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A drone captured these mesmerizing photos of New York City from above

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Humza Deas drone photography new york city

Humza Deas was 17 when he started scaling buildings and bridges in New York City in search of the perfect image. The self-taught photographer captures his city from terrifying heights.

His photos helped him land coverage in New York Magazine's "Outlaw Instagrammers" article and gather over 220,000 followers on the app. But fame has made climbing more risky. Deas worries that the New York Police Department is watching and could nab him for trespassing.

In 2015, Deas had an idea: He would send a drone where he couldn't legally go.

The 20-year-old Instagram celeb has found a new niche in drone photography. His aerial images show New York City like you've rarely seen it before. Take a look.

SEE ALSO: 37 incredible drone photos from across the globe that would be totally illegal today

Humza Deas dares to go where most of us never would.

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But these days, he's more likely to fly his DJI Mavic Pro drone over jaw-dropping heights.



There's a clear advantage. Shooting from rooftops means the photographer is limited to the sides of a building, but a drone "can capture the exact frame you want," Deas said.



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Incredible colorized photographs show the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island 100 years ago

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Ellis Island

In the early 1900s, Ellis Island served as the United States' largest immigration station, processing up to 12 million immigrants between the years 1892 and 1954.

One amateur photographer by the name of Augustus Sherman, who served as Ellis Island's chief registry clerk sometime between 1906 and 1917, photographed a handful of immigrants who passed through. According to the New York Public Library, his subjects were most likely asked to wear their best holiday finery or national dress. 

These stunning portraits, originally published in National Geographic in 1907, have now been brought back to life and colorized by Jordan Lloyd of Dynamichrome. Lloyd's technique includes historical research for accuracy, as well as retouching at an expert level. 

All captions are by Dynamichrome.

SEE ALSO: Here's the favorite drink of every US president

"Gákti is the traditional costume of the Sámi people inhabiting the arctic regions spanning from northern Norway to the Kola peninsula in Russia. Traditionally made from reindeer leather and wool, velvet and silks are also used, with the (typically blue) pullover being supplemented by contrasting colored banding of plaits, brooches and jewelry."



"The decorations are region-specific and the gákti is used in ceremonial contexts such as weddings, or signified whether or not one was single or married, but also served as working dress when herding reindeer."



"Hailing from the Germanic-speaking region of Alsace now in modern day France, the large bow known as a schlupfkàpp was worn by single women."



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These 20 US counties produce the most successful people

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obama family

  • As part of his recent book "Everybody Lies," former Google data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz analyzed 150,000 editor-approved Wikipedia entries.
  • His analysis produced a county-by-county breakdown of where the most successful people in the US grew up.
  • Many of the counties have several things in common, from geography to cultural diversity.


There are no guarantees that growing up in Chattahoochee County, Georgia or Pitkin County, Colorado will solidify your place in the record books, but it sure doesn't hurt.

According to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former Google data scientist who analyzed more than 150,000 editor-approved Wikipedia entries for his recent book "Everybody Lies," those two counties top the list for producing the most successful people.

Here is the full breakdown.

20 highest counties successful people

Stephens-Davidowitz based the analysis solely on baby boomers — because they have had a lifetime to become prominent — and assumed that people listed in Wikipedia were noteworthy enough to be deemed "successful."

He omitted every entry he could for criminals and other infamous figures.

The resulting list includes a number of suburban and rural areas, which may be seem surprising. But Stephens-Davidowitz reasoned there are two big factors at play. In general, people who are successful tend to grow up in culturally diverse areas that sit near big college towns.

For example, the counties containing Madison, Wisconsin; Berkeley, California; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Ithaca, New York were all in the top 3% of page frequency. Those towns are home to the University of Madison, Wisconsin; University of California, Berkeley; UNC Chapel Hill; and Cornell.

However, if two college towns were of the same size, the more diverse one often produced more prominent Americans, he wrote.

"Perhaps this effort to zoom in on the places where hundreds of thousands of the most famous Americans were born can give us some initial strategies," Stephens-Davidowitz concluded of the research, "encouraging immigration, subsidizing universities, and supporting the arts, among them."

SEE ALSO: An ex-Google data scientist studied thousands of successful people on Wikipedia — here's what they have in common

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NOW WATCH: Here's what Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak thinks of the net-neutrality battle — and why it matters

Check out these unique bikes if you're looking for an upgrade

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9 cool bikes if you're looking for an upgrade:

#1 Manta5 is a hydrofoil water bike. It uses the same technology used by sailboats to help you cut through water with ease.

#2 Sno-Go is for a different type of terrain. This easy-to-use bike combines skiing and cycling. 

#3 This vertical bicycle offers an alternative to the elevator. Vycle is a good workout that doesn't require much effort.

#4 Don't have the cash for an electric bike? The GeoOrbital Wheel makes your bike an electric one. 

#5 This bike looks more like an electric car. The ELF bike is powered by both pedaling and the sun. 

#6 Twicycle has moving handlebars. It gives both your arms AND legs a workout. 

#7 The Cardigo bike provides an even more complex workout. Just turn the knob and push and pull the handlebar while you ride. 

#8 (Snowboard bike): You ride this bike sideways. It works on a front and back balance like a snowboard.

#9 It looks like a scooter, but it's actually a bike without a seat. Halfbike fills the gap between riding a bicycle and running. 

 

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Bill Gates: Trust me, the world is really getting better, not worse

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bill gates

  • In a new editorial for Time Magazine, tech billionaire Bill Gates says data shows the world is getting better not worse.
  • Gates says the widespread feeling to the contrary is due in part to the news media, which focuses on negative stories.
  • In addition to writing the editorial Gates guest edited the latest issue of Time magazine and filled it with optimistic news.


In the wake of hurricanes, mass shootings and the shadow of a nuclear war, the world's richest man wants you to take heart.

The world, he says, is actually getting better.

In an editorial in Time, Bill Gates notes many trends — ranging from the rates of child mortality to the number of countries now offering protections for gays and lesbians — are heading in a positive direction. We just don't hear much about them, because of the focus on negative news. 

"These events — as awful as they are — have happened in the context of a bigger, positive trend," Gates writes. "On the whole, the world is getting better."

Among the developments he points to are:

  • A drastic decrease in child mortality rates for children under five. They're down by half since 1990, saving the lives of 122 million children.
  • A dramatic decline in the proportion of the world population that lives in extreme poverty, from more than a third of the population in 1990 to about one-tenth today. 
  • A huge increase in the number of children who attend primary school worldwide; more than 90% now do.
  • Laws that protect gay people are now in place in 100 countries
  • A rising number of women worldwide are being elected to public office.

Gates blames the media for spreading the widespread feeling of pessimism. People are more likely to read bad news, which encourages news organizations to focus on the negative stuff, he argues.

In addition to having Gates write an editorial, Time asked him to guest edit its latest issue. He used the opportunity to fill the magazine with positive stories. The issue includes essays from some of Gates' friends who also feel optimistic about the future. 

In his essay for the magazine, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett asserts Americans' standard of living will continue to rise "for many generations to come." Biogen vice president Samantha Budd Haeberlein writes in her piece that her company is close to a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Meanwhile, U2 front man Bono says in his essay he believes more men are starting to understand that they need to join the fight against misogyny and violence against women.

"Men can’t step back and leave it to women alone — to the Merkels and Malalas — to clean up the mess we’ve made and are still making," he says.

SEE ALSO: Amazon has quietly released a game changer for its cloud: Linux software that runs on corporate servers

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NOW WATCH: Why your iPhone's battery life gets shorter over time

Jeff Sessions is on a crusade to stamp out legal marijuana — but Republicans might not be onboard

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legal marijuana california dispensary

  • Attorney General Jeff Sessions will rescind an Obama-era policy, known as the Cole Memo, that has paved a way for legal marijuana in some states.
  • But Republicans are warming to legal weed. A 2016 Gallup poll showed that for the first time, a majority of Republicans support legalizing the drug.
  • During the 2016 Election, support for marijuana legalization initiatives was high in red states that also voted for President Donald Trump.

 

Tthe US Justice Department announced on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will roll back a policy known as the Cole Memo, which allows individual states to decide whether to enforce federal marijuana law in states where the drug has become legal. Federal prosecutors will instead decide how aggressively to crack down on pot growers and sellers in their districts.

The decision — largely a symbolic one — could be unpopular with Republicans.

Support for marijuana reached new highs in 2017. A Gallup poll showed that 64% of Americans support legalizing the drug for both recreational and medical use, the highest support since Gallup first asked the question in 1969. Only 12% of Americans favored legalization that year.

The poll marked another milestone: It's the first time that a majority of Republican respondents expressed support for marijuana legalization, with 51% indicating that they'd like to see the end of federal prohibition, up nine percentage points from the year before.

The results of the 2016 Election also showed that Republicans are warming to legal weed.

Eight US states voted on marijuana legalization ballot initiatives last November. Five of them — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota — turned red for President Donald Trump. Of those five, four states also legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use.

"In each case, with the exception of Arkansas, the cannabis initiatives received almost as many or more votes than Trump garnered," the Marijuana Business Daily reported at the time.

support for marijuana ballot initiatives in red states chart

Eight states and Washington, DC, have now legalized marijuana for recreational use.

On Thursday, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2018 cycle, fired back at Sessions. He threatened to withhold Trump's nominees to the Justice Department if the Cole Memo is not upheld.

In a tweet, Gardner said that repealing the policy "directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation." He added, "With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in [Colorado] and other states."

Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, told a Washington Examiner reporter on Thursday that the "federal government has better things to focus on," than cracking down on marijuana.

"I continue to believe that this is a states' rights issue," Paul added.

The decision to peel back the Cole Memo could lead to federal agents raiding licensed marijuana businesses in states where residents voted to legalize the drug. But because there are no specific guidelines for how the Justice Department will enforce federal law over marijuana growers and sellers, it's unclear what impact, if any, the repeal will have.

SEE ALSO: Recreational marijuana is now for sale in California — here's what you need to know

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NOW WATCH: This is how the legal marijuana industry is affecting Mexican drug cartels

Silicon Valley elites can't get enough of dangerous, untreated 'raw water' — here's why it's a bad idea

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tap water

  • People in San Francisco are spending upwards of $60 for a 2.5 gallon glass jug of "fresh, live spring water." 
  • The water isn't filtered or treated, which means it could harbor microbial viruses and bacteria that cause disease and deadly diarrhea. 
  • American tap water isn't perfectly clean, but it's tested to stricter health standards than bottled water. 


The founders of a company called Live Water, which sells unfiltered, untreated water in glass containers, want customers to believe that tap water is just too "dead." 

Founder Mukhande Singh told the The New York Times that those who drink the regulated H2O that comes out of kitchen taps, public water fountains, and garden hoses are "drinking toilet water with birth control drugs in them."

In San Francisco, his idea has gathered quite a following: the water is regularly sold out in grocery stores and people are spending more than $1 per glass to the drink water that's never been treated.

The company warns consumers on its site: "Consult your health care provider before making a decision to switch your drinking water source." But food safety experts tell Business Insider it’s a terrible idea to drink untreated water.

Why can unfiltered water be dangerous?

There are billions of people around the world living a "raw" water lifestyle right now. And it’s not very glamorous.

Chemicals like lead, microbes from feces (both animal and human), pesticide runoff, and underground waste are just some of the global threats to clean drinking water.

The US water system isn't perfect. A 2009 New York Times investigation found there was enough arsenic in the water in some parts of Texas, Arizona and Nevada to contribute to cancer.

But American drinking water does pretty well when stacked up against other countries where citizens might drink from less-than-ideally-filtered sources. The World Health Organization says dirty drinking water kills half a million people every year, and at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces.

Guzzling from fresh mountain streams won't solve these problems. Clear mountain sources can infect hikers with the parasite Giardia, while another tiny, one-celled parasite called cryptosporidia can be deadly for people with compromised immune systems, and cause weeks of watery diarrhea for everyone else. Cryptospordium can infect a person even if they ingest a single bacterium. 

live water

How the US treats water

In the US, The Environmental Protection Agency is required to enforce The Safe Drinking Water Act. Passed in 1974, the federal law regulates over 90 contaminants in tap water. Most big cities are constantly monitoring their water supplies. In New York City in 2016, the Department of Environmental Protection tested more than 51,500 water samples.

Live Water says it tested a few of its own samples from its spring source in Oregon. Those vials came back negative for Legionella and other illness-causing contaminants, but the tests the company used were not performed up to federal regulatory compliance standards. Singh and his company also tout the health benefits of their spring water, but the single scientific research paper that they cite isn't about drinking water at all: it refers to the healing effects of spring water for rabbit wounds. 

The Live Water team also says that their water is infused with some good stuff that tap water doesn't have. "Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium are the four primary electrolytes that maintain the body’s fluid balance. LIVE WATER is abundant in each," the company writes on its website.

Physicians who’ve studied the mineral content in tap water in 21 major cities across North America say most of our tap water already has a healthy amount of calcium, magnesium and sodium.  In many locations, tap water contains enough to provide up to 8% of a person’s daily dietary reference intake, if they’re well hydrated.

Live Water did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Why is there fluoride in tap water? 

The raw water evangelists told The Times that fluoride in tap water is "a mind-control drug that has no benefit to our dental health."

There's no evidence to support this. But fluoride, which is often naturally present at low levels in water, has been added in to some tap water for decades to help prevent cavities. The EPA regulates these levels to make sure the concentrations aren’t too high. (Kids under 8 can get too much fluoride, which can cause some cosmetic discoloration of teeth.) 

What about lead? Michigan Detroit Flint water

The complex web of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and groundwater sources that people in the US draw on to drink from isn't perfect. What happened in Flint, Michigan in 2014 is a textbook example of water resource management gone wrong.

The city switched its main water source from the Detroit to the Flint River to save some money. Lead that started leaking into the drinking supply from the pipes wasn’t properly treated, and smelly, colored water flowed into homes. According to The Atlantic, there has been both a spike in miscarriages and drop in birth rates in Flint since then.

Marc Edwards, one of the first engineers who studied the water problem in Flint, says there's no way to be completely sure you'll never get sick from drinking water: "It is not possible to achieve zero health risk, with any water at all," he wrote Business Insider in an email. But he says "most cities provide tap water to standards that pose very little health risk at reasonable cost."

There are a few things everyone can do to make sure that the water they're drinking is up to par. There’s an annual drinking water report from the EPA, as well as an independent tap water database available from the Environmental Working Group. If you're worried about how clean your water might be, you can use an NSF/ANSI-approved filter at home. 

But for some Americans, indulging in unregulated water may be about more than staying hydrated and healthy. Edwards believes they might really be seeking out some kind of mystical "glacial purity" or a hidden "fountain of youth," while shunning what they perceive as more "poisoned water."

At that point, he says, a person's urge to avoid the tap is simply "beyond the ability of science to quantify."

SEE ALSO: 17 facts that show why bottled water is one of the biggest scams of the century

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why drinking tap water might be better for your health than bottled water

Uber and Lyft are changing where rich people buy homes in New York City

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Leonard Steinberg Compass

  • Luxury real estate broker Leonard Steinberg has sold over $3 billion worth of New York real estate.
  • But Uber and Lyft, Steinberg says, are changing where wealthy people buy homes in the city.
  • He said it's because luxury buyers can use ride-sharing to get from place to place without losing out on productivity.

 

Since 2001, Leonard Steinberg, real estate broker and a president at Compass, has been selling homes to New York City's richest residents.

Steinberg has over $3 billion in transactions under his belt. His largest sale to date was on a Tribeca townhouse that sold for $43 million. In 2009, he worked on the $32 million deal for Dolce & Gabbana designer Domenico Dolce's 11th Avenue penthouse.

We recently spent a day with Steinberg, and when we asked what New York City neighborhood was currently the most popular among buyers, he had a surprising answer.

"Buyers have become more and more neighborhood agnostic than at any other time in history," he said. "[A buyer] will look at an apartment in SoHo, Hudson Yards, Upper East Side, and Tribeca."

The reason? Steinberg accredits ride-hailing apps such as Uber, Lyft, and Juno for this shift in mindset.

"Today, in our Uber-tech world — I [can be] in the back of a car with my iPhone, and I'm not losing out on anything. That has changed [commutes] dramatically. Your commute time is not lost productivity," he said.

"Time is the last luxury. If you can not lose time, you can live in many places," he said. 

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of a power real estate broker who sells penthouses worth millions

DON'T MISS: Nobody wants to buy this $79.5 million Upper East Side mansion that costs $240,000 a year in taxes

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The easy steps everyone should take to get out of debt, according to a certified financial planner


How 29-year-old Hope Hicks, who has no political experience, became the youngest White House communications director in history

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hope hicks

Hope Hicks, 29, is President Donald Trump's full-time White House communications director. But before joining Trump's 2016 campaign, she had no political experience.

Hicks was born in Greenwich, a town of 60,000 on the southwest tip of Connecticut that's a favorite spot for hedge-fund headquarters.

She was a model, actress, and lacrosse player as a child, before getting her English degree at Southern Methodist University.

Hicks didn't intend on playing such a large role in a presidential campaign, instead falling into the gig through a job at the Trump Organization.

Now she's the youngest White House communications director in history.

And Hicks has been with Trump — to use his words — "from the beginning." White House staffers may even called her his "real daughter." She stuck on his campaign through several staff revamps, including two high-profile changes at the campaign-chair position.

Here's what we know about Hicks.

SEE ALSO: Kellyanne Conway and other women reveal what it's like to work in Trump's White House

DON'T MISS: MEET THE NEW EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Here's who Trump has appointed to senior leadership positions

Hicks and her sister, Mary Grace, were successful teen models. Hicks posed for Ralph Lauren and appeared on the cover of "It Girl," a spin-off of the best-selling "Gossip Girl" book and TV series.


Source: New York Times



Hicks' first brush with the Trumps came in 2012 when she was at the public-relations firm Hiltzik Strategies working on Ivanka Trump's fashion line. Trump's eldest daughter hired Hicks away in 2014 and she became an employee of the Trump Organization.


Sources: New York Times, GQ, NYMag



Hicks met patriarch Trump and quickly "earned his trust," Ivanka Trump told The New York Times for a June 2016 profile on the spokeswoman.


Source: New York Times



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One walk through Seattle's 'Amazonia' neighborhood made me very uneasy for whatever city gets HQ2

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AmazonHQSeattle

The race for cities wanting to host Amazon's new $5 billion headquarters — and the 50,000 high-paying jobs the company says it'll come with — is on.

The global e-commerce giant received 238 bids for the second headquarters, dubbed HQ2.

For those wondering what their city may look like should Amazon choose it, the company's current home in Seattle is a cautionary tale. Locals point to snarled traffic, soaring housing prices, never-ending construction, and accelerated gentrification.

I recently spent a day in the Seattle neighborhood locals call Amazonia to see whether the "Ama-geddon" is as bad as everyone thinks.

In the '90s, Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood was a mess of parking lots, warehouses, and industrial buildings. Amazon has transformed the neighborhood and its surrounding areas, Belltown and Denny Triangle. Each of those pins on the map is an Amazon office.



Amazon's offices are spread across more than 33 buildings throughout the area, though some say the number is closer to 40. The company leases 100,000 square feet of office space in this building, nicknamed Otter.

Source: SF Gate



It's hard to overstate how thoroughly Amazon dominates downtown. The company is up to occupying 8.1 million square feet of office space in Seattle, reports say. Day 1 Tower, opened in 2016, is one of two towers that form the heart of Amazon's campus.

Source: Geekwire, SF Gate, CNBC



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Who will win big at the 2018 Golden Globes — and who should win

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big little lies

On Sunday night, the biggest stars in TV and movies unite for the silliest and most thrilling awards show of the season: the Golden Globes. 

2017 was a great year for both film and television, so the competition is fierce. It's hard to know who to root for, and a little difficult to predict, especially because the Golden Globes has a history of being unpredictable, with some quirky choices in nominees and winners. 

In movies, Guillermo del Toro's creature love story "The Shape of Water" led everyone with seven nominations this year. Steven Spielberg's "The Post" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" each have six.

In television, the frontrunners are Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" in the drama category, Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" for comedy, and HBO's "Big Little Lies" for miniseries. But that doesn't mean they're the only shows that will win: the Golden Globes is a mixed bag every year, so anything could happen — such as Freddie Highmore winning best actor for "The Good Doctor," one of the worst reviewed new shows of 2017.

Here's who we think will be winners (and who should win) at the 2018 Golden Globes:

Best Motion Picture, Drama

"Call Me by Your Name"

"Dunkirk"

"The Post"

"The Shape of Water"

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Who will win: "The Post"

You can't underplay the fact that this award is being handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press. Journalists love movies about journalists. Spielberg's movie has a good chance to take home the top prize of the night.

Who should win: "Dunkirk"

There honestly was no better made movie this year. Everything about Christopher Nolan's latest movie is incredible. Hopefully the voters haven't forgotten about its greatness (it did open in the summer).

Who could surprise us: "The Shape of Water"

It has the most nominations of any movie. That could lead to a surprise by the end of the night.



Best Director

Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"

Martin McDonagh, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk"

Ridley Scott, "All The Money in the World"

Steven Spielberg, "The Post"

Who will win: Steven Spielberg, "The Post"

This prize usually coincides with the movie that ends up with the big prize of the night, so Spielberg will likely get it. 

Who should win: Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk"

Are you starting to see a theme here? "Dunkirk" is one of the movies Nolan will be remembered for. 

Who could surprise us: Ridley Scott, "All the Money in the World"

Scott has been working the press since his shocking decision to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer. That could lead to a surprise win.



Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”

Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”

Tom Hanks, “The Post”

Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”

Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Who will win: Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"

Oldman delivers a performance that just screams, "Give me all the awards!" 

Who should win: Gary Oldman

In a career filled with amazing performances, this is certainly one of his best.

Who could surprise us: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread"

It's supposedly his final acting performance. That could have hooked voters to give him a fond farewell. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 23 best cities to move to if you're a broke millennial in search of an adventure in 2018

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It's not hard to see the draw of an exciting new adventure abroad while you're young, if only for a year or two — but doing so can be incredibly expensive.

According to international relocation company MoveHub.com, January is one of the most popular months for people to up sticks.

If you're considering taking the plunge, MoveHub has done the hard work for you and sussed out the cities where young people can find the best quality of life for their money.

The study examined the affordability and lifestyle for young people in 32 big cities, taking into account average monthly costs including income, renting a one-bed apartment, and public transport, as well as the density​ ​of cheap eats (places​ ​per 100,000 people), the cost of a coffee, as well as the city’s safety score (based on Deutsche Bank research).

Scroll down to see the 23 best cities to move to if you're a broke millennial in search of an adventure in 2018, ranked in ascending order.

SEE ALSO: The 30 most stunning and influential Instagram travel accounts to follow in 2018

23. Mexico City, Mexico.

Cost of public transport: £16 ($23.10)

Income: £561.01 ($750.75)

Rent: £222.60 ($297.88)

Density of cheap eats: 2.21 places per 100,000 people

Cost​ ​of cappuccino: £1.54 ($2.06)

Safety Index: 42



22. Auckland, New Zealand.

Cost of public transport: £94 ($122.9)

Income: £2,018.83 ($2701.59)

Rent: £747.54 ($1,000.36)

Density of cheap eats: 18.75

Cost​ ​of cappuccino: £2.27 ($3.04)

Safety Index: 24



21. Singapore, Singapore.

Cost of public transport: £96 ($63.9) 

Income: £2,339.14 ($3,130.23)

Rent: £1,086.51 ($1,453.97)

Density of cheap eats: 14.40

Cost​ ​of cappuccino: £2.92 ($3.92)

Safety Index: 1



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A £3.2 million Knightsbridge flat — and a luxury Jeep — could be yours for £10.25 if you answer one question right

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_MG_4046 Pano

  • Your Laddr is offering people the chance to win a £3.2 million Knightsbridge home and a £56,000 car for £10.25.
  • Entrants are asked to play a picture-based guessing game, and the best attempt will win.


Owning a flat in London can seem like an unrealistic goal — especially in the city's most expensive neighbourhood.

However, one company is offering a fully furnished £3.2 million Knightsbridge home and a £56,000 car as a prize for a guessing game, with an entry fee of £10.

Your Laddr, a company which offers houses as competition prizes, listed a three bedroom, two bathroom home in Knightsbridge as its current prize.

The property is on Walton Street in London's exclusive SW3 postcode. The prize comes with a Chelsea Truck Company Jeep Wrangler worth £56,000.

To win, entrants — who must be adults and live in the UK — will be asked to play a game of "Spot the Ball."

It involves picking a spot on the stock photograph below of a cricket player making a catch. The ball has been edited out of the image, and contestants have to pick where it should go.

Your Laddr house competition photo

They'll then pay for their ticket — £10 plus a 25p booking fee — and be entered into the contest, which runs until the end of September.

Your Laddr will only give away the house if they sell all 380,000 tickets — otherwise the prize will be the accumulated cash instead.

The judge of the contest will be a professional cricket player, who will determine where he thinks the middle of the ball is.

Whoever gets closest to the right spot wins the house. If multiple people win, one person will be chosen at random to get the prize. The others will share a prize pot of £10,000.

The grand prize includes the following: the full cost of the house, stamp duty, council tax for the first year, legal fees, and the car, including car insurance, road tax, and a parking permit.

The only thing the winner will have to pay for is other bills, which Your Laddr estimates at £900 a year, and service charges of around £420 a month.

Here's what the car looks like:

Your Laddr car

And here's a look at the flat, which has bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a total area of 1,063 square feet home, which is spread over two floors and comes fully furnished.

It has a reception room with "high ceilings, unique period features and ample natural light."

1

It leads to a dining area here

_MG_3978 Edit

Here's bedroom 1...

_MG_4016 Pano

Bedroom 2...

_MG_3993 Edit

...and Bedroom 3, which has a balcony with a view onto the street.

bedroom2

According to Your Laddr, the property is a "share of a freehold situated in one of London’s most sought after postcodes."

_MG_4037 Edit

Here's the floor plan:

Your Laddr Knightsbridge flat floor plan

Located on Walton Street, the flat is close to luxury shops like Harrods department store. The nearest underground station is Knightsbridge, on the Piccadilly Line.

knightsbridge

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The reason time seems to speed up as we grow older could be down to something called 'chunking' — here's what it means

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time sands

  • Many people say that time seems to speed up as they get older.
  • There are a few theories for this, but a new paper suggests it could be down to a psychological habit called "chunking."
  • By bundling together similar experiences we could be perceiving our lives as moving by quicker.
  • The researchers suggest we try and look for the unique moments in life to try and stop us lumping things together this way.


Another new year, another opportunity to say: "Where did the last 12 months go?"

It's very common to hear people say that it feels like time is slipping away faster and faster as they get older. Many of us will be guilty of making the remarks, because sometimes it does feel like a year can be gone in a flash.

As for why it happens, there have been a few theories over the years. One is that it's because when we are younger, a year makes up a larger percentage of our lives. For example, at four years old, one year will be 25% of your entire life, so it might feel like longer. As you get older, this percentage gets smaller and smaller.

Another possibility is that our biological clocks slow down as we age. Or it could simply be because we pay less attention to time slipping away when we are children.

A new study, published in the journal Self and Identity, has come up with a new theory, and it relates to a psychological tendency called "chunking." The research was spotted by BPS Digest.

We 'chunk' similar memories together

Philosopher Douglas R. Hofstadter came up with the idea of "chunking" as a way to describe the feeling of time getting faster. He proposed it is because over time we tend to collect our memories into bigger chunks.

For example, a young child going for a walk with their parents may encounter many new experiences. The weather might be different, or they might meet a dog, make a friend in the play area, or smell a new flower. These will all be individual experiences to the child, whereas the adult will probably lump that experience together with other walks in the park in their memories.

Thus, the parents may perceive time as going quicker, as they have fewer experiences of the day.

This makes sense if we gauge time by the amount of memorable events that happen to us. When we are older, our lives might be more repetitive as we fill them up with school runs, work, and making dinner. While at school, there would probably be more social events, dances, sports matches, and milestones like first kisses, heartbreaks, and getting married.

Having so much packed into a relatively short time could give the impression that earlier days were longer, when in fact events may have happened in the same period of time.

Time tends to move faster when we look back at longer periods

To test this theory, researcher Mark Landau at the University of Kansas and his team recruited 324 people for three studies to see whether people who "chunked" their memories together perceived time as moving faster.

In the first experiment, 107 participants were asked to write about the events over the past year of their lives and how they were similar to experiences in previous years. This was the chunking group. The non-chunking group were asked to write about how events could have turned out differently. Those who "chunked" the past year perceived time as passing more quickly.

The second experiment asked 115 undergraduate participants to reflect on the time they spent doing different things in either the past day or the past year. Those who chunked the past year reported feeling like time had gone faster than the other group.

The third group of people, 105 adults, did a similar test with pie charts to illustrate how they had spent the past year or past day. Like the previous two experiments, those who looked at the whole year appeared to experience time moving faster.

Overall, we may look back on our lives and bundle together years' worth of experiences, like "family time," "work," "social events," and "holidays."

"Perceiving life as rapidly slipping away is psychologically harmful: unpleasant, demotivating, and possibly even hostile to the sense that life is meaningful," the authors of the study wrote.

As bleak as this might seem, the researchers conclude that if this is the reason for time accelerating, then it could be counteracted. Specifically, they suggest people "live in the moment" or try and appreciate the special moments as truly unique.

Thinking about how one experience is different to anything else may stop us lumping many things together, and appreciate the smaller, seemingly less significant, moments.

SEE ALSO: The psychological reasons why we use filler words like 'um' and 'you know' in conversations

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The midwest has some of the most extreme weather in the US and these are the photos to prove it

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extremeweathermidweststorms

Storm chasing photographer Mike Hollingshead makes a living following America's worst storms, from snarling tornadoes chewing up Kansas farmland to supercell thunderstorms in the Dakotas.

A Nebraska-native, Hollingshead used to watch the Midwest's extreme weather from hills that overlooked his town. After seeing some "crazy storm photos" on the internet, Hollingshead drove to Iowa, where he lucked into a tornado on his first day.

Fifteen years later, Hollingshead is still chasing storms, often into danger. 

"Most storm chasers don't put themselves in the path [of the storm] ... but I like the view there the most," he says.

Hollingshead shared some of the most "beast" storms he's ever chased with us, but you can see more of his work at his blog, where he shares photos and stories from the chases.

SEE ALSO: Terrifying And Beautiful Supercell Photos Captured By A Storm Chaser

Hollingshead started chasing storms in 1999 as a hobby, before going full time in 2004.



The storm chasing season begins in April, before dropping off quickly in July. He says the best months are May and June. This vivid double rainbow was captured in Kansas.



Hollingshead uses computer models to narrow down where storms, like this supercell in Nebraska, will be. Even with the models, it's often impossible to know if a storm will be worth photographing before you get there.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An entrepreneur is turning a nuclear bunker into what could be Europe's largest legal marijuana farm

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christoph rossner medical marijuana in nuclear bunker

  • A nuclear bunker in Germany is becoming a massive marijuana farm.
  • The facility was intended as a launch site for nuclear weapons during the Cold War, though it was never used for such purposes.
  • Germany is home to Europe's largest medical marijuana market.

 

In the quiet countryside of southern Germany, Christoph Rossner is transforming a former nuclear bunker into what could be Europe's largest medical marijuana grow-operation.

The 47-year-old entrepreneur says that because of Germany's tight restrictions on growing, he looked for a site that would offer ample security. "This place is perfect for us," Rossner said.

In the US, fortified shelters built to withstand catastrophic events from viral epidemic to nuclear war seem to be experiencing a wave of interest in general. Architects are turning abandoned 20th century bunkers into farms, nightclubs, and apartments, while some developers are building luxury underground shelters where the 1% can live out doomsday.

But Rossner has something else in mind for the Memmingen military base, where from 1956 to 2003, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) planned to launch nuclear weapons if the Cold War ever escalated. The bunker, empty since 2003, was never used for such purposes.

marijuana tweed canopy growth

Rossner wants to retrofit the roughly 11,000-square-foot facility into a cannabis farm, where plants will grow to supply Germany's medical marijuana market. The facility will also provide cannabis for researchers from the Technical University of Munich and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

In vaults the size of shipping containers, chemists will cut highly potent strains of marijuana to create genetic clones, which will be planted to produce more grows. The process ensures consistency from one harvest to the next. Also in the crypt, an industrial furnace once used to incinerate toxic materials will be used to burn any surplus pot — a requirement from the state.

The renovation is expected to cost between $1.8 million and $2.5 million.

christoph rossner medical marijuana in nuclear bunker

Germany legalized medical marijuana in March 2017, creating Europe's largest medical weed market. Doctors can prescribe the drug to people suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, and other serious diseases. Insurance companies are supposed to cover the cost.

Between March and November of last year, the number of Germans receiving a prescription for medical marijuana increased tenfold to about 10,000 people, according to German news site The Local. But patients have been met with high prices and supply shortages. Germany imports its medical marijuana from well-established markets like Canada and the Netherlands.

If Rossner gets approval from the German government's drug control office, his company, Bunker PPD, could start cultivating plants for medical marijuana patients by spring 2018.

Rossner comes to the legal marijuana industry from the illicit market. In the late '90s, the budding entrepreneur set up an "illegal cannabis pharmacy," where he grew and sold the drug to his client base, which included people suffering from cancer, Crohn's disease, and arthritis. For his service, he wound up spending five months in prison and four months in therapy.

"It was not hard for me to go to jail, for all those people," Rossner told Business Insider. "I know in my heart that I am on the right side."

SEE ALSO: This 15-story underground doomsday shelter for the 1% has luxury homes, guns, and armored trucks

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We're learning more about why one type of carb is so good for you

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toast avocado tomato sandwich

  • Fiber is a key ingredient found in whole grains and produce that appears to help with weight loss and overall health.
  • We've known for decades that fiber helps with digestion and keeps us feeling full, but scientists haven't known why that is.
  • Two new studies suggest that fiber's most important impact is on the bacteria that thrive in our gut — a finding that jives with some research published in the 1990s.

 

Not all carbs are created equal.

Whole grains like those found in wheat bread, as opposed to their refined cousins like white bread, are a key component of a healthy diet. A growing body of research suggests that several components of whole grains make them healthy cornerstones of any diet, but one of the most mysterious of those ingredients is fiber.

Scientists and nutritionists know that fiber — which can be found in whole grains as well as fruits and vegetables — assists with digestion and keeps us feeling full. Diets rich in fiber have also been linked with a reduced risk of diseases like diabetes and arthritis, and even a lower risk of death from all causes. Nutritionists and dietitians have been suggesting we eat more of it for decades.

Yet what experts aren't as clear on is why the ingredient appears to be so beneficial. The results of two studies on mice, published this winter, shed some light on this enduring mystery — especially since their findings jibe with the conclusions of a handful of small studies in humans published between the 1980s and early 2000s.

They essentially conclude that fiber helps nourish the diversity of bacteria that thrives in our guts, also known as our microbiome. By keeping these bacterial communities healthy and varied, high-fiber diets appear to be help with weight loss, staving of disease, and keeping us healthier overall. It's why fibrous foods are sometimes called "prebiotics" — "pre" as in before or generating, and "biotics" as in life.

The latest research suggests fiber's biggest benefit is on our guts

healthy eating

For a study of fiber's impacts on mice, published in December 2017 in the journal Cell Host, researchers from Georgia State University fed the rodents a high-fat, low-fiber diet then tested the amount of bacteria in their guts.

Within a few days, the diverse bacterial communities flourishing in the animal's gut microbiome flat-lined.

In a similar experiment published in the same journal, researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden put mice on a low-fiber, high-fat, high-sugar diet and observed the changes that occurred within their guts.

Essentially, the low-fiber diet appeared to flip the delicate balance of bacterial populations in the mice's guts — some of the sparsest species of bacteria suddenly blossomed, while the most common species shriveled.

Scientists have been performing studies like these in humans since the 1990s, but most of them have involved small numbers of people. A handful of research highlighted in a 2007 review published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology suggested that the reason fiber and other prebiotics were so beneficial was that they appeared to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

While some of these studies focused on the compounds produced by fermented foods like sauerkraut, others looked exclusively at inulin, otherwise known as dietary fiber. Together, these prebiotics "beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon and thus improve health," according to a 1995 paper published in the Journal of Nutrition.

"Prebiotics are arguably a practical and efficient way to manipulate the gut microflora," the authors of the 2007 review wrote.

Whole grains vs. 'stripped carbs'

As opposed to their refined cousins, whole grains are an excellent source of fiber (which is key for healthy digestion), protein (which helps fill you up and power your muscles), and several key vitamins and minerals.

In fact, whole grains are one of the cornerstones of a plant-based diet, which has been increasingly championed by nutritionists and dietitians as the best for your brain and body.

The key difference between whole grains and processed carbohydrates — like white rice and the wheat in white bread — is that the latter has had its nutritious, fiber-rich outer shells, such as the germ and bran, stripped away. The end result is soft bread, smooth rice, and sweet cereal that gets processed by the body almost as quickly as it was ingested.

bi_graphics_whole_grain

While refined carbs may taste delicious, experts agree that they don't belong in a healthy diet. Unlike their whole-grain counterparts that get digested slowly and fill you up for hours, refined carbs are rapidly turned into sugar in your body.

This is why those ingredients can contribute to weight gain, according to Roxanne B. Sukol, the medical director of the Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Enterprise. In the book "Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America," Sukol told author and chef Michael Ruhlman that people should think of things like white rice and white bread as "stripped carbs."

Instead of eating those ingredients, Sukol advises people to fill up on more whole grains, which she calls "good carbs."

So add more brown rice, fruits, and vegetables to your diet. Your gut — and entire body — will thank you.

SEE ALSO: Why you should stop eating white rice, according to a physician

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The combined jackpots for the next Powerball and Mega Millions are over $1 billion — here are 8 over-the-top things you could buy if you won

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women happy cheering wealth

Life could change for one — or even a few — lucky people Wednesday night.

As of Friday afternoon, the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $450 million and the Powerball jackpot reached $570 million.

With that much cash on hand, some of the world's finest luxuries suddenly become attainable.

Below, check out eight over-the-top purchases the lottery winner could make, from multi-million dollar real estate to once-in-a-lifetime travel excursions.

SEE ALSO: If you win the Powerball lottery, don't take the payment in a lump sum

DON'T MISS: Here's exactly what to do if you win the $400 million lottery jackpot, according to a financial adviser

Make a trip to Ibiza, Spain, to enjoy the most expensive tasting menu in the world at the Hard Rock Hotel. A 13-course dinner for two costs $3,266 and includes DIY cocktails, 360-degree projections, neon dining tables, and dishes that incorporate experimental techniques. Stay in the hotel's Rockstar Suite for about $4,200 a night.

Source: Business Insider,Hard Rock Hotel, Ibiza

 



You could buy this fully restored Upper East Side mansion less than a block from Manhattan's Central Park for $79.5 million. Its six floors include a rooftop terrace and basement gym, ventilated smoking room, six bedrooms, and staff quarters. But buyer beware: The annual property tax bill is over $240,000.

Source: Business Insider



Of course you'll need staff to maintain your new pad. A team of basic domestic staff —a butler, housekeeper, and chef — can cost at least $245,000 a year. Add a driver, nanny, and personal assistant and you're up to $460,000 annually.

Source: Business Insider



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A day in the life of Birchbox CEO Katia Beauchamp, who swaps coffee for meditation and refuses to let her inbox 'be the boss'

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Katia Beauchamp

• Katia Beauchamp is CEO of Birchbox, the beauty subscription service she co-founded in 2010.

• She is also a mother of three.

• She shared some insights on staying productive at work and finding balance in life with Business Insider.



Birchbox CEO Katia Beauchamp's schedule is pretty jam-packed.

And that's not just because she runs the beauty subscription company that she co-founded in 2010. Beauchamp is also the mother of three sons, including a newborn baby.

For her, balance isn't about checking off  tasks on her to-do list. "If you try to tackle everything, you're not giving anything the attention it needs," she told Business Insider. "Slowing down is a big part of what I think works."

Here's a look at a typical day in the life of the CEO:

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of an executive at Facebook, the best place to work in America

Beauchamp typically rises around 5 a.m. to take care of her newborn baby. "I hang out with him for a little while," she told Business Insider. "Sometimes I get to sleep a little more, if he's nice to me."



The whole family is up around 6:30 a.m. "I try to have breakfast with the boys," she said. Beauchamp's husband Greg and a nanny are on hand to help get her two older sons ready for school.



"I walk the boys to school every day," she said. She's typically in the office by nine o'clock. "I try to use the morning time to make sure that I'm prepared for what I need to get done."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Working for Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace may sound like a dream to some, but the pay is less than you think

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queen of England queen Elizabeth II

  • Buckingham Palace posted a job listing in December for a new catering chef.
  • The position is full-time and pays about $28,000 a year — and even less if you decide to live on-site.
  • The chef will prepare food for receptions, state dinners, and staff lunches at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences.

 

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is in search of a new "Demi Chef de Partie" at Buckingham Palace.

Also known as a line cook or station chef in restaurants in the US, the position requires working with a team of staff to prepare large meals at a fast pace, often for catered events.

According to the job listing, Buckingham Palace is offering a salary of about $28,000 a year, plus an employer pension contribution of 15%, daily meals, and 33 vacation days a year. 

That's about $5,000 more than the average salary of a line cook at a restaurant in the US — or $8,300 more than a fast food worker at McDonald's — but the listing says the annual pay will be adjusted if the chef decides to live on-site, though it's not clear by how much. 

While the salary may seem low, what the position lacks in monetary compensation it will likely make up for in experience. 

The listing says an extensive background working as a chef "isn't essential," but qualified candidates will have spent time in a "premier kitchen or volume catering." The new chef will prepare food for receptions, state dinners, and staff lunches at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences.

Ultimately, the Queen is looking for someone with strong communication skills, a passion for food, an eagerness to learn new skills, a clear ability to meet deadlines, and great attention to detail.

That's understandable, considering the Queen is famously particular about her food — no garlic, lots of dark chocolate, and very little red meat, according to an interview with a former Buckingham Palace chef in Town & Country Magazine. 

The public application for the Demi Chef de Partie closed on January 1, but Buckingham Palace is still looking to hire two palace assistants and a handful of seasonal workers for next summer.

With a personal fortune over $500 million, it's unlikely the Queen will ever skimp on staff.

SEE ALSO: A 'prominent Upper East Side couple' in NYC is offering 2 people a $150,000 salary to cook, clean, and run errands for them

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