It’sa Me, Maria! [Pics]

Check out deviant bluewolf487 (Beth T.)’s gender-swapping retake on Super Mario. I especially love princes Peach and Daisy (Pete and David?)

[technabob]



Calvin and Hobbes + Game of Thrones [Comic]

“Winter is Coming” by Joel Watson of HijiNKS ENSUE. Watson says he’s been thinking about how to put it together for some time:

I’ve been tossing this Calvin and Hobbes meets Game of Thrones idea around for a while.Originally it was going to be Calvin/Jon Snow and Hobbes/Sam standing atop the wall mirroring the dialog from the final Calvin And Hobbes strip, ending with “Let’s Go Exploring.” As I was doing research for reference images I came across the cover to the Attack… collection and realized it was basically already a scene out of GoT, complete with a White Walker and everything. So there you go. I hope you enjoy it.

Personally, I’d like to see the other concept, too.

[Neatorama]



How Addicted Are You to Your Mobile Phone? [Infographic]

Next time you’re out having dinner with your friends or loved ones, keep track of how long you can go without checking Facebook, Twitter or your email. Can you go the entire dinner without sneaking in a peek at your mobile phone under the table?

If not, then you’re addicted to mobile technology … and you’re not alone (iPhone users are especially addicted):

One-third of all respondents would be more willing to give up sex for a week than their mobile phone.

Of the respondents who indicated they would be more willing to give up sex than their mobile phone for a week, 70% were women.

54% of all respondents would be more willing to give up exercise for a week than their mobile phone.

So what about our guilty pleasures? 55% of respondents would be more willing to give up caffeine for a week than their mobile phone, 63% would be more willing to give up chocolate, and 70% would be willing to forego alcohol.

One in five respondents are more willing to go shoeless than phoneless for a week.

iPhone users (43%) were more likely to say they’d go a week without shoes than Android users (27%) or BlackBerry users (25%).

[Source | Via]

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Teenager Uses Fibonacci Sequence to Improve Solar Panels

How can we make solar panels work up to 50% better? Thirteen-year-old teenager named Aidan Dwyer discovered how trees use math in order to maximize photosynthesis, and thought that it could well be applied towards solar panels:

On a bleak winter hiking trip to the Catskill Mountains, the 7th-grader from New York noticed a pattern among tree branches, and determined (as naturalist Charles Bonnet did in 1754) that the pattern represented the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. Aidan wondered why, and figured it had something to do with photosynthesis.

In a pretty innovative experiment, this intrepid young scientist set about duplicating an oak tree, comparing its sunlight-capturing abilities to a traditional rooftop solar panel array. […] the short story is that his tree design generated much more electricity — especially during the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. At that point, the tree design generated 50 percent more power, without any adjustments to its declination angle.

He determined the tree’s Fibonacci pattern allowed some solar panels to collect sunlight even if others were in shade, and prevented branches on a tree from shading other branches.

[Source]

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Scientific American’s Top 10 Cities for Technology

Seattle is the best city for technology, according to a statistical analysis by Scientific American. The cities are researched for their technology opportunities then scored and ranked in three categories. Though Seattle came out on top overall, other major metro areas fared well in all categories, too.

Top 10 Most Tech-Friendly

  • Seattle
  • San Francisco Bay Area
  • Los Angeles
  • Austin, Texas
  • Orlando, Fla.
  • Raleigh-Durham
  • Pittsburgh
  • New York City
  • Boston
  • Washington, D.C.

In order to rate cities on their technology access and geek friendliness, Wired magazine combined several factors, including stores that sell tech gadgets, availability of free wireless Internet access, technology jobs, highly ranked engineering schools, and the presence of an “active geek community.” The magazine concluded that the list above constitutes America’s “top tech towns”.

Top 10 Best Internet Access

  • Seattle
  • Atlanta
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Orlando, Fla.
  • Boston
  • Miami
  • Minneapolis
  • Denver
  • New York City
  • Baltimore

Forbes assembled this list of American cities with the best Internet access based on connection speed and wireless access. The scores rank cities based on the number of residents with high-speed Internet and the number of companies providing that access. In addition, they take into account the number of public wireless hot spots in each city.

Top 10 Overall Technology Performances

  • Seattle
  • Orlando, Fla.
  • Washington, D.C.
  • San Francisco
  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Los Angeles
  • New York City
  • Minneapolis
  • Pittsburgh

The above cities had to either appear on both technology lists or to rank very highly on one of them. The details of how the scores that led to this ranking were calculated can be found in the note below.

Not all of the above lists were created using conventional statistical or scientific methods, therefore their validity could be suspect. Scientific American gathered the lists from several online sources. To earn a place on the “overall performance” list, cities had to make repeat appearances on multiple lists, and earned points based on their rankings. Each city’s points were added up to arrive at the overall score.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Trailer [Video]

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

[G.TDW]

The Indiana Jones World Map [Video/Gallery]

Every archaeological discovery made by Indiana Jones on one map? YES, PLEASE. This is so ridiculously awesome.

Years in the making, there are 36 different archeological artifacts displayed with legend sections listing info on the items. The Key chart lets you decipher symbols for each artifact to see how the story was presented, be it film, novel, TV Episode, etc… Here, Busch shares some insight into the extensive research and detail he put into illustrating this monumental image.

Authorized through Lucasfilm, the print is funded by the Adirondack Comicfest and all proceeds from the sale of this print go to American Disabled Veterans. The print measures a whopping 24″ X 36″ (fit for a world map!) and easy to frame in any standard movie poster size frame. All prints are signed and numbered (limited edition of 255) by Matt Busch.

You can get one here. Go on, and hurry–there are only 250!

 

 

Thanks, Mike!