A Google-a-Day Puzzle for July 16

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle, and the previous day’s answer (in invisitext) posted here.

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

Also, with the knowledge that because others may publish their answers before you do, if you want to be able to search for information without accidentally seeing the answer somewhere, you can use the Google-a-Day site’s search tool, which will automatically filter out published answers, to give you a spoiler-free experience.

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

A cartomancer shows you a dark man and a widow together. What, using the most common terms, are you looking at?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [what is GSP?] Find that it is the states’ equivalent of a country’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Search [2010 GSP Connecticut Florida Illinois Nevada] to find a list of states in GSP order. Discover that the correct order is Florida, Illinois, Connecticut and Nevada.

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100 Geeky Places to Take Your Kids This Summer (GeekDad Wayback Machine)

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There is plenty of summer vacation season left on the calendar, and boredom may already be settling in around the house. So what are some fun, geeky places to take your geeklets? Even better, what are some fun, geeky places that kids and adults will all enjoy?

I was sitting down making some plans for my geeklets this summer. The list of places we wanted to go kept getting longer, and eventually turned into a wishlist, which I then put up for the GeekDads to add to. But this list is by no means complete. Please feel free to add your favorite places in the comments, and we’ll try to add them to the map, too.

The list is alphabetical so you can search by name and see if your favorite places are included. If you want to browse geographically, there is an interactive map embedded at the end of the post.

Here is my list of geeky places to bring your geeklets this summer:

  1. Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum – Chicago.
  2. American Museum of Natural History – New York, NY. One of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world, comprised of 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls.
  3. Ames Exploration Center – Moffett Field, California. Experience NASA technology and missions first hand.
  4. Arizona Science Center – Phoenix. See Jenny Williams’ prior GeekDad post: To Boldly Go… to the Arizona Science Center.
  5. Atomium – Brussels. The Belgium response to the Eiffel Tower at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 is a tower in the shape of an iron crystal.
  6. Austin Children’s Museum – Texas. Even adults have fun at the Austin Children’s Museum.
  7. Belgian Comic Strip Museum – Brussels. It brings together everything related to the comic strip, from its prestigious beginnings to its most recent developments, on more than 4,000 square meters of museum floors.
  8. Bletchley Park – UK. A museum dedicated to the World War II code breakers.
  9. California Academy of Sciences – San Francisco. See Thomas Hawk’s GeekDad post: 10 Great Places to Take Your Kids in the San Francisco Bay Area.
  10. Chabot Space and Science Center – Oakland, California. See Thomas Hawk’s GeekDad post: 10 Great Places to Take Your Kids in the San Francisco Bay Area. Continue Reading “100 Geeky Places to Take Your Kids This Summer (GeekDad Wayback Machine)” »
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Congratulations, Winners of the 2012 Eisner Awards!

Tale of Sand Preview-PG6-7

Tale of Sand preview pages provided by Archaia

Congratulations to the winners of the Eisner Awards, which were announced on Friday evening at the San Diego Comic-Con. Alas, I was unable to attend this year, but I was pleased to see a few of my favorites on the list.

Among the winners was Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand from Archaia Press, which won Best New Graphic Album. If you haven’t read this one yet, you really ought to check it out: it’s based on an unproduced screenplay by Jim Henson, with some dark humor and an outlandish premise. The comic also won Best Penciller for artist Ramón Pérez and Best Publication Design for designer Eric Skillman. The book isn’t your typical trade paperback or hardcover — the cover is printed directly on the hard cover (as opposed to a dust jacket) and there’s an elastic strap similar to a Moleskine notebook. You can read my review of Tale of Sand here.

I also noticed Mark Waid won Best Writer for Irredeemable and Incorruptible, which Corrina Lawson first wrote about back in 2010. Craig Thompson won Best Writer/Artist for Habibi, and Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus won Best Comics-Related Book.

You can see the entire list of winners on the Comic-Con site. Congratulations to everyone! Now I’ve got a few titles to add to my reading list.

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GeekDad HipTrax #91 (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)

GeekDad HipTrax Logo by Dave Banks

GeekDad HipTrax Logo by Dave Banks

I am well aware of the summer concert season, but apparently there is also a summer album season. As it seems that everybody is dropping one this month!

Check out the new hotness:

“Bring Toonami Back” by Richie Branson

If the fan outcry to resurrect Cartoon Network’s long-missed Toonami anime block was a phalanx, then surely Richie’s rallying cry was the tip of the spear. (Now you know a bit more about both American otaku and ancient military history; you’re welcome, internet!) You can own this updated version of the iconic track along with six other hip-hop gems on his amazing new N.E.R.D. EP.

“Co-op Mode (feat. The BossFights)” by Sci-Fried

Sure, I could be stingy with my song leaks, but I like to share ‘em. Especially when they come from Florida’s geek rock royalty Sci-Fried and California’s underground thrash/rap juggernaut The BossFights. This song serves as the title track for Sci-Fried’s forthcoming Co-op Mode, an album featuring other epic musical team-ups with the likes of Warp 11, MC Lars and Insane Ian.

“Take on Me (Live)” by Kirby Krackle

Recorded at Seattle’s Hard Rock Cafe during this year’s Emerald City Comic Con, Live in Seattle represents Kirby Krackle’s first full band live album. Eleven tracks strong and featuring amazing guest performances by Adam WarRock and ALL CAPS‘ (and former Parselmouth) Kristina Horner, it’s a veritable must-own!

Want to hear more? Subscribe to the GeekDad podcast in iTunes (see the button on the sidebar), or directly through the RSS feed. You can also download GeekDad HipTrax #91 via this link.

The HipTrax theme song was created by Snake Eyes. He’s like our T.O.M.

[This article, by Z, was originally published on Wednesday.]

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for July 15

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle, and the previous day’s answer (in invisitext) posted here.

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

Also, with the knowledge that because others may publish their answers before you do, if you want to be able to search for information without accidentally seeing the answer somewhere, you can use the Google-a-Day site’s search tool, which will automatically filter out published answers, to give you a spoiler-free experience.

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

What is the order, from highest to lowest, for the 2010 GSP of these states: Connecticut, Illinois, Florida, and Nevada?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [activity 34 facial muscles] to learn that it’s kissing. Search [kissing gilded painting 1908] to find “The Kiss,” painted by Austrian Symbolist artist Gustav Klimt.

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First Animated Disney – Marvel Crossover Announced — And It’s Phineas and Ferb!

Phineas and Ferb meet Marvel superheroes

Image: Disney Channel.

Disney bought Marvel nearly three years ago, but it’s taken until this year to see synergy really grow out of the purchase. So far this year, we’ve seen the Marvel Universe programming block on Disney XD, and we’ve seen Disney throw its considerable marketing weight behind the blockbuster film The Avengers. But it’s only now that true integration of Disney and Marvel has been announced, in the form of a crossover animated special starring Marvel superheroes and the characters from Phineas and Ferb.

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel will premiere next summer on Disney Channel, and will see classic Marvel heroes Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor being transported to Phineas and Ferb‘s Danville and immobilized by, of course, one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s many “inators.” Consequently, Phineas and Ferb (along with their friends and Agent P, one must assume) have to find a way to help the heroes and to fight the classic Marvel villains Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom, and M.O.D.O.K., who are (of course) working with Dr. D to create mayhem and destruction.

I must admit I wasn’t entirely looking forward to the first crossover between Disney’s more traditional properties and their relatively newly-acquired Marvel properties, but — since you know it had to happen eventually — I can’t think of anyone I’d trust to do it justice more than the folks at Phineas and Ferb. I’ve spoken with Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh, the show’s creators and executive producers, many times, and I’m confident they’ll find a way to create humor around their characters while managing not to disrespect the legacy of the Marvel universe. Maybe they’ll even find a way to work in a shawarma joke!

And I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that they’re not trying to go the other way somehow. Can you imagine Darkwing Duck showing up in Avengers 2?

EDIT: I overlooked last month’s “takeover” of Disney’s online Club Penguin by the Marvel Super Heroes, which was really the first crossover event (and reportedly was very well-received); Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel will be the first animated production crossover. My apologies to all the folks who worked on the Club Penguin event, and to those who participated.

Check out the promo “featurette” after the jump for an idea of what to expect next summer.

Continue Reading “First Animated Disney – Marvel Crossover Announced — And It’s Phineas and Ferb!” »

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Mimoco Unveils G.I. Joe, More Transformers Mimobots

Hot on the heels of the recent Adventure Time Mimobots reveal, Mimoco has just announced their “Countdown to Comic Con” collection. This new line includes a second series of Transformers-themed designer USB flash drives, as well as the proper introduction of the G.I. Joe X Mimobot series featuring Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander. Of course they’re available in models up to 64GB capacity and boast pre-loaded content like digital comics, wallpaper and show episodes, but likely their best feature is the following ridiculous promo video. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

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Revolution in France – Music for History Lovers (GeekDad Wayback Machine)

In honor of Bastille Day, here’s “Revolution in France,” set to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” in a music video created by a pair of teachers from Hawaii. The two have found an effective method of helping students remember history; they’ve created a series of music videos setting historic events to the tunes of well-known pop songs.

“Mrs. B” and “Mr. H” went viral with “Revolution in France,” but it’s just one of over fifty videos in their collection, which covers history from Australopithecus (“Prehistoric,” based on Britney Spears’ “Toxic”) to Napoleon (set to “Gone Baby Gone” by the Violent Femmes), with visits to the Crusades (Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face”), the Black Death (“Gwen Stafani’s “Hollaback Girl”), Attila the Hun (“Here Comes the Rain Again” by the Eurythmics) and Emperor Constantine (“Come On, Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners) as well as many other subjects. The History Teachers have a great fondness for ’80s pop.

Continue Reading “Revolution in France – Music for History Lovers (GeekDad Wayback Machine)” »

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Tips for a Great Trip to Disney World (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)

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Epcot. Photo: Ken Denmead

The Disney resorts seem to have a strange sort of crossover appeal to geeks and non-geeks alike, and I happily count my family firmly in the Disneyphile camp. Indeed, not unlike the success of Apple, the way people fall in love with Disney resorts and theme parks shows that people will pay for a quality experience with excellent customer service.

Which is why we decided to make our major family summer trip to Walt Disney World (WDW) this year. This was the first trip to the WDW resorts for our boys (being in California, we frequent Disneyland), and in effect for my wife and me as well, since neither of us had been there for something like 20 years (yikes!). So, being a good geek and blogger, I’d like to share a few observations that will hopefully help other families considering their first trip to WDW make the best of it.

Continue Reading “Tips for a Great Trip to Disney World (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)” »

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Trying Out Shirts My Way

Around this time last year (give or take a few months), I was invited to try out the concept of ordering custom-tailored dress shirts through a website. It worked extremely well. I’ve bought 90 percent of my clothes online for the past decade — no lines, no crowds, better selection, decent prices, what’s not to like? Online will now be the default method for ordering my more formal attire too. However, along the way I have learned a valuable lesson in the importance of accurate measurements when buying custom-tailored clothing. Scientists, carpenters and plenty of other trades recognize the importance of proper measurements. I always thought the guys who measured me for a rental tux were putting on a bit of a show, but turns out that that the tape measure needs to be respected. I had the opportunity to try out another well-known online custom clothier — ShirtsMyWay — and discovered that even the snazziest, hand-tailored dress shirt doesn’t add much to your wardrobe if you mess up your measurements.

Cofounders Peter Crawfurd and Michael Yang have been operating ShirtsMyWay.com since its 2009 launch. They offer a wide range of fabrics and designs that, in combination with custom measurements, is claimed to be able to create 7 trillion different men’s dress shirts. I didn’t take the time to test out the 7 trillion claim, but I did try one. Although I favor a tee-shirt as my daily work uniform (one of the bonuses of working from home), I do have an appreciation for classic white dress shirts. While there are many other colors and patterns to choose from (as well as a range of fabrics), I stuck with the classic.

Continue Reading “Trying Out Shirts My Way” »

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