Unlike regular jigsaw puzzles, which have pieces that don’t match up with the artwork, this puzzle’s 40 large pieces are cut in the shape of the black and white creatures from artist M.C. Escher’s 1957 lithograph Mosaic II. The puzzle is a lot harder to solve than you may think. It’s out of print, but used ones are available on eBay and Etsy. — MF

There’s rarely a day that goes by that I don’t listen to my Meditative Mind: Music & Sleep app. There are hundreds and hundreds of soothing and immersive soundscapes, chants, mantras, nature sounds and world music to choose from. I use it when I need to focus, meditate or sleep. The app is free to download and try out, but I happily pay the $38 annual subscription for access to their full library, unlimited downloads and an ad-free experience. There is also a YouTube channel with lots of long-format music tracks added almost daily. — CD

How to say no is a collection of email templates that you can use to decline social events, meetings, dates, phone chats and other work-related requests you might get. Some of these are examples given by notable productivity experts like James Clear and Tim Ferris. You can even download these canned templates and install them into your gmail. — CD

The 6-part Netflix series Babies changed my ideas about human babies. Babies are far more smarter and adaptable than they appear. This series uses video from scientific experiments on babies to demonstrate their remarkable intelligence and stunning development. I look at them with renewed wonder now. The series is a remarkable work of science communication. I strongly recommend to any parent or grandparent. — KK

You might already know you can enter a flight number in Google and get tracking information. Another easy way to find out when a flight is departing or landing and if it’s on time is to enter it in Mac OS Spotlight. Also, if you send a message with a flight number, you and the recipient can click it and see where the plane is on a map. Here’s more about this handy feature. — MF

In a bit of self-promotion, I’d like to recommend my 50-year passion project, the 3 volumes of Vanishing Asia. In it I photo’d and designed 1,000 pages of old Asia. I am happy that it is finally available on Amazon at a price that is almost as cheap as the original Kickstarter price. In fact with free Prime shipping, it is probably cheaper. (I don’t think Amazon makes any money from selling it.) People who have gotten a set are very happy with the virtual trip it creates. You can easily spend a day or two just paging through all 9,000 images and captions. I can promise a book unlike any other book in the world. — KK

Being able to identify tree species is something I ache to learn, but I am intimidated by the amount research and reading involved. For now, I just enjoy noticing them and taking pictures of them. Also, I just discovered Monumental Trees, a website where people all over the world can submit their tree photos that you can filter by species and country. I still haven’t discovered all this site has to offer, but for now just looking at the photos satiates my curiosity! — CD

A few quotations I’ve recently come across:

“So what’s the Original Sin of the Internet? Nearly all business models it supports require spying on consumers and monetizing them.” — Bob Sullivan

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” — André Gid

“I always thought burnout happened when you work too much. Now I get it. It’s investing emotionally and then not getting a return on that investment.” — @spamap

“When a person I don’t really know or have a regular relationship with reaches out on email or in the DMs, wanting to hang out or has an ask of me and I do not have the time or desire, I have started simply… not responding at all. This feels like next-level boundary setting (and next level guilty and selfish, which I am practicing sitting with). Beforehand, I was at the stage where I could say no, but I would have a lot of excuses and wordiness about it. Now, it’s just, delete”. — Catherine Andrews

“Twitter is so low-friction it might as well be lubricated: You can create an account and accidentally get the entire nation of Malaysia angry at you within 20 minutes.” — Max Read

— MF

Here are some of the recent beautiful quotes and metaphors and advice I’ve been collecting:

• “The fragrance of flowers is their prayer.” — Bulgarian philosopher Peter Deunov

• “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” — Joseph Campbell, h/t Down The Rabbit Hole

• “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu, h/t Dense Discovery

• “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” — Dutch Theosophist Jacobus Johannes van der Leeuw

• “When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness.” — Oliver Burkeman, h/t The Mental Health Update

When writing out my daily to-do list I often remember this advice tweeted by Writer Jenée Desmond-Harris: “I started dividing my to-do list into 1) things I have to do, 2) things I want to do, and 3) things other people want me to do. Life changing! I often don’t get to 3 and I finally realized omg, is this what it means to have boundaries?!” — CD

I do Zoom meetings with people all over the world, and I use Every Time Zone to find times that are convenient for all participants. It’s free, it’s browser-based, and it remembers my settings. I keep it in my menu bar. — MF

I’m traveling in England and no stores seem to want to use cash anymore. Everyone uses Apple Pay even for the smallest purchase. Contactless payment made by hovering your phone near a device is rapidly becoming common all around the world, US included. I was immensely surprised how easy it was to hook my credit card up to my iPhone to make payments. Took 30 seconds, and no new accounts, no bank, no wallet, just my usual credit card. Now it’s Apple Pay all the time for me. — KK

The most positive and uplifting channel on YouTube might be YesTheory. A small band of travelers and filmmakers immerse themselves in strange places (staying with Amish family), challenging situations (total darkness for 5 days), and long periods cruising out of their comfort zone in order to grow and become better people. Their motto is “seek discomfort.” They do it with humor and integrity (for 7.5 million subscribers), so their adventures truly are encouraging and inspiring. — KK

I have only listened to the first episode of Exit Scam, an eight-episode podcast about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the founder of Canada’s biggest Bitcoin exchange. When Gerald Cotten died, the password to $215 million of cryptpcurrency was lost, and some people think he faked his own death. This is my favorite podcast since Serial. — MF

Tim Urban of the explainer site Wait By Why asked his Twitter followers “What’s your favorite mindblowing fact?” Sample replies:

• The moon and the sun are exactly the same size as seen from Earth

• Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles

• Neutrinos, subatomic particles created in the sun, are so neutral and small and that a wall of lead a light-year thick has 50/50 chance of stopping one. About 100 trillion of them pass through your body every second.

• There’s a giant volcano underneath Yellowstone National Park that would wipe out most life in North America if it were to explode (which it has done at least 3 times in the past that we know of).

• Every tool that exists today, from hammers to particle accelerators, has been constructed with others tools, and those with other tools, and so on, and eventually all tools where fabricated with rocks.

— MF

It’s been more than three years since I deleted my Facebook account and lately, I find myself using Instagram and Twitter less and less. This list of 8 Ways Social Media Distorts Reality by the Center for Humane Technology reminded me why I have a 5-minute time limit on my Instagram and Twitter phone apps. I’m especially sensitive to “information flooding” and the algorithms are great at tricking me into thinking that everyone is talking about this one thing. As much as I do appreciate a community, I have to remind myself that Twitter and Instagram are not reality. The whole list is worth reading and understanding. — CD

I cut back on the number of newsletters I subscribe too, but one that I am keeping is the weekly Brain Food from Farnam Street. It dispenses pithy — and sound — advice about living. In two minutes I get a refreshing reminder of age old wisdom. Free. — KK

How to professionally say is a list of things you might feel like saying at work and the alternative — more professional way — you should say it. Example: Instead of saying “That sounds like a horrible idea,” you can say “Are we confident that this is the best solution or are we still exploring alternatives?” This guide was inspired and compiled from content created by @loewhaley on Instagram, and while some of it might not flow comfortably out of my mouth, I’m inspired to adopt more neutrality and directness in my professional language. — CD

My friend Seth Godin, who hosts the terrific Akimbo podcast, recently posted a list of 10 “secret recipes,” including “Very famous tahini cookies,” “Informal cashew dressing,” and “(Mostly) raw brownies.” The one recipe I’m most exited about is his “Almost secret, no-sugar, all fruits and nuts Pacojet chocolate ice ‘cream’ recipe,” but I won’t be making it anytime soon because it requires a $5,000+ appliance I’ve never heard of — a Pacojet machine, which micro-purees solid blocks of frozen food without thawing. — MF

More people are working from home, or working from remote locations, or working while traveling, or traveling while working. We, the Recomendo crew, are launching a new newsletter dedicated to this realm. Nomadico is a weekly, one-pager emailed to you each Thursday which will have 4 tips for working beyond the office, and living in motion. Covers digital nomads, remote work, travel hacking, van life, FIRE, learning journeys and more. Nomadico is edited by Tim Leffel, who is the world’s expert on distributed living. Sign up here. It is free for now. — KK