In October 2024, Rachel Moore had a close encounter with a humpback whale in French Polynesia and took these photos of the whale’s eye. Whoa!

(Via Kottke)

“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has the intelligence and energy—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the integrity is up to you. You weren’t born with it, you can’t learn it in school.”
– Warren Buffet

(via and via)

This graph stopped me in my tracks. Different questions lead to different answers.

It made me giggle: Pantry Pants.

Subscription Cost Visualizer is a lightweight, interactive tool that turns your subscriptions into a visual grid. Instead of a list of numbers, you get a clear, proportional view of where your money is going—larger blocks represent higher costs, making your spending instantly legible.

Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest and most generous corners of the internet: a vast, free digital library built by volunteers. Founded in 1971, it offers more than 75,000 eBooks—mostly classic works whose copyrights have expired—available to read, download, and share without cost.

FutureMe is a quiet little corner of the internet with a simple premise: you write an email to your future self, and the site delivers it later.

You choose the date—months or years from now—type out whatever’s on your mind, and hit send. Then you forget about it. At some point down the line, it shows up in your inbox like a message from a past version of you.

(via)

Moon Joy. I am here for it. Thank you NASA. These four humans fill my heart with so much hope and love.

Using wiki software, old photos, family stories, bank transactions, social media posts, and an LLM to sift through everything to build a personal encyclopedia? Yes, please! whoami.wiki as an open source project. The encyclopedia is yours, it runs on your machine, your data stays with you, and any model can read it.

(via Jason)

This made me giggle. Nature is silly. Did you know the Red-Lipped Batfish is a thing?

My friend Derek Andersen founder of StartupGrind invited me to be on his Podcast called Divot. Loved our conversation, his curious and gentle orientation and most of all, his lighting questions at the end. (Starting around 35:25min)

PS: They got the community size wrong: We gather 25,000 creatives every month in 70 countries and have 600,000 members.

Love this print and sentiment by James Victore.

The idea was to create a network of poets who would find out whatever they could about the person, write a custom poem about their life and read it at their funeral. As of 2018, over 300 “lonely funerals” had been attended by poets in Amsterdam and Antwerp (where Flemish poet Maarten Inghels launched a Lonely Funeral project seven years after Starik’s).”

Read More about The Lonely Funeral

(via this article)

Sidewalk Joy spots are free, curated public galleries, exchanges and displays. Installed in curb gardens, front yards or sides of buildings these projects were created to bring a bit of whimsy and inspiration to the community. Examples include Free Little Art Galleries, Puzzle Exchanges, Toy Swaps, year-round and often updated yard displays, Wishing Trees, and more!

These dog rugs by Emily O’Leary are weird and fascinating.

This Cassette Label Generator lets you make an old-school cassette label from a Spotify playlist. The best part: It comes with a QR code one doesn’t actually have to own a cassette player to listen to it. SO FUN!

(via)

Protocolcards.com is a digital deck of evidence‑backed nervous system “protocols” you can pull up when you don’t know what to do with yourself.

(via Cool Tools)

White noise/test screen jumper. Want.

Old-school computing has a term “molly guard”: it’s the little plastic safety cover you have to move out of the way before you press some button of significance.

(via Chris)

This poster by David Schmitt made me smile.

The other day, Tim and I watched this documentary. (It’s free on Youtube) We were enthralled by the inside story of the AI breakthrough that won a Nobel Prize.

In the event that you wake up
and find your soul separated from source
and manifest into material form, don’t panic.
Your condition is only temporary.

You have been selected for the opportunity
of human incarnation.

This 3D simulation is designed
to break up the monotony of eternity
by giving you a fully immersive experience
as a distinct ego identity.

Your body will serve
as your physical avatar
as you navigate a dense and dramatic reality.
There will be many distractions
causing you to forget your true nature and origin.
You will experience a range of emotions
from joy to loneliness to despair.

But remember – no matter
what trials and traumas you encounter,
your soul remains perfectly safe.

At times you may feel lost or afraid.
This is totally normal.
If you ever need guidance,
simply slow down your busy mind
and bring your awareness
to the quiet place
inside yourself.

On this planet, nothing is permanent.
People and things will come and go.
You will fall in love and form sentimental attachments
only to lose everything you hold dear.

So cling to nothing too tightly, even yourself,
and when it’s time to let go, let go with grace,
for nothing is owned, only borrowed.

As you walk among
the people on the planet,
try to be a good guest.
Tread lightly. Remember
that you are only visiting.
Don’t make a mess.
Listen more than you speak.
Give more than you take.

Don’t keep your soft heart
locked inside a glass cage,
protected from wear and tear.

You’ll never make it out alive
and time passes quickly.
So come back with some battle scars
and good stories to tell.

– James McCrae

“To listen is to place oneself in relation with uncertainty, with not-knowing, with the unknowable. Alchemists knew this well: the process could not be rushed, outcomes could not be guaranteed. Listening likewise resists certainty. It asks for a suspension of control, a willingness to not know in advance what will emerge. This is why listening feels risky. It exposes the listener to alteration. One cannot listen deeply and remain untouched.”

What an incredibly beautiful post on Listening as Alchemy.

(Thank you Vicki)

Erwin Wurm’s absurd art makes my heart sing.

This No Idea Pigeon poster made me smile.

“At this pivotal moment in American history, Alysa Liu represents something that we all needed very badly. She is joy. She is hope. She is unity. She is the rejection of the patriarchy. She is authenticity. She is bodily autonomy. She is the antithesis of self-centered ivididualism. She is love for the people with whom we share space. She is the embodiment of everything the American dream is supposed to mean.”
– Draco Genesis

In a tribute to Catherine O’Hara for her 2021 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Noah Reid performed Joni Mitchell’s classic. So much talent. So much love for Catherine O’Hara.

(via Chris)

“The market for something to believe in is infinite.”
– Hugh MacLeod

From this Seth Godin blog post.

One of my readers, Paul, left the above comment on my last post. What a kind gesture. I am a puddle. There’s so much love and kindness in this world.

People photographed with their vehicles. Made me smile.

“Doing is being.”

These painted rocks by Elizabeth Salocka delight me to no end.

” I think it is more difficult these days to define what makes a good citizen than it has ever been before. Certainly all any of us can do is follow our own conscience and retain faith in our democracy. Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call “American Virtues” who lack this faith in our country. I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities.
– Charles Schulz

Letter to a 10-year-old fan, 9th November 1970

Via What we have got to have in this world is a change of heart

(Thank you Ruth Ann)

“Authoritarians cannot rise if there are strong communities and people are acting with joy. That is, you need despair and anger in order for an authoritarian to rise. Whatever those things are that you bring to the community, do them and do them with joy, and don’t stop doing the things you love because you’re scared, because that actually is a form of resistance.”
– Heather Cox Richardson

This is one of the many reasons why I am running CreativeMornings and we started a Clubs program in addition to the chapter events. The future is not lonely, it’s hyperlocal!

“May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful.”
— Mary Oliver

The Siksika Hierarchy of Needs is an Indigenous framework from the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation that reimagines human needs from a collective, relational, and land-based worldview, rather than an individualistic one like Maslow’s hierarchy. Community, culture, and land come first — individual fulfillment is not possible without collective well-being. Yes please.

Grace Farms in New Canaan Connecticut is a truly inspiring space, both aesthetically as well in their mission. Would love to bring CreativeMornings to this venue. More billionaires like this, please.

I am loving these book cover designs by Stephen Brayda.