Sunday, February 1, 2015
Schedule Your Phone Calls Instead of Reacting to Them
Some jobs make you spend a lot of time on the phone. Typically, the phone rings and you respond. Instead of reacting to phone calls, try planning your call schedule in the morning to stay on task throughout the day.
Over at Inc, they remind us that scheduling phone time reduces the randomness in your day and puts you in control. They suggest thirty minute increments, but you can pick any schedule that works for you. Many professionals will make those calls at the top of the hour for a ten minute period. The key is to determine ahead of time how long you'll be on the phone and at what time. When you aren't making calls, put the phone in do not disturb mode.
Check out the link for other ways to start your mornings off productively.
8 Smart Things Super-Productive People Do Each Morning | Inc.
Photo by 白士 李.
Amazon's Cheap Tablets are Even Cheaper Today
Amazon's Fire tablets have been surprisingly well-received given their bargain basement prices, and several of the most popular models are getting their first discounts since the holiday shopping season today.
Kindle Fire HD 6 ($84) | Amazon | $15 off
Kindle Fire HD 7 ($114) | Amazon | $25 off
Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition ($134) | Amazon | $15 off
Kindle Fire HDX 7" ($179) | Amazon | $20 off
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— Kinja Deals (@KinjaDeals) June 9, 2014
Create a “Fairytale Phone” With a Raspberry Pi and a Rotary Phone
Back in the day, everyone had corded, rotary phones. Now that you have moved to cordless or mobile, you can make that old rotary dial phone into an interactive kid's toy.
Instructables explains how to add a Raspberry Pi to the rotary phone dialer. Each number on the phone can play a different mp3 file. Kids can listen to a different "caller" at each of the 10 locations. The tip suggests fairytale characters, but you can record anything you want. If you'll be out of town for a while, leave a different message for your child at each location so they can hear Mom or Dad whenever they want. Check out the link for the full instructions.
Fairytale Phone | Instructables
Watch Super Bowl XLIX for Free with NBC's Live Stream
If you don't have a cable subscription, NBC will be streaming 11 hours of free, live programming around the big game on February 1st. And yes, that even includes the halftime show.
In an effort to show people how easy it is to stream TV programming when you do have a cable subscription, NBC is making their Super Bowl live stream available to everyone—no strings attached. You'll be able to watch pre-game, the actual game, the commercials—which is why you're probably watching to begin with—and the halftime show since NBC managed to get the necessary music licensing rights. If you stick around after, you can even catch a new episode of The Blacklist. On the day of the game you can click the link below to start streaming.
NFL: Super Bowl XLIX on NBC | NBC Sports Live Extra via The Verge
Different Mincing Methods Can Affect the Taste of Garlic
Garlic is an essential ingredient in many recipes, and many of them will call for "minced" garlic. There are a ton of ways to mince garlic, but they can all affect the taste. Serious Eats looked at (and tasted) the best.
The traditional method involves using a sharp knife to cut it into little bits or a paste. That takes lots of time. Garlic presses, on the other hand, are much easier: just peel and press. You can also grate it with a microplane. Each of those methods, however, changes the flavor of the garlic. Serious Eats explains:
Overall, what I took away from this raw-garlic test is that on the mincing spectrum, knife-minced garlic is by far the mildest, microplaned garlic is so aggressive it could be charged with assault, and the other three are in the middle with very different textures but not remarkably different flavors.
Which you want depends on your tastes and the recipe in question. Check out the link for the detailed analysis and tutorials on each of these methods.
The Best Way to Mince Garlic | Serious Eats
Photo by thebittenword.com.