Nov 12 2009 Early Computing: Children's New Alphabet

Is this how today's children learn the alphabet? No. Is this how tomorrow's children will learn the alphabet? Probably not. Is spanking the best way to teach your children things? My parents thought so, and look how smart I am. Well, you can't physically SEE how smart I am. What you're looking at is called handsome.

How Today's Kids Learn The Alphabet [verybored]

Thanks to Nick, who learned the alphabet the old fashioned way: he didn't. His tip was nothing but wingdings and a link!

Oct 23 2009 Geekiest Game Of Scrabble Ever Played?

First of all, acronyms aren't allowed in Scrabble. Or proper names. Making this 'the least played by the rules' game of Scrabble ever. That aside, is it the geekiest? Maybe -- you be the judge. I will be the jury. Except, instead of paying attention and taking notes, I'll be doing a Sudoku. You hear that, court system? STOP CALLING ME FOR JURY DUTY! I have the attention span of

Scrabble "Geek style" [flickr]
via
The Geekiest Scrabble Game Ever! [walyou]

Sep 1 2009 I LIKE BIG LETTERS: WOMAN FIRED FOR USING CAPS IN A COMPANY EMAIL

Yelling, as you may well know, is a great way to get your point across. And capitalization is yelling's written equivalent. Don't believe me? LET'S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE!

An accountant in NZ has been awarded $17,000 NZD for unfair dismissal after her boss fired her without warning for using uppercase letters in a single email to co-workers. The email, which advises her team how to fill out staff claim forms, specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue. It reads: 'To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist.' Her boss deemed the capital letters too confrontational for her co-workers to read after they woke up from naptime.

I love capital letters. I don't want to marry them or anything, but I would go out on a couple dates and maybe slip a big W the tongue. Don't judge me -- I'LL TELL EVERYONE YOU BANG NUMBERS AND SYMBOLS!

Woman Fired For Using Uppercase In Email [slashdot]

Thanks to Jen, who once popped a caps lock in some bitch's ass for frontin'.

Aug 25 2009 For Your Car: Web Programming Stickers

Want to let commuters know what you're favorite web programming language is? Well now you can thanks to this 5-pack of CODE Stickers by John Freeborn. $5 takes home all five and I think they're worlds better than the stupid Outer Banks (OBX) stickers I see around here. So you like the beach, WHO DOESN'T? I mean, besides redheads and vampires.

web coder bumper stickers: honk if you love to write code! [technabob]

Aug 7 2009 The Most Romantic Love Letter Ever Written

Jessica, you'd be a fool not to marry this guy. I mean, Star Wars references aside, just look at that penmanship! I'll bet you he was at least a solid B student in writing class. And if you won't have him, I will.

Dear Letter Writer,

You know that thing you said about crawling inside Jessica like a tauntaun? I want you to do that to me. Bring your lightsaber.

Love,

The Geekologie Writer

Star Wars Love Letter [emailsfromcrazypeople]

Thanks to G, who prefers Star Trek themed love letters.

Jul 28 2009 I'd Type With It: Font Created By Driving A Car

Personally, I've always wanted a font created out of my handwriting because I have the cutest damn handwriting in the world (I even dot my i's with hearts!), but hey, a driving font, that's cool too.

Graphic designers Pierre Smeets and Damien Aresta, known collectively as pleaseletmedesign, teamed up with professional race car driver Stef van Campenhoudt to...create a font.

As you can see Campenhoudt did the "writing". The 4 dots on the roof of the car was tracked in real time using a camera and a custom software designed by fellow artist Zachary Lieberman of openFrameworks.

If you ask me, I'd say it turned out pretty well. So go ahead -- ask me. I think it turned out pretty well. Told you! I AM A MAN OF MY WORD.

Hit the jump for a video of the font creation in action, complete with soundtrack that gave me an aural seizure.

Continue Reading " I'd Type With It: Font Created By Driving A Car "

Jun 10 2009 Noob Not Millionth Word Of English Language After All. No, Apparently Now It's 'Web 2.0'

Remember last month when I reported 'noob' was going to be the millionth English word introduced into dictionaries? Well apparently I was lied to (you bitch!), and now the honor goes to 'Web 2.0', which is pretty effed up considering it's half numeral.

The buzzword that heralded the new age of social networking on the internet, Web 2.0, has been crowned the one millionth English word by a US-based language monitoring group.

The Texas-based Global Language Monitor (GLM) acknowledges new words once they have been used 25,000 times on media and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. It predicts that a new English-language word is created every 98 minutes.

You know what, I'm tired of this honky-tonk flip-flopping bullshit. I suggest we start a rumor that Geekologie is actually the millionth word in the English language. It's sure as hell a whole lot more believable than noob and web 2.0. As a matter of fact, I already defined it in an earlier post.

Geekologie n, v (2008)
1. the study of all things geek
Dude, this college sucks, you can't even get a Geekologie degree.

2. to utterly destroy someone else and prove your dominance, similar to pwn
Suck it, sucker, I just beat your Bomberman high score. You got Geekologied!

3. to teabag a passed out roommate who forgot to take his shoes off
Quick, grab the video camera -- I'm gonna Geekologie Davey!

Now, go forth and spread the news, LEST I HAVE TO GEEKOLOGIE THAT ASS.

'Web 2.0' is one millionth English word [msn]

Thanks to jawn and draw, who just wrote Merriam Webster and told them to suck it.

May 12 2009 Sure, Why Not?: 'Noob' Makes It To Dictionary

I don't know how much truth there is to this, but let's be honest, I'd still post it even if my only source was overhearing the crazy guy at the bar telling himself. BECAUSE I OWN JOURNALISM. So allegedly, 'noob' is coming to the dictionary, and will also carry the honor of being the millionth word. Snap, you just got PWNED, lexicon!

The Global Language Monitor accepts words once they have been used 25,000 times by media outlets. According to the reports, this hints at "noob" becoming the millionth word, which would happen on June 10, 2009, at 10:20am. At that moment, the word "noob" will itself become a noob in the English language, and we will all polish our specatacles and smirk at the amusing irony of it all.

So a word becomes official when it's used 25,000 times by media outlets, huh? Geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie
geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie geekologie.

I think we're getting close!

Noob to become the millionth word in the English language? [destructoid]

Thanks to Salazar, who suggests we petition to have bangarang included as well.

Apr 30 2009 Graphical!: Some Sweet Adobe Suite Pillows

I was gonna do the whole FAKE! bit on this post but then I realized I've done it like three times already and that's way too many for any one person, so I decided not to. Anyway, this is a set of Adobe icon pillows, featuring all your favorite design programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and that handsome devil Dreamweaver. Prices are as Illustratored(!). Buy the whole set and save $10. Buy sweatshop free and save some third-world youth's fingers. Buy me a drink and then take me home and do me. RAWR!

Adobe Creative Suite Pillows Are All About Design [gizmodo]

Thanks to Jesse, who doesn't need a pillow to be comfortable because she sleeps in the clouds with unicorns. Lucky!

Apr 29 2009 WHEE!: Fun With Fridge Magnet Letters

Want to play with those magnetic letters you stick on the fridge but stuck at work? No problem! Enter Lunchtimer's Letters 'game', where you can arrange a bunch of the colorful plastic letters to spell whatever you want. The only problem is, you have to do it in a room with 2-50 other people, so while you're trying to spell 'GEEKOLOGIE', other people are trying to change it to 'DICKOLOGIE'. Good times. There's also a game called Scratchpad where everyone doodles together like in Microsoft Paint. Obviously, both games fill up with penises and cuss words pretty quickly. Also, somebody kept drawing a pretty good Pedobear.

Hit the jump for a more common scene.

Continue Reading " WHEE!: Fun With Fridge Magnet Letters "

Apr 23 2009 Geographical: The Alphabet Of The World

Rhett Dashwood, a creative director from Melbourne, Australia, searches Google Maps for geographic letters when he's not busy directing creatively. Or playing with one of those swinging metallic ball thingies.

Over the course of several months beginning October 2008 to April 2009 I've spent some of my spare time between commercial projects searching Google Maps hoping to discover land formations or buildings resembling letter forms. These are the results of my findings limited within the state of Victoria, Australia.

As you can see, I used the letters to spell 'GEEKOLOGIE', but you could use them to write a really cool digital ransom note (ALL YOUR INTERNETS ARE BELONG TO ME UNLESS YOU PAY....). And I think it's pretty cool all the letters came from Victoria. I'm gonna see if I can't make a set using my own location! Kidding, I don't have time for that shit.

Hit the jump to see the whole alphabet.

Continue Reading " Geographical: The Alphabet Of The World "

Apr 8 2009 Best Mouse Ever: The LED Message Mouse

The $21 LED message mouse has an LED laden fan in it that spins around and displays whatever barely decipherable message you want, while at the same time keeping your hand sweat-free during a particularly intense "gaming" (read: fapping) session. Granted, you won't be able to actually see your message while the device is in use, but that's a small price to pay for the awesome you know is just on the other side of your hand. Obviously, I'm talking about your hairy palm. Seriously bro, give it a rest.

Hit the jump for another shot and a video of the rodent in action.

Continue Reading " Best Mouse Ever: The LED Message Mouse "

Apr 7 2009 Flutter: Twitter's Latest Competition

Is 140 characters too many for you? Feel intimidated by all that space? Then check out Flutter, the latest in social blogging sites. Flutter promises to take Twitter's microblogging to the next level: nanoblogging -- with a limit of 26 characters per post, or "flap". Obviously, the video is a parody. But the really sad part is that it probably won't be for long. *waving junk around like a helicopter* Flap this, scumbags!

Youtube

Thanks toysoldier, Julian and 3bee, who once sat outside my bedroom window tweeting so loud I almost shot at them with a BB gun.

Mar 14 2009 Elementary: The Periodic Table Of Typefaces

Somebody went and made a periodic table of typefaces featuring "100 of the most popular, influential and notorious typefaces today". This is it. Click HERE to see a high-res version, then go ahead and print it out and post it up on your cubicle wall. That way when somebody pokes their head in to ask you about doing some work you can yell, "TALK TO THE PERIODIC TABLE....OF TYPEFACES!". Then they'll all think you're crazy and leave you to your Solitaire.

Periodic Table ofTypefaces [behance]

Thanks to ashleigh, who is like a font groupie.

Feb 6 2009 Wordle Makes Word Clouds With Your Text

Go HERE to see the full-size version, or hit the link at the bottom.

Wordle make pretty little word cloud pictures with the text or URL you provide.

The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Nothing super special, but Geekologie loyalist Tangelax was kind enough to make one out of a bunch of recent Geekologie articles. As you can see, it's depressing.

Wordle

Thanks to Tangelax, who once made a word cloud rain letters simply by doing a little dance. Amazing!

Jan 29 2009 Unhappy Virgin Airways Passenger Writes Richard Branson Complaint Letter About Meal

A Virgin Airways passenger, thoroughly upset with the meal and service during a flight, took matters into his own hand, and wrote Sir Richard Branson a personal complaint letter about the experience. An exerpt:

So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what's on offer.

I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.

Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt

I just read an article this morning that said the customer actually got a job offer by Virgin to be the food critic for potential in-flight meals. It's a fact: complaint letters really do make dreams come true. And also, Disney. I always wanted to puke on a roller coaster!

Hit the jump to read the whole, lengthy letter, including reference pictures. It's basically the same thing I would have done, except with less cussing and threatening "to open a whole bag of airplane peanuts on that ass".

Continue Reading " Unhappy Virgin Airways Passenger Writes Richard Branson Complaint Letter About Meal "

Jan 22 2009 Uh, I've Got The Feeling This Is Illegal: How To Hack Those Programmable Road Signs

Ever wanted to put your own message on one of those portable road signs along the highway? Well now you can with just a little tampering and a whole lot of illegal! Unfortunately, because many children read this website, you'll have to follow the link after the jump to find out how. I'll admit, I gave it a go myself, and it does actually work. Although I did get busted. In hindsight, standing next to the "SHOW ME YOUR TITS" sign with a Motorists Gone Wild t-shirt and video camera probably wasn't the smartest decision I've ever made. But definitely top five.

Hit it for a couple pictures and a link to the how-to.

Continue Reading " Uh, I've Got The Feeling This Is Illegal: How To Hack Those Programmable Road Signs "

Jan 19 2009 Wood Is Good: A Scrabble Keyboard

Ever wondered what a keyboard would look like if it had Scrabble tiles for keys? This. Finally, you can sleep at night.

This keyboard was commissioned by a couple of friends of mine from back east (NJ) who are avid Scrabble players. Most of the keys are made from real Scrabble tiles that were all hand-beveled (truly an exercise in patience/masochism!) and built onto a USB, clicky, mechanical-switch keyboard. This keyboard was going into a Mac environment so I decided to use brushed aluminum for the casing and round all of the corners to keep with the sleek, simple Macintosh styling. Near the end of the build, I decided that the keyboard looked a little too minimalist so I added some silver hardware and a seam to put a slightly industrialized twist on the design.

Alternatively, glue Scrabble tiles to your current keyboard. Just make sure you put the correct letters on. O YJOML O YXDEW IT IO! That's a bingo, count it.

Hit the jump for a bunch of closeups.

Continue Reading " Wood Is Good: A Scrabble Keyboard "

Dec 19 2008 Ho Ho Ho, Happy Holidays From Geekologie

Julian Beever is a sidewalk artist that specializes in realistic 3-D renderings when viewed from a particular viewpoint. This is one such piece, and Christmas themed to boot. Who knew Santa lived in a secret underground lair beneath a mail receptacle? That's some serious DangerMouse shit right there. And, based on the expression on Santa's face, I'd say somebody just asked for ass beads.

Julian's Official Site

Oct 23 2008 Learning is Fun!: The Star Wars Alphabet

If you're anything like me, you taught yourself to read off the back of a cereal box you had to use as a pillow (or, alternatively, newspaper sheets). Rough times. But look at me now -- shit, still rough times. Anyway, this is some cute Star Wars alphabet art. As you can see, A is for Ackbar. I went through the whole set and picked out a couple of my favorites, which you can see after the jump. No, which you WILL see after the jump. Going through them all took upwards of twenty clicks, and I'll be damned if I clicked in vain. Repent, dear reader, repent! But seriously, who do l pay to get my sins absolved?

Hit it for two more and a link to the worthwhile gallery.

Continue Reading " Learning is Fun!: The Star Wars Alphabet "