Drops of oil in Mn(SO[subscript 4])(aq) and drops of the solution in oil show opposite effects when brought near a rare earth magnet. Oxygen, nitrogen, and air bubbles atop water show expected attraction, repulsion, and null behavior, respectively. Air bubbles atop aqueous Mn(SO[subscript 4]) show paradoxical behavior because the magnet's attraction of the solution forms a complex crest. The existence and shape of this crest is examined, and the unexpected behavior used to motivate student examination of paramagnetism. Several improvements in the bubble demonstration are suggested. A rare earth magnet is also powerful enough to demonstrate paramagnetism in crystals of Fe[subscript 2](SO[subscript 4])[subscript 3] times 9H[subscript 2]O, FeSO[subscript 4] times 7H[subscript 2]O, CoCl[subscript 2] times 6H[subscript 2]O, MnSO[subscript 4] times H[subscript 2]O, and to a lesser extent CuSO[subscript 4] times 5H[subscript 2]O, CuCl[subscript 2] times 2H[subscript 2]O, NiCl[subscript 2] times 6H[subscript 2]O, MnO[subscript 2], and NiSO[subscript 4] times 7H[subscript 2]O. (Contains 7 notes and 1 figure.)