What did the blogosphere have to share this week? Let’s have a look.

Scott H. Young starts us off with a very interesting story about Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Could you have walked away from $8 million in easy money? Because that’s exactly what Hsieh did after selling his first company to Microsoft. Instead of taking on an $8 million annual salary to help with the transition, he left after three months to eventually build (and sell) Zappos.

Marc from Web Urbanist has some stunning pictures for us to consider. Despite how they may look, they are not photographs. When you have art that is this extremely realistic without being actual photographs, you really have to start to question what your eyes are seeing! These images are positively unbelievable and you should definitely check them out.

Darrell Etherington has some very simple advice for those of us who are having trouble falling asleep at night: stop taking your iPhone to bed. Incredibly, 61% of those surveyed by iPass reported that they bring their cell phones with them to the bedroom and this could be indicative of our obsession with communication. Does the radiation or bright screen have anything to do with sleeplessness too?

Bob Buskirk is broadening his online portfolio with the official launch of his Pittsburgh Bucket List website. As its name implies, the site is focused on developing (and hopefully tracking) a bucket list specific to the city of Pittsburgh. Bob has no intention of leaving his town just yet, but the mindset for the site is for someone leaving Pittsburgh in precisely one year’s time.

Sean D’Souza demonstrates the importance of writing effective article headlines and how adding a few measly words can make a world of difference. It helps to make your headline specific (rather than vague), but perhaps more importantly, these few measly words can spark a level of interest that cannot be matched by simpler and shorter headlines.

Even before Internet shifted its attention toward social media, it was getting increasingly social in nature. And that’s where we turn for this week’s collection of blog posts.

Jamie Martin lets us know about a little secret: blogging can make you a better person. Yes, there’s something to be said about sticking to your blogging schedule and pouring out your thoughts in plain black and white. Build relationships, improve your writing, and even live longer as a result of your blogging endeavors!

Gretchen Rubin continues along a similar train of thought, telling us why Twitter can make you happy. She lists no fewer than eight different reasons why this holds up to be true. You can pursue your passions, distract yourself when you’re feeling down, and maintain loose relationships that may have otherwise been lost.

Bevan Bird very much recognizes that staying social on the Internet means keeping a a two-way line of communication open. That’s why he says that you should follow up with people who express interest. When someone “likes” your post on Facebook and you don’t know who this person is, follow up and see why they might have been interested. Ask questions and engage.

Neil Patel is a successful entrepreneur, so he knows a thing or two about getting the job done. He also recognizes the importance of morale and passion. That’s why he’s teaching us how to keep your employees happy while still pushing them to do the best job possible. Pushing the wrong way can completely backfire on your goals.

Free Money Finance finishes off today’s set of posts with some surprising findings. You don’t need to earn that much money in order to become wealthy. He shows off the example of a family of four living in Poway, California. Their household income is less than $60k, but they have a net worth of over $400k. Can you do the same?

Things aren’t always as they seem. Things can be quite counter-intuitive at times. And these kinds of things are being demonstrated in today’s tour of the blogosphere.

Josh Rimer once again asserts the importance of maintaining a mailing list if you’re in marketing, but he says not to use Aweber. After having a very frustrating experience with their referral program, Josh can no longer refer someone to the Aweber service with a clear conscience.

Mark Nichol gives us a list of ten words that don’t mean what you may think they do. We’ve heard the word decimate all the time, but it quite literally means to reduce something by precisely one-tenth.

John Biehler saw something in the Vancouver area recently and it got him scratching his head. As it turns out, the scene is a part of a movie set and it can be very confusing when not seen in the context of the film itself. Special effects are amazing!

Melody Fury goes against the grain with a new summer beverage of choice. How do you feel about staying cool with a watermelon jalapeno cocktail cooler? The watermelon sounds refreshing, but the heat from the jalapeno could have you reaching for something else.

Scott Young has a guest post up on Zen Habits, describing the really simple way to get work done. Yes, work doesn’t have to be difficult. You just have to recognize some of the uncommon causes of procrastination, then overcome them.

The world wide web is a treasure trove of information, giving you the opportunity to learn all sorts of new things each and every day. This week’s roundup encompasses that philosophy.

Darren Barefoot starts us off with the origin of the TIL acronym, which stands for “today I learned.” Through his journeys on Reddit, he has learned many things. For instance, Teddy Roosevelt was the one who introduced the forward pass in American football, Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre wrote the theme music to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and “snuck” is a relatively recent Americanism.

Raul Pacheco didn’t encounter all too many Asian people until he moved to Vancouver. Now, he’s more than ready to embrace Vancouver Asian Heritage Month. We also have to remember that the term “Asian” encompasses more than just Chinese and Japanese people! The month celebrates cultures from Mongolia, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Brunei, Indonesia, and more!

Sharon Hurley Hall has arrived and she’s ready to celebrate the revenge of the concise writer. She’s always taken the approach that if something can be said in fewer words without losing any meaning that it should be expressed in fewer words, but her critics and contemporaries haven’t always agreed. Keep it short and to the point… and that’s exactly the philosophy taken with most web writing!

Michael Martine reminds us of a very simple but poignant fact: free isn’t always free. This is particularly interesting when it comes to free blogging services. Tumblr can take you down at any time, WordPress.com can run ads on your site without your permission, and Blogger restricts your ability to expand it. So much for free, eh?

Catherine runs a blog called Her Bad Mother, so it only makes sense that she has a comment or two for Mother’s Day. So, what does she want for her special day? “All this and a bag of chips.” She agrees with most mothers that all they want is a day off, though she’s a fan of Mother’s Day brunches too. And flowers. And cards.

Every week, we take a virtual stroll around the ‘net to find some interesting blog posts. Here’s this week’s eclectic selection.

Joseph Planta starts us off with his interview with Trang Nguyen, the Conservative candidate from the Vancouver Kingsway riding. Canadians will be choosing a new prime minister on Monday, so I encourage you to listen to all of Joseph’s interviews on the matter.

Raul Pacheco reminds us that next week is also Mental Health Week. While other health-related causes like fighting cancer certainly deserve our attention, we shouldn’t forget about the importance of that organ between our ears too. And we need to remove the stigma that surrounds these kinds of issues.

Melody Fury recently did some traveling in Barcelona where she found a store called Happy Pills. It may look like a boutique pharmacy from the outside with its bright white walls, but the “pills” inside the bottles are actually candies. Is this really an appropriate way to market to children? Does it create for a pill-popping culture?

Trent Hamm knows a thing or two about what it means to make and save a dollar. That’s part of the reason why he prefers to live rural: the cost of living is a lot lower than living in the city. It’s not just about the money, though, as he has other reasons to prefer the rural lifestyle over the urban one.

Mark Nichol demonstrates that the English language really isn’t all that “English” at all. That’s because we adopt many words from many different languages and Mark provides no fewer than 12 examples. Aardvark is an Afrikaans word, pistol is Czech, and amok is Malay.

What’s going on in the blogosphere this week? Let’s have a look.

Free Money Finance breaks down a recent report from BDO USA, a national tax accounting firm, that says $250,000 a year is not enough for a family of four to live on. This takes on a number of assumptions, of course, but the breakdown really does start to break down when you consider some of the unnecessary expenses this hypothetical family is taking on.

Dragon Blogger gets us ready for the weekend with a review of You Don’t Know Jack for the Xbox 360. It’s a great trivia game that can be fun for the whole family, as well as your friends of varying ages. The quirky presentation is certainly unique, but that’s exactly what sets this title apart from all the other trivia games available on the various home gaming consoles.

Zen Habits‘ Leo Babauta is currently on vacation in Europe and he’s finding that this travel is interrupting his usual plans. So, he has devised a simple fitness plan for when you’re on the road and just don’t have the time to hit the gym like how you normally do. Try to eat in moderation and do a lot of walking. I personally find that I do a lot more walking while on vacation than while at home, so that has to make up for something.

Scott Young takes a slightly different spin on the self-fulfilling prophecy by saying that we become the story we tell ourselves. In fact, it is quite possible to change the past if you simply tell yourself a different story about the past. Ironically enough, “the more you remember something, the less accurate the memory becomes.”

The Savvy Freelancer asks her readers whether they would take on an exclusive client as part of their freelance work. For me, this sounds far too much like conventional employment without the regular employment benefits. If you are interested in working for one client exclusively, doesn’t it make more sense to get a regular job with them instead?