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The 10 Highest-Grossing Summer Movies Of 2014

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guardians of the galaxy gamora star lord

The summer 2014 box office may be down nearly 20%; however, it still managed to bring one billion dollar movie and two of the highest box-office openings August has ever seen ("Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles").

As the summer winds down, we've compiled the biggest movies of the season, breaking each film down by both its international and domestic revenues. Unsurprisingly, all but two films on the list have made more money overseas. 

A few take aways:

  • Comedies were bigger at home than overseas.
  • Fox dominated the summer with three very different sequels: superhero film "X-Men: Days of Future Past,""Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," and comedy "22 Jump Street."
  • Paramount was the only studio to have a movie hit $1 billion this year.
  • Universal Pictures doesn't break the top 10. It's highest-grossing movie of the year so far has been comedy "Neighbors" ($264.7 million worldwide).

highest grossing movies 2014

SEE ALSO: Photos of Lee Pace's awesome transformation into the "Guardians of the Galaxy" villain

AND: You can now watch the best scene from "Guardians of the Galaxy" online

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Marijuana Is More Addictive These Days — Here's Why

Here's What Politics And Religion In Texas Tell Us About Modern America

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obama texas

"Rough Country: How Texas Became America's Most Powerful Bible-Belt State" By Robert Wuthnow.Princeton University Press; 654 pages.

TEXANS miss few opportunities to boast of their history. The capsule version, peddled by politicians and populists, is as follows. Inspired by the deaths of a small band of fighters at the Alamo in 1836, Texans wrested their land from Mexican rule.

Texas duly became an independent republic for nearly ten years, before joining the United States in 1845. This independence, brief as it was, left a legacy of freedom-loving self-reliance that is the stuff of today's endless mythologising.

Reality, of course, is muddier, as Robert Wuthnow shows in his commanding sociological history of this fast-growing state. He begins his tale with the "strange and desperate men" (in the words of a mid-19th-century traveller) who settled in the remote flatlands of Texas.

"Rough Country" marches methodically through every major historical event, from the civil war and Reconstruction to the turbulent 1960s and the rise of the Tea Party, examining how they shaped the state's approach to race, political power and religion. A non-Texan professor from Princeton, Mr Wuthnow offers a clear-eyed view of the lingering legacies of slavery and segregation, matters that many Texans today prefer to pass over in favour of Alamo heroics.

Mr Wuthnow's particular interest is religion, and he sets out to trace the emergence of Texas as "America's most powerful Bible-Belt state". It has twice as many Southern Baptists, a powerful conservative bloc, as any other state--which is perhaps unsurprising given its size--and politicians like Rick Perry, the governor, do not hesitate to call for prayer to fix drought or other ills. Dallas is sometimes known as the "buckle of the Bible Belt", though there is competition for the honour.

So large and powerful did the city's First Baptist Church become that by 1976 one writer had dubbed it the "big old ruby" in the Bible Belt's buckle. The church's preachers have long railed against abortion, homosexuality and America's moral decline--though by 1968 one legendary pastor of yore, W.A. Criswell, had at least recanted his opposition to forced racial integration.

Texan churches did not always wield such political heft. A century and more ago, Protestant pastors largely stayed out of politics. They were wary of church-state entanglements, so tended instead to their flocks' basic needs. It was Prohibition, for which many clergy campaigned before the first world war, that galvanised the church's involvement in politics, Mr Wuthnow argues.

church texas

By the 1960s, as federal officials forced racial integration onto a state that had once sanctioned whites-only primaries, some Texan pastors began inveighing against government interference. Few white clergy in Texas spoke out against lynchings, Mr Wuthnow writes, and one estimate from 1922 suggested that half the state's clergy backed the Ku Klux Klan. During the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, churches were neither "leader" nor "laggard", Mr Wuthnow says, though Methodists were quicker than Baptists to embrace desegregation.

Mr Wuthnow raps today's religious leaders for paying limited attention to inequality and poverty in this Tea Party age. He quotes one west Texas pastor who says, "I think that there are Christians who get more riled up about higher taxes than they do about abortion."

"Rough Country" is not a ripping page-turner. Mr Wuthnow proceeds with an academic's careful deliberation through historical episodes large and small, national and local. But his research, much of it culled from the archives of Texan publications, is exhaustive, and his command of data impressive, from the changing number of clergy in Texas to the growth of livestock handling in the Fort Worth stockyards more than a century ago. There are nuggets on every page, for historians, journalists, clergy and policymakers.

Nor is this book simply of interest to Texans. The state's story, Mr Wuthnow writes, closely parallels that of America itself. Yes, Texas is growing faster than much of America, and it has a more powerful set of religious conservatives prone to clashes with moderates and Catholics.

But the currents and cross-currents that have roiled Texas have swept across other states, too. Those who want to understand America's peculiarities, from its legacy of slavery to its powerful megachurches and its battles over the content of school textbooks, will find a welcome resource here.

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Great Britain top swimming medals table in Berlin

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Great Britain's Adam Peaty competes in the 50m breststroke men final event at the 32nd LEN European swimming championships on August 23, 2014 in Berlin

Berlin (AFP) - The European Championships came to an end with three gold medals on the final day confirming Great Britain’s place at the head of the medal table in Berlin.

Fran Halsall opened the session with 50m freestyle gold, Jazmin Carlin added the 400m freestyle title to her 800m gold before Ben Proud anchored the British men’s medley relay quartet to victory.

It meant Great Britain topped the table with 24 medals, including nine golds, ahead of Denmark – six golds among their total of nine – with Hungary in third with 14 of which five were gold.

There were two world records and five European records including one in the penultimate event of the competition as Denmark’s women’s 4x100m medley relay squad won out over Sweden in 3min 55.62sec.

Adam Peaty was prominent for Britain, a far cry from the little boy who refused to go near water and who readily confesses to having both a fear and loathing of the pool when he was a young child.

Both Peaty and Florent Manaudou of France finished with four gold medals although the Briton set a world record in the 50m breaststroke and was part of the Great Britain mixed medley relay squad that set a new world mark.

Sarah Sjostrom was the most successful woman, the Swede claiming three gold medals and four silvers just a week after her 21st birthday.

Hungary’s ‘Iron Lady’ Katinka Hosszu won six medals – three gold, a silver and two bronzes – as did Spain’s Mireia Belmonte – two golds, two silvers and a bronze in the pool along with 5km open water bronze.

Great Britain’s Fran Halsall won five, three golds and two bronzes.

- personal best -

 

Manaudou completed the sprint freestyle double with victory in the 50m freestyle – in which he is Olympic champion - his time of 21.32secs propelling him alongside Brazilian Cesar Cielo as the fastest man in history in a textile suit.

The Frenchman also shared the 50m butterfly title and was part of France’s victorious 4x100m freestyle title relay squad.

Of Sunday’s performance, he said: “This is my personal best. Nevertheless it was a completely perfect race.

“It is the end of the week and slowly but surely we are becoming tired.”

Peaty swam the breaststroke leg for the Great Britain medley relay that won in 3:31.73 ahead of France and Hungary to add to his 50m and 100m breaststroke titles – and world record in the former – as well as his mixed relay gold, also in world record time.

It has been a staggering few weeks for the 19-year-old. Two golds and a silver at the Commonwealth Games followed by his success in Germany.

Peaty said: “It’s a change of culture in British swimming, it’s amazing. There is no putting your feet up now, you’ve always got to keep working.

“I think that’s a good thing. You always have younger ones on your toes, in a few years I might have younger ones on my toes.

“It is going to keep you pushing and be good for Rio hopefully.”

Sjostrom may have turned 21 just a week ago but this is the fourth straight Europeans at which she has visited the podium, her first time at age 14.

In Berlin she won golds in the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle and Sweden’s 4x100m freestyle relay squad. That was accompanied by four silvers in the 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay.

She said: "I knew I had a chance to take seven medals but I am disappointed with some of my swims because I know I can do much better.

“I think I need to put more effort into the 100 fly which was lazy in the first 50 and the 50 freestyle I was too tired to do a fast race."

Halsall opened the session with 50m freestyle victory in 24.32 with Manaudou hurtling to the top of the world rankings with his 21.32 a championship record.

Ruta Meilutyte won the 50m breaststroke in 29.89, Belmonte Garcia had a dominant 200m butterfly victory in 2:04.79, a championship record, while Carlin won the 400m freestyle in 4:03.24 with former double world champion Federica Pellegrini fourth in what may be her final race at the distance.

Denmark set a new European record of 3:55.62 in the women’s 4x100m medley relay with Great Britain winning the men’s equivalent in 3:31.73.

David Verraszto of Hungary won the men’ 400m individual medley in 4:11.89.

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Here's Your Preview Of This Week's Big Economic Events

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mario draghi janet yellen

Another year, and another Jackson Hole conference has come and gone.

Top economists presented some interesting papers about the labor market.

But it was Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's opening remarks that were most-anticipated by economists and traders around the world.

Unfortunately, her speech was less a main event and more a non-event.

The good news is everyone can refocus on the economic data, which we'll get a lot of this week.

Here's your Monday Scouting Report:

Top Stories

  • Jackson WHole Lot Of Nothing: "Give me a one-handed economist!" exclaimed President Harry Truman. "All my economists say, 'on one hand ... on the other.'" Indeed, at least three top economists used this joke to describe Yellen's remarks at Jackson Hole. "It seems harder to write a more neutral (and nuanced) speech than the one Yellen delivered," said JP Morgan's Michael Feroli. Indeed, Yellen's talk sparked no fireworks in the markets, where stocks barely budged.
  • Pent-Up Wage Deflation: Why haven't we seen a material pick up in wages? "The evidence suggests that many firms faced significant constraints in lowering compensation during the recession and the earlier part of the recovery because of 'downward nominal wage rigidity' — namely, an inability or unwillingness on the part of firms to cut nominal wages," said Yellen, discussing the idea of pent-up wage deflation. "If pent-up wage deflation is holding down wage growth, the current very moderate wage growth could be a misleading signal of the degree of remaining slack. Further, wages could begin to rise at a noticeably more rapid pace once pent-up wage deflation has been absorbed."

    UBS's Drew Matus believes the Fed will likely be confronted by some unwanted rapidly accelerating prices.
  • Yellen Still Cool On Inflation: However, "there is scope for nominal wages to accelerate from their recent pace without creating meaningful inflationary pressure," added Yellen.

    "Earlier this year, Chair Yellen dismissed three consecutive surprises in core CPI as statistical 'noise'," noted Societe Generale's Aneta Markowska. "[On Friday, Yellen suggested] that there is scope for some wage acceleration without triggering inflation pressure. All of this hints that she is unlikely to react to any improvement on the wage front until the upward trend is well established."

Economic Calendar

  • Markit U.S. Services PMI (Mon): Economists estimate this index of services slipped to 58.0 in August from 60.8 in July.
  • New Home Sales (Mon): Economists estimate the pace of sales jumped 5.7% to an annualized rate of 429,000 units in July. "The NAHB homebuilder sentiment index improved as buyer traffic edged up while current conditions increased," noted Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists. "New home sales have essentially been moving sideways since the middle of next year with strength at the end of 2013 offset by weakness in the first half of this year. While sales have been soft, single family starts have recently increased, translating to a pickup in months supply."
  • Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity (Mon): Economists estimate this regional activity index ticked up to 12.8 in August from 12.7 in July. "Manufacturing surveys so far reported for early August have suggested continued strength in activity," said UBS's Kevin Cummins.
  • Durable Good Orders (Tues): Economists estimate that an unusual month for aircraft orders caused durable goods orders surged 7.1% in July. Nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft is estimated to have increased by 0.2%. "To say that the value of orders for Boeing aircraft surged may be an understatement," said Wells Fargo's John Silvia. "There were 270 orders recorded for the 777x and another 26 orders for its 787s."
  • S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index (Tues): Economists estimate prices went nowhere month-over-month in June (+0.0%), or+ 8.24% year-over-year. "We think there are seasonal distortion issues related to the shrinking share of distressed sales which the seasonal factors are not capturing," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists. "Home price appreciation is slowing, but we don’t think this is the beginning of persistent outright declines."
  • Consumer Confidence (Tues): Economists estimate this index of confidence slipped to 88.5 in August from 90.9 in July. "After a stronger-than-expected 4.5-point jump higher in July, the Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence probably fell back somewhat in August," said Credit Suisse economists. "A bounceback in equity prices, brightening employment prospects, and falling gasoline prices may limit the magnitude of an August index decline to about a point."
  • Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index (Tues): Economists estimate this regional activity index ticked down to 6 in August from 7 in July.
  • Initial Jobless Claims (Thurs): Economists estimate weekly initial claims ticked up to 300,000 from 298,000 a week ago. "Initial claims have hovered around 300k for the past few weeks and should continue to do so as labor markets tighten," said Nomura economists.
  • Q2 GDP (Thurs): Economists estimate GDP growth will be revised down to 3.9% from 4.0% a month ago. Personal consumption is estimated to have slipped to 2.4% from 2.5%. Here's Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman: "Lower inventories partly offset by higher net exports should result in a downward revision to the 4.0% advance GDP estimate but with a better demand/inventories mix, a positive for the Q3 outlook. June results for nondurable manufacturing, wholesale, and retail ex auto inventories all came in well below elevated BEA assumptions, pointing to the +1.7pp contribution to Q2 growth from inventories being revised down to +1.1pp. The surprising $3 billion narrowing in the June trade deficit to a five-month low, however, points to the net exports contribution being revised up to -0.4pp from -0.6pp."
  • Pending Home Sales (Thurs): Economists estimate the pace of pending sales climbed 0.5%. "Since pending home sales track signed contracts, this suggests continued improvement in existing home sales," said Bank of Ameria Merrill Lynch economists.
  • Personal Income And Spending (Fri): Economists estimate income jumped by 0.3% while spending climbed by 0.2%. "Weekly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees from the BLS employment report increased in July," noted Nomura economists. "As for personal spending, core retail sales hit a soft patch, increasing by only 0.1% in July as most categories showed a decline or lackluster growth. Moreover, energy spending likely slowed in July as the weather was more moderate than usual, leading to less demand for air conditioning."
  • Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (Fri): Economists estimate this regional activity index jumped to 56.5 in August from 52.6 in July. "This would be a rebound after a sharp fall in July and consistent with the upward move in the Philadelphia Fed index in August," said Barclays economists.
  • Univ. Of Michigan Confidence (Fri): Economists estimate this index of sentiment to registered at 80.2 in August, down from 81.8 in July but up from a preliminary estimate of 79.2. " If [79.2] sustained for the month as a whole, this would be the lowest level on the consumer sentiment index since November 2013," noted Credit Suisse economists. "But if equity markets continue to recover from their early-month swoon and geopolitical fears stabilize, we may see a slightly higher final sentiment reading for August. Lower gasoline prices probably are still helping to boost sentiment, as well."

Market Commentary

Corporate profit margins hit new highs during the second quarter. However, this average has been driven by gains among large cap companies.

UBS's Julian Emanual noted that margins for small cap stocks have actually been falling and are set to continue falling.

profit margins"Small Cap stocks' margins – and relative price performance - have begun to slip as a result of the same strength in wages and the tightening labor situation," wrote Emanual on Friday. "We expect Small Caps to continue to face headwinds in the months ahead as the Fed's favored measure of inflation, PCE, is forecast by UBS to rise to 2.0% by year end 2014 driven largely by evolving labor market dynamics."

For more insight about the middle market, visit mid-marketpulse.com.

SEE ALSO: Wall Street's Brightest Minds Reveal The Most Important Charts In The World

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101 Inspirational Quotes From Super Successful People

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oprahThe world's most successful people are known and celebrated for all different things.

Some are famous for their skills and talents, while others are distinguished for their courage or profound impact on society.

But one thing many of the world's most successful people have in common is their ability to inspire others.

Here are 101 inspirational quotes from highly successful people:

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."—Mahatma Gandhi

"Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable."—Coco Chanel

"Courage is grace under pressure."—Ernest Hemingway

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."—Albert Einstein

"Sometimes you can't see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others."—Ellen DeGeneres

"It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop."—Confucius

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."—Warren Buffett

warren buffett"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."—Dr. Seuss 

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."—Mae West

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible."—Christopher Reeve

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires."—Nelson Mandela

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart."—Helen Keller

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."—Mahatma Gandhi

"The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting."—Walt Disney

"When you cease to dream you cease to live."—Malcolm Forbes

"May you live every day of your life."—Jonathan Swift

"Failure is another steppingstone to greatness."—Oprah Winfrey

"If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve."—Jeff Bezos

"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."—Coco Chanel 

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."—Wayne Gretzky

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."—Dolly Parton

"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes."—Frank Lloyd Wright

"You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them."—Michael Jordan

"You can't please everyone, and you can't make everyone like you."—Katie Couric

Katie Couric"I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine."—Neil Armstrong 

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."—Mary Kay Ash 

"If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything."—Malcolm X

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."—Mark Twain

"It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong."—Abraham Lincoln

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again."—William Edward Hickson

"As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others."—Audrey Hepburn

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."—John Quincy Adams

"If you are going through hell, keep going."—Winston Churchill

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."—Oprah Winfrey

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."—Colin Powell

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."—Mark Zuckerberg

"Do one thing every day that scares you."—Eleanor Roosevelt

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy."—Dalai Lama

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."—John D. Rockefeller

"Don't worry about failure; you only have to be right once."—Drew Houston 

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."—Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow."—Helen Keller

"One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."—Mother Teresa

"Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow."—Jay-Z

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."—Katharine Hepburn

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."—Walt Disney

Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, 1935"I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward."—Charlotte Bronte

"Don't count the days, make the days count."—Muhammad Ali

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."—Michael Jordan 

"Life is short, and it is here to be lived."—Kate Winslet 

"Everything you can imagine is real."—Pablo Picasso

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."—Barack Obama 

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."—George Eliot

"If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it's within your reach. And it'll be worth every minute you spend alone at night, thinking and thinking about what it is you want to design or build."—Steve Wozniak

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."—Maya Angelou

"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you."—Deepak Chopra 

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."—Thomas A. Edison

"We should remember that just as a positive outlook on life can promote good health, so can everyday acts of kindness."—Hillary Clinton

"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."—Bill Gates

"There are no mistakes, only opportunities."—Tina Fey (from her book, "Bossypants")

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."—Ronald Reagan

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."—Oscar Wilde

"In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."—Albert Einstein

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."—Nelson Mandela

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."—Steve Jobs

"But you have to do what you dream of doing even while you're afraid."—Arianna Huffington

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."—Jimi Hendrix

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."—Maya Angelou Maya Angelou"If you can do what you do best and be happy, you're further along in life than most people."—Leonardo DiCaprio

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It's about the difference you make in people's lives."—Michelle Obama

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."—Warren Buffett

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."—George Bernard Shaw

"The best way of learning about anything is by doing."—Richard Branson

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."—John F. Kennedy 

"Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back."—Babe Ruth

"Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."—Harriet Tubman

"What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."—Napoleon Hill

"A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning."—Billie Jean King

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."—Benjamin Franklin

"If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person."—Bill Clinton

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."—Martin Luther King, Jr.

"As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."—Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Find out who you are and be that person. That's what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come."—Ellen DeGeneres

"Your voice can change the world."—Barack Obama

Barack Obama smile"The more you dream, the farther you get."—Michael Phelps

"You must do the things you think you cannot do."—Eleanor Roosevelt

"Every moment is a fresh beginning."—T.S. Eliot

"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."—Bob Dylan

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes."—Andrew Carnegie

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."—Frederick Douglass

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference."—Robert Frost (from his poem "The Road Not Taken")

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."—J. K Rowling (from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets") 

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."—Martin Luther King, Jr. 

"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don't wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope."—Barack Obama

"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."—Elon Musk

Elon Musk/Tesla"Be fearless. Have the courage to take risks. Go where there are no guarantees. Get out of your comfort zone even if it means being uncomfortable. The road less traveled is sometimes fraught with barricades, bumps, and uncharted terrain. But it is on that road where your character is truly tested. Have the courage to accept that you're not perfect, nothing is and no one is — and that's OK."—Katie Couric 

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."—Henry Ford 

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."—e. e. cummings

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious."—Stephen Hawking

"Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things."—Albert Einstein 

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."—Robert Frost

SEE ALSO: 11 Inspirational Quotes From Legendary Billionaires

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19 Incredible Photos From New York City's 17-Year-Old 'Outlaw Instagrammer'

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Screen Shot 2014 08 24 at 3.30.58 PM

Humza Deas, 17, is a certified daredevil.

The teen, recently profiled in New York Magazine by Adrian Chen, is what Chen calls an "outlaw Instagrammer;" a kid who explores the forbidden, dangerous heights of Manhattan without abandon, snapping photos along the way.

Deas, with nearly 30,000 followers on Instagram, climbs bridges, scales buildings, and slides in and out of off-limit locations, all with a camera in hand.

Chen writes of Deas and the "outlaw Instagrammer" community in NYC,

The best outlaw instagrammers have a specialty that sets them apart, and Deas’s is climbing bridges. In one photo he balances at night on a suspension cable at the top of the Manhattan Bridge as cars streak below him. In another, a friend sits on the sloping steel beam of what appears to be the Queensboro Bridge, his face lit by the glow of a smartphone he’s staring into. 

Up until last month, Deas and his friends were an underground entity. Then, a white flag mysteriously appeared on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, replacing the American flag. Immediately, Chen writes, Deas was fielding questions right and left from his Instagram fans. Deas says it wasn't him, but in an attempt to clear his name, he just ended up putting himself on the radar of the NYPD. 

You can read Chen's profile on Deas in New York Magazine here. Meanwhile, take a look at some of his awesome photos, all posted to Instagram.

Deas is part of a community of photographers that scale buildings and bridges in NYC, looking for the perfect photo.



Deas is only 17 but has been photographing for years.



All of his work goes on Instagram ...



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This Map Shows What $100 Is Actually Worth In Your State

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Money goes further in some states than others.

The Tax Foundation released a map, via Elliot Turner, showing the relative value of $100 in every state compared with the national average using the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In expensive states like New York, you can afford comparatively less than average; while in less expensive states like Mississippi, you can buy relatively more.

If you look at the map, you'll notice that the relative value of $100 is higher in the center of the country, while it is significantly less in the Northeast and West Coast.

"The same amount of dollars are worth almost 40 percent more in Mississippi than in D.C., and the differences become even larger if metro area prices are considered instead of statewide averages," writes the Tax Foundation. "A person who makes $40,000 a year after tax in Kentucky would need to have after-tax earnings of $53,000 in Washington, D.C., just in order to have an equal standard of living, let alone feel richer."

Here's the map:

Price Parity 2012

The states with the smallest relative value of $100 were:

  • Washington, D.C. ($84.60)
  • Hawaii ($85.32)
  • New York ($86.66)
  • New Jersey ($87.64)
  • California ($88.57)

While the states with the largest relative value of $100 were:

  • Mississippi ($115.74)
  • Arkansas ($114.16)
  • Missouri ($113.51)
  • Alabama ($113.51)
  • South Dakota ($113.38)

NOW WATCH: The Best And Worst Deals At A Bar

 

 

 

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11 Google Chrome Extensions That Will Boost Your Productivity (GOOG)

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man working laptopWe're all trying to find the next productivity hack

But did you know that the key to getting more done might be in your browser?

Google's Chrome Web Store is chock-full of cool add-ons for your browser.

But as Chrome has become more popular, the Chrome Web Store has become like Apple's App Store: bloated and hard to navigate.

So to save you the trouble, we've found some extensions guaranteed to keep you focused and productive during working hours.

AdBlock

AdBlock may be the most popular Google Chrome extension out there.

The extension removes the annoyance of banner advertisements from your web experience. That may seem like a slight difference, but visiting some sites that tend to be bogged down with such ads can really improve your experience.

AdBlock also works with Safari, Opera, and Firefox if you don't have Chrome.



Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop isn't technically an extension, but it gives you the magical ability to access other computers from your own and vice versa. 

Left a file at work? Connect up via Remote Desk and grab it. It's also an easy way to share your screen with someone else if there's a problem.



Delicious Bookmark Extension

The Delicious Bookmark Extension makes sharing links quick and easy. 

No longer will you have to copy and paste a link into an email, spawning a chain that will earn you the resentment of your colleagues.

We think sharing links is an integral part of the work experience. Delicious makes that task quick and easy, freeing you up to focus on other things.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Everyone Who Wants To Destroy ISIS Needs To Know One Hard Truth

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obamaJust about everyone agrees that the world would be a better place without the brutal terrorist group known as ISIS (or Islamic State or ISIL).

On Wednesday, Barack Obama compared the group to a "cancer" whose spread must be contained and that the group "has no place in the 21st century." And Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted that "ISIL must be destroyed/will be crushed."

But there is one thing everyone must realize in the anti-ISIS crusade: Given the momentum that ISIS has built over the past two years in Syria and Iraq, it would be very difficult to dislodge them from the region. To actually do it would require a full-scale war.

"If destroying ISIL becomes the near-term policy goal—which seems the likely outcome of saying you are going to 'roll back' the group—then 10,000-15,000 troops vastly understates the true commitment, which will actually require years, direct military action on both sides of the Iraq/Syria border, tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars, and many more than 15,000 troops,"counterterrorism expert Brian Fishman writes in War on the Rocks. "ISIL is an inherently resilient organization—look how far they have come since getting 'rolled back' during the Surge in 2007 when 150,000 American troops were occupying the country."

ISIS has gone through many iterationssince the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and is now at its most powerful point as they control a vast swath of territory across Syria and Iraq. What has become a de facto criminal petrostate brings in nearly $12 million a month in revenues from extortion and other shady practices in the Iraqi city of Mosul alone in addition to $1 million to $3 million a day selling oil illegally.

syria iraq isis

"No one has offered a plausible strategy to defeat [ISIS] that does not include a major U.S. commitment on the ground and the renewal of functional governance on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border," Fishman adds. "And no one will, because none exists."

That said, there are moves the U.S. can make beyond bombing ISIS positions near the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil (or Arbil) and the Mosul dam.

"The breadth of the Islamic State's presence in the open expanses of Syria and Iraq is testimony to its prowess," former Iraq and Kurd advisor Michael Pregent and journalist Michael Weiss wrote in The Wall Street Journal. "But it is also testimony to its vulnerability to destruction by U.S. F-18s."

To that point, some ISIS commanders have retreated back into Syria amid t=the ongoing U.S. airstrikes.

"U.S. has total air superiority and ISIS isn't used to fighting this kind of enemy," Aaron Stein, a fellow at the London-based think tank The Royal United Services Institute, told WSJ. "So they've turned tail" to an area where they have much more strategic depth.

Garrett Khoury, Director of Research and Content for The Eastern Project, writes that the situation calls for an inclusive government in Iraq, weapons and training for the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurds, and an international conference on confronting ISIS.

And it's increasingly clear that something more must be done.

James J. Jeffrey, the American ambassador to Iraq from 2010 to 2012 and a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute,writes in Foreign Policy that the sooner the U.S. begins a sustained campaign against ISIS, "the less complicated our involvement will be, the greater our chances of success, and the more likely IS's forces can be defeated before they tear apart the region completely — and directly threaten America."

But any sustained military campaign involving U.S. troops would also require an about-face from an increasingly isolationist America.

"The country must be ready to accept the sacrifices necessary to achieve grand political ends," Fishman concludes. "Until then, any call to 'defeat ISIL' that is not forthright about what that will require is actually an argument for expensive failure."


NOW WATCH: 11 Mindblowing Facts About North Korea

 

SEE ALSO: JOHN KERRY: ISIS 'WILL BE CRUSHED'

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Here's How Much Google Has Changed Since It First Launched (GOOG)

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young larry page sergey brin

Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford in 1995. Both in their early 20s, they began collaborating on a search engine called BackRub. 

By September 1997, they registered the domain name Google.com, with the mission of organizing the world's information. 

Thanks to The Internet Archive, we can revisit those early days and see exactly what Google used to look like. 

SEE ALSO: Here's The 'Toothbrush Test' Google's CEO Uses To Make Acquisition Decisions

If you went to Google.com in 1997, here's what you'd see:



The first of the two links would take you here:



The link called "might-work-some-of-the-time-prototype that is much more up to date" would take you to this page:



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Why This Year's Emmys Will Air On A Monday Night For The First Time In Nearly 40 Years

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aaron paul bryan cranston

For the first time in 38 years, the Emmys will occur on Monday night. 

The last time the ceremony was held on Monday was during the 28th Primetime Emmy Awards in May 1976.

Typically, the event is held on a Sunday evening in late August or September, but we'll be watching the 66th annual awards ceremony on a different night for a few reasons.

Ever since 2006 when NBC has aired the Emmys they have taken place in August. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is because of NBC's deal to air Sunday Night Football, a big rating's winner for the network. When asked about the shift to Monday, Deadline reports NBC attributed the move to avoid any conflict with the NFL preseason

A quick look at television scheduling shows NBC probably made the decision to move to Monday night to avoid going head-to-head with another big awards' show.

MTV's Video Music Awards just so happen to be airing Sunday, August 24.

This isn't out of the ordinary as the VMAs usually air some time at the end of August or early September on a Sunday.

This year's event is expected to is expected to have Taylor Swift debut her new song "Shake It Off" on stage. Beyoncé is also set to perform and will receive the Video Vanguard Award, MTV's lifetime achievement award.

Instead of getting two awards shows competing against each other (and HBO's series finale of "True Blood") for similar demographics in the ratings, we'll be getting two big awards shows back-to-back.

The three-hour Primetime Emmys will air August 25 from 8-11 p.m.

SEE ALSO: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul reunite for 6 minutes of comedy gold to promote the Emmys

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Messi double hands Enrique winning start

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Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring during the match FC Barcelona vs Elche CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on August 24, 2014

Madrid (AFP) - Luis Enrique got off to a winning start as Barcelona manager as they shrugged off Javier Mascherano's first-half red card to beat Elche 3-0 thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi on Sunday.

Messi put the disappointment of losing the World Cup final in his last competitive outing behind him to open the scoring, but Barca were momentarily rocked by Mascherano's dismissal for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity moments later.

However, 18-year-old Munir El Haddadi made the game safe with a classy lofted finish on his debut a minute into the second-half before Messi rounded off the scoring.

"I have to be delighted with that start," said Enrique.

"As we expected we had a little bit of difficulty creating chances at the start because Elche are very well-organised defensively, but bit-by-bit we began to find space and opportunities."

Messi looked back to his best throughout the 90 minutes after his tired showings towards the end of the World Cup and Enrique was in no doubt that he has inherited the best player in the world.

"With Leo playing in his element we have taken the first step and now we move onto the second.

"It is clear that Messi is the best player in the world. He has a unique quality that it is easy to see. Giving assists, scoring goals, pressing, defending he does everything."

Two goals in Barca's final pre-season friendly romp over Mexican side Club Leon on Monday had been enough to earn Munir his senior debut in the absence of the injured Neymar and suspended Luis Suarez.

And it was the 18-year-old who had the first meaningful effort of the game as he smashed a shot off the angle of post and bar on 22 minutes.

Barca's captain for the evening Andres Iniesta then also hit the bar from range as the hosts dominated possession without clearing too many clear-cut chances.

However, Elche were punished for giving away possession cheaply near their own area three minutes before half-time as Sergio Busquets played in Messi and he sidestepped two defenders before slotting home on his trusted left foot.

Minutes later, though, the complexion of the game appeared to have changed as Mascherano was shown a straight red card for clipping Garry Rodrigues as he galloped clear on goal.

Instead, Barca were barely bothered by Elche's numerical advantage as Munir flicked home Ivan Rakitic's pass into the far corner a minute after the restart.

Messi then put a seal on a comfortable three points for Barca as he again left three Elche defenders trailing before side-footing past the helpless Vicente Guaita.

Earlier, Eibar made a dream start to their first ever La Liga campaign with a 1-0 win over Basque rivals Real Sociedad in front of a 5,200 capacity crowd.

Javi Lara scored the only goal of the game with a wonderful curling free-kick just before half-time.

And Enrique's old side Celta Vigo also made a winning start as they beat Getafe 3-1 at Balaidos.

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The 10 Most Livable Cities In The World

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vienna austriaThe Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a livability survey to determine which cities around the world "provide the best or worst living conditions."

Cities that tended to score the best on the survey were mid-size and located in wealthier countries with relatively low population densities. This environment, according to the report, "can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure."

Out of the top 10 cities, seven are located in Canada or Australia, which have population densities of 3.40 and 2.88 people per square kilometer respectively. Finland and New Zealand, which also have high-ranking cities, have 16 people per square km. The global average is 46.65 people per square km, and the U.S. average is 32 people per sq km, according to the report.

Sixty-four cities scored above an 80% — which means they are considered to be "in the top tier of livability."

10. Auckland

Country: New Zealand

Auckland scored high on education (100) and healthcare (95.8).

One-third of the New Zealand population is located in Auckland, the "largest commercial center" in the country. Major industries in Auckland include tourism, marine architecture, and specialized manufacturing.

Additionally, 80% of the city is considered to be rural; subsequently rural development is another major industry. 



9. Perth

Country: Australia

Perth scored high on education (100), healthcare (100), and infrastructure (100).

Perth is the capital and largest city of Western Australia. Mining and mineral industries are major parts of Perth's economy. 

Additionally, Perth boasts an oil refinery, steel-rolling mill, alumina refinery, desalination plant, power station, and a nickel refinery, according to the Government of Western Australia.



8. Helsinki

Country: Finland

Helsinki scored well on stability (100) and healthcare (100).

Helsinki's major industries include food, metal and chemical processing, printing, textiles, clothing, and manufacturing of electrical equipment. Over 50% of Finland's imports go through Helsinki, although most goods are exported elsewhere.

Additionally, Helsinki has grown into a major European startup hub. And, in 2013, the gaming sector in Finland recorded a combined revenue of approximately 1 billion.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Janet Yellen’s Jackson Hole Speech Laid Bare Just How Little The Fed Knows About The Labor Market

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jackson hole

On Friday, Janet Yellen delivered the keynote address at the Kansas City Fed's Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole. 

Many analysts remarked that the speech did not offer many surprises as Yellen discussed the state of the monetary landscape without signaling anything as far as policy moves.

Pantheon Macro's Ian Shepherdson still found the speech quite revealing.

"Chair Yellen’s Jackson Hole speech laid bare just how little the Fed knows about the labor market," he wrote in a Sunday note.

Shepherdson described the litany of items that, five years into the recovery, the Fed has still not been able to nail down that would allow it to determine how much "slack," or underutilized workers, still exists in the labor market.   

"They don’t know how much of the drop in labor participation is structural and how much is cyclical," he says. "They have no way reliably to predict wage or price inflation from the degree of labor market slack. They aren’t even sure whether the labor market needs to tighten further before inflation rises further. And they have no way to know for sure how the economy would respond to a change in policy."

Shepherdson argues that in the face of such uncertainty the Fed will continue do nothing, even if there is suddenly conclusive proof of a pick-up in the one item the Fed has been most sensitive to, wages.

"In short, the list of labor market questions is rather longer than the list of definitive answers, so, with inflation still well below the Fed’s objective, Dr. Yellen is comfortable for now to watch and wait," he writes. "The crunch will come when wage gains finally take off, but even then the initial uptick will not trigger any sort of panic. It will take several months of solid gains to convince the FOMC’s doves that policy needs to be adjusted, and, as of now, the hard data have not begun to move. Accordingly, while we are sticking to our view that the first hike will come in March, it is entirely possible that the Fed will be able to wait until June."

SEE ALSO: Here's The 19-Component Index The Fed Has Begun Using To Track The Labor Market

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Here's Your Chance To Take Private Tours Of LinkedIn, Twitter And More

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Silicon_Valley_Sweeps

We're sending one lucky winner and a friend to Silicon Valley for an insider's look at the upper echelons of the tech world.

Meet CEOs and execs from PinterestLinkedInTwitterChegg, andYCombinator, tour their campuses, and enjoy the best of the Bay Area with a$1,000 Uber credit and a stay at the luxury Hotel Zetta.

 

 

 

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Democratic Congressman On Burger King Deal: 'If I Were McDonald's, I'd Launch A Buy America Campaign'

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Ronald McDonald at Burger King

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee and a co-sponsor of a bill to halt the flow of corporate inversions, believes a potential deal between Burger King and Canadian coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons will fundamentally change public opinion about the practice and potentially needle Congress toward a solution.

"If I were McDonald's, I'd be launching a 'Buy America' campaign the next day," Van Hollen told Business Insider Monday afternoon. 

"I think American consumers are not going to take kindly to an iconic American company dodging its tax obligations."

At 35%, the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. In Burger King's case, Canada is attractive because its corporate tax rate is just 15%. But the proposed Burger King-Tim Hortons deal is different from most other corporate inversions that have taken place or have been part of discussions over the past year.

The practice has mostly been attractive to large companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Before the Burger King talks, the most household name to be featured in inversion discussions has been Walgreens, which dropped its bid to move its tax base overseas as part of acquiring European pharmacy chain Alliance Boots.

"If this merger goes through, there could well be a strong public reaction against Burger King that could more than offset any tax benefit it receives from a tax avoidance move," said Rep. Sander Levin (R-Michigan), who introduced the House's legislation.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a supporter of tax-inversion legislation in the Senate, suggested consumers should turn to Wendy's or White Castle for their hamburgers.

burger king rolls royce fast food wealth rich

Van Hollen compared the proposed Burger King deal to Walgreens, but he said it goes even further as an iconic American institution that millions of Americans frequent on a regular basis.

"Burger King is a household name. Everybody knows Burger King," he said. "People can relate in a visceral way to this issue."

Van Hollen said he hopes if the American public's consciousness is woken up by the proposed Burger King deal, congressional Republicans will be spurred to act on inversion-related legislation. Many Republicans agree on the need to address inversions, but they think it should be part of comprehensive tax reform.

In an interview with Business Insider over the weekend, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), the chair of the House Budget Committee, agreed that inversions represent a "dangerous trend." But Ryan, like many other congressional Republicans, favor a fix to inversions as part of broad, overall tax reform. But that's a big project that likely won't even begin to be tackled until next year.

"I think this is going to create a huge backlash in the country and, I hope, in the Congress," Van Hollen said. "And I hope this will spur congressional Republicans to act on an immediate basis. We're all in favor of tax reform, but we need to address this particular piece immediately."

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Ralph Lauren's New Smart Shirt Knows When You Get Nervous And How Many Calories You're Burning

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RalphLauren

Our clothes already say a lot about us, but Ralph Lauren's newest shirt is designed to help you learn more about yourself and your health.

The Polo Tech Smart Shirt, which will be making its debut on the tennis court at this year's US Open, is capable of tracking your heart rate, how many calories you've burned, and your stress levels.

Though the ball boys will be wearing Ralph Lauren's shirt during the US Open, the Polo Tech Smart Shirt won't hit mainstream retail until spring 2015. 

The silver coated-thread woven into the shirt's fiber combined with its sensors enable it to pick up this data during your workout.

The sensors, which include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a heart rate monitor, are housed in a black box that's embedded discretely in the shirt.

This box can be taken off the shirt so that you can throw it in a washing machine with your laundry just like you would with any other article of clothing. 

You also need to charge this box to keep it running. But Ralph Lauren tells us it can endure 30 workouts without running out of battery. This should equate to about 30 hours of battery life, depending on how long you work out. 

That doesn't mean the shirt is designed for athletic use only. Since it measures your heart rate, Ralph Lauren tells us it can detect when you're nervous versus when you're calm. 

The shirt has Ralph Lauren's signature Polo branding in its name, but don't expect to see the collared pastel-colored look you'd see with a regular Polo. The Polo Tech Smart Shirt looks more like a sleek, fitted workout shirt you'd wear in a gym or out on a running track. The fitted design makes it easier for the shirt to pick up on your heart rate and stress levels since the sensors are making contact with your skin. This tight fit also enables the shirt to tell you about your breathing patterns, which can be crucial during athletic training. 

RalphLauren2.JPGFrom what we've seen, the sensors pick up on changes in your heart rate almost instantly. When we visited Ralph Lauren's New York headquarters, a model demonstrated the technology by performing push-ups while wearing the shirt. Ralph Lauren's accompanying app showed how his heart rate fluctuated depending on how much effort he exerted.

Ralph Lauren's Smart Shirt is just one of many computerized clothing items to debut this year. At CES 2014, the biggest consumer technology conference of the year, French startup Cityzen Sciences debuted an exercise shirt loaded with sensors for monitoring your heart rate, steps taken, and more. Similarly, the Sensoria Smart Socks come with sensors for helping runners learn about their foot's form during workouts.

But Ralph Lauren believes it's legacy as an iconic fashion brand will give it a leg up in the wearables space.

"We actually design clothes," David Lauren, executive vice president of Ralph Lauren's global advertising, marketing, and corporate communications, told Business Insider. "Whereas, a technology company [may not] understand clothing or understand fabric and clothing and customizing."

SEE ALSO: A Startup Has Created An Incredibly Small Chip That Could Turn Our Clothing Into Wearable Computers

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Yahoo Also Offered To Buy $970 Million Twitch Before Amazon Swooped In (YHOO)

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Marissa Mayer

Twitch was a hot commodity before it landed in the hands of news new acquirer, Amazon, for $970 million.

Google's interest in Twitch, which came in at a $1 billion price tag, was widely reported. And a source confirms that Google indeed made an offer that fell through. But this person also says another company, Yahoo, also made an offer to buy Twitch. It's unclear what price Yahoo was willing to pay before things fizzled.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal noted that Yahoo had "expressed interested in Twitch."

It's not clear why Google's and Yahoo's deals didn't pan out, but either way, Amazon swooped in and closed the deal relatively quickly thereafter.

What might have Yahoo wanted with a game streaming site like Twitch?

A few months ago, Yahoo was reportedly trying to make a Twitch competitor. Re/Code's Peter Kafka said Yahoo was interested in rivaling YouTube and maybe eventually creating its own video platform like Twitch. He noted that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had tried and failed to buy another video site, Daily Motion, and paid big bucks to sign news personality Katie Couric. Mayer was also trying to lure big-time YouTube stars onto Yahoo's platform.

Other sites reported that Yahoo might try to acquire a video platform, but pegged IAC's Vimeo as a top choice. From GameSkinny:

An 'inside source' from Yahoo said that the service might open up after a year, to allow for other users to upload their own videos; but this is rumour, as others have claimed that Yahoo may simply purchase another video sharing company that is already in existence, such as Vimeo.

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said why he went with Amazon in a letter to the game streaming platform's 55 million users:

We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch.

SEE ALSO: Here's Why Amazon Just Paid Nearly $1 Billion For A Site Where You Can Watch People Play Video Games

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A Ridiculous Rule Is Allowing 'True Detective' To Go Up Against 'Breaking Bad' At The Emmys

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true detective matthew mcconaughey woody harrelson

When the Emmys air Monday, HBO's hit series "True Detective" will go head-to-head with AMC's "Breaking Bad" in one of the closest races of the night.

The mystery crime thriller received a total of 12 nominations this year including nods for both Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series.

While that sounds fair, both shows were incredibly talked about in the past year receiving high praise from critics and fans alike, some say it makes little sense for the HBO series to be sitting alongside "Breaking Bad" during its final season. 

Back in March, HBO announced "True Detective" would compete as a drama series. The news was met with surprise since the show fits the Emmys' definition of a miniseries

A miniseries is based on a single theme or story line, which is resolved within the piece. In a single awards year all of the parts must be presented under the same title and have continuity of production supervision.

A miniseries consists of two or more episodes with a total running time of at least four
broadcast hours (at least 150 program minutes).

However, it also fits the definition of a drama series: 

Comedy and drama series are defined as programs with multiple episodes (minimum of six), where the majority of the running time of at least six of the total eligible episodes are primarily comedic for comedy series entries, or primarily dramatic for dramatic series entries, in which the ongoing theme, storyline and main characters are presented under the same title and have continuity of production supervision.

Since day one, it's been known "True Detective" would have a different cast and storyline every season

It's an unusual television format that FX's "American Horror Story" adopted when it first aired in 2011. It's also one that the network's new show "Fargo," nominated for 18 Emmys, also shares.

american horror story

However, both of those shows are dueling it out in the TV movie/miniseries category.

What gives? Is HBO's drama getting special treatment?

Not exactly.

Vulture pointed out a closer read of the Emmy's rules shows exactly why "True Detective" never would have been put into the miniseries category unless producers went out of their way to receive permission to run in either category.

A limited-run series with a "created by" credit CANNOT enter as a miniseries
unless the producer for the limited run series applies for and receives entitlement to dual
qualification, i.e. qualification in more than one category, because of an affirmative
determination by the Awards Committee that the limited run series has elements of both
drama series and miniseries categories.

The jarring line there is the fact that any miniseries that conveniently has a "created by" credit can't be labeled a miniseries unless a petition is submitted.

It's a rule that has allowed "American Horror Story" to be nominated first as a drama and later as a miniseries after it lost to "Homeland" at the 2012 Golden Globes in the drama category

The move was met with a lot of backlash from critics who claimed the show thought it had a better chance of winning in the Outstanding TV movie or miniseries category. But honestly it seems kind of weird for a show with a revolving cast and storyline to receive the same treatment as longer dramas.

Vulture reports the only reason "Fargo" didn't have the same issue this year is because the FX series cleverly made the decision to phrase its credit as "created for television by" instead of "created by."bob odenkirk fargo

It's a very unclear and murky way for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to deal with the nomination categories for shows.

It's not just "True Detective" that was placed into a category that may not correctly define it. "Orange is the New Black" is being labeled as a comedy so it doesn't go up against fellow Netflix series "House of Cards." Showtime's "Shameless" is also in the category after being considered a drama for three years now that award-winning "30 Rock" is over.

What's worse is that we could very likely see "True Detective" in the miniseries category next year if there isn't as much buzz about season 2 and it doesn't want to go toe to toe with AMC's "Mad Men." 

The "created by" loophole, if you will call it this, allows HBO to take advantage of a brilliant opportunity to try and take down TV favorite "Breaking Bad" during its final Emmy run.

Think of the headlines if "True Detective" shut out "Breaking Bad" from the biggest awards of the night.

Yes, "True Detective" certainly has the legs to possibly upset the AMC show, but the bigger win for HBO may be knowing it beat out a show it passed on so many years ago all because an exec thought the series' premise was too boring during a pitch meeting. 

SEE ALSO: How HBO blew its chance to air "Breaking Bad"

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