I’ve tried many different T-shirt brands, and I’ve finally found one that checks all the boxes — Pair of Thieves. Their shirts are soft, very thin, slightly stretchy, and breathable. I bought a 3-pack on Amazon, gave them a test run, then bought two more 3-packs. — MF

Long before plastic, the Japanese developed innovative ways to package goods using materials at hand: straw, bamboo, leaves, vines, paper. This peculiarly named book How to Wrap Five Eggs ($25) is a stunning gallery of everyday examples of this traditional Japanese packing, which has long disappeared. Photographed with studio black and white in the 1960s, each object is exquisite in its clever design. This thick book with two hundred examples is one that I return to often. The beauty never gets old. If you are at all partial to product design, or any type of presentation, this is a classic research source, a motherlode of how to think different. — KK

This blog post, “How To Become Wiser,” offers a great list of questions for reflection, organized around three main purposes: Seeking Perspective, Examining Yourself, and Developing Compassion. Introspection is my favorite tool for cultivating self-awareness and emotional regulation, and you don’t need a therapist or coach to develop your own practice—just a good set of questions. I wish I could memorize all 25, but instead, I’ve bookmarked them for those times when I’m confused, stuck, or need a journaling prompt. Here are a few of my favorites:

• What do I need in order to see this situation from a wiser perspective?

• Is this choice helping me move closer to my values or further away from them?

• What assumptions am I making right now?

• What needs is this person trying to fulfill right now?

— CD

When I want to check the speed of my internet connection (or if I’m connected at all), I use Fast.com. It starts testing instantly with no ads, measuring download speeds (plus upload and latency if needed) on any device, globally. — MF

This website is my favorite internet find this week. Offline.church can only be accessed on your mobile device, and you can only enter the church by switching to airplane mode. Inside, you’ll find a meditative space and music, and an opportunity to be with yourself offline. It reminds me of the pocket shrines I used to carry as a child and it feels like a digital room of silence, or one of those interdenominational prayer rooms found in airports. — CD

Three digital artists that I follow on Instagram. Each of their work is hard to explain in words:

Andy Thomas creates weird biological-like abstract shapes which move and behave with life-like energy; it’s a brilliant fusion of high tech and nature.

Zach Lieberman produces programmatically generated patterns, rich in color and light, that are animated with patterns of motion as well.

Adam Hale manufactures strange shifts in perspective, playfully collapsing dimensions, and toying with visual norms.

All three of these artists create art that is in motion, that are in between gifs and video, and are therefore ideal to catch on a social media stream. And while they are “generated” they are not generated with AI. — KK

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