Ducts

Today's fancy cars come with all sorts of options, from power mirrors to working seat belts. Some of us condemned to live in the reality of capitalist recession have no car, or perhaps a very modest one. But your modest car can still have some cutting edge technology wedged in ...more

My kitchen isn't nearly as well-stocked as I'd prefer, and I often come across recipes that call for odd tools and appliances I don't have. Let's just say I've resorted to some unconventional methods to get the job done without them. But that's the thing—there are few things ...more

Will the predicted apocalyptic date—December 21st, 2012—really be the end of the world? In this ongoing five-part series, we examine what would happen if zombies, nuclear weapons, cyber wars, earthquakes, or aliens actually destroyed our planet—and how you might survive. End ...more

Bash scripting is a convenient way to automate things on any Linux system, and we're going to use it here to automate certain tasks we use all the time. Bash is a simple language for stringing together several different Linux utilities. Its simplicity makes it easy for beginn ...more

Unlike your more artistically-minded friends who've been working on their homemade, hand-stitched, conceptually-brilliant Halloween costumes since May, you need to put together a last-minute costume in a matter of hours. What can you possibly do if you're cheap, kind of lazy, ...more

Mason jars are a DIYer's best friend, nearly on par with duct tape and paper clips. Why? Because you can use mason jars for so many things besides just canning and drinking, and I'm not talking about other obvious uses like basic storage containers or miniature terrariums. I'm ...more

Science-fiction writer Jules Verne predicted many scientific breakthroughs, including the moon landing, tasers, and nuclear submarines. In his 1874 book The Mysterious Island, Verne writes: I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which ...more

Now how's that for alliteration? WOO! Anyway, this has already made the rounds, but if you haven't seen it yet, check this out. When you take a low-slung four wheel bike frame, a crap load of PVC pipe, miles of duct tape and about 1,000 hours, you, too can drive a Porsche with ...more

The final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is here, The Dark Knight Rises, and if you're anything like me, it made you want to immediately don a cowl of your own and run around punching criminals. Don't forget though, one of the most awesome aspects of Batman is h ...more

Guardians of the Galaxy wowed moviegoers this summer with its sassy, strong team of intergalactic superheroes. From Groot, the ever-growing tree, to Rocket, the rough-around-the-edges raccoon, the film had an unending supply of unique characters—but no one stood out as much as ...more

There's absolutely nothing better than seeing the look of pure and utter shock on someone's face, and that is why I absolutely love this. It is by far one of the best pranks ever, and one of the best videos that I've seen in a while. Seriously. If you've ever used the drive-th ...more

I made this taser using a disposable camera and duct tape! In the photograph, the taser is shocking a steel bookshelf.

Scotch tape may not be as versatile as duct tape when it comes to mending things, but it still has a number of weirdly practical uses that goes beyond taping down wrapping paper and sealing envelopes. Double-sided Scotch tape can be used to discourage cats from using your fav ...more

If you've ever been inside of a real laboratory, you probably noticed how expensive the equipment is. You'd never be able to afford even just one of those ultra high-tech machines required to splice genes or split atoms. Even the lesser machines can be prohibitively costly, in ...more

So you've decided to go as Captain America for Halloween and you've got everything from the helmet to a sweet pair of red boots. You've even managed to get your hands on some Super-Soldier Serum (or a realistic set of inflatable muscles), so you've got the physique, too. But w ...more

Since the invention of the mechanical clock, enclosure of the commons, and proletarianization of labor, the alarm clock has been the bane of our existence. While not actually evil, it does represent the constant and uncompromising glare of our owners shaking a patronizing fing ...more

This article will show you how to make a shutter release cable for a Canon camera. It took me about half an hour once all of my materials were gathered. I came in at a total of about eight dollars. It has three switches and buttons. The black button on mine triggers the auto f ...more

Halloween just isn't Halloween without Jack O'Lanterns. Below, anything and everything you need to know on the art of pumpkin carving. 1. Prepare a Pumpkin for Carving Serious Eats' video demonstration is for true novices: "This video is for you unlucky souls who never got t ...more

I decided to make a quick banner for my RC plane. It was basically free, but you might need to get a few materials if you don't have them. My plane is a Hobbyzone Champ, which is a hardy but tiny plane, weighing only 1.3 ounces with the battery. My how-to is modeled after this ...more

It's a real challenge to create exploding targets that can be set off by low velocity projectiles, yet remain safe to handle without risk of ignition during construction. The targets demonstrated in the following video were created to avoid those challenges by using quite har ...more

In this video, I'm going to show you how to make an effective DIY pop filter using nothing but a few sheets of paper and a tissue. This will give you an excellent quality recording with your microphone. In fact, the no-cost pop filter I'm about to show you how to make is the s ...more

This article will show you how to make a proportionally correct 1/187 (about) size Hubble Space Telescope. I tried to add as many details as possible, but it was hard at such a small size. It was really easy, but it did take a while to make. Here are some specs for the real H ...more

Are you feeling flu-like symptoms that involve fever, headache, muscle pains, vomiting, and a skin rash? Take a glass cup and press the glass surface against your skin. If the rash doesn't fade under pressure like a normal skin rash, then you are suffering from meningitis and ...more

In the DIY community, much is said about the versatility of duct tape. But it's hardly the only game in town. For proof, one needn't look any further than the impressive, diverse tape sculptures submitted to Scotch's second-annual Off the Role tape sculpture competition. The ...more

Ant-Man isn't one of the most famous Marvel superheroes. In fact, with the news of his individual movie came great doubt that the comic book legends could succeed in telling the tiny story of an oddball hero on the big screen. Yet with its humor and unique story, Ant-Man has b ...more

If you are like most people, you probably have a discordant mess of cable and computer cords in your workspace or living room snaking all over the floor or against your desk. Though you can buy various cable organizers at the computer store, you can also organize them the DIY ...more

Want to take vibrant photographs like this one? You won't find this filter in Instagram, and that's because it's a little more difficult than just slapping a digital filter on a solo photo. The extra RGB colors are created using a special strip device called the Harris shutter ...more

It's September 1st, 1859, and the Earth looks more or less like something out of an apocalyptic movie or Sci-Fi novel. All communications have failed, it's so bright outside at midnight that people are getting up and making breakfast, and people all over the world are seeing a ...more

There is nothing more annoying than a greedy roommate. It's absolutely infuriating to wake up and find the cookies your mother just made for you gone without a trace. Your favorite drink is empty and the homemade meal you worked so hard on the night before is nowhere to be fou ...more

There are thousands of uses for tape, and plenty of different types of it, too. Masking tape is perfect for labeling, double-sided tape is great for crafts, and duct tape is good for...well, just about everything. And then there's washi tape, which is like double-sided and ma ...more

If you're getting into automation, Bash scripting is usually the way to go. However, there are a couple of limitations, and one of them is logging into another device like a Raspberry Pi and running a script automatically. To help in those situations, we're going to automate d ...more

Everyone knows that using your phone and driving is illegal, and rightfully so. Tons of people die on the road everyday due to careless people texting or calling someone. Everybody knows that it's wrong, yet everyone still does it anyway. Unfortunately, there are some of us t ...more

As I said in this earlier post, there's no easy way to explain or define the Steampunk aesthetic. There are a large number of Steampunk tropes or "cues", as I call them, that bring to mind the feeling of Steampunk. These cues combine to push past the "not-Steampunk" threshold ...more

Being healthy and active will help you live longer, but finding the strength to work out? That's hard. What does it do for me right now? I mean, here I sit, writing this article, thinking about going for a run, and I feel good just for thinking about running. But will I do it? ...more

Solving a Dilemma This is a simple how-to for a cost effective drip irrigation system for your garden. My motivation to set up my garden for drip irrigation was pretty simple. In the summer, it gets to 90+ degrees outside, and my 50’ garden hose didn’t reach the far extents w ...more

Stuck behind bars? Held hostage by a guy with a flamethrower? Thanks to the wise and resourceful 80s secret agent MacGyver, these problems can be resolved by a car battery, two coins and some jumper cable. Sound absurd? Did you see this year's Superbowl MacGruber Pepsi ad? Ma ...more