Appeared Search Results

News: Scrabble Showdown Game Show a Disgrace to Competitive Scrabblers Everywhere

Scrabble has invaded just about every medium out there. It started as a mere board game, but has since spawned numerous board game spinoffs and variations, an electronic version, mobile apps for just about anything (Android, iPhone, iPhone, iPad and Kindle), games for both PC and Facebook, and video games for handheld consoles like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Heck, it's even on the PlayStation and Xbox 360 gaming consoles. And it hasn't forgotten about film. You can see Scrabble featured in...

News: News Clips - June 8

California grad student on no-fly list gets home after stranding An American student who discovered he was included on the government’s no-fly list and was barred from a U.S.-bound flight from Costa Rica was reunited with family and friends after he flew to Mexico and then walked across the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday evening.

News: TSA Brags About Confiscating Can Of Chicken Soup

Anyone who follows the TSA blog, run by “Bob”, will know that from time to time the agency attempts to offset the ballooning negative public opinion directed towards it, and the openly criminal behaviour of its employees, by bragging about “dangerous” items that it has discovered and confiscated from the luggage and persons of those traveling through the nation’s airports.

News: Space Painting with a Tesla Coil and One Million Volts of Electricity

Nikola Tesla. He was the man behind some of the greatest inventions of all time, including radio and alternating current. But perhaps his most visually fascinating invention is the Tesla coil. While maintaining a low current, it can produce dangerous high frequencies and voltages that can well exceed 1,000,000 volts, discharging it in the form of electrical arcs very similar to lightning.

News: The Amazing PVC Pipe Music of Kent Jenkins (aka Snubby J)

There's a ton of videos on the web of musicians playing homemade PVC instruments, but I just recently stumbled upon the impressive work of PVC pipe player Kent Jenkins, aka Snubby J. His most recent video features a duet with his faux-twin, playing "Wizards in Winter" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Turns out, he's been a PVC maestro for awhile now and even auditioned for his inspiration, the Blue Man Group, at the age of seventeen. Though he wasn't picked, they saw potential in him and aske...

Sewing the Invisible: Jum Nakao's Paper Couture

The challenge of creating garments with unconventional materials has become an all too familiar gimmick for most first year students at fashion schools. The end result is more often than not a catwalk of garbage bags, zip ties, plastic bottles and cans, assembled into a menagerie of mediocrity. Enter Jum Nakao. But while the Japanese-Brasilian artist/fashion designer does use an unconventional and impractical material (paper) for his collection "A Costura do Invisivel"(translation: "Sewing th...

News: The Secret Life of a Love Doll

Famed artist and photographer Laurie Simmons boasts an impressive career spanning over three decades. She's shown at some of the world's top art institutions and galleries, and appeared on art world popular PBS television series Art 21. She also happens to be the the proud mother of promising young filmmaker Lena Dunham, the 24-year-old director of last year's indie hit Tiny Furniture.

News: Alec Baldwin Kicked Off Plane for Playing Words with Friends

Alec Baldwin loves word games? Enough to get kicked off an airplane? Apparently. Yesterday, while sitting in first class on his American Airlines flight back to New York from LAX, a flight attendant "reamed" him off the plane for playing the popular Scrabble clone, Words with Friends, and not turning off his phone and obeying signs requiring seat beats. Apparently, the aircraft was still at the gate and unmoving. His tweet:

News: Until Project Rainfall Succeeds, We Must Hack the Wii for Xenoblade Chronicles in North America

For as much money as they've made from North American video game audiences over the years, Japanese game developers don't seem to have very much faith in them. Dozens of great titles from their 40 years in the industry have appeared in Japan and across Europe, oftentimes even in English. But they never make it over to America, like Mother 3, Last Window: Midnight Promise, Dragon Force 2, and Tobal No. 2 (that one didn't even hit Europe).

News: Save Big without Skimping

1. Extend your engagement. A longer planning period means a better chance of getting the best vendors in your price range. Plus, you can typically lock in rates that might increase by the time your wedding date arrives.

Important Astronomers: Galileo Galilei

I'm starting a series on the top astronomers, with probably about eleven astronomers that I will be covering overall. So, let's start out from the top, with the top most important astronomer. In my opinion, Galileo Galilei is the top astronomer.

Scrabble Bingo Weekly Roundup: Shlemiels, Cynosures and Yanquis

Bingo! No, this isn't the game where balls fly around in machines and players dab their cards with daubers. In a game of Scrabble, bingo refers to the bonus a player receives when emptying their rack in one turn, which gets them an extra 50 points on top of whatever their play was. Even if you had two blanks on your rack and didn't utilize any premium squares on the board, you'd still have an impressive 56-point turn (at least) by using all 7 of your letters.

News: HP TouchPad Tablet Discontinued – Get One Now for Just $100

In a recent announcement, Hewlett-Packard announced that they're considering spinning off their PC hardware business, but even more recent was the decision to completely off webOS devices. Though they aren't eradicating the once popular Palm platform altogether, they are liquidating all of their HP branded smartphones and tablets in a fire sale, including the Pixi, Pre and Veer phones and TouchPad tablet, which is less than two months old.

News: Did George Plimpton Make a Falconry Game for ColecoVision?

George Plimpton may be one of the most interesting Americans ever. Foremost a sports journalist, he was also a novelist, Fireworks Commissioner for New York City and host of Mouseterpiece Theater. Some of you may also recognize him as one of the men who tackled Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. But most of you probably remember him as the pitchman for products like Pop Secret Popcorn and the Intellivision video game console. Actually, his most appreciated work would probably be a s...

Privacy Is So 2001: An Anime Video Game Novel About Social Media

Japanese people are into many things Americans find weird—like YouTube's beloved canine-hosted cooking show or Daito Manabe's light up LED grills or even more insane, a vending machine that distributes live crabs. In light of these cultural oddities, the Japanese phenomenon of visual novels (NVL, or bijuaru noberu), seems relatively normal. A meeting place of books and video games, visual novels are a sort of "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" for the new generation.

Emerald Knights: A Palace of Nerdery

Before last Sunday I hadn't been to a proper game store since I was in middle school. Over ten years ago. If you decide to stop reading right now because I obviously don't care enough about MTG to be writing this thing, I don't blame you. But I tell you, friends, as someone who has denied the utter awesomeness of their hobby for too long, that going to Emerald Knights in Burbank made me feel at home. I want to tell you about it and explain why I will be back many times in the future.

News: Fossilisation Machine Cuts 1,000 Year Process Down to 3 Months

Artist Austin Houldsworth of the UK has come up with a device that drastically speeds up the process of fossilisation. Entitled Two Million & 1AD, Houldsworth is capable of creating a fossil in a few months (which otherwise might require thousands of years). Houldsworth is currently experimenting with objects such as a pineapple and phesant, but ultimately hopes to fossilize a human. Houldsworth proposes:

News: The Trayvon Deception

If you've been reading, watching or listening to the news, you sure know about the Trayvon Martin case. If you visit this site often, you may also have noticed that I've not put up any news on this case. I have my reasons. And this post will describe why.

Top 10: Best Ethical Destinations for 2011

By Ethical Traveler As the world becomes ever more interconnected, being an ethical traveler becomes both easier and more urgent. Travelers today have access to far more information than we did even 10 years ago. We can observe–almost in real time–the impact that smart or selfish choices, by governments and individuals, have on rainforests and reefs, cultures and communities.

How To: Catch Your iPhone's Hotspot Data Thief Red-Handed

I use my iPhone's personal hotspot all the time. Whether I need a connection on the train, in a coffee shop with no Wi-Fi, or when my friends don't have service, my personal hotspot is a lifesaver. But all that data comes from somewhere, of course, that somewhere being your cellular plan. Luckily, you can see how much data your hotspot has used, as well as who or what used more of it.