Hiking-Backpacking

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Photo: j.chizhe (Shutterstock) Although fresh basil is now available in supermarkets year-round, it’s not the same as being able to go into your own backyard (or turn to the planter on your windowsill) and picking a few leaves when you need them. But it’s one thing to clear a stem or two for some cocktails: What about picking a majority of the plant to make pesto? Basil’s growing season is already limited to summer weather, so you may be concerned about taking too many of […]

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Photo: vanitjan (Shutterstock) The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for April 2022 shows an increase of .3% for the price of goods compared to the prior month, bringing the 12 month increase on all items to a staggering 8.3%. While products and services hit hardest by rising costs include airline fare, used cars and trucks, and furniture, not every industry has been effected. In fact, there are a few goods and services that have maintained their price year-over-year, if not grown less expensive […]

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Photo: NAN728 (Shutterstock) If you’re planning a vacation, and considering taking a cruise, I urge you to do literally anything else with your time off. Cruises are the worst. You might have visions of enjoying tropical breezes while the sun sets into the ocean, but in reality, you’re going to be packed into a floating nightmare with thousands of old people, sleep in a closet-size room, and spend a week being upsold on “extras” by mistreated wage slaves who are forced to smile at you. […]

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High cost of living causes Texas families to move to RV (NBC Newschannel) DENTON COUNTY, Texas – The housing market continues to squeeze families across the country. Rent prices are up as much as 22 percent in some areas, and bidding wars to buy a house go on. Those increases are forcing many families to make hard decisions about how to afford a safe place to live, including drastically downsizing. One solution, living in an RV. That is what two North Texas families have decided […]

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Photo: Shutterstock (Shutterstock) You’ve probably experienced monthly or yearly fluctuations in your budgeting and spending (or a weekly one; hey, inflation ). At times it may seem like you’re just hanging on for dear life. But if you think long term and big picture about your financial well-being, there exists a general structure to help you earn, save, and spend in line with your goals. So what are the phases of financial planning , and why do you need to understand them? The three phases […]

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Photo: Stuart Monk (Shutterstock) With COVID cases on the upswing again (we’re on, what, the fifth wave? The seventh?) it’s important to know that there’s a medication that can prevent severe disease in people who are at high risk of complications. It’s called Paxlovid. But not everyone is eligible to receive it. Here’s how to find out if you qualify. What is Paxlovid? Paxlovid is a brand name for a combination of two generic medications. One is nirmatrelvir, which blocks an enzyme that the COVID […]

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Photo: djile (Shutterstock) Even as headlines shout about the booming job market and the millions of open positions across the country, finding a job and advancing in your career in a competitive, capitalistic society remains a cutthroat game. You may spend years of your life—and a bunch of money—on an education that can give you an edge, but still find yourself vying for the same jobs against formidable competition. Landing a job interview can feel like making it to the playoffs: You’ve gotten so far, […]

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Photo: Followtheflow (Shutterstock) Many people shy away from having all-white walls in their home for fear the rooms will look too sterile and bleak. While a white room can look stark if not decorated, there are several design elements one can bring in to warm up the space—especially if you don’t want to bother painting or you’re renting a place where you’re not allowed to switch up the paint color. To start, it’s helpful to reframe how you perceive a white space, not “as a […]

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Screenshot: Pranay Parab There’s a long list of things that make browsing the internet feel like living in a dystopian hellscape, and annoying cookie banners and consent forms are right at the top of that list. Most websites are legally required to display these notices and take your consent for using cookies. However, it also blocks a big chunk of the website you’re trying to read. Let’s fix this on all of your devices. Block cookie banners on desktop No matter what platform you’re using, […]

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Photo: Pressmaster (Shutterstock) Roughly 31 million Americans are uninsured right now, and estimates suggest that one in four Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder in any given year. How are the uninsured among them supposed to find a therapist who is not only affordable, but helpful ? There are actually a few ways. How much does therapy typically cost? The average cost of therapy can range greatly depending on where you live. Therapists can charge anywhere between $65 to $200 a session , […]

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Screenshot: Obvious Child/Trailer ( Fair Use ) For all the cultural and political debate around abortion, it remains a taboo topic of discussion. Studies show that 25% of women will have an abortion by the end of their childbearing years, which means you almost certainly know at least one person who has—but it is rarely talked about. Hell, the president is currently being criticized for not saying the word “abortion” while discussing the leaked draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe […]

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Photo: Yanawut.S (Shutterstock) Eating food that’s prepared by somebody else involves a lot of trust. We need to know that the person or company who made the food did the job right, and that’s why we have health inspectors for restaurants and farms, and ingredients labels that give some transparency as to what’s actually in our food. Still, we don’t see a lot of what goes into making our food. Whether we’re talking about farm fields miles away or restaurant kitchens just behind a wall, […]

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Photo: Yellowj (Shutterstock) You may know how to hula hoop like a pro , but did you know that you can put those skills to work as part of the latest social media fitness craze? This week, pop-sensation Lizzo went viral on Tik Tok for duet-reacting to a video of one of her fans dancing to her single “About Damn Time” while using with a hula hoop. It was is but one example of a larger trend on the social media platform, highlighting a resurgence […]

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Image: Avatar publicity still/20th Century Fox John Cameron’s 2009 Avatar sits near the top of the list of the most expensive films ever made, but even higher on the list of the highest-grossing movies in history. As much as the movie’s cultural relevance is debated, there’s no question whatsoever that it was a big investment that paid off handsomely. Of course, that’s not always a one-to-one relationship: High risk sometimes equals high reward, but movie history is littered with big-budget flops. Though we often think […]

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Screenshot: Selling Sunset/Netflix ( Fair Use ) For five seasons (and counting), Selling Sunset has been a solid performer for Netflix, evolving from a reality show ostensibly about the high-power, high-profit world of big-money real estate in Los Angeles to a veritable meme factory filled with pretty people fighting over nothing in particular and occasionally selling mansions. It’s already inspired a Tampa-based spin-off, and Netflix recently dropped a trailer for the latest iteration: Selling the O.C . For the uninitiated, it’s easy to get sniffy […]

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Photo: Friends Stock (Shutterstock) Suspension trainers are great for home workouts and for traveling, but you’ll also see the (often) yellow and black straps dangling from a pullup bar at the gym. What are they even good for, if the machine and dumbbell alternatives are right there? Let’s take a tour of some of the exercises that are actually best done with a suspension trainer. Many of these can also be done with gymnastics rings, but the reverse isn’t true. Rings typically hang from two […]

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Image for article titled Ten Websites Where You Can Find Free Stuff Whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch wasn’t looking hard enough. With inflation continuing to run at a four-decade high, many Americans are doing what they can to trim their budgets, and one of the best ways to save money is to not spend money at all. I don’t want to spend money , you say, but it’s not like companies are just giving away free stuff! Oh, but that’s […]

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Photo: mrmohock (Shutterstock) Over the last few decades an increasing amount of our lives has been moved online. With the advent of social media and cloud storage, things that were once analog or physical have become digital. In most ways, this is terrific: we can share and communicate effortlessly, creation has become simpler and more powerful, and we can represent ourselves with a few mouse clicks or taps of our finger. The days of mailing out paper resumes on fancy paper are long gone, for […]

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Photo: Rawpixel.com (Shutterstock) Have you ever been in the middle of composing a text message and scrolled through the emoji selection only to find that the one you need to express your emotion or situation seemingly doesn’t exist? If so—or if you simply have a great idea for a new emoji—now’s your chance: Unicode Consortium , the nonprofit organization in charge of indexing emoji, is currently open to submissions. Here’s how to send in your own design or idea, and what the application entails. How […]

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Photo: Sean Pavone (Shutterstock) Even before the pandemic changed the way we work and what we want out of a job and a workplace, people were opting to leave their 9-5s and going freelance in increasing numbers. According to data from the Statista Research Department , the number of freelancers in the United States has been increasing steadily since 2014. At that point, there were approximately 53 million Americans who were freelancing. By 2020, it was 59 million. And, as anyone who has freelanced full-time […]