I live adjacent to a national recreation area where we enjoy a year-round parade of wildlife past our house. I can track wildlife with a remote camera triggered by an animal�s movement. Right now I am trying to capture a mountain lion in the hills behind our house on film. I�m using trail monitors, which combine a motion detector and a point and shoot camera (with auto exposure and focus) into one unit that is set up along a trail.

Detector-enabled cameras are becoming a key tool in conservation work. Because they are unobtrusive, eternally patient, and immune to sleep or bad weather, they see things observers keep missing. Trail monitors are enabling field biologists in Africa, Asia, and South America to detect species of animals in areas no one knew they inhabited. Once an animal�s existence is proven by film, it becomes easier to find other evidence of its precense.

Hunters also use these gadgets to track bigger game. I have used several types and for my purposes I am currently happiest with a game-hunting device called Cam Tracker. This a completely self-contained weatherproof unit that straps to a tree or post. I like it over others because it is simple, camoflauged, and easy to program. The beefed up battery system also lasts longer if you use the night/flash mode, which I do. They also make a digital version which I have not tried yet.

For rangers, Trailmaster makes several models of infrared wildlife monitors. These battery-operated devices detect movements that can easily be used to trigger a camera, but many folks purchase the monitor alone as a counter. Biologists taking censuses of animal populations, or hunters tracking game are typical uses. The advantage of this system is that the motion detection system is a separate unit which can be placed perfectly (even away from the camera) and tweaked to detect, say, only large animals, or only fast moving animals, so it can be used to selectively distinguish certain animals. It is also cheaper. I purchased a Trailmaster passive monitor camera kit ($180), which is geared to sensing all wildlife in a wide field of vision, to try to catalog all the animals active on the trails in the hills behind our house. It�s not as weatherproof as the Cam Tracker but we got pictures of fox, coyote, and bob cat, but alas, no panther yet. (It takes some experience to aim the set up effectively).

The coolest thing is the way getting film back from the processor is like Christmas every time. You open up the envelope with no idea what you�ve got. It certainly has broadened my view of the neighborhood.

-- KK

CamTrakker
$400
800-654-8498
Available from CamTrakker

Trailmaster Trail Monitor
TM35-1 Camera Kit
$290
800-544-5415
Available from Trailmaster

Just in time for Halloween. A trade secret from professional costume designers: throw out your sewing kit. The way to make quick and dirty costumes is to scrounge for old clothes, cut them up creatively with your scissors, and then instantly reassemble the pieces using a hot glue gun. No measuring, no patterns, no threads. The glued clothes hold up remarkably well. Since you can even wash them, it works for local theater shows. Now that you know the secret, you don't have to buy this book -- except if you want a whole bunch of cool recipes for recombining thrift-store bargains into pretty convincing period fashions.

-- KK

Instant Period Costumes
How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing
Barb Rogers
2001, 87 pages
$16
Amazon

Sample excerpt:

A glue gun and glue are the most important tools you will need. With them, you will be able to place fabric where you want, embellish your garment without sewing and seal raw edges. A glue gun produces a versatile substance that dries quickly, is washable and is a great time-saver.

For making Restoration Women: I located three dresses, which when put together make a beautiful Restoration gown. I threw all three dresses in the washer with a a mixture of brown and red dye to get the unusual color. Because the gowns were made of different fabrics and had lace on them, I achieved several shades of the same color.

I confess that I believe in Big Foot. My belief is based on no personal witness. On the contrary, my claim that a large bipedal North American ape exits is based on the huge mounds of consistent evidence I've seen from other researchers, many of them scientists. In other realms of inquiry this level of evidence would be sufficient for confirmation, but I admit that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. This investigative documentary contains the best scientific case for Big Foot in America (such as it is). It includes the four compelling video clips of alleged Big Foots that are the most persuasive so far; three of the clips have not been widely seen, the fourth is seen in crisp digital quality not available before (only degraded analog copies of copies were shown before). These movies are more than adequately analyzed in creatively skeptical ways. Other kinds of data are examined as well, including body prints and hair samples. One of the reasons I like this DVD is that they conclude that certain samples do NOT support their hypothesis. There is of course a LOT of flakiness around Big Foot beliefs but this documentary --structured as a court to try evidence about the existence of this elusive animal -- keeps the woo-woo out and all the possible science in. This DVD is as good as the argument will get at the moment. I can't promise it will change your mind, but it does shift the debate to where it should be: is there sufficient extraordinary evidence?

-- KK

Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
DVD
$30
Available from BFRO

It's not that often you run across a piece of gear that can actually save your life. Whether you're backpacking, backcountry skiing, scuba diving, or flying in the wilderness, the McMurdo Fastfind Plus is a must-have in the event you find yourself in a serious emergency situation. Up here in Seattle every year hikers, mountain climbers, and backcountry skiers get lost and don't return. Whenever I read about them in the paper I kind of sigh and think of how easy it would've been to be rescued.

When a person activates the Fastfind Plus, it uses its integral GPS to provide a 406 MHz alert signal via the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system. You see a visual indicator of GPS acquisition. Fastfind Plus also transmits on the International Aircraft Emergency Frequency of 121.5 MHz providing a homing signal for the Search And Rescue (SAR) services. With the combination of an integral GPS and satellite transmitter, Search and Rescue authorities can be notified of your emergency along with your pinpoint location within minutes, anywhere in the world.

The Fastfind only weighs 10 oz, which isn't bad considering that it can save your ass. For scuba divers, a waterproof aluminum canister is also available. I might mention that these devices are only to be used in the most dire, life-threatening emergency. It is a violation of Federal Law to misuse the device and is subject to a $250,000 fine.

-- Curt Nelson

McMurdo Fastfind Plus
$550
Available from
Star Marine Depot

Manufactured by
McMurdo

There's no better description of this book by Autodesk founder John Walker, than his own:

The Hacker's Diet ... is a serious book about how to lose weight and permanently maintain whatever weight you desire. It treats dieting and weight control from an engineering and management standpoint, and provides the tools and an understanding of why they work and how to use them that permit the reader to gain control of their own weight. The book is intended primarily for busy, successful engineers, programmers, and managers who have struggled unsuccessfully in the past to lose weight and avoid re-gaining it.

This electronic 250-page book has gone through many revisions over the past decade and is available online for free in four formats, from frame-based web to PDF files. It's been recommended by many readers.

--KK

The Hacker's Diet
John Walker

World's thinnest ballpoint pen...thinnest possible lines you could ever write. It's quite fine. It has some sort of special ink for reducing friction so it won't clog. It's not super-flowy like a normal gel pen but it allows you to make sharp and precise short lines, which is what I suspect it was designed to do (i.e. for writing Japanese characters (see circle in picture with writing between lines of text), or alternatively adding fine details into drawings). I think it's pretty cool.

-- Tim Hong

UniBall Signo Bit 0.18 mm Pen
8 Color Pen Set
$25
Available from Jet Pens

Manufactured by
Mitsubishi Pencil Company

This tool makes removing and replacing a bicycle tire quick, easy and safe -- and it does it much better than conventional bike tire irons.

Ever watch an auto tire shop mechanic mount a tire onto a rim? He's got this big power tool that runs around the bead of the tire and pops it onto the wheel. Shrink that to pocket size, a little over an ounce, and you've got the Crank Brothers Speed Lever for bike tires. It reduces the major hassle of a flat tire to a few seconds' effort. You work the speed lever under the bead of the tire, extend it and clip it to the axle. Pull on the end near the tire and zip the tire off the rim. It can take a bit of pull to get started, but this tool is worlds above conventional tire irons. And I've never pinched a tube using the Speed Lever.

One side of the head looks like a conventional tire iron and is used to remove the tire. The other hooks over the rim to lever the tire back on after you patch it. The long handle portion is actually three telescoping sections that extend to allow snapping one end onto the axle to hold it in place while you rip the other end along the rim.

In more detail, dismounting a tire with old conventional tire levers goes like this:
- Insert one tire lever under the bead, lever it down and hook it on a spoke.
- Insert a second tire lever under the bead a few inches away. Harder this time because the first one has the bead stretched. Lever it down and hook it on a spoke.
- Usually, insert a third tire lever, do the same thing. From that point you can pull the bead over the rim with your hands, being careful not to nick your hands on stray rubber or bead threads.

With the Speed Lever,
- Insert the front side of the Speed Lever head under the bead and lever it down
- Extend the sliding sections and hook the end opposite the rim onto the axle
- Grab the end of the Speed Lever nearest the rim and pull it along the rim. The other end is hooked to the axle, so pulling the rim end moves it along the rim, levering the bead over the rim. Less force required, and it keeps your hands out of the tire.

The key is that one end of the Speed Lever is on the rim, the other is hooked to the AXLE. This allows the user to pull it along the rim to mount or dismount the bead. Remounting goes in reverse, and is just as easy. You insert the back side of the head of the Speed Lever over a portion of the rim where the tire is already in the rim, extend the sliding sections and hook onto the axle. Then grab the end of the Speed Lever nearest the rim and pull it along the rim. The tire is levered back over the rim and seated.

-- Dave Shaw

Crank Brothers Speed Lever
$6
Available from, among others,
Lick Bike

Previously available from Amazon

Manufactured by
Crank Brothers

I know of no better guide to becoming a researcher than this book, which exists only online. Written by a professor to help his PhD students learn how to network and develop their professional skills, it is great advice for anyone who wants to create a place for themselves in the information economy. It's all about finding, feeding, and harvesting networks of other like-minded folks, and growing your own distinctive node. While the author naturally focuses on how academia works, there is enough valuable wisdom here for anyone doing original research (and you should!) -- whether corporate, journalistic, or part-time blogging.

-- KK

Networking on the Network:
A Guide to Professional Skills for PhD Students
Phil Agre
56,000 words; 2005
Free

[Note: short version here]

Sample excerpts:

You are not choosing which network to join; rather, you are creating a new network of your own.

Here is the procedure: (a) choose someone you wish to approach and read their work with some care; (b) make sure that your article cites their work in some substantial way (in addition to all your other citations); (c) mail the person a copy of your article; and (d) include a low-key, one-page cover letter that says something intelligent about their work. If your work and theirs could be seen to overlap, include a concise statement of the relationship you see between them. The tone of this letter counts. Project ordinary, calm self-confidence. Refrain from praising or fawning or self-deprecation or cuteness or making a big deal out of it -- you're not subordinating yourself to this person; you're just passing along your paper. Don't sound like you're presupposing or demanding that you'll get a response. Try a formula such as, "If you should happen to have any comments, I would be most interested to hear them". A good final sentiment for your letter is, "Will you be at such-and-such conference?".

Once all music is available online, for free, what's a musician to do? House concerts are one alternative. Instead of plying a circuit of poorly-paid bars, clueful musicians can now rely on their fans to organize, promote, and pay for small, intimate, private performances in their homes and other non-traditional venues. Fans win, and performers win (by earning more). This slim book explains to both fans and musicians how this new system works.

-- KK

The Complete Guide to House Concerts
Nyree Belleville
2003, 120 pages
$15
Available from
Amazon

House Concerts: They're folk presenting*
By Tom Neff
This is a pretty good online introduction to the house concert scene. Great start for fans to locate a house concert, and for musicians to set up one.

-- KK

NOTE: Unfortunately, this web site is no longer active, and a search of the Wayback Machine did not reveal the cached page or the full Rich Text version of Neff's introduction. We've contacted Neff, but in the meantime, If you have the info or know of an updated link, please let us know. And, for what it's worth, here's a good collection of house concert resources. --sl

Sample Excerpts:

What is a house concert?

When you play bars or cafes, it is frequently a struggle even getting the booker on the phone! With house concerts, you are constantly juggling plenty of gig offers, which come with guaranteed money, a guaranteed audience, and a minimum of hassles. What could be better?
-- The Complete Guide to House Concerts

Three portal sites:
concertsinyourhome.com
houseconcerts.org
houseconcerts.com

I was skeptical at first but after some practice I've become very attached to my little MIOX purifier. Its about the size and weight�of a mini-Mag Light. I've tried iodine and chlorine tablets in the past, but I've always ended up filtering my water a second time to a Nalgene bottle to get the taste out. I was initially turned off by the smell of the MIOX too. It's very strong for about 10 minutes as it off gases, but after the required 30 minutes of "dwell time" it's virtually undetectable in a 100 oz. reservoir.

I've been using the MIOX pen mostly as a backup. It runs on CR123 Lithium batteries and salt. It took some practice to get the water in the salt chamber filled and the solution to travel back through the screen to the diode. There are a couple screw caps and several ways the task can be done. But I can fill my reservoir, treat my water, and get�my reservoir back in my pack in about a minute now.�I pre-filter my water if it's really cloudy or stagnant.

The pen has multiple settings for different volumes of water. I use a 3L Nalgene bladder with the fist sized screw cap. Spare salt, test strips and a stuff sack come with it, but I carry none of them. A full salt chamber is good for about 12 doses. The rest is extra weight to me. The MIOX was developed for military applications with assistance from Darpa. Cascade Designs (parent company of MSR, Thermarest and others) partnered with the MIOX corporation to develop an entirely new type of portable water purification. I've been using one for 2 years now and have never encountered any problems. Thousands are in use by US and allied troops around the world. I'm convinced it's sound technology and a useful survival tool. When I'm not hiking it stays in my glovebox with a 2L reservoir.

-- Delian Scudder

MIOX Water Purifier
$130
Available from
REI
or from Amazon

Circus is a physical art-form that can engender a sense of control just as any type of athletics or dance training can. However, unlike most physical disciplines, circus has a place for almost any physical type. It's one of the few places where I've seen short powerfully built women valued for their bodies. The circus is associated with the carnavelsque, so it's a great way to have a party or to disrupt social patterns. And circus is also a lot of fun.

Circus is still mainly an oral tradition. Moreover, for certain of its disciplines it is confined to very particular places that can rig the necessary equipment and safety devices. It would be, for example, impossible and probably immoral to write a book describing how to learn the flying trapeze. There are plenty of books and resources for learning the object manipulation arts, eg. juggling, stick spinning, plate spinning, diabolo, etc. A good place to start with these would be Juggling Information Services. However, most serious folks quickly move back to oral traditions.

The best place to learn new juggling and assorted object manipulation is your local juggling club. The Internet Juggling Database lists juggling worldwide, by country.

For the more physical circus arts and clowning, most big cities have enterprises that offer classes. The San Francisco Circus Center and Chicago's Circus Factory are one's I have experience with but I know there is instruction available in Boulder, CO; New York, NY; Seattle, WA; Atlanta, GA; Asheville, NC.

I think the best value however, if you have the time, are youth circus programs. Many big cities have non-profit programs that teach circus to youth. Many of these programs will offer volunteers instruction in the circus arts. The American Youth Circus Organization has a directory of youth circus programs.

I personally have not been too interested in the professional schools. They are more like the graduate programs.

Of course, working for a circus is not a bad way to learn either, and the way that most people, historically, have learned the trade.

-- Forest Gregg, co-founder of Runaway Circus

Ever had that darn annoying little "check engine" light come on your dashboard? It costs a ridiculous 75 bucks just to "hook up your car and see what the computer says." And that doesn't include the cost to fix it, if anything really is wrong.

There's a very cool little thing-a-ma-jiggy called the CarChip E/X that lets you do this yourself. Since 1996, thanks to emission control regulations, just about every car sold in the USA adheres to a protocol called an OBDII. This includes an interior plug which allows anyone with a computer hookup or data scanner (like the CarChip) to plug into the car's computer and download information.

With the CarChip E/X plugged into your car, it records up to 300 hours of your driving data. In other words the CarChip acts like a car blackbox. Every trip you make is recorded. The information it records includes: time and date for each trip, distance, speed, hard accelerations and braking, and engine diagnostic trouble codes. In addition, you can pick four other parameters to record ranging from RPM, engine coolant temperature, throttle position, fuel pressure, battery voltage, etc. Using the included software, you can then graph out the data to show you how your vehicle is performing. And like an airplane blackbox, if you happen to have the misfortune of getting into an accident, the CarChip E/X will automatically generate an accident log showing the last critical 20 seconds of speed.

The OBDII port to plug the CarChip in is pretty easily found, at least on both my and my friends cars. It is typically located inside the car somewhere under the dash/steering wheel. Here's a great site that helps you determine where to look by car model.

The CarChip software (Windows only) is relatively easy to figure out once you get the hang of it. It makes it pretty simple to get all the information from your CarChip and plot it out in charts and graphs. All you do is connect the CarChip E/X to your USB port, start the program, click on download, tell it which car you are downloading from (i.e. name the log file; separate downloaded info so you can track different cars), then wait for it to finish. Then you have several different views to look at the downloaded info.

If there are any error codes stored in your car, they will show up in the log file. Error codes can be googled. There are tons of sites where they explain what the code means. The current version of the software doesn't appear to have an export to excel function, but you can do a cut and paste of the data tables and paste it into excel if you want to manipulate the data further.

You can monitor trends in your engine and hopefully be able to anticipate system failures before they occur. I can't tell you how much I enjoy looking over the data dumps (charts, graphs) from this thing and chide my wife about how many hard stops or accelerations she's made. Of course you can use this to monitor your kids driving habits. Because it records when it was installed and removed, they can't remove the device to hide their driving.

This is really one cool tool that I will always have in my arsenal. It's saved me and many friends several unnecessary trips to the dealer. And when I do have to go to the dealer for service, I'm more informed about what the problem is, and what work is probably going to be needed. Harder to get fleeced.

-- Paul Lin

Reader Neil Enns has this great suggestion: "The CarChip E/X is definitely a cool tool, but there is a similar option that costs $0. All Shucks/Checkers stores (as well as most Autozones and probably every other car store chain of similar type) will read the fault codes out of your car for free. You just pull up and ask them to come out with their code reader and they'll do it. I've done this many times with my two cars and it's saved me the ridiculous $75 charge every time." That's great for sussing out error codes; if you want the black box driving data, you'll need the chip. -- KK

CarChip E/X
$160
Available from, among others,
Shop at Midway
or from Amazon

Manufactured by
Davis

In the past five years, a number of companies have started up that offer kits to convert your diesel vehicle to run off of vegetable oil. The main players in the U.S. are Greasecar, Greasel, Neoteric, and Frybrid. Of these companies, Frybrid is the most innovative and quality minded of the lot. Frybrid was the first to introduce a really efficient heat exchanger and a microprocessor controller that will automatically switch to vegetable oil when the system is hot enough and which will not let you forget to switch back to diesel. The components of the Frybrid system were designed to handle the most challenging conditions, so that they could be installed in a Mercedes or a Mack truck. When we converted a school bus (for our traveling circus!) to biodiesel our original Greasecar system had to be largely replaced by a Frybrid one. The Frybrid system was more expensive than the competitors, and seems overbuilt, but it is much better.

-- Forest Gregg

[A clarification: This conversion kit is made for using unprocessed straight vegetable oil (SVO; straight as in straight from the kitchen) which requires a separate tank. Most biodiesel is slightly processed vegetable oil, which does not require this kit. You just pump and drive. More on Biodiesel from this Primer] -- KK

Frybrid Kit
With 15 gallon tank
$1600
Available from
Frybrid

Yes, you are a good person. But a relative or friend may not be so law-abiding. And stuff happens. Here is what to do if you are ever arrested (mostly what not to do) and what you can expect if put behind bars. Written by two professors of criminology; one was a former correctional officer, and the other served eleven years in federal custody, including maximum security. They know what they are talking about, and they dispense their straight dope with surprising clarity and uncommon elegance and wit. (One chapter is called "You've Got Jail!"). They've written a guidebook to a distant country and its alien customs and ways; may you never arrive there. You get street-smarts from inmates and wise counsel from the Man. I rank my books by how dog-eared they are; this one had nearly every page marked and underlined. This is one of the books you want to read before you need it.

-- KK

Behind Bars
Surviving Prison
Jeffrey Ian Ross & Stephen C. Richards
2002, 219 pages
$10
Amazon

Sample excerpts:

The first thing you need to remember [if arrested] is keep your mouth shut and do not discuss your arrest or case with anyone, police or fellow inmates.