Strange images

The instagram account Welcome.jpeg calls itself a digital museum. It’s kinda art, kinda meme, kinda kitsch, kinda weirdo. It collects oddball, strange, unorthodox, found images and delivers these misfits as little visual collections. It’s my guilty pleasure. — KK

FollowableClaudia Dawson
How to identify a gut instinct

The best advice I ever got on how to trust my gut and intuition was given to me by a psychotherapist years ago. She suggested whenever I have a gut instinct — good or bad — I should first rate the intensity of my emotions from 1 to 10. If they are on the lower end of the spectrum, I’m more inclined to trust my gut. Emotions — like anger, fear or insecurity — are different from Feelings, because they are usually in reaction to something external and feel like a laser that you want to point at people or things. Feelings — like profound sadness and love — are more of a state of being, and Intuition is an inner knowing. So whenever I have to distinguish one from the other, I first start by rating my emotions. — CD

MindClaudia Dawson
Music for programming

I’m not a coder, but I still like listening to the electronic instrumental songs from Music for Programming. The curators say they’ve spent years finding the right kind of “compelling music for sustained concentration” and I think they’ve found it. You can listen at the website or by subscribing to the podcast. — MF

AudioClaudia Dawson
Find creative reuse stores near you

Creative reuse stores are secondhand stores for all kinds of craft supplies. I still have drawers of specialty papers, posters, paints, and fabric from when I used to live in Oakland and frequent the East Bay Depot. I would pay $20 for everything I could fill up in a grocery paper bag. Swoodsonsays.com keeps on top of updating a map of upcycle stores near you (in the U.S. and some outside). You can search the Google map here. Thanks to Margaret Cherry for sharing this with me! — CD

ShoppingClaudia Dawson
Best scrounging

A world-class scrounger I know ranked the best places to find bargains for used and old stuff. He said “There are no good bargains on Ebay because sellers know the true value, and price accordingly. Facebook Marketplace has good stuff at ok prices. But if it is advertised on Craigslist, they just want to get rid of it. If you are patient you can offer 10% of asking and sometimes get it.” — KK

ShoppingClaudia Dawson
Healthy relationships chart

I want to print this chart out wallet-size, laminate it, and hand it out to all the young people in my life who are starting out in new relationships. It lists all the values and traits needed to maintain a healthy relationship, as well as examples of what that might look like. It’s a good reminder for myself too. Accountability and accepting responsibility for all of my attitudes and behaviors is not something I have mastered yet. — CD

RelationshipClaudia Dawson
Wrong person spam

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of “wrong number / wrong name” texts that are obviously spam. Here is a great explanation of what the intended scam is. By Max Read. — KK

SecurityClaudia Dawson
Puzzle source

The go-to source for physical puzzles is Puzzle Masters in Canada. They have everything, including lots of Japanese puzzles: Puzzle boxes, puzzle locks, jig saw puzzles, rubik’s cubes of all varieties, magic puzzles, toys, collectible puzzles, all very high quality. — KK

PlayClaudia Dawson
Style guide for sensitive words

Language evolves fast and it’s easy to slip up and say the wrong thing. Language, please is an up-to-date resource for writers navigating sensitive subjects like trauma, substance use, race, disabilities, gender, etc. I searched for the word “homeless” and I agree that “people without housing,” or a “person experiencing homelessness” is a lot less stigmatizing and a better term to use. — CD

WritingClaudia Dawson
10 tricks for persuasive writing

Even if you’re not a copywriter, knowing the psychology of persuasive speech is helpful for everyone. We all write emails, and sometimes we have to sell people on ourselves or ask for something. Nick Kolenda created this 7-minute video on clever techniques in copywriting to boost sales. He explains how to replace vagueness with concrete examples, positive framing, and how to create mental imagery in the reader by adjusting the distance between words. It’s interesting and informative and I’ll probably rewatch it a few times. — CD

WritingClaudia Dawson
Figure out where to move next

My husband and I are planning to move out of California in 5 years and have been traveling to other states to check them out. We still haven’t agreed on a place, but I recently discovered this MoveMap which makes things easier. I filtered by my criteria: avoid drought, mountains within an hour, airport within two hours and a lot of sun. What I get back is select counties in Arizona and Colorado and most of Utah — as well as Santa Clara County, which is where I live now. — CD

Travel tipsClaudia Dawson
Old face restorer

I use this Baseten web page app to restore old family photos. The engine only focuses on faces, making them shaper and skin smoother, but sometimes that is all that is needed. I upload my old photo, restore in 15 seconds and then download. Works pretty well, sometimes perfectly, in color and black and white. Free. — KK

PhotoClaudia Dawson
Inside the material world

When I was 12 I built a chemistry lab in my basement and have been doing chemistry since. But I learned more about chemistry from reading this trio of books by Theodore Gray than anything ever learned in school. That’s surprising because these volumes appear to be photo books, full of pictures of metal chunks, high-speed shots of chemical reactions, and photos of everyday stuff. But woven through these unusual photographs are the best explanations of how and why chemistry works. The best looking of the three is The Elements, a hundred portraits of our universe’s true heroes; the most informative and fun for me is Reactions, which reveals why matter works. Advance onto Molecules if you like these. I read them all with wonder. — KK

ScienceClaudia Dawson
Wire Puzzle Set

The Small Fish Metal Brain Teasers set contains 6 bent metal puzzles. The challenge is to separate the interlocked pieces. One of ​​the puzzles is very easy to solve, making it a good starter challenge for a kid. The harder ones have resisted hours of my effort to solve them. The puzzles are made from heavy metal and won’t discolor your hands like cheaper bent wire puzzles. Comes with a cloth bag to hold them. — MF

PlayClaudia Dawson