But Brazil is home to much more than just the World Cup host cities. From the exotic wilderness of the Amazon to charming Colonial villages to stunning white-sand beaches of Rio, Brazil a vibrant, diverse, and stunning country.
Rio is one of the most popular cities to visit during the World Cup.
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The city is famous for its iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.
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Even the favelas (slums) in Rio are beautiful in their own way.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.A Hamptons home that's belonged to the same family for more than 30 years has just gone on the market, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Daily Meal just released a list of the best burritos in America.
The food website asked journalists, food writers, and chefs to vote from hundreds of choices.
The report includes the top 35 burritos, but The Daily Meal shared the top 5 with us. Read the full list here.
American favorite Chipotle didn't make the cut, but there are some awesome-looking confections on the list.
5. L’Patron, Chicago: Carne Asada Burrito.
"Grilled to order, still a little pink, beefy, expertly seasoned, not overly greasy, it’s carne asada perfection," The Daily Meal writes of the Logan Square eatery's specialty.
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4. Papalote Mexican Grill, San Francisco: Carne Asada Burrito.
"Start with your choice of four tortillas (white, whole wheat, Roma tomato, and spinach), then add on grilled-to-order steak, rice, beans (black, pinto, or refried), and pico de gallo (add sour cream, cheese, and guacamole to make it a "Super")," The Daily Meal writes. "Top it off with salsa that’s so good it’s jarred and sold separately, and you’re got a burrito that’s just about perfect."
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3. The Shed, Santa Fe, N.M.: Green Chile Burrito.
"Its simplicity is what makes it so great: it’s just pinto beans, white Cheddar, and onion rolled up in a flour tortilla and topped with their famous green chile sauce, served with Spanish rice on the side," according to The Daily Meal.
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2. La Taqueria, San Francisco: Carnitas Burrito.
"Either keep it simple and just stick with meat and beans — no rice filler in the burrito here — or upgrade it with all the classic burrito extras and watch your pants tighten with each bite," The Daily Meal says.
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1. La Azteca Tortilleria, Los Angeles: Chile Relleno Burrito.
"The cheese-stuffed, perfectly fried chile relleno that makes up the bulk of this burrito is what sets it apart, elevating the humble poblano to heights of Tex-Mex greatness," the site writes of its pick for best burrito in America.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.NY Times’ Pete Wells declared “It’s not a good restaurant yet by any measure.” He gave Tavern on the Green a “Satisfactory (No Stars)” rating, writing:
"In time, the kitchen may figure out how to get plates on the table while they are still hot. The chef, Katy Sparks, may rethink some of the overworked, underdelivering recipes. The hosts may learn how to read their reservations screen so they don’t tell a customer he’s the first to arrive and ask him to wait while the rest of his party is already in the restaurant’s inner recesses, wondering if he’s gone for a carriage ride. Somebody may tell the servers not to drop the check while people are still eating dessert. The sommeliers may turn down the thermostat so that red wines aren’t the temperature of a kiddie pool."
And of the wine options:
"The wine list is reasonably priced but baffling, with mainstream hits and underground favorites and unknown quantities shuffled together, as if a hundred people chosen at random had been asked to name the last bottle they’d opened. Cocktails and beer are also available."
Despite an initially positive first experience when it first opened back in April, The Post’s Steve Cuozzo returned to find that “Tavern on the Green is a very different, and much more crowded, place.” After a few bad meals, he gave the new Central Park restaurant 1 and a half stars. He wrote of the food:
"Dry, funky bluefish pâté in a jar, anyone? In a city of eater-friendly, breast-trimmed quail, Tavern’s little birds, served whole, challenge the most intrepid bone-pickers to extract a molecule of meat."
And the decor:
"The design’s as schizo as the menu. The clean-lined, white-on-beige “Central Park Room” is a more fun place to sit now that its floor-to-ceiling glass wall gazes into the lit and lively courtyard.
Yet its airy cheer makes the dimly lit, peak-roofed “South Wing” — a retread of an annex previously used for parties and holiday-crowd overflow — seem dingier. So cramped that waiters slam you when they pass, it’s a must to avoid."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Grub Streets’ Adam Platt agreed with Wells, giving the reboot a “No Stars” review:
"The wood-roasted Maine mussels didn’t taste of wood or smoke at all and were dappled with the kind of vulcanized croutons one usually encounters in a high-school buffet line. The trio of ceviches (salmon, yellowfin, and scallops) tasted vaguely of cleaning chemicals, and the smoked- and cured-fish plate would have been better if the organic Irish smoked-salmon portion of the dish hadn’t contained sand grit."
Yelp reviewers were equally unimpressed with their food, noting that while the revamped restaurant and its view were extremely beautiful, the food wasn’t served hot and did not live up to the rather expensive prices. It currently has a 2 and a half star rating.
A man from Denmark discovered a brilliant way to peel a bucket of potatoes in less than a minute, and posted it onto his Facebook wall.
Immediately, the video went viral.
The entire process — first spotted on Reddit by AOL_ — takes about 50 seconds, and involves attaching a new, clean toilet brush to a power drill, throwing the potatoes into a bucket with some water, and and letting the brush whip up the water and potatoes, eventually removing the outer layer of skin.
Here's how it looks:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Using a hose and the toilet brush, the potatoes get whipped up:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Final result:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This would be particularly helpful around Thanksgiving, when large amounts of spuds are required for mashed potatoes. The only problem is this is a messy process, probably best relegated to your backyard like the video demonstrates.
Over the course of the next five years, De Bruyn Joubert is attempting to cycle coast to coast through all 7 continents and 70 countries. The 29-year-old South African started last August, and he's already made it through Australia and much of Europe.
"At the beginning of 2013 I didn't have any big commitments, so it was the perfect time to pursue something that would make me happy," he told Business Insider. "I was doing some travel research and couldn't find anyone who had ever tried to cycle all seven of the continents before."
Joubert had held jobs in manufacturing and distribution before. He didn't consider himself a cycling enthusiast, but he had a simple goal for this trip: "to cycle coast to coast through all the continents."
So he sold his "basically everything [he] had back home," and started planning. He budgeted for food and water, accommodations, visas, medical insurance and set aside a small marketing budget. His budget is currently $15,000 per year, but varies from continent to continent.
So far on the journey, two things have really stood out for him: the Nullarbor Plain, a flat arid region in southern Australia, and the charming towns in the Netherlands. He says that he's most looking forward to cycling through Antarctica.
Joubert shared some photos of his journey. We've included them here, along with his original captions. To learn more about the undertaking, follow Around 7 Continents on Facebook and Twitter.
Have an amazing travel story and photos to share? Send an email to travel@businessinsider.com and we could feature your adventure next.
Australia was up first. By the third day, I already needed a quick nap on the side of the road before tackling Macquarie Pass. Not exercising much before I left made it difficult for the first two months, but I got into cycling long distances very quickly. I always believed that you have to be stronger mentally than physically.
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The first part of Australia from Sydney to Adelaide was beautiful and filled with rivers. The sceneries surprised me everyday.
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The small village of Jugiong in Australia had a population of only 234 people. They had one coffee shop and a small grocery store where you can buy some basics.
The winners of Apartment Therapy's annual Small Cool contest were announced last week, and each of the chosen homes is incredibly stylish in its own way.
Owners entered their tiny homes into one of five divisions in the contest: Teeny-Tiny, for homes 400 square feet and under; Tiny, for homes between 400 and 600 square feet; Little, for homes between 600 and 800 square feet; Small, between 800 and 1,000 square feet; and International, for any non-U.S. entry under 1,000 square feet.
Readers voted for their favorite small homes, and the top five entries were picked based on these votes. A judges' panel then chose the winners from those entries.
The division finalists each received a $1,000 gift card from Joybird. The grand prize winner won an additional $1,000 gift card, and the International winner received a signed book by Maxwell Ryan, founder of Apartment Therapy.
Here are the winners of this year's Small Cool contest.
U.S. Overall Winner: Tiffany & Alan's Ship Captain Studio
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This home in Brooklyn, N.Y., fell into the "teeny-tiny" category at just 350 square feet. It was previously the parlor of a ship captain's home from the 1800s, and features charming details such as crown molding and large windows. Home owners Tiffany and Alan said they used small furniture instead of full-size pieces to make the most of the space.
International Winner: Gorana's Black & White
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This 947-square-foot home is located in Zagreb, Croatia, and won the international division of the Small Cool contest. Home owner Gorana was thrilled to finally purchase this home after living in a rented apartment for many years. She painted the walls and floors white and added pops of color with furniture and other decorations. Her advice for living in a small space is to only own items you need.
"Tiny" Finalist: Juan Pedro's Making It His Own
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This 560-square-foot home in Alexandria, Va., was the finalist in the "Tiny" division. This is owner Juan Pedro's first home, and he actually set out to purchase the smallest place he could, with the goal of making it his own. "Defeat the fear factor. Small spaces allow you to test your vision without breaking the bank," Pedro said in a statement on the Apartment Therapy website.
"Little" Finalist: Alberto's Landmark Style
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This home is located in Dallas, Texas, and only takes up 800 square feet of space. The home has a historic past, as it has previously held a major regional bank, an NPR radio station, and several Federal war agencies during World War II. Home owner Alberto suggests keeping an open mind when purchasing items for your home—the best pieces might come from unlikely sources.
"Small" Finalist: Emily's Stylish Small Home
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.This home in Covington, Ky., is the largest finalist in the contest, at 900 square feet. Home owner Emily says this house is a special place for her—it's where she discovered her love of design, and also where her husband proposed. To make a successful small space, Emily suggests painting the trim the same color as the walls, as this reduces the amount of visual chaos.
Photographer Benedict Fernandez made a career by documenting nearly every major protest and social movement of the 1960s, following the anti-war, women’s rights, and gay pride movements from their infancy.
Fernandez made his mark with a combination of modesty and charisma, becoming friends with famous figures in the New York art world, as well as political leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Fernandez, 78, has a wry sense of humor. When I asked how he found his way into photography, he answered with a joke: “When I got out of the cave, I was startled with all the light and I found a black box.”
Fernandez got into protest photography after befriending Alexey Brodovitch, a legendary figure in the New York art and design world. As art director at Harper's Bazaar from 1938 to 1958, Brodovitch invented the modern fashion magazine and mentored photography icons. Brodovitch gave him work as his assistant, opening many doors for Fernandez.
“Everyone assumed that if I was involved with Brodovitch, I must be this fabulous photographer. No one ever thought that I could know nothing about photography,” Fernandez said. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.In truth, Fernandez says Brodovitch originally kept him around because Fernandez’s wife Siiri, who is Estonian, made Brodovitch Estonian pancakes, a favorite dish of his. Brodovitch’s instruction was priceless, however, in developing Fernandez as an artist.
“He was tough as nails,” Siiri says of Brodovitch. “‘Good enough’ was never good enough for him … The people who survived him and could see the advice he was trying to deliver were successful.
Fernandez credits his success under Brodovitch to his ignorance of the New York art world and his fearlessness at approaching photography.
“I wasn’t successful because I was brilliant and insightful. I was a kid from Harlem. I just didn’t know who Brodovitch was,” Fernandez said.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.During one of their first meetings, Brodovitch encouraged Fernandez to go out and shoot May Day protests in Union Square. Fernandez quickly realized the energy and commotion that surrounded protests perfectly fit his style.
As a half-Italian, half-Puerto Rican kid, Fernandez also loved photographing the protests because they helped bring attention to the causes his multi-ethnic friends championed.
Fernandez’s fascination with protests grew into an obsession with documenting any type of cause, whether he supported it or not. He soon began attending every single protest he could find, regardless of its size.
“He kept saying ‘I have a feeling. We are witnessing a huge chunk of American history being made. This is going to be as important as a second American Revolution,’” Siiri said. “I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.”Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Fernandez dedicated himself to his photography, spending all his free time at protests. The day of the 1967 Newark riots, he had plans to take his wife and kids to the movies. He dropped them off, saying he was sick, according to his wife. Then he headed to photograph the riots.
“If I knew where he was going," Siiri said, "I would have tied him to a chair.”
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With a net worth of approximately $78.9 billion, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the world.
Gates has been a public fixture ever since he and Paul Allen started a computer revolution in the 1980s. He has all of the toys you would expect from the world's richest man, from a private jet to a 66,000-square-foot home he nicknamed Xanadu 2.0.
Yet as his wealth has grown, Gates has done more and more philanthropy work, donating billions of dollars to charity projects through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington. Son of a lawyer and a schoolteacher, he was an argumentative but brilliant child. As a teenager, his appetite for knowledge was so great that he read the entire World Book Encyclopedia series from start to finish.
His parents enrolled him at the Lakeside School, a rigorous Seattle private high school that future Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen also attended. Gates often credits his discovery of computers to the tools he gained at Lakeside. "The experience and insight Paul Allen and I gained here gave us the confidence to start a company based on this wild idea that nobody else agreed with—that computer chips were going to become so powerful that computers and software would become a tool that would be on every desk and in every home," he said in a 2005 speech at the school.
After graduating from Lakeside in 1973, Gates headed to Harvard. Though he entered as a pre-law major, he soon changed course and quickly worked his way through the university's upper-level math and computer science classes.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Move over, millennials.
Marketers are beginning to target a new crop of young people who are rapidly growing in number and influence: Generation Z.
Studies differ on the exact age range of Generation Z, but most agree they were born after 1990, which makes them the largest generational group in the U.S.
We set out to discover who they are and what they eat and buy. Here's what we found:
Gen Z wants to change the world. 60% of them want to have an impact on the world, compared to 39% of millennials, according to a study by Sparks & Honey, a New York-based marketing agency. Roughly one in four Generation Z-ers are involved in volunteering.
Advanced college degrees are less important to them. 64% of Gen Z-ers are considering an advanced college degree, compared to 71% of millennials.
They are more entrepreneurial than millennials. 72% of high school students want to start a business someday and 61% would rather be an entrepreneur than an employee when they graduate college, according to a study by Millennial Branding, a consulting firm, and Internships.com.
They are digitally over-connected. Gen Z-ers multitask across at least five screens daily and spend 41% of their time outside of school with computers or mobile devices, compared to 22% 10 years ago, according to the Sparks & Honey report. "They suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) more than millennials, so being culturally connected is critical," researchers wrote.
But they prefer to work independently. "This generation is very individualized," Dan Schawbel, the founder of Millennial Branding, told Business Insider. "While millennials seek mentors, Generation Z is more about helping themselves."
They worry about the economy more than anything else, including crime, politics, their parents' job security, politics, or the cost of goods.
This chart details some of their interests:
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They prefer home-cooked foods over processed, ready-to-eat meals such as cold cereal, according to a study by The NPD Group. They aren't big fans of microwaves and would rather use a stove top or oven to prepare meals. Salad consumption is expected to increase the most among Gen Z-ers over the next five years, followed by sandwiches and breakfast foods that require some cooking, such as eggs and pancakes.
Gen Z-ers spend more money on food and drinks than anything else, and their favorite eatery is Starbucks, according to Piper Jaffray's most recent semiannual survey of teens. Nike is their top clothing brand, followed by Forever 21, Action Sports Brands, American Eagle, and Polo Ralph Lauren.
They are less active. 66% of kids ages six to 11 say online gaming is their main source of entertainment, according to the Sparks & Honey report. On a related note, teen obesity has tripled between 1971 and 2010.
They lack brand loyalty. "The products themselves are more important to Generation Z than the brands that produce them, and these consumers will change brands easily in search of higher quality," according to Arkansas-based marketing agency Martin-Wilbourne Partners.
Gen Z-ers are close with their families. "Their parents have a lot of control over the decisions that they make," Schawbel said. "Their influence is huge and plays into every aspect of their lives." Many of them are also living in multi-generational homes, as Baby Boomers age and move in with their kids.
They communicate with speed and often use emoticons and emojis instead of words. "They are accustomed to rapid-fire banter and commentary," Sparks & Honey analysts wrote. "As a result, Gen Z are not precise communicators and leave a lot of room for interpretation."
Here's what Sparks & Honey recommends to effectively communicate with a Gen Z-er:
But the meanings of some words confuse people of both genders.
The Center for Reading Research analyzed the first 480,000 results of Ghent University's online vocabulary test and found the words English speakers know the least. Actually, people didn't think they were words at all.
In the online vocabulary test, 100 letter sequences — which may or may not be real English words — flash across the takers' screens. Pressing the "j" (instead of "f") key indicates the participants know the word exists in English, even if they don't understand it. The test strongly penalizes participants for marking they know a word that doesn't exist.
Fewer than 3% of participants marked they knew the 20 English words below.
genipap
futhorc
witenagemot
gossypol
chaulmoogra
brummagem
alsike
chersonese
cacomistle
yogh
smaragd
duvetyn
pyknic
fylfot
yataghan
dasyure
simoom
stibnite
kalian
didapper
In all honestly, I recognized two of them: stibnite and daysure. (Scroll to the end for definitions.)
For some context, our content management system recognizes none of the words. It's trying to autocorrect "cacomistle" to "Jagermeister," "smaragd" to "smeared," and "dasyure" to "desire."
It's not surprising that most of these words are nouns. As a part of speech, nouns have less unifying characteristics than, let's say adjectives, which often end in -able or -ible, -ful, -ous, and other suffixes. That could play into participants' recognition.
Some of the words are also quite old (like "yogh," which entered English around the year 1300,) and foreign in origin (like "simoom," which stems from Arabic).
Lastly, 8.3% of participants on average endorsed "fake" words in the online test. That means more people admitted to knowing a word that doesn't exist than recognizing these 20 words that do.
And in case you scored as poorly as I did, here are the definitions:
genipap (n., a tropical, evergreen tree with edible fruit used in drinks)
Celebrity chef, TV host, and culinary rabblerouser Anthony Bourdain wouldn't strike you as a religious man.
But he does have one ritual: setting up mise en place, or everything in its place.
It's helpful for chefs — and office workers.
"Mise en place is the religion of all good line cooks," he writes in "Kitchen Confidential," his best-selling memoir.
"As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system," he continues. "The universe is in order when your station is set up the way you like it: you know where to find everything with your eyes closed, everything you need during the course of the shift is at the ready at arm's reach, your defenses are deployed."
What chefs call the "meez" — which Bourdain describes as "carefully arranged supplies of sea salt, rough-cracked paper, softened butter, cooking oil, wine, back-ups, and so on" — is what allows the cook to dance through each dish without pausing to find the pepper.
Without a well-tended meez, Bourdain warns, you'll soon find yourself spinning in place and calling for backup.
The same goes for office workers.
At HBR, consultant and author Ron Friedman argues that we should take a page from Bourdain's cookbook, a chef who understood that planning is the most essential ingredient to any dish.
We should start our days with 10 minutes of tending to the meez, Friedmansays:
What's the first thing you do when you arrive at your desk? For many of us, checking email or listening to voice mail is practically automatic. In many ways, these are among the worst ways to start a day. Both activities hijack our focus and put us in a reactive mode, where other people's priorities take center stage. They are the equivalent of entering a kitchen and looking for a spill to clean or a pot to scrub.
A better approach is to begin your day with a brief planning session. An intellectual mise-en-place. Bourdain envisions the perfect execution before starting his dish. Here's the corollary for the enterprising business professional. Ask yourself this question the moment you sit at your desk: The day is over and I am leaving the office with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. What have I achieved?
In 2008, Russian photographer Irina Popova was taking photos by a St. Petersburg nightclub when she saw a woman urinating in the street while her daughter sat in a stroller nearby.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Each state has its iconic tourist attractions, but there are also many interesting locations that fly under the radar.
Everyone has heard of the Empire State Building in New York, but do you know about Upstate New York's Letchworth State Park, unofficially dubbed the Grand Canyon of the East? How about the Lost Sea in Tennessee, which is the country's largest underground lake?
We've put together a list of the lesser-known tourist attraction in every state. While some of these places have a significant amount of visitors each year, they are hidden gems to many out-of-state travelers.
ALABAMA: Mobile Bay bills itself as "secretly awesome," and its many tourist attractions prove this to be true. Attend the world's oldest Mardi Gras celebration, eat some fresh seafood, go kayaking and fishing, and take in the beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico.
ALASKA: The ocean, ice, and mountains all meet at Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, Alaska. Enjoy the park by foot or take a boat cruise along the coast in the summer.
ARIZONA: It's very easy to take a great photograph of The Wave, but not so easy to get there. In order to visit this landmark, you must apply for a daily permit. Even if you receive the permit, you'll have a rigorous hike to this hidden gem. However, we think the view is worth the journey.
The GoPro camera has revolutionized the way that people capture the world around them.
The ultralight and portable device provides an easy way to record amazing, high-definition images, and has become the standard for many video producers as a cheap alternative to buying or renting expensive camera equipment.
Summer is the season for pool parties, beach time, and of course, barbecues.
But no barbecue is complete with all of the necessary equipment.
Our friends at Food52 recently launched a brand-new collections feature, which allows users to save their favorite recipes, products, and articles about food. The feature allows you to share your collections with friends, making it into a kind of social network for foodies.
Food52 cofounder and editor-in-chief Merrill Stubbs shared what's in her "summer barbecue essentials" collection.
From flag-shaped spatulas to the perfect burger recipe, her collection's got you covered.
These starter pucks will help you get your BBQ's fire started, while coconut shell briquettes are designed to hold a more consistent heat.
For burgers, Merrill recommends this pork-based recipe from award-winning chef Suzanne Goin. It's not your typical burger — unexpected ingredients like minced bacon and fresh chorizo are surprises on the inside.
