>Being a mad scientist means that you don’t just accept common wisdom; you challenge it in favor of finding actual proven facts. Hard data and experimentation are the only way to the truth and you know it.

When people tell you that you can’t measure something, or that human behavior is not predictable, your first inclination is to laugh at them. You know that the course of human progress has been driven by people who push the limits of science. To put it simply, guessing didn’t get us here.

I know there are lots of us out there and I want to start bringing us together–and not just social and viral mad scientists like me, but anyone who pushes the edges with their work.

To help you tell the world that you’re a mad scientist, and proud of it, I commissioned the incredible artist Pat Perry to draw a sweet cube grenade (hat tip to Hugh Macleod for the idea).

Science doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so I’m also launching a community Page on Facebook and a newsletter to start to build an army of mad scientists.

To sweeten the deal, I’m kicking it all off with a contest. To enter, simply print out the mad scientist cartoon and proudly display it in your “lab.” You know, wherever you do your mad scientist work– an office, cubicle, studio, nuclear power plant or whatever. Take a picture and post it to the wall on the Mad Scientists Facebook Page.

The scientist with the craziest workspace will win a lifetime of free hosting on a MediaTemple dedicated virtual server. Yeah, you read that right, a free server for the rest of your life. And these servers are seriously awesome; it’s what I host all my crazy apps on. The second place winner will get a free 4gb Mimobot USB drive of your choice.

I’ll announce the winners in the newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up for that as well.

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