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December 2005 Archive
Recording the great cycle
I've been keeping journals of all kinds for more than a decade now. Travel journals, self-improvement journals, business journals, and daily journals that now form a foot-tall stack under the desk and a box of notebooks on the shelf. Yet none provide that comparative, year-to-year window into the days of life, or answer the question "How am I doing this year versus last year, or the year before that again?"
That's where "The 5 Year Journal" comes in. It's a hardbound, 266-page journal organized so that - as the title says - you can keep 5 years of brief entries in a single book. There are two days on each page, with five years of three-line entries for each day. Now three lines doesn't sound like a lot, but it's enough to capture the essence of the day. And there's no reason you can't keep other journals in parallel for lengthier meditations.
It's a well thought-out book as well. There are logically placed sections for monthly goal planning, and for monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews. Some of the Quarterly Questions might seem a bit whimsical ("My Favorite... Chuckle... Patience Builder... Tv Show"), but on the whole the author/designer Doreene Clement has exercised admirable self-restraint and thoughtfulness in putting the book together.
I'm looking forward to 2007 to see how things turned out this year.
-- Garry Ray
The 5 Year Journal
$30
Available from
Shared Vision Network
or $25 from Rare Device
Turn your Maglite into LED
This item converts any AA or AAA Maglite into an LED torch, with the same brightness as the original, the same ability to focus the bulb, much longer battery life, and eliminating the need to ever change the bulb again. It fits in the same way as the bulb, and does not require any modification to the Maglite. This is a way to keep on using the sturdy Maglite casing and benefit from LED technology.
-- Ellis Weinberger
TerraLUX TLE-10 MicroStar1 LED Replacement Bulb
$15
Available from
Pocket Lights
Or $21 from Amazon
Manufactured by TerraLUX
For additional info, see Flashlight Reviews.
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Easily and inexpensively upgrade those Mini-Mags lying around in your drawer to life long L.E.D bulbs and longer battery life. You lose the focus feature but who cares. Niteize has a bunch of other useful stuff as well.
-- Cliff Rediger
Nite Ize AA Mini Maglite LED Upgrade Kit
$11
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Nite Ize
Most reliable micro-measurer
My grandfather, who had been a tool & die maker in San Francisco in the 20's and 30's, instilled in me the habit to always buy the best tools available, period. One of the first tools I was required to buy when I entered trade school was a caliper. At the time you could get either vernier scale or dial calipers. Well the dial calipers were the new thing, so I went out and bought a pair of Starrett Dial Calipers, the best American made tools at the time, at about a week's wages. I was so proud and took extra care of them, but to my dismay, within a year I found that they, and almost all dial calipers, had a fatal flaw. The dial is driven by a very small pinion gear that rides on a very small rack, and the rack had a tendency to pick up fine chips and grit in the teeth that were very hard to clean out. This in turn caused to pinion to skip and would cause the dial to jump its calibration. I had my first introduction to this problem when I was working on a camera part and all of a sudden it seemed all my dimensions were off by .025" (this is a lot in the world of precision). This cost me a day's work plus I had to fess up to my boss, a real tyrant, about my problem, and was he pissed! Well about five years later a colleague of mine showed me the "new new" thing which was a digital caliper. This caliper works on an electro-magnetic field so there are no moving parts to speak of, just the reader head sliding along the scale. This requires a wipe down with a clean rag every couple of days of use. The other features that made the digital version so much better was you could set the zero any place you wanted. So you could zero on a master part, and then check all succeeding parts and instantly know if they were plus or minus of the master. Also you could switch from inches to metric with push of a button, very handy for working on things made overseas (metric).
Without a doubt my favorite digital calipers are the 6" Digimatic made by Mitutoyo. Mitutoyo is among the first to make digital calipers and seemed to get a jump on everyone else. Remarkably that seems to still be the case 20 years later. The Mitutoyo are the most copied, knocked-off calipers on the market. A friend of mine recently acquired a set of Swiss-made digital calipers and although they work well they are a little clunky and the sliding action is a bit rough.
I never cease to be amazed at the number of things I use my digital calipers for, out side of working in a machine shop. I keep one of my old sets at home and I use them all the time.
-- Chris Rand
Mitutoyo MyCal Digital Caliper
6 inches
$130
Available from
Penn Tool Co.
Also from Amazon
Electrical usage meter
My electric bills are killing me, and now I can finally figure out exactly why.
The Kill-A-Watt plugs into a wall outlet and will measure the actual electricity usage of any appliance. I've been wanting one of these things for years, to the point of seriously considering manufacturing one myself. I'm glad someone has finally done it for me. It looks like my computer costs me something like $216 a year to run. Trouble is, I have five of them. Something's gotta go.
Street price for this device is about $30. I should save that much in the first month.
An additional idea that I thought of would be combining these units with that cheesy home-network technology that communicates via your home's electrical system. (Or use WiFi) That way several wall units could communicate with a PC and give you a running total of your energy consumption. The system could automatically retrieve your electrical rates from the Internet and even give you a running total in dollars of what you're spending.
-- Curt Nelson
Kill-A-Watt
$28
Available from
Amazon
Manufactured by
P3 International
Gift wrapping aid
The handband version of the 3M pop-up tape strip dispenser is fantastic. When wrapping gifts, it's hard to realize just how much you would appreciate being able to get pieces of tape in exactly the right size, every time, with one hand. The tape strips are not economical for everyday use (about $3.50 for a 3 pack of 75 strip refills), but the gift-wrapping simplification yielded from this small tool is greater than you would expect.
-- Patrick Niemeyer
3M 91 Handband Pop-up Tape Strip Dispenser
$4
Available in drugstores or from
Farm & Home Supply Center
Catalog of ethnic diversity
What a mysterious and fantastical book. This hefty softcover is a facsimile collection of thousands of exotic and sensational photographs dating from around the turn of the century when news of any sort from far away lands was rare. It's sort of a combination of early uncensored National Geographic and Ripley's Believe It or Not. Reproduced without a known author, or copyright, or even authentication of the captions, it was for many years a "secret" underground publication. And for pure gawking pleasures it still can't be beat. Cannibals, executioners, and fakirs, oh my! Toolwise, it serves as a mighty sourcebook of amazing costumes, body modifications and hairdos, architectural novelties, and extinct strange rituals. (I'm convinced science fiction film directors mine this for alien worlds.) I like to think of this book as the best one volume catalog of cultural diversity on Earth. For the most part these societies are long gone, and remain only in rare books like this one. It's a super bargain at $25.
-- KK
Secret Museum of Mankind
David Stiffler
1999, 576 pages
$25
Available from
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
As a young boy from a largely white middle-class neighborhood, I held my breath as I incredulously leafed through the tinted pages of the most fantastic book I had ever opened. The book was in tatters, for it had passed through many hands and a few generations. I believe the book came to me from my grandfather, a lay pastor and naturalist healer. This, my original copy of the book, was somewhat defaced and edited by someone who took offense at the naked body, indicated by the way each illustration depicting an exposed female African, Asian, or Polynesian nipple was scratched out with a penknife. Aside from such human imagery, the book was full of visuals depicting practices and ceremonies rarely witnessed by Westerners and even less commonly understood, hence the appropriate use of the word secret in the title. Here in this book I saw tribal maidens, executioners whose swords had decapitated 20,000 prisoners, medicine men, chiefs, warriors, hula girls, Dutch girls in their tulip hats, rickshaw drivers, fakirs and Moslem women veiled in purdah, "savage" races, cannibals, tattooed faces and cicatrization, holy penitents, gauchos, snake charmers, nomads, gypsies, crude medical practices, strange initiation rites, matadors, Eskimos, and more all laid out as, the anonymous author put it, "five volumes in one."
It was at this point that I realized my worldview and perspective of life and peoples of the world were extremely limited. Viewing this book really caused me to examine my own surroundings and environment, and I must admit it caused a certain degree of alienation from my peers and challenged my own upbringing and values. I could no longer believe that Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was the whole world when the door to the "secret" world had been opened for me.
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This detailed face pattern in ridged flesh is known as a "full rasp." The man could only be photographed asleep; he fled the camera as witchcraft.
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Camel-Borne Palanquins for Arab Women in the Desert
Arab women of the better class travel in palanquins resembling square tents erected on the humps of camels. Gaudy striped cloth is stretched round the framework of the tent, giving an odd cage-like effect to the contrivance viewed from a little distance. When on the move over the desert, servant women walk beside the camels, and men on horseback guard the caravan.
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Cage of Death in a Lonely Pass
If one could peek through the bars of this cage there would be seen a little rubbish on the floor of it. That rubbish was once a man caught thieving in the Lataband Pass from Afghanistan into Bokhara. He was placed in this iron cage at the top of the pole and left to die of hunger. These man-cages are a favourite Afghan method of dealing with criminals.
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Quaint Freaks of Fashion That Please Mongolian Wives
Padded shoulders with chequered sleeves of grotesque length are the salient points of these ladies' strange dress, which shows how world-wide is the desire for adornment extraordinary. But the crowning effect is produced by the winged headdress through which the hair is threaded, hanging pendent from the extremities. Shoes with pointed toes complete this truly surprising accoutrement.
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Martial Dignity in Old-Time Splendid Panoply
Decoration ran riot in the headgear of officers of the old Korean army, whose service was indeed rather ornamental than military. This melancholy-looking individual, huddled up with the correct air of aristocratic helplessness on his palanquin, is a general officer. The palanquin is fitted with a single wheel which relieves the bearers of something of the weight of so much dignity.
The best portrait of our larger home
So far this is my favorite one-volume gallery of the other inhabitants in our universe. Organized by ascending distance from us, it includes portraits of known planets, remarkable stars, flamboyant nebula, and outstanding galaxies. Better than any other atlas, or map, or online source, this book gives you a really good picture of this place called the universe.
-- KK
Universe
A Journey from Earth to the Edge of the Cosmos
Nicholas Cheetham
2005, 224 pages
$3+, used, from Amazon
(This may have gone out of print. I noticed that Borders Books has piles of these on the remainder tables for $10.)
Sample excerpts:
Uranus
Planet
163 light minutes
Uranus' northern hemisphere is emerging from the grip of a long, dark, winter. Winters on Uranus are compounded by the fact that at the poles the Sun does not rise for 21 years as a consequence of the planet's extreme axial tilt. As sunlight returns, the frigid atmosphere warms stirring spring storms that blow bright clouds of crystallized methane before them at up to 420 kph (260 mph).
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Ant Nebula Mz3
Planetary nebula
3 thousand light years
Another addition to our menagerie of dying stars is this light-year-sized stellar insect. No common-or-garden variety of nebula, this creature surpasses all its cousins by producing a record breaking 3.6 million kph (2.1 million mph) outflow of charged particles. Such is the spectacular diversity of planetary nebulae, one might be forgiven for eagerly anticipating our own Sun's demise.
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Eskimo Nebula NGC2392
Planetary nebula
5 thousand light years
This Eskimo's parka disguises another bipolar planetary nebula. Its second lobe is concealed directly behind this one - we are viewing the nebula edge on. The parka's orange fur trim is though to be formed by slow-moving globules of gas streaming in an eroding flow of faster-moving material. And it is moving quickly: this Eskimo's hood is growing at 1.5 million kph (900,000 mph).
Library of possible life forms
Long a favorite of designers, this 1904 album of diverse little-known creatures and plants drawn by German biologist Ernst Haeckel has usually been reproduced in black and white. This edition is of note because while still inexpensive it retains the color plates of the original portfolio (although many of the 100 plates remain monochrome). Art Forms in Nature is a library of possibilities. Artists, engineers, and natural scientists use this album for inspiration, since each of these bizarre forms is a living highly-evolved organism. It's hard to believe all these species are earth found; why look to other planets for weird life forms?
-- KK
Since Haeckel's work is in the public domain, there are a few sites where his worked has been scanned and posted online. Here is a German site with some nice hi-res scans of some of the more specatular pages. Unless you want to make them huge, the book is still a cheaper way to "print" them out. Scans
Art Forms in Nature
Ernst Haeckel
1998, 139 pages
$16
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Tafel 17. -- Porpema
Siphonophorae. Staatsquallen.
Tafel 63. -- Dictyophora
Basimycetes. Schwammpilze.
Tafel 85. -- Cynthia
Ascidiae. Seescheiden.
A high view of civilization
Civilization is a pattern best seen from above, at an altitude that encourages a long view. Master aerial photographer Georg Gerster has spent the last 40 years photographing ancient archeological sites around the world from the passenger seat of rented airplanes. His portraits of large-scale human works are stunning. Meta-patterns emerge. We see the persistence of the past in the most modern places. We see the anticipation of the modern in the most ancient places. Many of these vast sites are legendary, but totally new seen from above, others will be unfamiliar to readers: Alexander's Wall, Chimu at Chan Chan Peru, the circular city of Hamadan, Iran, and so on. Gerster's chapters are brilliant; he clusters cities as if they were ideas: "Seeing and Being Seen - Festival Sites and Places of Assembly," "For Safety's Sake - Fortifications and Bulwarks," "Building For Eternity -- Graves and Cemeteries." The big book is heavy with full-page full-color images, as one would hope; 240 in all. But the best and most important part of this big long view are the meticulously researched notes on each overhead image. You get a succinct, but masterful, footnoted treatise on what you are seeing, written by an archeologist. From them you get the aha behind the ooooh. Gerster is a floating eye with a brain. He gives tours of our biggest achievements on this planet.
-- KK
The Past from Above
Georg Gerster
2005, 415 pages
$41
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
The Median capital at Hamadan, from 7th century BC, Iran, 1976
According to Herodotus, Hamadan - the ancient Persian Hagmatana, Greek Ecbatana - was built by the first king of the Medes, Deioces, as a residence and as the first city of the Medes. Herodotus's description of seven concentric walls, each a different colour and slightly higher than its neighbour, is entirely fanciful. Situated on the main road to Mesopotamia at a height of almost 2000m, with a good climate, plentiful supply of water and on a large fertile plain, this was the most important city on the plateau during the Achaemenid period. Alexander the Great hoped to turn it into the capital of the eastern Empire.
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The northern cemetery at Hierapolis/Pamukkale, 3rd century BC - 3rd century AD, Turkey, 2002. World Heritage Site.
The best advertisement of every ancient city was its cemeteries, which tended to be located along its main arterial roads in front of its gates. Here the number and size of the tombs was an indication of the city's economic importance and of the hierarchical status of its individual families. Few cities in Asia Minor had as many lavish funerary buildings as Hierapolis in Phrygia. Especially impressive is the cemetery by the north gate, which marks the end of the city's broad main street, an impressiveness due not least to the great variety of different types of tomb. Among the oldest are those that date from the hellenistic period when the city was founded and which include simple underground chamber tombs for the less wealthy and round tumuli for well-to-do families. The brick base houses an underground chamber over which a conical burial mound has been raised. Typical of the Roman period are the 2000 or so limestone sarcophaguses on differently designed stone bases and mausoleums in the form of miniature temples or entire houses on some of which a sarcophagus additionally stands as if on a platform. Many graves bore inscriptions giving information about their occupants or about commemorations held in the small gardens beside them. But they also document the size of the area covered by individual graves and threaten punishment for illegal building. This was no doubt necessary because, as our photograph shows, the cemetery became increasingly crowded with the passage of time, especially in the first row of graves along the street and in the immediate vicinity of the city gates.
The best thesaurus ever
This is the best thesaurus there is. It supplies more synonyms, analogs, parallels, equivalents and comparable words in English than any other source, online or off. No other thesaurus comes near to it for completeness or breadth. Compiled in dictionary form, like the one in your word processors, there's no index or cross-referencing. Just look up a word, any word, and it proceeds to overwhelm you with alternative choices (a total of 1.5 million synonyms are presented in 1,361 pages), including short phrases and only mildly related words. Rather than being a problem of imprecision, the Finder's broad inclusiveness prods your imagination and prompts your recall.
Its single downside, however, is a major frustration: it is not available digitally, in a form compatible to the way most people write these days. It should live on your computer in a pull-down option, or plug-in for Word or the like. I'm totally baffled why it is not. As it is, it's a huge fat book -- a great book! -- sitting within arms' reach when I write, but not near enough for the power that it offers. [Recommended by Judy Renouf]
-- KK
The Synonym Finder
J.I. Rodale
1986, 1361 pages
$12
Available from Amazon
My comparison of four thesauruses using the terms COOL and TOOL:
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Microsoft Word's Thesaurus
COOL - cold, chill, chilly, fresh, breezy, fashionable, trendy, hip, with it, offhand, unfriendly, icy, distant, detached, frosty, frigid, unenthusiastic, freshen, muted.
TOOL - gear, tackle, utensil, apparatus, paraphernalia.
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Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
COOL -- Synonyms: aloof, antisocial, cold, detached, distant, frosty, remote, standoffish, unsociable, chill, refrigerate. Related Words: introverted, reclusive, reserved, withdrawn; misanthropic; apathetic, indifferent, unconcerned; disinterested, incurious, uninterested; reticent, silent, taciturn; diffident, shy, timid, air-condition; freeze, ice, quick-freeze, supercool; air-cool, ventilate.
TOOL -- Implement, pawn, dupe.
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Dictionary.com Thesaurus
COOL -- Adjective: cold, air-conditioned, algid, arctic, biting, chill, chilled, chilling, chilly, coldish, frigid, frore, frosty, gelid, nipping, nippy, refreshing, refrigerated, shivery, snappy, wintry. Adjective: calm, assured, collected, composed, coolheaded, deliberate, detached, dispassionate, impassive, imperturbable, level-headed, nonchalant, philosophical, phlegmatic, placid, quiet, relaxed, self-controlled, self-possessed, serene, stolid, together, tranquil, unagitated, unemotional, unexcited, unflappable, unruffled. Adjective: disapproving, aloof, annoyed, apathetic, distant, frigid, impertinent, impudent, incurious, indifferent, insolent, lukewarm, offended, offhand, offish, procacious, reserved, solitary, standoffish, unapproachable, uncommunicative, unenthusiastic, unfriendly, uninterested, unresponsive, unsociable, unwelcoming, withdrawn. adjective: excellent, dandy, divine, glorious, groovy, hunky-dory, keen, marvelous, neat, nifty, sensational, swell.verb: chill, abate, air-condition, air-cool, ally, calm, freeze, frost, infrigidate, lessen, lose heat, mitigate, moderate, reduce, refrigerate, temper.
TOOL -- Noun : instrument, apparatus, appliance, bucksaw, contraption, contrivance, device, dojigger, engine, gadget, gizmo, implement, job, machine, means, mechanism, utensil, weapon, whatchamacallit, accomplice , accessory, accomplice, agent, auxiliary, cat's-paw, chump, creature, dupe, easy mark, figurehead, flunky, go-between, greenhorn, hayseed, hireling, idiot, intermediary, jackal, lackey, mark, medium, messenger, minion, patsy, pawn, peon, puppet, stooge, stool pigeon, sucker, tuna, vehicle.
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The Synonym Finder
COOL -- adj. 1. chilly, chill, nippy, unheated, unwarmed, heatless, sunless; breezy, draughty, windy. 2. composed, collected, Inf. together, self-possessed, self-controlled; easy-going, relaxed, even-tempered, imperturbable, unexcitable, unflappable; unexcited, unmoved, unperturbed unruffled, staid, sedate; undemonstrative, unemotional, stoical, philosophical; passionless, impassive, dispassionate. 3. passive, undesiring, unexcitable, frigid; phlegmatic, listless, half-hearted, lukewarm; stony, flinty, steely. 4. deliberate, intentional, purposeful, meant, willful, volitional, voluntary; premeditated. calculated, designed, planned, plotted, schemed, devised, contrived. 5. unfriendly, unsociable, unwelcome, uninviting, forbidding; uncordial, ungracious, unamicable, inhospitable; unapproachable, inaccessible, closed tight; distant, remote, stand-offish, Inf. offish. 6. audacious, presumptuous, overconfident, impertinent, assuming, insolent, impudent, brazen,brassy, Inf. nervy, Inf. pushy; unabashed, shameless, forward, Inf. fresh, bumptious. 7. aloof, indifferent, apathetic, unconcerned, disinterested, incurious, uninquisitive; removed, detached, uninvolved, unresponsive, unsympathetic. -- v. 8. chill, refrigerate, freeze, frigorify, Rare. infrigidate; ice, glaciate, congeal, regelate. 9. soothe, allay, assuage, mollify, soften; moderate, temper, Archaic. attemper; mitigate, abate, lessen, diminish, reduce; quiet, still, compose, lull, hush; pacify, tranquilize, smoothe, settle. 10. cool it Slang. a. take it easy, calm down, don't sweat it, go with the tide, roll with the punches, take it in stride, think nothing of it b. cut it out, drop it, lay off, knock it off, come off it. 11. cool off Informal. calm down, relax, loosen up, settle down, unwind, simmer down.
TOOL -- n. 1. implement, instrument, utensil, apparatus, device, contrivance, invention; gadget, dohickey, hickey, Inf. contraption, Sl. gimmick; aid, convenience, Archaic. conveniency, time-saver; appliance, mechanism, machine, automaton, robot. 2. vehicle, channel, agency, instrumentality, means, way, ways and means, wherewithal; agent, medium, intermediary, middleman, go-between, broker, Chiefly Brit. factor, Sl. ten-percenter; cat's-paw, pawn, puppet, creature; jackal, flunky, lackey, attendant, peon, servant, handmaid, menial; minion, follower, toady, sycophant, Inf. yes man; hireling, underling, assistant, henchman, Sl. stooge; dummy, dupe, Sl. pigeon, gull, gudgeon, Inf. sucker.
Cool tools for others
A few readers have asked for Cool Tool gift ideas. Here are a few recommendations from the past year:
Bugzooka
Elegant bug removal
20Q
Ten dollar AI
Genographic DNA Testing
Personal genetic literacy
Hoky Carpet Sweeper
Quicker than a vacuum
How to Cook Everything
Best Basic Cookbook
Wedgits
3D tangrams
MouthSounds
Special effects by mouth
Smartwool Socks
Superior outdoor socks
A better mini-mouse
I've tried many mice for my notebook, and the best most comfortable tiny mouse, for travel or stationary use, is the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse. It's as fast as a wired mouse; there's no lag. Maybe you don't want a mouse that requires a battery since it could leave you stranded, but the battery lasts a few months (I use mine daily), the USB adapter snaps into the bottom turning off the power when traveling to save battery life. It's snappy, very responsive, accurate.
-- Frank
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse
$24
Available from
Amazon
Quick-tie shoelaces
It was while training for a triathlon that I first heard about quick-tie shoelaces. When transitioning from biking to running you want to get your Nikes on fast. So I went to the running store and bought a pair of elastic laces with a spring-loaded plastic thingy like you find on a cinch sack. It worked well enough for my first race. But then a funny thing happened. I kept using the shoes for my regular runs and found I lost nothing in support and gained a few welcome moments each time I put on, or took off, my shoes. Why would I ever want to go back to regular laces?
Later I googled and found Speed Laces. They've taken the idea up a notch with low-friction eyelets you can screw into your shoe's eyelets, plus neater cinch mechanisms. I bought half a dozen and began retrofitting my family's running shoes.
"I don't want those things on my shoes!" said my wife. But she relented once I promised to put her old laces back if she wasn't won over. Now, she admits I was right. (I was careful to match the color of Speed Laces to her shoes.)
The company makes claims for better comfort and support, which may be true, but I find the time savings alone worth the $8.95. Plus I'm wearing running shoes more often around the house because they are nearly as easy to slip on as loafers.
-- Steve Leveen
Speed Laces
$9
Available from
Speed Laces
Easy to balance push bike
Built for kids ages 2-5, LikeaBike is a pedal-less, chainless push bike that moves by foot power. With a restricted front fork, LikeaBike prevents jackknifing which allows for a very free and smooth ride. The learning curve is not steep; kids quickly advance to greater speeds. This speed and freedom makes getting around much easier -- walking with mom and dad is now fun for the child instead of a (literal) drag! Unlike a bike with training wheels, LikeaBikes are able to go up hills. For instance our girl goes right up a hill in our park and bypasses little kids sweating and straining to move their training wheeled bike up another inch. The seat height is adjustable and the construction is sturdy and solid. We have had no problems with our bike in the year we've own it.
We noticed the mental advance in personality a child makes once they gain this freedom of self-directed movement at such an early age.
-- C. Troise
This is by far the toy my son has used the most. It is made primarily of wood. At 4 1/2 he uses it daily . He loves riding it everywhere. I was able to leave the stroller behind by the time he was 2 1/2 and have never used it since. The LikeaBike has also taught him to share. Every kid in the park invariably wants to ride it and he is so proud of his bike that he doesn't mind loaning it out. It is sturdy and clean, which is a great thing, because he loves to ride it around the house as well. I let him because there's no fear he will fall over, he is always in total control of his movements.
Regular bikes for kids here in Europe cost around 100 euros. Where I live in Barcelona Spain, I paid 169 euros for the LikeaBike. My son has trashed this bike like you can't imagine and it's still in tip top shape too, so it's not easily destroyed. On the other hand he has gone through 2 regular bikes since he was 2. For everything you get, I find it cost effective.
-- Anouschka Orueta
LikeaBike
$279
Available from
Likeabike
Pattern recognition competition
A simple game in a class by itself. You get a deck of cards with colored symbols. These are laid out, face up. To play the game you need to organize the symbols into sets of three "un-alikes" -- but they can be grouped in more ways than one. Many more ways. Everyone else is trying to group them into sets faster than you. This game exercises a unique part of your brain that few other activities do. Half math, half intuition, all concentration. It's fun, loud, fast moving, and very challenging to do well, yet easy enough for small kids to join in meaningfully (that is, do better than you). After several years of playing the game, here is what I've observed:
1) It can't be explained; it has to be shown.
2) Some folks are more gifted than others at finding patterns fast.
3) But *everyone* improves, often within the span of a game.
I hear that many schools use this game to teach sets and logic in math class, and that's great. We use it as a raucous parlor game. Like the game Go, Set possess the kind of simplicity which keeps expanding, never growing old. And as far as games go these days, it's cheap.
-- KK
Set
$9
Available from
Amazon
Produced by
Set Enterprises
Ultra sharp, bargain-priced digital camera
Digital cameras improve at light-speed. The "best" is fleeting, so I can only tell you -- after researching and using many models -- what I am using myself right now.
First: In cameras, the smaller the better. I like to carry a camera with me at all times, so I've been using different pocket cameras, including the credit-car sized gems like the Exlim. Ever since their resolution and capacity reached the magical 5 megapixel threshold, you could use them for most assignments. But much to my surprise after using these super tiny and lightweight cameras for a few years, I've found that their very lightness is a liability. It is nearly impossible to keep them steady in low light without flash -- which seems to be my preferred setting. Too few of my shots indoors were sharp, too many blurry. A heavy camera has more momentum to absorb the ordinary wavers of your hands. I began to consider the superior optics and control offered by the popular (and much larger) digital single-lens-reflex (SLR), like the Canon Rebel and Nikon D series. These almost-professional cameras give you optical zoom lenses (important), some heft for steadiness, large files (including RAW
format), and fat sensors with abundant resolution (up to 8 megapixels). The downside: they were absolutely not pocketable. In fact they were gigantic compared to what I've been carrying around in my pants pockets. And they were not cheap. Close to $1,000 when all is said and done.
Several silicon valley billionaire gadget freaks turned me onto a hybrid camera they had discovered: the Lumix. Made by Panasonic (a name not usually associated with cameras) the Lumix seems to have a secret following. The mid-level model has the glass lens of a SLR, but at a smaller scale. Attached to a hand-sized 5-megapixel sensor is a very fast, extremely sharp zoom lens made by legendary optician Leica. The zoom is wonderfully telescopic, ranging 12X, all the way from the 35mm equivalent of 36 to an astounding 432 (!), yet clearly bright at 2.8 f/stop, which is perfect for low light without flash, and -- the key innovation here -- it employs image stabilization. The lens self corrects for vibrations. This means that I can shoot indoors and night with zoom extended (yes!) and get razor sharp shots. During daylight it is startling clear. Turns out that for real world use, sharpness is probably more important than megapixel size.
Lumix come in a number of models. I use the FZ-5, which is much smaller in size than the latest model, the FZ-30. The smaller FZ-5 does not do RAW files (the FZ-30 does), but I prefer its compact size and don't usually need the massive file sizes of RAW. I can't fit the Lumix into my pants pocket, but it will sit in my jacket pocket or any small bag I carry. The zoom is both macro and telescopic, an old SLR ability I am so happy to have back. Five meg resolution is plenty. It'll take a 1 gig memory card. The camera lights up fast. Navigation of controls is fine. And to top it off, this little wonder is comparatively cheap with a street price below $350 -- a third of what the Rebel would cost.
The brand new Sony R1 is also a hybrid camera similar to the Lumix, but at the high end. It has a humongous 10 megapixel sensor, and a great zoom, but no image stabilization. And it is a big heavy camera that costs $1,000. Sony and Canon also have new models similar to the FZ5 with 5 megapixels, 12X zoom, and image stabilizers, but the Li ion batteries in the Panasonic keep a charge better, and it is smaller/lighter than the others.
The Lumix FZ5 offers fabulous clarity, with an amazing zoom, in a tiny package, at a remarkably bargain price. It is my choice for anyone's first digital camera. And for next five minutes anyway, the Lumix has displaced my many other cameras (film and digital).
-- KK
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5
$500
Available from
Amazon
Non-maternity clothes extender
Bellaband is an accessory that allows women to wear non-pregnant clothes longer, and fun maternity fashions a little sooner. It is a seamless, stretchy, comfortable knit band pregnant women can wear over their unbuttoned pants to keep them on. It works like a charm and is supercomfy! As far as I know, there's nothing similar out there. It is perfect for that 'in-between' phase where you don't fit into pre-baby pants but you're still to small for maternity clothes.
-- Tina Roth Eisenberg
Bellaband
$26
Available from, among others,
Pregnancy Store
Manufactered by
Bellaband
Nimble small circular saw
The vast majority of wood that people cut is 1-1/2" thick or thinner. So, why use an oversized cumbersome heavy weight 7-1/4" saw? The light weight and small size of the 5-1/2" Skil HD5510 saw improves accuracy, dexterity, safety and reduces fatigue.
Couple the Skil 5-1/2" Circular Saw with the 95100 rip fence accessory and you can cut long even thin strips of wood, vastly easier than is possible with a table saw. The old adage applies, it is much easier to bring the tool the work, than the work to the tool.
-- Bruce Hallman
Skil HD5510 5-1/2 " Circular Saw
$98
Available from Amazon
Amazon
Rip fence
Amazon
Online agriculture marketplace
Buy from the producer, sell your own. Just about anything 'agricultural'; llamas, cotton, flower seeds, bean seeds, farms, farm trucks (or trucks in general), bulk wine, employment ops, whew. I found this site while looking for a cacao plant to buy. Some fellow is selling his here. There's sort of an online list that's updated when anyone puts something on the list.
-- Melissa Keyes
AgriSeek
Best pen for left handers
I love the smooth writing possible with a fine fountain pen. Unfortunately, the massive amounts of liquid ink that make nib pens so luxurious are impossible for me, a left-hander. The key to writing for a lefty is quick-drying ink. I spent years trying to find a way to use a fountain pen that doesn't leave me with an ink-stained hand and an illegible page. Eventually I gave up and began searching for an alternative. Pencils are a nightmare for a lefty, and the goopy ink in most ballpoints just tars the page when my hand sweeps through it. Gel pens produce a fluid line reminiscent of a fountain nib, but stay damp (and therefore messy) for an amazingly long time. In the past I've found the only ink that could dry before my hand could smear it came from fine-pointed rollerballs that scratched out thin lines of ink.
Sanford's Jetstream pens use a unique formulation of gel ink that dries incredibly fast. Write a sentence, then immediately put your pen down and run a finger over your words -- no smear! For the first time in my life I have a pen that lets me concentrate on the words I'm writing and not a blotter or some other device to keep the words legible.
The pens are available in both 1.0 mm and 0.7 mm points. Though I like the result of the 0.7 mm a bit better, after decades of being a bit afraid to use anything but the finest-tipped pens the 1.0 mm feels like a guilty pleasure.
-- Dan Strunk
Uni-ball Jetstream Rollerball Pens, Assorted 4 Pack
$11
Available from Staples: Staples
$9
Available from Amazon:
Amazon
Additional and updated models are also available from JetPens
How to toilet-train before two
In my many years traveling throughout Asia I saw almost no babies with diapers. Yet I commonly saw infants who would seem to eliminate on command. Their moms would hold them over a gutter with their pants down, whistle a quiet hiss, or grunt, and then the baby would go. At one year! Two-year olds would find their own place to squat. The real story behind this magic is that the child communicates their elimination needs to the mom, who learns to understand their unique signals, and then she communicates back whether all is ready or not. The result is a baby toilet-trained long before anyone in developed countries believes is possible, or even healthy. And this diaper-less, yet mess-less, state is common in parts of Africa and Latin America as well.
But I never imagined it would work in the modern world of carpeting, cars, and obsessive sterility. I've had my mind changed by this book and a growing movement meeting online, where pioneering parents have figured out how to translate this very natural approach into contemporary lives. They call it natural infant hygiene to emphasize that this is not about training, discipline, or being strict. Instead, its success depends on a very close bond between baby and parents. Indeed, most parents who adopt this style claim that the incredibly close communication with the baby is worth far more to them than no pampers, and being diaper free is simply a mere bonus.
So does it really work? Yes. But what about....? Those are questions this book does a pretty good job at answering, or at least beginning to answer. Much of the modern version is still being sorted out. For instance for some families, diaper less mean less diapers rather than no diapers. But in all cases it requires a pretty big commitment of time (natural elimination does not work in full time day care), and a different way of thinking (pee is sterile, not dirty).
The natural baby hygiene program reminds me a lot of the early breast-feeding movement, with which it shares many attributes. Both practices were common in developing countries, both demanded an intense bond with the mother, and both required a re-education of the modern public to accept. It's going to be a long struggle to get folks used to carrying chamber pots around, or having their baby pee on your lawn, but I think it will happen in small numbers. Our family is long past the diaper age, but if we were doing it again, this way makes a whole lot of sense.
For those so inclined, this is the best book to date. There's a corresponding active website as well.
-- KK
Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene
Ingrid Bauer
2001, 255 pages
$12
Available from Amazon
Website at Diaper Free Baby
Sample excerpts:
Babies who are consistently in diapers are not as comfortable or hygienic, don't have their elimination needs responded to in the moment, maintain less awareness of their body functions, and must relearn not to use their clothing as a toilet. Infants and active toddlers often become upset and resist diapering, and parents and pre-schoolers may become frustrated during the process of toilet learning, whether it is "taught" or not. The costs, both personal and environmental, can be significant.
Natural Infant Hygiene takes the best of both these options and adds a few benefits of its own. The child enjoys the comfort, respect, body awareness, and hygiene of being diaper-free from infancy. The parent appreciates the convenience, and saved labour and expense. Best of all are the benefits that both parent and baby share: closeness, intimacy, mutual responsiveness, awareness and communication, and environmental sustainability. Diaper freedom!
*
The infant twists his head and grimaces, signaling a need to poop.
From watching many babies and talking to their parents, I have come to the conclusion that individual babies signal their needs in many different ways. However, signals that the caregiver picks up and responds to, are often the ones that become reinforced and used most. It's like a natural feedback loop. This may be the reason why babies in some cultures reportedly exhibit specific signs, while in other cultures different signs are considered common.
*
In traditional societies, cueing sounds for peeing often resemble the sound of flowing water, or urination itself. It's interesting that these sounds are quite similar from continent to continent. From India to Botswana to Peru, a "sss, sss" sound had become an almost universal mothering signal. In places, a sharp "pssss" or a softer "shhh" or "shuuss" is used. In Japan, the childhood euphemistic equivalent of pee-pee is "shii shii". A low whistle is also sometimes used in Japan, and a steady whistling sound is the primary signal in China. As these cultures move towards urbanisation, a running faucet sometimes replaces the gentle hissing-type vocalizations, for example when peeing the baby over a sink.
Cueing for defecation is common as well. A grunting or straining imitation, such as "uhh" or the "ung-ga" used in Korea, is a frequent cue. Low humming or simply saying "hmmm" is also quite common.
*
It's not at all impossible to make longer journeys, for example by plane or in foreign countries, while practicing Natural Infant Hygiene. In airplanes or foreign travel situations where I was unsure how well I would be able to accommodate my baby's elimination needs, I put him in an easy-to-remove cloth diaper with snaps. On an extended trip abroad when my son was 11 months, we manage to travel for an entire day by plane, bus and ferry, with the same diaper. I still continued to "pee" him regularly, as though he were diaper-less, simply taking the diaper off and putting it back on when he was finished. That way if we got stuck in a customs or airplane bathroom line-up, or otherwise couldn't make it to a bathroom, it was not an emergency. Had this happened, I would have explained to my child that he could go in the diaper, while holding him in position and making the cueing sound, and then changed him a promptly as possible.
*
It's unlikely that you'll be able to practise Natural Infant Hygiene and never have an "accident." It's just as unlikely with a conventionally trained 3 or 4 year old. What is likely is that a baby, whose elimination needs are responded to from infancy, will stop having occasional lapses long before they are three.
*
For example, numerous parents have told me that it helped them to learn that pee was sterile when it leaves the body. We are so conditioned to think of urine as "dirty" that many people are unaware of this fact.
Basically, urine is a sterile fluid containing approximately 96% water. The rest is made up of valuable mineral salts and trace elements that the body needs for proper functioning, but which, at that moment in time, are available in excess and therefore discarded.
*
*
Although a natural hormone causes the kidneys to produce less urine at night, most babies do pee during the night, at least for the first weeks or months. Most diaper free infants will stay dry during naps by a few months, especially if they urinate not long before. They can then be taken to pee as soon as they awaken. Some diaper-free babies will also be dry all night by about the middle of their first year. Some children, like some adults, continue to use the bathroom during the night as they grow.
*
An American ethno-medical researcher once commented to me that Natural Infant Hygiene wouldn't be considered remarkable anywhere outside of North America or Europe. Only here is it absolutely astounding and fascinating.
Yes, Natural Infant Hygiene is amazing. Just as a mother's breast, producing the perfect quantity and quality of milk for a unique baby at a specific time, is amazing. Like breastfeeding, Natural Infant Hygiene strikes parents as unbelievably magical, awe-inspiring, and miraculous. And like breastfeeding, it is utterly practical, concrete, and down-to-earth doable.
When my son was newborn, I first noticed clear body signals for pooping, and relied mostly on general timing patterns for peeing (and watched for signals). Soon this shifted, as I became aware of the timing of regular bowel movements. Catching on to the process, my son also made increasingly clear signals when he needed to pee. Before long, it became mostly an intuitive process, whereby I just knew when he needed to go whether I was watching him or not. I still used after sleep timing as well. It remained this way, until he grew old enough to begin using the cuing language himself, and was able to signal me vocally and through movement, and finally go independently. I still relied on timing and intuition for backup and nights. All three tools, both separately and interwoven, were invaluable at different phases.
The fourth tool, the one that is universally important across cultures, is cueing the baby. Cueing consists of holding the baby in a specific position, and using a specific "trigger" sound or action. This "cues" your child for the opportunity to relieve him or herself in a comfortable, secure, and hygienic way and provides the essential physical support your baby still needs. Just as you bring a baby to your breast to nurse until they can come themselves, you hold the baby in a comfortable way to eliminate until they can do so independently.
*
Sample excerpts from the FAQ at
Diaper Free Baby
Why Elimination Communication (EC)?
A few common reasons that parents choose to practice EC are: to recognize and respond to baby's self-awareness; to promote close communication between child and parent; to prevent diaper rash; to avoid struggles often associated with diaper changing and toilet training; and, as side benefits, to save money and use fewer environmental resources.
Don't the experts warn against potty training babies before they are ready?
It's important to note that this is Elimination Communication, not training. This is a gentle process that follows the infant's cues and needs, and is never coercive or punitive. As such, this practice is consistent with the baby's development and maturity.
Bargain hand-powered driver
Several years ago after failing to get my-son-the-mechanic to take a hint and get me the premium SnapOn ratcheting screwdriver reviewed earlier in Cool Tools, I bought the (much cheaper) Craftsman Ratcheting Screwdriver (yeah, good 'ol Sears!) model #41796. Turns out, it was a great buy.
This tool is well thought-out by someone who actually uses tools. The handle is round-and-rubberized rather than square-and-slippery, and it is a bit oversized, so you can actually apply significant torque and work with it for a long time without ruining your hands. It has the best ratchet I've ever used. There is no slack whatsoever. Feels like a clutch-action rather than a geared ratchet. However, if you're like me, you'll never use it, since there's a much better way. The back-end of the driver handle swivels effortlessly, so if you lock the blade in the fixed position, you can keep pressure on the back of the driver and swivel your hand in either direction instantly, without ever having to push a button, flick a button or twist anything to switch back and forth from 'tighten' to 'loosen'. The handle also contains a pull-out bit storage device that keeps 14 additional standard-size hex bits instantly available in individual slots. Just pop one out and swap it for the bit currently in the magnetized driver tip. (no more lost bits.) Comes with a good selection of all the common sizes of blade, Phillips, Torx and square-drive bits.
-- Steve Waskow
Craftsman Ratcheting Screwdriver Set
Model #41796
$25
Available from
Sears
Alaskan highway guide
If you're thinking of doing a road trip to Alaska, The Milepost is a must-have. This thick publication, revised annually, has mile-by-mile conditions of all the major highways in Alaska and other northern points, including Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
It's available in some brick and mortar bookstores, and online from their website.
-- Regis
The Milepost
Kristine Valencia
$26
Available from The Milepost
or from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
"What is the best time of year to go?" is one of the most frequently asked questions about traveling to Alaska. During the summer, the weather in the North is as variable and unpredictable as anywhere else. Go prepared for both hot, sunny days and cold, rainy days. Regardless of weather, the Alaska Highway is open all year.
May: fewer people on the road, can be fine weather.
June: long days averaging 20 hours of daylight.
July: busiest month on the highway, can also be the wettest.
August: trees start to turn colors, nights get chilly.
September: fall colors, first frost and snow possible in some areas, uncrowded ferries.
*
Snow poles mark the road edge for snow plows in scenic Thompson Pass
*
Is the Alaska Highway paved?
All of the Alaska Highway is paved, although highway improvement projects- such as the Shakwak Project between Haines Junction and the AK-YT border-often mean motorists have to drive miles of gravel road through construction areas, bringing into question whether that statement is altogether accurate.
But the Alaska Highway is much improved from what is was even 20 years ago. It was during the 1980s that many of the rerouting and paving projects were completed. By 1992, the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway, the last section of original gravel road had been rerouted and paved.
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