I freely admit it: I’m a shameless Taco Bell fan.

It started in high school: With a newly-minted driver’s license, free rein until curfew, and nothing better to do in the suburbs, my best friend and I frequented Taco Bell about once a week. We’d play a game where we had to try something we’d never tasted before, slowly but surely making our way through the menu.

I kept the tradition alive even after heading off to college — we had a Taco Bell right on campus! Even today, I make a point of trying every new item that hits the menu.

After tasting every carb-y, cheesy combination the chain has dreamt up, I can tell you that some items are better than others. And despite the recent marketing campaign calling the quesalupa “the next big thing,” in my opinion, the best thing you can order is the classic Crunchwrap Supreme.

The Crunchwrap encompasses every flavor and texture without being too much. It’s both crunchy and chewy, thanks to a crisp taco shell in the middle and a warm tortilla wrapped around the outside.

You get both shredded cheese and warm, molten nacho cheese. The latter is probably not so much actual cheese as it is an amalgamation of processed ingredients, but it’s tasty, and that’s all that matters.

The lettuce and tomato provide a fresh kick that balances out the heaviness of the meat and cheese, and sour cream adds a burst of coolness.

Unlike nachos or a taco, the Crunchwrap’s shape also makes it easy to eat anywhere without spilling. You can take it on the go, dig in while riding in a car, and finish it without half ending up on the table — or your shirt.

And you can’t overlook one major perk: the price. It’s cheap, even compared to other Taco Bell items. For only $3.19, the crunchwrap serves as a filling meal all on its own.

By comparison, the quesalupa clocks in at $2.99 a pop, and I have to eat two to be as full as I feel from one crunchwrap. Tacos are only $1.19 each, but I don’t even want to think about how many of those I can down in one sitting.

So the next time you’re at Taco Bell — drunk or sober, I’m not here to judge — take it from someone who’s tried every item on the menu and go with the Crunchwrap Supreme. Don’t forget to top it off with plenty of fire sauce.

SEE ALSO: I've tested dozens of fast-food menus — here's the best item I've ever tried

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tried Taco Bell’s new Quesalupa

Aliaksei Zholner built a tiny working rotary engine out of a piece of paper. The engine runs on compressed air. He was prompted to build the engine after reading a comment on one of his YouTube videos.

Story and editing by Carl Mueller.

Join the conversation about this story »

Times Square, the world-famous intersection at 42nd Street, is synonymous with bright lights, Broadway shows, and various Disney characters. However, the Manhattan neighborhood comes from a secret history of vice. The blocks were lined with sex shops and pornography theaters, and 42nd Street itself was notorious for criminal activity.

"We would hear stories about people who would leave the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which is right on 42nd Street, and they'd go three or four blocks north to 45th or 46th Street to cross over to Times Square," Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins said in an interview with Business Insider.

New York City Mayors Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudy Giuliani all devoted municipal attention to the redevelopment and revitalization of the iconic midtown district.

Produced by Justin Gmoser and Arielle Berger

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

For the Huey family, the rules of a road trip are simple: take the back roads, eat at local restaurants, find a good place to spend the night before dark — and of course, take a ton of photographs for their combined 900,000 Instagram followers.

When National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey gave his then 4-year-old son Hawkeye a Fuji Instax film camera, he was immediately intrigued and delighted by the images Hawkeye created. 

Hawkeye soon had over 200,000 followers on his Instagram account (which Aaron runs on his behalf), was also being repped by National Geographic, and published his very own photo book funded by Kickstarter.

In this month's issue, National Geographic Traveler is publishing a selection of images from both Hawyeye and his father, putting their photographic perspectives side by side. 

Below, see their photos of some of the best trips they've taken together. 

SEE ALSO: A professional landscape photographer says these are the best places to see star-filled skies in the US

The Hueys love road tripping through southern California for all of the kitschy roadside pit stops and tourist attractions.

Aaron and Hawkeye captured these images of the eccentric characters of Slab City, California, northeast of San Diego.

A trip through southern California wouldn't be complete without a stop at Joshua Tree, where Aaron says the trees look like "something out of Dr. Seuss' 'The Lorax'".

Want to pick up some good habits? The best approach is to start small.

In the Quora thread "What are some good 'mini habits' to practice each day?" readers shared the simple habits you should follow every day to become a happier, healthier, or more productive person.

The best part is, each one only takes about five minutes to complete.

Here are some of our favorites:

SEE ALSO: 11 skills that are hard to learn but pay off forever

SEE ALSO: 13 highly useful life hacks you can learn in a minute or less

1. Brush your teeth and floss.

Brushing and flossing your teeth not only prevents gingivitis and tooth decay, but it can also save your life. 

The American Dental Association recommends you brush twice a day for two minutes and floss once a day. If you don't, you could be putting yourself at greater risk for developing dementia, diabetes, kidney disease, and cancer, among other things. —Pinkish Bamotra

2. Smile at yourself in the mirror.

Just after you brush your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror and smile, holding the smile for 10 seconds. Dr. Robert Zajonc, a famous psychologist, believed facial action leads to changes in mood, and in a 1989 study he found that participants who watched themselves smile in a mirror experienced a greater boost in mood than those who simply smiled. —Nistha Tripathi

3. Write down the day's most important task.

Also known as "eating the frog," decide on the one task you must perform that day to be successful and do it first thing when you get to work. —Patrick Mathieson

.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The real estate trick billionaires use to sell their penthouses faster and for more money

The UpCart can tackle any terrain, including stairs.  It weighs 10 pounds and can carry up to 100.

You can buy one for $89.95.

Story and editing by Carl Mueller.

Join the conversation about this story »

When it comes to pricey timepieces, most people think of brands like Rolex, which sells watches that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. But in reality, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The 11 watches outlined below are the latest crop of the most expensive watches on the market today, and many of them are going for millions of dollars. Most were recently unveiled at Baselworld 2016, the luxury watch industry's biggest trade show that takes place annually in Basel, Switzerland.

Why so costly? The complexities of the mechanics and the additions of precious gems — think lots of diamonds — up the ante for these accessories. 

Check out the best of the best, below.

SEE ALSO: These are the watches worn by Wall Street’s most powerful men

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

Gruebel Forsey Double Balancier à Différentiel Constant ($350,000)

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BBO_EQLrt-D/embed/
Width: 658px

Gruebel Forsey created a $2 million "Art Piece" watch back in 2014, but their latest creation is much more reasonably priced — and is a striking piece of art itself. The half-revealed timepiece has, among many other innovations, two angled balance wheels. Together, they ensure absolutely perfect timekeeping.

MB&F HM6 Sapphire Vision ($400,000)

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BAw7hUirs2B/embed/
Width: 658px

A "horological machine", this year's update to the MB&F Sapphire Vision family incorporates 11 pieces of sapphire crystal to create an indestructible and unique watch made of 475 components, including a flying tourbillon. It'll definitely turn heads. 

Harry Winston Histoire de Tourbillon 7 ($600,000)

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BDLhd8PjBI-/embed/
Width: 658px

You may not expect this almost sporty-looking watch from Harry Winston, whose brand is usually associated with ornate jewels. But look closer, and there are, indeed, jewels: 84 of them, along with 500 components in an 18k white gold case. The big technological development is the introduction of two biaxial tourbillons, which required "extraordinary technical intensity."

Forget plain old cheeseburgers, it's all about the Mac & Cheese Burger.

The Ainsworth, which has four locations around New York City and one in Las Vegas, created a three-cheese, three-level, mac & cheese burger.

The delicious monstrosity has taken over Instagram, and now it hopes to achieve world domination.

Story by Aly Weisman, editing by Jeremy Dreyfuss

Join the conversation about this story »

The Cuelight by Obscura is the coolest pool table in the world. An overhead projector casts images down onto the table. High-tech sensors track the balls as they move around the table.

Story and editing by Jeremy Dreyfuss

Join the conversation about this story »

John Di Domenico has been a Donald Trump impersonator for 12 years, but now that Trump is a presidential candidate business is really picking up.

Story and editing by David Fang

Follow INSIDER Culture on Facebook
Follow INSIDER on YouTube

Join the conversation about this story »

London-based fashion company Nobody's Child had two ads banned by the UK advertising regulator appearing to sexualize a child.

The ads had appeared on bus shelters in the UK in November 2015. One presented a female model on the arm of a sofa, wearing a black jumpsuit and high heels, while the other featured the same model sitting on a chair, wearing a tartan skirt (see both below.) Both ads had the brand name placed next to the model in prominent text.

The ads sparked complaints suggesting the poses and facial expressions of the model "sexualized someone who they considered appeared to be a child." Additionally, one complainant suggested the ads were "irresponsible and offensive" because they believed the images, juxtaposed with the brand name "Nobody's Child," implied the images were of a vulnerable child.

Nobody's Child responded that the 21-year-old model was "not sexualized" and "would not be perceived as being a child or vulnerable." The company added that it had not used heavy makeup or bright lipstick so that the ads did not project "any kind of vulgarity." The brand explained that its name demonstrates that its target audience is adults, who are longer children and "now their own person."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in its adjudication that both ads were "mildly sexually suggestive" and that the pose in the second "suggested vulnerability." It also noted that despite the model's age being 21, she appeared younger, especially in the context of the brand name "Nobody’s Child."

The regulator ruled that the ads must not appear again in their current form. It also told Nobody's Child to ensure that the same violations were not made in the future.

Here's the first banned ad:

And this is the second banned ad, which ASA said suggested vulnerability:

SEE ALSO: American Apparel has had another ad banned for appearing to 'sexualize a child'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'Batman v Superman' is a complete trainwreck, and director Zack Snyder is to blame

Over the past 30 years, the number of phone numbers people have has shrunk down to one, explains Greg Cohn, cofounder of an app called Burner.

People used to have a separate work line and even an office-wide phone. For personal calls, there was always the home phone. 

Now many people are down to just one: their cell phone.

And that's increasingly become a problem in a world where you sell couches on Craigslist to strangers, give out your number to Tinder dates you've never met, let Airbnb guests staying in your home text you problems, or make a living selling crafts on Etsy. 

"More and more stuff is just happening on one’s phone," Cohn said. "You might have a work phone. You might have an office phone. You might have an Etsy. It's all of these things."

Los Angeles-based Burner is making it so you can have a phone number for each of your identities. But it's not just a phone number like you use today. Cohn and his co-founder Will Carter want to turn the phone number into a tool for more than just receiving calls and texts. 

Why a Burner phone isn't a bad thing

It used to be that having a burner phone meant you were up to no good. The physical phones were bought to be discarded and used in all kinds of nefarious dealings (see HBO's "The Wire"). 

Burner, the app, wants to turn that idea of a discardable phone number into a positive business tool — and a way to safeguard yourself when dating. 

Carter and Cohn first hit on the idea in 2012 when they were building a different app that could show when people were available to talk. Instead of posting a personal number to Twitter to show you could talk, the app had a burner feature where a fake number could be created and disappear right after the person used it.  

The "talk when you're available" app idea floundered, but Cohn's friends latched onto the idea of being able to easily create a way to discard a phone number. 

The first lesson they learned, though, was that people wanted a Burner phone number more than just once. 

"We thought it was part of the fun, but you could almost hear the screams when people accidentally got rid of the number in the middle of a Craigslist deal," Cohn said.

The team initially underestimated how many different ways people would use a Burner number. Many use it for quick tasks like selling a couch on Craigslist so they don't have to give out their personal number. Airbnb hosts and Etsy sellers have created burner numbers to put on their profiles so customers can contact them, without ringing their personal cell all night long. 

"The peer to peer economy is connecting us in a new way to strangers, and what’s been clear to us is that text is a new way people want to communicate inside and outside those peer-to-peer markets," Cohn said. 

Taking back the power in online dating

It's also turned out to be a great tool for dating.

Instead of giving out a personal cell phone number that can be reversed traced back to the individual, more men and women are signing up to give themselves a layer of privacy. If the relationship ends badly, it's easy to burn the phone number and move on. If the relationship flourishes, most people eventually move to the personal numbers, but it's increasingly less awkward to have that conversation, Carter says. 

"I think more people are comfortable with the idea that it's not a personal thing [to be using a burner]," Carter said. "It’s to protect."

Now, 44% of its users have created a burner number for online dating, the company told Business Insider although it declined to comment on just how many users it has (it was last rumored to be in the millions).

An additional 43% have used it for buying and selling on sites like eBay and Craigslist. But some people are just using it as a second personal number — 20% of Burner users have created one because they moved and just wanted a local number without losing their old one.

More than just a telephone number

Having a Burner number through the app lets you text and call as normal, but it's even more powerful than that thanks to a series of integrations. 

"We think phone numbers in the future are important in the ecosystem," Cohn said. "Phone numbers should behave more like software."

As a result, they've turned it into a business tool beyond simple communication.

You can connect your Burner number with Dropbox to auto-save voicemails and picture messages. With Evernote, you can make an auto-reply bot so if an Airbnb guest texts "what's the wi-fi" it can respond without you typing out the password. 

There's an option to route and reply text messages to Slack — the new way Burner is handling much of its customer service requests.

Starting Tuesday, there's even the option to sync with Google and backup your texts and contacts to a spreadsheet so you don't lose them even when you burn the phone number.

"The thing we’re talking about with connections to Slack, you’re not seeing that from the big carriers," Cohn said. "You’re not seeing it from Sprint. You’re not seeing it from T-Mobile. Frankly, you’re not even seeing it from Apple."

SEE ALSO: Uber is trying to recruit engineers by randomly sending a coding game to play during rides

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This $99 device turns your phone into a 3D printer

Travel blogger Sam Huang has a penchant for outrageously luxurious flights, but he recently got to sample perhaps the most opulent commercial experience in the skies: The Etihad Residence.

The Residence comes with a full bed, a butler, and a private bathroom.

"Everything about the space is simply brilliant," he wrote on his travel-deals blog, TopMiles.

Huang got to check out The Residence on a flight from Sydney to Dubai, which would have cost $23,000 one-way.

Huang's ticket was actually for another part of the plane, in a luxury "apartment" that retails for $6,500. Huang got it for $108 and 60,000 AAdvantage miles, he says. Business Insider has previously confirmed with airlines that his booking methods are legitimate.

But The Residence was empty that flight, so the crew let him spend some time in it. Here's what the whole experience was like, in Huang's own words.

Note: All photos and text are used with permission.

SEE ALSO: This guy used a frequent-flyer loophole to take a $60,000 trip in a first-class suite on Emirates

On the day of my flight, I quickly checked in and headed to the relatively new Etihad lounge. The lounge was separated into two distinct sections, one for dining and one for lounging.

The lounging area was beautifully furnished with classy white and brown leather chairs.

I especially liked the wooden bookshelf, which gave the area a bit of a home-away-from-home feeling.

Luxury shoppers are highly coveted customers for brands and retailers. The top 10% of US household earners (those taking home $120,000 or more annually) account for approximately half of all consumer expenditures.

This demographic’s growing preference for online shopping is changing the face of luxury retail, and it has significant implications for how brands target luxury consumers.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we profile the luxury shopper and take a close look at the spending habits and preferences of high-income earners — including how and where they shop.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Discretionary spending among the wealthy is growing faster than for the average US consumer. Discretionary spending among those earning $120,000 a year or more is expected to increase 6.6% in 2016, reaching $406 billion, according to YouGov. Among the top 1%, it's expected to rise 10%. By contrast, discretionary spending for the average US consumer dropped 1% between 2014 and 2015.
• Wealthy consumers are expected to spend the most next year on fashion, travel, and dining. Among these categories, spending on fashion (specifically, apparel, accessories, and handbags) will grow the most, increasing 6.9% to $37.4 billion (roughly 9% of total discretionary spending). 
• Luxury brands are over-allocating ad spend to print media. The seven largest US luxury brands collectively spent $133 million last year on holiday ad spending, 57% of which was allocated to magazine ads, according to the Shullman Research Center. But among luxury shoppers, recall rates are higher for digital ads.
• There are signs that luxury shopping is less brand- and status-oriented than it once was. Luxury shoppers, like the average consumer, enjoy the convenience and low prices of online retailers like Amazon vs. shopping via official brand sites. Luxury shopping may become even more price-sensitive as millennials age. 

In full, the report:

• Sizes the market for personal luxury goods, by country.
• Measures the effectiveness of luxury marketing channels.
• Breaks down ad spend among luxury brands.
• Identifies where luxury consumers shop online and in-store.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now

PS. Did you know...

Our BI Intelligence INSIDER Newsletters are currently read by thousands of business professionals first thing every morning. Fortune 1000 companies, startups, digital agencies, investment firms, and media conglomerates rely on these newsletters to keep atop the key trends shaping their digital landscape — whether it is mobile, digital media, e-commerce, payments, or the Internet of Things.

Our subscribers consider the INSIDER Newsletters a "daily must-read industry snapshot" and "the edge needed to succeed personally and professionally" — just to pick a few highlights from our recent customer survey.

With our full money-back guarantee, we make it easy to find out for yourself how valuable the daily insights are for your business and career.  Click this link to learn all about the INSIDER Newsletters today.

Join the conversation about this story »

Top private high schools offer a lot of perks, from the newest classroom technology to pristine athletic fields. But when it comes down to it, nothing is more important than the quality of a school's academics. 

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on schools, just released its 2016 rankings of the best private high schools in the US, from which it also ranked the schools with the best academics— the smartest private high schools across the country. 

Niche determined the bulk of the ratings by weighing the composite SAT/ACT score, caliber of colleges graduates attend, and percentage of seniors who go on to four-year colleges for more than 8,000 schools. Niche also looked at student-teacher ratio and survey responses from parents and students. You can read the full methodology here. 

Read on to see the 50 private high schools with the smartest students in the country. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best private high schools in America

DON'T MISS: The 24 best private high schools in the Northeast

50. The Pingry School

Location: Martinsville, New Jersey

Average SAT score: 2060

Four-year matriculation rate: 100%

Popular college choices: Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University

"The curriculum here is top-notch," one junior said. "Many students go to Ivy Leagues and other prestigious universities. The schedule is awesome and provided like a college schedule. Workload is heavy, but students deal with it."

49. Newark Academy

Location: Livingston, New Jersey

Average SAT score: 2080

Four-year matriculation rate: 100%

Popular college choices: University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Columbia University

"Teachers are always happy to provide extra help, and for the most part create fun and engaging classroom environments," one senior said.

Students point out that excellent teachers make the hard work worth it.

"Definitely one of the best schools in the state," another senior noted. "Rigorous academics but the teachers make it possible for everyone to succeed as long as they apply themselves."

48. Noble & Greenough School

Location: Dedham, Massachusetts

Average SAT score: 2080

Four-year matriculation rate: 100%

Popular college choices: Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Cornell University

"Noble typically has one of the most impressive matriculation rates in the country and definitely prepares its students for college and the real world," one Niche user shared. "I've been a step ahead of my peers in college and I know many of my fellow classmates can agree to this.

"Students and alumni are all well connected and the school has given me valuable life skills," they added. "I did plenty of internships in high school and the networks that I have been able to create will benefit me later on in the future."

When newlyweds Said Gutseriev, 28, and Khadija Uzhakhovs, 20, tied the knot in Moscow last weekend, they threw an extravagant celebration that's rumoured to have cost up to £700 million ($1 billion).

The wedding featured celebrity performances from Jennifer Lopez, Sting, and Enrique Iglesias, as well as a custom-made designer dress.

All of it was paid for by the groom's father, the Kazakh-born entrepreneur Mikhail Gutsuriev, according to BuzzFeed. The oligarch, whose oil businesses helped make him rich, has a net worth of £4.3 billion ($6.2 billion) on Forbes.

The bride, Uzhakhovs, is a dentistry student at Moscow University, while Gutseriev was educated at Harrow and Oxford in the UK, The Daily Mail reports. Gutseriev is working as a director for his father's business Russneft, according to an interview in the Russian newspaper Kommersant cited by BuzzFeed.

Take a look at a selection of' photos and videos from the couple's ridiculously expensive wedding below.

The wedding took place at Safisa, an upscale banqueting venue in Moscow. As well as a fountain, the space (and even the ceiling) was covered with flowers and lights.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BDdg-CpJRjO/embed/
Width: 658px

The bride's gown was designed by Ellie Saab and imported from Paris. The dress is worth up to £18,000 ($25,925), according to The Telegraph.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BDdf7cMJRvy/embed/
Width: 658px

It was so heavily embellished with beads that it weighed nearly 2 stone. The bride also needed help walking around in it.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BDdhEAUPwJq/embed/
Width: 658px

.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: James Altucher makes an argument for not paying back your credit card debt

Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are five of the biggest religions in the world. Over the last few thousand years, these religious groups have shaped the course of history and had a profound influence on the trajectory of the human race. Through countless conflicts, conquests, missions abroad, and simple word of mouth, these religions spread around the globe and forever molded the huge geographic regions in their paths.

Produced by Alex Kuzoian

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

Many people will be surprised to hear that England has a desert. Located on the southeastern coast of Kent, Dungeness is a somewhat desolate landscape that is home to two nuclear power stations and a small estate.

The United Kingdom's national weather service, the Met Office, classified Dungeness as Britain's only desert due to its dryness and lack of surface vegetation. Other than power plant workers, occasional tourists, and the few residents who live in homes on the estate, it's rare to see any signs of human life, and it's unclear just how many people live there.

Photographer Robert Walker first visited Dungeness in 2011 and decided to document what he saw. "I am struck by the emptiness, the exhaustion, and the excess of weather," Walker told Business Insider. "The area feels out of sync, self-contained, and beyond conventions, all of which I find surprisingly liberating." 

Over the course of four years, he visited the desert multiple times to create a series he called "The Fifth Continent". 

Below, see the emptiness of Dungeness, Britain's only desert. 

SEE ALSO: These creepy photos of American cities without people make them almost unrecognizable

Dungeness is about 77 miles southeast of London and covers an area of only 12 square miles.

Dungeness is located on the southeastern coast of England, where the English Channel separates the UK from France and the rest of Europe.

The desert is so isolated that it is only accessible by two roads: one from New Romney to the north, and another from Lydd to the northwest.