The fairly recent rise in “geeks” is very interesting. There weren’t really geeks when I was at school. Being a geek wasn’t a thing you were derided or praised for, it just wasn’t a thing. Everyone watched football, everyone watched Red Dwarf. There wasn’t a sense when I was growing up that liking science fiction was weird, uncool or minimal interest.
Until I went to college.
Then everything became very cliquey and insular and people like myself were suddenly weird. The “trendies” thought I was odd and uncool for being into nerd stuff and the “cool kids” thought I wasn’t cool enough to like all the stuff they all liked. I never thought I was odd or weird or tried to make out that I was, but it was decided I was, and who was I to argue? But not cool weird, like the cool kids, just actual weird.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
