For most of us, if we remember Bill Carter it is because of his documentary Miss Sarajevo which Bono produced and wrote a song about by the same name. What some of us may not understand is that for a …
Continue ReadingQole Pejorian (via Flickr) Every parent of a child two or older knows the frustration inherent in trying to give advice to a toddler—they just don’t seem to be paying attention. A new scientific study provides good news, sort of: It’s not that your kid is ignoring you; rather, he’s saving the advice until he […]
Continue ReadingThe fates seemed to decree that I wouldn’t review Little Brother. First of all, it’s shelved under "young adult" — not an appealing category for me. Second, I was unable to contact Tor Teen’s marketing people to secure a comp copy. Finally, it seemed overhyped. Did people pretend to like the book because they liked […]
Continue ReadingI interviewed Emmanuel Goldstein as part of my review of his book, The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey. JB: Is it possible The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey is the first history of hacking written by hackers? EG: It’s certainly the largest compilation ever of pieces written by hackers. I’m hoping that it […]
Continue ReadingHacking. Now there’s a term that elicits a multitude of responses: some people steadfastly equate hackers with criminal activity. Others insist they’re more like misunderstood explorers. Still another group claims that hackers are computer programmers, no more and no less. As the years have progressed, attempts have been made to try to classify the various […]
Continue ReadingSlashdot contributor "sharp-bang" put the following question to the supernerds who follow the site: When I was growing up, my Dad let my brother and I have the run of his wood shop, and kept up a steady stream of Lego kits, Estes model rockets, chemistry sets, Heathkit projects, and other fun science stuff from […]
Continue ReadingI’m going to share a bit of neurotic geek-parenting here: My son played in the championship game for his age-bracket in our local Little League this weekend, and sadly they lost. It was a pretty close game, 5-3, and hard-fought by two teams who had been nipping at each others’ heels all season. As my […]
Continue ReadingLoretta Hidalgo Whitesides sees the future of space in the eyes of students. Not as the "coveted 18-24 demographic", but as leaders of the new space industry. To her, space-interested science and engineering students in high school and college right now are "one in a million," and she wants them to train to be the […]
Continue Reading[Via Gardenaut]
Continue ReadingWhile "white hat" or ethical hacking has been around for ages, there has been very little effort on the part of its adherents to pass on these values to the next generation. To clarify, there has always been a element of ethical pressure directed at n00bs. "Script kiddies," neophytes too raw to do anything except […]
Continue ReadingLeo Babauta over at Zen Habits did me the favor of codifying most of the hard-won simplicity lessons I’ve learned in 4 years of being a dad, plus some I have yet to learn. The post, titled 25 Ways to Simplify Your Life with Kids, is simple, clear, and worth reading all the way through. […]
Continue ReadingI’ll be perfectly honest, having contact email addresses on the sidebar over there means we all get a bunch of PR emails in our boxes. A lot of them are mediocre at best, and find their way to the trash pretty quickly. Some of them are interesting, but not quite right for the GeekDad audience, […]
Continue ReadingRobot-loving kids must be on cloud 9. Seems that every day someone’s making it easier to learn about and make robots. Start with countless mom & pop kit-sellers (Google “robot kit” if you don’t believe me.) How about LEGO MINDSTORMS? Even Zoob’s getting in on the action with their Zoob Mover set. Recently, Heathkit announced […]
Continue ReadingMy efforts to raise good geeklings are a litany of failures. Despite my best attempts to get them interested in the techie things that I obsess over, they persist in being regular kids, with no particular signs of sci/tech leanings (videogames and Lego don’t count). I can live with that (just), but last night’s exchange […]
Continue ReadingCreated by a girl named Molly for a class project, this neat robot was proudly featured on her dad Grant’s Flickr page, where I stumbled across it. Grant, a interactive designer and hardware geek who runs his web server off a Newton, somehow quelled the urge to interfere with his daughter’s project. I emailed him […]
Continue ReadingOn the one hand (pun intended), I think this is amazingly cool. These Zaky hand pillows take advantage of an infant’s natural attachment to Mommy’s hands, and turn it into a useful parental tool. Basically, you put these pillows around your little one to mimic the feel of your own hands on them, enabling you […]
Continue ReadingVery interesting article at Scientific American showing how the types of praise you give your kids can affect their mindset as they develop, and determine what kind of intelligence they’ll favor as they grow – rigid or flexible. …the students with a growth mind-set felt that learning was a more important goal in school than […]
Continue ReadingNewly expanded: DadLabs, the go-to source over-the-top product reviews, humorous parenting debate, and general mayhem. I had the pleasure of filming a DadLabs segment with Clay and Brad when I was in Austin for SXSW, and I can tell you that they are as serious about the business of fun as they are genuine and […]
Continue ReadingAbout the time home computers became commonplace, people got the bright idea that this wondrous new gadget could interface with everything electrical in your house. Why couldn’t you control lights and temperature via a computer? Why can’t your clock radio talk to your toaster? Ultimately, while fascinating, the home automation phenomenon never really took off. […]
Continue ReadingI’ve been featuring a number of Halloween hacks on Parent Hacks recently, but I just had to share this one with the GeekDads as well. From Sara: Easy baby halloween costume: Use a permanent marker and write “E=mc^2” on a onesie. Apply mousse to hair. Ta-da! Baby Einstein. Asha Dornfest is a guest GeekMom and […]
Continue ReadingMy sons and I have sort of an unspoken deal. I’ll listen to their stories and they’ll listen to some of mine. Today was my turn. I want them to grow up with some heroes, understanding that they can choose to become good men in the world. I have been moved several times today by […]
Continue ReadingMy kids are growing up with real robots in the house, from Dad’s UAVs to Roomba. And being 21st Century natives, they think nothing of it–of course the vacuum cleaner is autonomous. But I thought our first Roomba was a revelation: it was cheap, cool and remarkably effective, although not quite as the designers intended. […]
Continue ReadingA multimeter is an instrument that, true to its name, measures a number of different aspects of electricy and electronics: voltage, resistance, capacitance, frequency, conductance, inductance, and others. If you are a geek, and don’t have a multimeter, you need to get one. Beyond insuring that you maintain your non-techie friends’ and family members’ awe […]
Continue ReadingA couple of months ago we chose to remove the radio from our youngest son’s room. He stumbled upon a less-than-family-friendly radio station and started writing the lyrics of the songs to share with his friends. He loves his music and asked repeatedly to have his radio returned, but GeekMom and I struggled with how […]
Continue ReadingFile under "hacking kids". GeekMom Asha Dornfest has some good advice: When explaining things to my two year-old, I often find myself wanting to say, "OK?" at the end, so he can respond. That way I know he’s listening and he agrees to it. The problem with "OK?" is that it opens the door for […]
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