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If you flip to page 141 in the 11th edition Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and look on the right column, you’ll see the word “bonnyclabber” (thick, soured milk) followed by “bonobo” (a type of ape). Someday, I’d like to crack open a future edition of said dictionary and see a new word nestled between those previous entries.
What word, you ask?
Blast from the past – Early Snowmobiles blow your mind
by Marshall Brain | January 25, 2010
When you think about a “snowmobile”, the standard 2010 model probably comes to mind. It looks like this: But before the world had settled on this conceptualization for a snow machine, inventors were all over the map. Here is one design from the 1920s that kind of blows your mind: At the three minute point [...]
The greens on a golf course are famously smooth and perfect-looking, but how do they get that way? Discover how careful planning, the right ingredients and a whole lot of maintenance yield a flawless green in this episode of BrainStuff.
For many people, deodorants and antiperspirants are a regular part of their daily hygiene routines. But how do they work? What’s the difference between men’s and women’s? Are they safe? Learn more about deodorants and antiperspirants in this episode.
Jonathan and Chris discuss how social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have been used to create social change — and whether they’ve been effective — in this episode of TechStuff.
When John O’Hara Burke and William John Wills attempted to traverse Australia, the inland area of the continent was terra incognita known as the “ghastly blank.” Learn what the expedition discovered in this episode.
Where in the World Will the Next Big Earthquake Strike? – “In the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, nervous citizens can be forgiven for wondering where the next Big One will hit. Major quakes strike with alarming regularity: Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater occur approximately 18 times a year worldwide. They usually originate near [...]
This page is interesting both for the subject of the video as well as the technology of the video. You are able to “turn your head” while the video is playing. You can also “Stop and look around” at any point in the video with the pause button. Three scenes are available: 1) Driving through [...]
In high school, there was a certain classmate I made concerted efforts to avoid after teachers handed back tests. If I made eye contact with her for even the briefest moment, she would swoop in, corner me and ask me pointedly how I had performed. The first couple times it happened, it made me uneasy, not knowing whether to brace myself for having a lower grade or to offer up a few words of consolation to her. Pretty soon I realized that she only went in for the kill when she had made high marks, and the whole process was merely her unpleasant way of bragging.
That type of unsolicited bragging will rarely win you any friends. But mastering the art of subtle self-promotion can open doors, as a psychology study at the University of California illustrated.
On Tuesday the United Kingdom publicly launched Data.gov.uk, the country’s version of the Data.gov Web site set up in the United States last year. The idea behind both of them is to make government data (and there’s a whole lot of it) available to the masses for the purposes of transparency and accountability. U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra praised the move in a blog post yesterday on the Open Government Initiative Web site.
The U.K. data site is beautiful and enables you to get your hands on quite a bit of information.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
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The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Have a Coke and a Smile
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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?
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Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
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Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Space Music: DJ Food and ‘The Search Engine’
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Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
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The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
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How-to Stuff
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
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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
