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These new photos from the set of 'Star Wars: Episode VIII' will blow your mind

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New photos from the set of "Star Wars: Episode VIII" have emerged, and they're pretty wild. 

The sequel to "The Force Awakens" is currently shooting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the outdoor shooting location offered a glimpse of new aliens and a ship that appears to hark back to the landspeeder we know so well.

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis are all returning for the movie. Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran are joining the cast. 

Rian Johnson is directing the film, which is slated for a December 15, 2017 release.

 

 

SEE ALSO: Actor Ian McShane unleashes another 'Game of Thrones' spoiler and tells fans to 'get a life'

Johnson shared a behind-the-scenes photo on his Tumblr March 10.

 

RAW Embed

 



Check out some of the photos posted on Twitter below:

 



 

 

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This 'Game of Thrones' fan made awesome miniature shields using just paper and glue

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wholedwarf Game of Thrones quilling sigil scale photo

Obsession knows no bounds for "Game of Thrones" fans, but one person went above and beyond when it came to recreating the iconic house sigils featured in the series.

Inspired by the descriptions of house symbols in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire,"Redditor WholeDwarf set to work making 39 miniature shields

She used a technique called "quilling"— a 3D paper artform that requires nothing but paper and glue to create filigree patterns.

Scroll down to learn more about quilling and this incredibly detailed art.

WholeDwarf wanted to make the House Stark sigil first — a grey direwolf's head.



The project quickly spiraled into an entire set of sigils. Here's the Targaryen three-headed dragon.



Each house sigil is glued to a paper shield measuring 3.25" wide by 3.75" tall.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This beautiful resort runs entirely on renewable energy

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There's a beautiful new resort opening in the United Arab Emirates, but the best part isn't its tranquil palm trees or central spring — the new getaway will give off zero emissions.

Oasis Eco Resort

Called the Oasis Eco Resort, the retreat will open in 2020 in the southern region of the UAE. It will come with high-tech features to make it both sustainable and futuristic.

Here's a closer look:

 

The hotel comes in the shape of a star with a beautiful spring laying in the heart of it.

Eco Resort Group is the brains behind the project, which is being built by London-based Baharash Architecture.



That border is actually a solar-panel lined roof covering a series of 84 interconnecting suites.



Most suites will be used to house guests, but there will also be a restaurant and bar, spa, gym, research and business hubs, and reception area.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 weird psychological reasons someone might fall in love with you

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jay beyonceLove is mysterious, but it's probably not destiny.

According to the research, your hormones, interests, and upbringing all help determine who you fall for — and who falls for you.

Since your partner plays a significant role in your long-term health, happiness, and even your career prospects, we've scoured the studies and collected some of the psychological reasons two people click.

This is an updated version of an article originally written by Maggie Zhang.

SEE ALSO: Science says people decide these 9 things within seconds of meeting you

DON'T MISS: The 27 jobs that are most damaging to your health

If you're really, really alike

Decades of studies have shown that the cliché that "opposites attract" is totally off.

"Partners who are similar in broad dispositions, like personality, are more likely to feel the same way in their day-to-day lives,"said Gian Gonzaga, lead author of a study of couples who met on eHarmony. "This may make it easier for partners to understand each other."



If you look like their opposite-sex parent

University of St. Andrews psychologist David Perrett and his colleagues found that some people are attracted to folks with the same hair and eye color of their opposite-sex parents, as well as the age range they saw at birth.

"We found that women born to 'old' parents (over 30) were less impressed by youth, and more attracted to age cues in male faces than women with 'young' parents (under 30),"the authors wrote. "For men, preferences for female faces were influenced by their mother's age and not their father's age, but only for long-term relationships."



If you smell right

A University of Southern California study of women who were ovulating suggested that some prefer the smell of T-shirts worn by men with high levels of testosterone.

This matched with other hormone-based instincts: Some women also preferred men with a strong jaw line when they were ovulating



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This startup created a new kind of offer letter to educate employees about startup equity

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interview,job

At eShares, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to better educate employees on startup equity.

Even new hires at eShares often don’t understand the equity compensation component of their offer letter. So we decided to create a new offer letter.

We are sharing an example of our offer letter, which you can find here. I have also included some highlights below with captions. I hope this will encourage transparency in more companies and help candidates who are currently interviewing at startups.

The cover page



The welcome letter



Summary of all relevant salary and equity information



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

9 influential speeches that changed the world

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fdr

From Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death" to FDR's "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," we have selected nine of our favorite speeches that have changed the world:

SEE ALSO: 'Do not fear failure': The best pieces of life advice from General George S. Patton

Napoleon Bonaparte — "Farewell to the Old Guard"

After suffering several setbacks in the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne on April 6, 1814.

At the time of the abdication, he gave a speech praising his faithful soldiers and generals who had stuck by him:

Soldiers of my Old Guard: I bid you farewell. For twenty years I have constantly accompanied you on the road to honor and glory.

In these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have invariably been models of courage and fidelity.

With men such as you our cause could not be lost; but the war would have been interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have entailed deeper misfortunes on France.

I have sacrificed all of my interests to those of the country. 

Source: Speeches That Changed The World



Georges Jacques Danton — “Dare, Dare Again, Always Dare”

Given during the tumult of the French Revolution, Danton urged his fellow French citizens to mobilize in order to push back the invading Prussian forces.

The speech was inspiring, but also chilling, as Danton pushed for those not supporting the war efforts to be put to death: 

 At such a moment this National Assembly becomes a veritable committee of war. We ask that you concur with us in directing this sublime movement of the people, by naming commissioners who will second us in these great measures.

We ask that any one refusing to give personal service or to furnish arms shall be punished with death. We ask that a set of instructions be drawn up for the citizens to direct their movements.

We ask that couriers be sent to all the departments to notify them of the decrees that you proclaim here. The tocsin we are about to ring is not an alarm signal; it sounds the charge on the enemies of our country.

To conquer them we must dare, dare again, always dare, and France is saved!

Source: Speeches That Changed The World



Giuseppe Garibaldi — Speech to his Soldiers

In the mid 19th century, Giuseppe Garibaldi led a military movement to liberate the various Italian kingdoms from Austrian rule and create a unified modern nation of Italy.

Garibaldi gave this speech in 1860 to rally his troops for further action to unify the nation: 

To arms, then, all of you! all of you! And the oppressors and the mighty shall disappear like dust.

You, too, women, cast away all the cowards from your embraces; they will give you only cowards for children, and you who are the daughters of the land of beauty must bear children who are noble and brave.

Let timid doctrinaires depart from among us to carry their servility and their miserable fears elsewhere. This people is its own master.

It wishes to be the brother of other peoples, but to look on the insolent with a proud glance, not to grovel before them imploring its own freedom.

It will no longer follow in the trail of men whose hearts are foul. No! No! No!

Source: Speeches That Changed The World



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here are the latest drawings of Google's crazy new campus in California

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google campus 10

About a year ago, Google revealed plans for a new campus it's building in Mountain View, California, near its current location.

The plans have changed a little since then, and today the city of Mountain View posted the latest plans for one of the buildings, as earlier reported by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The building, known as Charleston East, will be two stories and about 595,000 square feet. Check out how Google imagines it will look:

SEE ALSO: Here's all the progress Apple's made on its spaceship campus, the 'best office building in the world'

Here's the cover shot, showing the view of the entry. Doesn't that guy in front look a little young to be working at Google?



This is a cross-section plan of the building.



Here's the view from the west, with storm clouds gathering.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 10 wealthiest tech billionaires in the world

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Of the world's 10 richest tech billionaires, four are college dropouts. All are men, all are from two countries (the United States and China), and all currently are or were heads of companies. 

These are some seriously wealthy folks — the entry level to this list is $18.2 billion net worth (that includes cash, stock, and various other holdings). Some now spend their time trying to change the world, others spend their time owning sports teams, and some are still running the company that made them rich.

Heck, one of them is launching stuff into space:

blue origin capsule

This list of the 10 richest tech billionaires in the world comes from a collaboration between Business Insider and wealth analytics firm Wealth-X, which recently created a list of the top 50 richest people on Earth.

Emmie Martin and Tanza Loudenback contributed research to this report.

Let's jump in, starting with number 10:

10. Pony Ma

Net worth: $18.2 billion

Age: 44

Country: China

Industry: Technology

Source of wealth: Tencent Holdings

Having made money early on in the stock market, Ma Huateng (Pony Ma) started Tencent with college friends. The company's first major product was a messaging service in China named QQ, which cost nothing and became a standard in early online messaging services. Tencent has since expanded dramatically, investing in a variety of different business types, from music distribution to major video game studios like Riot Games (makers of the world's most popular game, "League of Legends").



9. Michael Dell

Net worth: $18.9 billion

Age: 51

Country: US

Industry: Technology

Source of wealth: Self-made; Dell

While a premed student at the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, Michael Dell started a company called PC Ltd. — the predecessor to Dell. He soon dropped out of college to build computers full-time, which became one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.

By the time he was 23, the company went public and raised $30 million — $18 million of it going to Dell personally. Outside of a brief period, Dell has run his namesake company since its inception. The company employs over 100,000 people in several countries, and remains based in Texas where it's the second largest non-oil company behind AT&T.



8. Steve Ballmer

Net worth: $25.9 billion

Age: 59

Country: US

Industry: Tech

Source of wealth: Self-made; Microsoft

Steve Ballmer dropped out of business school at Stanford in 1980 to join Harvard friend Bill Gates at Microsoft as the company's first business manager, earning a $50,000 salary and a stake in the company. He went from business manager to CEO during his time at Microsoft, and that early stake in the company paid off handsomely: He's only the second person, not including founders and their family, to ever become a billionaire from employee stock options.

Nowadays, he's no longer with Microsoft. He paid $2 billion in a deal to buy the Los Angeles Clippers back in 2014. He's also fond of slamming basketballs, as seen to the right.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How the Second World War led to the creation of the world's first sexist chocolate bar

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yorkie not for girls

The Yorkie bar is famous in the UK for its former tag line: "It's not for girls." Nestlé first launched the slogans "Don't feed the birds,""Not available in pink," and "King size not queen size" in 2002, but the bar has always been targeted at men ever since its inception.

However, the manufacturers of the chocolate bar have now revealed that it could have been completely different. Rowntree's (later taken over by Nestlé) had many ideas for the how its solid chocolate snack would taste and be branded. Now Nestlé historian Alex Hutchinson has discovered various rejected designs and ideas and shared them in a blog post to celebrate the chocolate bar's 40th birthday.

Had it not been not been for associations with the Second World War, the bar would have been called "Rations."

Here's the story of how Yorkie came to be the first openly sexist chocolate bar.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 30 most creative women in advertising

Yorkie was almost called "Boulevard." ACCORDING TO

The idea, which couldn't be much more different from Yorkie's blunt, macho marketing, was that the chocolate would be enjoyed instead of a cigarette after coffee. It was inspired by the "continental glamour" of France's cafe culture, explaining the drawing of the Arc De Triomphe.



The next idea was "Variety," inspired by the 70s version of "X-Factor," or "American Idol."

The port-flavored bar was inspired by 70s TV show "The Good Old Days," where performers and the audience dressed up as though they were Victorian. Its tagline was: "Positively packed with the palatable presence of priceless port wine." 



The next idea was a peanut-filled "Pick-Me-Up"bar.

The artwork was apparently derived from Jeeves and Wooster — characters from P.G. Wodehouse's novels.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Airbus has a crazy idea to speed up airplane boarding that looks like something from 'Thunderbirds'

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Boarding an airplane

Unless you're deathly afraid of planes, one of the worst things about flying is the sheer tedium of it. It's nothing but indeterminate waiting — waiting for security, waiting to board, waiting to reach your destination.

Airbus has just been granted a patent for a wild new way to try to speed up boarding on planes — and as Ars Technica points out, it's just like something out of "Thunderbirds."

Here's how it works.

On normal planes, passengers line up to board and shuffle in one at a time. It's inefficient and pretty time-consuming.



The plane manufacturer Airbus thinks it has a new way of doing things — and it requires a revolution in plane design.



Airbus suggests detaching the passenger cabin altogether, instead loading passengers in a specially designed bay in the airport.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The markets have fallen out of love with China

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China Man Woman Rose Valentine's Day

Only a few years ago it was strange to meet someone who wasn’t bullish about the Chinese economy.

Monotonously the economy produced eye-watering growth rates each and every year, drawing investors in far and wide to marvel at the success story. It was only going to get stronger, and larger, eventually leading to the nation displacing the United States as the largest economy worldwide.

While that still appears likely, at least on the current trajectory, it’s clear that sentiment towards China is no longer bullish but outright bearish. Be it China’s property, stock or currency market, and as a consequence its financial sector, investors worldwide continue to fret.

Nothing demonstrates the stark change in investor mindset over the past three years or so than the latest quarterly global macro survey conducted by Barclays.

The bank asked 585 global investors, predominantly from North America and Europe who operate in stocks, credit and rates markets, a series of questions relating to the outlook for asset classes and the global economy in the period ahead.

While the surveys findings on what were the biggest risks to marketsover the next 12 months were evenly spread, it was weak growth in emerging markets, led by China, that continued to outrank all others within the investment community.

The five charts below, supplied by Barclays, offer an indication as to just how pessimistic the markets have become towards China over recent years. It offers something for China bears, and contrarian investors, alike.

Here's what the survey found were the biggest risks for markets in the year ahead.



And what nation or region was most likely to undershoot on economic growth.



Most see the chance of a significant negative shock to China's economy over the next two years at around 10-25%. However, around 50% see the odds being greater than that level.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The Iran sailor incident just keeps getting worse

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sailors iran

An Iranian naval commander said Tuesday that Iran retrieved thousands of pages of information from devices used by U.S. sailors who were briefly detained in January. The claim, published by Iranian state media, marks the latest example of how the authorities in Tehran has kept an incident considered embarrassing to the United States in the media in the two months since it occurred.

Iran detained 10 sailors for about 16 hours beginning Jan. 12 after they veered into Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The sailors, traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain in two riverine command boats, were taken into custody at gunpoint by armed members Iranian troops, which has maintained a naval base on Farsi Island for decades. The sailors "mis-navigated" into Iranian waters, according to the preliminary results of a Navy investigation.

The new report cites Gen. Ali Razmjou, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, saying the information obtained from laptop computers, GPS devices and maps amounts to about 13,000 pages. It is not clear if any of it is classified. U.S. military officials have said previously that the only equipment taken was two digital SIM cards in satellite phones.

The sailors were released after Secretary of State John F. Kerry intervened, ending a potential crisis with a country that has a history of holding Americans captive for years. But Iran, angering U.S. officials, has continued to exploit the incident for propaganda purposes.

They include:

Showing images of US sailors held at gunpoint

Images released by Iranian media in the hours after the sailors were detained infuriated some U.S. officials, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter. Carter's initial remarks were restrained, but he said a few days later that he was "very, very angry" about the detention, and that the U.S. Navy would have acted differently.

"To see our guys in that situation on Iranian TV, that's really not okay," Carter said.

Critics of the Obama administration said the incident amounted to a "propaganda bonanza" for Tehran.

 



Releasing video of a U.S. sailor in captivity apologizing for his actions

In the immediate aftermath of the the detention, Iran released a video that showed a U.S. sailor saying he and his colleagues had been treated well in captivity and apologizing for what they had done.

"It was a mistake. That was our fault. We apologize for our mistake," the American said.

He was identified later by his mother as Lt. David Nartker, according to the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md. The apology has prompted some critics to say he should be court-martialed, noting that the Code of Conduct for Members of the United States Armed Forces says that a service member should never surrender of his own free will and should continue to resist by all means necessary if captured.

Carter said that what was depicted was shown "through the lens of the Iranian media" and argued that it was important to allow the sailors to speak for themselves about what happened.

"I think you've got to give these guys the opportunity to tell us what was really going on and to get some context before we can know," Carter said.



Distributing video of an Iranian drone flying over a U.S. aircraft carrier the same day

About two weeks after the sailors were released, Iran released video showing it had flown a drone over the USS Harry S. Truman, the aircraft carrier the United States currently has deployed in the Persian Gulf. Cmdr. William Marks, a U.S. Navy spokesman, said at the time that a U.S. Navy helicopter confirmed the drone was harmless before it was allowed to fly over, but called the action "abnormal and unprofessional."

The flyover occurred Jan. 12 — the same day that the U.S. sailors were detained elsewhere in the Gulf.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

22 celebrities who love and endorse Donald Trump

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Donald Trump

With five primaries on Tuesday, including major contests in Florida and Ohio, Donald Trump could solidify his lead in the fight for the Republican nomination.

If he sweeps the states, he'll be in a good position to grab the majority of delegates he'll need to clinch the nomination. If he doesn't, some predict a contested convention down the road.

In addition to the politicians and pundits — like Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter — who have endorsed Trump, many celebrities are throwing their support behind the divisive businessman.

Here are 22 celebrities and entertainment figures who are showing their support for him, from Kid Rock to Mike Tyson:

SEE ALSO: John Oliver's anti-Donald Trump hat campaign became an unexpected hit

Jon Voight

In a statement to Breitbart, the actor said that he is supporting Donald Trump because "he's an answer to our problems." He also called Trump "funny, playful, and colorful, but most of all, he is honest."

He added:

There are many Republicans fighting to keep him from winning the Republican nomination. You know why? Because he has no bull to sell, and everyone will discover the bull most politicians spew out is for their own causes and benefits. I pray all Americans who have seen and felt the meltdown of America with the Obama years, to please fight for Donald Trump.



Robert Davi

The actor has written multiple posts for Breitbart praising Trump. In one, he said, "We should thank God that Trump is in this race. The media and the establishment are terrified."



Aaron Carter

The former child star voiced his support for Trump after responding to a tweet from the presidential hopeful. He wrote: "Does America want to have a president who FOLLOWS or someone who leads? I vote for @realdonaldtrump."

In an interview with GQ, he later clarified that he doesn't "support every little thing," but that "Trump goes his own way. He's a leader, not a follower, and he's proven that by humbling the other campaigns."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

15 things successful people do in the last 10 minutes of the workday

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commute

Perhaps you spend the last 10 minutes of your workday staring at the clock, counting down the seconds until you're free.

Or maybe you bury yourself in your work until the very last minute — then you grab your stuff and run for the door without saying goodbye to your colleagues.

If either of the above scenarios sounds familiar, it may be time to reassess your end-of-day routine.

"How you finish the workday is very important," says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage." "It can set your mood for the rest of your day; it may impact your personal relationships, overall level of happiness, and how well you sleep that night; and it will set the stage for the next day."

SEE ALSO: 13 things successful people do over 3-day weekends

No. 1. They stay focused.

"This is a classic time when your mind can drift," says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job." "Typically, you're not as sharp at the end of the day."

Try not to allow yourself to get distracted or caught up in nonwork related activities at the very end of the day.



No. 2. They update their to-do lists.

Successful professionals always keep an eye on their ever changing to-do lists, Taylor says.

"But the last 10 minutes is when they also check their final progress against that day's objectives," she says. "They revise their final list accordingly while in the moment, rather than abruptly leave and hoping they'll remember all the nuances of that day in the morning."



No. 3. They review what they achieved.

Taylor says that in addition to focusing on what you still need to do, it's important to look back on what you've done.

Kerr agrees:

Taking even one minute to review what you achieved can give you a sense of accomplishment, and on a particularly trying and busy day it can remind you that you got more done than you realized. Happiness research tells us that doing a simple routine like this, and taking the time to reflect on what you accomplished, is a key way to boost your overall level of happiness."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 6 safest family cars

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Outback

For parents, the most important factor when buying a new car is almost always safety.

There are a bunch of different things that can make a car safe. Accident avoidance features, tons of strategically mounted airbags, low rollover risk. The list goes on.

These six cars are not only some of the safest family cars on the market today, but they also boast a number of other impressive features. 

 

The Volvo XC90 is safe, luxurious, and very good looking.

After its release, the Volvo XC90 became a world favorite.

It offers the best of all worlds in the SUV market. 

It gets reasonable fuel economy for its size. It can be just decently luxurious, or extremely luxurious. And it's been awarded the top safety award from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, IIHS Top Safety Pick +.

 



There's even an integrated booster seat in the backseat.



Volvo took safety precautions to a new level with the XC90.

This picture shows Volvo testing their 'run-off road' safety package.

Their new tech helps limit the likeliness of spine injuries in the event that the driver drives off the road by accident.

The Volvo XC90 starts at about $44,000.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

5 countries where it's relatively easy for Americans to become expats

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toronto

Lots of people are talking about leaving the US if Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner, gets elected.

With that in mind, we've looked into some of the easiest countries to immigrate to as an American. While actually moving to a new country is never a simple process, it does help if you're a skilled worker with some disposable income.

See below for our top five picks.  

Canada

Canada is one of the most welcoming countries for immigrants in the world. More than 20% of Canadians were foreign-born as of 2011, the highest proportion among all G8 countries.

Google searches for "how to move to Canada,"surged after Trump swept seven states on Super Tuesday, according to The Hill. One Canadian even went as far as to create a website advertising the benefits of moving to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

For skilled immigrants, Canada has an express entry program. Simply fill out the form online, and you'll see how many points you have. Points are awarded based on your skills, education, languages you speak, and whether you have a job offer waiting for you in Canada.

Candidates with the most points are invited to apply for permanent residence. Applying for a permanent residence will set you back $490 CAD ($365 USD). 

Beyond a seamless immigration process, Canada also ranks highly for expat quality-of-life



Mexico

More American expats call Mexico home than any other country in the world, according to the Migration Policy Institute

Many of these American expats are retirees who go to Mexico for the warm weather, as The Washington Post's Adam Taylor has noted.  

Though Mexico is not without its problems, due to narcotics-related violence, it ranks highly for expat quality-of-life, likely due to the delicious food and beautiful beaches. 

If you want to move to Mexico, the first step is buying an FMM visa for only $21 USD, which you can do upon arrival. The FMM visa — only valid if you don't intend to work — works for up to six months, and you can renew it indefinitely. 

Trump's wall, if it gets built, might end up serving a dual purpose. 

 



Svalbard

If the thought of President Trump scares you so much that you're willing to permanently relocate to a tiny archipelago north of the Arctic Circle, look no further than Svalbard.

While technically part of Norway, Svalbard's 2,642 residents are largely self-governed. And unlike the rest of Norway, the Immigration Act doesn't apply to Svalbard — meaning that no residence permit or visa is required to settle in Svalbard. You just need to buy a plane ticket.

While Svalbard is probably the easiest place to immigrate to in the world, living there is tough. The average temperature in the winter ranges from -12 to -16 Farenheit, and you won't see the sun between October and mid-February. And don't mind the polar bears



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

I used an app to start investing, and it made me realize how little I know

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acornsemail

This past February, I decided to try investing for the first time.

Putting money into a system that could change at any second is a scary thought. In fact, the only investment I've ever made was probably in a gym membership. I was just like my peers who didn't want to put their money at risk, a popular trend among millennials, as reported by Business Insider.

But since investing historically shows higher returns than storing your money in a checking or savings account, I decided to give it a try. But I was going to play it safe.

I downloaded Acorns, a smartphone app that automatically invests spare change after you make purchases with your credit or debit card. I had to go through some security measures before my account was live: I received an email that the company was setting up and reviewing my account, and 12 hours later my account was open.

A month later, I can't believe how little I know about investing. Even the most basic rules about investing were foreign to me, and I had no idea.

I decided to start my investment with just $20, and here is what I've learned so far:

SEE ALSO: This app makes investing as easy as swiping your debit card

There are different levels of risk

Acorns offers different portfolios for different levels of risk tolerance. Risk tolerance — which simply means how much risk you can afford to take in your investments — generally depends on three factors: how much money you have, how much time you have, and how you feel about it. Generally, the more money, time, and emotional fortitude you have, the more risk you are able to take.

Acorns offers portfolios pegged to different levels of risk: conservative, moderately conservative, moderate, moderately aggressive, and aggressive. They serve different purposes, the app explains, ranging from helping preserve capital to providing capital appreciation.

I was offered the "conservative" portfolio based on the information I provided, which included where I worked, how much I got paid, how long I planned to invest before needing the money (I put five to 10 years), and my net worth (calculated by the value of the things I own — my checking account balance, savings, investments, car, home) minus any debt I owed.

I was probably recommended the "conservative" portfolio because of my low income. I can't afford to lose money, regardless of how much or how little it will be. Still, 20-somethings with steady incomes are well-positioned to take much more risk in their investments than 50-somethings nearing retirement because they have years for their portfolio to even out.



'Investing' doesn't always mean 'buying stocks'

With Acorns, the money invested doesn't go to stocks, which represent ownership of a small piece of a larger company. Instead, the investments are in exchange-traded funds. An ETF is a "marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund," according to Investopedia.

Basically, ETFs trade on the stock exchange but have higher daily liquidity and lower fees than a mutual fund share would. They are also more attractive to individual investors because of their low risk and fast cash.

Each of the app's portfolios includes ETFs, which represent six areas of investment: stocks (large cap, small cap, emerging market, and real estate) and bonds (government and corporate). They are selected based on their size, liquidity, and associated expenses and come from some of the world's largest asset managers, like Vanguard, BlackRock, and Pimco.

Luckily, I really didn't have to know much about ETFs, since the portfolios do all the work.



Checking your investments every day doesn't do you any favors

Since I downloaded the app a month ago I have checked it eight times, and apparently that's too often.

According to Kira Brecht from US News & World Report, the trick to investing is to let your money work on its own over a long period of time. Especially when you're investing cents at a time, as I am, it takes a long time to accrue. It's best to review your statements quarterly at most, according to Brecht.

I can vouch for this tactic. Checking my investments every day made me think it wasn't going anywhere and led to my next learning moment ...



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Inside Florida's intense 'Python Challenge,' which is trying to save one of America's most prized ecosystems

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Daniel Moniz Python Challenge

"That's a $1,000 snake," 22-year-old Daniel Moniz thought to himself as soon as he saw her.

Her being the 13-foot, 8.7-inch female Burmese python that would win him one of two top prizes at Florida's second "Python Challenge" last month.

By the end of the competition, Moniz took home $1,000 for the longest snake captured by an individual plus another $3,500 for bringing in 13 pythons total, the most of any single person.

The competition, created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to humanely capture and kill nonnative and invasive pythons, drew over 1,000 participants from 29 states to the Florida Everglades in February 2016. Often using their bare hands and pillowcases, participants wrestled and bagged 106 pythons, up from 68 in 2013, the last year the event took place.

As an invasive species — a plant, animal, or pathogen alien to an ecosystem whose introduction will likely cause harm, as the National Invasive Species Information Center defines it — pythons pose a formidable threat to Florida's ecosystems.

Since as early as the 1980s, the serpentine giants have encroached on the Everglades, a national park and World Heritage Site, and preyed on endangered species while competing with others.

'Multiple shots at once'

Born and raised in New Jersey, Moniz had never caught a python before traveling to Florida for this year's challenge.

"I thought, 'Hey, why not go?'" he told Business Insider with a chuckle. "I knew it would be fun. I didn't expect to win."

Worried about her son's safety, Moniz's mother asked his father to attend the competition with him. And it was Dad who initially spotted the "monster," as Moniz described his first-prize capture. The two had biked nearly 18 miles on a trail through the Everglades, when, suddenly, Moniz's father started veering and nearly pushed Moniz off the path.

"I'm like, 'What are you doing, Dad?' Then, I saw the snake." he said.

Daniel Moniz Python ChallengeMoniz tried to grab the nearly 14-foot female python behind the head, but she pulled him into the water off the side of the trail. In the process of the capture, Moniz was bitten in the face, neck, and arm, which felt like "getting multiple shots at once." While Burmese pythons aren't venomous, they have numerous tiny, sharp teeth.

Shockingly, Moniz's python wasn't the largest captured during the month-long challenge. Team members Bill Booth, Duane Clark, Dusty Crum, and Craig Nicks, also known as The Cypress Boys, caught a 15-footer, just one of the 33 pythons they claimed.

The team took home a $3,000 prize for the largest python as well as $5,000, which went to the team that caught the most pythons.

The size and prevalence of these interlopers highlights the need for the competition at its most basic level: Curtailing python population growth in the Everglades.

America's largest subtropical wilderness

As the largest subtropical wilderness in the US, the Everglades National Park provides protected habitats for an array of marine and land animals, many of them endangered species like the manatee, American crocodile, and Florida panther.

The area is also strikingly similar, with regard to temperature and water and food sources, to the native habitat of Burmese pythons, which stretches from India to lower China and throughout the Malay Peninsula, according to FWC spokesperson Carli Segelson.

Although no reliable numbers exist, experts estimate that roughly tens of thousands of Burmese pythons roam the wilds of Florida. They prey upon small and medium reptiles, mammals, and birds as well as compete with other native predators for these food sources. Most notably, pythons feed on the Key Largo woodrat, an endangered species.

And other than humans and alligators, pythons have few predators in the area.

"Whenever you have one species that's not part of the ecosystem, that could throw the whole system out of whack," Segelson told Business Insider. "Looking at the food chain, every animal has its role, and while it's hard to quantify the damage ... it can have very bad consequences for the future."

Python Challenge

Pythons also pose a threat to humans, although they rarely attack unprovoked, as Segelson made clear.

In one of the most recent instances, a family's pet python escaped its terrarium and invaded a 2-year-old girl's crib in Sumter County in 2009. The mother's boyfriend (who, along with the mother, had previously admitted to drug use) found the toddler dead the next morning.

In 2011, ajury found the mother and her boyfriend guilty of third-degree murder, manslaughter, and child abuse.

In 2010, likely propelled in part by the girl's death, the FWC labeled the Burmese python a "conditional" species, meaning the snake can't be acquired for personal use. In 2012, pythons were raised to an "injurious" species. Now they can't be transported from state-to-state without a federal permit.

The python's invasion of the Everglades may, in fact, have begun with its allure as an exotic pet. Unable to care for the snakes — which can grow as large as 22-feet and weigh as much as 200 pounds— owners may have released them into the wild in Florida as early as 1979, Segelson speculates.

"Which is illegal and obviously a bad thing to do not only for the environment but for the animal who is used to being cared for," she added.

As another theory goes, 1992's Hurricane Andrew destroyed a Florida facility used to breed pythons for the exotic-pet trade. Naturally, the snakes escaped and started procreating in the wild.

Recognizing the 'frailty of the earth'

Despite the sense of adventure needed to capture a 13-plus-foot snake, these crucial conservation issues drew Moniz to the competition.

"You get a lot of people who want to catch a python with their bare hands because they think it's cool, but then about half of people want to help the Everglades and realize pythons are threatening the entire ecosystem there," he explained. "I think it's important to recognize the frailty of the earth and the havoc invasive species can wreak on it."

Daniel Moniz Python Challenge gif

Depending on the specific regulations, some places allow participants to kill the pythons themselves, while "drop-off areas," where participants can bring live, bagged pythons, were established elsewhere.

From there, the FWC, in partnership with the University of Florida, humanely kills the pythons and conducts necropsies.

The event does have its skeptics, as Time magazine's Brad Tuttle pointed out.

The Miami New Timesdescribed the first Python Challenge in 2013 as “an idea straight out of the hormone-addled mind of a 14-year-old who plays too many first-person shooters.”

To participate in the challenge this year, however, participants were required to complete online training through the FWC and score at least an 80% on a quiz at the end.

Aside from looking "cool," as Moniz described, participants might want to make some quick cash, too. One man, part of a father-daughter duo who competed in 2013, told the New Times: "I wanna make some money, man." His 18-year-old daughter gave a different reason: She wanted to see herself on Netflix.

"I didn't do it for the money," Moniz said. "But that part wasn't terrible."

Check out some photos from this year's Python Challenge below.

Some members of the team winner "Cypress Boys" flank individual winner Daniel Moniz. The Cypress Boys received $8,000 total for capturing the most pythons, 33, as well as the largest at 15-feet. Moniz won $4,500 total for bagging a nearly 14-footer in addition to 12 others.



The winners also received engraved knives, like the one Moniz holds below.



In certain cases, participants are allowed to keep the skins of the pythons they captured. They could then sell them to interested vendors, who also sold products at the event.



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A MIT scientist created a Bernie Sanders Twitter bot, and it sounds just like him

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Screen Shot 2016 03 15 at 1.38.18 PM

First, there was "DeepDrumpf," a Twitter bot that mimics Donald Trump.

Now there's "DeepLearnTheBern," which tweets Bernie Sanders-like statements.

Both bots were programmed by MIT scientist Bradley Hayes, who created artificial intelligence algorithms based on the candidates' debate speech transcripts.

"Much of my actual robotics research deals with these types of modeling techniques. I thought this would be a good way to learn more about the concepts and have a little bit of fun in the process," says Hayes, who works as a researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, in a statement.

Check out some of the Bernie bot's tweets.

DeepLearnTheBern's first tweet on Sunday called out both DeepDrumpf and the real Donald Trump:

 



He seems pretty worried about gun users who don't have health insurance, a sentiment he expressed to Hillary:

 



DeepLearnTheBern, although nonsensical at times, discusses many of the same issues as the real Sanders. Below, the bot tweets about institutional racism and privacy rights:

 



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This incredible headset can do both VR and AR — you need to see it in action

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sulon q vr ar headset

You may have never heard of AMD, but you’ve almost certainly used products powered by the company’s technologies.

AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, is one of the biggest chipmakers in the world. The 46-year-old California company makes computer chips and all the related tech needed to power applications on PCs, smartphones, tablets, and more.

On Monday, AMD surprised everyone with its newest initiative: The Sulon Q, built out of a partnership with Ontario-based Sulon Technologies.

The Sulon Q is the first and only headset that can handle both virtual and augmented reality applications — every other headset we’ve seen so far can only handle one or the other. More importantly, the Sulon Q doesn’t need a computer to power its experiences. Everything is built right into the headset.

This is the kind of solution many have been looking for: A headset that doesn’t require a separate computer and can do AR and VR interchangeably. Even the best headsets we’ve seen from Facebook (Oculus Rift), Sony (PlayStation VR), and HTC/Valve (Vive) still need a computer or console, and they can’t switch between AR and VR — so it looks like AMD and Sulon have beaten these companies to the punch in this respect.

Here’s a closer look at the Sulon Q.

Here’s the Sulon Q headset.



Unlike other AR and VR headsets out there, it doesn’t need to be connected to a computer.



There’s no external tracking systems, and no wires to get tangled. Everything’s packed in the headset.



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