Make-a-mortar

We're all familiar with the sinking feeling that happens when you cruise through a recipe, only to arrive at an instruction that calls for a tool you don't have. Some of the best food hacks (and my personal favorites) exist to combat that problem. Why spend money on a kitchen ...more

I finally got around to trying out another one of Will's mad science experiments and found out that this one was actually more satisfying (and less frustrating) than my slightly uncooperative jar jet. There's something very pleasing about making potassium nitrate at home in th ...more

Introduction Halo: Reach is Bungie's latest and final addition to the franchise. Microsoft has claimed the title and from now on 343 Industries will be working on the Halo franchise. In my opinion, Bungie's last game is the best out of all of them. These are some tactics and ...more

Digital distribution games are already firmly established on the PC, and they've infiltrated every present and next-gen console to some degree. Whether you like to play DOS, AAA, PC or indie games, there's a way to purchase most of them without leaving the comfort and warmth o ...more

Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! As nearly everyone has heard, Target Corporation, one of the largest retailers in the U.S. and Canada, was hacked late last year and potentially 100 million credit cards have been compromised. Happening just before Christmas, it severely da ...more

During my time living in dorm rooms and small apartments, I would find myself in need of many different appliances—a food processor for making hummus, a blender for vegetable smoothies, or even a mortar and pestle for muddling mojito-bound mint leaves. Luckily, there was one t ...more

This is a guide to making a very simple procedural texture for Maya. As with all procedural textures, the basic texture can be refined and added to. It's a texture! Open up the Hypershade (Window > Rendering Editors > Hypershade). This is where you can edit any textures as w ...more

I have an absolutely wonderful time making projects and writing articles for all of you mad scientists! Today, I will bring you behind the scenes for a look at the workbench, tools, and software that make the Mad Science World possible. Above is my beautiful workbench! My who ...more

Getting on the phone for customer service can be extremely frustrating. First you've got to find the correct phone number for your region (good luck trying to get customer service from a sales department), then you have to listen to the annoying automated system to navigate yo ...more

We already know that the connection between virtual and augmented reality is pretty tight, with tools like Unity making porting some apps between the two platforms fairly frictionless. But there are some things currently going in VR that just don't need to come to the world of ...more

A slow cooker can be both your culinary companion and your go-to gadget in the kitchen. That's right: the idea of slow cooking is no longer for Southern housewives or purveyors of the Ladies' Home Journal anymore. The times, they are a'changing! When you need a fuss-free meal ...more

In my opinion, spices are the key to a successful kitchen. With a healthy array of spices and spice mixes, you have the foundation for nearly any dish that you want to make; the culinary world is your oyster. With a depleted cupboard of spices, however, nearly every recipe loo ...more

Build a concrete "footer". Start your masonry project by building a concrete "footer" using standard construction techniques. Use 1" x 4" or 2" x 4" lumber as form boards. Nail or screw the wood boards to 1" x 2" stakes hammered into the ground using enough stakes to keep the ...more

I have to confess: my egg slicer has been neglected ever since I bought it. I had ambitious dreams of using it to slice perfectly symmetrical slivers of hard-boiled egg into my salads... but the truth is, once I tucked it into a kitchen drawer, I completely forgot about it. Th ...more

This summer's going to be a hot one, so skip the water pistol this year and break out the big guns! In this project, I'll be showing you how to build a water balloon shotgun—a high-powered water balloon launcher that's capable of firing 17 water balloons at the same time! Vide ...more

Fresh herbs can be delicate, and it's not always easy to figure out how to cut, crush, or muddle them to make the most of their flavors. Get too rough, and you have a bunch of bruised and muddy-tasting herbs, which is due to too much chlorophyll being released. Don't do enough ...more

These are classic stuffed mushrooms with a luxurious twist! This time I'm using Portabello mushrooms with fresh pesto, tomatoes, and a quail egg on top. Ingredients (Portions below serve 2) For the pesto: 2 cups Basil 4 cloves Garlic 1 cup Parmesan Cheese 3/4 cup Olive Oil ...more

Mike Doyle's latest LEGO house (perhaps even more hauntingly beautiful than the last) is a Victorian mansion that transcends the material so effectively, the plastic reads like real rotting bricks and mortar. Beautiful house-devouring trees, created with LEGO hinge cylinders t ...more

Killstreaks: Advantages and Disadvantages 3 Kills – Spy Plane: Advantages: This lets you see enemies on the radar in the upper left hand part of your screen. Though it is one of the lowest killstreaks, it is very beneficial and gives you a huge advantage. Disadvantages: It ca ...more

Like cigars and whiskey, Lapsang Souchong tea is an acquired taste. Some people never get over the pungent, tarry flavor and intense smell of the beverage, but using it as a rub, marinade, or other seasoning is totally smart. The tea adds a smoky yet not overwhelming flavor to ...more

Amazon has completely changed the way we purchase household items, to the point where many of us haven't visited a big box, brick-and-mortar store like Walmart or Best Buy in years. And when you think about it, all of this success comes down to two main factors—convenience and ...more

Dandruff -- the embarrassing white flakes that end up like snowfall on your shoulders and clothing. There are plenty of dandruff shampoos on the market to choose from, unfortunately, they are all very expensive. If you have ever wondered what ingredients make them so expensive ...more

Earlier this month, the U.S. Army agreed to drop quite a big chunk of change ($461m to be exact) on 423 M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicles (ASV), made by Textron Systems.  What makes the M1117 worth $461m of the army's budget? Well, a Hummer isn't capable of withstandin ...more

Sriracha has quickly become one of the country's most universally loved condiments. The addictive and affordable chili sauce seemingly goes on anything, and with anything, and never seems to get old. To wit: when I studied abroad, all of our food was boring, pre-packaged Sysco ...more

In what's becoming something of a regular occurrence, Magic Leap has yet another internal, unforced error on its hands. Thankfully, this time it's not about legal skirmishes or theft, but a rather unusual break from company protocol that has been quickly swept under the rug. ...more

In the mid '90s, there was no such thing as a widely available indie video game. Brick-and-mortar stores were the only places for consumers to buy games, and magazines were the only outlets to hear about them. For video game creators, the need for a publisher to market and dis ...more

Among the many gifts that Italy has bestowed upon the world, culinary and otherwise, pesto stands alone. The exact birthplace of pesto, that herby sauce made of pine nuts and olive oil, is an area of Italy called Liguria, whose microclimate is particularly kind to basil, one o ...more

For most people, New Year's Eve means watching the ball drop in Times Square. It means celebrating the New Year with friends and family. Countdown parties, clocks, confetti... passing out before the clock strikes midnight because you drank too much. But there's one more thing, ...more

In many ways, your smartphone has become the ideal companion to take with you on your morning runs. Not only do they provide an easy way to listen to your favorite music and help get you pumped up, but they can also gather important information to give you a clearer picture of ...more

Department store chain Zara is temporarily ditching its mannequins and dressing up its stores with augmented reality experiences featuring virtual versions of real fashion models. Rolling out to 120 of its flagship stores worldwide, customers inside and outside the stores can ...more

While everyone was marveling at the latest drama over at Magic Leap involving employees last week, a major rumor listed in one of the reports, related to the company's flagship device, was mostly overlooked. "One current issue with the headset is battery life and charging; th ...more

It is widely known that sticky rice is an essential staple in the Chinese diet. But did you know it also plays an important role in their ancient architecture? Since the Ming Dynasty, sticky rice has been the key ingredient in an incredibly strong mortar recipe, which has kept ...more

These days, eReaders are everywhere. For die-hard book nerds, eReaders offer the convenience of a full library without having to sacrifice shelf space. Sure, there are the paper buffs who swear that you just can't take an eReader with you into the bathtub, but when's the last ...more