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Hey! I want advice, tips, clever hacks, and we can all share them! I am flying to Japan in a few weeks, and I am bringing ONE BAG, it looks like it's going to be the Ebags' Weekender Convertible 2.0, if you care. And NO PERSONAL ITEM. This means literally EVERYTHING is going in there. For two weeks. So, got any advice? Here's some ideas I've had so far: I'm packing a superlight 60L folding duffel to check for the trip home. I am rolling my clothes. Speaking of clothes, I'm wearing/layering heavier clothes on the trip, and what's in my suitcase are older underoos and socks that are seeing their last days. I'm going to dispose of them before returning home. Then I get to buy fancy new socks and undies at home! Same for clothes only if they are in nice enough condition, I'm donating them before I leave, thus freeing up room in my carry-on for souvenirs see: the good stuff. The nicer clothes I am keeping I'll wear out of the country, or roll up and shove in the checked bag. I am taking a 1x2x1" (rough estimate) cut of a Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap bar, which is super multipurpose, and peppermint is refreshing, I've found it's helpful when you feel bedraggled or under the weather. It can be soap, shampoo, laundry detergents, whatevs. It's wrapped in a cut of old towel. Instant washcloth. I just ordered some cash at my bank, in advance, so now I have about $500 worth of spending yen. I am bringing my favourite travel pillow, which is a cylinder of memory foam, and embedded in it is segmented pipe, so I can wrap it in whatever position works (I think I'm stuck in the middle seat, most likely, as my flight got changed so... them's the breaks. I'm wearing boots, packing low profile sneakers... I am also bringing a back up phone! It has no sim card, I am using it as a camera, I can change out the Micro SD cards, and I can recharge the phone/camera via USB, even better, I have a powerbank. I am grumpy that swank cameras don't have this ability, but my old Samsung G5 worked fine as a camera, and it shall again. I also have a 360 camera now, which I am hoping to make a shared online archive of immersive photos of neat places. I think it's a cool idea, but I am not totally comfortable with making it work yet, and it sucks battery pretty hard. That's sort of my plan, and some of it is clever travel hacking, that maybe will help someone else in the future. Does anyone else have any tricks for travel, especially light packing crazy travel? I want to geek out on insoles or soaps, or foldable microfiber towels... Let's talk! I used to tour around for a small living, and learned a bunch about traveling domestic, etc, in a band, and often it translates over great for international travel, but I am always looking for new ideas. Problems or issues I'd like help with: I have a Surface Pro 3 laptop I am split on taking. I sort of think it's a good idea, I'd keep it in a waterproof bag, and it's a fully functioning laptop, and drawing surface (I'm an illustrator), it'd be massively helpful for the 21 hours or so of travel to and fro, but then I have to haul it around everywhere. It's small for a laptop, but had a charger, and such. Just looking for input. Air China is pretty strict on economy carry-on restrictions, namely my carry-on shouldn't be more than 11kg. I am hoping no one takes my bag away to weigh it, but I am trying to keep my belongings down to around the 15lb mark, and I am afraid that might be super difficult. We'll see.

Hello fellow Rebels! I'm at work, and a guest asked me if there was a local Makerspace or Hackerspace in the area. I know the guys who run it personally, so the question is easy to answer and contact information can be exchanged. Well, after he left, it occurred to me to ask if there were any Rebels out there into the same thing. So, are there any Rebels out there involved in the Maker movement? Do you participate in making, hacking, tinkering, or any other related activities? Do you go to a local Makerspace or Hackerspace in your area? If you do, what kind of things do you work on? What are you interested in? Are you working on any projects at the moment? I'm just curious to see if there was anyone else around here involved in that kind of hobby. I have a B.S. in Physics, but circuits were probably my weakest subject in school. Electronics is still new to me, but I've been trying to learn as much as possible. It's great fun too. I haven't had the chance yet to really get involved in the local Makerspace here, but I plan to when I get the chance. I work in a science museum, specifically a hands-on physics and chemistry lab space. I design a lot of activities, classes, and workshops for people to participate in and learn concepts on STEM subjects. We started a Maker workshop series that I've been really pushing along. I've played with Arduinos, Makey-Makeys, and all kinds of things. We also have six 3D printers at work (two of which I'm more or less in charge of). We also have a laser cutter, but I'm waiting for the next laser cutter training session (I missed the first one). Right now, I'm trying to get the Thing-O-Matic's extruder reversed. I'm not sure why it started inverse extruding, but it's gotta go out on the museum floor this week to spit out parts for people to use.

If you're like most people, your evening schedule probably includes the following sequence of events: Eat evening meal Brush teeth SleepIf you're sane, there's no eating between (2) and (3), but you might find yourself eating unhealthy things between (1) and (2). For example: Dessert that you hadn't intendedEaster candyOther candySecond dessertNever-ending helping of cheeseTea/coffee with sugar...or whatever, I don't know what you binge on However, if you brush your teeth as soon as you've finished whatever you'd intended to eat, then you're immediately in that segment of the evening when you don't randomly eat stuff, and you won't have that temptation there. otherwise you'll have to brush your teeth twice in the same evening which feels silly. And food is a lot less tempting when your mouth tastes like refreshing minty sterile toothpaste... As a bonus, your teeth will thank you for leaving them dirty for less time Of course, a simpler hack is to just not have crap food lying around the house, but I know that things dont' always work out that way...