The best part of this marvelous guide is the "draw the rest of the owl" moment halfway in where you must perform an act of origami with a single hand that must simultaneously hold a corner down—and then are told you must next do two corners simultaneously. That said, I'm going to practice it until I get it, because I hate tape. Frankly, I don't know why we've created a world so dependent in so many ways on thin, easily split sticky tape that desperately wants to coil in on itself. Read the rest

Jessica Vill of BehindTheBunzie uses 75- to 80-year-old makeup made in 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s to create a contemporary makeup look. And she shows off some cool vintage makeup ads along the way. Read the rest

Using Japanese sharpening stones of various grits and considerable prices, Junskitchen set out to try and make an edge of a $1 kitchen knife. The results are impressive—but how long will they last?

[1,000 and 6,000] grits would be enough for a normal household knife. I used grits 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 8,000, and 12,000 in this video. The higher the number, the finer the sanding and the sharper the knife will be.

Not sure I'd trust this in the Himalayas, or even the Pennines... but it's absolutely adorable!

The completed bag weighs 17oz. Far lighter than my expectations.

I made sure to include a sleeve that I could slide a Zlite sleeping pad into. This acts as a frame and stiffener, and also as a cushion from the items that you are carrying.

The total cost of the pack was about $30, and a lot of time, but that is part of the fun.

Mini Materials posted a video showing you how to make 1:24 cinderblocks (they sell a kit). Finally I can embrace my lifelong desire to have a train set, having hitherto been unable to do so due to the difficulty in accurately replicating the vast featureless Communist closed cities and rural Pennsylvania beer distributors of my imagination.

Make the tiniest cinder blocks in the world! This nine piece 1:24 scale CMU mold is the same one we use to make our blocks. Made of heavy duty silicone, these things will last forever. You can pour almost any hardening material, and they will withstand up to 500ºF

The not-obvious part here is how thin the mix is, to guarantee good, bubble-free form in the wee mold. Read the rest

This to That does one thing: it asks you for the two things you need to stick together, then tells you exactly what sort of glue to use. The next time you need to glue styrofoam to glass, you'll have options! [via Cryptovariable]

(Pictured is Styrobot, by Michael Salter) Read the rest

Everyone's angry today about a sexist guide to "approaching women with headphones on" which encourages socially awkward men to ignore this obvious social cue and harass women in public. Nasty tips include "don't allow her to ignore you" and "don't allow her control the interaction." Typical pickup artist griftbait, in other words: selling an idea the reality of which will only make things worse in the long run for the losers being grifted.

For the record, here's a better guide to talking to women (or anyone else) in public with headphones on: Read the rest

We've previously written about "Primitive Technology," the amazing YouTube channel chronicling a guy (who never identifies himself) navigating the wilds of Far North Queensland, Australia with nothing more than what he fashions with his own hands. Those hands seem to have nearly magical powers as he confidently conjures what he needs to survive from the very elements around him (while capturing it all on a future phone).

As part of my work, I spend a big chunk of my day watching DIY videos of every kind of "It" you can imagine. This YouTube channel is one where I anxiously await new content.

In this latest video, the mystery man that some have dubbed "Prim" builds himself a bow-drill blower and clay forge near the entrance to his tiled-roof mud hut. With his blower and forge in working order, he then collects orange iron bacteria (iron oxide) from the creek (that baby shit-brown substance at 3:14), mixes it with powdered charcoal (carbon for reducing oxide to metal), and wood ash (flux to lower meting point). He forms all of this into a cylindrical brick and fires it in a charcoal oven. The result is a melted iron ore slag with tiny, 1mm-sized specs of iron in it.

Congratulations, Prim! You just entered the Iron Age! On his blog, he explains that wasn't really his intent:

My intent was not so much to make iron but to show that the furnace can reach a fairly high temperature using this blower. A taller furnace called a bloomery was generally used in ancient times to produce usable quantities of iron and consumed more charcoal, ore and labour.

Jeff Atwood (coincidentally the cocaine-dusted, AK-toting godfather of our comment system) writes at length about the absolutely fabulous things that the tiny, supremely adaptable Raspberry Pi computers have done for the emulation scene. His posting doubles as a useful how-to for those unfamiliar with the drill.

1. The ascendance of Raspberry Pi has single-handedly revolutionized the emulation scene. 2. Chinese all-in-one JAMMA cards are available everywhere for about $90. 3. Cheap, quality arcade size IPS LCDs of 18-23".

This is most definitely the funnest and cheapest way to get into arcade emulation when you want to step beyond apps. If you're not into messing around with linux and configuration files and whatnot, an Intel Compute Stick (which comes with Windows) is a more expensive but easier path than a Pi. But you'll still have to deal with the hardware. Read the rest

I like Primitive Technology (previously) because his videos are completely free of blather, music and tricky editing. (Here's an interview with the "mysterious bushman.") Read the rest