Jim Henson's Fantastic World (6)
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Matt Blum (49)
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Geekdad (556)
2 days, 21 hours
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I grew up with Jim Henson. I never met him, but I watched so many episodes of Sesame Street I couldn't possibly count them, and saw every episode of The Muppet Show when I was a bit older. Over the years I read a lot about him, enjoyed the Muppet movies, saw and loved The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and so was among the millions who were devastated when he suddenly died in 1990. I ...
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Trevor said:
Deanna and I just saw this, yesterday! It is an amazing exhibit.
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DigDoug said:
Awww man.
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JASon said:
Might have to go when it's in Seattle.
The Lego Minifig Turns 30 | Geekdad from Wired.com (15)
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John Baichtal (94)
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On August 25, 1978, the Lego minifigure was born. This was a hugely important transition for Lego. For many years they sold sets allowing builders to create cars or buildings, but something was missing -- a human element. The minifig gave them that humanity, and very quickly it became an iconic symbol of the company second only to the brick itself. The first minifigs had yellow skin and fixed, pleasant expressions. It was not until ...
The Ultimate Treehouse (3)
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Patrick Orndorff (77)
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3 days, 18 hours
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Steve Norris, a 49-year-old father of two from Kitchener, Ontario has set the bar rather high for GeekDads everywhere. He spent 15-months and roughly $5,000 to built a play structure behind his home for his two young boys. This is not your typical kid fort. Built 4 meters above the ground in a 58-year-old silver maple, this "cabin in the sky" is apportioned better than my first apartment:It's equipped with electricity and cable TV. There's ...
Flibbix Turns My Daughter Evil (But in a Good Way)! (2)
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Matt Blum (49)
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My five-year-old daughter swapped two of the tiles on the game board, moving a "Switch with Opponent" one to right near the Finish tile (which was where the Start tile used to be) because my wife and I were in the lead. "Remember," she said, an impish grin lighting up her face, "I'm eeeevil!" We were playing Flibbix, a new family board game from Merillian Games in which you configure the board and the rules ...
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slacy said:
Wow, awesome looking Flux-esque boardgame! Sweet!
The Tinkering School: A Camp for BadDad's Kids? (1)
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Vincent Janoski (50)
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3 days, 21 hours
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Treehugger has an excellent write up about Gever Tulley's "Tinkering School," a summer camp where kids as young as 7 handle power tools, engines, fire, spears, and boats of their own creation. I've wanted my kids to attend this camp since I posted about Tulley's excellent TED talk "Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do." Video games and Lego are great but there's definitely an element missing from today's accepted notion of fun, ...
You Let Our Child Watch What?!? Shaun of the Dead (3)
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Jacob Russell (16)
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4 days, 17 hours
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Shaun of the Dead Put away the pitch-forks for a minute. Okay, several minutes. Okay, just put them away completely. Let me explain. We're doing "Bad-Dad" this month, anyway, right? I originally showed this movie to Mrs. Geek, who is as squeamish as they come when it comes to gore and blood. She loved it. The humor was not at all lost on her. Said humor more than softened the gore for her to the ...
Die Soap Rolls a Natural 20 (1)
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John Baichtal (94)
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4 days, 21 hours
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Are you one of the subset of gamers known for being "differently hygenic"? Or do you merely find yourself missing the smooth polyhedral forms of your dice while showering? Either way, Milaka and Jeff Strand of Two Strands Soap Works have a solution for you: soap with dice embedded in the bar. Check out their five varieties: Breath of Life has a rich, mystical fragrance that's warm and spicy. It lathers up great and will ...
Would You Let Your 9-Year-Old Give a Tattoo? (4)
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Michael Harrison (44)
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4 days, 22 hours
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Many geekdads are known to partake in the occasional tattoo, but how do you explain your ink to your kids? Naturally, it probably varies from piece to piece. Your polyhedral masterpiece may not be so hard to justify, but if you've ever made the horrible mistake of getting a person's name inked on your body... well, good luck. If you're a tattoo artist, though, things are probably a little different. Stephen Hibbs of Suffer City ...
Bad Dad: Celebrity Baby Names (2)
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Anton Olsen (34)
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5 days, 12 hours
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When Celebrity Naming Goes Bad In this day and age where baby names are getting even more exotic with non-traditional spellings, brand names, and the occasional totally made up name, celebrities are having to stretch their imaginations to come up with fresh and controversial names for their offspring. Hollywire has a rather large roundup of the worst child names in entertainment. My "favorites" are: Pilot Inspektor (with a K?), Calico Dashiell (meow?), Prima [dona] Sellechia, ...
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Czarski said:
Bad baby naming isn't just limited to celebrities. My Mom says that she went to school with twins named Mac and Ernie McInerny. Oof. Also, I'm not sure which surprises me more: 1) that someone knew the real name of "Puck" from the Real World or 2) that he was included as a "celebrity." I was not surprised that his child's names include "Bogart" and "Peyote."
In Which I Join You In the 21st Century (1)
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Chris Radcliff (16)
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I have a confession to make. Compared to most GeekDads, I'm kind of a Luddite. I don't have a video game console, or a TV to plug it into. I play games with cards and boards, not on the computer. My pets are biological, not robotic. Heck, I don't even have a microwave. It's not that I'm opposed to technology, of course, it just tends to get in the way of my life and family. ...
The Geekly Reader: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (2)
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Matt Blum (49)
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1 week, 1 day
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Despereaux Tilling is born different from all the other castle mice: He's tiny in stature, but his ears are embarrassingly huge. And he only gets more different from there: He is utterly disinterested in performing his expected duties of nibbling paper and scurrying for food; he would much rather listen to music (his enormous ears give him excellent hearing) or read books (he learns to read instantaneously, almost magically). When he simultaneously reveals to a ...
Review: Fashioning Technology Embraces the Fusion of Craft & Tech (1)
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John Baichtal (94)
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1 week, 2 days
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A new book from O'Reilly is positioned on the leading edge of the DIY movement: Crafters turned hardware hackers. (Think knitting plus LEDs and microchips.) It's the logical evolution of a trend that's been shaping up for a while. First there was a growing boldness of hobbyists to explore the guts of their electronic products. Maybe they were hesitant at first, waiting for the gadget to break or the warranty to expire. Then, as their ...
Kidtropolis' Custom Treehouse Bedroom (9)
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Jeremiah McNichols (12)
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1 week, 2 days
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There must be a quick and dirty way to do this. I'd settle for about 35% of the visual appeal and still be pleased with myself. But the folks at Kidtropolis are professionals. Just don't think about the price.More photos after the jump. I've had fantasies about kids' in-floor storage for a while. Against the wall is a drop-down table with hinged legs (you can see it in the top photo as well). Make no ...
A Very Star Trek Happy Birthday to Frakes and Roddenberry! (2)
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Matt Blum (49)
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1 week, 2 days
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Today, August 19, marks a very special anniversary for Star Trek fans everywhere. On this date in 1921, a man named Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in Texas. Following distinguished service in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, he became a police officer while trying to start a career writing for television in Hollywood. When that career began to take off, he quit the police force and wrote full-time, on many different ...
Beijing's Sweet Video Setup (1)
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Brian Little (28)
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1 week, 2 days
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Around our place, watching the Olympics is the order of the day. Our geeklet is just the right age to be fascinated by the entire spectacle, particularly swimming and gymnastics. Pretty much everything is in high-definition, and as the owner of a hi-def set myself, I can see why. The show is awesome to begin with, and all the more so when it looks like you could reach out and touch it. I'll be surprised ...
Summer Project: Brewing Root Beer (5)
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Anton Olsen (34)
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1 week, 3 days
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Nothing says summer better than Root Beer floats. This weekend the kids and I started on the first half of that magical concoction. Hopefully we can find an ice-cream maker to borrow for the second half next weekend. We started out with a kit from Mr. Beer (aka Mr. Root Beer). We might consider graduating to other sodas and getting our ingredients from cheaper sources, but the price of the Mr. Root Beer kit isn't ...
Casio Exilim EX-Z80 Review: My Dog Ate It (1)
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Brad Moon (6)
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1 week, 4 days
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Really, she did. Not the review, the camera itself. As if our house –as full as it is of kids, cats and dogs- didn’t contain enough hazards for a gadget geek like myself, we recently adopted a new puppy. The newest arrival is a (currently) 60 pound Shepherd cross and it would appear that she likes electronics as much as I do; only Ellie prefers to chew on them. More on that later. Our camcorder ...
GeekDad Goes to the Gym (3)
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Brian Little (28)
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1 week, 4 days
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Among geeks, fitness can be a touchy subject. Or perhaps more often an ignored subject. Not that there aren't fitness geeks out there, but let's be honest -- the stereotype of geeks as fat, or at least flabby, isn't as far from the truth as we might like it to be. I should know. Coming into this year, I weighed in at 245, mostly due to the "geek" aspect of my life. A tendency to ...
