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How to start your own bumblebee hive in your backyard
by Marshall Brain | September 29, 2010
Back in this post…
How to keep honey bees in your backyard
…we discussed the lack of pollinating insects in my backyard. One possible solution is honeybees. But another possibility is bumblebees…
Plastics have become so ubiquitous that we often take them for granted, but have you ever wondered where these popular materials come from? In this episode, Marshall explains what plastics are made of.
Scandinavian countries are reportedly tops when it comes to gender equality. Why? In this episode, Molly and Cristen examine the factors that contribute to Scandinavia’s woman-friendly reputation — and whether they’re a good measure of gender equality.
When Dante wrote The Divine Comedy, he consigned several of his real-life enemies to hell. In this podcast, Katie and Sarah examine Dante’s habit of putting his enemies in his fiction, focusing on five people the average Florentine would have known.
Blackberry tablet announced – “RIM is holding a developer event today and Mike Lazaridis came on stage to introduce the new Blackberry Playbook. The Blackberry Playbook is RIM’s solution for the tablet market. The tablet will be released with the following specifications…” See also: RIM Announces ‘PlayBook’ Tablet, Targets iPad New laser hides aircraft from [...]
Given NASA‘s recent financial woes, it’s hard to imagine a time when the U.S. space program found room in its budget for an artist-in-residence. Between 2003 and 2005, NASA paid experimental performance artist Laurie Anderson $20,000 to create a film about moons and a vaguely space-oriented performance piece. Yep, Anderson (famed for the 1981 track “O Superman“) was NASA’s first and last artist in resident* — and you really see two prevailing views of the situation on the Internet.
Every escalator you have ever seen in your life has been straight. Now, thanks to a new invention from Britain, it is possible to build curving escalators that include moving sidewalks, landings, etc. as a bonus, as shown here: It’s like a merge between the traditional escalator and the curving moving sidewalk (also see in [...]
And today I am reporting on my twenty second week (days 151 through 158) on the Dukan diet. This week had moments of brilliance and I reached a new low of 176.6 (51.0 total pounds lost). But then I gained a bunch of water weight for reasons that are not entirely clear, and I ended the week up 2.0 pounds rather than losing weight. Here is how the week unfolded…
As a journalism grad and blogger/podcaster on women’s issues, GOOD magazine’s list of 17 Female Reporters Who’ve Redefined a Formerly Male-Dominated Field doubled my nerd pleasure. The heavy hitters you’d expect made the list — Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Arianna Huffington.
Yet while clicking through the slideshow, I also noticed a disappointing pattern…
A couple months ago we talked about the vulnerability of WiFi passwords:
How WPA Password Cracking Works – Boring title, but important if you have a wireless router
Snagging the encrypted password isn’t the problem, because the encryption protects the password. The weakness comes in the password you choose. If you choose a simple password, a person who snags the password can run what’s called a dictionary attack on the encrypted password to discover the unencrypted password.
The problem is that the “time consuming” part is breaking down. Computers and GPUs are getting so fast that “Right now we can confidently say that a seven-character password is hopelessly inadequate – and as GPU power continues to go up every year, the threat will increase…”
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
