howtoons:

howtoons: http://www.howtoons.com/blog/howtoons bloghowtoonhttp://www.howtoons.com/static/imgs/logo-rss.gifTue, 6 Jan 2009 21:03:16 GMT15Turn your lights out for clearer skies.http://www.howtoons.com/post/turn-your-lights-out-for-clearer-skies/PEB5D051DAE264E05BD5652855CF61D16.http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/a-new-push-to-t.html

It turns out there are many reasons to turn lights out at night. Not only does it require using less energy which means less greenhouse gas production, but it also helps prevent light pollution. Light pollution is the light at night that prevents us from seeing the night sky. 1/5th of the world can't see the Milky Way - Our Very own Galaxy - due to light pollution.

Lights out !

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]]>scienceFresh Air Fundhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/fresh-air-fund/P339AFFB00A13465DA24573ED3E10E607.http://freshair.org/

The Fresh Air Fund is a fantastic organisation that helps kids get out into the natural world to play and learn and become healthier. They need support for the great programs they run, so take a look !

]]>eventswatch the robotic fly FLY!http://www.howtoons.com/post/watch-the-robotic-fly-fly/PBFD0A563751F4CFEAC28DD390A93084B.whew! the narrator of this video may have the most boring voice we've ever heard, but check out the awesome miniature robotic fly that this group at Harvard has created! Get ready for it - it's "the world's first demonstration of an at-scale micro-robotic insect" ... (built using a "mesoscale manufacturing paradigm" - yikes, that's a mouthfull!).

My favorite part is the cool buzzing noises in the background.

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]]>sciencenatureOlympic Sciencehttp://www.howtoons.com/post/olympic-science/P1C82D6A04C914EDCA7ACB403F8DAFBCD.It's that time again - spectacular athletes from around the world are accomplishing amazing feats and breaking world records in Beijing, China. Want to know how they do it? We thought they just practice a LOT ... but apparently they get some help from science and technology too. Popular Science has a great article called "Olympic Science 101". Check out how hydrodynamics, biochemistry, and dynamics help your favorite Olympians earn their medals!

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]]>scienceeventsMore balloons!http://www.howtoons.com/post/more-balloons/P0640065347DE4F9BBCA016FF31D828BC.Woah! That last balloon post was cool, but check out this blog of amazing balloon creations - these are incredible! Who knew you could make balloon clothing - or a balloon hand tunnel or a life-size balloon monster truck? CRAZY

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]]>how-toFun free games online!http://www.howtoons.com/post/fun-free-games-online/P365F11A001AA4C47ACEADE1CE64E50ED.Check out this website, Popcap! Popcap makes over 30 different games that you can play online in your web browser, for free! Popcap's games are educational, challenging, and addictive - as they say, "easy to learn, tough to master".

If you get SUPER hooked on Popcap games like Bejeweled or Peggle, you can buy a deluxe version of the games for a low price - but all the games can be enjoyed for free.

Try it out - if you love it, take a look at the developers program for Popcap and see if you can figure out what makes their games so much fun - and write your own!

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]]>cartoonsExtreme balloon makinghttp://www.howtoons.com/post/extreme-balloon-making/PA285429DCF864EDABD081D11786AD49C.The fourth of July is just a few months away...if you live in the US, maybe you could celebrate by making a red white and blue ribbon - out of balloons! Or maybe you'd rather make a ballon-Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, a balloon crocodile, or a duck? Better yet, maybe you'd like to learn how to make ANY kind of balloon creation you can imagine by learning the basics of balloon art - "twisting", "locking", "pinching", and "popping". Magical ballon-dude Dale teaches you how to do all of this at the Kids Stuff website. In addition to the basics, there are detailed step-by-step instructions to make a number of shapes, as well as Dale's blog on "balloon entertainment" and other features.

Check out the video of Dale demonstrating the red white and blue ribbon, below! Can you figure out how to make a balloon Tuck and Celine?? Send us a picture if you do!

]]>how-toMaker Faire a great success!http://www.howtoons.com/post/maker-faire-a-great-success/P7CF0D1B6FB07443AB03747689AB079CA.Howtoons was the winner of an "Editor's Choice" award at the 2008 San Mateo Maker Faire - it was a blast! Thanks to all for coming out, buying our book, making a marshmallow shooter, and sharing your stories and ideas of what you like about Howtoons and how to make it even better. If you weren't able to buy a book at the Faire, have no fear - you can buy it here at Amazon. We ran out of parts for making marshmallow shooters, but if you didn't get a copy of the instructions at the Faire you can download it for free here on the Howtoons site along with lots of other great activities and comics.

Keep an eye on our website for more exciting things to come, including more interactive activities, a new book in the fall of '08, upcoming events, and lots and lots of blog entries. As always, email us with your thoughts and suggestions!

Check out the video below of Saul Griffith demonstrating a super-modified version of the Infamous Marshmallow Shooter.

Also, see some great pics, below (we hope to get these up on Flickr soon...). See the extra-long marshmallow shooter that Saul's holding? This one worked great - go try to make your own!

]]>eventsMaker Fairehttp://www.howtoons.com/post/maker-faire/P5D2217CAF0214333BD340FACFCE0CC63.The annual Maker Faire, held for the third year running in San Mateo, CA (just south of San Francisco), is a celebration of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) science and engineering, technology, arts, and craft. The Maker Faire is sponsored by Make Magazine, a super cool publication packed with great instructions and ideas for cooking up all sorts of interesting projects on your own time.

Howtoons founders Saul Griffith and Nick Dragotta will be at the Howtoons booth at Maker Faire come check it out!

]]>how-toeventsThe Fresh Air Fundhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/the-fresh-air-fund/P1AB15293E12C4E3782D512F705DF725E.Summertimes just around the cornerhow are you planning to spend the long sunny days and the oh-so-good vacation from school and homework? For millions of kids living in the tough inner cities of urban centers like New York City, traditional summertime staples like camp, vacation, and enjoyment of the beautiful outdoors are unattainable or even unimaginable. The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit that has brought children from the NYC area into the outdoors during the summertime since 1877!! The Fund has worked with over 1.7 million children in its long history. The Fund provides camping and educational opportunities to elementary and middle school aged kids, and career and developmental assistance to older children. Free summer vacations? cool! Check out the Fresh Air Funds promotional video, below.

]]>natureScience Generationhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/science-generation/P3590F53C1C2640E0A80E82765BFC0CEC.New Yorks American Museum of Natural History hosted an impressive lineup of panelists and speakers at a mid-April event called Science Generation: A National Imperative. Scientists, politicians, and academics strongly agreed that America must make a major effort to educate, nurture, and support a future generation of scientists. Did you see the Call to arms (or calculators) post? This is the latest rallying cry for a generation of super-science-savvy kids!

Young students were even among the speakers at the Museum of Natural History, sharing their ideas for how to improve science education and inspire kids. Maybe its time for a national marshmallow shooter campaign

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]]>scienceeventsDesign for transparencyhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/design-for-transparency/P0AC0DF930FAB455FB91B489C777F9D09.As consumers, it is important that we make well-informed choices about the products we use and purchase. The dollars that we spend are like votes cast for products, and we'd like to support items and companies that promote sustainability, low environmental impact, and fair labor practices, among other things.

It's easy to judge the environmental and social impact of some products...a gas guzzling SUV that weighs 3.4 TONS is likely to be an environmentally irresponsible purchase. What about other products - like the clothes you wear?

The outdoor clothing maker Patagonia has introduced a revolutionary standard for design transparency that it calls "the Footprint Chronicles". Using Patagonia's slick website, you can pick an item of clothing - for instance, their popular Capilene long underwear or a rain jacket - and learn about the materials, shipping, and manufacturing processes that went into creating that product.

A cool feature of the website is that Patagonia discusses both the pros and cons of their products - those Capilene pants, for instance, are made of 64% recycled material (good), but still contain 36% non-recycled polyester. Patagonia claims that this trade-off is necessary to meet the performance (durability) requirements of the garment.

I never knew so much about a pair of pants!

]]>eventsAiric's Armhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/airic-s-arm/PAF7D4FCD33224DC39A202DE219AD00B6.The German engineering company Festo demonstrates a fascinating robotic arm in this video. Festo makes engineering components for precisely controlling fluid and air. The "muscles" in this amazingly life-like arm are actually Festo products called "fluidic muscles". Watch especially closely right at the start of the video - see how the muscle bunches up to contract and shorten, or narrows as it elongates - just like real human muscular tissue. Try to flex your bicep and see how it behaves the same way. Amazing!

And if you think that's cool, check out this article about DARPA's (US Defense Department) revolutionary prosthetic arm - it's entirely controlled by neural impulses.

Here is a neat video showing quick clips of early robotic arms, followed by the Festo arm, and state-of-the art prosthetics like those being developed by DARPA, or DEKA (Dean Kamen - inventor of the Segway)'s company. Exciting and amazing technology, no doubt.

]]>scienceeventsYuri's night 2008http://www.howtoons.com/post/yuri's-night-2008/PC237586E7A31408A9F8017D76D77D832.Yesterday, April 12th, people around the world gathered to commemorate the heroics of Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut who was the first human to enter space (on April 12, 1961). The party, called Yuri's night, was held in the San Francisco bay area at the NASA Ames research center.

Yuri Gagarin had this to say upon returning to earth: "Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty - not destroy it!" Appropriately, the NASA Yuri's night event featured themes of sustainability. Howtoons' own Saul Griffith spoke about energy consumption and the challenge of meeting the Earth's energy needs sustainably. Although of course, the main topic of the night was - SPACE!

Check out this awesome techno video of Yuri's famous flight into space!

]]>scienceeventsspaceMIT salute to D&Dhttp://www.howtoons.com/post/mit-salute-to-d-d/P66485503AA864CBBB9C012B718F56C7B."Hackers" at MIT committed their most recent prank this week by erecting a giant 20 sided die in MIT's Killian Court.

The giant die paid tribute to Gary Gygax, creator of the infamous fantasy role play game Dungeons and Dragons. Mr. Gygax passed away earlier this month.

MIT die.jpg

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