Fun_and_Games

The world is just nuts… so sit back and laugh.

(via Crooks and Liars)

James Galea performs his signature trick, 673 King Street…

(via Erich Vieth)

David Letterman's Late Show is showcasing close-up magic all this week. The first magician to appear was Jason Randal, on Monday. See below for links to the other performers.

• Tuesday 5/18: John Carney
• Wednesday 5/19: Johnny Ace Palmer
• Thursday 5/20: Steve Cohen
• Friday 5/21: Michael Ammar

This is extra crispy cool: DriveThruRPG, an online store that provides hundreds of role-playing games for download in digital form, is offering a coupon worth over $1400 for a $20 donation to Doctors Without Borders. The package includes the game Serenity, based on the popular Firefly TV series. If you enjoy RPGs, you should go and donate now.

(via Boing Boing)

"'Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python' is a free e-Book that teaches you how to program in the Python programming language. Each chapter gives you the complete source code for a new game, and then teaches the programming concepts from the example. 'Invent with Python' was written to be understandable by kids as young as 10 to 12 years old, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before."

(via Make: Online)

99 Free Games from 2009 – does what it says on the tin.

(via Red Ferret Journal)

Not enough toys cluttering your room? Get a new one every day at Toy-A-Day.

(via Metafilter)

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over 5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With almost 70 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child’s Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.

When gamers give back, it makes a difference!

Only a true, longtime Doctor Who fan will get the joke… but for those of us who have followed his adventures for years, this is hilarious. Be sure to click through to see the whole thing.

Just the thing for a rainy day: print and make your own papercraft TARDIS [PDF]!

The immortal Mr. Bean does home improvement as only he can…

Much, much more here…

Holy nostalgia, Batman! All twenty papercraft models from the classic Broderbund program Toy Shop are available for download.

(via Make: Online)

Teller, the quiet one in the magic team of Penn and Teller, explains how we are fooled by his art:

For Teller (that's his full legal name), magic is more than entertainment. He wants his tricks to reveal the everyday fraud of perception so that people become aware of the tension between what is and what seems to be. Our brains don't see everything—the world is too big, too full of stimuli. So the brain takes shortcuts, constructing a picture of reality with relatively simple algorithms for what things are supposed to look like. Magicians capitalize on those rules. "Every time you perform a magic trick, you're engaging in experimental psychology," Teller says. "If the audience asks, 'How the hell did he do that?' then the experiment was successful. I've exploited the efficiencies of your mind."

A beautiful young lady of recent acquaintance tells me that she has a fondness for these industrious little fellows…

Complaints Choirs are popping up all over the world, and well they should. The whole planet's going to hell in a handbasket. HEY YOU KIDS! GET OFF MY LAWN, DAMMIT!!