• The Dutch concept "Niksen"is becoming increasingly popular around the world and is a method of stress management that involves "doing nothing."
• This includes everything from looking out of the window without thinking too much to lying down on the sofa and listening to music.
• In a conversation with Business Insider, Japanese author Naoko Yamamoto, who has been living in the Netherlands for 15 years, reveals how difficult it is for workaholics to adopt Niksen into their lifestyle.
• Aside from de-stressing, Niksen has another advantage: It inspires you. "Inspiration almost always happens when you're doing nothing special — when you're showering or doing the dishes," Yamamoto said.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Life has become increasingly stressful, and every day we run from one appointment to the next. So it's only natural that at some point we ask ourselves: "How can I reduce my stress levels?" But the answer is not always easy.

Perhaps you can find it in the Dutch concept of Niksen.

Niksen, which is becoming increasingly popular around the world, is a method of stress management that involves "doing nothing."

The Japanese author Naoko Yamamoto, who is also the assistant director-general for universal health coverage at the World Health Organization (WHO), has been living in the Netherlands for more than 15 years and has become accustomed to the Dutch lifestyle.

While Niksen works in her adopted country, Japanese people like her have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept. To find out why this is the case and how you can get Japanese people — who are known for being workaholics— to do nothing, Business Insider sat down with the author.

BI: Ms. Yamamoto, Northern European lifestyle trends are receiving an increasing amount of attention in Japan, aren't they?

NY: Yes. A few years ago the concept of "hygge" made its way from Denmark to Japan. There is no direct translation for it, but "hygge" means something like "enjoying time and space together."

The Dutch word "geselligheid" has a very similar meaning. This includes, for example, inviting friends over for a house party or drinking coffee on the couch with someone. "Geselligheid" is happiness that derives from a harmonious atmosphere.

And then there is another Swedish word, which is "lagom." This comes close to meaning something along the lines of "moderate." It's a lifestyle where you have to accept everything as it is.

BI: But neither "hygge" or "lagom" are very common practices in Japan ...

NY: No, but the Japanese have a longing for it. But they don't think they can do it. Instead, they think: "I need to invite people? That's a lot of work and I'm already so busy anyways ..." They have the impression that they need to do everything as a host, whether that's deep-cleaning the apartment, or cooking something extravagant. The list goes on.

This is quite different in Holland. You invite your friends over, but you don't do anything special for them. Dutch people can simply enjoy an evening together, even if they are only having pancakes for dinner. Japanese people don't dare do this. They would never just offer a miso soup for dinner. They think that this is just not acceptable.

BI: But Japanese people still like the concept of niksen?

NY: Yes, niksen is a Dutch verb that means to "do nothing." People can reduce their stress levels by doing nothing or by doing something without a purpose.

Concrete examples would include looking out of the window without thinking too much, or lying down on the sofa and listening to music, or going for a walk somewhere. It's important that you don't think about appointments and that you free yourself from everyday life. You can do niksen on your own and don't have to spend any energy doing it.

Burnouts are a serious problem in the Netherlands, which is why many therapists now teach the niksen method. This would also help many Japanese people.

BI: How effective is niksen against stress?

NY: Above all, you have to allow yourself to do nothing. Only then can you free yourself from your own sense of duties. Relaxing your body and mind will lower your stress levels automatically. By doing this, burnouts can be avoided and the immune system will be strengthened.

Niksen has another advantage: It inspires us. Inspiration almost always happens when you're doing nothing special — when you're showering or doing the dishes, for example. These types of activities give the brain the opportunity to process information, which in turn leads to fresh and new ideas.

At the University of Rotterdam, researchers wanted to know in which social environments niksen works best. They discovered that the more stressful the environment is, the more effective niksen is too.

During this experiment, they also measured how chaotic different countries were. For example, by measuring how long it took to buy stamps at a post office they discovered that the social pace in the Netherlands was a lot faster than, for example, the pace in Indonesia. This is why niksen is much more effective in Holland than in Indonesia — people are more chaotic, things are more fast-paced, which is why people need more downtime.

I think that the social pace in Japan is much faster than that of the Netherlands. So niksen could have a huge impact in Japan.

BI: In practice, doing absolutely nothing is difficult, don't you think?

NY: Sure, it's very difficult. You're meant to look out the window without thinking. That sounds more like meditation to me. Even the Dutch have difficulties with that. Niksen actually has a rather negative meaning in the Netherlands. The country's culture is marked by Calvinism: hard work is in their nature. This is why it's difficult for Dutch people to niksen.

If you find it too difficult to just look out of the window, you can try a different version too: do the dishes plates without thinking. Or do something monotonous — like knitting.

It is important to do something "semi-automatically." That means concentrating on something simple without much effort. Even a game on a smartphone can be niksen. Many Japanese commuters like to play on their mobile phones, for example. It's important that everyone finds their own version of niksen.

BI: Playing on a smartphone is niksen? I'm afraid I'd feel guilty about it. It sounds like you're just ignoring problems.

NY: No, it's not an escape from reality. It's a process by which you give your thoughts the opportunity to mature. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos also do the dishes.

BI: How do you niksen in your personal life?

NY: I usually work from home. So the way I niksen is by folding laundry or playing a piece on the piano that I already know so that I can do it without thinking. But don't worry, it doesn't always work for me either. While I am folding the laundry, I sometimes think: "Oh, I still have to answer this email." I am still improving myself.

BI: What do your Dutch friends do when they want to niksen?

NY: Most of my friends don't do it during work, but on their days off or on vacation. And most of them are really good at it. Sure, if you're the CEO of a big company, you will still need to reply to some emails during your holidays. But you can also always send an automated email saying: "I'm not there until X, I will respond to your email afterward." Most people will accept your absence and will handle it just fine.

I always go on a long summer vacation, but then I have to make many plans. My Dutch friend recently asked me what I did on holiday. I answered: "I was rowing in Hokkaido" and he replied: "You did something so elaborate on your holiday. I just sat on the beach and spent all my time reading."

BI: I understand you. I also always need to plan something when I'm on vacation.

NY: Yes. Japanese people don't feel comfortable doing just nothing. Many Dutch people also say that they are not very good at niksen. But I can see that they are much better at it compared to us. They don't feel obliged to do anything special while on holiday.

Dutch people, for example, love camping in France or Italy. But when they are there, they live like they're at home, even if they're in another place. They cook, wash, read, and the children play in the parks.

BI: And why can't Japanese people do this?

NY: I suspect that the cause lies in our childhood. When I went on our summer holidays as a little girl in Japan, I always had a lot of homework to do. Already in primary school, I was given the impression: You have to work during the summer holidays.

In the Netherlands, there is no such thing. Homework is not for the summer holidays. The primary school pupils just play and waste their time. These experiences eventually lead to the fact that they can easily switch to niksen as adults.

BI: So the foundation of niksen is already set in childhood?

NY: Right. That's why I would suggest that Japanese educators don't assign any homework during the holidays. The only assignment that should be given should be something like be an illustrated diary.

But adults need to show kids how to do it too. They need to rest too. Their vacation days are already so limited — they don't have to do something special like go to Disneyland or a trip abroad every time. If this reduces your stress, then you can do these things. But I doubt that it will actually reduce your stress levels. And it is also pleasant for children to just stay at home for a while.

BI: So we should show our children that we must also rest from time to time.

NY: Exactly. You could start by simply canceling any weekend plans.

German edition translated from the original article in Business Insider Japan

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• Istanbul's Grand Bazaar has been a center of life in the city for hundreds of years.
• With more than 4,000 shops on more than 60 streets, it is one of the largest markets in the world.
• I recently wandered into the market by accident while walking around the city.
• Chock-full of exotic sights, sounds and smells (and cats), it felt like visiting another world, like something out of "Star Wars."
• Despite interesting things to see everywhere, I was struck by the lack of people taking pictures.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. 

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

So says Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) to a young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in 1977's "Star Wars: A New Hope."

He was talking, of course, about the Mos Eisley spaceport, the place where Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his pal Chewbacca hung out in a local cantina looking for work.

Like the fictional setting in the pop culture pièce de résistance, wandering through Istanbul's Grand Bazaar — the beating heart of a city considered to be the crossroads of civilizations for hundreds of years and packed from almost floor to ceiling with exotic sights, sounds, and smells — can feel like visiting a galaxy far, far away with the sense of wide-eyed wonderment it inspires in those who find their way into it.

I recently wandered into the bazaar by accident while taking a series of trains across Europe from Istanbul to London. Here's what it was like to set foot in this action-packed world that's semi-shrouded in darkness.

The first thing to know about the Grand Bazaar is "grand" barely begins to describe it.

To say the Grand Bazaar is big would be an understatement. According to Turkey's official tourism agency, it has more than 4,000 shops along more than 60 streets. It's absolutely enormous.

Not only is it very big, but it's also very busy.

Hundreds of thousands of people are thought to pass through at least part of the Grand Bazaar each day, a traffic volume akin to the entire population of many cities. Walking about, it was very easy to see that was the case.

It's also full of cats — like much of Istanbul.

Black, white, tabby, calico, striped, Siamese, Van, Ragdoll — there were cats and kittens in every color and breed imaginable. Their apparent fearlessness was awe-inspiring — they either weaved through the thick crowds as if they didn't exist, or just sat upon perches of all shapes and sizes, silently judging passers-by as cats do and purring when people went over to pet them. 

They all appeared well-fed — the friendly felines did not look undernourished like other cats I'd seen (and helped nurse back to health) in other cities. Pieces of cat food and even meat were lined up on the sides of streets in piles along with fresh bowls of water and little saucers of milk, like a never-ending, high-end cat buffet. I decided if I had to be any animal other than a human and could live in any place, I would be a cat in Istanbul.

As Kareem Shaheen and Gökçe Saraçoğlu wrote for The Guardian in 2017, why there are so many cats in Istanbul is a mystery. The city's fascination with felines is also explored in the 2016 documentary "Kedi." In one part of the film, an interviewee describes cats as part of the very soul of Istanbul. 

The cats are also the subject of international acclaim. When former US president Barack Obama visited Istanbul in 2009, he spent some time petting a cat named Gli at the Hagia Sophia.

If the bazaar seems familiar, it's because it had a starring role in a fairly recent James Bond film ...

At the beginning of the 2012 film "Skyfall," James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) pursue a villain through the Grand Bazaar, with all the gunfire, explosions, and edge-of-your-seat action one would expect in a 007 film. The chase sequence was filmed on location at the bazaar — and at one point, according to Hürriyet Daily News, a stunt driver actually drove a motorcycle on moving platforms above the Grand Bazaar's roofs.

To my knowledge, there were no suave British agents on secret missions for Her Majesty while I was at the bazaar — and certainly no one driving a motorcycle on anything other than a road.

... But the movie the bazaar really reminded me of was 'Star Wars.'

Maybe it was the exotic sights, such as the ancient, unique architecture and goods for sale whose purpose I could only guess at and whose shape I could barely find the words to describe. Maybe it was the smells, which were equally new and strange and seemed to be a combination of roasting meats, sweet-scented spices, and old stone, blended with a sea breeze blown in from the nearby Bosporus. Maybe it was the sounds: not only did I hear Turkish, but there were snatches of German, French, English, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, even Afrikaans and all sorts of other tongues, mixing with the sounds of wind-blown chimes, sizzling food, meowing cats, honking car horns, revving scooters and motorcycles, and high heels and boots clacking against the pavement. Or maybe it was what people were wearing: the street style was out of this world, like its own fashion show — a range of cuts, patterns and colors even more diverse than Tokyo's famed Harajuku or places like Paris, London, or New York.

I couldn't help but feel I was wandering through a market on some distant planet in the "Star Wars" galaxy, and that I was someone like Luke Skywalker experiencing it all for the first time. There were even some people (women in abayas, and a couple Orthodox Christian priests) in black robes; none of them, however (at least to the best of my knowledge), were carrying lightsabers.

I found myself in the midst of the market completely by accident.

Being so large, the Grand Bazaar has countless entrances. Ascending some narrow streets up one of Istanbul's many hills, I didn't even know I was in the Grand Bazaar until I looked up and saw a security guard standing next to a sign that said "Grand Bazaar."

There was barely any visible security — which I found surprising given recent terror attacks in Istanbul and security concerns following Turkish military operations in neighboring Syria.

Other than the uniformed man (who did not appear to be armed) at the entrance I'd stumbled upon, I saw hardly any visible security patrolling the winding streets. It was a marked change from the Old City of Jerusalem, where gun-toting soldiers were everywhere, and made their presence known in the markets of the various quarters.

Since I had found my way into the bazaar by chance, I walked down any street I found interesting. Everywhere I turned there was something new and exciting.

Whatever caught my fancy, I walked towards it. One area seemed to be dedicated exclusively to selling leather jackets, coats, and purses. Another seemed to be only rugs. Another was just clay pots. Another seemed to be — strangely enough — wicker baskets and furniture. And there were more than a few stalls selling just pointy shoes, in seemingly more colors than I thought existed.

It was all just so fascinating.

There was so much to see and experience, I almost forgot that a big reason people come to the Grand Bazaar is to buy stuff.

With more than 4,000 shops (at least), you name it, you can buy it at the Grand Bazaar. Truly, however, I was too distracted to closely look at the wares for sale. And even if I were keen on purchasing something, seeing as I was about to begin a trip by train from Istanbul to London carrying all my earthly possessions with me, I didn't have room for anything more in my two small suitcases and single backpack.

Hardly anyone seemed to be stopping to take pictures. I was pleasantly surprised.

Like a busy metro station or arrivals area at an airport, no one seemed to really be standing around — everyone seemed to keep moving. Although I thought the bazaar looked like the kind of thing Instagram was made for, there didn't seem to be anyone stopping in the middle of its covered passageways to snap photos. I was very surprised — in a good way.

The lack of other people taking pictures also made me somewhat self-conscious. No one yelled at me when I did, but I endeavored to keep the photography to a minimum so not to clog the constantly-moving traffic.

As dusk descended, the crowds were not dissipating. If anything, the bazaar was only getting busier.

I would have thought as evening approached, the crowds would lessen somewhat. I was wrong. And yet, I found the sea of humanity invigorating — after all, everyone has an interesting story to tell. The energy was infectious.

As evening fell on the city and the call to prayer went out, I began to make my way back to my hotel. Just as accidentally as I'd found my way in, I found my way out.

Hearing the call to prayer drifting through the covered passageways and narrow alleys of the bazaar was a goosebump-inducing, moving experience — it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard. But it also meant it was getting late. I did need to get back, as I had a mystery to solve regarding whether Agatha Christie (or possibly her ghost) had hidden a secret notebook in room 411 of the Pera Palace Hotel where I was staying. I'd have stayed longer, but I'd be able to visit the bazaar the next day — while my room reservation was only for one night.

I was a bit worried I'd be too lost to find my way out, but exiting the bazaar only took a couple minutes; with lots of entrances, there are also lots of exits.

The Grand Bazaar had made a strong impression — it was perhaps the unexpected highlight of my time in Istanbul. The sense of adventure I felt there seemed fitting, as I was about to begin my own adventure.

My train journey to London was to be no space opera (or so I hoped) like "Star Wars," but I hoped there would be that same sense of possibility, that same sense of wonder, as the films. The Grand Bazaar embodied that perfectly — it was an experience no shopping mall could ever possibly come close to replicating. Because the bazaar, I realized, isn't merely a shopping experience — it also a cultural experience and, quite simply, an adventure. 

And aren't adventures the reason why many people travel?

• It is now possible to stay the night in the childhood home of Harry Potter.
• Located in the English village of Lavenham, Suffolk, the De Vere House appeared as Godric's Hollow in the "Harry Potter" movies.
• The home boasts muggle-friendly amenities like en suite bathrooms and wifi.
• It can be rented on Airbnb.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The English cottage where Lily and James Potter intended to raise their son Harry — until He Who Must Not Be Named arrived — is now a place us muggles can stay the night.

Located in the medieval village of Lavenham in the English county of Suffolk, guests don't even need to use the Floo Network to get to the house. All one needs to do is reserve it on Airbnb, which can be done even if not a witch or wizard.

Known as the De Vere House, the property is a former Five Star and Gold Award bed and breakfast.

The home and surrounding village (which boasts more than 300 protected heritage properties) appeared as Godric's Hollow in the film adaptions of J.K. Rowling's famed book series, where Harry Potter's parents Lily and James meant to raise their child before they were attacked by the wicked Lord Voldemort (forcing baby Harry, of course, to be raised by the selfish Dursleys and live in a closet under the stairs).

Though it can reasonably be assumed, it remains unknown if the Ministry of Magic is aware that the house is available for rent. It is also a mystery why Rita Skeeter does not seem to have written about it yet.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Designer Zac Posen announced on Friday that he has shuttered his eponymous fashion label after 18 years. 
• In a statement, Posen said he was "deeply saddened" by the news but was "incredibly proud" of what he was able to accomplish.
• Over the years, the designer became known for his glamorous ball gowns and has dressed everyone from Rihanna to Sarah Jessica Parker to Oprah Winfrey.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On Friday, designer Zac Posen announced the immediate closing of his eponymous fashion label, which launched in 2001.

In a press statement, the former "Project Runway" judge said he was "deeply saddened that the journey of nearly 20 years has come to an end" but that he was "grateful to the team who lent their incomparable talent and commitment along the way."

"The management team … worked extremely hard to navigate the increasingly challenging fashion and retail landscape,"he said in the statement."We are disappointed that these efforts have not been successful."

Over the years, Posen became known for his glamourous ball gowns and curve-hugging designs.

Some of his most famous looks include the pink satin dress he designed for Rihanna at the singer's 2014 Diamond Ball, the light-up Cinderella gown he created for Claire Danes at the 2016 Met Gala, and the dress Princess Eugenie of York wore to her wedding reception. But those are far from the only iconic moments the designer has had.

A spokesperson for Zac Posen didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Keep reading to take a look back at Posen's rise to fame and his nearly two decades-long career in the fashion industry.

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Zac Posen was born and raised in New York City.

He was raised in SoHo and has previously said that his love of fashion began when he used to steal the yarmulkes at his grandparents' synagogue to make dresses for dolls. At 16, he enrolled in Parsons School of Design's precollege program, and he was given the opportunity to intern with fashion designer Nicole Miller.

Source:New York Magazine, Chicago Tribune, The Hollywood Reporter

He went on to study womenswear at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of Arts London.

In 2000, he designed a gown made entirely from thin leather strips that was later put on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum — named after the UK's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert — in their "Curvaceous" exhibit. 

Source: Britannica, Victoria and Albert Museum

In 2001, after graduating, Posen returned to New York City and immediately began attracting media attention for his talent at such a young age. He had his first independent runway show, for a Fall 2002 ready-to-wear collection, in February 2002, Vogue reports.

Posen set up shop in his parents' living room and quickly started designing clothes. His parents gave him an allowance of $15 a day. This allowed Posen, then only 21 and fresh out of fashion school, to design nearly three collections' worth of clothing only a few months after graduating.  

His style was noted for its Old Hollywood glamour, and he knew many soon-to-be-famous people from his childhood who were more than willing to be photographed in his gowns, boosting his media presence around the world. 

Source: Time, Vogue

In September 2002, after Posen's Spring 2003 Collection was presented at New York Fashion Week, Time magazine reported that industry experts were referring to him as the "Next Big Thing in Frocks."

He was courted by heavy-hitters in the business, such as LVMH's president Sidney Toledano.

"All fashion indices point to [Posen] as the Next Big Thing in Frocks,"Time magazine noted in 2002. "Magazines have written worshipfully about him. Manolo Blahnik collaborates with him on shoes. Posen's shows feature A-list models like Naomi Campbell, whom he pays in clothes. And during last week's Fashion Week, when all the most influential sheiks of chic were in Manhattan, Bloomingdale's devoted a row of windows to his work."

Source: Time, New York Times

That same year, actress Natalie Portman wore a midi-dress from Posen's first collection to the "Star Wars" premiere. This was the moment credited with turning Posen into a star designer.

Posen's quick rise to the top and his youth earned him the title of a "wunderkind."

In 2003, Vogue wrote that Posen was just "22 years old and Designer of the Year five minutes out of fashion college."

Source: Vogue

In 2004, rapper Sean Combs held a 50% ownership stake in Posen's namesake brand. By that time, the designer was regularly dressing celebrities like Naomi Campbell and Katie Holmes.

"I see Zac as someone who shares the same drive and vision that I have,"Combs said in 2004, according to Vogue UK. "I also saw an opportunity for Sean John [Combs' fashion label] to make an impact with Zac Posen by giving him the tools and resources that he needed for his business to grow and mature. He has been able to establish a real profile as an American contemporary and evening designer. He dresses amazing women, the stores love him and clearly he is a force to be contended with in the designer ready-to-wear scene." 

Source: Vogue Business, Vogue UK

Posen won the prestigious Swarovski's Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear at the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2004.

Source: The Core Club, CFDA, New York Post

He quickly became a red carpet favorite, with the mermaid gown he created for Gwyneth Paltrow for the 2007 Academy Awards noted as one of Posen's most memorable looks ever.

Vogue's Nicole Phelps wrote that though Posen's career was not without its ups and downs, he was able to fare better than his industry peers because "he was early to discover and capitalize on fashion's growing importance in the entertainment sphere."

Source: Vogue Business,The Guardian, Oscars

In 2008, Posen released a capsule collection with Target that launched in Australia. In 2010, Posen was selected by the retailer to create a GO International collection — "an innovative program designed to provide affordable fashion created by world-renowned designers."

In a press statement released by Target in 2010, the retailer's senior vice president, Trish Adams, said that "Zac Posen brings larger-than-life style to his Target collection, creating a covetable line with a modern edge. We are excited to share his extraordinary talent with our guests, providing accessible off-the-runway fashion at great prices."

Source: People, Target

In 2012, Posen was named a judge on Project Runway, where he remained for six seasons. He departed after the 2017 season, at the same time Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn left.

Source: People, Business Insider

As of 2013, Posen was living in Soho with his partner, fashion editor Christopher Niquet.

In a 2013 interview with the New York Times, Posen said he and Niquet lived in SoHo, with their three dogs: a poodle named Tina Turner, two miniature dachshunds named Betty Blue and Candy Darling.

"Having grown up in Soho, the nostalgic search for the late '80s-'90s look — which doesn't exist on the youth in Soho anymore — is something that I grew up with, so it's not intriguing to me," he said in the interview. "I find the old women uptown very inspiring.

Source:New York Times

Posen also launched an affordable bridal collection with David's Bridal called "Truly Zac Posen."

The first collection had ivory dresses ranging from $850 to $1,350, and social dresses ranging from $195 to $225. 

"I have such a wide fan base and audience base and [a] diverse base,"Posen told USA Today in 2013, ahead of the line's 2014 official launch. "I wanted to find a place where I could actually address them and dress them."

Source: USA Today

He designed two gowns for Rihanna to wear at her inaugural Diamond Ball in 2014, one of which was a gorgeous pink, curve-fitting satin gown.

The look is considered to also be one of his most famous, The Guardian reports. At the time, InStyle wrote that the gown might be "Rihanna's most spectacular look — ever."

Source: The Guardian, InStyle

Posen was named the creative director of Brooks Brothers Women's Collection in 2014.

He remains the creative director of the Brooks Brothers' womenswear collection. 

Source: The Guardian, Brooks Brothers, Associated Press

In 2015, Posen and Naomi Campbell introduced that year's upcoming fall collection.

Campbell wore a stunning glitter maroon ball gown, which has also become one of his most memorable looks. That year, he was also named Designer of the Year by Women's Wear Daily and Variety.

Source:Insider, CFDA

In 2016, Posen created a runway collection inspired by African Princess Elizabeth of Toro (now part of Uganda), who, in the 1960s, became the first East African to be admitted to England's Bar Association — and later that decade, the first black woman to appear in a Vogue magazine spread.

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For the showing of his Fall 2016 collection, Posen chose mostly black models to present the collection at New York Fashion Week. 

"Since the inspiration was Elizabeth of Toro, it made sense to have a casting reflecting this," Posen he said of the collection's debut. "Their presence and the diversity of the casting complemented the collection and made it more striking. Within this global environment — diversity is very important and it is something that has always been equally important to me as well as a key component of my collections, whether it is shapes, sizes, or skin color."

Source: CNN, Popsugar, Quartz

Posen made headlines once again with his light-up Cinderella-inspired gown for Claire Danes at the 2016 Met Gala. The dress is considered not just one of his most notable designs, but also one of his best creations.

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The following year, he released a cookbook called "Cooking with Zac: Recipes From Rustic to Refined," which featured a collection of his favorite recipes. 

Source: Entertainment Tonight,Barnes and Noble

In 2017, he released the Netflix documentary "House of Z," which chronicled the highs and lows of his career.

"Fashion has a dark side,"Posen said in the documentary. "Not all runways and lipstick and fishtail gowns." 

The documentary also touched upon Posen's quick rise to the top and how failure had humbled him over the years. 

Source: Variety

In 2018, he designed Princess Eugenie of York's wedding reception gown, which, as noted by Yahoo, was "inspired by the blush hue of the English rose."

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Source:Business Insider, Insider

He designed Delta Air Lines' new employee uniform that same year. It was the first time the company's "above-wing" and "below-the-wing" uniforms had been updated since 2006 and 2000 respectively.

("Above-wing" employees refer to those such as pilots and flight attendants, while "below-the-wing" refers to those such as baggage handlers and maintenance crew.)

In order to create the collection, Posen told Travel + Leisure that he shadowed multiple Delta employees so he could create an outfit which would accommodate all their needs. He also created a special color for the uniform: Passport Plum, which is a mixture of Delta's former dark blue and red colors. 

"This project and collaboration was something that evolved over three years and I really think it was handled in an incredible way for a corporation,"Posen told Travel + Leisure in 2018."I believe deeply in the power of glamour and the power of an experience. And the excitement of flying and definitely the nostalgia of the golden age. But it's really about taking that essence and creating a new future."

Source: Travel + Leisure

In 2019, Posen partnered with GE to create 3D print-inspired dresses for the Met Gala.

He also designed two gowns for model Winnie Harlow at the Harper's BAZAAR Icons Party and a bright pink ball gown for Sarah Jessica Parker to wear at the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala. 

He has been a longtime favorite of many noteworthy celebrities, from Sarah Jessica Parker to Oprah Winfrey — and his namesake label is sure to be missed by them. 

Source: People, CNBC

Today, he has a reported net worth of $30 million.

Source:The Richest

On November 1, Posen announced he was closing his iconic namesake label.

He told Women's Wear Daily that the experience was "horrible, pretty intense, and surreal." He also shared that the brand had been in the middle of a sale process, and they'd tried for months to "prevent this from happening" before he and his board unfortunately ran out of time. 

The company ceased operations immediately, and it was announced that the Spring 2020 collection Posen had shown earlier in the year would not be shipped. Speaking to WWD, he said that this was a "tough time in retail and in the industry." 

"My partners and I tried everything possible within our means to find solutions to keep it going," he told the outlet. "[But] the clock ran out."

Source: WWD

But Posen was sure to let all of his fans know that his label's abrupt shutdown was not the end for him. If anything, this was the start of a new beginning.

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"Hopefully, I'll have a long career ahead," he told WWD. "I need to take a little time to think about my options ... I've been focused on my brand for a long time. Now, this is a new stage. I will always have me. I will always have my creativity."

Source: WWD

• The Prada fashion group has taken steps to become a more environmentally-friendly company. 
• The fashion group has signed for a loan, which "will see interest rates lowered based on 'achievement of ambitious targets related to sustainability.'"
• It's being touted as the first business loan of its kind in the luxury goods sector. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

 The Prada fashion group has signed what is billed as the first business loan in the luxury goods sector linking the annual interest rate to practices that help the environment.

Prada said Tuesday that the five-year, 50 million-euro ($55-million) loan with Credit Agricole Group will see interest rates lowered based on "achievement of ambitious targets related to sustainability."

The targets include the number of stores that meet defined standards for "green" buildings, education workshops for employees and the use of regenerated nylon in collections.

The fashion world, recognized as the second most polluting industry after oil, has been working in recent years to adopt more environment-friendly practices. Prada's efforts include a project, called Prada Re-Nylon, to use recycled nylon made from plastic recovered from oceans in its trademark nylon bags.

SEE ALSO: Fashion prodigy Zac Posen shuttered his fashion label on Friday. Here's how he went from enrolling in a top design school at 16 to becoming a household name with celeb clients like Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow.

DON'T MISS: Only 2 companies have ranked among the most valuable luxury brands in the world every year since 2000 — Gucci and Louis Vuitton

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NOW WATCH: We went to a Champagne vineyard in France to find out why it's so expensive

• Google's Android operating system is the most widely-used smartphone software in the world, but Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates says that wouldn't be the case if his company hadn't been hit with an anti-trust lawsuit.
• "There's no doubt that the anti-trust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft, and we would've been more focused on creating the phone operating system,"Gates said at the New York Times DealBook conference in New York City this week. "So instead of using Android today, you would be using Windows Mobile."
• Microsoft was sued by the US government over its Windows PC operating system, which the government contended was holding an illegal monopoly on the market. A settlement was reached in 2001.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Bill Gates envisions an alternate reality where, instead of Google's Android being the most popular, widely-used smartphone operating system in the world, a version of Windows for smartphones is on top.

Notoriously, that operating system — Windows Mobile and, later, Windows Phone — was discontinued by Microsoft.

"Oh we were so close!"Gates said at the New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday in New York City. "If it hadn't been for the anti-trust case," he said, "I was just too distracted. I screwed that up because of the distraction."

Things didn't work out for Microsoft's mobile platform, which Gates blames on the anti-trust lawsuit Microsoft went through in the late '90s. The US government sued Microsoft over its PC operating system, Windows, which consumed Gates at the time. Microsoft settled with the government in 2001.

"There's no doubt that the anti-trust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft," he said, "and we would've been more focused on creating the phone operating system ... we were just three months too late with the release that Motorola would've used on a phone."

Even though it was too late, Microsoft still created a mobile OS (Windows Mobile), made a slew of smartphones, and even outright bought Nokia's smartphone business in an attempt to buy its way into the smartphone market.

None of that worked.

"Now nobody here has ever heard of Windows Mobile," Gates said on Wednesday. "But oh well! That's a few hundred billion here or there."

Check out the full interview with Gates right here:

SEE ALSO: Bill Gates says today's big tech companies have learned from Microsoft's mistakes in its big antitrust battle

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NOW WATCH: Apple just revealed its AirPods Pro for $249, which feature noise cancellation. Here's everything that was wrong with the $159 pair of the wireless headphones.

• To connect with her and create memories before she died, LA-based photographer Pat Martin took photos of his mother over a period of three years.
• Of the photo series, which has now won the 2019 Taylor Wessing Prize, Martin told Insider: "One by one, day by day, frame by frame, I'd sit with her, hang out, and take her portrait."
• He added that towards the end of the series, the two had become "best friends."
• Martin told Insider he hopes the portraits will encourage people to "think differently about their familial relationships."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. 

We all have memories. But our memories fade over time, of course — which is why we like to have reminders, such as photographs, of those memories.

Los Angeles-based photographer Pat Martin set out to create memories while connecting with his mother in the photo series "Goldie (Mother)."

The pictures — which the 27-year-old took of his mother Gail, a first-generation Jewish-American, before she died — recently won the 2019 Taylor Wessing Prize, one of the world's most prestigious photography awards from the National Portrait Gallery in the UK.

"She was my only parent and best teacher in life," Martin told Insider of his mother.

"She worked as a nurse for the elderly 30 years and spent most of my life trying to keep our ship afloat. It was a phone call from the doctor that painted a clear reality that she may not be in my life for much longer, [and] I began to notice we didn't have much of a record, no photographs or family recordings.

"I knew I needed to begin taking her portrait, never with a fully thought-out intention, just to reconnect and build on the empty album. One by one, day by day, frame by frame, I'd sit with her, hang out, and take her portrait."

Taken in Los Angeles between Martin's apartment and his brother's backyard over the course of three years (2016 to 2018), the project had its challenges.

"She was ill," Martin says of his mother, adding she was grateful for the moments they had together.

"After she passed, and after the wave of shock passed, I had a feeling of defeat because I wanted her to see the portraits framed and celebrated. I wanted her to feel beautiful and loved."

Challenging and emotional as the project was, Martin says it was also incredibly rewarding.

"Towards the end, we were best friends, and photographing her taught me taking a loved one's portrait is a wordless way to show someone you care for them," he told Insider.

"The countless hours and days I can remember spending making these images, seeing her world, and creating a beautiful perspective of her I never had.

"Now that the images are all I have in her memory, they're priceless to me and I feel incredibly grateful she allowed me to spend that time with her. Also, it's taught me a deep respect for being honest and opening up to others about your own life story. When you're honest, it's usually returned equally."

Of winning the Taylor Wessing Prize, Martin said: "It's been a pleasant surprise and overwhelming — a weight off my shoulders as well.

"This project has been a vulnerable journey from the beginning, and for the judges to celebrate the portraits, I'm overjoyed. I only wish she were here to see them and the response since. I know she'd be proud too, and wish I could share a piece of the special moment with her."

There are lessons Martin hopes the photographs can teach viewers, too.

"I'd like for someone to think differently about their familial relationships. To spend a few hours with their parents if they can, and to hold on to those quality moments. Take as many pictures as possible. Taking these taught me [that] you may not know which moments you'll cherish, so never hesitate to take a memory with you."

Taylor Wessing Prize judges said Martin's photos "captured something of the struggle and pride of his mother, which they felt speaks to the fragility of human experience and the power of the photographic portrait to express loss and evoke memory."

They added: "The photographer's assured use of light and a confidence in his compositional approach to the figure was greatly admired. "

For this year's Taylor Wessing Prize, judges went through about 3,700 submissions from no fewer than 1,611 photographers hailing from about 70 countries, according to The Guardian. As has been the case each year since being founded in 1993, the Prize was sponsored by the law firm Taylor Wessing.

Aside from the pictures, Martin adds there's another memory he was able to create from the photography project with his mother. One of the most striking photos in the collection, seen at the top of this page, is of Gail sitting while holding a small dog, named Beaux. 

"He's a four-year-old chihuahua, and is now my little pup," Martin said.

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NOW WATCH: Here's how to escape a flooding vehicle

• Billionaire Leon Cooperman told CNBC he is a "huge fan" of Mike Bloomberg and will support the former New York City mayor's bid in the 2020 Democratic primary.
• "Unless he changes his stripes, he will have my unequivocal support," Cooperman said.
• The praise follows an extended feud with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Cooperman told CNBC Monday that the progressive candidate's proposed wealth tax is a "bankrupt concept."
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

Billionaire Leon Cooperman told CNBC he's a "huge fan" of Mike Bloomberg and will support the former New York City Mayor as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary.

Cooperman added that he'd help fund Bloomberg's campaign. Despite the former mayor's $52 billion net worth according to Forbes, Bloomberg will still need donors to qualify for primary debates.

"I'm a huge fan of Michael. I know him personally. It's a breath of fresh air," Cooperman said. "Unless he changes his stripes, he will have my unequivocal support."

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is making a late entrance into the 2020 Democratic primary, with The New York Times reporting Thursday that he plans to file paperwork for the Alabama primary by the end of the week. Bloomberg has yet to officially announce his campaign.

When asked by CNBC about Bloomberg's fundraising efforts, Cooperman suggested the Democratic Party should join him in backing the philanthropist.

"I have a world of respect for his accomplishments and his values. I have to sit down and understand his platform," Cooperman said. "If the Democratic Party was smart, they would support him."

Cooperman, the famous founder of Omega Advisors, is hot off a back-and-forth feud with Senator Elizabeth Warren. The two have exchanged in a collection of remarks centered around Warren's policy proposals. The investor most recently called her wealth tax a "bankrupt concept"on CNBC.

Warren fired back at Cooperman's support of the billionaire philanthropist in a Friday tweet, saying the "wealthy and well-connected will always have each other's backs" and her campaign is "building a movement to change that."

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

Wall Street's 'Charging Bull' statue will be relocated after drawing protests for years

A notorious short-seller pulls back on its bet against Netflix, saying international traction could boost the stock 20%

We got a leaked copy of the memo Robinhood sent to barred users who exploited its now infamous 'infinite money' glitch

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NOW WATCH: A big-money investor in juggernauts like Facebook and Netflix breaks down the '3rd wave' firms that are leading the next round of tech disruption

• Several American companies that have opened up businesses in Germany have consistently encountered problems with German labor laws and its work culture.
• Experts believe that Tesla, which announced Tuesday that it's opening up a new Gigafactory in Berlin, will encounter similar problems.
• The car manufacturing company has already had several complaints about its work environment in the past, and experts believe that if this continues in Germany, the site will be shut down.
• Other problems the American company could face are cultural miscommunication and language barriers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When Elon Musk announced at an award ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday that he would open the next Tesla Gigafactory in Brandenburg, it could have been just another one of his many claims.

After all, anyone who knows Musk knows that the Tesla CEO often likes making impulsive statements. If one were to take everything that Musk said seriously, Tesla would no longer be listed on the stock exchange, would have delivered 500,000 cars last year, and would have already made all of its vehicles fully autonomous.

But Musk's announcement about his new project in Germany was proven to be true after the first job advertisements for the Gigafactory were posted online. How impulsive this decision was for the Tesla CEO will only become apparent in the coming years. But any US company opening up a business in Germany should be aware that Brandenburg has very different laws compared to Nevada.

American companies in Germany have a poor track record

The list of US companies that have had problems with German regulations and labor laws is long.

The most prominent example is when the Amazon had to learn the hard way after poorly-paid temporary workers and poor working conditions resulted in the labor union being called in as well as widespread condemnation of the company.

In 2006, the US retail giant Walmart had to pull out of Germany because it failed to recognize regulations around labor groups, working on Sundays, holiday entitlements, and sick leave.

"There are countless regulations in Germany that companies from the US are not used to," Rainer Beekes told Business Insider in an interview.

Beekes runs Global Cultures, a center for intercultural communication that advises companies looking to set up their business abroad. Before that, Beekes held management positions at multinational companies such as Volkswagen and American Express.

"I often received little understanding from my American bosses when I sent someone home after a ten-hour working day simply because I had to," Beekes said.

So, will Elon Musk empathize? Especially considering his background on working conditions in the Gigafactory in Nevada, which have now become notorious: 70-hour weeks, queues in front of the toilet, production in tents. All this would not be possible in Brandenburg, at least not for long.

"US companies often come with the attitude that they are the top of the world," says Uta Kremer, who teaches intercultural communication at Zwickau University in Western Saxony. "I would imagine Elon Musk has the same arrogant attitude. But what happens in the US isn't automatically possible here — it doesn't matter whether it's about notice periods or working on weekends."

A difference in work culture

In addition, Kremer mentions a second aspect that often leads to differences that are difficult to bridge: culture. For example, the stark differences between American and German ways of communicating with colleagues and employees can make cooperation more difficult.

It was precisely these problems that ultimately led to the failure of the merger of Daimler and Chrysler."The Chrysler managers considered their German colleagues to be rude, but according to German understanding they were simply being direct," Kremer said.

The feedback culture in Germany is very different, she added. Germans praise less, but are much more open to criticism, while in the US, criticism is often much more subtle and hidden within praise.

DaimlerChrysler's "failed marriage" at the beginning of the 2000s is still regarded today as a symbol of irreconcilable cultural differences between the US and Germany. Chrysler wanted Daimler to become more flexible, agile and faster. Daimler wanted Chrysler to pay more attention to quality and engineering.

Judith Geiß, whose job it is to advise companies and individuals cooperating with US partners, predicts it is exactly these differences that will be difficult for Tesla.

"Tesla likes to experiment, which could be difficult to match with the thoroughness of German engineering," Geiß said.

In general, Beekes believes that Germans deal differently with project planning. Germans don't just "get started on a project' and instead value thorough planning.

"We want to avoid uncertainty, and commit ourselves to a long planning phase," Beekes said. Americans are more "hands-on," as Beekes calls it. "And if something goes wrong, they do it differently. But Germans don't want to make any mistakes in the first place."

Musk has to expect language barriers

Geiß also mentions another, completely underrated reason why Tesla could struggle in Brandenburg: "Tesla cannot assume that all employees speak perfect English. "

The company would be well-advised not to simply send a manager from the US, but to use German managers instead. English lessons for employees would also be helpful. "The lack of English is the easiest part to fix, but not many companies try to change that."

Nevertheless, the experts agree that Tesla's plan in Brandenburg is not necessarily doomed.

"Tesla is coming to Germany in a positive market environment. The e-mobility sector is growing. And if the market is good, then communication will also be easier for multinational companies," Beekes said.

Geiß also sees an opportunity in Brandenburg: "Tesla can establish e-mobility more strongly in Germany and get to know German customers better, but can also learn from Germany. In this respect, the location in Brandenburg is more than just a factory, but rather a competence center."

SEE ALSO: A German company is testing a 5-hour workday where employees only check email twice and small talk is banned

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NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk show off Tesla’s first electric semi — which can go from 0-60 mph in five seconds

• Dubai's Princess Tower was the tallest apartment building in the world until 2015.
• With a roof height of 1,286 feet, it is taller than the roof of the Empire State Building.
• It's so tall that sometimes clouds will form below the upper floors.
• Despite its lofty height and being in Dubai, rent is surprisingly affordable — you can get a room in an apartment for $1,400 a month or less, with utilities, access to amenities like a pool and gym, and daily cleaning included.
• For more than a year, I lived near the very top of the building, on the 88th floor.
• Despite not being fabulously wealthy, it made me feel like royalty.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. 

It's possible to live in the sky — even if you're not fabulously wealthy.

One of the tallest steel trees in Dubai's glittering forest of skyscrapers is the Princess Tower. At 1,358 feet, it's the second-tallest tower that's open in Dubai, behind only the world's tallest building, the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa.

Until 2015, the Princess Tower was the tallest residential building in the world, but its crown was swiped by 432 Park Avenue in New York City.

But unlike 432 Park Avenue — where, as Katie Warren wrote in February, penthouses can cost many millions of dollars— rent for apartments in the Princess Tower are surprisingly affordable: in fact, for 5,000 United Arab Emirates dirhams ($1,362) and under per month, they come in at barely half the monthly median rent in New York City (which is now more than $2,700).

For more than a year, I lived near the very top of the Princess Tower, on the 88th floor (out of 97 above ground).

Here's what it was like to live at such a lofty height on a modest (read: non-six-figure) salary.

The Princess Tower is tall — until 2015 it was the tallest apartment building in the world.

Dubai is known for tall buildings — but even by its standards, the Princess Tower is tall. In fact, from 2012 to 2015, it was the tallest apartment building in the world, recognized as such by the Guinness World Records.

It's even taller than the Empire State Building.

With a roof height of 1,286 feet, the Princess Tower stands more than three basketball hoops (which, of course, are 10 feet high each) higher than the Empire State Building, which has a roof height of 1,250 feet.

Located in the Dubai Marina, the area around it is also the world's tallest residential block.

Six of the world's 10 tallest residential buildings are next to each other in the Dubai Marina. In a way, with so many supertall towers right next to each other, it makes them individually look shorter than they actually are.

Construction wasn't cheap: building costs reportedly exceeded $2 billion.

As reported by Dubai-based Emirates Woman and other outlets, building costs for the Princess Tower exceeded $2 billion — making it one of the most expensive buildings ever built when it opened in 2012.

If the building and neighborhood seem familiar, it's because of a recent 'Star Trek' movie.

Large parts of 2016's "Star Trek: Beyond" were filmed in the Dubai Marina, and the Princess Tower appears in several scenes. As Emirates Woman reported, producer Jeffrey Chernov said the decision was made to film in the Dubai Marina because the architecture already looked like something from a sci-fi film.

"We came searching for the future and we found it in Dubai. It represents the future of what the next frontier would be like in our film," the magazine reported Chernov as saying.  "We wanted to find a very vertical city."

And yet rents are shockingly affordable — at $1,400 a month or less, rooms in many apartments are barely half the median monthly price in New York City.

One reason rents are less expensive than New York, London, Sydney, or Los Angeles is because of the sheer amount of housing stock compared to the population able to afford such places. According to Gulf Business, Dubai's housing market is seriously oversupplied, with construction of a huge number of gigantic new apartment buildings continuing seemingly without end. A report by UBS Global Wealth Management found housing prices in Dubai have tumbled by about 35% since mid-2014.

For 5,000 United Arab Emirates dirhams ($1,361) per month, I got a large furnished room with a private balcony, and all utilities, high-speed internet, and daily maid service included.

Large and bright, my furnished room on the 88th level had a tiled floor, like most Dubai flats (the cool tiles feel refreshing under your feet when you've been out in the sun). The queen-sized bed was soft, and I thought the blue-green colored walls were a nice, vaguely nautical touch.

I did share a bathroom with someone and a kitchen with six people, but seeing as the monthly median rent in New York City is now more than $2,700, and even higher in San Francisco, I thought it was a deal that was almost too good to be true — especially since it's cheaper than even the monthly median rent for the entire US, which is about $1,700.

And some rooms can be even cheaper: for a smaller room without a balcony, my neighbor paid just 4,000 dirhams ($1,089) per month — again with everything included.

The kitchens were large and bright — which is good since for many of the flats, several people will share.

Including myself, six people lived in the six-bedroom penthouse flat (which had three bathrooms). With so many people, it was a relief to find the kitchen had more than enough space for all of us — and the nearby kitchen balconies (there were two) were popular spots for socializing while taking in the view. Even more incredible, it was cleaned daily by a maid, who usually came in at about 11 a.m.

It was pretty cool to cook and eat with a view of blue water and the famous Palm Jumeirah.

The kitchen had a table, but there was also a separate dining room accessible by walking through the lounge and entryway. The kitchen table was my favorite spot to grab a bite — there were no windows in the dining room, unfortunately.

The views from my room were stunning by day ...

The room (of course) had air conditioning, but I never needed it: being so high up, the air was always a few degrees cooler than at ground level.

With such an utterly jaw-dropping view of the Dubai Marina, the private balcony quickly became a favorite place to sit and read, or simply look down at the city so far below. With so many things to see from my vantage point, it was like a real-life television show.

... And night ...

Another advantage of being so high up: you could even leave the screen door leading to the private balcony open all night and not find the sounds of the city too loud because they were so far down.

It was, simply put, one of the most relaxing places I've ever lived.

... And in the morning, when the fog sometimes rolled in.

I've been to nearly 90 countries, lived in six, and seen countless incredible things I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever witness. But I'd never seen anything like when I woke up one March morning, looked out from my balcony, and saw nothing but slowly rolling clouds, and the tops of buildings poking out from them like candles on a cake with vanilla or whipped cream frosting. In that moment, I had no words. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen — so amazing, I was late to work that morning.

The upper floors are also a good spot to catch fireworks shows, which happen frequently in Dubai. It's a weird feeling to see fireworks below you.

Free evening entertainment would often be provided in the form of fireworks shows taking place over the water in front of Caesars Bluewaters (the first overseas location of the famed Caesars Palace) and the world's largest Ferris wheel, the Dubai Eye. It was like living in Disneyland — but without the eye-wateringly high admission price.

Despite the views of glimmering, tax-free Dubai, the rooms are usually pretty easy to come by.

Usually, it's as simple as searching the online listings in the real estate/housing sections of websites like Craigslist or local United Arab Emirates-centric site Dubizzle, then under "rooms for rent" seeing what's there (the latter is how I got my room). Then, all you need to do is call or send a WhatsApp message to the landperson to arrange a quick in-person tour to see it for yourself, and if you like it, voila! A couple documents to sign, and you now have a room in the second-tallest apartment building on the planet.

With 97 floors above ground and thousands of residents, there are plenty of amenities. One of them is the sixth-floor outdoor pool area.

The outdoor pool came complete with large plastic chairs not only on the deck, but actually submerged in the water. While they might have made a cool picture for Instagram or social media with a drink in hand, they were not comfortable. At all.

The pool was pretty refreshing on a hot day, which is every day in Dubai.

With temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) for much of the year, it's no surprise pools in Dubai are very, very popular — as anyone who's visited or lived there can attest. But they're not jam-packed at all hours of the day — the Princess Tower's outdoor pool on the sixth floor could be blissfully empty just before its 10 p.m. daily closing time, and also in the late afternoon before many people got off work (most of the building's residents are white-collar professionals).

The outdoor hot tub was also quite relaxing — though it felt weird to soak in a hot tub where the water was colder than the air.

It's not often you can step into a hot tub to cool down — but you can in Dubai. With a super view of skyscrapers all around in a riot of different architectural styles and a few palm trees that sway whenever there's a pleasant sea breeze, it's a feast for the eyes. Still, I spotted plenty of people checking their phones for updates while in the hot tub.

It may be in the Middle East, but in an area full of Western expats, women and men can go to the pool together — and the most common swimsuits people wear at the Princess Tower's pools are bikinis.

Other amenities included a gym, saunas, indoor pool and hot tub, dance/yoga room, table tennis room, indoor playground, event spaces, and multiple game rooms.

There were plenty of other things to do at the Princess Tower. The pool changing rooms have saunas where you can sometimes see people whack each other with branches — something Katie Warren experienced firsthand when she visited a traditional bathhouse during a recent trip to Russia.

The nearby yoga and dance room was usually booked by people doing various things requiring flexibility. The gym on the fifth floor was popular with weight-lifters and treadmill-runners. The game rooms were typically occupied by people engaging in foosball or air hockey competitions. The competition would also get intense in the table tennis room.

Things would be a bit more subdued in the 97th floor event spaces, but in the indoor playground on the sixth floor, young children would be having the time of their lives.

With a huge number of food delivery services in Dubai like Uber Eats, you could theoretically never leave the Princess Tower and still live very comfortably.

The lobby at the main entrance wasn't too shabby, either ...

Not only was the tiled lobby (the tiles were often so polished you could see your reflection in them) very nice, but it was also staffed 24/7 by two concierges (who greeted residents with "ma'am" and "sir" every time someone walked past) and a white-uniformed security guard. The doors also required key card access — though with Dubai being known for an incredibly low crime rate, where you can literally leave your phone on a table at a busy cafe and come back to find no one had touched it, I did wonder why this was necessary.

... Nor was the hallway leading to the elevators.

With 97 floors above ground, it was helpful there were two sets of four elevators: one that went up to the 50th floor, and another "high speed" group of elevators going from the 51st to 97th floors. As I lived on the 88th floor, I used the latter daily. It would still sometimes take several minutes to reach my floor.

My favorite place was the 'sky lounge' on the 97th floor.

Princess Tower residents and their guests had access to a public lounge/relaxation area. Looking like a fancy hotel lobby, it was a fantastic place to read, write, work on your computer, or chat with friends or family in person or on the phone while sitting on the plush couches and taking advantage of the free, high-speed public WiFi.

Needless to say, the views from the lounge were pretty stunning.

Sitting at a small table next to one of the large windows, with the blue waters of the Arabian Gulf and the palm tree-shaped artificial island known as the Palm Jumeirah unfolding below, was incredibly inspiring. It was unlike anything I'd experienced before, and I took full advantage of it — I went up almost every day.

The sunsets were pretty special, too.

It was also an otherwordly experience to take in a sunset from so high up. Standing away from the windows and looking out, so that you couldn't see the ground below at all, made me think I was on a very large, very fancy airplane — or a spaceship.

Being next to the water, it was just a short walk to the beach ...

There are closer beaches, but the key advantage of Marina Beach is it's free. The perfect place for a picnic or dip in the hot tub-warm waters (they're the warmest sea, lake, or river waters I've ever been in, anywhere), it's also fun to people-watch (everyone, from construction workers to Western sunbathers to Emiratis, hangs out here) — and camel-watch. You can often see the humped mammals ambling about, led by men in traditional dress.

... And there are lots of other cool things to do nearby, too. The surrounding Dubai Marina area is quite walkable.

Sure, Dubai is warm, but if the heat starts feeling too oppressive, there are plenty of places along the Marina to duck into. The newness of it all, the sun, people jogging, walking their little dogs, zipping by on rollerskates, waving from the decks of yachts (which you can also rent in the Marina), or walking past and chatting away on their smartphones — and of course the palm trees all along the water — feels a lot like being in Miami or Long Beach.

There was no shortage of activities, with Dubai being Dubai ...

In just a few short years, Dubai has already become a legendary party city. But not everyone who hits the beach clubs, pools, or swanky hotels is looking for that kind of entertainment. There are also plenty of places to just chill and let life slow down a bit.

... Including traditional cultural activities, especially during Ramadan.

Humans have lived in the UAE for thousands of years. One of the best ways to experience its rich culture is to attend a Suhoor during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan — a meal had very late at night or in the early morning before Fajr, the first of the day's five prayers (and after which, during Ramadan, Muslims who are physically able must fast until Iftar in the evening). In Dubai, hotels, restaurants and more are specially decorated to serve as beautiful venues for Suhoors, during which Emiratis, expats and others all come together to share food, culture, and to reflect amid an experience you'll have a hard time replicating anywhere else. In short: if someone invites you to a Suhoor, go.

Of course, living so high up does have drawbacks. The elevators can be frustrating with a bunch of people getting on and off on floors below you.

It may seem like a small thing to complain about, but it's not fun when you're in a hurry and the elevator needs to make 10-20 other stops on the way down — which can happen often in the mornings from Sunday until Thursday (the weekend in the UAE is Friday — the Islamic holy day — and Saturday) before most office hours begin at 9 a.m. and in the evening after they end at 6 p.m. (Dubai lunch breaks are often an hour, hence working more than eight hours per day).

The elevators also didn't provide access to the 'secret' 95th floor. There were rumors celebrities like David Guetta and 50 Cent had penthouses there, but I never saw any sign of them.

There were all kinds of rumors about who lived on the 95th floor. I have no idea where the rumors came from, but thought they might have been fueled by the fact I never saw anyone get on or off on the floor, and you (presumably) had to enter a code in the keypad in all the elevators to gain access to it (which you did not have to do to access the other floors). Still other rumors claimed there were no fancy apartments on the 95th floor at all, but rather was just a maintenance floor.

Either way, the mystery was a lot like the "missing" fifth floor of the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Another frustration was the sink design in the bathrooms. Many tears were shed over items that fell into them, never to be seen again.

Razor blades, makeup, contact lenses, jewelry — you name it, it can fall into the sinks, since there's no cover for their pipes. And, seeing as there can be 88 floors (or more) of pipes to fall down, good luck ever seeing whatever fell in again.

While the Princess Tower is one of the world's tallest apartment buildings now, it may not be for much longer. Several taller ones are under construction.

Already surpassed by New York City's 432 Park Avenue, the Princess Tower's rankings are set to further tumble next year, when two more ultra-tall apartments open in the Big Apple. 111 West 57th Street will be 1,428 feet high when it opens — taller even than 432 Park Avenue. But even that will be surpassed by Central Park Tower. As Katie Warren found out when she went on a recent tour, when the 131-floor building opens to residents, it'll stand a lofty 1,549 feet high.

The Princess Tower might not even be the tallest building in its neighborhood for long: once nearby Marina 101 opens, the 1,349-foot building will be the new queen of Dubai's supertall apartments.

But overall, with what you get for the price, the name 'Princess Tower' seems apt. Because you really do feel like royalty — with a view to match.

For the chance to live like a royal for barely half the price of renting in New York City (translation: a rate a young, working professional can actually afford) — not to mention in a place that's tax-free with warm, sunny weather year-round — living in the Princess Tower really does feel like living in a fantasy.

Only this one is very real.

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Wealthy millennials want homes that are within walking distance of their social lives, and it's redefining how they're thinking about traditional luxury locations

• Ben Horowitz, the cofounder of the legendary venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is a corporate-culture guru.
• In his book "What You Do Is Who You Are," he says culture is more than a list of values. It's how employees behave when the boss isn't looking.
• Andreessen Horowitz used to charge its partners $10 for every minute they were late to a meeting with an entrepreneur. Its cofounder wanted the firm's actions to communicate to founders that it respects their time.
• Horowitz said he tries to screen for culture in investment pitches, though he understands culture changes over time. Still, it raises a red flag if he senses one cofounder in a meeting is afraid to say what they think.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In the early days at the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, its cofounder created a rule that shocked employees.

"If you're late for a meeting with an entrepreneur, you pay a fine, $10 a minute," Ben Horowitz told Business Insider Today — no exceptions.

"And, oh, you had to go to the bathroom? You're five minutes late. Great, $50. Oh, you had a really important business call? You're 10 minutes late, $100," he said.

The tech investor has a simple reason for penalizing his general partners. Being an entrepreneur is really hard, he said. The firm's actions should communicate to founders that it respects their time and hustle. That messaging starts with showing up to take pitches on schedule.

"If it was your wedding you wouldn't have been late," Horowitz said. "I think it's got to be that important to you."

Horowitz is an expert at building culture. He began his career as an engineer at an early tech giant, started a company with the help of his venture-firm cofounder, Marc Andreessen, and, as a tech investor, sees thousands of investment pitches reach his firm every year. The culture savant has learned how to practice values at Andreessen Horowitz and how to screen for them in the process of evaluating an investment. His new book, "What You Do Is Who You Are," serves as a handbook on building company culture.

Setting the culture takes more than writing down a list of company values, Horowitz said. He described culture as the culmination of people's actions — "all the things that people do when you're not there and when you're not looking."

Setting the culture takes more than writing down a list of values

Horowitz told Business Insider that one of his most important learnings on scaling culture was that the organization wouldn't necessarily shadow him.

"I thought, if I led by example, then everybody will just follow my culture, which isn't true at all," Horowitz said. "Because, look, people come in with their own cultures. There's the whole subcultures going on all over the company, and as the company grows, they don't even know you."

The former entrepreneur declared himself a "pretty honest" person. He described an employee at a previous company who would sell customers on false promises and lie to job candidates to recruit them. This employee's behavior spread to other members of his team.

"It was a shock. How could they be lying all the time? I don't lie all the time," Horowitz said. "It was just that that was the culture that he had come from, from another company. ... If you don't set the culture, the culture just is what it is."

He knows from experience that most founders define and refine a company's culture along the way. It's not something they master from the start. Still, Andreessen Horowitz's investors look for bad signs in the first pitch meeting.

If "you have multiple founders in the meeting, and some of them are afraid to say what they think," that's reason for concern, he said.

SEE ALSO: The cofounder of legendary VC firm Andreessen Horowitz on what almost killed Uber, what really led to WeWork's downfall, and what happened after he passed on Airbnb

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Legendary venture capitalist Ben Horowitz on culture mistakes most companies make, diversity in leadership, and the outlook for crypto

• A three-year-long Newsday investigation published Sunday found Long Island real estate agents' widespread unequal treatment against Hispanic, Asian, and black homebuyers.
• In what the New York newspaper called one of its most extensive investigations ever, reporters found real estate agents treated prospective homebuyers from minority groups differently from those who are white.
• "The three-year probe strongly indicates that house hunting in one of the nation's most segregated suburbs poses substantial risks of discrimination, with black buyers chancing disadvantages almost half the time they enlist brokers," reporters Ann Choi, Keith Herbert, and Olivia Winslow wrote in the project.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A three-year-long Newsday investigation published Sunday found Long Island real estate agents' widespread unequal treatment against Hispanic, Asian, and black homebuyers.

In what the New York newspaper called one of its most extensive investigations ever, reporters found real estate agents treated prospective homebuyers from minority groups differently from those who are white.

"The three-year probe strongly indicates that house hunting in one of the nation's most segregated suburbs poses substantial risks of discrimination, with black buyers chancing disadvantages almost half the time they enlist brokers," reporters Ann Choi, Keith Herbert, and Olivia Winslow wrote in the project, which was edited by Arthur Browne.

Newsday used a paired-testing approach, sending two undercover testers using hidden cameras to 93 Long Island agents to gauge whether their experiences differed, presenting similar financial situations and requesting similar housing.

The investigation places a spotlight on the New York suburbs' longstanding divisions across racial, political, and socioeconomic lines. Some 2.8 million people live on Long Island, according to a May report from the state comptroller. Between 2010 and 2018 population growth has slowed to 0.1% overall, with Suffolk County losing population, per the report.

The Newsday project featured 86 matching tests spanning Long Island across Nassau County, which is closer to New York City, and Suffolk County, which includes the Hamptons. Black, Hispanic, and Asian testers experienced different treatment 49% of the time, 39% of the time, and 19% of the time, respectively. 

The report also found large Long Island real estate brokerages "help solidify racial separations," directing white prospective homebuyers toward largely white areas and minority clients toward more racially integrated ones.

In one instance of unequal treatment between Newsday's testers, Keller Williams Realty agent Le-Ann Vicquery told one black customer about Brentwood, a majority black and Hispanic neighborhood, saying "Every time I get a new listing in Brentwood, or a new client, I get so excited because they're the nicest people." President Donald Trump has targeted Brentwood in recent years amid gang activity there.

Vicquery told the paired white customer, "Please kindly do some kindly do some research on the gang-related events in that area for safety."

Vicquery declined to comment to the news outlet.

Read Newsday's "Long Island Divided" investigation here.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Most maps of Louisiana aren't entirely right. Here's what the state really looks like.

• Google is making a huge new push into the world of video games with Google Stadia, which goes live on November 19.
• Stadia is a new type of video game platform: Like Netflix, Stadia streams games to whatever device you're on. When it launches this week, Stadia will run on any computer with Google Chrome, Google's Pixel line of smartphones, and on TVs through Google's Chromecast Ultra streaming device.
• After using Stadia for the last week, I'm not sure that it's ready for consumers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Watch out, Nintendo — the 800-pound gorilla that is Google is coming for video games.

On Tuesday, November 19, the tech giant is launching its first ever dedicated video game platform in Google Stadia. But there's one huge difference from the likes of Nintendo's Switch and Sony's PlayStation 4: Stadia doesn't require you to buy a new game console.

Instead, games are streamed directly to you — Netflix-style — on whatever device you're using, from a PC or Mac to your smartphone to your TV. 

If this all sounds too good to be true, the unfortunate truth is that it is too good to be true. I've spent the last week with Google's ambitious new game platform, and I'm convinced that it's not ready for the spotlight just yet. 

SEE ALSO: Google’s ambitious new video game service is starting to look like a giant mess — and it isn't even live yet

Let's start with the basics: What is Stadia?

Unlike Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation, and Nintendo's Switch, Google promised no additional hardware is required with Stadia.

"At launch, we'll support being able to play games across desktops, laptops, TV, tablets, and phones. This new generation of gaming is not a box," Phil Harrison, a Google vice president, said in March.

Instead, processing is handled "in the cloud"— by Google's hardware in a data center — and streamed to you instantly. Your inputs are then instantly beamed back to the computer elsewhere.

This is an oversimplification of what is assuredly a deeply complicated process, but it's similar to how Netflix works: instead of having to run physical media, it's simply streamed to wherever you're watching it. Pretty fresh!

But the reality at launch is far more complex than Harrison promised back in March.

Stadia is indeed available "across desktops, laptops, TV, tablets, and phones"— but the only way to actually use the service at launch is through a $130 hardware bundle that includes Google's gamepad and a Chromecast Ultra stick. Moreover, the only phones supported are Google's Pixel line (starting with the Pixel 2) — support for Apple's iPhone, or any other Android smartphone, isn't live yet. 

Worse, there's no indication of when that support is coming. "Oh man, I wish I knew," Stadia product lead Andrey Doronichev said in a recent Reddit AMA. "Truth of the matter is that we want Stadia to run on every screen eventually. Android and iOS and whatnot. We're starting with Pixel this year. Hope to learn a bunch, make it great and start expanding to more devices next year."

But what is it like actually using Stadia? It works!

I've used Stadia on my home internet through a Chromecast Ultra, with games running on my TV, and I've used Stadia on my Pixel 3a smartphone. 

The big question is: Does it work? The short answer is yes, Stadia totally works.

This is a crucially important question at the heart of Stadia and any other attempt at Netflix-style video game streaming services. For decades, game consoles have relied on physical or digital media to run games. That tradition continues with the latest generation of consoles: The Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. All three consoles rely on either physical or digital media to run games.

Not so with Google Stadia — games are run remotely from Google's data centers, and then streamed to your device. You press a button, and the input is registered and sent back to Google's data centers. 

This difference begs the question: Does it work? 

The vast majority of my experience with Stadia — especially at home, on stable wireless that only I'm using — has been seamless and positive. Games run as if they were running locally, and it's quite impressive.

That experience changed pretty dramatically at Business Insider's main office, which has outrageously fast internet. Though the connection is fast, there are far more people using it. Moreover, our newsroom is filled with computers and smartphones that are all using wireless signals.

In that environment, Stadia was a messy experience. Games were choppy and inconsistent, which is especially jarring when a game is being streamed — whole sections got skipped over as the service attempted to keep me current with whatever the game was showing. This is hugely problematic if you're playing a game that depends on reactionary input like, say, "Mortal Kombat 11" or "Destiny 2."

Outside of the core functionality of Stadia — streaming games — almost nothing else is ready for the spotlight.

Google has been testing Stadia functionality for several years now, and even held a public beta test when the service was known as "Project Stream." 

Even then, when it was just a test, the service was impressive — I was easily able to attach a gamepad to my MacBook and stream "Assassin's Creed Odyssey."

The big remaining question, then, was focused on Google's ability to create a bigger video game platform: An operating system, a storefront, and all the functionality that people expect from such a platform. 

In short: If you're buying a game console in 2019, there are certain expectations that come with the purchase. Stuff like a unified friends list across games, the ability to party up with friends, achievements, and screen capture are all included on that list of expectations.

The vast majority of those expectations aren't met with Stadia — at least at launch.

A friends list exists, but there's no way to party up with friends playing on smartphones. Achievements are tracked, but there's no way to see them. Google says this stuff is coming, but neither is ready for launch.

The most foundational functionality of Google's Stadia app isn't even ready: When you spin your phone into landscape mode to play games, the app's UI stays in portrait mode. Even though games know to display in landscape mode, Stadia's UI does not.

It's the kind of little missed detail that feels like no one actually tested Stadia before launch.

How's the controller? It's pretty good!

One aspect of Stadia that requires no caveats: the gamepad.

Google's Stadia gamepad is just as good as those found on Nintendo's Switch, Sony's PlayStation 4, and Microsoft's Xbox One.

It's not doing anything particularly innovative or different — it's just a perfectly good, traditional gamepad.

The only issue I've run into with the Stadia controller isn't the controller's fault: If you're using the controller with Stadia on a smartphone, it's unable to navigate any of the system level UI.

Here's one incredibly weird example: If I'm in a game, and I want to exit the game to play another, I hold down the Stadia button which brings up the "Exit Game" option. But I'm unable to select "Exit Game" from the menu with the gamepad — I can only select it by tapping on my phone screen. After doing that, the phone exits to the Stadia desktop ... which I'm unable to navigate with the gamepad in any way, even to select another game to play.

It's one of a million little details that Google hasn't worked out just yet with Stadia.

From the paltry list of just 22 launch games to the lack of device support to the overall under-baked feeling of using the service, nothing about Google Stadia feels ready for primetime just yet.

Of the 22 games launching with Stadia on March 19, three of them are "Tomb Raider" games. A single game, "Gylt," is both new and exclusive to Stadia. The flagship game, "Destiny 2," is years old.

Games sell game consoles and, based on the launch lineup, there are few reasons to get Stadia right now.

The much, much bigger problem though is Google's approach to Stadia. It's a classic Google move to release an unfinished project and then polish it over time — look at everything from Gmail to YouTube for evidence of that approach.

"We always start with nailing the key user-journey and then proceed with releasing extra features," Stadia product lead Andrey Doronichev said in the Reddit AMA last week. "YouTube started with 'watch video.' For Stadia it's 'Play the Game on your biggest screen.' New features will start popping as soon as one week after launch."

It's an approach that might work with a free service like YouTube, but it's less palatable when you're shelling out over $100 at the launch of a new product — to say nothing of the cost of each game. Though it's entirely possible that Google will iron out Stadia's issues over the coming months, it's clear that now — at launch — the service isn't ready for primetime.

• Spotify is the world's most popular music streaming service, with over 100 million paying subscribers and over 217 million monthly users. 
• Spotify's paying users get access to certain functionality that free users do not. One such feature was the ability to stream Spotify music on Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo devices, Sonos speakers, and Bose speakers.
• That changed on Wednesday, as Spotify announced support for free users across a variety of devices.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Spotify has over 100 million people paying monthly for its music streaming service. The reason is simple: Ads.

Paying a monthly subscription fee to Spotify means accessing a massive library of on-demand music without having to encounter any advertising. It also infers other benefits: Saving music for offline listening, for instance, and the ability to stream through Spotify on a variety of home speakers — including Amazon's ubiquitous echo devices.

As of Wednesday, though, Spotify is finally offering free users a feature that paid users have had for years: The ability to stream music through Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo devices, in addition to Sonos and Bose speakers.

Just like Spotify's free version for smartphones and elsewhere, the free version on the newly-supported devices is expected to run ads. 

In its announcement blog post, Spotify specifically names Amazon's Echo and Fire TV devices, Sonos' various home speakers, and Bose's "smart speakers and soundbars" as getting support for free Spotify users. 

It's a small change that impacts a massive number of Spotify users — though the company boasts over 100 million paying subscribers, it has over 248 million monthly users. For now, however, it sounds like support for the devices is limited to Australia, New Zealand, and the US. 

Check out the full array of supported devices right here.

SEE ALSO: Amazon now lets you listen to music for free on smartphones and TV, as well as online. Spotify investors are already nervous.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Apple just released iOS 13.2 with 60 new emoji and emoji variations. Here's how everyday people submit their own emoji.

• Both Mexican and British editions of Vogue will feature a "muxe"— an indigenous transgender woman from Mexico — in December.
• Estrella Vazquez is the first muxe to be featured on the cover of Vogue in the magazine's 120-year history.
• Vogue Mexico will feature the image on its cover, while it will be shown inside British Vogue's December issue.
• "We're delighted to collaborate with Vogue Mexico for the first time ever on this amazing fashion shoot featuring members of Oaxaca's indigenous muxe community," a British Vogue spokesperson told The Independent.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Vogue has featured a "muxe"— an indigenous transgender woman from Mexico — as its cover star for the first time. 

Muxes (pronounced "moo-she") have a unique gender identity that mixes gay male and feminine characteristics and is sometimes referred to as a "third" gender. 

Both the British and Mexican editions of the magazine will carry the image of Estrella Vazquez, a weaver and designer from Oaxaca, a southern Mexican state that is home to the largest muxe community in the country, although British Vogue will feature it inside the magazine. 

The photo marks the first instance in Vogue's 120-year publication history that a muxe has been placed on the cover. 

"I think it's a huge step," 37-year-old Vazquez — who had never heard of Vogue when she was approached for the shoot — said.

"Everyone is seeing this cover, everyone is congratulating me. I don't know; it's just hard to make sense of the emotions I'm feeling. It almost makes me want to cry," she added.

The full shoot, shot by photographer Tim Walker, features a dozen muxes in traditional indigenous dress and is an attempt by Vogue to highlight the remarkable singularity of muxe culture, which is specific to Mexico. 

"We're delighted to collaborate with Vogue Mexico for the first time ever on this amazing fashion shoot featuring members of Oaxaca's indigenous muxe community," a British Vogue spokesperson told The Independent.

Muxes last made international news for their prominent role in rescue efforts following the 2017 Juchitan earthquake. 

Many dug through rubble with their bare hands and led organising efforts after the disaster. 

However, outside the quais-matriarchal indigenous community, minority persecution in Mexico persists, which has some of the highest rates of crime in the world against individuals who identify as LGBTQ.

One LGBTQ person was murdered every three to four days between 2014 and 2016 in the country. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A 45-year-long study discovered trends in successful hyper-intelligent children

• Fashion's all about taking risks, but a Komodo dragon has taken it to another level by hitting the beach with a turtle as a hat.
• The large lizard rocks the hat in a video posted to YouTube.
• Seemingly realizing the trend isn't likely to take off, the image-conscious Komodo dragon eventually discards the headwear.
• Only about 3,000 Komodo dragons remain in the wild, according to The Jakarta Post.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Fashion has given us a lot of strange trends over the years, but even we have a hard time thinking turtles as hats will ever become a thing.

Despite that, a seriously strange video posted to YouTube by the channel RM Videos— which appears to license user-generated content from a company called Jukin Media— shows a Komodo dragon sauntering onto a tropical beach in Indonesia wearing a turtle's shell on its head.

After glancing around, and apparently feeling self-conscious, the rather large lizard decides to remove the head-snapping headwear and pose dramatically — no doubt hoping it'll be discovered and become Asia's next fashion icon.

It's unknown who originally shot the video or when it was taken, making it rather difficult for potential casting agents to get in touch with the Komodo dragon undoubtedly dreaming of a life of glitz and glamor.

At up to 10 feet long and typically weighing about 150 pounds, Komodo dragons are the world's largest lizards.

Found in Indonesia, their bites can be deadly because of the amount of venom and harmful bacteria in their saliva. According to The Jakarta Post, only about 3,000 of the animals are thought to be left in the wild.

It should also be noted it's not a very good idea to get close to a Komodo dragon — they have been known to attack humans, sometimes fatally.

While the rarity of the cold-blooded creatures means seeing one is a pretty special experience, it's clear this image-conscious Komodo dragon wanted to be a little more extra.

Read more:

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A poppy-pilfering pigeon made a red nest at a war memorial, and the photos are pretty patriotic

Firefighters saved a great horned owl from the California wildfires — but he didn't look very happy about it

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Researchers successfully built a quadruped robot that's capable of climbing ladders.
• The robot was created by a team at Tokyo Metropolitan University and debuted earlier this month, IEEE Spectrum reported.
• It uses a 3D camera, touch and force sensors on its claws. A neural network — learning software that allows the robot to execute complex functions — enables it to navigate ladders.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Four-legged creatures, both living and robotic, have historically had a hard time climbing ladders — until now.

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a quadruped robot capable of climbing a vertical ladder without assistance, IEEE Spectrum reported. 

The robot debuted at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems earlier this month.

The achievement represents the latest physical feat by a quadruped robot that approaches the capabilities of living animals. Robot dogs made by other research teams have been trained to open doors, withstand destabilizing blows, and run across uneven ground.

While there's no single intended purpose researchers have in mind for quadruped robots, government agencies are already expressing interest — earlier this year, Massachusetts police began working with "Spot," a robot dog designed by Boston Dynamics.

Take a look at how Tokyo Metropolitan University's robot climbs ladders, bringing robots one rung closer to world domination:

SEE ALSO: From 'Jeopardy' to poker to reading comprehension, robots have managed to beat humans in all of these contests in the past decade

The robot weighs in at just over 15 pounds, and is equipped with 3D cameras on its head and touch and force sensors on its claws.

The robot has 23 degrees of freedom — specific aspects of its parts can move: five degrees of freedom in each leg, two for the dual laser rangefinder sensors, and one for the head.

The robot uses a neural network to automatically teach itself to balance as it climbs the ladder.

Once at the top of the ladder, the robot uses its rear claws to grip the top rung and shift its weight forward.

The robot was specifically programmed to climb the ladder used in the demonstration video, but researchers plan to teach it to climb a ladder of any dimensions.

While living quadruped animals can climb ladders at an angle, they struggle with vertical ladders, according to IEE Spectrum — but this robot is capable of tackling them.

Watch the full video of the ladder-climbing robot demonstration:

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• My nickname may be "Big Mack," but I'd never in my life actually had a McDonald's Big Mac until last week.
• Never a fan of fast food, I was worried it would taste disgusting, but it wasn't as bad as I feared.
• It was also cheaper than I expected.
• I can see why some people would like it, but I hope to never have one again.
• It's also worrying how popular they are even though most people know they're unhealthy, coming in at more than 500 calories.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

I've been on this Earth for three decades. And yet in all that time I had never had a McDonald's Big Mac, even though my nickname is "Big Mack."

I know. It's weird. Then again, until last week I genuinely couldn't remember the last time I had even had fast food. I think it was Taco Bell during my first year of college at Boise State University, where our basketball stadium at the time was literally named the Taco Bell Arena. That was in 2008.

It was probably foolish of me to casually mention this to my editor, because she suggested that trying my first one at age 30 would make a great story. "You might learn something," she said.

Spoiler: I did.

Still, while the taste wasn't as bad as I feared, I hope to never eat one again — especially while sober.

The Big Mac is, of course, what McDonald's is most famous for.

Introduced in 1967, the Big Mac is as synonymous with McDonald's as McDonald's itself is synonymous with fast food and American culture. It's such a worldwide icon that there's even something called the Big Mac index, which The Economist uses to compare the cost of living in different countries.

I grew up in the US, where there are more than 14,000 locations, including more than 200 in my home state of Oregon.

McDonald's is seemingly everywhere. Even the small town west of Portland, Oregon, that was the closest settlement to the horse farm I grew up on had one— it was the last McDonald's between Portland and the hourlong drive to the Oregon coast.

Thanks to the way I was raised — and a viewing of "Super Size Me"— I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten at a McDonald's.

I was fortunate to grow up on a farm and in a family where we ate fresh, healthy meals with natural ingredients. We basically never ate out — and certainly never fast food.

What really helped prompt my aversion to fast food (and McDonald's in particular), however, was a documentary I saw in school.

Released in 2004, Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" is a horrifying look at what regularly eating at McDonald's can do to a person. It was so shocking that it's said that the release of the documentary — which made more than $22 million at the box office and generated a massive amount of media coverage and debate — prompted McDonald's to discontinue offering the option to "super size" meals (that is, make them extremely large). It should be noted, however, that McDonald's has repeatedly denied that the documentary was the reason.

This is despite the fact that my nickname in high school was "Big Mack."

Thanks to my last name and the fact I was a varsity athlete (swimming and water polo), my nickname for as long as I can remember was "Big Mack."

But Big Mack had never had a Big Mac — and was proud of it.

That all changed in late November — on Thanksgiving, to be precise.

McDonalds's purportedly has more than 1,200 locations in the UK — and more than 200 in London — so it wasn't hard to find one close to the Insider newsroom.

McDonald's says it has more than 200 locations in London alone. The nearest to the Insider newsroom was at Liverpool Street Station, one of the busiest train stations in the UK.

Amid the gloom of the late-afternoon rain, we began our trek.

It was so cold that my colleague and I could see our breath. Then again, this was London in late fall, after all. Dubai it was not.

On the wet asphalt, slick from all the rain, we trudged through the puddles and tunnels. Each step felt important as we drew closer to what felt like some great doom that was upon us — or at least me. My Big Mac-free streak was about to come to an inglorious end.

It would turn out to be no epic journey. We reached the Liverpool Street Station McDonald's in just a few minutes. It did not look like I expected.

Even I was familiar with the golden-arches logo. But the things I had expected in my mind — a drive-thru, Ronald McDonald, and an indoor play structure for kids — were nowhere to be found.

From the outside, it looked like a normal restaurant. I even quite liked the actual stone arch complementing the golden arches.

We stepped inside. The hour of doom had arrived. Showtime.

Walking inside, I was flummoxed by the touchscreens used to order. I was grateful that my colleague showed me how they worked.

The restaurant seemed only about half full — or at least it had almost as many large touchscreens as people inside.

There was only one problem: I had never used a touchscreen to order food before. How did they work? Were they like ATMs or self-checkouts at supermarkets? Apparently so, as my colleague walked me through what to do step-by-step.

There were way more choices than I was expecting. But I was finally able to find and select the Big Mac.

I didn't realize the McDonald's menu was so expansive. I'd expected just a few different sizes of burgers, the Big Mac, some chicken nuggets, and various sides like fries, milkshakes, and McFlurrys, as I later found out they were called.

But the sheer number of choices was mind-boggling. Everything seemed customizable too: You could request that certain toppings like pickles or onions not be included, get extra cheese or meat, add some kind of "special sauce" thing ... It was borderline overwhelming.

It was a good thing I already knew what I needed to get: just a regular Big Mac. Simple. Tasty? We would soon find out.

I had no idea how much a Big Mac would cost. It turned out to be a lot less than I was expecting.

The "combo meal," which included the Big Mac, a side, and a drink, was £4.89 ($6.30). It was obviously more than I'd pay if I were cooking at home and buying ingredients from the supermarket, but still a lot less than I thought it would be. As London is expensive to live in, I thought the meal would cost £10 or more.

That said, I still thought the price was too high, especially for those trying to feed an entire family. It probably doesn't cost McDonald's very much to actually make a Big Mac — in fact, an image that went viral on Reddit in 2014, purportedly posted by a McDonald's employee, suggested it cost McDonald's just $0.77 to make one Big Mac.

With the burger selected, I had to choose my sides. I went with water and something called "reindeer treats," which turned out to be carrot sticks.

The name was irresistible. "Reindeer treats." Were they some kind of special fries? Nuts? Candy? Something else?

I was a little disappointed to discover they were carrot sticks, but glad McDonald's at least had healthy options to go with the unhealthy stuff.

I also liked how calorie counts were displayed with each item on the menu. The reindeer treats had just 34 calories. The Big Mac had more than 500.

Gulp.

I was then given a ticket, which I took over to a counter to pick up my food. It was ready in about a minute.

Even I knew that McDonald's was famed for fast service. Sure enough, almost as soon as my ticket was printed, my order number was called. Quick indeed.

It looked like there were more than a dozen people working behind the counter. That maybe should not have been surprising: McDonald's says it employs about 120,000 people in the UK and more than 1 million worldwide.

This particular McDonald's had no place to sit inside, so we ventured back out into the rain to "enjoy" our meal.

London being London, everything outdoors was damp. Exiting the McDonald's, we walked directly into the station to join the hordes of commuters pressed nearly shoulder to shoulder.

Snaking through the veritable sea of humanity with my brown paper bag filled with "treasure"— er, food — we found an unoccupied bench to sit and eat. The fateful moment was getting closer.

I tried the reindeer treats first. They tasted OK.

The reindeer treats at least tasted like normal baby carrot sticks — no extra sugar or salt. But that was not the main reason I went to McDonald's.

Then it was time for the Big Mac. I knew how unhealthy they are, so I was worried.

When it came time to try the Big Mac, I was glad to have my colleague with me for support.

To use a "Star Wars" quote, this would be a day long remembered. Then again, the character who said that quote (the evil Darth Vader) would soon have to watch as the "ultimate power in the universe" (the Death Star, of course) he was tasked with defending was blown up by Luke Skywalker and the virtuous Rebel Alliance. So ... yeah.

With three pieces of bread, two patties of meat, chopped lettuce, cheese, and some kind of white sauce, it smelled kind of funny.

I didn't think the Big Mac looked very appealing. There was nothing wrong with the light sesame-seed bun, but the whole thing smelled like onions and vinegar — not the most appetizing of scents, in my opinion. Maybe it would taste better?

Nervously, I took my first bite.

This was it, the moment I had been dreading.

"So, are you going to eat it?" my colleague asked.

I nodded nervously and gulped.

Drawing in breath, I closed my eyes as I raised the burger to my mouth. It was warm and squishy. It also smelled worse the closer it was to my nose.

I probably looked ridiculous just holding the warm burger in my frozen fingers (even inside the station surrounded by so many people, it was very cold) in front of my face, so I opened my mouth and took a bite.

While it wasn't as disgusting as I had feared, I wouldn't call it the best burger I've ever had. But I could also see why some people would like it.

There was an explosion of something as I bit down. Meat. Bread. Cheese. Definitely onions. But it was the sauce that really stood out — it almost had a tartness to it.

The burger was also very chewy.

If anything, the flavor kind of reminded me of a saucier version of a döner kebab, which were massively popular where I used to live in Germany. They were also very popular after a big night out, and I could see why a Big Mac would be too, especially if someone was very much not sober and just needed something to soak up some of the alcohol/get some food in their system. Back in New Zealand, I knew plenty of kiwis who'd visit the "Macca's" late at night for that very reason.

The verdict? I'm still a bit baffled by the cult of the Big Mac — but perhaps slightly less so now.

According to McDonald's website and the nutrition info displayed when ordering, there are 508 calories in one Big Mac, more than a quarter of a person's recommended total daily calorie intake.

Worse, there are 25 grams of fat, which might negate the 26 grams of protein (which is higher than I would have ever guessed).

In other words, it really isn't something you want to eat regularly.

And then there was the lingering oniony aftertaste.

I could see why some people might like it or at least tolerate it when in desperate need of something to lessen a hangover. But I really couldn't fathom why anyone would want to eat it regularly. At the end of the day, I felt it was just another fast-food burger.

It's definitely not something I would ever spend my money on or eat willingly.

While I've now had my first Big Mac, it was hopefully the only one I'll ever have — at least while sober.

Sorry not sorry, McDonald's.

Then again, seeing as you generated more than $21 billion in revenue in 2018, you probably don't need my business anyway.

Either way, I'm definitely not lovin' it.

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• Model Veronika Didusenko was crowned Miss Ukraine in 2018.
• Four days after she won the title, Miss World pageant officials took away her title because she is a mom, which violates the pageant's policies.
• The current rules of Miss World state that a contestant cannot be someone who has given birth to a child.
• On Saturday, more than a year after Didusenko was stripped of her title, the model announced on Instagram that she is taking legal action against Miss World, calling its policy prohibiting mothers from competing "discriminatory."
• In an interview with the BBC published Sunday, Didusenko said she wants to "make sure the rules of Miss World move with the times" and hopes the pageant updates its rules to "reflect women's reality today."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Four days after model Veronika Didusenko won the title of Miss Ukraine in 2018, Miss World officials took away her title after they discovered she is a mom, which violates the pageant's rules.

Didusenko said in an interview for the BBC's Radio 1 "Newsbeat," published Sunday, that upon entering to compete in Miss Ukraine, she was aware of the policy that prohibited mothers from entering the competition, but said that pageant organizers encouraged her to enter anyway. 

"Why should a woman be excluded from entering just because she's a mother? It doesn't make any sense," the 24-year-old model, who has a 5-year-old son, told the BBC's Cherry Wilson.

The list of requirements for entry in a Miss World pageant says that a contestant must be someone who "has never given birth to a child."

According to a statement provided to Insider by a representative for Didusenko, she is now taking legal action against Miss World in hopes that the organization will change its policy that prohibits mothers from entering in the competition.

Didusenko made the announcement to challenge Miss World in an Instagram post on Saturday, not long before this year's Miss World pageant finale, which takes place in London on December 14.

"Today #righttobeamother has made a huge leap forward," Didusenko wrote on Instagram. "I have launched a legal challenge against @MissWorld and this marks the new phase in our joint fight for justice."

In the post, Didusenko added: "We say that under the #EqualityAct 2010 the entry policy operated by #MissWorld is discriminatory on various grounds, namely marital status, and pregnancy and maternity. The Equality Act protects against discrimination based on certain characteristics, including marriage, maternity and sex."

Didusenko, who has enlisted the representation of attorneys Ravi Naik and Marie Demitriou, referred to the Equality Act, which went into effect on October 1, 2010, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The act contains nine pieces of legislation that provide Britain with a "discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society."

In her Instagram post, Didusenko added that she does not want her crown back, but instead wants "to get the rules changed for wider society."

A representative for Didusenko reiterated that message in the statement provided to Insider, saying that Didusenko hopes the pageant rules can be changed "not for her, but for larger society."

The statement continued: "The Equality Act 2010 protects discrimination against certain protected characteristics, including marriage, maternity and sex. The reason Veronika was not allowed to compete in Miss World is because she was married and had a child. Quite simply, denying her the chance of competing on those bases would seem to breach those protections against discrimination."

"This is a systemic, widespread and international policy that may result in discrimination on large scale across many countries," the statement read. "We await Miss World's full response to see if they can justify their entry policy."

Didusenko told Radio 1's "Newsbeat" that she wants to "make sure the rules of Miss World move with the times."

"I want to make them more fit for nowadays and reflect women's reality today — who can perfectly balance between their careers and their personal life," Didusenko told the BBC.

As the BBC's article points out, in a 2018 interview with Good Morning Britain, Julia Morley, the CEO of the Miss World Organization, spoke about the rule that prohibits mothers from competing in the pageant. In the interview, Morley defended the rule, saying: "When you're trying to get a worldwide organization to agree, you have to look to everyone and they vote as to what is acceptable." 

Didusenko is not the first mother who has lost a pageant title due to organization policies

In 2018, a Miss Universe winner lost her title after becoming pregnant. 

In February, Yahoo!'s Kerry Justich reported that Miss Bolivia Universe 2018 Joyce Prado was stripped of her title after she became pregnant. Yahoo! reported that Prado may have lost her title because of pageant rules that prohibited contestants from being pregnant.

Miss Universe outlines its rules and requirements on its website, stating that competitors cannot be pregnant, married, or have ever parented a child.

Bolivian modeling agency Promociones Gloria shared a statement on Facebook at the time, which said Prado was dismissed from her title due to a "breach of contract."

"Promociones Gloria is announcing to Opinion Publica that the current Miss Santa Cruz and Miss Bolivia Universe 2018 has been stripped of her titles of Miss Santa Cruz and Miss Bolivia for reasons strictly related to a breach of contract, noting that we maintain cordial relations in an area of mutual understanding, honoring the confidentiality clause," the modeling agency wrote on Facebook.

A representative for Promociones Gloria later provided a statement to Insider at the time, saying that "it was agreed between" Prado and the modeling agency that she would focus on her pregnancy and continue to be a model with the agency despite not being "able to fulfill any of the activities that she had to do as Miss Bolivia."

Representatives for Miss World and Veronika Didusenko's attorneys, Ravi Naik and Marie Demitriou, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

• Read more:
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• 10 of the biggest beauty pageant scandals of all time
• THEN AND NOW: How the Miss Universe pageant has evolved over the last 66 years
• What 11 Miss USA 2019 contestants look like with little to no makeup

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• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the philanthropist Priscilla Chan have been married since 2012. They have two kids together, Maxima and August.
• The whole Chan/Zuckerberg family invited the "CBS This Morning" cohost Gayle King into their main home in Palo Alto, California — a rare look into their personal life.
• The house is one of 10 properties the couple own.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the philanthropist Priscilla Chan first met at Harvard — before Zuckerberg famously dropped out — and got married the day after Facebook went public.

The couple have two kids together, Maxima and August, and operate the philanthropic organization known as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

They also own at least 10 properties together, with their home in Palo Alto, California, operating as their main living space. A new interview with the "CBS This Morning" cohost Gayle King offers a rare look into that home, and even features both children making challah.

Take a look:

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg spent almost $60 million on 2 waterfront estates in Tahoe last winter. Here's a look at the 10 properties he owns across the US, from a modest Palo Alto home to a Hawaiian plantation

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