This is a picture of my grandfather with my great, great grandfather from around 1942. My grandfather, Jim Facente, was a 1st generation Italian-American who served as a Naval medic during WWII. He would later go onto a) produce my mother, b) open a bowling center and c) provide an environment in which my professional bowling father could meet said mother. He was always one of my absolute favorite people. I idolized this man whose side-obsession with technology and gadgets inspired my nerdery from a VERY young age. He was warm and kind but also strong and decisive. He taught me to push through stuff even when you’re afraid, a trait he no-doubt honed as a soldier. Sadly, we lost him in 1995 but hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t drift into my thoughts in some way or I don’t find myself striving to make myself worthy of the legacy he left behind.

Between my time at G4 and as a podcaster, I’ve received many wonderful notes from folks serving overseas in the various armed forces about how our programming connects them to their home. Those notes always mean a lot to me especially when I try to empathize with the idea of being separated from my family in a hostile environment. So for my grandfather and the men and women who have dedicated their lives to cause bigger than themselves on behalf of our country, I throw out an immense amount of gratitude and a very sincere Happy Veterans Day.

Fun fact! Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day and was declared as such by President Woodrow Wilson on November 11, 1919, or the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marking the armistice of WWI. In 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to celebrate all those who had served during military conflict.

Maybe I should just go ahead and change my name to what everyone wants it to be in the first place…

I’m on Late Night w/ Fallon tonight along w/ Kirsten Dunst and AIR SUPPLY! I love those guys. Unironically. This is my front facing camera from Jimmy’s couch while A.S. rocked the SHIT out of that studio with a The Roots-backed rendition of “Here I Am.” I sang along and air-drummed through the whole performance. I also would have loved to hear “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All (makin’ love) Out of nothing at aaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaall! AH AHH AHHHHHHHHH!!!! MAKING LOVE!!!!” but since it wasn’t a concert, that didn’t happen.

This show was a blast, as always. Didn’t meet Kirsten Dunst but she seemed nice enough. Airs tonight (technically tomorrow #pushesupglasses) at 12:35a/11:35p central.

Here’s a better pic of the Air Supply lads, Graham Russell & Russell Hitchcock:

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

This was that time I brought Wil Wheaton into my dark brood. I had to do it in order to ensure his survival when I chewed our baby out of his womb. Wait…whaaaa????

e2-e4, everybody!

sidenote: I took this photo at an antique store. The dimensions of the board are about 3′x 3′.

The images showing things like the Apollo landing sites and boot prints and stuff left behind were taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, zooming in on the Apollo 12, 14, and 17 sites. Cool and eerie, like exploring an abandoned building, but without the oxygen.

As requested, here is the photo that you can hear being taken (I forgot to cut that part out) on the latest Nerdist Podcast with Rainn Wilson, Bryan Cranston and Seattle crimefighter Phoenix Jones. He had to show me how to hold the shield properly so as not to break off my tiny, bird-like wrists.

Genius booth granny at PAX in Seattle. Excellent staging and casting on the part of games-on-demand site gog.com.

I love it here.

Douchechimpery aside, hugely good times were had by myself with Jen and Ryan Stout on tonight’s ep of Chelsea at 11p on that E! channel.

Image credit: X-ray NASA/CXC/IfA/D.Sanders et al; Optical NASA/STScI/NRAO/A.Evans et al

Via Bad Astronomer, who has more info about the collision of these two galaxies.