I’ve been wanting a good “everyday carry” (EDC) gaffer’s tape solution, and had a moment of inspiration reading these EDC duct tape ideas. A used gift card is the perfect width, just slightly wider than the gaffer’s tape I buy (Pro-Gaff from Rose Brand). I didn’t keep track, but I probably have two or three feet on here and it’s very compact:

(As with any of my DIY posts, if you build your own, you do so at your own risk. I am not handy, and you should just assume stuff built using my plans will collapse and kill you.)

I’ve been wanting to build up to a standing rollout forever (and I’m still working on it). I didn’t get anywhere with the approach of rolling out to a wall, but I’m seeing good progress by using a ramp, as suggested and demonstrated by Ross Enamait. I ended up rigging mine up using an 8' 2x10 for the ramp, squat stands outfitted with a couple 2x4 pieces with holes in them that allow me to move the ramp incrementally (these were attached by using my ClampTite (which is a great tool, by the way)), and a metal rod that I can either put through the holes in the squat stands, or in the holes in the 2x4s. You can probably work it out from this photo:

Note that I need those holey 2x4s because the holes in the squat stands stop a couple feet from the floor.

As for the ramp, it has a couple other 2x4 pieces screwed to the bottom so it can hang on the rod securely. When placing the ramp, I usually hang it all the way to one side (so very close to one of the squat stands) as it feels more secure. When the ramp is in the middle the metal rod bows slightly.

Small bit of housekeeping: I recently moved the quickies and stuff over to @jimbiancolo, and I have an RSS feed for that, but since it now includes various nothings in addition to links, I thought you might like a links-only RSS feed to better approximate the link postings that used to go on this blog.

I’m not sure what this blog wants to become—I’ll still use it for the rare longer post or things that are more “mine”—but it seems like most of what I do lately is quick links, and Twitter makes that so easy. I’m going to give it a go for awhile @jimbiancolo. Here’s the RSS, if you prefer.

For her anti-vaccine crusade, the Jenny McCarthy Body Count.

Pedal Power, great collection of bike photos. Never seen a chikudu before.

I love how, in certain of these super slow motion skateboarding tricks, the rider and board rotate in perfect sync even though they are detached.

Ze Frank contextuates Syria in four minutes and change.

A Life Worth Ending: an amazing, honest and personal look at the horrible state of modern aging and dying.

Interview with a Safecracker. The "how often do people get locked in vaults?" answer is great.

Wow, the Isle of Man TT is crazy-fast. That little shimmy the bikes give as they touch down is stomach-clenching. I hope that guy survived the spectacular crash at 1:30.

The Perfected Self. "Though more advanced in execution, today’s electronic nudges and tweaks are identical in purpose: use what you can control to affect what you can’t. The simple elegance of this concept flips on its head Chomsky’s suggestion that behavior modification treats people as if they were no more intelligent than animals. What distinguishes our intellect from animals' is not that we can go against our environment—most of us can’t, not in the long run—but rather that we can purposefully alter our environment to shape our behavior in ways we choose."