Wired's how-to wiki gives us "Cake in a Mug," perhaps the greatest thing to come to the microwave since peep jousting:

You're working at home and your mind starts to wander to snack possibilities. There are probably some prepackaged, good-until-the-next-millennium baked items in your cabinet, but you're in the mood for something warm from the oven. Something chocolate. However, your compulsion to work is just strong enough to keep you from leaving the computer long enough to make something from scratch. Guess it'll have to be another stale Twinkie after all.

A single-serving portion of cake. Baked in a microwave. In the mug I mixed it in. Just for me. Right now.

Hello future. You can keep the jetpack.

Make Cake in a Mug

Hobos have a code system for communicating warnings and identifying good places to camp. Warchalkers have their own code for marking open access points.

Now kids can have a secret ideogram language for finding the best loot:

Growing up in the Bowling Green neighborhood of Sacramento, I was taught how to read and mark houses with the Halloween Candy Code. For kids with an early curfew these codes were invaluable. Once we tagged a house, our peers could use our marks to reap the best full-size chocolate bars while avoiding Chex mix and dried apricots.

Most marks were left in bright chalk at the bottom of the driveway.

Shown above are the symbols for king size candy bars, fun size bars, open porch bowl, and Reese's Pieces. Though I'm pretty sure it's a joke—and I dare drop my first public ROFL in the middle of this blog entry, as that's what I've been doing for a few minutes—it also strikes me that this is a sound idea and should immediately be taught to kids everywhere.

Halloween Candy Code
Cabel Sasser's inspired tweet on the topic of a kids' hobo code

NXT Mindstorms hacker BlueToothKiwi created a working Wall-E trash collector robot and uploaded build instructions to the NXTLog.

To mark the release of the film, the official web site has a 'Build your own robot' section where you get to choose the looks / behavior / mobility etc.

And of course, if you got a NXT - you dont need to go to a web site to design a virtual robot. You can of course build your own real Wall-e! Well almost!!

BlueToothKiwi's bot may have won an NXTLog building challenge, but there are some other great Wall-e robots on the NXTLog site worth checking out. From the look-and-feel department, Joe Meno's Flickr photos of his bot bear a striking resemblance to Earth's last robot.

Last is this humble little Wall-E, based on the original Mindstorms.

I'm pretty sure I need to build about 10 of these things and scatter them around the office.

Making your own Wall-e with NXT [thanks, Patti]
Instructions on NXTLog
Other Wall-e bots at the LEGO NXTLog
Joe Meno's LEGO Wall-e on Flickr

Just because it's hot doesn't mean the kids have to stay indoors in the A/C. There are a number of worthwhile summer projects, but the KidWash looks like it has a particularly high fun/effort ratio. A trip to the hardware store for some PVC and mister jets and you can give the Wii a run for its money next weekend.

I headed down to the PVC section of the local home improvement store to pick up supplies. While browsing the adjacent sections for interesting stuff I noticed the micro-irrigation section and inspiration struck: KidWash with mister jets!

The modification worked great. We turned it on and kids from up and down the block started showing up to help with the testing. It's a lot of fun on foot, but my kids also get a blast out of riding their bikes through it.

This would be great to combine with a DIY visqueen slip and slide.

KidWash 2 : PVC Sprinkler Water Toy

Developed by those nice folks at the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is a visual programming language for kids.

The development environment reminds me a little of the Lego Mindstorms programming interface, where you can drag blocks around and attach them to create procedures. Instead of hacking robots, though, kids can use Scratch to create games, animations, art, and whatever else they have an inclination to build.

As young people create projects in Scratch, they learn many of the 21st century skills that will be critical to success in the future: thinking creatively, communicating clearly, analyzing systematically, using technologies fluently, collaborating effectively, designing iteratively, learning continuously.

After you've created something, your masterpiece can be posted to the Scratch website for other kids to play and comment on. More importantly, kids can download and learn from the source code, which they can then apply to their own projects.

Check it out - it's a social network for 8 year old open source hackers.

Scratch - Link
Deweybears' Scratch Donkey Kong - Link

Jeremiah of Z Recommends has just launched a promising new site for hacking parents called toyinstructions:

a collaborative wiki of deep links to instructions, user manuals, and building guides for toys and children's games. This site also offers links to blog searches, photos, and Yahoo user groups for toy brands, and a moderated list of top fan sites.

Here's what the page for the Super Soaker looks like, with its custom DIY link:

As Jeremiah points out, the site will only be as good as its contributions, so if you have hard-to-find toy instructions to share, I do recommend you help him build what could be a very useful site.

To prepare routes of varying lengths while training for her first marathon, The Marathon Mama (a.k.a. Kristina Pinto, my wife) used to simply drive from the house and clock distances using her car's trip odometer. But training for her second marathon, this time as a mother, she began to realize:

It can get tedious to drive around with a toddler in the back seat asking, "Where we going?" as we pass our house several times to measure various routes. Besides, I often forget the mileage of my routes.

For city runners who jog on a lot of one-way streets, or any of you who walk or run and are looking to chart out the mileage on a new route: you don't need to get in your car to clock the miles anymore. There are several free websites that will help you out and determine the miles of a path anywhere in the country.

• You can calculate your own route or check out other people's preferred paths at WalkJogRun.
  
• Another DFMC runner recommended Gmaps Pedometer, which offers similar services.

Related:

• Google Maps Hacks
  
• Mapping Hacks
  
• Support The Marathon Mama's run to benefit cancer research

Jim writes in to tell us about a great parent hack at Baby Toolkit::

This is a great way to make an open banister safe for babies and toddlers. Instead of paying through the nose for commercial child proofing solutions, my wife came up this great hack using materials from a local awning and commercial tent manufacturer and a whole bunch of zip ties. She even lists the contact information so that you can do the same.

When riding in the car, my toddler is always dropping his toys (sometimes by accident and other times, I'm convinced, on purpose) and saying, "Uh oh!," which isn't quite as cute as it is frustrating after having to reach back dangerously or stop the car safely to return his toys to him several times in a row (not returning them isn't really an option for a reasonably peaceful drive). For the long drive home from my in-laws last summer, my father-in-law hacked a solution to the problem. He attached a net-mesh bag with an elastic strap to the back of the passenger seat and attached the base to the car seat, creating a "safety net" for fallen toys, making it much easier to just keep on driving.

If this and much more innovative parenting solutions interest you, check out Asha Dornfest's Parent Hacks, our favorite "collaborative weblog of practical parenting wisdom."