{"id":8950,"date":"2013-09-09T15:47:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T20:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2013\/09\/08\/"},"modified":"2013-09-09T15:48:17","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T20:48:17","slug":"geek-month-in-review-august-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=8950","title":{"rendered":"Geek Month in Review: August 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JB Sanders<\/p>\n

Isn’t it supposed to be mega-hot?<\/p>\n

Ancient Underground Structures<\/a><\/Strong>
\nCome for the bunkers built 2,800 years ago, stay for the sexist architecture.<\/p>\n

What You Got There is a Category 5 Language. Yup<\/a>.<\/Strong>
\nThe Foreign Service Institute (whatever the heck that is) has developed a list of languages, and rated them in how difficult they are for an English speaker to learn. <\/p>\n

Toilet Tech Vulnerability<\/a><\/Strong>
\nBecause, really, you want the technology in your toilet to have a “vulnerability”. Maybe we should just skip having “technology” as part of your toilet in the first place. I just can’t stop snorting at this story.<\/p>\n

Famous Guns<\/a><\/Strong>
\nFrom all sorts of things: James Bond’s silenced pistol, Dr. Morbius’ ray gun (Forbidden Planet), a Star Trek old series phaser, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

Mars Rover, Huh? What’s the Blue Book On That?<\/a> <\/Strong>
\nSeriously, here’s an article discussing how to calculate the current “blue book” value of the Mars Rover. It has had a little wear-and-tear.<\/p>\n

Bus Charges While It Drives<\/a><\/Strong>
\nBuild a special roadway, put the right equipment in your bus, and it never has to stop to charge. Pretty neat.<\/p>\n

500 New Fairy Tales<\/a><\/Strong>
\nUnearthed in an archive in Germany, 500 tales unheard for over 150 years. This feels like a Fables major story line.<\/p>\n

Lighting a Million Homes<\/a><\/Strong>
\nGuy invents an extremely easy and cheap way to spread light inside homes during the day. And millions of people use the idea.<\/p>\n

New York City’s Secret Subway Station<\/a><\/Strong>
\nOk, more like abandoned but still amazingly cool looking. As a bonus, graffiti artists have discovered it and put up some impressive murals.<\/p>\n

Timeline of Slang for Your Naughty Bits<\/a><\/Strong>
\nEver wonder how various adult slang developed over time and what people were using to swear in 1910? Wonder no more! Tip: be sure to click the – sign a few times to get a better overview, and slide to the right. (Link is to the Lady Bits version, but there’s also a Men’s Bits page, too.)<\/p>\n

How Big is Wikipedia?<\/a> <\/Strong>
\nIf you printed all the articles in Wikipedia (English), how many encyclopedia volumes would that make? About 2000. There’s a live-updating page to calculate it.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/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

Geek Credentials:<\/strong>
\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":"