The retail industry is undergoing a dramatic shift: E-commerce is capturing a larger share of sales than ever before. 

We've created a slideshow highlighting the retail categories where e-commerce is having the most impact, and where there is still opportunity for disruption. The shift away from physical retail toward digital retail is happening faster than many observers expected. 

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on mobile computing, digital media, payments, and e-commerce. Only subscribers can download the individual charts and datasets in Excel, along with the PowerPoint and PDF versions of this deck. Please sign up for a free trial here.

Facial symmetry is often pointed to as one of the chief indicators of attractiveness in males and females. But how true is that hypothesis?

Fashion photographer Alex John Beck recently decided to test the symmetrical theory of attractiveness by photographing regular people and then making symmetrical versions of each person's face, by using first the left and then the right side. 

Beck's results are definitely odd and a little disconcerting. He shared a few with us below, but you can check out the rest of his work at his website:

Beck took a portrait of each person and then divided it into the left and right side of the face. Then he mirrored each to create symmetrical portraits from each side.

For people with more naturally symmetrical faces, the effect is far more subtle.For each portrait session, he made the symmetrical version immediately so that he could show his subjects.Those with more symmetrical faces were pleased with the results.

According to Beck, in most cases, subjects looked more like a long-lost sibling than a version of him or herself.People with less symmetrical faces were less enthusiastic, even if one of the portraits looked flattering.The effect was disturbing for some.Certain features get pronounced in each portrait. This man's face and neck looks thin from his left side, but far more thick and full on the right.Beck says that they tried to maintain the structural integrity of each face because they wanted each one to look realistic.Beck declined to include the original portrait of each person because then people would focus on finding the differences between the faces. Instead, he wanted viewers to look critically at each face by itself.

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Combat dolphins are in the news again after Russia announced it was taking over the Ukrainian military dolphin program. 

The program, previously directed by the Ukrainian Navy, trained dolphins to find mines in the water and track down divers.

The dolphins have also allegedly been outfitted with weapons that could be used to kill people and even put a bomb on a submarine.

How would one go about training these dolphins?

A History Channel clip gives some details about how the program was created in the 1960s. The dark truth is, it's practically animal abuse. 

Many of the dolphins in the former Soviet program were originally bought from the black market, before the 1973 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The wild or captive dolphins were placed in a pen and separated from their social group.

Trainers create strong bonds with the dolphins by spending a lot of time with them.

Much has happened in Afghanistan since the first American boots set foot on the ground in October 2001.

With the Taliban in power prior to the war, Afghanistan had one of the worst human rights records in the world, especially in its treatment of women. But a decade later, the change is evident in the country's largest city of Kabul, home to 3.6 million people.

While the U.S. was successful in its initial defeat of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, many problems still remain — including serious security concerns in outlying provinces — but the change in Kabul is rather striking.

Present-day Kabul looks much like any other city in the world, with the exception of different styles of dress and language. Men and women talk openly in public, electronics and computers have become commonplace, and even western haircuts and clothing styles have become the new norm.

This scene could be from any Western mall ...

... filled with stores and modern-day amenities ...

... but this one is not in the West. It's in Kabul, a city transformed from war-torn to almost cosmopolitan.

Now in its second year, Sony World Photography Awards' National Award uncovers the best single image taken by a local photographer in countries spanning from Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, to the Pacific Island region.

A handful of photography experts saw nearly 140,000 entries and selected 37 winning shots. The competition also featured a Youth category for up-and-coming photographers and an Open program.

A photographer of the year will be announced on April 30th. The 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition will open at Somerset House in London, running May 1-18.

Australia: "Going Home" by Neville Jones

Hong Kong: "Jump Of Life" by Cheung Lai San

Germany: "Lightsnake" by Holger Schmidtke

Kurt Vonnegut, a resident of the northeastern United States, used to say that there were actually six seasons in the year in this part of the world: winter, spring, summer, and fall...and "locking" and "unlocking."

"Locking," Vonnegut said, comes between fall and winter, when leaf-season is over and the world is hunkering down but real winter has yet to arrive. "Unlocking" comes at the end of the winter, when the world has begun to thaw, but it's still in no way spring.

These two seasons tend to be bi-polar and confusing.

But if you live in the northern United States and have access to some woods, there's a fun thing you can do with the "unlocking" season...

Make maple syrup!

That's what I did when I was a kid.

You start with the stuff — buckets, taps, hooks, a drill, a hammer, and a sap collection tank. A pickup truck helps, too.

Buckets are actually an old-fashioned and inefficient way to collect sap (you'll see why). These days, serious "sugaring" operations use vacuum tubes that whoosh sap straight from the trees to the sugar house. But you can still get tin buckets secondhand from specialty dealers. Ours are from Canada.

Our taps are the old-fashioned kind, too. The ones you use with vacuum tubes are thinner and made of plastic.

Christopher Nolan is without question one of the biggest directors in modern Hollywood.

First breaking out at the turn of the century with Memento, the filmmaker has spent the last 14 years making epic, thought provoking movies on various scales and has earned both critical and box office love.

In addition to being a fantastic filmmaker, however, he is also a tremendously interesting individual, as I learned listening to him speak for nearly a full hour this afternoon. 

Earlier today, the filmmaker took part in a special luncheon at CinemaCon called "From Passion To The Big Screen: The Work of Christopher Nolan" where he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy about not only his entire body of work up to this point, but also about his upcoming science-fiction epic Interstellar. The interview was packed with all kinds of fascinating info, so read on to discover what we found out! 

Here's what you don't know about the director >

Matthew McConaughey’s performance in "Mud" was partially responsible for him being cast in "Interstellar."

In case you aren’t already aware, Matthew McConaughey is having a bit of a career resurgence right now. After years of doing nothing but crappy romantic comedies, the star has made a complete 180 and even a couple weeks ago took home his first Academy Award.

But while few would argue that his turn in Dallas Buyers Club was anything less than exceptional, it was actually a different 2013 McConaughey film – Jeff Nichol’s Mud - that led Christopher Nolan to casting him in Interstellar.

For the part, the director wanted to find an actor with an everyman quality who audiences could really understand and follow through the story. Apparently what they have worked together on is working pretty well, because Nolan says that the star’s performance is "shaping up to be something extraordinary."

They built full-on practical spaceship sets for "Interstellar."

Just like he has been doing for all of his films up to this point in his career, Christopher Nolan is trying to keep Interstellar as much as a mystery as he can, and while he wouldn’t reveal any big plot details during the luncheon, he did provide some interesting tidbits about the production.

The filmmaker discussed his preference to use large-scale practical sets instead of large amounts of CG for the space epic, and part of that involved not just the building of a spaceship interior, but also special exteriors that actors could see by looking out of the windows of the spaceship set. He believes that audiences can sense when things are actually there instead of just being all computer generated, and even likened the filmmaking experience on the set to making a documentary. 

He thinks 3D takes away from the shared cinematic experience.

Since 3D became the biggest technological fad in Hollywood, many have been very vocal about how it actually harms certain films, complaining about brightness problems, nausea, and more, but for Christopher Nolan one of the key issues is the fact that slapping on a pair of 3D glasses does its part to take away the communal experience of watching a film in a crowded cineplex - likening the situation to watching a comedy in a theater with stadium seating.

Instead of just hating on 3D, however, the filmmaker said that he does like that it offers movie-goers a certain amount of choice and even complimented the work that Baz Luhrmann did with The Great Gatsby, calling the 3D in the movie "very, very extraordinary." 

My iPhone has become a valuable resource when I need to find my train times, check the weather, read the news, and more.

Since the new year started, the App Store has grown more crowded with additional options to choose from, so how do you make a decision on what you need? I've selected 11 apps that I've bee using on a daily basis.

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

Hop makes it easier to deal with the clutter of emails in my inbox.

Hop has made it so much easier for me to answer emails in my inbox. It works for Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and iCloud. Email chains become chat threads that let you quickly type a response. You can even see if someone is immediately writing you back. The app lets you manipulate notifications so you'll only be alerted for new messages that you think are important. It's so much better than the pre-installed iPhone app.

Price: Free

Available: iOS

I rarely forget things thanks to Evernote.

Evernote always helps me get stuff done especially since I can sync my to-do lists across my phone and laptop. Although you can perform traditional tasks like set reminders and write individual to-do lists, I'm a big fan of the audio notes feature. It's much easier to remember you have to finish projects when your own voice is reminding you of that.

Price: Free

Available: iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry, and Kindle.

HBO Go is the best TV streaming app available.

Although it had a brief hiccup during the "True Detective" finale, I still think HBO Go is the best streaming app out there. A cable subscription is needed to let you binge watch the network's old classics like "The Wire" or view a slew of movies as well. By saving shows and films to the app's watch-list feature, you can access them at anytime and never worry about scheduling a recording on your DVR.

Price: Free (with HBO subscription)

Available: iOS, Android, Windows, and Kindle.

Sure, the 1980s had some downsides (the haircuts! the leg warmers! all that neon!). 

But scrunchied-ponytails aside, it was also a decade of technological strides and advances — and some totally awesome gadgets. 

From the actually groundbreaking to the simply fun, there are definitely some gizmos that we wish were still around today. 

You can't talk about '80s tech without mentioning the Sony Walkman. The TPS-L2 model even had two headphone jacks for social listening.

The Nintendo NES came bundled with Super Mario Bros. so ... enough said?

We loved the ZX Spectrum, a personal home computer that featured classics like Atic Atac and Manic Miner.

David Guttenfelder, the Associated Press' chief photographer in Asia, has been posting pictures documenting life in North Korea.

Last year, North Korea's primary local service provider Koryolink began letting foreigners access the Internet from mobile phones for the first time.

Guttenfelder's images capture various parts of daily life, like the commute to work or the bizarre visit from NBA superstar Dennis Rodman.

Guttenfelder has traveled all over the world and people are obsessed with the images on his Instagram account.

We've rounded up some of the best photos he has from the country.

'Tractor, wagon, & bicycle in the North Korean countryside.'

'Pedestrians in Pyongyang.'

'A North Korean nurse studies in a hallway at a pediatric hospital in #Pyongyang.'

T-Mobile's CEO John Legere has a habit for speaking his mind, even if it comes off a bit crass and rude. 

At press events and on Twitter, he liberally swears and bashes T-Mobile's competitors. He once even made a joke about journalists hitting on his daughter.

But since he took over as CEO in late 2012, T-Mobile has seen an incredible turnaround. The company was bleeding subscribers and revenue growth was declining. Legere helped reverse both those trends by finally bringing the iPhone to customers and offering an array of enticing plans and sales to attract new subscribers.

Here's a look back at some of the craziest quotes from Legere.

"I just wanted to see Macklemore."

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, Legere crashed rival carrier AT&T's party where rapper Macklemore was performing. It was an obvious stunt, but after being escorted out of the party by security, Legere played it off, telling Recode he "just wanted to see Macklemore."

"As a rule, I don't do math in public."

In 2002, Legere became the CEO of telecommunications company Global Crossing. Global Crossing was once a very hot company, but had to file for bankruptcy after investing too much in infrastructure without having enough customers. 

Legere was brought on to turn things around, but was widely criticized for getting a $1.1 million salary plus a $3.5 million signing bonus while thousands of Global Crossing employees were being laid off.

In a congressional hearing, congresswoman Stephanie Tubs Jones asked Legere how many employees' jobs could have been saved with Legere's compensation. Legere responded: "As a rule, I don't do math in public."

"Here's my theory. 'Oh sh--' is really an abbreviation for 'Oh sh-- I'm tied to a f------ contract and I'm stuck with a toilet phone for two years."

This was how Legere announced T-Mobile's "Jump" plan that lets you upgrade your phone whenever you want.

Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company, has analyzed the disaster potential for 616 of the world’s largest cities (PDF).

Each city is ranked according to its potential for earthquakes, storms, storm surges, tsunamis, and river floods. For each type of disaster, Swiss Re devised an extreme weather scenario in which defenses fail and the human and economic toll can be enormous. 

Further, each city was ranked based on the effect each scenario would have on its residents by combining population-distribution data and vulnerability estimates for each disaster. The scenarios consider fatalities, injuries, evacuations, those whose homes would be damaged or destroyed, and those who would be unable to access their workplace.

10. Tehran, Iran

15.6 million people potentially affected

Tehran sits on one of the most dangerous fault lines in the world — the North Anatolian fault. The entire population of the city is heavily exposed to earthquakes.

9. Los Angeles, U.S.

16.4 million people potentially affected

Los Angeles, like much of California, sits along the San Andreas Fault, making it one of the most earthquake-prone places in the world; 14.7 million people are at risk directly of earthquakes at any given time in the city. 

8. Shanghai, China

16.7 million people potentially affected

Shanghai, China's most populated city, is located on the Yangtze River Delta, making it vulnerable to serious flooding from storms and typhoons. Its long coastline and the large volume of water flowing through the city make it especially at risk. 

The future of the Sochi Olympic venues is unclear.

Alexander Valov, a Russian reporter for BlogSochi, visited Sochi's "coastal cluster" — a site that includes six venues, the Olympic Village, and the Olympic Park, all built from scratch on an undeveloped plot of land — and he took some eerie photos this week.

He called the area around the Olympic Village "Dead City."

The photos are a reminder that much of what was built for the Olympics has no long-term use.

While a few arenas and other buildings have plans going forward — the media center is being turned into a mall! — the Russian government is still behind schedule on post-Olympics planning.

Valov's photos, which we're republishing with his permission, should serve as a warning for what could become of the "coastal cluster."

One of the main roads near the Olympic Village.

An unfinished construction site.

An empty road next to a hotel.

More than 300 restaurants across the U.S. have been funded with the help of Kickstarter, according to a map released by the site last week. 

Kickstarter has increasingly become a valuable resource for budding restaurateurs. Some even speculate that the crowdfunding site could be the future of restaurant financing, in part because it offers an infusion of cash without the attachment of private investors. 

It also offers a way for entrepreneurs to engage closely with their community. 

"I really think of them as being the perfect project because they are, obviously, so community-based, largely by physical location, but not always," Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler said to Eater. "They're great ways for communities to get together and to really have a closer relationship with a place that can be a pretty central hub to that neighborhood or town."

Inspired by Kickstarter's map of the restaurants that had been funded using their services, we looked at which of those eateries in New York City offered the best dining experience. To compile our rankings, we considered ratings from Yelp and OpenTable, as well as professional reviews from publications like Zagat, New York Magazine, and the New York Times. 

From a Japanese-Jewish eatery to a Michelin-starred restaurant, there are plenty of places worth exploring. 

#12 Snowdonia

34-55 32nd Street, Astoria

Snowdonia is a Trappist-inspired gastropub with an extensive offering of affordable craft brews. There's plenty of beer-inspired fare to be had here: mussels in beer, beer-battered fish and chips, as well as classic pub items like bangers and mash. 

Their Kickstarter campaign reads, "As young professionals (and cool people) ourselves who have lived in Astoria for over 10 years, we feel there is a void in the Astoria restaurant/bar scene that needs to be filled, especially after 10pm, for people looking for something more intimate than a dive, but less pricey than fine dining."

They raised $11,260 in Kickstarter funding. 

#11 Shalom Japan

310 South 4th Street, Williamsburg

The Japanese-Jewish cuisine of Shalom Japan is the brainchild of married owners Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi. The combination may be unconventional, but it works — according to the New Yorker, "At its best, their food is fusion in the truest sense, seamless and utterly convincing." 

Matzah ball ramen, pastrami-stuffed chicken, and lox rice bowls are among the unique offerings. 

The concept restaurant earned $20,086 from 131 backers on Kickstarter. 

#10 Emily

919 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill

Matt and Emily Hyland raised $16,132 on Kickstarter to design and build an authentic wood-burning pizza oven. The pizza oven is the centerpiece of their restaurant, but they serve delicious pastas and small plates, too. 

Eater recently named Emily one of the 21 hottest pizza places in the U.S. 

In his spare time, biochemist Linden Gledhill collaborates with artists, filmakers, and advertising professionals to create photos of everything from the growth of ice crystals to insects in flight.

For his latest project, Gledhill collected specimens of rare and beautiful butterflies from a company called Butterflies And Things. Then he put them under the microscope and used a set of high-powered lights to create abstract photos of their wings.

From the unusual patterns and shapes produced by the wings to the beautiful colors, it's hard to believe the photos are of something from nature.

Gledhill shared a number of the butterfly photos with us here, but you can check out the rest on his Flickr page.

"Its always a surprise when you look at the scales at such a high magnification, because you cannot predict the shapes and patterns from just looking at the wings," explains Gledhill.

Butterfly wings are made of very thin layers of a hardened protein called chitin, which is also what your fingernails and toenails are made of. On top of the layers of chitin are microscopic scales, which are the source of the stunning colors in Glendhill’s photos.

The scales on the wings are responsible for protecting and insulating butterflies and aiding in air flow along their wings during flight. The scales also aid in heat absorption — butterflies are cold-blooded, relying on external sources of heat for warmth.

Butterflies use their colors to scare off potential predators. Because most colorful butterflies are filled with nasty toxins, predators know not to eat them. Their colors are also used for camouflage and mate attraction.

Below is a close-up of the Cithaerias pireta aurorina.Here's another close-up image: Graphium sarpedon, or Common Bluebottle, is a type of swallowtail butterfly. They are found in South and Southeast Asia. Chrysiridia Rhipheus, or the sunset moth, is a day-flying moth, known for its colorful, iridescent wings. It is most often found on Madagascar. Here is a further close-up of the sunset moth. The Comet moth (or Madagascan moon moth) is one of the world's largest silk-producing moths. It is native to the rainforests of Madagascar.Troides hypolitus, or Rippon's Birdwing, is a type of butterfly known for its massive wings and birdlike flight. It is found in the Australasia eco-zone.

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125 years ago today, the Eiffel Tower was officially completed in Paris after 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days of construction.

It stood as the gateway for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, and continues to make an impact on the world’s conscious today.

In honor of the famous world attraction’s birthday, here are 13 cool facts about the Eiffel Tower everyone should know.

1. The Eiffel Tower wasn’t the brainchild of Gustav Eiffel. Instead, his senior engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier designed the building. Gustav Eiffel wasn't overly interested in the project, but sent the engineers to the head of the company’s architectural department, Stephen Sauvestre. With Sauvestre's edits, Eiffel got behind the final plans and bought the right to the patent.

2. The Eiffel Tower in numbers: 300 workers, 18,038 pieces of wrought iron, 2.5 million rivets, 10,000 tons, 984.25 feet high.

3. The tower was built as a symbol of modern science, or as Eiffel himself said, “not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living.” At the time that the tower was being built, another technology was also in its infancy phase — photography. As the tower was built, many photographers captured series of photographs to show the tower’s construction.

4. At the time of its construction, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world. It wasn't until 1930 when New York City’s Chrysler Building rose up to 1,046 feet that the tower lost that title.

5. The Eiffel Tower's elevators weren't operational at first. On May 6, fair goers were allowed to enter the tower, but the 30,000 visitors had to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top. The lifts finally entered service on May 26.

6. Parisian residents originally hated the Eiffel Tower, calling it an eyesore. Newspapers received angry letters that said the tower didn’t fit into the feel of the city, and there was a team of artists that rejected the plan from the get-go. One apocryphal story says that novelist Guy de Maupassant said he hated the tower, but ate at its restaurant every day for lunch. When he was asked why, Maupassant replied it was only place in Paris he couldn’t see it.

7. It changes height by the season. Because it’s made with puddled (wrought) iron, the tower’s metal expands when exposed to the summer sun, causing the structure to rise by as much as 6.75 inches.

8. The Eiffel Tower was only meant to stand for 20 years, but the French military and government began using it for radio communication and later telecommunication. When the permit expired in 1909, the City of Paris decided to keep it.

9. The Eiffel Tower has stood up to quite a lot during its lifetime. It transmitted radio signals during WWI, and during WWII the elevator wires were cut so that the Nazis could not use the tower (after Allied troops entered the city, the elevators were fixed). It even survived a fire on its top floor, and over 250 million visitors from around the world climbing on it.

10. The tower is not painted one uniform color. To counteract atmospheric perspective, the tower is painted darker at the top and becomes gradually lighter towards the bottom.

11. Speaking of paint, every seven years 50 to 60 tons of paint are applied to protect the tower from rust.

12. It’s not just a tourist attraction. The Eiffel Tower has housed a newspaper office, post office, scientific laboratories, a theater, and the first level becomes an ice rink every year.

13.It is the most visited paid monument in the world, attracting almost 7 million visitors every year (75% of whom are from other countries). Here’s the full breakdown:

For more cool facts on the Eiffel Tower, visit the monuments website here.

NOW WATCH: The Strange Fashion Choices Of European Men

SEE ALSO: Scientists Discovered What Makes Someone A Good Dancer

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Pluto TV is a new streaming service launching today.

A team of curators collects videos from around the Web to create more than 100 channels of online videos that focus on topics like cooking, news, technology and more.

Each channel runs 24 hours. Users can customize their viewing experience by favoriting certain streams so they can keep coming back and immediately watch a new show.

You can watch on your computer or use the iOS and Android apps to get the same experience on your phone or laptop.

Interested in learning more?

Log in to Pluto TV with your Facebook account. The setup process is quick and easy.

Once you finish the setup process, pick a few channels to personalize your stream.

This is the main page of Pluto TV. You can stop and fast-forward the video in a manner similar to YouTube.

New York City has long been considered the playground of America's millionaires and billionaires. But as many of the city's high earners start families and seek more space, they move out to the suburbs surrounding the city.

Stephen Higley, a professor emeritus of urban social geography at the University of Montevallo, recently ranked the richest neighborhoods in the U.S. based on American Community Survey 2006 - 2010 data.

He aggregated contiguous block groups (subdivisions of Census tracts) with a mean income over $200,000. You can read his complete methodology here.

These are the wealthiest neighborhoods in the suburbs outside of New York City — Westchester County, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. 

SEE ALSO: Should You Buy Or Rent In NYC?

#25 Talmadge Hill in New Canaan, Conn.

Mean household income: $381,648

75th richest neighborhood in the U.S.

Talmadge Hill is made up of relatively large homes, and is considered a great neighborhood for families in New Canaan. The school system is also considered top-notch.   

Talmadge Hill is 0.3% Black, 3.2% Asian, 1.5% Latino and 93.9% Non-Hispanic White. 

Sources: Higley 1000, city-data.com, neighborhoodscout.com

#24 Sunny Ridge-Highfield in Harrison, N.Y., Westchester County

Mean household income: $382,054

74th richest neighborhood in the U.S.

Sunny Ridge-Highfield is part of the southern half of Harrison, N.Y., and is the home of Harrison High School.

A big part of the culture in town is an annual football game between Harrison and Rye high schools. The friendly rivalry between the towns dates back to the end of the 17th century. According to local lore, John Harrison purchased a plot of land from the Siwanoy Native Americans that two residents of the neighboring town of Rye had already claimed.    

Sunny Ridge-Highfield is 90.7% white, 2.2% Asian, 4.2% Latino, 0.5% black

Sources: Higley 1000, city-data.com, neighborhoodscout.com

#23 Oyster Bay Cove in Long Island, N.Y.

Mean household income: $385,230

68th richest neighborhood in the U.S.

The village of Oyster Bay Cove was founded in 1931. Many of its current residents make a living in jobs involving computers and math. Italian, Irish and Russian ancestries are common.

The area is known for its wildlife, and is less congested than other places on Long Island. It sits next to Sagamore Hill in Cove Neck, which was the home of Theodore Roosevelt from 1885 until his death. 

Oyster Bay Cove is 86.9% white, 8.5% Asian, 2.2% Latino, 1.5% black

Sources: Higley 1000, city-data.com, neighborhoodscout.com

The elaborate dog fashion found at grooming competitions can be totally ridiculous. Just look at the poor pet on the right whose fur was cut and dyed to display the faces of multiple Disney characters.

Last year, photographer Paul Nathan visited the preeminent Intergroom competition in East Rutherford, N.J. and captured some of the madness and, yes, beauty.

While most people say elaborate pet haircuts are all in good fun, some critics have called the practice of "extreme grooming" humiliating and psychologically damaging for the dogs. 

Nathan shared some photos here, but you can check out more at his website or in his upcoming book, "Groomed."

The Intergroom conference and competition began in 1981 in Newark, N.J. It is now the largest international competition of its kind. Over 3,000 dog and cat groomers from 21 different countries participate. The "Intergroom International Groomer of the Year" award is considered the most prestigious in the dog grooming world.

The competition is divided by breed and type of grooming.  The categories are poodles, terriers, spaniels/sporting dogs, other purebreeds, miscellaneous, and hand-stripping (where groomers pull the hair from dogs instead of cutting). There is one other grooming category: creative. This is where groomers use hair dye and special techniques to make the dogs look like fictional characters or other animals, like this cheetah-dog.When dogs are presented in the creative competition, the groomers typically dress in a costume that matches their dog. To decide the winners, judges look for skill and creativity, Nathan told Business Insider.Celebrity dog groomer Jorge Bendersky explains his approach in the introduction to Groomed: “My task as a groomer is to capture and enhance that particular animal’s singularity with a distinguished and fashionably tasteful grooming style that brings out the best attributes [of the dog].”Each dog breed has its own grooming history. Poodles, for example, were typically groomed with their torso hair clipped short and rings of fur on their legs to facilitate swimming while out on a hunt.Depending on the complexity of the style, it can take anywhere from 3 hours to 9 hours to groom the dog. The dogs are given plenty of breaks.The dogs in the competition are experienced at being groomed for this long, says Nathan, so they rarely get uncomfortable.Not every dog is suited to the creative competition, however. It typically takes a lot of patience to be able to tolerate the long grooming sessions.The hair dyeing is done over several days. The dye is nontoxic and not permanent. It can last anywhere from a few washes to a few months.This year's competition is on April 5th. It will draw a whole new crowd of dogs and groomers looking to make their mark with even more elaborate designs. 

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After years on and off the market, Los Angeles' massive Fleur de Lys estate has sold to a "highly secretive French billionaire" for $102 million, making it the most expensive home ever sold in L.A. County, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The home, which was sold by socialite and philanthropist Suzanne Saperstein, has 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a ballroom, two kitchens, a massive movie theater, a pool, tennis courts, and a nine-car garage. It had previously been listed for $125 million.

According to the LA Times, the 4.6-acre estate was sold after a three-way bidding war among international billionaires, and the winner closed in 10 days in an all-cash deal that included the home's antique furnishings.

Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone reportedly showed interest in the house in late 2012, and it was the setting for a much buzzed-about "off with their heads"-themed 40th birthday party for Yammer CEO David Sacks.

Fleur de Lys has a private, gated entrance on N. Carolwood Drive.

It's on more than four acres of land.

In addition to a swimming pool, the estate has two motor courts, a spa complex, and a tennis court.