Author: knjohn

Fake and Overused Weather Photos: Avoid Sharing These Images | Weather.com

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Social media has been a beneficial tool for weather forecasters in the 21st century. It allows meteorologists to give the public advance warning about a dangerous weather event, and, once the event begins, news gatherers use social media to quickly share images and video of a damaging storm system.

Conversely, social media has also made it easier to spread a lie. All it takes is one person to find an old picture or video, rebrand it as current and share it to Facebook or Twitter. Then it has the potential to go viral all over again.

Hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms give these fake photos a high-profile platform to resurface. The image above, posted after a deadly tornado hit the Tulsa, Oklahoma, metro area on March 25, 2015, seems to look real. But as soon as it began to make the rounds on social media, locals immediately knew it was a fake.

Before you share the next striking, unbelievable image during a severe weather event, we want you to know how to recognize a phony. Spotting fake photos isn’t easy, but it’s slightly simpler when abiding by one maxim: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. As for recycled weather photos that came from a past event, websites like Tineye and Google Image Search can help pick out reused images that were posted on the Internet long ago. To use Tineye or Google Image Search, just save the photo in question and upload it to either site. They will tell you if that photo has been previously shared on social media.

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So Long Blogging. Hello—Yep, We’re Going to Say It—Plogging | WIRED

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WE LOVE SHORT.

Concise 140-character limits. GIFs. Texts. Snaps. Vines. Photos. Summaries. Notifications. Emoji. Slang. Yo.

But some of Silicon Valley’s biggest, smartest tech companies and investors are going long on long. And not long videos, either. They seem to be doubling down on good old-fashioned words.

Last week, Facebook updated its little-known Notes feature to encourage users to write “more beautiful and customizable” posts separate from status updates. Medium announced a $57 million round of funding (on Medium, of course) and is holding a VIP event next week to reveal new features. Everyone’s favorite unicorn Slack relaunched its Posts feature to help users write longer at work. And Re/code reports that Twitter is building a product to allow users to share posts longer than the typical 140-character limit.

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Could your morning coffee be a source of sustainable energy? | Mashable

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Coffee fuels the people and, to some extent, the economy. But why stop there?

Arthur Kay was studying architecture at The Bartlett, UCL where he was set the challenge of designing a coffee shop and coffee roaster. During the process he, “quickly realized that coffee was being wasted everywhere. It was pouring out of coffee shops, office blocks, transport hubs and factories.”

Instead of seeing this waste as a challenge, Kay looked at it as an opportunity and discovered a way to refine the phenomenally high oil content in waste coffee grounds into biodiesel. He calls this remarkable discovery a ‘happy surprise’, but what happened next was considered, determined and very coincidental.

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Facebook Declines to Remove Page Vilifying Autistic People | Forbes

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Over the weekend, a Facebook page appeared that claimed it existed for families united against “autistic shooters.” It’s unclear whether or not the administrator of the page was attempting satire or parody or being serious or somewhere in between, but the entire page used a jocularly vicious tone in its extended series of false claims that could have had no other effect but to cause harm and damage to autistic people.

Given the glee that the administrator evinced over the negative response to the page, the intent could not be in doubt: to compound for the autism community the pain that we all feel over yet another national tragedy.

To my certain knowledge, within hours of the page’s appearance, there were hundreds of requests to Facebook to remove this page, in addition to a petition to request that it be removed, which had thousands of signatures. From what I understand–and from my own experience–for almost two days, Facebook’s repeated response was to assert, again and again, that the page did not violate Facebook’s community standards. ETA: Evidently, Facebook continues to think that because the page, taken down last night, is back up again.

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Does Everyone Have a Look-Alike? | Live Science

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We’ve all done a double take when mistaking a random person on the street for someone we know or know of, like the celebrity look-alikes Will Ferrell and Chad Smith — the actor and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer, respectively.

But does everyone have a doppelganger? There’s a fairly decent chance of it, actually, thanks to the limited number of genes that influence facial features.

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3 Millennial Founders on What Really Makes Their Generation Tick | Inc.com

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For serial entrepreneur Stacey Ferreira, 23, the Millennial generation is best defined by this Napoleon Hill quote: “If you’re not learning while you’re earning, you’re cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation.”

More than anything else, she says, Millennials are seekers of purpose.

Ferreira, who heads up the digital advertising agency AdMoar, took the stage Thursday morning at Inc.’s annual Women’s Summit in New York City along with Rodney Williams (31), co-founder and CEO of Lisnr, SOLS co-founder Kegan Schouwenburg (29), and Inc. senior editor Christine Lagorio to discuss what really defines this generation at large.

Accounting for as many as 80 million people between the ages of 18 and 34–and an estimated $200 billion in U.S. spending power–Millennials are clearly a valuable demographic to businesses and employers.

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7 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Job Listings | All Business

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Looking to hire sometime soon? If you want to make your job listing stand out on job boards and attract the top talent, you’ll want to read these seven tips on making the most of your job posting.

1. Have a Clear Job Title

According to Kevin Walker, Indeed.com’s Director of Employer Insights, a well-crafted job title can increase traffic to your listing by up to 1000%! So what exactly does a clear job title look like and what do you need to do to make sure your listing has one?

Make the Title as Specific as Possible – For example, “Guest Content Editor” is much more descriptive than “Editor 2”

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7 Things Your Parents Never Taught You about Being an Adult | Page19

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Your twenties and early thirties are an exciting time. You’re blazing a trail in your first career, learning what you’re really amazing at and where you might need some work, experiencing loves that have potential to last, and maybe even thinking about buying a house. All of this stuff is big—after all, you’re building a foundation for the rest of your adult life—and its collective approach can make you feel like a tiny island nation preparing for a tsunami.

So how do you prepare yourself for what’s to come, weather-proof your basement floor and build for both sunny and inclement weather?

We’ve whipped up a handy little guide with 7 practical tips from some of the best books for people who are newly navigating the world of adults. Here, learn why you shouldn’t depend on a savings account to rescue your retirement, when’s the right time to invest in property, and the single most important thing amazing employees do when they’re young.

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Google and Microsoft agree to lawsuit truce | BBC News

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Microsoft and Google have agreed to end a five-year battle over patents.

Eighteen lawsuits had been active between the companies, relating to uses of technologies in mobile phones, wifi and other areas.

Details of the deal were not shared, but in a joint statement the firms said they would “collaborate on certain patent matters”.

It is the latest move by technology firms to keep patent rows out of the courts.

The battles, particularly over software, intensified in recent years as firms sought to capitalise on their patent portfolios.

But of late there has been a shift towards licensing rather than litigation.

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