Easy Electronics

Charles Platt's growing series of electronics learning books are the best I've come across. He explains concepts very clearly, and his illustrations are excellent. His latest book in the series is called Easy Electronics. It covers voltage, resistance, capacitors, transistors, integrated circuits and more. No tools are needed to make the projects. — MF

Genetically modified dried apple

I welcome genetically modified foods (GMOs). A GMO that I currently enjoy is Arctic ApBitz dried apple crisps. Regular dried apples are soft and pliable. Arctic crisps have been bred to dry naturally without browning and to retain their crispness and crunchiness. They are french-fry shaped and textured. The dry snack is extremely lightweight (great for hiking), satisfactory crunchy and flavor intense, and comes in 3 apple varieties: Delicious, Granny Smith, and Golden (the variety in the link). I really enjoy them, and I am told that kids prefer these crunchy apple sticks over traditional apple leathers. — KK

Forward email to unsubscribe

My personal gmail is mess of promotional emails and spam. I’ve tried to clean it up in the past using unsubscribe services and marking messages as spam, but it’s a never ending struggle. Recently, I’ve started forwarding spam emails to unsubscribe.robot@gmail.com and that seems to work. There’s no guarantee, but it’s free, easy and they don’t sell your data. I just checked my usage on the website and it reports that so far I’ve been definitely unsubscribed from 6 emails and probably unsubscribed from 7. — CD

Ready Player One audio

I liked the movie, I liked the book, but the best format for Ready Player One is to listen to this fun science fiction story as narrated by the actor Wil Wheaton. He tells it fast, with gusto, humor, emotion, and tons of nerdy details. I listened to it once and then re-listened as my wife audited it as well and realized it’s one of the best audible books ever. It’s 15 hours of joy. Available on Audible. — KK

Look and sound more confident

Here’s a chart to remind you of the small things you can do to appear more confident. Speaking slowly is one that I’m always working on. When I’m on the phone, I tap the desk for each word I say to avoid uhms or uhhs. — CD

Traveling with tubes

Most tubes of toothpaste, hair gel, and lotion have sharp corners on the crimped end. The sharp corners easily slice through the plastic bag I keep my gels and liquids in when flying. I started snipping the corners with nail clippers. I even fillet the corners of tubes at home, to prevent them from jabbing my fingers when I reach for them in a drawer. Just be careful not to cut the corners so much that it causes a leak. — MF

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

Recomendo

Easy Electronics/GMO apple/Unsubscribe Robot

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