The U.S. is a smorgasbord of the finest BBQ joints, engulfing all styles from sweet and saucy to simple and smoky.

TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site, set out to find the crème de la crème of restaurants serving up low-and-slow cooked meats. It came out with a list of the 10 best BBQ joints in the U.S., ranked by millions of user reviews. It only considered establishments that have a minimum of 100 reviews, and gave more weight to reviews written in the past year.

Let's dig in.

10. Madd Jacks Grillin Shack – Cape Canaveral, Florida

6006 N. Atlantic Ave.

This beach-themed BBQ hut is where East Coast flare meets West Coast style. Chef Robby O'Connor serves up generous portions of California-style barbecue, including his signature sliced tri-tips and brisket.

9. Poppa's BBQ – Clearwater, Florida

12211 49th St. N.

The deliciously simple (and dirt cheap) menu at Poppa's BBQ includes an assortment of Memphis-style baby back ribs, slow-smoked pulled pork, and chicken legs so tender that the meat slides off the bone. And owner Mike DeWeese isn't afraid to show off — lining the counter with his competitive barbecuing trophies.

8. Captain's BBQ – Palm Coast, Florida

5862 N Oceanshore Blvd.

At this oceanfront spot, you can dock your boat out front and re-stock on bait, tackle, and meat. Part-fishing-shop, part-restaurant — Captain's slow-cooks all of its meats and hot sides in a wood-burning specialty smoker to give them a delicious smoked wood flavor.

A few years ago, photographer Jeremy Underwood visited the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in Texas and was shocked to find the beaches nearby overrun with plastic, wood, metal, and other debris.

“I found the strangest things, from a case of oranges to funny little figurines covered with languages I couldn't read. It was nuts,” Underwood told Business Insider.

Underwood — who has documented the aftermath of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl— thought about heading back out to the park to photograph the devastation. But then he decided he didn't just want to take pictures of the trash. He wanted to transform it.
Underwood began collecting the debris into piles and constructing makeshift sculptures out of whatever he found. Some of the sculptures took weeks to make, while others took only a day. As the weeks and months went on, other beach-goers came to help build or collect debris.The San Jacinto site sits along the Houston Ship Channel, which runs to the Gulf of Mexico and has been a major source of pollution in Texas. In 2007, the University of Texas suggested that children living near the channel developed cancer at a higher rate than the national average and, in 2014, two ships collided and caused an oil spill in the channel. Over the years, Underwood has continued to work on his project there, called Human Debris. He works slowly, periodically heading out to collect debris or add to the sculptures. When his works are in progress, he hides them on a particularly polluted part of the beach that people generally don't frequent.

The process of collecting, building, and photographing is both “physically and mentally exhausting,” Underwood says.

Underwood pursues this tiring project because he wants to start a conversation with Houston residents about the pollution in their backyard. That pollution may be more obvious to Underwood — who grew up in the woods of Missouri — than it is to people who have lived their entire lives in Houston.

While he generally leaves the sculptures on the beach for others to view and respond to, buildings and galleries have approached him and asked if they could show his work. He's skeptical about moving his sculptures indoors, though.

“These sculptures are nasty and messy,” says Underwood. “They are covered in oil stains, bugs, and stuff that you don’t even know what it is.”

SEE ALSO: The Most Irreplaceable Sites On Earth

Join the conversation about this story »

With a cornucopia of cooking shows, chef competitions and even wars fought with cupcakes, food is no less a sport than football these days.

And everybody is in the game. After all, we do have to eat.

"I'm very unimpressed when I go to some place that they say is fabulous, and they give me a tablespoon of food and charge me $100," says Helene Marks, a Tampa, Fla., resident.

Marks' strategy is to hit the happy hours where she can find dinner entrees at half price.

Click here to see the tricks > 

Other foodies use the panoply of online coupon sites about restaurant specials, while some go old school — having dessert or cocktails at home and forgoing fancy waters.

But don't think restaurants are sitting on the sidelines. While customers are getting high-tech with their smartphones and their coupon sites, restaurant owners are studying human behavior, employing "menu engineers" to get diners to spend more.

"They are basing a lot of things they price on what is found in psychology," says William Poundstone, the Los Angeles author of "Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of it)."

Being aware of how restaurants try to make diners fork over a little more cash can make them even more food-savvy when they go out to eat. Here are sneaky ways restaurants try to wrangle money from patrons — and how to watch out for them.

No dollar signs

Get Gregg Rapp talking about menus, and he's off and running. He is known for what's mostly not seen on a menu -- namely, dollar signs. He takes credit for that innovation.

For the last three decades, Rapp's been in the business of menu engineering. He says he made his clients realize that putting those little $'s before prices were causing customers to shy away from pricier items and spend less. Now, from diners to high-end restaurants, it's the rule of thumb to leave them out.

"Dollar signs remind people of money. You open the menu, and there (are) 100 items with 100 dollar signs. If you take those off, it softens the pricing," says Rapp, who lives in Palm Springs, Calif.

Elaborate dish descriptions

A lot of thought goes into how those dishes appear when you crack open the menu. Poundstone says there's a reason why each dish is described elaborately.

"Flowery descriptions. It may sound very simple, but it does have an effect," he says. "You pay more attention to the food and less attention if (you) should pay $17 for a salad."

Then there's the placement of what's on the menu. The term, Poundstone says, is contrasting.

"One of the things they do is anchoring," he says. "They found when it comes to prices, we are very sensitive to contrast." So that dish with caviar for $100 seems outrageous. But the steak beneath it is priced at $50, and suddenly the steak looks like a deal in comparison, he says.

Another common trick is bundling, Poundstone says. You see this at fast-food restaurants with the combo meal, but it also works wonders at high-end establishments offering prix fixe. "It makes it difficult to do comparison shopping," he says. "You won't realize you are paying $13 for two scallops because you don't know what you are paying for each individual thing."

Complicated wine menus

Ordering wine at a restaurant can be daunting, especially when the sommelier hands you a leather-bound book the size of a Bible. And that's just what the restaurant is counting on.

To avoid spending too much, don't be afraid to ask questions. Tell the waiter your price range, says Chip Cassidy, a 40-year wine merchant who teaches classes on the subject at Florida International University in Miami. Many of his students go on to become retailers and to work in restaurants.

Cassidy says the first sucker's bet is to not default to the house wine. "The restaurants will buy the cheapest thing they can get and mark it up as high as they can," he says.

Antonio Pesquera, who's managed restaurants in Florida and Texas, says buying by the glass may also not be the best option. When it comes to wine by the glass, especially red, the restaurants will try to recoup the price of the bottle with the first glass. Why? Because there is no guarantee that a second glass will be poured.

But Cassidy says if you are going to drink wine, do what Bacchus would do: splurge.

"Wine has always been a luxury commodity. You have to have the bucks to drink it," Cassidy says.

Spring has sprung, and it's brought with it a slew of new babies. 

In the last month alone, Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis had a son, Roger Federer's wife gave birth to twin boys, and Chelsea Clinton announced that she's pregnant.

In honor of mother's day, we found the most powerful babies who have either been born recently or will be born this year. 

These babies might still be drooling and crawling, but they're already poised to become major players who will one day rule the world — and that means that their moms have a lot to be proud of. 

Future Politician: Margaret Laura ‘Mila’ Hager

Parents: Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager

The former First Daughter and husband Henry Hager welcomed their baby girl last April.

As the  first grandchild of a former U.S. President (George W. Bush) and the great grandchild of another former U.S. President (George HW Bush), this baby will have some serious political clout.

Future Hollywood Royalty: Dashiell Weinstein

Parents: Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman

Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood's biggest producer, and his wife Georgina Chapman, fashion designer and founder of Marchesa, welcomed a son last April, named Dashiell.

This is the couple's second child together, but their first son. With his parents' high-profile Hollywood connections, this baby will be a major player in the entertainment world.

Future Oligarch: Leah Lou Abramovich

Parents: Roman Abramovich and Daria 'Dasha' Zhukova

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and his model girlfriend Dasha Zhukova welcomed their second child together—a baby girl named Leah Lou—last April. The baby was born at a hospital in New York, and will therefore have American citizenship.

This is the seventh child for Abramovich, who owns the Chelsea Football Club.

Defictionalization is when something that previously only existed in a movie universe comes to life.

Films and TV shows are now taking advantage of this more than ever before.

In the world of TV, Castle has spawned a series of books by Nathan Fillion’s crime novelist character; Parks and Rec has spawned a guide to Pawnee written by the characters themselves; and Archer is now releasing an album recorded by Judy Greer’s character Charlene (and not, apparently, by Judy Greer).

Here are ten great examples of fictional products from movies that became defictionalized in interesting ways.

10 items made real after movies >

'Forrest Gump's' Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is now a real restaurant with branches all over the world.

In Forrest Gump, Bubba talks Forrest’s ear off about shrimp while the two are serving in Vietnam. After Bubba’s death, Forrest vows to revive his buddy’s dream of opening a shrimp company with Bubba. In the film (as well as the source novel), he makes good and creates a shrimp company worthy of Fortune 500 Magazine.

Similarly, in 1995, the marketing division of Viacom (the parent company of Paramount which produced the movie) decided to partner up with the Rusty Pelican Restaurant Company (also owned by Vicaom) to create the restaurant chain. It has since become a massive success with 38 locations worldwide.

Because of this synergy, The Rusty Pelican chain was given access to the Paramount prop room to stock its walls with Forrest Gump memorabilia. Additionally, the chain had plenty of other kitschy Forrest Gump-related features including being able to hail your waitress with a “Stop Forrest Stop” sign and a menu that serves 12 shrimp-related specialties.

A scientist got permission from George Lucas to call a parasitic bacteria "midichlorians."

In the long-time-ago and far-far-away galaxy where Star Wars is set, midi-chlorians are microscopic organisms that separate Jedi Knights from ordinary folks. The average human has 2,500 midi-chlorians per cell, while Anakin Skywalker has 20,000.

Meanwhile, in our present-day galaxy, Dr. Nathan Lo of the University of Milan discovered a parasitic bacteria living inside of the mitochondria of ovarian cells in 2004. It was originally named IridES1. but Lo decided he wanted a cooler sounding name and renamed it “Midichloria mitochondrii” in 2006 after getting permission from George Lucas himself.

Just like how the Star Wars midi-chlorians are an energy source, the midichloria mitochondrii bacteria have a symbiotic relationship with the mitochondria organelle which is considered the energy center of the cell.

A fake film from within Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 'Grindhouse' is now a franchise of its own.

In 2007, Quentin Tarantino had the ambitious idea to recreate the “double feature” experience of B-movie theaters where for the price of admission, viewers could see two movies on one bill. Tarantino directed the 87-minute Death Proof while friend Robert Rodriguez directed the 91-minute Planet Terror. To simulate the moviegoing experience, the film included fake movie trailers — including a fake film titled Machete which included Rodriguez mainstays Danny Trejo, Cheech Martin, Jeff Fahey, and Tito Larriva.

Grindhouse ended up bombing, but many of the moviegoers enjoyed the fake movie trailers enough that it created the buzz necessary for Rodriguez to turn the Machete trailer into a full-length feature film. And now a franchise.

The DREAM, a newly refit 197-foot megayacht complete with inflatable water slide and panoramic movie theatre, is ready to sail the high seas. Originally constructed in 2001 as the Excellence III, the DREAM emerged from a two-year renovation in 2013 with a new interior, a new paint scheme and a new name. 

According to the yacht's broker, Northrop & Johnson, the DREAM is ready to be chartered for $425,000 per week.

The DREAM's exterior styling is courtesy of the craftsmen at Abeking & Rasmussen.

The German-built yacht's 7 cabins have room for 15 guests.

Manned by a crew of 15, the DREAM can reach a maximum speed of 16 knots.

McDonald's Australia has made a video showing exactly how its cheeseburgers are cooked and prepared.

The video is part of a new effort by McDonald's Australia to be more transparent about where its food comes from and how it's made.

The "Your Questions" campaign has also been adopted in Canada, where McDonald's recently published a video showing how McNuggets are made.

First, the beef patties are removed from the freezer and placed on the grill.

Another grill is lowered onto the patties, where they cook for 40 seconds. "It takes about 40 seconds to cook our cheeseburger patties all the way through… thanks to our two-sided grill design," Katie Geoghan, a McDonald's crew member from Melbourne, says in the video.

Afterward, the patties are seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the first time this season we have a new team at the top of the power rankings as the red-hot Detroit Tigers have won eight of their last nine to move ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The biggest drop this week belongs to the Tampa Bay Rays who started the season as a popular choice to win the World Series but are now just 15-20, dropping six spots in the rankings.

We broke down each team's playoff hopes as well as their top players through the first six weeks.

#1  Detroit Tigers (20-10)

Previous Ranking: 5

Expected Wins*: 18.4

PECOTA Projected Wins: 93

Playoff Odds: 91.3%

PECOTA Projected Wins and Playoff Odds via BaseballProspectus.com

* Expected Wins (AKA Pythagorean Record) is the record a team would be expected to have at this point in the season based on how many runs they have scored and allowed and adjusted for strength of schedule.

#2  Los Angeles Dodgers (19-17)

Previous Ranking: 1

Expected Wins*: 18.2

PECOTA Projected Wins: 95

Playoff Odds: 84.8%

* Expected Wins (AKA Pythagorean Record) is the record a team would be expected to have at this point in the season based on how many runs they have scored and allowed and adjusted for strength of schedule.

#3  San Francisco Giants (22-13)

Previous Ranking: 9

Expected Wins*: 19.1

PECOTA Projected Wins: 91

Playoff Odds: 75.7%

* Expected Wins (AKA Pythagorean Record) is the record a team would be expected to have at this point in the season based on how many runs they have scored and allowed and adjusted for strength of schedule.

The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects recently announced the winners of their annual Design Awards, which honor Bay Area-based architects and designers who made a significant achievement the previous year. 

Winners were chosen in five categories: architecture, interior architecture, energy and sustainability, historic preservation, and unbuilt design. While most of the buildings are located in San Francisco, a few are imagined by architects based in the City by the Bay, but located elsewhere. 

From a house floating on stilts to a new startup office space, there's plenty of eye-popping design to be seen. 

CITATION, ARCHITECTURE: This LEED-certified natatorium aims to be a force for positive social and environmental change in East Oakland.

"East Oakland Sports Center," ELS Architecture and Urban Design

CITATION, ARCHITECTURE: A renovated storefront on San Francisco's hip Valencia Street incorporates a perforated metal screen overhead.

"Blu Dot Furniture," Office of Charles F. Bloszies

MERIT, ARCHITECTURE: The stunning glass and stucco building at 300 Cornwall Street consists of six homes and corner retail space.

"300 Cornwall," Kennerly Architecture & Planning, Inc.

"The line between good and evil is permeable," said psychologist Philip Zimbardo, "and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces." 

As Zimbardo and other social scientists have shown in a range of experiments, actions we deem evil — cheating, lying, stealing, and worse — don't spring from people's character, but the situations they find themselves in. 

To better understand why, we examined research from the fields of psychology and ethics. Here's what we found. 

Max Nisen and Aimee Groth contributed to this story. 

When people have an ideology to justify their actions, they'll do bad things.

Philip G. Zimbardo, professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, argues that people do evil things when they have an ideology — or system of ideals — to lean on.

He was an expert witness during the trial of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, who was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to five charges of abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib.  

"All evil begins with a big ideology," Zimbardo said. "What is the evil ideology about the Iraq war? National security. National security is the ideology that is used to justify torture in Brazil. You always begin with this big, good thing because once you have the big ideology then it’s going to justify all the action."

When people are given power, they may abuse it.

Zimbardo is best-known for leading a jail simulation in 1971, popularly known as the Stanford Prison Experiment.

In the experiment, college students played the roles of "prisoners" or "guards." 

In only six days, the "guards" were so abusive toward their "prisoners" that Zimbardo had to end the experiment early. 

"The experiment showed that institutional forces and peer pressure led normal student volunteer guards to disregard the potential harm of their actions on the other student prisoners," the American Psychological Association reports. 

If people wear a uniform, hood, or mask, they feel more anonymous — and more comfortable with being cruel.

People can get more aggressive when they feel anonymous, Zimbardo continued.

When identities are concealed, violence increases. "You minimize social responsibility,"Zimbardo said. "Nobody knows who you are, so therefore you are not individually liable. There's also a group effect when all of you are masked. It provides a fear in other people because they can't see you, and you lose your humanity."

Anonymity also contributes to the viciousness of internet commenters, social scientists suggest. 

Alex Rodriguez lost $22.1 million in salary as a result of his year-long suspension. But that hasn't stopped him from being the highest-paid player in Major League history.

Thanks to a pair of contracts worth more than $250 million, Rodriguez has made more than $350 million in his career.

But A-Rod is not alone.

Let's take a look at the 25 players who have made at least $144 million in their careers.

25. Mike Mussina — $144,533,619

Seasons: 18

Highest single-season salary: $19.0 million

World Series Titles: 0

All-Star Games: 5

Cy Young Awards: 0

24. Pedro Martinez — $146,259,585

Seasons: 18

Highest single-season salary: $17.5 million

World Series Titles: 1

All-Star Games: 8

Cy Young Awards: 3

23. Carlos Delgado — $146,299,000

Seasons: 17

Highest single-season salary: $19.7 million

World Series Titles: 0

All-Star Games: 2

MVP Awards: 0

When Amazon first launched in 1995 as a website that only sold books, founder Jeff Bezos had a vision for the company's explosive growth and e-commerce domination.

He knew from the very beginning that he wanted Amazon to be "an everything store."

In an incredibly interesting book, author Brad Stone paints a picture of the early days of Amazon and how it grew into the behemoth that it is today.

SEE ALSO: 10 Amazon Features That You Probably Didn't Know Existed

"Amazon" wasn't the company's original name.

Jeff Bezos originally wanted to give the company the magical sounding name "Cadabra."

Amazon's first lawyer, Todd Tarbert, convinced him that the name sounded too similar to "Cadaver," especially over the phone.

Bezos also favored the name "Relentless." If you visit Relentless.com today, guess where it navigates to...

He finally chose "Amazon" because he liked that the company would be named after the largest river in the world, hence the company's original logo. 

In the early days of Amazon, a bell would ring in the office every time someone made a purchase, and everyone would gather around to see if they knew the customer.

It only took a few weeks before the bell was ringing so frequently that they had to turn it off.

Also, Amazon got started out of Bezos' garage and the servers that the company used required so much power that Bezos and his wife couldn't run a hair dryer or a vacuum in the house without blowing a fuse.

In the first month of its launch, Amazon had already sold books to people in all 50 states and in 45 different countries. 

Learn more about some of Amazon's first employees here. 

An obscure book about lichens saved Amazon from going bankrupt.

Book distributors required retailers to order ten books at a time, and Amazon didn't need that much inventory yet (or have that much money).

So, the team discovered a loophole. Although the distributors required that Amazon ordered ten books, the company didn't need to receive that many. So, they would order one book they needed, and nine copies of an obscure lichen book, which was always out of stock. 

Ten years ago, German photographer Holger Keifel was looking through a few boxing books when he noticed that, in each photo, the boxer was in a similar position: hands up, tough face, ready to fight. He felt there was something missing — who the boxers were outside the ring.

Keifel resolved to change that. Now, he has become known in boxing circles for having what may be the largest single collection of boxing portraits in the world, consisting of 400 portraits of fighters, promoters, trainers, cutmen, and announcers. Every portrait tries to reveal the inner life of his subject, from Mike Tyson to Joe Frazier to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Keifel shared some photos from his boxing project with us here, and you can see more in his book, "Box: The Face of Boxing." The National Portrait Gallery also recently acquired two of Keifel’s portraits.

Despite Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s tough reputation, Keifel says the boxer is a nice guy once he's done "selling" himself and the cameras are off.It took Keifel two and a half years to get Luis Collazo in the studio. When Keifel asked for the portrait, Collazo had just been injured in a loss to Shane Mosley. Keifel decided to wait because he "wanted to make him look good."Ukrainian boxer and current heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko has spoken out often about the current unrest in his home country. His brother Vitali, also a boxer, is the leader of the opposition in Ukraine.Arthur Abraham's nickname is King Arthur. When Keifel took this photo, Abraham had just arrived in America to promote the Super Six World Boxing Classic. He was wearing the crown and jacket.Considered one of the finest defensive boxers of all time, James Toney tried his hand at mixed-martial arts in 2010 at the age of 42. He lost his one and only match in under 4 minutes.Keifel calls Bernard Hopkins "the quintessential old-school boxer." He took this shot after a press conference in New York.Nicknamed "the Golden Boy," Oscar De La Hoya retired in 2012, after losses to both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.Keifel had to stand on a milk crate to photograph the 7-feet 1 inch tall Nikolai Valuev."The Italian Dragon" Joe Calzaghe retired in 2009 with an undefeated record and as a reigning world champion.Mike Tyson was not easy to get in front of the camera, Keifel told MaxBoxing. In order to convince Tyson that it was worthwhile, Keifel talked to Gene Kilroy, Muhammad Ali's business manager in the 1970s, who set it up. This was taken at the Luxor in Las Vegas.Lennox Lewis is ranked as the number one pound-for-pound British boxer of all time.One of the most well-known boxers of all time, Evander Holyfield will likely be most remembered for when Mike Tyson bit off a piece of his ear during a rematch.Larry Holmes made 20 successful title defenses, second only to Joe Louis.Keifel got this shot of Joe Frazier in 2003, eight years before the boxing great died. "You don't have to tell him what to do," Keifel says of Frazier. "He had an incredible life story and it was all written in his face."After seeing this shot of himself, Jake LaMotta told a journalist, "It's an ugly picture of me, but I like it because it makes me look tough."After initially refusing, Don King eventually let Keifel photograph him three times. It was only after seeing Keifel's work that King warmed up to him.

SEE ALSO: If Vladimir Putin And Vitali Klitschko Got Into A Fight, Here's Who Would Win

Join the conversation about this story »

Getting married is so exciting and wonderful…and stressful….and expensive — are we starting to sound like your father?

After all, saying “I do” to your significant other also means saying yes to a reception hall, a caterer, and half-a-trillion other details like flowers, place settings, you name it.

While the wedding will certainly be one of the happiest moments of your life, after all that you’ll deserve an epic honeymoon that will kick off your married bliss — and won’t run you straight through your savings.

Whether you’re looking for a getaway where you can get more bang for your buck, or are willing to sacrifice a few bells and whistles in the hotel amenities department in order to visit some of the world’s hottest honeymoon destinations, we’ve got ten great spots for you (and your wallet).

10. Cambria, CA: Cambria Pines Lodge

Located halfway between L.A. and San Francisco, Cambria is an excellent choice for couples looking for an inexpensive West Coast honeymoon. And the Cambria Pines Lodge, off scenic Highway 1, offers a solid value with homey rooms amid lovely, relaxing grounds and hiking trails. Standard Rooms are a tad basic and have outdated technologies, but upper-level rooms and suites have gas fireplaces, mini-fridges, microwaves, and decks or private patios. The hotel offers a small day spa, complete with an outdoor heated pool and whirlpool, a solid restaurant with outdoor seating, and a lounge with daily live music.

9. Yosemite National Park: Wawona Hotel

Yosemite National Park offers romantic stays on a budget — coupled with outdoor adventure and historical significance for couples seeking a nontraditional getaway. The Wawona, for example, is not only one of the oldest mountain resorts in California, but it’s also a National Historic Landmark. Located between the Mariposa Groves and tourist hot spot Yosemite Valley, the hotel occupies its own patch of secluded streams and forest. The Victorian-style property was built in 1876 and is filled with classic period pieces, portraits, patterned walllpaper, and genuine antiques.

8. Riviera Maya: Hotel B Cozumel

For a Mexican getaway, Cozumel offers couples a great opportunity for a relaxed, budget-friendly honeymoon. With rates under $100 per night, Hotel B nonetheless offers a lounge-y beach, spacious rooms with great amenities, a gorgeous infinity-edge pool, a hopping bar with great mojitos, and yoga classes several times a week. Everything here is trendy, but that doesn’t come at the cost of sustainability, social responsibility, or local culture — the property is decorated top to bottom with traditional Mexican touches plus a contemporary twist; crafts made by Mexican artisans are scattered throughout. Add this to great rates and a fabulous restaurant, and you’ve got a resort that’s a very attractive alternative to the dozens of all-inclusive properties lining this part of the island.

In most western nations, goods are transported on trains, ships, and trucks.

But in areas where those vehicles are less available, people and goods move from place to place by some rather creative means.

These photos reveal how people from all over the world use bikes, carts, boats, and animals in amazing ways to get themselves and their stuff where they need to go.

These folks and some livestock in the Central African Republic have taken hitchhiking to a whole new level.

This Pakistani man is taking a lot of good to the market at once.

Farmers in Cuba ride a top of a wagon carrying animal feed.

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.

These women prove that motherhood is no longer a barrier to achieving greatness.

Working Mother magazine has named the Most Powerful Moms of 2014, selected from the spheres of business, technology, politics, philanthropy, and news and entertainment.

These women are leading nations, managing billion-dollar companies, and influencing the global conversation, in addition to doing the most important work of all — raising the next generation.

From Melinda Gates to Queen Bey, here's a look at some of the moms who are shaping our world, selected by Working Mother.

Christiane Amanpour

Chief International Correspondent, CNN  
Children: One

British-Iranian Amanpour is one of the world's most highly respected and awarded journalists. She has covered war zones, campaigned to free captive journalists, and interviewed countless world leaders. She's also taken on the challenge of becoming a mother and has one son.

Mary Barra

CEO, General Motors
Children: Two 

The GM veteran is not only one of the world's most powerful women in business, she's also a mom of two teenagers, ages 15 and 17. After working at the car giant for 33 years, Barra stepped into the CEO role in January and has since been dealing with a scandal that led to the recall of 2.6 million cars. She has a degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Beyonce

Singer, Actress, Mogul
Children: One 

With hubby and fellow music mogul Jay Z, Queen Bey is mom to 2-year-old Blue Ivy. Motherhood hasn't slowed her down. The Grammy-winner's latest album, "Beyoncé," sold half a million copies in the first 24 hours of its release. What's more, she just wrapped her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, earning $188.6 million.

Along with top-grossing animated picture "Frozen,""Thor: The Dark World" just helped Disney have its best quarter at the company ever. 

The film has made more than $644.8 million worldwide and continues 

If you've seen the sequel, you know it's filled with visual effects.

It took a series of VFX companies — Blur Studio, The Third Floor, Luma Pictures, Method Studios, and Double Negative— to bring the film to life. 

Many of the studios have released videosbreaking down exactly how the movie was made.

A lot of blue and green doubles for everything from Thor's beautiful home of Asgard to big-action sequences.

London was perfectly safe ...

... when it looked like a ship was tearing it apart.

A lot of the film's dark scenes ...

The top of the U.S. luxury market has been on a tear. 

Last month, a Greenwich, Conn. estate sold for $120 million, making it one of the most expensive residential properties ever sold in the U.S. 

Then over the weekend, that record was smashed by the sale of a $147 million compound on Further Lane in East Hampton to hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein.

See how all these recent sales stack up.

#11 The penthouse of New York's (unfinished) One57 skyscraper sold for $90 million.

The penthouse at the top of the under-construction One57 sold in May of 2012, reportedly to a group led by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman. The still-to-be-completed pad sounds incredible, with almost 11,000 square feet, over two floors and access to the building’s amenities, including a 65-foot pool with Central Park views, a library, theater, and gym.

Photo: Courtesy of Extell Development Company

#10 A historic Bel Air estate was scooped up for $94 million.

Way back in 2000, financier Gary Winnick bought this gorgeous 1930s mansion from tycoon David Murdoch for $94 million (around $129 million today). Winnick had previously purchased the estate in 1979 for $12.4 million. The main house is over 28,000 square feet, with seven bedrooms, a 15-car garage, full-sized basketball court, and a putting green.

Though the home is technically off the market, it’s rumored to be quietly for sale for $225 million.

Photo: Calisphere via UC Libraries

#9 Donald Trump's Palm Beach Estate sold for $95 million.

Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev scooped up Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate in 2008. The 69,000-square-foot home has a 50-car garage and 475 feet of oceanfront property. It is rumored that Rybolovlev has plans to level the home and rebuild despite having only entered the property a few times since his purchase.

California has the world's most popular beaches, according to data from Pinterest's new Place Pins product.

Australia also had multiple sandy stretches in the top 10 ranking.

The visual discovery site introduced Place Pins — which let users mark their favorite places with images on a map — less than six months ago, but already has nearly one billion pins on over 100,000 Place Boards. 

Pinterest mined these pins to count up the beaches that were most frequently added to people's wish list and travel-plan boards all over the globe.

10. Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, is famous for its Ocean Front Walk, where fortune tellers and musicians perform alongside artists and vendors selling all types of food and crafts.

Source: Pinterest

9. El Matador State Beach in Malibu, California, sits at the bottom of steep cliffs and has a handful of sea caves by the water.

Source: Pinterest

8. Lanikai Beach on the east coast of Oahu, Hawaii, is an optimal place to watch the moon rise over the Mokuluas, the twin islands visible from the beach.

Source: Pinterest