There’s nothing like a book to take you into different worlds, experience different lives and in the doing learn something about yourself. Here’s a list of offbeat books by some very worthwhile authors, including one who lives to chase animals: The wildly various stories in Running After Antelope are connected and illuminated by a singular…
This week I’m going to pay close attention to, and maybe even blog in the style of, Jason Kottke. Kottke once held the #80 spot in the Technoratti Top 100 blogs. He’s dropped in standings but remains a remarkable blogger owing to his highly interesting posts and sparse, minimalist presentation. Kottke is currently working on…
For the past week I’ve been following sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow as he posts on BoingBoing. Here’s what I’ve learned: 1. Be prolific. Doctorow posts anywhere from eight to sixteen posts a day. 2. Use pictures. Doctorow almost always includes a picture and he’s meticulous about the attribution. 3. Quote the material. A fair use…
The Boy Scouts of America has joined with NASA to introduce a Robotics Merit Badge, part of the BSA’s emphasis on science and technology. The Robotics merit badge is part of the BSA’s new curriculum emphasis on STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math. The BSA focus on STEM takes a fun, adventurous approach to helping…
The state of Maine has legalized switchblades for amputees. Backers of the measure say legalizing switchblades would eliminate a need for one-armed people to be forced to open folding knives with their teeth in emergencies. The state of Maine has legalized switchblade knives for people with one arm via BoingBoing
For my money Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio is one of the most marvelous books ever written. Full of dry wit and dark humor, much of which is lost on children, the story is a developmental cautionary tale. For children the take-away is “see what happens when you don’t listen to your conscience” but for…
I’ve heard this before – that humans, like bears, were meant to squat in the woods. But finding the proper bathroom posture is danged inconvenient. It means going outdoors with a trail shovel and bundle of “quail tickets” or leaving sneaker prints on the potty seat. All the other tips featured by this article in…
I don’t eat eggs all that often and I find that I make a mess of cracking them when I do. Apparently it is better to crack on the counter than on the side of the bowl, as the video linked below clearly demonstrates. HANDY HINT: If you do mis-crack your egg, a piece of…
A couple of months ago we cut the cable and bought a Roku box, relying on Netflix Watch Instantly. To our huge disappointment we found that most of the movies we wanted to watch were not available for streaming. Moreover, Netflix’ recommendations were terrible. Mostly trashy adolescent comedies and B action movies. Then by some…
Every other year or so I start out with good intentions to try and get a garden going. Now, thanks to Cool Tools maybe I have a shot of making it actually work. John Cowling’s review of the All New Square Foot Gardening highlights a back-to-basics approach that reminds me of Alan Chadwick’s work at…
Candy Chang’s installation project “Before I Die” transforms an abandoned house in New Orleans into a place for people to dream about what could be.
The irony here is that Hasselblad cameras are known for their amazing Carl Zeiss lenses, coupled with precision leaf shutters. But now for considerably less money you can craft your own Hasselblad that has neither. Treehugger has links to the downloadable PDF plus an instructional video. The creator of this project, Kelly Angood, also has…
I am amazed, baffled and tremendously envious of people who can make even a fraction of their living by blogging. So I decided to do something about it. Starting this week I am going to try my hand at shadowing another blogger and learning what exactly it is that they do. What are their topics?…
The problem I have with running is that my brain still belongs to a high school athlete but my body is ancient. Consequently I wind up pushing myself too hard. After three weeks it’s simply too painful to continue. This changed when I started using the free Adidas Micoach app (pronounced My Coach). The core…
In the quest for small adventure I asked myself what’s the smallest adventure a person could have? I think it starts with discovering what’s going on right outside your front door. I decided to take a peek at what’s taking place on my doorstep and was a little surprised to see that the concrete steps…
