An intriguing list of "little-known but obvious facts"
u/TikiTC asked on r/askreddit: "What’s a little-known but obvious fact that will immediately make all of us feel stupid?" Many of the 20,000+ replies are funny, useful, and fascinating. Here are a few:...
View ArticleThis deck of cards will help you to get to know yourself better
Know Yourself is a set of 60 cards to prompt you to examine your beliefs. Example card: “List five things that are important to you in your life. How much of your time do you give to each of these?”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Seven top tips from makers so far this year
Here are seven of my favorite DIY/maker tips published this year in my weekly newsletter, Gareth's Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales. Etching Metal with a 9v Battery Etching is easier than you think. Leah of...
View ArticleHelp your future self by imagining an invitation to a far-off event is tomorrow
I write a weekly newsletter with Claudia Dawson and Kevin Kelly, called Recomendo. In each issue we briefly recommend 6 things. Here's a great tip in the Jan 26, 2020 issue, which Kevin shared with me...
View ArticleHere are a couple of ways of starting a fire in the wilderness using found...
Washington College professor of archeology and anthropology Bill Schindler demonstrates some nifty fire-starting-from-scratch techniques. "Even though you may never find yourself in a survival...
View ArticleNPR's no-nonsense guide to preparing your home for Covid-19
It's seems likely that Covid-19 will be a pandemic, maybe on the order of the 1918 Spanish Flu (listen to this podcast episode of The New York Times' The Daily for a persuasive argument as to why). It...
View ArticleGood tip for drawstring sweatpants
Good tip pic.twitter.com/GS5mFVom4v — Engineering (@engineeringvids) March 30, 2020 This looks like a good way to keep drawstrings from disappearing, as is their wont.
View ArticleTips from a fellow who has been social distancing for 50 years
For 50 years, Billy Barr has been the only resident of Gothic, Colorado, an abandoned silver mining town. He's not a hermit though. According to NPR, Barr says he "occasionally interacts with skiers...
View ArticleMan builds smartphone magnifier lens to remove a nasty splinter
YouTuber Chris Notap brushed his hand against his wood fence and got a splinter in his hand. To remove it he made a smartphone magnifier lens for two dollars and used a pair of tweezers to extract the...
View ArticleHow to get a refund on an app you don't like
If you purchased a smart phone app that doesn't meet your expectations, Popular Science has a guide for how to get your money back. The first thing to try is contacting Google or Apple and explaining...
View ArticleOn his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly offers 68 bits of unsolicited advice
My friend and Cool Tools parter, Kevin Kelly, just turned 68. Happy Birthday, Kevin! To celebrate, he posted 68 pieces of advice. Kevin is one of the wisest people I know, and when he gives advice, I...
View ArticleDavid Bowie on playing to the gallery
Advice from David Bowie for artists: "always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you've felt that if you could manifest it in...
View ArticleFreakonomics interviews Kevin Kelly about his "68 bits of unsolicited advice"
When my friend and Cool Tools partner Kevin Kelly turned 68 a few weeks ago, he posted an essay to his website titled "68 bit of unsolicited advice." (I posted it to Boing Boing.) Kevin's advice...
View ArticleTo find something you misplaced, imagine its feel and texture
If you misplace something, say a pair of headphones, think about its surface texture and the way it feels rather than what it looks like. This will help you remember where you last left it, says Jason...
View ArticleNew video series: Understanding Epresso
James Hoffmann, a coffee YouTuber, has a new series about espresso. In each episode, he discusses one of the variables involved in making espresso. The first episode covered "dose," or the amount of...
View ArticleTwo free or cheap alternatives to Adobe Illustrator
If you're a professional illustrator, podcaster, or filmmaker, a $53 a month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud is a fair price to pay. But if you're just interested in having a good vector graphics...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Get Sarah Cooper's "Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings 2021 Day-to-Day Calendar"
I know Sarah Cooper from her hilarious lip-syncs of Trump's incoherent babbling. I did not know that she was also the author of the hilarious 2016 book 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings. Cooper...
View ArticleHow to back up your computer hard drive
This brief article is titled "Backing up for Mortals," and it looks like it has good advice. The author recommends 3-2-1 Rule: The rule is simple: you have 3 backup sources: 2 are local, and 1 is...
View ArticleRead more books by using the downtime feature on your iPhone’s screen time...
In this essay titled "How I Read Two Books a Week," Anthony Draper offers "surprising and practical steps you can take now to read more." My favorite tip is using the downtime feature on your iPhone’s...
View ArticleI interviewed Freakonomics' Stephen Dubner about his favorite shoes, anchovy...
Cool Tools · 237: Steven Dubner On my Cool Tools podcast, which I co-host with Kevin Kelly, we interviewed Stephen Dubner. Stephen’s an award-winning author, journalist, and TV and radio personality....
View Article