Lifehacker

Part of the cost of doing business as a zoo is that occasionally, the animals are going to try and make a run for it. An orangutan named Ken repeatedly escaped from his enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. A gorilla named Evelyn temporarily escaped from her home at the Los Angeles Zoo. Even a hippopotamus managed to take a…Read more...

Lyme, the most famous tickborne disease, is growing more common than it used to be—at least judging by health insurance data that includes Lyme diagnoses. Our friends at Gizmodo recently covered new data about the (sorry) uptick, which roughly aligns with CDC estimates. So what do you need to know to keep yourself…Read more...

From weddings to breweries to barbecues to plain ol’ bars, alcohol is everywhere. Drinking is a ubiquitous part of our culture, and while it’s easy to stick with the drinks that you know, you might want to learn more about them (or you may be a seasoned drinker and still not know much about, well, alcohol). Here’s are…Read more...

Before we hit legal drinking age, my best friend and I usually hung out with her older boyfriend and his older friends, mostly because they would share their (terrible) booze. I had yet to learn anything about cocktails, and we weren’t exactly in the position to be choosy, so we drank a lot of Captain Morgan and Diet…Read more...

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This week’s Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide features a grab-bag of unrelated nonsense from the world of young people culture, including an info-dump of salacious material in the seemingly endless imbroglio between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, a look into the Minecraft musical theater community, and a viral video from the…Read more...

We’ve all been there: You have an external hard drive or USB thumb stick plugged into your Mac, and you’re ready to part ways. You drag it to the the Trash, or right-click to eject it, only to be greeted by the infamous, “The disk wasn’t ejected because one or more programs may be using it.” You look around your Mac:…Read more...

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Earlier this week I asked Lifehacker readers to share the pandemic purchases that made sense at the time, but now fill them with buyer’s remorse. These purchases ranged from the predictable (like too many cloth masks), to the slightly devastating (like a cat or dog).

If you’re looking for a way to track your expenses and stay on top of your budget, you’ll need to choose the right spend tracking app. There are a lot of them to choose from, though, so your choice might vary depending on what’s important to you—things like ease, whether you share expenses, whether you’re…Read more...

Little kids are picky eaters—that’s both common and normal. However, there are a few signs that your young child might be more than merely picky. If you think your child’s pickiness has gone to the extreme, but you’re not exactly sure why, you might want to seek assistance. You may worry that your child could develop…Read more...

For every blockbuster that makes it to your local giga-plex, there are probably a half million screenplays that were never produced and a hundred thousand partially shot-but-not-completed features gathering dust in apartments in Los Angeles and New York. Those tokens of broken dreams are sad, but the saddest…Read more...

Whether because you’re running yourself ragged raising little kids, you’re not feeling comfortable in your own skin, or you’ve simply gotten into a rut, there are a lot of reasons married couples may find themselves in a dry spell—but if you’re in a sexless marriage, it doesn’t mean you’re headed for an instant…Read more...

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E-tickets are everywhere: Long gone are the days of pulling up to will call looking for your fancy “paper” tickets, and no longer do we print movie tickets at home to “save time” before heading to the theater. Everything is scannable, and that’s just fine—except when it isn’t. If your phone starts flipping out, or the…Read more...

To grill is human, but to smoke is dad-like. Smoke is the so-called “third leg” of BBQ. It adds flavor, and helps build that sought after bark, and is what makes BBQ taste like BBQ. To make smoke, you need to burn some wood (or pellets), and nearly every smoking tutorial will tell you that the wood chips or chunks…Read more...

Your hearing is important, and we’ve advised you before to bring earplugs to concerts and have them handy for loud movies to protect your ears. But there are other places you should consider bringing earplugs, even places that aren’t usually loud enough to make you fear for your ear health.Read more...

If you’re worried about COVID-19, it’s a no-brainer to make sure you’re up to date on your vaccine and boosters. If it’s polio in New York that you’re worried about, you should check whether you got a polio vaccine as a kid (if not, it isn’t too late to catch up). But when it comes to monkeypox, vaccines are not…Read more...

When I walk down the cereal aisle as an adult, it’s like a reverse of the power scenario I faced as a child: “Wow, I used to love fruity pebbles! Too bad I can’t have it now because it’s kid cereal.” Then I remember that I’m an adult and I can eat whatever cereal I want. So why stop at cereal in a bowl? You can take…Read more...

Traveling is obviously a great way to learn about other cultures, see historical sites, and enjoy different cuisines. There are plenty of guides to help you find tourist destinations and restaurants, and you can get by pretty well these days using your phone to navigate, even in a country you’ve never visited. But the…Read more...

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Most of us perform at least a little bit of due diligence to maintain our health. We watch what we eat, we exercise, we see a doctor once a year, and we monitor ourselves and our bodies for abnormalities and ominous signs. You can absolutely take that too far, and tip over the edge over into hypochondria. But you can…Read more...

Google’s latest update, Chrome 104, is here. Assuming you have the surprisingly generous system requirements, you can update your browser today to take advantage of its new features and changes. The biggest UI changes are for Chromebook users running Chrome OS, but all Chrome users will benefit from the security…Read more...

If your employer doesn’t offer a 401(k) plan, or if you want to set aside more money for retirement, you might consider an individual retirement account (IRA). But to make IRA contributions, you have to receive taxable compensation as defined by the IRS, which means taxed wages or self-employment income. If you leave…Read more...

Starting your day off by reading the news (or opening your Twitter feed) can be rough on your mood. Why not greet the morning with an energizing, life-affirming podcast instead? You’ll likely do better at embracing the day’s challenges if you don’t begin it hating the world.

With global temperatures likely to rise significantly over the coming decades and the American workplace still reeling from the pandemic, there has never been a better time for Americans to demand fundamental changes to the way we live and work. And we should start by normalizing taking a nap after lunch.

Late last year, I moved into my first-ever apartment without a dishwasher, and it quickly became clear that my precious little dish-washing system wasn’t up to the task at hand. Still, I stubbornly resisted buying a countertop dishwasher for months. What, I wondered, could I possibly gain from parking an appliance…Read more...

As global warming changes the climate, once temperate places are going to get hotter. Scientists project that the temperature in the average U.S. city will be about 3°F higher in 2050 than it is today, and it will be twice as bad in some places—Bozeman, Mont.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Chicago’s average temperatures will…Read more...

Even though most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, that number is elusive for most of us. Try as you might to master a sleep routine that actually works, one of the biggest challenges is actually turning your brain off once your head hits the pillow. Plenty of apps track your sleep—but what about getting to…Read more...

This is an urgent hot dog public service announcement: You need to bánh mì your next dog. Immediately. Forget the mustard and the relish, and prep some pickled daikon and carrots instead. This is, legitimately, the best way to eat a hot dog. After I was done rubbing my belly from happiness, I was actually pretty angry…Read more...

Apple silicon—including the M1 and new M2 chips—has a reputation for staying cool even under intense workloads. Intel Macs, on the other hand, run notoriously hot. They’re still capable computers, but they heat up fast, which, in turn, slows things down. If you have an Intel-based Mac, you’ve probably experienced this…Read more...

It is August, which means I should have had a decent tomato sandwich by now, but the weather in Portland is a mess, my garden is a disaster, and none of my tomatoes have ripened to the point of being sandwich-worthy.Read more...

I’ve learned a lot in my many years in the gym, and beginner-me would be shocked and appalled by the things present-me does during workouts. With the benefit of experience, I now do exercises I used to think one should “never” do, and I’ve broken pretty much every other rule besides.Read more...

It’s hard to convey sarcasm in writing, but the consequences of using or interpreting a sarcastic phrase wrong can be serious. Sarcasm is, after all, “a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain” or “a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic…Read more...

Growing up, I was always a big beef eater, with pork being my second meat of choice. Unless it was battered and fried, I didn’t have much time for chicken. I thought it was boring, tasteless, pedestrian. But a proficient cook can make chicken taste really good, and a creative cook can make it taste outstanding. Ali…Read more...

Eggplant doesn’t have a strong foothold in American cuisine, and that needs to change. I’m surprised by how many adults I’ve met who’ve never eaten it, and others who won’t touch the stuff unless it’s covered in marinara and mozzarella. I love eggplant parm as much as the next girl, but there’s so much more to this…Read more...

Conventional wisdom says there isn’t really anything you can do for a broken toe. Well, conventional wisdom is dumb as hell. As it turns out, there are interventions that can—and should—be used when you break your toe.

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Last weekend, a Connecticut man went inside his house after doing some yard work only to see a wild black bear had taken up residency in his kitchen. The homeowner, Bill Priest, knew exactly what to do. This is because the same bear had previously broken into his garage refrigerator merely one weekend earlier. …Read more...

Although air travel with little kids is no walk in the park—especially when you yourself are terrified of flying—you at least get to keep your little ones in your line of sight for the entire journey. What about travel scenarios when you need to send your kid on a flight alone, as an unaccompanied minor?

In my experience, anyone who engages in competitive athletics of any kind will gladly eat, drink, or wear anything that will ethically enhance their performance. Runners eat disgusting gels to boost their energy and spray themselves down with lubricants to reduce chafing. And we’ve all seen football players sucking…Read more...

Apple Arcade is Apple’s solution to mobile gaming’s biggest stumbling block: Nobody wants to pay for individual games, but constant micro-transactions are equally painful. Five dollars per month for a large library of ad-free games that aren’t pay-to-win feels much more palatable. That is, until your favorite Apple…Read more...

If you’re fighting with your partner every day and it’s affecting your ability to connect or have a stable life outside of your relationship, you may be fighting too much. But before you freak out that your relationship is doomed because of the four fights you had last week, know that bickering all the time is not…Read more...

After seemingly endless false starts, Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel opus The Sandman is finally coming to Netflix this week. Gaiman’s work has never translated easily to the screen, but when the process works, it has gifted us with singular films like Coraline and Stardust, and shows like Good Omens and the…Read more...

I’m not one of those joyless people who thinks there’s something wrong with giving children creative and unusual names—I’d rather meet a little kid named Killarney than Kevin any day. But parents are tying their offspring to the associations people have with certain names, so they should at least consider what they’re…Read more...

Eggs are really pretty bland on their own, so they heavily benefit from added seasonings like a spritz of hot sauce, ketchup, or onion powder. I enjoy many sauces and dips with my eggs, but a recent discovery has me hoarding seemingly empty olive jars in my fridge. Make your eggs irresistible by getting them dirty…Read more...

As parents, we all want to make our children happy—we want them to have that coveted toy or the next fun experience. But there are always going to be times when your children want something that doesn’t fit into the family budget; a pricy new video game, an expensive summer camp, or a trendy piece of clothing is not…Read more...

One of the most devastating lessons of early childhood is that you sometimes have to apologize even when you’re not sorry. These days, you might not be snatching a toy from another kid just because you decided they had it long enough, but that doesn’t make having to force an apology any easier. Here’s how to do it and…Read more...

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is one of the year’s best-reviewed Nintendo Switch games, thanks to its deep combat, sweeping story, and giant world that’s fun to explore. The game is engrossing from the moment you start, but there’s a way to get even more immersed in this epic JRPG.

Monkeypox is now definitively more widespread than just a few cases, with New York, California, and Illinois declaring emergencies and the World Health Organization calling it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.Read more...