Новости за 29.07.2016

M. Garlick/University of Warwick/ESO

Every 1.97 minutes, 380 light years from Earth, a star in the constellation Scorpius brightens then fades.

Recently, astronomers using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, along with a handful of other telescopes, were able to figure out the extraordinary story behind this flickering star.

And the answer is something so violent and twisted that scientists could never have imagined it.

The surprising (and... Читать дальше...

REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Daniel L. Davis retired from the US Army as a Lt. Col. after 21 years of active service and serves as a foreign policy fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities. He gave us permission to run this op-ed.

Apple and Google, two of the country’s biggest employers, don’t mess around with failure. Leaders either produce or they’re gone. Major League Baseball and National Football League teams have one standard for their leaders: get us into the playoffs or you’re fired. Читать дальше...

Reuters

Democrats spent four days trashing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump at their convention, but it seems that Trump has taken special issue with one speaker in particular: billionaire entrepreneur and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

After Bloomberg questioned Trump's business acumen and called him a con man during his speech on Wednesday, Trump started referring to Bloomberg as "Little" Michael Bloomberg, reusing a moniker once reserved for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Читать дальше...

Dolly Lenz

Rupert Murdoch has finally shed his West Village townhouse for a sale price of $27.5 million, according to The New York Observer.

Murdoch was originally asking for $28.9 million for the six-floor, 25-foot-wide townhouse. Murdoch bought the home for $25 million in March 2015, but listed it for sale just five months later.

He also owns the penthouse at One Madison, which he still has listed at $72 million.

The townhouse was bought through a shell company called West 11th Street LLC... Читать дальше...

AP

While this year's Olympic athletes stay in "uninhabitable" apartments, Olympics bigwigs will be living large on a luxury yacht. 

The 4,000-passenger Norwegian Getaway is taking a 40-day break from its usual cruising schedule to serve as housing for corporate sponsors, members of the International Olympic Federation, the National Organizing Committees, the Rio Host Committee and other important guests, USA Today reports. 

This ship has already been chartered as a floating hotel once before... Читать дальше...

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

joannagaines/Instagram

Shiplap is a building material made of wide wooden boards that fit together to form a flat surface.

If you've watched an episode of HGTV's wildly popular "Fixer Upper" recently, you know it well.

It looks like this (more below):

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BApbQbHAe5n/embed/
Width: 658px

Shiplap has seen a resurgence in recent years.

On "Fixer Upper," Joanna Gaines (host and shiplap master) uses the material to give homes a rustic, comfortable feel. Читать дальше...

REUTERS/Chip East

Google parent company Alphabet said on Thursday that it has completed its first stock repurchase plan, spending $5 billion to buy more than 5 million shares on the open market.

And what did the company get back for that? Three cents per share, according to BGC analyst Colin Gillis.

He deems the buyback program a success because Google bought the shares for a lower price than where the stock is trading now.

The idea of buybacks is to reduce the supply of a company's stock. Читать дальше...

When your wife becomes the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination, you're probably in a pretty good mood.

Francois Mori/AP

HANOI — Hackers attacked the website of a national airline and flight information screens at Vietnam's two biggest airports on Friday, posting notices that state media said criticized the Philippines and Vietnam and their claims in the South China Sea.

Operators of airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City briefly had to halt electronic check-ins when systems were attacked on Friday afternoon, the country's civil aviation authority said.

The website of Vietnam Airlines was also compromised... Читать дальше...

Manchester United FC

The beginning of the new Premier League season is close at hand, and with that comes the anticipated reveal of the new kits for each of the 20 teams.

Putting together these uniforms is a big part of how clubs earn money, so teams sign sponsorship deals and kit deals with manufacturers to help acquire money to help promote their teams and improve them. 

Below we take a look at all the new kits that have been released so far and the money that comes with them. Читать дальше...

The first two years of a relationship are usually considered the most exciting. After that, according to psychotherapist and author M. Gary Neuman, couples have to work to maintain that initial level of intimacy and excitement.

Instagram

There's a rumor going around that ClassPass, a Google-backed fitness scheduling startup, is getting a new CEO.

In the wake of recent price increases, fears of a growth slowdown, and the company's changing operational requirements, some tech insiders are whispering that the richly valued startup has been looking to replace its founder with a more seasoned executive.

One industry insider says that while Payal Kadakia, the company's founder, may retain her CEO title for now... Читать дальше...

Scientists aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Nautilus research vessel came across a mysterious, purple blob when their remotely operated vehicle was exploring the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. They aren’t sure what it is.

A selection of military photos that you might have missed this month.

Officer Candidate School (OCS) candidates are picked up by their sergeant instructors aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, July 8, 2016.

An officer candidate conducts the Combat Course at Quantico, Virginia, July 13, 2016.

A New Zealand Army soldier drags a 'wounded' enemy soldier to safety as part of Exercise Hamel... Читать дальше...

Shutterstock

Despite the bruising housing market crash of 2008, home ownership still ranks up there with a successful career and happy family life as a key pillar of the American Dream. In fact, a recent survey found that 71% of adults say that purchasing a home is a top personal goal.

Buying often makes financial sense, which is why phrases like “renting is just throwing money away” and “it’s better to buy than to rent” have likely been drummed into your head.

“Historically... Читать дальше...

REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Markets saw another relatively boring day, much like the rest of the week.

Stocks fell early in the morning, bounced up around noon, and, ultimately, finished the day mixed, but little changed.

Let's head to the scoreboard:

• Dow: 18,432.24 (-24.11, -0.13%)
• S&P 500: 2,173.60 (+3.54, +0.16%)
• Nasdaq: 5,162.13 (+7.15, +0.14%)
• WTI Crude oil: $41.45 (+0.31, +0.75%)
• 10-year Treasury yield: 1.451 (-0.060, -3.94%)
... Читать дальше...

Franck Caldeira de Almeida of Brazil (L) competes in the Men's Marathon on Day 16 of the London 2012 Olympic Games on the streets of London on August 12, 2012 in London, England.

Zillow

By Katie Hawkins, as told to Natalie Wise

A lot of people think I’m crazy for buying a house by myself in the city. It comes up a lot in conversation. People think buying a house is something you do as a couple once you get married. But I don’t want to pay rent my whole life. I’d rather make the most of my money.

Still, every time I looked at the numbers for buying a house, they were big. But every time I paid my rent, all I could think about was how that money could be going toward a house. Читать дальше...

Flickr / Graeae Eye

Costco has fascinated shoppers and business experts alike, to the point where analysis of the company's strategy has become something of a cottage industry. The enigmatic warehouse store doesn't follow many of the traditional rules of retail.

Here are some lesser-known facts about the nation's largest wholesale club operator.

Related:11 Types of People Who Shouldn't Set Foot in Costco

Toilet paper is the best-selling item at Costco

Costco's most popular product: toilet paper. Читать дальше...

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

"Mars Attacks"

You might've heard that there's a presidential election going on, and it's taking a toll on plenty of people's mental health. Really.

So it might be time to imagine another political world — a fake one.

Barack Obama might be our first black US president, and Hillary Clinton the first female nominee for president from a major party, but they're hardly firsts in fiction.

We've put together a list of the most popular on-screen commanders in chief to get you through the election. Читать дальше...

Clay Enos/Warner Bros

There has been no shortage of stories of what actors did on the set of "Suicide Squad" — from Jared Leto's disturbing "gifts" to Margot Robbie giving tattoos — but the latest one is still pretty bizarre.

In an interview for the UK magazine Empire, as reported by Yahoo, actor Jai Courtney, who plays Captain Boomerang in the movie, said that on a Skype call with director David Ayer about the role he was on drugs and put out cigarettes on his arms.

"That... Читать дальше...

Getty Images / Mark Davis

Hillary Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night contained a line that sounded familiar to fans of rap star Lil Wayne.

"When any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone," Clinton said as she formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president. "When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit."

Some people on Twitter took this as a reference to Lil Wayne's mixtape "No Ceilings," which contains the line... Читать дальше...

Grigory Dukor/Reuters

The Russian Olympic doping scandal keeps growing, as now the entire weightlifting team from the nation is now barred from competing at the Olympics, the International Weightlifting Federation announced on Friday.

Weightlifting is arguably one of the most iconic Olympic sports in which Russians regularly succeed, so to see an Olympics without Russian weightlifters will be odd, to say the least. According to NBC Sports, Russia is one of the top four nations in weightlifting. Читать дальше...