How to:Make a medicine ball

So you’re a strong, strapping young gentleman/woman? No? Well, we’re sort that out in no time at all!

In this guide I’ll be taking you through the steps that you'll need to take to make a medicine ball. Medicine balls are thought to have been around at least 3000 years ago and there are many different exercises that you can do with them to strengthen your core, chest, arm and leg muscles.

Now, you could just go out and buy a medicine ball, but if you have all of the materials needed around, you can make one for free! Plus, you get to cut something open which will give you thorough enjoyment if stabbing things floats your boat. On with the guide!

You will need

An old basketball

A knife

Some sand (I used some sand from a hardware store, if you live near a beach, steal steal steal!)

Tape



Something to use as a funnel (I’ve just wrapped up some cardboard)

Something that can be used as a scoop (Cut out the bottom of a bottle if you don’t have anything else to scoop with)



Step 1

First you get to satisfy the inner basketball murderer that has been waiting be unleashed for all these years, by cutting a hole in the basketball. You don’t want to make the hole too big or it will be more likely to burst open once you’ve finished, so just cut a nice smallish hole; but not too small that you have to put the sand in one grain at a time.

Step 2

Now you need to take your funnel and push it nicely into your basketball.

Step 3

Now you need to scoop your sand like you’ve never scooped sand before! Once you have a nice hefty amount of scoopage, pour it down your funnel and start filling up your basketball. There isn’t a picture for this step because if you don’t know how to scoop, you probably aren’t able to turn on a computer, so this won’t concern you.

After a while your basketball will be full of lovely sand! If you are messy like me, you’ll have a nice little ring of sand around the bottom of your basketball! See, you’re not just making a medicine ball, your now creating some kind of surrealist art. Take a photo and put that stuff on eBay!



Step 4

Once you’ve filled up your ball, you have to carefully tape over the hole. Make sure that you use enough tape to ensure that no sand is going to start coming through if you roll it around. You could always stuff the hole with a bit of cork or something but it isn’t really needed if you tape well enough.



Step 5

Now that you’ve sealed your basketball rectum, you need to tape around the rest of the basketball to give it some extra strength and make it look less like a dirty old basketball. I only taped around the whole thing once, but then taped a couple of extra layers over where the hole was because I don’t fancy turning my room into a desert.



That’s it! Five simple steps and you have yourself a medicine ball. This one filled with sand weighs about 12kg or 26lbs, it's pretty heavy so if you're ever on a raft out at sea and this ball is your only friend, it won’t float away.

If you wanted to make it lighter you could always use less sand or replace the sand with something else to fill it up, like rice or some kind of grain. If you wanted to make it heavier you could fill it with ball bearings, molten lead, or bricks; or just buy a bigger basketball and use sand again.

Now go and lift it, throw it, sleep with it. Become one with your medicine ball.

How to:Getting drinking water

So, this is the scenario.

You wake up to find your trapped in the jungle somehow and all around you there is lots of foliage! You become very thirsty but only happen to have a plastic bag and an elastic band. Now I know what your thinking, bag over the head...elastic band = goodbye cruel world?

NO! Stop thinking that and start worrying about how the hell you woke up to find yourself in the jungle. Then follow this guide to get water to drink.

You will need

Plastic bag

Elastic band

Tree/Bush/Plant

Balaclava (Because in the jungle you don't want any Bonobos seeing you)

Step 1

Seeing as you may have awoken in a jungle you should probably think back and wonder if you've ingested any psychoactive substances recently. If you have count yourself lucky that it's not really happening! And don't take drugs again.

Step 2

Look for a nice leafy part of your chosen tree and put the bag over it.

Step 3

Secure the bag at the bottom with the elastic band!

At this point you should straighten out the bag a little bit so it has an end in which water can collect.

Step 4

Softly softly catchee monkey. You'll have to wait a while depending on how hot it is where you are, the hotter it is the more the plants going to aerobically respirate and give you your beloved water vapour.

Step 5

Drink it!


This took a few hours to collect, if I'd left it for half a day or so quite a lot would of been collected, if you had lots of bags you could do this loads and have a tree bag party!

So! Now you know what to do if you ever find yourself in a really really strange situation.

WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

Want to submit an article? Email it to adventuresandmadness

How to:Electric stove

Your gas cooker has stopped working! But you happen to have a glue gun lying around?

We both know how much you want to heat up that can of baked beans right now.

Before we start it might be a good idea to only try this if you hate your glue gun or you dont mind having a broken one. I put mine back together fine but I dont want you to break yours because of me. So be careful!

You will need

Glue gun


Screwdriver


Step 1
Unscrew your glue gun and carefully open it up, make sure nothing falls out. It should look something like this.(If it doesn't it should be a very similar procedure anyway so dont worry.)


Step 2
Now carefully remove just the tip of the glue gun leaving the handle in place. It should look like this now.


Step 3
At this point it should be quite clear where the heating element is, I just followed the wires to find it. So once you know where it is carefully take it out of its holder.


Step 4
In the photo above there is a heat protective piece of plastic around the heating element, this can be taken off if it gets in the way but remember to put it back on before it goes back in the glue gun if you decide to put it back together.

Anyway! Now take your heating element at tape it by the wires so the element is touching your can, you should probably put it on a stand so its not touching anything else. Remember to take off the lid of the can before you turn it on because we dont want exploding beans flying around. Done that? Okay now you can turn it on and stir the contents of your can slowly as it heats up.


This will take a different amount of time depending on the type of glue gun you have, but whatever type it wont take too long so if you ever find yourself in very odd circumstances...atleast you can heat your beans.

WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

Want to submit an article? Email it to adventuresandmadness

How to:Cactus germination

In this tutorial I’m going to show you the basics on how to germinate cactus seeds! cacti can be very rewarding to grow especially if you’re lazy because they are very easy to maintain. I will be using Peruvian Torch seeds, a great beginners cactus.

You will need

Cactus specific soil*


Cacti seeds


Ziplock or clear plastic bag


Spray bottle


Sleeping dog


Pot(s)


A cup

*Normal soil will work your cacti may not grow as well as they could though. You can make your own and there are many guides on the internet detailing this. (I won’t tell you because I want you to become self sufficient until you have an army of cacti with various names, all with their own names and knitted jackets...)

Step 1

First you should fill up your cup with water and let it settle until it is about room temperature, this is so it doesn’t shock the seeds. Once your water has warmed up to room temp you should drop your seeds in and soak them for 8-24 hours, this step isn’t necessary but usually gives the seeds a nice head start. As with all methods, none are 100% foolproof so you shouldn’t do this with all your seeds in case something goes wrong.


Step 2

Once your seeds have soaked for the given amount of time you put the lime in the coke you nut. soil into the pot and mist it down with your sprayer, the water in your sprayer should be preferably boiled first to remove excess chlorine which could be harmful to your cacti, or at least left to sit for 24 hours. The idea is to get the soil moist not soaking.


Step 3

Now is the part where everyone argues about how deep to plant your seeds, many say on top of the soil, many say 5 miles down. But the basic rule is if they are very small you can rest them on top of the soil and if they are a bit bigger just put onto the soil and sprinkle ½-1cm of soil on top.

Step 4

Now take your ziplock or clear plastic bag and put it over your pot, you want a small enough gap for it to build up humidity, but not so small that your seeds can’t breathe. They will do fine starting off on a windowsill and in 7-14 days they will usually germinate, but some cacti varieties can take much longer so you should take some time researching your individual variety online first.


Here is one of my very first Peruvian Torch cacti, I'll call him Bert.


Hints and Tips

•Move your seedlings into indirect sunlight once they have germinated or they can burn, if you see the tips of your seedlings turning red this is the problem so take them out of the light fast!

•You should remove the bag once every few days and blow some fresh air into it to help them grow faster.

•You can gradually remove the bag over a number of months until they eventually acclimatise to your surroundings.

WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

Want to submit an article? Email it to adventuresandmadness

How to:Simple fertiliser

Here is a relatively simple way of providing a natural fertiliser and insecticide for your plants that will be perfect for their strength and growth, using only stinging nettles which you will probably either have in your garden or local woods. They’ll be almost anywhere where other plants grow.

You will need

Nettles


Container


Shears


Mashing stick!


Bowl


Step 1
Find your nettles and cut down as many as you can with your shears, being careful not to get stung. Lots of guides say to get about 1kg but I didn’t fancy weighing out nettles with the chance of being stung so get as many as you think you need, the more nettles you get the more fertiliser/insecticide you’ll end up with. Once you’ve cut down your nettles put them into your container. The amount of nettles I have in the photo will give you at least a few litres of you overall mixture.


Step 2
Now with your nettles in your container you need to cut them into smaller pieces, you don’t want them too small so you can’t decant the mixture later on, but you don’t want them too big or the process will take a bit longer. Below is a photo showing roughly how much to cut them up.


Step 3
Once you’ve cut up your nettles you need to add enough water to just about cover them, rain water can be used if you want it to be really organic but tap water will do just fine.


Step 4
Next you need to take your mashy stick and MASH, take out your new hatred of nettles because of the stings they gave you, make sure you crush the stems well as this is where most of the nutrients will be, the process will also be faster the more your mixture is crushed. After a few minutes of mashing and leaving it for an hour the water has started to turn a darkish red, this is good!


Step 5
Now you have to leave your mush in a cool place, for 4-14 days stirring it each day if you are intending to use it as a fertiliser, your mix will now become a darker red. You can use the mix as an insecticide after 24 hours and spray it on your plant leaves. But to use it as a fertiliser it’s best to leave it for a longer period of time to get more nutrients from the solution. After it has been left for your desired amount of time you should carefully pour it into another container. (Directly into your sprayer if you can filter it with an old shirt or rag)

I didn’t have an old shirt or rag so I held the nettles back as best as I could whilst pouring the liquid into another container, I then picked out the remaining bits of nettle.

Step 6
Once your mixture is strained and a nice dark red, pour it into your sprayer or watering can.


Now you have a very effective natural, free insecticide that is also very good as a fertiliser! Use your mixture every 15 days if it is as an insecticide, and every 3 weeks as a fertiliser. Every plant reacts differently so test out a little bit and increase usage in small increments. (Sometimes you can use it every other week depending on your plant)


WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

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How to:Cherry bomb

How to make a “cherry bomb”

In this tutorial I’m going to try to show you how to make a cherry bomb from some easyish to find materials.

You will need:
Gunpowder(you can also matchheads whole but it wont be as powerful)
Fuse
Ping pong ball
Hammer
Nail (a bit thicker than your chosen fuse)
Scalpel or screwdriver
Electrical tape(black tends to look good)
Funnel*
Aluminium foil*

*Optional but very useful




Okay, to start you’ll need to rest the ping pong ball on the roll of electrical tape to stop it from sliding about, once you’ve done that take your scalpel or screwdriver and cut a hole in the top of the ping pong ball. It should be big enough to pour in the powder or your matchheads, but not too big because the cherry bomb will be less effective.



If you have a funnel, put it into the hole and start to fill up the ball with powder or drop in your matchheads. If you don’t you can just fold up a piece of paper and slide it in, this can take a bit more time though. You should aim to fill the ball to about three quarters of the way to the top to leave room for the gas to build up.

Once this is done, start to wrap the electrical tape around the ball starting with covering the hole, wrap about 5 layers over this gap, then continue to cover the whole ball in 5 layers of tape. Try to keep the tape tight against the ball and keep it as smooth as you can. It should look like this.



Then take your foil and cut it into 4 square pieces, the idea is to have each piece big enough to cover the ping pong ball. This step isn’t necessary but will really help with the explosion. When you put them together fold one piece over and scrunch it tight, then take another piece and do it the opposite way. Do this until all 4 sides are covered, then roll the ball onto something hard until it is circular again.





After you have done this do another 5,6 or 7 layers of electrical tape around the foil keeping it as tight as you can again.

Then take your...



CROWBARRRRR and pretend you’re Gordon Freeman for a bit. Done? Good, now I know it sounds risky but you need to take your rusty old nail



And VERY gently, hammer the nail through all the layers you’ve just made, tap the ping pong ball onto something, if a bit of powder comes out you’ve gone far enough. (You should be able to feel it when you get through easily, so testing for powder might not be needed.)

Once you’ve done this, cut a big enough sized fuse to go into the ball, always make it a bit longer than you think you’ll need. Then if it’s a bit wobbly, cut 4 small pieces of tape and put them cross ways to fix the fuse in place.

Now you’re done! If your fuse is waterproof these make great depth charge type explosives, as you can see from the video. Please bear in mind that this is dangerous and shouldn't be treated like a firecracker, if you make one and decide to light it.Run.

WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

Want to submit an article? Email it to adventuresandmadness