Travel

Road trips, city weekends, group trips and the gear that survives all three.

Hang a Pre-Hung Door So It Doesn't Drift Open at 2 a.m.

Most bad door installs get decided before the first nail. Diagnose the opening, set the hinge side first, and the latch takes care of itself.

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

Wash Day, the Iceman and the Lamp Chimney Nobody Misses

Three machines took apart the American week your great-grandmother lived. The real story of how they got into the kitchen is better than the myth.

Ask BRO

Plan a cook for eight people

Ask it

GuideGarden & YardNina CastellanOct 5, 20267 min

Your Rosemary Died Because You Treated It Like Basil

Four kitchen herbs, two completely different gardens. Split them up and you'll stop buying the plastic clamshell at the grocery store.

Shirts.com — Design it with AI. Wear it this week.

PartnerShirts.com

Can You Fix It7 min read

Sweating a Copper Joint Is Mostly About Getting the Water Out

The torch is the easy part. A dry pipe and clean metal decide whether the joint holds, and most first-timers skip both.

Poll

Where does your best time with your kids happen?

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

The Can Came Almost Fifty Years Before the Can Opener

The zipper, the lawnmower and the can opener all took two men: one with the idea and a second, stubborn one who made it actually work.

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Skip the Bucket and Grow Your Potatoes in a Bag

Bed, bag or bucket? One clearly wins, one is a trap, and the timing matters more than the container. What it costs and what goes wrong.

Delicious.com — Nine thousand recipes and a plan for tonight

PartnerDelicious.com

GuideSurvival & Self-DefenseWes DunbarOct 2, 20267 min

Clean Your First Squirrel on a Saturday, Not in an Emergency

Field-dressing small game is a twenty-minute skill with one real hazard. Learn it in season, gloves on, long before the day you might need it.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next two weeks.

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

The Flour Sack Dress and the Neighbors Who Fed Each Other

Our grandparents didn't get through the 1930s on grit alone. They had a system: the garden, the sewing box and the family next door.

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Peppers Want Warm Feet, So Plant Them Later Than You Think

Most pepper plants fail before they're two weeks in the ground. The fix costs about ten dollars and a little patience.

Ask BRO

Build me a 30-day training plan around two sessions a week

Ask it

GuideLifeCal BrennanSep 30, 20266 min

Stop saying "we should get together" and pick a Tuesday

After forty, friendships don't die from fights. They die from scheduling. A standing weekly night fixes the one problem you actually have.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

PartnerNames.com

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

Proving up took five years and two neighbors willing to swear

The Homestead Act's paperwork was easy. Staying alive on the claim was the hard part, and at the end your neighbors had to vouch for you.

Poll

What was your first ever job?

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Plant Paste Tomatoes If You Actually Want Sauce

Most homemade sauce fails in March, when you buy the wrong seeds. Pick the right variety and the timing, and one August afternoon fills your freezer.

GuideRecipesWes DunbarSep 30, 20266 min

Big-Batch Chili for Twelve, Finished in the Oven

Tripling a chili for four in one pot is how you burn the bottom. Brown in batches, finish it at 300 degrees and make it the day before.

CancerDefying.com — The research, protocols and reading in one place

PartnerCancerDefying.com

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

From the Plow to the Combine, One Broken Bottleneck at a Time

For most of history a farm was only as big as one family could harvest. How a blacksmith, a Virginian, and a few stubborn tinkerers changed that.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

Garden & Yard6 min

Plant by Your Frost Date, Not Your Zone

Food6 min

Run a chili cook-off the guy with the most friends can't rig

Ask BRO

Rewrite my CV so it actually gets read

Ask it

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20267 min

Baseball's Birth Story Was Made Up, and the Real One Is Better

A commission handed America a tidy origin myth in 1907. The true history has clerks, prisoners, a paid shortstop and a man who refused to swing back.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

PartnerCoconut.com

Garden & Yard6 min read

Your Soil Needs a Test and Compost, Not Another Bag of Fertilizer

Most yellow leaves aren't hungry plants. They're a soil problem nobody tested for. A cheap lab test and an inch of compost fix more than any bag will.

Poll

How often do you see your closest friends?

Older articles

Older Travel stories