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It is surprisingly hard to find blogs and RSS feeds by, for, and about stuff dudes like. Here are a few of our favorite websites of cool stuff.

The Everyday Carry site motto asks, “What Are Your Everyday Carry Essentials?” If you didn’t know that this was a real concern, then you haven’t visited the site. Every post offers a close-up shot of the essential gear different people keep on their person- from pocket knives to notebooks to electronics. Does the site fetishize tactical gear? Yes. Does it make you want tactical gear? Yes. 

Cool Material offers gear, insightful articles, and insider info on stuff for the gear-obsessed. The site has grown from the small hobby blog in 2009 to a daily selection of curated items. But the site also goes deeper, offering an insider’s look at workshops and stores, meets the craftspeople, and reviews new TV shows and movies.

Founder Michael Williams’ perfectly manicured beard is a good indication of the thoughtful masculinity found at Continuous Lean.  Williams is a writer and creative strategist living in New York City who started the website in 2007 to look at small, under-appreciated companies, with an affinity for things made in the U.S.A.

Valet is an independently-published lifestyle website delivering daily news on style, grooming and culture tailored especially for the 21st-century gentleman. The site tends to frame its articles in a How-to format, telling readers how to dress, win arguments, and have a successful first date. They also solicit questions from readers, giving you a chance to get pro tips on your burning questions.

Impossible Cool is a website similar to the Sartorialist in that it offers gorgeous images of things we all will want, although with a more contemporary bent.

The Cool Hunting site visits innovative designers, tells you how to do things like build a better martini, and gives music and art recommendations along with reviews of the best new shows, gear, fashion, gaming tips, or food.

We hope you like the blogs, websites, and feeds we’ve picked. We hope this stuff will appeal to all genders and orientations, and look for plenty of new picks coming soon.

The Old Reader Picks are a new series designed to introduce The Old Reader users to some of the great feeds that we enjoy.

It’s almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S., my favorite holiday. I’m looking forward to visiting with family and friends, cooking and eating, and enjoying the autumn weather. It’s the perfect time to reflect and be thankful for the good things in life. 

Here at The Old Reader, our team is incredibly thankful to each and every user in our community for their support. It’s The Old Reader community that inspires us to keep working on this product and to maintain our commitment to the open web and the free flow of information.

I realize that supporting something usually means buying things. But sometimes, being present is just as important. Our local high school band knocks on the door once a year selling salad dressing. I have little interest in their salad dressing, but love music and would be happy to attend a concert if I knew when they took place. Why not go door to door asking the community to attend their next concert? Raise money selling admission, but more importantly play to a packed room. That’s sure to inspire any artist.

I feel that way with The Old Reader. I’m thrilled every time we get a new Premium user, but just as importantly, I’m inspired by the thousands of users who continue to use this tool every day. It’s thrilling to know how many other people value great content and direct relationships with publishers. Every time I like a post and see that somebody else has liked it too it reminds me why we do what we do.

Thanks for you support, and keep on reading!

I enjoyed Godin’s post today very much.  He talks about how our collective decision to go for the quick and easy hit of media (or candy) via clickbait articles, videos, and other junk food media is killing off the essential service of journalism.  

“Read the short articles, the ones with pictures, it’s simpler than digging deep.Clickbait works for a reason. Because people click on it.”

And:

“The media has always bounced between pandering to make a buck and upping the intellectual ante of what they present. Now that this balance has been ceded to an algorithm, we’re on the edge of a breakneck race to the bottom, with no brakes and no break in sight.”

But he also talks plenty about how quickly this could all change:

“Even if only a few people use precise words, employ thoughtful reasoning and ask difficult questions, it still forces those around them to catch up. It’s easy to imagine a slippery slope down, but there’s also the cultural ratchet, a positive function in which people race to learn more and understand more so they can keep up with those around them.”

So, Happy New Years everybody.  Let’s get people to join us in asking difficult questions.  Choosing the long read and choosing to be informed.  Let’s ask friends to join us on The Old Reader or another non-biased platform where we can share good ideas and keep our minds nourished.

This month we’re sharing a few recipes from our friend Tess Masters, The Blender Girl! Tess is our go-to gal for fantastic vegan and gluten-free blender recipes. Check out her newest book The Perfect Blend, available now on Amazon.

Whoever thought of soaking bread and frying it should be nominated for sainthood.

This recipe uses gluten-free bread and a vegan batter so that everyone at the table can enjoy a slice. Top with caramelized bananas for an extra-decadent breakfast.

Continue reading "French Toast with Caramelized Bananas (Vegan and Gluten-Free)" »

No need to soak your beans! You can make a fresh pot of chickpeas, black beans, navy beans, or white beans in the Instant Pot in about an hour. This guide has everything you need to know for cooking tender beans every time.

Continue reading "How To Make Fast, No-Soak Beans in the Instant Pot" »

There are two things I know for sure about my friend Tess Masters. One is that she knows smoothies. The other is that she has an extraordinary palate. Which means when she comes up with a smoothie idea, it’s going to be a winner!

The Green Mojito Smoothie from The Blender Girl Smoothies is a perfect example. Like the mojito flavors of lime and mint? Blend in some pineapple, coconut water, and kale, and you have not only the zesty refreshing taste of a mojito, but it’s good for you too.

Continue reading "Green Mojito Smoothie" »

Over at Code Switch, our pal Tanya Ballard Brown takes a look at a new book of essays by fans of FLOTUS:

Over the past eight years, Michelle Obama — a former attorney with degrees from Princeton and Harvard universities — has dealt with a lot of cheap (and often mean) shots lobbed in her direction. But while she has her detractors, this first black first lady is widely admired — and not just for her famously defined arms (they even have their own Tumblr).

So it’s not surprising that, in these last days of disco for the Obama administration, a few fans of the first lady would share their love for her in the just-released book, The Meaning of Michelle: 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own, a collection of essays edited by author Veronica Chambers.

Find the full story here.

– Petra

When you buy and hold a mutual fund in your retirement account, you pay an expense ratio, which is basically a fee to the firm that manages the fund. Typically, expense ratios range from about 0.15% to well over 1%, which doesn’t seem like a huge difference. However, expense ratios add up over time and this calculator…

Read more...

Cute, squeezeable toys—from Sophie la Girafe to the humble rubber ducky—can fill up with a slimy black mold if moisture gets inside. Fortunately, it’s possible to clean them, and even to prevent the slime from taking hold in the first place.

Read more...

Adam MacLeod is an associate law prof at Faulkner Christian University in Montgomery, Alabama: when he received a speeding ticket generated by a traffic camera for a time when he knew he hadn't been driving his car (he'd been lecturing at the moment when the picture was snapped), he decided he would fight it to the bitter end. (more…)

Fujitsu Siemens has extended its range of SCALEO-home servers with models 2105 and 2205. These are supplied by Western Digital’s Caviar Green hard drives pre-installed. 2105 comes with two disks on each 500 gigabytes and 2205 with dual hard drives of 1 terabyte each.

With Caviar Green hard disks help, home servers to be up to 40 percent less energy than previous models. Although the noise level is affected for the better and is specified to be below 23 decibels at maximum load. Thanks to a function called for IntelliPower, maximizing performance while keeping noise and power consumption is kept at an optimum level.

SCALEO-home servers has room for four internal hard drives and additional external storage devices can be connected via four USB 2.0 and two eSATA ports. SCALEO devices are Windows Home Server-based and intended to be used as a central server devices in the home network. They offer functions for file sharing and automatic backup.

Faster 2.5-inch disks from Fujitsu

The drives in MBD 2 RC and MBE2 RC series is unfortunately not meant to be inserted into portable computers without the servers and storage with high capacity. Both new HDD series supports the latest SAS-2 interface with data transfer rates up to 6 Gbps.

The drives in Fujitsu MBE2 RC series, the rotation speed of 15,000 revolutions per minute, and will be available in storage capacities up to 147 gigabytes. MBD2 RC drives will be offered in storage capacities up to 300 gigabytes and the rotation speed 10,025 rpm.

The new drives will also contribute to reducing their energy costs with a power consumption of 3.4 and 4.1 watts for MBD 2 RC and RC MBE2 drives in sleep mode. The drives in MBD 2 RC series will be available during the first quarter of 2009, while the faster MBE2 RC drives released in the second quarter of next year.