As far as daily routines of historical figures go, Benjamin Franklin's is well documented.

The Founding Father's meticulous "scheme" consisted of waking up at 5 a.m. and asking himself, "What good shall I do this day?"

He then dove into work, reading, and socializing for the rest of the day, until he retired to bed at 10 p.m., The Atlantic reports.

At the end of the night, Franklin asked himself, "What good have I done today?"

He was also famous for his "13 virtues," a list of rules and moral guidelines that he created at the age of 20, according to CBS. Each week, he would pick one "virtue" to focus on.

After trying out the morning routines of Jack Dorsey, Arianna Huffington, and Barack Obama, I was intrigued by Franklin's emphasis on doing good and improving his character.

In his autobiography, Franklin wrote that he never "arrived at the perfection [he] had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it." However, he wrote that his attempts made him a better and happier man than he would otherwise have been.

Would I feel like a better and happier person at the end of trying Franklin's daily routine for a week?

I was about to find out.

SEE ALSO: I followed Barack Obama's morning routine for a week, and it taught me a valuable lesson about mental toughness

DON'T MISS: I followed Jack Dorsey's morning routine for a week and was surprised by the difference it made in my day

The experiment

The following is a rundown of Franklin's schedule, taken from his autobiography:

5 to 8 a.m.:"Rise, wash and address Powerful Goodness; contrive day's business and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study; and breakfast."

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.:"Work."

12 to 2 p.m.:"Read or overlook my accounts, and dine."

2 to 6 p.m.:"Work."

6 to 10 p.m.:"Put things in their places, supper, music, or diversion, or conversation; examination of the day."

10 p.m. to 5 a.m.:"Sleep."

This schedule looks ideal in theory, but I knew that day-to-day responsibilities and unpredictability would make it impossible to follow strictly. I didn't want to set an unrealistic expectation that would leave me disappointed in myself.

So I decided to use the schedule as a guideline. But I would be disciplined about dedicating myself to a virtue or two each day.

I also resolved to ask myself, "What good will I do today?" when I woke up, and end each evening by contemplating the good I'd done.

Monday

One of the first tweaks I made to Franklin's routine was his wake-up time. I found 5 a.m. to be too early when I tried Dorsey's morning routine, so I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. I ended up hitting the snooze button for 15 minutes. I blame Monday-morning grogginess.

I then did a 16-minute morning meditation, a habit I picked up from Huffington's and Dorsey's morning routines. I chose a guided meditation that focused on setting an intention for the day.

I picked silence as my Monday virtue, which Franklin defined as: "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."

I took this to mean fighting the urge to provide my own thoughts when they aren't necessary, staying away from negative conversations, and listening closely to others.

After my meditation, I went for a 4-mile run. Franklin doesn't say anything about physical activity, but after following the routines of successful people whose morning habits involved getting sweaty, I am addicted to the feeling.

When I came back from my run, I planned out my to-do lists, divided into "work" and "home." I got to work at 9:15 a.m., and since I had already planned my day, I got straight to it.

When the time came for a reading break, I took an hour instead of Franklin's two. I was planning to sit on the office roof and read the book I was currently engrossed in, "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker.

Instead, I read longform articles over lunch that I thought might inspire story ideas. I noticed that when I gave myself permission to read the articles properly, as opposed to scanning them, I enjoyed discovering the little details.

That evening, I took a hot bath and reflected on the good I'd done that day. I then wrote down the day's successes, followed by how I thought I'd fared living the virtue I'd chosen that morning.

I felt I kept chatter to a minimum, despite being surrounded by a talkative group of people. But I realized I could have been better at blocking out distractions and maintaining my focus on a single thing.

Tuesday

After realizing that I needed to build up my immunity to distractions, I decided that Tuesday's virtue was going to be order. Franklin's definition of order was: "Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."

I interpreted this as focusing on one thing at a time, without multitasking. As someone who often starts the day switching back and forth among tasks, I knew this would be a challenge.

I started off well but had to switch focus a couple of times midday, when higher priorities came my way.

Proponents of single-tasking would probably disapprove, but being a digital journalist entails work that's reactive as well as proactive.

Fortunately, I was able to transition into full-focus mode on important tasks during the afternoon. In fact, I was so focused that I forgot to take my reading break until 2:30 p.m., when I'd completed a task.

Technically it wasn't a break, as I was reading articles from Business Insider's content partners, which is part of my job. However, again I felt giving myself permission to take the time to digest the content was valuable.

After work, I went to the gym until 8:15 p.m. and spent the following two hours doing errands. I lost track of time, and, as a result, only reflected briefly on the good I did that day.

Twenty years ago, initial public offerings were all the rage, with a record 845 companies going public in the U.S. in 1996, including teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, commercial real estate giant CBRE Group, and internet portal Yahoo!.

The market's appetite for IPOs has abated considerably since those go-go days, and 2015 saw just 152 IPOs worth a total of $25.2 billion. That was substantially fewer than the prior year, when 244 companies went public at a collective initial valuation of $74.4 billion. (The number of IPOs in 2016 is on track to be even lower.)

IPO investing is exciting, because stocks will often (though definitely not always) soar when they hit the market. However, it's usually not a good decision to invest in these companies at the outset. Google's stock may have sprinted out of the gate when it went public more than a decade ago, but more often than not a company performs poorly for the first year or so. Facebook famously lost 30% of its value in its first year on the market.

There are a few reasons for that, such as the lock-up period that prevents insiders from selling their shares for a length of time -- usually 90 days, but as long as two years. On top of that, initial offerings are often overpriced, and the odds are largely stacked against small investors, as money managers and institutional investors have already gotten in early. In general, investors should steer clear of IPOs, or at least think twice before investing in them.

If you do invest in an IPO, however, don't think about it as a chance to make a quick buck. Instead, have a long-term outlook, just as you should with every investment you make. With that in mind, let's take a look at the 10 biggest IPOs of 2015 and see how they're doing one year (or so) later.

Of the 10 biggest IPOs of 2015, only four stocks are showing gains from their offering prices, and those only as a result of improved market conditions this year. Sometimes, not even buyout offers gave the stocks enough of a boost to overcome the deficits generated.

That underscores the difficulty (and foolhardiness) of investing in IPOs. Investors would be better served waiting a year or so before giving newly public companies a closer look.

10. EQT GP Holdings

EQT GP Holdings is the general partner owner of EQT Midstream Partners, which owns and operates interstate pipelines and gathering lines primarily serving the Marcellus shale region. Offered at $27 per share on May 12, 2015, EQT GP raised $621 million at its IPO. Since going public, however, with natural gas pricing weak, EQT GP's stock has fallen 13%. The U.S Energy Information Agency says the polar vortex helped prices rise in the Northeast, but they fell everywhere else.

9. Transunion

Credit reporting agency Transunion went public in June 2015, raising $664.8 million from an offering price of $22.50 per share. Maintaining a proprietary database with files on over 1 billion consumers, and providing businesses with access to it and tools to exploit it, has helped its stock gain 39% since the IPO. With a business model that features highly recurring and diversified streams of revenue, low capital requirements, and strong and stable cash flows, TransUnion looks like it may continue to rise even higher.

8. TerraForm Global

Renewable energy provider TerraForm Global raised $675 million in July 2015, but it was sunk by the bankruptcy filing of its parent, SunEdison, and the fact that it has failed to file any financial reports in more than a year. There is the possibility that it will be bought out by private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management, but the yieldco has contracts that will go into default on a change of control, making any buyout an uncertain and risky affair. Since going public at $15 per share, TerraForm Global has lost more than three-quarters of its value.

Recruitment website Glassdoor has released its annual list of the best companies in the UK to work for, based on anonymous employee reviews.

Glassdoor lets people leave ratings and feedback on their employers anonymously and the company has used that data to rank companies, giving them a rating out of 5. Companies had to have at least 30 reviews on the site to qualify and have at least 1,000 employees.

Glassdoor gives all the company ratings to one decimal place and it wouldn't give Business Insider any more precise figures. However, a spokesperson assured us that the companies are in the correct order and aren't equally ranked even if the figure is the same.

BI rounded up all the finance companies in Glassdoor's top 50 — Barclays, Lloyds, and Royal Bank of Scotland are notably all absent. Check out the businesses that made the cut:

11. Thomson Reuters: 3.9

Rating: 3.9.

What they do: Financial data and reporting.

Rank on full list: 48.

What staff say: "Good work life balance, great opportunities to move between jobs internationally. Great focus on customer satisfaction. Dynamic strategy in line with current market condition." Thomson Reuters Specialist FX/FI  (London, England)

10. UBS: 3.9

Rating: 3.9.

What they do: Investment bank.

Rank on full list: 44.

What staff say: "Company values are part of the strong culture within the company, everyone works towards the common goal to succeed and make UBS great." UBS Apprentice (City of London)

9. JPMorgan: 3.9

Rating: 3.9.

What they do: Investment bank.

Rank on the full list: 39.

What staff say: "Enjoyable place of work, where people interact regardless of seniority. Wide organisation allows for easier job rotations and mobility. Encourages networking. Focus on training and development." J.P. Morgan Business Analyst(London, England)

North Korea's military escapades were back in the headlines in December, after state media in the secretive country reported news of two large-scale military drills involving rocket launchers and fighter jets.

Some analysts believe that King Jong Un, the country's despotic leader, is gearing up for war against South Korea— pictures accompanying one report even showed a mock-up of the Blue House, South Korea's presidential residence, being used as a target by artillery. Others, however, say the drills are the latest in a long line of "sabre-rattling" manoeuvres designed to intimidate neighbours.

In either case, the country's missile development and huge artillery stocks pose a significant danger to South Korea and the rest of the world.

It is one of the world's most secretive countries, so the information largely comes from other sources, but the state's propaganda efforts mean there are plenty of pictures of the country's colossal military capacity. Take a look.

*Mike Bird contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

The largest part of the military is the Korean People's Army Ground Force, which includes about 1.2 million active personnel and millions more civilians who are effectively reservists.

North Korea's ground forces are numerous but equipped mostly with out-of-date Soviet-era small arms, or copies produced in North Korea or China.

The air force has some semi-modern fighter jets, like the MiG-29, which was built in the later years of the Soviet Union, but most of its air force is made up of "less capable" jets and even biplanes.

The Australian Standards Bureau (ASB) has released a list of the most complained-about ads of 2016. 

The most complained about ad, criticized for discriminating against vegans, received more than 700 complaints. 

In total, the ASB received more than 5,000 complaints about ads in 2016, over a third of which were for advertisements in the below ranking. (We usually publish the ASB's top 10 most complained-about ads, but three of the top 10 reference the same ad but for different mediums — TV, internet, and social — so there are eight ads in total, not 10).

Check out the eight most offensive ads from Australia in 2016. 

SEE ALSO: These were the 10 most offensive ads from Australia in 2015

8. A window display of a poster advertisement for lingerie brand Honey Birdette May — 59 complaints. Complainants said the ad was only appropriate for a sex or adult shop and the ASB upheld the complaints.

7. Medibank Health Insurance — 66 complaints. This ad featured many different types of families in different settings, including homosexual couples and a mother breast feeding. Viewers complained about the ad showing homosexual couples kissing and that it depicted breastfeeding. The ASB dismissed the complaints.

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6. "The Conjuring 2," Roadshow Films — 82 complaints. Viewers complained the graphic horror content was too extreme for children and generally distressing for adults too. The board upheld the complaints.

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Central London can be one of the most stressful and busy places to be any time of year, but never more so than in the lead up to Christmas.

However, come December 25, the city becomes a ghost town.

Freelance photographer Jon Cartwright captured the spooky city on Christmas Day this year to show what the streets look like without all of the people.

Cartwright told Business Insider: "I live in central London and it’s something I’ve done a few times when I’ve been home at Christmas (and the weather allows)."

"Usually – for my job – I photograph people, so it’s a bit of a change of pace...It’s fun feeling like you have the west end more or less to yourself, and you can get pictures of landmarks that would usually be littered with people."

From the usually packed Southbank to iconic spots like Oxford Circus and Covent Garden, see some of the most stunning – and eerie – shots from his series below:

Covent Garden underground station normally sees crowds piling out of its doors, but none were travelling on December 25.

Seven streets packed with busy shops, restaurants, and bars meet at this point in London's Seven Dials, one of the most popular spots for Christmas shopping – but not so popular on Christmas Day.

The Adelphi Theatre on The Strand is home to popular show Kinky Boots, but the theatre wasn't a hit this Christmas.

While it's important to visit the world's biggest cities and landmarks, travel should also be about discovering the undiscovered.

Did you know there's a natural cave in Croatia that's so blue it looks fake? Or an amusement park in Copenhagen that rivals Disneyland Paris?

Probably not.

We've compiled a comprehensive list of little-known – yet spectacular – places worth visiting in Europe. 

From quiet cities and tiny villages to remote islands and natural wonders, here are our top 75:

Chloe Pantazi and Will Heilpern contributed to an earlier version of this article. 

The striking Haifoss Waterfall in Iceland is only accessible to committed hikers and 4x4 vehicles, which keeps the 122-meter-tall cascade under-the-radar.

Dip into one of the stunning terraced thermal pools filled with minerals in Pamukkale, Turkey.

Visit Setenil de las Bodegas, a village in Andalucia, Spain, that was built into cliffs and where residents' houses have large rocks covering them instead of roofs.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

As the new year approaches, most of us are probably thinking of adopting some new resolutions.

Whether that's exercising more, advancing our career, working towards personal development, or simply reading more, there's no doubt we need some inspiration.

Whatever your goal for next year is, there are tons of books out there which can help you stick to your New Year's resolutions. 

These are the inspiring books you should put on your reading list for 2017. 

"When Breath Becomes Air," by Paul Kalanithi

"When Breath Becomes Air" chronicles the life of Paul Kalanithi, a medical student on the verge of becoming a neurosurgeon who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. This inspiring book looks at what makes life worth living in the face of death, and what to do when the world crumbles around you. 

BUY NOW >>

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance," by Angela Duckworth

Psychologist Angela Duckworth shares the secrets of why some naturally gifted people fail, while some less talented individuals succeed. Based on her cutting-edge research, she explains that the key to success isn't necessarily talent but grit. "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" is a book which will help you understand exactly how you can succeed. 

BUY NOW >>

"Legacy," by James Kerr

The All Blacks are one of the most successful sports teams in the world, but how do they keep being the best year after year? James Kerr explores that in "Legends," a book that we should all take lessons from to succeed in our own field. 

BUY NOW >>

Jason Hawkes is one of the world's most gifted aerial photographers. 

He published his first book of work at the age of 23 and has since gone on to publish more than 50 titles and shoot iconic images of Hong Kong, New York, and Libya for clients including National Geographic and Red Bull.

Despite having travelled the world, British-born Hawkes says that London is still his favourite city around the globe to photograph.

"I love the changes in the skyline with the new buildings cropping up," Hawkes told Business Insider, "and whilst the weather in the UK is a constant challenge, you can't help but feel privileged to be flying around town."

Jason has been snapping the capital throughout 2016, and his images capture the diversity of this complex city in a beautifully unique light. 

See some of his best shots below:

You can check out more of Jason's work on his website, or follow him on Twitter @JasonHawkesPhot. 

No matter the angle, the ever-changing face of London looks beautiful from above. To capture the stunning city, Jason Hawkes flies in an AS355 twin-engined helicopter from heights of around 450ft up to around 3000ft.

His aerial photographs are a sobering reminder of the sheer size of London. Even from above, the city stretches all the way to the horizon.

47% of London is green space, meaning photographers can capture striking photos that wouldn't be possible in other cities like New York and Hong Kong.

Source: The Independent

Every year, people make and lose vast amounts of money playing the stock markets. Predicting what will happen is notoriously difficult, and this year things were made even harder by the crazy uncertainty that dominated global markets and politics. 

However, despite — and in some ways, because of — events like the UK's vote to leave the EU, British stocks had a great year, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 breaking new records for both intraday and closing highs. The index hit a new closing high twice in two days on the year's antepenultimate and penultimate trading days.

UK stocks have taken off since the vote for Brexit, gaining more than 15% since the days before the referendum. This may seem like fantastic news for the British economy, but it has largely been driven by the weakness of the sterling since June 23rd.

Though a weaker pound might seem like bad news for UK stocks, about 70% of the revenue earned by the companies that make up the FTSE 100 is derived abroad, meaning they make more money when sterling is weak. The index is full of mining companies, oil firms, and pharmaceutical giants that use the UK as a base but tend to denominate their assets in dollars.

It is largely these miners and oil companies that dominate the apex of the FTSE 100's performance charts in 2016. You can check out the best performers — all of which have gained more than 45% this year — below:

Figures are accurate as of 9.00 a.m. GMT (4.00 a.m. ET) on Friday, December 30.

10. Smiths Group — up 45.99%

Change: up 45.99%.

Engineering and technology firm Smiths Group — which was the first UK company to manufacture speedometers — has snuck under the radar in 2016. It has started the process of a massive overhaul, under the guidance of new CEO Andy Reynolds Smith, who replaced outgoing boss of eight years, Philip Bowman, last year. 

Smiths will plough money into research and development going forward. "The business isn’t focused enough on the future for me at the moment,"Reynolds Smith said in September.

9. Antofagasta — up 46.84%

Change: up 46.84%.

Copper miner Antofagasta is one of the many UK-listed, but overseas-based companies that is near the top of the FTSE 100's 2016 performance charts thanks in part to the huge slump in the pound since the Brexit vote. Antofagasta reports its results in dollars, meaning its seen a boost in earnings thanks to the fall in sterling.

More importantly, the Chilean miner has also benefitted massively from the 25% rise in copper prices since the start of the year.

8. Royal Dutch Shell (B) — up 49.34%

Change: up 49.34%.

Perhaps the most famous oil company in the world, the rise in Shell's 'B' shares — which are identical to its 'A' shares other than a few minor tax issues — has gone hand in hand with the jump in the price of oil during the year.

Oil hit bottom at around $27 per barrel in January as the supply and demand issues that have plagued the market for the past couple of years reached their peak. However, oil has almost doubled since then, thanks to steps taken to address the imbalances. Consequently, Shell shares have surged.

The company's share price has also benefitted from the first steps of a cost-cutting programme that will see it shed some 10,000 jobs as part of its mega-merger with BG Group.

As The Wall Street Journal pointed out in its end of year media and advertising roundup, a predicted ad tech media bloodbath didn't happen in 2016.

While most ad tech companies on the public markets still had a torrid time, there were plenty of firms that marked $100 million + exits this year.

And there was even the long-awaited ad tech IPO!

Eric Franchi, cofounder of ad tech company Undertone (which marked its exit, to Israeli firm Perion for $180 million in 2015), has been keeping track of all the large ad tech exits in 2016 with a handy Google spreadsheet.

Scroll down to see all the ad tech firms that were acquired or went public in 2016, in chronological order.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 37 hottest pre-IPO ad tech startups of 2016

Addthis — ACQUIRED

What the company does: AddThis began life as a social bookmarking startup that allowed website owners to add social media sharing widgets, with users bookmarking their content using third-party services such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. It expanded its services to provide publishers with information about the types of interest their readers had demonstrated on the other sites they visit.

What happened:Oracle acquired AddThis in a deal worth between $100 million and $200 million in January. Sources told Business Insider the sum was toward the latter end of that estimate.

Tapad —ACQUIRED

What the company does: Tapad specializes in cross-device technology that gives advertisers a better view of their customers as they switch from smartphone, to desktop, tablet, and smart TV.

What happened: Norwegian telecoms company Telenor acquired Tapad for $360 million in February.

Yodle — ACQUIRED

What the company does: Yodle provides cloud-based online advertising and marketing services such as search engine optimization to small businesses.

What happened: Yodle had filed for a $75 million IPO in 2014 but that plan was pulled when Web.com acquired the company for $324 million in February.

2017 is almost here and it's once again time to predict which startups will take the tech industry by storm.

Who better to ask than the startup experts, the VCs that watch the industry, guide the startups, hear their pitches, and invest in them?

So we reached out to a handful of top VCs and asked them which young or growth-stage startups will boom in 2017.

We asked them to particularly focus on non-enterprise startups — companies that sell directly to consumers rather than businesses. (For the hottest companies in enterprise, check out our list here).

The VCs we spoke to gave us this list that includes everything from video chat apps, to delivery drones, to companies that help you track your spending or invest your money.

Below are the 33 companies that are poised to boom in 2017.

NOW CHECK OUT: 38 enterprise startups that will boom in 2017, according to VC investors

Hooked: bite-sized stories for your phone

Company name: Hooked

VC: Greylock's Josh Elman

Relationship: VC is an investor.

Funding: $3 million

What it does: Hooked turns stories into bite-sized, chat-style messages, or lets fans write their own.

Why it's hot:"Hooked makes it easier for readers to consume the story in small bites, say when they’re waiting in line or riding the subway. The company is now working with Hollywood producers to help identify new writing talent and promising intellectual property. In fact, Hooked has a number of new investors from the movie and TV world, including Warner Bros. President Greg Silverman," Elman says.

Robinhood: Free stock trading

Company name: Robinhood

VC: Greylock's Josh Elman

Relationship:None. VC just thinks it's cool and buys and sells some public stocks there.

Funding: $66 million

What it does: Robinhood is a free stock-trading app that makes it easy to buy and sell stocks from your phone.

Why it's hot:"The app makes stock trading free, intuitive, and mobile. Robinhood allows people to get into trading, and make decisions to buy or sell stock in companies without the burden of expensive fees. It has a chance to revolutionize stock ownership for millennials," Elman says.

Laurel & Wolf: interior designing online

Company name: Laurel & Wolf

VC: Charles River Ventures' Saar Gur

Relationship: VC is an investor.

Funding: $25 million

What it does: Laurel & Wolf easily connects people with interior designers online, making it easy and affordable to transform a space.

Why it's hot:"Laurel & Wolf will be hot as their service becomes more mainstream. Early customers LOVE the service," Gur says.

Companies spent an estimated $3.4 trillion on business tech in 2016.

With that kind of money, the business technology market has created some of the most powerful people in tech this year. That's not just business power, either: Some of the market's biggest millionaires and billionaires also took up political causes this year, fighting the establishment in their own ways. 

Meet the 32 people who left the biggest mark in enterprise tech in 2016:

SEE ALSO: 51 enterprise startups to bet your career on in 2017

Scott Guthrie: Microsoft's cloud man

Microsoft Executive VP of Cloud and Enterprise Scott Guthrie

Microsoft is betting its entire future on cloud computing, even as sales of its traditional Windows and Office boxed software continue their slow but steady decline.

It's meant that Scott Guthrie, who leads cloud computing at Microsoft — including its Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Dynamics CRM businesses, both of which grew mightily in 2016 — has become an increasingly huge force at the revitalized company. 

And he's going to get even more power, very soon. Microsoft's $26.2 billion takeover of LinkedIn will go under Guthrie's umbrella, as the data feeds into the Dynamics CRM platform.

Werner Vogels: building upon Amazon's cloud lead

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels 

Amazon Web Services is far and away the leader in the fast-growing cloud computing market, where companies rent functionally unlimited supercomputing power for fractions of pennies on the hour. It's already a $12 billion business for Amazon, and the retail giant's most profitable unit.

So much of that success is because of Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, whose team keeps finding new ways to drive the price of Amazon Web Services down, even as they add new features that make it an increasingly attractive alternative to, say, Oracle.

And as Amazon keeps building its cloud under Vogels' direction, it just keeps the pressure on the legacy IT world and startups alike to drop prices and up their game. 

Michael Dell: taking command of an empire

Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell

In 2016, Dell's blockbuster $67 billion acquisition of one-time rival EMC finally closed, in the biggest high-tech deal ever.

It makes industry stalwart Michael Dell the leader of one of the world's biggest IT companies — and one of the last big holdouts against the rise of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud-computing platforms.

There's almost not a day that goes by without Tesla making headlines, and that's because CEO Elon Musk is always announcing new innovations for his cars.

But lost in big announcements like Tesla's new self-driving hardware are some key details about the cars that make them just a little bit more special.

We rounded up our favorite Tesla secrets you may not have known — scroll down for a closer look:

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk has brilliant plan to change your roof

Musk wants Tesla's car line to be the definition of sexy, literally. The Model S, Model X, and upcoming Model 3 are all part of a quest for the car line to spell SEXY or S3XY upon the release of Tesla's eventual Model Y SUV.

Tesla initially wanted the Model 3 to be dubbed the Model E, but that dream was dashed when Ford filed for the Model E trademark, leading to one of Musk's more excellent quotes:

"Like why did you go steal Tesla’s E? Like you’re some sort of fascist army marching across the alphabet, some sort of Sesame Street robber?"

In addition to the Model Y, Tesla wants to produce a mini bus and semi-truck in the future.

Musk announced in his "Master Plan, Part Deux" that Tesla will build an all-electric semi truck and a driverless, electric bus. But we'll have to wait for further details on that front.

The truck, like Tesla's cars currently in production, will be equipped with self-driving hardware, Musk said in an interview with CNBC, according to Electrek. Musk added that a driver will still be necessary for a few years, though.

Musk is a huge fan of placing easter eggs in Tesla cars, like the one that will let you "drive" down Rainbow Road (like in Mario Kart!)

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Clicking Autopilot four times in rapid succession will turn the road shown on Tesla's infotainment console into a rainbow. Musk referred to it as a "psychedelic cowbell road."

Amy Schumer has finally sold her "tiny"one-bedroom co-op on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, according to Variety.

Both the buyer and the final selling price are unknown. What is known: the apartment isn't actually so tiny.

Though last year the comedian joked about how, despite her fame, she still lives in a one-bedroom walk-up apartment, she neglected to mention that it was also a penthouse, technically.

It's located on the top floor of a beautiful brownstone building, steps from the Museum of Natural History and a block away from Central Park. It totals about 850 square feet and she bought the apartment for $1.695 million in September 2014, Curbed NY reports.

Schumer quietly listed the apartment last November for $2.075 million, as was first reported by the New York Post. Nearly a year later, the price on the cozy space had been reduced to $1.625 million with new brokers. The final listing price was $1.625 million, marking at least a $70,000 loss before realtors fees are factored in.

Modlin Group now had the listing.

SEE ALSO: See inside the $5.3 million Washington, DC, home that the Obamas will move into after they leave the White House

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The apartment is no typical New York shoe box — it's actually a penthouse on the top floor of an Upper West Side brownstone.

A gorgeous stone entryway with a wooden door allows entrance into the five-unit co-op building.

Schumer wasn't kidding about the walk-up, however. The apartment is on the fifth floor, and there's no elevator. At least the hallways are nice.

The money-management industry has a diversity problem.

Morningstar's global study out earlier this year showed that only one in five mutual-fund managers is a woman – a rate that hasn't budged since 2008.

In the US, that number drops to one in 10. The US is a laggard, far behind countries such as Singapore (30%), Portugal (28%), and France (21%).

For hedge funds, the numbers are similar: Only 15% of hedge fund CEOs are women. For minorities, the figures are just as lackluster, with only a handful of Latino and African-American managers.

There are a lot of reasons for the gap, among them biases, cliquey hiring, and weaker professional networks for women.

Given the dire numbers, I wondered what it's like to be a woman, minority — or both — working in the industry. So I started asking around.

Some spoke of annoying biases — one woman who launched her own fund said she stopped wearing her wedding ring at investor meetings because she grew tired of questions about what her husband did. Others spoke of being ignored for the investment ideas they presented or hearing crass talk about female colleagues.

Most said their experiences had, on the whole, been otherwise positive. Investing proves a quantifiable measure on which to be measured, something other careers lack, several people mentioned. There are fewer gray areas on which to be measured, the thinking goes, if you can point to a number that proves your performance for the year.

Everyone asked to be kept anonymous so to not jeopardize their careers. Here are their stories.

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"There's a general theme of being discounted"— Female investor on an otherwise all-male investment team

"I have developed a lot of thick skin. It's not uncommon when we discuss an investment idea, I'll raise my hand, the question will be dismissed, and then a [male] colleague will ask the same question and there will be a 30-minute conversation."

"When I travel, when I'm in boardrooms, people will direct questions to my [male] boss and not me, even though I presented ... There's a general theme of being discounted almost or doubted and a general assumption of 'she must be the IR [investor relations rep].'"

"It's a delicate line. I want to be treated equally and be one of the boys. Sometimes they say lewd comments and it goes in one ear and out the other. I want it to be a natural environment where they feel they can speak freely." 

"There’s a certain approach to conversation that comes out of knowing what is expected in a conversation"— Female minority hedge fund investor who studied engineering

"I've always operated in an environment where the distribution was highly skewed ... There's a certain approach to conversation that comes out of knowing what is expected in a conversation. Sticking to a need to say basis. Speak about what's relevant. The content matters ... being to the point."

"If you're in the minority, being the only woman on the team, your voice is heard more. I think of it like a parent with 10 kids and you think you have an underdog in the family. You think you need to call out the weakest link, the quietest child so you can hear what the quietest child has to say ... The fact that you are the only one on the team makes you more visible in many ways. And the reason you made the team is because you met certain criteria and you deserve to be on the team. And you have a level of credibility that you get to be heard, and amplified."

"He was surprised I wasn't pitching a more 'girly' name"— Female hedge fund analyst

"It has always been a more uncomfortable game of numbers where the ratio of male to females in any event is 10 to one and the men huddle together and the women are sort of separated. In one instance, I was meeting with an analyst from a hedge fund in the city and he asked whether I had any names I could pitch him. I began to talk about a semiconductor company when he interrupted to say he was surprised I wasn't pitching a more 'girly' name." 

The European Union is a vast political body that spans across 28 member states an area of around 1,669,808 square miles, and an estimated population of over 510 million citizens.

The main players include Germany, France, and Britain (until Brexit finally takes place), with more recent additions including Croatia, Romania, and other states in eastern Europe.

However, hidden away on the fringes of the EU are islands and overseas territories that the majority of people have probably never heard of, despite belonging to the EU.

Scroll down to discover the most obscure places on the EU map.

Guadeloupe — A French island group in the southern Caribbean Sea which is famous for resembling a butterfly. It has a tiny population of just over 405,000.

Martinique — South from Guadeloupe is the Caribbean island of Martinique, another overseas region of France. It has an even smaller population of around 386,000.

French Guiana — Located on the northeast coast of South America this is another obscure EU territory. The French territory is home to around 250,000 and miles of tropical rainforest.

Have you ever taken a selfie, looked at it afterward, and thought, That's not even what I look like!

The problem was likely wide-angle distortion, the property of smartphone lenses (and other superwide cameras) that renders their subjects a bit odd-looking and cartoonish.

Fortunately, there's a simple way around the problem if you understand a bit about the optics of these devices.

Here's what you need to know:

SEE ALSO: Billions of people have the same favorite color and number, and scientists don't know why

Here's the thing: Looking like a normal human being in photos is hard.

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And smartphones don't make it easier.

Manufacturers build them with super-wide-angle lenses that can stretch and distort your face in unflattering ways.

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Reuters and its award-winning photographers are on almost every country on the globe.

2016 was a year of political upheaval, and Reuters was there to capture it. But they also made sure not to forget the more quotidian aspects of life.

These 142 photos — one for almost every country Reuters covered this year — don't capture the politicians who led their nations or the athletes who represented them on the world stage. They're about the everyday person just living their life.

Here are 142 photos that best represent almost every country in the world in 2016. 

AFGHANISTAN: Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed "Afghan Girl" whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country's wars, arrives to meet President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

ALGERIA: Girls hug each other beside their school in a refugee camp in southern Algeria.

ANDORRA: A pack of riders cycle during the Tour de France from Vielha Val d'Aran, Spain to Andorre Arcalis, Andorra.

2016 was a wild year for sports.

There were comebacks, like the Cleveland Cavaliers coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA championship in dramatic Game 7 to give Cleveland its first ever NBA title.

There was the Chicago Cubs, breaking a century-old curse and winning the World Series in a gripping seven-game series over, coincidentally, the Cleveland Indians.

Elsewhere, Peyton Manning concluded one of the greatest careers in NFL history with a Super Bowl, Leicester City overcame some of the greatest odds to win the Premier League, and Kris Jenkins sealed a NCAA Championship for Villanova with a miracle of a shot.

And this is all without mentioning the Rio Olympics, which saw Michael Phelps cement his legacy, while young American athletes like Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles just began to shape their own.

These amazing moments and more were captured in stunning photography from outlets like Getty and the Associated Press.

While we can't compile every great photo this year, here are some of our favorites from the biggest moments in sports this year.

Usain Bolt cruises to an easy win in the men's 100-meter semifinal at the Rio Olympics.

LeBron James makes a stunning chase-down block in the final minutes of Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He would later call it the most important play of his career.

Read more: LeBron James says this play is the most important of his career so far

Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant celebrates after making the final out of Game 7 of the World Series.