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A User’s Guide To Snow

Heh. Given how cold it’s been recently, the Guardian decided to publish “A User’s Guide To Snow” — a FAQ for citizens puzzled by all this weird white stuff lying around. A sample:

How do I make one of those compressed-snow throwing balls?
First, put on some gloves or mittens. Gather up a large portion of snow and begin to compact it by repeatedly cupping your hands around it, alternating top and bottom hands and gently rotating the snowball as you go. Smooth off any burrs or rough edges with your thumb. Lob the resulting sphere in a friendly manner toward an unsuspecting passer-by, and wait for amusement to ensue. If you are planning a “snowball fight” it is advisable to stockpile snowballs in advance and let them ice up a bit. Caution: A hard-packed snowball can cause serious damage if it hits someone in the eye, so always aim for the mouth.

(Thanks to Stephanie O’Hanley for pointing out this one!)


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Bio:

I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.

Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!

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Recent Entries

A long German word for “noticing when ads are being customized based on your surfing history”

Gay squid sex

“El Ajedrecista” — an analog chess-playing computer from 1912

Hacking the Model T

“How did you find my site?” and Vannevar Bush’s memex

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a bunch of stuff

May 20, 2011 » 02:28 PM

From Christopher Kennedy’s very droll book “Neitzsche’s Horse”.

July 28, 2010 » 07:35 AM
“Wr” - S

July 06, 2010 » 10:05 AM

My Xbox broke, and I was trying to Google some possible technical solutions, when I noticed that Google appears to be encouraging me to make a typo. I suppose it’s possible that Google’s algorithms know that typing “wont” instead of “won’t” would produce better results.

June 29, 2010 » 05:00 PM

On the other hand, when I tried the test for multitasking, I was pretty abysmal. I performed worse than people who identify themselves as heavy multitaskers, and those who identify as low multitaskers.

June 29, 2010 » 04:58 PM

I finally got around to trying out the interactive “test your distractability and multitasking” page at the New York Times, which they put up alongside their story earlier this month about how computer distractions are eroding our lives. 

According to the test, I guess I have good focus — I’m not very distractable! 

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Collision Detection: A Blog by Clive Thompson