Gear Bits

Get Your Marathon Time Estimated by Paul Ryan!

Every election cycle contains mis-statements and gaffes and other things that would be trivial for most folks … but in a campaign become serious fodder for one side and spin-control for the other. Recently we had one from Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan, who mis-spoke about his marathon time. Here is a bit from RunnersWorld: Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.” RunnersWorld hooked into the comment because completing so quickly would require running sub-7 minute miles for 26.2 miles – and…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Amazon Deal with Epix Brings Thor, Iron Man 2 and More to Prime Instant Videos!

As a member of Amazon Prime, I absolutely love the Prime Instant Video collection, finding it has a great selection that just keeps growing and growing in terms of the depth and breadth of movie and TV offerings. But there is always room for more – so I was thrilled this morning to hit the Amazon home page and see not one but TWO new deals: a movie deal with Epix and a TV deal with NBC Universal. From the Amazon home page, here is what they say about Epix: Great news for Amazon Prime members—we’ve just signed two big…

Gear Bits

EGO Mobile Hybrid Series USB Case Review

This falls under the category of “Cool ideas I wish I had had” ego mobile’s Hybrid Series USB Case for iPhone 4S (they have them for other phones too!) combines a minimalist iPhone case with a 4, 8 or 16GB USB flash drive. That’s a great combination, especially if you have a storage-challenged MacBook air! As the company explains, the case is “world’s first iPhone 4/4S case with removable USB drive stores 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of music, photos and more”. The USB drive “slides seamlessly into the back of the case”. This makes for a nice neat package. In…

Gear Bits

Oh, Those Internet Jokesters

This speaks for itself.

Gear Bits

Are You Ready for ‘Morning After’ Wedding Photos?

I am probably going to come off very out of touch and old-fashioned here, but at least I have a good reason: I have been married for over 20 years, and when we were married having a videographer wasn’t all that common. Cell phones were still uncommon, and those bricks were only used for … phone calls; there were no camera phones, or even digital cameras for that matter. And photography was mostly traditional pre-wedding, wedding and reception stuff. Our albums were filled in by friends and family who took shots over the weekend and at some of the after-parties….

Gear Bits, News & Features

George Lucas and Seth Green Debut New “Star Wars” Cartoon

Through the Star Wars movies and Clone Wars cartoons, we got to know the main and side characters through their major exploits across the galaxy. But what about “what the daily life is like in a galaxy far, far away”? Well, now producers George Lucas and Seth Green are going to let us see that, in the form of a new cartoon series called ‘Star Wars Detours’. Here is what their YouTube description for the trailer had to say: Star Wars Detours™ is an animated comedy that explores what daily life is like in a galaxy far, far away. There…

Gear Bits

Eight Chocolate Planets for the Discriminating Palate

I’m still mourning the loss of Pluto, but you’ll find the other eight planets (including the sun) in this luxury chocolate gift box … Chocolate can taste all of the solar system eight planets, planet is chocolate set. Planets lined up in a row in the package that the image of the universe, like a real solar system space. You can be happy as a gift, is a popular set. “Kaiseki chocolate solar system”?(pictured above) , set of 9 (× 9 individual species 1) ¥ 3,619 (¥ 3,800) If $46 seems a bit steep, then you can opt for the…

Gear Bits, News & Features

‘Hands Off Crazy’ Is a Tribute to This Week’s Political Wingnuts

Image courtesy CoochWatch There are plenty of crazies on both sides of the political aisle, but as a scientist what REALLY bugs me is total misinformation and the perpetuation of blatantly incorrect information. Again, there are plenty of examples on both sides, but the amazing thing recently is the extent to which anti-abortion legislators will resort to misinformation and lies to push their agenda rather than simply standing on their values and principles. By now most folks have heard about Todd Akin, who said: First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare… If…

Gear Bits

Talk to the World with Amateur Radio

In my second post on Amateur Radio, I talked about getting a 2 meter/70 centimeter handheld radio as your first radio. The main reason I suggested those kinds of radio as the first radio to buy is that you will likely need it for local public service. A dual band radio relatively inexpensive and is pretty forgiving when compared to other radios. When you make a mistake on the air, it will likely only be you and your local group of hams that will hear your error. That is not necessarily the case with HF or High Frequency Radio. HF Radio, or High Frequency radio…

eBooks, Gear Bits, Outdoors

The Magic Bullet Against Showrooming Is in Running Shoes

Everyone in retail wants to bemoan “show rooming” or the tendency of shoppers to check products out in store, only to buy online. It’s a huge problem, and I am not the only person to point out that customer service can often make the difference between someone shopping in store versus hitting Amazon on their iPhone as they walk out the door. Runner’s World took a closer look at the statistics involved, and came up with some interesting conclusions. First, they looked at a survey that indicated the higher the discount online, the more likely shoppers were to not shop…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Slacklining Courtesy of Volvo and Adrenaline

Volvo cars may be known for being “boxy but good”, but I think their trucks need a better slogan…”boxy but stable enough to slackline across”? It’s a mouthful. Amazing, right? There is balance, grace, athleticism and courage, and then there is the mondo serving of all of the above that you need to walk a rope between two speeding trucks. That are about to go through two tunnels. And that will turn you into roadkill if you aren’t all the way across. Crazy! Via The Clymb

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Pussy Riot Selected Tracks Now on Slacker Radio

If you read Carly’s excellent post about the Russian punk band Pussy Riot and their arrest and sentencing on ‘hooliganism’ charges recently, you might want to hear more from the band. Well, as Carly mentioned Slacker Radio has stepped up and added some songs to their ‘Protest Radio’ station. Slacker has added Pussy Riot tracks to the Slacker “Protest Radio” station. When you first play the station a Pussy Riot song will start things off. Here is the direct link: http://www.Slacker.com/station/Protest We have the tracks: – “Kill the Sexist” – “Putin Wet Himself” – “Kropotkin Vodka” – “Deliver Pavement” Slacker’s…

Gear Bits

Fifty Shades Generator Gives You Filthy Smutty Filler Text (NSFW Obviously)

Aside from being a massively successful entry into the romance sub-genre some refer to as ‘mommy porn’, the book has also spawned a large number of memes and parodies. For example, I love the video of Gilbert Gottfried reading excerpts (video below), and now we have a new one – the 50 Shades Generator. Here is their description: The Fifty Shades Generator is a breakthrough in erotic fiction. At the click of a button, it generates world-class literature based on a pre-defined vocabulary. Traditionally, print and web designers had to make use of placeholder text known as Lorem Ipsum. It…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness, News & Features

With Weight and Exercise Like Everything Else, If It Sounds Too Good To Be True …

Pretty much everyone would like to alter their body in some way: lose weight, gain weight, more muscular build, change ratios or sizes of things, and so on. And another thing you can be certain about: for every desired change there is someone waiting to try to sell you something to deal with it. There are plenty of legitimate supplements if you have a deficiency or absorption issues or whatever, but those are all things you should be getting from your doctor. Chances are that your general practitioner is NOT going to be giving you something to ‘lose 20 pounds…

Gear Bits, News & Features

The Pizza Worth a 2800 Mile Trip!

Imagine that you grew up with what you considered ‘the Perfect Pizza’, and you and your entire family were totally in love with them? Then all of you move hundreds and even thousands of miles away … but you still want that pizza. What do you do? If you are David Schuler, you take a trip and return home with a carload of the frozen pizzas in uncooked form! The name of the restaurant is Town Spa in Stoughton, Massachusetts – and happens to be my hometown pizza place. I grew up with an almost weekly ritual of grabbing some…

Gear Bits

5 Questions with Michael Hess of Skooba Design

Skooba Design was Gear Diary’s first advertiser back when Judie first launched the site. They were also the first company to become a Newsletter Underwriter. We tell you that in the interest of full disclosure, but what’s more important is that we really love AND use their stuff. Most recently, we were both taken by the new Skooba Design Laptop Weekender V.3, and are already getting a lot of use out of them. (Read the review here.) Skooba makes great products, and now comes outside confirmation of something that we’ve known for some time: they provide great customer service. Skooba…

Gear Bits, News & Features

The Waiting (for Android Updates) is the Hardest Part

I have a Motorola Droid 4 – and I really love it. That said, it is lousy being not just one but TWO VERSIONS of Android behind … I mean, this is the sort of thing Google said they were eliminating. Anyway … that is about to end! Yesterday I read that the ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ update was finally approved and a ‘soak test’ commenced, meaning that the full update would be released soon (unless something bad happened). Then later last night I heard that it was starting to ‘roll out in phases’. Motorola Mobility tweeted about it: 4G LTE…

Game Diary, Gear Bits

You Should REALLY Be Watching Wil Wheaton’s ‘TableTop’ Series!

Yesterday afternoon I had some time before taking Chris to his piano lesson, and I fired up the latest edition of Wil Wheaton’s TableTop, this week featuring the game ‘Say Anything’ (Amazon link). Soon I had both boys pulling up chairs and thoroughly enjoying watch someone else play a board game. Here is the basis of the show: My ulterior motive with Tabletop is to show by example how much fun it is to play boardgames. I want to show that Gamers aren’t all a bunch of weirdoes who can’t make eye contact when they talk to you, and that…

Gear Bits, Yum Log

Spray Your Way to Umami Today

If you’re any sort of foodie, you’re probably familiar with the concept of “umami.” Along with sweet, sour, bitter and Salty, umami is the fifth taste which humans can discern in their food. Great food has an interplay between several of these tastes. Think peanut butter pretzels or salted caramel ice cream. Just typing those words kicks off my Pavlovian response. Umami translates roughly from Japanese into English as “pleasant savory taste.” It is described as kind of a cross between brothy and meaty, and probably the best way to evoke it is to think of the slightly funky flavor…

Gear Bits, News & Features

RIP Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart

One of my favorite movies of all time is the classic 1971 feature Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Today we learned that the director Mel Stuart has died at age 83. Mel Stuart, the director of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, has died aged 83. His family said he died at his Beverly Hills home after suffering from cancer. Beginning his career mainly directing documentaries, the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November, about the assassination of John F…

Gear Bits, News & Features

xkcd Puts Names to What Our Cultural Memory Will Forget Each Year

Today’s comic from xkcd really struck me – even more than their normally awesome work – because it looks at something I deal with on a seemingly daily basis: cultural memory. My wife and I were born in the mid-60s, so I remember watching Watergate, seeing Jaws and Star Wars in theaters, gas lines, and on and on. Some things like watching Bullitt this week and seeing rotary phones and the utter un-connectedness really stood out with my kids, whereas stuff like music and other pop culture items have filtered somewhat through time. Myy wife works with many young adults…

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