PEPTOC HOTLINE is probably the cutest hotline to ever exist. It offers prerecorded life advice and pep talks from K-6th elementary school students from Healdsburg, California. The phone number is a local US number 707-8PEPTOC. Press number: 1 if you're frustrated, 2 for life advice, 4 for children laughing with delight and 6 for how awesome you look. My favorite advice I heard from a young student was: “If you’re feeling hurt just take a sip of water. If you’re feeling bad and deflated just go somewhere and do what you like best — it reinflates you.” I heard about this in the the Creative Mornings newsletter and am just passing on the cheer. — CD 

I recently learned the concept of Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)  which refers to energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. I’ve always been aware of it, I just never knew the name for it and since I’ve learned what NEAT is, I started finding opportunities to go out of my way to “move” more. This NPR article outlines the science behind it and all the benefits. It’s not a substitute for exercise but it is the most accessible and practical way to increase physical activity. Examples of NEAT includes using a standing desk, walking to work or parking far away from buildings, cleaning the house, or fidgeting while sitting down. — CD 

For laughs and for a sweet time watch a real-life Truman Show, the 8-part series Jury Duty on Amazon. Our unsuspecting hero is serving on a fake jury, where everyone else – judge, lawyers, witnesses, clerks and other jurors – are all actors.  Every one of the hundreds of people surrounding him are in on the fiction, except him. The level of deceit is epic. They conspire to keep comedic things happening every hour, but all the while our hero keeps doing the right things. He turns out to be a perfect juror, and as you go through the entire trial you also get a good lesson about the American jury system. The humor is honest, one surprise after another. — KK

I love reading people’s collections of advice and have recommended many of them in Recomendo. Here’s a list called 100 Things I Know, by writer and artist Mari Andrew. 

Examples:

• If you’re in an argument that’s going in circles, suggest switching roles: “I make your point, and you make mine.” It helps with empathy, yes, but also brings humor and levity to a strained situation.

• If you’re stuck in a place or situation you hate, see what you can do there for others. I learned this through experience: When I hated working at a law firm, I’d think of ways to brighten my co-workers’ days. When I hated living in [City Name Redacted], I signed up to teach ESL lessons.

• If you never learned how to dance at parties/weddings/clubs, you can teach yourself by watching videos of Motown and girl groups of the 60s. The songs are slow and the moves are simple enough to follow along to. You’ll get the rhythm and the basics down, then it’s easy to start embellishing with your own style. I identify as a good dancer, and I learned everything I know from spending a summer watching live performances of The Supremes.

— MF

In this 5-minute video by Big Think, Author Luke Burgis breaks down the difference between “thick” and “thin” desires and introduces the concept of mimetic desires. Mimetic desires are imitative and influenced by our external life, like our parents, friends and community. They are considered thin because they are ephemeral and not worth feeding. Thick desires are the ones that are aligned with our core and universal human truths, like growth and beauty and kindness. Burgis suggests it’s worth mining your life and reflecting on moments when you felt deeply fulfilled in order to identify patterns that point to what you really want. Lately, whenever I feel pulled toward a particular direction, I ask myself if this is a thin or thick desire and then decide if it’s worth my time and effort. — CD

The famous Chinese science fiction trilogy, The Three Body Problem, is now available as a Chinese movie production, consisting of 30 parts online (free YouTube), with English subtitles. Like the books, one of its attractions is that it does not feel American/Hollywood-made.  — KK

How To Home is a YouTube channel with excellent videos that demonstrate how to complete common household repairs, such as wiring switches, fixing faucet leaks, and threading wire through walls and ceilings. Unlike many DIY videos, these feature high-quality audio, are well-lit, and aren’t blurry. — MF

The only reliable way to deter squirrels from bird feeders is to use hot peppered bird seed. Squirrels (and other rodents) hate the taste of capsaicin, but birds are immune and happily chow it down. Train your neighborhood squirrels by starting out with 100% of hot peppered seed like Wild Delight Sizzle N Heat Bird Food and then gradually dilute this expensive seed with regular stuff. I have not tried this, but you can make your own by mixing a cayenne oil like Flaming Squirrel Sauce with your usual seed. — KK

Sounds of Space is a really cool collection of astronomical objects sonified, like two black holes merging or Venus’s radio waves. I love this way of experiencing the universe. My favorite is the sound of Solar Wind at Mercury. Also here’s a recent sonification not yet added to the collection. It was created by converting rippling waves of gas from inside a star core into sound waves, so that we can now hear a Star Twinkling. — CD 

If you have a phone charger and cable set up in a common area of your house and it hasn't vanished, then you probably live alone. The Lock Socket is a simple plastic device that attaches to a power outlet cover, making it impossible for the charger and cable to mysteriously disappear. Your family may be upset, but that's the consequence. — MF

My wife has been using a Memory Foam Knee Pillow for years. It’s much smaller than a regular pillow and can be used between your knees or to prop up one leg. As a side-sleeper, it keeps her spine and hips aligned, and it helps her sleep more comfortably. I bought one a couple of weeks ago, and I’m getting the same benefits. — MF

An emerging genre of lightly fictionalized dramas tell the true, improbable stories of how famous products came to be. Each legendary thing seems like a miraculous accident. Here are three product dramas that are extraordinarily entertaining, and mostly true to life. Tetris (Apple+) is the unlikely cloak–n-dagger tale of the Soviet KGB’s pursuit of this wayward video game’s escape to world domination. The Social Network (on Amazon or any streaming service, $4) is an oldie about Facebook that is still relevant and fascinating given its current return to grace. And the most recent is Air (Amazon Prime), the astounding story of how Air Jordan sneakers became the unlikely multi-billion dollar megahit they are. All have great casts and great scripting, but are “true stories” at the core. — KK

I try to limit my subscriptions to daily newsletters, but the 1-min Daily Question newsletter cannot be snoozed or ignored. Each question is a prompt to reflect on my life and goals (like what patterns am I stuck in? or what does success look like for me?). Every email redirects me to a 60-second timer that acts as a timeout from the busyness in my head. It's a short respite, but its peaceful and I appreciate the gift of clarity. — CD 

Until AI takes over search, finding exactly what you are looking for online will greatly benefit from advanced search techniques. This long document, Gwern’s Internet Search Tips, catalogs a hundred ways to increase the success rate of your googling. It is especially aimed at finding scholarly and expert sources.  I learned dozens of tricks. — KK

For the past year, I’ve been a participant of ACER Integration — an online community and framework created by clinical psychologist Dr Rosalind Watts. The program follows a year-long, nature-based integration cycle. Every new month gives me access to guided visualizations, live sharing circles via Zoom, breathwork sessions and Q&As with some of the most prominent minds and voices in the psychedelic space. The community is not a substitute for therapy and it does not encourage psychedelic use — only a deeper connection to nature, ourselves and each other. ACER stands for Accept, Connect, Embody and Relate. For me it’s been an invaluable space to integrate life experiences alongside deeply compassionate, grounded and like-minded people from all over the world. And as I wrap up my 13-month cycle, I highly recommend anyone feeling called to connect with a community like this to check out the info pack and apply. ACER opens up to new members in October and applications are now being accepted. If you do apply, be sure to mention Recomendo in your application. ACER will offer a discount to Recomendo readers who are accepted into the program. — CD

Experience the dedication of Wikipedia’s contributors through a captivating symphony of sound and graphics at Listen to Wikipedia. This live website showcases real-time changes with bells for additions, string plucks for subtractions, and pitch variations indicating edit size. Unregistered contributors' edits are marked with green circles, and automated bot activity with purple circles. Click on a circle to explore the latest changes. — MF

Wowee Zowee! The Internet Archive Design is an amazing library of inspiring graphic design documents. It bills itself as “a digital archive of graphic design related items” which includes old font catalogs, logo handbooks, cool brochures, design yearbooks, visual display, handbooks for design machines, and graphic style guides. I’ve found amazing treasures here, which I use to hatch my daily art. All are free to peruse, but you need to register a free account in order to “check out” some in-print publications from this online library. — KK

Hoodmaps is a crowdsourced map that divides cities up into areas and labels. It’s not really moderated and some might find the neighborhood generalizations offensive, but I found it accurate for the cities I’ve lived in and visited — and it made me laugh. It’s created by the person who also created Nomadlist, which is probably a more helpful resource for learning about a city. — CD 

My eyes have been itching like crazy for the last few months. I was rubbing them so hard and so often that they started to feel sore. I finally decided to try over-the-counter allergy eye drops. I bought Alaway from Bausch + Lomb, based on the many positive reviews. It contains an antihistamine, and one drop provides almost instant relief for hours. — MF

Structural Failures on Twitter is a collection of fascinating videos of collapses of buildings and towers, showing the catastrophic consequences that can result from engineering and construction mistakes. (There's no gore, but some of the videos show workers in peril.) — MF