Steampunk Travesty: Cross-Dressing in Fandom
Cross-dressing and gender-bending are nothing new, but the realm of Steampunk seems to be especially accepting of role-reversal in dress.
Cross-dressing and gender-bending are nothing new, but the realm of Steampunk seems to be especially accepting of role-reversal in dress.
I don't know how many of you had this experience in your youth, but when I was a kid, I used to actively think about what would happen if I suddenly woke up in a fantasy land, or were to pass through a portal into another space and time. I knew it wouldn't really happen, but when you're a kid, these can be important issues to you. So I slept with my glasses on every night, just in case. Photo from George Pal's The Time Machine.
I've tried my hand in the past at defining Steampunk, but as anyone else who has made a similar attempt will tell you, there's a significant backlash from the community against working to create a real definition of what Steampunk is. That may sound ridiculous to some, but it's a very serious matter to others. With the recent announcement that TeslaCon 4 will be called the Congress of Steam, I think it's appropriate to talk about why all of this stuff is worth it. In this article, I'm going t...
Of all the places you'd think to check for bed bugs, I doubt that library books would be at the top of your list. As odd as it sounds, though, libraries and library books are some of the most common places for bed bug infestations. Libraries all over the country have reported bed bug problems this summer, and some have even had to temporarily close to take care of the problem. But before you vow to never set foot inside a library again, here's a little primer on how to check your books for be...
It can be incredibly frustrating to take closeup shots with an iPhone camera—or any smartphone camera for that matter. Even if your phone's camera is top of the line, you'll still get a fuzzy picture if you get to close to your subject.
When OS X Lion (10.7) debuted last year, a lot of Apple users were dismayed that the "Save As" option had disappeared, replaced by the "Duplicate" function. Most felt that it just wasn't the same, so when Mountain Lion was released, the "Save As" option was brought back… sort of.
Did you know that there's a way to start a fire by squishing air? In this project, I'll show you how to build a tool that does exactly that—and I'll give you a sneak peak into the principals of how a diesel engine operates!
The guitar is a double-edged sword. I've played all my life, and though I love the act of guitar playing, there are quite a few people I could live with never hearing play again—ever.
Brushing your teeth is a necessity. You don't want to walk around with yellow teeth and stinky breath, and it's common courtesy to those around you to care about your personal hygiene at least that much.
We've all been there. You wake up early, hungry for breakfast, but not just any breakfast will do. You want bacon and eggs. So, you blindly stumble into your kitchen, underwear-clad, and begin fumbling about with pots and pans. After a few minutes, you fill your pan with delicious and smokey rashers and turn the heat on. Everything seems okay... until the bacon actually starts to cook. With a splat, burning hot grease flies out of the pan and bombards your skin, causing intense pain and great...
There are loads of reasons for somebody to want to recover a Windows password, and there are lots of different ways of doing it. My favorite of all of these ways is to use a piece of software called Ophcrack because:
In this article, I'll be explaining the basics of how microcontrollers work, physically and virtually. First off, microcontrollers are no simple thing, so don't be discouraged if you find it mind-boggling! The world of microcontrollers is fascinating, engaging, and an awesome hobby; it never gets boring. I'll be focusing more on I/O and analog based microcontrollers, such as those running Arduino, and using Atmel chips as examples (these are most commonly available, and easy to program).
We've all seen the breathtaking, colorful photos of the Eagle, Egg and Cat's Eye Nebulae. You may not recognize them by name, but you've seen them, whether in astronomy textbooks, magazines, websites, album covers, or tee shirts. They are some of the most striking photographs ever taken from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
Oh, boy. A stopped-up drain. It'll inevitably happen with any home plumbing system and your kitchen sink is no exception. That clog won't go away on its own and will require immediate attention to keep any standing water from rising. But you don't have to resort to calling an expensive plumber or using a bottle of hazardous chemicals. Using simple kitchen staples or common household objects, as well as some determination, you can unclog your kitchen sink on your own without paying a dime.
Remember those old vinyl records? Remember jumping on the 8-track bandwagon? Switching over to cassette tapes? How much money you spent converting your music collection to compact discs? To MP3s?
In this article you will learn how to understand written origami instructions, called diagrams. You can follow the video below or read the entire article
SCRABBLE. To some it's just a game, but to me it's life or death. Well, not really, but it feels that way anyway. On a normal weekend, a game becomes much like Jon Thomas' "friendly game of death Scrabble."
The best way to get into recycling is make it simple. Recycling newspapers is a great way to start your efforts to go green. It is one of the most common paper products in your home that can be recycled. The hard part is keeping the papers from becoming a big mess while you store them. Bundling the papers and tying them up can be very hard. An easy solution for that problem is to put two pieces of string that are long enough to wrap around the bundle of papers in a wagon. Lay them in the wago...
If you're racing for time or taking a leisurely ride by the beach there's little that's more annoying than a squeaking sound every rotation of a wheel. Don't let a squeaky break ruin your biking fun when those brakes can be as good as new in no time.
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
Fireworks are the best part about the Fourth of July and other celebrations, but they can easily cause accidental injuries. It's both safer and more fun to set them off remotely, so we'll hack some standard fireworks with nichrome wire, a relay, and an Arduino to ignite remotely over Wi-Fi using any smartphone or computer.
The most common Wi-Fi jamming attacks leverage deauthentication and disassociation packets to attack networks. This allows a low-cost ESP8266-based device programmed in Arduino to detect and classify Wi-Fi denial-of-service attacks by lighting a different color LED for each type of packet. The pattern of these colors can also allow us to fingerprint the tool being used to attack the network.
When I review apps, I'll oftentimes end up downloading at least one or two "bad" apps that either lied about their functionality or were riddled with ads. These apps, while not as harmful as malware, can still be a major headache. This got me thinking about the other bad apps on the Play Store and how to avoid them.
The easiest way around a security policy is to find users who don't follow it. The Have I Been Pwned database identifies accounts with information breached by major third parties like Yahoo and LinkedIn. With Maltego, hackers can locate breached accounts created using company email addresses, potentially giving attackers access to a company account if the employee reuses a compromised password.
If you're not a carpenter, you may be completely overwhelmed by the information in this video. They have a tough job. Just like electricians, there's a lot of math involved in carpentry, and one of the calculations laborers struggle with is constructing a hip roof. If you're not sure what a hip roof is, you should just stop right here… don't go any further…
Drawing is easy for some, harder for others, but drawing letters is pretty simple for both the pro and novice artist. There's all kind of text styles you could conjure up, and they don't have to be boring fonts. Fire up your imagination to create different styles for drawing numbers and letters of the alphabet, adding individuality and pizzazz to names, messages, greeting cards and decorated items.
Instead of just going for a walk through the outdoors, try adding in the rewarding hobby of bird watching. The song sparrow is a great bird to look for on perches and will vary in appearance across the US.
For furniture or wood projects, adding an aged wood look can give real character and interest to an otherwise ordinary object. With a little sanding, stain and lacquer to finish you can transform any wood object.
This video illustrates how to repair a Ford F150 with a Triton V8 park plug thread. Get it into the garage and check out the engine. The Noise is all about the spark plug thread is blown out of the cylinder head. This problem is very common in the Triton V8 engines. To repair this spark plug thread the materials you need, Materials: 1. Cylinder head repair kit from Napa. 2. RED Thread locker. Procedure: Before the repair, remove the negative cable from the battery. Fit the adapter to the sock...
A dislocated shoulder involves movement of the ball of the humerus away from the ball and socket joint. Ninety-five percent of the time, it will come out anteriorly when an individual's arm is forcefully pushed backwards and rotated in such a way that the ligaments in the front of their shoulder tear and the ball will pop out the front of the shoulder. This is a very common injury seen in contact sports. Learn how to diagnose and treat a dislocated shoulder in this medical how-to video.
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
In this video series, our expert will teach you how to care for house plants. You will learn easy to follow instructions for caring for tropical house plants, cactus and other unusual house plants. Get tips for avoiding common gardening mistakes, using the right soil, and providing the right amount of light for plants.
In these videos on raising farm animals, learn the basic facts about pigs. Our expert naturalist will discuss some of the major characteristics of this species, as well as tips for raising them, including stages of pig growth, eating habits and digestion, housing , common problems, signs of disease, keeping pigs as pets, breeding and piglet care and development.
Our expert, Julia Trigila, discusses the application process for eyelash extensions. She answers common questions: What are eyelash extensions? How does water affect my extensions? How can you remove them? Julia covers these issues and many more.
Master Rafael Negron, 6th DAN Master Instructor, and Jessica Sherlock, 2nd Degree blackbelt. Hapkido is an eclectic Korean martial art that is literally translated as “the way of coordinating energy” or “the way of coordinated power.” Hapkido is ultimately used as self-defense and combines other skilled martial arts with common attacks. he main focus of Hapkido is footwork and body positioning used to employ leverage.
While there's an art to surviving the all-nighter, there's also an art to staying awake throughout the day when you're operating on little to no sleep. In 1964, the record for sleep deprivation was set by 17-year-old Randy Gardner, who stayed awake for an incredible 264 hours and 12 minutes. Now while we're not out to challenge Randy for his title, we can certainly look to him for inspiration in beating back our own fatigue.
This article is a guide for making Chainmail Armor from start (simple wire) to finish (a finished chainmail shirt). We will be using the European 4 in 1 weave, as this is the most common weave. This is the weave that you usually see in movies. There are several sections to this guide: Materials, Making the Rings, Weaving the Rings, and Making the shirt.
Active Expert Gale Bernhardt explains the problems with cross-chaining in this instructional cycling video. This is a common error for new cyclists and puts the chain in a lot of tension across the bike. Learn a few techniques to avoid cross chaining in this cycling tutorial video.
The legal battle between Epic Games and augmented reality startup Nreal isn't cooling off anytime soon.