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Weekly Top Shares 12-30-11

December 30th, 2011

California’s Yosemite National Park receives over 4,000,000 visitors annually. They come to camp, hike and enjoy the unspoiled vistas. Dean Potter, one recent and exceptional visitor to the park, had other things in mind. The man is a highliner. Don’t know what that is? Why, it’s a sporting term for “nutjob who risks his life walking tightropes at ridiculous heights.” Which is precisely what he did in t his heart-stopping video of his latest exploits over a 3,000-ft gorge in Yosemite. Watch it and live the death-defying feat vicariously from the comfort of your couch.

Or if you’re reading this in the office at the tail end of a lazy end-of-year work week, why not really kick back and enjoy some brain candy? Like this video of a runaway cart mowing down a football coach midfield. Or this clip of a FedEx employee who surely is enjoying some extended idle time after an exceptionally careless Christmas delivery. Or this article, which really takes the cake for best non-made-up headline imaginable: Police: Man ate cocaine hidden in brother’s buttocks, dies shortly after. The truth truly is stranger than fiction sometimes.

On a more serious note, much career advice was passed around this week. Perhaps some of us are in pensive moods, pondering our our professional New Year’s resolutions. What could those be? If you’re a manager, perhaps you’re interested in how to keep your top performers from jumping ship. If you’re a striver, you may be on the market for leadership tips. And we could all use some pointers on how to be more focused and productive.

Thus concludes the last Weekly Top Shares post of 2011 – we’ll leave you with one last look back at the year in pictures and well wishes for the New Year. Thanks for all the sharing, you’ve made the world a better place.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 12-23-11

December 23rd, 2011

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the country ShareThis users were sharing about…absolutely nothing that had anything even remotely to do with the holidays. No wintry recipes, no tips on how to burn the fat once next week rolls around, no last minute gift ideas. So what were they sharing about, you ask? Oddly enough, Bernie Sanders. Again.

The U.S. senator’s petition supporting a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision took the prize again for the most shared piece of content this past week. Ho ho ho! With more than 15,000 shares in a week alone, the bill may be a reflection of the American people’s mind-set this holiday season, that large corporations don’t have the same rights as regular Joes. Wonder if this stance will be any indication of holiday spending patterns this year. We shall see.

On to our next top shared story of the week, a Forbes article entitled “Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent,” authored by Forbes contributor Eric Jackson. In case you couldn’t tell from the title, it’s a roundup of the most common mistakes big companies make that results in losing the cream of the crop. Nothing earth-shattering here, but still a reminder that companies, large or small, should be more cognizant of their employees talents, the value they bring to the company, their chances for advancement, and their desire for an candid review each year. Companies should take note. These are great resolutions for the New Year.

Luckily for Tony Nelin and Timmy Ryan, two Chicago area 20 year olds, they won’t be spending their New Year behind bars. The pair convinced an accomplice working for the fire department to loan them a 250 feet length of fire hose, which they hooked up to a nearby school fire hydrant to form a homemade backyard hockey rink. The only thing Christmassy about this story is the wintry mischief and the ice. The duo ended up stealing an estimated 26,000 gallons of water, which will only cost about $130 to repay, but may land them a hefty lump of coal in their stocking this year.

What started off as an inspiring speech delivered by President Obama spiraled into a heated back and forth between bloggers across the web and readers of a controversial post authored by Forbes contributor Gene Marks entitled “If I Were A Poor Black Kid.” The problem seems to be that Marks is not, in fact, a poor black kid, but rather a middle-aged, middle-class white man and this fact stirred some deep emotions in his readers this past week. The post gives tips for how impoverished black children make good for themselves. The list includes tips such as using tech tools to get homework help to befriending guidance counselors, all great advice. The thing is, it’s unclear as to the point of this post, because we’re not sure how many poor, inner-city children are trolling Forbes.com for life tips. Seems tough to do when you’re thinking about how to find your next meal or, you know, not getting evicted because your mother didn’t pay the rent.

An odd holiday mashup indeed. Nonetheless, we wish all our sharers a very happy holiday. Tis the season for sharing!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 12-16-11

December 16th, 2011

From the looks of their sharing habits this week, ShareThis users were feeling political, righteous and healthcare-conscious, with a dash of humor thrown in for good measure. Let’s see what fueled the past week’s world of sharing.

Health insurance companies found themselves in quite a pickle recently when the Department of Health & Human Services released guidelines governing what will qualify as a medical expense for purposes of meeting a requirement outlined in Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The act requires that insurers spend 80 percent of the money they collect in the form of consumers’ premiums on the actual medical services for which consumers are paying, rather than overhead. It’s no easy task trying to turn a hefty profit while spending such a whopping amount on actual medical care, points out Forbes contributor Rick Ungar in “The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!” Think the title of Ungar’s article alone gives readers a pretty good idea of where he stands on the issue…

Since we’re on the topic of Obama’s actions in office, might as well mention this top shared Forbes story from the past week: “The National Defense Authorization Act is the Greatest Threat to Civil Liberties Americans Face.” The act is an eye opener, stating that domestic and terror investigations and interrogations will be placed into the hands of the military. “So much for innocent until proven guilty,” writes Forbes contributor E.D. Kain. “So much for limited government. What Americans are now facing is quite literally the end of the line.” Proposed by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., the act has major implications for the future of how accused terrorists are handled in the future.

Once again, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has captured the attention of the American people, this time, with a petition that supports a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision, a landmark ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010. The decision upholds the argument that the First Amendment prohibits government from censoring political broadcasts in candidate elections when those broadcasts are funded by corporations or unions. Sen. Sanders’ proposed legislation, the Saving American Democracy Amendment, offers a rebuttal, arguing that corporations should not be guaranteed the same rights as actual people. Maybe so, but they sure have deeper pockets, which may help them keep the upper hand.

Switching gears entirely, we (well anyone with a smartphone) have all been there – quickly tapping out a text without taking a second to proofread. Seriously, who proofreads text messages anyway? Given some of these hilarious, and mortifying, text message blunders courtesy of autocorrect and compiled by Mashable, maybe more of us should start! We’ll just go ahead and let the texts do the talking…

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares, 12-9-11

December 9th, 2011

Well, this is a first – we begin our recap of this week’s top shared websites not with a clip of a gifted bulldog riding a wave, a list of holiday side dishes that can be whipped up in a pinch or a quick fix for banishing holiday-induced love handles…but with an episode of the Jackie Chan Adventures, an animated television series that depicts a fictionalized version of Jackie Chan as an amateur archaeologist living above his uncle’s antique shop in San Francisco. Originally airing from 2000 to 2005 on Kids’ WB!, episodes of the Jackie Chan Adventures are still clearly a hot commodity, with more than 22,000 people sharing a link to “Re-Enter the J-Team,” an episode that captures the reunion of Jackie’s comrades in an effort to expose an stone smuggling operation. Captivating stuff that you can check out yourself.

Not sure what health secrets kept Jackie kicking butt, but more and more athletes are turning to an old folk remedy to prevent cramps and keep them at the top of their game. The magical elixir: pickle juice. We’ve all heard of cucumber water as a refreshing drink on a hot day, but apparently, the natural sodium found in cucumber brine also helps restore levels lost during sweating, Buccaneers team nutritionist Kevin Luhrs told ThePostGame. Don’t think we’ll be swapping out the water cooler for a pickle juice fountain anytime soon, but will keep it in mind the next time the mercury soars.

Alright, so we don’t have a link to a bulldog on a surfboard this week, but we’ve got something that’s just about as good. Card-carrying National Ultimate Frisbee Champion Brodie Smith is at is again – this time, his shenanigans include a speedboat, the Narrows Bridge in Perth, Australia, and what we expect may have been hundreds of camera takes. He and his team of stuntmen, who go by the name “How Ridiculous” took their tricks to a whole new level and pulled off a show that transfixed thousands of ShareThis users. If someone hasn’t already shared the link, allow us. You can check out the stunt on this widely circulated story on ThePostGame.

Lots of sports-related this news and we’ll wrap up with a rapid-fire recap of some of the week’s biggest sports storeis. RideThePine.com’s Alex Balcerski talks sports and has fun while he’s doing it, a concept that seems to amuse plenty of ShareThis sharers. From news of the Phillies celebrating their fifth consecutive NL East Division title to a clip of an elderly woman shotgunning a beer so fast it would make any 19-year-old frat bro hang his head in shame to Floyd Mayweather’s knockout over Victor Ortiz, Balcerski hits the high notes of the week in two minutes flat. So if you didn’t have time to catch up on the sports news this week, check out Balcerski’s recap to get all the highlights.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 12-2-11

December 2nd, 2011

Diving right into this week’s batch of top shared stories across the Web, we come across a particularly touching rendition of Amazing Grace, performed by gospel singer Wintley Phipps. In front of a packed house at New York City’s hallowed Carnegie Hall, the performance draws a standing ovation before even the last note is sung. Prior to breaking into song, Phipps explains the meaning behind one of the most widely recognized melodies in history. Written by John Newton, who spent several years working aboard a slave ship, Amazing Grace resembles the West African sorrow chants he may have heard aboard the ships. “It has a haunting, haunting plaintive quality to it that reaches past your arrogance, past your pride, and it speaks to that part of you that’s in bondage,” Phipps says. “And we feel it. We feel it. It’s just one of the most amazing melodies in all of human history.”

Not sure how to segue into this next top share, so we’ll spare you the awkward transition. ESPN SportsCenter commentators should stick to what they knows best – sports – and stay away from geography, though it was probably a hapless production assistant who splashed the outline of Minnesota on screen and labeled it Wisconsin. The “oops” moment was captured in a tweet by “all-seeing” CNBC sports reporter Darren Rovell, reports ThePostGame. Not that we’re all geography whizzes, but a quick Google search might make a world of difference the next time ESPN gives a geography lesson.

It wouldn’t be a thorough roundup of top shares if we didn’t have an enlightening advice article from our friends over at Match.com. In “Why we won’t move in together,”writer Judy Dutton explores the various reasons couples decide to wait until marriage – that is, to move in together. Whether it’s to keep the flames of passion alive, to maintain separate identities or because the partners are just plain set in their ways, couples all over the country are resisting the temptation to co-habitate, despite the money saving benefits in a weakened economy. The consensus: “I think it makes our relationship stronger, because we know we want to be together and we don’t need to be together,” testifies one interviewee.

While couples are working to heat things up, some scientists are concealing the fact that the planet is doing the same. A recently released slew of 5,000 emails traded by scientists at the heart of the global warming debate, was was made public by anonymous sources and shows that said scientists may be concealing information from the American public. Gasp! Forbes contributor and senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, James Taylor, sheds light on the alarming fact that there might be more out there than what meets the eye and that the scientists in question are a secretive bunch. Guess it’s true that fewer and fewer of us will be seeing a White Christmas this year.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 11-11-11

November 11th, 2011

By now, Halloween candy is probably all but a distant memory. But the Halloween prank that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel sprang on the kids of America continues to generate laughs online. Kimmel urged his viewers to film themselves telling their children they’d eaten all their Halloween candy, then post their videos to YouTube. The resulting hilarity included more than a few tantrums, a helping of insolence and a delightful sprinkling of “kids-say-the-darndest-things” kind of moments. See for yourself, and don’t be ashamed if you feel compelled to watch more than once.

Still looking for lols? You might need them, because frankly, there was quite a bit of doom and gloom this week. The European debt crisis and continuing economic pain in the US prompted ShareThis users to to ponder what Niall Ferguson termed “America’s ‘Oh Sh*t!’ Moment”. Those not as entranced by that intellectual’s declinist musings needed only to point to other signs of distress: the weak housing market, the rising price of peanut butter, the failure of even wealthy athletes to avoid bankruptcy…oh, and Kim Kardashian’s divorce.

Still looking for lols? You must be. So check out this video from a Fox affiliate in Michigan and feel the pain of a long-suffering local newsman trying – and failing – to demonstrate some simple exercises. If you’ve spent a moment in a gym in the last five years, you know there’s always a bewildering array of new devices designed to help us slim down. Thankfully, most of us aren’t on camera during those unflattering moments when we’re conquered by our own lack of fitness and coordination.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 11-4-11

November 4th, 2011

Sometimes, we have to trick our bodies into exercising but, judging by the bulging biceps of the man in the photo accompanying this post on ThePostGame, these routines must do the trick. With calisthenics that hone both your muscular and cardiovascular capabilities, you’ll never waste another eternal 45 minutes on the treadmill. Take your pick from jumping jacks, sprints or a combination of push ups and squats in routines that burn the fat in less than half the time you’d spend on the human equivalent of a hamster wheel.

An interesting phenomenon to counter the Occupy Wall Street efforts that have been making headlines for months now, “The 53%” movement is garnering headlines of their own, like this one in CNNMoney. The group’s name springs from a statistic provided by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that reflects the estimate that 47 percent of Americans do not pay federal income tax. “The 53%” are advocating personal responsibility and work ethic and are spreading the word throughout the blogosphere that they are not part of the Occupy Wall Street contingent. Will be interesting if they take to the streets the way their “freeloading” counterparts did.

It’s no surprise that a mere 147 companies control, well, everything – it’s kinda like that statistic that 2 percent of the world’s population owns half the world’s wealth, or something like that – but it’s still startling to see the numbers on paper. According to a database compiled by three systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich that maps out the structure of global corporate control, only 147 companies control 40 percent of the world’s wealth. You can check out the top 50 along with the story at Forbes.com.

Finally, we end on a colorful, if not high, note with a video of a house whose owners went above and beyond to display their Halloween spirit. Usually it’s not until Christmas that we see these kinds of luminary displays, but this video posted to ComedyCentral.com shows that revelers truly got into the spirit this October. Not sure how they coordinated the show with the lyrics of a pop song, but it’s certainly entertaining nonetheless. On that note, a belated Happy Halloween!

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 10-28-11

October 28th, 2011

It was a “lions, tigers and bears, oh my!” kind of week in rural Muskingum County, Ohio. Or rather, a “lions, tigers and bears…holy crap!” kind of week. Literally. The story of one disturbed man who unleashed a menagerie of exotic animals captivated ShareThis users, and it’s not hard to see why. How often is it that you hear of lions, tigers, bears (four dozen of them!) wandering the streets? Though the police came under fire for, well, firing on the animals, it’s hard to quibble with the tactic when you read accounts from the scene:

…A veterinarian drew close to a 300-pound tiger and shot it in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.
The dart’s anesthetic did nothing to subdue the big cat, which “just went crazy.” “He sort of exploded,” recalled Dr. Barbara Wolfe, director of wildlife and conservation medicine at the Wilds animal preserve southeast of Zanesville. “He roared, he got up, and he came straight for me.”

Other ShareThis users were preoccupied with decidedly tamer fare this week: the tech start-up landscape. Victoria Barret’s Dropbox profile chronicles co-founder Drew Houston’s ascent from high school coder to MIT frat house to Y-Combinator star to Silicon Valley darling. Would-be tech rockstars also turned in droves to Mashable’s infographic comparing available perks at Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and their ilk. In the battle to attract talent, standard fillips like on-site gyms and meals are being eclipsed by more unexpected perks like leather repair, photo processing and bike repair.

But not everyone needs the inducement of an on-site climbing wall at work to get in shape. Centenarian Fauja Singh was moved to attempt a marathon at the age of 89 (!), when he lost his wife and son. At 100, he’s in the Guinness Book as the world’s oldest marathoner. Now that’s some inspiration we can all run with.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 10-14-11

October 14th, 2011

Unsurprisingly, sharing this week revolved around Steve Jobs, and rightfully so. From the Los Angeles Times‘ eloquently penned obituary to a list of the top 10 lessons the visionary left behind to the transcript of the moving and – when viewed in retrospect – slightly foreboding commencement address he delivered to Stanford University’s Class of 2005, ShareThis users circulated stories commemorating the life and times of the genius who is arguably one of the most influential men in human history.

In 2005, Jobs left Stanford’s graduating class with the following advice, which he gleaned from the back cover of the final issue of The Whole Earth Catalog, a idealistic publication that shaped his youth: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” These four words guided Jobs on his meandering, 56-year path through the triumphs and pitfalls of his life. He divided his speech into three stories, the first about the unexpected twists and turns that somehow led to the ultimate creation of Apple, the second about the search for love – in both his work and personal life – and the third about death and his struggle to overcome pancreatic cancer. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose,” Jobs said. “You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Said by a man who tried to live each day as if it were his last, and hopefully lived his last knowing he had done well.

Given the failing health of Apple’s CEO, Forbes contributor Eric Jackson posted a list of the top 10 lessons Jobs could teach us, just a few days before Jobs passed away. “I had a feeling…that he only had a few more days with us on the Earth,” Jackson wrote. “He’s irreplaceable. We’ll never see anyone else like him. Edison, Einstein, Henry Ford…he has left an indelible mark on our society in the last 35 years and for many more to come.” Check out the list for yourselves – many of the themes came from the commencement address Jobs delivered at Stanford – and see how you can change the world.

Finally, the obituary that ran in the LA Times also built on Jobs’ commencement speech. The lengthy piece laid out the life of an adopted child, a precocious teen, a college dropout, a headstrong entrepreneur. Jobs was all these things and so much more to the millions whose lives he touched in one way or another. Many have articulated it much better, but we’d like to chime in: Steve, you will be missed.

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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Weekly Top Shares 10-7-11

October 8th, 2011

Irked by a rumor that Facebook is going to start charging membership fees, users circulated a couple articles setting the record straight this past week. A familiar looking article on Snopes.com deemed the gossip false and a Mashable post points users directly back to to the Facebook homepage, which touts the message “It’s free and always will be.” Whew!

As Americans, we love our Facebook about as much as we love our food. Coming in at a close second behind the assurances that Facebook will remain free was a post on ifood.tv listing a smorgasbord of recipes that fall under the nebulous title of “American cuisine.” If there’s one thing this list accomplishes other than making us hungry, it’s reminding us that what qualifies as American food is about as vast as this country’s population is diverse.

A recent drought in Texas has exposed a lake bed hiding fossils that date back millenia, reports ThePostGame. Texans are used to splashing about in the waters of Lake Whitney to stay cool on a summer day, but a record setting drought has left water sport worshipers crestfallen, and amateur archaeologists itching to explore the exposed underwater caverns, even if it is against the law. Despite fines in the thousands of dollars, curious scavengers continue to probe the site for valuable artifacts.

Apparently, something big is coming to home schooling, at least according to a widely shared site – the Home Educating Family Magazine – raffling off a grand total of 1,580 prizes to those who like the organization’s Facebook page before October 17. With prizes such as the VeggieTales Little Drummer Boy Prize Pack, the book Emotional Purity by Heather Patenaude and a Mom Survival Pack up for grabs, you can’t afford not to like them on Facebook!

And finally, it wouldn’t be a top shares blog post with out a few words of wisdom from our friends at Match.com. In “Is he good boyfriend material?” we learn all the qualities that make for Prince Charming. While it’s ideal to find all these attributes in one person, we hope that a good man is not cast aside because he’s lacking one item on this checklist. One thing we did find mildly alarming in this post: we know that some people are allergic to flowers but are there really people out there that hate them? (See: Item 10) What kind of person hates flowers??

by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.

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