Michelin-star Taco Stand/Expat Mailbox Rentals/REAL ID Deadline

Nomadico issue #106

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.

A Hole in the Wall Earns a Michelin Star

In a move that made street food fans cheer, the new Michelin Guide to Mexico awarded 2 stars to 2 famous restaurants and 1 star to another 16. Among the latter was a taco stand “restaurant” in Mexico City that’s only 10 feet wide: Taquería El Califa de León. Get the full story here.

Mailbox Services for Expats and Nomads

While many people forsake their homeland and sever all ties, most of us want or need to keep ties to the country of our birth, for banking, a driver’s license, voting perhaps. Maintaining a home address while never there can be complicated though, especially for Americans who must still file taxes nationally and in most states. Here’s a rundown on the mailbox rental options (including my favorite, a relative’s place) for doing it right.

REAL ID Needed for Americans by May 2025

If you want to travel domestically in the USA with something in your wallet, your driver’s license will need to be a “REAL ID” with a black star on it to fly. I’m assuming most people on this newsletter list have a passport, which works instead, but your friends and relatives may not. Get all the info here for your state. (Department of Homeland Security.)

Combine Points and Cash on Southwest Airlines

I recently paid for a Southwest flight where I was 2K short of getting it for free with the points I had. After a recent change, I could have combined the two options. The airline is now letting passengers pay a reduced amount for their fare by kicking in some points as well. Get the scoop on their site here, including the downsides.

05/30/24

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #178

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

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

---

Now Offering Paid Subscriptions

I’m now offering paid subscriptions to Gar’s Tips & Tools. It’s $8/month or $80/year. So, what do you get for your paid subscription? Same great tips, only carefully and lovingly candy-coated with my most sincere thanks for your generous support. Subscriptions will help keep this labor of love going. Of all the writing and DIY endeavors in my life, I’ve gotten the most positive support for this newsletter. People seem to really enjoy and derive real value from it. So, I figured some of those subscribers might be willing to chip in a few bones a month to help keep the shop lights on. If that’s you, a million thanks! Periodically, I’ll also choose a paid subscriber and send them a little something special in the mail as a token of my appreciation. I also have switched on a “Hero of the Realm” patron level. If you support me at this level, I will be truly humbled. All Heroes of the Realm will be sent a fun package of surprise goodies.

Thanks in advance to all paid subscribers. You are the wind beneath my Carhartts!

Design and Engineering as a Superpower

In my youth, for around 15 years, I was an offset printer (part of that time) and a graphic designer (all of that time). Beyond a high school vocational class, some night classes, and weekend workshops, I was self-taught. In addition, all of my life, from my teen years to the present, I’ve been a maker of some sort. And, my day job has always involved writing about DIY/making, engineering, science, and technology. I know a lot of technologies and techniques that I have never actually engaged in. For instance, I know a surprising amount about machining and welding, but I’ve done little of the former, none of the latter.

I share all this not to recite my resume, but to highlight a unique kind of insight gained from those many years of engaging with the designed and built world. Like many of you, I’m sure, this life-long journey has endowed me with a something of a superpower. When I look at any designed, mechanical, or constructed object, I can usually understand something of the design process, the mechanisms, and the engineering principles—the physical science—behind it. This ability isn’t just a useful skill; it’s a different and powerful way of seeing and interacting with the world. And along with it comes a deep satisfaction in understanding at least the basics of how physical systems work. I’d love to hear how your superpower has served you.

Using Refillable Propane Bottles

In this See Jane Drill installment, Leah Bolden shows you how easy it is to get a propane bottle adapter so that you can re-fill your own propane cylinders rather than buying them (commonly used for plumbing, DIY projects, camping, etc). All you need is the adapter and refillable cylinder. For the source propane, you can use a typical 20-pound BBQ propane tank (which holds just under 5 gallons of propane). Unless you do a lot of pipe sweating or other tasks that use a propane torch, I don’t see a huge savings in this, but it’s nice to know.

Every Dremel Bit Explained

There are many of these Dremel bit explainer videos on YouTube and elsewhere. This one attempts to cover every single bit type, specific bit, and a few bit accessories, like different kinds of collets, the keyless chuck, and the EZ-Lock system (which I love and can’t recommend highly enough). One great thing about this video is that he shows how the bits are actually used and offers a few tips along the way. There are a couple of bits here I was not familiar with and am now interested in, such as the Kutzall Flame Burr tool, which looks great for hogging out a log of material, and the EZ Drum Mandrel.

What’s Up with a Sewing Gauge Ruler?

I’ve always been fascinated by the sewing rulers/guides that I’ve seen in sewing kits going back to my sister’s in high school. It looks like a measuring multi-tool with all sorts of enigmatic functions built into it. But beyond measuring and marking a hem width, I had no idea what the rest of it was for. Sewing teacher Cornelius Quiring had the same questions. In this video, after consulting 19th century patents to figure it out, he shares what he learned. A few cool revelations here, like that little triangle that sticks out of one end of the gauge is for squaring corners of fabric that you’ve inverted. And the extra width on the other end of the ruler is for measuring seam allowances.

Ingenious Rubber-Band Quick Vise

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Takurou Seino (@takuwoodcraft)

Such a clever idea for a quick planing vise using wooden wedges and heavy-duty rubber bands.

Understanding the Clutch on Your Drill

In this LRN2DIY video, Nils looks under the hood of drills to better understand the clutch on your drill, how it works, and what its uses and limitations are. He looks at mechanical vs. electronic clutches, the arbitrary nature of clutch settings, and gives demos of driving screws using various clutch settings. As the saying goes, the more you know, the more you can work with it. There’s a lot here to know which should help you make more intelligence decisions on how to effectively use the clutch on your drill.

Maker’s Muse

I wanna rock n’ roll all night, and power every day. [Link]

Shop Talk

Tips & Tools readers join in the conversation

Frequent newsletter tipster, Eric Kaplan, writes:

I have a work trip coming up next week where I need to do some rough layouts outside and need to be able to pull a line perpendicular to another. But since I’m flying, my tool to do this has to be very portable. 

I solved this with a little geometry— a basic 6’ folding ruler makes a 3-4-5 right triangle that is 1-1/2’ x 2’ x 2-1/2’ and gives me the 90° corner that I’m looking for. A binder clip hold the two ends together and the whole thing will slip into my briefcase with ease (when folded, of course).

More fun with rulers. My pal Steve Fenn sent me this little hack. He inherited his father’s desk but it had long ago lost the dividers inside of it. Steve realized that home store yard sticks fit the bill and they’re cheap ($1.49 ea.). As he jokes, now he has a lot of short rulers left over.

05/29/24

I am Jim Henson / The Playful Eye

Books That Belong On Paper Issue No. 16

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 CHILDREN’S BOOK ABOUT THE LIFE OF JIM HENSON

I am Jim Henson (Ordinary People Change the World)
by Brad Meltzer, Christopher Eliopoulos (Illustrator)
Dial Books
2017, 40 pages, 7.8 x 0.4 x 7.8 inches, Hardcover

Buy on Amazon

If you grew up at a certain time there were people that were icons. Way past the rank of celebrity, bigger than characters, they were men and women whose beings and creations were intertwined into the very fabric of the things we loved to watch, read, and do. And if you were anything like me, one of those people was Jim Henson. From Sesame Street to the Muppets to (especially for me) Labyrinth, his creations and those that he curated and inspired weaved themselves deeply into the pop culture interests of kids all over the world. They were like the air, they just existed around us and we felt like it was part of the natural order of things.

But in the end Jim Henson was just a person, just an ordinary human who started life simply and lived his life from there. Along the way, however, he changed the world with a piece of cloth he took from his mother’s coat and a ping pong ball.

Creating Kermit the Frog is just one of the stories that you’ll find in I Am Jim Henson, a great entry in the ongoing series “Ordinary People Change the World” by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos (this is one of their more recent releases but the series covers important and fascinating figures like Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, and George Washington among many others). If you’re familiar with Eliopoulos’ work then you know that you’re in for a visual treat and you won’t be let down. I’ve found his Bill Watterson-inspired art a treat for years now and this series is the perfect showcase for it. It’s cute, it’s funny, and both kids and adults will love it.

I’ve honestly read very little Meltzer as I’m not a big fan of thriller novels or the comic book work of his that I’ve dipped my toes into, but his approach here is fascinating and really resonates with the reader. Meltzer uses Henson as his narrator, even going so far as to use many actual quotes by Henson as dialogue, and as a narrator he’s not telling the reader about his life, he’s telling the reader a story about his life. The distinction is important as the book becomes a testament to storytelling, enriching perhaps the greatest accomplishment that Henson and his co-creators (many of whom are characters in the book) ever made: Using impersonal and inanimate objects to create lively stories that could make a viewer laugh, cry, or think without spending a single moment thinking about the fact that a piece of cloth and a pair of hands was making it happen. Meltzer pulls the same trick in this book, turning an autobiographical book into a parable about the power of storytelling. Not a bad bit of slight-of-hand for something intended to be read by (or to) rugrats.

The book also hones in on the concept of “goodness” that was a hallmark of Henson & Co.’s work and Meltzer builds up to it carefully throughout the story, making the impact ring soundly. Henson believed that this goodness was the key ingredient to his work and that comedy didn’t have to be mean to be funny and you don’t have to be funny by being mean. His approach was validated by the immense popularity of the work he was a part of and while it’s not, of course, the only approach, it put Sesame Street and the Muppets in the heart of millions and millions of people.

And that’s a story worth telling.

– Rob Trevino

---

THE PLAYFUL EYE IS A VIRTUAL FEAST OF GAMES AND VISUAL TRICKS GATHERED FROM AROUND THE WORLD

The Playful Eye: An Album of Visual Delight
by Julian Rothenstein, Mel Gooding
Chronicle Books
2000, 112 pages, 9.9 x 0.5 x 12.7 inches, Paperback

Buy on Amazon

These vintage cards and old placards display optical illusions, visual witticisms, hidden images, rebuses, and artistic paradoxes from yesteryear. They were the equivalent of Gifs back then — eye candy worth sharing. Here they are gathered in a oversized paperback for your entertainment and amazement.

– Kevin Kelly

05/28/24

Eyewear

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 88

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.

---

Photochromic safety, sun specs

Mag-Safe Safety Glasses

These photochromic safety glasses have an ANSI Z87.1+ rating, which means they’re shatter-proof even when struck by a 1/4-inch steel ball at 150 feet/second. The lenses are polycarbonate, so a significant scrape against sand, ground, etc. would probably scratch them. In the six months I’ve been using them, I’ve dropped them lightly a couple times and they’re still pretty much like-new.

The benefit of these photochromic safety glasses is not only their low relatively-low cost and snug fit, but also their versatility. The lenses run almost perfectly clear to a nice, dark tint in the sun, with nearly 100 percent UVA/B protection. When they are dark they keep off glare when I’m driving. They also protect me from wind when I’m biking — day or night — and shield my eyes when I go to the machine shop to work on projects.

Over the summer, I worked in a machine shop lathing, sawing, drilling, tapping metal and wood twice a week for 3-4 hours and a couple weekends straight through until Burning Man. Unlike the cheap, standard shop glasses which I’d constantly put on and remove and occasionally forget to put back on, these are so comfortable I rarely take them off. It’s important to note they do not seal all the way around your face the way some safety goggles do — i.e. the ones with flexible rubber sides that press up against the skin. On the one hand, that’s why these are much more comfortable, but then again, that makes these potentially unsuitable for tasks where full coverage is recommended. For my usage, though, which is primarily partial-coverage tasks, they’re great. Definitely one of the most functional things I own, and considering they’re safety glasses, they look pretty good. — Eric Nguyen

---

Best cheap eyeglasses

Zenni Optical

For the past 5 years I had been using Zenni to purchase inexpensive prescription eyeglasses online. Zenni offers decent glasses for super cheap, is quick to deliver, has a better selection than other online services, and their website is much easier to use and order from. Reordering from the same prescription is a no-brainer, too.

Over the past 5 years I’ve ordered about 10 pairs of glasses from Zenni for different family members and myself, in all different strengths and styles, including sunglasses. The frame quality is okay (great for the price) and the optical quality is A+. My wife has extreme corrections, and I have a very odd combination of factors, while my daughter’s prescription is mild. I’ve ordered single, bifocals and progressives – and the results have all been good. A simple correction and simple frame can cost as little as $10, but our typical glasses will cost about $35. Still a fantastic bargain. Even if you are style conscious, these are great for backup pairs.

One detail you have to pay attention when selecting a frame online is the width of the frame, which varies between models. Pay attention to the size indicator. I once ordered a pair too narrow. Delivery takes only about 2 weeks to my home in California. — KK

---

Break-away eyewear

CliC Readers

For anyone requiring reading glasses intermittently, these specs are heaven sent! The frame breaks in the front and clicks together once resting on your nose by way of two magnets. When not in use, they stay out of the way — the glasses have a hard frame ‘loop’ that slips around your neck. As soon as you need them, you reach down and pull them up into place. I’ve tried lanyards — they get caught on your seat belt strap and tangeled around your collar. I’ve tried my pocket — they fall out. Nothing seemed to work, so I ended up buying eight or ten pair of cheap glasses and leaving them all over: habitat, car, at work, etc. CliCs are a wonderful way to avoid all that clutter. — Dennis Brittain

---

Safety bifocals

Bifocal Safety Glasses

I happened upon these while on vacation in a hardware store (yes, I go to hardware stores while on vacation). These safety glasses ($12) provide great eye protection and the bifocal lens allows me to perform close-up tasks without resorting to pulling them off for my reading glasses. Essentially a perfect solution for those who work in a shop with ‘older’ active eyes. — Mark Ramirez

---

Magnifying safety glasses

Pyramex Onix Plus Reader

The outer lens of these safety glasses flips down for welding, and when you’re done, you simply flip them up. Nothing special. However, I’ve been wearing the recommended Mag-Safe safety glasses for years, and the Onix Plus is the only flip-up pair I’ve found that also has a reader’s bifocal lens. The inside lens is available in two magnifying strengths (+1.5, +2.5), and outer lens in two different IR shades (3.0, 5.0). Makes it much easier for me to see while welding. Preferable to spending an arm and a leg for prescription safety glasses. Quicker than switching between protective eyewear and reading specs. — Byron Hill

---

Keychain pince-nez

Pocket Eyes Reading Glasses

I’ve stashed cheap reading glasses everywhere else in the house. But inevitably, when traveling around the planet, I have struggles with menus and bank documents and so on. A convenient pair of portable readers can be a blessing.

I started with one of those slim fresnel lenses, shaped like a credit card, in my wallet. They’re fine for emergencies but useless for comfortable or extended reading. An ideal solution would be a small pince-nez. But the cheapo versions – with a plastic nose-bridge – soon break, or they pinch and hurt.

What you want is for the bridge to be made of flexible metal, squeezing the two lenses against your nose with just the right pressure. They can slip off, if you’re sweaty, and there are (ahem) some places you do not want to let them drop-off. But the good ones can squeeze together so the lenses overlap and they fit into a tiny pocket pouch. It’s surprising how comfortable they can be, feeling so natural you forget they are there.

Alas, my first trio of pocket pince-nez all broke in the same place; where the metal bridge was riveted into the glass. I searched all over and finally found better ones from Pocketeyes. These have an improved, adjustable metal-to-glass attachment, a corrugated spot on each lens to help grip the nose, and a split pouch that lets you keep the lenses from rubbing against each other in your pocket. The keychain grommet is another plus.

They also have a fun factor. People do double-takes and even strike up conversations asking about them. They won’t help with driving or distance. But if all you need is readers to help while traveling around, this may be your answer. — David Brin

05/27/24

Second Brain/Attention/Find Your Books

Recomendo - issue #411

Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.

Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram discusses AI

Don’t miss this Reason Podcast interview with computer scientist Stephen Wolfram on the future of artificial intelligence. Wolfram, the creator of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha, offers insights on the capabilities and limitations of current AI systems like ChatGPT. He discusses the prospects for AI solving fundamental scientific problems, concerns about AI outputs reverting to the mean and dampening originality and innovation, and the choice between allowing powerful AI systems to operate in unpredictable ways versus constraining them to only do predictable things, limiting their capabilities. – MF

Build a soulful, second brain 

Sublime is a personal knowledge management tool crafted with soul. I’ve been allowing myself to digitally hoard all the beautiful words and insightful advice I come across online. Everything you save in Sublime becomes a card, and these cards can be organized into collections. There’s also a communal aspect to Sublime; you can follow other users and search public collections for cards to add to your library. I love that it encourages connections, synchronicities, and learning. I imported all of my Readwise book highlights and have been using Sublime as a literary Pinterest. The app is still in beta, and there is a waitlist, but Recomendo readers can skip the line and test it out for free. If you do sign up, here’s my profile — follow me and I’ll follow you back! — CD

Battle for attention

In an age of abundance, attention is our only scarce resource. Yet we know so little about it. This wonderful article in The New Yorker, “The Battle for Attention,” gives attention its own attention. I love the part about a secret movement that has evolved a 3-part method for paying attention collectively, which entails examination without judgment. – KK

Scribd for free

Scribd is a document hosting service that charges $12 a month to download the files it hosts. Since it makes money offering books I’ve written without paying me royalties, I have no compunction recommending this website that lets you download files that Scribd hosts for free. Note that I am not suggesting you download copyrighted material. I use it to download public domain documents, such as court records. – MF

Instantly catalog your personal library 

I have bookshelves in my living room, office, bedroom, and basement. Thanks to a Reddit Life Pro Tip, I can now find any book in my house with ease. All you need to do is take photos of all your bookshelves and give your phone a few minutes to process and index the text from the spines of the books. Once the little OCR icon appears in the corner of your photos, you can search for a title in your photo app at any time. It will show you exactly where the book is located on your shelf by highlighting the text found in the photos. This method worked on my iPhone, and I’m hoping it works on Android too, because it’s so useful. — CD 

Popup Japan

Craig Mod is a writer, designer, photographer, friend, and world-class walker who lives in Japan. He is currently walking from Kyoto to Tokyo (for the third time!) along a traditional route at the crazy pace of 30-40 km per day for 18 days. At the end of each looooong day, Craig is writing up the most lyrical and lovely observances of modern Japan along the way. His daily letters are insightful, honest, dark, luminous, sweet and prolific. When the walk is done at Tokyo, the daily newsletter stops and all emails are deleted. He’s one-third done, but you can sign up for his “popup newsletter” called The Return to Pachinko Road here. – KK

05/26/24

Argentina Cash/Weak Currencies/Cameras in Airbnbs

Nomadico issue #105

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.

A Smaller Currency Spread in Argentina

Back when Nomadico was getting started two years ago, I noted from a recent trip that Argentina’s market “blue rate” for cash on the street was 204 to $1 and the official rate was just a tad more than half that. Now your premium for bringing hard currency cash is not so large. The blue rate is around 1,070 and the bank rate (which now floats freely) is a realistic 882. You won’t get penalized so much for using a credit card.

Countries With Weak Currencies in 2024

Speaking of currency fluctuations, where are the great bargains this summer if you’re traveling with dollars or euros? At the high end on the expense scale, Japan and Sweden are looking more attractive than usual. The countries that were already a deal and have gotten even cheaper include Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Malaysia, and Laos. See the full rundown here.

No More Indoor Cameras at Airbnbs

I don’t think this was a widespread problem, but Airbnb removed any doubt by prohibiting any indoor security cameras in listed units as of April 30, regardless of their location, purpose, or prior disclosure. A host who violates the new policy could face consequences including listing or account removal on the platform.

Check for Foreign Transaction Fees

Wallethub put out survey results recently with some surprising results. Apparently 82% of Americans don’t know that using a credit card gets them the best exchange rate when traveling abroad and nearly 1 in 3 didn’t know whether their card charges a foreign transaction fee or not. Before you head abroad, check on this for every card because 63% charge one and it’s not always obvious. I’ve gotten burned not realizing an airline or hotel card levied a foreign transaction fee—which seems ridiculous for international companies—so now I never use those outside the USA. See the results here.

05/23/24

What’s in my NOW? — Isaac Stephenson