Episode 878

DGW in the Shower
The SPI Shower Radio comes with an FM transmitter to plug in your MP3 player (or any audio source with a headphone jack), for transmitting audio from within 50 feet to the bathroom.  If, like Tim from southern Australia (Episode 47), you want to listen to the Daily Giz Wiz in the shower, this Shower Radio is the one for you.

Born To Kvetch
Peggy Grant is a telecommuter and like Tim, she listens to the show every morning, which gets her off to a great start.  She has an Audible book to recommend, Born To Kvetch by Michael Wex, which is all about Yiddish culture.

DrMom on Yiddish
After Leo botches the pronunciation of "kvetch", chatroom stalwart DrMom (or Dr Lillian Banchik) decides it's time for a lesson in Yiddish for Leo.  She calls in on Skype and explains, among other things, the difference between a shlemiel and a shlimazel.  Leo gets it immediately.  The shlemiel is the hapless one who spills the soup; the shlimazel is the luckless one who gets the soup all over his lap.  We get it too: on TTTT, Leo is the shlemiel and Dick is the shlimazel.  Watch the clip here in which Dr Mom expounds the intricacies of the Yiddish language (video from odtv.me):

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Episode 877

inMotion iM4
Leo also took with him to China another set of speakers from Altec Lansing, the inMotion iM4 which fold up neatly for travelling, which he might cover in more detail on another TTTT.

Altec Lansing iM4
This Is Why You're Fat
Depite Eva's help with his emails, and her very presence in the studio, Leo is still desperately searching for a letter to read.  Toyota Boy (Jayzee) comes to the rescue again, and points to the site This Is Why You're Fat, with user-submitted pictures of high-calorie, high-fat dishes, including in particular, the 30,000 calories sandwich.  Leo's answer to the question posed by the website is, he used to work at McDonald's.

Leo's Exposé on McDonald's
Just before the show starts, Leo has an animated chat with Dick about his first job at McDonald's.  Courtesy of odtv.me, watch and listen to Leo's exposé on the shelf life of a hamburger.

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Episode 876

UniFunnel
The Unifunnel has a pair of pliers with spring torque action. Squeeze the pliers to insert the 4 stabilising prongs into any container or tank opening from 1 ¼” to 2 ¼” in size. Once the prongs are inside, release the pliers. If necessary adjust the height of the rings.



Another DGW Guest
Leo's sister Eva, who now helps Leo handle his emails for the TWiT network, is a big MAD fan and used to read the magazine with Leo. She's over at the TWiT Cottage and goes on camera on TWiTlive, to meet Dick on the air for the first time. Dick is surprised to meet a pretty lady, nothing like Leo's description - facial scars, big ears, missing teeth. She's got the face and Leo's got the voice - and the perfect radio face, Dick observes. Video clip from odtv.me.



Steve's Gadget Warehouse
Steve Miller, who has often written about his gadget-buying compulsion, has just come back from a vacation in Peru and is catching up with the back catalogue. Dick and Leo are now responsible for Steve's Altec Lansing Orbit, the Striker Magnetic Light Mine, the Stealth Flashlight, the SlushMug, and the Pogo Plug. Fortunately he already had the Dynaflex Powerball Gyroscope and the Logitech Nano VX Mouse, but then again he's just bought 2 pairs of tactical pants. He wants Leo to do more bicycle gadgets, as he has no interest in buying them, to save him some money. Leo suffers from the same affliction. Dick will always remember that when he was covering the Ready Kit Plus (Episode 29), Leo had ordered 5 of them before the end of the show (which was all of 7 minutes).

Back on the Ball
Leo is back from his China Tour and it's business as usual at TWiT.  Dick and Leo will be back at their Tuesday slot tomorrow recording another 5 episodes of the Daily Giz Wiz on TWiTlive.


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Episode 875

Hearst Tower, New York City
The original Hearst Tower was completed in 1928.  Out of the old cast stone facade, which has been preserved, is the new building, a glass tower framed by triangular structural steel "diagrids", designed by Norman Foster and completed in 2006.  Leo is thinking of building a skyscraper out of the Victorian TWiT Cottage.

Hearst Tower, NYC
Terratrike to Beach
In Episode 815 Larry Blakely wrote about his 50-mile cycling challenge charity event, and hoped to hear about more bike gadgets on the Daily Giz Wiz.  His prayer has been answered.  It was his own letter which got Leo on to his Terratrike (Episode 837), and then Leo's other bike gadgets such as the Cateye Micro Wireless and the Delta Airzound Bike Horn (Episode 842).  Larry has a bike gadget suggestion for Leo, the iHome Bike-to-Beach Bicycle Speaker for iPods. The iPod sits inside the tube which is water-resistant.  It comes with a mounting bracket and a wireless remote control which is also mountable on to the handle-bar.

iHome Bike to Beach iPod Speaker
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Episode 874

Conair CleanHead Groomer
The Conair CleanHead Groomer should come in handy for Dick, as long as he doesn't mistake it for the Mitey Mixer (Episode 870) and try it on his nose again.

Conair CleanHead Groomer
The High Line Park
When Dick went to Chelsea Piers to try out the Axius/Zeus Propulsion System (Episode 873), he took the opportunity to visit the High Line Park.  The High Line used to be a railroad in Manhattan which originally ran at street level but was later elevated because of accidents.  It became mainly a freight line and ran through a lot of the warehouses along the river dropping off freight along the way.  It fell into desuetude and was going to be dismantled, until a group campaigned for its survival.  It has now been turned into an elevated park.  Dick has taken some photos which you can find in his Smugmug gallery.

The Flowbee
Another self-help hair-cutter is the Flowbee that trims your hair and and sucks it away with a vacuum cleaner.  Leo prefers his neighbour Felice who cuts Leo's and Henry's hair in her garage.

The Flowbee Hair Trimmer
Zoetropes
Talk of Early Choices (Episode 841) reminded loyal fan Mike Troiano of a visit to a furniture store in Jamaica which had the coolest lamp.  It was a train lamp with a heat-activated zoetrope which, when the lamp lit up and warmed up, tricked your eyes into seeing images of a train moving through mountains and deserts.  Now the most remarkable thing about this letter is how Early Choices, a toilet seat for young children, managed to trigger memory of a train lamp.

This in turn triggers Dick's memory of the train zoetropes he saw in his younger days, and reminds Leo of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope.

Listen to Episode 874
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