CONTENTS
Editorial: Stop to improve productivity.
Travel: Miznon Restaurant.
Technology: 3D-Printed Stethoscope.
Stationery: 2018 Tournament of Books Rooster Book.
Gadgets and Gear: Gearward HemiSERE Titanium Lapel Knife.
Books and Writing: Anomaly.
Miscellaneous: Credit Card Chess Set.
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EDITORIAL: Stop to improve productivity
If you are like PD you lead a very busy life and feel like you work eight days a week. You have busy schedules and looming deadlines. The urge is to work harder, eat on the run and extend the day's work into the night. This may work in the very short term but it will soon take its toll. As you get sleep deprived and suffer a poor diet you will become less efficient, you will find it hard to concentrate and your mental and physical health will suffer - you will have burnout.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but to maintain efficiency you must have down time. That means an adequate night's sleep, which is seven to eight hours a night for most adults, time to meditate and relax. You will get more done in the fewer hours that you spend on work than if you are tired and work longer hours. Naps are also useful but may not be practical at work. Try one when you first get home before continuing with your evening.
Contact Prowling Dog at prowlingdog@protonmail.com
TRAVEL: Miznon Restaurant
Miznon is an Israeli restaurant that first opened its doors in Tel Aviv in 2011 and now has branches in Paris, Vienna, New York and Melbourne.
Started by famous Israeli restaurateur Eyal Shani, serving up top quality food. To call the food served at Miznon street food is a misnomer, for although it largely revolves around pita, the ingredients are top quality and the flavours are mouth-watering.
The restaurant has a great warehouse-industrial look, with large metal lights and raw benches. Fresh produce is used as decoration. The atmosphere is happy and very friendly, and the charming staff is always ready to help with advice on the menu.
There is a large choice of food for all tastes, from mild to spicy. The signature dish would have to be the cauliflower, served whole. It is boiled then roasted in its leaves. The cauliflower is soft and very sweet. PD would travel the world to taste it again.
PD rating: 5 paws out of 5.
https://www.miznonaustralia.com/ (the website has links to other locations).
Contact Prowling Dog at prowlingdog@protonmail.com
TECHNOLOGY: 3D-Printed Stethoscope
3D printing is turning out to be a disruptor. The possibilities for manufacturing on demand and in the home bypasses traditional factories.
A team at Western University in Ontario in Canada has developed a template for printing a stethoscope that it claims has been validated to be acoustically similar to a top brand. The stethoscope parts are made from ABS plastic, freely available plastic tubing and a membrane made from easily available plastic.
The aim is to produce low cost stethoscopes in areas that lack basic medical resources such as stethoscopes. Of course access to a 3D printer is required, but the stethoscopes could be produced in a nearby place and transported to the area of need.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193087
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STATIONERY: 2018 Tournament of Books Rooster Book
PD is starting to lose count of the number of times that he has featured Field Notes Brand notebooks, but their quality and versatility together with a reasonable price are hard to beat, and the people behind the brand are always coming up with something new. When you buy this notebook you will be helping under-resourced students to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills (details are in the link below).
The Tournament of Books is explained by the FNB folk as such:
In case you’re new to all this, the ToB is an annual springtime event here at The Morning News, where a group of the best works of fiction from last year enter a March Madness-style battle royale. In March, these novels will be seeded and paired off in an NCAA Tournament-like bracket. For each pairing, one of our esteemed judges will read both novels and advance one, with a transparent explanation of how they made their decision.
Perhaps you will be inspired to start a Tournament of Books in your town, college or university.
https://fieldnotesbrand.com/products/rooster2018
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GADGETS AND GEAR: Gearward HemiSERE Titanium Lapel Knife
Being prepared is essential. Covert gear is necessary in case you are captured and any obvious tools have been taken away from you. During World War II concealing tools and maps became an art form. The Office of Strategic Services was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 to enhance the United States' intelligence services for the war effort.
[Image: OSS logo, United States Army Contributor derivative work by Maxxl]
One of the tools issued by the OSS is the easily concealed lapel knife.
Gearward has updated the design and uses a titanium/ceramic composite in its version, the HemiSERE Titanium Lapel Knife.
Its measures 3.375"L x 0.75"H x 0.05"W and has a 1.875" cutting edge (approximately 8.6cm in length, with a 4.8cm blade). It weighs just 4gm. The knife comes from Japan.
Pick one up here before your next mission:
https://gearward.com/products/hemisere
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BOOKS AND WRITING: Anomaly
If you want more followers, customers, sales and leads you have to stand out from the crowd, to be the anomaly. That is the message behind Zack Miller's book, titled, "Anomaly".
Zack Miller is an entrepreneur who succeeds and helps others to succeed by taking a fresh approach to things.
The book is not only for business people. Are you on this list?
Contact Prowling Dog at prowlingdog@protonmail.com
MISCELLANEOUS: Credit Card Chess Set
Imagine having an hour or two to waste available for alternative activities. Perhaps you are waiting at the airport and found no inspiration in the shops. You could look at Facebook or check your emails yet again. Or you could pull a chess set out of your pocket and start a game.
This credit card-sized chess set has snap-off pieces.
The only question is, what do you do with the pieces when you have finished the game? It is a pity that the creators did not come up with a solution, as this makes it a one-time use emergency chess set.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/NYKJYU5GE/credit-card-chess-set?optionId=43852641
Contact Prowling Dog at prowlingdog@protonmail.com
Contact Prowling Dog at prowlingdog@protonmail.com
Important disclaimer: Remember that crowd funding sites are not stores. You may decide to back this project and provide funds, however there is no guarantee that any project will be delivered - the rate of failure is about 10%. PD is in no way accountable for the success or otherwise of any project and writes in this column purely for entertainment purposes, and will in no way be held liable for any failure or money lost by anyone. It is a case of "buyer beware". It is a sad reflection on the era we live in that PD must resort to this type of disclaimer.
Note: Photographs and illustrations are from the relevant websites and are the copyright of the respective owners.
© 2018 Prowling Dog