bookofjoe

'Addicted to the Stars' — Directed by Michael Radford

[via Shorts Bay and Milena]

Watch Case Opener Ball

That's different.

This device is featured in the current edition of Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, edited by Elon Schoenholz.

Here's Dan Hoyt's review.

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Watch Case Opener Ball

If you have a screw-back watch that won't open, get one of these plastic balls. They actually work, and they will not scratch the watch case.

I own the Pittsburgh watch case opener, and it will usually open watches. However, I have one favorite watch that defied the Pittsburgh tool. I read about the Watch Case Ball, and bought one online. Within five minutes of picking up the mail, the watch was open. (I had to inflate the ball; it's shipped flat.)

The ball is made of plastic. It's not actually sticky, but when you press it onto a watch back, it conforms to the surface and won't readily slip on it. Now I go to this tool first, because there's no chance of marring the watch case with it, and it works on all screw-back watches with no set-up at all.

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$5.

Aleki Taumoepeau is 'Lord of the Ring'

Long story short: The New Zealand ecologist (above and below) was checking Wellington harbor for invasive plants in March of last year when his wedding ring slipped off into 10 feet of water. His wife offered to buy him a replacement but he told her he would find it — and after 16 months, he did.

Here's the full report.

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How deep is your love?

His friends have taken to calling him "Lord of the Ring" after Aleki Taumoepeau plucked his wedding ring from the bottom of Wellington Harbour 16 months after he lost it.

The Niwa ecologist, from Hamilton, never gave up hope that he would find the ring after it slipped from his finger while he was checking the harbour for invasive plant species in March last year.

At the time he hastily threw an old anchor overboard to mark the spot and vowed to wife Rachel that he would find it refusing her offers to buy a replacement.

"It flew off into the air and everyone on the boat was looking at it and said it was like a scene from Lord of the Rings in slow motion," Mrs Taumoepeau said.

The couple had been married for just over three months.

"She kept saying to me when we went out, `I'll have to buy you a new ring,' but I just said, 'No, I'll find it,"' he said.

Back in the capital for a conference three months after the mishap, he decided to borrow dive gear from colleagues to search.

Conditions were bad and the GPS co-ordinates he had noted down at the time were wrong, so he came away empty-handed.

A year later, Mr Taumoepeau was back, with some new co-ordinates garnered from Niwa and website Google Earth.

This time his wife and their nine-month-old son, Alekisanita, watched from the Petone shore.

"I thought he was mad going back a year after," she said. "Even people on the beach were saying 'Is he OK? Is he a bit crazy?"'

In three metres of water near the Hutt River mouth, Mr Taumoepeau hunted for the anchor.

After an hour, he stopped to catch his breath and, while doing so, asked for some divine intervention.

"I was getting cold and tired so I said to God it would be really good to find the ring about now."

He then looked down, spied the anchor and just centimetres away from it the ring.

"I couldn't believe that I could see the ring so perfectly. I was thinking I won't see all of the ring, maybe part of it, but the whole top surface of the ring was glowing," he said.

His wife heard him cheering and screaming in the water. "I couldn't believe it. It was the power of prayer."

Iropod Mobile Workstation

Thomas Ricker over at Engadget has his doubts about whether it'll indeed be available by the end of next month as stated on the company website.

I want two for my treadmill workspace (top right): one for my computer screen and one for my TV.

 

[via Coolest Gadgets, DVICE and Alistair Why]

Rotgutonix Digital Rotgut Detector

Finally.

Long story short: The device detects adulterated alcohol, commonly known as "rotgut."

From the website:

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Rotgutonix has a built-in chemical sensor that can detect the quality of several alcoholic beverage brands. If the drink in question is rotgut, the gadget will indicate as much on its liquid crystal screen.

This is a prototype still in the marketing phase. At present, the device is set to analyze the following brands: Johnny Walker, JB, DYC, Pampero, Brugal and Havana club, although in future versions we expect that Rotgutonix will be able to analyze the chemical composition of over 20 well-known brands, mainly rum, whisky, gin, and vodka.

 

Rotgutonix was designed by Emilio Alarcón. According to the creator, "One night, I went out for a couple of drinks with some friends, I only had two drinks but the next day I had a massive hangover, I was lightheaded and nauseous. I was supposed to work that day, but I felt so horribly ill that I had to go back home. I came up with the idea for Rotgutonix while under the effects of that terrible hangover; you could say it’s an invention that was born of a hangover. Everyone knows there's a lot of rotgut being served out there. A lot of bars are getting away with poisoning us at night."

Cardboard Surfboard

34-year-old Mike Sheldrake (above) invented it.

"A Sheldrake board is stunningly transparent. Its core is a matrix of ribs running three directions. There's no foam, just fiberglass skin over computer-cut cardboard," wrote Keith Hammond in an article in issue #19 of Make magazine.

Added Hammond, "Best of all, instead of buying $900 boards, he can now make them for about 150 bucks."

Comparative Monster Chart

[via Milena]

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