The Boy Scouts of America has introduced an award (though not a merit badge) for video games, available to Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts. After you earn the Belt Loop, here are the requirements for the Academic Pin:
1. With your parents, create a plan to buy a video game that is right for your age group. 2. Compare two game systems (for example, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and so on). Explain some of the differences between the two. List good reasons to purchase or use a game system. 3. Play a video game with family members in a family tournament. 4. Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game. 5. List at least five tips that would help someone who was learning how to play your favorite video game. 6. Play an appropriate video game with a friend for one hour. 7. Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork. 8. Choose a game you might like to purchase. Compare the price for this game at three different stores. Decide which store has the best deal. In your decision, be sure to consider things like the store return policy and manufacturer’s warranty. 9. With an adult’s supervision, install a gaming system.
Every one of my kids could CLEP this award from previous experience. Link -via The Daily What
Rob noticed how easy it would be to reproduce Costco shelf tags at home, so he printed up the most ridiculous product names he and his family could think of and inserted them into shelves at his local store. Then he made more tags and sent them to people all over the country! The correspondents placed more tags and sent pictures back. Although many were taken down quickly, you might want to check your local store for odd products. Link
Artist Kelly Coats created a phenakistiscope that follows the life of Michael Jackson. Spin the wheel and see him change. It looks like this: Link -via Dangerous Minds
This odd story marries archeology with physics. Roman lead ingots mined 2,000 years ago are an archaeological treasure. They are also perfect for shielding a nuclear particle detector for cutting-edge physics experiments.
The 120 lead ingots, each weighing about 33 kilograms, come from a larger load recovered 20 years ago from a Roman shipwreck, the remains of a vessel that sank between 80 B.C. and 50 B.C. off the coast of Sardinia. As a testimony to the extent of ancient Rome's manufacturing and trading capacities, the ingots are of great value to archaeologists, who have been preserving and studying them at the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari, southern Sardinia. What makes the ingots equally valuable to physicists is the fact that over the past 2,000 years their lead has almost completely lost its natural radioactivity. It is therefore the perfect material with which to shield the CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) detector, which Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is building at the Gran Sasso laboratory.
Cracked has five fascinating stories of regular Joes who rose to the occasion wikth a spur-of-the-moment decision to take action. Some risked life and limb to save others, and then there's Scot Halpin, who lived every young musician's dream at a concert in 1973.
After 70 minutes of playing, Keith slumped over his drums. A cold shower and shot of cortisone later, and he was back on stage... where he quickly passed out again. Noticing the conspicuous lack of bitchin' drum solos, Pete Townsend asked if there was anyone in the crowd who could play drums.
Scot Halpin, 19, hadn't played the drums for nearly a year. Nonetheless he bravely stepped up and... stood by while his friend screamed, "He can play!" The concert promoter took notice, and, after a shot of brandy (with a conspicuous lack of tranquillizer chaser) Scot found himself on stage, behind the drums, playing for The Who.
Neatorama is proud to be a co-sponsor of the latest How Did You Know? contest at mental_floss. You could win prizes from the Neato Shop, mental_floss, Motionbox, or Roku. Day two of the five-day trivia hunt is up at mental_floss. Solve today's challenge and find out how you can win a prize from Neatorama! It's not too late to figure out yesterday's challenge as well, which will help you figure out the overall challenge on Monday. And you might win a prize just for playing, even if you never get any of them correct! Jump over to mental_floss for all the contest details, and play now! Link
The following is a guest post by D. Salmons from iGadget Life. If you are looking for the television reviews or interested in some other products, this website is good for you.
We all know about the major holidays, and most of us celebrate at least a few of them. But, underneath those happy holidays that we all share, there lurks a mass of lesser known holidays that beg for our attention.
As it would happen, there exists a segment of our population that closely mirror these unsung holidays. These people work under the radar, providng society with the technology to keep life interesting. These hardworking and dedicated people, that we affectionately refer to as geeks, should get their own holiday.
Well, we've found some that seems to celebrate the geekiness in all of us. So, we offer these holidays in tribute to those socially crippled huddled masses that keep life advancing forward.
National Clean Up Your Computer Month - January
The geek in all of us (including you Facebookers out there) can appreciate this holiday. This is the time to take a look at our computers and give them the attention they so desperately need. We can check disk space, remove old programs, finally empty the trash, and even clean up around the computer itself. A great holiday for geeks everywhere.
Macintosh Computer Day - January 25
The Apple geeks in the crowd get to have a double computer holiday this month as January 25th is Macintosh Computer Day. If you haven't already this month (see above), spend some time cleaning up your Macbook, MiniMac, or iMac. This would also be a great day to dig out those Apple stickers in any product boxes lying about and proudly display them. You are an Apple Geek, show it!
World Thinking Day - February 22
I did not realize there was a day dedicated to thinking. I personally believe that every day should be a day dedicated to thinking, at least on some level and at some point during said day. However, there is such a holiday, and what better day to dedicate to our ever thinking friends than World Thinking Day.
24-Hour Global Marathon for, By and About Women in Engineering and Technology - March 10-11
Geeks are not just guys - there is a very strong and dedicated segment of the population that do have double X chromosomes. The geek gals have proven to be an equal and capable group, so they definitely deserve a special holiday for themselves. What can be better than a two-day global holiday blowout that celebrates women in engineering and technology?!
Morse Code Day - April 27 (or May 24)
Geeks everywhere have heard about Morse code. Even though that has been superseded by ASCII code in most memorized tables, a tribute to the original geek code seems like a fitting way to celebrate the classic geek. From the telegraph to the cell phone, geeks have influenced our lives and given us new ways to play together online.
Geek Pride Day - May 25
It is everyone's right to be a geek, and Geek Pride Day celebrates this on one of the most important dates in geek history, the opening day of the original "Star Wars" movie. The holiday even comes with its own geek Bill of Rights (meant to not be taken seriously, of course):
1. The right to be even geekier 2. The right to not leave your house 3. The right to not have a significant other and to be a virgin 4. The right to not like football or any other sport 5. The right to associate with other nerds 6. The right to have few friends (or none at all) 7. The right to have all the geeky friends that you want 8. The right to not be "in-style" 9. The right to be overweight and have poor eyesight 10. The right to show off your geekiness 11. The right to take over the world
Of particular interest is the last item, which just may happen at some point. (I guess it is a good thing that we are giving geeks their holidays now, it can't hurt to be on their good side...)
Ball Point Pen Day - June 10
Pocket protectors everywhere, rejoice! Without the ubiquitous ball point pen, then geeks everywhere would have no need of the pocket protector. It would be like Superman without his cape, or Batman without his utility belt. So, I think we should really take note of this day, and everyone out there write an email to pass the word - even if ironically the emails hasten in a small way the eventual demise of the ball point pen.
Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day - July 6
When you get up on a chilly winter morning and check your favorite news site and weather for the day, you should thank a geek for making sure that the server is up and running. The specialized geek responsible for doing this, is known as a webmaster, and they work tirelessly (more or less) to keep the web communicating. So, celebrate this day by taking your favorite webmaster geek to lunch. And please, keep all jokes about "downloading lunch" to a minimum.
Embrace Your Geekness Day - July 13
Some people are ashamed of their inner geek - they are afraid to be stereotyped as anti-social, and have an innate fear of fixing things for others. But on this day you can cast away your fears and embrace your desire to defrag your computer drive. Who knows, by the end of the day, you too may have an appreciation for the geek culture.
National Inventor's Month - August
Where would we be without the geeks known as inventors? From the automobile to the TV, from the typewriter to the internet, inventors have given us ways to make our lives better and more interesting. During the month of August we can pay tribute to those inventive folks who saw the need and a way to fulfill it.
IBM PC Day - August 12
The IBM PC has probably had one of the biggest impacts on early computing than any other product, and its influence is still felt to today. Generations of geeks have cut their computing teeth on IBM PC clones, and Microsoft would not be as big as it is if it were not for the IBM PC. Geeks everywhere, wave a lighter in the air for IBM PC Day.
Google Commemoration Day - September 7
Google is everywhere, and apparently all types of geeks love (and built) Google. So it seems natural that a day celebrating Google-ness would also be a tribute to geek-ness.
Techie's Day - October 3
Where would we be without those techie geeks that keep our office computers humming along? Without them we would soon be reduced to pen and paper, and getting a fax or email would literally take days. This October 3rd take time to appreciate your local techie geek, and give them their day by trying to avoid breaking things until at least after lunch that day.
Computer Security Day - November 30
Geeks everywhere, take note - there are such things as evil tech people, and they want to enslave your computer for their nefarious uses. Take this day to celebrate the comfort of knowing that you have taken steps to keep your computer safe. And if you need help, go find a computer geek!
International Shareware Day - December 11
Rounding out our geek holidays for the year is International Shareware Day. Shareware was created (or at least named) by uber geek Bob Wallace, and the premise is simple - try it before you buy it. This concept thrives today, where computer users everywhere download programs on a wide variety of topics daily. It just goes to show - geeks know business.
Hopefully this list of holidays will give our geeks a reason to celebrate being what they are. Without them, the world is a slower, uncommunicative, and boring place (no video games). More importantly, we all have a little geek inside of us, so we in turn celebrate ourselves.
Anita Renfroe, who brought us Total Momsense, is back with her newest song. I've seen a lot of parodies of Beyonce's song "Single Ladies", but this is one I can really relate to! Link to Renfroe's site. -via Buzzfeed
Neatorama is proud to be a co-sponsor of the latest How Did You Know? contest at mental_floss. You could win prizes from the Neato Shop, mental_floss, Motionbox, or Roku. It's a five-day trivia hunt, in which you'll be given a challenge each of the first four days. The answers will help you solve the big challenge for day five. However, you might win a prize just for playing, even if you never get any of them correct! Jump over to mental_floss for all the contest details, and start playing! Link
For those of you lamenting the death of Geocities, or at least the look and feel of those websites, we have a generator for you! Enter the URL of any website, and the Geocities-izer will add proper graphics, motion, and sound to bring back the Geocities feeling. The modern version of Neatorama is almost immune to the effects, but this site succumbed easily.
Make Any Webpage Look Like It Was Made By A 13 Year-Old In 1996
Watch as Instructables member fungus amungus demonstrates surgical techniques n Gummi bears. Witness tumor excision, heart transplants (shown), brain transplants, and progressively sillier experimental operations. As one commenter pointed out, it couldn't be as traumatic as being chewed up and swallowed! Link -via Digg
The night vision goggles that the military uses are useful but bulky, and they require a lot of power. Now, scientists from the University of Florida have developed a thin, flexible film that uses LEDs for night-vision technology. This new film is lightweight and uses much less energy to convert infrared light into visible images, according to scientist Franky So.
So does this by using technology borrowed from flat screen TVs. Infrared light enters the film and is detected by the first of seven separate layers, which generates a slight electrical charge. Additional electrical energy -- about three to five volts -- amplifies that signal, which is then converted back into visible light.
Like most of today's night vision cameras, So's device emits an eerie green light. Unlike most night vision technology today, however, So's design would weigh less than 100 grams (less than a quarter of a pound). Part of that weight is the proof of concept small size -- about one square centimeter -- but So says that even a full scale device could weigh as little as 10 grams and be only a few microns thick.
This technology could be used for eyeglasses, cell phones, and even car windshields. Link -via Digg
Engaged geeks Dale Larson and Laura La Gassa commissioned artist Yiying Lu to make their wedding invitations. Lu is best known as the creator of Fail Whale, once used extensively at Twitter. Since the wedding invitations are the opposite of fail, this design is called "Win Penguins." Link -via Laughing Squid
The computer generation has become nostalgic. The blog How I Met Your Motherboard collects photographs and stories from the days before computer nerds ran the world. Consider the memories Laura has of 1984.
Along with the ZX Spectrum, my parents had also presented us with a selection of computer games. Loading them was an undertaking in itself: each fed into a cassette player, its buttons held down with thumb-numbing force, while the tape whirred and spluttered and made a sound that may be roughly transposed as chkeeewschyrrrrrfffffllychkxduhuhftttt. My brother had three games: a vampire adventure named Transylvanian Tower, a treasure hunt called Espionage Island and a complicated programme that followed the process of evolution. For me, there was a solitary cassette, a numeracy aid named Count About. I cannot deny that I was at that age rather muddled by mathematics, but it only added to my sense of dismay that my computer time would involve assisting a badly graphicked monkey clamber up a tree to collect a specified number of coconuts.
You can contribute your own memories to the collection. http://howimetyourmotherboard.com/ -Thanks, Jason!
