Just one year ago, The Guardian reported the first leak based on top-secret documents that then-29-year-old Edward Snowden stole from the National Security Agency (NSA). At the time, Snowden worked as an intelligence contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii.

It would not be the last leak based on documents Snowden took.

Snowden allegedly downloaded up to 1.5 million files before jetting from Hawaii to Hong Kong to meet with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. After he handed off his treasure-trove of documents, he flew from Hong Kong and later became stranded in Moscow. His future was far from certain as the journalists he trusted started revealing his secrets.

Here is everything that Snowden's leaks have revealed so far:

• With a top-secret court order, the NSA collected the telephone records from millions of Verizon customers. — June 5, 2013

• The NSA accessed and collected data through backdoors into U.S. internet companies, such as Google and Facebook, with a program called Prism. — June 6, 2013

• An 18-page presidential memo shows Obama ordering intelligence officials to draw up a list of overseas targets for cyber attacks. — June 7, 2013

• Documents reveal the NSA's Boundless Informant program, which gives the agency near real-time ability to understand how much intelligence coverage there is on certain areas through use of a "heat map."— June 8, 2013

• The NSA was hacking computers in Hong Kong and mainland China, little of which were military systems. — June 13, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ (its intelligence agency) intercepted phone and internet communications of foreign politicians attending two G20 meetings in London in 2009.  — June 16, 2013

• Top-secret procedures show steps the NSA must take to target and collect data from "non-U.S. persons" and how it must minimize data collected on U.S. citizens. — June 20, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ taps fiber-optic cables to collect and store global email messages, Facebook posts, internet histories and calls, and then shares the data with the NSA. — June 21, 2013

• The NSA has a program codenamed EvilOlive that collects and stores large quantities of Americans' internet metadata, which contains only certain information about online content. Email metadata, for example, reveals sender and recipient address and time but not content or subject. — June 27, 2013

• Until 2011, the Obama administration permitted the NSA's continued collection of vast amounts of Americans' email and internet metadata under a Bush-era program called Stellar Wind. — June 27, 2013

• The U.S. government bugged the offices of the European Union in New York, Washington, D.C., and Brussels. — June 29, 2013

• The U.S. government spies on at least 38 foreign embassies and missions, using a variety of electronic surveillance methods. — June 30, 2013

• The NSA spies on millions of phone calls, emails, and text messages of ordinary German citizens. — June 30, 2013

• Using a program called Fairview, the NSA intercepts internet and phone call data of Brazilian citizens. — July 6, 2013

• Monitoring stations set up in Australia and New Zealand help feed data back to NSA's XKeyscore program. — July 6, 2013

• The NSA conducts surveillance on citizens in a number of Latin American countries, including Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and others. The agency also sought information on oil, energy, and trade. — July 9, 2013

• The Washington Post publishes a new slide detailing NSA's "Upstream" program of collecting communications from tech companies through fiber-optic cables to then feed into its Prism database. — July 10, 2013

• Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) help contribute data to the NSA's XKeyscore program. — July 20, 2013

• NSA analysts, using the  XKeyscore program, can search through enormous databases of emails, online chats, and browsing histories of targets. — July 31, 2013

• The U.S. government paid Britain's GCHQ roughly $155 million over three years to gain access and influence over its spying programs. — Aug. 1, 2013

• Seven of the world's leading telecommunications companies provide GCHQ with secret, unlimited access to their network of undersea cables. — Aug. 2, 2013

• The NSA provided surveillance to U.S. diplomats in order to give them the upper hand in negotiations at the U.N. Summit of the Americas. — Aug. 2, 2013

• The NSA sifts through vast amounts of Americans' email and text communications going in and out of the country. — Aug. 8, 2013

• Internal NSA document reveals an agency "loophole" that allows a secret backdoor for the agency to search its databases for U.S. citizens' email and phone calls without a warrant. — Aug. 9, 2013

• NSA collection on Japan is reportedly maintained at the same priority as France and Germany. — Aug. 12, 2013

• The NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, according to an internal audit. — Aug. 15, 2013

• NSA analysts revealed to have sometimes spied on love interests, with the practice common enough to have coined the term LOVEINT, or love intercepts. (It was unclear whether this report came from Snowden docs.) — Aug. 23, 2013

• Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept emails, telephone calls, and web traffic, The Independent reports, citing Snowden documents. Snowden denies giving the paper any documents, alleging the U.K. government leaked them in an attempt to discredit him. — Aug. 23, 2013

• The top-secret U.S. intelligence "black budget" is revealed for 2013, with 16 spy agencies having a budget of $52.6 billion. — Aug 29, 2013

• Expanding upon data gleaned from the "black budget," the NSA is found to be paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year to U.S. companies for access to their networks. — Aug. 29, 2013

• The U.S. carried out 231 offensive cyber-attacks in 2011. — Aug. 30, 2013

• The NSA hacked into Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera's internal communications system. — Aug. 31, 2013

• The NSA spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (then a candidate).— Sept. 1, 2013

• Using a "man-in-the-middle" attack, NSA spied on Google, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), and Brazilian oil company Petrobras. — Sept. 2, 2013

• A U.S. intelligence "black budget" reveals Al Qaeda's effort to jam, hack, and/or shoot down U.S. surveillance drones. — Sept. 3, 2013

• A joint investigation by ProPublica, The New York Times, and The Guardian finds the NSA is winning its war against internet encryption with supercomputers, technical know-how, and court orders. — Sept. 5, 2013

• The NSA has the ability to access user data for most major smartphones on the market, including Apple iPhones, Blackberries, and Google Android phones. — Sept. 7, 2013

• The NSA shares raw intelligence data (minus information about American citizens) to Israel with an information-sharing agreement. — Sept. 11, 2013

• The NSA monitors banks and credit institutions for a comprehensive database that can track the global flow of money. — Sept. 16, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ launched a cyberattack against Belgacom, a partly state-owned Belgian telecommunications company. — Sept. 20, 2013

• The NSA spies on Indian diplomats and other officials in an effort to gain insight into the country's nuclear and space programs. — Sept. 23, 2013

• The NSA's internal "wiki" website characterizes political and legal opposition to drone attacks as part of "propaganda campaigns" from America's "adversaries."— Sept. 25, 2013

• Since 2010, the NSA has used metadata augmented with other data from public, commercial, and other sources to create sophisticated graphs that map Americans' social connections — Sept. 28, 2013

• The NSA stores a massive amount of internet metadata from internet users, regardless of whether they are being targeted, for up to one year in a database called Marina. — Sept. 30, 2013

• The NSA and GCHQ worked together to compromise the anonymous web browsing Tor network. — Oct. 4, 2013

• Canada's signals intelligence agency (CSEC) spied on phone and computer networks of Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy and shared the information with the "Five Eyes" intelligence services of the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. — Oct. 7, 2013

• The NSA collected more than 250 million email contact lists from services such as Yahoo and Gmail. — Oct. 14, 2013

• NSA surveillance was revealed to play a key role in targeting for overseas drone strikes. — Oct. 16, 2013

• The NSA spied on French citizens, companies, and diplomats, and monitored communications at France's embassy in Washington, D.C. and its U.N. office in New York. — Oct. 21, 2013

• The NSA tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. — Oct. 23, 2013

• The NSA monitored the phone calls of 35 world leaders and encouraged other government agencies to share their "rolodexes" of foreign politicians so it could monitor them. — Oct. 24, 2013

• The NSA spied on Italian citizens, companies, and government officials. — Oct. 24, 2013

• The NSA spied on Spanish leaders and citizens. — Oct. 25, 2013

• The NSA stations surveillance teams at 80 U.S. embassies around the world. — Oct. 27, 2013

• A joint program between the NSA and Britain's GCHQ called Muscular infiltrates and copies data flowing out of Yahoo and Google's overseas data centers. One slide boasted of "SSL added and removed here!" with a smiley face.— Oct. 30, 2013

• The NSA spied on the Vatican (the Panorama website did not cite Snowden as the source). — Oct. 30, 2013

One slide boasted of "SSL added and removed here!" with a smiley face

• Australia's intelligence service has surveillance teams stationed in Australian embassies around Asia and the Pacific. — Oct. 31, 2013

• One document reveals tech companies play a key role in NSA intelligence reports and data collection. — Nov. 1, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ and other European spy agencies work together to conduct mass surveillance. — Nov. 1, 2013

• Strategic missions of the NSA are revealed, which include combatting terrorism and nuclear proliferation, as well as pursuing U.S. diplomatic and economic advantage. — Nov. 2, 2013

• Australia's Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) and the NSA worked together to spy on Indonesia during a U.N. climate change conference in 2007. — Nov. 2, 2013

• The NSA spied on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). — Nov. 11, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ monitored the booking systems of 350 high-end hotels with a program called Royal Concierge, which sniffed for booking confirmations sent to diplomatic email addresses, which would be flagged for further surveillance. — Nov. 17, 2013

• Australia's DSD spied on the cell phones of top Indonesian officials, including the president, first lady, and several cabinet ministers. — Nov. 17, 2013

• The NSA spied on millions of cellphone calls in Norway in one 30-day period. — Nov. 19, 2013

• The British government struck a secret deal to share phone, internet, and email records of U.K. citizens with the NSA. — Nov. 20, 2013

• A NSA strategy document reveals the agency's goal to acquire data from "anyone, anytime, anywhere" and expand its already broad legal powers. — Nov. 22, 2013

• The NSA infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide with malware designed to steal sensitive information. — Nov. 23, 2013

• The NSA gathers evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a plan to discredit Muslim jihadists. — Nov. 26, 2013

• Working with Canadian intelligence, the NSA spied on foreign diplomats at the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto in 2010. — Nov. 28, 2013

• Netherlands' intelligence service gathers data on web forum users and shares it with the NSA. — Nov. 30, 2013

• A draft document reveals Australia offered to share information collected on ordinary Australian citizens with the NSA and other "Five Eyes" partners. — Dec. 1, 2013

• The NSA siphons billions of foreign cellphone location records into its database. — Dec. 4, 2013

• Widespread spying is revealed in Italy, with the NSA spying on ordinary Italians, as well as diplomats and political leaders. — Dec. 5, 2013

• Swedish intelligence was revealed to be spying on Russian leaders, then passing it on to the NSA. — Dec. 5, 2013

• A document reveals the extent of the relationship between NSA and Canadian counterparts, which includes information-sharing and Canada allowing NSA analysts access to covert sites it sets up. — Dec. 9, 2013

• Intelligence operatives with NSA and GCHQ infiltrate online video games such as "World of Warcraft" in an effort to catch and stop terrorist plots. — Dec. 9, 2013

• Piggybacking on online "cookies" acquired by Google that advertisers use to track consumer preferences, the NSA is able to locate new targets for hacking. — Dec. 10, 2013

• The NSA has the ability to decrypt the common A5/1 cellphone encryption cipher. — Dec. 13, 2013

• The NSA secretly paid computer security firm RSA $10 million to implement a "back door" into its encryption. — Dec. 20, 2013

• A document reveals how Britain's GCHQ spied on Germany, Israel, the European Union, and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) — Dec. 20, 2013

• With a $79.7 million research program, the NSA is working on a quantum computer that would be able to crack most types of encryption. — Jan. 2, 2014

• Using radio transmitters on tiny circuit boards or USB drives, the NSA can gain access to computers not connected to the internet. — Jan. 14, 2014

• The NSA scoops "pretty much everything it can" in untargeted collection of foreign text messages for its Dishfire database. — Jan. 16, 2014

• The NSA scoops up personal data mined from smartphone apps such as "Angry Birds."— Jan. 27, 2014

• A program called Squeaky Dolphin by Britain's GCHQ monitors YouTube, Facebook, and Blogger for "broad real-time monitoring of online activity."— Jan. 27, 2014

The NSA scoops "pretty much everything it can" in untargeted collection of foreign text messages

• The NSA spied on negotiators during the 2009 U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. — Jan. 29, 2014

• Canada's CSEC (the country's national cryptologic agency) tested a pilot program with the NSA that captured metadata from users who had logged into free airport WiFi. — Jan. 30, 2014

• Britain's GCHQ waged war on hacker groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, mounting Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks and infiltrating their chat rooms. — Feb. 4, 2014

• The NSA reportedly monitored former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the run-up to the Iraq war. — Feb. 5, 2014

• Britain's GCHQ used "dirty tricks" such as computer viruses and sexual "honey pots" to target adversaries. — Feb. 7, 2014

• The U.S.'s "targeted killing" program of drone strikes relies mostly on cellphone metadata and geolocation, rather than on-the-ground human intelligence. — Feb. 10, 2014

• An American law firm was monitored by the Australian Signals Directorate while representing the government of Indonesia during a trade dispute. — Feb. 15, 2014

• The NSA and Britain's GCHQ reportedly monitored traffic to the Wikileaks website and considered a move to monitor communications going to or from Wikileaks and the Pirate Bay. — Feb. 18, 2014

• Britain's GCHQ conducts covert operations to disrupt and shape online discourse. — Feb. 24, 2014

• Britain's GCHQ, using a program called Optic Nerve, intercepted and stored webcam images from millions of Yahoo users, then passed them on to the NSA's XKeyscore database. — Feb. 27, 2014

• The NSA shared intelligence that helped the Dutch navy capture a ship hijacked by pirates off Somalia, and the Netherlands regularly shares information with the NSA regarding Somalia and Afghanistan. — March 5, 2014

• The NSA has an advice columnist similar to "Dear Abby" who writes an "Ask Zelda!" column distributed on the agency's internal network. — March 7, 2014

• NSA developed sophisticated malware "implants" to infect millions of computers worldwide. In one example, the NSA posed as a fake Facebook server to infect a target's computer and steal files. — March 12, 2014

• Document reveals that, while many foreign governments share information with NSA, few senior officials outside of the intelligence or defense sphere have any knowledge of it. — March 13, 2014

• The NSA built a system capable of recording "100%" of a foreign country's telephone calls with a voice intercept program called Mystic. The Washington Post did not name the countries where the program was used. — March 18, 2014

• The NSA specifically targets foreign systems administrators in order to gain access to their networks. — March 20, 2014

• The NSA closely monitored Chinese technology firm Huawei in attempt to reveal ties between the company and the Chinese military. The agency also spied on Chinese banks and other companies, as well as former President Hu Jintao. — March 22, 2014

• Malaysia's political leadership is a high-priority intelligence target for the U.S. and Australia — March 30, 2014

• NSA and Britain's GCHQ discussed various methods of deception, use of propaganda, mass messaging, and pushing stories on social media sites — April 4, 2014

• The Norwegian Intelligence Service is developing a super computer, called Steel Winter, to decrypt and analyze data from Afghanistan, Russia, and elsewhere. — April 26, 2013

• Britain's GCHQ asked the NSA for "unsupervised access" to the NSA's vast databases. It was unclear whether the request was granted. — April 30, 2014

• The NSA physically intercepts routers, servers, and other computer networking equipment before it's exported outside the U.S., implants "back door" surveillance tools, then repackages them with a factory seal and ships them out. — May 13, 2014

• The NSA is intercepting, recording, and archiving virtually every cellphone call in the Bahamas and one other country, which The Intercept redacts. It also reveals metadata collection on Mexico, Kenya, and the Philippines  — May 19, 2014

• After giving journalist Glenn Greenwald a 72-hour warning to reveal the nation redacted from his previous report on mass surveillance of an entire country, Wikileaks reveals the country in question is Afghanistan. — May 23, 2014

• The NSA harvests millions of faces from web images for use in a previously undisclosed facial recognition database — May 31, 2014

Author's note: I've tried my best to be thorough in sifting through the hundreds of leaks that have come to light thus far. I have not included Snowden's movements, legal situation, or any of the political drama surrounding the leaks. This timeline only shows the many reports stemming from documents the 30-year-old ex-NSA contractor handed over to journalists.

If I have missed any leaks in the hundreds of news stories on these items, that mistake is mine alone.

This post relied upon a similar timeline from Al Jazeera America, as well as a catalog at Lawfare Blog, and an article at the National Journal.

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Old photos are a great way to look back on days gone by. But what if it was possible to recreate some of your most nostalgic moments later in life?

This is what Argentinian photographer Irina Werning tried to do with her photo series "Back to the Future." Werning's series captures adults returning to the same poses, places, and even outfits from their vintage childhood photographs.

When Werning's photos first hit the internet a few years back they went viral, and now she's returned with more for an upcoming book, which is available to order on her website. She shared some of these photos with us below.

"I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. I like to imagine how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today …" Werning writes on her website. "Back to the Future" took her to 32 countries over four years.Werning's images are incredibly precise replicas of the original prints.That's right down to the clothing. Though in some cases, there's not much clothing involved.The subjects of Werning's photographs even share the same facial expressions as their younger counterparts.The British band Riff Raff posed for Werning. Here they are  in 1976 and 2011.This guy's mustache got significantly more bushy.Werning's photos show that as much as things change over the years, some things do remain the same.The limited edition hardcover book is available on her website.

SEE ALSO: Here's What People Would Look Like If Their Faces Were Symmetrical

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Mario Balotelli, the 23-year-old striker who will lead Italy into the 2014 World Cup, has been one of the great joys of following soccer in recent years.

He has provided moments of pure genius on the field, and moments of pure entertainment off of it.

Whether it's burning down his bathroom with a firework, camouflaging his Bentley, or holding a private audience with the Pope, Balotelli never seems to be too far from the gossip pages.

He's also a big spender, with a bunch of cars and a life-sized statue of himself.

He makes ~$7 million per year in salary at AC Milan.

Source: The Guardian

He also makes big money off the field with an endorsement deal with Puma.

He wore cleats covered in his own newspaper headlines when Nike, Adidas, and Puma were all bidding for his signature in 2013.

Read more about the stunt >

The cocktails of yesteryear were strong, delicious, and all-around classy.

NeoMan Studios, a design agency, created an awesome infographic of some of the best retro cocktails that are worth bringing back, from A to Z. They also gave a history of when these drinks were popular and fun facts about each cocktail.

Some of them may be familiar to anyone who's ever frequented a modern speakeasy, but others like the citrusy XYZ, boozy Yorsh (made with beer and vodka), or the complicated Common Market are definitely worth a sip.

SEE ALSO: The Weird Story Of How The Tom Collins Cocktail Was Named After A Lame 1800s Prank

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A beautiful smart home has hit the market in London, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nearly everything in this home can be controlled by tablet or smartphone, from the alarm system to built-in speakers.

This home doesn't sacrifice style for technology, however.

The owner told the WSJ hat her goal was to create "a cozy, relaxing and family-orientated environment, but with all the high-end appliances and furnishings synonymous with a prime London property."

It's listed with Savills for 16 million pounds, or $26.8 million. 

The 9,559-square-foot home is located on a large lot overlooking Hurlingham Park, in London's Fulham neighborhood. Even the front gates can be secured with a tablet or smartphone.

The house is one of only three properties in the park.

Inside, the home has gorgeous tile floors and a swooping staircase.

A logo can make or break it for a startup. It's the first thing that catches your eye in the App Store, on Twitter, and on a website.

When you're just getting off the ground, you need a logo that quickly and creatively portrays what your company does. There's this perfect balance between simple and artistic that will avoid being too corny while demonstrating a meaningful message.

In app download stores logos are crucial for helping new users figure out who you are and what your app does.

The year is still young, but these particular startups have impressed us with their logos, showing a flair for the art.

ClaimAir's paper airplane works on two levels: The app is about streamlining airline paperwork.

ClaimAir guides you through the process of getting compensated for flight troubles. You explain the inconveniences you experienced on a flight, and then the app will help you determine your claims and get compensation.

TizU turns your text message into a ticking bomb.

TizU is trying to put a new, fun spin on the messaging app trend. The idea is that you send a message, but delay it until a certain date so the receiver can see that there is a message for them, but can't read it yet.

Just in Case's logo consists mostly of negative space.

This unique startup secures your personal information so that if you suddenly pass away your family can access it. Just in Case wants to create your digital legacy.

Sweetgreen is a fast-growing salad chain with some serious support from tech. 

In December, the chain received $22 million in funding from Revolution Growth, an investment fund from AOL cofounder Steve Case and fellow former AOL execs Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis.

Founded in 2007 by Georgetown grads Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru, the brand focuses on sourcing ingredients from local farms to create salads that are healthy, quick, and affordable.

Sweetgreen currently operates 27 locations on the East Coast, and it plans to open more soon. 

We recently visited a Sweetgreen restaurant in New York City to see if it lived up to the hype.

We visited the chain's brand-new location in Tribeca, which just opened in May.

By 1 p.m., the line to get food stretched down the block.

For the most part, the crowd seemed to be made up of young professionals on their lunch break.

Startup and Tech Mixer is not your typical, boring, grab-a-bunch-of-business-cards and make small talk networking function.

Held on three floors at San Francisco's W Hotel, the barely year-old event is part conference with a dash of networking, an exhibition for new startups, with lots of alcohol thrown in. And, it's also a lot of fun.

"It's important to create an all-inclusive vibe," said Ari Kalfayan, who helped start the mixer a year ago with a few friends, having just 75 people showing up to the first event.

Now the event has certainly grown up, with Kalfayan telling Business Insider that the mixer on Friday hosted roughly 4,500 attendees, all mingling between speakers, bars, games, and yes, even a bounce house.

Just a short walk from Business Insider's West Coast offices is the W Hotel in the South of Market (SoMa) area.

It's in a pretty nice spot, right across the street from the Museum of Modern Art.

After a quick check-in and ticket scan — no paper here, it's EventBrite QR codes — we're in. Here's what people could expect.

As graduation time continues across our fine land, and hordes of ambitious young adults board the bus to reality armed with nothing more than framed diplomas and student debt, it's only natural we highlight those celebrities who've made millions without so much as a BA or GED.

Now, we're not advising future alumni close their books and seek fortune in Hollywood.

But through a combination of luck, good looks and/or truly singular vision, these 14 auteurs (tutored kid stars need not apply) found success sans academic follow-through. Draw your own conclusions.

Celebrities who never graduated >

More From Rolling Stone:

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James Cameron didn't make it past his freshman year.

Jim Carrey left school to care for his ailing mother.

Last Place of Education: Aldershot High School (Burlington, Ontario)

How Long Did He Last? Freshman year

Reason for Ditching: Carrey's family struggled financially, eventually living in a farmhouse where his dad worked as a security guard. When his mother fell ill, the future superstar left school to tend to her, focusing on comedy in part as a means of making her laugh.

How'd That Work Out? The head start in showbiz didn't hurt. By 28, he was a breakout regular on sketch-comedy show "In Living Color," hitting real paydirt in 1994 with the unexpected success of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." Over the ensuing two decades, he's earned hundreds of millions, leapfrogged from zany comedy ("The Mask,""The Cable Guy") to moving drama ("Truman Show,""Eternal Sunshine"). Although one didn't need an advanced degree to see that "The Number 23" was a bad calculation.

Claire Danes ditched Yale during her sophomore year.

Last Place of Education: Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut)

How Long Did She Last? Sophomore year

Reason for Ditching: While it's admirable that the "My So-Called Life" star attempted a "normal" college experience (or, as she put it, a stab at learning "how to hang the f--- out"), the two-year stay (during which she studied psychology and fine arts) was more respite than anything. In the "Homeland"Emmy winner's own words, "I realized it was more about gaining some distance from the business and divorcing myself from responsibility for a while."

How'd That Work Out? In addition to her lauded role as "Homeland's" bipolar CIA agent Carrie Mathison, she racked up more Emmy and Golden Globe victories for the title role in HBO's "Temple Grandin." Not that former "So-Called Life" love interest Jordan Catalano (aka School of Visual Arts grad Jared Leto) is doing too bad himself either/p>

The vast scale of China’s landmass and its population means that China produces and consumes copious amounts of natural resources and food.

It also means that China houses a large chunk of the world’s billionaires.

We dug around to find some interesting statistics. Did you know that China's railway lines could loop around earth twice?

Here are some interesting facts about the world's second-largest economy, which could soon eclipse the U.S. to become the world's largest this year.

Twenty million trees are cut every year to meet Chinese demand for chopsticks.

China goes through 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks a year. The chopsticks are 1cm-by-0.5 centimeters (cms) and 20 cms long and can cover Tiananmen Square over 360 times. The trees that are cut down are around 20 years old.

Source: South China Morning Post

China's railway lines could loop around Earth twice.

China's railway length, under operation, totals 93,000 kilometers. The Earth, meanwhile,  is 40,075 kilometers in circumference.

Source: BAML

China's coal reserves weigh as much as 575 million blue whales.

At 115 billion tons, China has the world's third-largest proven coal reserves. A blue whale, the largest animals to have lived, are believed to weigh 200 tons or more. China accounts for 46% of global coal production and 49% of global coal consumption.

Source: British Petroleum, Global Post

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant that's set to IPO in the U.S. later this year, sells some pretty weird stuff, including "barf bibs" and live leeches, but that didn't stop one woman from shopping around the site to find her dream wedding dress. 

Hermione Way, the founder of Way Media and former cast-member on Bravo's "Start-ups: Silicon Valley," decided to start browsing the site once she realized how much her July 19th wedding in Istanbul was going to cost. She knew that many of the gorgeous wedding dresses that she could get from U.S. stores were manufactured in China anyway, so she decided to go straight to the source through Alibaba. 

She wrote on her blog that although she had heard plenty of horror stories about people who had ordered dresses from the site, she'd also seen some rave reviews. She started searching around and found the "mermaid" style wedding dress of her dreams for a shockingly low price: $169. 

At a price-point like that, Way figured that ordering the dress couldn't hurt, even if it ended up being a disaster. She sent in her various measurements and a few pictures in January and the dress arrived in the mail six weeks later. Way says that it fits like a glove. 

"The site is an eye sore and sells a lot of crap, but now I get it," she told Business Insider.

The woman that she dealt with for her measurements was polite and quick to respond (she even addressed the letter to Hermione with "dear friend"), and the whole process felt seamless. It was like a breath of fresh air after so many experiences wading through crowded shopping malls to buy over-priced clothes that were manufactured abroad.

"I would definitely buy from Alibaba again," Way says. "It's all about experience and trust."

The two most popular Alibaba websites — Taobao and Tmall — are Chinese marketplaces and rather inaccessible if you don't know the language, but Alibaba.com is the company's English site for sales between importers and exporters in more than 240 countries.

Here's another shot of Way in her gorgeous wedding dress:

SEE ALSO: We Were Blown Away By The Miracle Berry That Let Us Down Shots Of Vinegar

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Some scientific discoveries come about after painstaking, goal-oriented lab work finally yields the result that a researcher is trying to find.

But frequently, some lucky accident leads to a transformative finding, provided the right person is there to realize the potential implications of that accident.

Then, in the part that isn't an accident, they turn that observation into something useful.

All of these discoveries began with an accident.

In some cases, a clumsy spill or drop led to the creation of some new substance. In others, unclean or unsafe lab practices revealed the hidden properties of something. And sometimes, a researcher (or even a schoolteacher) looked at something in the world around them and realized that it could be repurposed to great utility and frequently, great profit.

Here are 15 of those discoveries. 

The microwave

In 1945 Percy Spencer, an engineer for the Raytheon Corporation, was working on a radar-related project. While testing a new vacuum tube that drives a radar set known as a magnetron, he discovered that a chocolate bar he had in his pocket melted.

He became intrigued and started experimenting by aiming the tube at other items, such as eggs and popcorn kernels. He concluded that the heat the objects experienced was from the microwave energy.

Soon after, on October 8, 1945, Raytheon filed a patent for the first microwave.

The first microwave weighed 750 pounds and stood 5' 6" tall. The first countertop microwave was introduced in 1965 and cost $500.

Quinine

Quinine is an anti-malarial compound that originally comes from tree bark. Now we usually find it in tonic water, though it's still used in drugs that treat malaria as well.

Jesuit missionaries in South America used quinine to treat malaria as early as 1600, but legend has it that they heard that it could be used to treat the illness from the native Andean population.

The original story involved a feverish Indian, lost in the jungle and suffering from malaria. Parched, he drank from a pool of water at the base of a quina-quina tree. The water's bitter taste made him fear that he'd drank something that would make him sicker, but the opposite happened. His fever abated, and he was able to find his way home and share the story of the curative tree.

This story isn't as well documented as some others, and other accounts for the discovery of quinine's medicinal properties exist, but a life-saving tale of an accidental discovery like this is too cool to leave out.

X-rays

In 1895, a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen was working with a cathode ray tube.

Despite the fact that the tube was covered, he saw that a nearby fluorescent screen would glow when the tube was on and the room was dark. The rays were somehow illuminating the screen.

Roentgen tried to block the rays, but most things that he placed in front of them didn't seem to make a difference. When he placed his hand in front of the tube, he noticed he could see his bones in the image that was projected on the screen.

He replaced the tube with a photographic plate to capture the images, creating the first x-rays. The technology was soon adopted by medical institutions and research departments. 

Amazon has come out with its latest batch of editors' picks for summer beach reads. 

As usual, the books span genres, from military crime thrillers to a poignant story of two teens with cancer falling in love. There’s truly something for everyone on this list.

You won't be able to put these books down.

“All Fall Down: A Novel” by Jennifer Weiner: A poignant story that follows an ordinary woman who sinks into addiction, Allison struggles to be a wife, mother, and daughter while her dependence on prescription pills worsens beyond her control.

“And the Mountains Echoed” by Khaled Hosseini: From the author of "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" comes the tale of an Afghanistan family torn apart. After a father sells his daughter, she and her brother struggle for half a century to reunite across Kabul, Paris, San Francisco, and Greece.

“I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller” by Terry Hayes: This book tells the story of a former head of a secret U.S. government organization trying to stop a terrorist attack that is only all-too-believable in this day in age. It races across Paris, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Syria, and Turkey for a twisting, smart, and nail-biting chase.

“Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery” by Robert Kolker: The true-life search for a serial killer that targeted call girls on Long Island, this book explores the unsolved murders, the underbelly of the Internet, and gives empathetic and detailed portraits of the victims based on hundreds of hours of interviews with their family and friends. 

“My Salinger Year” by Joanna Rakoff: Rakoff’s beautifully written memoir recounts her post-graduate year in the late ‘90s working at a literary agency in New York that represented J.D. Salinger. After she starts responding to the author’s fan mail, she finds herself being drawn more into their devotion and discovers her own artistic voice by acting as Salinger’s.

“One Plus One: A Novel” by Jojo Moyes: Jess is a single parent struggling to take care of her 10-year-old daughter and her teenage stepson. But on their way to a Math Olympiad that could change her daughter’s future, Jess’s car breaks down. After a chance meeting, she is forced to rely on Ed, an ex-software engineer who has been accused of insider trading, to take them the rest of the way.

“One Summer: America, 1927” by Bill Bryson: 1927 was the year of Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic, the beginnings of Babe Ruth’s home run record, a sensational murder trial, a massive flood, and Al Capone tightening his grip on the illegal booze trade. This book captures the personalities and events of 1927. 

“The Blessings” by Elise Juska: The Blessings are a close-knit Irish Catholic family living in Philadelphia. Told from the perspectives of multiple family members, readers jump back and forth through the four generations of the extended family after the tragic death of one of its members rocks the large clan to its core.

“The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green: 16-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster is a three-year stage IV-cancer survivor. When she meets Augustus Waters in a cancer survivor support group, her perspective on life and all that she can accomplish changes dramatically. Prepare to laugh and cry as you read this bittersweet novel about their falling in love.

“The Lowland (Vintage Contemporaries)” by Jhumpa Lahiri: Two brothers living in Calcutta could not be more different: Udayan is idealistic and involved in India’s 1960s rebellion, whereas Subhash is cautious, reliable, and serious. But when Udayan dies due to political violence, Subhash steps in and marries his dead brother’s pregnant wife — an act that will reverberate through the family for the next 70 years.

"The Matchmaker” by Elin Hilderbrand: 48-year-old Dabney Kimball Beech is a matchmaker who has never been wrong about romance, except when it comes to herself. When reporter Clendenin Hughes returns to Nantucket after 27 years away, Dabney is forced to share some painful secrets with her husband and daughter, and try to find the perfect match for the ones she loves.

“The One & Only: A Novel” by Emily Giffin: Shea Rigsby loves football, and her career at a sports writer. But after the unexpected death of someone close to her, she starts questioning everything about her job, boyfriend, and friendships — even falling for an unexpected father figure in the process.

“The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel” by Erika Johansen: 19-year-old Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn sets out with her Queen’s Guard back to the castle of her birth to ascend the throne with the Tearling sapphire — a jewel of magical power. Though she is not alone in vying for the throne of Tearling, she must reclaim the kingdom to bring an end to the Red Queen’s dark magic and a vicious slave trade.

“The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra” by Helen Rappaport: Perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the 20th century, the Romanov sisters — Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia — had a tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918. This book looks at their diaries and letters to capture their young lives against the backdrop of Imperial Russia.

“The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair: A Novel” by Joël Dicker: Trying to save his career as an author, Marcus Goldman visits his literary hero Harry Quebert. But when the corpse of a girl who disappeared 33 years ago is discovered on Quebert’s property, he becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Goldman tasks himself with discovering what really happened that fateful summer of 1975.

“The Vacationers: A Novel” by Emma Straub: A two-week family vacation to Mallorca, Spain promises tapas and relaxation. Instead, the dysfunctional Post family and their friends bring along their secrets — all of which come to a head over the course of 14 days.

“Top Secret Twenty-One: A Stephanie Plum Novel” by Janet Evanovich: The next installment of the Stephanie Plum series, Plum is struggling to bring in a used-car dealer after he jumps bail, but bodies are mysteriously piling up in his wake. To make matters worse, her friend (sometimes with benefits) Ranger is the target of an assassination plot. 

“War of the Whales: A True Story” by J. Horwitz: A real-life thriller, this is the story of the legal drama that waged between the U.S. military and two activists who stood up to the U.S. Navy's use of a submarine detection system that flooded the ocean basins with high-intensity sound, driving whales in masses onto beaches. It’s a gripping story of the struggle between American national security and safeguarding our environment.

“We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart: Cadence Sinclair Easton is a part of an old-money family that spends every summer on a private island off of Cape Cod. But after Cadence mysteriously washes up on shore with amnesia, she spends the next two years and the course of the book trying to piece together what happened to her, her cousins, and her family. Even the most jaded readers will be shocked by the ending.

“Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel” by Diana Gabaldon: A new installment in the Outlander series, the novel jumps back and forth between 1778 and twentieth-century Scotland. Kidnappings, war, and family secrets rage on as the Fraser family struggles to pull itself back together.

To see additional Amazon picks for summer reading, click here.

SEE ALSO: Even More New Books You Need To Read This Summer

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Whether you want to learn about highly successful businesspeople or gain some practical career advice, there are a bunch of great new books to add to your summer reading list.

There are Wall Street stories like Michael Lewis' "Flash Boys," useful guides like "Talk Like TED," and memoirs from successful people, such as Twitter cofounder Biz Stone's "Things A Little Bird Told Me."

We've collected 20 of the most valuable and interesting business books released this year that can keep you busy on your next flight or trip to the beach.

"Think Like A Freak"

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, the authors of the hit "Freakonomics," return with a book that explains how to "think like a Freak" by approaching problems from angles nobody else has, and following these ideas through to their absurd ends.

As you pick up some useful problem-solving skills, you'll learn how Takeru Kobayashi became a hot dog eating champion, why Nigerian email scammers are smarter than you may think, and what exactly Biblical King Solomon and Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth have in common.

Buy it here >>

"The Obstacle Is the Way"

Ryan Holiday explains how a range of successful people, from Marcus Aurelius to Steve Jobs, practiced the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism when they turned obstacles into opportunities.

You'll learn things like why Thomas Edison's reaction to his factory burning down shows how there's only one logical response to tragedy, and how Alabama coach Nick Saban's "The Way" is a tactic you can use to confront overwhelming adversity.

Buy it here >>

"Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder"

In 2007, Arianna Huffington collapsed from exhaustion, cutting her eye and breaking her cheekbone. This moment taught her that even though she had achieved great success with her site The Huffington Post, none of it mattered if she couldn't take care of herself.

"Thrive" is an exploration of why true success comes not only from money and power, but from well-being. She cites the latest research in psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology to explain how leading a happier, healthier lifestyle can make you more successful.

Buy it here >>

Recently, we wrote about an experiment showing that most people can't taste the difference between cheap and expensive wine, and it got us thinking: What are the best inexpensive wines?

So we asked an expert: Sommelier Jörn Kleinhans, the owner of the Wine Elite Sommelier Company.

"We've found that appreciation of wine usually comes with deeper knowledge, which you can gain when a specific wine is a good representation of its grape varietal," Kleinhans says. He explains that such a wine must marry varietal (that's categories like Cabernets, Pinot Noirs, and Rieslings) with a region in which it grows best. 

"The wines here are typical examples of their kind," he says. "If you buy one, that's great, and if you buy all of them, you basically have a box of all the important wine styles in the world."

Here, Kleinhans presents his top 10 wine picks for $16 and under, broken down by varietal and region. While they may be available in your local wine store, we've also provided links to where you can purchase them online.

1. Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

Such as: 2013 Giesen Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, $10.99

"This is perhaps the most drastic example of Sauvignon Blanc because it shows strong grapefruit, lemon, and grass notes, which is the clearest taste profile of this wine," says Kleinhans.

2. Riesling from Germany

Such as: 2009 S. A. Prum "Urziger Wurzgarten" Riesling Kabinett, $12.99

"Germany is where Riesling should belong," explains Kleinhans. "This wine has a sweetness, high aroma, and high acidity that you look for in every Riesling."

3. Chardonnay from Burgundy, France

Such as: 2011 Château de la Charrière Bourgogne Chardonnay Domaine Yves Girardin, $14.99

"This is the ultimate expression of a Burgundy," says Kleinhans. "It's clean, mineralic, and made to be consumed with food."

In an exhaustive new book titled "O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It," private investigator William C. Dear details his 18-year investigation of the June 12, 1994, murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Dear concludes that O.J. didn't kill his wife and her friend — but he did visit the scene of the crime shortly after it occurred — and that evidence suggests his son Jason (who was 24 at the time) did it in a rage killing.

Dear made a list of all potential suspects, visited the crime scene and other relevant places, conducted interviews, established a clear timeline of events, debunked alibis, collected evidence and generally aimed to subvert false assumptions made by the LAPD.

Dear's goal is that the information "will lead to the convening of a special grand jury, an arrest, and a conviction for these senseless murders."

To most of those who watched the famous "white Bronco" low-speed chase and trial after the killings in 1994, it will likely seem inconceivable that someone other than Simpson committed the murders, but Dear cites some compelling evidence to support his case. At the very least, it seems Jason Simpson should have been considered a suspect, which he never was.

(And if there is any conceivable explanation for OJ's bizarre behavior after the murders other than that he killed his wife, it is that he knew that his son had killed his wife and wanted to protect him.)

Importantly, this is not the first time Dear has investigated a murder. He used the same method to solve the murder of an Ohio man named Dean Milo, which resulted in 11 people (including Milo's brother) being sent to jail.

We've pulled out the biggest reasons why Dear considers OJ's son a major suspect.

Prior to the killings, OJ's son Jason was diagnosed with "intermittent rage disorder" (AKA Jekyll and Hyde syndrome) and was given the drug Depakote to control his rage and seizures

This content comes entirely from O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It and is published with permission from author William Dear. Business Insider cannot confirm his claims.

Jason abused alcohol, ecstasy and cocaine as early as age 14; police reports indicate that he was arrested at least four times (including DUI, driving with a suspended license and assault with a deadly weapon) while medical records reveal at least three suicide attempts

This content comes entirely from O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It and is published with permission from author William Dear. Business Insider cannot confirm his claims.

A note titled "Dear Jason" that described the writer as being three persons was identified by handwriting experts as being written by Jason Simpson; he also wrote about killing anyone who hurt his loved ones and how he felt like "Jekyll and Hyde" (in diaries obtained by Dear)

This content comes entirely from O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It and is published with permission from author William Dear. Business Insider cannot confirm his claims.

Imagine that one of New York City's many islands became abandoned, and you came back to see what it looked like 50 years later. It’s hard to visualize. However, the place would likely be overgrown with vegetation, and the buildings would be crumbling.

This is exactly what happened when photographer Christopher Payne visited North Brother Island, a 13-acre island between the Bronx and Riker’s Island that's been abandoned since 1963. After it became inhabited in 1885, North Brother housed a hospital to quarantine victims of contagious disease and later provided housing to World War II veterans. It also held a treatment center for teenage drug addicts.

At its peak, the island had the look of a manicured college campus, full of green spaces, sidewalks, roads, well-kept buildings, street lamps, and fire hydrants. Visit now, Payne says, and you’ll see an island that nature has reclaimed.

“I went there hoping to find the buildings completely intact, full of old artifacts just the way people left them, but what I found was ruins,” Payne told Business Insider. “It looked like it had been abandoned for a century.”

Payne has spent six years documenting the island’s changing nature. He's collected some of the work in a book, "North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City," and Payne has shared some photos from the project with us here.

North Brother Island has been virtually undisturbed by trespassers and left to decay naturally. This is due to the island's natural isolation and its lack of a working dock for boats to land on. In the 1970s, many Bronx kids partied on the island. But after a number of boats capsized in Hell Gate, the surrounding body of water, the city stepped up patrols. People left the island alone after that.

You can only get to North Brother by taking a small boat that lands directly on the shore.  Payne got permission to visit the island by promising to ferry New York City Parks Department employees — who manage the island — to North Brother so that they could carry out various maintenance tasks.

Since it was abandoned in the 1960s, the island has become a nature reserve. New York City is located directly on bird migration routes both north and south and, as one of the few remaining green spots near the city, it has become a natural stopping place for the birds. Nobody can visit from March to September, and only a few guests are allowed on the rest of the year.

The island's longest-running function was as a quarantine facility, so most of the buildings are of a medical nature. This is the Nurses' building, where the island's resident nurses lived. The island famously housed "Typhoid Mary" Mallon, the first carrier in the United States of Typhoid fever.

When Payne visited, he expected to find the interior of the buildings mostly intact and filled with artifacts. However, he found that almost everything had been cleared out of the buildings. This classroom in the male dormitory was one of the few rooms that had anything still in it. The books are mostly cast-offs from the Queens Public Library.

This is what the male dormitory looks like on the outside. Aside from the birds, there is no wildlife on the island. Not even rats can survive because there is no food.

The largest structure is the Tuberculosis Pavilion, the lobby of which is shown here. Payne says the pavilion is the only building that could be saved structurally if the city wanted to restore the island. While in operation, the pavilion housed a fully functional medical facility, complete with x-ray machines.

This is the balcony of the Tuberculosis Pavilion. Payne usually visited the island in either September or late November because it lags seasonally behind the rest of the Northeast. In September, the island is still overflowing with greenery and, in November and December, the leaves are still changing colors.

One of the most striking aspects of the island is how it changes throughout the year, Payne says. In summer, nature consumes the buildings. In winter, it all recedes and the island becomes barren. Payne took this photo of the coal house from the roof of the morgue in September.

This is a view of the boiler plant, also taken from the morgue roof. While it's hard to imagine, Payne says that all of the nature sits over a thin layer of dirt. Below it, one can still find the sidewalks, street lamps, fire hydrants, and streets that used to define the island.

North Brother Island was more or less self-sufficient when it was in operation. It had an industrial plant and a coal house to provide utilities to the buildings and an internal telephone system. This is the collapsing roof of the boiler plant, which provided heat to the island.

Nature has demolished most of the island's buildings, like this church. "At the rate they are going, the buildings are going to disappear," says Payne, who is also trained as an architect. "Most of the buildings are so far gone it would be difficult to salvage them."

Here is another view of the church. As you can see, only the facade still stands.

Payne says he learned this lesson from his many trips to the island: "When people leave, man-made structures break down and get replaced quickly by the natural order. No matter how hard we try, nature will always reassert itself."

SEE ALSO: Incredible Photos Show What Post-Apocalyptic America Might Look Like

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In the hills of Portola Valley, California, is the headquarters for Meta, a company that's trying to change the future and also, perhaps, the world. 

They're hoping to accomplish this feat by creating a pair of augmented-reality glasses that bring to life technology that seems to be taken straight out of the "Iron Man" movies.

Physical objects are rendered virtually, and those objects — be it a game or a document or even a keyboard — are all manipulated by your hands.

A team of fewer than 50 people lives on a 20-acre rented estate overlooking the wilderness above Silicon Valley.

It's something out of a movie, with a pool, a tennis court, and even pictures of Tony Stark of "Iron Man" fame adorning the walls. 

The team lives together on the estate, putting in 14-hour days, and then eating together and afterwards washing dishes together. All for the common goal of bringing to life a pair of glasses that can completely change the way we think of computing. 

Through these gates is a driveway that leads up to Meta's campus.

Portola Valley is a little bit west of Stanford University, which is about 30 miles south of San Francisco. The house is located about 15 minutes off the freeway, up a windy road.

Next door is the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, which oversees one of the largest collections of historical military vehicles in the world.

Affordability aside, America's costliest cities often have a lot to offer residents: Vibrant economies, diverse populations, interesting attractions and active social scenes.

But are those amenities worth such high living costs? "That's a highly subjective question," says Dean Frutiger, of the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). Costs alone cannot dictate the attractiveness of a place.

But knowing the numbers could help you make an informed decision about relocating to a pricey new city, he says. For example, a potential job may include a 20% raise if you move to a more expensive city, but given the higher living costs, that increase might actually be a pay cut in terms of purchasing power.

We identified ten pricey cities — five spots in California, four along the East Coast and one in Hawaii — using data on 308 urban areas collected by the C2ER. The organization's Cost of Living Index measures prices for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services. We screened out cities with fewer than 50,000 people. And because we wanted to pinpoint specific cities, we omitted expensive counties with multiple large population centers, such as Orange County, Cal., and Nassau County, N.Y.

More From Kiplinger:

• 10 Cheapest U.S. Cities to Live In
• 10 Best Cities for Singles
• Where the Millionaires Live in America

SEE ALSO: Here's The Salary You Have To Earn To Buy A Home In These 12 Major US Cities

10. San Diego

Cost of Living: 30.0% above U.S. average

City Population: 1.3 million

Median Household Income: $63,990 (U.S.: $53,046)

Median Home Value: $477,800 (U.S.: $181,400)

The sun, surf and sand might be free in San Diego, but you pay a stiff price to live there. Housing costs are more than double the national average in this Southern California city. And while typically high household incomes help offset inflated living costs, you may have to hustle to find work in the area. The local unemployment rate of 6.9% remains a bit worse than the national average of 6.8%, as of March 2014, though the labor situation has improved since 2013.

Military and government workers may fare best, with about one-fourth of all local jobs related to defense, according to the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. Besides the federal government, Northrop Grumman, SAIC and Lockheed Martin are major area employers.

9. Los Angeles

Cost of Living: 30.4% above U.S. average

City Population: 3.9 million

Median Household Income: $49,745

Median Home Value: $470,000

Despite its glamorous image, the City of Angels is cursed with a combination of high costs and low incomes. Proving the television show right, the 90210 zip code boasts a high median household income of $130,071, but it only accounts for 8,486 households. On the other hand, the city as a whole has a typical household income that's 6.6% below the national level, and the percentage of the population living in poverty is 21.2%, compared with 14.9% for the U.S. Another negative: The unemployment rate remains markedly high at 8.0% (as of March 2014, compared with 6.8% for the U.S.).

8. Oakland, California

Cost of Living: 36.1% above U.S. average

City Population: 400,740

Median Household Income: $51,683

Median Home Value: $449,800

California home values prove precious with a state median of $383,900, more than double the national median, and Oakland is no exception. Though the local median home value is the lowest of all the Californian cities on this list, housing expenses are 116.3% above the national average. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Oakland rents for $1,678 a month, compared with the national average of $893. That burden is particularly heavy considering that the typical household income falls below the U.S. median. On the bright side, utilities cost 4.5% below the national average.

Related: 7 Steps to Lower Your Property Tax Bill

Studying engineering can result in incredibly lucrative job offerings and salaries upon graduation.

In Silicon Valley, salaries for experienced engineers can start at $165,000 per year. The national average for a software developer is $89,000, according to data from 2013. A senior software engineer makes $98,000 a year, on average.

Some of the best engineering schools in the world serve as feeder programs for the best technology companies out there, like FacebookGoogle and Apple.

We also parsed LinkedIn to find the top tech employers, based on the companies with the greatest number of graduates employed per school.

50. Dartmouth University

Hanover, New Hampshire

Dartmouth's 270-acre campus in Hanover, New Hampshire, is both easy to get around and gives students a great quality of life.

The school's main library, Baker, is modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and boasts a fresco from Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco.

Top tech employers: Google, IB, Microsoft

Source: U.S. News & World Report

49. Colorado School of Mines

Golden, Colorado

Over at Colorado School of Mines, they know how to work hard and play hard. When students aren't studying, according to U.S. News, they're taking in the outdoors by hiking, rock climbing, and biking. 

Top tech employers: Intel, IBM

Source: U.S. News & World Report

48. Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut

Yale's 260-acre campus in urban New Haven, Connecticut, is known for its famous a cappella group the Whiffenpoofs, as well as its excellent programs in drama and music, according to U.S. News & Report.

The Ivy League institution was highly ranked for its library, and its Rare Book and Manuscript Library has a Gutenberg Bible on permanent display.

Top tech employers: Google, IBM, Microsoft

Source: U.S. News & World Report