TechyDad

An Evening With A Mythbuster

October 30, 2010 TechyDad Mythbusters, Television

Early this week, via a local blog, I heard that Grant Imahara would be making an appearance. He would speak for a bit and then have a question and answer session. I went back and forth about attending considering the time it would be (8PM which would mean B would be putting the kids to bed by herself instead of with my help). Finally, I decided that it was too good of a chance to pass up.

So on Thursday night, I went home, made a quick dinner for everyone and then got ready. Just before going, NHL was upset that JSL was playing on his LeapFrog ClickStart computer. He wanted to play but JSL wasn’t sharing. To be fair, though, the ClickStart is JSL’s and isn’t really designed for kids NHL’s age. So I started my computer and let him play some Math Rider (a review of that is coming soon). Then, I left my computer and math geek-in-training to see a myth-busting geek.

The talk itself was interesting. He spoke about his movie work and being invited to join Mythbusters. At the time, he had just finished filming another reality show, Junkyard Wars, and didn’t want to do that again. Plus, Star Wars 3 was coming up and he really wanted to work on that. So he turned down the invite and completed working on the Star Wars Prequels.

A few years later, though, he found his movie special effects skills being performed more and more by computers (instead of robotics and models). Another Mythbusters invite came at just the right time and he hopped aboard.

I learned things about him that I didn’t know (he wore the C3PO suit for all public appearances and it was really uncomfortable!), things about the Mythbusters that I didn’t know (Jamie has a disguise for airport trips. He takes off his beret and puts on a baseball cap.) and heard plenty of stories about him and his colleagues.

As I mentioned before, this was going to have a Q & A portion. I knew that I wanted to ask a question, but didn’t know just what. I figured he has heard “What’s your favorite myth?” at every talk. NHL, remembering the duct tape episode, said I should ask “How strong is duct tape?” (Note to self: This Spring, NHL and I really need to work on a Duct Tape Swing project.) Finally, I decided and walked up to the mike.

I told him that, as the father of a 7 year old, I use Mythbusters to encourage a love of science in my child. I mentioned NHL’s duct tape question and Grant mentioned seeing my tweet. (I suppressed the urge to exclaim “Grant Imahara read my tweet! SQEEEEE!”) Given how every episode is prefaced with “Don’t Try This At Home” (for obvious safety reasons), I asked if they had ever considered doing a Do Try This At Home special. Busting some myths or performing some experiments in manners that parents and kids could duplicate in their house.

The first reaction was from the audience. Everyone applauded. Then Grant complimented me on the question and said he’s never heard that one before. He mentioned Kari Byron’s show on the Science Channel, Head Rush, which does feature some “Try It At Home” segments. (I had set this to DVR but it initially filled up my DVR so I had to remove the recordings. I’ve reset it to record now that more space was cleared off.) He said that it was a very good idea, but probably not too likely given that the Mythbusters episodes thrive on things (explosions, gunfire, crashes, etc) that really can’t be done at home.

After the Q & A was over, we were given the opportunity to get our picture taken with him and get autographs. I had him sign my copy of the Mythbusters book: “Don’t Try This At Home.” (Ironically, this book was published just after he joined the Mythbusters and there’s not a single photo of Grant in it!) He complimented me on the question and we got our photo taken.

Then it was time to pack up and head back home. My computer-and-math geek-in-training and my little geek-ling were fast asleep. I showed B the autograph and the photo of us together.

Thanks, Grant for such an entertaining and informative session. Here’s hoping that I get to meet Adam, Jamie, Tory and Kari sometime soon!

Aloha Friday: Online Versus Offline Socialization

October 29, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Bullies

This week, NHL had swim lessons. Usually, we all go and I play with JSL while NHL learns how to swim. This time, though, NHL’s Hebrew school had an open house at the same time. So we divided the chores. B went to the open house, JSL went to stay with B’s parents and I went with NHL to his swim class.

While watching NHL go in and out of the pool, I looked around me. I was surrounded by parents of kids around NHL’s age. This was my peer group. I always complain of not having any offline friends to hang out with, so why not make some friends here?

Yet, there I sat. I was tweeting effortlessly with people online, but offline I barely managed a two sentence small-talk with someone who I overheard was sending his child to the same child care center that NHL went to.

I had a similar experience in BlogHer. There were plenty of decent conversations that I engaged in, but when I was outside of my comfort zone, I just sat there and kept quiet. I wanted to join in the conversations, but it was like my brain froze up and could offer nothing to converse about.

At least partially as a result of the bullying I suffered through, I’ve always struggled with face-to-face communications. I’ll be paralyzed in fear that something I say will be completely wrong, inappropriate, unfunny, etc. I’ve worked hard to suppress and surmount that fear, but parts of it will always be with me. It’s just one of the ways that bullying has made me weaker, not stronger.

Meanwhile, the Internet has been a godsend. By removing the face-to-face aspect, I become a much more confident and social individual. If I send out a tweet and realize it was a bad joke, I shrug my shoulders and send out another tweet.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you find that you are much more social online than offline?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #61

Cutting The Cable Cord Follow-up

October 28, 2010 TechyDad Internet, Netflix, Roku, Television

Last year, I wrote about how I would love to cut the cable cord and stop paying for cable TV. At the time, I assumed that DVD rentals/purchases (including services such as Netflix), in-home streaming (via purchased and ripped DVDs) and the Internet would pick up the slack from our loss of cable TV. After all was said and done, I figured that cutting the cable cord would save us $15 a month. Not much, really.

Later on, I actually won a Roku and tried out Netflix. This resulted in a four part series titled Netflix, Roku and Cut Cable, Oh My!. (Here are links to part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.) During this series, I revised my estimates, including purchasing equipment to receive OTA signals and a TiVo box to record shows. I also cut back on Amazon VOD and purchased DVD estimates. At the end, I wound up estimating a savings of $40 a month.

Since it has been about year, I figured it was time for a follow-up. First of all, our cable cord is still fully intact. Despite our calculations of what we would save, it turns out that too many of the shows we like watching are on cable TV. Still, our television landscape has changed dramatically in the past year and it doesn’t bode well for the future of the cable cord.

First of all, that three month Netflix trial turned into a paid-subscription. Yes, this is $13.99 extra a month, but it is well worth it. We get 2 DVDs out at a time and unlimited streaming. Thanks to our Roku box, we can watch videos streaming from Netflix on our television. The kids have taken to this the most and will watch the same shows over and over. They even request “Roku” (by which they usually mean Netflix on Roku) over regular TV on a regular basis.

NHL and JSL have discovered classic cartoons such as Pink Panther and Rugrats and will watch their antics over and over. (Note to Netflix and Nickelodeon: Please get more than just the first 4 seasons of Rugrats on streaming!)

Amazon VOD has gotten almost no use. About the only time I’ve used it was when I had a credit to use up. Even then, my purchase has gone unwatched since the boys love Roku so much. Still, were I to cut cable, I could see buying Mythbusters this way, but not much else. A season of Mythbusters on Amazon VOD would cost about $43.50. At that rate, I might be better off waiting and buying it on DVD. (I still wish Netflix could get the DVD season sets instead of the “random episode” collection DVDs.)

Paid rentals and DVD purchases have gone virtually extinct. Yes, we’ll buy the occasional DVD, but this is a rare event. Meanwhile, our trips to the library to take out DVDs have become a nearly weekly event. The boys get excited to go to the DVD section and pick out 1 DVD each. Then they can’t wait to get home and watch it over and over until it is time to return it and pick a new DVD. This is quite a deal since it is essentially free. “Essentially” because it is paid for via our taxes, but I can think of worse ways to spend tax money than beefing up our public libraries. Besides, the boys almost always get books while there too. We’ll leave with three or four DVDs and a big bag full of books.

Still, there are cable channels that we just love watching too much to cancel. If these shows were available in a streaming model (say, via Hulu Plus, Netflix or some other provider), we would gladly subscribe to those and ditch the cable cord. Until that happens, though, I don’t think the cord will get sliced. Of course, as more content goes streaming and as we watch less and less non-streaming content, the cable cord’s lifespan seems more and more limited. I’d probably be safe to declare that we won’t cut it in the next year, but I wouldn’t be as sure about the next 3 – 5 years.

Why Is X So Y?

October 27, 2010 TechyDad Geeky Pursuits, Internet, Politics, Technology

I usually do a Wordless Wednesday on Wednesdays, but this one needs some introduction. It’s no secret that I’m a geek on many levels, including (but definitely not limited to) a math geek and a computer geek. So when I heard that Google was being used to make Venn Diagrams of religious stereotypes, I was intrigued.

The basic premise is that you type “Why is X so” or “Why are X so” into Google’s search box. Google will, helpfully, supply you with terms that others have searched on. The resulting terms are written down and charted into a Venn Diagram. (For the math-challenged, Venn Diagrams are big circles which encompass the terms and perhaps overlap with other circles.) For example, if you were looking to make a political version, you might use “Democrat” and “Republican” and get this Venn Diagram.

Of course, all of the terms stated above were made by Google users, not by me. So please don’t pepper me with e-mails, comments, tweets or other forms of contact saying “How dare you call my political party Stupid!” I’m only here to make the Venn Diagrams and perhaps point out some interesting features on them. In this one, I’d say that the searches were likely done by members of the rival parties and that each party seems to describe the other with the same derogatory terms.

Then, I decided to move onto Moms and Dads. However, I also thought I’d be ambitious. Why not include Men and Women in the diagram? Make it a four-way chart, like so:

Notice that, apparently, Moms, Dads, Men and Women are all described as “Stupid.” Perhaps kids googling about their parents while each sex searches to understand the other? Dads and Men are both mean, but dads are spared the “Selfish and Lazy” aspects of men. Meanwhile, Women are “emotional, complicated and crazy” but moms are simultaneously “nosy and nice.” (They are very sweet while they leaf through your stuff?) Moms and Dads find common ground in being annoying. (To each other? Their kids? All of the above?)

Around now, the computer geek in me took over and I decided to search for Microsoft, Google and Apple.

They are all successful (of course), but Microsoft and Apple are expensive while Google is simply “Big”, “Awesome” and… “Racist”?!!! I’m at a loss for that one. Any ideas where that could have come from?

Of course, this led to a comparison of the four major cell phone carriers in the US.

This must be the simplest of the bunch. All of the carriers are thought of as expensive. Verizon and AT&T are both seen as slow. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are both Expensive and Cheap.

The results of these searches were quite interesting. Any ideas on others to do? Perhaps I’ll do a follow-up post.

Cooking With TechyDad: Apple Cheddar Pizza

October 26, 2010 TechyDad Cooking, Food

As I mentioned before, we went apple picking two Saturdays ago and wound up with 29.5 pounds of apples. Some of these found their way into a big batch of Slow Cooker Apple Sauce, but there were still plenty left. I saw a recipe online for Apple Cheddar Pizza and it intrigued me. So, for dinner Sunday, I made four pizzas. Two were the usual sauce-and-cheese affairs, but the other two…

First, as always, we gather our ingredients.

That would be pizza shells, shredded cheddar cheese and apples. Note, that I used more than those two small apples. Depending on the size of your apples, you might need three or four per pizza.

First, I laid out the pizza shell.

Note: If you make your own from scratch or buy dough, that’s great. Just get it to the “ready to top” stage and continue on from here.

Next, I tossed on a thin layer of cheddar.

I pealed, cored and thinly sliced the apples. The slices were arranged in a circular pattern on the pizza.

At this point, you could toss on a little cinnamon or your favorite apple-accompanying spice. I was in a hurry to taste this so on went a second layer of cheesy goodness.

It went into the oven for about 7 minutes until the cheese was melted.

Um, like I said, I was in a hurry to eat this. So much so that I forgot to take a photo of the whole pie. Oops. Want a slice?

If, like me, you ~~forgot~~ decided not to add a spice before, you could always add it now.

Or, also like me, you could make a second pie.

The Verdict

NHL declared this to be the best pizza I’ve ever made. His exact words! So I’d say this was a hit. What’s not to like? Apples and cheese make a great combo. And, with about 14 more pounds of apples left, I might be making this again very soon.

« 1 … 213 214 215 216 217 … 300 »