Hello, dear Interoperable readers,
A core tenet of this here fancy internet publication is maintainability. A side-effect of maintaining yourself, your stuff, your plants, and/or your dog is amassing a small collection of useful tools. For the 10th edition, I've assembled a list of four useful tools for useful people. Enjoy!
The Black Stick or "spudger"
The venerable "black stick" has been a staple of my working life since I was a dandruffy and malodorous 18-year-old cleaning out 30-pin connectors on iPhones 3GS. It has two ends: one flat, one bevelled like a screwdriver or scraper, and the other pointy like a sharpened pencil. The soft nylon material makes these perfect for poking and prodding inside delicate electronics or around surfaces you don't want to mar. It was invaluable for a recent project where I replaced part of the upper case on my trusty old ThinkPad laptop. These are cheap enough to purchase by the dozen and distribute around your various kits and containers. My uses include: poking and prying at things that my neanderthal fingers are not dextrous enough for, prying apart Lego bricks, cleaning under aforementioned neanderthal nose pickers, and scraping schmoo/gunk/grime from things that I don't want to scratch up.
Citrus Peeler
I received one of these years ago, which has lived in my little kit of useful crap ever since. Like the black stick, it has two ends: a wedge for splitting and cutting open the peel and a flat blade for carefully parting the juicy wedges inside. I find it invaluable in the office and travelling, where bowls of gratis fruit always seem to be on display. Even the most stubborn airport lounge orange is no match for this powerful plastic peeler!
Double Sided Pencils and Multi-Coloured Pens
BIC 4 Colours Original Pen and Caran d'Ache Bicolor Pencil 999
I first noticed that Alton Brown, the pre-eminent gastronomical impresario, deride "unitasking" tools, your strawberry slicers, "The Rollie" egg tube maker, and near-useless Wolverine-like claws for shredding meat. The BIC 4 colours pen and Caran d'Ache Bicolor Pencil are the supreme multitaskers of any pencil pouch. The BIC writes as well as you'd expect any standard BIC. Its main trick is having four different sliders to choose four different ink colours: black, red, green, or blue. If you are also a person who possesses substantial hands, the body of the pen is comfortably girthy for extended writing sessions. Where the BIC pen feels neutral and bureaucratic, Caran d'Ache pencils rebuke their Swiss heritage and are buttery and a joy to use. I adore the "Bicolor Pencil 999" for its excellent shades of blue and red, it retains a point well, and unlike almost every other coloured pencil on the market, they don't tend to break while sharpening.
I first noticed that Alton Brown, the pre-eminent gastronomical impresario, deride "unitasking" tools, your strawberry slicers, "The Rollie" egg tube maker, and near-useless Wolverine-like claws for shredding meat. The BIC 4 colours pen and Caran d'Ache Bicolor Pencil are the supreme multitaskers of any pencil pouch. The BIC writes as well as you'd expect any standard BIC. Its main trick is having four different sliders to choose four different ink colours: black, red, green, or blue. If you are also a person who possesses substantial hands, the body of the pen is comfortably girthy for extended writing sessions. Where the BIC pen feels neutral and bureaucratic, Caran d'Ache pencils rebuke their Swiss heritage and are buttery and a joy to use. I adore the "Bicolor Pencil 999" for its excellent shades of blue and red, it retains a point well, and unlike almost every other coloured pencil on the market, they don't tend to break while sharpening.
Rechargeable AA Batteries
I invested in some "Eneloop Pro" brand batteries for my camera's flash many years ago. It was $20 for four top-quality, 2450 mAh Nickel-metal Hydride (NiMH) AA batteries made in Japan. At one time, Apple sold a charger with six rechargeable AA batteries for $29 that were rumoured to be re-branded Eneloops from the same Japanese factory. As far as my research can tell, only one factory produces this type of battery in Japan. Apple provided a slightly better price per battery (especially with my employee discount), but you ended up with a silly charging solution since the Apple charger only holds two batteries at a time (Apple and inconvenient charging solutions, name a more iconic duo). Recently, I've gotten back into using speed lights for flash photography, which has rekindled my relationship with NiMH AA batteries. Some research led me to IKEA(!), which sells their "LADDA" 2450 mHA, made in Japan, AA batteries for about $9 (£7) for a four-pack! At that price, it's worth stocking up and grabbing a $25 "TJUGO" charger that can charge eight AA or AAA batteries simultaneously.
Small Ruler
Shinwa's 15cm ruler is sturdy and accurate, with the most admirable feature I've seen on a ruler: a tiny upturned bit on one end labelled "pick-up" that allows you to push down on that end easily pop the ruler into your hand. No more struggling to claw a thin ruler from your desk, genius! Paired with a ruler stop, it makes precise measurements easy. 15cm is small enough to fit into most pencil cups, cases, or small toolkits.
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I'm Tyler Dickey, and this is my newsletter Interoperable. I celebrate my never-ending love for reliable, available, and maintainable systems like RSS and telephony. I write about topics that interest me: art, reading, making things, and technology. Please consider subscribing or following me elsewhere on the internet: Website | Instagram