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On this episode of Radio Active, StarGirl takes up soccer, NeutronLad becomes a preschooler, and I stop by The Tome podcast to geek out about the Eberron Campaign Guide. Back at Nuketown, I talk about my new Nintendo DS Lite and some of the games I've picked up for it, learn how to make my own Star Wars crawl and surf through thousands of government regulations at OpenRegs.com !--break--> Getting the Show There are several ways to get the podcast: Download the MP3 directly Subscribe to the podcast rss feed using an aggregator (you only need to do this once; subsequent shows should download automatically) Subscribe via iTunes (you need iTunes installed on your computer for this to work) Show Notes Nuketown News She shoots, she scores! StarGirl's started soccer, which is slowly growing on her. She doesn't like it as much as softball; she says there's to much running, and I don't think she gets the charge the ball aspect of soccer. But she's trying. NeutronLad in preschool Our little boy's going to preschool three days a week. He's excited; there are a lot more trucks in preschool. :) We're also meeting a whole new bunch of parents, which is interesting. Only a matter of time until he starts asking to hang out with his new friends. My Gaming Life Halo ODST 6-7 hour campaign, new firefight mode, and a bunch of maps (including 3 new ones). Worth it for me, and I think worth it for my gaming group. It was nice to actually finish a game for once. Buy it from Amazon.com. Borderlands A Diablo-like first-person shooter with an awesome multiplayer mode. Great for people who love Left4Dead, but want to pick from an infinity of weapons. Buy it from Amazon.com. Dragon Age: Origins Bioware's new dark fantasy. Picture The Lord of the Rings drenched in blood, but what really makes this game isn't the gore - it's the story. Buy it from Amazon.com. Eberron Campaign Guide reviews WotC successfully adapted 4E to Eberron, with none of the radical upheavals we saw with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide last year. If I was running 4E, this is what I'd use. It gives me hope for the Dark Sun guide. My GameCryer.com review Round-table review at The Tome (including me) Buy it from Amazon.com. No more Sci Fi Wire game reviews They've moved game reviews to Fidgit; not sure if/when I'll start writing again. Looking forward to a break. Promo: Accidental Survivors http://accidentalsurvivors.libsyn.com/ Netheads Create your own Star Wars crawl http://alienryderflex.com/crawl/ OpenRegs Web site dedicated to tracking federal regulations. Find out about what regulations are looking for comments, recently published final regs, and much more. http://openregs.com/ Fake AP Style Guide on Twitter http://twitter.com/FakeAPStylebook Promo: Yog Radio http://www.yog-sothoth.com/radio Review: Nintendo DS Revisited I've got a spiffy new red you create the tools to achieve it. Write about an object -- any object -- and it gets inserted into the game. Use candles to light fires (or flamethrowers), summon Great Cthulhu to smite your enemies, freeze enemies into icecubes with freeze rays, etc. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars: A top down, faux 3D game that's a throw back to GTA 2. Extensive drug trading minigame (hey, it's GTA right?) is thrawted by police who chase you after minor fender benders. Picross: A picture-based crossword -- you have a grid, and numbers in each column and row tell you how many squares in that grid are filled in. New Super Mario Brothers: Classic side-scrolling action harkening back to Super Mario Brothers 3, with a surprisingly fun battle mode. One of StarGirl's and NeutronLad's favorites. In fact, their nuts about all things Mario. Outro Contact us: Email: nuketown@gmail.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nukehavoc Skype: nuketown AttachmentSize NuRA-2009-11-19.mp327.31 MB

11-20-09: Today, we talk about the "Phantom Menace" of goals being scored, yet not seen. We discuss the leagues officiating and recent issues, the huge, major, earth-shattering blow-up (NOT) in the Calgary locker room, More Russians causing headaches to the league, and how to handle this other menace known as the KHL. Finally, ...ownership changes and conspiracy theories finally coming to light. Thank you for listening and enjoy....

* Some basic information on Fear the Con 3 is up.  More details and ticketing will follow soon! * Checking in on how Wayne s Mutants t have a 3.5 rulebook handy, you can follow along here.  If you re interested in entering Critical Press Media s bard contest, you can find details on their site. * The reciprocal relationship between tabletop roleplaying games and video games. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Its all about the games today – games such as: Ring-O Flamingo Warmachine Atlantis Shenandoah Secrets of Morocco GURPS: Magic GURPS: Thaumatology Mile High Dragon, for CyberGeneration Kingsburg Chrononauts

On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel TV:-   Tekken 6 review World of Goo for the PC Motorstorm Arctic Edge review Charles Martinet interview There are 5 copies of World of Goo for the PC up for grabs, if you'd like to win then see our competitions page by 7 December 2009. If you want to contact Gamesweasel then email gamesweasel@mevio.com , follow Gamesweasel on Twitter or become a fan on our official Gamesweasel Facebook page . On the blog this week we have the latest Grand Theft Auto 4 cheat codes , how to get free Microsoft points codes , a list of the most popular Nintendo Wii games for Christmas and a guide to using the Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band . You can also watch the Tekken 6 review and the Motorstorm Arctic Edge review on Youtube . To play any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Motorstorm Arctic Edge Amazon and Tekken 6 Amazon pages. Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy.com and offers you some great discounts on domain names and hosting. Use our December 2009 GoDaddy coupons to save money - 'WEASEL7' gets you 10% off domain name purchases, 'WEASEL8' gets you 20% off orders over £35 or $57 and 'WEASEL9' gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only 'WEASEL20H' gets you 20% off web hosting and 'WEASELSSL' gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy discount codes video and read the GoDaddy web site for details. Gamesweasel is also brought to you in association with Squarespace.com, use the Squarespace coupon 'WEASEL' for 12% off the lifetime of your account. We are also brought to you with CCS, using the CCS discount code valid for December 2009 'AFGAMEFS' for free shipping with any order over $30 and 'AFGAME15' will get you 15% off any order over $75. [WATCH] | [DOWNLOAD MP4] | [VIDEO PODCAST RSS FEED] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES]

On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel Radio:-  Playstation 3 movies on demand release date Activision launches ratings awareness campaign Bioshock 2 trailer Tekken 6 World of Goo for the PC Motorstorm Arctic Edge Charles Martinet interview There are 5 copies of World of Goo for the PC up for grabs, if you/'d like to win then see our competitions page by 7 December 2009. If you/'d like to contact us then email gamesweasel@mevio.com, send us a message on our Gamesweasel Twitter page or write on our wall on the official Gamesweasel Facebook page. On the blog this week we have the latest Grand Theft Auto 4 cheat codes, how to get free Microsoft points codes, a list of the most popular Nintendo Wii games for Christmas and a guide to using the Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band.Want to see the games we/'ve been talking about? Check out the Tekken 6 screenshots and Motorstorm Arctic Edge screenshots on our Flickr feed. You can also watch Gamesweasel TV episode 124 direct to your desktop, plus watch the Motorstorm Arctic Edge review and the Tekken 6 review on Youtube. If you like any of the games reviewed on this show you can buy from the Tekken 6 Amazon and Motorstorm Arctic Edge Amazon pages. Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy.com and offers you some great discounts on domain names and hosting. Use our GoDaddy discount codes December 2009 to save money - /'WEASEL7/' gets you 10% off domain name purchases, /'WEASEL8/' gets you 20% off orders over £35 or $57 and /'WEASEL9/' gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only /'WEASEL20H/' gets you 20% off web hosting and /'WEASELSSL/' gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy discount codes video and read the GoDaddy web site for details. Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our January 2009 Square Space coupon code /'WEASEL/' at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account. We are also brought to you with CCS, using the CCS discount code valid for January 2009 /'AFGAMEFS/' for free shipping with any order over $30 and /'AFGAME15/' will get you 15% off any order over $75. [DOWNLOAD MP3] | [AUDIO PODCAST RSS FEED] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES]

Brutal Deluxe Football Podcast Season 6 Show 13: 2009 Week 10. Scott and I talk about Week 10 of the BDFL NFL seasons, the upcoming Week 11 matchups, and take a look at league news. Like the show? Post this site's link to Twitter, Facebook, Identi.ca, etc.: http://brutaldeluxe.us. Submit content for us to look at by tagging it with #bdfl on Twitter or Identi.ca. Are you on Google Wave? Let us know! Email us text or audio comments!: BrutalDeluxe at gmail.com. Alex's new mic: Blue Microphones Snowball Mixed, recorded, edited and mastered by me. REAPER was used to edit, master, and render the audio. Music: One Big Holiday by My Morning Jacket from the Wired CD.

Who Are They Trivia This is a Tough One Do You Know Who Is... John Forbes Nash, Jr? He is a famous twentieth-century mathematician. Born in 1928, John Nash graduated from Princeton and eventually went on to win the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994. Of course, much of his fame also comes from his life story. In 1959, Nash was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia for which he was treated for nearly a decade. His work following his time in a mental hospital led up to his winning many awards in the field of mathematics. His creation of the Nash Equilibrium (a simple concept of rationalization) led to his winning of the Leroy P. Steele Prize in 1999. His life was under the microscope in the Ron Howard film "A Beautiful Mind" which starred Russell Crowe in 2001. Crowe's performance as Nash won an Oscar as well as Howard's direction and the screenplay. The film also took home 'Best Picture'. All commercials at the end Today! Thanks for your support. Take a Survey Please! They will not be asked for any personal contact information. No salesman will call.The Association for Downloadable Media, a non-profit organization serving podcast producers, is seeking information on consumersâ attitudes of advertising within podcasting. The ADM is looking for audience attitudes and reactions to things like ad style, delivery and placement. The results of this survey will allow podcast producers to best fulfill the expectations of their audience as they pertain to advertising and their reactions to it. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and YOU my listener will not be asked to provide any personal contact information. The greater the response the better it is for everyone in the podcast medium. ______________ Help Mostly Trivial out would ya? Netflix is our new sponsor. Click on the Netflix Ad on the left hand side of the site. Or Go Daddy.com picked us for a Go Daddy campaign. If you go their site and you buy a domain name use the Promo Codes below 10% off any order: TRIVIAL1 $5 off $30 or more: TRIVIAL2 $7.49 .com domains: TRIVIAL3 ______________ What do you know, Joe? Stacy Ann Ferguson, who is that? âA: Black Eyed Peas member B: Model upon whom the Barbie doll is basedâC: Dancer for The Pussycat Dolls D: Creator of the Wonderbra Last Post Answers: C: England The scale of the fraud was uncovered after two rival gangs clashed over who 'owned' the meters in Connaught Square. Their dispute culminated in a shooting that left one man dead, two wounded and two more hurling themselves through a second-floor window as they fled for their lives. Netflix is our new sponsor. Click on the Netflix Ad on the left hand side of the site. Johnee Bee from Mostly Trivial asks you, yes YOU, to leave a Review in iTunes or anywhere else that you get this show. Add yourself to my Frappr Map as well. Dont forget to vote for my show at Podcast Alley. This ALL helps my exposure to new listeners. It seems we still get more and more! If you have a Podcast as well, do one for Mostly Trivial! This is groovy, go to Go Daddy.com and use our promo codes to help support Mostly Trivial.

Session 30 - The party fight their way through traps to reach the foot of the pyramid and then they get attacked

In this episode, Cody expounds on the details of The Jones Theory, his philosopy regarding game collections, while John adds his own Richard Postulate to the discussion. And, in Buy, Try, or Deny, we enter the fantastic world of Tolkien to take a look at Middle-Earth Quest from Fantasy Flight. Game On! with Cody and John is sponsored by Myriad Games, on behalf of friendly professional game stores everywhere, we're a proud member of the Pulp Gamer Media Network! Check us out at http://www.pulpgamer.com.

It's a jam-packed episode as we welcome Alice Liang and Gamasutra's Christian Nutt to talk about the layoffs at Pandemic, the PS3 going 3-D, and the next iterations of the DS and PSP. David joins in to sing the praises of Assassin's Creed II. The rest of the crew rounds things out with talk of Lego Indy 2, Dragon Age, and a tease for Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

With two major releases it's another one of those weeks where there's almost too much to talk about. Seth Killian from Capcom Unity joins us to talk about his transition from college professor to God of all things Street Fighter. Sam and David talk about the success and failures of Modern Warefare 2 (Spoilers from 1:17-1:29), and Jeremy puts Nintendo¹s game design for everyone thesis to the test with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Also news about the release of Microsoft's Natal, a new Hero game from Activision, and prepare your slingshot once again as Rockstar's Bully might be returning.

11/13/09 - Welcome back my hockeyz!! After a week off, I drop onto you almost two hours of BlueLine: Hockey Talk Love...On this show, our minds' on the money and the money's on our mind. We connect the dots between who owns what teams, and how the player's union is part of the freefall. Additionally, teams values have tied into t...he success of the modern franchise. Additionally, the GM Meeting, the Trapezoid, many stories involving the Blue Jackets financial matters, and how your agent can make you life a mess in Montreal. We culminate with the Carolina Tropical-Depressions, the new Jacques Plante book, and finally Theo Fleury sits with the show and shares....Marathon show today, so hang in for the long haul. Enjoy!!!

This week on the Gamesweasel podcast Matt Cuttle talks:-   Sky on the Xbox 360 Wii 2 Nintendo DS free 3G Internet Up Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakwel on the Wii Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games James Cameron Avatar interview If you'd like to win Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakwel on the Wii then check out our competitions page before 30 November 2009. If you want to contact Gamesweasel then email gamesweasel@mevio.com , follow Gamesweasel on Twitter or become a fan on our official Gamesweasel Facebook page . On the blog this week we have a rundown of Wii games for children , a Charles Martinet interview , a rundown of some of the Wii games for hardcore gamers and some PS3 Christmas games ready for the holiday season.Want to see the games we've been talking about? Check out the Up screenshots and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games screenshots on our Flickr feed. You can also watch Gamesweasel TV episode 123 direct to your desktop, plus watch the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games review and the Up review on Youtube . We have put together links for all the games reviewed in this episode so you can buy from the Up Amazon and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Amazon pages. This episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy and offers you fantastic discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following GoDaddy coupons November 2009 to save you money - 'WEASEL7' gets you 10% off domain name purchases 'WEASEL8' gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and 'WEASEL9' gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only 'WEASEL20H' gets you 20% off web hosting and 'WEASELSSL' gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy codes video and read the GoDaddy website for more details. Gamesweasel is also brought to you in association with Squarespace.com, use the Squarespace coupon 'WEASEL' for 12% off the lifetime of your account. We are also brought to you with CCS, using the CCS discount code valid for December 2009 'AFGAMEFS' for free shipping with any order over $30 and 'AFGAME15' will get you 15% off any order over $75. [DOWNLOAD MP3] | [AUDIO PODCAST RSS FEED] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES]

All the highlights from the Dew Tour stop in Salt Lake City, plus a feature on Dew Cup winner Chris Cole. Enjoy!!!

This week on Gamesweasel TV Matt Cuttle talks:-   Up review Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakwel on the Wii Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games review James Cameron Avatar interview If you'd like to win Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakwel on the Wii then check out our competitions page before 30 November 2009. If you'd like to contact us then email gamesweasel@mevio.com , send a message to our Gamesweasel Twitter page or write on our wall on the official Gamesweasel Facebook page . On the blog this week we have a rundown of top kids Wii games , a Charles Martinet interview , a rundown of some of the best wii games for hardcore gamers and a PS3 Christmas party games guide . You can also watch the Up review and the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games review on Youtube . To buy any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Amazon and Up Amazon pages. This episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy and offers you fantastic discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following November 2009 GoDaddy discount codes to save you money - 'WEASEL7' gets you 10% off domain name purchases 'WEASEL8' gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and 'WEASEL9' gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only 'WEASEL20H' gets you 20% off web hosting and 'WEASELSSL' gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy codes video and read the GoDaddy website for more details. Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our November 2009 Square Space coupon code 'WEASEL' at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account. We are also brought to you with CCS, using the CCS discount code valid for November 2009 'AFGAMEFS' for free shipping with any order over $30 and 'AFGAME15' will get you 15% off any order over $75. [WATCH] | [DOWNLOAD MP4] | [VIDEO PODCAST RSS FEED] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES]

MakerBot is featured in this Wall Street Journal article that just went live. Check it! Make sure to check out the video too! Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis By JUSTIN LAHART The American tradition of tinkering -- the spark for inventions from the telephone to the Apple computer -- is making a comeback, boosted by renewed interest in hands-on work amid the economic crisis and falling prices of high-tech tools and materials. The modern milling machine, able to shape metal with hairbreadth precision, revolutionized industry. Blake Sessions has one in his dorm room, tucked under the shelf with the peanut butter on it. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology junior has been using the mill to make prototypes for a bicycle-sprocket business he's planning. He bolts down a piece of aluminum plate, steps to his desk and, from his computer, sets the machine in motion. Tinkering With Technology Jason Euren, an anthropology student at the New School University in Manhattan, worked with a soldering kit at the Brooklyn hackerspace Resistor recently. "It's kind of a ridiculous thing to have," says Mr. Sessions, 20 years old. But "in today's marketplace you can't only offer a technical aptitude. You have to be able to provide something more." Occupying a space somewhere between shop class and the computer lab, the new tinkerers are making everything from devices that Twitter how much beer is left in a keg to robots that assist doctors. The experimentation is even creating companies. With innovation a prime factor in driving economic growth, and corporate research and development spending tepid, the marriage of brains and brawn offers one hopeful glimmer. Engineering schools across the country report students are showing an enthusiasm for hands-on work that hasn't been seen in years. Workshops for people to share tools and ideas -- called "hackerspaces" -- are popping up all over the country; there are 124 hackerspaces in the U.S., according to a member-run group that keeps track, up from a handful at the start of last year. SparkFun Electronics Inc., which sells electronic parts to tinkerers, expects sales of about $10 million this year, up from $6 million in 2008. "Make" magazine, with articles on building items such as solar hot tubs and autopilots for robots, has grown from 22,000 subscribers in 2005 to more than 100,000 now. Its annual "Maker Faire" in San Mateo, Calif., attracted 75,000 people this year. "We've had this merging of DIY [do it yourself] with technology," says Bre Pettis, co-founder of NYC Resistor, one of the first hackerspaces, in Brooklyn. "I'm calling it Industrial Revolution 2." The financial crisis played a role in taking a nascent trend and giving it increased urgency, says Michael Cima, an MIT engineering professor. "I've been here 23 years and I definitely see this trend back to hands-on," he says. "A lot of people are pretty disappointed with an image of a career in finance and they're looking for a career that's real." Access to the tools to tinker is getting easier. "Computer numerical controlled," or CNC, tools -- which cut metal and other materials into whatever design is plugged into the computer attached to them -- now cost as little as a tenth of what they did a decade ago. Mr. Sessions, the MIT student, says he first looked at such mills on a lark, assuming the price would be well out of his reach. But his mill cost about $7,000 to buy and set up. He sees the bike-sprocket business as a springboard for developing more complex products, such as a device to increase mobility for arthritis sufferers or an energy-efficient car transmission. He thinks his interest in tinkering will give him an advantage in a global marketplace. "If it doesn't have that creative aspect to it, it may not be worth doing, because your job can be outsourced," he says. Innovation in the U.S. is peppered with examples of tinkerers who started out small, but came up with big ideas, says Naomi Lamoreaux, an economic historian at the University of California, Los Angeles. "The really dynamic times in our history are times when you have lots of ordinary people who think they have a chance to make a difference." Through much of the past century, however, developing new products required increasingly complex and expensive tools that were out of reach of most individuals -- the Wright brothers built an airplane in their bicycle shop, but the first jet-powered aircraft were built at well-funded corporate and government labs. As a result, large firms came to dominate innovation. That trend was disrupted in the 1990s when low-cost computers allowed Internet and software start-ups to compete with giants. But when it came to developing innovative physical products, high prices kept high-tech machine tools and materials out of most tinkerers' reach. "There have always been hobbyists, but it was really hard to go from being a hobbyist who built hot rods to becoming a car company," says Erik Kauppi, a member of at A2 Mech Shop, an Ann Arbor, Mich., workshop where tinkerers pool tools they own. "But now, all of a sudden a guy or a couple of guys have a lot more leverage." The electric scooter that Mr. Kauppi, who is 49, developed at the workshop is now in production. His business, Current Motor Co. in Scio Township, Mich., plans to begin shipping its scooter, with a starting price of $5,500, this month. At engineering schools, the drop in costs is putting tools once accessible only to senior researchers into the hands of undergraduates. The Hobby Shop at MIT, once mainly a wood shop, has been accumulating advanced equipment, some castoffs from MIT laboratories, some bought. "Now you can build sophisticated robots and things like that with all these new pieces of equipment they have," says Greg Schroll, 23, a 2008 MIT engineering graduate. He hopes to eventually start a company around a spherical robot he built at the MIT shop, which he sees being used to gather information in places too hazardous for humans. Projects made by MIT students in the Hobby Shop now in commercial production include a LED system to create lighting effects for film and a machine to salt the rim of a margarita glass. Hands-on is catching on at other schools. There were 27% more undergraduates who earned mechanical-engineering degrees in 2008 than in 2003, according to the American Association of Engineering Societies. Over the same period, the number of computer-engineering graduates slipped by 31%. Students at Carnegie Mellon University asked to stay at school for a week after exams last spring so they could hang out and build things. Ed Schlesinger, a professor there, says that after a long period where theoretical work dominated at engineering schools, "when students talk to each other now, it's 'So, what cool project are you working on?' It's not enough to say I took these classes and got an A." Stanford University's Product Realization Laboratory, where students learn machining, welding and other hands-on skills, has seen membership jump to 750 from 450 over the past five years. As a junior at Stanford in 2004, Carly Geehr thought she was headed for medical school. Then she took a course on manufacturing and design at the Stanford workshop. "I'd never held a drill in my life, but working with the milling machine -- I was just blown away," says Ms. Geehr, who is 24. She changed her major to engineering and, as a doctoral candidate in engineering, is now a teaching assistant for the course that gave her the bug to build. On a recent day, she cheered students on as they prepared molds for sand-casting bronze, occasionally donning a protective fire suit to skim red-hot dross from the crucible before pouring molten metal into the molds. Giulio Gratta, a senior in Stanford's engineering school, has been using the workshop to build a panoramic camera. Even though Stanford is in the heart of Silicon Valley, he says software and Internet development don't hold as much interest as before. "It's no longer the thing to do," says Mr. Gratta, who is 21. "People have to figure out something else. Maybe...physical things." From hacker spaces to profitable businesses, tinkering is experiencing a renaissance. WSJ's Andy Jordan explores some of the "stuff" people are making with new devices that encourage hacking and creativity. Until the 1950s, economists thought how fast the economy grew was mostly a matter of how much money was spent and how much work was getting done. But in a 1957 paper that helped him later earn a Nobel Prize, MIT economist Robert Solow showed capital and labor only accounted for about half of growth. The remaining half he attributed to innovation -- an area where the U.S. has long had an advantage. In recent years, however, U.S. spending on research and development has led some economists to worry that innovation will no longer provide the boost it once did. Corporate R&D spending grew an average of 2.6% annually from 2000 to 2007, down from an average of 6% in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the most recent figures from the National Science Foundation. Chief financial officers surveyed in September by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and CFO Magazine said they expected their companies' R&D spending to grow by just 0.4% over the next year. Tinkering represents innovation outside such figures. TechShop in Menlo Park, Calif., for example, is a for-profit workshop and operates like a gym, except that the members who pay $100 a month are milling iron rather than pumping it. Founder Jim Newton tallied a list of all the tools he could imagine needing. Now TechShop, opened in 2006, has $500,000 worth of lathes, laser cutters and other equipment. There are 600 members at TechShop's original location, up from 300 a year ago, and it has opened workshops in Durham, N.C., and Beaverton, Ore. Projects under way include a liquid-cooling device for computer servers and an electric two-wheeled car. NYC Resistor, the hackerspace in Brooklyn, is funded by members and fees from classes it offers. It opens to visitors every Thursday. Recently, a group gathered around Ben Combee, who demonstrated the laser cutter. He put a piece of Plexiglas into place, started the air compressor, pushed a button and shouted, "Fire the laser!" At a table strewn with laptops, wires and circuit boards, Eric Skiff showed off a robotic arm that twitches when a hand is passed near it. In a corner is the Barbot, a robot that, when it works, pours and stirs an absinthe cocktail called a Sazerac. Such projects -- not to mention a giant Lite-Brite and a toy piano that plays Philip Glass's "Modern Love Waltz" -- may seem frivolous. But Zach Hoeken Smith, a NYC Resistor cofounder, thinks something important is going on. The computer kits sold by companies such as Apple in the 1970s were demeaned as toys, he says, but ended up launching the personal computer revolution. Mr. Smith, 25, studied computer science at the University of Iowa, and worked as a Web developer. But a few years ago, he started playing with an "Arduino" -- an open-source microcontroller. These are used as the "electric brains" for everything from wall-avoiding robots to a hat that pokes the wearer's heads if the person stops smiling. "I was hooked," he recalls. Intrigued by the idea of making a machine than can build its own parts, Mr. Smith got interested in "rapid prototyping machines" -- 3D printers that lay down layers of materials like plastic to form objects. The technology is used by manufacturers to make prototypes, with industrial machines typically costing tens of thousands of dollars. Mr. Smith's NYC Resistor friends Mr. Pettis and Adam Mayer joined the project. Using off-the-shelf electronics and parts, along with a laser cutter, they came up with a machine. Now they're selling kits to make 3D printers. Their company, MakerBot Industries, has shipped 350 of the $750 kits so far. They hired two employees, started paying themselves, and are building another 150 kits for their next shipment. Adam Elkins and members of a hackerspace in Philadelphia, called Hive 76, bought one kit and built the machine. Mr. Elkins, a 28-year-old system administrator for a software company, says he doesn't have access to a lot of space, so he goes to the hackerspace to build. "There's no man-cave I can go to and do things." The first thing he made on the 3D printer was a black plastic ring topped off with white plastic jewel. Last month, he presented it to his girlfriend, along with a marriage proposal. She said yes.

11/06/09 - Guest Host this week, Robin Keith Thompson from ChillerInstinct.com broadcasting from B.C.. Robin gives us info about the upcoming Olympics in his area, discussion on high hits and low hits, measures being taken to address headshots, and a team-by-team look at up-and-coming prospects. Big thanks to RK...T for covering the show while I am away...Please show him a warm blueline welcome...See you next weekend...