It's been a great year for the number five, apparently. Not so much for nine.

That's right, someone has ranked the numbers.

Research from web analytics company ArgYou measured the frequency of searches for numbers 1-10 on the web and social media in July this year.

Numbers, famously, have myriad uses and significance from shapes to days, PIN codes to phone numbers. The list could, quite literally, go on forever.

There's not really much more to add so, without any further ado, here are the numbers 1-10, ranked in ascending order of popularity.

10. 9

9. 8

8. 7

• The American Bar Association informed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that it was re-evaluating Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's "well-qualified" rating following his testimony on sexual assault allegations against him.
• Kavanaugh was criticized for coming across as overly emotional, partisan, and biased when defending himself against allegations he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a Maryland house party in 1982. 
• The National Council of Churches, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and over 1,000 law professors have publicly spoken out against his confirmation. 

The American Bar Association informed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that it was re-evaluating Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's "well-qualified" rating just hours before the Senate was scheduled to make a key vote to advance Kavanaugh's confirmation.

"New information of a material nature regarding temperament during the September 27th hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee has prompted a re-opening of the Standing Committee's evaluation," a representative for the ABA's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary said in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley.

"The Committee does not expect to complete a process and re-vote prior to the scheduled Senate vote," they said, adding that their former "well qualified" rating would stand until their evaluation was complete. 

Kavanaugh was heavily criticized for his demeanor during his September 27 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee over allegations he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a suburban Maryland house party in 1982.

During his testimony, he said the sexual misconduct allegations were a Democratic conspiracy to get revenge on him for his role as an associate counsel in the Justice Department investigating President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, and asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar if she had a drinking problem.

In the wake of his testimony, the National Council of Churches encouraged senators to vote no on his confirmation, and over 2,400 law professors from across the country signed an open letter in The New York Times opposing his confirmation. 

A former Supreme Court justice even came out against Kavanaugh's confirmation, leading Kavanaugh to write a rare Wall Street Journal op-ed defending his independence and impartiality. 

"At that time, I thought (Kavanaugh) had the qualifications for the Supreme Court should he be selected," former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said at a Florida event on Thursday. "I've changed my views for reasons that have no relationship to his intellectual ability … I feel his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind."

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• The US Senate on Friday voted 51-49 in favor of invoking cloture on the confirmation of the embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
• Kavanaugh is now guaranteed a final vote after no more than 30 hours of floor debate, meaning the final floor vote on his confirmation could occur as soon as Saturday.
• Kavanaugh's nomination has been tainted by two allegations of sexual misconduct from the early 1980s, culminating in emotional testimony from him and one of his accusers on September 27.

The US Senate has voted 51-49 in favor of invoking cloture on the confirmation of the embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, meaning the final floor vote on his confirmation could occur as soon as Saturday night after no more than 30 hours of floor debate.

Heading into the vote, all eyes were on crucial undecided votes of Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. While Collins and Manchin voted to proceed on Kavanaugh's confirmation, Murkowski, to the surprise of many, broke with her party and voted not to proceed on his confirmation.

If all 100 Senators vote the same way on the final vote as they did for the cloture vote, Kavanaugh will be confirmed 51-49. While this vote to invoke cloture means Kavanaugh is guaranteed a floor vote on his confirmation, it's still unclear how certain senators will vote; some who voted to advance his nomination could still vote against his confirmation.

Kavanaugh's nomination has been tainted by two allegations of sexual misconduct against him from the early 1980s, culminating in emotional testimony from him and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, on September 27.

After Kavanaugh was heavily criticized for what some perceived to be an overtly partisan and angry defense of himself, in which he blamed the allegations against him on a Democratic conspiracy, the National Council of Churches, 2,4000 law professors, the editorial boards of the New York Times and Washington Post, and even former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens have spoken out against his confirmation. 

One possible wrinkle in the final vote is that Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a Republican, will be away from Capitol Hill on Saturday to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. But Daines assured his colleagues he already had transportation arranged to be able to make it back to DC in time for a possible vote. 

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Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has definitively been the richest guy in Silicon Valley since "Friends" first aired on television. But leave it to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to dethrone the king and blow the rankings out of the water with a fortune that now tops $150 billion.

Although you can be sure that Forbes' annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans will be loaded with hedge fund execs and investment firm founders, tech executives have steadily infiltrated the ranks and made their way up the chart.

The 400 Americans who made Forbes' list this year averaged a net worth of $7.2 billion — an estimated half a billion more than last year. To simply make the list, these billionaires needed a net worth of at least $2.1 billion. That still left more than 200 billionaires out of the rankings, according to Forbes.

The 2018 list, released Wednesday, has the seasoned founders of well-established tech companies, but also features some new names. Included in the rankings are the founders of file-sharing platform Dropbox, e-commerce site Wayfair, blockchain-based company Ripple, and e-mail provider MailChimp.

Here are the 25 wealthiest tech executives in the U.S. in 2018:

25. John Tu & David Sun, co-founders of Kingston Technology

Net worth: $5.4 billion each

Change from 2017 ranking: -36

Net worth in 2017: $6 billion

Although the net worth of Kingston's co-founders did drop by more than a half billion in the last year, the company remains one of the largest providers of USB drives, SD cards, and just about any other memory-storing product.

24. Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber

Net worth: $5.9 billion

Change from 2017 ranking: +11

Net worth in 2017: $5.1 billion

Kalanick's spot in the Forbes 2017 list dramatically dropped when Uber essentially imploded, and the co-founder was forced out of his role as the company's CEO. Kalanick has since taken charge of a small real-estate startup and made up some ground in this year's rankings.

23. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter & Square

Net worth: $6.3 billion

Change from 2017 ranking: +274

Net worth in 2017: $2.2 billion

Dorsey made one of the biggest leaps up this year's list, thanks to shares of Square — a mobile payments company — rising exponentially in the past year.

• My young son equated happiness with comfort, describing the sensation of feeling happy using words like "warm" and "comfortable."
• According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, all human beings need to feel a basic degree of safety and a sense of belonging to achieve happiness.
• Ultimately, my son decided that the meaning of happiness is "hard to describe," a sentiment people of all ages must share.

If someone stopped you on the street and, with no warning, asked you what it means to be happy, what would you say?

When considering the question myself, I found most of my thoughts going first to tangible things. Does happiness mean having a great home? A decent bank account? A powerful car?

I believe that material things can bring passing pleasure but not true happiness, no matter how fine they may be. The absence of things, however, can certainly bring about the opposite of happiness.

As I understand it, happiness and gratitude exist in almost equal proportions. Happiness comes from appreciating what you have in your life — people and possessions — and in finding ways to enjoy what you do with your time.

On a recent morning drive to school, I took advantage of a lull in the conversation and asked my five-year-old son what it means to be happy. Ben — who, full disclosure, is four years, eleven months, and one week old at the time of this writing, but I'd say we're close enough — thought about it for a while, then said, "I think happiness is like when you're comfortable. Like when you just feel very warm and very comfortable."

Taking pains not to color his thought process in any way, I gently prodded him to expand on his thinking, and Ben's next words were ultimately the most telling: "I mean, it's really hard to describe. It's like I know what it feels like but I can't really describe it without just using the word, so that's hard."

For the record, I'm quoting verbatim here. Ben has always been fantastically eloquent (and verbose) for his age. Once, at age 19 months, he said, "This is a little bit hard to eat," regarding a cracker. If you’ve read about early childhood development, saying that sentence at that age is, to use the language of the discipline, nuts.

I agreed with Ben that describing what it means to be happy is difficult, saying the same was true for me in my mid-30s. He nodded and looked contemplative for a while, then reiterated his first point. "It's when you're very comfortable and feeling smiley and just feeling happy," he said.

I relayed Ben's thoughts to my wife, who immediately brought up Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theoretical approach to considering human well-being presented by psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1940s.

According to Maslow, a human cannot become fully self-actualized and will constantly experience varying degrees of anxiety, stress, fear, and dismay if a series of basic needs are not met. These are, starting with the most essential:

1. Physiological Needs — water, food, health, e.g.
2. Safety Needs — Physical security, stability, etc.
3. Belonging — A sense of community with family, friends, and beyond
4. Self-Esteem — Self-love, respect, and acceptance
5. Self-Actualization — A realization of innate potential

It took me a moment to connect the dots, but what does all that really add up to? I'd say if a one-word summation were required, the word "comfort" would be an excellent choice.

SEE ALSO: 30 mistakes every parent makes

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• "The Old Man & the Gun" stars Robert Redford as a 70-year-old bank robber.
• But director David Lowery tells the story in a way that makes it more than just a cops-and-robbers movie.

Every weekend we pick an indie movie currently playing in theaters we think is definitely worth your time and money, and this week's is "The Old Man & the Gun."

From the opening shot of "The Old Man & the Gun" you know you are watching something from a different era. 

Director David Lowery's use of grainy Super 16mm film to capture the story of a 70-year-old bank robber transports you immediately to the early 1980s, where the internet and smart phones are replaced with transistor radios and pay phones. 

And at the center of it all is Robert Redford. Still sporting that grin that made him a big-screen idol in the very decade the movie is set in, it seems like Redford is having the time of his life in every frame of the movie playing a character he knows how to do so well, a charmer from the wrong side of the tracks. 

Based on a true story, Redford plays career criminal Forrest Tucker, who since 15 has spent most of his life getting sent to prisons and eventually escaping them. The movie looks at Tucker as he goes on a string of bank heists after escaping San Quentin State Prison.

But this is hardly a "Bonnie and Clyde" cops-and-robbers movie. Lowery, who has always made movies that have a mythical feel ("Ain't Them Bodies Saints," "Pete's Dragon"), delves deeper into the persona of Tucker and what makes him tick. From the relationship he has with his crew (played by Danny Glover and Tom Waits) to his own vagabond lifestyle that pulls in Jewel (Sissy Spacek) to how he goes about robbing banks. Though he has a gun (we never really ever see him holding it when he's in the bank), it's more a wink and a smile that leads him to getting the money. 

Lowery obviously uses the incredible talents of Redford to push all this forward. One of the more meatier roles he's done in a while (supposedly this is his final movie), he uses every moment on film to explore the layers of his character while also entertaining the heck out of us, the audience. 

"The Old Man & the Gun" has an ease to it that sucks you in. It's a mellow vibe of storytelling that isn't appreciated anymore, but it's absolutely worth revisiting.

See where "The Old Man & the Gun" is playing near you.

Our indie movie picks from previous weekends:

• "Eighth Grade"
• "Blindspotting"
• "The Miseducation of Cameron Post"
• "BlacKkKlansman"
• "Support the Girls"
• "Sorry to Bother You"
• "Operation Finale"
• "Lizzie"
• "Assassination Nation"
• "The Sisters Brothers"

SEE ALSO: The directors of "Ralph Breaks the Internet" address the Princess Tiana backlash and teases more scenes featuring Disney princesses in the movie

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NOW WATCH: How actors fake fight in movies

• Floyd Mayweather flew all the way to Iceland in his private jet just to take a photo for Instagram, according to Us Weekly.
• He then appears to have flown to Paris for a photo of the Eiffel Tower and to Russia to take a snap of him shooting guns.
• He set to visit Dubai on Friday.
• Floyd Mayweather is living his best life.

The retired boxer Floyd Mayweather was renowned for landing the perfect shot, and his flawless record of 50 wins in 50 fights shows that he mastered the art of hitting while barely getting hit.

Even in retirement, he is still taking shots — but now they're with a camera rather than his gloves.

Mayweather, 41, recently flew all the way to Iceland from the US just to take an Instagram photo, according to Us Weekly.

"Floyd flew to Iceland on a private jet to take pictures for Instagram," a source told the magazine on Tuesday. "It's just him and some members of his team. He didn't even spend the night."

The American documented his journey on social media. It all began on his private jet, the Air Mayweather.

He flew to Iceland to check out the hot springs at Blue Lagoon near Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

Shortly after, he watched a boxing fight on a big TV in Paris, took a photo of himself in front of the Eiffel Tower, and ended the European leg of his trip by shooting guns in Grozny, Russia.

Here's Mayweather in front of his private jet:

"Time to do what I do best … explore the world!" he said in the caption. "First stop, Iceland."

Mayweather's next post, a video of the Blue Lagoon, has been watched more than 500,000 times.

"Life is all about experiencing different things," he said. "So, I decided to come check out Iceland. It is one of the most sought out countries for hot springs. What better place than the Blue Lagoon to experience first while in Iceland."

"I'm on paycation!" he said. "It's always gang green."

Mayweather's next photo, uploaded just one day later, was geotagged in Paris.

This photo shows him watching a fight in what is probably his hotel room.

A trip to Paris would not be complete without an obligatory photo of the Eiffel Tower.

That day, Mayweather also posted a video of him shooting guns at a range in Grozny, Russia.

"Keep on thinking I could just hit the target with my hands," he said.

Mayweather's world tour is not yet complete, as there is one more stop — Dubai — set for Friday.

After that, he might decide to return home to his $25 million Los Angeles mansion, which has a candy shop, a 12-seat cinema, and a wine rack with 225 bottles.

Floyd Mayweather is living his best life.

SEE ALSO: Floyd Mayweather's $25 million Los Angeles mansion has a candy shop, a 12-seat cinema, and a wine rack with 225 bottles — take a look inside

DON'T MISS: Floyd Mayweather just bought an $18 million 280-carat diamond watch called 'The Billionaire' — take a look

UP NEXT: Floyd Mayweather’s Instagram shows him living his best life in the Caribbean just a week after a gunman sprayed bullets at his entourage

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NOW WATCH: What it takes to be an NFL referee

• Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, on Friday blamed Democrats for not doing enough to help women as they attempt to derail Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. 
• Defending Kavanaugh's record, Conway also attacked female sexual assault survivors who have pressured Republicans to reconsider their votes on Kavanaugh. 
• "Fox and Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt piled on to Conway's comments, arguing that there is "so much hypocrisy" on the side of the Democrats and protesters.

Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, on Friday blamed Democrats for not doing enough to help sexual assault victims as the party attempts to derail Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation amid sexual misconduct allegations against him. 

Conway also attacked the women, many of them survivors of sexual assault, who have protested Republican lawmakers, arguing that the demonstrators are misdirecting anger they've been "marinating in for years" toward innocent senators.   

"Chasing down Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley — did they individually wrong these women?" she said during a Friday morning interview on the president's favorite show, "Fox and Friends," referring to two senior Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It's really dangerous." 

Conway was apparently referring to female protesters who Hatch waved away and told to "grow up" when they approached him in the Senate on Thursday.

"How dare you talk to women that way?" one can be heard responding in a video of the exchange.

But Conway conceded that the protesters have been successful in causing lawmakers to rethink their positions. She credited two women — Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican last week — with forcing an FBI investigation into the misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh and delay a confirmation vote on the judge.  

"Fox and Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt piled on to Conway's comments, arguing that there is "so much hypocrisy" on the side of the Democrats and protesters.

"They're using gender to get their points across, but, yet, they're the ones that are attacking men in the elevator and yelling at them," Earhardt said. "And then they're saying, how dare you talk to a woman that way? It's pretty dangerous." 

Conway then went on to say that she supports women who come forward to speak about their assaults, but that they shouldn't only be heard when the perpetrator is a Republican. 

"They need to be heard, but why just in the context of this Supreme Court hearing for this man based on 36-year-old allegations that are still uncorroborated," she said. 

Conway did not acknowledge that women have come forward to accuse thousands of men of sexual misconduct — across industries and political parties — ever since Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul and Democratic Party benefactor, was publicly accused by dozens of women of sexual assault a year ago. 

She instead attacked Democratic Party leaders — both current and past — for either ignoring sexual assault survivors or using them as a political tool.

"If we want to help women — sexual assault victims — let's do it, but I didn't see Nancy Pelosi doing much about it when she was speaker ... in fact I don't hear about the Hillary Clinton Center for Women and Girls now, two years later," Conway said. "The Bill Clinton Center for Women and Girls might be a more interesting endeaver, but the Hillary Clinton Center for Women and Girls — where is that? She's still talking about the 2016 election." 

Conway concluded by accusing the "crazy left" of "perverting and subverting" the #MeToo movement. 

Watch the full interview below:

SEE ALSO: Top Senate Republican berates media for 'bias' covering Kavanaugh scandal

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NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump 'MAGA' hat factory

• Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she didn't decide to vote against advancing Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination until she reached the Senate chambers on Friday.
• Murkowski broke with her party as the only one of four key swing votes to oppose advancing his nomination.
• A final confirmation vote is set for Saturday afternoon.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters on Friday that she didn't decide to vote against advancing Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination until she reached the Senate chambers that morning.

Murkowski broke with her party as the only one of four key swing votes to oppose Kavanaugh's nomination. She said it was an effort to uphold the ideal of a fair confirmation process for justices.

"I have been wrestling to really try to know what is fair and what is right," Murkowski said. "And the truth is that none of this has been fair."

The Alaska senator specified that her vote wasn't a personal rebuke of the embattled Supreme Court nominee, who she said she believes is a "good man."

"In my view," she continued, "he's not the right man for the court at this time."

Murkowski called her decision, which she quietly announced in the chamber after other swing votes had announced they would vote in favor of Kavanaugh, "the most difficult evaluation of a decision that I've ever had to make."

"I value and respect where my colleagues have come down from in their support for the judge," Murkowski said. "And I think we're at a place where we need to begin thinking about the credibility and integrity of our institutions."

Friday's vote concerned issues that "are bigger than the nominee" and are necessary for fully functioning legislative and judicial branches, Murkowski said. The moderate Republican previously expressed support for the additional background check the FBI concluded a day earlier into allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.

"If people who are victims, people who feel that there is no fairness in our system of government, particularly in our courts, then you've gone down a path that is not good and right for this country," she said.

Conservative commentators hit back against Murkowski's vote. The Fox News host Laura Ingraham said the "disgraceful" decision "abandoned all principles of due process and fairness."

Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to vote in favor of advancing the nomination. Sen. Jeff Flake, another conservative swing vote, said Friday that he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Republican Sen. Susan Collins is expected to announce her vote Friday afternoon.

The Friday cloture vote limits further debate and Democrats' ability to filibuster the final vote.

With a 51-49 hold on the Senate, Republicans can afford to lose only one vote in the final confirmation tally, set for Saturday afternoon.

SEE ALSO: Senate advances embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to a final vote

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• The US trade deficit grew in the month of August.
• President Donald Trump has made the reduction of the trade deficit one of the focuses of the trade war.
• The goods trade deficit with China, a key focus of Trump's, also hit a record high by one measure.
• Exports of soybeans, an important crop and one of China's targets in the trade war, nosedived in August.

President Donald Trump is losing the trade war, at least according to his favorite measuring stick.

Trump has repeatedly cited the US's ever-growing trade deficit with China, Mexico, and other nations as a primary reason for the trade war. And while many economists think the focus on trade deficits is misguided, Trump has made the reducing them one of the trade war's main goals.

Based on the latest trade numbers, the president's battle with China and other countries is not going so well.

The US Census Bureau reported Friday that the trade deficit increased to $53.2 billion in August for both goods and services, up from $50.0 billion in July. The goods trade deficit, which draws most of Trump's attention, also increased to $86.3 billion, a $3.8 billion increase from the month before.

The primary reason for the increase in the deficit was a collapse in exports, especially soybeans, which fell off by $1 billion, a 28% drop from the month prior. China, the largest buyer of US soybeans, imposed tariffs on the American crop and it appears the restrictions are taking a toll.

Turning to Trump's main trade war target — China — the news doesn't look much better for the president. The goods deficit with China jumped to an all-time one-month record of $38.6 billion from $36.8 billion in July without seasonal adjustments. Year-to-date, the goods deficit with China is $261 billion, 8.3% higher than the $240 billion through August of 2017.

Similarly to the overall deficit, the imbalance with China worsened due to a drop in exports to the country according to Dan Silver, an economist at JPMorgan.

"Details in the August report show that nominal goods exports to China dropped significantly during the month following the implementation of tariffs by both the US and China early in July," Silver said.

But China wasn't the only country to see its trade surplus with the US grow. The US goods-trade deficit with Mexico ticked up to $8.7 billion, a $2.3 billion increase from July, and the deficit with Japan increased to $5.8 billion, up $0.9 billion from last month.

Gregory Daco, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note to clients that the trade deficit will likely continue to grow given recent trends.

"Looking ahead, cooler global momentum and the stronger dollar will continue to temper export growth while imports will stay well-supported by upbeat domestic demand, fiscal stimulus and the strong greenback," Daco said. "Tariffs and persistent trade policy uncertainty are the key risks to our outlook."

SEE ALSO: An under-the-radar provision in the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal looks like a direct shot at China

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NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump 'MAGA' hat factory

• 71% of Americans were thinking about or actively looking for a new job, according to a 2017 survey.
• There are many reasons people quit their jobs — lack of upward mobility, a bad boss, and low pay are some of the most common.
• Author Jessica Thiefels details here how she knew it was time to leave five of the jobs she’s had in the last seven years.

I've had six jobs in the last seven years — all of which led me to where I am now: Running my own business.

Of those six jobs, I chose to leave five, and I'm not alone in my decision to move on relatively frequently. In fact, in a 2017 survey, 71% of Americans surveyed said they were thinking about or actively looking for a new job.

If you're thinking about switching jobs, but aren't sure if you should, here are some of the signs that told me it was time to move on.

SEE ALSO: 5 things you can learn in a day that will make your life better

I was ready to move up — and I couldn't do it in my current role

A recent Glassdoor report examined 5,000 resumes of transitioning employees to find out why employees left their previous roles. One common reason was “job title stagnation.” This led to more employee turnover than issues with work-life balance, leadership, or a company’s compensation and benefits policies, the study found.

In almost every position, I left for this exact reason as well. I knew I was ready to take a larger role but couldn’t do it with the current company. Promotions were put off, raises were off the table, and it was clear that the business was at a stand-still — along with my career arc.

You can see the effort I was making to always move up from one job to the next when you look at my job trajectory. I started out with a marketing copywriter job, which led to several editor positions and managerial jobs. Today, I own my own business.  

While there were plenty of other reasons why I left each job, my desire to do more and get better was at the center of it all.

I wasn't getting support when I needed it most

I remember sitting in meetings at my very first job and thinking, “How am I ever going to contribute to these conversations?” I felt like the idiot in the room, with no big ideas, feedback or suggestions. Worse, I wasn’t getting any support. Tasks were put on my plate, and I was expected to read between the lines or understand something that was never explained.

I was as green as they come. It was my first professional job as a writer, so I had a lot of learning to do — but no one to teach me. When that company let my entire team go except for me, I ended up with a job in social media, something I’d never managed before. But because of that opportunity, I started down the digital marketing path, and I’m now a social media coach.

At the time, however, it was both fun and frustrating. It was fun to dictate my own rules for testing, posting, and planning. It was frustrating, however, when I needed the support of my boss, who would simply not show up for a meeting or send a one-sentence response to a long, in-depth email.

I had a string of bad bosses

Unsurprisingly, a 2017 survey from BambooHR found that 44% of employees left a job because of a bad boss at some point during their careers.

I’m no stranger to this challenge, and it was one of the most significant reasons for leaving my first job, where I had not one but three bad bosses. One boss was too busy, another didn’t know how to manage people, and another had no interest in what our team was doing or in making sure we were successful.

When I get asked the question, “What was your favorite job in the past and why?” in a job interview, my answer reflects the value of good bosses. My answer, for many years, was McDonalds, which is where I worked in high school. This always earns an interesting facial expression from the interviewer, followed by, “Why?”

My response is simple: I had great bosses. It made the job more fun and interesting and I felt supported and valued.

• With more than 71 million people, millennials are an increasingly important age demographic in the U.S.  
• QuoteWizard.com, a digital insurance comparison platform, used consumer data from over two million millennials to determine the most popular car models among that particular demographic. 
• Sedans are surprisingly popular with millennials, as eight of the 10 cars listed are of that classification. 
• According to QuoteWizard's data, the Honda Accord is the most popular model among millennials. 

With more than 71 million members recorded in their demographic, millennials are certainly a generation to be reckoned with. With their growing influence and increased ability to determine consumer trends, millennials are becoming of more interest to automakers as they seek to determine which car models will hold the most appeal. 

Enter QuoteWizard.com, the digital insurance comparison platform that focuses on auto, home, renter's, health and life insurance. Founded in 2006, QuoteWizard has had over 50 million customers fill out insurance forms over 12 years, according to a company spokesperson. 

To get an accurate ranking of the top cars driven by millennials, QuoteWizard took insurance data from over two million customers between the ages of 22 and 37 who compared auto insurance data on their website over the last 12 months.  They then looked at the types of cars these consumers drove to get their total numbers, ranking them one through 10 based on quantity.  

According to a spokesperson, the data collected by QuoteWizard is proprietary and from a self-reported insurance form that is free to be used as stated in the agreement. 

As for the results, the list is rather interesting as it contains only one SUV and one pickup truck, two models that dominate the domestic market right now. Eight of the 10 cars listed or either sedans or compact cars, data which suggests that while most consumers are moving away from the family sedan, that particular car still holds an appeal for the millennial generation

Let's take a look at the top-10 cars driven by millennials below.  

SEE ALSO: These are the 20 best-selling cars and trucks in America in 2018

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10. Jeep Grand Cherokee

9. Ford Focus

8. Toyota Corolla

• Making friends as an adult can be difficult.
• As we get older, life changes can affect existing friendships, and adulthood can make forging new ones harder than it was in adolescence. 
• But it is possible to make new friends in adulthood with a few simple steps.
• It's a process that requires repetition, disclosure, and some initiative on your behalf.

It's akin to how salmon feel when swimming upstream. Trying to keep in touch with your buddies post-college, much less forging new friendships, is difficult, exhausting, and sometimes futile.

But it's not just you.

An analysis of a whopping 177,000 people found that friend groups expand until about age 25, after which they shrink like a sweater in the dryer. Additionally, a national survey conducted in 1985 found the most commonly reported number of confidants was three. Fast-forward several decades, and that number has dwindled to zero. That's right, zero.

Whether as a result of parenthood, divorce, moving to a new city, or simply focusing on family and career, having to make new friends doesn't end on the playground. It is a task and a skill that we revisit time and time again throughout life.

When it comes to making friends, semantics reveal an important detail: We make friends. Making a friend isn't luck or chance: It's a process, which is actually good news. You don't have to wait for the stars to align; instead, with three factors — repetition, disclosure, and some initiative — we can give the stars a nudge.

1. Be a regular

There's a prevailing sense that having shared interests — a love of bocce, Democratic politics, or Argentine tango —  precedes a friendship. And while a mutual love of David Lynch films can't hurt, the true magic ingredient is considerably less sexy than shared interests: repetition.

To have the best shot at friendship, we have to interact with the same person again and again. One study illustrated this fact perfectly: 44 state police trainees, when asked to name their closest friends, chose those who fell next to them in alphabetical order of seating.

Another classic study of friends in a university apartment building found that the most popular individuals were simply those who lived in the most highly-trafficked areas: the foot of the stairwells.

Therefore, think about how to see the same people on a regular basis. Rule out drop-ins, like one-time meetups or special events, and look for  activities where the same core people show up every day or every week, like going to the the local dog park, choral group practice, Thursday night running group, or anywhere you can be a "regular."

The bottom line? Keep showing up. Commit to any new activity for at least a few months. Conventional wisdom holds that six to eight  conversations — beyond "Hey, how's it going?" — are necessary before people consider us a friend.

2. Talk about yourself 

For the shy among us, answering questions that come with meeting new people can be torture: 'And what do you do for work? Where are you from? What brought you to this city?'

But it can be just as  frustrating for our conversation partner to have to interrogate us.

Therefore, experiment with sharing the details of your life and inner workings more freely. If you're shy or socially anxious, experiment with initiating and offering more than usual.

This might feel wrong, as if you're talking too much, being annoying, or making it about you, but if you're known for being reticent, give yourself permission to stretch and grow. Research shows what draws others in is disclosure, specifically that which is "sustained, escalating, reciprocal, and personalistic."

Whether you're an introvert, extrovert, or anywhere in between, telling someone the details of your life sparks them to share with you, which in turn brings you closer.

Even the most banal small talk can be made personal. Talking about traffic can be a disclosure: "I prefer to ride my bike because it's so much faster, but I draw the line when it's raining like this." "Traffic was horrible, but '2 Dope Queens' got me through as usual." "The construction on Broadway is nuts — I could barely get to my favorite donut place." You're still talking about traffic, but you've also laid the groundwork of conversation by giving them a topic or two to riff off.

3. Be the conversation starter

It's not your imagination that people seem busy and noncommittal when it comes to making new friends. But as long as you get some basic friendliness (no grunting and staring at their phone when you say hello), try this mindset: Assume that they like you, and act in kind.

Unapologetically brighten when you see them. Share a little bit of your life. Don't wait for them to initiate the "hello," or suggest trying the new ramen place — be the reason the conversation starts.

In my experience as a clinical psychologist, pretty much everyone is secretly scared of getting rejected. So initiate. They'll be relieved and you'll be on your way to those six-to-eight conversations.

There's no doubt about it: It's tough to cut through the busyness and ambivalence of life to meet new friend after we've tossed our mortarboards. But don't despair: the stardust that is potential friendship is all around us. Interaction by interaction, disclosure by disclosure, initiation by initiation, we really can, as the Girl Scout song reminds us, make new friends.

Ellen Hendriksen, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, award-winning host of the Savvy Psychologist podcast, and author of How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. Follow her @ellenhendriksen.

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• J.D. Power released its 2018 US Vehicle Dependability Study in February.
• The study measures car reliability by surveying respondents who have owned 2015 model-year vehicles for three years.
• Toyota won six categories, the most of any automaker, while General Motors came in second by winning five categories.

The used car market can be difficult to navigate. Sometimes, it's tough to tell if a seller is unloading a car because it's time for an upgrade, or because there's something wrong with it.

J.D. Power helps consumers get a sense of which cars are most likely to retain their value with its annual vehicle dependability study, which measures how much customers like their cars over time. This year's survey, which was released in February, collected feedback from 38,896 respondents who had owned a 2015 model-year vehicle for three years and determined the most reliable cars in 19 categories. The resulting data was used to determine the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles. The lower the score, the more reliable the car is.

Toyota won six categories, the most of any automaker, while General Motors came in second by winning five categories.

These are the winners in each of the 19 categories.

SEE ALSO: I took a $163,000 Tesla Model X SUV on a road trip and discovered Tesla's greatest weapon isn't its cars

Small car: 2015 Kia Rio

Small premium car: 2015 Lexus CT

Compact car: 2015 Toyota Prius

• High-end hotels are expanding their bar options to accommodate guests in their very own rooms.
• From bigger minibars to custom-made drinks delivered to — or mixed in — your hotel room, it's all about convenience and comfort, reports Bloomberg.
• The Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong and the Darcy in Washington DC are amongst the luxury hotels offering different spins on the expanded amenity.

For anyone who's ever been stuck somewhere between "I'd love a nightcap" and "I'm too tired to get dressed," good news: at some luxury hotels, you no longer have to choose between the two.

High-end hotels are increasingly offering room service cocktail services, drink trolleys in the hallways, and larger in-room minibars, according to Bloomberg.

Offering expanded drink options to guests at their own convenience is just one of many ways hotels work to provide services that make them feel comfortable and noticed.

In some cases, reports Bloomberg, satisfying guests' wishes "means dispatching a bartender for in-person service; at other times, it's about making a room's minibar feel more like a home bar."

The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, considered one of the best hotels in the world, is a good example of a hotel that's taking the mini bar game to a whole new level, as Business Insider's international correspondent Harrison Jacobs reports.

During his stay in a 600-square-foot room in the esteemed Hong Kong hotel, Jacobs found the mini bar to be "not so mini, with full and mini bottles of liquor and wine."

Meanwhile, the Entertainment Suite, the most luxurious suite at the same hotel, features a "Cabinet of Delights," which has boutique wines on tap and a mixologist booth.

The Darcy Washington DC, for comparison, has a "cocktail butler," writes Bloomberg: a mixologist who will spend 30 minutes crafting cocktails in your room. The service comes with a price tag, though — drinks cost $17 a piece, plus a 50% service charge.

These services, of course, are not entirely replacing the classic hotel bar itself, some of which are iconic and worth a visit in their own right.

SEE ALSO: The 31 hotels everyone should stay at in their lifetime

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• A jury has convicted a white Chicago police officer of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of black teenager Laquan McDonald.
• Officer Jason Van Dyke fired 16 shots into 17-year-old McDonald's back in October 2014, as he was walking away from officers.
• Friday's conviction was the first time in half a century that a Chicago police officer has been convicted of murder for an on-duty death.

A jury has convicted white Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald.

Van Dyke was charged with first degree-murder in the October 2014 killing, a charge that requires a finding that the shooting was unnecessary and unreasonable. The judge told jurors the second-degree charge was also available, requiring them to find Van Dyke believed his life was in danger but that the belief was unreasonable.

The jury announced the verdict Friday. It's the first time in half a century that a Chicago police officer has been convicted of murder for an on-duty death.

McDonald was carrying a knife when Van Dyke fired 16 shots into the 17-year-old as he walked away from police. On Friday, the jury convicted Van Dyke on 16 counts of aggravated battery for each shot.

Though Van Dyke had originally claimed that McDonald "lunged" at him, prompting him to fire one shot into his chest, video footage of the incident shows that McDonald was walking away, and was actually shot 16 times — some of which occurred after McDonald had already hit the ground.

Van Dyke's case has roiled Chicago over the last several years, amid an ongoing national debate over deadly use of force by officers and biased policing.

After the verdict was read on Friday, demonstrators cheered outside the courthouse, chanting "Justice for Laquan," according to The Chicago Tribune.

Second-degree murder usually carries a sentence of less than 20 years.

SEE ALSO: The alleged Texas serial killer may have used his Border Patrol intelligence job to monitor the murder investigation and evade police, investigators say

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• Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine indicated on Friday that she planned to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, the embattled Supreme Court nominee, during a final floor vote set for Saturday.
• After Collins announced her intended vote, Sen. Joe Manchin said he would also vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
• With their votes, it appears all but certain that Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
• Kavanaugh, a federal judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has faced allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to the early 1980s.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine indicated on Friday that she planned to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, the embattled Supreme Court nominee, during a final floor vote on Saturday. She voted earlier Friday to invoke cloture on his nomination.

Shortly after Collins' announcement, Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, announced he would also vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

Collins said that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh failed to meet the "more likely than not" threshold and that they should not "fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court."

Collins spoke for more than 40 minutes on Friday afternoon, concluding by announcing how she intends to vote.

"Mr. President, I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh," she said.

Manchin said in a statement after Collins' speech that while he had reservations about voting to confirm Kavanaugh given the allegations against him, the FBI report about its investigation into the accusations led him to conclude that Kavanaugh is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

"With respect to any cases that may come before him impacting the 800,000 West Virginians with pre-existing conditions, Judge Kavanaugh assured me personally that he would consider the human impacts and approach any decision with surgical precision to avoid unintended consequences," Manchin said in the statement. "That is why I voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court because I believe he will rule in a manner that is consistent with our Constitution."

With the votes from Collins and Manchin, Kavanaugh's confirmation is all but certain.

A moderate Republican who supports abortion rights, Collins had for months been scrutinized over her vote on Kavanaugh's nomination. She is also the subject of an unprecedented fundraising campaign by Maine activists that they say will automatically trigger over $1.9 million in donor pledges to fund her future opponent when she goes up for reelection in 2020 if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh.

While Collins and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have decried the campaign as a form of bribery, two law professors, Deborah Hellman and Stuart Green, wrote in The Atlantic last month that it did not fit within the legal parameters of a bribe because it was threatening to give the funds to her eventual, unnamed opponent instead of offering her money to vote a certain way.

Kavanaugh, a federal judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women. He has vehemently denied the allegations, which date back to the 1980s.

His nomination proceedings were delayed so he and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, could testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI could conduct a supplemental background investigation, which it completed on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: The American Bar Association is re-evaluating Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's 'well-qualified' rating ahead of the Senate vote to confirm him

DON'T MISS: Here's an evolving count of which senators are voting for Brett Kavanaugh

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• New York Comic Con is a massive pop culture event, drawing thousands of people from all over the world. 
• We talked to a vendor about what it's like to work a booth at the event.
• He described a hectic 12-hour work day with no lunch break and barely any bathroom breaks — but he said it's all worth it. 

One of New York City's largest pop culture events, Comic Con, is underway this week at Javits Center in Manhattan.

Hundreds of vendors and exhibitors pay to set up booths at the convention each year, selling comics, artwork, costumes, collectible action figures, and much more.

We talked to two vendors, Mervyn and Nicole McKoy, partners in both business and marriage, who run their commercial art and multimedia design studio, Paper Lab Studios, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They travel to conventions throughout the year, including Dallas Comic Con, Indiana Comic Con, MegaCon in Orlando, Florida Super Con, Raleigh Super Con, and Katsucon in Maryland, and others.

Mervyn said New York Comic Con is definitely one of his favorites because of the diverse group of people who attend.

In between conventions, the McKoys do commercial art, custom commissions, and design. Some of their past clients include Burger King and Filthy Food, which makes high-end drink garnishes. They also produce their own comic books in collaboration with various writers, which Mervyn illustrates and Nicole edits.

Here's what their day looked like on the first day of New York Comic Con.

SEE ALSO: We asked 15 people how much they spent on their Comic Con costumes — here's what they told us

DON'T MISS: How New York Comic Con attendance has grown over the years

Mervyn and Nicole woke up at 7 a.m. on Thursday, the first day of the convention, and took an Uber from the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn where they were staying with a friend.

They got to the Javits Center at about 8:30 to beat the security checkpoint rush and do some light setup.

They had already come in for a couple hours the day before the convention started, on Wednesday, to do some preliminary setup.

• If Democrats flip the House in November, some have indicated they will support an investigation into, and possible impeachment of, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is expected to be confirmed on Saturday.
• But even if a majority of the House votes to impeach Kavanaugh, two-thirds of the Senate would need to vote to remove him, making the likelihood of his ousting from the court very small.

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh prepares to be confirmed to the nation's highest court in a final Senate vote on Saturday, Democrats have already begun considering the possibility of impeaching Kavanaugh, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct.

If Democrats flip the House in November, which, according to polling, looks quite likely, some have indicated they will support an investigation into Kavanaugh and could draft articles of impeachment.

Democrats have maintained that the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh was overly limited in scope by the White House and not sufficiently thorough in its exploration of the allegations against the judge, including those made by Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were teenagers.

And Democrats — and other critics of Kavanaugh's — believe misleading statements he made under oath should disqualify him from the bench.

Indeed, Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, indicated he would be open to investigating Kavanaugh after he's confirmed.

"We would have to investigate any credible allegations of perjury and other things that haven't been properly looked into before," he said.

But even if the House impeaches Kavanaugh, two-thirds of the Senate — a supermajority — would need to vote to remove him following a trial, making the likelihood of his ousting very small. (Republicans currently have a 51 to 49 seat majority in the Senate, and they will likely keep control of the chamber in November).

Throughout American history, just 19 federal officials— one senator, one cabinet secretary, two presidents, and 15 judges— have been impeached, but only eight were convicted and removed by the Senate. (And just six of the impeachments occurred in the last 80 years.)

No president has ever been both impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.

President Richard Nixon, the only president to resign from office, stepped down before impeachment proceedings could begin. And the two presidents who were impeached by the House, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, were both acquitted by the Senate.

Lying under oath

Under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

While it is unclear what behavior can technically be considered an "impeachable offense," perjury — or lying under oath — has always been considered a significant violation. (Clinton was impeached for allegedly lying under oath concerning his affair with Monica Lewinsky.)

Perjury is seen as a particularly grievous offense for a judge, whose authority — and that of the judiciary more broadly — rests on her integrity. And there are real questions about whether Kavanaugh misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation testimony this year and in 2006, during the confirmation process for his seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kavanaugh has appeared to either mislead or make false statements to the Judiciary Committee about a range of issues, including his drinking habits and social life in high school and college, and his work in President George W. Bush's White House.

SEE ALSO: Here are all the times Kavanaugh is suspected of misleading the Senate

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• I flew Southwest Airlines for the second time in my life as I traveled from New York City to St. Louis in October.
• I came away satisfied with my flight and more likely to use Southwest in the future.
• The plane's cleanliness and entertainment options, as well as the ability to check my suitcase for free, were the biggest highlights.

As airplane seats get smaller and fees get larger, what once seemed like small comforts take on greater importance. 

In October, I flew Southwest Airlines for the second time in my life as I traveled from New York City to St. Louis, six months after a passenger on a Southwest flight died following a mid-flight engine failure. The flight was like most others I've taken but had a few notable differences from United and Delta, the airlines I most frequently use. Some of the differences were cosmetic and others were more substantive, but overall, my flight left me with a positive impression of Southwest and increased the odds I'll use it again.

The first time I flew Southwest, I was startled by its lack of seating assignments and unconventional boarding process. This time, I knew what to expect and was more attuned to some of the details I'd previously missed. While the plane's legroom and seat width were average and below average, respectively (according to SeatGuru), there were a few parts of my travel experience that impressed me. 

Being able to check my bag for free was a significant perk, and the seats were cleaner and seemed to be made of more comfortable material than what I'm used to when flying economy on other airlines. Southwest's entertainment options were the biggest surprise, as the airline's website offered a wide range of movies, music stations, and television shows, many of which were free, without requiring me to download an app.

Here's what I thought of my second experience with Southwest.

SEE ALSO: 10 easy ways to save money on last-minute travel

My flight was at 7:25 a.m. on a Monday, so when I arrived at LaGuardia Airport a little before 6, I wasn't surprised to find a nearly empty check-in counter.

I was happy to find that checking my suitcase was free.

My trip was about three-and-a-half days in total, which would have made it difficult to fit everything I needed in a carry-on bag. My suitcase is too big to qualify as a carry-on item, so Southwest's policy allowing customers to check two bags for free (so long as they're under 50 pounds and don't exceed 62 inches in any direction) saved me a total of $60 for the trip, compared to United, American, or Delta.

The security line was a little more crowded than I expected, though not unreasonably so.