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15 Apps That Will Make Your Android Phone A Whole Lot Better

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AndroidGuy

One of the best things about Android is that you can change your phone's theme, add new widgets, and customize your settings whichever way you please.

Android launchers allow you to make your phone even more personal and catered to your specific tastes.

A launcher is essentially a home screen replacement for your Android phone.

You can turn them on or off whenever you like, which means you can change the look and feel of your phone's software at any time.

After playing with a bunch of lock and home screen replacements from the Google Play store, here are our top picks. 

Aviate

The Yahoo-owned Aviate launcher is an attractive yet simple home screen replacement for your Android phone. You'll get access to your favorite apps directly on the home screen, which you can hand pick when you set up the app.

What really makes Aviate stand out, however, is a feature called Spaces. These are different contextually aware categories that appear in the upper-left-hand corner of your home screen depending on where you are. So, on your way to work, you might see an icon for the Moving space, which would provide travel information and apps like Google Maps. 



Start

Celltick's Start lock screen replacement adds a list of icons along the left side of your lock screen and a ring toward the bottom. You can pull out these icons to see quick notifications, and sliding your finger over the ring will reveal app categories that you can choose. There are also a ton of themes to choose from. 



Buzz Launcher

If you're sick of just shuffling widgets and menus around, Buzz Launcher will give your Android phone an entire face-lift. The launcher comes with a bunch of customizable themes that completely change the way your phone looks.

Beyond its selection of themes, Buzz Launcher is extremely simple to navigate. Swiping up from the bottom launches the app menu, and you can press and hold the screen any time to access settings. 



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GOLDMAN: Here Are The 15 Best Stocks For Fat Dividends And Huge Buybacks

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apple tree fruitsS&P 500 companies will pay out $1.1 trillion to investors in the form of stock buybacks and dividends in 2015. This is according to Goldman Sachs' Amanda Sneider.

Buybacks will grow 18% next year after a 26% gain in 2014. S&P 500 companies are also expected to increase dividend payouts at a 7% annualized rate through 2017.

"Although we expect a gradual shift toward investing for growth via capital expenditures and M&A as confidence in the US economy grows, the popularity of dividends and buybacks should continue, particularly given the risks posed by struggling economies in Europe and Asia," Sneider wrote.

We drew on Goldman's "Total Cash Return to Shareholders" basket to highlight the stocks with the largest combined realized buyback and dividend yields. Total yield is calculated as the sum of gross buybacks and dividends as a share of market cap. These 15 stocks have a total yield greater than 14%. Note: they are not intended to serve as a well-diversified portfolio.

L-3 Communications Holdings: 14.2% total yield

Ticker: LLL

Sector: Industrials

Market Cap: $10 billion

Buyback yield: 11.6%

Dividend yield: 2.7%

DescriptionL-3 is a provider of electronic and communication products in aerospace and national security.  

Source: Goldman Sachs



Abbott Laboratories: 14.7% total yield

Ticker: ABT

Sector: Health Care

Market Cap: $66 billion

Buyback yield: 12.6%

Dividend yield: 2.1%

Description: Abbott Laboratories is a North Chicago- based pharmaceuticals and health care products provider. It developed the first HIV screening test. 

Source: Goldman Sachs



WellPoint Inc: 14.7% total yield

Ticker: WLP

Sector: Health Care

Market Cap: $35 billion

Buyback yield: 12.8%

Dividend yield: 1.9%

Description: WellPoint is a medical insurance and health care services provider based in Indiana, Indianapolis.

Source: Goldman Sachs



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43 Meals Everyone Should Eat In Their Lifetime

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maine lobster roll

A memorable meal can define a destination and keep you salivating for years to come.

From unpretentious fried fish tacos in Baja, Mexico, to the foraged tasting menu at Copenhagen's Noma (the best restaurant in the world), we found 43 meals that are worth traversing the planet for.

Foodies will want to put these spots on their travel bucket list.

Slurp up a bowl of steaming hot Pho, a tangy beef noodle soup, in Hanoi, Vietnam.



Feast on a juicy, dry-aged steak from the famous Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn, New York.

Read more on Peter Luger >



Bite into a chewy, gooey slice of Neapolitan-style pizza in Naples, Italy.



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The 50 Most Violent Cities In The World

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Salvador, BrazilMurder is more common in Latin America than any other part of the world.

That's the most striking takeaway from a ranking of the most violent cities compiled earlier this year by Mexico's Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The ranking doesn't count deaths in war zones or cities with unavailable data.

Thirty-four of the 50 worst cities were located in the region, including repeat murder capital of the world — San Pedro Sula, Honduras — which saw 187 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013 and is getting steadily worse. A full one-third of global homicides occur in Latin America even though the region has just 8% of the world's population, according to United Nations data.

Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty combine to cause the region's elevated violence.

U.S. cities also made the list, led by Detroit at number 24 and New Orleans at number 26.

50. Valencia, Venezuela had 30.04 homicides per 100,000 residents.



49. Port-au-Prince, Haiti had 30.05 homicides per 100,000 residents.



48. Durban, South Africa had 32.42 homicides per 100,000 residents.



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The New Billionaire Yacht Craze Is A Full-Size IMAX Movie Screen

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IMAXyacht1

The mystery owner of the world's new largest sailing superyacht will also have the first IMAX Private Theater at sea.

The ambitious project is part of a collaboration between legendary superyacht designer Ken Freivokh and yacht communications purveyor Yacht Intelligence. The theater is in lowest part of the ship, charmingly called the Nemo Room. 

Everything has been considered down to the most minute detail, from the shape of the room to the position of the furniture for a truly authentic IMAX experience. Nothing about the Nemo Room is your typical superyacht screening room.

The trademark IMAX dual 4k projection screen isn't just for Hollywood movies, either. It will also use the ship's live underwater CCTV footage to spy on the sea critters underneath and around the 492-foot yacht, projecting it onto the big screen.

IMAXyacht2Building the room wasn't an easy feat, either. The complicated IMAX system uses calibration sensors and equipment that were quite difficult to fit into the oddly shaped ship's hull, but perhaps the most difficult obstacle to overcome was getting the IMAX corporation to work within the ship's relatively tiny space.

"With IMAX’s strict parameters and incredibly specific technological requirements, our first challenge was to persuade them to take us seriously, and prove that it would be possible to create a truly unique private theater on a superyacht,”Alan Bernardi, founder of Yacht Intelligence, told Forbes.

Another complication was figuring out how to download the huge IMAX files over a satellite Internet connection. 

IMAXYacht3"We’ve always been a company that likes a challenge and to push the boundaries of what’s ‘possible,'" Bernardi said to Forbes. "That’s what we are doing again here and I firmly believe that our work will change the way people look at AV on superyachts in the future.”

No word yet on when the superyacht will be finished or who the mystery owner will be, but the project is sure to look incredible.

SEE ALSO: The 22 Biggest Yachts In The Seas

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A House Designed By Bill Gates' Architect Is On The Market For $6.5 Million

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peter bohlin house

A glassy four-bedroom home in Sacramento, California has hit the market for $6.5 million, Curbed reports.

The home was designed by renowned architect Peter Bohlin, who worked on Apple's iconic glass cube store in New York City, as well as Bill Gates' massive $123 million mansion.

This home may not be as iconic as those buildings, but it'll be the most expensive home ever sold in Sacramento County if it goes for asking price.

Fans of Gates and Apple store architecture may recognize some features in this house. 

The house is located in Sacramento, California. The timber-and-glass design is reminiscent of Bill Gates' Seattle area home.



Rooms are situated over three floors.



The living room is fairly open.



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30 Bizarre Vending Machines From Around The World

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weird vending

If you think vending machines are only stocked with chips, candy, and soda, think again.

These days, vending machines distribute all sorts of goods from cupcakes to crabs, burritos to caviar, and sneakers to cigars.

We rounded up some of the most unique vending machines we could find from all over the world. 

In cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Dallas, you can walk up to a 24-hour sidewalk cupcake-dispensing machine and purchase a delicious cupcake, like this chocolate marshmallow one below, with your credit card.



Don't like cupcakes? In China, live hairy crabs can be purchased from a vending machine at a main subway station in Nanjing. It's the first live crab vending machine in China (surprising, we know) and sells an average of 200 live crabs daily.



In Taiwan, customers can buy medical face masks from vending machines. These were especially popular during the bird flu outbreak.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's What Happened When A Bunch Of Desperate Filipino Families Were Forced To Move Into A Jail

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philippines jail

When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last year, it destroyed more than 1 million homes and caused $14 billion of economic damage. This was especially hard for a country where more than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line.

On Leyte Island, where some of the worst damage occured, many families ended up moving into the local jail after their homes were destroyed. The jail, which had been almost swept away, too, became an unlikely community in the time of desperation.

After hearing about the jail from journalist John Javellana, photographer Lawrence Sumulong visited last year.

“The situation at the jail is a microcosm of the overall humanitarian crisis in the Philippines,” explained Sumulong. “There is the disaster situation and the poverty and the surreal way that the Filipino people adapt to those conditions. In many ways, the prison is almost like any other Filipino community.”

This is the Leyte Provincial Jail. It houses long-term prisoners and those awaiting trial. It was almost completely destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. The sign in the hills was built by inmates to welcome visitors.



After Typhoon Haiyan hit, prison officials allowed many inmates to leave the prison to check on their families. Many found their families OK but their houses destroyed.



Prisoners were allowed them to move their families with them into the jail.



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23 Celebrities Who Served In The Military

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Elvis

In honor of Veteran's Day, we're taking a look back at some of the most famous people who have served in the military.

Some stars, such as Chuck Norris or Elvis Presley, have well documented their time in the armed forces — while others, like Drew Carey, may come as more of a surprise.

Check out 19 icons who served in the armed forces, including a baseball great, two famous reclusive novelists, and one "Golden Girl."

This report was also written by Jennifer Michalski.

Comedian Drew Carey started performing stand-up comedy during his six years in the Marines.

In 1981, Drew Carey entered the United States Marine Corps Reserve, a stint that lasted six years.

It was during his service that he first started performing stand-up comedy.

"While in the Marine Reserves, I was looking for a way to make some more money, and it was suggested that I try using my jokes,"he later said.

Carey, who teamed up with the United Services Organization, has since visited military bases in Iraq to perform comedy for troops stationed there.



Thomas Pynchon served in the Navy.

Considering his monumental importance to American letters and literature in general, little is actually known about Pynchon, who refuses to be photographed and doesn't grant interviews.

One of the only confirmed photos of the author of such celebrated postmodern doorstops as Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon is from his two-year stint in the US Navy, which came in the middle of his four years at Cornell University in the late 1950s.

Pynchon's time in the Navy is evident in many of his major works: V. follows the misadventures of a recently-discharged Navy sailor in early-60s New York. Gravity's Rainbow, which takes place in World War II's European theater and revolves around Nazi Germany's V-2 missile program, is particularly rife with military-related themes and characters.



Hugh Hefner got his start in publishing while in the US Army.

Before Playboy existed, Hefner had a successful career in the military.

In 1944, after graduating high school, Hefner enlisted in the Army as an infantry clerk.

He frequently contributed cartoons for various military newspapers before he was discharged in 1946. 



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NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where Every Team Stands Going Into Week 11

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aaron rodgers packers

Over the next few weeks a bunch of top teams in our NFL power rankings are going to play each other.

Next week alone we get Eagles-Packers, Patriots-Colts, and Cardinals-Lions. Get pumped.

As for this week, the Steelers and Bengals fell hard while the Browns and Falcons (!) shot up the rankings.

1. New England Patriots (previously: 1st)

Record: 7-2

Week 10 result: Bye

One thing to know: Nothing, they had a bye! They play Indianapolis in Week 11.



2. Denver Broncos (previously: 2nd)

Record: 7-2

Week 10 result: 41-17 win over Oakland

One thing to know: Denver's running game has been off all year, and things got even worse with an injury to Ronnie Hillman.



3. Arizona Cardinals (previously: 3rd)

Record: 8-1

Week 10 result: 31-14 win over St. Louis

One thing to know: Drew Stanton, the new starting Cardinals quarterback, is 2-1 as a starter this year.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

HOUSE OF THE DAY: Incredible Three-Story Penthouse In New York City's Lincoln Center Is Listed For $42 Million

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140911_EJ_1965_Broadway_PH3BC_0228 Edit

A three-story $42 million penthouse at 1965 Broadway has hit the market in New York City, according to The Real Deal

The penthouse in Lincoln Center has three separate entrances, 16 rooms, two kitchens, two private terraces, and a total of 10,100 square feet. 

It was once three units and has been converted into this triplex penthouse with a full-service 24-7 doorman, concierge, security staff, and live-in resident manager. 

But the best feature of the home might be its incredible 360-degree views of Manhattan, which is why it has been referred to as the “townhouse in the sky.” 

Andrew Azoulay of Douglas Elliman Real Estate has the listing

Welcome to the triplex penthouse at the Grand Millennium on Broadway and 67th Street.



The immaculate main kitchen was designed by Boffi. There is a second kitchen located on the lower floor.



It has stainless steel, two refrigerators, three sinks, and three dishwashers.



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What It's Like To Attend The Best Boarding School In America

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phillips exeter academy, becky moore, class, harnkess table

Phillips Exeter Academy, recently named the best private high school in America by academic review site Niche.com and regularly called America's best boarding school, has educated some of the most powerful people in history.

Its alumni base includes 19 state governors, five US senators, five Olympic athletes, two Nobel Prize winners, a US President, and even tech moguls like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Quora founder Adam D'Angelo.

Many millionaires and a handful of billionaires are products of the Exeter community and have helped grow the school's endowment to $1.2 billion. The fund supports many students' tuition, which otherwise costs $46,905 a year for boarding students.

When Dr. John Phillips, a graduate of Harvard and resident of Exeter, New Hampshire opened the Academy in 1781, he set out to teach young men "the great and real business of living." More than two centuries later, the now co-ed school prides itself on the strength of its network, its commitment to spreading kindness, and on its use of the Harkness Method, a unique teaching model that schools around the world strive to imitate.

I recently spent the day as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, located in Exeter, New Hampshire, to see why it's the best.

Phillips Exeter Academy, recently named best private high school in America, has a reputation as a "feeder school"— a school that sends a high number of students to Ivy League universities. As I drove to the quiet town of Exeter, New Hampshire, I expected to hate it.



Before arriving on campus, I imagined the quintessential boarding school stereotype — Vineyard Vines-wearing, silver spoon-fed teenagers crumbling under academic pressure, bragging about their college acceptances, and sneaking off into the woods to get high.

 

 

 



But I spent the day as a student in "the bubble," as students call the Exeter community, and it was nothing like I expected. I never wanted to leave.



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The Only Three Hair Products Men Should Use

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If you don't know your gels from your pomades, you're not alone. 

The world of men's hair product is daunting, but don't be afraid. We've distilled it down to three basic categories that should suit any kind of hair.

No matter what kind of hair you have, at least one of these products is bound to tame your mane and make it look great.

1. Hair Wax (a.k.a. Putty, Clay, Glue, Molding Creme, or Styling Paste)

hairwax

For guys with straight or wavy hair, wax is the perfect product to use on a daily basis. It makes hair look effortlessly styled with a medium hold and the lowest shine of all hair products.

Another benefit comes from the heaps of texture it adds to all types of hair. It's good for a "messy look" that actually doesn't look messy at all.

Though it comes in many variations, most are made with different waxes like beeswax. They're also water soluble and will easily wash out of your hair. 

American Crew Fiber is the tried-and-true hair wax favorite, but others like Uppercut's Matt Clay have been well reviewed. Other good choices include proprietary brands made by popular barber shop chains like Blind Barber and Fellow Barber.

2. Pomade

Pomade

Pomades are hair wax's classic cousin. They combine a lot of hold with a lot of shine, and are the best product to use for a slicked back pompadour look or "Mad Men"-style side part. Again, pomades work best for men with straight or wavy hair, especially if it's on the long side.

The shiny finish and superior hold of pomades are what really separates them from hair waxes. Pomades are ideal for hair styles that don't need a lot of movement since they can sometimes feel waxy or greasy to the touch.

All of our favorite hair wax brands also make very suitable pomades, including American Crew, Blind Barber, Uppercut, and Fellow Barber. Uppercut also makes an extra-strength pomade, called Monster Hold.

3. Styling Cream

stylingcreamWhile hair wax and pomades can be similar, styling cream is a different beast all together. Instead of a waxy solid like our first two products, styling cream is more of a thick liquid, and is suitable for curly haired men. It offers a light shine with no hold at all, and takes care of the frizz and unruliness in your hair for a natural look.

In short, styling cream will leave your hair manageable without drying it out.

For styling cream brands, you can't go wrong. Moroccanoil has gained a lot of popularity recently for taking good care of both men's and woman's hair, but men's-focused creams like the Fellow Barber's Styling Cream and Malin + Goetz's sage styling cream are also excellent choices. Finally, Bumble and Bumble makes another good unisex alternative.

Which one should you use?

For most hair types, hair wax is your best bet to get your 'do to do what you want it to. The matte finish provides the perfect texture and weight without making your hair greasy or unpleasant to the touch.

It's also easy to maintain throughout the day, with just a quick brush or swoop to fix it up, and washes out easily and cleanly. It's our pick for daily hair product.

Daniel Radcliffe Hair product

If you're looking for shine, however, the traditional pomade is your best bet. And if you just want to get your hair's frizz under control and make your hair more manageable (without any hold), styling cream is your stuff.

As for hair products that were previously in vogue — like gel and mousse — don't bother. These products are best left remembered as fads in their respective heydays.

A final word of warning: Watch out for the labels on hair products. Heavier pomades are starting to contain waxes such as beeswax when they traditionally didn't, and sometimes hair waxes are being labeled incorrectly as "pomades," a term that has become a synonym for "men's hair product."

When in doubt, just read the description and make sure the product delivers the high hold and low shine (matte finish) of a hair wax.

SEE ALSO:  10 Winter Style Trends Every Gentleman Should Know About

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How To Still Play 10 Of The Best Video Games From Your Childhood

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"Zelda"

When I was a kid, I spent I don't know how many hours playing "The Legend of Zelda." That's the first game I remember really sinking my teeth into. 

I've played countless games since then, some just as intricate as "Zelda," some even more so. But nothing makes me feel more nostalgic than the thought of an 8-bit Link running around Hyrule, trying to save the princess.

Luckily, you don't have to rely on my memory to relive your favorite games. Using emulators, virtual consoles, and even remakes of classic games, you can get my nostalgia fix today.

An emulator is a piece of software that mimics a different computing system — in this case, an old game system. You can also buy hardware remakes of classic systems, such as the Analogue Nt, to play any old cartridges you have around. The legality of such systems, as well as emulators, is questionable, however.

The easiest way, however, might be to find Flash versions of the games. That way you can play in your browser. And if you own a current-gen system, such as a Nintendo Wii U, you can find a lot of these games in the Virtual Console for as little as $2.

"Legend of Zelda" - Nintendo Entertainment System

"Zelda," one of the greatest action adventure games of all time, was released in the US in 1987. There are tons of spin-offs and versions of the game, but the original still stands as one of the greatest. And it was released on a cool-looking gold-colored cartridge.

You play as Link, whose main purpose is to save the princess. But in order to do so, you have to solve a bunch of puzzles and kill a lot of bad guys along the way. 

The easiest way to play the game now is through Nintendo's Virtual Console. But if you don't have a Wii or 3DS, then you can download an emulator and play right from your computer. If you're a Mac user, try OpenEmu, which even offers full-screen support. And Windows users can check out FCEUX, which has been around since 2008. 



"Frogger" - Atari 2600

"Frogger," which came out in 1981, was a fun yet strangely difficult game. The object is to get your frog across a very busy street without getting run over. 

There are a ton of different versions of the game. It was released in the arcade first, then ported to various systems. 

But if the Atari 2600 version is your cup of tea, you can play an in-browser version over at the Internet Archive's Console Living Room. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your frog forward, back, and side to side. 



"Tetris" - Various Nintendo systems

"Tetris," the game where you manipulate falling blocks to create lines that are then cleared from the screen, turned 30 years old this year. 

The story behind "Tetris" is complicated, but the game itself is fun and hugely addicting. 

It was released with the Game Boy handheld gaming system, and turned the Game Boy into the most popular portable gaming system of its time. Since then, it's become one of the top-selling games of all time. It's so beloved, in fact, that they're making a movie based on it.

There are plenty of remakes and spin-offs, but if you want to play the original, and play for free, head over to the official Tetris site. Even the music is still roughly the same. You can also get a version from Nintendo's Virtual Console for $3.99.



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24-Year-Old Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel Just Bought His First House For $3.3 Million

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Evan Spiegel houseSnapchat cofounder and CEO Evan Spiegel has finally moved out of his parents' house, according to Variety.

The 24-year-old has purchased his first home, a three-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. He reportedly paid $3.3 million for it. 

Spiegel has lived in his father's Pacific Palisades home for years, despite being the head of an app that's been valued at $10 billion. He had previously joked that he would live there until his dad kicked him out.

Spiegel's new house isn't exactly a mansion, but it was remodeled in 2012, and it has the added bonus of being located less than four miles away from his dad's house. It's got three bedrooms, including one with a terrace, and over 2,800 square feet of space. There's also a sizeable back yard with an outdoor fireplace.

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Welcome To The Gorgeous Region Of Afghanistan That Has Been Untouched By Decades Of War

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Afghanistans Wakhan Corridor 01

Nearly a decade into the war in Afghanistan, photographer Benjamin Rasmussen was tired of the usual media narrative of suicide bombings, corruption, and insurgency.

In 2010, Rasmussen's sister was working in the aid and development community in Afghanistan. But the only headlines he ever saw about the country focused on the ongoing war.

He felt like the American media was failing to educate the US public about how complex Afghanistan actually was, from its multitudes of tribes and ethnicities to its deep history and varied landscapes.

When he heard about the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of land in the far northeast of Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Western China, Rasmussen knew he had to document it. 

In a harsh, beautiful landscape bounded by the Hindu Kush mountains in the south, around 12,000 Afghanis live off the land, unaffected by the Taliban, the US, or Hamid Karzai. The region's geographical isolation, harsh climate, and lack of strategic value has kept all troops — Afghani as well as foreign  out of the area for decades.

Rasmussen visited in the summer of 2010 to document the strange and beautiful world. He shared some photos with us here, but you can check out more at his website

The Wakhan Corridor is notoriously hard to reach. To get there, you have to drive, ride on donkeys, and hike the 250-mile journey from Kabul or fly into Tajikistan and cross the border from the North. Both ways are difficult, but traveling by land requires going through Taliban-held lands.



The atmosphere in Afghanistan is tense and dangerous, until you reach the Wakhan Corridor. Here, the atmosphere becomes more relaxed. Because there are no roads into Wakhan and the terrain is so harsh, no US, Afghan, or Taliban soldiers enter the region.



Many in the community have no idea that the Taliban was ever in power or that the US army invaded. The last troops to enter Wakhan were the Soviets, who built the only road leading to the area. They left in the 1980s.



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Feast Your Eyes On Tasters From The Top Restaurants In New York City

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steak tart red farm

New York Magazine held its 16th annual New York Taste event Monday night featuring more than 40 of the city’s most celebrated chefs and mixologists. 

More than 1,000 guests attended the sold-out event to eat bites from New York City favorites like Red Farm, Dinosaur BBQ, Bar Bolonat, Morimoto, Barbuto, and many more.

Top chefs dished out briskets, beers, seafood, stews, and intricate desserts.

A portion of the proceeds from the evening were donated to City Harvest to help fight hunger.

Here's a list of the many restaurants and food brands that participated in the 16th annual event.



At $100-a-pop for a ticket, more than 1,000 guests attended the sold-out event.



But it was well worth it, with generous portions like these duck confit tacos with hoisin, cilantro, scallions, and jalapeños from Michael's restaurant.



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The 18 Most Unequal Cities In America

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homeless inequality poverty

Income inequality in America is an endlessly fascinating, albeit depressing, topic.

But American cities have varying levels of inequality.

The Census Bureau makes annual estimates of a standard measure of inequality for US metropolitan areas. The Gini index is a measure, ranging between 0 and 1, of inequality. The Gini index measures how much the distribution of income or wealth in an area differs from a completely equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 indicates that everyone has the same income; an index of 1 means one person has all the money and everyone else has nothing.

We ranked 382 metropolitan areas with populations of at least 65,000 using Census estimates from the 2013 American Community Survey, and found the 18 areas with the highest Gini indices. We also included the income shares of the ends of the distribution: the top 5% and the bottom 20%, also from the Census Bureau.

18: New Orleans-Metairie, LA

Gini Index: 0.5032

Top 5% Income Share: 24.0%

Bottom 20% Income Share: 2.7%

New Orleans has an unfortunate and long history of inequality. The devastation from Hurricane Katrina amplified and accelerated the region's problems.



17: Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Gini Index: 0.5034

Top 5% Income Share: 24.0%

Bottom 20% Income Share: 2.7%

According to the Census Bureau's 2013 American Community Survey, the Brownsville metro area, located in the southernmost part of Texas, has much lower educational attainment than many other metro areas: A full 36% of residents have less than a high school diploma, compared to just 13.4% of Americans overall. Similarly, only 17.1% of the Brownsville metro area's population over 25 years old have at least a bachelor's degree, while 29.6% of Americans over 25 do.



16: Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA

Gini Index: 0.5038

Top 5% Income Share: 26.0%

Bottom 20% Income Share: 3.0%

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunter, and mining are a much more important industry in the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara metro area than in other places. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, 9.2% of workers in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara are in this sector, while just 2.0% of American workers are overall.



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The Billionaire Founder Of LinkedIn Explains How To Run A Great Startup

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Linkedin Founder Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

He’s the founder of Linkedin, the largest professional social network worth around $28 billion, and a partner at the VC firm Greylock Partners.

He was also one of the early employees of PayPal, where he served as executive VP, and the co-founder of Socialnet.com, one of the first social network startups. 

He’s also a remarkable angel investor, with early investments in Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and Zynga, and other companies.

Last week, Hoffman gave a 45-minute presentation titled “How To Be A Great Founder” at Stanford, as part of the “How to Start a Startup” series by Y Combinator’s Sam Altman. 

We pulled together some of the slides and Hoffman’s words explaining his wisdom.

The perception of a great founder is often this “super-person” who’s awesome at everything. Classic examples are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.



But in reality, a founder is someone who deals with all kinds of headaches. And no one is “universally super powered.” Instead, you hope to have just a few super powers that give you a competitive edge.



Because all of these skill sets are important to run a successful business. And in most cases, you're not good at all these things. You can't do it alone.



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30 Crazy Things You Didn't Know About Russia

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Vladimir Putin

Back in 1939, Winston Churchill famously remarked that Russia was "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

For most people, his words ring true to this day.

Although Russia is the largest country in the world and has the eighth-largest GDP, little is widely known about the nation and its culture.

Because Russia has increasingly made international headlines, it's a good idea to know a few things about the country.

To help you out, we've compiled a list of some of the craziest facts about the Russian language, culture, politics, and statistics.

Beer wasn't considered an alcoholic drink in Russia until 2011.

In 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev officially signed into law that beer was in fact an alcoholic beverage.

This law finally put limitations on where beer could be sold.

Source: Christian Science Monitor



One out of four Russian men die before their 55th birthday.

The life expectancy for men in Russia is 64 years old, a total among that of the 50 lowest countries in the world.

Only 10% of men in the US die before their 55th birthday, and 7% of men in the UK do.

And the risk of dying before 55 is exacerbated by those "who said they drank three or more half-liter bottles of vodka a week."

Source: The Guardian



There is no word for "fun" in Russian.

There is the word "веселье," which translates to "joy" or "merriment," and there's also the verb form "веселиться." One huge difference between the words "веселье" and "fun" is that you can have fun at work, but you can't "веселиться" at work.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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