What do Star Wars, The Lion King, The Matrix, the Batman movie series, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Indiana Jones movies have in common? Joseph Campbell’s work was the inspiration for all of them. Actually, Joseph Campbell influenced many more great artists, musicians, and authors. J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter series) and Christopher Paolini (the Inheritance […]
Continue ReadingThe Delta Aquarids and Perseids meteor showers overlap in the coming days, providing several great meteor shower viewing opportunities. The National Geographic website has some great tips on viewing the showers. Beyond viewing, we are planning to physically capture some meteorites. Well, actually we are setting-up to capture micrometeors. We can’t wait to see what star […]
Continue ReadingWhile everyone else is busy comparing Google+ to Facebook, I have been checking out a different cool social media application called Strawberryj.am. Strawberryj.am is a free online application that connects to your Twitter stream and harvests the most popular links being shared by those you follow on Twitter. Therefore, it removes the “chatter” from your […]
Continue ReadingAccording to a Microsoft infographic on the Digital Buzz website, there are four billion mobile phones in use around the world. Even more intriguing is that mobile Internet usage is on course to overtake desktop Internet usage by 2014. In addition, of those four billion mobile phone users, over 60% of them are using their […]
Continue ReadingWhat a cool way to spend the summer! Google has partnered with First Robotics and Wired Magazine to create an X Prize challenge just for kids. In this competition, kids build and program Lego Mindstorms robots while learning what it takes to win the Google Lunar X Prize. Although there’s bound to be some incredibly […]
Continue ReadingAs self-proclaimed barefoot enthusiasts, our family embraced toe shoes as soon as we became aware of them. Invented several years ago by Vibram, toe shoes provide each toe with its own pocket. Additionally, there’s no cushion at all – just a bit of tread attached to a stretchy foot-conforming material and a hook and loop […]
Continue ReadingWolfram|Alpha is best known as a free online computation tool for math and science. It can solve calculus problems while showing you the steps and it can show you how much a teaspoon of salt weighs. Wolfram|Alpha is to knowledge what Google is to information, but it isn’t a search engine – it’s a computation […]
Continue ReadingWe grow a beautiful patch of white clover in our yard, and enjoy searching for the lucky four leaf specimens. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, my family is hosting a four-leaf clover hunt in our backyard clover patch. We won’t be picking them, but we’ll mark them with little flags. The family member who finds the […]
Continue ReadingHands-on projects are great learning tools for kids, especially when they involve the word ‘secret’. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Pi Day (March 14 or “3.14”) with kids than to help them unlock the circle’s secret and discover Pi! This fun activity uses common office supplies and household materials and is […]
Continue ReadingThe Chill Pill speakers sound pretty good, especially for their size, but that is not their biggest asset. These diminutive little marvels are packed with clever engineering touches that stir the inner geeklet. For starters, these pint-sized speakers are cool looking. A striking blue LED light gleams when you switch on the power, and the […]
Continue ReadingThe Nissan Leaf is a geek’s car. Nissan only produced 20,000 Leafs to sell in the U.S. this year and they’re all sold. However, my family was lucky enough to catch the Nissan Leaf tour when it came to town recently and we got to test drive one! The Leaf is a 100% electric-powered family […]
Continue ReadingGh0strat is a real trojan horse virus that infects windows computers and is responsible for affecting some of the most sensitive computer networks in the world. G. L . Sheerin, a real computer network security expert, has just released his second fictional story in a series of e-books aimed at teaching kids about computer viruses. […]
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