There are few things more alienating than being in a relationship with someone who won’t speak to you. The constant stonewalling can feel maddening; when someone gives you the silent treatment, it’s easy for your mind to run amok, racing through frantic thoughts about what you did wrong.
vendredi 30 avril 2021
The paint that adorns my living room walls is a light yellow hue known as “Lemon Ice.” It works perfectly with my decor and is a huge a step up from the marigold color that was there when I moved in. In the years since I painted, I’ve kept the leftover paint in my closet to use to touch up tiny scuffs and scrapes and…
It’s time to bust a gym myth. I remember being taught, explicitly, as if it were a fact that my life might someday depend on, that you should never strength train the same muscle two days in a row. There is, it turns out, no such law of nature. You can train whatever you want, whenever you want.
Asparagus is a spring icon. It is green, it is fresh, and it is bitter, sweet, and slightly grassy all at once. Really good, seasonal asparagus does not need much cooking. In fact, too much heat can wreck its more delicate qualities.
When it comes to hanging things on your walls, adhesives can only do so much. If you need to securely display framed artwork or install wall-mounted shelves, you’ll probably have to do a little drilling. Here’s how to do it as safely as possible.
Spotify is overhauling the “Your Library” section of its mobile app with a new layout, better search filters, and shortcut options that should make sifting through your ever-expanding Spotify collection a lot less tedious.
Apple is all about the three Ss these days: subscriptions, services, and saturation (for its new iMacs, at least). And while you can hardly blame the company for wanting to diversify its revenue, it can sometimes feel like there’s just a lot to buy from Apple—with a recurring monthly payment, that is. However, you…
The COVID vaccines are notorious for causing fatigue, sore arms, and sometimes headachy or feverish reactions. So if you have a vaccine appointment coming up, should you plan on skipping a workout or two? Maybe, but ultimately you’ll have to play it by ear.
Even when you think you’ve got a handle on grammar, you might not realize how easy it is easy to unwittingly venture into lexical territory that would rile your freshman year English teacher. Certainly back in my college days, I had a few teacher’s assistants who would get on my case for using the passive voice.
We are so lucky to have popsicles. Not only are they delicious, they offer respite from sweltering heat, and make a fantastic base for Frosé. But alcohol is unfriendly to ice crystal formation, and making one of those trendy pink slushies requires at least two pops. But you don’t have to make a slushy; a popsicle can…
Amtrak has been putting out some pretty good deals lately, but this one has the best value: As part of a 50th anniversary celebration, Coach and Acela Business class fares are currently 50% off the regular price for select routes across the country. The deal also includes $50 flat fares between major cities, provided…
Having multiple displays is a great productivity boost when you’re streaming, editing, or trying to distract yourself with a show in the background while grinding away in your favorite online game. It’s too bad Windows 10 makes them a chore to use.
Today, chamomile is most commonly known as a caffeine-free herbal tea. It comes from the Asteraceae family of plants, and is heralded for its soothing and digestive properties, and many people nowadays do find the herb an effective sleep aid.
In the past, the herbal flower was used to treat rheumatic pain, menstrual…
As adults, we understand the nuanced differences between a surprise, a secret, and something that is private. But for kids, these concepts can blur and overlap—and unfortunately, that is a fact child predators take advantage of. That’s why it’s important to help define what each concept is and when it’s okay—or not…
Ever had a coworker you wanted to take from the boardroom to the bedroom? Of course you have. Office romances are the juiciest of forbidden tropes: You want to sleep with your colleague even more because you know you’re not supposed to.
Before you had kids, your car was probably in decent condition. After you had kids, every surface in your car had the potential to turn into a sticky, glittery, crumb-covered mess. But with a little cleverness and some effort, you can help keep your kids occupied in the car without the mess.
Fake meat has come a long way in recent years—unless you don’t want a vegan burger that “tastes like beef,” in which case, basically nothing has changed. That’s a shame, because good veggie burgers kick ass. Flavor-wise, they’re more interesting and versatile than ground beef (real or plant-based) and they’re dirt…
Little kids have this way of being brutally honest in all facets of their life (that is, when they’re not telling an obvious lie about eating all the cupcakes, even as their face is smeared with icing). Many young children prize honesty and, when they’re still too young to understand how their words might hurt,…
I got a grab bag of kid-internet for you this week, including a president who isn’t completely embarrassing, a podcaster who is, the most heartwarming kick-in-the-balls that has ever been recorded, and an epic Josh battle.
After a year without vacations, some people are a little rusty at booking travel, and scammers are taking full advantage. The Better Business Bureau has reported a spike in the number of people being scammed by fully functional, legit-looking travel booking sites that are actually fake—honey traps looking to steal…
Every Windows PC would benefit from a spring cleaning. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be spring. If you can’t remember the last time you saved all your critical data, wiped your drive, and reinstalled a fresh copy of the operating system, you’re due.
jeudi 29 avril 2021
Bookshelves have become the official unofficial backdrop for Zoom presentations. I can’t count the number of meetings where I’ve seen the speaker sitting in front of a wall of books, all strategically placed, and it makes sense: Nice-looking bookcases look professional. Elegant, even. They show off a sense of…
Social media is full of gym selfies showing people beaming sweatily after a good workout. It’s also full of people complaining about gym selfies. Are those who take them self-obsessed? Attention starved? Negatively affecting how you, as a viewer, feel about your body? Should everyone stop taking them?
Most every resume template includes a spot for your home address, but do you really need to include it? If you’re a privacy hawk, you might chafe at doing so, and not only because prospective employers are highly unlikely to choose to contact you via snail mail: Including your address on something as public as a CV…
Google is updating Google Assistant with better contextual learning features that should make the digital helper more accurate. One of the changes is the ability to teach Google Assistant how to properly pronounce names—after a little bit of self-started voice training.
If you’re a federal student loan borrower in a cash crunch, consider asking for a refund if you made extra payments after March 13, 2020, when the CARES Act student loan payment moratorium was put in place. The only trade-off is that you’ll set yourself back on paying off your loan, but that might be worth it if your…
“Share ETA” is one of the best features to come from iOS 13—if you and your friends are Apple Maps users, that is. And once you’ve updated to iOS 14.5, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, you’ll be able to send ETAs to friends when you’re cycling or walking, too. Take that, cars.
It is not properly hot out yet, but once that happens, three things will become true: I will start to hate using my oven. I will want to invite people to my yard to enjoy a meal al fresco. I will grow increasingly lazy. None of these three things is in direct conflict with the other two, but their co-existence does…
So much of parenting is about the long game. We may be raising children, but we’re really raising adults—people who, in a surprisingly short amount of time, will be off on their own, living their own lives. And how we parent them as kids will at least partially impact the type of adults they’ll grow up to be and the…
“Proper” English is full of stumbling blocks, and chief among them is the sentence that ends in a preposition. For example, this question: Are sentences that end in prepositions really something to be wary of?
Strava’s heatmap isn’t new, but it wasn’t until recently that I really looked at it. This interactive tool shows where Strava users run, bike, swim, kayak, ski and snowshoe—and you can separate those activities as you browse the map. Want to look for secret swimming holes? Check which high schools have a track that’s…
Coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages are good for the taste alone, but sometimes you might be thinking about their caffeine content more than the flavor. Whether you’re under pressure to meet a deadline or just dragging a bit on a Monday morning, there are ways you can maximize the effects of caffeine to help…
People all over the country (and the world) have found new creative ways to vacation the past 13 months—the most popular being stateside road trips or weekend getaways just hours from home. Short road trips were our way of still taking a vacation during the worst of the pandemic, but we might consider taking longer…
As the human of a smart, quirky herding dog, I’ve had to learn a few hard lessons about the importance of boundaries. If my pup isn’t given a job, for example, he’ll find one himself. And if anyone (especially a stranger) violates his personal space, he gets nippy. We’ve had to create a lot of structure to keep him…
Remapping a video game’s buttons is an important feature that can make gaming sessions more comfortable, make you a better gamer, and open the experience to new players. Unfortunately, not all games support customizable controls, and some only offer a limited range of options. And even if a game does offer robust…
Garlic powder gets no respect. Sure, the aroma and taste of fresh garlic is hard to beat, but in some situations, the dried stuff doesn’t just measure up, it flat-out wins. If you need a garlicky vinaigrette, marinade, or dip to taste great for longer than 24 hours, powdered or granulated garlic is the way to go.
Before they have kids, everyone has a different image in their head of the type of parent they think they’ll be. Maybe you’ll be a free-range parent, or the parent who prioritizes family dinnertime above all else. Or—better yet!—you’ll be the fun parent, the parent every other kid wishes they could have. But then you…
A recent LendingTree report suggests that it’s an opportune time to ask your credit card lender to lower your interest rate, cancel a late fee, or waive an annual fee, noting the success rate for such requests has been over 80%. All you have to do is pick up a phone and ask—and knowing what to say helps too. Here are…
A few evenings ago I scrolled upon a video of a woman yelling about a potato. I still don’t know who that woman was, but the points she made in her video are absolutely correct, the main one being that potatoes are always good and normal thing to eat. Since then, I have been craving potatoes, and last night I ate…
mercredi 28 avril 2021
For about 10 years, I trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu three times a week—a consistent level, if one you’d still consider recreational. Sure, there were times when an injury or work got in the way, but for the most part I found myself tussling with other weekend warriors on a regular basis.
Apple finally released its much-anticipated App Tracking Transparency feature with the launch of iOS 14.5, and it’s incredibly helpful if you want some fine-grain control over which apps can track other aspects of your digital activity. That’s assuming, of course, the feature isn’t grayed out for you.
Windows users with Nvidia graphics cards should update their display drivers immediately to patch several problematic (and potentially crash-inducing) bugs.
Nvidia’s recent security bulletin outlines thirteen major vulnerabilities; five affect Nvidia’s display drivers and eight are found in Nvidia’s vGPU software. …
It’s better to keep your shower clean than to wait until you can’t ignore the mess anymore, but that doesn’t make sticking to a regular cleaning schedule any easier. Whether you like to clean as you go or just want an easier way to scrub down the walls, consider keeping a dish wand—you know, the kind where you fill…
Moving to a new apartment or home is an exciting time. You’ve been hunting for months (or even years) and have finally found the perfect place to settle down. But before you start nesting, there are a few housekeeping matters to take care of. Most people know to change the locks or locate the breakers in a new place.…
I remember the feeling when one of my Instagram posts received a couple hundred likes: “This is my career now—I’m an influencer.” Sadly, I have yet to reach those dizzying heights again, not that it matters: A few viral posts do not a full-time influencer career make. To really earn money from social media, an…
You should regularly take a moment to check on your iPhone’s battery life. And given how easy Apple made it starting in iOS 11.3, we really have no excuse. All you have to do is hit Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and you’ll be able to see the maximum capacity of your iPhone’s battery, ensure “Optimized Battery…
There are certain things you’d like to “hone” and there are things you’d like to “home in on,” but these things are not the same. However, it’s one of those pairs of words and phrases that sound so similar and have similar meanings (like further and farther or then and than) that it’s easy to mix them up. But in an…
Apple recently unveiled its M1 iMac models for 2021. The new desktop computers come in a variety of joyful hues: blue, green, orange, pink, purple, yellow, and classic Mac silver. While the available color options differ between the new iMac’s various hardware configurations, they all have one thing in common: white…
This time of year, the sky provides welcome visual treats for mere mortals on the ground. You might already be thirsting for the next big thing in the cosmos, considering the Lyrids have already come and gone this month, and the pink Super Moon has already waned into a less stunning phase.
It seems that no matter where I buy my garlic, at least half of my haul is always on the verge of sprouting. As the germ (the little sprout thing in the middle) ages and turns green, it becomes bitter, and while I am capable of removing it, it’s an extra step I like to avoid. Luckily, freezing your garlic stops the…