The Voyager Golden Record, included on the 1977 Voyager space missions, is a collection of Earth's sounds, music, and images intended as a message for extraterrestrial intelligence. My friend David Pescovitz won a Grammy for the Voyager Golden Record 3xLP Box Set he co-produced, which includes the original content and an illustrated book. Normally priced at $110, it is currently on sale for $88. — MF

I watch sad movies when I'm feeling hormonal, low in spirits, or when the source of my sadness is unknown. Inducing tears has always helped me release stagnant energy in my body, and the website Cry Once a Week seems to expedite that emotional process. I'm not embarrassed to admit that a short 5-minute scene from Pixar's 'Inside Out' was enough to make me weep. If you provide them with your email, they'll send you a free PDF detailing the benefits of crying.— CD

Jane Friedman of Electric Speed recently asked her readers to share their favorite meditation apps and reasons why, and here is the complete list. Calm, Insight Timer and Headspace seem to be most popular. — CD 

Since I have little people in my life again (grandchildren) I am always on the lookout for cool toys. I find construction toys keep kids interested the longest. A clever design that works great for toddlers are bristle tiles which resemble giant velcro. Long combs on every surface stick together enough yet pull apart easily for tiny hands. Like Magnatiles, a little bit of helpful stickiness assists in making things. There are lots of knockoff brands. I don’t even know which one was the original, but Picasso Bristle Tiles work fine. — KK 

Every December, Tom Whitwell, a managing consultant at Magnetic, compiles a list of 52 interesting facts and stories from the year. Here are a few examples from his 2023 list:

• The US Defense Department earns $100m/year operating slot machines used by soldiers on their bases.

• Psychedelic cryptography is a way of concealing messages (normally in videos) so that only people who’ve taken LSD can receive the messages.

• Scotland’s forest cover is nearly back to where it was 1,000 years ago, while England has risen to levels last seen in 1350.

— MF

This article in Fast Company discusses the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) in the workplace and gives advice on how to cultivate it. Three key signs that you might be lacking EQ are: 1. You often provoke unexpected reactions. 2. You don’t get the help you need from colleagues, and 3. You get passed over for promotions or other opportunities. Cultivating EQ requires developing self-awareness, active listening skills, curiosity, emotional regulation, as well as an ability to accept constructive feedback and show genuine empathy. An introspection practice I like to do at night is to replay the day backwards in my head and relive the day’s interactions through the other person’s eyes. This was advice I picked up for lucid dreaming, but it’s definitely helped me cultivate more emotional intelligence. — CD

Reddit is often a more reliable source of information than Google, especially for product reviews, restaurant recommendations, and how-to instructions. Unfortunately, Reddit’s native search engine is clunky and leaves a lot to be desired. I started using Giga, a site that returns relevant Reddit posts and summarizes them. I used it to find out how to cook chicken breasts so they don’t become tough and dry. — MF

For wrapping presents, I have found this simple gadget helpful. The Elf Gift Wrap Cutter is a short plastic tube that slides onto a standard roll of wrapping paper. I slide it up and it cuts the paper precisely square. Trivial, but simple, cheap, and forever. It lives with the wrapping paper. — KK

This three-minute video explains how those annoying “I’m not a robot” reCAPTCHA checkbox tests work. It turns out the checkbox itself is not the test at all, but rather it’s your mouse movements and browsing history that give away your humanity. The video is full of surprising facts about these “completely automated public Turing tests.” For instance, I learned spammers pay workers as as little as $1.00 per thousand tests to solve CAPTCHAs. — MF

We still have an outdoor clothes line, in addition to our dryer, to take advantage of solar energy. Over time a rope line will sag. This clever, inexpensive device, a $7 Clothesline Tightener, will cinch your line taut with a hard pull. It’s affixed to the end of the line. It won’t work with thin wire lines, only rope lines. – KK

I have two lunar calendars and I use them both. MOON is on Apple only ($11/yr) and I love it because it displays a huge moon widget on my home screen. The moon is animated to depict its illumination percentage and the stars will play music for you if you shake and tap them. It’s fun. My other app and the one I can wholeheartedly recommend because it’s free is My Moon Phase (available on iOS and Android). It’s one of few apps I have set to allow notifications and it provides more specific information about the moon like its distance from Earth and moonrise and moonset times. Sadly, no widget. — CD

View a Sunset at virtually any time of the day with Sunset.funwebsite.fun. This website will connect you to livestreams and webcams all over the world and tell you how many minutes have passed before or after sunset. It’s fascinating to look at this in the morning as my day is just beginning. I feel connected to far-off parts of the Earth. — CD 

The best book about tools – the tools you can buy today – is this new illustrated tome by Theo Gray, called Tools: A visual exploration. It is comprehensive (covers hundreds of examples from hand tools to elaborate power tools), detailed, very graphic (clear photos for each thing), and witty. Most importantly, this overview of all tools is based on Gray’s 40 years of using all these tools to make an astonishing range of things. As a maker, I found his expertise and recommendations essential. I also read the book as a catalog of possibilities; each tool unfamiliar to me opened up possible new directions of making. Gray also made a free website with pictures of the tools without any text. — KK

The Viewtainer is a cleverly designed storage container made from clear plastic. It lets you easily see the contents, while the squeeze-to-open top makes accessing the contents convenient. Just apply light pressure to the tube's sides and the slitted rubber top pops open, allowing you to easily insert or remove small items. It's perfect for organizing craft supplies, dog treats, and hardware like screws or nails. I use one to collect sea glass when we go to the beach. — MF

My husband bought this XULRKOS Splatter Screen ($9) for our frying pan, and it’s one of those indispensable multi-purpose kitchen tools that I didn’t know I needed.  It doesn’t prevent all splatters, but it significantly reduces excess grease on our stove and counters. You can also use it as a sieve or cooling rack. — CD

Nicolas, a designer at GitHub, maintains a list of quotations that he shares on his personal website. Most of them are new to me, and many are inspiring or provocative. Examples:

• “Be careful what you cast out — the vacancy is quickly filled”  — Austin Osman Spare

• “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire

• “There is no product or service more ecological, sustainable and recyclable as the one we do not use.” — Philippe Bihouix

• Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. — André Gide

– MF

I find keeping in mind my estimated death date greatly helps me focus on important things. This website by World Data Lab will quickly give you your estimated longevity, calculated from actuarial tables. How long you live varies depending on where you live. I turn this date into how many days I have left and use it as a countdown clock. — KK

New York Times Magazine made this interactive guide to the James Webb Space Telescope and it was awesome to see all the new images and new discoveries made about our Universe. My jaw dropped and I got chills when I saw the image of 94,000 galaxies now made visible by Webb. I recommend viewing this on your desktop. — CD 

I didn’t know how handy this little car door step gadget would be until I started using it to wash the roof of my car. It fits on the latch of most cars, giving you a boost of a couple of feet off the ground. Most people use them to get access to their car’s luggage rack. — MF

When Spanish conquistadors marched into the island city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1518, they were stunned by what they encountered. The scale, richness, complexity, and advancement of this capital built by the local Aztecs surpassed anything in Spain at the time. I find this 3D virtual reconstructed Portrait of Tenochtitlan on lake Texcoco to reward endless scrutiny. The sliding overlay of modern Mexico City is genius. I am as much stunned by its grandeur as the first invaders. – KK