Complex Situations Search Results

How To: Make A Whistle From A Sycamore Twig

I will show you how to make a loud whistle from a twig from a sycamore tree. In fact they are so loud that they could be used in an emergency situation to attract attention from potential rescuers. The international distress signal is 6 whistle blasts in quick succession.

How To: Jump Start a Car

We've all been there before: We're in a hurry to get somewhere (often in bad weather), so we get in the car, turn the key in the ignition and.....WHUH! WHUH! WHUH! The darned battery is dead! After a stream of choice expletives (that is, if you're anything like me....;o)), we open the trunk and take out the jumper cables - but what if we don't know how to use them? Even if we do, we can often forget such things in crisis situations when we're pressed for time.

Null Byte: Never Let Us Die

If there ever was a time for Null Byte to need people to contribute, it's now. Let's make Null Byte a place where anyone, from novice to master computer user, come and learn. It has been sometime since the last "Call to Arms" for Null Byte, and even longer since the last "Weekend Homework". We all know that this time of year is busy for everyone, but that didn't stop occupytheweb otw from creating a great article in his continuing "Hack Like a Pro" series.

News: This is Shrove Footbal

Each year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, Ashbourne becomes a war zone! The majority of the ablebodied men, women and children take to the streets to play what is probally the largets football game in the world! - The two teams number in the hundreds, and the palying field is 3 miles long, 2 miles wide and has the town of Ashbourne in the middle!

News: Hideo Kojima and Fox Engine Make Special USC Appearance

Hideo Kojima is one of the biggest names in Japanese game design. He's the man behind every Metal Gear game, each of which has been beautiful but divisive. He's an auteur, a rarity in AAA game design, managing business, design, and programming for Kojima Productions. Last week he made a rare public appearance at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which contains the school's video game programs, and gave a 90-minute talk about his career, influences, and the specifics of his new Fox game design...

News: Free Protein Folding Game Cracks HIV Molecule Riddle

Foldit is definitely a niche game. The sole gameplay mechanic is attempting to fold complex proteins into smaller and more efficient shapes following the rules of molecular physics and biology. Points are awarded based on how small one can make the protein. Online leaderboards track players' relative progress and allows them to view and manipulate other players' completed designs. It's original, certainly, but no developer is going to ship a million units of a game about molecular-level prote...

Yuppie Frozen Pizza Taste Test: What's Your Favorite?

I'm a desert island pizza person, meaning, I pretty much never get sick of pizza. When it comes to other favorite cuisines, I operate in cycles - indulge often, grow tired of them, take a break and re-visit in time. But when it comes to pizza, I could eat it every night of the week. I typically practice enough self-control to override this desire, but luckily for me, I made a special concession this past week while creating this article.

Outland: A Polarizing Experience

Sticking with our theme of XBLA games with uninspiring names, we have Outland. This game shares its name with an unrelated sci-fi cult film from 1981, unrelated comic strip from the '90s, and unrelated region in World of Warcraft. Didn't exactly try hard to build name recognition. Other than that, Finnish developer Housemarque has created the best 2D platformer I've seen in years.

News: What is Belly Dance?

Good Question. Belly Dance is an American term that encompasses MANY different styles of Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and North African dances both traditional and modern, and also Fusion styles that have pieces that resemble these dances form the "old country" but are distinctly American. Also, Belly Dance is somewhat of a misnomer since the dance has much more to do with the hips than the belly. There are also many different terms for the different Belly Dance styles depending on the r...

News: The Ultimate Prank - End of the World

Got to be convince someone or a few innocent, young by-standers that the world is ending. Could maybe have a small group of student in an interview situation, maybe in a waiting room. Then you could play reports on news brodcast of mass casualties and disasters happening across te globe. Then after being exposed to that for maybe 10-20 mins they could cause a earthquake and outside there could be building crumbled. Pretend car crashes and causualties outside and smoke machines blowing red smo...

How to Be Your Own SpaceX: Design, Build & Test Liquid-Fueled Rocket Engines

Move over NASA— SpaceX is taking over. Well, not really. But today, the privately funded spacecraft company broke all expectations when their Dragon capsule fell to a soft landing in the Pacific Ocean, completing an undoubtedly successful demo flight of nearly two full trips around Earth. It was the first re-entry of a commercial spacecraft ever, bringing commercial space transportation closer to reality.

News: Promises

It's soon going to be time for the elections and everyone is prepping up for it. The Republicans are waiting to elect Romney, who in my and many others view will not keep his promises. The Democrats are trying their best (its working) to make Obama as strong as possible against Mitt, who, in their minds, will be easy to defeat. Obama's acceptance polls have been steadily rising in the past few months.

News: Catch Creeps and Thieves in Action: Set Up a Motion-Activated Webcam DVR in Linux

When it comes to webcams these days, most people are using their laptops over desktops. The cameras are centered, integrated, and require no configuring. They're a cinch and usually have great resolution. So, then what do we do with all of those old wired desktop webcams that we've accrued over the years? Even if you still use an external USB one, chances are you're not using it daily, so why not come up with a better use for it?

Community Contest: Code the Best Hacking Tool, Win Bragging Rights

Here's something fun for the Null Byte community to do—a coding competition! This week, I wanted to get everyone involved by offering you all a nice library of possible program types to choose from and try to code. At the end of this competition, all of the submitted programs will be reviewed by the community and myself. The coder that receives the most votes will be dubbed THE BEST.

News: Students Exploring the Branches of Government

Our class had been assigned interviews with political representatives from different branches. In these interviews we asked questions that we had generated about their career position, advice to young activists, our government system, getting involved, and their opinion on certain laws. Here are the results from the two interviews that were done.

Scrabble Bingo of the Day: TRAVOISE

Scrabble Bingo of the Day: TRAVOISE [n] Today's word is in honor of Joel Sherman, whose record-breaking game last weekend netted him seven bingo plays, one of which was TRAVOISE. A travoise is a type of sled, but no… it's not like a toboggan or snow sleigh. Though it can be, it's not used primarily on snow, but on any soft ground, like forest floors and gentle soils.