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Jollibee — the 'McDonald's of the Philippines' — is opening its first store in Manhattan as it gears up for its American takeover

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  • Jollibee, a Filipino fast-food behemoth, is opening its first location in Manhattan on October 27. 
  • The chain, known for its spaghetti and fried chicken, has an "aggressive" expansion plan for the US, an executive told Business Insider. 
  • Jolibee's parent company recently acquired stakes in burger chain Smashburger and fast-casual Mexican chain Tortas Frontera as part of its aspirations to become one of the five biggest restaurant companies in the world. 

Filipino fast-food behemoth Jollibee is setting its sights on taking over the United States — and the world. 

On October 27, Jollibee will open its first location in Manhattan, the fast-food chain's 38th store in the US. New Yorkers have been anxiously awaiting Jollibee's arrival in Manhattan since 2016, when news broke that the chain planned to open in midtown Manhattan, near the Port Authority bus terminal. 

"Jollibee has always been a taste of home for many Filipinos," Maribeth Dela Cruz, Jollibee Food Corporation North America's vice president, told Business Insider.

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"It's not just the products they used to enjoy when they were back home," Cruz continued, "It's really the experience of bringing them back to happy memories of being with their family and celebrating moments and milestones in their lives back in the Philippines." 

New York City is home to 61% of New York state's Filipino population, making Manhattan a prime spot to open a Jollibee location. At the same time, Cruz says, the Manhattan location will serve as an opportunity to showcase Jollibee as a brand, introducing the chain to New Yorkers and tourists alike.

About 85% of customers in the Jollibee location in Queens, New York are Filipino, according to Cruz. Other Jollibee locations, in states such including California, Nevada, and Texas, have a ratio of closer to 70% Filipino to 30% non-Filipino customers. 

Internationally, Jollibee is already a huge phenomenon, sometimes referred to as the "McDonald's of the Philippines," with 1,289 locations globally. Known for its fried chicken, spaghetti, and Filipino desserts, the chain has a menu unlike any American fast-food chain. 

Cruz declined to say exactly how many locations Jollibee planned to open in the US, though she said the company has an "aggressive" expansion strategy for the coming years. 

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Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) has also been making some major investments outside of its namesake brand. JFC is determined to become one of the top five biggest restaurant companies in the world.

The company has more than 4,200 locations in 22 countries, including chains such as Greenwich Pizza, Chinese food brand Chowking, and serving as the franchisee for Burger King in the Philippines.

In February, JFC announced it planned to increase its stake in the American chain Smashburger, growing its share of the company to 85%. JFC announced in September that it was planning a $12.4 million investment in chef Rick Bayless' Tortas Frontera chain, taking a 47% stake in the brand.

The US and China are crucial to JFC's plan to become a top five restaurant company, according to Cruz. And, the company is continuing to eye other segments to help achieve the vision — which Cruz says JFC plans to achieve "as quickly as we can possibly do so." 

SEE ALSO: We visited the 'McDonald's of the Philippines,' which serves spaghetti and fried chicken alongside its burgers — here's what it's like

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11 things you should never do at a costume store during Halloween

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Halloween costume store

As Halloween creeps closer, hoards of trick-or-treaters and partygoers are flocking to costume stores to create their Halloween looks. 

Everyone knows that these stores become madhouses in October, whether you're shopping at Party City, Spirit Halloween, or your local holiday pop-up shop. People fighting over the last "Avengers" costume or having to step over rejected masks are commonplace this time of year.

Here are some things you should avoid doing in a costume store during the Halloween season to avoid a shopping horror story.

Never go in without a plan or a vague idea of what you want to dress up as. 

At any good costume store, there will be thousands of options to choose from. From a sexy nurse to a taco, your options are limitless, so you need to have an action plan. Make sure you have an idea of what you want to be and know exactly what you need to create the look. Leisurely wandering around the aisle perusing every option will not be easy when there are hundreds of people pulling items off the walls.

With that said, be ready to ditch the plan if it's not coming together. 

The closer it is to Halloween, the fewer options may be available to you in the store. Therefore, never shop without backup ideas. Be ready to ditch your original costume idea and create something entirely new. You may be surprised by what you can come up with if you're flexible.

Try not to follow the latest trends. 

Almost everyone will be dressing up as a character from "Riverdale" or "Avengers" this year, but that doesn't mean you should too. In fact, you will have an easier time in the costume stores if you don't follow the trends. While people are fighting over the limited supply of Wakanda warrior costumes, you can be shopping for an original idea with no stress. 

When trying on costumes, keep the masks away from your face. 

This may seem counter-intuitive but think about all the people who are coming in and out of the store this Halloween season. If every person tries on a specific mask, imagine how many germs are being passed around. Instead, hold the mask up to your face, and it will give you the same illusion as wearing it. Once you decide to buy the mask, clean it before you wear it. 

Halloween costume shopping

Also, don't try on costumes without the intent of purchasing. 

The dressing rooms at these stores are constantly busy, so don't show up to the store with a group of friends to try on a slew of costumes just for fun. This is not your time for a wardrobe change montage, so do not hog the fitting room if you're not there to purchase anything. 

When trying something on, stop being disappointed the costume doesn't look as good as the picture. 

The pictures on the front of each costume bag are professionally taken and edited. Stop being surprised that your costume doesn't look exactly the same.  Also remember that these costumes have been folded and sometimes smushed in bags for a while, so they may be wrinkled. Try ironing the outfit at home to make it look better, and never be afraid to modify the costume once you've purchased it. 

If something still just doesn't look right, do not just throw it on the floor. 

Sometimes a costume store can look and feel like a battleground. With a large number of customers passing through, almost every Halloween store gets messy. Don't add to the mess by throwing items on the floor. Put everything back where you found it. It's the employee's job to stock costumes for you — not to pick up after you. 

But the employees are there for assistance, so never be scared to ask for help.

No one knows the store better than an employee. When the store gets busy, it will be even harder to navigate. Asking an employee to point you in the direction of whatever you're looking for is a sure-fire way to cut down your shopping and decrease unnecessary foot traffic. 

Trying on Halloween costume

Before checking out, remind yourself that you don't have to buy the most expensive costume. 

Remember that you're only going to wear this costume for one night — really just a few hours. There's no need to spend over $200 on that. Instead, use the pricey look as an inspiration. Think about how you can find those elements for a lot less at a thrift store or online. 

Once you've committed to buying a costume, don't check out without looking to see if anything is missing. 

If you're getting a pre-assembled costume, make sure everything is in the bag and that no piece is missing. Some costumes are expensive, so you want to make sure you're getting your money's worth. Also, a lot of costumes come with gadgets, so make sure those are working and not broken.

At check-out, don't complain about the long line or how slow it's going.

It's Halloween, so the costume store will obviously be busy. If you complain about it, you're just going to make yourself more frustrated and the people around you more annoyed. Instead, take a deep breath and try to enjoy the horrors of this holiday season. 

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Fans tell us how they think Rick will leave 'The Walking Dead' and they're divided

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  • Andrew Lincoln is leaving "The Walking Dead" during season nine.
  • It's unknown how his character, Rick Grimes, will depart the zombie drama.
  • INSIDER teamed up with app TV Time to ask fans how they believe Rick will leave the show.
  • Fans are split over whether or not Rick will be killed off the show or have his story left open-ended.
  • If Rick is killed, most believe Rick will give his life to save his community. Others believe he may be betrayed.

Andrew Lincoln confirmed in July that season nine of "The Walking Dead" will be his last as the show's leader, Rick Grimes, and fans are divided over how they think he'll leave.

While we have plenty of guesses on how Lincoln may depart the AMC zombie drama, the two most common theories are that Rick will either be killed off of the show or walk off into the sunset in an open-ended departure. 

INSIDER teamed up with TV Time, an app which tracks shows and allows fans to share reactions in real time, to find out how fans believe Rick will leave the show. Despite that bloody boot seen in the season's official trailer, not everyone believes Rick will die. In fact, fans are pretty split right down the middle.

TV Time surveyed 2,721 users in the United States who follow "The Walking Dead" in its app and have watched through season eight. Fans responded to two questions from October 4 through October 8, 2018. Let's get to it. 

How will Rick leave "The Walking Dead"?

According to TV Time, fans are split on whether or not Rick will be killed off "The Walking Dead." Of those surveyed, 49% believe Rick's story will be left open-ended instead of meeting a bloody demise while 47% think we'll see him killed. 

walking dead will rick die

The 4% who said "Other" had more specific versions of how Rick will be killed off or leaving his story open ended. 

Those responses included Rick leaving on the mystery helicopter, dying of natural causes like cancer, and taking a bullet for another person. One of the funnier responses included Rick being "abducted by aliens."

If Rick is killed off "The Walking Dead," how will it happen?

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Fans are more certain of this response. 70% believe that if the time comes Rick will martyr himself to save his loved ones. That doesn't seem like a stretch after seeing how Rick runs the community of Alexandria on the season nine premiere. 

It's nearly a three-way tie between those who believe Rick will be bitten by a walker like his son Carl, killed by Negan, or stabbed by one of the upcoming new villains, The Whisperers. (You can read more about them here.)

walking dead how will rick die

Many of those who responded "Other" believe Rick will be betrayed by Maggie or some of his other people. Six responses suggested Rick may receive Ezekiel's shocking comic death and winds up brutally murderered by the show's upcoming Whisperer villains. 

We have a few more episodes with Rick before we bid farewell to the character who woke up from a coma to a new world. Executive producer and series director Greg Nicotero told INSIDER he directed Lincoln's final episode. The only other episode Nicotero is directing during the season's first half is episode five. 

You can follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage all season long here

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22 astounding facts about the moon landing from 'First Man' that are actually true

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An estimated 530 million people around the world had their eyes on NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong as he took one "giant leap for mankind" on July 20, 1969.

Armstrong cemented his role in history that day, becoming the first person to step foot on the moon. Today, walking on the lunar surface is an honor only 11 other men share. 

But the backstory of how Armstrong was selected for that job and his tumultuous path to the moon are less well known. 

In the movie "First Man," actor Ryan Gosling plays a young Armstrong in the ambitious and sometimes tragic lead-up to his unlikely journey to the moon. 

The film is based on the non-fiction book First Man, which was published by Armstrong's official biographer James Hansen 13 years ago. Nearly everything chronicled in the film is true (aside from the Hollywood makeup, perhaps), including Armstrong's near-death experience training to fly the moon lander and the death of a good friend who was chosen for the first Apollo mission.

Screenwriter Josh Singer spent four years researching and writing the movie, which already has some critics and fans buzzing about potential Oscar nominations.

"I was just knocked out by how much we don't know about Neil Armstrong,"Singer recently told Business Insider. 

Here are 22 true facts about Armstrong's life and the space race that the movie "First Man" recounts:

SEE ALSO: NASA turns 60 today, but the Apollo moon landing in 1969 is still arguably the agency’s greatest feat. See how the US pulled it off.

As the movie properly points out, Russian cosmonauts were ahead of the US at nearly every turn in the Cold War space race — until the moon landing.

The Russians launched Sputnik, the first satellite, in 1957. Then they sent dogs Belka and Strelka into space in 1960, and hit the moon first with its Luna probes. The nation was also the first to put people in space: Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. Alexei Lenov did the first spacewalk in 1965.

Clearly, the US was lagging behind. 



Neil Armstrong worked as a test pilot at NASA for years before he went to the moon. He was the first civilian astronaut in space.

The class of X-15 test pilots that came before Armstrong were all active-duty members of the military. Many served in the Air Force or the Navy. Armstrong was in NASA's second class.



Armstrong was no stranger to tragedy. His daughter died at age two from a case of pneumonia while suffering from a malignant brain tumor.

Armstrong was grieving and wanted to "invest [his] energies in something very positive," his sister June told Hansen"That's when he started into the space program." 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

10 things about American restaurants that people from outside the US may find strange

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The American dining experience is vastly different state to state and restaurant to restaurant, but still wildly different from other countries' expectations. American restaurant sales reached nearly $800 billion in 2017, according to the National Restaurant Association, but with Americans spending about $55 billion a year on dining out, that's quite a few tourists dropping serious money on American cuisine.

Here are the things about American restaurants that people from other countries may find strange.

Tipping is not only pretty much mandatory in the US, but is expected to be at 15-20%.

Adding an additional payment to a meal for the hard work and good service of the staff is not required in several countries, such as Brazil, China, Belgium, and Australia.  

In the US, restaurant workers are legally allowed to be paid below minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the gap. According to the US Department of Labor, tipped employees are legally allowed to be given as little as under $5 an hour by their employers.

This contrasts to the fast-food workers in Denmark who make $20 an hour. Even in countries where tipping is standard, it's polite to only leave about 5-10% as a tip.



The waiters are more likely to introduce themselves in hopes of a tip.

Partly because your opinion of them contributes to how much money they'll make, American waiters are chattier. Because tips aren't customary in many other countries, the experience tends to differ.

Ben McPartland for The Local France wrote that "the majority of wait[ers] in the US … give you the impression you have made a new best friend for life, as soon as you walk in the establishment."

You may or may not prefer the alternative, which can be a waiter who you will only see to take your order, deliver your meals, and hand over the check.



Kids can order off their own menu.

There are plenty of think-pieces on the legitimacy of children's menus in American dining culture because they don't typically exist elsewhere. Children's menus in the US are often for people 12 and under and feature items like chicken tenders and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches regardless of the restaurant's type of food.

In many other countries, children under 12 will order off the adult menu, which some people argue leads them to try and crave different foods.



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A man has been found guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for pulling a gun on a 14-year-old boy who knocked on his door to ask directions

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  • In April, Brennan Walker, then 14, missed the bus to school, got lost, and stopped at Jeffrey Zeigler's house to ask for directions.
  • Surveillance footage shows Zeigler, 53, shooting at Walker.
  • Zeigler has been charged with assault with intent to murder.
  • In court, Zeigler said he believed it was an attempted break-in, saying he is "tired of being a victim."

 

UPDATE: October 12, 2018: This post has been updated to include the jury's verdict.

A jury found a Rochester Hills, Michigan, man guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, for pulling a gun on a 14-year-old boy who asked him for directions, ABC-affiliated WXYZ reported.

In April, Brennan Walker, who was 14 at the time, missed the bus to school and got lost as he attempted to walk there instead, according to The Oakland Press. On his way, Walker knocked on Jeffrey Zeigler's door to ask for directions. Zeigler has been accused of pulling a gun and shooting at the teen.

Zeigler, a retired firefighter, told investigators he and his wife believed the incident was an attempted break-in. The couple were on "high alert" because they had dealt with "multiple" home invasions in the past. The 53-year-old man said he ran out of his home with the shotgun, but said it fired accidentally when it slipped out of his hand. Meanwhile, his wife reportedly called 911.

Zeigler's attorney said this incident wasn't racially motivated, though Zeigler is white and Walker is black. "He has no signs, no history of racism," defense attorney Rob Morad said. "If there were any racial issues, he wouldn't have spent his career working in the city of Detroit."

Surveillance footage from the day shows Walker approaching the house, either knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell, and then running away when a shirtless Zeigler answers, holding a gun, which he then fires.

"When I saw that video, my thought process switched … I knew which direction I had to go. I was shocked," Detective Shawn Pace said in court on Tuesday, per The Oakland Press. At first, Pace had believed the incident to be an attempted break-in, but on second watch, the detective said he felt "charged up, because I was offended by what I had seen."

In court on Tuesday, Zeigler "emphatically denied ever taking aim" at Walker, The Oakland Press reported. At one point, Zeigler said that he was "tired of being a victim" in the situation.

In April, Zeigler was released on a $50,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS monitor.

A jury found Zeigler guilty on Friday, WXYZ reported. The man says he regrets what happened and if he could go back he would instead offer the teen a ride to school.

Zeigler's sentencing is scheduled for November 18. He could face up to life in prison.

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All the ways Princess Eugenie's wedding broke from royal tradition

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Princess Eugenie walked down the aisle to marry Jack Brooksbank on Friday in one of the most anticipated weddings of the year, and she had quite a few surprises hidden up her Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos-designed sleeve.

While she didn't buck quite as many royal wedding traditions as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did back in May, Eugenie's ceremony still had more than a few unexpectedly modern touches. Even some of her guests like Cara Delevingne shunned tradition with their stylish outfits.

From her gorgeous gown to her unconventional cake, here are all the ways Princess Eugenie's wedding broke from royal tradition.

Unlike Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, Princess Eugenie chose not to wear a veil with her dress.

Opting out of a veil was a departure from typical royal wedding style, and was perhaps done to showcase the open-back design of the dress.



Eugenie also used her dress to make an empowering statement.

According to a statement released by Kensington Palace, Eugenie wanted the back of the dress to purposely showcase her scar from a scoliosis correctional surgery she had at age 12.



Most royal brides don't have a maid of honor, but Princess Beatrice filled the role for Eugenie's wedding.

Kate Middleton also bucked this tradition by having her sister Pippa Middleton as her maid of honor, but Meghan Markle decided to bring back the tradition by having only children in her bridal party.



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The 12 actors behind terrifying movie villains

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There's something terrifying about a villain that's no longer recognizable as a human. From Pennywise the Clown in "It" to Leatherface in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" series, the following characters are so scary looking it makes you forget there's a real actor portraying them. 

Here are 12 actors you didn't know played your favorite, or least favorite, movie villains. 

Behind the makeup, "The Exorcist's" demon Pazuzu was really a young actress named Linda Blair.

According to the Washington Post, legendary special effects makeup artist Dick Smith took the lead on bringing Pazuzu to life — along with his then-assistant, Rick Baker.

To round out the terror and do practical effects for things that Blair simply couldn't do — such as turn her head around a full 360 degrees — SFX man Marcel Vercoutere built a robotic stand-in for Blair, according to the Hollywood Reporter.



Although you couldn't recognize him, Robert Englund played Freddy Krueger in "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Starting back at the beginning with makeup artist David Miller and gaining perhaps his most famous look with Crypt Keeper and "Chucky" creator Kevin Yagher, the character of Freddy was even featured in his own makeup documentary called "Nightmares in the Makeup Chair," reported IGN. 

 



Dr. William Weir from "Event Horizon" is really the actor Sam Neill.

VFX company Cinesite was responsible for many of the most disturbing visual aspects of the film — including the scene where Sam Neill's eyes are completely gouged out.

Cinesite's Sue Rowe described one of her favorite memories of working on this film for VFXblog:

"Charlie Tait and Dave Houghton were fresh out of animation college back then and they took on this shot. They used a cheap flatbed scanner to scan a cabbage leaf and a raw steak combo to make the interior eye sockets. One day my Mum came to the office to see what her 'little girl' was up to in this new crazy film industry and she saw us working on this shot. Charlie was adding blood pulsing out of the eyes — she ran out of the office screaming. I was actually pretty proud of the extra attention to detail. I heard that the director loved it!"



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12 times Princess Charlotte and Prince George stole the show at Princess Eugenie's wedding

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Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank tied the knot in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on Friday.

The couple's royal wedding was full of touching highlights including Eugenie's decision to show off the scar from her corrective scoliosis surgery, Brooksbank's heart-melting words when he saw his soon-to-be wife walking down the aisle, and Prince William and Kate Middleton's rare display of public affection.

As usual, throughout the day, William and Middleton's two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, stole the show with their playful posing and waving.

Below, see 12 of the young royals' most adorable moments from Eugenie and Brookbank's wedding.

Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince George, 5, were both in Eugenie's wedding party.

The two were joined by Savannah and Isla Philips (the daughters of Peter and Autumn Phillips); Mia Tindall (the daughter of Zara and Mike Tindall); Maud Windsor (Princess Eugenie's goddaughter); Theodora Williams (the daughter of musician Robbie Williams and actress Ayda Field; and Louis de Givenchy (the son of Olivier de Givenchy, a JP Morgan executive, and his wife, Zoe).

 



Princess Charlotte briefly lost her balance while walking up the stairs of St. George's Chapel.

Page boy Louis de Givenchy also stumbled on the stairs, but both children recovered quickly.

Charlotte and Louis weren't the only attendees to battle the windy weather. Everyone from Cara Delevingne to Princess Beatrice had to hold onto their hats to keep them from flying away.



As guests waited for Eugenie to arrive at the church, Prince George was spotted joking around with Savannah Phillips.

Savannah, 7, made headlines back in June when she playfully put her hands over George's mouth as the royal family sang the national anthem at Trooping the Colour.



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How hyperrealistic masks are made for Hollywood

Lonzo Ball forced to cover up tattoo due to NBA rules

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  • Lakers guard Lonzo Ball played with a bandage on his right arm through the team's preseason game against the Warriors on Wednesday.
  • Ball wasn't injured, but instead was covering up his Big Baller Brand tattoo due to NBA rules about players promoting brands on the court.
  • Ball isn't the first player to have an issue with branded tattoos this year, with J.R. Smith raising a similar issue earlier this month.


When the Los Angeles Lakers faced off against the Golden State Warriors in a preseason tune-up on Wednesday, Lonzo Ball took to the court with a bandage of some sort on his right arm.

Ball's bandage wasn't due to any sort of injury, but rather a strategically placed cover-up to conceal his tattoo of his family's Big Baller Brand "BBB" logo.

Ball got crafty with the bandage (or possibly just a piece of athletic tape, it's tough to tell), to avoid a fine from the NBA, as the league has made it clear they will not allow the promotion of non-partner brands on the court.

Lonzo BallYou can see the uncovered tattoo on Ball's arm during his media day appearance at right.

News of the rule first made the rounds ahead of this season due to J.R. Smith, whose new tattoo of the Supreme logo raised concerns from the league, prompting the NBA to contact Smith and inform him that he would be fined for every game he played with the logo visible.

When asked about Smith's tattoo, league spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN in a statement, "NBA rules prohibit players from displaying any commercial logos or corporate insignia on their body or in their hair."

It's an issue that has come up, however sparingly in the past — Smith's former teammate Iman Shumpert was once forced to remove an Adidas logo that he had shaved into his high-top fade.

We still don't know how the matter will play out through the season, but for now, it looks as though Ball is alright for the moment with covering up for game days.

Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers open their 2018-19 season on October 18 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

SEE ALSO: The NBA season hasn't even started yet and Trae Young already hit a game-winner from near half court

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12 of the most cat-friendly dog breeds, according to experts and owners

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Cat owners who want to bring a dog into their home ― or dog owners looking to adopt a cat ― need to be strategic, since not all of our furry friends play well with others.

To compile a list of the most cat-friendly dog breeds, INSIDER consulted sources such as the American Kennel Club, PetHelpful, and Vetstreet, as well as pet forums on Quora.

Keep reading to learn about 12 dogs that get along well with cats, from beagles to bichon frisés.

Beagles are friendly, with an easy-going disposition.

According to the American Kennel Club, beagles are a natural choice for cat owners because they're friendly and have an easy-going disposition.

Bred to hunt in packs, these scenthounds play well with others. PetHelpful reports that beagles might chase cats outdoors, but will cohabitate peacefully (and even snuggle) inside.



Golden retrievers are playful, yet adaptable.

Golden retrievers are known to be playful but they're also adaptable, according to the AKC. This means that they're good with cats of varying ages and sizes.

In fact, a Quora user notes how his golden retriever and his cat were inseparable, writing that they "slept together, followed each other around, and groomed each other."



Cavalier King Charles spaniels are small and affectionate.

The Cavalier King Charles spaniel (a type of English toy spaniel) is a small, affectionate breed that gets along with humans and felines alike. Cavaliers, which range in size from 13 to 18 pounds, have "a penchant for smaller creatures," according to Animal Planet.

But as a Quora user observes, the relationship between a Cavalier and a cat might be dependent "on how the two are introduced and how positive or negative actions between them are reinforced daily."



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Hackers stole millions of Facebook users’ personal data — here’s why you should be worried (FB)

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facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

  • Some 30 million Facebook users were victims of the hacking attack it revealed recently.
  • That attack exposed the personal information of many users, including their names, phone numbers, birth dates, and more.
  • That kind of information could be used for identity theft and to compromise users' financial and other accounts, security and privacy experts say.
  • The exposure of that data can also pose particular and obvious dangers to people who are trying to keep a low profile, such as victims of domestic violence.

If you're one of the victims of the recently revealed hack of Facebook, you should be extra careful on the internet — and extra watchful of your other online and offline accounts.

The data hackers gleaned from the social network could be used for identity theft, and to access accounts ranging from those at banks and other financial institutions to online stores. It also could be used in so-called spear phishing attacks, in which hackers use the information they know about particular users to send them personalized messages that convince them to leak their passwords or other critical data.

"Given the scale of this — which was really surprising — and how much information was scraped … people can be legitimately concerned," said Justin Brookman, director of privacy and technology policy at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.

Some 30 million accounts were compromised in the attack, which Facebook first announced two weeks ago. The hackers were able to gain access to names and phones numbers of nearly all of those users as well as personal details such as birth dates, relationship status, gender, and education and work histories for 14 million of them.

The exposure of those kinds of personal details can be particularly dangerous to people who are trying keep a low profile, such as those who have been the victims of domestic abuse or protestors worried about reprisals from their governments. It can also create problems for people who were trying to keep certain parts of their lives private from the wider world, such as their sexual orientation or their religious affiliations.

The data from Facebook could be used to access bank accounts

But it can be risky to everyday users as well. That's because in the hands of malicious actors, this data can be used to hijack accounts on other services besides Facebook.

The password reset feature on many sites asks users to answer certain security questions. Those questions often ask for just the kind of personal details that were revealed in the Facebook hack, Brookman said.

But it's not just online accounts that are at risk. Information such as names and birth dates can also be used to gain access to banking accounts or medical records over the phone, said John Simpson, director of privacy and technology at Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group. That kind of information "can be tremendously empowering" to hackers, he said.

"They can take that information and definitely parlay it into information that can scam the individual," he said. "Potentially, there's some real damage that can be done to people."

Even the leak of just a phone number can pose a risk. To protect their accounts on various websites, many users have been turning on two-factor authentication, a security technique that often requires users when logging into their accounts to enter a special code in addition to their passwords. Many sites send that code via the SMS text messaging system to users' cell phones.

Security researchers have known for years, though, that the SMS system is vulnerable to hacking attacks. By knowing a user's phone number, a malicious actor could potentially intercept the two-factor authentication code and use it to gain control of the user's account.

It could also be used in targeted email attacks

Another potential danger comes from spear-phishing attacks. Typically in such an attack, a hacker sends an email that induces a user to click on a link to a spoofed site and enter their login information. The malicious actor usually uses what they know about the target — their friends, their family, their life experiences — to convince them that the email is legitimate.

Even seemingly innocuous information about a person can be used in such attacks. The more data a hacker has about someone, the more believable they can make the email lure. One set of data that was exposed in the Facebook hack was the locations where users had checked in using Facebook's app.

A hacker might be able to take that information and purport to be a representative of a target's credit card company, potentially even saying that the company had noticed their card being used on the date and place of the check in, said Michelle Richardson, director of the privacy and data project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group.

"These guys are really crafty," she said.

Because users often reuse passwords on multiple sites, they may find lots of their most sensitive and valuable accounts at risk if they fall victim to such a scam.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself

You can find out whether you were affected by the Facebook attack by logging into your account and going to a security page the company has set up. If you were affected, there are several steps you should take to protect yourself, security and privacy experts say:

  • Put a freeze on your credit report with the major credit reporting agencies, such as Equifax. That will prevent criminals from using the information they gleaned about your from creating new financial accounts in your name. Thanks to a new law, credit freezes are now available for free.
  • Keep a close eye on your financial statements to look out for mystery charges.
  • Make sure you aren't using the same password in multiple places, and create new, unique ones if you are. A password manager such as LastPass can make it easier to create and keep track of your login information for different sites.
  • Turn on two-factor authentication whenever you can, but especially on your most sensitive or valuable accounts. Even those such systems can be vulnerable to hacking attacks, they're still more secure than passwords alone.

Regardless of whether your account was affected, you might also want to consider deleting or deactivating your Facebook account, especially if you don't use it often. If you plan to keep your account, you should also think about limiting what you share on it.

"People share stuff on their Facebook profiles they wouldn't want shared with rest of world," said Brookman. He continued: "There's historical data that's out there about you that could potentially be leveraged against you or used to hack your account or compromise your friends'."

Now read:

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Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance is an 'embarrassing' 'crisis' for Trump and 'one of the roughest foreign-policy challenges' he's faced yet, experts say

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Donald Trump Saudi Arabia

  • Foreign-policy experts say the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is "embarrassing" and a "crisis" for President Donald Trump.
  • Experts seem to disagree, however, on how big of a challenge this poses to Trump's overall agenda.
  • They say the situation creates tension between Trump and the GOP foreign-policy establishment in Congress.
  • Experts believe Trump won't do much about Khashoggi, and will let Congress take the lead.
  • Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, and is feared dead.

The disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi has placed President Donald Trump in a precarious and "embarrassing" position, and it will complicate his agenda in Congress, foreign-policy experts say.

There is a great deal of concern over the message Trump is sending about America's commitment to human rights via his response to the situation, but experts disagree over how this will impact the US-Saudi relationship and Trump's foreign agenda in the long run.

There is consensus among experts, however, that this situation is creating tensions between Trump and key Senate Republicans on foreign affairs and he'll likely defer to them in terms of an overall response to Khashoggi's disappearance.

Khashoggi is missing and feared dead

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post, went missing earlier this month after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and is feared dead. Turkish officials have accused the Saudis of sending in a 15-man team to torture, kill, and dismember Khashoggi's body before flying it back to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi journalist, who was often critical of Saudi Arabia in his reporting, went into the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents to marry his Turkish fiancée,Hatice Cengiz.

Cengiz said she waited for roughly 11 hours outside of the consulate but Khashoggi never came out. The Saudis have vehemently denied detaining or harming Khashoggi, and claimed he left the consulate. But they've provided no evidence to back up this assertion.

Jamal Khashoggi

Meanwhile, the US intelligence community reportedly intercepted Saudis discussing a plan to capture Khashoggi prior to his disappearance under the direct orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Trump administration has denied it knew of such a plan.

Trump has expressed concern over the Khashoggi case, but he's under increasing pressure to address the situation more forcefully.

A bipartisan group of senators led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker recently invoked the Magnitsky Act, a law requiring the president to investigate the incident and report back to the committee within 120 days on what is discovered and what he plans to do.

But Trump seems reluctant to punish the Saudis, whom the US has long had close economic and military ties with, and sees as a buffer against Iran in the Middle East. This week, for example, Trump said it would be a "tough pill to swallow" to stop billions of dollars worth of arms sales to the Saudis. But senators in both parties are pushing hard for the sales to cease in the wake of Khashoggi's disappearance.

In short, Trump is between a rock and a hard place over this disturbing situation.

Questions about 'Trump's disinterest in human rights'

David Rothkopf, a foreign-policy expert and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Business Insider the Khashoggi case "is undoubtedly one of the roughest foreign-policy challenges Trump has faced thus far."

Rothkopf added, "It is tough because it complicates a relationship he has prioritized. It is tough because it is a relationship that has turned heavily on his own relationship with the Saudi leadership and that of his son-in-law Jared Kushner."

He feels the way Trump has handled the situation thus far has been "absolutely dreadful and insensitive." Rothkopf said Trump has "minimized" and been "slow to respond" to the case, setting a troubling precedent regarding the US government's position on human rights.

"[Trump] has explicitly said he values the commercial relationship with the Saudis above our values or our obligation to Jamal Khashoggi as a permanent resident of the US," Rothkopf said. "He has even minimized the importance of that relationship."

Trump this week downplayed Khashoggi's disappearance by noting he went missing in Turkey and was not a US citizen.

Rothkopf said a "strong American president" calls out allies, but Trump has failed in this regard.

"There are very real questions about whether Trump's disinterest in human rights and his repeated attacks on the press may actually have contributed to this case," Rothkopf added.

Rothkopf believes Trump will do "as little as possible" to address the situation and largely leave the matter up to Congress. Meanwhile, if Democrats retake the House in November, Rothkopf suspects the US-Saudi relationship will "deteriorate quite severely in the months ahead."

This could lead arms sales to be completely cut off and sanctions to be imposed via the Magnitsky Act, he said. It would also put pressure on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "from within the kingdom where he has many rivals" and elsewhere in the region, Rothkopf added.

"This will lead to other fissures," Rothkopf said. "The images of Trump and the sword dancers and the glowing orb may haunt him come election time in 2020."

The Khashoggi disappearance 'is embarrassing to Trump'

Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, said Trump faces much bigger foreign-policy challenges than Khashoggi's disappearance and doesn't think it will have a "broader" impact on the president or America's agenda abroad.

Bremmer told Business Insider the current tensions between the US and China, dealing with Russian election interference and cyberattacks, and the Iran nuke deal withdrawal are all "much more challenging" for Trump.

The Khashoggi disappearance "is embarrassing to Trump and is causing a rift between the president and the foreign-policy establishment in the GOP," Bremmer said. But he added that the situation is "much more important to the media (and understandably so)" than to Trump's overall foreign-policy agenda.

In terms of Trump's response to the situation thus far, Bremmer said the president is in a good position to support any Senate-backed economic repercussions against Saudi Arabia moving forward.

"[Trump] already hit the Saudis before [the] Khashoggi episode by saying they 'wouldn’t last two weeks' without US support and should do more to bring a fair share to relationship, in this case meaning more oil production to bring prices down," Bremmer said. "That makes it easier for Trump to support any sanctions process that comes out of Senate."

Trump Mohammed bin Salman

Under Trump, Bremmer said the US-Saudi relationship is "better than they’ve been in a while." This is linked to the royal welcome Trump received in Saudi Arabia, the first foreign country he visited as president, and the fact the Saudis are spending a lot on US exports.

"Trump is far more transactional on human rights and related issues even than most American presidents" Bremmer said, contending any eventual consequences against the Saudis over Khashoggi will be "unlikely to hit at the core of the US-Saudi relationship."

'Trump sees this as a crisis'

Randa Slim, director of conflict resolution at the Middle East Institute, also does not see Khashoggi's disappearance as a major foreign-policy challenge for Trump and sees it as more of a roadblock in terms of his relationship with Congress.

"I do not think Trump looks at Khashoggi's assassination as a foreign policy challenge," Slim told Business Insider. "Trump sees this as a crisis which the Saudi leadership forced on him – a crisis not of his making and which will complicate his agenda especially in dealing with Congress."

Slim said Trump's vocal opposition to reducing arms sales to Saudi Arabia shows he's not planning on addressing the situation in a significant way. "Look at how he is dealing with Russia and Putin as the roadmap for how he will deal with Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince going forward," Slim said.

From a rhetorical standpoint, critics feel Trump has been troublingly soft on Russia and too deferential in terms of reacting to its interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Trump administration has imposed significant economic sanctions on Russia, among other diplomatic repercussions, but the president has at times exhibited a reluctance to do so.

In terms of the state of US-Saudi relations, Slim said the Khashoggi disappearance shows "the Saudi leadership is either not concerned about the US-Saudi relationship and/or thinks it can get away with murder without a major impact on the relationship."

Moving forward, Slim said the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US will "proceed on two tracks."

Trump will continue to accommodate the Saudi government "despite its unwanton acts," Slim added, while Congress "will call the Saudi leadership to account."

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Ford's sales in China collapsed 43% in September amid Trump's trade war and an economic slowdown (F)

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Ford china sinkhole

  • Ford sales in China tanked 43% in September year-over-year.
  • The drop is attributed to a confluence of factors, from Ford's makeover of the company to the Chinese economic slowdown.
  • The growing trade war between the US and China also most likely played a role.
  • Ford has been dealing with a series of maladies from President Donald Trump's various tariffs.

Ford's sales in China nosedived in September as a slew of factors, including President Donald Trump's trade war and a slowdown in the Chinese economy, slammed the company.

According to data released by the company Friday, overall sales in China fell 43% in September compared with the same month last year and were down 30% through the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017.

Sales for each of the company's Chinese partnerships fell for the month:

  • Changan Ford Automobile sales were down 55% in September compared with 2017.
  • Jiangling Motors Corporation sales declined 15%.
  • Imported Ford sales fell 16% for the month and were down 15% year-to-date.
  • The only Ford brand to see positive sales growth was Lincoln, with a 1% gain for September and a 4% gain year-to-date.

The numbers, while more extreme, lined up with the general collapse in Chinese auto sales during the month. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales in the country tumbled 11.6% year-over-year in September, the largest drop in seven years.

There are numerous explanations for the collapse in sales for Ford and the Chinese auto market in general:

Add up all of those elements, and you end up with the sales disaster.

The collapse in Chinese sales isn't the only trade-related problem for Ford. CEO Jim Hackett revealed that Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the US would cost the company $1 billion in 2018 and 2019.

The company also decided not to import a new SUV from China to the US, citing the trade war as the reason for the decision.

The trade war is exacerbating longstanding issues at the automaker, which is already carrying out a global restructuring. As part of the changeover, the company announced Monday that it would lay off a significant number of workers.

SEE ALSO: Here's exactly how Trump's trade war with China could affect you

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The Trump administration is reportedly considering a new family separation policy for immigrants

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migrant child mother border patrol

  • The Trump administration is reportedly considering a new family separation policy for immigrants who cross the US-Mexico border with their children.
  • Instead of forcibly splitting up immigrant families at the border, as authorities did under the "zero tolerance" immigration policy, the parents would face a "binary choice" to be held as a family in detention or have their children released without them.
  • The renewed family separations push is being spearheaded by Trump's senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, who reportedly believed that the original "zero tolerance" policy was effective in deterring illegal immigration.

The Trump administration could soon revive its practice of separating immigrant families at the border by offering them a choice between indefinite detention and separation, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing senior administration officials.

The new policy would not exactly replicate the controversial "zero tolerance" immigration policy that caused a public uproar in the springtime, when authorities forcibly split more than 2,500 children from their parents.

Instead, immigrant families would face a "binary choice," meaning they could opt to stay together in detention as a family unit while their potentially yearslong immigration cases wind through the court system, or parents could choose to have their children released to government shelters and eventually turned over to other relatives or guardians.

The effort is the Trump administration's latest push to handle the growing number of Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the US in recent months.

"Career law enforcement professionals in the US government are working to analyze and evaluate options that would protect the American people, prevent the horrific actions of child smuggling, and stop drug cartels from pouring into our communities," deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley told The Post in a statement.

The Post also reported that the renewed family separations push is being spearheaded by Trump's senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, one of the administration's staunchest immigration hardliners.

Miller reportedly believes that the zero-tolerance immigration policy had a deterrent effect on asylum-seekers crossing the border around the springtime, prompting fewer to cross in the summer months. Though the overall border-crossing apprehension numbers did fall in June and July, those months typically see a drop due to seasonal trends.

Customs and Border Protection data shows that even though illegal border-crossings remain near the bottom of a decades-long downward trend, the amount of family units arrested by Border Patrol is unusually high.

In previous years, the bulk of the border-crossers were comprised of single men and unaccompanied children. But in recent months, Border Patrol agents have been finding massive groups of dozens — or even hundreds — of immigrants traveling together, often led by smugglers.

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As bidding closes, Amazon's cloud is the favorite to win a $10 billion defense deal. Here's why everybody else is so mad about it (MSFT, IBM, ORCL, GOOG, GOOGL)

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Jeff Bezos laughing

  • The Department of Defense is closing the bidding process for JEDI, a $10 billion cloud computing process, on Friday. 
  • Only one company can win the deal, which will be awarded in April 2019.
  • Amazon is the frontrunner to win, with Microsoft seen as the other major contender. 
  • Google dropped out, saying that it could conflict with its corporate values
  • Oracle and IBM have lodged formal protests against the bidding process, saying that it's misguided to have the deal rely only on one cloud provider.
  • Competitors for the deal have even hinted that they believe it's weighted in Amazon's favor: "When you delve into the nitty gritty [requirements of JEDI], it’s clear that some of them are written with one company in mind,"an IBM executive tells Business Insider.

The deadline for bids on a $10 billion cloud computing contract from the Department of Defense closes on Friday. The deal won't be officially awarded until April 2019, but the process has already drawn plenty of controversy since the bidding process officially began in July.

The deal, called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, is winner-take-all, meaning it will only be awarded to a single company. And right now, Amazon Web Services is the runaway favorite to be that winner.

“It’s between AWS and Microsoft Azure, to be honest,” said Renee Murphy, a principal analyst at Forrester. “AWS is probably in the running to get it. They have the strongest relationship with the top secret levels of the government.”

Amazon is considered the frontrunner because of  the certifications it already has, and its existing relationship with the government. In 2013, the CIA awarded the company a $600 million contract, and last year, AWS introduced Secret Region, a service designed for the CIA that can handle data classified at the “Secret” level.

IBM and Oracle are still in the running for the contract, along with AWS and Microsoft. Google bowed out of the competition earlier this week, saying it wouldn’t align with corporate values, but also because portions of the contract were out of scope with their current government certifications.

Rival tech titans, however, have suggested that the process was flawed from the very start, in such a way that the retailer was the only company that could win. 

“When you delve into the nitty gritty [requirements of JEDI], it’s clear that some of them are written with one company in mind,"said Sam Gordy, General Manager for IBM US Federal, in an interview with Business Insider. Oracle and IBM have both filed formal protests against the Department of Defense over the JEDI contract. 

The Department of Defense declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Amazon and Oracle declined to comment. Microsoft and Google did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The JEDI protests

Several companies have voiced their opposition to the winner-take-all approach, saying that a multi-cloud solution would be stronger and that JEDI’s requirements seem aimed at one specific company.

In August, Oracle filed a protest against the Pentagon's decision to award the contract to one company, instead of multiple. On Wednesday, days before bids were due, IBM announced it would also file a protest against the Department of Defense's insistence on using only one cloud, instead of several from different companies. Even Microsoft, which is seen as the other major contender for JEDI, is said to have criticized the process.

“The focus here is ensuring that we do the right thing for national security,” said Gordy. “We protest because we believe that’s the right thing to do. Businesses are all moving to a multi-cloud environment because of resiliency in their system, flexibility and security.”

As for Google: The search giant dropped out saying that the JEDI contract could conflict with its corporate values, just months after employees protested management for the company's involvement in Project Maven — a program with the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence to analyze drone footage. However, the company also chimed in against the notion of relying on a single cloud.

"Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload."

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty

Amazon is leading, and Google dropped out

Right now, Amazon is the only company that holds the highest security authorization to handle government data. To work for the Defense Department, companies need additional clearance from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which gives out security authorizations from IL-2 to IL-6, with IL-6 handling information rated Top Secret.

According to the JEDI contract requirement, companies should be able to manage IL-5 data. According to a publicly-viewable document from the Department of Defense, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM have received IL-5 authorizations for certain cloud services they offer. Google, which dropped out of the race earlier this week, only holds the IL-2 requirement. On the other hand, Amazon is the only company that holds IL-6 authorization, which applies to its AWS Secret Commercial Cloud Services for government agencies. 

“I think frankly, that cybersecurity plan was what led [Google] to withdrawing,” said Rick Holgate, senior director and analyst at Gartner. “That’s consistent with attitude they’ve taken with the US federal government. If [its cloud offering is] satisfactory, they don’t feel a need or inclination to go beyond that or go further.”

Compared to other JEDI competitors, Google is also behind on the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), a security certification on handling government data. Google was certified in March to handle data at the “moderate” level, while Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle have certifications at the "high" level for their government cloud services.

That's why it makes sense that Google backed off, Murphy says.  The process involves not only updating systems to meet federal requirements, but also documentation and hiring third party assessors to scan and hack the system for vulnerabilities.

“The step between moderate and high is extreme,” Murphy said. “If you’re not in any form of certification process currently, it’s going to take you months and months to get into the pipeline. The government isn’t going to do business with you if you’re not FedRAMP certified.”

Besides, it's expensive: Achieving this certification is an expensive process, as it costs $2.25 million to achieve authorization and $1 million annually to maintain it. Google could certainly afford it, but it is a cost. 

Catching up to Amazon

Microsoft isn't backing away from the competition, however, and some think that it's just as viable a competitor as Amazon. 

On Tuesday, Microsoft said it’s on track by early next year to match Amazon and obtain the IL-6 "Top Secret" classified data certification.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

“There’s this thinking that it’s wired for AWS,” Holgate said. “Microsoft is equally valid in this space. Based on their track record, they have the ability to deliver the contract they’re looking for. It’s a starting point to be a multiple cloud environment for the Department of Defense.”

As for the other two companies in the running, IBM previously had a cloud deal with the Army and expects to be able to obtain that IL-6 authorization. IBM currently only has a FedRAMP moderate certification, but it is "confident we can secure all certifications required to support JEDI," an IBM spokesperson said. Oracle also has an active relationship with the Pentagon, as the Department of Defense uses many of the company's databases. 

Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd

Even if other companies are able to catch up, Amazon has the advantage of already being able to fulfill the top government requirements.  If another company were to win the contract, it has a tight timeline to get its authorization in order. It must be able to host classified information within six months, and top-secret information within nine months; Amazon could do it today, in theory. 

“There’s nothing that would prohibit them from meeting these requirements as long as they’re willing to invest,” Holgate said. “I think what may have given Oracle and IBM pause with the JEDI solicitation is the scope and magnitude of the services they’re looking for. They’re requiring services at all levels of classification, which also involves IL-6.”

Still, Holgate points out that the government will offer other cloud contracts in the coming years.

“There tends to be this discussion around JEDI on the winner-take-all vehicle,” Holgate said. “It’s not in any way a winner-take-all vehicle. It’s certainly a pretty significant vehicle. Whoever wins it will have a significant contract. There’s other cloud contracts out there. The idea that there will be one cloud provider in the Department of Defense forever is misleading.”

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Former Navy SEAL commanders who have worked with more than 400 businesses teach leaders to be aggressive — but not in the way most people think

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  • Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are former Navy SEAL commanders with a new book, "The Dichotomy of Leadership."
  • Their leadership consulting firm, Echelon Front, has worked with more than 400 businesses since its founding in 2010.
  • They teach being "Default: Aggressive," which means being proactive rather than passive or reliant on others.
  • It does not mean being reckless or aggressive toward other people.

As the commander of US Navy SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, Jocko Willink instilled in his team a philosophy of "Default: Aggressive."

Leif Babin was one of two platoon leaders who reported to him, and after serving overseas they founded Echelon Front, a leadership consulting firm. Since its launch in 2010, it has worked with more than 400 businesses. In a recent interview about their new book, "The Dichotomy of Leadership," Willink and Babin told Business Insider that they often found people misunderstood one of their lessons. They call it "Default: Aggressive."

In the book, Willink describes Default: Aggressive as aggressively working to "overcome obstacles, capitalize on immediate opportunities, accomplish the mission, and win" without needing every decision explicitly approved and without turning down an opportunity because it falls outside their job description.

"'Aggressive' means proactive," in this case, Willink wrote. "It doesn't mean that leaders can get angry, lose their temper, or be aggressive toward their people." It also doesn't mean being reckless.

"You've got to analyze the intelligence and collect information and mitigate risks that you can control," Babin told Business Insider. "So trying to find that balance is incredibly difficult."

Willink wrote about a time when he worked with the CEO of a growing small business whose confident, headstrong attitude was contagious. It was so contagious even Willink got caught up in her enthusiasm for ambitious growth plans built on stretch goals that would put a serious strain on the budget.

He explained that while he admired her embrace of the Default: Aggressive mindset, its purpose is tied to the good of the team. If confident, proactive behavior is actually placing the team in unnecessary danger, it's not worth the risk.

Willink wrote that he told the CEO that "being aggressive doesn't mean throwing caution to the wind."

"It doesn't mean taking catastrophic risk that can and should be mitigated," he said. "And it doesn't mean relying on unrealistic stretch goals."

As Willink and Babin learned as SEALs, there is a major difference between a confident, independent, and proactive default approach to real-time challenges and "running to your death."

SEE ALSO: A former Navy SEAL commander says you can't be a great leader without knowing when to be a follower

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When the CEO of $5.9 billion Canada Goose interviews job candidates, he gives them a warning — and their response speaks volumes about whether they get the job (GOOS)

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dani reiss canada goose

  • Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss looks for job candidates who are adaptable and thrive in an environment of constant change.
  • In a job interview, he'll warn candidates that Canada Goose is a "crazy place to work."
  • He wants candidates who will be able to forge their own career path and are excited by change.
  • Other executives and hiring managers agree that adaptability is important.

When Dani Reiss interviews people, he warns them: "This place is a crazy place to work."

Their reaction has a big influence on whether they'll get hired.

Reiss, the CEO of the luxury outerwear maker Canada Goose, told Business Insider that he was always on the lookout for adaptability.

Reiss said he tells job candidates explicitly: "Your job is going to be different in 12 months. I can't tell you today what that job will be, but I can tell you that it's not going to be the same as it is today."

He added, "We really need people that have that entrepreneurial spirit and a relentless energy to them, and passion."

Canada Goose started as a small, family-owned business (Reiss' grandfather founded the organization) and went public last year. Today, it's a $5.9 billion company. So it's especially important for job candidates to be prepared for rapid growth and change.

Reiss isn't the only executive who prizes flexibility in employees. Jennifer Shappley, a senior director of talent acquisition at LinkedIn, wrote last year that in the company's "Global Recruiting Trends" report, 69% of hiring managers agreed that adaptability is the most important soft skill in job candidates.

And Jennifer Dulski, head of groups and community at Facebook, wrote in a 2013 LinkedIn blog post that "people who are comfortable with change in general tend to be more successful."

Dulski advised managers to ask questions such as "Can you tell me about a time when your company or team went through a major change and how you handled that?" to evaluate a candidate's ability to manage change.

Reiss said it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that some people thrive amid constant change while others don't. But at Canada Goose, "we try and look for people who are over-committed and who are excited by a wild ride and journey," he said. "At a place like Canada Goose, you have to make your own career path."

SEE ALSO: Actress Elizabeth Banks spoke to a Dunkin' Donuts exec about why the company is changing its name, and took away a career lesson anyone can use

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