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5 Biggest Hip Hop Power Couples

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No matter what form of entertainment it is, there are always going to be power couples that dominate the industry. From the world of finance to politics and movies, power couples get all of the attention while also dominating their respective lines of work in terms of popularity. Hip-hop is no exception as there have been many power couples over the years that worked together to rule the charts and fill up the headlines.

Out of the many power couples that hip-hop has had, though, which ones really reign supreme? We’ll go back to the early days of the genre and see which ones really stood head and shoulders above the rest. Here are our picks for the five biggest hip-hop power couples of all time.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé 

Probably the hip-hop power couple that will be remembered for years to come, rap mogul Jay-Z and natural-born superstar Beyoncé are a match made in hip-hop heaven. The two first met around the year 2000 and went on to date in 2001 and released their song “Crazy in Love” in 2003. 

The couple has three children, Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir. Their relationship was littered with controversy when cheating rumors arose, but the couple seems to be going strong once again. As a couple, they have a combined net worth of $1.8 billion, dwarfing any other couple in hip-hop.

Cardi B and Offset

Another hip-hop couple that’s seen their fair share of tabloid headlines are rappers Cardi B and Offset. The couple got together in early 2017 and quickly made their way to marriage later that same year. The couple had their first child, a baby girl named Kulture in 2018. 

Their relationship had some bumps in the road after a cheating scandal involving Offset’s relations with another woman. They broke up and were set to get divorced, but a few months later they gave it another try and the marriage survived. The two reconciled and had their second child, a boy named Wave in 2021. 

Notorious B.I.G and Faith Evans

The OG hip-hop couple of the ’90s, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G and singer/rapper Faith Evans. The two met on the set of a Bad Boy Records photo shoot in 1994. Evans drove the rapper home afterward and their relationship advanced extraordinarily quickly, with the couple getting hitched just 8 days later. 

Though their relationship was not all sunshine and rainbows. The rapper was knowingly seeing other women on the side, including fellow rapper Lil Kim. Biggie and Evans had one child together before his death in 1997. 

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky

Superstar hip hop/pop queen Rihanna and her beau ASAP Rocky are icons in the music industry and an iconic couple. The two had extremely successful mainstream careers over the years, maintaining a longstanding friendship for years, then finally got together in 2020. Their relationship quickly progressed and the couple had their first child in 2022. 

Rumors of an engagement between the two made rounds on the internet after the two got “engaged” in Rocky’s “D.M.B.” music video, but the couple has not confirmed or denied plans of engagement, or marriage yet. 

Remy Ma and Papoose

Probably the most romantic hip-hop relationship with the least amount of turmoil within the 16 years they’ve been together, rappers Remy Ma and Papoose are two love birds who can’t be torn apart. They met through a mutual friend and sparks flew immediately. 

They began dating and got married over the phone during Ma’s time in prison for shooting a woman outside of a nightclub. After her release in 2016, she and Papoose finally wed in a more traditional setting. Ma has a child from a previous relationship but tried for another child with husband Papoose after marriage. After suffering a miscarriage in 2017, the couple held on and went on to have their child Reminisce in 2018. 

When Should You Run A Background Check On Someone And How?

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There are going to be some instances in life in which you have to submit to a background check, but there also might be times when you need (or want) to run a background check on someone else. Whether you’re checking their criminal record, credit, residential history, or anything in between, there’s some information that you’ll want to know.

In what cases are you most likely to need a background check on a person, though? We have a few scenarios where a background check is common, and we’ll also let you know how to perform a background check. While it might be easier and cheaper than you think, it can also involve some legal issues to think about.

Employer

A majority of the background checks that are performed are through employers who want to make sure that they’re investing their time and money into the right person. Typically, a background check will come after an interview and when a conditional job offer is issued. However, before everything is put into writing and signed, a background check is done for the final approval of the employee.

There are certain things in a background check that will end up being pertinent information for an employer. They’ll be able to see if their potential employee has been hopping from job to job while also seeing if there’s a criminal history that could hinder the safety of coworkers. If the applicant was found lying on their resume or has been charged with a white-collar crime, it could lead to the job offer being withdrawn.

Landlord or Tenant

A landlord is going to want to know that they’re renting the property they own to the right people, and they’ll find out much of the same information that an employer would. The background check can help to verify employment, guaranteeing that the tenant has enough money to pay the rent each month. If there’s no criminal background, it can also help the landlord feel at ease knowing that their property will go undamaged.

Tenants can also run background checks on their potential landlords. There are many landlords that aren’t exactly saints and can end up dealing in shady practices. You want to know that if you’re sending potentially tens of thousands of dollars per year to someone that you’re not going to get randomly evicted because the landlord is a potentially harmful person.

Dating

Let’s say that you start dating someone that you met online and you really like them. You don’t want to move too fast because you don’t know them all that well, but if you really feel inclined, you can have a background check run on them to make sure that you’re not getting into anything dangerous. While employers must notify someone that a background check is being run on them, it can be different for individuals.

In most cases, it’s illegal to conduct a background check on someone that doesn’t know there’s one being submitted. With that in mind, you’ll want to study your local laws to see what can be done. At the very least, you’ll still be able to verify who they are without breaking the law by getting a full check. If you both consent, though, a background check might be extreme, but it won’t hurt.

Childcare

You absolutely want to make sure that your children are safe above all else. With that said, never put your children in the hands of someone that you don’t know unless they are willing to submit to a background check. Anyone that’s willing to do so is likely going to be trustworthy, and the background check will show just that.

Some childcare providers may be offended by the thought, and if they are, it’s probably not worth your time to leave your kids with them. When it comes to teachers, though, they have already had background checks, so you can be assured that they’re qualified to watch your children throughout the day.

How to Run a Background Check

In most states, you’re able to access someone’s criminal history through a quick search on the state’s website. If you want more information such as credit, address, employment history, etc., you’ll have to get something more detailed. There are verified websites that can perform a full background check, and they usually only cost around $10 to $20.

No matter what kind of background check you’re getting, though, you want to inform the other party that you’re running a background check on them and you should obtain their permission. Failure to do so can lead to legal action against you.

Should You Research Your Tinder Date Online?

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These days, meeting potential lovers online through the use of dating apps is becoming the norm. Apps like Hinge, Badoo, Plenty of Fish, and the ever-so-popular Tinder, are used by people of all shapes, sizes, and walks of life to seek dates, hookups, loving relationships, and even friendships on occasion. There’s something for everyone within the wide selection of dating apps, some are even targeted toward a specific lifestyle, body type, or ethnicity.  

Probably the most popular and commonly used in the dating app universe is Tinder. A go-to for young adults looking to casually spice things up, meet new people, or maybe find true love. 

With the growing convenience of online dating, how can you stay safe and know who you’re talking to is really who they say they are? There’s no surefire way to know someone is telling the absolute truth about themselves. Tinder has made some strides over the past few years in keeping users feeling safer. Tinder’s profile verification is optional, but if you choose to, you are required to take a live picture of yourself to upload into their system where it’s checked to ensure the pictures on your profile are actually yours. Those verified will receive a blue check mark displayed on their profile so everyone knows they’re properly verified. So at the very least, you’ll know which profiles are authentic.

Tinder also gives its users some safety tips and access to their safety center that provides tools, resources, and information on how to keep yourself safe online and when planning an in-person meeting. 

If that’s not enough and you want to go the extra mile to have some idea of what you’re getting into, you can put your sleuth skills to the test with a bit of research. It’s surprising what kind of information you can pull up on somebody with just a name and general location. You’ll find the juiciest info through Facebook, Google, and even certain sites you can pay to gain access to criminal records and other more personal details that may sway your decision on meeting your potential beau. 

Just like most things in life, there are some downsides to extensively researching your matches. You’re essentially judging a book by its cover, without any real information on any questionable stuff you may dig up. 

You could get the wrong idea about someone who is actually worth your time. It can also make things quite awkward if you bring up questions about their personal life that they didn’t divulge directly to you. It might make the other person see you as a paranoid person, who isn’t willing to build the trust needed for them to open up to you about their personal life before diving straight into researching their information. 

Some of the top experts in dating say that at least taking a surface-level peak shouldn’t be too harmful. Checking sites like LinkedIn will let you know what someone does for a living. This could end up exposing your potential date if they lied about their job, or confirm what they said before. The best thing to do is check the ‘about’ section on social media profiles like Facebook to get some of the basic details.

Even things like relationship status and where they’re from will appear in this section. When we make small-talk with potential dates, these are usually the first things that come up, and you want to make sure that everything checks out. If it doesn’t, that’s a huge red flag and could help you dodge serious trouble.

In the end, it’s up to you to take the safety measures you feel are necessary. If you ever get a weird feeling from someone, it might be worth it to do some research and potentially dodge a bullet. Don’t sweat it and have fun. 

The Art Of The Perfect Gif

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When it was first released in 1987, not many people knew what the popularity of the graphics interchange format, or gif, would look like. When the world wide web started to gain more traction, many of us were being introduced to gifs for the first time, and simply found them as fascinating moving pictures.

These days, however, gifs are an absolute art form on the internet. There are entire forums dedicated to people who make high-quality gifs and see who can come up with the best that also tell a story. Gifs are serious business on the internet, and it’s essentially how we’ve begun to communicate without using words that don’t really translate well through text. 

But how do you make the perfect gif that’s sure to please everyone? It isn’t easy and takes a lot of technical know-how, but once you get it right the first time, you’ll be making perfect gifs in your sleep. Let’s take a look at what makes a gif great, and learn the art of the perfect gif.

Quality

Sure, there are some gifs that end up going viral that could be considered “grainy” at best, but if you truly want to make the ‘perfect’ gif you have to focus on quality. Some of the best gifs that you’ll see on the internet have a resolution of at least 480p, with some being at 720p or 1080p. Some gifs look like they were ripped straight from a high-definition digital movie screen, and that’s how you want yours to look.

There are millions of gifs on the internet, and there was once a time when a high-quality gif would take far too long to load on a screen. With the increase in internet speeds around the world, though, there’s no such thing as a gif that’s too large. People can even resize gifs if they have slow computers and still want to see them.

References

You could come up with the best-looking gif in the world, but if it has someone in it that nobody knows (or hasn’t yet gone viral), it probably won’t get a lot of traction. Most gif-makers know that to get a lot of attention, the gif itself has to come from an entertainment source, or at least have a familiar face.

There are so many great gifs that are taken from movies and television shows. You can even add your own text to a scene to make it more unique. This has been done on just about any topic, from making “Seinfeld” characters talk about football games to “The Simpsons” characters talking about politics.

Reactions

The biggest reason that gifs have become such a mainstream success and a staple of both personal and professional use is that they can be used to show a reaction to just about any situation. Whether it’s reacting to some great news or showing general sadness, a reaction gif can sum up what words never could.

There is legitimately reaction gifs for every emotion on the spectrum. Through host sites like Giphy or Tenor, you can simply type in how you’re feeling and you’re going to be bombarded with an endless amount of gifs that fit that emotion. We’ve probably all used some sort of gif of someone dancing happily on a Friday morning, knowing that the weekend is fast approaching.

Length

If you want to impress other people who make gifs, aim to make them as long as you possibly can. Seriously, there is an online group of gif-makers that create ones that are several minutes in length. If you want a gif that’s going to end up going viral, you should try to keep things short. This doesn’t mean less than a second, though, as there has to be enough time for something to happen.

Some of the finest gif-makers have said that the sweet spot for gifs is between three and six seconds, though you should try to keep it closer to the three-second mark. Many gif-hosting sites won’t even allow an upload of a gif that lasts for more than 15 seconds, either, showing that short and sweet is applicable to gifs.

Wordiness

We mentioned that there are some great gifs where people put their own text into other scenes, but make sure to be careful of how wordy your gifs are if you want them to become popular.

Those that have no words at all end up becoming more popular in the long run. If you have to add a word, try to keep it to just one or two words. We’ll reference Friday again, which is one of the more popular reasons to send gifs. If you simply add the word “Friday” to a dancing gif, it’s not going to be too wordy.

5 Celebrities Who Ran For the White House

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There have been two people who were considered celebrities before their careers in politics who ended up having successful runs for the White House. The first was when former actor and Screen Actors Guild leader Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the United States. The next was real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump, who became the 45th President.

Along the way, there have been several other celebrities that have taken their shot at the White House but haven’t come as nearly as close as Reagan and Trump. Between singers, reality television stars, actors, and authors, there are plenty who felt that they were ready to lead the nation, but didn’t have many who felt the same way. Here are five celebrities who ran for the White House.

Kanye West

The controversial rapper has had a lot to say about politics throughout his career, but especially during the late 2010s. West had been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s initial campaign in 2016 and decided that he wanted to run for office in 2020 himself. The “Flashing Lights” and “Through the Wire” singer decided to run as an independent during the election, but didn’t fare so well.

West received around 60,000 votes in total, so he was never as serious as a contender as some thought he would be. However, West did almost immediately announce that he would be running in 2024 while the votes were still being counted. As for where most of his votes came from, the state of Tennessee counted for the largest amount at 10,195.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

All Dwayne Johnson has to do to really become a serious contender for the White House is to officially submit his name. As of now, he has said several times that he has thought about it and likes where the polling numbers are, but hasn’t hit the campaign trail to secure more votes. One poll showed that nearly half of Americans would support him in a presidential run, even.

“I would consider a (more serious) presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted,” said Johnson, the professional wrestler turned actor. “Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people…So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground.”

Brock Pierce

The name Brock Pierce might not sound too familiar, but if you grew up in the 1990s, you certainly remember his face. Pierce was a child acting star who rose to prominence in the film “The Mighty Ducks”, playing the younger version of Emilio Estevez’s Gordon Bombay. Afterward, he starred in the 1996 Sinbad film “First Kid” and also appeared in “Little Big League” and “Three Wishes”.

Pierce left the acting world during his teenage years and became an investor and entrepreneur who made millions, eventually hitting it big in cryptocurrency and real estate.  As a true independent, Pierce ran for president during the 2020 election with Karla Ballard as his running mate. He didn’t fare well, though, earning less than 50,000 votes.

Roseanne Barr

You’ve likely heard of some of the third parties that end up receiving a good chunk of votes each election. The Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Reform Party are all ones that have popped up as third-place finishers, but the Peace and Freedom Party is one that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. That would change in 2012, however, as comedian and actor Roseanne Barr ran for president under the party’s ticket.

At the time, Barr had identified as a member of the leftist group and ran with Utah as her home state. Barr actually performed better than anyone on this list so far, collecting nearly 70,000 votes. That was good for 0.05 percent of the total and placed her sixth overall in the final tally. Of course, it wasn’t enough to top Barack Obama’s 65.9 million votes.

Stephen Colbert

Talk show host Stephen Colbert was still playing his satirical Comedy Central character in 2008 when he decided to start a campaign for the presidency. He did so in October 2007 and had initially said that he was going to run on both the Democrat and Republican tickets. However, the Republican fee turned out to be too high, so he instead spent just $2,500 to be on the Democratic ballot.

Despite paying the fee, the Democratic Party executive council in the state of South Carolina turned him down, so he didn’t make it to the primary. Within one month of his candidacy, Colbert officially withdrew in what could have ended up being a very interesting situation in 2008.

5 Free Kindle Books To Help You To Success

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All of us want to be more successful in our lives, but might not know the ways to go about it. Thankfully, there are plenty of books available that teach us how to dig deep and find the level of success we strive for, but most of them can be rather costly. 

Amazon’s Kindle program offers plenty of free books to read, though, many of them are in the self-help category. Here are five of the best free books on Kindle that can help lead you to the success you’ve always dreamed of.

How to Win and Influence Your Staff in the Social Media Age

Being able to keep people’s attention can be incredibly difficult in today’s world, especially with social media taking up so much of our attention. It seems that whenever we do anything, we have to run straight to social media to talk about it and share it with others. This modern era has been especially hard for those that are running a staff, as the attention can quickly turn to smartphones and building work relationships is tougher than ever.

That’s where author Sheryl Pinelli comes in with the book “How to Win and Influence Your Staff in the Social Media Age: Essential Building Blocks for Productive Results and Relationships in Your Organization”. Released in 2023, Pinellis’ book shows the difference between being a boss and a true leader while also managing feedback both to and from employees.

The Positive Thinking Secret

It’s hard to have success in this life without having the right positive attitude. In July 2013, Aaron Kennard released the book “The Positive Thinking Secret: How to Forget the Past, Smile at the Future & Laugh in the Face of Pain”. Kennard talks about how life can hit people with one big surprise after another and teaches people how to deal with unexpected trauma and stress.

Kennard is very straightforward in what to expect from his book that’s free on Amazon Kindle. He says that it’s not the cure-all for everything in life but will teach you how to feel at ease when things seem to be crumbling around you. Having this type of attitude will lead to a lot of success in both your personal and professional lives and even discusses how to deal with serious medical issues.

Think and Grow Rich

We discussed that you need to have a positive attitude to find success in your life, and there is also a mindset that’s shared by some of the most successful people in the world. “Think and Grow Rich” was published in 2010, and has become one of the top free books on Amazon under the category of motivational business management.

Napoleon Hill, who passed away in 1970, started this book that’s nearly 200 pages in length and has some of the best advice from those that found success in years past. The book says that “Success comes to those who become success conscious,” adding that “Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.”

The Belief Principle

TextWritten by Steven Aitchison in 2020, “The Belief Principle: 7 Beliefs That Will Transform Your Life” takes a look at some of the questions we have to ask ourselves to find success in all aspects of life. Some of these questions include: Would you like to be happier? Would you like to be making more money? Would you like a better job?

Aitchison says that the thing that stops us from achieving any of the goals that we set for ourselves is our belief system. After reading this book, you’ll be able to take a deep dive into your own thoughts and feelings and discover what’s truly the most important to you. Even if you want happiness more than money, you’ll be able to find it.

Time Is Money

Between work, keeping relationships/friendships, exercise, sleep, and relaxation, there’s really not much time in the day. We all have the same 24 hours, and using those hours can become difficult to balance all at once. Author Alex Altman knows that it’s difficult for people, and wrote the 2015 book “Time Is Money: A Simple System to Cure Procrastination Without Willpower, Become More Productive, Find Your Focus & Get More Done in Less Time”.

This book will help you to get back some of that energy that you may have been missing in your busy life, avoid mistakes that people make, and how to deal with the stress that comes from an overwhelming time crunch. There are reasons why many of us procrastinate, and Altman walks us through all of those so that we can adjust our busy lives.

What To Do If You Don’t Receive Your Parcel Delivery

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There’s nothing quite as frustrating as expecting a package in the mail, only to find your mailbox empty and your doorstep completely barren. In a lot of cases, it isn’t just a minor inconvenience, as some parcels are extremely important. People can be left feeling hopeless when a parcel doesn’t arrive, and many aren’t quite sure what to do when they don’t get what they ordered.

If you’re still waiting on that parcel to arrive, just make sure that the first you do is to relax. There isn’t much that you can do while in a panicked or enraged state, even if your first instinct is to be upset. Once you’ve composed yourself, here are the four things that you need to do if you don’t receive your parcel.

1. Check Everywhere

There are a lot of instances in which your tracking service will say that a package is delivered, but you don’t see it on your mailbox or porch. Sometimes, delivery drivers will get a bit creative with where they put a package. It could be in the wrong mailbox as drivers may often place it into a neighbor’s, especially if you live in an apartment complex or a subdivision with a common mailbox.

They may have also left it in a hidden spot so that it doesn’t get stolen and simply forgot to put the exact location in the final delivery status. Either way, you want to make sure that you’ve exhausted all options before panicking and making phone calls. Something very small like a priority envelop could be under your doormat.

2. Call the Post Office

The nex tithing that you want to do is contact the company that delivered the parcel. Whether it’s the post office, Amazon, FedEx, or any other option, you’ll want to contact them before anyone else. This is especially true if they’ve marked the parcel as ‘delivered’ as they should be able to pinpoint exactly where the package was dropped off.

There have been a lot of instances in which the delivery company has placed the package at the wrong house and has that documented in their system. The delivery driver will be able to go back and retrieve the package, delivering it to you safely. This is more common than you might think, especially with drivers dropping off thousands of packages per day.

3. Contact the Sender

Sometimes it isn’t just the delivery service that ends up losing your package, but the sender itself that’s the source of the problem. If the delivery company has no answers for you, then the seller might be able to help you out. Even if it wasn’t there fault, most companies will be willing to send a replacement right away.

This is true in the case of packages that say that they were delivered, as most companies don’t want to upset their potential long-term customers. Amazon has been able to grow over the years thanks to their customer service team that gets out replacements to their customers right away, most of the time with no questions asked, especially for smaller packages.

4. Contact the Police

You’ve looked everywhere for your package, the delivery company and seller have proof that it’s delivered and nobody will offer you a refund or a replacement. When that’s the case, you’ll want to contact the police to file a report for a stolen item. There isn’t a whole lot that the police can do once a package has been stolen, but it’s good to have a report on file for when you can present that to the seller in hopes of getting some sort of mercy.

Then, there are the cases in which people have cameras for their front door, mostly in the form of a doorbell like Ring. This will give a concrete evidence that the package was stolen and even show the perpetrator’s face. With this evidence, the police will be able to help much further than a spoken report.

Summary

There are certainly more package thefts now than ever before, but there are also more ways to combat them. Just remember to relax if your package hasn’t arrived at your doorstep and know that mistakes happen. In most cases, you’ll end up getting your package one way or another, even if it’s a replacement. More often than not, a package ends up being placed at the wrong location and the problem can be remedied easily.

5 Gadgets Every Cyclist Needs for Their Bike

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Cycling is one of the greatest hobbies that anybody can take up. Not only do you get all of the health benefits, but it can also be a ton of fun and a great way to get around the city while being environmentally friendly. In the early days of cycling, there weren’t many accessories that you could bring along with you unless you had a backpack and had to stop to use any of them.

These days, though, there are countless gadgets that make the cycling experience even better than it already was. If you want to add some flare to your next ride, here are five gadgets that ever cyclist needs for their bike.

Smart Helmet

Long gone are the days when the only options you had for a helmet were hunks of plastic that did nothing more than strap onto your head and keep you protected. These days, helmets are doing a lot more and can keep you entertained and in communication with other people during your rides. There are many companies that are making smart helmets these days, with the most advanced ones able to offer a lot of bells and whistles.

Many of the more cutting-edge smart helmets have LED lights, turn signals, and Bluetooth connection to your wireless devices. If you’ve ever been on the road and had to give someone a phone call, you may be tempted to fumble around your pocket and try to ride with one hand. Now you can do it all straight from your helmet, making things incredibly easy.

Bluetooth Speakers

Many of us like to listen to music when we’re riding, but it can be a hassle to wear earbuds when riding. For starters, you aren’t able to hear your surroundings very well, which can end up being a safety hazard. Sometimes, earbuds are just straight-up uncomfortable, especially when you’re working up a big sweat during your ride.

Thankfully, there are more Bluetooth speakers these days that are being designed for cyclists that allow you to listen to all of your favorite music without clogging up your ears. Companies like Ampulla make magnetic speakers that can stick to your bike while providing loud enough music so that you can jam out while riding. Also, the battery life on these speakers has gotten much better over the years so you can still listen during long rides.

Futuristic Bike Locks

One of the worst possible things that can happen to a cyclist is having a bike stolen. We put a lot of money into our bikes since we spend so much time riding, but they can be stolen easily if you don’t have the right lock. The older locks can be cut in an instant and your bike can be gone before you know it.

Thankfully, more modern bike locks are preventing theft, and some even require you to have your smartphone handy to unlock it. Bike locks like the Linka are able to make your bike completely unrideable unless the app opens it up. Other companies like Foldylock are also making compact locks that are essentially unbreakable.

Cycling Airbag

All vehicles (at least legal ones) come with airbags in the event of a serious accident. It wasn’t until recently that a similar device was introduced for bicycles, and thanks to Swedish company Hovding, cycling airbags appear to be a staple for the future. The airbag, when not deployed, looks like a large, soft scarf that you place around your neck.

You then connect the Hovdig to an app on your smartphone, and it can detect when you’ve been involved in an accident. The airbag will deploy in just 0.1 seconds, allowing time for full deployment to keep you safe. Anyone that’s ridden around in a busy city knows just how much of a lifesaver this can be.

Smart Lights

Even the technology of bicycle lighting is getting futuristic and helping riders around the world. These days, there are more gadgets introduced that show the speed of a cyclist depending on the light color and even adding turn signals and brake lights. One of the leaders in this industry is Revolights, which has all of the features we mentioned.

Other companies including Veglo, Brainy, and Double O are making futuristic lights of their own that can be placed on the bike or worn by the rider. It seems that in the near future, the number of lights that you see on a bicycle will rival that of a vehicle. That’s not a bad thing, either, as it allows for maximum safety and round-the-clock cycling.

5 Best Places To Work for H1B Employees

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An H-1B visa is not one of the easiest things to get with fewer than 70,000 given out in the United States each year, but landing one certainly opens up a lot of doors to becoming an American citizen. They also tend to be offered higher-paying jobs, with some companies having more lucrative opportunities than others.

If you’re a highly skilled worker and want to build toward American citizenship, you may be eligible to earn an H-1B visa. For those that are thinking about doing that, there are certain places that you’ll want to apply to as they have been highly rated for visa recipients. Not only that, but these jobs pay well and provide a lot of opportunities for foreign workers. Here are our picks for the five best places to work for H-1B employees.

Facebook

Started by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Facebook has become a social media giant that has expanded into the Metaverse while acquiring companies such as Instagram and WhatsApp along the way. Facebook is now one of the biggest tech companies in the world and sponsors around 5,000 H-1B recipients for high-paying jobs.

On average, H-1B workers with Facebook are receiving over $172,000 per year, which has only gone up over the years. Facebook doesn’t offer many lower-paying jobs through the H-1B program as they only want the best of the best and have shown that they’re willing to pay for just that. A very low percentage of the H-1B visas for Facebook employees are ultimately withdrawn, too, giving people job security.

Apple

Another one of the biggest tech companies in the world, Apple Inc. is obviously well-known thanks to their products like the iPhone, iPad, and much more. Apple, like Facebook, only wants the world’s best engineers to work on their hardware and software, and they pay like it. With more than 3,700 H-1B visas offered, Apple pays an average of more than $162,000 per year with an incredibly low withdrawal rate.

Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne back in 1976 and has grown tremendously over the years. Originally created simply for computers, Apple has become a staple in everyday life thanks to their products, services, and subsidiaries including Beats Electronics and Dark Sky.

Ernst & Young

If you want to see a company that really has almost no H-1B visas withdrawn, look no further than the accounting firm Ernst & Young. With around 9,000 H-1B visas granted each year, there have only been a couple withdrawn each year, and this financial company wants to make sure that they hold on to their best talent. With that in mind, the pay is amazing, too, with an average salary of around $125,000 per year.

The roots for the company start back in 1849, and the E&Y that we know today officially came to be in 1989 after the merge of Ernst & Whinney with Arthur Young & Co, with headquarters in London, England. E&Y holds a large stake in American finance, as well, and is the seventh-largest private company in the United States.

Google

Going back to the tech side of things, Google is another one of those that wants to collect the world’s top minds to create cutting-edge products and stay ahead of the curve. Google does this more than just about anyone and is one of just a handful of companies that offers more than 10,000 H-1B visas in a given year. These aren’t low-paying jobs, either, with an average salary of about $150,000 for H-1B recipients.

Starting as a search engine site in 1998, Google has grown into an umbrella company known as Alphabet that has many subsidiaries. In addition to Google, Alphabet owns Verily, Wing, Calico, and DeepMind just to name a few, giving H-1B recipients a laundry list of opportunities to pick from when working for the Google brand.

Amazon

When most people think of Amazon, they tend to think of warehouses and packages being delivered at a super-fast rate. There’s much more to Amazon, though, and behind the scenes, there are a lot of subsidiaries, especially in the technology sector. Amazon has grown into one of the largest companies in the world, and now the company that was once simply an online bookstore is the country’s second-largest H-1B sponsor in terms of volume.

Amazon employs around 12,000 people that are on H-1B visas, with only around 500 or so withdrawn each year. You aren’t likely to be working in the warehouse for Amazon on an H-1B, either. As a result, employees are paid around $138,000 per year on average.

How To Make Your Classified Ad More Appealing

Posted on by scatty

Classified ads are a lot older than you might think they are. The first ones started popping up in the 1760s in local newspapers and grew to be one of the most well-known sections throughout the printed press for decades. It wasn’t until the 21st century that classified ads started to wane in popularity as the internet made most print media obsolete, but classified ads still appear on the world wide web.

In fact, there are more classified ads now than ever as you no longer have to pay a small fee in the hopes of having your advertisement seen in the local newspaper. Now, there are websites like Craigslist that help you get your classified ad in front of more eyeballs than ever. If you’re looking to create a classified ad and need help to have them be more appealing, here are five tips on how to do just that.

1. Photographs

You could have the best grammar in the world and have a lot of great things to say with your text in a classified ad, but if you don’t have images, there might be a chance that nobody sees your advertisement. On the flip side, your spelling and grammar could be all over the place, but if you have an image that shows exactly what you’re selling or looking for, then you’re almost guaranteed to get a response.

It’s a scientific fact that people are more drawn to images than they are to text. In fact, researchers with 3M have shown that people process images in their brains a whopping 60,000 times faster than they do with text. So make sure to add an image so that those who are scrolling through quickly stop on your advertisement.

2. The Right Headline

People are becoming more aware of when headlines are generated from a bot, and when they are from an authentic human. Because of this, you want to make sure that your headlines come through as sincere and something that isn’t simply trying to attract unnecessary attention. Avoid strange words that you wouldn’t use in everyday speech like “Huzzah!” or any other exclamations that shouldn’t be there.

Instead, focus on optimizing your headline so that it’s something that comes up in a Google search. For instance, if you’re selling a 2015 Ford F150, you wouldn’t want to put “Wow! Low price on a new truck! Click here now for info!” Instead, you would want to put something along the lines of “2015 Ford F150 for sale. $15,000 or best offer, 50,000 miles and features brand new tires and brakes.” Use the headline, to sum up exactly what the rest of your ad is about.

3. Don’t Personalize It Too Much

A lot of people try to get too cute with their headlines and body of text without focusing on the actual product that’s being sold. Instead of focusing on your life story when it comes to the product, focus simply on the product itself. The more details you have about that product, the better, as people will want to know exactly what they’re getting.

While we mentioned that people aren’t too fond of reading a ton of text, there are still plenty of people that are willing to read details that are formatted in an easy-to-read way. Use bullet points whenever possible to sum up information and keep your contact information available at the beginning or end. That info is the only time that you should really be talking about yourself.

4. SEO Work

We already brought up using search engine optimization for your headline, but it should be something that you practice throughout your entire advertisement. Try to make your ad so that it’s filled with words and phrases that people will be searching for.

Let’s say that you’re selling a home in Kansas City, Missouri. You want to avoid “KCMO House for Sale – Great Price!” Instead, try to use something along the lines of “Home available for sale in Kansas City, Missouri. Located in the ___ suburb, $200,000 or best offer.” Prices and location are very important for SEO purposes.

5. Categoriziation

There have been plenty of people who have gotten zero responses on their classified advertisements and wondered why. One of the problems is that they simply posted their ad into the wrong category.

Online sites have plenty of categories available for classified ads, so you want to make sure that you’re getting your ad into a category that’s as specific as possible. Don’t simply list something that you have in the “For Sale” category, but instead something more detailed.