just for the fun of it
Being a retired science teacher, we like to have the latest technology such as…
This Travelon Micro luggage scale ($25) weighs less than three ounces, has a 110-pound capacity and helps keep me from payiing big buks for going over airline weight limits. It also is useful for a bunch of other things, such as weighing your kites to determine if they are completely dried out or your board to see if it is taking on water.
This Shadowbox ($500; shadowboxlive.com) is a GPS unit that attaches to your kiteboard and records everything from your speed and acceleration to jump height and degree of rotation then plays in back in stunning 3-D detail, using gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers and GPS to determine position.
This solar-powerd walk light was a rare, pure impulse purchase, but for only $3.88. All the electronics are contained in the hocky puck cap, and the single white LED actually makes enough light to see the walkway.
This Canon PowerShot SX20IS, which we bought for the St Lucia trip, has almost everything we wanted in a camera: 12.1mp, fast 20x zoom, wide angle/macro lens with optical image stabilized 2.5-inch articulating LCD monitor, runs on 4AA cells, takes good video and non-interchangeable lens, which means it should do better in harsh kiteboarding environments with blowing sand. Bad features: slow burst rate; electronic viewfinder (blanks out during exposures makes it hard to follow action).
Since June we have been using this new Garmin Foretrex 401. Our old Foretrex 201 ended up at the bottom of Pamlico Sound after a kite line got wrapped around it.
We bought a couple of these to donate for charity drawings. The Garmin Nuvi 200 is inexpensive ($108 at Walmart.com) and pretty cool. Here is the instruction manual for this basic unit, which is for you if you are on a tight budget and don't have a turn-by-turn GPS. We're savin' up for a Garmin with all the bells and whistles.
| Acute DS-1202 USB Virtual Oscilloscope screen shsot: Channel 1 = 1000kHz calibration signal; Channel 2 = 60Hz body-induced AC |
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We bought one of these cool Kill-a-Watt power monitors that tells all sorts of things about electrical consumption - cost $20. First uses: check out X-10 idle power usage, my little post fan and good old refrigerator. Then my van refrigerator, computers etc. etc. Fun, fun, fun!
Our Jet Boil efficiently boils water faster than an electric range accoording to our tests.
This digital meat thermometer has a porbe and an alarm. It allows our Jet Boil to heat water using very little fuel: 108 degrees to soak a foot, 119 degrees for sipping and 160 degrees to pour over oatmeal.
Vibram Five Fingers are the most unusual shoes/booties you've ever seen. The people who like them love them. We found the fit interesting.
Electronic Dymo DateMark, always stamps correct date, time, etc. Pricy but very convenient and cool!
Waterproof Sanyo camcorder down to 4.5' for an hour. That means it should also be sand proof - important with kiteboarding. All you do is wash it in a bowl of water and dry it when you are through.
GPS WiFi for Almost Any Camera from eye.fi
Linux Micro Gadget Computer from Bug Labs
An SLR-style camera that shoots stills at 60fps and videos up to 1200fps from Casio
Handheld Projector from 3M
I bought this Corner Office ATC-139 Programable Graphing Scientific Calculator from Walgreens back in Phoenix for $15. It does about everything you can imagine. However the print of the 57-page instruction manual is too amall for a normal human to read, so I have enlarged it as a PDF Manual (10 megabytes); my x-brother-en-law, Harold made an enlargement of the keyboard and I am keeping notes as I read the manual.