The Stars / A Field Guide to Redheads

Issue No. 64

THE STARS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE COSMOS

The Stars: The Definitive Guide to the Cosmos
by DK
2016, 256 pages, 10.8 x 12.1 x 0.9 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

I’ve always been fascinated with the cosmos (who isn’t?), and I even once splurged for a telescope to put in the garden for my family to enjoy. But with only one college astronomy class (101) under my belt, my knowledge of the stars falls into the “Dummies” category. Which is why I loved DK’s new book, The Stars: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Cosmos.

Not that it’s only for dummies. The large 10.1 x 12.8 book is for astro newbies as well as the more seasoned who will enjoy the scenery and surely pick up some new stellar facts. It’s for teens as well as adults, jam-packed with starry science that falls into three sections. The first, “Understanding the Cosmos,” covers the basics and beyond, from the Big Bang, starbirth, supernovae and neutron stars to black holes, colliding galaxies, galaxy clusters and a lot more.

“Constellations,” the second and largest section, is loaded with the significance and charts of constellations – some popular ones (like those from the zodiac) as well as many I’d never heard of before (like Vulpecula the fox and Monoceros the unicorn). The third, smallest section of the book, “The Solar System,” just touches on our sun and planets, and was the one section that the authors could have expanded.

In true DK fashion, The Stars compliments its smart yet accessible text with a heavy dose of charts, maps, sidebars, and brilliant photos. The authors managed to make every page highly fresh and engaging. – Carla Sinclair

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A FIELD GUIDE TO REDHEADS – AN ASSORTMENT OF PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS ALL TOPPED WITH RED

A Field Guide to Redheads: An Illustrated Celebration
by Elizabeth Graeber
Workman Publishing
2016, 160 pages, 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.1 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

For redheads, and people who love them, get past the slightly disturbing title and enjoy this collection of people, places, and things, all with red on top. The subjects are diverse, from movie stars to redheaded animals to L. Ron Hubbard to a recipe for carrot soup. The full-page, full-color, ink-wash illustrations are all charming and usually identifiable: Ron Howard is clearly nobody else, while Ginger Spice is less recognizable. Redheads of the White House, Thelma and Louise driving off a cliff, Mario Batali, and Malcolm X, all lovingly drawn here for your…your…well, it’s not clear what the point of the book is, but it’s enjoyable and odd, and isn’t that enough? – Sara Lorimer

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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.

04/29/25

Dashboard

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 135

Bargain spoken maps

Garmin Nuvi

The Nuvi is a superbly designed car navigation device that mounts on your dash.

Nav systems are so superior to driving with maps, that I find it hard to drive somewhere new without one. Spoken turn-by-turn directions are one of the great inventions of all time.

The only question today is whether to use a dedicated device, or your phone. While map updates, and added info such as traffic are better on the phone, the Nuvi has a better interface for driving. It shows lane changes in multilane roads better for instance. For the moment.

Of the GPS makers (Tom Tom, Magellan) Garmin makes the best models. Their high-end Nuvi50LM has lots of competitive features, while maintaining its highly-evolved interface. — KK

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Rock-steady arms

RAM Mounts

Heavy-duty devices to mount anything in or on any vehicle — car, truck, tank, motorcycle, airplane or boat. What you get while in motion: computers in cars, GPS units on motorcycles, fishing rods on boats, TVs in trucks. You name it, they got a ball and socket expanding-arm rack to mount it. Assemble your own from a modular part system. Says reader Les Hall, who recommends these especially for motorbike or cycle handlebars, “They are easy to adjust and when tightened are rock solid.” — KK

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Gadget car mount

Mountek MK 5000 CD Slot Mount

After I bought my smart phone, I wanted to find the best way to play mp3 and navigate with the built-in GPS when I am driving. Since then I have been searching for the best car mount. There are two common types of phone mount on the market, suction cup that sticks to the wind shield or flimsy clips that clip on to the air ventilation. I have tried both and found them to be inadequate and imperfect solutions.

I did some research and came across a mount that uses the CD slot. This is especially useful as I no longer use the CD player, but it is possible to play CDs at the same time. I have found that it is the perfect place to mount my smart phone. The MK5000 phone mount is very sturdy, and it has an adjustable blade than I can slide inside the CD slot and lock it tight. The mount supports vertical and horizontal rotation for easy screen rotation. It is adjustable and fits devices of different size.

I have been using the mount for a couple of months and it works very well. Every day when I hop into my car, I place my smart phone onto the mount and it holds really well. The only downside I have found is that it is more expensive than some of the other mounts, but it is definitely worth it. — Horace Chan

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Stabilizes items in cars

Sticky Pad

By some material genius, this pad holds stuff on your dashboard so it doesn’t fly off as you drive. Non-adheasive, non-magnetic, it grips cell phones, PDAs, sunglasses, GPS, binoculars, CDs, anything that you want to grab quickly and easily. I have no idea why it holds things so firmly, but it does without adhering to the object or your dash, keeping all in place on curves, hills, and sudden stops. After a year or two in the sun it will accumulate dust and grime, diminishing its effectiveness. The pad can be restored to most of its grippiness by washing it off with detergent and water. If you can keep out of direct sunlight, it will last longer. — KK

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A movable light for tasks in the car

Hella Car Reading Lamp

This is one of my all-time favorite and most-used vehicular tools: a hard-mounted interior reading light on a flexible stalk. This one is manufactured by Hella. I installed one in my first car, and used it for 12 incident-free years. The one in the Jeep is now 13 years old, and is still going strong. Both were/are mounted on the center of my dashboard, right above the radio.

Very handy in an infinite number of situations. Reading, obviously, but the directional nature of the light means a passenger can read in such that a drivers eyes are not blinded by glare. There’s even a version available with red and white lighting, for night-vision preservation. The new versions are LED. Havent used the new one, but Hella makes amazing stuff, so I’m very confident about a recommendation. — Todd Lappin

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Premium radar detector

Valentine One Radar Detector

I carry a Valentine One radar detector in my day bag. I drive multiple cars, so I can I transfer it from one car to the other, and I use it for rental cars as well. A radar detector may seem a wholly unnecessary item for a law-abiding citizen, but as police departments see their budgets threatened, they have become more active in pulling people over for small infractions such as failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, or even driving just a few miles in excess of the limit. Modern police radar is designed to be kept in standby mode, activated only when the officer points-and-shoots, but in my experience, many police are lazy and leave their radar guns active all the time.

Since I like to know where they are, the Valentine One is the only detector that shows me the direction of a radar source (whether ahead, behind, or either side). It’s very expensive at $495, but can easily pay for itself, depending on your driving habits. The after-sale service is remarkable; when my detector’s frequency setting drifted after about 8 years, I sent it in and they fixed it and sent it back without charge. They will also upgrade older models for a small fee. — Charles Platt

04/28/25

One Task X/AirSpot/Adobe Scan Mobile App

Recomendo - issue #459

One Task

One Task X is a simple task list that forces you to prioritize one thing at a time. You’re only allowed to have one “Today” task, and once it’s completed, you can drag another task into the box. Everything is stored in your browser, so there’s no sign-up or login needed—you can simply close the tab and return to it later. — CD

Personal air quality

The next health frontier will be personal air quality; what are you breathing? The best measurable proxy we have right now is the level of CO2 in the air. The more CO2 present, the more likely it is full of the exhalations of others, and the greater chance of infectious agents. The small, lightest CO2 monitor is AirSpot ($144), which is smaller than the size of a thumb drive, and will give you instant CO2 levels. I carry it in my pocket when travelling; if the levels get high, I can choose to mask, or exit if possible. (The highest level I’ve seen so far is in the waiting room at the DMV.) — KK

Quick document scans

The free Adobe Scan Mobile App converts physical documents into searchable, editable PDFs. It’s faster and easier to use than Apple Notes’ built-in scanner. It automatically detects document edges, corrects perspective, and improves text clarity. The OCR is accurate, letting you extract and edit text from scans instantly. I recently digitized a 50-page puzzle book in minutes using the high-speed scanning feature — just flip through pages and it captures each spread automatically, then splits them into individual pages. I’m using it to digitize snapshots, too. It straightens, color corrects, and crops the images, then saves them to my photo library. — MF

ChatGPT tips

Two ChatGPT tips: For a few minutes’ entertainment, let ChatGPT play 20 Questions. It is very hard to stump it. Just tell it you want to play 20 questions and it will usually guess your most obscure thing. Fun for kids. It can also play the other side. If you are an active user of ChatGPT, ask it to summarize your blind spots. It will be spot on, and most people find the succinct answer useful in its clarity. — KK

20 Verification Tools

This article lists 20 verification tools for combating misinformation. Included are fact-checking sites like Snopes and Google’s Fact Check Explorer, as well as reverse image search engines, identity verification sites, and AI detection tools. While this list is intended for journalists, these resources are useful for anyone who wants to critically evaluate what they read or find online. — CD

Best reusable lint brush

I wasted a lot of money on sticky tape lint rollers until discovering the Scotch-Brite Lint Brush. The angled fibers grab pet hair and lint more effectively than disposable rollers, especially on wool and furniture. What I like most is never having to buy refills — swipe your hand across the brush in the opposite direction to clean it off and it’s ready to use again. — MF

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04/27/25

Brazil Visa Charge/145% Price Hikes/United Partner Point Denials

Nomadico issue #152

Brazil Now Charging 3 Nationalities to Enter

You’ll now have to pay around $81 to visit Brazil if you’re from the USA, Canada, or Australia. The country announced that it would implement a reciprocal visa a year and a half ago, but pushed it back several times. Now they apparently have the systems in place and you will be denied entry if you haven’t applied for and received your e-visa in advance. (Get it here). Brazil is a better deal than usual this year because of the exchange rate and originally this was going to be $160 for Americans—what the USA charges their citizens—but kids aren’t excluded. It’ll cost you if you’re a family trying to visit both sides of Iguazu Falls.

European Orgs Buying Burner Phones for US Entry

A few subscribers wrote and chastised me for overreacting when I highlighted the recent police state actions of U.S. immigration at airports, but the rest of the world is not taking it lightly. Many countries have issued official warnings about traveling to the USA in the past month and now “The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage, a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.” See more here.

Stock Up on “Made in China” Goods

If you’re outside of the USA you can ignore this, but Americans could see a hike of 145% on anything made in China now, thanks to the economy-wrecking tariff war going on. A few items that provoked panic buying got a reprieve, like phones and computers, but even items with a “Made in the USA” tag often get their raw materials from there. This will dramatically impact the travel and outdoor gear you buy, so stockpile what you’ll need for the coming years for travel apparel, luggage, electronic gadgets, and camping gear. Get what you need on Amazon now, especially all those direct-from-China brands you’ve never heard of, or see my Insider Gear Deals newsletter that went out yesterday with other retailers’ sales.

United Airlines Denying Partner Points

I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints on miles and points forums about flyers getting tripped up by United, flying a very long distance on a Star Alliance partner and earning zero points from it. I thought I was savvy, but it just happened to me too. I flew to Tbilisi and back on a regular Turkish Air flight that had a Y fare class on my boarding pass, but United says if you use their secret decoder fine print page buried many clicks deep on their website, the ticket number indicates it was really a U class fare. That’s one of nine letters that they exclude from earning any points. Lesson learned: don’t assume you’ll get United miles from a partner unless you’re in business class. Even then you’ll probably need to request what you’re owed manually.

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.

04/24/25

Book Freak 178: Carl Sagan’s guide to critical thinking

Advice from The Demon-Haunted World

Get The Demon-Haunted World

In The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan makes the case for science and critical thinking as essential tools for human progress and survival. The book is a celebration of scientific inquiry and a warning about the dangers of uncritical thinking, pseudoscience, and superstition. Sagan argues that science is more than a body of knowledge; it’s a way of thinking — a candle in the dark that helps illuminate truth and dispel falsehoods.

Four key pieces of advice from the book:

Use the Baloney Detection Kit

“In the course of their training, scientists are equipped with a baloney detection kit. The kit is brought out as a matter of course whenever new ideas are offered for consideration. If the new idea survives examination by the tools in our kit, we grant it warm, although tentative, acceptance. If you’re so inclined, if you don’t want to buy baloney even when it’s reassuring to do so, there are precautions that can be taken; there’s a tried-and-true, consumer-tested method.

“What’s in the kit? Tools for skeptical thinking.

“What skeptical thinking boils down to is the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and, especially important, to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument. The question is not whether we like the conclusion that emerges out of a train of reasoning, but whether the conclusion follows from the premises or starting point and whether that premise is true.”

Question Authority

“One of the great commandments of science is, ‘Mistrust arguments from authority.’ (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.) Too many such arguments have proved too painfully wrong. Authorities must prove their contentions like everybody else. This independence of science, its occasional unwillingness to accept conventional wisdom, makes it dangerous to doctrines less self-critical, or with pretensions to certitude.

Test Your Hypotheses

The reliance on carefully designed and controlled experiments is key. We will not learn much from mere contemplation. It is tempting to rest content with the first candidate explanation we can think of. One is much better than none. But what happens if we can invent several?”

Maintain Wonder While Being Skeptical

“At the heart of science is a balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes – an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive, and the most ruthlessly skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.”

04/23/25

Octave ukulele

A Rich-Toned Hidden Gem in the String Family

For the past year and a half, I’ve been exploring the octave ukulele, a unique instrument that has brought me great joy. An octave ukulele is essentially a baritone ukulele fitted with octave strings. While you can’t yet buy one in stores, its rich, deep tone reminds me of a viola—quite different from the high-pitched sound typically associated with ukuleles. My setup cost $149 for the amplifier-ready instrument, $25 for the strings (available from Starlight Ukes), and $15 for professional string installation.

I’ve documented my octave uke journey on two websites: Octave Ukes and Dylan on Ukes.

During my successful liver transplant surgery last year, I brought my octave uke to the hospital and created several YouTube music videos from my bed. You can watch my favorite recording here. I hope to see octave ukes become widely available in stores and online—they could offer an accessible, affordable entry point into music-making for both young people and adults.

As a maker, I find endless joy in exploring this instrument’s capabilities. For guitar players seeking a new musical dimension, the octave uke offers an exciting opportunity. You can learn the basics in under 20 minutes, and you might find yourself eager to play first thing every morning.

-- Phil Shapiro 04/22/25

What’s in my NOW? — Crystal Mangahas