Whether you're fascinated by flight attendants or frequent fliers racking up air miles, there's a certain intrigue — and element of glamour — to life in the sky.

And while you may assume a job like an airline pilot might involve a lifetime of training, for Kate McWilliams, who became the world's youngest female commercial airline pilot at the age of 26, this certainly wasn't the case.

As part of a Netflights.com project to celebrate the women in aviation who defy gender stereotypes, Business Insider caught up with McWilliams to hear about how she landed her job — and what spending so much time in the cockpit is really like.

From 4 a.m. starts and stunning views to discounted travel, scroll down for a peek at the life of easyJet airline captain Kate McWilliams.

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This is Kate McWilliams, the easyJet pilot who became the world's youngest female commercial captain at 26.

Her love of aviation began when she was 8. During a holiday with her family, she visited the flight deck to see the pilots during the flight and was "fascinated by all of the buttons." However, she noticed both the pilot were men, so "just assumed there were no female pilots, so I didn't consider it as my career."

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That all changed when McWilliams, who grew up in Carlisle, northern England, joined the Air Cadets.

She said she joined the group, the youth wing of the Royal Air Force, when she was 13.

"It was here that I discovered my love of flying and initially I looked at joining the military as a pilot," she said.

She told Business Insider that after she finished her A levels, she applied to university but "didn't feel like it was the right option." Instead, she applied to CTC Aviation — now called L3 Airline Academy — a flying school which trains aspiring commercial pilots.

Every year Mercer, one of the world's largest HR consultancy firms, releases its Quality of Living Index, which looks at which cities provide the best quality of life.

The ranking is one of the most comprehensive of its kind and is carried out annually to help multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments, according to Mercer.

London and New York do not make it anywhere near the top of the list.

Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life:

• Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
• Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services)
• Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
• Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
• Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
• Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)
• Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
• Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
• Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
• Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Here are the top 21 cities on the planet, according to Mercer.

Lianna Brinded contributed to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: The 9 most expensive cities to live in around the world — and none are in Britain or the USA

21. Perth, Australia — Australia has some of the highest quality of living worldwide. The Western Australian city is home to some of the country's most beautiful beaches.

T=19. Hamburg, Germany — The major port city in northern Germany is the second largest of its kind in the country. It has become a centre for media and industry and is home to the world's second oldest bank: Berenberg Bank.

T=19. Ottawa, Canada — This city is considered the most educated in Canada with its wealth of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions. It also has low unemployment and parts of the city are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• When we feel different emotions, the blood flow in our faces changes.
• This creates subtle colour changes, which other people can pick up on.
• In fact, according to new research, people can correctly identify someone's emotions from these colour changes up to 75% of the time.
• Being "blue in the face" with anger could hold more truth than just being an old idiom.

Sometimes it can feel like people are incredibly in tune with our emotions — so much so that they can pick up on our feelings, even if we feel like we're hiding them pretty well.

As it turns out, our faces could be revealing the truth in a way you might not expect.

According to new research, our blood flow responds to our feelings, which results in changes in the patterns of colour on our faces.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that people can correctly identify each other's feelings up to 75% of the time, just by looking at these subtle changes in colour.

The researchers then designed a computer algorithm that can recognise human emotion up to 90% of the time.

For the experiment, the team took hundreds of pictures of facial expressions, and separated the images into a red-green channel and a blue-yellow channel — which are how human eyes see colour. A computer analysis showed that emotions such as "happy" or "sad" formed their own unique colour patterns, while gender, ethnicity, and skin tone made no difference.

The researchers then removed any social cues, such as smiles and frowns, by superimposing the unique colour patterns on pictures of faces with neutral expressions.

Participants chose from 18 emotions, including "sadly angry" and "happily surprised," and they guessed right most of the time, according to the researchers.

When the expressions and colours were mixed up, such as a happy face with angry colouring on it, or vice versa, the participants reported that something seemed "off" about the image, but they couldn't put their finger on what it was.

"We identified patterns of facial colouring that are unique to every emotion we studied," said Aleix Martinez, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at The Ohio State University, and one of the authors of the study.

"Not only do we perceive these changes in facial color, but we use them to correctly identify how other people are feeling, whether we do it consciously or not."

Happiness was the most easily identifiable emotion, with the computer identifying it with 90% accuracy. Emotions related to happiness, like "happily surprised," came second at around 85%, then anger at 80%, and sadness at 75%. "Fearfully disgusted" was the least recognisable, which was correctly identified 65% of the time — which is still relatively high.

The study suggests that old sayings and idioms like "feeling blue" could carry more truth than we first thought. Red, green, blue, and yellow in different amounts and locations can characterise nearly every emotion, according to the research.

The unique pattern for disgust, for example, is a blue-yellow colour around the lips, and red-green around the nose and forehead. A smiling person with red cheeks and temples, with a little blue around the chin, is "happy," but a slightly redder forhead and slightly less blue chin is characterised as "surprised."

"There's a little bit of every color everywhere," said Martinez.

SEE ALSO: You might be able to tell if someone is a cheater just by listening to their voice

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• There's an Instagram account dedicated to collecting video footage of commuters in Sydney missing their trains.
• The account @missedyabus shows people running to catch their ride — and their devastated faces when they don't make it.
• It's highly amusing.

There's an Instagram account dedicated to collecting humiliating video footage of commuters in Sydney missing their trains — and it's highly amusing.

The account @missedyabus, which has almost 26,000 followers, posts videos capturing the painful moments where people run for their train, miss it, and then some try and style it out like they "didn't want it anyway." 

The witty captions peppered with song lyrics make it even better.

There's something highly amusing about the determination with which the commuters run at their train, only to just miss it by a few seconds. 

One man even appeared to change his mind at the last minute and miss the train on purpose. 

This guy missed his train even though he was on a scooter.

You can visit the page to see more cringe-worthy videos.

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Mitch McConnell, the US Senate Majority Leader, and Elaine Chao, the Secretary of Transportation, met through a mutual friend in the early 1990s. Not long after that, they wed — on Ronald Reagan's birthday.

Together, they're one of the most powerful couples on the US political scene.

A forthcoming book by the conservative journalist Peter Schweizer argues that McConnell and Chao may have softened their stance on China because that's where Chao's family does business — and where most of the couple's wealth comes from.

Here are the highlights of McConnell and Chao's relationship as Republican royalty:

SEE ALSO: Inside the marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama, who met at work and kissed outside an ice cream store on their first date

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Mitch McConnell, age 76, is the US Senate Majority Leader. He grew up in Alabama and Kentucky and became a senator for Kentucky in 1985.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Elaine Chao, 64, is the US Secretary of Transportation. She previously served as US Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009. Chao moved to the US from Taiwan at age eight and grew up in New York.

Source: ABC News

McConnell and Chao met through a mutual friend, Stuart Bloch, in Washington, DC in the early 1990s. Bloch and McConnell had met in the 1960s and Bloch was married to Julia Chang Bloch, who was a mentor of Chao's.

Source: The New York Times

• Warren Buffett is one of the richest people alive with a net worth of more than $87 billion.
• Buffett is best known as a savvy investor, but his expertise goes beyond the stock market.
• Buffett advises people to continually learn new things and build relationships to be successful.

When it comes to getting rich, Warren Buffett is in a class all his own.

The 87-year-old founder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is worth $87 billion. He first became a millionaire when he was 32.

Buffett's skill and success with the stock market has reaped major benefits and earned him a nickname: "The Oracle of Omaha."

Unsurprisingly, many people want to be as rich as Buffett. In fact, most people would probably settle for a fraction of his net worth. Thankfully he's doled out some helpful advice over the years so others can follow his strategies.

Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway notably invest in stocks over bonds and prefer long-term strategies to constant day trading, but it is more than what and how Buffett invests that has made him successful. 

Keep reading for nine of Buffett's best pieces of advice on getting rich.

SEE ALSO: 12 rich, powerful people share their surprising definitions of success

DON'T MISS: 11 signs you're going to be wealthy, even if it doesn't feel like it

Play the long game.

To make money, an investor shouldn't buy a stock with the sole intention of selling, Buffett believes. You're in it for the long game.

"Our favorite holding period is forever," Buffett first said in the 1988 shareholders' letter.

Buffett only buys stocks of companies he understands and likes, and thinks selling should be done when you need the money and not when you believe it is a strategic jumping off point.

Always learn new things and be humble.

Years ago, Buffett gave an entrepreneur some advice over drinks. He told her to learn something every day, confront opportunities, and always be humble. Though it's not outright investing advice, it's a strategy anyone in business would be smart to mimic. 

Buffett still goes through the newspaper every morning and reads books throughout the day. 

"That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest," he says.

Invest your own money.

Pointing to the four times that the value of Berkshire Hathaway plummeted, Buffett explained the trouble of using loans to invest in stocks in his 2018 annual letter. A drop in the value of a stock may cause an investor unneeded worry and lead to poor decisions if the money isn't entirely theirs to begin with, he said.

On the flip side, Buffett said investors with extra cash and no debt have great opportunities when the market drops because they don't have to worry about paying someone back and can be aggressive with their investments.

Riding the record-setting success of "Black Panther" into the massive, upcoming release of "Avengers: Infinity War," the Marvel Cinematic Universe's catalog of films gives it a commanding lead among the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time. 

To figure out which other film series have made their mark, we turned to Box Office Mojo to rank the most successful film franchises in history by their worldwide box office totals. 

From the "Star Wars" films to the "Mission: Impossible" series, many of these franchises have had staying power over the course of decades.

And for many of them, the box office is only the start, with things like merchandising adding even more into the coffers of their respective companies.

Here are the 23 most successful movies franchise of all time at the global box office:

SEE ALSO: The 13 movies that made $1 billion at the box office the fastest, including Marvel's 'Black Panther'

23. "Indiana Jones" — $1.947 billion

Box office total: $1.947 billion

Number of movies: 4

Highest-grossing movie: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ($786.6 million)

22. "Toy Story" — $1.970 billion

Box office total: $1.970 billion

Number of movies: 3

Highest-grossing movie: "Toy Story 3" ($1.06 billion)

21. "Planet of the Apes" — $2.077 billion

Box office total: $2.077 billion

Number of movies: 5

Highest-grossing movie: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" ($710.6 million)

• The internet had a field day in 2015 when Sony officially announced it was making a sequel to its hit 1995 movie, "Jumanji."
• But the joke's on the internet critics, the movie — powered by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart — earned close to $1 billion globally at the box office.
• Director Jake Kasdan explained to Business Insider how he pulled off one of the biggest surprise hit movies in recent memory.

Things did not start off well for the sequel to “Jumanji.”

20 years after the 1995 hit movie — which starred Robin Williams as a man who, after decades of being trapped inside a magical board game, is finally released to complete it with two kids — Sony announced in 2015 that it was going to dust off the property and reboot it.

The internet was not happy.

"It was like, 'You're ruining my childhood!'" Jake Kasdan, director of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," recalled when Business Insider asked if he was aware of the backlash.

Following the Sony announcement, social media was flooded with negative reactions, the consensus being a “Jumanji” reboot would tarnish the original’s legacy and this was just the latest example of Hollywood being completely out of new ideas:

And things didn’t get any better for the movie when, after screenwriter Chris McKenna ("Spider-Man: Homecoming") was tasked with coming up with a new take on the movie, three more screenwriters came on board to give it a crack. The release date was also changed three times, eventually settling in December, the weekend after “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

These are not good signs for a movie.

But in one of the most miraculous turnarounds for a movie in recent memory, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” didn’t just hold its own against “Last Jedi” in December (consistently finishing in second place behind “Jedi” the rest of the year), it knocked the latest "Star Wars" movie off the top spot and went on an incredible three-week streak of topping the weekend domestic box office in January.

The movie went on to earn over $939 million worldwide, and over $400 million in North America — the second-best domestic performance ever for a Sony movie (just below the $403.7 million made by 2002’s “Spider-Man”). All this came from just a $90 million budget.

And no one is more surprised by the movie’s global success than Kasdan.

"I loved what this could be"

Known for R-rated comedies like “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” and “Bad Teacher,” Kasdan came out of nowhere to prove he could helm a PG-13 action-comedy with major stars like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and Nick Jonas.

Kasdan signed on to direct a few months after Sony made the official announcement, despite being fully aware of the hatred for the idea by those on the internet.

“On some level I think there’s a deserved skepticism about bringing back titles,” Kasdan told Business Insider while promoting the Blu-ray/DVD release of the movie (available Tuesday). “Whether it’s a sequel, reboot, relaunch, I think we’ve done so much of it that understandably the audience is kind of ‘why does everything have to be like this?’ But I loved what this could be.”

What the haters online didn’t know was that Kasdan and screenwriters McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner all contributed to what can only be described as a unicorn in the movie business — a reboot that feels new while also paying homage to the original.

The major adjustment done for the “Jumanji” sequel was shifting the board game element to feel more like the present gaming world.

At the end of the original “Jumanji,” Alan and Sarah toss the game into a river. The sequel starts years later in 1996 with the game being found on a beach. The boy who is given it ignores the lame board game, so the game magically morphs into a more attractive video game, sucking him into the game. Then later, more kids are sucked in and become avatars played by Johnson, Hart, Black, and Gillan.

That element opened incredible possibilities for the sequel’s story, as it not only could bring the Jumanji game itself to life, but could deliver all types of gaming aspects to the movie — from the characters having three game "lives" apiece, to the jokes about their avatar’s strengths and weaknesses.

Kasdan said this was all pulled off not by one single screenwriter who finally figured out how to crack the story, but by collectively using all of them, like a TV writers’ room.

"It wasn't like someone was dismissed and never heard from again"

Traditionally, on a movie, when a screenwriter has handed in his or her draft and been told that another scribe has been hired, that usually means the director, producers, or studio executives (or all the above) didn’t like the previous screenwriter’s work. But that wasn’t the case on “Welcome to the Jungle.”

“What made this project unusual was I continued to work with a lot of the writers,” Kasdan said. “It wasn’t like someone was dismissed and never heard from again. Chris McKenna came up with the idea and wrote it with Erik Sommers, and then Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner came on, and I did some work on it as well. I just liked their work so by the end it was this unique experience where they worked with me or each other. Everyone kept a foot in.”

Though Kasdan thought they had made a worthy movie, he still had no idea how it would play going into test screenings. So before the screenings, he decided to play the movie for his kids.

“My kids are like seven and five, which is sort of younger than we ever thought about our audience, but they loved it,” he said. “That made me think that the movie had a larger possible audience than I had fully realized while we made the movie. They connected so strongly to the fantasy of it, it got me excited.”

And the rest is history. The movie made just under $1 billion globally at the box office and solidified the star status of The Rock and Kevin Hart. And Kasdan is still trying to take it all in.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to realize how extraordinary this is,” he said. “It’s kind of a dream.”

But now it’s back to the drawing board for a sequel. Kasdan, Rosenberg, and Pinkner are all coming back as well as the lead cast. But can a sequel that was praised for having its own identity from the original pull off a successful encore? Can the video game storyline be used again? Is it right to bring back the same cast?

“We’re just starting to figure that out,” Kasdan said. “The honest answer is you could do all different kinds of things and we’re trying to figure out what feels like the most organic and fun way to continue this.”

More on "Jumanji":

• How the new "Jumanji" sequel pays homage to Robin Williams' character
• The unique reason the director of box-office hit "Jumanji" says he doesn't want to direct a "Star Wars" movie
• The amount of money The Rock gets paid for a single movie is unheard of in today's movie business

SEE ALSO: 17 TV shows that will probably get canceled soon

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Toys R Us is moving to close or sell all 735 of its US stores after filing a motion to liquidate last week.
• Back in late January, the company announced plans to close just 170 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.
• We recently visited one of the Babies R Us stores that was winding down its operations as part of the January announcement. It was a disaster.

Toys R Us will be closing or selling all 735 of its US stores after filing a motion to liquidate its US business last week. The toy retailer had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.

Toys R Us had already said in January that 170 of its Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores would close, and many of those locations have started going-out-of-business sales. The company's liquidation filing last week will trigger clearance sales that could begin as soon as Thursday at the locations that had not already planned to close.

Babies R Us stores will be closing as a result of the liquidation as well, though its website will remain running for the time being.

We visited a Babies R Us store that has been preparing to close since January to see what it looked like and to see what may lie ahead for other Babies R Us and Toys R Us stores once clearance sales begin at a wider scale.

This is what we found:

SEE ALSO: Babies R Us stores will close — here's what will happen to baby registries

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The Babies R Us I went to in downtown Manhattan had been set to close since January. Employees said it's expected to close by the end of March.

Because of the coming closing, this location was not accepting returns or coupons.

Signs like these were hanging all over the store and were the first thing I saw when I walked in.

• Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski may have helped expose allegations that former White House staff secretary Rob Porter abused his two ex-wives.
• These charges are enhanced by new reporting in New York Magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi's Sunday profile of outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks.
• Lewandowski was reportedly motivated in part by his "unusual preoccupation" with Hicks, a former flame who was in a relationship with Porter when the allegations were exposed.

Corey Lewandowski, a former top Trump campaign aide, may have helped expose allegations that former White House staff secretary Rob Porter abused his two ex-wives, a charge enhanced by new reporting in New York Magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi's Sunday profile of outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks.

Nuzzi's sources said that Lewandowski, who was fired from the campaign after allegedly grabbing a female reporter by the arm, was motivated in part by his "unusual preoccupation" with Hicks, who he used to date and who was in a relationship with Porter when the publication of the abuse accusations forced him to resign.

White House officials told the Daily Beast last month that Lewandowski "was digging into Rob’s previous marriages" and that Porter blamed him for helping orchestrate an alleged "smear campaign" to oust him. Lewandowski, who has remained loyal to Trump, has reportedly been angling for a position in the White House for months.

"This had been planned and choreographed and coordinated and known long in advance by a group of people who were trying to play political games," a source close to the events told Nuzzi, "knowing that this would be part of a larger story related to security clearances and John Kelly and others, seeking to sow chaos and dissension. They saw this as a useful catalyst, which it turned out to be."

Jennifer Willoughby, Porter's second wife, told Nuzzi that when Porter pressured her to take down a blog post in which she detailed his past abuses, he referred to a "former staffer" who he said may alert the media about her allegations. Willoughby said she believed Porter was referring to Lewandowski.

Nuzzi writes that there were "plenty of reasons" for Lewandowski to help oust Porter, including that exhibited "Single White Male characteristics," and was determined to sink Hicks' relationship with Porter.

"He got wind that she was dating Porter, and he could not handle that," a former colleague of Lewandowski's who is close to the White House told Nuzzi. "There were still raw feelings."

The former Trump campaign manager is also reportedly in a bitter rivalry with White House chief of staff John Kelly, who has attempted to limit the president's direct communications with friends and outside advisers, including Lewandowski.

According to multiple reports, Kelly knew there were issues with Porter's background that prevented him from obtaining a permanent security clearance.

Nuzzi also pointed out that Lewandowski lives in a townhouse with a former Trump-campaign staffer who worked in the same government agency as Porter's ex-girlfriend, another Trump administration official who reportedly informed White House counsel Don McGahn that Porter had a violent history with his ex-wives back in November.

Lewandowski denies it

But Lewandowski has denied having any prior knowledge about the allegations against Porter or having played any role in his ouster. Nuzzi said on Wednesday that he called her a "a very dishonest person with no facts."

"I've never had a bad word about Rob Porter," he told the Daily Beast last month. "I think he did a very good job, and I wish him the very best."

Lewandowski has also said he didn't know whether Kelly knew of the allegations against Porter before the media reports in February, but insists that "somebody knew" and should have brought it to others' attention.

"We saw a problem in the White House a few months back where an individual who shouldn't have been there continued to have access to information. And that was a failure somewhere," Lewandowski told CNN's Chris Cuomo.

"Somebody knew. And the question was what did they know and how soon did they know it?"

SEE ALSO: We just got our latest hint that Hope Hicks has a detailed diary — and that could be of interest to investigators

DON'T MISS: Hope Hicks wrote the note Trump held reminding him to tell shooting survivors 'I hear you' — and the handwriting is a clear match to her Valentine's Day cards

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Starbucks is debuting the Crystal Ball Frappuccino on Thursday. 
• Like the Unicorn Frappuccino, the over-the-top, peaches-flavored beverage will only be available for four days. 
• Baristas are already panicking about the crushing number of Crystal Ball Frappuccinos they'll be forced to make. 

Starbucks is debuting a new, over-the-top Frappuccino this week — and baristas are already freaking out. 

The Crystal Ball Frappuccino will be Starbucks' latest Instagram-worthy, limited-time beverage, Business Insider reported on Monday. The new drink will hit menus on Thursday and will only be available for four days — or until stores run out of supplies. 

The Crystal Ball Frappuccino is an alluring marbled turquoise shade, ideal for Instagram. The cream-based Frappuccino uses peach flavors and is topped with whipped cream and rock-candy crystals.

Starbucks baristas started practicing crafting the Crystal Ball Frappuccino earlier this week. 

While baristas are testing out the Crystal Ball Frappuccino behind the scenes, customers cannot order them until Thursday. So, please don't harass your local barista about the new drink.

Baristas already have a rough time when Starbucks rolls out new, Instagrammable Frappuccinos. 

Making specialty Frappuccinos is an arduous, multi-step process, especially when stores are flooded with orders and customers are paying close attention to the aesthetics of the drink. 

Baristas had similar issues with the Unicorn Frappuccino, which Starbucks debuted in April 2017. As an extremely popular and complicated drink, the Unicorn Frappuccino's short stint on the menu left baristas exhausted and covered in pink and blue dye from the sprinkles used to make the beverage. 

So, Starbucks lovers, do your part on Thursday. If you're ordering the Crystal Ball Frappuccino — and want to see Starbucks roll out more over-the-top drinks in the future — tip your baristas for their efforts. 

SEE ALSO: Starbucks has a new over-the-top take on the Unicorn Frappuccino designed to take over Instagram

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Donald Trump Jr. reportedly had an affair with a former contestant on "The Apprentice" while his wife, Vanessa Trump, was pregnant.
• The affair with singer Aubrey O'Day lasted from 2011 to 2012, according to Page Six.
• President Donald Trump reportedly stepped in to tell his son to "cut it out" and pressured him to stay married.
• Trump, Jr. and Vanessa are headed for divorce, though many say the marriage had been doomed for years.

Donald Trump Jr. cheated on his wife with a contestant on "Celebrity Apprentice" for months while his wife, Vanessa, was pregnant with their third child, Page Six and Us Weekly reported.

Trump Jr. met singer Aubrey O'Day after she appeared on his father's reality show, which Trump Jr. was on as an adviser. The pair began their relationship in late 2011 as the taping of the show was wrapping up, and it continued until March 2012, according to Us Weekly.

"When it started, they were very serious all of a sudden," a source told Us Weekly. "He told her it was over with his wife, that they were separated and he didn't love her. … Aubrey fell for him hard. She thought they were going to be together for real."

According to one Page Six source, Trump Jr. was the one who "pursued" Aubrey and told her his marriage was "already in the process of dissolving."

Us Weekly reported that Vanessa found out about the affair after she found emails between her husband and O'Day. A source told Page Six that Donald Trump intervened and told his son to "cut it out."

In 2013, O'Day released a song called "DJT" that many speculate is about Trump Jr.

Vanessa filed for divorce last week, years after the alleged affair ended. But many indicators suggest their marriage had been on its last legs for some time.

Page Six also reported that Vanessa filed for divorce because of Trump Jr.'s Twitter use and frequent travels.

Trump allegedly had an affair with adult-film star Stormy Daniels while he was married to his wife, first lady Melania Trump, while she was pregnant in 2006.

SEE ALSO: People think Aubrey O'Day's song 'DJT' is about her reported affair with Donald Trump Jr.

DON'T MISS: Donald Trump Jr's controversial Twitter use reportedly played a role in his wife filing for divorce

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Henry Blodget: Will arming teachers with guns help stop school shootings?

• Peloton has revolutionized home fitness with its high-tech indoor bike, which enables users to stream live classes from home. The company launched in 2012 and is now valued at about $1.3 billion.
• SoulCycle is an indoor cycling workout brand that launched in 2006 and now has 85 studios across the US and Canada. It's known for inspiring a cult-like following of fans. 
• We compared the experience of taking a class with each brand, and there was a clear winner. 

Indoor cycling is becoming the most competitive space in the fitness market. Until 2012, SoulCycle seemed to be invincible with its cult following of fans who were prepared to pay as much as $34 a class.

Then Peloton came along.

This high-tech fitness company, which launched in 2012, enables users to stream live classes from anywhere, making it possible to get the SoulCycle-style experience without ever leaving your bedroom.

And it seems to be paying off. Peloton now has a cult following of fans who are obsessed with its core product, the $1,995 indoor bike. Noah Wintroub, a vice-chairman at JPMorgan, has even called Peloton "the Apple of fitness."

In May 2017, the company was valued at about $1.3 billion after it closed a $325 million financing round with investors including Wellington Management, Fidelity Investments, Kleiner Perkins, and Comcast NBCUniversal. In February, it unveiled its latest product, a treadmill that will be available to buy this fall.

SoulCycle, which is now majority-owned by Equinox, has been around since 2006. It has 85 studios across the US and Canada and is reportedly looking to open up in London in 2018.

The company is private and therefore does not report financials. However, when the company made plans to go public in 2015, it reported a total revenue of $112 million that year, up 76% from its $36.2 million total revenue in 2012. 

We decided to put these two cult-favorite brands to the test to see which offers a superior experience: 

SEE ALSO: We tried the new $4,000 treadmill from the billion-dollar startup that could be 'the Apple of fitness' — here's the verdict

We headed over to the Westin Hotel near Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan to trial a Peloton bike, which is available for hotel guests to use.

The first thing that struck us is how much better the size of the bike is compared to its newest product, the Tread.

This bike could easily occupy a corner of your apartment without being too intrusive. 

Each bike has a touchscreen from which you can stream live and on-demand classes. It costs $39 a month to stream these classes.

Peloton has a cycling studio in Manhattan, where you can attend these classes in person if you'd like. There are between 11 and 13 classes a day, and you can also stream these classes from home.

The touchscreen was user-friendly, and at 22 inches in size, it's easy to see.

• Many superyachts cost upwards of $200 million dollars and are owned by the wealthiest billionaires in the world.
• The most expensive yacht ever built is made from solid gold, and costs a whopping $4.8 billion.
• The yachts have features like movie theaters, concert halls, and multiple swimming pools. 

Some of the world's wealthiest individuals own the most outlandish yachts. 

With features like helipads, swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs, and more, the most expensive yachts in the world are the definition of luxury. Russian tycoons, oil Sheikhs, and entertainment moguls are vacationing on yachts spanning over 200 feet that often cost over half a billion dollars, not to mention the maintenance costs of owning a superyacht.

Check out some of the most expensive yachts in the world below: 

SEE ALSO: Take a rare look inside 8 of the most luxurious superyachts for sale at Miami's premier yacht show

$200 million: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen owns this 414-foot yacht called the Octopus. It has 41 suites, a pool, two helicopters, a basketball court, and a recording studio.

Source: Forbes

$200 million: The Seven Seas yacht has a movie theater, infinity pool, gym and helipad. Reportedly, it once belonged to Stephen Spielberg.

Source: Forbes

$210 million: Billionaire Nassar Al-Rashid owns this yacht embellished with 24-karat gold lettering.

A handful of beloved TV shows are coming to an end in the next few months, so it's time to get ready to say goodbye.

Some shows with series finales soon include "New Girl," "Scandal" and "Portlandia."

These shows gained momentum and popularity throughout their runs, and some were once (and still are) considered the best on TV.

But every story must come to an end. These shows have run their course, and their respective networks decided they must end before they ruin themselves by running too long. 

Here are all the shows coming to an end in Spring 2018:

SEE ALSO: All the TV shows coming in spring 2018 — and whether you should watch them

"Portlandia" — ends March 22, after eight seasons on IFC

"New Girl" — ends May 15, after seven seasons on Fox

"Scandal" — ends April 19, after seven seasons on ABC

• Former Playboy model Karen McDougal filed a lawsuit to get out of a gag order she allegedly signed to keep silent about an extramarital affair she says she had with President Donald Trump.
• She joins adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has also filed a lawsuit to be able to speak about her own alleged affair with Trump.
• Both Daniels and McDougal say Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen was involved in paying them for their silence.

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal filed a lawsuit to get out of a gag order she allegedly signed to keep silent about an extramarital affair she says she had with President Donald Trump.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that McDougal is suing a media company run by a friend of Trump's in order to get out of the 2016 nondisclosure agreement.

McDougal is now the second woman to file a lawsuit in order to get around a gag order about an alleged affair with Trump. McDougal alleges that she was paid $150,000 by American Media, Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, to keep quiet about the alleged affair.

Adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed a lawsuit against Trump earlier this month to break her NDA. Trump is counter-suing Daniels for $20 million— the amount his lawyers say is the number of times she broke the agreement.

McDougal claims that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen was secretly involved in talks with the company.

She said she was misled about the contract and payout, and her lawyer is alleging "a multifaceted effort to silence Karen McDougal."

"The lawsuit filed today aims to restore her right to her own voice," lawyer Peter Stris told The Times. "We intend to invalidate the so-called contract that American Media Inc. imposed on Karen so she can move forward with the private life she deserves."

McDougal's affair story is similar to Daniels'. The Times reports McDougal also allegedly met Trump at a golf tournament in 2006 and at a Beverly Hills hotel. Trump was married to first lady Melania Trump at the time.

In February, The New Yorker published an investigation into McDougal's alleged affair, which reportedly lasted months.

American Media bought the exclusive rights to McDougal's story, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016. But, the company did not run any stories on the story — a tactic The New Yorker notes media outlets commonly use to kill a story.

The White House claimed the incidents discussed in the document did not happen, with a spokesperson telling The New Yorker, "The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal."

Like McDougal, Daniels was also offered a payout to keep quiet about her alleged affair, and Cohen paid her $130,000 shortly before Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign.

Questions have arisen about whether Daniels' payout constituted a violation of campaign finance laws.

SEE ALSO: Trump emerges from the shadows in the Stormy Daniels case and is now seeking $20 million in damages

DON'T MISS: Porn star Stormy Daniels says she had an affair with Trump a year after he married Melania — here's a timeline of the president's many marriages and rumored affairs

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This transgender activist and former Obama White House intern isn't backing down against Trump

For over 20 years, the director Wes Anderson has given us some of the most interesting movies the medium has seen — often doing it with beautifully detailed set designs, playful scores, and scripts that dance between drama and comedy.

Recently Anderson has used stop-motion animation to pull this off. Almost a decade after wowing us with "Fantastic Mr. Fox," he returns to stop-motion with his latest movie, "Isle of Dogs" (opening Friday). This movie follows a Japanese boy's journey to find his dog, with the help of other dogs.

Here we look at Anderson's nine feature-length movies and rank them worst to best:

SEE ALSO: 9 characters who could die in "Avengers: Infinity War," ranked by how likely they are to meet their end

9: "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007)

Family has always been a major theme in Anderson's movies, and this one is no different. But things like story creativity, unique production design, and character development that make his other work shine don't land right in this one. Mainly the characters. There's a certain point in this movie when you just don't care anymore about the three brothers' (played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman) bonding journey through India.

8: "Bottle Rocket" (1996)

Anderson's debut feature is understandably his least ambitious work, but the drive to be one of the most creative storytellers working today is there. You can see it in the entertaining dynamic between the friends Anthony and Dignan (played by the brothers Luke and Owen Wilson) and in the execution of the movie's great robbery scene.

7: "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001)

Anderson kicked up his ambitious vision with regard to costumes and production design in this movie and has pretty much not looked back since. Looking at three gifted kids of a New York City family, and how they all grow up to have lives that never match their potential, the movie is a work that if you don't fully love, at the very least you respect. It also possesses Gene Hackman's last great performance before his retirement.

Facebook is back in the hot seat over revelations that data on millions of its users was taken and used by a company working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Brexit vote.

Specifically, a company called Cambridge Analytica (CA) took data from a reported 50 million Facebook users and built personality profiles in order to serve people with political ads to "target their inner demons," according Christopher Wylie, the former CA employee who blew the whistle on the situation, as reported by The Observer and The New York Times.

Facebook last week banned CA from its platform and announced it planned to audit the company to verify if the Facebook data had truly been deleted, as CA had promised it had been years ago. There's now a tornado of investigations being launched over the matter in the US and the UK.

All of this begs the question: How could Facebook know your "inner demons"?

The truth is that Facebook knows a scary amount of stuff on you. Its whole business relies on watching what you do on Facebook, as well as tracking what you do on the internet via social media plug-ins (like the ability to "Like" a news post on a third-party website) and tracking the apps you install on your phone.

Here's how to find out exactly what Facebook knows about you.

SEE ALSO: Facebook just hired Stroz Friedberg, the same outside investigator Uber called on during its biggest controversy

To find out what Facebook knows about you, log in to Facebook and head to a page called "Your ad preferences" .

You can find the page through this URL https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences. Or by clicking on the small arrow on the top right of the blue bar and then clicking "settings" and then "ads."

Facebook keeps track of anything you "Like" as you use its service. I apparently liked some page with an emotional message and now Facebook believes I will respond to "emotion."

Facebook also tracks what you do on the internet. Plus, every time you use Facebook to log in to apps on your phone it tracks that information. That's how Facebook learned I use Fandango on my phone.

• Nostradamus published a book in 1555 containing 942 quatrains that allegedly predict famous future events.

• Observers have come across a handful of predictions that due seem to reflect real world events.

• In reality, most of Nostradamus' prophecies are poorly translated — and vaguely worded enough to encourage tons of speculation.

Nostradamus' name is basically synonymous with predicting the future.

The alleged oracle began publishing his famous, cryptic quatrains in 1555. But these were no ordinary poems. Nostradamus was allegedly a diviner who was able predict future tidings.

The 16th century apothecary and astrologer's status as a reputed "seer" allowed him to solicit patronage from wealthy and prominent individuals like Catherine de' Medici, the queen of France.

Nostradamus' star didn't fade after his death in 1566. His works have continued to attract adherents who have connected his writings to earth-shattering events like the rise of Adolf Hitler and the 9/11 attacks.

But, like horoscopes, the predictions themselves tend to be vaguely worded, and therefore open to the reader's interpretations and biases.

In "Nostradamus, Bibliomancer: The Man, the Myth, the Truth," biographer Peter Lemesurier concludes that Nostradamus "believed that history repeats itself" and used the technique of projecting past events onto the future in order to make realistic-sounding claims. What's more, scholars have argued the modern translations of Nostradamus' writing are sloppy and unreliable.

With all that in mind, here's a look back at some of Nostradamus' most famous predictions:

SEE ALSO: Fake news is nothing new — here’s how it killed my ancestor over 300 years ago

The death of Henry II

Prediction:

The young lion will overcome the older one,
  On the field of combat in a single battle;
  He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage,
  Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death.

What happened:

In the summer of 1559 King Henry II of France (older one) lined up to joust Gabriel, Comte de Montgomery, (young lion), who was six years his junior. The tournament was held to celebrate the upcoming wedding of the king's daughter.

In their final pass, Montgomery's lance tilted up, burst through the king's poorly-secured visor (pierce his eyes through a golden cage), and splintered, according to "On the Death of Henry II."

In the Journal of Neurosurgery, Kamilah Dowling and James Goodrich write that the profusely-bleeding king remained conscious and was "able to walk up some steps with an unsteady gait."

But splinters from the lance had entered the king's eye, throat, and temple (two wounds made one). Despite the best efforts of royal surgeons, Henry II experienced agonizing pain, seizures, and partial paralysis (then he dies a cruel death) before dying in his bed 11 days later.

It all sounds pretty accurate, on the surface. But, according to "Nostradamus: The Illustrated Prophecies," the prophecy's veracity is in doubt because it didn't appear in print until 1614.

The Great Fire of London

Prediction:

The blood of the just will commit a fault at London,
Burnt through lightning of twenty threes the six:
The ancient lady will fall from her high place,
Several of the same sect will be killed.

What happened: This quatrain is often linked with the devastating Great Fire of London.

In regards to the date, 20 times three is 60. Add six to that, and you've got 66 — or the year '66. London's infamous three-day blaze began on September 2, 1666.

The fire wasn't set off by lightning, however. A hot, arid summer and a spark in the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane set the stage for the inferno.

Peasant and middle class deaths were not recorded at the time, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, but it's likely that hundreds or even thousands of people perished in the flames.

In regards to the "same sect" portion of the quatrain, Londoners blamed the conflagration on Catholics and the Dutch, and a number of lynchings and attacks ensued as the city smoldered, the BBC reported. But the members of the "same sect" are also mentioned in conjunction with "the ancient lady," which could be interpreted to refer to London itself.

This prediction is one of the weaker prophecies, as it's often quite a stretch to link the historical events of the Great Fire of London with Nostradamus' words.

The French Revolution

Prediction:

From the enslaved populace, songs,
Chants and demands
While princes and lords are held captive in prisons.
These will in the future by headless idiots
Be received as divine prayers.

What happened: Starting with the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the French Revolution saw the overthrowal of the monarchy and the establishment of a new republic.

The Third Estate (enslaved populace) took control of Paris and forced their demands on royalty (princes and lords).

Ultimately, the revolution turned bloody. Nobles and commoners alike were declared traitors to the revolution and beheaded at the guillotine (headless idiots).

According to Britannica, 17,000 people were executed during the ensuing Reign of Terror, while 10,000 died in jail. Those figures account for all victims of the First French Republic, not just aristocrats.

• The Whole30 monthlong eating plan cuts all sugar from your diet except fruit. The creators say it's meant to tame your "sugar dragon."
• People on Instagram clearly have success with the temporary cleanse, showing off impressively sculpted, transformed bodies.
• But the diet may not be the best choice if you're looking for a more long-term change.

The Whole30 is a 30-day food plan meant to change your relationship with food. But the program, which was developed in 2009, requires a huge dose of willpower and a lot of meal prep.

Think of it like the first step in a 12-step program. Step one: cutting a ton of food groups from your diet. That means no grains, no dairy, no alcohol, and no sweets (except fruit) are allowed in your mouth for 30 days.

The premise of this radical plan is that when it's through, you won't be as attached to sugar as you once were, and by reintroducing potentially inflammatory or stomach-upsetting foods into your diet one-by-one after the deprivation month is up, you can better decide which are OK to eat and which make you feel bloated or moody.

A plethora of photos on Instagram suggest that the short-term cleanse can be a great way for some people to slim down and tone up in a hurry:

But as a long-term health reset strategy, it has a few major flaws.

This year, US News and World Report put the Whole30 near the bottom of the magazine's annual diet list. The panel of nutrition experts that ranked the plan called it "extreme" and full of "nonsensical claims" as well as "the worst of the worst for healthy eating."

Here are five reasons it's not the best:

1. It doesn't jibe with what psychologists and nutritionists know about bad habits and how to break them.

It's hard to break a habit, because it's just that: habitual. Social scientists say one of the most proven techniques to change behavior involves replacing an old behavior with a new one. Sick of swilling booze? Try drinking something else instead. Cutting back on cigarettes? It may help to chew gum.

But temporarily trying out a new diet, and then crashing hard after 30 days of deprivation, is a nearly sure-fire way to slip back into old ways.

"Things are so much easier when you make those things routine," a Yale psychologist named John Bargh told Business Insider earlier this year. "Your body is taking its cue from you and what you do."

It's admirable to try to shake up bad eating routines, but dietitians say this plan goes about it the wrong way by providing a temporary fix for what is a lifelong relationship with food. Eating habits tend to form over years, not a single month.

2. If you really want to reset your gut and reduce inflammation, 30 days isn't enough time.

The adage about how it takes 21 days to break a habit is a fallacy.

Habits can take a few days to upward of a year to break, depending on what they are. That's as true for your gut as it is for your brain. Experts who manage restrictive short-term diets for patients with digestive conditions like celiac disease say one month is not enough to turn off systemic inflammation. It takes about three.

3. Whole30 can be a bad way to eat.

Since the main protein sources on this diet are meat and eggs, it can be a pretty high-cholesterol regimen. The cleanse tends to be high-sodium, too. And it doesn't allow for any whole grains that can help keep you full or beans, which are a cheap, low-calorie source of fiber, calcium, and protein.

4. It will probably also take up a ton of your time.

Diet researchers know our behavior is influenced by the people around us, especially when it comes to eating. That can make it hard to stick to a strict regimen like the Whole30, especially if no one else around you is doing it. So if you're going to try this challenge out, you may want to persuade a companion to try it with you. That way, you can prepare food together and encourage each other along the way.

5. The diet is extremely strict, and there's no room for error.

If you mess up during this 30-day program and eat a banned food, you're supposed to start all over again. Back to day one. That strict formula may work for some people, but it doesn't match what we know about willpower and self-control. Shaming isn't generally a great tool for long-term change. and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in short-term weight loss challenges and reality-TV shows like "The Biggest Loser," where the majority of dieters eventually end up gaining back any weight they lost and putting on even more.

When Whole30 is over, you're basically on your own to figure out how to incorporate previously banned foods back into your diet, one by one. The founders say their Whole30 plan is meant as a "short-term nutrition reset" and not something you do forever. That's unfortunate, because forever diets are the kind that can provide lasting help.

Whole30 may work for some people who are just looking for a quick, temporary way to get skinnier. But if you're not into it, that's OK. There are plenty of other eating-in-moderation techniques you can try out. Dietitians often suggest more Mediterranean-style diets centered on filling whole grains and veggies.

SEE ALSO: A grueling diet beloved by Instagrammers cuts out everything from alcohol to dairy — here's how well it works

Join the conversation about this story »

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