Recomendo

Scale of Our War/Electric Bike Reviews/Cheatography

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Recomendo: issue no. 63

Destination art
The Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand has a permanent exhibit, Scale of Our War, that is almost worth going to New Zealand to see, and should certainly be on a must visit list if you happen to travel there. Weta Workshops, the folks who made all the props and special effects in the Lord of the Rings movies and other Peter Jackson productions, created a set of sculptures to mourn the disaster of the WWI battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, which was the seminal trigger for New Zealand independence. Weta created 2X lifesize versions of soldiers and nurses in the war that are hyperreal in their detail, from each hair on their arms, to flies on their frayed jackets, the 2X scale of threads in the cloth, and uncannily realistic flesh and faces, all at twice the size. You are looking up, in the embrace of these large beings, like a child in the arms of its parent. I’ve seen statues and art, ancient and modern, around the world, and no sculpture has been so emotionally potent as these. Worth going out of your way to see. — KK

Electric bike reviews
EBR (Electric Bike Review) is the best place to go if you are thinking of getting an electric bike. One guy, Court Rye, has personally reviewed in depth over 800 ebikes. He has seen and ridden them all, and his knowledge about them is encyclopedic. His reviews are in text and video. These days you can find an e-version of almost any type of bike made, from e-cruisers, electric mountain bikes, folding e-bikes, city riders, cargo bikes and so on. This site will help you sort through them. It respects your attention with minimum of selling and maximum helpfulness. — KK

Cheatsheets for everything
I found a useful Photoshop keyboard shortcut cheatsheet at Cheatography. It has hundreds of cheatsheets for programmers, designers, students, photographers and other kinds of newbies. — MF

Better volume control
If you have a Mac, holding option(alt)-shift while pressing the volume up/down buttons adjusts the volume in quarters. Before I discovered this, I was always toggling between my Mac and media player buttons to find the perfect volume. — CD

Smooth speedcube
I have not yet solved Rubik’s Cube, and whenever I used to try, I’d get discouraged because the cube locks up when turning it. Then I discovered Chinese speed cubes. They are very smooth and a pleasure to use. I’m working on a 2 x 2 x 2 mini-cube ($8) instead of the usual 3 x 3 x 3. Still haven’t cracked it! — MF

Hair time saver
Dry shampoo works great at absorbing oil and making my hair look clean when I skip out on washing it. All brands pretty much work the same, and you could even use talcum powder. I prefer Batiste Dry Shampoo because it comes in “brunette”, which spares me having to aggressively comb out the white powder from other shampoos. — CD

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10/8/17

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