Got to see Neil deGrasse Tyson this afternoon at Elon

Dr. Tyson's badass jazz-hands Astrophysicist, bestselling author, science education advocate, "some guy from a Fox show" (as we heard one passerby say while we waited in the standby line), advisor to multiple White Houses and general megaboffin Neil deGrasse Tyson came to my alma mater Elon University this afternoon to speak at the school's spring convocation.  This...

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VA forces vet to get x-ray taken... to prove that his leg is missing

Has the caseload down at the VA ever included any paperwork for Captain Obvious? So on the left we have one Chad Fleming, a former soldier who served in the Army Rangers.  And as you can see, he has a prosthetic left leg.  He sought aid from the Department of Veterans Affairs because... well, you know, that's what they do for men and women who have been in the...

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Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Pong, and Donkey Kong... all in one game

Using the paddles from Pong to shuttle Pac-Man back and forth through his maze while dodging the aliens of Space Invaders.  All while Donkey Kong showers the screen with barrels.  This wonderfully schizoid mash-up of four of the most classic video games of all time is called Pacapong and it comes courtesy of a clever lad named Dick Poelen as his contribution to...

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Watch George Lucas photobomb documentary about nuclear waste!

Look!  A wild George Lucas sighting! "Nuclear Waste: Fission Products & Transuranics from Thorium & Uranium" is sincerely fascinating in its own right.  A short documentary about the valuable materials often left in used-up fuel rods from nuclear reactors and how they might be extracted.  Very interesting if you're at all into nuclear engineering and chemistry in general. But let's face it: most people are going to want to...

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Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act: An affirmation of liberty, and other thoughts

Some musings on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act now on the books in Indiana and that so many are in a tizzy about... The act does not discriminate. The act is not "anti-gay, anti-lesbian, anti-bisexual, anti-transexual" or anti-anything at all. Nowhere in the text of the legislation is there found a clause stipulating that any one or any group in particular is to be given any less protection under the law. The act simply reasserts something...

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Video for Lindsey Stirling's "Take Flight"

It was this past July when I wrote about discovering Lindsey Stirling and her enchanting mastery of the violin. That and how she choreographs herself while performing. So taken in by her music have I been, that by a vast margin it's been her album Shatter Me that I've listened to the most while writing my book.  And her music videos have been no less arresting, even hypnotic.  In every way Stirling has astounded the senses in ways that...

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New sponsor: HyperMind, for all your gaming needs!

The Knight Shift is proud to welcome a new advertiser, and if you've been a longtime reader you'll already know something about HyperMind. A positivalutely abundawonderful game store in Burlington, North Carolina, owners Nick and Denise Shepherd have established a place that draws loyal customers from as far away as Virginia, Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem.  And by...

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Deadpool entices you to come hither...

From Ryan Reynolds' Twitter feed... That may be the best translation of a costume from comic book-to-big screen that I've ever seen.  Looks spot-on perfect. How are they going to handle Deadpool's legendary mouth?  Lots of fans demanding a hard R rating, noting that PG-13 won't cut it.  One idea I heard a few weeks ago was that for almost the entire movie...

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Dean Smith left $200 in his will for each of his players

Now this fits the definition of "classy" to a tee... Last month legendary basketball coach Dean Smith passed away.  He coached the Tar Heels of UNC-Chapel Hill from 1961 to 1997 and when he retired he was the coach with the most wins of any in collegiate basketball history.  He had two national titles to show for it.  Along the way he coached about 184 players. And...

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Ten years ago today...

...Doctor Who returned. "Run." The first episode since 1989 was titled "Rose". London shop associate Rose Tyler stumbled across murderous store mannequins and then came to be rescued by The Doctor. Christopher Eccleston was the first actor of the revived series to portray the legendary Time Lord. In those early days before Doctor Who became a true global phenomenon,...

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The most interesting carpool passenger in the world

I did something like this coming through Atlanta alone several years ago.  Except instead of what this guy did or having a mannequin, I used a pillow wearing my leather jacket and I went the whole way through the high-occupancy lane with my left hand on the wheel and my right one holding the pillow up and in sight. How I cleared Atlanta while doing that, I'll never know. From...

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Large Hadron Collider could open up other universes this week (this may not end well)

In the process of investigating a good idea (said process being one that even Stephen Hawking said could destroy the Earth), those wacky boffins in Switzerland are preparing to generate in excess of 5 trillion volts of juice with their Large Hadron Collider in the next few days.  The result could be the creation of miniatures black holes.  But more than that: it...

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STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER anime-style short will leave you lusting for more

If Disney was really smart, they would hire this guy to make a bunch of traditional-animated films like this! There was a shorter version that Paul Johnson released a few years ago, but this is the full-fledged vision: Star Wars: TIE Fighter.  And it is breathtaking.  I dare say that I speak for a lot of fans out there when I say that this... THIS... is what...

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Two new advertisers with The Knight Shift

If you have a product or service and you would like to reach an average audience of 20,000 viewers a month*, please consider this blog as a venue for your advertising.  I am very thankful that the The Knight Shift's readership represents so vast a variety of interests and backgrounds.  And you can reach out to them!  Write to me at theknightshift@gmail.com with...

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Cruz-controlled? Candidate holds Liberty hostage

Let me preface this by saying this: that I've been watching Ted Cruz for a long time and though we may not agree on everything, I believe that he is an exceptional leader.  Dare I say even "statesman"?  Among other things he and I are on the same level when it comes to repealing Obamacare.  It's broken, it has been broken from its inception, and it will continue to be the most enormous disaster of American government ever if it persists. ...

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Something funny I've discovered about this blog...

During the past few days I've come to learn a lot about my own blog.  F'rinstance, according to Google's statistics this site is getting many, many more visits than have been accounted for by the site's meter.  How many more?  Well, let's just say the actual hit count is now well over two million, if I've figured it right. Wow. There's a "tags" tab in the sidebar, containing the names of labels for posts given them.  But I've...

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AAAAAANNNDDD... We're back!!

So... the blog has a new look. Not all thanks to me, no doubt.  I had help.  Thanks/blame Brian Fesperman, "Weird" Ed Woody, Stephen Shumate and maybe a few others for encouraging me to keep my sanity during this process, especially just today as some serious kinks were worked out of the new template. Please note that the redesign doesn't have the post's full...

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