\nBecause few things are geekier than a language dead over a thousand years. Plus it’s got some code-decryption bits.<\/p>\n
Pencil-tip Micro-sculptures<\/a><\/strong> Nobody Does it Better<\/a><\/strong> When Computer Keyboards Were Made Like 1950’s Cars<\/strong> But there are different brands of “my favorite keyboard”.<\/p>\n There’s Ancient Apple.<\/a> And the King of Keyboards, the IBM Model M Thunkmaster<\/a>. So you KNOW when you’re typing.<\/p>\n LEGO Creationary<\/a><\/strong> Ancient Recordings!<\/a><\/strong> Unfortunately, although they’re hard at work digitizing (and in some cases, cleaning the records so they can be played), it’s going to take a long time to get online. And then there’s the who owns it thing. Not the records, that’s clear \u2013 the music. Woo!<\/p>\n Screens Under the Microscope<\/a><\/strong> Big Monster Movies<\/a><\/strong> Plug-in Solar & Wind<\/a><\/strong> Visualizing Data<\/a><\/strong> And don’t miss out on his actual website<\/a>, where he’s posted zillions more of these great diagrams.<\/p>\n Especially this one on how many times Dr Who has traveled through time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Muh Ruh Ruhhh<\/a><\/strong> Lost 25 Minutes of Metropolis: Found!<\/a><\/strong> Cheeseburger Dissolved in Acid<\/a><\/strong> Self-lacing Sneakers on the Way<\/a><\/strong> Geek Credentials:<\/strong> Retro keyboards, Lego, Chewbacca, cheeseburgers dissolving in acid, and more! JB Sanders gives us the rundown on all things geek from August 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,11,17,34,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGeeky in that retro sort-of way. There’s a “how many angels” joke in here somewhere.<\/p>\n
\nWhere “it” is late-night talk show hosting. Thirty years of shows digitized and searchable. Pro-payment thing to get the full clips, but they’ll have a rotating selection of clips and full shows available. Wild!<\/p>\n
\nYou 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.<\/p>\n
\nThe Intentionally Retro<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIt’s like Pictionary; only instead of drawing you build things with LEGOS. Not sold yet? How about it has difficulty settings, from things like “cactus” to “Taj Mahal”. Seriously. Buy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nWell, ok, old recordings. From the 20’s and 30’s and 40’s, music and speeches not heard since they were recorded. It’s mostly an article about lost Jazz recordings, but also about a tech genius (William Savory) who recorded live jam sessions onto aluminum and acetate 12-inch and 16-inch disks at 33 1\/3 before that it was fully invented (he did help create the standard). Which leads to quotes like this: “You hear some of this stuff and you say, \u2018This can\u2019t be 70 years old.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\nKindle and iPad screens under a USB microscope, compared with newspaper, book and magazine print. Nice comparison!<\/p>\n
\nAre they back? If so, cool!<\/p>\n
\nThis is crazy smart, if they can make it happen. Imagine grabbing a few solar panels from the hardware store, putting them where you like and plugging them into a regular outlet. Then it just provides the house with power. The company is coming out with products in 2011 (which is a lot better than the ubiquitous “5 years”). I’ll be waiting.<\/p>\n
\nDavid McCandless shows us how to visualize massive amounts of data. Or “knowledge compression”. Fascinating, funny, insightful. Pretty much as with all TED talks (the good ones, anyway).<\/p>\n
\nAll of Chewbacca’s dialogue from all his appearances in the Star Wars movies, on a large sticky note.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Fritz Lang’s epic silent-movie Sci-Fi masterpiece was released in theaters, the movie was cut from it’s original 2 and a half hours to a more palatable 90 minutes, slicing away scenes which “make so much more sense” when included. Take a look at a glimpse.<\/p>\n
\nEver wonder what would happen if you dipped a burger in hydrochloric acid? Wonder no longer!<\/p>\n
\nMarty McFly had them in 1985, so why don’t we? Nike is working on it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/john1.bmp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a> About John:<\/strong>
\nJohn’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).<\/p>\n
\nRPG:<\/strong> Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee.
\nComputer:<\/strong> TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w\/reel-to-reel backup tape
\nCard games:<\/strong> bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993
\nScience:<\/strong> Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983
\nHis Blog:<\/strong> http:\/\/glenandtyler.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"