We’re geeks. We love giving geeky, technology-related gifts. We don’t (always) like being the default technical support for said gifts.  If you’re familiar with the “For Dummies” series of books, then you might just have an out on the tech support this holiday season with a subscription to “Tech Support For Dummies.”

I was sent a wrapped package with Alka-Seltzer pack attached to the ribbon. On opening the package, there was an Asus netbook with a flash drive – the instructions were to play the PowerPoint slide show and enjoy the music. The problem: the sound didn’t work. The next step was to call Tech Support for Dummies, give them my special code, get the problem fixed, and blog about the experience.

Why Alka-Seltzer? Because Tech Support for Dummies would solve my problem without any heartburn…well, before calling I could see what the problem was so I enlisted the help of my wife (who was very eager to try out a netbook). She called the number and gave the (first) person the special code. Charlie was very helpful even in the midst of struggling to find out who the account was registered to…which did take some time.

My wife was put on hold for a couple minutes and then registered. She was put on hold again before being transferred to another person. This person took some basic info and started working to resolve the issue. The first thing that the second-level person wanted was to take remote control of the computer. However, with the instructions I was given, the netbook was not attached to any network when the she called.

The person worked through the script and then struggled to figure out the problem without having a network connection. He pushed a couple of times for them to stop troubleshooting the sound problem so that the network could be set up. My wife played along saying “I think we have a Lexus router” (really a Linksys router) and finally said it was not going to be possible to set up the network.

The problem did get resolved and the person was very helpful (although he never once got my wife’s name right). Once the reason for the call was resolved, he again pushed to get the network set up and their remote control app installed. My wife declined.

I ran a stop-watch from the moment she called until she hung up. It took twenty-three minutes. How did those twenty-three minutes break down?

• six non-consecutive minutes getting registered
• seven non-consecutive minutes on hold
• ten minutes troubleshooting and resolving the issue (including attempting to get the remote control app installed)

My wife thought the two people she worked with were helpful and pleasant.

As a test, I disabled the sound again on the netbook and she Googled a fix. The Google search, the reading, and the trying out the resolution took five minutes. My guess is that the support analyst would have also taken about five minutes to resolve the issue if he had been able to follow his script (including not having to install the remote control application).

Our overall thoughts… Tech Support for Dummies was helpful, the people were nice that she spoke to and they did flex to the situation. My impression is that they might be a good back-up or additional gift if you’re giving a less-than-technical person a gadget this holiday season. Tech Support for Dummies supports a wide range of devices/items/software that include:

• PCs and Laptops and peripherals
• eReaders, mp3 players, digital cameras, and game systems
• operating systems
• Internet connectivity and home network hardware
• security devices and software

For the holiday season, they are running a special. If you go to Tech Support for Dummies and enter the code of “HOLIDAY CHEER”, you get unlimited 24×7 phone support for three months for $19.99 (usually a nearly $45 cost if purchasing three months at the regular $14.95/mo). $20 may just be the sanity-saving factor for your own holiday season.

Wired: nice, helpful support staff; 24×7 phone support; decent holiday price promotion for their service.

Tired: the push to have a remote control app installed on the device.

View full post on GeekDad

D20 Ring, LEGO Stud Earrings. Images: Gr0glmann, used with permission.

So you’re all decked out in your GeekDad T-shirt and Star Wars sneakers, ready for your next convention. But what about the accessories?

A friend of mine tipped me off to this fun Etsy shop by Gr0glmann. Gr0glman (David P. in real life) started making jewelry out of LEGO and board game bits in high school, and eventually started this Etsy store to help make some money during college. David told me he graduated this spring in Computer Engineering and is going back to school for business in the spring. There’s a lot of fun and funny stuff (Slave Leia necklace, anyone?) but I think my favorites are the D20 ring and LEGO stud earrings pictured above. (He even made sure to have the “20″ facing up, which is a nice touch.)

Sure, some of this is probably fairly easy to make yourself, but if you’re looking for a cute, inexpensive gift for somebody who loves LEGO (or board games), check out Gr0glmann’s Etsy shop and take a look around.

Thanks to Angela for the tip!

View full post on GeekDad

Ethan Gilsdorf – Photo: Meg Birnbaum

Ethan Gilsdorf is the celebrated geek author of the very awesome book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. It’s the sort of book that, if you’re a lifelong geek like me, you can’t put down. The book chronicles Ethan’s life as a young geek, his escape from his roots, and then his return. From Tolkien to tabletop roleplaying, from Boston to New Zealand, the book is a pitch-perfect account of one geek’s journey in a very, very wide world.

I met Ethan earlier this year at PAX:East, where we sat on a panel together. At that point, his book was just in hardcover: but lo! It has landed in paperback!

So, in celebration this great book going paperback, I asked Ethan to do an interview for us here at GeekMom. And since he’s done quite a few interviews, I didn’t want it to be the same dull questions as usual. So we delved a little deeper into the depths of geekdom to tease out some unusual answers.

Hark! There is more, indeed.

In addition to the interview, Ethan is also giving away 5 signed copies of his book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks to our readers.

[Read the rest of the post, and how to win a copy of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks over at GeekMom!]

View full post on GeekDad

Ruth Suehle over at GeekMom gives a step-by-step recipe for this perfectly geeky (and surprisingly easy) cake:

If you’ve got a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan with a birthday coming up, this Magrathea whale cake is easy to make, even if you don’t have much cake decorating experience. Don’t panic!

[Read the whole article over at our companion site, GeekMom!]

View full post on GeekDad

The magic of music that is classified as “nerdcore” is that there is no pigeon-holing of any one particular sound or theme. Nerdcore is more of a lifestyle & subject matter than it is strict genre of music. There is rock, rap, hip-hop, electronic, chip-tune and so on. The lines are delightfully blurry, which makes for some creative results. Sometimes, you get an artist like Untested Methods (Eric Ernewein) who puts several genres in a large cast iron pot, and makes some nerdcore stew. His latest release is called Alt-F4 My Life and is a perfect serving of nerdcore stew.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Untested Methods is breaking new ground here with a revolutionary album. It’s far from revolutionary, but it is good, and I think that’s more important when it comes to music that you can listen to over and over. Replay value is just as important as musical revolution. After listening for a while now, I find that Alt-F4 My Life has plenty of the former.

Taking about a year to self produce (taking some time off to become a father) Untested Methods produced and mastered all the music himself, using Fruity Loops 5. Impressive, since that’s four versions behind the current. A mix of instrumental and vocal tracks, this is the first Untested Methods album that is not completely instrumental. Feeling that he needed to stick to his roots, three tracks are fully instrumental with no vocals.

The vocals, a mix of Kenna style with a hint of synth-pop blend with the chip tune & electronica backing. Untested Methods admits that chip tunes was not originally his intent;

“Each album sort of has a lose musical thematic component that I build off of each time. My first album had a very industrial tone, Songs and Voices had a very acoustic/electronic vibe, and this one introduces a lot of chip sounding stuff. I’ve been a huge fan of chip music since I was listening to it off my Commodore 64 recording the soundtrack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a tape deck.

“For a long time people said my music sort of sounded like a video game and I took that as an insult until the last year or so, I’ve now embraced it completely. Which is what me going into the nerd music stuff is really about for me, embracing that side of my life completely and not being ashamed of it.”

Ashamed he is not, as most of the subject matter of Alt-F4 My Life relies heavily on the experiences of his so-called nerd life. The song “Move Out” is about leaving his parents house, “It Won’t be the Same” is about playing video games with friends, and “Hold Your Head Down” and “Nervous” are clear allegories to the struggles of holding a romantic relationship – not with a console system. My favorite track, “(The Internet is) So Dramatic” was composed in direct response to drama on a particular forum that Untested Methods was party to.

Overall, it’s a fun album and worth a couple listens. The best part is, it’s free. That’s right. Since Untested Methods was recently signed to Scrubclub records, it’s all free. So what do you have to lose by checking it out? Nothing at all. Whether you end up liking it, or not liking it – it doesn’t matter. However, I think given the right chance, this is the kind of laid back creative music that tends to get under your ear drums and hang about.

Go here to download Alt-F4 My Life absolutely free from Scrubclub Records. Then, when you find yourself singing along with the album, let Untested Methods know on Twitter.

Follow us on Twitter @cebsilver and @wiredgeekdad

View full post on GeekDad

Image courtesy of Whitehouse.gov

GeekDad got the amazing opportunity to join the press at the White House this morning for President Obama’s remarks to the winners of the National Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Competitions. While we’ll have a report (and pictures) soon from our own Matt Blum, one great announcement that came out of the event was that President Obama has taped a segment for an upcoming episode of MythBusters (Adam and Jaime were there at the event)!

Said President Obama from the White House, “I’m pleased to welcome Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, known as the MYTHBUSTERS.  I can announce today that I taped a special guest appearance for their show, although I didn’t get blow anything up… I was a little frustrated about that.”

The President will be featured in the December 8 MYTHBUSTERS episode, Archimedes Solar Ray, during which he challenges hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to revisit an ancient and somewhat controversial myth:  Did Greek scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun?  Prepared to test this myth in a way they’ve never been able to before, will Adam and Jamie be able to pull it off, or will they have to report back to the President that they failed?

Adam and Jamie were present in November 2009 for the President’s “Educate to Innovate” event, which kicked off the Administration’s campaign for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) awareness.  The December 8 MYTHBUSTERS episode is part of a sweeping, multi-platform initiative launched by Discovery Communications called “Be the Future,” which also includes such commitments as HEAD RUSH, a commercial-free science block for kids that launched in August on Science Channel, and several initiatives of Discovery Education, which will make this special episode of MYTHBUSTERS available to students and educators across the country through Discovery Education’s curriculum-based digital resources.

See previous “5 Signs President Obama is a Geek”

View full post on GeekDad

Photo: Viacom International

“I’m gonna be Aang for Halloween!” That’s music to this GeekMom’s ears, and not just because the costume is as simple as greasepainting a blue arrow on my preschooler’s shaved head. No, I’m delighted because my son picked a first-rate cartoon role model. It’s true that he’s a little younger than the target audience for Avatar: The Last Airbender, but little kids can’t help looking up to big kids, and I’ve seen no better kids on television than Team Avatar.

[Read the rest of this post on our companion site GeekMom.com]

View full post on GeekDad

For the past three years, convention-going geeks have had to choose: Dragon*Con or PAX. Two conventions on opposite ends of the United States, each with its own unique programming, occurring during the same Labor Day weekend. What’s a geek to do?

Dragon*Con (D*C) began as a get-together for users of a local Atlanta bulletin board system to get together and talk about science fiction and games. It grew to host the 1990 Origins International Game Expo and eventually grew to include guests like Michael Moorcock, Richard “Lord British” Garriott, Gary Gygax, and Anne McCaffrey. Now it plays host to everything from Star Trek and Star Wars alum to GWAR and Adult Swim, with some gaming and cosplay thrown in for good measure. It is a celebration of every possible geek pastime, all stuffed into a few city blocks.

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) kicked off in 2004 with 1337 pre-registrations and has grown to over 67,000. It’s focus: gaming. Music inspired by games, exhibitor booths devoted to new games, after-hours parties centered around games, and entire convention center floors devoted to the playing of games. It’s grown so popular that it can no longer be confined by the west coast, so PAX East and its 52,290 attendees converged on the city of Boston in March, completely overcrowding the Hynes Convention Center. Next year’s venue will, by necessity, be much larger.

Which convention reigns supreme? This year, my wife, Natania Barron, and I decided to split up. Not for good. Just for the weekend. We compared and contrasted. We one-upped each other via text message (when the networks weren’t down). We tried to get to the bottom of the Great Geek Debate: Dragon*Con vs. PAX.

Natania and Colin Ferguson at Dragon*Con. Photo: Natania Barron

Michael and Wil Wheaton at PAX. Photo: Michael Harrison

Natania Barron: So here’s the rundown: two cons, one weekend, one couple. Games and glory on one hand, dragons and…

Michael Harrison: B-list celebrities on the other?

NB: Whoa, whoa now. First of all, you have no sense of alliteration. And secondly, Jonathan Frakes might be reading.

This year Michael committed con adultery and, instead of going to Dragon*Con as we’ve done for the last two years, he went to PAX. Now, I couldn’t imagine skipping out on D*C, but Michael has his reasons. So we thought we’d bring this down to a good old fashioned debate, con-vs-con.

MH: It’s just like Dave and Jonathan’s Comic-Con vs. PAX debate, except this time the stakes are even higher. Because PAX and Dragon*Con have, for the past three years, both taken place over Labor Day Weekend. Unless you have a time machine, it’s kind of hard to attend both of them.

NB: I should point out that I have a sense of allegiance to Dragon*Con. It was the first convention I ever attended, and it holds a very special place in my heart. But Michael, you’re not so fond of D*C, if I recall. You had a little freak-out the first time we went.

MH: I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t tell anyone about that.

NB: Well, okay. Let’s just say the magnitude of the event was a little overwhelming for you.

MH: I went to D*C so I could toss some dice. Not make chitchat with the couple in the elevator, one of whom is collared and chained and in diapers.

NB: It does attract a rather enthusiastic costuming crowd, and along the way there are people who are simply there to parade about in odd clothing that may or may not scar you for life.

MH: I believe it was at D*C that I coined the term “popover”, which is… well, a sort of… reverse muffin-top, I guess?

NB: Yes, usually due to a very ill-fitting corset. Note to the ladies: it’s fine to flaunt what you’ve got, but please keep measurements in mind.

MH: At my last D*C, I quietly wandered down into the basement of the Hilton to play games with the other mouthbreathers. And, yes, they put the gamers in the basement. How convenient.

NB: My favorite part of D*C is the costuming. For every horrifying outfit is something utterly magical, something so lovingly and perfectly put together that it really inspires.

MH: There are fewer societal boundaries at cons because you just know: if they’re at PAX, they’re probably cool with the geeky subculture. They’re not going to think twice when I show up dressed as Mega Man, or when I ask if they want to play Zombie Dice.

NB: Dragon*Con has that same zeitgeist as well. There are all sorts of geeks there. Even geeks you didn’t know existed.

MH: Dog-chain-baby dude included.

Ken Denmead, Jonathan Liu, Mike Mearls, Michael Harrison, and Dave Banks (L to R), after a rousing session of D&D. Photo: Chris Sims

MH: So, aside from gawking at the cosplayers, what did you do this year at D*C? Wait in many lines?

NB: There are a lot of lines, yes, but they do schedule multiple events. So if you miss out one time you are certain to get to see them again. That is, if something isn’t scheduled opposite and you have a few hours to kill waiting in line. At D*C, you must accept that you will miss out on things, even if you try your hardest. The programming is comprehensive and the event schedule is packed. The good news is that if you miss out on one thing, there’s always another place to go.

MH: PAX has great programming but there just aren’t very many panels. This means that every panel is a popular panel. Thankfully, we have the Enforcers to keep joy amongst the line peoples. They wander around, holding contests and giveaways and keeping morale high. What does D*C have that can compare to these stalwart volunteers that keep PAX running like a well-oiled machine?

NB: I think one of the reasons that PAX works so well has to do with the Enforcers, but also with the limited programming. If PAX had as much going on at a given time, would things run so smoothly? Probably not. With D*C, there’s still that dependence on volunteers, but they’re far less visible and spread much thinner. There definitely isn’t that same interaction with the crowd. This year in particular I noticed a lot of tension in the lines.

MH: Regardless of the con, I think everyone who attends should give it up for the volunteers. These people are sacrificing their own enjoyment to help out. Sure, they get in for free, but it’s like the worst of both worlds: they’re at the convention, but they’re missing out on a lot while they work their volunteer magicks.

NB: Absolutely. And this year with the Pre-Registration debacle at D*C, I think a lot of people forgot that. But I’ve been told they’re fixing it next year.

MH: Waiting in lines sucks. At PAX, Get In Line Games was on hand with lots of fun group mobile phone games to keep the queues happy. And if you have to wait, it’s hard to beat doing it at a gaming convention. Break out a Magic: The Gathering deck, trade Pokémon, or draw some wangs on Pictochat. It makes the time pass pretty quickly.

NB: D*C could definitely benefit from something like that.

MH: They just need to bring the gamers out of the basement. We’ll show everyone how to have fun.

NB: I think there’s reasons they’re kept in the basement. It’s a kind of… well, let’s just say it’s a familiar odeur. Something between the smell of newly opened board games, onions and fried chicken.

MH: And Old Spice. Hey, say what you will, but we were out in the open at PAX and it was a lot of fun.

NB: Probably a good idea. Openness, that is.

MH: From my experiences at D*C, the gaming area is smaller than PAX’s, but the concept is mostly the same. You can check out any game you want from a library and find some fellow con-goers to play with you. This is, more or less, my idea of paradise.

NB: I agree with you, there. But I’d already been to PAX East this year and I figured I wanted a bit more variety in my geekerie, y’know? There are authors, actors and friends I don’t get to see anywhere else than Dragon*Con, and I certainly can’t say that for PAX. Which is the point, I know. But I need to diversify every now and again.

MH: Before we prattle on for too much longer, what were the three best things about D*C?

NB: I had more fun this year than ever before, due mostly to actually staying at a local hotel and having fantastic hosts who ended up not only giving me a ride to the con but letting me stay in their rooms (for a great rundown of D*C events you can check out my friend and host Scott Suehle’s post at Functional Nerds).

But I’d say the True Blood panel I went to was one of the highlights. I’ve never been to a con where one of my current TV obsessions was on display. I really enjoyed the banter and seeing how a fandom has grown around this show. I only wish Alexander Skarsgård was there.

MH: Yeah, I’ll bet you do.

NB: Secondly, I got a chance to go to the Steampunk Film Festival. As a steampunk geek myself, it was exciting to see what’s going on in the indie film scene right now. Particular standouts were Nickel Children, Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man, and The Hatter’s Apprentice.

Size is in the eye of the beholder. Photo: Michael Harrison

And then there’s the writer track. Where else can I go to a panel about H.P. Lovecraft’s legacy in literature? Or a panel discussing the merits of zombies vs. werewolves? While D*C certainly isn’t as high profile a literature convention as some, it does have its fair share of great folks. Over the years they had guests from Peter S. Beagle to Mike Mignola, from Jim Butcher to Charlaine Harris. It’s just a thrill for me to get to hear what they have to say, listen to them read their work and feel a part of it. In other writer-related news, I also got a chance to hang out a bit with the ever lovely and brilliant Cherie Priest, who initiated me into the wonders of the Dawn Look-Alike Contest.

MH: Tabletop gaming has a huge presence at PAX, so it’s not surprising that my top moment was spent around a table, rolling dice. We were lucky enough to have Mike Mearls, one of the designers of the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, run us through an encounter with the new D&D Essentials Red Box set. It was a lot of fun to hang out on the D&D Party Bus and combat horrible monsters with the other GeekDads, and playing games with Mike was kind of a gamer’s dream come true. Plus, there was a life-size beholder, Natania. I’m not going to lie to you. It was kind of scary.

NB: Dude, I saw a life-sized Despair costume. On a person. Anatomically correct… yeah, talk about scary.

MH: …

NB: Go on. You can do it.

Aeofel Lives! Photo: Michael Harrison

MH: Happy thoughts. Ok. Our panel was awesome but the best event of the weekend was the Acquisitions, Inc. Dungeons & Dragons game. I don’t know if this has ever happened in the history of all time, but there were hundreds upon hundreds of people lined up to watch people play D&D. It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. The session itself was just a blast to be a part of–we actually got to vote on the events that were unfolding–and made me miss our own D&D group.

And the third best thing? Is it ok for me to say that it was the people? All the attendees and Enforcers and speakers and VIPs and everyone?

NB: I think that works.

MH: It’s totally true. I’m not normally an outgoing person, but I felt like I could talk with anyone. I got to hang out with Dave and Jonathan and Ken, and play games, and there were always people coming by and saying hello, asking us about GeekDad or the game we were playing. That kind of environment is rare for a lot of geeks, and I think it helps to know that there are others out there just like us.

NB: Very cool, indeed. Shall we continue with the worsts? All quick-like?

MH: Sure. I’d say that PAX could benefit from some additional programming, but then again, I like that it’s very focused on gaming. Maybe some more panels so that the lines are a little less congested.

I’ll also admit that I didn’t wait in a single line to play a video game. They were insane. Two hours waits on the big ones, like Duke Nukem and Portal 2. These are games that are coming out relatively soon. I’m not going to waste two hours of valuable PAX time on that!

And, compared to D*C, I wish PAX took advantage of the holiday weekend. It won’t matter next year, so it’s not a big deal, but I was genuinely bummed out when they kicked us out of the convention center on Sunday. An extra day would have made me a very happy GeekDad.

What about D*C?

NB: Well, I mentioned the lines for pre-registration badges. I’ve heard they’re changing the whole process for next year, which is great. But I felt terrible for the people waiting for literally half a day in some cases. Especially in the heat. Especially when there’s so much anticipation.

And in spite of the fact that they opened up a new hotel, it was still majorly cramped this year. The elevators were a nightmare and it really puts a damper on trying to enjoy yourself when you can’t even get to the place you want to go!

There were also some major mixups with programming. Some events were changed but there was no good way to get the info out to the attendees. A page of the pocket program was missing. Signs were not changed to let people know where to go. The wifi is a nightmare and general connectivity is impossible. They’ve got to figure out a way to keep people better informed.

MH: Ok, well, here’s the good news: next year, we don’t have to make this decision. We can actually go to both, right? PAX Prime 2011 is August 26-28 and D*C is sticking to Labor Day. Plus, there’s always PAX East in March. But if we had to pick one convention to rule them all…

NB: In regard to organization and friendliness, I think PAX has the upper hand. But for geek diversity, it’s got to go to D*C. So… maybe this is a draw?

MH: It’s a bit of a cop-out, but I think you’re right. If you want to hang out, roll some dice and meet new people, go to PAX. If you want to see awesome cosplay, comics and television and movie stars and authors, then your best bet is D*C. They’re both conventions for geeks, but they appeal to different geek interests. Go to whichever one pushes your buttons most effectively. Or go to both!

NB: I think we can all get along. In the end, we all roll dice at the same table, right?

MH: Hell yeah. Dave made a good point in comparing PAX with SDCC: PAX is for active geek pursuits, like gaming. SDCC and, to a lesser extent, D*C, are more focused on the passive geek pursuits: television, books, movies, fandom. Would you agree?

NB: No, I actually don’t. Costuming is far from passive, and that’s really the highlight of Dragon*Con. The stuff just blows me away, and it’s as active a community as you could ask for. Sure, much of it is media-inspired, but much of it is plain creativity in action. And tons of talent.

MH: That’s awesome. People involved in active fandom for the things that they enjoy. It’s not just about passively sitting and watching a show. It’s about getting excited about it and making it a part of their own lives.

NB: Absolutely, and that’s a point that the heart of both PAX and D*C have in common: it’s about redefining our own realities. It’s about celebrating the worlds we want to live and play in with thousands of other like-minded people. And that’s pretty spectacular.

View full post on GeekDad

Trail running in the Rockies. Photo: Bill Day

I am an unabashed outdoor geek, just as obsessed with outdoor activities as I am tech. If you’re thinking “me too”, read on.

Last year I took up running and was looking for an adventurous challenge to push me as I trained. I decided to join my father on a high country camping, hiking, and trail running trip to the San Juans in southwestern Colorado. I had so much fun that I decided to tell the world about it in an Ignite talk on running (see video after the jump or check it out here) several months later. I also decided to set a goal of going back to the Rockies soon and bringing my wife and children with me the next time.

Where to go turned out to be easy to decide. My father and I enjoy hunting together (one of the oldest of “geek dad” activities given how obsessed many of us hunters are with spending time afield with our family). After years of applying and not being drawn, this summer my father and I finally received Wyoming pronghorn antelope tags in the mail. Since we’ll be hunting in the high plains of western Wyoming just a few hours away from Yellowstone National Park, the decision was made: The Day family is headed to Yellowstone!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about places to visit (look out Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Wyoming Dinosaur Center), favorite gear and gadgetry to make the journey smoother, and outdoor activities with family including camping, hiking, trail running, bird and critter watching, and hunting. If you have suggestions or questions you’d like me to address, please let me know via the comments below. Hopefully these posts will give you fodder for your own geek family adventures this fall.

More to come soon.  Until then, happy trails!

View full post on GeekDad

Original Photo: joshmadison via Flickr

Whether you’re a foodie or somebody who feels like eating just takes up time that could be better used for important things (like playing games), if you’re here on GeekDad you’d probably appreciate any tips on making cooking geekier, right? We’ve mentioned the Star Wars Cookbooks before and last fall we had a round-up of geeky drinks for Labor Day.

Recently, Game Couch — a site about video games and related geeky things — has been compiling recipes for their own Geek Cookbook, and they’re looking for entries. They need original (non-copyrighted) recipes with a geeky twist, which they’ll compile into a cookbook and release as a free PDF. So while there isn’t any financial compensation involved, you could win fame and the gratitude of food-ingesting geeks everywhere!

Submit your recipe here.

Photo by joshmadison via Flickr, used under Creative Commons License.

View full post on GeekDad

Quick pointer to this awesome eye-chart, made with a different font from a famous sci-fi/genre show show or movie for each letter. Thus, you can check your visual acuity and your geekiness in one test.

Bite.ca, via Geekologie.

View full post on GeekDad

The many faces of Dee Bradley Baker, a GeekDad exclusive image. (c) Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. Photo by Joel Aron.

Dee Bradley Baker needs no disguises.

By voice alone, the actor leaves Fletch and his list of aliases in the dust, and his credits are stacked with geek power: From roles in the Halo and Gears of War franchises to regular parts in animated standouts like Batman: The Brave and the Bold to GeekDad favorite Perry the Platypus on Phineas and Ferb.

Baker’s also the voice of Captain Rex and every other clone trooper on Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is how he wound up at Star Wars Celebration V this month in Orlando – though you get the sense that as someone who meticulously re-marked his Star Wars soundtrack as a kid to match the movie sequences, Baker probably would have been here anyway.

In an enthusiastic interview at the convention, the father of two talked about his career, raising his kids and being a geek (and >ahem!< a GeekDad fan!) as well as teasing some neat insights into the next season of Clone Wars and Nickelodeon’s upcoming cartoon spinoff of its animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Before we even sat down, we started chatting about geekdom and fatherhood, and the conversation was off and running before I had my recorder switched on, which is why the interview starts right in the middle of things:

Dee Bradley Baker: I’m a middle-aged dad, which means I have no social time or life to speak of, and so I connect with my buddies with my Xbox. We play, actually, two of my favorite games which I’m on, which are Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. I’m three new creatures on Left 4 Dead 2, so we kill me while catching up a little bit.

GeekDad: So, how many kids do you have?

DBB: Two. I have five-year-old and 10-year-old daughters. And actually, we watch a lot of my cartoons. My 10-year-old loves Clone Wars and Phineas and Ferb, and my five-year-old loves Phineas and Ferb as well.

GeekDads gotta stick together, you know. Image: Jim Carchidi

DBB: I am a geek dad, believe me. I’ve got my iPad with me; I’ve got my iPhone 4; I’ve got my Xbox. I love technology and I want to feel like I’m living in the future, and these devices help me feel that way.

GD: When you talk about being a geek dad and having those kinds of interests, does it just happen that you get this work and a lot of it has that geek appeal … or do you naturally gravitate to those projects?

DBB: The way that I’ve followed my life is actually more of the latter. When I was a child, I thought I was going to be a paleontologist because I loved dinosaurs. I loved monster movies and sci-fi, and then Star Wars came out, and I was completely out of my mind with that, with Close Encounters, and then I thought maybe I was going to go into special effects makeup, which I thought was awesome. But really, instead of drawing monsters or studying dinosaurs, I just continued doing things I liked to do. I didn’t really target how it was going to pay off. And so, because I just followed these things that I liked, it led me to producing sounds for these things, and being involved with them in that way. It’s from a pattern of me continually doing things that I really loved to do, and then trying to get money while doing that. And it’s led to this.

I mean, I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am to be involved with Star Wars. I twittered yesterday about how sad it is that a kid now can’t see Episode V and not know up until that moment when Darth Vader says, “I am your father” how it rewrites those two movies with one sentence. They can’t know that surprise now, and I think that’s a little sad. You go to a movie, and you’ve seen it already. The trailer shows you the whole thing, you’ve read all the reviews, you can pretty much know every single twist. But back then, when I saw that, I remember sitting in that theater in Denver, where I saw it, and just the electric feeling of right up to that moment.

GD: So, as far as showing your daughters Star Wars, how have they been exposed to it?

DBB: I started showing my now 10-year-old the Star Wars stuff … and started with Episode IV when she was probably about seven or eight. I thought she’d be OK for it then. When she was nine, I had shown her IV, V and VI, and then I and II, but I was holding off on III, because that one, that’s pretty rough. That’s pushing the border. You want to protect your kids, you want to be a good dad, and even though I make this stuff, I don’t just throw everything at them. And we’re watching that episode – and she’s a sharp kid: She’s watching it, and halfway through it, she said, “Daddy, I don’t think I want to see the end of this movie. I think I’ll wait ’til I’m 10.” And I said OK, that’s good. I’m very proud that my kids can tell me things like that, and that she can see that coming. But also, I mean, she had been watching the television series … and it’s established that the clones are heroes, and that Anakin is a hero, and in Episode III, everything falls apart, and it goes south, and the good guys become bad, and frankly, that’s a lot for a little kid to handle. You’re establishing what’s good and what’s bad and just the foundation for them to have a bigger perspective on the world, but I don’t need to shoehorn that into her childhood. I want her to have a childhood, which I think is harder and harder for kids to have these days. I was very proud of her for that (decision), and I felt very good about it.

GD: (As a parent), you’ve got to know your kids.

DBB: The main thing is that you’re present. That’s what it gets down to, to me. People, they kind of conjure a lot of fear about the media or about video games, and fo rme it’s about, “You know what? Just parent your kids. Don’t let the device babysit your child. You’ve got to be present. If you’re present, you can talk them through stuff, and they can tell you if they’re uncomfortable, and you can check their reactions.

Right now (my) kids are working through Nickelodeon’s Avatar series, which I’m very proud of and which – it’s something that’s really important to me: Clone Wars means a lot to me, and Avatar means a lot to me too – I did all the creatures in that. Well, the new Avatar, they put out an audition and they wanted a flashback for the younger Avatar – who is now a girl – from when she was this little fireball five-year-old. I had my 10-year-old audition for it, and it was just two sentences, and, well, my five-year-old said, “Daddy, I want to audition. I want to try this, too,” and so I let her give it a shot. And she booked it. And the name of the series is The Last Airbender: The Journey of Korra – and my daughter’s name is Cora. It was just kind of an odd serendipity. To have her involved, with her playing a namesake, the heroic character of the show, that’s pretty cool. Pretty wonderful.

(Note: Nickelodeon announced the spinoff will be called The Legend of Korra in a July 21 press release, and Baker has confirmed he’s working on it, too.)

DBB: But here I am (at Celebration V), in the middle of this thing that was just my dream as a kid, to be involved with Star Wars. I drew a lot of monsters and creatures, and I wanted to send them to George Lucas and say, “I’d like to design your next Cantina bar creatures,” but I never did. I’ve still got the drawings, though. My folks made me a Jawa costume for the Halloween after Star Wars opened in ‘77. In ‘78, when it was re-released, I was hired by the local cinema to be the Jawa: to dress up all summer long, and I could frighten people with my Jawa sounds and my Jawa outfit and watch Star Wars Episode IV all summer long and get paid with movie passes.

I really feel like I am living the dream of the thing that I loved so much as a kid. It’s ridiculously exciting. We saw the first two episodes of the new season of Clone Wars – just mind-blowingly good. It’s a prequel of the “Rookies” episode, which is all clones. One of my favorites. And it’s showing them getting their training and getting certified as clones, and in the second half, they’re attacked by Ventress, and Kamino gets this major attack, and there’s this big battle, and it’s incredible, just to be such an integral part of this thing.

Dee Bradley Baker’s birthday is coming up on Aug. 31: You should give him a Twitter follow and a Perry-style “Prrrrrghhht!”

View full post on GeekDad

Roll for Geekiness

I have a confession to make to you, dear readers. While I am a geek by most qualifying standards of the definition, my children so far do not share similar interests. Some progress has been made on the older one as he enjoys Anime, but that’s just because it’s less to read than a novel for which he has little interest. The middle one, he likes Star Wars but that is about it. He’s a sportsman at heart, playing football and baseball. While I did play baseball myself for many years, the geek side eventually won out over that. The youngest, she’s my final hope in raising a true geek. Not withstanding, whatever they choose to do that makes them happy, makes me happy and I will not take that away from them because of my own selfish motives.

It leads me to think though, what makes a geek? That is, when is that personality trait truly indoctrinated in the brain? When did I become a geek and set upon my own path in geekdom? While I do tend to think I embody the true sense of being a geekdad, I have to wonder what we are doing to raise the next generation of geeks to replace us and when in their lives does that training begin and stop. I suppose it’s sort of like Jedi training, perhaps it never stops. For myself, my father was an engineer, a total math and logic geek. I started out early with logic puzzles and Lego blocks. Of course I was into Star Wars, Star Trek and my father’s expansive science fiction book collection. To that end, anything geeky you can think of, comics and so on, I was into and throughly enjoyed.

So in searching my memory, when was the day that the switch in my personality clicked and I was destined to be a geek for life? I don’t think I can pinpoint the day, or the year, but when I read an article that claims that age seven is the cutoff for personality development I almost have to agree.

The study shows that as early as first grade the personality traits exhibited by children are precursors to adult personality traits. Clearly this doesn’t mean the age appropriate behavior, like whining about having to go to bed and believing there are monsters in the closet. Which there are of course, but as long as you keep the closet doors closed and don’t look at them they can’t get out. Unless they are Aliens or Morlocks, in which case you are screwed.

“We remain recognizably the same person,” said study author Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. “This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts.”

The study looked at about 2,400 ethnically diverse children in grade school – in Hawaii. I find this statistic of the study to be very interesting. Why Hawaii? In the 1960’s when the study began – how racially diverse was Hawaii? Frankly, I don’t think race is as important as environment. More on that in a moment. The researchers compared personality ratings of the children with video taped interviews 40 years later. While not looking at “geek” as a specific personality trait, some of the traits they did study do carry into certain geek behaviors.

They looked at both sides of the following personality traits; talkativeness (verbal fluency), adaptability (coping with new situations), impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (humility.) What they found, and what is going to be argued when this study is published in an upcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, is that the traits as they were exhibited by children directly translated to similar traits in adults. The challenge there is that these are pretty basic traits of general psychology. I learned about these behaviors in Psychology 101, and either side of any of these traits could be applied to almost anyone.

Also, starting a study in the 1960’s to now could be something that could challenge the validity of the study. A lot has changed since the 1960’s. The 70’s were turbulent times. The 80’s had questionable taste in music and way too many pastel suits. The grunge movement in the 90’s would have hit those in their early 30’s pretty hard, not to mention a country pretty much at war ever since. There were plenty of environmental factors between then and now that could have effectively altered a personality. Then again, if the personality was set before those factors, then perhaps nothing was changed.

So then back to my original inquiry, with that study in mind – what and when is a geek personality formed? If our children aren’t reading comics or programming their Mindstorms NXT toys to work with Arduino boards to control the light fixtures in their house or obsessively into Doctor Who by the end of Elementary School, is all hope lost? I don’t think it is.

You see, while being a geek may embody certain personality traits I don’t think it itself is a personality trait. I think it’s more of a way of life, or perhaps an encompassing state of being. There are plenty of environmental and social factors that can change how one perceives and interprets life. There are always paths for new interests, new roads into the convoluted and ADHD world of geekdom. So there is plenty of time for your budding geeklet to morph into his eventual place in the world of geek. There is also just as much time for that same geeklet to put the way of the geek behind him. No matter what, our support as parents will make them successful no matter which path they choose, no matter what piques their interests.

Just to round out the interactivity here at GeekDad, I posed the question to the Twitter/Facebook masses, “do you think your personality was set when you were 7? Why? Why not? Also, were you a geek and still are?” Here are some of those responses, feel free to add to them in the comments.

“I think my core personality was in place. It took some time to get to the level of disfunctionality I have now. Yes I was a geek.” – @dgiancaspro

“Set at 6 with first Dr. Strange comic. Yes, a geek… or at least geek-curious.” – @luckyradish

“Read sci fi then and now. Was socially awkward back then, but now not as much Hubby agrees, same as he was at 7 – software engineer, blowing up LEDs, programming basic and all those other sciency techy kits. Kid and engineer at heart ” – @krissy314

“No, I don’t think it was, at least not in all aspects. But I think it wasn’t too long after that that it was.” – @cerebus19 (GeekDad Assistant Editor Matt Blum, who is clearly now a geek.)

Follow us on Twitter @cebsilver and @wiredgeekdad.
Image: C. Silver

View full post on GeekDad

The GeekDads talk about Comic-Con, Maker Faire Detroit and Matt’s newfound sex-symbol status. Enjoy!

GeekDad.com is the parenting blog at Wired.com, edited by Ken Denmead, Matt Blum and Chris Anderson. It is a community of like-minded geeky parents writing about our experiences raising our kids in the digital age, and about our obsessions with technology, family-friendly projects, and pop-culture. The GeekDads podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of anything and everything that impacts us as geeks and parents.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

You can subscribe directly with this RSS feed.

You can download or listen to GeekDad Episode 73.mp3.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The GeekDads Episode #72: The Geek Double Twist (wired.com)
• The GeekDads Episode #71: Must Have Bacon Beer! (wired.com)
• The GeekDads Episode #70: Country Western Shock Jock (wired.com)

View full post on GeekDad

Something that many geeks have in common is vision correction. Whether you choose to sport stylishly geeky frames or to wear contact lenses, it’s a pretty common thing to not have 20/20 vision. Personally, I was eight years old when I got my first pair of glasses. We discovered that I needed them when I couldn’t read the filmstrip captions projected on the screen at school. Rather than singling me out, my very sweet second grade teacher, Miss May, started having everyone in the class walk up to the front of the room to read the captions. It’s been almost 30 years and I’m sure she’s no longer with us, but I thank her just the same.

My daughter recently turned nine, so I’ve been on the lookout for signs of myopia. She’s been lucky. She passed the vision screening at the doctor’s office, and can see things at a distance very well. Perhaps she’s taking after the minute percentage of family members who have good vision.

My son, who turned six last spring, also has never complained about having trouble seeing things. Somehow, I had it in my mind that if my kids needed glasses, it wouldn’t be until the middle of elementary school at the earliest. But at his recent annual pediatrician checkup, he had his first vision screening. Now, my son is quite precocious, teaching himself to read when many kids are still learning their capital letters. So I assured the nurses that he knew all his letters and would have no problem identifying anything on the eye chart. The nurse asked him to read a line, and he just kind of stood there. She tried another line, and he guessed a few of the letters. The nurse had moved near the top of the chart before he could reliably read anything. Perhaps the nurses thought I had lied! They decided to bring a machine into the exam room and check him out further. My son thought the machine was pretty neat, and was a great sport about the whole thing. But he did just as poorly with this second test.

Browline Glasses. These would be sufficiently geeky. Image: Public Domain.

It was obvious to everyone that a real eye exam from an actual eye doctor would be required. Since just about everyone that my son knows wears glasses at least some of the time, he was fine with the idea. We talked in a very positive way about getting glasses, and he even has a few friends his age that wear glasses. A couple of days before the eye doctor visit, my son told me that he was excited for the appointment to see how well he would do. He kept talking about how he’d pick out cool glasses to wear.

At the eye doctor’s office, the appointment began with the initial tests. First was the glaucoma test. You know, the one where they blow a puff of air into your eye. I didn’t think they did this test until you got much older, so I was surprised that they gave it to a six year old. Perhaps that is standard operating procedure now. I personally hate this test. It takes every ounce of my being to allow them to do this to me. My eyes water and it’s so hard to keep them open, and I blink furiously. My son sat there, completely still. We figured it would be easy for the technician to get the first eye, since our son had no idea what was coming, but that the second eye would be impossible.

Here Nemo models my son's new glasses. Photo: Jenny Williams

Hold still, here we go, and *PUFF*. Quiet. No crying or screaming whatsoever. I was floored when our son just sat there and giggled. He said that it tickled, and then got ready for the second eye. The technician did that eye without difficulty either, and then my son said, “Can I do it again?” I wish that he could take this test in my stead! I should have known that he’d do well, since this experience was very similar to the recent immunization at his annual doctor visit. For that, he said, “Ow ow ow,” and that was it. He was happy and cheerful immediately thereafter. This boy is a wonder. He certainly doesn’t get this stoicism from me.

For the next vision test, he had to stare into a machine at an image of a blurry house, while holding completely still. It was hard for him to keep his head from moving, even with us holding his head in place.

We eventually got into the regular exam room and saw the eye doctor herself. I told her about the vision screening experience. I had been very surprised that he had done so poorly in the screening because he hadn’t complained about not being able to see things. But then again, we homeschool and he rarely has to read things that are far away. There’s no chalkboard across the room. No filmstrip captions to read. I had asked him if anything far away was blurry, and he said no, that they were just too far away. We later learned from the eye doctor that this was a perfect way to describe being nearsighted for a six year old. “Blurry” had no meaning for him.

The doctor started the exam. First she checked his eye movement, trying to get him to move his eyes without moving his head. Next was the color blindness test, which he passed with flying colors (ha ha). Then, with the light off, he read letters on the wall, unaided, one eye at a time. He was supposed to hold a shield over his face that covered one eye, but he kept peeking. He didn’t do well with this test. At this point it was pretty obvious that he was at least somewhat nearsighted.

The doctor then put the big device over his face that everyone associates with going to the eye doctor. She set it up with some correction numbers that the blurry house machine spit out, and my son was easily able to read tiny letters on the wall. He still kept peeking, though. She did one eye, then the other, and then both together. He thought the machine was cool. The doctor said that he is “a little bit nearsighted,” in the -1 range. She then shined a bright light into his eyes and said that yes, he would need glasses.

We were all excited to pick out some frames! My son didn’t really have any opinions, so the rest of us got to pick them out. With every frame we’d put on him, he’d say, “I’m doctor professor!” and pose for the mirror. Then when we took them off, he’d say, “I’m not doctor professor!” (If anyone knows of some great improv classes for kids in the Northern Arizona area, please let me know!)

We wanted to get frames with spring-loaded arms and also not a color of the rainbow. So we avoided the pink, purple, blue and other non-earth-tones, and tried on all the metallic, black and brown frames. We tried all the possible frames on him that matched those criteria, and narrowed it down in stages. After at least 20 minutes, we were finally down to one pair of frames. We showed the technician. He immediately said that the frames were too small for my son’s head. I wasn’t surprised, but was disappointed because we really liked the frames we picked. Plus, we had used up all of my son’s patience with the frame selection process.

Ah well, we had to buck up and go over to the slightly-larger-frame box that was hidden away in a cabinet. After a similar but shorter process, we finally found some frames that we liked, had bend-back arms and that didn’t make him look like he was playing dress up. The arms were much too long for him, but we were told that the ends could be bent during the glasses fitting. These frames would be big enough for him to wear for years, unlike the first pair we chose.

It took two and a half weeks to finally get the glasses, but when we picked them up, and my son put them on his face for the first time, the glasses looked like they belonged there, almost as if they’d always been there. The arms were still too long, so the frame fitter person heated and bent the ends to curl farther around my son’s ears, which will give the added benefit of helping the glasses to stay on better. My son ended up wearing his new glasses for about an hour and a half, then decided that he was done wearing them for a while. Since they’re only for distance, he won’t need to wear them all the time. But now my son joins the ranks of glasses-wearing geeks, having gone through a major geek rite of passage!

View full post on GeekDad

Fans have a great time attending big cons like San Diego Comic Con but often what goes on behind the scenes is as interesting as what is being presented to the public.

Take writer and geek mom Jackie Kessler, who ended up writing a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer story after going to a con.

“I’d met Dark Horse editor Scott Allie at Dragon*Con, and I’d offered to give him one of my books to read. He wanted something dark and not superhero, so I gave him Hell’s Belles, (sex, strippers and demons–what’s not to like?). A month later, I received author copies of the second book in that series, The Road to Hell, and I did a Twitter giveaway to the first ten people who retweeted. Scott was number two. When I emailed to confirm his address, he asked if I’d like to write a Buffyverse short comic for  MySpace Dark Horse Presents. After a moment of pinching myself, I said sure. So there you go: I got the offer because Scott liked what he’d read of Hell’s Belles.”

You can’t find “Carpe Noctem” online any long but Kessler said it will be re-printed in an upcoming “Dark Horse Presents” trade paperback collection.

Images from "Carpe Noctum" by Kessler

When I heard this story via a mutual friend, I asked Kessler if I could also check out her books. Since I’m more of a superhero reader than a demon reader, I picked  Black & White and Shades of Grey, which are co-written by Caitlin Kittredge. The books feature two young woman as the main characters so I also hoped they might appeal to the eldest daughter.

Superheroes are such a visual medium that they’re hard to translate to prose so I was a skeptic before I started reading the books. But by chapter three of the first book, I was hooked, and I stayed up late to finish the second novel.

It struck me that Kessler and Kittredge have written the story that Heroes should have been.

They’ve created a world that not only deals with how the arrival of superheroes would affect everyone but how those heroes were created. The two main characters are former best friends now on opposite sides of the law. Well, sorta.

There’s a huge cast and a number of great action sequences but what sealed the deal for me is the in-depth characterization and the descriptions of how these people feel when they use their powers.

I asked Kessler if she’d always been interested in superheroes and science fiction/fantasy stories

“I started reading comics when I was about eight. My dad and I would go to the comic book shop every Saturday, pick out the week’s stash, then spend that afternoon reading comics and talking about them. (My bat mitzvah present was X-Men numbers 94 – 100 in mint condition.  Best present ever!”

Aside from me: Kessler has an awesome Geek Dad.

“They also took me on a tour of Marvel Comics when I was a teen, and one summer I got to meet Louise Simonson and show her a picture of Illyana Rasputin/Magik I’d drawn.

“I stopped reading avidly when I went to college — damn, comics got expensive — but when I was a junior, my suite mate plunked down a copy of Sandman #23 and said I had to read it. I did, and thank God, because that introduced me to Neil Gaiman. Another friend got me into MAGE, and from there I discovered Grendel.

“At one point, I had about 9,000 comics. But between time and, argh, a basement flood, I lost quite a lot of them. Now, when I buy comic books — say, Irredeemable and Incorruptible— I tend to go for the trade paperback versions.

“As for other pursuits…well, I’m finally watching all of Angel — the only Joss show that I hadn’t seen in full previously — and am thinking about starting DR. WHO. (I know, I’ve never watched an episode of Dr. Who. Pity me!)”

Kessler said her children–nine and seven–have followed in her footsteps. Somewhat.

“They’re more into superheroes a la cartoons (Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold…who am I kidding? They’re all about Pokemon and Bakugon, damn it). But a mom can hope!”

View full post on GeekDad

Photo: Amazon

Plush toys are not just for kids, especially if you’re a geek. It’s just that there’s so many geeky possibilities in the plush format, you know? Just yesterday I was waxing romantic about these plush octopuses (or… octopodes – thanks @admoman) from Hemlock Emporium here in North Carolina, and then this morning I stumbled across a great collection of plushies via mental_floss by Miss Cellania. These are a little more subversive, and definitely not for the kid crowd, but I can’t help but chuckle at them. I particularly like the plush figure of Death of Monty Python fame (pictured above) and the Ren & Stimpy-inspired log!

(via mental_floss)

View full post on GeekDad

Photo by Jeremy Austin; used under Creative Commons Attribution license

What do a newborn baby and a cage wrestler have in common? About three minutes of awe and wonder, wrapped up into a new Internet meme.

Know Your Meme, a great source for background on Internet culture, explained the latest viral sensation — Double Rainbow — as follows:

In January of 2010, YouTube user and self-proclaimed mountain man Hungrybear9562—real name: Paul Vasquez—uploaded a video of an awe-inspiring double rainbow. As the video progresses, Hungrybear becomes more and more passionate, eventually giving in to the double-rainbow-induced rapture.

Bear remained in Internet obscurity for months after the encounter with nature, until talk show host Jimmy Kimmel tweeted about it in early July. The spike in views has cleared 5 million, thanks to additional coverage by Mashable, Huffington Post, and geek celebrity Nathan Fillion. The swell of double-rainbow parodies are getting millions of views as well, including over 3 million from the song remixed by the Auto-Tune-the-News folks. Even Hitler got into the act. (That’s a double meme, all the way!)

The over-the-top reaction was genuine. As Bear told KYM, “The rainbow was the Universe or Spirit flowing through me, the reaction you heard was how I reacted to seeing the Holy Ghost, kind of like Moses seeing the burning bush in the 10 commandments.” Another interview with Shira Lazar (CBS News) indicated its brilliance was enough to knock Bear to the ground.

Double Fish Mobile

New father Richie Hazlewood first came across the original Double Rainbow through StumbleUpon, after it had already made the rounds through Huff Post, Fark, and Funny or Die. He and his wife, Chantel, turned some video of their eight-week-old baby, Theo, into a riff of their own. The charming aspect of this Double Rainbow entry is seeing the world from the perspective of a new baby, something any GeekDad or GeekMom can appreciate.

As Theo’s vision developed, the mobile above his changing station came into view. One day, Chantel’s laughter drew Richie into the nursery. Theo was smiling and “going nuts” while he looked up at the mobile. It wasn’t clear to the new parents if their baby was happy, sad, or freaked out. The connection to Bear’s experience became obvious.

The entire video was done with three short takes captured with a handheld camera: the baby happily freaking out under the mobile, Theo crying before a diaper change, and a baby’s-eye view from underneath the mobile. “Yes, I delayed his diaper change so i could get a few seconds of heart-felt misery,” Richie admitted. “Theo demands method acting.”

Hazlewood claims Theo has become impossible to live with since his internet debut. “We have to feed him, bathe him, dress him, and entertain him constantly,” says Richie. “This generation really struggles with a heightened sense of entitlement, I think.”

View full post on GeekDad

August is promising to be a big month for Australian GeekDads. Our geographic isolation means we are subject to engaging with the ideas and stories of many fine writers, producers and thinkers from interviews and talks uploaded to video sharing sites. But, not in August 2010. Both Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon will be gracing us with there presence downunder.

For those Australian GeekDad’s currently jumping out of their chairs. I’ll get the links out of the way quickly.

• Neil Gaiman at the Sydney Opera House tickets
• Joss Whedon at the Mebourne Writer’s Festival tickets

Neil Gaiman is appearing at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 7 August in a specially commissioned reading and production of his story “The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains.” The story has been specially commissioned for the GRAPHIC event being held in Sydney to celebrate the cultural contribution of graphic novels and comics. It will include artwork and illustrations by Eddie Campbell and has been completely scored by Australian string quartet Fourplay. This event, a worlds premiere no less, promises to be divine. I am not well aware of Eddie Campbell’s work, but have seen Fourplay who turn their string quartet to everything from AC/DC to the theme from Dr.Who.

Information on Joss Whedon’s appearance is scarce. Needless to say he has been booked as the keynote speaker for the evening of 27 August at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. Speaking at the Melbourne Town Hall is probably not as grand as the Sydney Opera House, but no doubt the fans will flock to hear Whedon’s thoughts on storytelling and have hundreds of questions they seek the answers to – all relating to Firefly .

Australian GeekDads, I’ll see you there.

View full post on GeekDad

The family and I are on a small trip to beautiful Vancouver, BC this week (and the locals are grateful we brought our California weather with us). Looking for interesting things to do on a free day, a local (thanks David H.) pointed us towards Stanley Park, and the aquarium there. Now aquaria (yeah, that’s the proper plural for those of us who took 4 years of Latin in high school, mei amici) can be hit or miss, but the Vancouver Aquarium has something special – special enough to keep two jaded geek-tweens happy for a few hours.

From the website:

The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, education, research, and direct action.

Admissions, programs, groups, membership, retail operations, and food services account for 81% of the Aquarium’s operating budget while charitable contributions, donations and restricted grants comprise the remainder.

What does that mean? That there’s a lot of good going on because of the place. The sea lion, dolphin and Beluga whale shows are wholesome without having the marine-park feeling of a circus for water animals. The tropical and arctic areas have wonderful displays and interactive learning stations. Overall, it’s an excellent afternoon out with plenty to explore and see for the whole family.

View full post on GeekDad

Product: L’il Grills

Manufacturer: Roundup:

Wired Rating: 0

Summer and cookouts go together like Baby Ruths and swimming pools. Compact grills let you BBQ anywhere at a moment’s notice.

1. Big Green Egg (small)

The Egg lived up to its lofty rep: Our food came out flavorful and juicy—even veggie burgers! Unfortunately, at 65 pounds this charcoal burner weighs nearly as much as the other three grills combined. And the Egg’s brittle ceramic shell made us apprehensive about carrying it down steps, much less tossing it in the trunk. When we did take it on the road, we had to wait hours for the thing to cool down before lugging it home.

WIRED Can be configured for grilling, baking, smoking, or convection heating. Equally capable above 750° F or south of 250°.

TIRED Switching setups was tough to do while the coals were lit. 13-inch-diameter cooking area is the smallest of this batch. $500, biggreenegg.com

2. Solaire Everywhere

Equipped with its own shoulder bag and weighing in at just 15 pounds, the Solaire is as portable as a briefcase, and its infrared burner and stainless steel housing positively drip with geek cred. The grill was ready to cook in five minutes, and a maximum measured temperature of just over 700° F meant we were able to produce tempting grill marks and juicy insides. With such spunky burners and a lid that isn’t designed for flame-on use, though, slow cooking is sadly not an option.

WIRED Quick cleanup and cooling make it easy to head home.

TIRED Hard to throttle down the heat. Buy a few extra bottles of propane—this baby is thirsty. 155-inch cooking area is second-smallest in our test. $289, rasmussen.biz

3. Weber Q140

After we got over our prejudice against its electric heating element, we realized that the Q140 was a pretty effective cooker. Its heat-reflecting lining and oval shape direct BTUs at your grillables, and closed-lid cooking provided excellent results on fish and veggies. Keep the cover down, though: Even though you plug this 1,560-watter into a 120-volt outlet, it still struggles to reach 500° F. Serious searers should look elsewhere.

WIRED Never runs out of fuel (as long as you pay the electric bill). Optional fold-up stand leaves table space for food and eating.

TIRED Low top heat. No temperature gauge. Portability is limited to the length of your extension cord. $280, weber.com/

4. Char-Broil CB500X

The CB500X looks like a tough man’s treasure chest, with black metal construction, preseasoned cast-iron grate, and a front-side fire-pit door. But we struggled to achieve precision grilling: The charcoal burned too hot and fast, and the vents were too small to let us control the temperature effectively. On the plus side, it offered the largest cooking area in our roundup (24 x 10 inches) while still fitting nicely into the back of our Honda Civic.

WIRED Removable bottom for easy cleanup. Adjustable fire rack.

TIRED At 37 pounds, it approaches don’t-lift-with-your-back territory. Hot metal vent knobs inflicted the only burn of the test, and back flash singed arm hairs. $150, charbroil.com

View full post on Wired Product Reviews

Photo: Jen Blum

It’s pretty cool what a skilled crocheter can do with a bunch of yarn, some stuffing, and a geeky set of interests. The recent trend of crocheting cute (but still cool) small dolls called amigurumi (which literally means “knitted stuffed toy” in Japanese, where the trend began), has spread to the world of geekdom. Geeky crocheters have been making amigurumi based on all sorts of familiar themes, from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings to Tron to Evil Wil Wheaton, among many others.

I am privileged to be married to such a geeky crochet artist, though she often tries (in vain) to protest the “geeky” label. Jen Blum, my wonderful wife of nearly eleven years, taught herself to crochet in the autumn of 2008, and caught the amigurumi bug not long thereafter. At first she only made them as gifts for friends, but recently she’s been selling lots of them and making custom orders. She’s also been making less-geeky but still cool smiling kidneys to sell as a fundraiser for a good friend of hers who needs a kidney and pancreas transplant but can’t afford the attendant expenses.

The ones pictured above are just a sample of what she’s done. She’s recently created a very cool Darth Vader and Stormtrooper. She’s made an awesome Cthulhu, too, and, just because it’s too good a meme to ignore, a pirate and a ninja. Then there are mermaids, dragons, and “traditional” green aliens. So yes, she’s a geek, even if she’s in denial about it — I mean, really, could a non-geek have made that awesome Chewbacca?.

Obviously I’m biased here, but if you like what you see here, please check out Jen’s web store at Zibbet.com; prices range from $5 to $15, and are based on the item’s complexity. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, let her know and she may be able to do it as a custom order. Or, if you have any suggestions for other fun geeky subjects for amigurumi, please leave a comment or tweet her at @barefootjj.

View full post on GeekDad

Image by Michael Giancaspro

In 1998 a guy named Tim McEachern started “The Geek Pride Festival” in Albany, New York. In 2006 Geek Pride was celebrated in Spain and on the Internet on May 25th. May 25th was chosen to commemorate the premiere of Star Wars in 1977, a momentous day in Geek history. The highlight of the Spanish festivities was when 300 geeks in Madrid formed a human Pac-Man. They should be proud and so should you because today is Geek Pride Day 2010, and here are five reasons to be proud of your geekiness.

1. We are Passionate:

Geeks are a diverse bunch with one common quality, passion. We feel passionate about things the average person just doesn’t get. Even though I like comic books I am not a comic book geek, but show me a circuit or the inside of a machine and my heart beats as fast as any comic book geek’s on a Wednesday.

2. We’re Smart:

Geeks know things. Lots of things. Not just the things that you take tests on but things like the combination to Kirk’s Safe, the name of Chewbacca’s home planet and many other amazing factoids gathered through our geeky explorations. Just don’t hit us with sports trivia. We might not do so well there.

3. We Make Stuff:

Thomas Edison, Steve Wozniak, Linus Torvald and these are just a few of the geeks who make the high tech world we have today possible. Computers, Video Games, and space travel, geeks have left their mark on the world and in outer space with their tireless pursuit to solve problems.

4. We have a Rich Culture:

We have our own fashion, Geek Chic. Our own music, NerdCore. Multiple cons and gatherings for every interest. The myth of the anti-social geek is just that, a myth. We get together and socialize all over the world to celebrate our geekiness.

5. We Have A Long History

Pythagoras, Issac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin were all geeks. We have been around since the dawn of time. Geeking out over wheels, circles, science, architecture … you name it. We are part of the history of the world and we are making the future possible.

So get out there today and celebrate your passion ! Whether it’s RPG’s, Star Wars or Steampunk be proud of your Geekiness. Oh and don’t forget to bring a towel because as any Douglas Adams Geek knows today is also Towel Day.

View full post on GeekDad

In the annals of time and Science Fiction, no character is more used and recognized than the mad scientist. They have been evil, they have been good and they have (more often than not) been absolutely out of their freaking heads. Crazy as the day is long, these characters have been a constant source of entertainment, weird science and madcap inventions.

So when you hear “mad scientist” what do you think? Do you really think “mad?” Usually, you think of Dr. Frankenstein, the original mad scientist (as far as popular culture, literature & movies are concerned). Dr. Frankenstein is the king of the mad scientist genre, with the tortured but well-intentioned creation of his monster. Tortured because of the anguish he suffered in his devotion to the creation, and well intentioned because he really thought he was doing some good.

That’s the conundrum facing many of the mad scientists today. While they generally have the best of intentions, the chaos they create as a result of those intentions is what ends up classifying them as “mad.” From destroying whole universes, to creating paradoxes in time, to just being a general nuisance to the tri-state area – mad scientists end up getting a bad rap.

In this weeks’ Great Geek Debate, we take a look at some of the most popular ones in geek culture – aside from the obvious Dr. Frankenstein – to determine if they are really mad, or just misunderstood.

Name: Dr. Emmett Brown
Disposition: Frantic, forgetful, brilliant but controversial.
Claim to Fame: Invented a time machine made from an DMC DeLorean.
Analysis: Dr. Brown was looked down upon by society as being a true outcast, a mad scientist trapped in suburban America. His years of experiment (and a bump on the head) resulted in the invention of the “Flux Capacitor.” With this, and a converted DMC DeLorean tuned to run on nuclear power, he created time travel. However, the paradoxes created by time travel were a constant source of frustration for Dr. Brown, eventually leading him to destroy the time machine – but not before building another one.

Dr. Brown’s intentions with the time machine were of the best kind, not evil at all, but even well laid plans can be messed up by terrorists looking for their nuclear materials and a teenager wearing a jacket that resembles a life vest. The best thing for Dr. Brown was getting trapped in the past, where his inventions were actually able to not only do some good, but be appreciated for doing so.
Madness Factor: Great Scott! Bananas, but not full coconuts.

Name: Dr. Herbert West
Disposition: Brilliant to the point of insanity, a narcissistic loner with a deep belief in his work.
Claim to Fame: Famed for re-animating the dead.
Analysis: Dr. West was the unfortunate victim of his own massive intelligence and ego. He is a true mad scientist, deeply involved in his personal beliefs about life and death in relation to humanity. This makes him just as dangerous as it does brilliant. While he was called upon on occasion to assist with actual medical emergencies, by that time his experiments on the dead had already met with gruesome and violent results.

Dr. West exhibits a strong arrogance about his intelligence and work which causes him to treat the living and the dead with a lack of general respect for their existence. This would prove time and time again to be his undoing, as he would over look the anger the living had towards him after he re-animated them from death. Especially if West was actually the killer. Dr. West is a dangerous individual and while he portrays a sense of egotistical confidence, he is not to be trusted or kept company with.
Madness Factor: Roasting marshmallows on the sun nuts.

Name: Dr. Horrible
Disposition: Shy, underachiever with a penchant for redheads and gangs run by horses.
Claim to Fame: Defeated Captain Hammer to earn his way into Bad Horse’s Evil League of Evil.
Analysis: Dr. Horrible isn’t really that all horrible. He’s quite entertaining and his rudimentary weapons (a freeze ray, remote control for a vehicle) create a less than threatening persona. Long the whipping boy of his foil, Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible dreams of a day where he can rule with an iron fist and goggled face. Struggling constantly between kind of evil and true evil, it’s not until a horrible accident finally pushes him into the arms of true evil.
Madness Factor: Wants to join a gang run by horse. Nuff said.

Name: Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Disposition: Bumbling, clumsy, intelligent but vacant.
Claim to Fame: Constantly attempts to take over the tri-state area using a myriad of “-inators.”
Analysis: Dr. Doofenshmirtz is more of a “chaos causer.” That is, his attempts at taking over the tri-state area are rarely well planned out and usually based on some minute irritation he has with the community at large, generally stemming from his childhood, in which he was often overlooked in favor of his “goody two-shoes brother.” However, his adeptness at building destructive “-inators” one after the other should not be over-looked. Between his own inability to keep his competence up to finish a job and the constant interference of Perry the Platypus, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is a minor annoyance at best.
Madness Factor: Crazy like not being able to find everything on the grocery list in one store.

Name: Dr. Walter Bishop
Disposition: Disorganized, hints of dementia, lucidity comes and goes.
Claim to Fame: Opened a doorway to a parallel universe.
Analysis: Dr. Bishop previously lived for his work, then he worked for his son. He applied his great and vast intelligence to find a cure for his dying son. Eventually this led him to travel to another universe to kidnap his parallel son, who was also dying. Between this action and his earlier experimentation on children to give them what would be considered to be super powers, the guilt and morally deplorable acts of his past caught up with him mentally and he was committed.

Dr. Bishop has had the chances in his life to make things right, but has been too afraid of the consequences to do so. He has since applied his brilliant, though at times featherbrained, mind to solving cases for the F.B.I. that border on the fringe of reality. Dr. Bishop had the potential to be one of the greatest living scientists ever, but was undone by his own arrogance in thinking that what he was doing was of the best intentions. Arrogance, a trait of many mad scientists, can be very destructive.
Madness Factor: Angry and contemplative drunk with one leg mad.

Name: Professor Hubert Farnsworth
Disposition: Completely gone. Too old to be living, much less inventing. Confused, with sparks of misguided brilliance.
Claim to Fame: The smell-o-scope. Really.
Analysis: Roughly around 160 years old, Farnsworth is a genius scientist trapped in a decaying body. To this end, he’s created numerous doomsday devices, the smell-o-scope of course and to combat the old age – a clone. There is no invention or problem too great for Farnsworth to solve, but remembering that he was tasked to solve the problem tends to get in the way. At one time creating an alternate universe in a box, which almost destroyed the universe, his fault is once again that of arrogance. Sadly, he does not recognize it as such, instead it’s most likely gas or a stroke.
Madness Factor: Who got shot in the what now?

In the end, they are all mad. From Frankenstein to Farnsworth, they all exhibit great intelligence but quality traits that end up undoing their work or causing more harm than good. That’s the mad part of being a mad scientist. Perhaps it’s less the uncontrollable urge to control the universe, traverse time and space or invent objects of destruction, but more the madness caused by the frustration of failure. As we ask at the end of every Great Geek Debate, who are your favorites? Which ones were left out that bear mentioning? Leave it in the comments!

Image Credit: Glen Edelson. Used under C.C. license.

Follow on Twitter @cebsilver and @wiredgeekdad

View full post on GeekDad