I wear one pair of shoes for everything. Given that I walk 5 miles a day on a treadmill, they started to smell bad. I bought a spray bottle of Elite Peppermint Foot & Shoe Deodorizer and sprayed my feet and the inside of my shoes with it. The bad smell instantly went away, and now I smell like a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s, which I approve of. — MF

I can't explain why but clicking through these random airport views all over the world is very relaxing. It's lo-fi and nostalgic and slow. I think part of its soothing effect might be the vast aerial view similar to the Overview Effect or state of awe that some astronauts experience in Space. — CD

I’ve been playing the Rogue video game off and on for more than 35 years, since the late 1980s. The object is to descend a monster-filled dungeon (displayed using ASCII characters, not graphics) and retrieve the Amulet of Yendor on the lowest level. I’ve never succeeded; if a monster doesn’t kill me then I starve to death (food is scarce). I hope to beat it before I die in real life! — MF

I've been trying to create a new habit of asking myself "what is my intention?" before I speak. Sometimes I communicate to empathize, or to think out loud, but a lot of the time my intention is to connect and to be understood. This article on Alan Alda's 3 rules for expressing your thoughts is useful for all types of communication. They are: 1. Make no more than three points 2. Explain difficult ideas in three different ways and 3. Make important points three times. This is helpful for me because I speak in emotions and imagery, and if I want to be understood by someone who is more logical-minded I have to remind myself to use analogies rather than metaphors. — CD

We don’t normally allow single-task gadgets into our kitchen, but there is one we do: an avocado knife. Now that avocados are available year-round, we grab this simple device to open, pit, and scoop out the creamy green. The Kuhn Rikon Avocado Knife has a flexible scalloped blade, with a blunt serration on one edge and two probes on the other. You use the safe edge to open the avocado, and the probes to stab the pit to remove it – but neither are sharp enough to cut your hand. The blade is non-stick coated, flexible, and curved enough to scoop out the meat in one stroke, and to spread if wanted.  The whole operation is done with one easy-to-clean hand tool.  In a Cool Tools podcast, Nathan Myhrvold, the gourmet nerd who owns every single esoteric and expensive culinary tool there is, told me that this $13 device was his favorite kitchen tool. — KK

This substack posting called “How to use AI to do practical stuff: A new guide” is the best intro yet for using the new generative AI bots. Ethan Mollick, a professor at Wharton, has been testing all the current bots in depth, and his advice is perfect for those just starting to explore them. As of today the best FREE version of a chatbot is the “Creative” mode in Bing, by Microsoft. You can really use AIs to code stuff, even if the only language you know is “human.” Read this quick cheat sheet to get a real sense of what you can do in real life with these emerging tools. — KK

BuyItForLife is a subreddit where people recommend and discuss high quality products that last a lifetime. This website is a ChatGPT interface that lets you ask questions about everything that’s ever been mentioned in the subreddit. Here are the results it gave me when I asked for the best spinner luggage. — MF

Mental Supply is a collection of mental health tips specifically for startup founders, but I’m finding them very useful. Here’s one attributed to Gary Keller who wrote The ONE Thing: “Multitasking is often misunderstood as doing multiple tasks at the same time, but it actually refers to task switching. This incurs a time penalty, particularly with complex tasks. To be more efficient, focus on one task at a time.” There’s a lot of helpful advice available here for when you are feeling angry, burnt out, insecure or overwhelmed. — CD

Youtube history is my latest obsession. There’s now a ton of very good history YT channels that tackle history in oblique and idiosyncratic ways. One of my favorite streams is ToldInStone. They tackle the kind of questions I’ve always had, but couldn’t find in books or other programs. Like: how fast was Rome mail? How did the ancients prove their identity? What were their kitchens and bathrooms like? Much further in the past, North02 tackles prehistory. What were humans like 1 million years ago, what kind of life in the Sahara when it was tropically green? And so many more! — KK

Probably the most personal recommendation I’ll ever make is La Cuenta, a weekly newsletter that explores the financial and personal costs of undocumented living in the U.S. As the first born child of two immigrant teenagers from Mexico, I experienced the mental and emotional toll firsthand, but this newsletter has been vital in my own cultural understanding and in challenging the stereotypes perpetuated by media and politics. The creators behind it are Antero Garcia, an associate professor at Stanford and Alix Dick, a filmmaker and human rights activist from LA. — CD

Unlike most ice cream makers that use a paddle to scrape solidified ice cream from the interior of a chilled drum, the Ninja Creami uses metal blades that rotate at high speed to shave frozen homemade mix into deliciously textured ice cream. I prepared vanilla ice cream sweetened with a touch of honey for my friends, and it was an instant success.One caveat: it’s loud when in operation. — MF

I had no idea how useful this small and extendable LED flashlight by Vibelite would be when I bought it. We keep it out on a side table in the living room, which is a perfect place for it because we often need to fix something behind our TV or Wifi setup and I’m always searching underneath our recliner to find my dog’s runaway toys. I'm going to buy one more to keep in my basement. — CD

Technology Connections is a fantastic YouTube channel for learning about the inner workings of everyday items. With a bit of lighthearted humor thrown in, the videos break down complex concepts into easy-to-understand explanations, and give me a greater appreciation for the technology I use all the time, like smoke alarms, water heaters, and microwave ovens. — MF

I’ve been reading Oneness by Rasha and I was really struck by the effectiveness of one of her allegories called The Plate of Life — where you imagine Life as a plate at a buffet table of experiences. Rasha suggests working backwards from the end of your life to now and consider what experiences you choose to put on your plate to create the life you want. I shared the full excerpt here on Twitter, which can be better viewed on a desktop. — CD

Here is the best trick so far to get reliable informational answers from Chatbots. 1) Ask it to give you the experts on whatever material you are seeking. 2) Then ask it to answer your questions in the voice of those experts. This elevates its responses to a more informed opinion, instead of “what everybody knows.” (You can skip step one if you already know who the reliable experts are). — KK

Seven years ago, I bought a cheap, lightweight Toaks titanium spork. I take it with me whenever I travel. I use it rather than plastic cutlery when I eat in fast food restaurants or in my hotel room. It’s so durable that it still looks brand new. — MF

I met someone who was surprised to hear that Skype was still going. Yes, it was bought by Microsoft, and for me Skype is the main way I make international phone calls. They aren’t free but they are extremely cheap compared to other telephone channels. Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp are all essentially free, but many companies are only reachable with a phone number. To call a phone number via Skype open the Skype app on either your laptop or phone, and select the keyboard icon, then dial the phone number. (You need a few dollars credit in your Skye account.) — KK

There’s this guy  – Todd at Project Farm – who maniacally tests tools on his YouTube channel. He invents systematic ways to test multiple versions of popular tools, which he buys himself. His evaluations are measured rather than qualitative. At the end of the long tests he displays a table of each tool’s performance and in a sentence or two gives his comparative verdict. This year, Todd rounded up his top 10 tests for the past year (2022), and put them into one super video. It’s a handy tool evaluator, and a good way to see if you’d find his other reviews useful. — KK

In addition to the pleasure of reading a rousing story, there is a special benefit in exploring alternative histories. You know, the ones that ask what if? What if the Nazis won? What if the Russians landed on the moon first? This question is both a great way to approach history, and a good skill for thinking about the future. The Sideways Awards for Alternative History on Wikipedia is a fantastic source that lists the best alternative history stories written for each of the past 30 years. — KK

I recently came across an intriguing Instagram channel featuring AI-generated animations that evoke the eerie changing portraits of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. These Dorian Gray-style portraits transform from people into grotesque monsters, with creepy music in the background. — MF