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Internet

Haven't had a classic creepy optical illusion in a while.

Optical illusions are always a fun way to learn about how our brains perceive the world—and how easily our eyes can be tricked.

One viral illusion going around, titled “This is black magic,” also happens to be giving perfect Summerween vibes—featuring a single solitary eye staring back at you and a very creepy narrated voice.

As you’ll see below, you, the viewer, are instructed to keep your gaze fixed on the eye in the center of the screen, in front of a tropical beach background with a “yellow sky and red sea.” Then…well…why don't you see for yourself first:

As the voiceover explains, the color of the sky changes to have more “vibrant blues and greens.” Only, there were no blues and greens at all, when you go back and watch the video without staring at the eye, you see that the second image was actually black and white. DUN DUN DUN!!!!

As one viewer noted, "Watching it a second time and expecting the shift, it was even cooler. It swapped and I saw it in color, then saw the color fade to black and white.”

A few others couldn’t help but comment on the, ahem, interesting tone of the illusion overall.

"Why was the voice so creepy? I was anticipating a jump scare 😭," one person wrote.

So…is it really black magic? Obviously no. In fact, another viewer breaks down the science pretty darn well:

“Tldr: first image depletes chemical signals in your eye, so you see the exact opposite colors on the second image.

Your eye uses photoreceptors to create an image for the brain, by converting the light that lands on your retina (back of the eye) into chemical signals to represent color and bright/dark.

 optical illusion, reddit, color perception, color theory, color science, science, cool science A simple visual breakdown of eye anatomy.Photo credit: Canva

When you stare at an image without moving your eyes, that image becomes kind of ‘burned in’ temporarily to your retina, because the chemicals to send that specific image get depleted in the exact pattern of that image. In this example, the orange in the sky and water depletes whatever chemicals your photoreceptors use to send that orange to your brain wherever orange is in the image.

Then when you change to a black and white image, your photoreceptors only have the exact opposite chemicals left from what they need, so for a short time you'll see the exact opposite color of the primer image. In this example, the dark oranges turn to light tropical water blue and the light oranges turn to deep dark sky blue. Another easy way to see this is the clouds turn from black in the first image to white in the second.

An over simplified example would be like an ice cream machine that gives you either chocolate or vanilla. If everyone gets chocolate for a while, then after that you can only get vanilla until someone replenishes the chocolate."

Great explanation, but it was the ice cream metaphor that really resonated, amirite?

  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

Bottom line: while there might not be any black magic used to create this video, it’s certainly a cool reminder of how magical our brains are.

Internet

10 corporate secrets to moving up quickly in your career—while others don’t

“Knowing how to play the game is an extremely valuable skill.”

Why do some people shoot up to manager positions while others stay behind?

Following the smashing television sensation, Succession, and later, Industry, it’s no surprise that everyone is clamoring for their way up the corporate ladder. However, real life is nothing like the glossy—albeit, depressing—floors of Waystar Royco; in the real world there are evil bosses, annoying coworkers, and pesky KPIs that need to be dealt with, leaving many workers wondering, “Is this really what I signed up for?”

That’s at the heart of this question posted to r/careerguidance on Reddit, anyway. User @Ok-Living5146 asked, “What is the secret to some people moving up fast in their careers while others don’t?”

They added some context, writing, “I’ve been in the same ‘level’ of job for years, and it has been frustrating watching people with less experience or less education soar up into these big roles. I’ll often see Directors who have less education or years in the field than I do, or people who randomly shoot up into manager positions or even higher. What exactly is the secret?”

Reddit, as it frequently does, responded in droves. We’ve compiled 10 of the best advice nuggets, below.


 team, corporate, business, meeting, skills How much does "being good and looking tall" matter in a corporate setting?Photo credit: Canva

 

“Charisma, communication skills…”

 

For @fortyeightD, success in a corporate context looks an awful like a grocery shopping list. The user rattles off different attributes to succeeding at work, writing:

“Charisma. Communication skills. Building rapport with the right people. Being good and looking tall. Confidence. Ability to make a decision under pressure. Public speaking skills. Being someone who others respect and look up to. Good grooming and dress sense and hygiene. Being reliable. Being positive and not complaining. Sharing the CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Sucking up. Matching the manager’s biases/preferences for age/race/religion/gender. Giving the appearance of going above and beyond for the company. Nepotism. Attending all social functions and chatting to senior leaders and telling them their ideas are brilliant. Taking on extra responsibilities like joining committees. Working on high-visibility projects. Being the spokesperson in any group situation.”

They also added,

“Record metrics for anything that you work on, so you can tell your manager hard numbers about how you have improved things. For example customer satisfaction, reducing expenses, increasing sales, reducing tickets, etc.”

Easy, right?

Another person jokingly replied, “Yea, I’m not moving up.”



“Be the squeaky wheel”

 

User @Deep-Library-8041 shared a great anecdote:

“Only thing I’d add is being vocal about career goals and wanting to move up. I was on a small team of three—me and another person with the same title, plus our manager. After getting settled into the role, in our 1:1’s I shared my career goals and asked for help getting there. So over the course of three years she introduced me to people; when an opportunity popped up she put me forward, supported me when I had new ideas, etc. And at each annual review, I put a lot of effort into showing evidence of my growth, ambition, and results.

My colleague stayed silent. She never spoke up, tried to gain visibility, said no to new projects, etc. I know she’s resentful, but people aren’t mind readers. Be the squeaky wheel—know what you want and ask to be coached how to get there.”

Another prescient commenter added,

“Sounds like you had an excellent manager.”

To which, @Deep-Library-8041 replied, “Yes—should edit to add that you need a supportive manager to make this happen!”

 

“An ongoing problem with yes-men…”

 

This one unfolded like a duet, told in two parts. The first, from @billsil, who wrote:

“I asked my friend who was in a VP level role at 27. She told me she knew the product top to bottom better than anyone because she had done such a variety of things on it. The CEO trusted her to tell her the truth, which was an ongoing problem of yes-men.

She had quite the target on her back and dealt with a lot of shit from other people, but she only took shots at people who deserved it. Having dealt with them, I was happy someone could put them in their place.”


 team, corporate, business, meeting, skills If you find a company that values your contributions, you will know. Photo credit: Canva

Then, @tennisgoddes1 replied,

“Spot on for generally any company. If you work at a good company that values your contributions and leadership skills, you will know immediately if you are at one of those companies because your skills will be recognized. Respect for your input and experience will be given. It’s quite refreshing.”

 

“You do not progress simply because you are good at your work”

 

A dose of reality, shared by @senpai07373:

“You need to realize one important thing. You do not progress simply because you are good at your work, and you work for many years. If you want to progress, you have to show that you have skills needed to level up job. You can be the most brilliant specialist with 15 years of experience, yet you still might not have the capacity to be manager, not to mention director. Being great at your work can and should give your bonus, can and should get you a raise. But just being great at your work is not the most important thing when you look for progress.”


 

“Knowing how to play the game…”

 

Some career coaching, courtesy of @throwawayOnTheWayO (who seems like they read Machiavelli’s The Prince or The Art of War a few hundred times):

“Knowing how to play the game is an extremely valuable skill, the most valuable skill, in fact.

No one cares how long you’ve worked at a company. Why would they? If someone came in and was able to learn in 1 year everything that you did in your 5 years, then more power to them. The state of the company right now is probably nothing like it was 5 years ago, and leadership’s plans for the future may include not wanting anything from the past to keep it down.

Companies that grow and make money do so because of smart decisions by competent leadership. They don’t just happen to make money and happen to stay in business for years or decades on dumb luck. It is not easy to keep a company up and running. Once you recognize that most leaders are actually competent and are dealing with numerous variables that you have no knowledge or understanding of, then you can drop your cynicism and start to move up.

Leadership requires effective social skills and the ability to navigate hierarchies, in addition to the skills necessary to handle the day to day of the job.”

 

“Career movement itself is a skill”

 

User @Momjamoms offered some wisdom, commenting:

“Through my decades in corporate America, I've seen lots of people work really really hard hoping they'll be noticed and promoted because they were taught that hard work pays off. In reality, it never works that way. Career movement itself is a skill that requires stellar communication skills and constant, active campaigning.”

To which, another user replied:

“This. It has nothing to do with your ability to do your job. It is all about people skills.”

 

“Why should they promote you?”

 

Sometimes, the grass really is greener in the other pasture, reminds user @Ok_Push2550. They wrote,

“Changing jobs.

If you've been there for years (5 or more), and haven't left, why should they promote you? If you're doing well enough to not get fired, then they can hire from outside to get someone with more talent and drive to do something big.

If you go somewhere else, it signals to your new employer (and old employer) that you're not satisfied with what you have, and want more.”

A different user agreed, commenting:

“Exactly this. That is how I got promoted twice over the past 7 years, applying for a better position in two companies. That's also how I doubled my salary while my colleague from the first job is still in the same position even though we started on the same day.”

 

“Confidence.”

 

For a more measured, achievable response, look to @OGP01, who wrote:

“Multiple moves into slightly bigger roles. Makes them look experienced.

Building good relationships with senior leaders. Talking to them regularly.

Being known for their team's achievements that they enabled. But at the same time praising members of their team for delivering these results.

Confidence. Being able to bullshit their way through anything, even if they haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about.”

 

“Build a relationship with someone in the C-Suite…”

 

Although, if you want a true cheat code, @Willing-Bit2581 has the answer:

“Build a relationship with someone in the C-Suite, that can put you on a track… I've witnessed a 35-year-old woman got from Audit Manager to Sr. Manager to Director to AVP in less than 5 years. She’s clearly being groomed for higher roles.

Saw another woman in late thirties, some went from Sr. Analyst to VP in less than 10 years.”


 

“Education and experience matter, but they’re table stakes”

 

Another dose of likeability reality, this time, from @Significant_Soup2558:

“Likability often trumps competence. People promote people they enjoy working with, people who make their lives easier, and people who fit the company culture.

This is how you do it. Favor visibility over competence. Treat networking as part of the job, both within and outside the company. Understand that perception is reality. Be strategic about job changes. Use a service like Applyre to job search passively.

Your education and experience matter, but they're table stakes. The people passing you by figured out that career advancement is a different skill set entirely from doing the actual work well.”


 team, corporate, business, meeting, skills People skills matter in workplace. Photo credit: Canva

 

So, will you be taking the advice from these expert corporate Redditors? See you in the C-Suite.

Internet

9 things that make English particularly 'weird' among the world's languages

Did you know that English uses more sounds than almost every other language?

English is objectively a weird language.

In a world of 8 billion people who speak thousands of different languages, it's fascinating to learn about how languages differ from one another. Even just among the most spoken languages in the world, there are completely different alphabets, scripts, phonetics, grammar rules, and more that bear little relationship to one another.

The world has not yet collectively decided on a universal language, but English has become the default language in many international gatherings and business communications. For better or for worse, learning English is valuable, but as many English language learners find, it's…well…weird.

 

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

 

Rob Words' YouTube channel "for lovers and learners of English" explores all aspects of the English language, including what makes it "weird."

Here are 9 reasons English stands out as an oddity among the world's languages:

1. English has has a lot of sounds, comparatively

English has 44 phonemes, or distinct sounds, that we put together to form our words. The average for languages worldwide is 25 to 30. A lot of that discrepancy is due to English having a lot of different vowel sounds. And English includes some rare sounds that are found in very few other languages, such as the "th" sound (both in "the" and in "three") and the ubiquitous-in-American-English-but-rare-in-other-languages "er" sound.

2. The way we form questions

In English, to change a statement into a question, we switch the order of the subject and the verb. "She is an architect," becomes "Is she an architect?" That's unusual among the world's languages. According to Rob Words, only 1.4% of languages do that kind of switcheroo to form questions.

 the word do, meaningless do Do you? Do you?  Giphy GIF by Paramount+ 

3. Our meaningless "do"

This is one that native English speakers likely never think about but is confusing for those trying to learn. We have our "do" that means doing something. But we also have "do" that we just toss into questions for no apparent reason. For instance, "You like coffee," doesn't become "You like coffee?" It becomes "Do you like coffee?" We also use it with "not" as in "I do not like coffee." But that "do" serves no purpose except to confuse English learners. We could just say "I not like coffee," but we don't.

4. Phrasal verbs

If there's one thing I learned teaching English in Japan, it's that phrasal verbs we use in everyday language make no sense whatsoever. Why do we say that an alarm "goes off" instead of "goes on"? Why do we "get in" a car but "get on" a bus? Why does "looking up" something have a totally different meaning than "looking at" something or "looking into" something, and how are people supposed to know which added preposition fits which meaning?

  jon favreau car GIF  Giphy  

5. Our lack of gendered words

Many languages have masculine and feminine words, grammar rules, etc. But English is almost entirely devoid of such linguistic devices. We have gendered pronouns, but that's it. That's different than most Indo-European languages, which employ some kind of grammatical gender rules.

6. Pronoun reliance

Speaking of gendered pronouns, another thing that sets English apart is our reliance on them. Many languages don't use pronouns as much as we do, and only about 10% of languages have obligatory pronouns like English. We don't say "am hungry," we say "I am hungry." We don't say "Like chocolate," we say "I/we/you/etc. like chocolate." That's totally natural for us, but it's unusual.

 English spelling, spelling bee Spelling in English is so hard we have competitions.  Giphy  

7. "Silly" spelling

We all know this one. Our spelling "rules" are like the flippin' Wild West. Or as Rob Words puts it "a monstrosity." Our silent letters, the way different combinations make letters have different sounds, but not in any way consistently—it's truly bonkers. "I don’t know of another language that has tried to create a written form that represents the sounds of that language and failed so spectacularly," Rob shares.

8. Tenses

This one is a little nerdy, but hear him out. "So far as linguists have researched it, English’s present tense is like no other," Rob says. "Because English is the only language in the whole world where the present tense only requires you to alter the third person singular form for regular verbs."

Example: I smell. You smell. They smell. But he/she/it smells. That added "s" just with those specific pronouns is weird.

 smelly, bad smell I smell. You smell. He smells.  Giphy  

9. Articles

People learning English have to learn the subtle nuances of when to use "the" and when to use "a" or "an." Apparently, German is worse on this front, but many languages don't have any articles or anything equivalent. So yeah, weird.

10. Things we're missing (BONUS)

Rob Words actually listed 10 oddities, but the last one was technically just an absence of things. There are some things other languages have that English doesn't. For instance, we have aunts and uncles, but we don't have a gender-neutral umbrella term for that position in the family. We have mom/dad/parents and grandma/grandpa/grandparents, but then aunt/uncle/????s. We also don’t have a word for the day after tomorrow or the day before yesterday, but many other languages do. And so on and so forth.

It's official: English truly is weird. Nothing but the utmost respect to everyone trying to learn it.

Pop Culture

25 'bizarre but effective' life hacks that have actually made people's lives smoother

Creating an email for your kid when they're born to create time capsule of memories is pretty genius, gotta admit.

A person tying their shoes on inside.

Streamlining our days is simply a necessity as life brings us more and more to-dos with each passing moment. But luckily, necessity is the mother of invention, and people have found clever ways to make mundane tasks more efficient, more enjoyable, and more likely for us to fit into a routine.

Odds are you’ve come across a list or two sharing some of these strategies (we’ve certainly written a few), and might be thinking you’ve seen it all. That certainly seemed to be the thought going through someone’s head when they asked folks online, “What's your weirdest but most effective life hack in 2025?

This person clarified that they didn’t want “obvious” answers, like automating bills, and used one friend’s hack of bulk-recording “angry customer rants” to play when they were put on hold too long as an example.

“Just looking for fun, clever hacks, especially for the kind of tasks you always put off, like chasing refunds or fighting with a warranty department,” the OP added. Over a thousand people responded with their kooky ways of making life more livable.

Laundry seemed to be one of the biggest dreaded tasks that people tackled. But once they found a system that worked, there was no going back.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A person folding clothes.Photo credit: Canva

“If you hate putting away laundry as I do, this is the absolute best way to do it. Fold and put away like two shirts at a time then gtfo.”

“Once I recognized that you are never done with laundry it was a game changer… I identified anything that doesn't need to be folded (socks, underwear, athletic clothes, etc) and gave them bins that I can toss in laundry as I get to it. Towels were the same way. Who am I folding towels for? This ain't a hotel…I have a process flow too. When the hamper is full, do laundry. Clean and dry laundry goes into a big hamper I named the "laundry inbox". If the inbox is full...I sort. If I touch the clothes in my hamper I fold them (or at least a few)…No more rifling through clothes to find something to wear and leaving them in the bin. I probably spend a few minutes on laundry every day and this works so well. It's never done. I just keep moving things forward.”

“As soon as washing machine finishes, clothes go straight onto hangers, then hangers go straight onto the line. I even hang my underwear around the ‘neck’ of the hanger. When clothes are dry, I just grab the whole lot of hangers (with the clothes on them) together on the line, and they go straight into my wardrobe.”

“That laundry folding technique…the one where you fold items neatly and symmetrically, and then I fold the T-shirts in half again so that they slot into my drawers - you almost ‘post’ them into their slot in the drawer, and you can see your entire wardrobe at once from above.I can see all my clothes, and simply pick out the one I want without disturbing any of the others…No fumbling, unfolding them, etc. The whole process of getting dressed takes half the time it used to, and you’re never hunting for anything, turning anything inside out, getting the wrong T-shirt because you didn’t see the pattern, etc. Of course, folding the clothes takes a bit longer, so I do that in one go whilst watching TV. Time spent up front, time saved later on.”

Cleaning was also a big one. Several folks had tips for keeping things tidy despite being busy, organizationally challenged, unmotivated, neurodivergent, etc.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks Two people doing chores. Photo credit: Canva

“One tiny thing I like to do is that every time I leave a room, I make an attempt to leave it tidier than when I entered it. Just tidy one thing as I leave.”

“Laundry and clean the house on Thursday night so I don’t have to do shit on the weekend.”

“I work in a school, and my house gets pretty gross during the school year because my husband and I get too busy/burnt out to clean. So I invite people for a dinner party the second weekend after school ends, so I'm forced to clean up right away and we start the summer with a clean house.”

“I sweep my floor daily before bed…That way the amount of dust is bearable every day instead of clumps of cat hair from the whole week. “

“I tidy/clean every day for 15 minutes. I set a timer and stop when it goes off. This has all but eliminated the need for hour-long cleaning sessions with bigger intervals.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many people found success by sourcing some of their time management to AI. We don't need to debate the environmental or ethical implications of those (that’s another conversation), but it is worth noting how a major obstacle keeping so many of us from streamlining in the first place is mental exhaustion, plain and simple.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A person using AI to streamline their workflow. Photo credit: Canva

“I struggle with decision making fatigue…I've trained my Chatgpt to be my productivity coach. So every time I struggle these days - I just go to it and type in short hand what I'm supposed to do and what I'm feeling. And just blindly follow it's advice. Like..’heyy as my productivity coach, I've been procrastinating planning this upcoming meeting. I feel like I don't have all the pieces and keep pushing it away. I have 25 mins now, help me fix it.’ Works like a charm.”

But it’s not just this kind of tech that people have used to streamline their life.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A person doing all their emails at once. Photo credit: Canva

“I keep a burner email address just for warranties, returns, and shady sign ups, and I forward all receipts there manually right after a purchase.”

“I struggle with waking up, especially when an alarm is involved. Often because I have a hard time falling asleep in the first place. But I noticed on a vacation where the bedroom had skylights that couldn’t be covered that I woke up well with natural sunlight…So we installed automatic blinds in our bedroom, where it opens up a little bit at sunrise, and halfway at 8am, etc. I wake up SO much better now, which helps with the rest of my day!”

“When your kid is born…start an email address just for them. Whenever you have a thought, take a picture or video, or want to save a memory send it to that email. Over the years you will have a perfect little journal of your life with them that is safe from fires or getting lost. And when they turn 18 you can surprise them with it and give them the password as a present and they can read / see all the times you were thinking of them over the years :)”

And never underestimate the power of a good list.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A person writing a to-do listPhoto credit: Canva

“I wrote a list of meals we actually all like and realistically cook all the time anyways. We pick out a meal per day on Fridays, make our shopping list and are set for a whole week without thinking once ‘whats for dinner.’”

“I make my to do list, sit down to do a leisure activity (read, watch tv, play a game), and set a 15 minute timer. When the timer goes off, I pick a task to complete from my list. When it’s done, I set a new timer, and chill for another 15 minutes. Works every time!”

“To do list for every. Single. Thing. Even the smallest, dumb things like ‘google that:...’ I don't have to store it in my brain… SO satisfying.

People also swore by doing away with daily routine tasks and consolidating them to one designated, optimal time.

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A Now & Later list. Photo credit: Canva

“Instead of answering messages, email, answering phone as things come in… I do it in small time blocks 3 times a day. morning, afternoon, evening. 99.9% of things aren't urgent and can wait.”

“Identify weekly tasks that can be changed to monthly. Identify monthly tasks that can be changed to every two months.”

“I invoice monthly instead of at the end of each project…I only have 1 day each month I need to check for outstanding payments rather than every day or week. You do have to get better at buffer and cashflow though.”

Finally, we saved the best, most unique ones for last:

 productivity, life hacks, cleaning hacks, productivity hacks, chatgpt for productivity, health hacks A person tying their shoes inside. Photo credit: Canva

“My biggest hack is making commitment bets with friends when I’m in a high energy state…If I have a bet I never fail it’s crazy.”

“This is a common one in the various ADHD subs but- keep your shoes and pants on until all of the tasks are taken care of… If you take your shoes off at the door, get a pair of house sneakers. If you struggle with being productive at home, put some shoes on. For some reason, having shoes on kickstarts my energy and makes me want to do things. I even bought some light sneakers I only wear inside now.”

“For the past two year, I have committed to learning one new skill every quarter. This means I focus on four skills in total each year, ranging from networking and communication to personal finance and investing, Phyton programming, running etc. To dive into each skill, I choose one high-quality book or podcast that resonates with the topic. I dedicate time to not just consume the content, but also to engage with it through listening, reading, and writing. This approach has allowed me to gain a solid understanding of each subject and apply what I've learned to real-world scenarios. The results have been remarkable! Not only has my perspective on various aspects of life expanded, but I've also seen significant growth in my professional network. Engaging with new concepts has sparked meaningful conversations and connections with like-minded individuals.”

“Get whiteboard erasers and write on the lid of your freezer everything that is inside. No need to go rummaging around trying to see what you have. Any time something new goes in, add it to the lid. Any time you take something out, erase it.”

“Take the time to consume art. Whether that’s finding artists you like and literally going to galleries, or even it’s just going to the garage or a different room with the sole reason to listen to music…But try and see the beauty in it. After a while, you start to see the beauty in everyday life.