Winter is coming, but is your footwear up to snuff?

You shouldn't be trudging through the impending snow with your canvas sneakers or suede footwear. In fact, suede, leather soles, and desert boots should all be in storage for the long, cold, and wet months ahead.

Instead, break out the rubberized boots and Vibram outsoles. Keep reading to see the only boots heavy duty enough for the ice and snow.

1. Semi-dressy work boots

These are the boots you'll want to wear when it's iffy outside, but you still want to look nice. Modeled after work boot styles from last century, these will last you miles and miles.

What really separates these from the typical boot is that they don't have a leather sole, which you commonly see with Chelsea boots and some brogue styles. Leather soles are awful for winter because they provide zero traction and soak up water.

Instead, these boots have rubberized Danite soles and neocork rubber hybrids, which provide much more traction.

On the expensive end of the spectrum, there's the Viberg's Service Boot — they have a Danite sole and a very unique, slimmer profile. A little lower than that price point are favorites like Alden's classic Indy boot with it's neocork sole and unique toe stitching. The best value (and lowest price) is Chippewa's Original Plain Toe Boots with a Vibram sole and classic work boot good looks.

2. Boots with lugged soles

When the weather gets a little rougher outside, you're going to need a tougher boot. Boots with lugged soles are built to keep you from slipping on the ice and snow. 

They often come in work or hiking boot styles, which may not be acceptable for your work place, but are always appropriate for your commute.

We recommend the Danner Mountain Light II, which has a hiking boot style, and the Red Wing Beckman, which is a revival of a classic work boot. Both have a long heritage of bulletproof quality boots behind them and are equipped with rubber lugged soles, providing optimal traction in the ice and snow. 

3. All-weather duck boots

For trekking in the tundra, there's no boot better suited to the task than the classic duck boot. The rubberized sole and tough, full grain leather uppers provide full protection from the wet and icy wilderness. These are the boots you need to wear when heavy snow is in the forecast.

The go-to duck boot choice is the L.L. Bean Bean Boot, which invented the category way back in 1912. L.L. Bean still makes them and they're still handcrafted in the company's Maine facility.

Many have attempted to copy the L.L. Bean design, and some have even comes close. The Sorel Cheyenne Lace Up Boots are a good alternative thanks to their soft inner lining (the Bean Boots don't have a lining, but they do offer a lined version $189).

SEE ALSO: The Right Men's Shoes For Every Type Of Pants

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's The Life on Facebook!

Join the conversation about this story »

A new company is trying to get retailers to use optical illusions to sell more products.

The Skinny Mirror, based out of California, sells mirrors with curved glass that make people look about 10 pounds thinner. The mirrors sell for between $165 and $5,500, depending on the size and frame materials.

The mirrors make people feel better about themselves, says Belinda Jasmine, the founder and designer of The Skinny Mirror.

For retailers, that inflated self image can turn into higher sales, she says.

A recent study of 86 shoppers at a lingerie store in Sweden found that people who used a dressing room with a Skinny Mirror reporter greater body satisfaction than those who used a regular mirror. More importantly, the shoppers who used a Skinny Mirror ended up purchasing more items.

88% of customers who used the Skinny Mirror made a purchase, compared to 73% of customers who used a regular mirror. the study found. Overall, the Skinny Mirror group contributed to 54% of total sales. 

Jasmine says she had initially designed the mirror, which went on the market in January 2013, for the home market.

Then she started getting a number of orders from retailers, so she expanded the line of mirrors to include versions better suited for retail stores and dressing rooms. 

So far, most of the orders have been coming from small boutiques, Jasmine says. But she's in talks now with a popular apparel chain that has more than 450 stores worldwide. She asked that Business Insider refrain from publishing the name of the retailer because negotiations are still underway. 

In response to critics who call the mirror deceptive, Jasmine notes that the Skinny Mirror logo is visibly displayed on every mirror. (She has had requests from retailers to remove the logo, however). 

"It's really subtle," Jasmine says of the mirror's effects. "It just gives you that little bit of extra hourglass."

SEE ALSO: People Are Outraged That This Is Calvin Klein's Idea Of A Plus-Size Model

Follow us: On Pinterest

Join the conversation about this story »

Seeing our planet from above can completely change your view of the world.

Aerial photography offers a new vantage point, and helps show the spectacular beauty of our planet as well as the impact we've had on it.

Reuters has rounded up the best bird’s eye view images taken by astronauts, satellites, helicopters, and passenger planes. 

From the Amazon Rainforest to the jagged coastline of Big Sur, these pictures will blow you away. 

Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is seen from a seaplane in September 2014. Halong translates as "where the dragon descends into the sea," and the bay has over 2,000 islands.

Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, is captured from above. Mount Fuji has an exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is covered in snow for several months of the year.

Landsat 8 satellite captured an image of Egmont National Park in New Zealand with Mount Taranaki at its center. The island is surrounded by once-forested pasture lands, and is now a protected area.

America's been called a lot of things: beautiful, majestic, wild, and great. It's all those and more.

Whether you're driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, whale watching in Cape Cod, or waiting for Old Faithful to erupt in Yellowstone National Park, the United States is full of incredible surprises.

From the east coast to the west and everywhere in between, we've found 50 trips everyone should take in the United States. 

Hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail.

View cutting-edge art at Art Basel Miami Beach.

Wait for Old Faithful to erupt in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.

The 2011 rapture turned out to be a dud, and the world didn't end at the end of the Mayan Calendar, either. But that hasn't eased everyone's fears about an apocalyptic event.

The Survival Condo Project is a luxury condo community near Concordia, Kansas that caters to that fear. Built 174 feet below ground, its developers claim it is "prepared for anything," including a nuclear bomb.

A condo in this 2,000-square-foot underground space will cost you anywhere from $1.5 to $3 million. 

Tyler Allen, a 45-year-old sports bar and nightclub owner who bought one of the condos, told the Wall Street Journal that "he isn’t a “tinfoil hat-wearing” type preparing for the end of the world." Allen says he bought the condo because of a growing fear of "global health pandemics, cataclysmic weather, and terror attacks."

Allen is not alone. The first survival condo complex that was built is already completely sold out, but the developer, Larry Hall, is currently working on a second. Hall's condos are built on former nuclear missile sites that were meant to withstand a nuclear bomb.

Hall's company told the WSJ that residents can live a life of "uninterrupted luxury" because the bunker includes a spa, a dog park, a gym, and medical facilities. The Survival Condo Project's website reads:

"We believe that given the present worldwide economic conditions, historical disaster evidence, and the obvious signs of global climate changes; that it is prudent to have a “disaster plan and shelter” in place should a need for it occur. 

Our designs include planning for: physical protection, psychological design considerations, advanced technology, and the concept of an extended family with diverse backgrounds."

The entrance to the condo has two doors that are 16,000 pounds each.

Here's a floor plan. The condo goes 174 feet underground.

 And this is what a unit looks like. Full- and half-floor units are available. Full-floor units have 1,820 square feet of space and a maximum occupancy of 10 people. Half-floor units are 900 square feet and have a maximum occupants of 5 people. All of the fully furnished units have a full kitchen with stainless steel appliances and Kohler fixtures, a washer and dryer, a 50-inch television, and a five-year food reserve per person.

Of course, there is 24-hour surveillance.

Part of the reason why the condos are so pricey are the amenities. If you're going to be stuck 174 feet underground when the apocalypse comes, you're going to want something to do. There's a community pool with an outdoor scene painted on the walls.

A rock climbing wall and a gym to stay active.

And a movie theater to stay entertained.

Inside the units, there are video screens that act as windows. Residents can change the screen to show what kind of outside scene they like.

Each unit's kitchen has state-of-the-art appliances.

 The bedrooms have the window screens as well.

No need to worry about bringing too much stuff. Here's the walk-in closet in a master bedroom.

The second complex is currently under construction and according to the website, will sell out "well before it is complete."

Take a video tour of the luxury condos here:

DON'T FORGET Follow Business Insider's Life On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

Washington (AFP) - Australian actor and "Thor" avenger Chris Hemsworth is the world's sexiest man, the US magazine People said Thursday.

The honor was announced on the late night US TV show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC and the magazine itself.

With his face at first masked and his voice digitally modified, Hemsworth, 31, speaking from Australia, toyed with playful yes-or-no questions from the American TV audience.

Kimmel's instructions and teasers to his crowd: "If you guess correctly, the sexiest man alive will make love to you, so this is big. I will give you three clues. He is sexy, he is a man, he is alive."

Is he in a band? No. Over age 35? Wrong, again.

"Are you hairy?" a bearded, balding man in the audience asked, smiling

"Just up here," the still unknown masked person asked, gesturing to his head.

Fast forward: the audience zeroed in on the guy as a non-American, buffed dude who is an actor that has played a superhero in the movies, wielding a hammer: Thor in the Marvel Studios superhero movies? Bingo! 

Hemsworth's award was a small facial mirror.

"Anything you would like to say to the men who lost, specifically Matt Damon?," Kimmel asked, referring to the popular American actor.

"I like everything there is about being sexy, to persing the lips the right way to squinting at the essential time. Thank you, Matt, and all the other previous intelligent men. This is based on an IQ test, not just the physical appearance," the actor said.

Asked if there was anyone he wanted to thank, Hemsworth said, "my parents, I guess, for putting this together."

Join the conversation about this story »

Reigning Miss Honduras, Maria Jose Alvarado, vanished with her sister, Sofia Trinidad, after a party last Thursday.

Alvarado, 19, and her sister have since been found dead, BBC reports.

"I can confirm that the Alvarado sisters were found ... We also have the murder weapon and the vehicle in which they were transported to the site where they were buried," Leandro Osorio, head of a criminal-investigation unit, told local television.

The missing women were last seen getting into a vehicle as they left a party.

It emerged on Monday that four people, including Trinidad's boyfriend, had been arrested and were being questioned as the last-known people to see them alive.

Coello confirmed: "Four people are under arrest. They include the owner of the party venue and Sofia Trinidad's boyfriend. They are being investigated."

Interior Minister Arturo Corrales told local media that Plutarco Ruiz, the boyfriend of the beauty queen's sister, was responsible for the crime.

The case has caused consternation in the notoriously violent Central American country, home to the most dangerous city on the planet.

San Pedro Sula, just over 30 miles from Santa Barbara, is the murder capital of the world with more than 1,200 killings a year among its nearly 1 million inhabitants.

Its murder rate of 169 per 100,000 people far surpasses anything in North America or much larger cities like Lagos or Sao Paulo.

Alvarado described herself on a Miss World website profile as an aspiring diplomat who enjoyed playing volleyball and football in her spare time.

She beat 18 contestants to win the Miss Honduras crown in April.

She missed an appointment on Sunday evening to try on the dress she hoped to win Miss World with.

The women's mother, Teresa de Jesus, pleaded on Tuesday night: "Open your hearts and understand my pain.

"There is an all-powerful God that sees everything and I hope you set them free."

Miss World is due to start Thursday, with 120 contestants competing for the crown.

Here is a statement from Julia Morley, the chairwoman for the Miss World Organization:

To everyone around the world who has been touched by the awful news from Honduras this morning.

We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Maria Jose Alvarado & Sofia Trinidad at this time of grief.

We are receiving messages of condolences and support from our Miss World family across the world, who all share our sadness at such a tragedy.

We will be holding a special service with all of the Miss World contestants on Sunday, where we will be honoring the lives of Maria Jose Alvarado and Sofia Trinidad, and say prayers for them and their family. 

We will also be having a special fundraiser to keep their names alive forever and donate the money to a children’s home in Honduras, chosen by their mother.

Join the conversation about this story »

Reigning Miss Honduras, Maria Jose Alvarado, vanished with her sister, Sofia Trinidad, after a party last Thursday.

Alvarado, 19, and her sister have since been found dead, BBC reports.

"I can confirm that the Alvarado sisters were found ... We also have the murder weapon and the vehicle in which they were transported to the site where they were buried," Leandro Osorio, head of a criminal-investigation unit, told local television.

The missing women were last seen getting into a vehicle as they left a party.

It emerged on Monday that four people, including Trinidad's boyfriend, had been arrested and were being questioned as the last-known people to see them alive.

Coello confirmed: "Four people are under arrest. They include the owner of the party venue and Sofia Trinidad's boyfriend. They are being investigated."

Interior Minister Arturo Corrales told local media that Plutarco Ruiz, the boyfriend of the beauty queen's sister, was responsible for the crime.

The case has caused consternation in the notoriously violent Central American country, home to the most dangerous city on the planet.

San Pedro Sula, just over 30 miles from Santa Barbara, is the murder capital of the world with more than 1,200 killings a year among its nearly 1 million inhabitants.

Its murder rate of 169 per 100,000 people far surpasses anything in North America or much larger cities like Lagos or Sao Paulo.

Alvarado described herself on a Miss World website profile as an aspiring diplomat who enjoyed playing volleyball and football in her spare time.

She beat 18 contestants to win the Miss Honduras crown in April.

She missed an appointment on Sunday evening to try on the dress she hoped to win Miss World with.

The women's mother, Teresa de Jesus, pleaded on Tuesday night: "Open your hearts and understand my pain.

"There is an all-powerful God that sees everything and I hope you set them free."

Miss World is due to start Thursday, with 120 contestants competing for the crown.

Here is a statement from Julia Morley, the chairwoman for the Miss World Organization:

To everyone around the world who has been touched by the awful news from Honduras this morning.

We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Maria Jose Alvarado & Sofia Trinidad at this time of grief.

We are receiving messages of condolences and support from our Miss World family across the world, who all share our sadness at such a tragedy.

We will be holding a special service with all of the Miss World contestants on Sunday, where we will be honoring the lives of Maria Jose Alvarado and Sofia Trinidad, and say prayers for them and their family. 

We will also be having a special fundraiser to keep their names alive forever and donate the money to a children’s home in Honduras, chosen by their mother.

Join the conversation about this story »

Sweetgreen is a fast-growing salad chain with some serious support from tech. 

The chain announced Tuesday morning that it has received an additional $18.5 million in funding from Revolution Growth, an investment fund from AOL cofounder Steve Case and fellow former AOL execs Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis. Behance cofounder Scott Belsky, Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg, and restaurateurs Danny Meyer and Daniel Boulud also contributed to the round. 

Sweetgreen had previously received $22 million in venture funding from Revolution Growth in December of 2013, bringing its total to $40.5 million.

Founded in 2007 by Georgetown grads Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru, the brand focuses on sourcing ingredients from local farms to create salads that are healthy, quick, and affordable.

"The words 'seasonality' and 'fast food' are rarely used together, but at sweetgreen, we believe that the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive – it just takes a commitment to standing behind our food ethos and working with farmers that share the same values," cofounder and co-CEO Nicolas Jammet said in a press release announcing the new funding. 

Sweetgreen currently operates 27 locations on the East Coast, and it plans to open stores in California next year.

We recently visited a Sweetgreen restaurant in New York City to see if it lived up to the hype.

We visited the chain's brand-new location in Tribeca, which opened in May.

By 1 p.m., the line to get food stretched down the block.

For the most part, the crowd seemed to be made up of young professionals on their lunch break.

Remember when @HiddenCash was hiding money around major US cities like San Francisco and New York?

There's more money out there.

This time the cash comes courtesy of the mobile payments app Circle Plus Payments, which is hiding $50 and $100 bills around Los Angeles.

The company is spreading the word via clues released on its Facebook and Twitter, and it says the more people who play, the more money it will give away.

Circle Plus Payments founder Nitish Kannan says he hopes to inspire people to spread love and be generous. "Last year, one of the most touching things was receiving anonymous gifts and small acts of kindness," he remembers. "It impacted my life because as a broke entrepreneur, I needed money to survive. This year, I feel empowered to start a movement to give back and maybe spread this to other cities."

The hidden cash game is coming back to LA, we're hiding free money in iconic locations in LA, you'll have to follow us as we tweet clues!

— CirclePlusPayments (@CirclePlusPay) November 13, 2014

Okay so If anyone wants free money find it on the Santa Monica Pier, there is money in an envelope with instructions! pic.twitter.com/JqZQxFI6UY

— CirclePlusPayments (@CirclePlusPay) November 17, 2014

"We hope more people will spread love," Kannan says. "We're a small startup, and if we show we can do well for our communities, our communities will benefit from the extra money, and maybe larger companies and individuals will be inspired."

Circle Plus Payments was founded in 2013 and allows anyone to accept credit-card payments through its app. According to its Twitter account, the company has raised $500,000 in a first round of angel funding. It plans to give away up to $1,000 during this promotion, likely hoping to gain a few Twitter followers along the way.

If you're in Los Angeles, you can find out where the cash is hiding by following Circle Plus Payments (@CirclePlusPay) or Nitish Kannan (@nitut1) on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: This New Investment Firm Lets You Pay Whatever You Want For Its Service

Join the conversation about this story »

Zara Terez remembers being at a trade show in 2011, peddling her beautiful custom-made leather bags to retailers.

A mix of "uptown classic meets downtown fun," as she told us, the bags were made of genuine leather and had all the makings of a luxury accessory.

Terez left her signature mark inside the bags, with fun prints on stretchy scuba material lining each piece. She was hoping to catch the eye of a buyer and get her goods in store windows.

It worked, but not according to plan. Sitting near the handbags was a box of the scuba material lining, all showcasing the various prints — spaceships and city skylines — and that's what the buyers were interested in. 

Over the next several months, Terez ditched the bags and began to manufacture leggings out of the scuba material. (Scuba is stretchy, so it's perfect for that kind of stuff.) The leggings had crazy, colorful designs on them. Terez, who comes from a family of people who work in the garment industry, partnered up with her best friend Amanda Schabes, who still works with her in their Manhattan headquarters as creative director.

But the funky leggings weren't for everyone. It was hard, Terez remembers, to convince big department stores and small boutiques that the apparel, priced at $78 a pop (not cheap!), would sell. The stores weren't sure whether they would actually make money off of the leggings.

Rejections came left and right. Store owners and buyers were too apprehensive.

So Terez turned to a free outlet to get word of her brand out to a big audience: Instagram. And she reached an unlikely audience: very young girls.

In fact, 9-year-olds were the first to pick up on what Zara Terez, now the brand named after its creator, was doing. Terez's first line — leggings with stars, constellations, and planets — were trendy among young preteen girls back in late 2012 after the company picked up a following on social media.

The company — which didn't employ a social media professional; it was simply Schabes and Terez — began posting photos of the leggings and sharing them on Instagram. People would tag their friends (that's Instagram-speak for "look at this!") in the comments, and Zara Terez began to grow a following.

This photo is from two weeks ago, but it shows the kind of power Instagram gave this company.

Then something great happened for the company. Kids started telling their parents about the leggings they were seeing on Instagram, but they couldn't find the leggings anywhere except for the Zara Terez website.

Parents would visit boutiques and department stores and ask whether they carried Zara Terez Galaxy Leggings. The stores then started calling Terez, as she remembers.

"They were like, 'Yeah, OK. We get it now,'" she recalls with a smile.

Terez, who is married to TechStars founder David Tisch, also works with her sister. Her mom, Terez told us, was always her No. 1 fan. When Zara was 22 and declared she wanted to start a line of handbags, her mom was the first person to applaud her ambition.

Terez is bubbly and welcoming and kind. She is committed to her work and her dozen or so employees and the young girls and women who buy her apparel. 

"I work 24/7," she tells Business Insider after we asked her about her daily schedule, "but I love it."

The company recently paired with the video game developer King to create a "Candy Crush" line. It teamed up with the cycling studio chain SoulCycle to create a fitness line dubbed "Respect the Sweat." We asked for financial information, but Zara Terez declined to provide it, though Terez cited exponential growth and said she was excited about the future.

Terez is massively popular with the preteen and teen crowd. To be crowned as "cool" by that demographic is no easy feat.

Everything, from the creation to the manufacturing to the shipping, is done in the New York headquarters. Her popular "crushed makeup" leggings were designed when the Zara Terez team took a photo of eyeshadows — greens and pinks — all crushed up. Then the photo was transferred to the scuba material.

Terez says all of the leggings are created this way. The designs all come either from original photos taken by the Zara Terez team or from images for which the company purchased the rights on stock photography sites. The company needs high-res, high-quality images to produce its designs.

Now the apparel line is in Saks and Nordstrom, as well as smaller clothing stores across the country, but Instagram remains a huge part of the success of the company. The company has 117,000 followers, a massive following compared with a modest 2,000 or so on Twitter, and @ZaraTerez is tagged in a few dozen photos each day. Most are of young girls wearing the leggings, and you rarely see the same design twice.

But perhaps it's the message of inclusivity that keeps her customers coming back. In fact, a huge sign rests above a funky love seat in the Zara Terez office that reads "You can sit with us," a play on a popular quote from the film "Mean Girls" that declares the opposite. A message young girls may need to hear more often.

Join the conversation about this story »

Ron Shaich, the 60-year-old CEO and founder of Panera Bread Co., has been managing his business for more than three decades. "I consider myself the Cal Ripken of CEOs," he jokes. "I've been through over 100 quarterly earnings reports, and I'm still playing."

That kind of stamina takes discipline, and it requires occasionally stepping away — to rest, recuperate, and think about the big picture.

"I go to the beach every Christmas," Shaich tells Business Insider, "and every year I write down initiatives for myself, my family, my health, my work, and my God — all the things that I think matter. I write where I'm trying to get to and how I'm going to get there."

The entrepreneur says it's more than just a thought experiment. He estimates he follows through on 75% of his annual goals.

It's not an overstatement to say that these yearly strategy sessions have changed Shaich's life, resulting in major business decisions, like opting to sell off Au Bon Pain units and renaming his company Panera in 1999, and transforming his personal life.

About eight years ago, for example, he decided it was time to get serious about his health. Shaich was in his 50s and had never really exercised.

"I realized if I don't do it now, I never will," he says. "I committed to it and hired a trainer to help me. I've been at it for over eight years, and I'm in better shape today than I was 20 years ago."

Shaich takes the same approach to business strategy. "We sit down every year and try to figure out where we want to be in five years," he says. "How do we stay competitive? What do we have to do to feed the growth monster? And then we literally draft on paper what we want to achieve in the next 12 months."

Whether it's every year or every week, stepping back to gain perspective and re-evaluating your goals and systems for achieving them is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your business.

"What sustains a company over the long term is how it thinks, not what it does," Shaich says. "Because what it does is a byproduct of how it thinks."

And the same could be said for successful business leaders.

SEE ALSO: Here Are The Epiphanies That Made Panera A $4.5 Billion Restaurant Chain

Join the conversation about this story »

Learn how to tie an ascot, once-around and loop knot. This is the most useful information you'll learn this winter. So pay attention and stay warm.

Produced by Matthew Stuart. Special thanks to Devan Joseph and Antonio Centeno.

Follow BI Video:On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

Some bars sling well drinks and draft beers for the masses. Others elevate cocktail-making to a fine art.

We've now put together the ultimate list of top spots around the world.

Drinks International recently released its annual list of the World's 50 Best Bars, which are voted on by a  multinational academy of 334 bar buffs. Pubs, taverns, speakeasies, lounges — these guys have visited them all.

From Sydney to Singapore (and don't forget Seattle), the list hits four continents and 14 cities. We're taking a closer look at the top 25; see the full list here.

25. Le Lion Bar de Paris

Hamburg, Germany

Don't be confused by the name: This classic cocktail lounge is actually in Hamburg, the cultural center of northern Germany.

It features a big lion statue behind the bar and the bartenders use a "golden liquid" (Kina L'Avion D'Or vermouth) in some of their most popular cocktails.

Source: The World's 50 Best Bars

24. Hemingway Bar

Prague, Czech Republic

You don't have to go to Cuba to feel like Ernest Hemingway -- try Prague instead.

Named for one of the world's most legendary drinkers, this bar offers more than 200 kinds of rum, and special rum-tasting sessions where shots are interspersed with chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.

It also comes with a pretty serious list of rules -- including no changing seats and no talking to strangers -- designed to keep the place quiet and the atmosphere relaxing.

Source: The World's 50 Best Bars

23. 69 Colebrooke Row

London, UK

At first glance this Islington bar, also known as "The Bar With No Name," appears simplistic and its menu pretty standard.

But take a closer look at the cocktail list and you'll find an assortment of unique ingredients mixed into your favorite recipes.

It's the result of serious study by bartender and owner Tony Conigliaro, who runs a "Drink Laboratory" upstairs, where he uses state-of-the-art molecular mixology equipment to reinvent classic cocktails.

Source: The World's 50 Best Bars

Brittany Powell knows what it's like to be in debt.

After losing work during the 2008 financial crisis, the San-Francisco based photographer owed about $30,000 to the credit card companies she had used to keep her afloat.

"I had to put groceries on my credit card so I could pay my rent," she remembers. "All of my cash flow going to debt became this really stressful kind of juggling situation. It was definitely a really awful time in my life."

Powell filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

"Filing was a big deal because as soon as it was over with, I realized that debt is this really abstract thing," she recalls. "How you perceive it changes how it works. I had so much shame and stress associated with it, and all of that went away."

Skip straight to the portraits »

As Powell started researching how debt works in the US, she quickly realized she wasn't the only one who had experienced its crushing weight. In fact, Americans altogether owe about $880 billion in credit card debt, with the average indebted household owing over $15,000.

This realization sparked her to embark on a multimedia photography project creating portraits of people in different kinds of debt across the US, interviewing them about how that obligation affects them on a day to day basis and how it makes them feel. So far, she's photographed 32 people around San Francisco, Portland, New York, and Detroit. Ultimately, she hopes to shoot 99 people — one for each of the 99%.

Here, Powell has shared some of the photographs and confessions from her project. You can support her mission to capture more stories of debt around the country on Kickstarter.

James M. Thomas, Graduate Student, Writer: $24,500 in debt

"I've been in and out of graduate school since 2003, with brief stints of full-time work in between degrees. Although I have (had!) a small amount of savings, it was never commensurate with my decisions to attend an expensive school, cover the difference between income (fellowships, etc.) and monthly expenses, or support my desires to live in expensive cities (New York, San Francisco)."

Shareen Jallad, Massage Therapist: $10,000 in debt

"I was given a high credit line after receiving life insurance money. While grieving and not working I accumulated $20K in debt on frivolous spending."

Mike, Architectural Designer: $160,000 in debt

"Master's degree (4) years. Real estate deal. Unemployment."

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like the warm embrace of brown liquor.

And we mean whiskey.

Chances are you know someone who loves the stuff as much as we do, but you may not know what kind of gift to get the whiskey lover in your life.

Here are some strong suggestions.

With the help of Robert Haynes-Peterson, Business Insider has put together a list of the best whiskeys to drink this holiday season, and other great gifts for any whiskey-lover. 

Drinks, books, stocking stuffers — it's all in there.

The only thing you need to do is pour.

Enjoy.

"Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide"

If you're a whiskey newbie, we recommend getting this book. It's full of essays, pictures, food pairings, and recipes so that you can fake your way to whiskey knowledge.

Price: $28.59

Johnnie Walker Gold Label

Back in the day, this was a special duty free-only release. But now you don't need to fly anywhere to get a taste: It's part of the permanent collection. 

Price: $84.00

"American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye: A Guide to the Nations' Favorite Spirit"

With this book, you'll be able to navigate the history and traditions of American whiskeys, not to mention know what to look for when you're looking to buy.

Price:$14.47

A bridge that was supposed to be a key link for trade and travel between China and North Korea is useless, as it currently leads to a dirt field in North Korea. 

Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

Follow BI Video: On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

We've found the 15 hottest US cities for 2015, all of which will be booming next year thanks to new jobs, growing industries, burgeoning art and food scenes, and affordable real estate.

Rising prices in San Francisco will continue to push young hipsters out to Oakland. Queens will become the hot borough in New York City because of its affordable real estate and rich culinary scene. And Colorado's legalization of marijuana will bring a wave of tourism to Denver. 

To compile this list we looked at job growth, population growth, affordability, livability, and the health and well-being of the residents. We also considered how innovative and "cool" the city is — an important factor in attracting the young, creative types who will make each city hot.

Atlanta, Georgia, is undergoing a revitalization that will lure in young professionals.

In the past, young professionals clustered in the smaller satellite cities outside Atlanta, but recent gentrification and construction projects have lured them back to downtown Atlanta. 

Similar to New York's High Line, the Atlanta BeltLine is a redevelopment project that's transforming an old railway track into a recreational path for cyclists and pedestrians. Piedmont Park has been revitalized as new constructions crop up around it.

Dozens of exciting restaurants opened in 2014 with even more expected for 2015.

Austin, Texas, has a booming economy and strong tech industry that will bring in tons of young and talented workers.

Austin was named the best-performing city in the US this year by the Milken Institute. 

The city came in second for future job growth, largely because of its burgeoning tech scene. Companies like Dell, National Instruments, and Flextronics are based here, and several startups have been coming out of the University of Texas.

All this has led to an influx of young professionals and recent college grads, which in turn has led to a boom in construction.

Burlington, Vermont, will lead the future of food.

Burlington has always been known for its crunchy-granola vibe, but lately the city has been stepping up its game in leading the rest of the country in sustainability. The local food movement has been taking off here, with new culinary businesses that preach locally grown and made.

The city hosted its first local food festival in September, Eat by Northeast, where food justice nonprofits, farmers, food entrepreneurs, and foodies come together to feast and talk about all stages of local food, from farm to table. It's one of many steps the city is taking to continue to advance the local food movement.

Burlington is also leading the rest of Vermont in sustainable energy. The state plans to have renewable resources provide 90% of the energy for the state by 2050.

There's something appealing about nutritional supplements. They seem "natural" when compared to pharmaceuticals — though really, supplements may contain all kinds of artificial ingredients, sometimes very dangerous ones. And who doesn't love the idea of taking a pill or vitamin that makes you healthier?

But there are a few problems with this idea. The Food and Drug Administration doesn't test supplements before they are sold to see if they are safe. Worse, supplement manufacturers aren't required to provide any evidence that their products actually do what they say they do.

That's why marketers make such a fuss about antioxidants in food or why you can walk into a drugstore and see whole aisles of products that claim to "aid digestion."

Some people have even built careers marketing "snake oil" supplements.

So in an effort to distinguish the snake oil products from the ones that actually have scientific support, data journalist and designer David McCandless, author of the recent book "Knowledge is Beautiful," created this infographic to help show which supplements have shown promising results when researched and which aren't worth the plastic bottle they're sold in.

Note that if you want to learn more about how effective a supplement is, this is a good starting point. For example, there's plenty of research supporting the idea that zinc can help reduce the duration of colds, as is shown by its position on the chart, but that doesn't mean all formulations of the supplement are good — the NIH says there are questions about the safety of zinc nasal sprays, for example.

Some supplements appear in multiple places on the infographic. While there might be good evidence that anti-oxidants can help treat fertility issues in some men, there's not enough evidence to say that they provide any benefit for overall mortality. A detailed interactive with links to studies is available at Information is Beautiful, or you can check out McCandless's sources here.

SEE ALSO: 52 Of The Most Common Misconceptions In The World

READ MORE: The Vitamin Myth: Why We Think We Need Supplements

Join the conversation about this story »

There's a whole new generation of children growing up in the digital world. The social-media giant Facebook hopes this is the next wave of users, but are they really interested in having a profile? 

We asked little kids between ages 9 and 11 what they really thought of Facebook.

Produced by Sam Rega and Caroline Moss

Follow BI Video:On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »