriously.
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
It’s no secret that I love me the giant squid. Back in 2009 when I wrote “Loving the Lusca” I outlined my love quite thoroughly, “For some reason I love the idea of giant sea creatures. All those in search of the giant squid shows on the Discovery Channel – watched them. Ditto when they bust out the giant octopus stuff – I’m there. I don’t know what about them that I like so much. Perhaps, oddly, it’s the romanticism of the giant sea creature. I know it sounds funny, but for some reason a giant sea squid makes me think of multi-masted ships getting taken into the briny deep for venturing off the map. The ocean is still so vast that we continually discover new things living there. And that although doubtful, I can still entertain the idea that one day I’ll be watching BBC America news in the morning (because it’s back!) and hear a neutral voice with a British accent explain that a ship has been destroyed off the coast of some country by some giant tentacled thing from the deep.”
You can imagine how excited I was when I stumbled across Matt Walker’s blog on the BBC website that asked, “Is the giant squid the new giant panda?” Hecks yeah! “Can a 13-metre long beastie, all tentacles and suckers, be a conservation icon for our time? Scientists are proposing that the giant squid Architeuthis be emblemised and celebrated to help promote the conservation of marine diversity. The giant squid would become the giant panda of the seas; a single species that captures the imagination, and stands for the world in which it lives.”
Walker’s article goes on to outline the possible importance of a marine conservation emblem, the reasons why the giant squid makes a reasonable candidate, and a little bit about the history of the World Wildlife Foundation’s iconic panda. It packs a lot of information in a nice bite sized article, you should check it out.
In scrolling through reader comments to the article, I was pleased to find many people getting behind the giant squid proposal. However, there is a strong whale lobby going on as well. To that I say, the giant squid is associated with the pirates of old; rum swilling, scurvy dogs. Whales; well they get hippies. I love me some hippy stuff, but put up against the likes of Captain Jack Sparrow, this lady will be choosing pirate every time. When a pirate map said, “Here There Be Monsters”, it was creatures like the giant squid they were talking about. Check and mate.
Or as Walker says, “But this outsized, almost monstrous sea creature of lore is perhaps the more enigmatic, secretive, bizarre and fascinating animal. It may also better represent the ecosystem in which it lives, and the threats to it.” I bet he picks pirates too.
Because This Will End Well
Archaeologists in Mexico have found a previously unknown tunnel under the Temple of the Snake in Teotihuacan. They estimate that it’s been sealed for over 1,800 years and there are chambers at the end of the passage. Those SciFi movie plots don’t just write themselves…
Behind the Scenes Photos
From little movies like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Other shots: How they did the Empire Strikes Back text crawl (you’ll be surprised).
A shot of Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren and some birds.
A shot inside the giant alien spacecraft in Alien.
A picture of Max Schreck lounging creepily. (Bonus geek points if you know the Other Movie this ties into, all too eerily.)
Really, why are you still reading this blurb? Click on the link already!
Scary Great Toy Mashup or Sign of the Toy Apocalypse?
So, combine collectible action figures, with collectible card games, Pokeman, Gauntlet (yes, the venerable arcade game) and console-based video games. Oh, and throw in some old-fashioned leveling-up madness. What do you have? Skylanders. It’s a video game for consoles (all of them, I guess). It’s fairly standard Gauntlet-like collect things and smash monsters. However, the character you play is based on what actual toy action figure you plug into their USB-connected platform. Before your head explodes, you have to use one of the action figures (32 at release) they’re producing for the game. The plus side is that any items you collect or leveling-up you do with that specific action figure are stored — inside the action figure. You can take the guy with you to a friends house and have all those abilities and loot you got before. The game comes with 3 figures, and they’re going to be releasing “booster packs” with random figures inside.
Awesome People Hanging Out Together
It’s the name of the link and the subject matter all in one. Photos of unusual pairings, all looking like they’re candid shots. Lots of pop culture icons in there, plus some geek favorites: Niels Bohr & Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (many, many years ago, looking all hippy and geeky), Neil Patrick Harris & Stephen Colbert, Chuck Norris & Bruce Lee (that’s a money shot). And something just for a conspiracy-theorist’s dream: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren G. Harding, and Harvey Firestone (I mean, seriously); or Salvador Dali & Walt Disney.
Now, This is Graffiti I Can Get Behind
Just an inspired piece of art. Imagine drawing a mustache on a famous portrait, and then take it up about ten notches.
From the ‘Dogs Can Smell Better Than You’ Files
Scientists have discovered that dogs are better at telling twins apart than, wait for it, DNA tests. Turns out there IS a genetic difference between twins, but it’s so small that modern DNA tests have trouble distinguishing between identical twins. Not so with dogs.
This is How Science-Fiction Becomes Reality
Austrian scientists have developed a new way to do what rotors on helicopters and airplanes have done before now. Heck, their flying machines don’t even need wings. They produce thrust by using rotating turbine-like blades, and because those blades can be adjusted, the D-Dalus can produce thrust in any direction, 360 degrees. It’s also fine with rough weather and nearly silent.
Mars in a Bottle
Scientists create an artificial Mars-like environment and then toss in some Earth microbes to see how they fare. It does sound a little like a SciFi Channel Saturday movie, why do you ask?
The Lego(tm) Barad-dùr
It’s the heart of Mordor in Lego(tm) form. Evil Eye included. Check out the link at the bottom of the article to the Flickr pictures.
Slow is Creepy, and Trippy
Ever wondered what that sound a modem makes when it does the initial hand-shaking connection-making with the host computer would sound like if you slowed it down 700%? Well, wonder no more!
Note: if you’re not old enough to know what a dial-up modem is, sounded like or was for, look it up on wikipedia already.
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
Fantastic Time-Lapse Movie
If you’ve never seen a cloud layer boiling and roiling like the ocean against a beach, you haven’t seen a real time-lapse movie. Must watch this in HD (full-screen).
The Amazing Transforming Apartment
Anyone else reminded of Bruce Willis’ guy from “Fifth Element”? Watch what this guy packs into 24 square meters:
It’s a Plane! No, it’s a Train! Actually, It’s Both.
A Japanese research group is working on a type of “train” that floats above the ground on a cushion of air. No, not a maglev train; apparently those are old hat. They’re working on a train that acts like a plane cruising right above the ground.
National Jukebox
The US Library of Congress (working with Sony) has put together a database of sound recordings from the early part of the 20th Century. It’s streaming-only, but has a wealth of stuff, all searchable. It’s not just music, but speeches, too.
Let Quantum Physics Officiate Your Wedding
No, really, that’s what the title of the article is. Apparently a scientist is using some machine to quantum entangle photons as they pass over the happy couple. Or something.
The New Domesday Book
In the 80’s the BBC and some historians cooked up a national effort to create something like the original Domesday Book, on it’s 900 anniversary. The original was a census of England at the time. The new thing was created with a population survey, tons of photos, virtual walk-throughs of historical buildings, etc. And then pressed onto special laser discs. That’s right, laser disks. Which required a special reader to read and a specific computer to display. Fast forward 30 years or so, and todays historians are worried the disks won’t be able to be read anymore (can’t think why).
CDC Tells How to Prepare for Zombie Apocalypse
Do they know something we don’t? You ever read that story about a conspiracy that uses movies and tv shows (“fictional” ones) to prepare the wider population to accept and deal with an upcoming Big Problem? No? Oh, never mind then.
Orchidarium Professor Ruth Cardoso
It’s a nifty looking building, but the name itself is just so much fun to say. It’s a memorial to Professor Ruth Cardoso (which is why her name is tacked in there), but the purpose of the building itself is to grow Orchids. Thus the “Orchidarium” part.
What If We’re the Forerunners?
An amusing little blog entry that posits, ok, there something like 500 million Earth-like planets out there, just in our galaxy. So why isn’t there a spaceship in orbit right now, offering to sell us cheap hyperdrives? Well, what if we’re the first sentient race? And then he has a very funny idea….
Concrete Tent
Brilliant, simple idea. Ship a canvas tent that’s been impregnated with concrete, put it up with an air blower, dose it with water and in 24 hours, you have a permanent concrete structure. Awesome!
Real, Functional Bionic Hand
Welcome to the 21st Century, where we have real bionic limb replacements. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, it is real.
When Your Museum Gets Raided by the CDC in Biohazard Gear…
…You know you’re doing something interesting. So this historical society in Virginia put on an “oddities” exhibit from their collection, including a letter from a smallpox sufferer who included one of their smallpox scabs. Call me crazy, but I think there are some things you don’t need to collect for posterity, and potentially viable smallpox is definitely high on the list.
Need a Drone?
Need an unmanned aerial drone cheap? Need to make 3D maps of the photos your drone takes? Look no further than Pix4D, a cloud-based company that helps stitch together your aerial’s photos and create nice 3D maps out of them. They also created a spin-off company that can sell you the drones.
Graphene: the New Plastic
The latest miracle material — wait, don’t stop reading. It really is. The discoverers/inventors have a Nobel prize to back up their assertions. Not to mention the over 200 scientists doing active research into it.
Icelandic Volcano Eruption, in HD
Because there’s nothing those Icelandic folks like better than a good volcanic plume. Video in wonderful HD.
Pigs Flying
Duke Nukem has gone gold. I know, hell has frozen over. (See the illustration in the linked article, it’s funny.)
Lost Pyramids Found
It’s not really news that infrared satellite imaging will reveal hidden structures. It’s certainly not news that Egypt has pyramids. What is news is that these researchers found 17 pyramids, over 1,000 tombs and over 3,000 ancient settlements, all previously unknown. Oh, and the city of Tanis. You remember that one, right? From the first Indiana Jones movie? Buried in the sands thousands of years ago, Ark of the Covenant? Yeah, that Tanis.
Robots Developing Their Own Language
No, not a headline from 2044. It’s a lab in Queensland (Australia) where the researchers are setting up their robots to develop their own communications system.
Ring Around the Moon
Japanese research firm is proposing building a ring of solar cells around the Moon’s equator, and then beaming the 13,000 terawatts of energy back to Earth. Yeah, seriously.
About John: John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).
Geek Credentials: RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee. Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993 Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983 His Blog:http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com
About John: