2025-01-26 18:01:39
This article on "The Art of Calling Out Room Dynamics" is geared toward high-stakes professional environments, but I find it incredibly useful advice for defusing tension and realigning unproductive group meetings of any kind. The article outlines practical tips, as well as the psychology behind naming what is in the room. Pattern interruption helps to break negative loops, and focusing on the collective experience helps to create psychological safety and make space for honest dialogue. This is a conversational superpower that anyone can develop. — CD
It’s not easy to prop a phone up at the right angle. For video calls using the phone, or for photography I sometimes want a steady position sans arms. I use this itsy-bitsy holder from Peak Design that folds up to the size of a credit card, but thicker. Parts of the card fold out to form a tripod and the remaining is a magnetic plate which holds the phone (check to be sure your phone back does magnets). I can then stand my phone on a desk for a video call or place it outside like a small camera tripod for video or timelapse. The design is ingenious. It slips into my daypack when travelling. — KK
After one too many purses sliding off restaurant chairs onto grimy floors or taking up table space, my wife started carrying this clever folding hook in her purse. It magnetically collapses to the size of a silver dollar but unfolds to securely hang bags from any table edge. — MF
I was tired of visiting multiple museum collections one-by-one for usable images, so I built this simple web tool that creates direct search links to 11 major institutional collections on a single page. Enter a search term like "sailing ships" and get one-click access to results from places like the Smithsonian, Met Museum, Library of Congress and more. Free. — MF
Sacred Source is a treasure trove of sacred images, traditional deities, and spiritual statues. It is my go-to source for buying hand-crafted devotional artifacts for my altar. They have such a diverse range of statues, honoring both ancient cultures and modern spirituality. As a small company dedicated to supporting artisan families, every purchase feels like a meaningful choice. — CD
This is super cool: Wikenigma, an encyclopedia of known unknowns. What we know we don't know. A startlingly long list of unanswered questions, uncertainties, and blank areas in our collective knowledge. Frontiers. Good places to work. — KK
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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2025-01-19 18:00:57
A cool way to make some unusual art is to render an image in Lego. I used a kit from BrickMe that turned a photo of my wife into 5,625 pixels, and then they supplied me with Lego tiles in 50 different colors. Using the map they also supply, I “painted” the image by applying the tiles in the manner of paint-by-numbers. I glued the final assembly onto plywood to hang in my studio. The procedure is well-designed, fun, with plenty of extra tiles. Mine was the small size at 24 x 24 inches (57 x 57 cm) for $126; they can go much bigger. – KK
One of my New Year's resolutions is to create more distance between myself and my phone. This list offers some effective tricks to make your phone less interesting, as well as tips to avoid "brain rot." According to the Oxford Dictionary, brain rot refers to the "supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging." For me, simply disabling badge and sound notifications was enough to make my phone less engaging. I also encouraged my closest friends and family to call me more often and text less. — CD
Glicol is a free music programming environment that runs in your web browser — no installation needed. As someone who dabbles in music coding, I like how it lets you connect audio nodes (like oscillators and filters) using simple >> arrows, similar to patching modular synths. It's instantly usable for beginners. Watch a demo video. — MF
My father liked this aluminum tablet stand ($20) that I gave him for his birthday so much, he bought one for my mother. Unlike fixed-angle stands, this one lets you easily dial in the perfect viewing angle. Rubber-padded grips prevent slipping and scratches. Works with everything from phones to large tablets (4-17 inches) and folds nearly flat for travel. — MF
My home office doubles as a guest room, so I needed to find a comfortable floor mattress that could be easily packed away when not in use. I did a lot of research and went with the highly reviewed Milliard Tri-Folding Memory Foam Mattress (6-inch, Twin XL). Every overnight guest we’ve had says it’s really comfortable. I’ve also slept on it and liked it so much that I bought the smaller Twin size (6-inch) just to have an extra one on hand for camping trips or overnight retreats. — CD
There is a growing understanding of why some houses burn in a wildfire and why some escape. There are many things you can do to prevent your house from burning. First, the chief factor is how close your home is to another burning house. It is houses that set fire to houses, more than trees or vegetation. Prevention is a community thing. Second, a stream of embers ignites most houses, rather than flames. Those embers pile up in gutter debris, dry leaves near the foundation, firewood stack against a wall, or embers flying into vents, and that kindling ignites the house. These insights are based on the latest research into wild fire. A great starting point for learning what you can do – based on evidence – is the California Chaparral Institute. — KK
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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2025-01-12 18:01:59
After one too many frustrating calls trying to spell out airline confirmation codes ("No, B as in Boy, not D!"), I built this simple web tool. Type in any text and it instantly converts it to NATO phonetic alphabet - so "B2K" becomes "Bravo Two Kilo." Try it for clearly communicating flight bookings, WiFi passwords, or any string of letters and numbers over the phone. — MF
A YouTuber I follow with eager anticipation is Cleo Abrams, who creates a science explainer about once a month, called Huge If True. For a great example, watch her video explaining what’s involved in human egg freezing and harvesting. (That they are her eggs added fantastic depth to her reporting.) A monthly schedule allows her explainers to have sophisticated levels of production and clarity. Her range of interests are broad and varied, and generally uplifting. I am a happy subscriber. — KK
This is a beautifully simple and concise framework for processing and releasing difficult emotions. The author outlines a 14-step guide that begins with acknowledging your feelings and ends with creating meaningful rituals. Every step is practical and flexible for anyone to adapt it to their own needs and experiences. — CD
My daughter's college friends are obsessed with this simple dice game called LCR Wild. Each turn, you roll up to three dice marked L, C, R or Wild - passing chips left, right, to a center pot, or using Wild to steal from anyone. As she explains: "Chips that go to the center are eliminated from play, so the game gets more intense as the supply dwindles. You can theoretically win the center pot with three wild rolls, but I've never seen it happen!" The last player with chips wins. Perfect balance of luck and light strategy that works for 3 or 30 people. — MF
I always keep Elmer’s Resuable Tac ’N Stik in my craft supplies. It comes in handy when I want to hang up paper prints on my wall without having to use a nail, and I avoid the risk of peeling off wall paint with double-sided mounting tape. — CD
The dollar-to-yen exchange rate continues to make now a fabulous time to visit Japan. The main trick is to get out of Tokyo, but Tokyo is a good place to start for first time visitors. My favorite guide to Tokyo is one aimed at kids, but also one that anyone young at heart will benefit from: Tokyo, City Trails by Lonely Planet Kids. It points you to all the actual fun things to do, not just endless food and temples. How about a toilet showroom, a chocolate bath, or a sleep capsule? In the same vein, for your guidance to cosplay, manga, anime, otaku activities, I recommend Tokyo Geek’s Guide. It’s a great way to experience the city and modern Japanese culture. — KK
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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2025-01-05 18:01:06
Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started eight years ago, that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 8 years.
A tour in the Galapagos was one of our best vacations ever. There are no hotels so you live on a boat, which travels during the night so you wake up in the cove of a different island each morning. Each island is a different biome (inspiring the idea of evolution for Darwin). You spend the day actively hiking around the islands encountering a myriad of perfectly tame animals and birds. While there are large cruise boats, the key is to sail on a small boat to minimize transit times ashore. Go to Happy Gringo to find diverse small boat tours. They are utterly reliable and 1/3 the cost of others. — KK
I used the Red Bike service when I was in Cincinnati recently. A 24-hour pass costs a measly $8. You just grab a bike at any of the dozens of stations (an app shows you how many bikes are available on a map) and start pedaling. The bikes have baskets and locks. It’s a lot more fun than Uber! — MF
Before I travel to new city X, I search for “street food tour for city X.” Almost every interesting city these days has someone offering this inside look. I find it a quick, fun, inexpensive, exhilarating way to get to know a place. — KK
So much to see, so little money. Why not maximize your travel by getting the most per dollar? The World’s Cheapest Destinations will guide you to the best least expensive countries in the world, where a small budget will purchase you ten times the joy of a more expensive region. Part of my secret to travel is to visit these countries listed, which are usually the most interesting, too. Now in its 5th updated edition, this succinct guide is one of the best investments in life you can make. — KK
One of the most profound experiences I've had while traveling was visiting the Raum der Stille, a non-denominational room of silence near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. I sat in a chair within a clean, nondescript room, facing 2 or 3 other people in similar chairs. The room wasn't soundproof, but we were all silent and in our own reflective states. I didn't want to leave. I felt connected to these strangers and to myself, which is something I never felt in any church. I was so overwhelmed and grateful for that short experience, and was excited to visit more quiet rooms. I encourage anybody visiting Berlin soon to seek it out. — CD
The world’s coolest nature museum: The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. It’s a day trip from London. Take the 1-hour train to Oxford, then walk 15 minutes from the station to the museum, co-housed with the Oxford University Nature Museum. Enter into a lost world of curiosity. You are surrounded by three floors of artifacts collected over centuries by eccentric British explorers. Displays include shrunken heads, voodoo dolls, tomb relics, weird insects, ancient folk tools, dinosaur skeletons, taxidermy galore, uncountable biological, and mineralogical specimens, all stacked in glassy cabinets with typed cards and labels. It’s supremely old-school and hugely satisfying. — KK
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Just 1 Question, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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2024-12-29 18:00:47
Machine generated video is coming fast. Google just released their version, Veo 2, this month, which is now one of a dozen apps that turn text instructions into cinematic video, in your choice of styles. Jason Silva used these apps to create a 13-minute film called The Arrival of the Psychedelic Puppets that is weirdly trippy yet coherent in a dream-like way. His theme is that AI-generation is a new kind of psychedelic. Years from now this video will seem incredibly primitive, but right now it is the most stunning example of what one person will be able to achieve soon with these new tools. — KK
TimeCapsule is a clever solution for extending AirTag battery life from 1 year to 10 years. Just remove the standard coin battery and put the Airtag in this waterproof case that uses two AA batteries. It's valuable for tracking high-value items like camera gear or items in long-term storage. Around $20. — MF
Network of Time is a website that lets you choose two historical figures and connect them through a series of photographed encounters across time. It’s a fun way to waste time, and fascinating how it visually demonstrates the interconnectedness of human experiences and relationships throughout history. — CD
I especially enjoyed The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss, a book that inspects the work processes of world-class artists. The artists range from painters, to poets, to musicians, screenwriters, comedians, photographers, and so on. Adam Moss is my favorite magazine editor; he gets the diverse artists to let him watch them work and through his firm questions best understand exactly how they create, including their detours, and mistakes along the way. The book is innovative in its layout and a work of art itself. — KK
The Sleek Socket is perfect for getting furniture closer to walls. It plugs into any 3-pronged outlet and provides three power ports via a flat cable that can be neatly routed along walls. It comes with adhesive clips for cable management. — MF
Someone on Reddit posted a visual to show the internal filters they use before speaking. However, I found the most valuable filtering advice in the comments:
Is this something that needs to be said?
Is this something that needs to be said by me?
Is this something that needs to be said by me right now?
I also agree with another comment that the simplest filter process is always: “Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary?” Another one to add to the EQ toolkit is a filter I learned this year for therapeutic settings, which is simply to WAIT—Before you speak ask your Why Am I Talking? and reflect on your intentions.
— CD
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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Iterum is a simple and purposeful self-reflection journaling app for Mac and iOS. Use it to hone your life into what you want it to be. Comes with some classy AI-guidance and Apple Health / Calendar integrations.
Meet Reclaim.ai: The Free AI-Powered Scheduling App for Work & Life. Supercharge your productivity in 2025 by letting Reclaim find the best time for habits, tasks, meetings, and breaks, right in your calendar.
2024-12-22 18:01:40
To stay informed on the latest research news, I subscribe to ScienceDaily, which is a comprehensive digest of research news across various fields. I follow ScienceDaily through Feedly, but I recently noticed that they now offer a Substack newsletter. Subscribing through Substack allows you to choose a once-a-week digest tailored to your topic interests, such as Health, Technology, Society, or Environment. Alternatively, you can opt to receive only the top featured research news in a daily email. — CD
This minimalist bedside lamp has a touch-sensitive top that cycles through three brightness levels with a tap — perfect for fumble-free nighttime control. It has built-in USB ports for charging devices. It's small so it doesn't take up much bedside table space and has a stable base that prevents tipping. — MF
For a steady stream of perfectly ripe avocados, let a bag of avocados come to near ripeness, and put them into a ziplock bag and place them in a refrigerator. They’ll remain in near-ripeness until you take them out one by one, a day before you want to eat them. — KK
Auto tires are such a bargain at Costco that many folks get a Costco membership just for the tires. Mattresses are a similar bargain. You can get high quality branded mattresses – including classic bedspring models – for a lower price from Costco than from almost anywhere else. And Costco will deliver to the room, set up, and haul away your old mattress at no extra cost. And you can order them online. — KK
This website allows you to customize and create mazes in various shapes and sizes. I find maze puzzles to be a mindfulness practice and very soothing to get lost in. You can export the generated mazes as PNG, SVG, or PDF files, and they are free to use in any non-commercial way you want. — CD
A fascinating collection of proverbs from cultures worldwide, organized into 100 categories. It makes centuries of human insight accessible for modern readers.
"People seek out big-shots as flies seek out the elephant's tail." (Indonesian)
"The full person does not understand the needs of the hungry." (Irish)
"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." (Swedish)
"A greedy person and a pauper are practically one and the same." (Swiss)
"When money speaks, truth keeps silent." (Russian)
— MF
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
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