A geeky christmas wishlist

This blog should be more accurately titled 'A thinkgeek Trekmas wishlist' since it's almost exclusively made up of Think Geek products.  But what can I say?  They cater to my tastes extraordinarily well!  And now to the wish list:

PJ's!

Star Trek: The Original Series PJ's to be specific.

Bath Towel.  Cos I'm practical.  (Bonus points for the model wearing Vulcan ears in this pic!)

Bling.  Because every self respecting geek gal wants a Rutherford-Bohr model atom necklace.  True story...

More bling.  And come on, a starfleet necklace is totally awesome!

I honestly don't think I would ever take this bathrobe off.  Like ever.

Because every girl secretly wants to be Uhura.

Self explanatory.  KHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!!!

Exterminatttttteeee!  Dalek dress is the second coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!

R2D2 dress.  Yippee!








And then there's the Lady Vader dress, Star Trek Enterprise pizza cutter, Tribbles!!  Because they're tribbles, and if I'm being honest, pretty much every single other thing in the Star Trek category on Think Geek.

Pretty awesome, hey?

SETI Live

I'm honestly a bit surprised I haven't done this before, but today I joined SETI Live.

It's a program which is run through SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) where you can help the SETI team look for radio signals and analyse Earth based interference.  

I'm pretty excited to be a part of it.  Especially because this means I can now have my head in the stars during daylight hours ;)

Sassy Scientists: giving women in science, engineering and innovation a voice

Women are underrepresented in science, engineering and innovation. It's time to change that, and give them a voice.

"We cannot wait another 15 years to capitalise on the expertise, skills and innovation that women can bring to science and technology, particularly women at mid-career level and above" - Anna-Maria Arabia

My dream is to give women in science, engineering and innovation a stronger voice and representation. 

·         Only 7% of the fellows in the (Australian) Academy of Science are women

·         In the U.S, 6000 women are employed as physicists/astronomers, compared with 28,000 men

·         Women only make up 11% of engineers, worldwide.

·         At Australia's leading science organisation a mere 12% of senior scientists are women.

These statistics are similarly globally represented.

So how can we enable women to change these figures, and make up a more equal portion of these industries?  How can we give them more of a voice, and showcase the unique skills, expertise they can bring to science, engineering and innovation?

By providing them with a platform which showcases their talent, allows them to connect with other women in these industries, and by encouraging young women to consider these industries as potential future careers.

We can make a difference, we just need a chance.

Project Sassy Scientists aims to give women that chance, by developing a platform for women in science, engineering and innovation to network, promote their research, and report the latest science, engineering and innovation news featuring achievements made by women in these areas.

But, I can’t do it alone.  A project this size needs funding.

So I’ve launched a funding campaign to help turn this dream into a reality, and help empower women globally. You can view it here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1441925549/sassy-scientists-representing-women-in-science

Every dollar helps, so if you do have a spare dollar, or you are a company looking to invest in something new, which offers incentives in the form of free advertising for your generosity, then please have a look at the above link and share it around.

Together we can make a difference.

Together we can show the world what women can do in science, engineering and innovation.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Geek related injuries

I'm seriously the most accident prone person in the world.  I'm also incredibly vague when it comes to life, to the point where I've had people say to me on multiple occasions "how can you study science? you seem so off with the fairies most of the time?" (read as: you seem way too stupid to ever be able to do anything scientific).

Last night was the perfect example of how my geek related vagueness causes me to injure myself.

I went to the shops, and when I was returning to the car I started looking at the moon and an exceptionally bright star.  The problem with this is that I was looking at the sky rather than where I was walking.  I managed to make it to my car just fine.  But then went to open the door, still while looking at the moon and stars, and BAM!

Yep.  I managed to smash the car door into my shoulder so hard it threw me backwards and I tripped over my own feet.

Unfortunately, stuff like this happens far more often than I care to admit...

How to read a book about dinosaurs to your toddler...

My two year old daughter is currently obsessed with dinosaurs, despite my constant affirmation that neither geology nor paleontology are real sciences. But who am I to deny her what her heart apparently so desperately desires?

So I got her some dinosaur books.  I think I need to backtrack for a minute though...

I'm obsessed with xkcd.com (a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language to use their own words).  I spend hours reading and giggling at it, and as such I also really enjoy the whole velociraptor injokes - probably because I do similar.  Here's just one example of an xkcd comic relating to velociraptors:

As you've probably gathered from some of my other posts, I also tend to have a flair for the melodramatic.  And if you've seen Jurassic Park you'll know that it's filled with shrieking dinosaur sounds.

Enter my daughter's dinosaur books.

Why read a dinosaur book if you're not going to do awesome sound effects along with it?  The first page in one of her books has a picture of a velociraptor.  The text is "Running.  Follow me little dino. I can run so fast!".

Unless you live in this house...

Then it becomes "VELOCIRAPTOR! *aaaccccckkkkk-eeeeee-sssshhrrrrrriiieeeekkk* OH MY SPOCK, IT'S JURASSIC PARK! *more sound effects* RUN!!! RUN AWAY!!! *more sound effects* Quick! Into the kitchen! OH NO!  THEY CAN OPEN DOORS! *more sound effects* *dramatic fall to the floor* HIDE!!!!! *commando roll under the coffee table and more sound effects*"

*ahem*

In my defense, she loves it.  I do sometimes wonder if I should tone it down a bit, and whether I'm paving the way to be financing her future therapists trips to exotic Asian locations every other week.

This pretty much says it all...

I totally want a sign like this on my front door...

Exterminating arachnids, Wrath of Khan style

I think my whole quoting Wrath of Khan thing this week is getting a tad out of control.

The second worst kept secret in the universe is that I absolutely loathe arachnids.  To the point that my hatred of them extends to loathing crabs because they have similar leg joints and move in a similar fashion.

This is an issue, given that I live in Australia where arachnids are plentiful and seriously effing scary.  They also refuse to die.  No joke, these things are like Superman - faster than speeding bullets, and immune to everything bar Kryptonite.

Last night I discovered a huge whitetail on my bathroom door.  After some mild hysteria, I managed to get my crap together long enough to grab the bug spray.  And when I say bug spray, I mean industrial strength, fast kill bug spray which is marketed as rendering any form of insect or arachnid dead with one small spray.  Clearly this was not developed in Australia, because it was utterly useless in killing the filthy arachnid.

So I stood there spraying it, and shrieking "DIE ARACHNID, DIE! HE TASKS ME! HE TASKS ME! FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE!"

Yes.  I decided that quoting Wrath of Khan while attempting to exterminate it would be more effective.

It was not.

I used the remaining spray in the can on it, and it was still moving.  Specifically, it was still moving towards me.

Eventually it met its demise, thanks to the aid of a thong (flip flop for non-Aussie readers).  And the lesson in all of this?  Don't waste time quoting Star Trek at arachnids.  It doesn't kill them quicker, and it actually seems to piss them off more than anything else.

The best thing about being a geeky parent

Without a doubt, the best thing about being a geeky parent is the fact that I can indulge my love of all things geeky and not deal with any buyers remorse, because I can buy things for my daughter.

Some of my favourites:

My addiction to buying Star Trek related onesies is still going strong!  The science officer outfit was from ThinkGeek, and the other two I ordered off cafepress.

These were part of the "Trekmas" presents last year.  In the top left are TOS cloth nappies.  Even my child's butt has to be geeked out!

More ThinkGeek purchases.  The green thing is a plush microbe - Malaria to be specific.  We named her "Mary Malaria"

Why one should not 'play' Star Trek when one lives on a main road

So I just got busted doing one of my many Spock impressions.

I live on a main road, so there are always people driving and walking past.  I went to put something in the bin, and my daughter who remained inside was standing at the door with her hand on it.  So of course I couldn't resist the opportunity to put my hand up to hers through the door and be all "I have been...and always shall be...your friend...live long...and prosper" *die*

But in my overly enthusiastic portrayal of dying Spock, I neglected to check whether anybody else was around.  Yep.  I had an audience.  A very amused audience.

I'd like to say I'm embarrassed about this, but really I think it's just awesome ;)

You can watch the scene I was re-enacting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekBOxnyzszo

Mission: Quote Wrath of Khan at every available opportunity

My sister got a new phone/phone number and I absolutely couldn't resist doing this to her.  She wasn't impressed, despite how funny I thought it was: