Recomendo

Foldable Dog Water Bottle/52 Things I Learned/Tiny Spells

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Recomendo: issue no. 180

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Foldable dog water dispenser
I’ve just started taking my 1-year-old puppy on hikes and I wanted the easiest/fastest way to feed him water on the trail. This lesotc Pet Water Bottle for Dogs ($15) has a lid that is also a foldable bowl, so when I open it I can squeeze the water into the bowl and my puppy can lap up as much as he needs and the rest of it will flow back into the the bottle. No more wasted water. — CD

52 interesting things from 2019
Tom Whitewell put together a list called “52 things I learned in 2019,” and I was interested in all of them. Examples: “Each year humanity produces 1,000 times more transistors than grains of rice and wheat combined” and “Worldwide, growth in the fragrance industry is lagging behind cosmetics and skincare products. Why? ‘You can’t smell a selfie.’” — MF

Daily self-care newsletter
Tiny Spells is a daily self-care email that feels like it’s sent from your best friend. Every day Joan Westenberg sends out three simple things you can do for yourself to make your day and self better, like reminders to take a stretch break, make the doctors appointment you’ve been avoiding, buying yourself fresh flowers, or finding something that makes you laugh. It has a magical effect and I look forward to it every day. — CD

National parks lifetime pass
Anyone 62 or older can get a senior lifetime pass to the US National Parks for $80. That’s the cost of a regular one-year pass, so it’s a great bargain, and a great gift for a relative or friend if you are not 62. — KK

High quality drawing pens
The Sakura Pigma Manga Basic Set comes with 5 pens: 4 Pigma Microns (sizes 005, 01, 05, 08) a black brush pen, and a white ink gel pen. The ink is waterproof and very dark. At $8, it’s a good deal. — MF

Books printed-on-demand
I produce one or two books per year. I use a print-on-demand (POD) service so the books are printed one at a time when needed. The best/easiest print-on-demand is KDP (formerly CreateSpace), owned by Amazon. Their quality is indistinguishable from a bookstore book (in fact many books from NY publishers are printed POD), and they have the added virtue that you can sell the books on Amazon, and it integrates with making digital books for the Kindle at the same time. I can have a standard softcover book printed in B&W at KDP for around $4. Small run books make ideal gifts. — KK

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 01/5/20

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