Geek Dad

Author: Ken Denmead
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101404310
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
The ultimate DIY project guide for techie dads raising kids in their own geeky image, in the spirit of The Dangerous Book for Boys Today's generation of dads grew up more tech-savvy than ever. Rather than joining the Little League team, many grew up playing computer games, Dungeons and Dragons, and watching Star Wars. Now with kids of their own, these digital-age dads are looking for fresh ways to share their love of science and technology, and help their kids develop a passion for learning and discovery. Enter supergeek, and father of two, Ken Denmead. An engineer and editor of the incredibly popular GeekDad blog on wired.com, Ken has created the ultimate, idea-packed guide guaranteed to help dads and kids alike enjoy the magic of playtime together and tap into the infinite possibility of their imagination. With illustrations throughout, this book offers projects for all ages to suit any timeframe or budget. With Denmead's expert guidance, you and your child can: •Fly a night-time kite ablaze with lights or launch a video camera with balloons •Construct the "Best Slip n' Slide Ever," a guaranteed thrill ride •Build a working lamp with LEGO bricks and CDs •Create a customized comic strip or your own board game •Transform any room into a spaceship •Make geeky crafts like cyborg jack-o'-lanterns or Ethernet cuff links Brimming with endlessly fun and futuristic tidbits on everything from gaming to gadgets, GeekDad helps every tech-savvy father unleash his inner kid-and bond with the next generation of brainiacs. Watch a Video

The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists

Author: Ken Denmead
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101558849
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Fans of the New York Times bestselling Geek Dad and The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun will flock to the 3.0 version, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists. As Ken Denmead explains, most kids lack an understanding of science and an awareness of how it influences our everyday lives. What kids today need is a fun way to learn scientific concepts. This book will help scientists-in-the- making discover how our world works with creative project ideas, including how to: Grow crystals to power your Stargate and set your room aglow Extract your own DNA and decode your genes Build a MacGyver radio from nothing but cast-off electrical and office supplies Chock-full of instructional illustrations throughout, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists puts the fun back in science.

Mazes for Programmers

Author: Jamis Buck
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
ISBN: 1680503960
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
Unlock the secrets to creating random mazes! Whether you're a game developer, an algorithm connoisseur, or simply in search of a new puzzle, you're about to level up. Learn algorithms to randomly generate mazes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and dimensions. Bend them into Moebius strips, fold them into cubes, and wrap them around spheres. Stretch them into other dimensions, squeeze them into arbitrary outlines, and tile them in a dizzying variety of ways. From twelve little algorithms, you'll discover a vast reservoir of ideas and inspiration. From video games to movies, mazes are ubiquitous. Explore a dozen algorithms for generating these puzzles randomly, from Binary Tree to Eller's, each copiously illustrated and accompanied by working implementations in Ruby. You'll learn their pros and cons, and how to choose the right one for the job. You'll start by learning six maze algorithms and transition from making mazes on paper to writing programs that generate and draw them. You'll be introduced to Dijkstra's algorithm and see how it can help solve, analyze, and visualize mazes. Part 2 shows you how to constrain your mazes to different shapes and outlines, such as text, circles, hex and triangle grids, and more. You'll learn techniques for culling dead-ends, and for making your passages weave over and under each other. Part 3 looks at six more algorithms, taking it all to the next level. You'll learn how to build your mazes in multiple dimensions, and even on curved surfaces. Through it all, you'll discover yourself brimming with ideas, the best medicine for programmer's block, burn-out, and the grayest of days. By the time you're done, you'll be energized and full of maze-related possibilities! What You Need: The example code requires version 2 of the Ruby programming language. Some examples depend on the ChunkyPNG library to generate PNG images, and one chapter uses POV-Ray version 3.7 to render 3D graphics.

Geek Mom

Author: Kathy Ceceri
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
ISBN: 0823085929
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
The editors of GeekMom, sister site to Wired's GeekDad blog, offer a range of cool projects and parenting advice centered around raising kids in the tech age.

The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun

Author: Ken Denmead
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101528605
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
The wildly popular DIY dad follows up his instant New York Times bestseller with a fresh batch of geeky weekend science projects for the whole family to enjoy. Ken Denmead struck a chord with parents and kids across America with his GeekDad blog on Wired.com, which receives more than one million page views per month. His debut book, Geek Dad, was on bestseller lists and in its seventh printing just two months after hitting store shelves. With The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun, he keeps the nerdtastic novelties coming, with projects that teach readers how to: •Build homemade robots from scratch •Write and direct simple stop-motion movies •Hack into mechanical toys to add cool electronic twists, and more United by the premise that to really understand science and how something works you must design and build it yourself or remake it better, Geek Parents everywhere will celebrate this latest installment of weekend workshop wonders. Watch a Video

Geek Love

Author: Katherine Dunn
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307794482
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
National Book Award Finalist • Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities—with the help of amphetamines, arsenic, and radioisotopes. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset. As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Made by Dad

Author: Scott Bedford
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 0761171479
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
The Snail Soup Can Decoy to keep the candy stash safe. The Customizable “Keep Out” Sign to deter meddlesome siblings and parents. A Bunk Bed Communicator made from cardboard tubes (“Psst! Can you keep the snoring down?”). Clever, whimsical, and kind of genius, here are 67 unique projects that will turn any dad with DIY leanings into a mad scientist hero that his kid(s) will adore. No screens, no hi-tech gadgetry. Made by Dad combines the rough-edged, handmade ethos of a Boy Scout manual or The Dangerous Book for Boys with a sly sense of humor that kids love. Scott Bedford, a creative director by day and Webby Award–winning blogger by nights and weekends, wields an X-ACTO knife, magic marker, and prodigious imagination to create endlessly delightful projects for his two sons. He knows that kids like contraptions and gadgets, things that are surprising—a chair that appears to be balanced on eggshells. Things that are complex—a multilevel city, with buildings, tunnels, and roads, built from old boxes around the legs of a table. And especially things with humor—the Snappy Toast Rack, made to resemble a crocodile’s gaping mouth. The projects are shown in full-color photographs, and the instructions are illustrated in detailed line drawings that exude personality. Some are quick and simple enough to be done in a coffee shop; others are more of an afternoon project— yielding hours and hours of rich, imaginative playtime.

Dad, How Do I?

Author: Rob Kenney
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063075032
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Book Description
From the host of the YouTube channel that went viral—Dad, How Do I?—comes a book that’s part memoir/part inspiration/part DIY. Rob Kenney’s father left him and his seven siblings when he was fourteen years old, and the youngest had to fend for themselves. He wished that he had someone who could teach him the basics—how to tie a tie, jump-start a car, unclog a drain, use tools properly—as well as succeed in life. But he and his siblings had to figure these things out on their own. Now a father himself, Rob decided that he would help people out by providing how-to tips as well as advice—and even throw in some bad dad jokes. He started a YouTube channel for anyone looking for fatherly advice, and in the course of three months, gained a following of nearly 2.5 million subscribers, with millions of views for his how-to and inspirational videos. In this book, Rob shares his story of overcoming a difficult childhood with the strength of faith and family, and offers inspiration and hope. In addition, he provides 50 practical DYI instructions (30 of which will be unique to the book), illustrated with helpful line drawings.

Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad

Author: Jeffrey Burandt
Publisher: Oni Press
ISBN: 1620102455
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 171

Book Description
Liz, Bodey, Maude, and Justine's band, Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad, are sure to win this year's Battle of the Bands. But when a talking chimp, who claims to be a scientist from the mysterious organization B.L.A.N.K., interrupts their practice session, the band's got a whole new set of problems. Now B.L.A.N.K. agents are closing in, determined to recapture the escaped chimp before he becomes a liability. Jeffrey Burandt (Americans UK) and Dennis Culver (Edison Rex) bring you this thrilling tale of cyborg animals and punk rock teenagers. 1, 2, 3, 4!

Abe Lincoln on Acid

Author: Brian Anthony
Publisher: Walker and Anthony Publications
ISBN: 9780989745765
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Book Description
There are whispers even now that Abraham Lincoln never really died, that a voodoo spell cursed him with a terrible eternal life. It has even been claimed that he robbed banks in the 1930s with John Dillinger, only to mysteriously disappear once again into the pages of history. But the truth is even stranger than the rumors...Watched over by a vengeful J. Edgar Hoover and held in a secret location near his old Springfield home, Lincoln re-awakens in the 1960s, and finds himself thrust into an era even more turbulent than the Depression, a time where a divisive war is once again tearing a nation apart and political intrigue and assassinations are rampant.Escaping Hoover's clutches with a clever bit of deception, he navigates an even more treacherous and unfamiliar terrain, finding an ally in John Voci, a young San Francisco folk-singer. Together they journey across a counter-cultural landscape, meeting those who believe a great man has returned, and striving to remain free from those who want to bury him once and for all.Will Lincoln inspire the younger generation and save his country from its final reckoning, or will he turn on, tune in, and drop out?