MAGAZZIT

Twitter has become a nationwide phenomenon, and like any phenom, all the Twitter talk grows quickly tiresome. But despite what you may think, Twitter isn't just for narcissists; it's actually insanely useful.

So let's assume that you already know about the navel-gazing uses of Twitter—the aspects of Twitter that most people criticize when they complain about the site. Discounting Twitter altogether because you think it's ridiculous that people tweet about what they had for breakfast is like claiming that email is useless because of forward chains. It's a mistake, and you'd be missing out on a great tool if you let that put you off Twitter completely.

Twitter is as useful as you make it. In fact, Twitter does several very worthwhile things better than any other tool.

1. Instant, Real-Time Search Results
Search is hands down the most useful feature of Twitter—whether or not you actually participate by posting anything to the site. Consider, for example, a very trivial example: I live on the West coast, so when the American Idol results show ends every Wednesday on the East coast, it's only 7pm here. I could wait two hours, then suffer through another hour of the Wednesday night, up-with-people variety show, but I really just want to know who was voted off. News sites move too slowly, and at one point blogs had aimed to fill this instant-answers void, but guess what: When you want to find out who was voted off Idol as soon as the results are available, Twitter is the quickest and easiest way to get this answer. Try it sometime. Within seconds of the announcement on Idol, Twitter fills with hundreds of posts answering this question for me.

The real-time search applies to so much more. If the signal on my cell phone goes out, I check Twitter to see if there's some sort of AT&T outage in my area. If I want to know what people are saying about something important to me, I hit up Twitter. What you get is like a centralized, searchable, real-time comment-thread for everything. Yes, like all comment threads, you'll find a good amount of crap. But that doesn't render the entire thread worthless. Bookmark Twitter Search now and use it next time Google or your favorite blog search engine fails you.

2. Monitoring Something You Care About
Virtually every company has a Twitter account these days, which means if there's a product you really care about, following them on Twitter is often the easiest way to stay up to date with the latest developments. But more often than not (in the context of Twitter, at least), the thing we care about most is ourselves. We've already shown you how to create an ego search to monitor what's being said about you on the web, but now Twitter is another must-use tool for getting your ego fix.

Still, even if you're not an ego-maniac, surely there's something that you care about that you could monitor on Twitter. Do yourself a favor and download one of the free desktop Twitter clients to help you create persistent Twitter searches so you can keep track of whatever your want without always hitting up the main Twitter search page. We'd recommend checking out TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop.

3. News Updates
We've been using newsreaders to subscribe to RSS feeds for years now, but newsreaders still haven't completely caught on with the world at large. It seems less manageable to us, but many people are perfectly happy using Twitter as a tool to keep up with the latest news—which is partly why CNN has over 1 million followers. Likewise, re-tweeting (the process of copying and re-posting someone else's tweet) spreads news like wildfire—so breaking news can reach you on Twitter a million times faster than through any of the old methods. (For what it's worth, here at Lifehacker we have our own Twitter feed that pushes out all of our top stories.)

4. Instant Communication with Friends
This is closer to what people think about when they think Twitter. But, as I said above, Twitter communication doesn't have to be a cesspool of "what I ate this morning" and "just flushed the toilet." You can choose whose updates you want to be notified of and how you get those updates. Upshot: If you and your pals use Twitter well, it can be a fantastic communication tool. If not, of course it's useless—but that's not really Twitter's fault. Also, if privacy is a concern, you can always protect your updates.

5. Twitter as a Productivity Command Line
Whether you want to add a new event to Google Calendar, a new to-do to Remember the Milk, or a new note to Evernote, you can do it all via Twitter. It took us a while to warm up to Twitter from a productivity angle, but this kind of integration made us admit that Twitter may yet boost your productivity, too.

6. Ask Questions, Get Answers
Provided you have enough followers (with enough knowledge), Twitter is also a powerful place to ask questions and get answers. Before I started writing this post, for example, I asked my followers what they think Twitter's best uses are—the answers to which helped inform this entire post.

Recently, I was subcontracting for an ad agency when things went unexpectedly wrong. There had been points in the process when I felt things weren’t quite right, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. In retrospect, I can see that those moments were actually blatant warning signs that the project was going awry.

Now I keep these warning signs in mind. They’re indicators that I need to take immediate action to keep my project on track. If you’re working remotely, that can be much harder to do than if you have daily face-to-face contact with your colleagues, but hopefully these tips will help you avoid the trap I fell into.

The project had started in the normal way. I took the brief, produced the work, and sent it off in draft form for review with the words, “I look forward to your amendments.” But there were no amendments. My contact at the agency asked for my invoice the same day. I wound up having to chase payment, my contact was avoiding me, and in the end, I only got paid for half the job.

Here are the five warning signs that should have alerted me to the danger.

When I emailed my contact the copy his client had commissioned — a 30-second radio ad — and he had no amendments, I thought it was very odd. I’d included time for client amendments in my project estimate, which he’d approved. We’d also discussed the turnaround time for amendments, so we were both expecting that my ad copy wouldn’t be spot-on the first time.
When his only response to my submission of the draft ad was to ask me to send the invoice, I thought it was weird. Weirder still was that he emailed me this instruction: most of my clients will call to discuss draft copy. In an office, body language and behavior indicates clearly if a colleague is uncomfortable. But even email and phone conversations provide limited feedback.
What I should have done was called my contact immediately after I received his email to confirm that he and his client really had no amendments, and that both were happy to wrap the project up. But at the time I dismissed my unease, telling myself he was probably just busy.

No one I’ve ever worked with has accepted copy straight up, without amendments. Ever. So this should have been a huge red flag for me. If a person you’re working with does something you’ve never seen before — and their behavior affects you — check it out with them.
Before you do anything else, give them a call to get clarification about what’s going on. If their behavior has made you at all nervous or uneasy, let them know. By raising the topic, you give them the opportunity to talk about any issues they have — issues that, as in my contact’s case, they may otherwise be uncomfortable raising with you.

A sudden silence can mean that your colleague has been called out of the office unexpectedly. Or it can mean that they have a problem that they don’t know how to discuss with you.
After I sent my 14-day invoice, I heard nothing from my client — not even an acknowledgment that he’d received it. Again, slightly uneasy, I reassured myself that he was probably busy. What I should have been doing was calling to follow up my invoice and make sure he’d received it.
As it turned out, when I called after the invoice due date and left a message, he didn’t respond. I emailed; no reply. When I called the following week, I was told he’d gone on leave for two weeks. When I was put through to Accounts, they told me there was a problem with the invoice and they’d been instructed not to pay it.

When I finally spoke to my contact, it was over the phone, and he told me that his client hadn’t liked the copy and they’d had to rewrite it. But he was going into a meeting and couldn’t talk now. He’d see that I “got paid at least part of the invoice,” and then he was gone.

By this time, I knew he wasn’t going to pay. I also knew he didn’t have a meeting. But there was still time to salvage things, had I wanted to. If this happened to me now, I’d ask to stop by the client’s office for ten minutes and discuss the problems with my work. Don’t let a client try to bamboozle you with fast talk or excuses — no matter how much they sugar-coat their story.

Discussing the problems can also give you a chance to rectify the situation.

It won’t surprise you that all through this process I felt a general sense of unease — one that grew as matters progressed.

Now, whenever I get that feeling, I know I need to try to work out the cause of the discomfort. As my experience showed, it’s tempting to ignore your instincts and hope that things will go the way you’d like. No one likes to be uncomfortable, after all. But if you’re feeling it, you’re feeling it for a reason. Don’t ever ignore it!

If you look at your discomfort more closely, you can usually identify the source of the issue. Then, you can formulate a plan to right matters. Perhaps you’ll explain your concerns, point by point, in an email, and then call your contact to discuss those concerns. Or maybe you’ll make a few decisions about how you’ll move forward on the project, setting boundaries you will and won’t cross, or creating a series of requirements you’ll need to have met before you progress through each deliverable.

These five warning signs now ring alarm bells whenever I encounter them. Being aware of them, and acting on them, has kept me out of trouble since The Job That Went Bad. What warning signs do you watch for in your projects?

MOVIE moguls yesterday offered TV talent show heroine Susan Boyle a shot at film stardom — alongside a Hollywood icon.

Stunned Susan, 48, got the surprise package from the States — marked ‘job offer’ — as she opened her door yesterday morning.

Award-winning film-maker Darla Rae is desperate for the Britain’s Got Talent singer to appear in her latest flick — with The Birds legend Tippi Hedren.

The movie, called Section B, also stars 80s pop queen Cyndi Lauper and tycoon Donald Trump’s ex Marla Maples.

And last night Rae said: “I’d love to help Susan finally fulfil her dream of becoming an actress.
“Her real life story is exactly what the movie Section B is about — chasing your dream no matter what.

Shy spinster Susan, of Blackburn, West Lothian, has told how she longs to be an acting star and make her late parents Bridget and Patrick proud.

And she is now a huge step closer to fulfilling that dream after wowing the US with her breathtaking performance on the ITV show.

PRESIDENT Obama has finally appointed his First Pet — this Portuguese water dog called Bo.

The six-month-old is a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.
Mr Obama’s girls Malia, ten, and Sasha, seven, were said to be smitten.

They named him Bo after mum Michelle’s father, who was nicknamed Diddley — a reference to singer Bo Diddley.

Samson denied British visa after incident with teen girl in Berkshire

MILLIONS of us will go on an Easter egg hunt or tuck into hot cross buns tomorrow.
But other countries have very different Easter Weekend traditions — and not all are related to Christianity.

In NORWAY, families gather round the television to watch an Agatha Christie movie or TV whodunnit. It follows an ancient tradition of acting out a murder mystery play over Easter.

Great British tradition ... Easter traffic

On Easter Monday in the CZECH REPUBLIC, young males make whips from willow branches and tour the streets looking for young women and girls to smack on the legs.
The women later get their revenge by pouring buckets of cold water over the men.
In POLAND, parents creep into their children’s bedrooms on Good Friday morning and wake them by tapping them with switches made of twigs while reciting “the wounds of God” from an Easter prayer.

SPANISH adults and children dress up in the kinds of costumes favoured in the US by the Ku Klux Klan — but there is nothing racist about this celebration.
In the PHILIPPINES, every Good Friday dozens of men re-enact Christ’s crucifixion by having themselves nailed to wooden crosses.

ROMANIANS sweep the house, have a ritual bath and put on new clothes before going to church on Easter Sunday, and in BERMUDA people fly kites to celebrate Jesus rising from the tomb. Families in BULGARIA throw eggs at each other, with the oldest women smearing the first broken egg over the face of the youngest children.
On Easter Monday, the EGYPTIANS eat fish that has been buried underground, in a tradition that can be traced back to 2700BC.

FINNS, SWEDES and DANES hold Halloween celebrations at Easter. And in IRELAND people eat simnel cake topped with 11 balls of marzipan in honour of Jesus’s faithful Apostles.
But perhaps the strangest Easter fact of all is that Christians cannot agree when the festival falls.
This year Catholics and Protestants celebrate Easter Sunday tomorrow while most Orthodox Christians will wait until next Sunday.

ALEX FERGUSON has told Cristiano Ronaldo: "You can't get everything your own way."
The Manchester United winger gave the ball away in the lead-up to goals for Aston Villa and Porto last week.

Ronaldo was the key figure in United's march to the Premier League and Champions League double last season.

But United boss Ferguson has made sure the Portuguese star knows what is expected.
He said: "No, I don't accept that he will give goals away because of the player he is, I speak to him about it.

"I don't accept that from anyone.
"In European football, if you give the ball away it takes a long time to get it back.
"He always feels he's not getting the proper protection from referees and I think that, maybe, in quite a few cases he is right, and a few cases he is not right.
"It's hard when a player who wants to entertain doesn't get everything his own way. But you can't get everything your own way.
"He understands that and there's not a problem with that.
"It's just a frustration that he feels he doesn't get the decision and he gets upset about it.
"I think, obviously, he doesn't enjoy that and he knows he's letting himself down more than anything.
"He holds his hands up. I have had to remind him about that but I'm not getting into what has been said."

Bo, the Portuguese water dog, is all over the Web before official debut

Who let the dog out?

That's the Washington mystery du jour.

The identity of the first puppy — the one that the Washington press corps has been yelping about for months, the one President Obama has seemed to delight in dropping hints about -- leaked out yesterday. This despite White House efforts to delay the news until the big debut planned for Tuesday afternoon.

These scary economic times have a lot of us looking to trim our tech budgets. But before you lose the premium cable channels, upgraded broadband, and unlimited international calling plan, you may want to try a little price negotiation. You might be worried, but your service providers are crapping bricks. The recession has actually increased your leverage. By articulating their worst fear (losing customers), you can wangle huge savings.

"The business climate is changing, and we continuously adjust for that," says Robyn Watson, PR director at Time Warner Cable. That's code for "Let's talk." Operators are standing by, and they're trained to cycle through a script that's dripping with juicy options. Negotiate well and you'll tease out the goodies they tried to withhold at first.

Going in, it helps to know the competition your service provider faces. If you have satellite TV and broadband from the phone company, be familiar with the most recent cable bargain bundle. Or vice versa: Has the à la carte crowd been pimping price drops to entice switching? Work it. If you're willing to take your business elsewhere, that's even better. In addition to introductory honeymoon rates, they probably have unadvertised sweeteners. If you do switch, though, mark your calendar and call back in six months or a year when the rate adjusts. Savvy consumers know that this little dance is a recurring affair.

But be careful of stepping on toes. Don't just call up and immediately threaten to leave. Herb Cohen, who helped set up the FBI's hostage negotiation program, cautions against acting too smart. "Intellect is an asset, but only if it's concealed," he says. "Dumb is better than smart." You want to be saying, "Can you explain this to me? I heard from a friend who got such-and-such a deal." That'll switch the rep into deal-making mode. Eventually, try to flip your opponent to your point of view by involving them in your decisionmaking, with questions like "If you were me, what would you do?"

Some operators will be quick with a brush-off, so don't be afraid to hang up and try again. If you're not having any luck, you can always ask for the retention department (the folks with beaucoup bargaining power) right out of the chute. Just remember to never be rude—angrily demanding a manager isn't going to make anyone want to do you any favors. And never be afraid to walk. If nothing else, a history of fickleness might lend extra credibility to your tough talk in the future.

If you'd like to have delicious home-grown tomatoes but lack a garden to grow them in, you'll definitely want to check out this ingenious and inexpensive self-watering system.

Fast-food chains have recently deflected criticism of their menu offerings by adding healthy items like salads. But a paper soon to be released in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that the presence of healthy options on a menu can induce some diners to eat less healthily than they otherwise would.

In one study, college students were given one of two menus. One menu featured French fries, chicken nuggets and a baked potato; the other included those same items as well as a salad. The French fries, widely perceived as the least healthful option, were three times as popular with students selecting from the menu that had the salad as they were with the other group.
“When you consider the healthy option, you say, well, I could have that option,” said Keith Wilcox, a doctoral candidate at Baruch College who is one of the paper’s four authors. “That lowers your guard, leading to self-indulgent behavior.”

The diners most affected by the presence of a healthful item were those with the highest levels of self-control, as measured by a widely used test. Those with less self-control were far likelier to order the fries in the no-salad condition; but when the salad was included, some of them opted for it.

Think of supermarkets as giant selling machines, where traffic patterns, product placement, smells, displays, and signs lure you to spend more time cruising the aisles and more money at the checkout. These tips should keep you from falling for the tricks:

Look high and low
Supermarkets are in the real-estate business, and prime selling space includes the middle or eye-level shelving. Vendors sometimes pay retailers hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in slotting fees to take on new products or display products prominently. There are differing schools of thought on slotting fees, with critics contending that they stifle competition and boost prices. In any event, check whether similar products on top or bottom rungs are less expensive.

Eye end caps
Some shoppers assume that products on aisle ends are on sale, which is why those displays can boost sales by a third. But end caps can highlight items about to expire or those that aren't a bargain. At an A&P near our Yonkers, N.Y., headquarters, we spotted an end cap loaded with Pepperidge Farm cookies, all at full price. The end-cap tie-in is another trick: Related items are featured, not all of them on sale. Take the Tostitos display we saw at Stop & Shop. The chips were on sale; salsa and dips weren't.

Compare unit prices
Only a few states and metro areas have laws requiring price tags on every item. Elsewhere you'll typically find shelf tags under each product that reveal the cost per ounce, quart, pound, or 100 sheets. To see whether big packages really are cheaper, compare the unit price. We found many instances in which bigger wasn't better. At a ShopRite, for example, we eyed a 14-ounce box of Frosted Flakes on sale at $2.29 per pound compared with $4.38 per pound for a 17-ounce box.

Consider organics sometimes
Organic means expensive, so buy organic versions of produce that's most likely to harbor pesticides when grown conventionally, such as peaches, strawberries, and bell peppers. Organic meats and dairy foods might be worthwhile but not "organic" seafood because standards aren't in place. (Always cook meat thoroughly to avoid pathogens.)

Weigh the cost of convenience
Is it that much work to cut up carrots, celery, lettuce, and cheese? During one of our many shopping trips, we spotted a 6-ounce bag of shredded carrots for $1.50, almost five times as much, on a unit-cost basis, as a bag of whole carrots.

Avoid checkout temptations
Snacks at the checkout look more appealing the longer you're in line. But they're overpriced. At a Stop & Shop, a chilled 20-ounce Coke was $1.49 at the register. In the beverage aisle, a six-pack of slightly smaller bottles cost $3.33 on sale—about 66 cents per 20 ounces. For that much savings, you might want to wait until you get home and add ice.

Go deep
Retailers regularly rotate stock so that you see the oldest milk, cereal, cold cuts, and other packaged goods first; the newest stuff is pushed to the back. To get the longest shelf life from the food you've bought, burrow to the rear of the shelf, refrigerator, or freezer.

Read flyers carefully
Three-quarters of people we surveyed rely on weekly circulars to find out what's on sale. That helps explain why the mere mention of a product in a flyer can send sales soaring by as much as 500 percent, even without a price reduction. Manufacturers might have paid for placement in the ad. Don't assume featured products are on sale.

Watch for sneaky signs
Many sales tempt you to buy more than one bag or box—by touting, for example, four boxes of cake mix for $5. But rarely are you required to buy all four to get the discount. Retailers are just planting a number in your head, hoping you'll buy a lot.

Look at the location
The same food might be sold in several places throughout the store. At Stop & Shop, "premium" store-brand Swiss cheese was on sale at the deli for $6.99 per pound with a bonus card. In the refrigerated case, the same sliced Swiss was $5.58 per pound—no card necessary. A chunk of the same cheese was $4.69 per pound, also without a card.

Buy at the bakery
More and more supermarkets sell store-made baked goods, often for less than the commercial alternatives. At ShopRite, six hot-from-the-oven rolls cost $1.99; a packaged half-dozen from Freihofer's cost $3.19.

Check the receipt
In our 2008 survey, 6 percent of respondents said that they were overcharged at the register. That's in line with what readers told us in 2005. Both surveys also revealed that no chain stood out as particularly accurate or inaccurate. Many chains will give you the item free if it scans at the wrong price, but the onus is on you to point out the error.

Buy bagged produce
Some produce is much cheaper by the bag than by the pound. A ShopRite recently offered a 5-pound sack of potatoes for $2.99, compared with 99 cents per pound for loose ones in a bin. If the product has a long shelf life, bagged produce is a better buy, unless, of course, the only alternative is the 20-pound behemoth at Costco.

The key to a successful indoor herb garden is to start with the hardiest and easiest plants and expand your collection from there. Check out the following suggestions to get started.

The grow-your-own movement is all well and good if you’ve got a great yard, but tons of people don’t have access to an outdoor space. So we spoke with gardening experts to figure out what it takes to grow herbs indoors.

Growing anything isn’t easy (and yes, you may kill off a few plants before you get the hang of it); just start with the simple stuff. Even if you won’t be able to brag about your heirloom tomatoes, you can still feel the satisfaction of putting your own basil in a cocktail or stir-frying with some fresh lemongrass.


WHICH HERBS TO GROW


Here’s a breakdown of what to grow, for clueless gardeners to the greenest of thumbs. Or jump to an explanation of light, water, pots, soil, food, and more.







Bay Tree: A very slow grower. Be sure you pick up a Laurus nobilis, cautions Rose Marie Nichols McGee, coauthor of Bountiful Container and co-owner of Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany, Oregon; the Laurus nobilis is best for cooking with. Bay tree can become infested with scale if it gets too dry—use dishwashing detergent to wash off the leaves, then rinse them thoroughly.


Chive: Doesn’t require as much light as some other herbs. The Grolau variety was bred for growing indoors.


Kaffir Lime Tree: Kaffir lime leaves are often used in Thai cooking. Be sure you give this plant special citrus food.


Lemongrass: A good way to cheat, because it requires no soil; you can just use a stalk you get at the market. Make sure it has a good amount of stem and the bottom is intact; trim the top and put it in a container with a couple of inches of water. Connie Campbell, a New Hampshire–based master gardener, says, “It will send out roots and new sprouts and many, many new stalks from the bottom, and you can just cut those off and use them.”


Mint: Very invasive, so it needs its own pot. Peppermint is great for teas, and you’ll only need a little of it. You usually need a lot of spearmint for recipes, so it may not be worth growing in a container.


Parsley: It doesn’t need much sun, says Carole Ottesen, author of The New American Garden, but it’s a slow grower so may not yield a whole lot.

Vietnamese Coriander: Almost identical in taste to cilantro, says Campbell, and “very, very reliable.”



MORE DIFFICULT

Oregano: Try the Greek variety. Needs a lot of light.

Rosemary: Keep it on the dry side and look for an upright variety like Tuscan Blue or Blue Spire. It needs a very sunny window and probably supplemental light. Since you don’t need a lot of it for cooking, it’s a good herb to grow. It’s very sensitive to overwatering.

Thyme: It will likely need supplemental light. Look for lemon thyme, which has a unique flavor and can’t easily be purchased in markets.

HARDEST

Basil: It’s a favorite to cook with, but it’s a tough one to grow. Your best shot is to grow it during the warm, bright summer months. Connie Campbell suggests the Spicy Globe or African Blue variety, the latter of which is more like Thai basil and does well indoors.

Cilantro: Cilantro is the name for the stems and leaves of the coriander plant. It often bolts, meaning it starts growing flowers and seeds instead of leaves. Leslie Land, gardening columnist and blogger, sows coriander seeds in a shallow flat (a plastic tray), then eats them as sprouts, root and all. “Sow the coriander seeds quite thickly, like almost paving but not quite. Only let seedlings get about four to five inches tall, then pull them up, roots and all, and wash them.” To make this economical, she says, just pick up coriander seeds in bulk at a health food store.

Sage: Rose Marie Nichols McGee says that sage is more susceptible to mildew and is very sensitive to overwatering. If you want to try it, though, Connie Campbell says to go for the dwarf sage, which is more compact than regular sage.

INDOOR HERB GROWING TIPS

LIGHT

Light is the most important aspect of growing indoor herbs, and many people don’t have enough. Most experts agree that six to eight hours of light per day is optimal.
Orientation: A southwestern-facing window is your best bet for good light, says Diane Stahl, owner of Urban Roots, a Denver-based city garden store and greenscape installation company specializing in small urban spaces.

If you can’t get light from the sun: Get a few clamp-on reflector lights with compact fluorescent bulbs, says Rose Marie Nichols McGee. Connie Campbell says the lights should be placed very close to the plants, about four to six inches away. There are also light fixtures that mount under a kitchen cabinet if you want to have herbs on the counter. The bottom line is, no plant will thrive if you can’t give it enough light.

If you see brown spots on the foliage: “It can be a sign they are burning,” says McGee. That means the plants are getting too much light, but this is a rare scenario.

If the plants are growing longer stems and fewer leaves: They’re not getting enough light and are stretching to find more. Add supplemental light or move them to a place that receives more natural light.

WATER

Herbs don’t need that much water. “Overwatering is the biggest mistake people make trying to grow herbs inside,” says John Lingle, owner of Lingle’s Herbs, a nursery specializing in organic herbs located in Long Beach, California.

When to water: You need to learn to read your plants and let them tell you when they’re ready for water. “The rule of thumb is to let all the herbs dry out completely,” says Urban Roots’ Stahl. It could take anywhere from a few days to well over a week before you need to water. “Put the index finger in the dirt all the way down to the knuckle and feel that root system,” says Stahl. Write down how long it takes for the plants to dry out, then try to develop a consistent watering system. Stahl says that though plants don’t like a lot of water, they do like consistent watering.

How to water: Put the plants in the sink and water the base where the stem meets the dirt, not the leaves; let the water soak through. Then soak the plants again. Let them drain completely and put them back in their saucers. You can water in the morning and let the plants drain while you’re at work. Never leave standing water in the saucer or you’ll rot the plant’s roots.

If the leaves are yellow: The first assumption you should make is that the plant has too much water, rather than too little. When a plant is too wet, the roots rot, leaving them less capable of taking up water. “It’s kind of a Catch-22, because when the roots start to rot, the plant desiccates and wilts, so people think it needs more water,” explains Lingle. Feel the soil and lift the container to see if the plant is very wet or dry.

POTS

Rule number one: Your pots must have drainage holes.
What material to use: Terra cotta, because it breathes. The saucer material is not as important, since its main purpose is to protect your counter or window sill. And forget about putting rocks in the bottom of the pot before you add soil: McGee says that will actually clog things up instead of promoting better drainage.

The best size: Bigger is better. For individual herbs, the pots should be no smaller than 6 inches in diameter. To grow multiple herbs together, you’ll want to put two or three in a pot that is about 10 inches in diameter and about 8 inches deep.

SOIL

High-quality organic potting soil with good drainage is a must, and it should be rich, loamy, and not compacted. You can add perlite (buy it at any garden store) to increase drainage; Connie Campbell says a ratio of 1 part perlite to 25 parts soil is good. Don’t just take a shovel of dirt from outside and put it in a pot, she warns. “You’ll bring in all the organisms that are balanced by nature but won’t be under indoor growing conditions.”

How to judge drainage: New American Garden author Carole Ottesen says, “It [shouldn’t] lump together in a ball if it’s wet—it would always be grainy. If you squeeze it and it doesn’t stick together and it sort of crumbles, that’s good.”

Add eggshells: Rose Marie Nichols McGee says that Mediterranean plants like rosemary, thyme, and basil do well with a little extra lime; you can use eggshells for this. “I suggest they put the shells into a food processor with a little water and put a spoonful into each pot when you prep the soil for planting.”

FEEDING

Herbs are fairly hearty, but they still like to be fed a good organic fertilizer like fish emulsion (be aware: it stinks) or liquid seaweed. You’re growing herbs for their leaves, not their flowers, so find a fertilizer that doesn’t promote blooming. That means the fertilizer needs to have a low level of phosphorous. John Lingle suggests getting a gallon apple-juice jug and filling it with water and one tablespoon of fish emulsion to make a very weak organic fertilizer solution. Water the herbs with it, and then you won’t have to worry about when to feed them.

Do what the plants tell you: The plants will let you know if they need to be fed, says Carole Ottesen. If they seem to have stopped growing, they probably need food. If the plants are turning yellow and you’ve already ruled out watering issues, this may also mean they need feeding.

GENERAL TIPS

Buy plant “starts” (baby plants), not seeds—growing from seeds is harder. When you’re buying plants to grow indoors, buy an herb that’s never been planted outside; changing the environment can be traumatic for the plant. And as Diane Stahl points out, “If you shop locally, you find plants acclimated to your area.” Which can make it a lot easier on a new gardener.
Is this my best side? Rotate your pots every week, says McGee. “Don’t just leave them in the same position forever. Move them around so they don’t lean.”
They’re there to be eaten: Cutting your herbs encourages growth. But don’t cut more than a third off.

You’re not growing fungus: Herbs need good air circulation, says Stahl—stagnant air promotes fungal disease. You can combat this by putting your pots on a large tray covered in pebbles so that air can circulate up through the drainage holes.

Don’t try to fight nature: In the winter, plants may naturally be in a resting phase because of the changes in light, says McGee. “We can let plants be in a resting phase. Minimally water; just let them do what they do.”

Pest inspection: If you see aphids, rinse them off in the sink. If you see scale (it looks like a brown, rusty spot), wash it off with a mild soap or rub off each spot with a little bit of rubbing alcohol, and then rinse the plant.

Go back to the roots: Check potted perennials about once a year to be sure the roots aren’t growing out of the bottom of the pot. If they are, take the plant out of the pot and inspect the roots: They should be healthy and white, not brown and growing around in a circle. If the roots look bad, you have two options: Trim off a little bit and transfer the plant to a bigger pot. Or, if the plant is the size you want, McGee says, you can just cut around the roots vertically, about a half inch to an inch, and slice the same amount off the bottom. Repot with extra soil, and take off about the same amount of upper growth as you removed from the roots.

Many of us consider networking a necessary evil of maintaining a healthy, robust career, but it doesn't have to be. In reality, it's more often than not bad networking that puts people off networking altogether.

At a time when nearly all of us are scrambling for opportunities and helping others to do the same, people are in networking overdrive. Not a day goes by that I don't get a few emails from friends seeking introductions to other friends. All that connecting carries a huge risk of mistakes and missteps. Here's just a sampling of the many ways that well-intentioned attempts at networking can go wrong, and some simple ways to do better.

1. Asking for an introduction when you are too busy to properly follow up. We've all been there. You learn that someone you know knows someone you want to know and you are champing at the bit. You shoot off an email without much deliberation, the person replies promptly (since you have a mutual contact), and because you're completely swamped, you find it impossible to make time to meet.

Solution: Next time you learn that one of your contacts knows someone you want to know, file that information away and tell your friend you might ask for an intro when you're less busy.

2. Sending a too-long email that asks no question. As an advice columnist, this is a species I know all too well. These emails usually contain some variation of "can you help?" as the header. The body of the email rambles on, hinting at some need, but never quite articulating a question. My first instinct is to delete these emails, and if they come from a stranger, that is often what I do (encouraging dialogue with ramblers can only lead to no good.) If I can see the bones of a question beneath the layers of fat (or if the sender is a friend of someone I know), I try to figure out what the person is looking for and answer the question I think is being asked.

Solution: When asking someone for advice, for an informational interview or for any other help by email, write a succinct note and be clear about what you are asking for.

3. Making introductions on behalf of people you can't vouch for. We all want to help people find new opportunities, but it can be damaging to your relationships and reputation to recommend people when you can't vouch for them. LinkedIn, which has automated the process of making introductions through mutual contacts, has made this problem more prevalent.

Solution: Next time a friend asks you to make an introduction on behalf of someone you don't know, instead of blindly recommending the person, ask your friend if he or she can provide a rave review. If the answer is yes, then you can tell your contact that while you don't have firsthand knowledge, someone you respect has given the person a strong review. If the answer is no, then your friend will certainly understand if you decline to make the introduction.

4. Making incorrect assumptions. This rule gets violated in many ways, but the most common is when you assume that you know what someone else wants -- in a job search, in building a business, in adding people to a network -- so you take some action designed to help without checking first to see if your efforts would be appreciated. Meddling relatives are experts at this.

Solution: Next time you have a brilliant idea for someone else's business, job search, or networking, ask first before you take any steps to help.

5. Using a social network without knowing how it works. Lots of attention has been paid to young people behaving badly on social networks. But what about middle-aged folks who join Facebook and don't realize that a wall posting is not a private message or that it is common courtesy on Twitter to acknowledge someone when you "retweet" one of their messages.

Solution: When you join a new social network, read up or watch an online tutorial on how it works and be an observer for a little while before diving in. If you make a misstep even when you know the rules, find an appropriate way to acknowledge your error.

6. Failing to properly follow up. If someone takes the time to help you in any way -- giving an informational interview, making an introduction, reviewing your resume, sending you a new client -- remember to follow up and give proper thanks. In most cases, a quick email, hand-written note or call will suffice. But what if you feel greater thanks are in order?

Solution: Send an Amazon gift card -- it's something practically anyone would appreciate and you can order it and have it delivered by email with a few clicks of the mouse. If you're strapped for cash, consider recommending the person on LinkedIn (assuming you're both on LinkedIn, and who isn't these days?)

7. Sending unwieldy attachments or too many samples of your work. If you're asking someone for advice and including samples of your work, make it as easy as possible for the person to review those samples. Rather than including attachments, which can be burdensome to open, try to include links to URLs. Free services like LinkedIn or VisualCV allow you to create an online version of your resume that includes a URL that you can selectively share. (I believe these new age resumes will soon completely replace the old-fashioned paper variety.) If you have a portfolio, set up a simple website to showcase your work.