Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Brick Blocks


09 Jan

Growing up, my brother and I had Brick Blocks. They were Legos, but made of a thinner plastic, came in red and white, and had a limited number of shapes. We loved them. We built a million different things, from houses to cruise ships.

Wondering if they still existed, I decided to search for them and came across these Brick Blocks. They’re like the toys I grew up with, except they aren’t toys! You can use them to design the interior of your building, and even build furniture.

Is it wrong that I want to redo my basement with them?

Magnetic Building Tiles


08 Jan

Kids now have the coolest toys. Growing up, we had Lincoln Logs, Legos, Brick Blocks (generic Legos), and erector sets. My brother and I loved building things. But recently, we babysat a 4 year old, and she brought her magnetic tiles with her. These things are so much fun. We built rockets, towers, and a plain old houses. We used triangles to make squares when we ran out of squares. I don’t think these will every quite replace Legos for versatility (I don’t think I could make a ship out of them), but they are still a ton of fun.

Now is Amazing


20 Dec

I know some people dream of living in a simpler age, but I love living in the time we are now. There are so many things I get to learn about because of the internet, things I never would have heard of otherwise. And now, I can study the Dead Sea Scrolls myself. Not touch them- but very few people are actually allowed to touch them.

Israel and Google have partnered to put 5,000 of the Dead Sea Scrolls online. Imagine reading Deuteronomy off the Dead Sea Scrolls, or a first century BC version of Genesis. How cool is that.

MythBusters: Explosions A to Z


26 Nov

Need to shoot a MythBusters episode with no new content and no Adam and Jamie for filming but still want to make the fans happy? Enter a show all about explosions. I don’t mind retrospective shows; after all, we might be starting to run low on urban myths, especially urban myths involving explosions of the type MythBusters fans have come to know and love. I did have one problem with the episode- where was the exploding water heater?! Maybe they consider it more a rocket, but still, if you’re talking fan favorites, how do you leave out the water heater?

MythBusters (s9 ep6)


12 Nov

Last night’s episode was the one in which the crew accidentally sent a cannonball into someone’s house. I appreciated the way the show handled the experience.

I was bothered that they kept saying this was the first time someone had fired a stone cannonball in a few hundred years. WRONG! Jaime hand carved a granite cannonball for the tree cannon. They may have finally solved the mystery of what happened to it, though. Apparently, granite cannonballs break on impact.

I was thrilled to see them do a Burn Notice myth- even if it was busted. Hopefully there will be more.

MythBusters Mini-Myths (s9 ep 5)


05 Nov

Do you think “I know it like the back of my hand” is a silly phrase, since you have never paid particular attention to the back of your hands? The MythBusters found out that we really do know the backs of our hands, better than we know other body parts.

Also, professional pitchers cannot throw a needle through a sheet of glass without shattering the glass, but the air gun succeeded. Bicycles can be ridden underwater but not well. And the potty dance and/or meditation may or may not help you stave off the need to go to the bathroom.

Mind over Pain


25 Oct

What would you think if your doctor gave you the option of virtual pain relief? You might be concerned that “virtual” pain relief would not relieve anything, but for those who are concerned about developing an addiction to powerful narcotics, the option might be very welcomed.

Enter SnowWorld, a virtual reality game that is played by burn patients during their daily would care- care that can be more painful than getting the burn itself. SnowWorld gives the patient something else to focus on, and does it so well that they often feel less pain than they did when taking drugs.

MythBusters (sp9 ep2)


15 Oct

Caught the Titanic episode last night before the new episode, and since I’m not a Titanic/James Cameron fan, I thought it was okay. I did like the new episode- earth moving machines and explosions- what’s not to like. Even the small scale tests for waves in trenches were really cool.

As for using balloons as an airbag- not surprised by the result. However, in their control, the driver wearing a seatbelt wouldn’t have survived. I’m pretty certain seatbelts save lives at 35mph all the time, so I’m not sure how accurate their dropping a car from a crane really is.

Learning to Cook Online


11 Oct

Love to watch cooking shows? Fascinated by “cooking” with liquid nitrogen? Want to learn both traditional and modern cooking techniques? Do you own or covet Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking?

If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, you might want to check out ChefSteps. ChefSteps is a new, free online cooking school being run by the guys behind Modernist Cuisine. They don’t care if you’re a professional chef with your own set of knives or a curious home chef looking to try some new recipes. It’s a culinary school for all of us.

MythBusters Season 9 Premier: I missed it


08 Oct

Last night was the start of season 9 of MythBusters, and I missed it. I blame FaceBook. I don’t blame FaceBook because I was busy playing Bejeweled Blitz or Hidden Chronicles. I blame FaceBook because some time ago, it decided to stop showing my the MythBusters feed, despite the fact that I am “subscribed” to it. You see, I use these feeds to know when new seasons start, since we don’t watch a whole lot of TV. In my mind, it wasn’t time for a new MythBusters yet because I hadn’t seen anything on FaceBook about when new episodes started.

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