{"id":46473,"date":"2026-07-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46473"},"modified":"2026-07-10T08:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T15:34:15","slug":"sensing-wonder-worse-on-purpose-ultimate-historical-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/sensing-wonder-worse-on-purpose-ultimate-historical-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensing Wonder \/ Worse on Purpose \/ Ultimate historical maps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sensing Wonder<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite newsletters, Down the Rabbit Hole<\/a><\/em>, is a weekly, curated collection of psychoactive internet rabbit holes exploring meaning, beauty, and aliveness. The creator recently shared a virtual \u201cwindow\u201d<\/a> you can click open that sends you to one of the most-clicked links from the past five years. It feels like StumbleUpon with soul\u2014 tiny portal into wonder. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse on Purpose<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been burned by buying a \u201cbuy-it-for-life\u201d brand only to discover the company and the logo were sold years ago. Worse on Purpose<\/a> rates 215 brands \u2014 tools, bags, apparel, eyewear, and footwear \u2014 as either Approved, Watchlist, Former Great, or Avoid. A sample: Ray-Ban is designated \u201cAvoid\u201d (\u201cPriced as luxury, produced to commodity standards\u201d). Another example: Peak Design is designated \u201cApproved\u201d, (because it is still founder-owned). \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimate historical maps<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Imagine having access to all the ancient maps of the world, and being able to explore them with AI, including searching on the words etched in the maps, or concepts about the maps \u2013 for instance \u201cgive me all the maps showing the routes of Roman aqueducts.\u201d All this and more are available online for free, at the David Rumsey Map Collection<\/a>. For 25 years Rumsey has been scanning over 140,000 maps of all kinds from his insane collection from around the world. He then innovates ways to share them. When you find a map you particularly like, you can tap a button and have it printed out on a large scale and mailed to you for a reasonable fee. This is an international treasure. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decent kid\u2019s shows<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What was the most streamed show in 2025? Bluey<\/a>, a kids animated show from Australia. Bluey has about 150 very short episodes using an animated dog family to model emotional intelligence and give toddlers strategies for big feelings. Like Sesame Street, adults can tolerate watching it. I think early Sesame Street is better, teaching more and broader, but Bluey is a good second choice. (Technically streamed on Disney+, but available on YouTube as well.) Because episodes are shorter (about 10 minutes), small kids love rewatching them. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cushy airplane seat<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I just got back from an overseas trip, and this inflatable travel seat cushion<\/a> made a 10+ hour flight\u2014and those board-hard seats\u2014so much more bearable. I was hesitant to become someone who carries a personal butt pillow through the airport, but I\u2019m glad I got over it and brought it along. It deflates and rolls up smaller than a neck pillow. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MeatStick V Duo wireless meat thermometer<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve ruined my share of meat by cutting in to check doneness. The MeatStick V Duo<\/a> uses two wireless probes that you can put into two different cuts, and the app predicts when each will hit its target temperature. A small LCD base shows the temps so I don\u2019t have to grab my phone with greasy hands. The probes can handle open flame up to 1200\u00b0F and are dishwasher safe. \u2014 MF<\/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 #522<\/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\/46473"}],"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=46473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46474,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46473\/revisions\/46474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}