This fantastic podcast, A History of Rock in 500 Songs, does what it says: it traces the history of rock music in 500 songs. Start with the first episode, which looks at 1939’s “Flying Home” by the Benny Goodman Sextet. The most recent episode, numbered 152, is about 1967’s “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. New episodes come out about once every two weeks. – MF

I have a thing for alternative history or counterfactual stories. You know, what if X did not happen when it did, what would the world be like? These narratives require the longest possible view because the author must be in command of both the past and the future to pull it off. They require uncommon sideways, or lateral thinking. A “Sideways Award” is awarded every year for the best counterfactual book or short story. This Wikipedia list of Sideways Awards is a great way to explore these alternative timelines. — KK

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

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

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

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

With so many streaming channels out there, it’s hard to keep up with what’s worth watching. A Good Movie to Watch is a freemium service that rates and recommends movies and shows. A premium subscription opens extra features, such as sort-by-rating. — MF

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

Double the size of a small photo with ClipDrop’s Image Upscaler. I used it with a blurry snapshot of my wife when she was a teenager, then ran it through the face restorer app that Kevin mentioned last week. The end result was remarkable! — MF

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

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

As a frequent user of Google Docs, I appreciated these tips from the Wonder Tools newsletter. For instance, you can display a live word count at Tools > Word count and checking “Display word count while typing.” — MF

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

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

This is a series of photos of WWII Polish resistance fighters who battled the Germans in a Warsaw ghetto for 27 days. On the left of each image is how they appeared in 1940. On the right are photos of the same surviving men and woman taken in 2021. Follow historyphotographed for the most fascinating photos from the past. — MF

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

My new door mat greets guests with a cheery message. The natural fiber welcome mat says: YOU LOOK GOOD. Visitors enter with a smile on their face. — KK

Laundry Lens is an iPhone-only app that scans the inscrutable laundry care symbols on clothing tags and translates them into English. It’s free and doesn’t display ads. Here’s the result of my T-shirt label scan. — MF

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

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