Decent consumer solvents -- for say removing graffiti -- are pretty much unobtainable because of their abuse ("huffing") and paranoia about carcinogenicity. So I was very happy to run across this industrial-grade stuff in an urban San Francisco hardware store.

Not only does it tackle every kind of marker and paint graffiti, but it's perfect for those sticky removal situations like price tags and tree-sap-on-your-car that the consumer-grade citrus solvents still have trouble with. This stuff is also the perfect solution for those otherwise intractable remnants of double-sided foam tape: one shot of this and they rub right off with a paper towel.

It's a pretty potent blend of solvents (including MEK, toluene, and trichloroethylene). So you will want to use it in a ventilated place away from flames, and minimize your skin exposure, but it really does work better.

-- Jonathan Foote

Anti-Vandal Spray
10 0z.
$7
Available from Cole Hardware

Manufactured by Aervoe

Based on comics master Scott McCloud's recommendation (below), I bought a Cintiq. It does something I've always wanted to do since I first saw a computer. This thing is a pen-based tablet that doubles as a monitor. In other words you draw directly on the tablet, just like a paper-based drawing, but digitally. In fact the surface of the Cintq monitor/tablet feels like paper under a pen. Synchrony of image with your movements is almost exact, and the micro difference doesn't seem to matter. The result is weirdly like ink, or paint, but with all the control and magic of Photoshop. Of course, as a monitor, it will display whatever's on your computer, whether it's animation software or a spreadsheet. (You could hook it up to a $500 Mac Mini and have a fabulous digital art studio.) It's slowly being adopted by film animators and other high-end graphic professionals. A Cintq is expensive ($2,500), big, thick and bulky (it is too fat to sit on your lap like other tablets, but it can lay flat on a desk), but if you are producing digital images for a living, it speeds up your productivity and eases your hurt. It's fun to use.

-- KK

Drawing directly on the screen with the Cintiq Tablet made a huge difference in my artwork, and sped up my workflow by at least 30%, maybe more. It also saved me a lot of hand-strain. Apart from the Mac, it's one of my all-time favorite digital tools.

In 2003-2004, I lost about a year of work to hand strain, using a regular tablet, mouse and keyboard. I'd work for a couple of hours each day on my comics and get these shooting pains up my arm and have trouble holding the pen steady. I got a good deal on a Cintiq (a slightly smaller model than today's 21" monster, but equally suited to graphics) at the end of '04 a couple of months before I had to begin finished pages on the new book. After finishing all 225 pages by early 2006 using a Cintq, I'd had no hand strain at all; even working 11 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Most importantly, I actually *liked* the way the art looked. I was never that comfortable with pen and ink tools, and liked all the digital options I started getting in the mid-90's, but my work on the old tablet was always wobbly and lame. Now there's much more control, confidence and warmth to the drawings.

I was an idiot not to buy a Cintiq in '99 when I first saw them on display at a New York show. I figured I couldn't afford it, but I wound up losing a lot more time and money by NOT having one.

-- Scott McCloud

Wacom Cintiq 21UX
$2,000
Available from B&H Photo

Manufactured by Wacom

What magnificent stuff. Glues together thin layers of paper products such as cardboard, photographs, foam core, even light fabrics, firmly and evenly. Most of the time it's superior to rubber cement, white glue, tape or contact cement. Comes in various formulations. 3M's Spray Mount is most versatile. You can find archival versions, too.

-- KK

3m Spray Mount Adhesive
$12
Available from Amazon

The most comprehensive, and most comprehendible analysis of patterns in nature and the nature of patterns.

-- KK

The Self-Made Tapestry
Pattern Formation in Nature
Philip Ball
1998, 324 pages
$59
Available from Amazon

Excerpts:

The Paris Metro is a branched network with a fractal form.

*

When shaken vertically, a shallow layer of grains can develop complex wave patterns, including stripes, square and hexagonal patterns.

*

The adult zebra Equus grevyi (b) has more and narrower stripes than the adult Equs burchelli (a). This is thought to be because the striped 'pre-pattern' is laid down on the embryo of the latter at an earlier stage: after twenty-one days for Equus burchelli (c), but after five weeks for Equus grevyi (e). The smaller embryo supports fewer stripes, and so by the time it is of comparable size (d), its stripes are wider.

This has to be the most useful tool for anyone who needs to solder a pipe while the water is still persistently dripping (thus cooling the pipe so it won't solder properly). Just insert the tool and tighten the end nut to expand the rubber plug and presto, dry and ready to solder! I would imagine it could be used to stop a leak in a broken pipe too but I haven't tried that one yet (and hope to not have to), my nextdoor neighbor could have used it when he broke off the toilet shut-off valve while trying to "fix" it. I am not a plumber but I do my fair share of plumbing and wonder how I ever did without it.

-- Maarten van Hell

Jet Swet
$40 and up per diameter tool
Available from Brenelle Enterprises

This is a fabulous picture book of about 400 images of great housetrucks and housebuses (many from the 1970s) with interior shots. Some of the mobile homes are more recent. The houses are built on old truck and bus chassis. Used flatbed trucks can be had today for as little as a few thousand dollars. Both in form and function, these were early, cheap homebuilt RVs. There's not much how-to in this book; mostly inspirational pictures. It is self-published, and like the self-made homes it covers, the book is very warm, rustic, and cozy. Some of the images are available on the author's disorganized website. Yeah, you could buy a commercial RV, but these rolling homes have soul. Makes me want to build one.

-- KK

Some Turtles Have Nice Shells
Roger Beck
2002, 192 pages
$30
Available from the author's website

Author's website, Housetrucks

Online housetruck forum; requires instant registration. Discuss such topics as DMV licences and how to.

I decided about six years ago that what I really needed was a Japanese Chef's Knife - not because I'm an expert in the kitchen, but because I didn't have a decent chef's knife and the Japanese ones looked exceedingly cool. (My wife and I were at the time in the grips of a modest Iron Chef addiction). When I looked online, most of the ones I found were over $100.

Then I found this Tosagata Hocho 6" Santoku, in blue steel and wrought iron, for ~$35. I ordered it, thinking that even if it turned out to be a lesser knife, it was a good way to try out the idea of a Japanese knife.

Six years of hard use later, this knife is still frighteningly sharp. It's my utility knife - I reach for it for about 80% of my cutting jobs in the kitchen. The blade has maybe six almost undetectable nicks on it, and I have never sharpened it or done any maintenance beyond occasionally wiping it with a little oil before putting it away.

An importer's website says: "Tosagata Hocho Cutlery are finely crafted kitchen knives that come from Tosa on Shikoku Island. This region is much more rural and forested than other parts of Japan, and the blacksmiths still adhere to the old ways. The master blade-maker sandwiches a layer of Aogami Hagane (blue steel) between two pieces of soft wrought iron, and by hand very slowly hammers the blade into shape."

And it looks it - a black/grey surface, complete with hammer marks, make this look like the serious implement it is. It gives me the thrill of using a well-made tool every time I pick it up. I've even come to love the fact that it's not stainless - having to spend just a moment cleaning it soon after use reminds me that I'm using something a little special, and gives even mundane kitchen tasks a little sense of occasion.

It's down to $32 on the JustKnives website. An unbelievable bargain for a terrifically cool tool.

-- RJT

Tosagata Hocho 6" Santoku Knife
$32
Available from JustKnives

Even if you intend to exclusively breastfeed your infant, you may find you'll need to supplement with a bottle occasionally. Or if father is needed to handle feeding duties when mom's not around, you'll need a bottle. For those times -- or if you are bottle feeding all the way -- Dr. Brown's Baby Bottles are the only bottles you'll want to use. We found these Bottles to be absolute lifesavers, and have recommended them without hesitation to other new parents who have immediately confirmed our experiences with them: less gas, colic and other feeding-related unpleasantness.

The secret to Dr. Brown's Baby Bottles, apparently, is the tube system inside -- it prevents the infant from swallowing air, which makes for a happier baby (and by extension, happier parents). As baby eats and the bottle drains, the internal tube directs incoming air to above the bottle contents, so the young one's not working against a vacuum. This is supposed to be easier on their eardrums, too. Make of it what you will, but we've managed to avoid the ear-infection boogeyman which seems to hit nearly every other young family we know. Also, unlike similar systems that use collapsing bags to keep out the vacuum, you don't need to keep a supply of the little bags around.

The only downside I can see to Dr. Brown's Baby Bottles is that there are more parts to clean - the nipple, ring, rubber disk/valve and rigid tube inside. (The FAQ says you need to use their nipples. We never tried any others when we were using them so I don't know if you can use others.)

Our kids were about 90% breastfed (the last 2 of our 5 kids didn't use bottles at all), but we used these bottles extensively when we were sharing feeding duties or had to supplement with formula. A co-worker who tried them on our recommendation came back the very next morning -- nearly in tears -- thanking me. The bottles are available in 2, 4 and 8 oz. sizes.

-- James Quinby

Dr. Brown's Baby Bottles
$11
Three-pack of 4 oz. bottles
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Handi-Craft

All knots are knotty and hard to visualize the first time. This free website is the best knot teacher yet. It beats any of the beginner books I've seen, as well as all the other knot websites. The key here is the stepped animations synchronized with instructions, which you can run at any speed. Replay them till you get them right. Animated Knots is the next best thing to having old Pete next to ya. Once you get the basic ones down, try some of the harder ones. There are 75 cool knots animated in total.

-- KK

Available at Animated Knots

Not a map really, but a 5-foot-high chart showing in one glance 4,000 years of human history on a global scale. Thirty years ago I saw this on the wall of someone's dorm room and it flipped me out then, and every time I've seen it since. Its beauty is how Mr. Sparks divies up world power (somewhat crudely) into its main factions graphed in each increment of fifty years since 2000 B.C.E. Different civilizations are color-coded so one can easily trace the flow and ebb of culture over the centuries.

It has three uses for me: whenever I am reading about some historical event I can instantly see what else was going on in the world at that time (for instance, what was happening in France during the Ming Dynasty). I also get a very intuitive sense of the rises and falls of civilizations, a pattern that no other chart or book has been able to give me. And hanging on the wall, it never fails to elicit gaps of shock when visitors recognize our modern place in the chart. At ten bucks, it's a bargain education.

-- KK

Rand McNally Histomap of World History
John B. Sparks
1952, 66 x 11 inches

As of December 4, 2006 this item is out of stock from the North American Montessori Teacher's Association. However the author's granddaughter wrote to me to say that she has copies she is willing to sell at $12 (+$8 shipping). Email Jacquie Glanz: jacquieglanz at yahoo.com.

You no longer need expensive CCDs to take astrophotographs. You can use a webcam! Lots of cool things are happening, but it all started at the QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group (QCUIAG).

Most webcams today use CMOS sensors which are not suited for astro work. But some old quickcams had a CCD in it. These include the Vesta and ToUcam webcams among others. Some people have figured out how to modify the electronics to get them to make long time exposures. However when you have very long exposures thermal noise saturates your picture. Two ideas were developed to remedy this.

The classic solution is to cool the CCD. This has been done by many, but it is difficult to do. The second method is to stack a whole bunch of individual exposures. This gives a resulting image much better than any single one. Software like RegiStax (freeware) does this, and very well. You don't even need to modify your webcam's hardware to do this. Just make or buy an adaptor to fit it to the scope. So webcam astrophotography actually begins with the right adapter to fit the webcam to your telescope's eyepiece holder. Steven Mogg makes them.

I am enclosing a picture (above) of the moon I took a few days ago with my ETX 90 telescope and an unmodified Phillips Vesta web camera with a Mogg adapter. Each picture is the integration of some 60 shots.

-- Gaston Groisman

Mogg Astro Adapaters
$20 - $75
Available from Web Caddy Astronomy

QCUIAG
See Wikipedia for a good intro to webcam astrophotography

Most of the hikers who have ever lived have gone barefoot. Throughout history shoes have been expensive or unknown. Naked feet quickly adapt to stones, twigs, and cold. I've hiked alongside thousands of barefoot hikers, and there's little terrain they can't comfortably negotiate. However the forced-shoeless will immediately adopt a pair of flip-flop sandals for a bit of cushion if given a chance. So why would the well-heeled give up shoes on the trail? Barefoot hikers answer: "The soles of our feet function as wonderful sensory organs and the myriad of sensations from earth, grass, moss, pine-needles and other ground textures can both fascinate and delight. Barefoot Hikers appreciate their "vistas" of ground textures as much as others hikers enjoy their vistas of hills, mountains, forests and plains. Walking barefoot adds a rewarding tactile dimension to any outdoor hike."

In short, hiking barefoot is a liberation and a sensual enjoyment -- the very reasons why people who can drive hike in the first place. Once you get over the fact that, like natural childbirth, barefoot hiking is not only possible, but preferable, you're halfway there.

Europe has more barefoot hikers than in the US, but one dedicated women recently hiked the entire rocky 2,000 miles of the Appalachian trail barefoot. Yet if we consider the indigenous tribes of old, she was probably not the first. (Then there's running barefoot, another whole subject.)

There's one book explaining barefoot hiking, a decent short how-to and why-to. It'll go over objections and practical advice on getting your feet toughened up and so on. Tells you how to avoid stares by the disbelieving, which you will get. The book is also available as a free text on the web, courtesy of the author. (I find the printed book form ideal to hand out to others. ) Of course there's plenty of websites for enthusiasts.

Because this ability is so primeval, no information is really needed. About all you need to know is that it is easy, natural and fun. Your feet will take it from there.

-- KK

The Barefoot Hiker
Richard Keith Frazine
1993, 98 pages
$8
Available from Amazon

Also freely available here

Barefooters

Sample excerpts:

The initial time and effort needed to condition bare feet for hiking is very much less than anyone who has not had experience in the area would tend to suppose. Two or three miles of walking barefoot on good forest trails, two or three times a week, for two or three weeks will prepare almost any hiker to set off quite confidently barefooted on almost any hike that might be included in the programme of any hiking group provided only that the weather be relatively mild.

*

What comes the most to mind at Autumn's mention, are mountains of dry leaves. Take a walk in the woods on one of those delicious days when Autumn deigns to step aside for a late Indian Summer and the leaves are several inches deep on the forest floor and let your bare feet feel them -- sometimes crackling with all the crispness of the Autumn air -- sometimes whispering sensuously back to your bare soles with what seems a slightly soapy softness.

*

The Brief Rules

1. Always step straight down! Never allow your feet to kick, shuffle or drag along the ground. This is more important than all the other rules together. This may require some conscious effort at first.
2. Always watch the path ahead of you. Learn to keep your eyes on the path a few yards ahead and pick the spot for each footfall a few paces ahead.
3. Try to keep your weight on the balls of your feet and not on your heels.
4. Never forget that you are going barefoot. Always devote a part of your attention to the soles of your feet.
5. Try to walk barefoot on as many different things as possible to sensitize your bare soles. A well developed sense of touch is very important both for safety and enjoyment. You must consciously work on developing this sense.
6. Be especially careful when you cannot clearly see the ground itself because of grass, leaves and snow. Step lightly and carefully under these conditions and be prepared to retract a step if you don't like the feel of what you are stepping on. Never run barefoot unless you can both see the ground surface and have walked over it before.
7. Be especially careful at styles and fences - especially metal ones that have been abandoned. Stubs of former metal fence posts just protruding through the ground are very dangerous. If you see one of these, watch carefully for others which may be in line with it.
8. By all means, try walking barefoot in snow - it is extremely pleasant, but only if it is no more than an inch or so deep and melting.
9. You can walk barefoot on dry ground in freezing weather, but never past the point where your feet become numb and in no case for more than one or two miles, especially on rough ground which is many times as punishing to cold flesh as to warm.
10. Once properly conditioned, your bare feet will give you a great deal of pleasure, but only if you care for them. Bathe them and remove any small thorns after each hike, rub them each day with oil, lotion, or lanolin - especially in winter. Take the time to keep them in the very best condition and take pride in them.

Electronic documents are a great tool but there are times when you just need printed copies.

FinePrint installs itself as a printer in your Windows system and will intercept print jobs and put up to 8 pages of output on 1 sheet of paper, though this is often unreadable (at least for me - I didn't pay for the Steve Austin upgrade when I had laser vision surgery).

I find that 2-4 pages per sheet and printing in duplex saves on paper, reduces printing time, saves on toner and makes documents more portable. It's great for web pages without printing views that use those narrow columns. You can also edit the jobs and remove / reorder jobs and pages.

MS Office and some other applications have a version of this capability now but none are as robust as FinePrint's. I have been using it since 2000 and have been very happy with the product.

-- Lon Miller

FinePrint Software
$50
Available from FinePrint

I've been living in Asia for 2 years now and travelling fairly regularly. With the exception of Shanghai (a guy on the street helped me find a nice hotel) Hostels.com has been my main booking device for lodging. Hostels.com and other services like Hostelworld and Hosteling International provide electronic booking for guest houses, hostels, and barracks like shared rooms in apartments almost everywhere. So far it's helped me find a very cheap hostel in Taipei and the rather nice Asha Guest House in Bangkok. Friends have used it for rooms in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, and elsewhere. Hostels.com works a little like eBay. Stayers rate the hostels afterwards on a variety of different scales, and the hostels are ranked by ratings. It requires a very minimal confirmation fee via credit card and then pay once you get there. If you're looking to travel on the cheap, it's definitely the way to go to avoid potential overbooking etc. I've had no problems with it, and found the ratings to be fairly accurate.

-- Andrew Jones

[It's pretty cool. I had no idea you could get dorms in downtown San Francisco for $19. Nice service. From any internet cafe in the world you can book a simple bed in one of 7,000 inexpensive hostels. -- KK]

Hostels.com

Sample entries:

San Francisco Backpacker Hostel-Pacific Tradewinds
680 Sacramento Street
Pacific Tradewinds is a friendly, small, clean, and homelike place for Backpackers. Centrally located in a good neighborhood, walking distance from bus and train stations, Fisherman's Wharf, night life, one block from cable cars and Chinatown. No Curfew, Lockout. Free Internet, linens, tea/coffee, security lockers, kitchen use, luggage storage, help and smiles from our international staff.
Dorms From:
$24.00
RATING: 89.6%

*

Ginkgo Hostel, Budapest, Hungary
Ginkgo Hostel offers you a clean, quiet, non-smoking and safe budget hostel right in the middle of downtown area. We are within 10 minutes walking distance of:
-The 500 year-old Turkish Termal Bath Kiraly next to the Danube River, so no matter what season it is take your swimsuit with you
-The St Stephen's Catholic Basilica
-The Jewish Quarter with its famous Great Synagogue
-200 pubs and cafes within 200m/600feet
Dorms From:
$17
Privates From:
$27
RATING: 92%

This yellow plastic caliper is lightweight, reasonably durable (I lose it before it wears out) and pocket-friendly (only 4 inches long). I use it frequently during house or auto repairs to ensure the right size replacement part (such as nuts and bolts, or o-rings and sealing washers) comes home with me from the store or junkyard. I find this easier, quicker, and more accurate in many cases than using a small rule. It is not a precision machinist's instrument. However, in most of the work I need to get done, measurement to the closest 1/32 of an inch or 1 mm will get the right part or a fit which is good enough to work.

-- Ken Johnson

General Tools 141ME Pocket Caliper
$9
Available from Amazon
Also from Village Supplies and from Art Stuff

I'm curious about how folks are using Cool Tools. If you don't mind, please click on this self-revealing poll.

They call this stuff caulk, but I use it as a general purpose glue. It pretty much sticks anything to anything. It may not hold as strongly as epoxy, but for 90% of my attachment jobs it does the trick. Almost everything in my mobile illusions museum is adhered with Lexel. It sticks better than silicone sealant and is not as obnoxious to work with.

-- Doug Payne

Used to stick everything to everything.

Lexel Caulk
3.5 oz.
$5
Available from Amazon

Leave it to the Japanese to create a brush pen. This pocketable pen has a super fine brush tip of actual bristles, perfect for tiny Kanji characters, or of course, doodling in your journal, or sketching in your Moleskine. While it's hugely popular with comic book folks and cartoonists, artists of all stripes have picked one up for their paper work. The feel is incredibly tactile and lovely. It works like a fountain pen, with replaceable rich ink cartridges. Once capped it doesn't leak as far as I can tell. (There's a moment of panic when you first assemble it since the instructions are 100% in Japanese, but just insert the ball-bearing end of the ink capsule into the tip.) You can purchase other color inks as well.

-- KK

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
$12
Available from Jet Pens

Or $18 from Wet Paint Artists' Materials

The Craftsman Ratcheting Tube and Pipe Cutter is, like its cousin the Craftsman Ratcheting Screwdriver (reviewed previously), a well thought out tool. This Ratcheting Cutter works great for cutting pipe in tight spots and is so ergonomically correct I often use it to cut pipe on my workbench. The only reason I hesitate using it on the workbench is I don't want to dull the cutting blade too fast. Oh, did I mention it comes with a spare blade that is nested in the handle so it's sure to be there when you need it? It's also very well built, sturdy, and has the ever so wonderful lifetime replacement policy.

Certain tools are what I refer to as "lifers" -- buy it one time, have it for life, need it throughout your whole life, and it makes life so much easier. It would be a mistake for the homeowner and/or professional not to own this one.

-- Eric G. Yukins

Craftsman Ratcheting Tube and Pipe Cutter
$30
Available from Sears

The GustBuster is a cool-looking, lightning resistant umbrella with a patented system of vents that is, the manufacturer claims, "wind tunnel certified to 55+ mph." The other night it started blowing up a storm -- winds to 20 miles per hour. Just for giggles I tried turning the GustBuster sideways and it just would not pick up any air -- it really does work amazingly well. The holes in the inner surface seem to neutralize all of the typical suction.

The version I decided on for my all-weather walking is labeled a "golf umbrella" and is big enough for a small wedding reception. (I exaggerate but 62 inches is certainly big enough for me and the dog.) The price is right, $40 -- a bargain for a good umbrella. If you're concerned about weight (this super-sized version weighs close to two pounds) there are smaller, lighter versions. On their website they say the GustBuster is very popular with professional golfers -- seemingly, a good indication of long-term quality and performance. Also comes with a limited lifetime warranty. I'm impressed -- very cool tool.

-- Chuck Green

GustBuster Golf (62 inches)
$40
Available from Amazon

GustBuster Metro (43 inches, foldable)
$30
Available from Amazon

Also available from Uncle Sam's Umbrellas

Manufactured by GustBuster

Magnificent! A work of genius. The best how-to manual ever published. I could keep piling on the superlatives because this book is simply a masterpiece. At one level, it is a comic book about how to make comics, and for that it is supreme; the best. It will walk you through every step of making a comic, including how to make them on the web, digitally, or in pen and ink. I've been working on a near-completed graphic novel, and every page has told me something important and spot on. With brilliant graphics, Scott McCloud combines the most profound insights from his two previous books, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. But in this book he raises your understanding of graphic communication further by making every lesson utterly practical and useful for both novice and expert. I can't imagine anyone ever doing a comic manual better.

However, even if you are not planning on making a graphic novel, this book is a gold mine. McCloud's section on constructing facial expressions and emotions is astounding, and worth the price of the book alone. The clever way McCloud arrays human expressions in one chart reminds me of the first time I saw all the colors arranged in a color wheel; it's the same aha! The insights McCloud extracts from comics and presents so vividly here are useful to novelists, sociologists, film makers, artists, roboticists -- anyone interested in human expression. That's probably you.

Indeed, even if you have no interest in comics at all, this charming book will win a place in your life because ultimately it is about communication and stories -- and those are the foundations of all cultures. Making Comics teaches you the visual elements of stories. If I had to re-title it, I would call this book Making Visual Stories.

Finally, as an example of communication itself, this comic book has few peers. I read, review and use hundreds of how-to books every year. I can't think of any instructional manual in any subject that is clearer, more thorough, more honest, more user friendly than Making Comics.

As I said, it's a classic. You can expect to find marked-up copies on bookshelves (or on hard drives) a hundred years from now.

-- KK

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
Scott McCloud
2006, 272 pages
$16
Available from Amazon

Scott McCloud's website, featuring chapter 5½

Sample excerpts:

*

*

*

You can spend a lot of money on an acoustic guitar these days and end up with an instrument that doesn't improve with age, either tonally or aesthetically. With CNC machines and other robotic aids, assembling a decent instrument is no longer the exclusive province of the master luthier. Now that any idiot can do it, any idiot does, and the results vary wildly. I don't know how any beginner is expected to choose wisely from such a tawdry lot and end up with something worth passing on to their kids.

I've owned and played professionally close to a hundred fine instruments in the 35 years I've been playing and I've ended up being something of an accidental Martin collector. When people ask me what they should buy for their first guitar, I tell them to go straight to their nearest authorized Martin dealer and get a OO-15 or an OM-15. (The OM-15 is no longer in the Martin catalog as of 2003 but is still available used; I just saw one on eBay for $495). These all-mahogany instruments are an absolute steal in today's wacky market. They are spartan versions of Martin's multi-thousand dollar OO and OM models, offering the same playability but without the Nashville flash. Simple, honest, great-sounding, great-looking guitars that can take a beating and will last a lifetime -- all for a less than a grand. I bought my OO-15 new for $700 with a Martin hard case, and my beloved OM-15 slightly used for $550 with the same case. The OM-15 is slightly larger, with a wider fretboard suitable for fingerpicking styles and/or larger hands. Both instruments have a characteristic "airy" sound from the mahogany top, making them particularly well-suited for recording. They don't boom, nor do they crackle; they hum with a satisfying balance, strummed or fingerpicked. The satin-finished mahogany is lower maintenance than the softer spruce tops, and minor dings disappear in the dark chocolate-colored grain patterns. By the way, the "O" in both names refers to Orchestra, not the number zero, so say "oh-M".

You can't get more guitar for the money anywhere.

-- David MacNeill

Martin Dealer Locator

Ebay, Martin OM page

Used and vintage guitars
Schoenberg

I have worked with postal employees and highway workers for several years now, and the dog repellent they recommend is to obtain a 3% or less solution of ammonia from your local drug store (chemists). If you sniff test the solution and it's still too strong dilute it 50/50 with water. Load the solution into a squirt bottle or a small toy squirt gun. This repels the animal without harm - especially if you aim for the nose.

A dog's sense of smell is so important to it that when the ammonia overwhelms his olfactory nerves, he will rapidly change his mind about attacking, and take his nose elsewhere. He will usually recover fully in 1/2 to 1 hour. I have not tested this on animals, am just passing on what my fellow road workers claim works.

-- Robert Chamberlin

*********

I have a small wet/dry vac that I use as a substitute for renting a rug cleaner to spot clean my rugs and furniture. Use soap and water in a spray bottle or just pour it out of a glass on the spot. Rub it in with a brush or your fingers and then suck it up with the wet/dry vac. Rinse the spot with plain water two or three times the same way. It works great. I've done this to get juice off of my car seats as well.

-- Stephen Foss

*********

Wooden, spring loaded clothes pins are one of the handiest gadgets in the kitchen. They are very cheap and long lasting. I have a couple dozen in use at any one time fastening the open tops of almost any kind of food that comes in a bag. This can be a bag of chips, bread in a bag, the cereal package inside the box, bags of half used frozen foods. Clothes pins are way better than twist ties, rubber bands, and the standard bread bag clip. They can also be used to hang up damp dish clothes, towels, and pot scrubbers. I have a wire rack over my sink that holds many sink related tools, as well as items hung by clothes pins to dry. (This all begs the issue of using them with a clothes line to serve as one of the most basic of solar power appliances to dry damp, washed clothes - a sorely under utilized way to save energy and money, as well as impart a natural fragrance that can't be beat with any chemical scent.)

-- Michael Kuhn

*********

A helpful idea for extending the life of expensive shop-vac filters is to put a layer of (used but clean) pantyhose over the filter when installing it. This will catch most of the large particles and prevent them from lodging deep in the crevices.

-- Peter Lovell

That CarChip E/X thing is definitely a cool tool. I thought you might be interested in 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.

-- Neil Enns

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A useful source of strong wire that is universally available in every closet is a coat hanger. Keep one in the car and one in the toolbox. Uses include tieing things, creating temporary supports, unblocking drains, opening cars, fishing for lost items that are out of reach, replacement aerials, weird 12v lighting tracks, and fabricating special tools and jigs. I've even seen them used to make Christmas decorations. Probably as useful and universal as duct tape, only cheaper. It even functions well as a clothes hanger provided you don't overload it. Available for free from dry cleaners when you get your clothes back though once you get two together in a closet they do seem to breed.

-- Steve Burrows

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One area where WD-40 has shortcomings is in any area where it will dissolve the original lubricant such as on the rods of foosball tables. Where this falls short, the solution of solutions is Pledge spray furniture polish. Works like a charm and lets you pull those really mean nasty shots that scare your opponents' children.

-- Zav

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Eighth inch shock cord, the elastic stuff that holds tent poles together, is fifty cents a foot and works great for a portable backpack-able clothes line. An overhand knot on a bight at either end and you are good to go -- double the line over to stick your garments through if it is windy. Half the price of the travel clothesline reviewed earlier and multipurpose -- in a pinch you can replace shoelaces with it, lash stuff to your bag, repair tent poles, etc. You can buy shock cord from lots of vendors.

-- Jason Morningstar

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim quickly he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours, which is tough. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. But doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, ie: It is sunny out today)

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

-- Passed along by Michael Hawley

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For small, point & shoot digital cameras, there is always the problem of holding it steady in low light situations. I happened upon something -- the "Chain Pod" -- that was used back when the first 35mm cameras appeared. To make one is easy -- just buy a 1/4" #20 thumb screw from Home Depot and a 6' length of small chain. Drill a hole in the thumb part of the screw and attach the chain. After attaching it into the tripod mount hole, just step on the chain and pull the camera upwards until taut. I was thrilled by how light it is (and portable -- in your pocket!) and how well it works.

-- Bryan Quattlebaum

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I must confess I owe Martha Stewart for this one: All my power cords, other computer cables, phone cables, power-strips, and even the DSL modem and the wireless router are contained in a wire basket (from Hold Everything or Pottery Barn or Ikea or something) which is hung from the bottom of the desk by four screw hooks. Leaves plenty of room to stretch my legs without the fear of yanking out a cord or kicking a power switch with my feet.

-- Charles Kiblinger

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Clear silicone rubber makes an excellent fabric glue, especially for hard-to-sew fabric like T-shirts. Small holes can be easily sealed nearly invisibly in three steps or small pieces of fabric can be used as patches, visible or invisible. There are no problems with laundry--it goes through the washer and dryer just fine without losing adhesion or being damaged by the heat of the dryer.

I've been doing this for years with EXCELLENT results.

-- Michael Rudas

I am no painter but I do normal household paint jobs and furniture work sometimes. The last reasonably nice paint brush I bought was $25. I turned it into a useless stiff paddle within a few days by not cleaning it enough (it's hard for a non-professional to tell when all the clear polyurethane sealant is really rinsed out of a brush). Instead of throwing it away, I soaked it in lacquer thinner (not just mineral spirits) for a few minutes and then used a "painter's comb." The stainless-steel comb side pushes the bristles apart, lets more solvent into the middle of the bristles, and reshapes the brush, and the wire-brush side pushes dried gunk out. It worked so well I kept going and resuscitated three other "ruined" brushes I had thought were goners. Took about 5 minutes each. Cheaper than buying new brushes all the time. No doubt old hat to the professional painters out there....Readily available at home centers and paint supply stores.

-- Charles Kiblinger

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I cook a lot and like to use garlic. One downside of properly cleaning and chopping/slicing garlic is the smell that permeates your skin. Years ago I heard on NPR (I don't recall who from) that if you rubbed your hands with something made of stainless steel, under cold water, that the smell would be eliminated. I didn't believe it, but it works. You can buy "fancy" soap shaped or garlic shaped stainless steel objects to do this with...but no need, go into your drawer and get out a butter knife or spoon instead. This really works!

-- Michael Raab

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This is a straightforward application of a standard telephone company service -- but I find it extremely useful. It's a way to have only one phone number.

I have a cellphone, but I don't give out the number! When I am going to be away and it is desirable to monitor calls to my home line, I simply switch on its forwarding service. (I record the code in my home phone's "dial" memory. It can also be set, remotely, from the cellphone.) I may do it for just a few hours when I am expecting an important call -- or for many days; my wife and I routinely use it when we travel.

Having just one phone number simplifies life for both me and the people who want to talk to me.

-- Bob Spinrad

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I needed a frisbee once....only had a paper bag. Well, I found that a paper bag rolled inward from top to bottom, spiraling as you roll, then making it round when you get to get to the bottom makes a wonderful, colorable, recyclable, dog-eatable, adjustable-sized, FREE frisbee. They fly lumpy if you weight them irregularly. A ribbon can be put in a central hole for pretty effect or short range retrieval throws, stopping it inches from its target. Can also be used as a mask, paper plate, quiet drum, paper taco, beret, kite, yoyo...etc. and can be restored to bag function easily

I discovered this 30 years ago and have made uncountable numbers since.

-- Terry Hill

My last two digital cameras have "interval" shooting capability. Since starting to use it, I have found a myriad of everyday uses. Here, in no particular order, are some. (1) made a 100 shot slide show of 800 miles from Tucson to Los Angeles by building a little headrest rig for the camera, (2) set up the camera for a friend, so she could review her new dog's settling in her house (great fun!!), and (3) recorded voltage levels over an extended period by photographing a multimeter readout, looking for spikes.

-- AK

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A dental pick has a strong, very thin, sharp wire on a comfortable handle which is great for reaching inside places where nothing else can enter. It can be used for removing dust bunnies, retrieving nuts and bolts dropped inside the mechanism, removing the insides of nature specimens, ca...a...a...refully removing a paint spot in the wrong place.

-- Alfred

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A dental pick has a strong, very thin, sharp wire on a comfortable handle which is great for reaching inside places where nothing else can enter. It can be used for removing dust bunnies, retrieving nuts and bolts dropped inside the mechanism, removing the insides of nature specimens, ca...a...a...refully removing a paint spot in the wrong place.

-- Alfred

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Other ways to stabilize a bike so that it is less likely to fall over are to tie the front wheel and the downtube together. It can be a piece of string, a shoelace, a strip of "velcro", a large rubber band (with the ends hooked over the "bosses" on the downtube). The effect is twofold, first, to keep the front wheel inline so that the fork and front wheel don't pivot and let the bike fall over, and secondly, just to keep the bike from rolling forward or backward.

-- John Fears

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As a sea kayak guide, I need to be able to illustrate ideas to people and point things out. But I often work in the high arctic, there are no trees and even no sticks or driftwood. I use my extra light tent pole section as a pointer and general sand diagram maker. The other guides I work with think I am looney bringing this thing with me up north, especially with the very strict weight limits on a twin otter. Still, I use the thing all the time and have even started to bring it on trips that I do where there are trees!

-- Charlie van Straubenzee