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How movie sound effects are made

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Movie sound effects

  • Sound effects sometimes require a lot of effort and creativity to get right.
  • INSIDER profiled Studio Unknown, a studio that uses everyday objects to create sound effects for movies.
  • For example, artists use chopsticks to imitate the sound of a rat scrabbling across the pavement.
  • Meanwhile, a shredded rope can provide the whooshing noise needed to mimic that of a horse's swishing tail.
  • Colorful Mardi Gras beads sound a lot like a bottle of pills when shaken.
  • Supervising sound editor Matt Davies told INSIDER that old or broken items are often given a new purpose by these artists.
  • Found or antique items might rattle or squeak more than newer objects.

SEE ALSO: From kayaking on glaciers to forging enormous swords, what 15 of the coolest jobs out there look like

Join the conversation about this story »


Business Insider is hiring a paid editorial partnerships fellow in London

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BI UK team

Business Insider UK is hiring a paid digital fellow to work on editorial partnerships from our London office.

This fellowship will teach you the ins and outs of how a digital news site operates.

This candidate will be responsible for promoting Business Insider UK's content to key editorial partners, as well as tracking and analysing our best-performing stories. He or she will also review and select stories from our partners and rewrite headlines to make them pop on our website. This fellow will become familiar with a variety of verticals and assist the partnerships editor with searching for new partners across all topic areas. 

We are looking for a voracious news reader:

  • with excellent copy-editing skills, who can work quickly and independently
  • who knows how to package stories in an exciting and smart way
  • who has a good instinct for what Business Insider readers find interesting
  • who knows how to use blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media to attract and engage an audience

A background in journalism and light HTML and photo-editing skills are a huge plus.

As a digital fellow at Business Insider, there is no getting coffee, filing, or making copies.

APPLY HEREwith a cover letter about why this position appeals to you.

This position requires that you work in our London office, located near the Aldgate East tube station. Fellows are encouraged to work 40 hours a week for a six-month period from the start date.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: An investment chief at HSBC sees huge trading opportunities outside the US

Shoppers are rushing to snatch up used clothes from these 10 brands, according to ThredUp

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thredUP

  • ThredUp claims to be the largest online thrift store, with a special focus on women’s and kids’ clothing.
  • It stocks 35,000 different brands and adds 1,000 new products every hour.
  • These are its fastest-selling brands in the past six months.

Secondhand shopping is in vogue.

The resale market is growing 24 times faster than traditional retail, including the off-price market, according to a report by online thrift store ThredUp. This sector of the retail industry is currently worth $20 billion and is on track to reach $41 billion by 2022

In just under a decade, ThredUp — which allows customers to buy and sell women's and kids' clothing — has grown to become the largest online thrift store. It has received $130 million in venture funding from investors including Goldman Sachs and now stocks 35,000 different brands. It says it now adds 1,000 new products to its website every hour.

The constant turnover of inventory and massive selection is what keeps bargain hunters coming back for more, cofounder James Reinhart told Business Insider in a recent interview. 

We asked the company to put together a list of the fastest-selling brands on its website. The data was taken from a six-month period, between September 2017 and March 2018.

These are the brands whose products customers across the US are dashing to snatch up immediately:

SEE ALSO: These 25 companies are revolutionizing retail

10. Anthropologie



9. The North Face



8. Crocs



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 50 best-selling music artists of all time

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The Beatles

England's greatest rock band holds the top spot on the all-time ranking of best-selling artists by album sales, and it looks untouchable on a bizarre list filled with a number of surprising appearances.

It's somewhat shocking to find out, for instance, that smooth-jazz saxophonist Kenny G has sold more albums than Eminem, and that Garth Brooks has sold more than Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. 

We compiled this list by ranking the most successful acts in music history according to their total certified album units sold in the U.S. (including streaming figures), as provided by the RIAA. 

Check out the 50 best-selling music artists of all time by album sales: 

SEE ALSO: The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts

50. Phil Collins — 33.5 million units



49. Bon Jovi — 34.5 million units



48. Britney Spears — 34.5 million units



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A psychotherapist says there are 4 types of shame — here's what they are and how they affect us

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dirty hands

  • Almost everyone feels shame.
  • There are four distinct types of shame that psychotherapist Joseph Burgo calls the "shame paradigms."
  • Shame can sometimes be intense and toxic, but it also affects people in their everyday lives.


When Joseph Burgo first proposed the idea of writing about shame, he found that people were afraid.

"My agent, when we went out with the proposal for this book, was very afraid it was too dark and people were going to be scared off," he told Business Insider. "I was told by agents and editors everywhere that nobody wanted to read about shame. It was a downer subject."

However, according to Burgo, "Now, I think people are ready to hear about it."

We feel shame for many different reasons, in a variety of ways. In Burgo's new book "Shame: Free Yourself, Find Joy, and Build True Self-Esteem," which is set to be released in November, he approaches the topic of shame through four different lenses, called shame paradigms.

"I think shame is everything," he said. "I think it influences so many of our defenses, so many of our character traits. I think coping with shame is a daily preoccupation, not shame in the big toxic sense, but in a kind of everyday way."

There are four distinct types of shame

The first subset of shame is unrequited love. Anybody who's ever loved someone and been rejected, or realised their love wasn't reciprocated, knows how shaming and humiliating that can be, Burgo said.

But this type of shame can develop early on in life. For example, there is something called the "Still Face Experiment," where mothers are asked to interact with their babies by smiling and talking to them.

Then, after a while, they are told not to react for a couple of minutes, and ignore the baby's actions by just staring blankly. The baby tries smiling, pointing, and shrieking to get the mother to play with them again, and eventually the stress becomes too much and they start to cry.

The mother's lack of empathy leads the baby to feel something like shame. Burgo says this can happen in real life if a mother is unable to mirror their baby's emotions because of depression, or being overwhelmed by what's going on in their own life.

"If that baby's experience were to be repeated, if the attachment relationship failed to develop normally and the mother consistently fell short on an empathic level, it would deform the baby's developing self and lead to a kind of structural affliction I refer to as basic shame," Burgo explained in a detailed post about unrequited love.

The second type of shame is unwanted exposure. For example, if you are called out for a mistake in public, or humiliated by someone walking in on you naked. This is typically what many people think of when you mention shame.

Disappointed expectation is the third type, which is when you set out to do something and you fail. This could be at work, such as not getting that promotion you were going for, or it could be something in your personal life, like a relationship that doesn't work out the way you hoped, or a friendship that turns sour.

The fourth type is exclusion, or being left out. Sometimes we just want to fit in and feel like we belong. This happens in all walks of life, at work, in friendships, and in romantic relationships. We place a lot of value on being liked and not feeling like an outsider, so when something threatens that, we can take it pretty hard.

"In every day of our life, we feel some member of the shame family of emotions," Burgo said. "It might be a little thing, like we're a little disappointed about the B we got on the report when we thought we were getting an A, there's a little bit of shame there. Or it could be big, like if you get fired.

"Wondering whether or not we belong, or whether or not we're liked, or loved, or whether or not we're successful — I think these are our daily preoccupations and they all contain the risk of shame."

Shame may have evolved to be beneficial

Shame can be excruciating, and can be one reason behind why people grow up with destructive personality traits such as narcissism. But shame is also beneficial to our survival in some ways.

For instance, children are curious and want to explore. While this is educational, it can also be dangerous to be too interested in unfamiliar places and people.

Saying "no" is a mild form of shame, and most parents use it a lot while their children are young. It interrupts the positive feeling of exploration the child is feeling, but the shame doesn't last long, and causes no long-term damage.

Nobody's childhood is perfect, and people often develop pockets of shame where our parents let us down in important ways. But the biggest problems with shame arise when someone's childhood is plagued by abuse, neglect, or trauma, Burgo said.

For those who have been severely impacted, psychologists have to tread carefully.

"If you probe too quickly, you'll stir up people's defenses against their shame," Burgo said. "So you have to very slowly peel back the defenses gently, and help them to get in touch with the feelings of defence."

It takes a while to build trust, as people with intense feelings of shame are often concerned about being judged by others, including their therapists.

"I've found in my later years of practise that I have a much less psycho-analytic stance, and it's really helpful for clients to understand, without disclosing too much about yourself, that you know what shame is too," Burgo said.

"You're not this idealised, shame-free analyst who doesn't have to deal with what they have to deal with. I think it's important for them to know you have got it too."

SEE ALSO: Feeling intense shame can turn some people into narcissists — here's how

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What living on Earth would be like without the moon

Meet the billionaire couple behind Panda Express, who run nearly 2,000 restaurants and sell 90 million pounds of orange chicken a year

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panda express cherng ceo

  • Panda Express co-founders and CEOs Andrew and Peggy Cherng have a combined net worth of more than $3 billion.
  • Over 25 years, they oversaw Panda Express' growth from a single restaurant in a California mall to a 2,000-restaurant worldwide empire.
  • They continue to own and operate virtually every Panda Express restaurant themselves.


In 25 years, Panda Express has transformed from a single restaurant in a southern California mall to a 2,000-location empire around the world.

The masterminds behind the American Chinese behemoth are Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the married couple that founded the company in the early 1980s and continues to own and operate every Panda Express themselves.

Today, the Cherngs have amassed a combined net worth of $3.3 billion, making them two of the richest people in America.

But the Cherngs weren't always on track to build a fast-food empire. Andrew earned a master's degree in mathematics before he opened his first restaurant, while Peggy earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, eventually using her expertise to pioneer the American Chinese restaurant industry.

Read on to see how the Cherngs made their fortune in America:

SEE ALSO: Forget the infamous reputation — Panda Express is the most authentic American Chinese chain in the world

DON'T MISS: Here's what 11 of the most successful people in America studied in college

Andrew and Peggy Cherng are the cofounders and CEOs of Panda Express, the American Chinese restaurant with nearly 2,000 locations worldwide. According to Forbes, the Cherngs have a combined net worth of $3.3 billion.

Source: Forbes



The Cherngs own and operate virtually every Panda Express location themselves — they don't franchise them out to other owners, making Panda Express a rarity among restaurant chains of its size.

Source: Business Insider



Andrew Cherng was born in Yangzhou, China. His father was a chef, but Andrew didn't enter the restaurant industry at first — he came to the US to study math, eventually earning a master's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Missouri.

Source: The New York Times



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

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martin luther king jr 4x3

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was just 39 years old when he was assassinated 50 years ago, on April 4, 1968, but the values he stood for — acceptance, equality, non-violent protest — have echoed throughout the five decades since.

His speeches were bold, triumphant, and touched with King's tireless need to revise. As the perfectionist spoke, millions listened.

Here are some of the most inspiring words the activist spoke during his short life.

SEE ALSO: Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife wrote a letter condemning Jeff Sessions in 1986







See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Meet the kids of the world's richest billionaire business moguls

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Billionaire Richard Branson and kids

  • Many of the world's richest people and most recognizable business moguls are also parents.
  • They raise their kids just like everyone else, but with billions of dollars to do so.
  • Education is usually a priority: Bill Gates sent his children to the private school he graduated from, and Elon Musk's five sons attend a secret school founded by their father.


Most kids face the same problems growing up, but some do so with a billionaire parent.

When not running their tech company and managing other executives, many of the world's richest people and most recognizable business moguls have the universal job of taking care of their children.

The kids of the richest business moguls have many of the same experiences as everyone else. They go to school, relax on vacation, date, and eventually have children and careers of their own. 

However, they may also attend secret schools, pursue expensive hobbies like riding horses, or head up their father's charity organization — less than ordinary experiences that make their childhood the opposite of average. 

Below, find out more about the children of some of the most successful billionaire business moguls: Mark Cuban, Mark ZuckerbergElon MuskRichard BransonBill Gates, and Warren Buffett

SEE ALSO: Meet the kids of the world's richest tech billionaires

DON'T MISS: Meet the kids of the richest black billionaires in the world

Mark Cuban is a father to three children — Alexis, Alyssa, and Jake.

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Cuban and his wife, Tiffany, keep family time fun. Last summer, the Cuban family took a vacation to Disneyland.

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Cuban has admitted that it is difficult to get his children off their phones. He limits Netflix time for his kids and has instituted a technology curfew.

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Source: CNBC



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9 prominent conservative characters from TV shows that aren't 'Roseanne'

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Roseanne

ABC revived "Roseanne" to huge ratings success last week. The sitcom reboot managed to pull in over 18 million viewers in its two-episode premiere, which prompted a congratulatory call from President Trump to star Roseanne Barr, who is a Trump supporter on and off the show.

The show's success has sparked an interest in shows that resonate with conservative audiences. That is, after all, why ABC executives chose to bring the show back.

But "Roseanne" isn't the only show that's featured conservative characters.

We've highlighted nine prominent characters from TV history that are conservative or showcase conservative values — excluding ones that are meant to be mostly satirical, such as Jack Donaghy in "30 Rock."

SEE ALSO: Karlie Kloss explains why she's so secretive about her long-term relationship with Jared Kushner's brother Josh

Jack Bauer in "24"

Played by Kiefer Sutherland

Jack Bauer, a Los Angeles-based counter-terrorism agent, reflected post-9/11 Republican politics. "24," which debuted in 2001, was co-created by Joel Surnow, who is well-known for his conservative viewpoints.



Eric Camden in "7th Heaven"

Played by Stephen Collins

"7th Heaven" was about a family of seven children, and the head of the busy household was Rev. Eric Camden, a minister who tried his best to instill Christian values into his kids. It was easier said than done at times.



Archie Bunker in "All in the Family"

Played by Carroll O'Connor

Archie Bunker was created as a satire. As this 2014 New Yorker article points out, a message aired prior to the show's premiere in 1971 warning viewers that the show sought "to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns" to point out "just how absurd they are."

But as this same article highlights, Bunker — who was portrayed as a bigot — ended up transcending satire. Rather than laughing at him, fans found themselves relating to him at times. The show was a hit and lasted 9 seasons.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

13 of the most famous last words in history

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• There's something comforting about poetic, funny, or interesting last words.

• These quotations give us hope about facing death with dignity.

• From an early American patriot to a famous rock star, these individuals all died after uttering some particularly memorable last words.



We love famous last words.

There's a reason there are so many books listing memorable deathbed sayings throughout history out there. Perhaps we'd just rather believe well-known figures tend to die saying something clever and profound. It makes death itself a little less scary.

But, for that reason, final words can be quite tricky. As with any quotes on the internet — and historical quotes, in general — it's hard to sort out what's true and what's phony or exaggerated.

Here are several poignant, strange, or otherwise memorable last words from throughout history:

SEE ALSO: 18 people who accomplished incredible things at a shockingly young age

Historians believe the 21-year-old school teacher-turned-spy was paraphrasing a line from the popular 18th century play "Cato" as he stood on the scaffold, according to the book "Cato's Tears and the Making of Anglo-American Emotion." The British hanged Hale after he was captured during a failed 1776 espionage mission in Long Island.



The Roman statesman met his fate in 43 BCE, after Mark Anthony put a hit out on him during the power struggle following Julius Caesar's death.

Cicero attempted to flee, but accepted his death when confronted by his assassins. He even stuck his head out of his litter in order to make it easier for the killers to strike, according to "Forgotten Justice."



According to the 2016 biography "Marie-Antoinette," the deposed French queen apologized to her executioner on the scaffold in 1793. She had accidentally stepped on his foot on her way to the guillotine.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The behaviors that affect weight can all be explained by economic theories — according to formerly obese economists who lost a combined 120 pounds in 18 months

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Rob before after

  • Many people struggle with how to lose weight.
  • In "The Economists' Diet," two formerly obese economists say it all comes down to understanding fundamental economic theories.
  • Their tips include weighing yourself every day and minimizing variety in your diet.


If you've been struggling to lose weight, Christopher Payne and Rob Barnett have a simple suggestion: a "self-imposed eating austerity program."

Think of it as something akin to financial austerity, except instead of a country making spending cuts, it's you cutting calories from your diet.

The phrase appears in Payne and Barnett's book, "The Economists' Diet: The Surprising Formula for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off." Payne and Barnett are formerly obese economists, and they guide readers in using a similar approach to the one they used to lose a collective 120 pounds in 18 months.

That approach is heavily influenced by fundamental theories of economics and behavioral economics.

Combat the effects of scarcity by weighing yourself every day

Having scarce resources often leads to bad or irrational decision making. So you need a powerful psychological device to keep you focused on your goal.

Drawing on the work of behavioral economists Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan, authors of "Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much," Payne and Barnett argue that when you're hungry (as in, when you're dieting), you're likelier to make poor food choices.

The only way to escape this "tunnel vision," where all you can think about is food, is to weigh yourself every day, the authors say. That way, you'll have the number in mind to help you resist temptations when they inevitably arise.

Note that this advice in particular is controversial: Moran Cerf, a professor of business and neuroscience at Northwestern University who has been studying decision-making for over a decade, told Business Insider's Chris Weller that people should weigh themselves just once a week. Your weight can fluctuate by a few pounds every day, Cerf said, and stepping on the scale so often can cause confusion.

Isolate the signal from the noise by being conscious of calories without counting them

You don't need all available data — you just need one piece of data that serves as a signal for the rest.

The authors use an example of how mom and pop stores maintain a supply of bread to illustrate the limits of data. The stores don't need to know things like "the state of the wheat market, food processing techniques, supply logistics, and macroeconomic demand conditions."

Instead, "all they must know is how much their supplier is charging them for the bread. Soon thereafter, they'll find out how many loaves they sell each day and therefore how many loaves to buy from the supplier."

The price, as one Austrian economist put it, is a "signal" that contains lots of other information.

For dieters, that means you don't need to know every piece of nutritional information about everything you consume. In fact, you don't need to know the exact caloric information for everything you consume.

All you need to do is check calorie data every so often so you can estimate roughly how many calories are in different types of food. Then you'll realize that a grande Americano with nonfat milk, to use the authors' example, is generally a better option than a grande cafe latte with whole milk from Starbucks.

Use your 'System 2' to evaluate everything you read on food packaging

We generally process information either intuitively or analytically — and the intuitive approach can sometimes lead us to the wrong solution.

In his bestselling book "Thinking, Fast and Slow," psychologist Daniel Kahneman identifies two "systems," or ways of processing information. System 1 processes things intuitively and relatively quickly. System 2 is more analytical and takes a slower approach.

When you see a label that says "low fat," you might be inclined to gobble it down and feel great about yourself, the authors write. That's System 1 at work.

In reality, the snack may be lower in fat than some other snacks, but still relatively high in fat and calories. When you stop and realize that, you're using System 2.

Harness the power of the law of diminishing returns by minimizing variety in your diet

The more you have of something, the less valuable it becomes.

"The more we have of something, the less satisfaction gained from each successive unit," the authors write. This, in economic-speak, is the law of diminishing returns: It's why higher quantity leads to lower prices.

You can apply this logic to eating as well: The satisfaction you get from consuming the 100th Oreo is nothing near the satisfaction you get from consuming the first. At this point, the Oreo's "marginal utility" is near zero.

That's why the authors argue for eating the same, or at least similar, foods every day. You'll be much less inclined to overeat because the novelty and stimulation will gradually wear off.

SEE ALSO: 2 formerly obese economists lost a combined 120 pounds in 18 months — here are the best tricks they used

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What gaining weight does to your body

John Krasinski's terrifying new movie 'A Quiet Place' is a rare horror film with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

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a quiet place

Critics are heaping praise on the new movie, "A Quiet Place," a horror-thriller directed by and starring John Krasinski ("The Office," "13 Hours").

"A Quiet Place" centers around a family of four that has to keep dead-silent in a dystopian world where they are hunted by creatures that track down sounds. 

Emily Blunt co-stars in the film. It currently stands at a 100% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Most critics have praised the movie's performances and Krasinski's execution of its conceit and scares. 

Here's what critics have said about "A Quiet Place," which opens April 6 nationwide:

SEE ALSO: The 50 best movies of all time, according to critics

"When 'A Quiet Place' has one finger on the panic button and the other on mute, it's a nervy, terrifying thrill."

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly



"Directed with first-rate visual flair by John Krasinski (who knew?), this riveting near-silent thriller exudes the despair of a broken world with the concision of a Cormac McCarthy novel folded into a simplistic B-movie premise."

Eric Kohn, IndieWire



"Even moviegoers who don't accept the metaphor are going to have the pants scared off them."

John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter



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I skipped breakfast for 3 weeks — and it made me save money, drink more water, eat less, and crave healthier food

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Throughout our lives, we've have been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that not eating it can even make you put on weight.

But some people now argue that the historical link between breakfast and good health is all a myth spun by cereal companies.

There’s a lot of buzz around the concept of intermittent fasting at the moment, and there’s even growing evidence to suggest there are real health benefits to fasting for both the body and brain.

Many models and celebrities, including Miranda Kerr and Beyonce, reportedly swear by variations of fasting regimens.

There's the 5:2, where you eat what you want for five days of the week but restrict your calorie intake to just 500 a day for two "fasting" days, or the 16:8, which sees you eat within an eight-hour period, then fast for the remaining 16. There's also The 2 Meal Day— which, as the name suggests, requires eating just two meals in a day, and skipping either breakfast or dinner.

I've always struggled to stick to a strict diet. Restricting certain foods just makes me crave them even more, and calorie counting has always bored me.

After becoming intrigued by the concept of fasting and whether factoring it into my regime would suit my lifestyle, I decided to make a small tweak to my daily routine by skipping breakfast for two weeks — but it turned into three.

With some fasting advocates claiming that skipping breakfast can give you more energy, make you eat less, and even lose weight, it seemed worth a shot.

I wasn't strictly sticking to two meals a day and I allowed myself to snack during my non-fasting hours, so, even though I usually eat breakfast every day, it also didn't feel like much of a sacrifice.

Scroll down to see what happened when I skipped breakfast for three weeks.

SEE ALSO: Intermittent fasting was one of the biggest diet trends of 2017 — here's what you should know if you're planning to try it in the New Year

SEE ALSO: A stockbroker turned personal trainer tells us why breakfast actually isn't the most important meal of the day

With growing evidence suggesting there are real health benefits to fasting, I decided to make a small tweak to my daily routine by skipping breakfast for two weeks to see how — or if — it had any impact.

I've interviewed a number of personal trainers and fitness influencers who have told me that they go big at breakfast, and that this is when they factor carbs into their day because they'll have the rest of the day to work it off. 

Because of that, I've often assumed that eating a bigger breakfast would make me eat less over the course of the day — although I'd never tested the theory. Personally, I crave savoury breakfasts, and usually eat lots of toast, eggs, and avocados with breakfast both on weekdays and weekends. 

For this experiment, I decided to skip breakfast each morning, creating a fasting window of between 15 and 16 hours a day. This meant eating my evening meal by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. at the latest, and breaking my fast at midday each day.



Because I wasn't eating until noon, I had to rely on coffee to get me through the mornings — but my intake didn't change.

I normally drink at least one, usually two, coffees each morning, so I expected to be drinking a lot more while fasting. I was previously told that caffeine can be used as an appetite suppressant while fasting, but I found my coffee intake didn't really change at all.

 

 



This was perhaps because I was drinking almost a gallon of water a day.

While fasting I drank way more water than I usually do. On a normal day I was guilty of not always getting the advised two litres, but in this experiment I was drinking 1.5 to 2 litres of water in the morning before I had even broken my fast.

I'd continue drinking water throughout the afternoon, so I was drinking almost a gallon of water a day by the second half of my three-week trial. It's a habit that has stuck with me since.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 surprising celebrities Donald Trump has been friends with over the years

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alec baldwin and trump

As a billionaire reality TV star and real estate mogul in New York, a lot of people have tried to get into Donald Trump's inner circle over the years.

From politics to business and to Hollywood, it's not surprising that Trump has had friends in almost every line of work.

But here are 12 people you may not have known Trump befriended:

SEE ALSO: 17 celebrities who became politicians

DON'T MISS: Meet 'Stormy Daniels', the porn star Trump's lawyer paid to keep quiet about an alleged sexual affair — who's finally telling her side of the story

Trump took a liking to Mike Tyson when he starting hosting some of the boxer's biggest matches at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. When Tyson was convicted of rape in 1992, Trump defended the boxer, calling the verdict "a travesty."

Source: CNN



Shortly after the 2016 election, Trump met with rapper Kanye West at Trump Tower in New York. "We've been friends for a long time," Trump said, adding that the two discussed "life" during their meeting.

Source: Business Insider



Journalist Barbara Walters has been friends with Trump on and off for years. After having a bit of a falling out in 2007 after she defended Rosie O'Donnell's criticisms of Trump, Walters "rekindled" their friendship two years later, saying "I've missed you."

Source: The Today Show



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Jay-Z says he 'cried because I was so happy' when his mother came out to him as lesbian

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jay z netflix

  • Jay-Z talked to David Letterman about his mother's coming out as lesbian, in an upcoming interview for Letterman's Netflix talk show.
  • Jay-Z's mother, Gloria Carter, first came out publicly in an appearance on the rapper's song "Smile" from his 2017 album "4:44."
  • The rapper told Letterman that his mother revealed her sexual orientation to him for the first time during the making of his album last summer, and that it made him "so happy for her that she was free."

Jay-Z told David Letterman that he cried tears of happiness for his mother when she came out to him as lesbian, in an upcoming interview for Letterman's Netflix talk show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

Jay-Z's mother, Gloria Carter, first came out publicly in an appearance on the rapper's song "Smile" from his Grammy-nominated, 2017 album "4:44."

Jay-Z told Letterman that his mother first revealed her sexual orientation to him during the making of "4:44" last summer, and that her revelation made him emotional and "happy for her that she was free."

"Imagine having lived your life for someone else. And you think you’re protecting your kids. And for my mother to have to live as someone that she wasn’t and hide and like, protect her kids — and didn’t want to embarrass her kids, and you know, for all this time,” Jay-Z said. “And for her to sit in front of me and tell me, ‘I think I love someone.’ I mean, I really cried. That’s a real story. I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free."

"This was the first time we had the conversation," he continued. "And the first time I heard her say she loved her partner. Like, ‘I feel like I love somebody.’ She said, ‘I feel like.’ She held that little bit back, still. She didn’t say, ‘I’m in love,’ she said, ‘I feel like I love someone.’ And I just, I cried. I don’t even believe in crying because you’re happy. I don’t even know what that is."

Jay-Z's interview with Letterman premieres on Netflix on April 6. 

Watch a clip from the interview below: 

SEE ALSO: JAY-Z's mother came out as lesbian on his new album '4:44'

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NOW WATCH: Why 555 is always used for phone numbers on TV and in movies


Bosses in New York City might soon have to stop emailing and messaging their employees after work ends

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working late email laptop

  • New York City may pass a law making it illegal for employers to require employees to check work email outside regular work hours.
  • France passed a similar law in 2017, and the German company Volkswagen shuts off email servers at night.
  • Research suggests workers are emotionally exhausted by the anticipation of receiving messages from work when they get home.


Sending your team emails and Slack messages after everyone's left for the day is annoying.

Soon, it could also be a crime.

A new bill in New York City aims to protect workers' "right to disconnect," making it illegal for employers to require employees to check their work-related electronic communication outside regular work hours.

The bill was introduced in the City Council meeting in March 2018 by Raphael Espinal, who represents District 37 (in Brooklyn).

Time Out New York reports that if the law is passed, workers who are barraged by super late or early emails from their managers could complain to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, which would initiate an investigation. If the boss is found guilty, they would have to pay a fine of up to $500 to the employee, CNN reports.

New York City isn't exactly a pioneer in this domain.

In 2017, for example, France passed a law that lets them ignore emails outside working hours, Business Insider's Rob Price reported. (The French law applies to companies with 50 or more employees; the New York City bill applies to companies with at least 10.)

And the German company Volkswagen switches off their email servers late at night because they "respect relaxation time."

In many cases, after-hours work email elicits more than just an eye roll. Business Insider's Julie Bort reported on a study that found employees are emotionally exhausted by the expectation that they're always available.

Ultimately, regardless of whether New York City passes the law, the onus may be on employees to monitor their attachment to their inboxes.

David Burkus, author of "Under New Management," told Business Insider's Áine Cain that many people complain about receiving after-hours emails from bosses or clients.

"But when I ask them if they expect subordinates or anyone else to respond in such a short period of time … they say no. We all feel pressured to respond quickly, but we all feel like its someone else pressuring us. Maybe it's all in our heads."

SEE ALSO: France is pushing a law to cut down on work email — here's why the US probably won't follow suit

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Why San Francisco is a nightmare, according to science

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San Francisco

San Francisco can be a tough place live for a lot of reasons.

Sky-high housing prices can make it nearly impossible to find a place to live. A thousand-square-foot home with no working plumbing and a pile of rotting mattresses stacked in the kitchen sold for more than $520,000 in February. Even tech moguls and startup founders are having trouble finding homes in an area where nearly every spare piece of real estate is gobbled up by the highest bidder. One real estate firm estimates that a home-buyer needs to make around $300,000 a year just to afford a median-priced abode. 

But San Francisco isn't just perilously overpriced. It's also perpetually teetering on the edge of disaster. If earthquakes don't shake down your workplace, consider the fact that the city is literally sinking into mud and trash in certain places.

Real estate woes aside, here are all the various ways that scientists know living in the Bay Area is not for the faint of heart:

SEE ALSO: 11 potentially cancer-causing things you might use every day

The Bay Area is a veritable smorgasbord of complex fault lines. No less than seven different faults converge here.

The well-known San Andreas Fault is just one of the seven "significant fault zones" the US Geological Survey cites in the Bay Area. The others are the Calaveras, Concord-Green Valley, Greenville, Hayward, Rodgers Creek, and San Gregorio Faults.

People who live in the area experience small earthquakes and shakes all the time. Just this week, there has been a 2.9 and a 3.0-sized shake in Aromas, California, about an hour and 40 minutes south of the city. 

 

 



It's the bigger, disastrous quakes scientists are really worried about. And they say San Francisco is due for another soon.

In 2007, the USGS determined that there's about a "63% probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake in the Bay Area" by 2037. 

Estimates have only gotten worse since then. One recent report suggests that there's a 76% chance the Bay Area will experience a magnitude 7.2 earthquake some time in the next 30 years.



Seismologists are most concerned about two fault lines in particular: the San Andreas and the Hayward.

Anything higher than a 7.9 on the San Andreas Fault line, which runs from Mendocino down to Mexico, would put "approximately 100%" of the population of San Francisco at risk, while a 6.9 quake from the Hayward Fault could spell trouble for nearly everyone who lives and works there, according to the city



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A mysterious, popular ‘supplement’ has been linked to salmonella — and the FDA has issued its first-ever mandatory recall

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kratom

  • Kratom is an opioid derived from a plant native to Southeast Asia. It can be consumed in pills, powder, or tea.
  • On Tuesday, the FDA issued its first-ever mandatory recall of a Las Vegas company's powdered kratom products after they were found to be contaminated with salmonella.
  • The recall comes on the heels of the CDC issuing its third warning in a month that the drug, often called an "herbal supplement," had been linked to salmonella, bringing the total number of people sickened from contaminated kratom products to 87.

The Food and Drug Administration calls it a dangerous opioid, but kratom advocates call their pill of choice a life-saving supplement. Either way, it's been linked with a growing salmonella outbreak.

Kratom is a psychoactive drug derived from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a plant in the coffee family that is native to Southeast Asia. Research suggests the drug taps into some of the same brain receptors as opioids, spurring the FDA to classify it as one this February.

On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration ordered its first-ever mandatory recall of products made with the ingredient from a Las Vegas-based company called Triangle Pharmaceuticals LLC. In a statement, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the company failed to cooperate with the agency's request for the products to be voluntarily pulled from store shelves.

The recall comes on the heels of a growing number of reports from the Centers for Disease Control linking several kratom pills and powders to salmonella, an outbreak which has so far officially sickened 87 Americans. Salmonella is a bacterial infection from contaminated food or water that typically causes diarrhea and abdominal pain lasting up to a week.

As with any unregulated supplement, kratom may be dangerous and even deadly because there's no way to verify what pills labeled "kratom" actually contain. Nevertheless, some marketers tout kratom as capable of delivering super-human strength and feelings of euphoria along with powerful pain relief and better focus. Untainted kratom is also sometimes hailed as a way to treat opioid addiction, which some addiction experts have said is not entirely unreasonable given its opioid-like qualities.

But unlike most opioids, which are either illegal or must be prescribed by a doctor, kratom is widely available online. It was even sold for a time out of an Arizona vending machine.

“This action is based on the imminent health risk posed by the contamination of this product with salmonella, and the refusal of this company to voluntarily act to protect its customers and issue a recall, despite our repeated requests and actions,” Gottlieb said. “We continue to have serious concerns about the safety of any kratom-containing product and we are pursuing these concerns separately."

Kratom's status with the CDC

As with most of its bacterial outbreak warnings, the Centers for Disease Control interviewed people reporting symptoms of the infection to try to nail down the cause by asking sick people what foods and beverages they ate in the previous months and if they'd been traveling. Out of 55 people interviewed, 40 of them (73%) reported consuming kratom in pills, powder, or tea.

That means it's still unclear precisely what caused the outbreak, though kratom seems to be the most likely culprit.

At this point in their investigation, health officials are collecting kratom products to test them for Salmonella bacteria. So far, officials in Oregon, North Dakota, and Utah have turned up samples of kratom powder used by sick people which tested positive for the bacteria. Both individuals said they bought the powder online.

Salmonella warnings like this from the CDC are not unusual.

The agency recently issued one for shredded raw coconut, for example. In that case, 10 (63%) of 16 people interviewed said they had eaten or "maybe eaten" coconut, with eight of those 10 saying they'd eaten a dessert drink made with frozen shredded coconut.

And earlier this year, the CDC sent out a warning about raw sprouts. In interviews the CDC conducted when it was investigating that case, seven people reported eating at the sandwich chain Jimmy John's, and all of them said they'd eaten sandwiches with raw sprouts.

Kratom is increasingly raising eyebrows

Kratom_Pills

Beyond this recent salmonella outbreak, kratom is becoming a topic of concern across multiple agencies, including the CDC and the FDA.

Kratom does not currently have FDA approval and remains largely unregulated — meaning that, as with most supplements, it's almost impossible to verify what's actually in "kratom" pills, powders, or teas.

Last month, the FDA released a new warning officially classifying kratom as an opioid based on a series of case reports and computer models.

Those reports loosely connected kratom to 44 deaths, but in all but one case, the people who died were found to have been taking multiple drugs, including other opioids in many cases. That makes definitively labeling kratom as the cause of death impossible.

Still, concern about kratom is mounting, especially because some people appear to be using the supplement as a way to step down from opioid painkillers like heroin and morphine.

"Patients addicted to opioids are using kratom without dependable instructions for use and more importantly, without consultation with a licensed health care provider about the product's dangers, potential side effects or interactions with other drugs," FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement in November.

While this concern is legitimate, there is no way to know precisely how kratom does — or doesn't — work without rigorous scientific testing, which has not yet been done.

Kratom is banned in Australia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and several US states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, and Wisconsin). Across the US, several reports of deaths and addiction led the Drug Enforcement Administration to place kratom on its list of "drugs and chemicals of concern." In 2016, the DEA proposed a ban on kratom but backtracked under pressure from some members of Congress and outcry from kratom advocates who said it could help treat opioid addiction.

"I want to be clear on one fact: there are currently no FDA-approved therapeutic uses of kratom," Gottlieb said.

SEE ALSO: The $37 billion supplement industry is barely regulated — and it's allowing dangerous products to slip through the cracks

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Snapchat just introduced group video calling — here's how to do it (SNAP)

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Video Chat Shaq

  • Snap announced group video calls are coming to the Snapchat app.
  • The feature takes a page from Facebook, which has had group video chats since 2016.
  • Snap also introduced the ability to tag friends in Stories.


Snapchat on Tuesday introduced two new features: group video calls with up to 16 people and the ability to tag friends in Stories.

In a blog post, Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, said the updates will roll out to every user this week.

After seeing its best features cloned by Facebook for years, Snapchat is turning the tables and introducing features to its app that its competitor had first. In December 2016, Facebook Messenger introduced a group video chat feature (Facebook video chat feature was itself a clone of an up-and-coming video chat startup called Houseparty).

And Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, already lets users tag others in Stories — though the idea of a "Story" is from Snapchat in the first place.

Even though these features aren't entirely new, both may change how you interact with friends inside the Snapchat app.

Here's a look at Snapchat's two new features:

SEE ALSO: Here’s how to use Airtable, the user-friendly spreadsheet app that’s taking Silicon Valley by storm

Video call up to 16 people

With the new update, users can make a video call with up to 16 friends.

The catch is that everyone has to be in an existing group chat on Snapchat already. All you have to do is select the group chat you want to video call with and press the red video camera icon.

Everyone in the group will then get a notification inviting them to join. 



@-tagging friends in Stories

To tag a friend in your Story, type "@" followed by their username. Tagging someone will send them a notification in the app's Chat window.

The feature will also let users viewing the Story swipe up to see a list of everyone mentioned with button to follow them. 



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Costco employees share the 7 best parts of working at the retail chain with a cult-like following

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Costco employee meat

  • Costco jobs have some pretty significant upsides, according to employees.
  • Business Insider reached out to Costco employees to find out what they love about their jobs.
  • Compensation is a major draw — and a number of respondents said they also viewed their coworkers as "family."

Costco jobs have good rep in the world of retail.

The chain made Glassdoor's best places to work list in 2017, and the company currently has a 3.9 out of 5 star rating on Glassdoor. A whopping 91% of Glassdoor reviewers approved of Costco's CEO Craig Jelinek, while 79% of responders said they'd recommend the company to a friend.

Out of Glassdoor's highest possible rating of five, compensation and benefits received a 4.2, culture and values garnered a 3.9, career opportunities earned a 3.7, work-life balance got a 3.5, and senior management took a 3.3. Business Insider's Ashley Lutz reported that Costco paid its workers an average of $20.89 an hour.

Business Insider recently asked a number of Costco employees about what they like most about working for the chain. Their responses largely matched Glassdoor's findings — with compensation being the most frequently-mentioned upside to the job.

Here's what else the Costco employees raved about.

SEE ALSO: 11 insider facts about shopping at Costco only employees know

DON'T MISS: Costco employees pick the 11 most surprising items the wholesale retailer sells

DON'T FORGET: 8 Costco food court menu items employees swear by

The majority of workers said that pay, benefits, and job security are a huge draw

The majority of Costco workers who spoke to Business Insider cited the compensation as a huge plus.

The trifecta of wages, benefits, and job security came up in responses from 21 employees. On Glassdoor, the 401K match, health insurance, and vacation time were the perks most frequently thrown around by reviewers.

One Costco employee told Business Insider that wages are "topped out," and another employee said that the pay and benefits are especially good for those without a bachelor's degree.

And what's more, there's "a sense of security" among Costco workers, an employee with three and a half years of experience told Business Insider.

"The health insurance is so awesome and I am so grateful for it," an employee with 10 years of experience at Costco told Business Insider.

An employee with 15 months of experience told Business Insider that benefits included earning time and a half on Sundays, seven paid holidays off with a floating holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a 401K plan with a 50 cents on the dollar match up to $500, and "affordable" health, dental, and vision insurance.

"And if you're working an eight hour shift you get two paid 15 minute breaks and a half hour for lunch," they said.

"The best part is all the perks — guaranteed hours, benefits, time and a half on Sundays, free turkeys at Thanksgiving, four free memberships, a livable wage," an employee with six years of experience told Business Insider.



There's room to grow and move, according to employees

An employee with two and a half years of experience cited the "growth potential" as a big draw.

"The best part about working at Costco is the friendly work environment and the endless career opportunities," an employee with four years of experience told Business Insider.

What's more, the chain apparently makes room for vertical, as well as horizontal, movement.

"The company has always had my back when I needed to transfer to another state due to my spouse's career moves," said an employee with 23 years of experience.



It's good work for a people-person, according to one worker

Some members are straight up irksome, according to Costco employees.

But if you're game for a day full of good, bad, and ugly interactions, the retail chain might be a perfect place for you.

A Costco employee of two years told Business Insider that "meeting all the different people" was their favorite part of the job.



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