Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesArchive for May, 2011
Recently, I asked our editors and writers to forward me their favorite travel tunes. Here’s a sampling of songs they sent my way: “Holiday Road,” “America,” “On the Road Again,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Don’t Go Back to Rockville.”
Click ahead for more …
Yes, the notion of Vedic nuclear weapons decimating ancient Indian cities is a more than a bit far-fetched. Yet from the mysterious Antikythera mechanism to Archimedes’ death ray, we’re continually fascinated by the idea of ancient advanced technology. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Julie and I look at what we really know about the technology of the ancients.
In the great game of evolution, elephants have racked up an impressive list of achievements. For example: They’re the largest living land animal, and scientists are still studying the their prodigious brainpower. This intelligence is readily observable in the wild. Some appear to have an artistic streak (check out the video below). Humans even pay homage [...]
Although Coco Chanel had yet to bring skin baking into fashion, 1903 marked the arrival of the “healthy tan.” John Harvey Kellogg, of corn flake fame, had already patented a therapeutic tanning bed prototype in 1891, and a decade and change later, heliotherapy enjoyed an especially auspicious year in the spotlight.
Yesterday, I got my first glimpse at the new video game “L.A. Noire” and it never ceases to amaze me how much gaming has changed since my Nintendo junkie days. The game is drawing raves for its dark realism — and I’ll agree that it was very aptly named — but could it pass muster with a real LAPD detective?
Let’s start with tigers. The World Wildlife Fund (commonly known as the ‘non-wrestling’ WWF) estimates that there may be as few as 3,200 tigers in the wild. Although the WWF has an ambitious plan to double the wild tiger population, things aren’t looking good for the largest member of the cat family. If humanity doesn’t make some drastic changes [...]
British-born, New Yorker photographer Steve Pyke has made it his mission to document historically important individuals through portraiture and still-life photography. Having previously worked with World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors, he recently turned his attention to profiling the iconic individuals who helped define the 20th century through manned lunar exploration.
I would imagine the only way I can come off not looking like a monster and this post be engrossing is if you can first promise that you’re capable of divorcing yourself from the reality of dead babies. If you do not feel that you can remove yourself from envisioning dead babies and instead think of lines of text on websites like WorldNetDaily, the Times and the Daily Mail, then perhaps this post should not be read by you.
Earlier this week, sloth adorability really hit me.
It was because of this video. [Click over to watch it.]
Here’s what else I know about the sloth: It doesn’t do much. It doesn’t move, really. Not that it’s lazy. I mean, don’t get the sloth wrong; once it gets a good grip on a tree branch, it’ll hang upside down from that tree branch through thick and thin — childbirth, sleeping. You name it. And a sloth sleeps A LOT — 15 to 20 hours a day.
History Class with David McCullough
by Sarah Dowdey | May 26, 2011
Listeners love a good history book recommendation, but it’s not every day we devote a whole podcast to one work — and interview the author while we’re at it! Last week, Deblina and I spoke with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough about his latest book, “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.”
The featured expats aren’t exactly your expected crowd: Mr. McCullough’s work starts long after the enlightened Franklin/Jefferson era and ends long before the post-war literary scene of Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. It covers the middle years, 1830 to 1900, and focuses on men and women, who, as Mr. McCullough describes them, “were ambitious to excel in their chosen careers […] to be the best they could possibly be.”
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
