Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has gained global fame for his likeable persona, open attitude towards welcoming refugees, and support of LGBT and women's rights.

He has also been named one of the "sexiest" men in politics, and even made Vogue's "Sexiest Man Alive" list.

However, little was known about his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, until she came under media fire earlier this week when she posted a photo on Instagram for International Women's Day calling for ladies to post a photo of their "male ally" to "celebrate the boys and men in our lives who encourage us to be who we truly are, who treat girls and women with respect."

Prime Minister Trudeau has repeatedly called himself a feminist, and has a diverse cabinet made up of equal men and women.

Sophie has also campaigned for various gender quality charities, and is the national ambassador for Plan Canada’s "Because I Am a Girl" initiative.

But what else is known about the woman standing beside the world's most-loved politician?

From extreme sports to meeting the Queen, scroll down to see the incredible life of Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.

This is 41-year-old Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Little is known about her in the global media, but she came under fire earlier this week with an Instagram post about International Women's Day which asked women to 'celebrate the boys and men in our lives who encourage us to be who we truly are, who treat girls and women with respect.'

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It went on to ask women to post a photo with their "male ally."

According to the BBC, commenters said Ms Gregoire Trudeau's post was "tone deaf" and even "shameful."

With a Prime Minister husband who has repeatedly called himself a feminist, it's hard to imagine her post was anything but well-intended. However, with little known about her, it's easy to criticise. So who is Sophie Grégoire Trudeau?

Almost every app and website you sign up for these days come with lengthy terms and conditions, sometimes tens of thousands of words long, that most people don't bother to read before agreeing to.

One comic artist has decided to make iTunes' 20,000-plus-word T&Cs easier to digest by transforming it into a graphic novel.

Robert Sikoryak, who has worked for the New Yorker and Nickelodeon as well as writing comic literary parodies, is the author of "Terms and Conditions: A Graphic Novel,"published this month by Drawn & Quarterly.

It stars Apple's late cofounder Steve Jobs, with the art style radically changing each page — reflecting the history of comics throughout the world.

"The motivation for this project was to play with the long form of the graphic novel, which has become so ubiquitous in the United States.  And it struck me that the iTunes Terms and Conditions would make a very unlikely comic," Sikoryak told Business Insider via email.

"It's (in)famous for being very long, which is surely why it popped in my head. I loved the idea of using a well known text — in its entirety — that everyone has heard about, but very few people have ever actually read.  That's something that the Terms share with many classic works of literature."

See selections from the satirical graphic novel below.

The style of each page is very different. One moment it's "Garfield," the next it's "My Little Pony." However, "there is one visual element that runs through the whole book. The face of Apple, Steve Jobs, was famous for his iconic outfit. So, in my comic, I've dressed the main character of each page in the classic Steve Jobs outfit: black turtleneck, jeans, glasses, and beard," Sikoryak said. "It's as good of a costume as Charlie Brown's, or Batman's. His uniform provides the link from page to page."

"I wanted to create a book that could suggest all of the kinds of comics that exist in the world. The visual sources come from many different strains of comics: there are some artists from North America, Europe, and Japan; independent and mainstream cartoonists; print and web cartoonists; animated characters that have been published in comic books; contemporary graphic novels and early 20th century newspaper comics. I wanted the project to feel like the internet— or the iTunes store— where it seems that everything is available and everything is possible."

The artist says it is a "satiric response to the complexity of modern Terms and Conditions, and in a way, a satiric response to the whole idea of adapting any source material into another medium (like books into movies, for instance). I often love adaptations, but by necessity they must reinvent their source material (or likely be very boring)!"

Credit Suisse just published a list of its top US stock picks.

The Swiss bank asked every analyst to pick up to three stock picks based on a six- to 12-month time horizon, and ended up with 140 names. Of that 140, 14 were listed on the US focus list.  

The US focus list is a compilation of 15-20 of the bank's analysts' "highest conviction catalyst driven ideas."

"The list is assembled bottom up, reflecting our analysts’ most favored and differentiated ideas," the bank said in a note. 

Here they are:

Apple

Ticker: AAPL

Sector: Technology

Closing Price on March 9: $138.68

Price Target: $150.00

Performance over last year: 8.47%

Affiliated Managers Group

Ticker: AMG

Sector: Asset Management 

Closing Price on March 9: $165.3

Price Target: $194.00

Performance over last year: 13.2%

Blackstone

Ticker: BX

Sector: Asset Management 

Closing Price on March 9: $28.62

Price Target: $40.00

Performance over last year: 4.6%

Another action-packed weekend in sport sees competition for places in our Monday montage but this week we shine the spotlight on the England rugby team, rally car driver Kris Meeke, and UFC lightweight Edson Barboza.

England soar to victory in Six Nations rugby.

England retained the Six Nations title after romping to a 61-21 victory over Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday. England equalled New Zealand's world record for consecutive test wins but can surpass that should the team beat Ireland next week.

Kris Meeke skids into a car park, finds a way out and STILL wins Rally Mexico race.

You might think you're cool, but you'll probably never be as cool as Kris Meeke skidding into a customer car park, navigating a way out and still claiming the chequered flag victory at Rally Mexico.

Tottenham maul Millwall 6-0 but lose Harry Kane to injury.

It was very much the joy of six for Tottenham Hotspur as the north Londoners smashed Millwall to pieces in the FA Cup quarter-final. Victory, though, was bitter-sweet as the club lost star striker Harry Kane to an ankle injury.

Most videos shared on Snapchat or Instagram are simple: selfies, streaks, or your surroundings. 

But increasingly, publications, brands, and people with large followings are creating a new kind of clip, with text overlays, slick production, and links to outside content — like what you can find in Snapchat Discover.

A new app called Flyr is making it easier to create those kind of videos and share them to multiple platforms, including Snapchat and Instagram Stories. 

The iPhone app, which is free, is basically an editor for "stories," or rich interactive content you scroll through by tapping. The app is fast, especially rendering the videos, and the videos it creates look professionally done. 

Inside the app, there's a section that allows users to share their videos with other Flyr users. Flyr is also making its own videos, in its own version of Snapchat Discover. "We built our own Discover with an intern," cofounder Hassan Uriostegui said, because the app makes creating these kind of videos so much faster, he explained. 

"Brands out there want social video posts, social video ads, and they don't have a fast and inexpensive way to do it," Flyr cofounder Brett O'Brien told Business Insider.

The company has $5 million in seed funding, its founders told Business Insider, and are looking for further investment to expand its LA-based team of five. 

Here's what using the Flyr app is like: 

SEE ALSO: Here's how to access the iPhone's hidden mode that turns the camera into a magnifying glass

Flyr creates videos that look like Instagram Stories or Snapchat Discover.

Brands and publications are making these videos now, but there aren't many "what you see is what you get" editors available. That's where Flyr comes in.

Flyr gives you several templates to insert GIFs, video, and photos into a story.

President Donald Trump's first jobs report crushed expectations, with the economy adding 235,000 non-farm payroll jobs in February beating expectations.

Daniel Alpert, founder and managing partner of Westwood Capital, however, believes the headline numbers don't reveal the true state of the labor market.

"The US has become increasingly dependent on a subset of Low-wage and Low-hours jobs in the private service sectors for job creation since the Great Recession," he said in a presentation exclusively available to Business Insider. "Low-wage, Low hours jobs have accounted for 60% of all net job creation since the end of 2007, the pre-Great Recession peak employment year."

This slack in the labor market has also correlated with falling productivity and economic growth, Alpert said, calling for "the commencement of a large, government sponsored infrastructure investment program" to reverse the trend.

Here's the entire presentation from Westwood Capital making the case for greater public investment in infrastructure projects.

It's been nearly nine years since America fell into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. While the recovery has been slow and steady on the whole, some states have bounced back stronger than others.

As part of its 2017 best states ranking, U.S. News & World Report ranked each US state on three economic indicators:

• Growth: GDP growth from 2012 to 2015, growth rate of the total population aged 25 to 29 between 2012 and 2015, and average net migration (people moving to and from the state).
• Employment: The annual growth of nonfarm jobs from 2012 to 2015, the percentage of residents age 16 or older who participated in the labor force in 2015, and the November 2016 unemployment rate.
• Business: The number of new businesses formed between 2013 and 2015 and the average number of patents per 1 million residents granted during the same period.

U.S. News then combined these rankings — growth (50%), employment (30%), business (20%) — to form its list of states with the strongest economies.

The country's most populous states — California, Texas, and Florida — all appear on the list. But it's Colorado and North Dakota that come out on top, with high marks for young population growth and job opportunities.  

Read on to see the top 15 states where young people are moving in, jobs are plentiful, and business is booming.

SEE ALSO: The 15 best US states to start a business

DON'T MISS: The 15 best states for landing a job

15. Oregon

Population: 4 million

Growth rank: 14

Employment rank: 24

Business environment rank: 14

14. Georgia

Population: 10.2 million

Growth rank: 11

Employment rank: 31

Business environment rank: 16

13. New Hampshire

Population: 1.3 million

Growth rank: 31

Employment rank: 6

Business environment rank: 11

More Americans are working remotely than ever before. With a little help from a new tourism startup, some of these digital nomads are waking up in private villas in Bali, snacking on fruits from the local market, and bathing in outdoor showers before starting the workday.

Unsettled, founded in 2016, curates 30-day co-working retreats around the world for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and people transitioning between careers. The company promises a productive work environment set in paradise, where participants can break from their routine, find new perspectives, and form authentic professional relationships.

We spoke with Michael Youngblood, a serial entrepreneur and cofounder of Unsettled, on why co-working travel experiences offer something that traditional co-working spaces can't.

SEE ALSO: Millennials are paying thousands of dollars a month for maid service and instant friends in modern 'hacker houses'

A "co-working retreat" sounds like a vacation made by millennials for millennials — like the grown-up version of study abroad. But that's not the intention, Youngblood says.

Unsettled was built on the belief that the best experiences are the ones you are a full participant in. "You have to collaborate, you have to create. You have to connect with people. You have to contribute," Youngblood says.

He says these "Four C's"— which he co-opted from an old professor — help people become more fulfilled in all aspects of life, from spirituality to professional development.

In 2013, Youngblood was living in Washington, DC, running his own creative agency. "My biggest and only client was MIT, so I was doing work for them. But I had never stepped foot on the campus before," Youngblood says. He started to feel isolated without an office to work in.

Around that time, he put feelers out through social media to see if any friends wanted to take an extended trip where they would work and adventure on the weekends in Bali, an Indonesian island known for its forested volcanic mountains, beaches, and coral reefs. He expected five or six friends to join in. Instead, 42 friends and friends of friends agreed to go.

It was an "ah ha" moment for Youngblood. "I wasn't making money off it, but at the same time, I was like, '$82,000 in revenue for an idea I came up with two weeks ago?'"

Over the last few decades, skyscrapers' heights — and thus their costs — have continued to climb.

Business Insider rounded up the most expensive towers built in the last 20 years, defining a skyscraper as a building that measures at least 500 feet tall. As you will see, not all skyscrapers feature a slender design.

Check them out below, in order from lowest to highest construction cost.

SEE ALSO: The 22 most beautiful buildings in the world, according to architects

In 2006, Indian business magnate Mukesh D. Ambani built the 27-floor Antilia skyscraper, which serves as his private residence.

At $1 billion, Antilia is the world's most expensive residential property behind Buckingham Palace. It's also designed to survive a magnitude 8 earthquake.

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Source: Business Insider

Located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom Centre cost approximately $1 billion to build. Construction of the 990-foot skyscraper wrapped up in 2002.

The bill for brunch comes, and silence falls over the table. I've been there.

At 26, I've lived with 10 roommates at different times in my life. Splitting the bill — for brunch, utilities, rent, the movies, and everything in between — was a consistent pain point throughout these relationships.

Then I found Splitwise.

Splitwise is a free tool for friends and roommates to track bills and other shared expenses. The tool, which has been available for several years, tallies who paid what and sends reminders at the end of the month to settle debts.

Here's why I'm obsessed.

SEE ALSO: Millennials are paying thousands of dollars a month for maid service and instant friends in modern 'hacker houses'

I discovered Splitwise when I moved into an apartment with three male roommates. We shared the cost of pretty much everything, from furniture to takeout from Wingstop.

This is the home page of Splitwise. It shows you a tally of who owes what. (I no longer live with the roomies, so my home page is sparse.) Currently, I'm in the hole for $94.

Selecting the Groups icon at the bottom of the screen brings up a list of the groups I'm involved in. We gave them fun names, like my celebrity-couple name, "Krylia."

Another startup is looking to compete with Tesla in the electric car market.

Nio, formerly known as NextEV, announced Friday it was officially entering the US market at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The startup said it will release a self-driving, electric vehicle in the US in 2020.

At SXSW, Nio unveiled an electric concept to show off its vision for its future cars — scroll down for a closer look:

SEE ALSO: 12 crazy concept cars already unveiled in 2017

Called Nio Eve, the concept comes with an artificial intelligence bot called Nomi that can learn about passengers' preferences over time.

Nomi can communicate using the vehicle's heads-up display.

The concept features sliding doors...

There are lots of easy ways to boost your sex appeal. Walk a dog; play good music; tell a joke.

There are, unfortunately, at least as many easy ways to sabotage your sex appeal. Think slouching or crossing your arms in your online dating photo. Swipe left!

Below, we've rounded up some all-too-common traits and behaviors that can make it harder to score a date — only some of which have to do with your physical appearance.

SEE ALSO: 13 science-backed ways to appear more attractive

Sleep deprivation

We can look a lot less attractive after skimping on sleep.

In 2010, researchers from Sweden and the Netherlands took photos of people who'd slept for at least eight hours the night before and people who hadn't slept in 31 hours. Sleep-deprived people were rated as less healthy and less attractive.

Three years later, the researchers went into more detail, and other participants rated the people in the photos based on different criteria.

In general, participants said that sleep-deprived people had more "droopy/hanging eyelids, red eyes, dark circles under the eyes, and pale skin." They even looked sadder than their better-rested counterparts.

Being mean

Do nice guys really finish last?

For a 2014 Chinese study, researchers had men and women look at photos of other people, all displaying neutral expressions.

Some of those photos were accompanied by the Chinese words for "decent" and honest"; the others were accompanied by the Chinese words for "evil" and "mean"; still others weren't accompanied by any information.

Participants ended up rating people least attractive when they were described as evil and mean.

Contractive body language

The "power pose" is a controversial topic in the scientific community. A 2010 study found that expanding your body can make you feel more powerful and confident, but one of its authors recently said the effects aren't real.

But a 2016 study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Northwestern University suggests that striking something like a power pose can make you seem more attractive — and contractive body language can make you seem less so.

In one experiment from the study above, researchers created profiles for men and women on a GPS-based dating app. In one set of profiles, the men and women were pictured in contractive positions — for example, by crossing their arms or hunching their shoulders.

In the other set of profiles, the same men and women were pictured in expansive positions, like holding their arms upward in a "V" or reaching out to grab something.

Results showed that participants were more likely to choose people in expansive postures as someone they'd like to go on a date with than those in contractive postures. And men pictured in contractive postures seemed to be at a special disadvantage.

After 15 years on air, "The Bachelor" and its spinoff "The Bachelorette" are a tightly run ship. From the rose ceremonies to the "I love yous," producers are systematic in how the show comes together.

Thankfully, from tell-all books to interviews after the show, we know some of what goes in to filming these prime time juggernauts — and it's fascinating to see how the reality show meat gets made.

From how much the contestants really drink to what goes on in the infamous Fantasy Suites, here are some of the biggest secrets from "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."

SEE ALSO: Every HBO show ranked from worst to best, according to critics

People quit their jobs to appear on the show.

Many contestants leave their jobs to compete on the show.

"Bachelor" season 20 contestant Olivia Caridi gave up her job, but said, "I did not give up my career. I am confident that I will get another job in broadcast news to continue my career in the television news industry."

JJ Lane, a contestant on season 11 of "The Bachelorette," told MarketWatch that he had difficulties finding a job after appearing on the show.

"I didn't understand the magnitude of the show and how hard it is to get a real job right after," Lane said. "Everyone knows who you are and employers see it as a distraction." He added that former contestants may find a supplemental salary from appearances and product promotion.

"It's not a way to make a living," he said. "It is more of a supplemental way to get something out of being on the show."

The application process is intense.

Not only is the process to become a contestant on the show intense — lasting months and involving multiple contracts — but the hopefuls are also forced to take a variety of invasive tests by ABC, including an extensive background check, STD testing, and a psychological examination.

You'll also be allowing ABC to release any information they learn about you through third parties, and say you're exposing yourself to "the risk of death, serious injury, illness, or disease and/or property damage."

Find out more about the application process here.

Contestants get paid nothing to appear on "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."

Contestants on "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette"leave their jobs to come on the show in the hopes of finding love, fame, or some combination of both. They can also spend thousands on their wardrobe, but they make zero money for appearing on the show.

Disney's live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast" hits theaters on March 17. The new cast has been wowing everyone on red carpet premieres, but how do their on-screen looks stack up to the original animated characters? 

Make sure to read our full review of the movie and the changes made (for better or worse), but for now let's look at how the characters physically compare to the original animated feature. 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 20 best new TV shows right now, according to critics

Emma Watson stars as Belle. While her outfits differ slightly from the original designs, we think Disney nailed Belle's overall look and especially her hairstyles.

Dan Stevens plays the cursed prince. His blue eyes match, but Disney put more of an 18th century France twist on his aesthetic.

Dan Stevens also voices the Beast, who was rendered for the new movie using CGI and other visual effects.

Anyone visiting an iconic city like New York or Paris is always looking for the best view of the city, whether it's atop the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower.

But every once in a while, you'll find yourself facing a breathtaking view from a totally unexpected spot, one you might have even stumbled upon by accident.

Here, we've uncovered eight astounding sights in eight different cities that are far removed from the rest of the tourists.

1. Calvary Cemetery, New York City

If you've ever had the pleasure of driving across the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway coming to or from the city, then you might already have glimpsed one of the best views of Manhattan: The skyline towers above the old gravestones inside Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside, Queens.

This 365-acre cemetery, the largest in the United States, is home to more than 3 million interments, with each gravestone seeming to rise up in imitation of the city's skyscrapers. For those without a car, the cemetery is easily accessible via the 7 train via the 46th St-Bliss Street station. 

2. Parc André Citroën, Paris

Rather than flocking to the Eiffel Tower with every other tourist, try getting a view of the tower itself from nearby Parc André Citroën. The park, just a few blocks away, features a hot air balloon which rises over 300 meters and can fit up to 20 people at a time.

On the ground, the park also has a large reflecting pool, two greenhouses, a dancing fountain, and six different gardens.

3. Hermosa Park, Los Angeles

The view from the Getty Museum is unrivaled and a must-see for anyone new to L.A, but it's possible to get a panoramic view in a more low-key setting.

Hermosa Park, located just off Highway 110 near Beverly Boulevard, is located on a hill overlooking downtown Los Angeles with a few strategically placed park benches that offer a perfect photo op, without the winding trip up to the Getty.

In 1991, Boris Yeltsin stood atop a tank in front of the parliament building in Moscow and called on the people to resist the communist hardliners in the August coup.

Several months later, at the end of the year, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, leaving Yeltsin as the president of Russia.

Fast forward to December 31, 1999: Yeltsin grabbed the world by surprise once again when he resigned during a live televised address.

In between those shock events, Russia went through an enormous economic, social, and political transition as the state tried to adjust to the global economy following the dissolution of the USSR. During that tumultuous decade, Russia was also involved in two Chechen Wars and was slammed by a financial crisis in 1998.

We put together 53 archived photographs from Reuters and AP of Russia's 1990s. (Most of the captions are from Reuters or AP, lightly edited for clarity or additional background information.)

Thousands of Muscovites march to Red Square carrying a giant Russian tricolor white, blue, and red flag, celebrating the failure of the three-day hard line Communist coup attempt in Moscow, August 22, 1991.

Two free marketeers display their goods at the central market in Petropavlovsk, the capital city of the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, March 1993.

In 1993, there was conflict between Yeltsin and the parliament, which ultimately resulted in the use of force. In October, Yeltsin ordered troops to seize parliament from opponents. In the photo below, a Russian tank leaves its post in front of the Moscow's White House building on October 5.

Source: BBC, BBC, New York Times

"We will build a great wall along the southern border," President Donald Trump said this summer, months prior to his election.

Since he took office in January, Trump, along with his Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, have moved forward with plans to construct that southern barrier.

"The wall will be built where it's needed first, and then it will be filled in. That's the way I look at it,"Kelly said last month, adding a few days later that it would be a physical barrier that may have fencing in some places.

Trump has promoted the wall as a part of a solution to cross-border crime and to illegal immigration.

And while an above ground physical barrier may disrupt or delay surface movements, smugglers have long used another transportation method that a wall or fence is unlikely to interrupt.

"Drug traffickers love using tunnels," journalist Ioan Grillo told Business Insider in early 2016. "The Mexico-US border is like a block of cheese with holes in it, with tunnels across it."

The "US-Mexico border is literally riddled with tunnels," Mike Vigil, former head of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration,"told Business Insider last spring.

"They have to move those drugs across the border and probably the most secure method is through the use of tunnels," said Vigil, author of "Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel."

US authorities have long relied on old-fashioned detective work to detect tunnels and tunnel construction, supplementing their surveillance with seismic devices and ground-penetrating radar.

But traffickers have gravitated to areas where geographic features, like soil composition, and surface features — such as drainage networks and legitimate construction work — obscure their activities.

The hard-to-detect nature of these passages, and the highly-lucrative cargo that pass through them, ensure that there will always be more to find — something Kelly himself has admitted.

SEE ALSO: Mexico's criminal and political worlds are shifting, and 2017 is off to the most violent start on record

“Many, many years ago, they were very unsophisticated. They weren't very long. They were relatively short,” Vigil said. The first so-called narco tunnel was built in 1989, by the Sinaloa cartel of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Source: The New Yorker

"You look at some tunnels which are very, very basic, and I've been to look at some of these from the US side," Grillo said. "And you see that they're quite basic, you know, shovel, get in there, and kind of dig through under the border quite basically."

Authorities found 224 border tunnels coming from Mexico between 1990 and March 2016, 185 of which entered the US. Most have been short, narrow passages, or "gopher holes," though others have been sophisticated works of engineering with lifts, rails, and lighting.

Source: Associated Press

As early retirement becomes increasingly common and achievable, more and more people are aiming to make it a reality.

If you're one of them, where you live could play a major role in your ability to reach that goal. And while the South touts some of the best places [LINK] for early retirement hopefuls to settle down, there are viable spots in every US region.

MagnifyMoney evaluated 217 US cities on cost of living (50%), quality of life (30%), and employability (20%) to determine which places in America are best for setting an early retirement plan into motion, awarding each city a composite score out of 100. You can read a full breakdown of the methodology here.

Below, find the top spots in every American region for fostering early retirement.

SEE ALSO: The 15 best states for landing a job

DON'T MISS: Here's what you'll pay for a babysitter in nine of the most expensive cities in the US

MIDWEST

1. Benton Harbor, Michigan — 77

2. Evansville, Indiana — 75

3. TIE: Lima, Ohio — 72

3. TIE: St. Louis — 72

3. TIE: Dubuque, Iowa — 72

6. TIE: Kalamazoo, Michigan — 70

6. TIE: Decatur, Illinois — 70

7. Springfield, Illinois — 69

8. TIE: Columbus, Ohio — 67

8. TIE: Joplin, Missouri — 67

NORTHEAST

1. Pittsburgh — 55

2. York, Pennsylvania — 49

3. Buffalo, New York — 47

4. TIE: Pittsfield, Massachusetts — 46

4. TIE: Utica-Rome, New York — 46

6. Portland, Maine — 42

7. TIE: New Haven, Connecticut — 40

7. TIE: Scranton, Pennsylvania — 40

7. TIE: Burlington-Chittenden County, Vermont — 40

7. TIE: Albany, New York — 40

SOUTH

1. Knoxville, Tennessee — 78

2. TIE: Memphis, Tennessee — 77

2. TIE: Sherman, Texas — 77

4. TIE: Wichita Falls, Texas — 76

4. TIE: Jonesboro, Arkansas — 76

6. TIE: Cleveland, Tennessee — 75

6. TIE: Hattiesburg, Mississippi — 75

8. McAllen, Texas — 74

9. TIE: Hot Springs, Arkansas — 73

9. TIE: Lubbock, Texas — 73

Not all Spring Break destinations have to be full of overcrowded beaches and intoxicated college students.

Lonely Planet put together a list of 10 Spring Break spots that are ideal for US travelers and offer much more than the conventional experience.

From the beaches of Nicaragua to the snowy slopes of Whistler, Canada, here's where you should be spending your break.

The Big Island, Hawaii

Temperatures in Hawaii hover within the ideal range of 70-80 degrees all year round, which means visitors can count on good weather no matter when they visit. High season ends after March, though, making Spring Break the perfect time to go see the Big Island's beautiful coastline and dynamic volcanoes. 

Whistler, British Columbia

The ski resort of Whistler consists two peaks: Whistler and Blackcomb. Both boast long runs that provide stunning mountain views. Prices are lower in the spring, and chances are there will still be plenty of good snow. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

You'll never run out of things to do in Rio. From a cable car ride up to Sugarloaf Mountain to lounging on Ipanema Beach or gazing up at the magnificent Cristo Redentor statue, the city offers a little bit of everything.

Luxury automakers have a sedan problem.

Specifically, a lot of US buyers are not completely ignoring the segment, after building it up to awesome dimension over the course of decades, beginning with the arrival of the legendary BMW 2002 back in the 1970s.

There's long-term dread in the air, as consumers both old and young abandon the classic handling traits of sporty Euro four-doors in favor of high-riding SUVs and crossover. Some new car buyers in the luxury realm, weaned on Honda CR-Vs and Toyota RAV4s, won't even give a sedan a first look.

That said, carmakers such as BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus — the Big Four — remain committed to sedans, largely because they have to. You simply can't throw away something as impressive as the BMW 3-Series, the archetype of entry level luxury and seemingly forever the automotive gateway drug of choice for every newly minted Hollywood agent and East Coast junior law partner in the country, even as sales decline precipitously.

Furthermore, the Big Four's competition lower down the food chain can't take on the upper tier of luxury without compelling four-doors. Alfa Romeo is coming back the USA with the Giulia, and Jaguar has given us the XE. 

We've had tons of fun with Jags in the past. So when the company let us borrow an XE 35t with all-wheel-drive, in "Polaris White" with the top R-Sport trim, we said, "Heck yeah!"

Here's what we thought:

SEE ALSO: The Jaguar F-PACE sets a new standard for beauty in luxury SUVs

The Jag landed at our office in New York, in a luminous Polaris White paint job. The car wears the color well. The base vehicle is less than $40,000, but with the R-Sport trim, we're talking well over $50,000, loaded up on options.

Designer Ian Callum had his work cut out for him. The luxury sport sedan now assumes a familiar shape and must exude muscularity and refinement. For a Jaguar, a certain British panache is also on order, as is the spirit of coiled, catlike power.

The front end is superb, with all elements of the fascia in balance. Note those suave hood ridges, sort of like the darts in a well-sewn suit jacket.