Before Jack was really Jack in 1969, he hosted photographer Arthur Schatz in his new home on Mulholland Drive overlooking Franklin Canyon. A standout shot from the visit, this picture...
Steve McQueen loved motorcycles, planes, and especially cars. This photograph catches the "King of Cool" in 1963 driving one of his favorites: the 1956 Jaguar XK SS Convertible. Printed to...
Many areas, and large cities in particular, are ready to transition to all-electric mobility in just the next few years. As such, it's important to find a find a way...
Ford hasn't made a first-generation Bronco since 1977, but you can now get an officially-licensed, brand-new Bronco — with modern mechanicals and equipment. Gateway Bronco takes body panels and frames...
Gateway Bronco officially signed a licensing deal with Ford for its restored and modified builds of 1966 and 1977 Broncos. Support like this, from a big manufacturer, is tough to come by, which is why this agreement is all the more amazing.
November 1940. "Pool hall in Shasta County, California." Recreation for the workers and engineers building the Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River. Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
At the end of the Permian Period (252 million years ago), 96% of ocean life went extinct. We now know it was because of warming oceans that were devoid of oxygen and suffocated sea life around the world.
In this guide, I quickly take you through the steps for freezing bananas for smoothies and why you might want to do it. If you’re asking yourself can bananas be frozen then you will be glad to hear that they can be easily frozen. There are just a few things that you will need to […]
Our guest this week is Gever Tulley. Gever is founder of Tinkering School, an internationally famous summer camp where kids build amazing things from rollercoasters to wind-powered trains. He is also the founder of SF Brightworks, a K-12 school where the student is the co-author of their education, with an emphasis on learning by doing. He also co-author of 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do), a book to help children and families learn to assess and mitigate risk by doing dangerous things together (and is now available in seven languages). He speaks and hosts workshops internationally on education and the empowerment of children, and he is constantly fooling around in the shop, building things with kids
Irwin Vice-Grip Self-Adjusting Wire Stripper
“Just recently, I’ve fallen in love with this self-adjusting wire stripper. It is the most reliable tool I’ve ever put in my hand. We have yet to have it fail to perfectly strip the end of a wire. And, it requires no finesse. Even the youngest kids, who are still struggling with their motor skills, are able to set the wire in the right place, squeeze the handle, and have a perfectly stripped wire.”
IMHC CMap Tools (Concept Mapping)
“I think, everybody these days is familiar with a practice called mind mapping, which is trying to tease out of your own brain the connections that you make to a central concept. And then, those can get hierarchical in complexity, and they branch, and you create this map of what you know. And, years ago, a very young educator introduced me to the concept of concept mapping. And, this is a very distinct dialect of a mind map. And, what it really does is, you construct a model of what you know about something. And that consists of the nodes that you’re familiar with in a mind map, where you’ve got a central concept, but it highlights the relationship between those nodes. By way of example, if we were to describe those wire cutters, and what we know about them, we might start off with wire cutting, and wire cutting would be an activity, and then, we would connect that to something, ‘is a necessary step’ for prototyping electronics. ‘Is a necessary step’ would be the connection between those two concepts. And, by distinctly elevating the importance of the relationship between the concepts, we start to, very accurately, capture what it is we know about a topic, a domain of knowledge. And, what I found in practice, especially when I was working in technology is, I would have a development team in the room, and we would start to use one of these maps as a way to make sure that we were all working on the same thing. And, as we built these maps, both interactively in software, or on a whiteboard, what I realized is that it really starts to highlight those places where you say, ‘Well, I don’t actually know why this component is here. I don’t know why we have this module. I don’t know why we’re doing it this way.’ And that would highlight the gaps, so that we could really focus our attention on closing unknown missing knowledge gaps. I guess it helps you find the unknown unknowns.”
Highland 2
“I have three books in process right now, and, have really moved away from them, which is where I used to write to a tool called Highland or Highland 2, now is, just been out for a year. These are developed by John August. He’s a fairly famous screenwriter. And, he has a little software company on the side called Quote-Unquote Apps. And, he developed this out of frustration, which is often where I think some of the best tools come from. He felt like there was a tyranny in the industry of people bullying screenwriters about format, and, he felt like format is the least interesting part of a screenplay. We should just nail this down, standardize it, and then, develop a broad swath of tools that can do this. And, his first version was a very simple formatting tool that could just produce screenplays. But, it presented such a beautifully clean and crisp writing interface, and it’s built around a version of the Courier font that he cleaned up and developed at his company, which, it somehow, makes me feel more like writing when I see the letters coming out in this simple clean Courier.”
Trinket.io
“[Trinket is] a terrific online browser-based Python environment, where students at our school have really had a good time doing Turtle graphics, doing TextAdventures, and it presents a really comfortable on-ramp, where you can start with a Block style programming environment, and then jump over into Python as they’re comfort with algorithmic thinking, and ability to express themselves, so the keyboard increases on … We needed a place where kids could be playful with code, but also be serious and write some real code. Unlike a lot of the online systems for kids getting into code, this supports doing a project that has multiple files, or multiple Python modules, if you will, and, it’s a great place to develop those skills, and I can go in and look at their code, and co-edit with them. … I can be sick at home, and talking over the phone while they edit, and we can be there together solving a problem, which I’ve done more than once.”
Also mentioned:
Tinkering Labs Motor Catalyst
“One of the projects I’m working on right now, and it’s actually for sale on Amazon and places like that, is, something we call the Motor Catalyst. I have a little company called Tinkering Labs, and it produces this; it’s a box, and it’s full o’ parts, and, it has a little deck of challenges in there, but, it has very few instructions; just enough to give you a sense of how to get the motor spinning, and how simple circuits work, and from that point on, it’s figure it out. .. It’s a open-ended play-based, or discovery-based learning environment, for understanding how electric motors work, building physical contraptions to do curious and interesting things. You can build almost anything out of it. We’re constantly getting pictures from kids who’ve built egg beaters, and somebody made a saw that could cut through a piece of paper, all kinds of little robotic creatures that scurry around on the floor. And it’s all held together with rubber bands. It’s very forgiving. It doesn’t require precision. In fact, what it emphasizes is iteration, and, that really supports a work mode of kids setting themselves a goal, ‘Can I make something that runs around on the floor?’, and then suddenly they’re like, ‘It’s just going in circles. Can I get it to go straight?’ And then get it to go straight. And then it runs into a wall. ‘Oh, I know how to build it, so it stays together once it hits the wall, and… ‘ It self feeds and self stimulates a really productive learning process that’s self directed.”
We have hired professional editors to help create our weekly podcasts and video reviews. So far, Cool Tools listeners have pledged $377 a month. Please consider supporting us on Patreon. We have great rewards for people who contribute! – MF
Free domains for blogging
To encouraging blogging, WordPress is offering free .blog domains. They’ll give you a “x.blog” domain name that suits your x. I registered a blog for my next photobook called Vanishing Asia and got vanishingasia.blog. That’s pretty good, and for free. — KK
“Finding threats makes you feel curiously safe. When you know a lion is near, you feel safer when you can see it. We keep seeking evidence of threats, and we get a dopamine boost when we find what we seek. You may also get a serotonin boost from the feeling of being right, and an oxytocin boost if the evidence bonds you to those with similar concerns. This is why people seem oddly pleased to find evidence of doom and gloom.”
“Happy chemicals were not meant to create constant ecstasy. They were meant to steer us toward things that promote survival. When we try to get constant happiness from them, disappointment is likely.“
“Celebrating small steps triggers more dopamine than saving it all up for one big achievement.”
“Your brain will never stop trying to promote your survival. It will take what you have for granted and look for ways to get more – more rewards (dopamine), more physical security (endorphin), more social support (oxytocin), more respect (serotonin). Seeking more is risky. Your brain is constantly deciding whether it’s worth giving up some of this to get more of that.”
— MF
Nature live cams
For a dose of awe and wonder head over to Explore.org and choose from almost 100 live nature cams available at any time. There’s ocean cams, bears, gorillas, puppies and kittens and other animal sanctuaries (this sheep barn can be pretty mesmerizing to watch when they’re in for the night). Never a dull moment. — CD
Thrilling documentary Icarus is a Netflix streaming documentary that starts out small. The director has the idea of documenting how elite bicycle racers elude doping tests by doping himself and getting tested. This leads to Russian doping experts, which in turn stumbles into the Russian doping underground, which eventually breaks into the Russian doping scandal, and as the director gets involved with newspapers and FBI, his investigations lead directly to the ban on Russian athletes in the Olympics and an international diplomatic crisis. All the while the director is filming everyone, including the Russian whistleblower, who is put into the US federal witness protection program for fear of Russian assassination. It’s a mind-boggling Oscar-winning documentary that expands bigger and bigger as it proceeds. — KK
Garage and workshop storage shelves
About 8 years ago I hired someone to help my organize my stuff, after we met at my house, she told me to order some Gorilla Racks for our garage. They turned out to be a good purchase. They’re easy to assemble and sturdy. — MF
Expert ways to tell if clothes are well-made
Ever since I took a sewing class I’m obsessed with how clothes are made, and now avoid buying “fast fashion” if I can. This article by BuzzFeed shows you 14 easy ways to figure out if clothing is made cheaply or not. It’s illuminating. — CD
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The flu can take you out of the game for a week or more, so it's important that you stay healthy during flu season. Get a head start by boosting your immune system to prevent the flu in the first place. If you happen to fall victim to fever and fatigue, knowing what to eat can help your body fight the flu faster so you can get back in the game.
Cut down on refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates, like sugar, white flour, and rice, can cause inflammation, which weakens your body's immune system. Avoid white breads, ice cream, pastries, breakfast cereals, candy, and pasta.[1]
Eat citrus fruits that are low in sugar. Citrus fruits, in particular, are high in vitamin C, which may help to boost your immunity and decrease flu symptoms. Vegetables such as broccoli, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and winter squash are rich in vitamin C. Other fruits like grapes, mangoes, and bananas can contain a high degree of sugar, which can suppress immunity.
Citrus fruits that are particularly low in sugar include peppers, tomatoes, and avocados.
Include lean protein in your diet. Lean proteins are important for any healthy diet, but they are especially important when boosting your immune system. They help your body create antibodies that fight off infections like the flu.[2]
Lean proteins are those without a lot of fat. They include foods like chicken and turkey with the skin removed, fish, shellfish, and lean beef like sirloin and round cuts. Vegetarians can boost their lean protein intake through foods like eggs, lentils, and beans.[3]
Moderate the amount of healthy oils you eat. Healthy cooking oils, such as extra virgin olive oil, can boost the immune system because they have a high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids. This helps them protect you from infection.[4]
One tablespoon is the recommended serving size for cooking oil. Eating more than the recommended amount of even healthy cooking oils can lead to cardiovascular disease. Using these oils to fry food can also suppress your immune system.[5]
Add whole grains to your daily intake. Centered mostly in your gut, your body's immune system needs healthy bacteria to strengthen it. Whole grains have anti-inflammatory benefits that generate healthy gut bacteria to keep you healthy.[6]
Choose breads and other products that are "100 percent" whole grain or whole wheat. If they don't contain a percentage, they may include white flours too, which cause inflammation.[7]
Whole grains, such as quinoa and rye bread, also add B vitamins, fiber, and minerals to your diet. These nutrients are essential to overall good health and keep your immune system in working order.[8]
Increase your consumption of probiotics and prebiotics. Prebiotics are carbohydrates that probiotics feed off of but your body is unable to digest. Probiotics are healthy gut bacteria that strengthen your immune system.[9]
Prebiotics, such as beta-glucan and inulin, are in foods like asparagus, barley, oats, bananas, and onions.[10]
You can find probiotics in fermented foods, such as Greek yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Find a yogurt with a label that includes "live cultures," which are the probiotics.[11]
Trust in the healing power of chicken soup or bone broth. Mom gave you chicken soup when you were sick for a reason. The broth contains carnosine, a compound that battles against inflammation. The warmth of soup or broth can also alleviate congestion.[12]
Chicken soup contains immunity-boosting lean protein, nutrient-rich vegetables, and the broth keeps you hydrated. Inhaling deeply over a bowl can also unblock a stuffed up nose or moisten a dry throat.
Increase the amount of garlic, herbs, and spices in your food. Some herbs and spices can kill germs and reduce inflammation in the body. Members of the allium family, such as onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks, are anti-inflammatory and may soothe a sore throat.[13]
Some people use oregano oil to reduce the symptoms of respiratory problems, such as sore throats and coughs. It has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral properties.[14] The herbs rosemary and thyme are also antioxidants.
Raise your intake of citrus. Citrus fruits contain high concentrations of vitamin C, an important antioxidant. Vitamin C supports your body's t-cells and phagocytes, which are important to the immune system.[15]
Sip on some hot tea. Drinking hot tea can soothe a sore throat or cough while keeping you hydrated. Tea also has antioxidants and contains quercetin, which boosts immunity. Add a slice of lemon to your tea for a boost of vitamin C.[16]
Ginger has strong anti-inflammatory powers. Sipping on ginger tea is a good way to take advantage of ginger's benefits.[17]
Ginseng tea can soothe upper respiratory infections, and may drastically reduce the length of flu symptoms.[18]
Green tea has flavonoids and catechins, which are antioxidants. Catechins are antiviral and antibacterial, and can help fight off the flu virus.[19]
Decrease the length of the flu with zinc-rich foods. Many people believe that increasing their intake of zinc can drastically limit the symptoms and length of the flu. Zinc is an important mineral in the healthy function of your immune system.[20]
Some people take zinc supplements when they get the flu, but you can get it from turkey, beans, wild salmon, oysters, whole grains, and nuts.
Battle germs with flu-fighting pineapple. Eating pineapple increases the body's creation of granulocytes, which make white blood cells. White blood cells defend against the flu virus.[21]
Pineapple is a lytic agent so it thins mucus, which may alleviate coughs and congestion.[22]
Avoid alcohol and caffeine during flu season. They can dehydrate you, making your symptoms worse. However, a small amount of caffeine, such as a cup of tea, will not be detrimental.[23]
Pineapple contains an enzyme called bromelain, which can cause interactions with some medications, especially blood thinners, antibiotics, anticoagulants, and barbiturates.[24]
Nerf blasters have been around for decades now, exciting children and concerning parents alike. Most are powered by springs or compressed air, and are the ideal holiday toy for putting delicate family heirlooms at risk. Not content to settle for the usual foam-flinging sidearm, [Peter Sripol] decided to take things up a notch.
The build starts with a MEGA CYCLONESHOCK blaster, which uses the larger red NERF darts as ammunition. Water tanks are rigged to the outside, fitted with stainless steel electrodes. The original spring & plunger firing assembly is then removed, to make room for a firing chamber made out of copper pipe. A small taser-like device is used as an igniter. When the charging switch is pressed, current is passed through the electrodes in the water, which splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. This is then passed to the firing chamber, where it can be ignited by the taser module, activated by the trigger.
Despite some issues with the blaster occasionally destroying darts due to what appears to be overpressure, it is capable of higher shot velocities than the stock blaster. For all its complexity, performance is somewhat hit and miss, but the cool factor of a handheld hydrogen bubbler is hard to ignore. [Peter] does note however that the combination of explosive gases and dangerous catalyst chemicals make this one build that’s probably best left to adults.
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) has announced five projects selected to receive funding following the autumn votes. This brings the total number of projects to receive funding during 2018 to 14.
Lure the spirit of the season into your home and get into the mood with festive Christmas music. Paired with Christmas cookies, mulled wine, and the best Christmas movies on Netflix, you and your family will soon relax into the holidays.
In this article, we have compiled legal and free resources for contemporary, classical, and traditional Christmas music downloads. We’ve also added a few sheet music sites, in case you’re a talented (budding) musician yourself.
Our first site provides “free holiday music from top indie artists”. The collection includes contemporary and traditional tunes, as well as vocal and instrumental interpretations. In addition to holiday music, you’ll find seasonal sounds and audio files of Christmas stories for kids.
You can stream the music on the site or download MP3 files.
At New Christmas Music, you will find new (contemporary) Christmas songs and traditional Christmas carols. The collection includes “O Christmas Tree,” “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” and “Jingle Bells”. Some songs are available in different versions. “O Holy Night,” for example, comes in an instrumental and a vocal recording.
Downloads come in several formats, including MP3, WMA, and MIDI. Some songs also feature dated Flash animations. You can preview MP3 and WMA files in your browser. To download a tune, right-click the file format, e.g. MP3, and select Save link as…
If you feel a little overwhelmed, start here. The site features only 24 traditional Christmas songs, one for every day of the Advent season. Each song comes with a brief description.
For example, did you know that “Jingle Bells” was originally named “One Horse Open Sleigh” or that the original version of “Silent Night”—“Stille Nacht” in German—was written by Austrian author Franz Gruber and then translated into 300 languages?
The FMA is the music archive of WMFU (recently acquired by Triebe of Noise), the longest running freeform radio station in the U.S. The archive includes a section with over 350 free Christmas songs across various genres.
You can sort their list by artist, track or album name, date added, or most interesting. To play the songs in your browser, click the Play Page button in the top right. When you found a Christmas song you like, you can download it to your computer; right-click the arrow and click Save link as…
For over 20 years, Uncle Dave has been recording instrumental versions of traditional Christmas tunes. You can stream the songs and download MP3 and MIDI files.
While all songs on this site are in the public domain, “these arrangements are copyrighted as derivative works by David M. Latchaw”. That said, you’re welcome to use Uncle Dave’s music if you provide a link back to the source.
The Christmas Carols available on A-M Classical come with a Creative Commons Attribution license (what are the Creative Commons?) This license allows you free use of the recordings in any way you please, as long as you credit the original creator.
The site also features classical Christmas music and Christmas pipe organ music. You can play the files in your browser or right-click and download each file individually.
All albums featured on NuBeat Music are free. In the Christmas Albums section, you will find instrumental music, beats, rhythm, and many traditional Christmas songs. You can stream each tune, and for most songs, you can also download lyrics. The only downside is that you need to download albums one song at a time.
In addition to the nine musical albums, NuBeat Music also features two storytelling albums: Christmas Special and Christmas Drama.
Bandcamp is a great site to discover new music. Many artists offer entire albums to download for free, though you’re welcome to pay for what you enjoy. You’ll find both original recordings and interpretations of titles like “White Christmas,” “Santa Baby,” and other classic tunes.
The 2019 “A Very Furnace Christmas” (full release on December 13) is a must-listen for fans of alternative holiday music. It reinterprets mainstream hits like “YMCA” or “Gangsta’s Paradise” in a very seasonal spirit.
Before you download anything, you can preview the music in a free stream.
Download Christmas Sheet Music
Maybe you prefer to play your own music. Then these sites are for you.
On Virtual Sheet Music, you can choose your instrument and skill level before you pick a song from their vast collection of over 3,000 Christmas carols. The online sheets feature a MIDI file, which will help you find the right tune.
All sheets come in printable PDF format. A premium membership will give you full access to all sheet music downloads.
Regardless of what instrument you play or what skill level you’re at, this site has the matching sheet music. The Christmas section covers over 130 songs. For each instrument, you can stream a MIDI file, set the tempo, and follow green highlights through the sheet. Click a section on the sheet and the MIDI will jump to that section too.
To print multiple pages at once, you have to subscribe to the site.
If you play the piano, you will appreciate this Christmas sheet music source. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, you’ll find sheets suitable for your skill level. Some songs even come with video tutorials.
True beginners can also review piano chords and basic piano tutorials.
This last site has it all: classical and traditional music, sheet music, MIDI, and MP3 files, all on one page dedicated to Christmas music and carols. You’ll find arrangements for guitar and other instruments, along with printable PDFs of the sheet music, and media files you can download.
Each song has its own dedicated page, featuring its backstory, history, and all available files.
What Christmas Music Are You Downloading?
These sites offer all of the free Christmas music you could ever need. So, what Christmas music are you downloading?
With your Christmas music collection now freshly restocked, what else do you need to get into the mood for the holidays?
It’s a well-known fact that you can find anything on the internet, including communities that band together around the strangest and most niche topics. Case in point: the ASMR community that centers on the autonomous sensory meridian response.
Not sure what that is? Neither did I, so I spent some time researching it and found out that it described a weird feeling that I’ve been experiencing since childhood but could never put into words for others.
If you’ve ever felt a weird tingling sensation in your scalp, neck, or spine for seemingly no reason, you may have had “ASMR tingles.” Read on to find out what they are.
What Is ASMR?
ASMR is best described as a physical sensation of tingling that usually begins in the scalp and moves down through the spine and sometimes to the limbs. It’s a pleasurable feeling that many would call relaxing.
ASMR is also known as AIHO (attention induced head orgasm) or AIE (attention induced euphoria), but ASMR is the most popular variation of the term by far.
The feeling of ASMR is usually caused by an external stimulus, which are colloquially known as “ASMR triggers.” Triggers can differ from person to person. Some common ASMR triggers include:
The sound of lips smacking, such as when eating.
Slow or soft speech patterns, including whispers.
Receiving personal attention from someone, such as having your hair done, having your makeup done, receiving an eye exam, receiving a massage, etc.
Having someone play with your hair.
Certain sounds may trigger ASMR, like crackling fire, rustling paper, white noise, running water, etc.
Watching someone perform a meticulous task, like fixing an electronic device, working origami, making tea, etc.
Not everyone experiences ASMR. If you have absolutely no idea what I’ve been describing so far, then it’s likely you don’t have the ASMR response. However, if this sounds like something you’ve experienced before, then you may be able to induce it manually by watching videos that include one or more of the above ASMR triggers.
Here are some videos that have been known to trigger ASMR in viewers. Sit back, relax, and just watch—preferably with headphones!
1. Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting
Out of all the people I know who have ASMR, it seems like the most common ASMR trigger is Bob Ross. He just has that kind of voice that not only soothes, but makes you want to chill out and listen. On top of that, he always has nuggets of wisdom that he injects into his show.
It’s too bad that he is no longer able to continue his show. RIP Bob Ross. Thank you for leaving behind 30 seasons of The Joy of Painting for us to enjoy for our ASMR fixes.
2. ASMR Cat
Easily my favorite ASMR video on all of YouTube—and there are dozens of similarly cute and relaxing videos uploaded to the YouTube channel, all starring the same cat named Sammy. Between grooming and eating, there are plenty of tingles waiting for you ahead. Note: Be sure to check out ASMR Cat’s 150-minute super compilation!
3. Cranial Nerve Exam
This video is the perfect example of the “watch someone do something meticulously” trigger. In it, Dr. James Kelly performs a 9-minute long cranial nerve examination on Pat LaFontaine—and whether you’re susceptible to ASMR or not, you’ll find yourself engrossed as he’s taken through test after test. Very interesting!
4. How to Iron a Shirt
One could say that this video kickstarted the online ASMR community. This video is a re-upload of the original, which first hit YouTube many years before, way back when “ASMR” wasn’t even a mainstream term. It’s soothing to watch, and as a bonus, you might even learn how to iron those pesky wrinkles out of your shirts properly.
5. Hotel Staff Prepare Futon
Watch as these two Japanese hotel staffers turn bed preparation into an art form. With almost no effort, they set up two futons complete with bedding and blankets, and all the wonderful ASMR sounds that come with it. It’s a joy to watch—and even if it doesn’t trigger ASMR for you, you’ll still find it oddly satisfying.
6. How to Cut Citrus Fruit
In this video, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats delivers unintentional ASMR in the cutting of a grapefruit.
Some may disagree with me, but I find that videos without talking tend to make the best ASMR videos, Bob Ross excluded. Like the ASMR Cat and How to Iron a Shirt videos above, it’s the pleasant rhythm of work being done that gives me the best shivers.
7. Applying an iPhone Screen Protector
Here’s another great example of ASMR brought on by watching a meticulous person do meticulous things. In this case, the pride Gavin takes in his work combined with the gentle sounds as he works result in a moderate but enjoyable ASMR experience. If only all customer service representatives had his kind of work ethic.
8. Making a Cup of Tea
Yang Haiying is a soft-spoken Asian woman with thousands of videos uploaded to her Youtube account. The videos cover a whole bunch of topics ranging from painting to cooking to the making of tea. I’ve only seen her tea-related videos, but she has the kind of voice that will shiver you right up—and she knows it, too. Some of her videos are titled and tagged as “Inadvertent ASMR,” so she definitely knows the power of her sweet voice.
9. Fountain Pen
This video has two main ASMR triggers: the scratching of the fountain pen’s tip against the rough canvas paper, and the intricate details of the writer’s penmanship. The scratching is what gets me in this video.
Even if you don’t get an ASMR response out of this, I think you’ll enjoy watching it. The clip is relatively short and it gives you a glimpse into the artful world of calligraphy and handwriting.
10. Making Fire With IKEA Products
Lastly, this video demonstrates the ASMR triggers of clacking, scratching, shaving, and crackling—all distinct sounds that have been known to trigger an ASMR response. If these sorts of sounds don’t get you, then at least you’ll learn how to make a fire from scratch using only IKEA products.
The Best ASMR Videos: What Else Is Out There?
Did you get shivers down your spine and a tingling sensation along your scalp? If so, congrats! You have been blessed with the opportunity to enjoy such a pleasurable experience.
If you want more ASMR-related videos, then hop on over to /r/ASMR on Reddit and join 165,000+ other users who also enjoy head tingles. If craftsmanship and meticulous work is one of your triggers, then be sure to check out our list of fascinating artisan videos.
RSS readers aren’t as popular today as they once were, but they are still awesome for news junkies and those who don’t want to miss a single post from their favorite blog or site. These new RSS readers promise to make you fall in love with news feeds again.
In case you didn’t know what RSS is, these apps let you add multiple websites and collect every new post from them in one place. You don’t need to go to websites anymore, they come to you.
So here are the best new RSS readers you should check out.
Winds (Windows, macOS, Linux, Web): Powerful RSS and Podcast Subscriptions
Instead of different apps for podcasts and news feeds, Winds combines your subscriptions into one app that handles it all. Plus it’s gorgeous, lets you discover new things to read and listen to, and even add notes and highlights.
Winds is available as a desktop program for all major operating systems, as well as a web app in browsers. The dashboard shows latest episodes and articles, as well as the podcasts and websites that you have subscribed to. The “Featured on Winds” section has a variety of recommendations for podcasts, blogs, and websites in topics of your interest.
Finally, for each article or episode, you can add tags, notes, or highlights. Tags are an easy way to bookmark articles for later and sort them, while notes and highlights help you remember why you liked it.
Naturally, Winds is not as powerful as some of the best podcast apps today, but it’s a good player for all your basic needs.
Bloglovin’ (Web): Customizable Views, and Readymade Feeds
Bloglovin’ is a good app for beginners to the world of RSS feeds. It’s simple to set up and add feeds, even by simply searching for the site you want to follow. And the app has readymade feeds for topics like technology, fashion, lifestyle, DIY and crafts, food and drink, and so on.
If the default list view of most RSS feeds is a bit overwhelming for you, Bloglovin’ offers multiple customizable views. You can opt for a grid-like view that you’d get in Pinterest, or a list view with small images, or the standard blog view of headline-image-post. It’s a more friendly interface for newcomers.
Panda (Web, Chrome): Digg and Google Alternative, With Pocket Support
Well, Digg Reader is dead, and Google Reader left many in the lurch years ago. But if you want something similar, check out Panda. Not only is it a powerful RSS reader, but it also integrates with other apps.
The basics of Panda are similar to any other good RSS reader you have used. Let it know your interests for suggestions, or search and add feeds manually, and you’re set. But things get cool when you sign up for the free 30-day trial (no credit card required).
Panda has “integrations” with which you can connect it to popular apps like Twitter, Pocket, Dribble, and Buffer. So for example, if you bookmark an article, it can be added directly to your Buffer queue. Or you can check your Twitter timeline directly in Panda. Or better yet, the awesome Pocket read-it-later articles can be seen without ever leaving the Panda app.
After the 30-day trial, you’ll need to pay to use Panda Pro, which adds unlimited feeds, a reader mode for clean articles, powerful search, and removes ads. It costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
You should know by now that almost any website or online service you use is tracking you. Feediary tries to put a stop to that with the Do Not Track feature, so that your privacy is protected when you are reading your feeds.
Apart from tracking, Feediary also removes ads entirely. While it wasn’t common to get ads on RSS till a while ago, a lot of the new free RSS readers will push ads at you.
The privacy features aside, it’s still a capable and nice reader. The free account lets you add up to 50 feeds manually or by searching. There’s a handy “read it later” button, as well as “favorites” to save articles for later. And if you have an existing RSS reader, you can import your current list through OPML.
Feediary works on both desktop and mobile, and includes a dark mode. The Pro account (4 euros per month) brings you dark and light themes, full text search, and lists to sort your feeds.
RSS feeds can often become overwhelming quickly, as the flurry of incoming headlines seems like an information overdose. Cut through the clutter with Enkel, a minimalist reader that focuses on typography and keeping things simple.
The web app is completely black and white, and only text, so you don’t have photos and videos cluttering up the feed. You’re only going to look at headlines and a short blurb. In fact, you can’t even expand articles to read within the app. Enkel will always take you to the original page when you click any headline. While that can be annoying, this sparseness is the appeal of the app.
You will need to find the RSS feeds of your favorite sites as this lacks an RSS search function. Nonetheless, once you set it up, Enkel can go toe-to-toe with some of the best minimalist RSS readers out there.
Don’t Forget The Big Four
These new RSS readers make us believe that RSS isn’t dead yet, and that there is a case to use it instead of social feeds. Even after major apps like Google Reader and Digg Reader shut down, it’s nice to see new readers pop up.
But just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better. You should still have a look at the big four apps among RSS readers: Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, and Flipboard. They are among the best alternatives to Google Reader, and come with a ton of features to appeal to both beginners and die-hard RSS users.
When you think of augmented reality, you probably think of a screen that appears in your field of vision. You probably imagine a screen that’ll show you key information, or even one that lets you play games that involve the world around you. Your mind probably travels to thoughts of virtual reality as well, but augmented and virtual reality are actually quite different.
Bose has a different vision, as the company just put out a pair of augmented reality glasses that function through the use of sound, rather than visuals. The Verge posted about the new AR sunglasses, and it immediately caught our attention.
Introducing the Bose Frames
The Bose Frames are $199 pair of sunglasses that use audio to relay information about the world around you. The actual lenses on the sunglasses are just that—sunglasses.
Everything works through the built-in microphone and open-ear headphones for both receiving and relaying information to the user. Both Siri and Google Assistant are integrated into the headphones, so users will be able to control music, ask questions, and so on.
Bose plans to launch a full platform of apps later in 2019, so for the time being, they’ll serve as an interesting way to interact with your favorite digital assistants.
Because they use an open-ear headphone design, privacy could be a bit of a concern. Bose promises that the devices won’t broadcast sound to everyone around you, but they won’t be nearly as discreet as a pair of closed-back headphones, so you might want to be careful broadcasting anything too personal.
Here are some other interesting things to know about the Bose Frames:
Battery Life: 3.5 hours of playback, 12 hours of standby
Recharge Time: 2 hours for a full charge
9-axis head motion sensor detects the direction you’re facing
Uses GPS from Android or iPhone to know user’s location
Includes cleaning cloth and protective case
Headphones weight 45 grams
Available in round and square frame shapes
When Are the Bose Frames Available?
Bose announced that The Frames are available for preorder right now for $199 from Bose.com. The company is planning on shipping the devices in January 2019, so anyone who decides to throw down their money on a pair won’t need to wait too long to get their hands (or eyes and ears, as it were) on a set.
If you’re interested in the world of augmented reality as it relates to your eyes, check out some of the best AR apps out there right now.
When it comes to organizing and analyzing data, Excel is one of the most powerful tools available. But working with this number-crunching beast can be daunting. The Microsoft Excel Diploma Master Class helps you overcome the learning curve and become a certified expert, with 12 hours of live training. You can grab the course now for $19 at MakeUseOf Deals.
Essential Live Instruction
If you want to work in sales, marketing, or finance, it’s pretty essential to know your way around Excel. This course helps you master the software, and prove your knowledge to potential employers.
The training is spread over one month, with three hours of content per week. You learn through live tutorials with experienced instructors, and the lessons start from scratch.
Along the way, you discover how to create workbooks, perform simple calculations, automate your work with macros, and format large data sets. You also learn to use tables, charts, and many other features. Alongside the lessons, you get access to tests, Q&A sessions, and downloadable workbooks.
By the end of the month, you should feel confident to handle anything your boss could throw at you. Just as importantly, you will come away with a CPD certificate — a great addition to your résumé.
12 Hours of Training for $19
If you need to learn Excel for work, this course offers great value. It’s worth $395, but you can become a student now for just $19.
After spending 10 hours researching monitors and then 25 hours testing five, we found that the Acer XR342CK Pbmiiqphuzx (yes, that’s the full model name) is the best ultrawide monitor. The 34-inch, 3440×1440-pixel display is as color accurate as we’ve seen in an ultrawide. The display’s wide resolution makes it an excellent replacement for a dual-monitor setup, provided you’re willing to pay between $600 and $700.
Finding a memorable gift for an elementary schooler can be challenging. Toy fads are hard to keep up with, often inscrutable (what even is Beyblade?), and all too quickly relegated to the donation or junk pile. Our favorite gifts for this age group have long shelf lives; invite kids to build and play with siblings, friends, and the adults in their lives; or offer a gateway to the wonders of the wider world. If you have any go-to presents for this age, please share them in the comments.
Thousands of new board games are published each year, more than our guide to the best board games for beginners could possibly accommodate. Here are a few Wirecutter staff favorites that may not be as approachable for new gamers but have other traits to love. Whether you’re looking for high-level strategy or narrative cooperation or simply something that’s beautiful to see and touch, these are the games that have earned heavy rotation at our game nights—games that we think you’ll love too. If we left out one of your favorites, leave a comment so we can expand our collections.
A consumer survey by car-buying website CarGurus indicates there is latent demand for passenger cars especially among one certain age group of drivers, who believe demand for cars will actually grow over the next few years.
It's been a year since we launched Gastro Obscura, a guide to the world's most wondrous food and drink. To mark this milestone, we’ve looked back at the 1,000 foods we've added to our database, picking out some of the most amazing entries in different categories. We also reviewed data from our readers, who, for the past year, have been marking which foods they have tried or want to try. It revealed some bests of the best.
Out of the more than 1,000 entries in our foods database, readers wanted to try peanut butter fruit the most. Although it might look a bit like a grape tomato, this Andean fruit has a smooth, dense pulp with a nutty flavor that has undertones of berry and sweet potato. Native to Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, it can be eaten raw or blended into milkshakes or pastries. Some chefs even transform it into a jam, making for an all-in-one PB&J spread.
Twice a year, pilgrims in Sardinia walk 20 miles from the city of Nuoro to the village of Lula. They are celebrating the Feast of San Francesco, and when they reach their destination they will be rewarded with the rarest pasta in the world. Also known as su filindeu, Threads of God are intricate, painstakingly pulled noodles that only three women on Earth can make. So it’s not surprising that the pasta has proved the most desired, yet elusive food in Gastro Obscura’s database: It has the greatest discrepancy between readers who want to try it and those who actually have had the pleasure.
While the ingredients list is simple—semolina wheat, water, salt—making Threads of God is a delicate process of working the dough into rounded strands and doubling, doubling, doubling until reaching some 250+ strands without breaking. After drying in the sun, the noodles are commonly served with a simple mutton broth and sprinkling of pecorino cheese.
Out of all the pastries, puddings, and pies we’ve covered in the past year, this Dutch-Indonesian dessert takes the cake. Lapis legit, Gastro Obscura’s most desired sweet, consists of 18 to 30 individually baked layers of spiced butter, sugar, and egg yolk, sometimes in a variety of colors. The decadent stack combines elements of German baumkuchen, a spit-roasted cake that Dutch colonists brought to Indonesia in the 15th century, with local Indonesian spices such as cinnamon, clove, mace, and nutmeg. To achieve the layers, bakers swapped out the traditional spit for a pan and broiled each layer before adding the next. Today, you can track down the delicate delicacy in Indonesia or the Netherlands (where it’s also known as spekkoek).
Our foods database contains quite a few pyrotechnic delights, but when it comes to surprisingly explosive food, unassuming chocolate teacakes take the top prize. In 1953, members of England’s Royal Air Force made an interesting discovery about the teacakes in their ration packs: With increases in altitude, the marshmallow inside the cakes expanded and, at 15,000 feet, it cracked the chocolate shell. It wasn’t long before pilots started conducting what one veteran called “rather unscientific in-flight experiments” with their snacks.
It was all fun and games until the teacake explosion. During the summer of 1965, a captain and student pilot forgot they had placed several unwrapped treats above their instrument panels. After the captain performed an emergency depressurizing switch, the treats exploded, scattering chocolate shrapnel and marshmallow across the windshield, flight controls, and the mens’ uniforms. Afterward, the RAF banned marshmallows from flights. Although it’s never been officially confirmed, most people suspect the teacakes in question were Tunnock's.
From radish sculpture contests to parades with giant floats made entirely of citrus, food makes a fantastic medium for creative expression beyond the kitchen. Stunning, ephemeral, and sometimes painstakingly detailed, Tibetan Buddhist butter sculptures might be the finest example of food art. To make the sculptures, monks and nuns shape yak butter—which also fuels lamps in Buddhist temples—by hand and dye it with mineral pigments to form flowers, animals, and symbols. The sculptures are a crucial element of the New Year’s Butter Lamp Festival in Tibet, when the streets are filled with flickering butter lamps and beautiful butter-based art. But, like most food, this wonder doesn't last forever. At some point, the makers melt their masterpieces or feed them to animals.
When in Jakarta, you’d be hard-pressed to find a warung, a late-night, hole-in-the-wall food stall, that didn’t sell some version of Indomie noodles. But only one establishment serves up a version so spicy, it’s earned the nickname “death noodles.” The dish is covered in 100 to 150 ground-up bird’s eye chilies. On the Scoville scale, which ranks spiciness, a single bird’s eye chili is 100,000 units, which is hot, but nothing warranting a death moniker. However, when crushed and combined, the 100 to 150 peppers in death noodles can add up to a scorching Scoville rating of 20 million. Just how hot is that? One British chef claims to have temporarily lost his hearing after eating the dish.
During food shortages in the USSR, no crumb went to waste. Thrifty chefs used sgushyonka, a sweetened condensed milk, to deliciously glue bits of leftover cake, cookies, or bread together to form new desserts. Kartoshka was one such dessert. Meaning “potato” in Russian, the crumb collage gets shaped into a little tuber and coated in cocoa powder for a final flourish. Now that cafeterias tend to have more ingredients to spare, the treats sometimes get a splash of cognac or rum and a bit of frosting.
In Nepal, men scale steep cliffs on rope ladders and dodge stings from giant bees in the hopes of collecting a sweet and powerful prize: hallucinogenic honey.
It might be tempting to say mad honey’s intimidating reputation comes from its psychedelic properties (bees produce it when they feed on the nectar of rhododendrons that contain a neurotoxin), but the most dangerous aspect of this food is the act of harvesting it. As the bees nest on cliffs, honey hunters must try to extract pieces of the hive while dangling hundreds of feet in the air. The insects also happen to be the largest honeybees in the world.
The peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich started innocently enough. During the Great Depression, cheap, filling foods played an integral role in Americans’ lives. One particularly beloved combo of protein and fat was the peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich. Though the sandwich remained popular in the South throughout the decades following the Depression, it’s since faded into obscurity. When we published an entry on it, the sandwich had a polarizing effect on our readers. Some cried sacrilege over the unconventional combo. However, many readers remembered the sandwich with nostalgic fondness, chiming in with other toppings their families added to the PB&M, including lettuce, bacon, and bananas. One reader had thought the PB&M was something only her grandmother made: "I thought I was the only one. I have mayo mates!”
The oldest wine in the world is nearly 1,700 years old. Unearthed from a couple’s tomb in what is now Speyer, Germany, the Speyer wine bottle houses a dark, resin-like mass and cloudy liquid. And just how did this liquid keep while other ancient tipples evaporated? Historians point to a solid wax seal and significant portion of olive oil in the wine, which helped further seal the liquid off from air. You can still see the wine bottle at Speyer's Historical Museum of the Palatinate. Researchers even say that it’s probably still safe to drink, but museum curators aren’t taking any chances cracking the ancient seal.
About a month ago, I picked up the third version of George Motz’s “Hamburger America” – the text that started much of my food journey. I discovered the existence of this tome more than a decade ago, when we were having lunch at Mr. Bartlett’s Burger Cottage, in Cambridge, MA. This book documents George’s journey across this country to find the best burgers he could. The first version had 100 burgers – the third has 200, and removes the ones that are gone.
For many years, there was an awesome app that listed them all, with an interactive map, and had been updated with more burgers than are in the book, but it, sadly, has been IoSed out of functionality. The third edition added another spot in Nashville, Dino’s Restaurant, and I, dutifully, added it to my list. When we were in NashVegas for thanksgiving weekend, I planned to make a stop.
So on Friday evening, we had a very nice dinner, but, as we were driving around, I was still hungry. Dino’s address was plugged into Google maps. We parked down the street and walked through the front door. Dino’s bills itself as Nashville’s oldest dive bar. I don’t know about “oldest”, but they are dead-on with the “dive bar” description. The room was lit with red lights – and I don’t think that was for the Christmas season. Although there were Christmas lights strung around the window. You order at the bar, then find a seat. We stepped up to the register and looked at our choices:
As you can see, the menu wasn’t too broad, and the “kitchen” was right in front of us. We ordered a cheeseburger and fries, to share, and took two seats at the bar. The three young folks working the bar and grill flowed together like a well-oiled machine and chatted with us while we sat there.
My beloved told them that this was “second dinner” for me, and he asked where the first was. She told him and he said, “Yep. One of my best friends is a bartender there. They all come here after work for burgers.” The crowd seemed to be a mix of locals (a group of six hipsters starting their night with PBRs and burgers / working folks after work / Belmont and Vandy students kicking off the weekend) and visitors, like us. It was something like going to the church of Dolly – folk art portraits of Dolly Parton adorned the walls, smiling over us like a patron saint.
We listened for them to call “35” and burger was delivered. We had watched him cook the patty on the griddle and immerse the potatoes in the deep fryer – anticipation was high. And they delivered – the fries were almost-too-hot to eat, crunchy and delicious. They tasted like the double fried fries we love down on the Georgia coast, but I swear we only saw them fry them once. The burger has a crisp exterior from the griddle and wasn’t so thin that it was crispy all the way through. It was definitely a winner – with plenty of flavor. I recommend it heartily, just be prepared for where you’re going.
The owner of the famous Strand Bookstore in Manhattan doesn't want the city's help preserving her building. She doesn't want tax breaks or government subsidies. She just wants to be left alone.
But the city may have other ideas. Nancy Bass Wyden was set to attend a public hearing today before NYC's Landmarks Preservation Committee (LPC). In September, the commission agreed to begin the process of designating the Strand and six other area buildings as historic landmarks. Later, the LPC's Research Department issued a designation report calling the Strand "a center of literary life in Lower Manhattan" and "an internationally recognized bookstore and destination," according toThe New York Times. The building is also notable for its architectural style and for the fact that renowned architect William H. Birkmire helped design it, the report said.
So why doesn't Wyden want her building, which is worth roughly $31 million, to be designated a historic landmark? It's simple. The Times reports:
Like many building owners in New York, Ms. Wyden argues that the increased restrictions and regulations required of landmarked buildings can be cumbersome and drive up renovation and maintenance costs.
"By landmarking the Strand, you can also destroy a piece of New York history," she said. "We're operating on very thin margins here, and this would just cost us a lot more, with this landmarking, and be a lot more hassle."
Wyden has the support of multiple prominent writers. But some people say she has no reason to be worried. "No one is doing this to hurt the Strand, or add difficulties," Peg Green, president of the advocacy group New York Landmarks Conservancy, told the Times. "They're doing it to honor the building."
That doesn't quite tell the whole story. The effort to "preserve" the Strand and nearby buildings was sparked by the announcement last year that a 258,000-square-foot tech-focused building would replace an old P.C. Richard & Son in the area. Preservation groups were not happy, believing more development projects would soon follow. Led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, activists asked the LPC to designate nearly 200 buildings as historic landmarks.
The LPC decided to move forward on just seven of those buildings. One of those was the Strand, despite the fact that Wyden does not plan on selling the building to a developer.
The LPC is considering designating one of the oldest and most famous traditional book stores in the world as a historic landmark around the same time that Amazon—which has come to dominate the book-selling industry—announced it was opening a new headquarters in Queens. As Reason's Eric Boehm noted earlier this month, Amazon is receiving $1.2 billion in refundable tax credits, as well as a cash grant of $325 million. In total, the state pledged more than $1.52 billion for 25,000 jobs.
Meanwhile Wyden, who employs 230 people at the Strand, doesn't want any help from the government. "I'm not asking for money or a tax rebate," she told the Times. "Just leave me alone."
Wyden is right to be wary of the city's efforts. While historic landmark designations supposedly help preserve old buildings, their main goal is often to stop the development of new buildings. That seems to be what's happening in this case. It's a relatively common phenomenon; Reason's Christian Britschgi has pointed out two egregious examples just this year.
A San Francisco man, for instance, wanted to develop his single-story laundromat into a 75-unit apartment building. But concerned neighbors pressured the city to make Robert Tillman's life difficult. Among other objections, the city's Planning Department said his property might be a "historic resource." It was a ridiculous claim, based on the fact that his property housed a local employment agency in the 1970s and that it used to feature a mural depicting the life of Latina women. Tillman had to pay $23,000 for a report that proved his property was not a historic resource, only for the city to ask him to perform another study, this one related to the effects of his proposed apartment building's shadow on a nearby school.
In Seattle, strip club magnate Roger Forbes wanted to redevelop a property he owns from a famed music venue called the Showbox to an apartment building. The city had already deemed the Showbox unworthy of historic protection numerous times in the past, but after supporters and local musicians complained over Forbes' plans, the city council passed emergency legislation to include the Showbox in a nearby historical district.
The Strand, meanwhile, isn't a historic landmark yet. However the Times notes that most buildings considered by the LPC are approved as landmarks. In the end, Wyden's protests might not end up mattering.
That's wrong, of course. The Strand doesn't belong to the city—its Wyden's property. And she clearly plans to take care of it so customers keep coming in. Hopefully, the city's efforts won't doom the family business.
Bonus link: In 1965, NYC Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. signed the Landmarks Preservation Law. Here's how that legislation bulldozed the future:
CarMax, the nation's biggest used-car retailer, is rolling out a new process that would allow customers to do some, most or all of their transaction online, with or without ever visiting a dealership.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is gathering support among NATO members for the contention that Russia has violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty). Such agreements have proven instrumental in massively reducing global nuclear stockpiles.
There are some areas in which it's best to not be the leader—such as picking the pockets of the investors and businesses that create jobs and build prosperity. The U.S. has thankfully allowed somebody else to assume that role in recent years.
"Following tax reform in the United States, France now has the highest taxes on corporate income—a combined rate of about 34 percent," the Tax Foundation notes in its latest International Tax Competitiveness Index.
The U.S. rose four places in the tax competitiveness rankings.
This is just the latest bit of good news about America's economic health.
The improved scores were especially impressive—and necessary—in a world in which economic freedom has improved overall in recent years. They make the United States a more attractive option for people seeking places to invest and to start businesses.
Increased economic freedom also puts Americans in the running for the improved prosperity, longer life expectancy, and enhanced civil liberties that come hand-in-hand with less state meddling in economic matters. Life expectancy "is about 20 years longer in countries with the most economic freedom than in countries with the least," and "greater economic freedom is associated with more political rights and civil liberties," according to the "Economic Freedom of the World" index.
The Tax Foundation's index is more focused than those produced by the Fraser Institute and Heritage Foundation, examining the degree to which governments keep their tax rates neutral—that is, not favoring one behavior or group over another—and low.
"In today's globalized world, capital is highly mobile," the Tax Foundation explains. "If a country's tax rate is too high, it will drive investment elsewhere, leading to slower economic growth." The 2018 Index adds that "a tax code that is competitive and neutral promotes sustainable economic growth and investment while raising sufficient revenue for government priorities."
In the latest Tax Competitiveness Index, the United States improves its standing from 28th place to 24th place—meaning that Washington, D.C. is doing better than in the past, but still lags behind many other countries competing for people and investment.
In first place is Estonia, which keeps things simple in order to compete with better-established markets. The tiny Baltic nation "has a 20 percent tax rate on corporate income that is only applied to distributed profits. Second, it has a flat 20 percent tax on individual income that does not apply to personal dividend income. Third, its property tax applies only to the value of land, rather than to the value of real property or capital. Finally, it has a territorial tax system that exempts 100 percent of foreign profits earned by domestic corporations from domestic taxation, with few restrictions."
Estonia also ranks at seven in the Index of Economic Freedom, and 13 in the Economic Freedom of the World report. In consequence, it's number eight out of 44 nations in terms of foreign direct investment per capita, according to European Chamber of Commerce. That's not to shabby for a country that was a communist-governed afterthought just a few decades ago.
By contrast, France "has the least competitive tax system in the OECD," according to the Tax Foundation, which ranks it at 35 worldwide. "It has one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the OECD (34.4 percent), high property taxes, an annual net wealth tax, a financial transaction tax, and an estate tax. France also has high, progressive, individual income taxes that apply to both dividend and capital gains income."
The U.S. definitely looks better by comparison. In recent years, the "United States adopted a comprehensive tax reform package that included a reduction of the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, improvements to expensing of capital investments, and rate changes for the personal income tax," states the Tax Foundation report.
When the U.S. trends a bit more Estonia, and a bit less France, that's a good thing.
It's not all positive news, unfortunately. Coming in at number 24 in terms of tax competitiveness is better than number 28, and moves us in the right direction. But you might expect better of a country historically held up as an exemplar of free economies. Complying with taxes is still an exercise in frustration for companies doing business in the U.S., requiring 87 hours of work each year, compared to an average of 44 hours across the OECD—and just five hours in Estonia.
In addition, the Trump administration's protectionist policies have slammed some manufacturers that saw their costs rise as a consequence of high tariffs on imported goods. Harley-Davidson is among the businesses announcing the movement of production overseas to escape the price of tit-for-tat trade disputes with Europe. The world is watching to see if the U.S. and China can refrain from launching an outright trade war.
Remember, having a free and welcoming economy isn't just about competing for rankings in reports. It's directly related to prosperity, to long life, and to civil liberty. By and large, to escape the heavy hand of the state in economic affairs is to have a much better shot at being well-fed, healthy, and unburdened by official intrusions into your personal life.
The U.S. is generally moving in the right direction at the moment—towards more economic freedom and less-burdensome taxation. But, if we're not careful, we could backtrack and lose that freedom and its resulting benefits.
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There are some areas in which it's best to not be the leader—such as picking the pockets of the investors and businesses that create jobs and build prosperity. The U.S. has thankfully allowed somebody else to assume that role in recent years.