River Runner is a website that lets you track a virtual raindrop's journey from any point on Earth to its final destination in the ocean. The 3D visualization is fluid, showing your water droplet flowing through rivers and streams, based on real geographic data. I spent too much time dropping rain on mountaintops and watching it wind through valleys all the way to the ocean. It's especially spectacular when starting from places like Yellowstone National Park, where you can watch the dramatic elevation changes unfold. It’s a perfect companion to John McPhee’s Basin and Range. — MF

This collection of advice is compiled as the most powerful life hacks, and while I’ve heard a lot of it before, reading it all together is particularly impactful. It serves as a great reminder of the building blocks that make a life well lived. Here are my top five favorites from the longer list:

• If you’re about to take an emotion-induced action, wait 24 hours. Many relationships have been broken by actions taken in the heat of the moment. Don't fall into the trap.

• Never avoid hard conversations. When you avoid a hard conversation, you're taking on a debt that has to be repaid with interest at a date in the future…

• Make a rule to never think twice about investments in yourself. Books, quality food, fitness, and personal development all fit into this bucket. These investments pay dividends for a long time. Think about material purchases instead—wait 24 hours to complete an order to see if you still want it.

• When someone is going through hell, just saying “I’m with you” is the most powerful thing you can do. Advice, perspectives, or offers to help are minimally impactful. The notion that someone is with you is 10x more powerful. Be the “darkest hour friend” to those you love.

• John D. Rockefeller would take regular breaks from his notoriously demanding schedule to mill about in his garden—it was his personal escape. Find your "garden" and go there often. Practice stillness, flex the solitude muscle. Be bored for at least 15 minutes per day. It’s an unlock for creativity and mindfulness.

— CD

This article on "The Art of Calling Out Room Dynamics" is geared toward high-stakes professional environments, but I find it incredibly useful advice for defusing tension and realigning unproductive group meetings of any kind. The article outlines practical tips, as well as the psychology behind naming what is in the room. Pattern interruption helps to break negative loops, and focusing on the collective experience helps to create psychological safety and make space for honest dialogue. This is a conversational superpower that anyone can develop. — CD

It’s not easy to prop a phone up at the right angle. For video calls using the phone, or for photography I sometimes want a steady position sans arms. I use this itsy-bitsy holder from Peak Design that folds up to the size of a credit card, but thicker. Parts of the card fold out to form a tripod and the remaining is a magnetic plate which holds the phone (check to be sure your phone back does magnets). I can then stand my phone on a desk for a video call or place it outside like a small camera tripod for video or timelapse. The design is ingenious. It slips into my daypack when travelling. — KK

After one too many purses sliding off restaurant chairs onto grimy floors or taking up table space, my wife started carrying this clever folding hook in her purse. It magnetically collapses to the size of a silver dollar but unfolds to securely hang bags from any table edge. — MF

I was tired of visiting multiple museum collections one-by-one for usable images, so I built this simple web tool that creates direct search links to 11 major institutional collections on a single page. Enter a search term like "sailing ships" and get one-click access to results from places like the Smithsonian, Met Museum, Library of Congress and more. Free. — MF

Sacred Source is a treasure trove of sacred images, traditional deities, and spiritual statues. It is my go-to source for buying hand-crafted devotional artifacts for my altar. They have such a diverse range of statues, honoring both ancient cultures and modern spirituality. As a small company dedicated to supporting artisan families, every purchase feels like a meaningful choice. — CD

This is super cool: Wikenigma, an encyclopedia of known unknowns. What we know we don't know. A startlingly long list of unanswered questions, uncertainties, and blank areas in our collective knowledge. Frontiers. Good places to work. — KK

A cool way to make some unusual art is to render an image in Lego. I used a kit from BrickMe that turned a photo of my wife into 5,625 pixels, and then they supplied me with Lego tiles in 50 different colors. Using the map they also supply, I “painted” the image by applying the tiles in the manner of paint-by-numbers. I glued the final assembly onto plywood to hang in my studio. The procedure is well-designed, fun, with plenty of extra tiles. Mine was the small size at 24 x 24 inches (57 x 57 cm) for $126; they can go much bigger. – KK

One of my New Year's resolutions is to create more distance between myself and my phone. This list offers some effective tricks to make your phone less interesting, as well as tips to avoid "brain rot." According to the Oxford Dictionary, brain rot refers to the "supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging." For me, simply disabling badge and sound notifications was enough to make my phone less engaging. I also encouraged my closest friends and family to call me more often and text less. — CD

Glicol is a free music programming environment that runs in your web browser — no installation needed. As someone who dabbles in music coding, I like how it lets you connect audio nodes (like oscillators and filters) using simple >> arrows, similar to patching modular synths. It's instantly usable for beginners. Watch a demo video. — MF

My father liked this aluminum tablet stand ($20) that I gave him for his birthday so much, he bought one for my mother. Unlike fixed-angle stands, this one lets you easily dial in the perfect viewing angle. Rubber-padded grips prevent slipping and scratches. Works with everything from phones to large tablets (4-17 inches) and folds nearly flat for travel. — MF

My home office doubles as a guest room, so I needed to find a comfortable floor mattress that could be easily packed away when not in use. I did a lot of research and went with the highly reviewed Milliard Tri-Folding Memory Foam Mattress (6-inch, Twin XL). Every overnight guest we’ve had says it’s really comfortable. I’ve also slept on it and liked it so much that I bought the smaller Twin size (6-inch) just to have an extra one on hand for camping trips or overnight retreats. — CD

There is a growing understanding of why some houses burn in a wildfire and why some escape. There are many things you can do to prevent your house from burning. First, the chief factor is how close your home is to another burning house. It is houses that set fire to houses, more than trees or vegetation. Prevention is a community thing. Second, a stream of embers ignites most houses, rather than flames. Those embers pile up in gutter debris, dry leaves near the foundation, firewood stack against a wall, or embers flying into vents, and that kindling ignites the house. These insights are based on the latest research into wild fire. A great starting point for learning what you can do – based on evidence – is the California Chaparral Institute. — KK

After one too many frustrating calls trying to spell out airline confirmation codes ("No, B as in Boy, not D!"), I built this simple web tool. Type in any text and it instantly converts it to NATO phonetic alphabet - so "B2K" becomes "Bravo Two Kilo." Try it for clearly communicating flight bookings, WiFi passwords, or any string of letters and numbers over the phone. — MF

A YouTuber I follow with eager anticipation is Cleo Abrams, who creates a science explainer about once a month, called Huge If True. For a great example, watch her video explaining what’s involved in human egg freezing and harvesting. (That they are her eggs added fantastic depth to her reporting.) A monthly schedule allows her explainers to have sophisticated levels of production and clarity. Her range of interests are broad and varied, and generally uplifting. I am a happy subscriber. — KK

This is a beautifully simple and concise framework for processing and releasing difficult emotions. The author outlines a 14-step guide that begins with acknowledging your feelings and ends with creating meaningful rituals. Every step is practical and flexible for anyone to adapt it to their own needs and experiences. — CD

My daughter's college friends are obsessed with this simple dice game called LCR Wild. Each turn, you roll up to three dice marked L, C, R or Wild - passing chips left, right, to a center pot, or using Wild to steal from anyone. As she explains: "Chips that go to the center are eliminated from play, so the game gets more intense as the supply dwindles. You can theoretically win the center pot with three wild rolls, but I've never seen it happen!" The last player with chips wins. Perfect balance of luck and light strategy that works for 3 or 30 people. — MF

I always keep Elmer’s Resuable Tac ’N Stik in my craft supplies. It comes in handy when I want to hang up paper prints on my wall without having to use a nail, and I avoid the risk of peeling off wall paint with double-sided mounting tape. — CD

The dollar-to-yen exchange rate continues to make now a fabulous time to visit Japan. The main trick is to get out of Tokyo, but Tokyo is a good place to start for first time visitors. My favorite guide to Tokyo is one aimed at kids, but also one that anyone young at heart will benefit from: Tokyo, City Trails by Lonely Planet Kids. It points you to all the actual fun things to do, not just endless food and temples. How about a toilet showroom, a chocolate bath, or a sleep capsule? In the same vein, for your guidance to cosplay, manga, anime, otaku activities, I recommend Tokyo Geek’s Guide. It’s a great way to experience the city and modern Japanese culture. — KK