I am an architect and have been working with programs like Photoshop for years, but Spoonflower really opened up a new world for me: fabric design. It's a service that let's you upload an image to a web site and the company prints the design as a pattern on 100% cotton fabric. Their customer service is great, and I think the fabric is reasonably-priced: it costs $18/yard, not counting shipping, and an individual 8x8-inch swatch is $5. The site is still in beta, so I had to request an invite to use Spoonflower, but a week after contacting them I was experimenting with patterns and ordering fabric.

So far, I've placed three orders with three different designs (3x3 yards worth) at $ 66 per order, shipping included. The trickiest part was preparing the image file so the pattern matches up. I used the "define pattern" command in Photoshop to test my image files before I uploaded them. I defined the image size (150 dpi), set colors to LAB color space and saved the files in TIF format. After I uploaded them to the Spoonflower site, they were automatically tiled to fill the desired fabric size. Then I specified the shipping address, paid using my credit card and that's it! The turnaround was reasonably quick: my fabric arrived in a month (I live in Switzerland). I made a skirt with the fabric from my first order -- a present for my Mom (pic below).

A couple caveats: I have noticed some distortion after washing the fabric and there was a little color shifting from my original designs. Still, the color shifting and fabric distortion really are minor. Overall, I'm happy with the color accuracy and I've been very satisfied with my orders. I have been having a lot of fun with Spoonflower and will likely place my fourth order very soon. I am even considering setting up an Etsy shop to sell some of my fabrics.

-- Isabella Kuntz

Spoonflower

Beta invitation request

Skirt:

Pattern:

NOTE: definitely check out this blogger's enlightening side-by-side close-ups of fabric printed from her artwork. One of her conclusions: "strong graphic lines turn out better than images with subtle shading." Also, check the Spoonflower pool on flickr for more fabric samples, including this skirt. --sl

Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:

World Textiles

Books on Demand

Brother Sewing Machine

I have been considering buying a kitchen scale for quite a while, but was often underwhelmed with what was out there. Unlike a garden-variety kitchen scale, which typically weighs up to only four pounds, the Ultraship can handle up to 55 pounds. It reads in ounces, pounds, grams or kilos, so it's perfect for the kitchen, but can also be used for shipping packages and mail. Heck, you could even weigh a small child on it. Also, it features a just plain brilliant design:i f you are weighing a really big monster package that blocks the display, you can detach it! The entire face of the unit can be unclipped and pulled away from the scale with a 5-foot-long extension cord.

When I compared the Ultraship to a laboratory-grade scale used at my company, this one went gram for gram with the lab scale. Within the 0-2 pound range, it is actually accurate to essentially 0.035 ounces as opposed to the 0.1 ounces in the specification. If you take baking seriously, this is the only way to go. I fish quite a bit, so it's nice to be able to weight those 30-pound striped bass. From 2-55 pounds, the scale is accurate to within 0.5 ounces. While my initial motivation was for the kitchen, I have also been using it for boxes and packages.

-- Aram Salzman

Ultraship Digital Shipping Postal Kitchen Scale
$35
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by My Weigh

Russell is a hundred-some-odd-year-old shoemaker I've been ordering from for the past 15 years. In addition to the quality of the workmanship and materials, you get the simple, timeless pleasure of a hand-crafted, made-to-order shoe/boot. Options include any number of various soles, hides (including supplying your own!), styles, insulation, toe cap, steel shank, and other custom options. For me, the Vibram sole was perfect. But others might be after oil resistance, traction, silence, longer life, etc. For instance, I'm not a hunter, but for those that are, Russell also has snakeproof boots and options for preventing thorns/cactus. That ability to customize your sole/leather/style per application is great.

There's a downloadable instruction form for sending in your measurements, which they keep on record for a decade. I am very flat-footed and they were able to accommodate the necessary additional space for orthotics. Not that unusual, but I recommended Russell to a friend with extraordinarily narrow feet (especially for how long they are). They were able to create his size no problem; and he's since ordered a half dozen different pairs over the years. One other thing I'd add is they do repair work as well, so you won't need to toss them as they get really old -- and you get the added bonus of having someone who knows the shoe doing the work. I have both the Cavalier boot and the Buckle Chukka. They're not cheap, but the Cavalier boots I mainly wear now I've had for at least 10 years, and the pair has only gotten better with age.

-- Wrye Martin

Russell Moccasin Footwear
$360 (cavalier)
Available from Russell Moccasin

The Remington Shortcut is a clipper designed for self-administered haircuts. A curved clipper head makes it almost impossible to over-cut small or large regions, and the clipper's unconventional hairbrush-like shape makes it easy to reach the most awkward spots on your head. Before getting the Shortcut, I'd tried cutting my own hair several times and always had disasters. On my first attempt with the Shortcut, I got about the same results I'm used to from a pro, which rather astounded me. It seems almost impossible to mess up. Using the Shortcut takes me five to ten minutes, which I usually fit in just before showering for obvious reasons. The cutter can be set from "skinhead" to "George Clooney" and you can easily mix lengths on the sides and top for effect. Once you get used to five minute haircuts on-demand they're rather addictive. Going to the barber for a typical male haircut now seems as silly -- and time wasting -- as traveling across town for a shave. Every time I use the Shortcut I save about $20 and at least an hour and a half of my time -- a good return on my initial investment.

-- Jonathan Coupe

Remington Shortcut
$35
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Remington

Downhill skating is like surfing; carving back and forth on long downhills. Note: you guys who skated as kids and have quit. The technology is way advanced these days. Decks, trucks, wheels, designs. It's a different skating world. If you've ever skated, you've got the motor skills (due to "muscle memory"), and you'll be surprised at how much fun you can have skating downhill with today's boards. Here are three unique skateboards meant for downhill, as opposed to acrobatic street and ramp skating.

-- Lloyd Kahn

Loaded Carving Systems

This is my board of choice, after maybe 20 boards. The decks are made of 1/2 cm strips of vertically laminated bamboo (with the grain running truck to truck,) sandwiched between layers of fiberglass. The decks are convex (from end to end) and you can pump to accelerate, gaining speed from the flex of the deck and rebound from the truck bushings and wheels. They produce a graceful and flowing ride. I've got a Dervish model with Orangatang wheels. Check out the film clips on their website.

Dervish complete board w/wheels
$315
Available from Loaded Boards

Carveboard

This is a whole other animal. Surfers love them. They're heavy, have adjustable air pneumatic tires, and the deck tilts off springs so you can carve insanely tight angles. I use one with tires deflated to about 10 lbs. pressure to be able to skate a steep local hill that I can't handle on any other board.

43" Carveboard
$450
Available from Carve USA

Landyachtz Evo 2008

From British Columbia, land of heavy-duty mountain bike riders and downhill skaters, come these downhill racing boards. The drop-down decks give you a lower center of gravity and great stability at high speeds. Being closer to the ground makes it easier for skaters to get a padded glove on the ground for sliding (to slow down).

Evo 2008 w/Gumball wheels
$240
Available from Landyachtz

Safety Gear

1) Loaded sliding gloves -- best ones available. When you fall face down, these save the skin on the palm of your hand. They are also used for sliding.

2) TSG Force 2 knee pads. Top of the line; you can put these on over long pants.

NOTE: top image via the Northern California Downhill Skateboarding Association --sl

Mushrooms as solution. Fungi as ninja warriors. That's what this spirited, hyperkinetic book offers. Mushrooms as solutions to pollution (mycological remediation), fungi as a soil supplements for vegetables (companion planting), and as a source of human medical nutrition (harvested from inoculated logs, sawdust, cardboard) -- in other words, mushrooms to save the world. It's sort of crazy, far fetched ... but not. There's a lot of original ideas in this thickly illustrated book, with some fantastic visions, but all of it surrounded by deep strands of very practical how-to advice. How to grow fungi in your yard, or in toxic waste dumps, or anywhere. The author claims that the running mycelium of mushrooms were the first internet, and after you see what fungi can really do, you'll believe him. This book is about how to employ fungi to get things done. Mushrooms as overlooked tools.

-- KK

Mycelium Running
Paul Stamets
2005, 339 pages
$24
Available from Amazon

Sample excerpts:

Some of the mushrooms reached mammoth sizes, a testimonial to the nutrition they found in the petrochemicals.

Mycoremediation of Chemical Contaminants: Mushrooms as Molecular Disassemblers
With mycoremediation, brownfields can be reborn as greenfields, turning valueless or even liability-laden wastelands into valuable real estate. Remediation with living organisms addresses several expensive issues. Foremost, bioremediation and mycoremediation eliminate the expense incurred in removing thousands of tons of tainted soil to a remote toxic waste storage site. Current policy prescribes burning, hauling, and/or burying toxic waste. These steps leave a lifeless environment that is ecologically crippled or inert.

*

Spores in Oils
Spores can be immersed in canola, corn, or safflower oil, which can be used as a lubricant for chain saws or other cutting equipment. As trees, brush, or plants are cut, the spore-infused oil distributes spores to the newly cut surfaces, an efficient method of transfer. Another advantage of using oils is that they help the spores stick to the surfaces upon contact and have less chance of being washed or blown away.

One of these spored oils was made especially for Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and contains hundreds of millions of spores of Psilocybe azurescens. See also figure 77, showing a mycelial colony emanating from point of contact with spored oil.

*

Growing Mushrooms on Stumps
Stumps and their root systems can be massive, often weighing hundreds of pounds. Once stumps are inoculated, colonization can occur for years before mushrooms form. Once fruiting.begins, mushrooms can sprout for prolonged periods, sometimes decades, before the stump totally decomposes. Growing mushrooms in wood chips or on logs is far faster. But this apparent disadvantage of using stumps to grow mushrooms also foretells of its advantage: mushroom fruiting can persist on a stump for many years longer than on wood chips and logs. I have seen a stump produce woodlovers, for instance, every October for more than 10 years. Stumps that are interspersed amongst overshadowing stands of trees have the best chance of success.

*

Oysters (Pleurotus ostreatus) and honey mushrooms (Armillaria mellea species) fruiting from the same stump. Such events suggest that oyster mushrooms, which are saprophytes, can be good competitors against honey mushrooms, which have a dual nature, first parasitic, killing trees, and then saprophytic, growing upon their dead tissue.

My wife has been asking me to build a firewood rack for years. I was planning to construct something from square steel tubing, which would require a lot of cutting and welding. A friend recommended Stack-It Brackets, which allow you to quickly assemble and locate 2x4s in three directions without using any additional hardware. I'm sorry I didn't find these years ago, as we've been stacking wood badly for quite some time. They're inexpensive, work as advertised, and allow for quick and easy variations in the size of the rack.

I picked up a set of four steel brackets and in less than 30 minutes, I had an 8x3-foot firewood rack. Most of the time is spent in cutting the 2x4s into whatever lengths you want. After that, you just install the pieces. NOTE: the brackets will not hold true 2x4s. The rectangular hole in the bracket that determines the dimensions of the lumber giving the rack it's length is 1.61" x 3.61". With that piece of wood in place, the space for the vertical piece is 1.63"-1.72" x 3.63". The space available for the piece determining the width is 1.65 x 3.69". I used dimensional lumber measuring 1.5' x 3.5" with both of my racks.

The brackets are drilled to allow the used of screws for added rigidity, if one chooses. The first rack I made, I used some decking screws to attach the 2x4s to the brackets, because I thought it needed to be rigid. The second rack I assembled to hold kindling is made without using any hardware other than the brackets, and it is working just fine (below). Without using hardware, increasing or decreasing the capacity of the rack means just swapping in different lengths of 2x4. I'm actually a bit bummed about using the screws on the first rack (below), as I want to add taller verticals to increase it's capacity, but will have to wait until the rack is almost empty to move it to get to the screws on the backside.

According to the box, the brackets can also be used to construct a workbench, storage rack, plant stand, or shelving. I've seen a similar bracket product online, but they're made from ABS plastic rather than steel. With a bit of wood preservative, my racks should last for years.

-- Kurt Jensen

Stack-It Brackets
$13
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Seymour Manufacturing

Most colds are transmitted through hand-to-nose contact; alcohol-based hand sanitizing gels and sprays reduce the potency of most viruses within seconds, and so provide a good defense -- as long as you keep some handy.

This is the first sanitizer I've found that's not only fits easily in my small purse -- or clips to a pocket -- but is also refillable. The top unscrews, and you can refill it with 70% rubbing alcohol (use ethyl alcohol; less stinky and not as drying as isopropyl). Sprays are more useful than gels, as they can also be used on questionable restroom fixtures, for example. I've seen 1 or 2 ounce spray bottles, but those are usually about 1 1/4 inch wide. This one is the size of a slender highlighter, slightly thicker than a standard pen (at its widest, the barrel is 5/8 inches—not counting the clip—and 5 inches long). It fits easily, even in my inky-dinky overfilled purse, and when I have a cell phone or PDA in my pocket along with the bottle, things don't get uncomfortably bulgy. I'm a pharmacist, exposed to every cold virus that comes down the pike, and I haven't had a cold in a year. Dunno if it's the spray or dumb luck, but I used to get them pretty regularly before I developed the habit of spraying my hands after any exposure to a suspiciously sniffly customer.

-- Barbara Dace

Persani Instant Hand Sanitizing Spray
$2
Available from Drugstore.com

Manufactured by Persani

"The Tool" is a minimalist stainless steel multi-tool intended for surfers. It has an Allen wrench, Phillips and standard screwdrivers, wax comb and a leash hook. I asked a friend who works in a surf shop in Venice, CA if he'd heard of it. Turns out he uses it almost daily... -- sl

Since I started working in the shop about four months ago, I've been using The Tool fairly regularly, mostly to tighten or install fins with the flathead screwdriver and the Allen wrench. The little hook, prong tool is solid for jamming the string used to attach a leash to a board through a surfboard's leash plug.Though the Phillips rarely gets used in surf-related application, it's still handy to have for random, non-surfing needs.To buy all these tools separately, I guess you'd spend about 30 bucks, maybe less, so it's not a huge savings. But you have to factor in the convenience of the one-stop tool shop. That has value, to me, especially on the go, in the car, and on the beach. They're not flying off the shelves at our shop, but we have had several customers specifically request them and a few folks have been impressed after seeing them in action. I rarely use wax combs, but even if I did, I actually would hesitate to use this one, get it covered in wax, then throw it back in my pocket or bag. Once you get wax all over it, next comes sand, pet hair, you name it. Then again, carrying the Tool you'll always have a comb handy. In dire straits, you could use it and deal with the sticky aftermath.

-- Rob Kieswetter

The Tool
$20 (w/shipping)
Available from Cor Surf

Or $30 from Amazon (w/shipping)

Manufactured by Cor Surf

The price per-pixel of flat-screen computer display continues to drop. At the same time the per-pixel price difference between different size models of large screens currently being sold has gotten very small.

Currently there's no longer a big monetary reason to buy two smaller monitors instead of one big one. That's what I did recently. I got a huge 30" Apple Cinema Display and it changed how I worked. I ended up buying a used one on eBay for $1500. I've seen Dell's 30" monitor for sale on eBay for $1000 or less.

I've upgraded displays before but this upgrade to a Cinema screen gave me the biggest proportional step up in size. It was several weeks before I wasn't awe-struck when I walked into my home office. What I hadn't thought to prepare myself for was how much it changed my work habits.

The first thing I noticed was that the number of times I printed out hard copies of documents went down. Before, I would print copies of diagrams, specifications, and other reference material so that I could easily refer to them while working. Now I have space on the screen to have these visible. I wouldn't say I've made it all the way to the "paperless office," but it's gotten a lot closer.

Within a few days of using a large screen I began to experience a much more significant effect, though: when more of the things I needed to look at were already in view, the amount of time spent on visual context switches went down. Having more documents in view not only reduces the time consumed by the switch, but also the "recovery time" needed to remember what I was doing. A related time savings is that when a document I may need to switch to is visible, it takes less time to realize that I need it.

The display fills a lot more of my visual field - so much, in fact, that it took me a week or so to get used to how far away the left and right edges of the screen were. In the end, I found that this made it a little easier to concentrate (since my attention was less often directed toward wherever I'd been keeping the notes that wouldn't fit on the screen).

I found that once I got used to the idea that most things could be expanded to a size that required no window scrolling, I began to "think big" about a lot of things: my spreadsheets got bigger, my diagrams got bigger - and more unexpectedly: the size of the kind of thing I thought I could handle got bigger; and because I was much less often having to chop things into smaller pieces so that they could fit, things got simpler.

The 30" Apple Cinema Display puts out a lot of light. The biggest difference this makes for me is that even with sun streaming in the window, the display is still bright enough to see clearly; I am no longer tempted to close the blinds. At night, I often turn it down to a dimmer setting to match the subdued lighting of the rest of the house.

I'm recommending a 30" inch display to lots of people. I wish I'd bought one sooner!

-- Stephen Malinowski

30" Cinema Display
$1200 - Dell
Available from Dell

$1710 - Apple
Available from Amazon

Packing material is part of a vicious cycle. No matter how much holiday shopping and shipping my household does, the supply of bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts stashed in our garage just keeps replenishing. Hate to throw it away, but can't toss it in the recycle bin either. ExpandOS, on the other hand, are 100% recyclable. Essentially small cardboard pyramids -- made from 30% recyclable paper -- the shapes are engineered to fit together to create a stable environment for whatever's being shipped. As the picture above shows, each pyramid has ridges along its edges and holes in the face of each side, allowing a box of these suckers to lock together into a lattice-like structure.

ExpandOS are intended for commercial use, but I'm posting this in the hope that more businesses will give it a shot.

They way it works is you a purchase large flat sheets of specially-cut cardboard (made from 30% recycled paper). Each sheet gets fed into a special machine that separates and crimps small strips and spits them out in their folded, triangular form. You lease an "Expander" machine (pictured below, note: there are various size units). The machine is free to use if you order four or more pallets of sheets per month. If you order less than two pallets per month, you pay $300 for the machine. One pallet = $1800 = 16,660 sheets. Depending on the size of an order, the cost supposedly breaks down to about $1.50 - $1.80/cubic foot.

I discovered ExpandOS when my wife ordered a piece of pottery from Heath Ceramics in Sausalito. When I emailed Heath, a rep for the company told me they've been using ExpandOS for a year with a very low breakage rate. They say they've eliminated all peanuts, bubble wrap, foam inserts and pillows, and that they're budget for packing materials is roughly the same as it was before (if not reduced). Better yet, their packing time has dropped "dramatically." When they ship multiple items in one package, all they do is place a cardboard sheet between items in a stack, tape them together and surround them with ExpandOS.

-- Steven Leckart

ExpandOS

Savings Calculator & Other Info

Due to surgery, I couldn't wear a belt for a while, so I turned to suspenders. But whenever I'd wear a sweater, I'd have to remove the sweater, then slide the suspenders off and drop my trousers in order to got the bathroom. Then I discovered these suspenders that have only two clips, which attach where it sounds like they should -- at your sides, instead of the front and back. My sweater stays on, and I can relieve myself and re-fasten the clips in no time. I wear a dressier version (good for us office workers), but Duluth also offers a heaver-duty kind for guys and gals partial to heavier canvas work pants.

-- George Brett

Duluth Trading Side-Clip Presentation Suspenders
$23
(dressy plaid)
Available from Duluth Trading

$15
(no-frills in various colors)
Also available from Duluth Trading

I have had a wide range of work duties and hobbies over the years, and in difficult situations nothing has served me better than the judicious application of zip ties. Neat-ifying cables, creating stand-in hinges, holding car parts on for the trip, fastening bike components, acting as primitive locks on hardsided luggage -- the uses are endless and well-known.

What is less known is that not all cable ties are created equal. The zip tie was invented by Thomas & Betts for aircraft use and the company has continued making higher-quality zip ties while the market of lesser cable ties has proliferated. The brand is called "Ty-Rap" and there are several types of different lengths, colors, and widths. Thomas & Betts makes the only zip ties I use. Despite their additional expense they are worth the effort to find and use.

The difference is that the T&B ties use a stainless gripper as the 'ratchet' mechanism, and there are no serrations on the bottom of the tie surface -- it's completely smooth. The stainless locking head actually digs into the underside of the wrap when threaded, leading to infinite adjustability and tight application (the el-cheapo ties always seem to be one "click" too loose.) They are higher-strength material - probably double or triple the strength of standard ties. They resist melting, and seem to be impervious to the worst chemicals I've thrown them into (including lye baths for metal stripping.) They are resistant to abrasions and take a bit of effort to cut through even with a sharp knife. I find that I typically have to wedge a knife blade under the tie, and twist the blade like a tourniquet stick to cut the ties - this also avoids the unpredictable jumping of the blade which is typical of the brute force method of cutting these infernal things once they're on an object.

This preference for a particular zip tie brand may seem like a minor detail, or a slight difference not worthy of attention. However, I have had cheap cable ties stretch, snap, or lose their ratchet grip at the worst possible times, which I'm sure has cost me more than the delta of price that I would have paid for the better T&B ties. In an ugly but unavoidable hack, I needed to hold a set of horizontal computer rack fans on the door of a 19" cabinet. I was not working with my own toolset, and was forced to use "typical" zip ties to hold the heavy fans in place. I came back less than a week later, and the ties had stretched to the point where the fans were sagging and rattling horribly against the cabinet door, and would have broken in not too long a time. I replaced them with the T&B Ty-Rap ties and a year later they were as tight as the day I put them on despite the frequent stresses on opening the door.

I have NEVER had a T&B cable tie fail on me under anything less than overwhelming circumstances. They are extremely durable, many of the models are UV-resistant, and the stainless gripper never, ever lets go. A long time ago, after several years and lessons learned using cheaper ties, I have sworn never to use the cheap stuff for anything other than wrapping up cords for storage. The T&B ties are expensive, but worth it. Every year or two I just ignore the price and buy a big bag of them on eBay, and I've never regretted it. I find the TY27M to be a good general purpose model, but take a look at the catalog for ideas.

-- John Todd

Ty-Rap Zip Ties
$19
(100 ties - TY525MX)
Available from Amazon

Other models/sizes also from Amazon

Manufactured by Thomas & Betts

BONUS TIP: The only way to reliably remove the "tails" of these ties without leaving a razor-sharp edge is to use a pair of flush-cut nippers, such as the Xcelite 170M (available from Amazon). As an add-on tool in any toolbox that has these cable ties, this is mandatory for anyone building a computer rack or doing cable management -- your unbloodied hands will thank you.

I still have vivid memories of the Northeast blackout of 2003, so a few years ago I decided to get prepared by purchasing one of those emergency flashlights which stays plugged in and switches on automatically when the power is cut, thus guiding you right to a fully-charged unit. Oddly enough, the best plug-in emergency flashlight I've found -- which uses standard AA batteries -- isn't even marketed as a flashlight! The manufacturer refers to this unit as a battery charger with a built-in light, but it's exactly what I was looking for. There is a three-way switch: always off, a smaller LED night light on the bottom, and automatically turn-on four LEDs when the power fails. Mine sits in a wall outlet in the bathroom, waiting to turn on during the next blackout. In the meantime, I use it regularly as a battery charger. It comes with four 1300 mAh batteries, but I actually use 2000 mAh batteries, which I switch out as I use them in other devices. All for the better, since I'm told batteries should be allowed to discharge on occasion anyway.

-- Allan Peda

Powerbank Torch
$28
Available from Green Batteries

Ticketmaster sucks. Consumers hate having to purchase tickets through them because of their outrageous pile of excessive and phony fees. Hosts hate them because Ticketmaster's effective monopoly demands everyone play by their heavy-handed rules. Venues and fans feel totally stuck with them.

However if you are putting on an event and want to sell tickets, you have an alternative that will be cheaper, better, faster than Ticketmaster.

Brown Paper Tickets is one of several alternative online ticket vendors for anyone hosting a ticketed event. Might be a ball, a fundraiser, a race, a concert, or an exhibit. At Long Now we've used them and can recommend them highly.

Brown Paper Tickets bills themselves as "fair-trade" ticketing. What that means is that they offer a fair deal to both the consumer and the venue. BPT provides the lowest consumer fees on tickets (99 cents and 2.5%), with no add-on overcharges, and free first class postage. For hosts setting up an event, they offer fantastic 24/7 live-person phone support, a clean usable website, and cheap (10 cent) printed secure tickets. They offer venue hosts other goodies too. You have control over when to stop sales, how to customize the ticket, ways to manage multiple events, means to offer media tickets, assigned seating, and so on.

Plus, they give you real-time sales, and pay up promptly! Try that with Ticketmaster.

If you are running an event, it's crazy to use the old monster; if you are a fan, petition your venue to switch to Brown Paper Tickets.

-- KK

Brown Paper Tickets

What happens if you're on a trip in middle of nowhere and you get a flat? You swap to your spare, right? OK, now you are in the middle of nowhere, with no back up. Your only option now is to head to civilization to get your tire repaired, which can wreck a camping trip fast. This weekend I was reminded how few people know about these tire plug kits or how to use them. For under $10 and a few ounces, you can use the same tools that the tire repair shops do. They are available at almost every gas station. You just find the leak (a little soapy water works best) remove the obstruction, rough up the hole with the rasp tool, and push in the sticky rope plug with the other, then re-inflate (which requires a pump of some kind, but even a bike pump will work). This is the same thing they do in the repair shops, but is no harder than changing a tire and sometimes easier as you don't always have to take the tire off the car (but you will have to jack it up or somehow take the weight off of it). This won't work for really large blow outs or slashes, but will fix 90% of all tire punctures you encounter and keep your weekend from getting ruined.

-- Alexander Rose

Check out this video for an excellent tire plug demo -- sl

Tire Plugs
$10
Available from Buy Hardware Supplies

I recently read about a product whereby a computer beams the digital image of a recipe onto some type of eye-level display in your kitchen. Here's the low-tech way, which I've used for the last two years: take your printed recipe and use StikkiCLIPS to temporarily place the recipe up on the cupboard door right in your line of sight. When I've finished cooking, I easily remove the clip from the cupboard. The recipe isn't covered in stains. And the door doesn't have any permanent marks from the clip. Rather than traditional adhesive, the back of the clip has a bit of wax-like substance on it. This substance does get used up as you use the clip (I've used one clip as much as two dozen times). However, the clips don't mar the surface you've clipped it to -- in my case, the kitchen cupboard door looks good as new. I've also used the clips for other projects to keep whatever paper I'm using off my work space, but still in my line of sight. Another use: I put a clip in the driver's side corner of my windshield, where it holds parking stubs, so the Parking Control Officer can spot them easily and so the stub doesn't get blown out of the dashboard when I close the car door. The package cover says "the best way to hang papers anywhere." I think they're right.

-- Helen Hegedus

StikkiCLIPS
$5
(pack of 20)
Available from OrganizedLiving

Manufactured by StikkiWorks

My commute is the typical metro mix: walk to train, take train, ride to work (25 min. of walking and 20 min. of train). There had to be a better way and I found it: the Xootr MG scooter. This is no kids scooter. Made from lightweight magnesium, the scooter weighs a mere 9.9 pounds and folds up small enough to take on public transportation and easily store at home/work. Unlike the Razor, the Xootr sports a big front wheel, which makes it less likely to get stuck on a sidewalk lip and pitch you forward -- though you still have to be careful! The wheel is also a hard, smooth, thin black rubber, which tracks in very little dirt (unlike inflatable grooved tires) and loses less energy than skateboards or lesser scooters. I chose the MG model, since its deck is lower and 7.5 inches wide (my feet are size 13). Unlike the previously-reviewed K-2, the Xootr's handlebars are full, two-hand handlebars with agile steering that is the same as a bike. I actually replaced the grips with thicker more absorbent ones from Ergon (I'm a software developer and don't want to screw up my wrists). The Xootr also has a familiar bike-style front brake for when you need to stop in a hurry. You can also push down on the rear fender, but I'm not in the habit of using that method and have read it may wear down the tire more rapidly. The brakes basically don't work in the rain; there's a real loss of friction/stopping power, so I don't recommend riding in those conditions. When it's not raining, though, this scooter makes getting around sans car not a drudgery, but efficient and fun. I've found I can go about 8mph with the Xootr. It's a workout.

-- Jeff Winkler

Xootr
$230
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Xootr

I always thought lap desks were for the bed-bound, until the Levenger Surf desk arrived on my doorstep, an early birthday gift from Levenger's founder, Steve Leveen. The Surf Desk is a super-light desk made of the same materials used in surfboards, and as hip-looking as something one might see in Malibu. I'll admit I was a bit puzzled by the thing at first and I never imagined a lap-desk would be a useful tool, but I now use the darn thing every day! It's perfect for working with a laptop and my notes while slouching on a couch, or relaxing outside on a deck chair. In my office, I often set it atop an open file drawer as an impromptu credenza to hold paper sprawls during big projects. When I am not using it, the Surf Desk parks conveniently in a corner or propped up in my closet (though I use it so much it is hardly ever there). The folks at Levenger joke about "alternative desking," but I think the term gets at what makes the Surf Desk so interesting: it gives vastly more flexibility in choosing how -- and where -- to work. I haven't taken mine away from home yet, but the Surf Desk is so light and convenient (and presumably water proof), I'd think anyone who wanted a travel desk in their SUV, van or the like would enjoy this one. And solo surfers take note: pull out a surf desk at your local espresso bar and you are sure to draw a crowd, especially if you are close to the beach!

-- Paul Saffo

Levenger Surf Desk
$148
Available from Levenger

Topo maps have long been friends of all explorers and wanderers. Contours of the land make or break your journey, but this critical relief is not captured by the satellite images or street maps usually found on Google Earth. Togographical maps however do show relief. Topo maps typically display the gradient of the land as concentric contour lines which can be easily followed. Topo maps also label structures, buildings, railways, and other features of interest to someone trying to navigate on their own power. All continental areas of the US have been mapped in topographic detail and these crisply printed topo maps are available inexpensively from the United States Geological Survey.

But this is the age of freeconomics, so there are two ways to acquire topo maps for free.

The easiest way is to download a free nifty app for Google Earth, called the Topographical Overlay, that will add a KMZ "layer" of official US topo maps on Google Earth. Once installed you can toggle it on or off. When on, the Topo Overlay displays the standard 7.5 minute topos as one seamless map of the country. This makes it very easy to center your interest in the middle of your custom map. (You can buy a similar service on a not-cheap set of CDs from National Geographic, but you get the same thing here for free.) For browsing, this arrangement is hard to beat. You can zoom in, or out, and scroll forever. Its major drawback is printing. I have not been able to get the displayed map to print larger than one half of a standard letter page.

Topographical Overlay layer in Google Earth.

However there is another way to print free topos. You can download, for free, a high resolution PDF file of any US topo map made. These are the same maps that the Google Earth app is using, but here they are dished out one by one in PDF format. Go to the USGS Map Locator page, and search for the quad you want. You can type in an "street" address just like in Google. Click on the appropriate miniature map and then choose which scale map of the area you want to download. The PDF files of the standard 7.5 minute topo map will be between 6 and 16 megs. You'll need Photoshop or equivalent to crop and size them. Be prepared to use some heavy duty processing power. These are big, very detailed maps.

Once prepared, you can then print the topo map out yourself if you have a wide color printer. But since you can order the topo map itself for only $6 (plus postage) from the same government website, why not buy if you have the time?

There are four good reasons you might want to download and print your own topo maps.

1) It is instant. When you need a topo today, it's worth the hassle of messing with files.
2) It is selective. Way too often the spot you are looking for is in the corner of 4 maps, which means you have to order all four just to center the chosen area. You can eliminate 3 extra maps by combining the parts you want into one map.
3) You can print it on Teslin map paper (see below) which holds up in field use.
4) It can be lots cheaper.

However most of us don't have extra wide printers. You can print a series of cropped portions of a topo on regular 8.5 x 11 sheets at the official scale, but I wouldn't want to do many by hand like that -- say a long trail. (Someone should write a utility for that job; write me if you know of one.) Even a slightly wider printer which can handle a 11 x 17 size sheet (Ledger) will give you very usable results. I recently printed a river run by cutting out the relevant sections of 6 topos, then printing each sheet at standard scale on an 11 x 17 page. We got served wonderfully.

Teslin +ink-jet map, printed on both sides. No-see-through when used horizontally.

Whatever size you print, you can drastically increase the usability of your home-printed map by upgrading to Teslin paper. National Geographic sells cut sheets of Teslin as Adventure Paper. Think tyvek, but smoother and printable. It's available in boxes of 25, 15 or 10 sheets depending on size. You send this this untearable, nearly indestructible paper through your ordinary ink jet printer. The resulting map (see picture above) can then be dunked in the ocean, folded again and again, and it won't break. When applied as if the paper were Glossy Photo Paper, your typical ink jet ink seems to adhere well and hold up pretty good to abuse. It can be printed on both sides, too, to further compact your maps.

-- KK

USGS Topographical Overlay (KMZ file)

USGS Map Locator

National Geographic Adventure Paper
11 x 17 inches, 10 sheets
$20
Available from National Geographic

And from REI

Or Waterproof-Paper.com

Instead of the previously-reviewed Toto Washlet Toilet, there's another bidet attachment option that is easier to install and use while being cheaper. The GoBidet is an adjustable arm that affixes to your existing toilet and swings into position when needed. I've been using mine for at least six years. We had one in a hotel down in Costa Rica and I liked it so much I found a stateside supplier. I find it much more flexible than the fixed bidet seat variety. Although it costs more than the BioBidet, the remote control handle makes a world of difference compared to a fixed tip. With the GoBidet, you're actually able to aim the nozzle. It's kind of like playing a twisted version of Space Invaders.

The bidet can be set to spray both hot and cold water, and the water hookups and mixing control are just like those in a single lever sink faucet. You move the water control lever up to increase water volume and to the left or right to make it colder or warmer. I have it hooked up to just the cold (attached to a 'T' from the toilet supply spigot). While it initially required some getting used to, I found it was easier than running a longer hose from the hot water hookup under the sink. Of course, in a new bathroom install you could run another hot water spigot next to the toilet supply. I've used warm water bidets before and would definitely recommend setting it up with the hot water, if at all possible. It's $130, but they can be frequently found for less on eBay (new, of course).

-- Ed Tapanes

GoBidet
$115
(chrome finish only)
Available from Medex Supply

$130+
(multiple finishes)
Available from Bidets America

Manufactured by GoBidet

NOTE: Check out this video for how to install and use the device. --sl