Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2023 i Popular Mechanics

In 2002, The Mothman Prophecies, a movie about a mysterious West Virginia cryptid, starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, rekindled interest in the snarling, red-eyed creature that is said to portend disaster. Initial sightings in the late 1960s were connected with the Silver Bridge collapse in the town of Point Pleasant that killed 46 people. Capitalizing on the renewed attention, the town organized the first annual Mothman Festival that same year. The following year, Point Pleasant commissioned a local artist, the late Bob Roach, to create this 12-foot-tall statue; and in 2005, a Mothman Museum opened downtown. Visitors can view original news clippings and police reports from the first Mothman sightings, photos of the bridge collapse, and props from the 2002 film—and pose for selfies with Mothman replicas.…

Masking to paint an object is a slow, painstaking process. Apply the tape, burnish it on, and cut away excess with an X-Acto knife that has a fresh blade. After painting, it’s quite likely you may have to strip the tape and reapply it to check your work. There are no shortcuts to getting it right. The reward, however, is a near factory-level finish of paint quality.…

IF AI WILL CHANGE ART ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) has blown up as one of the most exciting yet misunderstood technologies of our era. ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that went live in late 2022, can answer various types of queries in mere seconds and quickly took over the internet. This type of AI plugin—which can be layered onto other kinds of software to create new functionality—has the ability to generate text, but few people are talking about AI’s capacity to produce images. So, we reviewed three of the best AI image generators out there: Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E. How we tested // We analyzed cost, ease of use, image resolution, dynamic range, composition, creativity, post-processing, and even speed. We also fed each image generator with an identical prompt, specifically asking…

I don’t need my carpenter jeans to be stonewashed, vegan, or certified organic. I need them to be comfortable and durable. About 10 years ago, I found a pair of carpenter jeans that satisfy those requirements. Every year, I treat myself to a new pair of the U.S.A.-made model 101 by Round House, a manufacturer in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a small city in the center of the state. The company (founded in 1903) is one year younger than Popular Mechanics. Anything in business that long has got something going for it. But it’s more than just their manufacturer’s history that makes these pants worth recommending. They’re made from U.S. cotton, with triple-stitched seams and bar tacks (stitching reinforcement) at the pockets. Their pleasing dark indigo color is extremely colorfast. I go…

We often debate gas vs. electric, and it came up again testing cordless chainsaws. When considering the two, folks often head down a path of comparing feature to feature, function to function. But, the two fuel/power sources make the tools inherently different. It’s better to compare the jobs they do. Were they easier or more diff-cult? What were the benefits or pitfalls? And, understand that change can be uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.—…

ANDREW DANIELS Director of News “If they try to slow you down, tell ‘em all to go to hell.” BEST BATHROOM GAME If I have five minutes on the throne, I’m firing up immaculategrid.com. The mission: connect nine random baseball players who share teams and meet statistical criteria. Sports nerd heaven. WHAT’S ON MY WRIST? The Garmin Forerunner 255. My Runner’s World pals call it “more watch than most of us ever need.” The scary-accurate GPS tracking helps me fine-tune my training runs, and the Morning Report feature suggests workouts when I wake up (and scolds me for my poor sleep). My Disc Golf Addiction The courses here in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley are world-class—and totally free. Plus, I get to be outside and bang chains with my buddies a few…

SOUTH KOREA IS BUILDING AN UNUSUAL ship design with U.S. Navy roots. The “Joint Firepower Ship,” designed to carry scores of ballistic missiles, would be used to attack North Korea’s government and nuclear weapons in case of nuclear threat. The concept has its origins in the “arsenal ship,” an American missile-dense warship that was never built. A Link in the Chain //The South Korean government has selected local shipbuilder DSME to design the ship, with the aim of building three by decade’s end, each of which will carry 80 new ballistic missiles. As the sea-based portion of South Korea’s “kill chain”—a web of sensors, spies, special forces, and shooters—the Joint Firepower Ship could get a fix on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a crisis and execute a peremptory…

WHEN PERFECTLY SHAPED TO your foot, a well-worn leather boot can skyrocket to the top of your most-comfortable-boot list. Now, a leather boot that has not been properly broken in—that’s a different story, and one without as comfort-able an ending. But getting that premium level of comfort requires patience. Lots of patience. Boot makers want you to have some level of comfort right out of the box, but working toward buttery smooth, broken-in leather requires time. “We always suggest that you plan for a certain amount of break-in time before and during your first few weeks of wear,” says Kyle Wanke, Danner product line manager. “To begin the process of molding the boots to your feet, wear them around the house or on shorter outings for a couple of hours…

From 3D printers to VR headsets, our editors went all in on the latest electronics. They scored each device based on its performance, price, and feature set. Although the core designs of everyday gadgets like phones and laptops have largely remained unchanged, manufacturers are still finding new ways to add more functionality like increased display space or extended connectivity options.…

COLIN AYLESWORTH Deputy Editor, Expert Reviews Newer isn’t always better. Grills, Grills, Grills I bought a Weber original kettle charcoal grill—used!—over a decade ago. It’s been dutifully grilling and smoking for me ever since, and it even survived a large tree limb falling on it after a bad storm. And recently, I picked up a Recteq RT-1250 pellet smoker that was collecting dust in our office. It’s hard to beat the convenience of a smoker that regulates its own temperature and is controlled by WiFi for doing longer smokes, such as brisket or pork shoulder. I’m Most Curious About… What’s going on in my dog’s little brain. My 3 Best Pieces of Advice 1 / If a task takes only a few seconds, just do it in the moment rather…

NEAT OR ON THE ROCKS? OR MAYBE just a touch of water? It’s a question long debated by whiskey lovers and one largely left to personal preference—until now. In a new study, food scientists have determined the exact point at which watering down whiskey ends up altering its unique aroma profile beyond recognition. In the study, there were 25 whiskey samples in the mix, and they were diluted to various strengths, from original 100 percent all the way down to 50 percent whiskey, 50 percent water. Each dilution was presented to each of the 20 pan-elists, who smelled them and checked off any of the 15 smell notes that applied—like vanilla, pine, and even bacon. Researchers found that the panel was less able to tell rye and Bourbon apart, or…

PLANS FOR A FUTURE LUNAR MINING base and the 2025 Artemis III landing on the moon are about to launch a new era of human presence on the moon. To develop the necessary technologies, NASA is investing in engineering innovations that could make structures like lunar roads a possibility. Last year, the space agency awarded Austin-based 3D-printing company Icon a $57.2 million contract to build them. To figure out how these moon roads could become reality, and what challenges we still need to overcome, we spoke to experts about state-of-the-art technology in development. Why We Need Roads on the Moon //Driving on bare regolith (the moon’s loose top layer of dust, soil, and broken rock) leads to hazards. The Apollo astronauts got around fine in their lunar buggies, but they…

Life’s good, but having the right tools can make it a hell of a lot better. The tech on the following pages can make knocking out work, gaming with friends, and controlling your home easier. Our editors spent the past year testing dozens of electronics ranging from smartphones to televisions. They used a mix of software benchmarks (where applicable), measurements, and extensive hands-on evaluation to find the devices that offer the most value and best performance—all to identify quality products best poised to serve you for years to come. VIDEO BEST STREAMING MEDIA PLAYER Apple TV 4K 64GB (3rd Generation) $145 This tiny streaming box is an entertainment powerhouse for movies, music, and video games. It runs Apple’s snappy and easy-to-navigate tvOS platform. Each click instantly loads streaming apps and…

TABLE SAW HORROR STORIES ABOUND. IF YOU’VE never had a mishap with one of these machines, count yourself among the blessed few. I’ve worked with countless men with scars and missing fingers, and I’ve had my share of close calls. Decades ago, I worked at a lumberyard where the foreman told me to be careful using the table saw that was about to become my main work station. “The last guy,” he said, “lost four fingers.” It was a shame, he said, the guy was so young. You might expect this tale from a lumberyard, most of which are pretty rough places. But the need for safety in the home workshop is no less urgent. People who spend all week behind a desk may be ill-prepared to step behind a table…