Ask Lemmy

Not really nonsense but in the winter to stay really warm in your bed, just lay a fleece blanket flat over the fitted sheet. Sleep directly on top of it with your usual blankets covering you. The fleece will radiate your heat, which will then get trapped by the top blanket keeping you much more insulated.

If you want to have a deep rejuvenating sleep, wake up for about an hour in the middle of the night after a few hours of sleep. Don’t do anything that will make you wide awake. Just chill out for an hour and then go back to sleep. The second period of sleep will be so much better than the first.

Throw a square of dark chocolate in chili next time you make it, at least 70% cocoa but the higher the better. Next time you make boxed Mac and cheese, add a dash or 2 of Worcestershire sauce to it. The best egg you’ll ever eat: 1 egg, 1 tbsp of mayo whisked together in a glass container or small bowl. Add 1tsp of butter on top and microwave for 40-60 seconds. You’ll be pissed off about how good it is.

Next time you eat Oreos and milk, put the Oreos in a bowl and pour the milk over them and eat them with a spoon like cereal. Next time you eat cupcakes, carefully break off half of the bottom and put it on top of the icing so it’s like eating a sandwich.

If someone is about to sneeze, wait until they begin to inhale and say something unexpected to them and it will stop them from sneezing.

I told this to my wife and she scoffed and didn't believe me. One day her allergies were kicking up and she started to sneeze. I waited for the right moment and said "GRAPEFRUIT" to her and... She didn't sneeze.

The secret is timing it correctly.

cook bacon in water. 

don't drown it, but add just enough to render out the fat without the bacon being in direct contact with the pan, preventing sticking and burning. then once the water steams out the bacon is left to fry in its own juice, giving perfectly crispy bacon every time. 

This is cooking advice.

If you struggle with cooking or find that you mess up often, try preparing all of the individual ingredients before you start cooking. Eg. measure, wash, cut every ingredient. Apparently this practice is called mise en place.

If you ever watch a cooking video and it looks so effortless this is probably why. It was a game changer back when I was learning to cook. Suddenly it felt like I could make every recipe with ease.

This practice has drawbacks as it could dirty more dishes and increase cook times but it allows you to tackle most dishes at your own pace. I definitely recommend it whenever you make something new for the first time.

If you’re walking with an open container of liquid that’s filled so full it’ll spill, purposefully avert your gaze from the liquid sloshing as you’re walking.

Getting nervous that you’ll spill, will cause you to spill.

An easy trick to immediately get a better posture when walking is to pretend that you have laser cannons attached to your nipples and you are trying to zap people you meet in their faces.

On August 27 2031 make sure you turn left instead of right. You'll know when I mean.

Here’s how I quit smoking about 15 years ago.

Step one: for about a month, every time I smoked I told myself I’m ready to quit. Every cigarette, every time.

Step two: the next month, every cigarette, every time, I told myself they stink and taste like shit.

Took about 3 weeks into the second month and I never picked up another. Oh and I can be around other smokers and don’t crave them. They still fucking stink.

YMMV

you can avoid sneezing and convert it into a cough by opening your mouth and forfully coughing, better than having snot fly all over.

If you can't sleep. Get up. Get out of your bed for a while.

Staying awake while laying in bed often changes the association of sleep with the bed. Removing sleep conditioning effects.

Also as someone who has had insomnia since I was a child. I can tell you if I lay in bed. Unable to sleep. And Stay there. Rolling around. I won't ever fall asleep.

But if I force myself to get up. Maybe have something to drink. Walk around a bit. Stare out the window for a bit. Then go back , I'm more likely to fall asleep.

And if I'm having really bad insomnia. I go for a walk. At this point I'm my life I can tell if it's going to require a walk or just getting up and moving around the apartment/house for a bit.

Even a 15-20 min walk can do wonders. But I typically do 30 to 1 hour walk. It depends on how I'm feeling.

You would think exercising in the middle of the night would wake you up more. But nope.

9/10 times I go for a short walk. I get back and fall to sleep almost immediately.

It's hard to force yourself to get up when you are exhausted and just want to sleep. But it's do the walk or not sleep at all.

Also. Going out at 2 or 3 am on a week day is kinda of an interesting experience. Depending where you live, you might be the only person around.

It's eirie and surreal. Subliminal spaces.

I quite like it. That also helps motivate me to do the insomnia walk. (Sometimes I ride my bike instead which is really nice as there are minimum cars. -make sure you are in light clothes and have lights and reflectors on your bike).

Hiccups: repeat in your head "I don't have hiccups, hiccups don't exist". Repeat these phrases a few times and the hiccups should be gone.

It has worked everytime since I learned this a couple of years ago.

Drink more water. Eat more fiber.

In a financial negotiation, avoid saying a number first, even if it seems like you're being rude, just say stuff like "what's your budget" instead. This trick sounds really stupid but somehow it is extremely effective.

If you ever hurt yourself, you can hit yourself in the nads so that the other part of your body that hurt don't hurt anymore.

If you can't find a comfortable temperature when you're sleeping under blankets, just stick one foot, and maybe part of your lower leg, out from under of the blankets. It acts like a radiator, and will release much of your excess heat.

A kid showed this to me at a childhood slumber party, and it's been a useful tip ever since.

When you sprain your ankle, DON'T MOVE. I used to try and walk it off because that's what everyone does and even coaches recommend it, but that's when the actual damage is done.

Spraining is usually just your tendons/ligaments going into emergency mode (getting very short/tight). So if you try to walk while they are still tight, they will actually tear, doing damage that takes weeks to heal. If you instead just keep that ankle perfectly still for like 30 seconds to 2 min, the ankle will be completely fine.

Trick is, you have to overcome the social pressure to hurry it along (i.e. on a hike at work, or on a sport field).

Switch to linux

This is more relationship advice. Ask your partner to have a day of sex where you just communicate what you want with words.

The first year of the relationship, I was using tricks I saw in porn. I was doing things to my wife that she didn't care for, but didn't say anything because she thought I enjoyed doing it. We later talked and the next session, we just followed what the other person wanted. And now it's part of our tricks.

Next time your jabbing your sausage into her armpit, ask her if she's liking what you're serving.

Don't be a cunt.

Simple advice that works. More people should try it.

When microwaving a thick food, like pasta, there’sa risk of the “deepest” part being cold from lack of microwave penetration. Shift the contents of the plate into a donut shape, so most of it is on the sides and a gap in the center, before microwaving. That helps the heat penetrate evenly.

Hiccups? Try taking a moment to close your eyes, focus your attention to the sides of your neck, and remind yourself that you don't have gills anymore. I read this a few years ago and it mostly works for me - about 80% of the time (not that I get hiccups often). I've spread it to others with about ⅔ success, ⅓ failiure.

I've read the theory that it's our brain in a panic because our gills (that we haven't had for millions of years) aren't working, so reminding yourself they're not there helps. At least sometimes, at least some poeple.

To cure hiccups:

Hyperventilate for about 30 seconds; breathe out until your lungs feel like they're going to implode; Without intaking breath, smoothly chug a 12oz glass of water.

It will "reset" your spasming diaphragm and stop the hiccups.

To try and control impulse shopping, I immediately grab an item I think I want.

I will continue shopping for things I actually want/need, until I look at or feel for the thing I originally grabbed. I will lose sense of interest of grabbing it and put it back.

It takes practice and time. Especially works if you know, are low on money anyways. The idea of this is, to get you thinking about what it is about that thing that made you want it and whether it would have any use or make you happy having it.

If it doesn't after the time you've been having it around, be it holding it or in the cart, then it wasn't meant to be. It was simply an impulse.

If you have a song stuck in your head, and it's driving you a bit mad: listen to it. Something about your mind trying to fill things in (it's been many years since I've read this bit of advice, and unsure entirely on why).

Toast your bagels whole! Sprinkle a little water on the exterior of the bagel and then pop it in the oven. The crust will be crispy, but the interior will be a steamy almost gooey consistency. It's such a better experience than it being all dried out and crunchy atop. Trust.