Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

You’re probably rolling your eyes at this point when you hear the term FOMO, but bear with me because it turns out that FOMO isn’t about fear of missing information. It’s about feeling anxious that you’re missing out on bonding time with your social group. Here’s what to do about that anxiety.

Imagine that the evidence of someone’s lunch is lodged right between her front teeth, and the struggle begins: Do you tell the person? You have to pull it off with grace so both parties can remain dignified, but that’s tricky, especially if you barely know her. And by that time, would you seem like a jerk for waiting so long to say anything? For the “do you tell the person” question, there’s a simple rule for that.

When you find a bit of mold on food, it might seem like it’s okay to salvage some of it because the mold doesn’t cover the whole thing. That seems like the logical step, right? It turns out that’s not true for a lot of foods, like bread, because the mold can hide deep in the surface where you can’t see it.

Whether you’re working on a big presentation for work or school, interactive visuals always help win over an audience. Loopy, a free tool for making simulations, is perfect for that. Trying to explain complicated systems or feedback loops of any kind—economic, political, social, ecologic, etc.—is always easier with a visual. But you don’t need any complicated software to make visuals like that any more.

When you’re meeting a dog for the first time, it’s hard not to slip into that high-pitched, “goochy-goo” voice people use to talk to babies. A new study suggests puppies actually love that voice, but you might be wasting your breath with older dogs. The study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, looked at how recordings of adults using different voices affected dog behavior.

If you’ve ever taken a walk to de-stress, you know the powerful effect getting outside can have on making you feel refreshed mentally, emotionally, and physically. But if you live in a busy city, finding nature to help you recharge can be a challenge. Besides the fresh air and exercise you get from exploring nature, you can also boost your productivity and creativity. It can also help you deal with the smog and air pollution in your city.

Google pushed out a big update to Google Earth for Chrome and Android today. Alongside a snazzy new look, the new version adds guided tours, 3D maps, a random button, and lots more. The guided tours, which Google calls “Voyager,” aren’t just some hacked together algorithmic mess, they’re led by scientists and documentarians.

Even with smartphones and caller ID, wrong number calls and texts still happen all the time. What’s the most bizarre one you’ve ever received? And how did you handle it? Five Useful Things You Can Do With a Burner Phone Number Five Useful Things You Can Do With a Burner Phone Number Five Useful Things You Can Do With a Burner Phone… When you think of “burner” phone numbers, espionage and spies probably come to mind.

One thing I almost never fail to lose is chapstick. For other people, it’s their keys, sunglasses, or wallet that always go missing. And while it sucks to misplace stuff and feel like you’re going crazy, it’s also just something that inevitably happens. Here’s how you can methodically find things again.

In the U.S., we tend to pile our main dish atop rice and call it a day, but in many other cultures, rice is served with a variety of toppings so that it can be enjoyed aside from the main dish. Here are a few suggestions to garnish your rice with tasty toppings. You might have heard of some of these items before, but if you don’t have them at home, you should stock up and increase your flavor options when serving up rice.

Finding a place to securely save files online or send them between computers is surprisingly difficult. Over at Digital Inspiration, Amit Agarwal uses WhatsApp as a clever workaround to store through an encrypted connection. Here’s you can do it too. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryptionandsupports two-factor authentication, which makes it one of the most secure messaging apps around. It’s also packed with a ton of features and you can send files of all kinds through the app.

Wine is pretty dang delicious on its own, but you can also use it to add flavor to many dishes, from “drunken” pasta to sauces and stews. You might think you can grab any wine and toss it into a dish, but you should put a little more thought into it before grabbing any bottle you have. First off, don’t switch between red and white if a recipe calls for one or the other.

Positive thinking has a ton of benefits, from expanding your creativity to boosting your health, but if you’re prone to a more negative outlook, it can be hard to see the glass as half full. Here’s how you can retrain your brain to become a more positive thinker. Just like any life skill, learning to become positive takes practice and effort.

Nothing is more mouthwatering than bread and pastries that are fresh out of the oven. They smell good, they look good, they taste good, they can do no wrong. But you might want to skip the corporate grocery story—you’ll find the best bread at your local bakery. Before you can treat yourself to these tasty baked goods, you need to find out if you even have a local bakery, of course.

Crying is a great way to let out all your pent up emotions and, according to a new study, boost your mood considerably. All you need is a sad song that gets the tears flowing. Why We Love Listening to Sad Music Why We Love Listening to Sad Music Why We Love Listening to Sad Music Music affects our brains in all kinds of wonderful ways.