Jill and Eric Penne

Part of the reason that I can do that is because one teacher took the initiative and gave me a challenge.  He asked me to do something I had never done and helped me to learn how to do it.

Education is not about league tables or exam results.  It is about opening doors for people and showing them rooms that that would otherwise be hidden.  If we can challenge children to try things and to learn what they can achieve then maybe one day we will be remembered with the gratitude that I hold for Mr Priestley.

Sunday afternoon was cold and gray, the weekend was drawing to a close and all I wanted to do was veg out in front of the television and enjoy the roaring fire in the fireplace. I asked my son if he’d like to watch a football game with me — I thought it would be a good experience for him — he recently finished his third season of YMCA flag football.

His answer surprised me a little. “No, it’s too boring. All they do is stand around.” Was this the same kid who wouldn’t skip a practice or game even if he was sick?

I hadn’t thought about it in a while because I don’t watch much pro football and, when it is on, it’s usually just background noise while I’m working on something else.

But the kid had a point. And one that was easily quantifiable. So I grabbed a pad of paper, a stopwatch, the remote and sat down to watch the horrible & hapless hometown team, the Kansas City Chiefs, play the Denver Broncos in the Mile High City.

My methodology was simple: The stopwatch counted whenever the ball was in play — runs, passes, punts and kicks. As soon as a play was over, the stopwatch was halted. I settled in and soon discovered there’s far less than 60 regulation minutes of play during a typical three hour game.

The game began and the stopwatch ticked off time as Larry Johnson ran outside, Jay Cutler threw an interception and the Chiefs jumped to an early lead. By the end of the first quarter, at the conclusion of the first fifteen minutes of the match, the ball had been in play for a total of three minutes and ten seconds.

See the rest after the jump …

The rest of the game went by at a similar, jerky pace. By the end of the game, I was bored silly, my son had gone to the other room to play with army men and the Chiefs had, once again, lost ugly.

The final tally told an interesting story. The remaining quarters had followed the first:

• The second quarter contained two minutes, 58 seconds when the ball was in play
• The third quarter was the most scintillating with three minutes, 25 seconds of action
• The fourth quarter, which included a lot of kneeling to run out the time in the final two minutes, had showcased two minutes and 35 seconds of play

So, during the two hours and 56 minutes the game took to complete, throughout the 60 minutes of regulation time, the ball was in only in play for 12 minutes and 8 seconds.The rest of the time, players were standing around, plays were being reviewed and I was being bombarded by a multitude of beer commercials and truck advertisements.

I recognize the strategy element of football and the importance of time between plays to try and develop plans that deceive the opposing team, but to think all of the important bits of a three hour game could be viewed in little more than 10 minutes, it only reinforces what I’ll be doing next Sunday. And it’s more likely to involve army men than it is the NFL.

Sure, geeks love expensive gifts. But if you can't afford a Hadron Collider for your geek this year, let alone a flying alarm clock or netbook, consider this: it doesn't take much to entertain us. And for less than $10, here are ten gifts that are sure to make the geekdad in your life giddy this holiday season.

1. Rare Earth Magnets – For $8.99 at Amazon, you can purchase a space-age tube of Rare Earth Magnets. These incredibly strong little magnets have a multitude of applications, from household use to affixing different weaponry to a Warhammer 40K army. You'll watch in wonder as your geek ambles around the house attaching and, with some effort, detaching the magnets from any possible surface. Warning, though: keep away from children, computers, and fingertips. Nothing spoils a good present like a visit to the ER… or the Genius Bar.

2. Buzz Magnets – Okay, two magnets in two suggestions, but bear with me. For $4.43 you can give your geek a pair of buzz magnets, magical and mysterious objects that, when tossed up into the air, buzz. Really, it's absolutely amazing. Wow your friends, or at the very least entertain your geek long enough to be able to use the Xbox for twenty minutes.

3. Government Issued Zombie Survival Guide Poster – Because really, no one can ever be too prepared. When the impending zombie apocalypse finally happens, your geek will have a quick and easy reference right above his expansive D&D minis shelf that he can look to in order to stay alive… for a little while at least. And at $8.99, it's a small price for peace of mind.

4. Darth Vader Gauntlets – For a particularly hard day at work. You'll know that you gave your geek hours of trachea-crushing fantasies with these adult-sized Darth Vader Gauntlets. Now, during stressful conference calls, your geek can pretend he's everyone's favorite villain. Would be especially cool if they doubled as oven mitts, but hey, for $9 you really can't go wrong. If the kids want a pair, they make child-sized pairs, too.

Hit the jump for 6 more geeky gift ideas under $10.

5. 20-Sided Fuzzy Dice Danglers
- Nothing says loving like a pair of fuzzy polyhedral
dice for your geek's car. He can ride his pride and joy around town
letting all know that, yes, this is, in fact, how he rolls. A steal at
$9.95.

6. Minimates from Battlestar Galactica
- Personally, I think the Adama/Tigh combination is the one to get,
because it's all you need for high-tension re-enactments on top of your
desk. You can growl in your best Edward James Olmos impression, "Launch the fighters!" But, at under $5 a set, you can easily
afford a second pair—like Baltar and Caprica—for a full-out episode rehash. Or, yeah, you can just look at 'em, too.

7. Brunton Striker Magnesium Firestarter
- You might not think there are many applications for such a thing, but
you'd be surprised. Many geeks are camping geeks, and matches
are so last century. This modern take on flint and tinder is not only a
great thing to have in case of emergency, but your geek will amaze
their friends on their next camping trip by doing the most impressive
of feats: starting a fire from scratch. For $8.24 right now at Amazon.com.

8. Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Mini Ultra Hub
- These were so expensive a year ago, and here's one for an
unbelievable $8.13. If your geek is a gamer on the go, a blogger, or a
laptop loomer, this is an essential little gift. To ensure all gadgets
are properly plugged in and ready to go in any situation, you can give
your geek the gift of organization and style. I particularly like the
diamond shape on this. Kinda looks like a little robot. And robots are
undeniably awesome.

9. Star Maps for Beginners
- It could be argued that star-gazing is what spawned geekery to begin
with. The first scientists and mathematicians were those who charted
the movement of the stars and broke new ground discovering, without
modern technologies, the wonders of the universe. That's not to
mention, of course, that pondering these massive planets and stars also
spawned everything from Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica to MST3K.
So, do your geek a favor and set him on the ultimate course with this
book; for $9.60, you can't really go wrong for knowledge that will last
a lifetime.

10. Everything Kids Magical Science Experiments Book
- Every geekdad knows that the best part about being knowledgable is
what you can get away with. With hoards of smarts comes full clearance
to a number of otherwise restricted activities. This book is the
perfect place to start. A few samplings include instructions on how to:
create invisible ink, build a genie in a bottle, make a fog chamber,
and make a person stay seated just by using your pinky finger. For just under $8, there's enough for a year's worth of fun for the whole family
in this one!

For more great geekdad gifts, check out the GeekDad Holiday Gift Guides:

#1: Kids' Books & Activities
#2: Dads' Books & Activities
#3: Kids' Gadgets & Video Games
#4: GeekMoms!
#5: Toys for Dads & Kids to Share

Yesterday, GeekDad Don put up the plaintive thought "I'd love to see a high school physics curriculum based around humorous YouBube videos."  Well, while it might not yet be officially sanctioned curriculum anywhere, Wired Science has already compiled many of the best lessons to be found online for science education.  From our friend Aaron Rowe:

Top 10 Chemistry, Biology, and Physics Videos

The best way to teach science is with hands-on experiments, but short
video clips are a terrific way to get students excited and teach
concepts that are hard to illustrate on a chalkboard. Over the past
year, Wired Science has compiled a list of the very best science
videos from chemistry, physics, and biology. They can be used as a
supplement for science classes of any grade level.

In the coming years, as more content makes its way to YouTube and
Flickr, it should be possible to find a video clip or set of slides to
complement any lesson — regardless of the topic. For now, these clips
are a good start.

Top 10 Chemistry Videos
Topics: Thermite vs. Liquid Nitrogen, Gummy Bear Oxidized by Potassium
Chlorate, German Scientist Spits Flaming Spores, The PCR Song, The
Undulating Briggs Rauscher Reaction, How to Make Stalagmites
Instantly, Elephant Toothpaste, How to Make Glow Sticks, The Inner
Life of a Cell, Magnesium Burning Between Bricks of Dry Ice

Top 10 Physics Videos
Topics: Musical Tesla Coil, Mythbusters Play with Sulfur Hexafluoride,
Boomerang in Zero Gravity, Helium Superfluid, Supersonic Halo, Sound
Waves on Fire, Water in Zero Gravity, Ferrofluids, How Superconducting
Levitation Works, Large Hadron Collider Rap

Top 10 Biology Videos
Topics: Immune Cell Chasing a Bacterium, How High Speed Gene
Sequencing Works, Shrimp Jogging on a Treadmill, All About the Heart,
The PCR Song, Glowing Mice and Stem Cells, DNA Oragami, Cyborg Monkey
Controls Robot Arm, Evolution and Human Ancestry, Building Body Parts
from Scratch

Sunday, November 30, 2008;Page B01

I should have felt triumphant when I returned from Iraq in August 2006. Instead, I was worried and exhausted. My team of interrogators had successfully hunted down one of the most notorious mass murderers of our generation, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war. But instead of celebrating our success, my mind was consumed with the unfinished business of our mission: fixing the deeply flawed, ineffective and un-American way the U.S. military conducts interrogations in Iraq. I’m still alarmed about that today.