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RANKING: Here Is The Most Popular 'James Bond' Actor

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sean-connery-james-bond

The James Bond franchise turns 50 this year. To celebrate, the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California is holding a Bond marathon featuring eight of 007's best films this weekend.

Ahead of the upcoming film, "Skyfall," this November, PeekYou has figured out the Web's favorite James Bond.

The site, which launched in 2006, aggregates scores—called PeekScores—defining everyone's popularity on the Web from Obama to, well, yourself. 

According to Michael Hussey, CEO of PeekYou, the score does not reflect influence, like Klout. Rather the algorithm used calculates each Bond's digital footprint across the Web delivering a score from 1 to 10.

Hussey says the site assesses 20 factors across the Web including popularity on social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and numbers of news articles and blog posts.

While few people attain a perfect score of ten, all the Bond men fair above eight. See if your favorite Bond actor is the most popular on the Web.

6. GEORGE LAZENBY (PeekScore: 8.13)



5. TIMOTHY DALTON (PeekScore: 8.39)



4. ROGER MOORE (PeekScore: 8.96)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Cambridge Is No Longer The Most Well-Read City In America

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Reading

Amazon has released its annual list of America's most well-read cities, based on sales data of books, magazines, and newspapers in print and on the Kindle.

Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT, dropped to second on the list after winning last year's crown.

Which city came out on top? Surprisingly not a college town, though college towns once again dominated the list.

Washington, D.C. suburb Alexandria, Va took the top spot after topping the charts in the Romance book category. If you're looking for a spare copy of 50 Shades Of Gray, Alexandria is probably the place to go.

Here are the top 20:

1. Alexandria, Va.

2. Cambridge, Mass.

3. Berkeley, Calif.

4. Ann Arbor, Mich.

5. Boulder, Colo.

6. Miami

7. Arlington, Va.

8. Gainsville, Fla.

9. Washington, D.C.

10. Salt Lake City

11. Pittsburgh

12. Knoxville, Tenn.

13. Seattle

14. Orlando, Fla.

15. Columbia, S. C.

16. Bellevue, Wash.

17. Cincinnati

18. St. Louis

19. Atlanta

20. Richmond, Va.

Now see what America's socialites look like >

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The 10 Worst-Dressed Cities In America

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crocs

When it comes to dress sense, what’s worse: layer upon bulky layer of long underwear and puffy coats? Flashy, barely-there outfits? Or downright sloppiness?

Travel + Leisure readers rated major destinations in categories including style for the annual America’s Favorite Cities survey—and the results confirm that city dwellers fall short of fashionable in myriad ways. But it’s Anchorage that earned the dubious honor of No. 1 worst-dressed city in America.

Click here to see America's worst-dressed cities >

That’s no surprise to Dr. Miriam Jones, a paleoclimatologist who has traveled in and out of Anchorage “too many times to count” during a two-year research stint. “It’s not uncommon to see oversized parkas with fur-lined hoods and bunny boots, and people aren’t alarmed when a person wearing a ski mask enters a room.” In Alaska, she adds, men sport beards and flannel in the most un-ironic way possible: to keep frostbite at bay and their appendages attached.

Baltimore, on the other hand, can’t blame icy temperatures for its #3 place on the worst-dressed-people list. According to eight-year resident Erika Poniske, locals dress poorly for a host of reasons, some of which can be attributed to city subcultures. Baltimore hipsters, she says, bypass the tried-and-true thrift store, opting to dumpster dive for their clothing instead. And if you spend enough time in the quirky neighborhood of Hampden, you might just run into a woman wearing her hair in a real-deal ’50s beehive.

Poniske believes it’s the city’s die-hard commitment to all things casual that makes it most deserving of its ranking. “If you’re going to take time to dress up in Baltimore, you better be on your way to somewhere specific. Otherwise you’re going to stand out, and you’re going to feel awkward.”

But a reputation for luxurious tastes doesn’t necessarily translate into smartly clad residents either. Take Dallas, which T+L readers consider a top 10 destination if you’re into upscale shopping, but which came in as the No. 6 least-stylish city.  

Dressing well certainly has an element of personal taste, and this survey is based on visitors’ perceptions, not scientific fact. So, did T+L readers deem your city to be one of America’s worst dressed? Read on to find out, and feel free to defend local fashions in the comments.

More slideshows from Travel + Leisure:

America's Best and Worst Airports

America's Best Cities for Hipsters

America's Most Beautiful College Campuses

America's Best Burger Cities 2012

The London Insider's Guide

#10 Kansas City, MO

America’s #1 city for barbecue does not a fashionista make.

Kansas City residents are among some of our nation’s friendliest, and they can school anyone and everyone about the intricacies of grilling, but it looks like they’re lost when it comes to putting together an outfit.



#9 Phoenix/Scottsdale

Here’s a hint: if a city has a museum exhibit dedicated to the bolo tie, it’s not going to be fashion forward. The official neckwear of Arizona (yes, that’s a thing) is enjoying a comeback.

But sunny Phoenix made the top 10 for spring break destinations—when attire is almost beside the point.



#8 Portland, ME

With some of the most limited shopping options in America and one of its least diverse populations, Portland is not where you come to try on cutting-edge clothing.

But that’s just fine, because the city slays the competition in other areas, placing first in five survey categories, including best summer destination and best drivers.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The Best And Worst Airlines In America

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US Airways, jet, airplane

JD Power is known for ranking the best and worst when it comes to anything from cars to patio doors.

That includes airlines as well.

The firm just released its rankings for the most satisfying airlines in both the traditional and low cost sectors. Some of them may surprise you.

The rankings were attributed to seven key areas of the airline experience on a scale from one to five, one being the worst, five the best.

Since these are also for the year ending in 2011, Continental, which is now assimilated with United, and AirTran, which has been purchased by Southwest, were included. It'll be interesting to see how these mergers change the rankings next year.

JD Power Winner, Best Traditional Airline: Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air

Reservation Experience: 5

Check-In Experience: 5

Boarding Experience: 5

Aircraft Experience: 4

Staff Experience: 5

Service Experience: 4

Cost and Fee Experience: 4

OVERALL: 5



Runner Up: Air Canada

Reservation Experience: 2

Check-In Experience: 3

Boarding Experience: 4

Aircraft Experience: 5

Staff Experience: 4

Service Experience: 5

Cost and Fee Experience: 5

OVERALL: 5



Third: Delta Airlines

Reservation Experience: 4

Check-In Experience: 4

Boarding Experience: 4

Aircraft Experience: 3

Staff Experience: 4

Service Experience: 4

Cost and Fee Experience: 4

OVERALL:4



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The World's Most Popular Luxury Handbags [INFOGRAPHIC]

New York's Public Advocate Says These Are The Worst Landlords In The City

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Bronx old houses

Apartment hunting is already a chore in New York City. NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wants to ensure renters don't have to deal with a crummy landlord as well.

To help renters make an educated decision on where to live, de Blasio has issued lists of the city's worst landlords since 2010. An updated list of worst landlords was released Monday morning, ranking landlords by the by the total number of housing violations in all of their buildings.

These violations can range from quick fixes, like minor leaks, to hazardous problems that need immediate attention, like rodent infestation and lack of electricity.

College Management took the top honor with 724 violations in the three buildings it operates.

Here are the rest of the top ten worst landlords in NYC, according to the list:

1. College Management — 724 violations in three buildings

2. Maristanc Corp. — 651 violations in one building

3. 1071 Home Corp. — 649 violations in four buildings

4. Kelly St. Restoration LP — 466 violations in two buildings

5. Romad Realty Inc. — 458 violations in one building

6. Quality Management Realty — 426 violations in one building

7. 307 West 153rd Street HDFC — 408 violations in one building

8. Surf Ave. Properties — 387 violations in one building

9. Erika Holmes — 385 violations in one building

10. 3230 Cruger Avenue Individuals Corp. —365 violations in one building

When landlords make the list, most work to improve living conditions like these for their tenants rather than facing further public shame on the list. Sandberg reported that more than 250 buildings have been removed from de Blasio's list after fixing their violations.

“It takes years of neglect for a building to deteriorate to the point where it ends up on our Watch List,” de Blasio said to 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg. “But with enough public pressure and strong tenant organizing, we can turn these buildings around and make life better for thousands of New Yorkers.”

Now, read about the struggles foreigners face when purchasing NYC real estate >

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The Highest Paid Celebrities Under 30

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twilight-cast

Forbes just announced the top 10 highest paid stars under the age of 30.

The list was based on album and concert sales, movie paydays, profit participation, endorsement, and advertising work between May 2011 and May 2012.

We're happy to report that women dominate the list and while all of them are household names, there are still a few surprises.

Let's just say it was a good year for vampires and werewolves.

All of the following numbers are based on Forbes research.

10. $26.5M: Robert Pattinson

The 26-year old may have gotten his start in "Harry Potter" but he has "Twilight" to thank for his enormous $26.5 million profit this year. While the majority of that has come from his role as Edward, he has also starred in "Remember Me" and "Water for Elephants."



9. $26.5M: Taylor Lautner

The 20-year old "Twilight" actor has also managed to rake in $26.5 million, thanks to his role as Jacob. Taylor Lautner has also appeared in "Abduction" with now ex-girlfriend Lily Collins, which made $82 million at the box office.



8. $27M: Lil' Wayne

Surprise, surprise! Rapper Lil' Wayne makes it all the way to number eight! It's been a busy year for the 29-year old: he's played over 50 shows in the past year, launched a clothing line, and landed his first endorsement deal with Mountain Dew.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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STUDY: The Most Livable City In The World Is In Australia

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vancouver

If you want to find a city that is thriving and among the top places to live, you might want to move to Australia and Canada.

Both topped Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) top 10 most livable cities in the world.

Melbourne, Australia ranked No. 1, followed by Vienna, Austria and Vancouver, Canada.

The annual survey takes into account 140 cities around the world.

Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure were the factors that helped assess a city's livability (via the National Post).

Australia had five cities in the top 10 on the list and Canada had three.

DON'T MISS: These 10 Countries Have The Highest Quality Of Life >

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The Ten Most Competitive Countries In The World

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usa flag parachute

Forget the Olympics: The World Economic Forum just released its 2012-2013 ranking of the most competitive economies and Switzerland took the top spot for the fourth straight year.

Notably the US continued its decline to seventh place, down from first place in 2008-2009.

The report also warned of slowdown everywhere: "It is not clear which regions can drive growth and employment creation in the short to medium term."

The report ranks 144 countries on 12 categories: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomics, health and primary education, goods and market efficiency, higher education and training, labor market efficiency, technological readiness, financial market development, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.

10. Japan

Falling to 10th overall, and dropping behind Hong Kong as the third most competitive Asian economy, is a tough pill to swallow for a nation still recovering from the devastating tsunami and earthquake last year.

Last year's rank: 9th

Strengths: Ranks 1st in business sophistication and 2nd in R&D spending.

Weaknesses: The 2nd highest budget deficit in the world (230% of GDP) and 124th in macroeconomic weakness.



9. Hong Kong

After placing 11th the last four straight years, Hong Kong leapfrogged Japan and into the top 10.

Last year's rank: 11th

Strengths: One again best in the world in infrastructure and in the top three globally in the goods and labor markets.

Weaknesses: Educational participation is still lagging, ranked 53rd in the world.



8. The United Kingdom

Great Britain is on the rise, improving in the rankings for the fourth straight year. The summer Olympic Sames couldn't have hurt either.

Last year's rank: 10th

Strengths: The efficiency of its labor market ranks 5th in the world and its businesses rank in the top 10 in innovation and sophistication.

Weaknesses: The macroeconomic environment took a nose dive, down from 85th to 110th place. Also, public debt is 82.5 percent of GDP, ranked 127th.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The Top 100 Universities In The World

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MIT

The top three spots on the QS World University Rankings changed this year, with MIT taking the top spot for 2012. MIT overtook the University of Cambridge, which took second place ahead of Harvard, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

British schools took four of the top six spots, but American colleges and universities occupy 13 of the top 20 spots in the annual ranking.

This ranking is based on reputation among academics, reputation among employers, citations per faculty, staff-to-student ratios and international attractiveness.

Check out the entire list:

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
3 Harvard University United States
4 UCL (University College London) United Kingdom
5 University of Oxford United Kingdom
6 Imperial College London United Kingdom
7 Yale University United States
8 University of Chicago United States
9 Princeton University United States
10 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States
11 Columbia University United States
12 University of Pennsylvania United States
13 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland
14 Cornell University United States
15 Stanford University United States
16 Johns Hopkins University United States
17 University of Michigan United States
18 McGill University Canada
19 University of Toronto Canada
20 Duke University United States
21 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
22 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
23 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
24 Australian National University Australia
25 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
26 King's College London (University of London) United Kingdom
27 Northwestern University United States
28 University of Bristol United Kingdom
29 Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland
30 The University of Tokyo Japan
31 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) United States
32 The University of Manchester United Kingdom
33 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
34 École Normale Supérieure, Paris France
35 Kyoto University Japan
36 The University of Melbourne Australia
37 Seoul National University Korea, South
38 University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
39 The University of Sydney Australia
40 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
41 Ecole Polytechnique France
42 Brown University United States
43 New York University (NYU) United States
44 Peking University China
45 University of British Columbia Canada
46 The University of Queensland Australia
47 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
48 Tsinghua University China
49 Carnegie Mellon University United States
50 Osaka University Japan
51 University of Copenhagen Denmark
52 The University of New South Wales Australia
53 Technische Universität München Germany
54 University of Glasgow United Kingdom
55 Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Germany
56 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
57 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill United States
58 The University of Warwick United Kingdom
59 University of Washington United States
60 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany
61 Monash University Australia
62 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
63 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology Korea, South
64 Boston University United States
65 Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
66 The University of Sheffield United Kingdom
67 Trinity College Dublin Ireland
68 University of Texas at Austin United States
69 London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) United Kingdom
70 University of California, San Diego (UCSD) United States
71 Lund University Sweden
72 The University of Nottingham United Kingdom
73 University of Southampton United Kingdom
74 University of Geneva Switzerland
75 Leiden University Netherlands
75 Tohoku University Japan
77 University of Birmingham United Kingdom
78 University of Helsinki Finland
79 The University of Western Australia Australia
80 National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
81 Uppsala University Sweden
82 KU Leuven Belgium
83 The University of Auckland New Zealand
84 Washington University in St. Louis United States
85 Utrecht University Netherlands
86 Nagoya University Japan
87 Freie Universität Berlin Germany
88 Georgia Institute of Technology United States
89 Aarhus University Denmark
90 Fudan University China
90 University of Zurich Switzerland
92 Durham University United Kingdom
93 University of St Andrews United Kingdom
94 University of Leeds United Kingdom
95 City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
95 Purdue University United States
97 Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH) Korea, South
98 University of Pittsburgh United States
99 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
100 University of California, Davis United States

Based on those criteria its not surprising that MIT won.

For a more pragmatic approach, read our list of the 50 best schools for your career >

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Meet The Four Litigation Firms That Strike Terror In Their Opponents' Hearts

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Lawyers

If you're searching for a strong litigation department, look no farther than these four Biglaw firms that terrify opponents.

BTI Consulting Group polled 240 in-house lawyers to find out which Biglaw firms they hate to see as lead opposing counsel, and there were some surprising change-ups this year, according to Above The Law, which reported on the ranking after the subscription-only site Law360 did.

Without further ado, here are the firms that made BTI's Fearsome Foursome:

  • Boies, Schiller & Flexner

  • Jones Day

  • Kirkland & Ellis

  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Boies Schiller and Jones Day are new to the list this year, knocking Quinn Emanuel and Latham & Watkins out of the running after they made last year's Fearsome Foursome, according to ATL.

When asked how it feels to have Kirkland & Ellis recognized as a fearsome firm, senior litigation partner Jay Lefkowitz told The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog "we work hard at what we do and it's nice to be recognized."

But Lefkowitz wouldn't reveal his own Fearsome Foursome list, saying he has "a lot of admiration for a number of firms."

DON'T MISS: Lawyer Claims His Dancer Ex-Wife Got Half His Savings After She Threw Boiling Water At Him >

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Law School Grads To Future Students: Chill Out

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law school library

Hey future lawyers, it's a mistake to take law school rankings so seriously.

Or so say recent law school graduates.

While Kaplan Test Prep found that 86 percent of pre-law students take law school rankings very seriously, it also found that a rather small number of recent grads feel the same way, The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog reported Wednesday.

Kaplan asked graduates to rank what they would tell prospective students is the most important thing to consider when picking a school and only 17 percent said the school's ranking matters most.

So, the moral of the story is, at least according to the survey results, focus on job placement rates and not public perception.

What do you think is the most important thing to consider when choosing a law school? Participate in our survey and let us know.

DON'T MISS: Meet The Four Litigation Firms That Strike Terror In Their Opponents' Hearts >

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The 50 Best Law Schools in America

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Harvard Law School

In an oversaturated market where countless lawyers are unemployed or underemployed, choosing the right law school makes all the difference.

The right school puts you on track to a competitive corporate or public sector job. The wrong school may be a waste of three years and $250,000.

Click here to go straight to the ranking of schools >

We held a survey to determine what real professionals consider the best law schools. They have determined that this school is Harvard Law School.

More than 650 of our readers responded, of which 60 percent had J.D.s. and 69 percent had hiring experience. Thirty-six percent of the respondents work in legal fields, 23 percent work in finance, 10 percent work in technology, 6 percent are current law students, and 6 percent work in consulting.

A full 40 percent of the respondents said that law school is NOT worth attending if you don't get into a top-tier school, while 32.9 percent said that it depends on factors like your financial background, the cost of attending, the school's alumni network and connections, the type of law you want to practice and the specialty of the school, whether you intend to practice in the state you attend school, and personal connections.

"If you want to work at a large firm or company in a large city, then a top tier school is more important," one respondent wrote. "If you want to be a lawyer in a mid-size city or smaller, then attending a top tier school is not as important."

Survey takers stressed that it's important to consider where you plan to practice when deciding which law school to attend, as some of the state schools can have very strong networks in their region. "Someone practicing in Portland, Maine is better off going to UMaine Law as opposed to Harvard for the very fact that that network is more beneficial in Maine," one respondent wrote.

Other respondents wrote that attending a second-tier law school can still be beneficial and can even land you a gig at a BigLaw firm—if you graduate in the top of your class.

Ultimately, though, if you dream of being a lawyer, the fact remains that you must attend law school and pass a state bar exam in order to do so.

"If you have a very specific reason for wanting to become a lawyer, then law school can be worth attending even if you don't get into a top-tier school," a respondent wrote. "Also, a legal education has inherent value, so law school can be worth attending if you don't overpay."

View as one page >

These are the 10 REAL most expensive law schools in America >

Here are 12 faces behind the law school underemployment crisis >

See more related features on the top law schools >

#50 Loyola Marymount University

Loyola Marymount scored a 1.97 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.

US News & World Report: #51

Notable alumni: Gloria Allred, Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.




#49 Southern Methodist University (Dedman)

Dedman scored a 2.00 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.

US News & World Report: #51

Notable alumni: Robert H. Dedman, Sr. (Founder and CEO of ClubCorp), U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña



#48 Baylor University

Baylor scored a 2.02 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.

US News & World Report: #51

Notable alumni: Former Texas Governor Mark Wells White, U.S Congressman Louie Gohmert



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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According To LinkedIn, Here's Where Everyone Wants To Work

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Companies are always on the lookout for talented employees, but those in the work force are also judging companies — and some are more desirable than others. 

In LinkedIn's ranking that came out today, the company cross-referenced data from thousands of surveys in more than 15 billion interactions to pinpoint the 100 most sought-after companies in the world.

Here are the top 30:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Microsoft
4. Facebook
5. Unilever
6. General Electric
7. Pepsico
8. P&G
9. McKinsey & Company
10. The Coca-Cola Company
11. The Walt Disney Company
12. Nike
13. Salesforce.com
14. Twitter
15. Shell
16. Nestle
17. BCG
18. Ogilvy & Mather
19. Expedia
20. Accenture
21. Pfizer
22. Johnson & Johnson
23. L'Oreal
24. Adidas
25. Amazon
26. Bain & Company
27. Roche
28. Diageo
29. Burberry
30. Chevron

Other interesting insights that came out of the ranking says:

  • Tech is hot: Software was the most represented industry on the list, and Google topped several categories including our global rankings.

  • A strong consumer brand helps, but isn’t essential: Consumer powerhouses like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Disney ranked highly. But so did leading professional services firms like Deloitte.

  • Bigger isn’t necessarily better: Big global brands are well represented, but 50 percent of the top 100 are under 7,000 employees.

The companies that tops this list in the U.S. exist mostly in San Francisco, New York and Chicago. 

NOW SEE: The best 25 companies to work for if you want to get promoted fast > 

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Bar Industry Insiders Pick The 8 Best Bars In New York City

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Clover Club

New Yorkers tend to think we have the best everything — restaurants, boutiques, celebrities, and (of course) bars.

So it's no surprise that on Drinks International's new list of the World's 50 Best Bars, NYC would make up 16% of the list.

New York's clubs, lounges, and speakeasies were scattered throughout the top 50, with two of NY's finest breaking into the top 10.

Drinks International is a trade magazine for the spirits, wine, and beer industry that had some of the best bar owners and bartenders in the world choose the World's 50 Best Bars on a number of factors, including staff, décor, quality of the drinks, and how it all fits together.

#8 Dutch Kills

27-24 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY

Overall Rank: 35

Dutch Kills isn't actually on Manhattan Island, but in Long Island City. But before you write it off, take note that it has seriously good cocktails for an average of $8 with ice they shave themselves from large blocks.

Plus it looks like a turn of the century bar, with big wooden booths, crystal chandeliers, and an old-timey gold cash register behind the counter.

Source: Drinks International



#7 Angel's Share

8 Stuyvesant St., New York, NY

Overall Rank: 34

Just a spot above Dutch Kills is this hidden East Village gem, Angel's Share. It's on the second floor hidden inside a Japanese restaurant and helmed by the Bacardi Global Legacy Cocktail Competition winner Shingo Gokan.

Expect cocktails with a sake and whiskey twist, and great views of Stuyvesant Square.

Source: Drinks International



#6 Pegu Club

77 W. Houston St., New York, NY

Overall Rank: 32

First opened in 2005, this Audrey Saunder's bar squeezes its own juices fresh everyday, sells its own bitters, and even shaves its own ice.

In a word, Pegu Club is quality with their extra-fresh cocktails and Asian-inspired snack menu for any hungry patrons.

Source: Drinks International



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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This Quiet But Effective Justice Made Glamour's 'Women Of The Year' List

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Glamour magazine's "Women of The Year" has come out and there's a familiar to us face on the list — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

The woman who fought against sexually discriminatory laws in Oklahoma among other things is admired by other justices for her ability to be persuasive.

"She does it quietly, but she's very effective," Ginsburg's closest friend on the court, Justice Antonin Scalia, says of her.

America has been shaped by her actions in everything from health care reform to women's Social Security benefits, Glamour writes.

“I’m struck by how much she transcends her diminutive physical stature. She’s a giant up there," Rachel Maddow told Glamour.

SEE ALSO:If It's Illegal To Lie On The Campaign Trail, Why Aren't More Candidates Getting Arrested? >

 

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The 20 Smartest Colleges In America

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Revenge of the Nerds

Think there's a difference between the most selective colleges and those with the smartest students?

That's what Lumosity, a cognitive training site run by Lumos Labs, sought to find out with a series of games designed to test America's leading higher education institutions.

After realizing that national and global rankings for colleges each year were based almost solely on standardized test performances and information about the school's resources (including endowment per student, student-faculty ratio, and graduation rates), Dr. Daniel Sternberg at Lumosity took it upon himself to discover which institution really had the smartest individuals.

He and his team tested 60,000 students at over 400 colleges and universities to play games that measured various cognitive skills including attention, memory, speed of processing, problem solving, and flexibility.

The study even broke down the college rankings by cognitive area, finding that Dartmouth College performed the highest on attention, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology was the best with memory, Harvard students ranked highest at speed of processing, and that Yale students performed best on flexibility.

The overall winner was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school with the best problem solvers. MIT has consistently ranked highly on best-of-schools lists, and was recently named the top university in the world by the QS World University Rankings list, beating last year's winner the University of Cambridge as well as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for the title.

The top 20 schools are below. Click here to view the complete Lumosity study.

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  2. Harvard University

  3. Stanford University

  4. Northwestern University

  5. Yale University

  6. Washington University in St Louis

  7. Dartmouth College

  8. Wellesley College

  9. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

  10. Duke University

  11. College of William and Mary

  12. University of Pennsylvania

  13. University of Portland

  14. University of California-Berkeley

  15. Vanderbilt University

  16. University of Chicago

  17. Carnegie Mellon University

  18. Macalester College

  19. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

  20. University of California-Los Angeles

Please take our survey below, and tell us what you think are the Best Colleges in America:

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

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The Best Restaurant In The World Has A Brand New Look

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Noma Restaurant New Interior

Noma in Copenhagen was recently named the best restaurant in the world in San Pellegrino's World's 50 Best for the second year in a row.

The kitchen, run by chef René Redzepi, is known for its small plates and out-of-the-ordinary specialties, such as pickled and smoked quail eggs or Nordic-style pancakes wrapped around preserved fish. The tasting menu alone costs $267, not counting the additional $170 wine pairing.

Now this Danish gastronomic paradise has been revamped. Partnering with deign studio SPACE, the Noma team wanted a complete renovation before they returned from the 2012 London Olympics. That left SPACE with a mere three weeks for the redesign.

"In the beginning we all thought that Noma should be turned upside down, that we should do something completely new and unexpected," comments SPACE partners Peter Bundgaard Rützou and Signe Bindslev Henriksen. "After quite a long initial sketching period, we all came to the conclusion that it seemed forced and pretentious for a place like Noma to do something too conceptual or formally upscale...it is important that the space is not perceived as a superficial layer between the customer and the actual food experience."

The design team worked within the fundamental elements of the original warehouse, changing the color scheme, tables, and chairs instead of the actual layout of the restaurant itself. The biggest change was erecting a brick wall in the lounge and replacing the flooring with wider oak panels.

The result is a cool, sleek interior that provides an elegant backdrop to Noma's world-renowned dishes.

Welcome to Noma, the best restaurant in the world.



This is what the old interior looked like. The black curtains made tables feel more private, and the wood was warm against the stark warehouse interior.



The entrance to Noma used to be a long, wood sectional with back granite counters.



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The Science Of College Football Rankings

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College football playoff conference champions

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) college football rankings are in turmoil.

For two weeks in a row, the top-ranked team has been upset by an underdog from central Texas.

(Full disclosure: As a Baylor alum who is the daughter and granddaughter of Aggies, I might be just a little smug.)

The BCS rankings are a pretty big deal: college football doesn’t have a championship tournament (yet), and the rankings determine which teams play in the biggest bowl games, including the national championship game between the number one and number two teams.

Determining the rankings of the 120 college teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is not easy, especially because teams only play about twelve games, meaning they don’t play 90 percent of the field.

Currently, the BCS rankings are constructed from three components: the Harris interactive poll and the Coaches poll — both of which are surveys of various college football experts — and an average of six different computer ranking systems.

Those ingredients are stirred up with some weighted averaging and outlier disposal to create the BCS rankings we know and love (to hate).

The rankings, especially the computer models, can be mysterious. What factors go in, and can we trust the numbers that come out?

What are some of the pitfalls that rankings creators need to avoid? Last year, Andrew Karl, a newly minted Ph.D. statistician from Arizona State University, asked himself these questions and decided to create his own ranking system using the BCS rules for computer models in order to understand the process better.

The paper he wrote about his own model for college football rankings and the effects of different choices on the outcome was then published in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (preprint here).

Karl says that the biggest weakness of the BCS rankings system is that it only allows computer models to take into account a team’s binary win-loss record, not the margin of victory, presumably to decrease the chance that teams will run up the score when playing a much weaker opponent.

“From a stats perspective, it’s a more challenging notion than using, for example, margin of victory,” says Karl. “There’s a nonlinear component to it.” (Nonlinear is math-ese for “impossible to solve.”) One problem is that when a team is undefeated, many models that use only win-loss data will assign them infinite odds of winning. Oops.

Karl’s approach uses a “generalized linear mixed model.” Wins and losses over the course of the season create a rating for each team. A bit confusingly, a rating is not the same as a ranking. The ordering of the ratings determines the ranking, but the rating contains more information. Teams that differ by one in rank could have ratings that are very close or very far apart.

In that case, the difference in ratings might be within the margin of error, but the ranking will not reflect that. If the model is perfect and the world contains no surprises, a team with a higher rating will always beat a team with a lower rating. The term “generalized” means that the ratings might not follow a normal distribution, the famous bell curve, and the term “mixed” means that the model includes some random effects, since the real world throws in a few curveballs.

Unfortunately, the model ends up spitting out a pretty scary calculation: an integral whose dimension is the same as the number of teams in the rankings, which this year is 120, if you restrict to bowl-eligible teams. (If you took multi-variable calculus, remember how hard 3-dimensional integrals can be? Adding 117 more dimensions doesn’t make things easier.) Karl can’t say for sure how his model differs from the computer models used by the BCS, as most of them are proprietary.

Karl actually developed several different models, each varying the distribution of the ratings, the amount and type of random variation, the chosen method of approximating the solution to the integral, and even whether to rank only the FBS teams or all the teams in Division 1, including teams in smaller conferences such as the Ivy and Big Sky leagues.

Karl found that in general, the changes due to these choices were small compared with standard errors in ratings, but of course even a small difference in ratings can change the rankings of two teams, possibly affecting who gets to play for the championship.

If the computer models are so problematic, why use them at all? Karl says that this year, Florida State (FSU) highlights the utility of the computer rankings. FSU has only one loss, but it has played an easy schedule.

The human polls have FSU ranked five and six, but the computer rankings — both the BCS’s and Karl’s —have it down around 15; the computer models are more sensitive to the strength of schedule, and less emotional about the win-loss record, than the humans surveyed.

Karl says he’s not a betting man, but he sometimes does informal picks with his friends. “None of my other friends have their own models,” he says, but he acknowledges that his model is probably not one of the best ones—he was working within the constraints of the BCS computer ranking system rules. If he were really out to win big, he would use a model that takes margin of victory into account.

Right now, Karl’s rankings aren’t too far off from those of the BCS. The BCS top five teams are (in order) Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Oregon. Karl’s best model has Notre Dame, Florida, Alabama, Oregon and Stanford at the top.

They aren’t too different, but even the small changes would make a big difference to the teams who would end up in different bowl games as a result. With only one undefeated team left, who knows what might happen in the final weeks? (Sorry, Fighting Irish fans, but I like the chaos: Go USC!)

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Tokyo Still Has More 3-Star Michelin Restaurants Than Any Other City In The World

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Japan Michelin 2013

The 2013 Tokyo, Yokohama, and Shonan Michelin Guide came out this week, and shockingly the Japanese capital has lost two of its three-star eateries.

The 6th edition of the guide includes a total of 250 establishments, including 286 restaurants, 52 hotels, and 12 ryokans (a style of Japanese inn). Out of those 286 restaurants,15 are three-star Michelin eateries, a drop from last year's 17.

However, Tokyo still remains the city with the most three-star restaurants in the entire world despite the minor setback. To put Tokyo's 15 three-star establishments in perspective, France trails with 10, New York with seven, and London with two.

The two critical darlings that fell from grace with the French tire company were Japanese sushi restaurant Araki and Nihombashi eatery Hamadaya. Hamadaya only lost a star, but Araki, once renowned for its fantastic sushi and fresh tuna, has disappeared from the list entirely.

According to The Wall Street Journal, this is the first time since the Tokyo Michelin Guide launched back in 2007 that the city has lost any of its three-star establishments.

A total of 22 new restaurants were added this year to Tokyo's Michelin Guide, and 6 new establishments were promoted to the two-star category. The one-star category saw 15 new restaurants and one ryokan join the rankings as well.

This year's selection featured a steakhouse, a Chinese restaurant, and three French contemporary establishments, in addition to Japanese, Japanese Sushi, Japanese Soba, Japanese Tempura, and Japanese Yakitori restaurants.

View the full list of three-star Tokyo eateries below:

  • Azabu Yukimura (Japanese)
  • Esaki (Japanese contemporary)
  • Ishikawa (Japanese)
  • Joël Robuchon (French contemporary)
  • Kanda (Japanese)
  • Koan (Japanese)
  • Koju (Japanese)
  • Quintessence (French contemporary)
  • Ryugin (Japanese contemporary)
  • 7chome Kyoboshi (Japanese tempura)
  • Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten (Japanese sushi)
  • Sushi Mizutani (Japanese sushi)
  • Sushi Saito (Japanese sushi)
  • Sushi Yoshitake (Japanese sushi)
  • Usukifugu Yamadaya (Japanese fugu)

SEE ALSO:  Horrible Yelp Reviews Of New York's Michelin-Starred Restaurants

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