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It all started out so well. Samuel L. Jackson began a contest on Reddit that would end with him saying a 300-word monologue that the users voted to the top. This was all done to draw attention to "one of [his] favorite non-profits, Alzheimer's Association[.]" Cool, right? Wrong. 4chan caught wind of it, and the remainder of the contest became a quick descent into madness.

Getting Samuel L. Jackson to say something you've written would be a huge honor for anyone. That's because every word out of his mouth turns to solid gold. Then that gold sprouts angel wings and flies into your ears. Jackson announced on Reddit yesterday that he would record whichever 300-word monologue gets the most upvotes on his thread. Reddit handled it about as well as you might expect, which is to say not well at all. This is why we can't have nice things.

In 1954 Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent which said comic books were the cause of juvenile delinquency in America. They aren't, but the idea that comics are dangerous keeps popping up. This time it's showing itself in the form of a preschool that has banned "Super Hero play." What's really offensive, though, is what they've asked parents to do.

We do our very best here at Geekosystem to keep you apprised of what NASA is up to. It's something we're passionate about, and you all seem to enjoy it as well. We get comments and emails asking us follow up questions about some NASA stories, and we don't always have the answers. NASA Deputy Chief Lori Garver has the answers, and you can ask her anything on Reddit today.

The only way you can make Monopoly an enjoyable game is to add zombies, some dystopian sci-fi, or possibly the Powerpuff Girls, but you know what else might work? The post-apocalyptic, alternate history trappings of the Fallout video game series. Which is exactly what someone on Reddit totally did for their wife's birthday.

At the risk of sounding like Old Man Internet telling all the new folks to get off his lawn, we all should really just agree that Vadering is not actually an Internet meme. At best it's a sad attempt to seed the beginnings of one, and at worst it's the scummiest kind of viral marketing. Either way, there's definitely nothing good going on.

For as much as people seem to like Mad Men, they generally dislike advertising. That's unfortunate, because it's everywhere, especially on the Internet. Sites rely on ads to keep the lights on without having to charge their users. It's not a perfect system, but it's less jarring when those ads are for things that actually interest us. To that end, Reddit is now letting users upvote and downvote its ads.

  It's hard to explain complex things to people, and it can be equally as hard to understand what someone is trying to explain to you. Sometimes it's just easier if the person doing the explaining assumes the other doesn't person doesn't know anything -- hence the term "Explain like I'm five" was born. It's popular to use the phrase on Reddit, which is why it spawned it's own subreddit, and now a web series. In fact, it's Reddit's first original web series. They launched with three episodes, but this was my favorite one, because what's better than explaining existentialism to a group of five year olds? Nothing. Try it.

Sometimes, a thing pops up on Reddit that we just have to share with you. This morning, that thing is this memo from an early screening of Blade Runner shown to film executives at Tandem Productions. Now, Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time, ever, and yes, I even love the voice over. As a fan, though, I know the movie can be...rather divisive. For every one of us that loves Ridley Scott's classic take on Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, there's another person who despises it, or at least feels like they would if they could stay awake through the whole thing. The execs present for this screening are in the latter camp, and boy are they not shy about it.

It's a well-known fact that when you turn your camera on a teenager, they are going to do something stupid. It's pretty much a law of physics, really. Case in point: This student at St. Joseph's, a Jesuit prep school in Pennsylvania, knew he was on live television and, being any high school student anywhere in the history of time, just couldn't restrain himself from taking probably the one opportunity he will ever get to give the dude in front of him a dreaded "wet willy" before an audience of millions. We know that feel, bro.  Thankfully, someone captured this moment of brilliance to share with the Internet at large, and we're delighted to bring it to you below.

Programmer, technologist, philanthropist and strong contender for King Of The Geeks Bill Gates is about 45 minutes into an AMA on Reddit right now, folks, and he is absolutely killing it. From his predictions on what the next big changes in technology will be to fielding questions on how to more effectively introduce vaccines in the developing world, Gates is being kind of the man right now in what is a pretty excellent AMA, following questions right down into the nitty gritty of comments and being smarter and funnier than you expect while doing it. If you haven't poked your head in yet, this is your cue to do so right now.

We love Reddit here at Geekosystem, but sometimes the deep, dark recesses of the site can get a little frightening due to racist, sexist, or otherwise abusive posts and the championing thereof. One man has chosen to boldly go where many have gone before and complained about the site's offensive content, but when that man is William Shatner, people listen.

What a miserable thing to wake up to. Aaron Swartz, former Reddit co-owner, committed suicide yesterday in New York City at the age of 26. That's more or less the extent of what we know at this point, and it's enough to be heartbreaking as it is. Whether you approve of his actions or not, Swartz has had a major impact on the Internet as a whole. Not only was he essentially a co-founder of Reddit, but he also helped found Demand Progress, which fights for civil rights among other things. In short, his legacy lives on, but he'll definitely be missed.

Video games being found that have been signed by famous folks isn't something terribly new. These signatures are often from the people that actually worked on the game, celebrities endorsing the game, or just the kid down the street that wanted to make his claim on a copy of the latest Madden title. Of all the oddities out there floating around, the copy of Fallout 3 signed by Matthew Perry is one of the weirder ones. See, Perry gave the game and an Xbox 360 to Ellen DeGeneres to auction off for charity in 2009. The copy has apparently resurfaced, and was bought for a measly $5. Poor Matthew Perry.

A few weeks ago I may have said some unkind things about graphing calculators and their place in these modern times, but that was before I saw this version of Portal. That's right, someone has released a version of Portal for the TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus graphing calculators. Games are nothing new to the world of graphing calculators, but this makes me want to go back and not pay attention in math class all over again.