Plus Square Dance

You can do some pretty cool stuff with the golden ratio. The image above is made from taking each quarter-circle in the golden spiral and expanding it into a full circle. In the second image, the spiral and the golden rectangles are overlaid on the the first image, showing how ...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

It took him a year to build and about $30,000 in parts, but Steve Hassenplug has created a truly magnificent robotic chess set, inspired by the magical chessboard in the first Harry Potter movie. Quite a task, but Hassenplug did an incredible job! Via PopSci: "Hassenplug and ...more

Have Danger and Dave England in the middle of of a town (I suggest something like NYC in Times Square) with a sign that says "Will dance for boobs" on a piece of cardboard. They will need to dress like school girls with High Heels. Also have them say "We will dance for the che ...more

Just like Instagram, Photoshop Express for Android and iOS has its own set of filters you can quickly apply to any photo. It's simple, fast, and more customizable than using Instagram's pre-made filters. The options in Photoshop Express allow you to edit and change your filter ...more

Apple Pay has been available to use in stores, as well as in select apps and websites, ever since its first appearance in iOS 8.1. Now, with iOS 12, there are currently 13 different iPhone models that support Apple Pay functionality without the use of an Apple Watch, and the l ...more

There's a set of drawing tools that have been available for a long time on the iPhone that helps you create handwritten notes and sketches. It's great when you need a free-form way to capture your ideas, and now it's even better. Apple added shape recognition in iOS 14 so that ...more

Thanks to Apple's ARKit 2.0 augmented reality framework in iOS 12, we now have a "Measure" app built right into our iPhones that can measure real-world objects. No more physical tape measure or ruler. No more guessing. Just whip out your iPhone, open the app, put your camera, ...more

While Snapchat had a head start in making augmented camera effects popular on smartphones, Facebook has spent the past few years in hot pursuit, with no less than three apps offering mobile AR experiences, plus its Portal hardware lineup of smart home devices. Facebook's late ...more

Being able to customize the look and feel of your device is the main reason a lot of folks choose Android over iOS. And perhaps the single biggest way to visually overhaul your phone or tablet's UI is to apply an icon pack, which can liven up your home screen with bright color ...more

Over the last few years, Apple has significantly improved and scaled up your iPhone's ability to edit photos. Using the Markup feature, which was introduced back in iOS 10, you can add doodles, highlights, important text, your signature, and arrows and other objects onto pictu ...more

Chances are you've got a bunch of wooden takeout chopsticks doing nothing but cluttering up your utensils drawer. That's a darned shame, considering that chopsticks aren't just for shoveling food into your mouth—they're actually the best cooking tools a cook can have (plus the ...more

Whether it becomes mandatory or not to show your COVID-19 vaccination card at events, restaurants, bars, hotels, airports, and other public places, it's a good idea to digitize the paper card on your smartphone so that it's always with you. It's also wise to give yourself quic ...more

My JO was watching The Simpsons on FOX the other day, like she wholeheartedly does every evening, and I joined her, much like I always do— though I must admit, I'm not as obsessed with the cartoon family as much as she is. Just like she isn't as obsessed with SCRABBLE as I am. ...more

In iOS, Apple provides a few live wallpapers that you can use for the background on your iPhone's lock screen, but these animated options are just wavy color shifts and ink-in-water effects. To really customize your lock screen, you can use a Live Photo for your wallpaper. If ...more

Using a green screen is an affordable and easy way to transport your video to anywhere imaginable, even to places that don't exist. You can use it to sit behind a desk in a busy newsroom or dance on the moon, but first, you have to know how to properly perform chroma key compo ...more

It feels like just yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 13 to the world, introducing game-changing features like system-wide dark mode and enhanced editing tools in Photos. But WWDC 2020 is rapidly approaching, which means iOS 14 is as well. As it turns out, we don't need to wait for ...more

Stories are everywhere in social media today, but that wasn't always the case. In 2013, Snapchat introduced the world to these temporary windows into our daily lives. Since then, stories have infiltrated other popular apps. However, to stand out, you can't solely rely on the a ...more

Over the past few weeks, Google, Snap, and Facebook have all taken their turns to show off their new augmented reality technologies. This week, it was Apple's turn, with new AR features for iOS 15 along with new capabilities for developers. Meanwhile, Facebook's plans to laun ...more

Phone specs get better and better each year, and multiplayer mobile games are right there with them. Instead of playing solo, jump into some real-time gameplay with co-op and player vs. player modes, and battle friends, family, and strangers from around the world. But which mu ...more

Apple's latest big update to iOS 14 has a lot to be excited about. While iOS 14.2 had some fun new features, such as new emoji and wallpapers, People Detection in Magnifier, and a Shazam control, iOS 14.3 brings on the heat. There are new Apple services and products that are s ...more

The latest iPhone update introduces big features like Live Activities and Clean Energy Charging, but those aren't the only things you'll notice different on iOS 16.1. If you build your own shortcuts in the Shortcuts app, there are a few things you'll definitely want to know ab ...more

SCRABBLE. To some it's just a game, but to me it's life or death. Well, not really, but it feels that way anyway. On a normal weekend, a game becomes much like Jon Thomas' "friendly game of death Scrabble." Video: . When I'm playing a game of SCRABBLE, my friends are not frien ...more

First off, don't be frustrated. YOU CAN DO IT! Contrary to the message in the image above, it's NOT over. It's just beginning. And when it comes to solving the New York Times crossword puzzle, the old cliche does apply: practice makes perfect. I've read quite a few books and ...more

30 Japanese schoolchildren, leg-to-leg. And they're good. Really good. What was I doing at that age, in the neon-lit elementary school gymnasium? Square dancing. Sweaty-palmed square dancing. Highly advanced multiple leg racing: it's a skill I never knew I wished I had.

It's once again Monday, which means it's time to highlight some of the most recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. Since two of these posts were on polyhedral versions of M.C. Escher's tessellations, I thought we'd take a look at building a simple tes ...more

The 2011 Toronto International Scrabble Open (TOSI) took place last weekend, with former World Champion Adam Logan beating out all of the human competition for the $3,000 grand prize. But when it came time to take on the Quackle program in the Human vs. Computer Showdown, he l ...more

I got a new Belly Dance instructional DVD last week and I am LOVING it! It's Ranya Renee's "Belly Dance Egyptian Style: The Baladi. Ranya is a Fantastic instructor and although the gadgets she used to explain her posture and alignment were a little silly it was an effective t ...more

Balloons are fun, but the helium ones are always more entertaining. So today, we're going to learn how to make hydrogen gas by combining toilet bowl cleaner with aluminum foil. With hydrogen, you get the same lighter-than-air properties of helium, plus it will explode! Histori ...more

Ingredients ½ teaspoon active dry yeast ½ cup + 2 tablespoons warm water 1 ¼ cups unbleached, bread flour, plus more for dusting ½ cup whole wheat flour 2 tablespoons rye flour 1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt ½ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup golden raisins, o ...more

Enjoy rolling around at night in the sleek luster of silk? Also afraid of a mobster finding out you're rolling around with his cousin's wife? Solution: bullet-proof silk sheets. All you need is the strongest biomaterial ever found--Darwin's bark spider silk. So, grab a loom an ...more

Anyone who likes shooters is going to hate me for saying this: the best game of the 2000's for me was Psychonauts by Double Fine Studios. It came out in 2005 for the original Xbox, achieving critical acclaim, but never selling very well due to its sheer kookiness and poor mark ...more

Written instructions on how to draft a basic skirt pattern with accompanying video. Take your correct measurements before you begin. Video: . Step 1: Measure Carefully measure your waist, hips and hip drop. Step 2: Draw a Rectangle The horizontal lines (1 to 2 and 3 to 4 in ...more

Filter effects aren't a new thing. But when Instagram hit the market, everybody began using them because it was simple. Take a picture, add an effect. It wasn't only easy, it was fun. It started a craze among smartphone users everywhere, prompting a slew of retro photo filter ...more

It's Monday, which means once again, it's time to highlight some of the most recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. I also thought we'd take a look at building a sliceform model of a hyperbolic paraboloid. Rachel Mansur put up two posts on her Modula ...more

WonderHowTo is made up niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects. Happy Thanksgiving! We hope everyone enjoys th ...more

Curve stitching is a form of string art where smooth curves are created through the use of straight lines. It is taught in many Junior High and High School art classes. I discovered it when my math students started showing me the geometric art they had created. The process of ...more

It's already Halloween and the night is fast approaching. You swore to yourself last year that you wouldn't wait until the last minute again for a Halloween costume, yet here you are on Samhain without a costume… again. All of the costume shops are sure to be crammed with last ...more

Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty are some of the most horrific fairy tales ever written, but over the course of nearly 200 years they've become watered down and sugar coated for innocent children everywhere. The original tales by the Brothers Grimm are vi ...more

We all remember the controversy of SCRABBLE Trickster back in April. SCRABBLE + Mattel + Proper Nouns = BLASPHEMY! Some thought it was just a PR hoax, something to rattle the bones of diehard SCRABBLE players, like myself. Others thought it was an April Fools' Day joke. But ...more

Yes. That's right. The 2010 National SCRABBLE Championship (NSC) is almost here. In fact, it starts in less than 2 weeks! And if you were lucky enough to register for the competitions, you could win a first place prize of $10,000! This years events will be held on August 7–11 ...more

It's once again Monday, which means it's time to highlight some of the most recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. I also thought we'd take a look at building a model that has appeared in numerous posts. It's the simplest of the intersecting plane mod ...more