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Food-poisoning expert reveals 8 things he refuses to eat — including Silicon Valley's latest obsession

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Live Water

  • Food poisoning expert Bill Marler has cut certain foods out of his diet after more than two decades as a foodborne-illness attorney. 
  • The latest addition: unfiltered, untreated water, which has recently become an obsession in Silicon Valley. 
  • Other items Marler won't eat are more commonplace, like oysters, sprouts, and uncooked flour. 


A deep knowledge of thousands of food poisoning cases across the US has scared Bill Marler off of certain foods. 

With more than two decades working as a food poisoning advocate and attorney, there are simply some things that Marler has cut out of his diet. Marler has won more than $600 million for clients in foodborne-illness cases — and become convinced that some foods aren't worth the risk. 

In an article by Health Insider from BottomLine and in conversations with Business Insider, Marler has identified certain foods that he avoids — and that others should be wary of as well. 

Here are the foods that this expert says scare him the most:

SEE ALSO: Food safety expert warns latest bizarre Silicon Valley $60 'raw water' trend could quickly turn deadly

Raw water

Marler told Business Insider that the idea he would have to warn people against drinking unfiltered, untreated water didn't cross his mind until recently. 

"Almost everything conceivable that can make you sick can be found in water," Marler says.

Unfiltered, untreated water — even from the cleanest streams — can contain animal feces, spreading Giardia, which has symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea and results in roughly 4,600 hospitalizations a year. Hepatitis A, which resulted in 20 deaths in a California outbreak in 2017, can be spread through water if it isn't treated. E. coli and cholera can also be transmitted via untreated water. 



Uncooked flour

Uncooked flour is on the other end of the spectrum — something that most people see as harmless, but that can actually spread bacteria, Marler says. 

From late 2015 to 2016, 56 people in 24 states developed an E. coli infection from eating raw or uncooked flour, Consumer Reports reported. 

Most people think that raw eggs are the biggest food poisoning threat in cookie dough, Marler says. However, flour can also be a culprit — and you don't even have to eat it. Simply not washing your hands after getting uncooked flour on them can spread E. coli. 



Raw oysters

Marler says that he has seen more foodborne illnesses linked to shellfish in the past five years than in the two preceding decades.

The culprit: warming waters. As global waters heat up, they produce microbial growth, which ends up in the raw oysters consumers are slurping down.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

It might be healthier to run a mile than a marathon

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woman running jogging exercise

  • Training for a marathon may not be the best way to get fit in 2018.
  • Shorter bursts of high-intensity exercise can confer some of the same health benefits as long-distance running.
  • One of the most popular forms of this workout is called 'interval training,' or HIIT.

 

If completing a marathon is on your list of New Year's resolutions for 2018, you might want to think again.

As it turns out, that intense feat of human endurance may not be the most efficient ticket to a healthier you. Instead, a regular fitness routine focused on short intense workouts may confer faster results.

That wisdom appears to apply not just to running, but also to a variety of heart-pumping workouts that fall under the umbrella term of "interval training."

Quick bursts of exercise carry some of the same benefits as longer workouts

Interval training "can provide similar or greater benefits in less time than traditional longer, moderate-intensity workouts," Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, told Business Insider in April.

One of the most popular forms of this style of workout is high intensity interval training, or HIIT. It's also the form of training that has been studied the most.

plank woman fitness gym exercise workout

High intensity interval training involves committing to short bursts of sit-ups, jumping jacks, or planks performed at your maximum capacity. After each 30- to 45-second interval, you rest to catch your breath and then move on immediately to the next exercise. At the end of the workout (which could be as short as seven minutes), your whole body should feel it.

Tabata training, named after the Japanese National Institute of Fitness and Sports researcher Izumi Tabata, is an HIIT workout made up of several four-minute exercises. Tabata and his team became some of HIIT's pioneers after publishing a seminal 1996 study suggesting that short bursts of intense strength training could have better results than a traditional workout.

The principal behind interval training isn't limited to push-ups and jumping jacks, though — it also applies to classic forms of exercise like running and walking.

For a recent study, a large group of daily runners were split into two smaller groups — one that ran less than an hour each week and one that ran more than three hours per week. At the end of the study, the group of daily runners who only spent an hour running each week saw almost the same heart health benefits as those who ran for more than three hours.

A 2012 study comparing a group of runners who did traditional, continuous runs with a group of runners who did interval training found that both groups achieved nearly the same results. There was one small difference, though: The interval trainers had better peak oxygen uptake, an important measure of endurance.

Additionally, a recent study in the journal Diabetologia found that doing walking interval training — an hour of alternating between three minutes of brisk walking and three minutes of stopping — helped people with diabetes control their blood-sugar levels far better than simply walking at the same pace continuously.

More is not always better when it comes to fitness

Unlike shorter jogs and interval training plans, distance running comes with some serious health risks.

There's some evidence to suggest that prolonged, intense exercise — such as the type necessary in the weeks and months before a marathon and during the race itself — can have some unhealthy side effects, from reduced immune function to digestive issues.

Working the body to its maximum, some research shows, can reduce the body's natural ability to fend off upper-respiratory infections including colds and the flu. Short bouts of activity, on the other hand, improve immune function. Quick workouts appear to not only reduce your chances of getting sick, but also to reduce the severity of an illness when you do come down with something.

Up to 71% of long-distance runners experience abdominal cramping and diarrhea as well. (The latter is so frequent that runners have a term for it: "runner's trots," also known as "runner's diarrhea.") Many runners also experience acid reflux — a condition with symptoms like heartburn, indigestion, coughing, hoarseness, and asthma — during and immediately after a long run.

So if running marathons isn't your thing, try a shorter, daily exercise plan — but make sure that whatever regimen you choose is one you can keep doing regularly.

SEE ALSO: The 10 most popular workouts of 2017

DON'T MISS: 11 fitness 'truths' that are doing more harm than good

Join the conversation about this story »

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Nutrition experts ranked the best diets to try in 2018 — here are the top 11

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diet vegetables healthy eating salad

If you're trying to prioritize healthy eating habits in 2018, remember that not all diets are created equal. Often, the ones that garner the most attention aren't the best.

For its annual list of the best diets, US News & World Report ranked 40 eating plans using criteria such as how easy the diet is to follow, its effects on weight loss (both short- and long-term), how nutritional and safe the diet is, and how well it helps prevent diabetes and heart disease.

The ranking drew on the expertise of a panel of dietitians and nutritionists, but it didn't account for the costs associated with the diet plans or how exercise fit into the programs.

Here's which diets ranked above the rest to make the top 10.

SEE ALSO: 9 dangerous diseases that could be prevented by vaccines within the next decade, from HIV to cancer

DON'T MISS: The definitive, scientific answers to 20 health questions everyone has

No. 10 (tie): Vegetarian diet

The vegetarian diet is simple: no meat allowed.

Ideally, meat is replaced with other sources of protein, as well as fiber-packed veggies, fruits, and whole grains to help keep you feeling full.

Unlike those on a vegan diet, which ranked 19th on US News & World Report's list, vegetarians can eat animal products like milk and eggs, which can be good sources of protein.

More on what US News & World Report experts thought of this diet »



No. 10 (tie): The fertility diet

The aim of the fertility diet is to help women who are having problems getting pregnant.

Developed by Drs. Jorge Chavarro and Walter Willett of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the fertility diet includes 10 science-backed steps to help boost fertility in women.

The plan encourages eating vegetable proteins and oils and drinking whole milk, as well as taking a multivitamin with folic acid.

The diet was named one of the easiest to follow.

More on what US News & World Report experts thought of this diet »



No. 9: Ornish diet

Developed by Dean Ornish, this diet puts food on a health spectrum — essentially, the less processed, the better.

The diet emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and some foods containing omega-3 fatty acids.

The diet ranked as one of the best for heart health.

More on what US News & World Report experts thought of this diet »



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An app that tries to make picking up trash fun just got a $225,000 cash injection from the US government

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litterati jeff kirschner

  • Litterati is an app that encourages users to pick up and track litter.
  • It has registered almost 1 million pieces of litter, just received $225,000 grant from the US National Science Foundation, and ran a successful Kickstarter campaign.
  • It was inspired by trash its founder Jeff Kirschner saw dumped in a creek while out hiking with his kids.


SAN FRANCISCO — Jeff Kirschner has a discarded tub of cat litter to thank for his business.

A few years ago, he was hiking with his kids when they spotted it dumped in a creek. "Daddy, that doesn't go there," his then-four-year-old daughter complained.

"I know it sounds cliché, but for me that was the eye-opening moment," he said. Today, he runs Litterati, an app that "gamifies" picking up litter, letting users take photos of what they've collected and track their environmental efforts.

It's now hitting some major milestones: On December 13, it successfully closed a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $50,000 for the company. To date, its users have picked up almost 1 million pieces of litter around the world (999,809, as of writing).

And the company has now been awarded a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, a US government agency that funds research and education projects, Kirschner told Business Insider.

"We're now literally a crowdsourced global community that's cleaning the planet one piece [of litter] at a time," he said.

litteratiLitterati has around 60,000 users Kirschner said, in 115 countries — who collectively log about 10,000 pieces of picked-up litter a week.

It's small, but so is the team: There are just two full-time employees, including Kirschner, and a handful of people volunteering their time, including three engineers and a community manager.

However, the two new sources of funding — the grant and the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign — may help accelerate things.

The Kickstarter just managed to hit its target — raising $51,432 after asking for $50,000 — and will invest the cash to beef up its app.

And the National Science Foundation grant will also go towards improving Litterati's tech, Kischner said: "It's an enormous deal, we couldn't be any more thrilled."

The app plans to let users join groups, so that schools, clubs, and other communities can track their collective efforts rather than having to go solo. It will also introduce maps, so litter-pickers can see what else is being picked up in their neighborhoods.

The company has a wealth of data, which it already uses for analysis. Second-graders in California mapped more than a thousand pieces of litter on their campus to identify trends, and the company has conducted an analysis of litter distribution in San Francisco for the city, leading to an increase in taxes on cigarettes. (Cigarettes are the second-most commonly tagged item on Litterati, according to its website.)

But Litterati now plans to more systematically try and analyze the data on litter it is collecting — a likely major long-term source of revenue to sustain the business.

"Can we provide insight as a service to cities so they can understand exactly what's on their streets ... at any given point in time?" the 46-year-old founder said. "Can we do the same with brands? Can we help a brand understand what is your environmental footprint for your packaging?"

School   Straw Wrapper #2 litterati

The company doesn't currently have any public partnerships with companies, though Kirschner said well-known brands have reached out to it, including a "very well-known coffee company" asking about the data Litterati holds on it.

"This is a massive problem," Kirschner said about litter. "It impacts the economy, the environment, it degrades community pride, it decreases property value, it kills wildlife, and now with the plastic pollution in the ocean situation, it is literally poisoning our food system."

SEE ALSO: Windows PCs could get a big performance slowdown because of a flaw in Intel chips

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NOW WATCH: Why your iPhone's battery life gets shorter over time

US airlines have said goodbye to the 747 — but these foreign airlines still fly the iconic plane

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Boeing 747 8

  • The 747 has been a fixture of air travel since it first ferried passengers between New York and London in 1970.
  • However, many airlines are retiring the jumbo jet and replacing it with smaller and more fuel-efficient models.
  • The last US-based passenger 747 is being laid to rest Wednesday, but there are still plenty of foreign airlines operating the "Queen of the Skies."


Since 1970, passengers, crew, and pilots alike have been enjoying the thrill of flying on the Boeing 747.

The original "jumbo jet" changed the way we travel.  Its ability to carry 500 passengers as far as 6,000 miles truly opened the age of modern jet travel, bringing with it new possibilities and destinations.

However, the one-time "Queen of the Skies" has been slowly becoming obsolete. The double-decker, four-engine behemoth guzzles a lot of fuel, cutting into airline profitability. While later versions like the 747-8 have significantly improved efficiency over the earlier variations of the plane, it's tough to beat two-engine workhorses like the Boeing 777-300ER. Beyond that, twin-engine planes have become more capable than ever before to safely handle long-distance flights.

Additionally, passenger preferences have changed since the 747 was introduced. The first wide-body plane with two aisles in the cabin, the 747's range and capacity were great for ferrying passengers between large hubs — sometimes with stops in between — from which people could get connecting flights to smaller hubs and airports. However, passengers today prefer to fly non-stop from one point to another, and smaller wide-body planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the new Airbus A350 are better for those point-to-point routes. Even the latest variations of the narrow-body 737 are flying across oceans.

Hence the phasing out of the plane among carriers in the US and around the world. United Airlines and Delta both flew their final commercial 747 flights in 2017, and today, Delta's last 747 is heading to the "aircraft boneyard."

Fortunately, if you want to fly with the queen before she's gone for good, there are still a handful of airlines operating the plane. Here's a look at the passenger airlines still flying the 747.

SEE ALSO: These are the 20 safest airlines in the world

British Airways

British Airways still operates 36 of the 747-400, but plans to retire the jumbo jet by 2024. It flies to several US cities, including on the busy London Heathrow–New York-JFK route.



KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Although KLM has announced plans to retire its 747-400 fleet, there's no publically-announced timeline. The airline still flies the plane on a few routes, including Los Angeles–Amsterdam.



Air China

Air China flies two variations of the 747: the -400, and the newer -8. Catch it to Beijing from US cities including New York and San Francisco.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

After an investor bailed, a 20-year-old filmmaker spent her entire college fund finishing her award-winning debut

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Blame1 Samuel Goldwyn final

  • Actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard was 20 when she made her debut feature film "Blame" in 2015.
  • The movie went on to win the best actress prize at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and later found theatrical distribution.
  • Shephard had to cash in her college fund to self-finance the movie after her sole investor disappeared a week into shooting.


“It’s a really crazy story!”

That’s how 22-year-old actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard began when she sat down at a coffee shop in Manhattan’s East Village to talk with Business Insider about her feature directing debut, “Blame” (opening Friday in theaters and On Demand).

Shephard has acted professionally since she was five years old, and has the personality and looks that could easily get her on an upcoming series made by The CW, but these days she's more interested in music rights and color correction. That’s because for the last two years, she has dedicated her life to making a feature-length movie that’s been developing in her mind since she was 15.

A storyteller since birth

Growing up in Metuchen, New Jersey, Shephard’s teenage years were filled with telling stories. When she was 12 she hand wrote a 300-page novel. It’s currently in a binder somewhere in the basement of her parents’ house. Also around that time, she began to make short films after taking a filmmaking class at school. Then at 15, after reading “The Crucible,” she decided she would do a feature-length modern retelling of Arthur Miller’s classic play.

“I’ve always loved writing,” Shephard said. “This movie is me making something that I really wanted to do since I was a teenager.”

Blame2 Samuel Goldwyn finalShephard’s script for “Blame” went through numerous phases in the years before shooting began, but the basic story was always there — a girl (played by Shephard) is fixated on her high school drama teacher, and that leads a jealous classmate to concoct a witch hunt-like investigation to reveal the alleged taboo relationship.

To get the script from an unmakable 130 pages to a point where she was able to cast “The Mindy Project” star Chris Messina in the teacher role, and Nadia Alexander (USA series “The Sinner”) as the jealous classmate (Melissa), Shephard honed her storytelling technique by writing more feature scripts. She also made short films, including “Till Dark” in 2015, about a boy’s obsession with his childhood friend.

“Till Dark” was an exciting moment in the process for Shephard. Many of the crew on the short would make “Blame” with her the summer of that year. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking back, Shephard said making “Till Dark” was a great calling card to land Messina and other key crew members, but in getting ready for the rigors of feature filmmaking, “it doesn’t prepare you at all” she said.

When everything that could go wrong, does

Shephard produced “Blame” with her mother, Laurie. The only career experience they had making movies was their time on set as actresses — Laurie's main highlight was being on a few episodes of “Days of Our Lives” in 1993; Quinn has been in numerous TV series and movies since she was five, her biggest being a regular on CBS’ “Hostages” in 2013.

Despite their efforts to land an experienced producer to come on the movie, it never materialized. This left the Shephards to learn on the fly what producers do behind the scenes.

“Everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong,” Shephard said, recalling her mom constantly reading the book “Producer to Producer: A Step-By-Step Guide to Low-Budget Independent Film Producing” for guidance.

QSblameBTS“That was her go-to,” Shephard said. “It was that level of inexperience on how to produce.”

Then the movie was hit with what all producers fear the most — its sole investor suddenly disappeared.

It happened the first week of shooting “Blame.” With cast and crew flown to Metuchen, where the movie would be shot, a wire transfer of money that was promised to the Shephards never appeared.

“It was literally, ‘Wire transfer coming on Tuesday,’ and never heard from him again,” Shephard said (she would not give the investor’s name, only saying he was a filmmaker that she and her family had known for a long time).

“We never got an explanation, he just ghosted one day,” Shephard continued. “I never heard from him again.”

Shephard then had to make a vital decision: pull the plug or continue on with the movie.

“We felt we couldn’t turn back,” she said. “This was something we had spent so many years trying to get off the ground, if we had to bail on it when we were right there it would have been the most heartbreaking thing.”

Shephard decided to cash in her college fund and take the money she had from being on “Hostages” to self-finance her movie.

“I felt, I would rather be totally broke than have a broken spirit,” said Shephard, who would not give a specific budget for “Blame,” only saying it is under $250,000.

Finishing the movie at any cost

The money got Shephard through the 19-day shoot — which was mostly shot in her old high school in Metuchen — but it pretty much left no funds for post production.

So Shephard edited the movie herself.

Thanks to discounts and in-kind support from a post-production house in Montreal, and the kindness of a few crew members, Shephard took two trips to Montreal to edit, score, and do other post-production elements (sound mix and color correction).

For her first trip, Shephard stayed in the studio of composer Pierre-Philippe Côté as they created the score. She then lived with his aunt while editing at the post-production house. On the second trip, she stayed in the basement of Sylvain Brassard, her sound mixer.

“The second trip I couldn’t afford a plane ticket so I took the Megabus to Montreal,” Shephard said. “I did this thing at any cost.”

The post-production hustle paid off. When Shephard began to show the movie around people were shocked by its look, which to someone who doesn’t know the backstory looks like it was made for the high six-figures to $1 million.

“Blame” got its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where Alexander won the best actress award for the Melissa role. Soon after the festival, Samuel Goldwyn Films bought the North American rights to the movie.

Telling teen stories with adult topics

Alexander told Business Insider she believed it was the comfort of being directed by someone the same age as her that led to her acclaimed performance.

“It gives you your own unique power that you wouldn’t necessarily get on a set with a 45-year-old director and producers running around,” Alexander said of working with a peer. “Making Melissa a lot more crass with the boys was my suggestion to Quinn, so I had a comfort to come forward and say to her, ‘I want to do this with the character.’”

Actress Sarah Mezzanotte, who plays Melissa’s friend Sophie, said she could feel the movie’s authenticity right from the pages she read for her audition.

“I knew immediately that it was written by a young female,” she said. “You can tell when something isn’t written authentically. I could tell this was by someone who understands what it’s like to be a young woman struggling with identity and fitting in.”

Nadia Alaxander Quinn Shephard, Sara Mezzanotte Nikolai Vanyo finalShephard is now preparing to tell her stories on a larger scale.

Following Tribeca, she landed an agent at WME and plans to cut down her acting considerably to focus on writing and directing. She said she’s close to landing a feature directing project at a studio as well as a TV project.

“‘Blame’ is a proof of concept,” Shephard said. “It has shown that there's a place for me to do my genre, which is teens dealing with adult topics. Giving three-dimensional plotlines to young women in a way that I don't think is represented right now. Many of my favorite shows and movies are these complex stories about middle-aged men. I think it's time to tell complex stories focused on teenage girls.” 

Shephard is at that moment in a career when being in the same room with movie stars, and taking meetings with executives, can lead to getting too caught up in the glossy side of Hollywood. But she said she’s stayed grounded. She only recently created an Instagram account, and it was because she wanted to better connect with teens who are searching for inspiration.

“I've gotten emails from girls who are 15, 16 years old, who said they read about me and now have signed up for a filmmaking course or started working on a script with their friends,” Shephard said. “They said, ‘I didn't think there was any point for me trying to do this at this age because I thought I would have to go to college or film school.’ It's important that we have young women in the media. I’m not trying to say I'm a role model, but it's important if you have an opportunity to reach young women you make them see that they can be businesswomen and run the show. So if my story makes them feel that in any way then it was worth it.” 

SEE ALSO: Movie attendance his a 25-year low in the US in 2017, as viewers "flock to streaming in droves"

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tried the meditation craze that requires no sex, drugs, or talking for 10 days

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Jack Dorsey

  • Jack Dorsey, CEO of both Twitter and Square, said in a tweet on January 1 that he completed a 10-day silent meditation over the holidays.
  • He used the hashtag: #Vipassana. This type of meditation comes from an ancient technique used to calm the mind and find a way out of suffering.
  • An increasing number of tech moguls from Tim Ferriss to Marc Benioff swear by meditation as the key to their success.

 

Over the holidays, dual-CEO Jack Dorsey took a break from running Twitter and Square to try a silent meditation known as Vipassana for 10 days.

Vipassana— an ancient Buddhist meditation technique that frequently involves 10 days of silence — is gathering fans in Silicon Valley. The practice aims to calm and focus the mind through a strict code of silence and promises increased awareness, self-control, and peace. In a tweet, Dorsey revealed that he carried out the practice over Christmas and New Year's.

jack dorsey tweet vipassana meditation

"Just finished a 10 day silent meditation. Wow, what a reset! Fortunate & grateful I was able to take the time," Dorsey wrote on Twitter.

An increasing number of tech workers, from author-podcaster Tim Ferriss to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, swear by meditation as the secret to their success. Companies are embracing the idea that employees' mental health is directly tied to their performance, with Facebook and LinkedIn shelling out for on-the-clock "life coaching" for mid-level managers. At Benioff's behest, Salesforce will add a meditation room on every floor of its new tower in San Francisco.

Dorsey's decision to try Vipassana meditation shows the lengths that some tech moguls will go to find peace in and out of the workplace.

Vipassana is an extreme type of meditation

Vipassana, which means to see things as they are, dates back thousands of years to the teachings of the Buddha. After his enlightenment, the spiritual leader was said to rediscover the ancient practice and share it with millions of people across northern India.

The practice fell out of popularity until Burmese-Indian meditation guru S.N. Goenka began teaching classes on Vipassana in India in the 1970s. By the time he died in 2013, Goenka's students had established 200 retreat centers around the world for meditation.

In Goenka's tradition, beginners are required to learn the art of Vipassana over a 10-day silent retreat. Participants abide by a set of rules: no sex, drugs, lying, stealing, religious worship, reading, writing, or physical contact. Communication is strictly prohibited, whether by speech, gestures, or notes.

Supporters say that such a disciplined approach allows the mind to turn inward and reflect. The result is a purging of negative thought patterns and habits and an understanding of how one creates suffering and how to be free from it, according to online resource Dhamma.org.

Silicon Valley goes all in

The Bay Area Vipassana Trust organizes the largest annual retreat in the US with over 240 participants, and is working to establish a center in Silicon Valley. Karen Donovan and her husband, Tim, have been teaching classes in Goenka's tradition for more than 20 years and oversee the non-profit group.

"Most people come to our courses because they're seeking some kind of peace of mind, some perspective on the things that are making them unhappy in their lives," Donovan told Business Insider. She added, "people who just want to learn to meditate" can find instruction elsewhere.

A schedule for a typical day of one of their retreats shows how intense it can be.

vipassana meditation schedule

All retreats are paid for by the donations of grateful past participants.

Donovan was unsurprised to learn that Dorsey has dipped his toes in Vipassana. Many of the volunteers who support the Bay Area Vipassana Trust, through teaching or serving on a committee, come from the tech industry. Donovan and her husband hold their massive annual retreat in Occidental, California, around the holidays to accommodate their schedules.

"We love the idea of serving so many students at that time of year when so many companies have forced shut downs, like in the tech world," Donovan said.

She suggested that Vipassana may appeal to high-profile tech bosses like Dorsey because it requires critical-thinking and logic.

"Anyone who thinks about how the mind works and realizes how they suffer starts to look around for some relief. Our practice of Vipassana means'insight,'" she said.

Dorsey uses meditation to run both Twitter and Square

On December 21, Dorsey fired off his last tweet before a 10-day meditation: an emoji showing hands clasped in prayer. He returned to Twitter on New Year's Day — hashtag "#Vipassana."

Since 2015, Dorsey has served as the CEO of both Twitter and Square. Dorsey finds balance by following a uniformed schedule. He spends mornings at Twitter and afternoons at Square. And in 2015, he said he begins his day at 5 a.m. with a brief meditation.

Tech workers took to Twitter to praise Dorsey for his Vipassana practice.

jack dorsey vipassana meditation twitter

jack dorsey vipassana meditation twitter

The Twitter CEO didn't reveal much else about his meditation, other than saying that the "only music I wanted to listen to after 10 days of silence" was Kendrick Lamar's "Damn" album.

SEE ALSO: How dual-CEO Jack Dorsey manages to run both Twitter and Square

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NOW WATCH: Tim Ferriss explains why everyone should try meditating

Ivanka Trump reportedly makes fun of her father's elaborate comb-over to her friends

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Ivanka Trump Donald

  • Ivanka Trump reportedly jokes with friends frequently about her father's signature comb-over, according to a new book.
  • She says the unusual color comes from a dye called Just for Men, which her father washes away too quickly out of impatience, resulting in the orange-blond shade.


President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka makes fun of her father's infamous comb-over to her friends, according to an upcoming book on Trump's first days in the White House.

Trump's unique, forward-sweeping hairstyle has long been an object of derision and speculation, prompting theories that he uses hair plugs, a toupee, or even a $60,000 weave.

But according to Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," an excerpt of which was published in New York Magazine on Wednesday, Trump received a scalp-reduction surgery and uses an elaborate combing method to achieve the folded look:

"An absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray."

Ivanka Trump reportedly tells friends that the orange-blond color comes from a dye product called Just for Men, which can be shampooed or combed in to mask gray hair.

The dye makes the hair darker the longer it's left in — about five minutes, according to the product's website— but Trump's impatience results in the unusual orange-y tone, according to Wolff's account.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called the book "trashy tabloid fiction," saying it "is filled with false and misleading accounts."

SEE ALSO: Bannon says meeting involving Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Russians was 'treasonous' and 'unpatriotic'

SEE ALSO: Someone Photoshopped Donald Trump with 'normal hair' — and the difference is striking

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Trump's doctor and a hair surgeon explain what's going on with his hair


People in long-distance relationships share their top tips for making it work

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going the distance

Long-distance relationships can work.

In fact, Business Insider's Jessica Orwig reported on research that found couples in long-distance relationship can be just as happy as couples who live closer together. One researcher told Orwig that the key is communication: stating your needs and setting expectations.

Over on Quora, hundreds of people, many with LDR experience, contributed to a thread titled, "Do distance relationships work? How can you make it work?" Their advice was more substantive than simply, "call and text a lot."

Below, we highlighted the most creative and most insightful pieces of wisdom from that thread.

SEE ALSO: A relationship therapist breaks down the 10 most common fights couples have

'Trust each other, and be worthy of one another's trust'

Betsy Megas says trust is "by and far the most important thing" in her long-distance relationship with her partner. "I don't feel we have any secrets between us," she adds.



'Talk through doubts and uncertainties together, and work on them together'

Megas says she and her partner have hashed out tough topics like, "Is he going to be homesick when he gets here?" and "Am I ever going to know enough Swedish to carry on a conversation with his mom?"

"I don't know the answer to either of these questions," she admits, but discussing them has helped them find some potential solutions.



'Be social'

Sara Zasowski writes:

"If you aren't together, you need to occupy your time. Engage in activities and develop your friendships. I've found that LDRs that have failed often came from isolation and unnecessary degrees of loneliness. You aren't doing yourself — or your partner — a favor by being home and available all the time. You should mutually agree to be active in order to stay happy."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The combined jackpots for the next Powerball and Mega Millions are nearly $900 million — here are 8 over-the-top things you could buy if you won

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Life could change for one — or even a few — lucky people Wednesday night.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $418 million and the Powerball jackpot reached $460 million.

With that much cash on hand, some of the world's finest luxuries suddenly become attainable.

Below, check out eight over-the-top purchases the lottery winner could make, from multi-million dollar real estate to once-in-a-lifetime travel excursions.

SEE ALSO: If you win the Powerball lottery, don't take the payment in a lump sum

DON'T MISS: Here's exactly what to do if you win the $400 million lottery jackpot, according to a financial adviser

Make a trip to Ibiza, Spain, to enjoy the most expensive tasting menu in the world at the Hard Rock Hotel. A 13-course dinner for two costs $3,266 and includes DIY cocktails, 360-degree projections, neon dining tables, and dishes that incorporate experimental techniques. Stay in the hotel's Rockstar Suite for about $4,200 a night.

Source: Business Insider,Hard Rock Hotel, Ibiza

 



You could buy this fully restored Upper East Side mansion less than a block from Manhattan's Central Park for $79.5 million. Its six floors include a rooftop terrace and basement gym, ventilated smoking room, six bedrooms, and staff quarters. But buyer beware: The annual property tax bill is over $240,000.

Source: Business Insider



Of course you'll need staff to maintain your new pad. A team of basic domestic staff —a butler, housekeeper, and chef — can cost at least $245,000 a year. Add a driver, nanny, and personal assistant and you're up to $460,000 annually.

Source: Business Insider



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We're all addicted to smartphones — but many of us are trying to curb our habit

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It's clear we're addicted to our smartphones. We're on them soon after we wake up. We check them dozens of times a day, not only when we're at work or shopping, but when we're supposedly watching TV, spending time with friends, or, most dangerously, when we're driving. And many of us are still using them up until the moment we turn out the lights for bed – and sometimes even after that.

But even as attached as we've become, many of us are starting to reappraise our relationships with our smartphones. A little less than half of us have tried to limit our smartphone use, according to a recent study from Deloitte, charted for us by Statista. Among the top ways we're trying to reclaim our lives from our handheld computers: keeping a smartphone in a purse or pocket and turning off notifications.

BI Graphics_01.03.2018_Tech_CoD COTD

SEE ALSO: There's a good chance you got an Apple under the tree this holiday season

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NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories

37 albums that music critics really hate, but normal people love

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In popular music, negative reviews can often mean nothing to the everyday listener, who will flock to albums that critics have condemned.

To track this disparity, Metacritic provided Business Insider with data about which albums (since the year 2000) have most divided critics and regular listeners, looking at titles with high user scores and low critical averages.

The resulting list includes lesser works from the likes of Michael Jackson and 2Pac, as well as commercially successful but critically maligned acts like Matchbox 20 and Enya. 

Check out Metacritic's 37 albums that people love but critics hate, ranked by an increasing divergence of critic and user scores:

SEE ALSO: The 50 best-selling albums of all time

37. The Cult — "Beyond Good & Evil" (2001)

Critic score: 60/100

User score: 9/10

Difference: 30%

What critics said: "A study in stretching the limits of silliness, cliche and old-school rock'n'roll unreconstruction." — Mojo



36. Unified Theory — "Unified Theory" (2000)

Critic score:58/100

User score: 8.8/10

Difference: 30%

What critics said: "Like far too many bands whose members bring strong musical pedigrees to the project, Unified Theory's sum is less than its parts." — Wall of Sound



35. Tenacious D — "The Pick of Destiny OST" (2006)

Critic score:52/100

User score: 8.2/10

Difference: 30%

What critics said: "The only person this record would ever appeal to is the man who made it — Jack Black." — NME



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What 'Molly' — the Silicon Valley elite's drug of choice at sex parties — does to your brain and body

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Exclusive sex parties fueled by psychoactive drugs are apparently how the tech world elite like to get down in Silicon Valley, according to an excerpt from the Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang's new book, "Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley."

Chang wrote that the events, in which women can feel pressured to participate yet be stigmatized for doing so, are common enough that they're not much of a secret.

MDMA — also known as Ecstasy or Molly — has been a party drug since the psychopharmacologist Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin synthesized and tested it on himself in the 1970s.

Shulgin, known as the "godfather of Ecstasy," was entranced by his testing. He began to advocate MDMA's use in clinical settings, but it soon started turning up in clubs, leading to a widespread ban in 1985.

Once Ecstasy developed a reputation for being adulterated with more dangerous chemicals, people starting asking for "Molly," something they saw as a pure form of the drug.

Here's what we know about what MDMA does to your body and brain.

SEE ALSO: An effort to get ecstasy FDA-approved is moving right along

READ MORE: Why psychedelics like magic mushrooms kill the ego and fundamentally transform the brain

MDMA was created by the pharmaceutical company Merck in 1912 and is considered an illegal substance in the US with no medical benefit and a high potential for abuse.

Contrary to legend, MDMA was not the first part of an experiment in suppressing the appetites of soldiers in the German army. Merck scientists created the chemical while trying to make a drug that would prevent blood clotting. It was abandoned for a while but had been considered promising because of its similarity to adrenaline.

According to Merck records, it was most likely first tested on humans in 1959 and then started to appear every so often in the 1960s and '70s until Shulgin recreated it and began to push for its use in therapy sessions. The drug's popularity spread.



Nevertheless, the drug remains popular. In the short term, Ecstasy can make you feel good.

In the brain, MDMA amps up the activity of three chemical messengers involved in mood regulation: serotonin, norepinephrine, and, to a lesser extent, dopamine.

Most of our conclusions about the effects of MDMA have focused on serotonin, one of the most widely studied neurotransmitters. In addition to acutely affecting mood, it's thought to affect how we sleep and experience pain.

Small neuroscientific studies of the drug suggest it may help blunt negative feelings about the past while enhancing positive ones — a conclusion that would make sense given its reputation as a "love drug."

For one such study published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, women were alternately given MDMA and a placebo (without knowing which was which) and asked to recall their favorite and least favorite memories of themselves.

When given the MDMA, the women rated their favorite memories as "significantly more vivid, emotionally intense, and positive" and their worst ones as "less negative," the study's authors wrote.



You may also feel more energetic.

While some components of MDMA have psychedelic or sensory-enhancing effects, it also has stimulant properties that users say gives them the energy to dance or engage in vigorous physical activity for hours.

MDMA is at least in part a derivative of amphetamines, giving it those energy-boosting properties.



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Here's what it's like to eat at McDonald's in 7 countries around the world

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  • We asked six of our international colleagues — in Singapore, Japan, India, Sweden, and the Netherlands — to visit a McDonald's location near them.
  • They found that the chain catered to local tastes with regional variations on popular items like mayonnaise-flavored French fries and coconut pies.
  • While some were surprised by the quality of McDonald's regional items, others were disappointed.
  • We also tried one of the new items featured at US locations of McDonald's. 

 

With over 36,000 locations in more than 100 countries, McDonald's is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. While it made its name with staples like the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder, the chain tailors its menu to local tastes, which means that a McDonald's in India will look very different from one in the United States.

After trying one of McDonald's newest items in the United States, we asked some of our international colleagues in six different countries — Singapore, Japan, India, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the UK — to go to a McDonald's near them and tell us about the experience. We found that each catered to regional tastes with variations on the chain's traditional offerings that surprised us.

See what our colleagues had to say below.

SEE ALSO: Customers have finally taken one of McDonald's biggest problems into their own hands

Singapore

Who would've thought that our quintessential local dish, Nasi Lemak, could actually be turned into a burger?

Commonly eaten for breakfast, Nasi Lemak is a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk, and it's usually accompanied with a range of side dishes such as fried egg, cucumber, ikan bilis and most importantly – some spicy sambal chilli.

So imagine our doubt when we heard about McDonald's new item.

What could be better than our regular McChicken sandwich and iced Milo?

 

 



We purchased the bundle set ($9), which comprises the Nasi Lemak burger (of course), coconut pie, Bandung McFizz and French fries, which can be upsized to the criss-cut fries option.

Juicy coconut-flavored chicken patty? Check. Fried egg? Check. Cucumber slices? Check. Caramelized onions? Check. Oh, and all these were served between semolina buns – not the basic sesame seed burger buns.

The verdict for just this burger alone? We’re absolutely digging it.

We went into the test filled with skepticism. Little did we expect to be mind-blown by how the burger could taste just like a dish of, well, Nasi Lemak. Consider us sold.

 



Most of us at the taste test enjoyed coconut-flavored desserts, except for one. But this coconut pie might have changed her perspective on all coconut-y sweets.

The coconut filling was warm and silky-smooth — so good that it managed to win over a non-fan of coconut-flavored food.

 



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The two best diets for your overall health, according to nutrition experts

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  • US News & World Report ranked the DASH and Mediterranean diets as the top picks for diets to try in 2018. 
  • The diets differ a bit in their approaches to healthy eating, but both emphasize fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. 
  • Here are the steps to take to try each diet. 

Finding a healthy diet and sticking to it is no small feat, especially since some plans require food groups to be entirely cut out. 

But nutritionists recommend some eating plans above the rest. 

For its annual list of the best diets, US News & World Report ranked 40 eating plans based on criteria including how easy the diet is to follow, its effects on weight loss (both short- and long-term), how nutritional and safe the diet is, and how well it helps prevent diabetes and heart disease.

In the end, two diets tied at the top of the ranking: 

  • The DASH diet, an abbreviation for "dietary approaches to stop hypertension," involves lowering your sodium intake to no more than 2,300 milligrams a day and eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains like whole wheat and brown rice. Hypertension, otherwise known as abnormally high blood pressure, is a common condition in the US.
  • The Mediterranean diet is modeled on foods commonly eaten in countries along the Mediterranean Sea. Like the DASH diet, it's high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, along with healthy fats found in fish, olive oil, and nuts. Studies have linked the diet with a number of health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease and breast cancer. Some research has suggested the diet could also have potential memory-related benefits.

Here's how to incorporate the diets into your life. 

How to DASH your diet

The DASH diet isn't just for those who are trying to lower or prevent high blood pressure.

"The DASH diet is really a safe plan for everyone," Angela Haupt, assistant managing editor of health at US News & World Report, told Business Insider in 2016. "There's nothing exciting about it, and that's what makes it a good plan. It's not some fad diet making outlandish claims that you can't rely on."

The distinguishing factor for the DASH diet is that it limits how much sodium you eat. Since many frozen and prepackaged foods contain large amounts of salt, DASH dieters stick to fresh produce and lean proteins like fish and poultry.

Here's what a typical day on a 2,000-calorie DASH diet looks like:

  • No more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium, eventually working down to no more than 1,500 milligrams (for reference, a single slice of pizza contains about 640 milligrams of sodium)
  • 6-8 servings of grains
  • 4-5 servings each of veggies and fruits
  • 2-3 servings of fat-free or low-fat dairy (plain dairy products are much lower in sugar than flavored)
  • 6 or fewer servings (equal to about one ounce) of lean meat, poultry, and fish
  • 2-3 servings of fats and oils
  • No more than 1-2 alcoholic drinks (a serving is equal to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 1/2 ounces of liquor)
  • Per week, DASH dieters must have less than 5 servings of sweets, and 4-5 servings of nuts, seeds, and legumes

In a typical day, for example, you could have an omelet with veggies and reduced-fat cheese for breakfast, minestrone soup for lunch, low-fat yogurt as a snack, and spaghetti squash with meat sauce for dinner.

With all the fiber-packed fruits and veggies in the DASH diet, you won't go hungry.

For people with abnormally high blood pressure, the DASH diet may over time help drop that blood pressure by as many as eight to 14 points.

How to eat like you live on the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean diet is packed with vegetables, spices, beans, and even wine. 

Here's what a typical day should include:

  • 2.5 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruits, or about 6-7 servings (leafy greens should be emphasized)
  • 1 serving of beans
  • 5-6 servings of whole grains
  • 1-2 servings of fish per week, limiting meat/poultry to once a week
  • Use olive or canola oil instead of margarine, butter, and other oils
  • A handful of nuts
  • A very small amount of dairy if any, and ideally a low-fat variety
  • One glass of red wine

A sample dinner might include a glass of red, a salad with arugula and spinach topped with Parmesan cheese, followed by salmon served with couscous, asparagus, and zucchini. 

Diet isn't everything

Generally, if you want to shed pounds, you'll likely need to incorporate exercise into your regular routine, even if you're on one of the best science-backed diets. That component of a lifestyle change isn't factored into US News & World Report's rankings, nor is the price of these eating plans.  

In one 2010 study, researchers assigned 144 overweight adults to one of three diets: the DASH diet, the DASH diet plus exercise, and a control diet in which the participant maintained their typical eating habits.

At the end of four months, those on the DASH plus exercise diet lost an average of 19 pounds. The other two groups lost little to no weight.

Similarly, exercise was an integral part of some of the studies conducted to assess the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. US News & World Report recommended walking and doing other active things you enjoy. 

Jessica Orwig contributed reporting. 

SEE ALSO: Nutrition experts ranked the best diets to try in 2018 — here are the top 11

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The extreme dieting regimen that self-help guru Tim Ferriss uses to stay lean


Meghan Markle and Prince Harry travel the world on commercial flights — here are her most notable adventures

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for one of two official engagement photos at Frogmore House in December, 2017

Meghan Markle is a jetsetter.

Long before she was taking couple's trips with fiancé Prince Harry, she was already a frequent flyer, writing about her journeys on her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig.

From girls trips to Spain and Italy, to attending weddings in Greece, to plenty of beach destinations, below is where she's vacationed over the past few years.

SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton have surprisingly affordable style — and it's a brilliant political strategy

DON'T MISS: We compared Meghan Markle's and Kate Middleton's fashion choices — and the winner is clear

Markle took a girls trip to Ibiza, Spain, last August.

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She also stopped in Madrid, Spain, during the same trip.

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She traveled to the white-sand beaches of St. Barts in 2014.

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Japan's fertility crisis is turning into a 'demographic time bomb' — here's how it affects daily life

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If you're of working age in Japan, daily life can mean 12- to 16-hour days punctuated by hurried meals and bookended by too little sleep.

If you're elderly, it can mean crushing loneliness.

But no matter your age in Japan, chances are good that some aspect of the country's ongoing fertility crisis has touched your life.

Over the last five years, a vicious cycle of low fertility and low consumer spending has led to trillions in lost GDP and a population decline of 1 million people. Economists have a bleak term for this:  demographic time bomb.

These time bombs can take years, sometimes decades to form, and perhaps even longer to defuse. Here's a taste of what Japan's looks like, as it stands today.

SEE ALSO: 'This is death to the family': Japan's fertility crisis is creating economic and social woes never seen before

Demographic experts say that countries need a replacement fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman to keep a population steady. Japan's rate is just 1.41.

In the aftermath of World War II, Japan focused its effort on rebuilding the population, which it did.

But there was a clear downside to that economic growth. In the early 1950s, fertility rates hovered at a healthy 2.75 children per woman, UN data shows.

By 1960, as businesses asked more and more of their employees, the fertility rate had fallen to 2.08. 



The intense post-WWII work ethic has lasted. It's common for Japanese workers to log shifts spanning more than half a day.

Despite the ongoing crisis, this is largely how Japan manages to remain the third-largest economy in the world.

On a daily basis, workers who stick to a strict professional hierarchy rise through a given company's ladder. It's reminiscent of US labor trends for most of the late-20th century.



But there are clear downsides — including the lingering preference to hire male candidates over female ones.

Following feminism's slow build in Japan since the 1970s, today's workers strive for equality between the sexes, something Japan's pyramid-style corporate structure just isn't built for. That's because institutional knowledge is viewed as a big deal in Japan, Yale political scientist Frances Rosenbluth told Business Insider.

Veteran accountants can't expect to leave their current job and start a new one at the same pay grade, as managers are of the opinion that skills don't transfer. As a result, both male and female workers tend to stick around, even if conditions are miserable.



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The incredible life of Jordan's Instagram-famous Queen, an ex-Apple employee, human rights activist, and global style icon

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We all know plenty about Britain's royals, with the likes of Kate Middleton and soon-to-be-royal Meghan Markle in the headlines daily.

However, there are a number of under-the-radar royals around the world who have considerable influence on the world stage — and on social media.

47-year-old Queen Rania of Jordan, born Rania Al-Abdullah, is known partly for her incredible fashion sense to her four-million strong Instagram following.

She comes from a marketing background, having worked for companies like Citibank and Apple.

However, since becoming Queen in March 1999, she has also been at the forefront of human rights issues — education, in particular — and she once told TechCrunch uses her influence to "empower people and make them believe that they can be role models and leaders for change."

Scroll down for a look at the the incredible life of Jordan's Instagram-famous Queen Rania, an ex-Apple employee, human rights activist, and global style icon.

SEE ALSO: The insane life of Brunei's super-rich Prince, who flies choppers, chills with tiger cubs, and plays polo

This is 47-year-old Queen Rania of Jordan, born Rania Al-Abdullah in Kuwait on August 31, 1970.

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Her full title is Her Majesty The Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.



After attending primary and secondary school in Kuwait, Rania earned a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo, then went into marketing. First she worked at Citibank before landing a job at Apple in Amman, Jordan.

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Source: BBC



It was there that she met her now husband, King Abdullah II of Jordan, at a dinner party in 1993. They got engaged only two months later, and were married in June that year.

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These ingenious shoes expand as your feet grow — and they are being used to stop children in poor countries walking barefoot

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  • "The Shoe That Grows" can expand up to five sizes.
  • It was developed by the charity "Because International" for children in poor countries.
  • Without shoes, children can suffer from soil-transmitted diseases.
  • So far "Because International" has distributed over 120,000 pairs in 91 countries.

 

Charity "Because International" developed a pair of shoes that can grow up to five sizes.

It's called The Shoe That Grows and is meant for children in poor countries which have a limited access to shoes.

The shoes come in three sizes and each of these can span over five different shoe sizes. They’re made with a compressed rubber similar to a car tire, velcro straps and a peg on the front.

Children often outgrow donated shoes within a year, whereas one pair of The Shoe That Grows is built to last for five years.

Without shoes, children can suffer from soil-transmitted diseases. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from such diseases.

The lack of shoes could also mean children can’t attend school, as shoes are often part of the uniform.

The Shoe That Grows was invented in 2007 in Kenya after Kenton Lee spotted a girl with shoes too small for her feet.

He started the project in the US and perfected the shoe in 2012, which is now produced in China and Ethiopia.

So far "Because International" has distributed over 120,000 pairs in 91 countries.

"Because International" partners with other organisations to distribute the shoes or ask people travelling to poor areas to take them along and distribute themselves.

A pair costs £11 ($15).

Produced by Claudia Romeo

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We went inside the best marijuana shop in America — here's what it was like

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On January 1, Californians rang in the new year with legal marijuana.

Across the state, more than 100 marijuana dispensaries have gotten state licenses (temporary, for now) to sell marijuana for recreational use. The legal market's debut brings an end to prohibition in the most populous state, where medical marijuana has been legal since 1996.

Customers began lining up outside Caliva— Silicon Valley's top marijuana dispensary — at 7 p.m. on Sunday for sales the next day. Business has been booming. On January 1, Caliva generated about five times the revenue it pulls in on a typical day, with about 75% of customers buying product for non-medical use.

Since Caliva opened shop in July 2015, the dispensary has contributed approximately $6 million in tax revenue to San Jose, making it one of the single largest taxpayers in the city.

In 2016, we visited Caliva — named the best dispensary in America by Business Insider — to see what shopping for marijuana could be like as the industry grows up.

SEE ALSO: Here's where you can legally smoke weed in 2018

I stopped by Caliva, located in San Jose, California, on a sunny weekday morning.



A receptionist greeted me and checked my medical marijuana ID card. Now that weed is fully legal, Caliva only checks for a government-issued ID, like a driver's license.



While I waited in the lobby, I flipped through a book by Leafly, a dispensary- and strain-review site, that explained the different effects that strains of marijuana might produce.



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