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Half-size spaghetti
Why don’t they just make spaghetti noodles half as long so you don’t have to messily break them to fit into the pot? Well, they do! Half-sized, or what they call “pot size”, noodles are available from brands such as Mueller’s and Barilla, and from big box stores and on Instacart. As far as I am concerned, this size should be the standard. — KK

Industry secrets
I crave insider knowledge. This Reddit thread feeds my desire to hear what’s really going on in everyday businesses. It simply asks people “What’s an industry secret in the field you work in?” There’s a  couple hundred responses, like: Goodwill throws away most of what is given to them; in vodka, the bottle costs more to make than the vodka; it’s easy to get library fines waived; bouncers make up the rules; there is way more butter than you think in almost every dish at fancy restaurants; etc. — KK

Discover the inspiration behind a movie
This year I’ve watched more movies at home than I thought possible. When I finish a movie I enjoyed I always check the “more like this” tab to find related films to watch, and now as an alternative discovery engine, I’ve been searching Cinetrii, which pulls any mention of influences or inspiration from movie reviews to suggest films with similar moods. — CD

Erasable Pens
Pilot Frixion pens and highlighters have hard plastic erasers. Rub them over the ink and the writing vanishes. Unlike a pencil eraser that wears away the paper, a Frixion eraser creates heat, rendering the ink invisible. I use them for my paper to-do list, book highlighting, and tabletop gaming. — MF

Readwise
Claudia recommended Readwise a while back, but since then this powerful ebook and article highlighting app has added a lot of new useful features. You can highlight excerpts from Pocket and Instapaper, and even grab clips of podcasts, which are automatically transcribed into text (using the new airr podcast player). Best of all, I can browse and search all my ebook, article, and podcast highlights on the Readwise website or Evernote. It’s an indispensable tool. — MF

Fingerprint-free appliances
After our recent kitchen remodel, every appliance in our kitchen is now stainless steel and of course, easily smudged. My husband then added the Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner to our cleaning supplies and honestly, I was surprised at how flawless it left every surface. Every home should have this. — CD

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 09/20/20