DIY pen making kits are popular projects, such as the bullet pen and wood turned pen from Rockler. But this is the first wooden sharpie pen we’ve ever seen.Dustin Penner shared this project on his YouTube channel, and it’s clear he has some fine woodturning skills. That, and direct inspiration from a certain metal Sharpie project. View full post on YoutubeThe key to this beauty is the two-tone wood blank Penner used to create the pen....
Media Platforms Design TeamTools Powered: Shop vac, leaf blowerCost: $95 (with cord)Coil Time: 47 secondsCord Tangles: Zero1.) Get a Bucket Acquire an empty 5-gallon drywall bucket, 1- and 4-inch-diameter PVC pipe, a 4-inch flat PVC end cap, pipe fittings to reduce the 4-inch diameter down to 1 inch, a 1-inch tee fitting, PVC solvent, a half sheet of ½-inch plywood and a 6-inch stamped metal turntable—all available at most big hardware stores....
If there was ever a perfect example of American mechanical ingenuity, it’s the Device That Frightens Flies At Screen Door. A spring, a curtain rod, a length of scalloped, 8-oz. cotton duck, and a cord combine to form an inconspicuous little device that flaps when the screen door opens, keeping flies from swarming the kitchen. Simple, inexpensive, yet brilliant — these are the qualities that make each of the over 200 vintage projects in The Boy Mechanic so enjoyable to read, let alone create....
.The Decade, Reviewed looks back at the 2010s and how it changed human society forever. From 2010 to 2019, our species experienced seismic shifts in science, technology, entertainment, transportation, and even the very planet we call home. This is how the past 10 years have changed us.It’s hard to believe that the original, all-electric Tesla Roadster is little more than a decade old. The Roadster was a milestone machine: the first production EV to use lithium-ion batteries, and the first to crack 200 miles per charge (244 miles to be exact)....
There’s a new weapon and sensor package that not only fits on the back of of an all terrain vehicle, but also shoots down drones with laser beams. Defense contractor Raytheon has put its Multi-spectral Targeting System and a portable laser into the Polaris MRZR ATV, and the result is go-anywhere surveillance vehicle that can burn drones to boot.The weaponization of small consumer drones in the Middle East and Europe makes conventional armies nervous....
Meet Nasty 1, an extremely massive star (yep, that’s the scientific term) located about 3,000 light years away. It’s a Wolf-Rayet star, which means a colossal star in its cosmic final days that’s shed its hydrogen and is burning blue-hot with helium. Its on its way to a full on supernova. That’s where it stops being ordinary. Unlike previously spotted Wolf-Rayet stars, Nasty 1 doesn’t have twin jets of ejecta spewing out either side of it....
This month compass needles in Greenwich, England, will point toward true North for the first time in 360 years.Earth’s iron core is responsible for creating our planet’s ever-shifting magnetic field.Geomagnetic North has been traveling at breakneck speeds in recent years, sometimes reaching speeds of up to 55 kilometers per year.For the first time in 360 years, compass needles at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in England will point toward true North. But why weren’t they pointing there in the first place?...
“I’m actually sitting here watching an engine test about to happen,” says Jim Cantrell, founder and CEO of the space launch company Vector. Cantrell is at Vector’s home in Tucson, AZ, where he’s waiting for a test of his launch system’s second-stage engine.During a four-decade career as a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, Cantrell has been there for the founding of SpaceX, designed the Planetary Society’s LightSail solar sail program, and formed the Moon Express lunar landing company that competed in the Lunar X Prize and recently received a venture cash infusion to finish building its lunar lander....
Media Platforms Design TeamWind power has been around for decades, but the U.S. has only recently seen a significant percent of power come from wind. What’s changed?The cost of energy for wind turbines is now reduced quite dramatically [compared to] what it was five or 10 years ago. It turns out that bigger wind turbines are more cost effective for a number of reasons. And the companies in the wind industry have grown in size so they can do things in greater volume, which brings down the cost of energy....
Update 9/20/18: According to recently unsealed FBI documents, the investigation was directed at a janitor of the facility who allegedly downloaded and shared child pornography using the observatory’s wireless internet.Original Post: For the past two weeks, an observatory in New Mexico has drawn worldwide attention, but not because of its research. Since September 6, the Sunspot Solar Observatory has been closed and evacuated for mysterious reasons, with FBI agents and a Blackhawk helicopter seen patrolling the site....
Drake Anthony, a YouTuber who began his channel styropyro in 2006, posted a video today on an alternate channel explaining that he received a “strike” on YouTube banning him from posting to the site for two weeks. This is the second time his channel has received a strike. View full post on YoutubeAnthony is known for his videos of extreme and sometimes dangerous homemade lasers. As he explains in the video, he received the strike for a series he made testing the recipes in an old chemistry textbook from the 1930s....
I have spent the past two weeks buzzing my colleagues and crashing these remote-controlled choppers into bookshelves. A self-taught and utterly incapable pilot, I confess that I almost beheaded an editor with the Hercules Unbreakable RC Helicopter’s whirring blades and that I landed the NBA Licensed Remote Control Helicopter inside a trashcan—twice.Now that I’m done terrorizing the office, let’s take a closer look at two of our favorite RC helicopters from World Tech Toys....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn late May, President Obama issued a moratorium on offshore drilling that halted work on 33 exploratory drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium affects rigs drilling in water depths greater than 500 feet and will last for a period of six months, while the administration revises deep-water drilling regulations to try and ensure that disasters like the Deepwater Horizon blowout will not happen again. But in idling the rigs, the moratorium also affects a vast web of offshore-drilling support services, putting at risk an estimated 40,000 jobs across the gulf, where thousands of fishermen are already out of work because of the oil spill....
Chelsea Miller makes custom knives from found materials.Her Brooklyn, New York studio has been featured in multiple national publications.You can visit chelseamillerknives.com to order a custom knife.As the daughter of a carpenter, Chelsea Miller was already a woodworking and blacksmith apprentice by the time she graduated high school. So naturally, when she returned to her Vermont home as an adult, Miller wandered into her father’s old workshop. Knife SetKnife Set$850 at chelseamillerknives....
Andrew Burgess is one of those gun designers from American history whose name has been forgotten, despite his many significant contributions. When Colt and Winchester were threatening to attack each others’ markets, it was Andrew Burgess that Colt hired to design them a lever action rifle (the two companies ultimately made a gentlemen’s agreement to stay within their own specialties). Burgess actually began his career as a photographer, apprenticed to the famous Mathew Brady....
Media Platforms Design TeamSANTA MONICA, Calif. — If Halo 3 is heroin for gamers, then Halo Wars is a shot of methadone, designed to stave off the inevitable withdrawal that will set in once the trilogy ends. This real-time strategy (RTS) title is set 20 years before the first Halo game, towards the beginning of humanity’s war with the fanatic alien horde known as the Covenant. That officially makes it a prequel, although the game play in Halo Wars is completely different from any of the Halo games, and it was built from the ground up, without borrowing a single line of code from its successful predecessors....
Google has released its top search items of the year, and amid all of the celebrities queries and weird questions about fashion, there was one category that was thoroughly 2015: gifs. Here are the moving pictures from Google’s list of the top 10 trending gifs this year. What their popularity means is up to your interpretation. 1. Just do it. Taken from Shia Labeouf’s insane, angry, super bizarre motivational video that went viral over the summer....
It’s hard to keep the stink of politics off any discussion about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Questions about lack of preparedness and the Obama administration’s public response to the attack will swirl around Washington, D.C. and play a part in presidential politics in 2016. And you can expect a burst of rhetoric and finger pointing during tomorrow’s “whistle-blower” hearings on Capitol Hill.There are a number of interesting questions to be answered: Did the Special Operation team in Tripoli receive an order to “stand down” and not head to Benghazi?...
A series of upgrades to the B-52 Stratofortress bomber could keep the remaining fleet of Cold War bombers going until 2050. The planes, built during the Kennedy Administration, are expected to receive new engines, electronics, and bomb bay upgrades to keep them viable in nuclear and conventional roles.The B-52 strategic heavy bomber is a true survivor. It was designed to fly high over the Soviet Union carrying atomic bombs if necessary....
It’s easy to fall into Cold War calculations when comparing the militaries of Russia and United States. After all, a lot of the same equipment from that conflict is still in use. And because Russia and the U.S. are the world’s chief arms suppliers, Cold War weapons are found in the arsenals of armies around the world.These, however, are next-generation weapons systems being designed and fielded, and they are the ones that will shape the next Cold War—and its proxy conflicts....
