After realizing he wasn’t going to play basketball as a career, Andre Wagner channeled his energy into photography.

Wagner, who studied social work in college, decided to become a photographer, incorporating what he had learned in his studies. 

He moved from his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, to New York City, where he started graduate school but stopped after getting a studio photography job at Fab, the e-commerce website.

Last June, however, he was laid off. He dove into freelance work and his own personal project — documenting moments on the streets of New York City. He often heads to crowded areas like Midtown to capture the rush of crowds who are too busy to care about a photographer.

Since then, Wagner has exhibited in Paris and New York, and most recently in Los Angeles. 

“The finances aren’t always what I want them to be, but things always find a way to work themselves out,” he told Business Insider. “The fact that I’m not homeless at this point, sometimes I have to pinch myself.”

New York City is a perfect place for Wagner to take photos, as the amount of people he can capture is never-ending. He does, however, tend to gravitate towards certain areas.

He likes to shoot a lot around his neighborhood of Bushwick, around Midtown during the rush hours of the work week, and in SoHo where there are people wearing all sorts of interesting clothing.

Wagner's passion project — photographing strangers as they pass on the streets — has become less nerve wracking with time. He says it's most difficult to do when he's alone with just one or two people on a block; it's much easier in bustling areas where people are hurrying along.

Cornell Tech, an applied sciences program out of Cornell University, is building a giant futuristic campus on New York City's Roosevelt Island. But the most exciting part of the campus isn't in the academic buildings or green spaces — it's the dorms. 

The campus's 250-foot tall residential high-rise will be so energy efficient that it could change the way buildings are constructed in New York City, if not the rest of the country. 

The high-rise, which will house 520 people when it's completed in 2017, will be the world's tallest and largest passive-house building, meeting strict energy efficiency standards set by Germany's Passive House Institute.

When all is said and done, it will save 882 tons of CO2 each year compared to a normal building.

That's not much compared to the average yearly emissions of a coal power plant (3.5 million tons of CO2), but start thinking about a future where passive house buildings are the norm, and the emissions savings become significant. 

Passive House buildings use little in the way of energy, heating, and cooling. In order to meet the standards, "You need to have every crack sealed," according to Blake Middleton, a partner at Handel Architects, which designed the building. Essentially, the Cornell building has to be completely airtight to pass muster. 

Overall, the $115 million residential building will use 60% to 70% less energy than other similarly sized buildings. It will also cost up to 5% more to develop — but that money will come back many times over in energy savings. 

Making the building airtight was a vexing problem, both from a structural and a design point of view. When architects design urban buildings — especially condos — they usually highlight sweeping views with floor to ceiling windows.

In order to make that work from an energy efficiency perspective, a passive house high-rise would need a double envelope, basically creating a building within a building. That's prohibitively expensive, so Cornell opted instead for slightly smaller windows. 

"There will be well-sized windows that take advantage of views, but they're not as big as they might be if they were catering to that [condo] market," says Arianna Sacks Rosenberg, a senior project manager at Hudson, the developer behind the high-rise. 

The airtight design, combined with a unique ventilator system that brings in fresh air from outside, means that the building doesn't need much in the way of a heating and cooling system.

But that ventilator system went outside of New York City's building code, so the developers had to get special permission to install it.

Another challenge: getting builders to seal up the prefab high-rise to passive house standards. "It requires a much higher degree of care than is traditionally found in sealing up the envelope of a building for more conventional construction," says Middleton.

In Europe, the passive house standard is used for low-rise buildings, offices, and schools (the Cornell building will beat out a 20-story office building in Vienna, Austria, as the tallest passive house structure in the world). Not so in the U.S, where the standard is generally used only for single-family homes.

Cornell's high-rise could change that.

As Middleton points out, the environmentally-minded LEED building standards raised eyebrows when they were first introduced two decades ago. Now LEED has been adopted into building codes. In New York City, for example, new buildings on city property have to be LEED Silver certified. 

"In a way, it's like we’re beta testing a new model of a car that everybody already knows pretty well, but there are certain tweaks going on, and components in that car that have to be machined better, to fit more exactly," says Middleton.

If all of those tweaks add up to a functional high-rise, then Cornell may have paved the way to a more energy-efficient urban future.

SEE ALSO: This Is What Cornell's Futuristic NYC Tech Campus Will Look Like

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NOW WATCH: Someone figured out the purpose of the extra shoelace hole on your running shoes — and it will blow your mind

California is currently in its fourth year of the most devastating drought in the history of the state.

The major water shortage is drying out reservoirs, lakes, rivers, and farmland. But rest assured that California's most precious landmarks are surviving.

A simple Google search for "most beautiful national park" yields results for California's very own Yosemite National Park. And there's good reason.

Yosemite Valley's greenery is not the only thing that makes it the country's most beautiful national park. Scroll through for proof that, despite the drought, the park's waterfalls, rock formations, and rivers are just as stunning as ever.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best national parks in the US

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A map of the Western US's most affected drought areas shows Yosemite Valley's drought as extremely or exceptionally intense.

Still, Yosemite's most famous landmarks stand strong and beautiful. El Capitan, a vertical rock formation that measures 3,000 ft. tall, is popular with rock climbers and adventurers.

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Clouds hang low in Yosemite Valley — the park typically receives 37 inches of rainfall annually. This year the average is only 12 inches.

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 Source: LA Times

Business Insider is looking for an editor to manage our Lists team.

This editor will direct the team's research and writing of big signature lists and features, like the Silicon Valley 100 and the 50 best companies to work for in America.

We're looking for someone who is smart, organized, and creative. This person should be comfortable pitching big ideas, and working across sections on all subject matters.

The ideal candidate will not only be meticulous with details and fact-checking, but will also be thoughtful regarding story framing. This includes structure, scope, and subjects to best tell each story. 

For this editor position we are looking for someone with several years of experience in online journalism and research experience. Copy-editing skills, light HTML knowledge, and a familiarity with Photoshop are also assets. Enthusiasm for social media is a plus.

If interested, APPLY HERE with your resume and cover letter.

This job is full-time and based in our New York City headquarters. Business Insider offers competitive compensation packages complete with benefits.

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NOW WATCH: The most powerful person in the world at every age

Many of us remember a time when, in comparison, parents were rather uninvolved in childhood.

When a parent (usually a mom) would throw the door open on weekday afternoons and tell us, "Go out and play and be home for dinner." Our parents had no idea where we were or exactly what we were doing. There were no cell phones for keeping in touch or GPS devices for tracking.

Off we went into the wilderness of our block, our neighborhood, our town, our vacant lots, our parks, our woods, our malls. Or sometimes, we just snuck a book and sat on the back steps.

Childhood doesn't look that way today and many young parents don’t relate to childhood ever having been that way.

When, why, and how did parenting and childhood change? Even a cursory hunt yields a bounty of shifts. A number of important ones take place in the mid-1980s.

In 1983, one shift arose from the increased awareness of child abductions. The tragic 1981 abduction and murder of a young child named Adam Walsh became the made-for-television movie Adam, which was seen by a near record-setting 38 million people.

The faces of missing children began staring out at us over breakfast from the back of milk cartons soon after. Walsh's father, John Walsh, went on to lobby Congress to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984, and to found the television show America's Most Wanted, which aired on Fox beginning in 1988. Our incessant fear of strangers was born.

Another shift — the idea that our children aren't doing enough schoolwork — arrived with the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, which argued that American kids weren't competing well against their peers globally.

Since then, federal policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have fomented an achievement culture that emphasizes rote memorization and teaching to the test against the backdrop of increased competition from students in Singapore, China, and South Korea, where such teaching practices are the norm.

American kids and parents soon began struggling under the weight of more homework and began doing whatever it takes to survive school, as was illuminated in the 2003 book "Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students" written by Stanford School of Education lecturer Dr. Denise Pope, and the 2010 film Race to Nowhere.

A third shift came with the onset of the self-esteem movement—a philosophy that gained popularity in the United States in the 1980s that said we could help kids succeed in life if we valued their personhood rather than their outcomes.

In her 2013 best-selling book "The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way," Amanda Ripley cites the self-esteem movement as a uniquely American phenomenon.

And a fourth shift was the creation of the playdate, circa 1984. The play-date emerged as a practical scheduling tool at a time when mothers were entering the workforce in record numbers. The combination of more parents working and the increased reliance on day care meant fewer kids were going home after school, and it was harder to find either a location or a time for play.

Once parents started scheduling play, they then began observing play, which led to involving themselves in play. Once a critical mass of parents began being involved in kids' play, leaving kids home alone became taboo, as did allowing kids to play unsupervised.

Day care for younger kids turned into organized after-school activities for older kids. Meanwhile, concerns at the turn of that decade over injury and lawsuits prompted a complete overhaul of public playgrounds nationwide. The very nature of play — which is a foundational element in the life of a developing child — began to change.

Observing such shifts among other things, in 1990, child development researchers Foster Cline and Jim Fay coined the term "helicopter parent" to refer to a parent who hovers over a child in a way that runs counter to the parent’s responsibility to raise a child to independence.

Focused on giving advice to parents of young children, Cline and Fay had their finger on the pulse of important changes that took place in American parenting in the prior decade, and which are commonplace today, twenty-five years later. That means the oldest members of the helicoptered generation turned thirty circa 2010. They are also those known as "Generation Y" or "Millennials."

In the late 1990s, the first of the Millennial generation began going off to college, and my colleagues and I at Stanford began to notice a new phenomenon — parents on the college campus, virtually and literally.

Each subsequent year would bring an increase in the number of parents who did things like seek opportunities, make decisions, and problem solve for their sons and daughters — things that college-aged students used to be able to do for themselves.

This was not only happening at Stanford, mind you; it was happening at four-year colleges and universities all over the country, as conversations with colleagues nationwide confirmed.

Meanwhile my husband and I were raising our two little kids, and without fully realizing it we were doing a good deal of helicoptering in our own home.

Excerpted from "How To Raise An Adult" by Julie Lythcott-Haims, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Copyright © 2015 by Julie Lythcott- Haims. All rights reserved.

SEE ALSO: 20 raw images from the New York City streets

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Most people don't think of fishing as a contact sport.

But Elliot Sudal, a boat operator from Nantucket, gets down and dirty when reeling in sharks on the beaches of Nantucket.

You might remember Sudal from a viral shark wrestling video that catapulted him to fame in 2013. He's still fishing for sharks, and he uploads insane photos of himself with his catches to @acksharks, his Instagram account.

Zachary Weiss of the Observer tracked Sudal down for an interview. He found that what started as a dangerous hobby has now opened professional opportunities for Sudal.

"I just sort of liked doing this recreationally until last year when this thing [the video] happened, and now I'm this poster child for shark fishing," he told the Cape Cod Times.

The account is filled with pictures of Sudal doing what he does best — grabbing huge sharks with his bare hands, bringing them onto the beach, and then setting them free. 

Here are some of his coolest catches.

SEE ALSO: This National Geographic photographer has one of the most breathtaking Instagram accounts you'll ever see

Sudal lives in Nantucket, where he captains a private fishing boat and catches sharks in his spare time.

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His love of fishing comes from his childhood in Burlington, Connecticut. "I had a big pond in my backyard, which I think of as my gateway drug to this wild fishing addiction I’ve developed,” he told the New York Observer.

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He studied environmental science and biology at Central Connecticut University.

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It can be super challenging to stick with all the new habits we try and incorporate into our lives. Gretchen Rubin, author of "Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives" knows everything about building habits that will bring happiness. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser and Alana Kakoyiannis

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Travel + Leisure just released its World's Best Awards, ranking the top hotels, airports, airlines, cities, and islands from around the world. 

To create their list of the world's best islands, the company pulled reviews from thousands of travelers. 

From the serene island of Moorea in French Polynesia, to the golden sands of Maui in Hawaii, here are the top 10 islands to travel to this year.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best cities in the world, according to travelers

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10. Malta

9. Great Barrier Reef, Australia

8. Kauai, Hawaii

The website MoveHub.com, experts in international moving, is a resource for people looking to move abroad.

They have released this eye-opening infographic that shows the second language of every region across the globe. Some are rather predictable, like Canada's knowledge of French. 

But others are very telling about the histories of certain regions and how our global story has played out over hundreds of years.

Take a look at what the website compiled:

NOW WATCH: 9 Animated Maps That Will Change The Way You See The World

SEE ALSO: The second languages of every part of the world in one incredible infographic

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NOW WATCH: We asked Siri the most existential question ever and she had a lot to say

Just like the official carry-on size seems to change every day and varies between airlines, baggage fees are murky, inconsistent, and difficult to navigate.

We investigated how much 9 major US airlines charge for checked bags and created a handy guide to airline baggage policies to help you avoid costly surprises.

Spirit charges guests the most for checked bags, closely followed by Frontier.

Your best bet is Southwest, which doesn't charge for carry-on bags or the first two checked bags. Jetblue only charges for one checked bag ($20) and Alaska charges for two checked bags ($25).

SEE ALSO: Here's what to do when an airline loses your luggage

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NOW WATCH: Watch this guy attempt to eat 9,000 calories in one sitting for this over-the-top British food challenge

In June, Joseph Gibbons, a former MIT lecturer, was found guilty of filming himself while robbing a New York bank in what he claimed was an art project. He took $1,000, and now faces up to three years in prison.

In the art world, Gibbons is best-known for his 2002 film, "Confessions of a Sociopath," which was named as one of the Best Films of the Year by Artforum magazine.

The nature of Gibbons' art is that you can never be sure whether Gibbons really is a sociopath, or whether he is just playing a role. The fact that he also allegedly robbed a bank in Rhode Island and took $50,000 suggests a mixture of the two.

One of the best books about sociopathy is "Confessions of a Sociopath; A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight," written by pseudonymous author M.E. Thomas. She describes what it's like to be a sociopath — someone who lacks the ability to feel or sympathize with others.

Sociopaths can be sexy and beguiling; they take risks the rest of us don't and come across as bold and exciting. Socially, they are often leaders, the life and soul of the party.

The downside is that they regard others to be used, don't feel sympathy, empathy or guilt, and are often one step away from becoming what psychologists used to call psychopaths: criminally vindictive types whose only motivation is to take advantage of weaker people.

Psychologists have changed the definition of sociopathy several times over the decades. It used to be called being a "psychopath." Sociopath is the newer term. The first researcher to name the concept of psychopathy was Dr. Hervey Cleckley in 1941. Cleckley noted that psychopathy was difficult to diagnose precisely because it presents itself without the obvious symptoms of mental disorder. Psychopaths and sociopaths are often a bit too rational.

Here are Cleckley's 16 characteristics. Ask yourself if they apply to you.

1. Are you superficially charming and intelligent?

(Answer: For sociopaths, the answer to this question is yes.)

2. Do you have delusions or other signs of irrational thinking?

(A: For sociopaths, the answer is no. They're super-rational, coldly so.)

3. Are you overly nervous, or do you have other neuroses?

(A: Sociopaths are rarely nervous or anxious. They aren't scared of risk.)

We looked at a handful of studies from universities and scientists from around the world and the results are in. These five things will make you appear more attractive to others.

Produced by Eames Yates. Original reporting by Drake Baer.

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Make no mistake, the once humble hamburger has moved on. The formerly quite basic meat sandwich has been deconstructed, parsed, analyzed, and, in the minds of some culinary experts, perfected.

This is all well and good, even fascinating, but it has certainly created some pressure for anyone making burgers at home. Am I doing it right? Have I thought enough about my burger?

I have a reputation for making a delicious burger. Which has always baffled me, because my burger is so basic that it almost defies belief.

It all hinges on a single, secret ingredient.

Worcestershire sauce.

Yep, good old Lea & Perrins. Beyond that, my burger is almost indifferently prepared.

I start with a mix of 80% lean to 20% fat. This is kind of standard-issue ground beef that you can find at any grocery store.

I allow the beef to come to room temperature. Cooking cold meat is a bad idea — but trying for form cold ground beef into hamburger patties is also no fun.

Then I add a generous amount of salt and about half an ounce of Worcestershire sauce per pound of ground beef in a mixing bowl. That's it.

I form the beef into soft patties that still have a bit of texture to them (don't "overwork" the patties). I try to make sure they are of uniform thickness, about an inch, with each patty about 5 inches across.

Then I grill 'em, over a gas or charcoal flame, until they are medium rare. I start with a high flame and finish up on a cooler section of the grill. (You can use a cast-iron skillet, too, and a stove.)

The burgers go onto grilled buns, the kind you can get in the grocery store for a few bucks for a half dozen.

If I'm feeling energetic, I'll make some homemade ketchup out of tomato paste and vinegar, plus salt and pepper. I hit the burgers with some freshly ground black pepper, and that's it. I don't care if people add lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, whatever, but I prefer to go only burger-bun-ketchup-on-the-side-for-dipping. Just add a nice glass of Malbec.

For whatever reason, these burgers usually taste great. Leave out the Worcestershire sauce, however, and they aren't as tasty.

Worcestershire sauce is effectively an ancient fish sauce (it contains fermented anchovies), so it adds a sort of interesting depth of flavor that enhances the basic beefy flavor of what is after all an absurdly basic burger. Ultimately, the flavor is sort of mysterious. But it's there.

I didn't really plan this out, by the way. I just added some Worcestershire sauce to my burger mix one and day and listened to the praise roll in. Previously, my burgers were unremarkable. But with a few shakes of Lea & Perrins, I was suddenly a genius.

And now I'm giving up my secret.

(If you don't want to use Lea & Perrins, there are plenty of alternatives. Just go to Whole Foods or a gourmet food shop and ask.)

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NOW WATCH: How to cook a restaurant-style burger in your own kitchen

There's an inspirational paragraph making the rounds on Instagram and Pinterest that's being attributed to legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland — but the fashion icon never said or wrote it.

The quote, which has been circulating online for almost 10 years with the wrong attribution, saw a resurgence of popularity on Instagram recently when stylist and "Mad Men" costumer Janie Bryant posted it on her Instagram. Here's what it looks like:

 In case you can't make out the blurry text above, here's the full quote:

"You Don't Have to Be Pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female.' - Diana Vreeland"

It's a powerful few sentences, superimposed on an Andy Warhol Polaroid shot of Vreeland from a 1973 session. With its feel-good, empowering message, it's easy to see why the quote is being passed around so much.

But when I first saw it, the use of the word "random" and the slash-heavy punctuation gave me pause. It seemed clear that Vreeland, who was born in Paris and died in 1989, wasn't alive long enough to see those writing tropes come into style.

As a Harper's Bazaar columnist and Vogue editor, Vreeland was responsible for plenty of kicky quotes about femininity and style. But "You Don't Have to Be Pretty" isn't one of them. 

So with a little googling, I learned that the entire paragraph quoted above actually belongs to Erin McKean, an author, editor, and blogger. And she wrote it way back in 2006.

McKean wrote the paragraph as part of a post on her blog, A Dress A Day. 

Her commenters had been discussing "the fact that it can be *really* hard to look good in leggings," McKean writes. This got her thinking about why women feel such pressure to "look good," anyway.

So she wrote a few paragraphs about it, one of which really struck a chord with readers and became part of the meme.

But how did it end up being associated with Vreeland? Well, McKean used the Warhol photo of Vreeland to illustrate her post. So maybe a reader assumed Vreeland had written the paragraph, then created the meme. We contacted McKean for comment, but haven't heard back.

The website Quote Investigator was also hot on the trail of this bogus quote meme a year ago. They'd also seen it attributed to humorist Fran Lebowitz, but we haven't seen any instances of that. 

Users of Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram continue to misattribute McKean's quote, and a post on BuzzFeed did, as well. So McKean is going without credit for her great quote, and Vreeland's search results are being dominated by something she never said.

SEE ALSO: These women are secretly using Pinterest to plan weddings with husbands that don't even exist

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NOW WATCH: This moving trailer shows why comedian Tig Notaro is worthy of her own awesome documentary

Every American traveler should sign up for TSA PreCheck. 

It's like a security speed lane that will get you through the airport and onto your plane faster.

Here's how to sign up for the service.

1. Make sure that you are eligible.

The first step is to read the eligibility requirements.

Basically, as long as you're a permanent resident or US citizen, and haven't been convicted of any crimes, you're good to go.

2. Pre-enroll online. 

Eligible? Good, click here to pre-enroll online. All this means is that you need to fill in an online form with your basic biographical information (name, date of birth, address, citizenship, or immigration documentation).

3. Make an appointment at an application center.

After filling out the online form, the site will prompt you to make an in-person appointment. You will have to visit a center within 120 days of filling out the online form. There are 300 application centers around the US. Click here to find a location.

4. Gather the correct documents.

Before showing up to the interview, make sure you have the correct required documents. You'll need a valid photo ID (driver's license for example) and a valid proof of citizenship (passport or birth certificate) with you, as well as immigration documentation, if that applies. Click here to figure out what you need to bring.

5. Have a brief in-person interview at an application center.

Yes, you will need to visit an application center in person. During the interview, you'll get fingerprinted and answer some basic questions about yourself and your travel habits. They might review some of your past travels, but essentially they're just trying to verifiy the information you submitted when pre-enrolling online, and it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes.

Don't forget to bring the correct documents and a credit card or certified/cashier's check to the interview.

6. Pay the fee

You'll have to pay the $85 nonrefundable application processing fee, which you can pay by credit card, money order, company check, or certified/cashier's check. Cash and personal checks are not accepted, and check and money order payments should be made payable to "MorphoTrust USA."

7. Wait.

You can check the status of your application here. While most applicants report having received their notification letter the next day, it can take up to 45 days.

8. Receive your KTN

Once your application gets approved, you will receive a notification letter with a KTN, a nine-digit Known Traveler Number that you'll need to include in your flight reservations, and will then be embedded in the barcode of your boarding pass. This number essentially proves that you have been pre-approved by the US Customs and Border Protection and deemed a low-risk traveler.

Once you receive your KTN, you'll be able to swish on by long security lines at 120 airports and get into the specially designated TSA PreCheck line. Skip some common security checks, keep your shoes and belt on, keep your laptop in your carry on, and try not to gloat.

TSA PreCheck approval lasts for five years.

SEE ALSO: 29 travel hacks that even frequent fliers don't know

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NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants

Photographer Alex Cornell has been to Iceland three times.

After his most recent visit, he documented his experiences through a comprehensive travel guide.

Cornell says the country is like a "photographer's heaven," mainly because it stays light for so long, eliminating the need for rushing to get that perfect shot in a matter of a few short hours.

"In Iceland you have that kind of neurosis of time; the sun just doesn't go down for two or three more hours," Cornell said. "Not to mention that you're also seeing a lot of really incredible stuff; it's not wasted on the landscape."

Cornell shared some of the most breathtaking shots he captured on his most recent visit to the country.

SEE ALSO: 32 photos that will make you want to travel to Iceland

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The Ring Road — also known as Route 1 — is Iceland's main highway. Since Cornell and his girlfriend rented a car during their trip, this road was how they made their way around the island during their 8-day visit.

The highway looks more like a neighborhood road; it's only two lanes and has no guard rails. But the 828-mile road actually runs around all of Iceland.

The stops they made along the way included landmarks — both natural and man-made — and hotels. This is the ION hotel, which is located in the southern town of Selfoss.

To learn more about ION, click here >

How do you like your eggs? Scrambled? Over easy? Poached? 

We came up with the best cooking tips that the internet has to offer, from cracking eggs on a flat surface instead of your bowl to cooking the perfect poached egg.

Plus we threw in some extra tips like making a heart-shaped hard-boiled egg or cooking on a waffle iron, so whether you’re a newbie chef or a seasoned pro, there’s still something you can learn.

CRACKING EGGS

Grab broken egg shells with another eggshell: Use half of your empty egg shell to scoop up any broken pieces that escape into your bowl. It will save you lots of time from chasing them around with your finger or a spoon.

Crack eggs on a flat surface: Time and again people are taught to crack eggs on bowls or the corners of countertops. But it turns out the best way to crack an egg is on your tabletop or the surface of the counter. This not only keeps food contamination to a minimum but will also allow fewer tiny bits of the shell to break off.

SEPARATING YOLKS AND WHITES

Water bottle method: You can separate egg yolks from egg whites with a water bottle. All you need to do is lightly squeeze the bottle, suction up the yolk into the bottle, and then lightly squeeze the bottle again to release the yolk.

Use three bowls: Yes, it’s a lot of extra clean up, but when you’re separating yolks and whites it’s best to use one bowl for cracking the eggs into, another for the separated yolks, and the last bowl for all those egg whites. That way if you crack an egg and the yolk breaks, it doesn’t spoil all the egg whites.

Use your hands: Though there are lots of ways to suck up yolks without touching slimy egg parts, the easiest way to separate yolks and whites is with your hands. Just scoop up the yolks, let the egg whites run through your fingers, and deposit it in another bowl.

BOILING EGGS

Shake hard-boiled eggs to peel them: No one likes peeling hard-boiled eggs, but it’s easy to do if you fill a bowl or glass partially with water, add the egg, cover, and shake. After you’re done, the egg shell should pinch right off.

Use a pressure cooker to make hard-boiled eggs: Fill your pressure cooker with a cup of water and add a steamer basket. Add your eggs and then cook on low for three minutes for soft-boiled eggs and six minutes for hard-boiled eggs. The best part of this method is it makes the egg extremely easy to peel.

Know how long to boil your egg: Place your eggs in a cold saucepan with cold water. Get the eggs to a full boil before taking off the heat and covering the pan. Then allow the eggs to cook: three minutes for barely set egg, four minutes for running soft-boiled eggs, six minutes for medium soft-boiled eggs, 10 minutes for regular hard-boiled eggs, and 15 minutes for very firm hard-boiled eggs.

Use a thumb tack to easily peel eggs: If you’re boiling eggs, use a thumb tack or a needle to pierce the end of the egg. Do this while they’re still in the crate so they don’t roll around. Then boil your eggs like normal before transferring them to a bowl of ice water for five minutes. When the eggs are still warm, peel them starting from where you pierced the egg.

Cut through the boiled egg: Let’s be honest, unless you’re saving your hard boiled eggs for later, you’re immediately going to dive into them, so why not just cut them in half? If you’re still finding the eggs hard to peel, use a spoon to scoop them out. 

BAKING EGGS

Bake eggs in a muffin pan: If you’re planning to freeze a bunch of breakfast sandwiches all at once, you can make perfectly-sized eggs in a muffin pan. Crack the eggs into the pre-greased tin and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. You can then take them out and they’ll perfectly fit English muffins.

Bake “hard-boiled” eggs: Celebrity chef Alton Brown’s secret to making perfect hard-boiled eggs is to bake them in the oven on a moist kitchen towel. Place the damp kitchen towel on the oven rack and place your eggs on top of it. Bake at 320 degrees for 30 minutes.

POACHING EGGS

Make an arzak egg: Arzak eggs are similar to poached eggs but much easier to make. In a small bowl or cup, place Saran wrap and crack the egg inside. Cover with salt, pepper, and any other seasonings before gathering the Saran wrap and twisting it. Dip the eggs into a pot of simmering water for four to five minutes and then cut away the plastic wrap. 

Pour vinegar in the water: Pouring a little bit of vinegar into your simmering water will help your eggs stay together better, which is integral when you’re poaching eggs.

Use fresh eggs: Fresh eggs hold their shape better, which means the yolks and whites won’t separate as fast and are easier to poach. 

Poach an egg in the microwave: Fill a small bowl with a cup of water and add some salt. Crack the egg into the bowl, making sure it’s fully submerged, and then cover with a plate before microwaving on high for a minute. 

COOKING EGGS

Use an onion or pepper for perfectly circular eggs: A healthy hack for making your egg perfectly round is to cook it inside an onion ring or a pepper ring. Simple slice a 1/2-inch ring from your onion or pepper and crack the egg into it inside the pan.

Use butter with scrambled eggs: Adding butter to the pan before adding your scrambled eggs will make them taste even more delicious while also helping prevent the eggs from sticking too much.

Use milk with scrambled eggs, water with omelettes: Using milk, half-and-half, or even cream will make scrambled eggs richer, tastier, and fluffier. With omelettes, chefs advise using a little bit of water with the eggs to make the dish lighter, but not too rich. Two eggs plus two tablespoons of water is the best ratio.

Cook scrambled eggs on low heat: The best scrambled eggs should be cooked slowly over low to medium low heat, stirring constantly.

Scramble eggs in the microwave: Combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper and beat everything together in a microwaveable mug or bowl. Put it in the microwave for 45 seconds, take it out and stir, and then microwave for another 30 to 45 seconds until eggs are cooked through. 

Cooking easy, perfect runny eggs: To make the perfect runny eggs, break the egg close to the hot pan so the yolk doesn’t break. Once the bottom is cooked through, instead of flipping the egg, turn the heat off and let it sit for 4-5 minutes with a lid on top. The lid will seal in the leftover heat and cook the top for you.

KEEP EGGS FRESH

Test eggs with a bowl of water: Place your eggs in a bowl of cold water — if they sink to the bottom and lay flat, they’re fresh. If they sink but stand on one end, they’re a few weeks old, but still good to go. If they float, toss those eggs!

Make eggs last longer: Break eggs and beat the yolks and whites together. Then pour the eggs into an ice cube tray. About one cube will equal an egg and they’ll thaw very quickly so you can whip up quick meals.

GET FANCY WITH EGGS

Golden hard-boiled eggs: You can scramble eggs inside their shell by placing an egg inside the sleeve of a T-shirt. Secure the end on either side with rubber bands or string and spin the egg around and around before boiling them.

Waffle iron omelettes: Combine your eggs (most waffle irons will fit about three to four eggs) and all of your fillings. Spray the waffle iron and heat up before adding eggs and the ingredients. Cook for two to three minutes before shutting off the heat and adding to a plate.

Heart-shaped hard-boiled eggs: Cut apart a milk carton and fold it in half length-wise. Take a still-warm, peeled hard-boiled egg and place it in the carton. Place a chopstick over the egg and secure with rubber bands so it makes an indent in the egg. Let sit for 10 minutes before removing.

SEE ALSO: 17 Food Hacks That Will Change The Way You Eat

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The website Daily Overview uses satellite imagery to capture stunning aerial photos from destinations around the world. 

The images give us an incredible bird's eye view into some of the world's biggest festivals, infrastructures, and natural wonders. 

We've put together a collection of some of our favorite images, from the crashing waters of the Niagara Falls to the lush canola fields that cover the mountains of Luoping County in China.

You can see their full collection with a live feed on their Instagram page.

(All captions courtesy of Daily Overview)

SEE ALSO: 35 incredible travel destinations you've probably never heard of

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The canal system of Amsterdam — known as Grachten — is the result of considered urban planning. In the early 17th century, when immigration was at a peak, a comprehensive plan for the city’s expansion was developed with four concentric half-circles of canals emerging at the main waterfront. In the centuries since, the canals have been used for defense, water management, and transport. They remain a hallmark of the city to this day.

Chilean authorities stated that the initial eruptions of the Calbuco Volcano in southern Chile released approximately 210 million cubic meters of ash into the air. Striking infrared satellite images taken in recent days show the town of Ensenada, located at the based on the volcano, covered in a thick layer of gray dust.

Canola flower fields cover the mountainous landscape of Luoping County, China. The crop is grown for the production of oil, which is extracted by slightly heating and then crushing the flower seeds.

Whether it's mobility, versatility, or just giving up on the dream of living in a great big castle, tiny houses usually mean making sacrifices. But one family — Justin, Jola, and their son Piko — refused to let their tiny house cramp their castle dreams.

The family of three turned an old truck into a transforming tiny house/castle to fulfill all of their dreams at once.

According to tiny house enthusiast website Living Big in a Tiny House, it all started with an old Bedford TK truck-turned-bus, which Justin and Jola planned on living in for a short while as they settled in New Zealand after traveling abroad. 

Justin had the fantastic idea to turn the vehicle into the tiny castle of their dreams and sketched out the idea, which looks more or less exactly how the vehicle turned out.

In its compacted state, the truck is completely street legal and meets all the minimum requirements for road travel, according to its owners.  

Using a clever array of mechanisms and engineering, the truck unfolds to create an ideal indoor-outdoor home for the family's active lifestyle.

On top is a large roof deck with a hammock, bathtub, and vegetable dehydrator.

Inside, a remarkable amount of space is revealed. A nearly full kitchen occupies the main living space with a mini refrigerator and almost-bay window. Up top is a cozy lofted sleeping area, which has wallpaper made of cut-outs from old songbooks.

Clever storage spaces throughout the truck hide essentials like clothing and kitchen supplies.

The two turrets on the back don't just contribute to the fantasy vibe: one houses the lavatory and composting toilet and the other houses a shower and small washing machine. For a tiny house, there's a "very practical" benefit to separating these facilities from the main house, notes Living Big In a Tiny House.

The entire truck is off the power grid. Its small amount of electric appliances are powered by rooftop solar panels. As for heat and water, there's a wetback stove, gas heating, and rainwater collection system.  

Get a closer look at all the bells and whistles in the video below. 

SEE ALSO: This colorful tiny home is only 140 square feet — and it can be yours for $48,000

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A selfie is a photo you take of yourself. A "suitfie" is a photo you take of yourself in a suit — and they're starting to bubble up on Instagram.

Well-dressed men the world over are taking pictures of themselves in their favorite suits and using the new hashtag. It's sort of a mix between outfit of the day (#ootd) and #menswear.

See for yourself:

According to a Websta.me search, there are over 1,300 selfies tagged as suitfies, so the community is in a relatively nascent stage.

There don't appear to be any hard-and-fast rules on what constitutes a suitfie. Some photos are taken in the traditional selfie style, with a front-facing camera or mirror, while others are taken by someone else or a via remote set-up tripod. 

The main difference between suitfies and selfies is that with a suitfie the person's head usually isn't in the frame. All eyes should be on your sharp suit. 

SEE ALSO: 17 men's fashion experts on Instagram who will inspire you to dress better

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