New York City is known for its vast and intimidating food selection.

As part of its 2015 restaurant survey results, released Wednesday, Zagat created a list of the best restaurants in New York City for every type of cuisine.

Whether it's an authentic New York City deli or delicious Mexican food in Williamsburg, there's something here for everyone.

There were also a few repeats on the list this year, with Chinese restaurant RedFarm and Pearl Oyster Bar both making multiple appearances.

Food ratings are out of 30 on the Zagat scale.

AMERICAN: Gotham Bar & Grill

12 E. 12th St.

Food: 28

Since 1984, diners have been flocking to Gotham Bar & Grill for some of the best food in the city. The atmosphere is sophisticated with white tablecloths, outstanding service, and (of course) delicious food.

It might be pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for.

ASIAN: Asiate

80 Columbus Circle

Food: 26

In addition to its top-notch pan-Asian fare, Asiate is known for its flawless service and stunning decor.

It's on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel so it has stunning views of the surrounding NYC skyline, plus the prix fixe dinner is out of this world.

AUSTRIAN/GERMAN/SWISS: Wallsé

344 W. 11th St.

Food: 25

Wallsé is the flagship restaurant of Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner, serving modern Austrian fare and an excellent schnitzel.

Also, save room for their amazing desserts — the hot Salzburger Nockerl and the chocolatey Mozart Kugel are customer favorites.

Zagat has officially released its 2015 restaurant guide for New York City.

The honor of New York’s best restaurant went to Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin with a 29 out of 30 on Zagat’s food ranking. It also won for best service, and this is its 13th year as Zagat's #1 restaurant.

Zagat polled nearly 30,600 surveyors and covered more than 2,000 restaurants in its guide. That included 160 new openings and 613 restaurants with dinner for under $30, and 391 establishments with dinner for under $25.

Keep reading to see the best restaurants this year.

(Numbers indicate the restaurant’s ranking in the 2014 survey.)

Top Food

1 Le Bernardin | French/Seafood (1)

2 Bouley | French (2)

3 Jean Georges | French (6)

4. Gotham Bar & Grill | American (14)

5 Eleven Madison | French (5)

6 Daniel | French (4)

7 Sushi Yasuda | Japanese (8)

8 Gramercy Tavern | American (10)

9 Peter Luger | Steak (16)

10 La Grenouille | French (9)

Top Decor

1  Daniel (3) 

2  Asiate (1) 

3  Le Bernardin (7) 

4  La Grenouille (6) 

5  Eleven Madison Park(4) 

6  Bouley (8) 

7  Per Se (2) 

8  Four Seasons (5) 

9  Jean-Georges (14) 

10  Tao (10) 

Top Service

1 Le Bernardin (2)

2 Bouley (7)

3 Eleven Madison (3)

4 Daniel (4)

5 Jean-Georges (6)

6 La Grenouille (5)

7 Per Se (1)

8 Gramercy Tavern (8)

9 Gotham Bar & Grill (10)

10 Sea Fire Grill (-)

SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Restaurants In The World, According To Travelers

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"Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."

That's what Warren Buffett said back in 1998.

Gold has long been considered a safe-haven investment. However, the price of gold has performed dismally in recent years.

For those who don't trust the conventional financial markets, there are alternative more unorthodox ways to put away wealth.

We put together a list of some odd assets that have performed relatively well.

But be warned. These assets are very illiquid and there's no guarantee that their values won't plunge like gold before it.

Stamps

At a 2010 auction, bond guru Bill Gross declared that rare stamps are "better than the stock market." Gross has reportedly spent up to $100 million investing in stamps.

It is a lucrative hobby: The GB 30 Rarities Index, which tracks the performance of the collectibles market, rose 74% in the six years following the Great Recession as financial markets tumbled. 

Sources: MarketWatch, Stanley Gibbons Investment, Paul Fraser Collectibles

Guns and Ammo

The ability of guns and ammunition to store value makes them an appealing investment option. According to ammo.net, the price of Remington .223 rounds rose 224% from 1999 to 2011 – well above the rate of inflation. Gun sales spiked after president Obama's two election victories, in anticipation of more stringent gun control laws.

Aaron Clarey, an economist and author, notes: "While an arsenal of 600 guns is an impossible number of guns to even move, let alone use, having 'some' guns not only serves as a safety measure, but also an investment ... Ammo, is very much like coin or currency.  Holds value, has intrinsic value, will have value today and certain in a SHTF scenario." 

Source: Captain Capitalism 

Chinese Ceramics

China is a leading producer of ceramic art. The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index forecasts a 45% increase in their value over the next five years.

"As China was the world's premier producer of Ceramic Art for most of the past thousand years, people are mainly interested in pieces from that glorious period ending about 100 years ago,"notes Richard Mills, chief curator at Charle Associates. In April, a Ming dynasty porcelain cup with a painting of a rooster sold for $36 million in an auction. It was one of only 19 known to exist.

Sources: Charle Associates, Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index.

Greenlight Capital CEO David Einhorn gave two ideas on Monday at the Robin Hood Investors Conference.

One was a long position — in the solar company SunEdison. And the other was a long/short — long Greek banks, short French government debt.

We've got the full presentation for you here.

It starts off with Einhorn's long thesis on SunEdison (slide Nos. 1 to 37). It's the best-performing solar company of the year, and he thinks it can only get better. The stock currently trades at $19.22 per share, but he thinks it's worth $32 per share. 

At about slide 38, Einhorn sorts out some of the mess that is Europe, focusing on Greece first. He argues that the worst is behind the country. The hardest decisions about austerity and the country is now "living within its means." He recommends going long Greek banks — Alpha, Piraeus, NBG, and Eurobank.

France, on the other hand, is just starting to look ugly (that starts on slide 67). It's overbudget, suffers from high unemployment, and needs reform. Once the bond market realizes all of that, Einhorn says, it's time to short French government debt.

Einhorn Robin Hood Presentation

Einhorn Robin Hood Presentation

Sixty years ago, the first photovoltaic solar cells were used to make a toy Ferris Wheel turn.

Zagat has just unveiled its 2015 restaurant guide for New York, and Sushi Nakazawa is the city's best new restaurant.

Daisuke Nakazawa, the protégé of Jiro Ono (the subject of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"), opened his own West Village sushi restaurant last fall and has been receiving rave reviews ever since.

It even got a rare four-star review from New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, who called the sushi "eye-opening."

And since reservations are going to be next-to-impossible to secure, at least you can look at some of the mouth-watering Instagram pictures from the lucky few who have tried Nakazawa's omakase meal ($150 at the sushi bar, $120 in the dining room).

Welcome to Sushi Nakazawa, the new four-star restaurant in New York City.

Let's take a look at the four-star sushi, shall we?

Sea urchins!

And here's that same sea urchin (uni) out of its spiky shell:

His signature tamago, or Japanese omelette.

One last glimpse of the assortment at Sushi Nakazawa:

And dessert — a yuzu sorbet with pomegranate.

SEE ALSO: The Best New York City Restaurant For Every Kind Of Cuisine

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Nearly 77,000 of our readers rated their favorite cities in the world.

Is your favorite on the list? Read about all the best hotels, resorts, islands, spas, and cruise lines in the world in Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2014.

Click here to see the rankings >>

More from Conde Nast Traveler:

Readers’ Choice Awards 2014

The Tourist Attractions That Are Actually Worth the Wait

The 10 Most Underrated American Cities

15 Places You Won’t Believe Actually Exist

The Most Dangerous Trips in the World

25. Kyoto, Japan

Readers' Rating: 81.025

There are two ways to think about Japan: as the very futuristic, or as the very ancient.

In Kyoto, which served as Japan’s capital for a millennia and is still its capital of art and design, you find both. The city is home to the country’s greatest (and greatest number of) national treasures, from pieces of individual artwork to 10th-century temples, and also to some of its most exquisite food, tea, and crafts.

But even better than the seafood laid out like jewels at its Nishiki Market, or the smell of incense at Sanjusangendo temple, or the thrill of watching young geishas clop by on their getasandals, is the sense of politesse and refinement one finds here, from every vendor, at every shop or shrine: it’s a dream of Japan that still exists, waiting for you to discover it.

—Hanya Yanagihara, editor at large​

24. Bruges, Belgium

Readers' Rating: 81.083

This perfectly preserved city traces its architectural splendor to the 12th to 15th centuries, when much of the old city was built.

A city of canals, Bruges is often referred to as "the Venice of the North." Although a wonderful and well-known collection of art-filled churches and museums exists (find Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child at The Church of Our Lady), a less obvious but equally compelling destination is the Frietmuseum on Vlamingstraat, which describes itself as the only museum dedicated to the potato in all its golden-fried splendor.

23. Chicago, Illinois

Readers' Rating: 81.131

You could spend your entire trip to the Windy City eating Chicago-style hot dogs and deep dish pizza while admiring the local architecture from different angles, but that's for novices.

Take a break with a cocktail and a bowl of Bookbinder fish soup at the Cape Cod in the Drake Hotel for old-school Chicago.You should also dare to swim in the lake if the weather is temperate. Finally, get a messy-but-delicious Italian beef sandwich at Mr. Beef on Orleans Street.

The village of Johnsonville, Connecticut was once a theme park, a textile mill, a movie set, and a ghost town. Now, the entire town can be yours for $800,000.

Johnsonville's founding dates back to the 1830s when was a mill town for the twine industry in Connecticut. Fast forward to 1960 when, according to Curbed, aerospace millionaire Ray Schmitt bought up all the buildings in town. He also brought his own buildings to Johnsonville, including a Victorian-era stable and a chapel from Massachusetts, opening a quaint theme park. 

By 1994, after a fight with local officials and a few fires, the park closed. Save for the movie Freedom being filmed there as well as a Billy Joel music video, the 64 acres have been left abandoned ever since. 

A hotel developer did purchase the property in 2008, but after trying to unload it last year for $2.9 million, the property is now being auctioned starting at a discounted $800,000.

Many of the original buildings from the 1800s are still standing, though they are in terrible shape.

The structures, though dilapidated, feature authentic and original colonial and Victorian design.

Fires destroyed some of the original structures, but at least eight still remain on the property.

It's not just great drinks that make a great bar — it's also great service, great ambience, and fair prices that complete the experience.

We looked at six notable bar rankings compiled by critics and experts and aggregated the rankings to come up with our own list of the Best Bars in America.

The rankings we used were James Beard Foundation's 2014 Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists for Outstanding Bar Program; Esquire's Best Bars in America; Food & Wine's Best Bars in America; Zagat's Hottest Bars in 15 US Cities; The World's 50 Best Bars from Drinks International; and Liquor.com's Best Bars in America.

We gave each bar a numerical rating based on how many lists the bar appeared on and how high it appeared on lists that were ranked. We used the number of five-star Yelp ratings as a tiebreaker, where a bar with more five-star Yelp ratings outranked another bar when a tie occurred.

You can read more about our methodology here.

18. Attaboy

New York City

When the cultish speakeasy Milk & Honey moved in 2012, it left behind two expert bartenders, Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy, who opened Attaboy in early 2013.

This menuless, Lower East Side cocktail bar maintains the same expertise in all things liquor and even more secrecy than its predecessor: It has no website and no telephone number, and it serves beer, wine, and bartender's choice drinks on a first-come, first-serve basis.

17. Death & Co.

New York City

Death & Co. is a well-hidden gem on the border of the East Village and Alphabet City serving gourmet cocktails — both entirely from-scratch innovations, and ones that take liberties with the classics.

Not many people used to know about Death & Co., but the secret's out, and now cocktail enthusiasts are prepared for the long wait, especially on weekends, for Dave Kaplan and Ravi DeRossi's award-winning menu.

16. The Broken Shaker

Miami Beach, Florida

Elad Zvi and Gabriel Orta, the owners of the beverage program company Bar Lab, collaborated with the Freehand Miami hotel to open James Beard Award-nominated bar The Broken Shaker.

The bar puts a little bit of Miami in everything it does, from the tropics-inspired drinks on the menu to the service, which extends out into the Freehand's oasis-like outdoor patio.

Data centers are typically shrouded in secrecy because they are the brains behind tech companies. 

But not Google. The search giant has shared with the world photos that lift the veil off its massive and beautiful data centers around the world, in places both domestic, including Iowa, Oregon, Georgia, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, and abroad, in Finland and Belgium.

Google says when you're on its website, you're accessing one of the most powerful server networks in the known universe. Looking at these images, it's hard to disagree.

Google has been working on building its data centers for over 12 years. The search giant's centers are efficient, take advantage of renewable energy, and are as environmentally friendly as possible.

The following tour is a glimpse inside a few of Google's data centers, which it calls the "physical internet."

Kevin Smith wrote an earlier version of this post.

Our tour starts outside one of Google's data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. There is a family of deer outside to greet us.

Inside the Council Bluffs, Iowa data center there is over 115,000 square feet of space. These servers allow services like YouTube and search to work efficiently.

This place is actually enormous!

Most college kids are probably spending their weekends studying like crazy or partying into the night.

But for around 40 Columbia University students, a typical Friday night consists of welding metals and writing budget reports in the basement of an engineering building.

The Knickerbocker Motorsports team is hard at work building a race car that'll go from 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds over the course of one year.

Team members split the work between engineering and managing the car's budget. This year the whole project will cost an estimated $30,000. The financing primarily comes from donations from sponsors and the university itself.

The project starts in September and goes all the way through finals week at the end of the spring semester. In May, the team enters the Formula SAE collegiate racing competition.

Five team members are taking a related 1-to-3 credit course to have more time to work on the car. But for the rest of the team, this is purely an extracurricular activity with no financial payoff and no class credit. They do it because they it's fun.

The team has improved in terms of both engineering skill and budget management over the last few years. It's also grown in numbers. Back in 2012 there were only 17 members on the squad.

Welcome to the underground world of collegiate race car building...

There's a reason why these students are building a race car.

Every year the team enters the international Formula SAE collegiate racing competition.

Negotiating your salary can be awkward and challenging — and actually getting the pay you want often seems impossible.

But it isn't.

"A job interview can be stressful, especially when it comes time to talk about money,"says etiquette expert and author Jacqueline Whitmore. "However, you can get what you want and deserve — most job seekers just aren't sure when and how to ask for it."

To master the delicate dance that is a salary negotiation, you need to be able to push without offending the hiring manager or undercutting yourself. 

To get a sense of how the pros do it, we reached out to four experts who reveal their secrets. 

This is an update of an article written by Vivian Giang.

Keep silent until the interview process is over.

The more the interviewer talks, the more you learn. You want them to do the talking, and you want them to make the first offer. However, this is not something you can always control, especially if they ask you about your salary in the first interview.

But if you can hold off divulging your pay until the last minute, you should, says Dan Martineau, president of Martineau Recruiting Technology, a firm specializing in IT executive positions.

"Once they've decided that they have to have you, only then are you in the position to negotiate," he tells Business Insider. 

But if the hiring manager brings up pay at the beginning of the interview process, Martineau advises to put the spotlight back on the employer. For example, you can say: "My present salary is X. I'm looking for the best offer based on my experience and education. What's the range for this position?" If you're underpaid and you think revealing your salary will put you at a disadvantage, you can be honest and say: "I like my company. I like my job, but frankly, I'm underpaid." 

Know the market.

Find out how much others in your industry or job position are making, says Whitmore. "Use this data to request a certain sum. Arm yourself with enough information so you aren't tempted to accept the first offer."

Know enough about the company to not over-ask.

Make an educated guess as to how much this particular employer is able to pay you by researching on job sites, such as Glassdoor.com or Indeed.com.

"At the end of the day, a candidate has a number in mind as to what they think they're worth," says Eddie R. Koller III, managing director and partner at Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, a technology and media recruiting firm. "But a company has limits to what they can spend." 

If you tell the employer a number that's much higher than the range they're able to pay you, they may eliminate you in that moment.

Cooks and foodies love to argue about the best way to thaw meat.

Sure, you could take frozen meat out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours, but that requires almost a superhuman-level of foresight.

For faster results, some people prefer to defrost with cold water in a bowl. Others say that hot water is the way to go. Still others argue that the microwave can work as long as you don’t overcook the meat.

Luckily, there’s another way to quickly thaw meat, and all you need are two large aluminum pots, room temperature water, and a bag for your meat.

Spotted on CTi News, a Taiwanese cable TV network (via Women’s Health Mag), the idea is pretty simple. Turn one of the pots upside down and place the meat in a bag on top. Next, fill the other pot with room temperature water and put it on top of the steak. 

That’s it. In roughly 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the steak), your meat will be thawed. 

The reason this works is because the weight of the water presses down on the steak — increasing its surface area — while the temperature of the water is conducted by the aluminum, thus speeding up the thawing process.

Watch the video to see it in action.

SEE ALSO: Why You Should Never Thaw Frozen Steaks Before Cooking Them

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Live-action role-playing (or LARPing) was born on the fringes of American pop culture, a descendant of much-maligned hobbies like Dungeons and Dragons and other table games. 

In LARPing, players spend their weekend dressing up in costumes, adopting elaborate personae, and inhabiting a complex imagined world. 

The hobby, like most of "nerd" culture, has become increasingly mainstream.

Across the US, Canada, and Europe, LARPing groups are everywhere. There are more than 30 LARPing organizations in the US, each of which has tens of chapters and thousands of members.

A few weeks ago, we visited Alliance, one of the oldest live-action-role-playing groups in the country, in central Pennsylvania, to figure out what LARPing is all about. 

To learn more about Alliance, check out their website.

Faire Play, Alliance's headquarters, is a massive barn in Central Pennsylvania. We arrived early Saturday morning just as the LARPers at Alliance were waking up. The players were shaking off a long night. Most had arrived in costume on Friday night and played until nearly dawn.

Most of the players were filing into the "tavern," a large room built into the center of the barn. Everyone was waiting in line for eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee. Players pay $60 to spend the weekend at Alliance, which covers lodging and meals.

The Alliance headquarters is located on a sprawling 42-acre property. In addition to the tavern, the central barn has bedrooms for players and a backroom full of costumes, weapons, and other assorted LARPing detritus. The back lawn serves as the main battleground and is sprinkled with cabins for players to sleep in.

The Whitman, located in New York’s Flatiron district, is known for being the home of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon, and hedge fund manager John Silvetz.

So it's only fitting that another famous face is the newest addition to the star-studded condominium — namely, Jennifer Lopez. 

Lopez has bought the incredible 6,500-square-foot penthouse that overlooks Madison Square Park for $22 million, according to real estate website Zillow. 

The pre-war condominium has four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and four separate terraces with a grand total of 3,000 square feet of exterior space.

It even has a full-time doorman, gym, private storage, and key-locked elevators with private elevator landings. 

Douglas Elliman has the listing. 

Welcome to The Whitman at 21 East 26th Street. This luxurious complex has a full-time door man for its four apartments.

The enormous living room has arched windows that look right out onto Madison Square Park.

The kitchen was designed by famed Italian design company Arclinea.

We recently got another trailer for "Interstellar," Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated science fiction epic due out in November. Its star Matthew McConaughey maintains this will be one of the biggest films any of us will be experiencing in our lives. The word is that we will see and experience things unlike ever before as we don our IMAX 3D glasses. Big words. That said, many movies have changed the game and surprised us over the years.

The truth though is that for every over-the-top explosion or 3D effect nobody asked for in the first place, Hollywood has made some truly amazing advancements over the last few decades. We're talking about the kind of advancements that actually make you watch a movie like you would a watch an illusionist — and wonder to yourself, "How the hell did they do that?"

They call it the magic of the movies for a reason, and as such, here’s a look at the top 10 films (in chronological order) that took their craft to an exciting new level and caused a visual revolution in theaters.

Check out the special effects here >

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"Tron" was the first time CGI was massively used in a movie.

It’s not that "Tron" (1982) was the best movie ever made, but it was one of the most creative. This was the first time computer-generated imagery had ever been used to such a massive extent in a movie. Visual effects group MAGI used a “SynthaVision” process to render the graphics, which basically means it made the computer see simple shapes as solid objects with density.

This occurs mostly in scenes where the Lightcycles and Recognizers are used, which normally corresponded to scenes where live actors weren’t the focus — because at the time, the technology didn’t exist for live-action figures and CGI animation to be used together. Instead, filmmakers needed to use hand-drawn animation with the live-action shots (mixed with editing) to create what you saw on screen.

Here’s the where things get even more fun though: Many Disney animators initially refused to work on "Tron," as they felt computers would put them out of a job. A little more than two decades later, those fears came true and Disney closed their hand-drawn animation studio in favor of CGI.  However in the irony of ironies, Pixar guru and industry visionary John Lasseter eventually ordered the facilities re-opened, as he saw the value in both type of releases.

Another fun fact? Tron was disqualified from the 1982 Visual Effects Oscars, as voters felt the film’s computer-aided effects were considered "cheating."

One sequence in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” cost over $5 million to produce.

The irony of a movie like "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) is that it stands on its own so well that you forget it’s a sequel. Nobody talks about the original to the same extent they do this one — and if we're being honest, the less said about the later sequels, the better.

A large part of that "T2" success is because of the visual effects used that earned the team an Oscar. Unlike something like "Avatar" that is mostly CGI, only a fraction of "T2" is comprised of effect shots. The most famous of them all, though, is the T-1000 morphing sequence, which cost over $5 million to produce over an eight-month period.

Not since "Tron" nearly a decade earlier had a film looked to change the game in the same way "T2" did — and it was noticeable. Utilizing Industrial Light and Magic’s “Cyberscan” (photorealistic CGI) technology, they projected a laser over the face of Robert Patrick, who played the T-1000 model, and then they were able to build the 3D visuals over the scan. 

They then paid extreme attention to how Patrick carried himself while shooting the scene and matched up his movements with the character’s movements. Director James Cameron also borrowed the liquid effects from his 1989 hit "The Abyss," to fully round out the impressiveness of the scene.

There are only 4 minutes of CGI dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park,” but it was revolutionary in 1993.

The movie brought dinosaurs to life on-screen … freaking dinosaurs. How is this not an accomplishment? Believe it or not, though, while "Jurassic Park" (1993) is thought of as CGI-heavy movie, it’s really not! Director Steven Spielberg had several actual audio-animatronic dinosaur models built, because they brought a sense of depth and actual realism to this film. However, there were some shots that CGI had to be used for, and those were very much among the first of their kind.

As many critics have pointed out, this was a movie about dinosaurs — and if the grand reveal the first time you really see one wasn’t spectacular, the movie would be seen as a failure. As a result, Spielberg had to ensure those first moments when the extinct creatures made their debut were nothing short of magical and he conspired with the famed Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) group to pull off the illusion. It worked!

Morgan Stanley has released a new report on secular growth stocks.

The 42 stocks are companies they believe will grow irrespective of fluctuations in the business cycle.

Tech companies like Facebook and Google dominate the list. There are also a lot of healthcare companies, which are benefiting from the aging population.

"We believe that the names selected for this report can grow strongly even if the global economy grows more slowly than our current GDP forecasts," the report states. "Indeed, growth stocks on the whole tend to be less impacted by cyclical forces, one of the reasons that, over time, they’re more likely to meet or beat estimates than their value counterparts."

Note: The EPS growth is the projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013-2016, the PE estimates are based on 2014 Morgan Stanley research expectations, and the PEG ratio refers to the price-earnings to growth ratio which is an indicator of the stock's valuation. Growth stocks with lower PEGs are generally considered cheaper.

Albany Molecular Research, Inc.

Ticker: AMRI

EPS growth: 25%

PE 2014: 24.6

PEG ratio: 0.7

As a "provider of outsourced contracted manufacturing and discovery research services to the Biopharma industry," Albany Molecular research is "well positioned to benefit from secular trend of increased outsourcing," according to Morgan Stanley's Ricky Goldwasser.

Source: Morgan Stanley

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Ticker: ALXN

EPS growth: 42%

PE 2014: 33.6

PEG ratio: 0.6

"Alexion’s key drug Soliris continues to expand into additional indications," according to Morgan Stanley's Matthew Harrison. "We look to indications for transplant support to drive additional growth over the next few years." 

Source: Morgan Stanley

American Tower Corp.

Ticker: ALXN

EPS growth: 14%

PE 2014: 43.9

PEG ratio: 1.0

The company will see "strong secular growth trends driven by the demand for mobile data in the US and emerging markets," according to Morgan Stanley's Simon Flannery.

Source: Morgan Stanley

Apple's new iPad, the iPad Air 2, launches this week.

It's very similar to last year's iPad Air, but it's slightly thinner, lighter, and faster. It also has a better camera and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, just like on the iPhone.

We'll have a full review of the iPad Air 2 in a few days. In the meantime, take a look at what's inside the box.

The iPad Air 2 is a little thinner (6.1 mm) than the original iPad Air.

There it is. From the front, it looks almost exactly like last year's iPad Air.

The wall plug is underneath the iPad.

The private jets of the ultra-wealthy and ultra-famous are impressive.

But they're also important.

You need to way to get to that third, fourth, or fifth residence. And don't forget about the private island.

The best way to travel to an exclusive beach paradises is on your own plane.

Of course, not everyone on this list has an island, but you might say that for some, these jets are islands unto themselves.

[An earlier version of this article was written by Matthew Kassel.]

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's Boeing 767-33A, usually docked at Luton Airport north of London, is reportedly decorated with a gold interior.

Source: newzglobe.com

Technically, it belongs to the people of the USA. But President Obama's ride, Air Force One, ferries the Commander-in-Chief in style. It's a Boeing 747-200B and comes equipped with a self-contained baggage loader and the ability to re-fuel in flight.

Source: newzglobe.com

Gautam Singhania, chairman of the Raymond Group, owns this Challenger jet featuring an advanced Collins ProLine IV EFIS avionics system.

Source: Luxpresso

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe is without question the most gorgeous car I've ever driven.

The F-Type needed to be beautiful. Jaguar has spent over two decades trying to remind people of the company's legacy of stylish, high-performance sports cars, like the E-Type from the 1960s, XKSS from the mid-1950s, and the XJ-220 from the late 1980s.

With the F-Type Coupe, the carmaker has at long last erased 20 years of misses and near-misses on the design front. With this car, all is forgiven — you just can't stop looking at it. I certainly couldn't during the weekend I spent with the F-Type Coupe on a visit to Atlanta.

The F-Type has everything you would ever want in a Jaguar — or any sports car for that matter. I've already mentioned how great the car looks. But how about tons of horsepower? Check. Confident handling? Check.

And there's a bonus: the rumble of the F-Type's massive 5.0-liter V8 and the machine-gun backfire of the exhaust that goes with it. 

It's an intoxicating combination. 

My $100,000 test car — in fact, the top-of-the-range F-Type R — came equipped with just about every available option, including an excellent infotainment system, GPS navigation, and luscious, body-hugging leather sport seats. If a hundred grand is too steep for you, Jaguar will gladly sell you an "entry-level" supercharged V6 version, with 340 horsepower and a $65,000 asking price. 

I was able to put the stunning Jag and its rampaging 550-horsepower V8 through its paces on city streets, suburban highways, and even the twisty mountain roads of North Georgia's Piedmont.

Landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport proved to be a breeze. As an Atlanta native, 85-degree Georgia weather in October reminded me what I gave up when I moved to New York.

However, what sweetened the pot even more was the knowledge that I would have this beauty in my driveway for the next couple of days.

The car's stunning good looks are going to make fans of classic Jaguar design very happy.

I can't come into work today. I accidentally boarded a plane.

While that may sound like a completely ridiculous excuse, an employee actually used it this year, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.

The survey, which was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,103 full-time US workers and 2,203 employers, found that 28% of employees have called in sick when they were feeling well over the last 12 months.

Some just "didn't feel like going in," while others "wanted the day to relax" or "needed to catch up on sleep." A few even played hooky because of bad weather. 

"In some companies, people don't feel comfortable telling their managers they need personal time off, so they will think of an elaborate excuse to get out of work," says Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder's vice president of human resources. "The more flexible the work environment, and the more open and honest the communication is across the company, and the less likely it is employees will feel the need to lie."

If you need to take a day off, your best bet is to be honest with your manager, otherwise you can lose credibility by making over-the-top excuses, she says. "Many employers are more flexible in their definition of a sick day and will allow employees to use them to recharge and take care of personal needs."

But if you choose to fib anyway, beware: While the majority of employers give their employees the benefit of the doubt, 31% said they have checked to see if an employee was telling the truth — and about 18% said they have fired an employee for giving a fake excuse.

The survey asked hiring managers and HR professionals to share the most suspicious excuses employees have given for needing to miss a day of work. "It never fails to surprise me what they say employees have revealed to them in order to get out of work," Haefner says. "The excuses have become increasingly creative over the years."

"I was at the casino all weekend and still have money left to play with this [Monday] morning."

"I was sitting in the bathroom and my feet and legs fell asleep. When I stood up, I fell and broke my ankle."

"I caught my uniform on fire by putting it in the microwave to dry."