How to Win Every Game of Dots and Boxes
So, you want ensure you always win whenever you play the wonderful time-waster that is Dots and Boxes? The secrets, believe it or not, is not to get greedy.
In this video, famed mathematician and game theorist Elwyn Berlekamp explains how you can win every hand of the game you play. A crucial first step: not taking every square you can. With patience, young grasshopper, comes the greater victory. [Numberphile]
Ancient Japanese technique to make wood buildings is a pleasure to watch
Japanese carpenters are famous for their elaborate joining techniques that put their wooden constructions among the most durable in the world. These videos show how this neat ancient technique works.
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via Gizmodo
Ancient Japanese technique to make wood buildings is a pleasure to watch
Electric scooters and fiber-optic shirts land on Engadget’s CES stage
From one angle, there are so many similarities between Gogoro and Cambridge Consultants that it’s hard to tell them apart. For instance, both are visionary companies that seek to redefine an existing market and both come out with innovative technolog…
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Electric scooters and fiber-optic shirts land on Engadget’s CES stage
Nuclear Waste Accident Costs Los Alamos Contractor $57 Million
HughPickens.com writes The LA Times reports that Los Alamos National Security, the contractor managing the nuclear weapons laboratory at Los Alamos, NM has been slapped with a $57-million reduction in its fees for 2014, largely due to a costly nuclear waste accident in which a 55-gallon drum packaged with plutonium waste from bomb production erupted after being placed in a 2,150-foot underground dump in the eastern New Mexico desert. Casks filled with 3.2 million cubic feet of deadly radioactive wastes remain buried at the crippled plant and the huge facility was rendered useless. The exact causes of the chemical reaction are still under investigation, but Energy Department officials say a packaging error at Los Alamos caused a reaction inside the drum. The radioactive material went airborne, contaminating a ventilation shaft that went to the surface giving low-level doses of radiation to 21 workers. According to a DOE report, the disaster at WIPP is rooted in careless contractors and lack of DOE oversight (PDF). "The accident was a horrific comedy of errors," says James Conca, a scientific advisor and expert on the WIPP. "This was the flagship of the Energy Department, the most successful program it had. The ramifications of this are going to be huge. Heads will roll." The accident is likely to cause at least an 18-month shutdown and possibly a closure that could last several years. Waste shipments have already backed up at nuclear cleanup projects across the country, which even before the accident were years behind schedule. According to the Times, the cost of the accident, including likely delays in cleanup projects across the nation, will approach $1 billion. But some nuclear weapons scientists say the fine is an overreaction. "It was a mistake by an individual — a terrible mistake — and Washington now wants to punish a lot of people," says Conca. "The amount of radiation that was released was trivial. As long as you don’t lick the walls, you can’t get any radiation down there. Why are we treating this like Fukushima?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
via Slashdot
Nuclear Waste Accident Costs Los Alamos Contractor $57 Million
How to Make a Pro Looking ‘IceLight’ for less than $30
The Ice Light by Westcott is a $450 light source that many photographers swear by. It is a powerful, variable LED light that can be hand held and gives a nice directional strip-like spread. Then again, it costs $450, which is no peanuts. If you are in the photography stage where you have more time […]
The post How to Make a Pro Looking ‘IceLight’ for less than $30 appeared first on DIY Photography.
via DIYPhotography.net -Hacking Photography, One Picture At A Time
How to Make a Pro Looking ‘IceLight’ for less than $30
Easy-to-Make Icicle Ornaments From a Plastic Bottle
Christmas has come and gone, and you’ve probably (hopefully) packed up the ornaments and stored them for next year. If, however, you’d like to “celebrate” the really cold weather we’ve been having in much of the United States, you could use these instructions to make icicle ornaments out of a […]
The LEGO Movie: Behind the Bricks
The LEGO Movie was one of our favorite flicks of 2014. Not only was it hilarious and clever, it was packed with amazing animation which mimicked low-budget brickfilm style using CGI. They literally built each object brick by digital brick.
via The Awesomer
The LEGO Movie: Behind the Bricks
Find In-Depth Articles on Google with a URL Trick
If your Google search just isn’t returning the quality content you want, this little URL trick might find more in-depth articles on the subject you’re searching for.
Alex Chitu at Google Operating System recently discovered that Google has a section for "in-depth articles", from which it features longer posts from sites like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wired, The Economist, and more. It only seems to work in the US, and it only pops up sometimes—but you can manually bring it up by adding this to the end of your search URL:
&tbs=ida:1&gl=us
It doesn’t work all the time, and it’s certainly a bit limiting, but it’s worth a shot if Google just isn’t giving you the kind of results you want.
Find In-Depth Articles | Google Operating System
via Lifehacker
Find In-Depth Articles on Google with a URL Trick
Repair Damaged Fascia Boards for an Instant Home Facelift
Fascia boards are susceptible to water damage, which leads to rotting wood boards that can become loose and are unsightly. Repair your fascia boards for a subtle home makeover.
Fascia boards run horizontally under a roofs edge and can be made of wood or sheet metal. These boards are installed in segments and the seams should be lined up at the rafters which protects the ends from water damage.
If the paint is peeling from the fascia board (pictured above), but the wood is in good condition, then sand and repaint your boards. If you notice signs of rot, you will need to cut those sections out at the rafters and replace them. Check out the video above for instructions on mitering fascia boards to accommodate corners.
Avoid 16 penny common nails which can cause fascia boards to crack and splinter. Use 8 or 10 penny galvanized finishing nails to install the new fascia boards. Use wood filler to fill cracks at seams and corners and then sand.
Lastly, prime and paint your new fascia boards to complete the look. Check out the video above for more.
Repairing Fascia Boards | Paul Ricalde (YouTube)
Photo by Robin McShaffry
via Lifehacker
Repair Damaged Fascia Boards for an Instant Home Facelift