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I'm a 21-year-old New Yorker who makes $26,000 a year — here's how I survive in this crazy expensive city

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Brooklyn Bridge in New York City

The INSIDER Summary:

• A 21-year-old trans man from Brooklyn works as an Admissions Assistant.
• Meal-plan dollars, homemade food, and Tupperware are great money-savers.
• Even with prescriptions and transportation costs, there's enough money to buy presents for his brother and niece towards the end of the week.


Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. But we realize that money — and how we spend it — affects everyone's lives, regardless of gender identity. So we decided to start asking millennials of any gender to see how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar. (Thanks, New York mag, for the inspiration.)

Today, a trans man in Brooklyn, visiting his partner in New Jersey and celebrating a few extra meal-plan dollars.


Industry: Higher Education (Admissions Assistant)
Age: 21
Location: Brooklyn, NY (home); New York, NY (work)
Salary: $26,000 yearly
Paycheck Amount (2x a month): $801.40 per paycheck, 2x a month
# of roommates: 2

Monthly Expenses

Rent: $600 (we rent out the living room to the third roommate to keep it affordable)
Loan Payments: Currently not paying loans (still a student), but I am paying back an overdue bill I had at my university from before I started working there full time. Minimum of $100 a month, but I try to pay $250 monthly.
Utilities: $40 on average
Transportation: $25-30 added to MetroCard every week
Phone Bill: $60
Health Insurance: $60 taken from paycheck
Gym: $10.45 monthly

Savings

Current Savings: $900 in savings currently. I put in between $25 and $50 in savings monthly.
Other: Small 403(b) from work. I put 5% of my paycheck towards it.

Day One

10:15 a.m. — My partner is visiting me for the weekend; they go to school in New Jersey. They decide to wake me up to breakfast in bed and make delicious spinach and sunny-side-up eggs and chorizo. The spinach and eggs were already in my fridge and they bought the chorizo. I also make coffee at home.

2:26 p.m. — After spending the morning watching Netflix, we take the train to WTC so they can go back to school in New Jersey. On my way back to catching my own train, I put money on my MetroCard so I don’t have to worry about it tomorrow morning. $30

3:08 p.m. — I get off the train one stop early to head to the gym. I got a membership not too long ago after I realized using the gym at school didn’t offer me the flexibility or accessibility with my schedule.

6:31 p.m. — I go do laundry. I have a dollar and change on my laundromat card so I add $5. After putting my clothes to wash I run to the Family Dollar down the block. I am in charge of getting toilet paper for the apartment, so I pick that up, plus my weekly snacks of wafer cookies, knockoff Fig Newtons, and sunflower seeds for $10.49 ($3 for the snacks). They're my treat to myself.

7:45 p.m. — Since we bought pizza at Little Caesars last night, I have that for dinner/lunch. It’s not the best choice after the gym earlier today, but I’m starving.

8:36 p.m. — I head to the grocery store. Last stop on my busy day. I’ve already picked up some essentials that I needed earlier in the week, so I just grab everything else. Since I pack my lunch, I also grab the things I need for that. Shopping for sales, like always, I manage to pick up eggs, broccoli, hot sauce, mac and cheese, spinach, apples, kiwi, Rice-A-Roni, yogurt, hot dogs, cereal, bread, and sugar. I’ll probably stop by later this week to pick up more milk and mushrooms, but for now, it’s all I need. $29.56

9:15 p.m. — After cleaning out the fridge and reorganizing it, I cook a few meals for lunch to last me until Wednesday, when I'll cook the second half of my lunches for work. This week, I have roasted broccoli and cauliflower with a side of rice for lunch.

Daily Total: $75.05



Day Two

7 a.m. — I wake up after ignoring the first two alarms so I can head to the gym. Today, I go in a little late to work so I can sleep a little more. I go to the gym for an hour, shower, have one cup of coffee, and grab a couple elephant ears before heading to work.

10:12 a.m. — I get to work and have my breakfast. I have instant coffee and sugar at my desk (I grew up on one brand of instant coffee and I’m loyal to it, so I have no qualms with it). I have the elephant ears with my coffee. I head to a meeting and hope the first coffee kicks in.

1:58 p.m. — Lunchtime is coming up, so I pull out the Tupperware meal I have for the day. I also have an apple and yogurt, but I fill up too fast, so I put the yogurt in the office fridge. I’ll have it before class tonight.

5 p.m. — The end of the day, so I’m just finishing up. I check to see if my gym has taken out the monthly dues ($10.45). It has. That’s not too bad. I also have my yogurt from earlier to snack on before class.

9:48 p.m. — Finally home after class. I make a hot dog and fries for dinner. Not really “healthy,” but it’s quick and easy enough for me to relax with. I watch Netflix while I do this and then I go chat with my partner over Facebook Messenger.

1:14 a.m. — I can’t sleep.

Daily Total: $0



Day Three

8:07 a.m. — I ignored three alarms and now I’m running behind on my morning schedule. Fortunately, I live close to the train and it’s only a short bit to work. I grab my pants and throw on a T-shirt. I can put a nice sweater over it when I’m at work and throw on my loafers under my desk. I’ll look professional enough. I grab my lunch from the fridge. Run to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and get my hair to look decent enough. I’m out of the house by 8:24.

9:06 a.m. — I’m settled in my desk now with my computer on and programs I need running. Time to make coffee. I don’t have “breakfast,” so I grab some raspberry cookies from the snack cabinet and use those as an excuse for breakfast.

12:07 p.m. — Time for me to have lunch. I have more veggies and rice today and a vanilla yogurt. I also do my homework for tonight's class. It’s just a few tutorials for a 3-D design program we’re about to start using. Once I’m done, I spend some time doing research for an online article for the school newspaper so I can finish it after work.

2:08 p.m. — I have another coffee. I’m so sleepy after and I have class tonight. I need it to keep myself awake for the afternoon. To be honest, I’ll probably have another one later tonight.

4:20 p.m. — I eat the apple I brought from home, because I know I’ll get hungry before class tonight and I don’t really want to pick up anything from the cafeteria. Turns out, I’m still mildly hungry, so I grab some pretzels from the snack cabinet in the office. They’re filling and really salty, so I finish them off with water. Off to class I go.

10:11 p.m. — After getting home, I make dinner and I finally sit down for a bit. Tonight's dinner is composed of shrimp Top Ramen, but I add spinach and egg to make it a little heartier. I chat with my partner for a bit before showering and passing out.

Daily Total: $0



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

After quitting her corporate job, a 30-year-old found a way to make a living by traveling the world

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Amy Truong, 30, is many things.

She's a traveler, based in Hawaii a few months out of the year but steadily making her way across the globe. She's a blogger, sharing stories, photos, musings, and helpful hints on her website, Generic Dreams. And she's an entrepreneur who founded her own travel agency called Up and Explore while continuing to work remotely in software testing as a "digital nomad."

One thing she is not, though, is timid. She's up for anything on her trips, whether it's scaling mountains via closed-off hikes or bribing guards to explore abandoned buildings.

"The thing about traveling," she told INSIDER, "is that you don't want to say no to what could be a great adventure."

SEE ALSO: Kristin Addis quit her job to travel the world solo

Amy Truong got the travel bug on vacation time from her corporate job in tech and hasn’t looked back since.



“I figured there's got to be a way to make this a lifestyle ... to do it more and make it a part of my life, not just a few weeks out of the year,” she told INSIDER.



So she found a job where she could work remotely as a “digital nomad” and began traveling the world, blogging about her adventures on her site, Generic Dreams.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 22 MBA programs where students go on to earn the most money

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harvard business school graduates

Thinking about getting your MBA, but not sure if it will be worth your time and money?

As it turns out, some programs offer a better return on your investment than others — and PayScale recently found which ones those are.

To identify the MBA programs from which graduates go on to earn the most money in their careers, PayScale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, looked at the starting (five years of experience or less) and mid-career (10-plus years of job experience) pay for thousands of grads.

It recently released this data – along with other interesting findings— in its annual College Salary Report.

These are the 22 MBA programs from which graduates go on to earn the most money 10-plus years into their career, according to PayScale:

SEE ALSO: The 20 grad school programs where students go on to earn the most money

22. University of Notre Dame

Early career median pay: $94,000

Mid-career median pay: $149,000

Graduate enrollment: 3,731



20. (tie) University of Washington

Early career median pay: $94,800

Mid-career median pay: $150,000

Graduate enrollment: 14,112



20. (tie) Yale University

Early career median pay: $115,000

Mid-career median pay: $150,000

Graduate enrollment: 6,859



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

We tried McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King's signature bacon cheeseburgers — and the winner is indisputable

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Bacon Burgers 12

Bacon: The one food trend that deserves the hype.

Since the late 1990s, bacon has exploded in popularity beyond its breakfast origins — and with good reason. It's crispy, smokey, greasy, and it compliments a juicy beef patty like nothing else. 

A bacon cheeseburger is a fact of fast-food life; a double bacon cheeseburger is a dream come true.

Of the fast-food Big Three, both Wendy's and Burger King have serve a bacon-focused burger. McDonald's curiously doesn't serve a bacon burger, but you can build your own.

I gathered these bacon buttressed burgers with one goal in mind: to decide which towering ode to meat is truly the best bacon burger out there. 

ALSO READ: McDonald's just pulled the plug on its biggest menu change in years

SEE ALSO: We tried McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King's signature burgers — and the winner is unmistakable

Let's start with Burger King's bacon slathered "Bacon King," a whopping and wide sandwich.



Two quarter-pound patties with neon yellow American cheese melted on each are topped with a "hearty portion"— BK's words — of bacon, under a classic sesame seed bun. The sandwich is massive; it's practically wide enough to successfully land a 747. And it's beefy (pun intended). The Bacon King requires two hands at all times, lest one makes a big bacon mess.



Yet for such a regal and mighty name, one expects a tad more grandeur and clout than the simple bacon double cheeseburger it is. Ketchup and mayo are in the mix — nothing special there. It feels like a clone of the Wendy's Baconator that was widened with a rolling pin. There is nothing offered here that convinces me that this is the bacon burger of choice — it does not innovate, it merely mimics.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here are the 20 best-selling music stars online

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In the modern era of music, as physical album sales have rapidly died off, popular artists now have to make money from digital downloads and increasingly promising streaming services. 

In order to find out which music acts have made the most impact in the digital era, we compiled the RIAA's data on the highest-selling artists of all time for "certified units" of digital singles sold in the US.

The sales data takes download and streaming figures for individual songs into account, and the resulting list includes the expected heavy hitters — Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Drake — alongside some slightly more surprising names.

Check out the 20 best-selling music artists of the digital era:

SEE ALSO: The 25 most influential music artists under 25, according to Spotify

20. Blake Shelton — 24 million units

Biggest hits:"God Gave Me You" (3 million units), "Honey Bee" (3 million units), "Boys 'Round Here" (3 million units)



19. Wiz Khalifa — 24 million units

Biggest hits:"See You Again" (6 million units), "Black & Yellow" (6 million units), "Young, Wild & Free" (4 million units)



18. Fall Out Boy — 24.5 million units

Biggest hits:"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" (5 million units), "Sugar, We're Going Down" (4 million units), "Centuries" (4 million units)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This couple travels the US in a tiny home they built for under $20,000 — take a look inside

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Alexis Stephens and Christian Parsons are a "go big or go home" kind of couple. When Alexis wanted to simplify her life and her surroundings in 2015, they removed the clutter, stashed their old photographs and Christmas decorations in a storage unit, and built the tiny home of their dreams.

Now, the couple is traveling the country making a documentary about tiny home owners finding community — in places big and small. They were kind enough to share some snapshots of the journey with us.

SEE ALSO: 3 months ago I threw everything away — and it's taught me surprising lessons about minimalism

"I’m a recovered pack rat," Alexis says. "For me, I wanted to make a lifestyle decision to simplify my surroundings."



The tiny house presented the perfect solution. About a year ago, her partner Christian broke ground on the home of their dreams.



Christian was no stranger to renovations. His dad worked on every house the family lived in for "almost the entire time we lived in it."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's how the beloved characters from 'Beauty and the Beast' will look in Disney's live-action movie

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"Beauty and the Beast" is Disney's next beloved animated fairytale to get the live-action treatment on the big screen. EW's latest cover story featured nine new photos from the upcoming movie starring Emma Watson.

Disney has now released high-res versions of the photos. Here's a bigger look at how all of the characters will look in the upcoming movie next March.

The big reveal Thursday was seeing how the Beast (Dan Stevens) will look on the big screen. We're not sure how we're feeling about the look.



It's pretty tough to live up to the animated version of the beast fans fell in love with. What do you think?



Here he is again with his hair pulled back in the film's iconic dance number.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

30 movies that will inspire you to travel the world

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Motorcycle Diaries

Sometimes the best way to experience a destination you haven't been to is to watch a movie that takes place there.

From the "Lord of the Rings," which brings New Zealand's beauty to the forefront, to "Into the Wild," which was filmed in Alaska's rugged wilderness, here are 30 movies that will fuel your wanderlust.

"Roman Holiday"

A classic black-and-white film featuring an always elegant Audrey Hepburn, "Roman Holiday" features 1950s Rome through the eyes of a sheltered princess and the American man she falls in love with.

The movie was filmed at a variety of iconic landmarks throughout the city.

Buy it here >



"Slumdog Millionaire"

Featuring a teen who grew up in India's slums and then makes it on the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire,""Slumdog Millionaire" shows India in all its gritty, overcrowded, and often dirty glory.

It's sure to spark some curiosity in avid travelers who have never been. The movie was filmed mostly in the cities of Agra and Mumbai.

Buy it here >



"Under the Tuscan Sun"

Based on the book by Frances Mayes, "Under the Tuscan Sun" tells the story of a recently divorced writer who ends up impulsively buying a villa in the Italian countryside while on vacation in Tuscany.

The movie was filmed in multiple locations throughout Italy, many in Tuscany — Florence, Arezzo, and Siena — as well as Rome and Positano. Think quaint villages, Tuscan countryside, and spectacular coastal views.

Buy it here >



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

20 crock pot recipes everyone needs to make this season

The surprising first jobs of 17 US presidents

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The road to the White House isn't always glamorous.

Sure, most US presidents throughout our history have had experience in law, politics, or the military— or some combination thereof.

But many future presidents had rather unconventional first gigs— from plucking chickens to working at a circus to selling comic books at a grocery store.

It's definitely encouraging for anyone who suffered through a weird start to their career.

Here are the surprising first jobs held by Washington, Lincoln, Obama, and 14 other US presidents:

Natalie Walters contributed to a previous version of this article.

SEE ALSO: How to memorize every US president's name in less than an hour

DON'T MISS: 26 weird jobs famous people had before making it big

George Washington started working as a surveyor in Shenandoah Valley at age 16

When Washington, the first US president, was 16, Lord Thomas Fairfax gave him his first job surveying Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia, according to the official site of Historic Kenmore, his sister's plantation.

Surveyors measure land, airspace, and water, and explain what it looks like and how much there is for legal records.

The next year, at age 17, Washington was appointed the official surveyor of Culpeper County. By the time he was 21, he owned more than 1,500 acres of land, according to American Studies department at UVA.



John Adams was a schoolmaster

After graduating from a class of 24 students, Adams took his first job as as a schoolmaster in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to the University of Groningen's biography of the second US president.

However, the career was not fulfilling for Adams and he was often filled with self doubt, as evidenced by the personal entries in his famous journal, which the Massachusetts Historical Society has posted online. To keep up with his own reading and writing, Adams would sometimes ask the smartest student to lead class.



Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer

Before he became the third president of the US, Jefferson handled 900 matters while specializing in land cases as a lawyer in the General Court in Williamsburg, Virginia, according to Encyclopedia Virginia.

Influenced by his political ideology, Jefferson served clients from all classes. As he wrote in his "Autobiography" in 1821, he wanted to create a "system by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

26 bookstores every book lover must visit in their lifetime

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The Last bookstore

Books can transport you across the world, so it's definitely worth traveling to buy one. The best bookstores don't just sell a lot of books — they're historic works of architecture, run by bibliophiles, and treasure literary culture on every shelf.

From Argentina to Paris, here are 26 bookstores around the world that every book lover should visit in their lifetime.

El Ateneo, Buenes Aires, Argentina

This bookstore started out as a theater in 1919, and was eventually transformed into a a stunning bookstore in 2000. Customers can sit in still-intact theater boxes to relax and browse their books.

The space is massive. It holds more than 120,000 books, and the bookshelves fill the space where the audience once sat.



Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France

The original Shakespeare & Company  on Paris' Left Bank was a hangout for Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce, but closed during World War II. 

The store re-opened in 1951 and has become a popular favorite because of its ambiance and selection. 

"Time has not sundered the love-in between literature and Paris's Left Bank,"writes Time."The Shakespeare and Company bookstore has long been a fixture of the affair."



Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tennessee

Novelist Ann Patchett and her friend Karen Hayes opened Parnassus Books in 2011 to fight the tide of closing independent bookstores. In the time since, it's become an integral part of the Nashville literary community.

Since then, the bookstore's been a smashing success. She even took an idea from food trucks and has a book truck traveling around the city.

"People still want books; I’ve got the numbers to prove it,"Patchett wrote in The Atlantic. "I imagine they remember the bookstores of their youth as tenderly as I remember mine. They are lined up outside most mornings when we open our doors, because, I think, they have learned through this journey we’ve all been on that the lowest price does not always represent the best value."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

22 things we wish we'd known before moving to San Francisco

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Moving to a new city is exciting — new things to see, do, and eat — but it also comes with an exhausting array of new details to figure out, from what's worth seeing to how to dress.

And San Francisco is no exception. Anyone planning to move here should be ready for hills, chilly nights, and an amazing local culture. From navigating the city's less than perfect transportation system to finding the best extra-large burritos, there's plenty to experience.

For anyone ready to move west, we've surveyed our editors and friends about what they wish they'd known before moving to San Francisco, and gleaned the best insider tips.

Here's what they wish they'd known:

SEE ALSO: 24 things we wish we'd known before moving to New York City

DON'T MISS: The 20 best places to live in America if you want to be happy at work

"San Francisco's public transit systems, MUNI and BART, are better than most US cities, but much worse than New York's, and they don't connect to each other.

"In general, don't believe the bus or train schedules. They're more suggestions than set times."—Matt Rosoff



"Craigslist is a completely legitimate way to find housing.

"In a lot of other cities it can be sketchy — in SF it's definitely not. You still need to be aware of scams, but if you're looking to pay less than $3,000-plus per month for a place to live, hit up Craigslist.

"The best way to keep yourself from getting scammed is to simply insist on seeing the place in-person before signing anything or sending any personal information."—Cameron Merriman



"The burritos here are unlike anywhere else. If you think Mexican food is Chipotle, you're in for a new world."—Biz Carson



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

25 companies where interviewing is a treat, not a chore

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Every company approaches the interview process differently.

Some ask insanely difficult or weird questions, while others drag out the process and never get back to you — leaving you wanting to give up on your whole job search.

A few, however, are known for providing candidates with a pleasant experience.

To find out which employers fall into that latter category, Glassdoor recently looked at the input of interview candidates who provided anonymous feedback by completing an interview review, where they were asked to rate their overall interview experience, describe the interview process, provide questions asked, rate the difficulty of the interview, and share other insights related to the process.

Glassdoor analyzed feedback from US-based candidates who interviewed at companies with 1,000 or more employees. Only companies with at least 100 reviews in the past year were considered.

To determine its list of The 50 Best Places to Interview in 2016, Glassdoor calculated an interview score for each company, which is based on positive interview experience ratings, but also takes interview duration and interview difficulty into consideration. Winners are ranked based on their interview score during the past year.

Below are the top 25 best places to interview in 2016. (See the complete list of all 50 here.)

SEE ALSO: The most common questions hiring managers ask during job interviews

25. Gap

Interview Score: 81%

Candidate feedback: "Informative about the duties of the role, and the interviewer really tried to get to know me. It was a mix of personality questions and skill questions about the job … Heard back about the job within a week."



24. American Eagle Outfitters

Interview Score: 81%

Candidate feedback: "The head manager was surprisingly extremely nice and personable, so I did not feel uncomfortable within my interview at all. I managed to actually become friends with the head manager and got the job on the spot."



23. Deloitte

Interview Score: 81%

Candidate feedback:"I had a first round on campus interview first with a networking event the night before. The interviews were about 45 min each with two different people, with mostly behavioral questions. I made it through to the next round, and I was able to go to their office and attend another networking event the night before with two behavioral interviews again."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 30 best college towns in America

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Fort Collins Colorado

When deciding where to go to college, location can matter just as much as academics. Factors like safety, job opportunities, and cultural vibrancy can elevate — or detract from — the college experience.

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on cities, recently named the best college towns in America, focusing on the overall livability of places where undergraduates from a top-250 college make up at least 10% of the town's overall population.

To determine "livability," Niche narrowed in on each city's cost of living, public-school quality, the percentage of residents who hold at least a bachelor's degree, and the overall strength of the area's real-estate market. Niche also factored in things like diversity, crime rates, and access to amenities. You can read a detailed breakdown of the methodology here.

From the homes of big state schools to small towns housing tiny private schools, here are the 30 best places to live while you're earning that degree.

SEE ALSO: The best suburb in every state

DON'T MISS: 25 beautiful US cities to live in if you love spending time outdoors

30. Golden, Colorado — home to Colorado School of Mines

Population: 19,759

Cost of living: C-

Median rent: $947

Nightlife: A+

"The community is great, and it is growing quickly," one resident said. "Places are consistently looking to hire in town. It is also a relatively short drive in to Denver, so there are plenty of places to work."

Leisure activities are abundant as well. 

"There are block parties all summer long, you can tube on the river, the breweries are great, and people are friendly," another resident said. "What's not to love?"

 

 



29. Carlisle, Pennsylvania — home to Dickinson College

Population: 18,877

Cost of living: C+

Median rent: $776

Nightlife: A

"School is important to the people here, and because we live in a small community, it is easy to find someone you know in every store you walk in," one resident said. "Living in a small town is actually an adventure to me."



28. Northfield, Minnesota — home to Carleton College and St. Olaf College

Population: 20,303

Cost of living: B-

Median rent: $730

Nightlife: B+

"Northfield is repeatedly ranked as one of the best small cities in America, and between its two liberal arts colleges, politically active youth, and historic feel, it is a quirky and raw place to grow up," a lifelong resident shared



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 5 best new songs you can stream right now

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QuestloveNow that new music comes out every Friday — though not always on every streaming service — it can be hard to know where to find the next great song.

To help you out, Business Insider compiles this rundown of the best new music you can stream right now.

This week, The Roots collaborated with rapper Busta Rhymes on a new song, and rock legend Neil Young released the title track to his upcoming 37th studio album.

Check out this week's best new songs:

SEE ALSO: The best songs to stream from the week of October 28

The Roots — "My Shot (Rise Up Remix)"

The Roots enlisted rappers Busta Rhymes and Joell Ortiz and fun. singer Nate Ruess to create a solid reinterpretation of the song "My Shot" from "Hamilton" for a star-studded mixtape celebrating the acclaimed musical. 

RAW Embed



STRFKR — "Something Ain't Right"

"Something Ain't Right," a new album track from Portland indie-pop group STRFKR, sounds like a synth anthem from the 1980s with its catchy chorus and energetic instrumentation. 

RAW Embed



Chaz Bundick Meets the Mattson 2 — "Star Stuff"

Toro y Moi producer/singer Chaz Bundick successfully channels '60s psychedelic rock on "Star Stuff," the first single from his upcoming album with California jazz duo The Mattson 2.

RAW Embed



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These are the most famous books set in each state

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Whether you come from the California coastline or the snowy forests of Maine, reading a book set in your home state can make you feel a warm nostalgia for that beloved place.

After scouring the internet and surveying our colleagues on their picks, we rounded up the most famous book set in every state in America

If you want to see every book in an organized chart, scroll to the end to see our map.

Melissa Stanger contributed reporting on a previous version of this post.

ALABAMA: "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

When a local attorney is asked to defend an African American man accused of rape, he has to decide between doing what's right and doing what society expects of him, launching his children right in the middle of the conflict.

This Pulitzer Prize winner is set in Maycomb, a community divided by racism and inspired by Lee's hometown of Monroeville. 

Buy the book here »



ALASKA: "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

A young man from a family of money donates all of his savings to charity and abandons his possessions before hitchhiking into the Alaskan wilderness to reinvent himself.

This true story survival-drama was made into a movie of the same name in 2007, directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch, shedding light on McCandless' idealism of a life unburdened by material possessions, as well as the harsh realities of the Alaskan wild.

Buy the book here »



ARIZONA: "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

Taylor is well on her way to escaping small-town life. But shortly into her journey to Tucson, where she hopes to start over, a stranger leaves her with a Native American toddler with a traumatic past.

Kingsolver's story of finding salvation in a barren situation is appropriately set in the Arizona backdrop, and is packed with real places and events.

Buy the book here »



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

7 photos that show why we think Eddie Redmayne is the most stylish guy in the world right now

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By all accounts, Eddie Redmayne is killing it. But we're not talking about his numerous acting awards, including the Best Actor Oscar he won in 2015. 

No, we're talking about his style game. It's so off-the-charts incredible, we named him the most stylish guy in the world right now.

What makes him so stylish? It comes down to two things: he pays attention to how his garments fit him, and he knows exactly how good he looks.

SEE ALSO: The 16 most stylish guys on the planet

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Basically, it all comes down to this: there isn't anyone else around that can wear suits as well as he does. And it's not like he has just one suit that fits him really well and he wears it all the time.



No, the man has a closet full of suits of every color, shape, style, and texture. He's worn velvet suits and tuxedos in every color, and he's rocked them all. Miraculously, they all fit him like they were born to hug his slender 5'11" frame.



Redmayne has spoken to his love of tailoring and suits, telling Men's Health that he's "always worn suits," so he "always felt at ease in them." The same goes for Redmayne's incredible tuxedo ensembles seen at award shows.

Source: Men's Health



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The 6 most high-tech trucks coming in 2017 (F, GM)

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2017 toyota tacoma

You don't have to settle on tech when it comes to buying a pick-up truck.

Pick-up trucks are coming standard with semi-autonomous capabilities and remote access, among other innovative features.

Scroll down for the most high-tech options on the market.

SEE ALSO: A startup trying to become the Tesla of trucking just made a very strange move

1. The 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty starts at $32,535 and is 350 pounds lighter than its predecessor. The F-250 comes with a conventional towing capacity of 18,000 pounds.



The Super Duty offers Trailer Reverse Guidance, where up to seven cameras aid offer visual cues and tips to make reversing with a trailer easier.



It also comes with adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and Cross-Traffic Alert that will warn you of obstacles when backing up.

The Super Duty starts at $32,535.



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7 foods that could go extinct thanks to climate change

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Orange Lobster_Mill

Climate change is already resulting in a huge number of consequences globally, from rising sea levels to record-breaking high temperatures. 

It's also endangering some of the most popular and delicious foods on the planet. 

With the hotter weather and more frequent natural disasters that come with deviation from Earth's natural cycles, foods from avocado to lobster are in trouble. 

Here are seven foods and drinks that could grow more expensive and eventually disappear due to climate change. 

Avocados

There are many reasons why avocados are more expensive now than ever before, including a farmers' strike. But the biggest threats to avocados are rooted in environmental issues linked to climate change: hot weather and droughts have caused problems everywhere from California to Australia. Avocados are weather-sensitive and slow growing — making them especially susceptible to the effects of climate change. 



Coffee

In September, a report from the nonprofit Climate Institute concluded that the area around the world fit for coffee production would decrease by 50% due to climate change. In addition to dealing with drought, climate change has made coffee crops more vulnerable to diseases like coffee rust, which have wiped out more than a billion dollars in crops. 



Beer

Warmer and more extreme weather is hurting hops production in the US, reports ClimateWatch Magazine. 

And droughts could mean less tasty drinks. Some brewers fear that a shortage of river water may force them to brew with groundwater — a change that the head brewer at Lagunitas said "would be like brewing with Alka-Seltzer," according to NPR. 

 



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This is your step-by-step guide to fixing a scratch on your car

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DeBord Prius

You can live with scratches on your car — but you shouldn't.

Scratches are like the old torture of death by a thousand cuts. Eventually, they'll destroy your car's finish by allowing rust to develop. And like the great Canadian poet said, rust never sleeps.

Neil Young references aside, I recently suggested two ways to repair scratches. While I was dispensing this basic advice, it occurred to me that I had a scratch (or two or three or 12) on my own car, a 2011 Toyota Prius, that needed attending to, certainly before winter in the Northeast, where I live.

I kind of split the difference between my two earlier scratch repair techniques: I didn't use tape; and I didn't go for a perfect fix.

Read on:

SEE ALSO: Here are 2 good ways to fix a scratch on your car

I've had my Prius for over a year — lots of time to acquire a few dings and scratches. Ah life.



Here's the one I decided to repair: a narrow scribbled scrape, but not quite a gouge, which would have required more advanced skills. Ugly!



A company called TouchUpDirect sells repair kits. For about $30, I got a paint pen to match my car's color, as well as a clearcoat pen. Clearcoat is the transparent layer that protects the finish.

Here's a link to the company's site. I don't recommend or endorse the product, but in my case, it worked well.



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