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RainyDayMagazine's content can now be licensed for your print magazine or web site. Please contact us directly here. If you want to see something reviewed, then drop us a note with a link and we'll be happy to take a look.
NOTE: Click here to read more about our approach to product reviews.
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Dec 21,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Summary... |
So here they are, the RainyDayGiftGuides for 2014. We had a lot of fun putting the series together for you. We hope they were helpful to you in your search to find just the right thing for all of the deserving folks on your list!
We and the interns are taking a break, but we will all be back after the Holidays. Everyone here at RainyDayMagazine wishes everyone out there a safe, enjoyable, and wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!!! See you in 2015!!! [Permalink] - RainyDayGiftGuide: Summary
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Dec 20,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Kitchen... |
The kitchen is the heart and soul of the home. It is the place where everyone gathers regardless of the occasion. Most have realized that, even more than the living room, the kitchen is where much of the "living" actually takes place. So it comes as no surprise that kitchen-related gifts are welcome as they bring enjoyment year round.
This year, we have assembled a RainyDayKitchen tested group of kitchen gear which we have found to be useful, high quality, and well-made. Whether it is making espresso, cutting vegetables, or serving appetizers, the items we are recommending make the task easier, quicker, and/or more enjoyable.
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Dec 19,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Home & Garden... |
Home may be where the heart is, but the garden is where it goes when it wants to go take a break. We have put together some excellent gift items for those who are looking for suggestions to make either or both places a bit more enjoyable, whimsical, and or relaxing. If there is one thing we know, it is relaxing.
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Dec 18,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Tools... |
Santa's workshop may be staffed by magical elves, but the RainyDayWorkshop is run by interns with power tools. While it is true that our RainyDayInterns can do magical things with tools, power or otherwise, it is also true that the excellent tools in our shop may have something to do with their DIY successes.
The RainyDayWorkshop is very well-equiped, but the interns are always interested in checking out new and/or improved, uh, stuff. For this year's Gift Guide, they have put together a list, checked it twice, and assured us that they have been VERY VERY nice. Working from their suggestions, we have created our Tools GiftGuide with the idea of being able to increase what the RainyDayWorkshop can do. You may want to consider them for those on your list as well.
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Dec 17,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Books... |
eBooks may be the future, but there will always be a place for physical books on our shelves. The reason is not just that a physical book doesn't need batteries, software updates, or could break when dropped. It is that swiping to turn a page on a tablet will never replace the tactile satisfaction of turning an actual page in a book. Plus, you can't (or at least really shouldn't) read an eBook in the tub...
Some books are too beautiful to stay hidden inside an eReader. They belong on the coffee table, on the shelf, or just out and about!!! In that spirit, we have assembled some of our favorites for this year's 2014 Holiday Gift Guide.
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Dec 16,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Gadgets... |
While the origin of the word "gadget" is somewhat unclear, the term was in use in nautical circle in the 1800s, and became common in the US after World War I to refer something that provides a particular function, novelty or otherwise.
The gadgets we like all seem to have two things in common: they are clever devices that have a feature or function that amuse us in unexpected ways; they are unique, well constructed, and great looking. Those criteria are what decided our selections for this year's RainyDayMagazine Gadgets GiftGuide.
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Dec 15,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Sports... |
Some of us in the office have studied Aikido for a while under the guidance of Sensei Gleason at Shobu Aikido of Boston. The training is hard, but rewarding. Hard in the sense that the body does not always do what the brain wants, but rewarding when, after a time, it finally does. But, in order to train hard, recover well, and make progress, it is important to take care of the body. What we have learned is that hydration, flexibility, and proper techniques are the keys to endurance, balance, and powerful movements.
So for the 2014 Sports issue of the Holiday Gift Guide, we have assembled a collection of suggestions which we hope will help our readers do just that, regardless of what activities may get their... [more] - RainyDayGiftGuide: Sports
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Dec 14,2014- The Christmas Revels... |
The Christmas Revels is a singing, dancing, interacting piece of holiday tradition around here, and if you have kids, or used to be a kid, or are still a kid at heart, then this two-poem, two-dance, one-panto, kajillion-song event is for you.
The Revels is different every year, but the same. Every year it’s a new production: a new location, a new journey, with new songs/costumes/set. Every year it’s the same: a master of ceremonies (as it were), a “learning” at the beginning to teach the audience the songs it will be singing (texts provided in the program), the conga line (conga line?) of cast and audience clasping hands and singing “Lord of the Dance” as said line of hand-clasped humans weaves its way out the door and into the... [more] - The Christmas Revels
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Dec 12,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Creative Tools... |
Creativity can be a fierce force, but it is also a fragile thing. Whatever it is, it is something which needs and should be encouraged, nurtured, and stimulated whenever possible. This is what the Creative Tools GiftGuide is all about this year.
iPhone photography: While DSLRs may take a better photo, what many may not know is that the always-present iPhone camera is a lot more capable as a creative tool than most realize. Here are two recommendations for those who may be interested in learning how to use the... [more] - RainyDayGiftGuide: Creative Tools
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Dec 10,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- iGear... |
iPhones and iPads have pretty much taken over the world. So it was clear to us that we needed a RainyDayGiftGuide devoted to these, uh, iDevices. But because there are SO many accessories for iDevices available, we had to figure out how to narrow down our choices to a manageable few. The RainyDayInterns were up to the challenge. They looked at the list, checked it twice, and came up with a list of suggestions which we think will make any iPhone/iPad owner happy.
Regarding our
2014 RainyDayMagazine iGear recommendations: The items on this list were hand-selected from a much larger collection of accessories. The ones listed below are the ones we have used, tested, and found helpful. We hope you will as well!
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Dec 8,2014- RainyDayGiftGuide- Photography... |
We are amazed that the year is almost over and another Holiday Season is now upon us! The elves are back, running around the studio to set things up for the RainyDayMagazine GiftGuides photo shoot. They have an excellent eye for sparkly globes, twinkly trees, and other bits of decoration that turn the office into a holiday wonderland.
As with previous years we have assembled a collection of items which we think are both unique and useful to give/get. For the next two weeks, we will be posting RainyDayGift Guides in a variety of categories. We hope you will find the them helpful as you shop for gifts for yourself and your loved ones. Of course, feel free to revisit the previous guides (see side panels). Those recommendations are still perfectly valid. Happy Holidays!!!... [more] - RainyDayGiftGuide: Photography
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December 1,2013- Flummery and Trivet... |
We believe it takes a special person to write books for children. Children are not mini-adults. They see the world in a very different way from adults. Because children don't know what is not possible, everything is possible. They take things at face value, even when faced with the impossible. It is with this kind of acceptance of the impossible that children's book author (and RainyDay Contributing Editor) Carolyn Donovan introduces us to Harold and the Wimple-Dimple Dimmer Wimmer.
The story starts with the following:
- Harold is seven years old and has a wardrobe management problem. He can’t tie his shoes. Not only that, he’s convinced that he will never (ever) be able to tie his shoes.
- In the garage, where everyone sees just a pile of junk, Harold sees the Wimple-Dimple Dimmer-Wimmer.
- Harold doesn’t know what a Wimple-Dimple Dimmer-Wimmer is, but it is definitely not a "pile of junk!"
It is within this context that the story unfolds. Let us just say, it does not take long for a reader to be drawn into Harold's world. Once in, they will... [more] - Harold and The Wimple-Dimple Dimmer-Wimmer
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November 28,2014- Soy Curls... |
The RainyDayKitchen folks have more or less switched to vegetarian cooking because of personal ethics, its general healthier diet, and its better global sustainability. While we still have our annual FirstGrills and sausage/BBQ-fests, the Thanksgiving feasts have been non-traditional and turkey-free for the past two years. RainyDay's Thanksgiving is non-traditional both in terms of the food and in the company for three reasons. First, we have realized that traveling on Thanksgiving puts us in a less than thankful mood, so we do not travel on the holiday to see family (we do that when nobody else is doing it, like the next weekend). Second, because we stay local, we host a gathering for anyone else who is also staying local. And third, the feast is meat-free. We call all of the above our Straggler's Thanksgiving Feast.
This year, the menu consisted of the following:
After looking over the menu, we decided to add one more entree to the list... a "chick'n" and broccoli casserole using Butler Soy Curls in place of the chicken.
Soy Curls from Butler Foods is an all natural alternative to meat that is heart-healthy, delicious, and easy to use. We got hip to the stuff when one of our vegan readers told us to check it out. We were looking for something with a bit more texture (and way less artifice) to substitute for chicken, and were blown away by Soy Curls' taste, mouth feel, and versatility. Soy Curls are easy to... [more] - Soy Curls FirstUse
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Nov 21,2014- Folded Steel Katana 2... |
We had taken a FirstLook at one of the three folded-steel katana in July. That katana was from HanBon Sword. As we had stated at the time, for the Tameshigiri Series, we will be reviewing swords from different Chinese smiths in these ranges: $150-$350, $350-$600, $600-$1000. And to keep things interesting, we will not reveal the price of the katanas until we are done with the reviews.
Today, we are going to take a FirstLook at the second of the three katana. This one was forged by the smiths at Lyuesword, also located in Longquan China. In fact, their workshop is just "down the road" from the HanBon.
The folks at Lyuesword were a pleasure to deal with. They were friendly, responsive, and very knowledgeable. In ordering our katana, we could have specified EXACTLY what we wanted, but we opted for a combination which they recommended for the price range we had indicated. Unlike the experience with our first sword, this one from Lyuesword arrived REALLY quickly. The shipping process automatically notified us when the item was picked up by EMS. We were able to track the progress from the time it left the forge, made its way out of China, arrived in the US, and delivered to the office by USPS. In fact, the entire trip only tookl... [more] - Tameshigiri Series :Folded Steel Katana 2
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November 18,2014- NutriBullet Repair... |
No, that is not the DOD's latest "smart ordinance" disassembled on the RainyDayProject workbench. What it is is the guts of the NutriBullet blender. Those who "blend" will know that the NutriBullet is an awesome pulverizer for making all manner of drinks, spreads, and such. It is so good that, after getting it, we got rid of all the other blenders in the RainyDayKitchen. It is also something which gets used daily. So when the NutriBullet stopped working, folks started getting that "we need to get another one" look almost immediately.
The RainyDayProjects folks, on the other hand, were more level-headed and fairly certain that if they could find the problem, they could probably fix it. A blender is basically just a motor and a switch, and since heavy-duty motors (like that in the NutriBullet) rarely ever fail, the problem most likely was with the switch. Sure enough, once they had the NutriBullet guts exposed, the problem was obvious almost immediately. The fix was a little more involved, but still... [more] - NutriBullet Repair
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November 14,2014- RhinoRamps... |
The weather was nice earlier in the week, but the temperature dropped to freezing today. Knowing the cold weather was coming, the RainyDayInterns got off their butts and fixed the broken splash guard which had been dragging on the ground since the Summer. Because we know better than to get under the car with just a jack supporting it (that's just stupid), we got a pair of RhinoRamps from RhinoGear for the project. We are impressed: they're simple, but strong, durable, and useful as all get out.
RhinoRamps are molded from a durable polymer. The design of the frame allows the ramps to nest together to save space. It also gives the ramps sufficient structural strength to support a vehicle with a max gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 12,000 lbs. While this is a lot, the GVW number is, in general, not what most people think it is (hence the link to the explanation). What you need to know is that the... [more] - RhinoRamps FirstUse
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November 5,2014- Boxster Winter Prep... |
The RainyDayInterns have been putting off "winterizing" the Boxster until the very last possible moment...and who can blame them? According to the interns, with the top down and the Covercraft cover on, the convertible passes for quite the hammock! Still, Winter is coming and nobody wants to be outside in the freezing cold washing brake dust off the Summer tires. So when a 50º day appeared, they took the opportunity to swap out the Hankook Ventus Summer tires for the Firestone Winterforce snow tires, check the front and rear rotors/pads, and put on the recently repaired hardtop.
By having the RainyDayInterns do all our Winterizing/Summerizing work every year, we save a good bit on labor charges. We put those savings toward getting some new/cool tools for the RainyDayGarage, such as a good jack and a portable air pump.
A good sturdy jack makes it easy to lift the car. We have an all aluminum racing jack with a 3-ton lifting capacity. The lower profile of a "racing" jack makes it easy to get the jack under the car. A "racing" jack is designed such that... [more] - Boxster Winter Prep
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October 27,2014- Winter Prep... |
When the leaves start falling, it is a signal for the RainyDayGarden crew to go into prep mode for Winter. We have to make sure we have plenty of bird seed, put away all the grills (four by the last count), and tend to all of the plants so that the garden is ready when the first New England storm rolls in.
While deer are not a problem for city gardens, they can be a significant headache for many of suburban gardeners. To discourage deer from devouring their plantings, we have been recommending environmentally friendly repellents from Bobbex. Made from a combination of ingredients that blends the scents of putrescent eggs, garlic, fish, clove oil, and vinegar (among other things), Bobbex products work by mimicking predator scents, and are classed as a fear repellent. They also tastes awful, so deer have at least two reasons to avoid it. Bobbex can be applied in almost any... [more] - RDG Winter Prep
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October 24,2014- Summery Summary... |
Summer ended about a month ago. The weather was so pleasant this year in New England that we didn't notice it the season changing until the autumnal colors started to appear. This was one of the most comfortable Boston Summers we have had in recent memory. It was also a great year for the RainyDayGarden. Almost all of the plants made it through the harsh Winter, a few additions were introduced to the gang, and there was hardly any weeding or maintenance work to do...much to the delight of the RainyDayInterns :-)
However, as Fall is definitely upon us, we thought it was time to post a summary of how things went in the RainyDayGarden this Summer. Here is a recap of some of the more notable events in the... [more] - RDG Summer Summary
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October 21,2014- Fall Garden Cleanup... |
Can the battery-powered WORX AIR blower handle the Fall cleanup duties around the RainyDayGarden? That was the big question we have been waiting all Summer to find out. The short answer to our WORX AIR question is "Yes!"
The WORX Air is lightweight (less than 4lbs), cordless (rechageable Li-Ion battery), and powerful (air speed:120mph, air flow: 80cfm). The WORX Air comes with the... [more] - Fall Cleanup
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October 13,2014- Maya:Hidden World Revealed... |
The Museum Of Science opened their new exhibit, Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed, this week, and we stopped by to take a peak. Life-size replicas of sculpted monuments, never-before-seen real artifacts from digs, interactive kiosks, and immersive environments help bring this ancient civilization to life.
Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed investigates numerous questions surrounding the Maya and offers a glimpse of daily life through the eyes of the powerful rulers and their subjects. The exhibit explores the rise of the Maya people, the evolution of their complex culture, and the eventual decline of their remarkable civilization. The exhibit features more than 250 artifacts, dozens of interactive components, and... [more] - Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed
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October 10,2014- MFA: Goya |
We got a very nice preview of MFA's upcoming Goya exhibition on Monday. The last of the Old Masters and the first of the Moderns, Goya is an astute observer of the human condition. The full arc of Goya's creativity is on display in this exhibition, from the elegant full-length portraits of Spanish aristocrats, to caustic drawings of beggars and grotesque witches, to satirical etchings targeting ignorance and superstition.
"This exhibition offers a once-in-a-generation look at one of the greatest, most imaginative artists of all time," said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director at the MFA. "Goya: Order and Disorder reflects the Museum's close collaboration with the Prado, and builds on our proud tradition of Goya scholarship."
This retrospective features 170 paintings, prints, and drawings from collections around the world, twenty one of them from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. Others came from Musee du Louvre, the Galleria degli Uffizi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nation a Gallery of Art and private collections. 66 of the works came from the MFA's collection of Goya's works of paper. Many of these prints and drawings have not been on view in Boston for over a quarter of a century. Rather than the typical chronological arrangement, the works were... [more] - MFA: Goya
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October 6,2014- Dyson Cool... |
James Dyson shook the carpet and floor cleaning world when he brought out his no-bag/non-clogging/washable-filter cyclone vacuum cleaners in the 1990s. A decade later, he introduced another iconic product, a blade-less fan. We had looked at the fan when it first came out, but decided that while the technology was intriguing the noise level made it unsuitable for recommending to our readers. This past Spring, Dyson released the second generation of the bladeless fan. It has the same intriguing design, but is now 75% quieter. It was time to take another look at the Dyson Cool.
Is a blade-less fan anything like a wireless extension cord? Well, those wondering whether it is a gimmick or not can rest assure that it is not. The principle behind bladeless fan technology is the following: Air is pushed through a ring-shaped opening inside a loop. This creates a flow which passes over a shaped ramp that channels the air's direction, pushing it forward from the loop. Air outside and around the loop is "dragged" along with the flow (entrainment). At the same time, the air that gets pushed away from the ring creates an area of low pressure. The low pressure sucks in more air from behind the loop, meaning it is basically dragged into the stream (inducement). This all combines to... [more] - Dyson Cool FirstLook
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Septermber 29,2014- Weather Tools... |
Knowing what the weather will be is useful for gardeners. We don't like to water our plants unnecessarily, so we especially like knowing whether we should water the plants today or can they hang on for the rain that will be here tomorrow. Weather apps have been a great help. With the amount of information available at our fingertips one would think that the standard Weather app for the iPhone would be just as good as any of the others available in the App Store. After looking at a bunch, we can tell you that it is just not so.
The Weather app which comes pre-loaded on the iPhone will give a general forecast for the upcoming week, but if you want to know what will happen at your specific location in the next hour or so, then you are better off just looking up at the sky. Fortunately, there are other apps which are more predictive than the just-look-around-and-guess method. The best app, based on our experience, is ... [more] - Weather Tools
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September 26,2014- Sensu Brush... |
When digital tablets came onto the scene many saw their potential as a portable canvas for budding Rembrandts, Picassos, and Monets. Apps for sketching and painting showed up in the App Store almost immediately. In using the apps, people figured out pretty quickly that painting using fingers was not as artsy as they remembered their Kindergarden efforts being. Many styli (aka "styluses") came on the market in response to the need for a more precise, grown-up way to digitally create. While those devices were fine for sketching, people who preferred painting wanted something less pencil-ly, more paintbrusher-ly.
What they wished for was a brush that would work on a capacitive touchscreen. The folks at Sensu, Inc saw the need, but were unclear as to how to solve the technical problem of creating the conductive hair needed for such a brush. The breakthrough came when a brush-making friend of theirs in Japan introduced them to a hair technology being developed for the cosmetic industry: traditional synthetic brush hair infused with ... [more] - Sensu Brush FirstUse
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September 21,2014- Creative Gear... |
Creativity is elusive and hard to quantify, but something many want to encourage, stimulate, and foster in themselves. Sketching is one way to get those creative juices flowing. The tools needed are simple: some paper, and a pencil. Add some colors, a brush or two, and suddenly you find yourself kitted out for an afternoon of painting along the river bank. Toward that end, we have assembled a collection of tools we think will of interest to the artist with a digital bent (or the digerati with an artistic bent).
The tools listed below were chosen based on one overriding criteria: mobility. A lot of digital work is done in studios on large monitors, with big graphics tablets, and powerful computers. The laptop freed the artist from the studio, but were not conducive to spur-of-the-moment inspirations and impromtu sketching. Tablets changed all that. Today's digital artist is finally unchained and... [more] - Creative Gear
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September 15,2014- BackToSchool Gear... |
Summer is coming to a close. Most students are already back at school. Those who start later will be joining them by the end of the month. Many will be bringing with them new laptops, tablets, and other tools to make learning easier. We have put together a collection of accessories which may help them be more efficient, more effective, or just more enjoyable.
Curating this BackToSchool list is always a difficult task. The easier approach would be to offer up a huge list and be done with it. While our marketing folks would love that, you readers have told us the reason you stop by so often is because we DO make the effort to narrow down the choices to those which we think are worthy, novel, and more importantly, useful. Toward that end, we have looked at a mind-numbing number of possibilities and have selected about dozen items which we feel warrant mentioning. Here is the list:
Laptops are pretty much standard equipment for today's students. However, tablets are making a strong showing in many BackToSchool lists. Some see them as companions to laptops, other think of them as... [more] - BackToSchool Gear
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September 11, 2014- The Memorial... |
When we were in NYC this Summer, we stopped by the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial and paid our respects to two friends lost on that day: Anna Allison (N-2) and Aram Iskenderian (N-47).
Some of us worked with Anna when they were at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and others knew Aram from... [more] - September 11: The Memorial
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September 8,2014- Design Home 2014... |
The crew at RainyDayMagazine recently stopped by this year's Boston Magazine Design Home for a tour. Said home is the just-built domicile of our friends Tom and Natalie Treat. When Tom and Natalie decided to leave the city for more rural surroundings, they saw it as an opportunity to put some of their environmentally conscious desires into practice.
"There are many ways to live more energy efficiently," says Natalie. "We want to be living proof that it can be done successfully, and show how it can affect community initiatives and overall policy." She adds, "We want our home to be a lab where people can learn from what we've implemented."
After an unsuccessful search for an existing house which met their requirements, they decided to start from scratch and build something which satisfied their sustainable, net-zero-footprint goals, at a relatively affordable price. As things would have it, Tom and Natalie's plans meshed with Boston Magazine's goal for their tenth Design Home project, a net zero-energy house.
Each year's Boston Magazine Design Home is built in a different location in New England, and this year it can be found north of Boston in beautiful Salisbury, MA. This project reflects the current trend of... [more] -Design Home 2014
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September 5,2014- Fujifilm X100S ITW... |
We have had our hands on the Fujifilm X100S for almost a year and a half, and during that time this remarkable point-and-shoot camera has completely charmed its way into our hearts. Although SLRs and DSLRs are the workhorses, we have always had a soft spot for point-and-shoot cameras for street and travel photography. We are drawn to the simplicity of point-and-shoots (PnS). You point, compose, and press a button. How much more basic can taking a photo get? In the film days, our first PnS was the Olympus Pen, followed by the Olympus Stylus, and when things went digital, the Canon Digital Elph and the Nikon P7000. All of those cameras were fun, but none of them could be our ONLY camera when we traveled. Why? None of them had all of the capabilities to allay our fear of "missing THE shot"...until now.
In order to actually GET a good travel photo, a lot has to happen. Composition is critical and should be the photographer's main task. However, when analyzing the scene, one must also determine the optimal aperture/shutter speed/ASA combination, adjust the focus, all before pressing the shutter button. Ideally, a good PnS camera is able to off-load all of that (or as much the photographer is willing to let the camera handle) between the time its shutter button is touched and fully pressed. Oh yeah, it then needs to reset quickly and be ready for the next shot. After using the Fujifilm X100S for over 10,000 shots, we can say the camera does all of that perfectly AND... [more] -Fujifilm X100S InTheWild
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Septermber 1,2014- WORX Garden Tools... |
We introduced RainyDayGarden readers to WORX when we looked at the JawSaw (FirstLook, FirstUse, Maintenance) a few years back. Every so often, someone asks us about WORX's other items. This month, we are goint to take a closer look at two WORX garden tools which we think are especially suited to urban garderners: the WORX Air Multi-purpose Blower/Sweeper/Cleaner and the WORX GT 2.0 Grass Trimmer/Edger and Mini-mower. We will also be giving them a FirstUse workout as part of our annual RainyDayGarden Fall Cleanup.
Unlike our suburban counterparts, we urban gardeners have less need of heavy-duty versions blowers, trimmers, and mowers. Tools that are portable, have multiple duties, and do not require a lot of storage room are more suitable for our smaller gardens and yards. The WORX Air is a multi-purpose blower created to make small garden and workshop cleanups a... [more] -WORX Garden Tools FirstLook
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[Previous half of the year...]
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