A few years ago my brother got me Buckyballs from woot; a few years later I finally put them down. These things are the most addicting toy your adult self will ever experience.
Sometimes you’ll use them to pin the electricity bill on the fridge. Sometimes you’ll spend two hours trying to get them all connected in the shape of a diamond. Why would you spend two hours putting them in the shape of a diamond? Well, I don’t know, but I’ve done it multiple times.
Playing with these magnets make you feel like a magician. They are strong enough to magnetize through your hand, desks, sometimes even walls. I know a middle school teacher who has a massive collection of these – confiscated from her unfortunate pre-teens. Its safe to say she never gets bored at work when she can spend some time with these rare earth metals.
When I was in fifth grade I had a project where I was assigned an element from the periodic table: neodymium. I’ve never thought I’d have this element in my own hands, yet Buckyballs are completely built with the greatest substance known to me. Now, I don’t hand out my personal endorsement too often, but these things will make your days. [Buckyballs]
Summer is in full swing here in Texas. The temperature averages in the mid to upper 90′s with heat index in the upper triple digits. I actually passed by a parked car in the parking lot that was baking cookies on the dashboard! The scorching Texas sun is killing crops and emptying reservoirs. If the sun has such harsh effects on the environment, can you imagine what it is doing to your skin?
I know it’s trendy to sport a glowing tan during the summers, but according to today’s infographic, that bronze tan is actually doing you more harm than good. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer. And those chances increase with each sunburn. Skin is the largest, most exposed organ of the human body, and we must do our best to preserve it. To all those tanners out there, slather on sunscreen and wear a sunhat! Because after all, beauty is only skin deep, shouldn’t you try to preserve that beauty? [via]
Daddies play an integral portion of creating a little baby. They are around for almost every part, but once the little munchkin has arrived, most dads have to head back to work. Mamas get sleepy, babies get cranky and everyone just wants a rest. In other industrial nations, men have a paid paternity leave comparable to maternity leave, but in the United States the paternity leave is not so great.
In the US, men have to choose to loose pay and be with their child or go back to work and be able to fully support their family. In other industrialized nations, no such compromise is necessary and in Sweden fathers are allowed up to 480 days of paternity leave. That is an eternity compared to American father’s 0 allotted days.
For the baby and for the tired mama, I feel that America should progress and allow their fathers to stay at home for a period of time. That will allow the mother to be well rested and the father to bond with his baby. Do you feel that men should be allowed paternity leave? [Via]
Spending money somewhat carelessly can be a hard habit to break, especially if a person is college-aged and has never been taught how to wisely manage their funds. Partying is fun, but too much beer or fast food can quickly leave a college student’s wallet (and probably stomach) hurting.
Today’s infographic outlines 20 financial tips that anyone 20 years or younger (or even older) would benefit from knowing.
One of the points stressed is that if a person doesn’t have the ability to pay for something in cash, they should not use credit to purchase it. This makes good financial sense; if the purchase someone is making with credit will make them unable to pay their credit card bill, they shouldn’t make the purchase. If more people could really understand that at a younger age then it could help reduce the number of people struggling with credit card debt.
For more helpful financial tips refer to the infographic below.
[Via]
Social Customer Service [infographic]
It’s seems like theses days you are more likely to see a commercial saying “like us on Facebook”than not. Brand involvement has always been the name of the game but today’s technologies allow us to be more involved than ever. Theoretically you can talk directly to Oreo or Coke by posting on their Facebook walls. So why is this so important? When you have customers interacting with your product even when they are not using it you have created a customer base more loyal than others.
Social media has allowed companies to become more responsive than ever before. Today’s infographic Social Customer Service: The Next Competitive Battleground shows us that companies are responding quicker than ever to their customers complaints. In fact about 84% of social media use is geared towards improving customer service. [via]
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