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27 of the strangest world records ever attempted

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World record attempts

People will do some pretty crazy things to get in the record books. 

Though some world-record holders are physical anomalies — like the world's tallest person, or the shortest— the Guinness Book of World Records is filled with some incredibly strange attempts.

In honor of these odd achievements, here are the 27 weirdest records broken by people around the world.

SEE ALSO: Photos show how different family meals look in busy homes across America

1,010 bikini-clad women pose on an Australian beach in 2007 to set a Guinness World Record for the largest swimsuit photo shoot to date. In 2011, they were outnumbered by 3,090 in China.

Source: Guinness World Records



Hassan al-Zayyat shows off Quranic verses that he had copied by hand on 39- by 28-inch paper, aspiring to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest handwritten Quran, in 2010.



In their attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "Biggest Barbecue in the World," about 30,000 people grilled 13,713 kilos of beef.



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Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio reveals the most common mistakes people make when cooking

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Award-winning chef, restaurateur, and "Top Chef" judge Tom Colicchio weighs in on the most common mistakes home cooks make.

Colicchio is also a spokesperson for Arnold Bread and America's Better Sandwich.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Yeah, I think the most common mistake that people make when talking about food and talk about cooking is they think for some reason that you can read a few recipes and then you're just a good cook.

Hi, I'm Tom Colicchio with Crafted Hospitality.

If you want to be a good cook, you have to practice. And so I suspect if you're not a good cook, you don't spend a whole lot of time cooking. It's like anything. A lot of it’s muscle memory, it's about creating good habits it's about learning good solid technique and methods. So it's much like learning to play a musical instrument. You have to understand basics, you have to understand theory. And then from there you can improvise.

You don't need a whole lot of gadgets you need a sharp knife. Make sure it’s sharp and learn, learn how to use a knife. When I was a young kid learning to cook, I read somewhere that knife skills were so important so I would buy celery ‘cause it was the cheapest thing I could buy and just practice cutting it. You know, and work on your knife skills. Getting comfortable with a knife is really important. Not just for speed but for precision as well. So I think, I think that's probably the most important thing.

The other mistake that people make is sometimes they’re too — they adhere too much to a recipe and they get freaked out if they don't have an ingredient or ... you know, a recipe’s a guideline. It's just a starting off point and you can go from there. And so, but I think if you really want to become a better cook, you have to cook.

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15 things everyone gets wrong about working for an airline, according to flight attendants and gate agents who do

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Catch me if you can flight attendants pilot

When it comes an airline worker's job, perception rarely matches reality.

As Annette Long, a flight attendant with 13 years of experience, previously told Business Insider, people often think there's glamour associated with her job. "But the job itself is far from glamorous," she said. "Even if you're working in first class or business class, it's not glamorous at all."

Long said that many passengers often get the wrong idea of what airline workers do for a living.

To set the record straight, Business Insider asked more than 80 airline workers including flight attendants, gate agents, ticket agents, and other airport customer service reps to weigh in on some of the most common misconceptions out there.

We've anonymously included some of their answers here:

SEE ALSO: Airline workers share 17 things they wish passengers would stop doing

DON'T MISS: Airline workers share 26 things they'd love to tell passengers but can't

Flight attendants party all the time

"Most layovers are short, and you barely have time for food and a good night's sleep." — A flight attendant

"We spend most layovers in bed with wine and Netflix." — A flight attendant



Putting bags in overhead bins for passengers is part of a flight attendant's job

"Our companies don't cover our injuries if we get hurt lifting your bags." — A flight attendant



Any trained monkey can do this job

"It takes years to get to the point where customers don't see you sweat and you give excellent customer service." — An airline customer service agent

"People often think that we are minimum wage flunkies and that a monkey can do what we do." — An airline customer service agent



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How staying single could improve your life

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Taylor Swift Grammys

  • There are more unmarried people in the US than married, which is sometimes presented as problematic.
  • But research shows that we are not living in a society of lonely narcissists.
  • In fact, a number of studies find that being single can actually contribute your success in life.

When my mother was my age, she told me, if you were a single woman filling out official documents, you would have to mark yourself down as a "spinster."

Really. That was the legal term for an unmarried woman in England until very recently. Spinster.

The word certainly doesn't inspire much optimism in a single woman's prospects.

Things have changed quite a bit since then.

In the US, people are getting hitched less often than they once did, and young Americans are putting off marriage more than ever before.

In 1962, half of 21-year-olds and 90% of 30-year-olds had been married at least once. In 2014, only 8% of 21-year-olds and 55% of 30-year-olds had been married.

Single Americans are now the majority.

But that doesn't mean that the single life isn't still wrapped in stigma.

As New York University sociologist Eric Klinenberg writes in his book, "Going Solo," when discussed publicly, the rise of living alone is often presented as an unmitigated social problem and a sign of diminished public life.

Of course, not everybody thinks this way.

"For decades social scientists have been worrying that our social connections are fraying, that we've become a society of lonely narcissists," Klinenberg tells The New York Times. "I'm not convinced."

And neither are a number of researchers. These studies begin to unpack the question of how being single can contribute your success in life:

SEE ALSO: 25 surprising things that can make you successful

DON'T MISS: Parents of successful kids have these 12 things in common

Single people tend to be more social

Research suggests that, compared to married people, Americans who have always been single are more likely to support and stay in touch with their family and are more likely to help, encourage, and socialize with friends and neighbors.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Time Use Survey, single Americans spend on average 12 minutes a day staying in touch with other people by calling, emailing, or mailing them. Married people spend on average 7.8 minutes a day keeping in touch.

Klinenberg explains that, despite extraordinary external pressure that can lead to self-doubt, being single doesn't condemn someone to a life of feeling lonely or isolated.

"On the contrary, the evidence suggests that people who live alone compensate by becoming more socially active than those who live with others, and that cities with high numbers of singletons enjoy a thriving public culture," he writes. 



Single people tend to have more time to themselves

Klinenberg also believes that, in the age of expanding digital media and growing connectedness, being single offers a clear advantage: more restorative solitude.

More alone time helps people discover who they are and what gives their life meaning and purpose, he explains.

"Living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values — individual freedom, personal control, and self-realization — whose significance endures from adolescence to our final days," Klinenberg writes.



Single people tend to spend more time on leisure

Whether conducted in solitude or with other people, singles tend to spend more time on overall leisure activities than married people.

According to the BLS, single people spend on average 5.56 hours a day on overall leisure activities, compared to married people, who spend an average 4.87 hours a day on leisure.

Broken down even further, single people spend on average about three minutes more a day participating in sports, exercise, and recreation than married people, about 16 minutes more a day watching TV, and about 15 minutes more a day playing games and on leisurely computer use.



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These 17 roller coasters have been named the best rides of 2017

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Even theme parks get awards.

Amusement Today is a monthly periodical featuring news on amusement parks and rides, but it's best known for handing out the Golden Ticket Awards. 

Each year, the Golden Ticket Awards ranks the best steel and wooden roller coasters out there. It also does our accolades for things like the best theme park food and best water park.

We decided to limit our focus on the Golden Ticket Awards' ranking for best steel roller coasters as amusement parks compete to offer faster and taller rides than ever before.

Here are the best rides this year:

 

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's Hyperloop may have competition from a maglev train with $28 million in government funding

17. OHIO: Top Thrill Dragster

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Built in 2003, the Top Thrill Dragster is a 17-second thrill ride that cost $25 million to build. It reaches a height of 420 feet and a top speed of 120 mph, which is nothing to sneeze at. You can find it at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. 



16. CALIFORNIA: Twisted Colossus

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The Twisted Colossus was only unveiled two years ago and it has already claimed its spot in American hearts. It's one of the longest hybrid roller coasters in the world with 5,000 feet of track and features an insane 116-foot drop at 80 degrees.

The ride at Six Flag Magic Mountain in Valencia, California was originally a wooden coaster named the Colossus. But Six Flags converted the old ride into the steel Twisted Colossus in 2015. The original Colossus, which opened to the public in 1978, cost $7 million to build. It's unclear how much the steel renovations set Six Flags back.



14. MASSACHUSETTS: Wicked Cyclone

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If you're wondering why we skipped 15, it's because Amusement Today drew a tie for the spot! Wicked Cyclone stands 10 stories high and reaches a top speed of 55 mph. Like the Twisted Colossus, the Wicked Cyclone was originally a wooden roller coaster that opened in 1983.

The original ride only cost $2.5 million, but the renovations set Six Flags New England back $10 million.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

I gave up Starbucks for a week and drank this high-fat, buttered coffee drink instead — here's the verdict

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bulletproof coffee dave asprey

• Bulletproof Coffee, a "biohacking" wellness brand, is bringing a bottled version of buttered coffee to market.

• The ready-to-drink product will roll out to over 400 Whole Foods stores nationwide this fall.

• The drink taps into a Silicon Valley diet craze that has techies eating lots of fat.

This past week, I swapped my usual coffee order — unsweetened with cream — for a buttered alternative that promised to give me mental superpowers.

In September, wellness brand Bulletproof Coffee launched a ready-to-drink version of its famous buttered coffee drink. The high-fat beverage will arrive in more than 400 Whole Foods stores nationwide this fall.

Made with cold-brew coffee, grass-fed butter, and a proprietary "Brain Octane" oil derived from coconuts, Bulletproof Coffee claims to diminish brain fog and increase mental function and energy, in addition to delivering a caffeine jolt. The beverage has amassed a cult following despite little evidence it works.

bulletproof coffee ready to drink

An increasing number of Americans are filling up on fat in an attempt to live longer and better. A high-fat diet (also known as the ketogenic or "keto" diet in its extreme form) has been shown to promote weight lossdull hunger, and stave off age-related diseases. It's catching on in Silicon Valley, where tech workers often claim the pro-butter diet gives them a mental edge.

Earlier this year, I tried the keto diet for two months. After nearly a month of restricting my carbohydrate intake, I experienced increased energy and focus. I also lost weight.

Bulletproof Coffee has sold the ingredients needed to make buttered coffee separately for years, but the new carton format makes it more accessible for the company's many skeptics. When I first heard about it, I hoped the drink would help me tap into the benefits of a keto diet.

Every morning this past week, I gave up Starbucks for a bottle of Bulletproof Coffee.

Bulletproof Coffee comes in four flavors: Original, Vanilla, Mocha, and Original with collagen protein. I expected it to taste like a creamy, indulgent coffee drink, but they tasted more watered down. The butter added a floral note to the aroma and made it more silky in texture.

The company behind Bulletproof Coffee, which is led by "biohacking" guru Dave Asprey, markets the drink like it's a shortcut to a keto lifestyle.

"The ready-to-drink format provides sustainable energy from fats rather than sugar," according to an email from a company spokesperson.

"Bulletproof Coffee has helped everyone from driven CEOs to professional athletes to busy parents increase their energy so they can do more of what fulfills them," the website reads.

ketogenic keto diet review 4097

But as I learned during my experience on the keto diet, the benefits only kick in after several weeks of restricting carbohydrates to 20 to 50 grams a day, which is roughly the equivalent of a plain bagel or a cup of white rice. On the diet, the body switches from burning carbs to burning fat as its primary fuel source — a state known as nutritional ketosis. Keto-dieters eat lots of healthy fats like cheese, nuts, avocado, and butter, to maintain this state.

Because I was still eating sugary carbohydrates as a major part of my diet, Bulletproof Coffee did not make me feel any more charged than normal coffee.

The science behind buttered coffee is spotty, and it has drawnpublicskepticism from doctors. There are no studies showing the combination of ingredients in Bulletproof Coffee is safe, and eating too much saturated fat could present risks for people with elevated cholesterol levels.

Asprey drinks Bulletproof Coffee every day. He told Business Insider earlier this year that having it for breakfast outweighs poor choices he makes later, like eating a greasy meal out.

"Even if you're going to have Taco Bell for lunch, you seriously improve the quality of your life all morning long [by drinking Bulletproof]," Asprey said.

SEE ALSO: I went on the Silicon Valley diet craze that encourages butter and bacon for 2 months — and it vastly improved my life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tried Culver's — the Midwest burger chain that's all about butter

If you think everyone else has more friends than you do, you're probably wrong

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party friends coworkers

  • A new paper finds many people think everyone else is more popular than they are, but they're wrong.
  • These thoughts may contribute to decreased well-being.
  • But if you think everyone else has slightly more friends than you do, you may be more motivated to go out and socialize.
  • The researchers looked only at first-year college students, so the findings might not be generalizable.

Only recently did I work up the nerve to go to a diner or coffee shop alone. Even now, when I do, I'll sit there hunched over my sandwich or cup of tea and cast furtive glances at all the twosomes around me, knowing exactly what they're thinking: What. A. Loser. She can't even find someone to keep her company for half an hour?

On a rational level, I am aware that no one is thinking that — they've got their own problems and a person eating a sandwich alone in New York City isn't all that attention-grabbing.

But my inner monologue in these moments reflects a greater, more persistent anxiety that everyone everywhere has more friends, more reliable sandwich-eating partners, than I do.

A new paper says I'm not alone — no pun intended — in thinking this way. The paper, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests that we all think everyone else has more friends than we do — and we're wrong.

A team of researchers led by Ashley Whillans, who was at the time a graduate student at the University of British Columbia, conducted two studies using first-year students at UBC as participants. For the first study, they asked more than 1,000 students how many close friends they had at school, and how many close friends they thought other UBC first-years had at school.

Results showed that many students tended to think they were less popular than everyone else. On average, first-years reported having 3.63 close friends and believed that other first-years had 4.15 close friends.

For the second study, researchers asked nearly 400 first-year students some additional questions, including how much time they spent socializing with people they'd met at school and how much time they thought other first-years spent doing the same. Students also answered questions about their well-being and loneliness.

A similar pattern emerged: Many students guessed, incorrectly, that other students spent more time socializing.

Here's where things get really interesting. The researchers found that students who believed that their classmates had more close friends than they did also reported lower levels of well-being.

But the researchers had students in the second study fill out these surveys twice, about four to five months apart. And they found that students who believed their classmates had slightly more close friends than they did reported making more friends in those four to five months than students who believed their classmates had many more close friends than they did.

That is to say: Feeling a bit bad about yourself can, at least to some extent, be a motivating factor. Earlier research suggests that comparing yourself to others is generally a bad idea, because you may only see positive emotions and assume that you're the only one struggling. This study suggests the effects of social comparison are perhaps more nuanced than they appear.

It's possible that these findings can be explained by what mathematicians call the friendship paradox.

As Steven Strogatz writes in The New York Times, a group of friends on average has a higher number of friends than the individuals in the group. That's because the average is weighted: "Popular friends … contribute disproportionately to the average, since besides having a high [friend] score, they're also named as friends more frequently."

The researchers acknowledge the friendship paradox, but say it's unlikely that it explains their findings because they asked participants to estimate the number of friends that the average first-year has, and not one of their own friends.

It's also possible that these results don't extend beyond college first-years — though I personally get the "everyone's more popular than I am" feeling all the time.

I suppose, whether you're a college student or a full-fledged adult, it comes down to some good old self-talk: I feel this way, but it doesn't necessarily reflect reality. It's something I'll try on my next solo lunch date.

SEE ALSO: How to make friends at work

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A psychiatrist reveals 5 ways to have healthy and meaningful relationships

14 apps everyone should have on their phone

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iPhone 7

Most people spend the vast majority of their time in just a handful of apps. I'm no exception.

While I keep over 100 apps on my phone for minor things, there are only 14 apps that I regularly turn to. These are my go-to apps that make my life easier, more productive and more enjoyable.  If you want to get the most out of your phone, I recommend having these essential apps. 

Check them out:

SEE ALSO: 15 apps that are better than the ones Apple made

SEE ALSO: 13 things everyone is going to love about iOS 11

Spotify

For listening to as much music as possible, however you like to listen to it.

App Store | Google Play



Yelp

For restaurant recommendations and reviews of businesses.

App Store | Google Play



Slack

For getting work done, and collaborating with others.

App Store | Google Play



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The CEO of a $36 billion tech company breaks down the intense daily schedule that he says sets him up for success (INTU)

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Intuit CEO Brad Smith

For Intuit CEO Brad Smith, time is everything.

"The three resources we have in our jobs are dollars, people, and time," he told Business Insider.

You can always ask for more money and volunteers, he said.

"But you can never get any more time," he said. "So be really thoughtful about where is the highest impact place for you to spend your time. Treasure that. Be really clear about where you're going to spend your time."

Smith, who runs the $36 billion finance and business software company behind products like TurboTax and QuickBooks, described most of his days as a "roller coaster ride." Still, he likes to stick to an intensive schedule, in order to make the most of his time.

Here's how Smith breaks down his day:

SEE ALSO: Inside the daily routine of billionaire Bill Gates, who loves cheeseburgers, tours missile silos, and washes the dishes every night

Smith gets up at 5:30 a.m. every morning, seven days a week, for a P90X workout. While exercising, he watches CNBC. "I'm an early to bed and early to rise kind of guy," he said.



"Trust me when I tell you, I don't wake up at 5:30 a.m. fighting to get out of bed," he said. "And I don't love working out. I love feeling good and healthy and having something on my to do list already checked off by the time I'm in the office."



At 6:30 a.m., Smith finishes up his workout. He then reads The Wall Street Journal and drinks a protein shake. After showering, he heads to work and arrives in the office around 7:30 a.m.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

We visited the 'McDonald's of the Philippines,' which serves spaghetti and fried chicken alongside its burgers — here's what it's like

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Jollibee 5

A Filipino fast-food behemoth is gearing up to take over the US.

It seems there's a Jollibee on every corner in the Philippines — in fact, it's one of the few chains that has successfully maintained market dominance over McDonald's in its home country. Even as McDonald's ramps up its Asian expansion, Jollibee has held its own with 978 locations compared with 521 McDonald's.

Now, Jollibee is coming for McDonald's on its home turf. The chain has 36 locations in the US and plans to open new restaurants in states including Illinois and Florida this year. Jollibee also acquired a 50% stake in American burger chain Smashburger in 2015, and is reportedly considering a deal to acquire British sandwich chain Pret A Manger.

The brand holds a special place in the heart of many Filipino expats. Jian DeLeon wrote in First We Feast that the chain offered such people "a nostalgic taste of home at a price most of us can swallow."

We, on the other hand, enter not as Filipino food experts but as two fast-food loving New Yorkers eager to see how the growing chain compares to the competition.

SEE ALSO: The 'McDonald's of the Philippines' is reportedly plotting a $1 billion deal that would make it a major player in the global fast-food battles

DON'T MISS: Here's what it's like to eat at the Southern fried-chicken chain whose diehard fans say is better than KFC and Popeyes

Jollibee has 36 locations across the US, mostly in California. Luckily, there's one in Woodside, Queens, right off the subway.



The place was packed when we arrived about 1 p.m. The lunch rush was in full swing, and scouting for a seat proved to be quite the task. Fortunately, an employee alerted us as soon as two spots became available.



Ordering was a breeze, though we were a bit thrown by the menu's breadth of options. While we are fast-food connoisseurs, we don't typically see spaghetti served alongside fried chicken and burgers at American chains. The cashier was extremely friendly and accommodating, even when we came back twice to order more items we previously forgot.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How Whole Foods went from a hippie natural foods store to Amazon's $13.7 billion grocery weapon (AMZN)

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Whole Foods

Whole Foods has had quite the ride.

Over the course of 39 years, CEO and co-founder John Mackey has taken it from a small natural foods store in the hippie haven of Austin, Texas, to an international behemoth.

At the beginning, Whole Foods was only 10,500 square feet and had 19 employees. But the idea of natural food stores was only beginning, and as one of the first in the country, the seed that Mackey planted blossomed over time.

Through acquisitions of natural food stores around the country, the chain became larger and had ambitious growth plans. But it was also humbled a few times in its history — before being purchased by Amazon for $13.7 billion earlier this year, Whole Foods weathered a flood, financial downturns, and FTC probes.

Now that it's owned by Amazon, a new chapter is about to begin. Plenty has been said about what might change for the chain now, but it's also important to see what has changed for the chain in the past.

We've put together a timeline with some of the most important moments in Whole Foods' history.

SEE ALSO: Amazon has triggered a $5 billion bidding war — here are the cities that are in competition for its new HQ

In 1978, John Mackey opened Safer Way Natural Foods in Austin, Texas.



By 1980, it had merged with another local natural food store, Clarksville Natural Grocery, to open the first Whole Foods Market. This original store was destroyed in a flood in 1981, but the community rallied around it, and it ended up only being out of business for 28 days.



Much of Whole Foods' growth was through mergers and acquisitions. It frequently moved into new markets by buying a local chain and converting it into a Whole Foods. By 1984, Whole Foods had expanded to nearby Houston and had 600 employees. In 1988, the chain bought the Whole Food Company in New Orleans for its first expansion outside of Texas.



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Why you can't fly a plane to space

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Why can't you fly a plane to space?

Turns out, you couldn't even make it halfway. Part of the problem is Earth's gravity. You need to escape it in order to reach space.

This requires a minimum speed of mach 33 (25,000 mph). The current world record for fastest plane is only mach 6.7 (5,140 mph). The other problem is the atmosphere.

As you fly higher, the atmosphere grows thinner. This creates two serious issues:

Issue 1: Fewer air molecules means it's harder for the plane to stay airborne. 

Issue 2: Less oxygen means less combustible fuel to power the engine.

So how high can planes actually fly? Commercial airliners generally don't surpass 45,000 feet. But some pilots have pushed their planes to extreme limits.

In 1977, Alexandr Fedotov flew to 123,532 feet. This is the highest any ground-launched plane has reached. Yet, Fedotov only made it about 1/3 the way to space.

Another plane, SpaceShipOne reached 367,500 feet in 2004. It had rocket engines and was flown to an initial 43,500 feet before launch.

Looks like its best to leave spaceflight to the real rocket ships.

Join the conversation about this story »

San Francisco's Museum of Ice Cream has a sprinkle pool and a Pop Rocks cave — here's what it's like

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San Francisco is holding onto summer at the new Museum of Ice Cream, a colorful Instagram paradise where visitors eat ice cream and snap selfies amidst shrines to the frozen treat.

The wildly popular pop-up exhibit sparked a social-media mania during its temporary runs in Los Angeles and New York earlier this year. San Francisco is the largest of the three exhibits and features a sprinkle pool, Pop Rocks cave, and a psychedelic rainbow room.

After selling out the first batch of tickets in 18 minutes, Museum of Ice Cream extended its run through February 2018 — but good luck getting tickets. Those also sold out lightning-fast. Scalpers on Craigslist are selling tickets, originally priced at $38, for as much as $135 a pop.

We got the chance to visit Museum of Ice Cream before opening. Take a look inside.

SEE ALSO: San Franciscans are obsessed with this colorful Instagram paradise — we went inside

The new Museum of Ice Cream is located inside an iconic old bank on Grant Avenue.



The team gave it a candy-coated makeover from the ground up.



Seriously, it's a lot of pink.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Chili's just cut dozens of items from its menu — here are the beloved dishes that didn't make it (EAT)

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Chili's Buffalo CauliflowerChili's just made some major menu cuts. 

The casual dining chain has cut 40% of items from its menu as of Monday, September 18. According to Chili's, it's ditching trendy items in favor of classics: burgers, ribs, and fajitas.

Chili's released its new menu on Monday, and it has some very noticeable changes. 

"Every dish that's taken off has somebody who likes it out there," Steve Provost, Chili's chief marketing officer, said in a call with reporters on Monday. "But we think we're at a moment with this category, with the tremendous headwinds it's facing, where less is truly more." 

Instead of quietly shifting to the new menu, Chili's is launching an ad campaign that highlights what items have been cut. The chain will also publish the recipes of the most popular cut items on Pinterest. 

Here are the Chili's items that are disappearing from the menu: 

"Fresh Mex"

Chili's

According to Provost, the "vast majority" of the items being cut are "Fresh Mex" menu items that the chain added in recent years. 

"While we were chasing new platforms, we were losing our credibility on what built us," or burgers, ribs, and fajitas, Provost said. 

Here are the Fresh Mex items being cut from the menu: 

  • Southwestern Mac & Cheese
  • Chipotle Chicken Flatbread
  • Southwest Chicken Soup 
  • Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
  • Spicy Pasilla Chile Chicken
  • Spicy Shrimp Tacos
  • Smothered Chicken Burrito
  • Smoked Chicken Quesadillas 
  • Smothered Carnitas Burrito
  • Carnitas Fajitas
  • Creamy Jalapeno Wings
  • Chicken Enchiladas
  • Loaded White Queso
  • Pork Carnitas Tacos
  • Prime Rib Fresh Mex Bowl
  • Prime Rib Fajitas
  • Prime Rib Tacos

Dishes trying too hard to be trendy

Chili's Tilapia

Provost and Chili's president Kelli Valade said that Chili's spent too much time chasing consumer trends in the past. Trendy items being cut include:  

  • Mango Chile Tilapia
  • Buffalo Fried Cauliflower
  • Ancho-crusted Steak
  • Honey Chipotle Shrimp Steak
  • Margherita Salad
  • Crispy Asparagus
  • Margarita Chicken Bowl
  • Margarita Chicken Flatbread Salad

Simply unremarkable 

Chili's

Then, there are items that simply weren't that compelling to customers. Other menu items that didn't make the cut include: 

  • Turkey Sandwich
  • Triple Berry Crumble Cake
  • Grilled Chicken Sandwich
  • Triple Berry Margarita
  • Grass Fed Burger

SEE ALSO: Chili’s is giving up on trendy 'millennial' foods like kale and quinoa as sales slump

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ex-Google employees created a vending machine to replace corner stores — and the idea is being mocked all over Twitter

Shake Shack is giving away free burgers today — here's how to get one (SHAK)

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Shake Shack

Shake Shack is giving away free burgers.

On Monday, the burger chain is delivering free Shack Burgers via DoorDash from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Customers can claim their free burgers by entering "SHACK" as a promo code at checkout.

The free burgers are a culmination of "Shack Week," during which DoorDash has been offering free Shake Shack delivery on all orders over $12.

However, some customers struggled to place their orders, with certain Shake Shack locations not accepting orders on the DoorDash app. According to a DoorDash spokesperson, some particularly popular locations have had to "pause" the promotion.

"Once kitchens have caught up a bit we'll open up orders again," the spokesperson told Business Insider. "Promo is still running till 2 p.m."

Monday is National Cheeseburger Day, and Shake Shack isn't the only chain with burger deals.

Applebee's is selling all burgers for $7, and BurgerFi is cutting its cheeseburger price to $5 from $7. Plus, Fuddrucker's has a challenge for diners: If you can finish a three-pound burger and a one-pound order of fries, you get a $20 gift card and a congratulatory T-shirt.

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We ate lunch at United Airlines' secret invitation-only restaurant and it takes airport food to a whole new level

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United Classified Restaurant 26

In late August, United Airlines opened Classified, the hottest restaurant to hit the airport dining scene in recent memory.

But apart from those dedicated to restaurants and airport dining, few know of its existence and even fewer will have the privilege to dine at the establishment.

And don't bother exploring the confines of Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C looking for Classified. Your journey will end in futility. 

That's because Classified is invitation only and just a select group of United's most elite passengers will find their names on the vaunted list. 

United and their partner in this endeavor, OTG, have been pretty tight-lipped about who is worthy of an invite. However, being a member of the airline's elite 1k club  — those who fly 100,000 miles a year on United — certainly wouldn't hurt your chances.

To be able to dine at Classified, United passengers must first receive an email from the airline inviting them to make a reservation. Then, the passenger is made aware of the restaurant's location along with instructions for how to properly approach the host to gain access to Classified. 

Classified is but a small portion of a $120 million revamp of Terminal C's travel experience that will see the launch of as many as 55 stores and dining establishments by the end of the year. United's Terminal C is run in partnership with OTG, a company that designs and operates restaurants such as Classified. 

A few days ago, Business Insider got an exclusive behind the scenes tour and a chance to experience Classified. 

Here's a closer look at our experience.

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Classified doesn't have its own "storefront." Instead, it's tucked away in the back of a stylish French brasserie called Saison. To get in, all invitees have to do is simply approach the staff at Saison and tell them you have a reservation. Classified is the only restaurant in Terminal C that takes reservations.



Once inside, a member of the staff will lead you to the back of Saison and down a hidden hallway.



From there, you'll emerge in Classified. The decor is a mix of modern chic and traditional elegance.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

More illnesses could be sexually transmitted than we thought — including the common cold

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man woman couple kissing smiling

After a team of British researchers found bits of Zika virus lingering in the semen of men whose symptoms had cleared months before, they began to wonder: What other viruses hide out in unsuspecting parts of the body?

At least 27, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These include viruses that have been at the center of recent epidemics, like Ebola and Marburg, as well as viruses like mumps and adenovirus, which can cause a version of the common cold.

"This really raises the question of what is the definition of an STD," Fenyong Liu, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of California Berkeley who was not involved with the new report, told Business Insider.

The viruses appear to take advantage of one of the body's key protective mechanisms, known as immune privilege. Certain parts of the body, like the eyes, are essentially no-fly zones for the immune system's defense armies. They are shielded from inflammation to protect more critical functions like vision. Similarly, it's believed that some reproductive organs may be immune privileged to protect sperm or eggs.

But this immune privilege may also allow disease-causing viruses to get a foothold. The new study found some viruses can remain in human semen for surprisingly long stretches of time. 

ebola virus cellIn the event of a viral outbreak, physicians and public health experts typically urge people to stay away from anyone who is infected for several weeks, paying particular attention to things like saliva and blood. The new study suggests this may not be enough. In some cases, viruses can persist for as many as 565 days in semen, meaning that an infected person could theoretically remain contagious for up to several months.

For the study, researchers combed the scientific literature and found nearly 4,000 published papers that documented evidence of viruses whose genetic material had ended up in semen. The list also includes Lassa fever, Epstein-Barr, and varicella zoster — the virus that causes the chicken pox.

"Clinicians and researchers need to consider the possibility that traditionally ‘non-sexually transmitted’ viruses can persist in semen, and this therefore raises the possibility of sexual transmission," Alex Salam, the lead author on the paper and a clinical researcher for the United Kingdom Public Health Rapid Support Team, told Business Insider.

In the past, it was unclear how several viruses on the researchers' list could spread. BK virus, for example, was thought to spread through respiratory fluids or urine, but the new study suggests that it could also be passed on through semen.

"This should raise people's awareness that even though they might contract a respiratory illness or something that effects the lungs, it could potentially be spread through an entirely different part of the body like the semen," Liu said.

However, although the researchers found pieces of the genetic material of 27 viruses in semen, that doesn't necessarily mean that all those viruses are transmitted sexually. To find out if that is the case, more research is needed.

And in addition to the 27 viruses they found in semen, the researchers also discovered the genetic material of several other viruses, such as dengue, SARS, and smallpox, in human testes. There isn't enough evidence yet to say if these viruses would also be present in semen, however.

Lots of questions about the viruses remain. The most pressing is whether or not they could all be sexually transmitted to a new host. The researchers also want to know how long the viruses remain in semen and in what concentrations, as well as how their presence impacts sperm and male fertility more broadly.

"This brings up more questions than it answers — and that's fascinating," Liu said.

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Here's how dogs actually see the world

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How do dogs see the world? Dogs see differently than humans.

The reason lies within the eye. In the eye are light receptors called cones and rods. Cones help us distinguish different colors, while rods help us see in dim light.

The number of  cones and rods is different for dogs.

Turns out, dogs have fewer cone receptors than humans — which means they can't see as many colors. Human cones can detect 3 colors: red, green, and blue.

Dog cones can only detect 2 colors. No one is certain what those 2 colors are. Some experts think it could be blue and yellow. 

Alexandra Horowitz— author of "Being a Dog" — told us that it's difficult to know exactly what colors a dog sees, but it's probably similar to what we see at dusk.

Dog eyes have more rods than humans, which means they can see much better at night. Dogs also have a layer of eye tissue that humans lack called the tapetum lucidum, it reflects light into the retina.

This boosts dogs' night vision even more and is why dogs' eyes shine in the dark. Turns out, dogs' eyes see much more than just black and white.

Consider that the next time you stare into those cute puppy dog eyes.

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One of the great millennial 'obsessions' is a myth — and it's good news for Amazon

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woman eating takeout

Americans spend a ton of money on food.

Between groceries, dining out, and ordering delivery, food accounts for 12.5% —just over $7,000 in the average budget — of annual expenditures, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dining out at restaurants is a favorite, totaling 43% of the average family's food budget.

Millennials tend to shoulder a lot of this blame. Research shows they're typically spending more than previous generations on pricey restaurant dinners. According to a 2015 report, American millennials are responsible for $96 billion in annual spending at restaurants — about 23% of the total amount spent on dining out in the US.

But when you toss out the share of food budgets spent on dining out, purchase trends show millennials may be more traditional than you think. According to new data from online lender Earnest, millennials are opting for physical grocery stores over online ordering.

Earnest analyzed a total of 2.5 million transactions from tens of thousands of loan applications, for which the average age of applicants was 32, between January 2016 and August 2017. Earnest focused only on purchase data for "eating in." This included physical grocery stores, grocery delivery, restaurant delivery, meal kit services, and prepped meals.

According to the data, a strong loyalty toward traditional grocery stores remains among millennials, with a whopping 90% of overall "eating in" spend going toward brick-and-mortars.

Despite the rise of mobile food ordering and apps like Instacart, Fresh Direct, and Amazon Fresh, millennials dropped just 8% of total food spend — accounting for 12.5% of total food purchases — on restaurant and grocery delivery. Meal kits accounted for 2%, while prepped meals were less than 1%.

Millennials' most frequented grocery stores included Costco (34.5% of all grocery store spending), Kroger (20%), and Whole Foods (16%).

This could be good news for Amazon. Despite having invested heavily in its grocery arm and still coming up short of the competition, the online giant could land favorably with millennials who prefer brick-and-mortars thanks to its acquisition of Whole Foods, which is offering new, lower prices for shoppers.

Still, it doesn't appear millennials are opting for physical stores to save money.

In fact, they're spending about $21 more a month shopping in-person rather than online, according to Earnest. In total, the average customer spent $155 in brick-and-mortars, which they visited 3.2 times per month.

It's important to note that the data was presented on a national scale, and there are variances across regions. For instance, the share of millennials purchasing food delivery nationally is small, but it's more prevalent in some states than others. In New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Washington DC, more than 31% of millennial customers' food purchases were grocery and restaurant delivery.

And by the way: They also aren't spending as much money as you thought.

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McDonald's is ditching 100% juice in Happy Meals for a drink that's only 42% juice (MCD)

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Honest TeaMcDonald's is swapping 100% juice for a lower-sugar, watered-down beverage. 

In late November, the fast-food chain is swapping Minute Maid for Honest Kids' "organic apple juice drink."

The new Honest Kids beverage is 42% juice. A six-ounce box contains 35 calories and eight grams of sugar. 

For comparison, the Minute Maid apple juice box that McDonald's currently serves in Happy Meals is 100% juice and contains 80 calories and 19 grams of sugar. 

Honest Kids is Honest Teas' brand for kids. Coca-Cola acquired Honest Tea in 2012. 

McD juice

A McDonald's spokesperson described the switch as "part of a commitment by McDonald's to raise the bar on our food." 

SEE ALSO: Chili's just cut dozens of items from its menu — here are the beloved dishes that didn't make it

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