ideonexus

Tag: toys

  • Ant Farm Woes

    Not My Ant Farm Photo by jurvetson (Who has a lot of cool Science Flickr Sets) Last year I finally bought myself an Ant Farm, one of those new, hip gel ant farms, this one from Uncle Milton Industries. I’ve always procrastinated about buying one of these because I’m an instant-gratification kind of person, and…

  • Happy Kid Inventor Day!

    Benjamin Franklin age 12 Courtesy NPS Benjamin Franklin was 15 when he started writing notable letters to the Editor of his local paper. Thomas Edison was 15 when he began printing his own newspaper. Louis Braille was 15 when he invented the raised dots that served as a gateway to the blind reading on their…

  • The OLPC XO-1, Shortcut to the Information Age

    So I got my OLPC XO-1 in the mail about a month ago, and I’m still wrestling with my opinion of it. Personally I think it’s the bee’s knees. Everyone who comes into the comic shop fawns over it. I’m the envy of the local geek crowd. I love it when people ask me, “What’s…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Lego Digital Designer

    My Legoland Avatar This free software is available for download, and is a great way to introduce your child to 3-D Modeling software. It’s also free and didn’t cause my computer to explode, so you’ve got nothing to lose by trying it out. A huge selection of Lego parts are available in the application, which…

  • 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…

  • 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: 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: RoboRally

    Roborally Allow me to introduce you to one of the coolest board games you’ve never heard of. In RoboRally, players steer robots around a factory filled with lasers, pits, and conveyor belts in a race to reach the finish line. Each round, players are dealt a random set of instruction cards, with which they must…

  • 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…

  • How to Be Productive at Work

    orisinal.com If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap; if you want to be happy for a day, go fishing; if you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune; if you want to be happy for lifetime, help others. Chinese Proverb

  • 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.…