Why do people waste their money on non-stick cookware when there's cast iron — cheaper, sturdier and even more "non-stick," if you treat it right? You can't use metal utensils in non-stick cookware, and you also risk ruining it if you use it over too-high heat. A cast-iron skillet, on the other hand, is practically…

If you want to play around with the arrangement of pictures that are not of a uniform size, I've had excellent luck using brown paper cut to the size of the frames. With a little tape I was able to try out various asymmetrical arrangements and find one that looks just right.

I'd recommend linen sheets, which feel cooler than cotton (or synthetics) and have been demonstrated to improve sleep. They can be a little pricey (Cuddledown has a sale at the moment) and feel rough when new, but they get very nice and soft with repeated washings.

I bought some high-quality wooden venetian blinds last year, and as a result I've been able to keep the windows open and a floor fan running for a lot longer into the summer without turning on the AC at all. The problem with shades and curtains is that (because they block airflow from open windows) they're only…

I work at home, so I mostly don't need devices to remember to-dos. My simplest trick is an old fashioned wire mesh inbox and a stack of little memo sheets in a lucite box beside it. WHATEVER I need to remember, whether it's to buy more bandaids, to call mom, write a thank-you email to a friend, to look something up, I…

Paper filters do indeed change the taste, for the better. Less bitter and gritty than French press, IMHO. Here's how the coffee obsessives at Chowhound recommend brewing the best coffee:

@sweetchuck: I think real journalism is going to have to go away for a while, so that the freeloaders will miss it enough to be willing to pay to get it back. Alas.

This sort of book is really only for practiced cooks who are ready to move beyond recipes. Knowing ratios is great if you have the technique down, and already know, for example, that you should leave some lumps in the pancake batter, always use cold butter when making pie crust but room-temp butter when baking a cake,…

@MagicJewball:

@Gary Richardson:

@dragonskin:

@dragonskin:

One of the many uses for which an Altoids box is also an ideal solution.

The poker angle makes sense to me, and this is sure a cool trick, but for the most part, you have to wonder: If the point is to convince someone that you like them so that they'll like you back, then why would you need to do it if you didn't *already* like them? And if you already like them enough to want to make them…

This article seems to me to be intended more for people in training (say, for a marathon or competitive sports) than people observing a regular fitness routine. I think almost everybody knows that you don't stretch cold muscles, but what about static stretches at the end of a perfectly routine workout on, say, an…

@Narsil: I wish it were otherwise, but this is the reality of the profession, a reality that's often obscured by news reports that mislead people by focusing on the handful of writers who have done well and ignoring the vast majority who never get to quit their day jobs. Think about how many new novels the average…

Some people do make money from writing books, but your chances (especially if you write fiction) are about the same as winning the lottery, and playing the lottery is a lot less work.

I've been doing this for a few weeks with a nifty little Mac shareware program called Calories. Eliminating whole categories of food — whether fat or carbs or whatever — isn't really practical and makes it too easy to fall off the wagon. Calorie counting, as long as you don't restrict it too radically and are content…

I have a Sigg. I throw up my hands at the safety issue, given so many conflicting reports. I like the fact that it's light, bigger than the water bottles sold in most stores and the vending machines at my gym, and the screw-on top has a "loop" so that I can carry it with one finger, which is handy when you're juggling…

When you get paid to do something, you wind up doing it a lot more than you did when it was a hobby, which contributes to getting tired of it. However, this item doesn't account for the fact that compensation is not the only form of reward. Recognition, the feeling of being part of a team effort, the gratification of…