Skip to main content

Posts

Burned Out and Looking to Truly Disconnect? It’s Time to Try Deadzoning

Recent posts

This Is the Real Reason You’re Always Freezing at the Airport

The thermometer read 80 degrees in New York last month when I headed to Newark International Airport. But inside the airport I was met with air so cool I topped my T-shirt with a sweater … then a denim jacket … and then the scarf I always bring in my carry-on bag . Sound familiar? Airports often seem to border walk-in meat-cooler territory, and there’s a lot of speculation out there as to why. But what’s the real reason, and why does it seem so hard to get right? Ken Warren, a mechanical professional engineer and assistant director of aviation facilities and infrastructure at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport , knows firsthand the difficulties of managing passenger comfort: “Being a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) engineer for an airport requires you to understand the type of space you’re looking at, the situations you need to apply HVAC techniques to in order to provide the best air quality and the best delivery for the public...

This Simple Trick Will Stop Seagulls from Stealing Your Food at the Beach (And It’s 100% Sillier Than You’re Imagining)

There are few things more humbling than losing a french fry to a bird. I mean, picture it. One second, you’re living your best summer life: toes in the sand, SPF applied like you’re a responsible adult, paper carton of boardwalk fries carefully balanced in your lap. The next, a seagull swoops in with the confidence of a tiny, winged criminal and makes off with your snack like it paid $14.99 for those fries itself. I wish I could say I would handle this gracefully. I would not. I would gasp. I would point. I would probably screech, “Excuse me?!” to a bird. But apparently, science has found a way to help us protect our beach snacks from avian beggars, and it is so deeply silly that I almost can’t believe it works. But it’s true: Researchers studying herring gulls found a trick that can make some birds slower to approach and less likely to peck. In other words, the beach bully circling your chips may be easier to deter than you’d think. And whil...

These Companies May Send You a Wedding Gift If You Invite Them to Your Big Day (Yes, Really!)

Grandma and Uncle Joe aren’t the only guests receiving wedding invitations these days. There’s a growing trend on social media where couples have started mailing invites for their big day to their favorite brands just for fun—and surprisingly, some have actually reached back out! While there’s no guarantee every business will respond, of course, enough couples have had success to warrant giving this a try. And whether it’s a handwritten congratulatory note or some cool swag from the company, that little gesture can go a long way to making a couple’s celebration even more special. Some of the most talked-about companies that have done this, according to @themakeshiftproject on Instagram? In-N-Out Burger, which has reportedly sent couples meal vouchers, T-shirts and other branded goodies, and Starbucks, where newlyweds say they’ve received mugs, coffee beans and gift cards. Meanwhile, Star Wars fans have also tried their luck with production c...

AI Is Coming for Your Job—Here’s How to Pivot into 9 Safe Careers with the Skills You Already Have

You’ve spent years getting good at what you do. You know the systems, the shortcuts, the unspoken rules. You have the degrees and the experience. But lately, you may have had a questioning moment—perhaps while watching an artificial intelligence (AI) tool write an email, build a report or generate content in seconds—where it occurred to you, “Hey, this is great!” but also, “Wait—will anyone else notice it can do my job?” It’s a quiet kind of panic. No one has mentioned a layoff, and all of the higher-ups keep encouraging the use of AI. But that creeping sense that things you do every day are getting easier to automate (and harder to defend) is lurking. Research from McKinsey & Co. suggests that with generative AI, up to 30% of the work people do now—their actual day-to-day tasks—could be automated by 2030. The 2025 Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum (WEC) says nearly 40% of workers’ existing s...

Get Off Your Phone! Here Are 28 Things to Do Instead of Doomscrolling

We’ve all been there: You open your phone for a quick email check—you swear you’re going to do something productive right after—but before you know it, you’re three hours deep into “signs your mother/father/husband/dog is a narcissist.” Whether the rabbit hole starts with news headlines, social media updates or random videos, it can feel endless. That kind of mindless scrolling—often called doomscrolling—has become a daily habit for many of us. In fact, a recent survey from Morning Consult found that nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults who use social media say they doomscroll either “a lot” or “some,” with even higher rates among Gen Zers and Millennials. Research also suggests that prolonged exposure to negative online content can chip away at focus, productivity and overall well-being. Doomscrolling has been linked to higher levels of stress , anxiety and poor sleep, and constantly taking in distressing news can keep ...