THE FACTS: Unimportant & frequent Facebook posts can get you ‘unfriended,’ but so can political and crude posts

There is much research on how people form ‘friendships’ online. However, no one has really looked at why people ‘unfriend’ on Facebook. Until now.

A University of Colorado study found that ‘unfriending’ is quite common. Respondents to this survey say they are either hurt or amused when someone unfriends them — it all depends on the reason why and who did the ‘unfriending.’ The top 3 reasons people ‘unfriend,’ read on:

Top 3 Reasons People Unfriend

1. Making Frequent, Unimportant Posts – If you are about to post your 100th message about Justin Bieber, you might just be unfriended.
2. Posting on Polarizing Topics, Such as Politics – You might just be unfriended if you post anything about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama.
3. Posting Crude, Inappropriate or Racists Posts – If it’s not appropriate for your parents to see, don’t post it.

Keep Your Posts Tame Because Employers Check

Future employers will check your facebook to determine if you are a fit with their company. The same kind of posts that can get you unfriended, also look bad to employers.

The study, which questioned 2,667 managers and human resource workers, found that 35 percent of employers decided not to offer a job to a candidate based on the content uncovered on a social networking site.

Just remember: When in doubt, be civil.

Works Cited

Wortham, By Jenna. “More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants – NYTimes.com.”Technology – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/more-employers-use-social-networks-to-check-out-applicants/>.

Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ucdenver.edu/>.

World renowned psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?”

He notes that all studies tell us that money cannot make us happy. So he turns to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.”

Find out what ‘flow’ is, WATCH:

FACT: 77% of Americans are Now Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck

BOTTOM LINE: In a recent survey, 77% of people were living paycheck-to-paycheck. This is a sharp increase from 2009. In addition, this survey found:

Workers report they have made a variety of changes to their living and spending habits to help get by. When asked what tactics they have used since the start of the recession to make ends meet, workers said the following:

• Cut back on leisure activities – 54 percent
• Used coupons or shopped at discount stores – 48 percent
• Drove less to save on gas – 37 percent
• Cancelled cable and other subscriptions – 12 percent
• Used public transportation – 5 percent

From Kiplinger Magazine:

Nearly four of every five workers surveyed by the site say they are struggling to make ends meet – and the proportion of workers living paycheck to paycheck has only risen in the past year. In 2009, CareerBuilder found, 61 percent of people were going from one paycheck to another; now, 77 percent are.

A significant number of people are taking drastic steps to shore up their personal finances, as well. More than 20 percent of CareerBuilder’s 4,498 survey respondents admitted to dipping into retirement savings – even though money taken from a retirement account can be subject to both taxes and early-withdrawal penalties.

How to Maximize Your Income When You Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck (VIDEO)

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive(C) on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,534 U.S. hiring managers and 4,498 U.S. workers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government); ages 18 and over between May 18 and June 3, 2010 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset of U.S. employers and/or employees, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 2,534 and 4,498 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.95 and +/-1.46 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

References Cited

Kiplinger News. “More Workers Live Paycheck to Paycheck, CareerBuilder Finds – Kiplinger.”Kiplinger – Personal Finance, Business, Investing, Retirement, and Financial Advice. 09 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://www.kiplinger.com/news/article.php/more-workers-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-19937927.html>.

Murray, By Sara. “Middle Class Slams Brakes on Spending – WSJ.com.” Business News & Financial News – The Wall Street Journal – WSJ.com. 06 Oct. 210. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://online.wsj.com/article/>.

“Living Paycheck To Paycheck.” Decline of the Empire. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2010/09/living-paycheck-to-paycheck.html>.

A fact is something known to be true. Sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction, rumor, or supposition, but fact-finding using the Internet makes the task a whole lot easier. Online encyclopedias are devoted solely to facts, providing dependable information on millions of topics. Health-related sites will give you facts about diseases and symptoms. On 50states.com, you can learn all kinds of interesting facts and trivia relating to each state. For instance, the U.S. city with the highest rate of lighting strikes is Clearwater, Florida. Trivia such as this is interesting, and a great way to pepper your conversation, especially during a thunderstorm. There is a site devoted to monitoring and analyzing the factual accuracy of what political candidates say in ads and speeches. And there are sites devoted to nothing but amusing and offbeat facts, searchable by category, proving that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Top Sites:

• Encyclopedia.com (http://www.encyclopedia.com)
• Spontanio.com (http://www.spontanio.com)
• Healthline.com ( http://www.healthline.com)
• FactCheck.org (http://www.factcheck.org)
• 50States.com/facts (http://www.50states.com/facts)
• AmusingFacts.com (http://www.amusingfacts.com)
• FactFinder.census.gov (http://factfinder.census.gov/)

Are you smarter than a 5^th grader? You will be, if you avail yourself of the wealth of information available on online encyclopedias. Maybe you grew up with those expensive multi-volume sets of encyclopedias sold by door-to-door salesman, where much of the information was obsolete before the ink dried. It’s time to become familiar with the Age of Information, best exemplified by online encyclopedias with their up-to-the-minute accuracy. They contain all the information in the world on millions of topics, easily searchable by keyword or category. Many entries provide color photographs, helpful for visual learners. On your way to search a specific topic, it’s easy to learn all kinds of facts just by viewing the home pages on these sites. They provide links to current events, interesting “facts of the day”, insightful quotations, and may even lure you to exciting discussion forums on hundreds of topics. If you have school-age children, introduce them early to the storehouse of knowledge available on these sites. You’ll be making them smarter than a 5^th grader ought to be.

Top Sites:

• Encyclopedia.com (http://www.encyclopedia.com)
• Britannica.com (http://www.britannica.com/)
• Encarta.msn.com (http://www.encarta.msn.com/)
• Wikimedia.org (http://www.wikimedia.org)

Tips:

• For well-rounded information, research your topic on more than one encyclopedia site.
• When allowing children to use the Internet, activate parental controls to control where they surf.

Insurers have taken advantage of the Internet as an effective tool to market their products and services. You can shop carrier sites for the best deals, purchase coverage or even file a claim, all from the comfort of your home. If you are looking for a deal on covering your ride, start out by checking one of the sites we’ve assembled here:

Top Sites:

CarInsurance.com (http://www.carinsurance.com/)

• Their goal is to give consumers all the information and resources they need to make informed auto insurance decisions.
• Fill out a simple questionnaire to get side by side rate and coverage comparisons.
• Get rates from multiple carriers.
• Apply for and purchase your policy online.

CarInsuranceRates.com (http://www.carinsurancerates.com/)

• A full service quoting website with a large archive of car insurance articles, tips and expert advice.
• Get state specific legal requirements and information by clicking the “State by State” tab at the top of the page.
• Get multiple quotes easily by entering non-identifying information in a few quick and easy screens.

Esurance.com (http://www.esurance.com/)

• This insurer site that will give you rates from other carriers, as well as their own.

Progressive (http://www.progressive.com/)

• This insurer site that will give you rates from other carriers, as well as their own.

Geico (http://www.geico.com/)

• Just like on their television ads, that friendly green gecko will meet you online to help you get the coverage you need.

State Farm (http://www.statefarm.com/)

Allstate (http://www.allstate.com/)

Important information from the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency: annualcreditreport.com is the ONLY authorized online source for you to get a free credit report under federal law. You can get a free report from each of the three national credit reporting companies every 12 months. Some other sites claim to offer “free” credit reports, but may charge you for another product if you accept a “free” report.

Top Sites:

AnnualCreditReport.com (https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp)

• This is the only authorized site to get your free annual credit reports.
• Simple to follow directions.
• Free credit reports requested online are viewable immediately upon authentication of identity.

Equifax (http://www.equifax.com/home/)

• One of the 3 nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.
• Score Watch™ makes it easy to target your ideal score, see interest rates you are likely to receive and watch your score trend over time.

Experian (http://www.experian.com/)

• One of the 3 nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.
• Get your Experian credit score free by completing the online form.

TransUnion (http://www.transunion.com/)

• One of the 3 nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.
• Get your TransUnion credit score and unlimited reports free for 30 days.

What is it about men and directions? Those two words evoke almost as many jokes as the word mother-in-law. Many men just don’t like to give directions, take directions, or ask for directions. The simplicity of using Internet map sites could spell the end of driving around lost. More than just showing street maps, these sites provide complete driving instructions to get you from Point A to Point B, including mileage and time data, whether you’re heading across town or across the country. Just print and go! For a completely different view of the lay of the land, pull up a satellite map view, where you can zoom in on your rooftop, if you so desire. This bird’s eye view shows the topography of an area, and is just plain fascinating, if not useful. Many of these sites include theme maps that give you climate or population information, traffic conditions, and even gas prices for a given area. Internet map sites are interactive, intuitive and so simple to use that getting lost is no longer an option.

• Maps.Google.com (http://www.maps.google.com)
• Maps.Yahoo.com (http://www.maps.yahoo.com)
• MapQuest.com (http://www.mapquest.com/)
• NationalGeographic.com/maps (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps)

Top Dictionaries for Quick Lookup

AskOxford.com – The online version of the famous Oxford dictionary.

Dictionary.com – Dictionary.com is one of the most popular dictionaries on the web.
FreeDictionary.com – the Free dictionary.

Dictionaries

• American-Heritage Collegiate Dictionary
• Century Unabridged Dictionary (1889)
• Cambridge Dictionaries Online
• Historical Dictionary of American Slang
• Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary
• New World College Dictionary
• Oxford English Dictionary (Subscription or Purchase Only)
• Wordnik English Dictionary
• Chambers (British) English Dictionary
• Dictionarium Britannicum
• Dictionary.com
• Encarta
• Get-Definition Dictionary
• Illustrated Semantically Organized Glossary
• Learning English Online
• Modern English-Indo-European Dictionary
• Newbury House Online Dictionary
• The Macquarie Dictionary (Australian—requires subscription)
• Wordnet English Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Wordsmyth

Specialty Dictionaries

• The Phrase Finder
• English Specialty Dictionaries (125 categories)
• Baby-Talk Dictionary
• Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms
• Dictionary of Idioms
• Dictionary of Newfoundland English Online
• Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811)
• GoEnglish.com Idiom Dictionary
• Grandiloquent Dictionary
• Middle English Dictionary
• Piggot’s Political Dictionary (1795)
• Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Scots English Dictionary

Grammars

• Directory of English Grammar
• A Brief Grammatical Sketch of English
• Advanced English Lessons
• Beginning English for Somali Speakers
• English Club English Grammar
• English Online from New Zealand Ministry of Education
• Eva Easton’s Basic English Grammar
• Online English Grammar
• Phonetics Flash Animation Project
• The Internet Grammar of English

General Dictionaries, Sorted by Number of Words in Database

1. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: [5278306 words]
2. Dictionary.com: [775929 words]
3. Dict.cc Englisch/Deutsch Wörterbuch: [750745 words]
4. Dict.cc Englisch/Deutsch Wörterbuch: [590803 words]
5. Wiktionary: [580200 words]
6. bab.la: [512709 words]
7. Wordnik: [472624 words]
8. Dictionary/thesaurus: [444483 words]
9. Online Talking Dictionary: [293864 words]
10. Free Dictionary: [254453 words]
11. Rhymezone: [229780 words]
12. LookWAYup Translating Dictionary/Thesaurus: [187425 words]
13. AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary: [175063 words]
14. Mnemonic Dictionary: [147153 words]
15. Infoplease Dictionary: [127110 words]
16. WordNet 1.7 Vocabulary Helper: [119160 words]
17. Urdu/English Dictionary: [113319 words]
18. Online Plain Text English Dictionary: [111729 words]
19. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, 11th Edition: [107545 words]
20. Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition: [107301 words]
21. UltraLingua English Dictionary: [103294 words]
22. Cambridge International Dictionary of English: [92986 words]
23. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: [90491 words]
24. Webster’s Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition: [88773 words]
25. Eurodict Online: [81035 words]
26. Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.: [80134 words]
27. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: [62949 words]
28. Logos Multilingual E-translation Portal: [60678 words]
29. Langtolang: [51081 words]
30. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition: [50831 words]
31. The Free Dictionary: [49963 words]
32. Gaelic Language (Manx): [48957 words]
33. The Free Dictionary: [48752 words]
34. The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus: [47719 words]
35. Macmillan Dictionary: [46109 words]
36. Compact Oxford English Dictionary: [41947 words]
37. Cambridge Dictionary of American English: [37791 words]
38. Collins Pocket English Dictionary: [37476 words]
39. 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica: [33710 words]
40. Columbia Gazetteer of North America: [33247 words]
41. The Free Dictionary: [28043 words]
42. Stammtisch Beau Fleuve Acronyms: [24060 words]
43. The Free Dictionary: [23996 words]
44. The Free Dictionary: [22814 words]
45. Online Etymology Dictionary: [21462 words]
46. General English-Spanish: [20735 words]
47. Langtolang English from/to French dictionary: [20075 words]
48. The Phrontistery – A Dictionary of Obscure Words: [16690 words]
49. Hutchinson Dictionaries: [15195 words]
50. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898): [15100 words]
51. Hutchinson’s Dictionary of Difficult Words: [14455 words]
52. Cobuild Student Dictionary for Learners of English: [13410 words]
53. 18 LANGUAGES MULTILINGUAL DICTIONARY: [9103 words]
54. Luciferous Logolepsy: [9029 words]
55. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (Encyclopedia.com): [7267 words]
56. Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations: [7192 words]
57. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: [6639 words]
58. Virdainas – a Sudovian Dictionary: [5920 words]
59. The Free Dictionary: [5417 words]
60. E Cobham Brewer, The Reader’s Handbook: [5272 words]
61. Faclair G?idhlig – Beurla Gaelic – English Dictionary: [5173 words]
62. Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms: [5132 words]
63. Typographical Errors in Library Databases: [5114 words]
64. Encarta® Online Encyclopedia, North American Edition: [4994 words]
65. Who2: [4331 words]
66. Worthless Word For The Day: [4234 words]
67. InfoVisual Visual Dictionary: [3884 words]
68. R-O-Matic Italian/English Dictionary: [3504 words]
69. The Word Spy: [2701 words]
70. MyWord.info: [2507 words]
71. Japanese Kanji & Chinese Calligraphy Dictionary: [2420 words]
72. GREEK-ENGLISH DICTIONARY: [2403 words]
73. World Wide Words: [2363 words]
74. Dictionary of Americanisms (1848): [2158 words]
75. V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: [2042 words]
76. Grandiloquent Dictionary: [2039 words]
77. Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs: [1929 words]
78. Strange and Unusual Dictionaries: [1769 words]
79. The Word Detective: [1599 words]
80. All About Homonyms: [1506 words]
81. Double-Tongued Word Wrester: [1269 words]
82. Bali: The Online Travel Guide: [978 words]
83. My Hebrew Dictionary: [974 words]
84. Phrase Finder: [939 words]
85. UVic Writer’s Guide: [759 words]
86. A to Z list of the most popular idioms: [433 words]
87. ESL Idiom Page: [401 words]
88. Britih-American Dictionary: [365 words]
89. American-Britih Dictionary: [362 words]
90. The Spoken Taino Language: [334 words]
91. Yiddish-Hebrew-English-German-Russian Picture Dictionary: [186 words]
92. Phrasal Verb Page: [173 words]
93. Robb: German English: [160 words]
94. Russian dictionary: [157 words]
95. Turkish Acronyms to live by: [138 words]
96. Celtic Dictionary: [129 words]
97. New English Words: [113 words]
98. Foreign Words and Phrases: [73 words]
99. Election glossary: [61 words]
100. Ye Olde English Sayings: [43 words]

U.S. Mail Holidays – UPS Holidays – DHL Holidays – FedEx Holidays

The following is the 2010 holiday schedule for USPS in the United States.

[Visit USPS' Calendar]

Friday, January 1 – New Year’s Day
Monday, January 18 – Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday
Monday, February 15 – Washington’s Birthday (President’s Day)
Monday, May 31 – Memorial Day
Monday, July 4 – Independence Day (observed Monday the 5th)
Monday, September 6 – Labor Day
Monday, October 11 – Columbus Day
Thursday, November 11 – Veterans Day
Thursday, November 25 – Thanksgiving Day
Saturday, December 25 – Christmas Day
Saturday, January 1, 2011 – New Year’s Day

The following is the 2010 holiday schedule for UPS in the United States.

[Visit UPS Days of Operation]

New Year’s Day – January 1, 2010*
Memorial Day – May 31, 2010*
Independence Day – observed Monday, July 5th, 2010*
Labor Day – September 6, 2010*
Thanksgiving Day – November 25, 2010*
Day after Thanksgiving – November 26, 2010* (Only delivery and pickup of air and international packages is available November 26th)
Christmas Day – December 25, 2010*
New Year’s Eve – December 31, 2010* (Only delivery and pickup of air and international packages is available December 31st)
New Year’s Day – January 1, 2011*

Saturday and Sunday are rest days for United Parcel Service. (Saturday delivery and pickup is available in certain regions)

* UPS Express Critical is available 365 days each year

The following is the 2010 holiday schedule for DHL operations in the United States.

DHL holiday schedules vary by country, and international holidays may have an impact on transit times.

[DHL Holiday Schedule]

New Year’s Day – Friday, January 1, 2010
Memorial Day – Monday, May 31, 2010
Independence Day – Sunday, July 4, 2010
Labor Day – Monday, September 6, 2010
Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 25, 2010
Christmas Day – Saturday, December 25, 2010
New Year’s Day – Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010 FedEx holiday delivery schedule for the U.S.

[FedEx Holiday Schedule]

New Year’s Day – January 1, 2010
Memorial Day – May 31, 2010
Independence Day – observed Monday, July 5, 2010
Labor Day – September 6, 2010
Thanksgiving Day – November 25, 2010
Christmas Day – December 25, 2010
New Year’s Day – January 1, 2011