All skills
Every crumb on the site, by category. Each one takes under two minutes.
🪢 Knots
- 🪢 KnotsTie a bowlineA fixed loop that won't slip or jam, and still unties easily after holding a heavy load.
- 🪢 KnotsTie a clove hitchThe fastest way to tie a rope to a post or rail, and it's easy to adjust.
- 🪢 KnotsTie a figure-eight stopperA chunky knot at the end of a rope that stops it slipping through a hole, a pulley or your hand.
- 🪢 KnotsTie a reef (square) knotThe flat, tidy knot for bandages, bundles and bag tops. Two crossings, and the order is the whole trick.
- 🪢 KnotsTie a taut-line hitchAn adjustable loop that holds tension. Slide it to tighten a tent line or a load tie-down.
🍳 Kitchen
- 🍳 KitchenHold food with the claw gripThe one knife habit that keeps your fingertips out of the way of the blade.
- 🍳 KitchenDice an onion without it falling apartLeave the root on. It holds every slice together until the last cut.
- 🍳 KitchenPeel garlic in two secondsCrush, don't pick. The papery skin pops right off.
💻 Terminal & git
- 💻 Terminal & gitJump back with cd -Toggle between your last two directories, like Alt+Tab for folders.
- 💻 Terminal & gitSearch your shell history with Ctrl+RStop pressing the up arrow 40 times. Type any part of an old command and it appears.
- 💻 Terminal & gitFix your last commit with --amendForgot a file or made a typo in the message? Fold the fix into the commit you just made.
- 💻 Terminal & gitSee your branches as a graphOne log command turns a wall of commit text into a readable branch map.
- 💻 Terminal & gitPark unfinished work with git stashNeed to switch branches but you're mid-change? Stash it, switch, and bring it back later.
- 💻 Terminal & gitRerun the last command with sudo !!Got "permission denied"? Don't retype it.
!!means "the previous command."
🧮 Mental math
- 🧮 Mental mathMultiply any two-digit number by 11Split the digits apart and put their sum in the middle.
- 🧮 Mental mathSwap a percentage to make it easy8% of 25 is hard. 25% of 8 is easy, and it's the same number.
- 🧮 Mental mathSquare numbers ending in 565² in two seconds: multiply the front by the next number up, then write 25.
- 🧮 Mental mathWork out a tip in your headMove the decimal point once, then double it or add half.
⌨️ Shortcuts
- ⌨️ ShortcutsDelete a whole word at onceStop holding Backspace. Delete word by word instead of letter by letter.
- ⌨️ ShortcutsPaste without the formattingCopy from a web page, paste into an email, and get none of the weird fonts.
- ⌨️ ShortcutsScreenshot just part of the screenSkip the full-screen capture and the cropping. Drag a box around exactly what you want.
- ⌨️ ShortcutsReopen a tab you just closedClosed the wrong tab? One shortcut brings it back, with its history.
💵 Money
- 💵 MoneyLower your credit utilizationHow much of your credit limit you're using is one of the biggest parts of a credit score.
- 💵 MoneyEstimate doubling time with the rule of 72How long until money doubles? Divide 72 by the yearly percentage.
- 💵 MoneyCompare prices by unit priceThe bigger package isn't always cheaper. The small print on the shelf tag tells you.
🔧 Home & car
- 🔧 Home & carFind a wall stud without a stud finderHang heavy things on wood, not just drywall. Studs follow a predictable pattern.
- 🔧 Home & carCheck tire tread with a pennyA coin in the groove tells you if your tires are too worn to stop well in the rain.
- 🔧 Home & carBring a dead outlet back with the GFCI resetBathroom or kitchen outlet stopped working? A safety outlet nearby probably tripped.