What’s in my NOW? — Maria Li

issue #218

Recently retired print production professional. Current occupation: Chief Optimization Officer (COO) of Meum, Inc.

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PHYSICAL

• My electric Singer sewing machine: for making bespoke things (a button-down shirt with loop closures, the right-sized EDC bag) for myself and my friends and for mending or re-making things I already have.
• All-weather, seasonless, ankle-supporting, no-lace, slip-on, everyday Blundstone boots.
• Small, strong magnets for managing the weekly flotsam and jetsam of scribbled notes, coupons, bills, cards, receipts, tickets, postcards, photos, takeout menus, psa flyers and other ephemera.

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DIGITAL

• FOSS, free open source software, for ad-free, mostly free or pay-what-you-can or -want, creative, quirky-fun utilities (aneko, f-droid.org) and games (kumquats, f-droid.org); and an ebook reader that can reflow text/pictures in OCR’d PDFs.
• The pinetime $27, water-resistant, dustproof smartwatch: the basic features have all that I need – a step counter, heart rate monitor (a bit wonky), 5-day weather (just added); a work-in-progress with a charge that lasts for 2 days or more depending on settings configuration. Other apps included that I don’t use daily: doodle app, flashlight; games; alarm, music controller; notifications

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INVISIBLE

Living in a walkable city, where everything you need is a few minutes’ walk away.

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07/30/25

My Dad Used to Be So Cool / Dear Data

Issue No. 77

MY DAD USED TO BE SO COOL – SO WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?

My Dad Used to Be So Cool
by Keith Negley
Flying Eye Books
2016, 48 pages, 9.1 x 10.7 x 0.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

To believe that your own parents are “boring” or “typical” is a pretty common thought amongst children. Unless your parent is a spy or superhero, you aren’t going to refer to them as “cool.” And why would you?

Keith Negley’s book, My Dad Used to Be so Cool, illustrates the dynamic between a son and his father. The story is told from the son’s point of view as we journey through his fantasies of what his father used to be like when he was younger. Through descriptive illustrations and minimal word usage, a world that we are all too familiar with is created. The son sees his father doing laundry and vacuuming just like every other child has seen their parent do. Nothing particularly “cool” about those daily tasks, right? The son begs the question, “What happened?” A life event changed the father from a tattooed rock and roll super star to a laundry-folding dad. What was it? The answer – his son.

Negley perfectly demonstrates the sacrifices a parent makes for their child, but how beautiful those sacrifices really are. This story opened my eyes to how “cool” my own parents actually are. At 18 years old, I am not a parent but I can honestly say that the daily struggles and chores that any parent deals with are nothing short of remarkable.

This is a truly heart-warming tale and I would strongly recommend that not only children read this book but adults as well. The story is a solid reminder to appreciate our parents and if you are a parent, congratulate yourself because you are awesome. I look forward to my child asking me, “Did you use to be cool?” I’ll laugh and smile. “You know, I was never that cool anyway.” – Madeline Shapiro

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DEAR DATA – TWO WOMEN EXPLORE THEIR FRIENDSHIP THROUGH DATA ANALYSIS AND MAIL ART

Dear Data
by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
Princeton Architectural Press
2016, 288 pages, 8.4 x 11.2 x 1 inches (softcover)

Buy on Amazon

I have always had a deep fascination with the graphical representation of data. Being mildly dyslexic, numbers make my head hurt. Being extremely visual, numbers only come alive for me when they take color, shape, or are otherwise rendered in some visual way. Show me numbers and they will have little impact. Show me a beautiful graphical representation of those numbers and I will remember them forever. Dear Data is a rich and inspiring teasure-trove of creatively rendereded data, giving visual shape to the more mundane aspects of the two authors’ lives.

Dear Data is the result of a year-long project that two designer friends undertook. For one year, Giorgia Lupi, an Italian living in New York, and Stefanie Posavec, an American in London, gathered data around a theme each week, things like the number of times they said “Thank you,” the numbers of people they met (and how they connected), the numbers (and types) of doorways they walked through, the number of times they each looked at a clock, etc. With this data in hand, they would render a postcard with an artful, graphical presentation of their week and send it to the other. This book collects all 52 weeks, along with lots of additional art, insight, and asides.

The result is a very lovely book and a very unique way of exploring a friendship while more deeply exploring oneself in the process. Reading through Dear Data and pouring over all of the curious and clever charts, graphs, and diagrams they created, you really feel both women making unique discoveries about themselves, identifying previously unseen patterns in their behavior, and in the very woodwork of their lives.

This book will likely be an inspiration to anyone who works in rendering data, who is interested in mail art or art journaling, and anyone who simply enjoys exploring the creatively examined life. – Gareth Branwyn

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Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

07/29/25

Urban Biking

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 148

Bicycle survival skills

Urban Bikers’ Tricks & Tips

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

• Remember that on a street, you either share the lane (cars pass next to you) or take the lane (you ride in the middle, and cars stay behind you or pass in another lane).
• In the door zone (the 3 or 4 feet next to parked cars in which you could get hit by an opening door), keep track of what’s behind you: If you have to swerve suddenly, you could get hit by traffic. Also, look for stretches where you can ride out of the door zone.
• Cross locking. When you cross lock your bike, you use two different lock systems at once – such as a U lock and a cable. Cross locking forces thieves to spend more time and use more than one kind of tool. If a thief sees that your bike is cross locked, he might move on to another bike that isn’t.

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Detachable cycling hitch for kids

Trail-Gator Bike Tow Bar

What sold me on the Trail-Gator was that I can attach my son’s current bicycle to the back of my bike. We can ride together along the main roads, however, when we get to our destination, I can easily unhook his bicycle and let him ride around and have fun. The towbar tucks away nicely next to the rear wheel when not in use.

I’ve used conventional bike trailers before, and I can tell no difference in the ride. I had no trouble installing the kit, and it feels very stable when we ride together. My five-year-old son loves riding his bike, and now we can go exploring together. I also really like the fact I can use the Trail-Gator with multiple bikes. When my three-year-old daughter is ready for her first bike, we can easily move the receiver hitch over. — Jeff Curry

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Best urban bike lock Kryptonite

Evolution U-Lock

I live in Baltimore, a city that still struggles with crime. As such, I take the security of my belongings seriously, and no place is this more evident than with the thing I most often leave in public: my bike.

In the past, and in safer cities, I have used steel cable locks without any problems. However, while locking my bike up around Baltimore I would frequently see the cut remains of thick steel cable locks. My dismay was reinforced when I saw a video of the time (mere seconds) it took to cut through even a thick steel cable lock with a pair of bolt cutters. Disconcerted, I asked my bike-savvy friends for a better solution. The universal answer was a Kryptonite U-lock coupled with a steel cable used to lock both your front and rear wheel to the bike frame and an immovable object.

I have a mixed history with Kryptonite. Eight years ago I owned and used an early version of their U-lock. Its size, weight, and ungainliness left much to be desired. In addition the model I owned had an embarrassing reputation for being picked by nothing more than a simple Bic pen. So I was wary when everybody and anybody with any knowledge about urban bike riding told me to use a Kryptonite lock.

After a few months with the new U-lock it is clear that eight years of substantial design changes have made a difference. Not only have they fixed almost every issue I had with my old U-lock, but they have made it smaller, lighter, and more secure.

Favored by bike couriers, the U-Lock is designed to couple the front wheel to the frame of the bike while locking to an external post, stop sign, or other immovable object. What Kryptonite has done to make this more usable is by shrinking the width and length of the U-lock so that it fits snugly into most back pockets (while the shorter length means it doesn’t fall out while riding). This subtle change makes it far easier to carry the lock thereby avoiding the need for a bag, or even for attaching it to the frame of the bike through a plastic connector (which are, at best, unreliable and prone to breaking).

In shrinking the lock for portability Kryptonite has also made it more difficult for bike thieves to steal the bike by preventing them from fitting a car jack between the lock and the steel bar (the main technique used to bust larger U-locks).

The one downside to Krytponite’s U-lock will always be its significant heft. The lock is predominantly made up of a solid chunk of hardened steel, and as such it weighs a considerable amount. But the knowledge that my bike is safer is much less of a burden than the few ounces of steel. — Oliver Hulland

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Hanging bike storage

Dero Track Rack

I bought this hanging bike storage system on a recommendation from a bike junkie friend who owned 8 or more bicycles. Tandems, single speed, mountain bikes, road bikes: you name it, he had one, and he stored it on his track rack.

My friend did the heavy work with the research and ultimately recommended the Dero Track Rack when I asked him how to solve my bicycle storage problem. The track went into the basement ceiling with no problem at all: lag bolts into the overhead joists. The track is super strong. The rollers that install in the track look like they are machined to aircraft standards. In short the whole getup is first rate.

The track has rollers that glide along the track and suspended beneath are a number of “S-hooks” from which you hang the wheel of a bike. What is amazing is how you can move the bikes along the track much the same way you slide shirts in your closet…only easier. The Track Rack has been a lifesaver for me, and now all my bikes are neatly organized and hang from the ceiling.

They are secured so there is absolutely no chance they will be knocked over by anybody. The Track Rack has moved from the basement to the garage, and when I sold the house I made sure to take the Dero Track Rack with me. I can’t see ever parting ways with my Dero Track Rack. It is THAT cool. — Bruce Tunno

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Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

07/28/25

MyLens AI/Perfect book light/Stop a dog attack

Recomendo - issue #472

Transform content into effective visuals

An AI tool I’m most excited about right now is MyLens AI, which takes your pasted text, webpages, PDFs, spreadsheets, and even YouTube videos and instantly turns them into interactive visuals — like mind maps, flowcharts, and timelines. With just one click, you can expand, edit, explore connections, or add more — deepening your diagrams and charts. It’s really useful for visualizing dense information and untangling complicated concepts. I signed up for the paid version right away, so I can’t really speak to what the free tier offers, but I do know there is one. — CD

Perfect paper book light

I do most of my reading on a Kindle at night, which has prevented me from reading paper books, which I have become nostalgic for. I bought this inexpensive Glocusent bookmark-style light, which has three color temperatures (I use amber), a tilt-swivel light, and five brightness levels. It’s small and unobtrusive, and the USB-C rechargeable battery lasts weeks of nightly reading. — MF

Stop a dog attack

I have not used this technique myself to stop a dog attacking another person or, more likely, another dog. It is basically a way to chokehold the attacking dog with its collar or leash. So I can’t vouch for the technique on this American Standard Dog Training channel, but it seems reasonable to me and is what I would try if I encountered this situation. Skip to minute 6:20 to see the methods. — KK

Favorite way to discover new music

Recently, I stayed with a friend and expat in London, and he introduced me to his favorite music station—LA-based KCRW’s Eclectic24. I was surprised to travel so far only to discover something local to bring back home, but it truly deserves to be a worldwide treasure. Every song is hand-curated by real radio DJs—not algorithms—effortlessly blending indie, rock, electronic, hip-hop, soul, classics, and global beats into a pure, uninterrupted, 24-hour listening experience. You can stream for free on their website, but the best way to listen is through the app (iOS, Android), where you can see the playlist in real time and save your favorite tracks to your personal Spotify or Apple Music playlist. — CD

Shipping a bike

Bike touring, or bikepacking, is a great way to travel. But getting your bike to and from the destination is not trivial. Most airlines consider a tightly packed boxed bicycle as checked luggage, going at checked luggage rates. The key is a good bike box. You can get a good box for bicycles at a bike store for free because all their new bikes are shipped in these boxes. There are bike shops everywhere in the world, which is good for finding a box on your way back. You can also ship bikes within the US via UPS; the box will fit under their max dimensions. — KK

One app for all messages

I constantly switch between iMessage, Google Chat, Instagram DMs, Slack, Signal, and WhatsApp to send messages to friends and colleagues. Sometimes I miss important messages because I forget which platform a specific person or group prefers to use, leading me to check the wrong apps or overlook notifications from the right ones. I recently started using Beeper, a desktop and phone app that combines all of these platforms and more into a single messaging environment. It’s free to use for up to 6 platforms; if you need more, it’s $10 a month. — MF

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07/27/25

Book Freak #189: So Good They Can’t Ignore You

Why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love

Get So Good They Can’t Ignore You

The common career advice to “follow your passion” often leads to anxiety, job-hopping, and chronic dissatisfaction. Cal Newport argues that the path to meaningful work is mastering rare and valuable skills first, then using this “career capital” to craft a fulfilling career.

Core Principles

The Craftsman Mindset

Rather than obsessing over finding your “true calling,” focus relentlessly on becoming excellent at valuable skills. Like a craftsman honing their trade, approach your work with a dedication to quality and continuous improvement. This mindset leads to the accumulation of “career capital” — rare and valuable skills that can be traded for greater autonomy and impact.

Career Capital Theory

The traits that make work great (creativity, impact, control) are rare and valuable, so they require rare and valuable skills to be offered in exchange. These skills must be deliberately cultivated through focused practice and continuous skill development. Success comes from the patient accumulation of career capital, not from sudden passion-driven changes.

Strategic Control

Once you’ve built up career capital, invest it wisely in gaining more control over your work. But timing is crucial — attempting to gain control without sufficient career capital leads to failure, while waiting too long means fighting against resistance from employers who want to keep valuable employees in conventional roles.

Try It Now

1. Identify the core skills in your field that are both rare and valuable. Make a concrete plan to systematically improve these skills.
2. Track your practice hours weekly, focusing on deliberate practice that stretches your abilities beyond your comfort zone.
3. Start small experiments to test new directions, rather than making dramatic career changes based on passion alone.
4. Look for opportunities to trade your growing expertise for more control over your work, but only when you have sufficient career capital to support the move.

Quote

“Deliberate practice is an approach to work where you deliberately stretch your abilities beyond where you’re comfortable and then receive ruthless feedback on your performance. Musicians, athletes, and chess players know all about deliberate practice. Knowledge workers, however, do not. This is great news for knowledge workers: If you can introduce this strategy into your working life you can vault past your peers in your acquisition of career capital.”

Thousands of trusted product recommendations from Recomendo, now instantly searchable. Explore years of our newsletter picks in one searchable database with photos.

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07/26/25

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #201

Access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the diverse worlds of DIY

Maker’s Gotta Eat

Food tips too good not to share

Ramen noodles are often a punchline in jokes about poor college students, singles eating over the sink, and starving artists. It may sound a little corny to admit, but for me, they’ve become a daily restorative ritual that I’ve come to rely on. Every day for lunch, I microwave a cup of Dr. McDougal’s Vegan Miso Ramen Noodle Soup. I take it out to the back patio and sit quietly in front of our little pond waterfall and savor this simple bowl of noodle soup while soaking in the soothing sights and sounds. I’m not vegan, but I did a pretty wide test of other ramen brands and Dr. McDougal’s was, by far, the best tasting and lowest in sodium. The broth is amazing; the whole experience is relaxing and satisfying…to the point where I’m a little sad every time it’s over. In the middle of a hectic, mentally-taxing work day, I’m amazed at how helpful this little lunch break is. For a little extra depth of flavor, I add a splash of low-sodium soy sauce and a squirt of Sriracha.

Books: The Machinist’s Bedtime Reader

Every now and then, a book comes along that captures a whole subculture within the pages of a modest paperback. For the world of manual machining, that book is The Machinist’s Bedside Reader by Guy Lautard.

First published in the early 1980s, The Bedside Reader is a legendary collection of machining lore, shop tips, clever workholding tricks, and war stories from the world of lathes, mills, and surface plates. It’s a quirky little masterpiece of practical knowledge, passed from machinist to machinist like a whispered secret. The tone is friendly, personal, sometimes even philosophical. It’s as much about the why as the how.

What makes Lautard’s book special isn’t just the tips (though there are hundreds of excellent ones), but the way it invites you into the mindset of a maker always looking for a better, smarter way. Think of it as the pre-internet equivalent of a maker forum, except bound in a spine and written with dry wit and decades of shop experience.

If you like building tools, repairing old machines, or just enjoy reading about people who approach their work with care and precision, The Machinist’s Bedside Reader belongs on your bookshelf… right next to your calipers and tap and die sets.

Note: The Machinist’s Bedside Readers are published by Dale Glover and Little Lake Technology. Dale is the person (along with Tom Root) behind the highly-recommended Intentional Makerspace: Operations book (which I covered back in Issue #116). If you’re involved in a makerspace, you should definitely check that book out, too.

Do You Need $250 Mitutoya Calipers?

Seeing a shoot-out between cheap brands of digital calipers and high-end ones like Mitutoya (the gold standard of the category), you’d think the results would be obvious. Spoiler: Not exactly.

In this Project Farm video, Todd tests dozens of digital calipers, checking for smoothness, consistency, accuracy across various dimensions (including tricky groove and depth measurements), even battery life. The high-end models like the Mitutoyo ($250), Fowler ($120), and Starrett ($144) do perform like the champs you’d expect – that part was obvious.

But, the real shocker? The Werka calipers ($27 at time of testing) held their own against the premium brands, for smoothness, reliable accuracy, and even beat several calipers brands double their price. These vastly more affordable calipers scored just behind the big dogs in most categories. If you’re looking for performance without draining your wallet, Werka looks like a great choice.

I’ve been a huge fan of the iGaging IP54s (and have written about them several times) and was disappointed to not see them tested here. At $27, I might pick up a Werka to replace my $10 Harbor Fright that lives in the garage (and is far from reliable).

Inside a Japanese Used Tools Hardware Store

What tinkerpaw worth their multitool doesn’t love to wander through a hardware or tool store? Besides doing this in person, I get a big kick out of watching YouTube store tours. I especially enjoy tours of second-hand tool shops. In this video, we get a look at a typical day at a Kirakuya, a Japanese second-hand hardware store, in the quiet neighborhood of Ichikawa, Chiba. Since 1948, this shop has been a go-to for local construction workers and DIYers. It’s fascinating to see how a different culture approaches tools and tool maintenance and repair.

Working with Tiny Parts

In this episode of Matt’s Models & More, Matt takes on one of the most frustrating parts of scale modeling: dealing with teeny-tiny parts that go flying the moment you look at them sideways. He shares a smart batch of affordable, accessible tips and tools to keep your parts steady, your tools ready, and your sanity intact.

He starts with a reminder to invest in true precision tweezers, sharp, well-aligned, and able to actually touch at the tips. (Additional pro tip: Keep glue off of them! I’ve ruined high-end tweezers with glue gunk!) Toothpicks also get a shout-out, especially when paired with a micro drill. Matt drills holes into tiny parts, inserts a toothpick, and uses it as a stable painting handle. He also swears by beeswax. Grab a puck from the jewelry aisle of the craft store, drag a toothpick through it, and you’ve got yourself a homemade wax pen for picking up the tiniest of parts.

Another standout is the dual-ended sticky jewelry picker, great for placing parts with more control than tweezers. He pairs that with a sticky bead mat (also from the jewelry section) which can hold all your micro parts in place. For painting, he wraps tape, sticky-side-out, around a Popsicle stick to make a simple but effective tool for airbrushing or touch-ups.

For gluing, Matt uses BSI’s Maxi-Cure Extra Thick, a fine-tip applicator and BSI’s fast-set accelerant (never Starbond, which can melt plastic). A tiny drop on a toothpick gives you instant, precise adhesion. And, to see all these details clearly, he DIYed a set of head-mounted magnifiers using Dollar Tree reading glasses and lenses from an Amazon kit. He finds them way more comfortable than the clunky visor ones.

Shop Talk

Readers offer their feedback, tips, tales, and tool recommendations.

Reader Tom Marshall sent a link and a high recommendation for Manning Krull’s blog where he covers his amazing papier maché projects. “Lots of creative tips in each post,” say Tom.

In response to Issue #200’s tips on garbage cans and storing supplies as close to the tool as possible, reader Owen Sinclair sent the above two photos. “Keeping my workshop rubbish bin on a stool is surprisingly easier on my back and frees up a little space.” The second pic shows how Owen keeps relevant tools and supplies right on his table saw.

Consider a Paid Subscription

Gar’s Tips & Tools is free, but if you really like what I’m throwing down and want to support it, please consider a paid subscription. Same great taste, more cheddar for me to keep me in precision tweezers and hobby glue. I also pick paid subscribers at random and send them little treats from time to time.

Special thanks to Hero of the Realm members: Jim Coraci, Donobster, Peter Sugarman, Will Phillips, and Moses Hawk. You are the wind beneath my wings.

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Gar’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.

07/25/25

What’s in my NOW? — Steven Ovadia