Wanda Long, an 88-year-old retired schoolteacher, has been sewing quilts for decades — she's made 70 to date — and has touched the lives of hundreds of people in the process.
For more heartwarming stories like Long's, check out This is America.
Story and video by Adam Banicki
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The price of living can fluctuate a lot from state to state, and even throughout different parts of the same state.
Personal-finance site Finder.com has published a list of the cost of "living comfortably" in different parts of the US.
While the term "living comfortably" is subjective, they define it as being able to save a 20% down payment for a home, cover the average per-person expenditure, and pay off non-mortgage-related household debt.
Here's how much you'd have to earn to live comfortably in the 23 most expensive cities.
SEE ALSO: The 10 best careers in tech, according to the people who work in them
We recently had the chance to take a cooking class at Lamai Thai Cooking School, where we learned to make pad thai the right way.
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If you are one of those folks who vows every year to use your health club membership, but finds yourself hating to go to the gym, you might love a "fitness coaching" app.
I've been testing one called MotionTraxx for about a month, and it's highly motivating to use.
It's not just a fitness tracker that logs what you do after you do it. MotionTraxx solves the problem of being bored at the gym by giving you a big selection of coached workouts from well-known fitness personalities to do at the gym, delivered to your headphones from you phone.
One word of warning: This app offers kick-your-butt classes in the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) category of workouts.
HIIT means you do bursts of activity that get your heart rate up very high. It's great for fitness, but if you are fairly new to exercise, this app is perhaps not the best place for you to start.
MotionTraxx is for iOS and Android, and you can try 5 free sessions when you register. (Another word of warning: the app loves to spam you with email to also motivate you, but I unsubscribed and it stopped. ) It costs $5/month or $35 a year. For that price, you get a constantly refreshed stream of workouts, which can also be downloaded and accessed offline.
Here's a look ...
SEE ALSO: MyFitnessPal can now help you find a restaurant based on how many calories you want to eat
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It's important for guys to have their priorities straight.
And when it's a blizzard outside, those priorities are simple: warmth first, and style way down the list.
Your first priority when it's snowing outside should always be to bundle up, first and foremost. Damn the fact that your warmest gloves and hat don't match, damn the fact that your wool coat is more stylish than your parka, and damn the fact that your snow boots are a bit clunky.
You need to stay warm! It's time to break out your Arctic-rated parka if you're braving the storm, and you just can't care what anyone else thinks.
More to the point, they won't really care, either — they'll be too busy hurrying around, trying to not catch frostbite, just like you.
The best way to combat blizzard conditions is to have a warm and trusty down parka. These jackets aren’t necessarily about looking good. You just need to stay as warm as possible.
All the best brands like Canada Goose, The North Face, and Patagonia make fantastic parkas that will keep you warm anywhere south of the Arctic Circle.
Left: Patagonia Men's Stormdrift Parka ($449), Right: The North Face Mount Logan Parka ($400)
Now you know why we called it a winter essential.
SEE ALSO: 16 things the modern gentleman should buy for the winter
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NOW WATCH: You've been tying your scarf all wrong — here's how to keep your neck warm all winter
Equinox is arguably the swankiest gym chain in America.
Members pay $200-$300 initiation fees and $160-$250 monthly rates. They rave about the gym's amenities, which include classes taught by former Olympians and spa treatments.
While I’m content with my measly $15/month gym, I still wondered about what it’s like to be a member of Equinox.
How tough are the classes? Do only beautiful people exercise there?
While I can’t afford its lavish prices in the long-term, I tried Equinox for a week through a friend's guest pass. Here’s what I found out.
WATCH NOW: Here's How $98 Lululemon Yoga Pants Compare To Cheaper Alternatives
There are 33 locations in New York and I was able to tackle five of them. Each location has benefits —some have pools and hot tubs, while others have steam rooms and saunas. My personal attraction and motivation to try Equinox was for the pool. I haven't been able to get in a pool since I moved to Manhattan!
I always feel like there's a rush to sign up for a fitness class before spots run out, but that wasn't the case at Equinox. Members use an app to check-in, book a class, schedule training, and search for clubs.
Some gyms allow you to sign up 26 hours in advance online, while others offer walk-in only classes. When I signed in for my class at the gym, I was given a number so that employees can keep tabs on who's in the class. No sneaking in here!
The screens of the cardio equipment offer every aspect of distraction that you might need while running. I had never seen or used anythinglike it.
I could go on Facebook, read the news, watch TV, or listen to podcasts all while attempting to run at 6.5 mph. It made my half-hour cardio session fly by.
Hopefully your car is equipped with a properly inflated spare tire and a jack. But are you prepared to survive if you are stranded for several hours in the cold? How about a couple of days? Build this simple survival kit to feel better prepared when an emergency arises on the road.
Refer to sources such as FEMA's kit for more suggestions to prepare for the worst.
Produced by Justin Gmoser. Additional Camera by Jason Gaines.
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Stanford lecturer and designer John Edmark created a gorgeous set of "bloom" sculptures that literally come to life when spun under a strobe light. They're based on the Fibonacci sequence found in nature.
Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Ben Nigh
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Many people still think of wine exclusively as a compliment for fine dining. And it is a great compliment to a special meal. But if that is the only time you break open a bottle of wine, you are missing out. It truly can be an everyday (or many times a week) accompaniment to meals... and snacks! Yes, wine and cheese is a great pairing. And a great steak and Cabernet Sauvignon or oysters and a crisp Chardonnay are classic combinations for a reason. But there are many other combinations that I love and recommend trying.
I've suggested 14 wines specific wines to pair with 8 common snacks/meals that I've tried and enjoyed tremendously. Most of these wines are widely available but the important thing isn't the specific wine but the style of wine selected. Go to your favorite wine store and ask for something similar and you should find a good substitute for most of these wines very easily.
Let's begin our tasting.
The time-honored classic snack’s combination of fried corn, cheese, and salt just scream for a nice, crisp wine. The Indaba Chenin Blanc provides a lot of bang for the buck. The high acidity of this white matches well the Cheetos and increases your production of saliva which helps boost your flavor receptors so you never get tired of this salty, cheesy goodness. The wine typically sells for $13-15 per bottle.
The Grgich Hills Chardonnay is a classic Napa Valley Chardonnay: extremely acidic and clean. Again, the acid makes the Cheetos pop. If you're going to splurge this is an excellent choice for almost any food. This wine typically sells for roughly $40 a bottle. And why not Cheetos?
Red wine can be extremely fruity. Strong notes of cherry, strawberry, and so on really don't work well with pizza, as they tend to really clash with tomato sauce. So I gravitate to more earthy, "old world" reds from Italy, Spain, and occasionally France when eating any Italian American specialty. The San Felice Chianti Classico is my go to choice, if I can find it. The wine is less fruity and more earthy, which works well with your favorite pizza joint slice. At roughly $15-17 a bottle, this wine punches well above its weight class and is great for pretty much any meal featuring a red sauce (or chicken and pork.) For a bonus upscale choice, go with any of San Felice's more expensive wines — I've yet to try anything from this producer I didn't like.
Your marriage may be doomed, and John Gottman Ph.D. can tell nearly 93% of the time just by talking to you and your spouse for three minutes. Here are the four signs your relationship might be headed toward its demise.
Produced by Emma Fierberg. Original reporting by Eric Barker.
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While some destinations have remained well-known luxury destinations for years, others are just now emerging as travel spots attractive enough to add to your bucket list.
Robb Report, which specializes in publishing content for ultra-affluent consumers, recently released a list of the top 21 luxury destinations to visit this year.
To put the list together, they worked with their base of writers to determine which destinations would be most interesting to high-net-worth travelers, based on each location's concentration of luxury hotels and unique experiences.
While some picks include those that have been on the radar of the wealthy for years, like Fiji, others are hidden gems that are starting to gain attention, like the Cape Winelands.
As you prepare to plan your trips for the year, here are 21 places to consider adding to the mix.
SEE ALSO: 50 places you should travel to in 2016
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As the capital of China's Sichuan Province, Chengdu is rising as one of the country's most cosmopolitan cities. The Chunxi Road Pedestrian Street, which covers an area of around 2.15 million square feet, is home to incredible fashion and top-notch food.
Besides being the natural habitat of giant pandas, Chengdu is also home to luxury hotels like the St. Regis Chengdu and the Temple House, while new destinations from Mandarin Oriental, Waldorf Astoria, and the Fairmont are set to open this year.
Montenegro has an incredible scenery of glistening beaches amidst rugged mountains, ancient walled towns, and quaint palazzos.
This, in combination with its warm climate, has made it a premiere destination for superyacht owners. Last year, Porto Montenegro, a luxury yacht port and marina village, unveiled its new yacht club, expanded its marina, and hosted the first Superyacht Rendezvous in the country after years of the event taking place in Monaco.
The bustling Colombian capital of Bogotá sits surrounded by incredible Andean peaks. Besides its array of preserved colonial buildings and bars, the city is also becoming a gastronomic hotspot.
Head to its Zona G (the G standing for gourmet) for incredible food at restaurants like Criterion, voted one of the 50 best restaurants in Latin America in 2014.
When it comes to working out, everyone has their favorite method — including celebrities.
But not all types of exercise carry the same benefit. Which one you do depends on your goals: Do you want to bulk up? Slim down? Or just get fit and healthy?
Given all the different advice out there, it's important to know what the research supports.
Here are the workout regimens of some of our favorite celebrities, which we've evaluated according to science.
READ NEXT: Most celebrity diets are bogus, but here are the ones you should consider
SEE ALSO: We're finding more and more evidence of the link between exercise and healthy brains
The scoop: When the pop diva is on the road touring, she makes sure to spend an hour on the treadmill every day. "For me, running is about blasting a whole bunch of new songs and running to the beat. It's also good because it makes me find a gym wherever I am," Swift said, according to WebMD.
Should you do it? Yes! Running is a great form of exercise. A 2014 study of more than 55,000 adults published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiologists found that runners were 30% less likely to die of any cause, and 45% less likely to die of cardiovascular causes, compared with nonrunners. And short, high-intensity runs may have many of the same benefits as longer runs, research suggests.
The scoop: To get ridiculously ripped to play a boxer in the new Rocky movie, "Creed," Jordan worked with personal trainer Corey Calliet. His workouts included 45-60 minutes of cardio, boxing training, and an intense regimen of sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and other exercises, according to Men's Journal. (See the full workout here.) He paired these workouts with a strict high-protein diet to build muscle.
Should you do it? Probably not. Unless you're planning to star in a boxing movie, you don't need to follow such an extreme workout plan. The cardio workouts and high-intensity exercises may be good for you, but boxing and the head injuries it causes are linked with a host of problems, including chronic traumatic brain injury, which in the long term can lead to punch-drunk syndrome, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a tragic brain disorder also found in football players.
The scoop: The reality-TV star is just one of many celebrity devotees of Barry's Bootcamp, a popular fitness studio that debuted in California in 1998 and now has 18 locations around the US, Norway, and England. The nightclub-esque gym offers hour-long workouts that include 25-30 minutes of interval cardiovascular treadmill routines and 25-30 minutes of strength training with free weights, resistance bands, medicine balls, and other equipment.
Should you do it? Perhaps. One of our reporters tried a week of Barry's workouts in Manhattan, and concluded that the classes helped her build endurance and shave more than a minute off her mile time. Also, studies show that interval training may have many of the same benefits as longer workouts. But it ain't cheap: Though prices vary, a single class at the Chelsea location will set you back $34.
Every job comes with its own unique perks, but NASA astronauts seem to have the best perk of all: the opportunity to visit space.
That's not the only bonus, however, according to NASA astronaut Andrew J. Feustel.
"The other wonderful thing about this job is the opportunity to go and talk to people about what we do — especially kids," Feustel told Business Insider during a press event at NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center in December.
Feustel first signed on to be a NASA astronaut in July 2000 and is now one of the 47 active astronauts at NASA today. He's spent over 40 hours in the unprotected confines of outer space, performing space walks that included upgrades to prolong the life of the famous Hubble Space Telescope.
"I hope that over the 15 years that I've been an astronaut and in the years to follow, I will continue to be able to inspire children," he said at the event which was to promote the Digital HD and Blu-ray/DVD release of the sci-fi film "The Martian." Both are now available.
For Feustel, there was no question growing up that space was going to be a part of his future. He was born in 1965, right in the middle of the great space race between the US and USSR, and it was this feverish thirst for space exploration that inspired Feustel, along with an entire generation, to reach for the stars.
But it's not the drive to become an astronaut that Feustel tries to inspire in the generations to come. He envisions something grander.
"I hope that every time I go to talk to a school, youth organization, or university that there's somebody there that heard what I said and was inspired personally to go off and pursue whatever goal they had. It doesn't have to be space exploration," he said.
He continued: "It doesn't have to be to become an astronaut, but that they were inspired to follow the dream that they had and pursue that and be successful."
SEE ALSO: One key fact you should know before becoming a NASA astronaut
DON'T MISS: 11 mind-melting photos will make you realize how shockingly small Earth is
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NOW WATCH: We drove NASA’s monster Mars car with moves that’ll blow Ferrari out of the water
In 2007, BI Video Producer Eames Yates interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Washington, D.C. and asked him what the greatest threats to the world are. With all the turmoil the world faces in 2016, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's responses remain relevant.
Produced by Ruchika Agarwal and Eames Yates
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Everyone needs a pick-me-up sometimes.
And as it turns out, there are a bunch of healthy things you can do to lift your spirits.
We've scoured the research to find some of the best ways to improve your mood — no pill or special elixir required.
Here are a few:
NEXT UP: A Harvard psychiatrist says 3 things are the secret to real happiness
SEE ALSO: 19 tiny life changes you can make right now for a healthier year
If you're feeling down, it might be because you're not spending enough time in nature. Living in cities has been linked to stress and mental illness, but a dose of greenery could go a long way.
In one 2012 study published in the Journal Psychological Science, researchers gave more than 10,000 people questionnaires about their mental health over nearly two decades, and found that people who lived in urban areas with the most green space (such as parks) reported feeling the least mental distress and the highest well-being.
But you don't need to live near a park to get all its benefits —preliminary research suggests that even a 90-minute walk in nature can chase away negative thoughts.
Often all it takes is some upbeat tunes to shrug away those sad feelings.
A 2013 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who listened to positive music while attempting to improve their mood reported feeling happier than people who listened to music that wasn't positive, or didn't actively try to boost their mood. So crank up the Pharrell Williams!
If you want to stop feeling awful and start feeling awesome, consider this: Several recent studies have found that experiencing a sense of awe— the feeling you get looking up into the night sky, for example — can leave you feeling less stressed and more satisfied.
As part of a two-part study published in 2015, students filled out a questionnaire and submitted samples of their spit for analysis. The students who said they had recently had awe-inspiring experiences had lower levels of a stress-related substance called interleukin-6 in their spit, compared with those who didn't feel awe.
So next time you're feeling blue, why not take a scenic hike or watch the sunrise?
At 131 feet to the bottom, the Y-40 pool at the Hotel Terme Millepini in Italy is officially the deepest swimming pool in the world, according to Guinness World Records. That's essentially as deep as a 12-floor building is high, and longer than Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue.
Story by Sophie-Claire Hoeller and editing by Carl Mueller
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Some of the most successful business people not only work hard, but sleep less, too.
But it's not easy to function on just a few hours of sleep.
Online mattress and bedding company SleepyPeople.com tipped us on a list of sleep hacks it put together recently.
Follow these simple hacks and you'll have a much better time sleeping.
SEE ALSO: 19 LinkedIn hacks that could help your business make tons of money
