By Mark Wilson, Gizmodo – June 01, 2010 at 12:20PM
For this week’s Shooting Challenge, 168 of you were brave enough to not only share your photography, but to share a little piece of yourself with it. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes haunting and sometimes beautiful. More »
Photography – Business – Arts and Entertainment – Photographers – Portrait
By Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker – June 01, 2010 at 12:00PM
We feature hundreds of different downloads every year at Lifehacker. If all you want is the best of the best, look no further than our annual Lifehacker Pack: One download that installs only our favorite, must-have Windows applications in a few clicks.
As with last year’s Lifehacker Pack (and its much older predecessor), the Lifehacker Pack is intended as both an up-to-date compilation of our favorite Windows apps and utilities, and an actual bundle of software you can easily install.
This year we teamed up with the good folks at Ninite to create an unattended installer for the 2010 Lifehacker Pack. That’s right—run this puppy on a brand-new Windows 7 installation, walk down the street to grab a cup of coffee, and when you get back, Ninite’s bundle installer has finished automatically installing the apps we’d recommend anyone have on their system. Just to make sure we’re on the same page, here’s the screaming link you should follow to download the streamlined Lifehacker Pack:
Download the Lifehacker Pack 2010
We divided up the Lifehacker Pack into two sections this year—the “Essentials” and the “Extended.” Each is just what they sound like—the Essentials is just what you need to make a modern Windows system usable, and “Extended” adds a lot of apps and functionality that not everybody needs, but some folks may find incredibly helpful.
Want to quickly and automatically install the apps we’re recommending? Head to our Ninite bundle, then click the link at the top to “Select All Essential Apps.” Don’t need one or more of the apps included? Un-check the box next to each item you’d remove. You can then hit “Select All Extended Apps” in the second section, and do the same kind of cherry-picking of additions and removals.
When you’re all done picking out the apps you want, click the “Get Installer” link that appears in the lower-right corner, and you’ll be sent to a download page for your personalized installer package.
Here’s how the Lifehacker team came up with the Lifehacker Pack selections, and a brief explanation of why each app is included:
Notepad++: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org, and other office suites are good for just that—writing business documents in an office setting. When you need to edit text, and need just a bit more than Notepad/Wordpad offer, Notepad++ is, as you might guess, much better. There’s a good selection of text search and manipulation tools, tabbed editing of multiple documents, syntax coloring for those working with code, and scripting abilities that can add in functions written by the app’s very enthusiastic user base to add functions like automatic saving. (Previous coverage: AutoSave adds reassurance to Notepad++ editing)
Texter: Built by our own Adam Pash, Texter remains the only truly free text replacement utility for Windows systems. It saves time and mental cycles by filling in long passages and tricky code when you type in a few key characters, and it is, in fact, how most of the Lifehacker editors track and write the HTML and text snippets that get reused everywhere. It can work with text from the clipboard, insert times and dates, and make semi-personalized email responses and signatures a snap. If you’ve got a bug complaint or code to add for Texter, you can contribute through GitHub.
Belvedere: Belvedere, another Adam Pash production, emulates the automated cleaning and sorting powers of the Hazel application for Macs. It takes care of the file actions you’d normally do (or forget to do) manually—remove image files from the desktop when they’re a certain age, delete leftovers in the downloads folder after a certain point, compress and back up files matching certain conditions, and so on. Like its television namesake, Belvedere handles your messy files and folders without a stiff upper lip and unspoken understanding of what needs doing.
SumatraPDF: What does SumatraPDF do that Adobe Reader doesn’t do? Makes reading PDF documents very, very simple, and fast. SumatraPDF downloads PDFs and opens them, rather than try to offer a browser plug-in experience. It opens those PDFs quickly, seems to support the majority of PDF features, including tables of contents, and offers smart navigation shortcuts for those who want to learn.
Chrome: When Lifehacker first launched in early 2005, Internet Explorer had a near-monopoly on browser usage, and Firefox was everything it wasn’t—open-source, faster, extensible, and full of helpful little features—like, say, tabbed browsing. Firefox is still a smart alternative to Internet Explorer, but these days (as hard as it is for some of us to say it), the fastest, simplest, and most search-savvy browser around is Google’s own Chrome browser. At this point, the browser has incorporated most of the features one needs from a browser, has added some nifty new stuff, like built-in browser preferences and bookmark syncing, and has an extension library that’s covering a lot of ground.
In short, for those without special, only-available-for-Firefox needs, Chrome gets the job done. The majority of Lifehacker editors are using Chrome as their primary browser for work and personal browsing these days, and we see it as the best web tool we can recommend. And don’t worry, Firefox lovers—you can still grab Firefox as well in the Extended download. (Previous coverage: Fix the web’s biggest annoyances, The power user’s guide to Chrome [and 2009 edition], Should I use Firefox or Chrome?)
Thunderbird: With so many people using web-based email services these days, we could easily leave out a desktop email client. But Thunderbird is free, and its latest version is easy to set up as a kind of backup tool for Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and most non-Exchange email services. Why keep a desktop client connected to a webmail service? Because IMAP clients tend to still let you access Gmail, even when it’s “down”. And with Google’s support for offline Gears on the wane, Thunderbird’s smart download-then-work-offline feature is great for air travel and other non-connected situations. (Previous coverage: Ultimate online/offline message hub, ultimate Gmail IMAP client)
Pidgin: Pidgin isn’t as flashy as its newer, more social-media-focused counterparts like Trillian or Digsby, but in this case, simplicity is a virtue. Set up Pidgin with your AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, or other chat accounts. Sync your Pidgin profile with Dropbox (a download also included in this pack), and you don’t have to mess with settings anywhere or go hunting for chat logs. Better still, stash a portable copy in Dropbox, synced to that same profile, and you’ve always got a chat client ready to go on any Windows system. (Previous coverage: 10 must-have plug-ins, Use Dropbox to sync profiles across multiple PCs)
Adobe Flash: Yes, it causes a good number of browser crashes (though fewer when bundled with Chrome). Yes, it’s harder on laptop and mobile batteries than straight-up browsing. And, yes, HTML5 is the future. But at this moment, you need Flash, on occasion. If you want a say in when and how it runs, install the FlashBlock Chrome Extension, and the original FlashBlock Firefox add-on if you’re running that, too.
Skype: It’s one of the cheapest ways to call somebody overseas and, amazingly, it’s still free if you both use your computers. Even better, Skype for Windows’ new screen sharing/remote control feature turns out to be a pretty great tool for troubleshooting problems from far away. At some point, someone will ask to call you on Skype. It doesn’t hurt to have it available.
uTorrent: The best, most secure, and most full-featured BitTorrent client for Windows. Our voting readers agree by a wide margin, and we’ve found quite a few neat things to play with in uTorrent, too, like share your own files, remote control your torrents, and running it from a thumb drive.
Dropbox: It’s only been two years since this file syncing service debuted, but it’s already hard to imagine how we lived without it. Everybody gets 2 GB of free space to store files in the most simple interface possible—if it’s in the Dropbox folder, it’s synced. We’ve discovered and linked to many clever uses of this one-folder-every-computer setup, but at its heart, Dropbox is the service that frees you from having to remember to unplug your USB drive from every computer you use it on. (Previous coverage: The cleverest Dropbox uses, Sync files outside your Dropbox folder, The ultimate password syncer)
Mozy: Where Dropbox is simple, Mozy is detailed—in a good way. The web-based backup service also offers 2 GB of free space, but keeps an eye on many different folders, or types of files, across your whole computer, with versioned copies of everything. They’re trying to entice you into signing up for their full service, costing $54.45 for a full year of unlimited storage, but that’s not such a bad thing—having a copy of all your stuff in a place you can’t delete it, set it on fire, or spill your coffee on it is a savvy move.
ImgBurn: When it comes to disc-burning software, “Just works” is a big recommendation, because it really stinks to deal with image files, disc types, or driver incompatibilities right before you want to hit “Burn.” ImgBurn works with CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray, creates and opens all kinds of image formats, and supports every Windows OS back to 95.
CCleaner: You may not think you’ll ever run out of hard drive space, and maybe you won’t. But the extra files, leftover data, and cache files left hanging around by your apps can get very big, and make your system work harder to find the good stuff. CCleaner finds the cruft and cleans it out, nice and simple. (Previous coverage: Run CCleaner on a schedule, Really browse without a trace)
Revo Uninstaller: Windows is too lenient in what it allows each piece of software to do when it “uninstalls.” Some leave files, others leave menu links and file associations. Revo Uninstaller is like bleach when it comes to cleaning out apps. It also has a handy startup program manager for deeper cleans of what’s dirtying up your system.
7-Zip: Windows (thankfully) opens and creates ZIP files creatively. For opening the many other kinds of archives floating around the internet, install 7-Zip. You’ll only see it hanging around when you open up a file, or right-click to create new files.
VLC: It plays nearly any kind of media file you can find on the internet, and with hardware acceleration now in early builds, it should be even snappier very soon. (Previous coverage: Master your digital media with VLC)
Picasa: Picasa makes sense of the myriad folders, files, and faces that make up our often discombobulated photo collections, and does it with an interface that’s easy to understand. It also serves as a one-stop shop for quick photo touch-ups, collage creation, web album uploading, and easy, no-pain photo emails. (Previous coverage: Clean up your photo collection)
Paint.NET: When you need to crop, cut, or otherwise edit an image, Windows’ built-in Paint isn’t quite enough, while a full-fledged Photoshop or GIMP installation is probably too much. Paint.NET is just about perfect for the graphic design needs of a non-graphic-designer.
iTunes: We are not in love with iTunes, by any means—it’s nearly a textbook example of feature creep, and it’s not a fast, easy, or particularly stable bit of Windows software. Still, it seems like everyone has to install iTunes at some point, either to make or release purchases or manage an iPod. There are apps that can manage iPods without iTunes, but they are not elegant. So we include iTunes because it still handles the basic functions of a music library, and makes sense for the many, many iPod owners out there.
Microsoft Security Essentials: As the How-To Geek put it in his headline, stop paying for Windows security—Microsoft’s security tools are good enough. The free download integrates tightly into your Windows system, but not in the annoying icons-everywhere, constant-nagging fashion of the big commercial providers. It also doesn’t drag down performance, is quickly and automatically updated, and, best of all, is just quietly working.
Firefox: When we’re not using Chrome, we’re using Firefox. It’s still a great browser with a lot of add-ons that can’t be had anywhere else, and a good alternative to keep handy.
Recuva: When you or your computer accidentally delete something important from a hard drive, memory card, USB drive, or other space, Recuva can often find it for you, be it the assignment due today or the priceless photo from last weekend.
Foobar 2000, Songbird, and Winamp: Windows Media Player works better than you’d think, and iTunes and VLC get the job done for straight-up library organizing and music listening. Music, though, is a very personal thing, and many of our readers love the customization, power features, and, in the case of Songbird, avoidance of Apple lock-in of these great media players. Installing them all doesn’t take that much space, so why not give them a try?So there it is—the app Essentials we’d imagine any fresh Windows re-install (or virtual machine, or BootCamp, or triple-boot-on-Mac) should have in place, and the Extended stuff for covering all the bases on a productivity machine.
Once again, you can install all or a chosen few of these apps at once, with no license approvals or other unnecessary “Next” clicks, at the Lifehacker Pack 2010 Ninite page. Thanks again to the Ninite team for making this year’s pack very easy to put together and put out there.
What app Essentials, or Extended goodies, did we leave out? If you were designing a Lifehacker Pack for Windows, what would you recommend everybody have installed? Give us a tiny bit of free consulting in the comments!
By Drea, Business Pundit – June 01, 2010 at 07:20AM
By Beth Ritter-Guth, MakeUseOf – May 31, 2010 at 11:30AM
We all love sharing pictures with friends and family. And with online solutions like Flickr, getting your photos out into the world is a snap. Here’s something that will make it even more fun!
Flickery is a Mac application that allows you to search, download, and share pictures directly from your desktop. Sharing on Flickr and finding images have never been easier!
This week, we will be giving away 10 licenses for Flickery worth $180 in total! Find out how you can be in the running to win one.
Flickery is extremely simple to use. Once you download, install and launch the app, you’ll be presented with an intro screen which quickly explains its functions.
In order to use the application, you’ll need to sign in to your Flickr account. If you don’t have one, click on “Get Flickr account”, then follow the instructions to create a new account.
Once connected, you’ll have access to your Flickr account directly from your desktop. You can easily browse through your image albums, Flickr contacts, photo groups, favourites, and even upload your photos directly from the app.
Besides that, you can also search for images on Flickr. There are several search options: by tags, title, username, location, nearby, most interesting or newest. The last 3 search options are pre-defined — that is to say, you can always gain access to them via the left sidebar.
To search for a photo, click on the blue Search button and enter a term in one of the search fields (for example, Henry David Thoreau) and click Search. As soon as you do, that search criteria will automatically be saved in the left sidebar for quick access.
Flickery will find images that are tagged with the same word or phrase. Click on the pictures you would like to keep and click on the Download button in the menu. That’s it! The pictures will download directly to whichever folder you designate.
If you want, you can import them directly into iPhoto.
Or you can share them with others through iChat, email, or Twitter. Simply select the “Share” button!
Besides that, you can also perform any of the regular functions i.e. marking an image as Favourite, viewing more images by a particular user, viewing the EXIF information attached to the image and even commenting on the image; all from your desktop.
Flickery works seamlessly with your Mac and is really simply to use. It helps you easily download, organize, and share photos on Flickr with ease!
Try Flickery completely free for 15 days by downloading the trial. If you’re happy with it, be in the running to grab yourself a copy by participating in giveaway.
It’s simple, just follow the instructions.
| STEP 1 | |||
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| Join our Facebook page by clicking the Like button or you can follow us on Twitter, if you prefer. If you’re already following us, you may skip this step. | |||
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If you can’t see the fanbox, click on this link. |
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| STEP 2 | Here’s our new giveaway form. Please fill it in accurately. Be sure to enter your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form. |
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| STEP 3 | |
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| You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both! |
Share it on Facebook
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Or on Twitter
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| And that’s it! You’re done! |
This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, June 4 at 2100hrs PST. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.
Spread the word to your friends and have fun!
MakeUseOf would like to thank Matthias from Eternal Storms Software for his generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.
Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf fan page on Facebook. Over 20,000 fans already!
By Jason Fitzpatrick, Lifehacker – May 30, 2010 at 12:00PM
Computers are easier to use and more dependable with each new generation of hardware and operating system update, but that doesn’t mean they’re problem-free. Here’s a look at the five most popular tools for troubleshooting your computer problems.
Photo a composite of images by jimrhoda and Axonite.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite diagnostic tool. Below, we’ve rounded up the top five answers, and now we’re back to highlight the most popular computer diagnostic tools among Lifehacker readers.
If things haven’t gotten bad enough that you’re forced to take refuge with a Live CD, SIW is a Windows-based diagnostic tool that can help you get to the bottom of things. SIW is incredibly detailed in its analysis, next to nothing is left uncatalogued from the timings of your memory modules to the DLL files loaded to what applications you have set to autorun at startup. Even if you’re not currently experiencing any computer issues, SIW gives you a really interesting peek inside your computer.
Hiren’s BootCD is an impressive toolkit rolled into one packed DOS-based Live CD. Sporting over a hundred separate diagnostic and repair tools, Hiren’s BootCD can help you do everything from diagnose a memory problem to clone a disk to speed test your video card. If you can’t find out what is wrong with your computer after running through all the tools on Hiren’s BootCD the diagnostic answer you may end up at is “Time to buy a new computer.” A note about Hiren’s BootCD: many of the diagnostic tools gathered on the disc are abandonware or older versions of still produced commercial software. The legal status of Hiren’s BootCD is murky so Hiren doesn’t directly host the disc image himself. You’ll need to search Google to find locations like here and here where the disc is hosted. If you’re not comfortable with murky areas of Hiren’s method for assembling the boot disc, you’ll find plenty of other excellent boot discs in this Hive Five that contain only freeware and open-source software.
Your first reaction to the phrase “computer diagnostic tool” might not be “Google!”, but every computer diagnosis begins with the user wondering what the error code or chain of events leading up to the error means. We’ve solved countless problems around the Lifehacker office by simply plugging in an error code or describing the problem in common terms and letting Google do the heavy lifting. Google tirelessly kicks back thousands of web pages, forum posts, and even old Usenet postings to help you drill down to your specific issue. Your favorite search engine isn’t necessarily a diagnostic tool in the traditional sense, but it should be the first place you stop whenever you have a computer issue. Many of the solutions we’ve found over the years using Google were extremely specific and pointed us towards using a just-for-that-problem application or tweak we would have never found otherwise.
You’ll find no shortage of Live CDs for Linux distributions, but Ubuntu has a particularly user-friendly Live CD and many people have experience with Ubuntu outside of diagnostic work, both make an Ubuntu Live CD extra appealing. You can use an Ubuntu Live CD to test your computer’s memory, recover data, or scan your computer for viruses among other tasks. Live CDs are great for giving you a platform to work off of independently of your troubled system and an Ubuntu Live CD has the benefit of an enormous community of Ubuntu users and all the accompanying how-to guides and information.
If you’re a Windows user and you’re not comfortable going back to your roots with a DOS-based boot disc and you definitely don’t feel comfortable with a Linux one then UBCD4Win is just what you’re looking for. UBCD4Win’s strongest selling point is the stripped down version of Windows XP—Windows PE—which makes it dead simple for Windows users to jump in and start using the numerous diagnostic tools on UBCD4Win. When your version of Windows is flaking out on you, it’s comforting to jump into a Live CD version of Windows to continue your diagnostic work without having to mess around with the nuances of using a Linux Live CD.
Now that you’ve had a chance to look over the top contenders for best diagnostic tool, it’s time to cast your vote in the poll below:
Which Diagnostic Tool Is Best?online survey
Have a favorite diagnostic tip, trick, tool, or tech support site you want to give a shout out? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Have an idea for the next Hive Five? Drop us an email at tips@lifehacker.com with “Hive Five” in the subject line.
By Erez Zukerman, Download Squad – May 28, 2010 at 03:00PM
Filed under: Design, Internet, Open Source
Clip art can be useful for more than just boring presentations; if it’s high quality and in a vector format, it can be used as a basis for other projects, such as T-shirts, stickers, gig posters, etc.
OpenClipArt Library is a large site that features thousands of bitmap and vector clip art images. As can be expected, the content is quite often crappy. I’m sorry, I’m not going to sugarcoat it; if you’re looking for a nice image, you may have to spend some time sifting through a lot of pretty awful stuff.
Still, it is free, and some of the content is vector-based. You can browse by artist, which might help filter the amount of bad clip art you have to endure before you find something you like.
Search could be improved, too. It may just be a matter of policing tag usage; try searching for cat to see what I mean. Perhaps 10% of the results are actually images of cats; the rest is composed of pretty random stuff (green checked border?).
Criticism aside, this is a valuable initiative. The domain name is good, and I hope that, over time, search will get better and more high-quality content will be added. If you have any free clip art of your own, do consider adding it to this massive collection.
Find free clip art at the OpenClipArt Library originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 28 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Clip art – Graphics – Open source – Download Squad – Retailers
By jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer), Ars Technica – May 27, 2010 at 08:33PM
It’s hardly a secret that large segments of the population choose not to accept scientific data because it conflicts with their predefined beliefs: economic, political, religious, or otherwise. But many studies have indicated that these same people aren’t happy with viewing themselves as anti-science, which can create a state of cognitive dissonance. That has left psychologists pondering the methods that these people use to rationalize the conflict.
A study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology takes a look at one of these methods, which the authors term “scientific impotence”—the decision that science can’t actually address the issue at hand properly. It finds evidence that not only supports the scientific impotence model, but suggests that it could be contagious. Once a subject has decided that a given topic is off limits to science, they tend to start applying the same logic to other issues.
Read the comments on this post
By Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker – May 27, 2010 at 07:30PM
It won’t necessarily increase productivity, but if what you’re doing isn’t that pressing, passively watching a movie while you work can be relaxing. If you don’t have a second monitor to do it on, here’s how to put it on your desktop.
Some of you may already know about this feature in VLC, but it was new to us—if you go to VLC’s preferences and hit the Video button, you’ll have the option to choose the output type. Instead of default, switch it to DirectX video output. After restarting VLC, you’ll notice that under Video in the toolbar, the “DirectX Wallpaper” option is now clickable.
Not surprisingly, selecting it overlays the video on your desktop so you can watch it full-screen, while you do work on top of it. While some of you may be able to minimize VLC entirely and still watch the movie, I found that that took away the video entirely—so I just resized the VLC window really small and stuck it in the corner of my screen. Surprisingly, too, it didn’t bog down my system at all. Everything ran quite smoothly. Note, though, that you might need to re-apply your old desktop wallpaper when you’re finished.
For you Mac users looking to do this, you can actually do so with QuickTime and the previously mentioned Secrets preference pane (or any of the other hidden preference tweakers out there). Just uncheck the option for Quicktime that exits full screen when switching Windows, and you’ll be able to bring your dock, menu bar, and other windows in front of the playing QuickTime movie. Again, it isn’t the most productivity-enhancing tip, but it’s sure to make your less important work (or really boring and tedious work) a little more fun.
By Jason Fitzpatrick, Lifehacker – May 26, 2010 at 12:00PM
Nothing can stand in for a good night’s sleep. Today we’re not going to show you how to scrape by with less sleep; instead, we’re going to help you reboot your sleeping habits so you get the sleep you need (and deserve).
Photo by groenmen.
Who wouldn’t want more sleep? We live in a 24/7 world where the work of the day doesn’t have to end when it gets dark, work can start long before the sun comes up, and even when the work is done you’ve got a million-and-one distractions to keep you up well into the wee hours surfing, clicking, and not getting a good night’s sleep. This guide aims to help get your sleep cycle back in order and start getting the rest you need.
This is a long one, so here’s a quick outline if you want to jump straight to any section:
A few things need to be said before we go any further. First, sleep deprivation isn’t a badge of honor. It’s a very American/Protestant Work Ethic attitude to act like being so busy and stretched thin that you must go without sleep just to get it all done is something to be proud of. If you’re going to insist that abusing your body with sleep deprivation is something to be proud of and a necessary part of being a working adult, then you’re not in the right frame of mind to really take this advice to heart. Going with little sleep is sometimes an unfortunate necessity, but it shouldn’t be adopted as a way of life and a point of pride. (You certainly wouldn’t brag to your friends how awesome you are malnourishing yourself.)
Second, if you read through this guide, take the advice to heart, and still see no positive change in your sleeping patterns, you may very well need to see a doctor. There are a multitude of medical reasons for why you might not be getting a good night’s sleep, including things like Sleep Apnea. Conditions that interrupt your sleep slowly shave years off your life and decrease the quality of life in the ones you have left. If you suspect you have a sleep disorder, talk to your doctor and go see a sleep specialist. Photo by YelloShine.
Finally, there isn’t a tip in this guide I haven’t personally used. Between being a student, a parent, an educator, a writer here at Lifehacker, and for one horrible year doing it all in addition to working 12 hour graveyard shifts, there isn’t a whole lot about sleep deprivation and putting your “sleep life” back together that I haven’t experienced. Sleep deprivation is brutal and I hope whether you’ve been short-changing yourself an hour of sleep a day or eight that you take something away from this guide that helps get things back on track.
An important part of getting your sleep schedule back under control is understanding what you’re doing to yourself by not getting enough sleep. Your body is a complex machine that evolved over millions of years to the state it is in today. Our modern coffee-swilling, go-go-go, work-until-the-crack-of-dawn-and-collapse culture has only been around for the tiniest fraction of the history of the human species. We haven’t adapted to less sleep, and we’re likely not going to adapt any time soon. You need as much sleep today as your greatest of great grandfathers needed in 2010 BCE. Photo by ZoofyTheJi.
What happens when you don’t get enough sleep? Everyone is familiar with the common side effects, like being tired the next day, sore muscles, and general irritability. Sleep deprivation also has a myriad of side effects you don’t see as easily as yawning or a snippy attitude. Sleep deprivation increases your risk of heart disease, impairs memory retention, increases risk of diabetes and obesity (adequate sleep is required for proper glucose processing and insulin regulation), and increases risk of depression and other mental illness, the list goes on and on. Earlier this month we shared a study with you showing that sleep deprivation is similar to being outright intoxicated. Most people would frown strongly upon someone showing up to work drunk every day, but we all act like sleep deprivation is just the way it has to be.
Sleep is a critical part of your body’s maintenance routine and depriving yourself of it is the same as running a machine with no down time for preventive care and repairs. You can do it but eventually something breaks and usually catastrophically.
You can read more about the effects of sleep deprivation and related studies here.
Let’s get a big misconception out of the way. You don’t have a “sleep bank”. If you’ve gone for the last year chronically sleep deprived you don’t have to refill some sort of sleep tank in your tummy in order to start feeling normal again. You can start doing things today to increase the sleep you’re getting and start feeling better immediately. It will take a few weeks of consistent and restful sleep to shake the after effects of sleep deprivation but don’t despair, you won’t need to “sleep off” all 1,498 hours of sleep you shorted yourself over the last year. Photo by analab01.
Another misconception is the amount of sleep people require. The only person who can judge the amount of sleep you need to be happy and alert is you. Studies come out year after year saying X number of hours is the best number of hours—8 hours to feel most rested, 7 hours to live long like the Japanese, 6 hours and you’ll die young—but the only expert on what is best for you is you. We’ll return to the topic of how much sleep you need and how to measure it in a moment; for right now let’s focus on what you can do tonight.
Practice Good Sleep Hygiene: Sleep hygiene is similar to your end-of-day personal hygiene. Just like you wash your face and brush your teeth before bed, sleep hygiene is an umbrella term that covers all the things you do leading up to sleep that help or hinder restful sleep.
Good sleep hygiene involves getting your body ready for a good night’s sleep and not overstimulating it. How can you practice good sleep hygiene? Start by shifting your perspective on what bedtime and sleep really are. Bedtime isn’t just the point where you collapse from working hard and staying up too late, bedtime is the start of a block of time very important to your body. You need good sleep and you should treat your bedtime with proper respect.
Don’t drink anything with caffeine in it after dinner. Dependent on age, gender, and other physiological factors the half-life of caffeine in the body is roughly 5-10 hours. In other words, that cup of coffee you drank at 7PM is still with you at midnight. Nicotine is another common stimulant; you should quit or make your last cigarette of the day well before bed.
Don’t drink anything with alcohol in it. Alcohol is a depressant and will help you get to sleep. The problem is it depresses everything in your system including your metabolism. Alcoholics report having no dreams because alcohol disrupts REM sleep, a critical sleep phase for both brain and body health.
Step away from the screens. Exposing yourself to the glow of a screen before bed will keep you awake. Your body is hardwired to wake up when light is bright and go to sleep when it gets dark. If you shine a bright light in your face before bed you’re telling your body it’s time to perk up and be alert. If you absolutely must use a computer or mobile device later in the day, at least turn the screen brightness way down to semi-counter the effect of the light.
Change your body temperature. Your body drops in temperature as you drift off into sleep. You can trick your body by simulating this temperature shift. In the colder months take a hot shower or bath late in the day, your body temperature will rise and then fall again as you cool off from the shower making you sleepy in the process. It’s harder to do this in warmer weather, but you can substitute the hot shower with a cold one. While a cold shower seems terribly unpleasant—and trust me, it’s not as fun as a hot bath on a winter night!—it will also induce a temperature swing that will make you sleepy.
Minimize external distractions. It’s especially important while you’re easing yourself into a new sleep routine to minimize external distractions. Have a cat that jumps on the bed at 3AM? Toss them out of the bedroom before bedtime. Neighbor starts up his diesel truck at 4AM to go to work? Wear ear plugs. Spouse gets up and turns on the lights to get dressed before you? Sleep with a sleep mask on—this one is amazingly comfy.
No napping. Later on when you’ve ironed out the details of your sleep cycle you may find that a power nap early in the day is great for you. Right now though we’re focused on rebooting your sleep cycle. No napping. You need to go to bed at the end of the day when you are tired, not at a later time because you snuck a nap.
Purge your bedroom. No computers, no television, no balancing your checkbook in bed, no reading over those damn TPS reports, no anything but sleeping and getting it on (in whatever order works best for you). If you have a television in your bedroom and you never turn it on, don’t break your back hauling it down to the basement. If you’re a chronic bedroom channel-flipper however, you need to get it out of the room. Your bedroom should be a place your body associates with nothing else but sleep and sex. Photo by MJimages.
Don’t torture yourself. You didn’t drink any coffee, you turned off the computer at 7PM, you lugged the TV down to the basement, you put in ear plugs and pulled the shades, but it’s 11PM and you’re still tossing and turning. Don’t torture yourself by laying in bed frustrated. Get out of bed and do something that will relax you. Don’t go watch television, play video games, or anything else that will stimulate your brain into thinking it is time to wake up. Go sit in a comfortable chair and read a book for a little while. Sort through magazines you’re going to toss in the recycling bin and clip out a few interesting articles. Do something low-stress and relatively boring for 20-30 minutes and then go lay down again. You don’t want to get in the habit of thinking of bedtime as unpleasant and stressful.
Your initial energy should be focused on making bedtime pleasant, preparing for bedtime well before the bedtime hour, and making sure to limit stimulating activities (exercise, coffee drinking, action movie watching) to earlier in the day. You need to start doing these things right now. Reading this at 5PM after getting home from work? Put that cup of coffee down right now. Stop telling yourself you’re going to get around to finally getting a good night’s sleep and start getting one.
Once you’ve started with the basics outlined above, like decreasing bedtime stimulation, it’s time to get serious about the big picture of your sleep needs. Good sleep isn’t accidental. Unless you’re a baby fresh off the breast and passed out in a milk-coma you’re responsible for your own good sleep. It might seem counter-intuitive since sleep looks like the most passive sport around, but preparation and study is key. Once you start working in our earlier tips it’s time to start measuring how effective they are and ensuring you get enough sleep. Photo by ba1969.
Analyze your sleep needs. Do you know how much sleep you actually need? Could you tell someone with certainty that you’re happiest after 7 hours of sleep? Do you wake up when the alarm goes off or do you wake up before it and turn it off on your way out of bed? There is only one good way to find out how much sleep you need and that’s going to bed earlier than you think you need to. Creep your bedtime forward by 15 minutes every few days until you start waking up on your own in the morning. When you start waking up before your alarm clock consistently—for a minimum of one week, weekends included—you’ve found your optimum sleep window.
Waking up shouldn’t be a jarring affair that involves you smashing your fist on your alarm clock and growling. For months now I’ve been waking up ahead of my alarm clock and let me tell you, it feels awesome to wake up on your own and not to the sound of a buzzer. “Beating” the alarm clock every day is like a little victory right out of bed.
Obey the Routine. I can’t tell you what your perfect routine is. Maybe your routine is no coffee after 3PM, dim the lights around your apartment at 7PM, and read in bed for 20 minutes at 9PM before it’s lights out—or maybe it’s none of those things. What is important is that you find a routine that works for your schedule and you stick to it. You might not be 7 years old anymore but your adult body appreciates a routine bedtime just as much as it did when you were a kid. Whatever routine you decide on, stick with it long enough to see if it works and tweak it gently and one thing at a time if it doesn’t.
Anticipate Lack of Sleep. Sometimes lack of sleep is one hundred percent unavoidable—somebody in your family gets in an accident and you’re up all night at the hospital, you get snowed in at the airport and you just can’t sleep well on a plastic bench, etc.—but most times we see an event coming that will cut into our sleep cycle. If you know you’re going to be up late, take a power nap in the afternoon. If you’re coming off a late night bender make sure to adjust your bedtime the day after to get you into bed sooner. Short term sleep deprivation can be quickly remedied with adequate rest. Don’t let a wild weekend throw off your sleep schedule for the rest of the month as you stay up too late, sleep in too late, and spend two weeks slowly—if at all—recalibrating your sleep schedule.
You don’t have to tell me how hard it is to get your sleep schedule back on track. After I got off third shift I wondered if I’d ever stop feeling like a zombie and start feeling like a normal person again. It’s hard to do and easy to screw up. Take the above advice to heart though and you’ll be sleeping deeply, waking refreshed, and wondering how you ever got by on caffeine and grit alone.
By Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker – May 26, 2010 at 07:00AM
Gardening may seem like a right-brain activity, full of contemplative moments and pretty flower arrangments. Wired would argue otherwise—it’s a geeky science project, and they encourage learning the science and trickery behind soil, pollination, and other garden basics.
One of the first things to learn about is dirt—or, actually, that you don’t want dirt. You want soil, which is something else entirely, and full of crazy-specific details and history:
Soil is about as interesting as anything gets in this life. It’s a mixture of rock particles, water, air, organic matter, and microorganisms-lovely creatures such as nematodes, protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and actinomycetes. O the varieties of being! Only 45 percent of soil consists of minerals, with particles ranging in size from clay (less than 0.00008 inch in diameter) to silt (0.00008 to 0.002 inch) to sand (0.002 to 0.08 inch). Clay makes for terrific soil, owing to its high cation-exchange capacity, a measure of fertility. It can also suck the boot right off your foot.
Soils can be alluvial, colluvial, loess-and it matters. You will need to familiarize yourself with the pore space and texture of your soil and learn to promote aerobic versus anaerobic decomposition. Just repeat: Friable is desirable.
We’ve previously offered up low-stress beginner garden projects to start out with, and one of them involves grabbing your soil and bringing it to your local cooperative extension for testing. Once you know what your ground is like, you can start researching the plants that will prosper in your green spaces.
What’s the nerdiest aspect of gardening that you absolutely love? Share your not-so-secret obsession in the comments.
