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5 Ways To Help Yourself Drink More Water

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Water is something that most of us have access to, but many neglect to drink the recommended amount. It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of Americans aren’t getting enough water on a daily basis. Experts suggest that you should be getting 3.7 liters per day if you’re a male, and 2.7 liters if you’re female. So how do we make sure that we’re drinking enough water? Here are a few tips to get to that recommended daily amount.

5. Water at Every Meal

When you sit down for a meal, there’s a good chance that you opt for something like juice, milk and, of course, soda, as your beverage of choice. To make sure that you’re staying hydrated, turn to a glass or bottle of water, instead. You’re much more likely to drink more as you’re eating, so pairing water with meals is a surefire way to get that extra boost you need. It will also save you a lot of money while eating out as restaurants tend to charge far extra for non-water drinks.

4. Add Some Flavor

What’s one of the reasons that people gravitate toward soda during meals instead of water? The taste, of course. Water is seen as too “bland” to some people, so why not add a little flavor to it to make things interesting? Between sugar free flavoring packets that can be used in bottles to simply getting some drops of fruit juice, there are a lot of options to pick from. However, you should probably steer clear of adding a bunch of sugar into your water.

3. Take Advantages of Apps

We live in a busy society, so it’s completely understandable that we forget to do some things that we deem to be minor. This includes sipping on water, but just like with anything, there’s an app for that. Hydration apps are no exception, and there are plenty on both iOS and the Google Play Store that can remind you to drink water with push notifications. Daily Water Tracker Reminder, Hydro Coach and WaterMinder are just a few of the 

2. Use a Straw

It might seem a little silly, but you’re likely to drink more throughout the day if you’re using a straw rather than gulping water (or any beverage). There’s a certain psychology to it, and it says that when a straw is in front of you, you’ll continuously sip as long as it’s there. You’ve probably seen people that have those massive water bottles with the built-in straw at work. Think about how much they have that straw in their mouth throughout the day and you’ll realize just how much water they’re getting.

1. Get a Water Filter

One of the biggest complaints that people have with their tap water is that it doesn’t taste quite right. It’s a perfectly acceptable response, too, as not every town or city is going to have good tasting (or even safe) water to drink. For this reason, getting a water filter is the smartest thing you can do for yourself. They’re inexpensive and make your water crisp and refreshing. Just a one time investment goes a long way, especially with more than 70 percent of Americans concerned about their city’s water.

5 Famous Figures Who Went Touring By Motorcycle

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When you think of how celebrities get around, you might think of them getting a limousine or other private transport like a helicopter or airplane. There are some celebrities that aren’t afraid to hit the open road on only two wheels. It isn’t just their film and television characters, either, as these celebrities have truly seen the world while riding motorcycles.

5. Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff burst onto the scene in the early 2000s thanks to her role in “Battlestar Galactica” and has since appeared in series such as “The Mandalorian” and “Longmire”. Sackhoff once rode across the country to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS and put her motorcycle experience to the test. “I started riding in 2005,” Sackhoff said. “I grew up in a small town where four-wheelers were kind of the norm.”

4. William Shatner

Speaking of science fiction actors, there are perhaps none more well known around the world than William Shatner, who of course is known as Captain James T. Kirk from the original “Star Trek” series. Shatner has taken his love for motorcycles on the long road, heading 2,500 miles between Chicago and Los Angeles. “Riding a bike, you’re focused on the road, but you have time to dream and think and wonder about everything that we’ve seen,” Shatner said. “We saw the country…and all its magnificence.”

3. Ryan Reynolds

Once a rom-com star, Ryan Reynolds has branched out to take on interesting roles that include superheroes like Deadpool and iconic cartoon characters like Pikachu. Reynolds has one of the most extensive motorcycle collections for any Hollywood actor, and he has no plans of changing the hobby that he sees as a form of meditation. “When I’m riding a bike, the only things I’m doing are breathing, listening to the engine and changing gears,” Reynolds said. “It’s just me and my bike. No multitasking, no texting, and it clears my head like nothing else.”

2. Ewan McGregor

Known for his roles in blockbusters like “Star Wars”, “Christopher Robin” and “Moulin Rouge!”, Ewan McGregor has been going at it on the big screen for about 30 years now. Documenting his long rides, McGregor has documented his long motorcycle rides in “Long Way Up”. McGregor can’t picture himself not riding motorcycles, now. “I don’t ever want to not do it,” he said. “I don’t have to go out and go a million miles an hour. I like feeling the air, I like smelling the world as you go by and feeling a part of it. A trip to the shops or a meeting just becomes different.” 

1. Keanu Reeves

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Keanu Reeves on the list. Not only do a lot of his characters in film ride motorcycles, but he’s often photographed riding one of his many bikes around. Not only that, but Reeves even started his own motorcycle company with Gard Hollinger called Arch. “Motorcycles have been a part of my life since I met this girl in Munich,” Reeves said. “We were working on a film together and she had this beautiful Kawasaki Enduro. I asked her if she could team me to ride…I’ve been hooked ever since.”

5 Best WordPress Plugins For Sending Mail From Your Site

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While those that casually browse the internet and don’t know its inner workings might not know it, WordPress is one of the pillars of the world wide web. It has allowed us to create countless websites, and these days you see nearly 700 new WordPress sites pop up to join the more than 400 million that already exist. If you’re using WordPress for ecommerce, there are a lot of tools available, especially when it comes to mailing. If you’re looking for the right one, try one of these five plugins that are rated as the highest.

5. Sendinblue

Clocking in with over 300,000 websites worldwide, Sendinblue is one of the newer services on the block, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2022 after being founded by Armand Thiberge in Paris, France. Sendinblue has grown a lot since then, and is now handling over 140 million emails every day and over a quarter million text messages. The ratings are extremely high, as well, with satisfaction reaching scores of 9 out of 10 frequently.

4. HubSpot

As the name suggests, HubSpot is a plugin that offers more than one service, hence the “hub.” This CMS tool is free to try and has multiple email tools to use. This includes automated emails for sales, marketing, signatures and tracking. Hubspot’s platform is easy to use and is great if you’re running a small ecommerce site. For 1,000 contacts per month, you can expect to spend $45 (or $540 per year). For those that want a massive reach it runs up to $38,400 per year, as well as a plan for those in between at $800 per month for professional services..

3. WP Mail SMTP

Among the most used email plugins on WordPress is WP Mail SMTP, with over 2 million websites currently using the service. Of the thousands of reviews that WP Mail SMTP has received thus far, you’ll only find a handful that are below five stars. One of the biggest appeals of WP Mail SMTP is how easy it is to use. You can use any Gmail alias that you want when using SMTP and it only takes seconds to reach thousands of people.

2. MailPoet

MailPoet was once its own service, and a popular one on WordPress for merchants that has the capability of sending out mass emails to subscribers. In late 2020, MailPoet was acquired by WooCommerce, allowing the extension to grow even more. These days, about one-third of all ecommerce sites are using MailPoet and WooCommerce for their mailing. According to MailPoet, the open rates on their emails are a whopping 40 percent, giving you a massive and engaged reach.

1. Sumo

Sumo is essentially a do-all extension that has been regarded as being among the best for sending mail. With Sumo, you can send up to 10,000 emails each month…and that’s just on the free version. The premium upgrade allows you to do even more, and it’s worth the cost. Plans run from $29 to $119 per month depending on the size of your website. Since there is a lot to learn about Sumo, you’ll probably want to get in touch with their customer service. You’re in luck, though, as getting the help you need is free.

CRISPR: The Weird Science Of Editing Your Own Genes

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Science has evolved faster in the past century than the rest of human history combined. We’re increasing our capacity for improvement at an exponential rate, making the future look incredibly bright while also being mysterious. We’re not sure where science will be in 20 years, but we do have some seeds planted in our brains of what the next big innovation might be. One that has been getting a lot of attention recently is CRISPR, a way of editing human genes.

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR, of course, is an acronym and it stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Those words alone probably have you feeling ready to tap out because it seems extremely complicated, but it might be more simple than you realize. We’ll let the development of the CRISPR genome, Jennifer Doudna (who by the way won a 2020 Nobel Prize for her work) explain it a little better.

“CRISPR is, in fact, a bacterial immune system,” she said. “It’s an ancient system that evolved in microbes to allow prevention of viral infection…our work with the laboratory revealed that one of the components of this CRISPR immune system is, in fact, a protein that’s called Cas9, that can be programmed to find and cut virus DNA.”

With that said, CRISPR has been used as a diagnostic tool, especially with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. About a decade prior, though, CRISPR started to become more common in another field, and that’s gene editing. At first, CRISPR was used to edit foods before it was introduced to other fields and eventually human use. This includes the treatment of diseases, and gene editing via CRISPR is becoming more common and accessible by the day.

Limitations of CRISPR

There are very few limitations for what CRISPR can do to the human body, and it’s something that you’ll be hearing your doctor talk about when deciding treatments in years to come. “You can just point it at a place in the genome and you can do anything you want at that spot,” said Robert Reed, a professor of biology at Cornell University. Technically, CRISPR causes a gene mutation by cutting like a knife or a pair of scissors, and the precision that’s been achieved has opened up a lot of new doors for advancement.

Ethics Behind It

This raises another question, though, and it has to do with the ethics of mutating genes. While many see it as a way to prevent and treat serious illnesses, there are some that see it from the other side where it’s a way of weeding out certain people socioeconomically. “The concern is that with technologies that are relatively easy to use, like CRISPR, how does the scientific community regulate itself?” Robert Truog of Harvard Medical School said. “If there’s a silver lining to this cloud, I think it is that the scientific community did pull together to be critical of this work, and took the responsibility to seriously use the tools available to them to regulate themselves.”

You’ll be hearing a lot about CRISPR in the coming years between debates, treatments and much more. For now, it’s early, but we’ve seen its uses in fighting diseases such as blindness, diabetes and even cancer and HIV. The future is closer than you think and CRISPR is something that might end up saving your life or a loved one’s very soon.

Top 5 Student Finance Hacks

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College is expensive. Pretty much everything about college costs a lot of money, so instead of getting nickeled and dimed, you’re probably getting ten’d and twenty’d. A lot of young adults are overwhelmed financially when they depart for college, but that doesn’t have to be you. If you’re concerned about student debt, paying for groceries or credit cards, there are some hacks that you should know about. Here are five tips to help you financially for the next two, four or however many years you’ll be spending in school.

5. Small Balances Come First

When you’re a student, the likelihood of you having to take out a massive six figure loan over the course of four years almost seems inevitable these days. It won’t all be in one lump sum, though, so it’s important to look at all of your loans (which also includes credit cards). The smaller a balance is, the quicker you’ll want to pay it off before you start looking at the big ones. Interest rates vary so consolidation isn’t always the answer, and hitting one loan at a time to a $0 balance will work wonders.

4. Pay More Than Minimum

A lot of us want to pay the bare minimum that’s due while we work toward a future where we’re getting paid enough to just zero out a student loan or credit card balance. Instead, you should be paying as much as you can now to make things easier for you in the future. If you’re able to pay toward your principal balance right from the get go, you won’t have to worry about high interest payments. Start early and start often. If you have extra cash that you’re not using, put it toward your balances.

3. Pick Your Books Wisely

Let’s just get it out there, college textbooks for the most part are a scam. Every semester a new copy of what’s practically the same book comes out and costs students an arm and a leg. Instead, do your best with an older secondhand copy that you can get from a local bookstore and save yourself hundreds of dollars in the process. The newest version might be required, but the internet is here to help you get around that peskiness.

2. Don’t Go With Name Brands

Of course you have to eat when you’re a student. It’s not like your appetite suddenly vanishes. With that said, be mindful when you’re at the grocery store. You don’t need the name brand of everything, and don’t be too proud to shop at a dollar store for snacks and other small items like utensils. Grocery stores like Aldi are a lifesaver when you’re a college student (or anyone with a budget, really).

1. Use Those Student Discounts

When you think of discounts, you probably tend to think about those that are in the military or senior citizens. College students, however, have a slew of discounts that they can pick from. Always browse online to see if there’s a student discount available for you as even the biggest companies provide them. Amazon, State Farm, Best Buy, you name it. Even if you’re a sports fan you can get discounts as the NFL television package is much cheaper and doesn’t require a satellite television subscription.

The Surprising Benefits Of Quiet

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More than ever, us humans are dealing with noise on a near 24 hour basis. From cars that are zooming past your house to our televisions, computers and phones going off constantly, you’re bombarded with noise almost non-stop. Every now and then, it’s important to unplug from everything and find yourself some quiet time. Not only is it good for your ears, but it can help in many other ways. Here are some of the health benefits that you can get from enjoying more quiet time throughout the day.

5. Creativity Boost

If you’re someone that wants to tap into their creative side, you don’t want to do it while surrounded by a lot of noise. That’s because you are much more creative when you’re sitting in silence. You’re able to tap into your own thoughts much better this way, and science proves this. Whether you’re writing a book, trying to play a musical instrument or painting a picture, it’s best to do it without all of the distractions that can cause you to lose focus and slip up.

4. Memory Enhancer

Do you ever find yourself forgetting things throughout the day? It might not be because you’re losing your memory, but because you’re not spending enough time in silence. A Duke University study found that those who enjoy two hours of silence per day improves the function of your brain’s memory. This is because new cells generate while you’re resting in silence, and this boosts the hippocampus’s development. You’ll never forget a birthday or anniversary again if you get a little quiet time.

3. Better Decisions

When we find ourselves in silence after going through the stress of loud noises, our brains start to create positive hormones such as serotonin and endorphins. When you’re more relaxed mentally, you’re more likely to make decisions that are well thought out and beneficial compared to when you’re stressed and make snap decisions without first thinking about the long term results. You’re brain is more clear in silence, so don’t take it for granted.

2. Better Sleep

It seems that these days, many of us need to have some sort of noise to help us fall asleep. For many, it’s a fan or the television at a low volume, or at least some white noise. However, these forms of noise are best for masking other noises such as traffic. Instead, the best way to get healthy sleep is through complete silence. This may mean that you have to wear noise canceling headphones, and that takes some adjustment, but it will be better for you in the long run.

1. Lowers Blood Pressure

Have you ever been surrounded by a bunch of noise all happening at once? Between sitting in traffic, sitting in a massive office building or people constantly talking at home, life is loud. These noises all thrown at you at once can increase your stress levels and, in turn, your blood pressure. Sitting in silence instantly reduces your blood pressure in the short term while also having a long term benefit for your heart health. You don’t have to tell people to zip their lips all the time, but getting away from too much chatter is good for you.

5 Timeless Fundamentals of Tattoo Selection

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Tattoos aren’t just a trend that has been getting more popular in recent years as they’ve been around for centuries. These days, though, tattooing has become more extensive with the technology that we have and the detail is amazing. Because of this, people that didn’t think they’d ever get a tattoo are starting to consider it and join the 30 percent of Americans that have received a tattoo in the past 10 years. Before you face the needle for the first time, though, there are some things that you need to know. Here are the fundamentals of tattoo selection.

5. Don’t Rush It

The worst thing that you can do when getting a tattoo is getting one on the spot. It’s basically an old trope at this point. You go to a place like Las Vegas, have a bit too much to drink and when you get home you discover a new tattoo that you immediately hate. Never be under the influence when getting a tattoo, although you can decide on one when you have. If the sober version of you still likes the tattoo idea you came up with, it might be a good pick for you.

4. Start Small

If you’ve never had a tattoo before, you might be doing yourself a huge disservice if you dive into a full arm sleeve for your first project. Instead, you should pick out something small. This can set the base for your larger project, but there’s something even more important for starting small. This will be a good base for your pain tolerance when the needle starts doing its work. If it felt like almost nothing, then you’re ready to take the next step to a larger tattoo.

3. Don’t Follow Trends

Because of social media, a lot of us tend to hop on a lot of trends. Whether it be from TikTok, Instagram or one of the countless others, tattoos are no stranger to being part of a trend. It’s best to ignore what’s hot at the moment because when you look at the tattoo a few years down the road you might end up cringing. Just because someone like Ariana Grande got a particular tattoo doesn’t mean you have to get the same one.

2. Word of Mouth

Getting a tattoo from an artist that you’ve never met before can be a bit scary. But word of mouth goes a long way in the tattoo game. If you see an artist that has darn near perfect ratings on online reviews or know someone that has personal experience, then that’s an artist that’s likely to be trusted. If they have a wide catalog of work, too, you’ll know you found the right artist.

1. The Personal Connection

Think back to when you were a child and you said that you like dinosaurs once so every birthday or Christmas present you received was some sort of dinosaur item. You probably don’t like dinosaurs as much these days, do you? The same growth continues into adulthood, so you probably won’t want a tattoo of a dinosaur when you’re 80. Instead, pick something that has personal meaning to you, such as a departed family member or the place where you grew up. Heck, maybe you do love dinosaurs that much that it will last the rest of your life.

5 Simple Psychological Principles for Healthy Parenting

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There’s no such thing as a perfect parent, and those that already have children will be the first ones to admit that. Everyday you learn something new about yourself, your child and how to improve on how you’re raising them. If you’re planning on starting a family, there are some key factors that you need to consider. Tap into your brain and learn these psychological principles to set yourself and your child up for long term success.

5. Environment

Many people that end up having a child may not be ready, and there’s a long list of factors that come into play. One of those factors is environment, which includes the physical aspect. You want to make sure that your child has everything tangible that they need to be successful in life. It doesn’t have to be the highest end children’s toys and whatnot, but they should have at least the minimum to develop intellectually and creatively during their younger years. 

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Praise

There are some parents out there that no matter what their child does, they tend to not praise the kids. This can set a child up for a lifetime of feeling like their accomplishments aren’t worthwhile. When your child does something noteworthy, make sure to tell them that you’re proud of what they’ve done. That type of validation helps their development tremendously. It’s not a short term thing, either, as their professional and personal accomplishments as adults will boost their self esteem.

3. Conversation

Did you ever feel awkward telling your parents something while you were growing up? It’s likely because they weren’t proactive in conversation. When you start a discussion with your children and get the dialogue rolling, you’re going to learn a lot about them in every way. From what makes them tick, to their likes and dislikes and how you can be there for them in times of need. Talk, listen, and enjoy a deeper connection with your child.

2. Respect

They say that respect is earned, not given. That is all well and good when it comes to the office or professional sports. When it comes to raising a child, though, you have to show them respect from a very early age. You should respect your child in all aspects. Physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. When you show your child respect, that means that they’ll show respect to others and make healthy lifelong connections. When they become adults, they’ll have earned respect from their peers because they know how.

1. Assertiveness

The absolute biggest problem that all parents face is trying to find that balance between being too aggressive when raising a child and too passive. Aggressiveness makes your child not want to open up to you and can cause a multitude of mental issues down the road, while being too passive makes your child think they can just take whatever they want. That’s also going to be a hard lesson for them to learn down the road. It’s important to be assertive, engage in conversation with your child and make sure that they understand consequences on a deeper level, and don’t allow them to walk all over you.

5 Pretty Gross Insect Facts

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We all love bugs, don’t we? Actually, don’t answer that. It’s safe to say that a significant portion of people in the United States either can’t stand bugs or at least dislike them greatly. There’s plenty of reason for that, and it’s not just the aesthetic. Bugs are known to do some nasty things, even if it’s just to survive. If you’re looking for a few reasons why bugs are considered gross, here are some of the biggest ones.

5. House Flies Poop EVERYWHERE

We all have to deal with house flies, especially in the summer months. It seems that if you leave your door open for just a nanosecond, one or two of these little buggers sneak in and all of a sudden you don’t go fly-less in your house until winter comes. Every time you see a fly land, you might want to start retching, too. That’s because every time they land, house flies defecate. Not only that, but flies eat their own vomit as part of their liquid diet. Needless to say, these disease ridden pests are gross.

4. Cockroaches Have Milk

No matter how clean your house is, you might have a cockroach infestation, and it’s extremely annoying. Now, when we think of cockroaches,we think of scurrying and the gross little antennas. We don’t think about milk as that type of talk is reserved for cows or even goats. Cockroaches do produce milk, though, which is packed with calories and protein. In case you wanted to be even more grossed out, cockroach milk has been considered by some to be a superfood thanks to a recent study that showed the nutritional breakdown.

3. Caterpillars are Jacked

You might think you’re pretty strong, and there’s a good reason for that. After all, the human body consists of 629 muscles that help you to move around and lift heavy objects. What if I told you that a caterpillar makes you look like a weakling in terms of scale, though? It’s true, though, as caterpillars have 248 muscles, and that’s just in their heads. Overall, caterpillars have more than six time the amount of muscle as humans, totalling in at about 4,000.

2. Slugs are Super Stretchy 

Slugs are one of those gross looking little creatures that you don’t run away from, but you tend to not want to touch. Nobody can really blame you, as there are some weird things that slugs do. Not only do they leave behind a trail when they move (in their weird little way), but they are also incredibly stretchy. Slugs can squeeze through just about anything because they can stretch to 20 times their normal length. Oh, and by the way, they have about 27,000 teeth.

1. Praying Mantises Eat at a Weird Time

The mating ritual for a Praying Mantis is a pretty weird and morbid one. To attract a mate, a male mantis will literally fight a female. If the male wins, then they get to mate. The stakes for losing are incredibly high, though. That’s because the female will eat the male if he can’t show his prowess in battle. Why do the females do this? Well, for the nutrition while they’re pregnant, of course.

5 Most Insanely Run Football Clubs In The World

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By far the most popular sport in the world, football tends to attract a lot of billionaires to the pitch. Because of the television rights bringing in massive revenue, the wealthy want to line their pockets by getting into athletic ownership, and football is more lucrative than ever. While some clubs are run like a well oiled machine, there are others that suffer from ownership interference (or a complete laissez faire approach) that hurts them, and here are five of the most specific examples of just that.

5. Arsenal F.C.

In many cases of a billionaire buying a professional sports team, it’s because they’re truly passionate fans of the squad. Then there’s the legend of billionaire Stan Kroenke, who is strictly into sports in terms of business. Take his United States ventures for example. Both the Los Angeles Rams and Colorado Avalanche won titles in 2022, both of which are owned by Kroenke. Meanwhile, his football team in England is toiling since it’s a bit of an afterthought. After winning the Super Bowl with the Rams, one fan tweeted “Kroenke lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy may well be the closest Arsenal get to winning a major honour this season.” Ouch.

4. Ujpest F.C.

The Premier League is the main attention getter for club football, but then there are random leagues that we have to pay attention to for some fun headlines. For this one,w e turn to Hungary and NB I for the strange offerings of Ujpest FC. Back in 2011, Roderick Duchatelet purchased the team and despite promises of returning to glory, have not won any domestic or international honours since 1998, far before his ownership. In 2022, Duchatelet wanted to sell the team, but the Russia-Ukraine War caused the new owners to back out of the deal, leaving Duchatelet with a team he doesn’t even want.

3. San Jose Earthquakes

Back in 1996, the United States had their biggest entry into the professional club football world with the introduction of Major League Soccer. One of the original teams was the San Jose Clash, which is now known as the San Jose Earthquakes. SInce their inception, they have won two MLS Cup titles, but it’s been nearly 20 years since that happened. In an anonymous poll amongst those in the MLS, it was San Jose that was picked as the ownership that’s holding the team back the most thanks to their stinginess, but have been able to hold onto a team simply because of being a charter member of the league.

2. Barry Town F.C.

Heading to Wales, we find a fascinating story of a semi-professional team that was once on top of the world during the 1990s when they won multiple Welsh Cups. That was, until, businessman Stuart Lovering came along to buy the team in 2003. Lovering backed out on a lot of promises financially, causing the team to plummet in stature until there was essentially a mutiny. Things haven’t been smooth ever since, with Barry recently finishing toward the bottom of the standings.

1. Milton Keynes Dons F.C.

We finish where we started, in jolly old England, to find the MK Dons from Buckinghamshire. Owned by a music promoter, Pete Winkelman, it hasn’t gone well since his purchase. The club had a split (separating Wimbledon and MK) and the team was almost immediately relegated due to poor performance. Their highest finish since their formation is a runner-up claim in 2014-15…; Football League One.