Don’t come dressed as Ensign Ricky

Make no mistake. A lot of the Geekadelphia crew (Tim, Bianca) enjoy dressing up in wacky (Stormtrooper, Nuclear Weapon) costumes. So of course we’re all excited about this week’s event at the Franklin Institute, which involves a Star Trek costume contest and a long standing Philadelphia tradition… Quizzo.

Prizes will dished out to the winners that come dressed in the best looking Star Trek garb. The event is free with early registration. You’ll have to call the Franklin folks (215-448-1254) for that. Good luck!

Star Trek Quizzo & Costume Contest
Thursday, July 16 @ 6:30PM

The Franklin Institute
222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 448-1200

Again, Geekadelphians, I apologize for yet another missing ‘Coffee Talk’ last week, but I’m finally back on American soil and everything is back on schedule. So, please do continue checking every Monday morning for the column and throughout each week for the rest of the beloved Geekadelphia team. On to this morning’s topic!

Researchers at University College of California, San Diego created an Einstein robot that could perform programmed facial expressions a little while ago, but recently have taught it something that will blow your mind. Alright, that’s a bit much, but it is pretty scary awesome. The Einstein bot can now learn facial expressions through a technique the UC San Diego researchers have coined “body babble”. More on how it works and a few questions for you after the break. (more…)

It’s the summer and other than bad blockbusters movies, we have 3 months of bad television while all the good shows are on break. So, if you your looking for something good to watch, BBC America will be airing the 5 episode miniseries event Torchwood: Children of Earth every day this week starting on Monday at 9:00 pm and continuing through to the finale on Friday at 9:00 pm. This 5 part miniseries is meant to be season 3 for this show, and it’s debut on the prestigious BBC One in England.  Not bad for a spin-off of Doctor Who that started out its life on BBC Three, I liken it to show going from FOX to NBC if that makes any sense. Children of Earth is less like a season of television and more like a 5 hour feature film. I compare it to a film because everything in this production puts most American Sci-Fi television with the exception of Battlestar Galactica to shame.

Don’t let the fact that this is not only a spin-off of well established series but the third season scare you off from checking this out. While the show does make nods to Doctor Who and its past season the show is meant to be an entry point for the franchise making it fairly accessible to those not indoctrinated into the Doctor Who universe.

(more…)

This is what the editor of Crunchgear looks like, when he descends upon Philadelphia

Our boys over at Crunchgear (hey guys!) have an awesome list up detailing their ultimate Geek weekend in Philadelphia. It’s a part of their new series, where they show off sweet places around the country… for geeks.

From sweet places to visit (Mutter Museum), places to shop (Brave New Worlds, yes!), and places to eat (Pod, National Mechanics, etc), they’ve got quite the impressive list up.

Peter, John, Doug… next time you cats are in town, beers are on us at National Mechanics. And yes, Peter, we’ll even get you one of those Beefeater martinis you like so much. Yeah, that’s right. I remember.

Go give the article a read.

Crunchgear’s Weekend in Philly
www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/10/geek-weekend-philadelphia-pa

If there’s one thing you need to know about the Geekadelphia crew, it’s that we like to drink. Now, while Tim, Ben, Dan, Chris, Joe, Dustin, Bianca… oh hell, everyone else, absolutely loves a good strong Belgian brew, this particular Geekadelphian has more refined (read: girlie) tastes. Hops, barley, wheat… none of those grains have any business being in my beverage, unless I’m drinking the milk from my Frosted Mini Wheats, thank you very much.

So when the Rum Bar over in Rittenhouse let me know about their 80′s drink specials, well… it required a post. Not just because of my love of cocktails, mojitos, and margaritas… but because of the names of the drinks. The Cobra Kai?! Freaking sold.

You’ll be able to score those two drinks, as well as drinks themed around Ghostbusters (‘Slimer’), Indiana Jones (‘Lost Ark’), and Back to the Future (‘Delorean’) this Saturday, July 11th. Kicks off at 9PM, expect to see me wasted by around 9:15.

Rum Bar
www.rum-bar.com

In related news, women all over South Philadelphia let out a collective dreamy sigh heard all the way across the river in Camden, New Jersey.

Recently, Chris Wink and Technically Philly wrote up a pretty wild story, about how computers from the Philadelphia School District popped up in a massive e-waste landfill in Ghana. Give it a read, check out the videos. It’s intense.

As a result, Fox News gave the story some coverage, and there’s our boy, on television. Lookin’ good Chris. Lookin’ good.

Fox News: Philly Computers Wind Up in Africa
www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/070809_Philly_Computers_Wind_Up_In_Africa

I like to take pictures and with Wizard World Philly 2009 it gave me the chance to fire up the SLR and fill up some SD cards. I took a ton of pictures but these are my favorites. I  have been meaning to post these for a while now, but things kept coming up. Here is a link to my flickr stream for Wizard World 2009. I hope you enjoy them. I honestly can’t wait for next year!

That’s right. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, and Geekadelphia isn’t trying to pull a fast one… though we often do. That is a cake. A CAKE. And it isn’t a lie. This is truth, my friends. Truth and whiskey. Specifically, chocolate whiskey.

This cake, by the ever talented Zoe Lukas of Whipped Bakeshop, is a “chocolate-whiskey cake filled with caramel-whiskey buttercream and covered with hand-painted fondant, sitting on a painted “wooden” base made of sugar.”

I’ve posted a gallery of the cake below, but you should definitely head over to Whipped Bakeshop’s Flickr page to see the high resolution photos of this delectable treat. The comments are also fantastic. And please, give her a Digg. She deserves a ton of exposure.

Nice job Zoe. You’ve made a cake that even the Technically Philly dudes can appreciate. Cause they’re real journalists, and oh man, do they love the sauce.

Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Cake @ Whipped Bakeshop
www.flickr.com/photos/sweetsbyzoe/3698266091

No, this is not Abe Lincoln fighting a Sperm Whale. I know as of late he has become quite simply, the Chuck Norris of American Presidents and this would only solidify this fact. This t-shirt by splitreason.com combines two of my loves literature and fighting games amazingly, into one shirt. The shirt is a basically what if the epic battle between Captiain Ahab and the great white whale took place in a Midway or Capcom arcade fighting game. To tell you the truth (Spoilers!) my money is on the whale, I already know how this one ends and it’s a fatality.

Free movies. I like ‘em. And not just in the “let’s see if it’s on Pirate Bay yet” kind of way.

Philadelphia movie geeks… rejoice! This Thursday, July 9th, you can catch a free screening of Back to the Future along the Schuylkill banks.

And if you show up early enough, you can enter to win a free Ikea gift basket. This currently has Tim and I, as loyal fans of Ikea Hackers, freaking out. Back to the Future AND Ikea furniture?! Awesome.

Catch all the details on Philly Fun Guide. I’ll be walking there. Because real Back to the Future fans don’t need roads.

Did you know that there is a Cardboard Tube Fighting League? Well, there is, and they’re coming to Philadelphia on July 11th, taking over the park across the street from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is a one weekend jaunt, as the Seattle Cardboard Tube Fighting league will be hosting a back-to-back tournament in Philly on Saturday, and on Sunday in New York City.

Suggested supplies? Water, cameras, name tags, and, of course, a positive, friendly attitude. Cardboard armor and costumes are encouraged, and don’t worry! Tubes are provided by the Seattle Tube Fighting League. No outside tubes allowed! Sorry Dustin, but we’ve been over this. You can’t bring a lead pipe that you’ve wrapped up in brown paper.

You can learn more about the league at their official website, tubeduel.com, and check out some seriously awesome photos on their Flickr page. Some of the costumes are straight up amazing.

See you there. May the best cardboard tube samurai win.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League Battles in Philly
July 11th, 2009 @ 1PM
Entry: FREE!

Yeah, that’s right. That’s Ted Danson right there, posing with a cute little fish named Finley back in 2007, when he became a lobbyist to help protect the world’s oceans and marine life. Good man, that Danson.

Tomorrow, Philadelphians can catch Danson in action, and no, not in the form of a Cheers or Becker rerun. You’ll be able to hear Danson’s soothing voice as he narrates The End of the Line, a documentary that’s coming to the Landmark Ritz at the Bourse tomorrow night. Based on the book by Charles Clover, it’s “the first documentary about the imminent peril facing the world’s oceans.”

You can scope out the trailer here on YouTube. It’s not for the squeamish.

Called “The Inconvenient Truth about the impact of overfishing on the world’s oceans” by the Economist, this is definitely a documentary I plan on catching during its stay at the Bourse. It’ll be infinitely better than Transformers 2, that much I know.

You can get more details about the documentary on the film’s official website.