Things That Improve Your Life

[ThunderPeel2001]

  On 1/18/2013 at 12:03 AM, subbes said:

If you freelance, try Freshbooks.

Thanks. It's more the actual tax laws and exemptions I'd like to learn about.

[Luftmensch]

A fork is actually perfect for scooping jam or jelly. It seems unintuitive, but jam is thick enough that a regular fork will still scoop it up just fine, and then you can use the fork to comb the jam into an even spread, where a spoon just smooshes it around without breaking up the chunks. Knives are still ideal for butter or peanut butter.

[Lu]

Combing jam is one of my favourite pastimes.

[Armchair General]

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/poster

[Luftmensch]

I had no clue what it was, but I accidentally bought Neufchâtel cheese instead of the cream cheese I meant to buy. Turns out it's the same thing, except it has a softer texture, spreads more easily, and has less fat.

Apparently Neufchâtel is a real cheese that doesn't resemble what I bought, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the thing that comes in little rectangular boxes and wrapped in foil.

[Luftmensch]

MLA standard for citing Tweets.

[Gormongous]

See, this is why I study dead people.

[Dontwalk]

  On 12/9/2012 at 6:48 PM, brkl said:

I take back my comments regarding flux, it's great once you get used to it. I wish I could find a good solution to make it affect my mouse cursor as well, because now it looks blue.

Open the Registry Editor (start > run > regedit) go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse

Change "MouseTrails" to -1 and log out or restart your PC.

This will let the mouse cursor be affected by F.lux, or color management software.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Wow, great tip, DW!

[Luftmensch]

I've started reading aloud lately. It started as a sort of vocal exercise kick, and it turns out reading out loud a different skill than just reading to yourself. If you're just skimming to yourself, you can digest information in context after you read it without actually reading over every word, but when you read aloud you'll trip over yourself a lot if you try to do that. If you ever have trouble focusing (as I often do), reading out loud gives you a nice combination of structure and physical activity to keep you on track. It's a great way to approach new material or poorly-punctuated technical manuals. And it does help your voice a lot if you talk for an hour straight.

[gregbrown]

A good rice cooker is one of the best investments you will ever make. It makes for very cheap and effortless meals, and you can get pretty creative with throwing in different ingredients. The best, by far, are the Zojirushi cookers. I have the 3-cup version, but they make larger ones as well. They're the most durable ones you'll find, and very easy to clean.

 

One of the cooler features is a timer that won't start the cooker at a certain time, but will instead make sure that the rice is DONE around a particular time. This way you can have the rice ready when you get home from work—and if you're late, there's a "keep warm" feature that'll keep it tasty for up to an hour. I personally fell in love with Basmati rice, but it'll cook all kinds.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Rice is like, super easy to make in a pot too. Boil the water, reduce to the lowest heat until done, turn off the heat and let it sit until you need rice.

[osmosisch]

^^^^ Yeah, with a little practice you can get the proportion rice/water just so that the rice is done when the water is gone. Very easy. 

  On 2/17/2013 at 4:33 PM, Luftmensch said:

I've started reading aloud lately. It started as a sort of vocal exercise kick, and it turns out reading out loud a different skill than just reading to yourself. If you're just skimming to yourself, you can digest information in context after you read it without actually reading over every word, but when you read aloud you'll trip over yourself a lot if you try to do that. If you ever have trouble focusing (as I often do), reading out loud gives you a nice combination of structure and physical activity to keep you on track. It's a great way to approach new material or poorly-punctuated technical manuals. And it does help your voice a lot if you talk for an hour straight.

Do this with Trainspotting!

[ThunderPeel2001]

  On 2/17/2013 at 11:02 PM, gregbrown said:

A good rice cooker is one of the best investments you will ever make. It makes for very cheap and effortless meals, and you can get pretty creative with throwing in different ingredients. The best, by far, are the Zojirushi cookers. I have the 3-cup version, but they make larger ones as well. They're the most durable ones you'll find, and very easy to clean.

 

One of the cooler features is a timer that won't start the cooker at a certain time, but will instead make sure that the rice is DONE around a particular time. This way you can have the rice ready when you get home from work—and if you're late, there's a "keep warm" feature that'll keep it tasty for up to an hour. I personally fell in love with Basmati rice, but it'll cook all kinds.

I've heard similar things from other rice-cooker owners. Apparently they're awesome devices.

[TychoCelchuuu]

If you want to drop money on a new kitchen appliance, I would recommend a pressure cooker, which you can do a thousand things with, instead of a rice cooker, which is just a way to take up more space making rice.

[Luftmensch]

Or less, if you've ever had to live somewhere without a kitchen. Although a pressure cooker is still a valid way to go.

[JonCole]

You can make all kinds of stuff with a fuzzy logic rice cooker. I won't argue against the utility of a pressure cooker (because I'm currently in the market after watching America's Test Kitchen's recent YouTube series on them, here's

), but if you consume a lot of rice you can get a fair amount of the variety that you can get from a pressure cooker with a nice Zoji rice cooker. I'd know, because I eat rice with everything (everything).

[Nachimir]

I posted Delayed Gratification before, and this is a similar but more effective thing for Chrome:

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/crackbook/nbgjmohekjolcgemlolblankocjlgalf

 

You define hours during which it works. Each successive visit to a time-wasting site causes the delay timer to climb by a defined amount, and it only counts down if the tab is in focus, i.e. if you swap to another program, it'll reset the timer. It can even be set to do the same to links opened from a time-wasting site. It thwarts a lot of the workarounds that Delayed Gratification had (i.e. it'd block Twitter for 30 seconds, but not twitter.com/i/connect ).

[ThunderPeel2001]

  On 2/18/2013 at 6:09 PM, JonCole said:

You can make all kinds of stuff with a fuzzy logic rice cooker. I won't argue against the utility of a pressure cooker (because I'm currently in the market after watching America's Test Kitchen's recent YouTube series on them, here's

), but if you consume a lot of rice you can get a fair amount of the variety that you can get from a pressure cooker with a nice Zoji rice cooker. I'd know, because I eat rice with everything (everything).

Yes, a lot of people do. Especially those who come from countries where everything comes with rice (as opposed to here in the UK, where everything comes with chips). I feel like buying one just to spite Tycho.

[miffy495]

  On 2/18/2013 at 9:11 AM, osmosisch said:

Do this with Trainspotting!

Ha. Interestingly, reading out loud was how I got through Welsh's Maribou Stork Nightmares. I loved that book, but goddamn if I hadn't been reading aloud I never would have had a clue what anybody was ever saying.

[Max Ernst]

It has been two years since I gave up eating meat and I am a billion times healthier because of it. This isn't a a post to preach the benefits, ethical and physical, of being a vegetarian, but a quick note of encouragement to those that are considering a meatless diet. It is much easier than you think (I was a meat fiend, don't get me started), and the positives far outweigh the negatives.

 

If you need any tips to get you started, please throw them my way, I will be happy to relate my short experience to you.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I've been a vegan for a while and a vegetarian for much longer and although I haven't noticed many health differences (probably because I didn't eat much meat even beforehand), I have noticed that food is a lot cheaper. (Plus all the ethical/environmental stuff.) So yeah, try out a month of being vegan and you might find it amenable.

[Max Ernst]

While I was never overweight, I did have a nasty habit of going through drive-throughs and getting fast food to 'fuel my study'. I also used to order meat-lover's pizza online and add extra meat. So yeah, it was a lifestyle change. But it forced me to actually learn how to cook properly, and I feel great. I don't miss meat at all.

 

I am considering veganism for this year.

[Patrick R]

http://www.futilitycloset.com/ has taken me out of more than one depression. It's an endless source of wonder and enrichment for me.

[osmosisch]

Funny, I was considering posting about how not eating meat has been a great thing for my life, but couldn't figure out a way to phrase it that I didn't feel would come across as preachy or trollish. So good job guys and +1 to what you guys said,