College is expensive. Beyond tuition, chances are your child will also have to buy books, new clothes, kegs of beer, and even some housewares to furnish a dorm room or apartment.

With all this spending going on, the line between need and want might get a little blurred.

Though ultimately a lot of these expenditures are up to the parental unit, we've put together a list of things that you might think a college student needs, but that you really should avoid buying for back to school all together.

1. A Printer

Most schools offer printing facilities that are either free or cheap to use. If this notion sounds like an inconvenience to your teen, remember this: Ink is expensive, not to mention annoying to replace.

Sure, your kid could be popular being the only one with a printer, but once the ink runs out, these so-called friends will seek free printing elsewhere. And though it might be a valuable lesson for a young adult to learn, you're the one who is going to get a call to replace the black and color ink every other week — and that adds up.

2. A Tablet

In a college setting, even a budget laptop can better handle school-based tasks than an iPad. Writing and editing a term paper on a touchscreen is so difficult, it could easily be a torture worthy of inclusion in Dante's Inferno. (As a punishment for plagiarists, possibly?)

Function-for-function, laptops are cheaper, too. For the same $500 spent on a 16GB Apple iPad with Retina Display (bundled with a $50 Target Gift Card; with $6.99 s&h, a low by $44), you could get a really speedy, lightweight Windows laptop like the ASUS VivoBook Intel Ivy Bridge Core i3 1.8GHz 11.6" Touchscreen Laptop which comes bundled with a 4-year subcription to Microsoft Office 365 University for a puny $359 (with free shipping, a low by $139). All in all, if the back-to-school computing decision boils down to a laptop and a tablet, opt for the laptop... and definitely don't waste your money on also buying a new tablet.

3. Expensive Bedding

Even if your teen's college isn't one that stocks its dorm rooms with extra long mattresses (which are more common than you think), you shouldn't invest in any particularly special bedding; Bobby and his friends are probably going to destroy the whole setup by eating and drinking recklessly on his bed with great frequency, so grab the bargain bin bedding deals instead of the 600-thread count sheets.

Your kid is going to have to buy all new bedding after he graduates, anyway, so why spend a lot on something that is, for all intents and purposes, disposable?

A new plastic surgery trend in Japan alters the palm lines of your hand — and potentially your fate.

According to a report by Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky in The Daily Beast, palmistry enthusiasts are asking surgeons to extend or create lines in their hand with an electric scalpel to increase their luck.

One such Japanese surgeon is Takaaki Matsuoka, who was first asked to perform the procedure by a patient in 2011. Having never heard of such a thing, he was able to find examples of the surgery in Korea, where patients' flesh was cut and burned to leave a semi-permanent scar on the hand.

Matsuoka's clinic has since performed 37 of these procedures, according to The Daily Beast. The entire process takes 10 to 15 minutes with as many as 10 lines on the palm altered at a time, plus a subsequent month to recover. The total cost is $1,000.

The majority of Matsuoka's patients are men and women in their 30s who strongly believe in fortune telling. He told Adelstein and Stucky that men tend to favor lines that predict money or success, whereas women request their love and marriage lines to be altered.

And although Matsuoka confessed to The Daily Beast that he didn't believe the surgery actually affected his patients' luck, he did say the feedback has been positive with a few former patients even reporting marriage proposals or winning the lottery.

"If people think they’ll be lucky, sometimes they become lucky," he said. "And it’s not like the palm lines are really written in stone — they’re basically wrinkles."

SEE ALSO: The Lamest Fortune Cookies Ever

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Welcome to the largest car culture event in the world: the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

This festival has been held on the grounds of the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England every summer for the past decade.

Each year it brings together some of the world's largest and best known automakers to show off — and sometimes debut — their most impressive vehicles.

Even Formula 1 racing stars are known to attend the event.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, Goodwood featured "the biggest, best, fastest, loudest and most outrageous vehicles of all time," and we've got the pictures to prove it.

SEE ALSO: The 14 Best-Selling Cars In America

The Corvette-powered Sin R1 made its debut at the Festival.

An old-fashioned London Steam Carriage paraded down the track.

The Rolls Royce Wraith is the most powerful car in the maker's history — its turbo-charged V12 engine can send it from 0 to 62 mph in 4.6 seconds.

For many of us, summer means lazy afternoons on a beach with a great book (or Kindle) in hand. But choosing a great read can be difficult.

The editors at Amazon.com recently came out with a list of the Best Books of 2013 So Far, which ranks the best books released between January and June 2013.

“Customers looking for great summer reads will find an eclectic selection on the list this year, from the very best fiction to compelling memoirs to excellent young adult novels,” Sara Nelson, Editorial Director for Books and Kindle, Amazon.com, said. “Our #1 pick, Life after Life, is clever but never gimmicky—which is amazing when you consider that the story of the heroine’s life begins, ends and then begins again, multiple times. We think this book is an extraordinary feat of narrative ambition, an audacious genre-bender and a work of literary genius.”

Here are the Top 10 Best Books of the Year So Far, according to Amazon editors:

1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson: What if you could be born again and again? This brilliant, multi-layered novel answers that question as Atkinson’s protagonist moves through multiple lives, each one an iteration on the last, flirting with the balance between choice and fate.

2. The Son by Philipp Meyer: A multigenerational Western spanning the 1800s Comanche raids in Texas to the 20th century oil boom, The Son is a towering achievement.

3. Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff: Two adventures in one… recounting the 1942 crash (and subsequent struggle to survive) of a U.S. cargo plane crew in Greenland, and describing the author’s own participation in a modern day mission to uncover the mystery behind their disappearance.

4.The Interestingsby Meg Wolitzer:The characters in this novel pulse with life as Wolitzer follows a group of teenagers who meet at a summer camp for artsy teens in 1974 and work to maintain their friendship through the competitions and realities of growing up.

5.And the Mountains Echoedby Khaled Hosseini: Following The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini has written another masterwork, one that moves through war, separation, birth, death, deceit, and love—illustrating how people’s actions, even the seemingly selfless ones, are shrouded in ambiguity.

6.Eleanor & Parkby Rainbow Rowell: This Young Adult novel about two kids who fall in love on a bus is sweet without being saccharine. And it’s a story adults can love, too.

7.Gulp by Mary Roach: Roach is about as entertaining a science writer as you’ll find, and this book about how we ingest food will make you think, laugh, and wince as she covers all things alimentary.

8.After Visiting Friendsby Michael Hainey: Unfolding like a novel, this nonfiction gem starts with journalist Hainey uncovering inconsistencies within his own journalist father’s obituary—and while the truth behind the death will eventually be uncovered, greater truths await for Hainey, ones that will change the way he views the past and the present.

9.Tenth of Decemberby George Saunders: Saunders’ first collection of short stories in six years introduces his ironic, absurd, profound, and funny style to an army of new readers.

10.The Golem and the Jinniby Helene Wecker: This enchanting debut, set mostly in turn-of-the-century Manhattan, is both a well-researched historical novel and a spectacular work of fantasy.

To see additional lists of the Best Books of the Year So Far broken down by category, go to www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar.

SEE ALSO: 27 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

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Cream filling enthusiasts across the country are rejoicing at the highly anticipated comeback of the nutritionally questionable Twinkie— one Rhode Island woman even got injured in the rush to buy boxes when an overeager store decided to start sell the snack early.

But as a part of its re-marketing efforts, Twinkies is trying to win over the hearts of one specific, untapped demographic: young males, better known as bros.

“We want to go beyond just the loyal fans to some of those people who should be fans,” Dave Lubeck, executive vice president at Hostess' ad agency Bernstein-Rien, told Time. “So we’re really trying to move beyond the grocery store consumers into the c-store [convenience store] target, which is a younger male."

Catering to the dayglow colored bro tank-wearing population makes sense for Hostess. American families are more health conscious than they were in Twinkies' heyday — "Howdy Doody" regularly plugged the snack, whereas today Disney went so far as to ban junk food ads on its network — so bros might be more likely to snatch Twinkies off the shelves.

But Hostess hopes to secure a place in lunch boxes, too. Lubeck continued to Time that “Moms shopping in grocery stores today speak the same language as their kids, so if we spoke more with that kind of attitude — the attitude that maybe you’d see in young males today — we think that we get both audiences.”

Hostess' first attempt to become fluent in "young male" talk began when it created a new slogan.

Last month Hostess told Business Insider it was officially retiring the classic "Hey, where's the cream filling?" tag line for "The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever." The new slogan's tone obviously hopes to reach an ironic, internet-friendly audience.

Hostess is also encouraging new, Twinkie-related memes on social media including a #comeback hashtag and a separate "Prepare your Cakeface" micro-site that asks for people to share their first Twinkie-bite on Instagram or Vine — with relevant #cakeface tagging, of course.

The site shows various bros in branded tank tops and sweatbands.

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In the Agra train station, a little boy — no older than seven or eight — approaches us. He holds a plastic shopping bag in one hand and a sick baby in the other. The baby has matted hair, a dirty bare bottom, and her eyes are glued shut with dried pus. The boy holds out his bag. “Shampoo,” he begs. “Soap.”

I had taken the travel-sized shampoos from our hotels, so I dig through my purse to give them to him. My friend Sholeh takes a photograph of the two children in the slant of morning light, the juxtaposition of the beautiful making the scene seem all the more tragic. I hand over the shampoo, and the boy scurries it into his bag. A flock of children sees the exchange and surrounds us. Each one dirtier and sadder than the next. They beg for school pens, soap, shampoo, one rupee. They don’t seem to notice each other, their eyes set on the two foreign women. The poor and the tourists — the familiar sights of India.

The day before, we visited the most famous tourist destination in India: the Taj Mahal, a marble miracle, the memorial built by the Arabic king Shah Jahan for his favorite wife after she died in childbirth. Artisans spent 22 years building the domed mausoleum and decorating its soaring walls with intricate patterns of semi-precious jewels, so that at night, the Taj glitters in the moonlight, sparkles in the reflecting pools.

But in truth, I remember so little of the Taj Mahal — only the story our guide told us about how the artisans were thanked at the end of the project by having their hands cut off, so they couldn’t betray the king by recreating the elaborate designs. The beauty and the violence so close together that the space between leaves no room even for irony — maybe in the same way a blind boy played a drum just outside the Taj Mahal gates, hoping for spare change, and the crippled man propelled himself along the dusty road with a stick. And in the way our guide had said “Welcome to Agra,” gesturing toward an old woman who was digging through mountains of smoking garbage.

And now there was this: the filtered light draping across starving children in the Agra train station. And a teenaged boy, holding a small wooden box, catching my eye from the other side of the station. And his stride over to me, passing stray cows and a turbaned man reading from the Koran. And in the purposeful way the boy weaves around a small girl, who has lifted her skirt and is peeing on the concrete platform.

The boy finally reaches me and points to his boxful of blackened rags and shoe polish and then to my sandals.

“No thank you,” I say.

“You need shoe shine,” he says. “Dirty.”

“I’m fine.”

“Very good polish.”

“It’s not that,” I say, knowing there’s no way to explain.

“I wouldn’t let him do it,” Sholeh says. “Just tell him no.”

“Please?” he begs.

“What could be the harm in it?” I ask.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Sholeh says.

While the boy sets to work on my sandals, I look at Sholeh’s pictures of the Taj Mahal. I feel a tug at my foot and glance away from the camera’s digital screen and down at the boy. He points to a large rip in my sandals, telling me in his limited English that it will cost extra for the repair. “Broken. 10 more rupee for fix.”

I spot the pointed instrument he used to tear the leather; it’s already tucked back into his box. I know he didn’t rip my sandals out of meanness but from desperation, but still I feel violated. He sees me as he would any tourist, a chance to feed his family with a few extra rupees. Who could blame him? And hadn’t the poor Indians started to look all the same to me? Did I look into their eyes and see each one, hungry and desperate, as an individual human being? I hadn’t wanted the hardness to come, didn’t even believe it would, but just like that it does.

Later I will be ashamed that I didn’t just pay the extra money and have the boy sew up the tear in my sandal. But at the moment, I am travel-raw and tired, so I think instead of my own loss in the transaction — my hundred-dollar sandals, ruined. How I don’t want him to trick anyone else, and about what’s right and what’s wrong, which of course is much easier when you have the means to buy yourself a pair of hundred-dollar shoes.

So I say, “I know you did that on purpose. You tore them with that tool. You sew them up right now, or I’ll scream.” The boy quickly stitches up the sandal, and I don’t pay for the “repair.” Later I will realize his family could live for three months off what I paid for those sandals. The mind wanders back to what’s right and what’s wrong and what it is that fills the space in between.

Sholeh doesn’t say I told you so even though I deserve it. And I don’t tell her I should have listened to her because that’s beyond obvious too.

And then there is this: The train arrives, and a middle-aged couple steps off with their guide. The husband tells the guide, “I hope we’re staying somewhere nice. My wife likes opulence, you know.”

“Deserves,” the wife corrects him.

“Well then,” the guide says, “she shall have the sky.”

SEE ALSO: Take An Overnight Houseboat Cruise Through The Backwaters Of Kerala

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Architect Zaha Hadid is known for her modern, curving designs, like the aquatics center she conceived for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Hadid, who became the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of her field) in 2004, has designed everything from a metro station in Saudi Arabia to a city center in downtown Belgrade.

But until now, she's never been commissioned to design a building in New York City. Today, developer Related revealed renderings for an 11-story condominium Hadid designed near Manhattan's posh High Line park. The boutique condo will be made of steel and glass, and incorporate a chevron pattern.

The apartment exemplifies Hadid's aesthetic, from the flowing curves to the freeform shape. Click through to see how her style has evolved over time.

Meredith Galante contributed to this story.

Completed in 2003, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati was Hadid's first project in the United States. It was a huge critical success.

Source: New York Times

After the success of the Rosenthal Center, Hadid was hired for several other projects. The BMW Central Building in Leipzing, Germany was among the first. It was completed in May 2005.

Source: New York Times

And she designed the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, which was also completed in 2005. The New York Times called it "the kind of building that utterly transforms our vision of the future."

Source: New York Times

Exactly one year ago today, the music video for Psy's mega-hit "Gangnam Style" was uploaded onto YouTube.

In that one year, "Gangnam Style" has been viewed over 1.7 billion times– making it the most watched video on YouTube ever. For some perspective on the magnitude of "Gangnam Style," the second most watched YouTube video is Justin Bieber's "Baby" with 872 million views.

Bottom line, "Gangnam Style" is a catchy song and you don't need much hand-eye coordination to do the dance.

"The mindset of this dance is to dress classy and dance cheesy," Psy told Ellen DeGeneres.

While some people watch the music video and become overwhelmed at Psy's impressive dance skills, it's really a simple routine to learn.

"Imagine you're on a horse," Psy tells NY1 reporter Michelle Park

Source: Michelle Park

1. With that in mind, pick up and step down with your right foot, left foot, right foot, right foot

2. Repeat, except this time, pick up and step down with your left foot, right foot, left foot, left foot

If you thought all students were on summer break right now, you'd be wrong.

In San Diego, the school year is wrapping up this week, while several public elementary schools in Atlanta are just getting started. Schools everywhere from Los Angeles to Chicago have moved up their start dates, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.

Year-round school terms — which have shorter and more frequent breaks — have been implemented in school systems across the country, often to mixed results. However, where they do succeed, year-round school calendars can be a means to improve knowledge retention and academic sharpness. 

Here are some recent findings in support of year-round education:

• Over summer break, students lose between one and three months worth of math and reading skills they learned during the academic year, an education professor at Duke University found.

• Summer learning loss can account for two-thirds of the three grade level achievement gap between high-income and low-income students, Time reported.

• By not being a classroom for an extended period of time, summer break may dull the intellect of students who are not being academically stimulated, according to California's Department of Education.

• More breaks spread over the year means that teachers don't have to spend as much time covering old material, and allow them to offer continuous intersession help, rather than one large block of summer school.

• Countries are continuously passing the U.S. in educational attainment, including Canada, whose students are a full school year ahead of those in America, an education official at the OECD said in 2010. Compared to other industrialized countries, the U.S. school calendar is two weeks shorter than the average, according to the WSJ.

Critics of year-round education argue that the changed calendar has no impact on test scores and offers a host of logistical concerns. However, it seems that the pros of the system may outweigh the cons. 

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314 acres of nearly untouched land on Martha's Vineyard just hit the market for $118 million, a record price for the area. 

Dubbed Homer's Pond, the expansive piece of land includes a 5,600-square-foot home that's supremely private. It's one of the largest coastal properties for sale in the United States, and Charles Carlson of South Light Properties, one of the property's listing agents, called it a "private kingdom."

A lucky buyer can purchase the entire property for the full $118 million, but it's also possible to buy a smaller piece. A buyer might choose a 100-acre parcel of land for $31 million, a 164-acre parcel for $43 million, or the two together for $74 million.

Welcome to Homer's Pond. This secluded and ultra-serene property includes 1,200 feet of private oceanfront beach and a 35-acre freshwater pond, perfect for swimming, boating, or horseback-riding.

A huge percentage of the property is undeveloped and is graced by tranquil woods and grasslands.

The main home has floor-to-ceiling windows, four bedrooms and 180-degree views of both the pond and the Atlantic Ocean.

A couple of weekends ago, I decided to see what the fuss was about and go to the "Rain Room" at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

The exhibit, in which visitors can walk through falling water without getting wet, is supposed to give visitors the feeling of "controlling the rain." It's received a huge amount of hype this summer, with lines running three and four hours (and longer) to get in.

I'm a museum member, so I thought I would be able to take advantage of extended member hours, which start before the museum opens to the public. I arrived at the entrance to the Rain Room, which is in a separate building from the actual museum, at 9:00 a.m., 30 minutes before the member hours started.

What I found was a line around the block, made up entirely of MoMA members.  

Having already gotten out of bed early on a Sunday, I decided to stick it out. I ended up waiting for more than three hours in the increasingly hot summer sun. I was told that this was on the low end of the wait: Some said they had stood outside for five hours or more. MoMA staff members were nice enough to distribute umbrellas for the sun, and also had water and soda for sale by the line.

By the time I actually got inside the building, I was tired, hot, and looking forward to walking around the cool Rain Room. However, once I got inside the building, there was still more line! There were another 30 or 40 people in front of me, but at least at that point I could see the actual Rain Room. Seeing the exhibit was a double-edged sword, though, because I still had to wait to enter, knowing that each person in there (and everyone in front of you) had to get in and then leave.

When I was next in line, I was informed by a staff member that I had to be careful about how quickly I walked, because if I went too fast the sensors would not be able to pick me up, and I would get rained on. I was also advised that the "recommended" time in the room was ten minutes, though you are allowed to stay as long as you would like.  

The exhibit space is probably about 40 square feet, and as soon as I walked in, I got wet. After slowing down to the appropriate pace, which was about that of a leisurely walk, I was able to experience the sensation of walking around in the rain without getting wet. It was an interesting sensation, and a cool concept, but I don't think I'd wait more than 30 minutes for the experience.  

The area of rain was so small that even with only ten people allowed in at a time, it was never really raining enough to get the magical feeling of standing dry in a storm. It seemed like half of the system was off at any given moment, because each person created a three-foot ring of dryness around them.  

I left after less than 10 minutes.There's only so much one can do in a room while trying not to get wet, and I felt terrible for the other people still outside in line. I couldn't warn them, though, because the exit sent me a block away from the line.

If the actual area of rain were about twice the size, and the sensors were more attuned to the normal pace of human movement, the exhibit would have been a lot more interesting, and I might not have minded waiting for the experience (although it still would not have been worth a three-hour wait).

With the lines the way they are now, you are better off going for a walk with an umbrella next time it rains.

Editor's note: In response to high demand, the museum recently instituted a "viewing only" line. The exhibit runs through July 28; additional information is available on MoMA's website.

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Dominique Ansel, creator of the now-infamous croissant-donut hybrid the Cronut, just released his latest creation: the Frozen S'more.

The new treat, a hybrid of vanilla custard ice cream and a s'more, sold out just after 2 p.m. last week and Business Insider was lucky enough to get the last one. 

Dominique Ansel Bakery in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood was busy between when we arrived, but the majority of patrons were not there for the Frozen S'more's debut.

Most were still asking about the Cronut, which, without fail, sells out to the first 100 or so people waiting in line at the bakery when it opens each morning.

Ansel's newest creation is nothing like a Cronut.

The Frozen S'more is better and more complicated. It's not surprising that the dessert costs $7 a pop, compared to $5 for the Cronut.

Cronuts are boxed, stacked and ready for purchase at the registers each morning. But that isn't possible given the nature of the Frozen S'more, a fist-sized confection made of vanilla custard ice cream covered in chocolate feuilletine wafers and encased in a rectangular marshmallow.

After you order the Frozen S'more, you wait in the rear of the bakery at a pick-up sign until Ansel himself can torch and caramelize the marshmallow's exterior. 

The Frozen S'more is then handed to customers on a branch smoked over Apple Wood chips, to give it a campfire scent.

Ansel's inspiration for the dessert came during a trip to Istanbul, where he tried dondurma, a traditional Turkish ice cream he described as "chewy." In place of the traditional ingredients of dondurma, He combined the ice cream and marshmallow, using the wafers to give it a crunch.

One gentleman ordered three Frozen S'mores, and asked for two to be put in a box, which Ansel advised against.

Frozen S'mores have to be eaten almost immediately when they are handed to you. The torch accelerates the melting of the ice cream, and results in a soft and crunchy center when you bite through the marshmallow.

Unlike the Cronut, which is intensely sweet and hard to stomach in its entirety, the Frozen S'more is very consumable. The portion is perfectly satisfying from a marketing perspective — it feels worth $7, and you want to buy another before you've swallowed the last bite.

SEE ALSO: The Most Famous Brand In Every State

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SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk might very well be the entrepreneur who most changes the world. But his dreams could have ended in 2008 if it weren't for venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson.

Jurvetson, a managing partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, backed Musk when he was broke.

He had a very good reason: Jurvetson wants to fly to the moon one day. Not with the first manned flight that SpaceX eventually takes, or even the second one. (He calls that "crazy stuff," he said during a talk last September.) But one day.

His fascination with flying to the moon has led him to an unique hobby. He collects artifacts from the Apollo program. He's got pieces from the Lunar Module, measurement tools, an Apollo-era computer keyboard and all kinds of other stuff, some of which live in the shelves in his office.

Now, he has kindly offered to give one lucky person a private tour of his collection in order to help a group of students that attend Draper University, the entrepreneur boarding school founded by his partner, Tim Draper.

The students are raising money to go on a five-day survival trip. They are auctioning off time with Jurvetson to pay for their supplies.

The bidding opened today and closes on July 24 for a tour that will take place in August. Interested? You can bid at tourwithsteve.com.

If you just want to see some of the collection, check out this slideshow from CNet's Rafe Needleman.

SEE ALSO: Here's Why Investor Steve Jurvetson Saved Elon Musk's Space Dreams

SEE ALSO: This Email From Steve Jobs Proves How Easy He Was To Reach

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Lena Dunham was spotted filming the third season of HBO's "Girls" near Gramercy Park on Tuesday morning.

The brazen Brooklynite was wearing a printed button-down blouse, colbalt blue jeans, and an oversized messenger bag.

In the scene, she walked down the street while talking on the phone, paused on her mark, and ferociously dug into a salad bowl.

In between takes, she chatted with a possible crew member away from the crowds, on Park West and 21st St.

See pictures below:

Dunham's character, Hannah, seemed to be annoyed — per usual— while standing outside St. George's church on 21st and Park Avenue South.

In the scene, she stopped to eat a salad.

A crew member marked the spot where Dunham stood to chow down.

Bystanders marveled at Dunham from behind the crew's set-up.

SEE ALSO: There's A 'Girls' Porn Parody And Lena Dunham Isn't Happy About It

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Every summer American tourists flocks to European cities and coastal towns to sample regional delicacies and soak up the sun. 

While navigating the unfamiliar cobble stone streets and botching the local language, another strange element of street life that stands out is fashion.

For men in particular, the striking contrast between the tailored European versus the casual, laid-back American attire is immediately apparent. 

Here's our roundup of some of the most popular, and sometimes strange, fashion trends of European men:

Produced by Alana Kakoyiannis and Kamelia Angelova

SEE ALSO: 5 Reasons You Should Rock Shorts In The Office

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The basic cost of living in some cities, like New York City, is almost double the $7.25 minimum wage. Double. How can anyone survive like that?

Well, thanks to technology, you don’t have to. More and more people are adopting the concept of “location independence,” or working remotely from anywhere.

You don’t have to suffer the high costs of living in places like Manhattan or Orange County if you have, or can establish, a remote career. This ability to move around can keep you free from debt — if you choose to live in places where the cost of living is less.

If you’re living and working on that same salary, but in a cheaper locale, you’ll whittle away debt faster and possibly get out from under Debt Mountain altogether.

Where Should You Relocate?

Every place has its unique blend of benefits and sacrifices. If you’re bent on the luxuries of a first world country, there are options in the states that offer fewer sacrifices. If you’re the adventurous type, exploring foreign countries can lead you to an an explorers’ life for bottom dollars.

Where should you consider living if you want a ticket to Debtless City?

Let’s look at some cities with a low cost of living.

1. Panama City, Panama – On the cost-of-living index, Panama City is 11% cheaper than the US average. They use the US dollar, so there’s no exchange to deal with, and the cheaper cost of living isn’t lost in currency translation. Bread and gas are less expensive. Panama City offers big city living, at rural costs. And you can drink the water (apparently a major selling point there).

2. Harlingen, TX - Harlingen, TX is a full 20% lower than the national average in cost of living, though you’ll see why when you Google it. It’s hardly booming with opportunity. A huge benefit? Harlingen is only 30 miles from the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

3. Bucharest, Romania – Bucharest sits at 54% on the world cost-of-living index. While not as tropical as Panama, there’s promise for the area with low costs of gas and rent. You can enjoy the hustle and bustle of a big city without the stress of debt that comes with big city life back home.

4. Kathmandu, Nepal – Kathmandu is great for lovers of exotic lands and those who want to travel and live large on a small budget. There are adjustments to make, especially if you’re coming from the states, but the amounts of money you could amass might make those sacrifices worth it.

5. Mumbai, India – Another Asian city rounds out this list. The cost of bread and gas here are almost negligent (less than a third of the US). And this city offers more big city bustle than Harlingen and other low-cost US cities.

6. Memphis, TN – Memphis is one of the few lowest cost metro areas that’s located in the states. If the luxuries of America are a priority, along with saving as much as possible, Memphis might be for you.

7. Norman, OK – Norman is in the top five lowest cost cities on the index, and is a terrific option for people or families who choose the slower-paced life. Norman is driving distance to Oklahoma City, which makes this a viable choice for those who want to take it easy but still have access to city living.

So if you’re able to take your career location-independent, consider moving to one of these cities to earn a living, save money, and reach your goals faster.

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Online dating, for all its faults and critiques, has become one of the most popular ways Americans find love.

One awesome side effect of this is that we now have access to a realm of data that has never been available before — how people talk, interact, and communicate prior to entering a relationship. 

And one thing that should be worrisome for straight men is the size of their disadvantage in the market. 

Josh Fischer is the Director of Product Insights at SNAP Interactive (STVI: OTC BB), the company that owns the dating website Are You Interested.

AYI.com has 20 million members, and Josh sent over some fascinating charts that look at the probability women and men respond to messages given the ages of a sender. 

Basically, everyone is more likely to respond to a message from someone younger than they are from someone older. 

Here's the probability a woman responds to a message from a man on AYI.com. The vertical access is the probability of response, and the horizontal axis shows the age difference. The younger the man is, relative to the woman, the better shot he has.

And here's the probability a man responding to a message from a woman. Note that the response rates across all age differences are way higher.

Here are those two charts merged: 

 So the first thing: Comparing men and women responding to people their own age, Women respond to men 4% of the time while men respond to women around 18% of the time.

What does this mean? Generally speaking, an average straight man will have to send 25 messages to women his own age procure one response, while the average straight woman will have to send 5 messages.

That's fascinating, and also could be an explanation — men sending a lot more messages than women — for the disparity. 

But also let's look at what other conclusions we can draw. 

• Straight dudes' best bet is to just pursue the Mrs. Robinson situation. There's an 8-10% likelihood a woman 10-8 years your senior will respond to a message, double the rate for your own peers. 
• Ladies, there's at worst a 1 in 6 chance any man will respond to your message regardless of your age, so just go for it. Rob a cradle or raid a grave, it really doesn't matter to men. 
• For men of a certain age: The New York Jets have better odds of going to the Superbowl this year than you do of getting a response to a message sent to someone ten years your junior. 

Happy hunting. 

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The gonzo journalists at VICE figured the best way to really understand a Russian oligarch is to eat, hunt, and drink lots of vodka with one.

VICE's Ryan Duffy cavorted with billionaire business magnate Sergey Veremeenko for a day, providing some insight on just how nice it can be to own vast swaths of snowy Russia.

Forbes had Veremeenko's net worth at $1.4 billion in 2008, largely from coal, metals, and banking.

"It’s an American thing to pay taxes, no one here paid any taxes," Veremeenko tells Duffy over vodka." So basically it was a free-for-all until we elected Putin."

Some highlights include: A meal with Veremeenko's wife (2006 Miss World winner, although some argue Veremeenko rigged the competition), a hunting excursion, and some intimate time in the sauna.

Check out the whole video:

SEE ALSO: Hedge Funder Whitney Tilson Tells His Daughters What To Do If A Jerk Ever Says 'Get Down On Your Knees'

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Brands use colors as a marketing tool all the time, hoping to lure people through store doors and to the checkout aisle.

But who is more likely to be swayed by flashy hues — men or women?

A study published in the Journal of Retailing reports found that when men see prices marked in red, they assume they're about to get a bargain, even if the prices are no different from others.

Researchers pooled men and women and gave them consumer catalogs to look through. One group had a version with red prices, the other with black prices.

Red prices were more likely dupe men into thinking they were saving money, while women were more likely read the print. Men also had a more emotional response. They were happier and more satisfied than the people who viewed items with black prices.

There's one silver lining here. A follow-up study found men weren't as color blind when it came to bargain shopping for something they really wanted. The more engaged they were in the item they intended to purchase, the more closely they read the fine print.

The moral of the story: You probably don't want an impulsive guy doing your grocery shopping for you. But if there's a specific purchase you're about to make and you know a guy who is interested in it, chances are you might benefit from having an extra set of eyes searching for a good deal.

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Jet Blue is cashing in on the summer heat in New York City, offering 90% off on some tickets on days the temperature hits 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The tickets are good for round trips from New York airports JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark to about 50 destinations. The promotion runs from today through July 20.

On days the thermostat reaches 90 degrees in Central Park, JetBlue will release the Hot Seats promo codes.

In January, JetBlue was ranked country's the top airline for leisure travel in a YouGov BrandIndex survey.

Deals like this help keep it at the top, and help explain why American travelers are happier with low-cost carriers than their traditional counterparts: The best ones offer low prices, and also make flying an enjoyable experience, with touches like live TV. JetBlue is working on adding WiFi to its fleet as well.

Naturally, this summer discount is subject to "very limited availability" and a lengthy list of restrictions. But for those who do manage to snag a roundtrip ticket for 10% of the face value, it's a great deal.

Here's where you can go from JFK:

From LaGuardia:

And from Newark:

SEE ALSO: A Mexican Airline And A Russian Plane Maker Have Made Low-Cost Flying Comfortable

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