The NFL has a parity problem.

At the halfway point in the season, how many teams can we truly get excited about? Yes, the Patriots are a team to fear, but who else looks consistently good enough on both ends to truly challenge for league supremacy?

The Falcons have the offense, but not the defense. Ditto for the Steelers, who also have injury issues. The Seahawks and Broncos have the defense, but not the offense. The Vikings are cooling off, and the Cardinals have regressed. The Cowboys look solid, but to buy into them, we must also buy that a rookie quarterback can outduel Tom Brady.

Things can change in an instant in the NFL, but uninspiring competition is yet another problem for the league this year.

Check out our power rankings below:

32. Cleveland Browns

Record: 0-8

Week 8 result: Lost to the Jets, 31-28

Week 8 star: Terrelle Pyror continues to be the best player on the Browns, going for 101 yards on six catches.

Week 9 opponent: vs. Dallas Cowboys

One thing to know: The Browns have a 55% chance to lock up the No. 1 pick at the 2017 Draft. But will they win a game? 

31. San Francisco 49ers

Record: 1-6

Week 8 result: Bye Week

Week 8 star: There wasn't one!

Week 9 opponent: vs. New Orleans Saints

One thing to know: Carlos Hyde was back in practice this week, pointing toward a return against New Orleans on Sunday.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars

Record: 2-5

Week 8 result: Lost to the Titans, 36-22

Week 8 star: Allan Hurns had a touchdown to go with 98 yards and seven catches. 

Week 9 opponent: at Kansas City Chiefs

One thing to know: The Jags fired offensive coordinator Greg Olson, but head coach Gus Bradley remains at the helm despite a record of 14-41 with the team. 

So what’s going to make you happy?

Let’s get more specific: what’s going to make your brain happy? 

And let’s focus on things that are simple and easy to do instead of stuff like winning the lottery.

Neuroscience has answers.

I’ve discussed this subject before and it was so popular I decided to call an expert to get even more dead simple ways to start your brain feeling joy.

Alex Korb is a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at UCLA and author of The Upward Spiral.

So let’s get to it. Alex has some great suggestions for simple things you can do to feel happier every day …

SEE ALSO: The 4 most common relationship problems — and how to fix them

SEE ALSO: The 27 jobs that are most damaging to your health

1. Listen to music from the happiest time in your life.

Music affects the brain in an interesting way: it can remind you of places you have listened to it before.

Were you happiest in college? Play the music you loved then and it can transport you to that happier place and boost your mood. Here's Alex:

One of the strong effects of music comes from its ability to remind us of previous environments in which we were listening to that music. That’s really mediated by this one limbic structure called the hippocampus which is really important in a thing called "context dependent memory." Let's say college was the happiest time of your life. If you start listening to the music that you were listening to at that time, it can help you feel more connected to that happier time in your life and makes it more present.

I hope you weren’t happiest in elementary school because it's going to be weird if you're playing the "Barney" song or the "Sesame Street" theme around the house.

(To learn more about what the music you love says about you, click here.)

Now you can't listen to music everywhere you go. What does neuroscience say you should do when you have to take those earbuds out?

2. Smile — and wear sunglasses.

The brain isn’t always very smart. Sometimes your mind is getting all this random info and it isn’t sure how to feel. So it looks around for clues. This is called "biofeedback." Here's Alex:

Biofeedback is just the idea that your brain is always sensing what is happening in your body and it reviews that information to decide how it should feel about the world.

You feel happy and that makes you smile. But it works both ways: when you smile, your brain can detect this and say, "I'm smiling. That must mean I’m happy."

So happiness makes you smile, but smiling can also produce happiness. Feeling down? Smile anyway. "Fake it until you make it" can work. Here's Alex:

That's part of the "fake it until you make it" strategy because when your brain senses, "Oh, I’m frowning," then it assumes, "Oh, I must not be feeling positive emotions." Whereas when it notices you flexing those muscles on the side of the mouth it thinks, "I must be smiling. Oh, we must be happy." When you start to change the emotions that you’re showing on your face, that changes how your brain interprets a lot of ambiguous stimuli. Since most stimuli that we experience is ambiguous, if you start to push the probability in the positive direction then that’s going to have a really beneficial effect.

In fact, research shows smiling gives the brain as much pleasure as 2,000 bars of chocolate, or $25,000.

And so what’s this about sunglasses? Bright light makes you squint. Squinting looks a lot like being worried. So guess what biofeedback that produces? Yup. Your brain can misinterpret that as being unhappy.

Sunglasses kill the squint and can help tell your brain, "Hey, everything is okay." Here’s Alex:

When you're looking at bright lights you have this natural reaction to squint. But that often has the unintended effect of you flexing this particular muscle, the "corrugator supercilii." Putting on sunglasses means you don’t have to squint and therefore you’re not contracting this muscle and it stops making your brain think, "Oh my God, I must be worried about something." It's really just a simple little interruption of that feedback loop.

So smile. And wear those sunglasses. They can make you look cool and make you happier.

(For more on how to be happier and more successful, click here.)

So you have your music playing, you're smiling and wearing your sunglasses. But you can still be stressed about things. What should you think about to kill your worries and keep yourself happy?

3. Thinking about goals changes how you see the world.

And I mean, literally. Researchers flashed a bunch of circles on a screen in front of study subjects. One of the circles was always slightly different than the others. It was brighter or smaller, etc.

But when they told people to prepare to point at or try to grab the circles something crazy happened…

If they thought about pointing at the circles, they became better at noticing the brighter circle.

If they were told to think about grabbing a circle, it was easier for them to identify the smaller circle.

What’s that mean? Having a goal literally changed how they saw the world.

So when you’re feeling stressed or challenged, think about your long-term goals. It gives your brain a sense of control and can release dopamine which will make you feel better and more motivated. Here’s Alex:

The goals and intentions that you set in your prefrontal cortex change the way that your brain perceives the world. Sometimes when we feel like everything is going wrong and we’re not making any progress and everything is awful, you don’t need to change the world, you can just change the way you are perceiving the world and that is going to be enough to make a positive difference. By thinking, “Okay, what is my long term goal? What am I trying to accomplish?” Calling that to mind can actually make it feel rewarding to be doing homework instead of going to the party because then your brain is like, “Oh yeah. I’m working towards that goal. I’m accomplishing something that’s meaningful to me.” Then that can start to release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and that can start to make you feel better about what you’re doing.

(To see the schedule the most successful people follow every day, click here.)

Sometimes you can try all these little tricks and it doesn’t feel like it’s making a bit of difference. That’s often because you’re missing something that’s really key to good brain function…

One of the greatest animated movies of all time, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), is getting the live-action treatment.

The new version is coming out March 17, 2017, and people are extremely excited about it. 

Though Disney has been quiet about the project since a teaser trailer came out in May, Entertainment Weekly has posted exclusive photos from the movie to build back up the excitement, along with quotes about it.

To get you even more excited, here's a look at the flesh-and-blood stars who will be bringing to life the unforgettable characters from the 1991 animated version:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: 18 movies that never got a sequel but deserve one

Emma Watson as Belle.

The star from the "Harry Potter" movies will be playing the lead role of the young girl who falls in love with the Beast.

Dan Stevens as Beast.

Known for his roles in "Downton Abbey" and the horror-thriller hit "The Guest," he will play the prince who is turned into the Beast.

Ewan McGregor as Lumière.

Before we see the star in the sequel to "Trainspotting" and "Fargo" season three, he'll play the Beast's loyal maître d'.

As the 2016 presidential election threatens our collective sanity, it's good to escape every now and then. That's what video games are for!

Unfortunately, you can't always escape from presidential politics in video games. America's Commander-in-Chief pops up from time to time in the world of gaming, hence our timely celebration of the best presidents in the history of video games. Check it out:

SEE ALSO: The 10 worst movies based on video games

7. The Clintons in "NBA Jam" and "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing"

As Bill and Hillary Clinton look to move back into the White House (albeit with their roles reversed from the 1990s), we should acknowledge their video game cameos from the first go-round.

Both Bill and Hillary were playable in the arcade basketball classic "NBA Jam," meaning you could dunk on fools with presidential power. The two were also playable in "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2," just in case you prefer fisticuffs to triple doubles.

6. Elizabeth Winters from "Vanquish"

In case you don't know, "Vanquish" was basically "Gears of War" except you had rocket boosters on your knees. That meant you could quickly baseball slide your way around its levels while shooting robots.

"Vanquish" was awesome.

President Elizabeth Winters is a major character in the story, and she's actually a pretty awful president. Her actions play a major role in the conflict at the core of the story, and it goes very poorly for her at the end. 

I'm mostly including Winters because I want to tell you to play "Vanquish" if you ever come across a cheap copy of it.

5. James Johnson from "Metal Gear Solid 2"

"Metal Gear Solid 2" is a bold game in many ways, including a plot twist that permanently changes the protagonist after the first hour of the game. However, an even bigger twist occurs when new hero Raiden finally encounters the kidnapped president he's been sent in to rescue.

You see, upon meeting President James Johnson, the leader of the free world spends about 45 minutes laying out to the player that everything they've done up to this point was a gigantic ruse by a world-dominating secret society. Even Johnson himself was a pawn chosen by these mysterious benefactors to carry out their will.

It's hilarious to me that the President of the United States exists as nothing more than a plot device to explain a mind-bending twist to the player. What's even better is that Johnson isn't even the best president in "Metal Gear Solid 2."

There are a lot of opinions out there about whether graduate school is worth the time and money. But some occupations require an advanced degree, leaving you without much of a choice.

Whether you're pursuing a master's or doctoral degree (or anything more than a bachelor's) because you want to or because you have to, it doesn't hurt to know which programs can offer the biggest return on your investment.

To find the the schools where grad students go on to earn the most money in their careers, we looked at PayScale's recent College Salary Report.

PayScale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, looked at the starting (5 years of experience or less) and mid-career (10-plus years of job experience) pay for over a million college grads — including professionals who graduated with an advanced degree from 393 universities.

Its College Salary Report, which was compiled using data from employees who successfully completed PayScale's employee survey, sorts the results by school, major, and degree.

Alumni of these graduate programs go on to earn the most money 10-plus years into their career, according to PayScale:

SEE ALSO: The 17 colleges where business students go on to earn the most money

20. MBA from Duke University

Early career median pay: $110,000

Mid-career median pay: $160,000

Graduate enrollment: 9,230

19. JD from University of California Hastings College of The Law

Early career median pay: $84,100

Mid-career median pay: $162,000

Graduate enrollment: 1,003

18. JD from University of California — Berkeley

Early career median pay: $69,900

Mid-career median pay: $163,000

Graduate enrollment: 10,439

Of the more than 39,000 people who applied to be part of Harvard College's class of 2020, a little more than 2,100 were admitted. That's about a 5% acceptance rate.

To help whittle these numbers down, the Ivy League college employs the help of more than 15,000 volunteer alumni and alumnae from all 50 states and certain countries around the world to conduct interviews.

Most applicants to Harvard College are given the opportunity to meet with an interviewer in their area, though interviews can't always be arranged due to the limited number of interviewers in their region.

One such interviewer, Jillian Bayor, interviewed applicants in the Southern California region on a weekly basis — and often more than one applicant a week — during the admissions seasons of 1998, 1999, and 2000, before opening her own college admissions firm, Ivy League Essay, where she works with students applying to some of the most competitive schools out there, and business school admissions firm, MBA Ivy League.

About two weeks in advance, Bayor says Harvard would send her a file about the student she'd be interviewing with their application materials. She'd reach out to them to schedule an in-person interview, which she often conducted at their school after hours. Interviews would typically last between 45 minutes and an hour, with 30 minutes being on the shorter end of the spectrum.

Bayor— who graduated from Harvard with a master's in 1995 — says before becoming an interviewer, the college provided her with an extensive, almost 80-page printed packet detailing the guidelines of interviewing.

"They have a very regimented way of doing this and they're training you to do it so you're going to be able to write that report, that statement, and have it highlight things that the admissions — the ones who actually sit around the table and make the final decision — are looking for. You want that report to best represent the student," she says.

Bayor says it was vital for Harvard interviewers to understand the significance of what they were doing.

"You really have to be selective and choose students who are going to be able to handle the academic rigors and the emotional aspects of going to a school like that and be able to think on a new level. That's what you look for."

Overall, Bayor says she wanted to find students who could have a conversation with her, rather than ones who simply waited for her to ask questions and gave her robotic, canned answers.

While Bayor says she would mix up her questions depending on the student and conversation, there were a few she almost always asked:

SEE ALSO: The 13 lowest-paying jobs that require a master's degree

DON'T MISS: The 11 highest-paying jobs you can get with a master's degree

'What are you interested in potentially studying in college?'

Prior to meeting her students, Bayor says she's already read their applications and knows everything about them that the admissions office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, knows. But while she probably already knows the answer to some of them, she says she liked to start the interview with very general questions.

"The students come in and, no matter how intelligent they are, no matter what they've achieved — it's very intimidating to come into a Harvard interview — most of them are just nervous beyond belief," she explains. "So, initially I ask very general questions to kind of just get them to relax a little bit to show them that I'm not scary and just try to get their real personality out as much as possible."

Apart from being a good ice-breaker, Bayor says asking about what they want to study at Harvard also helps her discern how focused and driven a student is.

"It seems to me that the students who are more competitive are the ones who actually have an idea what they want to go in and study — even if that ends up changing," she says.

"Most answers are going to be kind of vague, wishy-washy — you're going to hear the confusion and angst — whereas a student who is more confident has a target that they're shooting for," Bayor says.

She'd then follow up the question by digging deeper into why the students are interested in that area of study so she can get a better sense of how intellectually curious they are.

"For the level of a school like Harvard, you need someone who has intellectual curiosity," Bayor explains. "You're basically trying to weed out with that very first question students who are very lost or vague or who you get the sense — and this has happened to me many times and I always feel a lot of compassion for the students — don't really belong there and they've been pushed to apply or pushed to go to the interview by their parents, who are waiting with their ears pressed to the door out in the hallway."

After about a half hour of these kinds of questions, Bayor says she'd have a sense of whether or not the student was competitive enough and had a chance. If not, she wouldn't give them any difficult questions and would end the interview.

But if she considered the student to be competetive and interesting, she said she'd then like to throw them a curveball.

'What's the most negative experience you ever had in school?'

"They're not prepared for that question. No one likes to think about the bad things," Bayor says.

By asking them about a negative experience, she explains that she would actually get an authentic, honest answer.

Bayor says there is no right answer to this question — the negative experience could be from an academic perspective, a social one, or even a medical one. "It can really be anything at all — what I'm interested in is an authentic expression of what the situation was."

The she said she'd look for how the student handled the situation and bounced back.

"It's that bounce-back part that could add something positive to my assessment. You're looking to see if students are able to go through stuff and actually — I don't know if the word is not take it personally, because it is personal, in that it happened to them — be able to say, 'you know, a bad thing happened, it was very, very difficult, but I was able to move forward from it, move on from it, do A, B, C, and D in a positive way. Basically, you want to end on a positive note."

Even if that positive note is simply taking away from the situation that they should focus on what's ahead, Bayor says, "that in itself shows a positive, optimistic attitude that I think is important when you go to such a competitive school. You need to be able to handle rejection, you need to be able to handle failure, you need to handle these things and immediately get back in the game. That healthy bounce back trait is something that I think is important."

'What do you do when you're not in school?'

Bayor says this question reveals a lot about a student, and it helps her separate students into one of two categories: "pin-point focused" and "well-rounded"

"One is not better than the other, these are just two different types of students in terms of extracurriculars.," she explains."

The "pin-point focused" students focus exclusively on one extracurricular activity, which they tend to have been doing for much of their lives, and these students are often ranked in some way. The "well-rounded" students, on the other hand, focus on a few activities, like playing an instrument, playing on a sports team, or participating in cultural events or lessons after school.

"Whether they're pinpointed or well-rounded, I'm looking for uniqueness," Bayor says.

"What makes this student different than the student on either side of them? What makes them different from their friends at school? What makes them unique? That's where having a unique extra curricular activity can really make you stand out on your college application," she says. 

Hey guys! Out at the beach this week, but as promised I’ve got a handful of killer guest articles for you starting with this one – on how a reader completely changed his finances around by building out an impressive spreadsheet!

He drops screenshots of it, as well as descriptions of what each of the twelve tabs do (yes, 12!!) and it’s all pretty amazing stuff. He writes:

I would like to explore the reasons why I focus on my financial world, and what I’ve learned along the way.

For me, it began when I wanted to spend a substantial amount of money every month for 3 years and I did not know if I could float it.

I graduated as an engineer in 2007, and after 2 years of designing commercial HVAC systems I decided I wanted to shift career paths and move into business by getting an MBA at a local university. It would cost $400/mo for around 3 years. I did not track my expenses at the time, and I had no real clue if I had room in my budget for it or not. I was desperate for information so I could better manage my money.

During my MBA program, the most important thing I learned was that you can only manage things which you measure. If you do not measure, there is no feedback to improve upon.

I researched online and ended up at Crown Financial which got me recording every expense for a month to decide whether I could cut enough out of my budget to add the MBA program in.

I was making about $50,000 at the time. I was single, visiting restaurants with friends frequently, and spent a good deal of my money on pocket knives and frivolous things that did not improve my life, nor make me happy. I wanted to start the MBA program as soon as possible and I could not do these things immediately because I was not managing my money well. This made me upset, and I became determined to become a better money manager.

The reason I focus on my finances is because I want to spend my money on things I value, and to do that I need to manage the money and know where it’s going. I don’t want to spend $0 dollars each month, but I want every dollar spent to go towards things I enjoy. That was the ground breaking epiphany that hit me years after I started getting serious about my financial state.

After a month of recording every expense, I came up with a spreadsheet that let me track things easier than writing them down on graph paper. I started to actually enjoy inputting my receipts into the excel spreadsheet and balancing it with what my bank accounts said. All in an attempt to be a good steward of my wealth and use it in better ways.

After I determined I could do the MBA program, it became even more important for me to continually track my income and expenses since my fluff income was eliminated.

This spreadsheet slowly evolved over the last 6 years. At first it was just a budget template. Now it is a massive workbook that has all of my critical updated information, and is extremely useful to me when making financial decisions.

I started out just wanting to make decisions wisely. Now I open my dashboard and strive to increase my net worth monthly, and make decisions that help it increase faster, instead of only making decisions based on whether I can fit things into my budget or not.

I was single when this started, and now I am financially responsible for 4 young children and a homemaker wife. Knowing where our money is going is security for us. We can anticipate our future and plan accordingly. Our plan is never exactly correct, but having a plan is important and measuring our spending has been critical to actually owning our decisions.

My spreadsheet has 12 major tabs that are used regularly.

Here is a brief breakdown of each, accompanied with a screenshot to see how it looks in action.

SEE ALSO: A quick text from a friend highlighted a truth about money too many people don't grasp

Tab #1: Dashboard

This sheet lets me look at my net worth, my account values, and my current budget state. Below the chart is a net worth tracking area I update monthly after I pay my mortgage.

Tab #2: Checkbook

I input every expense into this sheet and reconcile it with my online accounts daily around lunch time. It gets more difficult to reconcile the longer I wait. I track our budget categories weekly, and close out the week on Thursday night when my wife and I discuss the week ahead.

Tab #3: Budget

Figuring out how to keep track of monthly and annual payments this way has been huge for helping me budget accurately. You can see items 4 and 5 are monthly and annual Bigs (they are detailed above)

When Warren Buffett started his investing career, he would read 600, 750, or 1,000 pages a day.

Even now, he still spends about 80% of his day reading.

"Look, my job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action," he once said in an interview.

"We don't read other people's opinions,"he said. "We want to get the facts, and then think."

To help you get into the mind of the billionaire investor, we've rounded up 18 of his book recommendations over 20 years of interviews and shareholder letters.

Drake Baer contributed reporting on a previous version of this article.

SEE ALSO: 17 books Bill Gates thinks everyone should read

'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham

When Buffett was 19, he picked up a copy of legendary Wall Streeter Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor."

It was one of the luckiest moments of his life, he said, because it gave him the intellectual framework for investing.

"To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information,"Buffett said."What's needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must provide the emotional discipline."

Buy it here »

'Security Analysis' by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd

Buffett said that"Security Analysis,"another groundbreaking work of Graham's, had given him "a road map for investing that I have now been following for 57 years."

The book's core insight: If your analysis is thorough enough, you can figure out the value of a company — and if the market knows the same.

Buffett has said that Graham was the second most influential figure in his life, after only his father.

"Ben was this incredible teacher; I mean he was a natural,"he said.

Buy it here »

'Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits' by Philip Fisher

While investor Philip Fisher— who specialized in investing in innovative companies — didn't shape Buffett in quite the same way as Graham did, Buffett still holds him in the highest regard.

"I am an eager reader of whatever Phil has to say, and I recommend him to you,"Buffett said.

In "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits," Fisher emphasizes that fixating on financial statements isn't enough — you also need to evaluate a company's management.

Buy it here »

The INSIDER Summary:

• Haenyo are Korean women who deep-sea dive without any equipment to harvest seafood in a century-old practice.
• Their numbers are dwindling quickly.
• Photographer Mijoo Kim documented what many fear will be the last generation of haenyo.

For more than a century, Korean women have earned a living deep-sea diving to catch oysters, sea cucumbers, abalones, sea urchins, and squids.

Known as "haenyo," meaning "sea women," they hold their breath for two minutes, diving 65 feet deep without any equipment.

In recent years, their numbers have rapidly decreased. It is estimated that the haenyo will be gone in 20 years, unless more women join their ranks. 

Photographer Mijoo Kim set out to document their traditional practice in a photo series entitled "The Mother of the Sea."

Mijoo Kim was raised near the sea in Busan, in the southern part of South Korea.

“I had a passing familiarity with haenyos when I started the project, but I didn't know exactly what they go through,” she said.

At first, when Kim asked to photograph them, they refused.

In case Bentley's luxury cars weren't enough, the automaker now has its own hotel suites.

Bentley and Starwood Hotel and Resorts, which owns the St. Regis hotel chain, formed a partnership in 2012. As part of the partnership, Bentley supplies the St. Regis hotels with a fleet of its Flying Spur luxury sedans and offers coordinated driving programs for guests.

But Bentley didn't stop with the cars — it also has a luxurious suite in three separate St. Regis hotels. Scroll down for a closer look:

SEE ALSO: The 12 most high-tech hotels in the world

1. Bentley has a suite at St. Regis' flagship hotel in New York that's priced at $10,500 a night.

The suite covers 1,700 square-feet of floor space on the hotel's 15th floor and comes with a bedroom, a full bathroom, a half bathroom, a foyer, and a large dining room.

The suite comes standard with butler service and a champagne bar, and overlooks Fifth Avenue and Central Park. Bentley's New York suite was the first to open in September of 2012.

The INSIDER Summary:

• In order slow the aging process, stay away from processed, non-nutritional, and high sodium foods.
• Instead, keep your diet to wholesome, nutrient-rich foods.

What we eat can speed up the aging process, so it's important to stick with more wholesome, nutritious foods that can boost freshness, longevity, and wellbeing, and limit foods that can negatively affect us. It's easy to know which foods cause aging, as it's often aligned with those that are generally less healthy and beneficial over all, such as processed foods, sugar, and bad fats, as explained by Dr. Bryce Wylde, author of the book, The Antioxidant Prescription, in an interview with Reader's Digest.

When we eat foods that can cause free radical damage, and don't have enough nutrients that can counter such effects, we expedite the aging process and can't protect ourselves, explain Dr. Charles Galanis, a Board Certified Surgeon in Chicago and Robert Dorfman, Research Fellow at Northwestern Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, over email with Bustle. As a certified health coach, I work with clients on promoting healthy skin, organs, and habits that can increase longevity and ward off signs of aging and inflammation. I suggest getting in adequate nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and limiting foods that can be dangerous for aging. Here are 11 foods that can lead to aging and inflammation and can lower overall health and wellbeing.

1. Processed Foods

"Foods that are the mostly highly processed are considered the most insulting when it comes to our health," advises Liz Weinandy, RD at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center over email with Bustle. "Think potato chips, hot dogs, cookies, fast foods and the number of other food items devoid of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants," Weinandy adds. These are high in salt and bad fats, Weinandy explains, which promote aging.

2. Fast Food

While there is opportunity to order a healthier dish at a fast food vendor, the choices are often limited, and we tend to choose a standard burger and fries. These foods "often contain large amounts of sugar, salt, refined grains and/ or saturated and trans fats. These ingredients in significant amounts cause our bodies to work overtime to process them and secondly, these foods provide little to no nutritional value other than calories," says Weinandy.

3. Alcohol

"Alcohol can accelerate aging," advises Weinandy, as the properties in alcohol, when consumed in excess, can slow the metabolism, promote less taut skin and wrinkles, and decrease heart health, leading to weakened longevity. It's wise to limit alcohol in the week, and to stick with one or two glasses, to not binge or overwhelm the body with too much intake.

"Westworld" has more characters and storylines than the average viewer can keep up with, so we've assembled a handy character list for your Sunday nights. Here you'll find all the significant hosts and employees of Westworld — names you should be familiar with if you want to join in all the crazy theorizing.

Let's dive into Westworld.

First up — Dr. Robert Ford.

Ford is Westworld's park director and one of its co-founders. The process for creating and programming the hosts is all based on his team's original research conducted over 30 years ago. Ford has the highest level of control over the narratives, design, and coding for the robots. 

Arnold is Ford's original partner in the parks.

We saw this photo of a younger Ford and Arnold in episode three, when Ford was telling Bernard about the other co-founder of Westworld. Arnold allegedly killed himself inside the park right before it opened over 30 years ago.

Bernard Lowe is the Head of Behavior and a programming specialist.

Lowe appears to be Ford's right-hand man — the two often discuss the hosts and their coding updates. Bernard had a young son, Charlie, who died of unknown causes. He video chats with his (possibly) ex-wife, and is engaging in an affair with Theresa Cullen. 

The INSIDER Summary:

• Natasha Salman spent two months traveling through Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. 
• Going solo jump started her creativity and helped her practice mindfulness.
• She hopes to show the beauty of Lebanon that many don't see or know about.

After her corporate job left her drained and unfulfilled, Natasha Salman decided to travel through Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates by herself.

On her two-month trip to the Middle East, the 26-year-old incorporated her yoga training for a centered, mindful journey that rejuvenated her.

She didn't think about the corporate job she left behind, or what she would do when she returned home to Florida. By focusing on the present, she reawakened her creativity and felt a sense of direction despite not knowing where it might lead. 

Salman blogs about her travels on Whimsical and Existing, and spoke to INSIDER about the importance of feeling grounded when flying across the world.

Natasha Salman had been to Lebanon before to visit family, and interned with a couture designer there last year.

“I came back and was feeling pretty lost, unsure of what path I should take,” she said.

She got her master’s degree in fashion design and merchandising, but was unsure if she wanted to continue in that field.

"The Walking Dead" cast may be covered in blood, dirt, and guts while fending off zombie herds in the apocalypse, but in real life they clean up pretty well.

Some of the cast members wear wigs and prosthetics that would make them look nearly recognizable off of the Atlanta, Georgia, set.  

Keep reading to see how the cast of the AMC series looks when they're not fighting for their lives.

Rick Grimes is constantly covered in blood, zombie guts, and is looking worse for the wear in the zombie apocalypse.

43-year-old British actor Andrew Lincoln keeps the beard in the off season but it's a lot whiter.

Michonne recently began a relationship with Rick, her long-time partner-in-crime, to the delight of many fans.

You can read more about the surprise Richonne pairing here and how it's been in the work for years, here.

It's been a week since the most brutal episode ever, so fans have had some time to process major deaths in The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere. Now we can start to look more closely at other parts of the episode and new characters, such as Negan's “right-hand man,” Simon.

Played on the AMC Series by Steven Ogg, Simon isn't a character in the comic books that the Walking Dead is based on, which means we have no idea what's in store for him and can't turn to the source material for hints. None of the Saviors in the comics seem to have much in common with Simon, so he's similar to Daryl in that sense. He gets to remain mysterious and anything he does will surprise viewers.

We first met Simon at the very end of Season 6, when Rick’s group attempted to get to Hilltop Colony and their way was blocked by Saviors in every direction. At one point, Simon and a group of the Saviors set up a road block to try and take the group's supplies. That introduction already suggested that Simon will do some of Negan’s dirty work, and the season premiere confirmed as much when Negan formally introduced Simon. For the most part, the "right-hand man" stayed silent, except when he gave Negan a pen and informed him of Rick’s hatchet. While I may not be looking forward to getting to know Negan's sidekick, you should know more about the actor who plays him.

Here's where else you might have seen Ogg.

He ransacked Dolores' home on "Westworld."

That’s right, Ogg landed roles on two of the most popular shows on TV right now.

Now, if he earned a spot on Game of Thrones, he would hit the trifecta. He’s a minor character on Westworld, playing one of the many host villains, Rebus. In the third episode, Dolores came home to find her parents dead and there was a guy trying to find milk, who then dragged her into the barn. After Dolores imagines that the man is someone else, she shoots him. That attacker would be Ogg's Rebus.

He was Trevor in "Grand Theft Auto V."

As popular as Westworld is, Ogg is probably best known for his role in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V. He’s the voice and motion capture artist for Trevor Phillips, one of the game's main lead characters.

Ogg also played the "creepy locksmith" on an episode of "Broad City."

If you thought Ogg's Westworld character was creepy, he literally played "creepy locksmith" on an episode of Broad City.

The Legatum Institute, a London based think-tank just released its 10th annual global Prosperity Index, a huge survey that ranks what it calls the most prosperous countries in the world.

The amount of money a country has is one factor of prosperity, but the Legatum Institute considers much more than that in its ranking.

The organisation compared 104 variables to come up with its list. These variables include traditional indicators like per-capita gross domestic product and the number of people in full-time work, but also more interesting figures such as the number of secure internet servers a country has, and how well-rested people feel on a day-to-day basis.

The variables are then split into nine subindexes: economic quality, business environment, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, social capital, and natural environment.

The index looked at the 149 countries in the world that have the most available data. For the last seven years of the index, Norway has taken the top spot, but in 2016 a new nation is the world's most prosperous.

Find out the results below.

25. Portugal — Portugal ranked inside the top 50 countries globally in all but one sub-index, but scored highest in personal freedom, where it was 10th overall.

24. Malta — The small island nation in the Mediterranean was in the top 20 in four areas, but did best when it comes to social capital, ending 8th overall.

23. Hong Kong — Although Hong Kong's status as an independent country is not recognised by the United Nations, it still features on the Prosperity Index, and does pretty well. Hong Kong has the 4th best business environment anywhere on earth.

While a six-figure inheritance or high-paying job can land you in the top 1% of earners, it's the little things — your money habits — that often make the difference between a life of prosperity and one of constant financial stress.

Just ask LearnVest Planning Services CFP® David Blaylock, who doesn't simply advise his clients on the merits of good money habits — he practices what he preaches.

For example, "I do a periodic review of all the subscriptions I have — the ones that hit my credit cards each month," says Blaylock. "You'd be surprised at how many subscriptions we all have and how many go unused. You could create some significant savings each month just by looking at those things."

Taking inventory of your recurring subscriptions and services is just one habit that can get you on the road to better fortune.

"If you look at the average amount of money you will earn over your lifetime, and figure out how many years you are working — most people earn more than a million dollars over their working life but very few people become millionaires," says Nancy Butler, a Certified Financial Planner™. "How they manage what goes through their fingers usually makes the difference."

So what are these easy changes that can help move you further along the road to prosperity? We asked two financial planners for their favorites.

SEE ALSO: 6 real people share the worst tax mistakes they've ever made

1. Reverse your thinking

We know: After taxes are taken out and the bills are paid, your paycheck can seem a little anemic — which can make the idea of having to save for retirement too seem like a real stretch. But to build wealth, a change in mindset is required. Namely, instead of spending the rest of your take-home pay, you'd actually take another cut of your paycheck and put it toward your biggest financial goals.

"Most people spend some money, pay their bills and save what's left," says Butler. "And that's backwards: You should be saving for your financial goals first, paying your bills and and then consider spending the money you have leftover." Another trap is putting your good money habits off till "later," when life will get easier. The thing is, somehow the minute your income increases, the demands on your money seem to as well.

Now, keep in mind, we're not suggesting you sock all of your money away and live on rice cakes. As Blaylock puts it: "I'm not asking you to put $1,000 away a month, I'm asking you to put away $50, or a small amount that you can afford. We really can't underestimate the power of starting small, because most of the time that momentum builds, and once we see progress, we tend to repeat behaviors."

Related: The Savings Habits of the New Rich: Why You Should Be Living Paycheck to Paycheck

2. Look where you want to go

Just as performance athletes imagine themselves making the shot over and over again — check out this study for how goal setting improves motivation in athletes — knowing what you want your money to do for you gives your goals a better chance of being reached.

To get going on saving for the future, financial experts often suggest having a five-year plan, where you create specific money goals you'd like to achieve in five years and what you need to achieve those goals. (That is the goal of LearnVest's 5-Year Planner.) For example, saving six months of income for an emergency fund, or saving for a big event, like a down payment on a house.

"Anytime we have a specific goal in mind, that helps us to save," says Blaylock. "Whether that goal is emergency savings, or saving for a trip, or saving for college, it doesn't matter."

3. Adopt your own private mind tricks

What if not spending $1,000 on a designer purse or new must-have gadget were as easy as following a rule that dictates you can't spend more than $300 on something that isn't essential to your life? The good news is you can create financial rules just like that for yourself; in fact, doing so can be a great habit to get into.

Also known as "heuristics," these rule-of-thumb strategies we create for ourselves — such as not spending more than $15 on an item of baby clothing, or more than $50 on a pair of shoes — can help simplify the many choices we make in a day. Behavioral economists believe that adopting good heuristics can help one develop good money habits (see this piece for more on how and why they work).

Related: 5 Ways to Retrain Your Brain to Save More for Retirement

If creating a great heuristic seems like an overwhelming task, Blaylock suggests starting with something simple, such as eating out only twice a week, or "not getting a cart at Target," a heuristic that helped one of his colleagues save money.

El Día de los Muertos (or the Day of the Dead) started on Tuesday, November 1 and ended a day later.

For the holiday, families across Mexico gather in cemeteries and public squares to honor their deceased loved ones in traditional costumes and makeup.

Check out photos from this year's festivities and memorials below.

SEE ALSO: The world's hunger for avocados is having a devastating effect on Mexico

Mexico's Day of the Dead festival is known for amazing skeletal makeup. Ecuador, Brazil, and Bolivia have their own festivities, too.

Some people incorporate flower crowns, glitter, and jewels into their costumes.

The holiday dates back 3,000 years.

At first, Windows 10 was just supposed to be an experiment for me. But I ended up liking Windows 10 quite a bit— especially when paired up with the Surface Book, Microsoft's first laptop, released in late 2015.

In fact, I like the Windows 10/Surface Book combo better than any of the many MacBooks I've ever owned since I went all-Apple around 2008. In many ways, I'm more productive and a much happier computer-user on Windows 10.

But, in the spirit of fairness, I decided to give Apple's new MacOS Sierra operating system a serious try-out on my MacBook Air. I used Macs for many years, and I was prepared to accept that maybe, just maybe, Apple had come up with something better.

A few weeks into my experiment, I couldn't have been more wrong. 

Here's why I still like Windows 10 a lot more than even the latest and greatest Apple MacOS. 

I don't really care about the perennial Mac versus PC rivalry — I get the vast majority of my work done in the web browser, so my only criteria is whatever helps me get more work done, faster.

In early 2008, I got my first MacBook, moving off of my desktop Windows XP computer. There was definitely a learning curve, but I came to rely on the MacBook for its speed, simplicity, and stability.

I ended up skipping Windows Vista, 7, and 8 entirely. But when Microsoft rolled around with Windows 10, I decided to see what I had been missing. And I was very impressed. Touchscreens! Stylus input! Nifty new ways to manage my open windows!

When Levi Joseph scored a manufacturing internship in Seattle for his last summer before graduating college, he waited a little too long to scope out a place to stay.

"I was kind of foolish — I didn't realize what the situation was like in Seattle," 22-year-old Joseph told Business Insider. By the time he began hunting for a place to stay in the spring, housing stock was low, and the places he saw were listed for $1,200 to $1,400 a month. Finally, the UT Austin senior found a local friend with a roommate moving out.

"He had somewhere for July through August, but I needed June through August," Joseph said. "There was a 40-day period I didn't have housing."

So, inspired by a story from a friend he'd met biking across the US last year, he decided he could spend that time living in his Subaru Outback. Concerned about having a safe place to park, he booked a space at a campground in the suburbs through Airbnb for about $600.

Below, he shared with Business Insider how he balanced nights in the car with days at the office.

SEE ALSO: After sleeping in a converted NYC taxi, I have a new respect for the young professionals living in vans to save money

The campground Joseph booked was populated by both temporary and longer-term residents. The owner, Stephanie, would have a campfire when the weather was nice and the group would congregate, talking about everything from global politics to conspiracy theories.

Because he sometimes had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the office by 6, he wasn't always able to join the campfire. When he did, it was memorable. "I'm writing a thesis on an environmental topic, and one night while I was sitting at the campfire it led into this discussion of global politics into a discussion about chem trails — basically getting in a screaming argument about conspiracy theories," he remembers.

"It was like a little community," Joseph said. "They were kind of amused by someone with a corporate job." 

He kept the trappings of corporate life in a separate part of his car, and was able to dry-clean his clothing at the office.

"I had lived in my car for three weeks on a climbing and fishing trip two summers ago, but it was more camping next to it," Joseph said. "I didn't have business suits and things. It was more 'college guy living in his car' versus 'professional guy keeping his stuff clean.'"

Every morning, he'd check his shoes for mud before walking into the office. "That was always funny to me."

For amenities and activity, Joseph joined a local rock-climbing gym for $56 a month. Aside from the locker room with a shower and Wi-Fi and the iron he'd use on the sly, there was another unexpected perk: A fringe community of other people living in their cars.

"It turns out there's a lot of people who rock climb and live in their car," Joseph says. "There's a whole community of people living in their cars in the parking lot. There were these vans I noticed as I hung out there, and I started spending my weekends parked there inside the city, closer to everything I wanted to do. I'd wake up and use their showers, and sometimes we would wake up and make coffee together and hang out in the lot before the doors opened."