Make your own nifty shade to make the light of bare CFL bulbs warmer, less harsh. A simple, elegant solution to the ugliness of light produced by CFLs.

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The Best Links:

1. Step-By-Step Instructions For Making the Bright Idea Shade
2. Make CFLs Beautiful
3. Soften Your CFL With The Bright Idea Shade

A project in which the artist created items from “suspect (questionable) and fugitive (non archival) materials.” And that’s Bill Cosby made out of pudding. Get it? It was not easy to choose, but we’re going to have to go with “Wasabi Arthur” as our number one.

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The Best Links:

1. “Suspect and Fugitive” on Flickr
2. The Suspect And Fugitive Blog - “Art With An Sell By Date”

FOOD BUZZ: The latest trend in home booze-making. Like most DIY projects, all it takes is some time on your hands, a little spare cash and a dream. And, if you’re patient and skillful and just plain lucky, you’ll create something that won’t make your guests vomit.

The Best Links:

1. You May Need to Subscribe to WineMaker Magazine
2. Making Wine, Not As Hard As You Thought. Making GOOD Wine, However…
3. Start At the Beginning: Grow Your Own Vines
4. Learn to Make Summery Wild Berry Wine
5. How To: Make Your Own Wine
6. “My name is Terry Garey and I’ll be your home winemaker for this site.”

CULTURE BUZZ: Preparation H shrinks hemorrhoids, but recently, a few macho men headed out for the clubs have decided that smearing the cream on their torsos will result in a shrinkage of their skin and vessels—thus making them looked “ripped.” Better known as “Irish chapstick,” this stuff works wonders as undereye cream and as a pectoral enhancer. See also why strippers use Benetint.

The Best Links:

1. Watch this video! Preparation H: “It Gets You Shredded”
2. Pharmacy Manager Notices Lots of Young Guys Buying Preparation H all of a Sudden
3. Doctors Don’t Recommend Cosmetic Application of Preparation H
4. Hemorroid Cream Fixed My Odd Occurrence of Nose Rot
5. Reduce Water Retention, Heal Scars More Quickly, Temporarily Remove Cellulite, and Reduce Puffiness
6. Woman Uses Premarin Vaginal Cream and Preparation H on Her Face
7. YouTube - So, Why Do You Use Preparation H? - Classic Preparation H Commercial from the 80s

CULTURE BUZZ: As gas prices soar, summer vacations are being replaced by the act of making a holiday in your own backyard (or at least within city limits). So break out that suntan lotion and pull up a chaise. You’re in Jamaica! (…Queens, but still.)

The Best Links:

1. Staycations: 5 Ways To Go Nowhere — For Fun!
2. Go Local, Keep It Cheap!
3. Who Needs To Jetset When You’ve Got a Garden to Tend To?
4. “Staycation:” A Buzzword Defined
5. JWT, the Largest Ad Agency in the US, is All About Staycations

SCIENCE BUZZ: Efuel 100 has developed a contraption that lets you make your own ethanol out of water, sugar, and yeast, and fill up your car at home. It’s definitely not for the typical lazy American, but given the popularity of Hybrids, DIY ethanol could become a real trend.

The Best Links:

1. It’s $10k, but You Could Potentially Get Government Subsidies to Help You Out
2. MicroFueler Home Ethanol Pump Unveiled, Ready For Pre-Orders
3. Efuel 100 Is Now Taking Pre-Orders
4. The World’s First Portable, Produce-where-you-consume, Ethanol Distiller Will Cost $10K
5. Press Release: How the Micro Fueler Works
6. The First Ever At-Home Biofuel Kit
7. “Ethanol Is the People’s Fuel”
8. NY Times Article: “Home Brew for the Car, Not the Beer Cup”

CULTURE BUZZ: These are the lists men should know about, even if they don’t know how to do half the things on them. We’re a list-loving culture, even the manly, manly men among us.

The Best Links:

1. Esquire’s “The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master”
2. Popular Mechanics’ “25 Skills Every Man Should Know”
3. WEbook’s “101 Things Every Man Should Know How to Do”
4. Notes Towards a Meta-List of Skills All Men Should Possess
5. Penis Owners “100 Things Every Man Should Know (Actually, Just 86)”

STYLE BUZZ: Several creative projects to customize tights. It’s so hard to keep up with tights - opaque, sheer, ombré, who can keep track? Now its seems crafty hosiery fans are customizing their tights with Rit Dye and Sharpies.

The Best Links:

1. Make Your Own Lacroix Leggings
2. I Finally Put That Rit Dye to Use
3. Tights Plus Sharpie = Wearable Art
4. Arts and Crafts for the Bored Fashionista
5. Oooooooh Ombre Tights
6. I Made My Own Gradient Tights

CULTURE BUZZ: These aren’t actually available on the mass market yet, but we see that someone has filed a patent for them. Since you can’t buy them, these would make the perfect DIY project for your tampon craft club. That time of the month never felt so good. (Thanks for the tip!)

The Best Links:

1. YouTube - PSA for Vibratamps
2. Clever Couple Makes Their Own Vibrating Tampon
3. This Rules! But Where Do I Get One? :(
4. Discussion: What Do You Think About This News Story of the Man Who Invented a Vibrating Tampon?
5. Here’s the Lame Two-Sentence Press Release (It’s Not Available Yet)