WIRED’s Robbie Gonzalez learned to solve a Rubik’s cube from Tyson Mao, one of the co-founders of the World Cube Association. In two weeks, Robbie got his solve time down from 45 minutes with Tyson, to 20 minutes on his own, to under a minute on average. Learn his 8-step method here.

I LOVE these short videos.  There’s so many different types from how to tie your scarf, wearing your shirts in different ways and of course, tying your shoe laces.  I’ve done a few of these new shoelace styles and they always draw a comment from people who look down and see my shoes.  If you don’t have coloured or glitzy shoe laces, don’t worry.  I use my normal white laces.  They add a certain bit of frivolity to your shoe and of course, keeps your brain active from testing it because it goes against what you would normally do.

Start with this video but there’s a whole heap more online.

This week when I was cleaning out our games cupboard, I came across over a dozen different decks of cards that we had collecting dust.  These cards were a blast from the past because they had companies that had long since gone out of business such as Pan Am and Australian Airlines.  (The cynic in me also noted some Qantas cards in there but I do hope Qantas survives this corona virus shut down…I still have heaps of international travel in the future and that’s my airline of choice for travel).

I took out a deck and flashed up YouTube and taught myself a couple of solitaire games because many times, I just need to get off the phone and focus my attention elsewhere.  A deck of cards is the perfect distraction.

Here’s an article on the 13 Best Single Player Card games and of course, there’s a multitude of YouTube shows teaching you the rules as well.

Martin Parr is inviting everyone to be part of a 30 Day photography challenge where every day, a topic is shared. You are invited to take a photo and share the hashtag #Martinparrphotochallengeone…two…etc.

He shares the daily challenges on his Instagram stories and then judges and shares these.  It’s a good way to build a new community of people as well as notice the world (your home now) around you and improve your photography skills.

Back in the old days, people used to play parlour games. These were games played indoors during the Victorian (and earlier) times when there was no internet, movies or technology to entertain themselves – they had to find ways to amuse themselves.  I was reminded on one parlour game we used to play when I was in the Navy called Where Art Thou Moriarty! 

At the time, the concept was really weird.  Two people blindfolded lie on the floor, hands bound together and then they yell, “Where Art Thou Moriarty?” and then try to whack the other person with some rolled up newspaper.  The aim is to hit the other person as many times as possible.  Like I said, weird and I don’t think this particular game would be well suited for this time and age – after all, where are you going to find a newspaper?  However, it made me explore the idea of what other parlour games there were.

Here’s a star with 14 Parlour Games to Bring Back.