{"id":37843,"date":"2021-02-14T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=37843"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:54:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T17:54:11","slug":"small-deskcounterfactual-nasaunsolved-case-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/small-deskcounterfactual-nasaunsolved-case-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Small desk\/Counterfactual NASA\/Unsolved Case Files"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support our work at Cool Tools Lab by becoming a patron via Patreon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We run the Cool Tools website<\/a>, a podcast<\/a>, a tool review YouTube channel<\/a>, and a couple other newsletters, including Gareth\u2019s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales<\/a>, What\u2019s in my bag?\u00a0<\/a>and Book Freak<\/a>. We hope you\u2019ll check them out.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Small desk for the bed<\/strong>
\nI bought a\u00a0small desk<\/a>\u00a0(made by Saiji) so I can work in bed and on the couch. I can adjust the height and angle, and it has rubber stops along the bottom edge to keep my computer from sliding off. My wife and I also use it to watch movies in bed. Interestingly, my typing accuracy is better with this desk than it is when I\u2019m at my regular desk. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n

Counterfactual NASA<\/strong>
\nA counterfactual is a useful \u201cwhat if\u201d history. What if America lost WWII? That counterfactual was explored by the Philip K. Dick novel\u00a0The Man in the High Castle<\/a>, which also became a 4 season sci-fi drama streaming on Amazon Prime. I really enjoyed all 4 seasons. Another great counterfactual, now streaming on Apple +, is\u00a0For All Mankind<\/a>. What if the Russians had beat the Americans to be first on the moon? For All Mankind explores an even more innovative and intense alternative NASA\/Apollo program because there was ongoing competition; the space race never ended. In the first 10 episodes I got a big dose of NASA engineering geek vibe, plus a very interesting alternative path with women astronauts. Highly recommended. (Season 2 begins February 19.) \u2014 KK<\/p>\n

Play a cold case detective<\/strong>
\nUnsolved Case Files is my new favorite game to play with my husband and 14-year-old stepson. Each case file comes with evidence photos, suspect interviews, coroners report, witness statements, newspaper clippings and more. The objective is to work collaboratively and solve three mysteries before you can \u201ccrack the case.\u201d So far I\u2019ve solved the\u00a0Harmony Ashcroft<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Max Cahill<\/a>\u00a0case and each one took a couple hours. They can be challenging, but it is so satisfying when you\u2019ve completed one. The quality of the documents and materials are so good, that these made-up characters actually come to life and it\u2019s hard not to let it all get to my head when I\u2019ve solved one of the mysteries. It makes me feel like a real detective! I just ordered my third case on Amazon because they are often out of stock, so now I\u2019m just gonna grab one when I can. I also\u00a0signed up on their website<\/a>\u00a0to be notified about new cases that will be released later this Spring, and I discovered if you sign up for their email list, they will email you a free mini-case that you can download and print out. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n

How to draw a donut<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t have an Apple Pencil because I don\u2019t have an iPad that will work with one. But I enjoy watching videos of people who use the Procreate app on their iPads to draw pictures. I especially like\u00a0Art with Flo<\/a>\u2019s tutorial videos. She\u2019s got a gentle, optimistic Bob Ross vibe. Her \u201chow to draw a donut<\/a>\u201d video is a good introduction. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n

Quick hose connectors<\/strong>
\nInevitably our garden hoses start to leak at their ends, where their couplings are dinged, or bent from overtightening. Worse, it\u2019s a hassle to have to unscrew overtightened nozzles or hoses when they need to be moved. The solution are quick connectors, which are common on high pressure pneumatic lines. Quick connectors for garden hoses come in plastic or brass. I put them on all our spigots, hoses, and nozzles and now changing things is a literal snap, and there is zero leakage. There are plenty of generic brass fittings, all interchangeable. The ones I use are\u00a0Shownew solid brass connectors<\/a>\u00a0which cost about $4 per pair. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n

Empathy explainer video<\/strong>
\nHere is a\u00a0cutely animated video<\/a>\u00a0that shows you the difference between empathy and sympathy and is narrated by Bren\u00e9 Brown. The four qualities of empathy are: 1) Perspective taking. 2) Staying out of judgement. 3). Recognizing emotion in another person. 4) And then communicating that you recognize their emotion. She says, rarely does an empathic response begin with the word \u201cAt least.\u201d \u2014 CD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recomendo: issue no. 239<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2323],"tags":[2324],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37845,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37843\/revisions\/37845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}