{"id":46564,"date":"2026-07-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46564"},"modified":"2026-07-24T07:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:22:01","slug":"inconspicuous-consumption-navigating-by-aliveness-mini-electric-shaver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/inconspicuous-consumption-navigating-by-aliveness-mini-electric-shaver\/","title":{"rendered":"Inconspicuous Consumption \/ Navigating by aliveness \/ Mini electric shaver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Small obsessions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Like the podcast 99% Invisible<\/em>, the newsletter\/blog Inconspicuous Consumption<\/a><\/em> pays obsessive attention to minor details that most people don\u2019t even see. For instance: long essays on whether the final button holes on shirts should be vertical or horizontal, or Where Should the Apostrophe Go on a Vertically Lettered Sign?<\/a>. More on ashtray designs, the colors of butter, security envelope patterns. The less significant the details are, the more attention they get. Entire worlds can be glimpsed at the end of an office stapler. The tagline for the site is Big Enthusiasm for Small Details. Few who descend down these rabbit holes return the same. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating by aliveness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I love the core question this piece \u201cNavigating by aliveness\u201d<\/a> offers when wondering if you\u2019re on the right track: \u201cDoes this feel like it\u2019s taking me in the direction of greater aliveness?\u201d Aliveness here means fully inhabiting an experience and shifting your attention away from what<\/em> you\u2019re feeling and toward the depth and clarity with which you\u2019re feeling it, whether it\u2019s painful, dull, or joyful. The author goes on to explore why this matters in an AI\u2011shaped future, and suggests we relate to technology a bit like the Amish do: only adopting tools if they clearly serve our deepest values, rather than assuming they\u2019re automatically good. For me, this definition alone feels like a daily way to check my own presence, and how fully I\u2019m actually here in my life, moment to moment. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mini electric shaver<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I bought this tiny Mbzoey Electric Foil Shaver<\/a> to take on trips, but it\u2019s become my everyday razor. It\u2019s rechargeable via USB-C and lasts at least a few weeks of daily shaving on a single charge, with an LED display that shows how much charge is left. No more shaving cream \u2014 I just run it over my face dry. I can do an early-evening touch-up before going out in under a minute. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mashup renaissance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I love this mashup of electronic music plus French medieval instrumentation, sometimes called Bardcore. A good example of bardcore is the French group Courseval doing Daft Punk\u2019s cover song Veridis Quo<\/a>. As one commenter said \u201cProof that we could have had Daft Peasant any time in the last 500 years.\u201d \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See the rhythm of your writing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Text as Music<\/a> is a simple browser tool where you paste your writing and it colors every sentence by length, so you can literally see the rhythm on the page. Micro sentences turn one color, short another, and medium and long each have their own. It\u2019s inspired by Gary Provost\u2019s line, \u201cDon\u2019t just write words. Write music.\u201d \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seth\u2019s Riffs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My friend Seth Godin \u2014 author of Purple Cow<\/em>, Linchpin<\/em>, Tribes<\/em>, The Dip<\/em>, and This Is Marketing<\/em> \u2014 writes a daily email<\/a> full of excellent short ideas about life and business. But it turns out he has even shorter ideas that don\u2019t make it into the daily email, and he\u2019s collected them on a page called Seth\u2019s Riffs<\/a>. Each one is a sentence or two. You can vote for your favorites, which sorts the best to the top. A few of mine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n