I was a few years into my loosely-disciplined meditation practice when I felt the urge to make hand gestures while sitting. I knew nothing about Mudras or where to even start. Googling it just overwhelmed me. Thankfully, I found my way to this deck of cards called Mudras of Yoga: 72 Hand Gestures for Healing and Spiritual Growth. The instructions and photographs are clear and each card has a description of the technique, application and benefits. It's definitely deepened my experience and I feel more embodied while meditating. — CD 

I am on a virtual book tour, where I’ve done almost 100 podcast appearances. It is hard to avoid answering the same questions, and I always look forward to answering new prompts.  The interviewer famous for his unique questions is Tyler Cowen. Tyler did not disappoint when I appeared on his podcast. In Conversations With Tyler he asked me a string of exhilarating, unique, off-beat, made-me-think, and insightful questions no one ever asked me before, which was a total joy for me, and for listeners. We covered travel, tech, and advice. And it is not just me. Listen to any of these other interviews with a diverse range of curiously interesting people. — KK

I was at a restaurant and bit something hard hidden in a piece of cake. It broke off part of my molar, and the jagged tooth cut into my cheek whenever I talked. I made an appointment to see the dentist the next day, and in the meantime, I bought a little container of orthodontic wax to smooth over the sharp part. The next day, the dentist told me I'd done the right thing. The container is so small that I keep it in my toiletries bag when I travel. I hope I never have to use it. — MF

The Mobile Phone Museum is designed to preserve the heritage of mobile technology and it is nostalgia-inducing. The museum currently has more than 2600 mobile phones from the past that were donated and you can search by type, brand, year and curated collections like Ugliest and James Bond phones. — CD

If you are having trouble accessing a website, enter its address into ClickMinded’s Google cache search. It will show you the snapshot of the page Google took when it last crawled the page. — MF

If you're a pen fanatic, JetPens has a very comprehensive list of the 42 best pens for 2023 which is worth checking out. I love to splurge on stationery and pens. The novelty of discovering a new favorite pen eventually wears off, so every few months or so I'll check out the JetPens Samplers packs and order a new bundle (prices vary from $15-$35). I also think these make great gifts!  — CD

I hate to misuse my position of power on this newsletter, but I must recommend my new book one last time. Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier will go on sale in two days (Tuesday) and I honestly believe most subscribers will find the book useful, helpful, surprising, and inspiring. Not techy, it’s as broad as life. You are the recipients I had in mind when I compiled it. BTW, it would make a perfect graduation gift for a young person, or even a Mother’s and Father’s Day gift. — KK

I have a small collection of mid-century science books for young adults, and one of my favorites is The Human Body: What It Is and How It Works. Published in 1959, this beautifully illustrated book describes how our muscular, reproductive, digestive, endocrine, respiratory, skeletal, nervous, and circulatory systems work in simple English. Out of print but inexpensive used copies are easily found online. — MF

We love our all electric Chevy Bolt, which we’d had for 5 years. It gets 260 miles on a charge, with 200 horsepower, which has been plenty for our needs. The 2023 model goes for $26,000, but regrettably GM is going to stop making them and sell only a more expensive base model. Since the Bolt is the most affordable decent American electric car available, you can still get one now while the inventory lasts. — KK

Apple AirPods Pro are not only state-of-the-art stereophonic headphones, they are also state-of-the-art noise cancelling headphones, and to a lesser extent, passable hearing aids for some people. In short, they are far more capable sonic devices than first appears. I keep learning new abilities they have. A great way to get a sense of what the Airpods Pros can do is outlined in this short article by Jason Kottke on “customizing your Airpods for even better sound.” — KK

This Space Elevator is another playful and cute project by Neal.fun. Scrolling up will take you on a trip to Space while exploring the atmosphere and its many layers, past high-dwelling animals and cruising altitude for aircrafts and different types of clouds. There's even a press play button for elevator music along the way as you ascend. I don't know if this is meant for children, but it's fun and educational for me too. — CD 

This Two-Minute Burnout Checkup helped me understand the primary factors of chronic stress and burnout. I can sense physically when I am nearing burnout, but before this I didn't understand that it's more than just feeling exhausted. This checkup evaluates six sources of chronic stress, including workload, values, reward, control, fairness, and community. You rate your level of stress from 0-10 for each one and add up all the numbers to get a score out of 60. I think this would be very helpful if I'm consistent in tracking my score everyday. Here’s a link to the survey. — CD

The iFixit Jimmy is a blunt, flexible steel blade attached to a handle. Because the blade is so thin, it's far more effective than a screwdriver for prying items apart. I use it to open battery access covers on electronic devices, or to carefully pry open laptops and phones for upgrading or replacing components. — MF

Upload any PDF (up to 10MB) to ChatPDF and it will generate a summary of the PDF and offer three sample questions you can ask about the PDF. Or you can ask it any question you can think of and the AI system will provide an answer in simple English. I had fun uploading Edgar Rice Burrough’s 1917 novel, A Princess of Mars, and asking questions about it. — MF

In an act of unabashed self-promotion, I highly recommend you get my new book: Excellent Advice for Living.  It’s the result of 70 years of trying to live the good and right life. There is a lot I am now certain of that I wished I had known when I was younger. So I wrote down these hard-earned bits of wisdom into brief telegraphic lessons with as few words as possible (life is short!).  Here are a couple examples:

• Rule of 3 in conversation : To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just did. Then again, and then once more. The third time’s answer is the one closest to the truth.

• If you are looking for something in your house and you finally find it, when you are done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it.

• Taking a break is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

• To succeed, get other people to pay you; to become wealthy, help other people to succeed.

• Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible. Instead aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.

There are 450 more! You can pre-order Excellent Advice for Living now; it ships in a week. — KK

One of the best books I’ve read recently is Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements, published in 2019. Although it is not a long book, there are 3 books coursing through it. One theme is the slow discovery of the primeval chemical elements. That story would be enough for most books. A second is the convoluted and incredible story of alchemy, which was amazingly persistent throughout the birth of chemistry. And the most important story is the slow emergence of science, and how difficult its birth was. I found news and insight on nearly every page, and am shocked at how little I knew about the most basic stuff that our world is made of. Highly recommended. — KK

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