Archive for May, 2009
I don’t need to list out the symptoms of a headache because chances are, you’ve experienced one. According to the Mayo Clinic, 90 percent of women and 70 percent of men have fallen prey to tension-type headaches (TTH). These dull, achy headaches are the most common variety of the cranial scourge. Most of the time, they’re caused by eyestrain, muscle tension, stress and/or anxiety.
Popping an over-the-counter analgesic, such as acetaminophen, is a quick way to kill the pain. However, it always seems like headaches attack my skull whenever the medicine cabinet is bare. Some people are also squeamish about taking headache relievers since health professionals have linked them to circulatory problems, liver and kidney damage and gastrointestinal issues. But have no fear; if a TTH strikes, you can treat the pain without medication.
The Mosler MT900 is a super-light, super tight supercar, as you can see in this video: If you wanted to create the world’s fastest car, you might start with this chassis and add a 2,500 horsepower engine to it. Yes, 2,500 horsepower. That would let it beat the current champ – the SSC Ultimate Aero [...]
You Asked: How are babies born? — Will, Dallas, Texas Marshall Answered: Right now there are two ways for babies to be born: naturally (also knows as vaginal delivery) and by Cesarean Section. Vaginal delivery is the way that people have been having babies for thousands of years. Muscular contractions push the baby through the [...]
Tech news is always a little slow coming off a holiday, but I saw something that caught my eye late last week that I just didn’t have time to write about until today. Microsoft’s next-generation search tool, Kumo, may be unveiled at the D: All Things Digital conference this week, as CNET’s Ina Fried said in an article on CNN.com last Thursday. It was hyped a while back because it’s supposed to be totally revamped. For instance, you can search on a topic and break down the results by category. It’s a neat idea (or I think it is, I’d like to see it in action. It sounds useful).
But Yahoo and Google are already incorporating some of the ideas from Kumo into their own search engine – and they’ve already shown their hands to the public, so any hope Microsoft might’ve had in making a splash with their new search engine may be over.
Nellie Andreeva of The Hollywood Reporter posted an interesting (but brief) story of a television series in the planning stages. The new show would leverage Twitter, making the service the crux of the show. When I first heard the idea, I thought we might see a choose-your-own-adventure style episodic program. That’s not what the show’s creator has in mind, though.
Instead, novelist Amy Ephron wants to create a new reality TV series in which normal people compete by using Twitter to hunt down specific celebrities. While details are scarce, I imagine that the celebrities on the show will agree beforehand to be stalked by the contestants. Otherwise I foresee many lawsuits in Ephron’s future.
Is this a good idea? I’m not sure. I like seeing services such as Twitter used in creative ways but I’m not a huge fan of turning celebrities into prey. To me, it sounds like this show would turn into the celebrity version of “The Running Man” (the novella by Richard “Stephen King” Bachman, not the totally awesome Schwarzenegger film loosely based on the story). I can just imagine a panicked Ashton Kutcher running down the steps of a New York City subway station with dozens of contestants in hot pursuit, each clutching an iPhone running the Tweetie app.
Many people have the following mental image – “When you throw a rock at a window, the window breaks.” Yet, in the following video, that doesn’t happen at all. Instead, the rocks bounce right off the window: Why doesn’t the window break? Because in the last several years there has been a revolution in “security [...]
This weekend I went to my first sci-fi convention of the season — TimeGate, a con primarily for fans of the “Doctor Who” and “Stargate” worlds. Among the guests I had a chance to see were Mary Tamm, who played Time Lady Romana during the era of the fourth Doctor, and Terrance Dicks, a writer who’s worked all over the “Doctor Who” world
What is the world’s cheapest car, and how does it work?
by Marshall Brain | May 26, 2009
You Asked: What is the world’s cheapest car, and how does it work? — Nikhil, Mumbai, India Marshall Answered: As mentioned in this post, the cheapest “real” car available today is the Tata Nano at about $2,000 USD. It is an amazing car for the money because it has all the essentials of a real [...]
The Internet is a great thing, probably the single most important advancement for the human race of the last 50 years. We all love it and heck, I wouldn’t have this job without it. But with every great innovation comes great problems and Internet predators top the list in that category.
Most of us use the net to research information, do a little shopping, generally make life a little easier and connect with others on email and social networking sites. Then there are the creepy perverts of the world. In this case, the Internet moved stalking and preying on our youth from the parks and school yards to the privacy of their own homes.
You Asked: How much weight can the surface of water hold? — Irvin, Denver, Colo. Marshall Answered: If you have ever seen the bug called the water strider skating on the water, you know that the surface of the water he is striding upon can support some amount of weight. If you are patient and [...]
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Have a Coke and a Smile
- The Latest in Frugal Lodging: Camping in Somebody Else’s Backyard
- The Painted Beauties of Bucovina
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Space Music: DJ Food and ‘The Search Engine’
- Stuff to Blow Your Mind: Hug it Out
- Space Music: Jay-Z and Beyoncé to Film Music Video in Orbit
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
- Tips for Using Bluetooth in the Car
How-to Stuff
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
- How to Know When It’s Time for a New Pet
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 36: Now Available in 3-D
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 35: Let’s do brunch!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 34: Play it again, Sam
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics

