Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

In the frenzy of a real emergency, it can be hard to think straight. Yes, it’s important to give your name and explain the situation when you call 911, but there’s some things you should tell them first if you’re calling from a mobile phone, just in case. When you dial 911 with a cell phone, the call gets picked up by a nearby emergency services call center known as a public safety answering point (PSAP).

Every week, we share a number of downloads for all platforms to help you get things done. Here were the top downloads from this week. Magnet for Mac Is the Window Management Tool I’ve Desperately Needed We’ve seen a few different tools for Windows-esque window management on Mac over the years, but none of those ever fit well with my workflow. Magnet is an app that’s been around for a while, but a few recent updates have finally made it the app I need.

Vacationing in another time zone often means being the victim of jet lag, which can make the first few days of your trip tough. Here are a few tricks I’ve used over my years of traveling to make sure jet lag doesn’t stop me from making the most of my vacation time.

While there’s never truly a “good time” to poop in a crowded, cramped metal tube hurling through the sky at 500 miles an hour, some times are more comfortable than others. Here’s what a professional flyer recommends if you’re worried about privacy and being considerate to other passengers. Pooping in public places isn’t easy for a lot of people. Maybe you worry about the smell, or perhaps you hate the idea of holding up a line. Whatever it is, don’t stress.

I’ve visited all seven continents, which means sleeping in many different time zones and situations. After trying to sleep on cruise ships, airplanes, and in cities that come alive at night, I have the perfect bedtime routine that helps me fall asleep no matter how jet lagged I am. I used to be able to curl up on my suitcase and sleep in the middle of an airport in seconds, but as I’ve gotten older, sleeping away from home has become more difficult.

Do you ever feel like the person next to you on the subway is staring at your phone and reading your texts? Of course you do, because we all glance at other people’s phones and tablets during our boring commutes. I do, anyway. BlackBerry has a solution. BlackBerry has a new app called Privacy Shade that covers your screen in darkness, except for the little part you actually want to see. There’s only one line of text or even just a few words visible on your phone at a time.

The dryer in my building never dries a load in one cycle, which means I end up paying for two dry cycles when my clothes really only need one and a half per load. That’s a waste of energy, money, and time. So, when I heard about this trick to add time incrementally, I had to give it a try. After all, it would only cost me 25 cents.

I’m one of those people whose stress level is directly related to how messy my apartment is, especially my kitchen (because that’s where the most mess happens). But, I’d also rather binge watch Parks & Rec than clean. So, I decided to give the S.O.S.D. method a try and see if it strikes the balance between clean and fast. S.O.S.D. represents the different areas in your kitchen to focus on for a quick clean: surfaces, oven, sweep (floors), and dishes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is facing a 13% funding cut in Trump’s proposed budget, and if that budget goes through, your air and train travel could be affected in several ways. Here are the changes you might see as a result of this new budget. If you have family, friends, or work that takes you to more remote parts of the country, getting there may be a lot more difficult if Trump’s cuts to the DoT go through.

Mexico is a popular spring break destination because it’s warm, close to the U.S., and inexpensive. But the U.S. State Department has renewed a travel warning to much of Mexico, so if you were thinking of going there, you might want to make plans for another destination. If you’ve already got a trip booked, here’s how to stay safe. The State Department warns to avoid nearly half of Mexico’s states due high levels of violence and crime.

Today is the first day of spring, or the vernal equinox, but it doesn’t feel that way for a lot of the country. It’s still pretty cold, and it will remain chilly for a while. Here’s why. When you think of spring, you probably think of warm, sunny days, picnics in the park, and the occasional spring shower. And it’s reasonable to expect that because we’re getting more daylight each day and the sun is warming things up. But for most of the U.S.

Yesterday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan gave a St. Patrick’s Day toast with a truly sad-looking pint of Guinness, much to the horror of Irish viewers and Guinness lovers everywhere. The only way he could have made it worse is if he dropped a shot of Bailey’s and Jameson in it. If you’re going to pour a Guinness, here’s how to do it right.

Being able to schedule a Lyft ride in advance has been an option for a while, and it’s now available in 25 cities throughout the country. I hadn’t bothered to try it until recently when I was stuck with an early morning flight and had to get to the airport. Here’s how my experience compared to what Lyft promises. The night before my flight, I was going back and forth over whether to use the scheduled rides feature.

If you’ve ever been on a horrible first date but felt obligated to stick it out to the end, this tip is for you. It’s hard to get a good sense of who someone is with just one encounter, but sometimes you can tell they’re not “the one” almost immediately. Maybe they said something offensive. Maybe they seem overly aggressive. Or maybe they just reek of serial killer.

If you’re always worried about whether or not there’s urine in the pool before you jump in, worry no longer: there definitely is. Here’s how much. This month, the Journal of the American Chemical Society published a study that estimated there might be as many as 20 gallons of urine in a large swimming pool.