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July 8, 2015
None!great shot
Skies Below
Photograph by SK JaYed, National Geographic Your Shot
With teeming skies above and below, a fisherman rows out to make his catch during the rainy season in Bangladesh. Your Shot member SK JaYed captured the shot from the top of a bridge.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Mondays
None!ive been secretly subscribed to this for a while ... i had to share this one
©Reaction GIFs, 2015. |
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Post tags: bad luck, Happy Monday, monday, mondays, rain, splash, wet
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Starbucks costs more bucks
None!5 to 20 cents
You may have noticed if you stopped by Starbucks for coffee this morning that it cost a little more than usual — 5 to 20 cents, to be exact. Starbucks announced that on Tuesday, most of its stores would be raising prices on hot drinks. As CNN Money reports, the company has consistently raised its prices over the last three years, but this is the most comprehensive raising of prices on several items at once.
$6,842
That's how little a professional women's soccer player sometimes makes as an annual salary for her time on the field. Compare that with the U.S. men's soccer team, whose players have a minimum annual salary of $60,000. And as Quartz points out, if any of the returning champions decided to live on her wages from soccer alone, she'd be well below the poverty line.
700 pointe shoes
That's how many pointe shoes are made by Freed of London craftsmen every day. And Sarah Wroth, Corps de Ballet dancer at the Boston Ballet, swears by them. She says a dancer can spend an entire career looking for the perfect pair of shoes. Hear more about Wroth as part of our series on professionals and their must-have tools.
50 percent
Making glass bottles out of recycled material creates 50 percent less pollution than making glass from scratch. It also uses 30 percent less energy. We take a closer look at the economics behind recycling as part of our "I've Always Wondered" series. You asked, so we answered.
Unlimited
We know, it's not a number, but you'll want to hear about it anyway: some U.S. companies have started experimenting with offering employees unlimited vacation days. ZocDoc, a healthcare technology company in New York, has adopted the policy already. Netta Samroengraja, CFO and chief people officer, says ZocDoc has seen increased motivation in its workforce.
Unlimited vacation anyone?
None!An American company offering unlimited vacation sounds like an unthinkable fantasy in a country famed for stingy time-off policies compared with other Western countries. But unlimited time off policies are a reality at a small number of American companies. And the results that they’re getting have other businesses taking a look.
Take ZocDoc, a healthcare technology company. Its New York offices have everything one expects from a young tech company these days: a tastefully industrial workspace, free yoga on Thursdays, a casual dress code, a ping pong table and a whole wall of free snacks (though as a health company, the munchies lean more wholesome than typical tech offices). The benefits package includes a time off policy that goes beyond generous: it’s endless.
“Team members can take time off whenever they need it or whenever they want to,” says Netta Samroengraja, CFO and chief people officer. “We feel like we have a much more motivated work force and they’re absolutely much more productive as well while they’re here.”
Asked how much time the average employee takes under an unlimited policy, she has no answer. The company doesn’t even track it. Staffers need to get permission from managers to schedule vacations, but face no limits on how long they’re gone, as long as they get their work done well. The same unlimited, untracked policy applies to sick days and personal days.
Carol Tyger, who works in marketing and took six weeks off last year, says when she explains the company’s policy to family and friends, she gets a mix of naked envy and total awe.
“I get a whole lot of reactions from: do you even work, why would you go to work and how do you get anything done?” she says.
Many managers are skeptical about unlimited time off. But some are curious, says Bruce Elliott, Manager of Compensation and Benefits at the Society for Human Resource Management.
“The first question we always get is: how are employees gonna abuse it?” he says. “That’s really the wrong question because what we do find is that employees don’t abuse this policy.”
Elliott’s numbers show just under one percent of American businesses have unlimited vacation policies. But there’s great deal of interest in these companies, as many cite gains in productivity, employee engagement and retention.
ZocDoc definitely isn’t going back.
“Overall, we’re really happy with how it’s turned out and it’s actually a great recruiting tool for us right now,” says Samroengraja.
Londoner crowdfunding cash for Greek bailout
None!no thanks
President Obama extends overtime pay to more workers
None!there was a court case about public accounting professionals wanted overtime ... judge said if its a learned profession that requires time to understand it, nope. if its labor, yup.
The Greeks are getting tired of crisis talks
None!Most Greeks back the government, but weariness is the mood. They are tired of the meetings, crisis talks, deadlines, and living up to the next critical moment.
In Central Athens, there isn't much evidence of the economic crisis. However, Nick Voglis, the owner of a sandwich bar, says, “If one person in Greece right now goes to the ATM, and tries to remove money and money does not come out, this place will go on fire. It will explode. There’s no doubt about that.”
There hasn't been a bank run yet, but since October, $33 billion has been withdrawn from the Greek banking system. Wealthy people are taking their money out and putting it overseas. The less well-heeled are taking their money out and keeping it at home. Marketplace’s Stephen Beard explains from Athens.
The island of lost baggage
None!40,000 square feet
The size of Unclaimed Baggage Center, a huge Alabama store that sells items recovered from lost or unclaimed luggage all around the country. The bags become airline property after 90 days, and the store buys them up sight-unseen, reselling what's inside and donating the rest. Quartz profiled the company, which is sort of like a thrift store combined with "Storage Wars."
54 years
That's how long the U.S. kept Cuba under embargo before starting to normalize relations with the country late last year. Over the weekend, news broke that ties will likely be restored next month. In the latest episode of our new podcast Actuality, Marketplace's Sabri Ben-Achour and Quartz's Tim Fernholz dig into what this process means for Cuban entrepreneurs.
5 days
That's how many paid vacation days the average American leaves on the table every year. We take a closer look at why the U.S. seems to have developed a culture of work martyrdom and why it's not necessarily the best for employees and companies alike.
80 percent
That's the percentage of questions posed on Twitter that are ignored by companies, according to a new study. That's four out of five questions going unanswered. As Mashable reports, if you want to get a company's attention, you'll have much better luck on Facebook.
13
That's how many episodes of "Orange Is the New Black" dropped on Netflix over the weekend, and it's likely many fans have already devoured them all. This kind of appointment binge-watching has become increasingly common as Netflix builds its stable of hits, and it's helped establish the company's dominance in streaming. But as Vox points out, Netflix doesn't own any of its shows, opting to license them from other studios. That means the company gets shut out of a lot of potential revenue in the long term.
86 percent
That's the percentage of trans fats that food companies say they've already removed voluntarily. So what would an official ban on trans fats by the FDA really do? Some analysts say it would just be the icing on the cake.
Take Refuge in an Iced Tea Garden (11 photos)
None!i want to be so rich i have an iced tea garden
Bernanke wants Andrew Jackson gone from $20 bill
None!here here
Save at least 20 percent on MileagePlus Saver Awards between the U.S. or Canada and Hawaii
June 27, 2015
Tree Top
Photograph by Kat Lawrence, National Geographic Your Shot
A lone tree grows on a pillar of quartz and sandstone in Chinas Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. There are more than 3,000 such peaks in the Hunan Province park, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its diverse landscapedense forest, gullies, cliffs, and valleysshelter macaque and rhesus monkeys, pangolins, and Chinese giant salamanders, as well as rare birds and trees.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
June 28, 2015
Peak of Dawn
Photograph by Katsuyoshi Nakahara, National Geographic Your Shot
Shirley poppies bloom in a field near Japans Mount Tsukuba, here silhouetted against an early morning sky. The mountainwhich can be ascended via a hiking trail or cable carhas two peaks, each rising more than 2,800 feet.</p>This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Mayor Zimmer Statement on Supreme Court Marriage Equality Ruling
None!nice photo but should have removed the mourning symbol in the background.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer issued the following statement following the Supreme Court’s ruling ending marriage discrimination against same-sex couples.
“Today we took another proud step towards fulfilling our nation’s founding principle that all of us are created equal. Our communities and families are stronger when everyone is treated fairly, which is why as mayor, it was a privilege to perform Hoboken’s first marriage between a same-sex couple and to join a friends-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to end marriage discrimination. Today we raise the rainbow flag at City Hall to celebrate with everyone who no longer faces discrimination from their government because of who they love.”
Hoboken Police Departments Provides Child Safety Seat Inspection & Installation
None!yes wife
Shop Houzz: Say Hello to Popsicle Season (39 photos)
None!@wifey













