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5 Things I Found on the Internet This Week

1.  Do you want to code a snowflake?

Disney Interactive and Code.org has teamed up to inspire future computer programmers — especially girls — to learn some basic coding skills in a fun, visual way. Head on over to the Frozen Hour of Code to help Anna and Elsa create shapes and patterns on ice using simplified blocks of code that snap together.

No prior coding experience is necessary, because you start off by drawing simple lines, with short video tutorials between each subject. (Pop quiz: which “dinosaur” makes an appearance to explain functions? 😉 ) But you’ll soon be creating shapes like this:

frozen_hour_of_code

To appeal to the social-media loving crowd, the game even lets you share your creations with your friends. Each generated URL leads the visitor to a unique page where people can see your code in action. (See an example here.)

frozen_hour_of_code_social_media

Give it a try! I’m sure any Frozen-loving child — heck, adults too! — interested in computers would love the tutorial.

Via Mashable.

2.  The competitive rankings of Super Smash Bros characters over time

Head on over to The Unbalanced Design of Super Smash Brothers, written by Forrest Smith, to read and pore over various data, charts, and research dissecting the game and its characters, how the game has changed over time, and how the players’ perception of balance has shifted through the years.

In other words, some very nerdy stuff.  :mrgreen: 

smash_bros_rankings_chart

Via Reddit.

I Am Vincent van Beethoven

I've already shared this on Facebook and Twitter, but I found it so fascinating that I need to blog about it too! Map Your Mind is an online quiz created by GE neuroscientists and BrainMic which tells you which famous people's brains are most like your own. I know all personality tests — especially online ones! — should be taken with a grain of salt, but I was thoroughly impressed by this quiz's design, interactive interface, research, and the accuracy of the results from just 12 questions. The fact that each answer was accompanied by a short neuro-psychoanalysis totally gave me geekasms too. ;-) According to Map Your Mind, I am a #brainchild of Vincent van Gogh and Ludwig van Beethoven (hence the title of...

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Lightsabers

I'm still sick. Actually, I'm sicker, with a fever that reached 102.4° last night. The good news is that the girls are doing much better. Their fevers are down and the remaining symptoms are those that are typical of end-stage colds (runny noses and coughing). Since the progression of Aerin's illness so closely resembled that of Claire's — except two days behind — I'm hopeful that I'll feel better in a couple of days too. As is usually the case, this poor blog remains neglected while my family continues to recover. However, when I came across this Imgur gallery of lightsabers, I knew that I had to share it with my readers. Three things of note: This collection only seems to span the prequels (boo). The lightsaber...

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