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Step inside Cristiano Ronaldo's £4.8 million luxury family villa in Spain, complete with two pools and giant portraits of himself

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cristiano r

Cristiano Ronaldo topped Forbes' highest-paid athletes list for a second time in a row in 2017, having taken in an impressive $93 million in salary and endorsements.

And fortunately for his fans, the Real Madrid footballer is not afraid to flaunt his fortune and luxurious lifestyle on Instagram.

He frequently treats his 118 million Instagram followers to snaps of him on holiday and flying around the world on private jets, but he also uses the app to show off his life of luxury at home inside his £4.8 million luxury villa in an exclusive Madrid neighbourhood.

Scroll down for a sneak peek inside Cristiano Ronaldo's insane home, where he lives with his his four kids and model girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez.

SEE ALSO: Step inside Jamie Oliver's lavish £8.9 million, Grade-II listed family home complete with seven bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and a super-king bed fit for Louis XIV

Cristiano Ronaldo is no stranger to showing off his luxurious lifestyle aboard private jets and yachts, and it's no different when it comes to his £4.8 million Spanish home. He has treated his 118 million Instagram followers to more than a glimpse of the luxury villa — and you can scroll on for an inside look.

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Source: Express



Ronaldo's family home is located in the exclusive neighbourhood of La Finca, part of the Pozuelo de Alarcón municipality in Madrid, and he reportedly counts Zinedine Zidane and Gareth Bale as neighbours.

Source: Express



The villa was reportedly designed by celebrity architect Joaquin Torres and Ronaldo's pretty proud of his property — it even has his initials carved into the front door.

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Source: Express



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Photographers captured these dismal scenes along the border area between North and South Korea

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north korea south korea dmz 15

The world is watching the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) — a land strip that runs across the Korean Peninsula and serves as a buffer between North and South Korea — with bated breath.

For the first time since 2015, leaders from both countries sat down to discuss North Korea's potential involvement in the Winter Olympics next month. Many are hopeful that the reopening of communication could mean future peace and cooperation for the Koreas.

The meeting took place in the three-story Peace House inside the Joint Security Area, a site in the DMZ used for diplomatic engagements between the two nations.

Over the past two years, Reuters photographers Jung Yeon-Je and Kim Hong-Ji have traveled to the DMZ — which is not open to the public — and returned with these incredible photos.

SEE ALSO: A photographer captured these surreal photos of North Korea’s capital on a state-sanctioned tour

There's an eerie quiet across the DMZ — the most heavily fortified border in the world.



It creates a buffer between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The zone stretches 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.



In some places, barbed wire and landmines separate each country from the zone.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

7 mind-blowing facts about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' $105 billion fortune

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Jeff Bezos

It's hard to overstate the immensity of a 12-figure fortune.

On Tuesday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is already the richest person in the world, reached a $105 billion net worth.

In addition to founding the online retail behemoth, Bezos owns The Washington Post and an aerospace company, Blue Origin.

Below, check out seven mind-blowing facts about Bezos and his billions.

SEE ALSO: There are over 1,500 billionaires worldwide — here are the 14 countries where the world's richest people live

DON'T MISS: A day in the life of the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos — who made $6.44 billion in one day, wakes up without an alarm, and washes dishes after dinner

Bezos makes more money in one minute than the average millennial makes in a year.

In the last year alone, Bezos made $19.3 billion.

That equals out to about $52 million per day, over $2 million per hour, and $36,000 a minute, or close to the average millennial salary.



Bezos has more than four times as much money as his alma mater, Princeton University.

Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. As of March 2017, Princeton's endowment was $22.8 billion, less than one-forth the amount of Bezos current net worth.

Although, he has returned some of his good fortune to the Ivy League. In 2011, Bezos and his wife, also a Princeton grad, donated $15 million to the university  to establish a center in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute.



He's one of the top 25 largest landowners in America.

According to the Land Report, Bezos was 25th largest landowner in the US. His largest property by size is the 30,000-acre ranch in Van Horn, Texas, that serves as the base for Blue Origin, Bezos' private space company.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Jeff Bezos has passed Bill Gates to become the richest person in history — here’s the secretive waterfront town where both billionaires live

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MedinaSeattle (12 of 35)

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos became the richest person in history Monday when his net-worth eclipsed $105.1 billion after Amazon shares climbed 1.4%.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the previous record-holder, saw his net-worth pass $100 billion in 1999. It is now around $91.9 billion.

But both mega-billionaires live in the tiny waterfront city of Medina, Washington, located just outside of Seattle. 

They are far from the only moneyed residents. The town's inhabitants include numerous other Microsoft bigwigs, tech entrepreneurs, and telecom magnates.

We visited to see why the sleepy town has become a haven for the 1%.

SEE ALSO: The world's richest people are flocking to these 17 cities

DON'T MISS: Meet the kids of the world's richest tech billionaires

Medina is located on a peninsula just across Lake Washington from Seattle, and it has long been a haven for tech bigwigs in the area.



Visitors enter the town from the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. Measuring 7,708 feet in length, it is the longest floating bridge in the world.

Source: The Seattle Times



Medina is a city of about 3,000 people. The Medina Beach Park doubles as the city hall and police station.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A look inside the marriage of the richest couple in history, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos — who met at work, were engaged in 3 months, and own more land than almost anyone else in America (AMZN)

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Jeff Bezos wife Mackenzie

• After meeting at D.E. Shaw & Co., Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos were married in 1993.

• Shortly afterward, the couple relocated to Seattle to found Amazon; MacKenzie was one of the company's first employees.

• Today, Jeff Bezos is worth $105 billion, making him the richest person in history.



Jeff Bezos wasn't alone when he made his cross-county road trip to Seattle in 1994. And he wasn't alone when he founded Amazon, the online retail giant some analysts now believe will be the world's first trillion-dollar company.

His wife, MacKenzie, was there for the whole journey.

In an interview with CBS, she described watching her husband build Amazon up from scratch: "To me, watching your spouse, somebody that you love, have an adventure — what is better than that?"

Today, Bloomberg estimates Bezos is worth $104 billion— making him the richest person in history, according to CNN.

Here's a look inside the marriage of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos — who made $6.44 billion in one day, wakes up without an alarm, and washes dishes after dinner

MacKenzie and Jeff first met at investment management firm D.E. Shaw. MacKenzie was a research associate and Jeff was a vice president. Jeff was the first person to interview MacKenzie — a fellow Princeton grad — at the firm.

Source: Business Insider, ForbesVogue



"I think my wife is resourceful, smart, brainy, and hot, but I had the good fortune of having seen her résumé before I met her, so I knew exactly what her SATs were," he joked to Vogue.

Source: Vogue



After she landed the job, they became office neighbors. "All day long I listened to that fabulous laugh," she told Vogue. "How could you not fall in love with that laugh?"

Source: Vogue



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Gwyneth Paltrow posted a picture of her ex-husband and new fiancé at brunch — and experts say there's a lesson for couples

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gwyneth paltrow brad falchuk

  • Gwyneth Paltrow is engaged to Brad Falchuk. Both are divorced with kids.
  • It seems like Paltrow's ex-husband, Chris Martin, and Falchuk get along.
  • Experts say it's important for people in that situation to have at least a cordial relationship, for the kids' sake.


Gwyneth Paltrow is officially engaged to Brad Falchuk, after three years of dating.

Reports of their engagement had been circulating since November, when Entertainment Tonight suggested that the couple had already been engaged for a year.

One of the most intriguing parts of Paltrow and Falchuk's relationship is that Falchuk seemingly gets along with Paltrow's ex-husband, Chris Martin. Paltrow and Martin "consciously uncoupled" in 2014; together they have two kids, Apple and Moses.

In November, Paltrow publicly flaunted the positive relations between her ex and new fiance, posting an Instagram photo of Falchuk and Martin side by side, with the caption, "Sunday brunch #modernfamily."

Sunday brunch #modernfamily

A post shared by Gwyneth Paltrow (@gwynethpaltrow) on Nov 26, 2017 at 12:59pm PST on

A few days later, an anonymous source told People magazine that Falchuk and Martin had already met several times, and that "Chris accepted Brad a long time ago."

The source said, "It's amazing to see how the two families have come together with their kids." Falchuk is also divorced with two kids.

This, relationship experts say, is a wise — if unusual — move. Though neither expert I spoke to knows Paltrow personally and can't speak to what's right for her and her family, each shared some general thoughts on the situation.

"It does not happen a lot," said Hal Runkel, a marriage and family therapist. But "it absolutely is advisable." When you're co-parents, as Paltrow and Martin are, Runkel said, "you are still a family after the divorce."

Andrea Syrtash, relationship expert and author of "Cheat on Your Husband (with Your Husband)," agreed that inviting both your ex and your new partner to brunch isn't that common. And it's not necessary for everyone to be best friends.

Still, Syrtash said, "I wish more exes modeled that, for the kids' sake, everyone can get along."

Unfortunately, "divorcing well" — which includes being cordial to your ex's new partner — "is not something that's common," Runkel said.

On the other hand, exes who never had kids together don't necessarily have to stay connected. In fact, if you feel like you absolutely must introduce your ex to your new partner and you don't have kids together, Syrtash recommends asking yourself why. Runkel called it "totally unnecessary."

After a breakup without kids, Runkel said, "you're not trying to repair your past." Kids, on the other hand, are "about the present and the future."

SEE ALSO: I spent a week skipping breakfast and working out for 2 hours a day just like Gwyneth Paltrow — and it helped me break some of my worst habits

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I tried Gwyneth Paltrow's diet and workout routine for a week — here's what happened

A day in the life of the richest person in history, Jeff Bezos — who made $6.44 billion in one day and still washes the dishes after dinner

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Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO Amazon.com

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in history.

• Bezos works hard, but his daily routine indicates that he's not addicted to work.

• His daily routine includes lots of family time, and even time allotted for washing the dishes.



Jeff Bezos is now the richest person in history.

According to Bloomberg, the Amazon founder and CEO has $105 billion to his name. In addition to founding the online retail behemoth Amazon, Bezos also owns The Washington Post and an aerospace company, Blue Origin.

So what does daily life look like for this tech mogul?

Here's a look inside his daily routine:

SEE ALSO: A look at the demanding schedule of Elon Musk, who works in 5-minute slots, skips breakfast, and largely avoids emails

DON'T MISS: A typical day in the life of Mark Zuckerberg, who wears the same thing every day and tucks his daughter in every night

Bezos is a big believer in getting enough shut-eye. He wakes up every morning naturally, without the aid of an alarm clock.

Source: CNBC, Inc., Entrepreneur



He always starts the day by sharing a healthy breakfast with his wife, the novelist MacKenzie Bezos.

Source: Entrepreneur, Inc.



To spend quality time with MacKenzie and their four children, he never schedules early-morning meetings.

Source: Entrepreneur



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

‘Speed riding’ is a combination of paragliding and skiing — and it’s totally awesome

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  • This sport combines skiing and paragliding
  • Speed riders use a much smaller glider than normal paragliders which makes them faster.
  • It's incredibly dangerous and only the most seasoned skiers and gliders can do it.

 

"Speed Riding" is a sport that combines skiing and paragliding.

Speed riders can reach speeds of up to 90mph just metres away from cliff edges. Watch to find out more.

Produced by Jasper Pickering. Special thanks to David Ibekwe.

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One walk through Seattle's 'Amazonia' neighborhood made me very uneasy for whatever city gets HQ2

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The race for cities wanting to host Amazon's new $5 billion headquarters — and the 50,000 high-paying jobs the company says it'll come with — is on.

The global e-commerce giant received 238 bids for the second headquarters, dubbed HQ2.

For those wondering what their city may look like should Amazon choose it, the company's current home in Seattle is a cautionary tale. Locals point to snarled traffic, soaring housing prices, never-ending construction, and accelerated gentrification.

I recently spent a day in the Seattle neighborhood locals call Amazonia to see whether the "Ama-geddon" is as bad as everyone thinks.

In the '90s, Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood was a mess of parking lots, warehouses, and industrial buildings. Amazon has transformed the neighborhood and its surrounding areas, Belltown and Denny Triangle. Each of those pins on the map is an Amazon office.



Amazon's offices are spread across more than 33 buildings throughout the area, though some say the number is closer to 40. The company leases 100,000 square feet of office space in this building, nicknamed Otter.

Source: SF Gate



It's hard to overstate how thoroughly Amazon dominates downtown. The company is up to occupying 8.1 million square feet of office space in Seattle, reports say. Day 1 Tower, opened in 2016, is one of two towers that form the heart of Amazon's campus.

Source: Geekwire, SF Gate, CNBC



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 ways one type of exercise is the closest thing to a miracle drug we have

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Want an all-natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory, and protect your brain against the decline that comes with aging?

Get moving.

Exercises that get your heart pumping and sweat flowing — known as aerobic exercise, or "cardio" — have significant and beneficial effects on the brain and body, according to a wealth of recent research, including a new study published Monday.

"Aerobic exercise is key for your head, just as it is for your heart," according to an article in a Harvard Medical School blog. Here are some of the ways cardio is such a boon for our bodies.

DON'T MISS: 18 'healthy habits' you should give up in 2018

SEE ALSO: What your daily routine should look like, according to science

Cardio tones your muscles.

It was initially believed that when it comes to building muscle, cardio paled in comparison to exercises like resistance training, which are designed to help you gain strength. But a recent review of 14 studies published in the journal Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews found that on average, men who did 45 minutes of moderate to intense cardio 4 days a week saw a 5%-6% increase in leg muscle size.

“Aerobic exercise, if done properly, can lead to as much muscle growth as you’d expect with resistance exercise,” Ball State University exercise scientist Matthew Harber, who authored the study, told Men's Fitness



It also raises your heart rate, improving heart and lung health.

Aerobic workouts, especially swimming, train your body to use oxygen more efficiently, a practice that gradually reduces your resting heart rate and your breathing rate — two important indicators of cardiovascular health.

A 2008 study compared blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other heart health metrics across close to 46,000 walkers, runners, swimmers, and sedentary people. The researchers found that the regular swimmers and runners had the best metrics, followed closely by the walkers. 



It may even help reverse some heart damage from normal aging.

Many of us become less active as we get older. Over time, this can lead some muscles in the heart to stiffen. One of those at-risk muscles is in the left chamber of the heart, a section that plays a key role in supplying the body with freshly-oxygenated blood. 

A recent study split 53 adults into two groups, one of which did two years of supervised exercise four to five days per week while the other simply did yoga and balance exercises. At the end of the study, published in January in the journal Circulation, the higher-intensity exercisers saw significant improvements in their heart's performance. Those results suggest that some stiffening in the heart can be prevented or even reversed with regular cardio.

"Based on a series of studies performed by our team over the past 5 years, this 'dose' of exercise has become my prescription for life," Benjamin Levine, the author of the study and and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, said in a statement.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Retailers now have the power to unlock your doors

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  • Smart-lock startup August Home is offering a service called August Access to retailers, which enables couriers to access customers' houses when no one is home. 
  • Walmart and Amazon have rolled out similar services.

 

Walmart made waves last year when it announced new services that would allow couriers to enter customers' houses to deliver packages when no one is home.

Now many more retailers will be able to offer that service, thanks to the smart-lock startup August Home.

August Home announced Tuesday that it's rolling out a new in-home delivery service called August Access that will be available to all retailers, TechCrunch reports.

The service, in partnership with the home delivery company Deliv, will allow retailers' delivery services to access customers' homes through smart locks, and then leave packages inside. 

august lockIn order to participate in the program, customers must purchase a smart lock from August Home or its parent company, Assa Abloy. 

Retailers that offer August Access will prompt customers to select that as a delivery option at checkout.

When a courier arrives at a customer's home, he or she will ring the doorbell. If no one is home, a temporary code will be sent to the courier to unlock the customer's door.

"Through this unique partnership, we are bringing a bit of magic to the shopping experience," Daphne Carmeli, CEO of Deliv, said in a statement to TechCrunch. "Deliv provides the last mile fulfillment solution for a broad retailer network across the country while August Home supplies the technology to take the final step into the home for a totally seamless experience, start to finish."

SEE ALSO: Walmart is taking a direct shot at Amazon and making checkout lanes obsolete

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: FMR. HEALTH INSPECTOR: Restaurant letter grades are bogus

Forget Nashville, these are the 10 places in the US everyone will be visiting in 2018, according to travelers

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Kapaa Hawaii

Nashville, Tennessee, was seemingly one of the hottest travel destinations in America over the last year, but that could soon change. 

TripAdvisor recently released its 2018 list of the top trending destinations and travelers will be visiting places all over the map in 2018, from Hawaii to North Carolina.

TripAdvisor compiled its list by examining year-over-year increase in positive TripAdvisor traveler review ratings for accommodations, restaurants and attractions, and increase in search and booking interest for US cities.

Below are the top 10 cities to visit this year in America, according to travelers, as well as the average nightly hotel rate in each place.

SEE ALSO: 19 of the best ski resorts to visit this winter that don't cost a fortune

DON'T MISS: We compared 3 of the most popular premium airline credit cards — and the winner was clear

10. Lexington, Kentucky — In Bluegrass Country, you'll find hiking trails, horse culture, and plenty of historic landmarks. The average nightly hotel rate is $136.



9. Omaha, Nebraska — No longer just a flyover city, Omaha has a burgeoning music, art, and brewery scene and a rich history of American pioneering. The average nightly hotel rate is $129.



8. Greenville, South Carolina — Set against the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, Greenville is host to popular festivals, restaurants, and shopping, as well as a thriving arts scene. The average nightly hotel rate is $144.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Paris Hilton has said she and fiancé Chris Zylka are the 'perfect couple' because they 'never fight' — and she might be onto something

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chris zylka paris hilton kiss

  • Paris Hilton has said she never fights with new fiancé Chris Zylka.
  • Some experts say you can have conflict without fighting, while others say fighting before marriage can be productive.
  • Ultimately, don't compare your relationship to the way someone else's relationship looks from the outside.


I recently profiled Paris Hilton's relationship with new fiancé Chris Zylka. More than once, I noticed, Hilton has publicly described her partner and their partnership as "perfect." Each has dropped the F-bomb — "fairy tale" — when referring to the other.

But the most sweet/gross characterization of their relationship I came across was this: In November 2017, Hilton told US Weekly, "I think we're the only couple that never fights. All my friends are like, 'Literally, you guys are the perfect couple. I've never seen you argue.'"

Zylka chimed in: "We communicate well."

My initial reaction to this assertion was, Boy are you two headed for disaster! Everyone knows a couple that never, ever fights has more problems than a couple who's constantly squabbling.

Not all experts would agree.

Let's start with the word "fight." If by fighting Hilton meant bickering — getting angry, yelling, name-calling — then not fighting might be a great thing.

You can still have conflict, but you can manage it without fighting. The difference is more than just semantics.

As clinical psychologist Susan Heitler wrote in a blog post for Psychology Today, "Marriage fights, that is, arguing at any level of intensity, reflect a breakdown in partnership." She added, "A zero-fighting policy makes couples far happier.  That doesn't imply that differences should be swept under the rug.  To the contrary, no-fighting policies need to be combined with solid collaborative win-win dialogue skills."

John Gottman, a relationship expert and the co-founder of The Gottman Institute, has said that conflicts are inevitable in any relationship —  it's all about how you manage them.

Gottman previously told Business Insider: "In really good relationships, people are very gentle with the way they come on about a conflict." In good relationships, "they don't bare their fangs and leap in there; they're very considered."

For example, Gottman said, "Instead of pointing their finger and saying, 'You a--hole!,' they say, 'Hey babe, it's not a big deal, but I need to talk about it and I need to hear from you.' In bad relationships, it's, 'You're defective, and you need therapy.'" 

Don't compare your relationship to someone else's

Interestingly, one 2012 study published in the Journal of Family Issues suggests that if you experience a lot of conflict — defined as disagreeing with your spouse — today, you'll probably still have a lot of conflict 20 years later. So if Hilton and Zylka don't duke it out now, that might bode well for their future as a couple.

On the other hand, psychologist Shauna A. Springer wrote in a blog post for Psychology Today that "fighting" before marriage is a positive thing, as it "allows each partner to gain a rich source of information about the process of how you fight and whether you can learn to have conflict without weakening your bond."

Springer recommends that "couples in the pre-marital phase of their relationship proactively ask each other lots of hard questions to set off some hidden land mines before they consider marriage." (Think a real-life version of the Mandy Moore film "License to Wed.")

Hilton has said her friends think she and Zylka are the "perfect" couple because they don't argue. Yet while her friends are entitled to fawn — and you knew this was coming — there's really no such thing as a perfect union.

A couple may have an ideal dynamic they're working toward, and that's great. But comparing your relationship to someone else's, especially when you don't know what goes on behind closed doors, is rarely a good idea.

SEE ALSO: Paris Hilton just got engaged with a $2 million ring — here's a look at her 2-year relationship with actor and model Chris Zylka

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to keep the passion alive in your relationship, according to a relationship scientist

How often you need to exercise to see results, according to the physiologist behind the viral 7-minute workout

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Man working out

  • Working out regularly is key to achieving results, according to Chris Jordan, the exercise physiologist who came up with the 7-minute workout.
  • Jordan gave us a sample week-long fitness routine to start with.
  • His recommendations are supported by a new study published in January.

 

If you've renewed your commitment to getting fit now that January has arrived, you may be wondering how much time that goal will require.

For your workouts to produce real results, exercise has to be a regular habit, Chris Jordan, the exercise physiologist who came up with the 7-minute workout, told Business Insider.

Jordan's viral routine, officially called the "Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout" is based on a popular form of fitness called interval training. It's designed to give you the benefits of a sweaty bike ride or longer cardio workout in just a few minutes — but you have to commit to doing it regularly.

That means working out 3-5 times per week, at the minimum, Jordan said.

His insight is bolstered by a new study published in January in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation that found that the best results for heart health were gleaned when participants worked out 4-5 times per week.

For that study, researchers split 53 adults into two groups, one of which did two years of supervised exercise four to five days per week while the other simply did yoga and balance exercises. At the end of the study, the higher-intensity exercisers saw significant improvements in their heart's performance.

"We found what we believe to be the optimal dose of the right kind of exercise," Benjamin Levine, the author of the study and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, said in a statement.

That advice holds steady whether you're looking for physical results like leaner limbs and toned muscles or psychological ones like improved mood and higher energy levels. Both Jordan and Levine recommend interspersing cardio — running on a treadmill, riding a bike, or doing high-intensity interval training —with resistance training like planks, squats, or leg raises.

Here's an example five-day training plan you can try that Jordan shared with us:

  • Monday: Cycling and upper body resistance training, like arm raises
  • Tuesday: Yoga and lower body resistance training, like squats
  • Wednesday: Running and upper body resistance training, like bench presses
  • Thursday: Rest
  • Friday: Boxing and lower body resistance training, like leg raises

Whichever workout you try, however, the most important thing is to keep doing it.

"To achieve results," Jordan said, "consistency is key."

SEE ALSO: 12 ways one type of exercise is the closest thing to a miracle drug we have

DON'T MISS: I tried the science-backed 7-minute fitness routine that's going viral, and it actually works

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The 5 workouts that burn the most calories in an hour

MoviePass has had 'staggering' growth to 1.5 million subscribers — and an analyst says online ticket sites must be 'shaking in their boots' (HMNY)

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Moviepass

  • Movie theater subscription service MoviePass announced it now has 1.5 million paid subscribers.
  • It hit the number less than a month after hitting 1 million subscribers.
  • An industry analyst believes the company is a "game changer" for the movie theater business and that online ticket sites must be "shaking in their boots."


It only took 20 days for MoviePass to go from 1 million paid subscribers to 1.5 million. And folks in the industry are starting to pay attention.

The movie theater subscription service is having a great new year. In a time on the calendar when there’s a spike in moviegoing — with blockbusters from the end of last year like “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” still making impressive coin, plus the titles vying for Oscar consideration beginning to crop up in more theaters across the country — MoviePass is flexing its muscles.

The growth in the company since it changed to a $9.95 per month pricing model, which lets you see a movie per day, is astounding. MoviePass, now backed by Helios and Matheson Analytics, Inc., had around 20,000 paid subscribers when the price change happened on August 15, 2017. It then rose to 150,000 eight days later. Almost a month later, it had hit 600,000 and on December 20, MoviePass announced that it hit 1 million paid-subscribers. That was a milestone that the company boasted was accomplished faster than Netflix or Hulu.

But the growth has just kept ramping up, as the company announced it had hit 1.5 million paid subscribers on Tuesday — 20 days after hitting 1 million.

Here's a chart showing that growth:

MoviePass graphic Samantha Lee

But even with this growth, there are still questions looming over MoviePass. The main one on everyone’s mind in the industry is whether MoviePass can be financially successful in the long run.

Currently, MoviePass pays most theaters full price for the tickets bought through its app. Since the average movie ticket price in 2017 was $8.93, that means MoviePass stands to lose money if its customers actually go to more than one movie per month. The company hopes to mitigate this by making more deals in the future with exhibitors to get discounted tickets in exchange for promotion, and using its data to help market movies.

There is a risk to that plan, however.

"Major studios won't like tickets on their movies getting discounted and [will] change their distribution agreements to prohibit that from happening," Wade Holden, research analyst for S&P Global Market Intelligence, told Business Insider. "MoviePass is going to have to illustrate to the studios that the increase in admissions they are bringing to the table will actually boost box office revenue."

But that might be starting to happen already. MoviePass has begun to find a lot of success with the art-house titles vying for award season consideration. Though numbers are still coming in on how MoviePass is affecting ticket sales, Indiewire reported that 6%-13% of opening week ticket sales for movies like “Lady Bird,” “The Disaster Artist,” and “The Shape of Water,” came from MoviePass.

“As long as MoviePass can sustain its business model in terms of turning a profit, it is on its way to being the next Redbox or Netflix in terms of shaking up the industry,” Jeff Bock, senior analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told Business Insider. “All other online ticket sales entities must be shaking in their boots. Based on these staggering numbers, MoviePass is the real deal game changer. This is the one theatrical exhibition entity that is actively growing attendance, something the industry desperately needs as evident by 2017 being the lowest attendance in the last 25 years.”

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

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10 surprising things you didn't know about the Philippines

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manila

The Philippines is much more than a sprawling archipelago of pristine white-sand beaches and lush tropical flora, although those are undeniably attractive features of this Southeast Asian nation.

From the rugged mountains and high rolling plateaus of Mindanao to the grand malls and orderly chaos of Metro Manila, the Philippines is one of the most diverse and fastest-growing countries in the region.

Here are some surprising things about the Philippines:

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It has 7,641 islands, but only around 2,000 are inhabited.

For decades, Filipinos thought their country was made up of 7,107 islands. But in 2013, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), which is part of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources, obtained new technology that allowed them to better assess land formations. As a result, NAMRIA discovered more than 500 previously unknown islands. 

After the discovery, controversy ensued. Some critics alleged that the newfound "islands" were in fact just large rocks, islets, reefs, or sandbars, and that they did not meet the legal definition for an island. 

Either way, most of the new islands won't be habitable. Currently, people live on just a quarter of the country's islands. 



Manila, the capital, is actually comprised of 16 cities.

When most people talk about Manila, they're actually referring to the greater metropolis area, otherwise known as Metro Manila. 

Just under 2 million people live in Manila proper, according to the country's 2015 census.

Metro Manila, on the other hand, is made up of 16 cities, including Manila proper, and boasts more than 12.8 million people. Metro Manila is also known as the National Capital Region, which is one of the 16 administrative regions. 



Spain, the US, and Japan all colonized the Philippines at one point.

Spain first settled in the Philippines in the 16th century. It would go on to colonize the country for more than 330 years, although the British briefly occupied Manila for 18 months from 1762 to 1764. 

In 1898, Spain was forced to sell the Philippines to the US following its defeat in the Spanish-American War. The US remained in power until Japan invaded during World War II. The Japanese were forced to leave after their defeat in 1945. 

Colonial remnants can still be felt today. From Spanish architecture to the widespread use of English, the Philippines is not unlike most other countries still reeling from centuries of colonial subjugation. 



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Inside billionaire Warren Buffett's unconventional marriage, which included an open arrangement and 3-way Christmas cards

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Warren Buffet wife Astrid

• Warren Buffett married Susan Thompson in 1952.

• She ultimately left Warren to pursue a singing career, but they remained amicably married until her death in 2004.

• Susan also introduced her husband to Astrid Menks, who became his companion. Buffett and Menks married in 2006.



For much of his life, investment guru Warren Buffett has had a less-than-conventional marriage.

While he remained married to his first wife, Susan, from 1952 till her death in 2004, he lived with Astrid Menks. Menks and Buffett didn't tie the knot until 2006, two years after Susan died.

But family members said the unusual arrangement worked for all those involved. According to the Daily Mail, the trio would even send out Christmas cards together — signed Warren, Susan, and Astrid.

"Unconventional is not a bad thing," Buffett's daughter, Susie Buffett, told the New York Times. "More people should have unconventional marriages."

Here's a look inside Warren Buffett's married life.

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Buffett's connection to his first wife, Susan, goes back to long before they were even born.

Source: Business Insider



Susan's grandfather once ran a campaign for Republican United States Representative Howard Buffett, Warren's grandfather. It apparently didn't go well. Their daughter, Susie Buffett, told Business Insider that it was "the only time my grandpa Buffett lost."

Source: Business Insider



Before he met Susan, Warren busied himself trying to win the heart of a woman named Betty Gallagher in 1949. She happened to be dating a ukulele player, so Buffett took up the instrument too.

Source: Hear Nebraska



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Mark Wahlberg raked in $68 million in 2017 — but he's the most overpaid actor in Hollywood

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Mark Wahlberg

  • Mark Wahlberg is the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, according to Forbes.
  • Wahlberg was paid 1,500 times as much as his costar, Michelle Williams, for "All the Money in the World," according to USA Today.
  • But three of his recent movies made just $4.40 at the box office for every $1 he earned, making him the most overpaid actor of the last year.
  • Christian Bale and Channing Tatum round out the top three on Forbes list of most overpaid actors.


Mark Wahlberg earned $68 million in 2017, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.

Wahlberg was paid was paid 1,500 times as much as his costar, Michelle Williams, for "All the Money in the World," according to USA Today.

But he may not be worth his salt, according to a new analysis from Forbes.

Together, Wahlberg's three most recent wide-release films that debuted before June 1 — "Deepwater Horizon," "Patriots Day," "Daddy's Home" — brought in $4.40 at the box office for every $1 he earned making them.

Forbes calculated actors' box-office-earnings-to-paycheck ratio for its 2017 list of the most overpaid actors. The list, which was all men this year, ranks actors from Forbes' highest-paid-celebrity list by how much money their movies earn for every $1 they are paid to star in them.

Wahlberg also starred in "Transformers: The Last Knight," which was released in mid-June, and executive-produced his latest film, "Daddy's Home 2," neither of which were included in Forbes' calculation.

British actor Christian Bale came in at No. 2 on the list, largely thanks to his 2016 flop "The Promise." The big-budget film about the Armenian genocide earned back an estimated 11% of its $90 million production costs, according to Forbes. Together, Bale's three most recent movies brought in $6.70 at the box office for every $1 he earned.

And though his paychecks are modest compared to Wahlberg and Bale, Channing Tatum earned the No. 3 spot on Forbes' list. His three most recent movies, including 2017's "Logan Lucky," returned $7.60 for every $1 he earned making them.

Channing Tatum

To determine the ranking, Forbes deducted the estimated production budget from the global box-office earnings for an actor's three most recent, nonanimated, starring-role movies released before June 1, 2017. Forbes then divided that by the actor's estimated pay for those movies to determine a return on investment figure.

"While these returns sound exceptional to stock or bond investors, Hollywood accounting means they are far worse than they seem," wrote Forbes staffer Natalie Robehmed. "Studios and exhibitors must split global box-office totals; add in multimillion-dollar publicity and release costs not included in production budgets and films quickly become more expensive."

Rounding out the top five in the ranking are Academy Award winners Denzel Washington and Brad Pitt, whose latest three movies brought in $10.50 and $11.50 at the box office, respectively, for every $1 they earned.

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I quit social media for 1 month — it was the best choice I ever made

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I quit social media for a month. So, I quit Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. I just needed a break. It was time to cut myself off

I stopped using social media this morning and my brain is going crazy. I just realized how often I glance down just to see if I have a notification. When I wake up in the morning, on the way to work, on the train, walking from the train to work, sometimes at work —  sorry — when I get home from work. It's constant.

I watched a TED Talk by Doctor Cal Newport and he said going on social media is like going to the casino. You're anticipating getting likes and you come out of it. You go back in thinking, “I’ll get the reward next time. I’ll get the reward next time. I’ll get the reward next time.” And you just sit around waiting for a notification to come around so you can go back.

I think I'm probably not the only person in my generation who feels this way. I have friends who use Facebook to promote their music shows and send invites for birthday parties. It's a very big part of my social life and that might be something I'm missing.

I'm hoping with this social media fast that my brain will kind of recalibrate itself — go back to my life pre-social media. I hope to become more focused, more productive, for my brain to be a little less scattered and all over the place. I really hope I inspire other people to do this because as an avid social media user, I'd like to prove that we don't need it.

Here’s how it went.

The first day of my social media cleanse was a Friday so I was at work and I wasn't — shouldn't have been on my phone anyway. I woke up on Saturday to go to brunch with my friend. She was an hour late and I had nothing to distract myself. Day two, my solution for being social media free was “let's text every person I know because I'm so bored.” And then once I got back to work it got a little easier. Coworkers were trying to get me to watch videos on Twitter. Within the first week, I was cured of my addictive thumb swiping and checking my phone.

The verdict:

I wake up feeling way more rested. I spend 9 hours a day staring at a screen at my job and cutting down on screen time outside of the office has changed my world. I don't have as many headaches, I don't feel tired all the time. It just makes so much sense. As the experiment went on, I started to feel like there were extra hours in the day, like I was given this gift of reading time and cooking time and exercise time. I realized that once I'm tired, I just surrender. I just go to bed. It’s like whatever. I don't need to sit there and be like: must stay awake. Must consume content. It’s like no! Just go to bed, you freak!

This experiment has revolutionized my productivity at work. If you had checked in with me before this experiment I would have 30 tabs open doing random research and tweeting and checking Slack.  I was a productivity nightmare.

My well-being has improved tenfold. My mind has never been so clear. I feel like I'm learning how to properly communicate in a world without social media. I’ve been given more time with my thoughts.

I know a lot of people who will mind-numbingly scroll instead of just sitting with their thoughts and dealing with their emotions and all the things that have happened in their day and their week and their month.

We’ve got to focus on ourselves for a little bit and not every random stranger you’re friends with on Facebook.

I learned that "FOMO" isn't real if you don't know what you're missing out on. If there was a party that I missed, I don't know about it so I don't care! I'm not seeing people's Instagrams from it and I'm not seeing Snapchat videos and I'm not feeling like I missed out on anything because I'm not seeing it.

I would urge you to delete one social media app from your phone. See if you miss it. See if it changes your life. See if you notice how much time you had been spending on that app.

I was really scared of quitting social media at first. I thought I would miss out on a ton of things. It actually turned out to be the best choice I’ve ever made and I really encourage you to do the same.

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I spoke to 4 couples in which both partners are relationship experts — and everyone recommended the same strategy for managing conflict

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man kissing woman outside

  • I recently spoke to several married couples in which both partners are relationship experts. I asked how they managed conflict.
  • Everyone said they tried to stay curious about their partner, instead of getting angry or defensive.
  • Curiosity is a notoriously hard skill to develop, but it pays off.


I recently spoke to a series of married couples in which both partners are relationship experts.

When I asked how they coped with friction in their marriages, everyone had a similar response: They stay curious.

Peter Pearson, PhD said it's a skill that's notoriously hard, even for people who are trained in couples therapy, as he and his wife, Ellyn Bader, PhD, are. Together, Pearson and Bader run the Couples Institute in Menlo Park, California.

Pearson shared an example of how curiosity might work in his relationship. He and Bader have long had different levels of tolerance for clutter.

When they first recognized this discrepancy, Pearson said, Bader might have asked her husband questions like, "When does clutter cross your threshold of unacceptability?", "In your family of origin, how did they deal with clutter?", "How much effort would it take from you, Pete, to become more conscious of clutter and do something about it?", and "What could I, Ellyn, do to support you in being more conscious of clutter and doing something about it?"

The question that would have gotten them nowhere: "Why are you such a slob?"

Other couples explained how curiosity can replace anger or hostility.

Carrie Cole, MEd, LPC, and Don Cole, DMin, LPC-S, LMFT-S, who are the research director and clinical director, respectively, at the Gottman Institute, shared a recent example. Carrie was visibly upset with Don because she'd asked him a question and he'd blown her off. Instead of getting defensive, Carrie said, Don got curious.

He asked questions like, "Why did that bother you so badly?" and was willing to listen to the answer. Carrie told me it's about feeling validated. "For somebody to say, 'Tell me more about that' and 'Where does that come from for you? What's your history around that?' That really soothes me."

Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD, president at the Gottman Institute, said her husband and cofounder at the Gottman Institute, John Gottman, PhD, adopted a relationship-strengthening strategy directly from their own research early on in their marriage.

"If I was really upset about something or making a complaint about a behavior of his," she said, "rather than going defensive, he would say, 'What do you need? Honey, what do you need?' And immediately all the tension would met away. The anger would melt away. It was a balm to my soul."

Why? "Because John recognized that when I was upset about something, first of all my feelings were valid," she said. "He loved me and my feelings mattered," plus he showed a willingness to help ease her distress.

Try to be open and patient the way you were in the early stages of dating

My favorite take on the role that curiosity plays in a relationship came from Suzanne Pileggi Pawelski, who, along with her husband, James Pawelski, PhD, wrote the forthcoming book, "Happy Together."

While drafting the book, Pileggi Pawelski and Pawelski realized they had very different approaches to research and writing. Pileggi Pawelski told me it was helpful to take a step back instead of becoming infuriated when her husband analyzed and deliberated over decisions she would have made much more quickly. That allowed her to remember that Pawelski was "trying to make a better project for the two of us."

Pileggi Pawelski said that in the beginning of a relationship, "You ask a lot of questions and then later you get into a relationship with someone and you assume you know them." At that point, you're "just not as open as in the initial phases. For whatever reason, we all fall into a pattern."

The antidote, it would seem, is mindfulness. You want to be aware that you don't always know what your partner is thinking, or what motivates them to act the way they do. Instead of leaping to conclusions, and then to anger, ask questions and be willing to listen to the answers.

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