This Little Girl Kicks Your Ass on Guitar

So, you have a craft that you have been honing for years. You’re passionate about it, it fulfills you, and how it makes you feel is what has kept you going through the years, continuing your work and not giving up in the face of the incredible struggles you have had with it. Then a little kid comes around and completely puts any work you could ever produce to shame. Ever happen to you? Well, if you’re a guitar player, meet Zoe Thomson.

Zoe is 8 years old and she is an incredible guitar player–and not just for being 8 years old, either. She has incredible talent, surpassing the skill level of people who have been playing the instrument longer than she has been alive.

Another Swipe Fee Battle Unfolding

Another major dispute on interchange fees could take place, and this one may have new, painful consequences on consumers. This time, the battle centers around the swipe fee that retailers pay on credit card transactions.

According to CNBC, there is an antitrust suit between five million retailers and Visa, MasterCard, and 13 large banks, including Citi, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo. Retailers claim that banks and the payment systems have unfairly worked together to increase the amount of the interchange fee retailers pay on credit card transactions.

The amount that each retailer pays as a swipe fee varies widely but the industry average is approximately 2%. This antitrust suit could cut that figure by three-quarters down to 0.5%. That would be one more devastating revenue blow to the banks …

Sh*t Mom Bloggers Say

By now I am sure you have all seen at least one version of the “Shit People Say” video. This flurry of videos began in mid-December with Shit Girls Say, a hilarious and frighteningly accurate 1 minute and 19 seconds full of numerous quips that pretty much every woman alive is guilty of saying. The video quickly went viral and has since accumulated over 12 million views. That was just the beginning.

In the past month and a half, people everywhere took this idea of things certain types of people say and started creating their own videos. Some are based in observation, some from personal experience; some are in the name of awareness which lends to social justice activism (most notably, this happened with the Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls …

Tuesday Giveaway Linkup: January 24th – January 31st

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s time for another week of great giveaways, so use this space to help spread the word about the giveaways going on at your blog using the linky below. While you’re here, don’t forget to visit the many other giveaways going on around the blogosphere. Who knows, maybe you’ll win some really cool stuff!

Here’s the deal: Use the linky below to link up your giveaways, but remember, you’re linking only to actual giveaways. This means no affiliate links, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ profiles, or to main blogs or websites. Lastly, if you’re a giveaway linky-hopper you know this already, but as a refresher, here’s how to submit your link below:

Blog Name – Giveaway Prize – End Date

Now link away!

Do You Know the Difference Between Gelato and Ice Cream?

Gelato is Italian for ice cream, right? Well, not exactly. True, they are both dairy, they are both cold, and they are both desserts, but the similarities end there.

For starters, they look different, with true gelato resembling something more like frozen yogurt than ice cream, and in many displays, it looks like flavored whipped cream. Here’s some more detailed, delicious insight into the two treasured desserts:

American vs. Italian Ice Cream

American ice cream, we all know, has a pretty high milk fat content. Legally in the United States, a product must have 10% fat to use the label “ice cream.” Higher quality brands of ice cream have about 18% fat, which makes for a delicious ice cream, but a pretty pathetic gelato.

Gelato has a much higher milk to cream ratio. This means that the milk fat content …

Donate Your Jeans at Any Aéropostale Store to Help Homeless Teens

I woke up yesterday morning to a familiar winter chill filling the air. The kind of chill that makes its way into your home regardless of how high the heat is turned up and immediately consumes you before you even open your eyes. The kind of chill that becomes a part of you if you have always lived in a place where it snows, as I have, where as soon as you feel it, you know that while you were sleeping, nature was busy transforming every inch of outside space as far as you can see into the distance a beautiful, pristine white.

Whenever I wake up to newly-fallen snow, I get the same feeling: complete and utter excitement followed by a list of all the ways I could spend my day. You see, a …