Travel back to Japan at the turn of the century with these beautiful, hand-colored photographs taken by well-known Japanese photographer T. Enami.
Enami, whose real name was Nobukuni Enami, opened his photography studio in Yokohama in April 1892. Most of these photos were taken sometime between 1898 and 1917, though Enami created amazing photographs and 3-D stereoviews of Japan's people and countryside until his death in 1929.
Photo researcher Rob Oechsle, an expert on Japanese photography who has lived in Okinawa for three decades, gave us permission to use scans of Enami's century-old images. Check out the rest of his images here on Flickr.
Enami's assistants color photos by hand at his studio in Yokohama, circa 1895-7.
The Wind River Indian Reservation is not an easy place to get to.
Thirty-five-hundred square miles of prairie and mountains in western Wyoming, the reservation is home to bitter ancestral enemies: the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.
Even among reservations, it's renowned for brutal crime, widespread drug use, and legal dumping of toxic waste.
Wind River received some media attention last year for these latter qualities.
Recently, I was invited to the reservation by a school teacher who wanted to show me what life was really like there.
The following pictures show Wind River, its people, and the surrounding American towns.
The Wind River reservation is located in central Wyoming. The landscape is unlike anything most people have ever seen.
This craggy honeycombed grotto was unearthly enough to prompt Starship Troopers' director Paul Verhoeven to shoot the 1997 sci-fi flick here.
This railroad has been hauling goods and people through here since 1885.
Michael Kors is the most searched-for fashion brand online.
The lifestyle brand beat out heavyweights like Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Ralph Lauren, according to a report by Digital Luxury Group.
Kors' success is a result of smart marketing and reaching the right audience.
Michael Kors excelled in part because it targeted the market's sweet spot--people with money who aren't rich yet.
But there's even more to the retailer's success, according to the report.
Michael Kors became the most searched-for brand on the internet because it released a lower-priced diffusion line that appealed to an even wider range of consumers.
The line, MICHAEL Michael Kors, offers cheaper products with a similar aesthetic to the designer's namesake brand.
While searches for the diffusion line weren't used in Digital's report, the less expensive items increased awareness about the Michael Kors brand, leading to searches for the real deal.
The brand's popularity in America also contributed to its success abroad.
Michael Kors is also one of the hottest brands in Brazil and China. These emerging markets have growing middle classes who want to emulate the fashions they see in America.
Here's a chart showing which of the brands' products consumers were searching for:
And here's a chart showing how successful Kors is in China:
Have you ever been stuck trying to get all the meat off a chicken wing, but can't quite get around the bones? Well, no longer.
There's a way to simply slide out the bones from the end of the chicken wing that only takes a few seconds. This trick will turn any wing into a boneless, dippable miracle.
Check it out:
Now Watch: The Definitive History Of Deep-Fried Food
Like your roses intensely floral, with wild lily aromas and notes of strawberry and raspberry? Also like the movie Mr and Mrs Smith?
Then chances are you'll raise a glass to the news that the stars of that film, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are to put their name to a plonk with exactly those attributes.
Next month will see the first batch of Miraval go on sale, produced from the vineyard attached to the couple's French estate, Château Miraval.
Made in collaboration with veteran Gallic wine family Perrin, the wine was previously known as Pink Floyd, christened by the chateau's previous owner, American vintner Tom Bove, from whom the pair purchased the property in 2012.
A statement from Brad Pitt reported by Bloomberg suggests both he Jolie are excited about their lateral move into wine production. "We are intimately involved and quite enthused over the wine project with our friends the Perrin family." A red and white are due later in the year and all bottles will be organic.
The stars are following in the boozy footsteps of a rollcall of famous film-makers who have dabbled in alcohol. Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook estate pumps out eight high-end vintages, including "classic library wine" Rubicon; the shop also sells china snack platters and pitchers in the shape of an owl ("Make a hoot with your table. Owls are a symbol of wisdom. Price: $325.00).
Designer Kimberly Ovitz launched her self-titled label in 2009 with a desire to translate her love of art, architecture and nature into the world of women’s contemporary fashion.
Four years later, Ovitz — the daughter of CAA co-founder and former President of the Walt Disney Company, Michael Ovitz — commanded the attention of the likes of Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, designers Tory Burch and J. Crew's Jenna Lyons at her fall-winter 2013 show last week during New York Fashion Week.
"I am usually in fashion hibernation for the month of January," Ovitz tells Business Insider. "I stay at the office later than usual, especially the last few weeks leading up to the show. I am usually there until midnight."
But even after the runway show is complete and the clothes are on store hangers, Ovitz's work never ends.
"I go directly into market after fashion week so life is not totally back to normal until the end of February," the 29-year-old designer tells us. "By the end of February I already have the next concept and am ready to start doing research."
But in the end, she says putting her personal life on hold and the late hours at the office are all worth it.
"I was so happy with the way the show turned out and was so thrilled about all the positive reviews," Ovitz continued. "My family was very proud of me."
Calm before the storm on the runway.
I rarely do my hair because I don’t like spending the time to do it. I came to the show site with wet hair and someone on the Aveda hair team treated me to a blow dry. Aveda did an amazing job transforming all the models' hair into corseted braids to complement the collection.
Looking on at a dress rehearsal an hour before the show to time the pace that the models walk to the music.
A Cincinnati couple decided to tie the knot at White Castle yesterday.
Brenda Sparks and Rick Hohweiler met at the restaurant 29 years ago and won a contest to get married there, WCPO in Cincinnati reported.
They were surrounded by "family, friends, and fellow customers," the station reported.
"I just let em know that back in the day we used to bring our cars here and park on the street and just hang out until 3 or 4 in the morning. We did that every Friday and Saturday night and with all of friends and everything," Sparks told WCPO.
The happy couple received a "Crave Case" of 100 White Castle sliders as a gift.
WCPO reports that the couple was the only one to get married at White Castle on Valentine's Day.
But that doesn't mean there weren't other romantics celebrating there.
The retailer pulls out all the stops on Valentine's Day, offering customers flowers and candle-lit dinners.
Stewart also pointed out the remarkably luxurious way the leaders of Muslim countries disembarked from a private jet: using a portable escalator.
"The countries met to discuss issues ranging from the Syrian civil war to Palestine to how walking off private planes, that's right, walking off, is for chumps."
With luxury auto sales booming in many parts of the world, especially in resource-rich nations like Russia, where sales of Audis, BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes continue to soar, some of the local automakers are considering entering the segment with their own upmarket vehicles.
In Russia, the push is coming from country’s own government, which reportedly is seeking a domestic luxury auto brand to challenge the popular Western rivals.
Automotive News (subscription required), citing Russian newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, is reporting that Russian industry and trade minister Denis Manturov has asked local automakers like GAZ, ZiL and even niche sports car manufacturer and Formula One contender Marussia to develop proposals for a new luxury brand.
To help kickstart the project, Manturov is reportedly promising state support.
Some of the automakers, including Marussia, have confirmed they are working on the proposal.
ZiL already builds armored limousines for the Russian government and, given its size, could easily expand into building more mainstream cars. The same would be true for GAZ.
Marussia, on the other hand, would need to expand considerably to become a volume manufacturer of luxury cars. It currently sells a handful of sports cars per year and is working on a new model, the B2, which is pictured above in concept form and has been spied testing in prototype form recently.
Of course, establishing a new luxury brand is not something done overnight. It takes years of brand development, and vehicles with the high levels of performance, refinement and quality that luxury buyers demand — something we’re yet to see from Russian automakers.
One possibility that could be popular is reviving GAZ’s Volga brand. It was a symbol of high status during the Soviet times, though the brand has been tarnished recently with GAZ resorting to using old Chrysler platforms, like that of the Sebring, to underpin its latest Volga models.
Yesterday Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it would buy Heinz in a $28 billion deal, but they're not doing it alone.
For a buy this big, Buffett enlisted the help of Brazil's most famous banker and arguably fiercest dealmaker, Jorge Lemann.
Over the course of his life, Lemann has gone from journalist to national tennis champion to banker and now billionaire investor.
Last year, he overtook Eike Batista to become Brazil's richest man. In terms of their business style, however, Lemann and Batista have little in common. Where Batista is a flashy playboy who's vowed to become to the richest man in the world, Lemann is a silent killer. He's known for a strict management style, and he doesn't seem to be in the game for the money (from Bloomberg):
“Money is simply a way of measuring if the business is going well or not, but money in and of itself doesn’t fascinate me,” Lemann said in January 2008, according to an interview published in HSM Management magazine. He declined to comment for this story.
That says a lot.
Lemann was born in Rio in 1939.
His father was a Swiss businessman who immigrated to the country in the 1920s.
He left Brazil for Harvard, and earned his bachelors degree in economics in 1961.
Lemann still has a great relationship with Harvard helping Brazilian students study there and setting up scholarships:
Lemann has generously supported cross-cultural initiatives at Harvard University, including the Brazil Studies Program and Brazil Office of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS), for over a decade. He established the Lemann Visiting Scholars program and, more recently, the Lemann Fellows program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Kennedy School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He has actively engaged with the 38 students who comprise the first five cohorts of Lemann Fellows, as well as with students he has supported at Harvard College, Harvard Business School and elsewhere at the University.
After Harvard, Lemann's life was a mixed bag. He trained at Credit Suisse for a while and worked as a journalist.
Lemann worked as a business columnist for Jornal do Brasil. It's the 3rd oldest Brazilian paper in existence.
The 2013 Range Rover, the fourth generation of the iconic luxury SUV, is now in dealerships.
To show off what the new ride can do, Jaguar Land Rover sent us to southern Utah, where we took a drive through the desert on our way to a rock-covered, sandy, muddy, snowy day of off-road driving.
Our full review of the Range Rover asks the question, "Do you need a car that climb a rock-strewn mountain and massage your back at the same time?"
If the answer is yes, here's proof that the 2013 Range Rover, starting at $83,545, is the car for you.
Disclosure: Jaguar Land Rover paid for our travel and lodging expenses to drive the Range Rover.
Here's the 2013 Range Rover.
We left the Amangiri Resort where we were staying early in the morning.
Here's our route: starting in southern Utah, looping through northern Arizona, and back.
The nation’s home ownership rate is currently 65.4%, the lowest it has been in 16 years; however, home ownership is important to 96% of Americans, according to a poll from Prudential Real Estate.
It’s a buyer’s market right now, meaning that prices and mortgage rates are low, favoring homebuyers rather than sellers. If you’re looking to buy a home, now might be the time to start looking!
For city-lovers who also aspire to own their own home, NerdWallet looked through the twenty-five most populous cities to find the big cities that are most friendly to homeowners.
Our analysis addresses three main questions:
Are homes available? We assessed availability by the percentage of residents who own their own home. For example, New York’s home ownership rate is only 32.6%, likely a signal of competitive inventory, more housing options for renters rather than buyers, and expensive housing.
Are homes affordable? We measured this by dividing the median 3-bedroom house price by the median income of residents, showing what homes costs as a multiple of income.
Is the city likely to grow in upcoming years? We assessed growth by the percent population growth and the unemployment rate. High-growth cities have a low unemployment rate and a high population growth rate.
Columbus is a great place to settle down and buy a home, with its low unemployment rate and low cost of living.
This college town (it’s home to the Ohio State University) has a laid-back Midwestern vibe, and the city has world-renowned hospitals (including The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center) and research centers as well as an up-and-coming dining scene.
9. Denver, CO
Although Denverhomes are somewhat costly compared to the other cities on this list, the median income is high enough in this nature-loving city to compensate for the higher cost.
Denver, known for its cleanliness, has something for every resident, including great sports teams, food, nearby mountains for hiking and skiing and a great music scene.
8. Indianapolis, IN
More than half of those living in Indianapolis own a home, and the homes themselves are very affordable, particularly when combined with the low cost of living in the city.
Indianapolis provides plenty of affordable homes for homebuyers.
Why We Love It: Letting your wine breathe is nothing new, but Aero works in seconds by inserting the stem into a bottle of wine. Press a button and leave in the bottle or glass of wine for 30 seconds and it will mix in oxygen to soften tannins.
Approved by the Beverage Testing Institute in 2012, Aero uses two AAA batteries, has a built-in LED light, and includes two stems — one for full bottles, and a shorter option for glasses.
Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Group, is one of the most famous and successful entrepreneurs in the world.
His portfolio of assets now include everything from media companies and airlines to telecommunications companies and real estate.
But one of Branson's smartest early purchases was Necker Island, a 74-acre island in the Caribbean that he visited in the late 1970s and quickly fell in love with.
When Branson visited Necker at age 28, it was owned by Lord Cobham, who was asking $5 million for the uninhabited property. Branson boldly decided to offer $100,000 and was quickly evicted by the insulted landowner.
Over the next few months, Branson slowly increased his offer while looking for the necessary funds, according to Murray. It just so happened that Lord Cobham was in need of short term cash, and he finally accepted an offer of $180,000, more than a 96 percent discount off the asking price.
The purchase did come with some stipulations. The government required any foreigner who purchased the island to build a resort, or the state would reclaim ownership.
In addition to the enjoyment that guests have had over the years, Branson estimated in 2006 that the island's value had grown to approximately $60 million, a 33233 percent increase over what he paid for it.
The brand new 2013 Range Rover, the fourth generation of what Jaguar Land Rover righty calls an "iconic" vehicle, is an excellent vehicle.
Maybe too excellent.
At Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) invitation, we flew out to Utah and put the luxury SUV through its paces on desert highways and a rocky, muddy off-road course.
The luxurious and capable Range Rover handed everything remarkably well, climbing and descending steep trails, rolling along comfortably at rather high speeds, and easily dodging a deer that chose the wrong moment to cross the road.
And it did it while keeping us swathed in quality leather, listening to an excellent sound and enjoying a massage.
Does any car need to do all that?
The Sales Pitch
The Range Rover's mission is "to be the world's SUV brand of choice," says Kim McCullough, a Brand VP at JLR. The motto going into the design of the fourth generation was "don't change it, just make it better," and the team did just that.
While retaining the distinct look of its predecessors, the 2013 Range Rover is more capable, luxurious, and even fuel efficient.
What We Liked
Stewart Moore, a chief electrical engineer at JLR, described being behind the wheel of the Range Rover as an "imperious driving experience." He's right: You sit high up, feel little below 80 mph, and easily reach rather illegal speeds.
Off-road, it does things you would never expect. The Terrain Response system sends the SUV up hills, over huge rocks, and through three feet of water, no sweat.
See just what the new Range Rover can do off-road >>
Thanks to its aluminum architecture, the Range Rover is nearly 1,000 pounds lighter than the outgoing model; its body is 51 pounds lighter than that of a BMW 3 Series sedan.
That means improved handling as well as fuel economy (up 7 percent to 13 mpg in the city and 19 mpg on the highway). And the car does not feel top heavy — the threat of rolling over did not occur to us — even when the suspension is raised all the way up.
The interior is supremely comfortable, with massage seats in front (the top of the line, obnoxiously named Autobiography version has them in back, too), and quality leather and wood (both sustainably sourced). The back seat is spacious, although it gets tight with three adults.
JLR rightly reduced the number of buttons and controls by 51 percent, yielding a control panel that is easy to understand and use. And it did it without relying on a voice command system, which never live up to what they promise.
Plenty of colors are available for the interior and exterior. We would go for the classic black or white, but apparently red leather is popular in Miami, and drivers on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts like the teal exterior. The point is, buyers get what they want when they drop around $100,00 on the SUV.
Downsides
Our dislikes were few and far between: The button to open and close the trunk is fussy, and freezes up when you forget there is a button, and try to close the trunk manually. One of two glove compartments shuts unless you hold it open, so putting anything in there requires two hands.
These complaints are, obviously, nitpicking, and should not play a role in a decision whether or not to buy the Range Rover. In any case, they could easily be fixed by the time the 2014 model year comes around.
What It Costs
The Range Rover comes in four versions:
Range Rover: $83,545
HSE: $88,545
Supercharged: $99,995
Autobiography: $130,995
(We test drove the extra-filled standard and Supercharged models, worth $94,395 and $111,620, respectively.)
Impressively, JLR has built a car that does not compromise on luxury or capability: That's how they sell the Range Rover, and that's also what pushes the most affordable version above $80,000.
The Big Question
Do you need a car that climb a rock-strewn mountain and massage your back at the same time? Does anyone?
If yes, you cannot do better than the 2013 Range Rover.
If no, it's probably because you'll never do serious off-roading in such a valuable car. It will get you through muddy and snowy conditions, of course, but so will any ride with all-wheel drive.
(Whatever you do, do not bother with the Autobiography: The $40,000 price jump is not justified by some extra features in an already luxurious car. Even a JLR executive told us over dinner it would not be his choice.)
If you decide to go for the Range Rover, you'll have a great car. But know that a good chunk of your monthly payment is paying for the right to tell your friends how capable your ride is, not to actually put it to the test.
Disclosure: Jaguar Land Rover paid for our travel and lodging expenses to drive the Range Rover.
For ages, mankind has speculated on the power of the mind. You can find quotes as old as the Bible “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Or as new as The Secret proclaiming the “law of attraction.” Wise men of many philosophies and faiths have thought what we believe has an influence on who we become.
Could the same apply to our financial affairs? Could it be that the things you believe are conspiring to keep you from accumulating wealth?
If that's true, what kinds of thoughts could be holding you back? And, if so, is it possible to replace them with thoughts that would help you to reach your full financial potential?
1. You believe you can't accumulate wealth on your salary.
If you're spending your entire paycheck, it's easy to believe you'll never build any savings. How could you possibly save hundreds of thousands when you're barely making it to your next payday?
2. You think money is evil.
It's a common belief. An often misquoted Bible verse is that “money is the root of all evil.” It's actually the “love of money is the root…” Religious people of many faiths believe you should separate yourself from the world and its riches—essentially telling us becoming wealthy is something to be avoided.
3. You think you don't deserve money.
You may think a hefty bank account is the reward you get for being a good person. However, if you’re like most of us, you have a few things in your past that aren't a source of pride.
It’s easy to believe you don't deserve to have any money. In fact, it would be wrong for you to have a growing bank account or IRA.
But none are quite as annoying as reservation cancellations. Hotels, car rental agencies and even restaurants sometimes have certain cancellation windows, and once you've missed the deadline, you're basically stuck –– unless you pay up.
"This is a no-brainer, but it's something that many travelers don't think to do. If you missed the cancellation window for your hotel, restaurant, or car booking but can still change the reservation date free of charge, move your reservation back by several weeks or months," she writes. "Then call back to cancel with a different representative. Sneaky? Sure. But it works, and you'll never get stuck with a lousy cancellation fee again."
Unless the customer service agent digs through your reservation history to check whether you've changed before (OpenTable is notorious for this), you'll be in the clear.
Canceling flights without getting slapped by a fee is much trickier. Your best bet is to either purchase trip insurance (covers death, illness, or cancellations due to weather), or pay with a credit card that comes with built-in trip protection. Be sure to review your policy.
Most fashion designers hire young, slender models to stomp down the runways in their Fashion Week presentations.
But bespoke menswear designer Michael Fenici wanted to showcase pieces from his latest evening wear collection on the type of men he designed them for, not "22-year-olds with six-packs" from a modeling agency, he told us.
With the help of Nolcha Fashion Week's founder, Fenici found nearly a dozen New York businessmen to sport his hand-made suits at his runway show. They ranged from the CEO of Star Vodka to the founder of wireLawyer.com.
Fenici, who is based in Lebanon, flew to New York three months before the show to meet and measure his models. It took him about three weeks to finish the collection, which included plaid paints, tuxedos, and floppy bow ties.
For guys with no experience on a runway, Fenici's real-life models looked pretty good at his fashion show at Chelsea Piers this week.
Brett David, the maitre d' at new Lower East Side hotspot The General, looked ready for Christmas in red plaid pants and a maroon velvet jacket.
Z100 radio personality Trey Morgan sported one of Fenici's silk bow ties.
Entrepreneur Jonathan Stein, who co-founded VNV Media, looked ready to attend a wedding.
Everyone knows electricity and water don’t mix, but with the latest creation from Cigarette Racing, a world renowned manufacturer of powered boats based in Miami-Dade County, Florida, nothing could be further from the truth.
At the Miami International Boat Show this week, Cigarette Racing took the covers off a new boat concept powered by an electric drivetrain inspired by the one in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive.
Cigarette Racing and AMG have collaborated on a number of projects in the past, and just this month unveiled the 42-foot Huntress, which was inspired by the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG.
Cigarette Racing’s latest boat, the 38-foot Cigarette AMG Electric Drive concept, is like nothing we’ve seen before, however.
Just as the SLS AMG Electric Drive is the fastest and most powerful electric car currently in production, the new Cigarette AMG Electric Drive is currently the fastest and most powerful electric boat ever produced, although it's still a concept.
It has a combined output of 1,654 kilowatts (2,220 horsepower) and 2,212 pound-feet of torque from its twelve electric motors, which is enough to see it reach a top speed of 100 mph. By comparison, the 552-kilowatt (700-horsepower) SLS AMG Electric Drive has a limited top speed of 155 mph.
The boat concept integrates four batteries with a total of 48 modules and 3,456 cells which generate a total capacity of 240 kilowatt hours and maximum voltage of 400 volts. To charge all of this, there are two 22-kilowatt onboard chargers from the SLS AMG Electric Drive as standard.
Adapted to fit the infrastructure standard of many American marinas, the boat has a charging capacity of 44 kilowatts. The battery is fully charged in approximately seven hours. To reduce the charging time to less than three hours, the powerboat can be fitted with four on-board chargers as an option.
Unfortunately, no figures for range have been given.
Looking past its insane drivetrain, the Cigarette AMG Electric Drive boat concept is finished in AMG’s Electricbeam magno paint finish, the same matte chrome paintwork exclusively reserved for the SLS AMG Electric Drive.
This theme carries over to the cabin, which also benefits from design and fittings inspired by those in the electric Mercedes supercar. Items including sports seats, various carbon elements and AMG logos. There are also displays provide for current motor output, speed, battery voltage and of course the battery's state of charge.