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Ellen Degeneres is starting her own brand with clothing and home decor

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ellen degeneres

Ellen is a television host, comedian, producer, writer, and wife among many other titles.

She's adding business entrepreneur to the list with the launch of her new e-commerce lifestyle site.

The collection, ED, offers women's apparel, home goods, and accessories. 

The television host spearheaded the design and construction of the concept, so it's highly reflective of her personality.

It's even named after Portia de Rossi's, her wife, nickname for the star. 

"I set out to fill a void in the marketplace of high quality, comfortable yet chic and easy-to-wear pieces with impeccable detailing. That's what makes it so special and why I'm so thrilled my ED line if launching and everyone can finally have a piece of me… You know what I mean," Ellen said in a press release

Many elements of Ellen's personal style and image are infused into products, from her signature tailored button-down aesthetic to totes emblazoned with positive messages she promotes. 

Screen Shot 2015 07 01 at 11.21.57 AMThe separates were designed to be mixed and matched. Apparel and accessories retail for anywhere from $25 to $395.Screen Shot 2015 07 01 at 11.20.11 AM

The home collection, which was inspired by, "Ellen's ever-growing passion for collecting antiques and art," ranges from $25 to $365.

The star is hoping to grow the lifestyle platform in the future.

"The launch of the ED flagship ecommerce site poises us for expansion into multiple categories, countries and distribution methodologies.  It is a true representation of Ellen's design aesthetic and attention to quality and detail," said Marisa Gardini, Managing Partner and CEO of ED, in a press release. 

SEE ALSO: Macy's is now dumping Donald Trump

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Sarah Jessica Parker lost a bundle on the sale of her Greenwich Village townhouse

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Sarah Jessica Parker4 dinning

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick lost almost $750,000 on the sale of their single-family townhouse in New York's Greenwich Village. And that's before you factor in renovation costs.

According to Curbed, the couple bought the property in 2011 for almost $19 million, renovated it, and put it back on the market a year later for $25 million. The price was chopped twice before going under contract in March for $18.25 million. Fredrik Eklund of Douglas Elliman handled the listing

Here's a look at the pristine interiors of the Parker-Broderick house, which Architectural Digest recently claimed the famous pair never even lived in.

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro's son nabs record-breaking $120 million New York City listing

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Built in 1846, the 6,800-square-foot townhouse has five floors with six bedrooms.



Accented by Boffi stainless steel and walnut cabinetry, the eat-in kitchen is located on the garden floor.



You can access the split-level garden off the kitchen after enjoying a hearty breakfast.



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25 remote islands you should visit in your lifetime

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Twin Heart Stone Weir, Cimei, Penghu Islands

Islands are popular getaways for those looking to take a relaxing vacation.

But it's hard to relax when you're surrounded by thousands of other tourists. So instead of visiting a well-known island, try something a little more remote.

We've compiled a list of 25 out-of-the-way islands that are perfect for travelers seeking a peaceful trip. 

From a sleepy village in Belize to a former prison in French Polynesia, here are some remote spots you've probably never heard of.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best islands in the world, according to TripAdvisor

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Easter Island is one of the world's most remote islands, located about 2,240 miles from Chile's mainland. The Ahu Tongariki is the largest Ahu — a stone pedestal or shrine — on the island and functions as a base for the large restored moais or statues that sit on top of it (there are a total of 887 on the island). There's also a volcano on the island and breathtaking sunsets.



Surrounded by the Sea of Japan off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, Ulleungdo is an island made completely out of volcanic rock. An ideal destination for outdoorsy types, the island offers fishing, hiking, and boat trips. It's also a great place to try hoe, a Korean dish featuring raw fish.



Ferry over to one of the four San Juan Islands (there are 172 in total) accessible by boat from Washington State. You'll find peace and quiet along with hiking and biking trails and even some Orca whales.



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Amazon has completely changed its fashion strategy

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Louis Vuitton palm springs

Amazon has changed its mind about being a luxury retailer. 

The massive e-commerce company is saying it no longer is focusing on courting luxury brands, Jennie Perry, chief marketing officer of Amazon's fashion division, told Business of Fashion.

"There has been lot of speculation on us entering the luxury market and that is just not something that we’re focused on right now,"  Perry said. "What we are focused on is developing an experience for our large customer base. That customer seems to have a great appetite for many things." 

Instead, the company has secured partnership brands mid-tier brands such as Lacoste and Theory, reports Business of Fashion. The fashion site also notes Amazon is focusing on enhancing the user experience, as Amazon's front-end is not tailored to suit selling high fashion products.

For years, the brand has worked arduously to gain a credible reputation within the fashion industry. In 2012, the massive e-commerce company set up a warehouse for photography in the trendy neighborhood Williamsburg in Brooklyn, hoping to woo luxury fashion companies and their loyal followers. With Cathy Beaudoin as president of Amazon's fashion division at the helm, this has been an apparent part of its mission.

Luxury brands, however, have not been intrigued.

"Amazon will never sell Louis Vuitton, because we are the only ones that sell it," Louis Vuitton cheif executive Yves Carcelle told Vogue UK in 2012. "This is a model of direct control that we pioneered, and I think long term it is the direction that most luxury ecommerce will take."

Now it seems that Amazon is finally getting the message.

The brand is still attempting to put itself front and center in the fashion world as a part of its slow climb up the fashion ladder. The company is sponsoring the first-ever New York Men's Fashion Week, WWD reported earlier this year. 

SEE ALSO: Macy's is dumping Donald Trump

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How to use Apple's Spotify killer — now on everyone's iPhone

The 10 best burger joints in America, according to TripAdvisor

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MELT Gourmet Cheeseburgers

TripAdvisor just released its list of the 10 best burger restaurants in America.

The list is based off millions of TripAdvisor users' reviews and opinions.

The burger joints that made the list are all over the US, from Florida to South Dakota to Hawaii.

 

 

SEE ALSO: The 10 best BBQ joints in America

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10. MacPhail's Burgers, Jackson, Wyoming

Click here for more information on MacPhail's >



9. Brook's Gourmet Burgers and Dogs, Naples, Florida

For more information on Brook's, click here >



8. Village Burger, Waimea, Hawaii

Click here for more information on Village Burger >



See the rest of the story at Business Insider








Japan's unbelievable sex problem is setting up a 'demographic time bomb' for the country

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japanese wedding couple

The Japanese press has taken to calling it sekkusu shinai shokogun: celibacy syndrome.

Basically, the country just isn't that interested in sex — and it could have huge effects beyond its borders. 

The most recent evidence comes in a survey by the Japan Family Planning Association, reported on in the Japan Times

A full 49.3% of aged 16 to 49 respondents in the 1,134 person survey said they hadn't had sex in the past month.

There was a minor gender variation: 

• 48.3% of men reported not having sex

• 50.1% of women reported not having sex

According to Japan Times, both figures showed a 5% increase since two years ago

Respondents gave a range of reasons as to why: 21.3% of married men and 17.8% married women cited fatigue from work, and 23% of married women said that sex was "bothersome." And 17.9% of male respondents said they had little interest (or a strong dislike) of sex. 

Other research suggests even more extreme trends.

According to a 2011 report from Japan's population center cited by Max Fisher at the Washington Post

• 27% of men and 23% of women aren't interested in a romantic relationship

• From ages 18 to 34, 61% of men and 49% of women aren't involved in a relationship

• From ages 18 to 34, 36% of men and 39% of women have never had sex

Experts say that "the flight from human intimacy" in Japan comes from having a highly developed economy and high gender inequality. (According to the World Economic Forum, Japan ranks 104 out of 140 countries regarding gender equality, slotted between Armenia and the Maldives). 

"Professional women are stuck in the middle of that contradiction," Fisher writes. "It's not just that day-care programs are scarce: Women who become pregnant or even just marry are so expected to quit work that they can come under enormous social pressure to do so and often find that career advancement becomes impossible. There's a word for married working women: oniyome, or "devil wives."

That puts a squeeze on relational prospects for Japanese women. Fisher reports that women in their early 20s have a 25% chance of never marrying and a 40% chance of never having kids. 

Japan's birth rate hit a record low in 2014 at just 1,001,000 infants. When combined with 1.3 million deaths in the same year, that's a deepening population crisis. According to Japan's population institute, the overall population could dip to 107 million by 2040 — or 20 million lower than today

At the same time, Japan's population is shrinking and graying, setting up a "demographic time bomb" that could radiate out globally through the country's Greece-level national debt and deep economic ties with China and the US. 

The Japanese government has stepped in to help with the national trend against relationships: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government wants 80% of fathers to take paternity leave, same as mothers taking maternity leave — while also increasing support for childcare.  And one economist recommended a "tax on the handsome" to make geeky guys more attractive to women. 

Different "demographic time bombs" are set to go off around the world: In China and India, the birthrates of boys have been outpacing those of girls for such a long time that a "marriage squeeze" is starting to hit both countries

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Japanese lifestyle guru explains how to organize your home once — and then never again










The 106-year-old British stockbroker who saved 669 children from the Nazis just died

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Sir Nicholas Winton (C) poses in front of the Winton train at Liverpool Street station in central London.

On December 3, 1938, a British stockbroker made the impromptu decision to cancel his skiing vacation and join his friend, Martin Blake, in Prague, who had desperately asked for his help. The decision changed his life and saved the lives of 669 people in the process.

Nicholas Winton, 106, died earlier on Wednesday on the anniversary of the departure of a train in 1939 carrying 241 children, the largest number of children he saved.

His story is nothing short of incredible.

Winton, who is of German Jewish ancestry, had heard of the violence against Jewish communities in Germany and Austria, especially the infamous Kristellnacht. After hearing about the Kinderstransport, an effort of British Jewish agencies to bring 10,000 Jewish children to Great Britain, Winton knew he had to arrange a similar operation in Czechoslovakia.

Winton explained how the operation got started in "The Power Of Good: Nicholas Winton," a documentary on his efforts:

"I found out that the children of refugees and other groups of people who were enemies of Hitler weren't being looked after. I decided to try to get permits to Britain for them. I found out that the conditions which were laid down for bringing in a child were chiefly that you had a family that was willing and able to look after the child, and £50, which was quite a large sum of money in those days, that was to be deposited at the Home Office. The situation was heartbreaking. Many of the refugees hadn't the price of a meal. Some of the mothers tried desperately to get money to buy food for themselves and their children. The parents desperately wanted at least to get their children to safety when they couldn't manage to get visas for the whole family. I began to realize what suffering there is when armies start to march."

Winton set up his rescue operation at his hotel in Prague, taking applications from parents and registering the children. The response was huge, with thousands of parents lining up.

Surprisingly, Winton received little resistance from the Nazis on his effort to move the children out of the country. 

"We were getting rid of those people Hitler wanted to get rid of," Winton told ABC News in 2008. "I mean, you even had the Gestapo at Wilson Station helping the children onto the trains."

After a few weeks, Winton left Trevor Chadwick in charge of the Prague operation and returned to London to negotiate where the children would go. Only Great Britain and Sweden agreed to take the children.

Original legal documents are held by one of the so-called "Winton's children."

To get foster families willing to pay the £50 fee for each child, Winton advertised in newspapers, churches, and synagogues with pictures of the children. The effort worked. 

The last train of children left Prague on August 22, 1939. By the time it was all said and done, he had saved 669 children.

His greatest regret is that he could not save more. There was to be another train of children on September 1, but Hitler’s Germany invaded Poland that day. All borders were closed. The children were never heard from again.

Winton never told anyone of his mission, not even his wife, Grete. Fifty years later, in 1988, his wife found a scrapbook with photos, documents, and the list of children. She brought it to a Holocaust historian, who arranged for Winton’s story to appear on the BBC’s "That’s Life." Unbeknownst to him, the audience at the taping was filled with his “children.”

You can see his emotional reaction here:

During an interview in 2008, Winton told a Slovakian teenager his philosophy on life: “You need to be prepared always to help other people if there is an opportunity to do so.”

“Winton’s children,” as they are called, have gone on to extraordinary lives. Here are just a few:

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America's wealthiest don't tell their kids how much they're worth

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dorothy wang america rich kids of beverly hillsMorgan Stanley Managing Director Glenn Kurlander wrote that once he had an uber-rich client walk into his office worriedly and say:

“Glenn, my kids have no idea how much I’m worth; I’ve kept them totally in the dark (The Atlantic).”

To which Kurlander recalled replying: “You live in a 25,000-square-foot house, and your kids have never been on a commercial plane — they’re always on your private jet. I think they’ve figured it out.”

For children, money is the mysterious force behind the new soccer ball, birthday bash or theme park trip. It is everywhere — from their clothes, to the new paint on the walls, to the burger they'll have that night.

But kids of affluent parents rarely understand how much exactly they have because most parents prefer not to tell.

Seventeen percent of high-income parents intend to tell their children about their income by the time they're 18. Another 18% of parents never, ever plan on showing their kids the balance books.

According to The New York Times, Spectrum Millionaire Corner conducted a survey with respondents that had at minimum $100,000 a year in income, asking 1,000 participants if they would disclose their worth to offspring under 18.

The answer was, overwhelmingly, "it's none of their business."

Reasons for hiding the family's worth ranged from "they might share with their friends" (9% of respondents) to anxieties about how disclosure could affect their children (13%).

Affluent respondents who did inform their children of their worth wanted their children to learn about savings and budgeting, but mostly in case of emergencies.

“Of course it’s part of their business,” said Spectrem’s Cathy McBreen to The New York Times. "When the parents pass away, the children are going to have to walk into their house and figure it out.”

SEE ALSO: How the fabulously rich kids of instagram spend summer vacation

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The short-sleeved suit is the latest trend in menswear

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Acne Studios Menswear

First the short suit, now the short-sleeved suit?

Sweden's Acne Studios is now offering men the option to wear suits with short sleeves. The look debuted as a part of the 2016 menswear collection.

GQ declared this new style is indeed "happening."

Jake Woolf of GQ had some questions about how to wear this new look.

"For one, will this look insane to wear with a long-sleeved dress shirt? Does this automatically put one somewhere on the Don Johnson fashion spectrum? Will we get thrown out of a wedding for showing up in one of these? Are there savings involved with the whole half-sleeves thing?" He wrote, while ultimately coming up with a solution — to wear the summer garment "with a striped T-shirt and white canvas sneaker."

Megan Garber of The Atlantic noted how this look emphasizes androgyny and blurs gender lines, something Gucci notably executed at Milan Fashion Week for its 2016 menswear collection.

"The brand is asking, on the one hand: 'What does it mean to be a suit?'" She wrote. "But it is also asking, on some deeper level — by way of ribbons and pockets and insistently sassy short sleeves — 'What does it mean to be a man?'"

 on

It's unclear if this look will catch on with mid-tier American retailers.

Acne Studios already sells a men's short-sleve jacket (regularly $320, at this moment on sale for $192), although it is not as tailored as the up-and-coming suit.

The short suit went mainstream last summer. The menswear ensemble was sold by retailers such as J. Crew and Topman, even though many people were befuddled by the look. 

J. Crew short suit

Deadspin's Albert Burneko railed against the trend (emphatically titling his post "Do Not Wear A Suit With Shorts") as did Jonathon Capehart of The Washington Post ("Let's cut this 'short suit' trend off at the knees,"  he asked readers in the title of piece.)  

SEE ALSO: The 'short suit' is finally going mainstream

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NOW WATCH: Victoria's Secret is making one mistake that is driving away a lot of women










A successful marriage comes down to this simple formula

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Gay Marriage lesbian weddingsex - quarrels = x

x > 0 = happy marriage

x < 0 = unhappy marriage

In other words, you should be having sex more often than you quarrel.

The formula was derived from a series of studies in the 1970s. One unpublished study of married students at University of Missouri-Kansas City found that 28 out of 30 self-described happy couples had sex more than they argued, while all 12 self-described unhappy couples argued more. These results were corroborated by a 1974 study by John Howard and Robyn Dawes, in which all 23 happy couples had a positive score and all 3 unhappy couples had a negative score. Two1977 studies offered further confirmation of this idea. 

Now it's worth noting that these studies are a few decades old and relied on very small sample sizes, though many of their conclusions square with more recent research. Also, college-aged students who are married are not necessarily an accurate representation of all married couples, and perhaps sex is less important at some stages of some relationships.

Still, it remains a powerful and useful concept.

We came across this formula in "Thinking, Fast And Slow," the 2011 book by Nobel laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in a discussion of the value of simple formulas.

SEE ALSO: Scientists have found a surprising key to happy relationships

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NOW WATCH: How much sex you should be having in a healthy relationship










Japan's huge sex problem is setting up a 'demographic time bomb' for the country

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sad japanese girl rain

The Japanese press has taken to calling it sekkusu shinai shokogun: celibacy syndrome.

Basically, the country just isn't that interested in sex — and it could have huge effects beyond its borders. 

The most recent evidence comes in a survey by the Japan Family Planning Association, reported on in the Japan Times

A full 49.3% of aged 16 to 49 respondents in the 1,134 person survey said they hadn't had sex in the past month.

There was a minor gender variation: 

• 48.3% of men reported not having sex

• 50.1% of women reported not having sex

According to Japan Times, both figures showed a 5% increase since two years ago

Respondents gave a range of reasons as to why: 21.3% of married men and 17.8% married women cited fatigue from work, and 23% of married women said that sex was "bothersome." And 17.9% of male respondents said they had little interest (or a strong dislike) of sex. 

Other research suggests even more extreme trends.

According to a 2011 report from Japan's population center cited by Max Fisher at the Washington Post

• 27% of men and 23% of women aren't interested in a romantic relationship

• From ages 18 to 34, 61% of men and 49% of women aren't involved in a relationship

• From ages 18 to 34, 36% of men and 39% of women have never had sex

Experts say that "the flight from human intimacy" in Japan comes from having a highly developed economy and high gender inequality. (According to the World Economic Forum, Japan ranks 104 out of 140 countries regarding gender equality, slotted between Armenia and the Maldives). 

"Professional women are stuck in the middle of that contradiction," Fisher writes. "It's not just that day-care programs are scarce: Women who become pregnant or even just marry are so expected to quit work that they can come under enormous social pressure to do so and often find that career advancement becomes impossible. There's a word for married working women: oniyome, or "devil wives."

Japan kimono brokerage stock indicesThat puts a squeeze on relational prospects for Japanese women. Fisher reports that women in their early 20s have a 25% chance of never marrying and a 40% chance of never having kids. 

Japan's birth rate hit a record low in 2014 at just 1,001,000 infants. When combined with 1.3 million deaths in the same year, that's a deepening population crisis. According to Japan's population institute, the overall population could dip to 107 million by 2040 — or 20 million lower than today

At the same time, Japan's population is shrinking and graying, setting up a "demographic time bomb" that could radiate out globally through the country's Greece-level national debt and deep economic ties with China and the US. 

japanese old young menThe Japanese government has stepped in to help with the national trend against relationships: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government wants 80% of fathers to take paternity leave, same as mothers taking maternity leave — while also increasing support for childcare.  And one economist recommended a "tax on the handsome" to make geeky guys more attractive to women. 

Different "demographic time bombs" are set to go off around the world: In China and India, the birthrates of boys have been outpacing those of girls for such a long time that a "marriage squeeze" is starting to hit both countries

SEE ALSO: South Koreans could be 'extinct' by 2750

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Japanese lifestyle guru explains how to organize your home once — and then never again










An exercise scientist told us the 2 things everyone gets wrong about working out

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Woman jogging

Exercise is filled with misconceptions.

Everyone out there seems to have ideas in their heads about what works and what doesn't, which is why the best thing you can do is turn to the actual science of how your body works for answers.

Recently, we chatted with Rutgers exercise scientist Shawn Arent and asked him what the two biggest misconceptions are about exercise.

What he pointed to was very interesting: People have the wrong idea about both weight lifting and cardio. Almost everyone benefits from mixing it up and doing both, and if people understood the truth, that healthy mix might become the norm.

"I think one [misconception] is if you lift weights you'll get big and bulky. It's just not true; you get so many health benefits from it. Women in particular tend to say 'oh I don't want to get that big.' You don't have the hormones to support getting that big. And especially if you're doing a lot of aerobic exercise, it's not going to happen. You're not going to get that big and bulky ...

"It (cardiovascular exercise) actually cuts into the protein synthesis recovery that you see following resistance training. And one of the things that resistance training does is that it creates selective hypertrophy or growth in Type 2 muscle fibers, your fast twitch muscle fibers. Aerobic exercise favors type 1 muscle fibers. And so what happens is the difference in where your hypertrophy is favored and the difference in the biochemical environments support that.

"It doesn't mean that you can't gain muscle that way, it just means that you wouldn't gain as much as if you had [only] been lifting ...

"Another misconception that's been circulating quite a bit is that you don't need to do cardio, that cardio's bad ... the whole idea that you lose muscle mass, and so now if you regain weight what you're really putting on is body fat.

"It's almost like cardio has become the carbs of the fitness world ... like it was 'don't eat carbs they're bad for you,' and all the sudden it's like 'don't do cardio.' Cardio is good for you! And this is coming from somebody who doesn't like to do cardio. I'm more on the power and strength side — bodybuilding and stuff, that's me. But cardio's important, and cardio has a lot of health benefits; you don't have to shy away from it. But the flip to that is — don't just do cardio either. The resistance training is a critical part of any good workout program."

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The BMW i8 is the sports car of the future, and we drove it through America's past

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BMW i8 ps

The BMW i8 is a technological tour de force. It's a twin-engine plug-in hybrid with show-car looks, supercar performance, and economy-car efficiency. It's BMW's vision for what the future may hold for sports cars. Recently, BMW lent Business Insider a white i8, and we took it on a road trip through historic New England.

SEE ALSO: BMW's new 7-Series luxury sedan is packed with some awesome new gadgets

As a plug-in hybrid sports car, BMW i8 is unlike anything on the road today.



Sure, there are other high-performance hybrids out there, such as the Porsche 918 ...



... the McLaren P1 and ...



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Here's what your kitchen will look like in 2025, according to IKEA

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Concept Kitchen 2025 at IKEA Temporary Storing Visually 1IKEA didn't just imagine the kitchen of the future, it actually built it. 

The Concept Kitchen 2025, a pop-up exhibit featured at EXPO Milano 2015, isn't about your kitchen and its appliances doing all the work for you; its about helping you make thoughtful decisions about food and waste.

The kitchen was developed with IDEO London, a global design firm, and college students focused on "the social, technological, and demographic forces that will impact how we behave around food in 2025." Check out all the bells and whistles below. 

SEE ALSO: Here's a brilliant solution for anyone with a tiny kitchen in their studio apartment

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Welcome to 2025. This is what your kitchen looks like.



Not sure what to do with that tomato that's about to go bad? Place it on IKEA's Table for Living to get a quick and easy recipe. The aim here is to reduce food waste.



All of the recipe information shows up on the table — leave your iPad on the couch.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider









We now know how much your politics inform your scientific views

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Eric Chen, White House Science Fair, Obama

America is quickly becoming more politically polarized. And a growing number of Americans' opinions on issues are either consistently liberal or consistently conservative, with less and less common ground.

In other words, ideological orientation is aligning more and more with political-party leaning.

The Pew Research Center explored the strength of this correlation in a new report out Wednesday.

It found that politics are a key factor in how people view certain scientific issues, particularly on climate change and energy policy.

Here's a look:

pew research

Political party affiliation is significant when it came to people's opinions on climate change, energy issues, and government funding of science, the report revealed.

Pew found that Democrats and liberals are more likely than Republicans and conservatives to say the earth is warming, that humans are responsible for climate change, and that there is scientific consensus that the problem is serious. 71% of liberals agree that climate change is real, compared to 27% of conservatives. This holds true despite differences in age and race.

In addition, 75% of liberals also say the US needs to develop alternative sources of energy, like solar and wind power, rather than rely on oil, gas, and coal production. Only 43% of conservatives agree. And 83% of liberals say the US should expand government finding for scientific research, compared to 62% of conservatives. Meanwhile, 33% of conservatives say investing in scientific research is not worth it, compared to just 12% of liberals. 

RTX11P0O

On the other hand, according to the report, politics don't factor in nearly as much when it comes to issues like evolution, animal research, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and experimental drug treatments.

Pew found that on topics such as these, factors like religious affiliation, age, level of education, specific knowledge of the science, and gender played bigger roles than political ideology on forming people's views. 

SEE ALSO: The science behind losing weight

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NOW WATCH: Scientists have debunked a huge myth about frozen vegetables










People are flabbergasted by The New York Times’ bizarre guacamole recipe — even Barack Obama spoke out against it

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ABC Cocina guacamole new york city restaurant

A recipe for guacamole made with peas is taking over the internet — and people are not happy about the modification to their beloved avocado dip.

In fact, after Twitter exploded for hours with complaints about peas in guacamole, even President Barack Obama weighed in.

Earlier Wednesday, New York Times food columnist Melissa Clark published a recipe for guacamole made using peas in addition to the dip's traditional ingredients. The recipe is based on a dip served at New York City restaurant ABC Cocina.

Almost immediately, Twitter users started debating the recipe.

 

 

 

Turns out, when it comes to guacamole, Twitter users prefer their dip plain and simple. 

 

 

People are taking the peas and guac issue very seriously. 

 

For many Twitter users, the combination just seems unnatural. 

 

The interest in pea-laden guacamole came to a head when President Obama weighed in on the debate at around 3 p.m.

The President was hosting a Q-and-A session on Twitter to talk about the Affordable Care Act. Instead, the internet wanted to know what President Obama thought about the culinary combination. 

Here's the President's response. 

 

 

 

White House hopeful Jeb Bush also agreed with President Obama about the dip trend.  

 

 

Now, interest in the recipe is only growing stronger. It presents the perfect opportunity for puns, with many people using "peas" as a stand in for "peace" in their tweets. 

 

 

Ordering guac notoriously costs extra at Chipotle restaurants. This Twitter user explains that she would not spend more money for pea filled guac. 

 

 

People are also using the trend to call attention to current issues that are more important than chips and dip. This user is comments that more people are discussing peas in guac than are talking about the burning of African-American churches. 

 

 

Melissa Clark, the woman who published the recipe, explained that this was not the first time she'd written about ABC Cocina's guacamole. She tweeted in defense of the recipe, using the hashtag #dontknockittillyoutryit.

 

 

SEE ALSO: This 2-year-old became a Yelp celebrity, and now his family eats all over NYC for free

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This Andy Warhol painting of the US dollar just sold for $32.8 million at auction

This photo of an 8-year-old girl evacuating her home shows the true terror of living in the shadow of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano

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After more than a century of lying dormant, Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano has awakened.

Located in the Karo Regency of North Sumatra, the volcano began showing signs of life in 2010 and has erupted several times since. On June 2, it began hurling rocks and hot ash into the sky, engulfing entire towns in smog.

More than 10,000 residents have evacuated the area in search of safety — including 8-year-old Ramadinah Milala.

Reuters photographer Beawiharta recently spent time with Milala's family in the Kuta Tengah village, which lies in the shadow of the volcano. The photos are heartbreaking.

Ramadinah Milala, mount sinabung, indonesia, volcano

Milala, her brother, mother, and 60-year-old grandmother fled the family's home in June, leaving behind everything including their cow and pet cat, according to Beawiharta. They entered a temporary camp set up as a refuge for those displaced by the volcano's eruption at Simpang Empat, about 15 kilometers away.

Beawiharta caught up with the family as they returned to their village in search of work in the aubergine fields.

"If I don't have money, I go to pick vegetables and sell them at the market, said mother Nurheni Ginting. "I need money to pay for school, for food, for transporation."

Ramadinah Milala, mount sinabung, indonesia, volcano

At the camp, "you have to sleep in a big hall full of people," Ginting said. "Someone is always talking and occasionally there are arguments. At times there's noisy music playing. It's impossible to sleep well."

So while the family was home, they took advantage. Below, Milala is seen with neighborhood children watching television.

Ramadinah Milala, mount sinabung, indonesia, volcano

The family intended to return to the camp that evening, but around 3:30 p.m., a familiar rumbling sound descended from the mountain.

Ramadinah Milala, mount sinabung, indonesia, volcano

They leapt back into the car and sped off, in awe of the devastating danger so close to home.

“As we drove away Ramadinah just sat looking out of the window,” her mother said. “She was quiet and wasn’t talking.”

SEE ALSO: 14 heartbreaking photos of the chaos caused by Mount Sinabung erupting in Indonesia

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It took seeing 'Inside Out' to finally understand the one thing my therapist has been trying to teach me for 15 years

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Inside Out

Pixar's new movie "Inside Out" helped me to understand something my therapist has been trying to convince me of since I was a teenager: It is okay to feel sad.

For those who haven't seen it or read much about it, here's a basic premise: A little girl named Riley moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her parents, and has a hard time internalizing how she's supposed to feel about it. But the movie isn't about the move, or even about Riley herself. It's about her feelings— each of them assigned its own quirky character.

The feelings belong to an eleven-year-old, so they're simple and easy to comprehend: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. We meet them, we recognize them, and we watch them interact with each other and with Riley's memories — tangible orbs each assigned with an overwhelming feeling (happy memories, sad memories, angry memories.) Some of these memories are "core memories" and they're the ones that contribute to Riley's core: an honest, hockey-loving, goofy girl who loves her family and friends.

Therapy would have been much easier had "Inside Out" been produced when I was Riley's age.

inside out rileyA little more than a decade ago, I sat down in my therapist's office and declared that I didn't want to be sad anymore.

You see, several years prior I had been diagnosed with depression; the genetic gift that keeps on giving. I struggled with the diagnosis for awhile — being eleven was hard enough. My therapist would constantly explain I was wired to be this way. My brain, he explained, processed things differently than it was supposed to. The reason that for weeks at a time I felt no ambition to eat, sleep, go to school, do my work, or hang out with my friends, was because of a mental chemical imbalance, not because I wasn't smart or pretty or fun to be around. And I am not alone — an estimated 350 million people have been diagnosed with depression. 

Well, chemical imbalance or not, it sucks, I would tell him. 

It does suck, he would agree.

After I had emerged from puberty relatively unscathed and my hormones somewhat regulated themselves, I told my doctor I wanted to try going on an anti-depressant. He did me one better, throwing in an anti-anxiety medication after I asked him if it was normal that on a near-daily basis I became consumed with the understanding that everyone in my life would one day die.

I do not want to be sad anymore, I would stress to him. 

He handed me the prescriptions, assuring me they would help.

You do not have to be sad anymore, he told me.

inside out happinessIn "Inside Out," the emotion 'Joy' (voiced by Amy Poehler) is so obsessed with keeping Riley happy (and the rest of the feelings calm and collected) during the big move, that she all too quickly pushes the emotion 'Sadness' (voiced by Phyllis Smith) out of the way. It's clear that if Sadness is let loose inside Riley's head, Riley won't have a chance at making the best of her move to San Francisco. So Joy works overtime, making sure every one of Riley's memory orbs glows with a golden happiness.

After all, who wants to be sad?

When Joy comically puts Sadness in the "circle of Sadness" (a chalk circle that Sadness must not step out of under any circumstance) I was reminded of the years I spent taking medication in an attempt to rid myself of my own sadness.

For a while, my efforts worked. Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications take bodies and brains on differently than most meds — you have to build up a routine of taking them every day and then — boom! All of a sudden it's a month later and you realize you're having an easier time getting up in the morning. And if you don't get invited to a party your world doesn't seem like it's crashing down around you. 

I felt like things were getting better! I was getting rid of my Sadness, the ultimate enemy. It was my understanding that to always be happy was the best possible way to live. Now I had a way to find that oasis; I had magic pills to kick my Sadness to the curb.

Yet...the pills weren't happy pills, and I noticed almost immediately that medication wasn't replacing being sad with being happy. It was just providing me with a cast I could plaster over any overwhelming emotion. 

For months, even years, my doctor encouraged me to ween myself off the pills, but I refused.

You don't want to be in the position where you feel neutral about everything, he'd say. That's not good.

But I don't want to feel sad again, I'd say. 

Though at the time I couldn't tell you the last time I felt super happy, I was pleased to report I also couldn't tell you the last time I felt super sad. We'd have the same conversation every few months for years. I continued to take the medication, and he'd continue to write me prescriptions. 

Here's some basic feelings math: If you don't feel happy and you don't feel sad, you don't feel very much.

inside out Without too many spoilers, it becomes clear to Joy that she cannot help Riley be happy about moving to San Francisco without letting Sadness help Riley accept that she is sad. She misses her friends. Her new school is overwhelming.

As she's growing up, she struggles with feeling vulnerable in front of her parents, but now her parents are her only support system. Riley needs them. All of this stems from Sadness, and facing it head-on helps her to grow. And then when it's Joy's turn to take over, because Sadness doesn't last forever, it's easier to appreciate being happy.

Duh. What an incredibly simple concept.

I realize there are some important differences here: People who feel sad sometimes (all humans) are not feeling the same things as those who are clinically depressed. I have always believed taking anti-depressants is the right thing for me to do. I still do.

But my reasoning behind why I was taking them — or my reasoning behind why I was afraid to stop taking them — was majorly flawed. 

My biggest fear was always feeling sad. But feeling sad is healthy, normal, human.

It took a Pixar movie to teach me this.

To my therapist, if you're out there reading this, I'm invoicing you for the last fifteen years of appointments.

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