Your ObGyn is probably doing this painful and unnecessary thing

It turns out that the most uncomfortable and painful part of your annual gynecological exam is also pretty useless. So useless, in fact, that the American College of Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in the country, recommends that doctors stop performing it.

It's called the bimanual pelvic exam. To get it done, the patient lays on the medical exam bed, naked from the waist down and feet in stirrups. Then the doctor puts gloved, lubricated fingers inside the vagina while simultaneously pressing down on the patient's belly with his or her other hand.

The point of the exam is to try to push both sets of fingers together to meet somewhere in the middle, which allows doctors to evaluate the size and position of the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. (Ow.)

"It's an inherently limited exam, and in asymptomatic people it just doesn't provide any benefit," Dr. Molly Cooke, ACP’s Immediate Past President and a member of ACP’s Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee, told the Huffington Post. "Since the mid-'90s, there have been studies that show the accuracy of the bimanual exam in diagnosing ovarian cancer is extremely poor."

So why are doctors still performing it? People hate change, Cooke explained. Historically, doctors used the bimanual exam to screen for benign lesions and ovarian cancer -- a particularly aggressive form of cancer that is often fatal if it spreads.

But ovarian cancer itself is extremely rare, and the women who are most at risk for developing the disease either have the BRCA gene mutation or have undergone ovary-stimulating fertility treatments in the past, said Cooke. Besides, the most reliable way to diagnose ovarian cancer is through an ultrasound or blood test -- not a pelvic exam.

"The data doesn't support doing this element of the checkup, but a lot of doctors are still doing it," said Cooke. "My own gynecologist still does it!"

The ACP conducted a systematic review of studies that date back to 1946 and summarized the findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine, along with a recommendation against the pelvic exam for healthy, asymptomatic and non-pregnant adult women.

This is a sample of what the study review found:

Bimanual exams on their own aren't enough to detect cancer. In a large randomized controlled trial involving 78,000 women over a long period of time, researchers eventually stopped performing bimanual pelvic exams five years into the study for precisely this reason.

In eight surveys involving 4,567 women, participants reported feeling pain or discomfort during the pelvic exam (results ranged from 11 percent to 60 percent).

In seven studies involving 10,702 women, participants reported feeling fear, embarrassment or anxiety (results ranged from 10 percent to 80 percent).

Five studies found that women who felt pain and discomfort during the exam were less likely to return to the doctor for a follow up visit.

There's a dearth of studies on the subject of unnecessary surgeries, except one that indirectly showed pelvic exams led to 1.5 percent of women having unnecessary surgery (29 out of 2,000 people).

Several studies found that women who had experienced sexual violence in the past also reported feeling fear, anxiety, embarrassment, pain and discomfort during a pelvic exam at higher numbers compared with women who weren't victims of abuse.

In an editorial that accompanied the recommendation, Dr. George F. Sawaya and Dr. Vanessa Jacoby of UC San Francisco wrote that the exam has evolved from evidence-based practice into an unquestioned "ritual" that may in fact harm women more than help them. The harms range from mere discomfort to all the way to unnecessary surgery for otherwise benign growths.

While it's unclear how many undergo an unnecessary surgery, the New York Times reported in 2013 that U.S. rates of ovarian cystectomy and hysterectomy are more than twice as high as some European countries -- perhaps because other countries only perform the bimanual exam on women with other symptoms.

Even if the ACP's recommendation doesn't result in systemic change for gynecologists across the U.S., it should challenge proponents of the exam to come up with clear reasons to continue conducting them, Sawaya and Jacoby wrote.

"The pelvic examination has held a prominent place in women’s health for many decades and has come to be more of a ritual than an evidence-based practice," they wrote. "With the current state of evidence, clinicians who continue to offer the examination should at least be cognizant about the uncertainty of its benefits and its potential to cause harm through false-positive testing and the cascade of events it prompts."

Dr. Ranit Mishori, an associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown School of Medicine and a practicing family physician, was not involved with the ACP's decision, but praised its recommendation and said it was long overdue.

"Many of us, myself included, have already stopped doing these pelvic exams," Mishori told HuffPost. "It's going to make some waves, which is a good thing, but I think it's important as part of a general trend to question rituals that may not have much value."

Other rituals that need to be questioned: the general annual physical itself, according to Mishori. Studies have shown that the appointments may not have much value, especially for people with no symptoms or high risks.

"Years ago, when I went to med school, we were taught the pelvic exam screened for STDS, but we now know we can screen for those things with a urine test," Mishori said. "We once thought a pelvic exam was needed before prescribing birth control, but now we know it's completely unnecessary."

"We need to recognize that a lot of things we do during the annual physical is irrelevant," Mishori added. "Talking reproductive health, there should be a cervical screening every three to five years, and that's it -- nothing else," she concluded.

Instead of taking time for the bimanual exams, gynecologists and primary care physicians would do well to devote two-thirds or even three-quarters of the annual visit to simple conversation, Cooke recommended.

"The visit should spend a significant amount of time making sure our patient isn't smoking or drinking too much," said Cooke. "Does she feel safe in her community, her home and her relationship? Just really connect with that patient as a person." Lifestyle screening, which includes questions about mental health, are much more likely to benefit women more than the bimanual exam, said Cooke.

But of course, just because doctors should do away with bimanual screening for most asymptomatic patients, some women may still have to take their panties off -- even if they fit the bill. Pap smears are still effective parts of the preventive exam for women ages 21 to 65, said Cooke, although the test doesn't need to be done every year.

Cooke anticipates at least some blowback about the ACP's recommendation; for instance, some doctors have expressed fear that patients won't come in for exams at all. She also brought up the possibility that patients might suspect their doctor is short-changing them a bimanual exam on the directive of an insurance company. That's why the ACP wants to get the word out about the recommendation not just to physicians, but to patients, too.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Dr. Ranit Mishori's name. Additionally, it inaccurately described one aspect of the bimanual exam. We regret the errors.

This Test At Your Gyno's Office Is Painful And A Waste Of Time

It turns out that the most uncomfortable and painful part of your annual gynecological exam is also pretty useless. So useless, in fact, that the America...

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Twitter erupted Thursday after Donald Trump took to the social media platform to label himself "Mr. Brexit." The Republican presidential nominee seemingly used the reference to imply that he would win the U.S. election despite a general consensus of polls showing that he trails his rival significantly.

They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2016

The "Brexit" campaign to extract the United Kingdom from the European Union did stage a comeback victory after trailing in polls. However, three months before the referendum — around the same amount of time remaining until the U.S. presidential election — the Brexiteers had pulled to within striking distance in those polls. Trump cannot claim the same competitiveness.

His Thursday morning tweet caused a great deal of confusion on social media, and "Mr. Brexit" immediately began trending globally. Thousands of users questioned exactly what Trump meant by his triumphal prognostication.

what does trump mean by mr. brexit how the hell are you gonna be mr. brexit when 1) he's not british and 2) he had nothing to do with brexit — keira ✨ (@keirailene_) August 18, 2016

By those reasonable criteria, Mr. Brexit would more probably be either Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage. Johnson spearheaded the Brexit campaign, and Farage's anti-E.U. ideology provided the rhetorical underpinnings of the movement at large. On the other hand, after the anti-E.U. side prevailed in the Brexit referendum and a disappointed British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, Johnson declined to run for the Conservative Party's leadership, thus shying away from assuming the responsibility for guiding the U.K. through the fraught process of leaving the E.U. Farage, in turn, quit his role as the leader of the U.K. Independence Party.

If anyone is going to be called "Mr. Brexit," shouldn't it be BoJo? pic.twitter.com/KRtkBmSiSt — Alexandra Mondalek (@amondalek) August 18, 2016

I don't know what this means but @Nigel_Farage will always be "Mr. Brexit". https://t.co/zsui2N17lD — Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) August 18, 2016

Instead, Theresa May, who won the Conservative Party's leadership contest, is now tasked with turning Brexit into a reality.

Trump says that soon we'll be calling him MR BREXIT. I guess he means like how the guy behind Brexit couldn't do the job and now a woman is. — Elizabeth (@Elizasoul80) August 18, 2016

Many in Britain are skeptical that a Brexit will even happen. Some votes in favor of a British exit from the E.U. were certainly votes of protest against a status quo that favored integration with the bloc, which was perceived as a dilution of British sovereignty. But others were a more general protest against London politics.. However, the prospect of an economic meltdown should the U.K. lose access to the E.U. single market has even some Brexiteers fretting, along with the spurned "Remain" campers.

Does "Mr. Brexit" mean that people will Google him the day after and realize how big of a mistake it was? #Brexit #Trump — Laura Bedrossian (@LauraBedrossian) August 18, 2016

For someone now claiming to be Mr. Brexit, Trump has shown little interest or knowledge in the actual Brexit debate. In June, he told reporters, "I don't think anyone should listen to me" about Brexit because he hadn't "really focused" on the matter enough.

And on a trip to Scotland the day after the referendum, he said the Scottish people were thrilled by the vote's outcome — even though the vast majority of people in Scotland had voted against a Brexit.

So won't the real Mr Brexit please stand up, please stand up, please stand up? pic.twitter.com/SISxqGIoVa — Josh Barrie (@joshbythesea) August 18, 2016

Donald Trump just called himself ‘Mr. Brexit,’ and nobody really knows why

This, from the man who once said, "I don't think anyone should listen to me" about Brexit.


This is the secret code word for when Queen Elizabeth dies

The day that the Queen dies will see a nation in mourning.

But the plan for what will happen afterwards has already been meticulously laid out.

In fact, there is a code word that will be used to deliver the sad and tragic news to the upper echelons of the Government that will signify her passing and the starting of what happens next – ‘London Bridge is down.’

According to the Guardian the Prime Minister of the time will be woken if they are asleep, and will be told by civil servants: "London Bridge is down."

Once the Prime Minister has been told, the Foreign Office, from an undisclosed location in London, will inform 15 governments outside of the UK where the Queen is also the head of state.

The Global Response Centre will also pass on the news to the 36 other nations of the Commonwealth for whom the Queen has served as a symbolic figurehead.

As for the general public, the media has already planned the details in how to break the news and start a period of mourning.

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Where previously the BBC was the first to reveal the death of a monarch, modern technology and social media has effectively destroyed that monopoly.

Instead, a newsflash will be sent to the Press Association, as well as the rest of the world’s media at exactly the same time..

A footman in mourning clothes will be sent out of a door at Buckingham Palace at the same time to pin a notice of the tragic news to the gates, while the official palace website will feature just one page, displaying the news on a dark background.

Newspapers and their respective websites will already have several stories ready to run, written in advance so that they can go up as soon as the news breaks.

Television news, including Sky and ITN, have already signed up various royalty experts to chat to them exclusively, while rehearsals on delivering the news that have taken place for years will finally be put into action.

Unsurprisingly, newsreaders will be wearing black suits and outfits, while regular television coverage will be cancelled to switch to the news that will dominate channels for weeks, if not months.

Commercial radio stations have blue lights that begin flashing in the wake of a national tragedy – these will alert DJs to switch to the news and play "inoffensive music" in the lead up to the announcement to millions listening in cars and trains across the country.

A former BBC head of news told the Guardian that the organisation and planned mourning period will be needed so people can grieve for "the only monarch that most of us have ever known".

Everything that has been rehearsed for years will be meticulously played out – and you will remember exactly where you were when the Queen died.

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This is the secret code word for when The Queen dies

This message will signify to the PM that Queen Elizabeth II has passed away, kicking off a highly-organised series of events that will eventually lead up to the monarch’s funeral.  Once the Prime Minister has been told, the Foreign Office, from an undisclosed location in London, will inform 15 governments


[CNBC/Yahoo] Wal-Mart offered this company a deal, but the CEO said no

Amy Cazin was a stay-at-home mom for 20 years, who with $100 started a personal products company that quickly gained momentum — and even the attention of Wal-Mart.

While many small business owners may dream of making it big and sometimes even rush the process, this entrepreneur turned down an offer by Wal-Mart (WMT) to sell her organic and natural deodorant products because it was too soon to supply such a big retailer.

"You get really tempted in an opportunity like that because you see a great opportunity" for brand awareness, the CEO of Primal Pit Paste told CNBC recently.

"We had Wal-Mart call like six months when I was out of my house and, of course, we weren't ready for volumes like that. We knew we were not ready to scale in that way at that time," she said.

But Cazin was no stranger to the idea of organic growth. When the P3 Organics CEO started she was looking to solve a family problem and before she knew it, in May 2012, she had started a profitable business. Cazin told CNBC that she bootstrapped the company with an initial $100 and in the first 18 months the company rang up more than $800,000 in sales.

"Our sales have doubled every year since and we are on track to continue this pace of growth. We have grown a huge community of almost 80,000 loyal fans and received 1,000s of 4 and 5-star online reviews on our website and Amazon," she wrote in an email.

It all started when Cazin researched family owned products and "found a lot of evidence and articles linking the aluminum and parabens in personal care (in deodorant specifically)" to what is "found in the outer quadrant breast tissue" of breast cancer patients.

The issue encouraged her to stop wearing conventional products, so when it was time for her daughter to wear deodorant, Cazin began seeking alternative options. Due to little success, the entrepreneur began to make her own concoctions.

"I went to the stores and I looked at every ingredient that was in the toxic antiperspirants and then in the natural ones and I would just research them one by one," Cazin recalled. After scouring the web for recipes, she would make the deodorant in her kitchen and give away the leftover batches.

"Then they would call me like a month later: 'that stuff was amazing, do you have anymore?' and that's how it kind of organically happened," she said.

As Primal Pit Paste scaled, Cazin was faced with many challenges, including state regulations that caused her to take her company from Florida to Texas..

"In a sense I felt like it was kind of a failure, but it was actually the biggest success we have had thus far," she said.

She told CNBC that in four years, the company has created and sold over 75 different products.

The keys for success, according to Cazin are to sell your story, stay true to your passion and go with the gut feeling.

While Cazin wasn't ready to scale at one point, her products are now available at Whole Foods Market (WFM) stores.

"The majority of our customers find us online, however our products are carried in Whole Foods globally and nationally across thousands of independent retailers," she said. "We are on a mission to disrupt an industry and make a significant impact on how people choose, use, and value beauty products in their lives."

The offer can be good, but you can refuse, according to P3 Organics entrepreneur Amy Cazin.


One woman explained to news.com.au that her colleagues began tracking her cycle after they had an argument at work:

They want to stay away from me when I’m PMSing, because I get a bit moody.

What’s sexist is how women are allowed to blame their volatile actions and unstable emotions on their ‘periods’, I just wish men had that option too.

Unsurprisingly, that didn’t go down too well with the general public, who took to Twitter recently to share their complete dismay at the whole idea...

Men are actually tracking their colleagues’ periods with an app

Apps that help women keep track of their periods have taken a creepy turn. Originally created to help women figure out when they might expect their period or start ovulating, men have now begun using them too - to track their colleagues. Apps like iAmAMan and uPMS encourage men to track their colleagues’ and partners’ cycles in order to stay on their "good side" and avoid PMS.


Nintendo explains why they will use cartridges not disks

Nintendo’s next generation system – code named NX – will reportedly eschew discs for good old fashioned cartridges. While this clearly harkens back to the golden age of video games (before newfangled disks took over), there’s another reason behind the decision.

Nintendo’s core client base is families – especially those with small children. Children are notorious for ruining disks – scratching or breaking them before they’ve even had a chance to play them. Cartridges are far more durable and resistant to damage.

Moreover, Nintendo is aware of load times for disks. Even the fastest of disks takes a matter of seconds to load up, whereas cartridges are readily accessible and require virtually no load time.

Finally, cartridges are far easier and faster to mass produce, meaning that games can be released sooner, without the need to wait for the process that disks require to be burned.

As for the system itself, rumor has it that the machine will be handheld, with detachable controllers and a screen in the center – similar to the Wii U . It will not be compatible with previous systems, so an all new purchase will be necessary for peripherals and content.

The system is also expected to be able to connect to a television/monitor in order to operate more like a traditional console.

Many theories abound as to how the system will work and what features it will contain, leading Nintendo fans to speculate on very little information:

Theory, the #NintendoNX controller connects to your phone, & allows you to load/stream games and use it as a second screen through an app — Ian (@Knightmawk) August 24, 2016

For more on those rumors and theories, check out this video from Andre "Black Nerd":

Nintendo Explains Why They Will Use Cartridges, Not Discs


Little girl went missing in 2007 – 9 years later, parents hear this strange update

The ensuing investigation, which has lasted for years, targeted Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, as suspects, as well as a series of "mystery men" who eye witnesses claim to have seen carrying a child matching Madeleine's description.

One theory purported by Portuguese police suggested that "Madeleine had been killed by her parents by accident, possibly by being given an overdose of a sedative to make her sleep, that they had hidden the body, faked her abduction and then used the hire car weeks later to move her body to a burial location," reports The Telegraph.

However, in 2008, the McCanns were cleared as suspects.

Age progression pictures from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Posted by Official Find Madeleine Campaign on Wednesday, November 4, 2009

According to According to The Daily Mail , investigator Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe states that nine years after Madeleine's disappearance, the case may be reaching its end. However, Hogan-Howe indicates that, "There is a line of inquiry that remains to be concluded and it's expected that in the coming months that will happen."

In March 2016, Madeleine's case took a strange turn when an ad taken out in a Paraguayan newspaper claimed that Madeleine had been seen in Paraguay, reigniting rumors that the child was still alive. However, Mirror reports that this theory has since been debunked.

Case of missing child, Madeleine McCann, receives strange new lead in 2016

Madeleine McCann's face made international news after she was reported missing from her family's vacation home in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007.


You'll Never Believe What These Bikers Found When They Went For A Ride

Don't worry! This story is insane but has a happy ending!

Bret and Zach Winingar like to go on long rides through Little Rock, Arkansas. One day they saw something they hadn't seen in a while.

It looked like an animal crate, so they went over and checked it out.

They got closer to the crate and could see that the crate had been chewed up by something.

An emaciated dog was cowering inside. She had been locked in. When they finally lured her out, she couldn't stand properly because she had been stuck in a small space for so long.

The pair went and got her some food, which she wolfed down. It was clear she hadn't eaten in a long time.

I'm trying really hard not to cry right now.

They left her for a little while and then came back and picked her up in a truck and took her home.

They named her Charlie Bravo, or CB for short. They took her home and gave her a good bath. It became clear that she needed professional help, so they went ahead and took her to a Vet.

C.B was severely undernourished and could barely walk. The vet estimated she was eight months old. They had no way of knowing how long she had been stuck in that crate.

It was probably a considerable amount of time, given that her paws are actually white, and were not white when they picked her up.

The original plan had been to put her up for adoption, but Bret and Zach got pretty attached to her-and now she has a loving home!

Despite everything, Miss C.B has grown into a beautiful healthy pup!

C.B's story went viral, and the family has been inundated with donations. They've been able to pay for all of C.B's care. They've decided to use the rest to set up a charity.


Millennials: these are the most common mistakes you could make with your money

People in their 20's and 30's are typically mocked by those slightly older than them for being the snowflake generation. Having grown up in an era where the focus was often on protecting individuals' self-esteem, they were often told that they were unique and special and there was no one else like them. I could wax philosophical in defense of this notion or snarkily jump on board with the haters because both sides have a point.

But one thing I've noticed in my work as a financial planner working with employees through free financial planning programs offered at work is that many young people are anxious to know if what they're doing is what everyone else their age is doing. Call it FOMO (fear of missing out), call it peer pressure, call it what you will, but I think that in most areas of life, we often just want reassurance that we're doing all that we can and aren't screwing up our future prospects in life too much by living in the present. It's in this spirit that I'm sharing the top five mistakes I see young people making with their money.

1. Prioritizing paying student loans over saving for retirement. I know that when I graduated from college and my student loans kicked in, the payments had me eating Ramen noodles and reading books by candlelight to save money until I could find a roommate. Student debt is no joke. But I think too many fresh grads get caught up in the media hype surrounding how bad student debt is as a national whole and let that cloud their judgment around prioritizing their finances.

The general rule of thumb is that if you have an employer match in your 401(k) and/or HSA, you should contribute enough from day one to get the full match. It's worth eating Ramen to get that free money. Beyond that or if you don't have a match, then it comes down to where your money will work hardest for you. If your student loan interest rates are 6% or less, you're still likely better off investing that money aggressively for the long-term rather than paying off your loans earlier. Even just eking out $50 per paycheck to save for retirement can make a six-figure difference in your ending balance down the road... as long as you're not also making the second mistake.

2. Investing too conservatively. Our research shows that Millennials are less likely to have general investment knowledge compared to older generations. Other research has shown that Millennials are more likely to call themselves conservative investors despite having a longer timeline than their older Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts. That's mostly due to the fact that they witnessed the largest market meltdown in decades during their formative years, perhaps even watching parents lose jobs AND wealth due to the declining market and economy.

This makes sense, but what you don't often hear is that the people who rode out the stock market storm of 2008-2009 without selling at the bottom are better off AND THEN SOME by sticking with it. The one guarantee I'm comfortable making about the stock market is that it will go up and down, often wildly, in the coming years. But it's the best place to invest your money for long-term growth, meaning more than twenty years.

When choosing funds in your account, it really doesn't matter what each fund has done over the past 1, 3 or even 5 years as long as you confirm that it's performing in line with its benchmark. Then just let it ride. The easiest solution here? Choose a target date fund closest to the year you'll turn 65.

3. Turning to credit cards to afford luxuries. Someone recently shared one of her life mottos with me to explain how she enjoys some of the finer things in life without compromising her long-term savings goals. She said, You can have anything. You just can't have everything.

This is a concept that is entirely new for many young people who are the product of dual-income families where most wants were fulfilled growing up. This video makes fun of things like Spotify Premium, Uber rides and Soul Cycle being needs, but I also get that these are part of life these days. Plus, at relatively low price-points, these little luxuries don't seem like an issue, but they add up when money is tight.

It comes down to prioritizing. If you're unable to pay cash for your manicure or grocery delivery order, you need to find an alternate solution like doing your own nails or taking yourself to the store to bargain shop for your food. Decide which of these things you really want in your life right now and which can wait until later when you've paid off some debt and grown your income a bit.

4. Living in a fancy place with no financial foundation. This is one of the bigger financial mistakes I personally made in my 20's. After living in a dumpy apartment my senior year of college that had roaches and traffic noise that literally kept me up at night, I couldn't wait to upgrade to a luxury apartment with all the accoutrements. About six weeks into my year-long lease though, I was rethinking that decision (see above regarding Ramen and candlelight). Because I was just starting out in my career with a boatload of student loans, no emergency fund and some credit card debt to boot, I was in a precarious financial situation and was living way out of my league.

There's definitely something to be said for living in a comfortable, bug-free home where you can get a decent night's sleep, but jumping straight to the nicest community in town was a mistake. As soon as I could get out of that lease, I found a smaller place that was much more in line with my starting income. When looking for a place to live, decide which things you can and can't live without in order to meet other financial goals in the meantime. If housing costs are eating up more than 50% of your income, it's too expensive. Build up your emergency fund before you choose housing that may be a financial stretch for you.

5. Feeling bad about delaying adulting. Statistics show that Millennials in general are delaying some of the more typical milestones associated with adulting, such as marriage, having kids or purchasing a first home. As one who delayed those things myself, I can relate. I listened to my grandparents and my parents and even my parents' friends, who constantly chided me not to rush in to being a grown-up because it comes with things like being responsible, paying taxes, holding a 9-5, etc.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of my 20's and 30's, which allowed me to take some risks like starting (and failing at) a business, finding my true calling professionally and finding my true match in a life partner, I also had to battle the societal message that told me I was missing out by delaying marriage, kids and buying a home. And as my husband and I wait, month after month, to conceive our first child, sometimes I confess that I wonder if I did miss out. But then I remember all the wisdom and experience I'll bring to motherhood, as delayed as it may be, that I wouldn't have if I'd taken that step earlier.

It's a mixed message, one that author Elizabeth Gilbert describes as sometimes becoming paralyzed by indecision. By making one choice, we are automatically saying no to countless other choices. It's the beauty and the beast of our modern society, exacerbated by seeing everyone else's choices play out on social media in filtered, scrubbed ways that can make it feel like you made the wrong choice. The antidote to this extends far beyond your personal finances, but as it relates to your money and avoiding making doozie mistakes, I'll just offer this: when making financial decisions for yourself, from something as small as buying that Starbucks on the way to work to as big as booking a trip to the other side of the world, stop and ask yourself if you would be making this choice if you couldn't share it on social media.

Finding a way to overcome these five situations could be more about making a mind shift and less about a lack of financial resources. What's holding you back? Please let me know in the comments or send me an email at Kelley..long@financialfinesse.com.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Millennials Are Making With Their Money

Call it FOMO (fear of missing out), call it peer pressure, call it what you will, but I think that in most areas of life, we often just want reassurance that we’re doing all that we can and aren’t screwing up our future prospects in life too much by living in the present.


Here's why kids are a huge battleground for Netflix and Amazon

While it doesn’t get discussed much in the media, children’s programming has become a major focus for "over-the-top" players like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO.

Netflix has launched 20 kids and family originals already in 2016, and has over 15 more to come this year, according to the company. Amazon doesn’t have quite the volume, but has produced as many original kids shows as it has comedies (and twice the number of dramas).. HBO also made headlines late last year when it struck a deal for iconic show "Sesame Street."

Why have these companies been making such big investments? The most obvious reason is to round out the service, to provide something for everyone in a family — giving you more reasons to keep subscribing.

Kids programming proves particularly "sticky." Once your child is a huge fan of a program, it’s relatively harder to make that small economic decision to cancel the service.

But the more interesting reason for the push on kids content comes from the role ads play on many of these platforms: namely that they don’t exist. For parents, the difference between children’s programming with ads and without can be immediately apparent, when requests for the latest sugary cereal suddenly slow down.

This fact means that Netflix, Amazon, and their no-commercial rivals could derive an even greater benefit for their lack of advertising in children’s programming than in other types. Hulu even streams all its children's programming ad-free, even on tiers that normally include ads. Adults might be annoyed by ads, but children are molded by them.

"We know one of the benefits of an ecosystem like Netflix is its lack of advertising," Howard Shimmel, a chief research officer at Time Warner, told Bloomberg last year. "Consumers are being trained there are places they can go to avoid ads."

But there could be another indirect result. Parents are being trained not to have to deal with their children’s fascination with the latest toy that's being hawked on TV.

And if parents eventually get used to that, it could be hard to go back.

The hidden reason why children's shows could be a huge hit for Netflix and Amazon

While it doesn’t get discussed much in the media, children’s programming has become a major focus for "over-the-top" players like Netflix, Amazon...


Rumor has it @taylorswift13 has found herself a new man

But all that could change if the rumors are true ... it sounds like T-Swift might have found herself a new man.

According to Us Weekly, the 23-year-old singer was caught flirting with Australian actor Brenton Thwaites during a private party for the Toronto International Film Festival held at Soho House on Sept. 9. An eyewitness tells the site that Swift and Thwaites were chatting for an hour, "making each other laugh," while sitting in a booth together.

"He had his arm around her back," the insider adds. "She touched his leg a few times. They seemed very into each other.."

Thwaites, 24, was in Toronto promoting his new flick, "Oculus," while Swift was celebrating the film "One Chance," for which she wrote a song. The pair did pose for photos together, but another source hints that their connection might not have been a romantic one.

"She talked to several people, and he was one of them," another witness says.

See Taylor and Brenton posing at the party below:

Taylor Swift, Brenton Thwaites Reportedly Flirt During Private Party At TIFF 2013

Taylor Swift has been enjoying the single life ever since she and Harry Styles called it quits in January.

But all that could change if the rumors ar...

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Kanye West "Famous" Video Celebrities React - Celebrites React to Kanye West's "Famous Video"

Kanye West has appeared like an angel to make an otherwise slow news day into an ~event~. Thank you, Big Baby Yeezus!

Last night, Kanye debuted the very-filled-with-naked-celebrities music video for his single, "Famous." Today, celebrities featured in the video are speaking out. The first? Why, Chris Brown, of course.

"Why I gotta have the plumbers butt/crack showing WAX figure?" he captioned the photo. "This n----a KANYE CRAZY, talented, but crazy."

So, that seems to imply that he had no idea that he would be in the photo, right? Or maybe this is all to generate even more publicity. (Which, let's be real, they won't have a problem doing with this video.)

As for the other celebs, an aide for former president Bush simply and succinctly told Us Weekly, "That's not him."

Both Anna Wintour and Caitlyn Jenner's reps had no comment, and nobody else has spoken out yet. YET. (Please excuse me while I go pray to the goddess above that Taylor Swift releases a statement about this.)

According to an interview with Kanye over on Vanity Fair, the music video was "filmed over a period of three months and cycled through four different formats and several different collaborators until West felt he'd achieved the result he wanted."

Well, good job, team! The result is definitely internet chaos — and you know Kanye wouldn't want anything less.

Watch the *majorly* NSFW video and live streams below:

The Naked Celebrities in Kanye West's Video React

Celebrities React to Kanye West's "Famous" Video

Kanye West,Kim Kardashian,Taylor Swift,Chris Brown,Rihanna,Ray J,Donald Trump,George W. Bush,Anna Wintour,Caitlyn Jenner,Amber Rose,Bill Cosby


Why robots and smart technology aren’t revolutionizing your house

A robot vacuum cleaner sounds like a great idea. I have a Roomba, one of the most popular models, and most of the time it works great. But sometimes there are unexpected problems.

In a recent Facebook post, an Arkansas man described just how bad these problems can be. His dog had an accident on the floor, and then the Roomba started its scheduled cleaning.

"If your Roomba runs over dog poop, stop it immediately and do not let it continue the cleaning cycle," the man wrote. Unfortunately, he happened to be asleep when the Roomba ran.. The result: it "spread the dog poop over every conceivable surface within its reach, resulting in a home that closely resembles a Jackson Pollock poop painting."

Silicon Valley optimists like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen have predicted that digital technology would revolutionize every facet of our lives. And of course that's been true for industries like music, news, and maps. But other tasks have proven more resistant to digital transformation.

Earlier this year, I wrote about Nest, whose popular smart thermostat made it a poster child for smart homes. But the company, which was acquired by Google in 2014, has struggled to develop new products, raising questions about whether Google overpaid for the company.

A similar story can be told about iRobot, the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. The company is hardly a failure, having sold 15 million units since it was introduced in 2002. But the Roomba remains a niche product, and iRobot hasn't come up with another hit.

These companies are struggling for similar reasons: Their products demand too much from their users while providing too little value in return.

Last year, iRobot sold 2.4 million Roombas. By any reasonable metric, that's a successful product. But in a nation of 320 million people (not to mention a world with more than 7 billion people), it's still a niche product. The vast majority of American households don't have a Roomba or any other robot vacuum cleaner and seem to be in no hurry to buy one.

And if you talk to Roomba owners, it's not hard to see why. "It gets stuck a lot," my Vox colleague Sarah Kliff told me. "I can't really leave it at home unsupervised."

Sarah has a table with a curved metal bottom that her Roomba finds fiendishly difficult to navigate. Often she'll come home to find that it drove up the table's leg and got stranded, the cleaning job unfinished. The Roomba also terrifies Sarah's dog.

My Roomba also has problems with getting stuck. But I've also found that it just doesn't save me that much time. I still have to tidy up the room before letting the Roomba loose. Then when it's done, I have to empty the dustbin and — often — dig out debris that got caught in the rollers. It's not as much work as using an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner, but it's not that much less work.

And then there are the times when the Roomba wreaks havoc. Asked about poop-related accidents, a spokesman for iRobot told the Guardian that "quite honestly, we see this a lot." Neither Sarah or I have experienced this particular misfortune, but we've had other, less traumatic problems with our Roombas.

"My old roommate had a Roomba that ran into my mirror," Sarah told me. "The mirror toppled over and broke."

One day, my Roomba got ahold of a spool of thread. When I got home, it had unwound the entire spool and wrapped it around the cleaning brush roll. It took several minutes to get it unwound, and I had to throw away the rat's nest of thread that was left.

I have a $399 Roomba 650. iRobot recently introduced a new high-end model, the $899 Roomba 980, which comes with a built-in camera, a longer-lasting battery, and other improvements. But as Fortune's Kif Leswing pointed out in a review last October, these improvements only get you so far. The longer battery life doesn't help if the dustbin gets full or your home has multiple levels. And the latest Roomba seems about as clumsy as its cheaper cousins — Leswing says it "beached itself on the legs of my Ikea Poang chair." And it ate one of his cat toys, damaging one of the robot's wheels.

Why it's hard for smart appliances to add value

The Roomba is by far the iRobot's most successful product. Over the years, the company has built a couple of mopping robots, a pool-cleaning robot, and a device for cleaning out your gutters. None of them have been big hits.

Other companies have tried to create internet-connected lawn sprinklers, crock pots, and lightbulbs.

A fundamental problem here is that for many tasks in the physical world, there just isn't that much room for software and complex electronics to add value.

The home appliances that have done the most to improve people's lives are the ones like dishwashers and washing machines that took a really time-consuming and tedious task and made it dramatically faster.

But in many cases, the preinternet devices in our homes are already pretty good. There isn't a ton of room for further improvement. People don't spend a lot of time adjusting their thermostats, so the better interface on a Nest Learning Thermostat doesn't add a ton of value. Smart lightbulbs or robotic gutter cleaners seem even more like a solution in search of a problem.

The preinternet devices in our homes are already pretty good

Machines add the most value when they can be operated at scale in a controlled environment — washing machines and dishwashers are useful because you can wash dozens of dishes or shirts at the same time. And because all the action happens inside the machine, there's less room for unpleasant surprises — like a stray cat toy getting into the gears, or dog poop being spread across the floor.

In contrast, home robots and connected home devices are trying to operate in the chaotic and nonstandardized environment of a modern home. It's an inherently more difficult problem to design a product that will work flawlessly in a wide variety of different home types.

And this is a reason to be skeptical that we'll see rapid progress in household robotics or smart homes in the coming years. It has proven difficult to build a robot vacuum cleaner or a smart thermostat that's a big hit with the public. And other home automation tasks — like iRobot's mopping robots — have been even less popular than that. The concept of smart homes and cleaning robots sounds appealing in theory, but making it useful in practice is surprisingly difficult.

A Roomba smeared dog poop all over this man's house. There's an economic lesson here.

What a Roomba-created "Jackson Pollock poop painting" tells us about the future of the economy.


You'll never guess who almost played Marissa on "The O.C."

The O.C. is one of those shows that is quintessentially California, even though most of us who grew up there didn’t have drama-filled lives anything like the characters. But that’s why it’s so fun to watch — it’s an escape from whatever is going on in our lives, and when it was initially on TV the first time, it felt like a soap opera for our generation. It’s also a show that’s easy to binge-watch and get lost in over and over (thank you, Netflix!), and apparently, it’s a show that was almost COMPLETELY different.

At this past ATX Television Festival, some secrets were revealed about The O.C., including the fact that they almost cast someone other than Mischa Barton to play Marissa Cooper. Who was it?

Apparently, Olivia had read for the part initially and it was between her and Mischa Barton (who got the part), but they were unsure that she would be vulnerable enough to play the part believably. Josh Schwartz, the series creator, said, "Marissa was obviously a character who Ryan needs to save, and Olivia Wilde needs no saving. She’s pretty tough."

While Wilde didn’t get the part, that actually sounds like kind of a compliment, and one of the best ways to get let down that we can think of — plus, she ended up doing pretty well for herself, anyway.

Can you imagine The O.C. with Olivia Wilde at the helm?

The show would have been completely different.

the OC, olivia wilde, mischa barton,Entertainment


If You Get Dizzy When You Stand Up, Use this Fighter Pilot Secret

Have you ever stood up too quickly — especially after a long period of sitting — and felt lightheaded?

If so, you've experienced orthostatic hypotension, better known as head rush. That sudden bout of dizziness is a "form of low blood pressure that happens when you stand up from sitting or lying down," according to the Mayo Clinic.

When head rush hits, you could collapse against a wall or feel around for a nearby piece of furniture. Or, as genius reddit user Mnementh2230 pointed out, you could do what fighter pilots do — clench the muscles in your lower body to push blood back into your upper body:

If you stand up too quickly and start to feel light headed, it's caused by a drop in blood pressure in your head and upper body. It's the same reason fighter pilots black out in high G turns, and the Air Force figured out a way to combat this decades ago: clench the muscles in your lower body, starting with your calves, then thighs, then your abs and lower back. This squeezes blood back up in to your upper body and will resolve the issue very quickly — the real trick is remembering to do it in that moment.

Yep, it's the real deal: Here on the ground, our bodies are used to functioning at 1 G — in other words, the acceleration due to gravity on the Earth's surface.

But when fighter pilots make steep turns and hurtle toward the ground, they "experience forces of acceleration equivalent to many times the force of gravity," according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The higher the G-force, the harder it is for their bodies to pump blood from their hearts to their brains, according to PBS.

"Most of us would pass out with head-to-toe G forces of just 4 or 5 because our hearts can't summon the necessary pressure," PBS reported. "Blood pools in our lower extremities, and our brains fail to get enough oxygen."

To fight the blood pressure drop, fighter pilots wear "anti-G suits" that "constrict the legs and abdomen during high Gs to keep blood in the upper body," according to PBS. They also reportedly use "muscle-tensing techniques."

There you have it: Just clench those lower body muscles. You may look like you're pooping your pants, but at least you won't feel like you're about to pass out.

Health, lifehack, dizziness, fighter pilots, Science


Netflix Just Did Something It's Only Ever Done TWICE Before

F or us, Netflix is the pinnacle of TV greatness, because not only has it given us so many wonderful shows (ahem, OITNB, Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards), but it’s also SAVED a lot of great shows (Arrested Development, Fuller House, or us, Netflix is the pinnacle of TV greatness, because not only has it given us so many wonderful shows (ahem, OITNB, Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards), but it’s also SAVED a lot of great shows (Arrested Development, Fuller House, GILMORE GIRLS ). Netflix is where shows to go to live, and flourish, forever and ever.

But, every now and then, Netflix does decide to end a show. Netflix doesn’t necessary call it "canceling," instead they’re just like, "sooo...we’re not going to make this show anymore, cool?"

No, not cool. When this happens, it is always a SHOCK, and it’s just happened again for the THIRD TIME. In all of Netflix’s life, it has only ever ~canceled~ three shows: Hemlock Grove, Lilyhammer, and now, Bloodline

Guess the the Rayburn Family doesn’t have an unlimited amount of secrets..

The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news, explaining that Sony (the studio behind Bloodline) had recently been notified that the upcoming third season of the show would be it’s LAST. Not only that, the episode count was being trimmed from 13 episodes to 10, and that means three less episodes for Meg Rayburn to freak out!!

Bloodline — which revolved around a family in the Florida Keys with more secrets than you can count, and earned Emmy nominations for both Kyle Chandler and Ben Mendelsohn — is already hinting that the ~final~ season will be the best, and maybe the most OMG. Talking to TVLine earlier today, the showrunners explained:

"We are looking forward to the exciting climax [Bloodline has] in store for the series conclusion in May 2017.

And like, how many more people can the Rayburn family kill, either intentionally or accidentally??

Netflix just did something it's only ever done TWICE before

bloodline, netflix, netflix originals, Netflix shows,TV


guess who’s leading in the latest la times poll?

Even the Los Angeles Times is acknowledging that Hillary’s email scandal is taking a toll on the candidate.

For months, Hillary led in presidential matchup polls with Donald Trump.. Some polls even had her with a double-digit lead.

However, ever since the email scandal broke – and particularly ever since FBI Director James Comey’s decision not to prosecute – Hillary’s support has been falling, and Trump’s has been growing.

In a new poll from the LA Times, Trump had a 3-point lead over Hillary, 43-40. : In a new poll from theLA Times,Trump had a 3-point lead over Hillary, 43-40. From the LA Times

 Donald Trump has taken an apparent slim lead over Hillary Clinton, based on strong support from white voters, particularly men. That finding, from a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll, a new survey that begins publication Friday, marks a significant shift in a race that most polls indicated Clinton has led since mid-May. It comes amid a flurry of other surveys, both nationally and in battleground states, that show support for the former secretary of State declining since last week when FBI Director James B. Comey characterized her handling of classified material while in that office as "extremely careless." Comey also said her conduct and that of her aides did not clearly violate the law or warrant prosecution. What isn’t known is whether the new surveys are capturing Clinton at a low that will prove temporary, as voters react to Comey’s criticism and the renewed attention to her use of a private email server, or whether they reflect a more lasting shift that could hobble the presumed Democratic nominee for the remainder of the campaign.

A recent New York Times/ CBS News poll found that the two presumptive nominees were tied at 40 percent. But 67 percent of respondents said they viewed the Democratic presumptive nominee as untrustworthy, which was up 5 points from the previous month.

Hillary’s email scandal really is a catch-22 for her. If she had been prosecuted and convicted of crimes, that would have proven in the minds of most Americans that she is corrupt and obviously untrustworthy.

But the FBI’s decision not to press charges doesn’t necessarily make the situation that much better. Now, it just looks like she’s using her name and connections to get away with crimes that others have been punished for.

No matter what happens, it’s too late. People by and large view her as untrustworthy, and there’s not anything that anyone – even the media – can do about it.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by EagleRising.com

Guess Who’s Leading in the Latest LA Times Poll? – Eagle Rising

Lockers are public collections of things that interest you.


Wiley – five landmarks in the godfather of grime's career

From MCing over drum’n’bass DJ sets in the 1990s, to his dramatic return last year, here are the crucial tracks by the hardest working man in grime

Between the legions of scoop-necked DJ bores and the sub-Sheeran mopers it’s easy to get disheartened about the lack of personality in modern British pop. But at least we have Wiley. Even within grime’s playpen of extroverts, he is a wildcard, a high priest of obstreperousness who seemingly lives to upset applecarts – playing games with persona and reality, rampaging through the music industry, pouring out an endless stream of consciousness through his lyrics but also whatever social media platform takes his fancy at the time. He’s constantly walked a line between gangster coldness and a childlike openness, and between truly avant garde brilliance and shameless pop ambition.

He’s picked fights with almost everyone in grime, from the most spectacularly petty to the deadly serious, yet somehow as he matures (he just turned 37) he manages to retain his place as the scene’s patriarch. He should probably be a bigger national and international star than he is, but the way he has constantly splurged out his work, self-sabotaged and evaded expectation means that he displays the polar opposite of the gimlet-eyed ambition of his one-time brother-in-arms Dizzee Rascal, and can be very confusing to all but the most avid observer. Nonetheless, he has just released one of the best and most focused albums in his career, The Godfather, and against all odds seems as energised as he’s ever been.

Trying to do a "best of Wiley" is a fool’s errand, as aside from the vastness of his official and unofficial work, his moments of greatness are as likely to be a Twitter outburst as a lyric, and some high points are often entirely dependent on understanding the context within the soap opera of his life and the grime scene. However, here are five moments out of many where he shines bright, each of which offers a window into the world of one of the truest individualists of the modern musical world.

It’s worth having a dig through YouTube for recordings of Wiley MCing on drum’n’bass DJ sets in the 90s for two main reasons. First, as an indicator of just how long he’s been honing his craft: the first ones are from 1996, and already on this rapid-fire to-and-fro with drum’n’bass mainstay Eksman from 1998 his flow and enunciation are impeccable. And, second, to understand that his roots are in the rave. This was his school, where he learned the weird and extreme sonorities that would feed into his groundbreaking electronic productions, and you can also see the hyperspeed patter of drum’n’bass as the launching of the relentless stream of verbal momentum that has characterised his entire life since. Although his style is pretty much standard for the time, and the subject matter is hype, threats and boasts, you can already see his leftfield inventiveness in throwaway oddities like "wipe my feet on your face just like a doormat, I’m coming through the catflap".

Where it all coalesced. Having earned his stripes in drum’n’bass and achieved stardom in UK garage as part of Pay As U Go Cartel, the years 2001 and 2002 saw Wiley find his voice in all respects. The eerie "Eskibeat" instrumentals he was selling by the tens of thousands on white label 12in singles, and the varied MC talent of the original lineup of Roll Deep Crew were among grime’s defining sounds. But it was his to-and-fro with his young friend and protege Dizzee Rascal on rave sets and tapes that probably did more than anything else to signal to the world that something new had arrived. Their falling out – apparently over hot-headedness and petty crew politics that led to Dizzee’s stabbing in Ayia Napa – is one of the great creative tragedies of modern pop.

In a typical flurry of activity, Wiley released five album-length Tunnel Vision mixtapes in just six months at the end of 2006. This one opened the last, as well as forming a B-side to an official single release later in the year. In a multilayered bit of self-referentiality, he samples Dizzee’s vocaling of his own 2003 Ice Rink instrumental – which itself was possibly the most perfect expression of the deep emotional complexity of his Eskibeat style – then rides the rhythm himself on some of the most cantankerous, I’ll-fight-the-lot-of-yer form of his life. Notable for world-class language mangling like "blood, you’re the one who got smacked in the grilliam".

And, talking of language mangling, here’s one of those classic moments where Wiley’s musical vividness of expression just seems to spill over, beyond the meaning his words are capable of containing. At the same time as he was having his biggest major label pop hit, Heatwave, he was also returning to the Big Dada label to say: "Let’s go and make magic / I couldn’t quit grime if I wanted to / it’s been a long time, I’m an addict / for me it’s just a habit / and this fire in my belly right now / rudeboy you have never had it / had it, had it, never had it / had it, had it, never had it / never never never never never never never never." It’s that rave MC glossolalia – also constantly resurgent in his tendency to burst out with "budududu badadadada" as part of lines – that will never leave him and which keeps the momentum going within the track and his career.

And here he is, in 2016, with a fellow rapper with whom who he’s fought and bickered over the years. For every time Wiley has wistfully looked to the big money of US success, or found himself at the top of the British charts with a dance track by accident or design, he can’t stop himself falling back to the pleasures of just MCing over a soundsystem-testing beat. As ever, he’s commentating on his own life and on anything that falls into his field of vision, prodding, testing, trying ideas out.. For all that grime, at the start of the century, seemed like an explosion that couldn’t possibly do anything other than burn out, a decade and a half on, Wiley and his fellow elder statesmen Skepta, JME, P Money, Ghetts, Devlin, Flowdan and a whole lot of others are doing a shockingly good job of making it look like there’s life in the old dog yet.


You Won’t Believe How Much McLaren Is Spending To Bring Out 15 New Cars By 2022

New McLarens are always a good thing, but at what cost?

Some automakers like Porsche have such a mechanical and unforgiving way of conducting their business that it makes every other manufacturer look like a dysfunctional family. Another such company is McLaren, which has managed to turn a profit for the last seven years on the back of low-volume supercars. Now, a recent interview with McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt by Automotive News Europe opens the floodgates on McLaren's plans to dominate Ferrari and stay ahead in the future.

Flewitt detailed how McLaren wants to spend £1 billion pounds ($1.45 billion dollars) over the next six years on research and development for new products. McLaren hopes to get 15 new cars, including a P1 successor, out of the investment that is equal to the budget of a small country. Last year, the company sold 2,000 supercars to lucky buyers, but with the investment, it hopes to expand this number to 5,000. To get there, McLaren will divert most of the money into producing new powertrains and designing new carbon fiber structures. Currently, most of McLaren's lineup features similar carbon fiber and aluminum frames powered by an impressive 3.8-liter V8. We can be sure that the next engine will be smaller and come with turbochargers.

Flewitt didn't give any details on the engine that will power the next generation of McLarens, but he confirmed that we could expect to see hybrid drivetrains coming. At least one new car featuring the new toys will come out by the end of the decade with all 15 hitting showrooms by 2022. At least one of these cars will be the all electric McLaren we keep hearing about and that Ferrari refuses to compete with. Part of the reason for the new technology, aside from pursuing better lap times and beating Ferrari, is because of the increasingly tight fuel restrictions on the cars. We may hate on companies for downsizing their engines, but the reality is that Ferrari and McLaren don't have a choice. At least we can be thankful for the effort to keep their cars sleek and fast.


Secret slave tunnels discovered under ancient villa

The underground passageways likely allowed thousands of slaves and merchants to keep the estate running without creating any distraction at the street level.

Though similar tunnels have been discovered at the complex before, the new discovery is exciting because the passageways were not mentioned in any ancient plans of the grounds, Marina De Franceschini, an archaeologist heading the excavation who works with the University of Trento, wrote in an email. [See Photos of Hadrian's Villa and Secret Passageways]

Researchers have long known that a massive underground network of roads lay underneath the ruins of Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, Italy.

The villa was a retreat for the emperor Hadrian, a patron of art and architecture who reigned from A.D. 117 to A.D. 138.

But while Hadrian discussed affairs of state and held grand dinner parties in his opulent house, underneath him, a network of nearly invisible people kept the estate running.

The underground passageways allowed thousands of merchants, slaves and carts laden with goods to enter the villa without causing any hustle and bustle.

"It is a very modern solution, something similar to what you see today in cruise ships where you have luxury quarters for the passengers and a parallel system of corridors for the personnel," De Franceschini said.

Slaves chiseled the passageways out of the soft tufa rock, and the same rock was then was used to construct the villa.. But over the centuries, soil had completely filled in the underground tunnels and their full extent was a mystery.

Using ancient architectural plans, researchers had uncovered passageways underneath southwestern part of the ruins, but they suspected there must be more.

So a few years ago, Franceschini asked for help excavating the eastern portion from a group called Sotterranei di Roma, or Underground Rome. These speleologists and amateur archaeologists specialize in rappelling into underground tunnels and excavating them, said Inge Weustig, a classicist who works with the group.

Someone from Underground Rome works their way through a narrow cavity into the underground tunnels of Hadrian's Villa.

After carrying countless buckets of dirt from the narrow subterranean passageways — some of which are just a few feet wide — the team uncovered an entirely new passageway, leading from an area of the Villa called the Academy to a 2.5 miles (4 km) underground roadway called the Grande Trapezio.

The specific purpose of the system of passageways remains a mystery, but it lies on the outskirts of Hadrian's Villa, Weustig said.

"It is seen as the more private part of the whole complex," Weustig told LiveScience. "They've interpreted it as a kind of secret or more remote place in the villa where he could just go to be alone, or at least with a few people."

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Slave Tunnels Found In Massive Network Underneath Second Century Roman Emperor's Villa

Amateur archaeologists have uncovered a massive network of tunnels under the Roman Emperor Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy.  The underground p...

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Here's how much money Chewbacca Mom has made since her video went viral

One day, Candace Payne was just a regular cool mom, sitting in her car after a shopping trip to Kohl’s, and decided to try out the talking Chewbacca mask she had just bought. The next day, she was the biggest star on the internet.

Literally overnight, her simple Chewbacca mask video went completely viral, and now it is the most-watched live video on Facebook ever. Since then, she’s joined James Corden on his way to work; appeared on Good Morning America; and even took a trip to Disney World. These spoils are the same equivalent of what Luke Skywalker got after he blew up Death Star.

We can’t exactly put a price on that cool medal Leia hangs around Luke’s neck, but we can put a price on everything that Payne, a mother of two Star Wars loving kids, has received over the last week. Money went ahead and tallied up the actual $$$ that Payne has received since her video hit the internet...and it’s a lot.. It’s almost enough to buy her own Death Star.

According to Money, the grand total is roughly $420,000.

Money breaks down the amount like this: $3,000 in gift cards from Kohl’s +$5,000 travel expenses for talk shows + $2,500 gift card from Hasbro + $7,500 Disney World vacation for the family + $2,000 for the VIP treatment at Fan Expo Dallas + $400,000 in college scholarships for her family.

That’s a whole lot of money. It’s just under half a million dollars, and it all came out of posting a 4-minute video where she laughs in her car over a CHEWBACCA MASK. Clearly, this wookiee is winning.

If you want to relive the glorious video, watch below!

One day, Candace Payne was just a regular cool mom, sitting in her car after a shopping trip to Kohl's, and decided to try out the talking Chewbacca mask s

star wars, candace payne, chewbacca mom,News


The unusual drink that will start your day off right

You may be hearing growing talk about bone broth lately -- actress Shailene Woodley recently revealed she's been a huge fan -- and, according to health and wellness experts, there's good reason for it. Melisse Gelula and Alexia Brue of Well + Good agree that it's definitely time to make room in your diet for this healthy, beneficial drink.

Bone broth, Gelula and Brue explain in the above video from #OWNSHOW, is essentially slow-cooked soup made using the bones of anything from beef to chicken. "Bone broth has so many benefits," Brue says. "They're filled with calcium [and] magnesium, which is said to be great for bone health; there's the collagen in the bones that helps with skin, that's anti-inflammatory."

Bone broth is a great addition to a diet, particularly for people with certain health issues, she adds. "People who have digestive issues, skin problems, immunity issues all report relief when they drink bone broth."

Regardless of what bone you choose to use, Gelula stresses an important tip. "What you really need to know is that you're getting really high-quality bones from your butcher," she says.

Along with fresh veggies, water and apple cider vinegar, the bones simmer for a lengthy period lasting between eight and 24 hours. "After that, you've got tons of this delicious broth, which you can drink for about four days after you make it," Brue says. "You can put what you don't drink into ice cube trays once it's cooled down to room temperature."

It's even good for breakfast. "People really like to have this in the morning because it kind of [acts] like a filling smoothie, just sort of sets you on the right path for a healthy day," Gelula says.

3-4 lb.. beef thigh bone (may have meat attached)

1/2 c. fresh herbs (such as parsley, mint and or bay leaves)

Fill a large stock pot with water (6-8 quarts) and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, coarsely chop all vegetables and set aside. Remove skin from the garlic. Peel the ginger (using a spoon is a time-saving hack), and chop coarsely. Chop herbs coarsely, but leave those like mint and bay leave whole.

Once the water is boiling, add the bones to the pot, along with the salt and coconut oil. Then, add in all the vegetables, herbs, ginger and garlic cloves. Finally, add the apple cider vinegar. Stir everything together.

Lower heat and simmer, covered, for a minimum of 8 hours.

Once cooled, put the broth in the fridge. Once the fat hardens, remove it that layer and strain the rest of the broth into tightly covered jars. (Bone broth keeps in the refrigerator for up to four days.)

Bone Broth Is The Morning Drink That Will Start Your Day Off Right

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You Wouldn’t Believe What Rockstar Announced For GTA 6!

You Wouldn’t Believe What Rockstar Announced For GTA VI

Since the popular release of GTA V in September 2013, fans of Rockstar Games have been kept in the dark about the details of the next installment of the series.

Many fans have speculated that GTA V would be the last installment due to the ambiguously named "GTA Online" – a name which implies that future installments, at least of a multiplayer variety, are not to be expected.

However, new information from a multitude of sources has been leaked about the next installment in Rockstar Games’ headlining series, including specifics about the game’s setting, plot, features and functionality. As with any pre-release information, this is subject to interpretation and change.

Though no release date has been confirmed, GTA 6 has been confirmed to release sometime in the future. The exact date will likely be two years ahead of the initial estimated release date set by Rockstar, to give them time to "polish" the final copy and deliver an experience fans are sure to enjoy, despite their discontent while waiting twenty-four months more than they should have.

More details have also leaked, read on to know how Rockstar Games plans to make GTA VI the best game the universe has ever seen. (No, really)

GTA 6 will feature a main character – or characters – that players will be forced to control if they wish to play the game. These lead characters will be voiced by an actor, or actors, who will have exponentially more witty dialogue and banter than any of the side characters or miscellaneous pedestrians because they’re just naturally more intelligent, funny, and bulletproof.

The graphics are rumored to be an improvement on those of GTA V, and the physics engine and AI functionality will also be improved to prevent drivers who accidentally run over player characters from reversing and running them over six more times.

Though unconfirmed, there are also reports that large vehicles capable of towing will also no longer take off like the Apollo 13 rocket when attached to a trailer and touched by anything more forceful than a hummingbird.

Much to the disappointment of many players, the game will not be released on PS1 or the Nintendo 64. This has led to uproar among fans who insist their older consoles are "just as good" as next-gen platforms and they shouldn’t lose out on content just because they don’t have access to their parents’ money or the motivation to get a job and buy a newer system.

Though a multiplayer aspect has been rumored, players will require an online connection in order to access it. The stability of the online mode has been put up for debate, however, as almost all online features will also require a connection to Rockstar’s servers which are known to go down faster and more frequently than a cheerleader on prom night.

Some of the game’s shops will have humorous names such as "All Of My Stock is Legal" or "Totally Legitimate Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary." This has already incited anger among Liberal media and social justice activists for being offensive and an unfair representation of multiple minorities as well as the entirety of the country.

The game will feature a radio with multiple stations, many of which play various kinds of music. Some will also feature talk radio shows, which will undoubtedly annoy every side character, prostitute and ally who enters your vehicle to the point of suicide.

Despite fan conspiracy theories, the game is confirmed to be set on the planet Earth and will not feature laser guns, hybrid jetpacks, alien invasions, or any other galactic planetary entity as a playable area.

Finally, the game will feature mature content, such as receiving fully-clothed sexual acts from sentient plastic dolls, senselessly murdering obese Midwestern tourists for yelling obscenities at you, and partial nudity which will undoubtedly be repeatedly photographed and uploaded to Rockstar’s Social Club by twelve-year-old children obsessing over an animated nipple, or worse, a seventy-year-old altruist’s kibbles and bits.

In addition to these features, Rockstar is said to have multiple downloadable content bundles in the works, which will be free to download but contain items so ludicrously expensive in game currency that microtransactions will be necessary to own anything more than your grandmother’s Buick and an airsoft pistol.

What are you most excited for in GTA 6? What’s your favorite aspect of GTA V? Let us know in the comments below.

NOTE – This is a work of fiction and part of our weekly Satire column where we cover the stories that weren’t. We apologize if this hurt your tender feelings but we’ll do it all over again, every single time. ;)

Rockstar has really done the unthinkable this time!


Britney Spears' rumored Las Vegas residency is set to earn the singer millions, according to TMZ.

TMZ has allegedly learned the financial details of Spears' two-year gig at Planet Hollywood, despite the fact that the gig is still officially unconfirmed. The 31-year-old is reportedly slated to perform 48 shows per year raking in $310,000 per show. That's $30 million over the life of the contract, or $15 million per year.

Although this is a huge sum, it is far less than the figure upwards of $100 million predicted back in January when the news first broke..

The Las Vegas Sun reported Spears' residency will be announced on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The shows, planned for the newly renovated PH Live theater at Planet Hollywood, are set to be 90-minute performances held over the course of 60 alternating weekends.

"She’s so excited to perform and show what great shape she is in now," an insider told the publication. "She is mentally and physically 100 percent ready for the Las Vegas shows."

Recently, the pop superstar has been dropping major hints pointing at what is to come. BritneySpears.com is promoting a countdown set to end on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The Las Vegas Sun claims this is when she will announce Vegas along with her upcoming album (possibly titled "All Eyes On Me"). Artwork for her new single, "Work Bitch," which leaked this weekend, shows Spears dressed in a Vegas showgirl ensemble. She also posted a bikini'd Instagram pic talking about how hot the desert is.

Spears is set to join "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC's promotion touts the appearance as Spears revealing "her electrifying new career move."

Britney Spears' Las Vegas Residency To Earn Singer $15 Million Per Year (REPORT)

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Nobody Saw This Volcano Erupt ... Except NASA's Satellites

 Nobody lives near Mount Sourabaya, but a NASA satellite captured its eruption in the South Atlantic in this false-color image. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

For the first time in 60 years, Mount Sourabaya erupted with a spectacular show of fiery lava — in fact, it erupted twice. But there wasn't a single human soul who saw the eruptions live; nobody lives on the volcano's remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, according to NASA Earth Observatory.

Instead, satellites captured images of the eruptions, which happened on April 24 and May 1, 2016, NASA reported.

Volcanic eruptions in far-flung places, such as the South Atlantic, used to go unnoticed. But the advent of satellites and seismic monitoring has given scientists new insight into volcanic events worldwide, NASA officials said. [ Images: Iceland's Blazing Volcano Seen From Space

"Today, scientists can pick up signatures of events occurring far from any human observers," NASA's Earth Observatory said in a statement

That's exactly what happened when Mount Sourabaya erupted. The volcano sits on Bristol Island, one of the largest islands in the South Sandwich Islands chain. The archipelago is located about 1,725 miles (2,776 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is about the distance from Los Angeles to Chicago.

 The false-color red splotch suggests that the eruption had lava. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

The 3,600-foot-tall (1,100 meters) Mount Sourabaya is a stratovolcano — a tall, conical volcano that's made of volcanic material, including lava and ash. Mount Sourabaya is usually covered in glacial ice and snow, NASA said, which gives a clue as to why nobody lives there.

The Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired two false-color images during Mount Sourabaya's eruptions. Both images were compiled from a combination of shortwave-infrared, near-infrared and red light, all of which detect heat gradients.

Each image shows the hottest part of the volcano with a bright red and orange splotch, indicating what is likely hot lava, NASA said. The tall, white plumes show the ash, and the bright blue-green color shows the ice cover on the volcano.

A volcano on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean just erupted twice, but nobody actually saw it happen.


These days, our knowledge of celebrities too often originates with paparazzi images and snarky quotes by anonymous "insiders." After a while, it's easy to forget that stars are real people. That's why HuffPost Celebrity decided to launch its all-new #nofilter quick-fire question-and-answer series. Because how well do you know someone until they've shared their guiltiest pleasures?

It's been a busy year for Holly Madison. The former "Girls Next Door" star welcomed daughter Rainbow Aurora back in March, and tied the knot with Pasquale Rotella in a fairytale celebration at Disneyland in September. Fortunately, the new wife and mom found a few moments to take our #nofilter challenge.

I have chocolate cravings, like every girl. But I would say Taco Bell. When I’m absolutely desperate, driving around starving, that’s where I want to go. But I keep it to a minimum. It’s about what you do 90 percent of the time, not your 10 percent mess-ups because we’re all going to do that.

Probably when I’m home with my baby, just spending time with her and being in the moment and playing, with nothing else on my mind.

What sense would you most be afraid to lose?

What's the most unusual thing you have in your purse or wallet?

There’s always something weird that I’ve been carrying around. I have this diaper bag that’s like Hermione’s endless bag from "Harry Potter" that she pulls a tent out of, and things get lost in there for months. The rare moments I decide to clean out my bag, something will come out and I’m like, what the hell? Being a mom and having a 7-month-old, it’s still weird to me to even have diapers in my purse. I hate finding garbage in my purse; that’s the worst.

Describe one time you thought "This is harder than it looks."

Definitely finding time to do anything else when you’re a mom other than taking care of the baby. I knew it would be hard, but it’s harder than I thought.

What technology do you hope will be invented in the next 10 years?

I spend some of my time in LA and I’d like to be able to get anywhere without having to deal with major traffic. So I’d like some kind of subway or flying car in LA.

What's the silliest thing you've ever lied about?

What really sticks in my head, because my mom went berserk about it, is when I was 4 years old I had this peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I threw it across the lawn and said I was done and wanted dessert, and she freaked out and gave me a huge lecture on lying.

If you could commit a crime and get away with it, what would it be?

I’d spy on people because I’m nosy. I don’t know if that’s really a crime. I guess if you’re stalking someone at their house and being a total freak, that’s trespassing.

What's one thing you do when you're alone that you wouldn't do in front of someone else?

I almost never dream. I can’t even remember the last time I dreamed. I don’t remember them.

What’s the working title of your autobiography?

When I’m overwhelmed, when I have a lot of things on my plate and I feel like I can’t accomplish them in time.

I don’t watch a lot of TV -- I think a lot of TV shows are not very interesting and overrated.

Absolutely. I think there are so many people who are fake and just want something from you, and you really have to value the true friends you have. And it takes years to find out who they are.

I’m most afraid of anything having to do with eyeballs. I don’t like things touching my eyes. I don’t like things coming near my eyes. Somebody once said, "Did you know you can take your eye out with a spoon?" and that made me almost barf. I have an eyeball phobia..

I was probably just super-frustrated. It’s probably happened since I’ve had the baby and I’ve just been super-frustrated and had to let it out because I couldn’t get anything done.

Is it okay to recline your seat on an airplane?

Absolutely. I mean, I kind of hate it when it happens to me sometimes, if I have the baby in front of me, because then I have no room to put down a tray or anything like that. But the seats barely go back. So yes, it is okay.

Oh my god, I was just at a burlesque show the other night and the jokes the emcee was saying were so wrong, and that’s all I have in my head right now. But I can’t repeat them.

Holly Madison has just launched an eDiet called the Holly Madison Diet, geared toward pregnant women and new moms and designed to fit Madison’s food preferences and healthy lifestyle. The diet features recipes she handpicked to offer a balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats, plus her favorite workout regimens. Visit hollymadisondiet.com for more information.

Holly Madison Talks Motherhood, Guilty Pleasures For HuffPost's #nofilter

These days, our knowledge of celebrities too often originates with paparazzi images and snarky quotes by anonymous "insiders." After a while, it's ea...

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Did You Know That KFC Is A Huge Deal In Japan On Christmas?

Perhaps it’s because Colonel Sanders resembles Santa Claus. Perhaps it’s because people realized fried chicken actually tastes better than roasted chicken. Or perhaps it’s because KFC had an amazing marketing strategy, as explained here .

But in Japan, it's a tradition for people to celebrate Christmas with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Some make reservations as early as October to celebrate Christmas with KFC's Christmas party bucket.

Everyone In Japan Goes To KFC For Christmas And It’s Kind Of Awesome

Have a merry Kentucky Christmas, Japan!..


Taking Tylenol May Have One Insane Side Effect, Research Suggests

Zapping your headache by popping a few pills may also be killing your ability to feel.

In a new study published by The Ohio State University in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers reveal, acetaminophen may reduce the ability to feel empathy for others.

Acetaminophen also happens to be the main ingredient in Tylenol.

To come to its conclusion, the team devised two double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments.

...participants rated perceived pain, personal distress, and empathic concern in response to reading physical or social pain scenarios, witnessing ostracism in the lab, or visualizing another study participant receiving painful noise blasts.

The study came to its findings after having 40 college-aged participants take 1,000 mg of acetaminophen, while 40 more participants took a placebo.

The group then read eight different and unpleasant scenarios. In the end, the group that took the acetaminophen rated the scenarios as "less severe" than their placebo counterparts.

The team tested the results with a second set of 114 college students and came to similar findings.

How can this really translate into your everyday life?

Baldwin Way, senior author of the study, told Science Daily,

If you are having an argument with your spouse and you just took acetaminophen, this research suggests you might be less understanding of what you did to hurt your spouse’s feelings.

The pure volume of acetaminophen taken in the US can also have profound effects on society as well. As the team concluded in its abstract,

Because empathy regulates prosocial and antisocial behavior, these drug-induced reductions in empathy raise concerns about the broader social side effects of acetaminophen, which is taken by almost a quarter of US adults each week.

However, simply not taking pain medication is a real lose-lose situation. Dominik Mischkowski, co-author of the study, pointed out to USA Today,

Pain might actually decrease empathy as well. So, there are other factors that need to be taken into account.

Like all studies these days, take it with a giant grain of salt, or maybe a few Advil instead.

Taking Tylenol may reduce your ability to feel certain emotions toward others.


The CEO of Whole Foods says he never hires people who display this personality trait

Job interviewing is all about persuading the company that you’re the absolute perfect person for the job.

Yet at the same time, it’s important not to seem overconfident or delusional as to your own abilities.

That’s according to Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods. In a recent That’s according to Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal , Robb said the one trait that won’t get someone hired is "a lack of humility and an over sense of self-promotion."

Whole Foods isn’t the only company that’s wary of arrogance. As Thomas L. Friedman writes in Whole Foods isn’t the only company that’s wary of arrogance. As Thomas L. Friedman writes in The New York Times , Google places a similar value on humility. According to Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president of People Operations, Google looks for people who are able to accept when someone else has a better idea.

Bock told Friedman that the most successful Googlers are " zealots about their point of view. But then you say, ‘here’s a new fact,’ and they’ll go, ‘Oh, well, that changes things; you’re right.’ You need a big ego and small ego in the same person at the same time."

So how exactly do you strike that balance between confidence and humility during a job interview?

Writing in Writing in The Harvard Business Review , John Baldoni says it’s important to talk about coworkers’ contributions to solving problems, instead of just your own.

, Margie Warrell suggests that instead of promoting yourself, you promote your value, meaning that you show how you can contribute to the success of others and the organization overall. And over at Forbes , Margie Warrell suggests that instead of promoting yourself, you promote your value, meaning that you show how you can contribute to the success of others and the organization overall.

Of course, there are some execs who actively look for confidence and self-promotion. Oracle cofounder and former CEO Larry Ellison, for example, used to train recruiters to Of course, there are some execs who actively look for confidence and self-promotion.. Oracle cofounder and former CEO Larry Ellison, for example, used to train recruiters to ask candidates if they were the smartest person they knew . If they said yes, they were hired.

Rebecca Cook/ReutersWalter Robb.Job interviewing is all about persuading the company that you're the absolute perfect person for the job.Yet at the same ti...


Can't sleep? Insomniacs should try this solution, say scientists

Over the years, insomniacs have been offered pills, plants, "mindfulness", and even special lamps to help them get off to sleep.

But it now turns out that a far simpler solution has always been at hand, and one that is, literally, all around: the great outdoors.

New research suggests that rather than lying in bed miserably counting imaginary sheep, insomniacs should get out among some real ones and try a spot of camping.

According to a new study, just a couple of nights under canvas is enough to reset the body’s internal clock, enabling people to fall asleep more quickly.

Modern living is increasingly depriving people of sufficient natural light, causing the timing of their circadian rhythm to slip.

However, a new experiment by the University of Colorado revealed how a stint in the countryside is able to rapidly shift the timing forward by two and a half hours, allowing campers to go to bed at a civilised hour once they returned home.

The altered rhythms were detected by measuring levels of the hormone melatonin in the participants.

Going to bed late is thought to contribute not only to sleepiness and reduced productivity during the day, but also more serious conditions like mood disorders, diabetes and obesity.

"If a person wants to go to bed at an earlier hour, then a weekend camping could be just the thing," said Dr Kenneth Wright, who led the research.

"Our findings demonstrate that living in our modern environment contributes to late circadian timing regardless of season and that a weekend camping trip can reset our clock rapidly."

Previous research by the same team established that people’s modern exposure to electrical lighting causes roughly a two-hour delay in circadian timing and that a week of summer sun shifted those internal rhythms back.

But the scientists wanted to discover whether the same effect could be triggered by far shorter exposure.

In the new study, they sent a group of nine people out camping with no torches or mobile phones for a single weekend, and found that the light exposure was enough to bring their internal clocks forward.

Being outdoors and not having access to any technology also prevented the campers from delaying the time they went to sleep, which also helped reset their sleeping patterns.

Dr Wright said that, for most city-living people, modern living reduces light exposure by a factor of 13.

"Our findings highlight an opportunity for architectural design to bring in more natural sunlight into the modern built environment and to work with lighting companies to incorporate tunable lighting that would be able to change across the day and night to enhance performance, health, and well-being," he said.

Insomnia is currently increasing in Britain, with one in two people enduring the disorder at some time.

Earlier this week, Norwegian researchers reported a link between sleepless nights and asthma, saying chronic insomnia could triple the chances of developing the potentially fatal condition.

NHS guidance recommends avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol at night and not napping during the day for affected people.

If practical alterations such as these have no impact, GPs can recommend cognitive behavioural therapy, aimed at tackling unhelpful thoughts or actions that could be contributing to insomnia, or sleeping tablets in severe cases.

The new study was published in the journal Current Biology.

Can't sleep? Insomniacs should try camping, say scientists

Over the years, insomniacs have been offered pills, plants, “mindfulness”, and even special lamps to help them get off to sleep.