My wife ordered a 24-pack of these cheap Bic mechanical pencils. I tried one out and I actually like it a lot. The lead diameter is 0.9 mm and it has a number 2 lead inside. It also contains one extra lead in the barrel. A 24-pack sells for about $.25 a pencil. They are supposed to be disposable, but why not buy a bunch of 9mm lead for cheap and keep using the pencil? You can even get colored leads! — MF

I love my Mini Magic Wireless Thermal Printer. I don’t have a regular printer in my home office, and don’t really need one, but I’ve been using this tiny, handy machine to print out lists, and pictures of my pets, and poems that I want to save. I am growing a collection of whimsical receipts! Because there is no ink required and because it came with six rolls, I constantly feel inspired to print something. I also ordered this sticky thermal paper (3 rolls, $10) on Amazon, so I can draw and print out my own stickers. — CD

For the past year I have really been enjoying Sci-Fi Daily on Instagram which floats out one beautiful piece of science fiction artwork each day. Some of the images contain an entire movie within them. — KK

This simplistically designed website lets you quickly swipe through cards with kind suggestions meant to uplift your spirits when needed. It works well on both your phone and desktop (on your desktop you press spacebar instead of swiping). — CD

This Ultimate Cheatsheet for Critical Thinking is a set of questions to ask yourself when you encounter new (or revisit old) ideas and information. It’s useful for that, but I’m using it to help develop characters and scenes for creative writing. — MF

High uncertainty ahead, for sure. There is no consensus on what will happen in the next 9 months. Every scientist, economist, sociologist, and futurist disagree on what might happen, but we still need to make plans as individuals and organizations. A very helpful tool in a reign of high uncertainty is to use scenario planning. The best set of near-term scenarios I’ve seen is this one, Scenarios for the Covid-19 Future, available as 45 slides, which include instructions on how to use scenarios. You can’t predict what will happen, but you can rehearse for four different possibilities. — KK

Before I watched Middleditch and Schwartz, the very little improv I was exposed to was not enjoyable. I get anxious when jokes don’t land and then I sympathy laugh and the whole thing is awkward. But now I’m stuck at home, and in desperate need of laughs and this have been the best comedy special I’ve seen. It’s like they’ve harnessed the superpowers of a childlike imagination and then threw it into adult situations, and it’s hilarious and magical to watch. — CD

Jumpstory is a royalty-free stock image and video service with millions of photos, videos, and illustrations that you can use for websites, books, presentations, and more. The images have been curated from public domain sources, and they’ve done a great job of tagging and organizing everything. I use Jumpstory images on my website, Boing Boing. A lifetime subscription is $99. — MF

With shameless self-promotion I recommend you follow my new Vanishing Asia Instagram. Every day I post one amazing photo I have taken of an exotic part of Asia that is disappearing because of modernity. The images are a few of the many thousand that will appear in my Vanishing Asia book later this year. In the meantime enjoy this ride in a time machine. Also available on Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. — KK

I tend to use meditation to help me slow down and ease into discomfort or when I feel my anxiety flaring up, but I came across this 30-minute Life Visioning meditation on my Aura app and felt completely transformed after it. At first the breathing exercises and noises felt hokey, but it helped to put me into an almost hypnotic relaxed state, and then the narrator took me down a dark tunnel to meet my “future self” and I was able to see her so clearly! I was so moved by this whole practice. I’ve done it three times since, and each time I discover some new desire or goal that is buried within me. — CD

My daughter told me about Astronaut.io. It’s a website that plays a few seconds of random YouTube videos with almost no views — like this video of a cafe in Vietnam with 1 view, and this one of goats eating weeds near a freeway in rural Japan with 0 views. After a few seconds, it starts playing another video. It’s addictive. Many of the videos aren’t in English, which is a plus for me. — MF

Story, by Robert McKee, is the best book written on how to construct a great story. McKee’s masterclass on story writing is well known in Hollywood. It is condensed into a 4-hour audiobook (better than the written book), performed by McKee himself. It is not just a manual for screenwriters; these short 4-hours turned me into a super fan, able to appreciate stories on whole new levels. Indeed, I found this book profound and realized that it is a useful guide to constructing an interesting life, which in the end is also a story. — KK

One thing that has helped me unwind at the end of every day is trying to solve logic puzzles on my phone. Something I always loved doing as a kid. I found this free, no ads iPhone app ($2.99 on Google Play) called Logic Puzzles by Egghead Games. There are puzzles for different levels of experience that you have access to, so you can start off easy and work your way up, or alternate between quick and more challenging games. It’s been two months since I downloaded it, and I have solved 80+ games, and I still have 16 more to go before I in-app purchase more, which I will, because it really is fun! — CD

I’ve been using a utility called CleanMyMac X for a number of years. I use it to completely undelete applications (and all their associated files), locate and delete space-wasting unneeded files, and scan for malware. It has a lot of other features, all of which are presented in a simple interface. — MF

You try to insert a USB plug and it doesn’t fit. You flip it over and it still doesn’t fit, so you flip it back to the original side and now it fits. Ugh! How many thousands of times has that happened? Just remember this: the topside of any USB plug will be smooth metal and the underside will have a groove down the center. Keep the smooth side up. — KK

As someone who is on the never-ending quest to learn how to draw, I really appreciate NYT’s How to Draw in Six Steps. The visual clips and tips are encouraging. Here is a sketch of Pablo’s face (my dog). — CD

Voracious adventure novel reader Josh Glenn put together a list of 250 of his favorite adventure novels of the 20th century, with a capsule review of each book. I’ve already added a bunch to my reading list. Many are available on project Gutenberg and other public domain book and audiobook websites. — MF

This blog is called 9-Eyes because the cameras on cars that take photos for Google’s Street View maps have 9 lenses. The anonymous curator of this site posts unusual photos they come across on Street View. Most of the photos are of people being people: acting silly, fighting, eating, pulling leashes attached to livestock, soliciting prostitutes, taking drugs, nursing their young, etc. Endlessly fascinating. — MF

For the entire month of May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is sending out a daily email unlocking one historical site that you can explore virtually. On Friday, I toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House in Virginia and fell in love with the Mayan-inspired motif and yesterday morning, the National Trust released a 27-minute concert video filmed at Nina Simone’s childhood home in North Carolina. There are still 29 more days to go. You can sign up here. — CD

Your phone is probably a better camera for streaming than your laptop or third-party webcam you are now using. To see how you can use your phone as a webcam, check out this technical video from Norm Chan at Tested. You’ll need two free open-source apps on your computer, and an inexpensive app on your phone. Following the instructions I got very high quality streams from my iPhone 8. This is good for YouTube, Facebook, Twitch streams but not for Zoom, Meet and other video conferencing yet.  — KK