Sky watchers: Do not miss the Geminid meteor shower this year. This annual collision of the trail of asteroid 3200 Phaetho and the Earth’s atmosphere will provide a show for anyone who looks skyward at night from now until Christmas Eve.

The peak of the Geminids will occur in mid-December, and viewing conditions will be close to perfect this year. Since the new moon rises on December 12, the sky will be extra dark during the Geminid peak, meaning you might be able to see as many as 50 shooting stars per hour.

When and where to see the Geminid meteor shower

The Geminid meteor shower has been visible since mid-November, and it will continue until Christmas, but the peak of the shower is likely to be on December 13 or 14. Shooting stars should be visible around 9 or 10 p.m. local time, but if you stick around until much later, the show will get better. As the night progresses, the radiant point of the shower will appear to climb higher into the sky, and you should see a ton of fast moving, yellow meteors. The best time for viewing will likely be around 2 a.m. local time.

As you might expect from the name, the meteors of the Geminid shower seem to originate from the constellation Gemini. The easiest way to find Gemini is to locate Orion’s Belt. Follow the line from Orion’s right foot (that’s Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation), through the belt, and up towards Betelgeuse (Orion’s left shoulder). Keep following that line to Castor and Pollux, the main stars in Gemini. (You could also make this much easier by downloading a constellation-finding app like Star Walk 2.) Don’t sweat the direction too much, though. These meteors will likely be visible all over the sky.

For the best meteor spotting results, go to an area with a wide, unobstructed view of the sky and as little light pollution as possible. Give your eyes about a half hour to fully adjust to the dark, look toward Gemini, and wait.

Geminid Meteor Shower watching starter kit

All you’ll need is your eyes to check out the shooting stars during the Geminid meteor shower, but if you want to make the experience better, here are some meteor-peeping accessories.

• Celestron – SkyMaster 15×70 binocular

• Star Walk 2 iPhone App

• 3-layer fleece picnic blanket

• Hotchstater’s Slow & Low rye whiskey

• Rechargeable LED Flashlight

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon: a space oddity

Widely regarded as the most impressive meteor shower of the year, the Geminids are unique because they are the result of an asteroid instead of a comet. The celestial father of Geminid shooting stars is 3200 Paethon, an asteroid that acts like a comet. Comets are made of ice and asteroids are made of rock, so most asteroids don’t have tails and don’t leave behind a trail of debris that causes shooting stars. But 3200 Phaethon has a tail that scientists believe is sodium gas.

That doesn’t explain where the material that creates the Geminid meteors comes from, though. There isn’t a solid answer for why the asteroid left so much material in its wake, but scientists speculate that a “disruptive event” a few thousand years ago could have caused the asteroid to break apart and eject the billions of tons of floating debris that make up the Geminids.

Source: LifeHacker – How to See the Geminid Meteor Shower

Frankly, there’s too much content out there to keep up with. I don’t know how anyone stays on top of new episodes of the buzziest shows rather than rewatching the same comfort shows over and over again. But, still, there’s new TV and movies to catch up on, and if you don’t want to lose your mind trying to keep track of it all, you’d be well served to turn to a platform to help curate your interests.

JustWatch has always been on my radar as a solid option for finding new shows and movies to watch, as well as keeping track of the titles you complete. The company hosts a giant compendium of shows and movies, including which streaming services you can find them on. Think of it like a TV Guide for the streaming era. It’s available as a website, as well as an app for iPhone and Android.

Recently, the company added some cool updates to its Watchlist feature that seem worth checking out. The JustWatch Watchlist is now broken into three different categories:

• My Lists: This section is similar to the original Watchlist you may be familiar with, but there are some key new features here. You can now use it to build different lists of shows and movies you want to watch, which should work great for separating lists of titles to watch with your family from the ones you want to watch by yourself or with friends. (After all, Bluey and Oppenheimer don’t need to be on the same list.) You can also import lists from other JustWatch users or from IMDB, which should make finding something new to watch a little easier, and you can share your lists with other users. These imported lists will tell you which streamers each title can be found on, so you don’t need to go hunting for each one.

• Public Lists: This section is where you can go to find lists of TV shows and movies from JustWatch curators. JustWatch says you’ll be able to find lists for categories from the Academy Awards, to lists about specific actors, directors, or franchises.

• TV Show Tracking: This section should be a welcome addition to anyone who wants to keep tabs on the many, many shows that are out there to binge. You can add shows in your queue, then check them off as “Continue Watching”, “Haven’t Started,” or “Caught Up,” depending on their status.

In addition to the changes to Watchlist, JustWatch also updated its streaming service selection feature. According to the company, it should be easier to know how much each streamer costs, what you get with each, and where you can rent or buy content (as well as where you can watch that content for free).

Source: LifeHacker – This App Makes It Easier to Keep Track of Everything on Your Watchlist

This shopping season, you should invest in your home by upgrading your standard cleaning tools to something a little snazzier—and something with more features that make sense. Some of these save you time, some of these get your stuff even cleaner, and some of them will save you money by reducing the single-use products you rely on. No matter whether you want to make the place cozy for the holidays or get a head start on New Year’s resolutions, these are a good jumping-off point to get your home in order.

If you’re shopping for tools make home cleanup more convenient, here are some recommendations from this article:

• O-Cedar Microfiber Cloth Mop and QuickWring Bucket

• Joymoop Mop and Bucket Set

• Chom Chom Lint and Pet Hair Roller

• Gap Cleaning Brushes, Set of Two

Upgraded cleaning tools for the kitchen

Around your kitchen, it might be time to replace the tools that will help you clean everything from the floor to the countertops. In the kitchen, everything gets dirty way faster than you expect it, so it’s important to have the tools to help you keep the mess at bay. Regular old brooms and mops are fine, but a little upgrade can make a big difference.

• It’s finally time to invest in a mop bucket with a wringing attachment, but it turns out it’s not a huge investment at all: These things have become so popular that the O-Cedar set is just $24.99 at Target (and that includes a cloth mop and refill head, too). You can also use the wringer on washcloths before you clean with them so you’re not getting your granite or hardwood too wet. 

• Upgrade your Swiffer to a mop option that combines old-school techniques with a modern, eco-friendly approach: The Joymoop mop and bucket set ($37.90) features a flat head similar to a Swiffer, but you put reusable fabric pads on it and wring them out in the accompanying bucket. The bucket has a wet and dry chamber so you can squeeze dirty water out away from the clean stuff. 

• Another superior broom swap is the silicone sweeper from Burferly ($32.99). One head has traditional bristles while the other is solid silicone, so you can round up floor debris super easily. Use this in your kitchen for broken glass, crumbs, and whatever else, but drag it along carpets all over your house to dislodge pet hair, too.

Upgraded cleaning tools for the living room

The living room presents its own set of cleaning challenges, ones that require all kinds of cleaning tools and techniques to keep it looking presentable. Here are some tools that might make things easier.

• Pick up a blinds cleaner ($12.60) to easily clean between individual blinds on your window. You can use a tongs with microfiber cloths rubberbanded around the sides, but isn’t having a specific device just a little more elegant? 

• Upgrade your lint roller to the Chom Chom roller ($22.46), which captures hair and lint in an internal chamber, making it easy to clean out like a vacuum. It never needs refills and can be used over and over again.

Upgraded cleaning tools for the bathroom

Bathrooms are the dirtiest and the grossest room in the house, so they require the most work to clean. You have plenty of tools for the task, but some could probably use a little update. 

• Stop using an old toothbrush to scrub nooks and crannies when you could be using a special gap-cleaning brush, like this one from Rienar ($5.97). Unlike the poor old toothbrush that’s become your go-to scrubber, the handle on this is actually designed for you to scrub things, plus the bristles are really long, so you can get into cracks more easily. 

• Upgrade how you clean the shower altogether with a cordless spin scrubber ($39.99) that revolves 500 times per minute and features a long pole that will stop you from ever needing to crouch down and try to scrub the inside of your shower again. It has brush heads to clean everything from tile to windows. 

• Leave streaky glass cleaner behind with the cordless window vacuum from Sharper Image ($80). You fill it with water, kind of like what you do with a mini steamer, and it sprays the water onto your glass, then sucks it off and puts it in a separate reservoir for dirty water. It comes with a removable, washable filter and an extension handle for larger surfaces. 

Source: LifeHacker – The Specialty Cleaning Tools That Are Actually Worth It

Diet “challenges” are, by their nature, strict and not sustainable. (That’s what makes them challenges.) They usually demand you restrict your food choices in some way, such as cutting out entire food groups. But what if there was a diet challenge that just wanted you to eat more vegetables? That’s the idea behind the 800-gram challenge. 

What is the 800-gram challenge? 

The basic idea is simple: You eat 800 grams of fruits and/or vegetables each day. That’s it, that’s the challenge. 

Surely it can’t be that simple! you might object. Well, you’re right. There is an official website for the challenge, and if you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll get a free guide telling you the rules for the challenge. This includes a big list of “Yes they count!” foods and a smaller list of “No, they don’t count” foods. (You can also view those lists at the main website.) Corn and potatoes count. Raisins, juices, and nuts do not.

It also includes a note that the hashtag #800gChallenge is trademarked, and “cannot be used for organized programs, challenges, or coaching without licensing from OptimizeMe nutrition.” 

Why 800 grams?  

The 800-gram challenge website cites a 2017 meta-analysis on fruit and vegetable consumption. The authors concluded that the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the lower your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and “all-cause mortality” (which makes it sound like if you eat enough vegetables you’ll live forever, but they just mean you’ll live longer). The benefits level off at 600 grams per day for cancer risk, and 800 grams per day for everything else. If you eat more, that isn’t a bad thing, it just isn’t necessarily any better than eating 800 grams. 

They write: “An estimated 5.6 and 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide in 2013 may be attributable to a fruit and vegetable intake below 500 and 800 g/day, respectively, if the observed associations are causal.” That is, I will note, a big if. 

Despite what a few contrarians on TikTok want you to believe, fruits and vegetables are associated with good health—in this study and in others. Will you personally avert death by eating 800 grams of fruits and veggies? Nobody can guarantee that. But it isn’t likely to hurt. 

Need a food scale? 

• This Ultrean scale is only $10 and will get the job done just fine (I own a similar model).

• This two-platform KitchenAid scale ($40) is what my cheap scale wishes it could be.

• This mechanical kitchen scale ($37.50) will have you feeling like you live in an old-timey grocery store. 

How much fruit and vegetables does it take to hit 800 grams? 

I had to try the challenge, of course. The prescribed 800 grams sounded like it would be a lot, since that’s 28 ounces, or about 1.75 pounds. Per day. 

The OptimizeMe website helpfully offers that this amount of fruits and veggies is about six cups, typically totals 400 to 500 calories, and can fit on a dinner plate. You would split that up over your full day of eating, of course—so about two cups per meal. And it’s up to you how much of that you want to be fruit and how much will be vegetables. 

Here’s what I ate on the first day of the challenge: 

• Banana, 199 g

• Two small apples, 215 g

• Carrot, 80 g

• Black bean soup, ingredients 381 g (beans, onions, etc.—I weighed these as I made the recipe and then divided the total by the number of servings)

• Total for the day: 875 g

In addition, I had a slice of pizza, some Sour Patch candy, a package of pork bao from Trader Joe’s, a leftover Olive Garden breadstick, a small portion of steak, and an Old Fashioned cocktail.  Total: 2,580 calories, which is neither unusually high nor low for me. 

I did have to work to get those veggies in. The soup was a meal I had already planned for the day, and I might normally have an apple or a banana at some point, but on this particular day I had two apples, one banana, and one carrot as snacks. It took extra effort, but not enough to be onerous. 

I kept up the challenge for over a week, with totals of 875, 804, 830, 838, 877, 777, 745, 765, and 756 grams. You can see I stopped worrying so much about meeting the magic number of 800. I also got a bit lazy about weighing: Bananas usually came out to around 200 grams, so instead of weighing a banana, I would just log it as 200. There’s an asterisk on those banana numbers, though, which we’ll get to.

How realistic is the 800-gram challenge?

Based on my experience—as a person who routinely buys fruits and veggies, preps meals on the weekend, and has a decently large calorie budget to work with—it wasn’t hard at all to do for a week. It was getting old by the end of the week, though. Here are a few things you should consider if you want to give this challenge a try: 

Weighing isn’t hard, but the way they want you to weigh things is annoying

I’m no stranger to the food scale, but come on, do I really have to weigh the onion that I’m about to chop to make some soup? If I’m following the challenge, I do. And then I have to jot it down on a piece of paper somewhere, because this isn’t something that apps do automatically (unlike calories, where I can scan the barcode on that pack of Trader Joe’s bao and have the data saved instantly to my phone). 

Another thing that annoyed me: I don’t think you’re supposed to count the peel on the banana, or the core of the apple. My 200-gram bananas were likely only supposed to count as 120 grams or so. But who is going to weigh their banana peel when they’re done? Or their apple core? The beauty of an apple as a snack is that you can eat it on the go. I’m not saving the core to weigh when I get back home. 

The rules don’t always make sense

And another thing! The rules of the challenge are arbitrary and—yep, I’m going to say it—stupid. Hummus only counts if you make it yourself, not if you buy it. (Sorry, I counted my store-bought hummus.) Applesauce and pickles  don’t count if there’s any sugar in them—what? Like the sugar somehow cancels out the fact that applesauce is made of apples? 

You could defend these rules by saying you want to make sure that the 800 grams only counts fruits and vegetables, not oil that might be added to the hummus or sugar that is added to the applesauce. But does that really justify not counting those items? It sounds more like an opportunity to restrict foods or to make foods less accessible. How many of us make our own hummus? 

The rule about juice had the same feel to it, too. Juice counted as fruit in at least some of the studies that the meta-analysis was based on. Striking it from the list for an internet challenge sounds like an attempt to make the challenge fit with other rules beyond just meeting a total. I’m not a huge fan of juice, nutritionally speaking, but it seems unfair to add an anti-juice rule. Even myplate.gov allows juice in your daily servings of fruit (they just recommend that you don’t allow it to be all your daily fruit, and cap it at half). 

Going from 0 to 800 grams may make your tummy unhappy

This isn’t an issue I had, but one I see reported a lot: Not everybody’s gut is ready to handle that amount of fiber all at once. It’s an 800-gram challenge that people tend to jump into all at once, not a “slowly work up to eating 800 grams every day” plan. Your intestines might prefer the latter.

You may be tempted to turn it into a weightloss diet

The challenge’s website asks if you are “sick of the lack of results” from restrictive diets,  which seems to imply that this challenge is a pathway to “results” that you have not heretofore gotten. Sure sounds like they’re talking about weight loss. PopSugar, in writing about the challenge, presents it as a “simple solution” for “trying to lose weight.” 

There seems to be a temptation to think of eating more vegetables as another way to say “eating fewer calories.” We’ve seen this in “healthy eating” talk in general (see my rant about how healthy eating is not the same thing as dieting). Fruits and veggies are great, but you also need protein, healthy fats, and other nutrients they don’t provide. If you’re chasing the 800 gram number, and allowing that to displace other foods on a low calorie diet, you may not be eating very “healthy” after all. 

Every time somebody says “800 grams by weight,” I want to scream

Finally, if you’ll allow me one pedantic quibble, the website and many of the people who talk about the #800gChallenge talk about getting 800 grams “by weight” of fruits and veggies. Unlike ounces, which come in both a measure of weight (“ounces”) and a measure of volume (“fluid ounces”), grams only work one way. And technically they are a measure of mass, not weight, but that’s a physics lesson for another time. 

Final thoughts on the 800-gram challenge

I feel conflicted about this whole thing. On the one hand, getting more fruits and veggies is a good thing, and I like that the challenge has you focus on what you are including in your diet, rather than encouraging you to cut things out. It also gives you credit for what you already eat, rather than demanding you add a certain amount; if you already eat 600 grams of fruit and veggies most days, you only need to add another 200.

I also like that the focus isn’t on body size, but on healthy eating. Even if you ignore the formalized challenge and just take the results of the fruit-and-vegetable research to heart, you’re eating veggies to make yourself healthier, not to lose weight. Not everybody needs to lose weight, but we can all benefit from working a variety of plant foods into our diet. 

Ultimate I think my biggest problem with the challenge is the challenge format. The OptimizeMe website promises an “antidote to dieting nonsense” and then tells you to weigh your food and consult yes/no lists. That sounds like dieting nonsense to me. 

But then again: If somebody told you it’s good to get 800 grams of vegetables, you’d probably agree and then ignore them. If your whole Crossfit gym is doing a “challenge” together for a limited time, you now have a structure encouraging you to see how much plant matter you’re actually eating, and take the recommendation seriously. Maybe the human brain needs silly challenges to thrive. 

Source: LifeHacker – The Good and the Bad of the 800-Gram Fruit and Vegetable Challenge

Most of the time, it’s illegal to wander into a national forest to chop down a tree. Right now, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is all for it—provided you get yourself a Forest Service-issued permit first.

Cutting your own tree on federal land actually turns out to be a pretty affordable way to source a Christmas tree, but there are specific guidelines you need to follow to avoid running afoul of the Forest Service (which is as much a law enforcement agency as it sounds). So before you grab your axe and head into the woods this holiday season, here’s what you need to know about the USDA’s tree-cutting permit program.

Why you should cut your own tree from a national forest (besides the fact that it’s really cheap)

According to Recreation.gov, cutting down and carrying out your own holiday tree helps contribute to good overall forest health. Through this permit program, you’ll be helping to thin densely populated stands of small-diameter trees. Removing the trees already designated for removal by the Forest Service allows other trees to grow bigger and stronger. Plus, you’ll get the pride and satisfaction of chopping down the perfect Christmas tree for your home. It’s a true win-win. 

But this is Christmas we’re talking about. Who cares about the environment? This is about your needs and experiences. As the Recreation.gov team explained to me, in addition to helping maintain a healthy forest, cutting a holiday tree is a special tradition that can be shared with families and friends to create memorable holiday experience. For many families, venturing into the forest to cut a Christmas tree for the holidays is a treasured tradition carried on for generations. It’s also a lot cheaper than buying one from a tree lot!

How to cut your own tree from a national forest

The USDA Forest Service sells Christmas Tree permits through Recreation.gov. Prices range from $5 to $20, depending on the location of the forest. To buy your permit in advance and find your local participating forest, use this site, which also provides guidelines for the allowable cutting areas that you’ll need to review before you start choppin’.

In three simple steps, you can begin your quest to find and bring home your own “government Christmas tree.”

1. Choose your forest. Determine which participating forest works best for your Christmas tree outing. Each forest will have specific guidelines and season dates for cutting a holiday tree.

2. Be safe and prepared. Carefully read the details and rules of the applicable permit, and consider the Need to Know suggestions to prepare for your visit.

3. Buy a permit. Purchase and print your permit before heading out to the forest.

Tips for cutting your own tree

I spoke with the Recreation.gov team to get some additional tips as families looking to prepare for their Christmas tree cutting adventure.

1. Measure the space in your house so you can pick the right size tree once you are in the forest. (Don’t assume you can eyeball it, or you’ll find yourself with a Griswold Situation on your hands.)

2. Check road and forest conditions and prepare for adverse weather.  

3. Before cutting, make sure you are in a designated cutting area, and follow all guidelines for locations where tree cutting is allowed. Avoid venturing onto private property.

4. Choose a tree in an overcrowded stand to help thin it out.

5. Cut your tree close to the ground. The stump you leave behind should be about 6 inches tall.

6. Bring a rope and tarp to move your tree from the cutting area to your vehicle.  

7. Secure your tree to your vehicle to ensure it remains in place for your trip home.

What else you need to know 

Christmas tree permit sale dates may vary by national forest. Recreation.gov encourages families to check local forest guidelines to gather all information before purchasing to ensure they are prepared. A new permit is required each year to cut your own Christmas tree.

Again: You can only cut down trees located in designated and approved areas in the forest. This permit program is run by the USDA Forest Service, which is not the same thing as U.S. National Parks. If you’re unsure whether you’re allowed to snag a tree in a certain area, visit this page on Recreation.gov and type in either the name of your state, or the name of the forest you have in mind.

Source: LifeHacker – I Am Once Again Urging You to Wander Into a National Forest to Chop Down a Christmas Tree (but Legally)