Show off your family’s love of Star Wars with this set of 50 character decals, featuring 19 distinct characters from the saga. Everyone can pick the character that suits them best with plenty of decals left over for a second vehicle, a bedroom window, or an X-wing Fighter. If anyone asks about the canonically-impossible family on your back windshield, just blame your children. Nobody could be mad at their adorable faces for pairing up Luke Skywalker and C3PO.
Oh what a glorious way to ride out the coming summer sun. Have epic battles with your tongue. The potential for innuendo is too irresistible not to slurp down these beautiful tasty treats seductively, if just to make friends look sour at my sense of humour. Just me?
If you’re more of an “axe” type of person, the Neatoshop has some pretty sweet “chill” axes that should help you keep zombies at bay while simultaneously keep you refreshed during the hottest of summer days.
Loved the idea but not enough of a fan of the Dark Knight to enjoy the Batpack? Have an affinity for turtles with ninja skills and named after famous artists? Then the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shell backpack is for you!
We’ve done a great job of producing batteries in ever decreasing sizes, but one limitation is that they still remain fixed shapes: largely cylinders with the occasional disc or rectangular block. That in turn places restrictions on the design of battery-powered devices. Now a new technique could mean flat or even curved batteries that fit a wider ranger of housings.
The logic behind the system is that a battery has five active parts: the anode and cathode (negative and positive), a separating material, and two separate current collectors. Standard cylinder batteries have these materials as five layers that are then rolled up together.
The new system works by reproducing the contents of each parts into a sprayable liquid. These are overlaid, producing a battery just half a millimer thick. The key is that the separating material includes Poly(methyl methacrylate), also known as acrylic glass. As the name suggests, it’s a transparent material that is lighter than glass and shatter-resistant.
Using this material means that the layers of the battery stay together, while the battery can fix itself to a wide range of surface. In testing this worked on ceramic, glass and steel. The battery also worked when sprayed onto the curved surface of a beer stein.
To check the battery provided power as well as staying in place, researchers sprayed enough “paint” to cover nine bathroom tiles. These were then able to provide the 2.4 volts needed to power a set of LEDs for six hours.
At the moment the main drawback is that producing the liquids that make up the battery can only be done in a dry and oxygen-free environment. The list of components would therefore have to be tweaked to allow it to be mass-produced at an affordable price.
Another potential use of the technology would be to adapt it to solar-powered batteries, meaning surfaces could be sprayed and used to capture energy without the need to attach dedicated panels.
So geeks, if you’re planning on partying hard next weekend, here’s a few things you can do to prevent that god awful hangover the next morning. Before you start drinking, be sure to eat some fatty food and carbs. And don’t forget to drink water before, during, and after consuming alcohol. The next morning, having a breakfast composed of eggs, a banana, and a glass of fruit juice can help as well! Hurray for science!
I do credit a lot of my life skills to a wide variety of experiences, but a lot of them came from a strong background in Scouting. My former group was on the first episode of Discovery’s Canada’s Greatest Know-it-All challenging adult braggart Jack of all Trades to some of the more commonplace skills that a young boy is taught in Scouting.
Now the National Geographic Channel is taking that one episode idea and going a whole step farther. Thom Beers, (Executive Producer of Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch and 1000 Ways to Die) is a former Boy Scout from the American Tradition and looking back on his life regrets never completing enough Merit Badges to earn Eagle Scout.
Beers is bringing us a new reality challenge show called Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout?
Edit: TV show trailer removed upon request.
Much like the Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader, the show will face off people who think they can do better against some of the brightest and most active Boy Scouts from the US. Will these boastful adults be able to take on Boy Scouts and prove themselves?
As the preview illustrates, the Boy Scout organization does provide the opportunity to experience adventure, life skills and broaden your abilities. These competitors will soon learn not to underestimate these kids.
But when they do find themselves in trouble and need rescuing, the Scouts are trained in that as well.
I learned Rock Climbing, Rappelling, Archery, Outdoor Survival skills, and had a lot of adventures that I wouldn’t otherwise have, all from Scouting.
Were you ever part of Scouting? What did you learn?
