Tag: reviews

  • Science Gift Ideas: Rubik’s Cube

    When I was in elementary school, there was a huge Rubik’s Cube fad. In addition to the Rubik’s Cube, there was the Jacob’s ladder-like Rubik’s Magic, Barrel, Diamond, and many more. My favorite was the Pyraminx because it was the most complex puzzle I could actually solve on my own. I am happy to see…

  • Review: Bladerunner, The Final Cut

    Blade Runner The Final Cut I watched Blade Runner, The Director’s Cut for the upteenth time Monday, appreciating the film’s flaws, and speculating on which ones Ridley Scott would clean up with the final, digitally-remastered version. Of course, all the silliness that made the original theatrical release of Blade Runner a total flop would stay…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Kill-A-Watt

    Kill-A-Watt Awhile back I blogged on Blackle.com, a black-background version of google.com that purported to save energy by reducing the amount of light monitors needed to emit to display their page. Researchers confirmed this was true of old, obsolete CRT monitors, but flat screens used more energy to suppress white than display it. Well, my…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Worldchanging, A User’s Guide to the 21st Century

    Worldchanging A User’s Guide to the 21st Century “Happiness demands giving up all hope of a better past.” – Buddha I dilly-dallied about checking out this book when it came out last year. Then one day, I happened to pick up an opened copy at the bookstore and immediately fell into profound ionian enchantment with…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Zome Tool

    ZomeTool’s connector balls are small rhombicosidodecahedrons I started playing with Zome Tool after watching the college lecture series Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas on DVD, which required no mathematical background and I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning about why Math totally rocks from a humanistic perspective. I…

  • Science Gift Ideas: George’s Secret Key to the Universe

    George’s Secret Keyto the Universe George is a restless child. His parents are well-meaning, but oppressively strict environmentalists. They are so anti-technology, that they won’t even let George have a computer. One day George’s pet pig gets out, leading him to meet his strange next door neighbor Annie. Annie’s father, Eric, is a scientist, who…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Howtoons, The Possibilities are Endless

    howtoons.com Cloud of Legends I was all about Do It Yourself (DIY) as a kid. I built a crossbow out of tree branches that shot bamboo arrows, a boat out of an innertube and piece of plywood, and was forever tricking my dirt bike out. Inventors Dr. Saul Griffith and Dr. Joost Bonsen and comic…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Snap Circuits

    Snap Circuits Junior Set I picked up a Snap Circuits Junior kit online, and it is undeniably fun. This is like an erector set for electronics. There are 101 experiments listed in the instruction manual, and I managed to run through most of the experiments over two nights of playing with it. I did come…

  • Futurama Fans Rejoice!

    All Hail Hypnotoad! I finally got to pick up a copy of the First Carbon Neutral DVD from FOX, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, this weekend, and I’m very much enjoying my geek-humor fix. Some big brains go into making Futurama. Executive Producer David X. Cohen has a master’s degree in computer science from UC Berkeley.…

  • Review of Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”

    LOLQuack Michael Crichton So I found a copy of Crichton’s book, State of Fear, in a box labeled “Free Books!” at the Coast Guard base, and figured I should go ahead and read it. I’ve read most of his other fiction, which is equally disposable, but usually a fun and brainless way to burn some…

  • Review of “In the Shadow of the Moon”

    Got to check out this inspiring documentary last week, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Sputnik 1. The film wisely skips the Cold War dimensions of the Space Race, an historical context today’s generation can’t really relate to, and probably shouldn’t bother to considering the U.S.S.R. turned out to be a paper tiger.…

  • Wilson Quarterlies, I Has Them

    Wilson Quarterly “Surveying the World of Ideas“ The WQ’s recent article “The Climate Engineers,” made it to the journal’s online version, and reading it reminded me what I’ve been missing out on in the last three years since I let my subscription lapse. The article looks at the entire history of Climate Engineering, from the…