Tile/Dust-to-Digital/Happiness trick
Find misplaced items
I put a Tile bluetooth tracker in my wallet and forgot about it. Last week, my wallet fell out of my pocket when I was at the movies, and I didn’t realize it until I was in the car. I went back to the theater, opened the Tile app on my phone and pressed the “Wallet” button. The tile in my wallet chirped loudly and I found it wedged between two seats. A useful little gadget! — MF
Old music Twitter feed
Dust-to-Digital is a record label specializing in early, hard-to-find music. They have a terrific Twitter feed with videos I’ve never seen of performers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Papa Jo Jones, Eddie Cochran, Koko Taylor. I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching the videos. — MF
Happiness trick
This article titled "1 simple trick to be happier"is not clickbait — it's sound advice. It suggests that because your happiness level is more dependent on the frequency of positive events, rather than the intensity, you should be creating a daisy chain of happiness-inducing events all day long. "Think of some of the small delights that bring you joy — whether it’s a certain song, a photo from a gathering with friends, or even a pen that writes like a dream — and try intentionally placing them throughout your day." I have a running list of 100 things that bring me joy that I pull up when needed. On the top of my list is hugging my dog and cuddling (mostly bugging) my cat. — CD
Global street foodie
My favorite street foodie is the YouTuber Mark Wiens. He is half-Chinese, lives in Bangkok, but specializes in eating street food around the world. It’s no surprise to me his channel has 5 million followers because he is enthusiastic, thrifty, do-it-yourself, and he goes to the places I would go for street food: Pakistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, China. His “tours” are more useful than say Anthony Bourdain’s or Andrew Zimmern’s, in part because he doesn’t have a crew and stays low to the ground. When I headed somewhere remote, I check his extensive archive out. — KK
Packable trash cans
We have one of these collapsible trash cans (Camco Collapsible Utility Container, $13) that we use when we have barbecues – I still end up picking up beer bottles and cups the next day but not as many as I would if we didn't have this. These are also perfect to take camping, because they take up virtually no room. — CD
Long-sleeved T-shirts
I’m my own boss, so I set the work dress code and it is: t-shirts. But I live on the Pacific coast in the fog where it is cool year round, so I only wear long-sleeved t-shirts. And I don’t wear logos. For many years long-sleeved t-shirts in color without logos were hard to find, but I recently got my newest batch from Amazon of all places. The Amazon Essentials long-sleeved t-shirt is heavy duty, inexpensive, and prime delivery. Perfect for my office. — KK
— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson