Real Experience Search Results

How To: Hot Wheels! Workshop Teaches Kids How to Steal Cars

It may look like a modern take on Oliver Twist but, we assure you, this is for real. Before you get too alarmed, however, you should note that the headline reads "how to steal cars" and not simply "to steal cars." We are, after all, dealing with the fine people at Machine Project, a Los Angeles-based non-profit community space organized around the investigation of "art, technology, natural history, science, music, literature, and food."

News: Welcome to Photography Contests World!

Welcome to Photography Contests World! The purpose of this world is two-fold. First, it will serve as a directory with featured listings of all types of current photography contests. If you have ever tried to search for a photography contest to enter, then you are aware of how many contests are scattered all over the internet. Photography Contests World will strive to bring you information on as many contests possible in one central location, beginning with mostly USA and international contes...

News: 80s SF/Fantasy Revival

The Writers at io9.com have been running through a fantastic series of blog posts, in which they're teaching their readers about the history of great 80s sci-fi and fantasy. Because so much of this is right up my alley, I though I'd aggregate their aggregations, so to speak, and write a little retrospective of my own.

How To: Make Bullets? Make it Rain Molten Lead

In 1782, an English plumber named William Watts came up with a clever method for making shotgun ammo. Watts constructed a six story "shot tower", consisting of a series of perfectly lined up holes, drilled into all six floors of the structure. Watts then poured molten lead through a sieve from the top story, through the holes of each floor, finally landing on the bottom floor in a pool of water. The cushioned impact resulted in a perfectly formed bullet.

News: Colors and Meanings

White: the first thing comes to my mind when I see light white is an angel, I think that this color represent the good side of everyone, the angel form of a person, sometimes you can see someone and look at him like he is a real angel, what a wonderful feeling, and even someone who is very gentle with you, you can display him in your mind with a white circle on his head.

Do Not Try This At Home: The Human Torch

PopSci's Gray Matter demonstrates again and again what the layman should absolutely Not Try at Home. Which is precisely what makes Gray's experiments so fun. Remember when the mad scientist fully submerged his hand in liquid nitrogen? Today's demonstration also plays with what is (quite reasonably) assumed to be extremely dangerous and painful: torching the human hand.

News: It's Hot, It's Creamy. It's Three Course Gum as a Meal

Remember Willy Wonka's magical gum? Wonka promised the flavors of tomato soup, roast beef, baked potato, blueberry pie and ice cream. As the avid gum lover Violet Beauregarde tested it out, she exclaimed: “It’s hot and creamy, I can actually feel? it running down my throat!” Um, yum... I think. Good news. Wonka's three course chewing gum is finally a reality-in-the-works. Scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) have been developing recent advances in nanotechnology, which could pot...

News: Gigantic Carpet of 750,000 Begonias (Assembled in Just 4 Hours!)

Every summer the city of Brussels assembles an enormous carpet of begonias, under the advisement of one hundred experienced gardeners. The project is planned far in advance, with illustrations and scale models based on a chosen theme (previously chosen have been the arms and shield of a town or commemoration of important events). This year's theme features Saint Michael striking down the dragon, the official protective image of the city, founded over 1,000 years ago.

News: Proposition 23 Valero and Tesoro Oil Companies

Valero and Tesoro are known as the biggest oil companies in California. They have spent large amounts of money on the Proposition 23 campaign, Valero with $4,050,000 and Tesoro with $1,525,000, in hopes of passing the Proposition, which would suspend the Assemmbly Bill 32, the Global Warming Act of 2006, until unemployment drops to 5.5% for 4 consequtive quarters. Valero's stand is that the California's Global Warming Act will only cause more lost jobs for California and therefore should not ...

News: The Future of the Book Might Work Something Like This...

There are endless possibilities for eReaders, and lots of amazing things are already happening. But wow-worthy visual tricks aside, how can technology really change the way we consume books? In the video below design company IDEO presents three separate concepts for virtual consumption: Nelson, Coupland and Alice. IDEO groups their virtual experiences into three separate concepts: Nelson, Coupland and Alice. Core77 breaks down each concept:

News: Look! A Diamond the Size of the Moon!

Lucy, whose real name is BPM 37093, is a diamond roughly the size of our moon. At around 4000 kilometers in diameter (2,485 miles), Lucy is estimated to be around 10 billion trillion trillion carats. A billion trillion trillion? x 10? It's easier to imagine dividing by zero than to put this ridiculous number into perspective.

News: Cheeseburger Dipped in Acid (Plus: Why You Should Fear McDonald's)

Ok, so first Periodic Tables demonstrates how a McDonald's cheeseburger breaks down in your stomach during the digestion process. Everybody has hydrochloric acid in their stomach, so drop a burger in acid and you can see it happen before your eyes (minus the amino acids a human stomach would supply). Seems innocent enough. Here's what happened after 3.5 hours: NASTY. So my question is: does healthy food look the same? What would a pile of broccoli or granola look like? Probably just as nasty....

News: No, It's Not an App. It's a Japanese Soft Drink.

Shiny, pretty touchscreen vending machines have finally gone mainstream in Japan. My only question is... what's taken so long? The vending machine business can be quite lucrative (location, location, location), so all the more reason to make the interface as aesthetically appealing and user friendly as the iPhone AND as smart as a robot (read below). Features (translation via YouTube):

News: Colombian Coke Transporter Seized

This weekend in a jungle estuary, the DEA and local Ecuadorian police seized a prototype narco sub that may be the most sophisticated one yet. Complete with air conditioning and periscope, this 100 foot creation would have carried a more cocaine tonnage than any previously captured narco sub. To give you a perspective on the resourcefulness of these outlaws, consider this. A U.S. Navy Virginia Class attack submarine will run around $2.8 billion. But a drug lord in Cartagena would make you one...

News: World's First Bionic Cat

Oscar the cat is one lucky feline. After losing his two hind legs in a combine harvester, his loving owners had Oscar outfitted with two prosthetic paws, or metallic pegs to be more specific. This revolutionary veterinary procedure is nothing to scoff at - biomedical engineering experts and a neuro-orthopedic surgeon were both called in to create the world's first bionic cat. Via BBC:

News: Monkey See, Monkey Do

Chi gyo ichi nyo is a familiar expression in the dojo. The word chi means knowledge. Gyo means doing, or action. Ichi nyo means inseparable. Action and knowledge are one! Acting without adequate knowledge or understanding is a constant source of frustration and problems. In our lives we are often busy and active without really understanding the basis of our actions and their full impact. Some people practice karate without really knowing why they are training. In class they do the techniques ...

News: Are North Korean World Cup Fans Really Chinese Actors?

World Cup World asks: "How'd North Korean fans get to the game?" Fair and valid question. It's seeming IMPOSSIBLE for any North Korean citizen to get a visa to leave the communist regime (not that they could afford it, anyway) to attend this past week's game. After much initial speculation on whether these fans were the real deal, the mystery has been resolved by multiple news sources.

The Whole World is Watching: Faces of the World Cup

Possibly the greatest thing about the World Cup? Nearly the entire world has joined together to watch. Opposing teams, sure. But there's something amazing about the simultaneous excitement across the globe. The World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world. An estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany!