Megan Ellison — a producer of "Zero Dark Thirty" and "American Hustle," as well as the daughter of software mogul Larry Ellison — had a whirlwind year in real estate. 

After offloading three properties in the desirable Bird Streets neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills for $46.75 million, Ellison has scooped up another modern mansion in Los Angeles' Mt. Olympus neighborhood. She paid a reported $20 million for the home, plus $10 million for some surrounding land, according to real estate blogger The Real Estalker.

Designed by architect Richard Schwarz and built in 1990, the home has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, two guest apartments, heated balconies, a pool and a grotto. It also played home to Lou Ferrigno in the movie "I Love You, Man," and was the backdrop of a 2013 holiday car commercial for Infiniti.  

Ellison's new mansion sits in the Mt. Olympus neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills.

A private street leads to the house.

Inside the gates, there's parking for 25.

Today, Bill de Blasio takes over as mayor of New York City, and Janette Sadik-Khan steps down from her post as commissioner of the Department of Transportation.

She will be replaced by Polly Trottenberg, the current Under Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In her six-year tenure, Sadik-Khan has made a lot of changes. 

She focused on reducing the number of cars on NYC streets. She built hundreds of miles of bike lanes, introduced a hugely successful bike share program, created pedestrian plazas, and transformed Times Square.

Her grand goal was to make it easier and safer to get around in New York, and to make the city a better place for residents and businesses, she explained in a 2011 essay for Slate.

Sadik-Khan was also responsible for managing a $2 billion annual budget and 4,700 employees. She was in charge of maintaining and improving 6,300 miles of road, nearly 800 bridges, 12,000 intersections with traffic signals, and the Staten Island Ferry.

New York has hundreds of miles of new bike lanes.

Between 2007 and 2011, the number of New Yorkers commuting by bicycle doubled, meeting a DOT goal ahead of schedule.

To triple that number by 2017, Sadik-Khan led the installation of 350 miles of bike lanes on streets throughout New York, providing a relatively safe way for cyclists to get around.

The bike lanes have aroused plenty of criticism, largely from neighborhood groups. At a 2011 event at the Center for Architecture, Sadik-Khan defended the expansion as a public good: 

“Some people have tried to paint bike lanes as elitist, which is really hard to believe because [the bicycle] is the most affordable way to get around town other than walking, and it’s really heavily used by a wide range of social and ethnic groups."

There are guards on duty to keep everyone where they belong.

On the eve of the opening of New York's bike share program, Sadik-Khan announced that Street Safety Managers — who first went to work on the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges in 2011 — would be on duty in areas with heavy pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicular traffic.

Their job was to remind everyone to stay in their designated lanes. They were be on the streets during morning and afternoon rush hours between April and October.

Neighborhood traffic is slower, and safer.

In July 2012, Commissioner Sadik-Khan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced they would expand the Neighborhood Slow Zone program to 13 new residential areas, all at the request of local applicants.

The program adds traffic calming measures and reduces the standard speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph, which Sadik-Khan said would improve safety:

“Our residential streets need to be drawn to this human scale, and by simply reducing the speed of passing cars by 10 miles per hour, we can save lives as we make the streets people walk along more inviting.”

Last month I was sitting in front of a fire on a snowy day in the Catskills when my dad blew my mind with a photo slideshow on his laptop.

He — somewhat casually — revealed a treasure trove of photos that had recently been shared with him that captured dorm and frat life at his alma mater, Lake Forest College in Illinois. The zip drives contained hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos taken by his TKE fraternity brother John McDonough back in 1964.

Click here to go right to the photos >

TKEs (Tau Kappa Epsilon) at Lake Forest College back then were best defined for what they were not, according to my dad. They were not jocks or preppies. He insists they were "all-around guys: campus leaders, good students, good singers."

I reached out to McDonough to find out more about the photos. He told me he used an East German single lens reflex camera called a Practika. He also said he used a cheap strobe flash that he'd recently bought which flashed at 1/1000th of a second (that's why you can see actual drops of water frozen in time in some of these photos). McDonough photographed alot of events around LFC back then, but went on to a long career as a journalist with the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age and DownBeat Magazine.

These photos from 1964 (and a few from 1965) show what college and frat life was like at the time. Looks fun. There's not much studying going on (reminds me of my college days in that respect). Take a look. And by the way, my dad Richard appears in only one of the photos. You'll have to guess which one...

A guy shows off booty from the annual bra and panty raid.

TKE party in the basement of Nollen Hall on campus. Somebody is getting wet.

Same TKE party in the basement of Nollen Hall. Food and refreshments provided.

Even though pedal taverns — bikes built to shuttle groups on pub crawls — look like bars on wheels, in most states it's illegal to have alcohol on board these increasingly popular vehicles.

Pedal pubs in Boulder, Colo., and San Diego, Calif., prohibit drinking on them, while one in Seattle, Wash., only allows it if the group obtains a banquet permit from the Washington Liquor Control board.

But as of Jan. 1, a new law took effect in Milwaukee, Wisc., that adds commercial quadricycles to the list of public places where people can consume alcohol, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Each person can have 36 ounces of a fermented malt beverage, but not hard liquor, during the ride from bar to bar. While every rider can pedal the bike, two sober employees steer and break. 

In states like Wisconsin, where beer is such a big part of the culture, Milwaukee's Pedal Tavern founders Derek Collins and Ryan Lloyd argued allowing customers to bring beer on board would increase tourism. 

"When people come for the tour, they often come up from other cities or states and do dinner and drinks as well," Collins told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Pedal taverns already draw huge tourist crowds in Nashville and Houston, where riders can bring their own beer as long as it's not in a glass container. There are also pedal pubs in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., that allows wine in boxes or plastic bottles. 

As the state by state debate continues over how to license and permit pedal taverns, public officials in Wisconsin have warned it's not all fun and games. The bikes have received noise complaints and concern about public safety.

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Is one of your New Year's resolutions to get in shape? If you go to one of these colleges, you're in luck.

Active Times ranked schools based on how they kept students active, promoted athletics, and offered healthy dining options.

"These are schools whose students know that there's more to mealtime than ramen noodles and Chinese takeout, and who make a point of frequenting the gym just as often as they do the bar," the Active Times writes.

With a great combination of dominant athletics and delicious food, Virginia Tech is the fittest college in the country, according to the ranking.

You can see the full list here. 

#10 Vanderbilt University has an on-campus wellness center designed to help students with their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Source: The Active Times

#9 Pennsylvania State University may be best known for its dominant athletics, but the school also offers courses in its College of Health and Human Development.

Source: The Active Times

#8 Kansas State University houses a massive recreation complex, which includes 25,000 square feet of cardio machines and weight equipment.

Source: The Active Times

An Arkansas lawyer and political blogger has sued Facebook for allegedly using data from private messages to target ads. 

Matt Campbell, author of the left-leaning muckraking site the Blue Hog Report, filed a class-action complaint on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Campbell is suing the tech giant alongside co-plaintiff Michael Hurley, an Oregon resident who was unavailable for comment.

The core of their complaint concerns the access advertisers have to messages. From the complaint:

Contrary to its representations, "private" Facebook messages are systematically intercepted by the Company in an effort to learn the contents of the users' communications... This practice...enables Facebook to mine user data and profit from those data by sharing them with third parties — namely, advertisers, marketers, and other data aggregators.

A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider, "We continue to believe the allegations in this lawsuit have no merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."

Campbell and Hurley's case is essentially based on Facebook's alleged lack of transparency regarding the tally of a company's "likes" on its network.

An advertiser can only send ads to a user if that user has some connection to the brand in question. A connection can include group membership or a "like" of that brand's corporate page.

Hacker News revealed back in Oct. 2012 that a shared link within a private message between Facebook users also counts toward the total. Facebook admitted this to the Wall Street Journal in that publication's follow-up story. In that same response, Facebook said that "absolutely no private information has been exposed." Users can create as many likes as they want by sending links in messages, even if they don't actually like a page.

Now, Campbell and Hurley are accusing Facebook of invading users' privacy by reading personal messages without their consent.

This past October, Campbell sued Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr for violating the Freedom of Information Act when he refused to release his personal cell phone number in response to an open records request.

Campbell previously used his blog to point out problems in Darr's campaign finance records, highlighting illegal funding and dubious expenses. Darr ended his congressional bid after just 17 days due to the controversy Campbell's report created.

Campbell and Hurley are asking the court to make Facebook change its policy of scanning links from private messages, and give a monetary award for users whose messages were scanned. 

They are seeking class action status.

SEE ALSO: Outraged Students Sue Facebook Over Privacy

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We wrapped up 2013 the U.S. stock markets closing at an all-time high after booking a 30% return for the year. Gold had it's worst year in decades and the 20+ year bull market in bonds showed signs of ending.

This all came with the Federal Reserve tapering back its monthly asset purchase program to $75 billion. And this came on the back of improving economic conditions in the U.S.

Considering all of this, 2014 promises to be an interesting year in the U.S. and abroad. The emerging markets could be particularly volatile as the year is dotted with political landmines.

To help navigate all of these considerations, David Kelly and the market strategy team at JP Morgan Asset Management just released their Q1 presentation on the state of the markets and the economy.

Note: Thanks to J.P. Morgan Asset Management for giving us permission to feature this presentation.

JP Morgan Funds Q1 Guide To The Markets

JP Morgan Funds Q1 Guide To The Markets

JP Morgan Funds Q1 Guide To The Markets

After trying twice to sell it at auction, Michael Jordan has relisted his Highland Park, Illinois estate for $16 million, according to Zillow.

It's a steep cut from the $29 million that the house was originally on the market for.

The truly enormous compound has every bell and whistle you can think of. There's a pool with a grass island in the middle of it, a door from the Playboy Mansion, a table based on the streets of Baghdad, and MJ-branded golf flags.

It's outrageous in the best way possible.

The 56,000 square foot, seven acre compound from the air.

The gate to get in, fittingly.

The outdoor space is spectacular. There's a tennis court.

Recently legalized in Washington and Colorado, marijuana has medical and recreational uses but can also be damaging to our bodies and minds.

The high you get from marijuana comes from a chemical called Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, which is found in varying potency.

Most of THC's effects happen in the brain, where the chemical interacts with receptors on brain cells called cannibinoid receptors. Our bodies actually make chemicals very similar to THC, which are used in normal brain function and development. THC co-opts these natural pathways to produce most of its effects.

Marijuana makes you feel good.

When THC hits brain cells, it causes them to release dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical. This is a part of the brain's reward system, which makes you feel good when you do things that ensure the survival of yourself and your offspring. These things include eating and having sex.

When over-excited by drugs, the reward system creates feelings of euphoria.

... but that's not all good

When the rewards system is overstimulated, for example, by the abuse of drugs like cocaine, it can go haywire and cause a dependence (or in extreme cases addiction) on whatever is providing the rewarding feeling. It can also diminish how rewarding normal things, like eating, feel.

This can cause apathy and dependence on the drug.

It blocks memory formation.

The active ingredient in marijuana acts in the part of the brain called the hippocampus to alter the way information is processed and how memories are formed. Animal studies have shown that this is particularly true while the brain is still developing— specifically why the legal smoking age is 21 in the states that have legalized it.

This blockage of memory formation can cause cognitive impairment in adulthood if use happens during adolescence, at least in rats. It can also quicken age-related brain cell loss, though marijuana has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

When she found herself stuck in Miami without a hotel, Rachel Harrison picked up her phone. But not to make a call.

“The hotel I’d booked had oversold their rooms,” says the New York-based PR exec. “They tried to ‘walk’ me to another hotel, but all were sold out, due to a trade show. I used the Hotel Tonight app and found a reasonably priced hotel that was ready to check me in within the next few hours. It saved my life.”

In a world where you’re more likely to have a smart phone than a travel agent, choosing the right apps can provide vital backup. Indeed, a recent survey by air transport association SITA showed that 84% of business travelers now use a smart phone on the road, and the number of enticing biz-travel-friendly apps grows by the day.

We’ve highlighted 12 of the best apps, some brand new, some road-tested and updated. One can tell you what time you need to leave your hotel to catch your flight, based on traffic reports and the current security lines at the airport. Another can tip you off on how to get in good with a prospective client.

Jacqueline Indelicato, a VP for New York-based ad firm Omnicom, calls the chef-driven app Find.Eat.Drink her “culinary compass,” after she used it to find an off-the-beaten-path restaurant for entertaining colleagues in San Francisco. “My SF colleagues were impressed,” she says, “and laughed about how they had never been there.”

Some of the best apps, of course, don’t necessarily provide clutch information. But they don’t always need to. Jordan Stopler, for instance, says that he created the app StoryDesk so that sales and marketing reps can build and present design-studio-worthy presentations on the fly, but his favorite travel apps remind him why it’s fun to be on the road.

“I love Delta’s iPad app, with its glass-bottom-airplane feature,” he says. “I can look out a window and finally know exactly what’s below me.”

See all the apps that made the cut for business travelers.

Hotel Tonight

Free for iPhone, iPad and Android

This user-friendly app for finding last-minute hotel rooms at steep discounts — sometimes more than 80 percent off — has been a big hit since it launched in 2011.

Its quick rundown of available hotels (with perhaps just one or two rooms left for the night) gives you the exact distance from your current GPS location and quick, real-world impressions such as Basic, Charming or Luxe. The latest upgrades have added more locations, from Costa Rica to Madison, Wis., and you can now book the night as early as 9 a.m. on any given day, up from noon.

Refresh

Free for iPhone (An Android version is in the works)

You’re not nosing around, you’re doing “research.” Use this new app to put together a quick dossier on a potential client or anyone you’re meeting, with basic details such as their career background, where they went to school or even where they took their most recent vacation.

While people rave about it as a good icebreaker, it may also provide some crucial hints on what not to talk about (say, last weekend’s big bowl game loss by their alma mater). It works best when you belong to a number of networks, such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Uber, Taxi Magic and Car2Go

Uber free for iPhone and Android

The hot on-demand car service has recently branched out into regular taxis—telling you how far away a cab is, hailing it from afar and even ID’ing it by license plate and the driver’s name. 

Taxi Magic free for iPhone and Android

This app may have more coverage in the U.S. — 60 cities, compared to Uber’s 29 — but Uber has the advantage overseas, available in 21 other countries. 

Car2Go free for iPhone and Android

If you’d rather drive yourself but don’t need a car every day of your trip, check out this user-friendly app. It lets you rent smart cars by the hour, day or even minute (the hourly rate is $14, after a $35 sign-up fee), and shows you where available cars are. It works in 25 cities in the U.S. and Europe, from Seattle to Miami to Berlin.

WalkJogRun

$4.99 on iPhone

Not sure which way to walk or jog from your hotel to bank your morning three-miler? This app can pinpoint good routes in more than 2.4 million towns around the globe.

The entries are created largely by other users, and you can sort by length of run and see details such as elevation gains, cool sights and the best spot to pick up your coffee afterward. Accurate GPS promises that you won’t get lost.

Find.Eat.Drink.

$0.99 on iPhone and Android

Around Me (free on iPhone and Android) has legions of fans for offering reliable info on finding the closest bistro, bakery or Starbucks. But relative newcomer Find.Eat.Drink adds a layer of foodie snob appeal.

It gives you recommendations for nearby restaurants, bars or gift shops from local chefs, bartenders and sommeliers, helping you make an informed choice and sound like an expert to clients and colleagues.

Granted, there are gaps: In Texas, for instance, there are no listings yet for conference (and up-and-coming foodie) hub San Antonio, but there is at least a nice roundup for nearby barbecue mecca Lockhart.

Travel App Box

$1.99 on iPhone 

It dubs itself the Swiss Army Knife of travel apps, with 15 features such as an international tip calculator, currency converter and clothing-size converter. It also has a feature for foreign phrases (in Spanish, French, German and Italian) and a “pictionary” feature, so that you can point to items, like a chicken or eye drops, to tell someone what you need.

We also like the quirky add-ons, such as the altimeter, and the surprisingly in-depth rundown of rules for road-trip games, from the classic Alphabet to the lesser-known Padiddle and The Professor’s Cat.

See more business travel apps at Executive Travel >

More from Executive Travel:

SEE ALSO: How To Have A Better Experience While Flying Coach

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It's hard to know what to expect from a NYC snowstorm, with all the buildup and warnings flying about the city before the first flake falls.

Yesterday was no different as New Yorkers braced for snowstorm Hercules. All things considered it could have been much worse, and was much worse in parts of Massachusetts, but it was bitterly cold and still snowing during the rush hour commute.

Business Insider headed out in the cold to see what the streets were like and, as usual, we were pleasantly surprised.

As two fronts collided in New York City overnight, this was the scene at about 5:30 a.m. Friday morning at 207th Street in the Bronx.

At this hour, most trains seemed to be running on time, though local residents looked for more creative ways to take their morning commute.

Downtown around 14th Street at Union Square, the morning was quiet and cold with few people about.

There are four basic components of the traditional wine tasting ritual people perform when they order a bottle at a restaurant: sniff the cork, swirl the glass, sniff the wine, and hold the glass up to the light to inspect its contents.

"People go through the ritual, but they don't always know why they're doing it," said Union Square Hospitality Group's John Ragan, who is the wine director for Danny Meyer's restaurant empire. "That's not a comfortable exercise."

To help people feel less silly when ordering and tasting wine, Ragan is leading a 10-week, restaurant-grade course starting in March curated by USHG and the Institute of Culinary Education. Every Tuesday, guests will get the training servers and sommeliers receive: They'll learn to navigate a wine list and discuss wine, have a chance to Skype with growers, importers and critics around the world, and most importantly, learn to properly taste wine.     

Ragan shared some classic wine-tasting "don'ts" with Business Insider.

Don't smell the cork:"I would skip the cork and go straight to the wine. The wine's smell will tell you the most about whether it's good or bad," Ragan said. "If you're talking about older wine, the cork tells you how well it's been stored. You want it to be moist, not necessarily seeped in wine, so air hasn't gotten into the bottle. But I've had some fabulous older wines where the wine crept up to the cork. I'd say the cork isn't the most reliable tell." 

Don't beat up the wine: "If I order a bottle of wine at a restaurant, I want it to come to my table unopened so I know it's the right vintage," he said. "Once it's opened, you have to remember that wine's been in a bottle for years at a time, kind of like a genie in a bottle. That wine doesn't stand at attention immediately. Swirling opens up the esters and makes the aroma more accessible. But don't shake the wine excessively. Three loose turns should do the trick." 

Don't sniff the wine more than once: "Some of the most revered wines smell like earth, something people describe as mushrooms, truffles or leather," Ragan said. "The earthy smells shouldn't overwhelm the fruity smell, and you don't want a dank smell like wet wood, wet cardboard or vinegar. If you think something's wrong with the wine, there probably is. On the first whiff, you can usually tell. Trust your gut." 

Don't fret about particles in the wine: "Wine is an agricultural product. It comes from the earth," he said. "When you hold wine up to the light, you really only need to think of the color. For white wine, you don't want a brown, cider color. Oxidation is definitely a flaw. White wine with age will gain a golden tinge. Red wines have more color when they're younger. Older reds should have less pigment and not be cloudy or murky."  

Don't worry about lingo: "Don't try to use someone else's language," said Ragan. "Use the language you're comfortable with to explain what the wine smells and tastes like to you. A good restaurant should be able to decode your language and translate that into a good wine."

Don't beat around the bush about the price: "Some people point at a wine's price on the list and say, 'Maybe something like this,'" Ragain said. "But it's better to be clear and say, 'I want a great red for $45.' That's game on for me, and most sommeliers like that challenge. If you ask for a midrange wine, a server might interpret that as $75 when a guest is thinking he doesn't want to spend more than $60. Now you're speaking a different language in a bad way."

SEE ALSO: The 20 Best Wines In The World, According To Wine Spectator

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An article in The New York Times' Style section warns that certain clubs around New York City are now enforcing a strict no-photo policy.

Nightclubs such as Chinatown's Le Baron, Chelsea's No. 8, the newly opened Sankeys in Midtown West, and even Williamsburg's popular dance club Output are banning photos and videos in an effort to refocus attention on the music instead of Instagram, writes The Times' Billy Gray.

This is a truly misguided idea.

The purported rationale behind the no-photo policy is that without smartphones constantly in-hand, A-list clientele will feel more comfortable, people will be more willing to let their guard down, and the party will feel more exclusive.

But often it's the celebrities themselves who are taking Instagram shots of the raucous partying and posting them on their social media pages. Just glance at Instagram accounts of Rihanna, model Cara Delevingne, and Miley Cyrus to see that some celebrities are not deterred by photo-taking, since they're snapping pictures themselves.

Plus, tens of thousands of NYC night owls dress up and go out every Friday and Saturday night (not to mention the occasional Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday night), and take pictures with their friends. They want to both remember the good times and brag to everyone who wasn't there that they got to see Kanye West in the club.

Not all bars and nightclubs are banning photos. Some of New York's most well-known establishments, including 1-OAK, Avenue, and LAVO, all boast plenty of Foursquare check-ins and crazy Instagram and Facebook snapshots. These social networking tools offer free advertising, letting the clubs show off to potential guests.

The only no-photo policy that might actually make sense is at Williamsburg's Output, where the city's music fans are said to have found a new home with lots of lights, pumping Electro, and a gigantic dance floor. According to Business Insider reporter Linette Lopez, who visited Output on its opening night, "You do not go to Output to be seen. You go to dance."

The major drawback, of course, is if your clientele wants to be both seen and dance all night. Said one disappointed Yelp user, "No photos/videos policy. I really like the idea behind this. Just enjoy the musicians, I get it. But the fact that they strictly ENFORCE this (one reviewer said the bouncers tried to keep him from leaving and force him to delete the photos off his phone) is outrageous. What a joke. Should be a suggestion, nothing more."

Here's hoping the city's nightclubs will get the hint and let partiers take selfies with impunity, or at the very least not be so strict with the misguided policy.

SEE ALSO: WELCOME TO 2014! These Are The 25 Most Hungover Cities In America

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Despite having a relatively small military (ranking 29th in active personnel), Great Britain is undoubtedly one of the most powerful countries in the world.

The British Armed Forces are battle-tested, well-trained, and technologically advanced.

We looked through the UK's Ministry Of Defence Flickr page to find some stunning photos of missions, trainings, and the life of the British soldier.

The British Armed Forces is comprised of 205,000 personnel. It is the second largest army in the European Union.

The British military has aided in the War on Terror since 2002, committing troops to Afghanistan and Iraq under Operation Herrick and Operation Tellic, respectively.

At its peak in 2009, the U.K. had 9,000 troops in Afghanistan. The most significant contributions came from the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, and Special Air Service, an elite regiment of the British Army.

Not all stocks enjoyed 2013's big market rally.

But that means many of them are actually poised for a strong first quarter in 2014, according to a new note from Goldman Sachs's research team.

"Stocks with low valuation and laggards both tend to perform well during the first quarter," Goldman writes. "We believe stronger growth and lower macro risk will help laggards outperform in 2014."

The firm identified 40 stocks that fell behind their peers in 2013 and therefore have "attractive valuation relative to their sectors."

We ranked the stocks by how much they underperformed their sector peers (i.e. return vs. sector).

40. Alcoa

Ticker: AA

Subsector: Aluminum

2013 return: 24%

Consensus 2014 earnings growth: 17%

Return vs. sector: -1%

Source: Goldman Sachs

39. The J.M. Smucker

Ticker: SJM

Subsector: Packaged Foods & Meats

2013 return: 23%

Consensus 2014 earnings growth: 8%

Return vs. sector: -3%

Source: Goldman Sachs

38. Citigroup

Ticker: C

Subsector: Other Diversified Financial Services

2013 return: 32%

Consensus 2014 earnings growth: 14%

Return vs. sector: -4%

Source: Goldman Sachs

The circumstances by which Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. are so sketchy that Congress felt obliged to issue an apology in 1993.

It all started 100 years earlier when a group of mostly American businessmen led a paramilitary coup to overthrow Queen Liliʻuokalani. They were passively supported by U.S. Marines who were deployed "to protect American lives and property."

The coup resulted in a new Hawaiian government under the presidency of Sanford Dole, whose cousin would soon start the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which became Dole Foods.

Although then-U.S. president Grover Cleveland criticized the events in Hawaii, which he had not authorized, his successor, William McKinley, had no problem annexing Hawaii in 1898.

With a history like this, it is not surprising that a Hawaiian sovereignty movement remains committed to reclaiming rights and land for native Hawaiians. While several contenders claim rights to the crown, Dayne Gonsalves of The Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi has taken the movement to regain his peoples' rights and land in Hawaii to a whole new level.

Business Insider spent more than a week in Hawaii with Gonsalves, also known as Ali`i Nui Aleka Aipoalani. He guided us through his kingdom on two island, explained what his plans were, and how he plans to fight Washington.

Native Hawaiians have watched their land divided up and sold off for over 100 years, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

King Kamehameha III divided Hawaii among the monarchy's lesser kings, chiefs, and commoners in the mid-19th century to make sure his people would always have a home in case of invasion.

King Kamehameha's worst fears were decades later when a coup led by foreign businessmen and supported by the U.S. overthrew his descendant, Queen Liliuokalani, in January 1893.

In case you haven't heard, temperatures in America are insanely cold right now.

And it's about to get even worse with a mass of Arctic air set to hit the Upper Midwest and Northeast next week, courtesy of cold air sweeping down from the North Pole.

So as people bundle up in preparation for the sub-zero weather, we found ways for everyone to stay warm and dry despite the nastiness outside.

Here are 12 hacks to help you keep warm until spring.

Mittens > Gloves

It may be easier to text in gloves, but your digits will be much warmer in mittens. When they're made of the same material, mittens offer more warmth since fingers have skin-to-skin contact with each other and can share body heat.

Mittens also tend to have a smaller surface area than gloves, which reduces heat loss, so when in doubt, always choose mittens.

Avoid Wearing Cotton

Cotton clothes and socks are the absolute worst things you can wear during the winter, because cotton holds moisture and loses its insulating properties. If you sweat under your jacket, get wet from the snow, or if there's any moisture in the air, the cotton will quickly absorb it and keep it close to your skin, making you feel even colder.

Merino wool or polypropylene socks are a much better way to go since these fabrics wick moisture away from skin. Wool in particular is great because it suspends the moisture in the weave, and can absorb almost 1/3 of its own weight before making you feel cold or wet.

And for those who don't have wool socks (or don't want to go out in the cold to buy them), an easy hack is to put your socks on and then slip your feet into plastic bags. It looks weird, but it will keep your feet really dry and warm.

Use Kitty Litter On Stuck Tires

Salt and sand can help when your car gets stuck in the snow, but kitty litter will also work in a pinch to give you traction. Shovel as much snow and ice as possible out from the path of your tires, and then put a liberal amount of cat litter around and under the tire.

Then just rock your car back and forth, switching from drive to reverse carefully, until you get unstuck.

Bubble Wrap Your Windows

A lot of heat escapes through windows, unnecessarily increasing utility costs. For an easy way to insulate your window while still letting light in, use large bubble wrap and an Exacto knife.

You don't even need tape or glue — just mist water onto your window with a spray bottle, push the flat side of the wrap against the window and it will stay put and keep your room insulated for months.

Another pro-tip is to call around to furniture and/or department stores to see if they have any large bubble wrap that they're going to throw out or that you can buy on the cheap. They're usually swimming in the stuff.

Learn Your Ceiling Fan Settings

Ceiling fans are not just there to cool you off in the summer — most fans have a setting that allows them to spin clockwise on low to recirculate warmer air trapped near the ceiling towards the floor.

You'll be shocked at how much warmer the room will get.

Dry Your Shoes Quickly With Newspaper

Once the snow starts to melt, shoes quickly become wet and are hard to dry. Most people think to put them near a heat source, but this can have the unwanted effect of shrinking your shoes.

Instead, stuff wet shoes with newspaper. It will absorb the moisture quickly, though you might have to replace the newspaper a few times depending on how drenched your shoes are. You can also wrap the outside with the newspaper and secure with a few rubber bands.

Ice-Proof Your Car And Stairs With Household Ingredients

Coming outside to a frozen windshield or ice on your stairs is one of the worst ways to start the day. But there are homemade solutions that can help prevent this from happening.

For car windows and windshields, mist a 3:1 mixture of distilled vinegar and water onto the glass before a storm or icy weather hits. It will keep ice from forming on your windows, and you can also spray the mixture on already ice-covered windows to melt it quickly.

To keep your stoop or sidewalk from becoming icy, make a brine treatment 24-hours ahead of a winter storm with salt dissolved in hot water. Pour a thin layer onto steps and sidewalk to make snow easy to remove, and keep an ice layer from forming.

Prep Your Shovel With Cooking Spray

Shoveling snow is one of the worst winter tasks, so don't make it harder on yourself by not properly preparing. Rubbing vegetable oil, paraffin wax, or cooking spray onto your shovel ahead of time will keep the snow from sticking, and allow you to shovel faster and easier.

Stock Up On Cheap Razors

It's super easy to fix sweatshirt or sweater pilling with a cheap razor.

Just lightly run the razor against the fabric where pilling occurs, and the razor will shave off the small balls of fiber without harming the material so your warmest clothes will be ready to wear in public again.

Warm Blankets With A Hot Water Bottle

Before climbing into bed, fill a water bottle with hot water and stick it under your covers. It'll warm the sheets, and can be left safely in bed all night long for added warmth.

Take this hack to the next level by wrapping your pajamas around the bottle and sticking them under the covers before putting them on.

Winterize Your Bike

You could buy winter tires for your bike, but those are expensive. Instead, take zip ties and stagger them around your current wheels roughly a half an inch apart and snip off the excess with scissors.

They'll give you extra traction when biking around slippery roads and are easy to remove come spring.

Buy Some Hand Warmers

A friend of mine with poor circulation swears by these during the winter. The air-activated heat packs are safe, odorless, and can provide heat for 10 hours if you're jogging, tailgating, hiking, or just commuting to work.

You can also make your own by sewing together a fabric pouch filled with rice, and warming it up in the microwave before leaving the house.

SEE ALSO: 31 Things Every New Yorker Should Do This Winter

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It's no secret that Miami has long been an epicenter of luxury living for celebrities and billionaires. Luxury condo developments are springing up all over the area, and the housing recovery is going strong throughout the state. 

The 60-story Porsche Design Tower is no exception, and now it's attracting billionaires at rapid speed. 

Though it won't be ready for move-in until 2016, 22 billionaires (2% of the world's total) have purchased units there so far, according to the Atlantic Cities. And they're going fast — 80% of the 132 units are already under contract, representing a whopping $624 million in sales. 

Like many of the other luxury condo developments in Miami-Dade County, the Porsche Design Tower has some crazy amenities, including a movie theatre, spa, and plunge pools on almost every balcony.

The tower's most distinctive feature, however, is clear from its name. Three car elevators will bring billionaires and their luxury vehicles straight to the door of their condo, allowing them to park their cars in a "sky garage" connected to each unit.

The building is a collaboration between South Florida-based Dezer Development and Germany's Porsche Design Group, whose $214 million loan is the largest that's been approved for a major construction project in the Southeast since the recession. In fact, it's nearly 30% larger than the previous largest post-recession construction loan. 

The developers provided us with some renderings of the project. 

The tower will be 60 stories tall, rising 650 feet on the shorefront of Sunny Isles Beach.

Forget valet — this tower has a one-of-a-kind car lift system.

Residents can drive straight into the lift, without even having to worry about interaction in the lobby.

U.S. automakers closed out 2013 with weak sales figures, reporting a seasonally-adjusted sales rate of 15.6 million units in December when analysts called for 16.0 million.

Chrysler and Ford were in the green, but both missed analyst expectations. GM tanked 6.3% when analysts were looking for a 1.5% gain.

"An expected post-Christmas surge in [light vehicle] sales fell somewhat short of industry expectations,"according to Wards Auto.

"Renewed upside was expected in the second half of the month, but overall December sales may show a 5% pullback after jumping 8% in November," Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman wrote clients.

Still, some cars were hotter than others. We picked out the 21 best-selling cars in December.

21. Chevy Malibu

December sales: 15,493

Percent change from a year ago: 33.2%

Sticker Price: $22,140

Source: GM

20. Ford Focus

December sales: 15,569

Percent change from a year ago: -31.1%

Sticker Price: $16,810

Source: Ford

19. Ford Explorer

December sales: 15,660

Percent change from a year ago: -6.2%

Sticker Price: $30,015

Source: Ford

North Carolina native Aaron Canipe knew that independent wrestling matches were popular entertainment in the areas near his hometown of Hickory, but he never opted to go, until recently.

Intrigued by advertisements around town promising cage matches and “bring-your-own-weapons” fights, Canipe drove down to the Hickory National Guard Armory for a Saturday night that he called “more entertaining and less expensive than a movie ticket.”

Independent wrestling, known as the “indy circuit” to wrestling aficionados, is equivalent to the minor league for World Wrestling Entertainment and other pro wrestling organizations. For fans, a trip to the “indy circuit” can be a way to see the next superstar before they make it to the WWE or a place to see hungry wrestlers put in the extra effort to make a name for themselves and rile up the crowd. 

Professional wrestling may be part acting and part sport, but it's clear that, even if the outcomes are predetermined, the way they get there can be pretty violent. 

This match was promoted by local wrestling outfit Milestone Wrestling. The promoters are so small that new wrestlers often show up and wrestlers often change their stage names. 

Like the WWE stars that they aspire to, wrestlers take on colorful names and outlandish stage personalities to curry favor with the audience.

Belton "The House Of Pain" Creedmore is a mainstay on the North Carolina wrestling circuit. He is known as a brutal and vicious competitor. 

The matches attract a lively local crowd. Canipe said he was one of a handful of first-timers, but most of the attendees have been following the matches for some times. 

To drum up interest in the matches, promoters often arrange "bring-your-own-weapons" matches, where wrestlers use a variety of props provided by the audience, such as chairs, tables, light bulbs, and even bats. The results can be dangerous.

Despite their violent nature, most matches are considered to be family entertainment. 

Making it on the "indy circuit" is extremely difficult. Most matches are so small that wrestlers either fight for free or get paid between $50-100. To make ends meet, many sell merchandise and videos or work other jobs.

Canipe says that he's positive that wrestlers get hurt during the matches, though he thinks that they exaggerate the pain they're experiencing for the audience's benefit. 

Mike Fury (also known as Chaotic Fury) is part of Death Proof, a straight-edge (no alcohol, tobacco or drugs) tag-team group. They are one of Milestone's biggest names.

Working on the "indy circuit" is the best way for aspiring wrestlers to build up the experience and fanbase to make the jump to the "pros."

Wrestlers often advertise the dangerous stunts they do, such as walking barefoot over thumbtacks or using barbed wire webs. Canipe says the craziest thing he saw a wrestler do was tear open cans of soda with his teeth. 

"I had to see it to believe it," Canipe says of the match. 

Canipe often takes North Carolina and Southern culture as his subject, publishing personal projects on his website.  

SEE ALSO: This underground fight night is the most intense competition in New York

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