Recomendo

Simplify Gmail/DAFs/88 truths

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Recomendo: issue no. 145

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Streamlined Gmail
If you’re a Gmail user, install this Chrome extension (Simplify Gmail) that strips out all the distracting stuff (like the large Google logo) and leaves you with a streamlined interface. It was created by Gmail’s former lead designers. It’s Gmail as it should be. — MF

Personal charitable foundation
If you were lucky to acquire some wealth — and let’s be honest, this is mostly luck — a sensible way to pay it forward is by funding some needed non-profits. Let’s say you scored a bonus, an IPO, a bitcoin sale, early tech stock, or an inheritance. A donor-advised fund (DAF) is an easy way to gain the advantages of a personal foundation, without the hassles or expense of a personal foundation. A DAF is basically a mutual fund investment that you contribute to with cash or by transferring existing stock, with immediate tax benefits, and all the financial growth over time from that investment are completely tax free. But everything in the account, including gains, must be given to certified non-profits of your choice. You can start small. Fund aggregators like Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard offer them. I recommend the Fidelity Charitable DAF which I have been using for several decades. Very clean, quick online interface. — KK

List of truths
This list of 88 important truths are all aha moments for me. My top three are: 5. Everyone likes somebody who gets to the point quickly. 16. Cynicism is far too easy to be useful. And 86. Wishing things were different is a great way to torture yourself. — CD

Be the only
Good advice I keep returning to:
“Don’t be the best. Be the only.” — Jerry Garcia
Works for individuals and companies. — KK

Classify your emotions
I am hoping I’ll get better at communicating my emotions by studying this chart. It is a mind map of the 6 core emotions we feel and all the other emotions that branch off of them. — CD

The Joy of Pressure Washing
I borrowed a friend’s gasoline-powered pressure washer to clean the mossy-covered bricks in my back yard. The machine was noisy and smelly and I had to keep refilling the tank, but I loved the results, so I bought an electric pressure washer (the Sun Joe SPX3200 for $168). It’s superior in every way to the gasoline-powered washer. It’s quiet and goes into idle mode when you release the trigger. It has five different nozzles, including one to spray soap. If you have never seen what a pressure washer can do, this subreddit will make you a true believer. — MF

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 05/5/19

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