Geeks Blog

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Let’s End the Year with a Few Laughs

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If there’s one big misconception about geeks by non-geeks, it’s probably that we don’t have a sense of humor. Of course geeks love to laugh. Who doesn’t? It’s just that the things they find funny, we don’t. And the things we do find funny, they probably don’t understand. In short, we just have a different sense of humor, and I obviously like our brand of better!

Since we all need some humor in our lives, I thought that I’d just share some of my favorite images and cartoons that I encountered this year. Some might make you smile, some might not. I do hope it does inspire you to look for more fun in your life though and to remember to squeeze in a laugh at least once a day. Here’s the list, and here’s to another year of laughs!

Schrodinger’s Cat Wanted

What really made me laugh though was the blogger’s quote from the Big Bang Theory.

Sheldon: What do I have to say to bring this discussion to a speedy conclusion?
Leonard Hofstadter: Tell me whether or not I should go out with Penny.
Sheldon: Schrodinger’s cat.
Leonard Hofstadter: Wow, that is brilliant!
Sheldon: You sound so surprised.

 

Mnemonics

Warning: Explicit content in this cartoon.

 

Angry Bird Spotting Guide

I am fully aware that Angry Birds is so mainstream, but only geeks will bother making a spotting guide!

Image credits:

Anyone Feel Like a Free Stanford and MIT Education?

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There may be all kinds of geeks, but there’s one thing all geeks have in common – a love for learning (at least in their area of interest). So what can be more fun than signing up for some free classes from two of the world’s best Universities – Stanford and MIT?

That’s right, while you won’t get a Stanford or MIT degree, nor even a certification for learning these free courses, you’ll still know what you learned and get to brag that you’ve somehow gotten a Stanford and/or MIT education.

According to DigitalHobo, the live lectures for the free Stanford courses will start on January 2012. Most of the free courses are in the field of Computer Science, although there’s also at least one course each under Medicine, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Complex Systems, and Entrepreneurship. The courses will be delivered in the form of lecture videos that are supplemented by assignments and stand-alone quizzes. Students get to interact and help each other learn through a Q&A forum where everyone gets a chance to ask questions and answer that of their classmates. Teaching staff will be monitoring the forums to ensure that all important questions will be answered correctly.

MIT, on the other hand, has a lot more free courses you can take via the MIT OpenCourseWare. However, not all of these courses offer lecture videos like the Stanford courses all do. This is because the material you will find on MIT OCW are simple course materials that professors decided to make publicly available, which means that the kind of available content for each course varies greatly. Course materials you will find can be in the form of lecture notes, assignments (with or without solutions), online textbooks, projects (with or without examples), exams (with or without solutions), image galleries, videos, and study groups.

VNC Viewer: The Perfect Prank Tool for Computer Geeks

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One thing I love about being a geek is being able to pull relatively simple pranks on my unassuming family and friends. Ok, so this prank was pulled by my husband on me years ago before his geekiness rubbed off on me. Still, I find it funny and like all juvenile pranks something I just can’t seem to get tired of.

Back when I first encountered VNC, the iPad still hadn’t arrived on the scene and revolutionized the mobile industry. That meant that my hubby had to use the other PC in the house to play a joke on me. Just a few days ago though, my netbook started “acting weird”, and since my husband had no PC he can use to prank me with I really thought something was wrong with my touchpad. Then I realized he was happily grinning while “playing” with my son’s iPad, which of course instantly made me suspicious. My suspicions proved well founded because you can now apparently download VNC Viewer on your iPad and iPhone, a fact that I’ve overlooked for more than a year now.

If you haven’t hear of VNC Viewer, then you probably have no idea how to use it for a prank.  VNC is, as its developers RealVNC puts it, a “remote control software which allows you to view and fully interact with one computer desktop (the “VNC server”) using a simple program (the “VNC viewer”) on another computer desktop anywhere on the Internet.” In short, if you have ReaVNC installed and activated on a computer, whether it be a desktop or laptop, you can peek into what’s happening on that workstation and control what’s being done there (i.e. move the mouse cursor around) using the VNC Viewer on another device including your iOS and Android mobile devices. Obviously, VNC was designed for more productive purposes, but just think of the endless possibilities for pranks you can pull on non-techie people!

Happy pranking!