And just like that, 2013 is nearly over. Seriously? Wow. Not only is it surreal to think that it's already been almost a year since the GIR and I went on our Pacific sojourn to get married, but the countdown clock to PAX East 2014 presently stands at a mere 102 days. Gah! The costume for PAX is about 35% finished and will make its formal debut on the blog in the next two-ish weeks. It feels absolutely incredible to be actively making costumes again, but more on that later. Today's post will be the last of the year and next week will feature a round-up of things to look forward to in 2014. So, let's get down to the last This Week in Geekdom of 2013!
We'll kick things off with this much-anticipated sequel to 2008's An Engineer's Guide to Cats.
Science/Technology
2013 was rife with novel science. Just reading about some of the incredible breakthroughs made during the year was fascinating in itself, but the Smithsonian has gone a step further and created this compendium of the year in science as a series of gifs.
One of the subjects that appeared on the Week in Geekdom time and again in 2013 was 3D printing. Well, it's no surprise that this will almost certainly continue into next year, but the items slated for artificial genesis in 2014 may surprise you. San Diego-based 'bio-printing' company Organovo will attempt to make history in the new year by offering the first 3D printed human liver tissue.
Ever wondered if shelling out a premium for an Apple product versus the PC equivalent was a legit expense? The guys at BGR set out to see if the 'Apple Tax' is commensurate compensation for a product, or just the price paid for a brand name.
Volcanic lightening is many things: dramatic, powerful, and, until this week, infamous elusive for the purposes of formal study. That is, until a pair of vulcanologists accidentally re-created the phenomenon with their artificial volcano. Check out the video here.
What do sharks, honeybees, and humans all have in common? Turns out, we all travel the same way.
There have been many criticisms of The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug, but this intrepid physicist was determined to see if the film's climactic scene was at all scientifically feasible. (Warning: 'spoilers')
The baleful effects of consuming gluten have been at the forefront of nutritional research for the past several years and is now the basis of the title sitting at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. What does this all potentially mean for you? Read here to find out.
The rise and fall of Jesse Willms, the so-called Dark Lord of the Internet.
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| Because nothing says 'dandy' like an Elvis-style bouffant |
TV
The creator of both Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Beebop has developed a series specifically for US audiences. The new show, Space Dandy, will debut on Cartoon Network's Toonami on January 4th.
Games
Fans of the Homeworld franchise were given a bit of a Christmas present by Gearbox Software. The developer, who acquired the title back in April in the wake of the dissolution of THQ, appears to be moving forward with the re-releases of both Homeworld and Homeworld 2 and solicited direct input from some of the series' biggest fans.
That repository for all things awesome, the Archive, has released these fully playable, completely free mods of five classic 70s/80s console games. Oh the nostalgia!
General Awesomeness
English is a notoriously inconsistent language, but could you imagine what it would look like with the inclusion of these 12 letters?
2013 has given us some very impressive fan films, and it seems that there's at least one remaining before the calendars all roll over. I leave you all with this devotional to everyone's favorite lady archeologist:
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