Videos
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GamesArchive for July, 2011
Island Power: El Hierro and Renewable Energy
by Ben Bowlin | July 21, 2011
Often called “The Meridian Island,” El Hierro is the smallest of the Canary Islands. It’s a haven for diving enthusiasts, and it may soon become the first island powered entirely by renewable energy. At a first glance, this might not seem like a big deal. After all, El Hierro is only about 107 square miles [...]
A rich guy in Abu Dhabi has been dabbling in geoglyphs.
Billionaire oil sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan employed A LOT of people to dig the shape of his first name out of the sand on Al Futaisi Island, which he owns. There are two long miles between ‘H’ and ‘D,’ and the letters are a half a mile from bottom to top.
You’ll also notice that the Caps Lock was on.
Blow Your Mind: Bugs, Twinkies and Ancient Foods
by Robert Lamb | July 21, 2011
You are what you eat, which poses an interesting conundrum for a species that eats everything from fermented baby birds and laboratory snake cakes to fresh fruit and grains. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Julie and I take a fascinating look at humanity’s earliest meals and how so many of our staples boil down to the incessant battle for survival in an unforgiving world.
It’s hump day, so why not take a quick break from your labors for some mind-expanding visuals courtesy of yours truly? These three videos come via a raid on a rather cool little blog called Awesome Robo! First up is “The Known Universe” from the American Museum of Natural History. It takes us from the Himalayas, up through Earth’s atmosphere and all the way through space Powers of Ten style to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Let’s watch:
In our episode on female astronauts, Molly and I perpetuated a myth during our listener mail segment. Say it ain’t so!
We read an email about the supposed etymology of the phrase “rule of thumb,” linking it to an old law about wife beating. As the myth goes, “rule of thumb” relates to a British law, allowing a husband to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it isn’t wider than the man’s thumb.
Did you know that there was once such a thing as giant deer?! I learned this recently reading an excellent post on the excellent archaeology site Past Horizons. There was such a thing as giant deer and they lived not too long ago during the Pleistocene era, the geological period that encompassed the last ice age. Giant deer were among the Pleistocene megafauna of Western Europe and they dwelt in a place called Doggerland.
Wow, so Russian media giant Pravda ran one doozy of a story yesterday, claiming that between 1936 and 1941 the Soviet Union marched 300 young volunteers through a super soldier program that saw gold electrodes implanted in their brains and titanium implants inserted in place of limb bones. In theory, the neural implant shut down the soldier’s pain centers and the titanium limbs protected against various forms of battle damage.
Wow, it’s true. If you type a word often enough, it starts to lose its meaning. But before I start to use the word hack as a koan in a meditation session, I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick news roundup of some hacking stories. Not all hacks are created equal the use of the words hack, hackers and hacking can sometimes be misleading.
In breaking bathroom news: Dutch designers have come up with a 4-person female urinal. Molly blogged about porta potty alternatives for women after enduring Great Restroom Challenge that is the Bonaroo music festival. But unlike the PortaJane, “first portable restroom designed specifically ‘For Women Only,’” the new Pollee urinal (via Dezeen) seats four gals at a time.
So, what if Earth could make its own video diary?
Well, it did. On Oct. 10, 2010, thousands of videographers in every single nation on Earth turned on their cameras and filmed what was happening in their necks of the woods that day. Thanks to the efforts of the One Day on Earth project, those folks were then able to upload their videos to one central Web site for everyone to watch them.
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
