Life is temporary. These tops are forever.

Get a top that’s basically identical to what Leonardo DiCaprio used in the film Inception, which start at $38, and increase in price based on the metal which the top is made of.

There’s the 24-karat gold one, which is listed at $68, the Damascus steel one, which is listed at $98, and the tungsten one, which is listed at $195.

According to ForeverSpin’s website, this “spinning top will forever remain a timeless, elegant piece of art and will forever be loved by your children’s children.” I wonder if that’s true, though, but if I’m going to buy a $195 pin, it better be.

I have to admit, their video advertisement has good music. I might just be convinced to buy one.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Video Credit: ForeverSpin/ YouTube)

Stromboli, Italy, is one of the seven volcanic islands in the Aeolian archipelago. The island near Sicily’s northern coast is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Regardless of the danger posed by its volcanic activity, tourists actually visit the island. However, the recent summer eruptions have decreased the volcano tours for safety. National Geographic travels to Stromboli, “the lighthouse of the Meditterrenean” to look further into the island, far from the mountaintop views and beyond the volcanic attractions to examine other aspects of Stromboli. 

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a flag to represent “the whole of humanity regardless of borders, skin color, sexuality or other labels”? In an installation that he created, the Netherlands-based artist and designer Sven Signe den Hartogh featured his flag design for humanity — a literally transparent flag, which represents the balance and equality in the world.

The project, entitled ‘Usawa’ which means ‘balance’ in swahili, was developed in close collaboration with museum Ijsselstein, a museum for modern art in the Netherlands.

‘It is my goal to spread the ideas behind this,’ the artist explains. ‘And to raise the ‘new flag for humanity’ in many places in the world such as schools, museums, government buildings and other inspiring places to show that we are all equal and that these ideas can hopefully help restore balance in the world.’

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Sven Signe den Hartogh/ DesignBoom)

Gerald Tautenhahn was kicked off his return flight to Texas with JetBlue airlines because his pet opossum, Zatara, was refused to board the plane. This left Tautenhahn frustrated, as they were able to fly from Texas to California without any altercations. He was able to clear with the Department of Transportation and JetBlue a month in advance, he told FOX7. Travel and Leisure has the details: 

A representative for JetBlue told the station that the airline “gladly accepts small dogs and cats only in an approved pet carrier.” The representative added that the opossum came out of its carrier and crew members noticed it was decidedly not a cat or dog.

“The crewmembers informed the customer that the opossum would not be able to travel on the flight and worked to assist the customer with his options,” the representative said.

Tautenhahn chose loyalty to his pet and booked a second flight home on United a few days later. When he boarded that flight, Tautenhahn told the New York Post the flight attendants “didn’t even ask” about the somewhat strange pet

image credit: via Travel and Leisure

This week in Osaka: a chanting monk surrounded by 300 lanterns in a dark ceremony hall. What he was chanting, however, were not Buddhist scriptures, but regrets and remorse of individuals who were not able to take their paid-time-off.

According to a new legislation passed in May of this year, Japanese firms are required to give paid-time-off to their workers, and workers must take at least 5 days of said paid-time-off. Much of these time-offs, however, go unused as Japan wrestles in bringing themselves up-to-date with more contemporary ideas of work-life balance.

So ad agency Ningen sponsored a unique event to raise awareness around the issue. They reached out to the public for submissions, which ranged from the humorous to the heartbreaking, and printed them on lanterns. One lantern read, “paid time off is just an urban legend.” Another read, “I belatedly celebrated my child’s birthday by 7 months.” And yet another read, “Sorry to bother you while you’re off but…”

Takuro Sayama, the Jodoshu Buddhist monk that conducted the ceremony, explained that in Buddhist teachings there is a land known as “the world of asuras” (修羅界) where people are compelled to fight forever. He hopes his prayers reach those in that world.

May the people who have sent these messages soon be able to take their well-deserved time-offs.

(Image Credit: Spoon & Tamago)

There might be a vampire living near you, or at least, that’s what Louisiana State University academic researcher John Edgar Browning claims! According to Browning, there at least fifty vampires in New Orleans, and a whopping 5,000 vampires living across the United States. Vampires don’t meet casually over at your local coffee shop. Browning says that they meet through witchcraft-related and pagan groups, and goth clubs. Oddee has the details: 

These social gatherings included Dark Shadows conventions and other vampire fiction and film fan organizations; bondage and S&M events, which were frequented by blood fetishists and others whom real vampires found to be willing blood donors,” Browning said according to Anomalien.com. “Vampire feeding, whether on blood or psychic energy, is always consensual, and generally always medically safe. The vampire and donor will each have their blood tested beforehand. 

image credit: via wikimedia commons

There are situations where simple self-promotion can put us into opportunities that can better our lives. There are also times that we can talk about our accomplishments, but there’s this hesitance to do so out of the fear of coming off as bragging. But how can we overcome that fear, and also not sound like you’re bragging or selling yourself? Marie Claire’s resident psychologist Dr. Samantha Boardman lists some strategies that can help us promote ourselves: 

• Stick to the facts: Use verifiable data like numbers, grades, and awards to demonstrate your accomplishments.
• Own your success: As psychologist Corinne Moss-Racusin of Skidmore College in New York observed, “Women tend to give their success away. They’ll say, ‘I was so lucky to work on a good team’ or ‘My adviser really helped me do this project.’ ” While it is important to give others credit, be sure to take credit for your contributions.
• Channel your inner PR agent: Think about someone who admires your work and imagine what she might say about you. I did this when I was applying for a promotion at the hospital and found it to be extremely helpful.
• Check yourself: Bear in mind that there is a difference between being an advocate for yourself and an insufferable braggart. Making others aware of your hard work will help them get to know you better and also help you get ahead. If you don’t tell them how awesome you are, who will?

image credit: via wikimedia commons

The British royal family give memorable gifts, from leather toilet seat covers to an actual grow-your-own-girlfriend kit (for Prince Harry). Princess Diana gave her then-husband Prince Charles a gift that while full of thought and effort, it was something that her husband did not like at all. In 1985, Princess Diana presented him with a dance number in a Christmas gala, giving tribute to her then-husband. Reader’s Digest has the details: 

When the big night came, Diana slipped quietly out of her seat next to Charles, who was watching the stage and likely thought she was just running to the bathroom, Sleep told 48 Hours in 2017. Sleep danced solo for the intro, then Diana strutted on stage. When she turned to face the house, the audience gave a collective gasp. No one—not even Charles—saw that coming!

The applause was endless from most of the audience, but the surprise “slightly backfired,” as Charles didn’t take too well to the fact that his wife performed in front of 2,000 people without telling him, says Daily Mail editor-at-large Richard Kay, who was friends with Diana. “Charles wasn’t terribly impressed, because he thought she was showing off,” Kay said in the documentary. “But in fact, it was incredibly courageous of her to go onstage.”

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Picture this: you’re an employer seeking a new hire, and after several interviews you find one candidate that stands out perfectly for the job. You shake hands with a congratulatory smile, looking forward to work with this new member of the team. One week passes and you still haven’t heard back from the recruit. In fact, he never comes to sign the contract and you never see from him again. 

Now, replay the same scenario, except with you as the employee being interviewed for a job.

You just got a glimpse of what it means to be ‘ghosted’ and how it can work both ways. Yes, it’s a term that’s become popular because of awkward Tinder dates, but it’s also being applied to the work setting as employers on LinkedIn have noticed a trend. 

Read more from Megaphone about ghosting as a ‘generational trend’ and ‘mutual respect’ in the workplace. 

Photo: www_slon_pics / Pixabay

On Monday, the Hubble Space Telescope released this image of a galaxy, known as IC 2051, positioned about 85 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Mensa. 

This galaxy was observed for a Hubble study on galactic bulges, the bright round central region of spiral galaxies. Spiral galaxies like IC 2051 are shaped a bit like flying saucers when seen from the side; they comprise a thin, flat disc, with a bulky bulge of stars in the centre that extends above and below the disc. These bulges are thought to play a key role in how galaxies evolve, and to influence the growth of the supermassive black holes lurking at the centres of most spirals. 

Find out more about galactic discs and bulges in the original post by ESA/Hubble & NASA. 

Photo: Patrick Hendry / Unsplash

Robocall is another term for those unwanted and often repetitive auto-dialed calls that are typically a telemarketing strategy to get you to buy something, possibly even a fraud scheme that can cost millions of dollars. Thankfully, Ethan Garr and his team released an app in 2017 called RoboKiller specifically designed to disrupt, confuse, and even annoy spam callers by wasting their time with deliberately outlandish responses recorded beforehand, so that they never dial your number again. There is also a flagging feature for those calls that did not get blocked, and the app uses an algorithm that learns from user feedback in real time. 

This is what it says on their App Store Preview: 

RoboKiller is the award-winning app that blocks spam calls. [It] has been featured on The New York Times, NBC, Wired, Engadget, Vice and other publications.

RoboKiller is free to download, however a subscription is required after a 7-day free trial. Find out more about how the app works on Ozy. 

Photo: Icons8 Team / Unsplash

Want to learn cool facts about the octopus is less than 4 minutes? On this episode of National Geographic’s informative series called 101 Videos, we’re presented with bite-sized information along with captivating visuals of the interesting life of the eight-armed cephalopod. The video’s caption says:

How many hearts does an octopus have? How do species like the mimic octopus camouflage themselves? Find out about these and other octopus facts.

Did you know that octopuses are considered one of the most intelligent invertebrates? 

Discover more about these awesome deep sea creature from the original post by Nat Geo.

(Video: National Geographic)

It is perhaps a usual thing for a family to take memorable pictures on Christmas time. But is it possible to make these pictures even more memorable? Mike and Laura Bergeron show us the way with their ultimate Christmas photos, which are cringeworthy, but funny at the same time. I’ll let you be the one to judge.

(Image Credit: Mike Bergeron/ Funny Or Die)

This is the most Indian photo bomb 😂 pic.twitter.com/dtAcmByofW

— Tim Kimber (@Tim_Kimber) December 1, 2019

British journalist Tom Brook was filming an episode for his monthly film review program, titled “Talking Movies” in Mumbai, India. As he was signing off for the program, a large white dog riding a scooter can be seen in the background, which stole the show from the British journalist.

The talented dog was hard to miss — balancing with his hind legs on the back of the scooter and his front paws on his dad’s shoulders.

This may have been the dog’s first-ever appearance on TV, but it appears that the canine is a bit of a local celebrity.

Another Twitter user responded to the post with her own video of the pup happily cruising through the streets with his dad. She wrote in a comment: “I asked a local shopkeeper and apparently the dog gets daily rides around the same area.”

Awesome doggo.

(Video Credit: Tim Kimber/ Twitter)

YES!!! pic.twitter.com/Qr7zwOspul

— Gigi (is back) (@mycrotchetyluv) December 8, 2019

(Video Credit: Gigi (is back)/ Twitter)

Found beneath the earth, unseen by the eyes of men, is a world “full of magic and mystery” — an underground network created by mycelium and mushrooms, which has connected all living beings for the last 3.5 billion years. A film titled Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us, explores this amazing hidden world.

Featuring conversations with food journalist Eugenia Bone, mycologist Paul Stamets, and writer Michael Pollan, [the film] dives into how the diverse underground web creates the soil necessary for plants and trees to root. “It’s amazing what we don’t know about mushrooms. They really are a frontier of knowledge,” Pollan says in the film.

Fantastic Fungi explores seven benefits of the organisms, including those dealing with biodiversity, innovation, food, arts, and mental, physical, and spiritual health. Screenings are scheduled worldwide through February 2020...

(Video Credit: Louie Schwartzberg/ YouTube)