Don’t Ignore Your Parents’ Analog Technology

In many ways we are living in a version of the high-tech future that appeared in science fiction fifty years ago (though we are all still waiting for our jet packs and flying cars). But sometimes it pays to revisit some of the old style devices used by our parents and grandparents.

For instance: right now it is thundering and pouring rain outside, but despite having my windows open everything inside is dry. This is due to my recent purchase of window filter screens like my mother used to use to help keep pollen out of our allergy-ridden house:

These not only filter out pollen but keep rain from coming in. They come in several heights and widths (though only work in traditional double-hung windows) and may be found on sites selling allergy alleviating products, e.g., National Allergy, Allergy Control, Vitaire.

What old-school techniques might be useful in your 21st century life?

Friday Faves – 24 May 2013

Grab Bag O’ Books

It’s sad when a bookstore has to close, but Once Sold Tales in Kent WA has an additional problem: a warehouse full of 500,000 used books on which they can no longer afford to pay rent! Rather than just sending all of that linear media to be pulped they are having a Grab Bag sale:

Now through May 30th you can order a grab bag of paperback books (8 for $10, 16 for $18, which includes shipping) or children’s books (“small” for $12 or “large” for $20, number of books will vary since kid’s books come in many sizes). You can give some guidance as to the books’ genre, but they can make no guarantees. See their Facebook post for all details – note that this offer is available for direct Paypal payment only, not though their main website.

Etsy Stores of Note

My West Coast musician friend Sharon Knight has been building additional ways to have income when she is not on the road touring with her band. Her latest effort is an Etsy store – please check it out.

While attending a recent Steampunk fair I ran across an awesome local leather worker: Emporium Custom Leathers. In addition to selling at the New York Ren Faire, she also has an Etsy store here. I can attest to the high quality of her work, and intend to indulge in some garment soon :-)

Happy Blog Anniversary!

Yes – it was late May 2012 when I decided it might be a good idea to start a blog to capture the various and sundry useful information I was giving out to friends.

In the past year I’ve written 118 posts, which have been viewed 10,288 times, with 82 legitimate comments left… and 14,060 spam comments! I strongly suggest you set up Akismet or another spam filtering service if you run a blog, as it caught 99.91% of these.

By far the biggest boost to my readership came last September, when my article Why I Volunteered To Play With Amanda Palmer was reposted by Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman, then linked in other articles about the controversy. To this day I still get several visits a week from people clicking an external link from one of those references. The next most highly viewed post, on making Origami paper cups, was reblogged on a few Tumblr sites.

So if you’ve joined me recently, here are the most-viewed posts from the last 12 months:

All Time

Knowing Doesn’t Always Save You From Yourself

Yes, I know a lot of stuff. I am also human, though, so still fall prey to emotions over logic…

Last week I decided to buy a juicer to encourage consuming more vegetables than I currently do. After a friend’s recommendation plus some research I decided on an Omega 8004. I found a factory-refurbished-with-warranty one on Amazon, then looked at the seller’s own website, discovered that purchasing directly got me free shipping and ordered it.

The company quickly processed my order and the juicer arrived on Monday. I had pre-shopped for vegetables to juice and was anxious to try it out… but when I opened the box and inventoried the contents I discovered they did not include the brush for cleaning the filter screen nor the pusher for the feed tube.

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