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Right now in the United States we are in the grip of a very cold winter. Heating the house is going to be expensive with this kind of weather going on. What if you want to save money? One option, especially if you have an older home, is to do things like adding insulation: I [...]
I got an email from someone who has recently bought an older home (2,000 square feet, one story). He looked in the attic and there is a layer of 40-year-old fiberglass insulation up there that may be four inches thick now. And he has a reasonable question – how much money could he really save [...]
If you have read How Roller Coasters Work, you know that the basic principles of a roller coaster are very simple. You have a car rolling down a track under the influence of gravity. That simplicity means that it is possible to build roller coasters at home… And people do… This is a 180-foot home [...]
Nigeria is a country that has a lot of oil. It also has a somewhat more Wild West feeling than more developed parts of the world do. And parts of the country experience crushing poverty that provides people with a certain desperation. When you put these elements together you get backyard oil refineries. This photo [...]
Let’s say you are invited to a party, and let’s say the hostess asks you to bring some hummus. You go to the grocery store and you realize that hummus is a lot like gold – it seems really expensive for the amount you get. Or let’s say you happen to like hummus, so you [...]
Rescreening a porch sounds so easy, doesn’t it? It’s NOT. At least, not if you don’t have a proper plan of attack. I might not know the superlative strategy, but I do know one that works very well because I recently helped a friend rescreen his back porch and it was an epic battle: Us versus Inanimate Mesh! Sounds silly, but that mesh had moxie. Luckily, however, we managed to emerge victorious after being seriously harried during the first couple rounds of battle.
So you are looking for a new hobby and you want to try radio-controlled airplanes. You can either buy a full pre-built kit that includes the plane, servos, radio, etc. in a package that is pretty much ready to go with minor assembly. Or you can build it yourself. Here is how to take the [...]
Paint yourself blue to become a Navi tribesman/woman for Halloween
by Marshall Brain | October 27, 2010
The Navi tribesman/woman… This is one of those costume ideas that you could do well, or that you could do poorly. Here is how to do it well: Where do you get the blue color? You will be buying something like this: Blue Cream Makeup Or use clown makeup: Ben Nye Clown Makeup If you [...]
DIY – Make your own Storm Trooper or Master Chief armor
by Marshall Brain | October 22, 2010
It’s funny to think that the original Star Wars movie was released in 1977. Here we are more than 30 years later, and Stormtrooper outfits are still cool and interesting. A lot of stuff from older movies looks tired and dated. That hasn’t happened at all with Stormtroopers. Sure you could buy a costume. But [...]
The Best – The following video demonstrates an outstanding Star Wars TaunTaun costume: To get the proper height, the person inside the costume wears a kind of stilts. This is no simple project, but Scott’s photo essay shows you how he did it: Scott Holden’s Tauntaun Costume At the other end of the scale, you [...]
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