Lifestyle - Sunday, June 14, 2026

Skip the token tie and get him a gift he’ll still be telling people about years from now Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things Socks, underwear, ties, another personalized mug. Dads and grandpas of all ages know the drill when it comes to Father’s Day. They have perfected the smile and gracious “thank you” while reminding themselves that it’s the thought that counts. Don’t make him fake the enthusiasm this year. The right gadget can get a genuine “wow” by making his life a little easier, more comfortable or more fun, and he doesn’t even need to be a “tech guy.” I spoke to more than a dozen dads, from new dads to grandpas, geeky dads to sporty dads, and they all shared stories of gadgets they’ve received as gifts in the past and adore. Here are some of their all-time favorites, and your dad’s future favorites. Shokz OpenMove headphones ANMONE Long Stylus Pen Continue reading...

Marriage wisdom | Fun with numbers | Musk power | Bus destinations | Hockney’s brother I enjoyed Polly Hudson’s wisdom on marriage ( I know it’s taboo – but I’m a big fan of marriage, 9 June ). However, I think she was fundamentally wrong when she wrote: “The haters say marriage is ‘just a piece of paper’, which is fundamentally true”. That would be like saying my degree is only the certificate. In both cases the significance is that which it points towards – something no physical object can truly capture. Rev Martin Joss Peterborough • Allow me, a number theorist, to lend support to Ian Harley ( Letters, 10 June ), and make some sense of the phrase “such fun’’ for Steve Lupton ( Letters, 11 June ). Many scientists start with fun and enjoyment when young, followed by agony and frustration in their research, but always sustained by the beauty and amazement of their discoveries. Peter Shiu Sheffield Continue reading...

Smac McCreanor, a content creator who recreates viral internet trends through dance, gets woken up by bunnies every day Have you seen the video of Smac McCreanor pretending to be a parakeet ? Dressed in green, she gracefully slides and sidesteps, occasionally lifting her arms – or wings? – mimicking the movements of a bird who went viral for his dance moves . McCreanor, 33, translates the internet’s obsessions through her body, whether a green bird, emoji or objects being destroyed by a hydraulic press . A multi-genre dancer with 1 million Instagram followers , she has performed on So You Think You Can Dance and choreographed for the online video game Fortnite. Jaya Saxena is a co-founder of Ravenous, a worker-owned food and culture site. She lives in Queens, New York. Continue reading...

Fire it up, baby. The post 7 Grilling Rules That Every Summer Cook Should Know appeared first on Camille Styles .

You can’t experience Greek culture without really tasting it — from olives at breakfast to ouzo after dark.

She came directly up to me and offered the tray, accompanied by a torrent of incomprehensible Greek Read more in the kindness of strangers series The straps of my backpack dug hard into my shoulders as I trudged like a zombie through the sweltering heat. I was hitchhiking across the Greek island of Crete in summertime and had been dropped off in a small village miles from anywhere, hoping to pick up my next ride. It was 1978 and probably didn’t help that I looked every inch the hippie – jewellery, bushy beard and dusty clothes. Cars passed only infrequently, maybe one every half hour. When they did, they hurtled past like unstoppable express trains, without a sideways glance my way. I took a seat on a low stone wall and hoped for the best. But after several hours under the relentless sun, I was beginning to think I’d never get out of the place. A few houses dotted the main road but the village seemed to be asleep. Continue reading...

This is what's happening in your brain when you step outside. The post What an Ecotherapist Wants You to Know About Nature and Your Mental Health appeared first on Camille Styles .

Imagine a world with more birdsong and less Nigel Farage. If this is the future, bring it on Unpopular opinion incoming: there’s cool stuff brewing in the world. Microbots might one day mend spinal cords , a petri dish of brain cells can already play video games , and now the prospect of a new wonder: according to a New Yorker article on misophonia ( the condition where unwanted noise triggers disproportionate, unpleasant cognitive and physiological reactions), a team of miracle workers are “using machine learning to develop headphones that … can quickly target and eliminate irksome audio”. Now we’re talking! This project, led by Shyam Gollakota of the University of Washington’s Mobile Intelligence Lab, aims to develop headphones that selectively filter out triggering noises, leaving or enhancing the good sounds. Gollakota offers the example of sitting on a park bench, oblivious to loud talkers next to you but able to hear birdsong. Continue reading...

Common cleaning mistakes include using too much cleaner, overlooking dust buildup and washing windows on a sunny day.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts This week’s question: Is ‘ripen at home’ fruit the supermarkets’ idea of a joke? I’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a pin on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password and two-factor authentication. I get that having something unique to your device, not stored on a company’s server, is unphishable and less hackable by cybercrims, but what if your phone is nicked and someone guesses the password? And what if you lose your phone? Continue reading...