Two seven-foot tall Tesla coils, built by Steve Caton and Eric Goodchild, perform Space Song 3 in what appears to be a backyard. Apparently an audience is found by getting together with other geeks who use high voltage apparatus at regular Teslathons. The most recent gathering resulted in a number of videos on YouTube. Sadly […]
Continue ReadingMonster’s Lullaby, composed and performed by our own GeekMom Rebecca Angel, begs to be immortalized in video. Rebecca’s sweet voice provides a perfect contrast to the hysterically vivid lyrics. We gleefully note they include being boiled in soup and dragged by a disembodied arm. This contest is open to all sorts of video treatment, from […]
Continue ReadingBook lovers all over the world will be eating their words on April 1st, by holding Edible Book Festivals. These events don’t involve chomping on hardbacks or trying to bite off the corner of a tasty-looking Kindle. They’re celebrations combining food with bookish metaphor in remarkably clever ways. As the International Edible Book Festival site […]
Continue ReadingThose of us enthused about Pinterest know the site has one limitation. The pages we want to save must have an image to capture for our “pins.” But the tubes don’t always cooperate. Some pages don’t feature any images while images on other pages may have very little to do with why we want to […]
Continue ReadingThe first original series by Netflix, Lilyhammer, became available a few weeks ago. As an avid foreign film fan with relatives still in the actual Norgwegian city of Lillehammer (where the series is based) there’s no way I’d miss it. It stars Steve Van Zandt of Sopranos and E Street Band fame as a New […]
Continue ReadingIt doesn’t matter where you start. Any exposure to astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson creates ever increasing urges to absorb more of this man’s wisdom, delivered with the charisma and wit rarely packaged in one person. For example, a newly released video by science enthusiast Max Schlickenmeyer adds music and visuals along with Dr. Tyson’s answer to the […]
Continue ReadingToday is the beginning of one of the toughest (and most egalitarian) races in the world. The Iditarod covers 1,160 snow-covered miles. The race commemorates the heroism of sled dog mushers who, against the odds, delivered serum from Anchorage to Nome during a diphtheria epidemic. In 1927 before a vaccine was developed, this was a […]
Continue ReadingJoseph Campbell. The famed American mythologist identified an underlying structure within stories and religions around the world. He called it “the hero’s journey.” Ultimately it has to do with each person’s search for the unknowable force that creates and sustains all that exists. This is expressed differently throughout history and is affected by culture, […]
Continue ReadingThis may or may not be International Hug a Librarian Day. There’s some confusion online but then, librarians are too busy to keep up with fan clubs. These human search engines don’t just find information, they also review, organize, assess, explain, figure out, calm small children, put up displays, run programs, read aloud, expand collections, […]
Continue ReadingIndulge the green urge in an artfully fresh way, by letting a plant accompany you on your travels. It’s easy. Simply tuck a sprig in a movable container, then get moving. Consider taking succulents for a bike ride. The planters were digitally created with modeling software, 3 D printed out of nylon, hand dyed and sealed by […]
Continue ReadingThere’s something about miniatures: model railway layouts, dollhouses, fairy gardens, minis for games like Warhammer or Dungeons & Dragons. Miniatures let us recreate realms of our own, places of fantasy that provide a refuge from the very real world around us. If you tend to lavish love on the littlest things, you’ll get a kick […]
Continue ReadingA big imagination makes playing with remote control toys more fun. Tiny race cars don’t sound like angry gnats on the driveway,they roar with 1,000 horsepower growls as they hurl around a Formula 1 track. Little yellow excavators, dump trucks, and loaders don’t just transport stuffed animals across the family room, they move rocks […]
Continue ReadingThere are at least 8 reasons you should start throwing things. 1. Juggling boosts brain development. Research indicates that learning to juggle accelerates the growth of neural connections related to memory, focus, movement, and vision. The beneficial changes persist even after weeks without practice. 2. Juggling is egalitarian. It doesn’t discriminate by age, size, gender, or athletic […]
Continue ReadingSeth Grahame-Smith’s mashup of zombies and classics was a hoot in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Next, Grahame-Smith wrote Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Finally, it’s explained that when young Lincoln discovers his mother’s death was caused by a supernatural predator, he begins a lifelong vendetta against vampires and their slave-owning allies. The story is revealed through a […]
Continue ReadingYou know when you’re talking with friends, it’s okay to kvetch without having to preface with a polite caveat like “well you know I love him/her but…” Here at GeekMom we wallowed ever so briefly in some of that recently. Want to listen in? OHMIGOHD! Why is it that the ONLY TIME […]
Continue ReadingThis Young Adult novel is about an ordinary girl who, like any of us, can be jealous and petty. She also finds herself in extraordinary circumstances, easily proving her courage over and over again. At the opening of the story Franziska Mangold is ten years old and living with her parents in 1938 Germany. […]
Continue ReadingHow do I deal with my stress? Why isn’t this relationship happy? When will I find work that makes use of my gifts? What can I do to make the world a better place? Imagine a storefront that exists to help you explore the answers. Not one-size-fits-all pop culture pablum but deep and […]
Continue ReadingWhat an amazing gift. I’m talking about the bold and beautiful lockets designed by our own GeekMom artist Brigid Ashwood. More than a piece of jewelry, each one also exudes a delicate fragrance when worn against your skin’s warmth. That’s because the locket compartment holds natural beeswax solid perfume. And each is customizable, letting […]
Continue ReadingWant to cause a ruckus? Criticize attention-deficit meds. Over three million U.S. kids take these drugs to help them stay calm and attentive. Parents may not be thrilled to dose their children but they are following expert advice to improve behavior and school performance. They tend to see results. And they don’t need to be […]
Continue ReadingWhat drives big thinkers, creators, and leaders who achieve success on their own terms? Jamie McMillin wanted to find out, hoping her quest would help her raise and educate her own two children. She delved into biographies of luminaries including Margaret Mead, Pearl Buck, Marie Curie, Louis Armstrong, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Beatrix […]
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