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These emoji pool floats are something special to behold

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JessicaOnPoop

As you plan for the upcoming July 4 weekend, ask yourself: "Do I need any pool floats?"

If the answer is yes, then you need to seriously consider these emoji floats by Thrice Brand. They normally cost between $40 and $60 each, but Product Hunt is currently running a promotion that gets you 10% off and free shipping through the holiday weekend. 

Words can't really do these floats justice. So here are some promotion photos.

SEE ALSO: Airbnb is raising a new round of funding that would value the company at $30 billion

The poop emoji float is my personal favorite. It's six feet tall and comes with a "premium matte finish made from ultra thick material."



This "Giant Eggplant Rider Emoji Pool Float" looks like a lot of fun.



If you want something a little more relaxing, there's this lounge-style alternative.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

16 'Game of Thrones' items to buy for a superfan who is in withdrawal

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Daenerys and Dragons Game of Thrones

The sixth season of "Game of Thrones" recently came to an end. Chances are, you are suffering from some serious withdrawal. Luckily, there are many ways to keep yourself occupied until the next season premieres next year.

We scoured the internet to find all the best "Game of Thrones"-themed gifts on the internet. Here are 16 items to buy for any "Game of Thrones" superfan.

This doorstop is a tribute to dearly departed Hodor, who's last words were "hold the door."

After "The Door" premiered, Hodor-themed doorstops popped up everywhere.

Hodor door stop, $19.00



It's never too early for a "Game of Thrones" Christmas.

"Game of Thrones" Christmas Sweater, $15.99



Start your mornings a little better with a coffee mug.

The quote was uttered by Tyrion in season six. He was referring to wine, of course.

"Game of Thrones" coffee mug, $8.22



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Swarms of dying, sex-crazed insects are wreaking havoc all over the US

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mayflies

It's mayfly season folks, and things are getting squishy.

Mayflies, also known as shadflies, are a primitive order of insects that divide into thousands of individual species. They spend most of their lives as sexually immature "nymphs" wiggling around in lakes or sediment, out of sight and mind. But when a particular species in a particular place is ready to breed, they hatch all at once into their final, winged adult forms and swarm for a few brief sex-crazed hours before the females drop the next generation of eggs into the water and they all die.

Such is the life of this prehistoric-looking swarm bug.

Mayfly hatchings happen in late spring and early summer (thus the name), and their sheer numbers can cause problems for those humans unfortunate enough to blunder into their death orgies. Here are some of the crazy things the little monsters have done so far in 2016.

SEE ALSO: The Boston subway could help prevent disease outbreaks in the future

SEE ALSO: Here's what would happen if all 7 billion people on Earth jumped at the exact same time

Confusing weather radar

Mayfly swarms are sometimes so thick and huge that they show up on radar systems designed to detect cloud formations. That happened in Detroit recently, with the hordes appearing as blue mush over Lake St. Claire and Lake Erie.



Messing up baseball fields

The Clinton Lumberkings of Clinton, Iowa tweeted this image of their field looking nasty. Clinton lies alongside the Mississippi River, and a swarm erupting from that water blanketed their pitch.



Blanketing streets in Ohio

RAW Embed

As Toledo-based ABC13 reports (see video above), a mayfly swarm from Lake Erie covered a few blocks in Point Place, Ohio with such a thick carpet of corpses that residents had to shovel them away. They remind viewers that the bugs are harmless though.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 things to do in your 20s to become a millionaire by 30

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smiling couple races wealthy

"In a free-market economy, anyone can make as much money as they want,"emphasizes self-made millionaire Steve Siebold, who has also studied over 1,200 of the world's wealthiest people.

That applies to 20-somethings.

To help you reach the seven-figure mark by 30, we rounded up 11 pieces of advice from people who became millionaires at a young age and people who have studied hundreds of self-made millionaires. We can't guarantee millionaire status, but doing these things won't hurt your odds:

SEE ALSO: 15 ways to guarantee you won't become a millionaire

1. Focus on earning

"In today's economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status,"writes Grant Cardone, who went from broke and in debt at 21 to self-made millionaire by 30. "The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that.

"My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money, and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities."

Earning more money is often easier said than done, but most people have options. Read about 50 ways to bring in additional income, some high-paying jobs you can do on the side, how you can earn passive income, and the first step to take before starting any business, from an entrepreneur who earns up to $170,000 a month.



2. Develop multiple streams of income

One way to earn more is to increase your streams of income.

In author Thomas C. Corley's five-year study of self-made millionaires he found that many of them develop multiple streams of income: 65% had three streams, 45% had four streams, and 29% had five or more streams.

These additional streams include real-estate rentals, stock market investments, and part-ownership in a side business.

"Three streams of income seems to be the magic number for the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits study, but the more income streams you can create in life, the more secure will your financial house be,"he writes.



3. Save to invest, don't save to save

Writes Cardone:

"The only reason to save money is to invest it. Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access."

Investing is not as complicated or daunting as we make it out to be. The simplest starting point is to contribute to your 401(k) if your employer offers one, and take full advantage of your company's 401(k) match program — which is essentially free money — if it has one.

Next, consider contributing money toward a Roth IRA or traditional IRA, individual retirement accounts with different contribution limits and tax structures — which one you can use depends on your income. If you still have money left over, you can research low-cost index funds, which Warren Buffett recommends, and look into the online-investment platforms known as "robo-advisers."

The key to consistently setting aside money is to make it automatic. That way, you'll never even see the money you're contributing and you'll learn to live without it.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This house in the middle of the Brazil's jungle is a natural sanctuary

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the jungle house studio mk27 gessato 35

Striking the perfect balance between organic and sophisticated, The Jungle House blends nature and contemporary architecture beautifully. Located in the rain forest, a short distance away from the shore and the bustling streets of São Paulo, Brazil, this home offers a refuge from the metropolis and a natural sanctuary in the middle of nature. The striking house was designed by Studio mk27, an architecture practice that has represented Brazil at the Venice Biennale in 2012.

For this particular project, the goals were clear: the structure needed to integrate into its environment seamlessly with minimal impact on the landscape, the interior had to provide a direct relationship between the inhabitants and the surrounding jungle, and the rooms required optimum natural light.



Rising and reaching forward from the mountain side, the structure creates an organic interaction with the land.



A section stands suspended on two pillars; clean rectangular shapes respect the open area of the jungle and combine with wood cladding to complement the landscape.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

12 words and phrases you're using at work that make you sound dumb

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the office michael scott

How you communicate with others at work plays a big role in how you're perceived, your capacity to move projects forward, your ability to generate trust, and how quickly you advance in your career.

That's according to 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."

"Your ability to articulate your thoughts and ideas well have a direct correlation to how well you garner cooperation and persuade others to support your efforts and projects," she says.

"The words you choose also convey your emotional intelligence."

Your verbal communications can make or break your relationship with your boss, team, clients, business partners, and your industry network. And if you use language that dumbs you down, you may be misunderstood by those around you at work, which can significantly hurt your ability to advance.

"A well-spoken person never goes out of style," says Taylor. "While it can be tempting to use shortcuts when speaking, go into slang mode, or just follow the crowd, you should try not to."

Using the following words and terms can chip away at your professional image, she says. "We're all capable of falling into these traps, but the trick is to catch yourself and avoid making them a habit."

Here are words and phrases we all use from time to time that may be dumbing us down:

SEE ALSO: 32 things you should never say to your boss

'Whatever'

"This is part of a 'set' or family that goes with 'Totally,' 'Like' and 'Um.' A family that no one wants to visit," says Taylor.



'!@%&$'

Avoid vulgar language and profanities at work. They're unprofessional and dumb you down.

"Having a trash mouth never got anyone promoted, and can get you into trouble at work. Save it for your ride home (unless you take mass transit)," Taylor writes.



'Literally'

"This makes you wonder how much productivity time in corporate America could be gained if this useless word could be 'literally' banished," she says.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 15 coolest concept cars revealed this year so far

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Automakers are pushing bold, innovative ideas forward with their latest concept cars.

Faraday Thumb23

Whether it's a car with nothing inside but a sofa and TV or an electric car resembling the Batmobile, concept cars give us a glimpse of how technology will shape the future of driving.

Scroll down for our round-up of the 15 coolest concept cars released so far this year:

SEE ALSO: This is the fastest Bentley the luxury car maker has ever built

1. Volkswagen unveiled a microbus concept meant to give a modern spin to the classic Volkswagen bus at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Called the BUDD-e, the electric car gets up to 373 miles of range.



The doors open with a simple wave of the hand, and you can control the console's interface by making hand gestures.

You can also use the interface to control things like the temperature and lighting in your house.



2. The big unveiling to come out of the Consumer Electronics Show was Faraday Future's concept car, the FFZERO1.

It can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

14 ways to waste your money on a summer trip

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pretzel stand nyc

Travel is often fun, but almost always expensive. That's especially true if your trip is for an extended amount of time.

The good news is you may be surprised how far your holiday money can go by avoiding certain things travelers often buy.

Here are 14 of the best examples:

SEE ALSO: A woman who left her job to travel the world at 35 explains what it was like to break free of the corporate world

Food you can get at home

When you're traveling, it's quite normal to crave the familiar foods you're used to back home. While there's nothing wrong with treating yourself to a food you love, the odds are you're going to end up very disappointed. The dish will not taste anywhere as good as what you're used to and will probably be more expensive than the local specialties.



Souvenir shirts

Souvenir T-shirts at just about every major tourist site in every country are typically gaudy and cheap looking. They look especially silly when you wear them back home. Buy a shot glass instead — that would at least be useful.



Knockoff bags

Knockoff merchandise is plentiful, but do you really need a fake bag or counterfeit coat? The price is appealing, but the quality of these items is always underwhelming. Trust me: I've been down this road before.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

7 grooming essentials every guy needs in his beach bag

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beachAh, finally! Summer's here. And if you're lucky, you're soon going to find yourself laying out on a beach somewhere, basking in the sun with a drink in hand, sans a care in the world.

Before you do, though, be warned: you're going to need more than that bottle of off-brand sunscreen that's been sitting in the trunk of your car since last August to make the most of the experience. Because the key to nailing your day by the waves is to look beyond the obvious and make sure that your beach bag is also stocked with grooming products designed to keep you looking your best on the beach — plus wherever you decamp to afterwards.

Like these, for example.

SEE ALSO: 8 bottles of booze to impress your party guests this summer

DON'T MISS: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on facebook!

Upgrade Your SPF

Why settle for the same white goop you've been using forever, when there are infinitely more effective options out there? Like, for instance, this SPF60 spray-lotion by La Roche-Posay. 

$36, available at amazon.com



Face Defender

Steer clear of breakouts by investing in a face-specific SPF. Our pick: this UV-defending moisturizer by Clinique for Men, formulated matte and oil-free to keep zits and grease at bay. 

$26, available at ulta.com



The Sweet Smell of Summer

Another side effect of gallivanting in the sun all day: sweat, and the stink that comes with it. Stay fresh with Malin+Goetz’s eucalyptus deodorant, made alcohol- and aluminum-free, just like nature intended.

$20, available at barneys.com



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here are all the free Xbox games coming in July

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Did you know there are free games released every month on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One? It's true!

If you pay $60 annually for an Xbox Live Gold membership, you get a handful of free games every single month. The program works very similarly to Sony's PlayStation Plus program, with one significant difference: every single game offered through Games With Gold is compatible with Xbox One.

Xbox Games With Gold July 2016

Even if you don't own an Xbox 360, you can still download free Xbox 360 titles every month directly onto your Xbox One. And they work on the Xbox One! Voila!

Here are all the games available this July.

"The Banner Saga 2"

The second in what will eventually be a trilogy, "The Banner Saga 2" is a turn-based tactical role-playing game that has the illustrated look of an animated Disney movie.

Don't let its colorful art style fool you, though: "The Banner Saga 2" offers a rich and fascinating narrative in addition to its rigorous combat mechanics.

Platforms: Xbox One

Availability: July 1—July 31



"Tumblestone"

"Tumblestone" is a match three-style puzzle game not unlike "Bejeweled" or "Candy Crush"— but the real draw is that it offers a competitive multiplayer mode in addition to the standard single player mode.

In the multiplayer mode, you'll see everyone's boards on screen side-by-side, so you have to balance speed and accuracy to clear your board of all its tiles before your competitors do the same.

Platforms: Xbox One

Availability: July 16—August 15



"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2"

One of the Xbox 360's classics is now compatible with Xbox One! "Rainbow Six Vegas 2" is a pretty standard, but well-executed military first-person shooter that plays out like a high-octane action film.

The most recent entry in the Tom Clancy series, "Rainbow Six Siege," is probably more technically refined, but it's definitely worth going back to play "Rainbow Six Vegas 2" if you didn't get the chance when it first came out in 2008.

Platforms: Xbox 360, Xbox One

Availability: July 1—July 15



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Nintendo's mysterious new console is coming next year — here's everything we know

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There's always an air of mystery and excitement around each new Nintendo console because we never know what to expect. When there's a new PlayStation or Xbox, we're pretty sure it will be a more powerful version of the consoles we've played for years; we don't even know if the new Nintendo console uses discs.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

With the Wii U being an indisputable failure, Nintendo is wiping the slate clean and putting out a new console in 2017, codenamed NX. The company has been tight-lipped about the machine, promising a proper reveal later this year, but it's let just enough slip that we have a few ideas about what it will be:

It will be a "brand new concept"

From the beginning, Nintendo has insisted that the NX will be a "brand new concept" in the world of gaming. But what does that mean?

Late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the console is not intended to simply replace the Wii U or handheld 3DS console, but we're pretty sure the Wii U is on its last legs and the 3DS is getting long in the tooth.

Iwata also commented on the different ways that "dedicated game systems" are played in Japan and elsewhere, with handheld devices being much more popular than home consoles nowadays in Nintendo's native country. With that in mind, Nintendo wants to "create a new platform that will be accepted by as many people around the world as possible."

Based on those statements and reports from industry insiders, the popular thinking for a while has been that the NX will do something to bridge the gap between home consoles and handheld systems. This is pure speculation, but the NX controller could double as both a regular controller and a handheld device, or the handheld unit could come packed in with the console. 

Again, absolutely none of that could be true. People have inferred those ideas from vague statements and reports. Just know that when the NX launches next year, it will apparently be something different.



Don't expect it to be a powerhouse

Earlier this month, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (the world's biggest gaming show), Microsoft announced Project Scorpio, a beefy upgrade for the Xbox One. It'll ship in late 2017, and though it isn't a brand new console, it is supposedly the most powerful game console ever.

A similar upgrade is coming to the PlayStation 4, but Sony hasn't officially unveiled it yet. 

You shouldn't expect the NX to directly compete with Project Scorpio. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime suggested during the show that it will fall in line with the company's games-first, graphics-second philosophy.

This is predictable, given Nintendo's recent history. The Wii U isn't much more powerful than the last-generation Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, and the Wii was closer to the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox in terms of power. If the NX follows the same cycle, don't expect it to be more powerful than (or even equal to) the base Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

 



A few games have been announced for the NX

More game announcements are certain to some whenever Nintendo gives us more information about the NX later this year, but right now, we can only be sure about two games coming to the platform: "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "Just Dance 2017."

"Breath of the Wild" is the stunning next game in the long-running Nintendo series, which features an enormous open world and much more freedom for the player than any previous "Zelda" game. It will launch simultaneously for NX and Wii U in 2017, and since it's the only NX game Nintendo has openly acknowledged, we're betting it will launch alongside the console.

"Just Dance 2017," on the other hand, is the latest in the supremely popular series of motion-controlled dancing games that come out on every console imaginable. Common sense would dictate that the NX might support Wii controllers or have some other motion controller support to work with this game, but it can be played using a mobile app that turns your phone into a motion controller on other platforms, so maybe not.

"Dragon Quest X" and "Dragon Quest XI," the two latest installments in the much-beloved Japanese role-playing game series, are supposedly coming to NX as well, but the company that makes those game is being somewhat cagey about it. One person confirmed they were coming, while someone else said they were merely being "considered" for it.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This year's wildfires are earlier, more frequent, and bigger than ever before — and they show no sign of slowing

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firefighter silhouette california wildfire june 2016

A huge fire burning in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California is the now the largest and most destructive of the season, which has seen over 2,000 fires so far.

As of June 25, the state has lost 650 acres more to wildfires than it had at on the same date in 2015, and almost 1,000 more than the average for this time period over the last five years.

"This is going to go down as the most destructive wildfire in Kern County history," local fire chief Brian Marshall told the San-Jose based Mercury News.

The fire, known as the Erskine Fire, has already killed two people and burned more than 45,000 acres of land. On June 24, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the area.

Erskine and other fires aren't showing any signs of letting up, either: California (and the rest of the western US) is deep into a five-year drought that shows no signs of abating, given that 2016 is promising to be the hottest year on record. These dramatic photos show the extreme, ongoing devastation of this early fire season — and give us a glimpse into how bad future infernos may be.

MORE: Here are 5 ways cinnamon could be transforming your health

UP NEXT: We’re using hand sanitizer way more frequently, and now the FDA wants to know more about their safety

The Erskine Fire is one of at least nine major wildfires burning in the state right now, and one of 40 or more burning the parched western US.



Tom Vilsack, the US Agriculture Secretary, has said the US can expect extreme fire seasons to become "the new normal."

Source: AZ Central



This year's el Nino event brought more rain to the area than in previous years (though not enough to end the drought). Grasses sprung up, then dried out, turning the hillsides into tinderboxes.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

3 steps to training yourself to be more emotionally intelligent

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friends clasp hands

This answer from Chade-Meng Tan, co-chair of a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated campaign and NYT bestselling author, originally appeared on Quora.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.

Essentially, EI is a collection of mental and emotional skills. Therefore, to train EI, all you have to do is to train your mind to acquire those skills. In my book "Search Inside Yourself," we do that in 3 steps:

1. Attention training

Attention is the basis of all higher cognitive and emotional abilities. Specifically, the idea here is to train attention to create a quality of mind that is calm and clear at the same time. That quality of mind forms the foundation for emotional intelligence.



2. Self-knowledge and self-mastery 

Use your sharpened attention to create high-resolution perception into your own cognitive and emotive processes. With that, you become able to observe your thought stream and the process of emotion with high clarity, and to do so objectively from a third-person perspective.

Once you can do that, you create the type of deep self-knowledge that eventually enables self-mastery.



3. Creating pro-social mental habits 

Qualities such as kindness and compassion can be created as mental habits. E.g., imagine whenever you meet anybody, your habitual, instinctive first thought is, "I wish for this person to be happy." This is the mental habit of kindness and is highly trainable the same way you train other mental habits.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

These 11 metro areas have the highest percentage of millennials living on their own

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Millennial living alone reading

Living in your mom's basement is more than a stereotype now.

Recently, there have been a number of stories about millennials moving back in with their parents. Around 35% of millennial men live with a parent, as opposed to 28% who live with a significant other, according to data from Zillow.

"With home prices and rents rising as fast as they are, it's a common assumption that young adults in many cases cannot afford to live alone," Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow, said in a news release.

"Though that may be true in some markets, there's still a large number of amazing places across the US that are prime for millennials to thrive independently."

Gudell's right. In some areas of the country, millennials have found a way to make living alone work.

In areas with robust jobs markets and relatively high incomes, millennials are moving into places of their own.

The numbers are small, though. Only 8.9% of millennials live alone in the US, according to data from Zillow.

Read on to see some of the metro areas where millennials are beating the averages:

Phoenix, Arizona

Percent of millennials living alone: 13.2%

Median income of millennials living alone: $50,000

Share of homes millennial can afford alone: 4.7%

Year-over-year employment growth: 3.1%

Source: Zillow



Seattle, Washington

Percent of millennials living alone: 13.2%

Median income of millennials living alone: $50,000

Share of homes millennial can afford alone: 4.7%

Year-over-year employment growth: 3.1%

Source: Zillow



Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Percent of millennials living alone: 13.3%

Median income of millennials living alone: $40,000

Share of homes millennials can afford alone: 21.6%

Year-over-year employment growth: 1.2%

Source: Zillow



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

What $100 was worth in the decade you were born

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roller skating

American women won the right to vote in 1920, a few months in advance of the national election that anointed Warren G. Harding president of the United States.

A lot has changed in the 95-plus years since then, including what a “Benjamin,” or $100 bill, can buy.

To illustrate how much the value of $100 has changed over the years, GOBankingRates used the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator to determine what a $100 bill could buy in today’s world as its purchasing power changed over the decades.

Starting in 1920, see what $100 was worth the decade you were born.

SEE ALSO: 30 everyday habits that can help you build wealth

1920

Value of $100 in 1920: $1,196.30

What you can buy in 2016: 511 gallons of gas

In 1920, a $100 bill would be worth the equivalent of $1,196.30, and you could buy 511 gallons of gas at modern prices. The national average price for a gallon of gas on June 3 was $2.34, according to AAA.

Read: 10 Things You Never Knew About the $100 Bill



1925

Value of $100 in 1925: $1,367.21

What you can buy in 2016: 18 pairs of Nikes

These days, a mid-range pair of Nike running shoes cost consumers around $74.60, according to Numbeo. The inflation-adjusted equivalent of $100 in 1925 would allow consumers to purchase 18 pairs and take home some pocket change.



1930

Value of $100 in 1930: $1,432.70

What you can buy in 2016: 33 pairs of jeans

These days, a single pair of Levi’s 501s, or a comparable pair of jeans, will set buyers back about $42.38, according to Numbeo. That means you could purchase 33 pairs and have $37.46 — almost enough for another pair — to put in one of your many pockets.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

5 times parasites affected the course of wars

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confederate soldiers

Some of the most consequential actors in past wars weren’t the soldiers storming the ramparts, the generals issuing orders, or even engineers who designed the weapons and armor necessary to win. Sometimes, wars were decided by much smaller combatants: bugs and worms.

Before the rapid increase in medical knowledge around World War II, parasites caused epidemics that claimed entire formations and tipped campaigns forcefully for one side to the other.

From the Revolutionary War to World War I, here are five times that pests defeated an army:

SEE ALSO: The world's 25 most fragile states

Constant fevers spread by mosquitoes crippled British forces in the Revolutionary War

Both British and American forces in the Revolutionary War scheduled offensives in the South around “the sickly season,” the hot summer months where mosquitoes and the diseases they spread were likely to claim hundreds or thousands of lives in an army on the march.

Both sides suffered when they forgot their lessons, but the worst afflicted was probably British forces in the Carolinas in 1780-1781. The British captured Charleston before the sickly season set in but was ravaged in the months following. Senior officers, doctors, and thousands of soldiers were infected with malaria and yellow fever among other diseases and entire formations became combat ineffective.

This slowed the progress of the British Army and forced it to fight at times it otherwise would not have. Patriots, who were less affected, capitalized by forcing battles when the British were sick and claiming victory when the British pulled out of diseased areas. By mid-1781, the generals were done fighting mosquitoes in the South and moved most of their forces north to Virginia.



Lice and typhus saved Russia from Napoleon

The Russian winter and the burning of Moscow get a lot of credit for destroying Napoleon Bonaparte’s army, but top honors should probably go to the Polish summer and the legions of lice it created in 1812. Lice secrete the typhus germ in their feces, and typhus causes severe fever, vomiting, and death.

When Napoleon and his 680,000 men went on the march into Russia, they had to cross through Poland and its lice epidemic. It was there that his men began to catch typhus which spread through the ranks. The disease and the resulting desertions as soldiers fled the infected camps took away half of Napoleon’s fighting force before he fought any major battles with the Russian Army.



Napoleon’s men also got whooped by mosquitoes and yellow fever

Before Napoleon’s Grande Armée fell to lice, a smaller force sent to Haiti – then known as Saint-Domingue – was destroyed by yellow fever carried by mosquitoes. The emperor sent 33,000 men to put down the government of Toussaint Louverture in Haiti and turn the island back into a French slave colony.

Unfortunately, the Haitians they would fight were largely inoculated to yellow fever, but the French were not. France initially gained the upper hand by recruiting support from factions in the Haitian forces. But the French lost 90 percent of their men to mosquitoes and the disease. When their local allies learned about the re-introduction of slavery and turned on the French, Napoleon recalled the survivors.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

11 ways to run your side hustle without losing your mind

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Dog Walker Walking Dogs

Everyone's talking about side hustles nowadays.

Millennials are dependent on them, according to Quartz. People seem to be making huge amounts of money doing them. There's tons of options out there if you want to try one.

But how do you pursue a passion project on the side while also trying to deal with your nine-to-five — not to mention your generally hectic life?

It's definitely possible, with a good attitude and buckets of self-discipline.

Here are some tips from career experts on how to manage your side hustle without burning yourself out:

SEE ALSO: I left a position where I earned $500,000 a year — here's what I tell other people who want to quit their job

Discipline is key

International business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage" Michael Kerr told Business Insider that it's important to establish and fiercely guard a realistic amount of time to devote to your side hustle every day. 

"Carve out blocks of focused time where you avoid all distractions to focus on your side passion and be ruthless about not letting any other work or personal commitments interfere," Kerr says. "There are software programs available that prevent you from logging into your social media accounts or e-mail for blocks of time, so if you need help enforcing your focused time look for those tools or find a distraction-free zone separate from your other work and life commitments. And commit to a minimum length of time per day that you can realistically keep to."



Know your peak performance times

It's crucial that you do some introspection in order to determine what times are best to block off for your side hustle. 

"Part of the challenge is making sure you plan your day effectively and make use of your own work rhythms and peak times — if you are an early bird and work best early in the morning, then plan to get up consistently at a certain hour and use that time for your side project," Kerr says. "And keep in mind that research into willpower suggests we have a limited reservoir to draw upon that we deplete throughout the day, so even if you aren't an early riser, working on side projects in the morning before your other work commitments take hold might be the way to go."



Get smart

Pursuing side jobs and projects is a great opportunity to learn new things, career coach Ryan Kahn told Business Insider. Use this opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills. 

"It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned veteran or fresh out of college. All of us can benefit by learning something new — or even brushing up on existing expertise," says the founder of The Hired Group, star of MTV's "Hired," and author of "How To Get Hired." "All you need is the desire to learn, and trust me, whatever it is, you can find a way to expand your knowledge without stepping outside your front door — unless you want to."



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25 book recommendations from the smartest people in tech

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man reading on seawall

Our goal has always been to give you rare, unprecedented access to the people shaping the tech industry— specifically, the advice that they've gained through experience, or used to get where they are today.

So when we sat down earlier this year to double down on this mission, we wondered who these exceptional people — including leaders at companies like Airbnb, Slack, Warby Parker and the like — idolize and draw their wisdom from. Who do they turn to when they have tough questions or encounter new challenges? And how can we share this bigger, broader store of knowledge with our audience?

As it turns out, tech pioneers tend to be voracious readers, and they like to apply what they read. So, on the precipice of summer vacations for many, we thought it only made sense to share the reads that have inspired the people we look to for the best tactics and solutions.

What follows are top book recommendations sent to us by some of the sharpest folks we've written about and work with to give First Round startups an edge. Bonus: We not only asked them for their top business book from the past year, but the recent bests across genre, and their favorite of all time — leading to a fascinating, counterintuitive web of “people who liked this also liked...” suggestions. (Like most of the advice we feature, we tried to give top billing to the unusual and original. People love Zero to One, but you already knew that.)

We hope you enjoy! Happy summer and happy reading!

Your friendly Review editors,
Camille Ricketts& Shaun Young

Michael Lopp, VP of Engineering at Slack

Michael Lopp's summer got off to an interesting start with him being named VP of Engineering at Slack.

Having led engineering at Pinterest and people ops at Palantir before that, the well-known blogger says the best book he's read in the last year is Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram — a biography of John Boyd, who many believe to be the best fighter pilot in U.S. history and second only to Sun Tzu when it comes to military theory.

"It's a stunning exploration of how humans can more effectively make decisions," says Lopp.

His other recs:The Great Bridge"a fascinating read about when bridges were still in beta." And his all time favorite, Hyperion, a modern retelling of the Canterbury Tales known for its incredible attention to world-building detail.



Brian O'Kelley, CEO of AppNexus

Brian O'Kelley, founder and CEO of online advertising platform AppNexus also values good decision making. His top pick this year: Product Strategy for High Technology Companies by Michael McGrath, one of the most detailed guides to product strategy ever written, drawing on over 250 stories from formative years at Apple, IBM and more.

"It's just brilliant, structured thinking on how to make strategy decisions," O'Kelley says. 

His other recs: Wolf Hall, immersive and insight historical nonfiction dissecting the fraught politics in the court of King Henry VIII, and his best of all time, Cloud Atlas, a weave of interlocking stories and mysteries told over the span of thousands of years.



Julie Zhuo, VP of Product Design at Facebook

Julie Zhuo, VP Product Design at Facebook, has also achieved fame for her insightful missives on Medium about design and management. Her top pick for the year is High Output Management by Andy Grove, in which the former Chairman and CEO of Intel shares his perspective on building high-productivity teams and motivating talented people.

"I picked up the book after Grove passed away this year and I found it so succinct, so clear, and so packed with easy-to-understand analogies," says Zhuo. "It really gets to the heart of what good management is."

Her other recs:Mindset by Carol Dweck, a close look at how humans can learn and grow throughout their lives if they take the right approach.

"So much of being happy and productive is not about what's happening externally, but what's going on in our own heads. I loved this book for so clearly illustrating that," she said.

Then there's her long-time No. 1, The Phantom Tollbooth.

"To this day, I can think of no better book that captures the imagination, wonder and adventure of life that children so intuitively grasp," she said.



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Tourists flock to these nine destinations to look at garbage

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bottle-trash-beach

There are plenty of perfectly groomed beaches with golden sands for vacationers to dip their feet in. But why not aim for something different and visit a giant heaping trash pile?

Whether they are the product of irresponsible dumping as with California's Glass Beach, or they are have deliberately turned a trash heap into an attraction, as is the case with Virginia's Mount Trashmore, there are spots all across the globe that have turned detritus into a destination. Check out nine of the greatest places on the planet to visit when you're looking to be a garbage person.

1. Dead Horse Bay - Brooklyn, New York

At the southern tip of Brooklyn lies Dead Horse Bay. That sounds incredibly ominous, but the place is actually a surprising treasure trove of vintage bottles left over from the beach's time as an early 20th century dumping ground.



Once the waste pit for a series of horse rendering plants, the area was later used as a proper landfill, the glass remnants from which can still be found strewn about the sands.



Chunks of old horse bone are also not an uncommon find for those modern scavengers and explorers who make their way to the bay.



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The 23 best business books to read this summer

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reading beach

Summer's officially begun, and that probably means you're going to need something to read on your next trip to the beach or for the long flight to your vacation destination.

You'll be kicking back, but might as well bring something educational to accompany that magazine you picked up at the airport.

To help you out, we've selected our favorite business memoirs, career guides, and the most exciting research on the future of work.

You're sure to find something to like that will also leave you with some ideas to take back to the office.

SEE ALSO: 7 timeless lessons from Bill Gates' favorite business book

'Sprint' by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz

Ever wonder how you could bring some of Google's magic into your office without installing a quirky slide between floors or investing in an on-site chef? "Sprint" can help you out.

It's a guide from Google's venture capital arm GV. Its design partners Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz explain how to implement their signature five-day "sprint" session.

They'll show you how they've used this method to launch game-changing products with companies like Blue Bottle Coffee, Slack, and Nest.

Find it here »



'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight

Nike is not only the world's biggest athletic company, with a market cap of about $88 billion. It's also, remarkably, been able to be a worldwide leader of "cool" since the 1970s.

It all started with a new college grad named Phil Knight who sold running shoes out of his parents' garage.

Knight is retiring as the chairman of Nike this month, and he's using his book "Shoe Dog" as the definitive story of how he built an empire. It's a well-written and emotionally engaging story about an entrepreneur growing as a human being alongside the company in which he completely invested himself.

Find it here »



'Originals' by Adam Grant

Adam Grant is a star in his field. He's the highest-rated professor at Wharton and the youngest to ever reach "full professor." His success is built on some of the most exciting and practical work in behavioral science.

In his latest book, Grant takes a look at some of the most innovative and daring thinkers of the past 100 years, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the founders of Google, breaking down what goes on inside the mind of an "original."

Find it here »



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