COOLING OFF: A man jumps from a tower into a public swimming pool while a plane takes off from the international airport in Dusseldorf, Germany, earlier today, where the temperature hit over 30 degrees Celsius today. Jealous. (Photo: AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

THESE ARE THE things you need to know as we round off the day in three easy steps.

THINGS WE LEARNED

#DISCOVERY: Scientists at CERN have discovered a new subatomic particle which they believe could be the elusive Higgs boson. The much-sought ‘god particle’ is believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape, and, if confirmed, will be one of the most important scientific discoveries of the past century.

#ULSTER BANK: The Central Bank has given a stern smack-down to Ulster Bank today and said it will have to compensate ANYONE who has incurred charges as a result of the ongoing banking failure. Meanwhile the bank has said it is going to be mid-July before normal service is completely resumed.

#GARDA CUTS: Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he will talk to the Justice Minister over a case in which a woman had to drive a garda to a crime scene because he did not have a patrol car to drive himself.

#ALLOWANCES: Interested in the allowances that are paid to some civil servants in various government departments? Here’s the story, and you can check out all the figures for yourself here.

#SIGNING ON: The unemployment rate is up to 14.9 per cent - the third month in a row that it has registered an increase.

#HAPPY ENDING: It was a ruff (sorry) few hours for Patch the dog, who was found on a train at Dublin’s Pearse Street Station this morning – but happily, he was reunited with his owner very quickly after hundreds of people put the call out on Twitter. Aw.

THINGS WE LOVED

• It’s a scary time to be leaving school or college and going out into the big bad world. The Guardian has put together this nifty little interactive with graduates all around the world – including UL graduate Roisin Peddle – telling their stories about their search for jobs and their career plans.
• With great power comes… the ability to hang off the Ha’Penny Bridge, apparently. Forbidden Planet in Dublin posted this photo on their Facebook page today of Spiderman hanging out – literally – this afternoon.

(Photo: Forbidden Planet Dublin on Facebook)

THINGS WE SHARED

• Confused by all this Higgs boson malarky? You’re not the only one. We put together this explainer about what exactly the Higgs boson is all about.

• Kids across the country are officially on their summer holidays now, leaving a dilemma for parents: what exactly do you do with a bored kid for two months? This open thread had some good suggestions from readers, including these two(who sounded like they had a lot of experience with this):

From reader Joanne Maiben Neilson:

Crafts is always a good bet too, u can get lots of materials cheap in €2 shops etc if u keep ur eye out or cut up magazines etc for collages. Just use a big tablecloth to contain mess and let them get sticking away. If mess bothers u too much maybe having kids isn’t such a great idea coz they are messy buggers but as the person above said cleaning up should be a part of every activity for them.

And from Theresa Parker:

On the bog, pulling weeds, feeding farm animals and pets, tiding their room, helping round the house…and one week of cul camp summer camp.

• For the day that’s in it (Independence Day in America, for anyone who isn’t into their uber-spectacles of nationalism and patriotism), we thought we’d include this:

(Video: alargedog/YouTube)

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