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Take A Look Inside The Cavernous Construction Zone Below Grand Central Terminal

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East Side Access 7

New York City, which already has the country's largest mass transit system, is in the midst of an ambitious $8.3 billion development project to build a new concourse beneath Grand Central Terminal.

The construction site, located 16 stories below the station, will grant the Long Island Rail Road access to Manhattan's East Side. Currently, Penn Station is the exclusive location of the LIRR in Manhattan.

When it's completed in 2019, the new station will bring in an estimated 160,000 Long Islanders each day, according to the AP.

But for now it's an astoundingly large construction site, standing eight stories high and with six miles of tunnels in the works. The MTA periodically releases construction photos on its Flickr page; here are some highlights from the latest batch.

The terminal in Grand Central will connect to the Main and Port Washington lines of the Long Island Rail Road.



The terminal will greatly reduce the commute times for people traveling from Queens and Long Island to Manhattan's East Side.



This is where an escalator bank will connect the Long Island Rail Road concourse to the main level of the terminal.



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Foodies Are About To Descend On South Beach For A Giant Food And Wine Festival

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In 12 years, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival has gone from an afternoon tasting event on a college campus to a four-day, celebrity-studded food fest that attracts more than 60,000 people.

This year's event kicks off Thursday and runs through the weekend.

We recently sat down with Lee Schrager, the founder and face of the event, to find out the smartest way to navigate the scene, the best new events, and how he attracts celebrity talent like Anthony Bourdain, Emeril Lagasse, and Danny Meyer.

 

Produced by Business Insider Video

SEE ALSO: The Secret To Making One Of The Tastiest Sandwiches In New York City

SEE ALSO:  Top NYC Chef Explains How To Cook A Perfect Steak

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The Happiest And Saddest States According To Twitter

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happy states twitter

Sorry, Louisiana, you are the saddest state. And Hawaii (shocker!) you are the happiest. 

That's according to a team at the Vermont Complex Systems Center, who posted their new analysis of 10 million geotagged tweets to to arXiv.org. They call their creation a "hedonometer."

They also found that the Bible belt stretching across the American south and into Texas was less happy than the west or New England. The saddest town of the 373 urban areas studied was Beaumont in east Texas. The happiest was Napa, California, home of many drunk people wine makers. The only town among the 15 saddest that was not in the south or Rust Belt was Waterbury, Connecticut. (Although Waterbury has appeared on several "worst places to live" lists, which seems like mean lists to make.)

happiestsaddest2.jpg

The researchers coded each tweet for its happiness content, based on the appearance and frequency of words determined by Mechanical Turk workers to be happy (rainbow, love, beauty, hope, wonderful, wine) or sad (damn, boo, ugly, smoke, hate, lied). While the researchers admit their technique ignores context, they say that for large datasets, simply counting the words and averaging their happiness content produces "reliable" results.

Here's a closer look at how they calculated a happiness for the top and bottom cities. The illustration is a little confusing, so let's walk through it because it really shows the methodology of the research. 

Next to each word are two symbols, a plus or minus (+/-) and up or down arrows. The plus or minus indicates whether that word is considered happy or sad. The up or down arrow indicates whether that word was used more or less than average in that city. So, let's take 'shit' as an example. Shit, a negative word, was used less often in Napa and more often in Beaumont. The size of the bar that you see shows how much that word contributed to the happiness rating for the city. So, the lack of shits in Napa played a substantial role in its high rating, while the prevalence of shits hurt Beaumont's happiness rating. Looking just at Beaumont, one can see why it got a low rating. The only positive words at the top of its ledger are "lol" and "haha," and there were not enough hahas to bring it up to the national average. The rest of the words -- shit, ass, damn, gone, no, bitch, hell -- were negative and used often.  

napavbeaumont.jpg

For individual cities, the Vermont researchers note, the amount of swearing contributed substantially to their final scores. They think it's worth investigating this phenomenon, which they call "geoprofanity."

One difficulty I have with the study is that it doesn't take into account that people might just talk about happiness differently in some parts of the country or within some demographic groups. The study identified people with Norwegian ancestry as happier than African Americans. Is that because the Norwegians are actually happier or do they just tweet as if they're happier? 

This is not an easy problem to solve, but the authors of the new paper do an admirable job showing that their data correlates with other existing measures of happiness, primarily surveys conducted by Gallup. They also show that their happiness data correlates with income and the prevalence of obesity in an area. 

We should also note that many people vacation in Napa (the top city) and Hawaii (the stop state), which might throw off the numbers at the very top. But if you look a bit farther down the lists, you see cities (Longmont, Green Bay, Spokane, San Jose) and states (Idaho, Maine, Washington) that are not year-round tourism hot spots, but still score very high on the hedonometer. 

Another problem is that the researchers did not look at Twitter in Spanish. If the researchers contention that income is positively correlated with happiness is true, cities where the poor population is primarily Spanish speaking would appear happier on this list than warranted. The prevalence of Western states with large Latino populations on the happy list would seem to suggest this bias is worth exploring.

Nonetheless, it's fascinating to see people exploring how to quantify happiness beyond survey data. I'd love to see examples of cities that overperform on happiness relative to their economic factors. Do they just have good weather or has some set of policies had an actual impact? 

happiestsaddest.jpg

Update: The list of happiest and saddest states was incorrect in a caption in the original paper. The paper has been corrected, and so we have changed the list here, too.

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Roman Abramovich's Enormous Yacht May Stay In NYC For A Few Months

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roman abramovich eclipse yacht nyc

Last week, the largest yacht in the world sailed up the Hudson River and docked near midtown Manhattan.

The outrageously fancy "Eclipse" belongs to Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire who owns Chelsea Football Club.

No reason for the Eclipse's NYC stay, at Pier 90, has been offered by Abramovich or NYCruise, which operates the pier.

But it may be about a baby: Abramovich's girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, is expecting a child in the Spring, and dock workers have said the yacht is scheduled to stick around until mid-April.

NYCruise touts itself as "home to the world's most spectacular — often fastest, biggest, and most luxurious — cruise ships," a fitting home for the Eclipse.

NYCruise is operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which declined to comment on the Eclipse, and pointed us to David Keller, the President of Trans-Atlantic Agencies.

Keller said he could not discuss the arrangement, due to a non-disclosure agreement. He did note, however, that the Eclipse is docked at the only spot in lower Manhattan big enough to hold her.

A security guard at Pier 92, also operated by NYCruise, said the yacht belongs to a Russian named Roman, but offered no other information.

The yacht is in impressive company: Its neighbor is the Norwegian Star, the 965-foot cruise ship. On the other side of the Star is the Intrepid, the retired aircraft carrier turned museum.

The 533-foot Eclipse has two swimming pools, two helicopter pads, and a mini-submarine. It is equipped with a missile defense system and bullet-proof windows around Abramovich's suite, according to the Daily Mail.

There are 24 guest cabins, and the yacht is kept in order by an enormous, 70-member crew, according to Superyachts.com.

The yacht, built by Blohm + Voss in Germany, was delivered to Abramovich in December 2010, for nearly $1.5 billion, the Daily Mail reported.

The Eclipse made port at St George's Harbour in Bermuda on January 29, the Bermuda Sun reported, and arrived in New York on February 13.

Here are a few more photos of the yacht, taken from shore:

roman abramovich eclipse yacht nyc

roman abramovich eclipse yacht nyc

roman abramovich eclipse yacht nyc

YACHT OF THE WEEK: For $33.75 Million, Own The Luxurious, Speedy 'Harmony'

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Somebody Bought The Domain Name For Guy Fieri's Restaurant And Put Up A Ridiculous Fake Menu

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The folks at Guy Fieri's American Kitchen & Bar — you know, the Times Square restaurant that was eviscerated by The New York Times— apparently forgot to buy up domain names related to the brand name.

The real website for Fieri's restaurant is guysamerican.com. Guysamericankitchenandbar.com, however, doesn't take you to a Fieri-owned website. 

Now, someone has put up a funny parody menu of Fieri's restaurant at the site, loaded with offerings like Captain Beefheart and Football: The Meal.

We realize there are a lot of variations of a domain name that pranksters can hijack, but c'mon man — it doesn't get any more simple than the actual name of the restaurant.

Here's the menu, via @steveannear:

guy fieri menu

SEE ALSO: Inside Guy Fieri's Times Square Restaurant >

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Pamela Anderson Is Selling Her Malibu Home For $7.75 Million

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pam anderson selling malibu home

Pamela Anderson has been plagued by rumors of money troubles lately.

In December of last year, it was reported by TMZ that the Baywatch actress owed $371,514.65 in unpaid taxes to the IRS, and was over-spending on her home construction project to boot.

So it appears that to get back on financial track, the sex symbol is selling her Malibu Colony home. It was just listed for $7.75 million, according to real estate blog Trulia.

Anderson originally purchased the home back in 2000 for $1.8 million — that means if the price holds, the actress could be making a profit of $6 million to help with her financial woes.

The home was designed by architect Philip Vertoch in 1959, and decorated by Josh Chryssanthou and Pamela Anderson herself. It has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a pool.

Welcome to the Baywatch babe's Malibu Colony Road teak-sided home.

Source: Trulia



It has a total of five bedrooms.

Source: Trulia



Here's the gorgeous master bedroom with wood floors, tons of space, and a large vanity.

Source: Trulia



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11 Pinterest Profiles That Will Make You Better With Money

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pinterest birthday cake

I used to read blogs for fun. Now, the blogosphere is so cluttered that I turn to Pinterest for a refreshing browse.

Savvy social media users are no strangers to Pinterest, though the pinboard-style visual sharing site is still small enough that even an established publication like Money Magazine only has 320 followers, respectively.

Now is the time to take advantage of this rapidly growing social media site and start following the 10 best Pinterest profiles for money saving tips, tricks, and advice:

Coupons.com

5,480 Followers

I was surprised to find just one board out of 40 devoted to coupons on the Coupons.com Pinterest page.

There were plenty of visual and money-saving treats, like the “Money Saving Gift Ideas” board, which suggested this birthday gift: Tie a balloon to a photo, one for each year. How sweet!

I also liked the “DIY & Craft Ideas” board. Overall, the profile is very nicely laid out with top-notch visuals.



Bankrate.com

340 Followers

The Bankrate Pinterest page delivers what it promises: “…tips and ideas that will make your life better on a budget!”

On the “Go free, save green” board I found basic recipes for making natural household cleaners and the “Thrifty, tasty eats” board had me running to the kitchen for a second lunch.

I immersed myself in the Discount designs board — I can finally afford to turn my home into a magazine!

There’s also more serious fare, like “Budgeting for babies” and “Raising financially smart kids.”



Mint.com

1352 Followers

If you love all the money-saving advice on the Mint.com blog, then you’ll love Mint’s Pinterest page. I liked the “Saving $ in Style” board, which shared tips on how to negotiate medical bills and where to buy discounted gift cards.

Your eyes are in for a visual treat on the “All Things Minty” board, where all shades of green reveal themselves in everyday objects.

There’s no lack of practical personal finance advice, either. Turn to “Investing with Matthew Amster-Burton” or “All Things Credit” for a quick hit of financial acumen.



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British Butcher Has A Simple Way To Keep Horse Out Of Meat

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Hamburger Patty

In the wake of the horsemeat scandal, north London butcher Chris Godfrey reveals the simplicity of his supply chain as he champions British meat.

The discovery of horse meat in burgers and lasagnes has prompted shoppers to question to what degree they can trust what is in their supermarket food.

While the blame for the crisis may lie with suppliers and fraud, the scandal has nonetheless shone an unflattering light on the supply chains used by supermarkets. As a result, shoppers are now asking whether the cheaper alternative is really an alternative at all.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Chris Godfrey, butcher and owner of F Godfrey, said it was "unbelievable" that meat was sourced from outside the UK when "so much good meat" was produced with the UK.

He queried: "Why do you have to drag animals halfway across Europe to feed our protein appetite?"

He added that more EU regulations would not strike at the heart of the problem.

Industrial meat production, he said, meant that most factory workers wouldn't be able to tell one type of meat from another.

"Our meat starts on the farm, we order it, it comes through on the hoof, it's killed," he added.

"We know exactly what it is, the sex and age, and we butcher it."

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DC Neighborhood Has So Many Men In Jail, Women Can't Find Mates

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washington dcSo many men have gone to jail in some DC neighborhoods, that there are only 6 men for every 10 women.

This startling fact and its repercussions are featured in an excellent article by John Tierney in the New York Times.

The star of the story is Charlene Hamilton, who divorced her husband at his request when he went to prison for dealing drugs. She was unable to remarry, however, due to the lack of eligible men.

“With so many men locked up, the ones left think they can do whatever they want,” Ms. Hamilton told the Times. “A man will have three mistresses, and they’ll each put up with it because there are no other men around.”

That gender inequality also seems to lead to more teen pregnancies, "possibly because women have less power to require their partners to practice protected sex or remain monogamous," according to the Times.

And you can imagine what happens to children who grow up in these broken households.

"Prison has become the new poverty trap," Harvard sociologist Bruce Western tells the Times.

SEE ALSO: 13 Signs That America's Prison System Is Out Of Control >

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WHAT'S WRONG WITH WESLEYAN? Museum Party Disaster Latest In String Of Booze And Drug Embarrassments

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Wesleyan students have once again made headlines for their out-of-control partying.

Last week, a Valentine's Day party at a science museum ended early after a senior cocktail celebration turned into a debauched baccanal. 

Students were kicked out of the Connecticut Science Center two hours after their senior cocktail event began last week. 

One student who was there described the scene:

"We were having this pretty rowdy dance party and people were spilling drinks everywhere," the Wesleyan senior told us. "Suddenly, they turned all the lights on and told us to get out."

A local TV station reported earlier that students were allegedly caught doing drugs and having sex in the museum bathrooms.

A campus blog also reported that students were projectile vomiting on the stairs. It was rumored that one drunken reveler climbed up onto the dinosaur exhibit:

dinosaur exhibit

One senior questioned the choice of venue for this year's senior cocktails: the Science Center's "Liquid Lounge."  

"I have friends who have worked there and said that they had to kick people in their 30's out for climbing on exhibits," the student, who also wished to be anonymous, told us. "What did they expect from some college seniors?" 

Here are a series of tweets from a student who was disgusted by the turn of events: 

wesleyan tweet

And the ambivalent views of some other students: 

wesleyan facebook post

The school's senior cocktails have a long history of becoming too rowdy for the authorities' liking.

"Wesleyan has a senior cocktail problem," one '09 alumnus told us. "I remember my year, we were at a banquet hall, and someone just takes out a butter knife and starts cutting lines of cocaine." 

The alumnus cited many incidents where things got too wild:

  • December 2007: December Senior Cocktails were cancelled "due to irresponsible behavior at the first cocktails event of the academic year," The Wesleyan Argus reported in Nov. 2007. During the first cocktails in October 2007, students reportedly verbally abused bus drivers transporting them to the venue and the head of the bus company was allegedly physically assaulted. 
  • September 2008: The ban on Senior Cocktails didn't last long. By September 2008, The Wesleyan Argus was reporting the tradition was back and better than ever. The paper printed this announcement from the senior class officers:

FASTER.
STRONGER.
NO DRINK TICKETS.
WAY F-ING CHEAPER.
-The senior class officers

  • November 2008: The Class of 2009 brought some good news to the tradition of Senior Cocktails. The class successfully hosted an "incident free evening" in Nov. 2008, The Wesleyan Argus reported at the time.  “Wesleyan students are not generally destructive or riotous," Senior Class President Ravid Chowdhury told the Argus. "We just party harder and better than everyone else.”
  • January 2010: Senior Cocktails are so important to Wesleyan students, there was a wave of negative backlash after some students proposed sending the cocktails budget to Haiti relief efforts, The Wesleyan Argus reported at the time. Some students thought the proposal "makes Senior Cocks appear frivolous" and others stated "the fact that the proposal was submitted indicates that the senior class officers (who conceived of the idea in the first place) think Senior Cocks is just about drinking, when, in fact, it is also about class bonding."

The alumnus told us his theory on why the tradition is still out of control. 

"It's a smaller school, so the incidents usually aren't widely publicized," he told us. "After a year or two, everyone forgets this s--- happened. Regardless of GPA, everyone's an idiot when they're drunk." 

The university told us in a statement that it apologized to the Connecticut Science Center and is "deeply disappointed by the problematic behavior." The school is also working with seniors to reevaluate plans for future events. 

A Wesleyan senior told us that a few reckless people ruined the event for everyone else. 

"It was a fun event, and a fun premise," the student told us. "The majority of people just were eating snacks, drinking wine, talking with their friends, and interacting with exhibits. We got kicked out because of the actions of a couple of individuals."

SEE ALSO: Law Student Says It's Time For Law Schools To Be More Like Med Schools >

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Fashion PR Guy Busted At JFK For Allegedly Swiping A Dali Painting

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 Cartel Des Don Juan Tenorio 1949, Dali Painting

Phivos Lampros Istavrioglou, Moncler's head of international relations is accused of stealing Salvador Dali's 'Cartel Des Don Juan Tenorio 1949' from a New York art gallery in 2012.

French fashion brand Moncler’s head of international media relations was arrested at New York’s JFK airport on Saturday night after allegedly stealing a $150,000 Salvador Dali painting from an Upper East Side art gallery last year.

Phivos Lampros Istavrioglou, 29, was handcuffed by detectives at 1.15pm after stepping off an American Airlines flight from Milan following a sting operation to lure him back to the city, New York Post reports.

Istavrioglou is accused of stealing the ‘Cartel Des Don Juan Tenorio 1949’ from the Venus Over Manhattan gallery last June in a crime that made international news.

Sources confirmed that Istavrioglou has admitted to the theft, claiming he did it because “there was a lapse in security at the gallery and he wanted to point it out.”

Bail has been set at $100,000 by the Manhattan Criminal Court following a charge of larceny in the second degree.

The accused allegedly snatched the Dali painting off a wall in the exhibition area during business hours, dropped it inside a shopping bag and strolled out of the gallery, police said.

The following week he posted the painting back to the gallery from Greece inside a cylinder, and police were able to lift his fingerprints following a separate arrest for stealing a steak from Whole Foods, New York last January.

Undercover detectives posed as representatives from a up-market art gallery offering Istavrioglou a lucrative consultancy contract to entice him to return to New York.

A spokesman confirmed that Istavrioglou has left Moncler, which is famous for its luxurious, down-filled puffa jackets.

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The Epic Downfall Of The Casino That Was Supposed To Save Atlantic City

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revel atlantic cityThe $2.2 billion dollar Revel Casino was the most ambitious project in the history of Atlantic City. After a nearly 6 year saga of construction halts, union protests, government assistance, and other drama, it opened to great fanfare in May 2012.

It was supposed to revitalize the city and provide a resort like alternative to smoky, windowless casinos. It never delivered on that promise. It has yet to turn a profit and has been at or near the bottom of casino revenue in Atlantic City the whole time.

Now, less than a year after opening, Revel announced yesterday that it had entered a pre-arranged bankruptcy plan with its creditors, and that it will seek Chapter 11 protection in the coming weeks. 

Former Business Insider reporter Simone Foxman was there to photograph the Revel as it started. Here's a look at how things have gone downhill. 

The $2.2 billion dollar project started a half decade ago, when Morgan Stanley approached casino veteran Kevin DeSanctis, who is now Revel CEO.

Source: The Wall Street Journal



The casino nearly didn't happen. Construction began in February of 2008, just a few months before the economy began to collapse.

Source: A 2012 interview with CEO Kevin DeSanctis



Casinos in particular were ravaged by the recession. From 2007 to 2011, gaming revenue declined by an average of 8.62 percent.

Source: UNLV



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Bentley's Incredibly Fast Sedan Is Worth The $200,000 Price Tag

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 bentley flying spur

Bentley has officially unveiled the full details of the brand new Flying Spur, the fastest and most powerful four-door the automaker has ever produced. It's a beauty.

The update on the Continental Flying Spur ("Continental" has been dropped from the name) is lower, wider, and a lot more powerful, thanks to a 6.0-liter, twin turbocharged W12 engine.

That's good for 616 brake horsepower and an impressive 580 pound feet of torque at 2,000 revs/minute.

The Flying Spur, which was teased earlier this month, will debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and make its first North American appearance at the New York Auto Show a few weeks later.

It can hit 200 mph and go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. That's incredibly fast, especially for a Bentley (these aren't sports cars), and even more impressive when the car's 6,546 pound gross weight is factored in. That's heavier than even the fattest version of the 2013 Range Rover SUV. (Side effect: Fuel economy goes out the window.)

Naturally, the interior is stuffed with all the hand-crafted leather (in 12 different colors) and wood veneers (choose burr walnut or dark fiddleback eucalyptus) any member of the elite could want.

(For interested parties, Bentley has also released a line of colognes that make you smell like the inside of a Bentley.)

For those who don't get to sit behind the wheel, the back seat is the place to be: There's a nine-liter bottle cooler in the central rear armrest, and two 10-inch LCD screens are fixed to the backs of the front seats, among many other luxury features.

Of course, that level of comfort and performance come with a price tag that is inflated by the Bentley "B" on the hood: They Flying Spur starts at $206,000.

Last month, we test drove Bentley's flagship sedan, the Mulsanne, and found that while the $347,000 price tag may be a bit steep, the way that having a Bentley name changed our lives made it worth it.

The Flying Spur will yield that same benefit, and add a sporty quality the Mulsanne is missing. How it handles remains to be seen, but as you can hit 60 mph in 4.3 seconds while your passengers sip on chilled champagne and watch movies on their own screens, the $200,000 price tag seems like a good deal.

bentley flying spur

 bentley flying spur

 bentley flying spur

TEST DRIVE: Here's Why The 2013 Bentley Mulsanne Is Worth $347,000

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People Have Been Crash Dieting For Over 2,000 Years

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Food Diet Vegetables WalnutsPre-20th-century diets

In Calories & Corsets: a History of Dieting over 2,000 years, Louise Foxcroft shows that worrying about our food habits, and trying to change them, isn't a modern phenomenon. "Hippocrates understood that the underlying principles of health were food and exercise," she writes. From early Christian asceticism to the 1558 "bestseller" The Art of Living Long, Lord Byron's "fad diet of potatoes flattened and drenched in vinegar" and the French physician Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's low-carb diet in the 19th century, the desire to lose weight has been a constant. "One of the earliest low-carbohydrate diets to reach a major audience," Foxcroft points out, was published by William Banting, an undertaker, in 1863. "It soon became so well-known that "Banting" – as in "I am Banting"– became a synonym for dieting in the UK and America well into the 1920s."

Fletcherism, early 1900s

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, Horace Fletcher, an American entrepreneur, gained the nickname the Great Masticator. His diet, which Foxton called a "chewing craze", involved eating as much as you liked, but each mouthful had to be chewed a minimum of 100 times (the idea being that the food would become liquid, and weight gain could not result from undigested food).

Calorie counting, 1920s

The fashion for thin, boyish figures for women took hold in the 1920s, and so did fad diets, such as the cigarette diet (one Lucky Strike advert read "reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet"). Numerous products, such as diet pills, chewing gum, laxatives and contraptions made outlandish fat-reducing claims. But the idea of counting the number of calories in food took off after Doctor Lulu Hunt Peters published Diet & Health: With Key to the Calories, in 1918. It sold millions of copies throughout the 1920s, becoming the first diet bestseller. She urged women to view food as calories, and not to consume more than 1,200 a day.

Hay diet, 1930s

The diet established by William Hay, an American doctor, became one of the most famous early fad diets. It was based on Hay's idea that food was either protein, starch or neutral – protein and starch, he believed, should not be eaten in the same meal. Famous followers included Henry Ford.

Cabbage soup diet, 1950s

The creator is unknown, but its popularity has continued to the present day, even though it appears to be nothing more than a recipe for flatulence. Usually a seven-day diet plan, consisting of mainly cabbage soup, supplemented with fruit and vegetables and a small amount of meat. Other soup diets have become popular in the decades since, such as the watercress soup diet.

The Atkins diet, 1972

Robert Atkins devised the diet based on his own weight-loss experiments, and by the late 1960s it was gaining attention. In 1972 he published Dr Atkins' Diet Revolution, which would go on to sell tens of millions of copies. Thirty years later, his follow-up book, New Diet Revolution (2002), made the Atkins diet more popular than ever – it was made more famous by the number of celebrities supposedly on it.

The Beverly Hills diet, 1981

The book, published in 1981, showed people how to follow a highly restrictive six-week food-combining regimen and turned its author, Judy Mazel, into a Hollywood diet "guru". Mazel, clearly inspired by William Hay, believed that the order in which we ate food was the main problem, "confusing" the enzymes in our bodies that digest the food and leading to weight gain. She advocated the eating of rather a lot of "fat-burning" pineapple. For the first 10 days of the diet, only fruit was permitted; gradually other foods were introduced, but protein and carbohydrates were eaten separately. It sold more than a million copies and attracted celebrity fans including Linda Gray and Liza Minnelli.

Blood Type diet, 1997

In Eat Right for Your Type, Peter D'Adamo, a naturopath, claimed that people should eat foods compatible with their blood type. Under his regimen, those with the O blood group, for instance, should follow a higher-protein/lower-carbohydrate diet, while those in the A group should be mainly vegetarian. He claims his diet will "lead you back to the essential truths that live in every cell of your body and link you to your historical, evolutionary ancestry".

The Dukan diet, 2000s

A French GP, Pierre Dukan, developed his diet in the 1970s as a way of treating obese patients. But it was only in 2000, when he published his book in France (it was published in the UK in 2010), that the Dukan diet took off, selling around eight million copies to date. Like the Atkins diet, it involves four stages of weight loss and "stabilisation", with the final stage being a diet for life, including eating protein only one day a week.

The fasting diet, 2012

Fasting, sometimes known as the 5:2 diet (eat normally for five days; restrict calories to 500 for women, and 600 for men, on two non-consecutive days), is the current diet trend – though its supporters would describe it as advice for life rather than a fad diet – and there are claims it can reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. In the UK, the idea gained traction after Dr Michael Mosley took part in a BBC2 Horizon documentary about the health benefits of fasting in 2012, then published a book on the subject. Another book, The 2 Day Diet, also advocating two low-calorie days per week, has just been published. Written by Dr Michelle Harvie, a dietitian, and Tony Howell, a professor of oncology at Manchester University, and based on their research, it gives weight to the 5:2 diet.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

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ZAHA HADID: 'I'm Sure That As A Woman I Can Build A Very Good Skyscraper'

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zaha hadid

In a damning indictment of the prevailing culture of her own profession, Dame Zaha Hadid, the world's leading female architect, says she has faced "more misogynist behaviour" in London than anywhere else in Europe and that things are not improving at all for women in architecture.

Speaking to the Observer in the wake of the disturbing findings of a survey into the working lives of women architects, Hadid said: "I have noticed it is easier for me in European countries than it is here. There is a different dynamic. In the UK it is more difficult. They are very conservative. There is a scepticism and more misogynist behaviour here. Although, while there were people against me, there were also people living here who were incredibly supportive."

The British Iraqi, who is a former winner of Britain's Stirling prize and the international Pritzker prize, said it was frequently assumed that a woman architect could not take on a big commercial project and that she was better suited to residential properties, public buildings or leisure centres. "I am sure that as a woman I can do a very good skyscraper," she said. "I don't think it is only for men."

The acclaimed architect, best known in Britain for the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park, recognised a bias that pushes women towards designing interiors. "It is thought they understand interior shapes, and I am sure they do understand them better than men actually, but the idea is that they will prefer to deal with a single client, rather than with corporations and developers."

Her remarks this weekend were prompted by research carried out by the Architects' Journal that revealed a "sinister and rotten kernel of inequality" in British architecture and the shocking fact that two thirds of women who responded reported "insidious" male bullying at work. Sixty per cent also said that clients in the building industry failed to recognise their authority.

While the cover stars of the new AJ are Walters & Cohen, joint winners of last year's AJ woman architect of the year award, Hadid gives no credence to the idea that things are getting better: "No, I don't think so. What AJ is doing is very good and the editor, Christine Murray, has been very active, but I doubt anything has changed much over the last 30 years."

In 2003 The Royal Institute of British Architects raised the issue with its report Why Do Women Leave Architecture? but Hadid believes it has not done nearly enough, despite having had two consecutive female presidents since September 2009, Ruth Reed and Angela Brady. "In my view the changes within Riba are nonexistent," she said. Last year Hadid won the Jane Drew award in recognition of her influence on the industry. Her acceptance speech dealt with the high-profile row surrounding the competition to build Cardiff Bay Opera House. She still sees the incident as typical: "I had a very bad experience in Cardiff and then with the foundation building I was designing in London. There was just a reluctance to go out of the box with thinking."

While numbers of male and female architecture students are equally balanced, only just above 20% of qualified architects are women.

"It is a very tough industry and it is male-dominated, not just in architectural practices, but the developers and the builders too," said Hadid. "I can't blame the men, though. The problem is continuity. Society has not been set up in a way that allows women to go back to work after taking time off. Many women now have to work as well as do everything at home and no one can do everything. Society needs to find a way of relieving women. It may be a little easier now, with new technology, for a woman to take off six months or a year and then come back."

Drop-out rates following motherhood may also be related to the lower rates of pay for women architects that make it hard for them to afford childcare. The AJ survey showed that almost half of women were paid less than their male equivalents for the same job.

"Like men, women have to be diligent and work hard. I have quite a few senior architects in the office and they are extremely reliable and very talented, but, when I taught, all my best students were women. Then they drift off," said Hadid, who has designed the Middle East Centre, or "Softbridge", now being constructed in Oxford.

She believes women need to be encouraged and to have their confidence built up. "I was very lucky because my family always believed that I could do it."

Although AJ warns that British urban design may be damaged by the lack of women architects, Hadid welcomes the "exciting" changing skyline of London. She has two provisos though: women should be allowed to handle major projects and there should be an overall strategy shaping new developments.

"People used to think women did not have enough logic. Well, that is absolute nonsense. I don't know the ego of a man, or how their mentality works, but there is no difference at all in capability, not formally in terms of the buildings at least. There might be differences in women's leadership qualities or in their ego issues, but we can design in the same way if we have the chance."

She argues that London should consider copying Paris by designating specific areas for skyscrapers. "London has to decide where it is going," she says.

Such issues should be debated, Hadid argues, "not to nit-pick, but because it affects the amount of light and shadow in the city."

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

SEE ALSO: The 65 Best New Buildings In The World

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Amazon's Star Engineer Lives On A Gorgeous 52-Foot Yacht

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Dirona cropped 3We told you about James Hamilton, a distinguished engineer who makes sure Amazon's $4.5 billion tech infrastructure business runs smoothly.

About four years ago, Hamilton and his family made a decision to sell most of their belongings and "hack their lives" as Wired's Robert McMillan describes it

The Hamiltons moved aboard the Dirona, a custom-built, 52-foot Nordhavn yacht; they were intimately involved in the boat's design.

Hamilton often sails the Dirona from Hawaii and works remotely from there. He commutes on a bicycle and he does his shopping via Amazon Prime, picking up purchases at the local UPS store.

The Dirona is often stationed in Hawaii near Waikiki.



This isn't the couple's first yacht. They shopped for 10 years before choosing a Nordhavn 52.



Here's a shot of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor in Hawaii where they often live.



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Take An Overnight Houseboat Cruise Through The Backwaters Of Kerala, India

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Backwaters at sunset.JPG

Dani, a German freelance photographer, and Jess, a Chicago-born freelance travel editor and writer, are the nomadic couple behind their popular blog The Globetrottergirls.

In 2010, the pair left their adopted home of London to travel around the world, and they haven't stopped since.

Last year, the couple took a three-day houseboat river cruise in Kerala, India, a region known for its sprawling river system and proximity to the Laccadive Sea.

After looking at seven boats in the major tourist city of Alleppey (also known as Alappuzha), and bartering down the price to 7,000 rupees per night (or $125), Dani and Jess set out with two friends to travel the lakes and streams of Kerala.

Their journey through the backwaters surpassed expectations. Superb daily meals, outstanding views of nature and the surrounding villages, and a leisurely boat ride made for a memorable experience. They even booked an extra night with their personal captain and crew to keep the experience going.

The traveling couple shared their photographs and recollections of the trip with Business Insider.

Dani and Jess took a three-day cruise that began and ended in the touristy city of Alleppey.

Source: The Globetrottergirls



They paid 7,000 Rupees ($125) per night for a two-bedroom boat with all food and transportation costs (including a personal chef, meals, and a captain) included.

Source: The Globetrottergirls



Though the houseboats vary in style and range in level of accommodations (from hostel-style to five-star floating hotels), the standard boats are traditional kettuvallam with an upper deck and thatched roofs made from bamboo poles and palm leaves.

Source: The Globetrottergirls



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13 Things Every Business Traveler Should Pack In Their Carry-On

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luggage suitcase in airport

As glamorous as it may sound to jet-set across the country, schmooze with clients, and live off room service, just about every business traveler would beg to differ. 

There are flights to catch, car rentals to book, endless airport security lines to navigate, and, of course, the hassle of keeping tabs on your paper trail along the way (because how else will you get reimbursed?). 

And we haven't even mentioned the whole living-out-of-a-suitcase factor. Since carry-on bags give business travelers the ultimate mobility factor, we asked a few frequent fliers to help us put together a list of items they would never leave home without. 

Stop paying for airport WiFi and stay connected with your own MiFi hotspot.

Unless you're interested in shelling out up to $12 to use airport WiFi, it's a good idea to invest in a WiFi hotspot of your own. 

With its slim, credit card-sized package and simple access to 4G networks, the Verizon Jetpack MiFi is a personal favorite of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer and David Rush, co-founder and CEO of Evzdrop.com.

"The MiFi is a huge time-saver because you always know you can stay connected regardless of your location," Rush told BI. "It also makes meetings efficient and gets you instantly online with a great connection."



Ditch the pricey GPS navigation system on your rental car and bring your own.

Car rental agencies are notorious for tacking on hidden fees on essential accessories like GPS navigation systems.

Save yourself some cash by bringing your own along (plenty are small enough to fit in your purse or carry-on bag). If you don't already own one, it's simple enough to turn your smartphone into a GPS device all on its own. 

Rig up a do-it-yourself smartphone stand for your dashboard, or invest in a ready-made mount for under $30.



Never lose track of boarding passes or expense reports with Lemon and Passbook apps.

The greatest challenge for business travelers is keeping tabs on their own paper trail –– that includes tickets, boarding passes and, of course, all those receipts.

We recommend putting Passbook and the Lemon.com app to good use. 

Passbook is essentially a hub on your smartphone where you can compile all of your boarding passes, tickets, discount cards, and coupons.

And with Lemon, you can easily upload photos of receipts, put together summary reports, track expenses, and search receipts for specific items. When you're back at the office, just print out or email your reports to the right place. 



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Theory Founder Sells Condo At Trump International For $15.6 Million

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trump international tower

Andrew Rosen, the founder of the Theory fashion label, sold his 4,266-square-foot duplex condominium at the Trump International Tower for $15.6 million, according to records filed with the city yesterday.

Kyle Blackmon, a Brown Harris Stevens senior vice president and managing director, had the listing for the home, located at 1 Central Park West. Blackmon declined to comment, but as The Real Deal reported last year, the duplex had an $18 million ask when it first hit the market in January 2012.

That July, the listing went offline and reemerged in mid-September for $16.4 million, Streeteasy.com shows.

Rosen’s home, which he purchased in March 2006 for $6.9 million, was profiled in Elle Décor in October 2011. In the article, Rosen said that he hated the unit’s staircase, which he told Elle was a traditional structure.

“When I realized that I could do something more interesting, I decided to buy the apartment,” he told Elle Décor. And over the course of nine months, he and his architect planned and finished a glass and steel-spiral staircase, which the magazine said serves as “a kind of sculptural centerpiece in the space.”

The apartment reportedly has gallery space on both floors, but no views of Central Park. According to the listing, the home has four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, as well as a library, polished concrete flooring and a home cinema.

The purchaser of the home is listed as Huddygirl LLC — an entity linked to a Rachel Cole in state records and in mortgage documents, who could not immediately be further identified.

The sale entered contract on Nov. 29 and transferred on Jan. 16.

A message to Theory press representatives seeking comment from Rosen was not immediately returned by press time.

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Get Your Own Personal Trainer With The Pear Pro Intelligence System

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This is the Pear Pro Training Intelligence System.

Why We Love It: It would be nice if we could all have a personal trainer on our daily jogs, but most of us can't. Pear Pro is a mobile training system that uses a heart rate sensor, stride sensor, earphones, and a Training Intelligence program that gives you real-time coaching as you work out.

The EarLock earphones allow you to find out your stats quickly — like average pace, calories burned, and miles traveled — by pressing a button. The Square One Sports Clip fits iPod shuffles and stores all your training data as well as customized training plans to help you reach your fitness goals.

Pear Sports System

 

Pear Sports System

Where To Buy: Available through Pear Sports.

Cost: $199.95, $99.95 for the Mobile Training Intelligence System for iPhone.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

SEE ALSO: This Pen-Sized Scanner Will Make You Feel Like James Bond

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