November 2016 – Page 46

November 16, 2016

Newsletter Item for (88715): How to Get the Most From a Counteroffer

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How to Get the Most From a Counteroffer

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When you land a new job offer and your current gig comes back to you with more money or a better title, what do you do? Here’s how to get the most from a counteroffer.

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Live Smarter

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How to Get the Most From a Counteroffer

November 16, 2016

Newsletter Item for (88702): Scientists Say Bird Poop Helps Cool the Arctic

Headline:

Scientists Say Bird Poop Helps Cool the Arctic

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Scientists say bird poop helps cool the Arctic.

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Animals

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Scientists Say Bird Poop Helps Cool the Arctic

November 16, 2016

Newsletter Item for (88648): The Delicious History of the Nation’s Oldest Chinese-American Restaurant

Headline:

The Delicious History of America’s Oldest Chinese-American Restaurant

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The Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte, Montana, which opened its doors to the public in 1911, is the nation’s oldest Chinese-American restaurant. The owner’s son shares the secret to its longevity.

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History

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The Delicious History of the Nation's Oldest Chinese-American Restaurant

November 16, 2016

Newsletter Item for (88279): 15 Female Mathematicians Whose Accomplishments Add Up

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15 Female Mathematicians Whose Accomplishments Add Up

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Who says women can’t do math? The world-altering contributions of these 15 notable female mathematicians include making hospitals safer, laying the groundwork for the computer, and advancing space flight.

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Math

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15 Female Mathematicians Whose Accomplishments Add Up

November 16, 2016

‘Post-Truth’ Named Word of the Year By Oxford Dictionaries

Michele Debczak

filed under: language, politics, Words

Image credit:

iStock

Whether you get your news from television, social media, or the mouths of politicians, the line separating fact and fiction is sometimes hard to pin down. This feels especially accurate in 2016, a year when fake news stories rose to the top of Facebook’s trending feed and presidential candidates were fact-checked mid-debate. It’s fitting then that post-truth, defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief,” was recently named Word of the Year by Oxford English Dictionaries.

The word isn’t a new invention—according to Oxford, the concept has been around for the past decade or so. But this year the word skyrocketed to prominence in light of Britain’s break from the European Union and the presidential election in the U.S. The word is commonly seen coupled with the word politics in headlines like: “Why the post-truth political era might be around for a while” and “U.S. election campaign marks low in post-truth politics.”

Stephen Colbert touched on a similar concept when he coined the word truthiness in 2005. That word, which means “believing something is true from the gut, or inside; using life experiences of learnings to make something seem true,” earned the title of Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2006.

Post-truth was chosen from a shortlist of nine other terms considered for the distinction. As you might expect, the pool featured several politically themed entries, including alt-right (an ideological grouping associated with extreme conservative viewpoints), woke (alert to injustice in society), and Brexiteer (a person who is in favor of the UK withdrawing from the European Union). A few of the contenders, like adulting, hygge, and coulrophobia (fear of clowns), fell on the lighter side.

November 16, 2016 – 1:45pm

November 16, 2016

Americans Wasted 375 Million Paid Vacation Days in the Past Year

Kirstin Fawcett

filed under: travel, Work

Image credit:

iStock

Americans are really bad at ditching their cubicles for a cabana. According to a new survey conducted by online travel firm Expedia, U.S. residents received an average of 15 annual vacation days in the past year, but they only took 12. Collectively, the nation threw away 375 million vacation days.

Expedia’s 2016 Vacation Deprivation Report examined vacation habits among 9424 employed adults in approximately 28 countries around the world. Not surprisingly, the number of paid days off—and how people use them—varied dramatically among workers in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, with the U.S. lagging behind many nations.

People in Europe, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates received the most vacation days—and for the most part, they used them. Workers in Finland, France, Spain, the UAE, and Brazil were all provided with 30 days of leave, and took full advantage of their time off. German and Italian residents also received 30 days vacation, and used 28 and 25 of them, respectively. Meanwhile, 25 vacation days were the norm in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Austria (as was using them).

Workers in North America and Southeast Asia weren’t so lucky. Employees in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and Thailand only received 15 days of vacation.

Wondering which countries took the fewest vacation days? That would be South Korea, where people took only eight of their 15 (the least among all 28 countries) and Japan, where people were given 20 days but used half that amount.

Why aren’t Americans escaping the office for some much-needed R&R? Twenty-two percent of U.S. survey respondents said they felt like they should wait a year or more after accepting a new job before taking a day off; 14 percent felt guilty (6 percent felt so guilty, they skipped out on vacation altogether); and 9 percent said they were worried that their bosses would view them negatively if they utilized all their vacation days. It’s no surprise, then, that 29 percent of Americans said they typically went one year or longer between vacations, and 25 percent of Americans reported feeling “very vacation deprived.”

Many people view vacations as a luxury, but they’re actually a health necessity. Taking time away from work to de-stress can lower your risk for heart attack, make you feel happier and calmer, and help you live longer. Not only that, time off actually makes you better at your job: One survey conducted by accounting firm Ernst & Young found that workers who take more vacation time receive better performance reviews and are less likely to leave the firm. Instead fearing that a vacation will make you seem lazy, uncommitted, or replaceable, view it as a way to recharge and become a more energetic and productive employee.

November 16, 2016 – 1:30pm

November 16, 2016

Nebraska Senator Moonlights as an Uber Driver

Kirstin Fawcett

filed under: fun, politics, weird news, Work

Image credit:

iStock

Cash-strapped millennials aren’t the only ones who understand the value of a side hustle. As CNN reports, Republican senator Ben Sasse, who represents Nebraska, spent last Saturday night working as an Uber driver.

Members of Congress are forbidden from earning any money that isn’t related to their public service, so Sasse wasn’t motivated by financial gains. The politician explained his actions on Twitter, saying he was moonlighting for the rideshare service to show solidarity with Nebraska workers. Sasse’s office described the Uber job as being part of a larger “work tour.” (The money earned will be donated to charity.)

“Senator Sasse does tons of Nebraska work events, from changing tires on semi trucks to feeding cattle at 5 a.m.,” said a spokesperson in a statement quoted by The Guardian. “This work tour was built around the changing and dis-intermediated economy, a subject he talks about frequently.”

As Uber drivers likely know, the Saturday night shift isn’t all fun and games. “Pro-tip: If you throw up in an uber, the surcharge can be substantial,” Sasse tweeted. Still, he was able to find a silver lining, saying “It’s a market incentive to get drivers to agree to Sat.pm work.”

Sasse isn’t the only notable figure to try a rideshare gig on for size. As CNN reports, Elwood Edwards (the man who recorded AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail” greeting) now works as an Uber driver, and basketball player Shaquille O’Neal recently went incognito and picked up passengers for Lyft, as part of the company’s “Undercover Lyft” series.

[h/t CNN]

November 16, 2016 – 1:15pm

November 16, 2016

Don’t Miss Wednesday’s Top Amazon Deals

Smart Shopping Team

filed under: shopping

Image credit:

amazon / istock

As a recurring feature, our team combs the Web and shares some amazing Amazon deals we’ve turned up. Here’s what caught our eye today, November 16.

Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers, including Amazon, and may receive a small percentage of any sale. But we only get commission on items you buy and don’t return, so we’re only happy if you’re happy. Good luck deal hunting!

November 16, 2016 – 12:29pm

Amazon Product Id:

B00HUOPXCY

November 16, 2016

You Can Buy Cory’s House From ‘Boy Meets World’

Shaunacy Ferro

filed under: Television

TGIF fans can now own a little piece of TV history—the house that Cory Matthews lived in. While the interior shots on Boy Meets World were studio sets, the establishing exterior shots of the Matthews’s abode in Philadelphia were actually filmed at a house in Los Angeles that’s now up for sale.

The two-bedroom, two-bath home is located in Studio City, a Los Angeles neighborhood that’s home to plenty of celebrities, as well as the CBS Studio Center, where the latter seasons of the show were shot. The listing describes it as a “private gated celebrity estate.”

The interior might not look exactly like the house you saw on television, but some features are reminiscent of the make-believe Matthews residence; there’s an exterior patio like the one Cory and Shawn played basketball on, and a somewhat similar kitchen aesthetic. But an L.A. pad with ties to television will cost you. It’s listed at close to $1.6 million.

All images courtesy Estately.

November 16, 2016 – 1:00pm

November 16, 2016

Charles Redheffer was an American inventor who claimed…

Charles Redheffer was an American inventor who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine, He was later exposed when an engineer found a hidden cord that led to an upper floor. Upstairs he found an old man who was turning a hand-crank with one hand and eating bread with the other.

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