Nerdy Advent Calendars

Well, in case you haven't noticed, apparently it's Xmas already - but interestingly, it's not, and in fact it's probably about the right time to think about what advent calendar you're going to use this year. If the usual chocolate Dr Who calendar isn't quite going to cut it for you, here are my suggestions for your alternatives. WARNING: they're all a bit nerdy in some way.

Is it Christmas dot com
In what could probably be the most binary form of advent calendar, and one of my favourite websites to help maintain perspective during the commercialised Winterval season, www.isitchristmas.com provides a simple, no-nonsense way to tell whether or not it's Christmas. But not how far away it is - for that you need an actual calendar. They used to also provide an RSS feed, which was an excellent addition to my daily reader feed, and always a treat to see it come through on the day itself. Although RSS has now gone the way of the cassette tape, apparently.

Completely accurate and appropriately excited advent calendar (pdf)
This was the result of a conversation I had with a friend, regarding the practise of referring to the day before something as '_____ eve', and whether this could be stacked. I used to know someone who annually held a 'Christmas Eve Eve' party, since Christmas Eve was for family stuff. Anyway, this calendar, if each window is opened on the correct day, maintains both complete nomenclative accuracy, and expresses an appropriate level of excitement (provided you accept more exclamation marks = more excitement). Simply print both sheets onto thick card, cut around three sides on each of the windows on the top sheet and layer them, gluing appropriately so as not to bum it up. Voila!

NRICH advent calendars
NRICH, which is an excellent site full of maths puzzles and activities, has put out two advent calendars this year - one for primary and one for secondary, with fun stuff to do every day during advent. You bet I'll be looking every day. Also, the primary one looks like a TRAIN. Choo choo!

My YouTube Advent Calendar
In what can only be described as a plug, I've put together a list of my favourite (diversely themed, possibly sweary) YouTube videos, using the strict selection criteria that if it's memorable enough for me to be able to name it off the top of my head, it's gone on the list. One video will be selected randomly each day, and added to this page, which will be updated each day during advent, provided I remember and have access to the internet. I should hopefully be providing reminders as such on Twitter.

Robot Saturday - Another robot roundup

Robot posts have been thin on the ground lately (as have all kinds of posts), but this means I've been saving up all my robot related items for one huge mega-post for you all to enjoy. Enjoy!

Robot Paints Its Feelings
Well, not really, but artist and composer Ben Grosser has developed a robot which paints from a palette of 4 colours, using input from its microphone. So, the noises of what's going on in the room around it, plus the noises it makes itself while painting, are all incorporated somehow (don't ask me how; you know, using robots) into the design it is currently painting. They've also tried playing a violin at it to see what happens. It's quite hypnotic to watch. This Vimeo shows the machine in action, as well as showing some of its finished works at the end - I would totally have one of those in my house, were it not probably going to be ridiculously expensive to buy one. I love that the artist credited is 'Interactive Robotic Painting Machine'.

Someone's Made The Power Loader From Aliens
Yes, you heard me right. Well, not quite exactly, but the Raytheon Sarcos Modified Ditch Witch is probably the closest you'll get anywhere in the world today. Who could forget the scene in Aliens where Ripley rocks up in some unholy robotic suit, in order to kick the ass of some aliens? Well, compare the two videos below, and judge for yourself.

The footage of the Ditch Witch doesn't necessarily confirm whether it would be good for kicking the ass of things, but it does lift some brilliant objects, including several squares, a cylinder, and an I-section girder. It also includes a clip from my favourite film of the last decade, Real Steel.


Robot Tea Infuser

Combining my love of robots with my frankly unhealthy obsession with tea, this infuser from ModCloth grabs the sides of the cup like an adorable little robot, and creates lovely lovely tea. Don't all buy me one, that could get embarrassing. Also, we just bought far too many teabags because we forgot we already had some, so we won't be using any leaf tea for a while yet.

Robots Playing Table Tennis
I'm not going to bother to write a description for this one properly, because we all know what it's about. It's about looking at some photos of some goddamn robots playing goddamn table tennis. And isn't that all we really want, anyway?

Robot/Cake themed Xmas tree decorations

Well, if there's one thing I like as much as I like robots and cake, it's XTDs (Xmas tree decorations). So, I thought I would round up some of the nicest ones, with robot or cake themes, so you can stock up and make sure your tree is appropriately decorated for the festive season. Because nothing says Xmas like robots and cake.

To start with, Paperchase is my go-to shop for amazing Xmas ornaments, and I always try to get at least one thing there each year. This year, it looks like it's going to have to be these lovely glass robots (pictured), £12 for a box of three.

Paperchase also have some beautiful cake-based products - these glass cupcakes (£6 / set of 4) seem a bit weird and austere, but they also stock several crocheted cake-based items, one pictured below (and the obligatory Xmas pud), the nicest of which is this set of 8 cake slices (£14) which just looks adorable.

My next stop for ornaments is usually B&Q, since they've basically spotted that they can corner the market and last year had some lovely things including some nice blackboard baubles complete with chalk, which of course we wrote maths on. This year, their robot/cake selection isn't amazing - they do have two different kinds of Xmas pudding bauble (and these adorable little knitted boots) but the closest they have to robots is these metal three kings, which doesn't quite cut it.

Another favourite for high quality single ornaments is John Lewis - if you wander through their Xmas department, it's difficult not to get drawn in - and they do have some nice gingerbread man based ornaments. They also have this lovely metal Santa (£3.50), which in my mind is near to a robot.

Debenhams don't have any appropriately themed tree ornaments to speak of, but they do have this lovely porcelain robot (£15 when I saw it instore, but apparently more online).

Other than this, the only other place I can find in the high street with anything is Primark, which has a set of crackers with cupcakes on - but no decent ornaments.

My next thought would be to turn to the internet. People who aren't afraid of ordering things from America could try this amazing toy shop, Tin Toy Arcade, who appear to have an epic selection of robot shaped ornaments, all priced around £5 for individual ones and around £15 for sets of 4, although there may be some shipping costs. They're mixed in with some lovely rocket ships and atoms. I can only imagine what an epic Xmas tree that could make.

On Amazon, Kurt S Adler sells these magnificent R2D2 fairy lights ($30, also available in Yoda), as well as the traditional R2D2 nutcracker. It's also possible to find other one-offs, like this set of robot santa, reindeer and snowman, and this slightly odd robot bear.

Let me know if you find any nice pieces, and I'll add them to this post! And very possibly, my Xmas tree.