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The 26 best action movies you can stream on Netflix right now

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Jaws

There's never a bad time to sit back and watch a good action movie. 

The nonexistent (or besides-the-point) plot, the constant explosions, the muscular heroes doing what needs doing: What better way to take time out from the daily grind?

Thankfully, Netflix has a great collection of action movies right now, including the addition in September of classics like "Top Gun" and "Jaws."

Here are 27 action movies we highly recommend that you can stream on Netflix:

SEE ALSO: 100 movies on Netflix that everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

“Armageddon” (1998)

Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck go to space to save the world from a hurtling asteroid. With "Bad Boys" and "The Rock" already under his belt, director Michael Bay became the top action director going into the 2000s with this film.



“Back to the Future” (1985)

This classic is filled with machine gun-toting Libyans and a race to make it in time for a lightning storm that will keep you antsy (in a good way) the whole running time.



“Battle Royale” (2000)

In the future, kids are forced to an island and must kill one another until only one is left standing. The Japanese title has been hugely influential on genre filmmaking in the 2000s.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A woman who's lived abroad for 7 years explains how she built a business in between traveling to 50 countries

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Luxe Adventure Traveler Jennifer and Tim Marrakech Morocco

In 2009, Jennifer Dombrowski moved to Italy.

She had been living and working in Arizona when her husband got transferred through his military job to a small town in Northern Italy. She asked her employer if she could continue her work as a social media strategist for a university for a six-month trial period from her new home near Venice.

"That six-month trial period turned into six years," she told Business Insider.

Today, Dombrowski, 36, and Tim Davis, 35, are living in Bordeaux, France, building their own luxury travel business, Luxe Adventure Traveler. They've visited more than 50 countries on four continents.

Below, Dombrowski told Business Insider how she came to start her own business, what it's like living and working thousands of miles from home, and what everyone gets wrong about luxury travel.

SEE ALSO: A 31-year-old who's been traveling the world for 5 years explains how she affords it

Dombrowski launched a hobby blog to keep friends and family in the loop almost immediately after arriving in Italy.

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 In the Dead Sea, Jordan.



"The first weekend we had free, we were like, 'What are we going to do? Hey, let's go travel — Slovenia is an hour away, and Croatia another hour. We visited three countries in one weekend, so let’s start blogging about it," she said.

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 In Puglia, Italy.



With Dombrowski keeping her US-based job with regular hours, and Davis holding a military job, they weren't able to indulge every travel whim. Instead, they sat down with their calendars and highlighted the limited times they could take off and travel together.

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 In the Bahamas.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

25 affordable fall getaways for off-season travel

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MontrealAs the summer rush winds down, anyone lucky enough to have leftover vacation days can score some cheap travel deals. In many places, fall means cooler weather, fewer crowds, and lower prices for everything from accommodations to tours to plane tickets.

How much can travelers save? That varies by destination, but traveling to the Caribbean in late fall, for instance, can yield savings up to 60 percent on hotels, according to Caribbean Travel & Life. MouseSavers.com says a room at one of Disney World's least-expensive hotels, the All-Star Music Resort, costs about 25 percent less during fall weekdays compared with summer weekdays. And fall plane fares to far-off destinations can drop as much as 29 percent compared with summer fares, according to a study by Hipmunk.

Whether you want a quick, close-to-home getaway or a trip abroad that otherwise may be out of reach, here are 25 enticing destinations that cost less in the fall.

New Orleans

New Orleans offers a cultural mashup unlike any other. Creole architecture, Cajun food, and the nation's best jazz are just some of the draws in this tourist mecca. It's a wise idea to keep an eye on the weather -- tropical storms and hurricanes are a risk in the Big Easy during the fall -- but hotel rates remain low through the beginning of winter. Wait until October or November for the most comfortable temperatures, with highs in the 70s, but be sure to visit before tourists come storming back for Mardi Gras and other spring festivals.



The Bahamas

A classic family-friendly Caribbean getaway, the Bahamas are much cheaper in autumn because most visitors hold off until colder weather hits on the U.S. mainland. Of course, fall is also hurricane season. For travelers willing to roll the dice (travel insurance might come in handy), resort prices can plummet by half or more during the off-season. Warm temperatures remain -- average highs don't dip below 80 until December -- but September can be a bit rainy. Hold off until late October or November for more sunny days and a lower risk of hurricanes.



Cape Cod

Long days at the beach may be out of the question, but Cape Cod is a much less pricey destination in the fall. When the weather is too chilly for a dip in the sea, the towns are just as quaint and the seafood just as delicious. Highs around 70 in September and in the 60s during October make autumn prime time for other outdoor activities, such as biking, hiking, and horseback riding. Fall foliage is also a draw, but it doesn't peak on the Cape until late October or early November.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Why many super-successful people follow a simple rule created by Benjamin Franklin

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bill gates

At the age of 10, Benjamin Franklin left formal schooling to become an apprentice to his father. As a teenager, he showed no particular talent or aptitude aside from his love of books.

When he died a little over half a century later, he was America’s most respected statesman, its most famous inventor, a prolific author, and a successful entrepreneur.

What happened between these two points to cause such a meteoric rise?

Underlying the answer to this question is a success strategy for life that we can all use, and increasingly must use.

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Charlie Munger's favorite life hack can help anyone be more successful

The five-hour rule

Throughout Ben Franklin’s adult life, he consistently invested roughly an hour a day in deliberate learning. I call this Franklin’s five-hour rule: one hour a day on every weekday.

Franklin’s learning time consisted of:

• Waking up early to read and write
• Setting personal-growth goals (i.e., virtues list) and tracking the results
Creating a club for "like-minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community"
Turning his ideas into experiments
Having morning and evening reflection questions

Every time that Franklin took time out of his busy day to follow his five-hour rule and spend at least an hour learning, he accomplished less on that day. However, in the long run, it was arguably the best investment of his time he could have made.

Franklin’s five-hour rule reflects the very simple idea that, over time, the smartest and most successful people are the ones who are constant and deliberate learners.

Warren Buffett spends five to six hours per day reading five newspapers and500 pages of corporate reports. Bill Gates reads 50 books per year. Mark Zuckerberg reads at least one book every two weeks. Elon Musk grew up reading two books a day, according to his brother. Oprah Winfrey credits books with much of her success: "Books were my pass to personal freedom." Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, reads two hours day. Dan Gilbert, self-made billionaire and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, reads one to two hours a day.

So what would it look like to make the five-hour rule part of our lifestyle?



Empty space is central to the five-hour rule

To find out, we need look no further than chess grandmaster and world-champion martial artist Josh Waitzkin. Instead of squeezing his days for the maximum productivity, he’s actually done the opposite.

Waitzkin, who also authored "The Art of Learning," purposely creates slack in his day so he has "empty space" for learning, creativity, and doing things at a higher quality. Here’s his explanation of this approach from a recent Tim Ferriss podcast episode:

“I have built a life around having empty space for the development of my ideas for the creative process. And for the cultivation of a physiological state which is receptive enough to tune in very, very deeply to people I work with … In the creative process, it’s so easy to drive for efficiency and take for granted the really subtle internal work that it takes to play on that razor’s edge.”

Adding slack to our day allows us to:

1. Plan out the learning. This allows us to think carefully about what we want to learn. We shouldn’t just have goals for what we want to accomplish. We should also have goals for what we want to learn.

2. Deliberately practice.Rather than doing things automatically and not improving, we can apply the proven principles of deliberate practice so we keep improving. This means doing things like taking time to get honest feedback on our work and practicing specific skills we want to improve.

3. Ruminate. This helps us get more perspective on our lessons learned and assimilate new ideas. It can also help us develop slow hunches in order to have creative breakthroughs. Walking is a great way to process these insights, as shown by many greats who were or are walking fanatics, fromBeethoven and Charles Darwin to Steve Jobs and Jack Dorsey. Another powerful way is through conversation partners.

4. Set aside time just for learning. This includes activities like reading, having conversations, participating in a mastermind, taking classes, observing others, etc.

5. Solve problems as they arise. When most people experience problems during the day, they sweep them under the rug so that they can continue their to-do list. Having slack creates the space to address small problems before they turn into big problems.

6. Do small experiments with big potential payoffs. Whether or not an experiment works, it’s an opportunity to learn and test your ideas.



The difference the five-hour rule makes

For many people, their professional day is measured by how much they get done. As a result, they speed through the day and slow down their improvement rate.

The five-hour rule flips the equation by focusing on learning first.

To see the implication of this, let’s look at a sales call (note: replace “sales call” with any activity you do repeatedly).

Most professionals do a little research before the call, have the call, and then save their notes and move on.

Somebody with a learning focus would think through which skill to practice on the call, practice it on the call, and then reflect on the lessons learned. If that person really wanted an extra level of learning, he or she would invite a colleague on the call and have the colleague provide honest feedback afterward.

Embracing a learning lifestyle means that every time we make a sales call, we get better at doing sales calls. Focusing on learning un-automates our behaviors so we can keep improving them rather than plateauing. Every event is an opportunity to improve.

By focusing on learning as a lifestyle, we get so much more done over the long term.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

These are the worst stings in the world, according to a guy who's experienced them all

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justin schmidt the sting of the wild

Early in his career, Justin Schmidt realized he had a problem.

Schmidt, a budding entomologist, and his zoologist wife had just returned to the University of Georgia from a trip around the country.

They'd been collecting different species of harvester ants, "nasty stinging insects whose venom chemistry was unknown," as he describes them in his fascinating new book, "The Sting of the Wild."

To learn the details of the venom for his dissertation, they had to analyze incredibly large numbers of the creatures, which meant getting up close and personal with them.

Debbie, Schmidt's wife, describes her first harvester sting in the book as a "deep ripping and tearing pain, as if someone were reaching below the skin and ripping muscles and tendons; except the ripping continued with each crescendo of pain."

After collecting buckets of the creatures, the plan was to analyze them and compare the venoms from different specimens. To assess venom, Schmidt needed to evaluate both toxicity and pain. Toxicity was straightforward — already existing measures could be used. But there was no existing scale to measure the pain of insect stings.

Thus was born the "Schmidt Pain Scale for Stinging Insects." It was a four-point system, anchored by the well-known sting of a honey bee (rating a two), something people all over the world could be familiar with. To go up or down a full point, a sting had to be discernably more or less painful than the stings on another level. Half points could be used for pricks that fell somewhere between levels.

Over the years, Schmidt added new species to the list. He mostly didn't try to get stung. It just happened, more than 1,000 times, from at least 83 different species that have been evaluated on the index.

We've picked out insects that will illustrate the full scope of the scale, including a few that demonstrate the worst of the worst:

SEE ALSO: A man who has been stung more than 1,000 times reveals the one bug you really want to avoid

Red fire ant

Scientific name: Solenopsis invicta

Range: Native to South America

Description: "Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet and reaching for the light switch."

Pain level: 1



Western cicada killer

Scientific name: Sphecius grandis

Range: North America

Description: "Pain at first sight. Like poison oak, the more your rub, the worse it gets."

Pain level: 1.5



Western honey bee

Scientific name: Apis mellifera

Range: Native to Africa and Europe

Description: "Burning, corrosive, but you can handle it. A flaming match head lands on your arm and is quenched first with lye and then sulfuric acid."

Pain level: 2



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

9 ways to figure out what you want to do with your life

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thinking

"So what do you want to do with your life?"

If this question strikes terror into your heart and you're unable to render an answer, you're not alone.

Even some of the most successful people figured out what they wanted to do later in life.

Luckily for you — and anyone else who hasn't quite figured it all out yet — there are a few steps you can take to help you stay calm and move toward a career you'll love:

SEE ALSO: 19 highly successful people who prove it's never too late to change careers

DON'T MISS: 17 quick and easy daily habits that can significantly improve your life

Take a deep breath and know this is normal

Understand that the way to your dream career is not always a straight path, says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, and creator of the video course "How to Get Hired." What's important is that you're traveling in the right direction.

"You may find in your career that the journey getting there is more fun than the destination," he says.

If this advice isn't consolation enough, then consider the many success stories that began much later in life.

Julia Child didn't learn to cook until her late 30s, and she wrote her first cookbook when she was 50. And Jon Hamm was working as a waiter at 29, not a successful actor playing a philandering ad man in a hit TV show.



Lean into the uncertainty

In a LinkedIn post, Deepak Chopra, popular author and founder of The Chopra Foundation, said that he wished he embraced the wisdom of uncertainty at a younger age.

"At the outset of my medical career, I had the security of knowing exactly where I was headed," he wrote. "Yet what I didn't count on was the uncertainty of life, and what uncertainty can do to a person."

"If only I knew then, as I know now, that there is wisdom in uncertainty — it opens a door to the unknown, and only from the unknown can life be renewed constantly," he wrote.



Experiment

Following your passion sounds great, but when you don't know what that is, things get a little hairy.

Ivanka Trump recently told Business Insider that the best way to discover what you love is to try new things. Think less and do more.

"Passion is something that's hard to discover purely through introspection," she explains. "You have to have experiences — you have to learn real time and through experiences what makes you tick."

This means identifying the things that you could potentially be interested in and then just going for them, whether it's through internships or taking jobs in fields that could potentially be interesting for you.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

10 facts about divorce every couple should know before getting married

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Ben Affleck Jennifer Garner divorce

In the US, the divorce rate has been steadily declining since the 1980s.

Research reported in The New York Times suggests that about one-third of current marriages will end in divorce — not the 50% statistic you've likely heard time and time again.

Unfortunately, that means there's still a decent chance you and your partner will split up, even after pledging lifelong devotion to each other. That idea leaves room for a lot of questions:

What makes a divorce more likely? What will happen to our kids if we do split up? What will happen to my health?

To help address some of these queries, Business Insider dug into years of research on the predictors and consequences of marital dissolution and highlighted the most intriguing findings below.

Keep in mind that all these studies offer general takeaways about modern relationships — no one can predict with 100% accuracy what will happen to yours. 

SEE ALSO: 7 ways to ruin your relationship for good

Couples who marry in their late 20s may be less likely to divorce

Research led by Nicholas Wolfinger, a professor at the University of Utah, found that contrary to a long-held belief, waiting longer to wed doesn't necessarily predict a stronger marriage.

Instead, the best time to marry seems to be between the early 20s and early 30s. If you wait until you're older than 32, your chances of divorce start to creep up (though they're still not as high as if you get married in your teens).

As Wolfinger writes on the Institute for Family Studies blog, "For almost everyone, the late twenties seems to be the best time to tie the knot."



Couples may be most likely to divorce in March and August

2016 research presented at the American Sociological Association found that March and August bring spikes in divorce filings.

The researchers say it's meaningful that March and August follow holiday or vacation periods. In the paper, they suggest that holidays represent something like "optimism cycles"— we see them as a chance to start anew in our relationships, only to find that the same problems exist once they're over.

The researchers also suspect that oftentimes our holiday experiences can be stressful and disappointing, laying bare the real issues in our marriage. As soon as they're over, we're ready to call it quits.



Married people who watch porn may be more likely to divorce

A recent study, which was presented at the American Sociological Association, found that married people who start watching pornography are about twice as likely to get divorced as those who don't.

The study, which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, involved about 2,000 participants over the course of nearly a decade. It found that the effect was even stronger for women, who were about three times as likely to get divorced if they started watching porn during the study period.

But, as Elizabeth Nolan Brown points out on Reason, it's possible that taking up a porn habit may signal that something else is going wrong in your relationship. Maybe you're dissatisfied with your sex life or maybe you and your partner aren't communicating well.

In other words, it might not be the porn, per se, that's causing marital problems. It might be a symptom of other underlying issues.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's what it's really like interning at Google (GOOG, GOOGL)

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Google Intern

While most major tech companies these days close out the summer by waving goodbye to another batch of interns, no program has enjoyed the limelight more than Google's.

The search giant set the standard for the kinds of employee perks that have spread through Silicon Valley and its intern experience even got the Hollywood treatment in the rollicking 2013 blockbuster "The Internship."

But what's it really like being a Google intern? 

A few current and former dished on their experiences:

SEE ALSO: Here's how much you would have made if you'd invested in Google at its IPO

Here's how you get the gig:

Most of the Alphabet companies offer internships for students, but the largest number of opportunities are with teams across Google. All you have to do is fill in an application online. 

"I applied on a complete whim — when my friend told me to do it I laughed because I thought there was no way they'd accept me," one rising sophomore who recently completed a summer internship told us. "But they did." 

Applicants get graded on their general cognitive ability, role-related knowledge (hence coding tests for engineers or questions related to Google's ad operations for people on the business side), level of leadership, and "Googleyness." 

 



That isn't to say that a blind application is the only way to get in.

Another summer intern we talked to, Emily Wicki, explained how she cold-emailed a Googler employee whose business card she'd gotten through a career fair. She was very interested in digital forensics and eventually ended up keeping in touch with a different Googler long enough that she felt pretty confident that she'd already sealed herself a spot before even filling out an official application. She ended up working as a software engineer on the incidents response team. 



If you're accepted, prepare for a cushy salary, lavish perks, and a whole lot of fun.

Google doesn't offer the highest of Silicon Valley intern paychecks, but the monthly salary is still crazy-steep, and comes with perks like free food and intern excursions. One highlight we heard about several times was when Google rented out a theme park for an entire day for all its interns. 

Google pays engineering students a median $6,666 per month (that would multiply out to $80,000 a year), along with a median $9,000 stipend, according to two interns we talked to. Non-engineering interns may make slightly less. That lines up to what's on salary website Glassdoor.

(For comparison, Facebook gives its employees free housing and salaries can hit $8,400 a month.)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 bedtime habits of unsuccessful people

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sleep pillow insomnia sleeping bed nightmare

Sleep is kind of a big deal.

The more quality shut eye you get, the more refreshed you'll be in the morning. In turn, that'll set you up to effectively tackle the challenges of your day.

On the opposite end, as Arianna Huffington told Business Insider, there's a direct correlation between sleep deprivation and an increase in stress and negative health effects.

That's why it's important to adopt some positive bedtime rituals to ensure you're making the most of your sleep.

People who've gotten mired in unhealthy sleep habits are basically sabotaging their future.

Here are some disastrous sleep-related habits that you should avoid:

SEE ALSO: 7 bedtime rituals that are hard to adopt, but will pay off forever

Forgetting to plan out the next day

By creating a game plan for the next day, you're ensuring that you'll have a smoother morning. Unsuccessful people waste the night away without thinking of tomorrow at all. This disorganization will likely carry into the next day.

Heck, it's fine to plan things out on the fly every once in a while. However, if you really want to make the most of your time, sticking to a routine is a good idea.



Not reflecting before going to bed

Unsuccessful people may not see the need to reflect, or they might simply feel that their lives are too hectic to squeeze a few minutes of silence in.

Of course, you probably don't have a ton of time during the day to sit down and contemplate you're life. That's why establishing a time for reflection right before bed is a great idea. This practice will help you become a more mindful, grateful person.



Bringing technology into the bedroom

Unsuccessful people wreak havoc on their own sleep cycles by refusing to put away their phones before bed.

The Huffington Post cofounder advises everyone to turn off their screens before bed. The bright blue lights mess with your head and make it harder to fall asleep, according to Erin Brodwin writing for Business InsiderThis also means switching over to paper books for any late-night reading.

Checking Twitter one last time isn't worth wrecking your Circadian rhythm.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

I tried leaving the office mid-day to work out for a week straight, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be

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evan williams

Let's face it: There never seems to be a right time to go to the gym.

If I go in the morning, I sacrifice an hour of sleep, but when I try to go at night, I can never muster up the energy after a long day at work.

So when I heard that the uber-productive Twitter, Blogger, and Medium cofounder Evan Williams takes a break in the middle of his day to go to the gym, I felt compelled to try it for myself.

According to Coach.me, Williams says he's most productive in the morning, so he chooses to get to work immediately before his energy dips. Midday, he heads to the gym and comes back feeling energized for the other half of the workday.

"It feels weird (at first) to leave the office in the middle of the day, but total time spent is nearly the same with higher energy and focus across the board," Williams told the site.

I felt like this was the best solution for me in so many ways: I would get to the office earlier, I'd immediately use my energy on work, my workout would also count as a break, and I'd be reenergized for the rest of my day and not have to take frequent coffee breaks.

So I decided to try it for an entire work week to see if it increased my productivity and energy levels.

SEE ALSO: 8 ways I trick myself into waking up early to go to the gym

The experiment

I usually go to the gym in the morning.

I have both a gym membership and a ClassPass membership. I usually wake up at 5 a.m. about three or four days a week to go for a run and do some light strength training at the gym. The rest of the days, I'll take a class immediately after work.

I get to work around 9 a.m. and work until noon, which is when I usually take a lunch break. If I bring food, I typically sit at my desk and continue to work. If not, I'll run out and grab something but head straight back to work.

Then I work until about 5:30 p.m., but I take a few coffee breaks between lunch and the end of the day to get out of what I call my "post-lunch slump."

For this experiment, I'd only go midday.

I planned to take a class or go to the gym every day around noon. I didn't sign up for classes that were more than 45 minutes, and I made sure the classes were all within a block or two from my office.

Leaving work for 45 minutes didn't seem like a big deal, but knowing that there was a possibility I would be drenched in sweat, I took the extra time I need to shower into account. I figured my breaks would be an hour and a half, so I planned to arrive at work an hour earlier and leave a half hour later to make up the time.

I made sure all the studios I signed up for had showers. I also decided to bring lunch from home for the entire week to maximize time.

Though I expected to feel good physically by following this new routine, I also anticipated that I would feel anxious about being away from the office for too long. Though I got the OK from my editor to follow this experiment, I couldn't help but wonder if my coworkers would think I was slacking by being gone for almost two hours or if some random work emergency would come up and I wouldn't be able to fix it in time.



Monday: Off to a strong start

I woke up an hour later than usual (6 a.m.). I don't know if I jumped out of bed because I was excited to do this experiment or I actually had more energy from the extra hour of sleep.

I packed my gym bag to prepare myself for what I might need for the middle of the day. Then I showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was out the door in a half hour.

I was also really conscious of what I was going to wear this week. I made sure to wear outfits that were easy to put on, seeing as I would be changing in locker rooms. On Monday, I decided to wear a simple dress and sandals.

I arrived at work at 8 a.m., and because not many people were in the office yet I was able to focus and immediately started working away. By 10 a.m., I noticed I was starting to yawn, but my energy wasn't completely low.

I was also surprised by the amount of work I was able to get done. By getting so much work done in two hours, I felt as if my day had flown by, but it was still just starting.

The workout: cycling

By 11 a.m., I was getting excited to head out the door. I didn't feel too sluggish, which was good because I still had some energy left over for my workout.

At 12:30 p.m., I arrived to my first class at cycling studio Swerve. It was high-energy, and the interval training made me sweat a ton. I decided to duck out mid-stretch so I could be the first to grab a shower.

I showered quickly. As I got out of the shower, I noticed a lot of women coming in and getting ready to head back to work as well. I realized that maybe the lunchtime workout wasn't as taboo as I thought.

It was a little tough navigating around the small locker room, but I still managed to shower, get dressed, blow-dry my hair, and make it back to work by 1:45.

Back at my desk, I felt like I was bursting with energy. My face was still flushed, and my heart rate was up, but I immediately got back to work.

Since I ate right after my workout, I didn't take my typical snack break, but I did go for a coffee around 3:30 p.m. — which I fully admit was only for the craving, not the energy.

I finished all my work before 5 p.m., but since I had intended to stay an extra half hour, I felt focused and energized to go back and check everything over.



Tuesday: Still going strong

When I used to wake up at 5 a.m., I would constantly wake up and fall back asleep because I was anticipating my alarm clock to go off. On Monday, I slept through the night and woke up at 6:15 a.m. with no problem.

Since I washed my hair at the gym the day before, I took a quick body shower and threw on another dress.

The one thing that bugged me was my gym bag being a lot heavier than usual because I packed a towel and extra toiletries like shampoo and conditioner. It made my commute a little difficult because I kept hitting people with my big, bulky gym bag.

I arrived at work at 8 a.m. and noticed my energy wasn't as high as it was the day before. I'm surprised how much my energy dipped even though I was getting extra sleep.

I wasn't as productive as yesterday, but luckily by 10:30 a.m. my energy improved. I was also getting anxious for my workout because I knew it would perk me up.

The workout: boxing

I arrived at my next workout at 12:30 p.m. I decided to try a class at Shadowbox, around the corner from my office. It was another high-energy workout and super intense.

By the time the class started stretching, I was soaked with sweat and ran to the locker room yet again to beat the lines.

By the time I got out of the shower, the locker room was so packed, I didn't have time to dry my hair. I slicked it back in a high bun so I wouldn't go back to work looking like I had a wet mop on top of my head.

I got back to the office at 1:45 p.m. and felt really good and sore. I immediately had to go to a training, so I didn't get to have my lunch right after my workout, and my energy felt a little low during the meeting.

After I had my lunch, at 3 p.m., my energy spiked, and I worked until 5:30 p.m. without stopping. Even though I was a little more tired than yesterday, I felt I was still more productive than this time last week.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's how much surgeons, lawyers, and 17 other top-earning professionals make per hour

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anesthesiologist

Some people in the US make just $6 an hour, while others earn a whopping $106 during that same 60-minute period.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. In some states, however, employees not covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act earn as little as $5.15.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average American — including those in salaried jobs — earns $23.23 an hour, and that number reaches more than $100 for some professions.

Business Insider recently looked at the most recent BLS wage data to find out exactly how much doctors, lawyers, and other top-earning professionals make per hour.

Here's what we found:

SEE ALSO: The 37 highest-paying jobs in America

Anesthesiologists

Average hourly pay: $124.09

Number of people in the US with this job: 29,220



Surgeons

Average hourly pay: $119

Number of people in the US with this job: 41,600



Obstetricians and gynecologists

Average hourly pay: $106.92

Number of people in the US with this job: 20,090



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A definitive breakdown of the sorry state of Wall Street

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wall street trader sad

Wall Street banks are having a terrible year.

Total revenue across the top 10 banks was down in the first six months of the year, according to the research firm Coalition. The total of $79.3 billion was 15% less than the $93.3 billion in the first half of 2015 and 23% less than the $102.4 billion in the first half of 2011. Barely a single business line was spared.

From fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) to equities to traditional investment banking, revenues dropped sharply. Let's take a look:

The headline numbers are grim: FICC revenue fell 11%, equities revenue fell 18%, and fees from traditional investment-banking activities like advising on acquisitions and equity and debt deals fell 20%.



Almost every single business unit within FICC took a hit. Banks made less money trading: corporate bonds; currencies; commodities; emerging markets; and securitized assets.



There was a similar story in equities. Stock trading, equity derivatives, and prime services revenues fell.



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10 of the craziest things people have implanted in their bodies

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neil harbisson

Cyborgs are not science future; sophisticated chips and sensor implants that merge man with machine are already here. There are people walking around with magnets in their finger tips andLED lights under their skin.

Here are some of the craziest ways that artists and technologists have hacked the human body (at least so far).

SEE ALSO: The world is facing a growing snakebite crisis — and there's a serious shortage of antivenom

1. The artist with a magnetic chip to feel earthquakes

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Spanish avant-garde artist Moon Ribas wanted to harness the power of technology to put her in better touch with the earth, so she got a subdermal implant near the bend of her elbow that is connected to an app on her iPhone that tracks seismic activity. When an earthquake happens, her implant vibrates in accordance with the strength of the quake, and she then translates the feeling of the vibration into a dance.

“The planet moves, constantly shaking and moving everyday,” Ribas, a choreographer, told Quartz. “I thought it would be amazing to translate the massive and natural movements of the planet in a different way.”



2. The guy who implanted an ear on his arm

The performance artist Stelarc dreamed of one day turning his body into a remote listening device that could transmit his surroundings to others around the world. So last year Stelarc underwent surgery to have a cell-cultivated ear attached to his left arm. Eventually, he plans to make the ear internet-connected, and outfitted with a miniature microphone that can wirelessly transmit audio from his arm to the rest of the world.



3. A techie with a cryptographic key in his wrist

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Initially, all Amal Graafstra wanted was a way to quit carrying around a bunch of keys. But recently Graafstra, founder of biohacking company Dangerous Things, developed an implant designed to merge his digital and biological selves.

He implanted a small, NFC-compliant security chip containing cryptographic keys into his wrist, allowing him to use his body for things like file decryption and two-factor authentication. Eventually, he imagines the technology could also act as a digital wallet or replace things like transit tickets. “The ability for you to own your identity versus Facebook owning it all comes down to cryptography,” he told Motherboard.



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This is the slow death of investment banking in 4 charts

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Investment banks are under pressure.

Regulation, sluggish economic activity, and political uncertainty have all combined to depress revenues.

Tougher capital and conduct rules, in the wake of the financial crisis and market manipulation scandals, have made it more difficult to make money from trading debt, currencies and commodities.

This used to be a staple of investment banks' revenue.

Meanwhile, political uncertainty, in the form of events such as the US election and the UK's vote to leave the European Union, have made companies wary about big spending projects. This, in turn, has led to less capital markets activity because there are fewer corporate projects to fund.

The big firms have been scrambling to find a new business model that more than covers the cost of their capital. Credit Suisse is a good case in point.

The bank's CEO, Tidjane Thiam, has tried to steer away from trading towards providing more services for high-net worth individuals. In May, the bank cut around 100 jobs in its London-based global markets division.

A report from Coalition, which analyses banks' revenue data, shows just how dire the situation is.

Revenue started falling five years ago, and hasn't stopped yet. Investment banking income for the first half of 2016 is lower than that of 2008 – the year that saw the fall of Lehman Brothers and the peak of the financial crisis.

Here's Coalition (emphasis ours): 

"Despite a strong 2Q16 performance in FICC, 1H16 Investment Banking revenues were still weaker than 1H08, driven by weakness in IBD and Equities throughout 1H16, and a very weak 1Q16 in FICC.

With revenues under pressure, banks are trying to protect their bottom line with renewed cost saving initiatives, including further headcount cuts and optimisation of their pyramid structure."

And here are the charts:

The cuts aren't working yet. "Despite these cost savings coupled with reductions in RWA/Leverage Exposure, Investment Bank ROE remains under pressure reflecting the negative revenue dynamic."



Fixed income, commodities and currencies use to be the big revenue driver. Not anymore. "1H16 declined owing to the particularly weak 1Q16 and continued weakness in Commodities and Securitised Products."



Political turmoil has halted capital market activity. "Significantly reduced primary activity in an environment of uncertainty triggered by political events in the EU, with extremely weak performance in ECM, and to a lesser degree DCM."



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Everything we know about the iPhone 7 Apple will announce tomorrow (AAPL)

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iphone 6s plus camera brighter

Apple has announced that it will hold an event at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco on September 7 to announce this year's iPhone.

If Apple sticks with its current naming system, it will be called the iPhone 7.

Apple's factories have already started producing the device. There have been a lot of leaks, rumors, and suggestions about what Apple will reveal this September.

Want to know the latest? Here's everything we know about Apple's upcoming iPhone:

SEE ALSO: The CEO of an Apple supplier just seemingly confirmed one of the biggest iPhone rumors

Apple's going to announce the new iPhone on September 7.



It will probably be called the iPhone 7.



It will likely come in two different models with different screen sizes: one with a 4.7-inch screen and one with a 5.5-inch screen. This is reportedly the smaller version.

Source: Weibo



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The 14 richest authors in the world in 2016

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JK Rowling

Books can help us escape the stresses of modern life, change our view of the world, and inspire people to change their lives.

They also have the power to make their authors incredibly wealthy.

In August, Forbes released data on the highest-paid authors of 2016, looking at their total earnings — from book sales as well as TV and film adaptations, before taxes — between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016.

During this time, the authors who made the ranking collectively made £201.8 million ($269 million).

The highest-paid author on the list made almost five times more than the second wealthiest, showing just how lucrative the book industry has become.

From "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown to "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, here are the world's highest-paid writers and how much they have made in the last year:

=14. Dan Brown — £7.1 million ($9.5 million)

Dan Brown is best-known as the author of the mystery thriller "The Da Vinci Code," which was turned into a film in 2006, three years after its publication. He is set to publish an abridged version of the novel for young adults on September 8 with Penguin Random House.



=14. Rick Riordan — £7.1 million ($9.5 million)

Rick Riordan made his millions from writing the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. The five-book series, which is about a 12-year-old who discovers he is a son of Poseidon, has since been turned into graphic novels and films.



=14. George R.R. Martin — £7.1 million ($9.5 million)

George R.R. Martin has spent five years writing "The Winds of Winter," the sixth part to his fantasy epic, "A Song of Ice and Fire." It was turned into the HBO television series "Game of Thrones" in 2011, making Martin one of the world's most famous authors.



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The definitive ranking of the 30 best universities in the world

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Broad Street, Oxford

Picking the right university is one of the first big decisions of adulthood.

To help, QS has ranked universities since 2013 using a methodology that evaluates academic reputation, employer reputation, student to faculty ratio as well as international reputation.

Using a points system, QS then rates the university out of 100.

The latest rankings were published on Tuesday and can be found on the QS website.

It hasn't been a great year for British universities. Thirty eight of the UK’s 48 universities in top 400 have dropped down the rankings this year, with Cambridge falling out of the top three.

Political uncertainty over immigration reform and problems with long-term funding, could have affected the UK universities' performance, said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Most of the top 30 are in the US, but here's the definitive ranking:

30. McGill University, Canada: overall rating – 84.1



29. University of Manchester, UK: overall rating – 84.8



28. University of California, Berkeley, USA: overall rating – 85.2



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8 things we just learned about the 'Harry Potter' universe from J.K. Rowling's latest e-books

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Pottermore just released three new ebooks with new information about the "Harry Potter" universe.

Under the "Pottermore Presents" banner, these new books are mostly filled with entries and information that we've seen before on the site — but there are some interesting new nuggets.

Here are the most important things we learned about the "Harry Potter" universe from "Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies," "Short Stories From Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists," and "Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide."

McGonagall didn't join the Order of the Phoenix at first because she was spying for the Ministry of Magic.

While we know in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" that Minerva McGonagall was new to the Order, we didn't know why she didn't join during Voldemort's first rise to power.

"Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies" reveals that McGonagall was a spy for the Ministry of Magic during that time. Though she was a teacher at Hogwarts, she previously worked at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and it looks like they called in a favor and had her use her Animagus powers to transform into a cat, collect information about Voldemort's followers, and bring that information to the Ministry's Aurors.

The Ministry saw the Order as a renegade outfit — ministers were still cagey about Dumbledore possibly wanting their job — so it wouldn't be possible for McGonagall to work for both the Ministry and the Order.



Death Eaters killed Professor McGonagall's first love.

During Lord Voldemort's first attempt to take over the world, Death Eaters went on random anti-Muggle killing sprees. During one of these sprees, they killed McGonagall's first love, Dougal McGregor.

McGonagall never married him because she knew it would be difficult for them to have a life together: she was a witch, he was a muggle looking forward to inheriting his dad's farm. But after his death, she wondered if she could have saved him if she married him.



After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall appeared on chocolate frog cards.

Appearing on chocolate frog cards is a fairly big deal in the wizarding world. The cards are collectible items and show history's greatest wizards and their accomplishments.



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A hearse owned by John Lennon is up for sale — and can be yours for $250,000

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1956 Austin Princess

The hearse owned by Beatles legend John Lennon is up for sale.

Lennon’s 1956 Austin Princess will be auctioned off on Wednesday in London by RM Sotheby’s and is expected to fetch more than $250,000.

 Here’s a closer look at the iconic car’s history.

SEE ALSO: These 2 classic cars made history at Pebble Beach this weekend

The Beatles frequently used Austin Princess limousines over other more luxurious saloon style cars because the doors opened wider, allowing them to quickly jump in while being chased by fans.

(Source: RM Sothebys)



But Lennon purchased this 1956 Austin Princess for his personal use from a mortuary in Manchester in 1971.

Source: New York Times 



Lennon had the coffin tracks removed and airline seats installed for passenger use.

Source: New York Times



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5 things to do if you get 'coal rolled' in your Prius

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DeBord Prius

I'm the proud owner of a 2011 Prius, but I knew when I bought the car that I was at risk.

Not for ridicule from a bunch of "car guys"— my $18 monthly fill-ups means that they don't have much of an argument, and besides, my other car is sometimes a Ferrari.

No, I was aware that I could get "coal rolled."

What, you might ask, is coal rolling? Before you start thinking that it involves zombie Dickensian chimney sweeps or bands of angry miners imitating Ric Astley, let me explain. It's what happens when somebody with a big ole diesel pickup truck skirts the emissions regulations in his or her state and rigs their ride to spew great plumes of black exhaust smoke — just like the trucks at truck-and-tractor-pull competitions.

The New York Times recently ran a story about the practice.

As it turns out, because all Prius owners are somehow bent on getting big, smoke-belching trucks off the roads, we're often targets for coal rolling. 

"Depending on whom you ask, rolling coal is a juvenile prank, a health hazard, a stand against rampant environmentalism, a brazen show of American freedom," the Times' Hiroko Tabuchi wrote. "Coal rollers’ frequent targets: walkers, joggers, cyclists, hybrid and Asian cars and even police officers. A popular bumper sticker reads 'Prius Repellent.'"

According to the Times, the state where I live, New Jersey, has banned coal rolling and leveling $5,000 fines on truck owners who do the dirty deed.

So I might not have much to worry about. But if you are under coal-rolling threat elsewhere, here are some ways you can respond:

SEE ALSO: Ferrari has done something no one thought was possible with the new 488 GTB supercar

1. Right after you get coal rolled, point out that the plume of acrid black smoke was impressive, but that the one the guy hit you with last week was much, much bigger. Better luck next time!



2. Flatter the coal roller's higher sense of self and better station in life. When the coal rolling is over, ask politely if you might borrow some Grey Poupon.



3. Put your Prius in "Power Liftoff Mode" and fly away. Yes, that's right: when under threat of coal rolling, Toyota designed the Prius to be a flying car.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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