Here are some quotes I’ve carried with me for years—reminders that keep me aligned with my heart. — CD

• “When you meet the monster, anoint its feet.” — Bayo Akomolafe

• “Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.” — Alejandro Jodorowsky

• “We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.” — Carlos Castaneda

• “I recommend the freedom that comes from asking: Compared to what?” — Gloria Steinem

• “In order to experience true freedom, we need to be able to welcome everything just as it is. To welcome everything is an act of love.” — Frank Ostaseski

• “We are as personally free as we can permit the autonomy of others.” — Antero Alli

• “I kept looking for a logic that would explain life. It never occurred to me that instead love is the vital synthesis.” — Jane Roberts

• “I’m not one of those people with their heads in the clouds; I’m one of those whose entire body has been consumed by the clouds.” — Antero Alli

• “I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive… so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” — Joseph Campbell

Uri at Atom Vs Bits has written up the 21 essentials of hosting great parties. Tested tips include starting at quarter to the hour for better timing, using party apps to display guest lists, and having close friends arrive early to set the mood. Parties are a “public service” — good gatherings create meaningful connections that can change lives. Top tip: Don’t stress out; “it’s better to have mediocre pizza from a happy host than fabulous hors d’oeuvres from a frazzled one.” — MF

I spend way too much time zooming, often at night (because most of my audience is in China), so I needed a way to fill in good flattering light at my computer. The solution which has been working for a couple of years is a small, cheap LED ring light that clips onto my monitor on USB. These are generic commodities; brands don’t matter. I use something like a Cyezcor ring light ($19), which lets you set the color temperature. I usually set mine to warm. — KK

The Scale of Life is a website that visualizes worldwide statistics in real time, displaying a live count of everyday events, things made, and natural phenomena the moment you open the page. It’s fascinating to watch the spectrum of activity—from packages delivered and lightning strikes to new trees sprouting. It’s not 100% accurate, but if you are curious can click on counters views sources and explore deeper. — CD

We played Codenames every night when our out-of-town friends stayed with us. It’s a tabletop game with simple rules, so you can start playing without a lot of explaining. Players are divided into two teams. Each team’s leader must help their team guess the assigned words on a grid of cards by providing one-word clues; however, guessing the wrong words can result in penalties. The first team to find all their assigned words wins. — MF

Unlike many of his peers in the advice business, Dan Pink is concise. In his books and videos, he distills his counsel into brief, well-crafted, bombs of wisdom with zero fluff. In 40 Harsh Truths I Wish I Knew in My 20s he packs all his hard-earned life wisdom into 13 minutes. Well worth your time. – KK

World of Interiors is a website featuring photos of rooms in people’s homes and shops. It’s exciting and inspirational. Look at these: dining chairs painted like the game pick-up sticks; a pop-art office with a cartoon tiger rug, overflowing books lining walls and staircases, and a collection of Zulu hats on an attic wall. — MF

I have a thing for the elements – the diverse atoms that make up the world. I think more of them should be better known. I’ve previously recommended Elements ($10), the best book on this realm, but the second best resource is Periodic Videos, a channel of 118 videos arranged in the form of a periodic table of the elements. Click on each box in the grid to get a free, brief, informative lesson on what is special about this unique element. — KK

This website offers a helpful collection of tools for managing anxiety, including breathing exercises, sensory techniques, calming visualizations, and sound therapy. Each exercise is just a few minutes long and requires no special equipment. I appreciate that the site also explains the science behind each technique, along with advice on when to use them and what you might notice. — CD

I’ve been replacing some of my necklace clasps with these magnetic closures, and they’re such a time- and hassle-saver. The magnets are strong enough to hold the weight of my heaviest pendant. — CD

I installed my first trail cameras in the early 1990s hoping to capture the elusive mountain lion in the hills behind our house. Back then trail cams were cumbersome film cameras with only 36 shots before you had to change rolls. It was expensive to develop and a chore to constantly replenish and keep the film and batteries replaced. Today you can get solar powered digital trail cams that have cell connections and display the images from remote locations instantly on your phone. (These are outlawed for hunting purposes in some states.) There is a whole range of intermediate, inexpensive digital trail cams that will pair with your nearby phone. I use a solar powered Vidvis 4K trail cam ($49) in my pursuit of wild animals passing through our neighborhood. It also works at night with invisible infrared flash. Every once in a while I walk up to it and wirelessly download its stored images. It’s always charged, and I can fit a year of still photos on one card. I’ve caught lots of critters passing through, but alas, still no mountain lion. — KK

The timer app on a phone is not helpful in the kitchen. You have to prop it up to see the time, the screen goes dark after a few minutes, and if your hands are wet, it makes the app unresponsive to your finger. I use a battery-powered 60-minute Searon Kitchen Timer. The visual analog display is easy to read from a distance. It can be set on the counter, attached to the refrigerator, or mounted on the wall. It also has a mute button — when the time is up, an LED blinks until you tap the top of the timer. — MF

My friend gifted me this infinity travel pillow, and while I haven’t traveled with it yet, I use it daily. It’s super snuggly and soft, and no matter how I wrap it around myself, I feel supported and comfy. In bed, when I hug it and tangle my arms into it, I drift off to sleep faster. It’s definitely worthy of being called an emotional support pillow. — CD

I have a lot of trouble trying to describe what modern China feels like to those who have not been there in the last decade. Now I can just point to this tiktok-ish Instagram that spins out a steady parade of crazy innovation, brilliant art, amazing skills, stupid tricks, astounding architecture, crass consumerism, that is the urban China that I know and love. It's called Its China Baby. It feels like China today. (And careful, there are tons of similar sounding ripoff counterfeit accounts—it’s China baby!) — KK

I bought the $9 wireless doorbell from BN-Link for a friend whose old doorbell stopped working. The button unit comes with double-sided foam tape and uses a coin battery. The ringer plugs into a wall outlet. Installation took 60 seconds; deciding on which of 58 different chimes to use took 10 minutes and was a lot more fun. I wanted "Rage Over a Lost Penny" based on the title, but my friend decided on "Westminster Chimes." — MF

Recently, some Redditors shared their best real-life “cheat codes.” Here are the top-voted pieces of advice that stuck with me (some paraphrased):

• Treat everyone with sincere kindness and gratitude, especially those who rarely get thanks—like custodians, admin staff, or customer service folks.

• When your inner critic pipes up, just announce, “Oh look, the asshole is here.” Giving that negative voice a name can help you laugh it off and move on.

• If you get stuck on a problem, take a break—go for a walk or sleep on it—then try explaining it out loud, even to a rubber duck. Sometimes, just voicing the issue is enough to spark a solution.

• Clean your house before you go on vacation.

— CD

I've consulted numerous videos and written guides on how to fold elastic-rimmed fitted sheets correctly, but nothing compares to Dave Gauer's illustrated guide. It's got two things going for it that other guides don't: 1) hand-drawn illustrations of sheets depicted as googly-eyed muppet creatures, and 2) instructions that make sense. Even if you’re committed to rolling your fitted sheet into an ugly ball shape and stuffing it in the closet for the rest of your life, Gauer’s guide is worth reading for the entertainment value alone. — MF

Listers is a must-see, quirky, charming, homemade documentary about two brothers competing to spot the most number of birds in a year – the list. To make it more challenging, they know zero birds on day one, and they have no money so they sleep in their car as they travel the country for a year, and of course they film everything and it turns out they are remarkable nature photographers. The bird footage is award-worthy, but the rest of the film has the vibe of a shaky punk skate video. They constantly mock birdwatching and the obsessiveness of listers, while they become deeply obsessed themselves. This is not about birds; it’s about extreme bird-watchers, and it’s funny, entertaining 2 hours is a master class in obsession and what is possible to learn in one year. This doc has a lot of heart. Streaming on YouTube for free. — KK

The Wolfbox MF100 battery-powered air duster produces a stream of air more powerful than a can of pressurized air. I've been using it to blow debris out of keyboards, dust from windowsills, cobwebs out of corners, and dirt lodged in cracks in my backyard wooden stairs. I wear ear protection when using it on the highest setting. It comes with four nozzle attachments and a USB-C charging cable. — MF

Finding a reliable local guide in a far away destination is not easy, but made a bit easier with GetYourGuide.com. This is a clearinghouse for local ebike tours, street food tours, museum tours, and city walking tours around the world. GetYourGuide does not run any of the tours; these are all staffed and run by local entrepreneurs so the quality will vary. But this site and app make hyper local guides easy to find, easy to schedule, and easy to pay. In my own experience, they are reliable and deliver what they promise. — KK