Swans on Tea

How to revive dry Play-Doh
After months of tinkering, I have discovered the best and easiest way to restore dry Play-Doh to its perfect state (besides Hasbro’s former suggestion that you buy a new can).
Several decades too late to help me, which I assume is everybody’s first concern, but good to know nonetheless. Tinkering [...]

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How to make a square egg

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families
Thousands of different Lego exist, yet when your seven-year-old asks for “a clippy bit,” you know exactly what to hand him. GILES TURNBULL surveys a caucus of children and determines a common nomenclature.
Back when I was a youngster, many of these pieces did not exist in our LEGO™ collection. [...]

It’s only a model.
Found one of these in our group’s mailbox one recent morning.
Building a Model Block IIR(M) Satellite
Best result with titanium and space-hardened electronics heavy card stock.

The Avenging Narwhal play set.
Comes with multiple tusks and “three adorable animals to impale”: seal, penguin, and … koala bear.
Not for children under three, because of the choking hazard. Not because of the “appropriateness” of the toy.

Colored bubbles arise after 15-year quest
Zubbles
Standard food coloring or dyes have no effect; they simply run down the sides of the bubble, creating a drop of color on the bottom. Other dyes can stain bubbles, but when they pop they also stain clothes, dogs and eyes, as Kehoe discovered during one accident. Other tests, including [...]

Trying out the new camera on some of the toys in the office. The trebuchet and the Zero blaster.
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Both filmed at 420 fps.

I’ve long since passed the point when celebrating a birthday is a big deal — the last party I had was for #30, where we all dressed in black to mourn the passing of my youth. Fortunately the rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated (at least the behavioral part). But I [...]

New laser pointer. 20 mW, $20. Elicited some “gotta get one” responses, as well as “That’s bright!” (It is, too)

It’s supposed to say “Laser” (3 second exposure on the camera)
Laser writing is hard. No mechanical feedback, no visual feedback.

ThinkGeek has a page showing a Tauntaun sleeping bag
Use the glowing lightsaber zipper pull on the Tauntaun sleeping bag to illustrate how Han Solo saved Luke Skywalker from certain death in the freezing climate of Hoth by slitting open the belly of a dead Tauntaun and placing Luke inside the stinking (but warm) carcass. [...]

Another cheap little toy I recently acquired is a keychain containing a multicolor LED that rapidly flashes between red, blue and green. It looks white (almost) to the naked eye when it’s stationary, but when it’s moving quickly enough, persistence of vision allows you to see the different colors. My webcam frame rate [...]