Tag Archives: buying

Friday Faves 01-25-13

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Some fun items:

For my donation to the Indiegogo campaign for Lunar Labyrinth (still 6 days to go!) I got one of two available custom flasks. That reward point is now closed – BUT if you would like to have a nicely hand-painted steel flask, great for water or any 8 oz of liquid you might want to stash in your hip pocket (great for places that want to sell you a bottle of water for $5!)  check out John King’s site:

 

If you are wondering about what evidence, if any, exists for using a particular supplement for a specific medical use, check out this chart visualizing study results for various supplements.

 

If you don’t use a lot of data/text/voice time on your phone, or it varies so much that paying $100/month for a large amount of minutes that don’t roll over, check out Ting, who offers a plan that automatically charges you for whatever tier of service you actually use in a particular monthly period, even if you signed up for a higher tier.

 

If you like classic movies shown in old moviehouses, consider supporting Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre so that they can update their projectors (since the film distributors are going all-digital, even for old films) and their heating/cooling system:

Quick Tip – Buying Coin Batteries

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I went to Walgreens last weekend to buy two LR44 batteries (the ones about the size of a thick aspirin) for a cat laser toy. Looking through the wall o’ batteries I found them – at $5.29 each!

I thought that was rather excessive, so instead I looked around to find the display of cheap book lights that run on LR44s. And since it was stocking stuffer time, I found a whole endcap of such items. So for $5 I bought TWO new keychain lasers that ran on three LR44s AND came with three more spares, a total of twelve batteries for $5!

For future reference, American Science and Surpus sells 10 LR44s (AKA AG13) for $1.95, plus other coin batteries (e.g., CR2016 and CR2032).

Friday Faves 12-14-12

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Friday’s roundup of interesting items:

GravityLight: lighting for developing countries

A new approach to storing energy and creating illumination. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight which powers GravityLight, creating 30 minutes of light on its descent. For free. Designed to replace unhealthy and expensive kerosene burning lamps in developing countries.

This project is already fully funded, but you may still contribute, and even get one for yourself:

 
DNA Genotyping Now Only $99

 23andMe is a DNA analysis service providing information and tools for individuals to learn about and explore their DNA. You give them a saliva sample and they run it through a machine to provide a report on your genotype – the data is also used anonymously for other projects requiring large amounts of DNA data. They used to charge several hundred dollars plus a yearly subscription fee, but due to new funding they have lowered the price to a one-time fee of $99 plus shipping cost for the collection kit. More information here.