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Inside the most expensive zip code in Silicon Valley, where tech moguls like Eric Schmidt and Paul Allen have their mansions

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atherton silicon valley housing 8899

From the looks of it, Atherton could be any ritzy suburb in America.

But it isn't anywhere. Atherton is an idyllic town located on the San Francisco Peninsula, where even modest homes go for millions of dollars. It is the third priciest zip code in the US and the most expensive in Silicon Valley, according to Forbes.

It's no surprise that tech billionaires — including Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, HP CEO Meg Whitman, and Google chairman Eric Schmidt — come home to Atherton's 94027. The town's prestige, privacy, and proximity to major tech companies draw ultra-rich homebuyers, who often pay all cash and bidhundreds of thousands of dollars above asking price.

Here's what it's like inside Atherton.

SEE ALSO: The next hottest housing market in America is this San Francisco micro-hood that's so obscure, most residents have never heard of it

Atherton is a small, mostly residential town located about 45 minutes south of San Francisco and less than 20 minutes from the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and Tesla.



Mega-mansions line nearly every block. Many homes have fences or landscaping that prevent prying eyes from looking in. Each lot feels like its own gated community.

The median sale price in Atherton was $5.42 million in 2016, four times higher than that of San Francisco. That figure is highly conservative, according to local realtor Tom LeMieux.

The ranking by Forbes probably did not take off-market sales into account, which made up one-third of home sales in Atherton in 2015, LeMieux told The Almanac. Those exclusive deals are transacted through real-estate agents but are not publicly advertised.



Despite their walls, Atherton estates still have an imposing presence from the street.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An executive who helped create Bumble started an app to help women find mom friends

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Michelle Kennedy, Peanut founder

In a desperate attempt to meet other mothers, Ivana Mannel Googled "how to make mom friends in Dallas." She didn't have any family or friends with kids of their own in her area, and was desperate to find someone to relate to. What she found on the other end of her search was Peanut, an app that links up mothers with other compatible moms in the same area. 

Now, she says she goes on the app everyday to exchange messages with other moms. One of her "matches" is teaching her French, and another how to make Sushi. "I have people who understand what it’s like to be a mother and they’re there to help. It’s so amazing and simply an enormous relief because I know I am not alone." she said. 

The Peanut app uses a similar formula to dating apps like Tinder and Bumble. Users connect their Facebook accounts, and choose from a variety of descriptors like "Spiritual Gangster," "Fashion Killa," or "Single Mama." A smart algorithm and geolocation tool then shows them nearby women with similar interests. They can either swipe up to wave, or down to say maybe later. If another woman waves back, it's a match and the two can start chatting.

The app, launched one year ago, was created by Michelle Kennedy, a former executive at Badoo who was integral to the creation of Bumble. After having a son, she struggled to find other moms to connect with while also working. She was also seriously unimpressed with the lack of social technology available for moms.

"It was like, here's a forum. The technology and tools were out there, but there was nothing catering to this enormous market." Kennedy said. 

Moms who missed out on Tinder

The app's demographic is 25 to 35-year-olds, a generation accustomed to whipping out a smartphone to do everything. Kennedy said she finds there are two types of users on Peanut: those who found their partners through a dating app and find it totally natural to meet close friends online; and those who missed out on using apps like Tinder and want in on the fun.

She wanted to focus specifically on the female user experience, and created Peanut with all of the constraints of motherhood in mind. The app connects to users' calendars, and allows busy moms to schedule and add playdates or other meetups directly to their calendars.

Safety is also a critical feature – it's why Kennedy requires users to connect Facebook accounts and use geolocation tools. Dallas mom Jess Elo said she recently hosted a happy hour for women in the Peanut community, and was pleasantly surprised when 15 women she hadn't met before showed up. 

"There's a safe feeling to it, you know where they live, and how old their kids are. That's the key to it." she said.  

Peanut mom photo

The isolation that comes along with having a baby can be difficult, but Yalda Uhls, a researcher at UCLA and author of Media Moms & Digital Dads, emphasized the importance of young mothers also taking time to connect with each other and their babies in non-virtual worlds. 

"Looking at your face is how kids learn non-verbal empathy cues, and if you are always looking at your screen they won't learn." she said.

So far, the app has launched in London, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, LA and as of Thursday, San Francisco. It's got a long ways to go before reaching the scale of a Tinder, but the app is growing its audience of users and expanding its locations: The number of users is currently in the "six figures" according to the company, with more than 100,000 swipers per day and 15 million profile views. Kennedy said she also sees users popping up around the world in far flung places like Dubai and Australia. Mothers are a powerful community, and word about the app spreads quickly from mom to mom. 

Kennedy says she gets emails from users every week asking when Peanut is coming to their city. She noted that the way our society lives and works has changed. People used to live down the street from a close community of mothers and sisters, but that is no longer the reality.

"They say it takes a village, but we no longer have that village mentality, and those support networks just don't exist anymore." she said 

SEE ALSO: An 18-year-old entrepreneur has idea that could change the world — and she might help change the tech industry too

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: TINDER COFOUNDER: Why the people you see on Tinder aren't random

HGTV's 'Fixer Upper' makes house flipping seem like a good investment — but there's a catch

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Chip and Joanna Gaines fixer upper

If you hadn't heard much of the term "fixer upper" before a few years ago, you can thank Chip and Joanna Gaines for launching it into the mainstream.

Since 2013, the Gaineses have starred in one of HGTV's most-watched home improvement shows, aptly called "Fixer Upper."

The couple announced earlier this week their show will conclude after its fifth season airs this fall, much to the disappointment of the show's obsessive fan base. By the end of their run, Chip and Joanna will have completed nearly 80 on-screen "dream home" renovations in Waco, Texas.

For many featured on the show, working with Chip and Joanna gives them more than their dream home — they also clinch a good investment.

When it's time for the big reveal at the end of each episode, Chip guesstimates the new value of the home, after the purchase price and renovation costs. "You're upside right on this thing almost $30,000," Chip tells a satisfied client who sunk about $272,000 into a property in one episode. "Not only did you pick a beautiful house, but I think you made a great investment."

In a small town like Waco, where the median list price is just under $180,000, that's something to celebrate. But in the off-camera world of real estate, the outlook isn't as bright.

In fact, when the housing market imploded nearly a decade ago, over-zealous real estate investors may have played a big part, according to a new working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). That's in sharp contrast to the typical narrative blaming Americans with bad credit who bought homes they couldn't afford. Through an analysis of anonymous mortgage data, the NBER found that it was actually wealthy and middle-class investors — who bought cheap properties in smaller markets, fixed them up and sold them for a profit until the financial crisis struck — who defaulted on their loans en masse.

Just a few years into the economic recovery, HGTV introduced the Gaineses, who have inspired countless Americans to dive back into real estate and invest in fixer uppers of their own.

Fixer Upper big reveal

Shows like "Fixer Upper" make it look easy. Every episode has the same formula. The Gaineses visit three homes with their clients, who come armed with an "all-in budget" to cover the purchase of the home and the various renovation costs, which Chip estimates seemingly on the spot. Improvements almost always include updating countertops, floors, and cabinets, and expanding rooms.

After they purchase the house, construction gets underway. There may be a hiccup here or there that requires the client to fork over an extra couple thousand dollars, but it never derails the project (as far as the viewer can see).

The client in the episode mentioned above bought his home for $169,000, which left him with a renovation budget of $103,000. Though most of the clients featured on "Fixer Upper" have a renovation budget in the mid-five figures — thanks to remarkably low purchase prices — that's a far cry from reality.

A 2016 analysis from Zillow Digs found the average fixer upper was listed for 8% below market value, saving buyers just $11,000 to complete renovations before they break even.

Still, fixer uppers can be a cheaper way to come into homeownership: Buy a run-down, albeit livable, house on the cheap and slowly but surely make improvements without draining your savings account.

"Fixer uppers can be a great deal, and they allow buyers to incorporate their personal style into a home while renovating, but it's still a good idea to do the math before making the leap," Svenja Gudell, Zillow chief economist, said.

"While an 8% discount or $11,000 in upfront savings on a fixer upper is certainly a good chunk of change, it likely won't be enough to cover a kitchen remodel, let alone structural updates like a new roof or plumbing, which many of these properties may require," Gudell said. When you're left with barely enough cash to cover renovations, the chances of earning a good return on investment are slim to none.

"Do you have the guts to take on a fixer upper?" Joanna asks during each episode's opening credits. Guts are one thing, but finances are another.

Although a few "Fixer Upper" alum have been able to capitalize on the show's popularity — like one couple who listed their home for about 10 times the area's median price per square foot— the average house-flipper doesn't have that luxury.

In the real world, the true cost of a fixer upper may not be worth the potential treasure.

SEE ALSO: Million-dollar ZIP codes are on the rise — and it could spell trouble for America's homeownership rate

DON'T MISS: 20 of the best US housing markets for investing in real estate

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines choose the opposite of trendy when designing a home

An early-morning dance party that startup workers are obsessed with is expanding to colleges — here's what it's like

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Daybreaker, a company whose early-morning dance parties draws startup workers in London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo, is bringing the sunrise soirée to college campuses across the US.

Founded in 2013, Daybreaker throws three-hour raves complete with electronic dance music, free juice and snacks, and yoga — all before most people have their morning cup of coffee. Creators of the event series bill it as a "movement," with over 350,000 members in 21 cities.

The pre-work dance parties are expanding to college campuses this fall, in the hopes of offering stressed-out students a reprieve from trashy basement parties. Unlike most raves, Daybreaker events are free of booze and drugs. They aim to energize, connect, and delight party-goers.

So far, Daybreaker has hosted six raves at colleges including University of South Carolina, Duke, Boston University, and New York University. Most often the school administration foots the bill. Fifty more colleges have contacted Daybreaker since launch, according to the company.

"We're not saying, 'Don't party.' We're saying, 'You do you,'" Radha Agrawal, the 38-year-old cofounder of Daybreaker, told Business Insider. "If you want to party without alcohol, if you want to do yoga before dancing— without the need for social lubrication — this is for you."

I attended two Daybreaker parties while living in New York City. Here's what they're like.

SEE ALSO: San Francisco's Museum of Ice Cream has a sprinkle pool and a Pop Rocks cave — here's what it's like

Daybreaker parties typically start at 6 a.m. I'm a morning person. Still, waking up at 5 a.m., dressing up, and "rave-ifying" with the requisite gemstones and glitter was a struggle.



Daybreaker was hosting a Halloween-themed extravaganza on a boat. Our taxi dropped us at a pier, and we knew we were in the right place when we spotted some crazy costumes.



A Daybreaker rave usually costs $25 for a "land party," but since this one took place on a yacht, it was $35. We got stamped with the company logo and boarded the boat.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Mark Zuckerberg apologized for Facebook's role dividing people in a Yom Kippur message vowing to 'do better' (FB)

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Mark Zuckerberg publicly apologized for Facebook's negative effects, posting a message to mark the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday on Saturday in a year in which the social network has come under fire for spreading misinformation.

"For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better," Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page. 

Saturday night marked the end of Yom Kippur, the Jewish "day of atonement" and Judaism's holiest day of the year in which it is customary to fast, to reflect on the past year and to forgive and ask forgiveness for one's wrongful actions.

Zuckerberg did not specify how Facebook was used to "divide" in his message. The 2-billion member social network, created 13 years ago by Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room, has become one of the world's most powerful communication channels. Facebook has been  in the spotlight since the 2016 US presidential elections as the spread of fake news articles and political ads bought by Russia-linked groups are believed to have used Facebook to gain momentum.

Facebook was also criticized for lax oversight over its online advertising categories following a ProPublica report which revealed that Facebook's algorithm enabled advertisers to serve ads to almost 2,300 "Jew haters." 

Here is Zuckerberg's full message:

SEE ALSO: The real lesson of Facebook's Russian ads is scarier than we realize — and we're still blind to it

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything we know about the Apple 'iPhone X' — which should be announced today

We spent 3 nights in the NYC underbelly with a crime reporter to see how safe the 'safest big city' in the US really is

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In 1990, after recording a record high 2,262 homicides, some called New York City the "murder capital" of the country. But since then, the homicide rate has steadily declined.

The Big Apple is on pace this year to record fewer homicides than the record low of 333 set in 2014, the New York Daily news reported in early September.

Some have even dubbed today's NYC "the safest big city" in the US.

To get a better sense of what New York City's streets are like these days, we spent three nights with NY Daily News crime reporter Kerry Burke, considered by many to be the best in the city.

Burke, 55, reported from Ground Zero on 9/11, helped break the Eric Garner story, and was even on a few episodes of Bravo's "Tabloid Wars" in 2006. He said he's been to roughly four shootings a week since he started the job 16 years ago.

The first night we spent with Kerry passed with few incidents — perhaps a sign of the safer times. But the last two nights told a different story.

Here's what we saw.

SEE ALSO: I spent the weekend with a homeless community in New York to see what it's really like to live on the streets

DON'T MISS: I covered murders during Chicago's deadliest year in decades — here's what I saw

Night 1: I first met Burke in the Bronx while he was trying to find a man who had just been acquitted on murder charges.

"How are ya, Mr. Brown?" he said in a Boston accent.

Burke, who grew up in Boston's Columbia Point and Dorchester housing projects, was rather formal at first, but switched right away to "bro" or "brotha," like he called almost every other guy I met with him.

He filled me in on the details about the man he was looking for before we walked to the guy's last known address.

Residents in the building told him the man no longer lived there, so Burke asked people in other buildings and nearby stores if they knew him.

"Bodegas are the best," he said. "They know everything that goes on in the neighborhood and they know everybody."



He walked into one unlocked neighboring apartment building and knocked on doors.

Burke was adept at talking to and gaining the trust of all different sorts of people, and he stressed the importance of being polite.

"Maybe it's because I'm a troubled Catholic that I always say thank you," Burke said, adding that he "might have to come back" to get more information, too.

After about an hour or so, Burke was able to get the man's phone number, but unable to reach him.

He later heard that a murder suspect was being questioned at the 32nd precinct, and decided to go wait outside in the hopes of getting a statement when the suspect walked out.



Around 11 p.m., the suspect's cousin walked out of the precinct. Burke asked him a few questions, but didn't get much.

Throughout the eight hours I spent with Burke that first night, there were no homicides, and only one shooting — a man hit in the buttocks.

The victim's condition was immediately stabilized, and since the incident was not serious, and it happened more than an hour away from us, we didn't go.

I took the lack of homicides or serious shootings during Burke's shift, especially given that it was a Friday night, as a good sign. But it was only the first night.

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 10 best places to retire in America

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Sarasota, Florida, is the best place to retire in America.

That's according to U.S. News & World Report, which on Monday released its 2018 ranking of the best places to retire, based on data related to happiness, housing affordability, healthcare, taxes, job markets, and desirability of a locale.

Some data was complied from a public survey of pre-retirees (age 45 to 59) and retirement-age (age 60 and up) folks across the country. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and U.S. News' own ranking of best hospitals, were also included.

U.S. News gathered data for the 100 largest metros, scoring each on a 10-point scale to determine the final ranking. The happiness index carried the most weight (23.8%), followed by housing affordability (20.9%) and access to good healthcare (19.8%). Read the full methodology here.

Below are the top 10 places to retire in America, mostly featuring cities from three states — Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania. On each slide, we included the happiness, housing, and healthcare scores (each on 10-point scale).

SEE ALSO: 10 signs you've found the perfect place to retire

DON'T MISS: MAPPED: How far $1 million in cash will get you in every state

10. Washington, DC

Happiness: 7.7

Housing affordability: 3.4

Healthcare: 9.3



9. Austin, Texas

Happiness: 7.6

Housing affordability: 6

Healthcare: 5.5



8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Happiness: 6.9

Housing affordability: 7.5

Healthcare: 7.8



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Shake Shack is opening a location that won't accept cash (SHAK)

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Shake Shack

Shake Shack is opening a cashless location for the first time.

The burger chain will open a cashless kiosk in New York City later in October, CNBC reported Monday. Customers will reportedly order via phones or kiosks and then receive a text from the location when their order is ready for pickup.

Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti told CNBC that the location would serve as a testing site to see whether certain aspects of cashless ordering could be applied at other restaurants.

Shake Shack isn't the only chain exploring cashless payments. In January, the popular salad chain Sweetgreen transitioned to accepting payments via only its app or a credit card.

Going cashless tends to cut service time, as employees no longer have to spend time counting money. It also reduces the threat of theft and robbery.

But cutting cash isn't without problems. Some customers may be confused by the new ordering methods. Further, a 2015 report found that about 7% of US households didn't have a bank account, something that would exclude them from ordering at cashless locations.

SEE ALSO: A popular fast-casual chain is making an unprecedented move to stop accepting cash

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why this wine costs $16,000 per bottle


McDonald's is bringing Szechuan McNugget sauce back to locations across the US after a cartoon called for its return (MCD)

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rick and morty sauce

McDonald's is bringing Szechuan McNugget sauce back to the masses. 

In late July, McDonald's gave away four jugs of Szechuan McNugget sauce in response to an avalanche of demands from fans of the Adult Swim cartoon "Rick and Morty."

On Sunday, McDonald's announced that it was bringing back Szechuan sauce for a wider audience. 

Starting on October 7, select McDonald's locations across the country are giving away Szechuan Sauce. The sauce will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 2 p.m. local time. Customers can request the sauce along with orders of the new Buttermilk Crispy Tenders.

You can search which McDonald's locations near you will be giving out Szechuan sauce on the company's Buttermilk Crispy Tenders website. In the company's words, the roll-out is "really, really limited." For example, only five McDonald's in all of New Hampshire will serve the sauce. 

In other words, it still won't be easy to get your hands on the sauce. However, it will be free.

In August, one of the lucky recipients of the jug of Szechuan sauce sold the package on eBay for $15,350. The winning bidder was, in fact, the DJ deadmau5 — who is apparently a huge "Rick and Morty" fan. 

"Rick and Morty" set off the Szechuan sauce renaissance after its season premiere ended with a plea from mad scientist Rick for McDonald's to bring back the plum sauce. Szechuan sauce was previously only available for a limited time in 1998 to promote the Disney movie "Mulan."

SEE ALSO: People are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a jug of McDonald's Szechuan McNugget sauce that is one of only 4 in the world

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you shouldn't be afraid to complain about a bad meal in a restaurant, according to Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio

An earthquake expert says there’s one neighborhood in San Francisco where she'd never buy a house

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There's a 76% chance that the Bay Area will experience a more severe earthquake than 1989's Loma Prieta temblor in the next three decades.

"It could happen tomorrow or in 30 years," Mary Comerio, an architect who specializes in earthquake engineering research and a professor of disaster recovery and reconstruction at the University of California, Berkeley, told Business Insider.

The potential impacts of this quake on San Francisco are severe. Heavy, dense apartments built above cavernous garages (also known as soft-story housing), will buckle as the marshy soil beneath them — added in the latter half of the 19th century by zealous developers wanting to extend the peninsula's real estate — behaves like a liquid.

SF EQ map skitchedThis phenomenon, which seismologists refer to as liquefaction, is one of the region's biggest threats. It plagues the majority of neighborhoods on San Francisco's eastern shoreline as well as a slice of land along its western edge. Essentially, anything along the water is at significant risk — something that Comerio said has heavily influenced her decisions about where to live.

san francisco marina green parkAs a result, she said she'd never consider moving to a place near the waterfront.

"I don’t want to live on soft soil. I'd love to be able to walk along the bay but I don’t want to live in that setting because I know it's going to be highly damaged," Comerio said.

The fact that she so ardently considers the soil conditions in an area has become something of an inside joke to her friends and family, Comerio said.

"It’s become a family joke that I always say, 'Honey, I like the soil conditions here.'"

SEE ALSO: Mexico is in the worst possible place for earthquakes — here's why it keeps getting hit

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The only right way to pop your pimples

The former CEO of Equinox is selling his New York City condo for a discounted $7.5 million

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Corcoran nyc listings 2Harvey Spevak, former CEO and current executive chairman and managing partner at the boutique fitness chain Equinox, has been trying to sell his condo in New York's Park Imperial tower condo since 2011.

First listed unsuccessfully for $11.995 million that year, the home later went off the market for some time. Then, in Feburary of this year, it returned for $9.5 million before being lowered further to $7.5 million in September, Curbed reported.

The duplex — two properties that Spevak and his wife, Rhonda, purchased separately for $2.5 million and $2.95 million — were combined to make a single, 2,954-square-foot duplex.

See the space, which is on the market with Corcoran, below. 

SEE ALSO: A top-ranking Netflix exec just bought this gorgeous $20 million home in Malibu — look inside

The Park Imperial is in Midtown Manhattan, on West 56th Street and 8th Avenue. The building's more famous residents have included Daniel Craig and, in 2010, the fugitive tech CEO Jacob "Kobi" Alexander.

Source: Curbed



The condo was once two separate units, the first of which the Spevaks purchased in 2005. They purchased the second in 2008. The couple combined the two spaces into one, 2,954-square-foot duplex with the help of architect Ismael Leyva.



There are four bedrooms ...



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See inside the $10 million Upper East Side condo the Obamas are rumored to be considering purchasing

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The Obamas may be moving uptown.

Page Six reported Monday that the Obama family had been considering buying a $10 million condo on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The Obamas have reportedly been seen entering and exiting a building on Gracie Square. Property records show that a nine-room duplex at that building went into contract on September 26, which sparked the purchase speculation.

The building itself is 15 floors and was built in 1930. The listing calls it "one of the foremost elegant and coveted buildings in New York." 

It has an indoor squash or basketball court for residents as well as lobby staff and a "live-in resident manager." One of the most important features: a private drive-through for easy drop-off — a feature that could be essential for someone under Secret Service protection.

A spokesperson for former President Obama did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

Earlier this year, the Obama family reportedly purchased the Washington, DC mansion they had been renting since leaving the White House. The purchase price was $8.1 million. They also own a home in Hyde Park in Chicago and were rumored to be looking at vacation homes in Martha's Vineyard, though a spokesperson for the family has said that those rumors were not true.

Take a look around the luxurious duplex apartment, which was listed by Brown Harris Stevens until it went into contract last week.

SEE ALSO: The Obamas just shelled out $8.1 million for the DC mansion they've been renting since leaving the White House

DON'T MISS: Here's what will happen to the Playboy Mansion now that Hugh Hefner has died

The apartment is at the end of a dead-end street and features a drive-through for easy drop-off.



The apartment itself is spacious, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms.



It was completely renovated recently.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Starbucks is adding pumpkin spice whipped cream to the menu — but there's a catch (SBUX)

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Starbucks is adding pumpkin spice-flavored whipped cream to the menu — but only for a limited time. 

Starbucks will add pumpkin spice whipped cream to all Pumpkin Spice Lattes beginning Thursday, October 5 through Sunday, October 8 at participating stores in the U.S. and Canada, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to Business Insider. 

The chain also featured pumpkin spice whipped cream as a topping for a limited time last year. 

The whipped cream is made with pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg. In addition to PSLs and Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos, customers can ask for the whipped cream on other beverages. 

SEE ALSO: McDonald's is bringing Szechuan McNugget sauce back to locations across the US after a cartoon called for its return

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ex-Google employees created a vending machine to replace corner stores — and the idea is being mocked all over Twitter

There have been 273 mass shootings in the US so far in 2017 — here's the full list

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The death toll continues to rise on Monday in Las Vegas, Nevada, where a gunman killed at least 59 people and injured at least 527 others at a country music festival on Sunday night.

It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The incident marked the 273rd mass shooting in 2017, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings in the US. To put this into perspective, we are 275 days into the year, which means the US has had nearly as many mass shootings as days in 2017.

There is no broadly accepted definition of a mass shooting. Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are "shot and/or killed" at "the same general time and location."

The government also doesn't have an official definition. In 2013, a report from the Congressional Research Service, known as Congress's think tank, described mass shootings as those in which shooters "select victims somewhat indiscriminately" and kill four or more people — a higher bar than Gun Violence Archive's, as it doesn't take injuries into account.

In 2013, a federal mandate lowered that threshold to three deaths. By this definition, using data from Gun Violence Archive, the Las Vegas event was the 38th mass shooting in the US in 2017.

Data from Gun Violence Archive also shows that more than 11,650 people have died from gun-related violence so far this year and more than 23,500 others were injured.

Here's a complete list of the mass shootings— as defined by Gun Violence Archive — that have occurred in the US so far in 2017. Click the arrows at the bottom to move through the list.

You can view a report of any incident by visiting the list at gunviolencearchive.org.

SEE ALSO: Where Americans are most likely to be killed by gun violence

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'It was an act of pure evil': Watch Trump's statement about the Las Vegas shooting — the deadliest shooting in modern US history

Take a look inside The Grill, the luxurious, revamped version of the NYC restaurant that invented the power lunch

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When the Four Seasons' Grill Room opened in 1959, it quickly became the dining room of choice for advertising and publishing industry executives.

The restaurant was located in a part of Midtown Manhattan that, at the time, was the epicenter of those industries. The Four Seasons was a sort of clubhouse where executives went to have their business lunches, earning it the unofficial title of the inventor of the power lunch.

The Four Seasons closed in the summer of 2016 following a rent hike and struggles with Aby Rosen, the restaurant's landlord at the Seagram Building. But, just a few months later, it reopened under new ownership as The Grill, which is described as "a classic, reinvented" on the restaurant's website.

We took a trip to the chophouse and chatted with Mario Carbone, executive chef of The Grill and co-founder of Major Food Group, about how the restaurant strikes a delicate balance between staying true to its history and staying true to the times.

SEE ALSO: We visited the 'McDonald's of the Philippines,' which serves spaghetti and fried chicken alongside its burgers — here's what it's like

DON'T MISS: Nobody wants to buy this $7.5 million duplex being sold by the former CEO of Equinox

The Grill was opened in May by Major Food Group, a New York City-based restaurant group that's behind high-end spots, like Carbone, that are known for both their extravagance and celebrity clientele. Major Food Group has also opened another new restaurant in a different part of the Four Seasons space, called The Pool.

Source: Business Insider



Carbone and his team knew from the beginning that they would be restoring — not renovating — the space. The Grill is the only restaurant in the country whose interior is landmarked.



Carbone says it's this distinction that gives the space its charm and makes it so special. Everything from the furniture to the artwork is original, and he says he loves that about the restaurant.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 eerie photos of enormous Chinese cities completely empty of people

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Throughout China, there are hundreds of cities that have almost everything one needs for a modern, urban lifestyle: high-rise apartment complexes, developed waterfronts, skyscrapers, and even public art. Everything, that is, except one major factor: people. 

These mysterious — and almost completely empty — cities are a part of China's larger plan to move up to 300 million citizens currently living in rural areas into urban locations. Places like the Kangbashi District of Ordos are already prepped and ready to be occupied.

Photographer Kai Caemmerer became fascinated with these urban plans, and in 2015 he traveled to China to explore and document them. His series, "Unborn Cities," depicts a completely new type of urban development. "Unlike in the US, where cities often begin as small developments and grow in accordance to the local industries, these new Chinese cities are built to the point of near completion before introducing people," he told Business Insider.

See 12 eerie images from his series:

SEE ALSO: The best photos from 66 countries, according to the largest competition in the world

When Caemmerer found out about these empty cities, he was immediately fascinated. "As an architectural photographer, I found the notion of a contemporary ghost town to be appealing in a sort of unsettling way," he said.



"These new Chinese cities are built to the point of near completion before introducing people," Caemmerer said. "Because of this, there is an interim period between the final phases of development and when the areas become noticeably populated, during which many of the buildings stand empty."



In 2015, Caemmerer photographed the Kangbashi District of Ordos, the Yujiapu Financial District near Tianjin, and the Meixi Lake development near the city of Changsha.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An early Tesla investor wants to offload his Silicon Valley mansion for $40 million — take a look inside

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Tesla wouldn't be the triumphant car maker it is today without Alan Salzman, a well-known venture capitalist who made an early bet on Elon Musk's startup before it had a product.

Salzman owned about 9% of Tesla for a time. He sold a fraction of his shares when the company went public in 2010, and still owns nearly seven million shares worth $2.3 billion. 

Salzman, the 63-year-old cofounder of VantagePoint Capital Partners, has the eye-popping mansion to prove his wealth. 200 Polhemus Avenue is a six-bedroom, nine-bath estate in Atherton, California, complete with an in-house spa, library, movie theater, and golf course.

The house went on the market for $39.75 million in March 2017. There have been no takers yet, which means the sprawling estate in the country's third most expensive zip code could be all yours, if you have the millions to spare. Take a look inside. 

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200 Polhemus Avenue is the most expensive listing in the priciest zip code in Silicon Valley.

Inside the most expensive zip code in Silicon Valley, where tech moguls like Eric Schmidt and Paul Allen have their mansions »



In March, Salzman listed the 9,000-square-foot Atherton manor for $39.75 million, which is an increase of 300% from what he paid for the house in 2001. It cost $12 million then.

Source: San Francisco Business Journal



Built in 1931 and "renovated with European grandeur," the mansion embodies luxury.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An obscure salad chain backed by Shake Shack's founder is about to blow up — here's what it's like

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A healthy fast-casual chain based out of — where else? — California is expanding nationwide, thanks to a cash infusion from restaurant mogul and Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer.

Tender Greens, which serves plates, sandwiches, and salads made with fine-dining ingredients and sold for fast-casual prices, will grow from 24 locations in California to major cities including Manhattan, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, in 2018. The expansion has been in the works since 2015, when Tender Greens received a minority investment from Meyer.

Tender Greens could give rival Sweetgreen a run for its money. Revenue hit  over $80 million in 2016, and company executives said annual sales are growing 20% year-over-year.

We stopped by Tender Greens in downtown San Francisco to see what the buzz is about.

SEE ALSO: We tried the country's first 100% vegetarian drive-thru to see if it's better than the Chick-fil-A across the street

In 2015, Shake Shake founder Danny Meyer said in a statement that he visited a tiny California salad chain and loved the idea so much "that I wish I'd thought of it myself."

Source: Business Insider



Meyer's restaurant company, The Union Hospitality Group, made an investment of an undisclosed sum in Tender Greens — its first time taking stake in an outside concept.



I visited a Tender Greens location in downtown San Francisco during the late afternoon. During the typical lunch hour, long lines wind outside the door.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A startup founder is teaching people how to microdose with LSD over Skype for $127

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  • Microdosing involves taking tiny, "sub-perceptual" doses of LSD or another psychedelic for 6-8 months
  • Paul Austin is offering online consultations on how to do it for $127
  • His website, The Third Wave, also offers an online course on microdosing
  • No scientific study of microdosing currently exists, although there is a renewed interest on research involving full doses of psychedelics

Paul Austin's favorite way to open a TED talk is by telling his audience that he took LSD that day.

Austin, 27, bills himself as a professional microdosing coach. After personally experimenting with the regimen — which involves taking tiny, "sub-perceptual" doses of LSD or another psychedelic for up to 7 months — Austin said he was inspired to share what he learned with the world. He now offers 30-minute Skype microdosing "consulting" sessions for $127 through his website, The Third Wave.

Austin only has a handful of Skype clients at the moment, but he also advertises an online microdosing course that has enrolled close to 300 people since launching a few months ago.

The interest isn't surprising; microdosing has emerged as Silicon Valley's favorite illegal drug habit, with engineers, programmers, writers, and artists sharing their stories of the practice in numerous blogs and outlets, including the New York Times. Many people say it improves their concentration or creativity; others say they use it to help treat symptoms of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety.

Yet not a single published scientific study on microdosing exists. There are many unanswered questions about the practice, from how it effects the brain over the long-term to whether it produces any negative side-effects.

"People are like, 'Yeah microdosing!' But in reality there is not a single controlled trial ever on this yet. So whether it's helpful or hurtful we don't know," New York University psychiatrist Stephen Ross, who is currently involved in a series of unpublished preliminary studies on LSD and microdosing, told Business Insider.

Austin, whose LinkedIn bio reads "psychedelic visionary" and whose Twitter handle is @PaulAustinMD, is not a scientist or a doctor. Nevertheless, Austin, who has a bachelor's degree is in business management, said he feels confident spreading the word about psychedelics.

"I’m trying to find answers to the questions that people are asking where the clinical research is lacking," Austin told Business Insider. "The problem is the research is so expensive and the stuff that does come out won’t really provide a lot of the answers people are looking for."

From personal experiment to public resource

night starry sky milky way galaxy illustration shutterstockIn the summer of 2015, Austin began taking minute amounts of LSD twice a week. He said the practice, which he kept up for 7 months, fundamentally altered his personality and outlook on life.

"I noticed it was easier for me to connect with people and engage, and when I was working on projects a lot of times when I was waking up in the morning [before starting to microdose] there'd be this built-in resistance to creativity. When I was microdosing that wasn't there — I just wanted to dig into it," Austin said.

For several years before that, Austin had been struggling emotionally. He felt like he couldn't connect with people; his work was suffering too.

"Throughout my life I’ve struggled with social anxiety; a lot of times when I'm with people I’m stuck in my head and not engaged or involved," Austin said. "I was also having a lot of trouble focusing at work."

It was around that time that Austin came across Stanford psychologist James Fadiman's book, "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide," which included a protocol for microdosing LSD. He began cutting off tiny pieces of LSD blotter paper, placing them in water overnight, and using a dropper to ingest roughly a single milliliter of the liquid at a time. These levels are intended to be "sub-perceptual;" too small to cause a trip, but large enough to affect thinking and creativity.

The changes to Austin's personality weren't immediate. Instead, they began to surface over the course of several weeks, as people around him started to notice an ever-so-slight difference in his presence.

"Friends would make these small comments mostly about things like me being more empathetic or more open," Austin said. He frequently shared his experience with others, preferring to keep the practice completely transparent to the people around him.

"I’d also get comments from people I’d known from a long time ago who I'd then meet years later and they’d say, 'Hey Paul are you microdosing today?' and I'd say, 'Nope I’m just evolving. This is how I’ve changed over time,'" Austin said. "There are significant changes. I often compare it to meditation."

The Third Wave is imbued with Austin's personal experience. On the website — where readers can find everything from infographics on how to microdose LSD (and other psychedelics including magic mushrooms) to so-called "Ultimate Guides" on psychedelics from ayahuasca to MDMA and peyote — Austin has included snippets of his own day-to-day experience with the drugs.

"Around 8:00 a.m., right after a quick morning shower, I walk over to my personal supply of psychedelics, where my microdose of LSD waits," reads one guide.

The guides include information on each drug's history, effects, and legality. There's also a microdosing course which includes a walkthrough of a "typical" microdosing day, a guide on how to microdose for creativity, and "thoughts on the balance between microdoses and macrodoses and how to combine them for unbelievable breakthroughs." By enrolling in the course, the website claims, clients will "come to a more nuanced understanding of the legality around microdosing ... including specific loopholes depending on the jurisdiction you live in."

The course also includes a microdosing kit, which comes with a bottle of distilled water, a testing kit "to make sure you've got the real thing," a pair of scissors and latex gloves, and a syringe. (It doesn't include any LSD, which remains a Schedule I substance in the US, meaning it has no currently accepted medical use.)

"I provide advice from a harm reduction perspective so I say, 'We know people are going to do this and this is what people should know,'" Austin said.

The science of microdosing

While there are no existing studies on microdosing with psychedelics, there is a growing body of research on the effects of macrodosing — i.e. taking a full or "trip-inducing" dose of the drugs.

These so-called "trip treatments" typically involve giving someone in a controlled setting about 75 micrograms of a psychedelic like magic mushrooms, which is so far one of the most widely-studied of the psychedelics. One of the largest clinical trials of psilocybin (the main psychoactive component of shrooms) looked at people with cancer who were experiencing what's known as "end of life anxiety," a condition that mirrors traditional anxiety but typically follows a diagnosis with a life-threatening illness. The results of that study were promising and overwhelmingly positive, with many patients calling their trip one of the most important experiences of their lives.

Microdosing, on the other hand, typically involves a dose that's one-fifth to one-tenth the size of a macrodose; it's typically spread out over several weeks or months. The first study of this kind, which is set to begin later this year, is being led by the British nonprofit Beckley Foundation.

Beckley founder Amanda Feilding told Business Insider she hopes the research helps fill in the gaps that exist in current research on psychedelics and macrodosing. Ross is hopeful, too, but cautions that we need to wait.

"There's a lot of hype about a 'revolution' in psychiatry, and I actually think it will radically change psychiatry," Ross said. "But we really have to do a bigger trial and see what the data shows us."

SEE ALSO: Why psychedelics like magic mushrooms kill the ego and fundamentally transform the brain

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Jared Leto will play Hugh Hefner in an upcoming movie about the life of the Playboy mogul

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Jared Leto will star as the late Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner in an upcoming biopic from director Brett Ratner, according to The Hollywood Reporter

Hefner died last week at the age of 91, but Ratner has reportedly been set on directing the project since 2007.

Ratner acquired the rights to the film in 2015, after its previous rightsholder, Jerry Weintraub of Warner Bros., passed away. 

Leto, who stars in the upcoming "Blade Runner 2049," will take on a role that THR writes was once meant for Robert Downey Jr. 

"Jared is an old friend," Ratner told THR. "When he heard I got the rights to Hef's story, he told me, 'I want to play him. I want to understand him.' And I really believe Jared can do it. He's one of the great actors of today."

The film is still in early development with Ratner's RatPac Entertainment.

SEE ALSO: Here's who will most likely inherit Hugh Hefner's millions

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