The inventor Tim Hunkin released another season of his fantastic video tutorials introducing The Secret Life of Components, as in the motors, linkages, sensors and other parts you might use to build things. His hands-on knowledge is vast, and his BBC-perfected presentation skills are perfect for walking you through the plus and minuses of any part you ever might use. As fundamental as this information is, it is very hard to find, even on YouTube. — KK
I’m a big fan of author A.J. Jacobs. He embarks on crazy self-experiments — like reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, or living according the the rules in the Bible for a year — and writing books about them. His latest book is called The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. Jacobs entered puzzle competitions, explored the psychology of puzzles, and visited with famous puzzle designers. As part of the book launch, Jacobs created a puzzle contest with a $10,000 prize. I can’t wait to win. — MF
I like to feel comfortable in whatever I’m wearing and have never considered what my personal style might be. For the past two years, it’s been loungewear, but this comic strip by NPR Life Kit inspired me to change that. It’s a cute, visual guide that will walk you through cultivating your personal style and developing a shopping philosophy. — CD
I’m slowly trying out the odd little experiments suggested in this odd, used book I found, Astonish Yourself. The exercises are trivial, maybe even silly, such as following an ant for as long you can, or counting to 1,000, or listening to a recording of your own voice. It shifts your perspective for a small aha. The book offers 101 of these mindfulness moments. It prompted me to invent my own ways to astonish myself. — KK
I could read a hundred blog posts on how to be more productive and still find ways to procrastinate, but these productivity visuals (Twitter thread by @elliottaleksndr ) anchor themselves in my brain and inspire me to reframe whatever is blocking me. This one is my favorite. — CD
Would you like to hear what lightning on Jupiter sounds like? How about the beeping sound transmitted by Sputnik in 1957, or the first sound recording taken on Mars? Head over to NASA’s Audio and Ringtones page, where you can listen to dozens of recordings. My favorite is Juno’s 2021 flyby of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, which sounds like an old science fiction radio play. — MF
Instead of taping or tacking a poster to the wall, use this inexpensive magnetic poster hanger frame. It comes with weighted magnetic bars to sandwich the top and bottom of the poster so it doesn’t curl when you hang it. — MF
Rectangles is a time tracking visual where each rectangle represents 10 minutes of your day and the ones shaded in green display the time that has already passed. You are left with a perspective of how many more 10-minute blocks are left in your 24-hour day. It is inspired by Wait But Why’s article 100 Blocks a Day, which asks you to visualize your life on a grid and assess how you spend your 10-minute blocks. — CD
I’ve sunk into a comfy corner reading books about the age of discovery. A favorite is Over the Edge of the World, about Magellan’s first circumnavigation of the planet. The book is exceptionally good, and the story even better. Expeditions in those days were like today’s startups, with big visions and low likelihood of profit. Everything was falling apart the entire time. It’s not a tale of heroics, but of dire hardship, murder, mutiny, vast ignorance, and the slow awareness of the true scope of the this world. 260 sailors set off; 18 returned; but the world was literally never the same again. Highly recommended. — KK
Mvsep is a free web-based service that separates any song’s vocals and instruments. It’s useful for singers and musicians, but it also provides a new way to appreciate your favorite songs. I tried it with The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” using the “Ultimate Vocal Remover HQ” mode and was impressed by how well it worked. — MF
I am mesmerized by the short videos of Zach King. Are they real? Are they magic tricks? Or are they special CGI effects? Who cares? They are awesome. King’s visual tricks are witty, clever, and uplifting. I think of them as cinemagic. They have become a whole new creative genre, as King forwards and feature shorts inspired by his style but made by others. They travel well on TikTok so he has legions of followers. — KK
I never had any success searching Reddit directly, so I use Google and append all my queries with site:reddit.com. Redditle.com is exactly that — only a simpler, more direct way to search Reddit. You can even search within a specific subreddit. This would work well with Mark’s previous recommendation on Finding the best products online. — CD
Pirates invented early forms of democracy and organizations that were far more “modern” in shape than other work environments in the past. But what if there was a Gentleman Pirate who gave his pirates diversity training, casual Fridays, safe places, suggestion boxes, and encouraged them to express their artistic natures with art projects? That’s the parody of a very funny HBO comedy series “Our Flag Means Death.” The farcical absurdity is just background for a midlife crisis and workplace drama that is witty, heartfelt, refreshing, and touching. I binged all ten episodes in two sittings. — KK
Backofyourhand.com is a 5 question game that uses OpenStreetMap data to test how well you know your local area. I’ve lived in San Jose, CA for almost 4 years now and still don’t know the lay of the land (I scored a 15%). I scored 87% in my hometown of Sacramento. — CD
I recently returned from a long trip to Portugal and I used these tiny sealable plastic bags to store and organize my supplements and prescription medications. I saved them so I can use them the next time I travel. — MF
My new favorite hat to wear hiking is this Parapack P-CAP — an adjustable, foldable hat that is so breathable and lightweight it feels like I’m wearing nothing on my head. I love that it looks better than my other sun hats, and is less bulky. I just keep this in my purse now, because it’s so small. You can also fold it and use it as a pouch. — CD
Glue sticks are one of my favorite craft tools. Fast, cheap, versatile. But speciality glue sticks are even better. I use repositionable glue sticks so I can tweak the exact position; there is also wrinkle free glue sticks for thin materials, and for kids, there is disappearing purple glue sticks which go on purple but dry clear so they can see exactly where they put the glue. — KK
From James Clear’s must-read 3-2-1 Thursday newsletter, this way of seeing with a new filter:
Look around your environment.
Rather than seeing items as objects, see them as magnets for your attention. Each object gently pulls a certain amount of your attention toward it.
Whenever you discard something, the tug of that object is released. You get some attention back.
— MF
I started playing around with AI generated art this week, using this guide from the Unlimited Dream Co. I’m blown away with what the software produces from a text prompt. Here’s a “plastic space deity” and an “alien astronaut helmet” I asked the AI to create for me. Be sure to check the Unlimited Dream Co.’s art, too. It’s incredible. — MF
This 5-minute test asks 15 questions to measure your empathy, open-mindedness, flexibility and intellectual curiosity and visualizes your thinking using floating color blob. Your personality-color blob starts off as white but as you progress through the questions, you see it add and subtract colors and change in brightness and dullness. The test is called “Thinking in colour” and that’s exactly what it inspires me to do. — CD