On March 1, the first $85 billion of the $1.2 trillion sequester will go into effect, hitting almost every aspect of the government with across-the-board spending cuts. 

The cuts go to the heart of several government functions — military readiness, food safety, flight logistics and law enforcement — and could prevent several agencies from functioning at their intended level. 

$85 billion might seem like a drop in the bucket, but indiscriminate cuts will have consequences.

Army training will be drastically cut

Top military leadership has repeatedly warned of the sequester, with General Ray Odierno claiming that the cuts will result in a "hollow Army."

There's good reason for the panic. According to the Department of Defense, the Army will cut training for 80% of soldiers. The Navy's official website says they will have to cancel major exercises and submarine deployments, and cut flying hours on deployed carriers. On the Air Force side, the cuts will curtail facility sustainment, reduce flying hours by 20 percent, and put an end to all "non-mission essential" flights — meaning no more air shows, according to Federal News Radio.

Buck McKeon (R-Ca.), the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has also said that reduced budgets "could lead to another round of [base] closures," which would have major economic effects for the communities around those bases.

Military health care will be slashed

Military leaders and the President have maintained that the troops' compensation will not be affected by sequestration, and that service men and women don't need to worry about getting their basic pay or housing allowances.

But the troops do need to keep on eye on their health care coverage. The Defense Health Program is one notable exception that is eligible for sequester, and is set to receive $3 billion in cuts unless Congress moves money from another account to cover the shortfall.

Budget cuts to the Defense Health Program could also affect research, including studies of post traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and infectious diseases. 

The Joint Strike Fighter Program might be cut

As the largest funder of research and development, the Department of Defense will be feeling deep cuts in weapons development, missile defense, and space-based communications.

An analysis from the AAAS pegs DoD cuts at over $30 billion, meaning they'll likely have to take a hard look at big budget programs like the Joint Strike Fighter.

The Pentagon's new R&D budget would closely resemble the one that was in place 12 years ago.

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The $2.2 billion dollar Revel Casino was the most ambitious project in the history of Atlantic City. After a nearly 6 year saga of construction halts, union protests, government assistance, and other drama, it opened to great fanfare in May 2012.

It was supposed to revitalize the city and provide a resort like alternative to smoky, windowless casinos. It never delivered on that promise. It has yet to turn a profit and has been at or near the bottom of casino revenue in Atlantic City the whole time.

Now, less than a year after opening, Revel announced yesterday that it had entered a pre-arranged bankruptcy plan with its creditors, and that it will seek Chapter 11 protection in the coming weeks. 

Former Business Insider reporter Simone Foxman was there to photograph the Revel as it started. Here's a look at how things have gone downhill. 

The $2.2 billion dollar project started a half decade ago, when Morgan Stanley approached casino veteran Kevin DeSanctis, who is now Revel CEO.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

The casino nearly didn't happen. Construction began in February of 2008, just a few months before the economy began to collapse.

Source: A 2012 interview with CEO Kevin DeSanctis

Casinos in particular were ravaged by the recession. From 2007 to 2011, gaming revenue declined by an average of 8.62 percent.

Source: UNLV

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It's that time again — Wall Street interview time.

Since the Street is in such pain, acing these questions is more important than ever.

That's why we've gone through our files to find questions that stick in people's heads.

These questions get remembered because they tend to trip people up, whether it's because they're hard, they're surprising, or because they're something interviewees forgot to look over before the big day.

So take a minute to think about these. It's worth saving yourself the embarrassment.

Lisa Du also contributed to the reporting of this piece.

Q: If I gave you an offer that lasted for the next 30 seconds, would you take it?

This one's all about your follow up questions.

Source: White Haton Wall Street Oasis

Q: Do you view this as your dream career?

Of course you're supposed to say yes, but it's the follow up that's a killer.

Source: Dank Nugs on Wall Street Oasis

Q: Are you trying to f-ck us over?

This was asked by one interviewer during a 2-on-1 interview. When the candidate froze, the other interviewer asked him "Why didn't you say no?!"

Be wary of mind games!

Source: BlackHat on Wall Street Oasis

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We told you about James Hamilton, a distinguished engineer who makes sure Amazon's $4.5 billion tech infrastructure business runs smoothly.

About four years ago, Hamilton and his family made a decision to sell most of their belongings and "hack their lives" as Wired's Robert McMillan describes it. 

The Hamiltons moved aboard the Dirona, a custom-built, 52-foot Nordhavn yacht; they were intimately involved in the boat's design.

Hamilton often sails the Dirona from Hawaii and works remotely from there. He commutes on a bicycle and he does his shopping via Amazon Prime, picking up purchases at the local UPS store.

The Dirona is often stationed in Hawaii near Waikiki.

This isn't the couple's first yacht. They shopped for 10 years before choosing a Nordhavn 52.

Here's a shot of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor in Hawaii where they often live.

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The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. eastern.

There's a ton of trade rumors out there, but some players' names have popped up more than others.

Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks

Possible destinations: Brooklyn, Dallas, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Boston

Remaining salary: He's a free agent this summer.

Chance of trade: Strong.

ESPN reports that the team is "determined" to deal Smith. So it's likely that he'll be dealt.

JJ Redick, Orlando Magic

Possible destinations: Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana

Remaining salary: He's a free agent this summer.

Chance of trade: 50-50.

Orlando can re-sign Redick this summer and doesn't need to trade him, but they are in full rebuilding mode and exchanging him for young pieces makes sense.

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

Possible destinations: Atlanta, Los Angeles

Remaining salary: $25 million over two years.

Chance of a trade: Very unlikely.

The Celtics are known for shock moves, which is the only reason we give this any credence. But it probably won't happen.

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Dani, a German freelance photographer, and Jess, a Chicago-born freelance travel editor and writer, are the nomadic couple behind their popular blog The Globetrottergirls.

In 2010, the pair left their adopted home of London to travel around the world, and they haven't stopped since.

Last year, the couple took a three-day houseboat river cruise in Kerala, India, a region known for its sprawling river system and proximity to the Laccadive Sea.

After looking at seven boats in the major tourist city of Alleppey (also known as Alappuzha), and bartering down the price to 7,000 rupees per night (or $125), Dani and Jess set out with two friends to travel the lakes and streams of Kerala.

Their journey through the backwaters surpassed expectations. Superb daily meals, outstanding views of nature and the surrounding villages, and a leisurely boat ride made for a memorable experience. They even booked an extra night with their personal captain and crew to keep the experience going.

The traveling couple shared their photographs and recollections of the trip with Business Insider.

Dani and Jess took a three-day cruise that began and ended in the touristy city of Alleppey.

Source: The Globetrottergirls

They paid 7,000 Rupees ($125) per night for a two-bedroom boat with all food and transportation costs (including a personal chef, meals, and a captain) included.

Source: The Globetrottergirls

Though the houseboats vary in style and range in level of accommodations (from hostel-style to five-star floating hotels), the standard boats are traditional kettuvallam with an upper deck and thatched roofs made from bamboo poles and palm leaves.

Source: The Globetrottergirls

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As glamorous as it may sound to jet-set across the country, schmooze with clients, and live off room service, just about every business traveler would beg to differ. 

There are flights to catch, car rentals to book, endless airport security lines to navigate, and, of course, the hassle of keeping tabs on your paper trail along the way (because how else will you get reimbursed?). 

And we haven't even mentioned the whole living-out-of-a-suitcase factor. Since carry-on bags give business travelers the ultimate mobility factor, we asked a few frequent fliers to help us put together a list of items they would never leave home without. 

Stop paying for airport WiFi and stay connected with your own MiFi hotspot.

Unless you're interested in shelling out up to $12 to use airport WiFi, it's a good idea to invest in a WiFi hotspot of your own. 

With its slim, credit card-sized package and simple access to 4G networks, personal MiFi hotspots like the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE MiFi are a personal favorite of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer and David Rush, co-founder and CEO of Evzdrop.com.

"It is a huge time-saver because you always know you can stay connected regardless of your location," Rush told BI. "It also makes meetings efficient and gets you instantly online with a great connection."

Ditch the pricey GPS navigation system on your rental car and bring your own.

Car rental agencies are notorious for tacking on hidden fees on essential accessories like GPS navigation systems.

Save yourself some cash by bringing your own along (plenty are small enough to fit in your purse or carry-on bag). If you don't already own one, it's simple enough to turn your smartphone into a GPS device all on its own. 

Rig up a do-it-yourself smartphone stand for your dashboard, or invest in a ready-made mount for under $30.

Never lose track of boarding passes or expense reports with Lemon and Passbook apps.

The greatest challenge for business travelers is keeping tabs on their own paper trail –– that includes tickets, boarding passes and, of course, all those receipts.

We recommend putting Passbook and the Lemon.com app to good use. 

Passbook is essentially a hub on your smartphone where you can compile all of your boarding passes, tickets, discount cards, and coupons.

And with Lemon, you can easily upload photos of receipts, put together summary reports, track expenses, and search receipts for specific items. When you're back at the office, just print out or email your reports to the right place. 

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Over its 41 years, Carnival Cruise Line has had a checkered past. In its heyday, Carnival was the cruise brand known for innovation, but more recently it has become known as the brand with PR disasters to deal with.

Click here for the disaster timeline >

Last week, Carnival's 'Triumph' ship was towed into Mobile, Alabama after almost a week stuck at sea due to an engine fire.

The testimonies from the passengers are truly disgusting: Hallways were flooded with human waste, there was no A/C or running water, and passengers were left to survive on limited food and water. The Triumph was given the nickname "poop cruise" because passengers were forced to use the bathroom in bags.

But do these PR crises have a lasting effect? According to Jaunted, trips aboard 'Triumph' can already be booked for as early as April of this year. That's only two months after passengers said that the floors were"flooded with sewer water."

This type of disaster is not new for Carnival. It experienced very similar situations in 1998, 1999, and 2010. And let's not forget about the Costa Concordia disaster in Italy last year in which the ship capsized, killing 32 passengers. (Carnival owns Costa Concordia).

It has also had to deal with circumstances of passengers jumping overboard to their deaths. 

But with every PR disaster in Carnival's history, it has also experienced record-breaking good moments.

Carnival was the original brand to pioneer the concept of shorter, less expensive cruises. It built the first ship to weigh more than 100,000 tons, as well as the world's first non-smoking ship.

The cruise company's on-board service has won numerous awards, including three Cruise Critic Editor's Picks —best new ship, best bar, and best value in 2012.

Carnival Cruise Lines was founded by Ted Arison in 1972.

Ted Arison, the son of a multi-millionaire shipping magnate, was born in Israel in 1924. He immigrated to the U.S. in the early 50s and co-founded Norwegian Cruise Lines in 1966.

He then went on to found his own cruise company, Carnival Cruise Lines, six years later.

Carnival was originally a subsidiary of American International Travel Service (AI TS), but in 1974, Arison bought Carnival for $1, along with $5 million in assumed AITS debt.

By the late 1980s, Arison was reportedly one of the world's richest men, with a personal fortune estimated to be between $6 and $10 billion.

His owns the Miami Heat, and was responsible for bringing the team to South Florida.

Carnival's first-ever voyage got off to a bad a start.

According to Carnival's website, in 1972 "the company’s first cruise ship, the TSS Mardi Gras, runs aground on a sandbar during its inaugural voyage."

But by the early 80's, things started improving.

In 1984, Carnival became the first cruise line to advertise on network television. Kathie Lee Gifford, then Kathie Lee Johnson, was the company's first spokesperson.

The 1980s was a great time for Carnival.

In 1982, the 'Tropic ale' ship debuted, representing the first new ship the industry had seen in years.

Two years later, Carnival launched the first network-wide advertising campaign in the industry.

This video is one of the original commercials Carnival ran. It features Kathie Lee Johnson, aka Kathie Lee Gifford.

In the late 80s, Carnival was carrying more passengers than any other cruise line, making it "The World's Most Popular Cruise Line." The brand still uses this phrase as its tagline.

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Vacationers usually travel to Caribbean beaches for the clear water and smooth sand, but some travelers venture to Maho Beach, St. Maarten for a different experience.

Instead of snapping photos of sunsets and sunbathers, beachgoers at Maho take pictures of the incredibly low-flying planes as they land at Princess Julianna International Airport, just meters from the beach itself.

Some people even push the limits to see how much of a jet engine's wind gusts they can withstand.

Check out the photos to see what it is like for yourself.

When you first arrive at Maho Beach, it looks like any other beautiful Caribbean beach with its crystal clear blue water.

And then you turn around and see what all the commotion is about.

Princess Julianna International Airport is located just meters away on the other side of a short fence.

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The NFL is ramping up its efforts overseas, playing games in London and even hinting that a Super Bowl might be played across the pond.

In response to these English flirtations, artist Dave Rappoccio had some fun and British-ized the current NFL logos of all 32 teams.

They're funny and great, and point out the huge gulf between the two sporting cultures.

Cincinnati Bengals

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

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Legendary value investor Seth Klarman, the founder of Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group, created a bunch of buzz amongst floor traders at the NYSE with a quote from his Q4 letter.

Via Art Cashin:

"Investing today may well be harder than it has been at any time in our three decades of existence," writes Seth Klarman in his year-end letter. The Fed's "relentless interventions and manipulations" have left few purchase targets for Baupost, he laments. "(The) underpinnings of our economy and financial system are so precarious that the un-abating risks of collapse dwarf all other factors.

Cashin noted that Klarman has achieved "near legendary" status on the Street.

Klarman, who has a reputation for being media shy, rarely speaks to the press.  He did, however, sit down with interviewer Charlie Rose to discuss history, his book, Ben Graham, Warren Buffett and his investment philosophy back in 2011. 

The interview is fascinating and we recommend you watch the full thing.

We've pulled out 12 brilliant insights for value investing from Klarman. 

There's a "gene" for value investing.

Klarman said being a value investor is completely natural for him.

"There's a gene for this stuff," he said.

When the market starts to go down, he explained, a lot of people overreact and start to panic. 

"For me it's natural.  For a lot of people it's fighting human nature." 

Value investors have to "slow the game down."

"If you can remember that stocks aren't pieces of paper that gyrate all the time --they are fractional interests in businesses -- it all makes sense." 

He said you have to "slow the game down."

"I can buy this thing for a huge fraction of what it's worth. What am I worried about if it goes down a little bit more?"

However, the analysis is the easy part, he said.

They realize investing is the intersection of economics in psychology.

"Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology."

That's what Klarman likes to tell business school students.

"The economics, the valuation of the business, is not hard.  The psychology -- How much do you buy? Do you buy it at this price? Do you wait for a lower price? What do you do when it looks like the world might end? Those are the harder things."

He said with time and experiences those things can be learned, but you also have to have the right psychological make up in the first place, he added.

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If going through the fridge and tossing rotten fruit, old leftovers, and stale bread is part of your weekly ritual, you’re not alone.

Here are some scary statistics from the National Resource Defense Council:

• About 40 percent of all food in the U.S. goes to waste.
• The average American wastes about $28 to $43 in food each month, roughly 20 pounds of food.
• Broken down, about 17 percent of dairy, 20 percent of vegetables, 15 percent of fruit, 18 percent of the grains, 25 percent of seafood, and 33 percent of the meat you buy goes to waste.

Do the math and according to the NRDC you’re throwing as much as $516 in your kitchen trashcan every year.

But you don’t have to. 

1. Keep fresh herbs in the plastic bag

Normally I toss the thin plastic produce bags I get at the grocery when I get home.

But there’s one exception: Fresh herbs last longer when stored in the vegetable crisper section of my fridge inside the plastic bag. When I get home, I wash and dry the herbs, put them back in the plastic bag, and seal the bag closed with a twist tie. They’ll last at least a week.

2. Store onions in pantyhose

I learned this trick from my mother.

She would buy a bag of onions, put one onion in the foot of a pair of pantyhose, seal it off with a twist tie, add another onion, and repeat until the hose were full. Then she hung the hose from a nail inside the pantry.

Stored this way, the onions have more room to breathe and last a month or more.

3. Add rice to your seasonings

The high humidity where I live – Louisiana – causes my dry seasonings to clump together. Result: I used to toss at least a bottle per month.

Then I started using an old trick from my grandmother: I add four to 10 grains of dry rice to the bottle and shake. The dry rice keeps the seasonings from sticking together and they last six months or more.

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The misery index, a crude economic measure created by Arthur Orkum, sums a country's unemployment and inflation rates to assess conditions on the ground (the higher the number, the more miserable a country is). 

The reasoning: most citizens understand the pain of a high jobless rate and the soaring price of goods.

Business Insider totaled the figures for 197 countries and territories — from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe — to compile the 2013 Misery Index.

Note: Results are based on CIA World Factbook data, which estimates figures for countries and territories that do not have reliable local reporting agencies. The CIA World Factbook was last updated on February 11, 2013.

25. Mali

Misery index score: 36.5

CPI inflation: 6.5%

Unemployment: 30%

One of the poorest countries in the world, Mali depends on gold mining and agricultural exports for revenue, which is why the country's fiscal status depends on gold and food prices. About 10% of the population is nomadic and about 80 percent of the working labor force is engaged in farming and fishing.

Source: CIA Factbook

24. Mauritania

Misery index score: 37

CPI inflation: 7%

Unemployment: 30%

Half the population is still dependent on agriculture and livestock to earn a living, and poverty is rampant. The local economy depends heavily on commodities exports, mostly of iron ore. These exports are pretty much the only reason why Mauritianian economy grew 5 percent last year.

Source: CIA Factbook

23. Iran

Misery index score: 39.1

CPI inflation: 23.6%

Unemployment: 15.5%

Price controls, subsidies, and other rigidities under mine private sector growth, and are proving to be a real drag on the economy, as is a rapidly depreciating currency. Which is why corruption is rampant, and illegal business activities abound. The economy is also heavily dependent on oil, and has suffered from international sanctions. Unemployment persists at double digit levels.

Source: CIA Factbook

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Byron Wien was almost fired from his first job as a security analyst, and he barely made the cut at Morgan Stanley 1984 where he eventual became the firm's top investment strategist.

Today, when Byron Wien talks, all of Wall Street listens at full attention. Wien's annual 'Ten Surprises' list has been circulating for nearly 30 years.

This year, in addition to offering market insights, Wien offered some life lessons. It's the type of wisdom that only comes from decades of experience on Wall Street.

Create a defining product, and put yourself at risk.

"Concentrate on finding a big idea that will make an impact on the people you want to influence.  The Ten Surprises which I started doing in 1986 has been a defining product. People all over the world are aware of it and identify me with it. What they seem to like about it is that I put myself at risk by going on record with these events which I believe are probable and hold myself accountable at year-end. If you want to be successful and live a long, stimulating life, keep yourself at risk intellectually all the time."

Source: Blackstone

Make useful friends because it'll increase your luck.

"Network intensely. Luck plays a big role in life and there is no better way to increase your luck than by knowing as many people as possible. Nurture your network by sending articles, books and emails to people to show you’re thinking about them. Write op-eds and thought pieces for major publications. Organize discussion groups to bring your thoughtful friends together."

Source: Blackstone

Sleep.

Get enough sleep. Seven hours will do until you’re sixty, eight from sixty to seventy, nine thereafter which might include eight hours at night and a one hour afternoon nap.  

Source: Blackstone

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Tesla Motors just announced its fourth-quarter financial results, and it reported a net loss that was a bit wider than expected. 

But importantly, the company reached its production goal of 400 Model S cars a week, which it needed to hit to break even.

And now, Tesla even expects to generate "slightly positive" net income in Q1 2013.

This would be its first-ever profitable quarter since its IPO.

Here's a look at how the company got here.

Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by five Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

Tesla was founded by Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel, Ian Wright, and Martin Eberhard. Elon Musk was the company's first investor. The five collaborated after they tried to commercialize the T-Zero prototype electric sports car created by AC Propulsion.

When he was in college Elon Musk had said there were two important problems worth studying, one was how to make transportation environment friendly and the other was how to colonize another planet.

The company name after electrical engineer Nikola Tesla and aimed to "accelerate the world’s transition to electric mobility with a full range of increasingly affordable electric cars".

Source: Tesla / NPR

The Tesla Roadster prototype was introduced to the public in 2006 and general production began in 2008.

Tesla raised $60 million and spent about $25 million developing its two-seat Roadster vehicle that sells for $109,000. The Roadster goes from zero to sixty miles in four seconds and can go 250 miles on a  single charge. 

The Roadster came 10 years after General Motors introduced its two-seat electric car the EV-1, which GM eventually withdrew because it had a 100 mile limit on one charge. 

Source: The New York Times / Reuters

Tesla has maintained that it plans to get to the mass market by selling it to rich people first and kicking off production.

Martin Eberhard former CEO of Tesla was quoted by The New York Times:

"According to Mr. Eberhard, the way to get a new product into the mass market is to sell it to rich people.

"'Cellphones, refrigerators, color TV’s, they didn’t start off by making a low-end product for masses,' he said. 'They were relatively expensive, for people who could afford it.” The companies that sold those products at first, he said, did so “not because they were stupid and they thought the real market was at the high end of the market,' but because that was how to get production started. His company and others that have tried electric cars, he said, are too small to produce by the tens of thousands anyway."

And Elon Musk has always maintained that its goal is to create a mass-market electric vehicle that could be as cheap as $20,000 in third generation cars.

Until 2008 most car sales were done in person, over the phone, or via the Internet. 

Source: The New York Times

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We're in year six of the iPhone.

You could be forgiven for taking it for granted at this point in your life. If you use one, and odds are you use some sort of smartphone that was influenced by the iPhone, it probably has become integral to your life.

We've put together this appreciation for the iPhone, an amazing gadget, as a reminder of all it does to make life better.

Before you cry bloody fanboy, or any other attack, just about everything we write here can be applied to Android, or Windows Phone. We're just using the iPhone in this case because it's what we use.

So, when you start to lose your mind over Apple versus Google in the comments, take a deep breath and understand that we understand that this could also be said for Android.

Ok. Ready? Here we go...

You are never lost (thanks to Google Maps)

If you can believe it, there was a time when you needed to print out directions before you left home. Before that, you had to carry around a giant book of maps just to figure out where you were going. With the iPhone that is not an issue! The whole world is in your pocket, complete with a handy blue dot to tell where you are on the map.

It's thin, light, and pretty

This one is iPhone specific, but ... boy is the iPhone an attractive piece of design. It feels solid in your hands, but light. It just looks cool.

You will never say, "I don't know," if you have an iPhone.

Just about all knowable information is at your finger tips with a smartphone.

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The Abrams has truly been a scourge on the battlefield in the few times others have been willing to step up to the plate.

In fact, the last modern tank battles, those during the first Gulf War, were so lopsided, that only a handful of Abrams have ever been damaged, and not a single one destroyed.

More contemporary uses of Abrams tanks include deployment to Afghanistan, and, years before that, acting as the battering ram that opened the door into Fallujah for Marine infantry.

With drone technology pushing for more precedence, the modern tank and its warfare may be going the way of the dinosaur. Undeniable though, is that this 68-ton beast ruled the battlefield during its tenure.

Introduced in 1980, the Abrams Main Battle Tank provides heavy armor superiority on any battlefield.

There are three main versions: the M1, M1A1, and M1A2. They are pretty similar, but the later versions have a heavier gun, and better thermal sights.

Even though it weighs over 60 tons, it still can roll at over 40 miles per hour!

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Information overload is a huge problem.

The Internet gives us access to mountains of information and sifting through all of it can be daunting at times.

That's why when we heard about personal assistant app Winston's huge update, we were excited to try it out.

Winston is an app that uses artificial intelligence to speak aloud your Twitter stream and news from selected categories like tech, entertainment, or finance.

A lot of people compared Winston to Apple's Siri personal assistant, but it's best to think of the app as a way to keep up with the latest news and social updates. You can't use Winston to set reminders, make calendar appointments, dictate text messages, etc.

It's simply a clever way to get your news in a quick digestible format.

You can download Winston for free on iPhone.

Winston is a great way to experience the news. The free app can be found in the iPhone app store by searching "Winston for iPhone."

Once the app has downloaded, tap to open.

You're greeted by this galaxy background.

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Last week, emails leaked from Wal-Mart's executive offices that suggested recent sales levels were a "total disaster."

But as Wal-Mart explained in its earnings announcement today, much of the weakness in sales are attributable to delayed income tax refunds, a problem that will go away.

Indeed, nothing seems to be able to slow this global retail powerhouse.

Walmart has come a long way since Sam Waltonopened the first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas 50 years ago.  

In fiscal year 2012, Wal-Mart registered approximately $444 billion in sales, which is $20 billion more than Austria's GDP. If Walmart were a country, it would be the 26th largest economy in the world.

Walmart has more employees worldwide — 2.2 million — than the population of Houston. The mega-retailer employs 1.4 million people in the U.S. alone.

Source: Walmart Corporate & Financial Fact Sheet

If Wal-Mart was an army, it would have the second largest military in the world, behind China.

Source: Daily Finance

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Combine a professional photographer with Team 2X — a martial arts stunt group responsible for training actors in Kung Fu Kid and The Hunger Games— and this is what you get.

Both water and martial arts have been the fascination of film and photography for a long time, put together and they yield some fascinating images.

The video that details how professionals set up the shoot is interesting as well, I definitely advise giving that a gander.

In order to film the shoot, photographer Clifton Li and company had to fabricate a platform to hold about an inch or so of water.

Then Li used a telephoto lens and stood at a distance from the action.

Team 2X employs Ryouko Martial Arts, a hybrid of Korean Tae Kwon Do, Wu Shu Kung Fu, Ninjitsu, free running, and gymnastics.

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