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The 19 scariest games to play for a perfectly spooky Halloween

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The witching month is upon us!

Get your favorite black cat, your loosest anthropomorphic skeleton, and your best pumpkin carving tools out from storage — it's time to get wild in the streets. If nothing else, it's time to listen to Tim Curry classic, "Anything Can Happen on Halloween."

Wait! Where are you going? Come back! We're not trying to scare you away.

We've put together the 19 scariest games for you to play in the lead up to All Hallows Eve and the subsequent Halloween festivities on October 31!

SEE ALSO: 14 eerie vintage photos show how Americans used to celebrate Halloween

19: 'Silent Hill: Shattered Memories'

"Silent Hill: Shattered Memories" is the most interesting entry in the long-running "Silent Hill" series — a series that largely revolves around third-person puzzle solving and the occasional action bit. What's different about "Shattered Memories" is it has a huge, crazy story twist, and it's available on the Nintendo Wii. If you dare!

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18: 'Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'

Though you'll need a Nintendo GameCube to enjoy "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem," we can't suggest it enough. It takes your expectations for a horror game and contorts them in exciting, unique ways. On its face, it's just a third-person action game. But in reality, it's a terrifying exploration of player agency and unreliable narrators.

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17: 'Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water'

The newest entry in the "Fatal Frame" series has been out for some time in other parts of the world, and it's heading to North American Wii U game consoles on October 22nd. If you've ever wanted to carefully snap photos of ghosts before they're able to murder you, this is your big chance.

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See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This 23-year-old travels the world on weekends for under $1,000/trip to prove you don't need much time or money to travel

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Elona Karafin

When Elona Karafin was a child, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She spent two years in treatments and today, at age 23, she's happy to report that she's healthy. 

But being a cancer survivor is forever baked into her psyche.

"I had cancer when I was 10, " she says. "Now I realize, people around me, people my age or people older, everyone is dealing with something that stops them from doing what they want to do."

She says the experience taught her, "I don’t want to waste away my youth and I don't want others to waste away their youth and I don't want them to do it because people think they don't have enough money or enough time."

And so, every few weeks, Karafin, who lives in New York, travels to a far-away destination like Bali or Poland or Paris or Portugal on a long weekend, maybe three days, spending less than $1,000 on the total trip including airfare, hotel, entertainment — everything. 

If she's not traveling internationally, she'll zip around the US. For domestic trips, its a straight weekend jaunt, Friday night to Sunday, she says.

She keeps details of her trips. what she saw, how she spent her time and documents it all on her blog, "Elona The Explorer."

She's out to prove to everyone who wants to travel the world (or achieve any of their dreams): "You have time. You can make time. Even the busiest people in the world, they have time," she says. "That's why I focus so much on weekend trips."

And, she's not independently wealthy. She works as a financial analyst at a large e-commerce and postage supply company. "I work a full-time job and I'm fresh out of college, so I'm not exactly making the big bucks," she laughs. 

 

Some of her best trips:

  • A three-day jaunt to Bali. "It was a 26-hour flight, I was in Bali for 3 nights. not even a full four days," she says.
  • She's done Dubai in 4 days.
  • And once, she went to Poland for 8 hours. "I surprised my best friend for her birthday, I flew out on a Saturday."
  • She also nailed Amsterdam in 2 days. "There's a whole list of things you can get done in two days."

On top of working and traveling, she also runs her own charity called Checkmatecancer.org that uses social media and crowdfunding to raise money for underprivileged kids who have cancer.

So she probably falls into the "busiest people in the world" bucket. She's really proud of the charity, by the way. "So far, in three years I raised over $115,000 in donations for individual families in the United States and abroad," she tells us.

As a traveler, it does help that she lives in New York, because flying to European destinations takes less time, but she says anyone can do exotic travel on the weekends, no matter where they live.

Here are her top tips:

SEE ALSO: Meet the first guy Steve Jobs ever fired at Apple ... and he wasn't even an employee

Turn off the "cookies" in your browser before using travel sites (or clear them before you return). Many travel sites use cookies to remember you and show you the same fares, even if they were high. "They assume that's what you're willing to pay," Karafin says.

Here's how you clear cookies in Chrome.

This is what to do in Internet Explorer.

And here's how you clear cookies in Firefox.



Be flexible on where you'll go. "I use websites that allow me to put 'everywhere' as a destination, and New York as my origin," she says. She goes where ever the bargains take her.



One of her favorite sites for finding deals on flights is Jetradar.com. "It has some of the best deals I’ve ever seen."

Read more of Karafin's favorite apps for traveling on the cheap.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 of the most terrifying real haunted houses in America

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Haunted Louisiana Shot Gun Houses

Forget about those hokey attractions at amusement parks. There are real haunted houses spread across America.

We're talking about the true-blue, creepy-as-can-be haunted houses. The houses where local residents claim they hear voices and where serial killers dumped their victims. The places that carry legends of entire families vanishing into thin air and that serve as a backdrop for murders and suicides. Or, the places that just look like something horrifying happened there.

Photographer Seph Lawless braved these collapsing buildings for his new photo book, "Autopsy of America: The Death of a Nation." Captioned with the photos are the urban legends and tales Lawless heard about the houses  he photographed, coupled with information from some corroborating news reports.

SEE ALSO: The 16 most cliché Halloween costumes of 2016

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

Working under a pseudonym, photographer Seph Lawless is known for his dark and foreboding pictures of abandoned buildings.



The images he captures have an eerie, surreal quality.



In support of his new photo book, "Autopsy of America," Lawless has provided us with photos of real haunted houses across America.



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The most popular Halloween candy in every state

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Halloween

The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is the most popular Halloween candy in the US this year, while Idaho residents are partial to Butterfingers.

That's according to a survey by Influenster, a website that hosts product reviews. The company recently asked 40,000 people across the country for their favorite Halloween candy, and then found the ones with the most votes according to each state.

Check out the results below.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most unnecessarily sexy Halloween costumes of 2016

Alabama — Airheads



Alaska — Snickers



Arizona — Toblerone



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

17 pieces of advice that will change the way you see the world

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16th Fina World High Diving Championship

There's nothing more motivating than good advice. Hearing the right words at the right time can change your perspective, address a problem you haven't been able to articulate, or just remind you what's really important.

We scoured Reddit threads for people who've heard life-changing advice that changed the way they see the world. Here's what we learned.

SEE ALSO: 14 things I learned when I quit my job to travel the world

"It's only embarrassing if you're embarrassed."

"'It's only embarrassing if you're embarrassed.' Changed my life forever." - eyecebrakr



"High school ends and nobody cares about it after it's over."

"Learn to build a future for yourself — even in college, you'll need to move on while you're still there. Compartmentalise." - llosa



"Forgive yourself."

"Kicking yourself over past failures won't change what happened, it will just leave you sore from being kicked so much. Give up all hope for a better past. Own who you have been so it doesn't own you.

"This really applies to all ages, but it's a skill that takes a while to develop so you might as well start young and really figure it out. I haven't met many people under 20 who have taken it to heart, but I have found a number of people in their 20s who are really starting to get it. I've also met people in their 80s and 90s who still don't get it and are filled with regrets." - techniforus



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The 67 types of people in America, according to market researchers

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Sixty-one percent of the people in my neighborhood are Laptops and Lattes; 16% are Trendsetters; 14% are Metro Renters.

At least that’s how Esri see it.

The geographic research giant, with over a billion dollars in annual revenue, divides Americans into 67 groups based on household characteristics, personal characteristics, and more, and then maps where they live. Esri gathers info from the Census, the American Community Survey, and other licensed or proprietary databases.

Clients use this tool, called Tapestry, to decide where to open stores, post advertisements, build developments, and more.

You can check your zip code here.

stock images esriLaptops and Lattes, if you're wondering, are well-educated and affluent professionals in the city. These yuppies "spend money on nice clothes, dining out, travel, treatments at day spas, and lattes at Starbucks."

Metro Renters and Trendsetters live nearby but don't have as much money. Metro Renters may be students or hard-working professionals trying to get ahead. Trendsetters embrace the motto of "You Only Live Once," according to Esri.

Other groups in the US include Top Tier—aka the one percent—Soccer Moms, Comfortable Empty Nesters, American Dreamers, Diners & Miners, Young and Restless, and more. Below, you’ll find Esri’s short descriptions and, amusingly, stock images associated with each group.

SEE ALSO: These factors predict how likely you are to support Donald Trump

DON'T MISS: Here's what life is like for the average person on earth

Top Tier is the cutesy name chosen for this group.

On the left are stock images chosen to illustrate the group.

On the right, you can see typical attributes of this group. In this case: married couples living in single family housing with a median age of 46 and income of $157,000, who are white professionals or managers with college degrees, who own lavish vacation homes, etc. There are about 2 million of these households in the US.

The number on top (1) signifies that they belong to LifeMode 1, aka Affluent Estates. The number on bottom (4) signifies that they belong to Urbanization group 4, aka Suburban Periphery. You can read more about those here or ignore them.







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Chipotle's new burger joint just opened — here's what it's like (CMG)

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Tasty Made

Chipotle's very first burger restaurant is now open.

The first Tasty Made location opened in Lancaster, Ohio on Thursday, just two days after Chipotle announced that same-store sales at the burrito chain fell 23.6% in the third quarter. Chipotle is hoping it can take the lessons it's learned in burrito-making and apply them to burgers.

Here's what it's like to visit the burger chain that Chipotle is hoping will help save its business. 

 

SEE ALSO: Chipotle is fixing one of its customers' top complaints

From the outside, the restaurant has a 1950s aesthetic. Unlike Chipotle, it has a drive-thru.

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Tasty Made looked pretty busy on its first day of business.

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The location has just four items on its retro-style menu: burgers, fries, shakes, and sodas.

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See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's everything leaving Netflix in November that you need to watch before it disappears

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can't hardly wait embry

November is almost here, so it's time to say bye to some titles on Netflix.

A whole lot of classics are leaving the streaming giant.

Movies we're sad to see go include "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,""Deliverance,""Fatal Attraction," and "Major League," and there are only a few weeks left to watch the teen classic "Can't Hardly Wait" (you know you'll miss it).

Here's the full list of everything leaving Netflix in November. We've highlighted some of the titles you should check out one more time before they disappear.

SEE ALSO: The 23 scariest horror movies on Netflix you need to watch for Halloween

Leaving November 1

“The Addams Family”
“Almost Famous”
“Angel Heart”
“Barnyard” “Bratz: The Movie”
“The 'Burbs”
“Can't Hardly Wait”
“Chuck” (Seasons 1-5)
“The Core”
“Deliverance”
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”
“Echelon Conspiracy”
“Eight Crazy Nights”
“Empire State”
“Equilibrium”
“Escape to Witch Mountain”
“The Family Man”
“Fatal Attraction”
“Fresh”
“Get Rich or Die Tryin’”
“The Holiday”
“Into the Wild”
”Kangaroo Jack”
“Legally Blonde”
“Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde”
“Major League”
“Mansfield Park”
“Meet Joe Black”
“Mel Brooks: Make a Noise”
“Open Season”
“Open Season 2”
“Open Season 3”
“Patton Oswalt: My Weakness Is Strong”
“Powerpuff Girls” (Seasons 1-6)
“Rounders”
“Scream 2”
“Sex: My British Job”
“Shameless” (Seasons 1-10)
“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
“Something's Gotta Give”
“The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”
“Spy Game”
“The Sum of All Fears”
“Total Drama World Tour”
“Underground: The Julian Assange Story”
“Urban Cowboy”
“Varsity Blues”
“What Women Want”



Leaving November 2

“The English Teacher”



Leaving November 4

“Gigli”



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's what's behind the changes in cocaine prices on US streets since the 1980s

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Body on Cocaine

Cocaine has been a high-profile feature of the American drug world since it arrived in the US in the early 1980s.

But since those first few years on the scene, cocaine prices have remained relatively stable, with variations in year-to-year prices in the US likely being driven by foreign affairs as much as by domestic demand.

Precise figures for the movement and sales of illegal drugs are obviously hard to come by.

The cocaine trade, like the drug trade in general, is opaque and run by individuals and groups that are hostile to oversight and inquiry.

Accordingly, analysis of drug prices and how they've change over time involves quite a bit of speculation, but the charts below, documenting the shifts in cocaine prices in the US, grant some insight to how the market has evolved over the last 30 years.

SEE ALSO: Production has soared in the world's opium capital

While cocaine prices in the US have varied some year to year, they have held relatively stable since declining from highs in the 1980s.

"What happened is there was fluctuation in terms of cocaine ... in the '80s it was predominantly Peru that was the biggest producer of coca," cocaine's base ingredient, said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Peru has remained a large producer of cocaine, but Colombia has recently taken the mantle as the largest producer.

"And those fluctuations there, between Peru and Colombia, the negotiations" between Colombia and the FARC rebel group that aimed to bring the rebels out of the drug trade, "all of that causes fluctuations in the market," Vigil, author of "Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel," told Business Insider.

"But ... cocaine in the United States has not seen a spike. It's remained relatively stable during the course of the last several years."



Cocaine prices in the US underwent a precipitous decline between the early 1980s and the early 1990s.

The drop in US cocaine prices in the 1980s coincided with the entry of Pablo Escobar and other Colombian traffickers to the trade, bringing newfound organization and brutal efficiency.

"The plummeting of the price of cocaine in the US in the 1980s reflects the industrialisation of the cocaine business by Pablo Escobar and others," Tom Wainwright, the Britain editor for The Economist and author of "Narconomics," told Business Insider, adding:

"Previously cocaine had trickled into the US in relatively small consignments. Smugglers like Escobar transformed it into a professional business, exporting cocaine by the plane-load."
"Economies of scale reduced their costs. And the sheer amount of product flowing into the United States meant that prices fell, as supply outpaced demand (which itself grew pretty rapidly between the 1970s and 80s)."

Escobar and the Medellin cartel — particularly Carlos Lehder and George Jung, smugglers who met in a Connecticut prison cell — helped accelerate the flow of cocaine to the US, shunting it north by plane.



Prices in the US continued to decline in the late 2000s and early 2000s, likely the result of a confluence of factors.

"It looks more like a continuation of a downward trend that had been established much earlier. This downward trend was partly caused by an increased professionalisation of the cocaine business," Wainwright said.  "Manufacturers in South America improved the process they used to extract cocaine from coca leaves, allowing them to increase production without having to grow any more crops."

Turmoil in the narco underworld may have also contributed to the decline in prices.

After Escobar's high-profile killing in 1993 and the subsequent break up of the rival Cali cartel, control of the cocaine trade in Colombia fell to smaller organized-crime groups, paramilitary groups, and rebels like the FARC.

Many of those groups were connected to each other and to Colombian elites, but the expansion of actors involved in the cocaine trade could have put downward pressure on retail prices.

Uncertainty may have also been injected into the drug market by instability in Mexico, where some cartels, led by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's Sinaloa cartel, fought for control of lucrative smuggling routes during the 1990s and 2000s.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 apps 'The 4-Hour Workweek' author Tim Ferriss uses every day

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tim ferriss

Here are some of the apps that I use on a daily or near-daily basis.

I can't live without them, and most are free.

Enjoy!

SEE ALSO: '4-Hour Workweek' author Tim Ferriss says you should always consider 2 things before taking any advice

Evernote

My external brain, used for all note-taking, decluttering, research, and more. I normally use it 10+ times per day. So does Adam Savage of Mythbusters.

Find it here »



F.lux

Prevents laptop-induced insomnia. Dims/reheats your screen at local sundown.

Find it here »



Boomerang

Get the upgraded extension for Gmail. Allows you to schedule email to be sent in the future, automate follow-up emails, get pinged if someone doesn't reply, etc. In short, it frees up your brain and calendar from all the "Check with [person] on [whatever]" clutter. Clear your mind, clear your inbox.

Find it here »



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

15 items you should always buy on Amazon

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Amazon package

The go-to online marketplace for many, Amazon offers low prices on everything from diapers and detergents to blenders and batteries.

However, not all Amazon deals are created equal.

You need to do their research to determine when to buy from Amazon and when to take your business to another retailer.

GOBankingRates.com asked top savings experts to price check several items you can purchase on Amazon to determine if they're truly good buys.

So, if you're wondering what to buy on Amazon, check out these 15 deals.

SEE ALSO: 15 pieces of financial wisdom from millionaires and billionaires

DON'T MISS: The cheapest place to travel every month of the year

1. Blenders

If you take your smoothies seriously — like ninja serious — but still want to get a good deal on a blender, Amazon might be the right choice, said Kendal Perez, savings expert at CouponSherpa.com. The below item will help keep both your body and your budget in good shape:

Price Check:

Amazon: $31.39
Target: $39.99
Walmart: $32.75



2. Mixers

If you want to take your kitchen game up a notch, consider purchasing a top-quality mixer from Amazon. Perez said that the online superstore is a great place to get deals on pro-grade mixers. The KitchenAid below above is a good example and comes in a variety of attractive colors.

Price Check:

Amazon: $279.99
Overstock: $294.99



3. Food processors

If you're looking to expand your kitchen appliance collection, Amazon can likely hook you up with a quality food processor for less. Perez found that Amazon had the best buys on Cuisinart food processors, such as the one below. Fifty dollars in savings can translate to quite a few veggies to slice and dice.

Price Check:

Amazon: $149.98
Bed Bath & Beyond: $199.99
Sur La Table: $199
Macy's: $199.99



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

5 of the coolest vacant buildings in America

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Ah, to be a real estate developer at the dawn of the 21st century. The sweet tax breaks! The public scorn! Best of all, the endless opportunities to snap up and refurbish America’s many amazing vacant properties!

If you’ve got a few million bucks to play with, you’ll find that the country is littered with remarkable empty structures in various states of disrepair, just waiting for enterprising new owners with big dreams and deep pockets. Here are five of our current faves.

“Superman Building”: Providence, Rhode Island

Built in 1928 as the Industrial Trust Building, this early Art Deco skyscraper has long been known locally as the Superman Building, thanks to a (mistaken) rumor that it served as the model of the home of the Daily Planet Building in the comics. Rising some 428 feet above downtown Providence, the 26-story office building is topped with a glowing green beacon in a decorative turret that does give it a certain Golden Age of Comics swagger. (During the 1973 energy crisis, the beacon was turned off to save electricity.)

But the tallest tower in Rhode Island has proved to be a tough sell for High Rock Development, the LLC that bought the building for $33 million in 2008. The last tenant, Bank of America, left in 2013, and the Superman has been vacant ever since, though High Rock has a proposal to redevelop it into luxury apartmentswith ground-level retail. To help drum up support, the Providence Preservation Society is now leading a series of popular free public tours of the vacant icon.



Longaberger Building: Newark, Ohio

The Longaberger Company, makers of direct-marketed baskets and kitchen kitsch, was flying so high in the mid-1990s that they constructed a colossal basket-shaped building to serve as their corporate office.

This proved unwise: Sales slowed, the company downsized, and now, well, there’s this empty seven-story basket to deal with, as my colleague Mark Byrnes marveled several months ago. Bloomberg recently checked in on the efforts sell the nearly-new structure and found it going for a bargain price of $5 million, or only $28 a square foot.

The “essential basket-ness” of the building is, amazingly, not the biggest sales hurdle, area real estate experts say—it’s the remote location, some 40 miles outside of the nearest city, Columbus.



Martin Tower: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

A similar spasm of corporate hubris much have possessed Bethlehem Steel in 1969, when the industrial behemoth began constructing a high-rise HQ that would utterly dominate the modest skyline of its hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

A spare, stark International Style structure, the 21-story Martin Tower remains the tallest building in the Lehigh Valley, but Beth Steel is long gone: After posting record profits in the 1960s and ’70s, the steel giant collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001 and vacated the tower in 2003.

Efforts to bring in new tenants have so far failed, and rezoning has opened the door to possible future demolition, despite the building’s inclusion (in 2010) on the National Register of Historic Places and the efforts of locals who love the place. Got a good idea to re-use it? Hit up the “Save Martin Tower” Facebook page.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 unsettling questions raised by 'Westworld'

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Dolores Abernathy fly Westworld premiere

Note: Spoilers are ahead for previously aired Westworld episodes, as is some potentially spoiler-y speculation for future episodes.

Something is wrong in "Westworld."

HBO's sci-fi western drama — a serialized reboot of Michael Crichton's 1973 thriller by the same name — depicts a fantastical robot-filled "theme park" of the future.

Westworld guests can interact with artificially intelligent "hosts"— gunslingers, brothel madams, a farmer’s daughter, Native Americans, and more — taking part in all the sex and violence that can be jammed into these characters’ storylines. And all of it teed up by the people who are essentially Westworld's game designers.

But as visitors ride, terrorize, shoot, and sleep with the park's robot hosts, the designers operating behind the scenes soon discover that something is off.

Along the way, Westworld’s story brushes up against all kinds of uneasy questions — mainly scientific and philosophical — about the complex intersection of technology and people.

While we can't say where the show is going, or whether it will ever answer any of these questions, here are some of the most interesting ones we’ve spotted so far.

Do we all live in a simulation?

Everyone in Westworld wakes up to go about their day — working, drinking, fighting, whatever it may be — without knowing that their entire existence is a simulation of a “real world” created by the park’s designers.

Physicists and philosophers say that in our world, we can’t prove we don’t live in some kind of computer simulation.

Some think that if that is the case, we might be able to "break out" by noticing any errors in the system, something the Westworld robots seem to be brushing up against.



Can we control artificial intelligence?

Each time the park wakes up (or the simulation restarts?), the hosts are supposed to go about their routines, playing their roles until some guest veers into the storyline. The guest might go off on an adventure with the host — or they might rape or kill them. In any case, when the story resets, the hosts' memories are wiped clean.

Supposedly.

For some reason, a few hosts seem to remember their disturbing past lives. This may be related to a “software update” created by park founder Dr. Robert Ford (played by Anthony Hopkins) or it may have something to do with his mysterious co-founder, Arnold.

Luckily, and for a variety of reasons, AI researchers today believe out-of-control AI is a myth and that we can control intelligent software. Then again, few computer and linguistic scientists thought machines could ever learn to listen and speak as well as people — and now they can on a limited level.



How far off are the intelligent machines of Westworld?

Behind the scenes at Westworld's headquarters, advanced industrial tools can 3D-print the bodies of hosts from a mysterious white goop. Perhaps it's made of nanobots, or some genetically engineered tissue, or maybe it's just plastic that's later controlled by as-yet-undisclosed advanced technology.

There's a lot of mystery here, and as we find out in one episode (when a host smashes his own head in with a rock), the "thinking" part of the machines is definitely located in the head. But what's it made of? And what powers these strange constructs? And how are the batteries recharged, if at all? Can (and how do) they feel pain and pleasure?

These automatons seem like an engineer's dream as well as her nightmare.

Nothing like this exists in the real world, but researchers and entrepreneurs are working hard to advance soft robots, ultra-dense power sources, miniaturized everyday components (some down to an atomic scale), and other bits and pieces that might ultimately comprise a convincing artificial human.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

13 jobs that have seen the biggest pay increase over the last year

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emt nurse

Between June 2015 and June 2016, the average American worker saw a 2.5% increase in their pay, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. But professionals in some jobs saw much bigger jumps.

To find which gigs experienced the largest increases over the last year, Glassdoor did some digging and released a new list of the 13 jobs with the biggest pay raises. To do this, Glassdoor identified the jobs where the median base pay has increased the most (by percentage) over the past 12 months.

Here are the jobs. All descriptions are from Glassdoor:

13. Communications manager

Communication managers oversee an organization's internal and external messaging. Their role includes drafting and reviewing written materials — including press releases, bylined articles, white papers, RFPs and marketing collateral — creating print and online advertising, producing corporate videos, preparing speeches and presentations, and managing budgets. To become a communications manager, a bachelor's degree in communications or PR is needed along with several years of relevant experience.

2016 median base pay: $84,000

2015 median base pay: $80,000

Increase from 2015 to 2016: 5%



12. Underwriter

An underwriter's job is to approve, suspend, or decline mortgage applications. They base their decisions on the applicant's' credit reputation, capacity, and collateral. To become a mortgage underwriter, one must graduate from high school, attend a mandatory pre-licensure education program, and pass the SAFE Mortgage Loan Originator Test.

2016 median base pay: $60,000

2015 median base pay: $57,000

Increase from 2015 to 2016: 5%



11. Case manager

Case managers are healthcare professionals who provide guidance and action plans for individuals and families coping with complicated health or medical situations. A case manager can be a registered nurse, a social worker, or a physical therapist, amongst others. As advocates of their clients' needs, they assess their client's current situation, create a recovery plan for them, and connect them to relevant resources and services. While it's possible to become a case manager right out of high school, employers prefer those with an associate's or bachelor's degree in human services or social work.

2016 median base pay: $45,000

2015 median base pay: $42,672

Increase from 2015 to 2016: 6%



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

9 mistakes you might be making in the first 10 minutes of the workday

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BI_Graphics_9 mistakes 01

The first few minutes of your workday are critical to your productivity for the next eight hours.

If you show up late to the office or get sucked into an overflowing inbox, you could easily get thrown off and have a hard time focusing for the rest of the day.

We did some research and rounded up nine common traps that can ensnare you within the first 10 minutes of your workday. Read on to find out how to avoid those pitfalls and set yourself up for success.

1. Getting in late

You could be sabotaging your workday before it even begins.

A recent study, cited by The Huffington Post, found that bosses tend to see employees who come in later as less conscientious and give them lower performance ratings — even if those employees leave later, too.

It's not fair, but it's the current reality. So try to get to the office as early as possible.



2. Not greeting your coworkers

You can set a pleasant tone for yourself and others around you by taking a few minutes to catch up with your colleagues.

If you're a leader and you don't say "hi" to your team, your seeming lack of people skills could undercut your technical competence, according to Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job."

Even if you aren't a manager, making a silent beeline for your desk could make you appear less approachable to colleagues.



3. Drinking coffee

If you're not the kind of person who downs a cup right when you wake up, you probably grab it as soon as you get into the office.

But research suggests that the best time to drink coffee is after 9:30 a.m. That's because the stress hormone cortisol, which regulates energy, generally peaks between 8 and 9 a.m. When you drink coffee during that time, the body starts producing less cortisol and depends more on caffeine.

Once your cortisol levels start declining after 9:30 a.m., you might really need that caffeine boost.



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33 famous people who failed before they succeeded

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Jerry Seinfeld

Rejection can feel genuinely devastating.

But as some of the world's most successful people prove, failure is often par for course.

Grit, perseverance, resilience— whatever you call it, many influential people show that the key to success is the ability to embrace failure and adapt to change change with confidence.

For a little inspiration, we've put together a list of indisputable successes, from movie stars to scientists, who had to rebound from massive failure before they found fame and fortune.

Scroll on to see the underdogs who went on to change the world.

Rachel Sugar contributed to an earlier version of this article.

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

DON'T MISS: 10 real rejection letters successful people have received

Best-selling author J.K. Rowling was a single mom living on welfare when she began writing the first 'Harry Potter' novel

Before her Harry Potter series sold more than 450 million copies, won innumerable awards, was made into a hit movie franchise, and transformed Rowling's life, she lived in a cramped apartment with her daughter, jobless and penniless, and felt like the biggest failure she knew.

Rowling has said she received "loads" of rejections from book publishers when she first sent out her "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"manuscript, and she tweeted that she pinned her first rejection letter to her kitchen wall because it gave her something in common with her favorite writers. "I wasn't going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that would happen,"she said.

London publishing house Bloomsbury finally gave her book the green light in 1997, and she is now one ofthe world's top-earning authors.



Famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld suffered several setbacks before his big break

In Judd Apatow's book, "Sick in the Head — Conversations about life and comedy," Seinfeld recalls that the very first time he performed stand up, he bombed.

Though he had rehearsed his material thoroughly the night before, when he stepped out on stage, he couldn't remember a word of his act. "I stood there for about thirty seconds ... saying absolutely nothing, just standing there, freaking out. I just couldn't believe it."

After improving his stand-up act, the comedian earned a small role on the sitcom "Benson." But, according to the New York Times, Seinfeld and the show's producers clashed over the character's direction, and he was fired after only four episodes.

Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Seinfeld he'd been cut, according to "Jerry Seinfeld: Much Ado About Nothing." Seinfeld showed up for a read-through of the script one day and found there was no copy waiting for him. The assistant director pulled him aside and told him that they had neglected to inform him he was no longer on the show.

Seinfeld was humiliated, but he went right back to performing at comedy clubs. After one performance, a talent scout for the "Tonight Show" was in the audience. Seinfeld landed a gig on the show and his career immediately took off.

"Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success,"the comedian wrote in a Reddit AMA.



Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because his editor felt he 'lacked imagination and had no good ideas'

In 1919, Disney was fired from one of his first animation jobs at the Kansas City Star newspaper because his editor felt he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas," according to "The Wisdom of Oz."

That wasn't the last of his failures. Disney then acquired Laugh-O-Gram, an animation studio he later drove into bankruptcy. Finally, he decided to set his sights on a more profitable area: Hollywood.

He and his brother moved to California and began the Disney Brothers' Studio, eventually creating Mickey Mouse and Disneyland and winning 22 Academy Awards.



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7 details you probably missed in the latest 'Westworld' episode

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Dolores Abernathy shooting gun credit John P Johnson Westworld

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Westworld" episode five.

The fifth episode of "Westworld" was jam-packed with surprising reveals and more gunslinging than ever. Among the many significant scenes and exchanges between characters, there were a few key moments you might have glossed over.

Scroll down for a look at seven significant moments from the latest "Westworld" episode. 

The voice in Dolores' head showed her a train station.

Several scenes in the episode show Dolores speaking to a voice in her head — a voice we're beginning to believe is Arnold. In the beginning of the episode, "Arnold" says "find me" to Dolores, and she asks him to show her how. 

There are flashes of the town with the white church again, but no concrete instructions. Then, right after William and Logan are introduced to El Lazo/Lawrence, Dolores gets one more important "flashback."



She sees this train station:

After seeing the train station, and other scenes from the town with the white church, Dolores jumps in and talks to Lawrence.

"There's something you're seeking, isn't there?" she asks. "I know what that feels like. I'm seeking something too. If you let us, I know we can help you."

This is probably some secret phrasing meant to trigger Lawrence into leading the "seeker" towards the maze. We know Lawrence was a critical part of the Man in Black's maze-quest, so it makes sense he'd be part of Dolores' too.

At the end of this episode we see that Dolores and William have gotten onto a train with Lawrence. Perhaps that train is heading for the town with the white church?



Lawrence refers to Dolores as a "lunatic," recalling an earlier conversation about Arnold.

After Dolores makes her plea to Lawrence he laughs and says to the crowd around him : "How is it the lunatics always find their way to me?"

Though this sounds like a dismissal of her, Lawrence might have been somehow referencing Arnold's original design of consciousness. 

Back in episode three, Bernard and Ford had an important conversation about lunatics and the voice of God.

 



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14 incredible department stores to shop at in your lifetime

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Galeries Lafayette, ParisFor some, vacations are all about new styles and shopping. For others, it's about history and culture.

How about combining the two?

Whether you're into shopping or not, there are several glamorous and historic department stores around the world that are so famous they have become tourist attractions in their own right.

Get a taste of local style and culture at these 14 world-famous department stores. 

KaDeWe — Berlin, Germany

Lovingly known as KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus des Westens, or  "department store of the west," opened in Berlin, Germany, in 1907. Today it is still the largest department store in mainland Europe, with 645,834 square feet of sales floor and around 180,000 shoppers a day. The historic building was designed by German architect Emil Schaudt, though a lot of it was destroyed during World War II when a shot-down American bomber crashed into it. It reopened bit by bit between 1950 and 1956.

To learn more about KaDeWe, click here »



GUM — Moscow, Russia

GUM, in Moscow, Russia, stands for Main Department store. With a stunning glass skylight (the entire roof is made with 20,000 panes of glass) looming over three levels filled with incredibly expensive merchandise, The GUM is a must-see. The elegant almost 800-foot-long facade on Moscow's Red Square was built in the 1890s, replacing the Upper Trading Rows that previously peddled their wares there. It was commissioned by Catherine II of Russia, who had a Neoclassical Italian architect design it.

To learn more about GUM, click here »



ZEN at CentralWorld — Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok's ZEN at CentralWorld is a seven-level lifestyle megastore that prides itself "on its industrial edge, modern furnishings, and the pop-graphic cool backdrop of wallpapered panels."

To learn more about Zen at CentralWorld, click here »



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These are the beautiful and obscure locations that millionaires use to keep their money offshore

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vanuatu

Earlier this year, a huge dump of files known as the Panama Papers  revealed the dealings of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and brought low-tax countries into the spotlight. 

Mossack Fonesca set up companies in low-tax countries such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and the Bahamas. Many of its clients used Mossack Fonesca's services in order to make their companies more tax-efficient.

While Mossack Fonesca mainly set up companies in a small handful of countries, there are plenty more nations around the world which wealthy individuals and companies use in order to reduce their tax bill.

As well as having low tax, many of these countries are located in obscure and often idyllic locations. Here are some of them.

The Cayman Islands

A British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. In 2008, during a Democratic debate, Barack Obama once called a building in the Cayman Islands that was the registered office of 18,000 companies "either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record."



Jersey

A Crown dependency of the UK located in the English Channel, there is no inheritance tax, capital gains tax, or standard corporate tax in Jersey. The Panama Papers revealed one Jersey bank appeared to have set up over 900 offshore companies for its clients.



Panama

The central American country is the home of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm which set up 214,000 offshore companies.



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Here are all the major newspapers that have endorsed Hillary Clinton for president

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hillary clinton newspaper

This presidential election may have the most lopsided batch of newspaper endorsements the US has ever seen.

While Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has garnered the support of a long list of editorial boards, her Republican rival Donald Trump has only received eight so far. LibertariancandidateGaryJohnsonhassix, and independent conservative candidate Evan McMullin has one.

Several editorial boards have even cautioned voters against putting Trump in office, and a number of conservative-leaning papers have said they too are "with her."

Clinton received over 80 newspaper endorsements during the Democratic primaries, and dozens of editorial boards have since reiterated their conviction that she should be the next president, not Trump, now that they know the two major-party options. Some of the papers, including The Desert Sun and The Houston Chronicle, rarely endorse Democrats — but 2016 is no regular election cycle.

A wave of endorsements came in after a lewd tape of Trump from 2005 leaked on October 7. And another series of non-endorsements followed the news on October 28 that the FBI was looking into more of Clinton's emails that may be relevant to an investigation into her use of a private email server while Secretary of State.

There are so many on the total list of editorial boards that are supporting Clinton — over 200 — that here we've only included daily newspapers with circulations over 20,000.

There could still be more endorsements as Election Day nears, but here's what she has so far:

SEE ALSO: In unprecedented move, USA Today says don't vote for Trump — but it doesn't endorse Hillary Clinton either

DON'T MISS: Conservative Arizona newspaper tears into Trump, endorses first Democrat for president in 126 years

The New York Times: "Our endorsement is rooted in respect for her intellect, experience, toughness and courage over a career of almost continuous public service, often as the first or only woman in the arena."

Source: The New York Times



Los Angeles Times: "Perhaps her greatest strength is her pragmatism — her ability to build consensus and solve problems. As president, she would be flexible enough and experienced enough to cut across party lines and work productively with her political opponents."

Source: Los Angeles Times



The Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation."

Source: The Washington Post



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