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The 100 Most Important People In History

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Jesus

It was only a matter of time before the tech world tried to rewrite history.

Stony Brook University computer science professor Steven Skiena and Google software engineer Charles B. Ward take on this ambitious task in a book published this fall: "Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank."

Just as Google ranks web pages, the researchers created an algorithm that ranks historical figures by Wikipedia PageRank, article length, and readership, as well as achievement and celebrity.

Their conclusions have not come without controversy. The top 100 significant figures are overwhelming white and male. For example, Nelson Mandela, who helped end Apartheid in South Africa, ranked only 356. And just three women broke the top 100. 

Cass Sunstein of "The New Republic"wrote a sprawling analysis of their findings. She questions not only if we can measure historical significance, but whether we should and certainly why the authors relied solely on the English-language version of Wikipedia. On that note, perhaps we could call these the most important figures in Western history.

Here's the top 100:

1. Jesus: central figure of Christianity (7 B.C. - A.D. 30) 

2. Napoleon: Emperor of France, involved in the Battle of Waterloo (1769 - 1821)

3. Muhammad: prophet and founder of Islam (570 - 632)

4. William Shakespeare: English playwright, wrote "Hamlet" (1564 - 1616)

5. Abraham Lincoln: 16th U.S. president, involved in the Civil War (1809 - 1865)

6. George Washington: 1st U.S. president, involved in the American Revolution (1732 - 1799)

7. Adolf Hitler: Fuehrer of Nazi Germany, involved in World War II (1889 - 1945)

8. Aristotle: Greek philosopher and polymath (384 - 322 B.C.)

9. Alexander the Great: Greek king and conqueror of the known world (356 - 323 B.C.)

10. Thomas Jefferson: 3rd U.S. president, co-wrote the Declaration of Independence (1743 - 1826)

11. Henry VIII: King of England, had six wives (1491 - 1547)

12. Charles Darwin: scientist, created the Theory of Evolution (1809 - 1882)

13. Elizabeth I: Queen of England, known as "The Virgin Queen" (1533 - 1603)

14. Karl Marx: philosopher, wrote the "Communist Manifesto" (1818 - 1883)

15. Julius Caesar: Roman general and statesmen, said "Et tu, Brute?" (100 - 44 B.C.)

16. Queen Victoria: Queen of Britain, Victorian Era (1819 - 1901)

17. Martin Luther: Protestant Reformation, wrote the "95 Theses" (1483 - 1546)

18. Joseph Stalin: Premier of USSR, involved in World War II (1878 - 1953)

19. Albert Einstein: theoretical physicist, created the Theory of Relativity (1879 - 1955)

20. Christopher Columbus: explorer, discoverer of the New World (1451 - 1506)

21. Isaac Newton: scientist, created the Theory of Gravity (1643 - 1727)

22. Charlemagne: first Holy Roman Emporer, considered the "Father of Europe" (742 - 814)

23. Theodore Roosevelt: 26th U.S. president, Progressive Movement (1858 - 1919)

24. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Austrian composer, wrote "Don Giovanni" (1756 - 1791)

25. Plato: Greek philosopher, wrote "The Republic" (427 - 347 B.C.)

26. Louis XIV: King of France, known as The Sun King (1638 - 1715)

27. Ludwig Von Beethoven: German composer, wrote "Ode to Joy" (1770 - 1827)

28. Ulysses S. Grant: 18th U.S. president and Civil War general (1822 - 1885)

29. Leonardo da Vinci: Italian artist and polymath, painted the "Mona Lisa" (1452 - 1519)

30. Augustus: First Emporer of Rome, Pax Romana (63 B.C. - A.D. 14)

31. Carl Linnaeus: Swedish biologist, father of Taxonomy (1707 - 1778)

32. Ronald Reagan: 40th U.S. president, Conservative Revolution (1911 - 2004)

33. Charles Dickens: English novelist, wrote "David Copperfield" (1812 - 1870

34. Paul the Apostle: Christian apostle and missionary (A.D. 5 - A.D. 67)

35. Benjamin Franklin: Founding father, scientist, captured lightning (1706 - 1790)

36. George W. Bush: 43rd U.S. president during the Iraq War (1946 - )

37. Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of Britain, involved in World War II (1874 - 1965)

38. Genghis Khan: Founder of the Mongol Empire (1162 - 1227)

39. Charles I: King of England, involved in the English Civil War (1600 - 1649)

40. Thomas Edison: Inventor of the light bulb and phonograph (1847 - 1931)

41. James I: King of England, responsible for the King James Bible (1566 - 1625)

42. Friedrich Nietzsche: German philosopher, "God is dead" (1844 - 1900)

43. Franklin D. Roosevelt: 32nd U.S. President, responsible for the New Deal (1882 - 1945)

44. Sigmund Freud: neurologist and creator of psychoanalysis (1856 - 1939)

45. Alexander Hamilton: U.S. Founding Father, National Bank (1755 - 1804)

46. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Indian nationalist leader, instrumental in non-violence (1869 - 1948)

47. Woodrow Wilson: 28th U.S.  president, involved in World War I (1856 - 1924)

48. Johann Sebastian Bach: Classical composer, wrote the "Well Tempered Clavier" (1685 - 1750)

49. Galileo Galilei: Italian physicist and astronomer (1564 - 1642)

50. Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector of England, involved in the English Civil War (1599 - 1658)

51. James Madison: 4th U.S. president, involved in the War of 1812 (1751 - 1836)

52. Guatama Buddha: central figure of Buddhism (563 - 483 B.C.)

53. Mark Twain: American author, wrote "Huckleberry Finn" (1835 - 1910)

54. Edgar Allen Poe: American author, wrote "The Raven" (1809 - 1849)

55. Joseph Smith: American religious leader, founded Mormonism (1805 - 1844)

56. Adam Smith: Economist, wrote "The Wealth Of Nations" (1723 - 1790)

57. David: Biblical King of Israel, founded Jerusalem (1040 - 970 B.C.)

58. George III: King of England, involved in the American Revolution (1738 - 1820)

59. Immanuel Kant: German philosopher, wrote "Critique Of Pure Reason" (1724 - 1804)

60. James Cook: Explorer and discoverer of Hawaii and Australia (1728 - 1779)

61. John Adams: Founding Father and 2nd U.S. president (1735 - 1826)

62. Richard Wagner: German composer, wrote "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" (1813 - 1883)

63. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Russian composer, wrote the "1812 Overture" (1840 - 1893)

64. Voltaire: French Enlightenment philosopher, wrote "Candidate" (1694 - 1778)

65. Saint Peter: Early Christian leader (?-?)

66. Andrew Jackson: 7th U.S. president, also known as "Old Hickory" (1767 - 1845)

67. Constantine the Great: Emperor of Rome, first Christian emperor (272-337)

68. Socrates: Greek philosopher and teacher, sentenced to death by hemlock (469 - 399 B.C.)

69. Elvis Presley: The "king of rock and roll" (1935 - 1977)

70. William the Conqueror: King of England, Norman Conquest (1027 - 1087)

71. John F. Kennedy: 35th U.S. president, Cuban Missile Crisis (1917 - 1963)

72. Augustine of Hippo: Early Christian theologian, wrote "The City of God" (354 - 430)

73. Vincent Van Gogh: Post-impressionist painter, painted "Starry Night" (1853 - 1890)

74. Nicolaus Copernicus: Astronomer, theorized a heliocentric cosmology (1473 - 1543)

75. Vladimir Lenin: Soviet revolutionary and Premier of USSR (1870 - 1924)

76. Robert E. Lee: Confederate General during the U.S. Civil War (1807 - 1870)

77. Oscar Wilde: Irish author and poet, wrote "The Picture of Dorian Grey" (1854 - 1900)

78. Charles II: King of England, post-Cromwell (1630 - 1685)

79. Cicero: Roman statesman and orator, wrote "On the Republic" (106 - 43 B.C.)

80. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: philosopher, wrote "On the Social Contract" (1712 - 1778)

81. Francis Bacon: English scientist, created the Scientific Method (1561 - 1626)

82. Richard Nixon: 37th U.S. president, involved in Watergate (1913 - 1994)

83. Louis XVI: King of France, executed in the French Revolution (1754 - 1793)

84. Charles V: Holy Roman Emporer during the Counter-Reformation (1500 - 1558)

85. King Arthur: Mythical 6th-century King of Britain (? - ?)

86. Michelangelo: Italian sculptor and Renaissance man, sculpted "David" (1475 - 1564)

87. Philip II: King of Spain, organized the Spanish Armada (1527 - 1598)

88. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: German writer and polymath, wrote "Faust" (1749 - 1832)

89. Ali: Early Caliph and a central figure of Sufism (598 - 661)

90. Thomas Aquinas: Italian theologian, "Summa theologiae" (1225 - 1274)

91. Pope John Paul II: 20th-century Polish Pope, Solidarity (1920 - 2005)

92. Rene Descartes: French philosopher, coined "I think, therefore I am" (1596 - 1650)

93. Nikola Tesla: Inventor, discovered alternating current (1856 - 1943)

94. Harry S. Truman: 33rd U.S. president, involved in the Korean War (1884 - 1972)

95. Joan of Arc: French military leader and saint (1412 - 1431)

96. Dante Alighieri: Italian poet, wrote the "Divine Comedy" (1265 - 1321)

97. Otto von Bismarck: 1st chancellor and unifier of modern Germany (1815 - 1898)

98. Grover Cleveland: 22nd and 24th U.S. president (1837 - 1908)

99. John Calvin: French Protestant theologian, founded Calvinism (1509 - 1564)

100. John Locke: English Enlightenment philosopher, theorized "tabula rasa" (1632 - 1704)

Read more in "Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank."

SEE ALSO: The 16 Greatest Cities In Human History

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The 10 Universities With The Most Creative Students

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Washington University WashU College Basketball

Washington University in St. Louis has the most creative students in the world, according to data compiled by ViewsOnYou.

The London based startup sets up profiles help match people with companies and employers that may be a good personality fit. A person on ViewsOnYou is matched with companies using three components — energy (how you work), interpersonal (how you interact), and intelligence (how you think).

We recently brought you a ranking of the schools with the most "driven" students— one of the 23 different metrics that factor into the three categories. These are determined for each person from a combination of self-assessment and peer reviews.

According to ViewsOnYou Product Manager Greg Harrison, the list of the most creative students was based on data points from the following traits — highly experimental, creative in ideas, and happy for others to create ideas.

You can use Facebook and LinkedIn to set up your ViewsOnYou profile, which allows the website to compile rankings based on shared educational background.

From ViewsOnYou, here are the 10 universities with the most creative students:

#10 University of California, Los Angeles — Los Angeles, California

University of California Los Angeles Campus

#9 University of Texas at Austin — Austin, Texas

University Texas Austin Campus

#8 University of California, Davis — Davis, California

University California Davis Arc

#7 Northwestern University — Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University Ford Engineering Building

#6 Johns Hopkins University — Baltimore, Maryland

Homewood Museum Johns Hopkins University

#5 Brown University — Providence, Rhode Island

Brown University Campus Sayles Hall

#4 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

University Illinois Campus

#3 University of California, Santa Barbara — Santa Barbara, California

University California Santa Barbara Campus

#2 University of California, Berkeley — Berkeley, California

UC Berkeley

#1 Washington University in St. Louis — St. Louis, Missouri

Washington University St. Louis Campus

SEE ALSO: The 10 Universities With The Most Driven Students

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WELCOME TO 2014! These Are The 25 Most Hungover Cities In America

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hungover cities wideHappy 2014! As always, the brand new year comes with the inevitable New Year's Eve hangover.

To see which cities have it the worst, we came up with our own exclusive Business Insider Hangover Score, which ranks cities based on a variety of factors.

We looked at the Center for Disease Control's most recent data on binge drinking in the U.S. (from 2010), the Census Bureau's 2011 County Business Patterns stats on liquor stores and bars per capita in metro areas, as well as the number of breweries per capita in each state via the Brewers' Association.

The Midwest represented, with Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska all boasting multiple cities in the top 25. Major destinations such as Boston and Denver also made it onto this year's list. Click here to read the complete methodology.

#25 Wichita, Kan.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 69.25

19 bars per 100,000 people

18 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

Less than 1 brewery per 100,000 people

15.5% admitted to binge drinking

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the four categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.



#24 Boston, Mass.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 69.28

10 bars per 100,000 people

18 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

Less than 1 brewery per 100,000 people

20.1% admitted to binge drinking

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the four categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.



#23 Omaha, Neb.

Business Insider Hangover Score: 69.4

32 bars per 100,000 people

beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people

More than 1 brewery per 100,000 people

19.5% admitted to binge drinking

The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the four categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This Map Shows The Most Expensive Cities In The World

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expensive cities expatistan ranking map

This map shows the cost of living index scores from site Expatistan, with red showing more expensive cities and green showing cheaper cities.

This year, London was the most expensive city, where monthly rent for a furnished one-bedroom apartment was the equivalent of $4,250. A monthly ticket for public transportation was $215, and a typical man's haircut cost roughly $28.

Oslo, Geneva, Zurich, and New York City rounded out the top five.

The bottom of the list included Caracas in Venezuela, as well as the cities of Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, and Madras in India. According to Expatistan data, London is around 1,000% more expensive than Caracas.

The team at Expatistan calculated the price index value for hundreds of global cities based on the current cost of items such as housing, clothes, transportation, medicine, and food.

Below is the full list of the top 20 cities based on Expatistan's Cost of Living index.

1. London, UK(280)

2. Oslo, Norway(267)

3. Geneva, Switzerland(259)

4. Zurich, Switzerland(256)

5. New York City, USA(237)

6. Lausanne, Switzerland(233)

7. Singapore, Singapore (228)

8. Paris, France (219)

9. San Francisco, USA(218)

10. Copenhagen, Denmark(217)

11. Sydney Australia(215)

12. Hong Kong, China(214)

13. Brisbane, Australia(208)

14. The Hague, Netherlands(204)

15. Stockholm, Sweden(204)

16. Honolulu, USA(199)

17. Amsterdam, Netherlands(199)

18. Melbourne, Australia(198)

19. Tokyo, Japan(198)

20. Washington D.C., USA(197)

To see an interactive map and the full list of cities, head over to Expatistan's website.

SEE ALSO: The 15 Countries With The Highest Quality Of Life

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The 15 Healthiest Cities In America

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running

With the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, everyone seems to have something to say about the state of health care in America.

NerdWallet sifted through data available on the 50 largest metropolitan areas to find the healthiest places in the U.S. NerdWallet assessed the general fitness of residents, overall health insurance coverage, and the availability of doctors.

The rankings were based on the following factors:

  1. How fit are the residents? We assessed the overall fitness of residents in line with the American Fitness Index, a composite index that includes data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), environmental factors from the Trust for Public Lands, rates of disease, and other government data. We also included the percentage of residents with healthy weight levels and the percentage of residents who engage in physical activity, according to data from the CDC.
  2. Is health care accessible? We incorporated the percentage of residents who have health insurance, as well as the number of available physicians per 100,000 residents.

Healthiest Metro Areas

1. Boston, Massachusetts

Boston takes the prize for healthiest metro area. It’s no surprise that Boston has a very low rate of uninsured residents – just 4.6 percent – considering the success of “Romneycare,” Massachusetts’ 2006 health care reform law signed into law by former Gov. Mitt Romney. But Boston is far from complacent in improving the fitness of Bostonians. Mayor Thomas Menino, in his final year in office, introduced the Million Pound Challenge, summoning residents to collectively lose one million pounds and to move 10 million miles. With the help of several sponsors including the Boston Public Health Commission and the Boston Red Sox, the city offered free fitness classes throughout the summer. In addition, a coalition of local academics, architects, developers, planners, public officials, and residents helped launch Fit City Boston.

2. San Francisco, California

Often referred to as The City by the Bay, San Francisco is a year-round paradise for fitness gurus and outdoor adventurers, thanks to the habitually temperate weather and plenty of parks, walking paths, and steep hills. Nearly 45% of San Francisco residents are a healthy weight, perhaps because it is the ‘Best City for Weight Loss’ and home to the ‘Healthiest Eaters’. In its fifth annual survey, Women’s Health also ranked San Francisco as the best city for women’s health.

3. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis earned the Trust for Public Land’s 2013 Best Parks award, stealing the coveted spot from San Francisco with a landmark perfect score. It also earned the top spot in Bicycling Magazine’s annual America’s Best Bike Cities, beating out Portland. Minneapolis also boasts the Chain of Lakes, an idyllic series of parks where you can find paths or spaces for exercise and two miles of water for canoers.

4. Seattle, Washington

Seattle is serious about the health of all of its residents. At least half of the options in all vending machines on city-owned property (parks, recreation centers, government buildings, etc.) must be health department-approved healthy snacks. The Seattle Foundation’s Outdoors for All Foundation provides therapeutic outdoor activities to children and adults with disabilities, ranging from skiing to rock-climbing. Seattle also earned the distinction of the being the best city for men’s health.

5. Washington, D.C.

Washington passed its Healthy Schools Act in 2010 and is beginning to see the benefits of its Healthy Schools Initiative, such as 100% of schools now serving free breakfast. Not only is D.C. creating a generation of healthier residents, it boasts the second-densest parklands amongst US cities, 900 acres of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers all for current residents to enjoy.

6. San Jose, California

Like its neighbor, San Francisco, San Jose has ideal temperatures year-round for promoting outdoor exercise and activity. The 2011 Campaign for Healthy Food San Jose, overseen by HealthTrust, worked to increase the prevalence of farmers markets and community gardens in San Jose. Eighteen community gardens now exist, totaling 35 acres. San Jose’s residents also smoke less than residents of any other major U.S. city.

7. Denver, Colorado

Although Denver has relatively fewer doctors, a high percentage of city residents have healthy weight levels. Two communities in Denver were selected by The Colorado Health Foundation to participate in their new Healthy Places initiative, a five-year, $4.5 million initiative aimed at developing healthy communities. Healthy Places strives to reduce obesity by creating environments that are safer and more appealing for healthy habits and daily exercise.

8. Portland, Oregon

Portland is the third most environmentally friendly city in the world—and for residents, sustainability and health go hand in hand. The Mayor’s Initiative for Healthy Sustainable Food Systems increases access to healthier food for Portlanders by promoting composting programs, community gardens, and farmers markets. As an added incentive to exercise, Portland also boasts the unique Green Microgym, which converts the energy generated by the use of exercise equipment into electricity that powers fans and flat-screen TVs.

9. Sacramento, California

Nearly 85% of Sacramento residents partake in physical activity. The Healthy Sacramento Coalition, formed in 2011 by a federal grants, aims to reduce chronic disease and health disparities, while increasing knowledge and awareness of healthy lifestyles.

10. Hartford, Connecticut

The Hartford metro area is well-insured, coming in just over three percentage points below Boston. Through the Hartford Childhood Wellness Alliance, Hartford aims to reduce childhood obesity through a concerted community effort. This initiative recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct the Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Program: Building Healthier Families and Communities. This small, controlled trial will aim to increase breastfeeding, delay introduction of solid foods, and avoid sugary liquids in infants.

11. Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City boasts Be Active and Healthy, an obesity prevention program that aims to raise awareness about health issues and teach about the benefits of staying in good health. The Salt Lake region, known for its scenic skiing slopes, also has a booming outdoor recreation economy, promoting an active lifestyle for both its residents and tourists.

12. San Diego, California

Fun in the sun. Surfing. Beaches. Who wouldn’t be happy and healthy in San Diego? San Diego is three years into a 10-year health initiative dubbed Live Well, San Diego! The initiative seeks to address the root causes of illness and high health care costs in San Diego in a three-step plan—‘Building Better Health’, ‘Living Safely’, and ‘Thriving’—the third step is expected to unfold in 2014.

13. Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore residents are well-insured and have plenty of physicians to choose from. The initiative Healthy Baltimore 2015 seeks to help all residents achieve their best health outcomes by setting goals in areas such as heart health and eliminating smoking. The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative also aims to provide healthy and affordable food options by running programs in food policy, urban agriculture, and schools.

14. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is four years into a city-wide health initiative, Get Healthy Philly. This initiative brings together government, community-based organizations, academia, and the private sector in an effort to promote healthy eating and tobacco control. It also aims to increase the number of opportunities for physical activity among all age groups.

15. New York, New York

With 11 of the Healthiest Companies to Work For within its city limits and an abundance of doctors, New York rounds out this list. Walk Score also named New York the Most Walkable City in 2014, which means residents have the opportunity to choose healthier transportation options.

Healthiest Metro Areas

RankMetro areaFitness indexPercent of residents who are a healthy weightPercent of residents who partake in physical activityHealth insurance coveragePhysicians per 100,000 residentsOverall health score
1Boston, MA67.143.2%78.5%95.4%58184.3
2San Francisco, CA68.744.8%82.6%88.1%46980.6
3Minneapolis, MN78.238.4%82.9%91.5%31973.0
4Seattle, WA66.742.3%83.4%87.0%38472.6
5Washington, DC77.737.8%80.7%88.2%44571.8
6San Jose, CA66.439.7%83.0%88.1%40170.5
7Denver, CO68.143.0%83.8%84.8%34170.5
8Portland, OR69.840.3%84.2%85.5%36270.1
9Sacramento, CA66.840.9%84.7%86.6%30968.7
10Hartford, CT66.638.0%80.5%92.1%39268.2
11Salt Lake City, UT62.541.8%81.7%83.9%35963.6
12San Diego, CA61.341.2%81.0%82.7%36560.5
13Baltimore, MD59.533.5%76.0%90.8%50057.0
14Philadelphia, PA51.239.9%75.8%90.0%41556.4
15New York, NY52.140.5%75.4%86.8%46156.1

 

Least Healthy Metro Areas

RankMetro areaFitness indexPercent of residents who are a healthy weightPercent of residents who partake in physical activityHealth insurance coveragePhysicians per 100,000 residentsOverall health score
1Dallas, TX37.436.4%73.6%77.7%22822.2
2Memphis, TN36.028.9%73.9%84.3%30222.5
3Oklahoma City, OK31.235.1%71.5%82.5%29622.7
4Orlando, FL42.534.3%74.7%79.3%23425.1
5Riverside, CA42.535.1%76.4%79.2%16825.3

Methodology:

The overall health score for each city was obtained from the following factors:

  1. Fitness index from the American Fitness Index

  2. Percent of residents who are a healthy weight from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

  3. Percentage of residents who engage in physical activity from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

  4. Health insurance coverage from the U.S. Census

  5. Physicians per 100,000 residents from the U.S. Census

The fifty largest U.S. metro areas were included in this analysis.

SEE ALSO: See The Diet Plans People Actually Liked

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Those Who Make Their Living Off Facebook Traffic Should Pay Attention To The Way The News Feed Just Changed

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girl facebook sad lonely

Facebook just announced a tweak to its News Feed ranking algorithm that will better differentiate between text updates from friends and text updates from pages for brands and news organizations.

Basically, Facebook wants you to keep seeing more text status updates from your friends, but not from Pages, which it thinks should share links. 

Facebook found that when people see more text status updates, they share more of their own. For example, when Facebook tested showing more status updates to users, it led an average of 9 million more updates per day. It looks like seeing your friends share online makes you want to share too. 

Text status updates from Pages were lumped into this cycle of increased views, but Facebook wants to put them in a different category. It tells Page administrators to expect a decrease in the distribution of their text status updates, though they can expect to see more likes, comments, and shares of other types of stories, like links. 

Here's an example of a text update with an embedded link from a Page:

Facebook Screenshot

 ...Versus a link update from a Page, which is what Facebook is encouraging Pages to use: 

Facebook Screenshot

Facebook says that these link updates give people a more "visual and compelling experience."

This tweak is one of a number that Facebook has introduced recently, and is a reminder to publishers that relying too heavily on Facebook traffic can be dangerous. After all, the traffic Facebook gives, it can easily take away. 

SEE ALSO: Fired From Subway, This 20-Year-Old Started A Company And Makes A Living Off Facebook Traffic

SEE ALSO: 20-Year-Old Who Makes A Living Off Social Media Has A Cheap Trick You Can Use To Get A Lot Of Followers On Twitter

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RANKED: The Most Popular Girl Scout Cookies

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Girl Scout cookies are a national icon, making an average of $800 million annually. Last year, troops of green-sashed little girls sold more than 200 million boxes of cookies, Girl Scouts of America told Business Insider.

And because National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend kicks off on February 7th, people around the country can expect to start seeing those colorful boxes in offices and malls in the coming months.

In honor of the cookies' return, we asked Girl Scouts of America which flavors were the most popular.

Here are the top five cookies, along with a rough count of how many boxes were sold last year.

5. Trefoils/Shortbread Cookies

girl scout cookies trefoils shortbread9% of last year's sales came from Trefoils, also known as Shortbread cookies. That means over 18 million boxes of the buttery cookies were sold, which adds up to roughly 720 million Trefoils (40 cookies per box).

4. Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Do si dos girl scout cookiesOver 22 million boxes of Do-si-dos, were sold last year, accounting for around 11% of sales. At 20 cookies per box, that means we scarfed down more than 440 million of those peanut butter sandwiches.

3. Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties

Tagalongs peanut butter patties girl scout cookiesOver 26 million boxes, or 13% of all sales, went to Tagalongs last year. Those chocolate-covered peanut butter treats have an average of 14 patties per box, which equals 364 million cookies.

2. Samoas/Caramel deLites

Samoas caramel de-lites girl scout cookiesThese delicious combinations of chocolate, cookie, caramel, and toasted coconut accounted for 19% of last year's sales. That's well over 38 million boxes, and roughly 570 million cookies (given that Samoas have an average of 15 cookies per box).

1. Thin Mints

Thin Mints girl scout cookiesOf course, Thin Mints are the #1-selling Girl Scout cookie in America. The crispy treats merge chocolate and mint for one delicious snack. Girl Scouts of America sold more than 50 million boxes last year, or roughly 1.6 billion cookies (with an average of 32 cookies per box). Thin Mints made up 25% of total cookie sales.

For those keeping track, the remaining 23% of sales were made up collectively by all the other varieties of cookies, including Dulce de Leches, Savannah Smiles, Thank You Berry Munches, Thanks a Lots, Cranberry Citrus Crisps, Lemonades, and Mango Crèmes — basically, all the flavors you judge people for ordering.

It also did not include this year's new flavor, gluten-free Chocolate Chip Shortbread cookies that are making waves among Girl Scout cookie aficionados.

And if you disagree with the ranking and feel really strongly about one of the 12 flavors, you can go to the Girl Scouts website and vote on your favorite cookie. So far, Samoas/Caramel deLites are winning.

SEE ALSO: 12 Baking Hacks That Will Seriously Improve Your Cookies

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The Best And Worst Business Schools, According To Alumni

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Harvard Business School graduation

In a typical year, more than 10,000 alumni of the world’s leading business schools fill out the survey sent to them by The Financial Times for its annual ranking of the best full-time MBA programs. Among other things, they’re asked to recommend a trio of schools that they think so highly of they would recruit their graduates.

Yet their perspective on this subject only accounts for a measly 2% of the British newspaper’s ranking methodology. That’s a shame because those recommendations are among the most valuable pieces of information any applicant can receive. After all, you’re getting the opportunity to hear from people who quit their full-time jobs, paid out more than $100,000 in tuition and fees, endured the sometimes grueling pace of MBA study, and then worked for three years, often with graduates from other schools. They know firsthand what the MBA experience is all about — and they know what to expect from MBAs elsewhere. Their recommendations are the ultimate seal of approval.

This year, some 10,986 alumni completed the survey — a response rate of 47%. But The Financial Times says that it also added the views of respondents from one or two preceding years when available. In other words, these recommendations are the basis of tens of thousands of alumni over several years.

Which schools consistently are most highly recommended? Rather than look at one-year results, we crunched the numbers on the last five years from 2014 to 2010 to give a far more reliable look at the best and the worst. By taking that longer view, applicants can also see schools that may be trending up or down in satisfaction. Yale University’s School of Management is definitely doing better, improving its recommendation rank to 17 this year from 23 in 2010. UCLA’s Anderson School is going the other way, ranking 24th this year from 17 five years ago.

Surprisingly, though, there was remarkable consistency for the best schools over the five-year period. Many schools stayed within a range of two to three places over the entire span. This was less true for the schools in the bottom 10% where MBA programs are far more likely to pop in and out of the FT’s ranking of the Top 100 schools. It’s relatively rare for a school near the bottom to have a full five-year data set.

What we especially like about the results is that they are intuitive which suggests a high degree of reliability. After all, if a school like Hult International was ahead of a school like INSEAD you would have to scratch your head. That’s certainly not the case here. In fact, the top five schools scoring the best recommendations from their alumni are all familiar prestige names: No. 1 Harvard Business School, which has been ranked first for each of the past five years, No. 2 Stanford Graduate School of Business, No. 3 UPenn’s Wharton School, No. 4 London Business School, and No. 5 Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

U.S. business schools dominate the top quartile of these highly recommended schools, with 19 of the top 25 based in America. Five European schools make the list. After London, it’s INSEAD in France and Singapore, IMD in Switzerland, IESE Business School in Spain, and HEC Paris in France. Only one Canadian school makes the cut: The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

And the schools at the bottom? They’re led by Tilburg University in The Netherlands which this year was ranked dead last in recommendations at 100th. Portugal’s Lisbon MBA is next, followed by University College Dublin’s Smurfit School, Hult International, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School in the bottom 10%.

John Delaney, the dean of Katz, acknowledges the disappointing survey results for his school but notes that he and his staff have been working especially hard in the past two to three years to improve things. The school has made a concerted effort to focus on processes that make it easier for students to change courses and to get into high-demand classes as well as processes related to careers and employment. He says that Katz’s internal surveys show improvement in student satisfaction which he expects to be reflected in future surveys of alumni.

To be fair, it’s worth pointing out that these schools are among the top 1% in the world. Otherwise, they would even be ranked among the top 100 by The Financial Times. So even those that are scoring at the bottom of the recommendation file are very good programs. Against this peer set, however, the competition is extremely tough and unrelenting.

For the best of the bunch, we imposed one rule: That each school received a recommendation rank in each of the five years studied. That rule brings a greater degree of confidence that these MBA programs are the most recommended in the world. For the group of schools in the bottom 10%, we insured that every MBA program had at least two years worth of rankings data. Obviously, these schools tend to move on and off the FT’s radar screen, a natural consequence of being near the bottom of the list.

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What Life Is Like In North Dakota, America's New Happiest State

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north dakota state sign

In a recent Gallup ranking of the happiest states in the U.S., North Dakota shot up the list from number 19 to number 1, ousting longtime frontrunner Hawaii.

It ranked as the top state in both work environment and physical health, and was ranked 2nd in emotional health and 4th in life evaluation.

A big reason for North Dakota's success on this year's list has been a boom in job growth. For the fifth year in a row, the Midwestern state was number 1 in employee perceptions of job creation at their workplaces in 2013, as measured by the Gallup Job Creation Index.

North Dakota has also benefitted from a surge in its oil industry (look no further than its boomtown of Williston), and has the sixth-highest per-capita personal income in America, according to a new payroll-to-population state ranking.

For the fifth year in a row, North Dakota has topped all other states with an unemployment rate below 3%, mainly due to a boom in the oil industry.

Source: United States Department of Labor



The economy there grew at five times the national average in 2012, and is grew nearly three times faster than the #2 state, Texas. A lot of workers are migrating to North Dakota looking for jobs.

Source: CNN Money



Which means home prices are insane right now due to the influx of people. According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, North Dakota saw a 200% jump in homelessness last year, the biggest increase of any state.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

New Ranking Says Harvard And MIT Are The Best American Universities For 80% Of Academic Subjects

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Harvard University College Basketball Students

QS recently released a new ranking of the top universities for 30 different academic subjects and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the list was dominated by two prestigious Boston-based schools — Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Only looking at the American universities included, Harvard topped the rankings for 15 of the subjects, half of QS' list, while MIT ranked number one in nine subjects, including every one in the "Engineering & Technology" category. Together, the two universities were the strongest schools in 24 of QS' 30 subjects — 80% of all the academic fields.

QS uses three distinct data sets — including their own academic and employer reputation surveys — to produce their World University Rankings by Subject.

Because Harvard and MIT take up so many of the list's top rankings, it is interesting to look at the range of subjects they're each considered the best in. For example, MIT has a stronghold on the aforementioned engineering subjects, as well as Linguistics, a less-technology focused field.

Check out QS' full list of the best American universities by academic subject below:

Arts & Humanities:

Engineering & Technology:

Life Sciences & Medicine:

Natural Sciences:

Social Sciences:

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RANKED: The 13 Coolest Buildings By Starchitect Frank Gehry

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Frank Gehry, one of the most prolific and famous architects on earth, turns 85 years old today.

Chances are you've seen one of his undulating and mind-bending architectural marvels even if you didn't know it was a Gehry building.

The internationally acclaimed American artist has been making us question how we perceive buildings ever since his billowing designs splashed onto the scene.

Here are his 13 best works, ranked, based on aesthetic appeal and critical acclaim. See more of our favorite buildings on our Cool Architecture board on Pinterest.

13. Neuer Zollhof, Düsseldorf, Germany

Neuer Zollhof12. The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve11. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California10. DZ Bank Building (Atrium), Berlin, Germany

DZ Bank Building (Atrium) berlin9. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA8. Vitra Design Museum, Rhein, Germany

Vitra Design Museum7. MIT's Strata Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

MIT Strata Center6. The Dancing House, Prague, Czech Republic

The Dancing House, Prague, Czech Republic5. Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, USA

Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington4. Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas3. Marqués de Riscal Winery, Rioja, Spain

Marqués de Riscal Winery, Rioja, Spain2. 8 Spruce Street (Beekman Tower), New York, New York, USA

$60,000 a month penthouse gehry building new york1. Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain

Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, SpainBONUS: Gehry's (uncompleted) Facebook Campus

Facebook West Campus

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11 Underrated Colleges Where You Can Get A Great Education

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michigan university football

Last week, we wrote about a new ranking from QS that found that Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are the best American universities for 80% of academic subjects.

However, we wanted to find out what schools shined outside of the Boston-based powerhouses. Using U.S. News & World Report's university rankings as a reference, here are the best specific academic programs that you don't need to go to a top ranked school for.

We created this list by looking at QS' rankings of the top academic programs for American universities, and then eliminated any school that appeared in U.S. News' top 25 universities. We've included where each school appeared in the QS rankings for American universities on our list below.

QS uses three distinct data sets — including their own academic and employer reputation surveys — to produce their World University Rankings by Subject. While this list is still dominated by a handful of schools, it definitely offers more of a range in focus and accessibility than Harvard and MIT. The University of Michigan appeared the most in our revised rankings, topping eight subjects, including Modern Languages and Mechanical Engineering.

Here are 11 underrated universities and the subjects they excel in:

University of Michigan:

New York University:

University of Wisconsin — Madison:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

Georgia Institute of Technology:

University of California, San Diego:

University of Texas at Austin:

University of California, Davis:

University of California, San Francisco:

University of California, Santa Barbara:

University of Massachusetts, Amherst:

SEE ALSO: New Ranking Says Harvard And MIT Are The Best American Universities For 80% Of Academic Subjects

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The 10 Universities With The Best Reputations In The World

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Harvard University College Basketball Students

Harvard University has the best reputation of any university in the world, according to a new ranking from British education magazine Times Higher Education.

"Reputation is almost like the currency of higher education. It's the way scholars decide whom to do business with, whom to collaborate with and where they'll go for their next career move," THE’s rankings editor Phil Baty told Forbes.

Additionally, Baty argued, reputation can have a huge impact on potential students. "Reputation often comes out as the No. 1 factor that students use to decide where they want to go to school," he said.

THE's reputation rankings are based on an invitation-only survey of leading scholars to create a list the magazine openly acknowledges is subjective. This year, THE recieved 10,536 responses from 133 countries.

According to THE, "respondents are asked 'action-based” questions, such as: 'Which university would you send your most talented graduates to for the best postgraduate supervision?'" These help the magazine ideally compile more meaningful survey results.

Here are the 10 universities with the best reputations in the world:

#10 University of California, Los Angeles — Los Angeles, California

University California Los Angeles Campus UCLA

#9 California Institute of Technology — Pasadena, California

CalTech, California Institute of Technology

#8 Yale University — New Haven, Connecticut

Yale University Campus Students

#7 Princeton University — Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton FitzRandolph Gate

#6 University of California, Berkeley — Berkeley, California

UC Berkeley

#5 University of Oxford — Oxford, England

Oxford University Bodleian Library Radcliffe Camera Campus

#4 University of Cambridge — Cambridge, England

Cambridge University Campus Punting

#3 Stanford University — Stanford, California

Stanford University Church Quad Campus

#2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Cambridge, Massachusetts

MIT Campus Dome

#1 Harvard University — Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard University

Click over to Times Higher Education for the entire ranking >

SEE ALSO: The 50 Best Colleges In America

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The Most And Least Liked Late Night TV Hosts, Ranked

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colbert jimmy fallon

Stephen Colbert is the only host in late night TV who plays a character. On “The Colbert Report,” he's a self-absorbed, closed-minded caricature of a jingoistic talk show host, who is supposed to be anything but endearing.

But Americans embrace him anyway. Colbert is the most-liked late night talk show host, according to data that the Q Scores company provided to TheWrap.  The leader of Colbert Nation and host of Comedy Central's “Colbert Report” has the highest Positive Q Score in late night: a 20.

Also read: The Most and Least Liked Morning TV Hosts — From Robin Roberts to Kathie Lee Gifford

Perhaps the old adage, “Just be yourself,” is not valid after 11 p.m.

To create Q Scores, executive vice president Henry Schafer and his team provides a celebrity's name and a brief description to more than 1,800 viewers. The viewers are asked if they recognize the person, and how they feel about him or her. The average Positive Q Score for a celebrity is 15.

See photos14 Late Night TV Hosts Ranked by Popularity

The company's numbers for late night include adults surveyed from mid-January to early February 2014, prior to Jimmy Fallon taking on “The Tonight Show” and Seth Meyers taking over “Late Night.”

No. 2 in popularity is Colbert's fellow “Daily Show” alum, John Oliver. He has a strong 18 Positive Q Score, which he will take to his new weekly HBO series, “Last Week Tonight.” Oliver's acclaimed summer guest-hosting stint on “The Daily Show” must have been fresh in viewers’ minds.

Colbert's and Oliver's mentor, Jon Stewart, comes in third in popularity with a 16 Q Score, the same as new “Late Night” host Seth Meyers. But Stewart has higher recognition. Meyers was best known at the time of the survey for his more than 12 years on “Saturday Night Live.”

Also read: The Most and Least Liked Daytime TV Hosts – From Ellen to Wendy Williams

After Meyers, Jay Leno had a Positive Q Score of 15. Leno's was the most-famous name on the list, with 81 percent recognition.

Next up was Andy Cohen of “Watch What Happens Live.” Cohen is not highly recognizable, but he is fairly well received with a 14 Positive Q Score. Fallon, who was transitioning from the 12:35 a.m. time slot to 11:35 p.m. at the time of this survey, has a 13 Q Score.

See photos: 16 ‘GMA,’ ‘Today,’ and ‘CBS This Morning’ Personalities Ranked by Popularity

But Fallon is scoring well in “Tonight” ratings, so don't be surprised if his score goes up.

At the bottom of our rankings is Arsenio Hall, who has an 8. Carson Daly has a 9. Daly was also covered in our Morning Show Personalities Q Score rankings.

Leno's old rival, David Letterman, scored a 9.

See photos: 26 Daytime Talk Show Personalities Ranked by Popularity

Here are the rankings from all adults surveyed, in order of Positive Q Score:

Most Liked Late Night Host 

New, successful competition in the late night TV landscape is forcing networks and cable channels to adapt a more hip tone in an effort to reach a growing younger demographic. Jimmy Fallon's “Late Night” and “Tonight Show” viral video run, as well as Kimmel's online presence has set the table for the new age of post-11 p.m. television.

On our second chart, Conan O'Brien makes a nice run towards the top, but cannot unseat Colbert. Likewise, Hall stays in the basement, despite picking up an additional point.

Here is how the youthful, often early-adopting and trend-setting 18-34 demographic ranked the late night hosts, in order of Positive Q Score:

 Most Liked Late Night Host 18-34

SEE ALSO: The Most And Least Liked Morning TV Hosts, Ranked

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The Top 10 Medical Schools In The U.S.

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Harvard Medical School

U.S. News and World Report has released its updated rankings of the top medical schools in the country. 

While all medical schools are judged by certain factors— test scores, acceptance rate, faculty-student ratio, reputation, etc. — the list ranks medical schools separately for research and primary care, with the former emphasizing research activity and the latter emphasizing the proportion of graduates that enter primary care. (Schools are also ranked for various specialties, but those rankings are based only on recommendations from medical school deans and faculty members, not other factors.)

This year, Harvard University retained its number one spot for research. For primary care, the University of Washington moved into the number one spot, just ahead of last year's leader, the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

The methodology behind the lists is controversial and, some say, unreliable. William C. McGaghie, the director of the Leischner Institute at Loyola University Chicago and an expert in medical education, has dismissed the rankings as "ill-conceived,""unscientific," and "elitist." Still, they are still hotly anticipated each year. 

Here are the top 5 medical schools in each category for 2014.

Research

1. Harvard University

2. Stanford University

3. Johns Hopkins University

4. University of California — San Francisco

5. University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)

For the full list, visit U.S. News >>

 

Primary Care

1. University of Washington

2. University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill

3. Oregon Health and Science University

4. University of California — San Francisco

5. University of Massachusetts — Worcester

For the full list, visit U.S. News >>

SEE ALSO: What It's Like To Work With Famous Mathematician John Nash

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A City In The Philippines Is Officially The Selfie Capital Of The World

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A selfie capital of the world has officially been named.  

After extensive analysis by TIME, Makati City, a part of the Manila metropolitan area that's generally known as the financial center of Manila, ended up on top. 

To compile the rankings, TIME created a database of more than 400,000 Instagram photos that were tagged with the hashtag "#selfie" and included geographic coordinates. 459 worldwide cities were ranked according to how many selfies were taken there between Jan. 28 and Feb. 2 or between March 3 and 7. 

Makati City and Pasig, another part of Manila,  had 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people, according to TIME's analysis.  New York City — including Manhattan, Queens, northern Brooklyn, and the southern part of the Bronx — came in second with 202 selfie-takers. Miami, Anaheim and Santa Ana, and Petaling Jaya in Malysia rounded out the top five. 

Here are some selfies from Makati City, the newly crowned selfie capital of the world.  

Here's the top 10 cities for selfies:

 1. Makati City and Pasig, Philippines

2. New York City

3. Miami

4. Anaheim and Santa Ana, Calif. 

5. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

6. Tel Aviv, Israel

7. Manchester, England

8. Milan, Italy

9. Cebu City, Philippines

10. George Town, Malaysia

Head on over to TIME for the top 100 »


SEE ALSO: We Ranked YouTube's Biggest Stars By How Much Money They Make

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The 10 Most Powerful Car Brands Today

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CoreBrand, a New York based brand strategy firm, has released its latest list of the
100 most powerful brands in the world. As expected, the automotive industry features prominently, but none were able to crack the top 15.

CoreBrand's research tracks what they refer to as "BrandPower," a measure of the size and quality of a company's brand name. To compile the rankings, CoreBrand surveyed 10,000 executives at 1,000 companies over a five-year span, asking them how familiar they were with a particular brand and how favorably they viewed them. 

Here's how the world's car brands fared:

10. Mazda (100/100 on CoreBrand's list)

2014 mazda 3 sedan leaked_100432358_lThough the Hiroshima based automaker has fallen 6 spots in the last year, Mazda has still seen its BrandPower increase by 4 spots over the last 5 years. Through its "Zoom Zoom" marketing campaign, Mazda has portrayed itself as the car company for those with sporting pretensions, focusing on its Skyactiv engine technology. This plan seems to be working out for Mazda, as Toyota recently announced that it will use Skyactiv motors in its upcoming subcompact cars. 

9. Mitsubishi Motors (99/100)

Mitsubishi_Lancer_Evolution_IX_WRC2006In recent years, Mitsubishi Motors has struggled mightily in the U.S. market and this has been reflected in its rankings. Mitsubishi fell 8 spots since last year's survey, and has dropped 19 spots over the last 5 years.

8. Nissan (82/100)

Nissan Sport Sedan Concept detroit auto showEven though Nissan sales are up 15.8% over last year, its rank fell 10 spots in the last year and has plummeted 41 spots over the last 5 years.

7. General Motors (67/100)

Cadillac ATS Coupe Detroit Auto Show 2014Over the last 5 years, GM has seen its BrandPower drop 30 spots. Though the company managed to claw back 3 spots over the last year, its recent recall scandal does not bode well for next year's rankings. 

6. Ford Motor Company (57/100)

2014 ford mustang shelby motor authorityFord Motor Company has remained relatively stable over the last few years and so has its BrandPower. According to CoreBrand, Ford has fallen just 1 spot over the past year and a total of 5 spots over the past 5 years. Ford supporters should be buoyed by the company's attempts to rejuvenate its ailing Lincoln brand.  

5. Toyota (37/100)

Toyota FT-1 concept detroit auto show 2014 design teamOver the past 5 years, Toyota has seen its BrandPower tumble 24 spots. Much of this can be attributed to the "unintended acceleration" scandal and the public resignation of its management team in 2010. Toyota's fall from grace seems to be coming to an end after dipping only 2 spots in the last year.

4. Volvo (36/100)

volvo concept estate geneva motor show 2014Despite its recent sales growth, Volvo's has struggled to return to its former glory as the king of safety. Since the dissolution of Ford's Premier Automotive Group and its sale to China's Geely Group, Volvo Cars has seen its ranking slip 12 spots over the last 5 years and 8 spots over the last year. 

3. Honda Motor Company (30/100)

honda civic r concept geneva motor show 2014Honda Motors saw its rank fall 16 spots over the past 5 years, and 4 spots since the 2013 rankings. Much of Honda's fall can be attributed to the growth of its competitors. Once the undisputed king of compact cars,  the automaker now must face growing competition from challengers like Kia, Hyundai, and a rejuvenated Nissan. 

2.Volkswagen (27/100)

Volkswagen Polo

The fact that Volkswagen is 3 spots down over last year and 9 spots down over the past five years does not reflect the automaker's aggressive marketing and expansion scheme. However, an explanation for this may be Volkswagen's slip in sales due to its ongoing struggle with the long-term reliability of its products. 

1. BMW (17/100)

BMW M3 SedanBMW tops the list for most power car brands once again. In fact, it even managed to climb 2 spots over last year in the overall rankings. Even though, it has fallen 6 spots over the past 5 years, the maker of the Ultimate Driving Machine is going strong and is even expanding its production facility in the U.S.

SEE ALSO: YACHT OF THE WEEK: Bask On The Luxurious 'Kismet II' for A Cool $1.65 Million A Week

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Consumer Reports Reveals The 10 Best Supermarkets In America

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Americans spend a lot of time and money grocery shopping. The average shopper visits the store about 88 times a year, spending upwards of $6,000. 

Consumer Reports recently surveyed 27,208 readers to rank 55 supermarket chains around the U.S.

The top three stores — Wegmans, an East Coast chain, Trader Joe's, a Southern California-based specialty food chain, and Publix, a Southern chain — all had high marks for service and cleanliness. 

Wal-Mart had a bad reputation among customers, ranking dead last. Customers complained about slow checkout speeds and subpar food quality. 

Here are the top 10 supermarkets, according to Consumer Reports:

1. Wegmans (83 stores in the mid-Atlantic region, in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia)wegman's

Consumer Reports Reader score: 88. Best service, Best perishables, Good prices, Best cleanliness

2. Trader Joe's (408 stores in 30 states)Trader Joe's two buck chuck wine

Consumer Reports Reader score: 87. Best service, Good perishables, Best prices, Best cleanliness

3. Publix (1,080 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee)Publix Zephyrhills

Consumer Reports Reader score: 85. Best service, Best perishables, Okay prices, Best cleanliness

4. Costco (648 stores worldwide)Costco

Consumer Reports Reader score: 84. Okay service, Best perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness

5. Sprouts Farmers Market (150 locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Kansas and Georgia)Sprouts_Farmers_Market,_Westwood_Blvd,_Los_Angeles,_CA

Consumer reports Reader score: 84. Good Service, Best perishables, Good prices, Good cleanliness

6. Market Basket (71 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine)market basket

Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Good service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness

7. Raley's (85 stores in California and Nevada)raley's

Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Good service, Best perishables, Bad prices, Best cleanliness 

8. Fairway Stores (14 stores in the tri-state area)fairway market redhook

Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Best service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness

9. Stater Bros. (167 stores in California)stater bros

Consumer Reports Reader score: 82. Good service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness

10. WinCo Foods (93 stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Texas)winco

Consumer Reports Reader score: 81. Okay service, Okay perishables, Best prices, Okay cleanliness

And the bottom five on Consumer Reports' ranking:

51: Pick 'n Save: Reader score: 72
52. Acme: Reader score: 70
53. Pathmark: Reader score: 70
54. Shaw's: Reader score: 69
55. Wal-Mart Supercenter: Reader score: 67

See the ful report at Consumer Reports.

SEE ALSO: 9 Incredible Facts About Retail Giant Wal-Mart

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The 6 Best-Rated 'Game Of Thrones' Episodes

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game of thrones robb stark

With season four starting Sunday, it's a good time to head back to Westeros and find out which episodes of "Game of Thrones" are best.

Using GraphTV, we can see just how popular "Game of Thrones" has been in the last three years (the best episode is almost a perfect 10, while the worst episode is still rated a very high 8.5).

Among the best-reviewed fan episodes, most share two common themes — they had a lot of death and dragons.

6. Season 1, Episode 9: "Baelor"

Rating: 9.4
Votes:
5,712

Synopsis:
 "Baelor" continues Robb Stark's attempt to save his prisoner father from the Lannister family. Daenerys goes to great magical lengths to save her beloved Khal Drogo. However, the episode is best remembered for the surprise beheading of season one's hero and lead character, Ned Stark.



5. Season 1, Episode 10: "Fire and Blood"

Rating: 9.4
Votes:
5,774

Synopsis:
 The impact of Ned's death affects a lot of storylines in the season one finale as Robb pushes forward as the new "King of the North" while Jon Snow realizes he's a true member of the Night's Watch, a sacred brotherhood in charge of protecting the realm. The episode ends with Daenerys bringing three fire-breathing dragons to life.  



4. Season 2, Episode 10: "Valar Morghulis"

Rating: 9.4
Votes:
5,933

Synopsis:
 In the season two finale, Tyrion recovers from battle wounds as his father Tywin becomes the new advisor to the throne, the Hand of the King. Robb secretly marries, Arya receives a special coin from Jaquen H'ghar as he leaves her for the mysterious Braavos, and Daenerys sets off for Westeros after saving her stolen dragons.



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Here's The Methodology For Our List Of The Best Employers Of 2014

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meeting cheering office work

Business Insider recently published a list of the Best Employers of 2014, based on exclusive data from PayScale.

Here's how the list was put together:

The data used was collected from workers who successfully completed PayScale's employee survey and only companies that were on the 2012 Fortune 500 list were considered for this ranking.

All of the surveys were from employees who work in the United States. This sample does not include U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico or Guam.

Below are the different factors that were taken into account for the final scores:

Total Cash Compensation (TCC): Combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime, and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable.

TCC does not include equity (stock) compensation, which can be a significant portion of pay for some executive and high-tech jobs. In addition, salary does not include cash value of retirement benefits, or value of other non-cash benefits (e.g., health care).

High Job Satisfaction: This is the percentage of people who responded 'Extremely Satisfied' or 'Fairly Satisfied' to the question, “How satisfied are you in your job?”

Low Job Stress: This is the percentage of people who responded 'My Job is Relaxing' or 'Not Stressful' to the question, “How stressful is your job/work environment?”

High Work Schedule Flexibility: This is the percentage of people who responded 'On any day, I can change my schedule and time-off' or 'With advanced notice, I can set my schedule and time-off' to the question, “How flexible is your job?”

High Job Meaning: This is the percentage of people who responded 'Very Much So' and 'Yes' to the question, “Does your job make the world a better place?”

Years of Experience: This is the total number of years a person has in their field/career. Therefore the years of experience will incorporate all applicable jobs in the field, not just the current job.

Experienced Median Pay: This is the median (50th percentile) TCC for people who have at least five years of experience and work at the given company. Half of the employees with five or more years of work experience will earn more than this amount, while half will earn less.

Salary Delta: This measures whether a given employer typically pays above, below, or at market price for their employees. By utilizing PayScale’s database of more than 35 million employee profiles, we have determined how various compensable factors — like years of work experience, education, and job responsibilities — affect pay, all else equal. From this analysis, PayScale can then calculate what a worker with a given set of compensable factors will earn across different employers.

This measure is reported as a percentage premium or loss. Any employer that pays above market will have a positive percentage. The larger the percentage, the higher the premium these employers pay for their workers. On the other hand, if an employer pays below market, the percentage will be negative.

Scoring:

In order to turn these different factors into a score, PayScale standardized each company specific measure by dividing the company specific value across the set of companies. 

Next, the scores were turned into a distribution where the final company specific score is between 0.6 and 1.4 and evenly proportioned by rank. This step was needed in order to remove the heavy influence of outliers on the overall rank of an employer.

Once a company specific score for each of the six factors were determined — high job satisfaction, low job stress, high work schedule flexibility, high job meaning, experienced median pay, and salary delta — the final score was reached by multiplying each of the factors together.

Each score has equal weight and equal effect on the resulting outcome except for the Experienced Median Pay Score, which was weighted twice as heavily as the other scores to place extra emphasis on companies who pay their employees well.

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