Backblaze/12min/Get Out of My Head
Easy unlimited backups
You can’t have too many backups. You need at least one off-site online backup of your work. I previously recommended Crashplan but they have fallen behind in user interface, speed, and price. I am now a happy user of Backblaze, which has an unlimited plan for $60 a year. I back up 5 Terabytes (!!) of photos and videos (from more than one disk), and Backblaze was quick uploading and is super easy to manage. — KK
Popular books in 12 minutes
I recently got a subscription to 12min, a library of condensed non-fiction books (audio and text). New titles are added all the time. I’ve found it especially useful to refresh my memory on books I read years ago, like Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled By Randomness, and Tim Ferriss’s Tools of Titans. A lifetime subscription to 12min is $39. — MF
Inspiration for Overthinkers
I love this small, illustrated handbook for easing anxiety: Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World. It has become a roadmap to help me navigate out of my anxieties and distortions, and it's so much more magical than it is clinical. You can pick it up and start anywhere in the book at any time, and you'll find playful ways to reframe your thinking and easy actionable advice to try now. My favorite part of the book is that it comes with an even smaller pocket book inside, with soothing illustrations, that acts as a visual tool to help you, "when something is wrong, but nothing is wrong." — CD
Free Music for videos and other projects
Dig CC Mixter is a library of music you can use for free in videos, performances, podcasts, video games, or other projects. It’s well organized and it’s easy to listen to samples of the music. — MF
9 common thinking biases
I'm sure I'm afflicted by a lot of cognitive biases, but I like this list of 9 common biases, because of the short advice on how to overcome them. I'll admit that I struggle with the halo effect — "when your overall impression of someone is influenced by one part of their character" — but I'm working on it and trying to appreciate humans in all their complexities. — CD
Teflon frying pan alternative
A surprisingly workable alternative to a Teflon frying pan is a ceramic coated pan. We use a GreenPan (it’s actually white ceramic inside) that unsticks as well as old Teflon. The cheap Teflon pans we use only last about 4 years. Our GreenPan is 5 years old and shows no wear. The 10 inch GreenPan is $25. — KK