Buying a bottle of liquor for someone when you don’t know much about that particular alcohol ranks just slightly below public speaking on the pressure scale. Liquor is a combination of history, chemistry, and culture, and the result is a baffling ar…
Lees meerThere are plenty of reasons to buy shoes at your local running store instead of online or at a big box store, including a more knowledgeable staff and the fact that you’re supporting your local running community. But another biggie is the fact that …
Lees meerWhile 401(k)s plans are often seen as “set it and forget it” investment accounts, they’re not always guaranteed to cover all of the costs of retirement. With contribution restrictions, fees, taxes, and mandatory withdrawals, 401(k)s do have their li…
Lees meerWhile certain aspects of pandemic air travel—like wearing masks onboard the plane when you’re not eating or drinking—are still very much in effect, others are slowly transitioning back to their pre-COVID iterations. Take in-flight meal service, for …
Lees meerI come not to damn Eternals (as I haven’t seen it yet), but the mixed reviews so far suggest that it could well be the film that dulls our collective love affair with Marvel movies. We’ll see: Chloé Zhao is as good a director as superhero movies are…
Lees meerThe ever-increasing number of devices in our homes may have you worried about your overall energy consumption. While there is no perfect solution or one-size-fits all approach to reducing your energy use, if you have a tool like a Google Home Hub, y…
Lees meerDespite approaching five years in the gaming marketplace, the Nintendo Switch remains in hot demand. The three models—the original design, the Switch Lite, and the OLED Switch—are selling off shelves, the latter of which appears sold out all the tim…
Lees meerExchanging gifts should be the most enjoyable part of the holidays, but anyone who’s gotten roped into a shitshow of a “Secret Santa” gift exchange knows better. Even a well-intentioned gift swap can easily turn into the kind of stressful, tedious, …
Lees meerThe fifth of November is Britain’s Guy Fawkes Day—a national holiday that memorializes a revolutionary group’s plot to blow up Parliament and bring down the government. But who was Guy Fawkes? And why is there a day in his honor? Let’s explore.Read …
Lees meerYou usually want a response when asking your Google Home device a question. When you issue a command, however—say, telling your Google Assistant to turn on the lights—you don’t really need a vocalized answer. If you find it distracting when your Goo…
Lees meerDogs often crave a sense of purpose when they’re spending time with us as we putter around the yard or garage. If you have a helpful hound who prefers to stay within a few steps of you at all times, you can give your best bud a helpful (and adorable…
Lees meerDiwali, a five-day-long “festival of lights” that celebrates the triumph of good over evil, began today. The holiday emerged from the Hindu religion, but has become a cultural event around the world. And who couldn’t use a little triumph over evil?R…
Lees meerYou probably get more emails per day than ever before—nuggets of important information buried among an ever-increasing pile of junk. There are newsletters you don’t remember signing up for and store promotions you definitely didn’t sign up for mixed…
Lees meerLet’s say you’re so sick of your job that you’re ready to quit without another one lined up. To survive, you’ll need some money to cover expenses, of course—but how much is that exactly? Read more...
Lees meerIf you’re planning on buying a home in the next few years, you might consider parking your down payment in a First-Time Home Buyer Savings Account (FHSA). A few states currently sponsor FHSAs, and they’re different from basic savings accounts in th…
Lees meerNotability created some drama for itself this week when it announced that it would switch all users over to a subscription-based payment system—including those who had already paid for the app. While the app quickly reversed course (likely because t…
Lees meerPlunking a scraped and spent vanilla bean into an aliquot of alcohol is a good idea. (Those beans are expensive, and you might as well eek out that last bit of flavor.) Buying whole, pricey pods for the express purpose of making your own extract, ho…
Lees meerIf you use Waze to navigate, you don’t need to play that “should I stop for gas or shouldn’t I” game as you watch your tank drain to empty. Waze uses crowdsourcing to show prices at gas stations along your route, so you can select the cheapest optio…
Lees meerThere are days lately when it feels like we’ve had enough history, thanks very much. That it would be nice if history could slow down for just a moment to let us catch our breaths, that it’s hard enough to keep up with the day-to-day news without al…
Lees meerA recent study reveals that people spend an average of $276 every month on impulse purchases—and that most people are happy with what they buy. Considering how common it is, the question isn’t necessarily whether you should stop splurging, but rathe…
Lees meerThe Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was officially recommended by the CDC last night, but the pharmacy websites I checked then weren’t ready to offer kids’ appointments yet. By the time I woke up this morning, the soonest appointment I could get was for ne…
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