Jill and Eric Penne

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Tech centers at churches teach computer skills to the poor. This is how it should be done.

Aaron wasn't much interested in what his friends were doing.  They were busy trying to choose a game to play on agame.com.  Aaron wasn't having any of it.  He stood beside me as I coaxed the wireless connection to life on another machine and asked me if there were any math games.

Arron is 7.

The Little Ebenezer Baptist Church in Hutto Texas is the newest home to a HeliOS Project Linux Learning Center.  The center is built in a small church annex but all area children are allowed to use the computers, regardless of their affiliation.  Skip Guenter Our Director of System Engineering is the driving force behind  making this happen…because as it happens, Hutto is his home.  Skip knows who is in  need in Hutto and he saw to it that need was met.  While it isn't anywhere near our biggest project, it is going to have an impact.

“Are there any math games in that computer sir?”

You bet there are Aaron.

Skip is working with the manager of the Annex to arrange weekly classes for local people who want to learn how to use a computer.  From what we have seen at The Bruno Knaapen Center, we will have equal numbers of adults to kids.

That’s fine with us.

                                                                         
While most children Aaron's age are more than happy to make bunnies jump over mushrooms and race little cars around a flash-based gamescreen, kids like Aaron inspire us to get stuff like this done.  As of now, there are only 4 machines in this center.  Judging from the competition between kids vying for computer time, I'm thinking we might have to adjust some table space and install two more.  That will take up the remaining space comfortably available for machines there.

Flash back 60 minutes that same evening…

The Bruno Knaapen Technology learning Center is a hub of activity for us on Wedensday nights.  That is the night our Directors go there to teach basic computer and Internet skills to those who need to learn them.  Most of our students are Hispanic and not native English-speakers so we rely upon the good nature of Christine and Ceasar Collazo to translate our lessons into Spanish in real time.  Non-English speakers are clustered into groups of three to make it easier to teach.

It gets interesting to say the least.

Tom King, our Network Director is currently working with Caesar and Christina in setting up a project for the summer to teach kids to build their own computers.  We've had a great response from some of the parents in the area for Tom's idea.  As Linux Against Poverty 2010 enters it’s hard planning stage, we are hoping to have plenty of machines to work with for this project.

As of now, we are critically low of both machines and funding so any further efforts are going to rely upon the good nature of this community to get it done.  While we have no shortage of grants that now want to pay for vechicles, office space and computers for our administrative use, we are finding it difficult to nail down funding for day-to-day operations.  We don't want to apply for grants for things we already have…that just makes those resources unavailable to someone that really needs them.  We already have the things they are offering.  If you can give us a hand, it would be greatly appreciated.  As of now, we are to a point where we just can't do much more without some help.

I will be meeting with Lynn Bender, the creator and force behind Linux Against Poverty this week.  Once we get some things ironed out, I will publish the information here.  We already have a greater number of volunteers to man the triage and repair tables than last year.  Of course, our goal is 100 computers more than the 200 we put into service from Linux Against Poverty 2009.

…And that’s a good thing.

All-Righty Then

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You can always count on a Frigid Bits event to be great when the burn barrel is involved. After a fun two-hour ride with a bunch of tight singletrack, the beer and dead animals tasted damn good. After the crowd thinned a bit, the holdouts even sang Happy Birthday for me, and posed for a one-finger salute. I love winter mountain bikers.

The night also marked the inaugural ride of Scarlett—my friend Amber’s new Fatback with a custom paint job. A skull on the head tube, lightning bolts, a flame-covered fork, and a purple-to-pink fade with her name on the chainstays. It’s definitely one of a kind, and will keep a shit-eatin’ grin on her face for a good long while. Speedway did its usual nice job on the build. (Click on the detail shot for a closer look.)

And speaking of shops, thanks to Speedway, Paramount, Chain Reaction and The Bicycle Shop for generously donating some nice swag for last night’s ride, which was a fundraiser for Singletrack Advocates.

Don’t forget to click on the right side of this page to vote for your favorite slogan to be placed on the frame stickers I plan to order this week. But don’t give Jules any sympathy votes after her earlier comment that she never wins anything, because she won the finest piece of swag last night: a nice new Camelbak donated by Greg over at Speedway.

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Through years of misinformation, mountain bikes have gotten lumped in with ATVs, snowmobiles, and other maligned vehicles by people citing environmental concerns. But on several different metrics—erosion, runoff, soil compaction, loss of vegetation—study after study has found the trail impact of mountain bikers to be equal to or less than that caused by hikers, and far less than equestrians.
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Oh damn, Magic School Bus Lady is out in her best Cruella Deville garb. She probably saw how hard Willy was rocking the black and white and is out on the prowl.

Florida

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The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Mecca, Pyramids of Giza, The North Pole, The Louvre, Big Ben, The Amazon – I visited them this weekend.  I jumped in my Jeep with three others, drove 11 hours, arriving in a blizzard, and returning in a blizzard.  I have seen the 8th wonder of the modern world.

Ray’s Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, OH, encompassed the most amazing scene of ingenuity and cycling Darwinism known to man.  The ability of the owners to take objects with seemingly no worth to anyone, and create an biking oasis squeezed  between the finger of Lake Erie and and dull straight cement snake of Interstate 80.

A run down asbestos covered pile of brick, windowless – tarp covered forgotten rooflines of a once mighty industrial community in the heartland – proved that life can bloom in the most unexpected places.  The sign posted above the door, adorned with a bike chain glued into a cursive stolen Iowa quote said it all…  "If you  build it, they will come".  

We came.  We drove through the night.  Faced black ice, and countless jackknifed tractor trailers sprawled out like toothpicks dropped from Raymond Babbitt’s box of makeshift pancake eating utensils.  My fellow travel companions, Mark W., Jeremy H. and Iowa City Don. crossed over the Iowa border – and into the great beyond at 8:00pm on Friday night.

At 3:00am, and just shy of Toledo, we stopped to bed down for the night as the road conditions were just too treacherous to continue.  We started out again only 6 hours later, and drove through the morning to come to rest at the Holiday Inn, just 3 miles from Rays.  Our misrepresented "Double Queen" room was actually a "Double Full" or maybe even a "Double Twin" room.

What did Jimmy Buffett say about Warm Beer and Bread and a Holiday Inn?

The hotel scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles popped into all our heads when staring at the beds, wondering how two grown men would fit without bumping into each other in awkward ways.  We got dressed, and made our way to Ray's.

I wont bore you with any play by play "and then I took the GT jump box 24 times, and of those jumps did seven 360's, eight 180's, crashed twice… "  I will however give you my feelings toward the place and the trip in whole.  Ray's can only be explained by traveling there yourself.  All the utility and descriptive words in my vocabulary would never be able to explain the place correctly.

When walking into the building, and setting my things down on wooden picnic tables, and getting my gear ready, I was reminded of a ski chalet.  Kids of all ages.  Adults, women, men, even dogs and a cat were roaming the place freely.  I took my stuff out of my bag, and laid it on the floor and left it there.  I didn't even worry about locking my stuff up while I was there.  There were lockers available, but the environment just led to trusting your fellow cyclists.  A chill type of feeling comes over you will all the different bikers around you.  

The Boys.  (L-R) Jason, Xander, I.C. Don, Mark, and Jeremy

On my first lap around the joint, I do have to admit to having a bit of disappointment.  My imagination had run so wild with the place, that I had imagined a Walt Disney World type of spacious expanse.  Your mind can't imagine how big (or in this case) how small 103,000 square feet can be.  Reality finally settled in, and I told myself that what I had imagined could not be created without using half of Orlando FL.  I put that out of my mind and started to respect what I was surrounded by.  This place has it all.  The guys I was with, for the most part, are jumpers.   They love to jump stuff.  Matter of fact.  Xander W., Jason C. (who traveled a day earlier than us – but met up on Sat) all had dirt jumpers.  Mark and Jeremy quickly rented jumpers, and parked their MTB for the remainder of the weekend.  At $10, their rental cost is such a small amount – why not do it?

Speaking of the costs.  Ray's has to be the best value in cycling.  I paid $39.50 to ride all day Saturday (the placed opened at 9:00am, and was to close around 2:00am as a large group of BMX'rs from Iowa were in town as well, and talked the staff into staying open longer).  And all day Sunday (9am to 10pm).  What a bargain.  Halfway through the ride Saturday, I needed some food to keep my energy up.  Grabbed a bottle of Mtn Dew, a Snickers, and a bag of Pizza Combos.  I expected the sales person to say $5 (best case), and $7 (worst case).  "Three Bucks".  I was shocked.  This place is here for the bikers.  They didn't try to rape me for the little things – even after I got in the door so cheap.  The hotel… Tell them you're there to stay and ride at Ray's.  Your room is $74.01 (tax included).  While at the park, order a Dominos Pizza.  They deliver right there, and the staff announce your name over the intercom when it comes in so you can continue to ride until it shows.   "Jeremy – your pizza order is here.  Better get here right now while it's warm… Or we're gonna eat it".  

Back to the riding.  So.  You want to jump.  We got that.  Go to the pro track.  Ride over the GT box, and do your 360 and turn into the wall ride.  Or go into the rhythm room and try your luck in a true bmx stunt track.  The foam pit if you're just learning to jump.  The half pipes, quarter pipe.  Even the flow sections of the xc course.  You want technical north shore stuff.  Got it.  Teeter toters, log climbs, rock gardens.  Got that too.  If your like me, and like to ride technical type single track stuff.  Try their XC course (they have time trials over that course throughout the winter).  It goes all around and over the whole place.  Go work your heart on the pump track.  Full speed riding and turning without ever having to spin your peddles.

When I said there were people there of all ages.  I am not kidding.  Eight year olds dude, 60 year olds.  Boys, Girls, Men, Women.  All types of bikes, all types of abilities, and all types of riders.  Mom's video taping their 8 year old doing a teeter toter.  A little 11 year old boy clearing the GT box.  It was an amazing scene of biking diversity.  Everyone I ran into was positive and helpful.  The staff couldn't not be friendlier.  And no one had a rushed, "get out of my way, I'm next" attitude.  I have never, in my life, been to a place – even with half the crowd – and not run into one asshole.  There wasn't one asshole in the whole place.  I didn't see one person getting upset at anyone.  It was as if we all knew how special this place was, and we all respected the fact that it was a great privilege, and not our right, to be there (Like I said, the place had a small town ski hill chalet feel – but when it came to polite handling of others – that is where the likeness went away) no hill ever was this "chill".

One of the many younger kids riding through out the joint.  Flower Power and Log Climbs

Jeremy had done a jump on the rental bike, and bent his rear rim a bit.  He walked it over to the service area (rear wheel skidding all the way), and within 30 seconds, had a different bike.  No additional costs.  No questions.  No guilt (other than his own).  Nowhere in this world would you have seen that.

In my opinion, Ray’s Mountain Bike Indoor Park is a fountain of youth, religious temple, sociology experiment, heart stress test, and joiner of cultures all wrapped into one Mesothelioma Causing-Brick Cracking-Roof Leaking-Hall of the Gods.

Talk about trust – we locked up our bikes Saturday night, and left them there over night.

A little bird did tell us that there may be a Ray's II opening up in the near future in Milwaukee (to make our trip shorter) – but until that day.  Everyone owning a bike, and enjoying the less traveled path or the bike/skate park needs to make the trip at least once in their life.  You will never forget it, and the stories told between you and your fellow traveling companions will last for ever.

I will post some photos on the joint int the Photos tab of the blog.  I am working on some of the video I took, and and hope to have something up soon.  Please remember that this Wednesday is Round 5 of the Roller Derby.  See you at Lorado's. Racing begins at 8:00pm.

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A week ago we asked readers to tell us how they’re using Google Wave in their daily lives, and despite a bit of “ha! no one’s using Wave!” snarking on the Twitter, we got lots of interesting responses.

Unsurprisingly, most Wavers use it as a real-time wiki, but some take advantage of features unique to Wave, like inline and private replies, public tags, and gadgets. I featured the most unique use cases I got in a brand new chapter just added to The Complete Guide to Google Wave. The following is the text of the just-published Chapter 10, which describes ways in which a few people who don't work for Google are using Wave to get things done—with screenshots.

So far you’ve learned the finer workings of Wave in great detail, but there’s a big difference between understanding how to swing a hammer and building a house. In this chapter, you’ll meet regular people who are already getting things done with Wave in their daily work and life. You’ll learn the Wave techniques they’ve developed through trial and error, and the specific Wave features they use to get certain jobs done. Finally, you’ll create wave templates you can use and reuse for your own purposes.

Take a look at some real-world case studies of Wave in action.

Wave as a Group To-do List and Daily Work Log

Justin Swall runs Swall’s Associated Services, a small company which provides computer repair and consulting for small businesses. Justin uses Wave as a daily to-do list that he and his co-workers update to track who has done what. He makes use of the “Copy to New Wave” feature to transfer undone items from one day to the next, as shown in Figure 10-1.

Here’s Justin’s Wave workflow: every day he uses a fresh wave that contains that day’s tasks, ordered by priority, and what time they’re due. Over the course of the day, Justin’s group updates the wave to reflect the current status of each task.

Justin says:

During the day either the initial wave is edited (usually by me) to add additional items to the list, and everyone else uses inline replies to update when items are completed, or if additional information needs to be conveyed back and forth. At the end of each day I copy the day’s wave to a new wave, change the date to the next day, remove the items that were completed the day before, add new items or notes to the list, or move items from secondary to primary. Wash, rinse, repeat.

By creating a new wave that carries over the outstanding tasks left on yesterday’s wave, Justin leaves behind a daily work log that he can reference later.

Justin prefers Wave to discuss tasks because it’s a single, hosted conversation.

For various reasons, Outlook tasks never seemed to work for us. Emailing is a nightmare (I either keep thinking of more things to add to the list and end up sending out five or more messages by morning, or I’m so afraid of doing that I keep it open as a draft so I can keep adding to it then forget to send it at all).

If you’re interested in using Wave to manage projects beyond daily tasks, see the later section in this chapter, “Wave for Project Management.”

Wave as an Event Planner

Wave is a fine productivity tool, but it also can help you have fun, too. Fifteen-year old Sean Cascketta uses Wave to organize weekend get-togethers with his classmates.

Sean explains:

If I’m formatting a Wave for organizing an event, it usually comes with a basic list of the details (like who, what, where, etc…) as well as a Yes/No/Maybe gadget, which is perfect for these events as we can both constantly check on the RSVP status of people, and they can use the status feature to give any extra details (like if they’re bringing along some party favors, electronics or such).

Sean used Wave to create an invitation to a viewing of The Goonies, as shown in Figure 10-2.

Brunch-lover Jed McClure uses Wave to organize his weekly “Brooklyn Brunch Club,” a group of friends who brunch somewhere different in Brooklyn each week, and RSVP whether or not they can make it.

Jed describes the process:

We have a pretty dedicated group of brunchers here in Brooklyn, and many brunch options. But the onerous task of coordinating usually ended up resulting in people getting left off the email list. With Google Wave, the idea was to maintain a permanent Brunch wave, where people in the group could check in with and see where the next brunching would happen, and then reply if they were going to try to make it. We also set up a map widget and filled in all the spots we like to hit, to help when making suggestions (and to avoid the dreaded brunch rut).

The Brooklyn Brunch Club wave consists of maps, inline discussions debating which brunch place to hit up next, and a Yes/No/Maybe gadget to collect RSVPs, as shown in Figure 10-3.

Jed says:

So far it has worked pretty well. The threaded nature of the dialog means that it needs to be ‘pruned’ after each brunch, so that the relevant info remains at the top of the wave. And also train people to look in the history for past brunch details.

With maps and Yes/No/Maybe built in, party, vacation, brunch, or any event planning is one of Wave’s most obvious use cases.

Wave as Holiday Gift List Tracker

Hal Wilke has two young children, and when the holidays approach, he gives gift suggestions for his kids to their grandparents. This past year he and his wife used Wave to share and update the list.

Hal explains:

We always email Christmas lists to Grandparents, and then get emails back sometimes to me, sometimes to my wife. Or phone calls at odd times telling us what they bought, so we have to track notes that we write about the phone calls. It was much easier this year [in Wave] because the grandparents could edit the wave as they purchased gifts, and we did not have people buying duplicate gifts, and didn’t have to track multiple lists of purchased gifts. Pretty cool that the grandparents were cool with using Wave.

The kids’ gift wave included Hal’s wife, but Hal used Wave’s private reply feature to discuss a surprise gift for her with the kids’ grandparents, as shown in Figure 10-4.

Wave for Collaborative Meeting Notes

One of the most common suggested uses of Wave is taking collaborative notes^[1] during meetings, classes or conference sessions, and Indiana University employee Manjit Trehan does just that. Manjit’s meetings usually have about 10 people attending, and four or five are in Wave, taking notes.

Instead of everyone co-editing a single blip, Manjit separates agenda items into their own individual blips.

Manjit says the process evolved from trial and error:

What I learned after a few meetings [of taking notes in Wave] is that it is best to enter one agenda item per blip. This allows a separate thread to progress below each item. Say we are meeting about ordering some hardware, and there are three open items to be discussed. Vendor selection, Installation schedule, and deployment schedule. Each of these would end up in a separate blip.

Manjit says meeting note waves can get lengthy, but he created a sample meeting wave with separate agenda blips, shown in Figure 10-5.

Wave for Project Management

You've already seen one way to use Wave as a daily task tracker; you can also manage a more complex group project in Wave. This very book, produced by a team of six people—including the authors, our copyeditor, designer, tech lead, and project manager—used Wave to track and manage its production process.^[2]

Create a project workspace in Wave using an agreed-upon tag and a saved search for waves with that tag. For example, when we started managing the book project in Wave, our group decided that every book-related wave would get the “cwg” tag (short for CompleteWaveGuide.com). Each of us also saved a tag:cwg search and referred to it to see only project-specific waves, as shown in Figure 10-6.

When you’re managing a project in Wave, create a new wave to discuss each topic, task, or facet of the project. For example, for this book project, we used one wave per chapter to discuss chapter-specific questions and edits. For each new edition, we’d clean out the chapter wave of old blips, and start anew, knowing that old conversation was still archived in the wave’s playback should we need to see it. We kept other separate waves to draft the style guide, discuss pricing, and see cover image revisions.

Wave as a Conference Backchannel

A smart use of wave tags works well in public waves as well as private ones. Tagged public waves make it easy for anyone to find a relevant place to discuss news or a current event, as it happens, in real-time. In fact, many tech-savvy conference organizers publicize a unique tag for its attendees to use when they post status updates to Twitter or photos to Flickr about the event. Attendees can use that same tag in Wave to create and add to event-specific discussions, too. (Those who aren’t at the event can eavesdrop on those public waves, ask questions, and add to the discussion from afar.)

For example, at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York in November of 2009, I (Gina) gave a keynote presentation called “Making Sense of Google Wave,”^[3] and invited attendees to wave about it using the public, agreed-upon conference tag w2e. Before I took the stage, I started a public wave and tagged it w2e so that anyone who searched for with:public tag:w2e could discuss my keynote or any other session they attended, as shown in Figure 10-7.

This technique has been used at events beyond Web 2.0 Expo; bloggers at both eComm Europe^[4] and the MediaWiki conference^[5] noted that attendees used Wave to take minutes, discuss sessions in real-time, and collaborate on notes.

(Watch a video of the 15-minute “Making Sense of Google Wave” keynote at http://goo.gl/7cK3.)

Wave for Breaking News

The live, real-time nature of Wave makes it a natural fit for collaborating on breaking news as it happens. In fact, when Seattle police were on the hunt for a man suspected of shooting four cops, the Seattle Times used a public wave to rapidly publish updates about the manhunt^[6] and solicit information from readers in the process, as shown in Figure 10-8.

Granted, most people aren't conducting a manhunt for a suspected killer, but we all have a reason to broadcast and get live updates on events as they happen to us—like when your sister-in-law goes into labor, or Aunt Martha's undergoing surgery, or Mom in New York is worried about how close the forest fires are to your home in San Diego and whether you've been evacuated.

Wave for Q&A

Wave's inline reply feature makes it a solid choice for having conversations that require back-and-forth on individual points: like an interview. Question and answer interactions can happen very easily in Wave, because the interviewer can start a wave with multiple questions. Then, the respondent can reply to each question inline, and the interviewer can optionally follow up to the response right below it without disrupting the flow of the series. The result is a readable Q&A in the correct order, as shown in Figure 10-9.

Create Wave Templates for Reuse

If you create waves with the same formatting and gadgets often, create a “template” wave for reuse to save yourself repetitive work. For example, if you plan a recurring event in Wave, create a new wave, and format your event title, description, and details area to your liking, and add the Yes/No/Maybe and maps gadget. Save that wave in a “Templates” folder you create.

Then, the next time you need a wave to plan the event, open the template, and select “Copy to new wave” from the timestamp drop-down. Fill in the details for the event in the new copy.

Public Wave Templates

Googler Pamela Fox did just that and made her templates public and read-only, available for anyone to copy for their own purposes. Visit the read-only, public wave which lists her templates at http://goo.gl/GNUw, like the event planner wave template shown in Figure 10-10.

References

1. ? When to use Google Wave, Google.com
2. ? How to Manage a Group Project in Google Wave, Lifehacker.com
3. ? “Making Sense of Google Wave”: Web 2.0 Expo New York 2009, Web2Expo.com
4. ? How to Use Google Wave for Collaborative Conference Notes and Conversation, Emerging Tech Talk
5. ? MediaWiki conference uses Wave to work on minutes, Mediawiki Wave
6. ? Another Google Wave Use: Manhunt, TechCrunch.com

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The Canman Show » Central Corridor Gamers to offer safe alternative for Corridor youth this Superbow

Source: thecanmanshow.com

In response to Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cory McGarvey’s press release on Wednesday, February 3, (http://cedar-rapids.org/community/NewsDetail.asp?NewsID=2293) Central Corridor Gamers (CCG) realizes the need for safe, positive entertainment for kids in the Corridor community. …

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Insructables user murphtron writes:

My son started riding a 16″ bike at 4 years old without training wheels. (He was first on a push bike without training wheels or pedals at about 3 1/2.) One day he decided to build a jump in the back yard. So he found a piece of 2 x 12 ramp (with random lumber laying around) and piled up some logs. He discovered it was a bit tricky to ride in the grass and hit his narrow ramp. So I said, ‘hey, let’s go in the street (dead end) and try this.’ First one brick was used to provide vertical lift, and then a second brick. He loved it.

With two bricks, the ramp becomes a bit wobbly. Plus, a 2 x 12 is a bit narrow, and a few times he rode off the ramp’s side. So I decided to build a jump with the following qualities:

• Wider ramp
• Adjustable height, so it will last for a few years as he grows
• Portable, so I could drag it to the dead end or local schoolyard playground.
• Safer (while still providing ample opportunity for skinned elbows and broken bones)

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All of us here at Make: Online have banded together to produce this guide. Each of us has submitted at least one review of a favorite tool, which hopefully, will help to inspire many of you who are still looking for gifts for the makers on your list. The tools are arranged in order, from the least to the most expensive, so you can scroll as low as your budget allows! Happy Holidays from all of us at MAKE!

Tri-Wing Screwdriver ($4 from Play-Asia)

If using this to get into my Wii remote and Wii Nunchuck controller (I used one for the Make: Television Roller Coaster Flight Recorder project) wasn’t already reason enough to love this little security driver, how about this: I used it again today to open and fix a corroded contact in a battery-operated Thomas the Tank Engine train! They’re also good for getting into GBA cartridges, the Nintendo DS, Zune HD, and a few other products. — John Park

Swiss+Tech UKCSB-1 Utili-Key 6-in-1 Key Ring Tool ($8 from Amazon)

With the Utili-Key on my keychain, I’m perfectly content dealing with most situations where I’d usually opt for a pocketknife. It’s so small, you’ll forget you have it with you. I’ve often forgot about mine until I’ve already passed through airport security. And at under $10, it’s easy to replace. The key unfolds to a very serviceable combination flat and serrated blade. It also comes with a bottle opener and various screwdrivers, including a Phillips head. — Adam Flaherty

Olfa Heavy Duty Cutter/Ratchet Wheel ($8 from Amazon)

I got turned on to this utility knife when it came in my starter art school kit, and I haven’t let it out of my sight since. The blade adjusts easily with the satisfying clicks of the ratcheting wheel. The blade sheath holds the sharp snap-off blade securely, providing optimal control over your slicing action through model-making foam board and heat shrink tubing alike. In writing this review, I examined the condition of my Olfa knife after seven years of continual use. Its handle bears only light surface scratches.The letters of my Sharpie-scrawled name now fade from the dense yellow plastic, once deflecting tool-thieving studiomates. I’ll very readily share any of my tools with friends, but I think twice before lending this knife. — Becky Stern

Scotch Transparent High Performance Duct Tape ($8 from Amazon)

Oh gentle duct tape, boon to the tinkerers, the dabblers, the fixers of things since days of yore. But forget the classic silver or black, this duct tape rocks it colorless! And when it comes to wrapping gifts, cast aside the boring old Scotch tape, for now, you can wrap gifts with the real deal. Let songs of joy ring out throughout Nerdonia! — John Baichtal

Microplane Cutting Tools ($9 and up from Microplane)

Known as “the woodworking tools that crossed over to the kitchen,” Microplane has a wide offering of sturdy kitchen and workshop cutting tools, each made up of tiny, incredibly sharp planes. I have their classic grater, which works magic on everything from nutmeg to lemon zest to parmesan, transforming that hard lump into the fluffiest cheese shavings you’ve ever seen. They now, of course, offer zesters, spice graters, a rotary Parmesan grater, and even a sea salt shaver — I get giddy just looking at all the options! Whichever you get, it will surely have a myriad of uses. — Arwen O’Reilly Griffith

Zibra Open It! Package Tool ($12 from Zibra)

Only twice in my adult life has design innovation brought me close to tears — the extra legroom and a footrest I encountered on a TransPacific flight was the first. And using the Open It! tool to get through the clamshell packaging of a calculator, then opening a new CD with the same tool (and the same ease), was the second. Seriously.

Opening packages, whether its a new gadget for yourself, or something you’ve got to set up in your role as Santa’s helper, is a bear. Am I right? The plastic is tough and sharp! Those little wire tie-wraps are twisted into a mess and are always in those hard-to-reach places. Until now. Two women (naturally!) have come up with the Open It! tool, and suddenly, my holiday season is looking better already. The Open It! is actually five tools in one. These smart women even thought to include a little screwdriver to get into the battery bay of your toy/gadget/begging-to-be-hacked object. The clippers cut through nasty plastic with ease, and the bend in the clippers makes it easy to get to those wire wraps. There’s a retractable blade that easily takes care of DVDs and CDs, and if these features haven’t convinced you yet, there’s even a bottle opener. Cheers! — Shawn Connally

DuraScoop Original Cat Litter Scoop ($14 from Amazon)

Our two huge cats share a litter box, and we switched from pine (lightweight) to clay (heavy) litter when we realized that it spread around less (we have two young ones and our apartment is a perpetual mess, but that’s another story). Our local pet store carries several litter scoops, and I’ve tried and broken all of them. Plastic just can’t handle the strain; it was a constant source of frustration. So, I searched online and found the DuraScoop, which is sturdy metal, scoops a lot, and doesn’t bend and flick back. This product has made my life easier. — Paul Spinrad

Antex C/3U Miniature Soldering Iron – 15 Watt ($29 from Minute Man Electronics)

I’m amazed I haven’t found someone else who’s heard of these before. They’re great for intricate work, heat up in about 30 seconds, and they’re as nimble as a ballpoint pen (resist urge to do 700? spin/flip-tricks). The slip-on tip installation left me doubting the iron’s durability, but after a few months of use, everything still stays put nicely. And hey, it’s yellow! — Collin Cunningham

SK 73676 21 Piece Stubby Ratcheting Screwdriver Set ($30 from Amazon)

SK, formerly known as SuperKrome, makes a heck of a tool. They mainly focus on immortal socket sets, but they also make a mean ratcheting screwdriver. This small-profile driver (known as a stubby) ratchets like a Swiss clock, fits all standard attachments, and comes with a bunch of bits, as well as extenders to help you get at hard-to-reach screws. — John Baichtal

686 Original Tool Belt ($40 from REI)

I really like tools I don’t have to carry. If I have to lug something around, it had better be useful. Lately, I have just enough patience for my wallet, keys, and phone. Needless to say, I was rather stoked when I came across this belt from 686. 100% full grain waterproof leather, double prong buckle with bottle opener, #2 Phillips and flat head, 8MM, 10MM, 11MM wrench loop, and a brushed nickel finish. — Adam Flaherty

X-Mini iHome Capsule Speaker ($25/mono, $50/stereo from ThinkGeek)

When my son gave me one of these capsule speakers last year, I thought it was cute, but didn’t expect that it’d become an indispensable part of my mobile gear. He gave it to me because it had become an indispensable part of his mobile life, and he wanted to pass the tech goodness on. Now I do the same. I use the X-Mini in hotel rooms with my iPhone, when I want to hear music “in the air,” in bed, with my BlackBook when I’m watching TV, and other situations where I don’t care to have earbuds in. Here’s the best situ, which just happened to me recently: you’re hanging out with a few people, at a little impromptu party, and somebody says: “I wish we had music.” You whip this little black ball out of your pocket, expand it, plug it into your phone or MP3 player, and fire up the tunes. Party joy ensues. ThinkGeek claims the sound is “shockingly huge.” That’s a bit of an overstatement. It certainly is impressive for the size of the unit, but it’s not going to win any fidelity or power awards. They now have a MAX Stereo version with two capsule speakers. “Oh son… guess what the old man wants THIS year?” — Gareth Branwyn

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What’s your vision for our region’s future? How will you want to travel in 5, 10, or even 25 years? Will today’s congestion become tomorrow’s gridlock? Do you have suggestions for improving our roads, bikeways, sidewalks and transit system?

You’re invited to help plan our future at the Connections 2040 Visioning Forum on December 3rd. Choose from the afternoon or evening sessions at the Crowne Plaza Ballroom, 350 1st Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids:
Afternoon 1:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Evening 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

At the forum, we’ll design our future growth and transportation connections. Results will be used to create alternative futures to study and evaluate in creating the long range plan.

While walk-ins are welcome, you can help us better plan this event by registering on the link below.
http://www.connections2040.com/cms/index.php/get-involved/register

Please help us spread the word by sending this on to others you know whose views we need to hear at this first step in the planning process. A flyer like the one below is in the following link to make it easy to forward to your friends, neighbors, associates and others who might be interested.

Please click on the following link for downloadable flyer, www.connections2040.com/flyer.html

These events are hosted by the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization which is the federally-designated planning organization for the Cedar Rapids area. This long range plan will help chart the future between now and 2040 for Cedar Rapids, Ely, Hiawatha, Fairfax, Marion, Robins, Shueyville and portions of Linn County. For more information, please visit our website www.connections2040.com or contact Adam Lindenlaub at the Corridor MPO, 319-286-5064.

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Filed under: Etc., Videos

This one is good. Previously Adam and Jamie smashed a car to smithereens between two semi trucks. Which was fun, but hardly fun enough. So, they get a two-stage rocket sled and ram it into some poor, defenseless Ford Aspire — at 650 mph! As gets pointed out in the video, the word “awesome” is thrown around all too easily these days. That said, this is AWESOME! Maybe double awesome. Make the jump to watch the video while giggling like a ten-year-old.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading VIDEO: Mythbusters annihilate a car near the speed of sound

VIDEO: Mythbusters annihilate a car near the speed of sound originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The City of Cedar Rapids is seeking residents' input about current and future trail and multimodal connectivity needs in our community. City engin …
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