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Professor Erno Rubik, inventor In the mid-1970s, I was teaching design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest. I was searching for a way to demonstrate 3D movement to my students and one day found myself staring into the River Danube, looking at how the water moved around the pebbles. This became the inspiration for the cube’s twisting mechanism. The fact that it can do this without falling apart is part of its magic. I experimented in my mother’s flat, using wood, rubber bands and paper clips to make a prototype. I needed some sort of coding to bring … Continue reading →

Entombed in ash for more than 1,900 years, the tragic story behind this haunting image of what appears to be a child resting on its terrified mother’s stomach is a step closer to being revealed. Restorers are working on the carefully preserved plaster casts of 86 of the Romans trapped in Pompeii in 79 AD following the deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius, including a child seemingly frozen in terror. It is thought the boy was four, based on his size, and was sheltering in a location dubbed House of the Golden Bracelet with his family, when tragedy struck. He was discovered alongside an adult … Continue reading →

Memorial Day used to be a somber occasion, dedicated to reflection and remembrance of those killed in America’s wars. Today it is instead a celebration of ongoing wars, a long shopping weekend and the unofficial start of summer. Part of the problem with America’s shifting perception of the price to be paid when one goes to war is that it has been shaped by Hollywood and video games, so much so that it has become divorced from the horrible reality of what happens when countries and peoples do their best to kill each other. Protected by two oceans, the continental … Continue reading →

Men value intelligence in women far above large breasts and long legs, a Cambridge evolutionary biologist has claimed. Although having a large bust and never-ending pins are deemed by western culture as the epitome of femininity, when choosing a mother for their children, men look for brains first, Professor David Bainbridge, of the University of Cambridge said that intelligence is by far the most attractive quality for men looking for a long term partner because it demonstrates that his chosen partner is likely to be a responsible parent. It also suggests she was brought by intelligent parents and so was likely … Continue reading →

Every year brings new hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters to the world. Although some areas are impacted more often by these natural disasters than others, most people fear extreme weather. Scientists that study these natural disasters have been predicting major storms and occurrences for centuries. Within the 21st century, many have made predictions of major natural disasters occurring in the near and distant future. Here are 10 catastrophic natural disasters that, according to scientific evidence, may occur at any minute. (The entries are listed from least to most impactful.) 10 Wildfires US, 2015–2050 Environmental scientists from the Harvard … Continue reading →

Nature has provided thousands of natural medicines and natural antibiotics over millennia. Most people are unaware, but virtually all pharmaceutical medications originally came from the plants of the Earth. After they were proven effective in treating various ailments, the pharmaceutical industry then created synthetic variants which they could patent. In this way, they retained the exclusive rights to earn revenues from their patents over a specific period of time. The point is that every medicine under the sun originated as an herb or a spice, a tree leaf or shrub root, a berry or a fruit. Fortunately, some of these … Continue reading →

I have been warning for some time that government was eyeing up pensions. The amount in private pension funds is about $19.4 trillion. The question that has been debated in secret behind the curtain is how to justify to the people taking that over. I have been warning that if this is seized by government, it will come after 2015.75. Just how that is to be accomplished was finally settled by the Supreme Court without any justification constitutionally. The US Supreme Court ruled last week in the unanimous, 8-page decision in Tibble v. Edison holding that employers have a duty to protect … Continue reading →

The garage is often a neglected, messy space. With a little organization and a few handy projects, though, we can get much more use out of our garages and also modernize them. Here are our top 10 garage upgrade ideas. 10. Install a Ceiling Storage System Make better use of your garage’s space and get things off the floor with this DIY project. It costs about $75 for all of the materials and is a great way to store seldom-used things like holiday decorations. 9. Store Garden Tools and Other Supplies Smartly on the Wall With just two boards and … Continue reading →

There’s little argument that today’s cars are better than ever, with levels of performance, comfort and quality that are unmatched in motoring history. But as anyone who’s ever taken to the wheel can attest, no car is perfect. One particular bugaboo plaguing motorists these days is their increasing frustration with the gaggle of gadgets automakers are including on models in virtually all classes and price points. While many buyers specifically choose a model that comes packed with the latest high-tech amenities, a stiff learning curve for the most complex of the bunch – particularly Bluetooth mobile phone interfaces and voice … Continue reading →

America takes pause on a big holiday weekend requiring little in the way of real devotions beyond the barbeque deck with two profoundly stupid movie entertainments that epitomize our estrangement from the troubles of the present day. First there’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which depicts the collapse of civilization as a monster car rally. They managed to get it exactly wrong. The present is the monster car show. Houston. Los Angeles. New Jersey, Beijing, Mumbai, etc. In the future, there will be no cars, gasoline-powered, electric, driverless, or otherwise. Mad Max: Fury Road is actually a perverse exercise in nostalgia, … Continue reading →

There’s no better way to cook meat, in my opinion, than outdoors over a charcoal grill. (Is there a better way to cook anything? Soup, I suppose, is better handled differently.) Lots of people act weird at a barbecue, though – lots of men, I should say, as the behavior I’m about to describe is particularly male. Something about red meat on a grill brings out the worst, most domineering, blow-hard, control-freak qualities in certain men. You know the stereotype: a Flintstonesque fellow, standing front-and-center at the Weber with a spatula in one hand and a massive set of tongs … Continue reading →

Over the past few years, many experts have been warning of a crisis heading our way. More specifically, the concerns have centered on the inevitable collapse of the U.S. dollar. One of these individuals is former Congressman Ron Paul, who has stated that he believes the U.S. financial system is on the road to disaster. In this article, I’ll share some of his views and discuss what could happen if such a crisis materialized. Currency Crisis According to Congressman Paul, a U.S. currency crisis is inevitable. At one point in the 1980s, while riding on Marine One with President Reagan, … Continue reading →

On April 26 Russia’s main national TV station, Rossiya 1, featured President Vladimir Putin in a documentary to the Russian people on the events of the recent period including the annexation of Crimea, the US coup d’etat in Ukraine, and the general state of relations with the United States and the EU. His words were frank. And in the middle of his remarks the Russian former KGB chief dropped a political bombshell that was known by Russian intelligence two decades ago. Putin stated bluntly that in his view the West would only be content in having a Russia weak, suffering … Continue reading →

Nuclear power plant technicians, senior military officers, FBI contractors and an employee of “a highly-secretive Department of Defense agency” with a Top Secret clearance. Those are just a few of the more than 100 people with sensitive military and government connections that law enforcement is tracking because they are linked to “outlaw motorcycle gangs.” A year before the deadly Texas shootout that killed nine people on May 17, a lengthy report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives detailed the involvement of U.S. military personnel and government employees in outlaw motorcycle gangs, or OMGs. A copy of the report was obtained by … Continue reading →

If you learn just ten old words this month, let them be these, from Mark Forsyth’s The Horologicon: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language. 1. UHTCEARE “There is a single Old English word meaning ‘lying awake before dawn and worrying.’ Uhtceare is not a well-known word even by Old English standards, which were pretty damn low. In fact, there is only one recorded instance of it actually being used.” 2. EXPERGEFACTOR ”An expergefactor is anything that wakes you up. This may simply be your alarm clock, in which case it is time to hit the snooze button. … Continue reading →