In repairing the dash pad, once you remove the dash pad it rips the metal clip off, where it is connected to the car. You can do this by using a j-b weld solution. After you mix the j-b weld, apply it to the broken stub and place the metal clip, with the ripped plastic, correc ...more
Find out a new way to solve the Rubik's Cube made famous by Erno Rubik, master puzzle maker. Try to get the OLL (Orientation of the Last Layer) using a new method that lets you look at the cube and figure out a two algorithm move solution to orienting them correctly. Just watc ...more
Check out this video tutorial on how to Solve a ten digit number math problem. This video will show you the key to solving the puzzle to find a 10 digit number, such that 10 digits are divisible by 10, and the first 9 are divisible by 9, and so on. The number 3816547290. Now ...more
This is the solution to the notorious 3x3 Soma Cube puzzle. Well, there's one mistake -- can you spot it?
This is a solution to the Snake Cube, a puzzle made up of 27 cubes connected on a string through alternating holes in the blocks. There's no sound, so you'll just have to watch, or maybe play some music in the background. Oh, and there's no talking, either.
Halloween is just a few days away, and since I've been churning out the creepy Bingo of the Days for everyone the past few weeks, it seems fitting to do a puzzle based on them. Too bad today isn't Friday the 13th! That will have to wait until 2017. The Challenge Take a look ...more
The end game is a very important aspect of playing Scrabble. If you have just a few letters left on your rack and there are none left in the draw bag, but you're currently losing the game, you still might have a chance to win if you play your cards (er… tiles) right. No matter ...more
This video presents a mathematical puzzle which is to be solved by the viewer. The solution is posted in an alternate video, but this video presents the problem of a four digit number which is the square of a smaller number. The first two digits of the square are the same as e ...more
If you know how to solve the Rubik's Cube, then why don't you try yourself at the Square One puzzle? If you thought the Rubiks Cube was puzzling, then you haven't seen anything yet! This video tutorial will show you how to solve the Square One puzzle. The Square-1, also known ...more
The initial idea for this project was to use magnets in the tips of the stellated octahedron and the intersections of the metal rings for either suspension or even a sort of weightless rotation. This turned out to be a bit too ambitious considering I'm working with found mirro ...more
How to easily clean your coins with CLR You can use a plastic cup for the container that you clean the coins in. Add 1/4 cup of CLR and 1/4 cup of water to the cup. Let the coin soak in the cup for about 30 minutes. If the mixture doesn't work on the coin you can add less wate ...more
Join Ty Yann and explore a coin puzzle with an unexpected answer. 1. Place a five hundred won coin on the top of another five hundred won coin. Make sure the top coin has the 500 level and showing. 2. Rotate the two coins, like a gear, and think of when the 500 will be straigh ...more
This is Brian Brushwood with Scam School. The trick is called 'In the bank'. This week we've got another puzzle with a setup that sounds absolutely impossible. THE SETUP: Fold a toothpick in half, making a "V" shape, and place it on top of the mouth of a beer bottle. Next Pla ...more
Can you solve the mystery of the sands? The Magic Sand Wand puzzle is a clear acrylic wand, partially filled with brightly colored sand, and containing a silver ball. All you have to do is get the ball from one end of the wand to the other. Sound easy? Don't be to sure! This ...more
The Rubik's company has created a veritable cornucopia of Rubik's Cubes and similar puzzles. This is tutorial video on how to do a traditional 3x3 Rubik's Cube and is a very easy solution. This video sequence has seven steps. Part 1 of 7 - How to Solve a Rubik's Cube in seven ...more
So you want to make a film, and in that film you want to have a sword, but you can't buy one, not to mention real ones are pretty dangerous. Your insurance costs will go through the roof! Well, here's you solution. Check out this helpful two-part video tutorial on how to make ...more
I first heard the term molecular gastronomy while watching an episode of Bravo's Top Chef a few seasons back. Intrigued by the concept, I sought to find out more about this modern, deconstructed type of cookery. If you happen to be around foodies and the topic of molecular gas ...more
Two-letter words are one of the most important parts of playing Scrabble. If you don't know all of the small ones, then you're missing out on one of the easiest ways to score big. Check out How to Score Big with 2-Letter Words in Scrabble and memorize all that you can. Definit ...more
These magical beans can keep your coffee hot for hours. Not blazing hot, burn your tongue on the first sip, and not disappointingly lukewarm, but coffee fit for every baby bear—just right. Genius. But not really magic. The beans, called "Joulies" by inventors Dave & Dave, are ...more
The Android Megaminxer is mind-bogglingly elaborate, impressively combining multiple geeky mediums to solve an incredibly complex puzzle. ARM, the genius behind the stunt, uses LEGOs (a Mindstorms NXT kit to be exact) to build a robot responsible for the mechanics; they then e ...more
Can't remember when to water the plants? Wish they could just tell you when they need watering—just call you on the phone or something? Or maybe text you, "Help I'm desiccating!" Telecommunications researcher Kate Harman has come up with the device of an absent-minded plant ow ...more
Find out the secret to solving the Muses Puzzle. If you're having trouble with the solution, this video guide will show Kratos step-by-step what to do to win. Watch the walkthrough for the Muses Puzzle in God of War III on PS3. Mahalo's God of War 3 Walkthroughs show every st ...more
Entertain your friends by turning your traditional personal headphones into a mini loud speaker with just an old mint tin and a playing card. This might not be the most advanced or prettiest way of listening to music but sure is a fun way to kill some time. When it comes to f ...more
The hardest part in the Ashland level of Darksiders on the Xbox 360 is probably the boss fight between you and Stygian. At the start of this battle, Stygian will be wearing a metal cage around its mouth. This prevents you from doing any damage to the beast so you'll have to re ...more
This one's pretty easy. Here's the solution to the 16th puzzle, entitled "The Cavalry", in Assassin's Creed 2. Image 1: Just move the cursor to the word “Tunguska.” Image 2: Move the cursor onto the staff and drag it onto Tesla’s photo. For more info, watch the whole gameplay. ...more
Find out the solution to the 5th puzzle in Assassin's Creed 2. For set one, the hint here is “cut,” so pick the five paintings that feature swords. For set two, what do the people in these paintings lean on? That’s right – pick out the images that feature staffs. For more info ...more
Need to divert a little rain water fall from falling off of your roof? Let home improvement expert Danny Lipford show you how to install a rain diverter on your home's eave. Nothing is more annoying than having to walk through a waterfall coming off your roof to reach the fro ...more
By "God," I mean Morley Davidson, John Dethridge, Herbert Kociemba, Tomas Rokicki and about 35 CPU-years. Ever since Erno Rubik conceived the Rubik's Cube in 1974, math-minded cubers have been trying to find the most efficient number of moves required to solve the 3x3 Rubik's ...more
Another great Community Byte in the bag! This week was really cool, especially with programming going on twice a week. We transitioned to the new times very smoothly with no one left behind, from what I can tell. Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, basic ...more
Foldit is definitely a niche game. The sole gameplay mechanic is attempting to fold complex proteins into smaller and more efficient shapes following the rules of molecular physics and biology. Points are awarded based on how small one can make the protein. Online leaderboards ...more
The game has undergone many transitions over the years, since its days as LEXIKO (1931) to its briefness as CRISS CROSS WORDS to its current and amalgamated, renowned brand of SCRABBLE. There has been many editions of the word board game along that historic metamorphosis, and ...more
As touched upon in the past, knowing all of the possible words you can play is key to being a better Scrabble player. If you don't have the vocabulary, then you can't compete against the best of the best, and you'll never even get the chance to spar against professionals such ...more
The big day may be over, but the weekend is still full of Thanksgiving spirit. And so is this week's puzzle. But let's keep it short this time, because we should all be taking this time to play a real game of Scrabble with friends and family. I was thinking of making a puzzle ...more
In these weekly Scrabble Challenges, so far we've covered two-letter words, double bingos, high scoring moves, triple-triples, last moves, parallel plays, phoneys and opening moves. For this week's puzzle, we're revisiting the strategy for opening moves. It's said that the pl ...more
A phoney word in a game of Scrabble is basically a non-valid word, either played or considered being played. Why? To fool the other player and go from losing to winning. It's perfectly acceptable in Scrabble play, but only if you don't get caught. If the other player challenge ...more
As much as I love Scrabble, the iPhone and Android versions of the game are just not as much fun or as fast paced as Words with Friends. I play both, but I'm most active on Zynga's version of the mobile word game because it's quicker to make moves, doesn't take as long to upda ...more
All you need is a match, two-pint glasses, and a quarter, and you'll be drinking free all night! Just follow the steps in this how-to video. The tricks win you goodwill, but the puzzles win you good beer! The Setup: turn an empty pint glass upside down, and place a "treasure" ...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
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
In this series, I'll be exploring electromagnetic weapons, how to build them, their function and application to the future, and the amazing possibilities electromagnetism has to offer. First, the electromagnetic pulse generator, or EMP. You've probably heard of these before, a ...more
You're currently playing a heated game of Scrabble or Words with Friends. The game is close, too close for comfort. But you're not sweating because you're confident. You play a huge word that puts you in the lead, but then when your letter tiles are drawn... We've all been th ...more
Bluffing is one of the key components of poker. You may have a horrible hand, but if you can play it cool and raise the bet, you might just be able to convince your opponents otherwise and induce a few folds. But if you can't handle a little subterfuge, then you shouldn't be p ...more
The concept of Scrabble and Words with Friends is the same—play words, score points, win. But the games require different strategy in terms of letter placement, premium squares, tile point values and word choices. Here's the main differences between the two games. Scrabble ha ...more
If you haven't noticed yet, I've started dishing out some "Scrabble Bingo of the Day" articles that showcase interesting and somewhat unusual seven-letter words (or longer) that could give you an extra 50-point bonus on the board, as long as you empty your rack. So, for this w ...more
Now that you have your two-letter words down and have practiced your skills, it's time to move on to another important part of Scrabble gameplay—the opening move. There's a well known adage that states, “The player going first will win 54% of the time—all other things being eq ...more
There are two types of Scrabble players in the world—those who enjoy it and those who love it. I definitely fall into the latter category. Unfortunately, most of my friends don't. I'm lucky to have a few who simply enjoy it from time to time—some are even standing on the edge ...more
Computer viruses are terrifying. They are undetectable, dangerous, and operate constantly right under your nose. For the average computer user, there are only a few repair options. You could buy expensive antivirus software that causes more problems than it fixes, you can wipe ...more
The best chemistry experiments are those you can perform with items already laying around your house. With only some sugar, salt substitute and an instant cold pack, you can make your very own gunpowder! Being able to make homemade gunpowder without a trip to the store can be ...more
Nearly every game takes strategy to win, but when it comes to games like Scrabble and Words with Friends, you've also got to have a lexically inclined mind full of wonderful and weird words. Most start out by learning all of the two-letter words in the Scrabble dictionary, the ...more
Last week's challenge brought up a good question (thanks Lisa) regarding the functionality of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 4th Edition, both online and in print form. The word TACTICAL was the answer to the first puzzle in that challenge, but when you search for t ...more
The United States is a hierarchical country where the weak ones are at the bottom and the powerful ones are at the top. Garment workers are at the bottom of the list although they are the most important. Without them there would be no fashion industry. They sew and cut the gar ...more
If you're like me, you were always jealous of the kids with rich parents who got to ride around in their own Power Wheels cars. Now that I am tall enough to sell my body and time, I find myself attaining childhood dreams like buying my own Power Wheels car. I would not have ch ...more
SCRABBLE. I miss it. That idiosyncratic smell of cardboard, cheap wood and plastic that rushes out when I remove the box's cover. The instant gratification of unfolding the board into the sweet spot of the table, smoothing it out into the perfect receptacle for a heated battl ...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
To some, SCRABBLE is just a board game to play during family game night or during a casual get-together. Others think of SCRABBLE as a mere hobby. But with any activity, there will always be fanatics—the ones who would rather sell their soul than stop—the ones with a constant ...more
Aluminum isn't one of the prettiest of metals, but it's actually one of the easiest to keep clean, if you know what to do. If your aluminum is looking tarnished, try this quick solution to revitalizing the glare. Mix equal parts water and cream of tartar and apply with a rag. ...more
Try to figure out this brainteaser in five minutes or less. Move three matchsticks in order to make three squares. No peeking! Are you still working out this puzzle in your head? You'll be very surprised at the simple solution to this riddle.
This is a solution to a medium level sudoku puzzle. Each row, column, and 3x3 square need to have the digits 1 through 9 exactly once each. See how it's done, and listen to some good music while you're at it.
Have the victim park their car in a normal parking spot. While they are in the place they parked at have another car (the prankster) drive up and swipe the back of the victim's car, leaving huge dents in both cars. Have the prankster wait, hidden, outside for the victim to com ...more
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or ele ...more