Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen certainly seems to have enjoyed the holidays.

On New Year's Eve, Allen, worth an estimated $17.1 billion, tweeted a photo of himself ringing in 2015 aboard his 414-foot yacht, "Octopus." 

Allen reportedly celebrated the New Year with an over-the-top party on Octopus, which had been anchored in Sydney Harbor. A spectacular fireworks show was among the highlights. 

The yacht, which has 40 guest suites, a glass-bottom pool, two helicopter pads, and its own submarine, was spotted in Sydney several times over the past week.

Allen's extravagant yacht parties are well known in the tech and entertainment worlds. During the Cannes Film Festival, he hosts a party for actors, musicians, and other celebrities, and he often plays guitar during a live set with his band.

He usually docks in St. Barts for New Year's Eve, but he reportedly changed locations because "Russians have taken over" the island, a source told the New York Post.

NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban: Here's The Hardest Part Of Being A Billionaire

SEE ALSO: Google's Larry Page Is Being Sued By A Painter Who Was Injured While Working On His Yacht

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Last year had its fair share of television casualties. But despite cancellation, several shows are still worth a watch.

Crowdsourced rankings website Ranker named the best cancelled shows of 2014, and though these ones won't be coming back in the new year, they still had a good run.

Here are the top 11 shows that were canceled last year:

11. Enlisted

When Staff Sergeant Pete Hill (played by Geoff Stults) punches a superior officer while deployed in Afghanistan, he gets sent to back to Fort McGee in Florida, where his two younger brothers, Derrick and Randy, are stationed.

10. Longmire

Based off the bestselling novels by Craig Johnson, this series follows Walt Longmire, the dedicated sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, as he returns to work after his wife's death. Longmire throws himself into his work, investigating crimes and running for re-election, as he attempts to hide the pain he still feels over the loss of his wife.

9. Kitchen Nightmares

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (of Hell's Kitchen notoriety) travels the country helping failing restaurants turn their business around. But despite the many changes he suggests — menu tweaks, updated furniture — it's up to each owner to heed his advice and make their restaurant profitable once again. 

8. Intelligence

As the first human to be directly connected to the Internet through a microchip in his brain, Gabriel Black is able to hack any data center worldwide, which proves a valuable security tool for the United States. However, Black finds himself vulnerable to both outside threats and his own destructive personality, so Secret Service agent Riley Neal is assigned to protect him.

7. The Crazy Ones

This show followed unpredictable and unorthodox advertising executive Simon Roberts (played by Robin Williams) as he runs a powerful ad agency in Chicago with his daughter Sydney (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar). However, Roberts sometimes lets his crazy ideas get the best of him,  forcing Sydney to spend more time putting out fires than developing her own career. 

6. Being Human

In the American version of a British sitcom by the same name, three roommates (a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost) help each other attempt to live normal lives as humans. However, they quickly discover that living double lives — and keeping their true identities secret — isn't as easy as it looks. 

5. Suburgatory

When single dad George Altman (played by Jeremy Sisto) finds condoms in his teenage daughter's room, he decides to move from their New York City apartment to a suburb in Connecticut. However, the transition comes as a culture shock to both father and daughter as their new neighborhood seems like something straight out of "The Stepford Wives."

4. Raising Hope

Nine months after 23-year-old Jimmy Chance has a one-night stand with a serial killer, he visits her in jail only to find that she's given birth to his daughter. Unprepared for parenthood, Jimmy relies on his dysfunctional family — including his mother (played by Martha Plimpton), father (played by Garret Dillahunt), and grandmother (played by Cloris Leachman) — to help raise the child.

3. Revolution

Over a decade after a permanent blackout devastates the world, humanity has adapted to life without electricity. That is, until the local militia kill a man involved in the power outage, setting his daughter on a journey to find out what really happened 15 years ago.

2. Almost Human

In 2048, police officer John Kennex wakes up in from a 17-month coma — missing his leg and his girlfriend — after surviving the raid of violent gang The Syndicate's hideout, an attack that took the life of his partner. But Kennex isn't keen on working with his new partner, a human-like android named Dorian who struggles to deal with human emotions.

1. Community 

This series chronicles the lives of a group of students at Greendale Community College in Greendale, Colorado who met in a fictitious study group put on by disbarred lawyer Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale) in an attempt spend time with attractive classmate Britta Perry. Throughout its five seasons, the show gained critical acclaim and a cult following for its parody style and frequent pop culture references.

SEE ALSO: The 15 Best Movies You Probably Didn't See In 2014

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The average American eats a ton of food each year. 

Literally — it's a shade under 2,000 pounds.

Social scientists have provided many explanations for all that eating, including our increasing dependency on restaurant meals and an ongoing love affair with meat.  

But one of the most foundational reasons for all that eating is one of the most controllable.

It's called completion compulsion. 

Coined by University of Alabama psychologist Paul Siegel in 1957, completion compulsion describes an uncomfortably familiar eating habit — that we're more likely to finish what's on our plate than just stop eating because we've gobbled up enough food. 

In commenting on the first-ever study of portion size, Siegel wrote that in "cookie consumption, compulsion is marked enough to stimulate a chuckle ... On only one occasion was a fraction of a cookie left behind." 

Siegel's breakthrough was the realization that we take a meal to be a "unit" of food, and we feel compelled to do everything in our power to finish it. 

In the words of Louis C.K., "The meal is not over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself!" 

Since Siegel's time, loads of research has been done on how portions relate to eating habits. The science is simple: the bigger the portion, the more people eat.

As Penn State psychologist BJ Rolls described one study:

On five occasions we served men and women an afternoon snack that consisted of 28, 42, 85, 128 or 170 g of potato chips in a plain, unlabeled foil bag.

Participants ate directly from the bag so that they had few visual cues to guide consumption.

The results showed that portion size had a significant effect on snack intake for both men and women.

For example, when served the 170-g package, women ate 18% more and men ate 37% more than when served the 85-g package. As subjects increased their snack intake with increasing package size, they reported feeling fuller; however, they did not adjust their intake at the subsequent dinner to compensate for the increased energy intake.

Similarly, when men and women were served larger portions of a "regular" soda size, women drank 10% and men drank 26% more than before.

So what can we do with this info? 

Telling people to "eat less" probably isn't the best approach, Rolls has argued. Instead, she suggests a strategy of eating more foods with a lower "energy density," or calorie count. The idea is to eat the same amount of food — you'll still feel full – but while taking in fewer calories.

The Mayo Clinic says you need to pay attention to three things regarding energy density:

Water. Fruits and vegetables are generally high in water content, which provides volume and weight but not calories. That's why they're low-energy-dense foods. Grapefruit, for example, is about 90 percent water. Half a grapefruit has just 37 calories. Raw, fresh carrots are about 88 percent water. A medium carrot has only about 25 calories.

Fiber. High-fiber foods not only provide volume but also take longer to digest, making you feel full longer on fewer calories. Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains all contain fiber. Popcorn is a good example of a high-volume, low-calorie whole grain. One cup of air-popped popcorn has about 30 calories.

Fat. Fat is high in energy density. One pat of butter, for example, contains almost the same number of calories as 2 cups of raw broccoli. Foods that contain fat naturally, such as dairy products and various meats, or foods with added fats are higher in calories than are their leaner or lower fat counterparts.

So with a little dietary finesse, you can make completion compulsion work for you. If you have lots of low-energy-dense foods on your plate, you'll "get full" on things that nourish you.

NOW WATCH: Scientists Have Debunked These 5 Myths About Sugar

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Not every item on a fast food menu can be a hit.

We've highlighted items from top fast food chains like McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King that just didn't resonate with customers. 

From unappetizing to flavorless, here are some of the biggest fails. 

McDonald's Mighty Wings

McDonald's chicken wings were too spicy, too expensive, and too unappetizing for the average customer. Before taking Mighty Wings off the market in November 2013, McDonald's put the remaining product on sale for 60 cents each instead of $1.

McDonald's McHot Dog

Customers weren't particularly thrilled by this new menu offering, and the item was later pulled.

Since the disappearance of the McHotdog from McDonald's menu, the hot dog has reappeared in Japan as a breakfast item.

McDonald's Pizza & McPizza

McDonald's offered pizza in the late 1980s and in the early '90s.

This made-to-order pizza didn't go over too well with customers, who weren't fond of the long wait times and who preferred to purchase their pizzas somewhere else.

If you want great book recommendations, just ask the folks who know books best.

Librarians from the New York Public Library recalled the best books they read in 2014. From romance to thriller to biography, you'll find your new favorite books below.

"I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson: Twins Noah and Jude are total opposites, but very close growing up. Fast forward to adulthood, and they're no longer speaking. "A story of sibling rivalry, family, love, art, betrayal, perseverance, death and dreams," said Mulberry Street branch librarian Anne Rouyer, "it filled my soul with hope and humanity and made me a better person."

"An Untamed State" by Roxane Gay: Mirelle is an attorney on her way to visit her parents with her husband and son when she is kidnapped and held for ransom. "It really gave me chills to read what she resorted to doing just to survive such traumatizing events," said Grand Concourse branch librarian Sherise Pagan.

"The Paying Guests" by Sarah Waters: In 1922 London, an impoverished widow and her spinster daughter take in some boarders to earn a little extra money. "The setting is rich, the characters captivating, the writing inspiring, and the story!" said Lynn Lobash, in Readers Services. "The book turns from fascinating historical fiction to thriller. It’s amazing!"

"Unremarried Widow: A Memoir" by Artis Henderson: Artis Henderson's soldier husband dies in a helicopter crash in Iraq — a death which mirrors that of her father, who died in a plane crash when Artis was five. "It's achingly sad," said Maura Muller, in the Volunteers Office, "but it is a beautiful love story that in spite of the heartache, leaves you smiling."

"The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle" by Francisco Goldman: Goldman's grief over the death of his wife manifests itself in his fear of driving in Mexico City, a fear which he symbolically tries to overcome. "It’s at once a deeply felt love story, an elegy, political study and meditation on home," said Miriam Tuliao, on the NYPL Selection Team.

"An Age of License" by Lucy Knisley: This graphic travel memoir follows Kniskley on a trip to Europe and Scandinavia she took in her twenties to try and discover herself. "With lovely and evocative illustrations, it perfectly captures the fun of traveling as a young person, while also touching on the anxieties that come with being a twenty-something," said Mulberry Street branch librarian Susie Heimbach.

"This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki: "This graphic novel is an evocative coming-of-age tale that perfectly captures the innocence of feeling small when experience reveals that the world is a much larger and darker place than the familiarity of summer suggests," said Mid-Manhattan branch librarian Daniel Norton.

"Grasshopper Jungle" by Andrew Smith: In a world where giant preying mantises are taking over the world lies a story "with a solid bedrock of character development and an unusual storytelling style," Kingsbridge librarian Andrea Lipinski said. "Austin Szerba is a great character and a fascinating narrator, and we follow him down surprising paths as his mind takes leaps backwards and forwards in time to tell this story."

"A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness: The first book in a trilogy of vampires, witches, time travel, and romance where a student navigates a long-lost alchemical manuscript and discovers a fantastical history. "What's not to love?" said Mid-Manhattan librarian Lois Moore. "I'm already halfway through the second book in the trilogy, 'Shadow of Night.' The third volume, 'The Book of Life,' was published this year."

"A Memory of Light" by Brandon Sanderson: This is the finale of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" fantasy series, continued by Sanderson after Jordan's death. "Seeing so many character stories wrap up, others end in tragedy and saying goodbye to favorites you've followed over the course of fourteen epic novels was a bit wrenching," Spuyten Duyvil branch librarian Joshua Soule said. "I'm not afraid to admit there were tears."

"Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Brosh: Based on the author's popular blog, this is a book of hilarious, everyday situations accented by spunky, crudely-drawn illustrations that help tell a story. "I appreciate her total honesty in pointing out her own flaws," said Rabecca Hoffman, from the Kingsbridge branch. "It was smart, funny, and ... made the rest of us feel normal."

"Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson: Two sisters face grief, growing up, and survival as they're shuffled from one relative to another as each dies. "Every sentence is vivid," said Mid-Manhattan branch librarian Jessica Cline. "I felt the leaves build up in the corners of my rooms and paint begin to peel on my door frames."

"The Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker: Both Chava, a golem, and Ahmad, a jinni, are mythical creatures who exist in Jewish and Muslim lore, respectively. A chance meeting between the two in New York city mixes genres and mythologies at the same time. This is "an epic story that documents the immigrant experience of the two unlikely title characters," said Rosa Caballero-Li, in the AskNYPL service.

"The First Bad Man" by Miranda July: Cheryl is a neurotic woman living alone when her bosses ask if their 21-year-old daughter — a spoiled bully who thrusts Cheryl into reality — can live with her for a while. "It was so funny and fresh," said Lynn Lobash, in Readers Services. " The narrator is socially spastic. She will make you cringe like Larry David."

"The Luck Uglies" by Paul Durham: "This fantasy adventure reminded me just how much fun it can be to plunge into a world of deliciously awful villains, mysterious rogues and fearsome monsters with a group of undaunted young protagonists," Seward Park librarian Stephanie Whelan said. "Can't remember the last time I missed so many subway stops because I just didn't want to stop reading!"

"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown: A history of Native American Indians in the West, Brown's novel "opened a door to another point of view on American history," said Mid-Manhattan librarian Jessica Cline. "I am a more conscientious person for it. It is also a great conversation starter, many people have strong feelings about reading this book."

"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr: A blind girl and a young German soldier, on opposite sides of World War II, come together as each must solve a puzzle of their own. "It's not just that characters are finely drawn, the path Doerr sets them on left me thinking for days afterward about the people I meet and the paths and puzzles that draw us together, for whatever reason, for however long," said Christopher Platt, in Sites and Services.

"The Sweet Science & Other Writings" by A.J. Liebling: "The collection is part of the estimable Library of America series and comprises five works," Wayne Roylance, in the Selection Team, said. "Liebling’s deftness at turns-of-phrase, his inventive word choice ... as well as his wry humor and trenchant analysis make him — for my money — one of the best writers The New Yorker ever published."

"Under the Egg" by Laura Marx Fitzgerald: "The story is set in New York City and introduces readers an array of fascinating residents," said Children's Center 42nd Street librarian Louise Lareau. "Think art, science, WWII, celebrity kids, Monuments Men, gardening and super cool librarians all rolled in one."

"Just Kids" by Patti Smith: This is Smith's "eloquent memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and their development as artists," said Elizabeth Waters, a librarian at the Mid-Manhattan branch. "It was wonderful to see the New York City of the late 1960s and 1970s through her eyes. I wonder if any of our future poets are sleeping in city parks like she sometimes did when she first arrived in New York."

"The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia" by Candace Fleming: "Fleming interweaves excerpts from diary entries of peasants and shop girls with descriptions of the Romanovs' lives of excess and grandeur," Epiphany branch librarian Mina Hong said. "This is a suspenseful and juicy read ... that reveals the chilling circumstances surrounding the Romanovs' deaths during a truly tumultuous period of Russian history."

"The Riverman" by Aaron Starmer: Two kids, Alistair and Fiona, get wrapped up in a treacherous situation involving a portal into another world where a creature called the Riverman steals childrens' souls. This book of fantasy vs. reality "wormed its way into the crevices of my brain, set up house, and will NOT be evicted for a very long time," said Betsy Bird, in the Selection Team. "I can feel tendrils of it affecting everything I do even now."

SEE ALSO: The 15 Best Humor Books Of The Year

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Happy hours became a big part of American society during Prohibition, when people would sneak out to a speakeasy for a few "tantalizingly illegal cocktails" before dinner. 

Today, happy hours are everywhere — especially offices.

While it's reasonable to have a little concern about getting drinks with your coworkers — especially given that 54% of Business Insider readers report having had a 'romantic encounter' with a colleague— the benefits for joining in for happy hour are as obvious as they are profound. 

Because the thing about working in an office is that while you're breathing the same air as your coworkers all day, you're not exactly forming social bonds with them.  

"When people are first forming friendships, the currency they're using is the exchange of confidences," Susan Cain, the author of "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" told us.

The open office is clearly not the place to exchange confidences; you're not going to tell your colleague about how rowdy New Year's got when your boss is in earshot. 

This presents a problem for two reasons: We get jobs through people, and we get better at our jobs from knowing people. 

Network science consultancy Activate Networks provides a compelling example.

In one case study, they mapped the social networks of engineers within an aerospace company. Activate found that after time at the organization, the greatest predictor of success was the quantity and qualities of connections a person had in their company. 

For instance, if an engineer had strong relationships across departments as well as up and down the hierarchy, she was more likely to score highly on success metrics like patents filed or products brought to market — thanks to the flow of ideas and feedback that comes with having friends with varied perspectives.

But if you can't forge those idea-enabling relationships in the not-so-private confines of an office, where do you do so? 

You guessed it. 

Happy hour. 

Just make sure not to stay out too late.

SEE ALSO: Who You Know Is Even More Important Than You Realize

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Earlier this week, Re/code reported that Instacart, a startup that delivers groceries on demand, had raised $220 million at a nearly $2 billion valuation. 

Instacart hires shoppers to buy groceries at local stores and then deliver them to customers within a few hours. Unlike competitors, like Fresh Direct, who keep their own inventory, Instacart relies on grocery stores to fulfill orders.

I decided to try out Instacart to see if it lived up to the hype. 

To get started, first enter your zip code to see if Instacart delivers in your area. The entry page boasts that it will deliver your groceries in an hour.

You then get to choose the grocery store you want to order from.

After I chose Fairway as my store, the app showed me what food items I could buy from there.

John Paul DeJoria, the man behind brands such as Paul Mitchell, Patrón, and Rok Mobile, is certainly successful by any measure. But his billionaire status didn't come easy. DeJoria describes his "rags-to-riches" story and explains why he thinks the dream is still alive.

Produced by Justin Gmoser. Additional Camera by Graham Flanagan. 

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Winter is an awful time for skin and hair.

Lips get chapped, skin breaks out, and hair becomes static-y as it adjusts to the changing temperature and humidity.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Here are seven simple beauty hacks that every guy should know.

Even better, they all use common household products, so even if you don't end up liking one of the tricks at least you didn't spend $50 on a cream.

1. Calamine lotion works as an emergency spot treatment

For those just on the verge of getting a huge pimple, rub some calamine lotion onto the area. It's ridiculously cheap, and dries up cystic acne very quickly (though it will dry out your skin too, so just make sure to moisturize after taking it off).

2. Dryer sheets fight hair static

In the winter, it's not uncommon for people with fine hair to get static cling because of the dry air. One way to fight it is with a balm or hair gel, but if you're not into that sort of look (or ran out of product), you can also just take a dryer sheet and rub it onto your hair and brush. Easy.

3. Redness-reducing eye drops will make pimples less red

You're not supposed to pop pimples, but they're hard to ignore. If you do and the area becomes red and irritated before a big date or meeting, rub some redness-reducing eye drops on the area.

The drops contain tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, which helps get rid of redness fast. Just put some on a Q-Tip and apply it to the pimple.

4. A cold pack on your face will de-puff tired eyes

When you haven't gotten enough sleep (or your face is puffy from drinking all night at a holiday party), wake up a little earlier than usual and put a cold pack over your eyes for 5-10 minutes.

The cold will de-puff your face, and help you look more alert than you actually feel. You can even buy specially-designed eye masks you can keep in your fridge or freezer.

5. Exfoliate dead skin away with baking soda

The number one reason your face can look haggard during the winter is because of all the dead skin cells that accumulate. To make your skin look fresh, you should scrub your face with an exfoliant, such as baking soda.

It's coarse, but not too coarse, so it will get rid of the top layer of dead skin cells without irritating skin. Combine a teaspoon of baking soda with water and massage into skin before rinsing off with warm water. Don't forget to moisturize afterwards.

6. Keep lips soft with a homemade sugar scrub

If you're not using lip balm regularly — and sometimes even if you are — lips can get really chapped in the winter. Mix some olive oil with sugar (you can also use honey and sugar) in a small bowl to create a scrub, and gently massage it into your lips.

Rinse off with warm water and finish with a lip balm.

7. Moisturize your neck, hands, and face with virgin coconut oil

Coconut oil has become the go-to product for beauty, health, and wellness enthusiasts. It's an amazing body lotion because it seals in natural moisture, and is naturally antibacterial and antifungal. Plus it smells amazing.

You'll usually find the unrefined virgin variety in health food stores like Whole Foods (look in the cooking section) — just make sure it's not hydrogenated, bleached, refined, or deodorized. We recommend Dr. Bronner's.

SEE ALSO: 11 Of The Best Products From Amazon's Grooming Department

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It's every business traveler's nightmare: Flying in to town for an important meeting and finding that your suit is wrinkled beyond repair.

One easy way to avoid creases is to wear your suit jacket on the plane instead of cramming it in your suitcase, said Eli Chess, managing partner at custom menswear maker Alabaster & Chess

But if you dread the thought of wearing business attire for any longer than you have to, there are also a few tricks to minimizing wrinkles, even if you're just packing a carry-on suitcase.

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What do you buy yourself after Mark Zuckerberg buys your company for over $2 billion?

This is the question that faced 22-year-old Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey earlier this year after Mark Zuckerberg tried out the Oculus Rift. Zuckerberg fell in love with the virtual reality headset, calling it "the coolest thing I've ever seen," and he and Luckey eventually struck a deal to have Facebook acquire Oculus VR for $2.3 billion.

With more than a little spending money now in hand, Lucky revealed in a recent interview with The Telegraph that he only allowed himself one big splurge: a $120,000 Tesla car.

Luckey said that Tesla is an example of American engineering at its finest, and called Tesla CEO Elon Musk "a cool guy who deserves my money."

Having created the Rift in his garage and having dropped out of college to turn Oculus VR into a company, Luckey also voiced his admiration for other self-made entrepreneurs.

"If you look at who most people respect now, they don’t idolize politicians, they idolize these people founding companies, the self-made entrepreneurs like Musk, Thiel and Zuckerberg," Luckey said.

You can read Luckey's full interivew over at The Telegraph, or you can read our interview with him (which took place before Facebook acquired his company) right here.

SEE ALSO: Oculus CEO Reveals How He Convinced Mark Zuckerberg To Try The Oculus Rift

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Alcohol consumption varies widely across the globe, and US drinkers can keep up with the residents of many other countries. 

As the map below from the World Health Organization shows, Russians and their neighbors drink more than almost everyone else in the world.

Portugal, Grenada, and Andorra are also ranked in the highest category at more than 12.5 liters per person over the age of 15 in 2010.

WHO notes in its 2014 report on alcohol and health that 48% of those included in this data abstain from drinking altogether. So if those people were excluded, per capita consumption among those who do drink would be even higher than what's shown on this map.

Check it out:

Canadians drink more than Americans, keeping pace with most European countries. Alcohol consumption is low in northern Africa, but the southern half of the continent sees higher drinking rates, especially South Africa and Namibia.

Alcohol consumption in Russia is a major concern. A study last year found that the high number of early deaths in Russia could be attributed to people drinking too much. Commons causes of early deaths include liver disease, alcohol poisoning, and getting into accidents or fights while drunk.

Other countries near Russia, including Ukraine and Belarus, have similar levels of alcohol consumption.

WHO's report notes that the European region contains just 14.7% of the world's population above the age of 15, but accounts for 25.7% of the total alcohol consumed worldwide. 

In addition to having some of the highest alcohol consumption rates in the world, Russia and Ukraine also have the most risky patterns of drinking, according to WHO:

To determine which countries have the riskiest drinking patterns, WHO considers the usual quantity of alcohol consumed per occasion, proportion of drinking events when drinkers get drunk, proportion of drinkers who drink daily or nearly daily, festive drinking, drinking with meals, and drinking in public places.

SEE ALSO: Beers Of The World [MAPS]

NOW WATCH: Is Draft Beer Better Than Bottled Beer?

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Maharlika is a restaurant in Manhattan's East Village that sells one of the strangest foods you can buy in New York City. It's called balut, and it's basically a hard boiled egg with a partially formed duck fetus inside.

We learned how to properly eat a balut from Maharlika owner Nicole Ponseca, and then took some back with us to the Business Insider offices to see how our co-workers would react.

Produced by Will Wei. Hosted by Sydney Kramer. Additional Camera by Justin Gmoser.

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Every few years, another diet seems to be all the rage. Food fads come and go every day. Go ahead, try to follow all of the advice that has proliferated: eat low fat, cut out all sugar, eat like a caveman, become a vegan, cut out gluten, go dairy-free, measure glycemic index.

You'd be left with nothing but water — and maybe spinach. (Most diets allow spinach.)

As you push to make positive changes in 2015, the best advice is simply to ignore the cacophony of "expert" voices. The secret to healthy eating is painfully basic. Michael Pollan articulated it memorably several years ago: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Mark Bittman, a longtime advocate of sensible eating, makes the case for some similarly untrendy basics in a 2014 column for The New York Times, arguing that vilifying salt, fat, and sugar misses the real problem. There is a mounting public-health epidemic in this country around obesity, diabetes, and other problems associated with unhealthy diet and sedentary living, and the answer, Bittman says, is simple: "Eat Real Food."

Almost all of the unhealthiest food — the products highest in bad fats, sugar, and salt — comes out of a bag or a box, not off of a tree or from the ground. 

Pollan recommended that people avoid "anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food" and "shop the perimeter" of the supermarket, largely avoiding the freezer and the junk-filled aisles. 

Bittman has a similar message, but he goes a step further, advocating a national program that would get this barebones advice across. With all the nutritional claims on processed foods, it's easy for people to think, even subconsciously, that sugar-free cupcakes are part of a healthy diet.

Sugar and other caloric sweeteners are indeed a major culprit in weight gain, but they are not a silver bullet. "Sugar is not the enemy, or not the only enemy," Bittman writes. "The enemy is hyperprocessed food, including sugar."

We can't ignore the fact that, pressed for time, money, and sometimes good advice, many people struggle to eat healthy. But the least we can do is start clearly presenting what Bittman calls "real food" as the ultimate health food — instead of gluten-free bagels and paleo protein bars.

And, better yet, we can level the playing field by working to make it so that hyperprocessed food — with its flashy packaging, advertising budget, and sometimes cheaper prices — is not more attractive than vegetables. 

"We don’t know everything about the dietary links to chronic disease, but the best-qualified people argue that real food is more likely to promote health and less likely to cause disease than hyperprocessed food," Bittman writes. "And we can further refine that message: Minimally processed plants should dominate our diets."

NOW WATCH: The Simple Science Behind Weight Loss

SEE ALSO: 90% Of Americans With Pre-Diabetes Have No Idea They Have It

NOW WATCH: This Is What 2,000 Calories Actually Looks Like

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Nine months after Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion, the virtual-reality startup is taking its latest device on tour.

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe brought the Oculus Rift "Crescent Bay" prototype to the Ignition 2014 event, where a handful of Business Insider reporters got to demo it. Business Insider CEO and editor-in-chief Henry Blodget also got in on the action.

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This video footage shows Empire Robotics' VERSABALL robot playing a game of beer pong.

VERSABALL is a robot that delivers an out-of-the-box, multitask solution that easily adapts to a variety of tasks.

Video courtesy of Empire Robotics.

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The holiday season is officially over, and you have one last Sunday to sleep off your hangover before it's back to work in 2015.

To get an idea of where Americans are most likely to be hungover today, we constructed the Business Insider Hangover Index.

Our two main sources were the CDC's 2011 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), an annual survey of Americans' health habits, and the Census Bureau's 2012 County Business Patterns (CBP) program, which tracks the number and size of businesses in counties and metropolitan areas across the country. A more detailed description of the methodology can be found here.

Once again, the Midwest dominated the list with Ohio and Kansas boasting multiple cities in the top 25. Big cities like San Francisco and Denver also made it onto this year's list. 

#25 Denver, Colo.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.66

6.6% admitted to heavy drinking

21% admitted to binge drinking

14.5 bars per 100,000 people

22.4 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

1.2 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here. 

#24 St. Louis, Mo.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.84

8.8% admitted to heavy drinking

22.9% admitted to binge drinking

19.5 bars per 100,000 people

5.3 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

0.9 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100.  Read the complete methodology here. 

#23 Billings, Mont.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.94

6.9% admitted to heavy drinking

18.8% admitted to binge drinking

44.8 bars per 100,000 people

8 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

4.9 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here. 

Here are 7 proven methods you can use to talk your way into an even cheaper gym membership.

Produced by Sam Rega.

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