{"id":9839,"date":"2014-03-10T16:38:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T21:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2014\/03\/04\/"},"modified":"2014-03-10T16:48:31","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T21:48:31","slug":"geek-month-in-review-february-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=9839","title":{"rendered":"Geek Month in Review: February 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

More ice and snow\u2026<\/p>\n

How Was the Expedition?<\/a> <\/strong>
\nFound in the antarctic hut of explorer Captain Scott, left there over 100 years ago, was a clump of cellulose nitrate negatives Shackleton took of his expedition. See the developed pictures!<\/p>\n

Blue-light Zombies<\/a><\/strong>
\nThe City of Los Angeles is changing their sodium streetlights for LED ones \u2014 huge savings on energy, right? Well, yes, but it will seriously mess with filmmakers doing street shots in LA \u2014 the LED lights are heavily blue-tinted, as opposed to the amber of the sodium lights.
\nThen there\u2019s the possible effect of LED lights on sleep and attention-span, leading to insomniacs wandering the streets.<\/p>\n

Lighter Than Water, Stronger Than Steel<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to the new age of material science, brought to you by Science! and 3D printing. Oh, and lasers.<\/p>\n

Not This Earth<\/a><\/strong>
\nHere\u2019s a roundup of \u201cthe most unusual alternate history novels ever written\u201d, or in other words, here\u2019s a list of popular alternate Earth novels.<\/p>\n

Storm Photos That Make You Want to Run for the Basement<\/a><\/strong>
\nCrazy great photos, obviously taken in the midwest, of some storms as they really start to get going.<\/p>\n

Vertigo-Inducing Photos of the Crumbling Remnants of the Soviet Union<\/a><\/strong>
\nSee some crazy (CRAZY) urban explorers as they go that extra mile to climb to perilous heights on old industrial USSR stuff, and take photos of it all. Pretty breathtaking. Also some pretty awesome shots from underground parts, too. Warning: if you get vertigo easily, hold onto your chair.<\/p>\n

Super-Geek Shroud<\/a><\/strong>
\nHand-stitched portrayal of all 6 episodes (however much we might wish it to be only 3) of the Star Wars saga on a shroud, now selling for $20,000 to a gallery in LA.<\/p>\n

Buildings That Might Have Been<\/a><\/strong>
\nTake a look at this article and then imagine if some of these buildings had actually been built. We could have visited the giant wall-like building in Chicago, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, clad in plates of etched copper. Or visited the observation deck on the mile-high skyscraper The Illinois (another Wright project). Or seen the hollow pyramid-buildings, sheltering gardens and expressways. There\u2019s even a Civic Center that combined all transportation into one place: trains, cars, and even airplanes, landing on the top level.<\/p>\n

Joker Armor<\/a><\/strong>
\nAnd no, not that modern junk \u2014 Medieval Joker armor. You have to see it to believe it. Creepy as heck.<\/p>\n

7th Grader Builds Braille Printer With LEGOs<\/a><\/strong>
\nKid uses $350 worth of LEGOSs to build a printer that does Braille, and what the hell was I doing in 7th grade? Reading, I think. Maybe a video game or two. Holy crap.<\/p>\n

Voynich Manuscript Decoded??<\/a> <\/strong>
\nOne of the most mysterious and baffling manuscripts ever penned may have begun to be deciphered. The Voynich manuscript has tantalized scholars for centuries. If the professor in question has actually got a handle on the document, it will be huge.
\nCheck out the Wikipedia article on it for the skinny on what the Voynich Manuscript<\/a> is.<\/p>\n

How Big?<\/a> <\/strong>
\nWant to see a quick discussion of how big the universe is? It\u2019s like an animated bit of Cosmos. Then they start talking about the multiverse, parallels worlds with different laws of physics, and it all just combines to make your head explode. But in a fun way.<\/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:\/\/www.glenandtyler.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"