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Egypt is reclaiming desert areas and making farms and settlements. Fifty years of work has added two million cultivated acres!
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Marijuana research leads to a new diet drug. It gives you a case of the “anti-munchies.”
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How to solve a Rubik’s cube. The directions are clear, but I still doubt I could do it.
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens May 22nd. Vanity Fair gives you a sneak peak by talking to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford.
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A nine-video tribute to Facebook and all the silliness that implies. Also some how-tos, but don’t take them seriously.
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Xavier Enigma’s Next Physics Game. Draw your own shapes and let gravity take its toll. Circles are near impossible, but levers are easy.
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How to Convince Others to Do Your Bidding. Three methods, no ethics.
Better solution for the Cube is here: peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html
posted by Stephen on 1-9-2008 at 2:40 am
The link Stephen provided uses the solution I teach everybody. There are faster methods, but that one really helps a beginner not be so overwhelmed and really helps them get a feel for how the cube moves and works.
posted by Jake Le Master on 1-9-2008 at 7:04 am
I used the video on youtube to solve the puzzle recently. Easy to follow and visual.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQIoPyfQzM
It felt great to solve the puzzle that I have been trying to solve off and on since I was 10. Then my kids got the cube and shuffled it again. I think he needs to be grounded.
posted by elizabeth on 1-9-2008 at 8:35 am
Some how I ended up with the official solution manual years ago - I’m now to the point I can get a little better than 2/3 done by myself and need the book to get the last side.
so now I seem to have a collection of the things - people give me theirs since they have never been able to solve them. My most prized one is a McDonalds one that has on each side part of the catchy 80’s jingle they used - it lists out the menu (Big Mac Filet of Fish Quarter Pounder French Fries….)
I figured out on my own how to solve the flat rubics puzzles - the one that has 3 rings separate on one side and then 3 rings joined together. That is fun one to give to people to play with.
posted by Beth on 1-9-2008 at 11:16 am
“Reclaiming” the desert from what or whom? I don’t know what the environmentally sound solution for overpopulation is either. More equitable distribution of resources might be part of the answer.
posted by Greg on 1-9-2008 at 7:50 pm
Greg, I think the problem is that deserts are growing and any de-desertification is just fighting back.
Granted, Egypt is going at this big-time, but overall, I believe deserts are growing.
Oops, no links allowed, do a GOOG on “world desertification”.
posted by Moon on 1-9-2008 at 9:33 pm