I haven’t met a winter food tradition I didn’t like—gingerbread cookies, plum pudding, roasting chestnuts on the not-so-open fire of my oven—but it’s possible that I’ve finally met my favorite: the raclette dinner. The winter tradition of griddling Raclette cheese is interactive, satisfying, communal, and a treat for cheese fans. Make a night of it with family and friends this holiday season and settle in for some quality time, which is always better with melty cheese.

Over the weekend, I went to my first raclette dinner. It was the coziest and cheesiest way to spend an evening with friends. You may have seen raclette on your Instagram or TikTok feed in the form of a half-wheel of cheese bubbling and browning under a close heating element. An anonymous hand tilts the wheel and scrapes the charred surface, and an impossible gooey glob of cheese slides off the wheel and piles onto a plate, sandwich, or French fries. Like much of social media, it comes off as excessive, like it was created purely for a food shock factor, but raclette is a tradition that has been enjoyed for far longer than the internet box in your hand.

What is raclette?

Raclette is a cow’s milk cheese that has the wonderful ability to melt into a saucy puddle, but it’s also the name of an entire dish. The meal, originating in the Alpine regions of France, Switzerland, and Italy, exhibits the extraordinary melting power of the eponymous cheese. You melt the cheese with direct heat from a nearby flame, or nowadays maybe an electric heating element. Scrape it onto boiled potatoes, cured meats, cornichons, or break away from tradition and scrape the liquified cheese mound onto veggies, pasta, or the closest sandwich. 

Products to consider:

• Boska Mini Raclette

• 8-Person Classic Raclette Party Grill

• SwissMar Oval Raclette with Wood Base

You could enjoy raclette at a restaurant, but it’s much more fun to do it at home with a group of friends or family. Don’t worry, you don’t need a fireplace, and you don’t need to hold a wedge of cheese over your electric stove. There are fantastic raclette grills you can buy that include a flat cooking surface and small, non-stick, angled scoops for you to melt slabs of raclette (like the ones above). There’s a heating element that runs underneath the griddle top and above the raclette scoops, so you can heat up meats or veggies and melt the cheese simultaneously. There are also models that only heat up the cheese scoops from the bottom but you won’t get a browned and bubbled surface with this kind. You can buy an eight-person set for entertaining, or a smaller two-scoop griddle for a constant flow of melted raclette on solo-cheese nights. 

Raclette like you mean it

You can buy wedges of Raclette at specialty cheese stores, but you can also find it at Trader Joes during the winter months. To enjoy raclette at home, add quarter-inch thick slices of the cheese to the metal scoops of your electric griddle set. Place the scoop under the heating element and let it cook while you gather slices of salami, cornichons, onions, and boiled potato hunks onto your plate. In the time that it takes you to do this, about two minutes, the cheese will be a puddle in the bottom of the scoop. Leave it for a minute longer and you’ll notice a crusty, browned surface bubbling up on the cheese. I love the crisp and chewy texture that develops on the cheese after extra time under the heat, so I leave it for extra time. Remove the non-stick scoop from the heater and slide the melted Raclette over your dish of hearty nibbles. There’s no need for a scraper really, the cheese surfs out of the scoop with no more than a tilt and shake.

You could certainly enjoy it year round, but raclette is usually a cold-weather treat. In many regions, this particular cheese is only widely available during the winter, and since melting it requires consistent intense heat, the immediate space tends to heat up. Raclette makes me think of chunky sweaters, mulled wine, and any edible vehicle for cheese. I can see this being the perfect centerpiece activity for Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, or any time you want to while away until the wee hours of the morning snacking and chatting with the people you love.

Source: LifeHacker – A Raclette Party Is Exactly What You Need This Winter

Water is humanity’s frenemy. Sure, the stuff is necessary for life and it’s fun to go swimming in, but water is also tirelessly seeking to destroy your property. When you think of the threat that water poses to your existence you might think of drowning and hurricanes, but in many cases the real threat is coming from inside the house; water damage makes up almost a quarter of all insurance claims in the U.S., causing an average of $12,514 in damage.

And that’s if your insurance covers it—most policies only cover water damage caused by sudden emergencies, like a burst pipe. They won’t cover storm-driven water damage, and they won’t cover damage done by a slow, methodical leak.

Those slow leaks can do just as much damage as a flood, eating away at the hidden areas of your home; by the time the leak becomes obvious it’s too late to do anything except rip everything out and replace it. The best way to defend your home from this kind of sneaky (and hella expensive) water damage is leak detectors. And when it comes to leak detectors, the rule of thumb is “the more the merrier.”

Leak detectors

Leak detectors are simple but effective—detecting moisture and triggering an alarm. You can buy dumb ones that simply make a lot of noise when they touch water, or you can buy smart ones that sound an alarm and alert you via text, email, or a connected app. You can also pair many smart leak detectors with automatic shutoff valves that will turn off the water supply when a leak is detected.

These devices can save you a lot of money and trouble because they alert you the moment water appears where it shouldn’t so you can turn off the water and immediately take steps to reduce the damage. That’s incredibly important—but just as important is where to place those leak detectors, because they can’t help you if they’re not in the right places. And you need them in more locations than you think.

Where to place leak detectors

Water leaks can happen in a lot more areas of your home than you might initially think:

• Water heater. One of the most common sources of water leaks in the home is a traditional tank-type water heater. These appliances typically last about a decade, and when they fail they often leak. Since they continuously refill, that leak can do damage for weeks or even months before it’s noticed.

• Crawlspace/basement. The spaces under your house are often ignored for long periods (especially if they’re unfinished), so water infiltration from appliances or groundwater can go on for a long time before it’s noticed. Leak detectors placed strategically around crawlspaces or basements—near drains and sump pits especially—can alert you immediately if water is building up under your home.

• Garage. Failing weather stripping and incorrect grading can lead to regular floods in your garage, which can erode your floor and damage your stuff.

• Toilets. Slow leaks from faulty water lines or imperfect seals at the flange can sip water into your floors, rotting wood and destroying tile or other flooring materials. This can go on for a long time in guest or basement bathrooms that don’t get used much.

• Under sinks. Every sink in your home is a potential water damage hotspot. A leaking drain or trap under the sink can rot out cabinets and potentially damage floors and walls as well.

• Dishwasher. A sensor under the dishwasher will alert you the moment your dishwasher starts to leak, as opposed to months later when the damage starts to spread throughout your kitchen floor.

• Refrigerator. If your refrigerator has a water line and/or an ice maker, it could start leaking water at any time. Aging refrigerators can also cause water damage if the defrost drain becomes clogged, and if your fridge stops working, the melt-off from the freezer can result in a small-scale flood that can do major damage to your floors.

• Laundry. There are a lot of ways your washing machine can silently betray you. If it’s an older model, it can rust and leak every time it runs. The hose connection to the water supply can fail and start to leak, or the drain pipe can become clogged and overflow. Since laundry facilities are often installed in tight spaces, the problem may not be visually obvious for some time.

• Roof. All roofs eventually fail, and many roof leaks start off as subtle, gradual problems that rot the decking. Placing leak detectors in attics or inside the ceilings of rooms directly under the roof can give you a little early warning that your roof has stopped roofing.

• Boiler/Radiators. If you have a hot water heating system that employs a boiler and radiators, you have water moving through the walls of your home all the time—and leaks can occur at any point along the system. A leak detector under your boiler and near each radiator can help warn you the moment a problem begins.

• Fish tanks. An enormous container of standing water in your home? Better to know that a tank has cracked or that your cat has gone fishing and knocked it over immediately instead of several hours later.

• HVAC. Air conditioning systems can leak for a variety of reasons. Clogged drain tubes can back up water into the house, so having a detector under the drip pan to detect overflows can save you a lot of headaches—and alert you that your AC system needs maintenance.

Water can get into your house in a lot of ways, and liberal use of leak detectors can provide just enough warning for you to avoid costly repairs. But they can only help if you deploy them—and enough of them.

Source: LifeHacker – You Need Leak Detectors in Your Home, and More Than You Think

The way we purchase movies and TV shows has changed a lot since the invention of home video. In fact, these days, many of us don’t buy anything at all, and stream all our content instead. Still, there are plenty who prefer to buy their entertainment, with a subsection happy to do so digitally. After all, with disc-less devices like Apple TVs and Fire Sticks all the rage, it’s the most convenient way to buy your media.

However, there’s a major catch that many don’t realize when they put their digital card down: You don’t actually own any of the digital movies and TV shows you buy.

PlayStation is the latest to remove titles from buyers’ libraries

Sony recently posted a “legal update notice” on the PlayStation site. That might not normally move headlines, but this time is different: In the notice, Sony outlines hundreds of Discovery-branded shows you will no longer be able to access starting Dec. 31:

As of 31 December 2023, due to our content licensing arrangements with content providers, you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed from your video library.

We sincerely thank you for your continued support.

Thank you,

PlayStation Store

Hey, at least they thanked us for our support.

Is there a refund involved, at least? Nope. If you purchased any of this content on the PlayStation Store in the past, you simply lose both the content and your money at the end of the year. Whether it’s Breaking Amish, Cake Boss, or Mythbusters, you better rewatch your favorite shows now, because you’ll lose access to them before 2024.

If you’re pissed off, I don’t blame you. If you’re scared for the rest of your PlayStation Store content, I don’t blame you. Sony certainly didn’t make it clear when you make a TV or movie purchase that, hey, if we lose the licensing rights to this thing you’re buying, not only will it disappear from the store, we’ll remove it from your PlayStation. Of course, you can’t actually buy shows and movies on your PlayStation anymore, as Sony shuttered the service back in 2021, so you might think you need to look elsewhere for buying shows and movies anyway.

The problem is, you’re not better off buying your digital shows and movies from other platforms, like Amazon, Apple, or Google. Sadly, this issue affects all platforms who sell digital media: Nowhere is safe.

You don’t own digital shows and movies

Here’s the unfortunate truth: Whether you buy The Dark Knight from Amazon, or Community: Season 1 on Google, the digital media you “purchase” isn’t really yours. You don’t own it, and neither does the platform you bought it from. What you’re paying for is the right to watch that content for as long as the provider has the right to host it. As soon as their licensing agreement with the company that actually owns the content expires, and the platform doesn’t renew it, the platform loses the right to “sell” it, and, subsequently, you lose the right to watch it. No refunds, no discounts on future purchases, just a lighter wallet.

As frustrating as it is, we all technically agree to this arrangement when we make a purchase. You find some language outlining these conditions in the terms of service for any platform that doesn’t actually own the content they’re selling. Take Amazon Prime Video, for example. Scroll through their TOS, and you’ll this:

i. Availability of Purchased Digital Content. Purchased Digital Content will generally continue to be available to you for download or streaming from the Service, as applicable, but may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions or for other reasons, and Amazon will not be liable to you if Purchased Digital Content becomes unavailable for further download or streaming.

Google’s TOS says something similar:

In certain cases (for example if Google loses the relevant rights, a service or Content is discontinued, there are critical security issues, or there are breaches of applicable terms or the law), Google may remove from your Device or cease providing you with access to certain Content that you have purchased.

Now, it’s not like this happens all the time. If it did, there would probably be more of an uproar about this sort of thing. I have movies and shows in my “Apple TV” library that I bought a decade or more ago that are still happily waiting for the next time I want to watch them, and will likely be there for years to come. But, if for some reason, AMC Networks revokes Breaking Bad from Apple’s platform, or if Amazon MGM Studios decides that Casino Royal doesn’t need to be available on non-Amazon platforms, I could see my library shrink. (Also, this is how I find out Amazon owns MGM now?)

While this situation sucks, it wouldn’t be as bad if they just made it clear. No one—I repeat—no one reads the terms of service for these things, and companies know that. Instead of a “Buy” button, there should be a “Lease” button, with a big pop-up warning you that you’re just renting the movie or show for the indefinite future. At least then, people won’t be as pissed when the $30 they spent on a TV season disappears from their Fire Stick.

If you want to own your content, buy physical

Betamax, laserdisc, and VHS were all beat out by advancing technology, but that doesn’t mean digital media killed physical content. In fact, DVD and Blu-ray sell quite well these days, and you can find them in abundance for just about any title you’re looking for. If you’re going to spend your money to “own” something, you might as well pick something that studios can’t take away from you in the future.

Even if you did own digital copies, there are plenty of benefits to physical media, from video quality to media preservation. Now, if the studios figure out how to block you from watching your discs, that’s another story. But even in 2023, as long as you have a disc and something to play it on, you’re set.

Source: LifeHacker – You Don’t Own the Digital Shows and Movies That You ‘Bought’

Finals season is here and if you’re anything like me, you’re feeling overwhelmed and suddenly unsure that you retained a single piece of information from any of your classes. You did retain it, of course—that’s just the stress talking. You can combat the stress by studying effectively, but to do that, you need a plan. I’ve spent months compiling great study and memorization techniques and the ones below are the best for finals. 

The best study methods for reading comprehension

The first step to studying is taking in new information. You can’t interrogate or grasp something you’ve never even read or heard before. Even on your first read-through (or your first time reviewing the material outside of class), you should be strategic. Try these methods. 

The SQ3R method

Use the SQ3R method when you’re taking in unfamiliar information or reviewing information you didn’t quite get enough context for in class. “SQ3R” stands for survey, question, read, recite, and review. You first survey your text (ideally a single chapter in your book) and come up with questions based on the headings, captions, titles, or other notable elements. These questions should be about what you’d like to know and what the titles appear to promise you’ll learn. Then, you read closely, looking for the answers to your questions, and recite by rewriting what you’ve learned in your own words, taking care to answer your own questions. Finally, review your own notes and the material itself. 

The KWL method

KWL is similar to SQ3R, but a little simpler: You make a chart with three columns: Know, Want to Know, and Learn. It’s better to make a separate chart for each chapter or chunk of information you’re tackling. In the “Know” column, write what you already know about the topic. In the “Want to Know” column, write down what you’d like to learn (based on a survey of the material, including titles, heading, captions, charts, and summary paragraphs). As you take a second, more thorough read, write down what you’re learning in the “Learn” column, taking care to mark down any answers to questions you posed in “Want to Know.” 

The THIEVES method

The THIEVES method helps you figure out what a chapter is about before you even start reading it. “THIEVES” stands for title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals/vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary. Create a chart or write down each of those categories on a piece of paper, then look at each one in order, starting with the title. What can you guess the chapter is about, based on the title? Write that down, along with anything else you glean from the title. What do the headings suggest the subsections are about and why might the author have separated them that way? Make your way through the list before and while you read, taking note of the elements outlined by the acronym. 

The best ways to memorize what you study

Memorization is pretty key to doing well on a test. You’d like to really grasp material and understand it inside and out, but that noble goal isn’t always possible when you’re staring down five major tests in one week. Sometimes, straight memorization just has to be good enough. 

The Method of Loci

The Method of Loci is a solid option if you’re going to be taking your test in the same location where you learned what’s on it, whether that’s in a specific classroom or in your own bedroom for an online class. You can think of the location you’ll be in for the test or just a place you know really well, but there have to be some defining features present, like a room with a lot of items or a street you visit frequently. When studying a bunch of things you have to remember, imagine yourself placing them, one by one, in one of those little loci. One topic can go in the tray that holds whiteboard markers, another on the professor’s desk, and another in the windowsill, for instance. When you want to retrieve or recall the information, imagine yourself walking through the area again, picking up what you need to remember from its proper place.

Association

Use association to help you remember big chunks of information, too. Whether you prefer mnemonic devices like acronyms or painting a “mental picture” of something silly to represent the information you need to know, these associations can stick a fact or idea in your brain well enough for you to recall it at test time. 

The Leitner system

The Leitner system is the best way to incorporate active recall into your studying, but it does take some time. You create flashcards, then drill them on a schedule, sorting them into one of five categories every time you get them right or wrong. Every time you get a card from Stack 1 right, move it to Stack 2, which you won’t study as often as your Stack 1 cards. Click through to the link above for a full explanation, but know that this is the best way to really, really memorize anything you need to know. 

The best study methods for grasping concepts

If you have the time, it’s always worth really understanding your material rather than just memorizing it. That’s where these techniques come in: They enable you to really dig in on subjects, making real-world connections and cementing the information in your brain. 

The Feynman method

Use the Feynman method when you’ve finished reading, reviewing, and memorizing. It calls on you to explain the topic at hand to someone who knows nothing about it, like your mom or your roommate. Explain it as simply as possible and give them the opportunity to ask follow-up questions when you’re done. If you can explain it simply and answer their questions, you really know your stuff. If you can’t, it’s back to studying until you get it down.

Blurting

Blurting is similar to the Feynman method, except you can do it on your own. After reading and reviewing, hide your notes and texts, then write down everything you can remember on a blank piece of paper. Explain the topic as best as you can, then use your materials to check for anything you missed. This helps with memory retrieval, but also gives you an easy way to see exactly what you’re missing, so you can double down on studying the specific elements that are tripping you up. 

Source: LifeHacker – These Are the Best Ways to Study for Your Finals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be in the rearview mirror, but some deals are sticking around. You can get the Meta Quest 2 for $75 off, matching the lowest price it’s ever been since its release, according to Honey’s price history. The Meta Quest 2 is the most popular VR headset on the market and the cheapest as well, making it the best option for those who want to try a virtual-reality headset but aren’t ready to shell out big bucks for the new Meta Quest 3 (let alone the forthcoming Apple Vision Pro).

The 128GB Meta Quest 2 is currently $224.99 (before tax) on GameStop after a $25 discount that applies when you pick it up in person. The $249.99 base price is the lowest price it’s ever been, matching Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. (For an extra $50, you can double the memory to 256GB.)

VR products to consider:

There are many VR headsets to choose from. You can buy the Meta Quest 2, 3, or Pro on Amazon. If you’re not sure which one is the best for you, we break it down for you here:

• Meta Quest 2 ($249 on sale)

• Meta Quest 3 ($499)

• Meta Quest Pro ($929.13 on sale)

The Meta Quest 2 is an affordable entry into the VR space

Though the Meta Quest 2 has been eclipsed by the Quest 3, most Meta Quest games are still compatible with it—there’s a large library of older games to choose from, and most recently, even Steam Link PC VR games are now available. But you can do more than just play games; you can lounge around watching your favorite streaming movies and shows in a virtual screening room, hang out with your family or friends, or even use it to watch porn. Whatever your plans, the Meta Quest 2 is by far the cheapest and most user-friendly way to dip your toes in the world of VR.

The Quest 2 is currently half the price of its successor headset, but that’s not to say it’s half as good. At its current sale price, the Quest 2 is a great way for families or VR-curious people to jump in without a big initial investment. The Meta Quest 2 got an “outstanding” score in its PCMag review, which praised its minimalistic design, great display, powerful processor, accurate motion tracking, and optional compatibility with PCs.

Source: LifeHacker – The Meta Quest 2 Is Off at GameStop Right Now

No matter what Mac you have, whether you use a Magic Mouse or trackpad, you don’t have a dedicated right-click button. This can be confusing to people new to the Mac—honestly, it’s confusing to some of us who have used Macs for years. As it happens, there are quite a few ways to right-click on Mac, so you can pick the one that works best for your workflow:

Click with two fingers (trackpad)

This is the simplest way to right-click on your Mac. Just click or tap the trackpad with two fingers (if you have Tap to click enabled) and the right-click context menu will pop up. 

Click right side (Magic Mouse)

If you have a Magic Mouse, by default, you can click the right side of the top portion of the mouse to right-click. It’s a bit confusing since the mouse appears to be all one button, but if you imagine the right side having its own button, you should have no problem getting this to work.

If you’d prefer to make the left side the right-click option, you can go to System Settings > Mouse, then, next to Secondary click, choose Click Left Side.

A quick keyboard shortcut to right-click

If you find it hard to press the trackpad with two fingers at the same time, then you can hold down the Control key on your Mac’s keyboard and then click with the trackpad or a mouse. This was Apple’s go-to method for right-clicking back in the day.

Click a corner of your trackpad

If you prefer, you can set up one of the trackpad’s bottom corners as a dedicated right-click zone. You can enable this by going to System Settings > Trackpad and selecting the drop-down menu next to Secondary click. Select Click in the bottom-right corner or Click in the bottom-left corner. You can now click either of these corners of the trackpad to right-click on your Mac.

The three-finger right-click method

Many of us are used to using the two-finger scroll gesture on the Mac, and this right-click method is a natural extension of that. With two fingers on the trackpad, use your thumb to click the trackpad. It’s a similar gesture to the two-finger click, but you might find using your thumb is more convenient in certain situations.

Use a mouse

Of course, for a true right-click experience, you can use a mouse that has two or more buttons with your Mac. You don’t need to make any changes or configure the mouse: In almost all cases, the right button on the mouse will work as a right-click on the Mac.

Source: LifeHacker – How to Right-Click on Your Mac

My American history teacher was every high schooler’s dream. When we were learning about Prohibition, she showed us The Untouchables. As we discussed the American experience during World War II, she used the film Come See the Paradise to teach us about the horrors in Japanese internment camps.

Both films are R-rated, so I never told my parents we were watching them. Growing up, I was never allowed to see movies with this rating (with some unusual exceptions, like Backdraft and JFK). I never understood why. Watching these films didn’t warp my brain like my mom and dad said they would. They made learning about history a lot more fun and entertaining.

Now that I have kids, I wonder when I can be like my history teacher and stop worrying about a movie’s content and more about the critical or historical message they share. In that spirit, here is a list of R-rated flicks that are significant for their positive and/or important messages. Many contain objectionable content (obviously), so do your research and view them with your child at an age you find appropriate. 

Schindler’s List (1993)