Recast is a smartphone app that converts any online article into a brief podcast-style audio summary with high quality AI voices. The free version lets you listen to a large selection of pre-processed articles. For $10 a month, you can select articles you want to summarize. I’m sticking with the free version for now. — MF

Los Angeles is under invasion by the Aedes "ankle-biting" mosquito, which was first spotted in Southern California in 2001. The population has been growing ever since. Some of my family members have bad reactions to DEET, so I bought Murphy's Naturals Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Insect Repellent Spray. It keeps the mosquitoes away, as long as I reapply it every few hours. — MF

I loved finding these tips on MyFridgeFood.com, which is a website that gives you recipes based on what you have in stock. I can’t verify the usefulness of all the tips, but the two I’m walking away with today are 1) spiraling my spaghetti so that falls naturally into the pot and 2) crushing garlic in a ziplock bag. — CD 

I am a reserved guy. I envy people who can toss off compliments to strangers, making their day. To help me get better at this I’ve been watching British comedian Troy Hawke greet random strangers on the street, showering them with creative, witty, genuine compliments. It is a joy to see strangers shine when praised for a small thing. Hawke’s tiktok/instagram performances, in mustache and smoking jacket, are genius and hard to beat, but his antics have inspired me to be more generous in sharing compliments. — KK

Visit AirPano to watch 360 videos of beautiful places on Earth, from Tokyo’s Shibuya Scramble pedestrian crossing (the busiest in the world), to a village of the Warao Indigenous people on the Orinoco River in Venezuela. My travel bucket list grew after watching some of these videos. — MF

Someone on Reddit asked “What’s your best advice from your profession?” and below is a summary of the most upvoted answers. — CD

• Doctor: Never be afraid to get a second opinion. If your doctor is offended, that's one more reason to get one.

• Teacher: Read to your kids from infancy, make books commonplace, and point out things in the pictures. This helps them develop literacy skills from an early age.

• Plumber: Check your basement weekly for leaks or signs of damage, and change your air filter regularly.

• Auto insurance adjuster: Get a dashcam to protect yourself in case of accidents or disputes.

• Librarian: Ditch Audible and get a library card to listen to free audiobooks. Many libraries offer apps where you can download audiobooks straight to your phone.

• Government worker: Find life satisfaction outside of the workplace.

• Sales: Never celebrate until the money is in your account, regardless of how many times the client said yes or if there are signed documents.

• HR: Underpromise, overdeliver, and keep your mouth shut to maintain a good reputation at work.

The concept of a “bioregion” is a powerful tool. A bioregion will share animal and plant types and a similar climate. It is the most natural way to divide up the planet since it follows nature. For instance parts of California, Italy, Chile, Australia and South African share a similar bioregion. Maps of bioregions can aid gardening, home design, urban planning, climate adjustment, and understanding of culture. The best bioregion maps are no longer printed on paper but can be downloaded online from One Earth at Bioregions 2020. — KK

These powerful little Poffattr magnets are useful for attaching notes to the refrigerator, but they are equally good for keeping my car cover from blowing off in the wind. The handles that make them easy to pull off are a superior feature. — MF

I think nature livestreams are the best corner of the Internet. Onlinesafari.tv has almost 100 wildlife cams online from around the world. You can search by type of animal or ecosystem. It’s always soothing to watch animals in their natural habitat. I was watching three bears roughhousing in a pond in Romania earlier. — CD

Science explainers on YouTube are a whole new genre. My two favorite YouTube science explainers are Steve Mould and Derek Muller at Veritasium. Both take an unusual phenomenon and explain it using clever demos, visits to experts, and intricate experiments. Veritasium in particular will stage elaborate productions just to memorably demonstrate a single point. Veritasium excels at weighty counter-intuitive propositions such as “electricity doesn’t move”, while Steve Mould likes to start with small oddities and curiosities that have larger consequences. Both have been releasing videos for years and have deep archives of hundreds of visually compelling, fun explanations. — KK

The Amazon Basics 5-Shelf Adjustable Heavy Duty Storage Shelving Unit was just what we needed to store kitchen appliances. It’s made from stainless steel, and plated with chrome, and is very sturdy. We just bought another one for our closet. Best of all, it was easy to assemble. — MF

It’s a small thing, but in my workshop and studio I use Paper Mate Sharpwriter mechanical pencils to mark and measure. They are cheap (35 cents), super lightweight, very finely precise, have a good eraser, and are forever sharp by simply rotating the end. They are cheap enough that I have them everywhere, and wouldn’t care if I lost one, but they are bright yellow and none of them have ever broken. I hear they are favored by students as well. — KK

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