Topicfire Lifehack News

Unitasker Wednesday: Glitter Cleanup Cloth

2013-06-19T16:35:23+00:00

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy! Glitter is one of the most evil craft products in existence. Most often, its users are children under the age of 10 who have no business decorating...

Comparing Amazon + FBA to Shopify + Stripe + Shipwire

2013-06-19T04:33:37+00:00

I’m getting closer to offering international fulfillment, having spent some time investigating options and associated costs. If you’re curious about e-commerce, read onward; there’s a juicy Google spreadsheet at the end of it that auto-estimates the cost for Amazon+FBA and a Shopify/Stripe/Shipwire service stack. So I’ve been selling these Emergent...

How to Create a Lifelong Brotherhood

2013-06-19T02:00:50+00:00

Editor’s Note: This a guest post from Jonathan Mead. The responses from my closest male friends surprised me when I asked them this question: “What’s the one thing you feel was or is missing that’s held you back from becoming a man?” I assumed for most men it would be...

Is social psychology really in crisis?

2013-06-18T16:30:26+00:00

My latest ‘behind the headlines’ column for The Conversation. Probably all old news for you wised-up mindhacks.com readers, but here you go: The headlines Disputed results a fresh blow for social psychology Replication studies: Bad copy The story Controversy is simmering in the world of psychology research over claims that many famous effects reported in...

How to Read a Book

2013-06-18T01:47:46+00:00

1. Open book. 2. Read words. 3. Close book. 4. Move on to next book. Reading a book seems like a pretty straightforward task, doesn’t it? And in some cases, it is. If you’re reading purely for entertainment or leisure, it certainly can be that easy. There’s another kind of...

Secret of Adulthood: Burn Energy To Create Energy

2013-06-17T23:28:40+00:00

Further Secrets of Adulthood: � I’m surprised by how true this Secret of Adulthood proves to be. Research shows that when people move faster, their metabolism speeds up. Also, because the way we act influences the way we feel (to an almost uncanny degree), acting with energy will make you feel more energetic....

The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others

2013-06-17T14:30:15+00:00

By Leo Babauta One of the biggest reasons we’re not content with ourselves and our lives is that we compare ourselves to other people. Picture it: you see photos of what someone else is doing on Facebook and think your life isn’t exciting enough. You see someone else who has a cool...

An unrecognised revolution in street drug design

2013-06-16T15:33:38+00:00

I’ve got an article in The Observer about the ongoing but little recognised revolution in street drug design being pushed forward by the ‘legal high’ market. Since 2008 we’ve seen the first genuine wave of ‘designer drugs’ that are being produced by science-savvy professional labs that are deliberately producing substances to...

A radio guide to global mental health

2013-06-16T15:02:51+00:00

The BBC World Service is in the midst of an excellent series on global mental health – called The Truth About Mental Health. It is currently half-way through and is remarkably well done, looking at everything from the war in Syria, to the effects of solitary confinement, to treatment in developing...

New Art of Manliness Store (Plus New T-shirts & Posters)

2013-06-14T22:19:42+00:00

For years now we’ve had an online store that sold different Art of Manliness themed products like t-shirts, posters, and stationery. But there were a few problems. First, the shopping experience in the AoM Store was a pain in the butt. If you wanted an AoM t-shirt, you had to...

How Will You Make Your Own Summer? I Plan To Read for Pleasure.

2013-06-14T21:45:10+00:00

Yesterday was the last day of school for my two daughters. They wore special outfits, I took pictures, lots of excitement. The last day of school is always bittersweet to me; it’s fun to head into the summer, but it’s always a little sad that another year is over. I’m always...

Protect your head – the world is complex

2013-06-13T21:48:37+00:00

The British Medical Journal has a fascinating editorial on the behavioural complexities behind the question of whether cycling helmets prevent head injuries. You would think that testing whether helmets prevent bikers from head injury would be a fairly straightforward affair. Maybe putting a bike helmet on a crash test dummy and...

Hurts So Good: Self-Myofascial/Trigger Point Release

2013-06-13T19:24:32+00:00

This post is brought to you by Poland Spring® Brand 100% Natural Spring Water.What’s this? We can’t all afford a personal masseuse or athletic trainer to regularly rub out the kinks, soreness, and tight spots in our muscles. But there is a way to massage oneself, with...

Trello is a free, effective, family organizer

2013-06-13T16:40:02+00:00

A couple years ago, my wife and I succumbed to the fact that individual paper planners weren’t doing it for us. As much as I love jotting things down on paper and carrying a notebook of lists in my back pocket, it’s no good when two people are trying to...

How to Grout Tile

2013-06-12T22:34:06+00:00

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Ethan Hagan at One Project Closer. Grouting tile joints is one of the last steps for installing a tile floor, and if done properly, grout gives the floor a cohesive, finished look. To demonstrate the proper way to apply grout, I’ve partnered with...

Consider These Questions Posed to You Upholders, Questioners, Rebels, and Obligers.

2013-06-12T21:33:10+00:00

Every Wednesday is Tip Day, or List Day, or Quiz Day. This Wednesday: More questions about the Four Rubin Tendencies. I’m still obsessed with the four categories I’ve developed–which, for lack of a better name, I’m currently calling the Four Rubin Tendencies. These categories describe how people tend to respond to expectations: outer...

Outfitted & Equipped: Summer Day Hike

2013-06-12T17:28:22+00:00

This post is sponsored by Best Buy. Find all the tools to capture, save and share life’s moments. How does Outfitted and Equipped work? The FAQ. The official start of summer is still about a week away, but hiking season is in full swing. Whether you’re in...

Unitasker Wednesday: Unplastic Tray

2013-06-12T15:19:32+00:00

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy! You are not going to believe this. So, get this. Get this! It’s a tray. For cookies. And it looks like it’s plastic. But, seriously, it’s NOT!...

PureContact Is a Visual, Swipe-Driven Speed Dialer for Android

2013-06-12T13:34:45+00:00

Android: Most Android phones have some kind of speed dialer, whether it's a "favorites" tab in the dialer app or programmable contact buttons, but PureContact steps in and adds some useful gestures that make calling, texting, emailing, or using another app to stay in touch with friends super easy.Read more...��

The Quarterly Goodies — Hacker Credit Cards, Alpha BRAIN, Refuel Bars, and More

2013-06-12T01:30:38+00:00

Every three months, I ship out a box of amazing physical products, along with two personal letters explaining everything: a physical letter and a video “letter.” One of the latter is above. I do *not* plan on including these the blog, but giving an example is fun. The theme of these quarterly...

How to Skip a Stone: An Illustrated Guide

2013-06-12T00:33:11+00:00

Skipping a stone is a fun way to wile away the time on a camping trip or picnic. It’s something every uncle and dad should know how to teach and pass on to the kiddos. If you never learned how, here’s your tutorial. Illustration by Ted Slampyak Related posts:...

Story: Would I Have Been Able To Tell Right From Wrong?

2013-06-12T00:23:37+00:00

For the weekly videos, I now tell a story. I’ve realized that for me, and I think for many people, a story is what holds my attention and makes a point most powerfully. This week’s story: Would I have been able to tell right from wrong? � Can’t see the video? Click here. As...

Stop should-ing yourself

2013-06-11T16:38:57+00:00

You see, I believe that should is one of the most damaging words in our language. Every time we use should, we are, in effect, saying “wrong.” Either we are wrong or we were wrong or we are going to be wrong. I don’t think we need more wrong in...

When giving reasons leads to worse decisions

2013-06-11T10:47:07+00:00

We’re taught from childhood how important it is to explain how we feel and to always justify our actions. But does giving reasons always make things clearer, or could it sometimes distract us from our true feelings? One answer came from a study led by psychology professor Timothy Wilson at the...

The Yanomamö and the Origins of Male Honor

2013-06-11T07:34:13+00:00

In 1964, anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon arrived in an almost entirely unexplored region of the Amazon Basin to spend a year studying the Yanomamö: one of the last large, isolated, and virtually uncontacted tribes in the world. Over the next 35 years, Chagnon returned to this area on the border between...