Defensive Efforts Search Results

Keep Champagne Bubbly (Hint: A Spoon Doesn't Work)

One booze hack that's been making the rounds for years is that inserting a spoon by the handle in a champagne bottle's neck will preserve its carbonation. This is one of those tips that I wish were true. Champagne is a great thing to have around on a special occasion, and it seems a shame to pour any leftovers down the drain once its lost its fizz. While there's lots of anecdotal evidence surrounding this trick, Harold McGee and Stanford University chemist Richard Zare debunked this myth as d...

How To: Brainstorming Is Draining Your Brain: Go Solo for More Productive Thinking

How many times have you heard someone utter the phrase, "Now, let's break into groups"? From classroom discussions to workplace think tanks, gathering into groups to generate ideas is common practice. These forced get-togethers are intended to encourage creativity and unique thought, but they can actually do the opposite. More often than not, group brainstorming is annoying rather than encouraging, and these group sessions can actually be detrimental to your productivity. Getting together har...

How To: Dry Fruit in Your Oven—No Dehydrator Required

Dried fruit makes a great, healthy snack by itself, and it's a nice addition to both sweet and savory dishes. Most people assume you have to have a dehydrator to make it at home, but you don't really need one unless you plan on drying fruit pretty frequently. Your oven does the job just fine. Drying fruit in an oven is a pretty simple process: just bake it at a low temperature for a long time. It's usually cheaper than buying dried fruit from the grocery store, and a great way to use extra fr...

How To: Turn Your Favorite Pics into Photo Mosaics on Your Nexus 7

Photo mosaics have interested me since I was a kid. I could never understand how someone took the time and effort to make one large masterpiece out of hundreds of smaller images. Maybe I'm too daft to grasp the concept, but it seems extremely difficult. I certainly don't have the necessary skills to make my own work of art, but luckily my Nexus 7 does.

How To: Truss a Chicken (Or Any Other Whole Bird) With or Without Any String or Twine

You've probably seen someone in your family truss the turkey on Thanksgiving before roasting it, even if you don't recognize the word. To truss a bird or roast just means to wrap it up as compactly as possible before placing it in the oven, and it's usually done by tying it with string. Trussing a bird is a tradition that's been around for a long time, and a lot of home cooks do it religiously even if they don't know why. It's a highly debated topic with fierce supporters on both sides, but f...

How To: Get Squeeze, Twirl, X-Ray, & Other Photo Booth Effects on Your iPhone

If you've got a MacBook, I'm sure you've spent some time messing around with the Photo Booth app. Who would have thought that adding simple effects like Comic Book or Stretch could make a selfie look so hilarious. Photo Booth is available for all Mac OS X computers running 10.4 or higher with an iSight camera, and it's also available on a few of Apple's iOS devices. Actually, it's only for the iPad 2 and all newer iPads since. It is NOT available on the iPhone, don't ask me why.

How To: Make Your Xbox 360 Games Region Free

You've had your Xbox 360 for a few years now and your game collection is pretty extensive. Maybe it's not that extensive, but it's still substantial. Now imagine that you live in Europe and you're moving to the United States. I don't know why—maybe your dad got a job offer. Don't ask me, ask your parents. They're the ones that are making you move. Anyways, as most Xbox users know, games are coded by region. Games that work in Europe might not work in the United States. Does this mean you shou...

How To: Create nail art designs with striping tape

This video shows the viewer how to create an interesting nail pattern using minimal effort. This is done by first applying a base coat to the nail and then choosing a block color. Apply the color and then wait for it to dry completely. Then either add another color, or even 2 extra colors, and allow for this to dry. Then, select the type of striping tape you wish to use and stick it to the surface of the nail using the adhesive backing. Then trim the overhanging tape using cuticle nippers.

How To: Frost a wedding cake with butter cream

In this video you will see how to apply butter cream frosting to a large circular cake for a wedding or for any occasion that calls for a fantastic cake. You will need a lot of frosting and an adequately sized smoothing tool. It is very helpful to have a platter that turns to get smooth, uniformed edges to your cake. Dipping your tool in a glass of warm water will allow for a more refined smoothing ability. You will use dowel rods placed through the cake to support the following layers. Frost...

Social Engineering: How to Use Persuasion to Compromise a Human Target

Social engineering makes headlines because human behavior is often the weakest link of even well-defended targets. Automated social engineering tools can help reclusive hackers touch these techniques, but the study of how to hack human interactions in person is often ignored. Today, we will examine how to use subtle, hard to detect persuasion techniques to compromise a human target.

News: Radical Theory Linking Alzheimer's to Infections Could Revolutionize Treatment

There are all kinds of theories—many supported by science—about what causes Alzheimer's disease. Tangles of protein called ß-amyloid (pronounced beta amyloid) plaques are prominently on the list of possible causes or, at least, contributors. An emerging theory of the disease suggests that those plaques aren't the problem, but are actually our brains' defenders. They show up to help fight an infection, and decades later, they become the problem.

How To: Stack newspapers for recycling with a wagon and string

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...

How To: Use a belt sander

In this do-it-yourself video series, learn how to use a belt sander. This power tool allows you to complete large woodworking projects in minutes instead of hours, saving you the back-breaking effort of smoothing out large areas of rough wood by hand. Our expert will give you easy-to-follow shop safety tips, as well as how to care for and maintain your sander, how to operate the trigger system, and what types of wood to use.