Geek Pride Day! The 2013 Edition

Happy Geek Pride Day!

Today we recognize one of the defining moments in modern Geekdom that was the release of Star Wars on May 25, 1977. As with last year, I will celebrate by featuring the some of the awesomely geeky things I have featured on this blog or photographed in the last year.

Sometimes I even surprise myself. What kind of a geek put this blog together, anyway?

This is the Army that turned the tide in the war against the Mayan Destructors.

Could it be the Mayans came up with that world ending calendar concept as an elaborate means to introduce a new typewriter acquisition?  Anything is possible in tinfoil hat conspiracy land.

The Christmas Squirrel is an astute military commander.

The freakingly amazing Curiosity!

Celebrating a special birthday.

Experts in green inspect a repainted machine.

Zombie on the streets of Kansas City. I hope no one steals their coffee.

The House Full of Nerds viewing the Transit of Venus.

Typecasting on vacation.

I got to see five separate Shakespeare performances since Geekday 2012.

A Maker, making.

You never know what will turn up at the local Maker Faire. Go, you must.

Your career at NASA

The Vintage Technology Obsessions crew visits San Francisco for Greenbuild 2012

Godzilla put up a valiant fight against the Mayan Destructors. Thank goodness the world didn't end!

The absolute highlight in my year in Geekdom was staying up to watch the livestream of Curiosity landing on Mars. This bit of awesome was brought to us via the great, modern disruptive force known as the Internet. It is gratifying to see personalities from the mission team become media rock stars. Really, we live in the Golden Age of Geek.

Photographing my screen.

That's without mentioning the amazing photos from the ISS courtesy of Chris Hadfield (my daily Twitter fix) and all of the awesome news rolling out of Elon Musk's technological market disruption empire. Tesla just became the first auto maker to fully pay back its government loans and is attempting to circumvent the dealer franchise model of selling cars. SpaceX completed the first commercial mission to the ISS. Geeks, without a doubt, are on a roll!

Oh, and thanks to Yahoo, Flickr and digital imaging, everyone is now a professional photographer!

Prom photos at the Duke University Gardens last week. Sure, Yahoo's CEO rolled back the snarky comment about professional photographers, but it appears she really meant it. Does that mean every 12-year-old that makes an app is on par with a Google system architect?

On a personal note, I am especially proud of my Geeklings. They have had an amazing year full of music, drama and obsessive academic over-achievement. Highlights include Geekling the Elder playing Curtis in a school production of "Taming of the Shrew" and Geekling the Minor (aka: gingercat) being recognized in the Duke TIP 7th Grade Talent Search.

 

In case you are interested, the 2012 parade of geek that is Vintage Technology Obsessions is at http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2012/05/geek-pride-day.html

Thanks all for reading this little blog of mine! I would probably do it without anyone looking, but the hit counts (approaching 50,000), Google Plus Ones and comments from people like you are gratifying.

Happy New Year!

Happy belated New Year to everyone! 

I'm a little behind due to a last minute attempt by the Mayans on my family.  I guess they were upset by the documentation of the battle to save Earth from the Destructor fleet and decided to throw us a nice dose of food poisoning.  Never fear- we all made it to 2013 more or less intact.  I was happy to come home from work yesterday and find my spousal unit up and moving around after three days of "an extremely low energy state".  That is a nice way to put it.

We'll never know what got us.  Was it the salsa or guacamole from our favorite Mexican restaurant?  The spring rolls from our favorite Asian place?  Our favorite sandwich shop?  Something lurking in our fridge?  We ate out frequently over a three day period before the buggies hit since we had a friend visiting from the east coast.  We, at least, were at home when it hit.  She was on a plane, but made it (barely) to the terminal before the full assault.

As this this was a less than inspirational message, I will leave you with a couple of cheerful images:

Number 1:  Svetlana Optima has dispatched one of her helpers to take care of the last of the Mayans hiding out in the jungle like that Japanese soldier on the island after WW-II.

You have to admit this image is pretty awesome!  Find it you must with a collection of other Soviet Cold War era postcards at http://www.mazaika.com/postcard/aerospace0.htm


Number 2:  Matching JINHAO Dragon's Descendent fountain pens that arrived the day before we came down ill.  Sure, they are a little garish, but this is still the Year of the Dragon.  The youngest nerd in the house, Claire, is a Dragon and so am I.  Can you guess which pen she chose?

We'll post a more thorough review later.  The first impression has been positive.  These lay down a very smooth and inky line.  However, mine needed help getting started again after sitting for a few days.  This is not a problem I've had with the more expensive TWSBI Diamond 540 that starts right up after sitting for a month.  I think a tiny o-ring may be in order to seal the cap better.

Notwithstanding dry start performance, these are full of Dragony goodness... and they have beady red eyes!  What more could we want in a cheap fountain pen?

I sincerely wish a great and healthy 2013 to all and look forward to blogging merrily on the Typosphere throughout. 

P.S.  The girls and I watched the first two extended Lord of the Rings movies before we were again fully functional humans.  They also received NOOKS conveniently loaded with the most current edition for Christmas.  I've been remiss in not recognizing the birthday of the true Lord of Middle Earth,  J.R.R. Tolkien.  Thanks for creating magic with the written word.

We're Still Here! Mayan Apocalypse, Denied!

The robot army is victorious and the Mayan Destructors have been purged!  The victors shall have their spoils!

This little guy worked hard.  He deserves a Thin Mint!

They perhaps don't look quite as menacing in color.  Just saying.

The end of hostilities was recognized with the issuance of a presidential peace medallion patterned after one of the originals found at the Arch museum in St. Louis.  The Mayans have declared a truce until the next time their calendar runs out.  The have a few pyramids to rebuild in the interim.

The fact that the House Full of Nerds visited the Arch on the 21st after seeing Wicked the night before is purely coincidental.  Come to think of it, many of the stories I cobble together come from incidental items combined in interesting ways.  At least I hope it is interesting!

Behind the Scenes of Mayan Apocalypse Week

The elaborate set and the form of the Destructors are revealed!  Only one commenter picked up on this being an Oliver 9 playing the face of evil incarnate.

Mekanda Robo chipped in to help Godzilla get his fireball and atomic ball of doom.  This is the ugliest Christmas decoration, ever.  It needed to be put down and was purchased as a clearance item last year solely for the purpose of harvesting parts.

Gotta love the Jumbo Machinders.  Two of them are tricked out with accessory arms.  I thought about just putting two of them together in the buddy movie fashion, but that's not how the Shogun Warriors roll.

Thanks everyone for taking part in the madness that was my Mayan Apocalypse week!  It was a fun project and a nice way to break a blogging dry spell.  As is the norm, this did not start with a script or storyboard.  My 12-year-old did the original drawing of the Mayan Destructor at my request.  Simply put, I can't draw.  The rest of the story meandered from there.  I put together three entries; including this one, before we left the Kansas City area for St. Louis.  I love the scheduling feature on the Blogger platform.

You might have noticed a cameo appearance by the Christmas Squirrel.  Without his adept leadership, all would have been lost!  Late last year, the origins of the Christmas Squirrel were detailed in loving care here.

Copyright: Yes, all of the photos and words are mine.  Reposting or pinning photos requires placing a direct back to this website and a citation for Dwayne F. of Vintage Technology Obsessions.  Commercial use is not allowed.

Mayan Apocalypse - A Revealing Final Entry

Today is perhaps the End of Time.  The Mayan Destructors have pushed across South and North America.  The great robot army has fought valiantly, but is perhaps gravely outnumbered.  The combined armed forces of America have hardly made a dent on them.  Tactical nukes have proven effective, but leave too much land uninhabitable.

The End is calling, but I have made a promise and must deliver.  Here is the mysterious writing companion for the Mayan Apocalypse.

Yep, it is an Olivetti ICO!  I've had it since June, but have been frustrated in my attempts to get the carriage return lever working properly.  It cleaned up nicely and the design is stunning!  I can't say it is my favorite typing machine, but it is an aesthetic experience that is difficult to match.

 

I hope we'll still be around tomorrow.  The robots are trying to prove the Mayans wrong.  Until midnight, happy typing!

Will Tomorrow Come? Enter a General...

The General and his command staff.  This is one red shirt that isn't going to cash it in five minutes into the episode.

Mayan Destructors on the move.

Robot Army Assemble!

We are now two days away from the Mayan Apocalypse and still typecasting from an undisclosed location on a mysterious machine.

That would be December 19.  Too little sleep and not enough Thin Mints...

Gojira vs. the Mayan Destructors!

Godzilla is back and he's mad!  But can he save us from the Mayan Destructors?

Agent Svetlana Optima is still on the job and has gotten close enough to watch the terror unfold.

No two bit Mayan robot monster thing is going to stomp San Francisco!  That's Godzilla's job!

The Vintage Technology Obsessions team was pretty optimistic when the photos started coming in over the satellite uplink.  Godzilla has some new and unexpected tricks!  Sure, he vacillates between being for or being against human civilization, but today he is with us and that is all that matters.

Ha!  Take that, Destructors!  Godzilla now has Atomic Balls of Doom at his command!

The photos gave us a lot of hope.  Godzilla has faced much worse.  Mecha Godzilla almost did him in.  The King of Monsters will not be denied!

And then a message was delivered from the office to our underground lair:

That's it.  Three more days and it's over.  We don't even know what happened to that brave giant robot who did battle with these same Destructors yesterday.  Godzilla didn't even slow them down.

The EMP from the last atomic blast took down Svetlana's sat comm.  At least the Stasi built up their agents' resistance to radiation.  She is a survivor.  We should be so lucky.

Seventy-two hours and counting...