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The 10 Best Small Towns In America

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Metropolitan life is never dull, but not everyone is cut out for a big city. 

City data resource Livability determined the 10 best small towns in America as part of its 2015 list of the Top 100 Best Places to Live.

Looking just at "micropolitan" areas with populations of fewer than 20,000 people, the folks at Livability factored in cost of living, health care spending, diversity, crime rates, civic engagement, natural resources, as well as visitor and resident opinions of the towns to come up with the ranking.

Here are the 10 best small towns in America.

10. Hailey, Idaho

J.C. Fox Building, Hailey, Idaho

Hailey is a big cycling town with a combination bike shop/restaurant called Power House serving as a neighborhood hub for outdoorsy locals. Of the 10 cities on this list, Hailey had the highest level of employment and the greatest income distribution.

9. Traverse City, Michigan

Traverse City, Michigan

Traverse City is known for its great schools, stable economy, and high home values. The "emerging beer town," which is home to craft breweries like Mackinaw Brewing Company and Jolly Pumpkin Brewery & Distillery, also appears on Livability's list of the best foodie cities.

8. Heber City, Utah

Heber City, Utah

Heber City's economy, thanks to its mountainous location, is driven by tourists who come for great skiing and hiking. The town is full of fun and culture, with frequent music and arts festivals, parades, and rodeos.

7. Spearfish, South Dakota

Spearfish, South Dakota

Spearfish is surrounded by national parks and picturesque views, and has a lively college town vibe thanks to Black Hills State University. The town has a low carbon footprint and a tons-to-do downtown area full of restaurants, bars, and shops.

6. Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Glenwood Springs is steeped in "Wild West" history — it remains Doc Holliday's final resting place — and is also home to the world's largest hot springs pool. Residents of Glenwood Springs live mainly healthy lifestyles, and take advantage of good public schools and medical facilities.

5. Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is, naturally, a port city with great seafood — especially Dungeness crab — and lots of neighborly camaraderie. The environmentally friendly residents are privy to low costs of living and lots to do in the area.

4. Hood River, Oregon

Hood River, Oregon, Mt. Hood

Sitting just one hour east of Portland, Hood River receives a lot of the larger city's recent college graduates. Residents of Hood River are treated daily to views of Washington across the river, and one of the largest ski destinations on the west coast — Mt. Hood. Hood River is the place to be for both coffee and craft beer lovers.

3. Lebanon, New Hampshire

Lebanon, New Hampshire

This quintessential New England town borders Vermont and is the perfect destination for local crafts and breathtaking fall foliage. Major companies with facilities in town — like Novell, Microsoft, and Merck — employ many people who live in Lebanon.

2. Northfield, Minnesota

Northfield, Minnesota

Northfield is a scenic town, with great running, hiking, and ski trails. Notable in this town's history is the 1876 raid on First National Bank, which residents of Northfield re-enact every year during the Defeat Jesse James Days Festival.

1. Los Alamos, New Mexico

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Secluded but comfortable, Los Alamos is where the first atomic bomb was constructed. Mexican culture and cuisine is prevalent here, and community involvement is the highest of all the towns on this list. Los Alamos also has the lowest crime rate of the 10.

SEE ALSO: The 20 Best Places To Live In America

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23 Charts That Show Why This Is The Best Moment In History To Be Born

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Sometimes it seems like the world is falling apart. Between Ebola, climate change, Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, and the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria, there's bad news everywhere you look.

Yet while speaking at the UN on September 24, President Obama said that he often tells young people in the United States "that this is the best time in human history to be born, for you are more likely than ever before to be literate, to be healthy, and to be free to pursue your dreams."

So, is this really be the best time to be born?

Absolutely, by many measures — whether you are born in the US or the rest of the world.

Despite the fact that plenty of problems exist, people are healthier now than ever, the world has become significantly less violent, and education is more available now than it ever has been.

Here are 23 charts that show why this is the best time to be born.

1. Child mortality has dropped and life expectancy has grown around the world since 1950.

We've made this graphic that shows how both have changed since then.

life expectancy vs child mortality 4....

The countries are color-coded by region: red is East Asia and the Pacific, orange is Europe and Central Asia, yellow is the Americas, green is the Middle East and North Africa, light blue is South Asia, and dark blue is Sub-Saharan Africa. (An interactive version is available here.)

2. Racial disparities still exist, but infant mortality has dropped by a huge amount in the US since 1935.

Infant Mortality US 1935-2007

3. It's not just the US either. Around the world, people's risk of dying young has dropped from 14% in 1970 to 5% in 2010. Chances of dying before turning 50 were 28% in 1970, but half that now.

Premature_Death_1

4. Here's another chart that helps get that point across, showing the number of children who die before age 5 from 1960 to today.

Bill Gates uses this chart to help demonstrate the ways that vaccines have transformed our world.

Bill Gates chart

5. Vaccines have massively reduced the likelihood of dying or being disabled by many diseases.

This chart shows the change in morbidity from various diseases in the US from the pre-vaccine era to the modern era.

Vaccine infographic large

6. In fact, vaccines have helped eliminate many diseases from much of the world entirely

In 1988, the World Health Assembly decided to start tyring to eliminate polio from the world through comprehensive vaccination programs. Look at the progress so far.

polio map 1988 2014

7. Infant death rates from all kinds of causes have dropped.

This charts shows changes in the US since 1960.

Infant mortality changes since 1960

8. Children born now are much more likely to have access to clean drinking water.

drinking water access chart

9. And life is getting better in other ways too. Fewer people around the world now have to live on $1 a day.

Global income distribution has shifted so that many people who were making $1 a day are now more likely to make $10 a day.

Screen Shot 2013 11 12 at 4.11.14 AM

10. As the numbers of extremely poor people in the world fall, more and more of the population is being pushed into higher income categories.

This chart divides the world into those above the middle class, the middle class, the near poor, the moderately poor, and the extremely poor. Obviously, there's still room for progress, but the percentage of workers that are middle class and above has grown.

Poverty levels around the world

11. The number of international conflicts, which tend to kill more people than civil wars, has been declining steadily.

Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker explains that violence of all sorts has been declining for years — by most measures, we're living in the most peaceful time in human history.

International Conflict Decline

12. Despite the fact that we hear a lot about gun murders, firearm homicides have dropped significantly since the 1990s in the US.Firearm homicides

13. Youth violence has declined too.

The CDC shows that youth homicides are less than 50% of what they were in the mid 1990s.

Youth Homicide Rates CDC

14. The decline in homicide rates isn't just a modern day one either. Historical data shows that homicide rates in the modern era are drastically lower than they were centuries ago, and that number is still declining.

homicide rates europe

15. US data on the long term decline in the homicide rate shows a similar trend.

Thought there have been some fluctuations, there's a clear trend towards fewer homicides over time.

homicide rates over time

16. Rates of domestic violence have also fallen.

Domestic violence chart

17. Anyone born today in the US is much more likely to grow up literate.

It's Getting Better illiteracy race

18. That's true for kids born all over the world.

Literacy rates

19. And we also live in a world now that takes "rights" into consideration much more than ever before.

Writing Mentions of "Rights"

20. People born now will most likely receive more years of education than they would have in the past.

years of education

21. And that's especially true for women

It's Getting Better degrees women

22. People are much more likely to live in a democratic society.

war chart

23. More people have access to the internet than at any other time in history, and that percentage continues to grow.

Internet users per 100 inhabitants

Bill Gates has said "We're on this rising tide that's not recognized. It's overwhelming how prosperity is spread around the world."

The world is far from perfect, and there are plenty of areas of improvement needed. But is now the best time in history to be born?

We'd say so.

SEE ALSO: 11 Scientifically Proven Reasons You Should Go Outside

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Meet Ricky Dillon, The Charming 22-Year Old YouTube Star With Millions Of Fans

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Ricky DillonRicky Dillon is not your average 22-year-old. 

Four years ago, he started uploading the music videos he was making with his friends to YouTube.

Now as a member of YouTube sensation Our2ndLife, Ricky has accumulated a fan base of millions. The group — made up of five guys who met at a YouTube convention — traveled the country on a 19-city tour this summer, and thousands of screaming girls turned out to see them perform. 

But Ricky has his own fans, too. His personal YouTube channel has more than 1.7 million subscribers and 75.6 million views.

Ricky Dillon is a 22-year-old originally from Hoover, Alabama.



Ricky is one-fifth of Our2ndLife, a group of YouTube creators who each post their own videos to a shared channel. They created the group in August of 2012, though they didn't meet each other in real life until later. "We became friends because we saw each other's videos and started talking," Ricky told Business Insider.

 



This summer, O2L went on a 19-city tour across the US. Screaming hordes of teens greeted them in each city. O2L has more than 2.5 million subscribers and some pretty serious fans.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






Customers Hate The K-Cup Restrictions On The New Keurig Coffee Machine

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keurig coffee maker

The new Keurig lets you brew up to 30 ounces of coffee at a time, but it also uses a different kind of K-cups than the original — a discovery that is leaving some customers furious. 

Customers who bought the Keurig 2.0 on Amazon complain they bought the machine only to realize they needed a new kind of coffee pod for it to work.

The machines are RFID-limited, meaning only items with a Keurig code work. This restricts consumers from buying coffee pods from other brands. 

"I have ten different boxes of K-cups purchased about two months ago or so and none of them are usable in this machine," writes Amazon user Steveostevestevenson"You can only use boxes that have a circle with a check on them that says good for all Keurigs on the outside of the box." 

The older machines take coffee pods from many different brands, not just Keurig. They also have an option for using your own coffee beans, while the newer version does not. 

Keurig 2.0

The 2.0 uses two pod sizes — one for an individual cup of coffee and one for the full pot — and it's supposed to be one of the most popular items this holiday season because it brews an entire pot of coffee. 

But so far, the machine has a 2.5 star average on Amazon, and more 1-star reviews than all other ratings combined. 

The Keurig 2.0 sells for $162.75 on Amazon. 

keurig 2.0 reviews

Keurig's new machine is also angering rivals, who have filed lawsuits saying that limiting coffee pods to its own brand is anti-competitive.

But Keurig's alleged monopoly might not last long. 

Keurig competitors TreeHouse Foods and Mother Parkers have already figured out how to produce coffee pods compatible with the new machine, TechDirt reports

Meanwhile, customers who still want to use non-Keurig coffee cups have found a way to hack the system. 

This YouTube video shows how to cut out a piece of a Keurig cup and use it to disable the sensor in the new machine.

We've reached out to Keurig for comment, and will update when we know more. 

SEE ALSO: How Tory Burch Built A $3.5 Billion Company In Less Than A Decade

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Britain Gets Humiliated In New Michelin Star Restaurant Rankings

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gordon ramsay london new york

The Michelin Guide awarded a new set of stars to restaurants in Britain on Thursday, the highest honor any chef can attain. As usual, the new ranking came with some controversies:

  • London's two Nobu restaurants were both stripped of their stars.
  • Manchester, widely expected to feature, didn't get any stars.
  • Britain still has no new two- or three-star restaurants — a cultural humiliation for a country that many have argued is leading the way internationally.
  • Two stars went to restaurants on remote Scottish islands, "The Three Chimneys, housed within a crofter’s stone cottage on Skye, and the Isle of Eriska on the tiny island of the same name in Argyll," The Guardian noted.

Bloomberg added, archly:

It’s a slim haul for a country whose food scene is developing so rapidly. The total of 167 stars is paltry, and just four establishments have the top ranking.

The UK's most famous chef, Gordon Ramsay, kept his three-star rating at his Chelsea restaurant.

See the full breakdown of new and current Michelin starred restaurants in the UK here.

Here are the new restaurants with stars:

  • Fera at Claridges — Mayfair
  • Gymkhana — Mayfair
  • Clove Club — Shoreditch
  • Barrafina — Soho
  • Outlaw's Fish Kitchen — Port Isaac, Cornwall
  • Treby Arms — Devon
  • Isle of Eriska — Scotland
  • Three Chimneys and The House over-By — Isle of Skye
  • Ynyshir Hall — Wales
  • Crown at Whitebrook — Wales
  • City Social — City of London
  • Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs — Bloomsbury
  • Cross at Kenilworth — Kenilworth
  • Star Inn — Harome, North Yorkshire

SEE ALSO: Michelin Reveals The Best Restaurants In NYC Where You Can Eat For Under $40

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SURVEY: Business Owners, Which Issues Are Most Important To You?

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insomniaThis post is sponsored by UPS CONNECT.

If you're a business owner, you wear a lot of hats. One minute you're figuring out your social media plan, the next you're focused on business banking. 

On top of that, you're constantly thinking big picture: How do you grow, and where? What technologies will help you in the long run? What hurdles do you need to overcome to realize your long-term goals? 

We're trying to find out which issues cause business owners the most pain. Got a few minutes? Take our 2014 State Of Small Business Survey, delivered by UPS CONNECT, and let us know what's keeping you up at night.

And if you'd like to know how your fellow business owners feel about those same issues, we'll send you a copy of the results when they're ready.

Take the 2014 State Of Small Business Survey now.

Learn how UPS CONNECT helps small businesses.

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Urban Outfitters Is About To Supersize Its Stores — Here's What They'll Look Like

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Urban Outfitters Herald Square 35Urban Outfitters is planning to supersize its stores.

The company will open up to 50 Anthropolgie stores that are three times the size of its current stores, and also test the larger store size with its namesake and Free People brands, Bloomberg reports.

The larger stores are meant to serve as "lifestyle centers," offering a wider array of merchandise than traditional stores as well as cafes and bookstores where customers can hang out.

The company's research suggests that customers will spend an average two to three hours in the new store formats, as opposed to about one hour in the smaller stores, according to Bloomberg.

One of the company's first "lifestyle centers" was opened recently under its namesake brand in New York City's Herald Square. 

The 57,000-square-foot store features a coffee shop, a hair salon, hundreds of vinyl records, and a Sephora-sized makeup shop, as well as fun gadgets like a "lensometer" that can scan a customer's glasses and read their prescription.

Check out the new location to get an idea of what the larger format stores will look like.

The main entrance faces Macy's on the corner of Broadway and 34th Street.



At first glance, the store looks like any other Urban Outfitters, just a lot bigger.



But unlike most Urban Outfitters locations, here you can grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat without ever having to leave the store.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






GoPro Footage Shows What It's Like To Fly High On A Trapeze


How Crisis Management Teams Can Support Companies, Employees, And Communities

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Nefferty Santiago

This post is sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

Nefferty Santiago's job is to prepare Verizon Wireless for the worst-case scenario.

As a member of the Verizon Wireless Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) team, she's qualified to handle any destructive scenario, whether it's a tornado or an earthquake, and to make sure crisis management teams (CMTs) across the country are equipped to handle it all.

Santiago has spent more than 15 years in BC/DR, eight of those overseeing the Verizon Wireless Crisis Response Team (VCRT) program, which helps government agencies like FEMA and American Red Cross and affected communities during disasters. Her team leads more than 1,500 employees through yearly simulation exercises to prepare for potential threats.

"We purposely create scenarios that may feel somewhat unrealistic, and we do it on purpose to push leadership teams out of their comfort zones a bit and exhaust their resources," says Santiago. "A lot of the time the reaction we get is, 'This will never happen.' Well, you know what? It may happen and when it does, we will be better prepared for it."

Hurricane Sandy was one such scenario. In October 2012, the storm racked up $65 billion in damages, making it the second costliest hurricane in US history. Santiago, along with millions of others in the Tri-State area, was affected by Sandy and describes it as a challenging time. 

"We, the BC/DR team, were relying on backup communication tools, inverters, chargers, generators, and flashlights to support our response teams, employees, customers, and communities," she says. And Sandy’s vast geographical reach meant it was all hands on deck for the BC/DR team. “Dana Pfeiffer on our team was on point managing the Northeast activities, while our other team members were wearing multiple hats to support the company’s response."

Nefferty Santiago Demo DaySantiago is quick to point that responding to disasters like Sandy involve a huge team effort. "There are many team members and volunteer employees that come together to manage a crisis," she says. "Our BC/DR team is equipped to provide assistance remotely, but when needed, we will deploy to provide onsite support to the local teams managing the crisis like what we did with Sandy."

Traditionally, private sector companies activate in response to operational and customer impact, but Verizon Wireless is unique in how it mobilizes employee volunteers. Santiago recalls the mine explosion in Montcoal, W.Va., as an example: "With Montcoal there was zero impact to our employees, our operations or customers. So why activate? Our local team immediately saw the community would benefit from the command and control structure we have in place. They mobilized a relief site with volunteer employees, including deployment of network assets, within 24 hours."

Santiago helped develop training and online resource tools to increase employee awareness of the Verizon Wireless business continuity and crisis management program. "When Verizon Wireless deploys a community response center into disaster impacted communities, our employees want to get involved," she says. "They are our most important resource, and we leverage that."

The BC/DR team also develops strong relationships with the public safety community. “We take every opportunity possible to partner with agencies at all levels of government and the emergency responder community," says Santiago. "Having these relationships helps us anticipate our needs and the needs of those working to bring back our communities."

During Sandy, the BC/DR team worked around the clock — coordinating with FEMA, the American Red Cross, and other agencies, and setting up more than 30 charging stations in the impacted areas where hundreds of citizens made free phone calls, charged their phones, and accessed the Internet.

When asked what she loves most about her job, Santiago says, "I'm very fortunate that I get to do something that helps our customers, employees and the community. It is both humbling and empowering. We learn something new with every event we support and we strive to do it better the next time."

Learn more about how Verizon Wireless and how it manages crises around the country.

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10 Celebrities Reveal The Cars They Drive

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The cars a celebrity drives speak volumes about his or her style. At New York Fashion Week I talked to some of the men and women of Hollywood about their favorite rides.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova on her Porsche Panamera:

maria sharapova"It’s quite comfortable and very fast, but, unfortunately, in a city like New York, you can’t use top gear. I think there is something so powerful about seeing women in sports cars."

Heidi Klum:

heidi klum"I have a Mercedes bus that I love to drive because we all fit in it with my mom and dad."

Matt LeBlanc:

matt leblanc"I’m a bit of a Porsche nut," he said. "I just like the way they drive."

Duran Duran's John Taylor on his sports car:

john taylor duran duran"Oh, God, I like so many things about my car," he said. "It’s the styling, the shape, the bodywork. It’s a Jaguar F-Type, and the lines are divine. I call it Foxy—let’s put it that way."

Nick Jonas:

nick jonas"I love that it has three different modes of my Porsche Cayenne: casual, sport, or normal," he said, wearing a black motorcycle jacket.

Jason Biggs drives a manual transmission:

jason biggs"It’s a 2014 Cadillac STS-V station wagon. 556 horsepower."

Women's NBA star Skylar Diggins on the Mercedes she got from Jay-Z, her manager:

Skylar Diggins"I have a lead foot, so I like a car with a little getup," she told AD. "I’m a self-proclaimed speed demon. I probably should get more tickets than I do."

Andy Cohen on his ideal car:

andy cohen"Just a convertible," said Cohen. "Give me any kind of car. As long as the top goes down, I’m in."

Adrian Grenier on his Prius:

adrien grenier"My favorite feature? It’s using my car as a big man purse. I like having a trunk to throw stuff in. If you want to be spontaneous—run to the beach or go to the park and play sports—you have a trunk full of stuff. Men never get to carry around stuff, so I get excited about that."

Basketball star Amar'e Stoudemire:

Amar'e Stoudemire"My Maybach is great because I can recline in the backseat. I have a driver so I really get to enjoy my time."

More From Architectural Digest:

Pro Athletes With Incredible Homes  

Ralph Lauren's Jaw-Dropping Car Collection  

Incredible New Skyscrapers Around the World 

Mind-Blowing Clifftop Houses 

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This Map Shows The Best Food From Every State

Photographer Turns The Table On His Subjects By Getting Naked To Take Their Portraits

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Business Insider Nude Portraits by Trevor Christensen 9454

No matter how it happens, sitting for a portrait session is an awkward thing. You have to act natural and relaxed while you worry about your shirt being dirty or your smile looking weird, all as someone you probably don't know very well points a camera at you, snapping away. It can be a stressful situation.

Photographer Trevor Christensen noticed this and took some extreme measures to level the playing field. In order to become just as insecure as his subjects, Trevor strips down to his birthday suit, photographing his sitters reactions to his nudity behind the camera.

"The photographer-subject paradigm is one of inequality... Instead of focusing on bringing the subject to a place of ease, where I am, this project brings me to a place of vulnerability," explains Christensen.

He calls his series, of course, "Nude Portraits." The photos, which Christensen continues to shoot and post on his Instagram and Twitter feeds, cleverly explore concepts of power dynamics and body image.

Trevor says the idea first came when he was joking around with his friends. "I imagined the image of hapless photographer who simply didn’t understand that it was the subject who was supposed to be nude, not him," he says on his website. His friend Jordan, seen below, was his first subject for the project. "We were both incredibly uncomfortable," he explains.



The shoots usually last 45 minutes, all of which Christensen spends naked. All the subjects know he will be naked before sitting, but, nevertheless, things are initially a little weird. But, "as the shoot goes on, the experience gets more comfortable as the subject and I find our rhythm," he tells Business Insider. "However, I always look forward to putting my clothes back on."



Christensen says that a typical reaction is just what you would expect- shocked laughter and bemused, embarrassed chuckles. "The shoot becomes almost normal very quickly, which I think is the biggest surprise I’ve had though this series," explains Christensen. Madelyne, below, screamed when she first saw Christensen.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






Zynga Founder Mark Pincus Is Selling His Gorgeous San Francisco Mansion For $18 Million

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pincus house

Zynga founder Mark Pincus has listed his Pacific Heights home for $18 million, a tipster at Redfin tells us.

The home is located in a part of San Francisco that's known as "Billionaire's Row," with Larry Ellison and Jony Ive among the most notable neighbors.

Pincus first purchased the home — a gorgeous Dutch Colonial house built in 1907 — in 2012, at a reported purchase price of $16 million. Before Pincus bought it, it had never before been on the market. 

It has seven bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, and 11,500 square feet of space perched on the top of a hill overlooking the Bay.

The house is located in the affluent San Francisco neighborhood of Pacific Heights.



It's perched atop a hill that's become known as "Billionaire's Row." Larry Ellison and Jony Ive also own homes nearby.



A long, gated driveway leads up to the house.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






Amazing Aerial Photos Show The True Magnitude Of The Alberta Tar Sands Developments

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tar sands

The Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada are the largest known resource for crude bitumen in the world. Retrieving that oil from the earth is a major undertaking, one that requires massive amounts of machinery, facilities, and man power. But the results also produce a massive amount of profit for those involved.

While its presence has been known since the early 1700's, it was only in the last decade or so that production and development has picked up on a large scale, thrusting the Tar Sands into the national spotlight. Folks from all over Canada and North America are flocking to Fort McMurray, the epicenter of expansion, for the promise of high paying jobs.

With an estimated 133 billion barrels still available, things don't look like they'll slow down any time soon. Though that's a tough sell for environmentalists who worry about the devastation these tar sands are wreaking on the natural environment.

Artist and aerial photographer, Louis Helbig, has been photographing the Athabasaca region from above for seven years and has seen firsthand just how colossal an operation extracting and refining the Tar Sands is. He also has seen how beautiful a place it can be.

"It's an unbelievable sight," he tells Business Insider.

Helbig has compiled his work into a new book, titled "Beautiful Destruction," which will be out later this year. He also currently has a Kickstarter campaign going, and it's proven to be one of the most successful projects in the history of the site.

Helbig started the project in 2007, when, he says, the expansion was not yet world news. It was, however, the topic of many conversations in Alberta, especially among those who wanted to head to the Tar Sands to find work.



Helbig, looking to see what all the buzz was about, decided to visit. "I thought I would go up there and do some aerial photography and see what was hidden in plain sight," he recently told Business Insider.



When he first flew over the Tar Sands with his now wife, Kristin Reimer, the sheer magnitude of what he saw amazed them.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






7 Clever Ways To Keep Getting Smarter Throughout Your Entire Life

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Michael Lewis

Coming up with original ideas — thinking outside the box, if you will — is hard to do, even for the highest-achieving among us. 

"Flash Boys" author Michael Lewis says that Ivy Leaguers flock to Wall Street because that's where they can become high-status and uber-rich without needing to think of anything new. 

If you, like the bankers Lewis calls out, need fresh ideas, turn to Quora. The discussion-heavy site has recently hada few threads loaded with insights on broadening your thinking. 

Here are the best tips. 

Start thinking about lateral thinking. "Lateral thinking is when an assumption that most people believe is true is challenged, leading to a new line of thought that would probably not have been considered otherwise," explains Anirudh Joshi. He suggests considering what folks thought about the PC when it first came out — a toy for geeks that wouldn't do anything helpful. But people who challenged that assumption and bet on the PC became legends: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and the rest. 

This, by the way, is what billionaire investor Peter Thiel trains readers to do in his new book "Zero to One." His favorite question: What is one thing you believe to be true that most do not?

Open up your experiences. "Your thinking will always be limited to your own opinions and experience," says Alexandra Damsker. "So expand your worldview, experience, and opinions as much as possible." 

Her recommendations: Listen when people speak, rather than waiting to talk. Give your opinions, engage in arguments, and revise your perspectives. Seek out people with different backgrounds than yours. Take an art class, a comedy class, or go to concerts you'd usually skip. 

"Be in your world," she says. 

Read aggressively. "You just won't have the time to broaden your thinking by experiencing things all by yourself," says Thyag Sundaramoorthy. "You have to draw from other's experiences as well — and that's why books are written."

The key, however, is to not just reinforce your already great opinions, but to refine them through taking in the other view. 

"If you are an atheist, read about Eastern spirituality," he says. "If you are a strong believer, read [outspoken evolutionary biologist] Richard Dawkins." 

Journal. Writing down your thoughts is a great tool for problem solving," says Vinu Cherian. "Every journal session I have, I leave amazed with the answers to tough problems I can come up with." 

Journaling — reflecting on your experiences, disclosing your feelings, and finding meaning in them — has been shown to improve your "working memory," or the number of things you can hold in your mind at a time, which should help with the lateral thinking. A bonus: Only 15 minutes of journaling can make you better at your job

Study great minds. "Choose people who embody what you are trying to become and study them," says Roy Bauman, Jr. "How do they make their decisions? What do they believe in? Why do they act the way they do?" 

Studying those lives can teach you patterns of success and expand your perspectives. We've done some homework for you: Consider how people as diverse as Teddy Roosevelt, Sheryl Sandberg, and Stephen Hawking engage the world. 

Learn to think ahead. "People that are great at solving problems and, most importantly, preventing them are great at thinking ahead," Bauman says. 

His recommendation: Start playing chess, since it teaches you to think a few turns ahead in the game and in life. There's a reason 28 of the world's standout executives also happen to be phenomenal chess players

Stay humble. "I've seen way too many pseudo-intellectuals vomiting out pages of facts and figures in an attempt to convince others of their intellectual ability," says Quah Xin Ze. "Intelligence is something you wish to gain for the sake of improving yourself and not trying to make a point to your peers." 

And research shows that the more certain you are of your perspective, the less you'll be able to receive new ideas — closing yourself off that lateral thinking.

SEE ALSO: 58 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do

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A City In Belgium Is Building A 2-Mile-Long Underground Pipeline To Carry 1,500 Gallons Of Beer An Hour

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De Halve Maan Belgian brewery belgium

An underground pipe is being built in Bruges, Belgium that will carry 1,500 gallons of beer an hour underground, according to UK news website Sky News.

The pipe is the brainchild of the De Halve Maan brewery, and will be built to take the company’s beer from its historic brewery location to a nearby bottling plant.

The new processing plant was opened on the Waggelwater industrial estate in 2010, but according to the Associate France-Presse, De Halve Maan did not want to give up its five-centuries-old brewery.

The solution is the 1.86-mile-long pipeline that will be able to carry every gallon of the brewery’s famous “Brugse Zot” beer. It will also take the 500 delivery trucks that used to transport the beer out of the streets, greatly decreasing the city’s traffic and improving the quality of Bruges as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Bruges, Belgium view from de Halve Maan Belgian breweryThe brewery's CEO Xavier Vanneste told Belgium's Het Nieuwsbladsaid that, "The beer will take 10 to 15 minutes to reach the bottling plant. By using the pipeline we will keep hundreds of lorries out of the city center.”

The Bruges city council has officially given De Halve Maan the go-ahead. The cost and start date of the Bruges pipeline have not yet been revealed, but the brewery will pay for the project and the pipeline will be constructed using the latest computer-guided drilling technology so as not to harm the city’s Gothic architecture.

Though unique, this is not the first instance of a brewery installing a similar system — a German brewery created a 3-mile beer pipeline that brought 13,737 gallons of beer to bars in the Veltines-Arena in Gelsenkirchenm.

SEE ALSO: Experts Say These Are The 20 Best Beers In The World

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Small Farmer Explains What It Takes To Stay In Business These Days — And Why He Loves The New York Greenmarket

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MarketPanOver the last century, American farming has experienced a consolidation towards large agricultural corporations. In 1935, there were approximately 6.8 million farms in the US. By 2000, that number had plummeted to 2.2 million. Today, we're down to 2.1 millionMeanwhile, the highest income bracket for farms now accounts for 66.4% of US agricultural products sold, up from 47.5% in 2002.

In this age of corporate agriculture, family farms that have survived have done so by capitalizing on the local food movement: selling to organic and specialty supermarkets, selling wholesale to restaurants, selling shares of a farm's harvest directly through community-supported agriculture (CSAs), and selling at farmer's markets.

We talked to one local farmer who has managed to adapt and thrive in this challenging environment: Kevin Smith of upstate New York’s Sycamore FarmsSycamore, like many in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, has turned nearly exclusively to one source for revenue: the New York City Greenmarkets

kevinsmithThe New York City Greenmarket was founded in 1976 by New York City architect Barry Benepe to support local farms that were too small to sell to wholesalers. What began as a one-day-a-week farmer's market in Union Square supporting seven farmers has exploded. Today, the Greenmarket runs 52 farmer's markets in different locations in the city, supporting 240 farmers in seven states. 

"We cut out the middle man between producers and consumers by providing regional farmers direct access to their customers," Michael Hurtwitz, the director of the Greenmarkets for GrowNYC, told Business Insider. 

Sycamore was one of the first farms at the market, joining up in 1981. Henry Smith, the founder of Sycamore Farms and Kevin’s father, recognized the potential of the Greenmarket early.

"Everyone was bragging about how much money there was in the greenmarkets and so we went down to see if there was any money left," Henry told The Times Herald Record last year.

It turned out there was, not just for Sycamore but for other farms as well. According to Hurwitz, the overwhelming majority of farms that sell at the Greenmarket derive their main source of income from the markets. 85% of the Greenmarket farmers told Hurwitz they would be out of business if it weren't for the markets.

Today, the Union Square market, Greenmarket's flagship market and the only one that Sycamore attends, runs four days a week, year round. On an average September Friday, 360,000 people pass through the market. More pass through on Saturdays. While other Greenmarket locations are equally lucrative, no other market has that kind of foot traffic. 

The Hard Numbers Of Small Farms Today

ProduceSycamore hosts a stand at the Greenmarket three days a week, from June until November. In a typical week, the stand sells approximately 5,100 ears of corn and 5,000 pounds of tomatoes, as well as other produce, baked goods, and preserve, according to Smith. On a single day, Sycamore will sell to about 1,000 customers.

During a good year, Sycamore’s Greenmarket sales come out to about $15,000 to $25,000 per week during the selling season, which comes out to approximately $300,000 to $500,000 income.

That sounds like a lot until you start factoring in costs. Property taxes alone figure to be above $20,000. Operating costs for materials, equipment, and maintenance can be $100,000 to $250,000. Once you add in hourly wages (between $10 to $15/hour) for seven farm employees, liability insurance, farm insurance, employment insurance, and disability insurance, it becomes clear: margins can get very tight depending on the year.

GM (10 of 11)While sales are generally constant year to year, running a farm today is as unpredictable as it ever was. Different weather conditions can wreak havoc on a season in different ways. A rainy season can make crops thrive, but it can also slow traffic at the Greenmarket or even shut the market altogether. Too little rain and some crops will have difficulty growing, but there are more days to sell at the market.

As the national climate for small farms has stiffened, the Greenmarket has expanded its reach. In just the last seven years, the market has increased from 174 farmers to 240 and 44 markets to 52. According to Hurwitz, overall revenue at the markets has increased during that time and a number of farmers have told him that last year was their highest-grossing year ever.

Part of the boom is due to what Hurwitz calls "an explosion in demand for local."

Smith has observed the same trend: “Customers today are more interested, engaged, and knowledgeable. 99% are repeat visitors and I never have to hard-sell the produce."

GM (7 of 11)Even a decade ago, Smith spent countless time at the market trying to explain to customers why his local produce cost more than supermarket produce, often to no avail. Customers were baffled or frustrated and tried to haggle the price down. Today’s urbanites are obsessed with anything locally-sourced, organic, and especially farm-to-table, which Sycamore and other local farms are perfectly positioned to capitalize on. The flood of interest in farm-to-table has its downsides though.

“Because the demand is there, there’s way more competition at the Greenmarket and outside of it,” says Smith.

CSAs, co-ops, food boxes, gourmet grocery stores, Whole Foods, and non-Greenmarket farmer’s markets (some that have "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for where sellers get their produce) have sprung up are all over Brooklyn and Manhattan. Factor in the proliferation of farmers at the Greenmarkets themselves and its clear that local food has become a crowded market.

Nonetheless, no trend lasts forever. The Greenmarket similarly boomed in the early 1990s, when Henry Smith once boasted of selling 14,000 ears of corn in a single day. By the late ‘90s, however, overblown fears about the unhealthiness of carbs killed the corn market in Manhattan.

With that in mind, Smith has kept margins tight by reinvesting Sycamore's profits back into the business — “the Amazon plan,” he calls it. The Greenmarket has been good to Sycamore, but Smith is smart enough to recognize that relying solely on one revenue source is a bad business model.

Building A New Business Model 

sycamore farm stand frontUntil five years ago, the farm’s income was 100% derived from the Greenmarket. Today, that percentage has been scaled back to 90%.

Towards that effort, Sycamore opened a 4,000-square-foot farm stand on site last year. At the farmstand, Sycamore sells its freshest produce, as well other locally-sourced produce from farms in the area that they trust. In addition, they now sell cooked and processed items made in their own kitchen and bakery, such as jams, jellies, pickles, tomato sauces, fruit pies, breads, and very popular tomato pies.

Smith is also looking to expand Sycamore’s presence at the market to year-round, selling the farm’s processed items during the winter months to stay in front of New Yorkers' faces and promote the farmstand.

Currently, Smith has been organizing events to get people to the farm: chef’s dinners using Sycamore produce, potlucks, and educational events for both young children and adults. He promotes the farmstand on social media and always talks up the farmstand at the Greenmarket. While he’s only in the beginnings of his grassroots efforts, Smith envisions a day when the stand gets enough foot traffic that Sycamore can stop trekking to Manhattan altogether. It will require a redoubled presence at the Greenmarket to get the message out to the people that care.

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10 Books About Happiness Summarized In One Sentence Each

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One of America's most signature contradictions is that while "the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, few Americans actually are happy. According to a Harris poll, only one in three Americans consider themselves "very happy."

Maybe that's why there's such a market for happiness: Amazon holds some 66,000 books on the sought-after subject

You don't have time to read all those. So we've summarized the best ones.

Happiness Books in One Sentence

 

SEE ALSO: 25 Popular Business Books Summarized In One Sentence Each

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11 Bizarre German Words With No English Equivalent

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oktoberfest german words amanda

The Germans are famous for using long words used to describe hyper-specific, complex sentiments. For instance, the 26-letter word Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung describes the inability to cope with the past. And, of course, schadenfreude reflects the happiness you derive from somebody else's pain. 

In honor of the 181st Oktoberfest that kicked off in Munich earlier this week, we have entmystifiziert or "demystified" our favorite Deutsch expressions that have no clear English meaning. Here are some mehr of our favorite German words:

1. Sauregurkenzeit

A typical German vacation, which can last anywhere from 3-6 weeks in July through August, is referred to as the Sauregurkenzeit. This literally translates to "pickle time," possibly because cucumbers come into season in the summer. This is the "off-season" where there is nothing happening because everyone is away. Washington, D.C. experiences a Sauregurkenzeit during Congress' 5-week summer recess.

2. Frühjahrsmüdigkeit

This 18-letter word is used to describe a general sense of weariness in the springtime, specifically between mid-March through mid-April. In German, the word Frühjahr means "springtime," and Müdigkeit means "tiredness." Conjoined, Frühjahrsmüdigkeit is "springtime lethargy."

3. Geisterbahnhöfe

Simply cutting this word in half, you have geister meaning "ghost" and bahnhof meaning "station." However, the conjoined word has a darker meaning that stems from the Cold War-era when free movement between East and West Germany was severed with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. German police heavily guarded the derelict Eastern train stations, which were surrounded by barbed wire and called Geisterbahnhöfe.

4. Erbsenzähler

Anyone who is obsessed with details and a bit of a control freak would be referred to as an Erbsenzähler by Germans. The word Erbsen means "peas" and Zähler means "tally." Therefore, an Erbsenzähler literally describes a person who counts their peas.

5. Honigkuchenpferd

By dissecting this word, you have "horse-shaped honey cake," but it really means to have a giant dorky grin on your face. If your mom embarrasses you in front of your friends, you're probably going to have a honigkuchenpferd-looking smile. German dictionaries translate this word as the action of "grinning like a Cheshire cat" given the wide-sweeping smile from the Cheshire cat in "Alice and Wonderland." 

6. Blaumachen 

This is a word used to describe feeling horribly unmotivated the moment you wake up in the morning. Blaumachen, "to make blue," is believed to originate from the expression Blauer Montag or "Blue Monday," which was used to describe the day craftsmen had to wait around for their fabrics to dry after being dyed indigo. Therefore, Mondays were deemed as rather unproductive days. 

7. Luftschloss

The word luft in this context means "sky" and schloss means "castle," coming together to create "castle in the sky." The expression is used to describe someone's unrealistic dream.

8. Eselsbrücke

A little trick that helps you to remember something is called an Eselsbrücke, which literally means "donkey bridge." Why donkey bridge? Because when donkeys transported goods, people built bridges across rivers to help cut the distance between destinations. These donkey bridges were shortcuts just like a mnemonic device is a shortcut to memorizing something. 

9. Pantoffelheld

A man who may act tough in front of his friends but can't stand up for himself against his wife is what Germans call a Pantoffelheld or a "slipper hero." The first part of the word, Pantoffel means "slipper" and the latter, Held means "hero." The closest English reference would be someone who is "whipped" by their overbearing partner.

10. Zugzwang

The tail end of this word Zwang means "to be forced." This word is used in scenarios when you feel extreme pressure and stress to make a strategic move, like in a game of chess. 

11. Backpfeifengesicht 

A very unique German word stemming from the word meaning something along the lines of "a face that is begging to be punched." The word Backpfeife means either "punch or slap" and Gesicht means "face." The German punk bank, Die Ärzte, named one of their songs Backpfeifengesicht since the lyrics mention a person who apparently has a stupid look on their face that frustrates the singer.

SEE ALSO: 9 Incredibly Useful Russian Words With No English Equivalent

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Richard Branson Recalls The 'Aha' Moment In His Early Career

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