how-to

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How to Quit Smoking

Whether you're looking to start your own religion, swallow a sword, crack an unsolved murder, find Atlantis, buy the Moon, sink a battleship, perform your own surgeries, or become a ninja, our new book Be Amazing covers all the essential life skills! This week, we'll be excerpting a few lessons from the book. YOU WILL NEED Ancient traditions A new menace 1 pitcher of mildly hallucinogenic... READ ON

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How to Become Invisible

Whether you're looking to start your own religion, swallow a sword, quit smoking, find Atlantis, buy the Moon, sink a battleship, perform your own surgeries, or become a ninja, our new book Be Amazing covers all the essential life skills! This week, we'll be excerpting a few lessons from the book. If you have several billion dollars and a defense department... READ ON

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10 iPhone Apps to Help You Survive the Holidays

As you settle down with family and friends this holiday season, be prepared: load up your iPhone (or iPod Touch) with applications to get through common holiday disasters. We've got a complete roundup here -- from fun photo moments to actual medical emergencies, these apps will get you through the holiday season intact...but your journey will be perilous. Read on, if you dare! 1. Save Grandpa's Life The family is settled in for a feast. The wine is flowing, there's a large bird to be consumed,... READ ON

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Do-It-Yourself Molded Pumpkins

Those of you who have been around the mental_floss blog for a while know I grow pumpkins in my garden. Last spring I wrote about how gardeners are using molds to grow vegetables in odd shapes, and I said I was going to try that myself. Well, I... READ ON

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Crowd-Sourced Audio Transcription

Journalist/programmer Andy Baio had a problem: he had recorded a half-hour telephone interview, but didn't want to spend hours transcribing it to text so he could post it on his blog. If you've ever transcribed audio to text, you know it's laborious and time-consuming -- just no fun at all. There are online transcription services, but they're expensive. So what did Baio do? Bracing for a good four or five hours of rewinding and writing and rewinding, I remembered that this is The Future! So,... READ ON

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Retro Video: How Crayons Are Made

Back when life was simpler, Sesame Street produced a video showing how a crayon factory worked. I don't recall seeing the video as a kid, but watching it now, I learned a few things: 1. Words are not necessary to describe the process of making crayons. An awesome soundtrack, on the other hand, is a must. 2. Making crayons is a messy business. Orange wax everywhere! 3. Skilled crayon-makers can pick up scores of crayons at once using a special two-handed grab. Set aside two minutes for... READ ON

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Dog-Friendly Dog Training

Speaking at last year's EG Conference in Los Angeles, animal behaviorist Ian Dunbar gave a talk on dog-friendly dog training. His training method emphasizes positive reinforcement as the key motivator. Dunbar's talk tackles issues of dominance, classical training (which involves punishment), dogs learning English as a second language, turning distractions into trained behaviors, punishment without force, and human relationship skills as applied to puppies...and kids. There are a few odd audio issues... READ ON

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Salsa Time!

In August, it's hard to find time to sit down and research some fascinating subject for you because I'm knee deep in tomatoes. Everyday I head to the garden with a five-gallon bucket and fill it up. Sometimes twice a day. I also grow peppers, so that means it's salsa time! Cue the... READ ON

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How to Bind a Book at Home

In this video, actress/musician/writer Catherine Taormina demonstrates how to print and bind a book at home. The first step is to print a series of four-page signatures consisting of standard printer paper folded in half. Next, you sew each signature along its fold to hold it together. After each signature is itself sewn up, all the signatures get sewn together. ...And then there's a bunch of stuff related to creating a tape binding, rubber cement, and so on. It's a labor-intensive process (and... READ ON

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Memorize the Presidents With This Song

Folky troubadour Jonathan Coulton has recorded "Washy Ad Jeffy," a mnemonic device/folk song that helps you remember the order of all the US presidents. By nicknaming the presidents with differing numbers of syllables (like "Jeffy" for Jefferson or "Ad" for Adams), the number of syllables tells you how many terms (or partial terms) that president served. Coulton describes the song's history: My father learned it from Mrs. Govan, his 8th grade history teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Ohio.... READ ON