Those of us who take vitamins or other medications may find ourselves fumbling through assorted vials and pill bottles several times a day--if we remember to take them at all. And if we're going to be away, we need to remember to take our medications with us. This remarkable pill organizer changes everything. You fill it once a week. Then, when Thursday comes, you open the sliding lid of your Thursday pill box to find all your pills waiting in large compartments labeled morning, noon, evening, and night. Comes with a medication alarm (it reminds you when its time to take your pills) and carrying pouch. Epill.com also offers other medication organizers, reminder watches, and a variety of other medication aids.

-- Tom Ferguson, MD

Seven-Day Pill Organizer
$60
Epill Medication Reminders
800-549-0095
781-239-8255

The folks who know the most about reef ecology are the amateur reefers. These passionate hobbyists explore the essentials of marine life by creating artificial salt-water reefs at home. They can cram an amazing diversity of species - sponges, coral, mollusks, fishes -- in a few square meters. The coolest residents are the invertebrates.. So much of this craft is like high-performance gardening. You've got grow-lights, pumps, salts, and lots of technical gear. Technology makes the chores not much more difficult than keeping fish. To handle this complexity, though, and the whims of dazzlingly strange creatures, veteran amateurs point to this book as the most helpful. The author stresses using the proper mix of reef organisms to filtrate the water without unneeded mechanics. He guides novices easily through sophisticated methods, keeping it as "natural" as possible. Because home reefer enthusiasts are so attuned to the life cycles of their captives, I learned more about marine life from here than any other source.

-- KK

Natural Reef Aquariums
John H. Tullock
2001, 336 pages
$24
T.F.H. Publications
Amazon

Excerpt:

Your grandfather, perhaps 100 years ago or so, could only imagine what wonders the world beneath the sea might contain. Your father could follow the exploits of the first explorers of the undersea realm and could just begin to see and experience the explosion of life on a coral reef. But you and I, we can not only visit this world whenever we wish, but we can also capture a small part of it in an oceanic microcosm of our own making in our own homes.

*

Even in the most northerly regions, an aquarium placed in direct sunlight can overheat. Aquarists should avoid placing the aquarium in a sunny window, as seasonal fluctuations in temperature in such a location will make maintaining the correct water temperature a challenge. Artificial lighting, for most home situations, is the better choice, being more controllable, predictable, and programmable for the most convenient viewing period.

*

Alternatively, organisms from deeper waters, or specimens that have languished for too long in dim light, may have ceased production of protective pigments. When these specimens are then placed under bright lights, the effect is similar to that experienced by someone who, having spent a long winter indoors, rushes out on the first sunny day and spends an afternoon sunbathing. I believe that the alleged burning of corals by metal halide lights can be attributed to a lack of understanding of how these organisms respond to light and not to any inherent detrimental effect of the lights themselves.

*

One of the more vexatious challenges, even for experienced reef keepers, is the appropriate placement of corals within the aquarium. Finding just the right level of light intensity and water motion can mean the difference between a specimen that thrives and grows, showing full polyp extension and brilliant coloration, and one that leads a lackluster existence, with polyps retracted or shrunken, dull coloration, and no growth.

Open (top) or closed polyps, as in this Palythoa colony, can be an indicator of water conditions. Constantly closed polyps are a sign of trouble.

Metal halide pendants provide intense illumination while permitting easy top-down viewing of the clam reef. A convenient acrylic sump houses the skimmer, heaters, pouches of activated carbon, and phosphate remover.

Let's say you wanted a maximally detailed topographical map for the area surrounding Louangphrabang, Laos. Where do you go? Omni Maps. They have topographic and road maps for most of the world. By mail.

-- KK

Omni Resources
336-227-8300

My neighbor turned me onto this elegant hand tool. It allows you to work in tight places where the usual screwdriver wouldn't fit. It's not a new tool (actually it's a classic), but what's special about this one is that it has four different heads, including two Phillips, so you get four-in-one opportunities to have it fit.

-- KK

Rigid Combination Offset Screwdriver
$10
Amazon

All-around best book for exploring alternative forms of the book. It's aimed at kids, but works for anyone creative.

All the really smart computer people I know back off when it comes to keeping a network up. Maintaining a healthy home office network is no one's idea of fun. Neither is wiring it up to begin with. Their reluctance means more and more it's gonna be up to you. And don't think twice that wireless is going to give you a free pass. It's just as gnarly. For a bonus challenge, try mixing up Macs and PCs on the same network. Into this mess a new breed of entrepreneurs rushes offering home networking skills. (At a rate of $60/hour, if you've got the know-how, you've got a steady job.) I've hired a few and they were worth it. Yet, after they leave there are a hundred questions and things still need attention, and darn it, why is it always going down? The Little Network Book - the best of a small set of books - is a clue for the clueless. Without dumbing things down, it simply explains what's going on in those mysterious routers, switches, hubs, and protocols. It's helped me keep the visits from the experts to a minimum.

-- KK

The Little Network Book
For Windows and Macintosh
Lon Poole & John Rizzo
1999, 260 pages
$14
Peachpit Press
Berkeley CA

Also from Amazon

Excerpt:

Dynamic vs. Static IP Address: With some types of Internet accounts, you won't use the same public IP address every time you connect, because the ISP dynamically assigns address from a pool of reusable addresses. This type of address is called a dynamic IP address. It's fine to use for most small networks. But if you ever decide to serve Web pages or provide other services to the Internet from any of your computers, your ISP will need to assign you a static IP address - one that doesn't change - so Internet users can find your site.

*

First, you don't need to turn on file sharing on every computer to move files back and forth. If you enable file sharing on your kids' computers (for instance) but not on your home office computer, you'll be able to move files back and forth from your computer, but the kids won't be able to accidentally open your investment portfolio (or other personal data) from their computers.

*

I hate mosquitoes. Serious gut-tightening allergic aversion. One bite at night and I am awake for hours, and I'll itch for days. They'll always find me, too. I've learned to ignore what natives say; there are mosquitoes around, and they do bite. When I travel in any remotely warm place, I pack my own mosquito netting. It weighs only a few ounces and can scrunch up small. It's cheap, and lasts forever. I'm still using one I bought 30 years ago for $2. I like the boxy four-cornered variety to fit over a bed or sleeping bag. I tie a 6-foot long string to each corner; that usually enables me to attach the string somewhere to keep the net elevated at night. I tie it to trees if I am camping without a tent.

I haven't figured out why more people don't pack their own. Mine has saved my life more than once. Mostly by allowing me to sleep soundly, but also because with it I avoid mosquito-borne diseases in areas they are common. Studies have shown that sleeping in a net is more effective at preventing malaria than taking prophylactic drugs. I insist my family use netting while we travel in the heat overseas. A quick search led me to Coleman as the least expensive source for a one-person camp-style box net.

There are new self-supporting varieties of mosquito netting, which would be useful where there is little outside support but lots of mosquitoes (tundra, everglades). They are more expensive, but still lightweight. I haven't tried these. Let me know if you do.

-- KK

Coghlan's Double Wide Mosquito Net
$22
Available from Scout Gear

Previously available from Amazon

Self supporting Bug Hut. Fits around your sleeping bag. Weighs 1 lb., 1 oz., costs $50 from Back Country Gear

A great dial-in teleconferencing solution for free. You just set up your call as little as 90 minutes in advance and distribute the call-in number to the folks calling. The organizer pays nothing, and participants pay only their usual long distance, which should be extremely cheap (particularly with the new flat-rate plans). The voice quality has always been excellent. In six months of use this teleconference service has never failed me one iota. I skip the bells and whistle services they offer. Since they don't charge anything on your phone bill, or take your credit card number for their free service, they hope to make money on premium services, or maybe by selling ads in the future.

Anyway you can't go wrong with this one.

-- Thomas Petzinger

[I've use this service frequently and it is excellent. In fact is the clearest teleconferencing I've taken part in. -- KK]

FreeConference.com

List of phone numbers to call

This is a must for any 1st aid kit. QuikClot is a topical blood clotting agent for scrapes, cuts and wounds (they claim some even very serious). You basically apply this stuff to an open cut, and it instantly clots to stop bleeding. Tested by the US military. This stuff works great for those scrapes, cuts and wounds encountered on the road. I've been using it in the bathroom for shaving cuts, too.

-- Gregory Winer

QuikClot
3.5 oz
$25
From here among other places
Simpler Life

Manufacturered by:
Z-Medica

Ya-shure, winter in Minnesota is cold and dry --and sometimes sunny and lovely. It can be a blast if you know how to get out and tromp around. As a non-native it took me 30 years to learn what to wear up here. Don't wait that long. Here's a key to Minnesota winter survival: Steger Mukluks. I cry when I think about the first time I put on a pair of these. Lightweight, warm, and comfortable -- at minus 20F! It's an incredible feeling of winter freedom. Like wearing your favorite bedroom slippers as you hike over the tundra, all day long. I rarely take them off once I hike to the office.

Steger and company, and the original Inuit designers, should be blessed by the Pope for finding a cure for frozen feet. The secret is in the soft (moosehide) sole which allows nerve endings in the feet to be constantly stimulated by movement, so more warm blood goes to that area.

My favorite style is the Arctic Weathermate which has "traveled to both the North Pole and South Pole on the feet of expeditioneers and others." At $159, they're well worth it. I'm thinking of getting a shorter, moccasin style, too. Get the right size by sending a tracing of your foot up to Ely, MN. The crew there is fantastic.

-- Ann Potter

Mukluks

For Amish goods, you can hardly do better than the incomparable Gohn Brothers. They're the real old school. Need diaper pins, buggy robes or, oddly, LA Gear High Top Leather shoes? The Gohns got 'em. Probably their most well-known items are the broadfall drop-front work pants and old fashioned colonial shirts, which are popular with the Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactment people. No web site, as you might expect, but call or write for a catalog.

-- Edward J. Murphy

[Now 100 years old, the catalog itself hasn't changed any in the last century. No pictures, no drawings, only simple line descriptions and prices on four stapled sheets. Prices for such standards as rubber boots, Hudson Bay blankets, wool socks, etc. are a bit lower than on main street. -- KK ]

Catalog free from
Gohn Brothers
Box 1110
Middlebury IN 46540-0111
(574) 825-2400
(800) 595-0031

--

I once had to get rid of a lot of mice. Standard mouse traps were too messy to reuse, but too expensive just throw out. Have-a-heart traps were too finicky, and traps were too cruel. Finally, I found the proverbial better mouse trap: a wind-up repeating trap. No bait required. Just put it two inches from the wall and for some reason the mice climb right in. A spring loaded trap door flips them into a little chamber, and they call their friends to join them. One trap catches ten a night, and the mice don't seem to mind at all. The one I used is the Trap Man, sold as the Ketch-All in the US, but the Mouse Master looks like it may work just as well.

(Of course, it does leave you with the problem of what to do with a daily box of live mice.)

-- Danny Hillis

Ketch-All Multiple Catch Mousetrap
$13
From Cooperseeds, among other places

Manufactured by Kness Mfg.

Mouse Master available from Triton Pest Control

One mouse seen is many mice hidden. This is a pretty good tutorial on live mouse traps.

Snowboarders who like to make their turns in the backcountry used to have to strap on snowshoes or short skis for the approach and climb with their board on their back, then put the approach gear on their back for the ride down. Snowshoers were likely to get left behind by their ski buddies on the way up, while snowboarders with skis and boots on their backs were ungainly and slow on the descent. In the last couple years, however, technology and demand have coincided to bring to market an affordable, reliable alternative that is both faster and lighter than either snowshoes or skis.

Split snowboards (splitboards) look and feel like regular snowboards, but split apart lengthwise into two skis for plowing through backcountry terrain cross-country style. When you split the board apart, you remove the bindings and reposition them on the splitboard skis as cross-country toe-hinge bindings, then strap or click in as normal with your regular snowboard boots. This plus a pair of three-section collapsible ski poles is all you need for the approach, and you can stow the poles easily in your pack for the ride down.

While the splitboard itself is a bit heavier than a regular snowboard setup, using the same gear for both ascending and descending saves an incredible amount of weight. And since you're skiing the approach, you can cover terrain much faster than anyone on snowshoes or short skis.

Burton and Voile are the main contenders in the splitboard arena. The conventional wisdom is that Burton's splitboards are heavier, but ride better on the way down, while Voile's simple and light conversion system makes up for its only-OK ride quality. As a third option, Voile offers a split kit to convert your regular snowboard into a splitboard at home. I own a Burton SPLT 66 model and love it. The board feels strong and solid, transition time from board to skis and back is quick-although it does take some practice-and best of all, the ride is stiff and the edges hold firm, just like a regular snowboard.

Both companies make extra-wide climbing skins and crampons for the ascent, and many backcountry gear manufacturers make collapsible ski poles short enough to fit in a daypack. Standard backcountry rules apply to all splitboarding excursions, which means be avalanche-aware, always carry an avalanche transceiver, probe, and shovel, and know how to use the tools you bring.

-- Chris Coldewey

Burton S-Series Splitboards
$600
Burton

Voile Split Decision Splitboards
$665
Voile

Or, take an old snowboard and do-it-yourself.
Voile Split Kit
$130
Back Country Store
or from Amazon

Ever have an idea in the shower and have no way to record it...and then it's lost forever? I use a "Dive Slate", a small (4"x6" ) sheet of sturdy white plastic with a plain old fashioned golf pencil attached. They're cheap (around $5--$6), available on the net at various dive shops, fit nicely behind the soap holder or hung in the shower and work well; they're meant to be written on underwater by divers, so unless you shower under Niagara Falls, your thought will be captured until you erase it.

-- Vincent Crisci

Medium Dive Slate
$8
(4" x 6")
Available from Amazon

Also $10 (8" x 10" ) from Amazon... for an extra large thought

[Dive Slates are available in glow in the dark, too; if you have any experience with these and can report positively or negatively, please let us know. --sl]

I discovered the Ott-Lite VisionSaver line while evaluating photo printers during my five years as editor-in-chief at Digital Camera Magazine. We needed a lamp that would allow us to accurately evaluate the color qualities and fading characteristics of printed output from a range of inkjet printers, and the pleasant people at Ott-Lite were happy to provide us with a pair of 18 Watt Cranes. These were such delightful products in their own right that I ended up reviewing them separately, then I bought one for each editor and designer on my staff. Even our staff photographer used them regularly for quick-and-dirty product shots. The quality of light produced by these unique 10K-hour tubes is superb, with a spectrum nearly matching natural sunlight. They are the ideal complement to a computer desk; just arc the arm in from either side of your display and tilt the head a few degrees away from you for a smooth, glare-free backlight. The Crane's balance and double-jointed adjustability is as good as it gets, and the durable gunmetal-grey finish looks nice, too. Now I use them all over my house and can no longer stand to work under any other lamp. Our Cranes have survived multiple relocations across the US as well as the daily indignities inflicted by a precocious preschooler for three years running. They're pricey at US$199 list, but I think they are worth it.

I have not tried using Ott bulbs separately in a different lamp, but can't imagine why they'd perform any differently. I have used two of their smaller lamps with equally satisfying results, but the Crane is just such a well-designed object that I haven't wanted to buy anything else.

-- David MacNeill

Ott-Lite VisionSaver 18 Watt Crane Desk Lamp
$199 list from Ott-Lite Technologies
$170 from among others Comfort House

Physical trainers are always urging women clients to speed up and men to slow down. A heart rate monitor can help you find your ideal exercise level. Some exercise equipment (e.g., treadmills) comes with built-in monitors. But there are three portable varieties you can use while jogging, biking, rowing, etc: chest strap plus wristwatch, wristwatch only, and chest strap plus earphones. Polar offers twenty different chest strap plus wristwatch models (from $60 to $400--better prices at eBay). The watch connects via wireless to the chest band. A dab of messy conducting gel may be required, but they give a continuous readout of your heart rate, so you can vary your exercise level on the fly. You can also learn a lot about what calms you (e.g., petting a dog or cat) or stresses you out (e. g., most business phone calls). A wristwatch-only model like the Micro Touch MIO Heart Rate Monitor watch ($129) doesn't require a chest strap. You put two fingers on its terminals to take a reading. But it doesn't provide a continuous reading. And the HearTalker Heart Rate Monitor ($60-$80) does away with the watch altogether. A disembodied voice whispers your pulse rate in your ear via earphones that connect to the chest strap. And it comes with an optional splitter so that you can listen to CDs or books on tape while you work out.

-- Tom Ferguson, M.D.

Polar A1 (basic model)*
$60
Available from
Bodytronics

Or $74 from Amazon

[*according to the Bodytronics site, the Polar F1 is the replacement model for the discontinued A1-- sl]

HearTalker
Previously available from Fitness Smart
Model # 60182
$75

[This product may not be available; when/if we determine another source, we will update the post; in the meantime, if you use a more readily-available model that is similar, please let us know -- sl]

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Mio Shape (Heart Rate Monitor Watch)
Fitness Smart
Model # 61104
$130
608-735-4718

Fitness isn't just about your weight. Crash diets can deplete healthy muscle. A good fitness program will help you reduce your body fat while retaining, or even increasing, your muscle mass. The key is knowing how much of your weight is lean and how much is fat. A body fat meter can help you track your progress. Some electronic scales include this feature, but I prefer a stand-alone model. My Omron HBF-301 is no longer made, but the Omron HBF-306, widely available online ($50-70) is very similar. (I'd like it even better if it gave me lower readings.) Technophobes can get a mechanical fat caliper, which measures the fat in a pinch of abdominal skin, for about $20.

-- Tom Ferguson, M.D.

Omron HBF-306 BL
$28
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Omron

The tropical medical advice here can be found elsewhere, but I've found no other source to deal with the psychological and logistical preparations needed to run a small expedition into the jungle (with a bias toward the Amazon).

-- KK

Jungle Travel & Survival
John Walden
2001, 197 pages
$19, The Lyons Press
Available from Amazon

Excerpt:

Anecdotally, there is a lot of support for the notion that the tropics somehow engender sexual activity. The experience of those of us who spend essentially all our wilderness time in the hot ones, as opposed to those whose preferences are for high altitude and freezing environments, leads inescapably to the conclusion that group tensions brought on by sex or the pursuit of sex are much more an issue in the tropics than in colder climates.

*

All sorts of problems, especially injuries, seem to increase logarithmically when you get beyond 7 to 10 members in a wilderness group.

*

Water may be collected from a banana or plantain plant by cutting the plant approximately 6 to 12 inches above the ground and scooping out the center of the stump into a bowl shape. The hollow thus formed fills immediately with water. The first two fillings have a bitter taste and must be discarded. The third and subsequent fillings are drinkable. A banana plant can furnish water in this fashion for several days

*

Indigenous peoples move along the trail at a rapid, sustained pace, somewhere at the upper end of fast walking and just before breaking into a run. They seldom slow down for any reason, but they will speed up when fleeing enemies, pursuing game, or hurrying home to sleep in their own hammock or bed at night. Not only do they move along at this clip on level ground and downhill, but they also keep the same pace going uphill! Chances are, you do not maintain your regular pace when ascending an incline, and initially you will find this trait among natives perplexing and tiring. Tribesmen know what they are doing here...their idea is to maintain a constant rate as they move from point A to point B, and it doesn't occur to them that going up a hill is any more reason to go at a lower pace than when walking on level ground. Remember, they are supremely fit, so going uphill really isn't all that much more taxing than walking on level ground. By the same token, they do not go faster when going downhill. It's just a steady and, for them, comfortable gait. Back home, as you are getting in shape (physically and mentally) for jungle trekking, you should hike at a fast pace and practice maintaining your speed regardless of the terrain.

*

It's mostly good news for women travelers in the tropical rainforest. I have yet to see a woman become incapacitated by heat illness on jungle expeditions.

*

Scented lotions, moisturizers, and perfumes attract insects; jungle travelers must avoid looking and smelling like a flower.

China figures big in the future no matter what your interest. It's a vast place with its own non-alphabetic writing in abundance. To get around you really need to be able to recognize a few Chinese characters. You can get by knowing the 50 or so basic ones taught in the small expert book. Elementary survival knowledge, like the symbols for toilet -- men or women? Exit versus entrance. Numbers, dates, directions, hotel, etc. There is no attempt to teach you Chinese (thank goodness), just how to navigate a visit there.

-- KK

I Can Read That!
A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters
Julie Mazel Sussman
1994, 161 pages, $9
China Books and Periodicals
Amazon

Excerpt:

A clock for number practice. Real clocks use numerals, not characters. But this clock may help you learn the characters for the numbers. You can make hands for the clock out of toothpicks or paper.

"Exit" and "enter" signs. You'll see the same entrance and exit signs wherever Chinese characters are used.

Restroom signs. Along the Burma Road. this public facility has a two-syllable word for toilet and an arrow pointing to the female entrance.

Think skateboarding on white water. A squirt is a very small kayak, almost a hollowed out surfboard, that skips, spins, jumps, and yes, squirts out of rivers. It is dangerous fun, with a similar underground culture as other x-treme board sports. The funky illustrations tell all.

-- KK

Squirt Boating and Beyond
James E. Snyder
2001, 235 pages
$11
Menasha Ridge Press
Box 43673
Birmingham, Al 35243
Amazon

Excerpt:

"Attaining" is the term I coined in the late 1970s for paddling upstream. This is quite a fine form of fun. There are even attaining races, which are great entertainment. If you want to perfect your attaining skills, for whatever reason, remember a few basic tips. Timing and accuracy are much more important here than in downstream negotiations: plan your lines well in advance and let the river dictate the timing; and pace your energy expenditure so you will have the fierce energy necessary for the tough attainments. Learn to feel the force around you, and you will be able to attain up paper-thin eddies that are hundreds of feet long.

With patience and discretion, one could grow the most magnificent flower garden with only $100 worth of seeds. Author and poet James Fenton brings the wisdom (and a highly evolved list of plants); you'll need the patience.

-- KK

A Garden from a Hundred Packets of Seed
James Fenton
2001, 125 pages, $13
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
New York
Amazon

Excerpt:

As for the design of this flower garden, I insist on keeping it vague. A hundred varieties of flower might look cramped on a balcony, spectacular in a situation only one size up from there. For it is amazing what can be crammed into a small space. Conversely, it is amazing the number of plants that could, in theory, be raised from so large a number as a hundred packets of seed.

This is the book most often recommended to me in the past year. It is very important because Lessig articulates the central reason the web has succeeded - its root as a commons - and proceeds to dissect the problems threatening this commons, and suggests remedies and laws that would protect and nourish it. It is brilliant work, long overdue.

-- KK

The Future of Ideas: the Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
Lawrence Lessig
2001, 352 pages, $11
Random House
Amazon

Excerpt:

As I will argue, in the digital world, all the stuff protected by copyright law is in one sense the same: It all depends fundamentally upon a rich and diverse public domain. Free content, in other words, is crucial to building and supporting new content. The free content among the "wired" is just a particular example of a more general point.

*

This is a hard fact for lawyers to understand (protected as they are by exclusionary rules such as the bar exam), but most of production in our society occurs without any guarantee of government protection. Starbucks didn't get a government monopoly before it risked a great deal of capital to open coffee shops around the world. All it was assured was that people would have to pay for the coffee they sold; the idea of a high-quality coffee shop was free for others to take. Similarly, chip fabricators around the world invest billions in chip production plants, with no assurance from the government that another competitor won't open a competing plant right next door.

*

Commons may be rare. They may evoke tragedies. They may be hard to sustain. And at times, they certainly may interfere with the efficient use of important resources.

But commons also produce something of value. They are a resource for decentralized innovation. They create the opportunity for individuals to draw upon resources without connections, permission, or access granted by others. They are environments that commit themselves to being open. Individuals and corporations draw upon the value created by this openness. They transform that value into other value, which they then consume privately.

*

Contrast this with computer networks. The most striking feature of the early history of the Internet is the repeated assertion by those at its founding that they simply didn't know what the network would be used for. Here they were building this large-scale computer network, with a large number of resources devoted to it, but none of them had a clear idea of the uses to which this network would be put. Many in the 1980s believed the Internet would be a fair substitute for telephones (they of course were wrong); none had any idea of the potential for many-to-many publishing that the World Wide Web would produce.

Where we have little understanding about how a resource will be used, we have more reason to keep that resource in the commons.

*

To the extent you view Napster as nothing more than a device for facilitating the theft of content, there is little usefulness in the new mode of distribution. But the extraordinary feature of Napster was not so much the ability to steal content as it is the range of content that Napster makes available. The important fact is not that a user can get Madonna's latest songs for free; it is that one can find a recording of new Orleans jazz drummer Jason Marsalis's band playing "There's a Thing Called Rhythm."

*

But in light of the emerging technologies for sharing, even the spectrum sold as property would be subject to an important qualification: Other users would be free to "share" that spectrum if they followed a "listen first" protocol - the technology would listen to see whether a certain chunk of the spectrum were being used at a particular time, and if it weren't, it would be free for the taking.

I recognize that idea is jarring - that "my property" would be free for the taking just because I was not using it. But do you recognize why the idea is jarring? The assumption that fuels the dissonance about property "free for the taking" is that the taken property is exhaustible. I may not be using my car at the moment, but that doesn't mean you should have the right to take it since your use of my care will, to some degree, deplete the property I have. Cars are exhaustible resources. Spectrum is not. When I use a bit of spectrum at a particular moment in time, that spectrum is just as good after I'm finished as it was before. My use in no way exhausts the resource. And more important, when spectrum is not used, its value as a resource is not saved. Unused spectrum, like an empty seat on an airplane, is a resource that is lost forever.

And pollution is precisely the way we should think about old uses of spectrum: large and stupid towers billow overly powerful broadcasts into the ether, making it impossible for smaller, quieter, more efficient uses of spectrum to flourish. Why should these smokestack technologies get protection, when the steel mills did not? Why not force them to improve their technology - to reduce the pollution they spew forth into the ether - so that others could innovate in yet unimagined ways?

A cure for aging!? In part at least it seems indeed to be that � not only preventing but reversing. Evangelism is not my style, but this one has me collaring people. So far.

Many years ago I co-wrote a piece for CoEvolution Quarterly with Bruce Ames, creator of the renowned �Ames Test� for carcinogenicity. So when I saw a news item that Bruce Ames had discovered something that dramatically reversed some of the effects of aging in his lab rats and was starting a business called Juvenon to peddle the elixir to humans, I visited the web site and then began dosing myself with the substances named in the research. They are two standard anti-oxidants available in any health food store online or on the street � alpha-lipoic acid and L-carnitine. Apparently due to a combined effect, �our old rats are doing the Macarena,� Ames told the press � suddenly the rats were fitter, happier, and had better memory.

I�m 63. For several years I�ve been watching my ability to recall proper names degrade (regular words you can always work around in synonym-rich English), and I�ve lamented how an ever shorter section of mountain could get me out of breath. Ten days after I started taking the two drugs, my memory began improving; it�s been getting steadily better in the months since. I can remember names like a politician. Four months on, I�m noticing a return of peripheral awareness, most welcome when driving in traffic. About two and a half months after I started, my wind began to come back in a significant way. In Aspen last week, a post-breakfast stroll turned into a quick climb of 2,000 feet to 9,600 feet because it was so easy.

The organelles in question are one�s mitochondria � wee energy factories in the cells. Their decline in number and efficiency is a well known effect of aging and cause of its deterioration. With the combination in Juvenon, the mitochondria come back. (For the mechanisms, read the scientific papers at the Juvenon site, starting with the lead piece in the Press area, which summarizes nicely.) The rejuvenative effect is felt first in brain function because the brain uses one-third of the body�s energy.

Side effects? None I�ve noticed. What age is a good time to start? Dunno. My wife just turned 50 and she�s trying the pills. Is there an accumulative good effect or gradual nullification over time? Too early to say.

The Juvenon company now offers the pills directly � convenient tabs instead of the multiple caps of doing it home-brew; about a dollar a day. Though the two drugs are over-the-counter legal, the company is pursuing rigorous double-blind human trials just as if this were a new drug seeking FDA approval. Coming soon: Juvenon for aging pets.

(Other daily additives in my bloodstream: generic multivitamin from Costco, vitamin E which delights male muscle, and folic acid �prescribed by a passing Doctor Without Borders for prevention of heart attack.)

-- Stewart Brand

Juvenon
60 capsules - one month supply
$40, 1-800-JUVENON
Good article at Science Daily

I first saw the Tilia Food Saver model 550 on an infomercial years ago and bought it on a late-night whim but it has turned out to be the coolest thing I ever bought for the kitchen. It has changed my approach to food entirely. There are lots of attachments available but all you need are roll bags and a box of mason jars from the local hardware store (cheap). You then vacuum seal everything in the cabinet and fridge (jars) and freezer (jars or bags) -- including veggies, milk, rice, etc. Everything lasts 4 to 5 times as long plus tastes better and retains the nutrition better. Food savings alone make up for any costs, but that nice "swoosh" sound of prying off the lid from a mason jar is very satisfying and reassuring.

I did an experiment leaving fresh parsley in the veggie drawer of the refrigerator, and putting some in a vacuum sealed mason jar. After 2 weeks the drawer stored parsley was still usable but smelled and tasted "off" like mold. Opening the mason jar the smell of fresh parsley came out and it tasted like it was just bought. I can only imagine the vitamin and mineral content was retained better too. One side effect is my refrigerator has more room and easy to manage as mason jars are uniform to stack and pack.

I store all my pantry dry goods in vacuumed mason jars. Beans, rice, coffee, hot chocolate, sugar, etc., and label everything with the date. Most dried goods pick up bacteria and molds that are not visible which is why you should not buy from bulk food bins that have no expiration date. The typical life is around 6 months to a year for most dry goods but with vacuum sealing it can last much longer and retain more nutritional value.

If I come into a large quantity of food and want to save it longer than a week I freeze. The best way is to first freeze it so it gets hard, then vacuum seal, this way the strong vacuum does not mush it. For liquids like soup, freeze it in the serving bowls, run under hot water to remove from the bowl and you have a chunk of soup in the shape of a bowl, vacuum seal and it is instant meal that can be re-heated in the original bowl. For example, turkey and ham from the holidays: Cut the meat off the carcass into small chunks, freeze it, vacuum seal it in small portions (I have 5 or 6 bags of Turkey from Thanksgiving) and you have cooked meat packets for recipes without having to dethaw the entire amount.

I was at first worried about recurring bag costs. But a case of 12 11"x18' rolls can be bought from the manufactures website for $130 and so far it has lasted many years. That is a lot of bags at 18 feet per roll and it is possible to re-use bags. The pre-cut bags are nice but costly, the roll bags give you more control over bag size and thus usage. Do not get the Tilia canister or bulk storage items because they loose their seal and are flimsy materials; mason jars work better and are cheaper.

I recommend the model 550 as it does everything you need and is entirely manual operation. The more expensive models will automate some tasks like cutting the roll and have more capacity, but they take up more counter space. My 550 has lasted over 7 years of regular use and still going strong. The 550 comes with the wide mouth jar sealer attachment which fits wide-mouth pint, 1Q and 1/2 gallon mason jars. It uses normal mason lids sold in hardware stores so you don't need to buy anything from Tilia other than the attachment.

What and how you vacuum seal is up to you and creativity is the name of the game. If your looking to buy on the cheap they often show up on the the police auction site and eBay.

-- Stephen Balbach

Tilia FoodSaver V845 Vacuum Sealing Kit
$118
Previously available from Amazon*

Manufactured by Jarden

A case of 12 1-Quart Ball mason jars and lids are $15+s/h from here:
Lehmans

*A newer model (V2860) is now available on Amazon; if you have any experience and can report positively or negatively about the V2860, please let us know -- sl

The granddaddy of all books about hand-built homes is the legendary Architecture Without Architects. Forty years in print, it continues to inspire architects, despite its title. Savor it slowly as a black and white poem on what a house might be if you had two thousand years to refine it. These shelters have visible souls. They honor your hands and mind. I consider this small book to hold essential wisdom that no high-schooler should graduate without encountering.

-- KK

Architecture Without Architects
A short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture
Bernard Rudofsky
1964, 128 pages
$22
Amazon

Without qualification, this is the greatest account of vernacular architecture, indigenous shelter, and traditional folk-built home images ever published. And it won't likely be surpassed, since fanatical photographer Yoshio Komatsu spent 25 years traveling the globe to document the full jaw-dropping variety of shelter on earth. He's been EVERYWHERE. I can't think of a remote region of Asia, Africa, South American and Europe that he missed; most of the styles are new and stimulating to me, and I've been around. While Architecture Without Architects (see above) hints dreamily at this diversity, Built By Hand completes the thought by explicitly celebrating this abundance in vivid in-your-face technicolor. It's in a different league from all previous vernacular architecture books. This one is a stupendous 480-page cornucopic tome overflowing with 700 photographs, and thousands of details, hopes, and design ideas. Totally breathtaking, totally awesome! If this doesn't get you to grab a hammer, nothing will.

-- KK
(Recommended and suggested by Lloyd Kahn)

Moula, Cameroon. Arched earthen doorway.

Sumba, Indonesia. Four main posts provide the structural support in this building, and bamboo is used for everything else. Symbolically, the tall section of the roof is for God, the middle space for man, and the ground level for animals.

Built By Hand
Vernacular buildings around the world
Steen, Steen, and Komatsu
2004, 480 pages
$32
Amazon

This little stove is amazing; it's made from pepsi and guinness cans, using things that can be found around most households. It takes about an afternoon to make (plus some time waiting for the epoxy to set), weighs only a few grams, and is sufficient for most backpacking trips. I made my first one a few years ago, and I've been handing them out as gifts ever since. The stove is powerful enough to boil a quart of water in a reasonable amount of time, it's MUCH quieter than other camping stoves, if you lose it you're not out $80.00, and you can get the fuel for it (denatured alcohol) at most hardware or paint stores. Mine fits nicely inside of the mug I use for cooking and eating, with room to spare. I usually stuff a spare pair of socks in with it to keep it from rattling around.

The site provides detailed instructions and photographs, as well as a message board with feedback and suggestions from other stove builders.

-- Galen Pewtherer

Scott Henderson's Pepsi-G Stove

NOTE: The URL with Scott Henderson's directions is no longer active and a sleuth online hasn't turned up a new one; if you know of an updated link or complete reposting, please let us know. Until then, here's similar Pepsi Can Stove directions from another source.

For wrapping up wounds, both large and small, you want a wrap that is secure, yet not so tight it will decrease needed blood circulation. Ace bandages are considered too constricting and likely to wind up tight; in their stead pros use conforming bandages, with brands names like Kling. The key here is "wider is better." Get the widest width you can and wrap liberally. The bandage will cling to itself (you still have to tape the end of it) but will not shift around much in normal use. The same stuff as Kling, but about 10 times cheaper is Vet-Wrap, used for the same purposes on animals. Better yet, Vet-Wrap comes in a choice of cheery colors instead of hospital white.

-- KK

Vet Wrap
#15-230, 4 inch, $2
from Revival Animal Health
712-737-5555
800-786-4751
or try Amazon

Tiny features are often best. One of the most often used utilities on my computer desktop is a small program that tells me EXACTLY what time it is (wisely reckoning weird shifts in daylight savings time) anywhere in the world. I don't know how people who conduct global business or world-wide travel manage without it. This little gem (which used to be called World Clock) can also give distances between places, real time sunrises/sunsets, moonrises, and so on for any place on earth. It's for Macs only. You can download a free miniature size version to try it out.

-- KK

Hour World
$35 full registration
$15 "lite" registration

People (collectively) will eat anything. But one mans' meat is another man's ugh. This color-rich volume features the strangest (to us) foods served in the world. It highlights two global trends: a hunger for increasingly exotic foods, and the worrisome increase in hunting bush meat from endangered and rare animals - at crisis levels in parts of Africa and Asia. None-the-less, the full variety of things-humans-eat, in all their strangeness, are captured in fine photography and readable history here. The author also provides sources and recipes for farm-raised exotic foods and meats. This guy, at least, has tried everything.

-- KK

Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats, and Butterflies an Epicurean Adventure Around the World
Jerry Hopkins
1999, 232 pages
$30
Periplus Editions
Amazon

Excerpt:

When I tell people that I took the placenta home following the birth of my son and the next day served it as a pate, they generally (1) don't believe me or (2) recoil in horror, calling me a cannibal. My wife was to return home the day following and my plan was to cook the placenta and make it into a pate to serve visitors who had been invited to meet the baby. When I asked, the doctor agreed in wonderment, but then didn't know what to put it in for transport to the flat. Unlike restaurants, medical clinics don't have Styrofoam "take-away" containers for leftover food.

*

Bird's nest soup is one of the true culinary enigmas, a high-priced delicacy that is made from the nests of swifts, found in bat-filled caves in Southeast Asia. The nests are made of seaweed, twigs, moss, hair, and feathers glued together by the birds' saliva and the spawn of small fish. Is this something you would pay up to US $300 a bowl for?

Why so expensive? Well, first of all, it's considered by many to be an aphrodisiac, a word - some say myth - that is driving many animal species to the edge of extinction. For centuries, Chinese have given their children the soup, believing it will help them grow. Others consume it to improve their complexion and defeat lung problems, or as an all-purpose tonic.

*

Two handfuls of rats that will either be eaten, or sold for one-and-a-half rupees each under a program set up by the Oxfam Trust and India's Department of Science and Technology.

It's a goofy cliche to say that outdoor cooking stirs in men some sort of cellular caveman memory about fire, roasting Mastodon shanks, whatever, but given how firmly the obsession has taken hold of me, there may be something to this. I grill at least three times a week, from as early in the spring as possible, till I have to start scraping ice off of things to start dinner. People kept on telling me that I had to get Steven Raichlen's How To Grill, so to kick off this grilling season, I bought it. Now I know why people rave. It's not only the best grilling book I've seen, it's probably one of the best cookbooks in print. Beautifully designed, with great recipes, step-by-step photos, useful marginalia. Although Raichlen puts butter (or oil) on everything, even steak, there are lots of recipes for grilled veggies and even grilled deserts.

-- Gareth Branwyn

From reading the Amazon reviews it appears that this book has turned many men into chefs. They started out grilling and ended up cooking.

-- KK

How to Grill
Steven Raichlen
2001, 498 pages
$16
Workman Publishing
New York
Amazon

Excerpt:

The pros use the poke test to gauge the desired degree of doness: A quick poke of the meat with your finger will tell you whether it's rare, medium, or (heaven forbid) well-done. Use the following guide to help you, but remember: A steak will continue cooking even after it comes of the grill.

*

"Bizarre" and "outrageous" aren't necessarily words you expect to find in a cookbook. But how else would you describe roasting a chicken in a vertical position over an open beer can? I first encountered the method at the Memphis in May Barbecue Festival and described it in The Barbecue! Bible. Since then, I've prepared beer-can chicken hundreds of times, and each time this astounding technique produces an exquisite bird. The fact is, the upright position helps drain off the fat, and crisp the skin, while the beer in the can steams and flavors the bird from the inside. Needless to say, the sight of a roasted chicken standing erect on an upright can of beer will astound your guests.

By Stewart Brand

Patagonia Duckbill Cap

It was originally designed for kayakers before helmets took over, so it dries in a trice. Super-light, it can be wadded up in a pocket like a handkerchief, but it does all the duties you want from a hat in terms of shade for your eyes and sun protection, while providing maximum ventilation. Mine goes everywhere with me.

Patagonia Spoonbill Cap
$6
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports
800-290-1920

*

Maxit Beanie

This is what professional football players wear under their helmets for games in Green Bay in December---very thin, very light, lots of warmth. I always have one in my pocket along with the Duckbill (which it goes comfortably under) and am ready for anything hatwise (except rain, where an OR Snoqualmie Sombrero does best, or the Golite umbrella)

Maxit Beanie
Item #6016
$13
Stretching Inc.
800-333-1307
or from Amazon

*

"Survival" Ground Sheet

I long sought for an ideal ground sheet to go with the ultralight tarp. Other "space blankets" are either too heavy or too fragile, but this one of augmented tyvek is perfect. If you've nothing better to read, you can read the survival instructions on it.

Thermo-Lite Emergency Survival Blanket
Item #89034 for Campmor
$7
Campmor
888-226-7667

*

Kelty Cloud Pack

Extravagant but wonderful---birthday fodder. It is superlight (the Spectra cloth is so tough it won't even take a dye, so all models are white) and super adaptable---nearly every component can be subtracted or added, so you take only as much pack as you want for the occasion. The waist belt molds to you, and can also be left behind. It's a pack for going out and staying out.

Kelty Cloud 4500
$400
Amazon

*

Petzl Zipka Headlamp

LED bulbs changed everything in light flashlights (the Photon Micro-Lite 2 is still the best for keychains). Longtime headlamp maker Petzl came up with a new level of ingenuity in this version, which reels in its own strap. For making camp in the dark, reading in a tent, or exploring new trails at night, there's nothing better.

Petzl Zipka Headlamp
$33
Back Country Gear, 800-953-5499
Or $40 from Amazon

*

Z-Rest Pad

Now the best sleeping or loafing foam pad. The accordion fold means that it lies flat instantly without curling, nests its cells for greater compactness, can be simply halved for double the padding for a seat, and folds up quickly. Wet mossy log, rocky ground, burr-filled grass? Drop this and all is comfy and dry. No reason to get larger than the 3/4 length.

Z-Rest - 20x72x0.75 in
$34
Back Country Gear
800-953-5499
or from Amazon

*

Royal Robbins Expedition Shirt

There are plenty of non-cotton hiking shirts that dry quickly and disperse sweat. This is the best I've found for that, but the winning feature is the side-opening "document pockets" on each side---you can stash a map in one side and your light binoculars in the other, both instantly accessible while wearing a pack. The shirt used to have a dorky look and colors, but that's been fixed.

Men's L/S Coolmax Expedition Shirt
$60
Royal Robbins Outdoor Travel Clothing
800-587-9044

*

Pilot's Finger Light

When you want to keep your night vision, a red flashlight is essential. For a long time I've used a red Photon Micro-Lite. This thing from an extreme-gear new supplier is better. It fits on your finger (or can be mounted on glasses) and directs all its bright LED light forward in a sharp cone---designed specifically for reading maps or text in the dark, but also useable for travelling a known trail. When sleeping under the stars, I prefer it for reading because it doesn't light up the night or blind me. Nifty item.

S-LITE LED Finger Light
$13
S-Lite
239-498-8923

As idiot-proof as the newest GPS units are, I still needed assistance to make sense of all those lat-long numbers in relation to navigation. Several sources recommended this guide (third edition) which has indeed been most helpful.

--KK

GPS Made Easy, Third Ed.
Lawrence Letham
2001, 208 pages
$8
Amazon

What an amazing, behavior-changing service! Google has scanned in the pages of hundreds of mail order catalogs. This means you can search for anything you can think of and Google will bring up a picture of the item on the actual catalog page. In my experience browsing these scans turns out to be better and faster than scrolling through a company's website. Because catalog pages are generally better designed than web pages, they are more informative. And because you can keyword search for items, it's superior to the actual paper catalog. The way I use this is whenever I am beginning to search for an item I need to buy, I'll start with the Google Catalog and immediately I'll find more and more appropriate sources for it than I would by going through long lists of Google web pages. I then use the phone to place my order - faster and more reliable for most catalogs. The real surprise has been the number of specialty mail order catalogs Google has rounded up. I have yet to stump this machine. It has immediately found sources for the most obscure objects (a 25-foot VGA cable, a Quail weathervane, processed lichen for model tree-making). You can also search on past catalogs, a very useful service for catalogs with seasonal versions. This hybrid of old and new is exactly why the web is so vital.

-- KK

Google Catalogs

An attempt to build a flying machine in 36 hours.

The TV show said to be the most commonly recorded on a TiVo is the hackers' special, Junkyard Wars. Two teams of tinkerers race against each other to construct a working submarine, or an airplane, or a cannon, or deep-sea diving gear, all assembled from scrap found in a junkyard, and all built within a day and a half. That both sides usually succeed at some level (although only one side wins) is the first surprise of this TV series. More amazing is the easy lesson in physics and engineering each episode brings. By watching how a pump is cobbled together from motorscooter tires, one gets a visceral sense of how a pump works. By watching how geeks think around impossible obstacles, one catches the confidence to tackle an impossible project. They are educational enough that some science classes show them.

--KK

The Discovery Store

Some episodes, on VHS, available from Amazon.

Amphibian dune buggy from scrap parts.

Launching a homemade torpedo.

The propeller end of the team's torpedo.

It's a great idea to put all your medical stuff into a kit of some sort, even if it never leaves your house. The worst place to store medicines and supplies is in the bathroom, where most people keep them. It is moist and warm there, while what medical stuff wants is dry and cool. You also want to be able to grab supplies quickly and take them where they are needed. We put ours into plastic cases the size of shoe boxes, There's one for bandages and first aid, and another for medicines. The lids seal tight, prolonging the shelf life of the contents. When there is an first aid injury, we get the kit and have everything together on site.

-- Alan Greene, MD