House plants are a refreshing reminder of the rich biosphere teaming with life just outside of our hermetically sealed human dens. They calm us and clean our air. But what would you do if you came across a glowing green flower on your dinner table? I would be startled, but not shaken.
Glass is one of the least reactive substances known to chemistry. It is the standard container material for almost all lab chemicals because it's so inert. But there are a couple of substances that have strong reactions with glass. Sodium hydroxide, aka solid drain cleaner or lye, can easily be stored in glass as a solid, but when molten, it reacts violently with glass and can actually dissolve it away! So, the next time you clog up your drains with broken glass beakers and flasks, rest assur...
Writing secret notes with lemon juice was one of my favorite pastimes as a child. All it took was a small flame to lightly scorch the paper and reveal the hidden message. Now that I'm tall and pay bills, lemon ink just isn't exciting enough anymore. Luckily, we can use another kind of invisible ink to write in fire! By using the saltpeter, we can whip up invisible fire ink in no time.
Jet engines combine oxygen from the surrounding air with on-board fuel to burn at very high temperatures and create thrust in the direction of the flame. Rockets, which we will learn about in a later post, are similar but carry oxygen internally and can therefore function in space!
Technology in computers these days are very favorable to the semi-knowledgeable hacker. We have TOR for anonymity online, we have SSDs to protect and securely delete our data—we can even boot an OS from a thumb drive or SD card. With a little tunneling and MAC spoofing, a decent hacker can easily go undetected and even make it look like someone else did the hack job.
Since it is now the holiday season, I thought we could spend this weekend making some baked goods that have mathematical patterns on them. In this post, we'll look at making cookies that have a fractal pattern based off of a modification of the pixel cookie technique.
In 1969, the Apollo 11 crew were the first to walk on the Moon, the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl ever, Led Zeppelin released their first studio album, and one of the most pivotal moments in music history happened—Woodstock.
The Netherlands are a hotbed of indie game development, which seems appropriate for such a brilliant and eccentric little nation. Two man Dutch indie developer Vlambeer have found themselves in the news more often than most companies of their size, thanks to two great games and a third on the way.
Foldit is definitely a niche game. The sole gameplay mechanic is attempting to fold complex proteins into smaller and more efficient shapes following the rules of molecular physics and biology. Points are awarded based on how small one can make the protein. Online leaderboards track players' relative progress and allows them to view and manipulate other players' completed designs. It's original, certainly, but no developer is going to ship a million units of a game about molecular-level prote...
For this week's review round-up, we bring you two games from opposite sides of the indie world. One is a free online hybrid shooter/platformer combining elements of Team Fortress 2 and Minecraft. The other involves driving jeeps around and shooting things as fast as possible. Both are great.
I'm a desert island pizza person, meaning, I pretty much never get sick of pizza. When it comes to other favorite cuisines, I operate in cycles - indulge often, grow tired of them, take a break and re-visit in time. But when it comes to pizza, I could eat it every night of the week. I typically practice enough self-control to override this desire, but luckily for me, I made a special concession this past week while creating this article.
The last week has been a trying one for me. On Sunday, there were four computers in my office, three of which were broken. The fourth was not really a computer, but more of a collection of parts that were cobbled together for the purpose of constructing a PC that would sneer derisively at the mere mention of turning down any game's ambient occlusion settings.
If bourbon is a man's drink, what better flavor to infuse it with than bacon? The combination tastes just as delicious as it sounds—a smokey, salty aftertaste lingering after each sip of deep, rich bourbon.
Steam has been a game-changer in the PC indie game market over the last eight years, making smaller games available to millions of users at lower prices than ever before. And few times in those eight years have there been as much indie awesomeness on sale for as little money as this weekend.
Last week in New York, I saw the new show Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities at the Museum of Arts and Design, at Columbus Circle near the edge of Central Park, between Broadway and Eighth. Below is the museum’s description of the show:
Iceland Adventure Travel Are you an "adventure traveler?" That's right an adventurer traveler! Adventure tourism is becoming a popular travel niche all over the world for adventure seekers. These are people who don't necessarily want to sit on the beach with a cocktail with a tiny little umbrella in it, but rather experience the great outdoors through participating in activities.
Pressing the button on a video game controller quickly is like running the 100 meter dash. Both require dedication and a precise exercise regime. There is also an odd quality about both in which the range between the very best and complete neophyte is tiny. Sprinter Usain Bolt holds the record in the 100 meter run at 9.58 seconds, only three seconds faster than I ran in freshmen high school track. And yet there are thousands of sprinters from a hundred years of Olympic competition in between ...
Where We Go Wrong Nutritionally In our fifties we face numerous food challenges. We often choose to ignore them rather than face them head on. Here are the problems we face:
I was raised in the glory days of Japanese RPG's (JRPG's) on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were the biggest game franchises, and real gamers could debate their merits endlessly. We remained engaged in the stories of the games, even though the soldiers, princesses and schoolchildren all had spiky day-glo hair. We waded through hours of randomly triggered menu-based battles instead of playing Doom or baseball. And we loved every minute of it.
Do you remember when video games came on tiny chips in plastic cartridges? When the CD and 3D graphics just meant ugly games with long load times? Before epic cinematics, spoken dialog, or cordless controllers? Do you still have all of your old games and lament that the consoles, cords, and controllers required to play them have either been stolen by exes or broken while moving apartments?
By: Miguel Molina 11 February, 2011
So the Big Surprise News of today is that The King's Speech is Kicking Major Nomination Ass with twelve count-em 12 nominations, just brutalizing stuff like The Social Network (eight - nice try), The Fighter (seven - really? seven? that's the best you can do idiot movie?) and True Grit (ten - double figures is respectable... I guess...). How come that happened? I'll tell you. It's because North Americans freaking love rich British people.
Before last Sunday I hadn't been to a proper game store since I was in middle school. Over ten years ago. If you decide to stop reading right now because I obviously don't care enough about MTG to be writing this thing, I don't blame you. But I tell you, friends, as someone who has denied the utter awesomeness of their hobby for too long, that going to Emerald Knights in Burbank made me feel at home. I want to tell you about it and explain why I will be back many times in the future.
Review: Get Him to the Greek So much puke
Serious Eats' Burger Lab offers an extensive guide to making sliders at home. For those who have not sampled the beloved American classic, a slider is NOT just a mini hamburger. Nope, there's much more to it than that.
Apple just released iOS 12.5.1 (build number 16H22) for iPhone 5S, 6, and 6 Plus, as well as iPod touch 6th generation, in addition to iPadOS 12.5.1 for iPad Air, mini 2, and mini 3. The update fixes an issue in iOS 12.5 where Exposure Notifications could incorrectly display logging profile language.
One night after partying, find the most wasted person in the group. For security purposes, don't be afraid to slip him a roofie or two throughout the night. The next morning, while he is still sleeping, strip him down butt-naked, put a blindfold and a pair of ear muffs on him, and carry him out to the car (this can also be done the night before) and drive to the airport early the next morning. Carefully carry him onto the plane, equip him with a parachute (either this or take him on a tandem ...
I have an absolutely wonderful time making projects and writing articles for all of you mad scientists! Today, I will bring you behind the scenes for a look at the workbench, tools, and software that make the Mad Science World possible.
Like the press covering film and many other specialized fields, video game journalists use all sorts of jargon to convey to their knowledgable readers as much information about a game as quickly as possible. For non or newbie gamers, this can be extremely confusing.
Take an airbag out of a car or truck and secretly stash it under a couch cushion. When an unsuspecting victim sits on the right cushion let the airbag off. Airbag's explode at over 200 mph, this will send the victim 4 to 5 feet in the air and will feel like someone ripped him a new asshole. Hilarity ensues this will be a classic video, try it out let me know what you think. Then get me on a plane to L.A. I wanna party with you.
You start a casual conversation about skydiving with someone afraid of heights, you suggest to them a good prank would be to dive from a plane blindfolded and find your friends (who are also falling) so they can put on your parachute guided via a radio headset. While they tell you about how much they think it is a bad idea your buddies pounce from behind, blindfold them, tie them up and make out like your going to try the stunt.
How to Get Rid of Crabs Knowing how to get rid of crabs is very simple. The crabs talked about here are not the ones you find in the sea, but they are the crabs people get from sex. The technical name for these troublesome creatures is pubic lice. Below, you will see how to get rid of them.
Ever wonder how all of those tiny chips and components can fit inside your laptop or smartphone? If you tried to squeeze them in there yourself, your laptop would quickly become too heavy for your lap, and your mobile phone would need wheels to stay mobile.
Fans of Doctor Who know that the sonic screwdriver is the ultimate tool. It can unlock doors, turn on lights, detect life forms, solder wires, and sabotage weapons.
Minecraft is unique among computer games in that some users have created such breathtaking works of beauty and ingenuity that it challenges the very idea that Minecraft is even a game at all, but suggests that it is instead a tool for artistic expression much like Photoshop.
There are a few ways to make trapdoors, but out of all of them, this one is my favorite. It's fast, completely hidden, and both opens and closes. This particular trapdoor can be used for a variety of purposes, such as hiding your valuable possessions, having a secret entrance to an underground lair, or maybe even taking care of obnoxious cows. What you'll need to make it are 12 sticky pistons, 8 redstone repeaters, 32 redstone, the switch of your choice, and whatever blocks you want to use to...
I think it's fair to say that every maker yearns for a 3D printer. You can replace circuit board connectors, fix your glasses, create ski grips, and make whole machines out of printed plastic parts—even a 3D printer. But without a 3D printer on hand, you can always resort to Sugru.
Download the Software Go to the Antiprism downloads page. Download and install Antiprism 0.20.
Hey everybody, here is my entry for the medieval building contest. I don't actually care if I win, it was just fun to think about.
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.
