How to Do Something Your Don Know: February 2017

Tuesday 28 February 2017

How to Stream President Trump's Speech to Congress

Tonight at 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. pacific, Trump will be giving his first major speech to a joint session of Congress. Here’s how you can watch it anywhere, no cable required.

Google Opens Up Keep to G Suite Users and Adds Docs Integration

Today, Google is adding its note taking tool, Keep, to its G Suite service (formally Google Apps). That means if you’re using a company or school Google account you can finally get access to the excellent Google Keep. They’re also adding access to Keep right in Google Docs.

Use Bubble Wrap to Insulate Your Sous Vide Tub

I have long used bubble wrap as a stress-relieving device, but it turns out those sheets of air pockets have another use that is extremely pertinent to my life: sous vide insulation.

Five Tips for Dealing With Mice In Your Home

Mice are simultaneously cute and some of the most horrendous pests of all time. If you’re dealing with a minor infestation, these tips will help you reclaim your castle from the enemy invaders.

How to Make Fluffy Slime

Fluffy slime isn't your traditional slime - it's soft, squishy, and fun to play with, while maintaining a solid form. You can stretch it out, squeeze it, and bend it, and still put it back together again. It's a soft slime that isn't nearly as sticky as other slimes, too! Why not take a bit of time and craft this fun slime?

EditIngredients

school glue
shaving cream
Slightly more than cornstarch
Borax
hot water
Lotion
foaming body wash, or foaming soap (optional)
Food coloring (optional)

EditSteps

Start off by making the borax solution. Take of borax powder and add it into 1 cup (240 ml) of hot water. Mix it until it's thoroughly dissolved and set aside for later use.
Pour ½ cup (120 ml) of glue into a separate bowl.
Add ½ cup (120 ml) of shaving cream into the same bowl as the glue.
Add ½ cup (120 ml) of foaming body wash or soap (optional). Adding the foaming body wash or soap can make the slime fluffier, but it's okay to forgo this step.
Mix until there are no lumps. The substance should have a thick and fluffy texture, similar to marshmallow cream.
Add in slightly more than 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of cornstarch. The cornstarch helps to thicken the slime and allows it to retain its shape.
- The cornstarch isn't necessary for the recipe, but leaving it out will result in a thinner slime that won't hold its shape so much.
Mix thoroughly, but carefully. (Cornstarch is easy to spill.)
Add lotion to your slime. To make your slime stretchier, add in two pumps of hand lotion to your slime.
- It's okay to skip this step if you don't want to add it at the moment - it can always be added later.
Add in food coloring. Too much of some kinds of food coloring can stain your hands or other surfaces, so if it's a potent one, start with just two drops. Mix it well until there are no more white streaks.
Add 3 teaspoons of the borax mixture to your slime. Stir thoroughly, then continue adding the borax mixture 1-3 teaspoons at a time until the slime is at the consistency you’d like it to be.
- You will likely not use all of your borax mixture! It is important to not add too much of it or your slime will harden and break. The original recipe only uses 6-9 teaspoons (44 ml) of the borax solution.
Knead the slime. Once the slime has clumped into a ball and is easy to remove from the bowl, place it on a flat surface and begin kneading it with your hands to thoroughly mix it.
- If the slime is still too sticky, add about of the borax mixture and carefully knead it in.
Rub lotion into your slime for a stretchier slime. If your slime is fluffy, but not very stretchy, add a few pumps of lotion into your slime, rub it into the slime, and then knead it again. Repeat until your slime is as stretchy as you want it to be.
- It can take up to 16 extra pumps of lotion to reach the desired stretchiness, so don’t hesitate to be generous!
Play with your slime. This slime is stretchy, squishy, and fun to play with - it's great for keeping your hands busy!

EditVideo

EditTips

Store the slime in an airtight container when you want to put it away.
Swap out cornstarch with baby powder if you're running low.
It's possible to use clear glue, but it's not really worth it. The slime mixture won't be clear when you add in the shaving cream, so it's best to stick with normal white glue.
You can use shaving gel in your slime, but it's best to mix the gel to make it foamy before adding it to the slime mixture to give it the desired fluffy effect.
If you're not using borax, don't add in your borax alternative to water - just add it into the slime. Adding it into water will dilute it and it won't activate the slime as well.
Make sure to keep your slime in a container or it may dry out.
Acrylic paints can be substituted for food coloring.
You can make more slime by doubling (or even tripling) the materials needed for the slime.
If you don't have borax, try making your slime with liquid starch, laundry detergent, or contact lens solution.
Out of shaving cream? Use foaming soap. It will still work.
The bigger the container, the more space the slime will have to stay the same texture.

EditThings You'll Need

Bowl
Stirring stick or spoon
Measuring tools

EditRelated wikiHows

EditSources and Citations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6qxULdP5UE - research source

Remains of the Day: YouTube Launching TV Streaming Service

YouTube has announced a new online TV streaming service that will offer a variety of live broadcasts from dozens of channels and cable networks. It’ll cost $35 a month with no commitments and will be available “soon.” That and more in today’s news.

Why Bacon Sometimes Looks Green

When you’re not dealing with vegetables, green isn’t the most appetizing color—especially when it’s on your raw bacon. But fear not fellow bacon lover, that weird discoloring is not anything to be worried about.

Tell Us About Your Worst First Day on the Job

Your first day on the job is always a stressful experience. You have to put your best foot forward, make good first impressions, learn the landscape of social relationships in the office, and actually do whatever you’re being paid to do. But it doesn’t always go so smoothly.

Light Up Every Nook and Cranny With OxyLED's Stick-Anywhere Motion Lights

OxyLED’s stick-anywhere motion-sensing lights are ideal for dark cabinets and closets, and though they’re currently listed for $11 each, you can add two to your cart today, and get both for $15 with code OXY2PT02/

Why You Should Order "Double Cut" Pizza for Your Next Party

Pizza parties are arguably the best type of parties, bringing joy to everyone young and old. To get the most mileage out of the pies you order for your next shindig, ask your local parlor to “double cut” them.

Seven Methods to Help You Stay Focused

How many things are vying for your attention right now? Your phone? Email? Slack? Twitter? That nagging to-do list that just seems to keep growing? Modern technology has given us so many amazing things, but one of the awkward side effects has always been its ability to get in our face whether we want it to or not.

This Video Explains Why "I Don't Have Time" Is a Poor Excuse

You can read all sorts of tips and articles on how to “save time,” but as Laura Vanderkam points out in her TED talk, “we don’t build the lives we want by saving time. We build the lives we want, and then time saves itself.” In other words, “time is a choice.”

Today's Best Deals: Calvin Klein Underwear, Google Home, Game of Thrones Risk, and More

Game of Throne Risk, Calvin Klein underwear, and Google Home lead off Tuesday’s best deals from around the web.

What to Do With All That Loose Change You've Been Hoarding

Most of us have a stash of coins somewhere in our home. It could be a change jar, a drawer, or even a pile of the jingly, jangly stuff sitting on a window sill. You save it because, well, it’s money, but also because it’s a pain to carry around and actually use. Here’s what to do with that massive coin stash.

How to Be Intelligent

Do you wish you were smarter? Do you wish other people believed you were smarter? The latter may be simpler than the former, but whether you genuinely want to increase your intellectual capacity, or just want to reap the benefits of appearing more intellectual, there are some concrete steps you can take to achieve you goal.

EditSteps

EditDeepening Your Intellect in a Meaningful Way

Dedicate yourself to becoming a lifelong learner. People used to believe intelligence was fixed, and could not be improved through effort. Contemporary evidence, however, suggests this may not be the case; while an unintelligent person may never become a genius, it seems increasingly possible that anyone has the ability to strengthen her intellect to some degree.^[1] The process is not as simple as just learning some new vocabulary words, though. It takes time and effort to learn how to engage more deeply and critically with the world around you.
Follow your passions. People learn most effectively when they are passionate about their subject matter.^[2] If you are passionate about something, you are bound to want to understand it more deeply; it is this kind of focused, sustained investigation that leads to increased intellect. True intelligence involves deep mastery of a few subjects, rather than a shallow understanding of a broad range of them.^[3] Was Albert Einstein equally gifted in physics, anthropology, linguistics, geology, animal behavior, and literary criticism? Of course not. To be a proverbial jack-of-all-trades is to be a master of none; if you try to learn a little bit of everything, you may wind up understanding a whole lot of nothing.
Challenge yourself. If you’re not struggling, you’re not pushing yourself. Learning shouldn’t be torture. It should be rewarding, though, and it probably won’t be if it doesn’t require much effort. Push yourself to master new ideas and enter unfamiliar intellectual territory.^[4]
Think about how you think. This is called “metacognition,” and it is something intelligent people excel at. Metacognition allows you to understand how you learn, and to apply those strategies from one context to another. If you realize you learn most effectively when you study on your own, for example, you will know not to join a study group in preparation for a final exam.^[5]
Take care of your body. People sometimes forget that the brain is a physical organ like any other. Just as you skin is healthier if you bathe and your lungs are healthier if you don’t smoke, a physically well-cared-for brain functions at a higher level than a neglected one. It may surprise you how much more effectively you process information if you get enough sleep and exercise, and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.^[6]
Learn a language. This will force your brain to negotiate new ways of constructing meaning, and increase your intuitive and conscious understanding of language systems. Thinking more about language also has the added benefit of improving your facility with your first language, and learning all those new words will help improve your memory.^[7]
Learn to play a musical instrument. This exercises parts of your brain used for many kinds of cognitive processing, and introduces you to new ways of receiving and communicating information. It also helps improve your memory, and reduces stress, which can play a major factor in inhibiting intellectual growth.^[8]
Read the news. While keeping up with current events may not exactly increase your intellectual capacity, a truly intelligent, curious person should want to engage with the world she lives in. Having new ideas often involves building on existing ones, so it is always wise to understand as much as you can about the problems the world faces, and the ways people are trying to solve them. Remember, all news sources have a bias of some sort; make sure you get your news from a variety of sources, and never accept something as absolute truth just because it is in the newspaper.
Rely less on technology. The ease with which we can obtain information today makes our lives much more convenient, but it can also make us stupider. The neural pathways involved in reading maps, for example, are probably much weaker in Millennials’ brains than in the brains of their parents. This is because most Millennials rely heavily on GPS navigation to help them find their way, while older generations had to get out an atlas if they got lost. In the same vein, if they can’t remember what a word means, many people are more likely to quickly Google it than they are to sit down and focus on trying to remember. Instead of strengthening their ability to recall information, they can effortlessly obtain the information with almost no thought. Try to rely on your phone less, and your brain more.^[9]
Be open-minded. Don’t write off new ideas because they are scary, confusing, or threaten the way you are used to thinking about the world. Be open to having your perspective changed. The ability to admit when you have been wrong is a hallmark of a great mind.
Be okay with looking stupid. Curiosity is not the same as ignorance; truly intelligent people are constantly asking questions. This is because a wise woman knows that she does not know everything. When you start learning a new skill, you will not be very good at it. That’s natural. If you do something you’re bad at enough times, however, you’ll eventually start to be good at it. Embrace the gaps in your knowledge as portals to discovery and growth.

EditAppearing More Intelligent

Use big words. It doesn’t take a genius to pick up some new vocabulary, but a few impressive words and some grammatical flourishes might give you the appearance of being an intellectual. Download a word-a-day app, or simply make some flashcards. Identify some common grammatical errors in your speech and correct them. You could even look up a few brainy-sounding literary quotations to pepper into your conversations. Remember, using impressive words is only impressive if you use them correctly--saying "juxtaposition" won't earn you any points if you don't understand what it means or how it's pronounced.
Be modest and reticent. The same way everyone kind of starts to suspect that the guy who keeps insisting he’s not racist might be kind of racist, if you constantly try to impress everyone with how smart you are, people may start to wonder. If you are taciturn and humble instead, people may infer that you are consumed with deep thoughts. One good opportunity to put this into action is if someone else makes a stupid comment in a group conversation. If you leap in to correct or mock them, you run the risk of seeming mean rather than intelligent. Instead, let them do the work for you--simply stay silent for a moment, letting their remark sink in, and just when it starts to feel awkward, move the conversation along. It will give the impression that you simply couldn't find a way to respond to such a ridiculous comment, and decided to move past it to spare that person further embarrassment.
Present yourself well. People tend to naturally assume that well-dressed, well-spoken individuals are more intelligent than sloppy ones who mumble all the time. You may also want to consider starting to wear glasses. It sounds silly, but when it comes to making people think you are intelligent, four eyes are better than two.^[10]
Use your middle initial. Again, it sounds silly, and frankly, it is, but nonetheless, there is actual evidence to suggest that calling yourself Frank R. Miller instead of Frank Reginald Miller will make you seem smarter to other people.^[11] If you want to capitalize on this effect, just add another letter, because yes, apparently it works like that.^[12]

EditRelated wikiHows

EditSources and Citations

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Simple Launches Shared Accounts to Make Merging Finances Incredibly Easy

Simple is already one of our favorite tools for managing your finances. They make it incredibly easy to see how much money you have, set up goals, and budget your expenses. Today, they launched Shared accounts, a new feature that makes it dead simple to split expenses and finances with another person.

Ease the Transition to USB-C With a Pair of Great Deals

USB-C is taking over the world (it might even be in the next iPhone...what?!), and you can ease the transition with a handful of inexpensive USB-A to USB-C cables, or some ultra-affordable plug adapters.

Gizmodo This WSJ iPhone 8 Rumor Is Absolutely Insane | Jezebel Did You At Least Remove Your Shoes, K

Gizmodo This WSJ iPhone 8 Rumor Is Absolutely Insane | Jezebel Did You At Least Remove Your Shoes, Kellyanne? | Deadspin Italy Exploited An Insane Rugby Loophole, Enraging England | The Root Ga. Couple Get Prison for Confederate Racist Terror at Black Child’s Birthday Party |

The Most Visually Stunning National Parks According to a Former National Geographic Photographer

One of the best parts about visiting national parks is seeing preserved natural wonders, and each park offers unique views. Recently a former National Geographic photographer visited every national park and tabulated the ones most likely to take your breath away.

Microsoft Unveils $10 Monthly Gaming Subscription Service For Xbox One

Coming this spring to the Xbox One, the Xbox Game Pass will give console owners access to over 100 Xbox One and backwards compatible games for $9.99 a month.