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A Spanish artist's vision for sustainable architecture is straight out of the future

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Transactions Architecture

Spanish artist and architect Dionisio Gonzàlez has a rare talent for combining childlike glee and creativity with incredibly sophisticated structural design. This allows him to dream up structures that simple when it comes to their shapes, but complex in their layers.

His latest series series, entitled "Trans-Actions," focuses on sustainable architecture. "The unusual structures provide space for retreats, workplaces, mobile observatories, hydraulic structures and stationary zeppelins,"writes American Luxury.

The designs may be wildly different, but they have one thing in common: They all rest on pillars or other support edifices to minimize interference with the natural landscape, according to Design Boom.

Gonzàlez incorporated this element as part of his fascination of the dynamic between creation and destruction within the world's natural cycle and today's current times.

The architect shared renderings from the series with Business Insider.

SEE ALSO: Here's the crazy plan to start building an inflatable habitat on the Moon in 2024







See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The 15 most expensive cities in the US for single people

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San Diego

To help single adults see if they are paying too high a premium to live in their city, GOBankingRates surveyed 89 major U.S. cities to compare the local costs that affect singles the most: the prices of wardrobe staples, gym memberships, date night expenses and rent. 

Singlehood is often lauded as the perfect time to save and work toward money goals because it doesn't carry the same financial obligations and considerations that come with marriage and family. But singles' financial situations aren't so simple, and the investments required to stay attractive and dateable while trying to find one's mate can quickly add up, especially in high-cost cities where even everyday necessities carry luxury-level prices. 

Keep scrolling to see if your city is among the 15 most expensive cities for singles in the U.S.

Related: 15 Most Affordable Cities for Singles

SEE ALSO: The 10 best states to buy your first home

15. Madison, Wisconsin.

Madison rounds out this list at No. 15. This city has high costs in all four categories assessed in this survey, but its clothing price puts the city in the top 20 for that category, and the city comes in at No. 9 for average date cost. A date in Madison costs around $132, while an average wardrobe staple will set a single shopper back $69. 

Read: The Most and Least Affordable Dating Sites for Finding Your Soulmate



14. Oakland, California.

At No. 14, Oakland offers a slightly more balanced cost of living for a single lifestyle. Its average clothing cost is actually lower than the median. But a high average rent price of $1.94 per square foot will easily offset those savings. Gym and date expenses are also high in Oakland.



13. San Diego, California.

San Diego singles pay a high premium to live in Southern California. San Diego has costs above the median in every category in this study, with its average clothing and rent prices both coming in at No. 13 in the nation.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Elvis's spirit was alive and shaking at the world's biggest celebration of 'The King'

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Elvis fest 2015

Each year, Elvis Presley super fans and impersonators from around the world congregate in a single place to celebrate the King in a big way.

The Festival, which takes place in Collingwood, Canada, is the largest Elvis festival in the world. All things Elvis-themed take over the streets in the form of parades, carnivals, weddings and even midnight performances at the local McDonald's. 

Take a trip down memory lane at this year's festival celebrating the King, which ended July 26.

(Captions by Sarah Jacobs and Reuters)

SEE ALSO: Hard Rock Cafe Founder Flips Elvis Presley's LA Mansion For $4.7 Million Profit

The annual Collingwood Elvis Festival launched in 1995. Then, only 35 tribute artists performed compared to this year's 120.



This father and son Elvis duo, Norm Ackland and Jax, performed in the streets.



This year's Festival kicked off with a meet and greet of last year's tribute artist champions.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The 21 best places to retire in the world

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retired couple chair

If you're looking to settle down soon, you may want to reconsider sunny Florida, serene Cape Cod, or any other retirement hot spot in the US.

For the third year in a row, the US barely made it into the top 20 of the global retirement index rankings put together by Natixis.

Northern European nations, meanwhile, took eight of the top ten spots.

The index compares the ability of 150 countries to meet the needs of their retirees after examining 20 key performance indicators grouped into four broad categories: health, including life expectancy and access to quality health services; finances, including the strength of the nation's financial system; quality of life, including factors like crime rates and air pollution; and material well-being, meaning the ability to live comfortably in retirement.

The global retirement index and individual rankings are then determined by a country's score in each of these categories.

We've compiled the 21 highest-ranked countries for retirement, according to the index, along with insights from the Natixis report: 

SEE ALSO: The 10 best places for rich people to retire

21. Qatar

Health: 7.9/10

Finances: 7.7/10

Quality of life: 5.1/10

Material Well-being: 8.1/10

Global Retirement Index: 71%

Rounding out the top 21, Qatar established itself as one of the strongest economies in the Gulf Region. The country also made an impressive leap from the 31st ranked country in 2014 t0 the 21st in 2015.



20. Slovenia

Health: 7.8/10

Finances: 5.7/10

Quality of life: 7.9/10

Material Well-being: 7.3/10

Global Retirement Index: 71%

Slovenia ranks high in quality of life, perhaps dues to the government's investment in renewable energies and its focus on reducing CO2 emissions. The country also has a universal healthcare system, high level of income equality, and a top-notch natural environment.

 



19. United States

Health: 8.0/10

Finances: 6.5/10

Quality of life: 7.8/10

Material Well-being: 6.4/10

Global Retirement Index: 71%

The US placed 19th out of the 150 nations analyzed for the third year in a row. Despite is generally high quality of life and good health ranking, the US isn't one of the most financially stable places for retirees. It ranks relatively low for income equality compared to other developed countries and there are still high levels of government debt.

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Go inside the abandoned Chinese village that nature is taking back one house at a time

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Houtouwan Chinese village

Nearly fifty years ago, more than 2,000 people called this bucolic Chinese village home.

Now only a handful of them remain. 

Houtouwan clings to the lush green coastline of a tiny island in the Zhousan archipelago at the mouth of the Yangtze River in China. Half a century ago, it was a busy regional center and a port of call to a sizable fishing fleet.

But as was the case with so many agricultural communities in China, the lightning speed of the country's modernization has left Houtouwan a virtual ghost town. 

The photos below, taken by Damir Sagolj for Reuters, show how the force of nature has retaken this village in a matter of decades — and turned into a tourist attraction.

SEE ALSO: Check out the Tokyo hostel where backpackers squeeze into closet-sized rooms for $12 a night

A former resident of Houtouwan is in charge of guiding visiting tourists through the ghost village on Shengshan Island, about 80 miles southeast of Shanghai.



Residents began to leave the village in the early 1990s as their fishing fleet outgrew the small bay on which the town sits.



Finding proper education was another problem, as the island is rather remote.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The fabulous life of Michael Bloomberg, the eighth richest person in America

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Michael Bloomberg gives speech

Michael Bloomberg is not your average billionaire.

Reportedly worth of $37.5 billion, he's pledged half of his fortune to charity after his death.

For over a decade, he served as New York City mayor earning only $1 dollar a year. Before that, he made billions through the company he founded, Bloomberg LP, and its Bloomberg Terminal financial software.

Here's everything we know about his fortune, shiny toys, good and bad habits, and leading ladies. 

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg just won a bidding war for this historic London mansion

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

Meet Michael Bloomberg: America's eighth richest person, founder of Bloomberg LP, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor.



Bloomberg grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He went to Johns Hopkins University for mechanical engineering and received a MBA from Harvard University.

Source: Wealth X



After reaching partner at Solomon Brothers, he was later in charge of IT. When Solomon merged with Phibro, they let Bloomberg go. He then created Bloomberg LP, a financial services and media company worth a reported $27.7 billion, due in large part to the success of the Bloomberg Terminal.

 

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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9 TV dramas that will make you smarter about business

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better call saul mike

A lot of people feel guilty when they spend a weekend binge-watching a favorite TV show instead of, say, reading a novel or watching TED Talks.

But one of the great things about modern television is that it can be simultaneously entertaining and instructive, especially about business.

We picked nine series that could make you a better businessperson, whether you're interested in learning more about effective leadership, integrating your work and home lives, or managing office politics.

Best of all, you'll be so enthralled by the crime, love affairs, and fantasy warfare that you won't even realize you're being educated.

SEE ALSO: 11 documentaries that will make you smarter about business

'House of Lies'

This Showtime series is based on a book by the same name, written by a former consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. The show features a group of corrupt management consultants who will do seemingly anything to close a deal.

While the episodes aren't perfect reflections of reality, real-life consultants say they do highlight some important truths of modern consulting, such as the relationship between the CEO and his No. 2, who is usually a smart individual the CEO doesn't really listen to. The fifth season begins in 2016.



'Game of Thrones'

Based on George R.R. Martin's book series, "A Song of Ice and Fire," this HBO fantasy television series features multiple plotlines, one of which involves a fierce battle for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

Management experts say the show teaches some important lessons about leadership and power dynamics, such as the idea that being different (which in the show means being a dwarf or an illegitimate child) can make you a stronger leader. The sixth season begins in 2016.



'House of Cards'

Frank Underwood is one of the more Machiavellian characters on television today, or in this case, on Netflix. He starts out as a Democratic congressman from South Carolina and spends the series trying to weasel his way into positions of greater political power.

Underwood's dealings are instructive for any current or aspiring business leader, as they show the importance of treating your subordinates with respect (which Frank doesn't) and bouncing back from setbacks (which Frank does).

It's also a lesson in how to manipulate people and trade favors to get what you want. As writer and creator Beau Willimon told US News:"To be effective leaders, you often have to do things that are morally abhorrent to the rest of us."

The fourth season begins in 2016.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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A 22-year-old art student met her biological mom for the first time and captured the whole experience in pictures

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Ashley Comer - Meeting Sheila 19

Photographer Ashley Comer was born and raised by adoptive parents in Milton, Massachusetts.

She grew up in a tight-knit family of adopted children, but became more and more curious about her birth mother as she grew up.

While finishing her final semester at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, she discovered that Sheila, her biological mother, had moved down to Florida, not far away.

After reconnecting, the two were finally able to meet again after 22 years.

“I discovered that the law in regards to my adoption does not permit any information [about my biological parents] until the age of 21, so I was only a year ahead of what was legal anyhow,” Comer told Business Insider.

She decided to turn the experience into a photo series, called "Meeting Sheila." It started out as a series of candids during their first weekend together, but as they grew closer, the subsequent photographs were born of collaboration, and the project served as an icebreaker as they reconnected.

Comer spoke to Business Insider about the project and shared images with us.

SEE ALSO: These photos beautifully capture the complex relationship between mothers and daughters

Comer, a photography major, had already planned her senior thesis project before tracking down her biological mother. But she eventually scrapped the original project to focus on "Meeting Sheila" instead.



It wasn’t until two days into Comer’s final semester of college that the adoption agency told her that Sheila had received her information, and she learned her biological mother was only a state away. Comer wrote a hopeful letter, and Sheila responded a few weeks later in a short but touching way that expressed her mutual excitement.



The next day, they talked on the phone a bit. They revealed some personal details about their lives and the adoption and found they both had artistic interests. The two scheduled an in-person visit for Comer to see Sheila in Florida.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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NBA player Deron Williams is selling his NYC penthouse for $18 million more than he paid for it

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deron williams tribeca penthouse

After joining the Dallas Mavericks this summer, ex-Brooklyn Nets guard Deron Williams is looking to offload his TriBeCa penthouse at an astounding profit.

He bought the property in 2013 for $15.8 million. He's now asking $33.5 million for it, according to the New York Post.

The penthouse is 6,800 square feet, has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a wine cellar, a restaurant-grade kitchen, and, best of all, 3,000 square feet of outdoor space.

The Post reports that he customized the place "from floor to ceiling."

Williams has made $115 million in his NBA career, and appears to be doing well off the court as well. Here's what the property looked like when he bought it.

Tons of natural light with the floor-to-ceiling windows.



Another view of the bright living room.



Floating stairs.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A group of students have figured out a way to disrupt the period industry in low-income countries

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Flo_washing

When teenage girls in Ethiopia have their periods, they wash their blood-stained rags in water from wells without using soap and hide them under their bed to wear again the next day. In Bangladesh, menstrual rags washed for reuse are sometimes squeezed into roof thatches to dry so that no one notices them. 

In parts of the world where families cannot afford disposable menstrual pads and the stigma around periods is deep, adolescent girls often use discreet, unsanitary ways to wash and dry pads crafted from rags. Moreover, lack of access to sanitary products and fear of menstrual leaks often compel girls to skip, or even drop out of, school.  

Now a solution is in sight.

A group of students at Art Center College of Design in California have built a low-cost, easy-to-use tool, called Flo, to wash and dry reusable sanitary cloths.  

Flo — the brainchild of students Mariko Higaki Iwai, Sohyun Kim, and Tatijana Vasily —  is among the winning designs of this year's International Design Excellence Award. The awards, organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America, picked 81 top winners from more than 1,700 projects.

Here's how Flo works. First, the sanitary cloth goes inside a basket, which helps wring out and dry the soiled material.

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The basket sits inside two bowls made from high-strength plastic, joined together with a nylon or cotton string. In addition to holding water and detergent, the bowls also cover the rags, so that girls don't have to worry about being embarrassed.

Next, the user can hold the product using the strings and give it a spin. 

The prototypes — eight in all — were tested using ketchup, soy sauce and animal blood. According to the designers, Flo uses half the water and detergent compared to manual washing.

wordpress spin wash combo

The string and the basket can also be pulled out and used for hanging the wet cloth later. It is important to dry the cloth in the sun, since that helps kill bacteria. Often, girls in low-income countries hide the rags on the roof or under their bed to keep them from being seen. Instead, Flo designers advise tying a burlap cloth as a blinder around the basket to ensure privacy.           

Flo_drying_container

The kit also contains a zip-top pouch, which would allow girls to carry a reusable pad to school privately. 

Flo_pad_envelope

 The toolkit will cost less than $3. 

The designers, who have also collaborated with students from Yale School of Management to roll out a business plan, are now working towards making Flo a reality for millions of girls across the world. 

 

Join the conversation about this story »

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People trap themselves on this volcano for 8 months at a time — and it's critical to exploring space

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hi seas mars colony construction

Mauna Loa volcano, HAWAII — What will it be like to live and work on the red planet?

To find out, I visited a Mars colony — OK, so it was a small camp near the top of a giant Hawaiian volcano. But it's one of the closest analogs we have to Mars.

The 1,300-square-foot dome belongs to HI-SEAS, an organization that simulates Mars missions. Each expedition locks six brave volunteers inside for several months. You can step outside — but only if you're wearing a full spacesuit. Meanwhile, researchers back on "Earth" monitor the group's stress levels, camaraderie, and teamwork.

This is no stunt. Isolated conditions will be unavoidable on a real-life mission to Mars, and help from Earth will be about 140 million miles away. So it's crucial that we stage mock missions, discover the challenges real astronauts may face, and learn how to overcome them.

Martha Lenio, the commander of the crew that just finished an eight-month stay inside the dome, recently hosted a group of local high-school girls for a "night on Mars," part of a STEM education program called PISCES, and invited me to tag along.

Scroll down to see Mars on Earth — and why conquering the real thing will be tougher than we expected.

Many of humanity's space-exploration dreams lead here, to Mars.



But it's a desolate, unforgiving place.



To learn to live on Mars, we need a good analog to practice on. And Mauna Loa — a giant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii — is the best one we have.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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A mom took these adorable pictures of her 2-year-old daughter and her dog in identical poses

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Dog and Daughter

One day, portrait photographer Jesse Holland took a photo of her two-year-old daughter Ella and her dog doing the same thing.

Then she took another. Today, the series of of juxtaposed images contains more than 100 images posted to her Instagram account.

Holland is a wedding photographer by trade, but has used this side project as a way to document her daughter’s childhood beyond just iPhone captures (although some of the images in the series are actually taken on the iPhone).

“I love shooting weddings, but this has been a fun way to make my husband, family and friends smile, and most of them are much more interested in this series then wedding photos of people they have never met,” Holland tells Business Insider.

Below are a selection of the photos and excerpts from our interview with Holland.

SEE ALSO: Kids, dogs touch same soft spots in the brain: Study

For the daughter and dog series, Holland comes up with ideas for images ahead of time, but sometimes the situations also just pop up spontaneously and she takes advantage of the opportunity in front of her.

A photo posted by Jesse Holland (@jhphoto) on



Usually it is a matter of placing the dog, Charlie, into the same scenario of something that Ella is doing or has just done.

A photo posted by Jesse Holland (@jhphoto) on



“When I have a pre-visualized photo that I want to do, the dog is usually happier to play along as he will ALWAYS sit and stay if he knows there is a treat in it for him,” Holland says. “Ella isn't as food-motivated, and talking a two-year-old into something that wasn't their idea to begin with can sometimes be a challenge.”

A photo posted by Jesse Holland (@jhphoto) on



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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15 incredible concert venues around the world

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steelstacks

Watching a live performance is thrilling in itself, but getting to do it while being in the midst of a stunning stage makes the experience unforgettable. 

In countries around the world, there are music venues that have been built in breathtaking natural and historical locations that include underground caverns and 19th-century forts. 

From Ireland's Slane Castle, which has hosted musicians like the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, to Sweden's Dalhalla amphitheater, built in a former limestone quarry, here are 15 fascinating places you can enjoy live music around the world.

SEE ALSO: 32 massive parties everyone should go to in their lifetime

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The annual Bregenz Festival, which is held in Vienna, Austria, from July through August, is known for the incredible fantasy-like sets built on its floating stage.

Learn more about the Bregenz Festival.



At SteelStacks, a cultural venue located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, grand mills rise from the stage. The venue is located in the former site of Bethlehem Steel, the second largest steel manufacturer in the nation.

Learn more about SteelStacks.



The Théâtre Antique d’Orange, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Orange, France, is an ancient Roman theater that dates back to the first century. Today, the venue features the original stone architecture on its stage and surroundings.

Learn more about Théâtre Antique d’Orange.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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What 16 Twitter analysts are saying about the depressing outlook and stock-price crash (TWTR)

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twitter new york stock exchange

"We do not expect to see sustained meaningful growth in [monthly active users] until we start to reach the mass market,"Twitter's interim CEO Jack Dorsey warned. "We expect that will take a considerable period of time."

This gloom dominated the tone of Twitter's earnings announcement. Despite better-than-expected second-quarter profits, Twitter shares plummeted.

"We have not communicated why people should use Twitter nor made it easy for them to understand how to use twitter," Dorsey added.

"The bottom line for TWTR is that after nine years of its existence, my mother still doesn't understand what it means to 'hashtag' something, but she does understand what it means to 'like' something,"Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter said. "That is to say that Twitter is still too difficult to use and inaccessible to too many."

The stock plunged 14.4% to $31.24 on Wednesday after the news. Is it time to buy?

Wall Street analysts covering Twitter are split. Of the 16 research notes read by Business Insider, eight analysts maintained a "buy" or "outperform" rating on the stock. The other eight were neutral. No one is saying to sell.

Here's some of what they had to say:

SEE ALSO: Here's what 23 Apple analysts are saying about the sales flop and the plunging stock

Jefferies: BULLISH

Rating: Buy

Price Target: $56 (revised down from $60)

Comment: "We remain bullish on the prospects of LT user and engagement improvement as TWTR has, and will continue to, iterate the product. Improved curation, coming in the form of Project Lightning in fall (see pg 2) and shifts away from the reverse chronological timeline are the next steps in attempting to execute on Dorsey's plan. Additionally, TWTR will be ramping unified mktg efforts to help close the gap between its 95% aided global awareness and 30% penetration in top markets."



Pacific Crest: BULLISH

Rating: Overweight

Price Target: $52

Comment: "Per usual, Twitter beat Q2 estimates but missed user targets. Monetization bulls and user bears have another reason to stay entrenched in this battleground stock. Results were close enough to normal that the announcement of the new CEO, which we expect in Q4, should be the next catalyst for long-term sentiment; we remain positive on TWTR in front of a new direction."



Deutsche Bank: BUY

Rating: Buy

Price Target: $50

Comment: "Our positive stance on TWTR is unchanged following 2Q results — the company is iterating on product in hopes of increasing the user base but not yet showing traction, and items in management's control like ad revenue are exceeding expectations. The 40%+ correction over the past quarter factors in management's muted tone toward growing MAUs, from here at 6.5x revenue we view the risk/reward as favorable. User growth will cause shares to re-rate higher as has been the case historically, but timing is unclear based on the updated 2Q commentary, and we are waiting patiently."



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Here’s why the New York City subway is always delayed

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MTA subway CBTC videoFrom the looks of straphangers during rush hour, with their headphones, smartphones, and e-readers, it would be easy to miss how old the New York City subway system is.

But every day, hundreds of trains run through the largest subway network in the world on century-old technology. When things go wrong — as they have been doing more and more often— the delays pile up.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority, a state agency responsible for the New York City subway, is fighting a budget battle to get the funds it desperately needs to update the century-old system. To garner public support, the agency took to YouTube, uploading video of the antiquated signaling system and what’s being done to update it.

A crucial element of the MTA's capital plan, the program that stands to lose the most funding from the state legislature, is Communications Based Train Control (explained below). The technology is revolutionary for a system as old as New York City's, and installing it on just one subway line took six years and $288 million to complete. 

Scroll down to learn what's being done to improve a subway system that remains largely unchanged since its inception in 1904.

 

SEE ALSO: Here's what the NYC subway map looks like to a disabled person.

“In our system, it’s not just the architecture that’s 100 years old,” an MTA employee explains. “It’s a lot of the basic technology as well.”



Here, at the West 4th Street station, MTA employees log train movements by hand.



Every signal on each line is mapped on this board, which looks more like a an old board game than a method of keeping thousands of commuters safe and on time.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Private equity is finally getting ready to cash in (kkr)

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execs

In July, three companies that were targets of some of the largest ever leveraged buyouts — Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster; technology company First Data; and supermarket Albertsons — filed to go public. 

The companies are also notable because they've been owned by private-equity funds for much longer than anticipated — as much as a decade in Albertsons' case.

An IPO filing is still a long way away from a clean exit: Even with a public listing it can take years for private-equity investors to sell down their shares and be done with an investment. 

In the wake of the financial crisis, so-called "hold times" at private-equity firms increased to an average of five to nine years for a North American company compared to an average time of 4.2 years before markets crashed, data from Preqin shows.

Hold times are the duration a private-equity-backed company sits in its owner's portfolio. Hold times have also irked some private-equity investors like state pensions after revelations of fee abuse at some of the industry's top firms

holdtimes"I hate long hold times in private equity, personally," Don Vollum, managing partner at Vista Ridge Capital Partners, a private-equity investor based in Oregon, told Business Insider.

"That’s not to say that I want to see managers rush a company to market before it’s ready, but rather that the point of 'private equity' is to transform a company in a relatively short, fixed amount of time — three to five years, typically."

For private-equity firms, that's meant having to run businesses for much longer than they planned. In some cases, they've used the time to sell off pieces to manage a smaller business as they push toward an IPO. 

In other cases, big private-equity firms like TPG Capital and KKR found themselves facing problems they couldn’t strategize past. Deals like Harrah’s Entertainment and Energy Future Holdings went belly-up, costing sponsors billions in the process and making it harder for them to raise new funds in the aftermath.

Business Insider took a look at five deals that represent about $100 billion in invested capital to see how private equity is working through some of the transactions that proved most difficult in the wake of the financial crisis. 

In Equity Office, Blackstone trusts

Blackstone Group bet big on Equity Office Properties in 2007 and was fortunate to quickly flip a large chunk of the real estate after acquiring it for $36 billion. Blackstone has continued to pare down the assets in a series of sales, like last year's sale of $3.5 billion of California office buildings, and has now offloaded more than half of the properties it acquired in the original deal.

It is very likely the private-equity firm will reel in a profit on its Equity Office deal, in a similar fashion to how Steve Schwarzman’s firm won with its bet on Hilton Worldwide Hotels, that is, piece by piece.

One of the things that has made Hilton a successful deal is that the sponsor has sold stakes of around 10% in the company into what has been a rising market for its stock. Hilton also exited properties held within its own portfolio at a high valuation.



First Data was not Kravis' first post-crisis headache

KKR has had a tough time with some of its biggest deals, but Henry Kravis’ PE firm is on the verge of making a big exit more than seven years after acquiring First Data. It took a lot of extra homework and the attentive eye of Kravis himself to get there.

First Data's IPO filing shows that it hasn't recorded an annual profit since at least 2010 — as far back as the financial statements go. 

Seven years after the initial $27 billion buyout, KKR had to invest more than $1 billion to prop up First Data. The IPO will be a big test for KKR. After another of its mega-buyouts (Energy Future) filed for bankruptcy, it remains to be seen if Kravis’ PE firm will ever again do a deal north of the $10 billion mark again. 



Doubling down on the consumer could pay off at Albertsons

Rather than cutting down, like Blackstone has done with Equity Office, the owners of supermarket giant Albertsons have gone the other way — scaling up the business with acquisitions. 

The initial $9.6 billion buyout of Albertsons by Cerberus Capital Management dates back to 2005. It was followed by a handful of deals, most notably a $9.4 billion bid for Safeway that closed in January of this year. By July, the merged company had filed for an IPO. But it hasn’t yet disclosed a share price (crucial in determining valuation). Cerberus controls a majority stake leading up to the IPO. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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8 science-backed mind tricks to beat procrastination and do that thing you've been putting off right now

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Man Bored at Desk

If you're reading this right now, there's a good chance you're actually supposed to be doing something else. (Isn't that what the internet is for?)

But the thing about getting things done? It's hard — especially when whatever you're supposed to be doing is daunting, unpleasant, or particularly high stakes.

And as we've written before, there are powerful reasons you might be having trouble getting started. But the bills must be paid, the work must get done, and your side projects aren't going to come to fruition on their own. 

Here, we've gathered eight research-backed mind tricks to help you turn off Netflix and get it done. 

 

SEE ALSO: 13 secrets for performing better under pressure

Break it into steps.

If you need to tackle something big, try breaking it into smaller pieces. Absurdly simple? Yes. Extremely effective? Absolutely.

Researchers from Penn State recently found that people seem to like getting small tasks done as soon as possible. Accomplishing something — even if it's not the whole goal, even if it doesn't actually save any time — seems to be psychologically rewarding in itself. 

So break it up: If you're trying to clean your apartment, deconstruct the process into discrete tasks and knock them out one at a time.  



Channel your future self.

One of the reasons it's hard to make yourself do things that will be good for Future You is because you — and me, and all of us — tend to prioritize the desires of Present You, explains Olga Khazan at The Atlantic

"Why put that money in your 401(k) when you want those shoes now?" she writes. "Why not eat that cupcake today when swimsuit season is still a good six weeks away?"

But psychologists Neil Lewis of the University of Michigan and Daphna Oyserman of the University of Southern California have identified an incredibly simple hack to bridge the gap between Present Me and Future Me: think in terms of days, not months or years.

Technically the same amount of time? Yes — but you'll be much (much) more likely to take action.



Get in touch with your emotions.

A vicious cycle: You're anxious about a task, so you check Facebook to try to make yourself feel better. Except that an hour later, you're still on Facebook (or napping, or playing online Spades), and now you feel even worse.

Recently, several studies have shown that "negative emotions can derail attempts at self-control,"writes Sue Shellenbarger in The Wall Street Journal. That means you don't need a new organizing system, after all. Maybe what you need is an emotional boost.

Dr. Timothy Pychyl, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa and the author of "Solving the Procrastination Puzzle" has a few suggestions for making that happen. Chief among them: "just get started, and make the threshold for getting started quite low," he tells the Journal. 

He also advises procrastinators to boost their spirits through "time travel"— imagining how good they'll feel in the future once they've gotten the job done. 

 



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17 mind-blowing psychology findings that explain the baffling choices you make every day

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If you assume that you understand why you think and act the way you do, you're probably wrong.

Decades of psychological research suggest that people behave in ways that are mysterious and perplexing — even to themselves.

We sifted through the Quora thread, "What are some mind-blowing facts about social psychology?" and pulled out the most fascinating findings. (Some fall outside the realms of social psychology, but we thought they were worth including.)

Read on to find out why we label other people jerks and ourselves victims of circumstance; why powerful people are messier eaters; and why we'd rather give ourselves electric shocks than sit alone for 15 minutes (seriously).

SEE ALSO: 40 Psychological Facts You Should Know About Yourself

We often subscribe to the majority opinion, even when it's obvious the majority is wrong.

"People often go to surprising lengths to conform to the majority opinion,"writes Quora user Leo Polovets, referring to an experiment conducted by psychologist Solomon Asch.

Back in the 1950s, Asch designed an experiment in which participants saw three lines and were asked to say which one was longest. One line was clearly longer than the others.

In each iteration of the experiment, just one participant was surrounded by a group of confederates, who all reported that one of the shorter lines was longest. Sure enough, three-quarters of participants agreed with the rest of the group at least once.

In 2005, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gregory Berns replicated the experiment and found similar results. Berns also scanned participants' brains while the experiment was going on and determined that group pressure actually caused people to change their perception of reality, while disagreeing with the group caused people to experience emotional discomfort.



We don't always realize that the environment has a huge impact on our behavior.

In countries where drivers' licenses have an opt-out box for organ donation, the rate of consent is significantly higher than in countries where there's an opt-in box, according to research.

"Making a decision is difficult so often times people resort to the default option,"says Christopher Lee.



We incorrectly assume that most people support common behavior.

One way to explain this phenomenon, writes Anunay Arunav, is, "when no one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone believes." In other words, individual members of a group privately believe one thing, but think that everyone else in the group believes the opposite.

This phenomenon can help explain why certain cultural practices and government policies persist long after support for them has waned.

The term was coined in 1931 by psychologists Daniel Katz and Floyd Allport, when they discovered that most college students didn't support racial segregation, but were convinced that their classmates did.

More recently, researchers asked college students about their attitudes toward alcohol use and their estimates of their peers' attitudes. Most students believed they were more uncomfortable with alcohol use on campus than the average student.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Science-backed ways to hack your Tinder and get the most matches possible

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If someone's ever told you they don't use Tinder because it's too superficial, ask them how they decide to flirt with someone at a bar.

Whether you're doing it on a smartphone screen or in real life, the strategy is strikingly similar: You check the person out — what they're doing, what they're wearing, and who they're with.

But there's a lot more science bound up in that momentary glance than you might think. There are a few main things we look for when we're sizing up a potential date. And you can take advantage of them with these tips.

 

SEE ALSO: Surprising science-backed ways to boost your mood

CHECK OUT: 6 strange things love does to your brain and body

Don't fuss too much over the 'about me' section — your photos matter more.

How you look matters more than what you write. Research suggests we can determine more about someone's personality based on their appearance than on their answers to a set of predetermined questions, like those used by some online dating sites.

Plus, those answers might lead us astray — in experiments with people who said they valued specific characteristics in a potential mate, none of them proved important once it came down to meeting that person in real life.



Look more extroverted with a photo where you're facing the camera head-on.

Whether we're looking at a picture or chatting with someone at a speed date, there's one trait most people can identify pretty easily and accurately: extroversion.

If you're standing "energetically" in a photo, for example, meaning you're not slouching and your feet are pointed towards the camera, viewers are more likely to pick up on your outgoing personality. Looking neat and composed (which viewers perceive as meaning you're stylish and healthy) can earn you extroversion points too.



Smile big to show people you're friendly.

It might seem obvious, but plenty of Tinder users forget the most important aspect of an attractive photo: your smile.

People tend to associate people who are smiling with being more outgoing, while they tend to link frowning or straight-faced people with introversion.



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15 Wall Street analysts explain why they're crazy about Facebook

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Facebook had a big quarter.

The social network generated earnings of $0.50 per share, beating expectations for $0.47. This was on better-than-expected revenue, which jumped 39% year-over-year to $4.04 billion.

"This was another strong quarter for our community," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. "Engagement across our family of apps keeps growing, and we remain focused on improving the quality of our services."

Daily active users climbed 17% to 968 million, but that was a little bit lower than the 970 million expected by analysts.

The stock fell 2% after the news.

Wall Street analysts covering Facebook are one-sidedly bullish. Of the 16 research notes read by Business Insider, 15 analysts maintained a "buy" or "outperform" rating on the stock. Their price targets range from $105 to $125. Just one analyst is neutral. No one is saying to sell.

From what we've read, much of the excitement about Facebook isn't really about Facebook in the traditional sense. It's a more about the newer platforms — like Instagram, Oculus, WhatsApp, and FB Messenger — and the opportunities to monetize.

Here's some of what they had to say:

SEE ALSO: What 16 Twitter analysts are saying about the depressing outlook and stock-price crash

SunTrust: BULLISH

Rating: Buy

Price Target: $125 

Comment: "Monetization of mobile users continues to improve at a rapid pace, and as total mobile users continue to expand we see this as a key growth driver moving forward. We think there is an inordinate amount of optional value for Facebook as it addresses these large target markets with its tremendous established user base and hence our Buy rating."



Jefferies: BULLISH

Rating: Buy

Price Target: $120 (revised from $105)

Comment: "FB continues to post impressive mobile ad revenue above our estimates, even on very tough comps. FX again negatively pressured results in 2Q. We continue to see multiple meaningful go-forward growth levers in Instagram, new ad formats including video ads, the Facebook Audience Network, improved ad pricing, and WhatsApp. Management tightened the range for full year opex guide, a positive."



FBR: BULLISH

Rating: Outperform

Price Target: $118 (revised from $94)

Comment: "Facebook's results are supportive of our thesis that the company is uniquely positioned to grow its share of the high-growth mobile ad market, a function of its product format, unique data asset (i.e., definitive IDs and cross-device login), and strong track record of innovation."



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