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The Sweet Smell of Success: DIY Smoke Mix with Sugar and Potassium Nitrate

I finally got around to trying out another one of Will's mad science experiments and found out that this one was actually more satisfying (and less frustrating) than my slightly uncooperative jar jet. There's something very pleasing about making potassium nitrate at home in the kitchen and then watching the transformation from semitransparent liquid to spiky, frozen crystals. That was the best part for me, second only to igniting it with its sugar companion.

News: Welcome to 0x10c World! A Community for Mojang's Latest MMO Space Game

Yesterday, Mojang announced their next video game project 0x10c, and the response has been tremendous. Discussions have covered everything from the math mystery over the game's name, to creating projects that interpret the assembly instruction code the in-game computers use (more on that later), to the debate over why a monthly fee would be required to play online in the "multiverse". To answer that last one, Mojang wants to run everyone's virtual computers in their cloud, even if the user is...

How To: The Essential Newbie's Guide to SQL Injections and Manipulating Data in a MySQL Database

No doubt you've seen some of the hack logs being released. One part that stands out over and over again is the heavy database usage. It used to be early on that virus and hackers would destroy data, usually just for lulz. However, with the explosive commercial growth of the Internet, the real target is turning into data theft. You should learn how this happens so you can protect yourself accordingly. Let's take a look at what makes this possible and dare I say, easy.

How To: Who Is Anonymous? How the Wall Street Journal and the NSA Got It Wrong

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a series of high-profile hacks and leaks. From the rooting of CombinedSystems, to a secret FBI conference call leak, all the way to the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on U.S. government sites—with a lot in-between. As governments move to close their long fingers around the free speech that exposes their secrets, this shadowy collective of loose-knit, but like-minded individuals are hell bent on preventing them. Or are they?

How To: Recognize Crowd Control - Part 3

For our final part of recognizing crowd control, we shall look at the mind. It's the most complicated thing in the universe, but also the most easily influenced. What makes us to gullible? What methods to commercials, companies and the media use to influence our position on things? These are just a few of the questions we will answer.

Uncrackable: Secure Your Secrets with 4096-Bit Encryption

As you progress in the world of information security, you'll find yourself in situations where data protection is paramount. No doubt you will have files to hide and secrets to share, so I'm going to show you how to use the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG or GPG for short) to encrypt and decrypt as you need. GPG is a great open-source version of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a similar application used for encryption, but licensing and patent problems led to the development of GPG in its wake.

Understanding Electricity: Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla In my opinion, one of the most neglected inventors of all time. The names Edison and Marconi come to mind as familiar, but Tesla? Most think of a car. Few know that Tesla is responsible for alternating current, florescent lights, radar, remote control, generators that preform efficiently, the spark plug, and many others. The U.S Supreme Court declared in 1943 that Tesla, not Marconi, was the true inventor of the radio.

How To: Code Your Own Twitter Client in Python Using OAuth

This is my attempt to show people some cool things we can do with programming, and to give a small incentive for people to join the weekly Community Bytes. I wanted to make a tutorial on how to use Twitter from the command line with Python. This would have been an easy project to do not too far back, and a good bit of practice for a beginner to programming. It teaches that you can do useful stuff with programming. However, a while ago Twitter started using something called OAuth to access the...

News: Kaplan University's Visionary Voices–A Collection of Ideas on Continuing Educa

Kaplan University presents Visionary Voices, a series of interviews that chronicle our goals in regards to adult education and continuing education throughout your life. Kaplan University offers online degree programs designed to expand the way you think and help you develop both personally and professionally. Students turn to us to develop their critical thinking skills, to challenge and prepare them for successful careers.*

How To: Make Knot Sculptures from Soft Metals

In mathematics, a knot is a closed circle in a three-dimensional space that crosses itself multiple times. Since it is closed, it has no ends to tie, meaning you can't actually create such a knot. However, if you tie the ends together after you create a knot in the standard way, you will have something that is close to the mathematical description. In this post, we will explore the creation of mathematical knot sculputures using copper tubing and solid solder wire.

News: Friday Indie Game Review Roundup: Pennies, Alliances, and Choices

Like a great acting performance, making a really good game is all about choices. While creating or playing a game, those involved have to constantly make small choices that will affect the outcome, either positively or negatively. And the only thing worse than choosing wrongly is not choosing at all. Too many games, especially today, stick to what they're supposed to do from the get-go and avoid making difficult, small, meaningful choices to differentiate themselves and make their performance...

Dead Island: Almost Dead on Arrival

Dead Island (PC, PS3, 360) had the worst launch of any game in recent memory. The wrong version of the game was released on PC, matchmaking was down for three days on PC, saves were deleted without notice making people start from scratch, and the Feminist Whore (a file found describing one of the character's skills) fiasco. The game just wasn't ready for release.

News: Friday Indie Game Review Roundup: Turn-Based Storytelling for 2 Players

What's more fun? Winning against your friends or winning against others with them? It's an age old question, and in video games, the former one-on-one multiplayer has been the norm. But cooperative multiplayer has made a comeback, with Halo and Diablo II starting the trend, the first mainstream shooters and RPGs with great co-op modes. And now good local and multilplayer co-op games are available in almost every genre.

How To: Embrace the Blur

This is a continuation of a previous post about getting "unfocused" with your DSLR. We all work hard to get pictures that are sharp and have perfect focus. Maybe we’re missing the forest for the trees. Think about mood, color, ideas—in other words, not your gear.

News: So You Just Bought Your First DSLR. Now What?

Moving up from a point and shoot to a digital single lens reflex camera is a big step. And actually, a DSLR can be a better buy than a new point and shoot, many of which rival the prices of entry level or used DSLRs. Keep in mind when you buy a new body, the lenses are the most important elements. Once you start investing in them, it makes it much harder to switch brands. So if it isn’t too late, do some research.

News: The World's Most Expensive Video Games and Consoles Ever

Most of the indie and vintage games discussed in Indie Games Ichiban are pretty cheap to purchase. They rarely top twenty bucks, which is one of the major advantages independent games have against their sixty-buck, major league counterparts. But if you think $60 for a game and $300 for a PS3 or Xbox 360 seems like a lot, then you haven't played Steel Battalion or seen the TurboExpress. They go above and beyond what normal gamers are willing to spend for questionably entertaining products. Her...

News: Is the Metascore Algorithm for Rating Video Games B.S.?

Guiding internet users to useful content is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world. This process is called aggregation. Google and other search engines form the top of the food chain, aggregating all of the content on the web in response to queries. There are all sorts of other important aggregators though, and you probably use at least one every day: Fark and Reddit for web content, Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews, and Metacritic for a variety of media, but most importantly, vid...

News: 10 Ways to Lose Weight Using an iPhone

Sounds like a false promise à la infomercial or typical spammy web headline—how can a 4.8 ounce gadget aid in weight loss? But, in truth, "who" better to act as a dedicated personal trainer and nutritionalist than the iPhone? The smartphone is completely and utterly tethered to the daily life of the average middle to upper class American. It's reliable and exact. All it needs is a charged battery, the right app, and of course, as with every diet and fitness regime, a user with unwavering self...

News: Celestia is here!

Celestia is HERE! On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, Celestia joined alongside the other worlds in the Spiral. WIzards that are level 48 or higher and have completed the "Final Countdown" quest to defeat Malistaire can now go to Celestia!