more for some than for others

from 43 Folders:

Links and Resources for the Chronically Disorganized

Merlin Mann | May 6 2008

N S G C D | Home

I'm still in a de-cluttering mode these days (more on that soon), so I was intrigued by this resource, which arrived this morning via Mrs. Folders.

While primarily a trade group for "professional organizers," the National Study Group on Chroic Disorganization site has some handy documents and links to help with identifying and solving pathological problems with clutter and hoarding.

If you can tolerate the site's gruesome ardor for PDFs, you'll find some informative and eye-opening stuff. From their fact sheets page:

• Are You Chronically Disorganized? - The obligatory self-test. Mmm…yeah, I am guilty of #17: "Is it difficult for you to part with things even though they have outlived their usefulness?"
• Time Management for the Chronically Disorganized - "Remember that you are procrastinating if you work on a trivial task while a more important one remains undone."
• Tips for Communicating with the Chronically Disorganized - "Avoid what does not work…Don't say: 'Just do it!'"

I really liked some of the Tips for Overcoming Procrastination for the Chronically Disorganized Individual or Household (excerpted): read more »

great amazon deal finder

http://www.junglecrazy.com

AWESOME 'toy' for the kids

probably gonna be recalled real soon for killing someone but:

http://gizmodo.com/376035/moov-is-the-lego-of-kids-vehicles-verdict-i-dont-want-to-grow-up

Moov is probably one of the most amazing toys you will see this year: a do-it-yourself 4-in-1 vehicle kit for kids aged between 5 and 12. Now it's a racer, now is a carver, now is a tricycle, now is a scooter. It's like LEGO Technics meet Duplo meet true pneumatic tyres, but with giant wood and plastic pieces, easy enough for a kid to build it and big enough to ride it at Warp 7 down the street, as you can see in the demonstration video after the jump.

Interesting online 'book'

From Cool Hunting:

"The 21 Steps" is a fast-paced, finely-tuned thriller that uses Google Maps to take the reader through the story's events. Written by British purveyor of spy thrillers, Charles Cumming, the story is told through Google's information bubbles with brief statements and images that take the reader from the streets of London to Edinburgh, Scotland with plenty of action and mini-cliffhangers along the way.

"The 21 Steps" is the first installment of the six-part "We Tell Stories" project by Penguin Books, which takes six contemporary writers and has them write a story based on a classic book. Cumming's classic was The 39 Steps by John Buchan. We spoke to Cumming about "The 21 Steps" and We Tell Stories.

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/04/charles_cumming.php

Aeropress coffee review

http://inventorspot.com/articles/can_aeropress_deliver_perfect_cup_coffee_11982

Can The Aeropress Deliver The Perfect Cup Of Coffee?
by Toby, March 25, 2008

Would you believe that you can make a cup of espresso or cafe
americano in 30 seconds flat and it would be the best cup of coffee
you ever tasted? Would you believe that you only have to spend around
$30 on the coffee maker that produced the perfect cup of coffee? And
that a combination espresso/coffee maker is so portable you can take
it to your office with you? Could the perfect cup of coffee come from
such a modest-looking device as the Aeropress ®?

You may wonder what's so novel about the Aeropress, this simple
looking one-cup coffee maker that makes better coffee than a $2000
espresso machine or a $10 simple plastic cone and paper filter.

Most similar to a French press system, the Aeropress uses total
immersion and pressure, but the Aeropress has a separate filter and
plunger, and the filter is on the bottom, where ground coffee is more
evenly exposed to the pressure of the plunger. Cone shaped filter
systems tend to "burn" the ground coffee in the center of the cone tip
while under-brewing the coffee on the edges of the cone.

A truely good cup of coffee is not made with boiling water as a
temperature above about 210 degrees Fahrenheit, produces a bitter
taste. The Aeropress uses water at about 165 to 200, depending on
which coffee connoisseur you ask.

The process of coffee making is much faster using the Aeropress,
taking only 30 seconds, not counting the time it takes to heat the
water or grind the coffee. Place 2 - 3 scoops of ground coffee, pour
in water to the measured level on the filter, stir with the plunger
for 10 seconds, and then press the plunger for 10 - 20 seconds. Add
additional hot (not boiling) water for regular coffee or cafe
americano, or drink as is for espresso strength.

Grind size and type of coffee you use are to your taste. Espresso
grind is not necessary. If you don't like the taste of espresso
coffee, you don't need to use an Espresso bean. You can make a good
cup of coffee with Folger's or any store brand coffee. The Aeropress
makes it taste better.

If you choose to save the coffee for later use to make iced coffee,
cappuccino, latte, or other beverage, don't add water to what you have
made. Keep the coffee in concentrate form in the refrigerator. Because
you have not used boiling water, the taste will remain fresh for a few
days. You can also use this concentrated coffee to add to cake or ice
cream recipes.

Do I think the Aeropress makes the perfect cup of coffee? I think it
can.

Perfect coffee is in the tastebuds of the taster. The Aeropress
recognizes this and perhaps that is why the coffee maker is so lenient
with the grind and type of coffee you use.

If the taste of Folgers is what you like, you can make a perfect cup
of Folgers to your taste.

If you love French Roast, you can buy it fresh roasted, grind it
fresh, and make your perfect espresso style French Roast or French
Roast americano.

You get to experiment with different beans and different grinds. And
doing this, I believe you can make a perfect cup of coffee with the
Aeropress.

Aeropress is a product of Aeorbie® and was invented by its inventor/
engineer President, Alan Adler. Aeropress is available at coffee shops
and gourmet stores nationwide. It is also available on Amazon.com.
(Read those customer reviews!) And watch the short video on the
Aerobie website to see how easy it is to use and clean the Aeropress!

Coffee Thesis

This is a cool looking vacuum coffee maker.... I just don't see how it
is different from any other conventional vacuum coffee maker....
What makes it THESIS worthy?
oh yeah, forgot to mention it is someone's thesis work.....
And the comment of allowing it more time in contact with the
grinds.... then yo need a courser grind to avoid bitter brew....
whatever, still cool.
http://www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2008/03/25/coffee-making-magic/

An interesting take on surviving apocolypse

http://imakethings.com/DIY_Survival.pdf

the wrong way to do a glowing rug

wow... talk about the opposite of the KISS principle.... I would have used piezoelectric materials.... that would be pressure sensor, energy and light source all at once.

course I suck at execution so mine would have died at the drawing table while this one is looking for manufacturers....

FootLume Glowing Rug Solves Midnight Stubbed-Toe Problem

The FootLume carpet design is basically a high-tech rug jammed with electroluminescent lights and weight sensors. As you stroll across your bedroom in the dark on your way to, you know, get a drink of water, the rechargeable rug lights up to guide you on your way. No bright light to wake your sleeping partner, fewer stubbed toes—perhaps not if you're as bleary as I am when I wake up. Designed by two students at London South Bank University, the prototype was shown at the Ideal Homes show in the hopes of attracting a manufacturer. So it may see the light of day, um... night as a real product, hopefully without the cheesy butterfly design. [Livescience]

 

(2023 update, Footlume is now a lightup sneaker company in Europe..... )

cool house

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner—and former Russ Meyer script writer—Rem Koolhaas created 10 years ago one of the most amazing houses on the planet: the Maison à Bordeaux. This house is a wonder of engineering with moving walls, lifting bedrooms, platforms and automated windows designed to allow complete free movements to its owner, a man who has to move on a wheelchair after an almost-fatal car accident. Now, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine are showing their film Koolhass Houselife across America, a fascinating movie about this living home that seems taken out of a science fiction movie. We talked with Ila about the house and their work around it.

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Located in Bordeaux, France, this house is like a space station waiting to be launched into orbit. Looking at it, you would expect the X-Men to walk by at any time. However, it also has a warm, sunny quality that makes it absolutely amazing. Koolhass Houselife is a film that captures these qualities perfectly, but adds another, more practical dimension to it by showing this high-tech home from the perspective of Guadalupe Acedo, the housekeeper and the person who actually has to take care of keeping all this amazing design alive.

paper circuits... cool idea

I so wish I had time to do this stuff with my son..... ok hes a bit
young but....
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/papercircuitry

first game (that I know of) using wiimote 3d head tracking

http://www.hackaday.com/2008/03/25/wiimote-headtracking-fps-laser-gaming/

although I gatta say its very rough looking

Plasma Speaker

Normally i would assume it was faked but.... hacked gadgets seems to
vouch for it.... this is kinda cool:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rasp88nbsRw

Another TED idea I love... damn i wish I could go

according to this article its 6k to go, but included airfair and lodging brings it up to 10 or 15....

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87878028

The Bryant Park Project, March 4, 2008 · Hacker Josh Kleinwowed attendees this weekend at TED — the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference — with his "crow vending machine," a device that gives the birds peanuts for depositing a coin. It's all part of Klein's plan to train crows to save human lives.

Just wrapping up in Monterey, Calif., TED gives inventors 18 minutes to wow an audience of people who each paid $6,000 to be blown away by new ideas. Klein's game plan? To explain "why crows are better than flying monkeys, and how you can teach them to do your bidding."

Klein says this all started when he used a modified version of Skinnerian training to teach his cat to use the toilet, and it worked really well. That made him think that he might be able to use the method with crows. The first inklings that he would work with crows came about 10 years ago, at a cocktail party, when he argued that harnessing the birds to do something useful would be a much better plan for his native Seattle, plagued by crows, than mass slaughter.

In the first two steps of his four-step experiment, Klein says he provides crows with coins, peanuts and the vending machine, in order to get them used to the materials. Then he provides the birds only with coins, and in frustration they bang around until the coin gets in the machine's slot. That introduces the next step, when the machine dispenses a peanut as a reward for each coin. In the fourth step, he gives the birds nothing. But the crows see that coins have been spread on the ground near the machine. This reveals what's special about crows. Squirrels, for example, look at the box a half-dozen times, then disappear to play in traffic. Crows make the connection: Pick up the coin, put it in the box and receive a reward.

How will Klein extrapolate his findings for the greater good? His central idea is that certain species have adapted to human environments. We try to kill off adaptive pests like roaches, rats and crows, but we're breeding them to be parasites. Roaches are immune to poison, rats have responded with rapid breeding. But a better goal, Klein says, is to seek an interspecies harmony. You could train crows to sort electronics, he says. They could pick up trash. And, Klein says, because the birds can distinguish individual human faces, they could help with search and rescue. "Don't hate the crows," Klein says. "Just let them save you."

cool clicks - stuff I found online

Been a  long time since i did this:

new haptic control system:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/hands-on-with-m.html

Design your own open source cell phone:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/design-your-own.html

Mini PC vs Mini Mac:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/hands-on-with-t.html

Coat Hanger Beats Pricey Audio Cables

By David Becker March 03, 2008 | 1:30:34 PMCategories: Audio, Home Entertainment  

Aah, the old "wire is wire" debate, in which demanding audiophiles insist or deny that you need premium cables to get decent sound.

The latest ammo comes from a couple of wisacres at Audioholics, who did a blind listening test of of a high-end system where the only difference was the speaker connection -- $100 Monster cables, premium Belden wire and straightened coat hangers. By and large, the panel couldn't tell the difference.

SURF NINJA SPOTTED!!!

http://www.gizmag.com/ripcurl-testing-h-bomb-wetsuit/8878/

Robotic Oil Spill Cleaning System (insert obligatory 'I thought of it first' statement):

http://gizmodo.com/363718/osp-robot-is-human-sized-roomba-for-oil-spills

Apple TV vs Vudu Vs Xbox360 on video download performance (inconclusive):

http://gizmodo.com/363600/apple-tv-vs-vudu-vs-xbox-360-video-download-battlemodo

Make your own (very expensive) energy bar (that question your about to ask?  its number three on their FAQ, answer is no):

http://www.youbars.com/