Books printed-on-demand

I produce one or two books per year. I use a print-on-demand (POD) service so the books are printed one at a time when needed. The best/easiest print-on-demand is KDP (formerly CreateSpace), owned by Amazon. Their quality is indistinguishable from a bookstore book (in fact many books from NY publishers are printed POD), and they have the added virtue that you can sell the books on Amazon, and it integrates with making digital books for the Kindle at the same time. I can have a standard softcover book printed in B&W at KDP for around $4. Small run books make ideal gifts. — KK

DesignClaudia Dawson
Daily self-care newsletter

Tiny Spells is a daily self-care email that feels like it’s sent from your best friend. Every day Joan Westenberg sends out three simple things you can do for yourself to make your day and self better, like reminders to take a stretch break, make the doctors appointment you’ve been avoiding, buying yourself fresh flowers, or finding something that makes you laugh. It has a magical effect and I look forward to it every day. — CD

MindClaudia Dawson
52 interesting things from 2019

Tom Whitewell put together a list called “52 things I learned in 2019,” and I was interested in all of them. Examples: “Each year humanity produces 1,000 times more transistors than grains of rice and wheat combined” and “Worldwide, growth in the fragrance industry is lagging behind cosmetics and skincare products. Why? ‘You can’t smell a selfie.’” — MF

LearningClaudia Dawson
Foldable dog water dispenser

I’ve just started taking my 1-year-old puppy on hikes and I wanted the easiest/fastest way to feed him water on the trail. This lesotc Pet Water Bottle for Dogs ($15) has a lid that is also a foldable bowl, so when I open it I can squeeze the water into the bowl and my puppy can lap up as much as he needs and the rest of it will flow back into the the bottle. No more wasted water. — CD

Travel GearClaudia Dawson
Five quotes

Here are a few quotes that are helping me look at life differently. — CD

  • “The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.” — Voltaire

  • “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

  • “A good marriage is one in which each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal, and this is true also of our friendships.” — Anne Lamott

  • “Things usually happen around us, not to us.” — Unknown, found on Reddit

  • “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca

QuotablesClaudia Dawson
Icons for everything

The Noun Project is a huge searchable database of icons you can use in PowerPoint slides, websites, signs, or for any project requiring symbols. As a test, I searched on the word “chicken” and got hundreds and hundreds of chicken related icons. Most of the icons are free under a Creative Commons license, and if you pay a small fee, you don’t have to credit the creator. — MF

DesignClaudia Dawson
A Year in Space

I am a huge fan of spending big bucks to explore space scientifically. But I bet humans won’t settle (live long-term) on Mars, or the Moon, or in space willingly. To get a glimpse of why not, watch the Netflix mini-series, A Year in Space. This documentary follows two astronauts as they subject themselves to the harsh punishment of living off our planet. We’ll keep improving the process of space fitness, but this documentary is very sobering about the steep cost of doing without the things we get for “free” on this planet. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Switchable magnets

I’ve recently discovered magswitches. These are magnets you can turn off and on. I use them in my workshop to hold down fences, stops, and featherboards. When they are turned on, you can’t move them. When off, they lift off instantly. They are non-electronic; the switch is an ingenious mechanical contraption hidden inside a very tiny case. You can buy fixtures with magswitches built in, or you can buy the switches to make your own devices. I found that even a single magswitch alone, such as the small MagJig 95 ($26), is a useful stop in the workshop because you can position it anywhere quickly on a metal surface and have it instantly hold. — KK

WorkshopClaudia Dawson
Self-ID for iPhone

If you find an iPhone and want to know whose it is, who lost it, use that phone to ask Siri: “Siri, who’s phone is this?” and it will tell you. — KK

PhoneClaudia Dawson
Convenient world clock

I often need a quick way to find the best time for meetings with people in other time zones, and I find World Time Buddy is the best time converter visually. All of the overlapping business hours between two time zones are highlighted yellow, so I can easily decide the best hours to suggest. — CD

ProductivityClaudia Dawson
Learning to draw

This hand-drawn book is the best course on art and drawing I’ve seen. The cartoonist Lynda Barry has been teaching non-artists to draw, and she has somehow magically captured her class into this book called Making Comics. This guidance is particularly aimed at people who think they can’t draw. It will teach you how to draw, more importantly how to see, and even more importantly how to create with originality, by taking yourself out of the way to see what shows up. It refreshed my very concept of art. I’ve already given two copies of it away. — KK

LearningClaudia Dawson
Budgeting tip

I appreciate this r/personalfinance tip to control impulse purchases by adding things to a wishlist first. I sort of already doing this by “saving for later” a lot items on Amazon, but I will definitely practice this more intently and wait a week before I buy anything that is not necessary. — CD

MoneyClaudia Dawson
Stop the bleeding

When I first started shaving in high school my dad gave me a stytptic pencil. When this chalky stick is touched to razor nicks and cuts, it immediately stops the bleeding. One stick seems to last forever. Two new stytptic pencils cost $3.50. — KK

HealthClaudia Dawson