Heart and Brain / Formica Forever

Issue No. 85

HEART AND BRAIN HAVE EXTREMELY DIFFERENT VIEW POINTS BUT ALWAYS REMAIN BEST BUDS

Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection
by Nick Seluk
Andrews McMeel Publishing
2015, 144 pages, 6.5 x 8 x 0.4 inches (softcover)

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Heart and Brain is a wonderful collection of the lovable characters from Nick Seluk’s The Awkward Yeti webcomic. This special print edition features over 75 exclusive comics, as well as dozens of previously published fan favorites. The exclusive comics are the real draw, since they’ll be totally new to you even if you’ve read every single comic online.

If you’re new to Heart and Brain, the title says all you need to know about the characters. Brain is the rational one, always looking out for the logical, safe thing to do, while Heart is all about passion and seeking out the things he loves. Seluk creatively captures the constant push-and-pull between these forces in us all and externalizes them in some of the most endearing characters in comics. It’s hard to not fall in love with Brain’s neurotic over-worrying, and Heart’s blissful aloofness. They’re a perfectly matched odd couple because they come from such extremely differing viewpoints, but they always manage to meet in the middle.

The comics themselves are hilarious. I don’t think a single joke misses the mark in the entire book, which is pretty incredible. Seluk understands his characters on such a fundamental level that everything they do and say feels authentic. They’re just as endearing as other comic duos like Calvin and Hobbes, and their stories have the every day simplicity of Peanuts. The Awkward Yeti is an extremely modern comic, constantly addressing technology and common modern life issues. It can do the office humor of Dilbert, the slice-of-life ease of Peanuts, and the simple punchlines of Garfield. The main appeal to the comic is thinking “I know that feeling!” after seeing Brain humorously stress about past regrets just before going to sleep, or Heart being overly excited about something silly. Seluk’s ability to poke fun at his hang-ups on just about everything makes it easy for the reader to relate their own idiosyncrasies. Seluk will be releasing another collection in October and you can be sure I’ll be picking up a copy. – Alex Strine

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FORMICA FOREVER CELEBRATES THE SLEEK CENTURY-OLD MATERIAL AND ITS INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAUTY

Formica Forever
by Formica Corporation
Metropolis Books/Formica Corporation
2013, 408 pages, 6.5 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches (softcover)

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This handsome book on Formica is really a love letter written to itself. Formica Forever celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Formica Group with interesting histories, rich visuals, a little chemistry lesson, and cleverly excerpted quotes from literature all in a witty format designed by Pentagram. You’ll learn of Formica’s origins as an industrial material developed as a synthetic electrical insulator (substituting “for mica”), its evolution to a durable and decorative finish material in ships, trains, and, most famously, its use in post-war American homes. That’s when and where the “wipe-clean world” reached its pinnacle, with Formica saving mankind from eons of grime, crud, germs and smells – and looking great, too, due to its indestructible beauty. The spectrum of colors, foils, wood grains, patterns and finishes are well represented in these gorgeous graphics. As a bit of an inside joke, the images of ads, ladies magazine photo spreads, pattern sample chips and endless uses of Formica are printed on pages that have been perforated, just like a tear-out catalog or sample book.

I’ll leave it to you to pick your favorite of all the images of Formica in action. I loved Lee Payne’s giant Neapolitan ice cream and Frank Gehry’s illuminated fish sculpture. Sprinkled throughout are short quotes (printed on the back of Formica “sample chip” cartouches) from famous authors who have used Formica in their writing: John Updike, Sue Grafton, Ian Flemming, Harlin Ellison, and Margaret Atwood. Formica is everywhere!

America’s taste in kitchen countertops has largely moved on to marble, but these classic Formica ads and colorful swatches are still a treat for any fan of mid-century modern design or Americana. – Robert Knetzger

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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.

09/23/25

Kid Carriers

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 156

Essential kid carrier

Kelty Pathfinder

I’ve used this kid-carrier backpack from Kelty, called the Pathfinder, nearly every day for the past year. For instance, just today I took a bird-watching hike with my 16-month-old son, Ivan, who loves traveling in the pack. Previous to the Pathfinder I was using an expensive Phil-and-Ted Backpack for a few months, but it was inferior. It is attractive and stylish and it has what seems to be a more comfortable seat for the child, but the adjustments are limited for positioning the child. It’s essential when using one of these packs that the kid’s weight is well-balanced over the wearer’s hips, and not too far back. I find that the Phil and Ted’s pack isn’t adjustable enough, so that my child becomes cantilevered too far off of my back. In contrast, the Kelty pack’s adjustments allow me to place my child in such a way that his weight rests on my hips and doesn’t put too much strain on my back and neck.

The previously reviewed and recommended Ergo Baby carrier is an outstanding product, if not the best overall child carrier. It’s great for wearing young infants in front, and it can—like this Kelty— be used to wear a larger toddler on your back. However, the kid is directly against your back, so any type of serious hiking would be out of the question because it would be too uncomfortable and sweaty. I like to get a workout in while I’m out with my son, and with the heat he generates having him directly on my back would be miserable.

Like the other packs in this class, the Pathfinder is designed to balance a lot of weight (up to 44 lbs.), so that it feels comfortable for the wearer and for the child while you are really hiking. The pack itself is lightweight, and comes with a very useful sun/rain canopy. The padding on the back and the positioning of the child both keep my back from getting hot and sweaty. The Pathfinder has two hip pockets accessible while you’re wearing the pack, and the main storage compartment that rests behind the kid detaches as a small daypack, diaper bag.

What sets the old Pathfinder apart from the top-of-the-line Ortlieb and Deuter models — and the current Pathfinder 3.0, Kelty’s current top-of-the-line version — is simply its low price. Functionally it’s the same as, or at least very similar to, the high-end newer models, but with out-of-style colors.

You can get these classic packs cheap on eBay because parents receive them as gifts but then never use them. It requires some effort to adjust them properly, and more importantly it’s simply hard to carry 32 pounds (my kid + cargo + the pack itself) on your back if you’re not used to it, especially hiking uphill or on uneven terrain. So there’s an abundance of high-quality inexpensive used backpacks in excellent condition. I bought mine unused for $65 through Craigslist, versus about $275 for the new Pathfinder 3.0. — Elon Schoenholz

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New-parent handbook

The Baby Book

New parents don’t want your advice unless they ask for it. Trust me. Nothing invites unwelcome advice like having a baby. And nothing in my life has confronted me with a steeper learning curve than becoming a father. Of the many resources my wife and I turned to in the first couple of years after our daughter was born, this one’s a favorite. William and Martha Sears (M.D. and R.N., respectively, and parents of eight) are the Dr. Spocks of the current generation, and they seem to have been influenced by his favoring increased parental flexibility and affection over an emphasis on discipline and character building. The Sears’s sage and sober advice always feels friendly, even-handed; their joint perspective is broad.

There’s nothing revolutionary to their approach: Attachment parenting is their emphasis. And simply put, attachment parenting as they define it means being very involved and engaged and responding to who your child is and what she needs. And enjoying parenting in the process, of course. Makes sense.

If you’re about to become a parent, you’ll be well-served with this exhaustive guidebook. If someone close to you is a soon-to-be parent, share your wisdom only if it’s sought and buy him The Baby Book. The Sears’a Discipline Book is a worthwhile read, too. — Elon Schoenholz

• The Seven Baby B’s of Attachment Parenting
  1. birth bonding
  2. belief in the signal value of your baby’s cries
  3. breastfeeding
  4. babywearing
  5. bedding close to baby
  6. balance and boundaries
  7. beware of baby trainers
• Beware of Baby Trainers
  Be prepared to be the target of well-meaning advisers who will shower you with detachment advice, such as: “Let her cry it out,” “Get her on a schedule,” “You shouldn’t still be nursing her!” and “Don’t pick her up so much, you’re spoiling her!” If carried to the extreme, baby training is a lose-lose situation: Baby loses trust in the signal value of her cues, and parents lose trust in their ability to read and respond to baby’s cues. As a result, a distance can develop between baby and parent, which is just the opposite of the closeness that develops with attachment parenting…The basis of baby training is to help babies become more “convenient.” It is based upon the misguided assumption that babies cry to manipulate, not to communicate.
• Best Fats for Babies
  Not only should infants get 40 to 50 percent of their calories from fats, they should eat the right variety of fats. In addition to breast milk, the best fats for babies (and also for children and adults) come from marine and vegetable sources. Ranked in order of nutritional content they are:
  – seafood (especially salmon)
  – flax oil
  – avocados
  – vegetable oils
  – nut butters (because of possible allergies, delay peanut butter until after two years)
• Discipline Begins at Birth
  Discipline begins as a relationship, not a list of methods. The first stage of discipline — the attachment stage — begins at birth and develops as you and your baby grow together. The big three of attachment parenting (breastfeeding, wearing baby, and responding to baby’s cues) are actually your first disciplinary actions. A baby who is on the receiving end of attachment parenting feels right, and a person who feels right is more likely to act right. An attachment parented baby is more receptive to authority because he operates from a foundation of trust. This baby spends the early months of his life learning that the world is a responsive and trusting place to be.

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Space-saving high chair alternative

Phil & Teds Lobster

When our son was born, we were living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in central London, and were about to move back to America. We wanted something minimal but effective, and we thought the Phil & Teds chair would be a stopgap measure until we had a bigger house.

Now that we have the bigger house, we still love the P&T chair. Our baby can sit at the table with us, and because he has the whole table in front of him much less food ends up on the floor than when he’s in a traditional high chair. We can also clamp the chair to the breakfast counter in the kitchen, so he can eat while we cook. And in some small way our house is less “babified” than it would be with a real high chair.

Some disadvantages: The specs say it can support up to 40 lbs, roughly a child 3 years of age. When our son is a bit bigger, we’ll have to find another solution. Also, the chair uses metal C-clamps that open about 2″ at most, and sit in about 1″. That limits the types of tables we can use it with: obviously no glass table tops, but also no tables with a wide lip.

The model that we have is called a MeToo. P&T have recently begun selling a model called the Lobster with a plastic ratcheting claw clamp. That model may be faster to attach, but could be less robust than the aluminum screw clamp on the MeToo. I haven’t used any other travel high chairs, but we prefer the P&T chair to the many traditional high chairs we’ve tried. For small-space living, it’s an excellent solution. — Ashish Ranpura

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Best double stroller

Phil & Teds Double Stroller

After a year of experience using Phil and Ted’s E3 stroller, with two-kid kit, we think it’s simply amazing.

The handling on the E3 stroller is superb. Unlike side-by-side strollers, the width on the E3 is no problem, and the front wheel pivots so you never have any trouble negotiating the tightest areas. Medium sized real tires mean it’s no trouble to move over uneven terrain (dirt paths are easy). Construction is excellent, and the whole unit moves with the smoothness and solidity of a well made machine.

It’s not the lightest stroller you can buy, but we bought the travel bag accessory and have checked it on multiple airplane flights with no trouble at all. Folds well enough to fit in the back of our car when we take day trips as well.

Of the various ways you can set-up the stroller (see their website) we’ve had, by far, the most experience with it setup for two seated kids. My wife was concerned that the back seat would be a tough sell on for the kids, but our 3 year old seems to prefer it, which was a surprise.

At $380 for the basic unit, we thought hard about spending that much money on a stroller. But to this day, we remark on how GOOD that purchase looks in retrospect. We use it daily — well worth the extra money in our view. — Brian Fleming

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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.

09/22/25

Infinity Pillow/It’s China, baby!/Cheap wireless doorbell

Recomendo - issue #480

Infinity Pillow

My friend gifted me this infinity travel pillow, and while I haven’t traveled with it yet, I use it daily. It’s super snuggly and soft, and no matter how I wrap it around myself, I feel supported and comfy. In bed, when I hug it and tangle my arms into it, I drift off to sleep faster. It’s definitely worthy of being called an emotional support pillow. — CD

It’s China, baby!

I have a lot of trouble trying to describe what modern China feels like to those who have not been there in the last decade. Now I can just point to this tiktok-ish Instagram that spins out a steady parade of crazy innovation, brilliant art, amazing skills, stupid tricks, astounding architecture, crass consumerism, that is the urban China that I know and love. It’s called Its China Baby. It feels like China today. (And careful, there are tons of similar sounding ripoff counterfeit accounts—it’s China baby!) — KK

Cheap wireless doorbell

I bought the $9 wireless doorbell from BN-Link for a friend whose old doorbell stopped working. The button unit comes with double-sided foam tape and uses a coin battery. The ringer plugs into a wall outlet. Installation took 60 seconds; deciding on which of 58 different chimes to use took 10 minutes and was a lot more fun. I wanted “Rage Over a Lost Penny” based on the title, but my friend decided on “Westminster Chimes.” — MF

Real Life Cheat Codes

Recently, some Redditors shared their best real-life “cheat codes.” Here are the top-voted pieces of advice that stuck with me (some paraphrased):

• Treat everyone with sincere kindness and gratitude, especially those who rarely get thanks—like custodians, admin staff, or customer service folks.
• When your inner critic pipes up, just announce, “Oh look, the asshole is here.” Giving that negative voice a name can help you laugh it off and move on.
• If you get stuck on a problem, take a break—go for a walk or sleep on it—then try explaining it out loud, even to a rubber duck. Sometimes, just voicing the issue is enough to spark a solution.
• Clean your house before you go on vacation.

— CD

Best fitted sheet folding guide

I’ve consulted numerous videos and written guides on how to fold elastic-rimmed fitted sheets correctly, but nothing compares to Dave Gauer’s illustrated guide. It’s got two things going for it that other guides don’t: 1) hand-drawn illustrations of sheets depicted as googly-eyed muppet creatures, and 2) instructions that make sense. Even if you’re committed to rolling your fitted sheet into an ugly ball shape and stuffing it in the closet for the rest of your life, Gauer’s guide is worth reading for the entertainment value alone. — MF

Obsessive bird watching

Listers is a must-see, quirky, charming, homemade documentary about two brothers competing to spot the most number of birds in a year – the list. To make it more challenging, they know zero birds on day one, and they have no money so they sleep in their car as they travel the country for a year, and of course they film everything and it turns out they are remarkable nature photographers. The bird footage is award-worthy, but the rest of the film has the vibe of a shaky punk skate video. They constantly mock birdwatching and the obsessiveness of listers, while they become deeply obsessed themselves. This is not about birds; it’s about extreme bird-watchers, and it’s funny, entertaining 2 hours is a master class in obsession and what is possible to learn in one year. This doc has a lot of heart. Streaming on YouTube for free. — KK

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09/21/25

Electric Toothbrush Flying/Most Peaceful Countries/Hotel Brands Map

Nomadico issue #171

Bring Your Electric Toothbrush on the Plane

First they came for our portable chargers, now they’re coming for our toothbrushes. Add electric toothbrushes to the growing number of items powered by lithium ion batteries that you can’t put in your checked luggage stateside, per new clarification from the TSA. One workaround: get a model that uses removable batteries instead. That way you can use alkaline ones, or, just put the rechargeable lithium batteries in your carry-on and still check the actual device. (Apparently this rule also applies to cordless curling irons, which I didn’t even know was a thing…)

More Reasons to Avoid the USA as a Foreigner

As if the privacy intrusions and random phone checks weren’t enough, now the cost to enter the USA is going up too. If you’re from a nation that this administration has a beef with, there are ridiculously onerous new conditions and fees that are still in the implementation phase. If you’re from an ally nation (is there really any such thing now?), the cost to enter is going from $21 to $40 on September 30. For land arrivals it goes from $6 to $30. Read all the ugly details here, including about a $12.5 billion drop in tourism during what has been a record year for nearly every other destination in the world.

The Most Peaceful Countries

If you’d like to visit somewhere calm instead, we’ve got some data for you. Iceland is the most peaceful country, followed by Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, and Singapore in this Global Peace Index. Safe countries don’t have to be the most expensive though: Portugal, Czechia, Malaysia, and Hungary all made the top 20 and Bulgaria edged out the UK. (The USA ranks #128, just below Honduras and Kenya.)

The Exploding Hotel Brand Landscape

If you feel like you can’t keep up with all the hotel brands out there and it’s a big confusing mess, there’s a good reason for that sentiment. This Hotel Brands of the World infographic puts them all on a wheel, with companies presented as pie slices, going from luxury in the middle to budget at the edge. Marriott and Accor both have more than 30 brands each to keep track of, though the biggest slice is “Independent Groups,” with brands that are refreshingly focused. These go from Rosewood and Four Seasons to Drury Inn and In Town Suites.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

09/18/25

How to Wrap Five Eggs / Frostgrave

Issue No. 84

FROM 1967, HOW TO WRAP FIVE EGGS IS A REAL INSPIRATION FOR BOTH DESIGNER AND MAKER

How to Wrap Five Eggs: Japanese Design in Traditional Packaging
by Hideyuki Oka (author) and Michikazu Sakai (photographer)
Harper & Row
1967, 203 pages, 10 x 11.6 x 1.2 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

This book is a museum of traditional packaging artifacts from Japan. Before the age of plastic, the Japanese perfected the art of packing consumables in incredibly ingenious ways. They excelled in using natural materials such as paper, straw, clay, and wood. Much of the packaging looks astonishingly modern, even though the form may be hundreds, if not thousands of years old. In fact, packages in Japan today often are wrapped in the same way. I recently received a gift from Japan that contained seven layers of boxes within boxes, wraps within wraps, each layer its own exquisite art, the packing at least equal to the cost and worth of the gift inside. There is a mesmerizing variety of packing collected during the last years of traditional Japan on display here. Each artifact is featured in stunning black and white photographs. It is a real inspiration for both designer and maker. Long out of print, this masterpiece of design was first published in 1967; used copies can be found today at rare book prices. It has also been republished in a modified paperback form, that contains some of the original content at a smaller scale. – Kevin Kelly

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FROSTGRAVE – AN APPROACHABLE MINIATURES GAME IN THE SPIRIT OF OLD SCHOOL DUNGEON DELVERS

Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City
by Joseph A. McCullough (author) and Dmitry Burmak (illustrator)
Osprey Publishing
2015, 136 pages, 7.7 x 9.9 x 0.6 inches (hardback)

Buy on Amazon

With the great success of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the popularity of shows like Stranger Things riding a growing 80s nostalgia wave, and the success of game-based YouTube channels like Tabletop and Critical Role, there’s no doubt that we are in a tabletop/RPG gaming renaissance.

Two of the hallmarks of modern fantasy, sci-fi, and horror games are faster game play and more streamlined rules. The skirmish game, played with small numbers of miniatures, and the hybrid board game, combining miniatures and a game board, are all the rage these days. Into this moment of 80s D&D nostalgia and newfound enthusiasm for tabletop gaming comes a game that seems designed to hit all of the sweet spots: Osprey Publishing’s Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City.

Everything about Frostgrave is about economy. The book itself, gorgeously and profusely illustrated by Russian artist Dmitry Burmak, is compact, under 8 x 10, and only 136 pages. The backstory is simple, but highly evocative, the rules are basic and concise, trading off realism for fun. To play, you need only this inexpensive rulebook, around ten miniatures for your warband (taken from any 28mm fantasy range), and whatever terrain and random monsters you might encounter during the game. And some 20-sided dice and a tape measure. Frostgrave can be played by up to 8 players (2-4 are best).

In the world of Frostgrave, a thousand years ago, a flourishing city of magic, called Felstad, was plunged into a deep freeze after a spell massively backfired on a careless wizard. Now, a millennium later, the city has mysteriously begun to unthaw. Wizards from all over the land are flooding back, flanked by small warbands to protect them as they loot the city of its treasures and ancient magic. The Frostgrave game does an impressive job of boiling down the dungeon-delving experiences that many of us remember as D&D-playing teens. The goal of the game is to take your wizard (armed with a series of spells that you have chosen) and his/her warband into the city to try and recover as much treasure as possible. You have to locate the treasure and move it off to your table’s edge. Along the way, you fight competing wizards and random monster encounters and you overcome traps. There is no Dungeon Master in Frostgrave. The monsters are generated on a random encounter table. Even though the rulebook is modest in size, they still managed to pack in a campaign system and a number of scenarios. There’s a sweet little bestiary, too. Frostgrave gets most of it narrative/RPG elements through campaigning over multiple games. You also get to spend your acquired treasure between games so that you can hire better warband members, buy magical items, etc.

Frostgrave is not D&D. It’s a miniatures game, not an RPG. But it still manages to offer a lot of the essence of the retro fantasy RPG experience in a tabletop game that’s quick and easy to play, without a lot of upfront investment. If you’ve been thinking about getting into (or back into) tabletop gaming, Frostgrave is a perfect place to start. – 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.

09/16/25

Somatics

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 155

Smart activity monitor

FitBit

I’ve been wearing a Fitbit since late 2009 and overall I highly recommend it.

The Fitbit is expensive for a pedometer ($99), but in return you get wireless syncing of your steps to your computer and to fitbit.com. Plus you can add friends as “Fitbit buddies” to compare how many steps everyone took each week. I’m currently in a year-long competition with my brother-in-law to see who can take more steps. Inspired by the Fitbit, I will often do 1:1 meetings as a “walk and talk” around the block instead of sitting in a room. I take the stairs at work instead of the elevator. I park my car a couple hundred yards from work instead of close to the building. So far since later 2009, I’ve taken 7,715,383 steps. That’s 3000+ miles towards better health!

What’s not so good? The Fitbit costs a bit much, although I think it’s worth it.

The other (mild) issues I have with the Fitbit are that:

• Water can short it out. Don’t go swimming with it on, and attach it somewhere that won’t get 100% drenched in sweat.
• Overall, I think wearing a pedometer (Fitbit or otherwise) is one of the easiest/best things you can do for your health. This tool is highly recommended.— Matt Cutts

I use a Fitbit, too. The wireless syncing means that you don’t need to think about it. The hardest part for me is to remember to move the device if I change my pants. The simplicity of the website, and of the user interface on the object, entice you to use it, and to pay attention to the results. It is a small thing that works well and a habit that is very sustainable over the years. — KK

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Wireless weight tracking

Withings WiFi Body Scale

I’ve been using my Withings WiFi-enabled scale since 5 Dec 2009, at which point I weighed 246.9 lbs. Today, I weigh 183.5 lbs, and this scale helped me reach my goal. It shows weight, percentage or lbs of body fat, and BMI. Because it’s WiFi-enabled, the readings are picked up and displayed graphically on my Web page (password protected) at their site with the option to share it with other web-based weight loss sites. Moreover, I can use the data locally by downloading the readings in a format suitable for a spreadsheet.

I weigh daily, and the graph has greatly helped in my weight-loss efforts. Now I can easily see the trend, which helps manage it. I’ve had a series of scales that measure both weight and percentage body fat, including a couple by Tanita. As part of my weight loss effort, I did have some professionally administered body-fat measurements, and the Withings readings were consistent with that, within the limits of accuracy with respect to one’s daily weight fluctuations. If you have multiple people using the scale, it’s easy to set up multiple accounts (it has a maximum of 8 users). —Michael Ham

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High-capacity measurer

Digital Freight Scale
I’m a big dude so most scales don’t even cover my weight. Consequently I had to think different to get a decent scale. I found this digital postage scale. It reads up to 400lbs in half pound increments, has a remote, mountable readout auto tare (useful when weighing the dog). It isn’t particularly pretty but being in the top percentile in weight and height has certain drawbacks and requires special tools. — Bryan Covington

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Time- and doctor-approved weighing

Accurate Body Scales

A physicians’ balance beam scale is consistently accurate. We’ve had one now for at least 25 years; its accuracy has remained constant through many moves, changes in humidity, and so forth. Measurement is in 1/4 pounds, which is good enough. There is a readjustment knob if you think there is an error when changing the scale’s placement. If only my weight and height had remained so constant….— Martha Robinson

If you want consistency and accuracy in a body scale, I strongly suggest an old-fashioned balance beam scale. Even a cheap one (<$200) will do a better job than most expensive electronic scales. Also, they are kind of fun to use, they have an eye level display, and the batteries never run out. — Danny Hillis

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Body data tracking tool

BodyMedia FIT Armband

I’ve been using the BodyMedia FIT armband for the past 3 months and it is the only diet and exercise system that I’ve found that really works. The system works through the use of an armband that you wear on your left arm throughout the day. As you go about your regular routine the armband measures your caloric burn. The armband uses four sensors to track over 9,000 variables from heat to sweat to steps to calories burned every minute of every day.

You can track your daily burn and steps taken through an optional display, but the real power is in syncing the armband to the BodyMedia web site which allows you to see charts of calories burned per minute, steps taken, exercise levels, sleep cycles, etc. You can also track your weight measurements in the tool. The great thing about the online tools is that it lets you enter your daily caloric intake (just search for a food and add it to a meal), and compares your incoming calories to outgoing calories. By entering your calories on a daily basis you can ensure a realistic caloric deficit which is guaranteed to help you lose weight safely. It’s very helpful for making sure you don’t starve yourself by eating too little, or conversely, that you don’t go crazy and eat too much.

Since I started using the armband I’ve dropped 20 pounds that I’ve managed to keep off with almost no trouble. It’s become pretty simple for me. I can eat a healthy but normal breakfast and lunch, then I check my calorie burn before dinner and make sure to eat the appropriate amount to ensure I maintain my target calorie deficit.

What I love about this tool is that it eliminates estimation. Everyone has different basal metabolic rates depending on what they do during the day. Whereas most diet systems target a fixed number of daily calories, those fixed amounts could mean anywhere from a 500-2500 calorie deficit depending on the person. Anyone who’s dieted knows that when you get into high calorie deficits you’re body stops losing and you go into the so called starvation mode where your body actually holds onto the weight. With this that never happens. If I have a lazy day at work and am on target to burn 3200 calories then I know I can eat 2200 and maintain my 1000 calorie deficit. But say, I go for a long run on the weekend and do some yard work I could get up to 5500 calories burned. If I stuck with a 2200 calorie diet, my body (and my willpower) would rebel. However with BodyMedia, I know that on those 5500 calorie days I can eat 2000 more calories and still be on target for weight loss.

Long story short – I absolutely love this system. — Marc Ryan

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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.

09/15/25

What’s in my NOW? — Danielle Krage