The two MiG-21s that were intercepted on their way from Cuba to North Korea should not concern anyone: the bird is the airborne equivalent of your grandfather's old Buick.

Yes, the MiG 21 is no longer the scourge it used to be, especially in the hands of a North Korea (DPRK) wracked to strangulation with international sanctions.

Even Grandpa's Buick is probably in better order than the DPRK's fleet of approximately 150 or so MiG 21 flying jalopies — the country's most numerous fighter jet.

Which leads us to believe that the two MiGs were destined to either be cannibalized, or set up in a North Korean propaganda museum.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 first appeared in the air in the late-50s, and the Soviets later produced more than 10,000 of them.

In 1963, when the DPRK began building its fleet, the MiG 21 was a total beast in the air, one U.S. F-4 Phantom pilots were wary of encountering over Vietnam.

The MiG had serious advantages in that war, leading the Navy to develop the Top Gun school (pictured).

Sony released a bunch of new photos from next summer's "Amazing Spider-Man" sequel.

The photos feature a look at Spidey's new-and-improved costume, new characters, and Jamie Foxx as villain Electro.

However, the best part may be the many photos of Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) — more than 20 — hanging on Spider-Man's bedroom walls.

Peter Parker comes across as a bit of a stalker.

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" comes to theaters May 2, 2014.

Andrew Garfield returns as web slinger Peter Parker along with real-life girlfriend Emma Stone who plays love interest Gwen Stacy.

More photos of the two filming this scene in New York City.

Dane DeHaan ("Lincoln,""Chronicle") will join the cast as Garfield's friend Harry Osborn.

Spidey's costume will get a dramatic redesign from the last film.

Ready to feel guilty?

There's a new website called See Your Folks that tells you how many times you'll see your parents before they die, which we first read about at Slate.

Created in 24 hours by a team of British web designers using World Health Organization Life Expectancy Data from 2011, the website factors in where your parents live, how many times you see them a year, and how old they are.

Complete with a heart and fluffy white clouds, the website is intended to encourage users to spend more time with their family, and puts death in perspective:

"We believe that increasing awareness of death can help us to make the most of our lives," the project team says. "The right kind of reminders can help us to focus on what matters, and perhaps make us better people."

Find out how many more visits you have left with your parents here.

SEE ALSO: A Ukrainian Daredevil Defies Death In These Crazy Photos

Join the conversation about this story »

Shoe tycoon Vince Camuto and his former beauty queen wife have put their historic Southampton estate on the market for a staggering $48 million price tag.

Known as Wooldon Manor, the mansion has approximately 10,000 square feet of space, and sits on over five acres of land with views of the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Agawam. It's currently being sold through Sotheby's International Realty.

The estate — which has a gorgeous pool, pool house, formal gardens, a romantic green house, and tennis court — was previously owned by both the Woolworth family and Edmund Lynch, a founding partner of Merrill Lynch.

According to celebrity real estate blog The Real Estalker, the Camutos redecorated the famous home after purchasing the 14.29 acres of land it sits on. Though the current price includes the home plus five and a quarter acres of land, the listing hints that the nine additional acres the couple owns can also be purchased (for an additional fee, of course).

Wooldon Manor sits on the iconic oceanfront drive, Gin Lane.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

The home has plenty of room with five acres of land.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

Inside, the vaulted ceilings have exposed beams and sky lights.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

Anthony Bourdain is a world traveler who has had successful careers as a chef, TV host, and author.

He's also an adventurer who's done everything from mastering martial arts in Hong Kong to eating fermented shark in Iceland.

But where does he find inspiration?

We asked Bourdain, who currently hosts travel show Parts Unknown on CNN, to share some of his favorite books with us.

He kindly obliged, and shared some comments on why he loves these books so much.

The Friends Of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins

"The best, most realistic crime novel ever. Best dialogue in a crime novel ever," Bourdain said.

This classic crime novel by George V. Higgins tells the tale of bank heists, mobsters, and cops in Boston during the 1960s. Higgins uses sharp dialogue and suspense techniques to keep readers on edge.

Buy this book here >

"The Quiet American" by Graham Greene

"Drama, romance, tragic history in SE Asia? I'm there! I re-read it frequently. Particularly when visiting Vietnam," Bourdain said.

The most controversial novel of Graham Greene's career, "The Quiet American" is an anti-war novel that takes place in Southeast Asia (present-day Vietnam) during the First Indochina War.

Buy this book here >

"The White Album: Essays" by Joan Didion

"I wish I could write like Joan Didion," Bourdain said.

This compilation of essays by Joan Didion focuses on the trends and movements of the 1960s, touching on everything from the Black Panthers to the advent of the shopping mall.

Buy this book here >

Gili Lankanfushi in the Maldives is, without doubt, the most luxurious resort I've ever visited.

Each guest gets a personal assistant, nicknamed "Mr. Friday." Mine welcomed me with fresh coconuts and gave me a tour of my Robinson Crusoe villa, perched over water. With two patios and a private ocean pool, this was hardly the shipwrecked life.

I sampled fresh curry leaves from the resort's organic garden and snuck into the cellar for truffle chocolates. Between naps, I sailed to a deserted island, snorkeled in lush coral reefs and bicycled through jungle paths.

No wonder Gili Lankanfushi dominated the 2013 World Travel Awards, taking home three prizes including "Leading Luxury Resort" in both the Indian Ocean and Maldives.

Villa rates begin at $1,441 per night.

Disclosure: La Carmina and her filmmakers were hosted by Gili Lankanfushi Maldives.

Gili Lankanfushi is located on a private island in the North Malé Atoll, about a 20-minute boat ride from the Maldives International Airport at Malé.

With only about 80 guests on this private atoll, I felt like I'd escaped the outside world.

The hotel has 45 overwater villas that are made from renewable materials like thatch.

For most students, beer is an inescapable part of the college experience. Regardless of whether you're drinking a bottle from a craft brewery or cans out of a cheap 30 rack, the frothy libation is seemingly everywhere.

In order to battle the monotony of massive beer consumption, college students have developed some pretty great ways to drink. That these methods may get you drunk faster is just an unexpected side effect, we'll assume.

From beer pong to beer bongs, we've compiled the most creative and ridiculous ways college students drink their beverage of choice. Who knows, you might be inspired to try some of these yourself.

Edward Fortyhands

Named after the popular Johnny Depp movie "Edward Scissorhands," Edward Fortyhands participants have each hand duct taped to a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. The duct tape is only removed after the bottle is completely consumed.

Shotgunning

Shotgunning occurs by puncturing a hole in the side of a beer can, covering the hole with your mouth, and opening the top tab to force the beer out by creating air pressure. Science!

Ice Luge

In an ice luge, beer is poured down the carved piece of ice into an eagerly awaiting mouth.

When it comes to symbols of American impact around the world, McDonald's might as well top the list – they're everywhere, and today I went to one in downtown Moscow.

I expected it to be a straightforward proposition to walk in and order a meal, but when I apologetically confessed to the cashier that I didn't speak Russian, it became clear that this was a problem.

I improvised and scaled my order way back, giving the near-universal request for a cheeseburger: "One Big Mac, please."

Language barrier: broken.

Disclosure: Our trip to Moscow, including travel and lodging expenses, was sponsored by the Russian Quantum Center.

Ah, the familiar golden arches. Let's take a closer look.

McDonald's is spelled out phonetically in Cyrillic characters.

Bright backlit menus and crowds near the register look familiar.

Athletes tend to put on weight and let themselves go when they retire or sign a huge contract.

It's an issue.

But there are also a handful of examples of the opposite — athletes who went from fat to fit.

Over the next few slides we'll look at young stars who dropped the baby fat, retired players who lost triple-digit pounds, and stars who slimmed down when they reached their primes.

JaMarcus Russell, former Oakland Raiders quarterback

JaMarcus Russell after losing 51 pounds

Read more about it here >

Ronaldo, former Brazil striker

36 Bleecker Street was built in 1885 to house the Schumacher and Ettlinger printing business, but it's currently being remodeled to house new luxury residences — and the art world is scooping them up.

Famed art collector Alberto Mugrabi, who owns one of the world's largest collections of Andy Warhol's art, is in contract to buy two triplex units (one full floor) in the Schumacher for $20.695 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. He will reportedly combine the units and display his Warhol collection on a windowless south wall.

Real estate developer and renowned art collector Aby Rosen is also in contract to buy an $8.5 million condo in the building, according to the WSJ. 

The building even has an art curator, Cristina Grajales, a SoHo gallerist who has commissioned works by artists like Jose Parla and Christophe Come to be permanently on display in the building. The courtyard is being designed by famed landscape architect Ken Smith.

The Schumacher will not be finished until December 2014, but half of its 20 units are already in contract. 

The Schumacher, also known as 36 Bleecker, was once a large printing house that helped turn NoHo into a major printing district during the 19th century. Architect Morris Adjmi will turn it into a luxury residence.

A doorman will be on-call 24 hours a day, and there will also be a part-time porter; fully-equipped, 750-square-foot fitness center; and a custom-built, pirate-themed children's playroom.

Ken Smith, the landscape architect best known for having designed the rooftop gardens at the MoMA, is behind this design for The Schumacher's courtyard.

In recent weeks, economists have been taking down their forecasts for U.S. GDP growth.

But within the U.S., some states are obviously doing better than others.

According to the Philly Fed's updated new measure of state coincident indices, economic activity decreased in seven states during the three months ending in June.

Every month, the Philly Fed produces fantastic maps tracking economic activity across the country. 

When a state is filled in, in red , it means the economy in that state is on the decline. When a state is in blue or green, that means the economy is on the rise.

We put every monthly map since 2005 into a gif.  Check it out:

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

The 90's are coming back big time. 

Google is reporting a huge spike in searches for the fashions of the day, according to AdAge. 

"Queries for 'round sunglasses' in June of this year were 22% higher than last June and 170% higher than June 2011. 'Crop tops' increased by 150% from last year, while 'acid wash shorts' was up 78% and 'jelly sandals' rose by 40%," AdAge writes. 

We selected some tacky fashions from the 90's that most definitely should not make a comeback. 

From parachute pants to scrunchies, see the worst of the worst. 

SEE ALSO: People Who Decide What's Cool In America

Overalls are unflattering on almost everyone.

Parachute pants add weight and never look polished.

"Blossom" hats will always look dated rather than vintage.

Former Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner is selling his mansion in Idaho for $1.7 million, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The 6,625 square feet house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and four acres of impressive land. 

For $1.7 million the property offers a pool, spa, outdoor kitchen, horse stables, detached shop/garage and incredible mountain top views.

The view out front

An aerial view

The balcony

In recent months, Tesla Motors has turned its first profit and scooped up accolades for its all-electric Model S sedan.

Now it has to make and sell enough cars to keep itself in business.

Earlier this month, CEO Elon Musk said Model S production rate is ahead of schedule, and the company is now rolling out more than 400 new cars each week.

To see how it's hitting that rate, Wired went behind the scenes at Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif., where it takes three to five days to build a Model S, according to VP of Manufacturing Gilbert Passin.

The process is smooth, efficient, and packed with robots.

You can watch the Wired video here, or click through to see how it's done.

To create a Model S, Tesla starts out with 50 to 60 coils of various types of aluminum, with each coil weighing up to 20,000 pounds.

The coils are unwound and the aluminum is flattened, then fed into a blanking machine.

The blanking machine processes the pieces and cuts them into flat, even pieces. Sometimes a laser is also used to cut the blanks, as seen here.

Discovery Channel's Shark Week might be bad news for seals, but it means great things for Beetles.

Last year, Volkswagen and Discovery transformed a Beetle into an underwater shark cave. Now the companies have partnered up again, and raised the stakes by turning the cage into a convertible.

"Calling it a shark cage is kind of tongue-in-cheek,"Luke Tipple, the shark wrangler and marine biologist in charge of driving the "car," told Business Insider. "It's pretty open."

But taking the top off isn't the only adjustment made on the car, which will take a subterranean road trip in Florida and the Bahamas surrounded by Caribbean reef, lemon, and tiger sharks.

"On top of creating a groundbreaking vehicle, this year we planned to make it fly," said Tipple, who is also an executive producer at What We Do Media. "We created a lift with ailerons in the front — it actually flies like a plane."

That means that rather than driving 15 feet underwater on the ocean floor, as it had last year, the VW flew through water that was 60 feet deep at 4 to 5 knots. It had three thrusters, instead of two, with 20 more horsepower per engine.

"If the vehicle falls, it will drop like a rock," said Tipple, who was behind the wheel. But he and VW execs weren't too worried.

"Well, we don't pile shark bait around him," VW advertising and marketing communications manager Justin Osborne told BI. "We aren't going to deal with a great white. We'd make the evening news ... not in a good way, though."

He said that when Discovery and VW first began its partnership last year, the company pitched various ideas for brand-integrated stunts. "A lot of them they threw out because it wasn't true to the science Discovery promotes."

The shark cage idea stuck.

"We were a little surprised — we didn't understand the popularity of Shark Week,"which now has a cult-like following, Osborne said. "People were starved for more content and behind the scene footage. They also wanted some more underwater scenes."

So now, through a highly planned social component, viewers can take a subterranean road trip with Tipple, seeing what he sees through 360-degree underwater cameras. 

"For me, I'm a complete gadget and gear geek," Tipple said. "I love looking at the controls of things and seeing how they work."

The Shark Week obsessed can watch the shark cage explore actual underwater shipwrecks and follow shark highways where the sharks feed and mate.

"This relationship touches every aspect of Discovery and all the entities of Shark Week," Discovery VP of ad sales Harold Morgenstern added. "It was very natural for us to repeat a champion combination."

Meet Luke Tipple. He's a shark wrangler, marine biologist, and the driver of Volkswagen's convertible Beetle shark cage.

Don't worry, Tipple has had a lot of shark experience. His company, What We Do Media, pairs him with brands all the time. He even cut himself shaving — surrounded by bloodthirsty sharks — for Gillette.

Tipple drove Volkswagen's Beetle shark cage for Shark Week last year.

If you're seeking discreet paid-for companionship, you need to know about Slixa.

The site offers you an incredibly easy way to hire local escorts over the Internet.

If you want to learn more, we have all the details for you here. If you'd rather take a work-safe tour of the site ...

Here's the homepage at Slixa.com. We're in New York, so let's select it from the "Browse" pulldown menu.

Featured escorts are highlighted at the top...

...and as we scroll down we can see pictures of plenty more.

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are selling their Franklin, Tennessee estate for a hefty $20 million.

Located nearly 30 miles outside of Nashville, the property is a haven of natural beauty and solitude. The 750+ acres are home to rolling pastures, fields, ponds, and spring-fed creeks. There are also four different residences. 

According to Zillow, the superstar duo originally bought the two distinct chunks of land that make up the property in November of 2001 for $13.8 million.

Welcome to Beechwood Hall, currently owned by country superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

The property is made up of two adjoining farms that are now part of the same piece of land. Before they were united, one property belonged to country music legend Hank Williams.

Source: The Realestalker

The main home, originally built in 1856, is a 6,856-square-foot antebellum beauty overlooking most of the property.

The third-generation Apple TV has been well-received so far, and its capabilities keep expanding.

It works great, is easy to set up, and now features content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, HBO GO, and Watch ESPN.

For now, it's the best way to experience Apple's vision of what TV should be.

We put together 12 tips for your Apple TV that will open it up to more content, stream video faster, and let you control it all with your phone.

Ditch the Apple TV remote and use your iPhone instead

The Apple TV remote is pretty lame. It's small, the buttons are too close together, and it's difficult to input text for searches in Netflix and other on-screen menus.

With the latest version of Apple's Remote app for iPhone and iPad, you can control your Apple TV over your home's WiFi network with a higher degree of control. Plus, search is a snap because you can type stuff on your device's keyboard. The free app is available for iPhone and iPad.

Download it here.

Put that HBO and ESPN subscription to good use.

Already subscribing to either HBO or ESPN? Apple TV's recent addition of HBO GO gives you access to every season of every HBO show, available on demand, along with HBO movies and specials. Watch ESPN allows you to stream live ESPN straight to your Apple TV.

First, you'll want to make sure your Apple TV software is up to date, which you can check by going to Settings > General > Update Software on your Apple TV. You'll then need to make sure you have an HBO GO account or ESPN subscription. Just sign in with your cable provider's credentials.

Jailbreak it and install extra apps

There's currently no Jailbreak for the third-generation Apple TV. But if you have a first or second generation Apple TV, it's worth it. In fact, second-generation Apple TVs are selling for more than double the price of a brand new third generation Apple TV because of this.

A jailbroken Apple TV will let you run other kinds of apps and streaming services that aren't normally allowed by Apple.

If you have a compatible Apple TV model, it's a relatively simple process to jailbreak it if you have a Mac. Lifehacker has a great tutorial to get you started. 

Apps are a great way to supercharge your iPhone experience and Apple's App Store is full of outstanding options.

Some stand-out apps are even better than Apple's very own apps.

If you're looking to get more out of your phone, check out this list we put together of Apps that replace Apple's and make your phone more useful and fun.

Instead of Apple's Mail App, use Mailbox to quickly get your inbox to zero.

Mailbox is an iPhone email client that uses gestures to help you quickly get your inbox to zero.

One of our favorite features is the "Later" option, which pushes an email away and re-circulates it to the top of your inbox at a time you choose.

Price: Free

Use Google Maps instead of Apple Maps

Everyone knows Google Maps is superior to Apple Maps. Google Maps for iPhone is fast, functional, beautifully designed, and most importantly, won't get you lost.

Besides, the app was just updated with enhanced navigation with live traffic updates and incident reports. It also now supports the iPad too.

Price:Free

Use Evernote instead of Notes

Apple's stock notes app isn't that great. Evernote makes taking notes easy, simply open the app and start jotting things down.

Besides increasing your productivity in general, Evernote syncs across all your devices including the iPhone, iPad, and web. 

Price: Free

Hollywood's elite unleashed their inner geeks at Comic-Con this past weekend.

The four-day convention jam-packed celebrity appearances during its dozens of premieres, panels, and previews.

Actors worked the red carpet in comic book underwear, while others hard-core cosplayed as superheroes.

Some channeled their own characters on stage. Bryan Cranston wore a Walter White mask and Tom Hiddleston appeared in full Loki costume.

Fans loved it.

"Thor" fans went berserk for Tom Hiddleston when he walked on stage in character as Loki to promote "Thor: The Dark World."

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart hung out at the "X-Men: Days of Future Past" panel.

"Game of Thrones" cast members posed with mini-versions of themselves.