"I Love the Whole World" + xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel + Noah Raby + the Map of the Internet + Olga Nunes = I Love XKCD, a pretty cute bit of animation. (It's not the first time Raby's animated an xkcd strip.)
posted by WCityMike on Oct 21, 2009 - 40 comments

For math geeks. How to Draw the Voronoi Diagram. Voronoi diagrams, as a geometric model are fascinating because they can be used to describe almost literally everything: from cell phone networks to radiolaria, at every scale: from quantum foam to cosmic foam. See also the Wallpaper Group: there are only 17 ways to fill a plane with a regular 2 dimensional pattern. Fred Scharmen [weblog home] is known as 765 and also produces a number of shapes, textures and patterns.
posted by netbros on Sep 16, 2009 - 35 comments

Ignite is an opportunity to pack into a theater and watch people geek out in 5-minute prepared talks (15 seconds per slide, auto-advance) on all kinds of topics. Maybe there's one coming up near you. [more inside]
posted by gurple on Aug 4, 2009 - 15 comments

You, like me, have probably often wondered where exactly Wolverine fits in the grand continuum of comic-book hair. Wonder no more. [more inside]
posted by Shepherd on May 4, 2009 - 36 comments

Want to play a swashbuckling pirate, space opera hero, or monster-fighting Victorian dandy? How about a supervillain fighting against alien invaders? Or a mutant snack cake? Welcome to Savage Worlds. [more inside]
posted by MrVisible on Feb 25, 2009 - 56 comments

Lego Turing machine (SLYT)
posted by pompomtom on Jan 30, 2009 - 22 comments

Most gamers have never heard of Braunstein. Sad but true. In the hierarchy of self-awareness you’ll find the circle of gamers who know what D&D is (a very, very large circle), then inside of that is the circle of gamers who know what Greyhawk is (large but smaller), and inside that the circle who knows what Blackmoor is (smaller still). And then in the very center, vanishingly small, are the people who’ve heard of Braunstein. Which is a pity, because Braunstein is the granddaddy of them all.

Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games by Ben Robbins. The first role-playing game was run by soldier David Wesely in 1967, his group including none other than D&D co-creator Dave Arneson. This past GenCon Braunstein was revived! Here's what the players had to say. Handouts from an earlier Braunstein revival. David Wesely's post-game comments. [via Rob McDougall] [more inside]
posted by Kattullus on Sep 6, 2008 - 22 comments

Homer Simpson in CSS "...I stayed with the idea in mind that more complex designs could be made using the Verdana font and absolute positioning in CSS, thus generating vector drawings directly embedded in the code html." [via]
posted by mewithoutyou on Apr 30, 2008 - 52 comments

Steven Karl Zoltan Brust, one of my two or three favorite authors of all time, has written a Firefly novel, called "My Own Kind of Freedom." As Joss Wheedon has decided that he does not want novels to be written based on the series. So instead of selling it as he had hoped, SKZB has declared it to be a fanfic, and released it to the general public under a Creative Commons license.
posted by Aversion Therapy on Feb 5, 2008 - 49 comments

WFMU's The Hound has been delighting record geeks for the past few decades with sets of some of the wildest, wooliest rockabilly, R&B, blues, gospel, garage rock, and punk that can be dug out of crates. His site offers full podcasts, and individual mp3's under the show links, and organized by artist, and title. Bo Diddley singing to Kruschev! Blues songs about the Kinsey report! The Cashmere's talking about the hop! Brownie McGee singing about baseball's integration! Roughly 4 million variations on 'The Twist!' And that;s just the tip of this glorious iceberg. [more inside]
posted by jonmc on Nov 18, 2007 - 12 comments

Joss Whedon announces new Fox television series, with Eliza Dushku! "Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy." [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Oct 31, 2007 - 121 comments

Have you ever seen a synth and said "Man, what this needs is cartoon eyes?" A bit similar to the Buchla Box or theremin in that they don't have a keyboard to control the sounds -- it's probably closest to the Booper, invented by The Weatherman from Negativland (or, well, Circuit Bending), the Thingamagoop is a photosynthesizer... which means it basically uses light sensors to generate sounds. The signal's run through a couple oscillators and, well, it comes out as somethin' that's pretty dang awesome. I'm on the fence on pickin' this one up. On one hand, it's a really neat toy that makes noise... on the other hand, um.... um.... I dunno. It's not made of candy?
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me on Jul 8, 2006 - 18 comments

ASCII-art 1940s-style , flatscreen TV in the Fifties, a video phone from 1964. Articles scanned from classic mechanics and science magazines and blogged here. The future used to be so cool. (Via b3ta)
posted by featherboa on Jun 21, 2006 - 24 comments

This 'How Geeky Are You?' quiz illustrates how geekdom today means something completely different from what it used to. Out with unwashed hair and actually programming, in with mindless purchase of consumer goods.
posted by splitpeasoup on Apr 4, 2006 - 65 comments

Marvel Masterworks compile old Spider-Man and Fantastic Four comic books into handsome, economical volumes. Only on the web can one find a cross-referenced chronological list of the comics they reprint. In fact, there are scores of obsessive sites detailing comic book minutae: Marvel Comics Group 1939-1980, The Timely-Atlas-Marvel Chronology, Marvel Silver Age timeline, complete Marvel Bronze Age timeline (or with just the core titles), The Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Index, and The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators. Some might be more interested in a checklist of appearances by DC Golden Age characters. Whichever comic company you prefer, the trade paperback list is a godsend. Indulge your inner geek!
posted by jdroth on Jun 9, 2005 - 12 comments

The Museum of Nerd Watches have some completely awesome watches. Take for example This watch with a built-in space-invaders type game. How about one that generates lotto numbers? What's the boiling point of that liquid? Check it with your directional temperature gauge watch!
posted by bigtimes on Feb 3, 2005 - 21 comments

The Dictators. Even in this age of crate-digger archaeology, especially when it comes to the roots of punk rock, this band of Bronx miscreants is little known except to cognoscenti. The stream of punk most identified with The Ramones (unapologetically crude three-minute pop singles, pop culture obsessed, based around fun, what Tom Carson called "deadly serious kidding") began with these guys first three albums and lives on in the work of The Muffs, Nashville Pussy, The Supersuckers and countless others. A rock and roll treasure often overlooked.
posted by jonmc on Jan 25, 2005 - 31 comments

Judy Henske. One of The Great Lost Artists of the early 60's folk/blues revival. An original among hacks and pretenders. Forgotten by most beloved by many, including crime novelist Andrew Vachss. A torch singer worthy of the name.
posted by jonmc on Jan 19, 2005 - 26 comments

Geek History through T-Shirts. Shamelessly cribbed from memepool, who spotted a good one...
posted by tss on Dec 15, 2004 - 13 comments

Stovokor! Captain pInluH and Commander Khrell are stuck in Portland, the sneaky Ferengi having sold them a 'faulty temporal device.' Life is hard on Earth, it seems. Did anyone get a set list? No matter. It's my beleif that we will not see these warriors astride golf carts. Look out, number 1: perhaps they are looking to pull a Titor on your burgeoning data empire!
posted by mwhybark on Oct 1, 2004 - 13 comments

Frustrating thy tech savoir faire, the 452 Tech Challenge is a real excercise for the noodles.
posted by tamim on Apr 19, 2001 - 12 comments