Ah, the age-old question: how many potatoes does it take to run DOOM? Turns out it’s a lot. Here’s the description of the video, which might actually be more impressive than the video itself:

Now, this is a story all about how

My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I ran Doom on some potatoes when nobody else cared
In western America born and raised
On the floor of my garage I spent most of my days
Chillin’ out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool
And boiling some potatoes, bought a big wire spool
When a Raspberry Pi turned out no good
And wouldn’t boot up, I tried hard as I could
I spent one little night and the potatoes smelled weird
I said ‘I better get this thing working or I’ll pull out my hair’
I added more potatoes here day after day
But I lacked the amps to take me all of the way
So I gave it some thought hoping I’d find the ticket.
I kept going and said, ‘I might as well stick with it’.

First pass, yo this is bad
Stinky potatoes have more power, can’t explain that.
Is this what it takes to play this game tonight?
Hmmmmm this might be alright.
But wait I fear I’m missing, something isn’t quite grand
Is this the type of place I just end my cool plans?
I don’t think so
I’ll see where it goes
I hope they’re prepared for Doom on potatoes
Well, the plan panned out and affirmed my doubt
The Raspberry Pi needed amps at a higher amount
I ain’t trying to get invested so deep in this idea
I could buy more potatoes, or try again next year
I sat for a minute and then it became clear
I’d use a graphing calculator and finish this here
If anyone says that’s not Doom that’d be fair
But I thought ‘Nah, forget it’ – ‘Yo, homes get the TI-84 prepared’
I pulled up the game at about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the potatoes ‘Yo homes smell ya later’
I looked at my kingdom
I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the first potato Doom player

So now that somebody has powered DOOM on potatoes, the next step is for somebody to compute DOOM on potatoes. I’ve always said modern CPUs are super fast but they’re just not smelly enough. Also, they taste terrible.

Keep going for the full video of a guy with too much time potatoes on his hands.

Source: Geekologie – How Many Potatoes Does It Take To Run DOOM?

Apparently if you play a video of a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man in reverse it looks like they’re actually dancing. Not just dancing, but dancing really, really well. The footwork could use a little work, but it’s moves like these that get all the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube women. Or so I hear. The only thing my dancing attracts is pepper spray and inquiries if I need medical attention.

Keep going for the full video of a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man showing off his moves.

Source: Geekologie – Playing a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man in reverse actually makes them look like good dancers

Because Steven Spielberg has decided he doesn’t already have enough money, he’s reviving Animaniacs on Hulu (premieres November 20) and they put together this Jurassic Park spoof to announce it. The biggest compliment I can give is that it feels like the original Animaniacs. The humor, the tone, they nailed it. And of course they did, because it’s all the same people just with fancier technology and deeper pockets. I think Mr. Hulu sums it up nicely when he says, “We are gonna make a fortune with this show.” Yes you are, Mr. Hulu. Yes you are. Wait, $12 and some Arby’s coupons is a fortune, right? Because that’s all I’ve got.

Keep going for the full announcement video, as well as Yakko’s classic Nations of the World song from the original series.

Source: Geekologie – Animaniacs made this Jurassic Park spoof to announce their glorious return

Japanese musicians ELECTRONICOS FANTASTICOS! make music with weird instruments, and their latest creation is scratching with barcode scanners. It’s not all that original though, since I used to do this all the time when I worked at Trader Joe’s. Did they fire me after one day? Of course. But I think it was their way of supporting my dreams of becoming a barcode musician and I’ll never forget their parting words of encouragement: “What the hell are you doing?! You’re fired. Get out of here and never come back!”

Keep going for the full video, along with another one with barcodes and one of them playing a fan. Like those things that spin and blow air. Yeah, they played one of those like an instrument.

Source: Geekologie – Scratching with barcode scanners

Because Pepsi has either lost its mind or is a genius or both, they put out this streaming YouTube channel featuring lo-fi beats for chilling or studying. It doesn’t sound that weird, except the stream only has songs featuring lyrics about Pepsi. For example, the lyrics to one of the songs is:

Pepsi hits different when you need a drink
You’ll take one sip and be cleaning the sink
Pepsi hits different when you’re trying to think
You’ll do your homework in only one blink
Pepsi hits different
It’ll get your mind in sync
You’ll write a whole novel and use up all the ink

If you can’t appreciate how beautiful and insane this is, I pity you. And yes, obviously I’ve had this on loop 24/7 since discovering it. Do I currently have more Pepsi in my fridge than any human has ever had? Of course. Am I attributing all my current and future success to Pepsi? Undoubtedly. Will I dropkick you if I see you drinking Coca-Cola on the street? You bet. Look, I don’t make the rules. I just know that Pepsi is my only God now.

Keep going for the stream of beautifully chill Pepsi magic.

Source: Geekologie – 24/7 streaming lo-fi beats to sip Pepsi to

Merchandise designer Justin Bryant reimagined six children’s board games as horror movie posters and the results are incredible. Each of them look like they could be from an actual Blumhouse or SyFy movie and, considering Hollwood’s obsession with adapting properties, might actually be. Let’s not forget they did make a Battleship movie and are actively working on adapting Tetris. I’m not even sure these are reimaginings anymore or if Bryant just leaked Hollywood’s actual film release schedule for the next two years.

Keep going for the rest of the series which include Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Hungry Hippos, and more. You can buy prints from Bryant’s site.

Source: Geekologie – Children’s board games reimagined as horror movie posters

Boom has unveiled their XB-1 supersonic jet, despite it clearly being the absolute worst time in history to be in the airplane business. And since the obvious concern about supersonic jets are the sonic booms they create, here’s what Boom has to say about it:

Overture flights will focus on 500+ primarily transoceanic routes that benefit from supersonic speeds–such as New York to London or San Francisco to Tokyo. Overture won’t generate a sonic boom over land cruising at subsonic speeds. Its passengers won’t even notice breaking through the “sound barrier,” which will be inaudible and uneventful.

I’m glad there are people still pursuing the dream of supersonic travel because I’m the kind of busy jetsetter that needs to get places fast. Sure, the only travel I’ve done the past seven months is between my bed and sofa, but you should see how I do it. “Don’t you roll? Don’t you roll between your bed and sofa?” Yeah, but I do it really fast.

Source: Geekologie – Unveiling of Boom’s supersonic XB-1 jet

NVIDIA has developed a technique of video compression using AI, replacing video codecs with a neural network. Instead of sending a compressed video stream, their algorithm sends the location of key facial points and then essentially animates a deepfake of yourself on the receiver’s computer. Additionally, their technique can also align faces so that you’re avatar is actually looking at the person you’re video conferencing with instead of appearing to stare off screen because your camera and monitor aren’t aligned right.

So obviously I’m replacing my face with Chris Hemsworth on all future Zoom calls because why would I use my own face when I can use his face? My girlfriend already makes me tape a printed out photo of him to my face so this feels like the next logical step.

Source: Geekologie – Nvidia creates AI video compression for video conferencing

17-year-old Maci Currin of Cedar Park, Texas, has been certified by Guinness World Records as having the world’s longest female legs. Currin is 6’10” (2.08 meters) and each of her legs measures about 53″ (1.35 meters). Now it’s just a matter of time until she sets her next world record: most miserable person in an airline seat.

Keep going for Guinness’ announcement video, as well as video of the previous record holder: 6’9″ (2.05 meters) Russian model Ekaterina Lisina.

Source: Geekologie – Guinness World Records holder for longest female legs

Apparently Home Depot sells a giant 12 ft tall Halloween skeleton and it’s pretty damn glorious. It costs $300, but every penny goes to the skeleton being really big and awesome. They’re also sold out, because obviously something this necessary would be sold out. The second I get my hands on one I’m setting it up at the dinner table so I can pretend I’m a Hobbit and I’ve been dining with Gandalf the Grey’s corpse for the last thirty years.

home depot skeleton holding baby skeleton by ankle pic.twitter.com/ePwamQ1ycg

— samantha (@samanthaaa_14) September 26, 2020

When your bf comes to meet dad, a 40 ft skeleton pic.twitter.com/7E7Ie48yOc

— 👀 (@peeps_burge) September 30, 2020

Or you could just be this person pic.twitter.com/2KCK3wDxG5

— Shut the fuck up, Donny (@Whtamihere4) September 30, 2020

Source: Geekologie – Home Depot’s giant 12 ft tall Halloween skeleton decoration

Star Trek: The Experience was an immersive themed attraction which opened in 1998 at the Las Vegas Hilton and closed in 2008. For anybody who ever experienced it, this is incredible behind the scenes footage of them building the set, including a lights-on view of the transporter room mechanism at around 11:45.

For those unfamiliar, you basically walked into a simulator loading area, and then using a bunch of lighting and mechanical trickery felt like you were being beamed onto the Enterprise. It was an incredible effect, and actually seeing how it was done has solved a mystery that has plagued me for years. I may or may not have notebooks filled with “transporter room” and question marks scribbled from cover to cover.

Keep going for the full video, as well as as a promo video showing what the original attraction was like.

Source: Geekologie – Raw behind the scenes footage of the construction of Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas

TikToker Christian Hull has a series of videos of him trying to frantically guess what color paint will be as it mixes. It sounds stupid because it is stupid, but it’s also weirdly compelling and maybe needs to be turned into an actual TV game show.

main source of joy is this guy who frantically guesses what color the paint is going to be pic.twitter.com/T1dQrTRWIK

— rebecca jennings (@rebexxxxa) September 29, 2020

Source: Geekologie – Guy tries to guess what color paint is going to be

Turns out the accordion was designed for one purpose, and that was to play Hans Zimmer’s No Time For Caution theme from Interstellar.

Source: Geekologie – Interstellar theme on the accordion

This is an unboxing video of the official mask Apple designed for its employees. In typical Apple fashion, it’s white, designed in California, and manufactured in China. It actually looks pretty cool, and I’m surprised they managed to squeeze that much extra “design” out of a face mask. It’s interesting to see their take on something that’s become so ubiquitous, though obviously if they sold it retail it would be marked up and eventually they’d come out with a Pro version that does exactly the same thing but let’s people know you’re better than them. Although honestly, the packaging looks like it cost twice as much as the mask itself.

Source: Geekologie – Unboxing the official mask Apple designed for its employees

A YouTuber interpolated Tom & Jerry footage to 60 fps using AI and the results are less than desirable. It’s definitely smoother, but it’s pretty clear upscaling framerates doesn’t really work for animation. Animators generally make deliberate choices when it comes to frame duration, and the rhythm of the 60 fps version just feels off. It’s like watching somebody clap off beat to your favorite song. The music is still great, but now you’re annoyed for no reason and can’t really enjoy it. I mean, c’mon, it’s just clapping! It’s not that hard, Tom! Why do you always have to ruin everything?!

Source: Geekologie – Upscaling Tom & Jerry to 60 fps shows why we don’t

This is some awkward small talk during a mid-air refueling of an F-15 Eagle. It’s weird that you can be doing something this cool while having a conversation this boring. At least the pilot at the end seemed to enjoy it and set off a flare. Either that or he got so flustered by the flirting he accidentally hit the wrong button. Better than a Sidewinder missile I guess?

Source: Geekologie – Awkward small talk during mid-air F-15 refueling

MetaBallStudios (previously) is back and they recreated their old starship size comparison video, adding the Earth for scale and including some additional models. The video starts off with the 1 foot tall Hocotate Ship from Pikmin and by the end is using the Sun for scale. I, too, once thought the Ark from Halo was the largest starship in popular culture but oh how wrong I was. Turns out it was actually my wiener.

Source: Geekologie – Size comparison of fictional starships

This sleight of hand pitch doesn’t seem like it should be legal despite the umpire allowing it. Although to be fair I don’t actually know the rules of pitching. All I know is you can’t balk (fake a pitch) and once you start the windup you have to deliver the pitch in one continuous motion. I’m assuming the umpire knows more than I do, I just feel like I’d echo the sentiments of the voice on the video going, “Ah, what the fuck.”

Source: Geekologie – Questionably legal sleight of hand baseball pitch

This is a video of a Polish lunatic known as BNT (or the Silesian Spiderman) climbing the second tallest skyscraper in Paris: the 689 ft (210 m) Tour Montparnasse. The video is a lot of first person GoPro footage mixed with drone footage and all of it got my hands appropriately sweaty. It’s 35 minutes long and I watched it from beginning to end, occasionally pausing to make sure I was mentally prepared to watch somebody die (spoiler: he doesn’t).

Also, if climbing without any safety equipment wasn’t bad enough, at 21:00 an emergency worker abseils down to try and attach a safety harness to BNT which he patiently and politely refuses. The “rescuer” basically shadows BNT for the rest of the climb, which I can only imagine made things way worse. It’s nightmarish enough trying to climb a skyscraper without a rope let alone having some dude right next to you constantly bugging you to stop being so insane. It felt like a nightmare scenario for BNT, and I wished the guy on the rope would’ve realized how much more dangerous he was making the situation and just backed off. It’d be like trying to race a rally car while your co-driver keeps asking if you have your seatbelt on.

Keep going for the full video, as well as one of BNT climbing the 558 ft (170 m) Marriott Hotel in Warsaw. Enjoy them while you can, because this guy is 100% going to die soon.

Source: Geekologie – Lunatic free solos the second tallest building in Paris

A super small Rubik’s Cube measuring just 9.9 millimeters (0.39 inches) and weighing 2 grams opened for preorder in Japan yesterday for delivery in December at the whopping price of 198,000 yen ($1,900 USD).

Billed as a “super-small” Rubik’s Cube, it was created to mark the 40th anniversary of when the original 3-D puzzle went on sale in Japan.

It’s made of “ultra-precision metal,” and comes with a box for its display, according to MegaHouse Corp., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based toymaker Bandai Co.

If only all things went up in value the smaller they were. Am I right, fellas? Eh? Am I right? Can I get a fist bump, anyone? No? Just the sounds of quiet sobbing in the corner? That’s cool too.

Keep going for one more shot of the super small Rubik’s Cube. It doesn’t look like it’s covered in diamonds or anything, so I’m not sure why it’s so expensive.

Source: Geekologie – Super tiny Rubik’s Cube goes on sale in Japan for ,900