• Virgin America has been one of the best airlines in the US since its launch in 2007.
• In 2016, Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America for $2.6 billion.
• Virgin America will merge into Alaska Airlines in April.
• Business Insider took a roundtrip flight between Newark Liberty International and San Francisco to experience Virgin America one final time.

In August 2007, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson launched the US wing of his aviation empire. With Virgin America, the charismatic billionaire wanted to bring the chic style and lighthearted fun of his brand to our nation's flying masses.

In the decade since its inception, Virgin America has become one of the best and most beloved airlines in North America. It took home the Travel & Leisure's award for best domestic airline 10 years in a row.

However, the airline's 10th anniversary passed last year without Sir Richard's traditional pomp and circumstance. That's because everyone knew that Virgin America would probably not be around long enough to celebrate its 11th birthday.

This isn't because VA was going bust. On the contrary, it is one of the most successful airline startups in recent history.

Instead, Virgin America had been acquired by Alaska Airlines in 2016 for $2.6 billion. Even though the airline's fans held out hope that it would be able to fly on using Virgin Group's branding, Alaska Airlines confirmed last October that two carriers would merge operations in April of this year.

In a statement to Business Insider, Alaska Airlines wrote:

"On April 25 we’ll integrate our passenger service systems, which means we will have one inventory of flights, one customer website (alaskaair.com), one mobile app, and only Alaska kiosks. Gates, ticketing, and check-in areas will all be Alaska-branded at the airport. It will take more time for us to update branding on the Airbus fleet, including the livery and the interiors, but in the meantime, we’ve started selling Virgin America’s Main Cabin Select seats as Premium Class for Airbus flights after April 24."

In fact, Virgin America's fleet of Airbus A320-family jets is already being repainted with Alaska Airlines livery.

So before Virgin America disappears into aviation history, we decided to take one final trip with the airline. Here's what we saw.

SEE ALSO: These are the 9 best airlines in America

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I arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport about an hour before my flight to San Francisco was set to depart. But with a powerful Nor'Easter storm bearing down on the Northeastern US, my flight was delayed.

Finally, it was time to board our Airbus A320.

Here's what it looks like during the day.

On Wednesday, Indian architect and urban planner Balkrishna Doshi was named the winner of the 2018 Pritzker Prize— the biggest award in architecture.

The first Indian recipient of the award, Doshi is known for his low-cost housing projects, public complexes, and educational and cultural facilities across India.

Often considered the "Nobel Prize of architecture," the Pritzker Prize goes to designers who push the boundaries of building design.

Check out some of Doshi's greatest works below.

SEE ALSO: Striking maps reveal the huge wealth gap between American cities and the rest of the country

Doshi lives and works in Ahmedabad, India. In the early 1980s, he designed his own studio, a cylindrical complex called Sangath:

The natural environment inspired the building's rolling mounds, vaults, green terraces, and water channels.

Doshi's practice has completed more than 100 projects in Indian cities.

• For Business Insider's "Real Money" series, Andrew Kozlovski, a 21-year-old student at the University of Southern California,  shares a week of spending in Los Angeles, California.
• Kozlovski runs his own business, which generates $6,000 to $10,000 a month, primarily driven by marketing on Instagram.
• He usually eats at home and rarely parties, but this week he spent a lot of money on Ubers to capture social media content.

Andrew Kozlovski, a 21-year-old student at the University of Southern California, told Business Insider that his mother imparted on him a piece of financial wisdom that has been key to his success.

Worry less about saving money, she said, and focus on how to make more money.

Kozlovski took that advice to heart, starting a business at 19 selling nootropic supplements, primarily by marketing on social media.

Kozlovski built a social-media following selling a supplement called Brainz Power. Today, he has nearly a dozen accounts — with followers in the hundreds of thousands— where he posts aspirational content for budding entrepreneurs.

As a star swimmer in high school, Kozlovski had taken all kinds of natural supplements, so he started compiling a list of those said to boost cognitive performance. Then he found a lab near his hometown of Atlanta that was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and willing to run a small order of pills combining the various supplements; he'd pay using the $500 he had saved up over the year.

While supplements are legal and many people swear by their effects, evidence about their benefits are murky, and US poison-control centers have received about 275,000 reports of people reacting badly to them over the past two decades. The supplements industry, estimated to be worth as much as $37 billion a year, is not regulated by the FDA.

Brainz Power generates around $6,000 to $10,000 per month, depending on sales. But that hardly means Kozlovski is balling out. He uses what he needs to pay his yearly living expenses and tuition to USC and invests the rest back into the business.

Outside of rent and tuition, Kozlovski's biggest expenses are equipment and transportation to create promotional content for Brainz Power. 

Here's a closer look at what he spent over the course of a recent week:

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of a 21-year-old who pays his college tuition through an Instagram business that makes up to $10,000 a month

Kozlovski's biggest monthly expenses are his tuition and rent. He's managed to pay for both by himself since he started Brainz Power at 19. "Every single dollar I make as an entrepreneur covers my tuition, living expenses, and everything else is invested back into the business," he said.

One of the biggest advantages of making money from Brainz Power is that Kozlovski is able to pay off his hefty tuition bill as he progresses through college, rather than taking on student loans and paying later. 

Kozlovski said the biggest thing he realized tracking his spending for the week was "how much more money I could be making if I didn’t have to pay $69,000 in tuition every year from what I earned in the business." 

Weekdays when Kozlovski is in class are pretty light on spending. His biggest expenses are on the weekends, when he frequently travels to Malibu, Santa Monica, or Hollywood to create Instagram content for Brainz Power.

While Kozlovski said he tries to eat at home as much as possible, sometimes he splurges for a night out with friends. On Saturday, he hit a Korean BBQ spot in downtown LA.

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.

The Insider Pick:

• If you make so many trips to your local bar to play your favorite bar games that everyone knows your name, it may be time to change your habits. We’ve collected a list of the best bar games you can play at home. Our picks include the best pool table, electronic dartboard, giant Jenga game, arcade video games, and foosball, among others.

Different bars offer different things that draw people in. Some of you may be looking for a pulsating dance club, while others have a favorite type of drink that only one bartender in town seems to be able to make correctly.

Ultimately, most people are looking to visit a bar to have some fun and blow off some steam. And pay way too much for a beer, but I digress. For a lot of us, that means competing in some fun games you wouldn’t typically do at home, like shooting pool or throwing darts.

But on further reflection, why can’t we do those things at home? Many of the best bar games can be bought online and played at home, allowing you to compete with friends and family, have some fun without leaving the house, and pay a lot less for the beer.

Finding bar games to play at home

Some games just lend themselves more to playing with a drink in your hand. We wouldn’t recommend playing basketball with a beer at your side, for example, but it almost doesn’t seem natural to throw darts without your favorite drink nearby. If you can drink a little alcohol while playing, chances are it’s a bar game.

Some bar games translate better to playing at home than others. You could try to build a bowling lane in your basement, but we’re guessing you’ll receive a better bang for your buck by traveling to the bowling alley down the road.

Some bar games are really expensive to translate to home use. Thrillist, Rockbot, and Paste Magazine all have great lists of the best pub games, which include things like Skee-Ball, bocce, and vintage pinball machines, but finding a way to put these games in your home can be really difficult and expensive.

So our list of the best bar games to play at home tries to save you some money without sacrificing too much quality. You certainly can spend a few thousand dollars on a high-quality, 16-foot shuffleboard table, for example. Or you can start with some of the good bargains on our list, spend a lot less, and have just as much fun!

• Best pool table: Mizerak Donovan II 8-Foot Billiard Table
• Best poker table: Homcom Deluxe Foldable Poker/Blackjack Table Top
• Best poker set: Da Vinci Premium 11.5 Gram Poker Chip Set
• Best dartboard: Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard
• Best game tables: Sunnydaze Décor 10-in-1 Multi-Game Table
• Best basketball game: Official Pop-A-Shot Basketball Arcade Game
• Best classic game: Jenga Giant Genuine Hardwood Game
• Best table tennis set: Black Series Retractable Table Tennis Set
• Best arcade game: Atari Flashback 8 Gold Console

Read on in the slides below to see which of our favorite bar games are right for your home bar or game room.

The best poker set

Why you'll love it: The Homcom Deluxe Foldable Poker/Blackjack Table Top turns any table into a poker table and the Da Vinci Premium 11.5 Gram Poker Chip Set will get the game started.

Sure, you can play poker on any old table at home. But when you’re looking to simulate the feeling of playing in a casino or at a charity tournament in your favorite bar, there’s something about the green felt of a poker table that makes things feel more realistic.

If you don’t want to take up space in your home with a dedicated poker table, the Homcom Deluxe Foldable Poker/Blackjack Table Top will fit over the top of almost any table, instantly creating a great looking poker table. When the games are over for the night — and you’ve won the majority of the chips — you can fold up the Homcom table top for easy storage.

This 48-by-48-inch table top has traditional green felt and an octagonal shape that accommodates up to eight players.

One owner named R.H. says Homcom has created just the right portable poker table. It has enough weight to keep the table top in place while playing, yet it’s lightweight enough that you can carry it anywhere.

With built-in holders for poker chips and drinks, the Homcom table top will keep your playing surface clean of clutter and well-organized for a nice playing experience, according to Home Games Hub.

However, Amazon reviewer Sam Grant says the chip trays are too shallow, causing players to bump the chips out of place too easily.

Once you've got the table top, the Da Vinci Premium 11.5 Gram Poker Chip Set is a perfect addition. It ships with everything you’ll need to start playing poker immediately, including two playing card packs, three dealer buttons, and 300 striped poker chips that look great and stand up to repeated play.

These 11.5-gram poker chips will remind you of a casino because of their clay material, which greatly outperforms plastic chips, says one happy buyer named Brett. A few Amazon reviewers say the carrying case's handle breaks too easily, though, so be careful with it.

Pros: Green felt table surface and clay poker chips create a casino-like feel, table top folds up for easy storage and transport, table top has drink and chip holders to keep the felt surface free of clutter

Cons: Chip trays don’t have much depth, carrying case for poker chips is not durable

Buy the Homcom Deluxe Foldable Poker/Blackjack Table Top on Amazon for $54.99

Buy the Da Vinci Premium 11.5 Gram Poker Chip Set on Amazon for $29.99

The best electronic dartboard

Why you'll love it: If you’re not the most accurate dart thrower, using plastic-tip darts and the Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard can protect the walls in your game room.

When you walk into a bar that has dartboards, you can immediately tell what kind of players frequent the place. If they’re precise players, you’ll see cork dartboards. If they’re recreational players, electronic dartboards are the preferred option.

We’re guessing you’re looking for more of a recreational-style dartboard for your game room at home, which will protect your walls from holes made by steel-tip darts that are errantly thrown. 

The Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard protects your walls by using plastic-tip darts, but it also delivers a high-quality experience. The design of the board reduces the number of bounce-outs, which is a common problem with cheap plastic-tip dartboards.

This dartboard is great for beginners, as it has 39 different games with 179 total variations, so you can find a favorite or two. It has an audible heckle feature, too, making fun of you when you inevitably miss. And if you’re not in the mood, you can turn off the heckler. Unfortunately, you can’t turn off the heckles from your friends.

The 8 Dart Finish review likes the clarity of the electronic scoreboard, even from a distance. Versus other electronic dartboards in its price range, the Arachnid 800 offers a high level of durability and construction, according to Electronic Dartboard Reviews. And Bar Games 101 calls the Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard a tournament quality board that’s fun for players of all skill levels to use.

One reviewer named DCII says the Arachnid 800 works great for an at-home game room. However, reviewers Darren and Joe say the board can develop dead spots over time, where it won’t register the score properly. It’s also possible to damage the electronic scoreboard area with errant darts.

You can buy the Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 with a wooden, arcade-style cabinet or with the dartboard alone.

Pros: Plenty of gaming variety options, design of board will resist bounce-outs from the plastic dart tips, easy-to-read scoreboard from a distance, audible heckle feature makes it fun even when you miss

Cons: Audio features can be too loud, electronic scoreboard can become damaged from errant dart strikes

Buy the Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard and Cabinet on Walmart for $399.99

Buy the Arachnid Cricket Pro 800 Electronic Dartboard on Walmart for $228.63

The best pool table

Why you'll love it: The Mizerak Donovan II 8-Foot Billiard Table is surprisingly well made when you consider how affordable it is.

Picking the right pool table for your home can be tricky. You don’t want to spend too much, but small, inexpensive pool tables tend to consist of cheap materials that don’t stand up well over time. The last thing you want when you try to lean across the table to make your famous trick shot is to have the pool table collapse under you … while your friends film the entire process, making you a YouTube superstar.

So if you want a decent pool table that can stand up to medium or rough conditions, you’re going to have to spend a bit of money. I know we said we were going to save you some money with these bar games for home, but a pool table is the one area where skimping doesn’t pay off.

Our favorite pool table for a mixture of durability, size, and a decent price is the Mizerak Donovan II 8-Foot Billiard Table. You’ll like the realistic rebound of the 3-5/8-inch rails on this table.

The Donovan II ships with all of the accessories you’ll need to start playing immediately, including billiard balls, cues, a triangle, and chalk. But you will need to set aside some time to put together the pool table, as the assembly can be tricky, according to the Workout HQ review.

One owner named Aeaden agrees that this billiard table is tough to assemble, largely because of the weight of the components. But once you’re finished, the table’s gameplay is tremendous.

Pool Tables 101 says the materials in the Donovan II 8-Foot Billiard Table compare favorably to more expensive pool tables, making it an excellent choice for the home, while Cues Up gives this pool table high marks for both durability and sturdiness.

Some parts of the table feel cheaply made, according to one buyer named Mack Leighty, and the accessories are not of the highest quality, either. Still for a pool table that doesn't cost thousands of dollars, this one is quite good.

Pros: Better components than you’d expect in its price point, sturdy and durable pool table that will stand up to rough play, table is easy to level once it’s assembled, has everything you need to play

Cons: Assembly is very difficult, felt may wear out before you’d expect it to

Buy the Mizerak Donovan II 8-Foot Billiard Table on Amazon for $1,249.87 (Slate) or $1,038.39 (Slatron) (originally $1,499.99)

Whether you're a kid or still a kid at heart, there is nothing more fun than a day spent at Disneyland. And since the original Disney park is located in Anaheim, California, it's a hop, skip, and a jump away from the bright lights of Hollywood … which means there's a good chance you might see more stars than your favorite characters walking around. Grab your mouse ears and check out 20 celebrities enjoying a bit of that Disney magic at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Reese Witherspoon, Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Storm Reid

This power crew donned matching sparkly Minnie ears on a recent trip to promote their movie "A Wrinkle In Time."

Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner

The Kardashian-Jenner crew love spending the day at Disneyland, recently celebrating Kim’s 37th birthday with friends at the beloved theme park. But this photo of the two famous sisters is from North West’s second birthday party at Disneyland back in 2015.

Kourtney Kardashian and Penelope Disick

Kourtney also can’t get enough of a day at Disney, captioning this shot from North’s party: "12 hours @Disneyland last week was not enough. #takemeback"

Do you remember the stunning photographs from U-2 Dragon Lady pilot and friend Ross Franquemont we published a few days ago?

Few days after we published those incredible shots, Ross deployed for an overseas mission. Although we don’t know anything about the purpose of the mission, we know that he saw the Northern Lights: indeed, the amazing images you can find in this post were taken by Ross during his mission from the UK.

“I had no idea how fast the aurora moved and changed. It danced around, changing shape several times a second. That made it a challenge for the photographer in a spacesuit sitting in shaking metal can moving 500 mph,” Ross commented after shooting these shots.

Check them out below:

SEE ALSO: An Air Force pilot took a U-2 spy plane to the edge of space — and the photos are incredible

You can see the ring of the Aurora as it sweeps around the magnetic pole.

The Northern Lights appear to be extremely bright in this shot.

The Dragon Lady’s left wing and Aurora Borealis.

• McDonald's is now making Quarter Pounder burgers with fresh — not frozen — beef. 
• Each burger is prepared fresh to order — but McDonald's says that the change isn't slowing down the chain. 
• Here's a step-by-step look into McDonald's kitchen and how exactly the fast-food burger gets made. 

On Tuesday, McDonald's announced it would begin making its Quarter Pounder burgers with fresh — not frozen — beef across the US by early May.

The change took McDonald's months of behind-the-scenes efforts. For fresh-beef burgers to work, McDonald's needs to clear certain safety and flavor benchmarks — and make sure the new burgers don't slow down the drive-thru by even a second. 

Complicating the process is the fact that each fresh-beef burger is prepared fresh after customers order. 

This week, McDonald's took members of the media into the kitchen of an Oak Brook, Illinois, location to show exactly how the fresh beef is prepared. 

Here's a step-by-step look at how McDonald's makes its new fresh-beef Quarter Pounders:

SEE ALSO: McDonald's just made a massive change to its burgers — here's the verdict

The first step to the new burger is fresh — not frozen — patties.

McDonald's workers are able to distinguish between the two due to the fresh-beef patties being stored in a blue box, in contrast to the standard white box used for frozen patties. 

McDonald's had to address major food-safety concerns that come with adding fresh beef to the menu. Workers have special blue gloves that they immediately discard after handling the patties.

Beyond the gloves, however, the burger preparation is pretty much identical.

Once the butt-end of rocket industry jokes, SpaceX has completely disrupted the world's market for launches with high-performance, increasingly low-cost, and ever-more-reusable rockets.

Founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX did not have an easy start — it was bordering on bankruptcy in 2008 after three failed launches.

Today the aerospace company has about $10 billion worth of launches booked, built the world's most powerful operational rocket, and touts an ambitious goal to colonize Mars.

Its success has so far relied on its workhorse launcher: the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket. But continued industry dominance is anything but guaranteed.

In the near future, Musk and SpaceX will face competition from a number of companies, including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Systems, that are developing reusable, next-generation rocket engines, boosters, and spaceships.

Here's how the competition in the new space race stacks up.

This story was updated with new information. It was originally published at 10:20 a.m. ET on March 4, 2018.

SEE ALSO: $2,000 per orange? Here's how much money it costs to launch stuff into space

DON'T MISS: A Las Vegas billionaire plans to launch huge, inflatable space hotels into orbit

United Launch Alliance

Aerospace industry titans Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed ULA in 2005, and the company currently relies on its Delta IV Heavy launcher to get the biggest payloads into space. But that rocket costs at least $350 million per launch — several times more expensive than SpaceX's new and reusable $90 million Falcon Heavy system. Plus, Delta IV Heavy can only lift half as much payload as the Falcon Heavy.

As an answer to SpaceX's new rocket, ULA is working on a more powerful and partly reusable launcher called Vulcan. That rocket will recycle the engines of its booster, which is the biggest and most costly part of a rocket. (And the engines make up about two-thirds of a booster's cost.)

According to ULA's plan, a system called SMART will pop the engines off, guide them through Earth's atmosphere behind an aeroshell, and parachute them toward the ground. A helicopter will then grab the parachute and engines.

A forthcoming system called ACES will also make the upper stage of the rocket reusable and refuel-able in orbit.

Tory Bruno, ULA's CEO, told Business Insider that a Vulcan launch will cost below $100 million to start.

ArianeGroup

One of SpaceX's lowest-cost and biggest competitors is ArianeGroup, which is often known by its launch-focused subsidiary, Arianespace.

The company is working on a follow-up to its highly successful Ariane 5 rocket, dubbed Ariane 6. It may launch as soon as 2020. The most powerful variant of Ariane 6 could potentially carry about twice as much payload as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket into orbit some 22,236 miles above Earth.

At first, Ariane 6 won't have reusable engines. But SpaceNews reports that the rockets may eventually get equipped with reusable Prometheus engines — expensive parts that a winged, pop-off machine called Adeline might fly back to a runway. 

In the end, Ariane 6's makers expect the rocket to achieve lower ounce-for-ounce launch prices that what SpaceX currently offers.

Blue Origin

One of SpaceX's biggest looming rivals is also the most secretive.

Founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin has been most public about its smaller space tourism rocket system, New Shepard. But in September 2016, Blue Origin announced its plans for the enormous, reusable, and orbit-capable New Glenn rocket system.

Reusable rocket engines, called BE-4s, will power that launcher. Its biggest future iteration will stand about 313 feet tall, have three rocket stages, and possibly make voyages to the moon or Mars routine.

Bezos is planning to debut the first New Glenn rocket in 2020. Blue Origin has begun that work in a 750,000-square-foot hangar in Cape Canaveral, Florida (Business Insider asked to visit, but the company declined).

It's not certain how much a New Glenn launch will cost, though the booster will take off and land like SpaceX's, allowing it to get reused for future launches. That would save Blue Origin tens of millions of dollars in the process.

As of March 2017, Blue Origin had at least one customer signed up to launch a payload.

• The signs that someone is lying aren't always easy to decipher.

• And, unfortunately, there's no way to determine whether or not someone's being honest with 100% certainty.

• But there are some obvious signs that someone might be lying to you that you can watch out for.

How can you to tell if someone is lying to you? It's a question people have probably been asking themselves since lies were invented.

Research by Dr. Leanne ten Brinke, a forensic psychologist at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and her collaborators, suggests that our instincts for judging liars are actually fairly strong — but our conscious minds sometimes fail us.

Luckily, there are signs we can look for when trying to detect a lie.

Dr. Lillian Glass, behavioral analyst, body language expert, and "The Body Language of Liars" author, said when trying to figure out if someone is lying, you first need to understand how the person normally acts.

With that in mind, here are some signs that someone is lying to you:

SEE ALSO: 15 signs your coworker is a psychopath

1. People who are lying tend to change their head position quickly

If you see someone suddenly make a head movement when you ask them a direct question, they may be lying to you about something.

"The head will be retracted or jerked back, bowed down, or cocked or tilted to the side," wrote Glass. 

This will often happen right before the person is expected to respond to a question.

2. Their breathing may also change

When someone is lying to you, they may begin to breathe heavily, Glass said. "It's a reflex action." 

When their breathing changes, their shoulders will rise and their voice may get shallow, she adds. “In essence, they are out of breath because their heart rate and blood flow change. Your body experiences these types of changes when you’re nervous and feeling tense — when you lie.” 

3. They tend to stand very still

It's common knowledge that people fidget when they get nervous, but Glass said that you should also watch out for people who are not moving at all.

"This may be a sign of the primitive neurological 'fight,' rather than the 'flight,' response, as the body positions and readies itself for possible confrontation," said Glass. "When you speak and engage in normal conversation, it is natural to move your body around in subtle, relaxed, and, for the most part, unconscious movements. So if you observe a rigid, catatonic stance devoid of movement, it is often a huge warning sign that something is off."

• Sharing a living space with someone can bring out the worst in people's personalities.
• One person thought they found the perfect place in San Francisco until they were asked to chip in $500 for art in the apartment.
• During college, a girl lived with a roommate who was a hoarder and slept with trash on her bed.

We believe there is no such thing as a perfect roommate. Sure, you could be living with your best friend, but when two different people come together, there are bound to be a few things that won't agree on. For that reason, it seems like every adult has at least one roommate horror story.

So half as a venting exercise and half for your entertainment, we asked people to share their own horrible experiences (anonymously, of course). Be prepared to laugh, cry, and cringe at these ridiculous (but true) tales.

Dish duty

I had a roommate in college who decided he had enough of our other roommate leaving his dirty dishes out. So one day, he decided to leave the dishes on the floor in front of that roommate's door and said he was going to have to be the one to move them. If the roommate left more out or moved the dishes without cleaning them, they were put back in front of his door. His room was at a major intersection in our house. We were stepping over dirty dishes for weeks.

Artistic differences

While interviewing to move into a room with new roommates, I thought I had found a good spot. Until they said everyone in the apartment would have to chip in $500 to buy art for the place. I live in San Francisco with the highest rent in the country, so clearly this was not an agreement I was going to be down with, so I moved in somewhere else.

Canine fiasco

In college, my roommate bought a dog when I was out of town and never told me about it. She wasn’t even there when I came home, so I was so surprised to find a random dog in the apartment. Since it happened to be a dog that particularly hated men, I had friends that couldn’t even enter the apartment without it getting aggressive. Let's just say the dog put a wedge in our friendship.

• Costco's Auto Program allows members to buy discounted cars from participating dealerships.
• A wide variety of vehicle types and models are available.
• Members can buy or lease new or pre-owned vehicles.

Costco sells just about everything, so it's no surprise that the retailer can also serve as a broker for discounted cars. Through the Costco Auto Program, members can search for a variety of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, jet skis, and RVs.

Once you've chosen a vehicle and its trim, features, and exterior color, Costco sends you the contact information for a participating dealership and salesperson, at which point you can visit the dealership, find out the vehicle's discounted price, and decide if you'd like to buy or lease the vehicle. The range of available vehicles extends from budget options that start under $20,000 to luxury vehicles that top $100,000.

Costco members can also get a 15% discount on vehicle parts, service, and accessories at participating service centers.

Here's how you can use your Costco membership to get a discount on your next car: 

SEE ALSO: How to shop at Costco without a membership

1. Go to the Costco Auto Program web page or contact the program's call center.

From the Costco Auto Program web page, you can browse available vehicles and use the company's research tools to compare vehicles, calculate monthly payments, and read reviews. You can also contact the company's customer service line to have an employee walk you through the process over the phone.

2. Choose the vehicle you'd like

If you want a car, you can choose from a variety of classes: sedans, sports cars, SUVs, trucks, crossovers. While you don't learn the discounted price until you visit the dealer (this is an old sales trick – potential customers are less likely to walk away without buying if a salesperson is able to talk with them about their hesitations face-to-face), the MSRP on the available vehicles ranges from under $20,000 to over $150,000. You can also buy or lease a motorcycle, RV, ATV, jet ski, snowmobile, or UTV.

If you don't want to buy a new vehicle outright, you can also lease a vehicle or select a pre-owned vehicle instead of a new one. A pre-owned vehicle has been used by another owner, but is inspected by the dealer for any broken or worn-down parts, which are fixed before the car is sold again.

3. Customize the trim, feature package, and exterior color

For many cars, you can select the trim, features, and exterior color you'd like. For other vehicles, you can only choose the model.

Think it’s hard making it month to month in the barracks on just an E-1 pay? Well, the recruits who won America’s earlier wars had to make ends meet with much, much less to draw on.

See how much troops made in each conflict, both in their own currency and adjusted for inflation:

Author’s note: The pay structure changed over time. From the Korean War to today, military pay has been relatively consistent across the services and the numbers listed in entries 8-11 reflect the financial realities of an E-1 enlisted servicemember. For earlier conflicts, pay was calculated using the salary of a first-year Army private or a junior infantryman.

SEE ALSO: These are the 25 most powerful militaries in the world

1. Revolutionary War

Privates in 1776 earned $6 a month plus a bounty at the end of their service. That pay would equate to $157.58 today, a pretty cheap deal for the poor Continental Congress. Unfortunately for soldiers, Congress couldn’t always make ends meet and so troops often went without their meager pay.

2. War of 1812

Pay started at $5 a month for privates but was raised to $8 at the end of 1812. This was in addition to bounties ranging from $31 and 160 acres of land to $124 and 320 acres of land.

That $8 translates to $136.28 in 2016. The bounties ranged from $528.10 to $2,112.40 for terms of five years to the duration of the war.

3. Mexican-American War

Young infantrymen in their first year of service during the Mexican-American War pocketed $7 per month, according to this Army history. That’s $210.10 in 2016 dollars.

• In South Africa kids are hired to babysit ostriches. 
• From the UK to Asia, people titled "professional mourners" are hired to attend funerals. 
• When it comes to transportation, Japan has professional "people pushers" on their railways and Bolivia has traffic zebras. 
• Because of Indonesia's strict rules enforcing carpooling, people hire professional passengers. 

Looking for a new career? Like to travel? Open your mind to some of the world's most bizarre employment opportunities.

Ostrich babysitter

Many teens make some extra cash by babysitting their neighbors' kids, but what if you could make a living babysitting ostriches instead? In South Africa, ostrich farmshire people to watch over their birds. Ostriches can be very aggressive and territorial, so ostrich babysitters must be vigilant and protect the babies that can't defend themselves.

Mourner

Mourning a loved one is a delicate and emotional process, but that hasn't stopped people from turning it into a commodity. From Asia to the U.K., people are actually hired to attend funerals. The idea is to create a greater sense of grief, importance, and to increase turnout. Read up on these 22 things a funeral director won't tell you.

Bike fisherman

Instead of fishing for, well, fish, people in Amsterdam can get paid to fish for bicycles. The city is one of the most bike-friendly in the world, with people relying more on the two-wheeler than cars. For one reason or another, many bicycles find themselves at the bottom of Amsterdam's waterways and canals throughout the year, creating quite the odd job opportunity. Here are more jobs that are definitely not for everyone.

A top secret meeting. A far-flung tropical archipelago. International political intrigue involving President Donald Trump.

While it might sound like the tagline for an upcoming spy movie, these are the details of a newly disclosed meeting that took place in the Seychelles Islands between a Trump-linked private security entrepreneur, a Russian CEO, and a representative of the United Arab Emirates, according to The New York Times.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has looked into the meeting in the Russia investigation, and is reportedly working with one of its attendees to learn more about Trump's foreign contacts.

But the Seychelles Islands where the meeting took place are themselves a fascinating yet little-known location.

Here's a look at why these beautiful islands off the coast of Africa were chosen to host the clandestine meeting:

SEE ALSO: Mueller has secured sworn testimony from a little-known but pivotal witness in the Russia investigation

DON'T MISS: Inside the ritzy London wine bar where a Trump campaign aide's night of 'heavy drinking' unknowingly kicked off the Russia investigation

Lying east of Kenya and Tanzania and north of Madagascar, the Seychelles are an isolated island group in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

The isles are renowned for their natural beauty.

The islands are chock-full of stunning white sand beaches that are surrounded by beautifully eroded rocks and picturesque palm trees.

FORT BLISS, Texas — Two self-propelled M109 Paladin howitzers sat idly by on the 1st Armored Division's desert training grounds, waiting to hurl 155mm shells about 10 miles away. 

Partaking in a large exercise called Bulldog Focus, the two Paladins were waiting for other convoys miles away to get in position before they could safely fire. 

"These guns are designed to kill," Captain Alan Bauerly, who oversaw a few batteries, had said to his troops before they dispersed and waited to fire. "It doesn't care who it kills."

But before the artillerymen displayed the cannon's incredible power, I got a chance to tour the Paladin and speak to the troops operating it. 

Here's what I saw:

SEE ALSO: We climbed into an Apache helicopter's cockpit and saw why it's one of the most difficult aircraft to fly

I first came upon the five-man crew of this M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Supply Vehicle, which was stationed behind the Paladins.

As the vehicle's name denotes, it supplies the Paladins with ammunition.

Mounted atop the ammunition supply vehicle is an MK19 automatic grenade launcher.

The crew showed me how they carry the 155mm projectiles, which weigh over 100 pounds. Some artillerymen said they carry it over their shoulders too.

The soldiers then challenged me to pick one up and, sensing a test, I couldn't back down. 

Wednesday is International Women's Day, which celebrates the ongoing movement for women's rights.

To measure the world's progress toward gender equality, the World Economic Forum (WEF) created the Global Gender Gap Index a decade ago.

The most recent report, published in November 2017, analyzes four main dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political representation. Looking at 144 countries, the WEF concludes that an average global gender gap of 32% remains, compared to 31.7% in 2016. Globally, the widest gaps between women and men exist in economic opportunity and political representation.

A slight upside: Since 2016, 82 countries have improved their overall gender gap score. 

The countries with the widest gender gaps are below (with #1 ranking as the worst).

Camilla Hodgson contributed to an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: Striking maps reveal the huge wealth gap between American cities and the rest of the country

15. Qatar — This country has never elected a woman to parliament.

14. Turkey — The vast majority of legislators, senior officials, and managers in this country are men. There are nearly no women in ministerial positions.

However, Turkish law mandates equal pay for men and women. 

13. Mauritania — Women do not have the same rights as men in marriage or after divorce, and companies are not required to pay men and women the same amount here.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un keeps a close watch over the media in his country, controlling much of what citizens know of the outside world, and vice versa.

Though Kim has fought to present the Hermit Kingdom to the world as a bastion of military might, nuclear power, and anti-American sentiment, the reality of day-to-day life is grim.

Much of the country lives in poverty, tens of thousands of people are held as political prisoners, and the government tightly controls most aspects of life.

Here's what Kim Jong Un's North Korea really looks like:

SEE ALSO: The mysterious life of Kim Jong Un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, who probably has 3 children and frequently disappears from the public eye

DON'T MISS: Mystery children and sibling rivalries — this is Kim Jong Un's family tree

AND THEN: A photographer captured these dismal photos of life in North Korea on his phone

Day-to-day life in North Korea can be bleak.

Source: Business Insider

The Hermit Kingdom is one of the most closed-off places in the world, and has experienced increasingly severe food shortages in recent years.

Source: Business Insider

Childhood in North Korea is particularly difficult. Many children in rural areas have to work on farms and much of the country's economic output is driven by forced labor.

Sources: Business Insider, Human Rights Watch

• For International Women's Day, Business Insider asked regular women for their best career advice.
• Women across different industries and levels contributed.
• Responses ranged from the practical (don't work for free) to the psychological (you deserve your job).

Everyone wants advice from the most successful businesswomen out there: Sheryl Sandberg. Indra Nooyi. Meg Whitman.

But anyone would be smart to take advice from a little closer to home, too: your boss, your coworkers, your professional connections. No matter the level, industry, or location, we can all learn something from each other.

Business Insider surveyed women across various industries about their advice for others. Responses ranged from advice on knowing your worth to effectively communicating your vision to a team. For example:

• Remember that getting your job wasn't a fluke. You deserve to be there.
• Keep a list of your accomplishments and skills so you can refer back.
• If you're dreading a job or project, you aren't being paid enough.
• Don't give up your life for a job.

Below, read 17 different women's best career advice, lightly edited for clarity:

SEE ALSO: The 21 best countries in the world to live in if you're a woman

Find your advocates, and take a seat at the table

"Find your advocates.

"As women, we often have to work twice as hard for our performance to be recognized. Participating in teams, committees, even if it doesn't pertain to your role, will help build a network of advocates of varying levels across the organization.

"Always expect your name will come up when you're not in the room — the more advocates you have, the more people will root for you when opportunities arise.

"And always take a seat at the table. You deserve to be there."

— Jen, 30, New York City
Director of Sales working in Adtech/Media

Don't work for free

"For new entrepreneurs, do not work for free or undervalue yourself! You are more than capable and qualified.

"Too many times starting out I said 'yes' to a low-ball offer or free work for the mere possibility of leads, only to end up spending far too much time on a project that yielded too little compensation.

"I heard a thought one time: 'If you wake up in the morning dreading working on a project, you asked for too little money,' and that couldn't be more true. If you feel valued, the work never feels like a drag.

"As a new entrepreneur (or even more experienced!), lack of confidence is common after the initial excitement wears off. It's easier to feel confident as an employee because you receive regular feedback on your quality of workmanship. Don't let fear of failure drive you to accept less than you're worth."

— Stacey, 28, Austin, Texas
Business Owner: Nutrition Communications & Media

Recognize who is on your team

"When someone is on your team, they are on your team for life.

"I am a big networker, and recently someone I really admire told me he was 'on my team.' I took this to mean I did not need to try as hard to impress him — he was already impressed!

"Inevitably in professional relationships and in networking you'll transition from wanting to impress someone to being their friend, or at least someone they respect and like. Recognize when that transition happens and breathe a sigh of relief! I keep a list of people who are 'on my team' and look to them for support and advice, as well as professional advancement."

— Alex, 30, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Associate Attorney

Some of the greatest moments in cinematic history are scenes of non-fiction.

From a profile of boxing legend Muhammad Ali to a portrait of a renowned sushi chef, the best documentaries capture real-life phenomena in a memorable and artful fashion.

To find out which documentary films have received the most critical acclaim over time, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes for its ranking of the top documentaries in history.

The site ranked the films by a weighted critic score that accounts for variation in the number of reviews each film received. 

Here are the 50 best documentaries of all time, according to critics:

SEE ALSO: All 49 of Netflix's notable original movies, ranked from worst to best

50. "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me" (2014)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 79%

Summary:"The uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner is showcased both on and off stage via rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité."

49. "The Overnighters" (2014)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 84%

Summary:"Broken, desperate men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor risks everything to help them."

48. "The Look of Silence" (2015)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 90%

Summary:"A family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers."

March 8 is International Women's Day. 

The earliest celebration of International Women's Day was in 1909. That year, the Socialist Party of America dedicated the day to honoring the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York. Through the years, the day has been spent showing the progress that women have made as well as the progress women (and men) around the world are working towards. 

This year, the day's theme is #PressforProgress, a call-to-action for everyone to "press forward and progress gender parity." International Women's Day belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. The International Women's Day site says the theme is "a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive." With the momentum of women's equality movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, a day to recognize women everywhere is more crucial than ever.

In support of International Women's Day we've rounded up some of the most poignant quotes from some of the most well-known supporters of the gender equality movement:

Hillary Clinton: former Secretary of State, former New York Senator and 2016 Democratic nominee for President of the United States

Emma Watson: actress and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador

Gloria Steinem: journalist and political activist