Should a finder's fee be a legal right?

There are not many inconveniences that are more upsetting than losing something that has a lot of sentimental value. Some possessions feel like they should be with you for life, and opening up to the possibility that this might not be the case can be an unpleasant shock. They are the kind of things that some will happily do anything to get them back.

The unfortunate reality that many people in these situations have to face is not just that they may never see this precious belonging again, but that the price they have to pay to have it returned to them is far greater than seems fair. Not everybody is going to be fortunate enough to find the thing themselves when they retrace their steps. All kinds of suspicious happenings can take place with a lost possession, not least if it happens to be somewhat valuable. You never know who might be the first person to come across it, and what they will think is the best way to proceed with it. Of course, there is every chance that they will decide that they want it for themselves.

Beware! It's Corporate Lexicon Slop

Words conjure up emotions. Emotions, in turn, build and generate feelings. And feelings drive actions and affect our overall perspective. Corporate lexicon is creating a parallel universe where phrases appear impersonal and robotic but are secretly condescending and passive-aggressive.

It doesn't matter if you're being hired or let go; you'll be met with fake smiles and empty words like 'circle back,' 'synergy,' 'performance,' 'adding for transparency', and 'boiling the ocean' (whatever that means).

Let's double-click on this corporate jargon and try to decipher what the words mean in this specific case this employee is talking about. For example, 'To put a pin on it' would be 'I am parking this idea in the infinite void of things that will never happen again,' and the translation for the infamous email opening that goes: "Per my last email..."  would be: "Can you not read, or do you just choose to ignore what I already told you? Because I'm going to use it against you and expose your pathetic inefficiency"

Another terrible, terrible vice is using the expression 'just checking in before I do x ' when you're not planning to check in or wait for approval before doing anything; you only want an excuse to shift responsibility if anything goes wrong.

This pervasive jargon is so performative it drains our social battery and makes the work environment so dry it's boring to imagine.

I understand the intention behind installing rigid work language barriers is to keep our personal matters aside, but I don't really know if this is the best way to go.

The corporate environment has developed an allergy to humanity. Holding space for genuine expression makes people feel better and consequently perform better. I really don't think the key to excellent output is to become as psychopathic as you can, truly. People seem to be going crazy these days! Nobody is thriving in corporate. Everyone is burnt out. We have to do something asap.

Moving to the countryside, perhaps?

When the rain starts tapping on the windows, there's no better excuse to curl up somewhere warm and embrace your inner sleepy kitty.

Fall is coming, and I cannot be happier. Cozy season is close, and with that, soft and warm naps, good books, a nice teacup - or coffee - some rain, maybe a fireplace… I can keep mentioning the things that make me love this season. My favourite part, you ask? Definitely curling up with a cat to watch some rain coming down, as we read a good book on the couch.

I think that I'm not the only one ready for this: I think my pet is ready, too! We all had to embrace and tolerate those crazy hot days where going out to work or even running a small errand was a whole adventure. Having the AC running all day and not being able to fall asleep properly because of the heat is just something that I'm more than ready to put behind me and get this cozy and even spooky season started!

Since we still have some heat going on and we're not quite in fall yet, I have a special thing that will start getting us in the mood. And that's scrolling through some sleepy cat memes.

As I said, I'm waiting to have my cozy nap with them. But they still are not ready to cuddle, so I'm trying to settle with these pictures, and let me tell you that they work wonders. Of course, it's not the same as having the actual nap and cozy moment with them, but they do help me get in the mood for when this can actually take place. So, instead of feeling disappointed that we're still not in full fall mode, I laugh with these memes, and I honestly have a good time.

If you feel that my words are pretty relatable (because, come on, I cannot be the only one!), then enjoy this cozy and delightful collection of wholesome cats enjoying a warm nap on a rainy day. Oh… even just writing about it makes me feel so happy and fulfilled. 

Well, at least MOST of them are cats (we think).

Cats are everywhere nowadays. They cheer us up by appearing on our daily feeds, or they throw our most breakable things over the nightstand for no apparent reason; heck, they even sometimes stare into our souls from some random corner of the house. They are a permanent presence in our daily routines. They make us awe, they make us laugh, and they make us wonder what sort of unknown magic exists inside empty carton boxes and shopping bags. They simply are part of our life. In fact, as it seems, they have been part of human lives for a while now and, being the curious, interesting and enchanting creatures they are, we have always tried to make memes out of them. Tools changed, but intentions stayed the same.  

As proof of this, we have art. For hundreds of years, all sorts of painters have tried to accurately represent these whimsical companions, in all their splendour. In fact, you have probably tried the same thing yourself at some point and, if you're anything like us, you were probably not that successful at it. But worry not! If at times you want to portray your intriguing cat friend and their uniqueness through art, but fall short when it comes to the actual painting, we have brought a collection to instantly make you think: "Well, I might be a great artist after all; who knew?"

Even though cats have been more or less the same throughout time (or so we suspect), these particular cats look a little different (some would say terrifying and very appropriate for the upcoming spooky season). We promise you will have a good old "what on earth have I just seen" moment, while also learning to appreciate your cat even more, simply for having such a horror-inspired look (most of the time, we do know how they act when they want a second breakfast). Anyways, which of these chaotic images resonates with the darkest part of your soul? Which one resembles your little cat friend the best? And if you do try to copy any of these styles, just make sure to get the…unique facial expressions of these pieces of art.

The wild kitten is found near the woods inside a tree hollow. The account that posted the animal rescue video identifies the feline as a serval and shows a family bringing it home. 

Bringing any animal home is a serious responsibility, but bringing a wild animal into a home is a bigger one because it is very different from raising a domestic pet. It's easy to imagine the exciting part of it, like the thrill of meeting an exotic creature that is so tiny, watching it explore your house, and getting to know its personality and its needs and wants. The hard part comes later. What kind of life will this animal need when it is no longer small enough to fit inside a blanket?

Affection is the first part of it, but that is not enough in order to raise the animal well. We should also recognize that a wild cat cannot be expected to fit neatly into our idea of a household companion like any other ordinary cat. Wanting to adopt him means being willing to learn, seek support, and get accurate information about the wild animal's needs. 

The family in this story welcomes the little wild cat into their home and grows attached to him as they watch him grow. The serval becomes part of their days, and all family members are happy to play with him and give him the proper care he needs beyond the excitement of their first encounter. The big cat becomes part of the family. He is truly a companion for this family, and they are happy to treat him as another family member. But despite his size, his playful personality makes him seem as curious as any other cat, and this family adores him just as they would a beloved house cat.

What's more impurrtant, another lecture on finding derivatives or playing with a cute kitten your student found on the way to your class? There is only one right answer, and it's obviously the kitten.

School is officially back in session, for better or for worse. If you're a parent, you're probably pretty relieved to not have to entertain your kids 24/7 while working full time. If you're a student, you're probably wishing you had at least a few more days of summer back before returning to yet another year of studies. If you're a university student, the biggest regret you have is leaving your parents' washing machine behind and going back to living in the dorm, where you have to actually clean up after yourself. C'est la vie. 

But going back to school isn't all bad, especially if you live on a university campus with cool teachers, like our Calculus professor today! On the way to one of his lectures, a university student found a friendly orphaned orange kitten. Not wanting to leave the kitten alone, they asked their professor if they could bring the kitten to class, and he said yes! The video below shows all the cuteness that ensued, and we can guarantee you that nothing productive was done that day.

The Calculus students played with the kitten, but it was the professor who really found his joy. He pulled out his laser pointer, entertaining the cat while attempting to teach, but eventually, it all devolved into filming and enjoying the kitten to its fullest extent. I'm sure that whatever they were supposed to learn that day, be it standard deviations or integrals, could wait until next class.

The next day, some students took the cat to an animal shelter, where he was given a checkup, a bath, and prepurred for adoption. 

He was adopted less than a week later. 

No more kitten playdates during class, but hey, it was fun while it lasted, right?

Teacher, make her stop copying me!

Most of us move on from the "copying" phase of development by the time we enter kindergarten. It can be frustrating being a 6-year-old whose 4-year-old sister won't stop doing exactly what you do because she wants to be you so badly. You beg your mom to make her stop copying you, but it doesn't help. She still claps when you clap, puts a bubble in her mouth when you put a bubble in your mouth, and generally annoys you until you can't take it anymore. 

Once you grow up, you notice more subtle forms of copying that happen out of habit. One of my best friends adopted "Hey princess!" as a greeting, and now I literally can't stop saying it. I don't know if I adopted the phrase because I think it's funny, I spend so much time with her, so I hear it all the time, or I'm prone to picking up catchphrases, but whatever the case may be, she has no problem with me copying her, as I have no problem with her copying me and my silly slang. It's not like I'm acting like I coined the phrase first!

Many other forms of copying can make a friendship weird. If you start dressing like your friend, talking like your friend, constantly checking your friend's location on Find My Friends, and thinking about your friend more than anything else, you might be experiencing limerence, or some other kind of obsessive thinking. While it's normal to feel very affectionate towards your friends, you shouldn't be as enamored with them as you are with a romantic partner. Even being obsessed with your romantic partner can cause difficulties in your relationship.

The woman in this story is struggling with her friend being obsessed with her. It's not only ruining the friendship, but it's adding more stress to her already stressful life. 

Being away from your cats to do your job is both heartbreaking and vital. On the one hand you are hurting from being far from the feline who occupies a large part of your soul. While on the other, you are making the money that will feed, clothe and keep your fancy feline fur baby living at the standard they have become accustomed to. So we hope these silly cat memes will help ease the pain and refocus you on the pertinent task at hand.

As pawrents to the feline species we have quite the responsibility to keep them in good spirits and in good standing. You see, a cat is not necessarily so concerned with how good other cats have it. Mostly seeing as they do not get to  see or experience the home lives of other felines. So the standards you see being put in place by them in your home are totally their own. This can be a great thing if you have a low maintenance feline or a nightmare if your cat has the highest standards in the land.

But then there are those pawrents amongst us who have taken to trying to one up their friends, families and even online accounts spoiling their cat children. Creating a never ending vortex of one up-manship where you are constantly on the look out for the most lavish and lovely thing to buy for your cat child. But no matter what challenges your feline fur baby throws your way, we hope that this funny collection of silly cat memes will help ease the pain of putting in the work to satisfy their needs. 
 

The way I see it, we should all receive financial education from an early age so we can successfully avoid generating debt or terrible, otherwise avoidable mistakes in our youth

I don't know why we keep teenagers away from the financial world when it literally starts occupying so much of our lives the minute we join the workforce. I'm not saying we should torment them with our financial worries, and I understand general budgeting knowledge and administration are already part of what some families teach their children; still, I definitely think it should be a topic in our formal education as well.

In an ideal world, we would put knowledge into practice from a young age and be pros by the time we reach our twenties.

Finances weren't usually discussed in my household, so I grew up thinking mostly everyone started with pretty much the same opportunities from the get-go. Only later did I realize there were people far less fortunate than me, and people who had much more fortune to begin with. I know this is a rather bleak realization, because it's the moment you realize you have to put in three times the effort somebody with rich parents has to put in to start a project, for example.

Still, this rather terrible realization is also key to succeeding and making conscious, lucid decisions when entering adulthood.

The person who wrote the post below says their secret is tracking expenses and not budgeting. Some people might think differently, but the opinion is valid and worth listening to (or reading through).

Whether you are trying to recover from terrible financial decisions or looking to improve your financial administration, this advice is worth looking into.

In the end, it's all about what works for you, but still, every technique you use will include some form of expense tracking; you only have to find the one that fits your lifestyle. At any rate, you can't organize expenses you don't even know you have!

Trust me, sometimes we lie to ourselves and think we cook super often, but when we take an honest look, we find out we're DoorDashing every two days, lol.

So congrats on wanting to fix your finances and say hello to the new, abundant you!

A little feline encouragement is all you need to strut into fall with your tail high and your confidence completely unjustified.

Life can be hard at times, so it's not bad if you need some extra motivation to move on with your day, or week… or even month. Not judging here! Not at all! It's normal to struggle: we are humans, and we cannot be the same every single day of the year. August and September are complicated months as well: after vacation and how slowly everything goes, it's hard to regain that speed and go back to work and doing things normally. For some people, it takes them a couple of weeks to remember and get settled, and others are back since day 1. No matter the case, we're here for you to make the start of fall as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

Now, I know what you're thinking: when am I going to introduce this amazing collection of motivational cats? Well, right now!

Something that really helps me get back on my feet is laughing and having a good time. No matter where I am. If I'm with friends or family, then it's going to be easier to laugh, but if I'm alone, I don't let the loneliness get me and pull out a good collection of memes to make me giggle. I'm not sure if you already knew this, but when you laugh, there's something that triggers your brain into feeling happier and more wholesome. So, looking at memes when you're trying to lift your mood it's not an idea of mine; it's actual science!

Today, I have for you some meowtivational cats to help you thrive in this fall season. If you have a pet, then remember that there's someone that you need to take care of, so no complaints when you have to get up to work, okay? But if you don't, you still have these cats that are sending their good energy your way, so you'd better live up to their expectations, okay? So, sit tight and pour some laughter and happiness into your brain.

Should you run every purchase by your significant other?

When you're married and sharing finances, things tend to get a little more complicated. You're not just making decisions for yourself; you're making them for you and your partner. But you're also still allowed to live your life in a way that serves you. You can operate independently and make your own choices. Can you do this with large amounts of money, though? Can you spend thousands of dollars without informing your spouse? These are the questions that came up in this story when an author had to make some purchases for her business, but did so behind her husband's back.

There is a big difference between a business and a hobby, but we're not always willing to see that in one another. Sometimes we overlook each other's passions because we think they don't matter. Just because they're not as flashy and showy as some things, that doesn't mean that they aren't valid and relevant. That's what the woman in this story was up against when dealing with her husband. She had a hobby that was really more than a hobby. She was making money from it and wanted to invest it back in her business. Her husband, though, wasn't so comfortable with that and wanted to exert a little more control. She didn't think that was fair, though, and wanted to maintain some of her independence. 

We often find ourselves commenting on the curious nature of the Cat Distribution System. A system set up to deliver cats with no home to the purrfect hoomans fur them. Seeing as it is a system run by cats their delivery methods are unconventional but when you see them you know them for what they are. And this story of the kitten who was pulled out of a car in purrfect condition and given a loving home with two feline siblings is very much an example of that. If not one of the finest examples we have seen to date.

As we said, the Cat Distribution System works in mysterious ways. Sometimes it likes to make its deliveries obvious, other times it likes to make them almost invisible and in cases such as this one, they like using the hooman's special skills to fetch the feline they have been gifted. And thank goodness this hooman was a mechanic and not just the receptionist at the auto shop as fishing this kitty out of the motor was no easy task. Talk about a motor that purrs eh? So we got a clean and simple CDS delivery, what's the big woop? Well, we will tell you.

What we love about this story is that it is the purrfect example of how to rehome a kitty. Sure, the 'being found in a car' part is unnecessary. But the fact that this kitten went from streets to sheets is exactly the thing we love. It was spared the sorrow of the shelter system. It was freed from the frustration of foster care. And most important of all it was kept safe from ever having to know what living on the streets is like. 
 

Cooking bad food happens to the best of us, especially when confidence in the kitchen is running much higher than the actual skills.

After multiple attempts of trying to cook food, I found all my cooking fails to be super funny and hilarious. Yes, I may not be a good cook, but that doesn't mean I don't have other talents. "Which talents?" you may ask. Well… I'm still trying to find an answer to that question. That's beside the point, and I'm forgetting what I was planning to write…

Anyways! Another week comes around, and this time I'm combining my usual cooking fail that I know many enjoy with some bad food memes. Not every bad food has to be a cooking fail: these are two separate things that can coexist in this wonderful story. I do think they go hand in hand, since at the end of the day, they make us laugh and forgive ourselves for the mess we just made of our kitchen. I'm not sure if the kitchen is forgiving us, though…

For some reason, and correct me if I'm wrong, cooking is one of those hobbies that people start just to see if they are good at something. And cooking is not an easy thing: it's easier to make some bad food than to actually learn and master a recipe. So, for all the people out there that had built careers inside kitchens, my most sincere congratulations: I cannot understand how talented you are, and I love that you get to show it to the world.

But for the rest of us, let's use these fails as fuel and motivation. Remember, not being good at cooking means you must be good at something else. So, we have all the time in the world and multiple resources available for us to go and search for our next hobby. Let's not get discouraged if bad food is what we ended up making: there's always a chance to order takeout and to enjoy these memes on the side. 

Just a sob story with a tinge of hope. 

It's a pet pawrent's worst nightmare, but it happens. This family has never owned cats, then one day a cat wanders into their backyard and hung out with the family and the children. Everyday the cat came she stayed a little bit longer. They fed her once and the rest was history. She goes to the backyard everyday and she plays with the children. Her name is Melty Chocolate River Rocks, unique but cute all the same. She's the sweetest cat and loves the kids. She also loves to sneak into the house. The family left for a 4 day trip and left Melty Chocolate River Rocks with an automatic water and food feeder. When they got home hardly any food was eaten and the neighbor said he only saw her on the first day of the trip. They are worried about her, and hope she'll come home soon. It's truly a pet pawrent's worst nightmare that their cat would go missing, but it's also pard of the risks taken when you have an outdoor cat. At I Can Has Cheezburger we sincerely hope that the cat gets back to her family safely. 

Good News: AIs don't really think. Bad News: AIs don't really think

Now that AI agents are part of our lives, it's very important that we learn more about them. Of course, Reddit isn't the most official or valid source of information, but reading multiple takes on a subject completes the picture of an otherwise very new and still largely misunderstood matter.

This worker who creates Language Learning Models for a living has something to tell us, and we're here to listen. I believe the truth resides somewhere in the middle. Between the aggressive marketing AI companies bombard us with and what tech journalists or employees like this say to us.

It's very easy to personify an agent that's responding to us in perfect English, and attribute a thought process or even a personality. The truth is, it's not really thinking; it's only a highly codified machine that 'knows' which words are better to follow others in certain contexts. It's been trained for that. It's more like a mathematical thing, with a lot of variables, but mathematical nonetheless.

Notice how I had to use the word 'knows' when describing it. Part of the problem is that culturally we don't have words [yet] to describe non-human language-operating 'machines', so we end up involuntarily personifying artificial intelligence and contributing to the general confusion. 

If you had an AI boyfriend, I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

The good thing is that there is a lot of information [like the post underneath] out there to begin to understand how these models work, so we can finally start to use them as tools to our advantage and make our lives easier. 

In the end, that's what they were originally created for, right?

Whimsy is essential in this day and age. 

Cats have an otherworldly quality about them. They exist outside the rules of ordinary life in many ways. They're infectiously whimsy to say the lease, and everything from the way they look, think, feel, and behave makes them seem more like otherworldly creatures than domesticated pets. They're so magical, and it can be extraordinary to watch them. If you watch them for long enough, you start to notice their mystique. The way they burst into zoomies, chasing some invisible ghost or monster, or when they look sharply in one direction as if there's a spirit communicating with them. 

It's like they're from a dreamworld; their soft fur and purring sounds. Their loaf bodies and cutesy meows. It's no wonder we're all so obsessed with them. Their curiosity adds a sense of whimsy as well, it's like we're being enchanted by them. We do everything for them, all for a bit of their playful, whimsical, magical presence. They do everything for themselves; they choose when to be affectionate, when to disappear, and when to reappear as if they're a magician on show for us, showing us their talent. It's like they're living a parallel story alongside ours. Their little habits and behaviors are so playful, it feels like a touch of childhood. Their slow blink, kneading blankets, and their comfortable fur bodies. They exist in a liminal balance between ordinary and extraordinary. They remind us that childhood wonder is right in the palm of our hands. 

Sometimes we forget that teachers are also humans with their own lives, issues, and responsibilities outside of school. 

Oftentimes, we demand from our teacher what we wouldn't demand from any other type of worker or employee. They not only have to deal with the school board, but also with their own students (who don't make their lives any easier) and with those students' parents, who sometimes show up at the school demanding things from the teachers as if they were their own personal employees. 

Teachers have a life outside of their work, and many of them have families to take care of and children of their own. They do their best with the material and the tools they have, and it's even silly on our part to demand things that are beyond what they can do. 

In some weird situations, it's not us who demand too much from teachers; it's the district administration. In this case, some teachers at a school sometimes chose to clock out 10 minutes early once the kids had already left to avoid traffic and even pick up their own children from school, and no one seemed to have a problem with that. That was until someone up high took issue with it and installed a time clock to ensure that teachers were leaving not a minute before their contract hours. The teachers accepted it, but they also read the full contract and found out that all their extra hours that were not absolutely essential had to be paid extra. So they started having grading parties in the school bleachers after hours. They submitted so many requests for payment for extra hours that the administration finally had enough and left them in peace. 

The great part is, they were abiding by their contract just fine until the admin started messing around. If all teachers needed to stay only the "necessary" hours, and the children were no longer there, it was not necessary for them to stay, so technically, they were already doing extra time without pay. Apparently, the lesson here is to never get into a conflict with teachers. They know their way around it. 

How far are you willing to go to make your neighbor happy?

If your answer is 'not far at all', then congratulations! You are a normal human being. Sure, a happy neighbor might mean a quieter, easier life for you, but why would you want to go the extra mile for a total stranger who just happens to live next to you?

The thing is, some neighbors think that you have an obligation to make them happy. They live their lives thinking that everyone around them should accommodate their wants and needs, without them doing the same in return. And the main problem with people like that is they have no problem taking what they want without even asking.

The neighbor below, for example, wanted to improve his view of the mountains. The way he decided to do it was by cutting down some trees that were obstructing the view. However, these trees were not even on his property; they belonged to the property next door, and the resident who lived there was not happy when they learned that someone decided to cut them down for his personal, selfish reasons.

Even though the removal of the trees led to the resident losing his privacy on the property, they still let it slide. They didn't want to start any disputes with the people next door. But when the neighbor started demanding to cut more trees that were still 'blocking the mountain view', the situation completely changed. There was no way the resident would allow the neighbor to keep making these demands as if he was the only one who deserved to get what he wanted.

This led the resident to plant 20 new trees on their property that just so happened to be blocking the neighbor's view. The neighbor's reaction to these landscape changes might surprise you…

Why does my cat wake me up at night?

We think that this is a question that every single cat owner has asked themselves at one point or another. There we are, peacefully sleeping, when suddenly, we feel a tiny paw on our faces. Or maybe hear a suspicious amount of loud meowing. Or, if our cat is feeling particularly dramatic, we might get the full 3 AM zoomies happening directly across our faces. And we are left wondering… why? 

It's frustrating, we know. But as frustrating as it can be when your feline alarm clock goes off in the middle of the night, there are usually reasons behind the behavior. Getting mad at our cats is pointless. It won't change anything. We need to understand why this is happening. 

Sometimes your entitlement is something that transcends you.

You may not realize that you are an entitled person, but I'm sure everyone else will. Is not about how you see yourself. It's how everyone else perceives you. It's something that may go unnoticed to you, as you have probably been raised by people who act the same way, or because they excuse your attitude without saying anything to you. But I promise you, it's incredibly noticeable to EVERYBODY else. And if you go years without knowing, that is because people in your life don't want to tell you, but they think it.

Not everyone is entitled. There are several things that come into account when defining if somebody is entitled or not. In this case, we have a 17-year-old who just assumed that if she was invited to a birthday party at a restaurant, then it's paid for by the birthday girl. You are seventeen, and your friend is eighteen. Why would she be responsible for a lot of people's food? It will be really expensive for a teen. And even if she was going to take care of everyone's meals, then you at least offer to pay for your thing. Just leaving, assuming that it's taken care of, shows what an awful and entitled person you are. You could at least have asked instead of assuming.

I'm a little tired of these people not noticing that they are just assuming and taking advantage of their friends. I get that this girl is young and probably didn't mean anything bad by it. But she acted entitled, and we can't just deny that. At least she seemed to have noticed the error, and she may be able to stop herself next time before she says something like this. Is the least she can do. Learn from the whole situation and be better next time. Because even if you are an entitled person, you are still in time to redeem yourself. That is the importance of marking somebody's errors. So they learn something from them.