Category Archives: Top 10

Astronomy, History, Science, Space, Technology, Top 10, Weapons

Special section: the Middle Kingdom and the outer limits

Leave a comment
Chinese astronaut (taikonaut) Nie Haisheng

While Russian launches fail by the dozen, threatening operations aboard the International Space Station, and the American space program stalls amid political wrangling, China is building its own space laboratory, growing its satellite network, expanding its crewed space program, upgrading its launch facilities, improving its lift vehicles and laying the foundations for a moon shot. Are we witnessing the dawn of Chinese dominance in space?

Is China Winning the New Space Race?
10 Signs China is Serious About Space

Consumer, Culture, Engineering, Gadgets, History, Technology, Top 10, Weird

Big Mouth Billy Bass sings all the way to the bank

Leave a comment
Eddie hops aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, along with Iraqi security forces and Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division.
Photo courtesy U.S. Army.

Some inventions save people’s lives, others improve them and still others end up as the white elephant gift no one wants to take home. Sometimes the question isn’t, “Why didn’t I think of that?” it’s, “Why would anyone think of that?”

Well, if benefit to humankind were the only means of making a profit, there would be no reality TV. In that spirit, here’s a list of ten kooky creations that made a mint, including one that turned out to fill a legitimate need.

10 Weird Inventions That Made Millions

Climatology and Meteorology, Geoscience, History, Science, Top 10

A hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Leave a comment

Super-typhoon Nina Think you know destructive storms? I’m talking about Old Testament, wrath-of-God type destruction, storms that kill people by the millions and require years and billions of dollars to recover from.

In this article, I count down the Top 10 most devastating engines of nature in terms of the lives they claimed, their financial toll, and their lasting impacts on the cities and towns they razed.

10 Most Destructive Storms

Art, Consumer, Film, Gadgets, Internet, Technology, Top 10

It’s the pictures that got small

Leave a comment

When televisions first entered the marketplace, directors were faced with a challenge: How to develop a visual language that would translate to a tiny black-and-white screen. They couldn’t just borrow from film: When concentrated down to 3 – 12 inches (or, after World War II, 19 – 20), the compositions, symbols and set dressing of massive silver screen productions reduced to a muddle. The effect has only grown more pronounced in the smash-cut, hyper-kinetic summer blockbusters of today.

It would no doubt strike many movie directors as strange to see us with our heads down, staring at our hands and enjoying their bigger-than-life productions on smaller-than-your palm devices. Nevertheless, people want their movies, and they want them on their iPhones, Androids and other portable devices. Here are some of the best apps available for downloading, collecting, experiencing, sharing and playing games about your favorite movies.

10 Mobile Apps for Film Buffs

Auto, Culture, How To, Top 10, Travel, Writing

Road trips: The esthetic of lostness

Leave a comment

Road trips answer a deep human yearning to be free. For a time at least, they allow us to escape our quotidian cares and simply be. At the same time, they indulge our love affair with automobiles and our craving for novelty. As authors such as Jack Kerouac remind us, the road is where we discover our country, our fellow human beings—and ourselves.

How Road Trips Work