My best friend called recently to ask what it meant to dream her teeth were falling out. I told her that was the most common dream scenario across the board and then asked her more questions about her recent career change, because it was obvious she was nervous about it. Today I came across this infograph showing the most common dreams by country and realized I was partially right — the most googled dream in the world is about snakes, and the second being teeth falling out. I loved learning the other dream meanings being googled in other countries. In Bhutan, they dream of rainbows often. — CD

Sharkle is a random-content discovery tool, like StumbleUpon used to be when it was around. I don’t really have time to bounce around the internet for fun, but I like to click on the “Show Me Something Awesome” when I’m briefly bored. Today it took me through this really cool Rainbow Tunnel! — CD

A basic survival skill these days is trying to imagine the future. Individually and collectively we can get better at it. Imaginable, by Jane McGonigal, at the Institute for the Future, is the only book I know of that will teach you the proven techniques that futurists use to help them forecast the future. The aim of forecasting is not prediction but to not be surprised – to imagine it. This clear book includes all the methods I use, and more. It’s practical and competent. Do the exercises suggested and you won’t be too surprised by what happens in the future. — KK

The February 20, 2021 issue of Roger’s Bacon newsletter has an entertaining list of laws of the Internet. Many have been around for decades and are as valid as ever. Here are few:

• Badger’s Law – “any website with the word ‘Truth’ in the URL has none in the posted content.”

• The Wadsworth Constant – “the first 30% of any video can be skipped because it contains no worthwhile or interesting information.”

• The Law of Fakery – “Anything fake which attracts enough attention will have some people vehemently proclaiming it’s real. Anything real which attracts enough attention will have some people vehemently proclaiming it’s fake. Corollary: If the creator confesses that it was fake, some people will still claim it’s real and call the confession a fake.”

— MF

On my browser I keep bookmarked the Free Stuff page on Craig’s List, set to my locale (Location > For Sale > Free). I look there first when I need something. Almost everything will pass through sooner or later — from vintage bath tubs to cardboard moving boxes to baltic plywood. Yours for the hauling. It’s best if you can give it a few weeks or more to find what you want. — KK

I completed my third escape room this week and it is now my favorite group entertainment. Better than a concert, or going bowling. You enter a series of elaborately decorated rooms that are packed with puzzles that your group needs to collectively solve before going further. Collaboration is more important than genius. I find it tons of exhilarating fun. Most rooms take an hour to an hour-and-half. EscapeRoom is a directory of 6,000 escape rooms around the world, with summaries and prices, and where to find one near you. I am biased, but Palace Games in San Francisco are rated among the top 3 best escape rooms in the world, and are worth a trek to play them. — KK

I bought a Lihit Lab pencil and pen cases a couple of years ago and my daughters, who both like to sketch, were envious. I bought them each one of their own. It neatly stores up to 14 pens and has additional mesh pockets for erasers, sharpeners, and other small items. — MF

I’m a big fan of Clearer Thinking and have recommended several of their tests and newsletter before, and Spencer Greenberg, the social scientist behind Clearer Thinking also has a weekly newsletter that I click on as soon as it hits. Each week, he sends out “One Helpful Idea” and it’s short and sweet and it makes me feel smart. This week’s helpful idea was:

Many have made the argument that trying not to think about something makes us think about it more. As proof, they say: “Try not to think about a white bear. Gotcha!” But the way to not think of a white bear is not to “not think about a white bear” — it’s to think about a red plum.

You can view all the past issues and subscribe here. — CD

It took me way too long to discover how to quickly apply labels in Gmail. I used to apply custom labels to emails by using the drop-down menu — usually one by one. Then I figured out that if you have your labels set to show in the left panel, you can drag and drop messages into them, or vice versa — I drag the labels into my emails as I go through my inbox. Here’s a how-to on using drag and drop in Gmail. — CD

If you’re facing a tough decision and can’t make up your mind, try some of the 10 pieces of advice from this 2007 New Scientist article. One tip I found especially interesting: “researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various alternatives on offer, and ended up making the best choices.” My takeaway from that is to avoid making a major decision when I’m elated. — MF

The essays of Paul Graham are masterpieces of clear thinking. He writes about the process of making things, from a small idea, to a large company. Known as the co-founder of YCombinator, a high-tech incubator, his advice is eagerly sought by entrepreneurs, but his advice in these essays, posted on his ancient and free blog, is uncommonly useful to individuals who like to make things and make things happen. I learn a tremendous lot from each short essay. — KK

I just discovered Atlas Obscura has a Gastro Obscura map where you can find unusual restaurants or food museums all over the world. Anyone can contribute an entry — the requirements being that it is an awe-inspiring place or that it preserves lesser known culinary traditions or amazing architecture or decor. Way more interesting that Yelp! — CD

I don’t have a dog, but if I did I would be trying to get it to talk. At They Can Talk there’s a bunch of researchers training dogs to use cheap electronic devices to “say” words. Some dog-owners claim to be able to train their dogs to chain together a string of spoken words into something like a sentence. There’s a whole community of folks trying it, and recordable buttons sold on Amazon, and a good book on it, How Stella Learned to Talk. — KK

Here are a few of my favorites from this GitHub repository of Dwmkerr’s Hacker Laws and Principles:

• Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

• Amara’s Law: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate in the long run

• Putt’s Law: Technology is dominated by two types of people, those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand.

— MF

I didn’t know about the tree seeds that flew around the Moon in 1971 and were planted upon return until I read this article in The Atlantic: We Almost Forgot About the Moon Trees. All the of the locations of these Moon Trees are kept here and up-to-date, including the ones no longer alive. Visiting as many of these trees as possible is now on my travel bucket list. — CD

Isaac Asimov’s 768-page Understanding Physics clearly explains the principles of motion, sound, heat, light, magnetism, and electricity in a historical context. It gave me a better understanding of physics than four years of mechanical engineering school, and was actually fun to read. — MF

Here is a very simple and effective three-second brain exercise for finding joy — recognize “thin slices of joy” throughout the day.

“Notice the joyful moments in your day, however small, however fleeting. Notice how good it feels to have that first sip of your drink. Or how tasty that first bite of food is. The pleasurable feeling of your skin in warm water when you wash your hands or take a shower. The moment of delight and comfort when you see your friend. These thin slices of joy only last a few seconds but they add up! The more you notice joy, the more you will experience joy in your life.”

That’s advice by an ex-Google engineer who wrote the book Joy on Demand. He shares more short and simple “joy” exercises here. — CD

When I travel internationally, some of the websites I use for work and entertainment block connections outside the United States. For the last year, I’ve been using ProtonVPN, which is based in Switzerland and has strict privacy policies (it doesn’t keep logs of the websites you visit). I use ProtonVPN to route my internet service through one of Proton’s U.S. hosts, so all the websites I visit think I’m in Los Angeles no matter where I happen to be. They offer a free version, but I pay $100 a year for higher speed and additional options. — MF

Throughout his career Dan Pink has been a master of distilling actionable advice about all parts of life. He is at peak wisdom in this series of videos that encapsulate an entire book’s-worth of advice into 3 minutes or less. Plus one dad-joke. He calls them Pinkcasts. They are totally worth your 3 minutes. — KK

The Mental Health Update is one of my favorite weekly newsletters in my inbox. There’s always a tool or article that widens my perspective. The most recent issue turned me on to Orai, an AI-powered app to help you improve your public speaking skills. Each issue has actionable strategies to improve your mental health. The newsletter was created by Jordan Brown, a social worker who started blogging because he couldn’t find the kind of mental health content online that he wanted to read. I’m always surprised by his articles and what he covers, so I am grateful. — CD