For fifty years the Heifer Project has been providing families in developing countries (and parts of the US) with breeding pairs of animals: cows, goats, pigs, rabbits, water buffalo, ducks, and so on. Even in the world's poorest regions the cost of a cow or goat can exceed a year's income, preventing many families from acquiring animals. When a family receives a breeding pair they get meat, milk or eggs, but more importantly, they now have a source of income as the offspring are sold.

The deal with Heifer Project is that the recipient must agree to give one breeding pair of offspring away to another family, thus paying the gift forward. Therefore a small amount of money contributed now will multiply manyfold as families gain food, pride, a source of income, and the means to help someone else. It's hard to imagine a better gift, or a more practical, proven lever in making a difference in communities of need.

Heifer International

Micro-financing is quite the rage in international circles for one very amazing fact. The payback rate on tiny loans to the workers in developing countries is greater than the payback rate for large loans to their home countries. In other words, from an outright profit perspective, you are better off loaning money to a Bolivian peasant than to the Bolivian government. Furthermore, there is now no doubt that Bolivia itself, and any other country, is much better off if investment goes directly to their poorest citizens than to the government. Several non-profits, starting with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, have pioneered micro-credit loans on a large scale and for large investors. I've found the easiest way for a helpful citizen to contribute funds to a wide variety of micro-loan programs in different parts of the world is through Opportunity International. Opportunity International has been providing micro loans for 30 years, even before the term microcredit was coined. They work through Trust Banks, groups of 20-30 (mostly women) borrowers who meet weekly for encouragement and to cross-guarantee the loans.

Opportunity International

Rather than dispense loans, Trickle Up issues outright grants, but with strings attached. They provide seed capital and training for micro-enterprise hopefuls. Maybe someone with ambitions for a food stall, or a repair shop. A typical deal is a $100 conditional grant. Unlike in a micro-loan program, grantees don't have to pay the money back, but they do have to get trained. Grantees must commit a minimum of 250 hours in the first 3 months to their venture, reinvest at least 20% back into it, and keep an account ledger, among other conditions. Last year 10,000 business started via Trickle Up donations, and 30,000 budding entreprenuers benefited from this global program. There is huge emphasis on training for very basic business skills. And follow up expansion grants are offered, too. About 70% of grantees are women.

Trickle Up

Sampa rebuilt her life after rebel attacks by starting a restaurant

God punishes one generation when it accepts the undiminished wealth of the previous generation. The way to escape perpetuating generational richity is to die broke. But what about college for my kids, or when I'm sick, old, or retired? This book has answers for you and very specific tactics for the liberation of all from the myth of inheritance.
--KK

Die Broke
A Radical Four-Part Financial Plan
Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine
1997, 305 pages
$11
Amazon

Excerpt:

You are not a corporation - you are a human being. Your money shouldn't outlive you. You should exit life as you came into it: penniless. Your assets are resources to be used, for your own benefit and for the benefit of those you love. Every dollar that's left in your bank account after you die is a dollar you wasted. Use your resources to help people now when you know they need it, when it will do the most good, rather than hoping they'll be helped when you're dead. The last check you write should be to your undertaker� and it should bounce.
*
Inheritance is a terribly inefficient way to pass wealth to others.
*
You need to shift to a more flexible view of work and career, one that abandons the ultimatum of retirement - a false choice between full-time and no time�. Similarly you need to shift to a less rigid approach to earned income. No longer can you look at your earned income as continually increasing up until age sixty-five, at which pint it will stop entirely. From now on you need to approach earned income as you do unearned income. It may grow, it may be stagnant, or it may decrease, all depending on market conditions and your own choices.
*
The best metaphor I can think of for today's pursuit of retirement is of a mass of lemmings busily struggling up a steep cliff and then jumping off the cliff into the abyss.
*
Dying broke means living well.

The only sane antidote to massive wealth is massive philanthropy. But giving is a habit that is best begun before you are loaded; the great philanthropist Carneige began when he was making a few dollars per week. Indeed, some of the most influential funding in history has been small, but creative, grants.

You can write a check any time the spirit moves you, but like all things in life, they are tools that can improve your aim. One tool of philanthropy is a personal foundation. A foundation gives you flexibility and can increase the amount you can give. However you can spend half your fortune -- no matter its size -- creating and maintaining a foundation, or you can do it the easy way, a way that is suitable to middle class assets.

The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund provides most of the functions you, a non-tycoon, might want from a personal foundation. Best of all, it requires a minimum of "only" $10,000. Here's how it works.

You deposit your contribution in Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund which in turn invests the amount in one of their mutual fund pools. You get to choose the level of risk/payback you want for your money, but Fidelity chooses and runs the fund. Whenever you want to make a donation, you tell Fidelity, and as long as it is a tax-deductible outfit (it can't be an individual), they send 'em a check. You can do this online with a very graceful and easy interface; it even remembers all the details of your frequent grantees, so you just need to click.

The main advantages are four:
1) The money grows. Like a real foundation, your money is invested, and the returns on those investments are reinvested and further enlarge your fund for giving. Depending on what percentage you disperse each year, the total can accumulate significantly. (Fidelity suggests you give at least 5% of your fund each year.)

2) You can gift stock (or securities) directly to the fund. When highly appreciated stock (as in a boom), is cashed out it triggers huge capital gains tax for the owners. With a personal foundation you can donate the stock without cashing it. The Fidelity Gift Fund account is credited with the high value of the stock at market value, but the giver (you) doesn't have to pay for the huge gains, because those gains are now the gains of a non-profit fund. You receive the normal charitable giving tax deduction for the market value of the stock. You can do the same with ordinary stock investments. Say you were lucky enough to buy 20 shares of Amazon when it was at $20 per share. Say when Amazon hit $200 per share, you decided you wanted to do something creative and meaningful with your small fortune of $4,000. You bestow the Gift Fund with the 20 shares of Amazon, which then credits your philanthropic account with $4,000. But instead of having to pay a capital gains tax on $3,600 ($4,000 minus $400, your cost), you get a tax deduction on $4,000. That $4,000 can then amplify further (see point 1). A common tactic for Gift Fund users is to donate their highest flying, most inflated stocks for maximum philanthropic joy and smallest capital gains pain.

3) It's free. Well, almost free. Fidelity charges the usual industry standard of any mutual fund (less than 1%), but this is far less than hiring a personal fund manager, or even setting up a private foundation yourself.

4) You get to name your foundation anything you want. Having a foundation of your own focuses attention on keeping it full, and encourages discipline in giving it away.

Because accounts within the Gift Fund are so easy to set up they are often used for giving circles. A giving circle is a group of friends or advocates who decide to combine their resources to fund a cause. They create a virtual foundation without the usual expense and work of setting up a bona-fide non-profit (which is needed to receive funds, but not give them) and collectively research and debate who/where/how to fund their mission.

The Gift Fund is so useful for givers of more modest means that is has drawn in about $2.5 billion dollars, making the collective Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund the third largest public foundation in the US, and the number one foundation in total amount of money dispensed last year. Of course it is not really one foundation, but 27,000 small foundations, many of them pioneering creative philanthropy. You don't have to fund the opera and hospitals. As an example, here are some donations clients of the Gift Fund recently made:

* Support for a historic preservation speaking tour
* Rebuilding a scout camp destroyed by fire
* Support for an archeological dig in a national park
* Support for Native American students majoring in science
* Supplying an animal shelter with an examination table and equipment
* Support for a summer theater

My experience with the Gift Fund has been great. It was simple to set up, with a minimum of paperwork, and when it comes time to make a donation, the effort is pretty painless. Having a convenient do-it-yourself vehicle, with tax breaks, and investment upside, has encouraged our giving.

--KK

Giving Account
Fidelity Investments
Charitable Gift Fund
82 Devonshire Street
Boston, MA 02109

This is a specialized catalog for Search & Rescue, ski patrol and other (e.g. Military/ arcane law enforcement) professionals. Contains mostly Conterra�s line of specialty backpacks/fanny paks for ski patrol, SAR heli-med personnel. They make the best radio chest harness in the business � it is a standard with fire depts and FEMA. It is hard to imagine turning this stuff into general-purpose (eg, the paks are definitely not general purpose packs) but for the intended applications, there is none better.
�Paul Saffo

Conterra Catalog
360-734-2311

Infinity Expedition Modular Medical Kit

All you need to learn about a subject can often be reduced to a phamplet. Why fill a book with yet another 20 examples? Country Wisdom has been dispensing pithy brochures of country living how-to for 30 years, but now they have a nifty new distribution model which keeps customer costs low. Go to the Simple Living website and for a few bucks each you can download a PDF file of your preferred bulletin. Print it out yourself, or if you are really cheap, read it on the screen. Note to other publishers: a new economy business is alive and kicking here.
�KK

Country Wisdom Bulletins
PDF downloads
$4 each
The Simple Living Network, Inc.
509-395-2323
800-318-5725

I�ve used my e-trex GPS unit for the past couple of years on many car and local-hiking trips, and a few backpacking journeys deeper into the country. This unit allows me to download Garmin�s road maps into the e-trex for car trips, and their topographic maps for backcountry trips. With this unit I can also save my trail�s GPS data onto my PC for either archiving or sharing. Things I don�t like: The PC software is not terribly intuitive, although it is usable with some practice. The high resolution greyscale LCD screen helps, but topo maps are still too detailed to read usefully on a small screen. The screen also takes a while to update when scrolling around complex maps. In short this is an inexpensive, compact, and lightweight way to get into GPS navigation with downloadable maps.

However, there are much better units available, witih fast color screens and great battery life. If you are going to buy one GPS unit, the Garmin 60c (reviewed here) is the one to get.

The e-trex is small and light, and an ideal second unit. I will continue to use mine for mountaineering when I want to log a trip while carrying the absolute least amount of weight.

-- Alexander Rose

The 24 satellites that make up the GPS space segment are orbiting the earth about 12,000 miles above us. They are constantly moving, making two complete orbits in less than 24 hrs.

e-trex Legend
Manufactured by Garmin
$125
From Amazon

Alien life discovered on earth! To see what life could be -- to imagine its fullest possibilities -- descend to these burning underwater fissures where an entirely unknown world of distinctly different organisms is now being noticed. This scholarly anthology has the latest reports. Anyone who says we know life is wrong. My goodness, how strange life is.

-- KK

The Ecology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents
Cindy Lee Van Dover
2000, 424 pages
$50
Princeton University Press
Amazon

Methane hydrate habitat of the ice worm, Hesiocaeca methanicola, on the Louisiana Slope in the gulf of Mexico.

Time-series images of community development at Biomarker #9 following the April 1991 eruption at 9°50'N on the East Pacific Rise. (top) April 1991: Flocculent, bacterially generated material in the water column within 15 m of biomarker #9 immediately following the eruption (within days to weeks)...(mid) December 1993: The giant vestimentiferan tubeworm (Riftia pachyptila) has colonized the site, growing rapidly and overgrowing the population of Tevnia jerichonana...(Bottom) November 1995: The Riftia pachyptila population is now in excess of 2000 individuals and tubes are stained with rust-colored, ferrous oxide precipitate coincident with increased concentrations of iron in the diffuse, low-temperature vent fluids.

You want life weird and strange? It's in the deep a mile down. You don't know life at all until you've met these spectacularly different creatures. I mean way different. Totally bizarre, totally awesome. Guaranteed to alter your consciousness. The filmmaking is superb and jaw-dropping. The disk you want is Part 2 of the acclaimed BBC Blue Planet series. The rest of the series is okay, but not extraordinary; the other episode on Part 2, "Open Ocean," is one of the better of the series; so you can order just this one disk (or tape)
-- KK

The Blue Planet
Part 2: Open Ocean/ The Deep
Narrated by David Attenborough
$13 DVD

Netflix
Amazon

A fantastically well-stocked source of the smartest medical supplies around. Highly versatile, highly effective (and portable) self-care gear. The audience is expedition doctors and search and rescue teams, but 90% of these state-of-the-art supplies would serve home and homestead as well. The catalog is a real education and wonderfully broad -- for instance, they rightly see keeping insects at bay as a health issue. They sell the full line of Adventure Medicine Kits, as well as empty kit containers and the basic items, books, and non-prescripts to assemble your own medical tool box. Among suppliers of emergency medical gear, Chinook stands out for honoring the intelligence and independence of their customers, as you might expect from a company serving the health concerns of strong-willed lunatics heading off the map for three months.

-- KK

Chinook Medical Gear, Inc.
Custom Medical Solutions for the Harshest Environments on Earth
970-375-1241

Israeli Bandage. Phenomenal new product that works as several different devices -- primary dressing, pressure applicator, secondary dressing and tourniquet. Sterile, non-adherent and easy to use, this bandage is designed to treat every possible bleeding wound in the most extreme conditions. An injured person can even apply it with one hand!
#05130 Israeli 4 $6.95

Sawyer Controlled Release DEET Formula
Sawyer Controlled Release insect repellent lotion uses a newly patented technology called Sub-Micron Encapsulation. It works with your own skin's natural chemistry so you can reduce DEET exposure and have 24-hour insect protection. It is also non-greasy, virtually odorless and water and sweat-resistant. In areas infested with flies, or for use with clothing and hair, supplement with Broad Spectrum Composite Repellent. 4oz.
#03107 $6.95

Ultrathon. Originally developed for the U.S. military for use in challenging environments requiring long-lasting protection, Ultrathon soon became highly recommended by the travel medicine community. 99% effective for more than 8 hours against mosquitoes, 92% effective against ticks and also works against biting flies, gnats, chiggers, and fleas. Cream contains 33% DEET, lasts up to 12 hours. 2oz.
#03108 $8.95

Little known fact: the USB peripheral ports on your computer (the cables going to printers, cameras, etc.) carry low-volt electrical power. This means you can use the big battery in your lap as a big recharger for a gadget. Globetrotting road-warriors have discovered they can carry one less adapter/recharger by packing this small cable. Plug one end into the USB port and the other into the cell phone. As long as you have power in your laptop, you can recharge your phone.
-- KK

USB Cell Phone Power Adaptor
$9
Previously available from ThinkGeek
703.293.6299
888-433-5788

[If you can recommend a good, reliable alternative to this one, which is not currently available, please let us know in the comments below or via the submit page -- sl]

What�s so virgin about virgin olive oil? Is tapioca born as little round balls, or can you get it in another form? At the dinner table our questions are endless. Yet, the ingredient lists on the side of packages are wholly inadequate. Most cookbooks don�t know much about origins either. This humungous, library-belonging, scholar-written, two-volume encyclopedia fills our hunger for more information. No recipes, only superbly reliable research on food, food crops, and food preparation. Eat smarter.
�KK

The Cambridge World History of Food
Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Cone� Ornelas
2000, 2 vols., 2153 pages
$120
Cambridge University Press
Amazon

Excerpt:

Indeed kola is to the African what tobacco or coffee is to the European or betel is to the southeastern Asian � a stimulant and a psychoactive substance�The importance of kola as a drug was first recognized outside Africa in the twelfth century by an Arabian physician, who wrote that it was used in the form of a powder for colic and stomachache and had warming properties. A later Portuguese observer testified to the importance of Kola nuts thus: �The Black population would scarcely undertake any enterprise without the aid of Kola��which, among other things, was supposed to protect against the pangs of thirst.
�
Since the 1850s, however, research has been carried out by botanists, chemists, and pharmacists on some of the properties ascribed to the kola nut. For example, A.M.F.J. Pasisot-Beauvois asserted the nuts� remarkable ability to impart a pleasant taste to all food or water consumed. Subsequent experiments have confirmed this observation at least for drinking water, which, even when comparatively stale or impure, becomes quite palatable to the consumer after chewing kola. It is possible that the action of the chemicals in kola on the palatal mucosa creates the �illusion� of sweetness, or perhaps this is the result of kola�s high caffeine content.

Probably the cheapest way to get onto water. Built from a single piece of 4 by 16-foot marine plywood, plus some epoxy, this canoe will set you back $150. It might take a pro six hours, but most builders are happy to complete it in a 3-day weekend. This is the design that community boat building programs use; thousands have successfully launched theirs.

-- KK

Building the Six-Hour Canoe
Mike O'Brien and Richard Butz
1998, 65 pages
$11
Tiller Publishing
St. Michaels, MD
410-745-3750
Amazon

Dogs for locomotion. Esoteric, but durable dog sledding gear, and apparatus for dog carts.
�KK

Weight Pull Harnesses
These are the harnesses you need for hauling heavy loads or for weight pulling competitions. Sewn with competitive weight pulling in mind, they are strong and durable harnesses designed for a dog's safety and comfort while working. Each harness is made of wide, heavy-duty nylon webbing to better distribute the work load and thick padding for extra comfort. The hardwood spreader bar prevents side straps from pressing against the dog's hind legs. The sturdy 1-1/2 inch stainless steel attachment ring allows for easy hookups. These harnesses meet IWPA, ISDRA and AMCA requirements for weight pull competition. Although built to tough competition standards, these harnesses are also one of the most comfortable and durable harnesses available for recreational use. They are excellent harnesses for all forms of pulling, although the lower point of attachment does not lend itself readily to skijoring.

Icelandic Weight Pull Harness
item #HS62
$35
Black Ice Dog Sledding Equipment
320-485-4825

The joy of hiking is inversely proportional to the weight of your pack. Carry nothing and your pleasure is unbounded. No one has articulated the benefits and the know-how of carrying little as Ray Jardine. He can show you how to liberate yourself from your tent, water-filter, stove, and most of the rest of your gear. He also has the best tricks for completing long through-hikes. The best times I've ever had in my decades of trekking have been when I was carrying little more than what I was wearing, and hiking the way Jardine preaches.

-- KK

Ray Jardine's book has set in motion a spreading revolution in backpacking technique and tools toward drastically lighter packs and significantly more fun on the trail for all. Certainly for me. Via ingenuity and new materials, this is a return to the kind of camping Horace Kephart promoted in his great Camping and Woodcraft (still in print): the whole point is to be very comfortable in the wild.

It reminds me of what Amory Lovins is doing for car design: once you start finding ways to reduce weight, the benefits multiply, and you wind up with something qualitatively different. With packloads under 20 pounds, so you don't need a pack with a waist belt, don't need boots, etc. etc. In countless cases you can substitute technique for weight (rig a super-light tarp instead of a tent), and your increasing savvy adds to the enjoyment of hiking. The book is full of well-honed technique (plus idiosyncrasies you can sift out on your own).

After reading the book, I got an electronic postal scale and began weighing everything that goes with me on the trail. What a difference it made, having that objective evaluation.

-- Stewart Brand

Beyond Backpacking
Ray Jardine's Guide to Lightweight Hiking
Ray Jardine
2000, 517 pages
AdventureLore Press
Available at Amazon

Excerpt:

Compare one of my packs - weighing 13 ounces and costing $10.40 to make - to a store-bought backpack weighing 7 pounds and costing $275.00. My pack is 12% of the weight and 4% of the cost.

The 8 1/2 pound packs at the completion of a 2,700 mile journey, 1994.
�
I should point out, too, that the majority of nights we hikers spend in the backcountry are mild. We are not automatically going to encounter the ultimate storm the minute we step out the back door with lighter-weight gear. But should it happen, a properly pitched tarp will handle it. Pitching a tarp is not difficult, but the method differs from that of pitching a tent. The best way to make the transition from tent to tarp is to carry both on a few short outings. Pitch the tarp and sleep under it, and keep the tent packed in its stowbag and close at hand, just in case.
�
The reaction of these backpackers was typical of the many we met that summer. On paper, our lighter-weight methods may seem �radical� and idealistic. But when these people saw how easily we were doubling and sometimes even tripling their daily mileages, they tended to become less skeptical. The irony was that we were exerting ourselves no more than the backpackers. We were using our energy mainly for forward progress, rather than for load hauling. I see mileage as an effect rather than a cause. Not something to be struggled for, but merely a by-product of a more efficient style. My main focus is on the natural world, my place in it, and how that relates to the joys and the lessons learned along the way. I also find that when we reduce our barriers � our detachment � from the natural world, we stand to better our wilderness connection.
�
According to conventional backpacking wisdom, giardia contaminates all wilderness water, and we hikers and campers need to purify every drop that we drink; as well as what we use for cooking and brushing teeth. You can read this in hundreds of magazine articles and books. Jenny and I followed this rule faithfully during our first four mega-hikes. And I was sick with giardia-type symptoms many times.

Obviously, something was wrong. If we were being meticulous about filtering our water, then why was I not staying healthy? Jenny remained healthy, and she was drinking the same treated waster as I. Apparently my immunities were lower than hers. But the fact remains that somehow I seemed to be contracting parasites despite the assiduous use of the water filter. The filter cartridges we were using were common, brand-name varieties, and we had no reason to suspect they were not working properly.

Clearly, the conventional wisdom was not working. So we abandoned it and tried a different approach. While training for our fifth thru-hike we drank directly from clean, natural sources, a few sips at first, then gradually increasing in quantity over the weeks and months. In this way we helped condition our bodies to the water�s natural flora. Then during the actual journey we drank all our water straight from the springs, creeks and sometimes the lakes - after carefully appraising each source. And for the first time in years I remained symptom-free; and Jenny stayed healthy also�I doubt whether my illness had anything to do with the filtration or lack thereof. Rather, it had to do with the nature of the water sources we were using. During the initial journeys we were collecting from all but the worst sources, and treating it. In several cases that I can think of, I feel that this treatment � or any other available treatment � was incapable of making that water safe to drink. This is why, on that fifth trek, we collected water only from clean sources. Based on these experiments and their successful outcome, the following are my recommendations: Learn to recognize pristine water, and treat it if you prefer. Learn to recognize water that could be microbially contaminated, if only mildly, and treat it thoroughly. And most importantly, learn to recognize water that is beyond treatment, despite any reasonable degree of clarity. Such water can be extremely virulent, and no water treatment system available to hikers is capable of making that water safe to drink. Do not filter, boil or add purification chemicals to this polluted water. Do not use it for cooking or bathing. In the next section we will learn how to recognize such highly contaminated water.
�
Stealth camping. If you can manage to camp away from the water sources, and from the established campsites, then the many wonderful advantages of stealth camping will be yours. Stealth camping is a cleaner, warmer and quieter way to camp, and it offers a much better connection with nature. In all likelihood no one has camped at your impromptu stealth-site before, and the ground will be pristine. Its thick, natural cushioning of the forest materials will still be in place, making for comfortable bedding without the use of a heavy inflatable mattress. There will be no desiccated stock manure to rise as dust and infiltrate your lungs, nor any scatter of unsightly litter and stench of human waste. The stealth-site will not be trampled and dished; any rainwater will soak into the ground or run off it, rather than collect and flood your shelter. Bears scrounging for human food will be busy at the water-side campsites, and will almost invariably ignore the far-removed and unproductive woods. Far from the water sources you will encounter fewer flying insects, particularly upon the more breezy slopes and ridges. Above the katabatic zones the night air will be markedly warmer. And you can rest assured that your chances of being bothered by other people will be slim.

We pitch the tarp sideways to any wind, and if the wind is stong we pitch the tarp lower and secure the windward edge flush to the ground. A properly pitched tarp is stronger than most tents.

�
The drift box. On our longer hikes, Jenny and I often use what we refer to as a �drift box,� or �running resupply box.� This is a small parcel that we send ahead rather than home. It contains items that will probably be needed later, but not presently. These might include spare shoes and fresh insoles, extra socks, a spare water filter cartridge, an extra camera battery, a small whetstone, a utility knife with disposable blades, a tube of seam�sealing compound, a spare spoon, an extra sweater, and a roll of boxing tape. The drift box gives us occasional access to these items without having to carry them. We send it First Class to a station approximately two weeks ahead.

Do-it-yourself mayhem! Competition! High technology! Battlebots has it all. This rapidly growing hobby entails creating a home-made radio-controlled machine capable of destroying another machine of the same weight before it destroys you. The goal is beautiful: to survive. Creativity and workmanship count. The diversity of designs is thrilling; the diversity of bot builders even more so�high school kids to teams of mad artists. Our friend Alexander Rose (who reviews some tools in this issue) is a Battlebot champion. His four bots are mechanical wonders produced in his spare time. Professional engineers are amazed.

There is not much material on how to start building successful bots yet. The best is found on the Battlebot website where you can get advice on building, sources of motors, and design tips. This pretty-picture book here will give you some idea of what kind of designs have worked so far. The brilliant thing is that the battles are co-evolutionary. As the winning bots evolve and advance, new strategies must be constantly devised. Newbies can win.

Anytime people are creating stuff themselves, the vibe is good. The twice-yearly competitions are broadcast on the Comedy Central TV station, but it�s the 400 or so contestants behind the scenes who seem to be having the most fun.
�KK

Battlebots

Battlebots
The Office Guide
Mark Clarkson
2002, 228 pages
$25
McGraw-Hill/Osborne
Amazon

Excerpt:

And don�t let your limited budget stop you. �I�ve seen $500 robots beat up $12,000 robots. Maybe during a battle a wire will pop loose in that $12,000 machine; then it�s just a really expensive chew-toy for the opponent. You�re at the mercy of luck and the arena weapons.
�
After high school, Setrakian attended UCLA, but he grew frustrated with the university�s film program. So in 1985 he joined George Lucas�s Industrial Light + Magic to start working in films for real. His first job? �I designed and built beaks for Howard the Duck,� he says. �You�ve got to start somewhere.�
�
Mechadon�s unique design reflects Setrakian�s own conception of a fighting robot. �I didn�t want to build something that looked like a lawnmower,� he says. And it certainly doesn�t. �Mechadon does not usually win,� Setrakian says, �but it leaves a big impression. People remember Mechadon.�

Mark Setrakian and Mechadon

Early defibrillation is the best thing for somebody having a heart attack. The quicker you can get a defibrillator onto somebody, the better the outcome. Standard non-automated defibrillators, like the ones with the paddles you see doctors using on TV, require costly and time consuming training to use, and anybody who doesn't do it all the time is likely to get rusty pretty quickly. However the particular condition (ventricular fibrillation) that a defibrillator remedies can reliably be detected by a computer. New automated defibrillators decide themselves if the patient needs to be defibrillated, or "shocked." The machine will not apply a shock under any other situation...i.e. people can't use them to shock each other for kicks. All the responder needs to do is attach the sticky-pads to the right place on the body (there is a picture on each pad), turn on the machine, and do what the machine tells him to do. One could argue that somebody with no training could do it pretty well; it's definitely easier to do correctly than the Heimlich Maneuver, and everybody seems to have a pretty good grasp on how to do that. However, the AHA and manufacturers currently require training to qualify to use one. Almost any Red Cross or Emergency Medical course with Basic Life Support training will teach students how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) as well.

The bottom line is that if I were having a heart attack, I'd be OK with somebody with no medical training having access to an AED and just following the instructions that the machine gives. It's better than being dead. These are rather expensive at the moment -- $2000 $3000 -- but they are state-of-the art and their price will likely come down as the market expands. My guess: they will soon be as common in public buildings as fire extinguishers are now.

-- Jason Roosa
National Registry Emergency Medical Technician-Basic & Mountain Rescue Association Member

Heartstart FR2 Automated External Defibrillator
$2,100
Manufactured by Laerdal
The AED Superstore has many different brands and models for retail sale
920-499-7777
800-544-0048

Also see the Phillips HeartStart AED: $1,275
Available from Amazon

Astoundingly brilliant (and blessedly short). Easily the keenest insight into making art that I've ever read. One continuous aahhaaa.

-- KK

Art & Fear:Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
David Bayles & Ted Orland
2001, 122 pages
$11, The Image Continuum
Available from Amazon

Sample excerpts:

This book is about making art. Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people - essentially (statistically speaking) there aren't any people like that. But while geniuses may get made once-a-century or so, good art gets made all the time. Making art is a common and intimately human activity, filled with all the perils (and rewards) that accompany any worthwhile effort. The difficulties artmakers face are not remote and heroic, but universal and familiar.

The lesson here is simply that courting approval, even that of peers, puts a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the audience. Worse yet, the audience is seldom in a position to grant (or withhold) approval on the one issue that really counts - namely, whether or not you're making progress in your work. They're in a good position to comment on how they're moved (or challenged or entertained) by the finished product, but have little knowledge or interest in your process. Audience comes later. The only pure communication is between you and your work.

For many decades the Amateur Scientist column in Scientific American was a glorious outpost of dedicated enthusiasm. Here expensive scientific gear such as early lasers and x-ray machines were first presented in great detail as affordable do-it-yourself hacks. While the current editors of Scientific American stupidly canceled this clearinghouse, the old columns are remarkably timeless, and offer interested buffs the means to make cloud chambers, spectrometers, seismographs, telescopes, microscopes and all manner of cool instruments using only the most basic kind of stuff you'd find in basements or discount mail order venues.

As a service to this community of gear-heads, former Amateur Scientist editor Shawn Carlson and a part-time publisher have put together all the Amateur Scientist columns the magazine published from 1928 till 1999. The good news is that 100% of the clever drawings and notes are here along with a fine index, usable on the Mac as well as PC. The bad news is that it is an extremely clunky CD-Rom with a badly designed interface that awkwardly ties into the web. Yet, with this tool, one can tap into a remarkable treasury of enlightened tinkering and science hacking. Some of the projects are still state-of-art, and the ones that are classics will still make tremendous science fair projects.

Taking a bit of a hint from the extreme passion of do-it-yourselfers, Scientific American is slowly rounding up their best past columns and under the editorship of Shawn Carlson issuing them in subject-specific collections. See the second in this emerging series -- The Amateur Biologist -- above; it works fine.

The is one alternative to the awkward CD. Scientific America collected their best columns in 1960 and issued them in a single volume called The Scientific American Book of Projects for the Amateur Scientist, edited by C.L. Stong. Copies of this out-of-print book are available via online used book sites. The upside is the handy print form; The down side is that the text is not as searchable, and contains nothing after 1960. A lot has happened in amateur science since then.

Indeed, so much is happening that the best resources for amateur scientists are no longer in magazines or books, but on the web. By far the best site, with the most original material, and the best links, is a site called the Science Hobbyist, run by one Bill Beaty. I've never met Mr. Beaty, but I like his style. His site is heavily infested with a 'just do it' mentality: magnetic levitation prototypes, ball lightening demos, and "unwise microwave oven experiments." He specializes in material for science fair projects, cool toys, resources for nerds, and plans for dangerous 'don't try this at home' experiments, plus fringe science links, as well as critical thinking tools. It's the amateur science site that I've been seeking for years. If people are experimenting at home with it, it's probably linked here.

-- KK

Science Hobbyist

The Amateur Scientist on CD-ROM
Bright Science
$20
Ingram SKU #717734
888-875-4255
Bright Science
Also from Amazon

The Scientific American Book of Projects for The Amateur Scientist
C.L. Stong
1960, 584 pages
Simon and Schuster
used copy $40 - $250, Amazon
Also from Book Finder

How to make the glass-bead lens of a Leeuwenhoek microscope

I go along with the received wisdom these days that this dawning era won't be remembered as the computer century, but the biological century. What has been missing from this upcoming bio-revolution is the hands-on access of garage science. When it is as easy to program DNA in your bedroom as it is to program a chip, that's when we'll be swept off our feet in innovations. No reporting or speculative essay has given as much of a glimpse of this future than this how-to book of basement biology. Edited by former Amateur Scientist columnist Shawn Carlson (who also wrote many of the reprinted columns) this text tackles such old-time skills as cultivating pond scum (one source of commercially valuable microorganisms), or hacking up a video microscope, or measuring the heartbeats of insects. In the last section Carlson gets into how to extract DNA from cells using kitchen utensils. It's wide open from there.

-- KK

Scientific Americans's the Amateur Biologist
2002, 228 pages
$17
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Amazon

Excerpt:

A kitchen laboratory includes most of the items needed to isolate DNA. A drinking straw, for example can be used to add alcohol to the solutions (a) and a coffee stirrer serves to spool the DNA (b).

*

The most wonderful private garden I have ever seen is tucked away behind a modest house in La Jolla, California, not far from where I live. The gardener is a British-born psychology professor and dear friend who sends me home with fruit and flowers each time I visit. Recently I noticed that two of his plants, though very different in shape, produced flowers the exact same shade of purple. This observation made me wonder whether the two species might be related.

*

One normally traces evolutionary connections by identifying physical similarities between species. So I decided to extract and isolate the pigments in the two flowers so that I could compare them in detail. That process is actually much easier than it sounds. In fact, using a simple technique called electrophoresis, I could carry out the experiment in about an hour for very little money.

*

DNA is the largest molecule known. A single, unbroken strand of it can contain many millions of atoms. When released from a cell, DNA typically breaks up into countless fragments. In solution, these strands have a slight negative electric charge, a fact that makes for some fascinating chemistry. For example, salt ions are attracted to the negative charges on DNA, effectively neutralizing them, and this phenomenon prevents the many separate fragments of DNA from adhering to one another. So by controlling the salt concentration, biologists can make DNA fragments either disperse or glom together. And therein lies the secret of separating DNA from cells.

*

The detergent actually does double duty. It breaks down cell walls and helps to fracture large proteins so they don't come out with the DNA. The people at Edvotek recommend using pure table salt and distilled water, but I have used iodized salt and bottled water successfully, and once I even forgot to add the baking soda and still got good results. In any case, try to avoid using tap water. To slow the rate at which the DNA degrades, it's best to chill the buffer in a bath of crushed ice and water before proceeding.

*

For a source of DNA, try the pantry. I got great results with an onion, and the folks at Edvotek also recommend garlic, bananas, and tomatoes. But it's your experiment: choose your favorite fruit, vegetable, or legume. Dice it and put the material into a blender, then add a litter water and mix things well by pulsing the blades in 10-second bursts. Or, even simpler, just pass the pieces through a garlic press. These treatments will break apart some of the cells right away and expose many cell walls to attack by the detergent.

An amateur�s apparatus for measuring the metabolism of mice.

Another grand video survey of the African continent worth tracking down. Created by National Geographic, this ambitious series deals with the vastness of Africa by following eight contemporary Africans in their ordinary lives and ordinary dreams. One is a Tulerag camel boy, another is a soccer-playing fisherman, and another is a female gold miner. Each vignette is a one-hour mini-story compressing a year or so at a different corner of Africa, and each story is able to connect you to Africa now. Taken together, they deliver as honest a portrait of a continent as one could hope to get in a 9-hour feast.

-- KK

Africa
2001, 540 min
$90 VHS
Produced by Andrew Jackson

Netflix
Amazon

The V-700 is a government issue Geiger counter stockpiled during the 1960's for Civil Defense use in the event of nuclear war, and now available to you and me for $20 to $80 from surplus suppliers and
auction sites such as Ebay.

Built like a tank, most of them are still in great shape 40 years later, and set an example that should be met by more tool manufacturers. The Geiger counter reads gamma and beta radiation, with a probe shield
to discriminate between the two. It includes a check-source on the side of the can for instant testing, runs off standard flashlight D-cells, and comes with a carry strap, earphone, and manual. The manual (while short) covers use, calibration, maintenance, emergency/MacGyver repairs, and has full schematics and parts list. The schematic is also reproduced inside the case, which is water tight, and EMP resistant.

While most people have limited (if any) genuine need for a geiger counter, they are interesting devices, and are useful for a variety of purposes - from aids in learning about natural background radiation and
geology (while hiking?), to adding radiation survival equipment to an emergency kit. Radiation detection equipment, being too niche to really feel market forces, has evolved surprisingly little in the last 40
years, so most of the difference between one of my $20 V-700s and one of my $800 modern meters is bells and whistles, and more reliable calibration systems.

However, since these are sometimes over 40 years old, and there are many differing models and manufacturers, a little buyer savvy is needed: Most, but not all are still in working condition, so avoid "untested, as is" if you need it to work out of the box. Many are sold with accessories missing (eg no manual or earphone), but any missing manuals can be found online in pdf format at Southern Radiation.

(Note: These manuals are also useful for researching a particular model of v-700 before you buy).

A quick rundown on the models: Do not buy a V-717, V-720, or V-715 - these are ion chamber survey meters, not Geiger counters. They are designed to complement the v-700 in times of nuclear war - their needle only starts to move when the Geiger counter is off the scale (so you'll need a radiation lab just to test if they even work). If emergency gear is your purpose, one of these might be on the list after a v-700. They are cheaper than a v-700, but a lab test will likely be $60.

For the v-700, I recommend the Victoreen model 6A or 6B, because it has a depleted uranium check-source with millions of years half-life, so the "level" of the check-source remains constant. The Lionel 6B has a more elegant circuit that only requires two batteries instead of four, but the check-source often has a half-life of as little as 6 years, so calculations must be made to compensate when calibrating. The Anton models I would avoid - they are older, in my experience much less reliable, and have the short half-life check-sources. The Anton model 5 is worth a mention though if space is a consideration because it is smaller than the rest. The Electro-Neutronics Inc (ENI) are apparently good, but I do not own any, so have no experience.

--Justin

Civil Defense V-700 Geiger Counter
Check Ebay

Gallery of models

Global Rhythm is a colorful and well-written monthly publication that surveys the world music scene. The magazine includes music reports from all corners of the earth and adds stories about travel, foods, culture and lifestyle to the mix. Best of all is the cd sampler included with each issue. A full 60 minutes in length, it is always full of surprises with familiar and unknown artists that run the gamut from traditional to post-modern. Look for it at larger bookstores or newsstands. You can also subscribe at the website.

-- Henry Gordon

Global Rhythm
$25 for 8 issues

This stuff rocks. Available in spray or dip form, I use it on anything and everything from tool handles to 2.4ghz wardriving antenna. It's available in most home improvement stores (Lowes, Home Depot). I
prefer the dip for small things like keys and tools and the spray for things that are bigger.

-- Heath Dieckert

Plasti Dip
$6 for 14.5 oz
Available from Amazon

Bring up the subject of favorite pocketknives with outdoorsmen and you're sure to instigate a passionate discussion. Knives are potent symbols of power and utility; most men I know have deep paternal (or in my case, grandpaternal) associations with them from their youth. After 35 years of pocketknife buying and using, I have settled on California-based Myerchin as my folding knife maker of choice.

My daily driver is the Lightknife Crew Pro L377P. It uses a featherweight Zytel body (same material that's used in many modern handguns) surrounding a securely locking Japanese 440 stainless blade and a marlinspike (knot untangler). The 3/4 serrated, 1/4 straight edge, 2.25-inch blade is designed to please anyone who works regularly with line. (On a sailboat, I insist that a serrated blade is a mandatory safety tool.) The body has a unique clip that turns your pocket into a secure sheath. Mine has never fallen in years of regular use. Inside the water-resistant shell is an industrial red LED that's perfect for reading maps and charts without sacrificing your night vision. I've immersed my Lightknife many times without any problems. At 3.8-inches when closed and a mere 2.75 ounces, you won't even notice it's there, and the lack of an obvious sheath eliminates unwanted attention.

The small Sebenza knife reviewed in Cool Tools, like Reeve's other folders, is a gorgeous piece, but they start at six times the price of a Myerchin. Imagine how you'd feel watching one of those go over overboard! The Boye sailing knives are getting rave reviews but to my eye lack the timeless aesthetics of Myerchins -- particularly the B300. You simply must hold one of these Myerchins in your hand to appreciate the gravitas they generate -- and they cost under US$100 and can be found in any West Marine store.

Need something more substantial? Check out their flagship, the B300 Offshore Folder. If they're good enough for the US Navy and Coast Guard, they're good enough for me.

-- David MacNeill

Myerchin Lightknife Crew Pro L377P
$60

I drive an old van, my socks have holes, and I cut my own hair -- but I employ a personal full-time research librarian as the only employee in my home office. I can't tell you how fantastic this luxury is. When I have questions, Michele McGinnis has answers. I rarely stump her. Within minutes or at best hours, anything I want to know (that is known) is handed to me. How many songs are written each year? What's the best place to rent an inflatable jumper? The price of eggs in 1000 AD? Best introduction to process theology? Source of an Einstein quote? The phone number for this cartoonist? Where to see a digital projection of the Matrix? As I confess, having a researcher an elbow away is an outright luxury, one I realize not everyone needs.

What *you* might need are a few deeply researched answers every now and then, of the same quality as Michele, a degreed research librarian, might provide. I have a solution for you: Google Answers.

You post your question on Google Answers and (this is key) the amount of money you are willing to pay someone to answer it. One of 500 Google-approved researchers will then claim it and answer it within four to eight hours, depending on how much you have offered. Generally they won't touch a hard question for less than $10, but many questions are answered very thoroughly for only $10. A higher bid will usually ensure your query is tackled immediately and completely.

Past questions and their answers are archived on the site so you have a clear idea of the quality of the research and some idea of how best to cast your question. Reading the postings reveals how amazingly complete an answer one can get for only a few dollars. A study by Cornell librarians determined that the answers from Google Answers were about as good on average as they would have provided. They note however, as you might expect, that Google Reasearchers primarily work from the web, and so questions that require fee-based searches, or any legwork in a library suffer from lower quality than a librarian would give you.

But this is a buyers market. There are more great Researchers than there are good questions, so even $4 Google questions get snapped up. (Sadly, researchers do not get paid if the questioner is unhappy with their answer for any reason.) I can assure you, a few questions a day at that rate will be a bargain compared to hiring a full-time researcher.

For most people, Google Answers is all you need.

--KK
[Recommended by Tom Ferguson]

Google Answers

The original "cool tool" was a multi-tool for the avid bicyclist. I've found the Crank Brothers to produce a superior version. I've used their Multi-17 for many quick repairs. Most often I grab the hex wrench to tighten a loose headset or seat. What distinguishes the Crank version from all other bike tools is its size, compact design and (very importantly) the included chain tool to remove a bent chain link. Few other multitools have a built in chain tool, and unlike so many other repairs, there is no way to 'make due' with another tool when you need to remove a bent chain link. Only a chain tool will do it. I spend many hours many miles from road (and water) mountain biking in the desert. I wouldn't be without this gem of functionality.

--Marc Berg

Crank Brothers Multi-17
$23
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Crank Brothers

So much to see, so little time. You won't ever see it all, so why not select your destination by how inexpensive it is, thus maximizing your journey? You can spend two weeks in Europe, or 6 months elsewhere. Your choice. Travellers who choose the latter have far more fun, learn more, and bring dollars where it can do the most good. Rock-bottom prices also transform budget travel in these areas into luxury travel. This thin guide is a good investment for this approach. It lists 21 of the world's cheapest countries for travelers with more time than money, with a brief idea of what to expect. Stick to these few and you'll still have a lifetime of adventures. Prices current as of 2003.

-- KK

Excerpts

Indonesia
Prices plunged to a ridiculous level in the midst of the Asian currency crisis -- when my wife and I needed five weeks of travel to spend $350, despite living it up.

*
India
We paid a dollar a night for a great room with bath in Jaisalmer, then found out the guys next to us had bargained the owner down to 65 cents!

*
Morocco
A cheapie room in a basic cold-water hotel starts at around $4 in the villages and averages $7-$10 in the cities. The worst hotel we stayed in was $8 and the best one we stayed in was $8. It just depends on where you are.

[The author's website has some interesting and helpful links for bottom-fed travel.}

The World's Cheapest Destinations
21 Countries Where Your Dollars Are Worth A Fortune
Tinm Leffel
2003, 113 pages
$13
Amazon

I'm bald, and my father was a hat hobbyist, so I come by my hat interest biologically. Furthermore, I grew up in the northern midwest---I know about cold ears.

These two wool-plus hats from Tilley are the best winter headgear I know for wear-around use.

The "Winter Hat" is a tweed marvel, with short sloping brim all around, fold-down ear flaps, and a fold-down forehead warmer (a great comfort against a chill headwind, but invisible to others, being hidden behind the brim). The ear flaps are slightly cupped around the ear for further wind protection. The wool is teflon-treated, so rain and snow pretty much bounce off. The hat can be folded into a jacket pocket, yet retains its shape perfectly. In two varieties of tweed, plus black, it's a surprisingly handsome hat---"friendly," Brian Eno called it. People call out: "Nice hat!"

The "Winter Cap" looks like your basic New England wool deer hunter's cap, with big baseball-cap brim and ear flaps. But it has the Tilley augmentations---forehead flap, teflon treatment, excellent construction. I love it under a hood in cold precipitation---keeps my glasses dry and clear. Black or red; get the red.

--Stewart Brand

Tilley Winter Hats
$85 (worth it)
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Tilley