I was recently reminded of this cool tool for sprained ankles when my wife and I were hustling to locate an obscure theater before the doors shut. Not watching my foot path, I stepped on a misaligned concrete sidewalk and went to the ground after rolling my ankle. I couldn't wait to get home to put my Aircast on. This product stabilizes your injured ankle well enough that you'd have to go hiking on poorly maintained trails to reinjure your ankle after a sprain. My last sprain was twelve years ago and the Aircast got me 95% healed within three weeks; without it, I've gone longer than three months. Truly amazing if you sprain your ankle. They can be ordered direct from the company, but even in my town of 16,000, there's one pharmacy that carries them in stock. Around $40.00 and worth twice that, easily.

-- John Monguillot

Aircast Air-Stirrup Ankle Brace
$37
From the Ankle Shop, among others
Also from Amazon

Manufactured by
Aircast

The Boom uses noise cancellation technology to allow you to clearly communicate even if you are calling from the noisiest of places. For example, this headset is now widely used on rambunctious stock market trading floors. I was blown away when I tested this with a friend. His voice came through clearly even though he was in a room with the stereo and television blasting away so loudly he couldn't hear his own voice. The clarity of his voice on my side was perfect.

The headset comes with two jack cables: one for standard cell phones and another for Nokia cell phones which have a slightly different jack. In addition, purchased separately, you can obtain a jack cable that connects directly to a computer "mini" microphone input and audio output. That's probably how the folks on Wall Street connect their Boom headsets in. The delightful headset stays snug even on heads as misshapen as mine. The wire-embedded-in-plastic design means the headset can truly be molded and adjusted... something that can not be done with other headsets.

When you are finished the boom fits nicely into any shirt pocket. A very cool feature is that the Boom ear piece unit is attached by a clever magnetic clip... so you can quickly detach and swing the earpiece unit around to attach it so it works for the opposite ear.

-- Dan Dubno

The Boom
$150
Available from The Boom

This powder is a non-toxic, non-chlorine bleach. Chemically it works like hydrogen peroxide, which is a water molecule with an added unstable oxygen. OxyPower is chiefly sodium percarbonate, which is washing soda with additional unstable oxygen. As in hydrogen peroxide, the excitable oxygen bubbles off when it reacts, chemically oxidizing smells, films, germs and stains of all kinds. But because OxyPower is a dry powder it is far more durable and stable than hydrogen peroxide, easier to concentrate, and cheaper in bulk. (Drugstore hydrogen peroxide is 2% solution; OxyPower is equivalent to 27% peroxide.) Best of all, percarbonate degrades to simple oxygen and washing soda (sodium carbonate). Greenies love it, and it is sold in many environmental friendly stores. I feel comfortable using it in the kitchen, and will freely work it in my hands; it has an alkaline soapy feel and fizzes satisfyingly.

Dissolved in water, it works wonders on carpet stains, soiled clothing, weird gunk on counters, mildew, trash cans, refrigerator smell and so forth. American Test Kitchens tested all available cleaners and found that sodium percarbonate was the all-around champ on getting severe grease, food, coffee and wine stains from clothes. Generally, oxygen bleaches won't fade or affect colors like chlorine bleaches will.

Sodium percarbonate is an old chemical, but manufacturers only recently learned how to make this stuff in the vast quantities needed to be tossed by the cupfull into laundry machines. For around-the-house chores, I've found that a very little of this stuff will go a long way. You can mix it to your own preferred concentration. There are a number of powdered cleaners based on sodium percarbonate and they all have "oxy" in their names. (Liquid cleaners with "oxy" in the name are usually hydrogen peroxide.) But of these, OxyPower has the highest percentage of the active ingredient. OxiClean, from another manufacturer, is a best buy for laundry use. Most general stores, like Walmart and Target, carry it.

-- KK

Shout OxyPower Multi-Purpose Stain Remover
$4, for 24 oz.
Drugstore.com

Manufactured by Shout

My wife and I have discovered an economical source for renting books on tapes or CDs: Cracker Barrel restaurants.You buy a tape or CD at any branch for the full price ($20), and when you are done, you return it to ANY Cracker Barrel restaurant. Hold on to your receipt. They will refund your purchase price minus a weekly fee of about $3. May not work that well for a commute, but for a long car trip, it's just the thing. Cracker Barrels are usually located along the Interstates, which makes it very convenient to pop in and get a new 'book'.

-- Juergen Lorenz [also suggested by Travis Allison]

[For more about books on tape, see an earlier review here. -- KK]

Cracker Barrel Store Directory
[500 stores, but none on the west coast yet!]

A zen masterpiece. Veteran magazine photographer Jim Brandenburg, who normally shoots scores of rolls of film per day, gave himself a difficult but possible assignment: Make a portrait of the north woods in upper Minnesota over the ninety days between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. Now make it impossible: Take one, and only one, exposure per day. No second exposure, no second chance. A single arrow per day, and a bull's eye each time. That's zen. For amateurs and professionals alike this requires relying on the Force. Particularly since many of his subjects are wild birds and stealthy wolves. The ninety images stand strong, each on their own, but the complete symphony is one of the most impressive acts of mindfulness I've seen.

All 90 photographs and many other remarkable Jim Brandenburg images are available at his website. Additionally, the full set of images was also published in a smaller format in the November 1997 issue of National Geographic.

-- KK

Chased by the Light
Jim Brandenburg
1998, 104 pages
$17
NorthWord Press
Amazon

Excerpt:

I sensed there would be lessons learned. There were, but not always those I had imagined. Some were merely lessons remembered, recapturing things I had forgotten, such as remaining open to chance, and that, in nature, not all beauty is giant in scale. One such lesson occurred on October 15th, the twenty-third day. It was late and I despaired of capturing anything of value. The day was dark and gloomy; my mood reflected the weather. I wandered through the dripping forest all day long. Tired, hungry, and wet, I was near tears. I was mentally beating myself for having passed up several deer portraits and the chance to photograph a playful otter. None of those scenes spoke to me at the time.

But perhaps because I was patient, and perhaps because, as natives do on a vision quest, I had reached my physical limits, I became open to the possibility revealed by a single red maple leaf floating on a dark-water pond. My spirits rose the instant I saw it, and although the day was very late and what little light there had been was fleeing rapidly, I studied the scene from every angle. Finally, unsure of my choice, I made the shot anyway, thankful at least that the long day had ended. Once more I was surprised by the result. The image seems to have a lyrical quality, with a rhythm in the long grass.

Nine days, nine images. Among the images shown here (taken from the National Geographic article) are a wolf chasing ravens and a bloodied pawprint of an injured wolf.

The closest thing to the Still Suits worn by the Fremen desert people in Frank Herbert's Dune world, set 10,000 years in the future. You hydrate more often with these because you don't have to reach for anything; the containers can carry up to about two liters. Also they don't bang around on the outside of your pack; the new backpacks often build in pouches to accommodate them. They make insulated ones that don't freeze, which I use for snowboarding.

-- Alexander Rose

Camelbak Classic (updated 2007)
$36
CamelBak Products, Inc.
1310 Redwood Way, Suite 200,
Petaluma, CA 94954
800/767-8725,707-792-9700
Amazon

Step-by-step instructions for making scores of stylized ornamental bamboo fences. From Japan where they take this art seriously. Bamboo can grow anywhere most trees grow and is ideally suited to fence making.

-- KK

Building Bamboo Fences
Isao Yoshikawa
1999, 142 pages
$14
Graphic-sha Publishing Co.
Distributed by Kodansha International
Amazon

Excerpt:

I have shaved my head for four years now, and one thing has made this job possible - the HeadBlade. This amazing little razor makes shaving one's head enjoyable and easy, rather than a painful chore. It was specially designed by a head-shaver, with head-shavers in mind, and works beautifully.

Maintaining the proper angle of a razor is much more complicated on a rounded surface that is both above and behind you (your head), as opposed to one's face, which is mostly flat and easily seen in a mirror. Even a pivoting head razor does not allow sufficient tolerance. The design of the HeadBlade however is such that as long as the blade and the back of the razor are both in contact with the scalp, the correct angle is maintained with no adjustments or attention necessary.

Replacement blades are very easy to find. I have found that both Gillette Atra and Trac II razors use the same blades. I buy my replacement "Twin II Plus Cartridges" blades at Walgreens -- 15 for $5. Some Walgreens stores now also carry the HeadBlade itself.

-- Kyle Wayman

Headblade
$12
from Amazon, among others

Manufactured by Headblade

I've tried using a few different dedicated ebook readers. They suck; they are much worse than paper books. But I do like using my Palm handheld as an ebook reader, especially at night in bed with the backlight on. I bought a Sony Clie T615C with a color 320 x 320 screen for about $75 used. I see they're going for less than $50 on eBay now. A great deal for a 16MB device.

The screen is about 2.5 x 2.5 inches and it's at least as legible as a computer screen, if not more. The pixels are very small and the characters are very sharp. This high resolution is key for reading -- the kind of screen that comes with the Treo 600, for example, is no good for long texts. Any Palm device will work, but standard low resolution (160x160) makes it more difficult to read. The Sonys and the Palm Tungsten have that satisfying high resolution (320x320).

The free Palm Reader allows bookmarking, searching, and note-taking. It's a great little app. Invisible until you need it. To turn the page, you just tap the screen (there are several other ways to turn the page).

The best place to buy ebooks for handhelds is from Palm Digital Media, which sells ebooks for Palm and Windows handhelds. Palm Digital has lots of the books I want, like Steven Johnson's Mind wide Open, and Bill Bryson's A Brief History of Nearly Everything. The prices are good, too. Mind Wide Open costs $13.49 here. It's $17.50 on Amazon in paper. Best of all, there's no waiting for the book to show up in the mail -- you get it the instant you pay for it. I've read a couple of dozen books this way, and have come to resent having to use real books, which now seem too heavy to have to hold up.

-- Mark Frauenfelder

Sony Clie T6152
$160 new
Amazon

Plam Digital Media

Palm Readers

Egg Beater S classic

The ability of cleats to significantly increase your efficiency while riding a bike is hard to appreciate until you have tried them. Instead of merely pushing down with your legs, you get to pull up and push forward too. That gives you added power. And since you now use more than one muscle, you also have added endurance. The dual worries of getting your feet off the pedals, and using the pedals without cleats are solved ingeniously by this design: your cleats will pop out of the pedals with an easily controlled bend.

-- KK

Bike pedals have been around forever, and one would assume they would have reached their climax state in sophistication and function. Wrong -- Egg Beaters beat every other cleated bike pedal out there. They lock your feet in securely, but also afford effortless release. My road bike friends like them too, but they excel on mountain bikes, as the design self-clears mud and dirt, and the mechanical advantage of the design guarantees that a stray bit of dust isn't going to lock your feet into the pedal.

And they just keep getting better. I bought my first pair -- the classic egg beaters-- just over two years ago. Then when I purchased my new mountain bike earlier this year, I bought the new Egg Beater Candys --- just like the classic, but with tiny platforms wrapped around the egg beater mechanism. This makes it much easier to ride unclipped for short periods than was possible with the old pedals. I haven't tried the Egg beater Mallets (street shoe ready) yet.

In short, Egg beaters transformed my ride, and I can't imagine riding a bike that didn't have them.

-- Paul Saffo

Egg Beater Candy

Got new pedals for my mountain bike at the recommendation of all the reviewers at MTBR.com. Egg beaters from Crank brothers. Light, work like a charm, and self cleaning. I'm never going back to conventional pedals or other types of clip-ons that get fouled with mud and dirt. I went with the Egg Beater S but they have lighter and pricey-er versions made mostly of titanium.

-- Heath Dieckert

Egg Beater Candy
$108
Amazon

Manufactured by
Crank Brothers

Reviews at mtbr.com

Optimism is not a mere sunny outlook on life, nor is it simple self esteem. Rather it is a type of self-knowledge that can make people healthier and happier. And 20 years of controlled scientific clinical trials have proved that it can be learned. Furthermore, optimism can be taught to children. There is probably no better gift to kids (your own or others) than to teach them how to train themselves to be happy. If for no other reason than the fact that pessimism leads to illness and depression. This book is based on large-scale programs that have taught kids of all backgrounds and dispositions how to be more optimistic.

-- KK

The Optimistic Child
A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong Resilience
Martin E. P. Seligman
1995, 336 pages
$11
Amazon

Excerpt:

Why should we bother? Isn't pessimism just a posture with no effects in the world? Unfortunately not. I have studied pessimism for the last twenty years, and in more than one thousand studies, involving more than half a million children and adults, pessimistic people do worse than optimistic people in three ways: First, they get depressed much more often. Second, they achieve less at school, on the job, and on the playing field than their talents augur. Third, their physical health is worse than that of optimists. So holding a pessimistic theory of the world may be the mark of sophistication, but it is a costly one. It is particularly damaging for a child, and if your child has already acquired pessimism, he is at risk for doing less well in school. He is at risk for greater problems of depression and anxiety. He may be at risk for worse physical health than he would have if he were an optimist. And worse, pessimism in a child can become a lifelong, self-fulfilling template for looking at setbacks and losses. The good news is that he can, with your help, learn optimism.

*

Optimistic children explain good events to themselves in terms of permanent causes. They point to traits and abilities that they will always have, like being hard-working, likable, or lovable. They use "always" when they describe the causes of good events. Pessimists think in terms of transient causes. "I was in a good mood," or "I practiced hard this time." Their explanations of good events are qualified with the words, "sometimes" and "today," and they often use the past tense and limit it to time only ("I practiced hard this time."). When children who believe their successes have permanent causes do well, they will try even harder next time. Children who see temporary reasons for good events may give up even when they succeed, believing the success was a fluke.

This gear has managed to turn my many long-distance airplane trips into peaceful journeys. It turns out a lot of the fatigue of long flights is the constant drum of the airplane�s engines. With this magical headset on, that noise completely vanishes. Gone! In its place you can listen to music (whatever source) or just pure faint silence. For sleeping on planes, there is no better technology, including chemicals. Because of the smart design of the generous ear cups there is no ear cringe from wearing these for hours on end. In fact, they are far more comfortable than the flimsy lightweight Walkman-style earsets. Even though these weigh more, they feel better. I put them on when I board a plane and I sleep with them on, too. Tuned low to some innocuous music channel, they coo sweetly. (It�s a shock to take the phones off because you can then hear how incredibly loud the plane�s rumble really is.) This works so well for flights that Bose makes a special aviation set just for pilots, and a military issue helmet for soldiers working in high-decibel environments like a helicopter. All this comfort comes to you via some very clever chips that cancel out noise signals. This pricey set make perfectly wonderful earphones for land as well, particularly if you need to listen anywhere there is a lot of background distractions. I haven�t yet tried it in a shop environment, or while mowing the grass, but I will.

This is really one of those things you have to hear to believe. Bose has a thirty-day free trial period. Take them up on their offer next time you have a fourteen-hour flight and see if it works for you.

-- KK

Bose Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset
$300
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by and available from Bose

Whenever I overhear a complaint of someone's long time-wasting commute I want to shout, "It doesn't have to be that way. You can read books while you drive!" By "read," I quickly add, I mean listening. Books on tape aren't new, but they aren't as common as they should be. Which is a shame because the selection of books available for auditing continues to expand, their relative price continues to drop, and the venues where they can be rented or bought continue to increase. Many public libraries have decent collections, more online bookstores sell them, and now many titles are available on CD. I've read, oh I suppose, hundreds of books this way. And I've met others likewise initiated into this underground. Here's what we know about how to maximize this great medium.

1) Being read to is a pleasure. Hearing a book instead of "watching" it can be a powerful experience.

2) Start with a good story. If you have never listened to a book on tape before, pick what you know is a good tale to begin with. You can always get to that self-help or executive summary later. Try the Pulitzer-winning novel Lonesome Dove for a memorable treat.

3) If at all possible choose an unabridged version. The unabridged is how the author wanted you to get his/her story. One of the delights about books on tape is that they are far more leisurely (reading aloud takes longer), so you can exploit this pace by getting the full unexpurged version. As a rule of thumb, most unabridged books will require at least eight cassettes at minimum, with very long ones like Peter the Great taking up to forty or more. Many of the books on tape for sale in bookstores are slim two- or four-cassette abbreviated versions. I consider these a second choice.

4) If a book is only available in an abridged version, it can still be enjoyable. Very rarely, it can be better. Cyberpunk author William Gibson actually prefers the abridged audio version of his book Neuromancer. Occasionally I've deliberately chosen an abbreviated version because I just didn't want to sit through the long edition. Still, a book worth reading is usually worth the original text.

5) Avoid dramatizations. These were in vogue for a while but luckily they've mostly disappeared. More than one person acts out the dialog, but the histronic tone usually turns a book into theater. There is something incredibly satisfying about having one voice (with accents and drama, yes) continue through the work.

6) Narrators matter. I have learned to never listen to an author read his own work, no matter who. A professional narrator can make all the difference between a book that sings and one that dies. Good narrators can pronounce technical and foreign names exactly, and often do accents properly. Their voices don't waver or dull. But the wrong narrator can pollute a book. I will return a book if I find the narrator's voice makes me wince. Conversely, if I notice a great narrator I will now seek out the other books they have done. Narrating is a very laborious process and good narrators are in top demand, so they won't invest their time in a mediocre book. Half the spell of a book is cast by the narration.

7) With that in mind, sometimes a narrated version of a book is actually better than reading it. The example on everyone's mind these days is the Harry Potter series. I have no hesitation in saying that Jim Dale's narration of Harry Potter is better than reading it. (If you want my best candidate for a book to start out, pick any Harry Potter book and listen to it on tape; Dale's is the only version available at the moment). Dale does something like 120 different voices for the series (so far) and each one is absolutely perfect. He makes an already remarkable series of books fantastic. Another book that was better on tape than reading it was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Again, the narrator got the accents of these characters more exact and colorful than my reading ear could have. Russian novels are often improved by audio because they can get all those Russian names and places perfect.

8) Over the years I've found that the best books for auditing are either fiction or history. I still read a lot of nonfiction on tape, but fiction and history work best for me. Both have deep narrative structure. I choose more and more history now because I realize that I don't have the patience to read history, as in using my eyes while staring at the page. The captured-audience nature of listening (can't skip easily) demands that I follow the course all the way through. And I'm usually glad I did. So most of the history I read now, I actually audit. Happily, there are a lot of great historical books on tape.

9) Having a parallel printed copy of a book can help alleviate one of an audio book's primary weaknesses: there's no way to bookmark a passage. Stewart Brand, another audio book fanatic, will usually keep a hard copy of the text in book form handy so that he can mark sections he wants to refer to later. I don't do that but I sure wish I could bookmark stuff.

10) You have a choice of channels. A) Cassettes are still the default. The pros: most cars have players; easy to retain your place if you take it out. Cons: break too much, too many tapes for long books. B) CDs are the up-and-coming venue. Pros: Crystal clear, compact, reliable. Cons: Lose place if you yank it out to put on some music, and not all cars have players. C) Coming soon: downloaded versions. You can already get MP3 versions of books to play on dedicated players. I confess I haven't tried any of these because tapes and CDs work well enough, but I can see the advantages clearly: very compact, very fast delivery, and possible mechanisms for bookmarking.

11) Auditing while driving is not dangerous. I don't know how it works but you can be completely engrossed in a story, while the other you somehow drives at your top skill. It's not the same as talking on a cell phone. Works best if you know exactly where you are going, like on a commute. Doesn't work if you have to navigate; you'll miss a turn for sure.

12) Rent or buy? Public libraries have gotten smart and are stocking up. You can usually find what you want via the interlibrary loan system. Book shops mostly sell. I occasionally will buy a particularly good tape and then circulate it to friends, who will do the same. It makes an informal books-on-tape lending circle. The two main sources for rental--which costs about $10 per short book, or part of a long book--are below.

Where to start? Let's see; this summer my wife and I (on separate commutes) listened to War & Peace, all of it. Great book, great narration. Took three months, but worth every second. Adventures like The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air are just right. Robert Hughes' history of Australia, The Fatal Shore, listened well. Occasionally I throw in some lightweight mystery or technothriller. Right now I'm auditing the Odyssey and the Illiad. You get the picture. Traffic jams are just story-time extenders. If I've got a good book, and someone to read, I'll go slow and learn something.

-- KK

Books on Tape
800-626-3333

Recorded Books
880-638-1304

Okay, you are sold on the basic sanity of Fit or Fat, (reviewed here) but what do you actually do today? I mean where do you start? The best answer to that question is Body for Life, which pound for pound has more motivating specifics than anywhere else. The catalyst is a simple bargain: you can change the shape and fit of your body in twelve weeks if you are willing to work reasonably hard with a reasonably flexible plan manageable by most busy people. I figured I could stand almost anything for twelve weeks, if it produced results. Well, it worked for me at least, much better than I expected, and it has apparently worked for many others, judging from the photos and the constant friend-of-a-friend referrals this book produces. Most importantly, once your body reshapes itself (this is not about losing weight), the logic of Body for Life (the same as Fit or Fat) becomes habit.

-- KK

Body for Life
12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength
Bill Phillips
1999, 201 pages
$18
HarperCollins
Amazon

Excerpt:

"Before" and "after" snapshots of participants in a contest to see how much they could change their bodies in twelve weeks.

*

Myth: aerobics is better for shaping up than weight training.
Fact: To transform your physique, you must train with weights.

Myth: Muscles grow while you're working out.
Fact: Muscles grow while you are resting and recuperating.

Myth: Lifting a weight is what stimulates muscle growth.
Fact: Lifting and lowering a weight stimulates muscle growth.

*

Enough evidence now exists to concretely state that lowering the weight is just as important as lifting it. It's true. It turns out that weight lowering causes much of the muscle-cell damage that stimulates an adaptation. You see, when you lengthen the muscle, which occurs during that eccentric portion of an exercise, you literally tear portions of the muscle fibers, signaling a stage of remodeling, or muscle growth. (You'll know when you've experienced this phenomenon because a day or two after your workout, your muscles will be sore. That's a sign that the "earth has moved.")

*

When you apply the Intensity Index properly to both your resistance training and aerobic workouts, you'll never hit the ceiling. You'll always move up to higher and higher high points. And that means you'll continually be stimulating your muscles while losing fat. You'll become more metabolically efficient. Your body will burn fat at a significantly elevated rate, even while you're sitting at your desk or driving your car or reading a book...even while you're sleeping.

This graph demonstrates the pattern of strength-building aerobics. To maximize a twenty-minute workout, you must press toward your maximum effort and "break through" your intensity level.

The classic book on fitness has been rewritten after twenty-five years and is, unexpectedly, better than ever. There's still not a fad in it, and it is still lean, brief, and witty. Now with more attention to aging, more reliance on home testing, and more encouragement for weightlifting, this is still the best overall guide to the how and why of getting fit.

-- KK

Ultimate Fit or Fat
Covert Bailey
1999, 170 pages
$10
Amazon

Excerpt:

Fat people who are constantly dieting should worry less about how to lose weight. Instead they should ask themselves. "Why do I gain weight so easily?"

*

As a person becomes more and more out of shape and the muscles fill up with fat, the arms and waistline become softer and softer. I remember a tall, thin young woman I tested who had never exercised a day in her life. I gripped her arm and said, "Tighten up, Susie."
"Okay!" she said obligingly. I waited a few seconds, but her arm felt as soft as ever.
"Tighten up, Susie," I repeated.
"I am, I am!" she grunted, her face red from the effort.
This woman was so out of shape and her muscles were so soft no amount of flexing made them harder. She looked thin on the outside, but she was fat on the inside.

*

The underwater immersion test is time-consuming, takes up lots of laboratory space, and is scary for many people, so most testing facilities use less accurate but more convenient methods. Most techniques measure the fat just beneath the skin, on the assumption that the amount of subcutaneous fat increases as total body fat increases. When you consider all the places inside the body where fat can accumulate, such as around the intestines and inside muscles, it's hard to believe that measuring skin fat would reflect total body fat, but we have measured peoples' fat both underwater and with the skin test for years and using our formula, subcutaneous fat measurements are amazingly accurate.

*

Remember! If you can't exercise exactly by the rules I've given you, just do a lot of it. Quantity can substitute for quality. That's why sports almost always makes people fitter than strict exercise at a health club.

*

Don't Even Think about Distance
It doesn't matter how far you go. What matters is how many minutes a day you spend trying to change your body into a fit body. Exercise for time, not distance.

*

It's been a long time since we had a child at home. But our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene, recommends the EarCheck Middle Ear Monitor, which uses sonar to check for ear infections, the number one reason kids need to see a doctor. Just slip the nose cone of the device into child's ear and press a button. The child hears a chirping noise but feels nothing--and you get a reading that indicates how well the eardrum is moving. A "Green" light means the eardrum is functioning well, and most likely your child does not have an ear infection. A "Red" reading suggests that there is fluid behind the eardrum, so a visit to the physician is needed. Further details on using the monitor can be found at Dr. Greene's Housecalls.

-- Tom Ferguson, M.D.

Ear Check
Middle Ear Monitor
$50
Available from Amazon

On application this duct tape is not as invisible as one would wish for, but neither is it the blazing grey badge of desperation you usually get with industrial duct tape. It's a little less noticeable, but still retains duct tape's old magic -- a straight 90 degree tear by hand, durable strength, good sticking power. Another benefit of this transparent version: 3M claims it lasts 6 times longer than the standard variety, having been engineered for extreme temperatures and UV exposure. Since it has only been recently introduced, I can't measure its full longevity but it seems to hold up remarkably well. Dispenses easier too. Good stuff. [Suggested by David Stubbs]

-- KK

Scotch Transparent Duct Tape
1.88in. x 60ft.
$7
Amazon

Manufactured by 3M

Life Balance is just a to-do list, computer enhanced---an extremely smart to-do list. It is to normal to-do lists what word processing on a PC is to writing on a typewriter. The cynical, ultra-critical nerds at VersionTracker rain praise and thanks on the program--- "cannot recommend enough;" "superb;" "elegant and ingenious;" "it's a way of life."

The "life balance" part comes at the start of using the software. You define a half dozen or so major life activities within which all your activities and tasks can be hierarchically outlined. Mine happened to be: Consolidate Long Now; Expand Long Now; Earn money; Keep fit; Maintain home; Explore. Then you break everything down into projects, tasks, and subtasks. The program keeps a tally of what you actually do (ie. check off your lists) and keeps you informed how your overall balance is developing. That's fine, though to me it's the least interesting feature of the program.

What's interesting is how dynamic and nuanced the whole operation is. Tasks can be defined as repeating, with definable lead times. Relative importance is definable; so is relative difficulty. Subtasks can be made sequential (so only one at a time appears on your daily to-do list). Location is assignable, so you don't trouble with home or shopping chores while at the office. Date-specific items appear on your calendar. And so on.

I thought at first that the program was too fussy. Now I think it's just fussy enough. I make use of nearly all the features. The instructions with the program are rich and terse, worth reading closely. For instance, one is advised to define subtasks that take no more than an afternoon's work.

Life Balance synchs happily with any Palm OS device, so I do the chore checking on my Treo 600 as readily as on my Mac. (The software works on Windows 98+, Mac OS 9/X, and PalmOS 3.0+)

It's a fair amount of trouble to maintain a detailed to-do list like this. Is it worth the trouble? Probably not for everybody, but it sure is for me. Several malfunctions in my work life instantly got better. I no longer have to derive and re-derive what I should work on next. That's huge. Also my desks got totally cleared, because I no longer need the piles as reminders of things I'm supposed to work on. That's even huger---those piles were oppressive to the point of inspiring arson. I now can clear all sorts of backlogs---incoming email, pocket written and voice-recorded notes, unexamined new books, etc. just because I have daily check-offable items like "Clear day's email."

I do more and stress less. Can't ask for more than that.

Writing this review was on my sequential subtask list for Kevin's Cool Tools. I might not have gotten to it if it weren't there. Now I can go check it off. One less thing in my head; one more thing in the world.

-- Stewart Brand

Life Balance
$80, downloadable, one free trial month
Llamagraphics

For the last five years I've used a synthetic chamois called The Absorber to dry my boat and cars. It is so good I can't bear to use anything else. It holds more water and absorbs faster than towels or real chamois. The chamois I used years ago had to be thoroughly dried out after use or it would rot, and when dry, was hard to store. Then you had to get it wet before use and wring it out frequently since it didn't hold much water. A towel, once wet, doesn't leave a dry surface (all those spots). The Absorber when moderately wet leaves your surface utterly dry. It's kind of amazing, really.

After you're done using it, just fold it in half, roll it up wet and tuck it in its hard plastic storage tube. It says you can machine wash it but I haven't tried that myself.

On the company website, you can read details on its PVA open-cell material. The company claims that the product is "the best drying tool you'll ever discover" and I have to agree it is -- it is superior drying technology. I now own four of them in different colors. The site says you can use it to dry pets but I have never tried it on my dog (she's a short hair model and doesn't really need it), but I will try it on myself.

The Absorber is sold in marine, powersports and automotive stores, as well as most Walmarts, K-Marts and Targets for between $13 to $15 for a 27" by 17" section, as well as Amazon. I believe knock offs may now be available at mass market.

-- Steve Leveen

The Absorber
Manufactured by
Clean Tools
800-654-3933
$10
Available from Amazon

I started riding a bike for the first time as an adult, at age 37. After an onslaught of expensive auto repairs and with the encouragement of my partner who is a bike commuter, I sold my automobile. Overnight, literally, I became a bike commuter. Living in San Francisco and facing a 16 mile daily commute to work was daunting, to say the least. Urban Bikers' has given me the know how and skills to get around the city and and out of town. This book covers everything - maintenance basics, avoiding theft, getting around in traffic, inclement weather - it's there. What's more, the illustrations make me laugh out loud. It is a savvy and wry vote of confidence for the urban cyclist - novice or otherwise.

-- Michele McGinnis

Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep A Bicycle
Dave Glowacz
1997, 297 pages
$10
Amazon

I got mine as a free gift by joining the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, but they sell them too
SFBC

Excerpts:

Remember that on a street, you either share the lane (cars pass next to you) or take the lane (you ride in the middle, and cars stay behind you or pass in another lane).

*

In the door zone (the 3 or 4 feet next to parked cars in which you could get hit by an opening door), keep track of what's behind you: If you have to swerve suddenly, you could get hit by traffic. Also, look for stretches where you can ride out of the door zone.

*

The detectors work by sensing the metal in your bike. If you stop over the symbol and it doesn't affect the traffic light, get off of your bike an lay it down on top of the symbol. This gives the detector more metal to detect.

*

Cross locking. When you cross lock your bike, you use two different lock systems at once - such as a U lock and a cable. Cross locking forces thieves to spend more time and use more than one kind of tool. If a thief sees that your bike is cross locked, he might move on to another bike that isn't.

*

Mounting a standard bike in a skirt

As photography goes inexorably digital, the old techniques of silver printmaking are resurging in popularity, particularly for collectors. This is the best magazine (in print, with resolution to match) dedicated to artists, both new and established, who work primarily in glorious black and white. It is geared for those, even of modest means, who would like to own a fine, handmade print.

-- KK

B&W
Black and White Magazine
$35, 1 year (8 issues)
PO #700
Arroyo Grande, CA 93421

Excerpt:

Richard Garrod
"Leaves and Log, Oregon," 1981. Silver gelatin

*

Edward [Weston's] photographs of sand dunes, and especially the nudes of Charis in the sand, are so prominent in the history of Twentieth Century photography, and they are so strongly identified with Edward, that most people believe he made them first and that Brett [his son] followed. But that's not the case. Brett began to photograph the dunes in 1932--two years before his father--because he was taken there by his brother Chandler, who had already made photographs there himself.

*

"Underwater Nude," 1980; "Car Abstraction," c. 1980s; "Shore Line, Hawaii," c.1980s; all by Brett Weston.

A cinematic poem celebrating the human relation to the eternal. Not a word is spoken, but every person alive in the twenty-four countries this was filmed in would understand it. It's about Us on Earth Now. It's the first truly sacred film I've seen (best viewed in DVD on as large a screen as possible). Next time they send a disc into space to be viewed by aliens, this is the disc they should send.

-- KK

Baraka
Ron Fricke
1992, 104 minutes
$15
MPI Media Group

Netflix

Amazon

Like most households we have lots of precise clocks and watches, but none of them are set to the right time (I think). With constant advancing or retreating because of travel or daylight savings, no timepiece is safe from being infected with inaccuracy. (Who has time to call for time?) Most clocks and watches linked to the exact time from Boulder, Colorado, are digital, but I'm an analog man. The 14" Atomic Wall Clock is large, analog, and self-correcting. (It's like having an atomic clock in your basement.) It's spooky to watch the hands whirl around until they find their spot as it adjusts itself in and out of daylight savings time, a chore worth at least its price. Someday all clocks and watches (and appliances!) will be this smart.

-- KK

14" Radio Controlled Clock
$35
From, among others, Amazon

These bandages simply won't come off. Not underwater, not in oil or sweat, not by wear and tear. They are extremely flexible, very comfortable, and hard to notice, too. To tell you the truth, they are so thin at the edges and stuck down they are hard to get off when you want to. A hot and messy test kitchen tried out ten different brands of bandaids, and Nextcare were the only ones to never come off. Most bandaids are put on kids for boo-boos as a placebo; for the times when you need a covering that must stay on, this one by 3M (the adhesive folks) will really do the trick.

-- KK

3M First Aid Nexcare Waterproof Bandages
$5
Available from Walgreens

Or $10 for 3pk, 20 each from Amazon

It's the quickest, handiest, most efficient hot water maker yet. It takes the piezo-ignited butane trail stove to maybe a 50% overall improvement---worth converting for many.

The main tricks are: fin-like heat exchanger ("FluxRing") where the flame meets the pot; pot attaches to stove (vastly less fiddly); pot has a cozy on it to hold heat and make gripping the pot easy; the plastic lid of the pot doubles as a cup lid for sipping direct from the pot; and the stove stows inside the pot. The weight is 12 ounces, the same or less than other light butane stove systems, but you save on weight of fuel, small pack volume, and overall convenience.

The heat exchanger means you can heat 2 cups of water in about 2 minutes, with significantly little fuel expended. So little heat escapes that you can hold the whole thing in your hand while it cooks, and the cozy never burns. The pot works better for eating from than for drinking from---I still prefer an insulated Alladdin cup (with the meaningless handle sawed off), but it's manageable for drinking if you want one less implement.

It's fine for dinner for two, or an instant cup of coffee or tea under way. You could use it riding in a car (open a window). Danny Hillis plans to use one on his desk for tea making. Alexander Rose wants it for melting snow to drink while dangling on belay.

-- Stewart Brand

JetBoil
$80
Fuel cannisters (JetBoil or others) are $3.
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Jetboil

Finding the right glue can be tricky. Epoxies can be a mess. Specialized adhesives can get expensive. Hot glue = ick.

I recently found a glue that I can reach for in most situations -- Gorilla Glue. This solvent-free polyurethane glue is best on wood (sands well), but it's not as specific as most wood adhesives. It bonds pretty well on metals, stone, ceramics, and many plastics. Another nice thing is that it foams up a bit when you apply it, so a little bit goes a long way and you don't need to spread it around so much. It is waterproof, meaning it doesn't break down when wet, and doesn't expand or contract with temperature. You do have to clamp stuff in place for a while while it dries, which you should do with any glue. If you glue infrequently, it is nice that Gorilla Glue has a long shelf life -- three years as opposed to one, as with many other polyurethane glues.

-- Camron Assadi

Gorilla Glue
$13 for 8 0z.
Amazon

Manufactured by Gorilla Glue

I was trying to think of the book that has had the greatest effect on my life. Books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , or The Fountainhead carried a lot of philosophical weight at the time I'd read them in college but they seem like junk upon re-reading them now. So, I asked myself again, what book has really changed my life? Then it hit me: it was, without a doubt, Richard Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems.

We have two kids, one age six, the other 11 months. When our six year old was a baby, we put her to sleep by holding her and rocking her. She would wake up every couple of hours, crying for us to come back and rescue her. We finally gave up and let her sleep with us. It was the only way we could get any sleep. To this day, she demands that one of us crawls into bed with her until she falls asleep.

When we had our other daughter, she would cry for us every hour at night. The whole family was exhausted from the ordeal. Would we have to suffer this ordeal for three more years?

Some friends told us to "Ferberize" her and we'd all be able to sleep soundly. We were skeptical, but we bought the book and followed the instructions faithfully. In a nutshell, Ferberization entails putting your baby in her crib, kissing her goodnight and walking out of the room. She'll cry, of course. After five minutes, you walk in and reassure her, then walk out again. This time you wait ten minutes. You repeat this, adding five minutes between return visits. It sounds cruel. As a parent, your instinct is to run to your baby as soon as she starts crying. But in this case, not following you instincts is the best course of action. It took exactly two nights to Ferberize our baby. She has learned to fall asleep on her own, and when she wakes up at night, she knows how to fall back asleep on her own. Best of all, she is happy, confident, and well-rested. And so are we. We have our nights, and as a result, our days back.

While this was truly a life-changing book, you really don't need to read it. Other chapters address the nature of sleep and how to deal with more unusual child sleep problems, but for most people, the procedure I described above is all you need. Reading the book, however, made me feel better psychologically about going through with it.

-- Mark Frauenfelder, from his madprofessor.net blog.

[I have three kids. This method works. -- KK]

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems
Richard Ferber; 1986, 256 pages
$11
Amazon

Excerpt:

Better than lying with your toddler or young child until he falls asleep at night is for him to fall asleep with a "transitional object" -- a stuffed animal, a doll, a toy, a special blanket. The toy will often help him accept the nighttime separation from you and can be a source of reassurance and comfort when he is alone. It will give him a feeling of having a little control over his world because he may have the toy or blanket with him whenever he wants, which he cannot expect from you. His toy will not get up and leave after he falls asleep and it will still be there whenever he wakes.

The coolest tool I own is my Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid car. In fact I just traded in my 2002 Toyota Prius for a new 2004 model. Some people buy these cars for the gas mileage (up to 50 mpg, depending on how and where you drive). Some buy them because they emit only 10% of the pollution of regular cars (rated as ULEV: ultra-low emissions vehicle in California). But honestly, I bought mine because I love gadgets, and the Prius is stuffed with cool gear.

The Prius has several onboard computers that regulate how the gasoline engine and electric motor work together and separately. When stopped, the car's gasoline engine shuts down completely, leaving you in silence. When the light turns green, off you go silently until you pick up enough speed for the gasoline engine to cut in. With the right touch on the gas pedal, you can send the car into electric-only mode while driving and instantly view your MPG on the car's centrally located "multi-display" screen.

The display screen also shows information about the climate and audio systems and, with the package that includes GPS navigation, shows a map of your location and where you're going. The car can also talk to you, noting how far it is to the next turn on your route and reminding you with a "ding" when you're there. The 2004 model comes with voice-activated controls for the navigation, climate controls, and audio.

The new Prius is also compatible with some Bluetooth phones, so that you can use the voice activation system to dial your cell phone without touching it, and use the car's speakers and microphone for hands-free conversation. And the 2004 version comes with optional Smart Entry/Start system. Simply by carrying the car key in my pocket or purse, I can walk up to any car door and it unlocks when the key is near. Once inside, to start the car just press the large "Power" button on the dash, move the joystick to Drive (it's all electronic drive-by-wire), and off you go. No keys need to be inserted.

A lot of this cool technology has been available in high end cars, but the Prius offers this magic at a bargain price. The most basic model is $20,510, a price that hasn't changed since the 2000 models were introduced. My newest model is loaded. It's Package #9, sometimes called "BC." Total cost before taxes, doc fee, etc. was $25,939.

The problem is, you may not be able to get one of any variety any time soon. I ordered mine in October 2003 and it arrived in February 2004. Orders taken now will likely be filled with the 2005 model.

-- Barbara Young

Toyota Prius