Step-by-step guides for doing real things.
A sharp knife is safer than a dull one: it goes where you aim it instead of slipping. You need: a combination whetstone (around 1000 grit on one side, 3000 to 6000 on the other) and a damp towel. 1. Soak the stone in water for 10 minutes (unless it says "splash and go"). 2. Put it on the damp towel…
Posts and comments on Nakodu use markdown: plain text with a few symbols for formatting. The toolbar above the editor adds these for you, but here's what they do: - bold gives bold - italic gives italic - your text turns your text into a link - Start a line with - for a bullet list, or 1. for a num…
Recruiters often spend under a minute on a first look. Make that minute count. Keep it to one page unless you have more than 10 years of relevant experience. In this order: 1. Name and contact details. Email, phone, city. A link to a portfolio or profile if it helps. 2. Two-line summary. What you d…
Keep one at home and a smaller one in the car or your bag. Basics: - Plasters (bandages) in several sizes - Sterile gauze pads and medical tape - A roll bandage and a triangular bandage - Antiseptic wipes - Tweezers and small scissors - Disposable gloves - A digital thermometer - An instant cold pa…
Read this once now, so you're not reading it for the first time at the side of the road. 1. Stop somewhere flat and safe, away from traffic. Hazard lights on, handbrake on. 2. Get the spare, the jack and the wheel wrench (usually under the boot floor). 3. Loosen the nuts before lifting the car. Tur…
For white long-grain rice (basmati, jasmine). Serves 2 to 3. 1. Measure 1 cup of rice. Rinse it in a sieve under cold water until the water runs mostly clear. This removes extra starch, which is what makes rice sticky. 2. Put the rice in a pot with 1 and 1/2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. 3. Br…
Try these before buying anything. 1. Restart it. Properly: Start, Power, Restart. "Shut down" on Windows often only hibernates. 2. Startup apps. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc, open Startup apps, and disable everything you don't need running from the moment you log in. 3. Free up space. Settings, System, Sto…
Two-factor authentication (2FA) means a stolen password alone isn't enough to get into your account. 1. Install an authenticator app: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Aegis or 2FAS all work. 2. In the account's security settings, find Two-factor, 2-step verification or Login verificat…
Do this 3 times a week. Rest 60 seconds between rounds. Warm up (3 minutes): march on the spot, arm circles, a few slow squats. Then 3 rounds of: 1. Squats: 12 to 15. Sit back like there's a chair behind you. 2. Push-ups: 8 to 12. On your knees or against a table is fine. 3. Lunges: 8 each leg. 4.…
Works in Google Sheets, Excel or LibreOffice. 1. In column A, list your money coming in: salary, side jobs, anything regular. 2. Below that, list your fixed costs: rent, bills, phone, transport, subscriptions. 3. Then list the flexible costs: food, eating out, fun, clothes. 4. In column B, put the…
Typing without looking roughly doubles most people's speed, and it takes less time to learn than you'd think. Days 1 to 3: home row only. Fingers rest on A S D F and J K L ;. Feel the bumps on F and J. Use a free site like keybr.com or typing.com and practise 15 minutes a day. Days 4 to 7: add the…
Cloud storage is handy, but a copy on your own computer costs nothing and works offline. You need: your phone, its charging cable, and a computer with some free space. 1. Plug the phone into the computer with the cable. 2. On the phone, tap the USB notification and pick File transfer (Android) or t…
Angry emails get ignored or passed around. Clear ones get fixed. Structure: 1. Subject line with the facts: "Order 48213: wrong size delivered, requesting exchange" 2. What happened, in two or three sentences, with dates and numbers. 3. What you want. Refund, replacement, repair, or a call back. Be…
You need: a pencil, a tape measure, a level (a phone level app works), and the right hook. 1. Pick the height. The centre of the picture should be about 145 to 150 cm from the floor. That's roughly eye level. 2. Measure the drop. Pull the hanging wire or hook on the back of the frame up as if it we…
Ingredients: 400 g flour, 300 ml lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast. You need: a pot with a lid that can go in the oven (cast iron is ideal). 1. Mix everything in a bowl until there's no dry flour. It will be sticky and shaggy. That's right. 2. Cover and leave at room tempe…
Long beats complicated. A password made of four or five random words is both easier to remember and harder to crack than something like Tr0ub4dor&3. How to make one: 1. Pick 5 words at random. Really random: open a book on random pages, or use a word list with dice ("diceware"). Words you choose yo…
Try these in order. Most clogs give up at step 2 or 3. 1. Boiling water. Pour a kettle of it slowly down the drain in two or three goes. Works on soap and grease. (Skip this for plastic pipes that are already hot-water sensitive, or a porcelain sink with cracks.) 2. Plunger. Use a cup plunger, not…
You need: jumper cables and a second car with a working battery. 1. Park the working car close, nose to nose or side by side, without the cars touching. Both engines off. 2. Open both bonnets and find the batteries. + is usually red, - is black. 3. Connect in this order: - Red clip to + on the dead…