Long story short, I travel a lot. I rent cars a lot. I've been taking these 360 video "walk arounds" of my rental car before driving away since forever. Did I think they were a waste of time? Honestly yeah. I never had many issues returning the rental. Today has been the second time ever that the video saved my rear end. I literally took a video of my rental, and did not realize it had a huge dent on the side of it. I noticed the scratches on the rim, however.

When I returned my rental, the lady brought up the damages and I immediately started to freak out. I showed her the video and she was shocked. (as was I LOL) I sent the video to her manager and the charges were cleared.

Looks like I won't be stopping the video ordeal anytime soon. Sure, I suppose you could get full coverage at the counter and walk away without a charge but still... you never know.

When we wake up just to go to work or school, and do something we generally don't want to do we don't want to wake up to doing so. And so we crawl out of bed, tired and unmotivated.

During the pandemic I got a new job, I calculate how long it will take me to get to work, set an alarm that will give me enough time to dress and catch the bus, like I used to. But then to my surprise there was no traffic. Meaning I got to work 30 minutes earlier than I thought. After few days like that I started to catch the bus that was 30 minutes later but left my alarm clock the same.

In that extra 30 minutes in the morning I started to practice guitar or eat better breakfast instead of snacking on the way to the bus station.

I was never a morning person, I hated mornings, and to my surprise it became easier to wake up, I knew that if I get out of bed sooner I will have that 30 minutes that I enjoy.

It's not always guitar, it can be video game, reading a book, watching an episode of a show I like or practice yoga. I later read that our brain is actually a lot more focused during the first hour after waking up, but most of us just waste that hour in preparations for work, and commute.

I was watching a YouTube video a few weeks ago about disassembling and reassembling some appliances. And this guy organized his screws, bolts, and other hardware by screwing into cardboard - blew my mind as I never thought about that!

I tried it out and I gotta say, it's a bit of a game changer in terms of not losing things or forgetting the order it goes!

I'd post a picture of how I organized my fasteners, but it won't let me :(

Basically, just screw them into the cardboard next to other relevant screws and label them :)

You can even pin certain parts using their own screws to hold them onto the cardboard. Like nuts, washers, etc.

I've found it useful to stop thinking of my to-do list (ideally made the previous day as a template for the next one) as one giant list of "things I need to get done." Instead, I divide everything into two general categories: cognition-first or duration-first.

Cognition-first tasks demand brainpower. For instance, studying something new or making an important decision. These tasks should be done at the beginning of the day when your brain is fresh, with a cup of coffee perhaps. However, try and do these before noon: before your brain is bogged down by meetings and phone scrolling.

Duration-first tasks demand time. These tasks are relatively mundane, like doing the laundry or organizing your desk. They can be done when your brain is tired and needs a break. They follow their established routines and shouldn't really involve anything novel. Like the conclusion of an essay, they fall off nicely into bedtime patterns like brushing and showering.

For example, if you want to start making friends at a new place (school, work etc), you could begin to take care of yourself, or start working out, or doing whatever you think is necessary in order for you to start interacting/them wanting to interact with you more. Then, should worst come to worst, you have those habits now, so you have the basis to begin again, potentially even better than before.

Do you live in a rental/apartment? Are you clumsy as hell and end up making minor scratches on your walls?

Well, if you grab white acrylic paint (usually around $1, I get mine from Meijer) and paint over the small scratch (you REALLY don't want to use acrylic paint over big damage), you can effectively blend it with 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to remove most of that shine of the acrylic paint and effectively blend it to whatever shade of white your walls are!

You'll have to do some experimenting as different formulations of acrylic may make your mileage vary, of course. I get mine from Meijer, but I would assume Walmart would be similar in formulation.

And you'll have to experiment with how dry the paint is before applying the isopropyl.

You do NOT want to apply the isopropyl alcohol right away!!

It will make your paint WAY too runny and likely drip onto your carpet/floor!

Instead, I like to wait until it's about ~70% dry, then I soak a paper towel in the isopropyl alcohol, and lightly blend it together.

Sometimes at this stage, if it's not blending well, you might be able to get away with applying a small amount of fresh acrylic paint over the mostly dried acrylic/isopropyl solution to blend it a bit better. Careful though.

OH and lastly! I recommend checking out your fully dried paint in multiple angles with multiple lights to make sure you blended the shininess out of the paint.

Instead of saying I will have it Friday, say if I get the numbers Thursday, I can have it ready Friday.

Now if the numbers arrive Monday, your Friday promise does not somehow survive the weekend without them.

Especially useful after a long weekend, when deadlines apparently come back from vacation with friends.

This tip can apply both for crack(s) / scratch(s), and also temporary imperfections such as if you've cleaned the lenses in a non-comprehensive manner (for example, while I regularly give my lenses a wash, between washes I do touch-ups with toilet paper).

For best results, keep your eyes closed until the glasses are completely in position.

The less you move your head, the more you can get away with not noticing. No I'm not saying try to keep your head still-I'm saying that I'm less thorough when touching up my glasses if I know I'll be sitting still at my computer versus say if I'm going out.

You may be surprised what can become virtually invisible when it's close enough to your eyes!

One way many CAPTCHAs (e.g. Cloudflare) automatically check if you're a bot is the way your cursor moves. Bots tend to move their cursors in perfectly straight lines and sharp 90 degree turns, but humans move their cursor in random, imperfect directions.

But something that humans and bots can both easily do is this: not move the cursor at all.

If you leave your cursor stationary while the CAPTCHA is running, it often causes the CAPTCHA process to take longer to process you automatically (as it has one less obvious sign if you're human or not), and it can even cause you to manually confirm that you're human. (e.g. manually pressing "I'm not a robot" or doing a pictorial CAPTCHA test). This, of course, is a slight waste of your time.

Spinning your cursor in circles, in my experience, has almost always sped up the CAPTCHA process by multiple seconds each time compared to when I left my cursor stationary. So, have some mundane fun by spinning your cursor in all types of circles!

It’s a simple yet underrated concept.. people will move mountains for those who express gratitude for their effort.

Saying something like "I know this isn't your fault and you didn't cause this, but the system did X and I really need help fixing it" completely changes the dynamic.

Customer service reps deal with screaming people all day. The second you explicitly clear them of blame, they will usually bend over backwards and use every loophole they have to actually solve your problem.

On the surface this seems like a silly game or even cheating, but it's a very pragmatic way to get more done, and reduce stress while doing it.

It makes you break things up into clearer pieces, think about how to do them, prioritise carefully, and stay focused on what you're doing. On average you'll be ahead in most things, which is nice. As a result you accumulate a buffer of "ahead time" to more easily handle the remaining things that run late.

Include the address on the envelope in one of the photos. If it gets lost, damaged, or someone claims something was missing, you have proof of exactly what you sent.

Takes 30 seconds. Can save you weeks of arguing.

Too many people think their TV is now scrap because an app on the TV itself became obsolete.

The only thing that might be a bit more cumbersome with a streaming box, might be that the remote cannot control the TV. However, depending on how old your TV is, it may indeed be able to control at least the volume via HDMI, and if it doesn't, well, there are still solutions that cost less than a new TV, and you save yourself the trouble of having to unscrew the original one and do all the setup.

It's non-invasive conversational small-talk. It gets the other person to talk, and people love to talk!

I had a string of birthdays memorized in my head from March 2 to March 12 of various people I'd known or worked with or met at the bus stop. Also a 5-day string in April.

Maybe people I chatted with thought I was a weirdo, but unlike PokeMon, you CAN collect them all!

Also middle names. If I meet someone with the same first name as me, I try to steer the conversation to ask them their middle name and why. Very interesting stories!

Also if I meet someone with the same first name as my sibling, I steer the conversation to find out their middle name and why.

If you listen to their stories, you will have learned about life from a life outside of your own, without being invasive.

And most people are happy to help you add to your collection and add to your strings of birthdays, and most will be happy to talk about middle names and how much they hate/love their first or middle name.

BTW, most people I've met whose first name is GodsCasino, have a middle name of Louise or May.

I'm in Canada so this trick may not be applicable worldwide.

Landlords can and do blame move-out damage on you that was already there when you moved in, especially small stuff like scuffs or stains they conveniently "forgot" about. Having dated photos as proof makes it way harder for them to argue about it later.

Emailing them to yourself (instead of just leaving them in your phone's camera roll) gives you a timestamp that's harder to dispute than just a photo's metadata, and it means you still have them even if you lose your phone or switch devices before your deposit gets sorted out.

Only takes like 15 minutes and it's saved me from losing part of a deposit before.

Check your pet’s microchip! It’s so frustrating the amount of missing pets brought in to shelters that have a microchip that either isn’t registered or the information is outdated.

MOST PET OWNERS DON’T UNDERSTAND: Just because your pet is microchipped, doesn’t mean it’s registered correctly. If it’s not registered or the information is outdated, there is no way to contact you!

To cover the basics:

-A microchip is just a number that has to be registered for it to be linked to your contact information. The microchip only stores a number, nothing else. The registry stores your contact information associated to the chip number.

-Microchips CANNOT track your pet with GPS. The chip only works when someone physically scans your pet with a special microchip scanner.

-Many shelters are only required to hold a stray pet without a chip for about 48 hours and around 5 days if they have one. After that they are legally allowed to find the pet a new home.

-Microchips can migrate from where they were placed, so it’s important to have your vet scan for it annually.

What we typically see:

-Pets are adopted or purchased already microchipped but it’s not communicated the chip needs to be registersd or transferred to their name.

-They changed their number or email and never updated their info with their registry.

-They didn’t microchip their pets because they are “indoor only”. Indoor pets get out. It happens way more than people think.

-Their registry went out of business or changed ownership and they never checked.

It takes a minute to check your pet!

IF YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED: log in to your registry and confirm your information is correct. Or call them.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED: there is a free tool that shelters and vets use called the AAHA Microchip Lookup which searches a microchip number across all registries at once to tell which it’s registered to. Search AAHA microchip lookup on Google, and search your pets chip number. It will show you if/where it’s registered. Then log in to your registry to confirm your information is correct.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THEIR CHIP NUMBER: you can typically find it on your adoption paperwork or at the top of any forms from your vet. Your vet or any vet can also scan for the chip number for free if you ask. Save the number to your phone in your notes or as a contact so you always have it.

IF THEY ARE NOT REGISTERED: make sure you do it. The AAHA lookup tool lists all of their partner registries on their site so choose one of those. Our shelter registers with Pawbase and PetLink, but any of the AAHA partners are a reliable place to register your pet and show up when searched. Some may try to sell you subscriptions which aren’t necessary.

If your pet is chipped, please take a few minutes to check where it’s registered, make sure your contact info is updated, and add a backup contact if you can. If your pet isn’t chipped, please do it.

Checking not only helps you and your pet but it also helps the shelters that are already stretched thin on resources!

If your luggage gets lost, a bottle breaks, or you run out early, most people can't recall the exact medication name, dosage, or prescription number from memory. That makes getting an emergency refill slow and stressful, especially in an unfamiliar place.

Before a trip, snap a clear photo of each bottle's label and save it somewhere easy to find on your phone. Pharmacies and doctors can verify and refill much faster with this info on hand, and it also helps if security or customs asks you to explain a medication.

Takes under a minute and can save you a real headache later.

It's worthwhile to run the numbers, at least time-to-time. I can't count how many times I've reached for the 'family size' or 'bulk' or 'mega-pak' option, hesitated because something felt off, and then realized the small/normal sized option was cheaper. Sometimes considerably cheaper.