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Everything you always wanted to know about condoms — but were afraid to ask

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Entrepreneur Jeffrey Hollender achieved major success after founding household products company Seventh Generation. Hollender embarked on his most recent venture with his daughter Meika. The father-daughter duo co-founded Sustain Condoms, which produces – you guessed it – sustainable condoms that are primarily marketed to female consumers.

We spoke to the Hollenders, who enlightened us to some interesting facts about the condom industry and how the products are manufactured.

Produced by Graham Flanagan

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How to dress like a leader in any work environment

Just looking at these tiny shoebox apartments in Hong Kong will make you claustrophobic

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China Cage Shoebox Houses

Hong Kong has a problem. With its population growing steadily, it doesn't have enough space to house the 7.2 million people in its 31 square miles.

But where the government sees a major issue, realtors see dollars. Because of demand, they can charge high rents for tiny spaces, charging up to HK$90, or $11.60 USD, per square foot.

And the spaces are getting smaller. People are living in apartments stacked with wooden boxes, known as "coffin houses," and sleeping in cages about the size of rabbit hutches.

The photos of these spaces are extreme and expose the harsh realities of a city with the highest levels of inequality in the developed world.

(Captions by Reuters and Christian Storm)

Because of China's massive population, there is a shortage of housing. Because of demand, realtors can charge astronomical prices for minuscule spaces, like the 80-square-foot apartment of Michelle Wong, a single mother, which she rents for $387.



Li Rong, 37, sits on a bed in her 35-square-foot subdivided apartment, with just enough room for a bunk bed and small TV, on the fifth floor of an old industrial building in Hong Kong. Li and people like her live in some of the priciest real estate per square foot in the world.



Most of these apartments are subdivided, meaning one unit intended for single occupants has been instead divided into multiple living spaces and rented individually.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






Why couples that 'hook up' early tend to be less happy in marriage

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millennials dancing

Contrary to popular belief, millennials don't have casual sex more than the generation before them

Gen X and Gen Y are equally into it.

That's why both generations should consider a recent report from the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, which says that hooking up at the start makes a less-satisfying marriage, should the relationship make it that far. 

"In general, couples who wait to have sex later in their relationship report higher levels of marital quality," write authors Galena K. Rhoades and Scott M. Stanley, who drew their data from a sample of 418 people married between 2007 and 2013.

Rhoades and Stanley offer two explanations. 

For one, they say "some people who are already more likely to struggle in romantic relationships — such as people who are impulsive or insecure — are also more likely to have casual sex." 

Insecurity creates problems in relationships because, attachment theorists argue, feeling like you can't get close to people squelches any chance of increasing intimacy, and that intimacy helps couples to endure the rough spots that any relationship is bound to hit

Second, starting out by hooking up could mean that both parties are blinded by attraction. 

"Relationships that begin with a hook-up may be relationships whose partners are not as well-matched on other characteristics that promote marital happiness, such as sharing similar worldviews, values, and interests," Rhoades and Stanley write. 

As we've noted before, computability between couples is a many-layered thing. While couples therapists have told us that you need to have that physical spark to begin a relationship, it's not enough on it's own — ideally, several layers of your personality will connect

If a relationship starts with sex, then you might be glossing over those more subtle aspects of making a match.

"The context of hooking up may mean getting together under hazy circumstances, after something that 'just happened' one night, and then sliding into a longer relationship," the authors write.

SEE ALSO: America's Top Couples Therapist Says All Successful Marriages Share This Trait

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NOW WATCH: What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means








Two llamas on the loose caught the nation's attention in a dramatic chase in Arizona

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Two quick-footed llamas ran amok through the streets of a retirement community in Arizona on February 26, before being captured by authorities.

Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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The internet is losing its composure over this dress that might be white and gold or black and blue

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There is a dress that might be black and blue or white and gold. 

It started on this Tumblr page here, where a user posted this dress with the caption, "guys please help me - is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the f**k out"

Here's the dress.

dress

And people on Twitter are completely freaking out whether this dress is blue and black or white and gold. (Note: some of the embedded tweets contain NSFW language.)

Taylor Swift sees black and blue. 

Mindy Kaling has also chimed in.

And BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith.

 And New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac.

And of course, Denny's.

Naturally, the debate surrounding the dress includes the Illuminati.

And the llamas that were loose in Arizona earlier today.  

And amid all this, there might be an explanation here. 

Here's what the text in that embedded tweet says:

"Your eyes have retinas, the things that let you interpret color. There's rods, round things, and cones that stick out, which is what gives your eye a textured appearance in the colored part. The "cones" see color. The "rods" see shade, like black, white and grey. Cones only work when enough light passes through. So while I see the fabric as white, someone else may see it as blue because my cones aren't responding to the dim lighting. My rods see it as a shade (white).

There's three cones: small, medium and large. They are blue sensitive, green sensitive, and red sensitive.

As for the black bit (which I see as gold), it's called additive mixing. Blue, green and red are the main colors for additive mixing. This is where it gets really tricky. Subtractive mixing, such as with paint, means the more colors you add the murkier it gets until its black. ADDITIVE mixing, when you add the three colors the eyes see best, red, green and blue, (not to be confused with primary colors red, blue and yellow) it makes pure white.

—Blue and Black: In conclusion, your retina's cones are more high functioning, and this results in your eyes doing subtractive mixing.

—White and Gold: our eyes don't work well in dim light so our retinas rods see white, and this makes them less light sensitive, causing additive mixing, (that of green and red), to make gold."

And this user says he turned his phone's brightness from low to high and saw the colors switching. 

So give that a shot, maybe.

SEE ALSO: This dress looks white and gold to me, but Google says it's black and blue

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NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do








Is the dress white and gold or black and blue? Photoshop says 'both'

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Social media is going crazy over a dress that might be black and blue or white and gold

The dress first appeared on Tumblr with the caption, "guys please help me - is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the f**k out."

Here is the dress.

White Gold Blue Black Dress

In short, some people see a dress that is blue and black, some see a dress that is white and gold, and some see one combination and later see another. According to one poll on Buzzfeed, 74% see white and gold.

So we put the dress to Photoshop, a program that should not be susceptible to variations in genetics or eye strength, to see what it sees.

Here are the results and they are fascinating. Basically, one of the colors falls on the black/gold border and the other falls on the blue/white border.

Blue and black or gold and white dress

At this point it appears to be just how your eyes adjust to the mix of colors. If your eyes are more sensitive to blue and black, that's what you see, if they are more sensitive to the lighter colors, that is what you see.

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How Jack Daniel's makes so much whiskey in such an old distillery

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jack daniel's barrel house

Despite being one of the most valuable alcohol brands in the world, Jack Daniel's is manufactured in a 147-year-old distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. that is actually on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Register of Historic Places.

It's so old that I was worried while standing in a hot and deafening room of whiskey stills on a recent tour that one of them might erupt.

Nonetheless, the 1,700-acre operation has around 435 workers and ships out 119 million bottles in a year.

To meet rising global demand, in August parent company Brown-Forman Corp. announced a major expansion for the distillery costing more than $100 million. The enlargement will provide 20 percent more production and storage capacity while preserving the familiar landscape.

Maintaining traditional methods, after all, is key both to the brand and the product.

The distillery was founded almost 150 years ago when Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel ran away from home and started making whiskey with a Lutheran Minister when he was only seven years old.

"Church people started talking about how the minister was working for God on Sunday and then making liquor on Monday. In order to keep the church family happy the Minister sold the business to Jack for $25," distillery tour guide Jesse James told me.

We took a tour to see how the whiskey is made.

The Jack Daniel Distillery is located in Lynchburg, Tenn., a dry county that's a 90 minute drive from Nashville.



Everywhere you look there are creative uses of whiskey barrels.



There was already a crowd at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, with 1,300 guests expected over the course of the day.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider







The sneakers from Kanye West's bizarre New York Fashion Week show are going for thousands of dollars on eBay

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Yeezy BoostSneakerheads and Kanye West fans are losing their minds over West's newest sneaker drop: the Kanye West x Adidas Originals Yeezy 750 Boost.

The sneaker, which was the star of West's otherwise lackluster Yeezy New York Fashion Week show, dropped the day after the show at a retail price of $350.

They quickly sold out both in stores and online. Now they're going for much more than that on eBay.

Auctions for the shoe are ending with a final selling price of 3-5x what the sneakers originally sold for. Some of the more desirable sizes are even selling for more than $2,000.

This kind of hype isn't new for a West-designed sneaker — though it new for Adidas. This is his first collaboration with the sportswear manufacturer after his deal with Nike fell through in 2013 over royalty concerns, according to the New York Daily News.

The price gouging online comes after a very rocky launch of the sneaker, which was planned to occur in three stages, Complex notes. The first launch used a an app-based reservation system that only worked within the five boroughs of New York City during NYFW.

This worked well enough. But one week later, the wider online release saw a spate of crashes and bugs with Adidas' website, which frustrated would-be sneaker buyers. On February 28, the sneaker will be launched globally.

Kanye Yeezy Boost EbayThough they are a limited edition, West has promised that there wil be enough shoes for everyone. 

“Eventually everybody who wants to get Yeezys will get Yeezys,” West told Ryan Seacrest.“Adidas has promised me that because there's so many kids that have wanted them that couldn't get them and I talked to the heads at Adidas and they said we can make them."

The sneakers were created through a collaboration between Kanye West and Adidas' Originals line, the rest of West's fashion line. They're made from premium suede and currently only come in grey in hi-top, though many other versions are expected.

When creating the shoe's aesthetic Kanye said he was looking to create a "sexy Ugg."

Check out some of the completed auctions for the shoe below.

Kanye Yeezy Boost EbayKanye Yeezy Boost EbayKanye Yeezy Boost EbayKanye Yeezy Boost EbayKanye Yeezy Boost EbayKanye Yeezy Boost Ebay

SEE ALSO: Kanye West held his first fashion show with Adidas and it was pretty bizarre

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The 40 smartest people of all time

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Albert Einstein

American electrochemical engineer Libb Thims took an unorthodox approach when he set out to rank the smartest people of all time.

Thims first compiled a list of people with IQ scores over 200 as a matter of curiosity. Anything over 130 is extremely high, though it should be noted that IQ tests are a highly imprecise and controversial measure.

Later, Thims ranked everybody who had a strong aptitude, marked capacity, or heightened inclination in some area that coupled with their IQ would make them worthy of the title genius.

Not wanting to exclude any geniuses who existed before IQ tests were invented, Thims referred to IQ ratings based on the Cox methodology, which predicts IQ based on how much people accomplished every 10 years of their lives. Thims then adjusted the IQ scores he thought were inaccurate by reading through many of the individuals' works to check for errors.

Thims evaluated both IQ and accomplishments to rank the smartest people in history.

Of course, this list is highly subjective and at times seemingly random. Still, we found it thoughtful enough to warrant a second look.

40. Richard "Rick" Rosner

Television personality and former stripper Rick Rosner is one of the smartest living men in the world with IQ scores ranging from 140 to 250 by different measures.

He has taken more than 30 IQ tests and received the highest score ever on more than 20 of them, he told Business Insider back in November. He considers himself particularly good at math, physics, and "stringing words together."

He takes around 50 pills every day, including Omega 3 fish oil capsules and Metmorfin, "for health, longevity, and to make my brain work better," he said.



39. Marilyn vos Savant

Born in 1946, Vos Savant has earned IQ scores ranging from 157 to 228.

Vos Savant dropped out of Washington University after two years to dabble in stocks and real estate, according to Jezebel. She later became a writer and married Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart.

She achieved fame when her extrapolated score of 228 (based on a childhood test) was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1985.

Since 1986, she has written an "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine, where she was famous for solving the Monty Hall problem.



38. Christopher Langan

With an IQ reported between 174 and 210, Christopher Langan was dubbed the smartest man in America by Esquire Magazine.

Langan is an autodidact, meaning he is largely self-taught. He has spent much of his adult life developing a Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe, a kind of theory of everything which he calls the CTMU.

At 6'1" and 275 pounds, Langan is an avid weightlifter and recovering agoraphobic who pays the bills doing temp work as a bartender, night-club bouncer, and personal trainer.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






‘Avatar Land' is coming to Disney World in 2017 — Here’s how it will look

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A theme park based on "Avatar," the highest-grossing movie of all time, is coming to Disney World in 2017.

For the past year, Disney imagineers have been expanding a portion of the park's Animal Kingdom into "Avatar Land."

We finally have our first look at a design for the upcoming theme park.

Disney Parks showed off new concept art for "Avatar Land" featuring some of the floating islands featured in the film.

Here's the new image Disney Parks' blog showed off of the concept art for the park. 

avatar land

"Avatar" director James Cameron recently attended the parks to review construction along with Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Tom Staggs.

james cameron plants avatar landavatar land james cameron

One of the coolest things he was shown was a carpet that changes colors after passersby walk on it.avatar land color changing ground

Avatar Land is set to open in Animal Kingdom in 2017.

Take a look at the making of the park below via Disney Parks.

 

SEE ALSO: These are the next "Frozen" dresses every little girl is going to be obsessed with

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The official electric shaver of the NFL won't cut your face like all those cheap plastic razors [38% off]

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braun electric razor nfl

Cheap plastic razors will inevitably lead to cuts all over your face.

And just imagine delivering a presentation to your boss with pieces of tissue stuck to your chin. (Yikes.)

To avoid shaving nicks, get yourself a wet and dry electric shaver. We recommend the NFL's official one — the Braun Series 3-340s.

This one's good for thin, thick, long and short beards. You'll get a close shave without irritating your skin. 

Braun Series 3-340s Wet & Dry electric shaver: $80.99 $49.95[38% off]


 

SEE ALSO: The 5 best headphones you can get this week for under $20

SEE ALSO: 6 shampoo to use if you're worried about hair loss

SEE ALSO: Turn your iPad into a floating screen with the HoverBar

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David Foster Wallace explained in 2 sentences why perfectionism destroys creativity

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David_Foster_Wallace

David Foster Wallace was one of the greatest writers of his generation. 

His postmodern mega-novel "Infinite Jest" made him a literary star.

His essays — ranging from politics of the dictionary to the epic weirdness of the campaign trail and the religious experience of witnessing Roger Federer play tennis— are without equal. 

As you might expect from such an insightful, creative person, his insights into the creative process were pretty phenomenal, too. 

In 1996, when he was touring to support "Jest," he talked with WNYC anchor Leonard LopateDuring that interview he dropped this gem about the destructively preventative power of perfectionism: 

Perfectionism is very dangerous, because of course if your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything...

It's actually kind of tragic, because it means you sacrifice how gorgeous and perfect it is in your head for what it really is.

Wallace explained that no matter how amazing your finished product is (like, say, a groundbreaking novel), it's never going to measure up to the hopes that you had for it. 

That's why, as sociologist Brené Brown has so thoroughly argued, doing great creative work requires removing the sense of shame that so often comes from not being perfect. 

The quote, which we originally spotted on Brain Pickings, was turned into the delightful animated short below.  

SEE ALSO: Science says people decide these 9 things within seconds of meeting you

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A former investment banker explains how to do Wall Street bonus season

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champagne celebrate

Bonus season is tricky. If you get shorted, you can't complain to your friends or family outside of the industry to them you're still getting a huge load of cash. And to your bosses, you don't want to appear ungrateful, irrational, or weak.

Fortunately, former investment banker Daniel Davies wrote a how-to guide in the FT on "the etiquette of accepting an objectively huge sum of money when it is not as much as you wanted."

Here are his pointers:

1. Language is key.

Davies was once told that the only words you should use are "That's," "Not," and "Enough."

Nobody needs a soliloquy about your talents and expertise, just be assertive about your own labor market value.

2. Be ready with a counteroffer.

"If you did not get as much as you think you are worth it means your boss does not think your market value is as high as you do," Davies wrote.

The best bonus negotiators are at it months in advance, threatening to leave in order to gauge their worth to the company. If you haven't done that, you should still come prepared with a solid estimate of what the number will be.

3. Don't tell your colleagues ANYTHING.

It's not cool to brag about higher-than-expected compensation. At the same time, if negotiations go worse than you'd hoped, and you don't have a better offer from another bank, you don't want to let that on either.

Regardless of the meeting's results, Davies says, there's only one thing to do afterward: "order the biggest bottle of champagne you can afford and sit there all afternoon, offering a glass to colleagues as they drift in. And if anyone asks you how you did, smile enigmatically and say 'more than I deserved, but less than I wanted.'"

Read the full story in the Financial Times>>

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NOW WATCH: 7 Things Your Boss Should Never Say To You








Nike is proposing a 31,500-square foot new store in Miami with a rooftop basketball court

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Nike is trying to make a radical addition to shoe retail stores.

According to Curbed Miami, Nike has proposed a 31,500-square foot, three-story retail store in Miami that will have a rooftop basketball court and jogging track.

Customers trying on sneakers will no longer have to walk in small spaces to test the feel — they can put them to action by playing basketball or going for a run.

The plans for the building sound grandiose. The first two levels will be entirely stocked with retail with 17-feet high ceilings, and the total height of the building (including the sports deck) will be 51 feet.

Here's a look at the current space and the proposed designs for the building.

The current space, which is a going-out-of-business Sherman Williams and Pottery Barn.

Miami Nike street

The rooftop sports deck will include the jogging track, basketball court, and views of the surrounding neighborhood.

Nike rooftop track

The building will be 51 feet tall, considerably higher than the neighboring shops on the same block.

Nike building proof

The exterior has polished concrete, laminated glass units, and metal screen panels.

Nike building proof 2

There are also other retail stores on Lincoln Road.

Nike building proof 3

Here's what the building will look like lit up at night.

Nike building proof 4 

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Inside the gorgeous New York triplex with a panic room on every floor owned by a Saudi Prince that's selling for $48.5 million

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Upper West Side is listing for $48.5 million triplexA Saudi prince has listed his luxurious, 10,500-square-foot triplex in New York City for a staggering $48.5 million. 

The seller is reportedly Prince Nawaf bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, according to the Wall Street Journal’s investigation into the property. 

The home merged a series of smaller apartments on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors of the Heritage at Trump Place.

It has four bedrooms, a bulletproof panic room on every floor, a hair salon, and deluxe built-in saltwater aquariums.

Ryan Serhant and Brian Chan of Nest Seekers International are sharing the listing with Raphael De Niro of Douglas Elliman.

Welcome to the gorgeous 10,500-square-foot triplex in the Heritage at Trump Place.



The listing spans three floors and was created by merging six smaller units.



The complex has incredible views of the Hudson River and comes fully furnished.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






25 of Banksy's most brilliant works

23 daily habits that will make you smarter

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thought thinking light bulbGetting smarter isn't something that happens overnight. Instead, you have to build your intelligence every day through intentional daily habits.

In a recent Quora thread, "What would you do to be a little smarter every single day?", readers shared their advice on good habits you can establish.

Here are some simple actions that could help you become a smarter person.

1. Come up with 10 ideas every day.Think about how to reduce poverty, how to solve a daily problem you have, interesting movie ideas, or anything. It doesn't matter what subject your ideas fall into, as long as you're working your brain and your idea muscles. Your list might even lead to a new startup idea or writing subject. —Claudia Azula Altucher

2. Read the newspaper.It will help you become more aware of the important things happening around the word. You'll learn to form your own opinions and connect the dots between seemingly unrelated things. You'll also have a lot more to talk about at parties or with friends.Manas J Saloi

3. Play devil's advocate.Take something you recently learned and generate a unique opinion on it that wouldn't immediately come to mind. Try to support it with evidence, and be open to the idea that new evidence will change your opinion. Repeat this every day, and you'll become much better at thinking outside the box.

If you're feeling stuck, try reading and critically evaluating the editorial section of papers. They will help you understand how other people form arguments and express their opinions.Peter DePaulo

4. Read a chapter in a fiction or non-fiction book. Aim to read a book a week. You can always find pockets of time to read, whether on your daily commute or while you're waiting in line. Goodreads is a great way to keep track of everything you read and to also find a community of other readers.

Fiction books are great for understanding characters and getting absorbed into another perspective, while non-fiction books are great for introducing you to new topics, from politics to psychology. —Claudia Azula Altucher

5. Instead of watching TV, watch educational videos.Sometimes, it's more fun to watch things about a subject you love than to read about it, and you can learn a lot from other people's experiences.

You can find fun, educational videos on Khan Academy or watch TED talks. You can also find good ones on Youtube's channel SmarterEveryDay. In videos, the information is often presented in a digestible, memorable way, so you can be assured they'll stick. —Hendrik Sleeckx

6. Subscribe to feeds of interesting information. Follow interesting voices on Facebook and Twitter, so you'll always learn something new when you look at your newsfeed or dashboard. For example, if you want to keep up with the latest news in science and technology, subscribe to the "I Fucking Love Science" page on Facebook. You can also follow email newsletters, such as Cal Newport's Study Hacks and Today I Found Out.Saurabh Shah

7. Check in with your favorite knowledge sources.Every day, scroll through Quora, Stack Overflow, specialty blogs, or any other sources that satiate your hunger for knowledge. This is an extremely easy habit, because other users are curating the content for you, so all you have to do is follow the ones who write about topics interesting to you. Try using Pocket to save articles for later reading, and then try to get through them before going to sleep at night. —Manas J Saloi

8. Share what you learn with other people.If you find someone to debate and analyze ideas with, you can add to each other's knowledge and gain new perspectives. Also, when you can explain ideas to someone else, it means you've definitely mastered the concept. You can even share what you learn without directly talking to someone. Many people like to start blogs so they can engage others in online dialogue.Mike Xie

9. Make two lists: a list of work-related skills you want to learn now and a list for things you want to achieve in the future.Google Docs is a convenient way to keep track of your lists. For both, decide what you want to learn, compile sources that will teach you these skills, and then work on them each day.

For example, if you work in a computer-science related field, your first list might suggest you learn something new in Python one day or that you try using MongoDB another day.

For your second list, you can think about long-term goals, such as whether you want to go into marketing or architecture. Write down the small steps you need to take to reach that goal, whether it's by reading the experts in those fields or taking classes at a local college. —Manas J Saloi

10. Make an "I Did" list.At the end of each day, write down what you completed. This will help you feel better about all the things you accomplished, especially if you're feeling discouraged. It will also help you reflect on how productive you were and how you can re-structure your to-do lists for the next day. —Claudia Azula Altucher

11. Write down what you learn.You can start a blog or use an app like Inkpad to help you keep track of everything you learn. Not only will this be a great way to keep a record of everything you're doing, but it's also a good source of motivation to keep you accountable. You will want to learn more if you know that at the end of the day you'll have to write about it.Manas J Saloi

12. Stimulate your mind. Going on a daily run is a great way to get your brain flowing and to keep your mental health in shape. It's also a great way to think through difficult decisions or process new information.Rick Bruno

13. Take online courses. Check out this list of the most popular online courses for professionals. Make sure you don't overload yourself; commit to one to two and truly focus on them. The syllabi will also keep you on track, so you know you will be doing something every day, whether it's listening to a lecture or working on an assignment. Manas J Saloi

14. Talk to someone you find interesting.Even if they're strangers, don't be afraid to approach them. Ask about their interests and how they discovered them. Oftentimes, you learn the most from people you barely know. Manas J Saloi

15. Hang out with people who are smarter than you. Spend as much time as you can with smart people. Every day, you should strive to have a coffee date or walk with someone who inspires you.

Always be humble and willing to learn. Ask as many questions as possible. If you are always around people who are more knowledgeable than you, you'll have no choice but to learn more.Manas J Saloi

16. Follow your questions. If you see or hear about something cool, don't just let the moment pass. Follow up — pursue your curiosity and find the answer to your question. —Mike Xie

17. Use a word-of-the-day app. You will increase your vocabulary, which can help you in competitive tests like the SAT or GRE, or even just sound more eloquent in daily interactions.

You can also try to learn new vocabulary in a different language. Every day, try to add five to 10 more words to the foreign language you are trying to pursue. You can use LiveMocha, Basuu, or DuoLingo. Manas J Saloi

18. Do something scary."Getting out of our comfort zone always makes us wiser." Every day, push yourself a little further. Try public speaking by joining a ToastMasters class, lead a meeting by volunteering a proposal at work, or reach out to someone you really admire by sending a quick letter or email.Claudia Azula Altucher

19. Explore new areas. If you can't travel every day, at least try to find something new within your hometown. You'll meet different people, learn new facts, and understand something new about the world. It's a lot more productive than staying at home and watching TV. —Manas J Saloi

20. Play "smart" games. Some games, like chess and Scrabble, expand your mind. Challenge yourself when you play them. For example, play Scrabble without a dictionary. You can also solve puzzles via games like Sudoku, 2048, and Doors. —Saurabh Shah

21. Set aside some time to do nothing.Oftentimes, sitting in silence can help you get inspiration and reflect on your day. —Claudia Azula Altucher

22. Adopt a productive hobby. If you have something you can work on every day, from knitting to fly fishing, you can actively learn more just from doing. For instance, you may try to play a new piece of music every day, read a physics textbook, write a few more pages in your novel, or learn a new computer skill. Mayank Rajput

23. Apply what you learn.If you recently learned a new coding skill or how to play an instrument, make sure you are using that skill in your life as often as possible. Learning by doing is one of the most effective ways to become smarter. —Himanshu Pal


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New York City makes it easy for corrupt people to hide their money in real estate

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time warner center new yorkA recent The New York Times investigation into Manhattan's luxury real estate market exposed how easy it is for corrupt foreign officials and convicted felons to move to the city. 

The Times's Louise Story and Stephanie Saulfound more than a dozen wealthy foreigners living in the luxury high-rise the Time Warner Center who were tied to corrupt activity and “have been the subject of government inquiries around the world.” 

It took 13 people more than a year of research to unmask the secretive owners at the Time Warner Center. They did so by “searching business and court records from more than 20 countries, interviewing dozens of people with close knowledge of the complex, examining hundreds of property records and connecting the dots from lawyers or relatives named on deeds to the actual buyers," the reporters wrote.

All of this proves just how easy it is to stow money in New York real estate, and why it's such a draw for anyone looking to hide the source of their of wealth. And as the Times investigation shows, some very corrupt individuals are using their real estate purchases as their  Swiss bank accounts, and reaping stable returns from their investments. 

In some cases, it also allows them to hide that money from their victims.

Ownership is obscured by using limited liability companies (LLCs) and trusts that have no explicit ties to the owners' names. Even when you are able to pin down a name associated with an owner (or their relatives or lawyers), as The Times did, the fact remains that trusts and LLCs can transfer ownership without any real estate record. 

Many of the sales are also in cash, according to The Times, so there are no mortgage statements or public documents.

That promise of anonymity has become paramount for city developers, brokers, accountants, lawyers, and politicians hoping to draw them into buying the next multi-million dollar penthouse. 

These secretive ownership arrangements are not limited to the glossy penthouses of Manhattan. According to data from First American Data Tree that The Times analyzed, 44% of sales over $5 million in the US were to shell companies. 

“We like the money,” Raymond Baker, president of the nonprofit Global Financial Integrity that tracks illicit financial flows, told The Times. “We like the money that comes into our accounts, and we are not nearly as judgmental about it as we should be.”

Check out the full, must-read Times article here.

SEE ALSO: The new billionaires' row — see the incredible transformation of New York's 57th Street

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NASA gives a heart-warming send off to Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy

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leonard nimoy

After being hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease earlier this week, famed Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy died at age 83 Friday morning

Nimoy is best known for his acting role as the exasperatingly logical alien, Spock, who served as the first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the original Star Trek series that first aired in 1966 — just three years before Americans walked on the moon for the first time.

Many fell in love with the Star Trek series and the inspirational message it brought, that space is the final frontier. The scientists and engineers at NASA have been exploring this final frontier since the time of Star Trek.

Shortly after hearing the news of Nimoy's death, NASA tweeted a message that will warm the hearts of even those who never saw a single episode of arguably, the best space series in history.

The image above was taken in the year 1976 when the space shuttle Enterprise was fresh off the manufacturing line — so to speak. You can see Nimoy in the center of the photo along with members of NASA and the Star Trek crew, including a young George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu alongside Nimoy in the original Star Trek franchise

And yes, the space shuttle Enterprise was named after Star Trek's starship that Nimoy called home during his career not only as an actor but as an inspiration that will live on.

READ MORE: These are the hardest things to get used to when living in space, according to astronauts

SEE ALSO: The closest images ever taken of the sun show just how powerful it really is

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