GeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Present, Start to Finish
There are only 56 days until Groundhogs Day and so time is running short to secure the extra funding of $50 from ThinkGeek, available every week by playing the puzzle. This week's puzzle was won by a...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: The Present Game
Imagine a row of seven presents. Their values are $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6 and $40. You don't know what's inside and so don't know which present matches each value. It costs $7 to pick a present at...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Present Game
It turns out my kids are experts at determining expected value: the size, weight and number of presents under the tree have now been precisely determined and weighed against each other to determine...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: New Year’s Insight
Have you ever been hit in the head with a frying pan? Neither have I. But that's the way folks describe the experience of insight, perhaps without the resultant need for a head CT. Test your insight on...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: New Year’s Insight
Here's a test: did you analyze your way to this week's solution, scrolling through possible answers in an organized way while trying to match possibilities to the three starting terms? Or did you sit...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: Cubic Corners
To calculate the perimeter of a square, you multiply a side by four. To calculate the perimeter of a cube, you multiply a side by 12. But what, now, are the possible perimeters of my family's...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Cubic Corners
It seems that a notable frequent solver of the puzzle forgot that the removed block would leave new, interior edges that would technically now be "perimeter," in addition to removing the edges that...
View ArticleReturn to Zero: A Beautiful Movie About Terrible Things
In 2005 at week 37 of their pregnancy, Sean Hanish and his wife Kiley discovered their child had lost his heartbeat. Norbert was born still. Sean's written the experience into what's likely the most...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: Guinea Pig, Labrador, Kale
Templeton the guinea pig eats kale. In fact, if Templeton is left in the house alone, she will find all the kale and eat it. We also have two Labradors. They do not eat kale. But they would happily eat...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Guinea Pig, Labrador, Kale
By far the best solution to this week's puzzle was to let the Labradors eat the guinea pig bedding and Templeton (said guinea pig) eat the kale, and then simply buy new kale or admit that kale is...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: How to Bullseye a Womp Rat
The Death Star has been all the rage lately, from the White House petition to the recent Kickstarter. So I thought it would be worth taking a look at the fate of the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station....
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: How to Bullseye a Womp Rat
First Luke had to survive the surface run. Then he had to survive long enough in the trench with Vader on his tail to get off a clean shot. Then he had to pull the trigger within the very short ...
View ArticleInterview With Eric Adreon, Author of A Dance With Shadows
Adreon opens A Dance With Shadows by describing a Seattle shooting gallery where a 14-year-old girl asks him to pass the rig. He writes that his "lingering morality pressed hard against the person I...
View ArticleShould You and Yours Multitask in a Multi-Screen World?
I don't multitask. Or, I do it so badly that I end up dropping everything in a massive tangle of badness with me standing baffled at its center. This frustrates my wife to no end. She can balance on a ...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: Rock Climb Like Brooke Raboutou
On Saturday night, the strongest competitors at the American Boulder Series National Championships fell off less physical climbs because they hadn't solved the complex sequence of moves need to smush...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Rock Climb Like Brooke Raboutou
It's not too late to livestream Brooke Raboutou this weekend at the American Bouldering Series Youth National Championships! This week's puzzle asked you to help Brooke get to the top of an indoor wall...
View ArticleKids With Low Self-Esteem: The Parental Praise Paradox
Praise is all the rage. It used to be a good thing -- the praised child builds self-esteem! Now, as all of us enlightened GeekDad parents know, it's a bad thing -- the praised child loses the drive to...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: Roller Coaster Thought Experiment
As Leif and I were sling-shot toward our demise on Ghostrider, here were my thoughts in no particular order: 1) "I'm going to die in an immediate and bloody fashion," 2) "If I survive, Kristi will kill...
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week Answer: Roller Coaster Thought Experiment
This week's thought experiment proved much more problematic than I thought. I have to admit: I thought it was a fun question and didn't really pre-plan the answer ahead of time.
View ArticleGeekDad Puzzle of the Week: Old Maid
There are games that are fairly basic like chess, Othello and mahjong. And then there's Old Maid. At my house, we've been playing some serious Maid and when I play, I play to win. Which is why I need...
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