How To Use Chopsticks

Find out how to use chopsticks with this simple guide.

How To Fell A Tree

Cutting down (or felling) a tree is very simple to get right, but also very risky if you get it wrong. If

your going to try this, practice on a small tree first, and of cause always get its permission.

1. Make sure you have enough clear space for the tree to fall.

2. Get a good sharp axe. Chainsaws are for wimps and are far to easy, (they should only be used for opening beer)

3. First chop a chunk of wood out of the trunk near the bottom.

Labeled 1 in the picture.

This should be on the side to which you want the tree to fall.

4. Now chop on the other side of the tree a couple of inch's (10cm) higher than the first cut. Labeled 2 in the picture.

5. Keep chopping at this side until the tree falls over.

6. Remember to shout "TIMBER."

How To Track A Horse

Handy hints on how to track a horse. Very handy if your .... well..... tracking a horse.

How To Make A Paper Cup

Make a paper cup in five folds.

Drinking Game: Names

A very popular pub/bar favourite, particularly on a stag do.

Rules.

1. The first player states the name of a famous person. Can be historical, fictional or current. Eg. Homer Simpson.

2. The next player, sitting on his/her right must say a famous person beginning with the surname of the the previous famous person. Eg. Stevie Wonder. 

3. On to the next person and so on round and round the table.

4. If a player states a double barreled name. Eg Ronald Reagan, then you've bounced and the order changes direction. So if the order of play was going round to right it would now go to the left.

Drinking.

Like all drinking games you need rules when a player should drink. These are as follows.

1. Drink if you mention a famous person already used. You must come up with a new person before play can move on.

2. If you pause for more than 30 seconds while trying to think.

3. If you get the name wrong or mention someone who doesn't exist.

Advanced Play.

1. Queens. Queen Elizabeth's name can be used as often as you like, with any variation of her name. Eg. Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth Windsor,  Elizabeth the 2nd.  

When the queen is mentioned all players must stand up and drink, Shouting. "Gentleman The Queen". 

(If your not British and don't want to confuse the rest of the bar, then you could pick your own National Figure. )

2. Twos. Start one game going one way and one going the other way. 

Dowsing For Water

A mighty useful skill this for anyone who might get shot down in the desert or inherit  a struggling French farm with no stream. Dowsing is the practice of finding buried materials eg water, by use of a Dowsing Rod. 

1. Get outside.

2. Get your dowsing rod, this could be Hazel twig or Wire Coat Hanger in the shape of an upside down Y.

3. Grasp the two handles of the Y and hold the rod horizontally.

4. Now begin to walk in straight lines. Concentrating your thoughts on whatever your dowsing for. (Waters traditional, golds more interesting.)

5. Its common misunderstanding with dowsing that you let the Rod determine your direction. That's not true, the Rod doesn't signal which way to go but rather it vibrates when you are near your chosen desire. So as you walk concentrate on your desire and wait until the Rod is vibrating almost uncontrollably, that's where you dig. 

6. Does it work? 

How To Pretend To Be Busy

How to avoid ever being given any extra work....

Make A Wish With A Ginger Biscuit.

Its possible (if your bored enough) to make a wish with a ginger biscuit. 

1. Take your ginger biscuit and cup it in your hand.

2. Now smash your elbow down on top of the biscuit, and make a wish.

3. If the biscuit breaks into 3 parts only. Congratulations you wish will come true. (Not a Guarantee.)

N.B. You can ignore crumbs. 

Know Your Cycling Road Signals

Vital stuff for any cycling chap.

How To Play The Spoons

Playing the spoons is surprisingly easy but it does require the exact right method and that's why a lot of people have trouble with it. 

1. Get two spoons. 

2. Place the first spoon  between forefinger and thumb. Make sure its facing up.

3. Place the second spoon griped between remaining three fingers and your palm.  Make sure its facing down. 

4. The key is that the  bowl of one spoon is directly above the bowl of the other spoon.

5. Stand up, put your foot on a chair and flick your hand up and down banging the spoons against your thigh.

6. For added effect hold you free hand above the spoons so they hit it on the way up. This creates a faster deeper sound.  In the (rather poor :-) example below you can hear when this second hand is brought into play.

Magic Trick: Lasso a Candle Flame

Man's mastery of fire has always separated him from the beasts. Now you can discover how to lasso and control a candles flame. A simple trick which works best on young nieces and nephews.

1. Ask your audience for a strand of hair. (Blond and Long is unsurprisingly the most popular choice.

2. Form this into a loop.

3. Place the loop over the candle flame. Making sure that your hand is on the opposite side of the candle to you.

4. Now very slowly pull to the loop of hair away from you.

5. As you do so direct a very small amount of air from your lips in the direction of the flame. This is the tricky bit as you must try not to purse your lips but keep them relaxed and natural. (The image is a very bad example.)

6. The result will be the flame appears to move as a result of your pulling it with the hair. You need to match the effect on the flame with the pretend pulling of your hand.

Remember: Don't set fire to the hair.

Blow up stuff with your mind :-)

Yes well........ we all need a break.

How To Signal Passing Aircraft For Help.

When trapped on a desert island every chap needs to be able to attract passing aircraft for help, but how do you tell the pilot of said plane exactly whats wrong? Well below is are some standard Emergency Ground Signals. This comes from a 1950s schoolboy handbook, and the request signal for "Send Firearms and Ammunition" was presumably to fight of attacking natives. You make the shapes in the ground, with twigs, clothes, animal bones or just footmarks.

Make A Rocket Out Of A Diet Coke Bottle

With a bottle of Diet Coke and a packet of Mentos you can make a quite spectacular rocket. A far better use for diet coke than drinking the stuff. Please note the rocket can be very powerful so protect your face when it goes off and remember its coke. Don't wear your best clothes.

1. Take one bottle of Diet Coke. The larger the better, we suggest 2 liters. For best results make sure its not chilled.

2. Take one packet of Mentos and remove the paper cover, but leave the foil.

3. Step outside to a big open area.

4. Remove the cap on the bottle and drop the Mentos inside. Replace cap.

5. Shake the bottle.

6. Open the cap just a little till you hear the fizz of air escaping.

7. Throw the bottle well away from you and watch.

8. Here's an example from youtube. Wait for the "Holy Cow".

How To Start A Fire With A Battery.

A fairly simple trick.

1. Take one battery a 9V works particularly well. But you can do it with smaller sizes.

2. Get a small handful of steel wool and bridge both contacts of the battery with the steel wool.

3. At this point sparks should be appearing.

4. Place some tinder (small dried grass or very small twigs) over the top of the wool.

5. Congratulations you've discovered fire!

How To Play Paper Golf

Ah Paper Golf, beloved by school boys everywhere....

Unlike real golf all you will need is a sheet of paper and a pen.

1. On a clean sheet of paper draw the hole. You can include what ever features you can imagine, water, sand traps, trees. Just make sure it includes the starting pin and the hole. The drawing below should give you a good example. N.B. The hole is drawn fairly large.

2. Place the tip of the pin on the starting pin and place your fore finger on the top of the pen.

3. Push down and diagonally flicking the pen in the direction you want the line to go.

4. Where the line stops on the paper draw an X. That's your first shot. The second shot starts from the X.

5. Carry on until you manage to get a line which stops in the hole.

6. If you stop in an obstacle eg water, sand, trees then you miss a shot.

7. Add up the number of shots for your score, then draw the next hole.

8. If your playing with 2 people make sure you use different colour pens.

Make A Lightsaber

This excellent video demonstrates how to make a very fine Star Wars Lightsaber, from fairly standard hardware store parts.

How To Make Ginger Beer.

Ginger Beer saw quite a decline in the 20th Century being replaced by Coke as the soft drink of choice. Now a days its hard to get and when available is often artificial or served with (shudder) ICE. Here's how to make the proper stuff.

1. Pour into a bowl one pint of water, boiled then cooled to 21 degrees C (70F).

2. Add 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, 2 of sugar and 2 of yeast.

3. Stir with wooden spoon and cover.

4. Store in a warm place room. No more 21 degrees C (70F) and no colder than 18 degrees C. (64F)

5. Every day add 1 teaspoon of ginger and 1 of sugar.

6. Continue for 8 days.

7. Then strain the liquid through a fine sieve in to anther bowl. Place the stuff in the sieve back in the first bowl. Cover both bowls.

8. Get hold of an 8 pint container. (Having trouble a new washing up bowl works well).

9. Into this place 2 pints of boiled water and dissolve 690g of sugar (1 1/2 lbs). Add the juice of 2 lemons and the liquid from the second bowl.

10. Cool liquid to 21 degrees C. Add 5 pints of water mix and bottle. In clean glass bottles with air tight seals. (Ie Screw Tops.) Leave for 8 days.

11. Drink. Enjoy. Don't add ICE.

12. You now have also have a Ginger Beer Plant, with which you can brew more.

Ginger Beer Plant.
1. Add 1 pint of boiled water cooled to 21 degrees C, over the first bowl with the stuff from the sieve. And repeat from step 4.

2. After 16 days halve the plant, add 1 pint of water 21 degrees C into 1st bowl and repeat step 4. The other half can be given away or reused.

Practical Joke: Stapler in Jelly

You may well have seen this in The Office by Ricky Gervais . When Tim puts Garth's stapler in the jelly.


1. Get your stapler.

2. Get a glass mixing bowl. (Important point this must be quite a bit bigger than the stapler.)

3. Place a pencil across the Jelly Bowl and with a bit of string dangle the stapler from that. This is very important as it means the stapler will sit in the middle of the jelly once its made.

4. Get a packet of jelly and following its instructions on the pack make it in the bowl. Its usually a case of adding hot water.

5. Leave to set in the fridge.

6. Cut the string and remove the pencil.

6. Stand back light your pipe and admire your handiwork.

How To Turn Up Your Trousers

Before you have a go at this, please remember sewing is for Girls (and sail makers). This is Tailoring.

1. Get your too long pair of trousers (the ones you brought in a rush and didn't try on.)

2. Put the trousers on and sit down in them. Measure the distance from the top of your ankle to the end of the trouser. That's the bit we have to turn up. For the purposes of this demo we'll say the distance is 8 cm.

3. Take trousers off. Turn the trousers inside out (unless you want outside turn ups,) and fold the bottom of one leg back by 8 cm. Pin the fold at both seams and at both creases to hold it in place.

4. Repeat with the other trouser.

5. Now put the trousers back on and check the fit.

6. Take them off again and turn them inside out.

7. Get a length of thread and a needle.

8. Stitch along the top of the turned up bit of the trouser.

9. When you've gone the whole way round tie off the thread.

10. Put your trousers on and admire.