Nesco’s FD-75PR food dehydrator is capable of drying fruit, fruit purees, beef for jerky, herbs and spices, and almost anything else you can think of. A 700-watt heater means that this model can dry foods far quicker than smaller units can.
The dehydrator comes with 5 drying trays (expandable to 12 trays with additional purchase), 2 “clean-screens” 2 fruit roll sheets, and jerky spice kit.
Oh yea, and it’s made in the USA.
That’s right, Crazy Aunt Purl sat next to Lee Ermey on a plane, and taught him how to knit – click here for pics.
Thanks to my wife for the tip!
I used to know how to knit, but didn’t enjoy it enough to knit anything useful. Hmm… I wonder if you can knit something out of paracord…
Every other week, sometimes more frequently, a friend, family member, or colleague asks me when is the best time to purchase a digital SLR camera. Most often, I tell them to wait until the next Canon lens bundle promotion, unless of course they want to go with Nikon. It looks like we’re actually on the tail end of one such promotion.
AVS forum and YouTube member lucasberg put up this macro video of a praying mantis. If you’re short of time, fast forward to points 3:25, where the mantis catches a flying insect, and then at about 6:30, where the mantis proceeds to go all Thanksgiving feast on its prey.
I have to say, the video is pretty gruesome, but it also shows interesting insect-world circle-of-life imagery that you might never have seen before. I’ve certainly never seen anything like this before. The videography is great, and the commentary is amusing.
The video is for mature audiences only due to PG13/adult language and semi-mature content.
Equipment used: Panasonic TM90, a Raynox DCR-250 Macro Conversion Lens, a filter ring adapter (step up?), and LED flashlight.
Lego’s Fire Brigade is the oldest of their current line of modular buildings. The model is built from 2231 pieces, and I’m told that the construction is challenging and highly enjoyable. The Fire Brigade features a 1930′s-style fire truck, 4 minifigures, a fire-dog (a Dalmatian would have been cooler), and tons of great details.
The completed model is 14″ tall and 10″ wide, rated for 16+ builders, and is priced at $150.
Photos and reference information via Amazon
Info and purchasing options via Lego
We’ve posted about quite a few water bottles, so you know I’m a fan of reusable bottles. One of the major complaints I have about BPA-free plastic bottles is that they absorb odors very quickly if you’re not careful. So to avoid this, I wash my bottles fairly regularly these days.
Most of the time, I don’t scrub down the insides of my bottles – I add a drop a dish soap and slosh the water around a bit. I then close up the caps and give the bottles a good shake before rinsing them out a few times. But this doesn’t really help if there’s juice residue at the bottom or if the bottles are in need for a very deep and thorough cleaning.
So, I picked up an OXO bottle brush, and for the most part it works reasonably well. The cleaning brush features a bell-shaped bundle of bristles at the end of a plastic handle. It’s simple, but effective. You can find these brushes for about $5-10.
OXO Good Grips Bottle Brush via Amazon
The newest video game in the Warhammer 40K universe is Space Marine, a 3rd person shooter. Well it’s more of a 3rd person combat game, I wouldn’t really call it a strict shooter. There is a LOT of melee in this game.
The premise is simple, you’re a Space Marine, and there are hordes of Orks to kill. There are also Chaos forces in the mix as well, but it looks like Orks are the primary baddies.
If you’re even mildly interested in these types of shoot-em-up games, I urge you to go ahead and download the free demo via Steam. But be warned, the game is highly violent and bloody, as indicated by its M 17+ rating.
In the demo, you get a taste for some of the weapons found in the game, and two of the melee weapons. There’s a Fury meter, which fills up as you destroy enemies, and certain melee attacks fill it up faster. Once the meter’s full, you can toggle Fury mode, which gives you a short burst of power and speed.
There are no health packs or healing stations. If your auto-recharging armor takes on too much damage, you start losing health. To replace lost health, you must execute stunned Orks. If your Fury meter is full and you toggle the mode, then you can execute Orks, even the Nobz (or whatever the larger metal-jawed Orks are called), without needing to stun them first.
The demo may even be enough for you since it offers some repeatability, especially if you set it to the highest difficulty setting, which can be a challenge. The full game features single and multi-player modes, and is available for PC, XBOX360 and PS3 at about $45-50.
Amazon has just announced a new line of Kindle e-readers and tablets. There will be the new Kindle, a Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch with 3G, and the Kindle Fire. The 3rd generation Kindles from last summer are still included in the lineup and are the only ones with physical keyboards.
The Kindle and Kindle Touch will be available at their regular prices, and at discounted prices if you agree to the special offer screensavers.
The new Kindle is 30% lighter than the 3rd generation Kindle, and with an 18%-smaller body. Like the 3rd generation device, the Kindle has a 6-inch screen. The Kindle will be priced at $79 with special offers, or $109 without. This version is Wi-Fi only.
Slightly larger than the new Kindle, the Kindle Touch is still 8% lighter and 11% smaller than the 3rd generation version. It will be available as both Wi-Fi and 3G models. The Wi-Fi model will be available with special offers for $99 and without for $139. The 3G model will be priced at $149 and $189 with and without special offers.
Preorder WiFi Version from Amazon
Preorder 3G Version from Amazon
The new Kindle Fire is a 7-inch color multi-touch Wi-Fi enabled tablet that can be used to watch videos and browse the web in addition to reading Kindle e-books. It’s got a dual-core processor, ultra-fast cloud-accelerated Amazon Silk web browser, free cloud storage, and 8-hour battery life, 7.5-hours if you’re watching video. All this for $199.
Preorder Kindle Fire via Amazon
The Kindle is available now, the Kindle Touch will be out November 21st, and the Kindle Fire will be released on November 15th.
I was checking out some of the new web-design books at the local bookstore when I came across Before & After: How to Design Cool Stuff by John McWade. The title of the book and look of the cover made me cringe a little, but I took a moment to browse through the book.
A bit to my surprise, the book looked awesome. Skimming the book revealed tips, tricks, and advice about, well, how to design cool stuff. There were sections about color, layout, typography, how to size graphics, and other related design-related topics.
The sticker price was a whopping $40, which seems like a lot for a 240-page book, but luckily the online and Kindle e-book prices are much more reasonable. Amazon provides a free first-chapter preview, but you may find it more rewarding to check out the book at your local bookseller.
Check price or order from Amazon
ISBN-10: 0321580125
ISBN-13: 978-0321580122
Just a reminder in case you didn’t see it yet: we’re running a giveaway over at ToolGuyd where you can enter to win a free Kobalt Double Drive Screwdriver or $25 Lowes gift card, your choice!
Click here for more Kobalt Double Drive info and here is the ToolGuyd Double Drive & Lowes Gift Card Giveaway link.
