28 March 2024

Maya Train Rides/Airlines With Bad Legroom/Space Elevator

Nomadico issue #97

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.

Aboard the Maya Train in Mexico

I just took four rides on Mexico’s new Tren Maya, traveling through three states and spending the night in four cities. The train has gotten more bad press than a misbehaving celebrity, most of it well-deserved, but the operation started to get its act together this month and my trips were mostly smooth—as was the ride itself on the brand new tracks. It’s a joy to get around Mexico by rail, even though the stations are way outside the cities and require a shuttle bus ride to the center. See the revamped booking site finally in English here, though sections beyond Playa del Carmen won’t be open for a while.

The Worst U.S. Airlines for Tall People

You probably could have guessed this already, but if you’re more than six feet tall (183 cms), you’re going to have a tough time getting comfortable on a Spirit or Frontier flight in the USA. Their average seat pitch is just 28 inches according to this study. It might be worth paying a bit more to fly on JetBlue, the highest at 32.3 inches or Southwest, at 31.8.

White Noise Machine With Low Frequencies

If you’re staying in noisy urban places and need white noise to block it all out so you can sleep, Austin Kleon recommends the Douni sound machine in his fun newsletter because, “It has has a lot of low end and a fan setting that masks engine noise pretty well.” Who is Austin? Two of my most-recommended books for creatives are his entertaining classics Show Your Work and Steal Like an Artist.

A Virtual Ride in an Elevator to Space

One of the coolest web pages I’ve seen in a long time is this “space elevator” one on Neal.fun. It takes you up in a hypothetical transport system higher and higher until you get into space, showing what creatures, vehicles, and atmospheric elements are or have been at that altitude, with explanations like this: “Most meteors burn up in the mesosphere. It’s estimated that over 48 tons of meteors hit the atmosphere every day.”

03/28/24

27 March 2024

What’s in my NOW? — Chris Thompson

issue #172

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A nerdy guy who loves learning and talking about biology and other sciency stuff. I enjoy gadgets and learning new ways to be more productive and healthy (mentally, spiritually, and physically) — Chris Thompson


PHYSICAL

  • Boox tablet — For my work, I have to read a lot of PDF articles and take a lot of notes. I love eInk for its battery life, flexibility, and ease on the eyes. There are better-known eInk note-taking devices (like Remarkable), but this one runs on Android and requires no subscription. It is easy to write on and intuitive to use. All of my notes and annotated PDFs sync with their cloud service and with my dropbox, making storage and searching easy from the Boox or from a computer.
  • Wen scroll saw — I have always enjoyed working with wood. I read about scroll saws and immediately thought that they looked fun and versatile. I got this for Christmas one year and have really enjoyed making bowls, bookmarks, ornaments, signs, and decor. It becomes almost meditative to use as you focus on the lines of the pattern and the rhythm of the machine. This is an entry-level model, but has served me well for several years now.
  • Amazfit balance — My first smartwatch was the Pebble, and I loved it. I was so disappointed when the company was bought and disbanded. In looking for alternatives, I came across the Amazfit Bip which started my love of this company. They make really good, reasonably priced smartwatches that rival some of the bigger names. (Though they are not as well known in the US, they are one of the biggest players in the international market.) The Balance has accurate analytics, natural language AI, Alexa integration, great GPS, and most of the other things you’d expect from a smartwatch. All of their smartwatches have AMAZING battery life. My Balance routinely lasts 10-12 days between charges despite everything it is doing. With GPS on, of course, that will decrease substantially, but this is still pretty amazing compared to the competition! What sets it apart, though, is its claim to focus on a balanced life; it analyzes all of your metrics to give you a more holistic view of health than other smartwatches in the price range.

DIGITAL

  • Mastodon — I started a free website to help biology students navigate the many decisions around graduate education and careers. To promote the website, I reluctantly dipped my toe into social media. I have been incredibly impressed by the diversity, kindness, and positivity I have found on Mastodon. This is a “federated” platform for microblogging – something equivalent to X. I have found it easy and fun to use, and the moderation is top-notch.
  • ChatGPT — I recently dove into the world of generative AI to see if and how it could increase my productivity. Wow! I am very impressed by how well this can give me a good starting point for writing, for analyzing writing I have already done, for quickly summarizing complex topics, and even for generating study aids for students (“Write a song to the tune of a famous Kanye song to help students remember this information.”) Plus, it is really fun to see what it comes up with.

INVISIBLE

  • A self-question: what is my personal mission in life? (What drives me? What are my values? What do I want my legacy to be?) — When considering a new job, researching a company, etc., I often look at their mission statement to see whether I feel I would be a good fit. I also keep coming back to the mission while working at that company to see if they are truly living the mission and if I feel I am contributing to it. Lately, I have been reflecting a lot on what I want the next phase of my career to look like, what kind of parent and partner I want to be, and what are the most important things in my life. It occurred to me that I should try to determine my own “mission statement”. This has been a very rewarding (and very difficult) process! While I still haven’t figured it out, I have gained significant insight from the exercise.

What’s in your NOW?

We want to know what’s in your now — a list of 6 things that are significant to you now — 3 physical, 2 digital and 1 invisible. 

If you’re interested in contributing an issue, use this form to submit: https://forms.gle/Pf9BMuombeg1gCid9

If we run your submission in our newsletter and blog, we’ll paypal you $25.

03/27/24

26 March 2024

Real Friends / Washi Tape Crafts

Books That Belong On Paper Issue No. 7

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.


A GRAPHIC MEMOIR ABOUT HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND YOUR REAL FRIENDS―AND WHY IT’S WORTH THE JOURNEY.

Real Friends
by Shannon Hale, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)
First Second
2017, 224 pages, 5.1 x 0.3 inches, Paperback

Buy on Amazon

Do not judge this book by its cover. If you did, you might guess that Real Friends is a bright, optimistic, underdog story in the girl power, kill ‘em with kindness, best friends forever vein. I like to think this was a subversive move on the part of the book designers to lure book-buying parents who are searching for titles through the rose-colored lenses of age and distance. Or, better, to serve as a true cover for the kid reader who recognizes her best-bright-self in one of the girls on the outside of the book, only to realize later that the story inside, the inside-story of feelings and hopes and fears and the many changing faces of friendship, is one she is so relieved to see here, in full-color validation and print.

Shannon Hale’s graphic memoir of navigating childhood life and relationships is brought to life through LeUyen Pham’s illustrations, which carry the story in and out of young Shannon’s experiences, both real and imagined. It is perhaps unfair to say imagined, as it is clear to any reader, young or old, that experiences (especially these early ones of friends and family) are simply understood as they are. And that understanding (of oneself as a super sleuth, or a loner lost at sea) is as real, maybe even more so, than the person or event as it appeared to be. Hale and LeUyen perfectly portray the complexity of finding one’s identity amidst, and in relation to, friends, family, and our own feelings. Real Friends is a must-read for anyone who was, is, or loves a young girl.

– Marykate Smith Despres


WASHI TAPE CRAFTS: 110 WAYS TO DECORATE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING

Washi Tape Crafts: 110 Ways to Decorate Just About Anything
by Amy Anderson
Workman Publishing Company
2015, 320 pages, 6.7 x 1.0 x 6.3 inches, Paperback

Buy on Amazon

…And she does mean just about anything. Your nails, your garage floor, your keys, your sunglasses, your T-shirt, other pieces of washi tape, it’s all ripe for taping over and onto.

You know how The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is interesting not just for the case stories, but for the glimpses it gives you of Sacks’ writing process and how his brain works? That’s how I feel about Washi Tape Crafts. I picked it up thinking I was going to find interesting projects to do on rainy days, but there is so. much. more. going on here. Read it as a how-to for easy, interesting DIY projects, or imagine it all happens in a lost weekend and read it as a novel about one woman’s descent into pastel-colored insanity. Comes with ten rolls of washi tape.

– Sara Lorimer

03/26/24

25 March 2024

Rechargeable Batteries

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 79

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.


Still the best batteries

Eneloop Rechargeable Batteries

No doubt, the best batteries I’ve used are Sanyo’s Eneloop cells. They’re NiMH but the self-discharge problem is pretty well licked, and Sanyo are the ones who solved the problem.

Eneloops are still the best, but there are more makers now of LSD (Low Self-Discharge) NiMH cells. Usually marketed as “ready to use”, their initial charge should still be available at time of purchase.

Sanyo has a fairly broad range of chargers available to go with these things, of which I have a couple. But to really get the most from my cells, I use the LaCrosse Technology BC700 Alpha Power charger. A very good combination for me. — Wayne Ruffner


Customizable charge times

La Crosse Battery Charger (Retired)

Rechargeable technology has gotten to the point where you can get almost as much power out of reusable batteries as disposables. Most battery chargers, however, are dumb circuits that simply jam a current through the battery no matter its current state of charge, which can ruin a perfectly good battery. With La Crosse’s BC-900, you can not only monitor the charge on the battery at any given time, you can do a discharge + recharge cycle, or even a full refresh where the battery is discharged and recharged several times in a row. I’ve found the BC-900 can actually revive a battery that was rendered unusable via a less effective charger.

Previously, I owned a Panasonic that worked OK. Though I haven’t done a completely exhaustive search of this space, after reading a lot of reviews and then using it, I really would rate the BC-900 as being one of, if not the best little charger for the money. With mine, I find I can get anywhere between 50 to 100 percent more cycles.

Plus, this unit has selectable charge rates, which allows you to charge batteries quicker if you need them ASAP, like within 15-30 minutes. Doing this does require a lot of current to be jammed through the batteries in a shorter period of time, which stresses them and shortens their lifespan. But it’s helpful to at least have the option of optimizing for speed over longevity.The charger comes with eight batteries (4 AA and 4 AAA) and 4 C and D cell adapters, too, so you get a nice start all in one package. —Dave Cortright


Multi-cell battery holder

Storacell Battery Caddy

These battery holders are a clear winner over other cell containers. Mine’s loaded with Eneloop AA & AAA cells (and a Duracell 9V), in my tool kit, ready to keep me moving. Regular Alkaline cells fit in there too, of course.

I’ve got a lot of small equipment that use these small batteries. Being prepared to change them when they’re low is easier than Periodic Preventative Maintenance like charging everything monthly or something. And less time consuming than zooming off to get replacements when something quits. Better for the cells, too, than charging them when they don’t really need it.

I don’t know yet if these will survive a winter, but the plastic seems of a type that should fare well. Certainly better than the other types of plastic battery boxes that seem to explode when the temps drop. A pretty good variety of shape/combos and colors are available.

While these do a good job of protecting the cells from shorts, they’re not absolute, so be careful about jamming them into spaces with other things that could lead to short circuits. Like my tool bag. And in a camera bag, no problems. — Wayne Ruffner


12-volt battery juicer

Xtreme Charge

I have a collector car I won’t drive in the snow, so I’m forced to use a battery tender to keep the battery alive while it collects dust during the winter. In years past, I’ve used a variety of chargers/tenders (I also had a Harley I stored in the winter), but none has worked as well as the Xtreme Charge I’ve been relying on this last year. Though my battery used to die all the time within hours of being removed from previous chargers, it now holds a charge for days on end. I am certainly no expert. What I know about how the system works is from what I’ve read online. It’s my understanding that once the battery’s gotten a full charge from the unit, it switches to a “pulsating DC current” mode. Apparently this pulse technology does something to reduce and keep sulfate deposits from building up again.

What I know about whether the charger works comes from the old, off-brand battery that, by all rights, might have been relegated to the recycle bin last year but is still holding a charge like a champ. At about the same time I bought the charger, I had already bought a new battery for the ’88 Rolls Royce Silver Spur. But rather than use the old battery to recover a “core” charge on the new battery, I kept it and used the Xtreme Charge on it, just to see what would happen. It brought the old battery back to life so well that today I use the charger to keep the old battery alive as a backup power source for my sump pump!

I really appreciate the charger’s LED display, too, which provides a constant readout of the state of the charge. Makes it easy to monitor its progress at a glance. After it first reads the current charge, a series of small lights begin pulsing. As the battery charges, the display expresses the status as a percentage of full: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Another great feature: if a battery is dead and cannot be charged, the display tells you bluntly “battery dead” (a situation I have yet to see *knock wood*). In years past, I would would waste time and effort hooking up more than one battery to a charger when it was simply impossible for the battery to take a charge. I went with Xtreme Charge’s “marine” charger because it’s water-proof and comes in a rubber casing. These days my battery is fresher in the spring than it is at the end of the driving season. — Ken Herrera


Mac Laptop Power Cord Tip

Power Cord Tip

Every Mac comes with a long, bulky power cord and a small 2-prong nub. You can interchange them, but both are far from optimal for travel. Here’s my fix: use a power cord from a Sony PlayStation. There are other cords that will also fit into the Mac power brick, but the PlayStation cord is easy to find. It fits into the power brick, coils up nice and small and has two prongs. Plus, you can leave your giant Mac cord at your desk back home. I always keep one PlayStation cable stashed in my bag. This trick’s good for any Mac laptop from the last 4-5 years. — Brian Lam

03/25/24

24 March 2024

PowerOutage.us/One Tab/Poetry Notebook

Recomendo - issue #402

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Power outage tracker

PowerOutage.us is a near real-time map of power outages in the United States. States are color-coded based on the number of customers experiencing power loss. By clicking on individual states, you can access more detailed information about the specific outages in the counties of that state. — MF

Reducing browser tabs

It’s been a long while since I found anything to improve my web browsing habits, but I have quickly incorporated One Tab into my daily routine. Like many folks, I tend to keep a million tabs open. One Tab, a free Chrome extension, will collapse all my open browser tabs into one tab, which will open into a list of “open” pages. I find it much easier to navigate this list than the row of tabs, and it can instantly restore any tab. So I have all the open tabs I want, without having a bunch of open tabs. Extremely clean and simple. – KK

Digital Poetry Notebook 

I write poetry and I’ve never found a writing app that is conducive to writing poems until now. Poke!Book is nearly perfect: it’s free, and it stores everything locally in your browser. Having two notepads side by side—one for notes and the other for my working poem—is incredibly helpful. The lined notepad expands infinitely, and makes it painless to delete and change line breaks. And best of all, it doesn’t auto-capitalize when you start a new line. — CD 

Classic science fiction

I’ve run out of worthy new science fiction movies to stream, so I was happy to find the old episodes of Firefly streaming on Hulu, or downloadable on Amazon or Apple+. I missed them when they originally aired in 2002, so it’s a joy to watch them now. Firefly is an inventive “space western” set 500 years in the future, a science fiction drama with engaging characters – a ragtag collection of misfits – and what a science fiction series should be. I rapidly binged all 14 episodes (plus the Serenity movie), and can see why its fans are so ardent. — KK

Red hot ball experiments

The Red Hot Ball Experiments Instagram channel has nearly 500,000 subscribers. Each video begins with a close-up of an item, such as a kiwi fruit, a bar of soap, a deck of playing cards, or a glass jar of honey. Then, a red-hot iron ball is placed on the object. We then get to see what happens to the object for the next minute or so. Must-see TV! — MF

Similar Song Finder

This search engine Similar Song Finder is helpful for creating Spotify playlists based on your favorite song of the moment. I tested it out with songs of different genres and it’s great for creating “mood” playlists. — CD 

03/24/24

21 March 2024

Winter Gear Closeouts/Getting Paid to Relocate/Cheap Flight Deals

Nomadico issue #96

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.

Winter Clothing Closeouts

We’re not to spring yet, but in retail land they’re over winter and have moved on. If you can plan ahead, this is a terrific time of year to buy a jacket, gloves, base layers, or anything else for next year’s winter trips. You’ll routinely find deep discounts of 40% or more as stores try to clear out what didn’t sell. You can search the virtual sale rack at Amazon to get prime shipping, but you might find it easier to navigate the sales at REI.com or your local physical outdoor store.

Get Paid to Move to Indiana

A while back we mentioned the successful program that Tulsa, Oklahoma has been running to get people to move there, but it turns out that many smaller communities would like to attract remote workers as well. Like Richmond, Indiana. Their tempting offer includes $5K of cash, country club membership, a co-working membership, and your choice of annual packages for fitness, the arts, or sports tickets. Turns out that they’re just one of many in Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa, and more on MakeMyMove.com.

Finding Cheap Flights This Summer

Christopher Elliott quoted me in an article with lots of good advice on finding flight bargains and it was syndicated to many newspaper sites. Much of the experts’ advice can be summed up with “be flexible” and “use Google Flight’s “Explore’ function,” but get the details in this Seattle Times version.

Did You Hear the One About the Two Sleeping Pilots…?

Boeing has been in the spotlight recently for a string of mechanical failures, but they’re not to blame for this one. On a flight by Indonesia’s Batik Air, both the pilot and co-pilot were asleep for 28 minutes and didn’t respond to inquiries from the control tower until one of them woke up from his power nap. See the story here.

03/21/24

ALL REVIEWS

img 03/18/24

Composting Toilets

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 78

img 03/16/24

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #175

Weekly-ish access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the worlds of DIY

img 03/15/24

Adam Hill, Software Business Analyst

Show and Tell #404: Adam Hill

See all the reviews

EDITOR'S FAVORITES

img 10/17/19

A Pattern Language

Design heuristics

img 08/20/06

Adventure Medical Kits

Full medical station in a pouch

img 01/24/13

Eneloop Batteries in bulk

Rechargeable battery tip

img 01/1/09

Elance

Personal outsourcing

img 06/23/03

Diagrammatic Chart of World History

5,000 years of history in one square meter

img 10/21/11

The Wirecutter

Meta-review site for gadgets

See all the favorites

COOL TOOLS SHOW PODCAST

03/15/24

Show and Tell #404: Adam Hill

Picks and shownotes
03/8/24

Show and Tell #403: Mia Coots

Picks and shownotes
03/1/24

Show and Tell #402: Josué Moreno

Picks and shownotes

ABOUT COOL TOOLS

Cool Tools is a web site which recommends the best/cheapest tools available. Tools are defined broadly as anything that can be useful. This includes hand tools, machines, books, software, gadgets, websites, maps, and even ideas. All reviews are positive raves written by real users. We don’t bother with negative reviews because our intent is to only offer the best.

One new tool is posted each weekday. Cool Tools does NOT sell anything. The site provides prices and convenient sources for readers to purchase items.

When Amazon.com is listed as a source (which it often is because of its prices and convenience) Cool Tools receives a fractional fee from Amazon if items are purchased at Amazon on that visit. Cool Tools also earns revenue from Google ads, although we have no foreknowledge nor much control of which ads will appear.

We recently posted a short history of Cool Tools which included current stats as of April 2008. This explains both the genesis of this site, and the tools we use to operate it.

13632766_602152159944472_101382480_oKevin Kelly started Cool Tools in 2000 as an email list, then as a blog since 2003. He edited all reviews through 2006. He writes the occasional review, oversees the design and editorial direction of this site, and made a book version of Cool Tools. If you have a question about the website in general his email is kk {at} kk.org.

13918651_603790483113973_1799207977_oMark Frauenfelder edits Cool Tools and develops editorial projects for Cool Tools Lab, LLC. If you’d like to submit a review, email him at editor {at} cool-tools.org (or use the Submit a Tool form).

13898183_602421513250870_1391167760_oClaudia Dawson runs the Cool Tool website, posting items daily, maintaining software, measuring analytics, managing ads, and in general keeping the site alive. If you have a concern about the operation or status of this site contact her email is claudia {at} cool-tools.org.

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