bookofjoe

Trevor Blackwell's Model T Segway — How to build your own

"Self-balancing scooters like the Segway™ are often thought to be technological miracles,

but it is not actually very hard to build one.

I built the one described here [above and below] in about a week using off-the-shelf parts.

I spent another week tweaking the high-speed stability, improving the steering control, and writing about it."

[via Cliff Hatch]

10 principles for a Black Swan-proof world — by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

They appear in today's Financial Times, and follow:

1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small.

2. No socialization of losses and privatization of gains.

3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.

4. Do not let someone making an "incentive" bonus manage a nuclear plant — or your financial risks.

5. Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.

6. Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning.

7. Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to "restore confidence."

8. Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains.

9. Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible "expert" advice for their retirement.

10. Make an omelette with the broken eggs.

Long time readers will know that I've been a fan of Taleb's work since long before he got big.

Honey Comb

Surprise!

From websites:

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Honey Comb

Look smart and feel secure anywhere with Cold Steel's new personal grooming aid, the Honey Comb.

It looks like an ordinary hairbrush — but the handle is actually a highly effective stiletto dagger.

The blade cross-section is cruciform in shape and a full 1/2" thick.

It tapers gradually along its 3-1/2" length down to a needle-like point.

And like any good dagger (or hairbrush) it has a secure, well-designed  hand grip.

The Honey Comb is precision injection-molded from Zytel, a super-tough nylon and fiberglass composite that contains no metal and is impervious to the elements.

With its innocent appearance and obvious usefulness (after all, it is a real hairbrush), this is the answer to personal defense — at home, at work, or traveling.

Perfect for your handbag, glove compartment or travel luggage.

Details:

Blade length: 3-5/8"

Blade thickness: 1/2" cruciform

Overall blade + handle length: 7-7/8" (8-1/4" w/brush)

Weight: 2.2 oz.

Material: Zytel

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$8.99.

Cakesicle Pan

You put cake, cookie or brownie batter in the pan, insert popsicle sticks, then bake.

TechnoDolt™-approved.

$12.80.

[via Bem Legaus!]

Helpful Hints from joeeze: How to penetrate the 800 number wall

For the past week I've been trying to reach a person at a company with an 800 number.

No luck, no matter when I call, anytime day or night I get a recording, leave a message, blah blah blah.

So yesterday I left a message, asking if there was a real person there.

This morning I received not one but two return calls in my voicemail from a woman who said their hours were Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central Time, and then she gave me the same 800 number I'd found unfulfilling.

She also noted I could use the live online help feature by clicking on the icon in the upper right hand corner of the home page, or email them at the address on the homepage.

But I knew my problem, though simple, would not do well via internet back and forth but could be solved on the phone very quickly with both of us working on the same screen.

Besides which, hasn't that live online help thing for the most part kind of gone away as a result of its uselessness?

Anyhow, I called the 800 number a couple times during working hours and got the usual recording — and then the penny dropped.

I went back into "missed calls" on my phone and lo and behold there was her number — area code 903 etc. etc.

w00t!

I called the number and she answered on the second ring, and when I told her my name and that I was returning her call she sounded a bit nonplussed for a couple seconds, then said to hold on for a moment while she finished something (not putting me on hold, thank goodness), then came back on the line and pleasant as could be spent the next 10 minutes or so with me solving my problem.

So here's the short version of the above: When you can't get through to an 800 number, leave a nice message, in a friendly tone rather than sounding faintly annoyed as I did (I guess I got lucky since I was kind of smart alecky), and if possible make your message stand out from the zillions of others they receive.

Then give your phone number slowly, twice.

With any luck you'll get a return call, and if so and the number's not blocked you're money.

As far as I know you can only use an 800 number to receive calls.

Worked for me, might work for you.

Simply Dump It — World's first ergnomically articulating wheelbarrow handles

Catchy, what?

From the latest edition of Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, edited by Steve Leckart, comes this item, reviewed by one Andrew Bajorinas as follows.

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Simply Dump It Wheelbarrow Handles

These pivoting plastic wheelbarrow handles let you go from a walking position to lifting and dumping without repositioning your hands. They're also amazing for me, because I am tall: When walking with a wheelbarrow the nose can sometimes catch the ground causing several problems. The handles lower the wheelbarrow's handles several inches, allowing me to walk upright instead of hunched.

Although I've only started using them, they've already had quite a workout. I am replacing the gravel pushed off of my 350' driveway by the snow plow. I load the wheelbarrow quite heavily. These handles have eliminated my hunching AND they let me dump the gravel easily.

Installation took me about ten minutes, being very careful, as they require you to drill permanent holes. They come with clear directions, a long screw, and nylon lock nut for each handle (also included are tubular shims to adjust the fit, if necessary). The steps are: 1) Slip it over the handle; too tight? Sand the handle. Too loose? Add shims. 2) Position as desired. 3) Drill hole in marked location through entire handle. 4) Put screw through the hole, apply nylon lock nut on the other side. Done.

I've found them to be stable. UV degradation is my primary concern, since I leave my wheelbarrow outdoor all year. Still, they are cheap enough that a second pair in 4-5 years would be acceptable to me, considering the convenience and back saving.

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$21.63.

ArtBabble — All art videos, all the time

Free, the way we like it.

Here's Kate Taylor's article from yesterday's New York Times with the details about the site, created by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and just up yesterday.

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ArtBabble Site Opens Window to World of Museums

For old television shows, there’s Hulu. For college lectures, there’s iTunes U. And now, for videos about art, there’s ArtBabble, a Web site created by the Indianapolis Museum of Art that offers videos from sources including the Museum of Modern Art and the PBS series “Art:21.”

In the last few years, as museums have tried to take advantage of the Internet to connect with young audiences, they have produced an increasing number of online videos, from artist interviews and time-lapse shots of exhibition installations to short profiles of curators, art handlers, and even museum guards. Most institutions feature these videos on their own Web sites, as well as uploading them to sites like YouTube or blip.tv. But until now, there has been no dedicated place on the Web for art videos.

ArtBabble (artbabble.org), which goes live to the public on Tuesday, is intended to change that. For the roll-out the Indianapolis museum invited a handful of institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to take part. In the long run, it hopes to add more institutions, so that ArtBabble becomes “the destination for art content online,” Daniel Incandela, the director of new media at the Indianapolis museum, said in an interview.

On sites like YouTube, an artist interview can get lost among the “music videos, blooper videos, and sort of more viral, edgier content,” Mr. Incandela added. There is also no easy way to browse content from multiple museums, and, until recently, videos weren’t available in high definition.

On ArtBabble the majority of videos are in high definition. The design of the home page is clean and is clearly meant to draw in nonspecialists, with speech bubbles featuring punchy quotations that, when clicked on, jump to the relevant videos. (A mock dictionary entry defines “ArtBabble” as “a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion — no art degree required.”)

The most unusual feature of the site is the “notes” that accompany each video. The notes run down a window to the right of the screen, offering links to related material on the Web. For example, in an interview with the artist Robert Irwin, when Mr. Irwin mentions the sculptors Mark di Suvero and Richard Serra, the notes offer links to the Wikipedia entries for each artist. A reference to the gardens that Mr. Irwin designed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles provides links to the Getty Center’s Web site (getty.edu) and a YouTube video of the gardens. Representatives of several of the partner institutions said that they were most excited about the notes feature and its potential.

“We can give an online viewer the opportunity to take countless tangents,” said Joshua Greenberg, director of digital strategy at the New York Public Library. “It fits the core premise of librarianship, that it’s not just about putting something in someone’s hands but contextualizing it.”

The hosting fees and other expenses of ArtBabble are being covered by the Indianapolis museum, with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Ball Brothers Foundation. (ArtBabble is free to users.) If the site becomes popular, the museum will look for corporate sponsorship, the museum’s director, Maxwell Anderson, said.

Mr. Anderson said the goal behind ArtBabble, and the museum’s own video production, is to allow visitors to “experience the life of museums,” whether through employee profiles, studio visits with artists or videos of conservators restoring objects. The advantage of making the new video site a collaborative one was obvious, he said: “The strength and potency of this as a shared site is much greater than one museum at a time.”

The Indianapolis museum has been a pioneer in using the Internet to provide greater transparency about museum operations. A section of its Web site (imamuseum.org) called the Dashboard offers current information about the value of the museum’s endowment, the number of visitors and its average daily energy consumption. The museum also recently created an online database of works it has deaccessioned.

Mr. Incandela acknowledged that the ultimate success of ArtBabble will depend, at least partly, on what other institutions the Indianapolis museum persuades to join.

Internationally, one museum that has devoted substantial resources to producing videos is the Tate. In collaboration with British Telecom, the Tate has put hundreds of videos on its Web site, tate.org.uk, from studio visits with Jeff Koons and Gilbert & George to archival interview footage with Francis Bacon. Reached by phone, Will Gompertz, the director of Tate Media, the branch of the museum that oversees its video production, said that he had not previously heard of ArtBabble, but based on a description, he thought it was a great idea.

“Tate would be delighted” to put its videos on a site like ArtBabble, Mr. Gompertz said, adding, “Nothing in this new world can be achieved alone.”

What is it?

Answer here this time tomorrow.