My colleague at Institute for the Future, Eri Gentry, is the guest on the Cool Tools Show this week. Eri is the founding president of BioCurious, the first hackerspace for biology. She is also co-founder of the emotional wellbeing site, My Happy Tools.

Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | Download MP3 | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single page

Show notes:

Niice.com

"For my work at Institute for the Future we're often trying to distill these nebulous concepts about the future into images and into words that people can understand. It’s really important that we get the visual part down right, but most sites aren’t really great for visual inspiration. … but Niice is this incredible site that shows you really creative imagery and often a lot of original art from artists, which is great because sometimes it can be hard to access the people doing really interesting creative work. Niice is meant, I believe, for designers and for design firms to do premium mood boards. … The great thing about this site is it can make me associate new concepts actually that I hadn’t before. It’s a really neat way to think about the future visually."

Double eyelid tape ($12)

"Double eyelid tape is literally a small strip of adhesive that you place on your eyelid to create or change your crease. For those of us not blessed with pronounced eyelid creases, this product is amazing. Read the rest

The power went out in our neighborhood for 24 hours earlier this week, but we had a lot of battery-powered LED lights. These bulb-shaped one are meant from camping, but you can hang them from chandeliers, curtain rods, hooks, etc. (I might make an adnapter with my 3D so they can screw into bulb sockets.) They use 3 AA batteries. They're on sale on Amazon: 2 for $8.

Read the rest

On this infuriating video, you'll hear a Delta Airlines flight attendant tell a couple, "You and your wife will be in jail, your kids will be in foster care." What did the parents do to warrant such an ominous threat? They put their 2-year-old child in a seat they paid for.

Here's how the father described what happened, in his YouTube video:

They oversold the flight and asked us to give up a seat we purchased for my older son that my younger son was sitting in. You will hear them lie to me numerous times to get my son out of the seat. The end result was we were all kicked off the flight. They then filled our 4 seats with 4 customers that had tickets but no seats. They oversold the flight. When will this all stop? It was midnight in Maui and we had to get a hotel and purchase new tickets the following day.

The older son has left on an earlier flight, but the family kept the other ticket they bought so their younger son could use it. This is technically against the rules because the seat was issued to the older son, not the younger son. But is that a good reason to threaten and bully the parents?

Finally, the parents agreed to hold the baby in their lap, but Delta said they had to options - to get off voluntarily, or be forced off and arrested.

They got off and the oversold seats were filled with other passengers. Read the rest

These crowdfunded billboards, calling out Congress members who took money from telecoms and then voted to allow the telecoms to sell your web history without your consent, were installed on Wednesday.

Read the rest

Is this the teaser for Portal 3? The disarray, scattered equipment, and posters on the wall seem like the work of a thoughtful set decorator. But, as Sean Hannity likes to say, "Wow if true."

While walking through the territory of a factory, located in the industrial area of the city, I noticed a weird concrete block with a metal gate on the side of it. I opened it and a latter climb later I was in a dark, small tunnel leading to an underground bomb shelter/safe house. Read the rest

What I learned from this awe-inspiring animated explainer video from Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. Ninety-seven percent of all stars will eventually become white dwarfs. White dwarfs have a long lifespan! Up to 100 billion billion years. That's 10 billion times longer than the universe has existed. Intelligent life has a few billion years to learn how to move close to white dwarfs in order to survive. (In other words, it's a good idea to start planning now!) When a white dwarf dies, it will become a black dwarf. The universe will begin the slow process of heat death, and all life will die.* If protons decay the universe will eventually dissolve into nothingness. If protons don't decay, then they will become iron spheres, suspended in a black cold universe. This will be the forever end state of the universe.

*Not in the video, but Freeman Dyson has put forth the idea (in his wonderful book, Infinite in All Directions) that as long as there is a temperature differential (and there always will be), energy can be used to support life. Imagine a system that harvests energy for 10 billion years, which is enough to power a computer with a universe simulation in it for one second before shutting down. The next time, it has to harvest energy for 20 billion years to run the simulation for a second. This could go on literally forever, and the conscious entities in the simulation would not be aware of the long hibernation periods. Read the rest

I bought this set of 4 little silicone bowls in 2015 and they still look new despite using them every day. I use them to sort vitamins and supplement powder and to hold chopped herbs and garlic. I started using another set for painting and gluing, because they are so easy to clean. The set is only $6.72 on Amazon. Read the rest

Austin Ellison is a one-man music making machine, especially when it comes to Beach Boys tunes. He sings lead and background vocals and plays all the instruments.

California Girls:

Warmth of the Sun:

Don't Worry Baby:

He also plays Ray Manzarek style organ!

I think Stephen Colbert should book him. Read the rest

If you want a seat on an overbooked plane, access to a closed part of a museum, or to be able to convince a bouncer to let you into a packed club, adopt the ""kindly brontosaurus pose."

From Slate:

You must stand quietly and lean forward slightly, hands loosely clasped in a faintly prayerful arrangement. You will be in the gate agent’s peripheral vision—close enough that he can’t escape your presence, not so close that you’re crowding him—but you must keep your eyes fixed placidly on the agent’s face at all times. Assemble your features in an understanding, even beatific expression. Do not speak unless asked a question. Whenever the gate agent says anything, whether to you or other would-be passengers, you must nod empathically.

Continue as above until the gate agent gives you your seat number. The Kindly Brontosaurus always gets a seat number.

Why does it work?

“The body language of the Kindly Brontosaurus is respectful and nonthreatening,” [body language expert Dr. Lillian Glass says]. “There’s a humility, so you allow the other person to feel empowered. Since you’ve made them feel like king of the jungle, they’re more receptive to you.”

Here's a fellow who made a movie of three-second clips from his 2600-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

(Thanks, Matthew!)

At $300 a person, the Pan Am Experience in Los Angeles costs more than many round trip plane flights. But the food is better and they won't knock your teeth out or kill your rabbit.

Your Pan Am Experience begins at our exclusive First & Clipper class check-in desk. where our Pan Am customer service agent provides each passenger with a 70’s style boarding pass, ticket jacket and first class carry-on tags.

You’ll be invited into the Clipper Club where you’ll have an opportunity to peruse the vintage Pan Am memorabilia including authentic uniforms, airline seats, handbags, artwork, and more. You can mingle with other enthusiasts at the Clipper Club lounge, share stories, and make new friends.

Soon thereafter, you’ll board “Clipper Juan T. Trippe”, our dedication to Pan Am’s first Boeing 747, where you’ll be sprung back in time to the 1970s. As soon you set foot inside the aircraft, your Stewardesses adorned in original Pan Am uniforms will welcome you onboard with a fine cocktail of your choice as Frank Sinatra’s soothing voice will transport you back in time.

With libation in hand, we encourage you to explore the aircraft – from First Class on the main deck, to Clipper Class aft of the galley, and the Upper Deck dining room. The interiors of each cabin have all been uniquely restored to Pan Am’s original cabin décor and branding elements.

Before we “take off”, the crew will perform an in-flight safety demonstration followed by a brief welcoming message from the flight deck.

In this masterfully edited "interview" Stephen Colbert talks with Trump about his mental health, nuclear war with North Korea, and other fun subjects. Read the rest

The zippo factory of Bradford, Pennsylvania makes 28,000 lighters a day. This video presents an inside look at how they and made and who makes them, including Beth, in the case assembly department, and Betsy the buffer. Read the rest

Why is this couple trying to go down the up escalator? For fun? Exercise? I'm at a loss to explain it. Read the rest

If you don't have one of these headlamps, now is your chance, because Amazon has it on sale for $6.39. I use it for barbecuing, walking in our no-street-light neighborhood at night, repairs, and even reading in bed (on the lowest of 3 brightness levels). It's lightweight and comfortable, and comes with 3 AAA batteries. Read the rest

I only recently discovered the art of Lorenzo Etherington, who draws gorgeous Will Eisner-esque 3D illustrations. He has a new book coming out that's in the final days of a successful Kickstarter campaign. It's incredible stuff.

Read the rest

For decades, people have wondered about the mysterious "sailing stones" of Death Valley, California. Though no one had seen them actually move, it was clear that they had, because they left behind furrows in the dry, cracked mud. It was hypothesized that the rocks were pushed by the wind, or that ice on the rocks made them float across the playa.

But in 2014 Richard Norris, an oceanographer at University of California San Diego, figured it out. He attached GPS units to some rocks, and then waited. It took two years, but he finally conclusively solved the mystery.

From Motherboard:

To figure it all out, Norris and his cousin attached specially-designed GPS units to the back of rocks they had brought into Death Valley (the National Parks Service wouldn't let them mess with the rocks that were already there). They also installed a weather station, and then...they waited.

It took two years, but finally, the rocks moved. Norris and his cousin, completely by chance, actually got to witness them in action. The researchers discussed their findings in a paper published in PLOS One. They found that when enough rain fell on the playa to pool, and the temperature dropped, the water would freeze into huge, thin sheets of ice around the rocks — which tumble onto the playa from a nearby hillside. As the morning sun began to melt the ice, if a gentle breeze blew, it could move the ice, which dragged the rocks along with it.

"The ice is like the thickness of a window pane," Norris told me.