In an Army Corps of Engineers press release, details on the astounding rate at which workers are draining water from New York's subway and transit tunnels: "To date, the USACE has used about 50 pumps of various sizes to remove 64 million gallons of water from the New York City mass transit system. Operations are ongoing at six sites, with pumps removing about 116,000 gallons per minute. The 696,000 gallons the pumps are draining each minute exceeds the amount of water in one Olympic-size swimming pool (660,000 gallons). There were roughly 600 million gallons in the tunnels when pumping operations began on Thursday, Nov. 1." (via Noah Shachtman).
In post-Sandy "dewatering" mission, Army engineers drain one Olympic-sized pool's worth of water per minute
Coat hanger radio
Back in the day, coat hangers weren't just used for popping open a car door when you locked your keys inside. They also served as makeshift antennae to improve TV and radio reception. That DIY RF engineering inspired John Jerome Spina to patent an integrated coat hanger/radio. His 1976 patent expired in 1995, so get… READ THE REST
Wrecked rally car repaired in half an hour
If you think changing a set of tires in 1.82 seconds is amazing, wait until you see an absolutely wrecked Citroën restored to racing shape in 32 minutes. If you just want a nice tl;dw version of how this incredible feat is accomplished, jump to the 29 minute mark to see how they polish off… READ THE REST
How European bridges were built in the 14th century
This amazing animation shows how a Prague bridge would have been constructed in the 14th century. Image: YouTube READ THE REST
This tiny little backup battery packs enough punch to jump a car back to life
An extra power bank or charging hub that keeps your smartphone or tablet powered up in a pinch is always a great idea. But those batteries will only handle the needs of your small electronics. They aren't really built for those heavy-duty power tasks that you might encounter. You know…like when your car battery is… READ THE REST
Score a refurbished HP ProBook x360 laptop for almost 50% off right now
If you're in the market for a laptop, it's tough out there. Between companies producing incredibly similar models with only slight tweaks and variations and shoppers starved for reliable sources of information to make sense of it all, you practically have to be a computer science major to untangle what's what. And when shoppers get confused… READ THE REST
This cool 3D build toy sparks creativity and key tech learning for youngsters
If you've ever seen a 3D printer in action, you know it's a pretty wondrous process. Even if you're crafting nothing more than a plastic bauble or a geometric shape, just watching that filament settle and build into something recognizable and useful is fairly awe-inspiring. And man, to a kid…it's like a miracle. And they really,… READ THE REST