Where I come from, the Minnesota State Fair is a big deal.

Every August, people from all over the state flock to the St. Paul area for the fair, one of the biggest in the U.S. Visitors can see concerts, ride the rides, and eat some of the most outrageous fried food in the nation.

Naturally, I got a little homesick when my mom emailed to remind me of "everything you'll be missing at the State Fair," with a link to all the new food concoctions being served this year. 

From fried pickles with chocolate sauce to something called "Comet Corn," here's what I'm sad I'm missing out on this year. This year's fair runs from August 22nd to September 2nd, so there's still time to book your plane ticket.

Double Bacon Corndog: "Bacon-wrapped hot dog dipped in a corndog batter blended with real bacon bits then deep fried."

*Campbell's Flavored Corndogs, located on Cosgrove St., across from the Education Building. (New food vendor for 2013)

Grilled Glazed Donut: "Traditional glazed donut grilled and served with a strawberry mint dipping sauce."

Moe & Joe's, located on Judson Ave., next to the CHS Miracle of Birth Center.

Fried Pickles 'n' Chocolate: "Preferred Pickles' popular deep fried pickles dusted with powdered sugar and served with a side of chocolate for dipping."

Preferred Pickles, located on the corner of Dan Patch Ave. and Liggett St.

Facebook's Graph Search feature is rolling out to everyone today.

The new search tool lets you to search Facebook's huge amount of data to get consolidated results.

Mark Zuckerberg stressed Graph Search's privacy awareness at the big reveal months ago.

"Every piece of content has its own audience, most content is not public, and you can only search for content that has been shared with you," Zuckerberg said at the time.

Despite this reassurance, you still should take some time to look at your Facebook privacy settings to make sure things you share don't inadvertently show up in search.

The first thing you should tweak is who can see the information about you that's in your profile. Start by heading to your timeline and click into your "About" section.

Next, you'll see an edit button next to each different section. Click that edit button and then choose the type of audience you want to view this information.

Once you're done adjusting your about section, scroll down the page and you can view the different types of things that you like. If you click the pencil next to any section and select "Edit Privacy" you can change the audience.

The Paula Deen racism scandal seems to have no expiration date.

Ever since the release of a deposition in which the former Food Network star acknowledged using racist epithets, controversy has swelled.

Deen had a very public breakdown on the TODAY show, companies distanced themselves from her brand, and she recently split from longtime agent Barry Weiner.

Given the fallout, it's unlikely the inventor of deep-fried lasagna will make a comeback.

Thankfully, there's a new generation of Southern chefs on the rise, and they don't need a deep fryer to make fantastic food. Sarah Simmons, an acclaimed Southern chef and founder of New York's CITY GRIT Culinary Salon, helped us find 12 promising candidates who could surpass Paula Deen's fame in the Southern cooking arena.

Jeremiah Langhorne

Restaurant:McCrady's Restaurant, Charleston, SC

Jeremiah Langhorne is the executive chef of McCrady's Restaurant in Charleston, SC — a far cry from his first job as a pizza deliveryman in Charlottesville, VA.

Inspired by the staff at that little Italian restaurant, he began cooking and even traveled to famed-restaurant Noma in Denmark to complete a two-month stage.

He describes his food at McCrady's as "modern Southern cuisine with indigenous ingredients" that he either grows or forages.

Stand Out Dish: Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

Kelly English

Restaurant:Restaurant Iris, Memphis, TN

Kelly English traveled from New Orleans to Memphis and opened Restaurant Iris in 2008.

Since then, English has won numerous awards and accolades. He has appeared on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" as well as been a James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast in 2010.

His food is French-Creole and New Orleans-inspired, with local and seasonal ingredients.

Stand Out Dish: Sweet corn griddle cakes with crab ravigot

Ashley Christensen

Restaurant:Ashley Christensen Restaurants, Raleigh, NC

After working at Raleigh's top kitchens, Ashley opened Poole's Diner in 2007 with a chalkboard menu of comfort-food made with locally grown, seasonal ingredients.

Now six years later, she has three other ventures including Chuck's, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, and Fox Liquor Bar, all relying on Southern classics with her French technique.

In 2008, Bon Appétit named her one of its "Female Chefs of the Next Generation" and Christensen is also a three-time James Beard semi-finalist for "Best Chef: Southeast."

Stand Out Dish: Captain Andy's Paleo Burger Platter at Chuck's

At age 50, Michael Jordan hasn't lost the legendary competitiveness that defined his as a player.

He's still talking trash, challenging guys half his age to one-on-one games, and throwing down cash on the golf course.

At this point, it's clear that his primal desire to beat people wasn't limited to the basketball court.

He made a $500 bet that he could hit the green with a fan at a charity golf event in 2011, and won

Watch the video here >

He played a Bobcats player one-on-one recently, and had to get treatment from the trainer the next day

Source: ESPN

He forced Dream Team coach Chuck Daly to play him in golf by pounding on his hotel room door

Rick Reilly reported that Jordan lost to Daly in golf in Monte Carlo. The next morning, he pounded on Daly's door at their hotel until Daly finally agreed to go play him again. Jordan won.

Source: SI

There's one word you need to know when traveling abroad: Beer.

Reddit user T-Other1 helpfully posted a map created by The Drey onto /r/linguisitcs that shows the various words for beer across Europe.

It's also broken down by common pronunciation, so saying "Beer," Ale, "Pivo," or "Cerveza" will help you get by almost anywhere.

Anywhere, that is, unless you're traveling in one of the outliers — sör, ludi, and jough will work in Hungary, Georgia, and the UK respectively.

SEE ALSO: 10 Awesome Rooftop Bars In Philadelphia

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There's no question the U.S. population is shifting.

With the Senate passing a major immigration reform bill and a U.S. Census report forecasting that white people will become a minority in the US by 2043, we are slowly inching towards a much more diverse future.

NerdWallet, a financial website for consumers, calculated which cities had the most equal distribution of residents across four common ethnic groups: Hispanic/Latino, White, Black, and Asian/Pacific Islander. It looked at Census data from more than 1,900 places. The more equal the percentages, the better their diversity score (with 100 being perfect).

These 20 cities are where you can see what the future of American might look like:

And here's the full list of the least diverse cities:

SEE ALSO: The 15 Healthiest Cities In America

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Switzerland's first caviar, Oona, comes from farmed Siberian sturgeon in the Swiss Alps.

Reuters' Caroline Copley visited the facility in December 2011, during the first harvest.

Employees in white aprons and latex gloves meticulously hand-pick fish eggs to produce some of the world's finest caviar.

Caviar is the unfertilized eggs of fish, also known as roe. Caviar can come from several varieties of fish, but traditionally refers to fish eggs from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, which border the Caspian sea, are the world's largest producers of caviar.

Sturgeon have been around since before the dinosaurs, but today they are threatened from overfishing. Sturgeon do not reproduce annually — it can take up to 20 years for the fish to mature so they can produce roe — which makes the species especially vulnerable to over-exploitation.

As a result, several species of sturgeon are now farmed.

When he's not starring in action flicks like The Bourne Legacy and The Avengers, actor Jeremy Renner likes to deal in real estate.

According to an August profile in Esquire, Renner has flipped roughly 15 Los Angeles-area homes with his business partner Kristoffer Winters over the past decade.

But this might be his biggest sale yet. A gorgeous Holmby Hills mansion he listed six months ago for $24.95 million has sold, according to Trulia. 

The home is a staggering 10,000-square-foot, single-level mansion sitting on two acres of land. It has six bedrooms, 11 baths, five fireplaces, a theater, and multiple pools and fountains scattered throughout the property.

And although it may be worth the hefty price tag, we won't know the final figure until the house is out of contract.

The estate was last purchased for $7 million back in 2010, and was rebuilt by architect Philip Vertoch and designed by Kristoffer Winters.

Welcome to the Holmby Hills estate.

The sprawling home sits on approximately two acres of land in LA.

Source: The Reserve | Holmby Hills

It has an art deco-theme, and was designed by Architect Phillip Vertoch.

Source: The Reserve | Holmby Hills

Instagram users have been able to print their photos in a variety of ways for a while, but a new startup wants to let them turn their pictures into actual oil paintings.

The company, Pixelist, works with a group of Chinese artists living in Xiamen, Fujian, to turn Instagram photos into handcrafted artwork. There are no machines involved, just real painters making real paintings. 

The way it works is simple: Pick an Instagram photo and send it over. The artists paint it and send it back. 

Pixelist recently launched an IndieGoGo campaign to get its initial funding and start selling the product. For $110, you can get a 12"x12" oil painting of an Instagram photo with roughly two main forms (human, animal, object, etc). Painting sizes can get as large as 6'x6' (with up to 10 forms).

Pixelist isn't for every photo, but it's one of the coolest ways to get a physical version of your Instagrams that we've seen in awhile.

This example shows the Instagram on the left and the Pixelist painting on the right with a closeup of the painting underneath.

Founders Will Freeman and Conor Colwell lived in Hong Kong as they developed the concept.

They spent months searching for the right artists to get the right price and quality to appeal to Instagram users.

Legal marijuana is spreading across the country, with Colorado and Washington leading the way with legalizing recreational use.

But it's a good bet that many "legal" marijuana smokers don't fully understand where that weed comes from, or what business pitfalls come along with crafting the different strains of cannabis featuring varying levels of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main chemical responsible for the high marijuana produces).

Business Insider was invited to check out the grow operation of a local home medical marijuana producer in Washington State. We'll call him "Will" to protect his identity.

Will, a former welder who jumped into growing last November, has the common grower fear of being shut down by the feds. He's also concerned that the very same law that led him to jump into the growing business, could now actually kill his budding operation.

Will is especially concerned at the potential high taxes that could be levied on cannabis in the state, which could hit 75%. Washington State hopes to use these taxes to bolster its waning coffers and keep it in the black.

Keeping the state coffers in the black could put Will in the red. To save his business, Will has started trying to grow some of the most THC-potent strains in the world to meet the high demands of the changing consumer base.

Come take a look inside the home grow operation of a man trying to overcome the loss of his wife to cancer last year and who is fighting the daily pain of the disks in his back having almost totally degenerated.

Will's home and grow operation is in the mountains south of Olympic National Park.

It's remote. His only connection to the outside world is this satellite dish.

This is Will. When Washington state voters approved a law allowing recreational marijuana use, he wasted no time finding the best pot in the world to start his business.

Travel + Leisure just released the results of its World's Best Awards, which ranks the world's best hotels, among other categories.

To compile these awards, the magazine asked its readers to vote on the best hotels they've traveled to, factoring in everything from rooms and food to service and location.

This year, Botswana's Mombo Camp and Little Mombo Camp took the top spot, ousting last year's winner, Tanzania's Singita Grumeti Reserves.

#10: Singita Sabi Sand, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Score: 95.64

#9: Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Score: 95.71

#8: The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India

Score: 95.73

Microsoft has thousands of employees working on projects around the world. 

None of them, however, may be as fun, or as cool, as the projects being worked on in the Model Shop, Microsoft's lab where it is prototyping and building its next generation of hardware products. 

For years, the team at the model shop was just building keyboards and mice. Then, it started cranking out Xboxes. Now, it's making the Surface tablet, and much more. 

We were in Redmond, Washington at Microsoft's headquarters recently, and we got a tour of the space. In this space Microsoft uses 3D printing machines, CNC machines and other heavy duty tools to craft the prototypes of its next wave of game-changing gadgets.

The Model Shop is down a hallway, tucked in one of the dozens of buildings on Microsoft's main Redmond campus.

Here's the man who runs the operation, Vincent Jesus. He was wearing flip-flops the day we visited.

This is a small sample of some the prototyping and design work Jesus and his team have done for Microsoft.

The old aphorism goes that "idle hands are the devil's playground."

Few seem to heed the spirit of this message like the founders, CEOs, and other inventive souls of the tech community.

Elon Musk famously runs SpaceX, his private rocket company, alongside Tesla, his electric car company. Two other notable technology figureheads each have their own private rocket companies as well, and you'll never guess who is trying to start a major league baseball team in Las Vegas.

In a veritable potpourri collection of folks from the tech industry, we've gathered some notable examples of the side projects that keep them busy.

Investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel is aggressively investigating technologies that would — in theory — allow humans to literally live forever.

When he's not running Box.com, Aaron Levie is an accomplished magician practicing double-lifts and pinch vanishes.

He's probably best known for his electric car company, Tesla, but Elon Musk's SpaceX has a huge contract with NASA to help put people and cargo in orbit.

Chinese police opened fire on Tibetans marking the Dalai Lama's 78th birthday, shooting at least one monk in the head and seriously wounding several other people, two overseas groups said.

Security forces disrupted Tibetans in Sichuan province's Daofu county as they carried out rituals to honour their exiled leader, whom Beijing denounces as a separatist, said the US-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and India-based phayul.com.

Regional authorities denied the allegations.

"Two Tibetan monks were shot in the head and several others seriously injured after Chinese police opened fire at a crowd," ICT said, citing unnamed local and exile sources.

It named the monks as Tashi Sonam and Ugyen Tashi, and said both were in hospital.

Armed police and soldiers who arrived to block the group began shooting and using tear gas "without warning", it said, citing two Tibetans in exile.

At least 20 people were detained after the incident on Saturday, ICT added.

Phayul, a news site on Tibet, said police opened fire after a monk tried to "drive past the security blockade," citing an overseas Tibetan. One monk was shot in the head, Phayul said.

Police and religious affairs authorities in Daofu both told AFP: "There was no incident of this kind".

Daofu is part of Ganzi prefecture, one of southwestern China's Tibetan-majority areas.

Members of the ethnic minority have long complained of religious and cultural repression by Beijing, and more than 100 have set themselves on fire in recent years in apparent protest at Chinese rule.

Beijing insists it respects ethnic minorities and has invested heavily to develop Tibetan areas. It blames self-immolations on overseas groups seeking to push a separatist agenda.

Friction in Tibetan areas has sharpened as ethnic majority Han Chinese have increasingly settled in Tibetan areas. Reports of authorities opening fire are rare, however.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and later founded the Tibetan government-in-exile in India.

China has denounced foreign leaders for meeting with the Nobel peace laureate.

Last month Beijing denied reports that it had relaxed its policies of publicly denouncing the Dalai Lama and banning worship of his image.

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Players snubbed from a well-earned starting spot in Major League Baseball's All-Star game are nothing new, but some players have been robbed more than others in their career.

On the next few pages we will take a look at 20 players that had at least 50 career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) during the All-Star era (1933-present) and were never elected to start an All-Star game (for position players) or chosen as a starting pitcher by the squad's manager.

These players, which includes three Hall of Famers would make for a pretty good All-Star team in their own right.

#20 Johan Santana

Teams: Twins, Mets

Position: Starting pitcher

Seasons: 12

Career Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 50.7

All-Star Reserve: 4 times

Key stats: 2-time Cy Young Award winner

#19 Orel Hershiser

Teams: Dodgers, Indians, Mets, Giants

Position: Starting pitcher

Seasons: 18

Career Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 51.7

All-Star Reserve: 3 times

Key stats: Four times finished in the top-4 in Cy Young voting including one win in 1988 when he went 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA. In 1985 he went 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA.

#18 Mariano Rivera

Teams: Yankees

Position: Relief pitcher

Seasons: 19

Career Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 55.4

All-Star Reserve: 12

Key stats: Unfortunately for Mo Rivera there is no "starting" closer. Four times he has finished in the top-3 in Cy Young voting.

As the host of Bloomberg Surveillance on Bloomberg TV and Radio, Tom Keene gets to talk to a lot of smart people on a daily basis.

Naturally, a lot of interesting insights are borne out of these discussions, and a lot of times, there is no better way to visualize those insights than with a good chart.

So, we asked Keene which charts he is watching closely right now. Here's what he sent us.

1: In Search of NAIRU

"The U.S. unemployment rate migrates to a better place. An extrapolation suggests late 2014 will bring us a 6.5% America. But is that good enough? Economists are trying to game the new NAIRU (an unemployment rate that jives with stable price change and better than good Red Sox middle relief.)

"My interviews suggest a real mystery over where NAIRU should land. Crisis Over: Onward, in search of NAIRU."

2: Welcome to Part-Time America

"Here is full-time jobs compared to the employed. There are fewer. Part-time jobs? There are more. 82 to 83% of employed seems a comfortable band of where we were comfortable. We are distant from that: by a near 3 million employed. Welcome to part-time America."

3: The Lew Dollar

"What is the equivalent to the Plaza Hotel in Beijing? After the Plaza Accord, this Accord and that Accord, we had The Rubin Dollar. Here is the Real T-W Dollar...descending. The Group Think suggests a strong dollar is inevitable. Sara Eisen, book the flight to Beijing now. Call it the Lew dollar."

4: Beijingnomics

"Here is JPY-CNY showing a perennial weakening of the renminbi, then a nice range. Abenomics is all about Japan, or is it? China and others, see Seoul, have to adjust to Tokyo's adjustment. Yen-Yuan is Yuan stronger and at a critical point. Call it Beijingnomics."

5: Tom, We Hate You

"Here is one representation of inflation-adjusted gold. Note the gentle slide of a depreciated $35 an ounce over to the left, the early-1980s gold-coins-in-the-bedroom-dresser spike and the latest reversal. I have placed a line at $900 an ounce because a) many gnomes suggest that is a critical price level and b) I don't have enough incoming e-mail and need now, I say now, love notes from gold buggish types who say in one form or another, 'Tom, we hate you.'"

6: This Time is Different

"Kenneth Rogoff told me years ago that the single question of America's future was investment. It is rumored that investment leads to jobs and jobs lead to political stability. Here is U.S. investment, semi-log, showing the percent change. Slope Matters. The slope has gone flat and indicates a $1 trillion plus shortfall in investment presuming it was and should be morning in America. At least for investment, this time is different."

7: Now What?

"Here is the inflation-adjusted DJIA priced to 2013 over on the right side of the chart. As an approximation, my 201(k) has recovered near 301(k) levels. I was 2% in equities in March 2009 and have deworsified myself into a 20% equity position only because Barry Ritholtz, Mario Gabelli, Liz Ann Sonders, Howard Ward, Abby Joseph Cohen, Tony Dwyer, Brian Belski, Tobias Levkovich and on and on gave me courage. Okay, all. If you're so smart, now what? Hey Michael! Do I sell JPM the day Jamie retires?"

8: Tom, You're so Bougie

"Scarlet Fu is in charge of my trading account. Without telling her, I went way long AAPL on the sidewalk of their 5th avenue store at 4 am the day of the iPhone 5 launch. Larry Haverty thought I was a fool. Scarlet Fu thought I was a greater fool. I need the latest and greatest. I need to be current. We'll get back to $1000...someday. In the meantime, Scarlet is just killing me. 'Tom, you're so bougie.'"

9: Anxious America

"This is not funny. Inflation-adjusted hourly earnings were seriously inflation-adjusted decades ago. Then a period of spirit. We have returned to the depressed wage growth of another time except this time...with little inflation. The Surveillance Gulfstream awaits me. I am suitably bow-tied. For too many Americans a decade has passed them by. It is an anxious America."

MORE — Wall Street's Brightest Minds Reveal THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARTS IN THE WORLD

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Wolfram Alpha is probably the most useful site on the internet.

It's not a search engine, it's not an encyclopedia, and it's not a calculator, but it's a little bit of all of that. It's really the only member of its field. 

Originally developed as an online version of Stephen Wolfram's Mathematica software, its basic functionality is that of a math equation solver.

Over the years, however, it's grown substantially, and has really matured as a site to become one of the coolest and most informative sites online. 

Here are some of the coolest things you can do with it. 

1. You can find the nutrition facts for literally any food, as customized as you'd like it.

2. Use Wolfram Alpha to find out more than you ever wanted to know about why the weather is unbearable today.

3. The site makes traveling by plane a cinch.

Ploom is a company that makes portable vaporizers and other smoking devices. 

Recently, Ploom revealed its newest device, the ModelTwo vaporizer.

The ModelTwo is sleek and slender. It's about the size of a pen and easily fits in your pocket.

While a normal cigarette burns, the ModelTwo heats tobacco to extract nicotine similar to steeping a cup of tea. Instead of burning the leaves and creating smoke, the chemicals are super-heated vaporized out. 

To use the ModelTwo you twist off the top, which gives access to a compartment where you can insert one of the company's "pods".

Its kind of like putting a KCup into your Keurig coffee machine.

Once you've put the pod in, twist the top back on, press the power button, and wait for the device to heat up to 175 degrees. One pod lasts about 10 minutes, the perfect amount of time for a quick break. The battery lasts pretty long too. Ploom estimates that you can smoke about 5 pods on a single charge, which equals 50 minutes.

The pods are produced in Germany and contain tobacco from Ploom's joint partnership with Japan Tobacco International (JTI). JTI is a global tobacco company that sells brands like Winston and Camel. Pods come in various flavors like Gold (which tastes like traditional tobacco), Rocket (cinnamon flavor), and Kick-Ass Mint (menthol).

Ploom sees the ModelTwo as a premium high-end device. It's actually been in development for two years.

The design and look adds to the luxurious feel. Once you see the device, its obvious that this isn't one of those cheap tobacco vaporizers you find at the gas station.

If you're used to smoking regular cigarettes, you may be a bit disappointed that the vapor doesn't appear when you exhale. But what's great about the ModelTwo is from the first hit until the last pull, the experience is consistent. 

The ModelTwo is Ploom's second foray into tobacco vaporizing devices.

The company's most well-known device is the Pax, an aluminum handheld vaporizer that is discreet and fits right in your pocket.

The ModelTwo comes in two colors, gray or white, and retails for $39.95. You can pre-order one starting now. Pods are $5.95 for a pack of 12. 

SEE ALSO: Meet Pax By Ploom: The MacBook Of Vaporizers

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Retired mortgage banker Bill Blomquist and his wife Diane are selling their Delaware beach house for $7.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Tucked away on three lots in Rehoboth Beach, the 8,400-square-foot home is built on land that the Blomquists bought in 1977 for $225,000. 

The Blomquists, their three children, and 13 grandchildren have been using the sprawling beach home for years. With stunning views at 4,300 square feet of deck space, it certainly makes for a nice vacation. Plus it's quieter than the Hamptons.

Bryce Lingo and Shaun Tull of Jack Lingo have the listing.

The home sits along Indian Beach

And has six bedrooms

And plenty of room to relax

Look at this haircut. Definitely an attempted self-cut, probably by a jumpy private.

It's the perfect example of what happens when you combine young troops with somewhat arbitrary, totally inflexible rules and regulations.

The one in question being the Marine Corps regulation regarding haircuts: get one every week, usually Sunday, or else.

We've compiled a few of the other most ridiculous customs, courtesies, and regulations for your perusal.

No chilling with hands in your pockets.

The rule about hands in pockets is all about being able to salute, and how one "looks" in uniform with hands in ones pockets.

Yet, during a talk with Marines once in Iraq, former Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent said, "forget the rule, if your hands are cold, put them in your pockets."

Honestly, it's a stupid rule, based off an arbitrary idea that people with hands in their pockets somehow look "nasty" or "unprofessional" or can't John Wayne a salute at a moment's notice.

Reflective belts on EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.

Good lord, honestly, does a soldier need to wear a reflective belt during training out in the woods? Is that really necessary?

It's understandable if he's near road traffic, or in the middle of live-fire training, but other than that, it's absurd to put so many reflective belts on the troops and their gear.

Haircuts every week.

Now, this devil dog likely took to his own head with a set of buzzers for two reasons: saving time, or saving money.

Junior enlisted Marines already don't make much money. Plus, waiting with the other ... entire base-worth of junior Marines ... takes a lot of time out of liberty.

C'mon, is a weekly haircut necessary? Let's try bi-monthly.