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5 Fundamentals For A Long And Healthy Life

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Across the world, the average life expectancy is around 71 years for men and over 75 years for women. Because of these numbers, a lot of people expect that they’ll get to that age naturally without having to do anything extra. However, the people that live to that age and beyond almost all follow basic rules of longevity. There are a few key fundamentals that you must stick to if you want to live a long and healthy life, and here are the five most important ones. 

5. Hydration

Your body is made of water more than anything else, but yet, nearly half of Americans don’t get the daily recommended amount of water. You should make it a priority to get two to four liters of water per day, as the short and long term health benefits are never ending. Good hydration reduces your chances of certain types of cancers by up to 50 percent while also boosting your energy through the day, just to name a couple of the benefits. 

4. Mental Health

Mental health has thankfully moved to the forefront of the public eye and people are becoming more aware of their own mental health and those around them. It’s estimated that now 1 out of every 4 Americans have at least one mental disorder, and that’s just those that are diagnosed. If you feel like you may have a mental illness, it’s important to get help as soon as possible. This is because studies have shown that those with mental illness tend to live 10 to 20 years less than those that don’t.

3. Exercise

Many of us are tied to our desks for at least eight hours per day and then don’t have the mental or physical energy to fit in any exercise. Exercise should be placed into your everyday schedule, though. That’s because studies have shown those that get at least 7,000 steps in per day are likely to live much longer lives. Getting an hour in of brisk walking at the very least will manage your weight and help alleviate a multitude of health problems. 

2. Sleep

Due to the hustle and bustle of today’s world, a lot of people are sacrificing time in which they’d normally sleep to fit in other things. If you want to live a long and healthy life, though, it’s important to get the recommended amount of sleep. This is about 7 hours or more per night, which seems like a lot, but you shouldn’t scoff at that number. Those that get enough sleep greatly reduce their risk of heart disease, obesity, stroke and much, much more.

1. Nutrition

More and more, people are straying away from healthy and nutritional meals and opting for whatever is the fastest and cheapest. This has caused adverse health problems around the world, with the obesity rates in the United States alone climbing to around 42 percent in recent years. Because of this, life expectancy on average has essentially come to a standstill. Those that follow good nutritional habits, though, are seeing themselves live longer and longer. A good balance of vitamins, protein and good fats go a long way in your health.

5 Reasons You Should ALWAYS Use A VPN

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If you watch any YouTube video or listen to any podcast, there’s a good chance that you’ve already heard about VPNs but might not know what they are. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and allows you to connect to the internet from anywhere in the world safely and securely (are the script reads from the podcast ads stuck in your head now?). If you’ve been curious about what a VPN can do for you, here are five of the biggest reasons why you should dive in and start using them yourself. 

5. Don’t Let the Boss See You

With the advances in IT, there’s a good chance that your company’s department can see every single thing that you’ve done on the internet. Have you tried to download an extension for Chrome or, god forbid, try to play a game for a few minutes? Your boss probably knows about it. If you’re using a VPN, though, you can have more freedom to not be tracked to the point where it feels like a massive invasion of privacy. VPNs allow you to get around network restrictions without revealing your browsing history, which might come in handy if you’re perusing LinkedIn.

4. Staying Anonymous

It isn’t just your boss or IT department that you can remain hidden from when using a VPN. Overall, you can obtain peak anonymity when browsing the internet on a VPN. Your true IP address will remain hidden no matter where you’re connecting. Instead, those that are looking for you will only find a VPN that was generated in the area in which you selected, meaning that there’s no way you can be traced.

3. No More Throttling

Your internet service provider already nickels and dimes you for using just a kilobyte of data, so why not fight back? When you use a VPN, you can set your location to wherever you want and avoid being throttled or even charged more for going over the mysterious (and frankly unwarranted) data cap. Set yourself to a country that has high speed internet without those data limits and you’ll be flying through the web at a lightning pace.

2. Public Wi-Fi Safety

Anonymity tends to go hand in hand with online safety. If you want to prevent people finding out who or where you are when using a public wi-fi server, using a VPN is the way to go. This is also true for people that might be known to the public eye, like a streamer, for example. While using a VPN, your data is encrypted and even on a modem where a password isn’t required, you’re getting the top level of safety.

1. Access to Content

These days, we’re all being stretched pretty thin due to the amount of streaming services that are offered. Between Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and the countless others, there are many that you might only want to use to watch one thing. Instead of subscribing to all of these and using big bucks to watch that one thing, see if it’s available on a free site like YouTube in certain countries. Getting around region locked content is perhaps the biggest reason that casual internet users get a VPN.

5 Most Expensive Countries In The World

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Because of the global economy’s current state, there are a lot of people around the world that are looking for greener pastures, and it makes sense. You want to be able to have financial stability and have a place where you can safely raise a family. With higher quality of life, though, typically comes higher cost of living. What are the most expensive countries in the world? Here are the five that stand out the most.

5. Barbados

The second smallest country in terms of population in the top five, Barbados has around just 287,000 citizens and is situated in the Caribbean Sea. A haven for tourists, Barbados caters more to those that are visiting rather than living there. Though rent is much lower than it is in the US (more than 50 percent less), it still costs around $1,080 for a single person and $4,000 for a family of four to live there before rent.

4. Iceland

The first of the European countries on the list, the beautiful Iceland has a population of just around 370,000 and growing. The total estimated cost without rent for a person in Iceland is about $1,115 while a family of four is about $4,120. So what makes Iceland so expensive? There really isn’t much land on which you can live. The scarce housing and import costs make Iceland a bit more expensive, but with a solid GDP per capita, residents are able to manage.

3. Norway

One of the countries that is seen as a standard for quality of living, Norway has around 5.4 million residents and a very rich history. While it might be cheaper to rent an apartment or house in Norway compared to the United States at nearly 40 percent lower costs, everything else is going to be more expensive. Excluding the rent, Norway’s costs are about $1,100 per person and around $4,000 for a family of four. Norway residents don’t do too badly for themselves, though, with a GDP per capita of $62,183.

2. Switzerland

It won’t surprise many to see Switzerland on the list as the country is known for its financial prowess on a global scale. These days, Switzerland has a population of around 8.5 million people and boasts a GDP per capita in the top 10 worldwide at $66,307. The average cost of living without housing for a single person is around $1,500 per month while a family of four will have to spend around $5,400. Switzerland also boasts one of the highest purchasing power index ratings.

1. Bermuda

A territory comprising over 180 islands, Bermuda sits off the coast of North Carolina, although it’s a British territory. The current population of Bermuda is around 64,000. Choosing to live in Bermuda on your own, you’re likely to pay nearly $2,000 per month, and that’s without any rent payment. A family of four can expect to pay nearly $6,900. Bermuda also has the most expensive groceries in the world, as well as restaurants. The import costs alone are what make things so expensive in Bermuda, but the luxury living due to the banking industry also boosts things greatly.

5 Fundamentals MBA Students Master

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For those that have completed their undergraduate studies, there are a few options. You can either go into the working world or start to pursue your masters. For those in business administration, the natural next step is to pursue an MBA, which can be a daunting task. Before you consider making that leap, there are some things that you should already know by heart. Here are five of the fundamentals that each MBA student should have mastered.

5. Know How to Use a Financial Calculator

To the average person, simply looking at a financial calculator may be extremely overwhelming. For an MBA student, though, it’s something that should be used on a daily basis. Forget all of the algebra or graphing calculators, it’s a financial calculator that you should know inside and out. Thankfully, you don’t even have to drop hundreds of dollars on a physical calculator (though you probably should just to be safe) as there are many resources online to help guide you.

4. Learn the Stocks

You don’t have to be the best day trader in the world or lead an online revolution where you get everyone to invest in stocks of a certain used video game company, but you should at least know the basics on how the stock market works. MBA programs tend to not spend much time talking about the stock market, but having an entry level knowledge of its workings will set you up for both professional and personal success down the road. Think of it as an extracurricular activity that some feel should be required.

3. Get Advanced in MS Office

So you know the basics of Microsoft Word and Excel, which is great, but you better get very familiar with these tools (and the other Microsoft Office products) if you’re thinking about taking on an MBA. These are products that you’re going to use every single hour that you’re studying and eventually working in the professional field. Excel especially is perhaps the most complicated in MS Office, and you’ll be using it so much that you should know how to do nearly every single thing it’s capable of.

2. Time Management is Key

It should go without saying that you need to learn how to manage your time effectively. This is even more paramount for someone going through an MBA program. Unlike many other programs, you might find yourself with much less free time than a lot of your college peers. Because of this, always set a schedule well ahead of time, even if it means planning things out over a month in advance. It might not seem like fun now, but you’ll be thanking yourself later when you’ve mastered this skill.

1. Network and Talk with Alumni

For many, especially those that are introverted, it might be difficult to start talking to people about your MBA program. After all, it’s not something that you tend to bring up in a random conversation. Networking is key for MBA students, though, as it leads you down a lot of beneficial roads. Career opportunities will start popping up when you speak with alumni, and you can also get some tips on how to complete your program. The big takeaway is that your network will never be large enough.

5 Countries With The Biggest Defence Budgets

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Even in times of peace, it seems that countries around the world still find themselves in an arms race to be prepared for any sort of conflict and defend their nation from attack. With tensions escalating due to conflicts in eastern Europe, defense spending has only been increasing in the past year or so. With that in mind, which countries are the most well prepared in the event of a conflict on a global scale? Here are the five countries that spend the most money on their defense budgets as it stands right now.

5. Russia

Russia is a country that seems like it would be an obvious entry into the top five, though you might think it would be higher on the list. In terms of its percentage of GDP used on defense, however, Russia ranks higher than any country. It was announced that last year, Russia had spent $65.9 billion in defense. Due to the Ukraine War in 2022, expect that number to have a significant increase when the next reports come out.

4. United Kingdom

It might come as a slight surprise to see the United Kingdom toward the top of the list, but despite its size, no country has had more of a global impact. The United Kingdom was already at fourth on the list with $68.4 billion in spending in 2021, and that’s expected to increase quite dramatically when 2022 is wrapped up. “We need to invest for the long term in vital capabilities like future combat air,” former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “Whilst simultaneously adapting to a more dangerous and more competitive world.”

3. India

India hasn’t exactly been involved in many conflicts over the past several decades, at least not on a large scale. However, India clocks in with the third highest defense budget at $76.6 billion. The reason for the increase in recent years is India’s desire to be more self-reliant and join the ranks of the financial elite in the world. Rajnath Singh is the defense minister of India and says that using local infrastructure “will certainly boost the domestic defense industries,”

2. China

Countries like India, the United Kingdom and Russia have some fierce competition in the top five as numbers 6-10 are all very close, but China is a massive leap ahead of India in spending with $293 billion in 2021. That budget isn’t going to shrink anytime soon, either, as China is beefing up their defense to the tune of 7.1 percent over the next year. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said “We will move faster to modernize the military’s logistics and asset management systems, and build a modern weaponry and equipment management system.”

1. United States

You’re probably not shocked to see the United States sitting at number one by a comfortable margin, are you? With a defense budget of $801 billion, it’s not even close. That’s more than the rest of the top 10 combined. Just like China, the US defense budget won’t be going down, either. An increase to $813.3 billion was already approved for next year. With that, the United States and China will make up around 44 percent of the entire global spending on defense.

5 Magic Tricks That Went Spectacularly Wrong

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When magic tricks go right, it can be one of the most incredible sights in the world. People will gaze in wonder and attempt to figure out how that trick was pulled off. Unfortunately, there are times when magic tricks go horribly wrong. These miscues can end up injuring the performers, audience members or even result in death. There have been many instances where magic tricks have gone awry, but there are a handful that truly stand out, making global news in the process. Here are five of those tricks that magicians wish turned out differently.

5. Marcin Poloniewicz Hurts News Anchor

Not many people in the magic world know the name Marcin Poloniewicz, but the Poland native had a magic trick that went viral for the wrong reasons. While appearing on a morning talk show, Poloniewicz had one of the anchors take part in a three card monte variation where there was a nail hidden under a paper bag. He then took her hand to what he thought was the bag without the nail, but instead impaled that hand, which put her into obvious and immediate pain.

4. Princess Tenko

Born as Marikoa Itakura, Princess Tenko has been practicing magic since the mid 1970s and is thankfully still with us today. While performing a trick called ‘The Spikes of Death’ in Sabae City, Japan, Tenko placed herself into a box that had 20 blades drop down. However, the trick went awry and instead of avoiding the blades, she was struck multiple times. Tenko suffered injuries to her chest, back and head, nearly losing an eye in the process.

3. Wizard Mandrake

Tragedy struck in 2019 when Chanchal Lahiri attempted a trick where he was submerged underwater while wrapped in chains. Better known by his stage name Wizard Mandrake, Lahiri was in the Bengali River, but didn’t emerge from the water when he was supposed to. As a result, a search for his body took place, and it was too late. The 40 year old magician passed away, telling photographer Jayanta Shaw before the trick that “If I do it right, it’s magic. If I make a mistake, it becomes tragic.”

2. Joe Burrus

In 1990, a magician named Joe Burrus idolized Harry Houdini and considered himself to be his generation’s version of the legendary performer. With that, he attempted to escape from a concrete filled coffin on Halloween night. Sadly, the coffin would collapse under the weight of the mixture and those on hand rushed to save Burrus, but he was buried alive, passing away at just 32 years old.

1. Several “Bullet Catch” Tricks

One of the oldest magic tricks in the book, but also the most dangerous, is the bullet catch trick. This is when a magician looks like they’ve been shot at directly, only to emerge safely with a bullet between their teeth. While this has been pulled off countless times successfully, it has also resulted in multiple deaths. The first notable death came in 1840 when Arnold Buck was killed after his blank bullet was replaced with nails. The most recent came in 1918 when Chung Ling Soo attempted it, with technology cutting down on the accidents since then.

5 Ways To Help Yourself Drink More Water

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Water is something that most of us have access to, but many neglect to drink the recommended amount. It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of Americans aren’t getting enough water on a daily basis. Experts suggest that you should be getting 3.7 liters per day if you’re a male, and 2.7 liters if you’re female. So how do we make sure that we’re drinking enough water? Here are a few tips to get to that recommended daily amount.

5. Water at Every Meal

When you sit down for a meal, there’s a good chance that you opt for something like juice, milk and, of course, soda, as your beverage of choice. To make sure that you’re staying hydrated, turn to a glass or bottle of water, instead. You’re much more likely to drink more as you’re eating, so pairing water with meals is a surefire way to get that extra boost you need. It will also save you a lot of money while eating out as restaurants tend to charge far extra for non-water drinks.

4. Add Some Flavor

What’s one of the reasons that people gravitate toward soda during meals instead of water? The taste, of course. Water is seen as too “bland” to some people, so why not add a little flavor to it to make things interesting? Between sugar free flavoring packets that can be used in bottles to simply getting some drops of fruit juice, there are a lot of options to pick from. However, you should probably steer clear of adding a bunch of sugar into your water.

3. Take Advantages of Apps

We live in a busy society, so it’s completely understandable that we forget to do some things that we deem to be minor. This includes sipping on water, but just like with anything, there’s an app for that. Hydration apps are no exception, and there are plenty on both iOS and the Google Play Store that can remind you to drink water with push notifications. Daily Water Tracker Reminder, Hydro Coach and WaterMinder are just a few of the 

2. Use a Straw

It might seem a little silly, but you’re likely to drink more throughout the day if you’re using a straw rather than gulping water (or any beverage). There’s a certain psychology to it, and it says that when a straw is in front of you, you’ll continuously sip as long as it’s there. You’ve probably seen people that have those massive water bottles with the built-in straw at work. Think about how much they have that straw in their mouth throughout the day and you’ll realize just how much water they’re getting.

1. Get a Water Filter

One of the biggest complaints that people have with their tap water is that it doesn’t taste quite right. It’s a perfectly acceptable response, too, as not every town or city is going to have good tasting (or even safe) water to drink. For this reason, getting a water filter is the smartest thing you can do for yourself. They’re inexpensive and make your water crisp and refreshing. Just a one time investment goes a long way, especially with more than 70 percent of Americans concerned about their city’s water.

5 Famous Figures Who Went Touring By Motorcycle

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When you think of how celebrities get around, you might think of them getting a limousine or other private transport like a helicopter or airplane. There are some celebrities that aren’t afraid to hit the open road on only two wheels. It isn’t just their film and television characters, either, as these celebrities have truly seen the world while riding motorcycles.

5. Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff burst onto the scene in the early 2000s thanks to her role in “Battlestar Galactica” and has since appeared in series such as “The Mandalorian” and “Longmire”. Sackhoff once rode across the country to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS and put her motorcycle experience to the test. “I started riding in 2005,” Sackhoff said. “I grew up in a small town where four-wheelers were kind of the norm.”

4. William Shatner

Speaking of science fiction actors, there are perhaps none more well known around the world than William Shatner, who of course is known as Captain James T. Kirk from the original “Star Trek” series. Shatner has taken his love for motorcycles on the long road, heading 2,500 miles between Chicago and Los Angeles. “Riding a bike, you’re focused on the road, but you have time to dream and think and wonder about everything that we’ve seen,” Shatner said. “We saw the country…and all its magnificence.”

3. Ryan Reynolds

Once a rom-com star, Ryan Reynolds has branched out to take on interesting roles that include superheroes like Deadpool and iconic cartoon characters like Pikachu. Reynolds has one of the most extensive motorcycle collections for any Hollywood actor, and he has no plans of changing the hobby that he sees as a form of meditation. “When I’m riding a bike, the only things I’m doing are breathing, listening to the engine and changing gears,” Reynolds said. “It’s just me and my bike. No multitasking, no texting, and it clears my head like nothing else.”

2. Ewan McGregor

Known for his roles in blockbusters like “Star Wars”, “Christopher Robin” and “Moulin Rouge!”, Ewan McGregor has been going at it on the big screen for about 30 years now. Documenting his long rides, McGregor has documented his long motorcycle rides in “Long Way Up”. McGregor can’t picture himself not riding motorcycles, now. “I don’t ever want to not do it,” he said. “I don’t have to go out and go a million miles an hour. I like feeling the air, I like smelling the world as you go by and feeling a part of it. A trip to the shops or a meeting just becomes different.” 

1. Keanu Reeves

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Keanu Reeves on the list. Not only do a lot of his characters in film ride motorcycles, but he’s often photographed riding one of his many bikes around. Not only that, but Reeves even started his own motorcycle company with Gard Hollinger called Arch. “Motorcycles have been a part of my life since I met this girl in Munich,” Reeves said. “We were working on a film together and she had this beautiful Kawasaki Enduro. I asked her if she could team me to ride…I’ve been hooked ever since.”

5 Best WordPress Plugins For Sending Mail From Your Site

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While those that casually browse the internet and don’t know its inner workings might not know it, WordPress is one of the pillars of the world wide web. It has allowed us to create countless websites, and these days you see nearly 700 new WordPress sites pop up to join the more than 400 million that already exist. If you’re using WordPress for ecommerce, there are a lot of tools available, especially when it comes to mailing. If you’re looking for the right one, try one of these five plugins that are rated as the highest.

5. Sendinblue

Clocking in with over 300,000 websites worldwide, Sendinblue is one of the newer services on the block, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2022 after being founded by Armand Thiberge in Paris, France. Sendinblue has grown a lot since then, and is now handling over 140 million emails every day and over a quarter million text messages. The ratings are extremely high, as well, with satisfaction reaching scores of 9 out of 10 frequently.

4. HubSpot

As the name suggests, HubSpot is a plugin that offers more than one service, hence the “hub.” This CMS tool is free to try and has multiple email tools to use. This includes automated emails for sales, marketing, signatures and tracking. Hubspot’s platform is easy to use and is great if you’re running a small ecommerce site. For 1,000 contacts per month, you can expect to spend $45 (or $540 per year). For those that want a massive reach it runs up to $38,400 per year, as well as a plan for those in between at $800 per month for professional services..

3. WP Mail SMTP

Among the most used email plugins on WordPress is WP Mail SMTP, with over 2 million websites currently using the service. Of the thousands of reviews that WP Mail SMTP has received thus far, you’ll only find a handful that are below five stars. One of the biggest appeals of WP Mail SMTP is how easy it is to use. You can use any Gmail alias that you want when using SMTP and it only takes seconds to reach thousands of people.

2. MailPoet

MailPoet was once its own service, and a popular one on WordPress for merchants that has the capability of sending out mass emails to subscribers. In late 2020, MailPoet was acquired by WooCommerce, allowing the extension to grow even more. These days, about one-third of all ecommerce sites are using MailPoet and WooCommerce for their mailing. According to MailPoet, the open rates on their emails are a whopping 40 percent, giving you a massive and engaged reach.

1. Sumo

Sumo is essentially a do-all extension that has been regarded as being among the best for sending mail. With Sumo, you can send up to 10,000 emails each month…and that’s just on the free version. The premium upgrade allows you to do even more, and it’s worth the cost. Plans run from $29 to $119 per month depending on the size of your website. Since there is a lot to learn about Sumo, you’ll probably want to get in touch with their customer service. You’re in luck, though, as getting the help you need is free.

CRISPR: The Weird Science Of Editing Your Own Genes

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Science has evolved faster in the past century than the rest of human history combined. We’re increasing our capacity for improvement at an exponential rate, making the future look incredibly bright while also being mysterious. We’re not sure where science will be in 20 years, but we do have some seeds planted in our brains of what the next big innovation might be. One that has been getting a lot of attention recently is CRISPR, a way of editing human genes.

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR, of course, is an acronym and it stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Those words alone probably have you feeling ready to tap out because it seems extremely complicated, but it might be more simple than you realize. We’ll let the development of the CRISPR genome, Jennifer Doudna (who by the way won a 2020 Nobel Prize for her work) explain it a little better.

“CRISPR is, in fact, a bacterial immune system,” she said. “It’s an ancient system that evolved in microbes to allow prevention of viral infection…our work with the laboratory revealed that one of the components of this CRISPR immune system is, in fact, a protein that’s called Cas9, that can be programmed to find and cut virus DNA.”

With that said, CRISPR has been used as a diagnostic tool, especially with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. About a decade prior, though, CRISPR started to become more common in another field, and that’s gene editing. At first, CRISPR was used to edit foods before it was introduced to other fields and eventually human use. This includes the treatment of diseases, and gene editing via CRISPR is becoming more common and accessible by the day.

Limitations of CRISPR

There are very few limitations for what CRISPR can do to the human body, and it’s something that you’ll be hearing your doctor talk about when deciding treatments in years to come. “You can just point it at a place in the genome and you can do anything you want at that spot,” said Robert Reed, a professor of biology at Cornell University. Technically, CRISPR causes a gene mutation by cutting like a knife or a pair of scissors, and the precision that’s been achieved has opened up a lot of new doors for advancement.

Ethics Behind It

This raises another question, though, and it has to do with the ethics of mutating genes. While many see it as a way to prevent and treat serious illnesses, there are some that see it from the other side where it’s a way of weeding out certain people socioeconomically. “The concern is that with technologies that are relatively easy to use, like CRISPR, how does the scientific community regulate itself?” Robert Truog of Harvard Medical School said. “If there’s a silver lining to this cloud, I think it is that the scientific community did pull together to be critical of this work, and took the responsibility to seriously use the tools available to them to regulate themselves.”

You’ll be hearing a lot about CRISPR in the coming years between debates, treatments and much more. For now, it’s early, but we’ve seen its uses in fighting diseases such as blindness, diabetes and even cancer and HIV. The future is closer than you think and CRISPR is something that might end up saving your life or a loved one’s very soon.