1. Watch 100,000 Dominoes Topple to the Ground in a Dazzling Eight-Minute Display. “Artist Lily Hevesh spent ten days creating the elaborate installation at the National Building Museum.”

2. Princess Leia’s Star Wars bikini fetches $175,000. “Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the films, said she thought director George Lucas was ‘kidding’ when he showed her the bikini.”

3. On loneliness, Issue #295 from The Red Hand Files. What I liked so much about this response isn’t something Nick said, but something he shares that someone else said: “Philosopher, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist says we require three things to attain a meaningful life. The first is feeling part of a wider community – family, friends, and society in general. Second is an understanding of nature and a connection to the natural order of things, which McGilchrist feels we have largely lost. Finally, we need to form a relationship with the sacred or divine – this can be found in art, music, poetry and religion, where we acknowledge the ineffable and all-encompassing force that holds the world together.” I feel like these three things are worth a lifetime of our effort.

4. and that’s the way it is, on Chookooloonks from Karen Walrond. “Because any time I hear a story about someone doing something really challenging or difficult (and I’ve been listening to a lot of stories as I research my book), or indeed, when I reflect on past challenges of my own life, the truth is sometimes the only way to make it through is just to make it through. Sometimes life can get so overwhelming, that there’s nothing to do but take as deep a breath as you can, and focus on the next 60 seconds in front of you, and then the next, and so on. Just one baby step at a time. And with consistency, little by little, you suddenly realize that you’ve created some light.”

5. Christina Rasmussen: Life Reentry: Exiting the Waiting Room on the Sounds True podcast. “Filled with unique perspective and compassionate insight, this dialogue explores the place of uncertainty and stagnation known as ‘the waiting room’; the original self, and how we get disconnected from it; the impacts of an ‘us vs. them’ experience; how to identify your primary invisible loss; three inner narrators—the survivor, the watcher, and the thriver; reclaiming our forgotten ‘thriver memories’; the cost of seeking approval; saying yes to what you’ve always wanted to do; cleansing our patterns of fear; the practice of mental stacking; the Life Reentry model; reframing our experiences and taking action from our wisdom; why the place of death is also the place of creation; and more.”

6. A bowl of rice from Seth Godin.

7. When I Was Feeling Alone After My Father’s Death, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. In related news, Wild Sorrow: Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer on losing her son and finding her way forward on the Life Examined podcast.

8. Thousands of fireflies are thriving at a small marsh in Colorado.

9. This summer wisdom, from Morgan Harper Nichols:

10. No growing pains: the 20 houseplants that are hardest to kill.

11. 6 Slow-Living Habits to Help You Savor the Moments in Your Life.

12. Zoltan Kaszas – Honorary Jones (FULL SPECIAL) 2024. (video) “As the end of the world approaches, comedian Zoltan Kaszas reflects on his father figures, getting married, moving to New York and more in his brand new stand-up special.”

13. We asked, you answered: How do you stay cool without air conditioning?

14. Death on Shishapangma from Outside. “Two American women and two Sherpa guides perished while racing for a record. The tragedy illuminates how the recent rush to climb the world’s highest peaks is driving climbers onto dangerous mountains like never before.”

15. ‘I didn’t want to be swallowed up’: actor Josh Hartnett on swapping Hollywood for Hampshire. “On track for megastardom, the actor turned down the part of Superman (twice) and turned his back on Hollywood. Now living in rural Hampshire, he talks about choosing fulfilling projects, his hippie childhood, the perils of stalkers – and the fun of owning pygmy goats.” I know that so many people strive for it, but I think being “famous” or a “celebrity” or even just a social media influencer would be an AWFUL way to live.

16. White Women: Answer the Call 2024. (video) “Sunday night, 44,000 women gathered with Win with Black Women to support Kamala Harris, and they raised over $1 million.”

17. Goodbye from Britchida, who had to say so recently to her dog Elsa.

18. An Almanac of Birds: Divinations for Uncertain Days, a gorgeous project from Maria Popova.

19. Reading between the lines: the book club boom. “A desire for offline community and connection is fuelling a resurgence of interest in book clubs in the UK.”

20. Spatula love from Patti Digh.

21. Anti-Sex Beds, Swag Hauls: Follow These Olympians on TikTok for Award-Worthy BTS. “Olympians test out those cardboard beds and give us non-Olympians a look at (nearly) everything happening in the Paris Olympic Village.” In related news, What happens inside Olympic Villages? These athletes gave us a tour. “In interviews, Olympians compared athletes’ villages to summer camps, college dorms, crowded hotels and — in the words of one gold medalist — a ‘gigantic cruise ship.'” 

22. Joy is Underrated or Incorrectly Rated from Gurdeep Pandher. “Joy is more than just having fun or experiencing fleeting moments of pleasure. It’s a deep sense of well-being and tranquility that emerges when you feel content with your life and circumstances. It’s not about crafting a flawless world devoid of challenges—such a world doesn’t exist. Instead, joy is about finding and nurturing your own happiness amid life’s imperfections, embracing the highs and lows, and discovering meaning and satisfaction in the midst of life’s inevitable struggles and uncertainties.”

23. Prioritize Yourself: 10 Essential Reminders for Self-Care from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less. Also from Courtney, Slow Down and Thrive: 10 Ways to Hush the Rush in Your Daily Life.

24. Finding Hope (Through Civic Engagement), “A conversation with Democracy in Retrograde author Emily Amick.”

25. Frank Deschandol’s Photos Uncover the Some of the World’s Most Elusive Insects and Arthropods.

26. In Praise Of Not Knowing from Andrea Gibson. “The joy of choosing curiosity over certainty.”

27. “Parable of the Sower” Is Now, Says Gen Z. “Young people who have read Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel say it’s not only prescient, but also carries lessons for today.” I’m not sure why they had to frame this discussion as a Gen Z or young people thing, but okay.

28. Softening the Clenched Fist from Krista Tippett on The Pause. “Reflections from Plum Village on healing our world’s pain.”

29. Norah Jones: Tiny Desk Concert. (video) “‘I finally made it to Tiny Desk,” singer-songwriter Norah Jones excitedly declares during her performance. Her first Tiny Desk experience was a solo piano and vocal (home) concert, which reflected all the meditative, sonic hallmarks of performing in isolation. Since her juggernaut debut album, Come Away With Me, was released in 2002, she has crafted intimate songs that showcase her beguiling vocals…For her long-awaited in-person performance, Jones presents a light, breezy set of soulful tracks from her newest album, Visions, a collaboration with producer Leon Michels.” In related news, Feist: Tiny Desk Concert. (video) “There’s always been a disconnect between Leslie Feist’s music — soothing, thoughtful, deliberately crafted — and her warm, wryly funny personality. We got to witness both in her long-awaited Tiny Desk debut, which finds her showcasing new and old material amid self-effacing commentary on the pandemic, public speaking and her strange moment of reality-TV fame.”

30. 57 Deep Journal Prompts for Personal Growth & Self-Improvement.

31. How to Embrace the Glorious Mess of Everyday Life.

32. Heartwarming Stories of How Pets Help Us Heal. They also break your heart when they go. 💔

1. 200 Years of Solitude: Great Writers, Artists, and Scientists on the Creative and Spiritual Rewards of Fertile Aloneness. “There is a silence at the center of each person — an untrammeled space where the inner voice grows free to speak. That space expands in solitude. To create anything — a poem, a painting, a theorem — is to find the voice in the silence that has something to say to the world. In solitude, we may begin to hear in the silence the song of our own lives. ‘Give me solitude,’ Whitman howled, ‘give me again O Nature your primal sanities!’ Gathered here are some of my favorite voices in praise of solitude, of its ample creative and spiritual rewards, its primal sanities.”

2. The bid to ensure that no one dies alone. “A nurse who trains compassionate citizens to provide company for people in the last hours of their lives is expanding into tackling social isolation too.”

3. ‘It comes for your very soul’: how Alzheimer’s undid my dazzling, creative wife in her 40s. “By the time my wife got a diagnosis, her long and harrowing deterioration had already begun. By the end, I was in awe of her.”

4. Ada Limón on the Comfort of Eternity.

5. Wisdom from Tennessee Williams: “The world is violent and mercurial — it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love — love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”

6. Wisdom from Howard Zinn: “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

7. I Was A Creative Force Behind One Of The Biggest Rock Bands Of The ’90s. Then I Watched Them Erase Me From Their Story.

8. Guy Walks Hundreds Of Miles To Help Unhoused People Feed Their Dogs on The Dodo. (video) “…and he just adopted a pittie off the street who rides around on his bike now!”

9. Colorado rattlesnake “mega den” gaining national attention via webcam for citizen science. “Biology professor says den near Fort Collins is home to as many as 2,000 rattlesnakes at a time.” AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

10. ‘I’ve lived in an incredible time’: Comic Bob Newhart dies at 94. In related news on The New York Times (gift link), Bob Newhart, 94, Dies; Soft-Spoken Everyman Became a Comedy Star. The Bob Newhart Show is one of the only comedies I’ve been able to rewatch and not cringe. It totally holds up.

11. The Making of a Wildlife Haven from My Wildlife Gallery and Robert E Fuller. (video)

12. Two gorgeous poems from John Roedel: I used to hate the wind and You are somebody’s front porch to God.

13. $12 window, a thread that is so worth reading.

14. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön: “Although it is embarrassing and painful, it is very healing to stop hiding from yourself. It is healing to know all the ways that you’re sneaky, all the ways that you hide out, all the ways that you shut down, deny, close off, criticize people, all your weird little ways. You can know all that with some sense of humor and kindness. By knowing yourself, you’re coming to know humanness altogether. We are all up against these things. We are all in this together.”

15. Bullies from Seth Godin.

16. Maggie Smith: A Conversation on Self-Trust and Transformation. “Maggie talked about how she’s learned to trust her intuition, even when it tells her things she doesn’t want to hear, which is also my experience. We discussed how her divorce was the most emotionally painful experience she’s faced, and how she’s navigating through it to find some peace. I was impressed that no matter how much pain she is in, Maggie is able to find joy in everyday moments, like a beautiful sunrise or a funny moment with her kids. I am personally working on that myself too. If you haven’t read Maggie’s book, “You Could Make This Place Beautiful.” It’s a profound and moving read that I highly recommend. Listen to the episode or watch the video to hear more about Maggie’s journey, her insights on life, and the wisdom she has to offer.”

17. Writing on Empty, Natalie Goldberg on Upaya Zen Center’s podcast, “best selling author of Writing Down the Bones and fifteen other celebrated works, discusses and reads a selection from her newest publication, Writing on Empty: A Guide to Finding Your Voice, a book about writer’s block, mortality, and Zen. She explores her relationship with her late teacher, Katagiri Roshi, her visit to Leonard Cohen’s grave, and her experience as a Zen practitioner in Judaism. Natalie reminds us that the more we practice, whether it’s meditation or writing, the more we become who we are.”

18. Macro Photographer Reveals ‘Unseen World’ of Household Objects.

19. Teach the Ordinary. In related news, Modest Pleasures.

20. The Peach Caretaker, “The hidden history of the Navajo peach trees and the woman resurfacing it.”

21. How Not to Write About Whales, “12 tropes to avoid when writing about whales.”

22. Hope is a practice, Hugh Hollowell’s most recent Life Is So Beautiful newsletter. “This week I’m doing something different. I’m sharing items from my own personal toolkit that I use to reinforce hope inside me when I feel it flagging…you will find a few quotes and poems that move me, that are reminders of the world I want to live in, that are, to refer to the paragraph from Active Hope, reminders of the direction in which I want things to move. I hope they are useful to you – they have been lifesaving to me.”

23. Hey, I’m proud of us from Ijeoma Oluo. “We’re likely all going through a lot right now, and I’m so proud of us all for hanging in there and fighting for ourselves and each other in so many ways. These are skills we’re going to need in the coming months and years.”

24. I dropped out of high school due to ADHD and depression. Public libraries saved my life—and now I’m getting my master’s degree. “Nancy Dutra found refuge in local libraries, self-teaching her way to a GED, a bachelor’s degree and now graduate school.”

25. Want to be a better ally to disabled people? Here’s how. In related news, You May Not Notice My Disability.

26. 10 Clear Signs You’re Actually An Introvert. No surprises here. 

27. Ditch These 5 Unhealthy Habits.

28. Compassion Is Key to Our Survival. “From an evolutionary standpoint, ‘survival of the kindest’ is no exaggeration. When we respond with kindness in the face of suffering — including our own — we’re affirming the reality that our lives and well-being are all interconnected.”

29. Election anxiety levels through the roof? Strategies to deal with election-induced anxiety. Anyone else feeling this? Just me?

30. How to care about the world and not forget to care for yourself.