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The Periodic Table of Awesoments

Andy Martin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:34:47 +0000

The table of awesome

Click to see full size

Field correspondent/ninja/pirate/LeMons crew member Beth sends in the best compilation I think I’ve seen on various degress of awesome, the Periodic Table of Awesomenets. Bacon, ninjas, Chuck Norris, quite a lot of awesoments included here though there are yet a few undiscovered ones as well. What would you add to complete the table?

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J.J. Abrams loves to hide Easter Eggs - The Observer in “Fringe”

Andy Martin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:24:32 +0000

Fringe, best new sci-fi show IMO

One of my favorite new shows this season is “Fringe”, the new J.J. Abrams science-fiction-kinda-mystery show on Fox. It’s been called an X-Files for this generation, which I can kind of see as I used to watch the X-Files and liked the weird things they would try to figure out from week to week. Aside from Dr. Walter Bishop (singlehandedly the best thing to happen to Sci-Fi television since . . . Hurley’s “Duuuude” lines I guess), this show has the trademark Abrams nuggets that you probably miss the first time you see the show, but just amaze you when you go back for a second watch to get the details. “The Observer” is one of those awesome details. More on that, and video after the jump.

In the 4th episode this season, we were formally introduced to the chili-pepper and hot-sauce sandwich eating “Observer”, a mystery man described by Agent Broyles as someone they’ve seen in surveillance pictures at dozens of incidents relating to “The Pattern”. We don’t find out who he is, what he’s doing, or why he has an affinity for incredibly spicy food, but on further watching of every other episode, you see that he’s been there all along. You have to be eagle-eyed to spot him, and I remember catching him in a couple of episodes and thinking, “Oh, that’s pretty cool”, but I had no idea he’s been in each one, even before the episode centered around him and that weird drilling capsule thingy. Fox put out videos for each separate episode showing where he was, but the site Fringe Television has helped us out and put a video on YouTube showing exactly where he was in the background in the different episodes.

I wish they didn’t repeat that line from Agent Broyles after each sighting, gets kind of annoying, but it just goes to show that J.J. Abrams has to be the most creative producer out there in media today. Personally I can’t wait to see what he does with “Star Trek” in May. He really comes into these shows with a larger plan, and the fact that he can execute on that plan so early on and so seamlessly completely geeks me out.

Time to add another rule to the “Fringe” drinking game, then - if you spot the Observer first during the episode, everyone else has to take the drink. This joins the other rules like whenever Walter talks about hallucinogenic drugs, when Peter makes a snide remark about how crazy Walter is, whenever Broyles gives the “there’s so much you don’t know” speech to Olivia, and the like, everyone takes a drink.

Original at Fringe Television

Catching up on my sci-fi TV tonight Going to be catching up with “Fringe” tonight. TiVo’d it...

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Guitar Hero World Tour played on a bike?

Andy Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:42:19 +0000

No, really. This has got to be the most awesome and well planned out thing I have ever seen. Last week, I picked up the new Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii and have been having fun with it with the kids. Introducing them to drums, singing (or just random sound effects during a song) and guitar on the new beginner level has been a blast, as well as all the new songs since we’ve really been stuck with the ones on GH3 for a while now with no downloadable content on the Wii (and, no, GH: Aerosmith doesn’t count…). Anyway, someone took one of the better songs included and through some creative and well coordinated and timed help from some friends, rode his bike through the note chart for “Prisoner of Society” by The Living End. I don’t even want to know how many times they had to try this before they pulled it off. Full video after the jump.

Complete with note-streak status “pop-ups” (written on his hands), flaming note runs, star power, and even a cameo by “Lars Umlaut” from the game near the end. Seriously, this video is full of win . . . and kids with WAY too much time on their hands.

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Gadgets + Pets = Total Win

Andy Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:37:14 +0000

Great video, kind of makes me wish that they made Super-sized Roomba’s so I could have a turn. Our Roomba never sees this much fun.

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If you thought the Star Wars prequel trilogy was bad…

Andy Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:53:28 +0000

I give you, for your viewing pleasure / displeasure,

The Star Wars Holiday Special, in it’s entirety (while it lasts on Google Video, at least). Life Day, Chewie’s family (and son “Lumpy”), Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, Jefferson Starship, and the one shining moment, the first real appearance of Boba Fett in the animated segment, all after the break.

And, yes, it is as bad as you remember it. Complete with commercials from the original 1978 broadcast. And, as a 7-year old, I’m sure I ate this up. Now, not so much. There’s a reason this was only shown once and never released on video.

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Brief political rant

Andy Martin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:23:17 +0000

Last week during the election, we took the kids to the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland in Anaheim. We made sure to do early voting to do our part as citizens of this country, and here in Arizona one of the items on the ballot we felt strongly about was Proposition 102. Basicially the same thing as Proposition 8 in California, though gay marriage was still not allowed here so it differed in that it wasn’t reversing it like Prop 8 was doing. Having friends and coworkers that are gay, I was against 102. Even if I didn’t have friends and coworkers that were gay, though, it’s a matter of civil rights and I would still be against it. While we were at Disneyland the day before the election, there was a really cool bit of skywriting, kind of dot-matrix style. As it cleared some of the trees and we could see it, we could read “Save Traditional Marriage”. Sick that they would do that directly over Disneyland, who also opposed Prop 8. The Governor opposed Prop 8. Apple opposed Prop 8. Yet both it and Prop 102 here in Arizona passed. This morning, I saw a video that I think says what I’m still feeling about that much better than I could ever express.Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on last night’s broadcast was amazing. I’m usually on the fence with Olbermann, sometimes he hits it well and sometimes he sounds like a liberal version of Limbaugh and turns me off. Last night, however, struck me pretty hard so I felt I had to share.

I’ll be back later with more tech stories, there’s a lot to catch up on from being away training and on vacation.

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Which candidate gets the World of Warcraft vote?

Andy Martin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:02:31 +0000

Map of Azeroth - Red or Blue?

This being a technology-based blog, I usually steer away from politics. Too messy, and very passionate viewpoints from both sides. I wanted to pass on a great non-partisan video found today based around a machinma (or basically artistic gameplay) video done out of World of Warcraft, interviewing actual gamers on their political preferences in hopes of seeing which way Azeroth would go if they were included in the election. Great video, funny but also interesting to see the diverse views even of the gaming community. Video after the break.

For the readers who haven’t heard of World of Warcraft (and honestly, if you’re reading this blog I’m sure you know about it, if not already have a Level 70 Blood Elf with your flying mount), Azeroth is the name of the fantsay world that the game takes place in. With 11 million players on the books, Azeroth would actually be the 6th largest state in the country, though to be fair subscribers are worldwide. So, what do the residents of Azeroth have to say about the candidates?

Interesting comments from the gamers, it really shows that even in a virtual world people (or elves, dwarves, humans, or even orcs) will have widely divergent views. Still, I’m looking forward to Tuesday where, whatever the result, we can put this ugly election behind us and get behind whichever candidate makes it. Because after all, McCain or Obama, one of them will be our next President. So, most importantly, no matter your political affiliation, get out there Tuesday and vote.

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Found trivia fun - The Drake Equation

Andy Martin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:36:05 +0000

Voyager Disk we sent to communicate with other civilizations

In doing some research today on astronomical topics, I came across this little gem that is the cornerstone of the belief that extraterrestrial life is out there somewhere - the Drake Equation, named for Frank Drake and published in 1960. It is what tries to estimate the number of possible extraterrestrial civilizations out there that we might come in contact with. The full equation and explanations, as well as the current estimates of the result of the equation, after the break.

The full Drake Equations can be shown as:

Where N is the number of civilizations that we might encounter. The other values are shown as:

R^* is the average rate of star formation in our galaxy

f_p is the fraction of those stars that have planets

n_e is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets

f_ℓ is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point

f_i is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life

f_c is the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space

L is the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

Current data on the values thorough observed data and educational estimates (otherwise known as “good guesses”) put the N value at 2.31. Living here in Arizona, we see unexplained lights every now and then, and there’s a pretty good culture of people who think the “invasion” is immenent. I like to think that life is out there, but I’m not sure if we’ll see it in my lifetime. Unless I’m playing Spore, of course.

Wikipedia article on The Drake Equation, with all sorts of history and data on it. Fun read for you other astronomy geeks out there.

Image credit - NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

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Watch the alien invasion on Twitter - War of the Worlds 2.0

Andy Martin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:38:15 +0000

They're coming, and they have Twitter

In a unique take on Orson Wells’ historic retelling of the H.G. Wells story “War of the Worlds”, the folks over at “Ask a Wizard” are preparing a new retelling of the alien invasion on Twitter. More after the break.

Calling it “War of the Worlds 2.0″, the have been quietly enlisting people from all over the interwebs to share their stories of an alien invasion in progress

. According to their twitter feed they have about 100 people so far, and the festivities should be starting in about 6 hours from now (or around 4pm Pacific). People will be updating blogs, newsfeeds, and Twitter feeds with accounts of cylinders falling from the sky and the ensuing Martian carnage that follows. Expect pictures and video from “on-the-scene” bloggers. This should be a pretty cool experiment, and I’m sure there will be people who aren’t up to date on Twitter and what’s going on thinking there is an invasion, the same way that Orson Wells’ pulled off his prank over 70 years ago. Head over to their twitter feed and follow them to watch the carnage, on even join in the fun. Being here in Arizona, we sometimes see lights and unexplained things, maybe I might see something fall from the sky tonight myself.

Ask A Wizard main site or twitter feed

While you’re over there on Twitter, follow me too

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First rule of Super-Geeks - Knowledge is Power!

Andy Martin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:40:13 +0000

Great Halloween costume

Uber-geek Andy checking in (no, that’s not me in the picture) with some interesting learning resources for you geeks looking to expand your horizons. The first rule of being a super-geek we learned from Schoolhouse Rocky, “Knowledge is Power!”. I’ve been away for a little bit from the blog updating due to study work preparing to renew some of my technical certifications that I’ve let slide over the years. For those of you looking into learning from a more scientific field, read on after the break:

Tipster Kelly sent in this link today with a number of “open-source” (meaning, free, which in geek language translates to pure awesome). Everything from looking at genetic manipulation in plants, organic chemistry (including cool “kitchen chemistry” projects), physics, earth and environmental sciences, astronomy, and so much more. 103 courses in all, and all free and open-sourced. Head on over to the Eduk8 blog to see the plethora of knowledge available.

Now, after doing that, remember the second rule of Super-Geeks - “With great power comes great responsibility” (10 Schrutebucks to whoever can tell me where that rule originated, a true geek should find that an easy bit of trivia). So, gaining that power through the knowledge you’re getting through those courses, be a responsible geek and use it for good.

Eduk8 blog: 100+ Open Courseware Resources for Science Geeks

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