The first time you hear it, the noise can be jarring. Seemingly out of nowhere, it sounds like a helicopter is landing on your roof, or a freight train is about to come barreling through your wall and into your home. The room—and its contents—may shake the way they would during a minor earthquake.
Gardens come in all shapes, sizes, and locations—including growing out of boxes attached to windows. And while window boxes may not seem like gardens in the traditional sense, think of them as mini versions, where you can grow everything from herbs and small vegetables, to flowers.
No one expects a dog to smell good (unless you’re a big fan of the aroma of corn chips). But sometimes, they can really stink. And no, we’re not talking about a little post-cheese flatulence, or the odor that results from their dip in ditch water: We mean an unpleasant smell that lets you know something is off.
Windows 11 makes a big deal about having an account password, and for good reason. If you’re on a shared computer, or if you’re using a laptop, it’s always best to protect your data with a password of some kind. If you’re using a desktop in your own bedroom, though, repeatedly typing in your password can become…
If you ever need to keep tabs on small changes to a website, Visual Ping can help. Visual Ping is a website and browser extension that tracks websites for just about any text, visual, and formatting change you specify. In a way, it’s like using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, only in real time.
This week’s trip into the strange corners of culture inhabited by young people is all about different kinds of danger! There’s the danger of talking to strangers online, the danger of going on first dates, and the danger of pursuing scientific achievement. But let’s begin with the danger of tweeting something weird.
Sometimes, we make colossally bad decisions that mess up our lives for a period of time. We stay too long in the wrong job or a toxic relationship. We hang out with the wrong people, or make a risky investment that doesn’t pan out. There are times when our mistakes and failures can be traced back to a specific…
“Breakfast in bed” is an enchanting concept—and is traditionally considered the proper way to serve breakfast to a mom on Mother’s Day—but runny egg yolks, pools of syrup, and cutlery of any kind add a certain amount of stress and awkwardness to something that should be relaxing. And relaxation on Mother’s Day, more…
I don’t care how cynical you are, you will be delighted at the sight of butterflies in your garden or backyard. Not only are these colorful insects beautiful, they pollinate plants, attract birds, inspire Mariah Carey, and provide us with an overused metaphor for transformation.
It’s been less than two weeks, and we’re already talking about another critical Chrome update. To be honest, though, good on Google for staying on top of these things: Sometimes, we find out a company sat on critical security vulnerabilities for months without issuing a new update. At least here, we have a good chance…
Ah, the toilet. An invention so perfect we haven’t made any substantial updates to it in the five centuries or so since its introduction. The flush toilet you’re using today is essentially the same design introduced by Sir John Harrington in the 16th century—it relies on a water supply and gravity, and uses a…
Something cool is happening this weekend: Venus and Jupiter will look really close in the sky, almost appearing to touch each other, even though they’re millions of miles apart. They’ll appear their very closest on Saturday, April 30, around 3 p.m. ET. This is known as a “conjunction,” and while the experts at …
I first saw this valuable life hack on TikTok: Search “Mario Run” on YouTube when you need to keep your kid busy for a while. I did, but I wasn’t sure if the resulting videos would actually hold a kid’s attention. So I proposed to my kindergarten-age daughter that she try out a few. Her eyes widened when she saw the…
I am old enough to remember when sun-dried tomatoes first fell out of fashion. They were everywhere: in savory pastries, grilled chicken pasta dishes, mashed into cheese spreads, and then—suddenly—they were gone, gauche, unwelcome.
If you like the idea of a bountiful garden, but you’re less keen on all the watering, fertilizing, and care it entails, I have a gardening philosophy to share with you: It’s called “benign neglect.” The idea is to create conditions favorable for plants native to an area, and just let them do their thing while you sit…
Your wedding is already going to include a toast, so why not also include a toke? According to a recent survey from The Knot, 93% of people serve alcohol at their wedding, with the average couple spending $2,300 to stock the bar with beer, wine, and liquor. If all of those people are going to hit the sauce on the day…
Ah, confidence. That elusive, intangible thing we all know we need to get the jobs, attract the people, achieve the goals, and make the money. The thing that can take years or even decades to develop, a string of good decisions and positive outcomes to maintain, and awhile to regain once it’s been shaken.
Colons and semicolons are the indie rock of punctuation marks. They’re not mainstream-popular like the period. They aren’t obvious and eager-to-please like the exclamation mark. They’re not everywhere like the comma. But the colon and the semicolon have passion. They’re quirky, snobby, and sometimes prickly. These…
Do you look longingly at those wide, cushioned first-class seats when you board a plane? Us, too. Unfortunately, most of us most commonly fly in coach/economy class, which isn’t exactly the lap of luxury. So we recently asked Lifehacker readers for their best tips for flying both comfortably and cheaply in tight…
“It doesn’t really fry anything.” How many times have we air-fryer-devotees had to listen to those words? How many times have we, with our hands ripping hair from our scalps, had to beg someone to look past the name, and approach the appliance with an open mind? Seemingly mentally strong men—men who are famous for…
Spring cleaning can take many different forms. Sorting through the closet and donating the clothes you never wear. Going through the cabinets and throwing out spices that expired during the Clinton administration. Poring over your credit card bill and realizing you are subscribed to so many streaming services, you’re…
Blizzard is launching a closed beta for Overwatch 2's PvP multiplayer today. The beta marks the first time most of the Overwatch community will have a shot at sampling the new PvP gameplay, following the game’s closed alpha test. However, in order to join the beta, you’ll either need to sign up or earn your spot.…
If you’re getting ready to grow vegetables this year—or if you just want the most robust flowers you can get—you may want to give companion planting a try. Companion planting takes advantage of the natural properties of various plants to complement and support each other. Companion planting can help you grow better,…
Last week, Mastodon finally launched its free, official Android app, making it easier than ever to use the open-source Twitter alternative on Android devices. Mastodon’s timing couldn’t be better, as Twitter’s board just approved Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to buy Twitter.
The sudden impending buyout has split the…
A deep-dish, homemade fruit pie is a deal maker. It’s a great housewarming gift, an acceptable apology, and a good way to make friends. A hefty slice sporting a thick layer of cherry filling (or blueberry, depending on your fruit love language) can make anyone reconsider whether they’re actually “too full for dessert.”
If killing houseplants was a crime, I’d be on death row—my past is littered with the corpses of philodendron, ferns, and spider plants. I’ve made every mistake possible, from watering them too much, to burning them with too much light, to salting their soil through over fertilizing.
Toothpaste isn’t just for your chompers anymore. As it turns out, this medicine cabinet staple is good for much more than preventing cavities, freshening breath, and shining up those pearly whites.
Learning or teaching a new board game can be equal parts challenging and maddening. Either you’re the one trying to explain the rules to an apathetic crowd, or you’re being “taught” and are expected to pick up every minute detail from a monotone lecturer. If you’re sick of every game night starting the same way,…
Ah, the kitchen—a room so vital to modern life it’s become a fraught battleground. Easily the most expensive renovation you’ll ever oversee, an average “midrange” kitchen remodel costs about $76,000, according to Remodeling Magazine. That cost and stress imbues every design decision with heavy emotion and dread, which…
Decks can be a popular addition that allows you to better enjoy your outdoor space—and to increase the value of your home. But when it comes time to choose between composite, hard wood, and even hybrid, there are several factors to consider, including cost, durability, and aesthetic.
The modern world is largely safe from the primitives dangers that plagued our ancestors—wild animal attacks are rare; few of us will ever step off a cliff and die because glasses haven’t been invented. This doesn’t mean death and danger have been vanquished. We’ve just forced them into forms that are so new to us as…
Nigella Lawson’s Molten Chocolate Babycakes set me down the path. In fact, it’s only slightly hyperbolic to say her book, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, made me the food writer I am today. Nigella’s writing is and has always been warm and just sensual enough—in a world of didactic, “optimized” food writing and recipes,…
Mulch can serve a variety of purposes in a landscaped yard, from helping plants stay hydrated, to keeping weeds away. But if you live somewhere windy, it can also blow away. Even if you don’t live somewhere where it’s blustery on a regular basis, a storm with strong winds can undo hours of hard work.
When someone has road rage, everyone loses—including their fellow drivers. It can be distressing seeing (and possibly hearing) someone get so angry, not knowing how far they’ll take it.
Let’s say you walk outside one morning only to find that it appears as though someone—or something—has been digging holes, searching for buried treasure (albeit a relatively small one) in your yard. You’d probably want to get to the bottom of it.
Although we know that human bodies—including our own—can be gross at times, we’d prefer not to be reminded of it. So when you’re changing your sheets and see that your once-perfectly-white pillows are now covered in a web of yellow and brown-ish stains, it can be unsettling.
Though it’s not difficult to find distilled water in stores, if you find yourself in a situation where you need (or want) to make it at home, you can do so pretty easily. The good news is that you don’t need any fancy equipment to get the job done. The bad news is that it takes some time. Here’s what to know.
Whether you’ve gotten into houseplants during the pandemic, or have long been a fan of their ability to liven up your living space, you’ve probably amassed quite a collection of pots and other containers for your favorite foliage. Unfortunately, at some point, most people will run out of space on their windowsills,…
Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel The Time-Traveler’s Wife was a book that seemed aimed particularly at me. It’s set in Chicago, where I was living when it came out, and I enjoyed following along as the characters rode my busses and ate at my favorite brunch spot. It’s a closed-loop time travel story, which is the best…
If you use Google Messages on Android, it might be silently stealing away battery life from your phone. And while Google has fixed the issue, the patch might not hit your device for some time. Until then, there are steps you can take to stop the app from putting an unnecessary drain on your battery.
Gardening is often pitched as a relaxing, therapeutic activity—and it is relaxing and therapeutic! But it’s also a sign of how advanced society has become that we can regard growing food as a charming hobby instead of an absolute necessity. On the one hand, that’s a clear sign of mankind’s mastery over the world. On…
This week, the young people are trying to capture the coastal grandmother lifestyle, they are explaining slang to their elders, and they are going to Coachella.
Every time I feel a new season roll in, I think to myself, “It’s pie season!” Summer? Yes. Winter? Yes. Spring? Let’s have pie! Now that spring is here, we’ll start seeing plenty of strawberries, rhubarb, apricots, and cherries grace our grocery stores and farmer’s markets. All of these gorgeous offerings can benefit…
As the weather gets warmer and you start dragging your lawn and garden equipment out of the garage or basement and into your yard, you may notice that not everything made it through the winter unscathed. For example, you might connect your trusty garden hose to the outdoor waterline only to find that it has sprung a…
It is spring, which means it is the time of year that my husband and I thought maybe we would move into a larger home. It’s actually the third spring we have thought that—the first being right when the pandemic hit, the second being once we were finally vaccinated and ready to start looking but the housing market did…
Many gardeners like to use raised beds to grow their bounty—they create a lovely border, limit weeds, and are easier on your back—but they can also be quite costly to fill, especially if they’re more than a foot high. You don’t need to buy several bags of soil to get good quality, nutrient-rich material for your…
Maybe you’ve hit a career rut, or you need one-on-one guidance to overcome a personal struggle—whatever it is, self-help books aren’t cutting it. Asking for help can be the key to getting ahead. But who exactly should you turn to? If you’ve started your search for guidance, you’ve probably seen three different titles…
Even though I started this stretching challenge with the idea of finding out whether I could become more flexible, I have to admit that I was kind of secretly hoping it would not work. After all, if it doesn’t work, that means I can quit guilt-free.
