How To: Things to Do on WonderHowTo (04/04 - 04/10)

WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.

Thanks to all of our active moderators and contributors from this past week: Christopher Voute, Silverbug12, iDwarf, Cerek Tunca, Leinad 0716, Matthew Herman, and Ben Cusick. If you want to see your name listed here, then STOP LURKING and join in!

WonderHowTo is a community effort, and the site belongs to all of you. So, the more knowledge we can pool together, the more we can learn from each other. Join in. Write a tutorial. Post to a World. We're a curious bunch, and we want to see what you've got to share!

Below, this week's highlights: An explosive ashtray prank, a coder's new favorite game, tips for deciphering body language, a "joule thief" battery rejuvenator, a homemade cigar box stir plate, and more!

Challenges and Workshops

• Minecraft World's Weekly Workshop — The new 1.2.5 update came out this morning for Minecraft, but that doesn't mean you've had enough time to harness the power of all the new block types released in 1.2.4. So... hop on the official WonderHowTo server this weekend with Kendra to create some cool builds using the new blocks and beef up on your stair and flooring techniques. Be there Saturday, April 7th at 12 PM (PST). More details here. If you still haven't joined the server, see how to get whitelisted.

• Minecraft World's Weekly Challenge — Seafaring boats can be pretty creepy, especially if you're talking about ghost ships and corroding military vessels. But in Minecraft—they can be downright frightening. We want to see what boat designs you can come up with, whether it be water boats or flying airships. And they don't have to be creepy. If the Love Boat is your thing, then join the server and show us what you've got! Post your boat builds to Minecraft World's community corkboard for a chance to snag some server perks. More info here.

• Minecraft World's Redstone Competitions — After successful completion of the very first redstone competition, iDwarf is at it again, this time asking players to build their best redstone traps to trick in-game friends with. What crazy and inconspicuous redstone traps can you come up with? A pitfall sand trap? Pressure plate explosions? Let's see!

• 0x10c World — Notch and the Mojang crew have just announced a new video game, 0x10c, and for the normal gamer, it could end up being pretty complicated unless you've got some coding skills. Enter 0x10c World, the perfect place for newbies to get insight on how to play and understand the game. Your challenge? Join the World and help the rest of us prepare for what is to come. See what it's all about, introduce yourself, and help out!

How-To Projects

• There is a world of deceit out there and there's only one real way to discover the truth—body language. Someone could be lying right to your face, but their revealing eyes give them away. Body language isn't just about identifying liars though. You can tell when someone is bored, disapproving or eager. Yumi of Secret Tips from the Yumiverse has decoded the basic signs for you. Use them however you like. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• Facebook, Google+, Twitter... we all use them. But wouldn't our lives be a little bit more productive if we didn't spend all of our time on the Internet? That's just one way to increase your focus for getting things done. Check out eight more ways below. Click to enlarge, or click through to view.

• In the Mad Science World, it was the second week of backyard rocketry launches, where Will detailed embedding tracking electronics into our rockets. But speeding projectiles wasn't all he was up to last week. He showed us all how to make a DIY stir plate at home, how to bring life back into dead batteries, and warned us about using household chemicals in our experiments.

• As you probably know, April Fool's Day was last Sunday, and Christopher, being the prankster that he is, took to Google Voice to trick his friends. But all pranking aside (or maybe not), he also showed us how to use FaceNiff to hack into people's online accounts (not that we recommend doing that). Check out Fear of Lightning for more to come.

• Ben from NightHawkInLight was also playing the prankster this weekend with his exploding ashtray prank. As dangerous as that sounds, as long as you follow the directions and stay safe, you'll have nothing to worry about except getting some friction burns from rolling around on the ground laughing your ass off.

• Missed last week's Minecraft workshop on creating functional plumbing in your home? Kendra has you covered. Check out her followup tutorial. If you're not interested in installing a working bathroom, check out her other tutorials on building a wool-dye workshop and semiautomatic melon farm. Stay tuned to Minecraft World for more tutorials... or share with us your own guides!

• Looking to spruce up your Minecraft living room or kitchen? A new floor is just the thing you need. But what kind of floor? Leinad 0716 breaks down five different types of patterned flooring that you might be interested in.

I Made It

• With weekly challenges, redstone competitions and weekly staff awards, there was bound to be an overload of activity on the Minecraft server. Here's just a little of what's been shown off on Minecraft World's community corkboard. Want to get in on the action? Join the server.

Also, don't forget to start building your boats and airships for the Minecraft challenge this week.

Got Something to Share?

If you've got a relevant how-to, a source of inspiration, or a finished project, post it to the corkboard in one of the applicable Worlds above. If your project is unrelated to these areas, you can publish a How-To article directly on WonderHowTo, or you can start your own World if you've got the passion—or just post directly to the WonderHowTo company corkboard.

Got a question? Comment below or email jmeyers@wonderhowto.com.