We badly need more "wide history" as developed in this remarkable work by John Man. Rather than go linear, Man goes wide with a view of dispersed cultures interacting at one time--in this case in the year 1000. He shows what's happening during this "year" in each region of the planet (say, Tibet, Oceania, South America) and how events then resonate across the globe. The first millennium was the first era when most of the world was settled, and the first time immigration and travel created a robust communication network. Globalism, it turns out, was a medieval event. The picture I got from this book of diagrams was of a world far more sophisticated in its reach and depth then I knew.

-- KK

Atlas of the Year 1000
John Man
1999, 144 pages
$14
Harvard University Press
Amazon

Excerpt:

It is often said that the year 1000 has no 'real' importance, that it acquires significance only from its zeroes, from our determination to read significance into birthdays and big numbers. Far from it: the time has a real historical significance, rooted in the way human society developed, from scattered diversity to today's 'one world.'

*

The significance is this: by pure coincidence, the year 1000, or thereabouts, marked the first time in human history that it was possible to pass an object, or a message, right around the world.

*

This is very different from history as written in Europe, China or the Islamic world, where the story of the past is in large measure rooted in human character--history as narrative. In the American drama, this element is missing. This section of the Atlas, like other sections on nonliterate cultures, necessarily has a wide focus. There are few incidents, few individuals--in all of North America around 1000 there was no native American whose name has survived.

*

India: Fleeting Power, Enduring Glory
The Chola dynasty sprang from the rice-rich plain of the River Kaceri, today's Tamil Nadu. They had ruled here as minor chieftains for 800 years when, in the middle of the 9th century, they emerged as heads of a small independent state.

One of the things I picked up from the Japanese was their appreciation for group games. My initial response to join a bunch of Japanese adults playing clapping games at a youth hostel was "No way. That's for kindergartners!" But once I gave into the hilarity, it was the most fun I had had in years. Good clean fun seems in short supply these days, but one place it prospers is in "youth ministries" at churches. Youth leaders have the job to keep American teenagers engaged, responsible, helpful, generous, and highly entertained, without demeaning others. The games included in this book are the best games some of the best youth leaders know. Because they are church ministries there is a small amount of church lingo, but mostly the "all-stars" trot of some very funny and high-spirited games that will work for anyone. The selections range from competitive photo scavenger hunts to New-Games-style encounters with no "winners." These were all designed for teenagers, but good clean fun is highly contagious among adults, too.

-- KK

All-Star Games: From All-Star Youth Leaders
Mikal Keefer and Bob Buller
1998, 109 pages
$14
Group Publishing
Amazon

Excerpt:

Blackout Musical Chairs

Play this game in a completely dark room. If you can't darken your meeting area, have kids play blindfolded.

Set up a circle of chairs, all facing out. Place one less chair in the circle than you have kids in the game. Tell kids that they'll be playing Musical Chairs...with a twist. Unlike regular Musical Chairs, this version is played in the dark.

Ask kids to form a circle around the circle of chairs and to stand with their arms folded across their chests. When the music starts, kids are to march slowly around the circle in the clockwise direction while maintaining the crossed-arm position. When the music stops, kids will have five seconds to find a chair. Anyone still standing or sitting on someone else after five seconds will be eliminated from the game.

*

Bob in the Basin

This game will create memories for your kids, especially if you bring a camera and take pictures of the contestants. To prepare for the game, find a new toilet. Toilets are surprisingly inexpensive at builders-supply stores or department stores, or you can borrow a toilet from a local plumber or plumbing-supply store. Make sure the toilet is completely clean and then seal the trap with duct tape or an easily removed plug--the toilet needs to hold water in the bowl.

Set the toilet in your meeting room before kids arrive. Then cut the bottom out of the cardboard box and set it over the toilet. Make absolutely certain no one knows what's in the box until you're ready to reveal the secret. When the kids arrive, have them form two teams. Explain that teams will compete in a game many of them played as children: Bobbing for Apples. Show the apples you'll be using and assure the kids that you have towels for drying their hair. Explain that, just as in the usual game, kids must grab the apples with their teeth or lips--no hands!--and lift them from the water.

If everyone understands the rules, remove the cardboard box to reveal that kids will be bobbing for apples in a toilet. Pause a few seconds, giving kids a chance to reconsider. Don't force anyone to participate, but remind kids that their team has a better chance of winning if everyone on the team participates.

It is essential that you have an absolutely new, unused, never installed toilet for this game. Of course, you don't necessarily have to share that information with your group. It adds a certain elegance to the game if--as kids participate--you hint broadly that you picked up the toilet at a very reasonable rate when the old city bus station closed.

*

Kings of the Mountain

Ask kids how many of them have played King of the Mountain. The idea of that game is to see who can claim the top of a pile and then kick and throw off any challengers. Explain this is a cooperative version of King of the Mountain. Instead of seeing how many people one person can toss off, the goal is to see how many kids can simultaneously stay on top of or in a certain space.

* Sofas can hold far more people than you might expect. The usual safety concerns about keeping the sofa firmly planted on the ground apply - but any sofa that has made it into a youth room has plenty much sagged to capacity already.

* How many kids can fit into a phone booth? Note: Do not close the door! For an even greater challenge, use a cellular phone to call the booth after your kids have packed themselves in! (You got the number first, didn't you?)

* How many kids can get at least part of their bodies into a Hula Hoop? Count fingers, toes, ears - whatever. Better yet, how many kids can fit into a Hula Hoop so that their bodies don't touch the ground outside? Encourage kids to link arms so that their bodies hold each other in the Hula Hoop.

One doesn't read this; one falls into it, like an experience. Printed in lavish color in large format, this two-volume celebration of contemporary ritual in Africa is shocking in its lushness. It seems to explode with possibilities--of what ritual and ceremony could be, of how many different ways there are to find meaning in life. It also presents the best argument for why Africa should not be written off: it has difference, and difference is the engine behind innovation. Although expensive, this box set is cheaper than a rocket ship to another galaxy--which is the only other thing I can imagine having similar effect of this work.

Two remarkable women, who first started photographing the jewelry of Africa, developed these books over decades of fieldwork. Some of their work has been published in National Geographic and their other books. Beside eye-popping photos, there is outstanding text on what is pictured. This is spectacle with intelligence. To offset the pricey cost of this magnum opus, their publisher has recently issued a paperback selection called Passages: Photographs in Africa, which presents highlights from Ceremonies. But this abridgement has only one-tenth the 850 images in Ceremonies, and I feel it misses the point of the larger work: glorious, extravagant diversity.

-- KK

African Ceremonies
Carol Beckwith, Angela Fisher
1999, 744 pages (two volumes)
$105
Harry N. Abrams
Amazon

Excerpt:

Wearing costumes fashioned from hibiscus fibers and cowerie shells, and with coconut shells as breasts, dancers on stilts rest before performing. Their teetering dance and flapping arm movements imitate a long-legged water bird, but it is also mischievously said that their antics mimic their neighbors, the tall, pointy-breasted Fulani women.

Katjambia summons all her powers to draw the lion spirit out of the woman. Her eyes roll back and she enters a trance, absorbing the evil force into her own body. Forced into Katjambia's body, the lion spirit remains so powerful that she is unable to expel it no matter how she tries. Barely able to speak, she whispers that she must retreat to her family village to call on the help of ancestral spirits contained in the sacred fire.

A cocktail of three popular antibiotics invented in the 1950s that is synergistically more powerful than any of the three alone or in sequence. Trials have shown that triple antibiotic combo reduces scarring better than double or a single antibiotic. It's an over-the-counter ointment.

-- KK

Triple Antibiotic Ointment
1 oz., $6
Available from any drug store, also from Amazon

I have five now and plan to get more. The 5.11 does everything I want in terms of comfort and pockets and yet looks dignified enough to serve as duty shirts for police, who are its primary market.

The 5.11 Tactical shirt is based on Royal Robbins' excellent Expedition Shirt (which I've praised elsewhere in Cool Tools); the main difference is that it's 100% cotton. The most appealing functional features for me are: 1) large document pockets hidden on each side of the shirt front (my cell phone/PDA lives in one, my Levenger notepad in the other); 2) a subtle vent on the back, with non-cotton wicking lining for the back and shoulders (which makes it a four-season shirt, good with or without a T-shirt underneath); and 3) the best keepers for rolled shirtsleeves (also a help for four-season use or variable weather).

Appearance features: 1) nifty upper-sleeve pen pocket, an improvement on noising up your chest with metal in a breast pocket; 2) shirt buttons that are colored to blend in with the fabric color, so you're not a row of dots; 3) velcro pocket closures, less conspicuous and handier than buttons; 4) sensible colors. There are optional features of interest to cops but not to me---hidden button-down for collar, sew-on epaulets, sew-on badge holder.

The shirt is available for women as well as men. Also comes in a short-sleeve version. Colors are white, sage, khaki, olive green, charcoal, navy blue, and black; I most like the green and black. (There is a variation of the 5.11 shirt called "A/B" which I suggest avoiding. It's too coppy---sewn-in pleats, epaulets, and badge-holder, and an unpleasant synthetic material emphasizing rayon. Get the cotton.)

-- Stewart Brand

The 5.11 tactical shirt is simply the best field/hiking shirt I have owned. If you are the kind of person who juggles maps and notebooks while outdoors, this is the only shirt to wear. At first glance, it looks like a typical hiking shirt, but the difference is in the details.

For example, the "Napolean" pockets ( large horizontal velcro-closed slash pockets behind the visible breast pockets) are huge --7-inches by 8-inches. Large enough to comfortably hold a folded topo map and notepad in the field or a wallet and and a PDA in town. The pockets were originally designed to hold pistols for cops, so one can comfortably carry heavy objects in them. Other details include pen slots on the left pocket and the upper left sleeve. The right pocket has a hidden zipper to securely store small items, and the sleeves have the first practical roll-up keepers I have found.

This is a truly versatile shirt, that fits in anywhere from the Sierra to casual business meetings. I was grateful to have all those pockets recently while standing on a wilderness ridge in a driving rain at midnight, juggling a radio and map and scribbling on a rite-in-the-rain pad. But I also wear my navy blue version of the shirt (I own five) as my standard casual business dress. It goes nicely with khaki dockers and lets me carry my wallet and other junk without resort to the usual pants-pocket bulge.

-- Paul Saffo

5.11Tactical shirt
$40
There are a number of suppliers. Brigrade Quartermaster is as good as any.

Also try Amazon

Manufactured by
5.11 Tactical

For the price (previously $70), you have to either be a really serious cook, or seriously tired of rubbery chicken and overcooked steak to buy one of these industrial-strength, instant-read digital thermometers. But once you've got one, you'll wonder how you ever cooked without it. The Thermapen takes all the guesswork out of the proper time to cook things.

I first saw this used on my favorite cooking show, "America's Test Kitchen." It looks very odd compared to the digital cooking thermometers you find in retail stores. But this is THE best kitchen tool I have, (well, maybe second best after my $3.00 spring-loaded tongs).

-- Barbara Young

Thermapen
$89
ThermoWorks

Practical advice about being homeless or low-budget in-motion by choice -- camping on the edges, living simply, getting by on the road and loving it. This old-fashioned zine crams tons of tips onto a few sheets of paper printed in minuscule 6-point type. Holly and Bert Davis have been publishing this resource for several decades (formerly called Message Post) so they have a no-nonsense perspective. It's for modern nomads in the US choosing alternative lifestyles to working 9-5 in the same place. You get hard-won need-to-know wisdom like: How to live in cars. How to buy staples for 25 cents per pound. Can you camp in U-Hauls? Where can you find a cheap dentist? The dangers of social services taking kids without a house. Fixing a free bike for long-haul travel. etc.

Everyone should live in near-poverty at least once in their life, and this humble newsletter provides guidance and inspiration of how to learn the max from it.

-- KK

Dwelling Portably
$1 per issue
Back issues available
DP c/o Lisa Ahne
POB l8l
Alsea, OR 97324

Note: Microcosm Publishing is selling books with a full year's worth of back issues. (via Bjørn Gabrielsen)

It used to be that if you wanted to get involved in micro-controllers, you only had a couple of options: 8051 or PIC. The 8051 is a old, tried-and-true architecture, which is fine if you're building a microwave or the controller for a car's fuel injection system. The PIC is an easy to use device, but it's slow and runs BASIC. What options are left for the basement mad-scientist intent on creating an army of robots to do his bidding? Enter Atmel.

Atmel makes the AVR series of chips. They're small (as few as 8 pins), low cost (they start around $0.75), and they're fast (execution speeds as fast as 16MIPS). The AVR architecture executes most instructions in 1 clock-cycle, and supports most modern languages. What makes AVRs great is the dizzying array of on-chip peripherals they support, their awesome developer friendliness, and the great user community that has grown up around them.

To get started with AVRs, you need a developer's kit. There are 70+ different boards available from various vendors, ranging from base-bones starter boards to boards that have onboard LCDs, ethernet jacks, or FPGAs. The best board (in my mind, at least) for general experimentation is the STK500, distributed by Atmel. You can pick one up for $79 from DigiKey, but remember to get a 12V power adapter as well, as one isn't included. Atmel makes a free assembler and IDE, and you can get a copy of gcc for the AVR from the good folks at ww.avrfreaks.net. The board has a serial port, LEDs, and pushbuttons, as well as headers for all of the ports your AVR may have. The STK500 will program any device in the DIP form factor, and with the optional STK501 daughter-board, it will program surface-mount TQFP's as well. Of course, since all AVRs are in-circuit programmable, you don't need anything except 4 wires to program them.

-- Michael DeRosa

AVR Freaks
Digi-Key
Atmel
Atmel AVR � STK500

I know these are supposed to be joke books, but they contain sensible answers to sensible questions. Why not rehearse the solution to a worst case scenario if it ups your chances of survival even a few percent?

-- KK

The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel
Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
2001, 190 pages, $10
Amazon

The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook
Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
1991, 176 pages, $10
Amazon

Both from Chronicle Books
San Francisco

Excerpt:

How to Jump from a Moving Train
Stuff blankets, clothing, or seat cushions underneath your clothes. Wear a thick or rugged jacket if possible. Use a belt to secure some padding around your head, but make certain you can see clearly. Pad your knees, elbows, and hips.

Cover and protect your head with your hands and arms, and roll like a log when you land. do not try to land on your feet. Keep your body straight and try to land so that all parts of your body hit the ground at the same time. You will absorb the impact over a wider area. if you land on your feet, you will most likely break your ankles or legs. Do NOT roll head over heels as if doing a forward somersault.

*

How to Fend off a Shark
Hit back. If a shark is coming toward you or attacks you, use anything you have in your possession - a camera, probe, harpoon gun, your fist - to hit the shark's eyes or gills, which are the areas most sensitive to pain. Make quick, sharp, repeated jabs in these areas. Sharks are predators and will usually only follow through on an attack if they have the advantage, so making the shark unsure of its advantage in any way possible will increase your chances of survival. Contrary to popular opinion, the shark's nose is not the area to attack, unless you cannot reach the eyes or gills. Hitting the shark simply tells it that you are not defenseless.

*

How to Perform a Tracheotomy
This procedure, technically called a cricothyroidotomy, should be undertaken only when a person with a throat obstruction is not able to breath at all - no gasping sounds, no coughing - and only after you have attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver three times without dislodging the obstruction. If possible, someone should call for paramedics while you proceed.

Excellent website with useful information on hiking trails all over the world. From it I get an awareness of obscure and out-of-the-way trails globally. It has trails on my secret Greek Island of Karpathos, and in the central Asian neo-countries of Kyrgytzstan and Tadjikistan, where there are presently no trail guidebooks. Even in places with lots of guidebooks (such as the Coltswolds, England) this site has useful first-person notes and suggested routes.

-- KK

The Trail Database

Stand alone web cams have been around for a few years but only recently have dropped in price to a few hundred dollars. Stand alone web cams differ from standard web cams in that they have a server and connectivity built in making them independent of a computer. That means you can put these web cams somewhere far from a computer (say in a cabin, or the top of a building) as long as you have a phone or ethernet connection. The cameras made by Axis seem to be the most compact and well-designed. These cams use a Linux-based server and come with an ethernet port so you just plug it into the network, assign it a public IP address, and presto, you are live on the web. Far from a network, you could even plug the camera into a phone modem and have a PC call the camera to see the images. We've had an Axis working in our office window for a few months without problems. There is a choice of models depending on whether the camera will be indoors, outdoors, or wants sound, etc.

-- Alexander Rose

Axis 2100 Standalone Network WEB Camera
manufactured by AXIS
Item #155185
$280
available from PC Connection
888-213-0260

Axis remote network cam used as a London "Jam Cam" for web-based monitoring of traffic. Can be viewed here

One of the things medical staff used to nip from hospitals to bring home is inexpensive moist wound pads. Keeping a wound moist - particularly a burn wound -- has been proven to aid its healing. Moist wound pads contain a layer of gel that holds either sterile water, or additional therapeutic ingredients, wrapped under a large adhesive bandage. Doctors' offices stock these aids, but they are only now getting into the consumer market. Drugstore over-the-counter pads like Spenco 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads come in a package of 5 small (2 x3 inches) sterile packages. New-Skin (UK-based) Burn Relief Dressing comes in 3 3x3 pads -- but these have less than half the useable surface area of the Spencos. Johnson and Johnson is introducing household bandages with moist gel pads inside, too. These pads aren't cheap, but hopefully you'll only need them occasionally.

-- KK

Spenco 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads
2 x 3 in. 5ea.
$6.50
Walgreens

New-Skin Burn Relief Dressing
Med Shop Express

I wear a reflective yield symbol pinned to my bike pack. It's arrestingly bright, alarmingly visible. I've been stopped by motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists alike inquiring about or thanking me for wearing it. It can be seen from 3000 feet.

-- Michele McGinnis

Reflective Yield Symbol
$15
Available from Safety Central

You plug this solid-state inverter into your car's lighter socket and power whatever 110 volt AC appliance you want, 75 watts max. No need for special DC gadgets. It's made for recharging cell phones and other batteries, but I've used it for my scanner and my printer while on the road. Also, I've run a small B&W TV set (5'5), and more important, my baby's bottle heater (I admit is a small one). You can power almost anything that doesn't use large resistance like hair dryers, waffle makers, bread toasters, small ovens. I haven't tried a coffee maker yet.

The same company offers an assorted line of automobile inverters with more output power (200 watts on up). This is the smallest one.

-- Juan J Gil

XPower MobilePlug 75
$20 from among others
Buy.com
Also from Amazon

Manufactured by Xantrex

Lately I've gotten into bread baking. Via various news groups I found and fell in love with Peter Reinhart's new book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. It has beautiful photographs which motivated me toward experimentation. I am now 1/3 through baking every formula in the book. I find his explanations very clear and I really like that he includes enough theory to allow me to make my own informed decisions about baking different styles of bread. It is not rocket science, but there are a lot of non-intuitive (for me) details that he covers well. All this teaching has elevated the quality of my own breads. He also provides detailed recipes for each type of bread he is describing, so those not interested in the fundamentals of bread baking can also follow recipes easily. When I got the book, about the only thing my breads had going for them was that they were "home made." Now I like my breads just as much or more than the expensive artisan style breads I get at my local bakeries.

-- Christopher R. Carlson

Some masters are great at craft, and some at teaching, and every once in a while a person like Peter Reinhart comes along who is grand master of both. This book is considered the best all around guide to making fancy and rustic artisan breads; some would say for making any bread, period. Grounded in theory and practice, it is superb teaching.

-- KK

The Bread Baker's Apprentice
By Peter Reinhart
2001, 304 pages
$23
Amazon

Excerpt:

It is easy to see the subtle difference in color and texture of various flours when they are placed side by side. These are, from left to right, cornmeal, semolina flour (coarse durum), fancy durum, dark rye, white rye, bleached cake flour, unbleached pastry flour, unbleached bread flour, clear flour, and whole-wheat flour.

*

For perspective, here are the twelve stages in order:

1. Mise En Place ("everything in its place" is the organizing principle)
2. Mixing (in which three important requirements must be met)
3. Primary Fermentation (also called bulk fermentation, in which most of the flavor is determined)
4. Punching Down (also called de-gassing, in which the dough begins to enter its secondary fermentation and individuation)
5. Dividing (in which pieces are weighed or scaled, while continuing to ferment)
6. Rounding (in which the pieces are given an interim shaping prior to their final shape)
7. Benching (also called resting, or intermediate proofing, during which time the gluten relaxes)
8. Shaping and Panning (in which the dough is given its final shape prior to baking)
9. Proofing (also called secondary or final fermentation, in which the dough is leavened to its appropriate baking size)
10. Baking (which may also include scoring the dough and steaming, but in which three vital oven actions must occur)
11. Cooling (which is really an extension of baking but must occur before cutting into the bread)
12. Storing and Eating (in production baking it's primarily storing, but home baking usually emphasizes, ahem, eating)

I have become enamored of new European packs which allow for complete back ventilation. I picked up one by Deuter in Amsterdam last fall and it has become my favorite day and cycling pack. Since I sweat a lot, I generally try and avoid wearing packs while exercising, but this pack has eliminated this problem. The new packs are suspended off your back with a nylon mesh fabric. This web also makes the pack the most comfortable I have ever worn, as weight distributes itself across your back, and the trampoline effect of the mesh absorbs the shock loads you usually get from packs while exercising.�

I have found three companies that make them (interestingly all German). I am using one by Deuter called the AC Lite 15. A professional cyclist friend uses one of the small Vaude packs like this and swears by it as well. They all seem to have good allowances for hydration systems, and some have integrated rain covers and helmet holders. The down side is that because of the frame it is not the lightest pack you can get for its size, but even for an ultra-light weenie like me the trade off has been worth it. They are somewhat difficult to find in the US, but I have seen them for sale in some mountaineering and cycling shops. You can get catalogs from the websites and do mail order as well. Each company that makes them also makes traditional suspension pack systems, so inspect the catalogs carefully for the buzzwords like Air Comfort and AeroFlex suspension.

-- Alexander Rose

Deuter AC Lite 15
$70
from among others
Altrec
or from Amazon

Vaude AeroFlex packs

Deuter AirComfort packs

Jack Wolfskin packs

I got mine - made of surgical stainless steel -- from a set of used dental tools at a garage sale for 25 cents. It's incredibly handy for inspecting missing fillings, infections, gum complaints, particularly in kids. And you can look for sharp edges on dental braces. There really is no other way to look deep inside the mouth. The key is to get a proper front-surface mirror, which some drugstore plastic versions don't have. Otherwise at close range there is a slight double image which confuses the image.

-- KK

Front Surface Dental Mirror
32851 (mirror) + 32906 (handle), $6,
Smart Practice.com
800-522-0800

Dental Mirror
item #16-114, $4.50
Revival Animal Health
712-737-5555, 800-786-4751

I am reminded of a famous magazine editor's remark that creativity in his business demanded "wastage." Here's a welcomed assault on the misguided notion of efficiency, pressure, and overtime in the workplace. Great managers incorporate "slack" - an incredibly potent stance that yields more resources that it uses. More slack, better business. Down with efficiency.

-- KK

Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency
Tom DeMarco
2001, 226 pages
$23
Broadway Books
Amazon

Excerpt:

The best predictor of how much work a knowledge worker will accomplish is not the hours that he or she spends, but the days. The twelve-hour days don't accomplish any more than the eight-hour days. Overtime is a wash.

Since companies don't typically pay knowledge workers for overtime, any net advantage gained by extraction of overtime would be a cost-free benefit. That violates the ages-old adage that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. And sure enough, there ain't.

*

The Legacy of the nineties has been a dangerous corporate delusion; the idea that organizations are effective only to the extent that all their workers are totally and eternally busy. Anyone who's not overworked (sweating, staying late, racing from one task to the next, working Saturdays, unable to squeeze time for even the briefest meeting till two weeks after next) is looked on with suspicion. People with a little idle time on their hands may not even be safe.

*

But now into this happy scenario drop a consultant with a charter to reduce cost, the "corporate restructuring agent." Whoa, he says, what's this? A secretary? And what's she up to this very minute? He parks himself beside Sylvia's desk with his trusty stopwatch in hand. To no one's surprise, he finds that Sylvia is really only busy 43 percent of the time. The rest of the time she is...available. She's available to do stuff that you or your people find you need to have done. That's part of what's so great about Sylvia: When something comes up, she can usually get cracking on it right away.

A look of triumph now comes over the consultant's face. If Sylvia is only busy 43 percent of the time, 57 percent of her cost is potentially savable. Why, all we have to do is dump Sylvia into a "pool" and allocate 43 percent of her time to you and the rest to other people. Or have you share her with some other manager who needs only 57 percent of a full person. Or even get rid of Sylvia entirely and hire a temp for that 43 percent of the time that you really need someone. (You can be sure that the consultant will be checking back later to find out if you really need that much help.)

What an improvement. Sylvia's gone or gone 57 percent of the time, and 57 percent of what she was costing the organization goes directly down to the bottom line. Wow. In place of a person who was idle 57 percent of the time, we now have someone who is busy 100 percent of the time. Talk about efficiency!

The problem of course, is that the now-slackless secretary or portion thereof is simply not as responsive as Sylvia was. This highly efficient person doesn't get cracking right away on anything new that comes up, because this highly efficient person is too busy.

*

Managers who inspire extraordinary loyalty from their people tend to be highly charismatic, humorous, good-looking, and tall. So, by all means, strive to be those things. If you don't feel able to improve any of those factors very much, you might consider holding on to your people by designing a little slack into their lives.

*

Sprinting. There is a useful distinction to make here between infrequent short bursts of overtime --what I call sprinting - and extended overtime. Sprinting can make perfectly good sense in the right circumstances. Imagine yourself encouraging everyone to come in for a gargantuan workathon weekend to bring a project to completion for delivery Monday morning. You all stay up through the night, or catch catnaps on the carpet or on the sofa in the big boss's office. You keep each other going, check each other's work (after all, people do get tired), and keep everybody's spirits up. You guzzle coffee. You share order-in pizza or sandwiches from the all-night deli or you slip our for noodles at the Chinese place that keeps late hours. Most of all, you succeed on Monday morning, and when the crazy weekend is over, you go back to normal hours.

This is the stuff of which corporate legends are made. When you've all been through it together, and shared an important success, there is something profoundly changed about the culture of the organization. The energy is still there after the workathon weekend is long past.

The manager who makes effective use of the occasional sprint is a hero. He/She needs impeccable timing, a flawless sense of what can and can't be accomplished over a short period (there is no benefit if the delivery doesn't take place on Monday or if it gets rejected), and enough raw leadership talent to pull the whole affair together. Finally, such a manager also needs to have a huge reserve of trust to dip into, the clear sense shared by all that the call or extraordinary effort is truly extraordinary, not likely to be wasted and not likely to become a regular fixture.

*

In Region I, workers are responding to increased pressure by trimming any remaining waste, by concentrating on the critical path, and by staying late. In Region II, workers are getting tired, feeling pressure from home, and starting to put in a little "undertime" (taking the kid to the dentist during work hours, since the company owes them so much time anyway.) In Region III, workers are polishing up their resumes and beginning to look for work elsewhere.

*
"What would you do," I asked him, "if overtime were forbidden and you still had to make the schedule?" "Well, I'll tell you one thing," he answered promptly, "we'd sure have to do something about all these meetings." I paused for a moment, hoping that the words that had come so readily out of his mouth would make their way back in through an ear. But no. He couldn't hear what he'd just said. He missed it entirely.

I wouldn't want to run a home without this small sewing and knitting gauge (approx. 6 inches long, metal with a movable plastic marking guide) Helpful for all household projects which require consistent simple measuring and marking. Used for craft projects, or just to help children learn how to measure equal distances when they want to do some kind of art project requiring parallel lines. The small size makes the gauge convenient to cart along for measuring/adjusting/adding lines of sequins, or decorations to costumes. Most families need to hem things (blue jeans, curtains, skirts, costumes) and the gauge is PERFECT for this use. This is as basic a tool in my home as scissors or a ruler. Can be purchased in any sewing store or the sewing department of a discount store.

-- Jane Seitz

Sew and Knit Gauge
Item #DT01716H $0.85
Nasco Online Products
800-558-9595

Dentemp is a traditional dental combination of zinc oxide and eugenol (clove oil) mixed when needed to make a temporary tooth patch for lost cavity filling, or to re-cement a cap or inlaid on a tooth. It's strong enough that you'll need to have a dentist remove it later. Since an emergency Dentemp kit weighs less than an ounce, it should be part of your traveling or backpacking kit. You can get it at almost any drug store.

-- KK

Dentemp
$3
Amazon

I needed a printer that could, without raising an eyebrow, accept my digitally produced artwork, print it, and mail it to my house.

A recent find, PS Print, has brought my original dream true. Much of their success is due to the widespread adoption of the PDF standard, which removes lot of variables. I sailed through this experience with joy. PS Print has an idiot-proof website, with crystal clear and simple steps to upload files. It takes half a minute. They print your files and mail the material back to you. At great prices. For instance, I designed my own personal business card in Photoshop (it could have been any program), uploaded the file, ordered the minimum 250 cards for $26, and got the box of four-color cards by mail later that week. No muss, no fuss. For common color printing tasks like flyers, postcards, brochures and biz cards, this is like having a multi-million dollar printer at the other end of your USB cable. (They even do the less common, like full-color event tickets with numbering, which is pretty cool.)

-- KK

PS Print

Personal Video Recorders like TiVo are the coolest bit of lifestyle kit to come along since, what? The computer? The cellphone? The answering machine? These are like an answering machine for your TV. You can watch shows whenever the hell you want, skip over the annoying "messages" (commercials and late night talk show guests that bore you) and put shows on pause to answer the door, eat dinner, listen to the annoying messages on your phone answering machine, etc. We have a mixed household, with an unrepentant TV addict (me) and a devout TVphobe (my wife). The PVR allows me to record or pause what I want and watch it when she's not around. I've only used ReplayTV, but TiVo is definitely the front-runner in the market now and the hands-down fave among geeks and gadget weenies 'cause of its use of Linux and a more hacker-friendly attitude from the manufacturer.

-- Gareth Branwyn

TiVo
$200 -$400, $13 Monthly service
877-289-8486

I've had meager success in tracking animals using other guide books. This one employs color photography which matches what I see on the trail much closer that black and white sketches. Also it emphasizes animal scat and browsing patterns. It includes primarily North American mammals.

-- KK

Tracking & the Art of Seeing
Paul Rezendes
1999, 336 pages
$18
Harper Perennial
Amazon

Excerpt:

Since white-tailed deer have only bottom incisors, they leave rough, torn, or squared-off cuts when browsing.

*

White-tailed deer beds may show a lot of detail. In this one, the impression of the deer's rump is to the lower left, the hind leg is to the lower right, and the two folded front legs are to the upper right. You can determine the size of the deer by measuring the bed from the center of the lower folded front leg diagonally across to the rump. A large deer's bed measures 41", a small deer's 25".

*

The scat of snowshoe hares (left) and cottontails (right) is not always this dissimilar. Notice that one of the cottontail pellets looks exactly like those of the snowshoe hare. You cannot rely on scat to differentiate between most of the rabbit family members.

*

A comparison of cat and dog tracks highlights the asymmetrical shape of the cat's track. The toes point in a different direction from the heel pad, and the two inner (front) toes have one slightly ahead of the other, as with the two outer toes. In contrast, the dog track is more symmetrical.

*

Red squirrels opened these hickory nuts, leaving large, jagged holes. When gray squirrels open hickory nuts, they chip away at them, creating a ragged appearance, and often break them into small fragments. Red squirrels and flying squirrels leave the shells more intact.

Radio Shack has a new line of AA and AAA batteries (they seem to actually have been developed by Rayovac) that recharge in 15 minutes when you use their IC3 charger. The fastest rate of chargers I'd seen before this was an hour, and those were difficult to find. This acceleration makes a HUGE difference - the charge time has now passed the threshold where, in many cases, you can still have a fresh set of batteries before you leave the house even when you've forgotten to charge them beforehand. I've tested these out a bit, and they do indeed charge in slightly less than 15 minutes using their IC3 charger, and they seem to work as well as any other NiMH batteries (which is to say, very well in high-drain electronics). In a pinch the IC3 batteries can be charged in a "regular" NiMH charger, but then they take as long as regular NiMH batteries, and likewise, charging regular NiMH batteries in the IC3 charger doesn't speed them up.

-- Adam Fields

4-Pack AAA Radio Shack IC-3 15-minute Rechargeable Batteries
$6
Catalog #23-534
Radio Shack
Available for purchase in stores only

Editors' note, 9/25/07: RadioShack will be discontinuing this item, but we've seen a charger/battery line from Rayovac that looks promising. If you can report positively or negatively on Rayovac or any similar item, please let us know via the submit page or the comments below.

Here's a cure for badly designed web pages. (This is major news since everything is now on the web.) Follow Krug's key heuristic: "Don't make me think." It works. His manual is a model of what it preaches. It is the best, clearest, most succinct hands-on guide for amateurs and pros engaged in making the web a useable public space. You don't need a consultant; you need this book. I pray everyone reads and obeys.

-- KK

Don't Make Me Think
Steve Krug
2000, 195 pages
$24.50
Amazon

Excerpts:

When you're creating a site, your job is to get rid of the question marks.

*
We don't read pages. We scan them.

*
Create a clear visual hierarchy. One of the best ways to make a page easy to grasp in a hurry is to make sure that the appearance of the things on the page -- all of the visual cues -- clearly and accurately portray the relationships between the things on the page.

*
Jakob Nielsen and Tom Landauer have shown that testing five users will tend to uncover 85 percent of a site's usability problems, and that there is a serious case of diminishing returns for additional users.

*

Although I had read about it, I never really understood how much of difference really sharp tools make until I got a Tormek sharpening system. I know that a skilled carpenter can get a good edge with wet stone, but I never could. Until I got a Tormek, my chisels, gouges, and plane knives were sharpest when new. Now, I wouldn't consider trying to cut wood with the semi-dull edges that come home from the store. At $400, the Tormek sharpening system seems like a lot, but now that I know know what "finely honed" really means I consider it one of the best investments in my shop.

-- Danny Hillis

Tormek Sharpening System
$390 from, among others:
Tools for Woodworking

Manufactured by
Sharp Tools USA

This $6 plastic sharpening tool has the cheap feel of a "as advertised on TV" item. But it does work and is super quick and easy to use. It holds a carbide V that sharpens knives and scissors when you run the blade through it. The groove keeps the blade pretty steadily angled. There are similar products for serious knife sharpening but they are more expensive. When compared to the Tormek, I have to qualify my definition of sharp -- however the V does significantly improve the edge in seconds. Often that small honing is sufficient for most household chores. This gizmo is especially great for scissors, which in my experience are hardly ever sharpened after they are bought. I keep mine in my desk drawer.

-- KK

Smiths Jiff V Knife & Scissor Sharpener
$10
Amazon

My wife, who is an RN, brought some of this stuff home one night -- they use it to hold IVs in place, I think -- and it wasn't long before I started tinkering with it. Turns out that if you're a distance runner or a hiker or are breaking in a new pair of shoes, this stuff is a godsend. At the first sign of irritation, take off your sock and put a layer of this tape on the affected area. It is very thin, so it just feels like your skin conveniently got a bit thicker and less sensitive. Unlike cloth tape it has a minimal amount of adhesive, so there's little need for trepidation when it comes time to remove it. Because of this stuff I was hero for a day last November when on the day of her high school Cross Country finals my daughter had a HUGE blister on the inside of her arch. Nothing was going to completely take away the pain, but she was able to finish the race without too much distraction.

-- Paul Dulaney

Johnson & Johnson's Non-Irritating Paper Tape
$3
Amazon

I am shocked at how long it took me to figure out the virtues of a pruning saw. For three decades I have sweated with a regular hand saw to lop off hefty tree branches, tidy up firewood, trim Christmas tree stumps, and cut down shrubs. (Trimming branches is really not a place for a mini-chain saw even if I had one). Yet month after month my regular saw would bind up in green, wet or frozen wood. On principle I avoid one-job tools, which is what a pruning saw sounded like. However when I finally got a pruning saw it was like a hot knife slicing through buttery wood. I don't think it matters much what brand you get. I now have two: a folding 7" Coleman I take car camping, and a 13" Corona Curved I use for landscaping at home. The wolfishly large teeth bite off visible chips without binding, and in no time the wettest, greenest wood is cut. But you already knew this, right?

-- KK

13" Corona Curved Pruning Saw
$24
Amazon

Or Ace Hardware

Manufactured by
Corona Clipper

Warm wool socks that don't itch. Using a terrycloth weave of 100% Merino wool, these socks are blister-proof, machine washable, and come in four thicknesses, from a very light liner, to a heavy mountaineering sock. I use the Light or Hiker styles, which give incredible comfort with no feet moisture. They stand up to wear and repeated washing amazingly well. I haven't had a blister yet, even with new boots. And they really don't itch. Well worth the extra dollars.

-- KK

Smartwool Socks
$16
From, among other places
Amazon

Manufactured by Smartwool

Several people have reminded me of a cool tool that I use all the time, and should mention again. It is the website "This to That" which functions as a glue calculator. You tell it what you want to glue -- this to that -- and it will recommend the type of glue to use. It's pretty reliable. And does a great job of educating you about glue-ic possibilities.

-- KK

this to that

An astounding variety of kites from one source. Kites that swoop, kites that fit into your palm, or kites that will lift a man. All shapes, colors, speeds, prices, designs, and accessories. I like their indestructible mini airfoils that will collapse into a backpack pocket. Unroll and fly. Praise to them, they also sell hi-tech fabrics and materials for making your own sky darts. Paper and online catalog.

-- KK

Into the Wind Catalog

Flowform 4 (Airfoil)
$25

Village houses and property in rural Bulgaria can often be bought for as little as $1,000. Get 'em before Bulgaria joins the EU in 2007! I have NO commercial interest here; I just wanted to alert Cool Tool readers what types of places they can get for minimal money.

BTW, at the lower price spectrum, expect no indoor plumbing. These fixer-uppers are only for DIY 'homesteaders' at this point. But as an example, we now own 2 very livable houses and approximately 1.5 acres of land (with vineyard and orchard) which we bought for around $1,600 -- for all!

-- Molly McAnailly Burke

Currently for sale: $4,500, in Boyanovo
(plumbing, electricity, no indoor bathroom)

Bulgarian Properties