The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health

The Merck Veterinary Manual has long been the standard guide found in most veterinarian's back offices. Vets are required to serve the needs of many animals, not just one, and so this venerable book is their operating manual for lesser known species. It also serves as a reminder for uncommon ailments in the common species of pets. Recently Merck/Merial has published a one-volume paper-bound home edition of the Vet Manual. It is less technical, but still remarkably deep, and by far the best pan-species health guide for pets. It is often even better than many single pet health guides.

Besides the expected dogs, cats, and horses, it covers the health needs of rabbits, rodents, ferrets, birds, reptiles, and exotics such as pot-bellied pigs and sugar gliders. At 1,300 pages, it's an old-fashioned book, but intelligently designed, and easy to browse and study.

This book won't eliminate visits to the vet, but it will reduce their number, and make you smarter when you do visit. The real value of a pan-animal tome like this is when you take charge of an unfamiliar animal. It also gave us confidence to adopt pets we hitherto knew little about.

-- KK

The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health
1300 pages, 2007

$16
Available from Amazon

Sample excerpts:

Ear mange mites cause inflammation of the ear canal and skin disease in cats.

Hunched posture or fluffed fur in a hamster may be signs of illness.

Scale rot (ulcerative or necrotic dermatitis) is seen in snakes and lizards. Humidity and unclean environments appear to be the main factors that cause this condition. Moist, unclean bedding allows bacteria and fungi to multiply. When coupled with exposure to animal droppings, this can cause small skin sores. Secondary infection with other bacteria may result in septicemia and death if untreated. Reddening of the skin, death of the skin tissue, slow-healing sores on the skin, and a skin discharge are common.

Bacteria often cause shell disease in turtles and scale rot in lizards and snakes.

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Merck Manual, Second Home Edition

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Staedtler Leadholder

I always snap the point off regular pencils and mechanical pencils, so this is the pencil I've always wanted. Commonplace among draftsmen and technical drawers, the Staedtler holds 2mm leads, which do not break under pressure. I use mine all day. It's simple to retract and the recess in the removable push button also doubles as a sharpener (see below image). Remove the push button and there is a hole you stick the lead into. The lead gets very sharp and you can sharpen anywhere, anytime without having to remember to bring along a sharpener.

It has become my everyday pencil -- the only thing I write with unless I am behind a keyboard or must use a pen. I don't do any drafting or fine art applications, though I do sometimes sketch network diagrams (I am an intermediate-level sys admin). I also use the pencil for journal writing. The size of the lead really allows for a lot of flexibility in the line width. The pencil never fails, has a good weight, and I find I can hold it very precisely. The texture of the barrel is rough, almost like a nail file or cheese grater. Some people might not like the feel, but the pencil doesn't slip when wet.

I use a soft lead generally and find it needs sharpening one or more times a day. The sharpening can be a bit messy, but tapping it against a wastepaper basket takes care of the extra graphite dust. I still inevitably get graphite powder on my shirt, but it washes out without staining, so I don't really care. Also, it takes some practice to get comfortable with the system. At first the lead comes flying out, so you have to get used to holding the pencil a few centimeters above the paper and releasing the lead to the right amount. It works really well once you get it.

I've looked at other leadholders. If I saw a nicer designed one (i.e. a Parker or a Schaeffer) I might be tempted to get one. Part of what I like about the Staedler is the price and durability. One pencil and a year's supply of lead costs me about $10 at Utrecht art supply. I've lost and given away a few but haven't had any break or wear out.

-- Michael Bubb

Staedtler Leadholder
$5
Available from Amazon

Staedtler Refill Leads
$2
Available from Utrecht

Manufactured by Staedtler

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Shower Slate

UniBall Signo Bit 0.18mm Pens

Cintiq

Upgrade Your Life

For two years I've subscribed to the Lifehacker.com feed for a steady stream of always awesome productivity tips and tricks, everything from Firefox add-ons (Buylater) to various household how-to's. Flipping through this book -- the second edition of hacks distilled and updated from the blog -- was pleasantly surprising. Somehow I managed to miss, dismiss or simply forget some great stuff. For instance, I stumbled on and immediately installed Noise, a Mac-based program that generates soft white noise. Now when I can't decide what to listen to and shuffled tracks seems too distracting, Noise steps in as the perfect default work-time soundtrack. The book has a good mix of desktop tweaks ranging from easy to advanced, affordable to free, and Windows/PC to Mac-specific. Some bits overlap a bit with Rule the Web and Getting Things Done, but I like to envision productivity and organization info charted out as a Venn diagram. The overlap is often what's most essential. Everything else is potential gravy.

-- Steven Leckart

Upgrade Your Life
Gina Trapani
2008, 450 pages
$20
Available from Amazon

Free PDF of Chapter 1: Control Your Email

Also see Lifehackerbook.com for table of contents and links to the original posts

Sample excerpts:

Hack 114: Have Your Mac and Windows, Too, with Boot Camp

You can have both a Mac and a PC on a single computer, using Apple's new Boot Camp software. Boot Camp lets you install Windows on your Mac in addition to Mac OS X. With Boot Camp set up, when you start your Mac, you can choose whether to use OS X or Windows. Boot Camp is a great way to consolidate computers in your life and to run essential Windows programs that aren't available on the Mac. NOTE: Setting up Boot Camp is not a trivial task because it involves repartitioning your Mac's hard drive and installing another operating system and drivers. Block out a couple hours for this project.

*
Remember 100 Different Passwords with One Rule Set

Remembering a unique password for the dozens of logins you have may sound impossible, but it's not. You don't have to remember 100 passwords if you have one rule set for generating them. Here's how it works: Create unique passwords by choosing a base password and then applying a single rule that mashes in some form of the services name with it. For example, you could use your base password plus the first three letters of a service name. If your base password were asdf (see how easy that its to type?), for example, then your password for Yahoo! would be ASDFYAH, and your password for eBay would be ASDFEBA.

Another example that incorporates numbers (which some services require in passwords) might involve the same letters that start (say, your initials and a favorite number) plus the first two vowels of a service name. In that case, my password for Amazon would be GMLT10AA and for Lifehacker.com GMLT10IE. (Include obscure middle initials -- such as your mother's maiden name or a childhood nickname -- that not many people know about for extra security.)

..One problem with rules-based passwords is that some sites have their own rules that conflict with your own, such as no special characters. In those cases, you have to document or remember the exception to your rule for those services. The next hack explains how you can keep track of passwords that don't follow a single rule...

*
Hack 73: Create a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with Hamachi

You can do things between computers on your local network that you can't from out on the Internet, such as listen to a shared iTunes library or access files in shared folders. But using the free, virtual private network application Hamachi (https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp), you can access your computer from anywhere on the Internet as if you were home on your local network. This hack uses Hamachi to create a virtual private network between PC and a Mac and listen to a shared iTunes library over the Internet...

*
Hack 53: Bypass Free Site Registration with BugMeNot

..The web site BugMeNot (http://bugmenot.com) maintains a public database of shared usernames and passwords for free web sites. If you come across a site that prompts you to log in to view its content, bypass the registration process by heading to BugMeNot to search for an already created username and password. Not all BugMeNot logins will work, but you can see the percentage success rate for a particular login and report whether it worked for you as well. If you can't find a BugMeNot login that works, create one and share it with the BugMeNot community.

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Microfiber Cleaning Towels in Bulk

Microfiber towels are listed in Cool Tools as great for drying and travel and camping, but have you used them for everyday cleaning, dusting and wiping? I buy my 16x16-inch towels in bulk. I've used the previously-reviewed MysticMaid cleaning towels and, personally, have seen no difference in cleaning power. Of course, mine may not last as long in the end, but they are are a heck of lot cheaper, so I'm more inclined to use them for everything and anything. And they really are holding their own so far. I've washed my current kitchen cleaner over 50 times with no loss in cleaning power (the packaging says good for over 100 washes). Dampen with water and you can clean the kitchen top to bottom without leaving a streak. It removes grease, grime, and the odd stuff on the stove top. Around the house it cleans glass without leaving a streak, removes the haze from inside of your auto windshield, cleans the car interior and removes all the muck the kids have built up on the plastic, doors and even car seats. Around the desk it cleans up coffee spills and rings. I've also used mine for cleaning monitor screens, brass, cameras (I collect Minolta 16 mm and Minox cameras), jewels, coins, glass objet d'art, lexan screens, fine wood carvings, some photos, and find no scratches or wearing away of labels, paint, or important stuff -- and I've looked hard with my loupes. Cleaning wood work is easy and quick, as well. And in the wood shop it does wonders in getting dust off surfaces before staining or painting. A bonus for ribs lovers -- it's better than any napkin or moist towelette.

-- Patrick J. Meyer

Microfiber Cleaning Towels in Bulk
(12 towels -- 16 x 16 inch)
$14
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Clean-Rite

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21-LED Flashlight

This 21-LED flashlight dispenses an impressive amount of light for such a small and inexpensive torch. I find it to be of great use for illuminating a wide area, as it's not the least bit directional like a laser pointer. If I need to find something under a car seat, this is the flashlight I grab, as it bathes the entire area with a bright white light. Most of all, I really like that it's so compact. The three AAA batteries fit side by side in a carousel, so the whole flashlight is only about 3.5 inches long. The handle is made out of aluminum, and there's a sealed rubber push-button switch on the end. It claims to be water and shock resistant, but I haven't tested this. The light probably won't outlive (or outperform) something like a Fenix, but hey, it's only $11! I found it by skimming through JungleCrazy, a web site that lists Amazon deals. I bought three. I've been using one of them several times a week for the last nine months. I'm still using the batteries that came with it.

-- M. Schmidt

21-LED Flashlight
$11
Available from Amazon

Or $13 for a 28-LED light

Manufactured by Architectural Lighting Systems

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Will Tiffany Sales Predict The US Economy?

With the stock market booming over the past few days, Market Watch asks if the overall solid results reported by Tiffany last quarter is a harbinger of better economic times ahead. Their opinion is that it doesn't. TIF 42.59, +4.00, +10.4%) reported solid results, but a good quarter doesn't necessarily indicate that the consumer, worried about jobs and pay for basics such as gasoline and groceries is back in spending mode. Tiffany's results show some shoppers are still cautious, particularly on the lower price points geared to the budget conscious customer. And since fortunes can dissolve at a chilling pace -- hello, Bear Stearns -- even more affluent shoppers aren't spending as freely as in the past. On a conference call with analysts, Tiffany said fourth-quarter sales of silver jewelry were "soft" below the $500 range. On the higher end, fine jewelry sales from $10,000 to $50,000 were "relatively stronger," than in the $1,000 to $10,000 range. Even sales over $50,000, which the company says makes up nearly 10% of U.S. retail annual sales, were "modestly lower" than the prior year. Sales at Tiffany's New York flagship store jumped 10% in the quarter, with the majority of sales due to the foreign tourists. For the year, sales to foreign tourists represented 14% of U.S. retail sales, up from 11% in the prior year. Investors want to be upbeat after a grisly and gloomy spell. If Home sales rebound, Oil prices come down, the dollar rebounds against the major currencies, consumer confidence will increase and luxury goods will robustly sell. That's alot of "IF's" and it's going to take more than a few days of good economic news to convince the U.S. consumer to open his wallet.

Tampa man, 59, charged after exposing self to children

TAMPA -- Police say they arrested a known sex offender after two girls say he masturbated in front of them outside a grocery store Sunday.

Police said Fermin Martinez-Ramos, 59 (left), 2701 N Armenia Ave., was "openly masturbating" in front of two girls, ages 4 and 9, in front of the Main Street Grocery Store at 1724 W Main St. about 9:30 p.m.

Martinez-Ramos ran away, only to be caught a few blocks away after the girls identified him to investigators.

Tampa Police say they've arrested Martinez-Ramos once in the past for a similar incident and twice for failing to report his change of address.

Jail records show Martinez-Ramos was charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious exhibition toward a victim under 16 and one count of violating probation for failing to report as a sex offender. Bail was not set.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Photo courtesy Hillsborough County Sheriff' Office

Judge dismisses racketeering charges against 23 Latin Kings

TAMPA -- Citing "outrageous" law enforcement conduct, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet dismissed racketeering charges today against 23 alleged members of the Latin Kings gang.

The judge said that local law enforcement allowed a confidential informant to threaten the defendants with physical violence if they did not show up for Latin Kings meetings.

"Dismissal is an extreme sanction," Sleet wrote in his 41-page ruling. "However, an extreme sanction is warranted to punish extreme conduct."

The judge also said: "Unfortunately, this C.I. was left to his own devices, to scheme of ways to entrap reluctant suspects, and to brazenly weave a web of deception in the face of his police handlers."

Sleet said the confidential informant, Luis "Danny" Agosto, should have been either terminated and taken to jail for his actions, which included stealing motorcycles while working for police, or have been more closely monitored with electronic and visual surveillance.

The Latin Kings members were arrested in a splashy raid at the Caribbean American Club off Interbay Boulevard by multiple law enforcement agencies on Aug. 20, 2006.

Originally, more than 50 defendants were charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. Nearly half already have resolved their charges through plea agreements with the state.

During a series of hearings that lasted several months, another 28 defendants argued that there had been police and prosecutorial misconduct that was so egregious the charges should be dismissed.

Sleet's ruling Monday did not bring good news for everyone. Six defendants still face a slew of serious charges, including racketeering, kidnapping, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a firearm. Those defendants are: Michael Lugo, Omari Tolbert, Christopher Amieva, Edwin Deleon, Orlando Perez and Marcus Jiles.

Prosecutors say that Lugo and Deleon have both served as the Latin Kings' First Crown or Inca, the gang's top leader in Florida.

-- Colleen Jenkins, Times staff writer