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A Botswana Safari Camp Is The New Best Hotel In The World

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Mombo Camp Safari breakfastTravel + Leisure just declared Mombo Camp and Little Mombo Camp in Botswana's Okavango Delta to be the best hotel in the world.

It received a score of 96.60 out of 100.

Located in the Moremi Game Reserve, the hotel, which is made up of two camps, offers unparalleled luxury in the thick of the wild.

The hotel is designed to take advantage of its natural surroundings: There are outdoor plunge pools, al fresco dining areas, and plenty of decks for wildlife viewing. Even the luxury tents have open windows for viewing the wildlife.

Rooms in the tents start at around $1,750 per person per night; rates include daily game drives, food, and drink.

Most of the facilities at Mombo Camp and Little Mombo are open-air, linked by raised walkways that allow wildlife to wander through the camp while guests can watch from a safe height.



The shaded common living area at Mombo Camp overlooks the open plain, where guests can see animals.



The giant luxury tents also overlook the flood plains, where guests can watch lions, zebras, and other game from their windows.

 

he rooms themselves are designed in exactly the same way as Mombo Camp with vast luxurious tented accommodations that look over the floodplains, huge four poster beds, en suite bathrooms, outside showers and private salas for siestas midday siestas. - See more at: http://www.mombo.co.uk/little-mombo.aspx#sthash.9yVmO09N.dpuf


See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Presenting This Year's ESPN Body Issue Covers

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It's the most wonderful day of the year, ESPN The Magazine released all eight covers for this year's Body Issue. The Body Issue features some of the most toned, and chiseled athletes baring it all and showing off their gorgeous physiques. It's really a work of art.

ESPN keeps the cover models a secret until the issue comes out, but today, we know who made the cut.

At 77 golfer Gary Player is the oldest athlete to make the cover. Also gracing the cover are Nuggets big man Kenneth Faried, Olympic volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings, 49ers quarterback Colin Kapernick, U.S. women's soccer player Sydney LeRoux, NHRA car driver Courtney Force, Motocross racer Tarah Gieger, and Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. ESPN The Magazine kindly sent us a few covers to show you, click here to see the other photos from the issue >

NHRA Funny Car Driver Courtney Force

Courtney Force cover

49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick

colin kaepernick cover

Marlins Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton

giancarlo stanton cover

 

SEE ALSO: What It Was Like For A Pregnant Kerri Walsh Jennings To Pose Nude For The Body Issue

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7 People Who Were Arrested Because Of Something They Wrote On Facebook

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Cameron D'Ambrosio

Many people exercise poor judgement on Facebook, a site where Freedom of Speech may no longer apply.

Recently, young Facebook users who have posted controversial status messages have ended up in jail. 

Sometimes the messages they typed were actually offensive. Other times they were jokes gone terribly wrong. One teen was even arrested for posting violent rap lyrics.

Most of the time, the Facebook offenders are impulsive. They type before they think, and lately they've had to pay serious consequences.

Justin Carter is a 19-year-old who is currently in jail for leaving a "sarcastic" comment on Facebook about "shooting up a kindergarten."

Justin Carter is a 19-year-old who has been in jail since February 2013.

The reason: he was allegedly insulted by a fellow League of Legends gamer who questioned his mental state and retorted:

"I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them."

The comment worried a Canadian woman who tipped authorities. Carter's house was searched, his computer was taken, and he was arrested. He's currently awaiting a trial even though he and his family maintain that the Facebook messages were meant to be sarcastic.



Last October, another 19-year-old, Matt Woods was sentenced to three months in jail for making sick jokes about missing children on Facebook.

A teenager in England, Matthew Woods, was sentenced to three months in jail after making numerous inappropriate comments about a five year old, April Jones and a four year old, Madeleine McCann, who disappeared, according to The Daily Mail.

The offensive comments stemmed from Sickipedia, a site that encourages the swapping of tasteless jokes.

Woods' Facebook messages included: "I woke up this morning in the back of a transit van with two beautiful little girls, I found April in a hopeless place." and "Who in their right mind would abduct a ginger kid?"

Woods' mother wasn't pleased. Daily Mail says she wrote a follow up message, "You should stop and think things out before opening ya gob," at which point Woods wrote an apology and said he had been drunk while writing the messages.

Still, an angry mob showed up at Woods' house and the court was notified of the offensive comments. Woods was told at the time of his sentence, "This was a disgusting and despicable crime which the bench finds completely abhorrent...We felt there was no other sentence which would convey the abhorrence that many people have for this sort of crime."



Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan were given a 4-year jail sentence after they created a Facebook event encouraging a riot.

Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, used Facebook to try and encourage a riot in England and they were sentenced to four years in prison. Blackshaw created a Facebook event for "Smash Down in Northwich Town." Sutcliffe-Keenan used a Facebook account to create a page for The Warrington Riots.

From The Guardian:

 "Sentencing Blackshaw to four years in a young offenders institution, Judge Elgan Edwards QC said he had committed an 'evil act'. He said: 'This happened at a time when collective insanity gripped the nation. Your conduct was quite disgraceful and the title of the message you posted on Facebook chills the blood.'"



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 Reasons Why Flying Is The Safest Way To Travel

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black and white plane flyingSaturday's crash landing of Asiana Flight 214 was terrifying, disconcerting, and unfortunately fatal. But that doesn't mean you should change your travel plans.

Not only are airplanes continuously getting safer, they are also the least dangerous way to get to your destination. Everyday activities from walking to driving are still considerably more lethal.

Last year, an MIT statistics professor determined that the death risk for passengers of commercial airlines is one in 45 million flights. According to The New York Times, a traveler could fly every day for 123,000 years and still be safe.

Although travel fatality statistics are represented in a variety of formats, commercial airlines are the safest mode of transport any way you look at it.

A recent report from the National Safety Council put the lifetime odds of dying as a pedal cyclist at 1 in 4,982.

Source: National Safety Council



That number jumps up to 1 in 907 on a motorcycle.

Source: National Safety Council



1 in 749 as a pedestrian.

Source: National Safety Council



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It's Pretty Incredible What Instagram Videographers Have Pulled Off In Just A Few Short Weeks

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tokyo black and white

Instagram recently rolled out its new video feature, which offers users the chance the create short films up to 15 seconds long.

Even though it has only been a few weeks, users are already testing the artistic limits of the video-sharing app, uploading avant garde short films using hashtags such as #creativefilm or #videoart.

We were interested in the most experimental and abstract of these, the sort of clips that you might see in some hole-in-the-wall art house theater, so we searched around and embedded the best so that you could watch them right here.

So grab a pair of headphones and take a look!

"Aqua" by ldnusabdagh: There's as much reason to watch this video for its sounds as its visuals; the splatter of water comes across crystal clear.

Follow ldnusabdagh on Instagram.



"EXTREMITY" by jbgart: Try not to get lost staring at this medley of hands.

Follow jbgart on Instagram.



"Surfing" by Petertandlund: Put some music to it, and this could easily be an opening credits scene.

Follow Petertandlund on Instagram.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's What $5 Buys You In New York's Trendy Lower East Side

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pretty woman standing by new york restaurant in heels lower east sideDepending on where you shop, a fiver plus a handful of change can get you a lot on the Lower East Side.

The melting pot of cultures — Chinese, Jewish, Latino and more — has generated a wide variety of businesses, from bargain hair salons offering $5 haircuts to artisanal cafes featuring $5.25 iced mocha coffees.

With a range of price points, shops and restaurants in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood aim to serve the newer hipster and young-professional crowd, along with longtime locals.

Basic Haircut — $5

Ting Ting Hair Salon at 302 Grand St. chops through about 50 customers each day, and a trim for short-haired adult customers costs only $5, according to licensed hairdresser of two years Yan Zatn.

"We are very straightforward here," said Zatn, who can get the job done in less than 10 minutes. 

Kids can get an even cheaper makeover at $4 per cut in the tiny salon, which has been open for 10 years.
And forget going to Drybar for a $40 wash and blowout — Zatn and her team of five licensed hairdressers will do it for about $8.

"We don't advertise," she said. "These are all people from the neighborhood."



25 Pork and Chive Dumplings — $5

Ten pork and chive dumplings go for just $2 at China North Dumpling, at 27 Essex St. between Hester and Grand streets, but a fiver will give you a meal for two, plus a few left over.

"We take less profit off each order so more people come," said Chen Jin Guo, 57, who opened the store eight years ago with his wife and offers 25 dumplings for $5. "We have a lot of returning customers."

His staff of five work long days to make the hundreds of dumplings, sesame pancakes and spring rolls that leave the store each day.



Gluten-Free Cupcake — $4.95

Babycakes NYC bakery, at 248 Broome St., is the saving grace for the discerning dieter and allergy-stricken customer.

"Our cupcakes are gluten free, soy free and vegan," wrote the bakery’s general manager, Amy Lachenauer, of the business that opened in 2005. "We use only natural ingredients, no artificial colors or flavorings, and make everything in our own ovens in the New York location."

Cupcakes come in a range of flavors such as vanilla, cookie crunch and chocolate mint.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 Crazy Photos From The World Bodypainting Festival In Austria

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Bodypaint

Over 29,000 bodypaint enthusiasts gathered in Austria last weekend for the 16th annual World Bodypainting Festival.

Artists and models from 45 countries, including India, Kazakhstan and the Philippines, competed in the "Mecca of Bodypainting" event. 

This year's theme was "Planet Food," and competitors showed off their intricately painted food-themed bodies.

The entire body is used as a canvas during the festival and though all models must wear underwear, they are free to go topless.



Artists compete in categories such as brush, sponge, and airbrush.



The artists take hours to create their living works of art.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

These Simple Tricks Will Make You Into An iPhone Photography Pro (AAPL)

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artsy iphone photo

The iPhone's camera can shoot at an impressive 8 megapixels in size, making it a good replacement for most small digital cameras. Then consider that you almost always have it with you. And let's not forget there are loads of apps that can extend the camera's capabilities. Now you've got a powerful photographic device on your hands.

Apple devices famously come with minimalist manuals, if any at all. And maybe you're not the most experienced photographer in the world.

Fret no more. Here's your bootcamp for instantly taking better pictures with your iPhone.

Always have it with you.

Obvious? You bet. Just remember the best camera is the one you have with you.



Hold it steady!

The best bet here is to brace it against something sturdy – a railing or streetlight, for example. Nothing can ruin a potentially great photo like blurred action right through the middle of it.



Use a tripod mount.

If you have shaky hands or still just can't seem take a steady picture, just use a tripod mount. We recommend the Glif, available here for $20.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Amazing Before And After Images Of The Visual Effects In 'The Great Gatsby'

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leonardo dicaprio great gatsby blue screenMostly everything you see in Baz Luhrmann's update to "The Great Gatsby" is CGI. 

While some of the film may have appeared to be shot in location in New York, the only minimal filming took place in Sydney, Australia.

Chris Godfrey, the visual effects supervisor on the film, released a before and after reel showcasing the amount of work that went into bringing the film to life. 

From the simple backdrops to entire buildings, most of Gatsby's great American dream was no more than a visual spectacle.

This recognizable shot of Tom Buchanan's lawn from the opening of nearly every trailer ...



... was nothing more than an empty field without a mansion.



And that wide expanse of lush shrubbery in the Buchanan yard ...



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How An Old Dustin Hoffman Video Exploded On The Internet This Week

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dustin Hoffman

Yesterday, Dustin Hoffman took over the Internet. He was on every news outlet from Business Insider, The Huffington Post and Upworthy to The Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter and NBC.

It's surprising because Hoffman isn't exactly A-list Hollywood anymore. He also hasn't done anything new or noteworthy.

The reason he went viral yesterday is because of a 30-year-old movie he starred in, "Tootsie," and a post-interview he did with the American Film Institute (AFI). AFI posted the clip on YouTube on December 17, 2012.

So why did the clip finally explode only yesterday?

We traced it back. It all starts one month ago, on a tiny Tumblr blog ...

One month ago, a Tumblr called "ABoysBestFriendIsHisMother" did what it often does: It broke out a movie into a series of gifs overwritten with text. He's done it for "Batman" and even "13 Going on 30." But last month, he decided to do it with Dustin Hoffman and his old 1982 movie, "Tootsie."



The video he took the GIFs from was posted by AFI on December 17, 2012. Yesterday afternoon it had 670,000 views. This morning it has nearly 3 million.



If you haven't watched the clip, you can watch it below. Basically, Dustin Hoffman says he was mean to unattractive women prior to his role in Tootsie. When he realized he couldn't be transformed into an attractive woman, he cried and realized he had been superficial and cruel to others.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Awesome Photos From The US Men's Soccer Team's Dominant Victory Over Belize Last Night

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The U.S. defeated an overmatched Belize squad in Portland Tuesday night, opening up its 2013 Gold Cup campaign with a convincing 6-1 victory. ASN photographer took a bunch of great photos. Check them out.

Below are several of photographer Mike Russell's best shots from the United States' 6-1 victory over Belize at Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Ore.

Cuba's up next, and it should pose a slightly—and perhaps only slightly—more difficult challenge to the Yanks. That match is at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday (3:30 Eastern; Fox, Univision). For a full profile of the Cuban team, click here, and for the rest of the photos from last night, click over to ASN >

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

US vs Belize Gold Cup

For the rest of the exclusive photos, click over to ASN >

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How Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch and Stephen King Worked To Fix Ebook Prices (AAPL)

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steve jobs book

The federal court ruling describing how Apple fixed prices in the ebook market reads like a thriller: Steve Jobs was seriously ill in 2009, and his SVP in charge of books, Eddy Cue, raced all over New York to sign up five major publishers into a pricing agreement before he died.

At the same time, Apple was about to launch the iPad in 2010, and Cue and Jobs wanted all the publishers on board with the iPad's iBookstore before the launch event.

Cue played hardball with the publishers, and they got their wish — Hachette, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster all signed on with Apple,and book prices went up by as much as 50% virtually overnight, even though Amazon controlled 90% of the market.

What is startling about the ruling is how overt the cooperation was between the publishers and Apple. The publishing CEOs literally held regular dinners to discuss how they could rid themselves of Amazon's dominance of the market, and CEO Jeff Bezos' insistence that all ebook be sold at a mere $9.99.

And then there's the star power. In addition to Apple's Jobs and Cue, Rupert and James Murdoch, and authors Stephen King and Sarah Palin all had cameo roles.

Here's how it happened, according to today's ruling.

This is the takeaway: Apple orchestrated the whole thing.



The backstory: In 2009, Apple had no ebook reader and Amazon dominated 90% of the market.



Publishers HATED Amazon's low-price policies.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

10 Ways Lawyers Rip Off Clients

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Shark

Like a sick person, a company facing litigation is willing to spend big bucks to get out of a trouble.

It's entirely justifiable, and lawyers are only too happy to oblige, billing clients for every minute worked, and then some.

But is it possible to get sound counsel from someone who just pulled 52 all-nighters in a row? How about paying more than $1,000 for an hour of legal advice? And what about being charged for 26 hours in a single day?

Like all consultants, some lawyers find questionable ways to squeeze money out of clients. Some are legal, some aren't, but all will make a CFO's blood boil.

So review those invoices, make sure you know billing rates, and kindly remind Dewy, Cheatem and How LLP, that summer associates don't need to stay in VIP suites at the Four Seasons.

To remind you of the dangers, we've updated an article from our archives by Lawrence Delevingne and Gus Lubin. Here's what to watch for:

Double billing

Billing two clients for the same hour of work is dubious legally and ethically. That doesn't mean it's uncommon.

More than one-third of American lawyers admitted to occasionally double-billing clients in a 2007 survey from Samford University's Cumerland Law School. According to the study, the percentage of attorneys who believed that the practice was unethical fell from 64.7 percent in 1995-96 to only 51.8 percent in 2006-07, even though the practice has been condemned by the American Bar Association and most legal commentators.

One egregious example is of a Long Island lawyer whose claims in government legal bills included working more than 1,200 days in a year and claiming to be a full-time employee of five different school districts, according to the ABA Journal.

Padding hours

Padding hours is a basic building block of consulting billing excess.

Work for ninety minutes? Call it two hours. Forget how long you worked? Call it five. Avery Tolar, Gene Hackman's character in The Firm, sure made it work.

According to the Samford study, "a distressingly high percentage of attorneys believe that time-based billing results in bill padding and provides incentives for attorneys to perform unnecessary work." Two-thirds of the respondents stated that they had specific knowledge of bill padding.

For example, an extensive Illinois hearing board investigation into the billing records of a lawyer at Mayer Brown found that he billed more than 150 hours during a two-week period in which he actually worked less than 50.

The lawyer's routine was to arrive at the office around noon, stay until the other lawyers went home around 5, and then go home himself soon after — while claiming to stay at the office until late in the night. When he was in the office, investigators found, the lawyer made edits to documents at a rate somewhere in the range of one edit per hour.

That's the more common version of over-billing, as opposed to the notorious 1990s example of an energetic Cravath attorney who billed 26 hours in a day, according to the Washington Monthly.

Overhead

Are you paying for your lawyer's air conditioning? Michael Vick was.

Faced with a $2.66 million fee for a bankruptcy case, Vick learned that his lawyers were charging for extensive overhead expenses. As Am Law Dailynoted, these included the cost of running air conditioning during the weekend; taxi rides home for employees working late; and $1,200 for plane tickets from New York to Kansas.

Cromwell & Moring also billed the quarterback for an incredible number of hours — 7,200 billable hours of work over ten months, equivalent to working 24 hours a day on the Vick case for 300 straight days.

Vick's fee was subsequently reduced by a disapproving judge to $1.5 million.

Trivial tasks

Sometimes, law firms use high billing rates to stick clients with unnecessarily expensive bills for research, secretarial work, and other low-level tasks.

For example, a federal judge scolded Richards Kibbe & Orbe after a firm lawyer billed $325 an hour to review an estate landscaping plan and used a $190-an-hour paralegal to deliver a letter to court, according to the Bergen Record. Why not just use FedEx? the judge asked.

Expense accounts

Expense reports can be great opportunities to practice greed — er, billing creativity. You might claim reimbursement for the cost of first-class tickets when actually you flew coach. Or you could claim reimbursement for plane tickets, hotels, and meals when actually you didn't travel at all.

For example, a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell used these techniques and others to misappropriate over $500,000 before being disbarred in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. Besides outright false expenses, the lawyer admitted to improperly billing for personal "meals, travel and lodging" and first-class tickets on international flights, for which he paid for coach or business-class tickets, pocketing the difference.

Also in 2008, a lawyer at Latham & Watkins pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for mischaracterizing more than $200,000 of expenses as reimbursable.

Exorbitant rates

Although fair by the virtues of the free market, there is something wrong about four-figure hourly rates.

According to last year's billing survey by The National Law Journal, the highest billing rate belonged to a partner at Locke Lord's Dallas office at $1,285 an hour.

Meanwhile the highest associate billing rate was $760 an hour at DLA Piper's New York office.

That counsel better be good.

Inefficiency

High legal fees often seem like a rip-off, and once in a while, a judge agrees.

In one case of indisputable inefficiency, attorneys tasked with the recovery of billions of dollars lost in the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme recovered only $81 million. According to the AP, the attorneys charged $27 million for three months of shoddy work.

In other words, an unprecedented 34% of the recovered sum would be paid to legal fees. The situation was improved somewhat by a judge, who rejected and withheld about $7 million in fees.

Negligence

Anytime you pay an upfront fee, you risk the lawyer not doing much or any work.

This was a growing problem in the past year with a high number of foreclosure cases, which often involve initial payments. In a typical case last month, Gladis Heras paid a lawyer to arrange a modification of her mortgage. Months later, her bank had not been contacted about the mortgage, and the lawyer had done his best to disappear, according to the Daily Business Review.

Thankfully, he was arrested after receiving dozens of complaints related to negligence and abandonment.

Training

Sometimes, law firms charge clients for developing talent.

Recently, Tuckerbrook Alternative Investments sued Bingham McCutchen, claiming the firm stacked a case with young associates who had “inadequate” experience. “The billing statements reflect that these junior lawyers in essence were enjoying the benefits of on-the-job-training at Tuckerbrook’s expense,” the complaint states, according to Above the Law.

Working while sleeping

Even if clients believe the super-human hours lawyers sometimes bill, it's hard to believe any counsel coming from someone who hasn't slept in days is worth much.

One extreme (if-dated) example was a partner at Chicago's Chapman & Cutler, James Spiotto, who charged clients for more than 5,471 hours in a single year – about 15 hours a day, every day.

Called "possibly the hardest-working lawyer in America" by his colleagues, Spiotto claimed to have pulled 52 all-nighters in a row in 1993, working on bankruptcy matters, according to the Washington Post.

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7 Reasons You Won't Want To Take The Kids To See 'The Lone Ranger'

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armie hammer lone ranger

"The Lone Ranger" wasn't as terrible as all of the critics made it out to be

Thefinal half hour of the film was actually pretty enjoyable

However, there was one thing about the movie that would leave parents uncomfortable if they brought along the little ones.

The amount of violence in the film is distasteful — something surprising for a Disney flick. 

Granted, "The Lone Ranger" is far from a bloodfest — there's barely any bloodshed to be seen spilled on screen. Instead, some of the more gruesome bits are inferred through sounds, silhouettes, and reflections. 

We get the film isn't necessarily meant for kids with a PG-13 rating.  However, historically the main target audience for "The Lone Ranger" has been those of all ages.

And since an aged Tonto is recounting this story to a young boy — far younger than 13 — we assume the tale is safe for younger moviegoers.  

Not so much. 

Strewn with violent deaths, oddly placed killer bunnies, and pornography references, "The Lone Ranger" isn't a film to take a child to see.

In a film that was otherwise silly every few minutes, it didn't make much sense to include jarring dark moments. It appeared the film couldn't decide whether to be serious or funny.

Word about thefilm's violencegot out quickly in early reviews. Knowing the film wasn't completely kid-friendly most likely costDisney a lot of money opening weekendand probably deterred some families during the holiday weekend to see big box-office win "Despicable Me 2" instead.

William Fichtner's bloody fingers.

One of the first scenes we see in the film is of William Fichtner's villainous Butch Cavendish unscrew a nail with bloody fingernails. 

Normally we're not squeamish, but something bloody and raw this early on in a Disney flick is unsettling.



Two gross-out scenes.

Here's where the distasteful factor enters.

There's nothing appealing about seeing a grown man urinate into a bucket near the start of a Disney movie.

Later on, the film zones in on a defecating horse. There was no added value to show Armie Hammer get dragged through animal feces.

It was just vile. Not funny.



The notorious heart-eating scene.

You've probably heard this one by now. 

Early on in the movie, Cavendish puts an end to John Reid's (Hammer) brother and then cuts his heart out. 

You would think that would be enough, but Cavendish then goes and eats it!

You don't see it on screen. Instead the audience hears the slosh as Cavendish digs in. We also see it reflected in Hammer's eye as he lay partially unconscious next to his deceased brother.

armie hammer eye



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How Consumers Fell In And Out Of Love With Abercrombie & Fitch

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abercrombie fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch started as a store for outdoorsmen and evolved into the epitome of preppy cool. 

But recently, the store has lost its way. 

Abercrombie has been criticized for excluding large women and promoting unrealistic standards of beauty.

Sales were also hit as more alternative fashion trends became more popular. 

A&F started as a store for outdoorsmen.

David T. Abercrombie founded the waterfront company at South Street in Manhattan in 1892. It sold hunting and fishing equipment and was called Abercrombie Co.

A few years later, Ezra Fitch, a high-profile lawyer and regular customer, purchased a large share of the growing company. In 1906, when he was officially named a co-founder, the store was renamed Abercrombie & Fitch. 

Abercrombie wanted to continue to provide outdoor gear while Fitch had a greater interest in the general retail so the two eventually parted ways.



It eventually grew into a department store on NYC's Madison Avenue.

Abercrombie sold his share of the company in 1907, enabling Ezra to achieve his goal of expanding the store's general retail. A&F started a mail-order catalogue and opened a 12-story location on Madison Avenue in New York City.

The department store had a shooting range and golf school in addition to sporting goods and apparel. 

In 1910, it became the first retail store to sell both men's and women's clothing.



In 1939, A&F branded itself "the greatest sporting goods store in the world."

Abercrombie & Fitch was the official outfitter of Charles Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic in 1927.

Earnest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt were also patrons of the store.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

8 Things Boomers Should Know When Job Hunting

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older workers

Anyone over the age of 50 who claims to be hard hit by the recession isn't wrong: According to recent data, people born between 1946 and 1964 have lost the most earning power following the recession.

But the 50-year-old who claims that “no one wants to hire someone my age” would be wrong.

If you're 50-plus and have experienced a job loss, or you're simply looking to switch gigs, take heart in the fact that your career isn't over. We spoke to two experts—as well as a few people who've been there themselves—for dos and don'ts advice on how older workers can better market themselves in today's job search ... and get hired.

Don't ... try harder.

You read that right. Don't.

If you've been on the job hunt for a while, with little or no success, you may have heard this platitude: Just try harder! But according to Bob Sullivan, co-author of "The Plateau Effect: Getting From Stuck to Success," it's actually the worst thing that you can do in this situation.

"When you find yourself putting more and more effort into something that’s getting less and less results, it's not a sign that you should keep trying — it’s just the opposite," says Sullivan. Of course, this isn't to say that you should stop putting in effort altogether. Rather, you should try something different, whether it's re-vamping your LinkedIn profile, networking more consistently or working with a career coach to more effectively bust through a job-hunt rut.



Do ... make your resume ageless.

Lisa Johnson Mandell was in her late 40s when she suddenly found herself without a job. Although she made sure to show off her 20-plus years of experience as an entertainment reporter on her résumé, after countless job applications went unanswered, her husband gave her the hard truth. "He said, 'Lisa, don't hate me, but you really look kind of old on paper,' " she recalls.

So Mandell removed key age indicators from her resume, such as the year she graduated from college and the lengths of time that she was employed. "As soon as I sent out this new résumé that wouldn't tell anybody how old I was, I started getting responses—I'm not kidding you—within 20 minutes," she says. "And, in two weeks, I had three full-time job offers."

The result wasn't just a new gig, either—she also wrote a book, "Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want," in which she shares strategies for giving a resume a more youthful spin. "Somebody in their 20s looks at 20-plus years of experience and puts you in the same age group as a mother or grandmother," she says. Of course, in an ideal world, experience should trump age, but Mandell adds that "if you're really intent on getting a job, you have to make concessions."



Do ... brush up on your interviewing skills.

If you haven't interviewed in a long time, you could probably use some practice. Instead of role-playing with a too-comfortable friend, try going on a few interviews for jobs that you aren't as jazzed about "because what you don't want is to go on an interview for the job that you most want and screw up," explains Art Koff, founder of RetiredBrains.com, which connects older workers with employers. "Every interview is a learning process."

You may also want to record yourself speaking. It's a tip that David Welbourn received while making a career switch at the age of 59 from a fundraising post at a hospital to a director role at a nonprofit. His advice: "Listen to your own voice, and ask yourself: Do I have enough emotion? Do I sound like I care?"



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America's REAL Most Expensive Colleges

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NYU Graduation at Yankee Stadium

It's common knowledge that college costs are on the rise. But you may be surprised to know that some schools currently charge over $60,000 to educate a student for just one year.

A list recently released by the Department of Education charts the highest tuition in the country. Unfortunately, the tuition numbers used in the rankings are two years old, and fail to show the contemporary college landscape.

The list also ignores the total cost of an education. Most four-year residential colleges will tack on an extra ten grand or more for room, board, and a wide range of other fees. 

An administrator at Ohio University — which was included in the list of most expensive public universities —  dismissed the Department of Education's rankings, saying, "The list does not describe the entire story of the costs of a quality education at Ohio University."

New York University — our most expensive school at a whopping $61,977 per year — falls at number 61 on the Department of Education's highest tuition list.

We've compiled a list of the colleges that are charging the most for tuition, required fees, and room and board for the upcoming academic year. These numbers are solely what you would directly pay to the school, so you're still going to have to cover books, travel, and beer, as well as the more recent requirement of a health care plan.

For schools that didn't offer a flat total on their website, we added up the fees that a typical first year student would incur.

#20 Northwestern University

Total Cost: $59,389

Tuition and Fees: $45,527

Room and Board: $13,862

Department of Education Rank: 54



#19 Pitzer College

Total Cost: $59,416

Tuition and Fees: $45,018

Room and Board: $14,398

Department of Education Rank: 41



#18 Haverford College

Total Cost: $59,446

Tuition and Fees: $45,636

Room and Board: $13,810

Department of Education Rank: 48



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Celebrate Bastille Day Like The French In These 5 US Cities

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People celebrating Bastille Day in New Orleans

America's Independence Day may have just passed, but if you're still feeling festive and you're looking for another reason to don your red, white, and blue, get in on the festivities this weekend to celebrate Bastille Day.

The annual French holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille and the start of French independence always takes place on July 14th, but people will be celebrating around the world all weekend long.

In Paris, the day starts with a military parade on the Champs-Elysees and ends with fireworks over the Seine and Eiffel Tower. All around France, there are parades, festivals and celebrations.

But there are plenty of French expats and Francophiles who want to join in on the celebrations—and they do so with Bastille Day fêtes all around the U.S.

To celebrate, do like the French and drink some Ricard or Pastis (anise-flavored liqueurs), play a game of pétanque (a French game reminiscent of Bocce), and eat some delicious French cheese.

Brooklyn, New York

Although Manhattan celebrates Bastille Day with an official parade that's sponsored by the French Institute Alliance Française (the parade is on Sunday in midtown), the real celebrations take place in Brooklyn, where the large French expat community leads the charge.

This Bastille Day block party, which takes place on Smith Street from Bergen to Pacific Streets in Cobble Hill, sees the quiet streets of Cobble Hill and Caroll Gardens transformed into a giant sandy pétanque court. (An 80-team pétanque tournament takes place throughout the day.)

The celebration  on Sunday centers around Bar Tabac. Expect live music, Pastis beverages, and French food.

New York City is also commemorating the French Holiday with a French Restaurant Week, with 53 French restaurants offering special menus for $17.89; it will run through Sunday, July 14th.



Seattle, Washington

Seattle's Bastille Day Festival will take place in the Madison Valley neighborhood on Saturday from 3 to 8pm.

Besides all of the usual festive features—French food, wine tasting, live music—there are also cooking demos, burlesque dancers, and mimes.



New Orleans, Louisiana

One of the rowdiest Bastille Day celebrations in the U.S. takes place in New Orleans. This city is steeped in French history and culture, and the people here love any excuse to party, so they throw a big Bastille Day celebration.

Festivities kick off on Friday night with a cocktail event at Dijon Restaurant and continue all weekend long.

There are parties all over the city, but one of the largest is in the French Quarter, where vendors and live bands set up shop, feeding and entertaining the crowds at the French Market. Here, there's a French dance band, a French dog contest, a waiter's and bartender's race, and even Marie Antoinette herself serving cake to the masses.



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AIR HORSE ONE: On Board The Custom Aircraft That Transports Million-Dollar Racehorses

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Happy Horses on a Tex Sutton Plane

Ever wonder how a million-dollar racehorse gets from point A to point B?

One way is in a custom Boeing 727 aircraft that transports about 2,300 horses around the country each year, according to the New York Times. 

The horse-friendly jet is owned by H.E. "Tex" Sutton Forwarding Co., a Kentucky-based horse transportation company that "provides first class equine air travel" to valuable racehorses and beloved family pets. 

The company was founded in 1957 by horse-loving Texan Halford Ewel ("Tex") Sutton, and although Mr. Sutton has since passed away, the business is still going strong: depending on the length of the trip, transporting one horse can cost between $3,250 and $4,950.

Horses can travel in style on a Boeing 727 run by Kalitta Charters, H.E. Sutton's partner. The aircraft has a custom interior and is dedicated solely to transporting horses.



Custom designed walk-on ramps ensure that the horses never have to set foot on the tarmac.



The planes are climate-controlled, and each horse is provided with individual food and beverage service (hay and water) throughout the flight.



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We Translated The Bizarre Frat-Talk In Early Texts From Snapchat's Co-Founders

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Snapchat lawsuit

Recently-released text messages show us a curious side of the Snapchat founders' personalities – they are self-identifying "certified bros."

These texts are evidence in a legal battle between the current CEO and CTO of Snapchat and their ousted co-founder. The ousted co-founder wants to take one-third of the company. 

We're picking through the evidence submitted in the legal case, but these texts are noteworthy all their own.

We did our best to add some clarity, but when we couldn't figure out what they meant, we turned to Urban Dictionary, that time-honored standard of all things slang.

"Swag it out" is a way of saying "Check out our success."



A "thizz face" is an attempt to emulate the expression of one who has just taken the drug ecstasy. It's often compared to the face one makes upon smelling urine.



"Dawg" is a term of endearment used for your friends and loved ones.



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