Category Archives: General

Media Review: Written by a Kid

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Most of my readers will be familiar with the Geek & Sundry youtube channel, if you’ve not watched shows on it you’ve had your friends break out a new game they heard about on tabletop or your mother asked you about that steampunk thing you like that Felicia Day vloged about on the FLOG (because of course your mother is just that cool).

When Tabz told me to check out Written by a Kid though, I had my doubts.  I don’t have kids, and while I like kids books and am a bit of a kid myself, I’m often less than impressed by projects focused around ‘They say the darndest things.’  This is anything but that.  They interview a kit, the kid tells them the idea for a story and as the viewer hears about the story we see a visual representation of this story.  Whether it be animation, live action, a mix of both, or played by Joss Whedon and Dave Foley, it’s always fun to see.

You could watch this with your child, or just on your own and get a lot out of it.  Evil robot families, goth babies, a S.Q.U.A.T. team, half vampires taking out pirate witches, what’s not to love?  In addition to the main movies/stories the behind the scenes videos are really interesting.  Normally, I skip behind the scenes videos on youtube, it’s a lot more extra than content, but on this channel they talk about things that are interesting to me, animation, how they got Joss Whedon to perform, painted clothing (I really want to make some and wear it for real), different video effects and a Buffy Mustache.

Enough of me blabbing, go, watch the videos.  Oh and it’s work safe, kid safe and everything safe :)

PS: thanks Tabz for being right again about something I thought sounded like it wasn’t my cup of tea but in the end was right up my alley.

Can a Kukri cut through a rifle scope?

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After my tour to Afghanistan in 2003, I came home with a Nepali Kukri that I was given from one of our Nepali Kitchen workers.  He was a former Gurkha, and came back from vacation to Nepal with some for us.  It’s been sitting on my shelf in it’s place of honour ever since.  While watching some cartoons earlier this week, I saw a character cut through someone’s rifle scope with a Kukri, and decided to try it for myself, and share it with you all.

Enjoy.

Of course, I have to add the standard disclaimer that I should have been wearing safety glasses, and so should you should you choose to ignore my safety warning, and try it at home for yourselves.

Dont try this at home, kids.

In conclusion, there’s a reason the kukri is a feared and respected weapon in the hands of a Gurkha.  The reputation is well earned, even if it didn’t succeed in this challenge.

The Man of Steel picks a new Arch-Enemy: Sir Isaac Newton!

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“Stronger than a locomotive, Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…. Look, in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!  IT’S SUPERMAN!!!!”

We should all remember those immortal words announcing the arrival of one of the world’s most beloved superheroes.  Like him or not, his books have been selling well for D.C, for over the last 80 years.  Following the trend of other super hero franchises of the past few years, Superman is getting another reboot movie coming out next year.  Titled The Man of Steel and directed by Zack Snyder it promises to be a good time at the movies.  The teaser trailer was recently released, and although I’m very much looking to this movie, there was one error of physics that just confused me, and let me down.

Let’s all take a break and watch the clip, and then come back and discuss it.  Let’s pay careful attention to about the 1:12 mark, where we see him flying through the clouds.

Continue reading →

A Sensible Guide to Preparing for the Zombie Appocalypse

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Zombies approach the Channel 7 building in Chicago, by Eric Ingrum

World War Z.  Z-Day.  The Zombie Plague.  The Horde.  There are countless names to describe this horrifying scenario.  The dead coming back to life to feast upon the remains of the living.  One bite, and you’ll become one of them?  What hope do we have?  We fight back, of course!

Realistically, the threat of a zombie apocalypse is minor to non-existent, but it does make for an interesting mental exercise (and great marketing. I’ll get to that later).  How would one prepare to survive against a horde of creatures immune to pain, cold, fear and rational tactics?  The steps used in preparing against such an onslaught are similar to what the ‘preppers’ plan for every day… a major catastrophe that destroys the political, social and even physical world around us.  Surviving in this nightmare will be tricky, but let’s plot this out logically.

To begin, let’s set some ground rules.  The Zombie horde is coming.  We find ourselves in an urban environment, with all of the modern amenities to choose from.  In this guide I’ll deal with equipping only ourselves, with a concentration (Of course) on weaponry.  If you’re looking for a serious preppers guide to surviving any apocalypse, I’d check out my brother in law’s blog at ponderingsbyian.blogspot.ca for some no-nonsense advice.  The zombies we face are of the standard, shambling, mindless type.  I’ll discuss faster types, but we’ll stick with them being unintelligent for now.  Plain Ol’ shoot-em-in-the-head Zombies.  Before we talk about what we SHOULD carry, let’s talk about what we definitely SHOULD NOT. Continue reading →

Part 4 of A Ballistics Guide for Geeks, Writers and Geeky Writers: Terminal Ballistics

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A Fired .38 caibre Hollow Point round, completely expanded and deformed after striking its target. From Wikipedia, by user Rickochet

Welcome back! So far we’ve talked about the flight of projectiles, and how things change as our projectiles and the atmosphere around them change.  Now lets talk about what happens to our projectiles when they actually impact with something!

These projectiles that we’ve thrown have now flown from their projector to the other end of their ballistic trajectory.  Eventually, they’ll hit something other than the medium they are flying in.  Wether it’s the intended target, something that happens to be in the way, or one of those weird bubblegum asteroids those Sci-Fi writers keep dreaming up, something will happen. Continue reading →