21 everyday phrases that Shakespeare made up

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Graphic designer Humbert Fleitas created an animated letter B using just two sheets of paper. The letter design is part of 36 Days of Type, a global art project in which graphic designers can share their work on social media. One letter or number is assigned each day for 36 days, and participating artists post their unique designs for that day's character to Instagram using the hashtag #36DaysofType.

Story and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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In 2014, Mitch Gardner and Rob Richardson, two students and fraternity brothers at Chico University in Northern California, were hanging out.

Richardson, a computer science major, noticed something that was bugging him.

While in class, everyone was looking at their phones, texting, and doing whatever, with "no one paying attention to the teachers" as Gardner recalls.

The more they talked about it, the more annoyed they were. If technology could cause that kind a phone addiction, then it could also solve it, too, they thought.

So they built an app called Pocket Points that rewards students for not using their phones while in class.

Using "geo-fencing," (a GPS "fence" around the campus), the app can sense when a student is on campus and automatically lock the phone down. Students earn points while they are on campus with the app on/phone locked. When the student leaves campus, the phone unlocks and texting and Snapchatting can commence.

Points can then be cashed in for rewards at local businesses, like pizza, food, coffee, yogurt.

They launched it on the Chico campus and in a couple of weeks, about one-third of the students were using it.

Surprised by the response, they tried it at a much bigger campus, Penn State. Once again, within a few weeks, about one-third of the students on campus were using it, Gardner tells us.

The local newspaper wrote an article about it, seen by Chris Friedland, CEO of Build.com, another Chico startup success story. He agreed to meet with them and liked them and the app so much, he invested, Gardner says. He's also become a mentor and "such a great help."

"He's super busy but he always takes our call," Gardner says.

With Friedland's investment, they were off. They used their Sigma Kai frat connections to hire college "ambassadors" in other schools as they launched in them. These ambassadors spread the word about the app, and helped sign up local businesses.

The app is now available at about 100 schools and the adoption rate is close to 50%, Gardner tells us.

"There are two million people at the schools where we launched at, and 500,000 people are using the app," he says.

Pocket Points also has over 1,200 merchants using the app to advertise to the students and cash in points, Gardner says, like Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Jamba Juice and some online stores like LuLu's.

And the founders have raised a new $1.5 million round, he says. 

Dropping out of college

In January, the team started to charge businesses advertising fees and to collect affiliate fees for online stores. In just a few months, revenue is in the healthy five digits/month and doubling almost every month, although the company is not yet profitable, Gardner says.

They are now up to 20 full-time employees.

So both Gardner, 23, and Richardson, 21, dropped out of college to run their company full time. (At least temporarily, they each took a leave of absence and intend to finish school one day). Their families were not pleased but the founders felt they were looking at a "once in a lifetime opportunity," he says. And their investors warned them that they may not be able to juggle school and a burgeoning startup app at the same time.

For now, Gardner is enjoying the ride and dreaming up expansion plans.

"There’s so much excitement around the app," Gardner says. "We want to launch into more schools. Obviously, we'd like every student in the US and the whole world to be world to be on Pocket Point."

SEE ALSO: An investor has shredded the value of its stake in Dropbox, Cloudera, and other billion-dollar startups

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The value of an item, the adage goes, is never less than what someone is willing to pay for it.

And for rare comic books, that value is skyrocketing.

At a sale at French auction house Artcurial on April 30, comics — especially those written by the famous Belgian cartoonist Hergé — will receive attention and prices rivaling those usually reserved for fine art.

"The world of comic strips has recently witnessed a renewed enthusiasm," said Eric Leroy, an expert in comics at Artcurial.

"Collectors come from all backgrounds; some of them have previously been collecting contemporary and modern art and appreciate the graphical and historical side of collecting comic strips," Leroy said.

Artcurial set up a dedicated comic strip division in 2005, responding to a rapidly expanding market and a growing need for in-house expertise to identify, authenticate, and curate some of the most desirable comics in the world.

"Quality works are getting harder and harder to find, but some aspects of comics are always important: the rarity, the album it originates from, whether the hero is depicted, the talent of the artist and the condition of the work," Leroy said.

The auction this month will include items from the personal collection of French pop singer Renaud. It heavily features the work of Hergé, creator of "The Adventures of Tintin," a series of graphic novels depicting the worldwide escapades of a young Belgian reporter.

The series has to date sold well over 200 million copies in more than 70 languages, and remains in wide circulation.

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At the top of the docket is a rare double-plate from the "Tintin" comic "King Ottokar's Sceptre," estimated by the house to sell for between $650,000 and $865,000.

A similar, double page from a different episode sold for an astonishing $1.5 million last year, doubling its presale estimate, the BBC reported.

Hergé, who died in 1983, is certainly one of the most important names in the European comic-book tradition.

"Hergé had a career spanning 40 years with a formidable output," Leroy said. "Many generations have grown up reading 'The Adventures of Tintin.'"

The devoted attention Hergé paid to European cultures, as well as those of the many places to which Tintin traveled, made the series a veritable record of the twentieth century.

In the 23 completed works, Tintin trekked in the Himalayas, witnessed Native Americans evicted by the United States Army, saw Japanese soldiers occupy Manchuria, and even walked on the moon.

While the "Tintin" comics have revived only a limited following in the US, the series was developed into a 2011 Hollywood feature film by Steven Spielberg, an avid fan of the books.

Unlike the European tradition, in North America comics have always favored an array of superheroes.

"Actually, US comic books are not really very different from European comics," Leroy said. Even if the subjects may differ.

In fact, comic strips were born in North American newspapers in the 19th century, only later migrating across the Atlantic.

Today, early American comics, especially those that feature the genesis of some of the most famous superheroes, attract similar prices to their European counterparts.

"In a way, comics are timeless and, moreover, universal," Leroy said.

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It turns out homebuyers are really into barn doors.  

When Zillow looked at design features that sell homes at the best price and with the shortest listing time, that feature topped the list. 

Anything craftsman-style, like rectangular farmhouse sinks, also got homes off the market at a premium. 

Zillow Digs screened over 2 million listings for homes sold between January 2014 and March 2016 and looked for the keywords that had the best effect on how much more than the expected price and how much faster they sold.  

Here are the top 15 design features:

Outdoor kitchen

Percent of homes that sell for above expected values: 3.7%

How many days faster than expected the home sells: 19

Most common metro: Tampa, Florida

Tankless water heater

Percent of homes that sell for above expected values: 4%

How many days faster than expected the home sells: 43

Most common metro: Los Angeles, California

Backsplash

Percent of homes that sell for above expected values: 4.1%

How many days faster than expected the home sells: 46

Most common metro: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Living in a technically advanced world leaves us vulnerable any time we go online. That's especially true when shopping online. Adam Levin, author of "Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves" explains how to stay secure. 

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Counting household names like Sheryl Sandberg, Barack Obama, and Natalie Portman among its celebrated alumni, Harvard consistently remains one of the top colleges in the country.

But while the school continues to churn out impressive graduates, current students hold their own as well.

We tracked down 12 of Harvard's most remarkable undergraduates who go above and beyond, from developing new techniques for 3-D printing prosthetics to becoming an officer in the US Marines to promoting social activism through music.

Read on to meet 12 of the most impressive students at Harvard right now:

SEE ALSO: 12 of the most impressive students at Stanford right now

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Alex Yang designed a way to 3-D print customized prosthetics for under $5.

Class of 2017

Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Major: Biomedical engineering

When Alex Yang gets frustrated, he doesn't just forget about it and move on — he finds a way to change things. One of Yang's biggest frustrations was the egregious cost of medical devices and prosthetics, especially in developing countries, which led him to develop an affordable method of manufacturing and fitting prosthetics for amputees.

Yang's method allows doctors to use any camera — including mobile phones — to capture about 100 photos of an amputee's residual limb, which are then stitched together to create a model. His software builds a socket that fits the limb, which can be 3-D printed in only a few hours for about $5 worth of materials.

Last summer, Yang took his design to Cambodia, which has the highest incidence of amputees per capita because of land mines, where he worked in a clinic fitting patients with prosthetics.

"To put things into perspective, it was taking clinicians in Cambodia several weeks to make a poorly fitting prosthetic," he says.

Yang also wants to make affordable technology available in classrooms. He won the 2015 Deutsche Bank Challenge for Klay, a low-cost education platform launched in Peru where children learn basic quantitative, deductive reasoning, and STEM skills through Play-Doh "games."

Yang's still got another year of school ahead of him, but after Harvard he hopes to commercialize some of the medical devices he's designed. Beyond that, he plans to earn a combined MD/MBA and put it to use redesigning medical technology.

Carolyn Pushaw will be an officer for the US Marines.

Class of 2016

Hometown: Malibu, California

Major: Human evolutionary biology

Carolyn Pushaw not only challenges herself academically at Harvard, but as a newly minted US Marine, she knows how to push herself physically and mentally as well.

Pushaw started in the US Navy ROTC her freshman year, but after observing the motivation and camaraderie of the Marines during a summer training session, she knew she wanted to switch. After years of early-morning workouts, late nights in the field, and weekends spent training — in addition to keeping up with a full course load — Pushaw got the chance to complete Officer Candidates School last summer. Described as "more demanding than any [training] you've experienced before," it prepares its graduates to enter the Marines as officers.

When she's not studying or training, Pushaw works as an EMT-Basic with CrimsonEMS, a volunteer group. She also participated in Harvard College in Asia, a cultural exchange program in which she hosted a Thai student at Harvard for a week and then spent a week in Bangkok.

Upon graduation in May, Pushaw will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marines. She'll spend six months at The Basic School for officer training, followed by up to two years of flight school in Florida before serving as a Marine for at least six years.

"I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to serve my country and hopefully make a positive difference in the lives of the Marines I will lead," she says.

Harriet Kariuki provides Kenyan children with the supplies they need to succeed in school.

Class of 2016

Hometown:Kerugoya, Kenya

Major: Government

Growing up in Kenya, Harriet Kariuki had never even heard of Harvard before she applied. Neither of her parents went to high school, and she faced a choice: to work on the family tea farm or finish her education.

Kariuki chose the latter. But she never forgot the effort it took to get her there, including siphoning ink from a friend's pen so she could finish her schoolwork when she ran out of supplies. Her experiences inspired her to start Pens4Dreams alongside her roommate, Viona Shina Leboo. An outgrowth of her photography business, Kariuki Photography, Pens4Dreams provides school supplies to students in need in over 300 primary schools in Kenya. All the proceeds she earns from her photography go toward the initiative as well.

"These pens are not just pens but a source of motivation and something they can hold on to every time they lose hope in their pursuit to achieve their dreams," she says.

Harvard also sparked Kariuki's interest in language and travel. She currently speaks five languages — Korean, Japanese, Swahili, Kikuyu, and English — and has studied abroad in Japan, Korea, and China.

After graduation, Kariuki will head back to China to pursue a master's in public policy and international relations at Peking University through the Yenching fellowship, with a focus on Sino-African relations. In the long term, she eventually wants to return to Kenya and change it for the better.

We went to Ippudo, one of New York City's most popular ramen spots, to see how flour is transformed into the long thin ramen noodles that end up in your bowl.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by David Fang

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Bobby Holland Hanton is a stunt double for Daniel Craig, Chris Hemsworth, and Channing Tatum, among others. 

He's done some crazy things in his lifetime, but Hanton told INSIDER about his craziest stunt to date — the one that launched his career.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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There are nearly 100,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in the US, which combine to form an array of school districts of varying size and quality. The best districts are coveted, and a high-caliber school system can be a key factor when a family decides to relocate to one city over another. 

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on schools, provides a ranking of the best school districts in America— that is, the collective quality of all the schools in a district determined by a grade of overall experience. The ranking includes key factors such as the strength of academics, health and safety, student culture and diversity, and the quality of teachers. Read more about the methodology here.

At the time of calculation, Niche's database contained records for 12,153 school districts. Business Insider searched the ranking to find the best in each state. Sufficient data wasn't available for Hawaii, so it does not appear on this list.

Below is the best school district in each US state.

SEE ALSO: The 25 best school districts in America

AND: The best public high school in every state

ALABAMA: Mountain Brook City Schools

No. of schools: 6

No. of students: 4,477

Academics: A+

Health & safety: A

Student culture & diversity: C-

Teachers: A+

ALASKA: Unalaska City School District

No. of schools: 2

No. of students: 408

Academics: A

Health & safety: A+

Student culture & diversity: A

Teachers: A+

ARIZONA: Chandler Preparatory Academy

No. of schools: 1

No. of students: 679

Academics: A+

Health & safety: A-

Student culture & diversity: A

Teachers: A+

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The biggest earthquake to ever hit San Francisco took place more than a century ago, on April 18, 1906.

With a 7.8 magnitude, it's still one of the most devastating earthquakes to hit California to this day. The earthquake was not the only disaster that struck — it also caused many fires that destroyed even more of the city.

It is still considered one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States.

Below, see images of the damages caused by the massive earthquake.

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The earthquake killed over 3,000 people and destroyed more than 28,000 buildings. Some streets were split right down the middle.

Source: history.com

It was the first natural disaster to be documented through photographs.

Source: The Culture Trip

The quake shook a total of 296 miles along the San Andreas fault.

Source: history.com

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What goes up must come down, and not the other way around, right?

Wrong. Drive somewhere like Confusion Hill in California or Magnetic Mountain in Canada, put your car in neutral, and watch one of the most widely accepted laws of physics turn on its head. Your car will seem to defy gravity, slowly rolling uphill.

Gravity hills, also known as magnetic hills, mystery spots, and spook hills, have been popping up by the hundreds all over the world. Visitors are flooding to these sites, even paying small fees to experience the eery, seemingly supernatural effects of what has been referred to as “antigravity.”

So what's really going on?

There are many possible explanations for what could make an object break one of the sacred laws of science: Mysterious magnetic sources beneath the earth’s surface could be slowly pulling you towards them. A glitch in spacetime could cause the laws of physics to unravel into backwards chaos. An army of angry ghosts could be muscling your car to the top of the hill with nothing but their bare ghost hands.

Or maybe it’s just an optical illusion.

All of these sites have one thing in common (other than their apparent disregard for gravity): the horizon is either curved or obstructed from view. This is key. Horizons provide us with a very useful reference point when we're trying to judge the slope of a surface. A study published in Psychological Science in 2003 found that false horizon lines can be deceiving to observers perceiving landscapes.

Without a true horizon in sight, objects such as trees and walls — which your eyes use as visual clues to determine perpendicularilty — can play tricks on you. If these objects are leaning slightly, they might make you think you're looking at a downward slope, when in actuality you may simply be looking at a flat (or even uphill!) surface.

As a result, anything you rest upon the surface — whether it’s a rubber ball, a stream of water, or a 4,000-pound car — will appear to fight the flow of gravity and travel uphill. And while the thought of ghosts or supernatural forces carrying these objects is tempting, the most likely explanation is that your eyes are just playing tricks on you.

SEE ALSO: This optical illusion painting reveals something crazy about how our eyes work

DON'T MISS: The world's most mysterious buildings

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When it comes to stretching out your muscles, there are a lot of options to choose from.

To boil it down, we turned to Marilyn Moffat, a professor of physical therapy at New York University and the author of "Age Defying Fitness." She took us through the best basic stretches that work for practically everyone.

Use these illustrations as your guide and try some of the stretches that'll help keep you flexible and fit at any age.

Remember: Don't do these stretches if they make you uncomfortable or if you have existing muscle problems. Instead, consult a physical therapist.

SEE ALSO: The 12 best everyday stretches to keep you flexible and fit

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First things first: Get seated with good posture. Having that will help you do these stretches correctly.

To start, we'll go through some neck rotations. Be sure to hold each side for 30 to 60 seconds. This applies to all stretches.

For the neck tilt, be sure to pull your left arm down toward the floor, either holding onto the chair or just pulling down.

California dispensary HerbaBuena formed a members-only collective where participants attend monthly social clubs to interact with and sample different strains of marijuana. The collective serves as a comfortable and educational setting so members can find the medicine that's best for them. 

Founders Alicia and Brant (they didn't want to disclose their last names) teamed up with local farmers to create California's first Demeter certified biodynamic cannabis, the non-federal equivalent to an organic certification. As the cannabis industry emerges, the pair aims to set the standard for pure and potent medicine. 

Produced by Sam Rega. Cinematography by Andrew Stern. Edited by Lauren Browning.

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The entire old city of Chefchaouen in Morocco is painted in vivid shades of blue. The tradition dates to the Jewish community that settled there in the 15th century after being expelled from Spain in 1492.

The beautiful spot is now a popular tourist destination.

Story by Jacob Shamsian and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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There's a lot of noise out there when it comes to preventative measures for hair loss.

Some products talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, they cannot back it up. In fact, according to hair restoration specialist Dr. William Yates of Dr. Yates Hair Science, there are only four real ways to slow down or prevent hair loss (and only one way to really regrow hair).

Propecia, or: Finasteride A prescription pill that can prevent hair loss by blocking the balding hormone.

Rogaine, or Minoxidil: A topical application of liquid or a foam that's used to thicken the hair and slow its shedding.

Laser light treatment: A red light is used to stimulate growth in the hair follicle, reducing inflammation and keeping it healthy.

PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections: Take a bit of your blood, which is then enriched with platelets, and re-injected into you at the scalp. According to Dr. Yates, "that goes to the hair follicle to keep it from shedding and stimulates growth."

"If you turn on the TV or look in a magazine, there are a bazillion products out there that will supposedly grow your hair," Dr. Yates told Business Insider. "But the fact remains those are probably the only four things that I know of that have some scientific basis."

He also advises not to put much faith in vitamin supplements like Biotin purport to solve that hair loss cause.

"If you live in the United States, there's hardly anyone that's really vitamin deficient enough to lose hair," Dr. Yates told us. "Will they help you? Probably not. Will they hurt you? Probably not, so it's a wash."

"I don't put too much faith in those things."

SEE ALSO: These are the hair products men with thinning hair should never use — and what to use instead

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