News: Land of the Free? Absolutely Not
According to mainstream media reports, one of Barack Obama’s White House spokesmen said this in response to the recent “free speech” trial in Russia:
According to mainstream media reports, one of Barack Obama’s White House spokesmen said this in response to the recent “free speech” trial in Russia:
How many of you know all the amendments of the Constitution? Do you even know how many there are?? Well, many of the people I speak to don't. And let me tell you, that's a bad thing. Knowing even the basics of the Amendments can have a profound effect in your lives. Ever got pulled over by a cop? Did you know you can deny his request to search your car (unless he sees something 'suspicious')? If you own a gun, you sure know about the Second Amendment. Here's a neat one: a public phone booth i...
Video games are the newest major expressive media. As such, their role in society is still being defined continuously. A monumentally important example of this took place yesterday at the US Supreme Court. After a long deliberation, the highest court in the land handed down a decision invalidating a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors on the grounds that video games are protected speech under the First Amendment, like movies and books.
NASA just released this beautiful image of what's leftover from a supernova explosion. The red cloud is expanding cosmic debris, the blue is a blast wave of electrons, and the stripes at the edge tell of a high energy burst of x-rays that may be bound for earth. This image was enhanced—Photoshopped—so that scientists can have an easier time interpreting the picture and so that the public can have an easier time appreciating the beauty of nature.
Have you ever heard symmetrical is sexier? Yep, according to scientists, symmetry is inherently more attractive to the Homo Sapien eye. Back in the days of Helen of Troy, Phidias, Plato and other great philosophers all observed the golden ratio, "a sum where the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one". Confusing? Let's apply it to the human face only: the features of the human head were measured in calculated, precise proportions to d...
After getting slammed with a crazy-big earthquake/tsunami, the Japanese nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi might be on the brink of meltdown. Not as bad as Chernobyl, but maybe as bad as Three Mile Island. Nobody wishes such a disaster on anyone...anywhere in the world. In the US, there are about 100 nuclear facilities, about 8 of which are located near hot beds of seismic activity.
LIFE magazine has posted a gallery of bizarrely wonderful old school scientific models. Don't miss the giant fetus or massive colon (double ew). Behold, science education before computers ruled our world.
National Geographic recently published a retrospective of the lovely Jane Goodall, one of the world's most accomplished conservationists. The feature includes every image of Goodall to ever appear in the magazine for the past fifty years.
PopSci has compiled an amazing list of 30 college labs that would tempt anybody to re-enroll. If you know any high school juniors or prospective grad students, pass this along. They just might reconsider their initial choices.
Scientists have recently released a mathematical breakdown of the perfect handshake. The University of Manchester researchers discovered that nearly one-in-five people hate the handshake, listing complaints such as sweaty palms, limp wrists, gripping too hard and no eye contact.
Boston.com's The Big Picture posts 2009's most amazing Guinness World Record holders. My favorite fanatics below.
The Telegraph presents 2009's most spectacular stunts. This year's roster of adrenaline junkies include the craziest daredevils of their fields: wingsuiting, parkour, motocross, climbing, sky diving, auto racing, and more.
When you look up the word free in the dictionary, you'll find a lot of definitions, but in the days of digital dependency and a falling economy, free only means one thing—expensive stuff for nothing. And if you own a Windows computer, one of the best sites to get free software from is Giveaway of the Day.
Forget CNN. Forget New York Times. Forget BBC. You can even forget the Washington Post. And yes, the Wall Street Journal, too. You no longer need these well-established and reputable news organizations to get your daily fix on what's happening in the world today.
Pulp heroism rules! And everyone's favorite masked vigilante hits the big screen tomorrow night, thanks to fantastical filmmaker Michel Gondry and his new superhero movie, The Green Hornet.
Advances in technology continue to make our lives easier and more convenient. If you want to send fax, for instance, you no longer need to own a fax machine. You can easily and quickly send fax directly from your computer in one of several methods, including via an Internet fax service provider or using Windows built-in Fax and Scan tools. Read on how to use an Internet fax service, one of the faster faxing methods, to send fax messages from your PC.
In this video tutorial, learn how to get auto-tune into Audacity. This video shows you how to receive a ten day free trial. The success rate of this video is questionable, so if you have trouble: Go into edit/preferences/effects, and make sure all three VST settings are checked. Also make sure that "rescan" is checked. Restart Audacity, and it should work. This video is demonstrated on a PC, and should work for Vista users.
Since the rise of private property and industrial production, modern capitalism has been on a undeniable crash course with Mother Nature. It's no so much that we'll end up murdering the entire planet, but just that the planet will quietly smother us with a pillow of famine, heat, cold and hurricanes. We over-farm land and replace the nutrients in the soil with oil. To package our oil-based produce, we wrap them in synthetic oil-based plastics, soon to be discarded in a trash heap or ocean.
Science-fiction writer Jules Verne predicted many scientific breakthroughs, including the moon landing, tasers, and nuclear submarines. In his 1874 book The Mysterious Island, Verne writes:
It's one of the greatest fears among parents and politicians the world over—video game violence spilling out into reality. The shooting at Columbine and the more recent tragedy in Utøya, Norway have touched deep nerves in Western consciousness. And that's why there's a giant pink, juggling elephant in the corner of every production meeting and press conference for each shooter game that comes out.
Making bread from scratch is extremely difficult. Painstakingly following instructions does not necessarily guarantee successful results. Baking delicious homemade bread takes practice, skill, and frankly, a level of real culinary artistry.
With over 60 commercials, chances are you've seen one of the Get a Mac spots run by Apple, which brands Mac as intuitive and hip, compared to their boring and clunky PC counterpart. You also probably saw Microsoft's response in their I'm a PC campaign. But who are Mac and PC users really? Do jeans and hoodie-wearing yuppies really use Macs? Are the suit-and-tie types strictly operating PCs?
As 2009 comes to a close, the Telegraph presents a compilation of this past year's wackiest inventions. As always, here at WonderHowTo, we are inspired and impressed by ingenuity. The contraptions below range from utter silliness (engagement ring bra) to downright amazing (see-through concrete). Check it out.
Yesterday senior State Department official Alec Ross publicly announced that the Obama administration opposed CISPA, but refused to entertain the notion of the bill being vetoed.
Welcome to Pizza Perfect. I'm a novice pizza maker with one goal: to master the art of the homemade crust. The cheese (fresh mozzarella), the sauce (endless options or super basic), and the toppings (the sky is the limit) are all easy. But the crust I've found to be somewhat elusive.
Remember last month when we introduced you to Trover? Well, now this great little discovery app for iPhone has completed its beta mode and has officially launched in wide release.
Danny MacAskill has been a cycling and internet god since the day he surfaced on YouTube back in April of 2009. A Scottish street trials pro rider for Inspired Bicycles Ltd., MacAskill has been practicing his stunt riding for over 12 years. He gave up his job as a mechanic to ride full time, and now appears in music videos and commercials.
For those who need security on their Android devices, the standard swipe lock screen just isn't enough, so it's necessary to install applications like GOTO and WidgetLocker to enable either pattern, password or PIN protection. This protection is great overall, but when you're frequently using your smartphone, having to keep unlocking the lock screen becomes quite an annoyance. You could be in a heated text conversation, following directions on a map or compulsively checking the news feed on F...
If you powered up the ol' Xbox 360 last night to watch Netflix, you probably noticed that a new streaming service moved into Xbox LIVE—Hulu Plus. Netflix finally has some competition. Or maybe not. But with a week of free service, they're sure to attract some would-be watchers.
DIY is a far-reaching term—though culturally it tends to refer to hacks, mods, crafts and constructions, its meaning can also extend to the ongoing trials and tribulations of the evolution of mankind: astonishing developments in technology, desperate acts of self-preservation or as in today's topic, discoveries in science that truly move the needle.
Illustrator Lisa Hanawalt innovates the typical gossip rag by rendering wicked rumors of Devil Wears Prada villain Anna Wintour as clever cartoon drawings. Though akin to political cartoons, the result is more US Magazine (if US was prettier to look at). As usual, Wintour is depicted as soulless (and to think, she supposedly bedded Bob Marley!).
Feature documentary about female orgasms. Below is the trailer for the feature Film Orgasm Inc. Orgasm Inc. (2009) is the first feature documentary by award-winning director Liz Canner. It premiered at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival. In the shocking and hilarious documentary, filmmaker Liz Canner takes a job editing erotic videos for a drug trial for a pharmaceutical company. Her employer is developing what they hope will be the first Viagra drug for women that wins FDA approval to tr...
Homemade nourishing creams are easy and very simple to make. The ingredients are harmless and natural. It costs a fraction of what you would pay in the market. You also know exactly what goes into the product you make. Since homemade nourishing creams do not contains any preservatives, it's better to produce in small quantities and store it in the fridge to avoid waste.
Editing your pictures can be just as fun as capturing the moments! Personally it's my favorite part.. not only do you have time to reflect on the picture, but you get to be creative and make it your own.
Some update notes that you should take notice to are:Celestian Furniture Yes you read that correctly! Celestian Furniture has come to the Spiral, as well as recipes for furniture from our newest underwater world! Keyboard Shortcuts
"ASTON-2"-WINDOWS SHELL REPLACEMENT USER INTERFACE, I HAVE BEEN USING IT NOW FOR A WEEK OR SO AND I FIND IT NOT ONLY FASTER, YET MORE INTUITIVE, AND MORE FEATURE RICH THAN WINDOWS EXPLORER.EXE EVER THOUGHT OF BEING...! IT DOES HAVE IT'S LITTLE QUIRKS OR EVEN BUGS HOWEVER...LIKE EARLIER TODAY THE TASK-BAR FOR ASTON-2 WOULD NOT RAISE UP OUT OF AUTOHIDE FOR ANYTHING, I REBOOTED THEN IT WAS FINE AGAIN, THIS COULD BE A WEB BASED BUG THAT INTERFERED, OR LOCAL BAD CODE WITHIN ASTON-2 BUT I DOUBT IT,...
Though the idea of a highway-friendly mobility scooter might seem absurd, we think it makes perfect sense: After all, who has a greater need to move quickly than those with the least amount of time left to live?
Charlie, Willy Wonka and Grandpa Joe's soul-stirring ride in the Wonkavator (Wonka's glass-bottomed elevator) was one of the most magical moments of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If you can't recall, here's the scene (ride begins at 3:15): Wonka: An elevator can only go up and down, but the Wonkavator can go sideways, and slantways, and longways, and backways...
MS is having an Xbox live sale blowout during E3 week, up to half off in most games! And what's better is that these are actually good games, not the crappy ones!
A cartoony, "Trials HD"-type game being released today. It's multiplayer so you can take on people at home or online. Looks like a lot of fun. You can also create your own levels. Here is an excerpt from the Game Informer review: