{"id":46280,"date":"2026-06-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46280"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:01:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:01:54","slug":"how-everyday-things-work-storied-colors-all-carve-outs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/how-everyday-things-work-storied-colors-all-carve-outs\/","title":{"rendered":"How everyday things work \/ Storied Colors \/ All Carve Outs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How everyday things work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mechanical-pencil.com<\/a> reminds me of the Way Things Work<\/em> book I loved as a kid, but with 3D animations that make it even more illuminating. Mechanical engineer and artist Bryan Macomber tears down familiar objects \u2014 a Pilot G2 retractable pen, a Zippo lighter, a Pez dispenser, a BIC mechanical pencil \u2014 and walks you through how each one works, part by part. Watching the push-push mechanism inside a clicky pen click into place is genuinely satisfying. I hope Bryan keeps adding to this series. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories about Color<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Storied Colors<\/a> is nerdy and delightful. More than 250 colors are indexed and searchable so you can read the stories behind their origin, chemistry and use. This is especially meaningful to me because not only do I pride myself on knowing the various names for different shades of color, but when I was a young weird kid, instead of playing with dolls, I would play with my box of crayons as characters, assigning personalities based on their color. Color has always been a portal to the imaginal for me, rather than just a simple tint. There\u2019s a mention on their website of an upcoming newsletter version that you can sign up for. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal recommendations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The hosts of a great podcast we have featured on Recomendo before, Acquired<\/a>, conclude each of their 3-hour episodes about legendary companies with several personal recommendations each. These could be any apps, books, destinations, shows, apparel, or devices they have personally enjoyed in the last month. They have good taste, lots of variety and a wide range, over their 10-year run. This sounds familiar! They call these reviews, \u201ccarve outs\u201d (not connected to the show\u2019s topic) but they are really Acquired\u2019s version of Recomendo<\/a>. I\u2019ve found some good stuff this way. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two smart rings, compared<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been wearing the RingConn Gen 3<\/a> and the Oura Ring 4<\/a> side by side for over a week, and their core tracking is nearly identical \u2014 sleep profiles, heart rate, and other vital signs all line up closely between the two. So on accuracy, it\u2019s basically a wash. But I prefer the RingConn for two reasons: it doesn\u2019t charge a $6\/month subscription to see your own data, and it lets you export that data \u2014 neither of which Oura allows. The RingConn also has vibration alerts for a low battery, too much sitting, and other health nudges (you can silence them while sleeping). The one thing Oura does better: a small dimple that lets you orient the sensors toward your palm. The RingConn lacks that, so it sometimes rotates, and I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s reading accurately. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meme art<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Obsessive effort spent on ridiculous memes, over-the-top projects about stupid things, absurd seriousness about nonsense. Also meticulous craftsmanship at scale: these are the hallmarks of art projects by Sunday Nobody<\/a>, a young \u201cmeme artist\u201d who posts on YouTube and Instagram. For a recent example of his gonzo projects, watch his Taco Bell Funeral<\/a>. To finance his performances he sells limited editions of his very collectable art. His real art is the whole nerdy process. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer Deck resource list<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Webber put together a great list of resources<\/a> for anyone contemplating purchasing or building their own Writer Deck, a single-purpose, distraction-free writing device. I still use my AlphaSmart Neo2, which I recommended in 2019<\/a> when you could still find them super cheap on Amazon, and the tactile keyboard feels so satisfying to type on while the battery life lasts for months and months. Someday I might invest in a newly made writer deck, but for now this works. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recomendo – issue #518<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2323],"tags":[2324],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46281,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280\/revisions\/46281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}