Geeking Out

Brilliant! Now all we need it to set up a second one and use the can as a tunnel between the two. [Via Reddit | Neatorama]

Put professional wedding photogs to shame with your phone and these tips (GeekSugar) Disney is really invested in Merida being a proper princess (The Mary Sue) Here are some stupid soccer tricks to keep you amused this afternoon (Sportsgrid) Flavorwire’s favorite Arrested Development character is George Michael (Flavorwire) Dear Mad Men: You are getting really weird (Mediaite) There are some really dark things going on right under the skin of your favorite superhero movie (Cracked) David Karp’s press release announcing the Tumblr purchase is priceless (UPROXX) (Title pic via Daily Picks and Flicks)

Imagine game designer Steve Jackson and a bunch of friends building Lego trains and tracks and scenery, including buildings and other props. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? The group calls itself the Texas Brick Railroad. A lot of members have children, so their meetings tend to be family affairs. Plus, as they're doing here, they often display their train sets at public events where -- yes -- their trains attract children like crazy. This video shows off both current Lego trains and some of the classic, no-longer-sold Lego trains that members have collected over the years, including the highly-prized monorails. There's a transcript, but face it: This is basically visual material, and worth checking out on a computer or handheld that runs Flash if your normal one doesn't. (We've requested an upgrade from Flash-only video, but don't hold your breath. It might be a good while before we get it.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Remember that scene in Apollo 13 where the NASA engineers had to come up with a way for the astronauts to fit a square filter in a round hole using only things already on board the craft? The Mythbusters did that for Chris Hadfield when he was still on the International Space Station. They weren’t fixing an air filter, but they took care of an important problem Boredom. There are only so many things to do on the space station. It’s mostly work along with some eating and exercise, but in terms of recreation the options are pretty limited. In this new video by Tested.com Commander Hadfield shows off the in-flight Scrabble board as well as his own game, Space Darts. The Mythbusters wanted to give Hadfield and the other astronauts more options, so they set out to create a game that can not only be played in space — it can only be played in space. It’s a pretty interesting concept, and it’s one more reason we want to go to space. Alright, so it worked rather less well than they had hoped, but I’m sure with some refinement the astronauts on the ISS can make this thing a reality. The real bonus of this video is that we all get to feel like Hadfield is still in space. (via Tested.com on YouTube, Thanks to Daniel Portolan) Relevant to your interests Here are some of our favorite moments from Hadfield’s mission in space We were sad when Hadfield left the ISS, but his Earth tweets are still pretty great Why is it difficult to smell in space? Hadfield explains in this video

How is it that these video games have more logical costumes than the movies? It's like Axel Braun worked on them or something. Anyway, I think now I have a good idea why this is a prequel - it allows Batman to get his ass kicked more easily, and to have a less fully developed moral code. (I'd like to see a '30s style Bob Kane Batman game someday. Anybody else?) Lots of talk about Kevin Conroy being in or out of this one, based on comments he made that he's doing an upcoming Arkham game. Seems that whatever he's talking about, it isn't this one. Also: Deathstroke as a playable character. h/t 10glfan59

benrothke writes "Had Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers not been published by the American Bar Association (ABA) and 2 of its 3 authors not been attorneys; one would have thought the book is a reproach against attorneys for their obliviousness towards information security and privacy. In numerous places, the book notes that lawyers are often clueless when it comes to digital security. With that, the book is a long-overdue and valuable information security reference for anyone, not just lawyers." Read below for the rest of Ben's review. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

itwbennett writes "Last week, Dell said that it would be 'refining' its OpenStack plans. Now we know that 'refining' means 'backing away from'. Although the company wouldn't answer direct questions on the subject, a press release spells it out like this: 'Sales of Dell's current in-house multi-tenant public cloud IaaS will be discontinued in the U.S. in favor of best-in-class partner offerings.' Interestingly, none of Dell's initial partners, including Joyent, ScaleMatrix and ZeroLag, have platforms built on OpenStack." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rant by DJ Crystal Clear Tracey Morgan is pretty funny. Bruno Mars crushed it! Shania Twain came out of hiding to announce the winner of the best Rap song. Weird. She’s been in hiding for so long, and then comes out for this? Read more »

I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who utterly get, in a second nature sort of way, how algorithms work. I, however, am not among them. I mean, I know that algorithms are ‘a way that computers sort information to figure things out,’ but that’s basically one step up from saying ‘magic.’ Lucky for me and the rest of the folks out there who don’t quite get the what an algorithm is, Harvard computer scientist David J. Malan is is here to narrate a TEDEd cartoon on the subject that will save us all from ignorance. So by all means, watch and learn. Spolier alert: it turns out that you’re already making algorithms in your head, and they’re really not that complicated. It’s just hard to teach a computer to do them because computers are dumber than your brain. Hooray for your brain! (via TEDEd) Relevant to your interests Carl Zimmer explains the wonder that is: feathers Here’s how a particle accelerator works, in case anyone asks The twin prime conjecture is probably a little more complex than a cartoon

sciencehabit writes "Archaeologists have long debated when early humans began hurling stone-tipped spears and darts at large prey. By throwing a spear, instead of thrusting it, humans could hunt buffalo and other dangerous game from a safe distance, with less risk of a goring or mauling. But direct evidence of this hunting technique in early sites has been lacking. A new study of impact marks on the bones of ancient prey shows that such sophisticated killing techniques go back at least 90,000 years ago in Africa and offers a new method of determining how prehistoric hunters made their kills." Read more of this story at Slashdot.