Month: August 2019

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You Should Probably Know What These Text Abbreviations Are by Now

A lot of us have been in this situation before: you get a text from a friend or family member and there’s an abbreviation in there that you’ve never seen before. You panic because you don’t want to look clueless or uncool and you act like you know what they’re talking about. Then the conversation takes a strange turn because you just couldn’t be honest and everyone’s day is ruined.

Okay, that may be a little dramatic, but you know what I mean.

I have many moments like this with my 12-year-old niece when I should just own up to the fact that I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about and I need her help because apparently I’m already a senior citizen. But I can’t lose face, so I play this dangerous little game.

So, let’s run down the must-know list of text abbreviations that you really should know by now.

Ready? Go!

1. TFW

“That feel/feeling when…” Okay, I have to admit I didn’t really know about this one until now. We are NOT off to a good start.

2. NBD

“No big deal.” A classic! Believe it or not, people actually used to SAY this to each other when human beings still spoke before smartphones were invented.

3. FOMO

“Fear of missing out.” This describes your friends who can’t miss any of the action. Ever. Even if it’s your Aunt Esther’s 90th birthday party.

4. ICYMI

“In case you missed it.” Simple. Elegant. To the point.

5. FWIW

“For what it’s worth.” Whatever follows this abbreviation might not be something you want to hear.

6. TBH

“To be honest.” Another timeless classic.

7. FTW

“For the win.” I thought this meant “f*ck the world” forever, but now I stand corrected.

8. IDK

“I don’t know.” But you should know this one, okay?

9. SMH

“Shaking my head.” As in, “you’re not gonna believe this and I’m very perplexed.”

10. TLDR

A staple on Reddit, this means “Too long, didn’t read.” Everyone’s in such a hurry these days…

11. IIRC

“If I recall correctly.” Full disclosure: I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen this one out in the wild before.”

12. IRL

“In real life.” A must-have in your texting arsenal.

13. SLAY

“Crushing it” or “killing it.” So not exactly an abbreviation, but important nonetheless.

14. Vaguebooking

Another one that’s not an abbreviation, but you need to know, okay? This term sums up when someone posts something random or vague on social media because they’re obviously looking for likes, comments, and attention. A good example would be “Please pray for me at this tough moment” with absolutely no context at all.

15. LMK

“Let me know.” A huge one! LMK when I should be there. LMK what time dinner is. Etc.

16. OMW

“On my way.” You’re always in a hurry, so you’re always gonna need it.

The post You Should Probably Know What These Text Abbreviations Are by Now appeared first on UberFacts.

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This Is How You Can Tell If Someone Blocked You on Facebook

Most of us don’t have the time or interest to go checking (or caring) who might have decided they no longer want to see what we have to say on Facebook.

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La forma de comunicarnos ha cambiado ? Estamos inundados de información día tras día, esto nos hace complicado hacer llegar nuestras oferta de productos y servicios a nuestro publico objetivo ? Existen distintos tipos de redes sociales ➡ Horizontales albergan todo tipo de usuarios sin una temática claramente definida. Facebook o WhatsApp son ejemplos de las redes sociales más importantes de esta categoría. ⬇ Verticales se especializan en algún campo, actividad o temática. Pueden ser profesionales o referidas a algún tema en concreto como puede ser moda o música. Ejemplos de esta categoría son Pinterest, SoundCloud o LinkedIn Ya sabes que Red Social usar para llegar a tu publico objetivo? Foto: @mauriciostradaphotography #avanza2creativos #agenciadigital #marketingdigital #marketingtips #marketingonline #branding #socialmedia #redessociales #rrss #felizlunes #instagram #facebook #twitter #linkedin #venezolanosenmadrid #venezolanosenespaña #emprendedores #emprendimientovenezolano

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That said, most of us also have moments of morbid curiosity that we’ll occasionally give into. And maybe we want to know if that one interaction (or something more personal) caused a “friend” (or relative, natch) to not only unfriend us on Facebook, but to completely block us from their timeline.

Here are some tips and tricks for those inevitable moments!

Scroll Through Your Friend List

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Current mood: ? #blockedonfacebook #mature

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If one of your former “friends” has blocked or unfriended you, they’ll no longer been on the list.

Do A General Search

If you type a name into the search bar and, when you click on a name, it shows that you’re friends, then the two of you are still in good standing.

If it shows the option to “Add Friend,” then you’ve been Unfriended. You can tell if you’ve been fully blocked by clicking on their name and seeing whether or not you’re able to see their public posts.

If you can’t, things are as bad as you think.

You’ve Definitely Been Blocked When…

Someone you know has an active profile doesn’t show up in the search results at all.

Your options are getting a friend to do the stalking for you or – crazy – talk to them about what happened in person, if that’s the sort of relationship you used to have.

There you go – but like I said, try not to get too wrapped up in what people think of you online.

There there be monsters, my friends.

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Take a Look at Iceland’s First Dead Glacier Captured in Satellite Images

This is scary and sad at the same time.

The Okjökull glacier was dead, declared Oddur Sigurðsson, a geologist in the Icelandic Meteorological Office back in 2014.

By then, the glacier had mostly disappeared.

Fast forward five years and Sigurðsson and other scientists are hiking to the old summit to place a plaque commemorating it upon the volcano it once dominated. It is officially the first glacier lost to climate change.

These dramatic satellite images show the tragic change of the glacier between 1986 and 2019.

 

The Okjökull glacier is only one of Iceland’s receding glaciers, many of which are also changing at dramatic rates. According to Sigurðsson, glacier conditions all around the world are on the decline due to the impending climate crisis.

He has been documenting the vanishing of approximately 56 out of the 300ish smaller glaciers in the northern part of Iceland.

Here is the image of the Okjökull glacier in September, 1986.

Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Here is the image of the glacier taken August, 2019.

Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Every continent, except for Australia which does not have glaciers, is experiencing the loss of glaciers, some slow, others much quicker.

Alex Gardner, a NASA glaciologist, told Mashable, “We’re not trying to figure out whether the glaciers will melt in the future. We’re just trying to find out how much and how fast.”

Since 2001, 18 of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred. The warm temperatures have thinned the rivers of ice that create the glaciers.

Photo Credit: Vojife

Sigurðsson calculated that in 1890 the Okjökull glacier occupied 16 square kilometers, or 6 square mile. By 1945, it was dwindling, and it eventually died in 2014. Now, only small amounts of snow and ice exist along the slope.

Assuming warming trends continue along with unchanged rates of carbon emissions – which seems to be our trajectory unless something dramatic happens in the global political landscape – Iceland will see a decline in its glaciers of 40 percent by the end of the century.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, all of Iceland’s ice masses could disappear by 2200, if not sooner.

In the meantime, Sigurðsson is taking on the sad task of tracking all the living glaciers, especially those in retreat.

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Experts from Harvard Share Tips for the Perfect Cover Letter

Picture this scenario: You’ve just received your college degree and are chomping at the bit to get into a job that features your skills. You’ve done everything right. Great grades, solid references, a sparkling new resume, and a boatload of internships to prove your experience.

You’re scanning open positions online and come across your dream job! You upload your resume and fill out the application marking your interest. But before you click “submit” there is a section to upload a cover letter. Uh oh. 

You quickly draft a letter to the HR manager regurgitating your resume. Good enough, right? Wrong.

According to Inc.com, there are over 250 applicants vying for that job, but only about 2% of those score an interview. So how do you stand out among the competition?

Your cover letter.

Photo Credit: Pexels, Lukas

A cover letter sets you apart. It lets the employer understand your personality, writing skills and why you are better than the competition.

What to include in your cover letter

Linda Spencer, Assistant Director of the Office of Career Services at Harvard answers the all-important question:

  1. Why are you a great fit for that specific company?
  2. How would you add value back into the organization if hired for that specific role? What impact could you make?

She also touches on an astounding statistic that “…the average employer takes up only about 7 seconds [to review resumes]. So they are not reading these resumes, they’re skimming these resumes. They need to know right off the bat how you are adding value.”

If you are looking to get to the top of the stack, a cover letter will help. Here’s what you need to include.

Address the letter to an actual person

With job sites like Linkedin, you should be able to seek out the hiring manager. And sometimes the job description lists the person performing the interviews, such as a Human Resources individual. Take that opportunity to personalize that letter to a specific audience (if you get it wrong, it’s not the end of the world).

State your purpose for the letter

An opener such as: “I am writing to express my interest in the [ENTER Position Title] within your organization.

Be clear as to why they are receiving your resume. You may also include where you found the job—via their website or a job board.

Do not summarize your resume!

Your cover letter should enhance your resume, not rehash it into paragraph form. This is your chance to shine and show a little of your personality and enthusiasm.

“If you have relevant school or work experience, be sure to point it out with one or two key examples,” Harvard’s Career Services Manual states. “Emphasize skills or abilities that relate to the job. Be sure to do this in a confident manner and keep in mind that the reader will also view your letter as an example of your writing skills.”

Use action words and the words “You” or “Your organization” rather than “I”

Remember, the employer wants to know what you can do for their company! Show them in your cover letter (don’t tell them).  If you use the word “I”, it tells the company what you hope to gain from them, not the other way around.

Companies are interested in finding the best employee and that top echelon of candidates express what they can to add value to the job.

And skip the overused words like “hard-working, results-driven, team player.” Chances are the hiring manager has seen these a million times. Give them action. Show them how you are a team player. What projects have you done in which you proved you are a results-driven candidate?

Closing statement

In the end, show your enthusiasm for being in consideration for the role. Thank them for their time and tell them you are looking forward to discussing your candidacy further. This shows them you are excited and appreciative.

Consistency

Lastly, consistency is key. Your font type, size, etc should match your resume. These two very important documents complement each other and should match across the board.

Here is an excellent example of a cover letter breakdown to help you score that dream job!

Photo Credit: Harvard

Now get out there and apply!

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5 Fan Theories About Harry Potter That Hit the Nail on the Head

Surprisingly, there was a time when the mysteries in Harry Potter were actually mysteries, and those of us reading (and then watching) along had to actually guess what was what and who was who.

Needless to say, in the end most of us were wrong.

But thanks to hindsight and the fact that J.K. Rowling is pretty available for questions (and sometimes answers) on Twitter, we know that these 5 people’s mystery-solving games were totally on point.

5. Magic is genetic. Usually.

Let’s take a little historical tour of J.K. Rowling’s comments on how one might or might not come to expect a Hogwarts letter on their 11th birthday, shall we?

In 1999, she said that “Nobody knows where magic comes from. It is like any other talent. Sometimes it seems to be inherited, but others are the only ones in their family who have the ability.”

Fans, however, picked up on the obsession some wizards had with “pure blood families,” leaving them to speculate that there had to be some genetic component to the talent.

Then, in 2012, Rowling addressed the issue of Squibs (non-magical people born to magical parents), stating that they’re rare in her world because “magic is a dominant and resilient gene.”

One biology major wrote a six-page paper on how magical ability could be attributed to “a single autosomal dominant gene if it is caused by an expansion of trinucleotide repeats with non-Mendelian ratios of inheritance,” and she’s joined by Duke University professor Eric Spana, who explained Muggle-borns like Lily and Hermione by way of de novo mutations (a genetic lottery).

4. There was more to Harry’s Invisibility Cloak that he knew at first.

Harry loved his invisibility cloak from the start, given that it was a hand-me-down from his deceased father, but at first he – and fans – had no reason to suspect that “exceedingly rare” meant “one-of-a-kind.”

But fans began suspecting there was more to the mysterious garment long before Ron recognized it as a Ignotus Peverell’s Cloak of Invisibility – and one of the Deathly Hallows – in the final book.

3. Harry and Ginny had a good reason for not naming their children after Remus Lupin.

Harry and Ginny’s children’s names honored a number of late and living loved ones, but fans immediately noticed that Remus Lupin was missing. Most were upset, but a few deep thinkers believed that perhaps they were saving Lupin’s name for someone else.

A fact Rowling affirmed, saying on Twitter that “Harry left Remus’s name for Teddy to use for his own son.”

2. The romantic relationship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

While most fans’ “ships” (relationships) don’t ever come to fruition on the page or on screen, the teen romance between Grindelwald and Dumbledore didn’t disappoint.

In 2007, Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was both gay and “in love with Grindelwald,” a plot point that has made an appearance-ish in the latest Fantastic Beasts movie.

Oh happy day!

1. That Harry would both die AND live.

One of the most enduring questions of the series became this: would Harry earn the title of The Boy Who Lived a second time, or would he die in order to save the world from Voldemort’s rebirth? The prophecy that stated “either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives” certainly made sacrifice seem unavoidable, but some fans guessed early on that there might be a third option.

Harry does die and cross into the afterlife, but he also returns. The best of both worlds? Maybe!

 

We nailed it guys, good work all around.

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These Photos Warn Tourists to Stop Riding Elephants in Thailand

Hundreds of thousands of Westerners visit Thailand each year, and one of the “must-try” activities is riding a majestic elephant. But tourists are now being urged to stop, thanks to the revelation of some truly heartbreaking photos.

A Twitter user posted several photos of elephants in Thailand being cruelly mistreated. Their keepers, called mahouts, keep them in line by hitting them with sharp metal hooks, often hard enough to draw blood. Their heads are covered in old wounds.

Around 3000 elephants are currently used for entertainment across Asia, and 77 percent are treated inhumanely, according to the World Animal Protection. Elephants are often ripped from their mothers prematurely, violently broken into submission, then subjected to a lifetime of abuse and isolation.

While Thai government agencies are working to end animal cruelty, officials also urge visitors to boycott businesses that treat their animals this way.

“We never support tourists riding the elephants,” a spokesperson for the Tourism Authority of Thailand told Yahoo! News. “Please don’t ride the elephants and don’t support this business.”

Photo Credit: iStock

There are about 3500 wild elephants in Thailand and about 4500 domesticated elephants. The domesticated elephants are classified as “working animals,” just like livestock. Animal advocates are working to change this classification in order to offer more protections to elephants.

If tourists want to enjoy these beautiful animals, one option is to visit a wild elephant sanctuary. There, tourists can observe and pet the animals, but cannot ride them.

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Here Are the 7 Types of Cookout Dudes Who Show up at Every Summer BBQ

Summer’s end is almost here, which means back to school. It also means the end of grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. But before we get ahead of ourselves, there is still time for a few more BBQs. And you’re be bound to spot at least one of these dudes at your next cookout…

7. The Grill King

Photo Credit: Kaboom Pics

This is the guy who runs the show, flipping burgers and making piles of meat to celebrate bro time in the back yard. He is the epicenter of a cookout, and without his grill smarts your backyard is just a lame hangout.

6. The Grill Pals

Photo Credit: Pexels, Samuel Zeller

Yep, we’ve all seen it. Those bros that linger around the Grill King, chugging a beer while making comments about the best ways to grill – whether or not they have any idea what they’re talking about. But really, without the Grill Pals’ commentary, perhaps the meal would be less…I don’t know…manly?

5. The Lawn Gamer

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Austin Distel

This dude gets the festivities going. He’s probably the one that totes around cornhole waiting for that right moment to spark a backyard competition. He’s super competitive, but always willing to give someone else a turn.

Or at least a guest shot.

4. The Can-I-Get-You-a-Drink Dude

Photo Credit: Pexels, ELEVATE

No party is complete without that friendly guy offering to get the Grill King an extra spatula or to refill everyone’s drinks – it’s crucial guests don’t go without! We should all raise a beer in his honor.

3. The Bonfire Buddy

Photo Credit: Pexels, Djordje Petrovic

You might have noticed your one friend chomping at the bit for a fire even if it’s 2 in the afternoon. He’s always scoping out kindling and asking the host if he has firewood. But once twilight hits, he’ll be rocking the best hangout fire you’ll ever experience.

This guy is a solid addition to any sort of hang, cookout or no.

2. The Music Man

Photo Credit: Raw Pixels

“He’s a what – he’s a what?”

Lol.

What is a cookout without ambiance? This guy knows how to set the mood for a great party. He’s probably got a Bluetooth speaker stashed somewhere for when the mood strikes. What’s great is he always has the best playlists ready on his Spotify app!

1. The Grill King’s Best Friend

Photo Credit: Free Stocks

Nope, we’re not talking about a Grill Pal. The Grill King’s “number one” is his dog.

And what’s great about having a four-legged friend around? He’ll clean up any delicious food scraps that fall on the ground.

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Your Yellow Pit Stains Aren’t Sweat — Learn the Science Behind All the Chemical Reactions Happening

White tees are a crucial part of any wardrobe for men and woman — until the inevitable yellow pit stains. The stains can be super annoying to get out, and many people think they’re caused solely by sweat. So, antiperspirant or deodorant should prevent them, right? Wrong.

On the contrary, yellow pit stains are actually caused by antiperspirant.  They develop from a chemical reaction among the proteins in sweat, the cotton in T-shirts, and the aluminum salts in antiperspirant.

Photo Credit: iStock

Aluminum is the key active ingredient in antiperspirant, and it’s what differentiates antiperspirants from plain deodorants. The ingredient has become controversial in recent decades due to a fear that it is linked to breast cancer (though there’s actually not a clear link). Some health advocates also say that it’s just healthier to let yourself sweat.

Well, apparently there is another reason to avoid aluminum — it is the cause of those pesky yellow pit stains. At the very least, adding more antiperspirant is definitely not going to solve the yellow stain problem.

Photo Credit: iStock

But even before aluminum-based antiperspirant, sweat stains came in a wide range of colors depending on what products people used for deodorant. Around the turn of the 20th century, a product called Odorono tended to result in red underarm stains. Clothing artifacts from history show sweat stains that are yellow, orange, red, brown or even green.

Luckily, there are other

to prevent yellow pit stains without switching your deodorant. You can pre-treat your new, unyellowed T-shirts with an enzymatic laundry spray right after you wear them, or add a bit of lemon juice to your load of whites (but only whites!).

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You’ve Heard of Dog and Cat Shaming. Take a Look at Fish Shaming.

Well, this is new.

You’ve seen kid shaming, dog shaming, cat shaming, and even bird shaming – but did you ever think the day would come when people’s pet fish would be exposed as naughty?

Well, get ready, because even though they probably don’t understand the internet, these 17 fish definitely deserve all the shame in the world.

17. Maybe he doesn’t like your choice of decor.

16. Relapse!

15. Understandable.

14. When you definitely don’t live up to your name.

13. Maybe he likes it that way.

12. But I mean whose fault is that, really?

11. As the mother of a 2.5 y/o, I don’t want to say I get it, but…

10. I guess you should have spent your money on something else!

9. Not everyone has a refined palate.

8. Poor Moira.

7. That’s science.

6. He’s not a fan of escargot.

5. It probably looked like chocolate.

4. Well I mean you keep feeding him so…

3. This is actually awesome.

2. Okay that is very naughty.

1. Only *I* can eat my eggs!

Fish! Who knew?

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