【推荐3】Libraries. They have that reassuring smell of well-read pages, are peaceful, have free Internet and, of course, abundant books.

But guess what? There’s a new kind of library sweeping the nation — a tool library — and it’s just as cool, but in all sorts of different ways.

It’s often said that the average electric drill is only used for 11 minutes in its entire lifetime. Granted, it doesn’t take that long to drill a hole, but still — that’s crazy. Yet the majority of households have one, even though DIY is actually a really infrequent activity for most people.

What if you could just borrow tools when you need them, and drop them back so that they can be used by someone else all the time you’re not DIY-ing? Well, in some parts of Scotland, you now can. Membership-based tool sharing services are popping up in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Linlithgow and Cumbernauld. They work just like a normal library but instead of books, you can borrow a massive range of tools and equipment when you need them, then drop them back when you’re done.

Zero Waste Scotland’s Andrew Pankhurst recently renovated (翻新) his house using the Stirling Tool Library. He said, “It’s amazing. It had all the tools I was looking for, and some I didn’t even realize I needed.”

And that’s the beauty of a tool library. Borrow a tool, use it for one afternoon at a small amount of cost of buying it and instead of it cluttering up your house gathering dust, it’s back off to a busy life all across town, week in and week out.

The tools available to borrow are mainly received as donations. The tool library will then repair them if needed and PAT test for safety ready to be borrowed and saved from going to landfill.

So next time you have a job to do around the house, why not borrow rather than buy?

【推荐2】While some gossip can be annoying and unprofessional, other types of gossiping can be fun, normal, even healthy and productive. Experts say that talking about others behind their backs doesn’t have to be a guilty office pastime — it can be a useful tool to direct the workplace and learn important information. “I think, generally, gossip is a good thing,” says Elena Martinescu, a research associate who’s studied the psychology of gossiping. “According to evolutionary theory, humans have developed gossip in order to form cooperation on a group.”

By talking about other people, we can learn whom to cooperate with and whom to stay away from, something that helps a group work better together. “This fixed behavior translates to the modern workplace.” she says, “It is equally important to be aware of which colleagues one can trust and who one should be careful with.”

“Gossip confirms the value of our emotions and can help us figure out where other people stand on things,” she says, “and gossip can help us make sure if we’re perceiving the world in the same way as other colleagues and coworkers receive it.” It is really about information gathering. So, if someone at work says something like Ralph has been taking a lot of sick leave recently,” it could open the door for others to share their judgments and evaluations that maybe Ralph’s frequent sick leave could account for his poor job performance, for example. It can help you calculate how much sick leave is regarded as “appropriate” among your colleagues as well as who is empathetic or mean towards Ralph.

Sometimes, though, gossiping is just random talks about people or structures you dislike. Maybe it’s tyrannous boss, or the team that work slowly. Yet this gossip can still provide a network of observations and warnings that provide an informal instruction of support outside traditional workplace channels like HR.