You Don’t Even Realize These Products Have Lifetime Warranties

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Companies use a wide variety of techniques to convince us to buy their wares, and one of the most confusing is often the warranty—basically a guarantee that a product will work as advertised for a specific period of time. While paying extra for an “extended” warranty is often a waste of money, and warranties can actually restrict how we use something we own, when something goes wrong and we get a product repaired or replaced at no cost, it can be a magical experience.

Most of us don’t think too much about warranties, though, because we suspect companies wouldn’t offer them unless they had good reason to believe most of us won’t ever use them. So it might surprise you to learn that a wide range of products actually come with built-in, automatic lifetime warranties. In other words, you might already own stuff that is backed by a true lifetime warranty and not even know it—which could save you serious cash and trouble if they ever break down.

What is a “lifetime warranty”?

First, a quick dive into what a “lifetime warranty” is and isn’t. The word “lifetime” has no specific, legal meaning—it can mean anything the manufacturer wants as long as they explain it clearly in the small print. Typically, it refers to the life of the product, not your life—but even so, many companies have a specific definition of what a product lifetime actually is, and usually throw in additional restrictions—like defining what “normal use” means. In some cases, “lifetime” warranties are limited to just a few years, because that’s what the company sees as the useful lifetime of the product. As a result, the vast majority of “lifetime” warranties are actually pretty limited and not lifetime at all. Most warranties also stipulate that they don’t cover “wear and tear,” i.e., the normal use of the product—they only cover manufacturing defects.

But a short list of products have true lifetime warranties—if you own one of these products, you’re pretty set for (actual) life.

Products with true lifetime warranties

Here’s a list of things you might already own that are backed by a real lifetime warranty—meaning you can get your product replaced or repaired no matter how old it is, and for any reason.

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• Cutco knives. Own a knife from Cutco? No matter how long you’ve owned that knife, they’ll replace or repair it at no charge as long as the damage doesn’t stem from “unconventional use”—and even if you did break your knife trying to pick a lock or something, they’ll still replace it at half-cost. They also offer free sharpening for the lifetime of your knife.
• Zippo Windproof Lighters. Zippo will repair or replace a Windproof Lighter, no questions asked, whether its “5 years, 25 years, or 50 years old.” Note that this only applies to the Windproof model—other lighters have separate warranties.
• Briggs and Riley luggage. The company will repair your luggage to the best of its ability, no questions asked, forever. They don’t even require that you prove you bought the luggage. The only stipulation is that if your luggage is so old it’s been discontinued, they might have to use materials that don’t match the original.
• Craftsman and Stanley tools. Stanley offers a true lifetime warranty on its mechanics tools, and Craftsman offers one for its hand tools, most mechanics tools, and a selection of other tools. This means they’ll replace any of those tools at any time without even asking for proof of purchase. Other tools typically have a limited “lifetime” warranty, so be sure to check before assuming you can mail those rusty wrenches back for a fresh set.
• Darn Tough and Feetures socks. Darn Tough will replace your socks if they’re not “the longest-lasting socks you’ve ever owned,” which is a pretty broad requirement. They don’t require proof of purchase—just wash them, mail ‘em back, and get a new pair at any time. Similarly, Feetures will replace any pair of socks that wear out.
• Osprey packs. If you own a backpack from Osprey, they will repair it or replace it for free at any time—no questions asked.
• Patagonia. Unsurprisingly for a company whose founder just gave it away to fund efforts to fight climate change, Patagonia will repair, replace, or refund any product at any time (though after a year, your refund will come in the form of store credit). If the product is damaged due to “wear and tear” they’ll still repair it for you, but at a “reasonable charge,” so be sure to check before you send it in.
• Vermont Teddy Bears. If you bought one of these adorable stuffed toys and it gets damaged—in any way, at any time—you can send it to their “hospital” for a free repair. This doesn’t apply to the bear clothes or accessories, just the bear itself. If your bear is so old its materials are no longer available, they’ll send you a new one.
• Calphalon cookware. As long as you use your Calphalon pots and pans according to instructions, they’ll replace them at any time. Note that the company states it will examine the returned item and if it can’t see the defect, it will send it back to you with a letter of explanation, so you can’t just swap out old pans for new.
• Jostens rings. If you have a class ring made by Jostens, you can get it resized, repaired, cleaned, or even replaced for free at any time. They’ll replace simulated birthstones, but not real gemstones.
• Vortex Optics and Leupold scopes. Vortex will replace any of its binoculars, gun scopes, or other optical gear at no charge, at any time. They exclude intentional and purely cosmetic damage, but otherwise “it doesn’t matter how it happened, whose fault it was, or where you purchased it.” Similarly, Leupold will repair or replace any of its riflescopes, mounts, binoculars, or spotting scopes, no questions asked.
• Manduka yoga mats. The company will replace many of its yoga mats even if they wear out through normal use.
• Davek umbrellas. The company will replace your umbrella if it stops working properly for any reason, at any time. You just pay shipping costs.
• Red Oxx travel bags. Red Oxx will repair or replace your bag at any time, no questions asked. It’s that simple.

There are a lot of “limited” lifetime warranties out there, too—many of which are pretty robust and extremely valuable. But there aren’t many truly unlimited ones, so if you own something on this list, rejoice! Because you’re probably going to own it for a long, long time.

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Five Renovations That Can Actually Decrease the Value of Your Home

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Meredith Dietz and Jordan Hicks

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How to Tell If Your Child Is Gifted (and What to Do If They Are)

Photo: Drazen Zigic (Shutterstock)

One of the most divisive topics in education is gifted education. Even the word itself—gifted—has caused debate. The efficacy and equity of gifted programs came under fire in 2021 when New York City mayor Bill De Blasio rolled out a plan to phase out the city’s gifted program completely—a plan that was later quietly shelved.

Parents who perhaps were in gifted programs themselves as kids and whose own kids do or do not qualify are confused and sometimes outraged at the inconsistent policies about who gets to be called “gifted” and what privileges this “status symbol” can afford someone given this label. But what does it mean to be “gifted”? Should you get your kid tested, and, if they qualify, should you accept services? And will your kid be “better off” in the long run if they’re in a gifted program or identified as gifted when they’re young?

Signs your child may be gifted

In many districts around the country, gifted education is part of the special education program, which doesn’t make it seem like a “status symbol,” but more of an accommodation that needs to be made for students who don’t fit into the average mold of their peers.

Intellectually gifted student criteria vary by state or district, but the gifted population often makes up 10, 5, or even 1% of the student population based on some kind of assessment. Sometimes the entire student population is tested at once, such as on state testing in the second grade, or students will be “nominated” by teachers or parents and tested by school psychologists or gifted specialists. Occasionally, schools will accept private evaluations. Often individual or private tests include kind of IQ test (the test that determines if someone is a genius), but in recent years, other tests, like the Raven, aimed at being more inclusive and equitable, have been used to identify gifted students.

Often a child is nominated for a gifted program if they are ahead of their peers in one or more subject areas. I worked as a gifted education specialist for several years, and we had teachers fill out checklists to nominate or to help us identify gifted students. Similar lists are available at all schools.

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Signs your child may be gifted include:

• Boredom in school
• Perceptiveness or intuitiveness
• Relating better to adults than peers, is interested in adult problems
• Perfectionism
• Able to live in chaos, (aka, the “messy genius”)
• Prefers to work independently
• Keen sense of humor
• Large storehouse of information on one or many subjects, including having an unusually large vocabulary or amount of facts about things outside of the usual realm of their schooling
• Highly sensitive
• Able to grasp the deeper meaning
• Sensitive to beauty, arts, and aesthetics
• Asks many questions

Major criticism of gifted programs

Often gifted programs are composed of less people of color than their representative school populations and are disproportionately made up of higher-income students. This is often because of systemic bias in the school. Students of color and from lower-income families are nominated less often. Also, the tests are not tailored to students who speak English as a second language and make no accommodations for students with any neurodivergence or other considerations that might impact their learning.

Gifted programs sometimes merely accelerate students without addressing the individual needs of the student, including their unique social-emotional challenges. Gifted students are more likely to have anxiety and depression, and a gifted student is also not necessarily gifted in all subject areas.

Often gifted programs “pull out” students from other classes, which make gifted students feel othered and students not in the program feel left out. Gifted students have to choose between being in the gifted program or being with their peers. Critics of gifted programs don’t like that gifted students are seen as “better” than non-gifted students and that they get special treatment, such as field trips or funding.

If your child is identified as gifted

If your child is identified as gifted either by their school testing, or by the nomination process, you can absolutely choose whether or not to keep them in the program. You can “opt out” of services.

Most districts or communities have gifted parent groups that meet periodically and allow parents to be part of the community to discuss the program. This would be a good place to learn about your program and what it offers before you decide if it’s a good fit. Your school should also have a staff member who is the “gifted coordinator” for the school or district. Sometimes this is a separate person, and sometimes it’s the principal or a teacher who is assigned the gifted cases. They can help answer questions.

If you do decide to receive gifted services, your child may get an individual gifted plan, or may be enrolled in a separate class or program. Some districts, like Portland Public Schools where I live, have gifted programs in each school but also a separate school for students who would thrive in an environment where all the students are gifted.

I am, admittedly, biased. I was in a gifted program as a child and taught gifted kids. Research shows that gifted students thrive in environments where they work together, have community, and build off each others’ skills. But, whether or not you opt into gifted services is a decision you should make as a family,

Does it matter?

Gifted kids aren’t necessarily more likely to succeed, and being in a gifted program isn’t a guarantee of life success. Some very successful people aren’t “smart” at all.

In fact, being identified as gifted is more than being a “good student.” Gifted students are not necessarily the best students, though they often do well in school. Sometimes, they fail spectacularly, either because they do not see the point in doing the assignment the way the teacher wants them to, or the teacher does not understand their unique ways of thinking. Good students are hard workers. Sometimes gifted students fail because they don’t know how to ask for help, having always been told they were “smart,” so they never learned how to work hard.

However, if you think of being gifted the way the state of Pennsylvania does, where each gifted student receives and Individualized Education Plan (IEP), the philosophy is that gifted students need accommodations in the classroom the same way a student with dyslexia might need different text fonts or more time on a test, or the way a child with ADHD might need to take more frequent breaks or be allowed to bring a fidget tool from home. A gifted student might need alternate assignments, advanced class placement, or to be in a classroom with gifted peers.

So, while there isn’t a black and white answer as to whether or not a gifted program is the right fit for your child, getting them tested probably won’t hurt anyone, and you can go from there.

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Consider TikTok's Onion Sandwich

Much like pickles, onions are usually thought of as a sandwich topping rather than the “meat” of the dish. But (also like pickles) onions can be the star of the sandwich show—if you take a little time to prepare them correctly.

Thick slices of raw onion are obviously not the way to go. Big rings of cold onion between two slices of bread would not taste very good, and could (potentially) upset your stomach a bit (and give you terrible breath). If you’re going to use this powerful ingredient as a primary sandwich filling, you either need to slice it very thin, or cook it very gently.

If you want to cook ‘em gently

This particular sandwich (the one in the photo above) comes to us via my favorite TikToker, Mr. Kevin Ashton of pickle cheese crisp fame.

It’s a savory, sweet, caramelized delight with few ingredients but a ton of developed flavor. The sauce is made with a whole head of roasted garlic, mayo, Dijon, and lemon, and the onions are gently cooked in a mixture of olive oil and butter over low heat until the they soften and caramelize. Everything is loaded onto some toasted sourdough, and the result is a surprisingly mellow sandwich.

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You could of course add some cheese or some accent bacon, make your own sauce, or add whatever toppings you think would go well with a melty mass of softened, caramelized onions, but I urge you to try Ashton’s version first, as it is delightful in its simplicity.

If you want to slice ‘em thinly

Food historians and enthusiasts might recognize this little tea sandwich, a James Beard original that is somehow delicate, sweet, and creamy, even though it’s little more than white onions, mayo, and salt on brioche (with a border of fresh parsley).

You can see the exact ratios recommended here, but if you want to make just a few of these babies at a time, you’ll need a quarter of a small white onion to make three tea sandwiches (scale up or down as you desire).

For the bread, you’ll want something soft, squishy, and kind of sweet, like challah or brioche. Cut the bread into thin slices and cut out rounds with cookie cutters, or grab some slider buns and trim off the tops and bottoms with a bread knife. Slice the onions as thinly as you can with a sharp knife—you want them to be nearly translucent—then spread each bottom piece of bread with a thin layer of mayo. Equally divide the onions between the sandwiches and pile them on top of the mayo, then sprinkle each pile with a generous pinch of salt. (Do not skip the salt, it is what softens and tames the onion.)

Close the sandwiches, then brush the edges with a little more mayo and roll them in chopped parsley. Chill in the fridge for an hour, then serve. (Do not leave overnight, as the bottoms will get soggy and the tops will dry out.)

  

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Are Your Headaches Actually Migraines?

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If you are prone to getting headaches, you may be wondering about the difference between a regular headache and a migraine. Both suck, but a migraine is definitely worse. So how can you tell which kind you’re suffering from?

A regular headache feels like “a dull, cap-like pressure,” said Julia Jones, a neurologist at Houston Methodist Hospital. “They usually don’t interfere with activities, and they don’t bother people enough to go see the doctor.”

A migraine, on the other hand, “is typically a throbbing or pulsatile pain on one side of the head that progresses or gets worse with time,” Jones said.The pain from a migraine tends to build slowly over time, lasting from 4 to 72 hours, with symptoms including light or sound sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting. Just moving will make the pain worse. About a third of people will also experience aura before the onset of their migraine, including visual disturbances such as flashes of light. Migraines make going about your daily activities very hard, if not impossible.

Keep a headache diary to log your triggers 

If you are pretty sure migraines are your problem, it helps to know your triggers. For many, these can include heat, stress, or certain foods. For women, hormones are a common trigger, with migraines often happening during a specific time during their cycle.

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Figuring out your triggers can be complicated, as their effects aren’t always immediate. “A migraine can be cooking for up to 72 hours before you get that pain,” Jones said. The period preceding the onset of pain is called the premonitory phase, and can include symptoms such as a stiff neck or jaw, mood changes, excess yawning, fatigue, or gastrointestinal disturbances.

For these reasons, it helps to keep a headache diary, noting when you get a headache along with details of what you were doing during the days preceding it. Hopefully. you’ll start to notice patterns, and you’ll be able to fend off your migraines before they start. However, even when you’re doing everything right and avoiding your known triggers, you may still get migraines.

Maintaining balance helps with migraine management 

When life starts to get a little unbalanced, whether from a disruption in your sleep schedule, missing a meal, or dealing with a lot of stress, “you are more likely to tip into that headache,” Jones said. The reason for this seems to be the role the hypothalamus, which maintains functions such as body temperature, thirst, hunger, sleep and our emotional state, plays during a migraine.

“When they do PET scans for nitroglycerin-induced headaches, they see stronger functional connections in the hypothalamus to the pain centers and autonomic centers in migraine patients, compared to those who don’t have migraines,” Jones said. “That’s why having that homeostasis really helps a lot.”

Preventative medicine may be necessary

The occasional migraine—one or two a month—can often be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers, such as ibuprofen or aspirin. Excedrin Migraine is sometimes more effective, and combines acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine. (Drinking a cup of coffee can also help.) But taking over-the-counter medications too often can lead to rebound headaches.

If your migraines grow more frequent or are unresponsive to over-the-counter drugs, your primary care physician will likely have experience in treating them. Depending on their frequency, your doctor may need to prescribe something stronger, either to relieve symptoms during a migraine, prevent them from starting, or a combination of the two. And if you’re dealing with migraines for more than 6 to 8 days out of the month, a referral to a neurologist experienced in treating migraines may be in order.

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How Your Kids Can Actually Benefit From Screen Time

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As adults, it’s impossible to escape the use of screens, both at work and at home—and for kids, it’s increasingly no different. Given how much more screen time kids engage in today as compared to the past, it’s certainly an issue that most parents should—and do—take seriously. However, as research is showing, when used appropriately and in moderation, screen time can offer some benefits.

“It’s really more about context than quantity,” said Jennifer Brull, a family physician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Make sure screen time is age-appropriate 

In a recent review of the research on the effects of screentime, one major finding by a number of studies is that the quality of media a child is consuming is important. This includes making sure your child is using screen time at a level they can understand, which will give them the opportunity to learn by picking up a new vocabulary word, learning about things like washing your hands after using the bathroom, or just learning about the world in general.

“Screen time can expose kids to things they wouldn’t otherwise go to see,” said Devorah Heitner, author of the book Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World. As Heitner notes, Sesame Street has long played an important role in teaching children about the world through educating them about letters and numbers, or learning about different languages and cultures.

Today, there are a number of additional programs that can help your child learn similar concepts—the important part is that it needs to be at a level they can understand, so they can learn from it.

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Prioritize parent-child interaction during screentime 

One of the major ways that children learn is through interactions with others, whether it’s having a parent respond to their questions, or having a caregiver narrate to them what is going on. Screen time can expose your child to language, but it won’t provide that interaction. “The screen is not going to say anything appropriate back to them,” Brull said, whereas a parent will.

With that in mind, though, screen time in the form of a television show or interactive game can act as a catalyst for parent-child interaction—you can answer questions about what they are seeing, or point out details that can serve as a learning opportunity.

For older children, “watching a show together can give kids and their parents a shared common task,” Heitner said, with the added advantage being that this shared interest can act as a conversation starter. “This can be a way to understand their interests,” Heitner said.

Don’t have television playing in the background 

One of the final recommendations is to avoid having television running in the background. Having television running in the background causes two major issues: It reduces the quantity and quality of parent-child interaction, and it distracts kids from whatever they are doing. “Some kids can completely ignore it,” Brull said, whereas for other kids, “if the screen is on, that’s all they are looking at.”

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Security Vulnerabilities in Covert CIA Websites

Back in 2018, we learned that covert system of websites that the CIA used for communications was compromised by—at least—China and Iran, and that the blunder caused a bunch of arrests, imprisonments, and executions. We’re now learning that the CIA is still “using an irresponsibly secured system for asset communication.”

Citizen Lab did the research:

Using only a single website, as well as publicly available material such as historical internet scanning results and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, we identified a network of 885 websites and have high confidence that the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used these sites for covert communication.

The websites included similar Java, JavaScript, Adobe Flash, and CGI artifacts that implemented or apparently loaded covert communications apps. In addition, blocks of sequential IP addresses registered to apparently fictitious US companies were used to host some of the websites. All of these flaws would have facilitated discovery by hostile parties.

[…]

The bulk of the websites that we discovered were active at various periods between 2004 and 2013. We do not believe that the CIA has recently used this communications infrastructure. Nevertheless, a subset of the websites are linked to individuals who may be former and possibly still active intelligence community employees or assets:

• Several are currently abroad
• Another left mainland China in the timeframe of the Chinese crackdown
• Another was subsequently employed by the US State Department
• Another now works at a foreign intelligence contractor

Citizen Lab is not publishing details, of course.

When I was a kid, I thought a lot about being a spy. And this, right here, was the one thing I worried about. It didn’t matter how clever and resourceful I was. If my handlers were incompetent, I was dead.

Another news article.

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What Parents Need to Know About Enterovirus D68

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The CDC recently issued an alert to healthcare providers about enterovirus D68, which has turned up in children who were hospitalized with severe respiratory illnesses. This virus can also cause a form of paralysis known as acute flaccid myelitis. Most illnesses with this virus do not cause the paralysis, but it’s good for providers to have this on their radar. So what does that mean for you as a parent?

What is enterovirus D68?

This virus is an enterovirus, in the same family as polio. (In fact, there are a whole group of these “non-polio enteroviruses.”) Enteroviruses spend part of their time in the intestine, hence the name, but they can also cause respiratory symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, and coughs. Some of the recent cases of EV-D68 have involved severe respiratory symptoms, especially in children with a history of asthma or wheezing.

EV-D68 is one of the viruses that has been linked to acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), which was described as a polio-like paralysis during its first big wave in 2014. There have since been surges in the late summer and early fall of 2016, 2018, and 2020, and it seems to be continuing the pattern this year.

What is acute flaccid myelitis?

Myelitis is an inflammation of the spinal cord that can cause weakness and paralysis. “Acute” means it comes on suddenly, and “flaccid” means that the affected body part may appear floppy. (That’s to distinguish it from other forms of paralysis in which the muscle can cramp or twitch.)

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Symptoms of AFM can include weakness in an arm or leg, but other body parts can be affected, including drooping eyelids, slurred speech, or difficulty swallowing. The CDC calls AFM “rare but serious.” If your child has any of these symptoms, make sure to seek medical care.

What should parents know?

It’s important to remember that this virus is not super common, and AFM is even rarer. In short: don’t panic.

Fortunately, the ways to protect yourself and your child from this virus are the same things you should already be doing to reduce your risk of getting colds, flu, COVID, stomach bugs, and other common illnesses. The CDC has an informational poster for parents, which advises the following:

• Avoid close contact with sick people
• Cover your coughs and sneezes
• Wash your hands often with soap and water
• Clean and disinfect surfaces
• Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands
• Stay home when you’re sick

There is no vaccine for EV-D68, but the CDC still advises staying up-to-date on vaccines to protect yourself from other illnesses that can cause similar symptoms, including polio and the flu.

If your child has asthma, the CDC recommends making sure they have an updated asthma action plan that specifies what medications and precautions to take depending on how much their asthma is bothering them. And, as always, seek immediate medical care if they have trouble breathing.

    

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Why You Should See a Therapist Even If You Don’t ‘Need’ One

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Although the stigma surrounding mental health and therapy is fading, it’s still there. Many people think of therapy as something you turn to only when you’re actively struggling with your mental health, or as something only weak and unsuccessful people use. For folks who do go to therapy for one reason or another, one of the most surprising side effects is suddenly discovering just how many people in their personal and professional circles are also in therapy, and have been for years. It’s almost a joke at this point: Everyone is in therapy and everyone is somehow ashamed of being in therapy.

There are an increasing number of convenient options in terms of online therapy platforms and providers—when you live in an age when you don’t even have to leave your house to engage in self-care, there’s literally no excuse not to at least consider the benefits of therapy. Here’s why you should see a therapist even if you don’t think you have any mental or emotional need for one.

Therapy can act as a preventive medicine

Essentially, therapy has two main use cases: It’s either used to treat illness, or it’s used to promote wellness. What most people think of when they think of therapy is the illness part: Someone is depressed, so they go to see a therapist to be treated. That’s where that durable stigma around therapy stems from—this assumption that it can only be used to treat a problem.

But therapy, like any medical intervention, can—and should—be used in a preventive way. If you go to your doctor once a year for a checkup, hit the dentist twice a year for a cleaning, and race to a specialist at the drop of a symptom, why in the world wouldn’t you go to a therapist at least once? Seeing a therapist when things are going great for you can provide a baseline of mental functioning that will be incredibly useful as you age and go through life’s challenges. Just as your physician tracks your lab results so they can see problems in the earliest stages, seeing a therapist can help you perceive bad habits, self-destructive behaviors, and unsustainable loops before they begin to obviously affect your mental health.

In fact, studies have shown that simply verbalizing your feelings makes them more manageable and also produces a wide range of beneficial physical responses in our brains and bodies. That’s why we feel better when we have a deep, emotional conversation with a friend or partner. Imagine having some level of that feeling on a regular basis, and you can see how therapy can help anyone avoid crises.

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Therapy helps you develop tools

The other benefit that therapy can provide people who don’t think they “need” it is pattern revelation. We all have subconscious patterns and tools we develop as coping mechanisms, and often these are invisible to us because we developed them organically, years and years ago—sometimes in our early childhood. They become just part of who we are, so we don’t even notice them as patterns.

Because you’re interacting with a trained professional, therapy can reveal those patterns to you—and knowledge is power. You might be professionally and personally successful and satisfied, but that doesn’t mean your patterns aren’t a time bomb. A good analogy is a baseball pitcher who has terrible form but manages to hurl 100mph fastballs—they might have early success, but over time their bad physical habits start to eat away at their effectiveness, and suddenly after years of success, they start to get shelled. Seeing a therapist can identify the bad mental and emotional habits you’re compensating for long before they become a problem.

Therapy can also help you with specific challenges that have nothing to do with a mental disorder, like conflict resolution, dealing with stress—even improving your sleep.

Therapy provides objectivity

Finally, therapy provides something that our personal support systems can’t: objectivity. Everyone develops a support system in their life. Some are larger than others, but we all have family and friends we can lean on, people we can talk to, people we can seek advice from. And that’s healthy and necessary—but your friends and family will not always or consistently be objective, because they have an emotional investment in you, and they’re dealing with their own biases, psychological patterns, and needs.

A therapist is an objective professional. You might become friendly and familiar with your therapist, but they aren’t your friend—and that gives them the ability to see your behaviors clearly and the authority to address issues as they see them, without worrying about offending or angering you or hurting your feelings. Even if you don’t have a diagnosed condition or aren’t struggling with depression, having an objective sounding board is an incredibly powerful tool that everyone can benefit from.

Therapy isn’t about failure. It’s about self-care. You might not “need” therapy in the sense of treating a problem, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t benefit from it—and really, you have absolutely nothing to lose.

   

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This Is How You Load a Piping Bag

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Allie Chantorn Reinmann and Jordan Hicks

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Cardamom Is the New Cinnamon

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Cardamom deserves more love as a baking spice. It’s unique yet versatile, warming and bold, and fit for both sweet and savory foods. Although you may not have cooked with cardamom yet, you’ve likely had it before, hidden in a sauce or mixed into a dough, and wondered how exactly the chef achieved that particular flavor. Cinnamon will always have a place in our cabinets, but it’s time to make room for another one-and-a-half-inch spice jar.

What does cardamom taste like?

Cardamom is a green seed pod that contains little black seeds. Usually you can buy the spice in three different forms–the dried, whole seed pod, the unground black seeds, or the black seeds ground into a powder. Depending on how you’re cooking with it, you might want all three preparations available. The flavor of cardamom is unusual but when you taste it, you get the feeling you’re seeing an old friend. To break it down like a sommelier of spices: It’s floral with notes of evergreen, full-bodied, and sustains a soft menthol-like finish.

Its applications in different dishes are surprising, and cardamom really does play well with other spices. Although it is perfectly fine on its own, cardamom can also become an exuberant filler-aroma behind other spices. Used around the world for both sweet and savory applications, you can find it in hearty, warming recipes like Indian murgh masala, Thai massaman, Nigerian puff puff, and Swedish Kardemummabullar.

Where to start with the “queen of spices”

Cinnamon, apple, and cardamom are excellent partners, and if you’re unaccustomed to working with “the queen of spices,” I suggest you start there. If you’re making an apple cake that uses cinnamon, add a dusting of cardamom, too; or take a leap of faith and substitute the cinnamon with cardamom. You won’t be disappointed. Anyone experimenting with cardamom should start with half of the amount the recipe calls for in ground cinnamon. Cardamom might seem strong at first, so if a cinnamon bun recipe calls for two tablespoons of cinnamon, use one tablespoon of cardamom, regardless of if you’re substituting the spice or adding it along with the cinnamon.

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For an easy, sweet topping, make this cardamom-sugar to sprinkle on buttered toast, press onto cookie dough, or mix into rice pudding or oatmeal. Put both ingredients in a bowl and mix, or for easy keeping, pour them in a lidded jar and shake. I like to roll my butter cookie base recipe in this cardamom-sugar for a tasty treat with coffee.

How to make cardamom-sugar

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of ground green cardamom

Place both ingredients in a container and mix until blended. Sprinkle on everything from ice cream to apple fritters.

 

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19 of the Best JRPGs You Can Play on Modern Consoles

CHRONO TRIGGER – Launch Trailer

What better way to kick things off than with the GOAT?

Conspicuously absent from consoles like Switch and PlayStation, this all-time great 16-bit JRPG is available on mobile devices and PCs. The product of the genre’s greatest minds coming together under one roof—including Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy creators Yuji Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi, along with future stars like Yasunori Mitsuda, Masato Kato, and Tetsuya Takahashi—dodged all the hubris and potential catastrophe to come together as a tightly polished example of everything great about the first golden age of JRPGs. It’s got a unique time travel story, a memorable cast, snappy combat, and one of the genre’s best soundtracks, all supported by incredible spritework and graphics based on Dragonball-creator Akira Toriyama’s iconic character art.

It stands the test of time, remaining one of the most enjoyable and polished JRPGs ever, and is overdue for a proper console port. Chrono Trigger is, in a word, timeless.

Price: $14.99

Platforms: Android, iOS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation, Super NES

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How Many Cups of Coffee You Should Drink Per Day, According to 'Science'

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A study that’s in the news right now claims that people who drink two to three cups of coffee per day live longer than people who avoid coffee. So should we all be drinking two to three cups? Not necessarily. Let’s take a look at where these numbers come from.

Two to three cups for longevity, maybe

This recent study draws from the UK Biobank, where the average age is 58, slightly more than half of participants are women, and roughly 95% are white. On average, the researchers were able to follow participants for 12 years after they answered a question about how much coffee they drink.

If we look at death from all causes, people who drank two to three cups of coffee per day had the lowest risk, and that applies whether they were drinking ground, instant, or decaf. For cardiovascular disease, those drinking one cup a day had the lowest risk, but for arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), the sweet spot appeared to be four to five cups. In the arrhythmia results, decaf coffee was not associated with a reduction in risk.

The study has plenty of limitations, though, if you’re trying to use it to figure out how much coffee to drink. This group of middle-aged British folks may not represent the rest of the world particularly well; and it’s not like people randomly decide how much coffee to drink. Income, social class, and perceived health risks can contribute to that choice, just to name a few (Brits also tend to drink a lot of instant coffee and espresso, it turns out). The researchers also took people’s self-reported data at face value, and assumed that they drank the same amount of coffee over the years rather than continually reassessing.

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Three to four cups for other health outcomes

A review published in the BMJ looked at dozens of previous coffee studies and concluded that people who drink coffee have lower risks of cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, some cancers, and some liver and gastrointestinal disorders. The amount of coffee associated with reduced risk was often in the range of three to four cups per day.

The author of that analysis said that people should not start drinking coffee because of these results, but that if you already drink coffee, it “can be part of a healthy diet.”

Part of the reason it’s so hard to pin down what’s going on with coffee is that there are hundreds of different bioactive compounds in coffee, and caffeine is only one of them. The chemical profile can also be different depending on what beans you start with and how you prepare the coffee.

But another reason is that these studies aren’t randomly assigning people to be coffee drinkers or not; they’re usually just surveying people about how much coffee they already drink. If your doctor has told you to limit your caffeine because of your blood pressure, let’s say, you’ll show up as a non-coffee-drinker in the study. So people who avoid coffee may have different health-related risk factors than people who drink a lot of it, and that’s not necessarily reflected in the study.

“Robust randomized controlled trials are needed to understand whether the observed associations are causal [i.e., caused by coffee],” the authors conclude.

Four cups or less, to be safe

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines only have this to say about coffee consumption for non-pregnant adults: “For healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams per day of caffeine as an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects.” (200 milligrams is the recommended limit in pregnancy.)

In other words, coffee isn’t so important to health that they recommend everybody drink it. But it’s also not so dangerous that there’s a hard limit. Instead, they name an amount that’s basically fine. (Truly enormous amounts of caffeine would probably be bad. This is a level that they feel pretty confident in saying is not an enormous amount.)

So how much coffee is that? Most brewed coffee clocks in somewhere around 100 milligrams per 8 fluid ounces. This varies quite a bit depending on brand and brewing style. For example, a 14-ounce Dunkin brewed coffee has 210 milligrams; a 16-ounce McDonald’s coffee has 145. You can look up the caffeine in your favorite beverage at Caffeine Informer.

One thing before you order: The guidelines also point out that sweetened coffee beverages are one of the common sources of added sugars in the diet. We should keep added sugars to under 10% of our total calories, or about 50 grams. An iced coffee from Starbucks has 20 grams; a caramel Frappucino has 54. Black coffee, on the other hand, has basically none.

   

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S3 Ep102: Sorting fact from fiction in hyped-up cybersecurity news stories [Audio + Transcript]

Latest episode - listen now! Tell fact from fiction in hyped-up cybersecurity news...
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Expensive Credit Cards That Don't Seem Worth It, But Are

Photo: Valeri Potapova (Shutterstock)

There are a lot of expensive credit cards on the market these days: Some of them have annual fees that can be as high as $500, so it’s natural to wonder if they’re really worth it. In most cases, the answer is no—at least not for everyone. That said, there are cards out there that are both expensive and can be a good choice for many people. Some cards come with statement credits and benefits that can offset a lot of the cost. Here are some expensive credit cards that might not seem worth it, but just might be.

Capital One Venture X

The Capital One Venture X is perhaps the #1 card with a high $395 annual fee that can easily be worth it—even when compared to the $95 annual fee Capital One Venture or even a no-annual-fee card. For anyone who travels—even if only once per year—the Venture X is a solid choice.

The Venture X’s benefits that offset the annual fee include:

• $300 annual travel credit on bookings through Capital One Travel
• 10,000-anniversary bonus miles

After these two benefits alone, you’ll break even on the annual fee. Most people who travel will have no problem using the $300 annual travel credit, and the 10,000-anniversary miles, at worst, are worth $100 toward travel.

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Additionally, Venture X cardholders receive:

• $100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee credit
• Priority Pass, Plaza Premium and Capital One lounge access with 2 guests per visit (authorized users, which are free to add, also get this)
• Minimum of 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases (more in specific categories)
• Cell phone insurance
• No foreign transaction fees
• Transfer miles to partners
• A welcome bonus

Airline credit cards if you fly domestically and check bags

If you fly domestic airlines often and always or usually check bags, an airline credit card could be worth it. Southwest includes free checked bags for everyone, but it’s possible to get free checked bags on the other airlines through their co-branded credit card. How often you fly a specific airline, whether or not you usually fly the same airline, how many bags you check and how many people you travel with are a few things that will determine whether or not it’s worth paying an annual fee, but as a general rule, checking three bags per year is around the breakeven point.

Some airline credit cards that are worth considering include:

• Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card: $75 annual fee, free first checked bag for cardholder and up to six additional passengers on the same reservation.
• American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard: $99 annual fee, free first checked bag for cardholder and up to four additional passengers on the same reservation for domestic itineraries.
• Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card: $99 annual fee (waived the first year), free first checked bag for cardholder and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation.
• JetBlue Plus Card: $99 annual fee, free first checked bag for cardholder and up to three additional passengers on the same reservation.
• United Explorer Card: $95 annual fee (waived the first year), free first checked bag for cardholder and up to one additional passenger on the same reservation—you must purchase your ticket with the card in order to receive this benefit.

Many hotel credit cards

Many hotel credit cards offer a free night at a hotel in that chain (often valid at hotels costing up to a certain number of points per night). Most hotel credit cards charge a $95 annual fee, so if you’re likely to stay in a hotel of a specific chain each year and that hotel costs more than $95 per night, you’re going to come out ahead, not to mention the card’s other benefits. It is extra mental overhead to track an extra card and make sure you’re utilizing benefits, but it could be worth it.

Some of the hotel credit cards that are worth considering include:

• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card: $95 annual fee, free night worth up to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (can top up with up to 15,000 additional points from account).
• World of Hyatt Credit Card: $95 annual fee, free night at Category 1 to 4 Hyatt property.
• IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card: $95 annual fee, free night worth up to 40,000 IHG points.

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The Best Way to Grill That Last Bit of Summer Corn

Haters will say grilling season is coming to a close, but autumn is actually my favorite time to grill, because standing in the hot sun next to a hot grill kind of sucks. Corn season, however, is quickly dying down, which means you need to grill that last bit of sweet corn before it disappears for the year.

As you may or may not know, I love sweet corn so much, I often eat it raw, which is not only legal, but delicious. In terms of cooked preparations, grilled is probably my favorite, though people can get a little weird and precious with it. There’s often much discussion and hand-wringing over how you “prepare” the corn for the grill. Do you leave the husk on? Do you wrap it in foil? Do you get really precious and soak or brine it? Luckily, the best method is the simplest: Just throw the naked cob directly over the hot coals or flames.

Doing so actually lets the kernels see some heat and develop that “grilled” flavor. As Meathead Goldwyn points out in his article on the subject, all that brining and wrapping doesn’t result in true grilled corn, but steamed corn:

Boiling, microwaving, and steaming make tender, juicy corn. But grilled corn is muuuuch more flavorful. Yes, it is a bit chewier, but I don’t mind. When grilled, the sugars caramelize, adding a depth of flavor no other method can produce. And when I am talking about grilling corn, I am not talking about the popular method of soaking the corn, husk and all, in water and then grilling it in the husk. Or putting it in foil. This is steamed corn, not grilled corn, and you do not get all the flavors you get when it is grilled nekkid.

Besides, if your grill is hot enough, it won’t take very long to cultivate that lovely charred and caramelized flavor, so the chances of really drying out the kernels are slim.

For the best grilled corn, heat your grill to medium-high, somewhere in between 375°F and 425 °F. Remove the husk and all the stringy silk, and rinse the ears in cold water. Place the corn on the grates so that the cob is running parallel to them (this makes for easy rolling). Grill until the kernels are fragrant and take on the amount of color you desire. You can brush them with some herb-infused butter like Meathead does here, if you like. Just keep rolling them around the grates, closing the lid for a couple of minutes at a time, until the corn takes on that golden brown grilled color in spots. Serve with butter and salt.

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The XBox Accessibility Settings You Aren’t Using, but Should Be

Photo: vfhnb12 (Shutterstock)

Whenever a company adds accessibility features to its products, the entire user base tends to benefit. Case in point: the Xbox Series X|S, which tucks many universally useful features into its accessibility settings. While these options are ostensibly designed for players who need assistance and accommodations while gaming, features like button remapping and night mode can help anyone up their game.

Here are a handful of Xbox accessibility features worth investigating.

The Xbox has a night mode

If your gaming setup is in a room with less natural light, or if you prefer to game late at night, consider enabling night mode on your Xbox. This setting cuts out blue light and reduces eye strain while you’re gaming. (There are claims blue light interferes with your sleep, which is a common reason people use night mode on their phones or tablets, though the science isn’t really there to back it up.)

The caveat is these changes may make certain in-game elements harder to spot, but the feature offers enough customizable options that you should be able to find the right balance.

To use this feature, press the Xbox button on your controller, then press RB until you reach Profile & System. Select Settings and go to Accessibility > Night Mode.

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Use high contrast mode for better clarity

Some displays make it harder to spot menu items or other useful options on the screen. If you have an older monitor or TV that isn’t working so well anymore, enable high contrast mode on your Xbox, which will makes everything stand out a little more.

This option is located under Settings > Accessibility > High Contrast on your Xbox.

Remap your controller buttons

Button remapping changes the actions assigned to various buttons on your Xbox controller. This feature is most useful for people who face challenges with motor control, because it allows them to map options to buttons that they find easier to access.

However, the feature is also heavily used by gamers who prefer alternative button layouts. For casual gamers, it’s also the most effective way to work around a controller that might have a sticky or broken button.

To get started, go to Settings > Accessibility > Controller > Button mapping.

Mute notification sounds

When you’re gaming, your Xbox can still send you random alerts notifying you of messages from strangers, achievements you’ve unlocked, screenshots, and more. If you dislike the alert sound, you can disable it without disabling notifications entirely. That way, you won’t miss important alerts, nor will you have to deal with the annoying sound intruding into an important sequence in your game.

Access this feature by going to Settings > Accessibility > Audio on your Xbox.

Turn off controller vibrations

When implemented well, controller vibrations add an immersive layer to your gaming experience, upping the intensity when your character is low on health or adding verisimilitude to an action-packed scene.

However, when done poorly or in excess, controller vibrations can lose their magic entirely. For example, every time you go off-roading in Forza Horizon 4, the controller vibrates non-stop until you return to solid tarmac. It’s not fun to deal with, and it eats up your controller’s battery at an alarming pace.

To avoid these situations, sometimes it’s best to disable vibrations on your Xbox controller altogether. Head over to Settings > Accessibility > Controller > Vibration settings and disable Turn on vibration to fix this problem.

 

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Use This App to Block Ads and Reels From Instagram

Instagram is going through an identity crisis. Should it be more like TikTok? More like Facebook? It hasn’t been itself for years now, and in the process, it’s annoying the hell out of everyone.

For now, the Instagram experience is pretty bad, full of intrusive ads and irrelevant Reels from creators you might not care to know about. (A chief complaint right now is creators that people actually do follow rarely even show up on feeds. If you want to see their post, you have to go looking for them.)

What you can do with The OG App

The OG App (iPhone, Android) aims to solve those problems, and it’s the first app I have seen in a long time that actually offers a worthwhile third-party Instagram experience. Once you log in with your Instagram account, OG takes the content and builds your feed from the ground up—and it’s much better than using the Instagram app, or even the scaled-down web version.

With The OG App, you get your regular feed, Stories, DMs, and comments. It looks like the Instagram app, but there are no ads, no suggested posts, and no Reels infestation. You can go to the dedicated Reels tab to watch videos, but that’s where they live, only showing up when you want them. Even better, you can go to Settings to disable Reels and the Explore page altogether.

The OG App can also create different lists with different public profiles (a concept lifted directly from Twitter lists, but no complaints here). I can create different lists to follow creators I like in different niches, like coffee, tech, lettering, design, and more. Once a list is created, the app generates a separate feed just for those accounts.

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All these features might help you hate Instagram a little less. So, what do you think? Is The OG App enough to help you enjoy using Instagram again? If not, there are other tips you can try to make Instagram a little better.

[TechCrunch]

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How to Transition Your Plants Indoors for Winter

Photo: New Africa (Shutterstock)

Houseplants can be finicky. That’s because when they’re growing in a pot, they don’t get the same interaction with other species or the same type of soil as outdoor plants. Try as we might, we just can’t quite mimic the environment plants have outside. But there are some things we can do to ease the stress of the transition from outdoors to inside, and keep them thriving all winter long.

How to prep your plants to move them indoors

To get started, gather up these materials:

• Hose
• Spray bottle
• Stiff bristle brush

• Gentle soap
• Fresh potting soil
• A pair of shears
• Rubbing alcohol
• A large tub
• Gardening gloves

You might also opt to use a soil Ph test kit if you aren’t sure how to fertilize your container plants.

Next, begin readying your plants for transition by pruning out dead or damaged parts. This will help them to adjust to a new environment and hopefully send up new shoots. Use clean shears, wiping the blades down with rubbing alcohol between plants to avoid accidentally transferring any diseases the plants might have. This is also a good time to pick any debris out of the topsoil of the container.

Give the containers themselves a good scrub, making sure that any outdoor material is removed. You can use a mild soap and water to wash the outsides of the container as long as you’re careful not to inundate the plant with detergent. Use the brush to scrub any stubborn spots and then rinse the outside of the container thoroughly.

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How to rid the plants of any bugs

The next step is to try and remove outdoor bugs from your indoor plants. Since the indoor environment doesn’t have natural enemies to pests like aphids, bringing an infestation inside, away from natural predators like lady bugs could have disastrous results. To get pests out of the soil, soak your containers with drainage holes in a large tub filled with room temperature water. Make sure that the container is completely submerged for at least a half hour, forcing any soil dwelling insects to the surface. Skim off debris and any bugs from the surface of the water before removing from the tub.

Next, use a spray bottle or a hose (depending on the size and strength of the plant) to spray off any insects like aphids. Some gardeners will use neem oil or soapy water to kill bugs on the leaves, but a gentle swipe with a cotton ball will often do the trick and is less harmful to the plant. If you find that you have a major infestation, you should isolate that plant and treat it for the specific pest you find before bringing it into the house.

This is also a good time to top off the soil or add fertilizer, if needed. You can use a Ph test kit to determine if the soil is balanced. Make sure to adjust the Ph for your specific type of plant to avoid fertilizer shock. If you’re not sure of the needs of your particular houseplant, you can usually get information from your local university gardening extension.

Transition plants indoors slowly

Once your plants have been thoroughly debugged, soaked, and fertilized, you might choose a method similar to hardening off seedlings. If you live in a climate where the change of seasons brings chilly nights and warmer days, or where some days might be OK for plants outdoors while others aren’t, you can opt to bring plants in on cooler days and in the evening while allowing them to soak up some sun during the warmer times.

Once it’s too cold for your plants to vacation on the porch, make sure to choose a spot indoors where they will get a similar amount of light as when they were outside. If you need to, you can move them slowly to lower light areas, making sure they still get some sunlight. Helping the plants to transition slowly to a lower light environment will allow them to adjust. This will help them reroute any nutrients needed and replenish their roots in the soil.

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Multi-platform Chaos malware threatens to live up to its name

Chaos, new multipurpose malware written in the Go programming language, is spreading across the world.

“We are seeing a complex malware that has quadrupled in size in just two months, and it is well-positioned to continue accelerating,” said Mark Dehus, director of threat intelligence at Lumen‘s Black Lotus Labs.

Versatile and potent

Chaos is designed to work across several architectures, including ARM, Intel (i386), MIPS and PowerPC. It was developed for Windows, Linux, and a wide array of consumer devices, small office/home office (SOHO) routers and enterprise servers.

The malware exploits known vulnerabilities and enables the actor to:

• Scan the target system to profile it for future commands
• Automatically initiate lateral movement and propagation through SecureShell (SSH) by using private keys that are either stolen or obtained using brute force
• Launch DDoS attacks and initiate cryptomining

The prevalence of malware written in Go has increased dramatically in recent years due to the language’s flexibility, low antivirus detection rates and difficulty to reverse-engineer, Black Lotus Labs analysts noted.

The Chaos malware is potent because it works across a variety of architectures, targets devices and systems (e.g., SOHO routers and FreeBDS OS) that are not routinely monitored as part of an enterprise security model, and propagates through known vulnerabilities and SSH keys that are either stolen or obtained through brute force.

Chaos malware is spreading

Beginning in June, analysts discovered several distinct Chaos clusters that were written in Chinese. The clusters leveraged China-based command and control (C2) infrastructure that grew rapidly in August and September.

Chaos bot infections are mostly concentrated in Europe (Italy, France, Spain, Germany), the U.S., and China.

The actor compromised at least one GitLab server and launched numerous DDoS attacks on organizations in the gaming, financial services and technology, media/entertainment, cryptocurrency, and even DDoS-as-a-Service industries. The targets spanned organizations in the EMEA, APAC and North American regions.

“The Chaos malware targets known vulnerabilities,” Dehus added, “we recommend network administrators practice rigorous patch management, and use the IoCs (Indicators of Compromise) outlined in our report to monitor for infection or connections to suspicious infrastructure. Consumers and remote workers should enable automatic software updates, and regularly update passwords and reboot hardware.”

Black Lotus Labs believes this malware is not related to the Chaos ransomware builder discovered in 2021; rather, the overlapping code and functions suggest it is likely the evolution of Kaiji, a DDoS malware discovered in 2020.

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Everyone Should Sit Down When They Pee

Photo: OrangeVector (Shutterstock)

People with penises: If you’ve spent your life standing when you pee, it’s time to rethink your urinary posture. Standing is (probably) the Western world’s most common micturition position among those with penises, but it’s far from universal. Men in some cultures traditionally sit or squat when they pee, and even among cultural pee-standers, there’s evidence that the paradigm is shifting. In Japan, for instance, an August 2020 poll showed that 70 percent of men sat, compared to 51 percent five years previously. Beyond the cultural conditioning that insists there is (or should be) a gender difference in urination style, there aren’t many good reasons for standing up, and there are a ton of them for sitting.

It’s the right choice for anyone with prostrate problems

If you have an enlarged prostate or other lower urinary tract symptoms, you probably should pee sitting down. Researchers from the Department of Urology at Leiden University Medical Center looked into how body position during urination affects “maximum urinary flow rate,” “voiding time,” and “post-void residual volume.” Their conclusion: “The sitting posture is the best position for men with urination problems, e.g. due to an enlarged prostate, to urinate in.”

Sitting voids the bladder more fully, which can result in fewer complications such as cystitis and bladder stones. It’s not a negligible effect either: According to the study, body posture can influence “urodynamic parameters…to an extent approaching pharmacological interventions.” The research doesn’t address the optimum pee-position for healthy men, but there are tons of non-medical advantages to choosing the stall over the urinal.

Science says that it’s cleaner

I doubt anyone who has ever cleaned a bathroom used by men would need scientific proof of the mess that standing creates, but in case you do, physicists Tadd Truscott and Randy Hurd from Brigham Young University took a deep-dive into “splashback” caused by urination and presented their finding at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in 2013.

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Using high-speed cameras, their knowledge of fluid dynamics, and a bespoke urination simulation machine called “The Water Angle Navigation Guide,” these whiz kids concluded that splashback can be lessened if urine is aimed at a more downward angle and the urinator is closer to the target. You can see it demonstrated in this video.

The best way to get that optimum angle and positioning is to have a seat: “Sitting down is the best sure-fire way to avoid unwanted splashing in a traditional toilet,” Hurd told BBC.

More than just being gross, splashback is a legitimate health concern, particularly in hospitals, as it can facilitate the spreading of harmful bacteria.

Disagreements about toilet seat positions

According to extensive research conducted by hacky stand-up comedians in the 1990s, choosing to sit while peeing would eliminate the majority of our nation’s domestic arguments, as most of them are over putting the toilet seat down. (Women, amiright?)

Less noise

For me, the choice between sitting and standing is situational. I’m not sitting down in the stall at a ballpark or something, but if I’m home, I might decide to chill. There’s one situation where I always choose to sit, though: if I’m a guest in someone else’s home. It’s quieter and cleaner, and I like to be a good guest.

More choice is a positive thing

I’m not going to go into great detail here, but sitting down provides options that standing up does not, and who doesn’t want to be free to make choices on the fly?

“It’s faster” versus “What’s all the rush about?”

One of the main arguments in favor of standing to pee is that it’s faster, more efficient, and more in keeping with the constant demand for action of our fast-paced society. Another is that “men pee standing and women pee sitting.” Sitting while peeing is a rebuke to both arguments. It’s as an act of transgression against both outdated gender norms and our puritanical work ethic. Sitting to pee is showing solidarity with women, men with certain disabilities, and men without penises, as well as striking a blow against capitalist monopolization of even our most private moments by stealing a few minutes back for ourselves.

Honestly, though, I’m mainly in favor so I have more time to look at Twitter. If you futz around with your phone while stand-peeing, it’s only a matter of time until you drop it in the toilet.

 

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What Is a 'Normal' Body Count?

By

Lindsey Ellefson and Jordan Hicks

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Your Onion Dip Needs at Least Five Onions

The smell of caramelizing onions is one of the most heavenly aromas one can sniff, and it’s one of those foods where the taste lives up to the promise of the fragrance. Caramelized onions are condensed, intensely flavorful, sweet, savory, and a little pungent all at once. That flavor-bomb nature is what makes them so perfect for mixing with a tub of sour cream to make a dip.

Most dips rely on a single type of onion, maybe two, but there is a whole genre of multi-onion dips out there, and the best are those that contain at least five (5) different types of allium. Each onion brings something a little different to the table. White onion lays down a classic onion-y base, red adds an aggressive note, and I bet you can guess what a sweet onion will do. Shallots add an intensely sweet, garlicky kind of flavor, and leeks bring a light chive-y kind of vibe. The green portion of a scallion makes a great garnish, but you can toss the white part in the pan along with the rest of the onions. (Another type of onion that makes a great garnish? The crunchy fried kind you’d find on top of a casserole.)

The type and amount of onions you choose for your dip is truly up to you. You could do four or six or whatever number speaks to you (but I like five); just peruse the onion aisle and grab whatever catches your eye. Add them all to a big pan and cook them on the lowest heat setting possible until they condense down into a dark, caramelized mass (at least an hour). They’ll be so flavorful, you can mix them with a cup or so of sour cream and call it a dip, but I have a full recipe if you are into that kind of thing. My number one onion dip tip? Decrease the dairy! Too much sour cream or cream cheese will dull all that flavor you coaxed out with your gentle, careful cooking. Celebrate them. Honor them. Eat them (with chips).

Claire’s Five-Onion Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion
• 2 shallots
• 1 bunch scallions, dark green portion separated from white and light green portion
• 1/2 cup neutral oil (such as vegetable)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Chop all three onions into 1/4-inch pieces, and slice the shallot into thin rings. Separate the dark green part from the rest of the scallions and set aside, then thinly slice the white and light green portion. Add all onions except the dark green scallions to a large pan with the oil, and season with the salt. Stir, then set over medium-low heat. Once the onions begin to sweat and soften, lower the heat as low as it will go and cook until they caramelize and reduce into a jammy, dark brown mass, at least an hour. Scrape into a bowl and let cool completely. (I usually cook the onions the night before I want dip so they can cool completely in the fridge.)

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Mix the onions with the remaining ingredients, taste (with a chip), and adjust salt and pepper if needed. You can even add a pinch of MSG if you like, but this is one dip that frankly does not need it, as the mixture of onions is packed with tons of deep umami. Garnish with the thinly sliced portion of the green onion (or crunchy fried onions, or fried garlic) and consume with your favorite potato chip.

 

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How Does Student Loan Forgiveness Affect Your Credit Score?

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‘Plow’ Your Leaves With Cardboard

Photo: Gyvafoto (Shutterstock)

Raking leaves is a pain in the ass. It’s time-consuming, wet, cold, and can even trigger your allergies. You have to do it, but so tedious is this task that people have come up with a variety of hacks and devices to help you get it done more efficiently. You can scoop leaves up with plastic or use a tarp or blanket to transport them. But one method has been gaining popularity in recent years, and it uses something you probably already have lying around and also probably want to get rid of: cardboard.

How to use cardboard to “plow” leaves

Instead of heading to the store for a big piece of plastic that you then have to store somewhere in your already-crowded garage along with those minimally effective rakes, you can use cardboard to “plow” your leaves. This tip is everywhere from Bob Vila to PopSugar to, for some reason, Geico.

One reason for this trick’s popularity is that you almost certainly have a cardboard box right now and, if you don’t, are likely to receive one soon. Whether you love Amazon or hate it, the online shopping revolution has surely reached your home, and you know that means an excess of boxes. Grab a big one and do the following:

• Identify the biggest section of cardboard, which is likely the longer side panel
• Cut off the flaps

• Cut down the side corners of the box
• Remove the two big pieces

Congrats, you’ve made a plow. This next part is really easy: You hold the flat part of the cardboard to the ground and push it across your yard. The leaves will accumulate on top of the board and you can push them all the way to the tarp, blanket, or bag that is waiting for them. Here’s a video demonstrating how it’s done:

Rake Leaves With Cardboard

Some catches

If it’s been rainy in your area and your lawn or leaves are wet, your cardboard will inevitably get wet, too, which will slowly weaken it. This is best performed on dry or slightly damp leaves, although the good thing about cutting up a big box is that you create multiple plows. If and when your first piece of cardboard gets too wet to function, just swap it out.

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This will impact the recyclability of your cardboard. Per Green Matters, you should dry out wet cardboard before attempting to recycle it, but check with your local recycling center about whether they even want it at all, because water breaks down some key fibers and might make the cardboard useless for recycling. You can also consider cutting up and composting your cardboard, which will be doubly easy if you compost your leaves already.

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You Really Do Need to Update WhatsApp Right Now

Photo: DenPhotos (Shutterstock)

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular chat app, making it the perfect playground for spreading misinformation and lies. You might spend your time begging your relatives not to believe everything they read in WhatsApp threads, often to no avail. However, there’s finally some WhatsApp news that is worth spreading as far and wide as possible: You need to update WhatsApp now. Tell your parents.

What issues did WhatsApp fix?

Unlike my usual security update posts, there isn’t a new WhatsApp version out today. Instead, WhatsApp revealed two critical security vulnerabilities affecting older versions of its apps on both iOS and Android. If you haven’t updated your WhatsApp app lately, your security is at risk.

Both issues WhatsApp highlighted are “integer overflow” vulnerabilities, which occur when a program attempts to move a value into a space that isn’t large enough to store it. Bad actors can exploit this flaw by bypassing security checks to make sure a particular value meets a certain threshold. Once those security walls are down, these bad actors can then install and run their own code onto your smartphone in what’s known as “remote code execution.”

The first flaw, identified as CVE-2022-36934, allows bad actors to run remote code execution through a simple video call. All you would have to do is answer the call, and your phone could be infected. The second flaw, CVE-2022-27492, allows for remote code execution via a malicious video file.

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The ease with which hackers can exploit these security vulnerabilities make them particularly seriously. There’s very little users need to do in order to put themselves in danger, so patching your app as soon as possible is a high priority.

Which versions of WhatsApp are safe?

WhatsApp says the more serious CVE-2022-36934 flaw affects WhatsApp for iOS, WhatsApp for Android, WhatsApp Business for iOS, and WhatsApp Business for Android prior to version 2.22.16.12. CVE-2022-27492 doesn’t actually threaten WhatsApp Business, instead affecting only WhatsApp for iOS prior to version 2.22.15.9, and WhatsApp for Android prior to version 2.22.16.2.

WhatsApp for Android and WhatsApp Business for Android are currently on version 2.22.19.76, and WhatsApp for iOS and WhatsApp Business for iOS are on version 2.22.19.78, so if you’ve updated your app in the past month or so, you should be safe. However, you should check for an update now just in case.

These vulnerabilities are particularly pressing for those who do not update their WhatsApp apps frequently (or ever). We all know people who slack on the updates (perhaps you’re one of them). Missing out on the latest features is fine: Leaving yourself open to security vulnerabilities isn’t.

Before anyone pooh-poohs this news as another WhatsApp rumor or misinformation stunt, go ahead and reiterate it isn’t. We’re covering it, The Verge is covering it, and WhatsApp themselves announced the security updates. While you’re at it, remind your parents not to answer strange video calls or open unknown files (videos or otherwise).

How to update WhatsApp on iPhone and Android

Luckily, updating your WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app is a breeze on any smartphone.

On Android, go to the Play Store, tap your profile icon, then tap Manage apps & device. Look for WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business, then tap “Update” if available. If you have “Enable auto update” turned on, Android might have already updated WhatsApp for you.

On iPhone, open the App Store, then tap your profile icon. Pull down on the page to refresh, then check the list of app updates to see if WhatsApp is available. If so, tap “Update.” Again, if “App Updates” is turned on under “Automatic Downloads” in Settings > App Store, your iPhone may have updated WhatsApp on its own.

   

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