PlayPhrase.me is a fun distraction to play with for a bit. The intention of the site is to help teach how to apply phrases in English. You type in any phrase and it will play you scenes in movies and television where your words have been spoken. You can even download the clips. You can view 5 phrases per search, but anything past that requires a $3 per month Patreon sponsorship. — CD

Everyone will soon have access to an AI image generator, like DALL·E, Midjourney, or Google Imagen. You will tell this tool what to create and it will make an imaginative piece of art, either a painting or a photograph. With a generator you can make art even if you are “not an artist.” The key human skill is in how you construct the prompt you give the AI. The Prompt Book is a free PDF e-book that provides smart instructions, great tips, and fabulous examples of how best to prompt the AI. It was produced with DALL·E in mind, but it’s guidance can be used with any recent AI image generator. This is the first of what I predict will be many prompt books in the future. — KK

I just discovered the more helpful way to dig through my search history — Chrome Journeys. If you use Chrome (desktop only), and go to chrome://history/journeys, you’ll see your past search results have been grouped up by a topic you searched or a parent site that led you on a path to other sites. There’s even recommended related keywords that will help you continue on your search. Learn more about it here. — CD

As a Latina who grew up in California, anything I learned about my indigenous culture was by word of mouth or books I had to check out on my own. I’ve learned more scrolling through this visual essay of the Aztec Pantheon than I ever did in school. It’s a beautiful and colorful collection of 137 gods and their iconography. — CD

A silly, fun, and weirdly mesmerizing Twitter follow. People Selling Mirrors collects the images that people post while selling their old mirror. The photos inevitably include them, so these snapshots become unintended selfies. They are amusing because they are the opposite of posed portraits — they are the anti-selfie. — KK

The inCharge All-in-One charging cable is so small it fits in my wallet (along with a band-aid and one Advil tablet). It has USB-C on one end for plugging into a laptop or battery, and a convertible Lightning/MicroUSB connector on the other side for phones and devices. Magnets in the cable let you snap it on a keyring. — MF

A few years ago I took an unforgettable night time tour in a Costa Rican jungle to listen to frog calls, and discovered that humans aren’t the only musicians on Earth. This playlist titled Amphibian Love Songs and Soundscapes took me back to that magical evening. (I learned about this from Jay Babcock’s Landline newsletter) — MF

Van Neistat is a veteran maker, handyman, fixer-up, repair guru, and do it yourselfer. He made a short video, Your First Five Tools, with his recommendations for the basic minimal tools you need to make and fix stuff. Wise picks and great presentation. — KK

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits wrote a wonderfully succinct post on How to Make the Most of Your 24 Hours. There are 4 things he mentions: intentionality, only 3 important tasks, gratitude and the most important being creating multiple moments of transcendence throughout your day. The days I remember the most are not the days I cross everything off my list. It’s the days when I slow down and deepen the moments and spaces in between tasks. — CD

To gauge the proper influence of an influencer you need a tool to sort out all the inactive, fake, bots, and low-quality followers they will inevitably have. The higher the follower count, the higher percentage of hollow followers. Sparktoro will rate Twitter accounts for you. It says 21% of my followers are fakish. (But not you!) — KK

Here are a few favorites from ideopunk’s list of 100 useful tips:

• “Where is the good knife?” If you’re looking for your good X, you have bad Xs. Throw those out.

• Discipline is superior to motivation. The former can be trained, the latter is fleeting. You won’t be able to accomplish great things if you’re only relying on motivation.

• Sturgeon’s law states that 90% of everything is crap. If you dislike poetry, or fine art, or anything, it’s possible you’ve only ever seen the crap. Go looking!

— MF

A while back I recommended Listen Notes as a podcast search engine, but unfortunately the advance search features are now behind a paywall. Recomendo reader Ken Rogan suggested Podchaser.com as an alternative and I’ve been using it for the past couple months to find episodes on specific subjects or keywords for free and without registering. — CD

For the past ten years I’ve packed some Quick Clot bandage in my first aid kit. It’s a bandage that decreases bleeding five times faster than a regular bandage, from 10 minutes to 2 minutes. It is especially useful for scalp wounds which bleed profusely. It is expensive ($15) so I cut one up into smaller pieces to use for smaller gashes. — KK

The MuteMe button is a large illuminated physical mute button that plugs into your computer with a USB cord and sits on your desk. When your mic is off, it glows red. Press the button to unmute and the light changes to green. No more “We can’t hear you, you’re on mute.” — MF

Now that I am a grandfather I interact with kid stuff again. There’s a new generation of drinking cups for toddlers way beyond sippy cups. Munchkin cups ($6) use an ingenious weighted straw that deliver liquids to a child in any cup orientation with zero spillage. They are a hi-tech marvel, with 47,000 reviews on Amazon. They really keep liquids tight. — KK

I’ve been sending more and more PDFs to my Oasis Kindle. I used to attach and email the files to my Kindle email address, but I recently discovered there are easier ways! You can download a PC or MAC app called Send to Kindle and then just drag and drop documents into the application. There’s also a Chrome extension and an app for Androids. — CD

I subscribe to over 100 newsletters. With that many, it’s hard to keep track of which ones are worth keeping. Rishikesh Sreehari, who publishes the newsletter 10+1 Things, has a good system: “Every time I receive a newsletter that I don’t like, I add a star against the name of the publication or author in a small note that I maintain in Obsidian. Once there are 5 strikes, I straightaway unsubscribe from the newsletter.” I’m using a Google Spreadsheet to keep track. — MF

I came across this lovely intention for preparing a meal in the The Creative Independent’s interview with Musician Regina Spektor. She shared that she has trouble sitting still and meditating, so this is an active meditation:

You decide something you dedicate the meal to. It can be peace in the world, or someone’s health, or anything that is stirring you at the time. Then as you cook, every little action of the cooking—washing, cutting, mixing—can be imbued with that dedication. You concentrate on that intention from start to finish and keep repeating the thought in your mind as you cook. In the end, every bite is filled with that wish.

—CD

I am a big fan of YouTuber Ali Abdaal. In this video about Resumes he condenses a whole book of information presenting the best advice for applying for a job into 30 minutes. It’s the same advice I gave to my kids when they started working. Whether you are looking for a job, or hiring someone, this is worth your time. Forward it to a young person. — KK

Investor Sahil Bloom posted a Twitter thread of frameworks that “provide clarity in complex situations.” Here’s an example: “Crazy Idea Framework — If someone proposes a crazy idea, ask: (1) Are they a domain expert? (2) Do I know them to be reasonable? If yes on both (1) and (2), you should take the idea seriously, as it may be an asymmetric bet on the future.” — MF