[Infographic] 50 Years of Christmas Toys

Oh yeah. I still have this!

  Christmas is coming! And boy my daughters are not letting me forget that! The funny thing is to see them do some of the same things I did when I was a kid like looking very carefully at every toy catalogue that comes in the mail. For me is was always the Sears Christmas Wishbook. Oh man, I couldn't wait for THAT to show up in the mail. The toys were always in the back pages and I'd flip quickly through the tools, cookware, and linens sections to get to it.

Then came the part about dropping hints to mom and dad. Everything from drawing pictures to making lists, from leaving notes in the Christmas tree to just constantly talking about the Star Wars figures I wanted. Eventually dad laid out the rule of "If we ask for it, then we ain't gonna get it." WHAT? How does that work? How would they know then? Mom assured my sister and I that they would just know (and Santa would help, too.) And they always seemed to come through.

Sigh. Oh that anxious waiting every year. It was great though. And even though many of my wishes over the years didn't get fulfilled, it didn't matter because whatever showed up under the tree was always great! Money was tight in my family when I was growing up so I was always grateful for whatever I got. Today it's the same with my own family. I now wonder if mom and dad went through the same process as my wife and I are going through now. Deciding what we can afford, where this or that toy will have any longevity with begin played with. Of course…mom and dad didn't have Amazon heh heh. (Amazon's like a Sears Wishbook only all year 'round!)

My daughters love My Little Pony probably as much as I was into Star Wars figures and Battlestar Galactica toys and it's funny to see what they put on their wish lists. What was an X-Wing fighter for me, it's a Pinkie Pie Train for them!

The following infographic shows the hot Christmas toys of the last 50 years. These are definitely many of the hits for the boys. I don't agree with some of the choices but for the most part, my childhood is represented. Especially 1982 and, yes, even 2005. 

Science Fictions That Are Now Science Facts in 2013

  When I was a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was The Six Million Dollar Man. Astronaut Steve Austin gets critically injured in a crash and in order to save him, they replaced his arm, legs, and right eye with bionic limbs, giving him super strength, speed, and vision. I remember thinking how cool it would be to have a bionic limb. Well, the future is here! And that includes suits that give you Spidey sense, gigantic robots, and…glow-in-the-dark ice cream?

Buzzfeed has compiled 21 things we only dreamed about 20 years ago that have become reality in 2013. Sure some of these are a bit on the trivial side and won't be a huge impact on society, but then again some very well be. As soon as we get the flux capacitor I've been waiting for, we can travel to the future to see if we truly are in the Matrix or if we finally have established that colony on Mars because of the things invented this year.

Best Blog Tips: "I Don't Know What To Write!"

Ah yes. Writers block. So frustrating. Especially when your technology teacher is requiring you to post once a week! So how do these professional bloggers come up with fresh content DAILY?

Writing a blog can be a very challenging, but truly rewarding experience. There are few opportunities where your efforts as a student can be appreciated by the world! However there is that ever present  hurdle of "What do I write about today?" You aren't alone. Most of the time it just takes some generic, fill-in-the-blank questions that will help you come up with your next brilliant post!

As a fan of infographics, buzzebee.com came up with one of my favorites based on an original article by Matt Smith (no, not the 11th Doctor) entitled 15 Blog Post Ideas To Use When You Are Stuck For Ideas. The infographic only focuses on ten of them, but that may be all that you need to jumpstart your next blog post. 

Check the infographic out after the jump and tell us in the comments section which idea you used, or if you have one to add to the list!

Technology Then and Now : 1994

What are these things?

Over break last week, the wife and I started reminiscing about how things used to be when we were in high school and how different it is for kids today. It wasn't one of those "these kids today are messed up because they're so spoiled with all this tech we never had" rant-fests, no. On the contrary, I really do feel the same challenges still exist, they just look...different. If anything, I think life challenges have more options that allow them to be solved (or aggravated) quicker so we can be on to the next challenge.

Technology Now and Then will be my (humorous) showcase of content on the internet that does a pretty good job of capturing the differences of what it was like for Generation X to live as a kid versus today's gen. (Is there a name for today's generation?) I repeat, I am NOT passing any judgement here. In fact there are many times I'm envious of the tech teens have today that I didn't have. I could have done such wonderfully creative things with an iPhone, iMac and youtube!