Live-action role-playing (or LARPing) was born on the fringes of American pop culture, a descendant of much-maligned hobbies like Dungeons and Dragons and other table games. 

In LARPing, players spend their weekend dressing up in costumes, adopting elaborate personae, and inhabiting a complex imagined world. 

The hobby, like most of "nerd" culture, has become increasingly mainstream.

Across the US, Canada, and Europe, LARPing groups are everywhere. There are more than 30 LARPing organizations in the US, each of which has tens of chapters and thousands of members.

We visited Alliance, one of the oldest live-action-role-playing groups in the country, in central Pennsylvania, last year to figure out what LARPing is all about.

Faire Play, Alliance's headquarters, is a massive barn in Central Pennsylvania. We arrived early Saturday morning just as the LARPers at Alliance were waking up. The players were shaking off a long night. Most had arrived in costume on Friday night and played until nearly dawn.

Most of the players were filing into the "tavern," a large room built into the center of the barn. Everyone was waiting in line for eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee. Players pay $60 to spend the weekend at Alliance, which covers lodging and meals.

The Alliance headquarters is located on a sprawling 42-acre property. In addition to the tavern, the central barn has bedrooms for players and a backroom full of costumes, weapons, and other assorted LARPing detritus. The back lawn serves as the main battleground and is sprinkled with cabins for players to sleep in.

Matcha is the latest trend in morning beverages, despite having been around for centuries. In fact, the creamy green drink was at the heart of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies in the 12th century. 

Matcha is essentially a finely ground powder made from green tea leaves, and one serving of matcha tea has the nutritional equivalent of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea, as well as 137 times more antioxidants.

Other health benefits of this vibrant green drink are that its many antioxidants protect against heart disease and cancer, that it boosts the metabolism, and aids concentration.

The drink is now popping up in specialty cafés all over the place, like Chalait in New York City, where we tried it.

Story by Aly Weisman and editing by Carl Mueller

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One of the most prestigious prizes in architecture has just been awarded to a housing complex in Singapore.

The judges at the World Architecture Festival 2015, which ran from November 4 - 6, has bestowed its top honors, the "World Building of the Year" award, upon an apartment complex known as The Interlace. Designed by the Dutch-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the building was an entry in the housing category, where it was also recognized as the top entry.

The development is located on an elevated site covering eight hectares. It makes the most of being located in the lush green Southern Ridges of Singapore, with its 31 stacked apartment blocks each measuring six stories high and ensuring beautiful views in every direction.

This also creates eight huge, open courtyards with rooftop sky gardens and terraces for both public and private use. The development's apartment facings were carefully designed to ensure privacy.  

But this unique design doesn't sacrifice living space. The complex contains 1,040 apartment units of varying sizes spread across more than 1.8 million square feet — all with an incredible amount of outdoor space and landscaping. 

SEE ALSO: The 27 best new buildings on the planet

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NOW WATCH: London architects have designed a completely transparent ‘floating pool’ 10 stories above the ground

When Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai told actress and UN global goodwill ambassador for women Emma Watson that she was her inspiration for embracing the word feminist, Watson was thrilled.

But the two also make a compelling point as to why men should start embracing the word. In an interview at the Into Film Festival on Wednesday, where "He Named Me Malala," a documentary about Yousafzai was being shown, Yousafzai said "My father has set an example to all parents and all males that if we want equality, then men have to step forward." 

Watson agreed. "It's become this really difficult word, but I think it's really great when people do embrace it, because it should be synonymous with equality," she said.

According to a Vox Media survey, despite 85% of Americans claiming to believe in equality for women, only 18% considered themselves feminists. Additionally, only 16% of men identified as feminist, according to a 2013 YouGov survey.

Addressing the men in the audience, Watson continues,"We really need you, as the next generation, to extend a hand to the girls and the women in your life, and to include them and to make sure that they can live their lives without discrimination."

Story and editing by Andrew Fowler

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Business Insider's Sam Rega wrote an article about how he decided to quit using dating apps like Tinder and Hinge.

It's been six months since he quit using them, so we decided to check in with him and see how his decision has affected his dating life.

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Drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury deaths in the US, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported in its annual National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), which was released on Wednesday.

The report highlights how heroin is an increasingly dangerous and popular drug in the US and how its use is increasingly linked to prescription drugs.

"Overdose deaths, particularly from prescription drugs and heroin, have reached epidemic levels,” the acting administrator of the DEA, Chuck Rosenberg, wrote in a statement.

The report indicates that there has been a slight decline in the number of people who report abusing prescription medications, although that number still exceeds the number of users of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy (MDMA), and phencyclidine (PCP) combined.

The numbers also show that the decreased number of prescription opioid users corresponds to an equal increase in the number of heroin users.

Experts think opioid prescription drug abusers start using heroin because it is more easily available and cheaper than prescription drugs— heroin costs about one-fifth that of most prescription opioids — and new, inexperienced heroin initiates who are switching from one to the other may be a possible reason for the increase in the death linked to heroin overdoses.

Other reasons for the increase might be the high purity of certain batches reaching the market, which could lead to "accidental" overdoses and highly toxic adulterants being added to heroin. Heroin addicts who've stopped using heroin for a while and start again are also highly at risk of overdosing as their tolerance has decreased.

Some parts of the country are more adversly affected than others by the heroin epidemic, with the Northeast and several areas in the Midwest being most at risk.

Washington County in Pennsylvania, where the population barely surpasses 200,000, is extremly adversely affected. There, every day between five and eight of its inhabitants overdose on heroin. In August, 16 people overdosed in just 24 hours.

Illegal drugs coming into the country

One part of the report concentrates on the origin of illegal drugs coming into the country, and the findings are unequivocal:

"The most significant drug trafficking organizations operating in the United States today are the dangerous and highly sophisticated Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that continue to be the principal suppliers of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana," Rosenberg wrote in his statement.

The report states that no other group comes close to being able to challenge the Mexican drug cartels, who smuggled an estimated 225,000 pounds of heroin into the US last year.

One of the reasons the Mexican drug cartels are so powerful, the report claims, is the variety of drugs that they import and sell at an inflated price in the US. They are also extremely well informed and organized, according to the DEA, using established routes and distribution channels.

Overdoses and death

According to the report, 120 people in the US die each day as the result of an overdose and most of of these deaths are attributable to prescription opioids. Deaths from prescription opioid overdoses are more numerous than those for cocaine and heroin combined.

"Drug overdose deaths have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States, surpassing the number of deaths by motor vehicles and by firearms every year since 2008," Rosenberg wrote.

Because of the risk that prescription opioid (CPD) users are more likely to move on to heroin (we previously reported that people who are addicted to painkillers are 40 times as likely to get hooked on heroin, according to a CDC report), and the high number of CPD overdoses, CPD and heroin were both ranked as "the most significant drug threats to the United States," by the DEA report.

To establish its findings, the DEA considered and analyzed an array of factors such as drug arrests, drug purity, and laboratory analyses. It also considered information about the involvement of criminal organizations and survey data provided by 1,105 state and local law enforcement agencies.

New dangers and old classics

The report also mentions one of the newest, most devastating drug on the market: Fentanyl.

The synthetic opioid is "approximately 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, and 25 to 40 times more potent than heroin," and was initially developed for cancer patients. It's now being used in combination with heroin.

In September in Chicago, 75 people overdosed over a three-day span. The overdoses were linked to a batch of heroin suspected to be laced with fentanyl. Between 2013 and early 2015, over 700 deaths in the US were linked to fentanyl and similar drugs.

Cocaine use has steadily declined over the last ten years and users are also starting to switch to methamphetamine because cocaine has become harder to come by since its availability started to decline in 2007, according to the DEA report.

CHECK OUT: Heroin use has quadrupled — and 2 factors are to blame

DON'T MISS: What 9 common drugs including caffeine, weed, and booze do to your brain

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NOW WATCH: Agents found one of the longest drug tunnels ever built between the US and Mexico

Jennifer Lawrence recently wrote a blistering essay about the wage gap in Hollywood. She was upset when she learned that her male "American Hustle" co-stars were paid more than her, though she also admitted to struggling with salary negotiations.

Her essay started a conversation about the wage gap, and earned her the support of many fellow actors and actresses.

However, now she's saying that even if she could, she wouldn't go back and fight for a bigger paycheck.

"I didn't need to fight for money for 'American Hustle' because we were trying to fit a million movie stars into one movie," she said while promoting the latest "Hunger Games" movie.

"There wasn't a lot of money and I didn't need it. I wanted to do the movie anyway. So if I were to go back, I would go back and ask for the same exact amount of money, but for very different reasons. It wouldn't have been because I was afraid, or I would've come across as a spoiled brat, or because I was worried what people thought."

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Last week, Emirates Airlines astounded the world when it aired a commercial featuring two men in jetpacks flying alongside their A380 jumbo jet, 4,000 feet above Dubai.

A stunt like this had never been done before, which is why Emirates released exclusive behind-the-scenes footagefeaturing the extensive planning and preparation that went into the making of this commercial.

Not surprisingly, the idea was initially met with skepticism.

"We're looking at a human being that has a Kevlar wing strapped to their body, with four engines, flying in close proximity to an aircraft that is absolutely enormous," said Michael Rudolph, head of aviation regulations and safety for the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.

Gareth Lloyd Evans, flight operations manager, agreed that the idea was initially "madness," but continued that "as we worked through the process, identified the risks and all the mitigations, it became more of a challenge and opportunity to show our skills."

Yves Rossy and Vince Reffetare, the jetpack pilots, had to use a lot of power to keep up with Emirates' A380, which meant that they could fly for no more than 10 minutes at a time. Due to this limited window, strict air space parameters were enforced, and every sequence was choreographed to perfection in order to ensure that producers would get the right shots for the commercial.

Of course, safety was everyone's main priority. Rossy and Reffetare kept in close contact with the Emirates pilot throughout the stunt via radio communication.

"For this to be a first we had to make sure we ticked all the boxes as [far as] safety is concerned, and we did," said Rudolph.

Story and editing by Alana Yzola 

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A caffeine-free coffee shop opened in New York City and people have a lot of strong opinions about it. 

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The housing market in San Francisco is red hot, with property values shooting through the roof year after year. 

The median home price in San Francisco proper is just over $1.1 million, according to Zillow.

That's great news if you're a homeowner.

It's less great if you're trying to buy your first house. In San Francisco. At age 28. With significantly less than $1.1 million in the bank.

Here's how my girlfriend and I navigated San Francisco's insane housing market to find a home — and get out of San Francisco's crazy rental market.

It's an eight-month saga with lots of ups and downs. But I promise it has a happy ending. 

SEE ALSO: How I found an amazing apartment near San Francisco with only my phone — and without using Craigslist

To explain why housing in San Francisco is so scarce, here's a very long story made short: Over the last several decades, the city has voted in favor of limiting urban development, meaning more charming houses like the famous Painted Ladies, but fewer high-rises and other high-capacity housing units.

So while techies get a lot of the blame for driving up both rents and property values, eating up a ton of housing, it's not entirely a fair rap.

Still, while we rarely went head-to-head with tech money, it was a factor.

The 41st season of "Saturday Night Live" is in full swing. It kicked off a month ago with host and musical guest Miley Cyrus and a visit from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and the upcoming November 7 show will feature the ever combative and colorful Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. 

The sketch-comedy show has been a pop-culture fixture since creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels started it in 1975, satirizing everything from politics to religion and hosting everyone from pop stars to presidents. But perhaps more significantly, it's served as a school of comedy that has launched the careers of many of the biggest names in entertainment.

From Adam Sandler and Mike Meyers to Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon, we've rounded up a list of the former cast members who've flourished the most outside of the show that made them famous. 

Our list includes living SNL alumni who've achieved significant commercial success in Hollywood, whether in film, television, or both. We excluded any cast members who were on the show for one season or less (looking at you, Chevy Chase and Robert Downey Jr.) and didn't include any cast members currently on the show. 

Here are the 24 most successful SNL alumni (ordered from newest to oldest), what they did on the show, and what they're up to now:

SEE ALSO: The 25 funniest SNL cast members of all time, ranked

SEE ALSO: Here's the grueling and intense process it takes to put together one episode of "Saturday Night Live"

Seth Meyers

Years on SNL: 2001-2014

Seth Meyers was a fixture behind the scenes at SNL, where he was a writing supervisor and cohead writer with fellow cast member Tina Fey, who later credited him with writing her viral Sarah Palin impressions. Meyers has been nominated nine times for Emmy Awards for his work as a writer on SNL. He was also the longest-running coanchor of Weekend Update, where he wittily criticized issues in politics and news for eight years.

Upon leaving SNL in 2014, Meyers succeeded Jimmy Fallon as host of NBC's "Late Night," welcoming fellow SNL Weekend Update coanchor Amy Poehler as his first guest.

Bill Hader

Years on SNL: 2005-2013

Hader gained fame for his portfolio of impressions, including Al Pacino, Keith Morrison, and James Carville. But his most popular and beloved recurring role was Stefon, Weekend Update's flamboyant New York City correspondent. He also starred in the hit sketch, The Californians.

During his tenure at SNL, Hader had supporting roles in several hit comedies like "Superbad," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and "Tropic Thunder." Since leaving SNL for Hollywood, he's starred alongside Amy Schumer in the box-office hit "Trainwreck," lent his voice to Pixar's "Inside Out," and acted in "The To Do List," an indie comedy his wife wrote and directed. 

Jason Sudeikis

Years on SNL: 2005-2013

Jason Sudeikis started as a writer on SNL in 2003, and within two years he became a featured cast member. He excelled at impressions of politicians Mitt Romney and Joe Biden as well as a handful of personalities that appeared in a popular sketch with Kristen Wiig called Two A-Holes.

During his tenure on SNL, Sudeikis starred in hit comedies "The Campaign," "Hall Pass," "The Bounty Hunter," "We're the Millers," and both "Horrible Bosses" films. From 2009 to 2013, he voiced a lead character in "Family Guy" spinoff "The Cleveland Show," and he also had a dozen-episode guest role on Tina Fey's "30 Rock."

Sudeikis has several movies in the works, including a comedy called "Masterminds" costarring Wiig.

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When starting college, dining-hall food is rarely something students look forward to.

But at some schools, it has become a gourmet experience.

To determine which schools are stepping up their food game, we looked at noteworthy rankings from outlets with expertise in colleges and food: The Daily Meal, The Princeton Review, and Niche.

Each school earned a numerical rating based on how many of the lists it appeared on and how high it appeared on those lists. Colleges that appeared on multiple rankings scored higher on ours, while those that ranked on only one of these lists ended up closer to the bottom.

From lobster bakes to waffle bars to steak dinners, these schools serve up dishes so good they make students forget they're in a dining hall.

SEE ALSO: The 30 colleges with the best dorms

DON'T MISS: The 50 best colleges in America

20. Saint Anselm College

With fewer than 2,000 students, Saint Anselm may be a small college, but it provides big flavor. The Manchester, New Hampshire-based school's main dining hall features an "action station" where chefs prepare paninis, Asian noodle bowls, burritos, and sautéed pasta on the spot. There's also a deli, grill, and salad bar, so students can always find something to suit their cravings.

Students can also satisfy their sweet tooth with a trip to the bulk candy bar, a self-serve milkshake made from real Hershey's ice cream, or a slice of apple pie from the in-house bake shop.

19. High Point University

The multitude of options at High Point University in North Carolina make food the last thing busy students have to worry about. A single meal plan swipe gets students access to all-you-can-eat buffets at three locations, which feature amenities such as a trail-mix bar, omelet station, and baked-potato bar.

Students can also class things up at 1924 Prime, an on-campus steakhouse that takes meal swipes. Menu options include cast-iron seared duck breast and filet mignon.

18. University of Scranton

In addition to a wide selection of enticing dishes— think grilled barbecue pork chops, cod bruschetta, and creamy parmesan penne — the University of Scranton's food services focus on health as well. In the all-you-can-eat dining hall, students can choose options that are low in fat or sodium, under 500 calories, vegetarian, baked instead of fried, or high in calcium.

The Scranton, Pennsylvania-based school also has a food court full of favorite spots like Chick-fil-a and Starbucks.

Thanks to its many health benefits, matcha tea is a trendy new coffee alternative.

Matcha is essentially a finely ground powder made from green tea leaves, and one serving of matcha tea has the nutritional equivalent of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea, as well as 137 times more antioxidants.

Despite specialty cafés selling the brew popping up all over the country, it's not hard to make the vibrant green drink yourself.

Here's what to do:

1. Warm up a mug.

2. Add 2 ounces of condensed milk to a scoop of matcha powder.

3. Steam the milk.

4. Pour the milk into the matcha mix.

5. Enjoy!

Story by Aly Weisman and editing by Jeremy Dreyfuss

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"La Sagrada Família," a dramatic, imposing cathedral designed by Spanish architect Antoni Guadí, is easily Spain's most recognizable landmark, and it isn't even finished yet. Construction began on the church 133 years ago, in 1882, and it continues to this day.

Work crews recently began the final phase of construction, meaning the church will soon be complete after more than a century of work. It's expected to be done in 2026.

Tourists have come from across the world to see the progress of construction on the cathedral, which has soaring ceilings, intricate facades, and bright stained-glass windows. More than three million people visit the temple each year, according to National Geographic.

The tallest tower will eventually be 564 feet high, making it the tallest religious structure in Europe.

SEE ALSO: 16 otherworldly images of a Parisian community you probably didn't know existed

The Neo-Gothic design was initially being planned by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano, the first architect to work on ideas for the church.

Famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí took over the design of the Sagrada Família in 1883 and continued until he died in an accident in 1926. He is considered the main architect of the church.

Many challenges have come up in the progress of construction. Gaudí's designs were incredibly complex and expensive, and the Spanish Civil War completely halted progress in the late 1930s. This is how the church appeared in 2004.

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A Virgin Atlantic flight attendant reveals the level of intoxication a passenger must reach before being physically restrained by the flight crew.

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With prime access to some of the country's best bars and restaurants, New York University is America's college with the best location, according to a new list from the academic-review site Niche.com.

The rankings are calculated using a number of factors including median rent; access to bars, restaurants, cafes, and outdoor activities; local weather; and percentage of residents age 18-24.

Business Insider used Niche's state filter to find out which college has the best location in each US state and the District of Columbia. Niche reports that a few states (Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wyoming) are missing from the ranking because they don't have data for enough colleges.

Scroll through to find out the most selective college in each state.

SEE ALSO: The 50 smartest colleges in America

SEE ALSO: Ivy League school's admissions officers relied on cultural stereotypes, US investigation finds

Alabama: Auburn University — Auburn

Arizona: Arizona State University — Tempe

Arkansas: University of Arkansas — Fayetteville

Aaron Fotheringham, 23, is known for doing jaw-dropping skateboard- and BMX-style tricks. The professional extreme sports athlete has broken records and drawn huge crowds from around the globe with his gravity- defying stunts.

The twist? He does it all from a wheelchair.

Fotheringham, also known as “Wheelz,” was born with spina bifida, which left him confined to a wheelchair. Despite his disability, he was always drawn to extreme sports.

At age eight, Wheelz followed his brother to the local skate park; by age 14, he landed the first-ever wheelchair back flip. He's been riding professionally ever since.

While he has a custom-made chair designed to handle the complex tricks, Wheelz told INSIDER that mastering his stunts was no easy task. A failed flip at a Nitro Circus show knocked him unconscious, and he briefly considered quitting. He also broke his wheelchair attempting a double back flip. However, after a full year of failed attempts, he managed the first-ever double back flip in a wheelchair.

“It’s the hardest right before you succeed,” Wheelz said. 

Story and editing by Alana Yzola

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