• New York City's Upper East Side has a hidden neighborhood on East End Avenue where many of the city's richest live.
• Celebrities like Debra Messing and Ricky Martin reside in the area, dubbed 'the suburb of the Upper East Side.' 
• Rumor has it the Obamas may be moving in soon.

New York's Upper East Side has long been synonymous with the city's moneyed elite, a century before new towers like 15 Central Park West and One57 became en vogue addresses for the world's millionaires and billionaires. 

While Park Avenue and 5th Avenue have always been the most desirable Upper East Side addresses, the neighborhood has a third coveted street known only to those in the know — East End Avenue.

Only 11 blocks long and nestled against the East River, East End has become a secluded neighborhood of its own, one that residents call 'the suburb of the Upper East Side.'

The hidden neighborhood has been the home of heiresses, celebrities, politicians, and billionaires including New York royalty Vincent Astor, Club Monaco founder Joseph Mimram, singer Ricky Martin, baseball player Johan Santana, hedge-funder Arvind Sanger, and actress Debra Messing.

Rumor has it that Barack and Michelle Obama may be buying an apartment in the former building of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt in the neighborhood. 

Ed Baquero, president of the Corigin Real Estate Group and the developer of the area's newest building 20 East End, recently gave us a tour of the neighborhood, which he called "a little hidden gem."

SEE ALSO: Inside the new building designed by the man behind 'the world’s most powerful address,' where apartments go for up to $35 million

East End Avenue is an 11-block tree-lined stretch next to the East River on the Upper East Side. The quiet street is lined with buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. "It is one of the last true neighborhoods in the city," Baquero said.

Built in 1928, 25 East End Avenue was one of the first buildings on the street. It has only 39 apartments over 15 floors, with sales prices usually ranging between $2 million and $5 million.

"The people who live here never sell. If they sell, it's to upgrade for better views or a bigger apartment," said Baquero. "They never move out of the area because they feel like they will never find this anywhere else in the city."

In a rare show of diplomacy between the two Koreas, Kim Jong Un's younger sister is traveling to South Korea on Friday for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Her journey will be a milestone of historic significance — she'll be the first member of North Korea's ruling family to visit the south since the Korean War in the 1950s, according to The New York Times.

Like her brother, and much of the rest of their family, few details are known about Kim Yo Jong and the life she lived before reaching a prime leadership role in the North Korean government.

Here's what we know about her so far:

SEE ALSO: The mysterious life of Kim Jong Un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, who probably has 3 children and frequently disappears from the public eye

DON'T MISS: Mystery children and sibling rivalries — this is Kim Jong Un's family tree

Like many of Kim's family members, Kim Yo Jong's exact age is difficult to pin down. But she's believed to be between 29 and 31.

She's the youngest child of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his consort Ko Yong Hui, a former dancer.

Source: Business Insider

She was partly educated in Switzerland, at the same school Kim Jong Un attended. But she returned to North Korea in 2000 after completing the US equivalent of the sixth grade.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/961416981013344256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Kim Yo Jong as a girl: this is the earliest photo we have of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, taken while she was at school in Switzerland. pic.twitter.com/LrDFgGBzdt

Source: North Korea Leadership Watch

• New York Fashion Week shows may be glamorous, but very few models receive paychecks to match. 
• Models in New York earn $48,130 a year on average, and are sometimes only paid in clothes.
• The 10 highest-paid models, including Kendall Jenner and Gisele Bündchen, earned a collective $109.5 million last year.

New York Fashion Week has descended on the city once again. 

As designers showcase fashion collections worth thousands of dollars, runway models bring the shows to life. But behind the scenes, the financial situation of many models who walk in New York Fashion Week isn't as glamorous as it seems. 

Models who manage to become household names command high rates for their work. The 10 highest-paid models made a collective $109.5 million between June 2016 and June 2017, according to Forbes.

The top spot on the most recent list went to 22-year-old Kendall Jenner, who earned a total of $22 million. That's more than double the $10 million Jenner, who has over 85 million Instagram followers, made the year before. 

Gisele Bündchen, 37, was the second-highest paid model with $17.5 million in earnings. She came in first on the 2016 Forbes list, with $30.5 million. 

For the rest of the industry, which the Council of Fashion Designers of America has said is "in transition," the financial story is much different. While many models have closets filled with expensive clothes — often received as payment for their work— most do not have bank accounts to match.

In New York, models earn $48,130 on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's only a third of the average annual Manhattanite salary of $144,716.

"Models—many of whom are minors—have low bargaining power and are frequently not paid all of their earned wages, are paid wages late, are paid only after complaining about non-payment, are paid in 'trade' instead of money, or are simply not paid at all," former model and founder and executive director of the Models Alliance, Sara Ziff, told The Daily Beast's Miranda Frum.

Kelly Mittendorf, 23, who retired from modeling in 2015 after spending five years in the industry, recently spoke to the New York Times about her experience. Here's Mittendorf:

"I never made good money as a model. I went into debt with every single one of my agencies at one point or another. An agency has for each girl an account, and if they need to have the girl come from Arizona to New York in order to build her portfolio, the agency will front the expenses for her plane ticket, for paying the photographers, for printing the photos, for the physical portfolio itself, for the comp cards that need to be developed, for the retouching, for new clothes to go on castings with, for a model apartment for her to stay in."

While there's no guarantee that a model's career earnings will justify the upfront costs, one way or another she is required to repay the agency. In Mittendorf's case, that amounted to five figures of debt.

"I was lucky to kind of be able to climb out of that," she told the New York Times. "It took years."

SEE ALSO: A London family is offering their future nanny $129,000 and access to a Maserati

DON'T MISS: Here's how much the highest-paid women in every US state earn

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Gisele Bündchen became the highest-paid supermodel in the world

Netflix's strategy for original content has proved time and again that the streaming service values quantity — sometimes over quality.

In December, the company released the Will Smith-led movie "Bright" into a critical bloodbath. But Netflix CEO Reed Hastings later brushed off the negative reviews by calling the film a commercial success and critics "disconnected from the mass appeal."

This week, critics are tearing apart "The Cloverfield Paradox," a sequel to the sci-fi film "Cloverfield" that Netflix bought from Paramount and surprise-released following the Super Bowl on Sunday.

To find out which Netflix original films critics have deemed the worst of the worst, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to rank the movies that received a "Rotten" critical score of less than 60%. We excluded films that didn't have enough reviews to receive a designation of "Rotten," and we used audience scores to break any ties.

Here are the 18 worst Netflix original movies, ranked in descending order:

SEE ALSO: All 54 of Netflix's notable original shows, ranked from worst to best

18. "Shimmer Lake" — 57%

Critic score: 57%

Audience score: 59%

Netflix description: "Unfolding in reverse time, this darkly comic crime thriller follows a local sheriff hunting three bank robbery suspects, one of whom is his brother."

17. “War Machine” — 51%

Critic score: 51%

Audience score: 34%

Netflix description: "When a proud general is tasked with winning an unpopular war, he takes the challenge head-on, not knowing that hubris may be his own worst enemy."

16. "Mascots" — 50%

Critic score: 50%

Audience score: 35%

Netflix description: "Eager contestants don big heads and furry suits to vie for the title of World's Best Mascot in this offbeat, comic romp from Christopher Guest."

• Quentin Tarantino apologized Thursday for defending filmmaker Roman Polanski in a 2003 interview with Howard Stern, in which he said the 13-year-old girl with whom Polanski had unlawful sex "was down with it."
• Samantha Gailey, Polanski's victim, called Tarantino out after the interview resurfaced this week, saying of the director, "He was wrong. I bet he knows it."
• Tarantino reportedly called Gailey to apologize and issued a statement on the matter.

Quentin Tarantino apologized Thursday for comments he made in a 2003 interview on The Howard Stern Show, in which he defended filmmaker Roman Polanski — who in 1977 pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old minor, Samantha Gailey.

On Thursday, Tarantino reportedly called Gailey to apologize and issued a statement to IndieWire, apologizing for his "cavalier remarks" in the interview.

"Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski," Tarantino wrote.

In the 2003 interview, Howard Stern asked Tarantino why Hollywood still embraced Polanski, "this mad man, this director who raped a 13-year-old."

"He didn’t rape a 13-year-old," Tarantino said in response. "It was statutory rape. ... He had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violent, throwing them down — it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world. You can’t throw the word rape around. It’s like throwing the word 'racist' around. It doesn’t apply to everything people use it for."

When the show's cohost Robin Quivers added that Polanski was charged with giving drugs to Gailey, who "didn't want to have" sex with Polanski, Tarantino became more adamant in his defense, saying that Gailey "wanted to have it and dated the guy" and "was down with it."

Gailey called Tarantino out after the interview resurfaced this week, saying of the director's comments, "He was wrong. I bet he knows it."

Here is Tarantino's full apology statement: 

"I want to publicly apologize to Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on “The Howard Stern Show” speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her. Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski. When Howard brought up Polanski, I incorrectly played devil’s advocate in the debate for the sake of being provocative. I didn’t take Ms. Geimer’s feelings into consideration and for that I am truly sorry.

So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect.

I am sorry Samantha.

Quentin Tarantino"

Listen to the audio of the Howard Stern interview below:

SEE ALSO: Uma Thurman's brutal injury on the 'Kill Bill' set shows what happens when a director's power goes too far, according to a producer

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch SpaceX launch a Tesla Roadster to Mars on the Falcon Heavy rocket — and why it matters

• There are hotels, and then there are luxury hotels favored by the ultra rich.
• The Bellagio and Caesars Palace are surprisingly popular with the world's richest people. 
• The two Las Vegas hotels also happen to be the most affordable hotels on the list. 

Rich people don't skimp on luxury when they travel. In fact, they demand it.

That's an obvious takeaway from New World Wealth's latest report, which identified the most popular hotels around the world among the ultra rich — those with a net worth exceeding $10 million.

New World Wealth interviewed several top-end travel agents and tracked movements and trends of wealthy people in the media to find out which hotels were most frequented by the 1% throughout 2017.

Below, we've included average weekend nightly rates at each hotel for comparable basic rooms and suites. All figures come from Expedia and exclude any daily resort fees.

Check out the top 10 hotels most loved by the ultra rich:

SEE ALSO: Owning a $1 million home is no longer considered a luxury in America

DON'T MISS: 9 mind-blowing facts about the world's richest people

10. The Beverly Hills Hotel

Location: Los Angeles, California

Basic room average rate: $895/night

Suite average rate: $2,600/night

9. Hotel de Paris

Location: Monte Carlo, Monaco

Basic room average rate: $566/night

Suite average rate: $1,104/night

8. Ritz Paris

Location: Paris, France

Basic room average rate: $1,190/night

Suite average rate: $3,029/night

This pillow is dedicated to reducing acid reflux. This is the MedCline Reflux Relief System. It reclines your body, so stomach acid can't reach your esophagus. 

Liz Jassin, Business Insider:

"I've had acid reflux for five years.  I went to the doctor, and they gave me a long list of foods to cut out of my diet to reduce my reflux symptoms. No chocolate. No alcohol. No coffee. Which, I can't do that. No spicy foods, to cut acidic foods. It was a ridiculous list that I couldn't cut out. 

The next thing they suggested was different medications. I was taking all these pills and nothing was working. One other recommendation a doctor gave me was elevating my head with a pillow each night. It was insanely uncomfortable, and I wasn't just gonna prop three pillows up each night to cure my acid reflux. I came across this wacky pillow on Facebook one day. 

It's called the MedCline Reflux Relief System. These people were sliding their arm into this big pillow wedge with a body pillow. The caption was, "This could cure your acid reflux." So I was like, "wait, tell me more! I want to cure my acid reflux." So I got one, and I'm gonna try it out.

Acid reflux is the backward flow of stomach acid into the esophagus. If acid hits the esophagus, it causes heartburn. When you're upright during the day, gravity brings acidic content down. When you go to sleep at night, and if you’re on your back, incomplete digested foods enter your esophagus. MedCline recommended using the pillow for two weeks. 

Liz Jassin:

"The first night did not go well. I somehow left the pillow in the middle of the night. I moved from one side of the bed to the other and was no longer sleeping with the pillow.

It’s a very comfortable pillow but to be elevated on this wedge all night long and have all this pressure on your arm was really uncomfortable, so my shoulder was killing me the next day. I tried again the second night and third night and same thing, it was really uncomfortable. 

I was waking up in the middle of the night. By night four, I was starting to adjust to the pillow. I was able to sleep the entire night through. I used the pillow for two weeks straight and my symptoms went down a lot I was able to enjoy my days and enjoy my sleep without the symptoms and without changing my diet and taking medication. This pillow isn’t meant to entirely cure you of acid reflux. And, it didn’t.

I still had my days. If I wanted to buy the pillow, it’s just under $400. So, now that I’ve used it for two weeks, would I? Maybe if I had $400 laying around. When you compare it to trying out a whole bunch of medications using the pillow is a natural remedy that really worked for me.

Join the conversation about this story »

• American malls are dying out.
• More than 6,400 stores closed in 2017, and another 3,600 are expected to shutter in 2018. According to a report done by Credit Suisse, this will result in 20% to 25% of malls closing in the next five years.
• These empty buildings make ideal places for crime.

The retail apocalypse has created a dangerous problem. Abandoned malls are becoming breeding grounds for crime, and it's likely to get worse as more malls close.

More than 6,400 stores closed in 2017, and another 3,600 are expected to shutter in 2018. According to a report done by Credit Suisse, this will result in 20% to 25% of malls closing in the next five years.

These desolate malls, often on the outskirts of town, are becoming crime hotspots. 

Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio, is a prime example of this, as the vacant mall has been the scene of several crimes. A homeless man was sentenced to a year in prison for living inside a vacant store, another man was electrocuted trying to steal copper wire from the mall, and the body of a likely murder victim was found behind the shopping center.

As a result, the mayor of Akron instructed residents to "stay clear of the area," and the city began the process of demolishing the rotting shopping center in October 2016.

Take a look at these haunting photos of Rolling Acres that were taken by photographer Seph Lawless in 2012, before it started being demolished. 

You can find more of Lawless' work on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

SEE ALSO: 50 haunting photos of abandoned shopping malls across America

All across America, malls are decaying.

Lawless first visited this Akron, Ohio, mall in 2012 for his book "Black Friday."

When he revisited the mall, he found it was covered in snow.

• US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos married Amway heir Dick DeVos in 1979.

• Both hailed from wealthy, powerful Michigan families, and shared similar conservative Christian values. The couple went on to become massively influential in Michigan state politics.

• Forbes reported the net worth of the family — including Betsy Devos' father-in-law Richard and his other children — is around $5.4 billion. Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback reported the couple is likely worth around $1.3 billion.

In 1979, 21-year-old Betsy Prince tied the knot with 23-year-old Amway heir Dick DeVos.

The couple shares a Dutch ancestry, conservative Christian values, and a wealthy upbringing. Together, they became one of the most powerful political entities in Michigan.

"It almost brings to mind the old monarchies of Europe where they would intermarry," Susan Demas, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics told Politico.

It would also propel Betsy DeVos to the White House. US President Donald Trump brought her on board as Secretary of Education, largely owing to her longtime advocacy for charter schools. 

The billionaire couple is no stranger to controversy. Secretary DeVos has been criticized for everything from her comments about historically black colleges to her involvement with a controversial "brain training company." Meanwhile, Amway — which Dick ran as CEO from 1993 to 2002 — has long been likened to a pyramid scheme.

Over the course of their 39-year marriage, Betsy and Dick DeVos have raised four children, donated large sums to the betterment of western Michigan, and used their immense wealth to reshape politics according to their worldview.

Here's a look at their relationship:

SEE ALSO: Inside the Trump-endorsed marriage of Mike Pence, who calls his wife 'mother' and refuses to dine with other women

The current Secretary of Education met her husband sometime around 1976, Politico reported. They dated while she was a student at Calvin College, a Christian college in Grand Rapids.

Source: Politico, The Atlantic

He'd often swing by campus in his Mercedes and pick her up, The Atlantic reported.

Source: Politico, The Atlantic

In his book "Rediscovering American Values," Dick DeVos said the couple's relationship was "based on our honest sharing of love, faith, and commitment." He dedicated his book to the couple's four children and to his wife, "whom I love with all my heart."

Source: "Rediscovering American Values: The Foundations of Our Freedom for the 21st Century"

People in the American South have one of the most famous dialects in the United States, from their distinctive drawl to the versatile pronoun "y'all."

And there are some things Southerners say differently from the rest of the US.

Southern vocabulary can be confusing to outsiders, especially when a common word has a totally different meaning when spoken in the South.

Here are eight of the most perplexing Southern words that people from other places simply wouldn't understand. 

SEE ALSO: 27 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US

DON'T MISS: 9 things Southerners say that you won't hear anywhere else

Coke

In most parts of the country, Coke is the common nickname for Coca-Cola.

But in many parts of the South, coke with a lowercase C is just a term for soft drinks in general, a synonym for "soda" or "pop."

So if you're in the South and you offer someone a coke, don't be surprised when they respond, "what kind?"

Fixing

This "fixing" has nothing to do with repairing something. In some Southern dialects you can say you're fixing to do something if you're on the verge of doing it, like in the sentence "They were fixin' to leave without me."

The construction comes from an older version of the word "fix" meaning to prepare. Similarly, "fixings" are all the trimmings and side dishes that accompany a meal.

Barbecue

As anyone from the South can tell you, barbecue both a type of grill and the food you make with it — usually pulled pork coated in spices and sauce and cooked over a flame.

There are several regional variations of barbecue, with North Carolina, South Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City, and Texas each claiming their own distinct method of preparation.

Whatever you do, don't use "barbecue" to refer to a gathering where barbecue is consumed — that's a "cookout" in the South.

• Here's what time the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony will start depending on where you live.

The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony kicks off on Friday, February 9.

The ceremony will take place at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, a 35,000 capacity venue temporarily built for the opening and closing ceremonies at this year's games.

It cost $78 million to build the stadium, but spectators and locals won't be able to enjoy it for long, as it's set to be dismantled soon after the end of the Winter Olympics.

At the opening ceremony, all athletes competing at the games will march into the stadium during an event known as the Parade of Nations.

The ceremony will be a celebration of Korean culture, Korean pop music, and Korean history. One of the goals of the Olympics — peace — has seemingly been brought about if only for Friday, as embattled nations North Korea and South Korea have agreed to parade under one flag.

Here are the opening ceremony start times in major cities across different time zones on Friday, February 9:

• PyeongChang in South Korea (KST): 8 p.m.
• New York (ET): 6 a.m.
• Chicago (CT): 5 a.m.
• Denver (MT): 4 a.m.
• Las Vegas (PT): 3 a.m.
• Los Angeles (PT): 3 a.m.
• Honolulu (HAST): 1 a.m.
• Sydney (AET): 10 p.m.
• Tokyo (JST): 8 p.m.
• Moscow (MSK): 2 p.m.
• Paris (CEST): 12 p.m.
• London (GMT): 11 a.m.

The opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be broadcast in the US on the NBC Olympics website, as well as the NBC Sports app.

BBC One will broadcast the event in the UK from 10.30 a.m. local time. It will also air on Eurosport 1 at 10.30 a.m.

You can see the full schedule of events here.

SEE ALSO: This is the full schedule for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang

DON'T MISS: The Olympic Village will be stocked with 37 condoms per athlete — and it could be because of Tinder

Join the conversation about this story »

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• If you use pet names, it might be because your mother used them with you.
• Research shows that using cute nicknames is a sign your relationship is strong.
• There are hundreds of variations from around the world, so you could try out a new one on your partner for Valentine's Day.
• However, it's important to make sure your partner is okay with the cutesy names, as some people really hate them.
• Insisting on using terms like "babydoll" when they're unwanted could indicate disrespect.

The idea of being called "babe" or "sweetheart" makes some people shudder. For others, pet names are so ingrained into their lives that if their partner calls them by their real name, they know something serious must have happened.

If you love to come up with new idioms to show your affection, this could be linked to your mother, according to Dean Falk, a professor of neuroanthropology at Florida State University.

She told Broadly that ultimately, pet names are a bit like baby talk, which exists to help babies learn languages while expressing love at the same time to bond mother and child.

"My hypothesis is an extremely simple one," Falk told Broadly. "Couples, speaking this way, harken back to their own experience when they were infants and to their first love, their mother."

Pet names can be a good sign for your relationship...

Whether you've earned a new nickname from an inside joke or you're both the kind of people who use couple-y terms, pet names can be a good sign that a romantic relationship is going well.

Suzanne Degges-White, a professor of counseling and higher education at Northern Illinois University, agrees, saying in a blog post on Psychology Today that using personal idioms is a sign your relationship is solid.

Just like we can get to know our partners so well that a simple glance can convey how we're feeling, pet names are another way of appreciating that closeness.

One study from 1993, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, studied 154 couples to look at the correlation between pet name idioms and relationship satisfaction.

The research found that the satisfied husbands and wives reported more idioms than those who were unsatisfied.

However, the use of pet names declined over time. Couples married less than five years with no children used them the most, while couples in later stages used them the least, suggesting pet names are usually conjured up during the honeymoon period.

"I think it's a really human, natural behavior to take language and shape it for our own purposes," the lead author of the study, Carol J. Bruess, told Scientific American. "I think that's how nicknames evolve. We name things, we give things symbols, and over time we tend to naturally manipulate those symbols toward a certain outcome."

...But only if your partner actually likes them

Still, there could also be a more sinister side. Nicknames should be respectful, and if your partner is repeatedly calling you something you've already said you hate, it could be a sign they don't respect you.

"Sometimes pet names are used to infer power over another," wrote Degges-White. "Calling a female server 'Honey' or 'Babe' can be a way to call attention to your view of the role as subservient; it can be the same as calling females in the office 'girls' instead of co-workers or colleagues.

"According to many traditions and philosophies, there is great power in naming things and when this power is wielded by those who choose to use it to their own advantage, nicknames and other nomenclature-related communications can do great harm."

Different languages have their own versions

There are lots of variations of pet names people use in different countries around the world.

In the UK, we tend to use words for animals or food, which also seems to be a general theme around the globe. The French say "Mon Petit Chou" which means my little cabbage, or cream puff. In the Netherlands, people call their girlfriends "Dropje," meaning candy, and the Spanish say "Media Naranja," which means half-orange — the suggestion being that when they're together, they make a whole orange.

In Thailand, a loved one might be called "Chang Noi," or little elephant, and an Arabic pet name is "Ghazal," or gazelle. An Italian boyfriend might call you "Orsacchiotto," meaning little bear, a German may say "Spatz" for sparrow, and a Polish person might call you a little mouse, or "myszka."

"The use of pet names for our loved ones shows that most humans feel a need to express their affection in words, even when body language, a loving glance, or a hug would express the same," Katja Wilde, Head of Didactics at Babbel told Business Insider.

"It's also an area of language where the speakers tend to be very imaginative; pet names often come in different variations or are derived from each other in more or less corny neologisms which few people would want to share with the rest of the world, making pet names a very private area of language."

SEE ALSO: Relationship pet names are different in countries all over the world — here are 12 of the most unusual ones

Join the conversation about this story »

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Rio Carnival has to be seen to be believed.

It's known for debauchery, alcohol, fancy dress, dancing, and kissing. It involves very early starts, long days, and a lot of stamina.

While most outside media coverage focuses on the glitzy Sambadrome where the samba schools parade and everyone is dressed in frisky feathered outfits, there's a lot more to it than that.

I did my first carnival in 2010, and have been back for more since. 

I've learned that the Carioca — a term used to refer to anything related to Rio — culture is actually very particular, and if you're thinking of travelling there to join in the celebrations it's worth knowing a thing or two about it beforehand.

Scroll down for 33 things I wished I'd known before doing my first Rio Carnival.

SEE ALSO: 15 things a 30-year-old Londoner learned when he moved to San Francisco and started working in Silicon Valley

Although Rio Carnival officially kicks off on Friday February 9, the warm-up began back in January and people have been partying for weeks.

I did my first carnival in 2010, and have been back for more since. If you're doing carnival for the first time, be prepared for the early starts. Some of the best "blocos" — or street parties — start at 7 a.m. and everyone is ready to go, drink in hand.

The blocos look like this, complete with huge shuddering sound systems.

• Research suggests that neither vitamin C or orange juice will help beat that cold.
• Nevertheless, sales of the beverage are rising for the first time in half a decade — and people think it may have to do with this year's terrible flu season.
• If you're looking for something that could actually help reduce your symptoms and the length of your cold, studies suggest that zinc — not vitamin C — may be your best bet.

Flu season 2018 is not messing around.

As the virus has swept the US in recent months, people seem to have turned to orange juice in the hope that the vitamin C-rich beverage will help them fight off illness. Sales of the drink rose 0.9% in the four weeks ending on January 20, according to The Wall Street Journal — the first time in almost five years that Nielsen data showed a year-over-year increase.

Importantly, the symptoms of the flu and the common cold, both of which are caused by viruses, can be very similar, so it's tough to tell which one you have.

That said, neither orange juice nor vitamin C supplements will likely do much good against either virus. Studies have found that vitamin C does nothing to prevent or treat the common cold — and the research on vitamin C and the flu has been inconclusive.

Instead of vitamin C, the available evidence does support the use of another supplement — zinc.

'Routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified'

A 2013 review of 29 trials which involved more than 11,300 people found "no consistent effect of vitamin C ... on the duration or severity of colds." The only place the authors observed some benefits of vitamin C supplementation was in marathon runners, skiers, and soldiers on "subarctic exercise" — and even in those small populations, the observed effect was small.

"The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified," the study authors wrote.

And megadoses of vitamin C — on the order of 2,000 milligrams or more — may come with substantial harms, including raising your risk of painful kidney stones.

If you want to increase your overall vitamin and mineral intake, research backs getting it from fresh fruits and vegetables. This is the best way for your body to process it and ensures you get the most nutrients possible.

Zinc may be your best bet against the common cold

Unlike vitamin C, which studies have found likely does nothing to prevent or treat the common cold, zinc may actually be worth a shot this season. The mineral seems to interfere with the replication of rhinoviruses, the bugs that cause the common cold.

In a 2011 review of studies of people who'd recently gotten sick, researchers looked at those who'd started taking zinc and compared them with those who just took a placebo. The ones on zinc had shorter colds and less severe symptoms.

Zinc is a trace element that the cells of our immune system rely on to function. Not getting enough zinc (Harvard Medical School researchers recommend 15-25 mg of zinc per day) can affect the functioning of our T-cells and other immune cells. But it's also important not to get too much: an excess of the supplement may actually interfere with the immune system's functioning and have the opposite of the intended result.

So instead of chugging fizzy drinks loaded with vitamin C, stick to getting the nutrient from food. Strawberries and many other fruits and veggies are a great source. And if you aren't getting enough zinc in your diet, try a zinc supplement. Chickpeas, kidney beans, mushrooms, crab, and chicken are all rich in zinc, and zinc-rich lozenges may also help boost your intake.

SEE ALSO: Most vitamins are useless, but here are the ones you should take

DON'T MISS: 25 'superfoods' you should be eating more of right now

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NOW WATCH: These are the only vitamins you should be taking — and the ones you should skip

Valentine's Day can be daunting to plan, but half the work is coming up with a great date idea.

Whether it's a romantic weekend getaway, dinner in an intimate setting with incredible food, or a spa day, there's a place in every state to take your valentine and treat them to something special. 

Below are 50 great date ideas to snag as your own, or to get your wheels turning on how you can treat your date. From a couple-owned wine bar in Connecticut, to a spa day near the Grand Canyon, to a quaint bed and breakfast in Indiana — be sure to make this year's Valentine's Day unforgettable.  

SEE ALSO: Relationship experts say these are the 9 signs the person you're dating is right for you — and some are surprisingly simple

SEE ALSO: The 25 most expensive weekend getaways in the world

Alabama: Wine Trails

Alabama's very own wine country has three different trails you can follow and sip wine along the way. With 13 different vineyards acting as official members of the Alabama Wineries Association, there's a pit-stop for everyone.

Alaska: Pearson's Pond Luxury Inn and Spa

Located in Juneau, Alaska, Pearson's Pond Luxury Inn and Spa is a boutique hotel that offers spa treatments and an incredible view.   

Arizona: Enchantment Resort

Based on 70 acres of land, the Enchantment Resort surrounds you with views of beautiful red rock, spa treatments, and of course, access to the Grand Canyon.

• Scientists discovered that a chemical compound called asparagine can fuel tumor growth in mice that have a tough-to-treat form of breast cancer.
• The results, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, led to some people to consider cutting asparagus from their diets.
• But the truth is a bit more complicated, and no study on the subject has been done in humans yet.

Over the past few days, people have been frantically searching for clues about whether asparagus causes cancer.

After a study in the journal Nature suggested that a compound called asparagine (which is found in the vegetable) may help spread an aggressive form of breast cancer in the body, searches for terms like 'asparagus causes cancer' and 'asparagus breast cancer' soared. 

But there are a few important caveats to note about this study. For one thing, the research was done only in mice, and hasn't been performed in humans. Mice are not people, and scientists know well that animal models don't always mimic the way diseases work in human bodies.

Plus, asparagine wasn't found to cause cancer, even in the mice studied. The compound merely made triple-negative breast cancer spread more quickly around the tiny rodent bodies. The same effect might be true for other cancers in mice, but more research is needed to know for sure.

There's no evidence that cutting certain foods from your diet can prevent cancer

The cancer researchers behind this new study said that if further research confirms that the cancer-spreading relationship between asparagine and cells holds true in humans, then maybe — just maybe — they might come up with some new ways to treat breast cancer. Doctors might consider trying out drugs that block production of asparagine in the body, for example, or have patients limit the amount of asparagine in their diet. 

But asparagine, a chemical compound, is truly all around us. Humans produce asparagine naturally in the body. In addition to asparagus, the amino acid is in almost all the food we eat. It shows up in protein-rich foods like dairy, beef, poultry, eggs, fish and other seafood. It's also present in potatoes, nuts, legumes, seeds, soy and whole grains. Levels of asparagine are pretty low in most fruits and vegetables, however, with the notable asparagus exception.

For now, there's no reason for anyone to change their diet based on the results of this study. 

"At the moment, there is no evidence that restricting certain foods can help fight cancer, so it's important for patients to speak to their doctor before making any changes to their diet while having treatment," Cancer Research UK's head nurse Martin Ledwick said in a release.

Some other evidence does suggest that diet changes can have an impact on the way cancer grows, though. A nine-year study completed in 2017 showed that sugar can fuel tumor growth in yeast cells (again, not human cells). But the science on this is still evolving.

This research might lead to better cancer treatments

In the future, learning more about how asparagine works could lead to more effective drug treatments. The researchers looked at some data from human cancer patients, and noted that when breast cancer cells in people can more easily make asparagine, breast cancer might spread quicker and further. 

Scientists don't yet know precisely how consuming the compound influences production of it in the body. But figuring out the best ways to slow internal production of asparagine — via drugs or diet interventions — could unlock new secrets to stopping the spread of cancer.

The researchers also think it's possible that a leukemia chemotherapy drug called L-asparaginase may have the potential to slow the spread of breast cancer around the body. When they gave the mice the asparagine-stopping drug, which blocks production of the amino acid, it reduced the breast cancer's ability to spread to other parts of the rodents' bodies.

Knowing more about how that chemo drug interacts with asparagine could lead to more successful treatment cocktails for breast cancer in the future. But that still wouldn't be a cure. 

"When the availability of asparagine was reduced, we saw little impact on the primary tumor in the breast, but tumor cells had reduced capacity for metastases in other parts of the body," lead study author and Cambridge University cancer researcher Greg Hannon said in a statement.

If curing cancer was really as easy as cutting a few ingredients from your diet, scientists would have probably already unlocked a fix. Understanding how chemical compounds interact with cancer's spread is a complicated task, and while researchers are gathering new clues, we're still far away from a simple solution.

SEE ALSO: Scientists have discovered a new link between sugar and tumor growth

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NOW WATCH: Scientists have developed a new weapon in the fight against cancer

If 2018 is your year to get active, a change of scenery could help you on your way to hitting that goal. 

When it comes to cities that promote active lifestyles, not all are created equal across the US.

WalletHub pulled together a report on the worst and best cities for an active lifestyle. To find the cities that topped the list, you may need to head west (at least to the Midwest). 

To measure which cities were active, the personal finance website looked at everything from monthly membership fees to how many facilities or hiking trails a city had, how many residents were inactive, and how many people played in team sports. 

Here's what they found, assigning each of the 100 cities with scores up to 100.

SEE ALSO: Nutrition experts ranked the best diets to try in 2018 — here are the top 11

10. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota was among the cities with the most sports and outdoor activities. The Mississippi River that runs by the city gives residents opportunities to bike and run alongside it.

Active Lifestyle Score: 51.51

9. Boise, Idaho

Idaho's capital ranked as the top active city when it comes to budget friendliness and participation from its residents. It's close to hiking and biking trails, and other ways to get active outside.  

Active Lifestyle Score: 51.55

8. Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado, situated near the Rocky Mountains, provides its residents a lot of chances to get outside — whether it be through skiing, hiking, or cycling.

Active Lifestyle Score: 51.96

• The Netflix documentary "Seeing Allred" gives viewers a look inside the life and career of attorney Gloria Allred.
• Filmmakers Roberta Grossman, Sophie Sartain, and executive producer Marta Kauffman told Business Insider how they worked in the #MeToo movement just before they had to hand the movie in.

Women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred has spent a good chunk of her four-decade career getting in front of the camera. Her fight for women’s equality has often seen her in the spotlight, holding press conferences with her female clients who, over the years, have alleged sexual assault by some of the biggest names in entertainment, politics, sports, and business.

But when filmmakers Roberta Grossman and Sophie Sartain approached Allred about making a documentary about her life and career, the media-savvy attorney wasn’t very interested.

“We were persistent,” Sartain told Business Insider at the Sundance Film Festival, where the movie had its world premiere (it's now available on Netflix), on how they pulled it off. “After about three years she agreed.”

During that time, Grossman and Sartain began to build a friendship with Allred’s law partners, who relayed to her that the filmmakers were sincere about doing a legacy piece on her. Grossman and Sartain had also brought on veteran TV producer Marta Kauffman (co-creator of “Friends”) to executive produce.

Kauffman’s involvement helped land Netflix. The streaming giant agreed to take on the movie after seeing some of the footage the filmmakers had shot in 2014, the most striking of which shows Allred holding press conferences with women alleging Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them after spiking their drinks. This news would become a huge media story around the world.

Along with looking at Allred’s life, “Seeing Allred” also highlights the landmark moments leading up to the current #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Before the bombshell stories emerged about Harvey Weinstein, Allred was representing women willing to go on the record and allege they had been sexually abused by Cosby — and soon after, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The movie also looks back on Allred's history as a dogged advocate. In the 1970s, Allred, who had begun practicing law, was suddenly on talk shows and rallies being a vocal leader on women's issues like sexual harassment in the workplace and the wage gap. Women had someone they could turn to at a time when few lawyers would take on these issues.

The emergence of #MeToo

The challenge for the filmmakers came when the Weinstein allegations surfaced and the #MeToo movement went viral. Or when, as Kauffman put it, “The world changed.”

“We thought the film was done,” Grossman said.

“I had a day of panic,” Sartain said, in response to a question of how the filmmakers approached the idea of including the #MeToo movement in the movie.

“We knew we had to get this moment in as we felt [Allred] in part is responsible for it,” Grossman said. “It just reframed everything.”

But with a deadline looming and knowing that Allred's constant work meant the film would have to end while she was still in the middle of cases — Allred represents numerous women who have come forward saying Weinstein assaulted them — they couldn’t delve too heavily into #MeToo.

Then there’s the fact that Allred’s daughter, attorney Lisa Bloom, was an advisor to Weinstein when the story in The New York Times came out (Bloom resigned soon after the story ran), something that is touched on very briefly in the movie.

“That was all happening right as we were finishing, we didn’t want it to hijack the film,” Grossman said of Bloom's involvement with Weinstein.

The filmmakers ended up using the post-Weinstein allegations as a way to close out the movie, with Allred simply saying in a voiceover, "The fight has just begun."

What the movie does drive home is the shift in how Allred is portrayed now in the media. The lawyer, once the butt of jokes by late-night hosts and even portrayed on an episode of “South Park,” is now being championed for her work.

“Gloria Allred is a metaphor for the entire movement,” Kauffman said of #MeToo and Time’s Up. “People look at her as strident, a loud mouth, you can list the adjectives, but people said the same thing about feminists. I think in the film, by deepening her it deepens the movement, and it lets you see beyond what most people think is a brashness. Also, if she was a man fighting for something she'd be portrayed as an incredible leader.”

SEE ALSO: "The Tale" is an explosive look at its director's experience with sexual abuse that has Sundance audiences buzzing

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• Online sneaker brand Greats is opening its first store.
• It will be located in Venice, California.
• The full range of Greats styles will be available, as well as some exclusives.

For the nearly four-year-old sneaker brand Greats, it wasn't about whether it wanted to open stores to complement online sales, but when.

"Frankly, we intended to open stores a bit sooner," Ryan Babenzien, the company's founder and CEO, said to Business Insider.

A primarily online brand that sells luxury sneakers in vintage-inspired and classic silhouettes, Greats will open its first brick-and-mortar store in Venice, California, on February 16. 

The new store is located on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in the heart of Venice's shopping district, where the stores of other e-commerce brands and local shops can also be found. The space was formerly a Roots store and is a small beach cottage that dates back to the 1920s. 

Babenzien called it "the perfect place for the brand." Though New York is Greats' biggest market, Los Angeles is a close second.

Greats has done pop-up shops and runs a showroom out of its Brooklyn, New York office, but the Venice store will be its first permanent location. The brand also has a partnership with Nordstrom and is carried in some stores.

The full range of sneakers will be available for purchase, and a collection of store-only merchandise is planned. The store will also serve crucial customer-service functions like returns, but will also serve an important showroom function for the brand.

"[You] can't take away the value of touching and feeling and trying things on," Babenzien said. "You can't replace that digitally."

As far as any unique events that might go on inside, Babenzien was purposefully mum. But, he promises it won't be boring.

"Being our first store, we're going to treat it as experimental box and be nimble in the way we are online," he said. "The way it opens may not be the way it feels in six months or 12 months."

Greats has been selling sneakers since 2014, and it sold its 100,000th pair in 2016. The company was on track for profitability as of 2017, according to Babenzien.

SEE ALSO: L.L. Bean just made a drastic cut to its legendary return policy

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No one wants to have that "yikes" moment when they look in the mirror or feel like they've slowed down physically.

But that's the reality of aging — and the number of people over age 65 is expected to triple by 2050.

Aging can cause many changes in your appearance, such as thinning skin and hair, as well as in your physical aptitude, like decreased strength and endurance.

That's why there's such a prevalence of products to help people with concerns about growing older.

In fact, the market for these types of products is growing rapidly. It was worth $250 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow to $331.41 billion by 2021. This is due in large part to products becoming safer and more efficient through technological advancement. And a big part of those advancements have come from members of the scientific advisory board at ChromaDex, an integrated, science-based, nutraceutical company devoted to improving the way people age.

In 2017, the company raised $50 million in strategic investments. The publicly held company (NASDAQ: CDXC) recently teamed up with Watsons, Asia's leading health and beauty retailer to sell ChromaDex's flagship product, Tru Niagen, in stores in Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore.

Tru Niagen is a supplement that contains nicotinamide riboside (NR) as the active ingredient, a vitamin that is a building block for the chemical compound nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a central regulator of metabolism.

What is NAD?

NAD is crucial to converting food into cellular energy, keeping cognitive skills sharp, and supporting normal circadian rhythm. However, aging and undergoing metabolic stresses — such as overeating, alcohol consumption, sun radiation, and time zone disruption — can affect our levels of NAD. This supplement provides NR in a pure crystalline form that is nature-identical. Scientists believe that raising NAD levels could support cellular metabolism, cognition, and ability to respond to stress in order to age better.

Charles Brenner, Ph.D., the world's foremost authority on NAD metabolism and a member of Tru Niagen's scientific advisory board, began studying the wiring diagram of NAD in 2003 to see if it was complete. Through his studies, he discovered that NR acts as a vitamin precursor of NAD and can be formulated into a consumer product.

To learn about how the supplement could affect humans, Brenner chose to be the first human study of NR.

"It was pretty fun to see my blood NAD not do much for about four hours and then spike up, peaking at eight hours post-dose and then fall back down toward the baseline," he said.

He started taking Tru Niagen regularly and noticed that his fingernails grew faster and his workouts became more intense. Brenner found that a combination of NR along with exercise worked very well for him.

Aging is inevitable and affects many different parts of the body. That's why it's important to take steps to feel our best. Raising your NAD levels with Tru Niagen could be the answer in helping to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

To learn more about Tru Niagen, click here.

This post is sponsored by TRU NIAGEN^®.

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