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Most all-around practical

Tilley Hat

Often copied, never quite equaled, the Tilley Hat is the most all-purpose chapeau I know. Its broad brim keeps the sun or light rain off, the bit of foam in the flat crown pads the skull against light whacks and keeps the hat floating in water, and the double strap defeats all wind. (Use just the rear strap behind your head to hold the hat in all but strong winds; the front strap under the chin is effective but dorky looking.) The Canadian behind the Tilley line has generated a humorous but effective fetishism around his durable hats. With one or both side brims snapped up to the crown you get a rakish look which also stiffens the front brim against wind. The Tilley packs well and does last for many years; however, a lot of hot weather use will stain it incurably with sweat. You may not mind. — Stewart Brand

Crushable wide-brimmed hat

The Crusher Hat

Being a man with pale complexion I had received yet another severe sunburn and was on the market for wide-brimmed hats when I discovered the Crusher. It is aptly named. I have squeezed it into a ball and put it into the pocket of my jacket. I have thrusted it in my carry-on luggage. Nevertheless, it still bounces back into shape when I take it out of its cramped storage; the brim remains easily reshaped in the front and back sides to provide the best cover.

This is by far the best head cover I’ve had in warm climates, and it is made only better seeing as it is affordable.

Finally, a few thoughts: Replace the little piece of leather that Duluth use as a drawcord stopper, it is useless. Create a plastic rain cover for the hat to make it perfect! I have only found those for western style hats, with brims exceeding 4 inches. It’s effective but not necessarily comfortable. — Per-Erik Ekberg

Soft helmet

Ribcap Knit Helmet

My second time snowboarding I got a concussion and lost memory of the day. Since then, I wear a helmet as much as possible when boarding. However helmets are hot and bulky, and if I am traveling, or if it’s a nice soft powder day, I have always wanted something that offers protection without the hard shell. D3o Labs has come up with a new foam that is soft in general use, but gets rigid when impacted. This material was used in Olympic slalom ski suits to take the sting out of the oncoming gates and to offer crash protection. A Swiss company, Ribcap, has licensed this material for a set of very nicely made knit caps. These hats have this smart foam sewn in to make them effectively a soft helmet. This is by no means a substitute for a rated hard shell helmet, but I like having the option, especially when traveling where a helmet is bulky. The hat I just got from a retailer in Canada (so far the only place I have found them) is really nicely made, and has a built in balaclava. — Alexander Rose

Lightweight head-and-neck protection

Adventure Hat

I spend much of my time outside. Especially backpacking. And this hat always goes with me. It looks a little different, but I’ve come to like that. Its function is unequaled. Light weight at 2.5 oz and crushable into the pack when not in use. It blocks sun all around with a 4” front brim and a long back tail that can be velcroed up if not needed. It breathes well through side mesh panels and will even scoop water out of a stream to douse your head on a hot day. — Carol Corbridge

Enduring head warmers

Tilley Winter Hats

I’m bald, and my father was a hat hobbyist, so I come by my hat interest biologically. Furthermore, I grew up in the northern midwest — I know about cold ears.

These two wool-plus hats from Tilley are the best winter headgear I know for wear-around use.

The “Winter Hat” is a tweed marvel, with short sloping brim all around, fold-down ear flaps, and a fold-down forehead warmer (a great comfort against a chill headwind, but invisible to others, being hidden behind the brim). The ear flaps are slightly cupped around the ear for further wind protection. The wool is teflon-treated, so rain and snow pretty much bounce off. The hat can be folded into a jacket pocket, yet retains its shape perfectly. In two varieties of tweed, plus black, it’s a surprisingly handsome hat—”friendly,” Brian Eno called it. People call out: “Nice hat!”

The “Winter Cap” looks like your basic New England wool deer hunter’s cap, with big baseball-cap brim and ear flaps. But it has the Tilley augmentations—forehead flap, teflon treatment, excellent construction. I love it under a hood in cold precipitation—keeps my glasses dry and clear. Black or red; get the red. — Stewart Brand

Durable shade hat

Tilley Airflow Hat

The new Tilley Hat is beautifully made of nylon microfiber. It is much lighter (3 oz. total weight) than the original canvas hat and is extremely comfortable to wear, even on the hottest days. The crown is well ventilated and the brim holds its shape well. There is an effective chin strap. It is not suitable for heavy rain wear due to the crown ventilation; use the OR Seattle Sombrero for that. The new hat is guaranteed “forever”, even against loss. — Carl Bradford

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Quantum Decision Maker

If I can’t make a decision on something I like to consult my Universe Splitter app ($1.99 iPhone, Android). I enter two possible paths of action and press the “Split Universe” button. It then reports back to me which universe I’m in and what action to take. It’s fun and silly and like flipping a coin, except you’re creating multiple universes. The app keeps track of all your past universe splits and has a running tally of estimated universes created. I’m up to 512. — CD

Crystallized Lemon Packets

A couple of weeks ago, my parents introduced me to True Lemon packets, which contain crystallized lemon juice that can be easily added to tea or water. The powder dissolves instantly, and taste even better than fresh lemon juice. I use it to enhance my drinking water and sprinkle a bit on cut strawberries and papaya to bring out their flavors. There are many other ways to use these handy packets. — MF

Best tool evaluator

There’s this guy  – Todd at Project Farm – who maniacally tests tools on his YouTube channel. He invents systematic ways to test multiple versions of popular tools, which he buys himself. His evaluations are measured rather than qualitative. At the end of the long tests he displays a table of each tool’s performance and in a sentence or two gives his comparative verdict. This year, Todd rounded up his top 10 tests for the past year (2022), and put them into one super video. It’s a handy tool evaluator, and a good way to see if you’d find his other reviews useful. — KK

Examples of deceptive design

Deceptive.design is a pattern library of deceptive design examples used on websites and app to trick you into buying or signing up for things. There is a Hall of Shame with about 400 examples from the most complained about companies. The whole purpose of which is to raise awareness. Here’s an infographic of 12 different types of dark patterns sourced from the website. — CD

Creepy and cool AI-generated animations

I recently came across an intriguing Instagram channel featuring AI-generated animations that evoke the eerie changing portraits of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. These Dorian Gray-style portraits transform from people into grotesque monsters, with creepy music in the background. — MF

Alternative histories

In addition to the pleasure of reading a rousing story, there is a special benefit in exploring alternative histories. You know, the ones that ask what if? What if the Nazis won? What if the Russians landed on the moon first? This question is both a great way to approach history, and a good skill for thinking about the future. The Sideways Awards for Alternative History on Wikipedia is a fantastic source that lists the best alternative history stories written for each of the past 30 years. — KK

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

A Maine educator for more than 33 years, Keith Kelley is currently teaching Integrated Technology. Having taught Language Arts, Social Studies and serving as the School Librarian, he is now teaching IT at Nokomis Regional Middle School. His students make Robots, Skateboards, 3D print, and build Guitars. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Education at UMaine. He has coached soccer, track and various tech camps. In his free time he enjoys riding around in his classic mustang with his wife and dogs.

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
1:45 – Shop Fox hand pneumatic drum sander
6:41 – Milescraft Drillmate
10:50 – Wainlux Mini laser engraving machine
19:34 – Wood-Mizer L25 Portable Sawmill

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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.

The World is Fully Open Again

The last travel border domino fell yesterday: you can now apply for a visa to travel to China again. The country has been closed for three years solid. If you hurry, you might be able to visit the Great Wall or the Forbidden City without having to share the wonders with a parking lot full of tour buses.

A Travel Bargain in …Switzerland?

I’m posting this newsletter from the Swiss Alps, where I’m alternating skiing with laptop time in a community space with a snowy mountain view. I’ve avoided Switzerland for decades because of its reputation for being super-expensive, but the Ski Hostel program offered here is only 800 euros for a week of half-board lodging, skiing at three nearby resorts, airport transfers, and rides to the ski areas from the village. (To put that in perspective, a 4-day lift ticket alone is $896 at Vail.) Or come in warm months and alternate work and hiking with Coliving.Fringue, bunking down in a dorm for as little as 500 euros per month.

Packable Travel Towels

Don’t forget to bring a towel! While regular hotels and apartment rentals will supply towels, many hostels and co-living spaces will not. Regular towels can take up a lot of room in your bag though, so apart from just buying one locally and leaving it, the best solution is a compact microfiber towel meant for travel. I am using one from Eagle Creek that they no longer make it seems, but other options are available on Amazon from Sea to Summit, Rainleaf, and others.

Vacation Time Disparities

If you’re American, it’s probably not news to you that the USA lags nearly every country in the world in the number of paid vacation days for workers. Averaging 10 per person, the country is tied with tiny Naura and barely better than Micronesia (a US territory). At the other end of the scale, the top-10 countries average 42 days or more. According to this map, all European countries grant at least 20 paid leave days. If you’re a self-employed nomad whose boss is in the mirror though, how many are you giving yourself?

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

– Send me a tip or tool recommendation.

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-Buy my books (Tips and Tales from the Workshop Vol. 1, Vol. 2).

–Advertise your product, service, newsletter, app, book, tool, or anything you’d like to share with GT&T readers.

Adding Foot Switches to Your Shop Tools

Several years ago, I got a jeweler’s flex-shaft rotary tool. It came with a foot switch and I instantly fell in love with it. Once you power a shop tool with a foot switch, you won’t want to use anything else. In this video, Adam Savage installs a foot switch upgrade to his mini tabletop bandsaw. The switch is especially nice and addresses a problem I have with my rotary tool swutch. If I leave it plugged in, I can inadvertently step on the switch which sits off to the side of my main workbench. This switch has a toe-kick safety cover that prevents it from being engaged by accident. Adam doesn’t identify which foot switch he’s using, but it looks like a Linemaster. These are not cheap (at over $200 each), but he says you can often find them new or used on eBay for as much as half that price.

Building an Elevator for Your Shop

Like many makers, Wesley Treat has a loft in his shop. Such a space is great for storing materials, supplies, and equipment you rarely use, but getting stuff up and down from the space (usually via stairs or ladders) can be difficult, if not dangerous. Wesley solved this problem by building an electric-powered mini-elevator. I bet everybody with a shop loft is going to want one too after seeing this video.

Making a One-Handed Access Tool Wall

There are dozens of videos on building tool walls from lumber scraps, similar to this one. But Rex has some good ideas here that should be noted. For instance, all of his tool access is designed to be one-handed and most of the tools pull straight out rather than up and out. This way, you don’t take up valuable space on the wall.

Reading “Tools”

One of my all-time favorite DIY books is Tools and How to Use Them by Albert Jackson and David Day. I had a copy for years but donated it, along with a bunch of other maker/DIY books, to an artists maker/studio space when I moved to the west coast in 2021. After seeing it on a Digi-Key tweet a few weeks ago (where my tips book was also mention!), I realized how much I missed it. I ordered a used copy on Amazon for a whopping $2.98. I’ve decided to read it cover to cover to give myself a thorough education in common and not-so-common hand tools. Every few weeks, I will post an except here that I find particularly interesting, unusual, or informative. This week’s entry is the screw pitch gauge.

Things to Do with Sawdust

Woodworking creates sawdust. Lots of woodworking creates A LOT of sawdust. This waste material can be reused in a myriad of ways. Here are just some of them. If you have another use for sawdust, please share.

1. Use it as a mulch in your garden: Sawdust can help retain moisture and prevent weed growth.
2. Mix it with soil for composting: Sawdust can be used as a carbon source in composting, and it will break down slowly over time. Note: Sawdust can affect the pH levels of soil or compost. It’s important to monitor pH levels when using sawdust in these applications. When using it for composting, it should be mixed with other organic materials to ensure a proper balance of carbon and nitrogen.
3. Create pathways in your garden: Sawdust can be used to create natural-looking pathway in your garden and help prevent muddy paths.
4. Use it as a bedding material for animals: Sawdust can be used as a bedding for animals like chickens, rabbits, and goats.
5. Use it as kindling for fires: Sawdust is highly flammable and can be used as kindling for fires.
6. Mix it with wax to make fire starters: Sawdust can be mixed with wax to make fire starters that are easy to light.
7. Use it to absorb spills: Sawdust can be used to absorb spills of oil, paint, or other liquids.
8. Use it as a filler material in construction: Sawdust can be mixed with other materials like cement, clay, epoxy to create lightweight, durable building materials.
9. Use it as a traction aid: Sawdust can be spread on slippery surfaces like icy sidewalks or driveways to provide traction.
10. Mix it with birdseed: Sawdust can be mixed with birdseed to make it go further and provide a more natural habitat for birds.
11. Use it as a cat litter alternative: Sawdust can be used as an alternative to commercial kitty litter, as it is highly absorbent and can be composted.
12. As a mushroom substrate: Sawdust can be used for growing mushrooms.
13. Make wood filler: Sawdust can be mixed with glue or epoxy to create a wood filler for filling in gaps or holes in wooden surfaces.

Caution: If the wood that the sawdust came from was treated with pesticides or chemicals, it could be harmful to use for things like animal bedding and garden mulch. It’s important to know the type of wood, how it’s been treated, and whether it is safe to use. Engineered woods like plywood, MDF, and particle board should be avoided for many of the above uses involving plants, animals, and composting.

Maker’s Muse: Grandpa Amu

If you haven’t seen Grampa Amu’s channel, subscribe now. I get inspired every time I see a new video. In this episode, Grampa Amu is given an old, cherished cooking pot that’s been used for so many years, a hole has been burned clean through the bottom. Using only the simplest of hand tools, he replaces the entire bottom of the pot with a metal pan. He manages to hammer the two items together with what at least looks like a leak-proof seal — no soldering! It would’ve been helpful to see the pot in-use, and full of liquid to show that it doesn’t leak.

Shop Talk

Last month, after I posted a video about Turning a Drill Press Into a Disc Sander, reader Chips ‘n Bits had a question.

“I have a question about the drill press as a disc sander. Would the friction and rotation of the disc put any lateral force on the quill? I ran into this issue (and gave a Makita drill driver about 1/8″ of runout) by mixing something too-viscous with a mixing paddle. Drill presses are made of sturdier stuff, but they’re not designed for lateral forces like routers/shapers. Hence: my question.”

Has anyone used a sanding disk on their press like this who wants to answer the question?

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, but the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Hitchhiking encouragement

Digihitch

This a website promoting hitchhiking. You didn’t used to need a website to hitchhike, only a thumb and pulse. I’ve spent a lot of time standing by the side of the road with my thumb out, and it led to some of the best days of my life. Times are different now.

What this site offers is mostly encouragement. Stories of other hitchhikers having a blast, reassurances that hitching is safe and legal, and suggestions about where in the world the natives are friendly to hitchers.

If you’ll hitch, I’ll pick you up. — KK

• Isn’t hitchhiking illegal in many areas? The short answer is: no.
• Hitchhiking is not as popular in North America as it was 30 years ago, but it is still legal if one follows the laws of each state. Also, hitchhiking is still a viable mode of transportation in many other areas around the world, including Europe, parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, etc.
• The most common law related to hitchhiking in the United States has been established in the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC). It states:No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride.What many people fail to realize is that a roadway is defined (in the same UVC) as:That portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the sidewalk, berm or shoulder even though such sidewalk, berm or shoulder is used by persons riding bicycles or other human powered vehicles.As you can see, the law only states that hitchhikers cannot stand in a driving lane (good idea, huh?), but they can stand on the shoulder or sidewalk of a road. A further code mentions that US States have the right to restrict pedestrians (i.e. hitchhikers) from entering certain highways (interstate routes, for example), but must post a sign if this is the case. What it all boils down to is this. Hitchhiking is not only possible in the US, but also legal. Many US States have adapted the above code to their own liking, though keeping a similar wording. You can research more about current hitchhiking-related laws in the digihitch USA section.
• I held up a sign in Japanese: “Kaze o fuku mama, ki no mukoo mama,” loosely translated to mean: “Wherever the wind blows, so too will my feelings take me.” A folk singer I met thought it would be funny if I tried hitchhiking displaying this old song lyric. It was funny. So funny, in fact, people stopped their cars to take pictures of me, and then drove away.
• I had been stuck at an entrance ramp for hours [in Belgium]. I was joined by a six foot five fellow hitchhiker carrying what looked like a body bag. A car stopped for us, and the woman inside hit the button to lower the passenger side window. She peered out of the opening at us. “Are you dangerous?” I shrugged my shoulders and said “Not me,” turning to my fellow hitchhiker, “Are you?” “No.” She let us into the car. She was a child psychologist, specializing in abnormal psychology, claiming she could tell by our body language during the response that we were, indeed safe.
• During the past fifteen years I’ve hitchhiked through over a dozen countries, spending months at a time begging rides. Everyone from grandmothers to soccer hooligans have stopped for me. Rebels pick me up to bond with a fellow outlier of the system, while law and order types give rides to keep me from harm, or to make sure I cause none. I’ve been treated to steak dinners, been given free lodging, plenty of free advice and even some cash. I’ve slept in driver’s mansions, in rest stops, and in road side culverts. I’ve traveled at 150mph with an executive in a new Mercedes across the German autobahn, and I’ve limped through the hills of central Japan in a sputtering Toyota van with a Japanese rhythm and blues band.

Best gateway to hostels

Hostelz

Hostels range in price but they are usually the cheapest lodging option in most cities. You can often find a bed in mega-cities for less than $20. A hostel has very little to do with youth, although there is still a network of official youth hostels, which anyone of any age can use. A hostel is simply a hotel where you sleep in a shared bedroom, or a dorm, instead of a private room. Shared facilities mean cheap digs. (The exception is South and Southeast Asia where private rooms are as cheap as hostels). Hostels also often have a shared kitchen which residents can use. This means hostels are very social places with lots of interaction between travelers.

Cool Tools previously reviewed the hostel booking site Hostels.com, but that site has fallen a bit behind the times after a change in ownership. Much better these days, with thousands of more hostels in their database, and a lot more friendly mojo, is Hostelz. It is the most complete and useable portal for global hostelling.

Started by a backpacker, the web site Hostelz list some 22,000 hostels and guest houses around the world. They encourage independent reviews by users and don’t censor negative reviews. In addition, they hire backpackers $7 to officially review hostels for the site. Hostelz graciously provides you with the complete contact and location information of each hostel so you can book a room yourself. But Hostelz also provides the option to book a room through them at the same price. Since they do not charge hostels to be listed, this booking option provides their only income, which so far is enough to keep the site going.

Hostels are a great, often overlooked resource, and Hostelz is your best bet for finding one. — KK

Cheapest homestays

Couchsurfing * Airbnb

I travel a lot. I hope to never book a hotel room again. I stay in people’s homes, arranged either by couchsurfing or Airbnb.

While I was traveling through Europe as a student I got tired of staying with other American travelers in hostels. I was looking for a more authentic and local experience so I began to stay in homes through Couchsurf.com. Over the years I’ve stayed in about 25 homes. Once you sign up you can search for locations and hosts with similar philosophy, interests, and traveling tendencies. There is no payment for sleeping on whatever couch/bed/futon is provided. To show my gratitude I make it a rule to cook a meal for my hosts. I’ve also reciprocated the generosity by hosting couchsurfers in my homes. CS runs on trust, interests and positive reviews. Since there is no payment, the main reason to join is to meet like-minded people who have stories and camaraderie to share. As long as you have a detailed profile, you will attract and find people with similar interests. Being a female traveler has never been an issue since I normally travel with a friend, or I choose to stay with primarily female hosts. I have met some of my best travel companions and friends through CS. You can find couchsurfing all over the world now.

Now that I am working I can also use Airbnb. Airbnb offers an elegant interface and large database of ordinary to extraordinary places to stay all around the world, at a reasonable price. The service they offer is the curation of unique places, as well as increased security. Part of why some people will stay in an Airbnb and not a couch on CS is because Airbnb treats security as its primary financial and legal liability. Airbnb offers a 24-hour hotline, secure payment platform, identity verification, verified photographers and profile reviews. They also show whether you have mutual friends with the host, which makes me more inclined to stay with them. I’ve discovered some unbelievably beautiful and unique places that I otherwise would never have had access to at a price lower than a conventional hotel, almost by two or three fold ($50 vs. $100-150).

Both CouchSurfing and Airbnb offer “local experiences” and a more affordable way to travel. However, CS requires more of a commitment to engage with your host (share stories, eat a meal together) in exchange for free board vs. Airbnb, which requires payment yet is more luxurious and less personal. Think of it as the difference between getting a ride in a taxi (Airbnb), vs. from a rideshare (Couchsurf). In the cab you sit in the back and you don’t need to talk to the driver if you don’t want to, while the rideshare is more intimate so you sit up front and chat.

When deciding which service I want to use, I always ask myself: Do I want surprise or security? CS always surprises me with interesting people and stories, while Airbnb offers local luxury at an affordable price. — Ting Kelly

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Best used book finder

The best online source for used books is BookFinder. Its bare bones design is unchanged from 1997 and feels like a Craigslist for books. It’s an aggregated meta-search engine that simultaneously looks for a book on Amazon, Ebay, Abe, Alibris, Bibio, and 100,000 indie booksellers. It will find all copies available and arrange them by price, and supply the link for purchase from the source. (In other countries and languages it is known as JustBooks.) It reliably yields the least expensive option for a used book. — KK

How to trick your inner procrastinator

The Right Now List is a ridiculously simple approach to tricking your inner procrastinator. David Cain recommends grabbing a sticky note and writing down 2-3 things that you need to do right now to get started on your project. These tasks need to be absurdly easy for this to work. For example: 1) Open Microsoft Word 2) Find the document I was working on yesterday 3) Scroll down to where I left off. The trivialness of these tiny tasks is what prevents your inner procrastinator from objecting. It gets your foot in the door and before you know it, you’re making headway. — CD

Watch AI debate itself

By using Opinionate.io, you can pose questions such as, “Do we truly possess control over our choices or is free will simply an illusion?”, “Is monogamy a product of nature or society?”, and “Is society better off with decriminalizing drugs than enforcing prohibition?” This tool will simulate a debate between two debaters and a moderator, providing an informative and engaging introduction to important discussions on any controversial topic you ask it. — MF

Weekly roundup of interesting links

Web Curios is a roundup of the most “interesting” links curated by Matt Muir —who covers everything from technology, culture and economics to sex, art and death. He’s been doing this for 10+ years and describes it as an absolute smorgasbord of links and words and ephemeral miscellanea. I always find something cool and fascinating (or sometimes terrifying) when I read it. — CD

Public domain art 

Artvee is where you can browse and download high resolution copies of classical and modern art that is in the public domain. It’s free and you can do whatever you want with it. Some of my favorite stuff on Artvee is the art from illustrated books. — KK

Typing trainer

It’s taking me a long time to overcome decades of muscle memory associated with hunt-and-peck typing and become a touch typist. After trying out several online typing trainers, I’ve settled on Monkeytype. Its easy-to-use interface, helpful feedback, and diverse range of exercises have made it my go-to resource. By spending just five minutes a day on the site, I’m slowly but surely improving my typing skills. — MF

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

As a long-time glasses wearer, I’ve often found myself cleaning my lenses with the bottom of my shirt. However, there are times when this method simply isn’t enough, especially when my glasses become dirtier due to rain or work. Before discovering my new solution, I used to rely on an assortment of “free” postcard-sized cleaning cloths, which would often leave me fumbling for a clean corner, especially when I needed to use some spray to aid in cleaning.

That all changed when I ordered these extra-large sized cleaning cloths. Now, I can clean my glasses in just 10 seconds. These cloths have been a fantastic time saver and have significantly reduced the frustration that comes with keeping my glasses clean.

-- Reid Davis

MagicFiber Extra Large Microfiber Cleaning Cloth

Available from Amazon

Matt Candler has been scaling companies and coaching people who lead them for 25 years. In 2010, he launched an organization called 4.0 to help entrepreneurs build better learning spaces and tools. More than 1,500 4.0 alumni now serve millions of families across the US. Matt’s been into electrification for 17 years. He started building electric motorcycles in 2006, mostly as a scheme to justify buying new tools; his bikes have been on TV shows like Ride with Norman Reedus and in books on the future of transport like The Current. In 2019, he began serving as an an advisor to B2U Storage Solutions, operator of the largest second-life electric car battery power plant in the USA. In 2021, he helped start one of the largest micro-grid projects in the US, Together New Orleans’ Community Lighthouse, where 85 houses of faith and non-profits will be equipped with solar and energy storage. Matt helps people switch to electric vehicles and appliances at My Next Electric.

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
2:14 – Makita 9032 Belt Sander
8:13 – JackRabbit ebike
18:13 – NeoCharge Smart Splitter
27:39 – Rewiring America Inflation Reduction Act calculator
33:40 – My Next Electric

Matt would like to give the Cool Tools community a special discount of 50% off any class at mynextelectric.com — use “cooltools” at checkout. 

Additional Links:
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Soft Skills Hard Tech

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.

Travel Prices Spiking in Asia

We reported just a few weeks ago that Asia’s travel recovery was slower than the rest of the world, but that is changing fast as Chinese travelers—who weren’t able to go anywhere for nearly three years—are flooding back into the market. If you’re headed to a place where they’re returning, such as Bali, Bangkok, Phuket and Singapore, get ready for some sticker shock in hotel and flight prices.

Common Online Business Ventures

Before remote working for big companies became a thing, most digital nomads were self-employed, working online for themselves. There are probably 100+ ways to make a buck online, but this rundown of 20 online business ideas that actually work from Ahrefs is a solid list of what the majority of those people you see in international co-working spaces are doing. Just understand that most ventures take two or three years to reach solid income levels, so ideally you start one as a side hustle rather than quitting your job and going all-in.

Kevin Kelly’s Outlook

One of the Nomadico co-founders is the legendary futurist (and avid traveler) Kevin Kelly. Here’s a terrific interview he did on Substack newsletter Noahopinion. They discuss the intersection of technology and the environment, the two sides of growth, potentially great future jobs, and the AI developments we’ll be arguing about for the next 10 decades. “The relationship AIs will have with us will tend towards being partners, assistants, and pets, rather than gods. This first round of primitive AI agents like ChatGPT and Dalle are best thought of as universal interns.”

Finding Cheap Flight Deals

Kevin recommends this 15-minute video from Drew Binsky on finding cheap flight deals every time you fly. I use a lot of these tips regularly but I found some sources I didn’t know about before that I’ll be trying out next time I’m booking. Just know that Scott’s Cheap Flights (US departures only) has changed its name to Going.com.

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, but the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Engine diagnostic tool

Torque Engine Diagnostic App and OBDII Reader

For years, every time I had a “check engine” light pop up I thought about plopping down $100 or more for an OBDII code scanner. I could never rationalize the cost of the the device and the limited benefits that it could give me (being limited to simply reading and perhaps resetting codes).

However, that’s all changed. Now if you have an Android phone or tablet there is a much less expensive and much more useful alternative. An app called Torque Pro available in the Android Marketplace provides an amazingly customizable dashboard of information. Among others, and depending on the vehicle you own, it can display transmission temperatures, 0-60 speed timings, and track CO2 emissions. The application is capable of graphing all the analytics, or outputting to a PC. Recently, the things that I have been using the most are instant and average fuel economy statistics.

The OBDII interface that connects your car to the Torque app can be used by any bluetooth enabled code reader (Torque has provided a list of all compatible devices). The one I use and recommend is the ELM 327 bluetooth OBDII scanner that I picked up on Amazon for around $25, but most compatible units will work just as well. — Karl Hafer Jr

Portable household current

Bestek Power Inverter

You plug this solid-state inverter into your car’s lighter socket and power whatever 110 volt AC appliance you want, 75 watts max. No need for special DC gadgets. It’s made for recharging cell phones and other batteries (it has two USB plugs), but I’ve used it for my scanner and my printer while on the road. Also, I’ve run a small B&W TV set (5’5), and more important, my baby’s bottle heater (I admit is a small one). You can power almost anything that doesn’t use large resistance like hair dryers, waffle makers, bread toasters, small ovens. I haven’t tried a coffee maker yet.

The same company offers an assorted line of automobile inverters with more output power (200 watts on up). This is the smallest one. — Juan J Gil

Thicker cables, less resistance

2-Gauge Jumper Cables

I’ve had these jumper cables for over a year. At least four times I can recall, (and probably more) when someone was already being jumped and all they could get was a click or it barely turned over but wouldn’t go far enough to start, I’ve just put these on instead of the wimpy cables they were using and the engine fired up instantly. Even from a smaller car to a larger one.

If you need to get hundreds of cold cranking amps over several feet of cable, the voltage drops by the resistance times the current. So even a tiny fraction of an ohm matters when you need that many amps, since you can halve the voltage at the starter. You might barely get enough to the point of connection of the other car, then there are thinner wires to the alternator and a thirsty battery. Your battery and alternator probably provides more than enough but it doesn’t help if it doesn’t get there and instead just warms the jumper cables. Once when I didn’t have these I managed to get a car to barely start by putting a second pair of the thinner cables in parallel.

Forget anything under 6-gauge. 4-gauge can work most of the time. These 2-gauge cables work every time even though they are 20 feet long. — Thomas Z.

Portable jump kit

Jump-N-Carry

Mechanics here in Boston call this a “jump kit.” It’s a briefcase-sized, 20lb, 12V battery with built-in 12v/120v charger, and with built-in jumper cables attached. The Jump-N-Carry is a much easier way to jump a car; no jockeying the live car to kiss bumpers, no stretching jumper cables between cars. I tend to keep mine in my car, so it’s quick & easy to help anyone who needs a jump. A cute trick for a dead alternator is to hook up the jump kit, lay it inside the engine well, close the hood as well as you can, and drive to the shop. One of my mechanics has a J&C with a case that melted from doing this trick, but it still works fine.

This model can be charged from your car’s cigarette lighter, but I just plug mine into a wall outlet with any extension cord that’s handy. It holds its charge for months without recharging. I’ve had one, trouble-free, for a year and a half. — Don Davis

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

– Send me a tip or tool recommendation.

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-Buy my books (Tips and Tales from the Workshop Vol. 1, Vol. 2).

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Putting Together the Lightest Possible EDC Toolkit

Todd Parker challenged himself to put together a robust everyday carry (EDC) toolkit that was as compact and lightweight as possible. He wanted everything from a pen and flashlight to a knife, pliers, and scissors, to a ratcheting driver and bits. What he ended up with is a very smartly curated set of 7 tools and 14 driver bits. The whole thing only weighs 5-1/4 ounces. And, believe it or not, it all fits inside of a wallet, along with money and his credit cards. Here are the tools he ended up including. For a few of them, he had to buy a larger multitool to get a few tools he wanted for his EDC:

Victorinox small officer’s knife, Topeak Lite DX rachet kit, Leatherman Bit Kit, Knipex Cobra mini pliers, OHTO micro pen, Olight i1R 2 EOS flashlight, Victorinox SwissCard (for scissors and tweezers), Modern Carry Minimal Card Holder.

Testing 12 Brands of Work Boots

In this episode of Project Farm, Todd trains his testing instruments on work boots. The brands he tested were Red Wing, Redback, Steel Blue, Carolina, Rockport, Reebok, Herman Survivors, Larnmern, Dunlop, Black Hammer, Ad Tec, and Brahma. Prices of the boots ranged from $24 to $275. The boots were tested for dry traction, traction on oil, toe impact resistance, toe crush resistance, sole puncture resistance, leather puncture resistance, high voltage electrical hazard, and boot sole resistance to damage from hot surfaces. Bottom line? The most expensive boot, the Red Wing ($275), was best in show. But the Reeboks, at $111, came in second, and the Black Hammer, at only $40, performed surprisingly well. The shocker for me was the Carolina boot ($130), a darling among the maker community. It did not fare well on the subjective comfort rating and on wet and dry traction and puncture resistance, all important functions of a work boot.

Are You Doing Your Sandpaper Wrong?

On this Stumpy Nubs video, James talks about sandpaper and when you should change it on a palm, disc, or belt sander. As he points out, far too often, in a misguided attempt to save money (what amounts to no more than $1.25 for a good sanding disc), we go too long before changing discs. Working with an exhausted disc takes up more of your time, can mess up your finish, and can even tax your tool. He offers tips on knowing when your disc is ready for a change. He also talks about cleaning your discs to get more life out of them and storing them in an airtight container to reduce humidity damage. If your discs are bent, your belts twisted, they’ve succumbed to humid conditions. He highly recommends 3M Xtract Cubitron II discs (top-quality discs that are only .84 each).

Setting Up a Basic Home Machine Shop

Chris at Clickspring has been doing a series of videos on the tools he uses. In this installment, he looks at the basic tools needed to start a home machine shop. He offers lots of good advice, like acquiring the minimal amount of machining tools and accessories that you need to get started. Then, you can add the additional tools you need as you take on new projects that require additional tools. In other words, after the initial, basic shop set-up, let the projects direct your purchases as you expand your interests and capabilities.

Smoothing Seams in 3D Prints with a Soldering Iron

Have you ever thought of using a soldering iron to close up small gaps in your multi-part 3D prints? In this Uncle Jessie video, he uses a $16 temp-controlled soldering iron to smooth large gaps in a multi-part print. He also uses bits of scrap print-plastic to fill in the wider areas of the gap before smoothing over with the iron.

Reminding Yourself of Gifted Tools

When I was a kid building scale models and hobby rockets, I always drooled over the X-Acto Knife Set, the one in a smart little wooden case, that was advertised in all of the hobby magazines I read (and displayed in a showcase at Bob’s Hobby Shop on Cary St. in Richmond, VA). But I never bought or was gifted one — until a few years ago when my mutant offspring, Blake, thoughtfully gifted me a set for Christmas. Or was it my wife? Crap, I don’t remember! I’m pretty certain it was Blake.

One of the things I love about getting tools as gifts or hand-me-downs is the associations with the giver that comes with them. Every time you use the tool, it’s like you have a little visit with the giver. Last night, as I used a knife from the X-Acto set, I had the same internal conversation with myself I have every time: Who gave me this? I decided that, from now on, whenever I’m gifted a tool, I’m going to note somewhere on it (or in my workshop notebook) who gave it to me. Thanks, Blake! (I think.)

Mistakes Were Made

Reader Jim McLaughlin pointed out that the link for the Milwaukee Milwaukee M18 FUEL 21 actually pointed to the 18g brad nailer, not the framing nailer. This was immediately fixed on the web version, but obviously not fixable in the email newsletter. I apologize for the confusion and thank Jim for the catch.

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How to use a chatbot for everything

If you take a search engine (Bing) and add a chatbot (GPT-3) you get a brand new thing bigger than search or chat. It is a universal intern. This new assistant does analytics, summaries, drafts, coding, research, queries, and more.  But you need to learn whole new methods to get the best results. This short tutorial by Ethan Mollick called “Power and Weirdness”  is the best first draft I’ve seen of superuser tips and techniques for harnessing the astounding power of Bing and other chatbots. — KK

Free Smithsonian images

If you need to use an image for your art, product, project, or any other reason, check out the Smithsonian’s vast collection of Open Access images available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. I searched “cat,” and it returned over 7,000 images, and every one I looked at was terrific. — MF

How to cut a bell pepper

I used to randomly hack away at bell peppers, ending up with oddly shaped slices covered in seeds. But a few years ago, I learned the trick to cutting bell peppers. Once you learn this method, you’ll never go back. — MF

Three-Body Problem movie

The Three-Body Problem is an original science fiction book trilogy from China. It is a major phenom in China and a huge hit in the rest of the world, sweeping the major science fiction awards in the US. Tencent, the owner of WeChat, funded a TV series version that ran on China TV. You can watch an English-subtitled version of The Three-Body Problem on YouTube, complete with Chinese TV advertisements. Even though I read the books I found the movies hard to follow, and too arty in an effort to be cool. I would only recommend it for the most diehard fans of the books, or just to see how China does long-form TV. — KK

Favorite vacation sandals

Shoewear is such a personal preference that I normally wouldn’t recommend any, but I was complimented on my sandals many times in Cancun — even stopped on the street — that I feel it warrants a review. These are my first pair of Birkenstocks I’ve ever owned and I finally get what all the hype is about. The footbed offers a lot of support and comfort for all-day walking, and the platform heel makes them cute enough to wear with dresses at night. I also took them to Egypt last year while visiting pyramids and tombs, and never had any issues walking or climbing in the rough and sandy terrain. I own a pair in pecan, but for the next trip I might have to buy them in black. — CD

Built-in background sounds on iPhone

I recently discovered that my iPhone has built-in background sounds like rain, ocean, or stream to mask unwanted noise. This feature came in handy on a recent flight while my phone was in airplane mode. You can also play ambient noise while you play other media like music or podcasts to further drown out environmental sounds. I found it under Settings > Accessibility > Audio Visual > Background Sounds. Thanks to Recomendo reader Pedro Nobre for the heads up on this. — CD

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

Sam McDonald is a tech enthusiast. Originally from Ireland he has lived in Berlin for almost a decade now. In that time he has worked at a range of startups and currently works as a Technical Writer. An amateur coder, Sam always has multiple projects on the backburner. You can find Sam on Twitter @wsmcd.

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
0:50 – Pop! OS
6:04 – VS Code
13:49 – Arduboy 8-bit gaming device
20:13 – Playdate gaming device
22:25 – WMF induction cooktop
29:25 – Sam’s quick learning blog

To sign up to be a guest on the show, please fill out this form.

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.

An Honest Rental Car Reservations Company?

While renting a car in the USA is a breeze, internationally it can be a time-consuming, frustrating minefield where everyone seems to be out to scam you—and in a different language on top. I recently booked with DealMobility, a company that lets you add on legally necessary insurance and no more for rentals in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama (for now). I still got the hard sell pitch from Europcar—one of the worst offenders in Mexico—but after figuring out that they couldn’t charge me again for something I had clearly prepaid already, they let me go on my merry way without incident.

Mexican Residency Has Gotten Pricier

If you want to apply for legal residency in Mexico, your remote career or business now needs to be well beyond the start-up phase. The formula is tied to the Mexican minimum wage and since that went up quite a bit this year (good news for the locals), so did the minimum income for residency. Add a decline in the dollar thanks to debt ceiling showmanship in congress and you now need to show a sustained monthly income of almost $3,400 for temporary residency, plus another $1,120 or so for each dependent if applicable. You can live very well on a fraction of that, but those are the current rules. One way around this is if you have bank assets of $56,000 or more at the current rate and yes, retirement account funds will qualify. See the formulas here if you’re earning in euros, pounds, or something else.

Tell Your Kid to Become a Pilot

If you have a teenager who wants to travel and get paid, they might want to look into flight school. There’s a staggering shortage of pilots around the world right now and it is going to take quite a while for any solution to catch up since the workforce is mostly 40+ in age. This article lays out the ugly details, but to give you an idea, “Estimates vary as to how big the pilot shortage will be and how soon it will cause problems, but in broad terms analysis seems to settle on a shortage of around 55,000 pilots by the end of the decade…”

Arbitrage for Streaming Services

If you’re establishing a home base abroad somewhere rather than just passing through, you might want to keep an eye out for video streaming deals aimed at locals. Last year I signed up for HBO Max in Mexico and I pay less than $3 per month, locked in until I cancel. Paramount Plus is about $4.50 at the current exchange rate and Disney Plus is about $8.50, but it debuted at half that when it launched.

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Descriptions of altered states

The Subjective Effect Index currently has 235 descriptions of sensory, cognitive and physical effects that may occur under the influence of psychedelics. There’s also a really cool and appropriately trippy replications gallery that has artistic representations of hallucinatory effects. Whether you’re trying to find a name for something you’ve experienced in a drug trip or just curious, this website is informative and invaluable. — CD

AI hotel reviews

Insteading of poring over dozens or hundreds of Tripadvisor reviews of a hotel, copy the Tripadvisor URL of the hotel into this website and it will generate a summary of the general sentiment of the hotel. You can select from different summary styles, like Personal Travel Advisor, Detail Orientated, Sarcastic, or Super Critical. — MF

Dream streaming

Claudia is too modest to mention it, but every night she records her dreams and uses the summary of her dream as a prompt to help an AI paint her daily dream. She calls it her Dream Stream on Instagram. I think this combination is a brilliant new genre, and a fabulous use of the new tools. Plus her summary dreams are sometimes profound. — KK

Soothing sound podcast

I usually listen to binaural beats as focus music, but lately I’ve preferred listening to the Slow Radio BBC podcast while I work. Each episode is an immersive soundscape of nature, animals and people. You can be transported to a fishing port in a foreign land or hear a choir singing in Harlem on a Sunday or listen to elephants wallowing in the mud in Zimbabwe. It is the sounds of life slowed down and it’s incredibly soothing. — CD

Non-Tesla electric cars

EVs, like Teslas, are fantastic! But there are a lot of other electric cars besides Teslas. We love our small Chevy Bolt all electric. We’ve not been to a gas station for 5 years. (One unexpected benefit, no smog testing needed!) To give you an idea of the variety of EVs now available, Wired has a helpful roundup of 17 brand new EVs being introduced in 2023. The choices will continue to deepen. — KK

Japanese passenger train videos

If you want to experience Japanese overnight train rides without actually being there, the best way is to watch this YouTube channel. An anonymous creator produces 15-20 minute videos that showcase the amenities of sleeper trains in Japan. The videos provide an inside look at the lounge cars, dining cars, showers, snacks, and beds on board the trains. The creator has also produced a video that details the experience of staying in a $14 per night ninja and geisha themed capsule hotel in Osaka. — MF

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, but the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Best sewing skills guide

New Complete Guide to Sewing

When a struggling new fashion-designer needs to hone their sewing skills, Project Runway guru Tim Gunn steers them to this Reader’s Digest Guide to Sewing. It’s got the best, clearest, and most complete introduction to 95% of the sewing skills you’ll ever need. It’s practical and methodical in its instructions. Not as good as grandma, but anyone will be able to pick up stitches, cutting and machine use from it. — KK

Easy threading needles

Spiral Eye Needles

These ingenious sewing needles can be threaded blindfolded. You pull the thread into a spiral from the side, and for the most part the thread will remain in the eye as you sew. That is not true for calyx eye needles (invented a hundred years ago) as a solution to the vexing problem of threading the eye. It’s as easy for the thread to slip out of the open slot at the end of the calyx needle as it is to slip in, and this wavering can fray the thread. The spiral eye needle doesn’t snag, but in my experience it will occasionally let the thread slip out. Expert sewers might find that annoying. It is dead simple to slip back on, and the thread is not frayed, so I can put up with that small inconvenience.

Spiral Eye needles are expensive: $5 each. However they should last a lifetime if you don’t lose track of them (they look very similar to regular sewing needles). What I really want is a side-threading sewing-machine needle. Schmetz makes some in limited sizes, but of a less ingenious design. — KK

Cheapest portable sewing machine

Brother Sewing Machine

I own, use and occasionally drag around my Brother sewing machine. Like the previous version of this machine recommended in Cool Tools, it’s light, small, cheap and reliable. I use it for occasional household work and mostly to make repairs to uniforms and sew on patches. It can do ten stitches and that’s more than enough for me. Especially handy is the buttonholer. This little box, in combination with a beginner’s sewing book, can help you do everything that you can imagine short of embroidery. It has held up most admirably considering how much I use it. — Angus mac Lir

Sag-B-Gone Jean Button

Larissa Holland of mmmcrafts came up with a good solution for people who don’t like belts or suspenders and also don’t like it when their jeans start to stretch and get saggy as the day goes on: a “sagb-gone” button! The no sew dungaree buttons are available on Amazon. — Mark Frauenfelder

Superior textile cutter

Engel Hot Knife

The Engel Hot Knife is fantastic for cutting and sealing synthetic ropes and textiles in one hot cut. Particularly when making kites, bags, tents, or anything with textiles this is faster by a factor of 10 than scissors, more accurate, and also seals the edges against fraying. It has two blade types, one long and arced, great for fast large things, one pointed and small for detail work. The fact it has a work light directed at the blade is a tremendous detail only the German’s would have thought of including. I use it for other things as well, like sealing plastic bags and various plastic welding jobs. This is probably a misuse of the tool, but periodically I find that useful. I own two of these, and have owned them for 5+ years, and I love them. — Saul GriffithPU

As one of the writers of The Carbon Almanac, Paige NeJame wrote the “climate change for rookies” section as well as the free kid’s book “Generation Carbon it’s time to start.” Her motto is “the right tool makes work a dream.” She blogs about small business at Paigespage.net and has been a small business owner for 26 years.

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
1:08 – Cadence travel capsules
5:13 – The Carbon Almanac
8:55 – The Way Out by Dr. Alan Gordon
13:27 – The Four tendencies quiz by Gretchen Rubin
23:21 – Generation Carbon: A Carbon Almanac for Kids

To sign up to be a guest on the show, please fill out this form.

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

• Send me a tip or tool recommendation.
• Tell me a shop tale.
• Buy my books (Tips and Tales from the Workshop Vol. 1, Vol. 2).
• Advertise your product, service, newsletter, app, book, tool, or anything you’d like to share with GT&T readers.

In Search of the Best Battery-Powered Nailer

Todd at Project Farm did a series of tests to try and determine the best battery-powered framing nailer on the market. The brands he tested were from Milwaukee, Paslode, DeWalt, Ridgid, Craftsman, and Metabo HPT. The nailers were compared for weight, noise, closeness to object for 90 degree nail drive, nailer speed (seconds to drive 25 nails), performance on composite material (depth of nail), and framing nailer tip grip. And the envelope please… the best nailer in the lot was the Milwaukee M18 FUEL nailer, currently available for $289 (w/o battery) on Amazon.

Creating a Simple Shop Vac Manifold to Triple Dust Collection Locations

In this Stumpy Nubs video, James shows how, in about an hour, using some scraps of wood, you can create a manifold for your shop vac that splits the vacuum input hose to service three different workshop machines.

Toys! Cheap Wireless Headphones

When Monoprice contacted me to see if I wanted to review their Bluetooth Headphones with Active Noise Cancelling, I said sure. I was already perfectly happy with my wireless ($120) Sony phones I’d had for the years, but I thought I’d give these a try. Sony phones? What Sony phones? Ever since I put these on, they’ve been my go-to headphones. I love the fit, the multi-day battery life, and the fact that they stay paired with my computer. With the Sony’s, I was having to charge them too often and frequently had to re-pair them (an annoyance I hate). For sound quality, honestly, the Sony phones are markedly better, but I mainly watch YouTube maker videos all day, so the sound is perfectly adequate for that. The noise cancelling is so-so, only cancelling out low, droning background noise — about what you might expect in low-priced wireless phones. At under $50, this is a very decent and reliable addition to my daily toolset.

Tips Busters: Creating Solar Panels from Old CDs? BUSTED!

Spoiler alert: Of course not!

You may seen videos go viral, with tens of millions of views, that apparently show people creating photovoltaic solar arrays by simply wiring copper coils around grids of old compact discs (or even just adhering aluminum foil strips across them). Hey, they look all shiny metallic and solar-y, so they should be able to generate power, right? Wrong! As Robert Murray-Smith points out, this is all obvious nonsense, and he explains why. For starters, CDs are covered with a layer of lacquer, so all you’re doing is winding wires or attaching aluminum foil onto plastic. And that’s just silly.

Understanding Code Libraries in Arduino Programming

As Becky Stern says in the introduction to her latest With Becky Stern video for Digi-Key: “One of the Arduino community’s superpowers is code libraries, bundles of specialized programming that allow you to leverage complex computing tools using simple commands.” You can use these add-on libraries in your Arduino code to do things like control strips of LEDs, read sensors, and create sounds. There are thousands of user-created libraries out there on the innernets. In this video, Becky explains more about ‘Duino libraries, shows how to install them, and demonstrates some of the things they can do with them, in this case, using a strip of NeoPixel LEDs as an example.

Shop Talk

Reader (and artist) Annie Loel Barr responding to my last newsletter’s inclusion of a video on different glues to use for paper art:

”Good stuff as usual, Gareth. I really enjoy your newsletters. I have to say, though, I was disappointed in the video about adhesives; he said nothing about the archival qualities of any of the adhesives, which, if you are an artist planning for your work to hang around for a while, is pretty important. He also didn’t mention how rubber cement eats into the paper, yellows it, and doesn’t stick for very long. It’s a temporary glue mainly for paste up projects. You can get archival PVA glues and archival glue sticks and I think they’re worthy of mention. He also doesn’t cover bookbinder glue like Yes!, or the wonderful archival adhesive, heavy gel Medium. Or epoxy. I just think he left out a lot and it might be good to have another video that is a little more inclusive…?”

Annie basically caught me being lazy. I watched the glue video, liked a few info-bits in it, but ultimately knew it was weak — a 101 for beginners, at best. But I wanted to have enough content to send the issue, and because I thought it might have use to some, I included it. In the future, I’ll try to stick with my gut and not include things that I don’t feel meet the standards I’m trying to maintain here. From now on, if a newsletter is short an entry or two, I’ll just send it anyway. Real stuff, no fluff.

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.

Deciding Where to Live Part 1: Head, Wallet, & Heart

A key part of deciding where to live in the world if moving abroad is evaluating the pros and cons. Even for a 3-month stay, why Thailand and not Vietnam? Why Medellin and not Cartagena? The “head factors” and the “wallet factors” can be done on a piece of paper or through a hashed-out priorities discussion if you’re a couple, but the “heart factors” really require a visit/trial run. Some places look great when you’re researching, but they just don’t feel right once you’re there. See more here.

Deciding Where to Live Part 2: The 90/10 Rule

This rubric is aimed more at people deciding where to live in their own country, especially parents, but it can be applied to nomadic types as well. The difference is we can back out easier if it doesn’t work out. This “rule” says you should give most of the decision weight to the things that will impact 90% of your waking hours, not the factors that you’ll only occasionally experience. So for working travelers, good coffee, a good workspace, and agreeable weather should probably win out over cultural events you’ll only attend once every two months.

The End of “Golden Visas?”

Portugal is the latest country to end its “golden visa” program whereby wealthy foreigners could buy their way in with enough investment, following similar moves by the UK and Ireland. It’s not that the programs didn’t work, it’s that they worked too well, with a flood of foreigners buying up property and often turning apartments into short-term rental units. Since housing prices have risen faster than local wages, pressure was on to stop the practice, with a banning of new short-term rental licenses as well. See the full story here.

Super Simple Water Purifier

I have lost more than a few water bottles on trips but the one I lost on this current one bums me out because the cap was a UV water purifier. The Crazy Cap is simple to use because it’s already the topper on a Swell-shape bottle. It kills everything inside with UV light and usually lasts me a week or two before I need to recharge. Use it when you need it, or it’s just a regular top when you don’t. This is one lost item I need to replace before my next trip to a place where you can’t trust the tap water.