Strollerderby : geeks

Morning News - Watchmen, Wiper Fluid and the World Wide Web

Brett Singer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday! (You need to hear that in the voice of a 1980's era Monster Truck radio ad announcer. That reference either makes sense or it doesn't. Apologies if it doesn't.)

Quick comment: I have to say that when I said I would fill in for Madeline for a few days, the last thing I thought I would be writing about was former President George W. Bush. Not that I mind, but it seems strange. I had an item about him yesterday, and there's one today. I'm not looking for them, believe me.

And now -- the news!

Update from Nerdy Movie Land (which, surprisingly, is not located at my house): 'Watchmen' dropped to second place, losing the top spot to 'Race to Witch Mountain.' Proving... nothing, really. Personally, I want 'Watchmen' to do well so that studio executives keep greenlighting superhero movies. So far it's made about $85 million, which is pretty good for two weeks. Unfortunately, there are reports that many people are walking out of the film before it's over, which doesn't really help with that whole word of mouth thing.

The guy who pretty much invented the World Wide Web – Tim Berners-Lee, not Al Gore – once got scammed online when buying a Christmas present. He's also warning people against "website snooping" and talking about keeping your personal data safe. Good idea, Tim, but if even you got scammed, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Campbell's Soup is not planning to cut their prices. Got that? How is this a headline? Seems that the company feels that prices are low enough, and sales are growing anyway. Hence, no price lowering. I repeat -- why tell anyone this? I prefer the organic stuff, myself, and my kids wouldn't eat soup if they were starving, so it doesn't affect me. But if I did eat Campbell's Soup, hearing this might make me NOT buy it. Just saying.

President Barack Obama wants to block bonus payments to AIG execs, and NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants to know who is getting the money. This is not going to end anytime soon, methinks.

In other financial news, former White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says that her former boss deserves some of the credit for a recent bounce in the stock market. I didn't realize that being a Presidential flack was a lifetime position.

Lindsay Lohan will NOT, repeat NOT, be arrested. C'mon, you know that makes you happy. Her arrest warrant was recalled and she "enroll in a new alcohol education program." TMZ reports that she had a "personality conflict" with the program she was in before. What does that mean, that she wanted to drink while she was there?

The kids who drank the wiper fluid are OK, which is good. I'm still not clear on why this stuff tastes good. Wouldn't that flavoring have to be an additive of some kind? And if it is, why include it? Is it possible that wiper fluid just tastes sweet naturally? That would be, as my son might say, weird.

And finally, Shannon tells us about a new dinosaur, more specifically "a new species of pliosaur." The photo (above) is just flat out cool. Apparently this particular pliosaur was "more powerful than T Rex, with a head twice its size, a set of 12-inch teeth, and a weight of about 45 tons." Yowsa. Show this one to your kids, unless you think it'll give them nightmares. Heck, it might give me nightmares. Look at those teeth...

That's all for today - more tomorrow...

Photo: Guardian

Superman Comic Sells For Over 300k

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5 Ways to Raise A Geek

SunnyChanel — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:01:00 GMT

I’ve had a mantra since my daughter was born. It is “please be geeky, please be geeky, please be geeky”. Over and over I chant this, hoping that it will come true. Which just means she’s totally going to rebel and end up being (as I shudder) a cool hipster chick. Why do I want my daughter to be a geek? Oh, so many reasons. I won’t have to buy overpriced designer duds, she won’t walk around looking like an underaged hooker, I won’t have to deal with her sneaking out her window at night, and she’ll never be invited to that high school kegger.

How do I accomplish this task? Well for a start I think I’ll need to run out and buy Marybeth Hicks book Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid’s Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World as Urban Baby wrote, she “says today’s geek isn’t a social misfit. She’s just a good, wholesome kid who’s not so caught up in pop culture that she lets it define who she is. Hicks, a mother of four, advises parents on how to raise a genuine, enthusiastic, empowered kid (GEEK):”

Here are five ways in which you can attempt to breed your own brainiac.

1.   Obedience. Teach them a respect for authority. “So as you move through the years from “don’t throw dirt” to “have the car home by 11pm,” you’ll get compliance.”

2.   Enthusiasm for learning. Get involved in what ever they’re into be it dinosaurs, flower pressing, or fashioning busts of the presidents out of dried pasta. Support their passion with enthusiam and participation.

3.   Control the Media – Make sure the culture (movies, music, TV shows, games) reflect your values. Yeah, they’re going to be bombarded by crap (Bratz, Britney, Barney) but in your own home, you can filter out the junk.

4.   Friendships – You may not approve of the choices of friends, but when said friend is under your roof, let them know it’s your rules (so no, they can smoke out the bathroom window).

5.   Knowing right from wrong and good from bad. “Authentic self-esteem comes from knowing you are truly good and exhibit proper behavior.”

(via Urban Baby) (image via One Horse Shy)

This Is What Happens When Geeks Mate

Cole Gamble — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:00:00 GMT

I consider my self somewhat of a dork, (not as self-righteous as a nerd, needier for acceptance than a dweeb) so my heart has always gone out to geeks. God bless ‘em. Sure, they walk among us, but their hearts are really far away battling on the fields of middle earth or hunting sand worms on the desert planet Arakkis. They’re good, well meaning folk, and there are more of them around then you may realize.

There was this regular looking dude I worked with, tanned and blond like Laird Hamilton. Ladies enjoyed his company, and so did fellas (I mean, you know, for hanging out). Then one day there’s regular dude on the front page of the local newspaper’s Life section. Dude is waiting in line for the final Star Wars movie two weeks before it opens. Most self-respecting geeks stopped lining up after the super-gyp that was Episode One. The guy was a supergeek hiding among us.

So, clearly geeks are making great inroads into the mainstream culture. But then two geeks get together. One fires up his light saber, the other opens her pod bay doors and they have a kid. And then they do this to the poor lad.

Never gave him a fighting chance. See ya at the next Comic Con, little Padawan.

Kids Games Revived For Adults: Cardboard Tube Smackdown

Kelly Mills — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:01:00 GMT

I don't know what they do in your neck of the woods, but here in the glorious SF Bay Area, there's been a serious resurgence of kid games for grown-ups. And kids, but we definitely get the adults involved. There's been large-scale pillow fights and kickball leagues and organized tag and so on. I think many of the trends start in far-off places like Oregon and New York, but here we have the right combination of mild weather year-round and earnestness and web-savvy people and geeks (hi!) to take these competitions to the next level.

This weekend was my favorite so far: the Cardboard Tube Fighting Championship. Little did I know that my and my sister's epic battles with those empty wrapping paper tubes would prove to be excellent training for an actual tournament, though we never thought to make cardboard armor. The rules included no stabbing or goring, no defending with anything other than cardboard, and no face blows. As far as I know, no one was beheaded or hospitalized, but there's always next time. And if you can't get behind cardboard tube battles, you are dead inside.

I'm thinking of starting a hopscotch league, if anyone is interested.