My family often makes fun of me for being overly effusive in restaurants:

Oh, thank you so much for bringing the bread — we really appreciate it! Water? I love water! Thank you for being so kind!

Though no one in my family has ever said it explicitly, I imagine part of the reason they find it so hilarious is that I hardly ever show them so much gratitude.

Not even for oh, say, bringing me into this world and putting a roof over my head for 18 years.

So I had a quiet "aha!" moment while reading Janice Kaplan's "The Gratitude Diaries," in which she chronicles her yearlong effort to show more appreciation in different areas of her life.

Before writing "The Gratitude Diaries," Kaplan, a journalist who was formerly the editor of Parade magazine, helped conduct a survey on Americans' gratitude habits.

Results showed that 97% of respondents said they would express gratitude to a server in a nice restaurant (guilty as charged). But how many women said they regularly thanked their husbands? Just 48%.

In the book, Kaplan writes that she gets it — we have way higher expectations for our partners than we do for waiters. Beyond that, she suspects we also get so used to our partner being there for us that we generally forget to appreciate it.

Simply making the effort to say "thank you" can breathe new life into a tired relationship.

When she visited the Business Insider offices in August, Kaplan told us:

"When you're in a relationship, particularly for a long time, you kind of stop noticing somebody. Psychologists call it habituation."

"You get used to somebody. You stop realizing why you wanted to be there in the first place."

During the first month of her gratitude experiment, Kaplan focused on appreciating her husband.

She'd thank him for driving them home from a party or fixing a leaky faucet — and he'd be confused, because he always does those things.

"I know you do," Kaplan would tell him. "But I appreciate it."

As Business Insider's Erin Brodwin has reported, psychologists have known for a while that couples who express gratitude toward each other are more likely to stay together. In fact, thanking your partner even once can bring you two closer months later.

That's possibly because a single act of gratitude sparks a cycle of gratitude and generosity: You thank your partner, so your partner feels appreciated and invests more in the relationship, which in turn makes you feel more grateful to them.

Perhaps the part of "The Gratitude Diaries" that struck me most was a scene Kaplan describes in which her husband, a doctor, is rushing off in the middle of the night to treat a sick patient.

Typically, Kaplan writes, she'd be frustrated and angry that her husband was leaving at that hour. But during her gratitude experiment, she pushed herself to find the reason to be grateful.

So she told him:

"I was just thinking about how lucky your patient is to have you. She must feel so much better knowing you're on the way. The world needs more doctors like you. Thank you for being so special."

To me, this scene reflects how showing gratitude to the people we're closest to can take more effort than thanking the barista at Starbucks. It requires seeing the person in a new light — or simply seeing them at all.

But that effort can pay big dividends. Kaplan writes that her small acts of gratitude appeared to change her overall marriage for the better.

In the book she mentions one professor of marriage and family therapy who told her that every day he emails his wife thanking her for something. It doesn't have to be anything huge — thanking her for running errands when he was busy is fine.

The point is to make gratitude a habit so that, eventually, you don't have to think about it — it's just the default lens through which you see your partner's everyday behaviors.

SEE ALSO: 15 relationship facts everybody should know before getting married

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NOW WATCH: Why being yourself in your relationship is a terrible idea

Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant known for producing affordable, minimalist furniture, is banking on the prediction that millions more people will live in micro-apartments by 2020.

The growing demand for smaller items and space-saving pieces is evident in Ikea's 2017 catalog, which features products designed to help customers get the most out of pint-sized spaces. Available now, it spotlights the new items coming soon to US stores.

If you live in a small apartment, here are seven new Ikea items that could make it feel larger. 

SEE ALSO: 7 recipe apps that will help you become a master cook

A minimalist standing desk.

The Knotten standing desk has clean, simple lines and is perfect for tiny apartments or work spaces.

It comes in white, which can help a small room feel airy and bright, and also has a drawer, two ledges, and several hooks for extra storage.

A customizable sectional sofa that lets you choose the shape and size.

The Vallentuna modular sofa is made of three different pieces (a cushion, ottoman, and armrest), that all come in different colors and materials.

This means you can completely customize the size and shape depending on the amount of space in your living room.

A living room set-up that doubles as a dining room.

When you live in small apartment, it's important to have furniture that's multi-functional.

The Klimpen table top is incredibly flexible, since it can be placed on top of crates, sturdy boxes or other material to create a long table. When you want more surface space, you and your guests can put it down and eat in the living room. But it's also easy to move or put away when you want to make room. 

The Ps Lovas sleeper sofa, when paired with the table top, is perfect for both lounging and dining. It can also serve as a futon.

With states like Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational marijuana in the past few years, marijuana addiction is becoming a real concern. Addiction specialist Dr. Samuel Ball explains why marijuana is more addictive today than it was several years ago.

Ball is CEO of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

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This week we mourn the loss of one of New York City's happiest restaurants: Señor Frog's. 

The New York location has unexpectedly closed, without a word as to why. Just one year after opening, the Manhattan-based location has abruptly shut its doors forever. 

Even the notoriously tough New York Times restaurant critic, Pete Wells, had a soft spot for the restaurant's sugary margaritas served in neon plastic cups, and food plated onto skateboards. "I had more fun at Señor Frog’s than at almost any other restaurant that has opened in the last few years," Wells wrote.

I went to Señor Frog's New York during its heyday, while the weather in New York was frigid and all I wanted was a spring break style party. Luckily for those Señor Frog's fans that just can't let go, there are still open locations in Miami, Aruba, Puerto Rico, and more. 

Ahead, a look back at an average night at Señor Frog's New York. 

SEE ALSO: Heidi Klum's Halloween party is one of the hottest tickets in town — here's what it's like inside

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On this particular Friday in January, there was a cover to get into the building: $5 for the ladies, and a whopping $15 for the guys.

The drink prices range from $11 to $62 for huge drinks that come with refills.

The "Froggy Rita" is a house favorite, made with Señor Frog's house tequila, triple sec, sweet and sour mix, and a choice of fruit flavors.

Bucket lists are usually dumb.

They vacillate between the obvious and the pretentious. The mile high club is gross. Burning Man is stupid. Mardi Gras is overrated. Growing a beard takes no effort. I have no interest to run with bulls or climb a mountain. And if I got into a fight, I’d probably lose.

But having spent the better part of my life as a gadabout, here are the things I think every man should do at least once.

1. Get in great shape. Don’t talk about it.

2. Cook a gourmet meal for a group of close friends.

3. Work as a bartender.

4. Reward yourself for a big accomplishment with a big present like a sports car or a nice watch.

5. Swim naked, preferably not alone.

6. Hire someone.

7. Fire someone.

8. Get drunk in Rangoon, Kashgar, Zanzibar, Kyoto, and Nashville.

9. Adopt a pet.

10. Buy a veteran a beer.

11. Read The Brothers Karamazov and Don Quixote.

12. Gallop on a horse.

13. Shoot a machine gun.

14. Tell one of your best friends that his fiancée is not the right one.

15. Stand up to a bully.

16. Live in a foreign country.

17. Take a big investment risk.

18. Try [redacted].

19. Tell your partner what your bedroom fantasies really are.

20. Buy a tuxedo before you are 30. Stay that size. (Hat tip: @carney)

21. Go to the Kentucky Derby, The Masters, Super Bowl, World Cup or whatever your equivalent is.

22. Race a car on a track.

23. Surf.

24. Help design and build your dream house.

25. Lie when the truth is easier.

26. Have kids.

27. Go SCUBA diving.

28. Sit front row, courtside, ringside, on the fifty, behind the dugout, or backstage. Don’t Instagram it.

29. Call someone you’ve wronged in the past. Apologize.

30. Tip big enough to make the server’s month.

31. Take a trip with your dad.

32. Shake hands with the President.

33. Lose your voice cheering for your favorite sports team.

34. Accompany a close friend to chemotherapy.

35. Teach your son the correct way to throw a baseball and a spiral.

36. Go drinking in Pat Pong (Bangkok). Don’t get blackout drunk. Trust me.

37. Spend a night in jail. Get the case dismissed.

38. Make an enemy for life.

39. Sail on the open ocean.

40. Buy the bar a round.

41. Cut down a tree. With an axe.

42. Vacation alone.

43. Join an adult sports league (not a fantasy league).

44. Take a spontaneous international flight. Buy clothes when you get there.

45. Learn how to fly fish. It’s cheaper than a therapist.

46. Spend some time in a third world country. Remember, that’s how most of the world live out the entirety of their short lives.

47. Sleep under the stars. On purpose. Preferably by a fire.

48. Coach your kid’s sports team.

49. Spend a day outside, working with a shovel, in the searing heat.

50. Make the obituary in The Economist. That doesn’t necessarily mean a life of wealth, fame, or power. It just means that you were interesting.

John LeFevre is the creator of @GSElevator and the author of the New York Times bestselling book and Amazon Book of the Month, Straight To Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, And Billion-Dollar Deals out now on paperback.

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NOW WATCH: No one wants to buy this bizarre house in a wealthy San Francisco suburb

The United Nations says that the world population will quintuple by 2300. 

That means cities are about to get very crowded. More than half of humanity already lives in cities, and by 2050, at least two-thirds of the population will call cities home. 

In major cities like San Francisco, the demand for housing is outpacing the ability to supply houses. But that growing population will need places to stay. 

One solution: building underground or into the existing landscape, whether that's a hill or a cliff. Lots of cities already have subterranean spaces, but as urban areas become more crammed, you can expect these spaces to multiply. 

Take a look at some of the world's most unique marvels that are built into the ground and cliffs. 

Shivam Saini contributed to an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: Inside London's mega-basements — the subterranean mansions complete with swimming pools, banquet rooms, and catwalks

The Iconic Santorini Hotel in Imerovigli, Greece, has a pool that's embedded inside a cave. The cliffside overlooks the Mediterranean ocean.

Rocky homes line the cliff face in Nevsehir, Turkey, also known as the Cappadocia region. The area is popular with tourists for its Byzantine art and large network of underground Bronze Age troglodyte dwellings.

For a more modern take on a troglodyte dwelling, Les Hautes Roches is a five-star hotel constructed inside a limestone cliff. The lavishly decorated rooms overlook the Loire River.

Leading consumer aviation website Skytrax has published its latest annual World Airport Awards, and for the third consecutive year, Singapore's Changi International Airport took the crown as the world's best airport. However, Changi isn't the only world class facility of its kind in Asia — which is why Skytrax has released its list of the 10 best airports in Asia.

The Skytrax annual rankings are based on the impressions of over 13 million flyers from 106 countries. More than 550 airports were included in the survey, which covers 39 service and performance parameters, including facility comfort, location of bathrooms, and the language skills of the airport staff. 

SEE ALSO: Here are the 20 best airlines in the world

10. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)

Yearly passengers: 47.5 million

Previous rank:10

Why it's awesome: Kuala Lumpur International is one of southeast Asia's busiest airports and serves as home base to both AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines. 

The airport is located just 35 miles south of the Malaysian capital and is easily accessible by road and rail. KL International is home to one of the most unique features in all of aviation, an in-airport jungle, complete with waterfall. Called the KLIA Jungle Boardwalk, the nature area is located in the airport's Satellite Terminal.

Source: Skytrax World Airport Awards. Yearly passenger figure is for 2013, provided by Airports Council International.

9. Taiwan Taoyuan international Airport (TPE)

Yearly passengers: 34 million

Previous rank: 9

Why it's awesome: Located just outside of the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, Taoyuan International is the largest airport in Taiwan. The airport is the home base for both China Airlines and EVA Air.

Skytrax reviewers praised the airport for its polite service, clean environment, and speedy immigration lines. Taoyuan was also once home to Taiwan's aviation museum, but the museum was shut down earlier this year to make way for further airport expansion.

Source: Skytrax World Airport Awards. Yearly passenger figure is for 2014, provided by Taoyuan International Airport.

8. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)

Yearly passengers: 83.7 million

Previous rank: 6

Why it's awesome: As the second-busiest airport in the world, Beijing's Capital Airport has played a major role in the Chinese capital's explosive growth. 

With this growth, the airport has built new facilities and upgraded its infrastructure. Capital's Terminal 3 was rated as the 10th-best terminal in the world.

Source: Skytrax World Airport Awards. Yearly passenger figure is for 2013, provided by Airports Council International.

When the summer heat is on, there's almost nothing better than grabbing a frozen dessert to help you cool down. But from ice cream and gelato to soft serve and frozen yogurt, there are plenty of icy snacks you can choose from, and you might not know the differences between them. 

To help you pick out which frozen treat to snack on this summer, we've broken down the ingredients and processes behind each. 

From the way soft serve achieves its delectable, fluffy texture to the surprising fact that gelato is actually lower in fat than ice cream, here's what sets your favorite chilled desserts apart. 

SEE ALSO: The 30 best cities for foodies around the world

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NOW WATCH: Here's what a serving size of each of your favorite foods looks like

People lie everyday, so if you're concerned that your partner is hiding something big, you might be considering how to catch them.

Unfortunately, science can't tell you if your partner has been sleeping around, but it is getting better at spotting when someone is being deceptive. Follow the advice below to see if someone is cheating on you. 

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NOW WATCH: This one conversation can prevent infidelity in your marriage

In general, men's clothing is far simpler than women's, and I find little reason to feel sorry for men when they complain about the minimal thought they have to put into dressing.

However, there is one exception to this, and it is summer. More specifically, summer suiting.

Jackets are warm. Summer is hot. Sweat is gross. There's no getting around this. But there is a way to significantly mitigate this problem.

It's the unlined or half-lined suit jacket.

Obviously, less lining means less suit. Less suit means less sweat.

"Most suits feature a lining which is typically silky in texture in order to facilitate slipping your arms in/out of the jacket," said stylist Jessica Cadmus, founder of Wardrobe Whisperer. "However, a lining can trap heat, as often they are constructed with some (if not all) synthetic fibers like viscose or polyester."

These synthetic fabrics are particularly dreadful in the summer, as they don't breathe as well as natural fabrics.

Now you will pay more for less in this case. While an unlined suit has less fabric, it also means there's less room for error for your tailor.

"In fact it is more difficult and costly to make a half-lined or unlined suit jacket because all of the seams are visible and need to be sewn perfectly," Cadmus said.

On a half-lined jacket, the lining will be over the shoulder and upper back of the jacket.

And so you know what we're talking about, here's a half-lined jacket from Zegna right below:

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NOW WATCH: This suit is filled with mushrooms that were trained to eat you when you die

The condom that's hard to break has shattered its crowdfunding goal.

The HEX condom, made by the Swedish company LELO, raised over $1 million from 30,000 backers through crowdfunding on Indiegogo and its website.

The first time I saw the HEX, I was sitting in a conference room across from LELO founder Filip Sedic. The condom, an eggshell-colored piece of latex, looked pretty ordinary.

Sedic then punched his hand inside the condom and fanned his fingers, revealing a faint, hexagonal pattern etched into the material. The latex clung around his fingernails, but didn't break. He grabbed a pen from the table and tried to puncture it again.

"People say, 'I don't use it because it might break.' Give me a break," Sedic said. "But people will still use that as an excuse. We have to make sure to eliminate all of these excuses."

There's a correlation between disliking condoms and leaving them in the nightstand. In the largest nationwide study on sexuality, in 2010, 45% of men and 63% of women reported not using a condom in their most recent sexual encounter with a "new acquaintance," according to Indiana University. Such negligence can invite a host of complications, including disease.

Eight years ago, LELO — which has been awarded for its upscale line of sex toys and vibrators — set out to make a condom that men would actually want to use. Or, at the very least, tolerate.

LELO reengineered the mold used to make rubbers, creating a honeycomb latticelike pattern inside the condom that makes it less likely to slip or tear, according to Sedic.

Sedic said that when pressure is applied at any point to the HEX condom, it stretches in six directions. This flexibility makes it more forgiving of tension. If you poke a hole in it, the damage stays contained in the single cell; it doesn't rip like traditional condoms.

According to a company spokesperson, 73% of backers across the crowdfunding campaigns were male and 27% were female.

It's also worth noting nearly 70% of backers were millennials, which you might chalk up to the fact that crowdfunding campaigns are especially popular among younger internet users. However, their enthusiasm might be indicative of something more: LELO made the condom sexy with its redesign.

The condom's all-white packaging wouldn't look out of place on shelves in an Apple store. And the marketing video that introduced it has helped. Electronic music plays over animations of the condom. It has the intensity of a trailer scored by Hans Zimmer.

The HEX sells online for $19.90 for a 12-pack or $34.90 for a 36-pack. A LELO spokesperson told Business Insider the company will soon start selling in retail stores around the world.

Whatever their reason for buying, more young people wearing condoms can only be a good thing.

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley is obsessed with these wool sneakers that claim to be the 'most comfortable in the world'

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NOW WATCH: Here's how Trojan condoms are made

Having a home that accurately reflects your interests is well worth the investment. 

That's why many of those who find financial success end up using their newfound wealth to spruce up their homes. 

But what do these homes actually look like?

Interior designer Noa Santos has worked with plenty of entrepreneurs through Homepolish, the design startup he cofounded in 2013. Earlier this year, he helped Sweetgreen cofounders Jon Neman and Nathaniel Ru create their dream loft, and he's also worked with Marissa Vosper of Negative Underwear and Danielle and Jodie Snyder of Dannijo.

Santos shared some of the biggest trends he's seeing in the homes of newly rich people these days.

SEE ALSO: Look inside the swanky New York City bachelor pad where 2 of Sweetgreen's cofounders live

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They make upgrades

In general, many successful entrepreneurs are looking to finally upgrade some of the more basic pieces they already own. Buying a nice sofa is one great example of that. 

"Even small upgrades like going from foam to down is something people wait to do," Santos said. "They'll go for nice kitchenware, like pieces from Le Creuset."

He added with a laugh: "Hopefully one day I'll strike it rich — that's where I'd buy my cooking pots." 

They view furniture as an investment piece

"Entrepreneurs are business-savvy. They like the idea of buying something nice, but also something that will last," Santos said. "We see a lot of people who are finally getting to invest in pieces that they want to take with them."

To help his clients find one-of-a-kind pieces, Santos often turns to 1stdibs, an online marketplace filled with antique and contemporary items. The site sells everything from $50 floor tiles to $50,000 chairs.

They buy bucket list items

But some might instead go for classic pieces that are valuable investments mostly because they have been so popular over time.  

The Eames chair, for example, was released in 1956 by the furniture company Herman Miller, and continues to be an icon of interior design. It's a piece that Santos commonly sees people invest in once they strike it rich. 

Taking clients out for a working lunch or dinner is a crucial part of doing business.  

To help you navigate the minefield of business eating, Business Insider decided to take a look at the best restaurants in London for sealing a merger or crucial investment from a private equity firm.

We scoured the hugely well-respected Harden's London Restaurants 2016 and chose the places that the guide recommends for those crucial business meals.

The restaurants range from super luxe eateries in London's most exclusive postcodes to a hyper modern dining room at the top of one of the capital's tallest buildings.

So check out London's best restaurants for doing business:

9. SCOTT'S — Located in the heart of Mayfair, right next to the American Embassy, Scott's first opened in 1851. Expect discretion from the staff, and lots of very tasty, but very pricey seafood.

SIGNATURE DISH — Octopus Carpaccio with chilli, spring onion and coriander

8. THE DON — Right between Bank and Cannon Street tube stations, The Don is in a perfect place to pop out of your City office for lunch. Dishes include lobster risotto, roast mallard duck, and 42 day aged rib eye of beef.

For people who can't afford rent, let alone buy their own apartment, what's the best recourse? Get placed in a housing project? Sign up for a housing lottery? How about a hotel?

Rhea Silva is the 24-year-old founder of Chototel, a chain of super-budget hotels where the price per night can range from $2 at the cheapest to a surge price of $5 at its most expensive.

Her company is piloting four hotel buildings in Nagothane, a small Indian town about 72 miles outside of Mumbai. The first is opening next month, while the other three are coming in the following four months. Each building holds 60 flats each.

Each of the flats, as seen in the renderings below, is outfitted with a loft bed, closet space, sink, and a TV.

There's also a bare bones kitchen setup with a hot plate, dish rack, and counterspace.

Silva says Chototel's flexible model is enticing because our attitudes toward homeownership have changed.

"We recognize that people no longer want to buy a house — they want to be able to stay in a place that's close to [their] work," she told Business Insider. "They want to be able to stay in a place that's not a three-bedroom mansion, but rather just their own little studio apartment where they have privacy."

You can already see traces of this downsized domesticity in the tiny home trend, which are shifting more and more to uniform and quickly buildable designs while still making efficient use of space.

The big difference is that the audience Chototel is appealing to isn't well-heeled tenants looking to downsize — it's people who won't necessarily be able to afford rent on a monthly basis, but can likely pay it little by little.

"People like to stay in places where they're not spending 50% to 60% of their income on housing," she said. "Homeownership has dropped to its lowest rate since 1965. And that's because people, aren't possessive about the idea of owning a house anymore. They're more into the idea of convenience." 

Of course, nightly rent isn't the only way the hotel will make returns. There are also utilities, which are all metered and charged by usage. So, theoretically, you could stay a night without turning on a light or using water or heat and pay around $2 for the benefit of having a clean room with a bed and free Wi-Fi. But if you need those utilities, there are tools that can help you save on usage and costs. 

Silva says that the rooms are outfitted with microbots, which take in several data points to report back to the hotel and the tenant. That way, there's a transparent two-way exchange of information about the tenant's consumption and habits.

The tenants can also monitor their consumption through a smartphone app, which, like with a smart home system, also allows them to turn off a utility remotely.

And what if you don't have a phone? Is there any way to track your usage then? While you might think the sort of person who can't afford rent can't afford a smartphone, Silva thinks differently.

"Smartphones today are very, very cheap and very affordable and a lot of people use their smartphone as a means for communication," she said.

Indeed, India is the world's second-largest market for smartphones, and they're still getting cheaper. So it's likely many of Chototel's tenants will at least have a device that's able to run the app. 

The amount of fine tuning and flexible scheduling Chototel allows for puts it squarely between a budget hotel and affordable housing. Silva avoids the latter term because she says she wants people to feel the privilege and comfort of saying they're staying in a hotel rather than call it a project.

And while the first few pilot hotels are being funded through the company's own equity, Chototel is planning on raising finances in the public market in the next month to fund the next few expansions.

The pilot will kick off with these four hotels, but Silva says that if they prove sustainable, her company will raise funds to scale up, massively. She says that her next location in Mumbai, if Nagothane proves useful, could house up to 10,000 occupants.

And that flexible model, which isn't as easily replicable in public housing, is winning some public support from local municipalities, too — enough that the company is planning on several expansions within the next few years. The company is looking to Dubai, Lagos, Mumbai, and Bristol for their next locations.

SEE ALSO: 8 beautifully designed budget hotels where you can stay for around $100

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NOW WATCH: What it's like to go 'glamping' for $2,500 a night on top of a luxury hotel in NYC

In late June, 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James joined a handful of friends on San Francisco's Baker Beach in search of radical self-expression. They didn't come empty-handed.

Earlier that day, Harvey and James had collected scrap wood and built an eight-foot statue of a man and his accompanying dog. Later that night, the group hoisted them up and set fire to both. Little did they know that a 30-year tradition had just been born.

Today, Burning Man draws more than 50,000 people to Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Over the course of a dusty, freewheeling week in late August, the festival celebrates notions of self-expression, civic responsibility, and art.

This year's Burning Man will be held from August 28 to September 5. Here's a look back at how one of the world's most surreal, iconic festivals came to be.

SEE ALSO: 20 insane structures built at Burning Man

For the first three years of Burning Man, the festival was held on San Francisco's Baker Beach. By 1989, however, Golden Gate Park Police had learned of the event and prohibited any actual burning. The event was a fire hazard, they said.

In 1990, Harvey and James decided to relocate to the second-largest and flattest piece of land in the US: Nevada's Black Rock Desert. At first, people didn't really know what to do once they got there. Some found hot springs. Others played music.

In 1996, the founders created a formal organization, Black Rock City, LLC, to handle liability, security and planning for the festival. They also improved safety by relocating to a nearby gated property. Burning Man was poised for worldwide explosion.

Summer means change: new shoes, new clothes, and a new grooming routine.

But don't forget your hair — it also deserves a fresh look.

Sure, we've said that longer hair is coming back into style lately — a correction in response to those overly trendy razor-fade styles reminiscent of the early part of the 20th century.

The problem with that in warmer climates is that all that extra bulk on top of your head can actually make you feel hotter. If your hair is a dark color or really thick, this effect can be magnified.

But there's a way to combine the two for the summer while still keeping cool. See below for the perfect cut for summer.

SEE ALSO: 8 essential etiquette rules every guy should follow at the barbershop

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NOW WATCH: 5 classic men's shoes for work and play

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics were just eight years ago, and in that short time the stadiums and facilities that cost billions of dollars to build have fallen in disrepair. Here's what they look like today.

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Airports aren't exactly known for their culinary offerings, but the food at Tokyo's Narita International Airport are enough to make even the most seasoned travelers drool.

Consumer aviation site Skytrax named Narita the best airport for dining as part of its annual World Airport Awards. 

The food selection includes everything from fresh seafood to hearty bowls of ramen. For once, you might be thankful to have a layover. 

SEE ALSO: Here are the 20 best airlines in the world

Located in Terminal 1, Sushi Kyotatsu is a must-try.

Some people will make special travel arrangements just to be able to try the sushi, which is made using fresh fish from Tsukiji, Tokyo's famous market.

Source: Bloomberg

The lines to buy food can often get long, so travelers recommend getting a bento box or pre-made meal to go. If you have the time to wait, though, you certainly won't be disappointed by the selection.

The concept art that Disney has released of its "Star Wars"-themed, 14-acre park that will be at Disneyland and Disney World looks pretty amazing.

But it's possible the "Star Wars" park will give you something else you didn't expect: the ability to truly act like a Jedi knight.

io9 got a tip from the site PatentYogi that Disney has filed a patent for an "audience interaction projection system." Basically, if it were to be installed in the park, it would enable guests to deflect laser beams in real time as they walk around.

Kind of like how Luke Skywalker trained on the Millennium Falcon in "A New Hope":

The patent explains that it would be possible for guests to do what Luke did in "A New Hope" through a combination of LEDs and flying drones:

"An entertainment environment has a user with a faux light saber that interacts with a drone flying through the air or operated with hidden rods to appear as if its flying through the air. The faux light saber has LEDs attached thereto to provide IR light to the drone.

"As an LED is turned on, an invisible light sensor built into the drone captures an image of the field of view with a bright spot at the position of the activated LED. A visible light source built into the drone then projects light through particulate matter toward the faux light saber.

"As a result, the uses is provided with the illusion that the faux light saber has deflected a laser beam. Multiple LEDs can be activated in sequence at various times to give user the impression that the movement by the users of the faux light saber is deflecting multiple laser beams."

So it sounds as if guests at the "Star Wars" park could be running around with LED lightsabers deflecting laser-beam-shooting drones if all this comes through.

Here's an illustration from the patent of what the contraption would look like:

Excited yet?

At the moment, there's no word on if this is really a feature for the park, which is currently under construction.

"We continuously innovate and file hundreds of patents that may or may not have any business unit application," a Disney Parks representative told io9. "We have nothing to announce about this at this time."

But if this is the kind of thing Disney is thinking about for the "Star Wars" park, the company is going in the right direction.

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Marijuana's official designation as a Schedule 1 drug— something with "no accepted medical use" — means it is pretty tough to study.

That can be frustrating to scientists who, regardless of their position on its legal status, almost uniformly agree that more rigorous scientific analyses of the drug are desperately needed.

Marijuana isn't as simple as it seems. It's a plant made up of hundreds of different compounds — each of which have a variety of potential effects ranging from pain relief to reducing blood pressure. Some of them play no role in getting you high. 

As a result, many experts say, barring marijuana research with a sweeping, all-inclusive ban simply doesn't make sense.

"In terms of does cannabis hold any therapeutic potential, cannabis contains many constituents. It’s not just THC. And whether these have medicinal properties that can be used, the answer is very likely, and they should be studied,"Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, who is the chair of Columbia University's department of psychiatry and serves as the director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, told Business Insider.

In fact, marijuana contains roughly 400 compounds, each of which is thought to potentially affect the brain and body in a different way.

"We clearly do not have that much research about marijuana, and you need to know what chemical is carrying out its effects," Dr. Yasmin Hurd, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told my colleague Kevin Loria last fall. "Like many plants, marijuana has many different chemicals. There are specific components of the plant that can be developed for medical interventions," Hurd said.

Unfortunately, we don't know which compound is responsible for which effect. And without further research into the drug, we never will.

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