This week actually turned out to be a pretty busy one.

It started off with China telling us it grew at a 7.4 percent rate in Q3, which reassured everyone that the world's second largest economy wasn't heading for a hard economic landing.

A series of housing data gave many confidence that the market's bottom was behind it.

Meanwhile, Q3 earnings season hit a crescendo on Thursday when Google's earnings announcement was accidentally released early.

The best minds in finance were out analyzing all of it this week.

CITI: Why Greek Debt Is Suddenly Red Hot

"We think the position of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, with respect to Grexit, has shifted recently as the German elections are getting closer (September 2013, most likely) and she fears the negative economic repercussions of an event like Grexit on her chances of reelection."

Read more here >

ROSENBERG: The Hockey Lockout Means A Wave Of Canadian Babies Is Coming

"We made a caustic remark a while back that it would be reasonable to assume that Canada will experience a surge in the birth rate come summer and fall of next year.  I mean...it stands to reason."

Read more here >

Reinhart & Rogoff: This Has Been One Of The Best Post-Crisis Recoveries Ever

"According to our (2009) metrics, the aftermath of the US financial crisis has been quite typical of post-war systemic financial crises around the globe," they wrote.  "If one really wants to focus just on United States systemic financial crises, then the recent recovery looks positively brisk."

Read more here >

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As tensions between China and Japan in the China Sea make headlines, it's easy to believe all the fuss is from a couple little islands atop a big pile of petroleum reserves.

Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. The Japanese invaded China twice over the last 81 years and half the 20 million people killed by the Japanese during World War II were Chinese.

Check out the bunkers >

China says 35 million of its citizens were killed or wounded during the 14 year Japanese occupation and numbers like this don't just slip to the past.

Starting in 1931, China fiercely fought the invasion and carved a series of tunnels through living rock across much of the eastern part of the country. Today these tunnels look out over modern and prosperous Chinese cities filled with millions of Chinese who gaze back into a past they're not likely to forget anytime soon.

Hoping to understand the ancient enmity between China and Japan we looked to urban explorer Darmon Richter who brings us inside the tunnels and bunkers with pictures from his site The Bohemian Blog. 

This portion of bunkers overlooks Qingdao, a place many consider China's most beautiful city. But like the rest of China, Qindao overlooks its past as it looks to the future and offers some context about the disputes happening in the region today.

Some things are just a bit more than they seem.

The climb up Fu Shan Mountain towards Dragonback Ridge takes around an hour, and allows for breathtaking views out over the city of Qingdao and the ocean beyond.

We were still a little way off the rumored entrance to the tunnels, when we spotted the first gun turret - looming out of the mist above us.

On closer inspection the turret was sealed, with a passage leading into the back of it from deep within the mountain.

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It seems like Apple gets a new patent every few days.

Just on Tuesday, it won patents for a 3D remote mechanism and for a technology that allows it to detect unauthorized use of your phone, according to Apple Insider. 

Some patents are useful, unique, and truly innovative.

But there are other patents Apple seems to have filed out of habit. 

We have compiled a list of what we think are the most far-fetched, ridiculous patents Apple has filed in its short history. Of course, we couldn't ignore its rounded edges and rounded square icons patents.

(NOTE: You will need a TIFF plug-in to view the patent drawings on the U.S. Patent Office's website.)

Glass staircase

Patent No.: D478,999 S

Patent Date: August 26, 2003

Apple has claimed a design patent for its glass staircase, which appears at a number of its stores from New York to Paris. This one struck as odd because it doesn't relate to any of Apple's innovative products – just its shiny retail locations.

Source: USPTO

In-store iPad stand

Patent No.: D662,939 S

Patent Date: July 3, 2012

Yes, Apple patented the design of its in-store iPad stands — those plastic, seemingly uncomplicated things Apple tablets sit on at most stores. 

Source: USPTO, Patently

Packaging

Patent No.: D596,485 S

Patent Date: July 21, 2009

Apple also patents the designs of its packaging — in this case, the original iPhone's box is seen in its different divisions. Patenting the actual products isn't enough for Apple apparently.

Source: USPTO

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A sinkhole occurs when an area of ground collapses, creating holes that can swallow up swimming pools, roads, buildings and people. 

The United States Geological Survey describes three different categories of sinkholes based on how they are created: dissolution, cover-subsidence and cover-collapse sinkholes.

In all three, erosion of land is caused by minerals washed away by water over time.

The most dangerous type of sink hole, and the ones we usually see in the news, are cover-collapse sink holes. The erosion of land occurs underground, creating a cavity under streets, sidewalks or buildings. Eventually the ground suddenly collapses since there's nothing underneath holding it up. 

Here are some of the most incredible examples of sudden sinkholes.

The Qattara Depression in Egypt: Located west of Cairo, this massive dent is 440 feet below sea level at its lowest point, with a length of 186 miles and a width of 95 miles.

Source: Egypt Travel website

The 2007 Guatemala City Sinkhole: This sink hole was large enough to swallow up about a dozen homes which fell 330 feet down into the hole.

Source: National Geographic

The 2010 Guatemala City Sinkhole: In 2010 another sinkhole opened up In Guatemala City. It is about 60 feet wide and 30 stories deep.

Source: National Geographic

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Ski season is just around the corner, and if you can afford it, it's a lot more fun to sleep in your own luxury chalet than a hotel room.

You can buy a grand ski house in Vermont for a (relatively) conservative $5 million, own the best home in Switzerland for about $71 million, or purchase in Park City for about $30 million.

A mansion known as "Elk's Crossing" in Aspen, Colo. is on sale for $31 million. The home spans 18,000 square feet.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

The home has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, and two half baths. The house is just three miles from Aspen and Snowmass.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

A $19.95 million estate in Aspen, Colo., known as Starwood, spans almost 14,000 square feet.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

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New York edged out London by one point for the top spot in the annual Cities of Opportunity report by  PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The report measures  a city's comprehensive potential for business across ten economic indicators. The categories range from intellectual capital and innovation to sustainability and the natural environment to city gateway—an indicator of global interconnectedness and international attraction. 

While the top of the list might skew toward the West, Asian cities are gaining fast. In fact, Beijing leads the way in economic clout, a measure of "a city's dominion beyond its borders."

27. Mumbai

Strongest categories: Cost*; economic clout

Weakest categories: Demographics and livability; health, safety and security

*PwC defines "cost" as measuring the "costs for a businessperson living in our cities—which is to say, the cost of a transnational, middle-class way of life."

Total Score: 515

26. São Paulo

Strongest categories: Economic clout; ease of doing business

Weakest categories: Technology readiness; health, safety, and security

Total Score: 527

25. Johannesburg

Strongest categories: Ease of doing business; cost

Weakest categories: technology readiness

Total Score: 534

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There's a difference between having a good brand and having a good business.

Many a beloved household name —Tower Records,or Circuit City — has ended its life inside bankruptcy court.

But bankruptcy isn't always the end of the road.

Take Converse for instance, which filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and was bought by Nike and turned into the thriving brand it is today.

Here are 12 of the most memorable brands in a similar position: they're defunct, but probably more valuable than dead companies who made them.

Tower Records — Totally gone.

Founded: 1960

Filed for Bankruptcy: 2004

Tower Records invented the concept of the music mega-store. The bankruptcy was the result of excessive debt, music piracy and iTunes. But the legacy of the store will live forever as a phantom in the shape of the movie Empire Records, which was written by a former Tower Records employee.

Pan Am, which hasn't flown a single plane in more than 20 years.

Founded: 1927

Filed for Bankruptcy: 1991

Pan Am was once the largest international air carrier in the United States, and industry innovator having been the first airline to implement the widespread use of computerized reservation systems and jumbo jets. It has been more than 20 years since the company has serviced a single airplane, but its logo lives on in the form of purses, T-shirts, and even as the subject of a television series on ABC starring Christina Ricci.

Polaroid — the Instamatic before Instagram.

Founded: 1937

Filed for Bankruptcy: 2001

The pioneer of Instamatic cameras is now nothing more than a filter option on your smartphone photo app. Unfortunately, the company was not quick enough to jump on the digital bandwagon, waiting until 2008 to switch product production to digital only. In the last two years, Polaroid has struggled to find ways to stay relevant, first by hiring Lady Gaga as a creative director for a specialty line of cameras, and second by creating an Instagram-like app called Polamatic.

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In the long history of poor management decisions made at major American companies, only a few proved to be fatal. It is hard to ruin a company with a single decision.

That is especially true when the company has the advantages of huge market share, large and rising revenue, and a history of success. But not all bad decisions are created equal.

24/7 Wall St. set out to identify the worst business decisions of all time. These decisions cost these companies billions of dollars and, eventually, their independence.

Bad business decisions result in financial loss. The worst business decisions lose companies billions in revenue. Our editors relied on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the largest 500 companies ranked by revenue to identify the companies that were the biggest in America and, as a result, capable of losing the most money.

To make the initial cut, companies had to be on the Fortune 100 list for at least 10 consecutive years and then drop off the top 100 ranking for good. We then looked for the companies that made a single identifiable decision that cost them significant revenue and ultimately led to their decline. Based on this cut, 24/7 Wall St. identified the eight companies that suffered from the worst business decisions of all time.

Inclusion at the top of the Fortune 500 is hard to get, but, once won, it is also hard to lose. Nearly three-quarters of 2012’s 100 largest companies have been in the top 100 for at least a decade. This includes 23 that have been there for a quarter century, as well as 13 companies that have been on the list since it debuted in 1955. Even if a company falls out of the top 100, it usually remains a large company for a long time. Seventy companies from the original Fortune 100 are still somewhere on the Fortune 500 list.

Most bad business decisions are not fatal. General Motors Co. has made several mistakes, none as harmful as the decision to continue to manufacture large vehicles when the market was trending toward smaller cars. These poor judgment calls led to GM’s bankruptcy in 2009, but with the help of a government bailout it remains in the Fortune 100 today. This is not the case with the companies on this list. The decisions made at these companies eventually ruined each of them.

The worst bad decisions fall into three categories. The managements of Lehman Brothers and Firestone were simply reckless. Leading up to the housing collapse, Lehman executives overleveraged the investment bank, far more than any other large financial institution. Firestone hastily tried to expand into production of a new kind of tire. Both companies ignored internal warnings that their decisions were highly risky.

In the case of Kodak and Motorola, management missed tectonic shifts in their industries until it was too late. Motorola held on to its old cellphone business too long, failing to leverage its Razr brand or couple it with a smartphone until the brand had lost its relevance. Kodak, which actually held a patent for digital cameras well before they were mass produced, eventually was left behind by other digital camera manufacturers like Fuji and Sony Corp. that moved quickly to establish market dominance.

Kmart, meanwhile, showed a general lack of foresight. The retailer failed to create modern supply chain management that could support an increase in customers, something it should have expected following its price war with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and aggressive advertising.

To identify the worst business decisions of all time, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed all Fortune 500 companies since 1955 that have, at any point, been in the top 100 for at least 10 years, but were no longer among them in 2012. A company needed to have either filed for bankruptcy protection or been acquired. The declines in the company’s fortunes also had to have been traced to one identifiable bad decision. For each of these companies, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed revenue and sales data, obtained from Capital IQ, as well as stock price performance.

Motorola

Years on Fortune 500: 56
Peak Fortune 500 rank: 23 (1994)
Peak revenue: $43.7 billion (2006)
Current status: Split, Mobility unit sold

The success of the thin and stylish Razr cellphone drove Motorola’s 22% market share in mobile phones in 2006. However, the company failed to launch a new generation of smartphones leveraging the Razr brand, and by 2007 the company was selling the traditional cellphone at a discount.

By the time the company released a new line of Razr phones in 2010, Motorola had to compete with products such as the iPhone and BlackBerry. While sales in 2006 were more than $43 billion, they were only $22 billion by 2010.

Between October 2006 and March 2009, the company’s shares fell more than 90% from over $107 to less than $13. Motorola Mobility, now owned by Google Inc., had 11.2% market share of mobile phones in Aug. 2012, according to comScore. Apple Inc.’s iPhone, released in 2007, had a 17.1% market share.

Lehman Bros.

Years on Fortune 500: 14
Peak Fortune 500 rank: 37 (2008)
Peak revenue: $59.0 billion (2007)
Status: Went bankrupt

During the final few years of the housing bubble, Lehman Brothers increased the amount it borrowed to buy more mortgage-backed securities and real estate. By 2007, the company’s leverage ratio was at least 31-to-1, meaning it borrowed $31 for every $1 in equity.

This brought Lehman Brothers huge profits in the boom era but became a serious problem once the housing bubble burst. The firm was unable to unload those assets onto the market once home and commercial real estate prices began falling, leading to unsustainable losses.

While other investment banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, were heavily leveraged as well, they were able to survive by becoming bank holding companies eligible to receive the necessary emergency funds from the government to continue operations.

Those aid programs however, became available too late for Lehman, which went bankrupt in 2008. A federal-bankruptcy-court-sponsored report later found that Lehman and its accounting firm partner, Ernst & Young, used misleading accounting tactics to conceal the extent of Lehman’s overleveraging, which the authors claimed was as high as 44-to-1. Both Lehman executives and Ernst & Young denied these claims.

Between 1999 and 2007 Lehman’s revenue grew from less than $19 billion to more than $59 billion. During that time, the company’s rank on the Fortune 500 rose from 88th to 37th.

Firestone

Years on Fortune 500: 34
Peak Fortune 500 rank: 24 (1956)
Peak revenue: $5.3 billion (1979)
Current status: Bought out

Firestone began manufacturing radial tires in 1972 to lengthen the life of the products. The company used a new technique to get its tires to market ahead of competitors. That year, after Firestone’s tire was in production, company documents reported that the rubber came off the wire when the tire was in use.

Despite these problems, the company continued to manufacture the tires throughout the 1970s to satisfy demand from customers like General Motors. But following pressure from the government and consumer advocacy groups that were concerned about the safety of the tires, the company recalled approximately 10 million tires in 1978.

Initially, Firestone blamed tire failure on substandard maintenance by the consumer. However, an investigation by the National Highway and Traffic Administration in 1980 found that Firestone was actually aware of the defective products, citing to the 1972 documents.

This led to lawsuits and negative publicity that hurt earnings and sales. Although the stock bounced back from its low of $6.25 in April 1980, shares were still below their 1969 peak of $33.25 when Bridgestone successfully bid for the company in 1988.

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Haunted Houses have been making America scream for nearly 40 years, and now Haunted Houses have gone global. The haunted house industry is an American export.

100 percent made in America as haunt vendors design, build and install haunted houses all over the WORLD! Halloween is extremely popular within the US. However, it was not as popular worldwide.

Trick-or-treating is an American tradition, and for years it was the primary way most American’s celebrated Halloween, but many things have changed over the last twenty years. Halloween has become the second largest retail holiday grossing more than $8 billion. The industry of making people scream is now a WORLD WIDE industry. Today, you can find haunted houses in most countries. People of all nations pay top dollar to enter a haunted house…to be SCARED.

So what makes a haunted house one of the best and scariest in America 2012? There are several things a paying customer might look for in a haunted attraction prior to buying a ticket. There are so many established haunted houses, plus so many more that open new each year, and a lot of over the top (potentially false) advertisements promoting them all in every city across America.

At Hauntworld, we suggest attending every haunt possible (of course), but for those of you on a budget, typically you’ll want to steer clear from the brand new haunted houses. New haunts have yet to establish themselves and build up an arsenal of experience to make people scream.

Rather, we suggest you visit the established haunted houses, the ones with years of experience, the ones who spend tens of thousands of dollars every year to renovate for each season, and the ones committed to making their haunted houses the best scream factories in America.

We look for many things when evaluating a haunt for our America’s best list. So many haunted attractions are quite different from each other. Many haunted houses like The Beast in Kansas City, Missouri are inside industrial buildings, while others like Headless Horseman in New York are outdoor haunts with massive hayrides, corn mazes and more.

How do you compare a scream park haunted attraction and an indoor haunted house? In most cases, the indoor haunted house will have the best attention to detail, sets and special FX. However, the scream park style attractions will offer more variety, longer attractions and typically more bang for the buck.

There are scary haunted houses, and then there are THE SCARIEST haunted houses in America. What’s the difference? Some haunts just want to make you scream, but some haunts go all out with over-the-top efforts trying to be the biggest, the baddest and the scariest haunted houses on the planet. The haunts that have that WOW factor can make their guests scream, PLUS they provide horrific atmosphere creating realism in every scare.

They provide a Hollywood movie quality punch to the gut! Who wants to watch horror movies anymore when you can visit a haunted house and be right in the middle of the action? Below is our list of the best haunted attractions in America.

These haunts will put you on stage inside a horror movie atmosphere and basically make YOU the scream queen! Before visiting a haunted house, use Hauntworld.com to find the best haunted houses in America, as we boast the largest and most informative database for finding haunted houses. Shop by city, state and zip to find a haunted house near you or around the World.

So which haunted houses are the best and scariest haunted houses in America 2012? Which haunts can make you scream more than any other, more than the best horror movie? Below you’ll read about the longest haunted houses, the oldest haunted houses, and even about the best rides with a Halloween theme? We have it all for you once again in our annual Top 13 best haunted houses in America List. Get ready, turn out the lights, and get ready to scream!

#13 Nightmare on the Bayou in Houston, TX

Located in the shadow of downtown Houston, TX next to Houston’s oldest graveyard, Nightmare on the Bayou is the name people think of when searching “HAUNTED TEXAS.”  Nightmare on the Bayou is entering its 12th year in operation and has grown even bigger, even better, and even scarier with every passing year. 

Featuring newly designed scenes, Hollywood quality props, professional animatronics and dozens upon dozens of the most well-trained and highly supervised actors, CRAZED ACTORS, whose sole purpose is to scare you to death.  Nightmare on the Bayou boasts, “the only haunted house in Houston with REAL ghosts,” and with its location right next to the graveyard…I believe them! 

Ghost sightings are frequent from both customers and employees alike.  Additionally, Nightmare On The Bayou is one of the only haunted houses in America with a WORLD CLASS Halloween retail store on site for your ease and convenience.

#12 13th Floor Haunted House offering 3 locations: San Antonio, TX, Denver, CO and Phoenix, AZ

What is the terrible secret hidden within the 13th Floor?  Superstition? Conspiracy? Or something much, much worse?  As legend has foretold, The 13th Floor Haunted House provides a gut wrenching ride to untold nightmares STRAIGHT DOWN! 

The 13th Floor Haunted House is a franchise haunted attraction located in multiple locations.  These attractions are a true testament to high action, in-your-face premium production value among all haunted houses.  Each attraction offers a massive haunted event, one as big as 40,000 square feet and another as high as 3 floors up!  Through the wickedness of its massive Gothic cemetery and into its horrifically fantastic haunted hotel, 13th Floor customers get to experience a barrage of special effects, animatronic monsters and impeccably detailed sets. 

Add to that some of the most talented group of performers in the industry, and you’ve got a top notch, first rate haunted house that’s second to none.

#11 The Bates Motel in Philadelphia, PA

For more than 20 years, The Bates Motel Haunted Hayride at Arasapha Farm has been making Philadelphia SCREAM! 

This event is one of the biggest haunted house events in America featuring amazing props, digital FX, terrifying actors, professional makeup, pyrotechnics and multiple attractions in one location including a massive corn maze, an infamous hayride and a horrific haunted house. 

The Bates Motel has been featured on multiple television shows and ranked as high as THE BEST haunted house in the nation by multiple media outlets including Hauntworld.com.  The Bates Motel dominates the Philadelphia market as well as every surrounding area.  People travel from miles away just to attend this haunting event.

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At Oregon’s Allison Inn & Spa, you can wake up to a view of Willamette Valley from your terrace, spend the afternoon sampling Pinot Noirs at local wineries, then retreat to the hotel spa for a “pinotherapy” treatment.

That kind of immersive experience has earned Allison Inn the No. 4 ranking among wine country hotels, based on Travel + Leisure readers’ votes in the annual World’s Best Awards survey. The winners come in lots of varietals, from opulent hotels to cozy inns, and turn up in established wine regions (South Africa’s Franschhoek, Argentina’s Mendoza) and less-expected destinations like Arizona’s Verde Valley and the Mount Etna area of Sicily, where that volcanic soil can work wonders.

Napa Valley, CA, certainly has experience catering to the wine-focused traveler. “Our customers come here to experience wine country from head to toe,” says George Goeggel, managing partner of Auberge du Soleil in the Napa Valley, one of the area’s first boutique resorts. “We try to embody the wine country lifestyle in all aspects, from a glass of wine at reception to the local bottles on the menu to the crushed grapes in our spa treatments.”

That sentiment rings true in Santa Barbara, CA, as well. “We estimate that 94 percent of our guests are wine lovers,” says Seamus McManus, managing director of San Ysidro Ranch, whose 1,600-bottle collection features an abundance of local labels. To satisfy their expectations, the hotel offers winery tours, hosts dinners with nearby vintners, and stocks local wines in each of its cottages. 

Not to be left out, the East Coast has its own properties among this year’s winners. Virginia’s rolling hills nurture The Inn at Little Washington as well as Keswick Hall, decked out with hunt-club prints and Chippendale chairs and host of regular themed wine dinners.

Even select urban hotels have caught on to the interest in wine tourism and offer guided day trips to wineries within a short drive. The renovated Four Seasons, Firenze, occupies a glorious frescoed palazzo with a pool and an 11-acre park. It makes a refined base for guided excursions into Chianti, 40 minutes away, or for tastings at the hotel's Winery restaurant (nearly 400 bottles at last count).

No matter which wine-country hotel you choose, one thing’s for sure: you won’t go home thirsty.

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Hotel Crillon le Brave, Crillon le Brave, France

The tiny hilltop town of Crillon le Brave lends its name to this 32-room medieval stone property with gardens, terraces, and spectacular views of vineyards and olive groves.

The concierge can arrange for day trips to the wineries of Côtes du Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (about half an hour away), known for their Syrahs, Marsannes, and Grenache noirs. Or simply enjoy a local bottle and take in the sweeping scenery from the romantic terrace at the hotel’s restaurant.

Domaine des Hauts de Loire, Onzain, France

This handsome 19th-century hunting lodge is covered in ivy vines, furnished with antiques, and occupies 178 forested acres along the wine route in Loir-et-Cher. The restaurant, overseen by chef Rémy Giraud, serves the Loire Valley’s famed Vouvrays, Montlouises, and Touraines, though guests seeking a bird’s-eye view of the region’s châteaux can arrange for a private helicopter or hot-air balloon tour of neighboring vineyards, castles, and ancient cities.

Les Crayères, Reims, France

In the heart of the Champagne region, this 20-room Belle Époque château (a former family home) maintains an impeccable sense of classic style.

The wine cellar at the Michelin-starred restaurant counts 400 champagne labels, and the hotel can arrange visits to bold-faced sites like nearby Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin or the Moët et Chandon cellars, as well as the Notre Dame Cathedral.

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Film is perhaps America’s greatest cultural export. That said, not every American film title translates well into other languages. To bridge the gap, foreign marketers take some very intriguing creative liberties.

Many of the best mangled film titles come from China, where they are downright magical at jazzing up boring old English titles.

Step Up – Sexy Dance (France)

Pretty Woman – I Will Marry a Prostitute to Save Money (China)

No Strings Attached – Sex Friends (France)

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Los Angeles is a late-night city, known for its clubs and bars that hop well into the night.

But what are club goers to do when its 2am and they're hankering for a snack? Hit up one of L.A.'s awesome late night eateries, that's what.

The editors at Zagat put together a list of the 5 best spots for late-night dining in L.A.

The choices are all over the city and range from restaurants that serve inventive small plates to a fast food favorite to a very creative pizzeria.

#5 Lazy Ox Canteen

241 S. San Pedro St.

L.A.'s Little Tokyo harbors this hip little spot which features a changing menu of awesome small plates, like braised short ribs, roasted Japanese eggplant, and asparagus with chorizo and manchego.

#4 In-N-Out Burger

Multiple locations

The term "animal style" immediately conjures up images of In-N-Out Burger's delicious hamburgers doused in their house sauce. This West Coast fast food favorite is always bustling—even late into the night. 

#3 Tasting Kitchen

1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Tasting Kitchen is a cool, upscale restaurant in Venice that serves creative Mediterranean dishes and inventive cocktails. It can be difficult to get into, but it's open late and always packed. 

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Europe is in crisis, and it's not just about occasional flare-ups in peripheral sovereign debt markets anymore.

In fact, it's really never been about that.

The European continent has for decades since the end of the Second World War struggled to create a transnational identity, the fulfillment of a dream to end military conflict between continental superpowers like France and Germany that has plagued it for centuries.

However, that identity – and the institutions like the EU and the ECB that embody it – has come at a great price. Voters in euro area member states have found that they are able to exercise less and less control over their own governance at the ballot box. In short, democracy is in crisis.

Now, Europe is at a historic crossroads, brought about by the disastrous implementation of the euro – it must either cede even more power to the supranational level, where voters aren't represented by elected officials, or face the fallout in financial markets.

The European Union was just awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to democracy in Europe

On October 12, the European Union was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Interestingly, its contribution to strengthening democracy in Europe was cited as a key driver of the Nobel prize committee's decision, per the press release:

In the 1980s, Greece, Spain and Portugal joined the EU. The introduction of democracy was a condition for their membership. The fall of the Berlin Wall made EU membership possible for several Central and Eastern European countries, thereby opening a new era in European history. The division between East and West has to a large extent been brought to an end; democracy has been strengthened; many ethnically-based national conflicts have been settled.

The admission of Croatia as a member next year, the opening of membership negotiations with Montenegro, and the granting of candidate status to Serbia all strengthen the process of reconciliation in the Balkans. In the past decade, the possibility of EU membership for Turkey has also advanced democracy and human rights in that country.

The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights. The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.

In contrast, the EU's critics usually say democracy is the EU's biggest enemy...

German author Hans Magnus Enzensberger argues that anti-democratic principles are part of the core construction of the European Union.

Enzensberger writes in his essay, Brussels, the gentle monster:

Officially, [the core problem of the EU] bears a euphemistic designation. The 'democratic deficit', as it's called, is considered to be a chronic deficiency disease, apparently difficult to treat, which is both lamented and played down. Yet it is far from being a medical puzzle; rather, it represents a quite deliberate decision of general principle.

As if the constitutional struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had never happened, Council of Ministers and Commission already agreed at the foundation of the European Community that the population at large should have no say in their decision. By now no one believes any more that this relapse into preconstitutional conditions can be cured by cosmetic corrections. The deficit is, therefore, nothing more than a fancy term for the disenfranchisement of Europe's citizens.

And that the structure of the EU is not conducive to the democratic process

Austrian writer Robert Menasse says that the way the EU is set up, the institution's effect on democracy in Europe is like a black hole:

We can only talk of developed democracy when there is a separation of powers...

In the EU, however, the division of powers has been done away with. The parliament is certainly elected, but has no right to initiate legislation (or now, after Lisbon, only through the back door): only the Commission has the right to initiate legislation...

But the Commission is the institution in which, in the end, democratic legitimation is annulled: here an apparatus is at work which is not elected and cannot be voted out and which has abolished the separation of powers...

In terms of democratic politics, therefore, this triad of Parliament, Council and Commission produces a black hole into which what we used to understand as democracy disappears.

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Paws on Parole lets inmates at Florida's Gainesville Correctional Work Camp train shelter dogs so they're ready to be adopted by the public.

And, according to its coordinator Hilary Hynes, the four-year-old program is 100 percent successful, meaning all the dogs are adopted at the end of each training program.

Hynes started the program in 2008 for the state's lower-security inmates. The training happens in the work camp's yard, where trainers and shelter volunteers meet to set up courses and work through the day's lessons.

Source: Paws on Parole

Inmates teach dogs a variety of behaviors, including how to sit and behave around children.

Source: Paws on Parole

During each eight-week program, the dogs live at the facility with the inmates, who are non-violent offenders. This is Harlee, a year-old American Staffordshire Terrier/Boston Terrier mix.

Source: Paws on Parole

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The Supreme Court's very own chief justice said this week that many Americans go to law school for the wrong reasons.

"I think there are a lot of people who go to law school because they're not good at math and can't think of anything else to do," John Roberts said at Houston's Rice University.

That's not the only bad reason to drop $200,000 on a law degree.

In his book "Don't Go To Law School (Unless)," law professor Paul Campos ranks the eight most ridiculous reasons for going to law school.

8. Everybody in my family is a lawyer.

Okay, this is probably a pretty benign reason to go to law school, especially since your lawyer family members could help you get a job, Campos says.

"But do you really want to have the same life as that person?" Campos asks in his book.

7. I want to save the world.

Public interest lawyers' wages have hardly risen since 2004. At the same time, competition for public-interest work has gotten incredibly fierce.

Find a way to help people that doesn't land you in debt. And if any of you do-gooders need more reasons to skip the law degree, read this.

6. I want to be rich.

While first-year lawyers at huge law firms can make $160,000, according to industry group NALP, the reality is that most make less if they get jobs at all.

Lawyers at firms with fewer than 70 lawyers make a median salary of $70,750, for example.

That's not very much if you incurred a ton of debt at a private school.

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Harris Interactive conducted a poll on employee's online video habits at work. While workers are consuming your standard news clips and viral videos, the poll found that 3% of people are watching porn at work.

That statistic begs a few questions. Who is this wild minority? Why are they indulging in behavior like this? Perhaps most interestingly -- how do they do it?

We did some "research" to figure it out. Here's our advice on how to watch porn at work and get away with it.

Mask your IP address.

Use a free proxy service like HideMyAss.com to conceal your identity and location as you browse around.

Use alt-tab to switch back and forth between programs quickly.

The alt-tab shortcut in Windows and command-tab shortcut in OS X lets you switch between whatever programs you're using very quickly and seamlessly. Use it to bury your dirty stuff.

Use a smaller screen, like an iPhone.

The more discreet you can be, the better. Why not keep your business on a smaller screen that's easier to hide?

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Nike terminated Lance Armstrong's contract in the face of "insurmountable evidence" that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

Even though it seems like Armstrong's world has only recently come crashing down, the fact is he has been fighting cheating allegations since his first Tour de France in 1999.

It has been a long, long downfall.

We took a look back at this past decade or so to see trajectory of Armstrong's fall, from the failed drug test in 1999 to Nike's termination last week.

In the early '90s he wasn't yet a contender for the Tour de France title. He won a stage in 1995, but that was as far as his success went

In 1996, he was diagnosed with late-stage testicular cancer that had spread all over his body

Source: Cycling News

He was only given a 40% chance to live

Source: People

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Tuesday’s presidential debate touched on some massive economic issues that are affecting all Americans.

The immense increase in gas prices was a crucial part of the discussion, but have other everyday products seen a drastic increased in price over the same time period?  

According to Blaze research on data provided by the the Bureau of Labor Statistics* gas prices are not alone in skyrocketing over the last decade.  Wait till you see chocolate chip cookies!

Gasoline (All Types)

2002 Average – $1.44
2012  Average- $3.73
Percent Increase: 158%

Beer (Per 16 oz.)

2002 Average – $.99
2012 Average-$1.24
Percent Increase: 25%
 

Eggs, Grade A, Large (Per Dozen)

2002 Average – $1.03
2012 Average-$1.80
Percent Increase: 73%

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The Orionid meteor shower peaked on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 21 this year.  

The meteors come from bits of debris left behind by Halley's Comet when it last visited Earth in 1986. When pieces of dust, rock and ice hit our atmosphere, they get burned up and create streaks of light in the sky. 

Take me to the pictures > 

"Because comet Halley orbits the Sun in the opposite direction as the Earth, the Orionid meteors enter the atmosphere relatively fast. Thus, they are seen to 'explode,' or really fall apart, more often than other meteor showers," Anita Cochran, a professor of astronomy at the University of Texas, tell us. 

In case you missed the light show, we've rounded some great pictures snapped by skywatchers. 

If you snapped any photos and would like to share them on Business Insider, send them to dspector@businessinsider.com with a name and location. 

Skywatcher Mike Lewinski snapped this photo on Oct. 20, 2012. "This bright meteor left a persistent ion train visible in subsequent frames for about half an hour," noted Lewinski.

An Orionid meteor, seen over Huntsville, Alabama.

An Orionid fireball meteor from North Georgia College. The photo was taken at 12:29 a.m. EDT on Oct. 21, 2012.

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Most people can't imagine James Bond drinking anything other than his signature vodka martini (shaken not stirred). But the international man of mystery is going to be sipping Heineken, again, in the upcoming Bond flick "Skyfall."

While some fans cry "sacrilege," this isn't the first time Bond has strayed from martinis.

In the very first Bond movie, "Dr. No," Bond perched at a bar beside a Red Stripe. He's also imbibed various brands of vodka, sodas, and other prominently labeled beverages.

For "Skyfall," Bond will be seen with a mall full of different brands, covering everything from Coke Zero, to Sony Vaio. The Heineken tie-in is one of the largest product placement packages in history.

To give you a sense of just how big of a deal product placement is for James Bond, we put together a short history of product placement throughout the lifespan of the movie franchise.

Bond opted for a Red Stripe rather than his signature vodka martini during his first flick in 1962. Pan Am and Smirnoff also made appearances in "Dr. No."

Pan Am product placements occurred throughout the Bond franchise. In fact, Bond nonsensically flew from London to Istanbul on the US-based airline in "From Russia With Love" (1963).

Bond is known for his cars, but the franchise also pioneered auto placements in movies, starting with "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974).

American Motors made a historic $5 million deal to have Bond drive its cars, exclusively ... even in Thailand, which didn't sell the brand and would require steering wheels to be on the opposite side of the car.

Watch Bond perform a famous stunt in the AMC below:

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