Back to School DON’Ts

1. Capacitor Barrette on Etsy
Eek! Ok, it’s definitely cool to wear capacitors as a decorative element, but only if they actually are decorative–not hideous like this poor excuse for embellishment.

2. Totoro Plush Hat
Unless you are under the age of 18 months you have no business pretending to a giant furry anime critter. Sorry “Furrys,” Sorry.

3. Fuze Necklace
The only things you’re going to attract wearing tacky light-up jewelry are clueless teenage candy ravers stuck in the mid-nineties and that’s going to be awkward, or the unwanted attentions of a lightning bug which could be awkward too.

4. GEEK Silicone Bracelet
Wearing a bracelet that literally says GEEK tells the world you’re trying too hard. And no one has ever looked good in silicone.

5. T-Qualizer Light Up Equalizer T-Shirt
This t-shirt has an electroluminescent panel on the front that reacts to music. Yet, the only thing that should be reacting to the music is yourself when you’re dancing, and besides, your obnoxious flashing chest isn’t going to make you friends any time soon.

6. Utilikilt
The idea behind this pathetic invention is that by freeing a man from his jeans and letting his anatomy sway around when he moves, and then giving him tons of pockets for his gadgets and gear he will achieve some sort of anti-establishment masculine nirvana. Instead, they only man’s jeans that will be removed are the DNA variety, as in from the genetic pool. Definitely a lady killer in the wrong sense.

7. Yoda Backpack
Alright, you’re a Star Wars fan, and these days that’s perfectly acceptable. Having delusions that you’re a character from a movie and running around in public with a plushie strapped to your back is not.

8. Crocs
Supposed comfort is never a viable reason for allowing your feet to be seen in public encased in perforated boat-shaped rubber monstrosities as these.

Back to School DOs

1. Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace
Here’s a better way to wear capacitors–three teal ones are strung delicately from a chain and look more like jewels than capacitors.

2. Caffiene Earrings
Let your nerdy nature shine from your head by dangling silver caffeine molecules from your ears in earring form. They’re scientific and terrific, not to mention classy.

3. Fan Guard Chain Necklace
This necklace doesn’t need to blink in an attempt to announce your geekiness to the world. Anyone who’s plugged in cables or PCI cards to the back of a desktop PC will recognize the modified fan guard around your neck and give you the silent nod of approval.

4. Cat5 Bracelet
You don’t need a bracelet that literally says GEEK, you need one that says geek to anyone who knows what ethernet cable is.

5. MIDI Cuff 1.5″
This cool black cuff made of MIDI cable is a subtle way to profess your love of electronic music.

6. High Voltage Laptop Bag
Instead of cramming everything into pockets, grab this laptop bag with a high voltage strap as a stylish solution.

7. Circuit Board Memo Pad
Keep your notes safe with a notepad with covers made from real circuitboard.

PDF Version

Liz McLean Knight, the main human behind Fractalspin is featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye free magazine for a feature about geek girls, and especially those in Chicago.

“Geek Chic: New generation of women embracing inner geek” [via the RedEye]

If dissassembling computers is geeky and making jewelry is girly, then Liz McLean Knight has found geek-girl nirvana. From her Wicker Park office, Knight, 30, runs a line of accessories make from computer components and sells the “fashionably-geek hipster gear” on a Web site she created, fractalspin.com.

There you’ll find necklaces made from capacitors. Handbags made of diskettes. Cufflinks made from microcontrollers. Woot! Those wrist cuffs made of MIDI cable are super neat!

“Less Than Three” Sterling Silver Necklace - $75

What better way to share your love with your nerdy girl? This silver necklace features a less than character (shift + , on US QWERTY keyboards) followed by the number 3. Turn your head to the right… and you see love. Aww.

Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace and Teal Capacitor Earrings - $42

If your girl sees diamonds as merely ultra-hard carbon, soon to be replaced and devalued by the technological advancements made with synthetic diamonds, then she’ll love these necklace and earrings pair that use teal capacitors instead of gemstones.


Silver Compass Ring - $78
Show your loved one that you truly care with this silver ring featuring a real compass instead of a gemstone. Because, let’s face it, a rock would be pretty useless when you’re lost.


Diskette Handbag - $55
From the tag: “CARRY YOUR STUFF IN GEEK-CHIC STYLE WITH A PURSE MADE FROM TWELVE (12) GENUINE 1.44 MB COMPUTER DISKETTES. ALLOCATE INTERIOR POCKETS TO MANAGE INTERNAL FRAGMENTATION. TOTAL AVAILABLE MEMORY: 17.28 MB.” Now that’s a pretty cool purse.


Dopamine Necklace - $75
Dopamine is what we’re really celebrating on Valentine’s Day–it’s the chemical that your brain produces when you’re in love and results in a feeling of bliss. What could be a more perfect gift than the dopamine molecule cast in silver to give on Valentine’s Day?

Here is a cool talk we found on TED about our favorite subject, fractals (of course!). Ron Eglash noticed Julia set patterns in they way villages were laid out while flying over Africa and it spurred his interest to investigate what was going on. Specifically, he talks about his research on the intriguing fractal patterns he noticed in African villages across the continent. He talks about his work exploring the rigorous fractal math underpinning African architecture, art and even hair braiding.

Rhymetorrents has released an excellent compilation of Halloween-themed nerdcore hip hop tracks free on their site. There’s quite a bit of first-person zombie shooting, vampire berating, Satan-hating, and even some dice-rolling and router-rebooting gone wrong. Here’s some of the standout tracks:

Rocket Propelled Geeks - “No Carrier” [NSFR*]
What if you power-cycled your router to reboot your internet connection but ended up resurrecting the internet itself? Think of how scary it would be to have a cat watching you from the ceiling and a bunch of Nigerians in your living room.

MC Lars & MC Chris - “Roommate From Hell (Ice & Fire Mix)”
You’d be regretting not trying to find off-campus housing on Craigslist if your dorm roommate ended up being the Prince of Darkness himself.

Able-X - “Dark times”
A funky, bleepy, creepy take on Armageddon.

MC Loki - “Prince Of The City”
More of the n00b pwning.

High-C - “Schizo” [NSFR]
Best line: “I’m dropping more than clues if you want to hunt the Wumpus but you couldn’t find your rump with a motherf***ing compass”

ZeaLouS1 - “Zombie Killa”
A geeksta rap about owning zombies.

*Not Safe For Radio

Here’s the entire compilation: Rhyme Torrents Halloween 2.0.

Peter Kirn from Create Digital Music pointed to an article reviewing their Make> / CDM / Etsy night in Brooklyn and remarked that the author’s coinage of the term “nerdster” was one he could get behind.

Last night, on the not-so-anonymous urging of a PR company that represents Make magazine, I went to “Handmade Music” at Etsy Labs in downtown Brooklyn…

On handmade music night, super-nerds, artists, and the edgy, in-the-know, 20-something crowd converge on the Etsy labs, drawn by promises of newly-invented instruments, techno music, and free pizza…

(more…)

If you love Linux you automatically love Tux, the cuddly mascot-slash-logo for the open source operating system. Just as the software is free to download and install as your computer’s desktop, the patterns for Tux can be downloaded so he can sit on your desktop next to your computer.

The Free Penguin project provides the “source code” for plushie Tux sewing patterns. Your hardware requirements for executing the source code are a printer, fabric access, a needle,

thread, and scissors capable of cutting said fabric. Download a development release.

If you’re lacking the necessary hardware requirements for the Plush tux but have a printer, functional scissors and glue, KDE-Look.org]

Have you made either of these Tuxes? Post your version in the comments!

Pink Nerds are Cool T-Shirt
The absolutely essential first step in proclaiming your nerdy allegiance is to rock a t-shirt that shows the world what you think is worthwhile proclaiming to the world. This pink faux-vintage tee features a distressed graphic featuring Nerds—as in the cartoon versions of the Wonka-created candy—romping around an exuberant statement of the cultural significance of technologically sophisticated individuals. Check it out. $20.

Estrogen Necklace
Nothing says “girl” and “nerd” quite as beautifully and literally as this sterling silver necklace featuring the estrogen molecule. And, not only is estrogen essential in making a girl into a woman, it also influences bone density, body temperature, cholesterol levels, and skin and hair health. Who knew girlie stuff could be so useful (and totally nerdy at the same time)? $40.

Smiley Necklaces - Sterling Silver
As anyone who works with computers and language (including computer languages), text and western punctuation are great for conveying logical instructions and data, but expressing emotions require a more artistic approach. However, we’re lucky to have a system to communicate emotion with common ASCII punctuation–Smileys. Why not express yourself in a totally geeky way with one of the many options in the silver Smiley Necklaces. $65.00.

Credit Card Organizers - Pink - 6 Card & 12 Card
This neat gadget holds 6 credt cards that correspond to each of the switches on the top. If you want to grab your Visa, just push the VISA switch and that card gets nudged out just enough so you can grab it. When you’re done, just put it back in the slot and you’re ready to go. No more leafing through your wallet at the store while the crowd behind you in line gets angry! $39.50

Diskette Handbag
And here’s a cool way to tote around your new pink credit card organizer, along with your essential gadgets, make up, keys, and the like. This black pvc handbag features six real floppy disks on each side, and the inside has pockets to carry around the essentials, and enough interior space to stash those less essential things. Totally geek chic. $55

Floppy Disk Earrings
There’s no way to undermine how nerdily-cool floppy disks are. Entire operating systems and programs used to be distributed on floppy disks, but as time and technology progressed, floppies were superseded by CD-ROMs, then USB and high speed internet connections as a way to distribute data and programs. However, when cast in silver, they make very cool earrings. $40.00

Customizable Dot Matrix Wrist Cuff - Pink
Hacking and DIY go hand-in-hand. Just check out MAKE Magazine and all the cool projects they have for modifying everyday objects into increasingly useful things. So why shouldn’t your fashion accessories represent your DIY spirit in a way that wouldn’t warrant a visit from the fashion police? Grab yourself a blank Dot Matrix Wrist Cuff and punch out the dots to spell a word, acronym, or expression in pixelated form by punching out dots on a 5 x 30 grid to form words or patterns. Here at Fractalspin we’ve provided templates so you can easily express your geekativity with patterns like “WTF,” “MYSQL,” “APACHE,” “</ARM>,” “LINUX,” and more. Check out either of these templates we’ve made to help you out [1] and [2], choose your favorite, punch away and out your closeted nerd self. $30.

What sort of jewelry could you get a nerdy girl to express your undying love for her? A Less Than Three Necklace, of course! While checking our incoming links we found a heartwarming blog post from the_k_is_silent detailing the story of her engagement, which ends in her receiving a <3 necklace from her brand new fiancée. Aww!

Remember when Barbie was a troublemaker? She got herself and Mattel into hot water when the talking version of her vinyl embodiment quipped “Math class is tough.” Suddenly education activists and women’s rights watchdogs were up in arms at Mattel’s complicity in the fact that more boys than girls take advanced math and science classes, and boys outnumber girls studying computer science by a factor of 3 to 1 (but the Barbie Liberation Organization had quite a bit of fun with it).

Is is because math and science are boring and useless? Hardly! Who designed the iPhone? A bunch of very hip nerds at Mac. How did you get to this website to stare at this post? The hard work of many dedicated nerds who made computers possible and then figured out how to hook them up to each other. You’ve got to admit it: Nerds are cool. So grab yourself a cool, nerdy t-shirt that proclaims the truth and wear it proudly!

PS: Nerds are also delicious.