How-To Archives - Page 23 of 31

Christmas Leftovers

We're a week into 2009, so it's about time you gather up all those holiday decorations and take them down, if you haven't already. I know, I know… nobody likes this part of the holiday season, because it's just a reminder that another year has come and gone, and it'll be another 349 days until Santa comes around to eat up your cookies, drink your milk, and leave presents under the tree. It's all gotta go.

You don't want to be the creepy person who lives in the Christmas house, do you?

However, there are a lot of great ways in which you can keep a little bit of secret holiday spirit around the house. Life Hackery has 15 of them, and some of them I really like. The scary snowmen is one I'd never even considered (even though I've seen a scary snowman movie or two in my day), but using Christmas lights as mood lighting or night lights is a staple of college dorms throughout the world. That one's probably best used for the room of a child or teenager, rather than the living room.

Personally, I'd rather try to find a way to keep my house feeling a little Halloween spirited all year, without resorting to building a home on an Indian burial ground. Maybe some framed movie posters would work best for that, if they're thematically appropriate. After all, I have a bunch of movie posters from my days at the video store and from movie theater friends, so that'd be easy. Not cheap, given the cost of framing, but definitely doable.

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Musical Monday: The Food Safety Dance

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

While we’re past one set of parties and buffets, another is quickly approaching. Soon all the Christmas goodies will be gone, and the New Year’s goodies will be arriving to make stomachs hurt once again. Just hope that your stomach pain is from overindulgence and not some food-borne illness.

That’s why Dr. Carl Winter launched Food Safety Songs. He takes popular songs, like The Eagles, and turns them into food safety tips about proper cooking, washing hands, and proper food storage. As someone who has had food poisoning twice, I can only hope EVERYONE sees these videos so I don’t get sick anymore!

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Green Beer Bottle Christmas Tree Makes Everyone Merry And Drunk

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

Here’s yet another recycled Christmas tree, this time made out of discarded green beer bottles. I love how they used the big lamp in the middle of it all to give it an internal glow (which is why I’d add it to my dream glass Christmas tree). The whole thing took 1050 bottles, which is an impressive amount of saving or a really big holiday party.

Now THAT is a Merry Christmas!

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Mountain Dew Christmas Tree

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

I think just reading about this Christmas tree made of Mountain Dew cans gave me diabetes. That takes a heroic amount of time, effort, and (most importantly) soda. If you want to learn how to make your own, perhaps out of Diet Pepsi or Tab cans, follow the link and see just how simple it is to make it look like you and your family love the taste of squirrel meat.

The fact that someone drank this much Mountain Dew is kind of staggering, at least until I look over at the collection of empty aluminum cans littering my work desk. Then I realize that I could probably drink that much soda by myself in a couple of months, and if I had help, it'd take even less time to build my own aluminum soda can tree. I guess I'm just as bad as they are, except I'm chugging diet and they're guzzling the real thing.

Plus, y'know, I'm not building holiday keepsakes out of my empties. I just build pyramids.

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Update That Vinyl

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

I was recently over at a friend’s place and I was struck by the amount of vinyl records that were there. Those in my generation get records by inheriting them from parents or picked them up at yard sales or record stores, but most of us don’t have a turntable. I don’t have much vinyl myself (my parents were into 8-tracks), but if I did, I wouldn’t want it off gathering dust or stored away in big plastic tubs when I could be listening to it. I’m one of those people that says vinyl sounds better, and the best way to get that vinyl sound is to convert all your old records into MP3s.

If MAKE is to be believed, it’s easier than you think to turn records into MP3s, especially if you already have a turntable. They even give you a couple of different options on how to transfer your music, should you desire to experiment. I imagine real audiophiles have a preference, but I kind of like all the cracks and pops that transfer into the authentic, warmer record sound.

What about you, readers? Do you have a preference as to how you want your music to be delivered to you? Opinions about MP3 encoding bitrates? Vinyl vs. 8-track vs. tape vs. CD? Just how many copies of Frampton Comes Alive do you need?

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Giant Spider Invasion

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

One of the staples of science fiction has been gigantic creatures. From Col. Glenn Manning to the Japan-stomping Godzilla, science in movies always has a way of messing up, big time. (Sorry about the pun, by the way.) The end result of science gone horribly wrong is some sort of giant creature running amok. Well, Bill Rebane, you too can have your own giant spider invasion with these helpful hints from the creator of that very spider you see perched menacingly on the roof of that otherwise lovely home!

That’s an awesome construction, especially at night. The best part of the whole thing is, for my money, the fact that he made it out of an old lawn chair, some pipe tubes, and lots of duct tape. All it took was a little time and a lot of creativity. That just goes to show you that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get some awesome results.

That’s what Halloween is all about, and why I love the holiday. You get a chance to reconnect with that little kid who built a fort out of the couch cushions once again. You can be or do anything, live out every fantasy you’ve ever had about being a vampire or scrapping with Frankenstein’s monster. We spend all our grown-up lives being rational and smashing our dreams down because it’s too hard, or risky, or whatever.

For one day a year, just go out and play. Forget about the bills, forget about the economy, forget about your awful job and just be a kid again. Play some pranks, watch scary movies, eat too much candy and give yourself a stomach ache! You can get back on your diet when you have to go back to the real world.

Image: MAKE

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Build A Photosensitive Pumpkin

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

I love having Halloween decorations up at the house, but much like my Christmas decorations, I can never remember to actually plug the things in. My pumpkins sit there, eyes dark and mouth not aglow from glorious light. For someone who adores this holiday like I do, I sure do manage to make a mockery out of it by not effectively participating. That’s why I need a photosensitive pumpkin that responds to darkness by coming to light for me.

If you’ve got some hobby electrician stuff around the house, head on over to EvilMadScientist and get the directions to make your own dark-detecting pumpkin! If you’re going to build one, do me a favor and make one for me. Electricity and I don’t play well together.

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The Mac-O-Lantern

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

Via Crafty Crafty, if you’ve got an 18-year-old Macintosh Classic laying around your house, then here’s a great Halloween decoration idea just for you. All you need is some pumpkin-orange paint and the following instructions from Instructables! Now, while I’m definitely not a Mac person, this is just the coolest thing I’ve seen in days.

You really don’t get much geekier than holiday-themed computers! I love the fact that, if you have programming chops, you can not only have a slide show of various jack-o-lantern faces, you can also add some sound and animation to your display. The mouse for a stem idea is just the icing on the cake.

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Geeky Pumpkins From Pink Raygun

by Ron Hogan 1 Comment

Halloween is getting closer and closer. Since the ladies at Shak In Style are getting in the Halloween mood with bats and skeleton-spiders, I figured I could join in on the party and share some incredible geeky pumpkin stencils. No matter what kind of weirdness you like, from Labyrinth to Lost (and even other things that don’t start with L), if you’re looking for a sci-fi or fantasy-themed pumpkin stencil, Pink Raygun is a great place to look first. They don’t have a huge collection now, but they’re looking to add to it, so if you’re a stenciling genius, their website is a great way to get your pumpkin into a lot of hands.

I’d say I’d do some pumpkin carving this year, but I’m not the sort of person handy enough with a knife to really let loose on any sort of gourd, squash, or even large tuber. I’m barely coordinated enough to cut my own food without incident, let alone have the drawing ability to try some sort of fancy stencil. I do have the urge to carve a pumpkin this year, though. Maybe if I get some sort of little pumpkin saw or multi-tool I can do it with a minimum of bloodshed.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good pumpkin carving tools?

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Save A Scratched CD

by Ron Hogan Leave a Comment

I’m a Netflix member, and fortunately, I’ve never had a DVD so scratched that I couldn’t play it in my computer or in my home DVD player. However, my CD collection is a different story, as I’ve got several old coasters that used to be able to play music once upon a time. Some of them I know are too badly scratched to make work. Others are just slightly scuffed and could easily be saved.

Instead of buying a new CD, or downloading yet another copy of Reel Big Fish‘s Turn The Radio Off! I figured I’d turn to the magic of the internet to find some way to save the original CD I’ve had since it first came out in 1996. As it turns out, there are a lot of options out there, from simple cleaning to toothpaste, and even metal polish. I’m not sure I’m comfortable using any sort of dissolving agent, so I may start with a good washing. If that fails, I can pick up Skip Dr (which I used to have back in the day when I listened to CDs outside of the car) for cheap at Amazon.

What say you, Shaktronics readers? Do you have any suggestions on how to best save my ancient CDs?

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