Surround Ourself Search Results

News: Yes, There is Such a Thing as Deep-Fried Butter

There are endless deep-fried recipes for disaster (re: heart attack), but this one takes the cake. Abel Gonzales Jr., the inventor of fried Coke and fried cookie dough, presents deep-fried butter, which tastes like a “a mix between a biscuit or a croissant that is just stuffed to the gills with butter on the inside.” Gonzales' creation took top prize at last year's Texas State Fair.

How To: How high is your landfill?

Think about how many things you truly throw in the trash, and how many times you empty your trash, only to be taken away by the garbage man and out of your sight. Well, the truth is that its not exactly out of your life. Statistics show that on average each person uses 350 trash bags each year, thats 100 billion all together, and the worst part aboput this fact is that it takes up to 500 years for each of the bags to decay. Thats right in your city at your landfill, bags pileing up, polluting...

News: The 2010 World Cup is upon us.

The 2010 World Cup is upon us and there isn't much that hasn't been said already. All the leagues around the world are finished and champions have been crowned. The media has covered every angle imaginable. Or have they? Or should they? Is this about the sport anymore? What will we remember about this World Cup? A great goal, a new venue, a great comeback, injured players who never made it, a bad call by a referee, a new star rising, overlooked players, 4-4-2, 3-4-1-2, 3-4-3, bad subs, FIFA 2...

News: Concept App HoloTwin Uses Holograms to Control Real World Objects

Spending time in a holographic environment brings the virtual world to life, but it doesn't actually create much interaction with your physical environment. So Daenet created a concept app called HoloTwin to demonstrate how holograms and real-world devices can interact with one another. While very simple, HoloTwin uses a holographic light bulb as a virtual switch for an actual, physical LED light. While you wouldn't want to strap on the HoloLens every time you wanted to adjust the lighting in...

How To: Satisfy Your Need for Speed with This DIY Arcade-Style Racing Cockpit

Racing games are always better when you have a steering wheel instead of just a handheld controller. And those old-school arcade racing cockpits? Even better. Matthew Boyer decided to bring the feel of a racetrack into his living room with this insanely awesome DIY arcade racing cockpit. He built the frame out of plywood and a real racing seat, then added LEDs, surround sound, and a 32-inch flat screen. The pedals, shifters, and steering wheel are laid out to match the measurements in his rea...

How To: A/C Broke? Keep Your Car Cool with This DIY Solar-Powered Air Conditioner

If a solar-powered air conditioner that requires no electricity or moving parts sounds to good to be true, well, then you're not as ambitious as this clever high school student. Instructables user Fozzy13 put together an awesome DIY tutorial on how he built his own air conditioning unit in his car that works using the principles of evaporation, convection, and capillary action. This air conditioner works by using sunlight to heat air at the bottom of the unit. The hot air rises, allowing the ...

News: Jupiter and Venus Rising Before the Sun

Right now, Jupiter and Venus are rising in the early morning hours just before dawn. I went outside on the morning of the 4th of July and saw Jupiter and Venus right next to each other with the Pleiades (The Seven Sisters) just above them and knew that the next morning I was going to have to get up early and set up my tripod to try and capture what I saw. I used my Panasonic GH2 with the stock zoom lens set to about 40 to 50 mm equivalent and with the aperture open to about f/5. I set my ISO ...

How To: Solve the Klotski Forget-Me-Not puzzle

Klotski is a small brick puzzle. The aim is to release a red block and move it to a destination gate by moving other surrounding pieces, within a confined outer border. It sounds simple but it's a real brainteaser, especially the Forget-me-not brick layout. Solve the Klotski Forget-Me-Not puzzle.

Making Electromagnetic Weapons: The Theory Behind EMP Generators

This is the third part of my electromagnetic pulse series (see Part One and Part Two). By now, I've covered the hardware and general concept of electromagnetic pulse generators, but how exactly do they disable electronics? How can an invisible field of energy have such a catastrophic effect on computers, cell phones, and most any other electronics? I'll be answering all these questions in part three of Making Electromagnetic Weapons.

News: Religion in the Republican Race

Mitt Romney has been on a winning streak recently, with small breaks by Rick Santorum. Ron Paul is slowly coming in third, but it's hard to say he's making a dent in those who support the top two contenders. Newt Gingrich has gone down, down to the bottom. He's still fighting to make another break in the race.

How To: Dropped Your Phone in Water? The Quick Response Guide to Saving Wet Electronics

It's no secret that water and electronics don't mix well, but somehow, people always manage to combine the two. I've had my fair share of water-damaged electronics, everything from cheap headphones to a desktop computer. My devices are getting dunked in water so much, it's like doughnuts in coffee. And I know I'm not the only one. That jam session with your favorite song will end really quick when your iTouch is chilling in the toilet bowl.

How To: Create a Hidden Bridge in Minecraft

Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. A hidden bridge can be both a cool part of your home and a defense against your enemies in PvP! The design is simple, you can use it to create lava traps, and it ensures that no redstone is left exposed.

How To: Answer to Scrabble Challenge #20

It's sad to say, but I will no longer be writing up anymore Scrabble Challenges. Frankly, I just don't have the time to make them now. And though they are incredibly fun and "challenging" to conjure up, I'm not sure that people are finding them as useful as I had hoped. But really, it all comes down to time. So, unless I have a future craving for puzzle-making, last week's Scrabble Challenge #20 was the last one.

News: Turn Google Maps into a Trippy Kaleidoscope with Rorschmap

Gone are the good old days of McNally Maps and Thomas Guides. When you have something as powerful as Google Maps, why bother with anything else? Plus, you can have way more fun with Google's version compared to its paper counterparts. You can find cool things, create a fake chase sequence, and even prank the whole world into thinking you're dead. I imagine the only enjoying thing you can do with those paper maps is make paper airplanes, maybe some decoupage.

How To: Prevent Post-Earthquake Nuclear Meltdown in the US

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.

How To: Play the Snake Game Online (YouTube, Gmail & Facebook)

It's 1976. The hottest arcade game on the market is Blockade (or Blokade), an 8-bit maze game for 2 players. You and your opponent must move your characters around the screen in 90-degree angles, leaving a solid line behind them. Whoever runs into one of the solid lines first, loses. But soon you'll be able to play this fascinating game from the comfort of your own home—

How To: Use the affect region modifier in 3ds Max

This 3D software tutorial shows you how to use the affect region modifier in 3ds Max. The Affect Region modifier is a 3D Studio Max surface modeling tool, primarily used with vertex sub-object selections while surface modeling. With Affect Region, transforming a selection of vertices can also transform vertices in the region that surrounds the selection. This can help you form a bubble or indentation in the surface of an object. The easiest way to see this modifier’s effect is with a shallow,...