I never made it to Girl Scouts (Brownies, represent!), but I do recall that patches, along with Kumbaya and craft fairs, were all the rage. In fact, their mantra should have been “make new friends, but cut a beezy for a badge.” But who really cares if we can camp together, peddle cookies outside a grocery store, or get high on life anyway? I think these Nerd Merit Badges are much more commendable, and no doubt I’ve diligently earned the “Family Tech Support” and “Inbox Zero” varieties. Unfortunately, the “Printer Hero” badge is the only one that comes with these super fresh letterpress backs from Dolce Press, since a regular copy job couldn’t embody “the heroic vanquishment of these godawful beige-colored killers of our souls.” Hell to the yes, I’ll take one of each please.

Hey Brooklyn, let’s spend a Sunday afternoon together. We’re taking over the outdoor garden at Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick and having our friends The Ecology Center show us how to make terrariums. It’s going to be the jam and did I mention the free pizza, beer, wine and natural sodas? Yup, this is how we roll. Plus, we’re pumped to co-host this event with 1NiteStand.org, a new initiative that fosters collective action around a single event. So come join us and others who believe in doing good and having fun. RSVP for free admission.

April is right around the corner and that means one thing: playoff beards. Whether it’s tradition, a temporary soul patch or just plain laziness (see also: The Sydney Crosby), the beard is your friend. If you don’t like beards then you probably don’t like being awesome. And that makes you a bad person. So scruff up.

Local news is pure comedy. The title kind of says it all. [via Etsy Dudes]

Photo geeks and bookworms, unite! Photographer Jeffrey Martin, along with his robot-controlled Canon 550D camera, has taken the world’s largest indoor photograph — a 40-gigapixel, 360-degree image of the Philosophical Hall, a reading room in Prague’s 868-year-old Strahov monastery library that’s usually off-limits to tourists. The 283 GB image lets you zoom in close enough to read the rare book titles. I know what I’m going to be doing for the next hour. [via Wired]

Photo: Evan Rail/Wired.com

Bring on the face-paint, robo-trippin’ choreographed partytime. Tuneyards new video is the jam and unless you hate being awesome, it’s time to check-in and become the mayor of happytown. Added bonus from our pals at 4AD, you can score a free download of “Bizness” right here.

When I spend time or money reading a book that isn’t strictly for pleasure, I’m hoping for it to be an investment in me. I want it to teach me something, to inspire me to take action and do something differently. Guy Kawasaki’s latest book Enchantment really did that for me.

Enchantment is a book that’s for anyone who wants to learn more about how to change the hearts, minds and actions of people. Whether it’s for your career or just day-to-day interpersonal relationships, Guy lays down some awesome fundamentals, all of which are centered around not being sleazy or withholding information from people, but being likeable for the right reasons and establishing trust. It’s a book about how the way you treat your customers may be the single most important thing you do for your business and I say that with customers and business being loose terms. A lot of people are technically your customers and your business can mean many things.

Some of my favorite takeaways were when it makes sense to swear, how any company that thinks disenchanted employees can enchant customers is foolish and that projecting and pursuing your own passions is what makes you enchanting. And I totally agree, hearing someone talk about their passions in life can be a total turn-on. As far as investments go, picking up this book for under $15 is totally worth it and may do more for you than an expensive credentialed program does, provided you take things to heart and reference it regularly.