Welcome to another edition of “How it’s changed over the years.” The firefighter’s SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) is as important a piece of equipment as his/her helmet. The device, which consists today of a high pressure tank, face mask and pressure regulator allows firefighters to breath air in the hostile environments they face. So how has the SCBA changed over the years?
This roll of crime scene labeled toilet paper is perfect for that hard to shop for person or even a grab bag for the office holiday party. Imagine their glee when they open this in front of their peers only to be greeted with a suggestion that their use of the bathroom could be considered a crime scene. Given the current economic climate it’s best not to gift this to the boss but it’s probably ok as a gift to relatives you see infrequently. Crime Scene Toilet Paper
Are you someone who wears collared shirts? Do you hate to wash your neck (or your shirts). Here’s the product for you. The White Collar Grime protector is applied inside your shirt to stave off those stubborn rings around the collar. You try scrubbing and scrubbing yet those dirty rings still stay on your collar. Why bother with pesky personal hygiene chores like washing your neck when instead you can buy these collar grime protectors. At the end of the day, peel off the tape, dispose, and your white, blue, pink or any color collar won’t look criminal. It’s perfect…
The creators of this Jedi bathrobe may have latched onto a hot new clothing market. Did you know that according to Wikipedia over half a million people throughout the world declared themselves as Jedi on their census forms? While I think that might be considered to be a practical joke and probably doesn’t reflect the real number of Jedi in the countries concerned – there’s still got to be a fair number that would buy this bathrobe. The Jedi Dressing Gown has a Jedi logo embroidered on the front, is made of 100% cotton velour and is machine washable. It…
You’ve got to hand it to pseudoscience. Why? Because how else could someone like me – a person without an MD – have a chance to speak with absolute authority about things of which I know absolutely nothing. And there are even cool gadgets that you can use while practicing pseudoscience, things that can help make you seem professional and knowledgeable, things like the Uxsight 1.3M Pixels Portable Digital USB Iriscope. Allow me to digress for a moment… Back in the fall of ’86, I went home from college with one of my sorority sisters for the weekend. Before we…
Here’s a quirky way to take out the trash. Instead of boring black or white bags how about these decorative goldfish trash bags. Fill the trash up and put the bags curbside for your neighborhood stray cats to admire . This kit includes 12 bags of 13 gallons each for $15.99. At this price these are definitely novelty items. Goldfish Trash Bags – $15.99
This orange stake looks like any other tent peg. Look closer and you’ll find that there’s a white LED lamp built into the side. Powered by 4 LR41 batteries (included) this peg will help you survive those hurried late night tent setups by illuminating the ground. The manufacturer claims the light will run for up to 5 hours on one set of batteries. Lighted Tent Peg – $3.72
Travel slipcovers seem like a great idea. They slip over most transit seats and provide a barrier between you and the presumably germ laden seat. The cover includes a headrest pillow pocket to hold your own travel sized pillow. Unfortunately it won’t stop the coughing guy next to you from spreading the flu. If the germs don’t get you the 100 people waiting in the aisle while you unfold and spread this seat cover just might do you in. Transit Cover – $14.99
I’ve had a few cats and none of them seemed terribly fond of playing dress up. I can only imagine the fun you’d have trying to fit kitty into an emergency evacuation vest in the midst of fire, flood or other natural hazard. Seems like a portable pet carrier might do just as well. This emergency pet vest offers: * Japan Firefighting Association-certified flame-retardant jacket * Materials: polyester (base cloth), polyurethane (outer shell), fireproof acrylic (lining) * Heavy-duty carry handle, and double-duty strap/leash * Pet supplies: food bowl, muzzle, hermetically sealed odor control bag (for any items distressing the pet),…
After a solid week of rain in Middle Tennessee, the graves must have opened, as the undead arose to walk the streets of downtown Nashville. Tourists and natives called it the Nashville Zombie Walk of 2009. The flesh-eating mutants zombies staggered in from all directions, via train, plane and automobile.
Flat World Knowledge is combating the insane price of college textbooks by making open source textbooks an easier solution for colleges. The catalog for now is limited to a few titles per school but eventually they’d like to have more colleges adopt open source online distribution of textbooks. The company sells affordable alternative formats such as print-on-demand full color and black and white print versions, PDF versions, podcast and .mp3 versions, as well as Flat World Knowledge and user-generated study aides such as mobile flash cards and web quizzes to support the books. Naturally social media is in the cards…
Google has had a Twitter account called @dataliberation for a while now, but an official site was just launched today. The Data Liberation site explains how to get data into and out of Google, using standards-based, open formats.
Anyone with a MacBook knows that the MagSafe Power Adapter’s block has an elegant winding device built right in – there are little wings that flip up from the block itself to hold the cable. This works very well as long as you are only winding the thin power cable that comes from the block itself. The remaining removable portion that goes from the block to the wall outlet is a much bulkier cable, and it generally has to be looped over itself and tied off somehow. That’s where the quirky PowerCurl comes in. PowerCurl wraps both cords (plug end & MagSafe…
It’s great to see the new Android handsets trickling in, and as usual – HTC is leading the pack with a new cutie called the Tattoo. Of course, the minute a case is put on it, the cuteness factor will all but evaporate. So is there anything else that sets the Tattoo apart from every other matte black handset? According to HTC, “people [will be] able to design and purchase their own unique covers or search and select from popular cover designs, altering the look of the phone to reflect their mood or individual tastes.” It will be the second…
Amazon is sending an email to Kindle owners who were impacted by their mid-July erasure of the book 1984 from Kindle devices. Apparently the book, which had been uploaded by a third party publisher through a self-service area of the Kindle site, had copyright issues and even though Amazon briefly allowed the book to be downloaded they quickly cut off sales of the book. Then, in a move that angered Kindle owners and eBook fans everywhere, they electronically erased it from all Kindles. Now Amazon is notifying those affected that they’re sorry – and you can have your book back…
I recently posted about my love/hate relationship with the Nokia E71x. It’s gotten a bit more contentious lately, due to various and mysterious software issues. Calendar entries that refuse to accept date changes, programs that freeze repeatedly, games that malfunction…it has been frustrating to say the least. Cue Nokia PC Suite and their backup suite. My first thought was that perhaps a backup and then full restore might smooth out the quirks, plus it would provide an excellent test of the backup system. If that did not fix my issues, I could reset the phone, rebuild it, and then back…
OK, I am definitely a product of the 80’s & 90’s…nothing beats GI Joe (uh..the original!), Saved By the Bell, Alf (yeah that just happened), and Polaroid pictures! Unless you are able to track down one of these relics at a yard sale or flea market, what can you do?.
Hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. In celebration Fisher Space Pen has released this commemorative pen, a replica of their famed anti-gravity pen, that includes an actual piece of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. There are only 1000 available and the pen sits on a handy ashtray commemorative case fashioned as a space footprint. The presentation case tells the historic story of the Apollo 11 mission as well as other monumental moments in human spaceflight. The iconic photo of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon is replicated in a resin…
Check it out: you can buy toilet paper with easy to follow instructions so that you can create clever little origami paper creatures while you are otherwise occupied. What else are you going to do…catch up on your reading material? Baron Bob’s Origami Instruction Toilet Paper – At $4.95 for a 100′ roll, you’d better keep it hidden from the kids. 😉
While the advertising claims this is a “torso enhancing” undershirt – I say it’s not much more than a $58 t-shirt girdle (Crew or V-Neck available) for guys with a gut. The site claims this body-sculpting undershirt is designed to support your core – though I suspect it’s worn mostly by guy’s who think a Core is a single can of Coors. RipT via Book of Joe
I have many fond memories of time spent on CompuServe in the late 1980s. For those of you not familiar with the service, CompuServe was like a mini-Internet before there was an Internet. CompuServe was the online place that the cool geeks hung out while AOL was for the neophytes unsure about the online world and wanting a graphical interface with training wheels. Sure the CompuServe online interface was crude (for a long time it was all text based) but there were discussion forums that seemed to attract only the most diehard enthusiasts thus ensuring the information exchanged was of…