Geeking Out

Californian Melissa Brown makes ceramics of all types, shapes, sizes, and uses, but these “What’s in the bottom of my mug?” mugs are simply adorable! Buy one — or more! — here. [Via Etsy]

davecb writes "Paul E. McKenney, one of the Linux RCU implementors, addresses the problem of synchronization using structured deferral on, what else, Mr Schrödinger's famous cat. Courtesy of deferral/procrastination, the cat can be both alive and dead at the same time. 'In this example, Schrödinger would like to construct an in-memory database to keep track of the animals in his zoo. Births would of course result in insertions into this database, while deaths would result in deletions. The database is also queried by those interested in the health and welfare of Schrödinger's animals. Schrödinger has numerous short-lived animals such as mice, resulting in high update rates. In addition, there is a surprising level of interest in the health of Schrödinger's cat, so much so that Schrödinger sometimes wonders whether his mice are responsible for most of these queries. Regardless of their source, the database must handle the large volume of cat-related queries without suffering from excessive levels of contention. Both accesses and updates are typically quite short, involving accessing or mutating an in-memory data structure, and therefore synchronization overhead cannot be ignored.'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The history of frozen food as explained by Minute Earth! [Minute Earth]

Happy Towel Day! Here’s 6 life lessons from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (GeekSugar) Jimmy Fallon’s Game of Desks spoof is epic (Gossip Cop) Watch a dog clean a lion’s teeth without being eaten by that lion (Hyper Vocal) Watch a grown man replace a two-year-old girl in real conversations (The Mary Sue) Prince covered “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam and it’s Princetastic (UPROXX) 10 historical titans and their surprising tattoos (Mental Floss) Find out which Arrested Development character you are before the premiere (Flavorwire) (Title pic via Reddit)

If these two can settle their differences, anyone can! Art by LA-base illustrator Matthew Skiff. [Source: Matthew Skiff | Via Neatorama]

We first heard about the uChek urine-testing iPhone app back in February. At the time the question was whether it would make it through Apple’s rigorous and arbitrary app approval process, but it turns out nobody thought to ask the Food and Drug Administration to approve the app. The FDA sent the company behind uCheck a letter to say they feel left out. The FDA asked the app maker Biosense why they weren’t consulted before the app was released. They’ve given Biosense 30 days to either provide proof that the FDA already approved uChek, or to make a case as to why they don’t need FDA approval at all. Our guess is that the case would be built around the fact that the uChek app is not a food or a drug. Using the uChek app does not require one to urinate on their iPhone. Instead, the app uses the phone’s camera to analyze test strips that change color based on the chemical content of urine. By using the phone to analyze these strips, the FDA is arguing that the app turns the iPhone into an “automated strip reader” that needs their approval. Instead of making a case for why the app does not need FDA approval, Biosense told Bloomberg that it plans to have it approved. In the meantime, uChek is still listed in the App Store for all your home urine testing needs. (via The Verge, image via Ajay Tallam) Relevant to your interests Here are the details on the uChek app and how it works How do astronauts get water from urine? Chris Hadfield explains You can now control video games with your pee, and it’s a lot of fun

Shirt design by artist Melissa Smith. Well, it’s finally happened. It’s been almost a year since I designed this shirt, but I hadn’t been able to print it until I pretty much fixed it up entirely. I know lots of people have been waiting to get it, so here it is. :) EDIT: 10% Off with Promo Code FORTHEGEEKS13 [Get the shirt right here | Via FG | Gamefreaks]

Doing an unpaid or under-paid internship is a sort of right of passage for college students. It’s meant to give you real-world experience in the field you want to pursue, but what if you’re already actively pursuing it? If you’re Drexel University student and game designer Greg Lobanov then you hire yourself at your own game company to meet your school’s internship requirement. To graduate, Lobanov needed to complete a six-month co-op internship, but instead of working for someone else he decided to work for himself. He had already launched his own game design company Dumb and Fat Games. He convinced his school that letting him hire himself as his own intern was a better use of his time, and a more beneficial learning experience than working with someone else. Lobanov wrote a pitch that outlined games he had already developed and compared what he would get out of working for himself against working for someone else, and the school went for it. He began his co-op last month, and has already released the puzzle game Perfection where you slice shapes Fruit Ninja style to get them to match other shapes. It’s a little hard to explain but here’s the trailer: I think that proves Lobanov’s point. If he was interning at some other company, what are the chances he would have been able to turn out his own game? A few business students have already taken similar steps to be their own boss for internships, but game design is a lot more interesting than business. I wonder if Lobanov will be hiring interns from Drexel for his company after he graduates. (via Technically Philly, image via Ed Kohler) Relevant to your interests Speaking of college, here’s Monsters University mashed up with Revenge of the Nerds CollegeHumor rewards stupidity by buying Bananaman’s banana I am trying to convince my alma mater to let me write their Twitter account

If you’re feeling slightly more proud than usual, dear geeks, it’s because today is Geek Pride Day! Get your geek on out in public. Cosplay to work. Order lunch in Klingon, and don’t forget your towel. It’s also Towel Day. Let’s celebrate the best way geeks know how — with cold hard data. The folks at Modis conducted a survey on the state of geekdom in America. Let’s look at the numbers. The good news is that most Americans don’t feel like they need to hide their geeky interests. We sure don’t. We have a whole website about our geeky interests and everything. Only 13 percent of those surveyed felt they needed to “sneak their geek” by hiding their passions and interests. That 13 percent can also be broken down by exactly who people are hiding their interests from. Surprisingly, the people secret geeks are hiding from the most? It’s their neighbors. The percentages fall off among groups of people that we’re more familiar with. 72 percent of secret-geeks hide their interests from their neighbors. 70 percent from their co-workers. 63 percent hide interests from their friends, but only 32 percent hide them from their significant others. The group folks are least likely to hide interests from are their parents at 30 percent. At one time it was hard out there for a geek, but the Modis survey shows that we’ve got to admit it’s getting better. It’s getting better all the time. The public perception of geeks has improved each year, now with 58 percent of Americans defining us as “extremely intelligent.” That’s a 13 percent jump from the 2011 survey. In these tough economic times, you might also be encouraged to know that of those surveyed 70 percent of the people who self-identify as a geek are employed, but only 54 percent of non-geeks have jobs. It’s not all nice. Only 34 percent of Americans seem to think geeks are good looking, because I guess the other 66 percent aren’t familiar with Felicia Day or Chris Hardwick. 69 percent of those responding to the survey — and this includes people who self-identify as geeks — think of geeks as being awkward. Alright, that one might be a fair point. One point in the survey I take a little personally is that the data seems to show that geeks think we’re funnier and more influential than we really are. 74 percent of self-identifying geeks — and 100 percent of me — think they’re funny, but only 53 percent of non-geeks seem to agree. There’s a sharper drop off with influence. 62 percent of geeks think they’re influential, but only 30 percent of non-geeks concur. I hope that doesn’t hurt my chances of convincing my alma mater that I should write their Twitter feed. Back to the good news — 68 percent of respondents said they would date a geek. So there you have it — life as a geek by the numbers. Happy Geek Pride Day, everyone. Go forth with the knowledge that being a geek means you probably have a job, could very likely get a date, and that being a geek is nothing you need to hide. Just try not to think about how awkward everyone thinks we are and we should be fine. Excuse me while I go explain to my all neighbors why the second Ewoks movie has it all over the first one. Two words: Wilford. Brimley. (via Modis, image via nivlek_est) Relevant to your interests If you’re calling out sick today to celebrate, don’t use these terrible excuses This study confirms what the gentlemen of Geekosystem have known for years: Beards are sexy I really do want to write Ramapo College’s Twitter account

Sass this: It’s May 25th. Do you know where your towel is, hitchhiker? Back in 2001, two weeks after the death of Douglas Adams, fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy all across the universe banded together to honor the author by wearing a towel all day. Thus was born Towel Day, celebrated every year on this date. Not an HHGG fan? “What the heck is the towel about?” you ask. Well, strag*, it goes like this. In chapter three of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, Adams explains that a towel “is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” So one who is both hoopy* and a frood* should always have a towel handy. Just read the book. Find a Towel Day celebration in your area at TowelDay.org, the official site for all things towel-related. If you’re organizing your own, let us know! Break out your towels and wear them around, tweet about #towelday, spread the good news on Facebook, share your favorite Douglas Adams videos, wear your thinking caps, don’t panic, build a Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser, park some cars in the car park, and try to be nice to the doors. (I’m really hoping one of you takes it upon yourself to parody Rebecca Black’s “Friday” in Douglas Adams’s honor, if only so I can feel like that song exists for a reason.) There’s no doubt that Adams left a lasting impression on the world; the very fact that today is Towel Day speaks to his contribution to his fellow hitchhikers. In the words of Richard Dawkins, “If ever a man understood what a magnificent place the world is, it was Douglas. And if ever a man left it a better place for his existence, it was Douglas.” I couldn’t agree more. The world is smaller without him. *A strag is a non-hitchhiker; hoopy means “really together”; a frood is a “really amazingly together guy,” all of which you would know if you weren’t such a strag. Read the book, already. OK, Geeks. What are you doing this Towel Day? We want to see you with your towels on. Send us your (SFW) pics! (feedback3 *at* geeksaresexy *dot* net) From Heather: From Amie: From Jason @ the Being a Geek Facebook page: From [GAS] reader Clemens: From XETWS: From Zac: From Philipp: From Mike: From Tony: And here are a few pictures that [GAS] readers have sent in last year: From [GAS] reader Klaus (and friends!): And here’s one from Selina: And from Adrienne (the author of this post): And finally, a last one from Jamie: [sources: 1|2] [images: 1|2]