drinking

Alcohol Really Can Boost Your Creativity

4:30PM Angus Kidman | It’s commonly thought that the drivel most people produce when asked for a piece of writing after knocking back a few drinks is proof that booze and creative pursuits don’t mix. But if you’ve ever felt that you do better at creative tasks after imbibing, genetics might actually be on your side. More »

Open Beer Bottles With Bic Lighters

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | If you lack for a ring, Wired explains the time-honored tradition of popping the top with a Bic-type lighter. More »

Moderate Alcohol Consumption Might Not Actually Be “Healthy”

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Remember pretty much every health study in the news over the last few years? The kind that suggested one or two drinks per day (for women and men, respectively) would help you live longer? More »

Bacon Sandwiches Can Speed Up Hangover Recovery

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | British researchers found that eating concentrated doses of carbohydrates and protein after some “over indulgence” can speed up your metabolism and provide the amino acids needed to start feeling better. BLT for breakfast, anyone? More »

Create Edible Gummy Shot Glasses

8:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Trying to figure out what to serve your skittles-infused vodka in? Why, a flavored gummy shot glass, of course. ShesParticular at tinkering haven Instructables uploaded a ridiculously simple tutorial on making your own gummy shot glasses. The gist of it: you use a silicone mold intended for making ice shot glasses, you microwave a bunch of gummi worms on a low heat to melt them, and then you pour the mixture into the molds. There are some details to refine the process included in her tutorial, but the basis of technique is executing gummi worms with a microwave. Gummi Shot Glasses [Instructables] More »

Basic Formulas Are The Basis Of Impromptu Cocktails

5:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | What do you do when you’re looking to make a cocktail but you’re light on a few ingredients? Paul Clark, writing for the food blog Serious Eats, points out that nearly all good cocktails follow a basic ratio and that using that ratio can yield pretty tasty results even when using non-standard recipes. For example, sour-style, liqueur-sweetened cocktails such as margaritas and sidecars usually fall into a 2:1:1 or 3:2:1 ratio of spirits:liqueur:citrus, depending on how sweet or tart you prefer the result. Remember the particular formula that’s to your liking and you can start swapping all kinds of things through to make different drinks: rum instead of brandy, apricot liqueur instead of Cointreau; while a little wiggle with the proportions may be required with some substitutions, as long as you follow the basic formula you can be assured that you’ll wind up with something balanced. He goes on to detail other ratios and how his experiment with mixing his own cocktails using the formulas yielded positive results. If you have your own trick for mixing drinks, sound off in the comments and save your fellow readers for another round of rum and coke. Photo by Jazarella Mozarella. Serious Cocktails: Applied Math [Serious Eats] More »

‘Mail Goggles’ Prevents Regrettable Late-Night Email

10:00PM Kevin Purdy | A new Gmail Labs feature dubbed “Mail Goggles” has Gmail ask you a series of math problems before allowing you to send out emails late on certain nights—like, say, those nights when you’re artificially motivated to tell your boss/significant other/frenemy just what the deal is. You can adjust the bewitching hours and difficulty of the math problems in your general settings. [via Official Gmail Blog] More »