Here are 5 things you should know.
1. Chocolate Diamonds are a jewelry industry scam.
Brown diamonds are the most common diamonds, and the “Chocolate Diamond” was marketed perfectly to sell something above its actual worth, since brown is an undesirable color. – Source
2. Claw machines are rigged.
The claw is programmed to grab tightly only part of the time. Some people think the claw machine is so hard to win because the stuffed animals are packed so tightly together. But the bigger reason is more insidious than that: the claw machine is programmed to have a strong grip only part of the time.
3. Consumer grade magnetic tapes have an average lifespan of 15-25 years before they start to degrade.
If you have any home VHS or HI8 tapes from the 80s and 90s consider transferring them to a digital medium.
Many people have home videos on VHS, Video8, HI8, and Digital8 tapes. Many older tapes may show signs of degradation. Tapes that were stored improperly will be far worse.
The last HI8 camcorder was discontinued in 2007, so even the newest tapes will soon hit 10 years old. Video8 and it’s derivatives face a problem where the cameras that can be used to view and transfer these tapes are becoming more expensive and harder to find.
If you have any tapes that you hope to preserve consider either sending them to a tape transfer service, which can get expensive with a lot of tapes, or investing in a capture setup to save them to your computer.
4. Heart attacks.
December and January have the highest rate of heart attacks in the USA. Please be careful if you’re shoveling snow or working hard in cold weather.
5. “SwiftKey” app.
If you use the app “SwiftKey” on any of your devices, right now as a Christmas gift all paid themes are free.
