The little quacking keychain duck that stole my heart (is just $6.99)

What, grown-ups can't have toys, too?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included herein are affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase via one of them, I may get a small commission. I promise you, now and forever, that I won’t choose deals based on whether there’s an affiliate option available.

I’m going to make this a quick one, because I just got home from a pickleball tournament and I’m very busy clearing space for another medal.

Ugh. What a shameless brag. Even worse, it’s leading to another shameless plug of my book: Everything I Need to Know, I Learned Playing Pickleball, which makes a great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift! (It’s also great for teachers, mail carriers, dog walkers, and other humans.)

That didn’t feel good. Time to hit up YouTube for some shame-counseling videos.

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QUICK HITS

Enabling dark mode can help your phone stay cooler on a hot day.

🔥 PHONE TIP: Ever pick up your phone and it feels alarmingly warm, especially when you’re outside on a hot day? According to phone expert Emily Stallings of Casely, there’s a useful quick-fix: Switch the screen to dark mode. And it makes sense: The screen uses the most power, so turning most of the pixels to black from white should greatly reduce power consumption. If you’re not sure how to toggle dark mode on and off, well, there’s an internet for that.

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🍳 PAN-TASTIC: Remember the amazing Blue Diamond cookware I wrote about last week? Price drop! The pair of sauté pans is now down to $39.99, which is actually the second-lowest price on record. Why the rollercoaster? Beats me. But here’s hoping you waited, as I recommended. (Note: At this writing, it shows “only 12 left in stock.” Hurry!)

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📺 MORE FREE TV: I’ve written plenty about Pluto, Tubi, and other sources for free streaming TV. Here’s another one: Philo is home to over 100 “FAST” channels you can watch to your heart’s content, free of charge. (FAST stands for Free Ad-Supported TV.) The lineup includes movies, TV classics, and channels devoted to Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Portalandia and more. Read more about it in this Rolling Stone story.

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✅ GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT: It goes without saying there’s a lot of misinformation shared online (and on TV, but that’s a much greater challenge). With full credit to Recomendo, here’s a list of 20 free tools to help you verify what you read online. (It’s actually intended for journalists’ use, but perfectly good for the rest of us.)

I recommend starting with old-favorite Snopes, which debunks probably 95% of the garbage that’s shared on Facebook and elsewhere.

Google also has a useful fact-check tool. Enter, say, a particular name and you might be very surprised by the number of false or misleading stories related to that person.

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🦆 QUACKY DUCKY, YOU’RE THE ONE: Inside this 56-year-old carcass lies the mind of a 6-year-old, or so you’d think given my infatuation with the yellow-duck keychain I bought recently. Press down and it makes an adorable (some would say annoying, but not me) quacking sound, while a colored LED underneath lights up for no particular reason. Anyone passing by my office is likely to hear a burst of QUACK-QUACK-QUACK-QUACK at any given time.

I can’t help it. I love this stupid little thing. It makes me smile. You can buy one for $6.99, but note the available discounts (via on-page coupon codes) if you purchase two, three, or five. (For example, 15% off three of them works out to $17.85, or just under $6 apiece. One for you, one for a friend, one to keep on hand for when you need a little gift.)

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Thanks for reading Deal Secrets! Questions? Comments? Shoot me an e-mail. I’ll do my best to respond to all inquiries! Want to show your support? Buy me a coffee!

There's also my book: Everything I Need to Know, I Learned Playing Pickleball. And check out my curated book list at Bookshop.org, which donates to local bookstores with every purchase.