Lex Strickland

As a child I usually disassembled Christmas toys by lunchtime. I'm fascinated by cellphones, fountain pens, knives, flashlights, Chromebooks, and Chromeboxes. I play drums, workout, throw boomerangs, shoot paper targets and bike. I try to fit in my retirement when I have time.

EXCITRUS NitroCharge 120 Pro Magnetic Wireless Power Bank review – A pound of purse-sized power

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REVIEW – The EXCITRUS NitroCharge 120 Pro Magnetic Wireless Power Bank is a hand-purse sized pack of power for devices you need to charge. It has a lot of capacity and offers speed charging, plus a water resistant fabric cover. And it’s no weakling. It’s powerful enough to charge most laptop computers, as long as […]

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Oladance Open Ear Headphones review – You’ll want to dance with Oladance

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REVIEW – Oladance Open Ear Headphones are a different way to listen to audio. The speakers sit just over the ear canal instead of in the ear, or via bone conduction. This allows you to hear your audio but also environmental sounds as well. I’ll describe the fit, comfort, run-time, and audio quality of this

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Twitter may eliminate NWS severe weather alerts

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NEWS – Twitter may eliminate NWS severe weather alerts due to a new policy to control automated tweets. My National Weather Service Office sent this tweet saying Twitter has decided to ‘limit’ automated Tweets as of 3/29/2023. I encourage you to submit a comment to Twitter Support strongly suggesting they allow an exception for the

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Curious about fountain pens but think you can’t afford them?

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NEWS – Have you ever wanted to get into fountain pens but thought they were too expensive or too inconvenient? If you’d like to dip your toe in, or your pen, you might consider the Jinhao brand of fountain pens. This brand is sold at Amazon, the famous Goulet Pen Company and other places.  I

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You don’t want your e-bike to go boom!

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NEWS – 880,000 e-bikes were imported into the U.S. in 2021 according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association. Consumer Reports, Fox, and several other media sources are reporting a high incidence of lithium-ion battery fires from e-bike and electric scooter batteries. Most large battery packs contain smaller cells connected together. Consumer Reports points out if

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Don’t get hosed by low quality hose

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NEWS – My Zero-G garden hose from 2018 is still performing perfectly. I bought it myself, leave it outdoors, and it works like a champ. If this sounds like a commercial, sorry, but this mundane, ‘everybody needs one’ product has been a good one for me, so this is an uncompensated endorsement. This hose has

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Anyone out there need hearing protection? I SAID, ANYONE OUT THERE…

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NEWS – Hearing loss is no joke. I play drums. Remove the ‘r’ from drum and that’s what I’d be if I hadn’t used hearing protection the whole time I’ve played. But I also use hearing protection when I mow the yard, blow leaves, use power tools louder than a drill, and when I vacuum the

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Plain text journaling – Trading in old tech for new?

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ARTICLE – In 2022 I changed away from years of using a paper journal/planner book. My word processor was fountain pens. I switched to plain text journaling and scheduling. All along I used the ‘aCalendar’ app on my phone, which automatically syncs to Google Calendar. But my paper journal/planner was my complete backup to aCalendar,

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The Tumbler Knife Sharpener is a new take on blade maintenance

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NEWS – The Tumbler Knife Sharpener is a can-shaped sharpener with a diamond disc surface on one end, and a stainless steel surface on the other end. The unit includes a 15° and 20° magnetic blade guide that holds the knife as you roll the ‘can’ along the knife edge. Only serrated-edge knives and scissors

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HiFuture FutureFit Ultra2 smartwatch review – How futuristic is it?

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REVIEW – HiFuture FutureFit Ultra2 smartwatch does Bluetooth calling really well. But HiFuture needs to put some work into several other functions of the watch to bring it into the present. Take a look to see if the Ultra2 does enough for you to justify its relatively low price. It’s well built overall, has a

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Midland WR400 weather alert radio review – Looks good in any room in the house

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REVIEW – The Midland WR400 Weather Alert Radio is a desktop weather alerting radio that also plays AM/FM radio and can serve as a wake-up alarm. The size and design of the WR400 are perfect for bedside or any indoor use, but choose your alert type carefully if you live with others. The 85 dB

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Velotric Nomad 1 e-Bike review – ‘Kid in a candy store’ adult bike fun

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REVIEW – The Velotric Nomad 1 e-bike is a new model from Velotric Bikes. Its fat tires are matched by a well-built, substantial frame. Plain road bikers with their synthetic bike shorts and featherweight bikes they can lift with two fingers may scoff as I pass, as I sit comfortably upright, not sweating, not pedaling

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Tourniquets are gadgets too! Learn how to use them with the free Stop The Bleed Course

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NEWS – Stop The Bleed is a FREE course developed by the American College of Surgeons and is available to the public as a means of providing lifesaving bleeding control skills to more people in more places in our country. Where might you encounter a severe bleeding emergency? Can you name a place where it

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Skilhunt EC300 multicolor LED flashlight review – 15 lighting modes from mini to mighty

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REVIEW – The Skilhunt EC300 Multicolor LED Flashlight has 15 light modes. It took lots of practice to figure out the modes but I got ‘em now, and this flashlight became one of my favorites thanks to all it can do. It has a 0.5 lumen light that is great if you need a tiny

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Decked X Pathfinder Survival Kit review – Have it, before you need it

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REVIEW – The Decked X Pathfinder Survival Kit is thoughtfully packed with quality gear that can help someone off the grid to survive in an unexpected emergency. I counted 22 items in the kit. I didn’t cheat! There are 10 alcohol swabs that I counted as one item. This kit is very well supplied. What

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