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I have two readers who’ve volunteered to be tips busters. They are currently looking for some good tips to try and verify or bust. If you want to to be a tips buster, message me. If you’ve seen a tip that you’d like us to put to the test, let me know.

Using Power Tool Batteries in Mobile Projects

In this Andreas Spiess video, he shows how you can 3D print adapters for power tool batteries that will turn them into a power supply for mobile applications.

Improving Your Car with 3D Printing

In this I Like to Make Stuff video, Bob challenges all of us with 3D printers to think about what fixes and improvements we could make to the interior of our cars. It’s a fun thing to think about. In Bob’s case, he had a seat adjustment handle that was missing and an out-of-date cup holder. He recreated the handle in Fusion360 and designed and printed a new cup holder that adjusts to the size of the cup. What things would you like to fix or customized inside of your vehicle?

The Shelf Lives of PVA, Epoxy, and CA Glue

In this Stumpy Nubs video, James goes over various common shop glues and how long you can expect them to work reliably. He discusses how to store them, how to extend their life, and how to tell if an old glue is still viable. There are lots of good tips here, like dating your glue bottles, so you’ll know how long you’ve had them. And, checking CA (superglue) when you buy it to see if you can determine when it was manufactured. CA glue is rated to only last for a year, even if the bottle is not opened. He also recommends storing CA glue in the freezer (it won’t freeze). You can also store it in an airtight glass jar and even including a desiccant pack.

Creating Your Own Pigment Powders

If you do any kind of terrain building, for tabletop gaming, model trains, diorama-making, or scale modeling, you’re likely familiar with pigment powers. These are colored, powdered chalks that are sold by major hobby supply companies to be used in weathering terrain and models. They’re great, but also expensive at as much as $10/ounce. But you don’t have to spend that at all. Using a mortar and pestle (or a hobby knife), you can grind up a set of cheap art chalks. They work exactly like the commercial chalks and you have a much wider range of colors available. In this Black Magic Craft video, Jeremy shows just how easy this is.

Shop Talk

[caption id="attachment_39752" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Wiha Ultra Driver[/caption]

There was quite a large response to my screwdriver design question. There were so many comments, in email and on the Cool Tools site, that I can’t possibly include them all here. You can read the Cool Tool comments here and here.

Lots of people wrote in to recommend the Snap-On ratchet screwdriver (and Snap-On drivers in general). On Cool Tools, user KokoTheTalkingApe, who always posts long thoughtful, and well-informed comments, takes exception to the handle-storage of bits with this driver (something I also very much dislike):

“There are many other great choices from Megapro, Wiha, Wera, and other premium toolmakers. My favorite is the Wiha Ultra Driver. It stores 13 double-ended bits in the handle, so it has 26 tips. The bits are stored in two rotating carousels that fan open when you pull them out, which is super handy. I don’t usually like proprietary bits, but these have held up well and replacements are readily available. The bitholder locks onto the bit. Made in Germany. But not ratcheting.”

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[caption id="attachment_39751" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Klein Tools 24" Tool Bag[/caption]

I also got a huge response to the query about a reader replacing a leather tool bag that he inherited from his dad. Lots of people said something similar to this response from reader Jonathon Cassel:

“Why? That bag appears to still be very functional and it is impossible to replace the sentimental value with anything new. Why not just have the leather reworked, oiled, and stained (if inclined).”

Jonathon also added something that several other readers suggested:

“Or, you could just commission a leather craftsperson to copy it.”

Reader cccrews recommended the Klein Tools 24" leather tool bag (see above). They also point out that there are much cheaper canvas versions of these bags.

I personally have been looking for a tool bag and think I’m going to get the Klein canvas bag.

You live in the big here. Wherever you live, your tiny spot is deeply intertwined within a larger place, imbedded fractal-like into a whole system called a watershed, which is itself integrated with other watersheds into a tightly interdependent biome. At the ultimate level, your home is a cell in an organism called a planet. All these levels interconnect. What do you know about the dynamics of this larger system around you? Most of us are ignorant of this matrix. But it is the biggest interactive game there is. Hacking it is both fun and vital.

The following exercise in watershed awareness was hatched 50 years ago by Peter Warshall, naturalist extraordinaire. Variations of this list have appeared over the years with additions by Jim Dodge, Peter Berg, and Stephanie Mills among others. In 2003 I added new questions from Warshall and myself, and I edited or altered most of the rest of the questions to make them clearer or more relatable. I posted the revised quiz on my website in 2003, but it was hard to find. I also published the list on page 228 in my book Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. Rob Walker of Art of Noticing recently reminded me of it, so I am reposting it here. It's still a work in progress. If you have a universal question you think fits, submit it to me.

I am extremely interested in hearing from anyone who scores a 26 or better on the quiz on their first unassisted-by-Google try.

30 questions to elevate your awareness (and literacy) of the greater place in which you live:

1) Point north.
2) What time is sunset today?
3) Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap.
4) When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water?
5) How many feet (meters) above sea level are you?
6) What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here?
7) How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? Can you draw the boundaries of yours?
8) Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt?
9) Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves?
10) Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available.
11) From what direction do storms generally come?
12) Where does your garbage go?
13) How many people live in your watershed?
14) Who uses the paper/plastic you recycle from your neighborhood?
15) Point to where the sun sets on the equinox. How about sunrise on the summer solstice?
16) Where is the nearest earthquake fault? When did it last move?
17) Right here, where you are, how deep do you have to drill before you reach water?
18) Which (if any) geological features in your watershed are, or were, especially respected by your community, or considered sacred, now or in the past?
19) How many days is the growing season here (from frost to frost)?
20) Name five birds that live here. Which are migratory and which stay put?
21) What was the total rainfall here last year?
22) Where does the pollution in your air come from?
23) If you live near the ocean, when is high tide today?
24) What primary geological processes or events shaped the land here?
25) Name three wild species that were not found here 500 years ago. Name one exotic species that has appeared in the last 5 years.
26) What minerals are found in the ground here that are (or were) economically valuable?
27) Where does your electric power come from and how is it generated?
28) After the rain runs off your roof, where does it go?
29) Where is the nearest wilderness? When was the last time a fire burned through it?
30) How many days till the moon is full?

The Bigger Here Bonus Questions:
31) What species once found here are known to have gone extinct?
32) What other cities or landscape features on the planet share your latitude?
33) What was the dominant land cover plant here 10,000 years ago?
34) Name two places on different continents that have similar sunshine/rainfall/wind and temperature patterns to here.

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One thumb zoom with Google Maps
I use Google Maps (and Apple Maps) a lot when I’m walking around in an unfamiliar place. Instead of holding the phone in one hand and dragging and pinching-to-zoom with the other hand, I learned I can do everything with one hand. I hold the phone in my left hand and use my thumb to drag. And if I want to zoom in or out, I tap twice with my thumb, leaving my thumb on the display after the second tap, and then slide my thumb up or down to zoom. — MF

Cool Tools PDF
A decade ago I made a huge 470-page book of the best tools available. This Cool Tools book was a catalog of possibilities. Each of the thousands of items featured enable a new possibility that you may have never considered doing before, such as keeping bees, building your own home, or starting a consulting busines. Cool Tools has been long out of print, so I finally made a digital version of it. The full-sized PDF of Cool Tools can be downloaded on Gumroad for $3.99. Good news for those outside the US where the price of the original book plus shipping was discouraging. It also serves as a very searchable version for those with the giant physical book.  — KK

Gentle and random reminder app
I have been using this Yapp Reminders app (iOS) for a few months now to send me “gentle” and “random” reminders throughout the day. You can create whatever message you would like to appear as a notification. Mine is a reminder to pull away from the screens and connect with something outside of myself. I have the notification setting switched to “softer reminder sounds” which sounds like a soft gong calling for me to pause and reflect. — CD

Gorey jigsaw puzzle
I’m the kind of person who fidgets a lot while having a conversation, but when I do a jigsaw puzzle with other people, it’s easy for me to chat and assemble the puzzle at the same time. My wife and I been putting this 1000-piece Edward Gorey puzzle together as a way to catch up for a few minutes each night before going to bed. I also work on the puzzle during conference calls. — MF

Click to relax
Just a fun, single purpose website. Click to relax and listen to ethereal sound of water and music. Zone out on the ripples. It is definitely relaxing. — CD

Letters to your future self
Send your future self a letter. Might be a prediction, a goal, or a letter about something that happened today you dont want to forget. For 20 years Future Me has been forwarding letters into the future for free. You’ll most likely forget you wrote one and getting a note years from now will be a wonderful surprise. Thank you, today you. — KK

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Got a tip to share? A tool to recommend? A tall tale to tell? Please share with the class.

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Got a tip to bust (or confirm)? I’m still looking for readers to pick a tip they see in the wild and put it through its paces to see if it works as advertised. Let me know if you’re interested in testing a tip. I have one volunteer so far.

New Maker Show Coming to Netflix

I’m excited to finally get to share news of a new Netflix show from my friends Jimmy DiResta and John Graziano (along with Pat Lap, Derek Forestier, and Paul Jackman). Called Making Fun, each week, these five master makers are challenged by children to bring crazy kid ideas to life. Apparently (and maybe not surprisingly, given their half-pint taskmasters), lots of farts, dinosaurs, and unicorns seem to be involved. Making Fun will premier on Netflix on March 4th.

Folks on social media were quick to point out that this show concept is alarmingly similar to a YouTube channel called Kids Inventing Stuff. It is indeed, although the Making Fun folks say it’s simply a case of parallel thinking. They say they didn’t know about this channel until after they’d wrapped production. Give Kids Inventing Stuff some love, too. It’s great!

Losing Faith in the Godhand

I read the breathless reviews. I succumbed to the hype. I bought a $62 Godhand, nippers specifically designed to de-sprue plastic model parts from their frames. The main selling feature is that they’re designed to cut super-close to the part, meaning very little after-cutting clean-up (something I hate). I certainly loved the functionality of the tool… while it worked! Last weekend, while de-spruing some models – the very thing they’re designed to do – one jaw of the cutters sheared right off. This was only about the 5th time I’d used the tool. For such an exorbitant price, this is absolutely unacceptable. I’ve had an $8 pair of cutters for years and they work just fine (although they’re not nearly as efficient at flush-cutting). I’m just going to go back to those. I just bought an extra pair. If you read through the Godhand reviews on Amazon you’ll see plenty of others complaining about the cutters easily shearing like mine did. Do yourself a favor, heed these warnings. This Godhand is a false god, a demiurge!

How to Make a Cool Rope Bottle Cady

Here’s a fun way of making a 4-bottle drink caddy using a length of rope.

Laser-Engraving EVA Foam

Here’s something exciting I hadn’t thought about. On Knarb Makes, he was sent an inexpensive (around US$500) hobby laser engraver to test out. It was way too weak to cut through material like MDF, but he found that it loved EVA foam. Using the machine, he was able to engrave floor and wall tiles for tabletop game terrain. A cheap machine like this could be an extremely handy and useful tool for tabletop game crafters, cosplayers, diorama builders, and others who use EVA ‘craft foam” in their projects.

Why Wood Screws are Only Partially Threaded

This Steve Ramsey Instagram video explains how woodscrews actually work and why they’re only partially threaded.

Why Do Power Plugs Have Holes in Them?

Several months ago, I saw a video on YouTube about why plugs have holes. I’d always wondered, and like many, was under the impression that it was to help hold the plug in place. Turns out, that’s a myth, at least with modern plugs. The original 1913 patent for the wall plug (aka the Separable Attachment Plug) did, in fact, have a mechanism inside the socket to engage notches in the plug. Those notches eventually turned into holes. Over the decades, it was apparently decided that this plug security feature was unnecessary. Sockets stopped including a means of utilizing these holes. So, why are they still on so many plugs? Is it just that they’re expected now? This video runs through the history of the plug and the notches/holes, the patent, and the eventual loss of their utility. What the video doesn’t mention (somebody in the comments does) is that the holes are apparently now re-purposed, used in an alignment process for molding the plastic plug jackets. You can see this in action here. The holes have also been adopted as a lockout mechanism where a small padlock is attached through the holes to prevent someone using a machine without proper access (i.e. the key to the lock).

Using a Peristaltic Pump For Handling Resin in Your 3D Printer

In this video, Daniel Herrero shows how he uses an inexpensive peristaltic pump to remove resin from the vats of his 3D printers without having to remove the vat. As he points out, for small-bed resin printers, pouring off the remaining resin isn’t such a big deal, but it can become more unwieldy on printers with larger vats. In such cases, you might want to try this pumping solution.

Shop Talk
Reader Andy Leviss wrote in response to the piece I included several issues back on making your own multi-outlet power cords:

“Hey, Gareth! I’m probably not the only person to reach out about this, but that tutorial on making multi-outlet extensions is super dangerous and violates the National Electrical Code (NEC). You never make anything externally mounted with those junction boxes…they’re not rated as an external enclosure, primarily because the knockouts can get accidentally knocked in and short across conductors causing electrocution or fire. Please send out a correction and delete this from the online version of the newsletter, it’s incredibly dangerous, on top of being against code nearly everywhere in the US, since almost all local codes follow the NEC.”
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My question about screw driver design preferences got quite a response. Here’s Walter Baron’s answer:

“Just read/saw the screwdriver video. Very interesting. I have several of those old Stanley screwdrivers I bought originally about 40 years ago, and I agree they are very nice. But my favorite is the Snap-On ratchet screwdriver with interchangeable bits. As a boat builder, I usually drive screws with a cordless drill/driver (Festool), but I often need to drive or remove one or two small odd screws. The Snap-On has storage in the handle for several different sizes and styles of bits, and you can use any insert-style bit you can find. The ratchet is very fine, and it is guaranteed for life. Mine is at least 20 years old.”

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Reader Lee Licata is looking to replace a leather toolbag given to him by his dad in 1975. He writes:

“All of the 5 “feet” on the bottom and the zipper are industrial grade or beyond. None of the feet have ever fallen off and the zipper functions like new. I would appreciate whatever you can do to help me find a replacement. Internet searches have not been very successful.”

Do any newsletter readers have suggestions for Lee? Please send them to me.

Sydney Smith wrote in to recommend these shop fluid dispensers:

“I saw one being used on an Adam Savage video. I use mine for denatured alcohol and acetone. They are on Amazon. The ones I bought several months ago are of a slightly different design. These enable storage and dispensing in a much better way than the cans these solvents come in. ”

Nine years ago, I somehow condensed the best reviews from this website into a 470-page book called Cool Tools. I thought of this book as the Best of Cool Tools, at least as far as 2013, when it was published. But making the book was so much work to compile, edit, design, and print, that I could not convince myself to keep revising it. So now, 9 years later, it is out of print.

But I would say at least 90% of the information in it is still useful and valid, if you can find a copy. Cool Tools is a catalog of possibilities, of things you can do yourself, if you have the right tools. To be honest, a lot of this kind of information can now be found on YouTube, if you are lucky enough to find it. On the other hand, I have rounded a spectrum of possible tools into this one handy book between two covers.

As readers of this site understand, my definition of tools is very broad. Tools include hand tools, maps, how-to books, vehicles, software, specialized devices, gizmos, websites — anything useful. The book covers 1,500 different tools, explaining why each one is great, and what its benefits are. About 20% of the tools and materials in the book do NOT appear on this website; I created them specifically for the book.

A few years ago Amazon volunteered to create a Kindle version of this catalog. Sadly, it does not work very well (don’t buy it) and it discouraged me from making an ebook out of it. But in recent years most people have gotten used to reading PDFs so I am releasing a simple PDF version of the whole oversized 470-page book. You can download it for $3.99. I recommend you read it on a screen larger than a phone.

For those who live outside of Amazon’s prime zone, this digital version will make the book accessible. For those who already own the paper book, this gives you a rapid search version, which is what I use it for! It is not the same vibe as browsing through the huge pages of the original analog version, but it’s still useful as a tool.

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Like Sudoku, but with colors
ColorKu is a nice looking wooden game board, with holes that hold colored wooden marbles in nine different colors. Game play is just like Sudoku, but this version makes it fun to play with others. It comes with about 100 starting problems, but you can use any Sudoku problems by assigning each color a number. I gave this to my sister for her birthday and she loves it, too. — MF

You should die broke
To maximize your life enjoyment, you should die with no money left over. Spend your money while you can get the most experiences from it, not when you are old. Give away what you are going to give away (to kids or charity) while you can enjoy and direct it, and when it makes the most difference to the receiver. That’s the well-reasoned, persuasive argument of this book, Die with Zero. (The message is similar to Die Broke, a book that I have recommended in the past, but Die with Zero is much better in its explanation,  and practical advice on how to balance your account to zero.) Everyone should consider this positively affirming strategy. It’s been life-changing for me. — KK

Weird Old Book Finder
Clive Thompson created this search tool for weird old books in an attempt to rewild our attention. It only finds books one at a time and in the public domain, which you can download. I found this 1901 copy of Studies of Trees in Winter, which is actually a book I came across in a Berkeley library years ago and have been searching for. I also discovered this — definitely weird — rare manuscript titled The Complex Vision by poet/philosopher John Cowper Powys. I love tools like these that help me break free from the same old internet loop. — CD

Best spa tablets
Every evening for the past 20 years I do a short dip in our hot tub just outside our bedroom doors. The totality of my maintenance for the hot tub consists of adding one bromide tablet per week. That is all I do. Having tried different tabs over the years, the best ones are Clorox Spa Brominating Tablets. They give consistent clarity and have the least smell. The water is almost odorless. — KK

3 simple ways to exercise your brain
Stanford creativity expert Sarah Stein Greenberg contributed this short write-up on brain exercises to flex your creative muscles. What stood out to me was Seeing where she suggests finding a photograph capturing scenes of life with multiple subjects and lots of details and answer the following questions: What’s going on in the picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What else do you see? What do you see that makes you say that? — and then repeat, over and over again form multiple perspectives. The other 2 exercises are Shadowing and Studying the solution that already exists. Read the full article here. — CD

52 things Jason Kottke learned in 2022
“The number of people born in Antarctica (11) is fewer than the number of people who have walked on the Moon (12).” That’s just one of 52 surprising things blogger Jason Kottke included in his year-end post.  Here’s another: “Cannabis delivery isn’t legal in Maine, so this enterprising online shop employs ‘psychics’ to ‘find a wide selection of your lost weed and drop it off at your home.’” — MF

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One of the reasons it is hard to predict what the future looks like is because much of the future is movable. The thing we are trying to forecast is changed by our attempts to make it real. Many hundreds of years ago, when creative people imagined flying machines, they imagined machines that had wings that flapped. What they imagined did not happen; the deliverable moved to an airplane with fixed wings. In the 1950s we imagined wrist-watch radios on every person in the future, and that did not happen (yet), but instead, the future moved to “radios” in the pocket of every person. Now we feel we don’t want wrist-watch radios. The future moved.

This migration is even more pronounced with some frontiers like “artificial intelligence” or “virtual reality.” When these concepts were first imagined, we had a picture in our mind of what they should be, but as the initial parts of the dream were achieved, they begin to change what we expected at the end. Today our kitchen Alexa will answer spoken questions, play the music we request, and turn the Christmas trees lights on command, but we don’t think it qualifies as AI, yet Alexa would have been called AI 80 years ago by any science fiction writer. AI is in a movable future that constantly shifts as we invent versions of it.

Over time we may end up accepting something as “predicted” that was not in our original dream. Very ambitious dreams that take a generation or two to invent are extremely susceptible to shifting what they are. I suspect we’ll see target shifts in long-expected inventions such as nuclear fusion, genetic cloning, space travel, brain jacks, flying cars, and virtual reality. What we get in these fields is probably not what we imagine right now, but when they do arrive, we’ll feel as if they had been expected.

Part of this gap between what we expect and what we get is due to our lack of imagination. The future is extremely difficult to picture beforehand because technologies are mainly governed by technical constraints we are unaware of initially. And technologies are also shaped by social forces we are forever guessing wrong about. The truth is we don’t know how humans really behave, and the interaction of new tech and old humans continues to surprise us. We tend to use new things in new ways we did not expect. So when we extrapolate to imagine what, say, genetic cloning will be like, we rely on past behaviors, and will often be blinded by old patterns.

But another reason why there is a gap between what we expect and what we get is that we actually change what we want along the way. Technically we can make wrist-watch radios now. In many respects that is what an Apple Watch is. It is a watch you were on your wrist that broadcasts and receives radio signals in multiple bandwidths. But even though the Apple Watch has that capability, most people dont use it as a walkie-talkie radio. We’ve discovered better ways to communicate with one another, which shifts the target of what we want on our wrist.

We think we want a walking humanoid AI robot with a two-eyed face and five-fingered hands, but as we attain bits toward this vision, I am willing to bet that we shift what we are aiming for. I bet Robbie the Robot is not where we land. Science fiction depictions are useful in giving us a target future at the beginning, but we should understand that these targets are movable futures; even when they come true, they are not exactly the future we promised ourselves.

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Free covid tests
US residents can order 4 free at-home covid tests to be mailed by the US Post Office to their home. One set per household. Order from this US Post Office site, which is well designed and takes 10 seconds. — KK

Great running socks
I started running a few months ago and needed running socks. These six-packs of Saucony Socks are just what I needed. They are slightly cushioned and have arch compression. As an added bonus, they are too weird-looking for my wife or daughters to be tempted to swipe. — MF

Alternatives for "Sorry for my delay"
I feel like a weight has been lifted after reading What if we just stopped being so available? (The Atlantic, possible paywall). Joe Pinsker rants about the expectations of prompt responses and how we should all stop apologizing for failing to meet them. He says, “For one thing, having multiple obligations and priorities means that we are, all of us, in a perpetual state of delay on something, and apologizing for that fact feels like having to apologize for your standard mode of being.” He spoke with communication experts who suggest alternatives for “Sorry for my delay,” like “Thank you for your patience” or “I wanted to make sure I thought carefully about your good questions.” But I agree with Pinsker who prefers to omit an apology or expectation altogether and instead just write your message as if you’re responding right away, because content is more important than speed. This article is a much needed absolution. We all have the right to disconnect. — CD

Star gazing navigation
Stargazing apps on your phone are magic. They work like AR-augmented reality — overlaying the night sky with outlines of constellations, star and planet names, paths of the moon, and even satellite, comet and asteroid sightings. The apps are uncannily accurate, and easy to understand. There are free apps and expensive subscriptions, but I use Star Walk 2 which cost $3. It’s the best $3 space investment I’ve ever made. — KK

Simple packing hack
I just returned from visiting my grandmother in Mexico, and aside from my packing cubes which makes my suitcase manageable, this technique of folding all of my outfits together helped me get dressed quickly in the mornings without mulling over what to wear or pulling everything out of their cubes. — CD

Entertaining electronics teardowns
Recomendo reader Andrew Denny says, “I really love the YouTube Channel of Big Clive, a soft-spoken Scotsman. He tears down cheap electronic products — often really cheap no-name stuff from ebay — to explain how they work. I have no idea about electronics at all, but I love watching it and I’m gradually learning.” I’ve been watching Big Clive videos for a couple of years, myself. — MF

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Get lost in the clouds
Everything you could ever want to know about clouds is available at the International Cloud Atlas hosted by the World Meteorological Organization. You can learn the basics of observing and identifying clouds. See photo descriptions of clouds. Search their image gallery. Compare two images. And if you go deep enough you might find unlisted YouTube links to time lapse videos like this one. — CD

Check for hidden hotel fees
So called “resort fees” are a sneaky way for hotels to advertise a low price then tack on an additional charge. Even if you don’t use the hotel pool of fitness center, they’ll add it to your bill. Before booking a hotel, visit Resort Fee Checker to see if it charges a resort fee. The site also has information on the price of breakfast, internet, parking, pets, and other fees. — MF

Placebo pills
The weird thing about placebos is that they work similar to the substances they replace. The science shows there is some positive effect with these simple inert pills. There is even a small proven effect when the patient knows they are placebos! With that in mind some folks administer placebos to themselves. Because they have a positive effect I also found it useful to have a small bottle of placebo pills around to meet an emergency need of a placebo. These are gel capsules of inert fiber stamped with the logo of Zeebo. — KK

Great little dot-grid notebook
My favorite small notebook is the inexpensive Muji W-ring dot-grid notebook with a clear plastic cover. The ring binding is great because the notebook lies flat. Muji seems to have run out of them, but I found an excellent knock-off from Yansanido on Amazon. I bought a 6-pack for less than $3 per notebook. The paper seems to be a bit thinner than the Muji version, but pen ink is crisp on the pages. — MF

Remote computer access
Some computer and software problems can only be solved by getting the expert onto your computer. The way to do that remotely is with TeamViewer. My tech-savvy son acts as my IT-support guy, and so he comes onto my computer, from wherever he is, on his computer. We use TeamViewer which enables this remote connection instantly, easily, securely and for free. (Free for private use. TeamViewer’s income comes from businesses users.) He is able to control my machine remotely. It works like magic, and because we both have it installed, we’ll invoke it without hesitation. (Of course, be sensible about using or installing this powerful tool.) — KK

How to return your eyes to their natural state
Here is a tip from the r/Meditation subreddit. To block out your internal monologue practice expanding your peripheral vision. User taemoo further explained this tactic: “The trick is to keep your vision as “open” as possible, not to focus on anything unless it’s necessary for a specific task ….” and shared a YouTube video titled: Meditation - Returning Your Eyes to the Natural State, where Meditation teacher Loch Kelly walks you through this exercise. When I practice this an instant calmness washes over me. I feel like I just discovered a new superpower. — CD

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1483123271360942080

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1483866634796224516

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1484241423280984065

Got a tip to share? A tool to recommend? A tall tale to tell us? Please share with the class.

Build a Portable Soldering Station

Ever since I saw Adam Savage build a portable soldering station, I’ve been thinking about creating one for myself. I don’t do enough electronics anymore to justify a dedicated electronics workbench. When I do have a need for soldering, it’s a hassle to get everything set up just to do a few solder points. And, in our new house, I have two work areas on different floors. So, I know I will break down and create a portable station at some point. Here is Laura Kampf’s answer to such a portable, fully-powered station.

Rule of Thumb for Buying Tools
In a fascinating video from Adam Savage (where he has an “epiphany” on the science of precise measurement) he also shares a great tip on purchasing tools: “Buy the cheapest tool you can if it’s a tool you don’t know how to use, learn how to use it, and see if it integrates into your process and into your shop, and then go and buy the best tool that you can afford. Frequently, that one will last you for the rest of your life.”

Ten Fantastic Modeling Tips

This video, from the YouTube channel Just for the fun of it, has some really useful tips and jigs for working with glues, painting tiny round parts, using 1-2-3 blocks, and more. I especially love the tip on making a CA glue applicator for tiny, tight spaces by sinking a sewing needle into a small dowel (or old brush handle) with the loop of the needle protruding out. This loop will deliver more glue to where you need it.

Five Hobby Tools You Didn't Know You Needed

One of the cool things about a hobby, or any domain of making, is constantly learning new little tricks and techniques and hearing about new tools that you didn’t know you needed. I’ve been painting fantasy and sci-fi miniatures for decades and have never heard of any of the five tools suggested by miniature painter Lyla Mev in this video. The tools she swears by are cheap squeeze bottles, Silly Putty(!), cling wrap, sand timers, and trimmed brushes for “erasing” overpaint. See the video for more on how she applies each of these tools.

Filmmaking Tips for Makers on YouTube

We just sent the second volume of my book, Tips and Tales from the Workshop, off to the printers. Yay! It will be out in early March. One of the new features in Volume 2 is a chapter of tips for maker video content. So many people are doing video these days and we could all use improvement in how we communicate our projects through the camera. In this video on Morley Kert’s channel, he presents ten tips for maker video production. I wish I’d had these to add to my book. They include committing to a vibe and sticking with it, using establishing shots and B-rolls, mixing in handheld shots (if possible), using manual, not auto-focus, making sure your lights are the same color temperature, and more. Good stuff.

Using a Caliper's Depth Gauge to Transfer a Measurement

Here’s a little calipers trick I’ve never thought of. Instead of using the outer jaws of your calipers to scribe a line onto a workpiece, lock your measurement in and then use the reading on the depth gauge on the other end of the calipers. Transfer that depth to a square and then use the square to scribe your line. Watch the Instagram video to make this clearer.

Shop Talk

[caption id="attachment_39696" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Titmus SW09R Livewire sealed glasses[/caption]

By the far, the reader who’s contributed the most and best tips to this newsletter is Emory Kimbrough. Thanks, Emory! Here’s his latest:

“We’re all familiar with safety glasses and goggles, but there’s a third option - sealed or hybrid safety glasses. These look like ordinary safety glasses, but they have foam seals around the eyes to keep out dust. Dust easily sneaks around the sides of safety glasses, and a minor dust irritation has some risk of growing into a serious problem. So, sealed safety glasses should be far better known and far more popular.

"You can buy sealed/hybrid glasses for less than $3.00 each, affordable for a school workshop or makerspace that needs safety glasses for every student. But my favorite new gear for 2021 was prescription sealed glasses. Prescription safety glasses are more comfortable and give better vision than putting goggles or oversized safety glasses on over your usual prescription glasses. And less nuisance = more compliance. I chose Titmus SW09R Livewire sealed glasses, for four reasons. First, they combine ANSI-rated impact protection with the dust seals. Next, they have a removable head strap that creates an even better seal against sneaky dust, and keeps the glasses from slipping down or slipping off at a bad moment. Finally, I have a very strong prescription for nearsightedness, plus I’m old enough to need progressive lenses. Many prescription safety glasses are not compatible with strong prescriptions, but these were available with progressive lenses and in my strong prescription. (You can also get the Titmus Livewires without prescription lenses.)

"I got mine with good customer service and prompt shipping from safetygearpro.com, but they are available from other suppliers. They came with a case that can clip to your belt – good for keeping those safety glasses handy instead of way over on the other side of the shop tempting you to ignore them. They also came with a cleaning kit and an eyeglasses screwdriver. Prescription safety glasses are also a spare pair of ordinary eyeglasses, so these will go in my suitcase as an emergency back-up whenever I travel.

"Compared with ordinary safety glasses, dust-sealed hybrid glasses are all benefit and no drawback - So, prescription or non-prescription, make the change.”

https://youtu.be/NHkZx1m9gF4

Links:
Wooden Mechanical Pendulum Clock Puzzle
Scotch Thermal Laminator
Teak Wood Magnetic Poster Hanger Frame

I define a heresy as: something you believe that the people you most admire and respect don’t believe and reject out of hand.
With that criterion in mind, here are a bunch of Contemporary Heresies I’ve collected. These are not necessarily my heresies, although some are; many are “plausible — not insane” heresies that others around me believe. (I'll add more as I think of them.)

1. Aliens are already here.
2. Robot/AI soldiers are preferable to human soldiers.
3. Polygamy and polyandry should be legal.
4. The amount of taxes each person pays should be public.
5. War is not inevitable; it can be eliminated.
6. Cannibalism is okay.
7. Euthanasia should be encouraged.
8. The US Civil War was a mistake. The Confederate South should have been allowed to secede, and the rest of the Union would be better off today.
9. Flossing doesn’t matter.
10. DNA sequences of each individual should be public information, just like faces, birth dates, etc.
11. The nuclear bombs dropped on Japan were unneeded, wrong.
12. The microbiome in your guts influences your IQ.
13. Universal basic income generates wealth.
14. Pre-crime tracking and deterrence is feasible.
15. There should be a Super Olympics that allows all enhancements and no gender distinctions.
16. It is impossible for humans to eradicate all human life on this planet.
17. Vitamin pills are quackery.
18. Oil is not a fossil life fuel but a geological product.
19. Death is a disease that can be cured.
20. Eating animals should be outlawed and illegal.
21. Government funding of science and tech pays off.
22. Global government is good.
23. Psychedelics should be paid for by insurance.
24. Your weight is a public health concern.
25. BBQ is carcinogenic.
26. Altruism is natural and the default of humankind.
27. No one born on Mars will live to reproduce on Mars.
28. All plastics should be banned from being manufactured.
29. There should be a Human Right of Migration on this planet; you may live where ever you want if you follow local laws.
30. GMO food is better for you.
31. Neanderthals were smarter than humans.
32. Nuclear waste is manageable.
33. California or Texas should secede from the US.
34. We should have a single global currency, maybe on blockchain.
35. There was a civilization on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, but geological forces have eliminated all evidence of it.
36. ESP and telepathy are real.
37. There is no great extinction event happening on Earth right now.
38. Human clones are natural and fine — just serial twins.
39. Obesity is contagious.
40. Animals like being in modern zoos.
41. Billionaire wealth should not be permitted.
42. Social media reduces extremism.
43. Religious belief is on its way out. Believers of major religions will become a small minority.
44. All cryptocurrencies should be state-run.
45. National service (including peace and non-military) should be mandatory for all citizens without exceptions, including the handicapped.
46. There will be a global population implosion soon.
47. Evolution has a direction.
48. No place, institution, organization can be named after a real person. Nor publicly-funded statues made of a real person either.
49. The average person on the planet will own two homes.
50. Electrons don’t flow in an electrical current.
51. Sexism is inherent in biology.
52. Fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians will become deep allies in culture wars.
53. Doctors will outlaw American football, and it will be played only on island countries.
54. Fewer people will learn English as a second language as real time machine translation gets better/easier/free.
55. China will break up, like the Soviet Union.
56. Other life in the universe is DNA-ish.
57. Fans will pay more to see robots dance than to see humans dance.
58. In the majority of countries on the planet, Asian Indians will become the most common immigrant.
59. The super rich will carry or wear no technology at all.
60. The adverse side effects of increasing IQ by genetics will limit it to very modest increases.
61. The next new religion to gain tens of millions of adherents will originate in China.
62. Like snowflakes, no two atoms of the same element are exactly identical in their ultimate composition of sub-sub-sub particles.
63. Tourism will become the industry with the largest number of employees globally.
64. Progress is real. This year is better than last year.
65. Moore’s Law will continue forever, forever being redefined.
66. Modern humans will fork into non-interbreeding species. Racism will be real.
67. Having a parent-given first name will be unfashionable. The norm will be to choose your legal name at puberty.

Cat donut cushion
Our cats spend a lot of time nestled in their Love’s Cabin Donut Cushions. We have one for each of them, but they often snuggle together in one. It makes me happy to see them sleeping in them. — MF

Source of fundamental elements
The best source I’ve found for small samples of very pure elements – such as scandium, dysprosium, holmium, terbium, yttrium, uranium – including, yes, cubes of pure tungsten ($14), is Luciteria. Very reliable, thorough, and extensive catalog of all available common and exotic elements. I’ve been amassing a full collection of these universal atoms. — KK

Reduce and organize tab clutter
I use OneTab to close and save all the open tabs that I have an emotional attachment to, but that eat up memory. OneTab is a free chrome extension that converts all my open tabs into a list of links that I can later restore individually or as a group. I love that I can drag and group links and then name them, as well as share them as a webpage like this. The only inconvenience is that my OneTab doesn’t sync across devices, but after a day of working on one device, I just email myself the webpage of closed tabs and that works well enough for me. — CD

Mailing list email filter
Would you like to keep your regular email separated from your mailing list email? Here’s the easiest way: set a filter to route any email that contains the word “unsubscribe” to a separate email folder. — MF

Best free video editing software
Editing video is the new self-publishing. I’m trying to learn it. The two classic standard programs for video editing are very expensive. However, there are a bunch of really good programs for free. CreativeBloq ran a comparative review of the best free video editing software, which is likely to cover 99% of most uses. I have no excuses now.  — KK

How to create your personal feed
This instagram post by artist/writer Morgan Harper Nichols outlines how she uses her Notes App on iPhone to cut her daily screen time in half. She says::

1 - Using the Notes App on my iPhone, I made some graphics that would encourage me to click on them.
2 - I made 9 lists that I knew would encourage me or remind me to do or focus on something. I put the graphics at the top. I spent days working on these lists and I’m still adding and making changes to them.
3 - When I pinned these graphics to the top of my notes app, the image shows up in the previews of the note
When I was done making this list, I told myself this: “whenever I go to my phone now and I’m getting ready to mindlessly scroll, I’m going to go to my Personal Feed instead.”

Some of her list titles are: “List of goals,” “Remember when….” “Affirmations” and “Books to return to.” I’ve already started working on my own, so far I have “Genius Ideas,” of which there is only one at the moment, and “Subtle Images” which is just a growing list of images from daydreams. — CD

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1479682808071163904

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1481315723511091201

https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/1481387343638503424

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe, fun, and restorative holiday. And I hope you’re ready for another year of trading tips, tools, and tales from the workshop. As always, please share your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations with me.

***

We have a winner in the holiday drawing for Vols 1 and 2 of my Tips and Tales from the Workshop. David Brigden, please send me your mailing address. And thanks to everyone who sent me stories and pics of their most beloved tool of 2021.

Hanging Devices That Have Keyhole Mounts

Here’s a quick video on using painter’s tape to correctly position the keyhole mounts on a power strip (or anything else that use such mounting). Mark Frauenfelder of Cool Tools recommends this power strip. I just bought one myself and will be installing it using the above method.

Harbor Freight Airbrush and Compressor

You may have seen the inexpensive airbrushes and compressors at Harbor Freight and wondered if they’re worth it. In this video, YouTuber Barbatos Rex puts the Freight’s $119 compressor and dual-action airbrush kit to the test. How does it fare? In the words of Larry David: “Pretty, pretty good.”

Solder Seal Wire Connectors

In this quick tip video, Adam Savage demos the use of a product that I’d never even heard of: Solder Seal Wire Connectors. These connectors allow you to make waterproof wire joins without having to twist and solder wires. You simply slot the wires into the clear plastic connector tube and hit it with a heat gun. The tube has solder inside for the electrical connection and it clamps and shrink-seals the wires at the same time. Adam also extols the virtues of numbered wire marking tape. These are little labels, numbered 0-9, that you can use to mark and ID corresponding connections.

Bringing Your Tools in from the Cold

Thirteen year old woodworker, Evan, shared this tip on Instagram:

“I’m bringing my hand planes inside from the shop for the winter. If your shop is not heated or insulated as is the case with mine, there’s a risk that your tools can rust because of moisture in the air. For my power tools, I wax and cover them because they’re too big to bring inside. Also, my parents would not be too happy with me if my jointer and band saw were in the dining room.”

Cheap Foam Core Sheets
Kevin Kelly wrote in the latest Recomendo:

“Foam core is super versatile making stuff. Together with hot glue you can make almost anything – doll houses, organizers, quick prototypes, kid’s constructions, models, displays, etc. The boards can be expensive at stationary stores. The cheapest source of foam board I know about are 20 x 30 x 3/16 inch sheets from the Dollar Tree store, at $1.25 per board. They are thin but sufficient and cheap.”

Dollar Tree foam board sheets are especially coveted by tabletop gamers, dungeon crafters, diorama builders, “foamies” (foam plane builders), and other hobby crafters because the paper is so easily peeled away from the foam. All you have to do is spritz with water/alcohol and the paper peels right off, leaving you with a 3/16" sheet of foam to work with.

Maker Slang for 2021

[caption id="attachment_39662" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Transporter accident – A 3D print that has failed, creating a tangled mess of plastic where your object was supposed to be.[/caption]

This past year, I started a semi-regular column here of jargon, slang, and technical terms that I thought would be informative and/or entertaining to newsletter readers. I gathered up all of the entries I published in 2021 and did a post on Boing Boing. You can see the entire list here.

Shop Talk

Reader John Morse writes:

“I don’t know if this is a tip or a vise story, but…

"I have a mostly manual machine shop that I have worked at since 1984 and bought in 1999. I sometimes think about how I would start from scratch. First thing is a sturdy bench with a good vise attached to it. Amazing things can be done from here. The first machine I would buy is a drill press; again, amazing things. From here it becomes a matter of what you’re trying to do. I’ve seen some maker videos where my first thought was "Somebody please buy them a bandsaw!” As I get older, I start to think about downsizing and what piece of equipment I could part with. Yes, I have three Bridgeports, but this is a working shop so they are often all in use. Having them has become so ingrained into my thingmaking skills that I have a hard time thinking about doing without. Really, the main thing is to think about what kind of making you’re trying to do and add to your tool kit as you needed.“