Quantcast
Channel: Features
Viewing all 61683 articles
Browse latest View live

Inside Florida's Beautiful And Strange Mermaid Theme Park [PHOTOS]

$
0
0

weeki wachee mermaids

An hour’s drive from Tampa, Florida, there's a spring so deep that no one has ever found the bottom.

And in that spring, beautiful women with intricate fishtails swim through the 74-degree water that bubbles up out of the ground.

Welcome to Weeki Wachee Springs, where "mermaids" are real and perform three shows every day.

Click here to jump right to the mermaid photos >>

The park was opened in 1946 by a former Navy officer named Newton Perry who had previously trained SEALS to swim underwater. After happening upon the spring, he built a theater with 18 seats six feet below the surface. In those days, if the female performers heard a car passing by on highway U.S. 19, they'd run to their pedestals in their swimsuits and wave to the passers-by to come see their show.

In 1959, the park was purchased by the American Broadcasting Co. and a new, larger theatre was built with 500 seats 16 feet below the surface. Celebrities like Elvis Presley and Esther Williams began to flock to the shows, which by then featured as many as 35 mermaids. 

But with the opening of larger parks like Disney World, people began to lose interest in the vintage-y mermaid park. In 2003, Weeki Wachee was threatened with permanent closure, but a campaign by the current and former mermaids saved it. Today, it's an official Florida State Park.

British photographer Annie Collinge first stumbled upon the park online, and the more she read about it, the more she realized she needed to visit the park herself to believe it.

"I was actually having a look at a website about the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and there was an interview with a guy that makes Mermaid tails," she explained in her artist's statement. "They asked him what first inspired him to start making them and he said that he had grown up next to the Weeki Wachee Springs.  I had a look on Google and instantly knew I had to go there."

What she discovered was a group of women who not only love their jobs, but who are exceptional swimmers and athletes as well.

"The thing that you don't realise about their job is, its very physically demanding," Collinge says. "They all have advanced Scuba qualifications and are very strong swimmers.  To get into the theatre you have to swim without air down a tunnel with their tails on, and that is definitely not for the faint-hearted."

Collinge’s exhibition, “Annie Collinge: The Underwater Mermaid Theater,” is currently on display now through January 5 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. You can follow the photographer on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on her website.

Welcome to Weeki Wachee Springs, the vintage mermaid park that was first opened back in 1946 by a former Navy officer named Newton Perry.

Source: Weeki Wachee Springs



Newt trained the girls to swim with air hoses that were peppered throughout the landscape so they didn't need to use a visible breathing apparatus or carry an air tank on their backs.

Source: Weeki Wachee Springs



The women perform 16 to 20 feet below the surface where the current runs a strong five miles an hour. Even staying in one place takes an immense effort.

Source: Weeki Wachee Springs



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The Most Blinding Christmas Decorations On Instagram

$
0
0

The countdown to Christmas is on. Whether you celebrate the day or not, you can still spend the month of December enjoying the festive holiday light displays.

We scoured Instagram to find some of the coolest Christmas lights on houses across the country. California seems to really go all out.

This home on Balboa Island near Newport Beach, Calif., is practically blinding.

34th Street in Baltimore, Md., is known as "Christmas Street." We can see why.

This Burbank, Calif. home features a merry-go-round and some recognizable film characters.

This Dallas, Tex. house has more Santas than we care to count.

You don't see too many penguins in Tucson, Ariz., but here's a festive one.

And here are some videos of elaborate holiday light decorations around the country.

These homes in Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, N.Y., put on quite a light show.

Deacon Dave's house in Livermore, Calif., has become a tourist attraction.

SEE ALSO:  25 Awesome Gifts Under $25 For Your Office Secret Santa Pool

Join the conversation about this story »

A Fascinating New Poll Shows That Americans Are Losing Faith In God

$
0
0

jesus christ painting Ary Scheffer

A new Harris Poll released today reveals that only 74% of Americans believe in God, an 8% decline since 2009.

Before today, U.S. adults had remained fairly consistent in their religious beliefs — 82% of U.S. respondents previously reported that they believed there was a God since 2005.

In another decline, only 54% of Americans are now "absolutely certain" in God's existence, a 12% decrease over the last decade.

Not all of us feel this way. The groups most likely to be certain of God's existence are Black Americans (70%), Republicans (65%), Baby Boomers (60%), Southerners (61%), and Midwesterners (58%), as well as anyone with a high school education or less (60%).

A few other notable takeaways from the poll:

  • Almost a quarter of Americans (24%) believe in reincarnation

  • Only 1% of U.S. adults believe God is a woman, and more women than men are likely to believe that God is male (43% women, 34% men)

  • 23% of Americans say they are "not at all" religious, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2007, when it was 12%

  • 42% of Americans believe in ghosts, only slightly less than the 58% who believe in Hell and the Devil

The poll was conducted this past November, with 2,250 adults responding. The questions were administered by a computer, which the researchers explained led to more "accurate" data:

Other research has shown that when replying to a question administered impersonally by a computer, people are less likely to say they believe in God, or attend Church services when they really don't. It is generally believed that surveys conducted by live interviewers tend to exaggerate the numbers of people who report the socially desirable, or less embarrassing, behavior, and that the replies given to an online survey such as this, are more honest and therefore more accurate.

Check out some more data from the Harris Poll below.

 Harris Poll religion data

Harris Poll religion data

See the rest of the charts at Harris Interactive.

SEE ALSO: The World's Most Spectacularly Modern Places Of Worship

Join the conversation about this story »

This NYC Startup Made All Its Own Desks From Hurricane Sandy Debris

$
0
0

YPlan

When you work for a startup, chances are you're going to get your hands dirty doing a lot of different kinds of work. 

Well, the employees of New York startup YPlan did exactly that. 

The company, which makes an app that curates nightly entertainment in NYC and London, sourced all its desks from Hurricane Sandy debris. And the employees helped make them. 

(Take a closer look at the app here.)

A few months before YPlan opened its new offices in Manhattan, employees road-tripped to a workshop north of the city to work alongside Robert Rising, a man who calls himself "The Black Lumberjack."

Sandy Wood Rising collected hundreds of felled trees after Hurrican Sandy to turn them into beautiful furniture.All-in-all, the employees helped him create 25 desks from this reclaimed wood.

Jessica Hack, YPlan's operations manager, said the team knew that it wanted to locally-source all of the furnishings for its new office to support the city (the company first was founded in London). Using Sandy debris was the perfect fit. 

"We thought that it would be really cool to have something in our office connected to an event that was so huge for the city,"Jessica Hack, YPlan's operations manager, told Business Insider. 

By helping Rising build the desks, YPlan also kept costs down and gave its new employees the opportunity to grow closer through team-bonding.

YPlan Desks

YPlan raised $12 million this summer for its international expansion, and it launched in New York City in September. 

"Since then, we've been growing at double the pace as we did when we launched in London," co-founder Rytis Vitkauskas says. YPlan is available of iPhone or Android.

YPlanTables

The point of YPlan is to help you make last-minute plans. It lists about ten interesting events, which are often discounted or exclusive.



You can read more details about each individual event.



Before booking tickets though, you have to sign-up.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

I Spent A Month On Infidelity Dating Site Ashley Madison And Was Pleasantly Surprised By How Nice It Was

$
0
0

Ashley Madison site

I'm happily married. But if I wasn't and I wanted to spice up my life with a bout of infidelity, there are several dating websites designed with that in mind.

One of the best-known cheating sites is Ashley Madison. Curious about what it's like to use such a site, I went undercover (so to speak) for a month on Ashley Madison to take a look inside.

Because I was posing, I was as respectful as possible. I didn't respond to emails or look at everyone's private photos. Obviously, I didn't actually date anyone either.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the site was to use. Given its emphasis on sex, I was also surprised by how respectful and NOT pornographic everyone was.

That said, need to warn you: the following slides do contain some racy and sexual content.

The first step is to tell the site what kind of an affair I was after. I said I was an attached female seeking males.



I described myself and my limits, mostly from pull down lists. My options were: something short term, long term, cyber only, "erotic," anything goes. I chose 'whatever excites me.' I also described what I look like and said I was 36.



I got an option of uploading a profile photo. Many people were using sexy photos for their profiles. It let me blur the face, or just block it like this. I could upload more photos to share with people I met on the site, too.

Photo credit: Steven Goldstein, Keyhole Productions.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 19 Worst Celebrity Photoshop Fails

$
0
0

attached image

This week, a GIF of Jennifer Lawrence's Photoshopped 2011 Flare magazine cover made the rounds on the Internet.

The cover was altered to make Lawrence appear slimmer with higher check bones and a more pronounced collar bone. While Lawrence herself has previously been outspoken on her dislike of altered images, many stars haven't been as averse.

Model Miranda Kerr recently posted a Photoshopped image of herself on Instagram, creating outrage across the Internet.

But Kerr and Lawrence's Photoshop revelations are nothing compared to the missing body parts, unrecognizable faces, and seriously enhanced features of many other celebrity cover models.

We've gathered some of the craziest celebrity Photoshop flubs of all time — can you spot what went wrong? 

"The Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence appeared on a June 2011 cover of Flare magazine.

(Source: Business Insider)



A new GIF shows that J.Law's cover image saw some serious editing. Her waist is thinned, while her cheekbones and collarbone are noticeably more pronounced.

Jennifer Lawrence photoshop GIF 1

 Jennifer Lawrence photoshop GIF 2



Miranda Kerr posted this photo on Instagram after the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

(Source: Business Insider)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Meet The Most Impressive People Of The Year

7 Smart Winter Grooming Hacks For Men

$
0
0

man grooming shaving mirror

Winter is an awful time for skin and hair.

Lips get chapped, skin breaks out, and hair becomes static-y as it adjusts to the changing temperature and humidity.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Here are seven simple beauty hacks that every guy should know.

Even better, they all use common household products, so even if you don't end up liking one of the tricks at least you didn't spend $50 on a cream.

1. Redness-reducing eye drops will make pimples less red.

So you're not supposed to pop pimples, but they're hard to ignore. If you do and the area becomes red and irritated before a big date or meeting, rub some redness-reducing eye drops on the area.

The drops contain tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, which helps get rid of redness fast. Just put some on a Q-Tip and apply it to the pimple.

2. Dryer sheets fight hair static.

In the winter, it's not uncommon for people with fine hair to get static cling because of the dry air. One way to fight it is with a balm or hair gel, but if you're not into that sort of look (or ran out of product), you can also just take a dryer sheet and rub it onto your hair and brush. Easy.

coconut oil3. Calamine lotion is an awesome spot treatment.

For those just on the verge of getting a huge pimple, rub some calamine lotion onto the area. It's ridiculously cheap, and dries up cystic acne very quickly (though it will dry out your skin too, so just make sure to moisturize after taking it off).

4. Keep lips soft with a homemade sugar scrub.

If you're not using lip balm regularly — and sometimes even if you are — lips have a tendency to get chapped in the winter. Mix some olive oil with sugar (you can also use honey and sugar) in a small bowl to create a scrub, and gently massage it into your lips.

Rinse off with warm water and finish with your favorite lip balm.

5. Moisturize your neck, hands, and face with virgin coconut oil.

Coconut oil has become the go-to product for beauty, health, and wellness enthusiasts. It's an amazing body lotion because it seals in natural moisture, and is naturally antibacterial and antifungal. Plus it smells amazing.

You'll usually find the unrefined virgin variety in health food stores like Whole Foods (look in the cooking section) — just make sure it's not hydrogenated, bleached, refined, or deodorized. We recommend Dr. Bronner's.

arm and hammer baking soda6. Put a cold pack on your face to de-puff tired eyes.

When you haven't gotten enough sleep (or your face is puffy from drinking all night at a holiday party), wake up a little earlier than usual and put a cold pack over your eyes for 5-10 minutes. The cold will de-puff your face, and help you look more alert than you actually feel.

7. Exfoliate dead skin away with baking soda.

The number one reason your face can look haggard during the winter is because of all the dead skin cells that accumulate. To make your skin look fresh, you should scrub your face with an exfoliant, such as baking soda.

It's coarse, but not too coarse, so it will get rid of the top layer of dead skin cells without irritating skin. Combine a teaspoon of baking soda with water and massage into skin before rinsing off with warm water. And don't forget to moisturize afterwards.

SEE ALSO: 11 Hot Products From Amazon's Brand New Male Grooming Department

Join the conversation about this story »


A Swiss Photographer Shot These Insane Photos Of Exploding Sports Cars

$
0
0

Disintegrating car 02

Swiss photographer Fabian Oefner painstakingly took 4,500 individual photos to construct just three incredible shots of exploding sports cars for his latest series, "Disintegration," on view now at the Mechanical Art Devices Gallery in Geneva

Oefner is known for combining art and science, having previously captured the slow-motion effects of sound waves, centripetal forces and iridescence. 

"My idea for this series was to invent time," Oefner wrote in an email to Business Insider, "In all the other series that I did so far, I was focusing on capturing time, holding on to moments which pass us by in the blink of an eye. With this series, I wanted to invent such a moment from scratch by creating an illusion of an exploding car, thus inventing, in fact, a moment in time." 

Oefner started with assembled scale models of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé with gullwing doors from 1954, a Jaguar E-Type from 1961, and a Ferrari 330 P4 from 1967. The first thing he had to do was disassemble the hundreds of parts in each vehicle. 

Making off Disintegrating 03

Then he sketched the way each piece would fly from the model cars, had an explosion actually occurred from within. Oefner photographed each car part individually, suspending pieces by hanging wires or propping them up on styrofoam blocks that he removed when he overlayed the photos in his computer.  

SLR 0009

"When I was deciding on what object would work best to show in mid explosion," Oefner wrote, "I immediately thought of cars, because everybody recognizes them. The viewer doesn't ask himself the question, 'What object is it?' The discussion is rather about the state it is shown in."

Check out the three finished photos below:

Disintegrating 01

Disintegrating 03

Disintegrating car 02

And this video shows how Oefner did it (Your speakers aren't broken, there's no sound):

SEE ALSO: Big, Beautiful Photos Of A Nearly Perfect Classic Ferrari Replica

Join the conversation about this story »

Photos From Inside Last Night's Premiere Of 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'

$
0
0

Wolf Of Wall

Last night was the New York City premiere of the highly-anticipated film, "The Wolf Of Wall Street." 

The movie is an adaptation of Jordan Belfort's best-selling tell-all memoir that chronicles his boozy, drug-fueled hard-partying lifestyle as a Wall Street hustler running a 90s-era boiler room. 

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill. It's directed by Martin Scorsese. 

Business Insider's Linette Lopez got to see it last night and has a review of the film.

We've also included photos from the red carpet in the slides that follow. 

The highly coveted tickets for last night's NYC premiere and after party.



The 'red' carpet...



The NYC premiere was at the Ziegfeld Theater in Midtown Manhattan.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

18 Pictures That Show Vienna's Edgy Underground Culture

$
0
0

01

Vienna has a reputation for being clean, classical, and perhaps a tad dull. But the city has an edgy underground beneath its white marble surfaces.

In this travel video, I learn about Austria’s alternative scene from a group of local youths. We visited a Bat Cabaret and a Gothic Lolita meet-up, where girls (and guys) dress up in ruffled aristocrat fashion. Then, we hit punk and rockabilly boutiques in the hip District VII.

The next day, I took the one-hour train to Bratislava, Slovakia. The quaint Old Town and castle contrasted sharply with the spooky graffiti beneath the highways.

Click here to see the edgy side of Vienna and Bratislava >>

Check out a video showing highlights of the European cities below.

In the next installment of this 3-part series, La Carmina scouts out trends in Belgrade and Zagreb. Follow her Eurail.com train journey on her travel blog.

Disclaimer: Transportation was provided by Eurail.com, and accommodations by GoWithOh rental apartments.

Vienna is known for its classical past. However, I was determined to learn about the current subculture.



There’s more to the city than museums and historical sites, such as the Austrian Parliament Building.



Members of rock band Lolita Komplex took me to Cabaret Fledermaus, which means “flying mouse” or bat in German.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Wall Street's Brightest Minds Reveal THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARTS OF THE YEAR (SPX, SPY, DIA, DJI, QQQ, GLD, TLT)

$
0
0

coty 125 1

Here they are: the most important charts of the year. 

We asked our favorite portfolio managers, strategists, analysts, and economists across the Street for the charts that they deem the most important right now, and this is what they sent us.

Much of the focus is on the 10-year Treasury yield — where does it go, and what is the read-across for other financial markets around the globe? Many are focused on the stock market as well, the consensus being that indices will rise to new highs again in 2014.

But there are a lot of other things going on as well.

Emad Mostaque, Noah Capital Markets



Jack Bogle, The Vanguard Group



Byron Wien, Blackstone Group



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 Unusual Homes You Can Buy Right Now

$
0
0

Miami mansion with moat

The housing market may be on the mend, but that doesn't mean it hurts to have a house with a little something extra to sell. 

The owners of an all-purple house near London certainly got people talking.  

With the help of property search site Estately, we came up with a list of quirky properties currently for sale across the U.S., including a Miami mansion with a moat and a converted church in Oregon.

This Malibu shack comes with an underground system of tunnels.

It may not look like much from the outside, but the thousands of dollars you sink into this property will actually buy you 40 acres in the Malibu Hills, prime real estate surrounded by state protected land on three sides.

The previous owner dug a series of underground tunnels around the property, believing that Spanish gold was hidden there.  

Address: 0 Mulholland Road, Malibu, California

Price: $579,000



Here's a crater-inspired oasis in the middle of the Arizona desert.

This Arizona home is noteworthy for its largely circular architecture. The great room has a 20-foot beamed ceiling.

The whole property sits on five acres, with a 75-foot negative edge pool and 5,840 square feet inside.

Address: 8610 E Maverick Circle, Carefree, Arizona

Price: $2.5 million



This single-family home in Oregon used to be a church.

This church-turned-home still features Cathedral ceilings and skylights. The updates include a lofted bedroom and office space as well as a Euro-style kitchen and a Japanese soaking tub and steam room in the bathroom.

In addition to this place's cool look, taxes are frozen on the property through 2016.

Address:2003 SE Larch Avenue, Portland, Oregon

Price: $799,000



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 High-Paying Jobs For People Who Don't Like Math

$
0
0

kid math chalkboard

Math is an essential skill for many jobs, and one that's rightly emphasized at every level of education. But some people don't have the knack or inclination to study it and certainly don't want to spend their workdays doing long division.

For those people, we took a look through the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a U.S. Department of Labor database of detailed information on hundreds of occupations, to find high-paying jobs where math skills aren't important.

Based on extensive surveys and data collection, O*NET ranks the importance of math skills in a given job — defined as "using mathematics to solve problems"— on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 signifying that math is very important. For example, statisticians have a math importance rating of 97.

We pulled out the jobs where you won't need to do much math, but you can still make a nice living. The average  household income in the United States is $51,017. These are median salary figures, so those with experience can earn substantially more. They're ordered by where O*NET scores them on the importance of math skills. 

1. Technical writers

Median yearly salary: $65,500

Math skill importance: 16

2. Power Plant Operators

Median yearly salary: $66,130

Math skill importance: 22

3. Dental Hygienists

Median yearly salary: $70,210

Math skill importance: 22

4. Elevator Installers and Repairers

Median yearly salary: $76,650

Math skill importance: 22

5. Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

Median yearly salary: $62,160

Math skill importance: 25

6. Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay

Median yearly salary: $68,810

Math skill importance: 28

7. Technical Directors/Managers for Radio and Television

Median yearly salary: $71,350

Math skill importance: 28

8. Orthoptists

Median yearly salary: $72,710

Math skill importance: 28

9. Acupuncturist

Median yearly salary: $72,710

Math skill importance: 31

10. Occupational Therapist

Median yearly salary: $75,400

Math skill importance: 31

11. Nursery and Greenhouse Managers

Median yearly salary: $69,300

Math skill importance: 35

12. Subway and Streetcar Operators

Median yearly salary: $62,730

Math skill importance: 38

SEE ALSO: 10 Competitive Jobs That Everyone Wants But Hardly Anyone Gets

Join the conversation about this story »

9 CEOs Share Their Favorite Interview Question

$
0
0

tony hsieh zappos ceo

If you could ask job candidates only one question, what would be most telling?

As it turns out, many CEOs have one go-to interview question that they believe reveals everything they need to know about a candidate. Some swear by serious questions about a candidate's best accomplishment. Others believe that silly queries about holiday costumes and the zombie apocalypse best reveal a candidate's creativity.

From Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to Warby Parker CEO David Gilboa, we've collected top interview questions from the following nine company leaders.

On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you?

One of Zappos' core values is to "create fun and a little weirdness,"Tony Hsieh, CEO of the company, tells Business Insider.

To make sure he hires candidates with the right fit, Hsieh typically asks the question: "On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you?" He says the number isn't too important, but it's more about how people answer the question. Nonetheless, if "you're a one, you probably are a little bit too straight-laced for the Zappos culture," he says. "If you're a 10, you might be too psychotic for us."

Another question Zappos usually asks candidates is: "On a scale of one to 10, how lucky are you in life?" Again, the number doesn't matter too much, but if you're a one, you don't know why bad things happen to you (and probably blame others a lot). And if you're a 10, you don't understand why good things always seem to happen to you (and probably lack confidence).



Tell me about the time you realized you had the power to do something meaningful.

Simon Anderson, CEO of DreamHost, a web hosting provider and domain name registrar, says he asks one question to determine what motivates candidates: "Tell me about the first experience in your life when you realized that you had the power of change or the power to do something meaningful."

"It’s open-ended. Some people might tell the story of when they were five and there was some incident and they had to take more responsibility for their baby brother or sister," he tells The New York Times."Maybe it was from their teenage years: 'Something bad was going to happen at school and I stood up for this friend of mine and all of a sudden I felt self-empowered to do things.' I think that’s really important. If someone sits there and they’re stumped, I think that tells you something."



How would you describe yourself in one word?

The best candidates are the ones who know exactly who they are. That's why Dara Richardson-Heron, CEO of women's organization YWCA, always asks her candidates this question.

Richardson-Heron says she doesn't judge people on the word they choose, but it does give her insight into how people package themselves. She tells Adam Bryant at The New York Times that she likes when people take time to ponder the question and answer thoughtfully.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A Brooklyn Artist Painted These Stunning Works With Coffee

$
0
0

Freudian Slip

Brooklyn-based artist Lauren Orscheln approaches each canvas with a large brush and a pot of instant coffee.

For coffee snobs out there, don't worry: the instant brew isn't for drinking, it's for painting.

"The viscosity of the instant coffee works great on the canvas," Orscheln told Business Insider. Plus she likes the rich, brown color.

Orscheln, who showed some of her work at Coffee's Night Out last month in Greenpoint, started experimenting with coffee as an artistic medium five years ago when a teacher recommended it as an exercise. First, she used a hair dryer to caramelize the coffee for a sculptural effect, and that evolved into working with it in figurative painting, her main pursuit. 

She starts painting on the coffee with a big brush then moves to a smaller one farther into the sketching process. Orscheln uses charcoal to create outlines. When it mixes with the coffee, the charcoal gets "flattened and looks more like paint."

"When I'm working with coffee, it's more about forms and lines," Orscheln said, "It's not so much about coffee acting as a rendering device."

If she makes a stroke with the coffee she doesn't like, Orscheln can wipe it off the gesso-treated canvas with a rag. That usually leaves a bit of a yellow stain behind, but it doesn't bother her. She likes viewers to see "a history of the piece." 

Orscheln works on the coffee and charcoal layer of her paintings for a couple days, about 10 to 15 hours of collective work. It takes a half-hour to dry, but she usually takes at least a day off before finishing the piece with oil paint. 

"If I put too much oil on top, it's very easy to wipe it off with a turpenoid rag," Orscheln said. "I want the coffee to show through in the end." 

Keep scrolling to see some of Orscheln's work.

"Self Portrait" is the last in a series of self portraits Orscheln painted. She used coffee, watercolor and charcoal.

Coffee Self Portrait

"Botched Debauchery" is the first piece Orscheln painted with coffee. She sketched entirely with the medium, then added charcoal to create the shadows.

Botched Debauchery

Earlier this year, Penrose, a blues and rock band that moved to Brooklyn from Philadelphia, asked Orscheln to design an album cover for them.  It's one of the few pieces Orscheln painted on paper. She sketched in coffee and said it gives warmth to the watercolors.

Circe Album Cover

Orscheln started "Freudian Slip" with charcoal and then added coffee to figure out where she wanted the most depth. She added even more coffee after the layer of oil paint to get the pigment she wanted.

Freudian Slip

Orscheln said she was especially happy with how the coffee background came through in the final image, titled "The Foot Painting."

The Foot Painting  

For "Tousled Sheets and Paint," Orscheln painted a bunch of fruit thrown on her own bed, first with coffee and watercolor, then with oil paint.

Tousled Sheets and Paint

SEE ALSO: The 40 Most Outrageous Works We Saw At Art Basel Miami Beach

Join the conversation about this story »

12 Survival Tips For The Office Holiday Party

$
0
0

santacon nyc subway drunk alcohol

Now at the peak of the holiday party season, most companies are gathering to celebrate the end of a hardworking year.

"People like to work with people they know, so take this opportunity to let down your hair a little," Helene Wasserman, an attorney for Littler, an international firm focused exclusively on labor and employment laws, tells Business Insider.

But whatever you do, don't treat your colleagues like they're your college buddies.

According to Wasserman, it's not uncommon to get harassment claims around the holiday season. She blames it on the alcohol. "The best way to survive is to remember that you're still at work and the rules still apply," Wasserman says. "If you're talking to your boss and a drink is in your hand, he's still your boss."

We compiled some tips to help you survive your office party — and still manage to keep your job.

Ask about the dress code ahead of time.

You need to find out what the dress code is and stick to it, career coach Barbara Pachter tells Business Insider.

You don't want people talking about what you wore the day or night after the party, she says. Whatever you wear, remember that it's still a business event.

Aside from the company's dress code, don't forget that behavior and harassment policies still apply— even if the party is off-site.



Eat a decent meal beforehand.

Although there might be hors d'oeuvres, you should still eat before the party begins. If not, you may become more intoxicated than you intended. Furthermore, eating while you're mingling isn't the most comfortable in a professional setting.

"Eat a little before you go to a business social event," says Pachter. "If you drink, you'll have something in your stomach, and if the food is delayed, you won't be hungry."



Don't even think about skipping the party.

To show that you're committed to the company, make sure you show up for at least 30 minutes. Always assume company gatherings are "must attend" events.

"People will expect you to be there," says Pachter. "It's an opportunity for you to meet people, and the person you talk to may wind up being the person who interviews you for your next job in three months."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

14 US Cities With Big Foreclosure Problems

$
0
0

miami skyline

One in every 1,155 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing in November, according to the latest foreclosure data from RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings were down 37% from a year ago, but and down 15% from the previous month.

This was driven by a drop in foreclosure starts which fell to the lowest level since December 2005.

"While foreclosures will likely continue to stage a weak rally in certain markets next year as the last of the distress left over from the Great Recession is dealt with," said Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac.

"It is highly unlikely that there will be a foreclosure comeback that poses any major threat to the solid housing recovery that has now taken hold."

But some states and cities continued to struggle with foreclosures.

At the state level, Florida continued to post the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 392 homes receiving a foreclosure filing. Delaware and Maryland rounded of the nation's three states with the highest foreclosure rates.

We drew on RealtyTrac's report to highlight the 14 metros with the highest foreclosure rate.

Note: The metros are ranked by foreclosure rate, i.e., one in every X homes received a foreclosure filing.

Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida

One in every 502 homes received a foreclosure filing in November 2013

Properties with foreclosure filings:
504

Change from October 2013:
+4.13%

Change from November 2012:
-21.98%

Source: RealtyTrac



Reading, Pennsylvania

One in every 496 homes received a foreclosure filing in November 2013

Properties with foreclosure filings:
331

Change from October 2013:
-7.80%

Change from November 2012:
+85.96%

Source: RealtyTrac



Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa

One in every 481 homes received a foreclosure filing in November 2013

Properties with foreclosure filings:
496

Change from October 2013:
+4.20%

Change from November 2012:
+30.18%

Source: RealtyTrac



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 iPhone Apps You'd Have To Take From My Cold, Dead Hands

$
0
0

iPhone Apps You Need To Have

I have to admit I'd be lost without my iPhone. It's become a valuable resource for me when I need to find my train times, check the weather, read the news and more.

There are so many apps sitting in the App Store so how do you make a decision on what you need? I've selected 11 apps that I use on a daily basis. Each one plays an important role in what I need.

When you want to refresh your iPhone and add new applications, here are the 11 I recommend.

The Mailbox app helps with keeping my inbox organized.

The Mailbox app works for Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud accounts. It helps organize the barrage of spam, news alerts and memos that invade your inbox on a daily basis. Mailbox checks messages from the cloud and can deliver them as push notifications for you. Swipe left or right to archive or trash emails. View them later by tapping snooze. Mailbox is one productivity tool you need to have on your iPhone.

Price: Free

Available: iPhone.



Canary Calendar has helped me keep track of all my appointments.

You'll be amazed at how much a great calendar app can improve your life. Canary Calendar will integrate with your Facebook and Google accounts to ensure you make every appointment. The app will automatically send notifications to you and others in case this is a group meeting. If something comes up, the notification can be adjusted.  Users can send as many invite notifications as they want. You'll always be on time with Canary. 

Price: Free

Available: iPhone.



The Netflix app satisfies my binge watching needs every week.

Although it requires a subscription for free streaming, Netflix is one of the most essential apps you need. You'll have an incredible amount of TV shows and movies to watch on every device. One perk of using this app is finding a new show to watch. The second season of House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black are arriving next year, so you need to download this immediately. 

Price: Free

Available: iPhone and Android



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This North Dakota Drone Hub Could Be Ground Zero For The Robotic Takeover Of America

$
0
0

drone north dakota

Face it, people: We're entering a world of robots, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Recently, the folks at the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce were nice enough to fly me to Grand Forks so they could heap praise on their drone infrastructure to national news reporters.

North Dakota is aiming to be one of six sites where the FAA will test drones with the goal of integrating them into U.S. airspace, and it most likely will be selected for this economic windfall.

Now I had long considered myself a staunch anti-drone activist, both here and abroad, due to concerns for privacy and debatable war tactics.

The researchers, veterans, and students in Grand Forks, however, may have started to change my mind. Highly professional and dedicated, they are committed to the idea that drones — excuse me, "Unmanned Aerial Systems"— can improve everything from agriculture to telecom to, yes, surveillance and war.

Here at the University of North Dakota University Center for Aerospace Sciences these indoor tubes connecting buildings stand as tacit admission of the unflinching cold.



Here's what the campus looks like in reduced size.



It is one of the leading aviation schools in the world, hosting pilots from several different countries.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Viewing all 61683 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images