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64% of women writers in Hollywood say they've faced sexual harassment at work, a new survey shows

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Hollywood Sign Hero

  • 64 percent of women writers in the Writers Guild of America West said in a recent survey that they've faced sexual harassment at some point in their careers in film and TV.
  • The survey interviewed more than 2,000 WGAW members, male and female, and found that "a significant amount of the harassment writers experience occurs in the writers' room."
  • 11 percent of male writers in the guild said that they had also experienced sexual harassment at work.

In a recent survey conducted by the Writers Guild of America West, 64 percent of women writers in the Los Angeles-based guild said that they had faced sexual harassment at some point in their careers in film and television.

The survey interviewed more than 2,000 WGAW members, male and female, and found that "a significant amount of the harassment writers experience occurs in the writers' room," Deadline reported.

11 percent of male writers in the guild said that they had experienced sexual harassment at work, and the survey found that "many more writers have witnessed harassment."

The WGAW reportedly sent the results of the survey in a memo to guild members on May 22. The memo emphasized an "aim to ensure a respectful culture with zero tolerance for bullying, harassment and assault," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"While the Guild is not the employer, that does not exclude us from also addressing this as a union," the memo read. "We are exploring the possibility of a series of member conversations about standards for a successful writing room. By proscribing sexual and other harassment among writers, these standards would enable all the writers in the room to fully participate, rather than being alienated by treatment no one should have to experience. These conversations would also address situations that arise for screenwriters, MOW writers and series writers in professional meeting settings."

The memo also referenced a 2006 California Supreme Court ruling, known as the "Friends" decision, after the sitcom of the same name, which ruled that sexually explicit talk in a writers' room did not amount to sexual harassment.

The WGAW said that the decision has been "mistakenly used to justify inappropriate behavior in the workplace" and "does not permit such talk to be aimed at an individual in the room," according to THR.

SEE ALSO: The pay-TV exodus is ramping up as Netflix and other streaming services pump out high-quality original shows

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different


I put a new lineup of guitar effects pedals from Fender to the test — here's the verdict

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Fender Pedals

  • Fender has rolled out a new lineup of effects pedals for guitars.
  • Fender hasn't been well-known for its pedal game in the past.
  • I tested out three of the new pedals with a Fender Telecaster and a Pro Junior IV amplifier — and decided that the company now offers musicians a compelling all-Fender rig.


Earlier this year, I got to check out an all-new lineup of guitar effects pedals from Fender

Fender is among the most famous brands in the music world — but although its iconic Stratocasters and Telecasters  need no introduction, and its amplifiers are equally legendary, it has never been known for effects pedals.

It was an understandable omission. The pedal universe of one of often obscure and esoteric boutique boxes sharing space with dominant players, such as Boss and MXR. But the popularity of pedals has surged in the past decades, and the good-old plug-in-and-play philosophy of many seasoned guitarists have given way to a sonic landscape where the six-string is competing with electronic and digital instruments. 

The modern axe-wielder needs to shape his or her sound a lot more extensively than Keith Richards (a Telecaster legend) ever did. Just look at the legacy of U2's Edge, who has never relied on a dry signal between any of his many guitars and any of his many amps.

Fender has entered the pedal fray with six units: overdrive, distortion, reverb, delay, compression, and buffer (the last two are aimed at gigging musicians more than basement warriors).

The company loaned me a Santa Ana Overdrive, a Pugilist Distortion, and a Marine Layer Reverb to try out at a more leisurely pace. Fender also lent me my preferred Fender setup: a new American Professional Telecaster and a Pro Junior IV amp.

Here's how it went.

SEE ALSO: Fender has unveiled a lineup of acoustic guitars that electric players will love

Here I am in early 2018, getting a first crack at Fender's new effects pedals. Initial impressions were good, all the more so because Fender has never been known for its pedal game.



The initial lineup consists of six pedals, ranging from $100-$200.



Most of the pedals were created by Fender designer and resident mad-scientist Stan Cotey. He's also a pretty skilled guitar player himself.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

What 'Mercury in retrograde' really means — and why it can't tell you anything about your life

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milky way galaxy stargazing

  • Mercury retrograde — or more scientifically, Mercury apparent retrograde motion — is a real phenomenon.
  • It's an optical illusion that astronomers can observe as Mercury speeds past the Earth a few times every year.
  • But it doesn't have any effect on your personal life.


As our world continues to orbit the star at the center of our solar system, we can gaze at the night sky — like people have for thousands of years — and watch the stars and the planets that rise and set around us.

One of those planets — tiny, sun-scorched Mercury— frequently causes some consternation for followers of astrology, the belief that the position of Earth in relation to other planets and stars has an effect on human lives and futures.

On Thursday, July 26, Mercury entered what's known as apparent retrograde motion, a phrase often shortened to "Mercury in retrograde" or simply "Mercury retrograde."

This phenomenon occurs when the super-speedy planet appears to be moving across the sky in a different direction than it normally does.

It's an optical illusion created when Mercury catches up to and then passes Earth in its orbit around the sun.

As one NASA website explains it:

"You can experience this effect for yourself. Start out standing side by side with a friend. Have a friend walk forward slowly. Now you walk forward at a faster speed. Watch your friend and think about how they are moving relative to you. At first, they move away, then as you pass them, they appear to be moving backward relative to you — even though they are still walking forward."

It's all about perspective.

Since Mercury moves so quickly, a "year" on that planet (the time it takes to complete its orbit around the sun) takes approximately 88 Earth-days. So Mercury's apparent retrograde motion relative to Earth happens three or four times a year, and tends to last approximately three weeks each time. This time, it will last until August 19.

As NASA and countless astronomers have pointed out, there's absolutely no scientific evidence that astrology can tell you anything about the future, how you should behave, or what your personality is based on the position of Earth relative to the stars when you were born.

In fact, we should be grateful that we don't observe any effects from the motion of Mercury or other planets.

As theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack, as assistant professor at North Carolina State University, told The Guardian, life on Earth would be pretty wild if we were truly affected by surrounding celestial objects.

"It would be fascinating but rather dystopian if the planets could affect our lives. Like, the 'Mercury in retrograde' thing," she said. "Like if the apparent motion across the sky, from Earth, of a planet we can almost never actually see, somehow meant that it, the planet, would suddenly start to meddle in our lives and screw things up for a time."

Those who want to observe Mercury retrograde in the sky for themselves face a bit of a challenge, since you need to look toward the sun to do so. It's much easier to see Mars retrograde, which happens about every two years, when Earth passes Mars in its orbit.

SEE ALSO: The NASA spacecraft that discovered almost every Earth-like planet we know about is about to die

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This colorful map of Mercury reveals the planet’s rugged surface in unprecedented detail

17 things to start doing in your 20s so you don't live in regret in your 40s

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millennials

  • Advice on how to spend your 20s includes "learn to say no with confidence" and "don't burn your bridges."
  • That's according to people who've posted on Quora and Reddit threads around how to make the most of your youth.
  • If you follow their tips, you'll have a better chance of living without regret once you hit your 40s and beyond.


They say youth is wasted on the young.

It doesn't have to be. If you take a look at Quora and Reddit, hundreds of people older and wiser than you have shared their best tips for living life to the fullest before you hit middle age. All you have to do is heed their advice.

We checked out some of those Quora and Redditthreads and highlighted some of our favorite insights about maximizing your youth. Read on to see what life changes you can make, starting today.

SEE ALSO: 13 things you'll probably regret doing in your 20s

'Learn to accept and love yourself first.'

So says Quora user Ruchi Rashinkar.

In other words, show some self-compassion. Scientists say it can make you more successful because you're learning from your missteps, instead of just berating yourself for them.

One self-compassion exercise involves treating yourself as you would treat a friend or a colleague who has failed. You might say to yourself: "This is really hard right now," or, "I'm sorry you are struggling."



'Learn to say no with confidence.'

That's another tip from Rashinkar.

It's best to learn this skill now, while it's still relatively early in your career. That way, you can prioritize the people and experiences that are truly meaningful to you.

If you're looking for tips on turning down an invitation— without seeming antisocial — etiquette and civility expert Rosalinda Oropeza Randall recommends keeping it simple: "It sounds great, but I think I'll pass this time."

You can even push back on your boss when they give you an assignment you feel like you can't take on. For example, if you're already overloaded with other projects, national workplace expert Lynn Taylor suggests responding:

"I would be happy to do that project, but what that could mean is that [whatever other project you're working on] will have to be put off until tomorrow, because I was actually going to spend the next three hours finishing that proposal. Would you like me to put that off?" 



'Take risks.'

Quora user Pranav Park writes:

"This is possibly the best time to take multiple leap of faiths and learn your lessons the hard way. If you succeed, you succeed. If you fail, you have a great story to tell in your 40s. At this age, you will have all the energy, courage and spirit required to rise back. Moreover, you will not be afraid to fail which apparently sets apart successful people from the others."

Similarly, Redditor Bhruic says:

"Don't talk yourself out of doing things you want to do. Don't let fear win. If you want to vacation in Europe, do it. If you want to talk to that hot girl/guy at the bar, do it. If you want to start your own business, do it (and do the research first). Getting to your 30s and having a string of regrets is going to haunt you."

Park is right about successful people not being afraid to fail some, and therefore being more willing to take risks. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, for example, is notorious for this quality. Bezos has said: "Given a ten percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

3 essential summer items every guy should own, according to a stylist

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thread fashion model

  • Summer heat can be a drain on creativity.
  • While it can be tempting to stick to repeating the same t-shirt and shorts over and over again, Thread stylist Freddie Kemp has some alternatives.
  • Fitted shorts, a patterned short-sleeved shirt, and decent sunglasses are the keys to summer style perfection.


It's hard to stay stylish in the oppressive summer heat.

High temperatures have even the most sartorial gentlemen dressing like their dads in sandals and loose t-shirts — but it doesn't have to be this way.

Thread stylist Freddie Kemp said there are three essential pieces all guys should have in the closet that will help keep them cool (literally and fashionably) all summer long.

1. Fitted shorts

thread shorts mens fashion

There's nothing worse than a guy in baggy shorts — apart from maybe cargo shorts (what are you even doing with all those pockets?).

So how high should your shorts rise?

"For me, the sweet spot is about an inch above the knee," Kemp says. "Push yourself and go for a shade you may not have considered before (pale blue, mint green for example; pastels are always a good place to start) or even go for a striped pair of seersucker fabric."

Tailored shorts will also be one of the most versatile items in your closet. "They're like suit trousers that have been snipped off, which means they go with everything from a blazer to a t-shirt," says fellow Thread stylist Alexander McCalla.

"They should fit slim, but not skinny, so there's an inch or two of fabric around your thighs," he says, meaning your legs will have room to breathe.

For maximum versatility, McCalla recommends pairing your shorts with an Oxford shirt (pictured above), which is appropriate for most workplaces, drinks with friends, and even holidaywear.

2. A patterned, short-sleeved shirt

thread shirt mens fashion

A bold, short-sleeved shirt "instantly lifts your wardrobe," Kemp says.

At a time when most people are melting in plain t-shirts, you can break through the mould with a vibrant short sleeve — camp collars are especially in vogue at the moment.

Kemp advises a pattern comprised of a couple, maximum three, colours.

"The aim isn't as much colour as possible, but eye-catching colour that complements staple shades like navy and grey.

"You'll be surprised how well these style with your classic chinos and jeans."

It's important not to go overboard on the patterns, though, or you'll end up looking like you're wearing a novelty shirt.

"You want a pattern to be interesting, but not a punchline," Thread stylist Luke McDonald says.

3. Proper sunglasses

thread mens sunglasses

"By this, I mean not a £5-£10 [$7-13] pair you don't mind leaving by the pool," Kemp says.

People look at your face all day, "so it's worth investing the time and money to get the right shape and style for you," he adds.

"Finding frames that suit your face shape is important because otherwise, they can be jarring," says Thread stylist Millie Rich. "Just like horizontal stripes can widen you, something like round frames on a round face can make you look all out of proportion."

Check out the best type of sunglasses for your face shape here.

SEE ALSO: This is the one thing you should never do when wearing a pocket square, according to men's style experts

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This artist creates incredibly realistic animal cakes — here's how she does it

I stayed at one of the best hotels in the world, where a $16,000-a-night suite includes its own movie theater, popcorn maker, and 'cabinet of delights'

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  • The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is one of the most exclusive hotels in Hong Kong, and considered to be one of the best hotels in the world.
  • I stayed at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental recently to see if it lives up to the hype.
  • While the hotel's rooms are spacious — by Hong Kong standards — and full of nice touches, it's the hotel's facilities that make it stand out. The spa in particular makes the hotel worth a visit all by itself.

While the Four Seasons, The Langham, and the Mandarin Oriental get all the press in the Hong Kong hotel world, The Landmark, Mandarin Oriental's sister hotel, is hiding under the radar as one of the city's best.

The Mandarin Oriental hotel group's flagship property, the 500-room The Mandarin, opened in Hong Kong in 1963. The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is a fraction of the size, at 113 guest rooms and suites.

But as soon as you step in, you'll feel transported into an ocean of calm. 

Opened in 2003, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental has boutique hotel charm, with amenities and style of a grand five-star hotel.

From the sumptuous meals at the hotel's two-Michelin starred restaurant, Amber, to the 25,000 square-foot spa, the Landmark Mandarin Oriental is a hotel you can get lost in. 

I recently visited on a business trip to Hong Kong, and it did not disappoint. Keep reading to check out my stay at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental:

SEE ALSO: I stayed at Hong Kong’s first 'capsule hotel' to see what it's like to live in micro — and the experience was a nightmare

Situated in central Hong Kong, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is known for its luxurious design and legendary service. The front of the building was not flashy, but modern.



The entrance, connected to a large luxury mall, was understated. You have to go up a couple steps or a quick lift to enter the hotel.



While the lobby was not grand, it felt luxurious without being kitschy— it made sense for upmarket business travelers and fast-paced city dwellers.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Tom Cruise defies age and gravity in 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout,' the best action movie you'll see this year

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Mission Impossible Fallout Paramount final

  • "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" (opening Friday) does not disappoint in the thrills department.
  • There are about five sequences in which Tom Cruise pulls off incredible stunts.
  • If you're looking for a good action movie, you won't find a better one this year.

"Mission: Impossible - Fallout" marks the sixth time Tom Cruise has played the IMF agent Ethan Hunt, and I know it's hard to believe, but this may be his most action-packed adventure yet.

It almost boggles the mind that Cruise, at 55 (when he shot the movie), is doing things in "Fallout" that actors in their 20s wouldn't dream of. But one of the main draws to the franchise now is seeing which death-defying stunt Cruise can pull off, as he is determined not to disappoint. And in "Fallout" there are as many as five that will leave you in disbelief.

In the movie, Hunt and his team — played by Ving Rhames, who has been in all the movies in the franchise alongside Cruise, and Simon Pegg, who has been on since "M:I III" — are once again up against insurmountable odds. I mean, should I even go on? Do you even remember the plot of the most recent movie? I don't. OK, let's get to the good stuff.

The action director Christopher McQuarrie (who also directed 2015's "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation") has masterfully crafted I promise you will not be topped the rest of the year.

Hunt does an insane skydive, a blitzing motorcycle ride through Paris (including driving the wrong way on the Arc de Triomphe), and a helicopter chase in Kashmir, and then hangs off a cliff when his helicopter crashes … into another helicopter. And it wouldn't be a Tom Cruise movie if there weren't lots and lots of running.

Mission Impossible Fallout 2 Paramount finalNow just imagine how good this movie would have been if they had slipped in a little storytelling.

"Fallout" really has no connective tissue. As much as McQuarrie tries, when there's a break in the action it's more just to catch your breath than to pay attention to what the characters are doing. We've really veered far away from Brian De Palma's first "Mission: Impossible" movie back in 1996 (yes, that’s how long Cruise has been doing these darn movies), when it made a little sense for the story why Hunt would do a crazy stunt. Now the basic reply Hunt gives when he's about to do something insane is simply, "I'll figure it out." That is literally said about three times in "Fallout."

This makes it all the more puzzling why the run time for this movie is 2 1/2 hours. There's not a lot to explore. Still, the lengthy action sequences and buildup are done so well you definitely won't feel as if you got shortchanged.

Rebecca Ferguson returns as Ilsa Faust, who was the scene stealer in "Rogue Nation." She once again gives a great performance, but the standout this time is a newbie to the franchise, Henry Cavill, as a CIA operative who joins Hunt's team. He's big, tough, and sporting that now-infamous mustache.

There are moments between the action in this movie that make you sit back and applaud McQuarrie for doing something a little creative with the story, specifically some flashback scenes and dream sequences (that's right, there are dream sequences in this movie).

But who am I kidding — the stunts, man! We see Tom Cruise jump out of a plane, get struck by lightning, save a man in free fall, and do it all in one single shot.

Go. See. This. Movie.

SEE ALSO: Inside how the director of "Skyscraper" and The Rock teamed up to make a thrilling summer movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

Twitter is roasting San Francisco for having a down vest vending machine at its airport, and it's brutally funny

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  • The vest is the most quintessentially-VC item in a tech investor's wardrobe.
  • San Francisco International Airport is showing it's on trend with a Uniqlo vending machine that dispenses down vests, possibly for "visiting VCs."
  • We rounded up the best tweets about the vest vending machine at SFO.

 

San Francisco has reached peak San Francisco with the addition of a vending machine that dispenses down vests at the city's airport, and Twitter is having a field day.

"SFO has a down vest vending machine for visiting VCs," Frank Barbieri, a serial entrepreneur, said in a tweet that included a photo of the now infamous machine.

The vest has become the unofficial uniform for Silicon Valley investors. Venture capitalists can be seen sporting the practical outerwear wherever techies gather, from Blue Bottle Coffee shops to the Battery to the VC offices on Sand Hill Road.

Japanese retailer Uniqlo started selling clothes out of vending machines in airports and malls across the US last year. At the time, these so-called "Uniqlo To Go" machines stocked two of the most popular items from the brand's "LifeWear" collection: a thermal heat-tech T-shirt ($14.90) and a lightweight down jacket ($69.90) in an array of colors.

It appears Uniqlo has added down vests for the tech set at San Francisco International Airport. The Men's Ultra Light Down Vest typically retails for $49.90 online.

Uniqlo to go

Twitter has been roasting San Francisco all week long, and it's brutally funny.

Here are the best reactions:

We asked San Francisco International Airport and Uniqlo how sales at this particular machine have been, but they did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Tech workers in San Francisco are pining for the return of electric scooters, after first putting them on blast for hogging the sidewalks

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We drove a brand-new Tesla Model X from San Francisco to New York — here's what happened


Country star Eric Church blames the NRA for Las Vegas festival mass shooting: 'We could have stopped the guy'

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  • Country singer Eric Church discussed the October 2017 mass shooting that took place at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival in a new interview with Rolling Stone.
  • In the interview, Church, who was a headlining performer at the festival last year, placed blame on the National Rifle Association and gun lobbyists for being a "roadblock" to safety.
  • “I blame the lobbyists. And the biggest in the gun world is the NRA," he said.

Country singer Eric Church was one of the headlining performers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last October, where a gunman opened fire on a crowd during the performance of headliner Jason Aldean and killed 59 people in the deadliest mass shooting in US history. 

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Church discussed the Vegas shooting and placed blame on the National Rifle Association and gun lobbyists for being a "roadblock" to safety.

"There are some things we can’t stop," he said. "Like the disgruntled kid who takes his dad’s shotgun and walks into a high school. But we could have stopped the guy in Vegas.”

He added: “I blame the lobbyists. And the biggest in the gun world is the NRA."

Church, who paid tribute to the victims of the shooting in a moving performance at the Grand Ole Opry in October, days after the shooting, told Rolling Stone that he is not a member of the NRA, but that he considers himself "a Second Amendment guy."

"I feel like they’ve been a bit of a roadblock," Church said of the NRA. "I don’t care who you are – you shouldn’t have that kind of power over elected officials. To me it’s cut-and-dried: The gun-show [loophole] would not exist if it weren’t for the NRA, so at this point in time, if I was an NRA member, I would think I had more of a problem than the solution. I would question myself real hard about what I wanted to be in the next three, four, five years."

Church performed two days before the shooting took place in October and was not at the festival when it occurred. He said that the shooting changed his perspective on guns "a little."

"As a gun guy, the number of rounds [the shooter] fired was un-f------believable to me," Church said. "I saw a video on YouTube from the police officer’s vest cam, and it sounded like an army was up there. I don’t think our forefathers ever thought the right to bear arms was that."

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the interview here.

SEE ALSO: Country star Eric Church broke down during a tribute to Las Vegas shooting victims: 'Those were my people'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

TGI Fridays is a family-friendly place today — but it was a raging singles scene on the precipice of the sexual revolution

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1960s women

  • TGI Fridays was one of the first singles bars in America.
  • When it opened in 1965, the country was on the precipice of a sexual revolution: A birth-control pill had just been approved, Helen Gurley Brown published "Sex and the Single Girl," and women were protesting to be allowed into men-only bars.
  • TO HEAR THE FULL STORY, subscribe to Business Insider's new podcast "Household Name" for free here.


It's hard to imagine any single 20-something today getting dolled up for a night on the town at… TGI Fridays.

But half a century ago, that was the place to practice your pickup lines and find someone to spend the night — or longer — with.

"At the time, there was nothing like that for people in their 20s just getting out of college, there was no place really for them to hang out," said Alan Stillman, the founder of TGI Fridays, in an interview with Business Insider for our new podcast "Household Name."

Stillman was 28 years old when he opened the first TGI Fridays on New York City's Upper East Side in 1965. Soon after, he told Business Insider, the bar "became more similar to what a mosh pit is. It was so crowded that you didn't have to walk up to anybody to get a name or a telephone number. You bumped into them."

TGI Fridays opened at exactly the right moment in time, at what Moira Weigel, author of a book about the history of dating, called the "precipice of the sexual revolution."

Weigel told Business Insider about a number of social factors that conspired to make the mid-60s the perfect environment for a place like TGI Fridays.

For one thing, the FDA had recently approved the oral contraceptive pill Enovid. As TIME reported, by 1963, when Enovid had a reasonable price tag, 2.3 million women had seen their doctors about getting a prescription.

Meanwhile, Helen Gurley Brown, the one-time editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, had just released her book "Sex and the Single Girl."

The fact that TGI Fridays attracted young, single women in droves was no small thing. Weigel said that, in the 1960s, it was "sort of scandalous" for a woman to go to a bar unaccompanied by a man — especially if she was there to meet a man. In fact, the National Organization of Women held protests to allow women into bars that banned them.

TGI Fridays became enormously popular with young people — but it's struggling today

TGI Fridays became so popular on the weekends that police had to close the street. News outlets called the area "The Body Exchange" and "The Fertile Crescent."

Eventually, a TGI Fridays opened in Dallas, and then spread to the rest of the United States. Today, the chain has more of a family-friendly vibe — and like its competitors Applebee's and Chili's, it's struggling to stay afloat.

"You don't need a TGI Fridays bar scene to meet somebody" today, Stillman told Business Insider. "We're back to all the electronics around here. It's just not a necessity, whereas at the time, although I didn't know it, we invented a necessity and we solved what was a really big problem."

But are new-fangled technologies like Tinder really so revolutionary? Or are they simply the next step up from the 1960s version of TGI Fridays?

As Weigel put it, "a bar is a kind of 3D Tinder."

To hear more about dating at TGI Fridays back when it was one of the first singles bars in America, subscribe to "Household Name," a new podcast from Business Insider premiering July 25. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite app. Next week's episode tells the story of how Donald Trump saved Pizza Hut's stuffed-crust pizza, and how it saved The Donald, too.

SEE ALSO: TGI Fridays' founder invented the chain as part of his 'business plan to meet a lot of women'

SEE ALSO: How to subscribe to a podcast on your iPhone or iPad

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why the US Men's team sucks at soccer

We tried the kiosks that analysts say could help McDonald's win back $2.7 billion in sales. Here's the verdict. (MCD)

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McDonald's Kiosk

  • Order automation is sweeping the quick-service industry, with digital kiosks and mobile-ordering apps being introduced at major chains like McDonald's, Starbucks, and Panera.
  • A recent MSN poll suggests that most Americans prefer cashiers over automated kiosks.
  • But automated ordering can help wait times and improve order accuracy, and it doesn't negatively affect labor as much as some think. 

Gone are the heady days of cashiers asking if you want your order "supersized."

Not only has the infamous upgrade gone by the wayside, but cashiers at fast-food restaurants are becoming increasingly uncommon. McDonald's started rolling out ordering kiosks at its US locations in 2015, and the chain hasn't looked back since: by 2020, most of its 14,000 locations will have kiosks installed. 

It plans to add the kiosks to 1,000 stores every quarter for the next two years, according to CNBC.

BTIG analyst Peter Saleh wrote in a note to investors on Thursday that McDonald's shift to kiosks and mobile ordering could help the chain win back nearly $2.7 billion in lost sales.

However, a recent poll conducted by Business Insider's partner MSN suggests that diners aren't big fans of automated kiosks: 78% of customers said they would be less inclined to go to a restaurant that has automated ordering kiosks. 

The popular narrative is that kiosks and mobile ordering are here to take jobs and hours away from underpaid cashiers, ultimately saving companies money in the face of rising labor costs — but the data suggests that isn't true. It may be true for some, but most chains are simply reallocating labor behind the scenes. And with such a tight labor market, many chains are struggling to hire and retain customer-facing employees. 

Americans don't seem too threatened by automation in general. Nationally, only 21% of responders to MSN's poll believe their job may one day be done by machines. And restaurants like automated ordering because of it offers increased accuracy and efficiency as more chains look towards cashless options. 

But for now, a question remains: are kiosks, in fact, better for customers? I headed to a McDonald's to find out:

SEE ALSO: We tried biscuit breakfast sandwiches from major fast-food chains, and the winner is shockingly clear Costco killed a hugely popular food-court menu item, and now furious customers are threatening to go to Sam's Club instead. Here's how the food courts compare.

ALSO READ: We visited the Chipotle of the future. Here's what it's like.

The Chambers Street McDonald's near our office in New York City's Financial District now has kiosks and mobile ordering after undergoing an extensive renovation. There, by the grace of the Hamburglar, go I.



It's the middle of the lunch rush, so the place is packed. Luckily, the kiosks seem to be moving fairly quickly compared to the lengthening line at the registers.



Using the kiosks is straightforward and surprisingly user-friendly.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 73 best action movies of all time, according to critics

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mad max fury road

Not just a contemporary phenomenon, action movies have been a consistent box-office draw for decades and the best of them have earned laudatory reviews from film critics.

The list we compiled here from the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes includes the site's most critically acclaimed films featuring an "Action & Adventure" tag. We excluded animated films and any movie that leaned more toward adventure than action.

The site ranked movies by an adjusted critical score that Rotten Tomatoes derived from a weighted formula to account for the variation in number of reviews for each film.

Their eclectic list includes several entries from the James Bond franchise, a number of classic Westerns, and contemporary acclaimed hits like "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Baby Driver." 

Here the 73 best action movies of all time, according to critics:

SEE ALSO: The 5 most anticipated new shows premiering in August

73. "Johnny Guitar" (1954)

Critic score: 95%

Audience score: 85%

What critics said: "One of the boldest and most stylized films of its time, quirky, political, twisted." — RogerEbert.com



72. "The Twilight Samurai" (2004)

Critic score: 99%

Audience score: 94%

What critics said: "One action movie older movie audiences should love as much as younger ones." — Chicago Tribune



71. "Drive" (2011)

Critic score: 93%

Audience score: 79%

What critics said: "The extreme and escalating violence will prove off-putting to some — frankly, I'm surprised not to have been among them — but for the rest, 'Drive' is a needle-punch of adrenaline to the aorta." — The Atlantic



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The Fyre Festival founder has pleaded guilty in a separate fraud case that has nothing to do with the hellish island party

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Billy McFarland

  • Billy McFarland, the 26-year-old founder of the nightmarish Fyre Festival that left hundreds of attendees stranded in the Bahamas last year, pleaded guilty to a second fraudulent scheme on Thursday.
  • On June 12, McFarland was arrested on charges of selling fake tickets through a different company, called NYC VIP Access, starting in late 2017. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and bank fraud related to that company. 
  • On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that McFarland, two companies he founded, a former senior executive, and a former contractor had agreed to settle fraud charges against them related to Fyre Festival. The SEC said McFarland admitted to charges that he defrauded more than 100 investors out of $27.4 million.

On Thursday, Billy McFarland, the 26-year-old creator of Fyre Media and Magnises, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and bank fraud related to a ticket-selling scheme completely separate from Fyre Festival. 

While out on bail on charges that he defrauded investors out of millions of dollars with Fyre Festival, McFarland allegedly sold fraudulent tickets to exclusive events, such as the 2018 Met Gala, Burning Man, Coachella, the Grammy Awards, and the Super Bowl, through a company called NYC VIP Access.

McFarland is accused of generating around $150,000 in fake ticket sales from at least 30 customers, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote in a press release on Thursday

Prosecutors say that McFarland concealed his association with NYC VIP Access by using fake email addresses and those of his then-employees to contact customers. He apparently asked for payments to be made directly to the accounts of employees, who then gave him the money in cash. 

"This was just another fraud in McFarland's disturbing pattern of deception. McFarland's fraudulent schemes cost real people real money, and now he faces real time in federal prison for his crimes," Geoffrey S. Berman, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said during a court hearing on Thursday.

McFarland also pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud for allegedly writing a check with the name and account number of one of his employees without their authorization, and one count of making false statements to a federal law enforcement agent, including denying the wire fraud and bank fraud conduct to which he has now pleaded guilty, the court said.

On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that McFarland, two companies he founded, a former senior executive, and a former contractor had agreed to settle charges made against them in the Fyre Festival case. The SEC said that McFarland admitted to charges that he defrauded more than 100 investors out of $27.4 million and that he agreed to a permanent office-and-director bar. He is set to be sentenced for those charges on August 16.

He is due to be sentenced in the NYC VIP Access case on September 17 in front of the same judge. The wire-fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, the bank fraud 40 years in prison, and the false-statement charge a further maximum of five years. 

SEE ALSO: These photos reveal why the 26-year-old organizer of the disastrous Fyre Festival could spend 10 years in prison

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NOW WATCH: What it's like inside North Korea's controversial restaurant chain

5 legendary political bromances that shaped US history

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obama biden

Politicians have alliances and rivalries in their own political parties, across the aisle, and with other leaders across the world.

But some take their allegiance to a different level. A select few enter the realm of bromance.

From rivals to best buddies, here are five of the greatest political bromances that shaped US history.

SEE ALSO: Here's what every president's signature looks like

DON'T MISS: The top 20 presidents in US history, according to historians

Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

Adams and Jefferson were the original American bromance. But the two men were also political rivals from very different backgrounds.

Adams was a Federalist from Massachusetts, while Jefferson was an Anti-Federalist from Virginia. The two Founding Fathers, who would both serve as president, were pen pals and frequently wrote letters to each other over the years.

After George Washington stepped down after his second term, the two ran against each other for the presidency. Even though Adams won that race, the two men eventually put their differences aside.

Adams once wrote to Jefferson: "intimate Correspondence with you ... is one of the most agreeable Events in my Life."

And on July 4, 1826 — which happened to be the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — Adams and Jefferson both died within hours of each other. 

Sources: Thomas Jefferson FoundationBoston University, History.com



Sens. John McCain and Ted Kennedy

Two senators who put party politics aside and reached across the aisle to work on legislation were Arizona Republican John McCain and Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy.

The two men worked closely together on several issues and pieces of legislation, including immigration reform.

In his latest memoir, McCain said Kennedy "gave value no other senator had" when crafting legislation because of his outsize role in the Democratic party and because he was respected by all in the Senate.

When Kennedy passed away in 2009, McCain gave a heartfelt eulogy at his funeral. "Ted and I shared the sentiment that a fight not joined was a fight not enjoyed," McCain said.

McCain is now suffering from the same form of brain cancer as his former Senate colleague. After receiving the cancer diagnosis, McCain told CBS's "60 Minutes" that he still thinks about Kennedy a lot.

Sources: Business Insider, NPR, The New York Times, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution



Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Two Supreme Court justices with very different ideologies were actually two of the closest on the highest court in the United States.

Even though liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not a "bro", she and the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia formed a tight bond during their time on the court together despite agreeing on very few issues.

"We were best buddies," Ginsburg wrote after Scalia passed away in 2016. Both justices enjoyed opera, and Ginsburg has even said Scalia made her better as a justice.

The two celebrated New Years and vacationed together every year with their spouses, too. Ginsburg recently said that she misses Scalia very much.

Sources: Business InsiderNPRForward



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Free food may become a thing of the past in Silicon Valley — but there are plenty of other incredible perks companies like Facebook and Google offer their employees

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Facebook happy employees



Most of us spend a majority of our waking hours at work, so it's only natural that we want to enjoy our time in the office as much as we can. And perks help with that — a lot.

According to career site Glassdoor, more than half (57%) of all workers say perks and benefits are among the top things they consider when deciding whether to accept a job, and almost 80% of employees say they would prefer new benefits over a pay raise.

That's why some employers are raising the bar and going beyond standard vacation days, health insurance benefits, and 401k matching to attract top talent.

Companies like Airbnb and Google offer unique and surprising perks like travel stipends and death benefits, Glassdoor reports, while Facebook and Netflix have upped the ante for companies wanting to support new parents.

"Benefits and perks matter because they're an added piece of the total compensation puzzle," Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor's career trends analyst, told Business Insider. "Job seekers should understand what benefits and perks an employer may be offering, and do their research ahead of time to find companies that offer benefits that matter most to them."

Employees rated some of their favorite employee benefits on Glassdoor. The following perks are not only unique, but they also received a rating of at least 4.0 out of 5.0 on Glassdoor.

SEE ALSO: San Francisco Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at Facebook and other tech companies

DON'T MISS: The 20 most flexible jobs for working parents

Generous paid parental leave at Netflix

Netflix offers one paid year of maternity and paternity leave to new parents. The company also allows parents to return part-time or full-time and take time off as needed throughout the year.



'Yay Days' at REI

REI encourages its employees to get outside by offering two paid days off each year, called "Yay Days," to enjoy their favorite outside activity.



Paid time off for volunteering at Salesforce

Salesforce employees receive six days of paid volunteer time off a year, as well as $1,000 a year to donate to a charity of their choice.



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Michael Cohen reportedly claims Trump greenlit the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr.

  • Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, says Trump knew in advance that senior campaign officials planned to meet with a Kremlin-linked lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton at the height of the election, CNN reported.
  • The report says Cohen claims he and several others were present when Donald Trump Jr., who attended the meeting, informed Trump of the Russians' offer, and that Trump greenlit the meeting.
  • Cohen reportedly does not have evidence, like tape recordings, proving his claims but is willing to testify about it to the special counsel Robert Mueller under oath.
  • Cohen is the third Trump associate to hint that Trump may know more than he's letting on about the meeting.

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Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer, says Trump knew in advance about a Russian lawyer's offer to the Trump campaign of dirt on then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, multiple media reports said.

CNN, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, reported that Cohen claims he was one of several people who were present when Donald Trump Jr. informed Trump of the offer. Cohen reportedly says that Trump greenlit the meeting after hearing about it from his son.

Trump Jr. was later one of three top Trump campaign officials, including Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, who met with the Russian lawyer and several other Kremlin-linked individuals at Trump Tower in June 2016.

CNN and NBC News reported that Cohen does not have physical evidence — like a tape recording — to back up his claim but is willing to testify about it under oath to the special counsel Robert Mueller.

The offer of kompromat from the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was pitched in an email to Trump Jr. as being "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."

The meeting and any subsequent possible attempts to conceal its purpose now make up a key portion of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the election and whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the race in Trump's favor.

Trump and his lawyers maintain that he did not know anything about the meeting in advance. But a central thread in Mueller's investigation is Trump's role in crafting an initially misleading statement Trump Jr. released about the meeting's purpose after news of it was first reported last summer.

The July 2017 statement reads:

"It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand."

Trump Jr. later had to release several subsequent statements as more details about the meeting and its purpose trickled out.

Cohen reportedly did not say anything about whether Trump knew of the meeting when he testified before two congressional committees in 2017, and some legal experts suggested his latest reported claim raises questions about whether he could be charged with lying to Congress.

On Thursday night, the president's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, slapped away Cohen's alleged claims, calling him "an incredible liar" who has "a tremendous motive to lie now."

Cohen and Trump have had a falling out over the last few months, particularly after FBI agents raided Cohen's property in April, seizing a multitude of documents and recordings pertaining to his own business dealings and his work for Trump.

The raid was part of a Manhattan US attorney's office investigation into whether Cohen committed bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations while working for the president. At the center of the investigation are two payments made during the election to women who claim to have had affairs with Trump.

Cohen reportedly grew frustrated when Trump failed to publicly defend him and the White House distanced itself from him in the aftermath of the raid. In recent weeks, he has been increasingly critical of Trump and spoken out against several of his actions, including his "zero tolerance" immigration policy and his continued broadsides against the FBI and Justice Department.

The rift between the two men comes as Cohen reportedly weighs whether to cooperate with federal investigators. If he does strike a plea deal, it would be part of what's known as a global resolution, meaning that Cohen would have to share all the information he knows that could pertain to any investigation, like the Russia probe.

Cohen is the 3rd Trump associate to hint Trump may know more about the Russia meeting

Michael Cohen

Cohen is the third Trump associate to suggest the president knows more about the Trump Tower meeting than he's letting on.

In May, Giuliani refused to issue a blanket denial when asked about Trump's possible knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting.

Giuliani previously told Business Insider he "would be surprised" if Trump knew about the meeting at the time that it happened.

But the former New York City mayor also left open the possibility that Trump may have known but later forgot about the meeting.

"Honestly, I would be surprised if he could remember," Giuliani said. "I couldn't remember. I would say that. I couldn't remember if that happened back then."

In March, Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide, told MSNBC during a media blitz that Trump "may have done something during the election," adding that he didn't know for sure.

He later told CNN that Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia's election interference, "thinks Trump is the Manchurian candidate ," a phrase referring to a politician who has been brainwashed to work on behalf of a foreign government.

When CNN's Jake Tapper asked Nunberg whether he believed Trump's statement that he did not know about the meeting in advance, Nunberg said he didn't.

"Jake, I've watched your news reports. You know it's not true," Nunberg said. "He talked about it a week before. And I don't know why he did this. All he had to say was: 'Yeah, we met with the Russians. The Russians offered us something, and we thought they had something, and that was it.' I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."

Nunberg testified to a grand jury in the Russia investigation in March.

SEE ALSO: Federal prosecutors subpoenaed a top Trump Organization executive to testify in the Michael Cohen case

DON'T MISS: Trump's oldest son said a decade ago that a lot of the family's assets came from Russia

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NOW WATCH: North Korean defector: Kim Jong Un 'is a terrorist'

The 5 most anticipated TV shows returning in August

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ballersWith the summer TV season well underway, several fan-favorite shows are returning with new seasons next month.

To find out which returning shows audiences are anticipating the most, the TV-tracking app TV Time analyzed data from its 12 million global users to see which upcoming TV shows viewers had followed the most frequently on its platform.

The list includes the upcoming second season of the Netflix drama "Ozark," and the fourth season of the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson-led HBO series "Ballers."

Here are the 5 returning TV shows that viewers are anticipating the most in August, according to TV Time:

SEE ALSO: Most Netflix subscribers with young kids have no idea Disney content will get pulled off the service

5. "Greenleaf" (Season 3) — Premieres August 28 on OWN

Summary: "The original drama series 'Greenleaf' from award-winning writer/producer Craig Wright takes viewers into the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis megachurch, where scandalous secrets and lies are as numerous as the faithful."



4. "Ballers" (Season 4) — Premieres August 12 on HBO

Summary: "Success hits hard. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson stars in this series as a retired football superstar trying to reinvent himself as a financial manager for current players in sun-soaked Miami."



3. "The Sinner" (Season 2) — Premieres August 1 on USA Network

Summary: "Follows a young mother (Jessica Biel) who, when overcome by an inexplicable fit of rage, commits a startling act of violence."



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The MoviePass outage was caused by the company temporarily running out of money, and it borrowed $5 million in cash to turn the service back on (HMNY)

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moviepass business insider

  • On Friday, MoviePass' owner, Helios and Matheson Analytics, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had borrowed $5 million in cash.
  • The reason was to get the service working again after the app could no longer take ticket orders on Thursday night.
  • As of Friday morning, many MoviePass subscribers still could not use the full functionality of the app. 

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, the owner of MoviePass, Helios and Matheson Analytics, disclosed that it had borrowed $5 million in cash following a "service interruption" on Thursday because the company was unable to make certain required payments.

In other words: On Thursday it ran out of cash, at least temporarily.

"The $5.0 million cash proceeds received from the Demand Note will be used by the Company to pay the Company's merchant and fulfillment processors," the filing said. "If the Company is unable to make required payments to its merchant and fulfillment processors, the merchant and fulfillment processors may cease processing payments for MoviePass, Inc. ('MoviePass'), which would cause a MoviePass service interruption. Such a service interruption occurred on July 26, 2018."

On Thursday evening, MoviePass began tweeting about what it said was "an issue that is preventing users from checking-in to movies."

Later, it said it was "still experiencing technical issues with our card-based check-in process."

As of Friday morning, many MoviePass subscribers still couldn't use the full functionality of the app.

Helios and Matheson borrowed the cash from Hudson Bay Capital Management, according to the filing. The total demand note was for $6.2 million, "which includes $5.0 million in cash borrowed by the Company from the Holder and $1.2 million of original issue discount," it said.

Earlier this week, Helios and Matheson did a reverse stock split, bumping shares to about $14 from $0.09 on Wednesday. The company was at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq by mid-December if it continued to trade below $1 with a market cap under $50 million. At the start of trading on Friday, the stock was about $6.

Helios and Matheson was not immediately available to comment to Business Insider.

SEE ALSO: MoviePass users are complaining that they're getting charged surge pricing even when the theater is nearly empty

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NOW WATCH: We tried the $10-a-month movie theater service MoviePass — and it's more trouble than we expected

I visited a Whole Foods-backed sandwich chain that's built a cult following on the West Coast and saw exactly why Californians love it

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Mendocino Farms

  • Mendocino Farms is a Los Angeles-based sandwich chain with a bit of a following.
  • The chain is famous for its fresh ingredients and commitment to tasty and locally sourced ingredients.
  • The chain currently only has locations in California, but it has announced plans to open a restaurant in Houston, Texas, in 2019.
  • I visited Mendocino Farms on a recent trip to Southern California to see what all the fuss is about.

Mendocino Farms is a jewel.

That's the only way to describe this relatively small chain of fast-casual restaurants that has made a name for itself on the West Coast for its "better sandwich" concept.

What's a "better sandwich?" Think mid-priced (like $11 to $13) sandwiches, all made with gourmet ingredients that are sourced locally and organic when possible.

That approach has filled a niche in the market and attracted the attention of partners like Whole Foods, which first invested an undisclosed amount in the sandwich chain back in 2015. It has also attracted plenty of customers and helped the chain to expand to 22 locations, with eight more on the way, including one in Houston, Texas.

That shop, announced earlier this year, will be Mendocino Farms' first location outside of California.

On a recent trip to the Los Angeles area, I decided to check out what a "better sandwich" is all about:

SEE ALSO: Amazon is launching a better version of the post office in cities around the country. Here's what it's like to use.

This is Mendocino Farms, a California-based sandwich chain with a serious local fan base. I went to the location near the Grove.



Mendocino Farms isn't your typical fast-casual joint. Walk into a location, and you're immediately greeted by a large menu. An employee was waiting right next to it with an iPad to take my order.



I was then directed to the cash register, where I could add drinks and sweets to my order. Customers are also allowed to try anything in the glass case as a free sample.



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Here are 8 industries that older Americans destroyed — proving you can't blame millennials for everything

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Diner

  • Millennials have been accused of killing dozens of industries including fast-casual restaurants, napkins, golf, and beer. 
  • Baby boomers— the name given to the generation born after World War II — are credited with ushering in lots of political and social change.
  • And with those changes, some industries faded out and eventually died. 
  • We've rounded up a list of industries that fell out of popularity when baby boomers were the age that millennials are now.

It's no secret that millennials have brought about significant change in recent years, but what about their predecessors?

We decided to give millennials a break and investigate the baby boomer generation. Baby boomers are defined by the US Census Bureau as those born in the years following World War II, from 1946 to 1964. 

For the purpose of this exercise, we looked at the period during which the boomers entered the workforce, between 1970 and 1990. 

"The boomers are rightly remembered for ushering in a lot of political and social change," Paul Taylor, a former executive vice president of Pew Research Center and author of "The Next America," told Business Insider.

But, the number of industries that died out during that period is "not the same level of magnitude," as today, he said. 

"Ultimately it is not really generations — it's technology that is the source of these changes," Taylor added. 

Even so, as baby boomers grew older, Americans started eating more fast food, using computers instead of typewriters, and shopping at big-box stores such as Walmart.

As a result, some major industries and products were phased out:

SEE ALSO: Millennials are waiting longer to get married, and it could wreak havoc on stores like Williams Sonoma and Bed Bath and Beyond

SEE ALSO: 'Psychologically scarred' millennials are killing countless industries from napkins to Applebee's — here are the businesses they like the least

Five-and-dime stores

Before Walmart existed, five-and-dime stores selling inexpensive household and personal products were the place to shop. 

The original five-cents discount store was opened by Frank Woolworth in Upstate New York in 1879. This grew into the Woolworth store empire, which boomed in the wake of the Great Depression.

Eventually, these died out after big-box stores such as Walmart and Target took over in the 1970s. In 1999, Woolworth closed its final 400 stores. 



Typewriters

Typewriters became common in offices in the 1980s and were critical to opening the doors to women in the workplace. The early machines paved the way for electronic versions, which were ultimately replaced by computers. 

The first widely used personal computer was launched by IBM in 1981 and cost $1,565. The PC was named "Machine of the Year" by Time magazine in 1982. 

One of the grandfathers of the typewriter movement, Smith Corona Corporation, filed for bankruptcy in 1995.



Cassette tapes

Cassette tapes took off in 1979, the year that the Sony Walkman was invented. These portable devices enabled consumers to listen to music on the go.

In the early '90s, they started to fade out as CDs became popular. In 1991, sales of CDs overtook cassettes – total global shipments of CDs surpassed one billion in 1992 and two billion in 1996, according to Statista

Sales of portable tape players have steadily declined since then – from 18 million in 1994 to 480,000 in 2007, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.



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