Offbeat

World Tarot Week? World Tarot Day? What?!

Best I can tell, the people who use tarot cards are those who want to believe in the idea of pre-destiny, or that there is some mystical “if I do this, then that will occur” order to the universe — beyond simple cause and effect. It’s kind of sad, really, to imagine someone thinking that by spending time with a deck of decorated cards, they’d be able to figure out what makes them or their loved ones tick. Even sadder is that in most cases people will pay someone else good money in order to have these “insights” given to…

Reviews

Toddy Screensters Clean Your Screen with Character

If you own any device with a touchscreen, then you know all too well how quickly and easily they get dirt and grease and all sorts of crud all over them. I tend to have a small microfiber wipe with me in my car and my laptop bag at all times, and a couple of my jackets have them on the inside pockets. But for those looking to wipe their screens with a bit more ‘character’ than a simple square microfiber wipe, Toddy introduced Screensters. They sent me a couple to try out, so let’s take a look!

Gear Bits

xkcd’s Interstellar Memes Graphic, or Stellar Distance Measured by Age of Pop Culture Phrases

I love xkcd.com. It’s a thought-provoking, often hilarious, sometimes sobering stick figure strip. The strip was conceived by Randall Monroe, who describes himself thusly: I’m just this guy, you know? I’m a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before starting xkcd, I worked on robots at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. As of June 2007 I live in Massachusetts. In my spare time I climb things, open strange doors, and go to goth clubs dressed as a frat guy so I can stand around and look terribly uncomfortable. At frat parties I do the same thing, but the…

Crowdfunding, Yum Log

Lumi Wine Wall Looks to Upcycle Used Wine Casks with Kickstarter Campaign

I’ve got a fairly decent size wine collection, but I wouldn’t call what I do with my bottles “cellaring.” That implies that I’m intentionally saving it for a future date when the wine has matured or perhaps become more valuable. The hundred or so bottles of good juice that are in various racks and shelves around my house are merely bottles I haven’t drunk yet. I’ll get to you soon enough, my pretties! So I’ve never invested in a full cellar system or a large wine fridge, since I like to keep my favorite bottles within arms reach. But there’s…

Gear Bits

GE’s Incredibly Creepy Matrix-Themed TV Ad

Apparently, GE’s ad people are living in the late 1990’s. I can’t judge them for this since my musical tastes are clinging tenuously to the earlier part of the same decade. However, I do question what they were thinking with their latest ad touting their medical equipment business. And since GE apparently bought all the daytime airtime and has been playing the ad non-stop on news channels, I’ve seen it many, many times, to the point where I can follow along with the script. Which gets creepier every time I watch it. Seems like someone saw a few random scenes…

Gear Bits

The Gear Diary Guide to Infographics

Spend enough time on the Internet, and you’ll find an infographic. These are “educational” graphics that distill bits of information into pretty pictures and at-a-glance factoids. As a concept, they aren’t terrible, but only if they’re used as a summary for a full report. Unfortunately, lately they’ve become flashy vehicles for marketers with an agenda. Here at Gear Diary, we want to make sure we properly educate our readers to understand infographics, and the best way to do this is clearly to fight fire with fire, so we’ve helpfully put together this “Anatomy of an Infographic”! What triggered us to…

Gear Bits, News

40 Years Ago We Emerged From the Desert of Disconnect

The Jewish festival of Passover ended earlier this week and with it members of the Jewish community returned to eating leavened products known as chametz in Hebrew. (Most people I know end the holiday with the Jewish delicacy known as pizza.) According to tradition the Exodus from Egypt introduced a 40 year period when the Israelites wandered in the Sinai desert. (Three cheers for living in an era of GPS!) Having spent a few weeks hiking and camping in the Sinai I can only begin to imagine what 40 years (were the story historically accurate) must have been like. I…

News

Wacky Wine Bottle Wine Glass from Gadgets and Gear

Gadgets and Gear’s Wine Bottle Wine Glass in action If you are a sophisticated oenophile, or at least pretend you are, avert your eyes! If you don’t give a rat’s posterior about the niceties of wine drinking decorum and want a super-sized libation serving, have I got the glass for you. Gadgets and Gear now offers for the non-discriminating wine drinker the Wine Bottle Wine Glass, a wine glass fused to a standard-sized 750ml bottle. Such a utilitarian design is doubtless causing the 18th century founders of Riedel glassware to spin in their graves. Top-tier wine glasses, and let’s face…

Music Diary, News

Experience Rock and Roll Filtered Through Luna Lee’s Korean Sensibilities on Her Gayageum

I never really understood all the fuss over the Gangnam Style videos. Seemed a bit too much like the Lambada craze of the late 90s for my taste, honestly. I’m more of a rock kind of guy. (We will diplomatically ignore my love of Tom Lehrer songs, show tunes, and classical and jazz piano music for the purposes of this post.) And so when a friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to Luna Lee’s, a Korean gayageum player’s, YouTube video I was skeptical. Until I watched it, anyway: C’mon, you’ve got to admit it: Luna Lee totally rocks!…

Reviews, Yum Log

Travaso Fine Wine Decanters Make Something Good Even Better

Let’s talk about decanting. I think that most people who enjoy wine are familiar with the process of decanting, introducing air to a liquid by pouring it from one container into another. This serves two major purposes. First, if you’ve stored your wine correctly with the neck slightly below parallel to keep the cork wet so that it doesn’t dry out and crack (you do that, right?), then any sediment in the wine will settle into the wider bottom of the bottle. Thanks to the large dimple in the bottom of the bottle, called the “punt,” (see, you learn something…

Reviews, Yum Log

Kutsko Cutting Boards Offer Novel Kitchen Solutions

Nate Kutsko is a born problem solver. His day gig is a partner with his father in a handyman service that has earned a reputation for coming into houses and being able to fix just about anything that needs repairing, from plumbing to electrical to woodworking. In his home workshop, Kutsko likes to tinker around with projects, especially with wood. He noticed that when he and his friends were picnicing outdoors at concerts or at Nashville’s Steeplechase, it was really difficult to find a flat surface to serve your food and drink on. So he added two adjustable stakes to…

Editorials

USPS Saturday Service Cut: The Revolution Will Not Be Sitting in Your Saturday Mailbox

For as long as anyone alive can remember, the mail has come on Saturday. Since 1863 the mail service has offered delivery six days a week, through rain, snow, sleet or hail! Well, that last bit has softened, and we have already missed one day this winter since our local carrier couldn’t get into our neighborhood safely. But in the same way the post office itself is open on Saturday to get out letters or mail back those Netflix DVDs, delivery came on the weekend which gave you a chance to grab a movie from Netflix or a game from…

Editorials

Bar Mitzvah VINvite – Technology Meets Tradition as Bar Mitzvah Invitations Get Streamed

Back in the fall of 2009, Judie wrote a post entitled Technology Meets Tradition: And a Kindle Shall Lead Them. It discussed my use of a Kindle DX on the bimah (pulpit) during the Jewish High Holy Days. Some thought my use of an eBook reader was a bit odd, but for me it was simply a matter of my replacing one book (dead tree) with another more modern version. In addition, as someone on the progressive side of my tradition, I am not bound by the traditional restrictions regarding the use of electronics on the Sabbath or holidays. From…

Gear Bits

I’ve Got Super Bowl Rings on the Brain!

I heard a story about Super Bowl Rings the other day … one about the time that Robert Kraft (the New England Patriot’s owner) met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and somehow or another Kraft wound up unintentionally giving Putin the Super Bowl Ring he was wearing! Evidently Kraft had removed his ring to better show it to Putin, and the Russian president took his handing it over to mean that Kraft was giving it to him. Kraft evidently decided on the spot that letting Putin keep his ring (one of three that the Patriots have won) was the right thing to do, but I can only…

Outdoors, Yum Log

Beer Hunter and Drinkmaster Will Keep You Warm and Your Beer Cold

It’s time for slightly embarrassing admissions here at Gear Diary: I can personally vouch that when I was in college (hmmpty-hmmph) years ago, I learned that it is possible to smuggle an entire eight-pack of 8 oz. Little Kings Cream Ales into a movie theater stashed within the various pockets of a denim jacket. I mean, have you seen the price of concessions at the movies lately?! Unfortunately, I can also verify that when you drape said blue jean jacket around the back of a theater seat, there is a very high probability that at least one of those little…

Gear Bits, News

Random Cool Video – Mom in Da Hood!

Yeah, it ends up being a commercial, but who really cares?!? Check it out: Source: The Upworthiest

Gear Bits

In 2013 Thanksgiving and Hanukkah Overlap for the Only Time … Ever

Largely because I am not Jewish, I only vaguely keep up with the Hanukkah calendar on an annual basis. But when Perry shared this link on Facebook recently, I fell in love with the graph and simply had to share it here. Bottom line – Thanksgiving and first day of Hanukkah coincide in 2013 … never before, and never again. Why is that? Thanksgiving is set as the fourth Thursday in November, meaning the latest it can be is 11/28. 11/28 is also the earliest Hanukkah can be. The Jewish calendar repeats on a 19 year cycle, and Thanksgiving repeats…

Gear Bits

Early Aerial Spy Photos – How Did They Get Them?

The Wright Brothers famous first powered flight at Kitty Hawk happened on December 17, 1903. Lasting for only 12 seconds and covering a distance of only 120 feet, that historic flight was brief — and anything but covert. In order to take aerial photographs previous to powered flight, photographers would use hot-air balloons, kites, and even rockets. It wasn’t until 1909 before the Wright Brothers produced the world’s first military airplane, but one method had already proven stealthy enough that it could be used for early military spy photos. How then could shots like these be taken virtually undetected? That same…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

LED Ice Cubes Signal It’s Time to Stop Drinking

There are many devices and tools that connect to your smartphone. Likewise, there are many fine apps that let you track your food, drink and activity. However, if you require LED ice cubes to alert you that you’re en route to a blackout, perhaps you need help, and not a text from your drink? If the novelty of such an item amuses you, though, don’t worry: it does exist. I’m trying to be fair here, but if I landed in the hospital after drinking too much, my response would emphatically not be to invent a complex ice cube that nagged…

Gear Bits, News

Sites That Make Pr0n ‘Safe for Work’ or Accessible for the Blind

One of the worst kept secrets of the internet age is that with all of the money flying around, plenty is being spent on online pornography. Time did a deconstruction of the notion that porn ‘has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined’, noting: While $2.8 billion is nothing to sneeze at, porn is hardly the golden goose many assume it to be. CNBC suggested in a recent report that the porn industry “stands at a precipice as it heads into 2012,” with “revenue from films … shrinking, due to piracy and an abundance of…

Gear Bits

Random Cool Math Fact – The Monty Hall Probability Problem

If you have ever taken a course in probability you have likely heard of the ‘Monty Hall Problem’, based on the name of the host of the show ‘Let’s Make a Deal’. On my current work project this week someone on the technical team inadvertantly offered such a choice without knowing or understanding it … which turned into a fun education for the non-statisticians on the team. The setup is this: you have a free choice between three items (on the show they were doors, and a prize was behind one). One is correct and the other two are incorrect….

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