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This Video Shot With A Drone And A GoPro May Be The Most Incredible Surf Video Yet

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The "Pipeline" on Hawaii's North Shore is world renowned for its incredibly large and often dangerous waves, and a new video from aerial photographer Eric Sterman shows the area in all its glory.

Sterman attached a GoPro camera to a DJI quadcopter to capture this awesome footage of surfers on the pipe, according to The Next Web.

From The Next Web:

The result is a truly breathtaking video from a perspective which used to be impossible for filmmakers to achieve without hiring a helicopter. I’ve watched a few surfing films before (Billabong Odyssey and The Endless Summer are my personal favorites) but this is by far the best footage I’ve ever seen from Pipeline.

Check it out:

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Chicago Drivers Have Some Crazy Ways Of Holding Onto Their Parking Spots After Snowstorms

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dibs Brendan Gardiner

Globalization and gentrification have sandblasted lots of local traditions in the U.S.

But there remain some holdouts.

One of the most colorful can be found in Chicago. It's called "dibs."

You've probably heard this word used in a related — but not exactly identical — context. In Chicago, it has a very specific meaning. To understand it, you should imagine the following scenario: 

Eight inches of snow buried your car over the weekend. As a result, you spent all Sunday evening digging it so you can get to work the next day.

But you've now left your freshly groomed parking spot at the mercy of your possibly slothful neighbors, who have failed to do their own digging.

How do you hedge?

Dibs. 

One Chicagoan has created a Tumblr account chronicling this phenomenon, which stretches back decades, and gave us permission to use some of the images compiled. 

Let's take a look.

This is the archetypal dibs: basically, you dig out some junk from your closet or basement that you can cobble together to claim the extent of your parking spot.

dibs typical

You try not to use anything too valuable.

dibs microwave

A figurative element usually works.  

dibs knight

It also helps if the object has some kind of deterrent effect.

dibs lazy

Sometimes that deterrence gets a little intense.

dibs day

These are no idle threats. Violate someone's dibs, and they will bury you.

dibs retribution 2

BURY YOU.

dibs trash 1

dibs trash 2

There are other strategies that require a bit more effort but usually reduce the odds of violation. Here's 'The Creeper.'

dibs dolls

The 'Dibs In Place'

dibs snacks

And 'Dainty Dibs'

dibs Brendan Gardiner

As this all demonstrates, Chicagoans don't take themselves too seriously about this, and are fully aware of dibs' ridiculousness — and are thus capable of some honest reflection.

dibs selfish 

SEE ALSO: Cadillac Changed Its Logo

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Photographer Annie Leibovitz's West Village Compound Has Finally Sold For $28.5 Million

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Annie Leibovitz west village nyc home

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz has been trying to unload her trio of West Village townhouses for well over a year, and it seems she's finally done it for the discounted price of $28.5 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The seven-bedroom compound was originally listed for $33 million in 2012 with Brown Harris Stevens. After languishing on the market, it was discounted to $29.9 million and taken over by the Corcoran Real Estate Group, complete with bright new pictures of the home.

The trio of buildings were combined and renovated by Leibovitz herself, who started buying them in 2002. The compound has a main home, Leibovitz's studio, and a two-story guest home with its own bedroom, kitchen, and two fireplaces.

In the backyard is a slate patio with a private garden area accessible by the street. The photographer sold her home to reportedly move closer to the uptown school of her three daughters.

Leibovitz's old compound is located on the corner of Greenwich Street and occupies more than 10,200 square feet of space.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group



The compound is comprised of three townhouses that have all been meticulously renovated and restored with all new plumbing and electrical systems.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group



The brick buildings originally date back to the 1830s, and altogether have 16 rooms and 13 wood-burning fireplaces.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group



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The Most Popular Books At The New York Public Library

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men reading books libraryThe New York Public Library recently shared their list of the most popular books for 2013.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" continued to be popular, with two books from the series ranking in the top 10 for fiction. Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" was first in fiction, with 7,892 circulations, while Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" was the most frequently read book in nonfiction, with 4,199 circulations.  

As Jezebel noted, female authors made a great showing on both lists.

Here's the complete list, ranked according to the number of times they were checked out last year. 

Adult Fiction 

1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
2. "The Casual Vacancy" by J. K. Rowling
3. "Inferno" by Dan Brown
4. "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini
5. "Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns" by Lauren Weisberger
6. "Until the End of Time: A Novel" by Danielle Steel
7. "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E. L. James
8. "A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel" by Lee Child
9. "Fifty Shades Freed" by E L James
10. "The Sins of the Mother: A Novel" by Danielle Steel

Adult Nonfiction
1. "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" by Sheryl Sandberg
2. "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris
3. "My Beloved World" by Sonia Sotomayor
4. "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson
5. "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg
6. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
7. "Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Michael Moss
8. "Bossypants" by Tina Fey
9. "Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife" by Eben Alexander, M.D.
10. "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed

SEE ALSO: 35 Books You Must Read In Your Lifetime

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Plastic Surgery Apps Spark Outcry For Encouraging Little Girls To Carve Up 'Ugly' Women

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Two iTunes apps that encourage little girls to perform virtual plastic surgery on "ugly" women have caused an outcry.

One of the apps, called the "Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie," was axed Tuesday night after the activist group Everyday Sexism started a Twitter campaign calling for Apple to pull it from iTunes, BitterWallet reports. Thousands of Twitter users rallied behind the campaign before it was removed. 

The app, which launched last week, taught little girls about liposuction and encouraged them to perform it on this blonde avatar:

Plastic Surgery App

"This unfortunate girl has so much extra weight that no diet can help her," the app advertised. "In our clinic she can go through a surgery called liposuction that will make her slim and beautiful. We'll need to make small cuts on problem areas and suck out the extra fast. Will you operate her, doctor?"

Here are her "before" and "after" shots:

Plastic Surgery App

But there's another very similar app that's still available in the iTunes store. This one, which launched on Dec. 16, features "Barbara," who "likes to eat a lot of burgers and chocolates and once she found out that she looks ugly," according to the app's iTunes page.

"Today plastic surgeon is going to make operation on her body and face in order to return cute Barbara’s look," the app advertises. 

Here's a screenshot of the app's iTunes page:

Plastic surgery app

"Plastic Surgery for Barbara" has also sparked outrage on Twitter, with thousands of users calling on iTunes to remove it from its app store.

 

SEE ALSO: Chef Twitter-Shames Couple Who Brought Their Baby To His Michelin-Starred Restaurant

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How To Survive A Bear Attack

Here Are The Two Most Annoying Restaurant Menu Practices

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michael voltaggio ink menu

This menu, from "Top Chef" alum Michael Voltaggio's Los Angeles restaurant "ink.," is terrible.

I don't mean the food is terrible; I hear it's good. I mean the menu exemplifies two extremely annoying conventions that are spreading like a virus through fancy restaurants.

1. Plates-of-indeterminate-size. Not to be confused with small plates; some of these items are entree size and some aren't, but they're not categorized by size. You're left to guess what's an entree, based on price.

2. Lists of ingredients, instead of dish descriptions. These menus provide little guidance about what the food will actually be like. Consider "cuttlefish, hazelnuts, pike caviar, straus cream $17." How is the cuttlefish prepared? Is it cooked or raw? Probably raw, I think. What is Straus cream? I have no idea. I'm going to have to ask the waiter. I wasn't able to fit it in the screenshot, but the menu also includes "beef cheeks, parsnip bark, watercress, $25." Is that a braise? What part of a parsnip is the 'bark'? Who knows?

As a friend put it, "Menus that follow this convention imply that preparation methodologies are unimportant. It's 'cereal, fried egg, amaranth, goat butter, chicken cracklin'' and it's all brought together with a judicious application of MAGIC."

Lists-of-ingredients menus can pop up anywhere, but I find they're especially epidemic in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In New York, I mostly see this nonsense on tasting menus, which you should be avoiding anyway.

Californians won't shut up about how good their local produce is; maybe the logical extension is to act like only the ingredients matter and their method of preparation is incidental. Or maybe it's because California is a state built by people who like to defy convention, even conventions that exist for good reasons, such as "customers find it useful when the menu makes clear what is being served."

Anyway, restaurants should stop doing this.

NOW WATCH: MOMA Restaurant Chef Tells Us How He Turns Food Into Art

 

 

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Bars In Los Angeles

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Beer Lovers Can Spend A Night In A House Filled With 83,000 Vintage Beer Cans

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brewhouse eco-inn The Germany Room

Plenty of Americans love beer, but arguably none so much as Jeff Lebo of York Haven, Penn.

Lebo is the owner of the Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn, an eclectic five-bedroom cottage in the mountains of southern Pennsylvania.

But the house's most distinctive quality has to be what's inside: an impressive collection of at least 83,000 vintage beer cans. 

Click here to jump right to photos of the Brewhouse >>

Lebo has been collecting beer cans and advertisements for more than 30 years. As children, Lebo and friends would pick up old cans they saw along the road, and his father worked in a beer can plant near their home.

He says that cans and ads from throughout the years can provide an interesting portrait of American social history, though his greatest interest lies in the earliest editions from the 1930s and 1940s. 

The Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn and all of its cans can be rented on HomeAway for just $379 a night. 

Watch this video to hear more about Lebo's passion for vintage beer collectibles.  

The Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn is located on four acres of forest in south-central Pennsylvania's Conewago Mountains.



The living room is cozy, complete with a wood stove.



Head into the hallway, and you'll start to see some of the beer cans.



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A McDonald's In Queens Is At War With A Group Of Elderly Men Who Refuse To Leave

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mcdonalds

A McDonald's in Queens is warring with a group of Korean senior citizens who hang out and gossip in the restaurant all day long, The New York Times reports.  

The group usually arrives at the restaurant before 5 a.m. and sticks around until after dark. Store management complains that they are taking tables from paying customers without even ordering so much as a Big Mac. 

"It’s a McDonald’s... not a senior center," Martha Anderson, the general manager, told The Times.

She said she has called the police on the group several times, and has had customers ask for refunds because there's no place for them to sit, she said. 

One of the seniors, Man Hyung Lee, 77, told The Times he was ordered out by a police officer earlier this month. 

"So I left," he said. "Then I walked around the block and came right back again."

One regular said many in the group dislike McDonald's food. But they aren't there to eat.

"They come every single day to gossip, chat about politics back home and in their adopted land," the Times' Sarah Maslin Nir and Jiha Ham wrote. In many cases, they just show up for the company.  

The group has been showing up every day for months, and McDonald's management is losing patience. There have been four 911 calls requesting their removal since November and officers often stop in while on patrol, according to the article.

McDonald's has been unsuccessful in the past, however, when trying to ban a specific group from its restaurants. A London McDonald's recently tried to ban teens from entering its doors after 7 p.m. and was forced to apologize.

SEE ALSO: McDonald's Is Getting Sued Again Over Alleged Hot Coffee Burns

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MAP: Here's Which States Have The Most Millionaires Per Capita

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This map is useful if you want to rub elbows with the wealthy.

Or if you want to know exactly where to go to be exclusively among the common man.

Phoenix Marketing International, a global marketing firm, puts together this ranking of how many millionaire households there are in each state per capita annually, so it notes the trends.

For example Phoenix notes that North Dakota was the leader at minting millionaires in 2013, moving to #29 in the Millionaire Ranking, up from #43 in 2012. Maine and Louisiana were big gainers this year too, just so you know.

Check out the map, and a table of more precise numbers below: 

Millionaires Per Capita by State Map_02

 

Millionaire Households Per Capita Chart

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What It's Like To Hike One Of The World's Most Dangerous Mountain Trails

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Mount Hua Plank Walk

Mount Hua, located near the city of Huayin and one of China's most sacred mountains, is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous places to hike.

Photographer Jimmy Cheng, 39, though not an expert hiker, trekked all five peaks of Mount Hua, one of the steepest mountains in the world. 

"Mount Hua has to be one of my favorite mountain trails by far. It was a body draining affair, physical but totally endurable," Cheng wrote Business Insider in an email. 

South Summit, the highest peak, is approximately 7,087 feet tall and hosts a Taoist temple as well as a quaint tea house. 

Cheng shared his favorite photos with us, along with an account of his journey. 

"When we finally reached the foot of Mount Hua, we immediately took the cable car up to the North summit, the lowest of all five peaks," Cheng wrote.

Mount Hua

"The cable car journey took a mere 10 minutes or so. We could see the famous Soldier's Trail from our cable car. It looked dangerous, some parts covered in ice, and scary," Cheng wrote. Here is a view of the Soldier's Trail.

Mount Hua

"North Summit is the lowest peak and at 1614 meters, we already felt the scale of Mount Hua and I knew the view could only get better," Cheng wrote. Below is a photo of Cheng's goal, the mountain's highest peak.

Mount Hua

These locks are clipped to the chain barriers around the edge of the mountain and symbolize luck, health, and love. 

Mount Hua

"We saw many locals who wore simple clothing and shoes. One woman was even in high heels," Cheng wrote. Here is a local man carrying goods to the top of the mountain.

Mount Hua

"The higher we went up, the harder it got. The air was thinner, temperatures dropped, and our worst enemy was ice on the path," Cheng wrote.

Mount Hua

"We had to be extremely careful on the slippery icy surfaces because in most cases, hikers were only protected by these flimsy chains," Cheng wrote.

Mount Hua

Mount Hua has five peaks named after their direction, North, South, East, West, and Central. Here is a view of another narrow path alongside the mountain.

Mount Hua

This trail is cut into the face of the granite cliff and is so narrow that it’s impossible for two people to pass each other. 

Mount Hua

Steep staircases are carved into the mountain. 

Mount Hua

Hikers can stay overnight in hotels on the mountain. Cheng recommended this for those who would like to watch the sunrise from one of the peaks.  

Mount Hua

"The most famous part of Mount Hua is the wooden plank walk. I didn’t go on it because my wife wouldn’t allow me to. I certainly would recommend it if you are a brave soul with nothing to hold back," Cheng wrote.

Mount Hua plank path

Hikers walk on a combination of wooden planks and flat mountain rock while clinging to chains for support. There is nothing, anywhere on this climb, to break a fall. 

Mount Hua plank walk

After an entire day of extreme hiking, Cheng finally enjoys these views from 7,087 feet above sea level. 

Mount Hua

Mount Hua

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3 Surprising Financial Benefits Of Losing Weight

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attached image

If you've resolved to spend less and save more this year, you might consider investing in a good pair of running shoes.

Beyond the obvious health benefits of being in shape, losing weight can help you save as much as $5,000 per year in transportation, insurance, and health-related costs, not to mention the amount you could make by more frequent promotions at work.

According to a study by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, the overall annual cost of being overweight in America  in the form of higher bills, lower salary, and lost wages due to health-related absenteeism — is $524 for women and $432 for men. And being obese is even harder on your wallet, to the tune of $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men per year.

If you've been looking for extra motivation to shed some pounds, check out a few ways slimming down could also save you cash:

1. Lower medical bills

The most obvious place you can cut costs by getting to a healthy weight is your medical bill. According to the GWU study, overweight individuals (defined by the CDC as having a BMI between 25 and 29) spend an additional $346 per year on direct and indirect medical costs, while the extra burden for obese individuals (BMI over 30) rises to $807-$2,845 per year.

Where are these extra costs coming from? Mostly in the form of prescription drugs, and the GWU study didn't include over-the-counter drugs, so the amount is likely even higher. According to the study, overweight and obese individuals tend to be less healthy than their normal-weight peers. They have higher rates of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and even certain types of cancer, all of which require more doctors' visits, pricier health insurance, and more drugs.

A person dealing with type 2 diabetes, for instance, spends an average of $85,000 to treat the disease and its complications over their lifetimes, according to a 2013 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Reversing type 2 diabetes — or at least treating it through a better diet and exercise — can put an immediate dent in your medical bills.

2. Higher income

Being overweight not only costs more, it can also limit the amount you earn, at least if you're a woman. A 2011 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese women earned an average of $5,826, or 15%, less per year than normal-weight women, a trend confirmed by the GWU research team. By contrast, the GWU study found that "results for the relationship between body weight and wages for male employees are mixed, but likely insignificant." 

What's the relationship between body type and salary? Studies have identified several factors at play. Conscious or unconscious biases against overweight employees can influence hiring and promotional decisions that prevent overweight workers from moving as far up the career ladder as normal-weight employees. Obese workers also tend to work fewer days than their normal-weight peers due to poorer health: The GWU study estimates obese and overweight women miss an average of one to five additional work days per year than normal-weight women, while obese men miss two more than normal-weight men. Absenteeism can have a direct impact on hourly salaries, and an accumulation of missed work days can negatively affect an individual's annual income.

3. Lower fuel and transportation costs

Perhaps surprisingly, additional body weight actually makes a difference in how much fuel your vehicle uses. Matthew de Paula at Forbes explains:

It might seem preposterous that portly passengers could negate the weight savings automakers are achieving [by making lighter vehicles]. But consider that fuel efficiency improves 2% for every 100 pounds shed from a vehicle, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So if a heavyset adult couple — each 50 pounds overweight — loses the extra weight, their fuel economy will go up 2%.

Slimming down won't just save you money at the pump; it could also save you extra fees (and potential embarrassment) at the airport. While it's unlikely that charging passengers by weight will become an industry standard, several American airlines have started requiring passengers who cannot buckle their seat belts to buy an additional seat. It's not quite clear how that extra seat will keep you safer, but regardless, it's yet another reason to eat your veggies and hop on a treadmill.

SEE ALSO: Study Reveals Juries Discriminate Against Overweight Women

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Here's An Amazing Picture Of San Francisco’s LED-Decked Bay Bridge In The Fog

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Stretching over 1.8 miles and rising 500 feet high, the Bay Lights is the world's largest LED light sculptureSan Francisco-based photographer David Yu recently caught a rare glimpse of the sculpture, which is attached to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, wrapped in fog.

Built in early 2013, the Bay Lights contains 25,000 LED lights controlled by a computer that determines the never-repeating pattern of lights. It was designed by light artist Leo Villareal, who also has a permanent installation in National Gallery Of Art in Washington D.C.. 

While San Francisco's famous fog often rolls in on the Golden Gate Bridge, it rarely does so on the lesser known Bay Bridge. When Yu, who photographs cityscapes often, saw the fog was coming in, he rushed out for an incredible picture.  

lowfog.bay.light.bridge.David.Yu

 

SEE ALSO: National Geographic's best pictures of the year

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The Sexiest Instagram Stars Alive!

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Emily RatajkowskiInstagram is useful for a number of things, from keeping in touch with your friends to documenting your last vacation.

But there are also a number of people who have gained fame by way of the social media platform.

These 27 star Instagrammers made a name for themselves by posting their photos, and look damn good doing it.

Jonathan Nafarrete

Followers: 20,899

Nafarrete isn't the star of his Instagram photos, but when he does appear in one it's usually with someone kind of famous (like Annalynne McCord from "Nip/Tuck").

The digital ad professional has collaborated with brands like Audi USA, Nike, Sheraton, and T-Mobile for their own Instagram photo campaigns, but in his spare time runs the group Instagram LA, which organizes "Instawalks" and networking opportunities for brands and Instagram users.

Follow him here.



Broderick Hunter

Followers: 22,405

The 6'2" Southern California native was on a fast track to becoming a professional basketball player or physical therapist when a photographer discovered him on Facebook. Shortly after, Hunter modeled for his first shoot and posted the photos on social media. The overwhelming response from friends convinced him to make the career change.

Today, he's represented by the industry elite Wilhelmina Models, and posts steamy samples from his portfolio on Instagram.

Follow him here.



Dorothy Wang

Followers: 24,228

As the daughter of the billionaire Golden Eagle International Group CEO, 25-year-old Wang describes herself as "funemployed." She stars in E!'s new reality show "Rich Kids of Beverly Hills," which follows five spoiled twenty-somethings as they shop and gallivant through the Hills.

Her Instagram account is evenly split between selfies and blurry going-out pics.

Follow her here.



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Tour The Gorgeous Sacramento Mansion That Once Belonged To Eddie Murphy, On Sale For $12 Million

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eddie murphy

A 2.5-acre estate that once belonged to Eddie Murphy is now on the market for $12 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Sacramento, Calif. home has 10 bedrooms (including one with Shrek-themed decor), 14 bathrooms, four wet bars, tennis courts, a swimming pool, and a 9-car garage. The Murphys sold it to real estate investor Patrick K. Willis back in 2007, when Eddie and his ex-wife Nicole were finalizing their divorce.

Willis paid $6.1 million for the house, which is still the largest residential purchase for the Sacramento area. It's currently listed with NRS Luxury Estates. 

Willis reportedly never moved into the house, and the decorations that the Murphys had originally chosen remain in place.

The mansion is situated on 2 and a half acres of land in the Granite Bay suburb of Sacramento.



The entrance is wide and dramatic on approach.



Inside, lots of purple details grab your attention.



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I Tried DogVacay, The 'Airbnb For Dogs,' And I Loved It

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DogVacayI have avoided boarding my dog, Rupert, for six years.

I'm admittedly overly sensitive when it comes to his comforts, and the thought of leaving him in an outrageously priced, pee-covered cage for several days at a time has never really appealed to me.

But I ran out of options earlier this month when I had to leave town for the weekend. Practically everyone I know was gone for the holidays. For the first time, I considered boarding him.

I made some phone calls and found out that every boarding option in my neighborhood costs about $80 per night.

Most of them offer webcams so pet owners can check in on their animals from afar, but the cameras only added to my anxiety when I saw how dozens of dogs were crammed into Manhattan-sized, indoor concrete "playgrounds."

Then I recalled hearing about DogVacay, the so-called "Airbnb for dogs." It's a website that matches dog owners with prospective caretakers, or "hosts," for about half the price of boarding.

I was skeptical of leaving Rupert with a stranger, but I decided to give it a try.

I landed on DogVacay's homepage and input the dates that I would be out of town. The search yielded hundreds of potential hosts for Rupert, many of whom were located within a half mile of my apartment. 

DogVacay

Most of the DogVacay hosts' profile pages contain detailed summaries of their services, reviews from former customers, and photos of themselves, their living quarters, and their previous animal tenants. I spent an embarrassing amount of time scrolling through all of Rupert's options before carefully selecting four potential hosts.

I contacted the hosts through the website's internal messaging system, because DogVacay doesn't initially give out the hosts' email addresses or last names. This is to partially help ensure that the hosts don't book appointments outside of DogVacay, as the company gets a 15% cut of all boarding fees.

I heard back from every host within a couple hours and settled on Rebecca, whose last name I'm excluding from this article to protect her privacy. At $50 a night — a little pricier than the average DogVacay stay — I booked Rebecca for three nights. 

Then came winter storm Hercules. My flight out of New York was cancelled and then repeatedly delayed. 

I ended up dropping Rupert off one day later than planned. I had prepaid for the boarding, but Rebecca called DogVacay for me and had one night's fees removed to reflect the change. She handled the travel issues with ease.

After dropping him off, I got a text from Rebecca almost immediately giving me a status update. (Rupert was "having tons of fun already" and romping in the snow with her pug, Wilbur).

Then I got nightly emails with photos, like this one, of Rupert and Wilbur:

DogVacay

I was pleased with the updates. I heard about Rupert's naps, his trips outside, and his general well-being all weekend. And when my flight back to New York was delayed by one day, it was easy to extend my reservation. 

Rebecca later told me that she's been a DogVacay host since August 2012 and takes care of 10 dogs a month on average, for varying amounts of time, from one day to weeks at a time.

For some hosts, working with DogVacay has led to a full-time job that pays the rent. Pet-sitter Michael Lam told CNBC he started working with DogVacay when he was a programmer for Goldman Sachs. He's now a full-time dog host and certified dog trainer.

The company won't reveal details on its revenues, though CEO Aaron Hirschhorn told CNBC in August that the site's bookings had grown 10-fold in 2013.

"DogVacay has paid out millions of dollars to its 11,000 hosts across more than 2,500 cities in the U.S. and Canada," DogVacay spokeswoman Corinna Pielock told Business Insider. "The U.S. pet services market is $11 billion annually and surprisingly there are 78 million dogs in the U.S. – more dogs than there are kids (73 million)."

According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent an estimated $55 billion on their pets in 2013, including an average $327 annually on boarding.

As I noted earlier, DogVacay keeps 15% of hosts' charges, which range from $20 to $70 per night for boarding in New York City. Hosts can also offer dog walking, cat sitting, grooming and other services through the website. 

Some have questioned, however, whether the company can generate enough revenue to survive. 

From a purely personal perspective, I hope it does; because I'll definitely be using it again. 

SEE ALSO: 6 Alternatives To The Trendy Vitamix Blender

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Casino Billionaire Elaine Wynn Bought The Most Expensive Painting Ever Sold At Auction

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Elaine Wynn

The mysterious buyer of a record-setting Francis Bacon painting has been revealed — Elaine Wynn, billionaire co-founder of the Wynn Casino Empire and Stephen Wynn's ex-wife, spent $142.4 million on the work of art in a Christie's auction in November.

The buy set a record for a work of art sold at auction, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wynn put the piece on temporary exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, but her long-term plans for the painting are unclear. It will be on display in Portland until March 30.

"Three Studies of Lucian Freud" depicts Sigmund Freud's grandson, a fellow painter and friend of Bacon's.

Bacon is known for his figurative portraits of men. He died in 1992.

Wynn's estimated net worth is $1.9 billion, according to the New York Times. She's director of Wynn Resorts and sits on the board of Wynn Las Vegas.

Here's the painting:

Francis Bacon painting

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5 Classic Men's Shoes For Work And Play

This 55-Year-Old Is An Amazing Breakdancer Who Learned How To Do It At Goldman In The 80s

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GifSilverback1

Steve Graham—a 55-year-old private equity exec who runs Philadelphia-area Graham Partners—has some serious breakdancing moves that would make most twenty-somethings envious. 

In the breaking world, he's known as "B-boy Silverback." In the 80s, people called him "Vanilla Shake" (that was before "Vanilla Ice" came along).

Graham got his start in the breaking scene while working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs during the early 1980s.  

Back then, he used to go to legendary Chelsea club, The Roxy.

"I asked a guy to show me a move. And then I was like, 'I can do this,'" said Graham, who was a three-sport athlete (track, tennis and skiing) at Williams College.  

After that, he started going out to a community center in the South Bronx late at night for breaking.

"When you work at Goldman so late you can take a cab anywhere, so I literally took it to the South Bronx and trained at this place with guys who were sort of famous breakers back in the day. I learned some moves from them."  

He also started breaking during lunch at Goldman. His colleagues loved it. 

finalairswipegifOnce Graham had learned enough moves, he started challenging the Manhattan "street hitters"—people who break for money on the sidewalk—to breaking battles.  

"You know, 'Hey, I want to battle you.' They thought it was hilarious because I was this white preppy dude breaking. I had enough moves and I was athletic enough that they loved it.  They started putting me in their act," Graham said.

Graham said he would show up wearing glasses, a tie and carrying an HP-12C calculator in his pocket. He explained that the hitters would grab him by the tie from out of the crowd.  

Steve Graham"When they'd pull me out of the crowd it would literally flip everyone from Oklahoma out," he said.  

Graham would then fold his glasses, take off his jacket, put down his calculator and walk straight up to the hitters and bust an air swipe for his entry move. (You can check one out in the video below.)

People didn't know what was going on, he said, but they loved it. 

Following his stint at Goldman, he went to business school at Dartmouth. There, he taught a bunch of his classmates how to break. For years after that, he would occasionally break out his moves at parties, but he stopped training.

Just a couple of years ago, though, he enrolled his two youngest sons—now ages five and eight—into breaking with some coaches in Philadelphia.  That's when he picked it up again.

Now he even teaches a bunch of his summer interns how to break in addition to learning more common Wall Street skills, like financial modeling.

BreakingBboyGifHe explained that about half of his interns are college athletes.  During the summer, they live on his farm and they learn to break. They also enter into breaking events.

Graham is also very connected to breaking scenes in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and the West Coast — he even knows breakers overseas in Europe. 

He sponsors highlight videos, events and competitions for breakers, and spends time helping out fellow breakers with anything from education to legal issues.

Graham recently created a non-profit UDEF (Urban Dance & Educational Foundation). So far, the Facebook page has more than 50,000 "likes". UDEF's first initiative is The Pro Breaking Tour with a board comprised of breakers and promoters. In some respects, the tour is modeled after the ATP tennis tour, PGA golf tour, NASCAR and other pro sports.

Part of the charitable mandate will be the educational initiative, he explained.  The proceeds will go to UDEF to support young breakers teaching and helping people.

Now check out Graham breaking: 

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Rolls-Royce And Bentley Want To Get Into The Electric-Car Game

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2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible

In the world of electric cars, luxury is defined by Tesla, with new competition coming from Cadillac (the ELR) and BMW (the i8). But those cars could soon be eclipsed by top tier offerings from Bentley and Rolls-Royce. 

In interviews with Business Insider, executives from both brands said they are seriously considering a plug-in hybrid car. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) combine the ability to run on electricity stored in a battery with an internal combustion engine. They usually offer an EV mode range of under 40 miles, with the capability to drive over 200 more miles on traditional gas power.

With high fuel prices and governments (especially in the U.S. and Europe) cracking down on gas-guzzling cars, automakers everywhere are working to crank up their miles per gallon numbers. There are more hybrid, pure battery electric, and diesel vehicles on the market than ever before. They're not good options for the two ultra-luxury players, however.

Diesel offers great fuel economy. It's widely used in the Europe, and growing in popularity in the U.S. But it's not used for passengers cars in China or the Middle East, key regions for both brands. And because each sells so few cars, there's no sense in creating totally different products for each market. 

For Chinese customers, "diesel is for trucks, end of story," Bentley Sales and Marketing Director Kevin Rose said. "It would be a brave person who comes along with a luxury diesel car for China." Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the CEO of Rolls-Royce, concurred. "It wouldn't make sense to introduce a diesel," he said. 

A purely electric car, Müller-Ötvös explained, wouldn't work either: Rolls-Royce makes heavy cars; that's part of its luxury feel. Same goes for Bentley. With the current state of battery technology, that means range and power would dramatically reduced. Rolls-Royce did built an electricity-powered Phantom and had customers test it. Many were "ambivalent," worried about slow charging times and limited range. Compounding the problem is that most of its customers live outside city centers, where short drive times make EVs useful.

But a PHEV, which combines the fuel savings and quiet feel of an electric car with the practicality of a gas-powered one, is a workable solution. "For me, the direction of plug-in hybrids is probably more the direction to go with Rolls-Royce motor cars," Müller-Ötvös said. 

Bentley is headed in the same direction. "Plug-in hybrids could be an especially good technology for us," Rose said. Research shows that customers would be interested, and the key is making it easy to use, "which is what we're working on."

The luxury brand is coming out with an SUV — "the first genuine luxury SUV" — in 2015, and it's a likely candidate for a plug-in hybrid system after its launch, Rose said.

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