This is the single most useful site/blog on the web for me. I can’t say how many useful things this blog has turned me on to. It’s like the electronic Whole Earth Catalog, but what’s better is that it uses no paper, and it’s daily.
Kevin Kelly, ex-Whole Earth Review editor, founding editor at Wired mag, author, photographer, explorer, runs this operation, with daily reviews of useful stuff.
“Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We only post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted. Tell us what you love.”
Easiest way to get there is to go to kk.org, then click on “Cool Tools” at the left.
Tags: bikes, books, cameras, chickens, cinema, computers, photography, publishing, science, solar, technology, tools
In the ’90s, I bought a passive solar heater from Dan Conroy in Grass Valley, Calif. basically a big box, triangular in cross-section, with a water tank painted black and double-walled clear polycarbonate glazing. Couldn’t be simpler. It’s worked flawlessly for 15 years. Every shower I take, I get a hit of both wonder and joy. This warm, sometimes hot water heated by sunshine and not nonrenewable resources. Such a non-brainer.
It’s been really warm last few days, like in the ’80s. I woke up at 2 last night, went out into the still-warm night, and took an outdoor solar-heated-water shower. The stars were out. Boy!
Getting ready to fly to Hong Kong next week to oversee printing of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter. We’ve upped the press run to 15,000 due to early reactions to the book. At the same time we’ll be printing 3,000 copies of our mini(1-½” x 2¼”) tiny homes book. Is it cute! You can actually see what’s going on on the pages at that scale.
Jimmy Reed ‘s Ain’t that lovin’ ya baby just came on, SO the real stuff…
From boingboing this morning
“The slums of the Philippians are getting an extreme home makeover in the form of two liter bottles in their ceilings. The bottles function as 60-watt lights powered by 100% solar energy. Refraction is an amazing thing, if you drilled a hole in your ceiling light would drop directly through the opening in a straight line casting a shadow on the ground in the shape of the hole. By placing a bottle filled with water into the hole, the light is refracted by the water and emitted at 360 degrees like a light bulb. Light bulbs are taken for granted in America, yet are luxury item for the Philippians slums. The two liter bottles filled with water and a small amount of bleach to keep algae from growing, act as a light in the often-unlit slums.…”
https://community.greencupboards.com/2011/07/14/2-liter-bottles-of-light/
Lew has designed and redesigned our book-selling booth over the years, and he and Evan put it up Friday afternoon. There were two problems: first, was the hottest weather of the year. Secondly, previous SolFests were at the Real Goods headquarters in Hopland, with its green grass and ponds and general pleasant ambience, but the Ukiah Fairgrounds were way different. Hot and glaring. Hopefully they’ll figure a way to move it back to Hopland next year.
We sold books and talked to a lot of like-minded people. One guy came up, pointed to the Shelter book, and said: “I’m a high-rise engineer in San Francisco, and I got my start with this book.”
I gave a talk on “The Half-acre Homestead in the 21st Century,” what I’ve learned in about 50 years of home-made shelter and garden experience. I made a list of about 25 tools we use — coffee roaster, cheese grater, table saw, garden shredder, grain grinders, etc. Not a complete list, but sampling of stuff we’ve found useful over the long haul. Posted at: https://www.shelterpub.com/_homestead/tools.html. I didn’t take time to write reviews, just linked to further information for each item.
My laptop got trojan-horsed while I was on the road, so I couldn’t post any photos for three days. Frustrating! I’m used to being able to get info out, and I love posting while traveling. now that I’m back in business, I’ll put up photos from the trip.
This is the single most useful site/blog on the web for me. I can’t say how many useful things this blog has turned me on to. It’s like the electronic Whole Earth Catalog, but what’s better is that it uses no paper, and it’s daily.
