Author: openjargon

• Business Insider spoke with former Disney World employees about their favorite places to eat.
• One restaurant offers attraction views, and another is themed after a classic Disney film. 
• Both sit-down and quick-service locations can offer high-quality cuisine and service. 

Disney World vacations aren't cheap. A weeklong trip to the parks costs at least $6,000 for a family of four if they stay on the property.

If you're shelling out all that money, you want to ensure you're getting the best value — especially when it comes to the plentiful dining options in the parks.

Business Insider spoke with former Disney World employees about their favorite places to eat on the property.

Here's what they said.

Flame Tree Barbecue at Animal Kingdom is a must-try

For former Magic Kingdom employee Kaitlyn Cahalen, Flame Tree Barbecue is the main Animal Kingdom restaurant she frequents.

She specifically praised the quick-service location's baked mac and cheese with pulled pork.

"I have tried a couple of other restaurants in Animal Kingdom, but I always go back to Flame Tree Barbecue for this dish," she said.

Roundup Rodeo BBQ has great options for picky eaters

If you're traveling to Disney World with picky eaters, Roundup Rodeo BBQ in Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios can be a lifesaver.

Kalyn Breisch, a former Disney College Program participant who worked at Epcot, told Business Insider that she can be picky. But she appreciates the lengthy list of sides on the menu.

"Roundup Rodeo is the perfect place to mix sides that you know you will like such as mac and cheese, but also be able to try ones like street corn."

Le Cellier offers an elevated in-park dining experience

Josie Maida Aguirre, former Disney World employee turned writer and content creator, enjoys the fancy vibes and higher-quality menu offerings at Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion at Epcot.

"The food is incredible — always amazing," she said. "Steaks are great, and the desserts just cannot be missed."

Be Our Guest restaurant offers a themed atmosphere and high-quality cuisine

Although Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom is on the pricier side, Joyce Wingate Boyden, a former merchandise employee at Epcot and Magic Kingdom, is a big fan of the "Beauty and the Beast"-themed restaurant.

"The decor and theming is amazing, and it is so fun to feel like you're eating delicious food inside a movie set," she told BI. "The 'Grey Stuff' is delicious."

You can watch an attraction in action while eating at Pinocchio's Village Haus

Pinocchio's Village Haus gives diners a front-row view of the iconic Magic Kingdom ride It's a Small World.

Wingate Boyden recommended ordering one of the flatbread pizzas and sitting near a window to get the best view of guests boarding the attraction.

"It's fun to wave to them as they are floating by," she told BI

Casey's Corner is a go-to for comfort food and parade views

If you're looking for a quick-service meal at Magic Kingdom but don't want to spend too much money, Casey's Corner on Main Street is a solid pick.

"The corn dog nuggets and fries will never let you down, and if you're lucky, you might get a table outside and catch a glimpse of the parade," Breisch said.

Hollywood & Vine hosts a lively character breakfast

As far as character-dining opportunities go, Wingate Boyden recommended Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios.

"I love the buffet options and the character meet and greets," she told BI. "It's a special bonus to get pictures with favorite Disney characters while seated at a table."

The Hollywood Brown Derby offers one of the best salads on the property

When it comes to quality salad, The Hollywood Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios does not disappoint.

"I love their Cobb Salad. First, because it's always delicious, and second because it reminds me of very happy memories of when my parents came to Disney World." Wingate Boyden said. "The decor and ambiance of the restaurant are beautiful and very enjoyable."

• North Korea and Russia signed a strategic partnership upgrade on Wednesday.
• The agreement includes mutual defense clauses and guidelines for political and trade ties.
• The US has accused North Korea of arming Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to North Korea in 24 years on Wednesday, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un saying the two nations have upgraded their partnership to "a new high of alliance."

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim made the comment during a joint news conference following the signing of a strategic partnership agreement.

While the full text of the agreement has not yet been released, it suggests a strengthening of the relationship between the two countries, both of which are seen as major threats to the US.

It also shows the deepening of Kim and Putin's war bromance, which this week also saw the Russian leader once again gift his North Korean counterpart a luxury car.

State-run Russian news agency TASS reported that North Korea returned the favor by gifting Putin several pieces of art depicting his likeness.

According to the news agency, the new agreement includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other's aid in the event of aggression against either of them.

It also sets guidelines for deepening ties in "political, trade and investment, cultural, and humanitarian fields, as well as the security sphere," TASS reported, with Putin mentioning the possibility of "military-technical cooperation," according to Yonhap.

Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, told BI that the agreement is significant, but largely confirms what we already knew about North Korea and Russia's intentions to cooperate.

The aggression clause, however, is the exception, he said.

"North Korea is supporting Russia right now," he added, "but I think more significant is that now, at least in theory, Russia will have to support North Korea."

"Until now, we wouldn't have assumed this was going to be the case," he said.

The new document replaces a previous treaty of friendship and mutual assistance, TASS reported, as well as a 2000 treaty on bilateral ties, and the 2000 and 2001 Moscow and Pyongyang declarations.

Russia and North Korea have developed closer ties since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine, the US, and the UN have accused North Korea of giving Russia millions of shells and other weapons that have been used in the fighting in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia was trying "in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine."

US intelligence officials told NBC News that the Biden administration is concerned that Russia might help North Korea develop its first submarine capable of launching a nuclear-armed missile.

The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

South Korean media reported that Russia was also helping Pyongyang's space program.

CNN noted that while Putin did not explicitly describe the new agreement as an alliance, he acknowledged that ties between North Korea and Russia have reached a "new level."

Kim maintains that the agreement is "peaceful and defensive," according to TASS.

• Elon Musk says he wants Tesla's humanoid robot to be considered a friend.
• Musk also joked that the company wanted to make the robot "good-looking."
• Musk discussed the robot's potential at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Elon Musk wants you to think of Tesla's Optimus robot as a friend.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Musk discussed Tesla's ambitions for its humanoid robot.

"I think people will start to regard their personal Optimus robot as sort of a friend," he said, likening it to characters from pop culture like Star Wars' robot R2-D2.

While he clarified that Tesla was not currently planning to make Optimus look like a person, Musk joked that the company wanted to make the robot "good-looking."

The Tesla CEO said the fully functional bots would be capable of performing a wide range of tasks, acting as a sort of personal assistant for a household.

"You can just ask it to walk your dog, take care of your house, babysit the kids, cook dinner, play the piano — so it's a generalized humanoid robot," he said.

He believes that each person will have their own robot and there will be others working in different industries, suggesting that robots could outnumber humans in the future.

Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Musk has touted Tesla's Optimus robots as one of the company's most valuable assets.

"I think Optimus will be more valuable than everything else combined," Musk said during a Tesla earnings call in April.

"Because if you've got a sentient humanoid robot that is able to navigate reality and do tasks at request, there is no meaningful limit to the size of the economy," he said.

Tesla may have already put the robots to work on the factory floor.

In a rundown of the company's achievements since 2018 on X, Tesla said it had deployed two Optimus robots "performing tasks in the factory autonomously."

Musk has remained optimistic that Optimus will begin shipping next year. However, he's also acknowledged that it was "impossible to make a precise prediction."

• Plenty of movies get unnecessary sequels — we're looking at you, "Speed" and "Pitch Perfect."
• Yet there are many films that never became franchises or got stopped halfway through.
• Here are 11 films we wish had quit while they were ahead and nine sequels we're still pining for.

After Pixar's latest film, "Inside Out 2," was released on June 14, it scored the best opening weekend at the box office since "Barbie" last summer, with a domestic opening of $155 million.

Whether or not you think we needed "Inside Out 2" is a different matter.

The first "Inside Out," which introduced audiences to a pre-teen named Riley and her emotions, was a huge hit that culminated in the film winning the Oscar for best animated feature in 2016. A sequel, therefore, was what Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio called "a pretty safe bet for success." But after a neatly wrapped up original story, perhaps audiences could have been content with imagining what the rest of Riley's life was like.

Hollywood is a fickle place. Sometimes, sequels are made that absolutely no one cares about, while box-office smashes never get the chance to continue their stories. Here are some of the worst sequels we've seen, and some sequels we're still waiting for.

After two "Fantastic Beasts" sequels, we can definitively say we did not need them, and we don't need two more.

Was anyone really clamoring for the story of Newt Scamander, the Wizarding World's first magizoologist, when the first "Fantastic Beasts" movie was released back in 2016?

Not really.

But it had been five years since the final "Harry Potter" film, and as anyone living in the 21st century knows, intellectual property is everything.

But when the sequel, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," was released in 2018, fans were treated to a confusing story in which it felt like dozens of characters were introduced for no reason, there was no real plot, and it ended with a twist that potentially could have upended years of beloved canon. It has a dismal 36% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a slightly less dismal audience score of 53%.

In the six years since "Grindelwald," things have only gotten more uncomfortable in the Wizarding World between Johnny Depp's myriad controversies, creator JK Rowling's comments that many deemed transphobic, and Ezra Miller's criminal troubles.

"The Secrets of Dumbledore" was released in April 2022 to little fanfare with a still-low Rotten Tomatoes score of 46% and the lowest box-office receipts in the franchise's history, according to Games Radar.

Do we truly need two more of these movies that are ostensibly about Newt, who ends up feeling like an afterthought in his own story? Probably not, which is why not even Warner Bros. will commit to a sequel.

Apparently, even Lionsgate knew the "Divergent" sequels were a bust — the studio didn't even bother to finish the franchise.

In the wake of the mega-success of "The Hunger Games" franchise, every other dystopian young-adult saga was turned into a movie series ("Maze Runner," "Ender's Game," "The Host," etc.), but the only one that came relatively close to replicating that success was "Divergent," which was released in 2014.

"Divergent" starred Shailene Woodley as Beatrice, aka Tris, a 16-year-old who lives in a society that is divided into five factions based on personality traits — but, gasp, Tris has multiple traits and is known as "divergent." Confused? Understandably so, which is perhaps why the first film barely made a cultural impact and has a low 41% on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, two more sequels were produced (2015's "Insurgent," which has a 28%, and 2016's "Allegiant," which has an 11%). As was the 2010s custom, the last book of the series was to be split into two movies, "Allegiant" and "Ascendant," but the reception of "Allegiant" was so poor that the conclusion of the franchise was canceled.

So, we ask: Did we really need "Insurgent" and "Allegiant" if there wasn't going to be a fourth and final film? The answer is no.

"Dirty Dancing" did not need a sequel.

"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" isn't technically a sequel, more of a spin-off or re-telling, but still: Why?

"Dirty Dancing," while beloved and an inarguable classic, hasn't aged in the best way when you think about the weird age gap between Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze), nor is the abortion plotline necessary in any way … but it's from the '80s, and we cut it some slack because of the electric chemistry between Grey and Swayze and its lovable cheesiness.

"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" was released 17 years later, in 2004, and didn't really add anything to the plot to make it less problematic. In fact, it made it weirder by moving the story to Cuba, which added some political and racial tension that "Dirty Dancing 2" is simply not equipped to handle, as Roger Ebert pointed out.

Movie studios: Not every classic needs a remake or a sequel. Please, let some sleeping dogs lie.

Alas, the studios didn't listen. A "Dirty Dancing" legacy sequel is set for 2025.

Neither did "Pitch Perfect," and it got two.

There's no logical reason for a story about one girl's experience joining her college's a cappella group to turn into a trilogy of absolutely wild films … besides money.

"Pitch Perfect," released in 2012, is a charming enough comedy that introduced audiences to Rebel Wilson, Ben Platt, Skylar Astin, and Anna Kendrick as a movie star. Also, that song with the cups. It was funny and told a complete story.

Then, it made six times its budget, according to Box Office Mojo, and suddenly this a cappella comedy became a franchise that had no real reason for existing — by "Pitch Perfect 3" in 2017, the crew wasn't even in college anymore, eliminating any reason they had for singing a cappella at all.

Fans had been clamoring for it, but "Space Jam: A New Legacy" made us all reconsider.

To my fellow '90s kids out there: I'm sorry to tell you, but the 1996 sports comedy classic "Space Jam" isn't a good movie. Our nostalgia and love of Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes has clouded our judgment and made us think that the 2021 sequel would be a good idea.

We should've known that we had a real problem on our hands when the internet lost its mind regarding the redesign of Lola Bunny. We were warned again when the characters of "A Clockwork Orange" were visible in the background of this movie co-starring LeBron James and a cartoon bunny.

But the true nail in the coffin came when we found out that the villain, played by Don Cheadle, was named Al G. Rhythm … get it?

"The Mummy" is a classic, and "The Mummy 2" has some nostalgia attached to it, but the third "Mummy" movie is an abomination.

As clothing brand Super Yaki rightfully says, "'The Mummy' (1999) is perfect." Its sequel, 'The Mummy Returns," released in 2001, has its flaws, but the whole gang reunites for another romp in 1930s Egypt and it's a good time.

Seven years later, Universal trotted out Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell yet again for the 2008 film "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," which inexplicably leaves Egypt behind, recasts the inimitable Rachel Weisz with Maria Bello (no shade, but #NotMyEvie), and focuses on their son, Alex.

Do not even get us started on the 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise. In a word: No.

"Sex and the City 2" almost ruined the legacy of the entire show.

"Sex and the City 2" manages to be boring, racially insensitive, and extremely long, all while being a tourism ad for Abu Dhabi.

Any "SATC" fan should be so grateful that "And Just Like That" was released in 2021 — even if Miranda's character was essentially ruined, at least it's better than how we left our gals in 2010.

There was no need for a "Snow White" sequel without Snow White, as evidenced by "The Huntsman: Winter's War."

"Snow White and the Huntsman" co-starred Kristen Stewart as the titular princess and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman. The 2012 film was a modest box-office hit and received middling reviews, but a sequel was still greenlit.

But when pictures emerged of Stewart and the film's married director Rupert Sanders engaging in some PDA in Us Weekly, both were axed from the 2016 sequel.

"They should've put me in that movie! It would've been better," Stewart told The Independent in 2019. "They didn't put me in that movie because I went through such a highly publicized scandal, and so they were like scared of touching that."

So, that's how we ended up with "The Huntsman: A Winter's War," a prequel/sequel to the "Snow White" film that essentially doesn't exist.

The less we speak of "Speed 2: Cruise Control," the better.

There is no need for a sequel to 1994's "Speed" without Keanu Reeves.

Sandra Bullock is a charming movie star, but even she cannot overcome the gaping hole left behind by Reeves, especially not when he was replaced by Jason Patric in the 1997 sequel, who tries his best but is just … not Keanu Reeves.

"Jaws" is a perfect movie, so it hurts that much more to talk about "Jaws 2," "Jaws 3D," and "Jaws: The Revenge."

When "Jaws" was released in June 1975, it created the idea of a summer blockbuster, and the world has never been the same.

So it makes sense that Universal would want to capitalize on the success of the shark-hunting phenomenon — but when it became clear that director Steven Spielberg would not be directing the film, plans should've been scrapped.

Instead, we got "Jaws 2," which Rotten Tomatoes pointed out "has no reason to exist," "Jaws 3D," which the site also said had "no evident reason to exist," and "Jaws: The Revenge," which features a roaring shark — yes, an undersea animal that roars. It also has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Was anyone really asking for five sequels to 2013's "The Purge"?

Somehow, the premise of "What would happen if all crime were legal for a night" has spawned a multi-film franchise — four sequels, to be exact, plus one TV show — and a complex mythology. And don't worry — a sixth film is on the way, according to ComicBook.com.

There are plenty of other horror films, some on this list, in fact, that haven't gotten sequels yet. We'd trade at least one "Purge" film for one of those other ones.

On the other hand, please keep making "Escape Room" sequels forever, à la "Halloween" or "Nightmare on Elm Street."

Maybe it's just us, but the 2019 horror film "Escape Room" and its 2021 sequel "Tournament of Champions" were both interesting, visually inventive films that we'd like to see more of.

Is "Escape Room" the most prestige horror franchise of our time? Not exactly, but there's something satisfying about people solving (or not solving) puzzles. As many on X (formerly known as Twitter) have said, "I'd give anything for an 'escape room 3' movie."

It's wild that we still have barely any "Crazy Rich Asians" sequel news.

"Crazy Rich Asians" was a phenomenon when it was released in 2018, making over $200 million worldwide. It was the first major Hollywood film to have a predominantly Asian cast since "The Joy Luck Club" in 1993; it made stars out of Gemma Chan, Henry Golding, Awkwafina, and Constance Wu; and it made us all want to travel to Singapore immediately.

The film is based on a trilogy of novels by Kevin Kwan — the next two books are "China Rich Girlfriend" and "Rich People Problems" — so where are the sequels? It's been six years — we want more Michelle Yeoh sternly playing mahjong.

In May 2022, Deadline reported that a spin-off focusing on Gemma Chan's character and her teased on-screen love interest, played by Harry Shum Jr., was in early development.

Two years later, Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, told Variety that now a sequel TV series is in the works. Put these characters on the big screen!

When Nicolas Cage said that "National Treasure 3" wasn't happening, hearts everywhere broke a little bit.

Has a movie ever made you feel more patriotic than 2004's "National Treasure" or its (lesser, but still entertaining) 2007 sequel, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"? If you're a '90s or 2000s kid, the answer is no.

Cage plays treasure hunter/American history expert/cryptographer/stealer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin Gates. Already, you can tell it's a perfect movie.

While the first two were both financially successful, and the second film ends with a perfect tease for a third installment, "National Treasure 3" has been pushed back many times. Finally, in 2022, Cage told The Hollywood Reporter that a third movie was not happening.

He might want to check again, though. Director Jon Turteltaub said on a podcast in May 2024 that a script for a third movie is being written. "There's a very, very good writer writing it right now who tends to write really good movies. If the script comes out close to good, and you can see the finish line from where you are, we're making the movie," he said.

Yes, a Disney+ series was released with Justin Bartha reprising his role as Riley Poole in 2022, but it was not the same without Cage and Diane Kruger. It was canceled after one season, Entertainment Weekly reported.

We're still waiting for official confirmation of a "Happy Death Day 3."

"Happy Death Day" is another horror franchise we'd like to see continue for at least one more movie. Both the original 2017 film and its 2019 sequel, "Happy Death 2U," were critically and financially successful, and they focused on a genre that has been fascinating to Hollywood for decades: "One of Those Infinite Time-Loop Situations You Might Have Heard About."

Director Christopher Landon has said he's ready to go on a third film, "Happy Death Day to Us," but is just waiting for the studio to get on board.

"It's a trilogy. I've got to make the third one. Maybe after 'Freaky' we'll figure it out. Both of us really want to do it. So hopefully we'll figure it out," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2020.

If Disney is going to give "Frozen" multiple sequels, "Tangled" deserves one too, not just an animated TV series.

Fourteen years on from the original, it's extremely unlikely that we'd get a sequel to the 2010 Disney film "Tangled," which focuses on the classic story of Rapunzel escaping her tower, with the help of thief-with-a-heart-of-gold Flynn Rider (real name Eugene Fitzherbert).

But if "Frozen," which arguably told a more complete story than "Tangled" did, is getting multiple sequels, there's no reason that "Tangled" shouldn't have gotten one, too. We want to see more of Flynn and Rapunzel's adventures! The (charming) animated series may tide you over, but we want a real, big-budget sequel, too.

It's rude that every other superhero movie got a sequel except for "Sky High."

"Sky High," released in 2005, was many kids' first exposure to superhero movies, as it was a little more child-friendly than the dark story of Batman in "Batman Begins" and not as scary as the horror-tinged "Spider-Man 2."

Instead "Sky High" told the story of Will Stronghold, the son of two iconic superheroes, who might have to contend with the fact that he's "only" a sidekick while attending a high school just for kids with superpowers.

If you've seen the movie — spoiler alert! — you know that Will comes into his own and gains the powers of both of his parents and even gets the girl by the end. But then what? Now that Will's a bona-fide superhero, what's his life like?

According to Gizmodo, there was a possibility of the film getting a college-set sequel, "Save U," but it never materialized, and we're still bitter about it.

Since we've all retroactively decided that Andrew Garfield was a perfect Spider-Man, where's "The Amazing Spider-Man 3"?

Unlike "Sky High," "The Amazing Spider-Man" did get a sequel: the extremely underwhelming "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," in 2014, two years after the original. And we thought that was that. Garfield, who went on to become a two-time Oscar nominee and Tony winner, and generally beloved movie star, moved on.

That all changed when Garfield, and OG Spidey Togey Maguire, were brought back for Tom Holland's third Spider-Man film, "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Arguably, Garfield gave the best performance in the film (we see you, Willem Dafoe fans, but we disagree), and fans began the campaign for "Amazing Spider-Man 3."

Sure, why not? Sony's clearly still looking for its universe's Spider-Man, and Garfield deserves another shot.

The creative forces behind "Edge of Tomorrow" promised us a sequel, but almost a decade later, we're still waiting.

At this point in Tom Cruise's career, this entry into his action-movie pantheon is underrated.

The 2014 sci-fi action film is another time-loop situation, this time with Cruise playing a public affairs officer in the US Army despite having no fighting experience whatsoever. Instead, he dies over and over again, reliving the same day, and picking up combat skills as he goes, along with the help of Emily Blunt's extremely capable Rita Vrataski.

In 2016, two years after its release, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie told Collider that the idea for a sequel was "locked and loaded," but he could "only say it's a going concern" without giving any details.

Ten years later, there has been no "Edge of Tomorrow 2," but there have been three more "Mission: Impossible" movies, and at least one more is on the way.

"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is the true seafaring adventure film from 2003 that deserved multiple sequels.

"Master and Commander" was released the same year as Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," in 2001. Clearly, only one became a giant franchise spawning multiple sequels … but we'd argue that perhaps it was the wrong one.

"Master and Commander" is based on the Aubrey–Maturin series of historical novels, with "Far Side of the World" taking elements from three of author Patrick O'Brian's series. Russell Crowe reunited with his "A Beautiful Mind" costar Paul Bettany, and they played Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

While it's not as "fun" as a classic pirate tale, "Master and Commander" is an entertaining and truly breathtaking spectacle. There are 20 Aubrey—Maturin novels in total — it's time to either reboot the series with a new cast or bring back Crowe and Bettany for a second installment on the high seas.

• Mountaineer and Everest guide Garrett Madison summits the tallest mountains in the world.
• He's summited Everest 14 times, and just earned his second "triple crown," a rare mountaineering achievement.
• When he's not on expedition, he keeps his body in Everest-mode by staying active in the mountains of his home state, Washington.

Garrett Madison has built a career on risking his life to stand atop the world's tallest peaks. The mountaineer and expedition guide has summited Mt. Everest 14 times, and has led more than 80 other climbers to the top since 2009.

In May, he earned his second "triple crown" by summiting Mt. Everest and two of its neighboring peaks, Mt. Lhotse and Mt. Nuptse, in a single season. Few have achieved this rare feat.

"I feel really lucky and privileged to get to go on these expeditions," he told Business Insider.

But this epic lifestyle also pushes his body to the limit. Being in shape can mean the difference between life or death when climbing a nearly 30,000-foot-tall mountain.

Low oxygen levels, brutally cold temperatures, and long days spent navigating treacherous terrain take a toll on the body. Even fit mountaineers can succumb to exhaustion, altitude sickness, or injury.

"Fortunately, I'm on expedition quite a bit throughout the year on big mountains, so my body and mind kind of stay in mountain shape," Madison said.

But during those rare times when he isn't on expedition, he's preparing for the next one. Madison has developed a strategy for keeping his body in Everest mode in the off-season.

Always seek high-elevation

When he isn't climbing massive Himalayan peaks, Madison spends time skiing and hiking in the smaller, but still mighty mountains in and around his home state of Washington.

"Continuing to stay in the mountains throughout the year is very, very beneficial if that's where you want to be," he said.

That's because the body adapts to the low-oxygen levels at higher elevations. The top of Mt. Everest has only a third of the oxygen available at sea level. Spending time in low-oxygen environments —even ones that are less extreme than the top of Everest — actually changes your blood.

Lack of oxygen causes the body to produce more red blood cells, which carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. It also produces more hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that helps them do their job. At extreme elevations, climbers' supercharged blood helps make sure all their organs receive enough oxygen.

This enhanced fleet of blood cells lasts long after a climber has returned to low elevation, sticking around for about 120 days. But after that, they'll start to die off. That's why Madison makes sure to spend as much time as he can at high altitudes to keep his blood Everest-ready.

How you can whip your body into Everest shape

When he's not working out at great heights, Madison said he makes sure to stay active in the gym.

"If I'm not skiing or out hiking or climbing, I'll definitely go to the gym and do a mix of strength training, and some balance, flexibility, agility work," he said.

His company, Madison Mountaineering, has even created a training guide that can help whip your body into shape for an Everest-level climbing expedition.

The cardio exercises include things like hour-long runs and steep day hikes. Muscle training includes lunges, push-ups, and jumping exercises.

It's best to train for an expedition outdoors on hilly terrain, according to the Madison Mountaineering website. But not everyone has access to this where they live.

If you're limited to working out in the gym but want to train for a big climb, try the stair mill. It mimics mountain terrain by making you lift a portion of your body weight each step, the website says.

Training for a mountaineering expedition takes a lot of time and work, but all of that effort is important to your safety on the mountain.

"It's a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it," Madison said.

• Eric Schmidt, Google's ex-CEO, found a buyer for his Atherton mansion.
• The property, located in the most expensive US zip code, includes a main home and a guest house.
• Schmidt, who served as Google and Alphabet chairman, has a net worth of around $23.9 billion.

Google's former CEO, Eric Schmidt, and his wife, Wendy, found a buyer for their mansion in Atherton, California two weeks after listing it for $24.5 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The sale closed a month later, Mansion Global reported, with a price of $22.5 million.

The 5,265 square-foot listing includes a main home and a guest house in the most expensive zip code in the US. Schmidt's current net worth is estimated at around $23.9 billion, according to Forbes' ranking.

Schmidt, 69, served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011. He later served as chairman of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, until 2018.

Since leaving his role as CEO, Schmidt turned his focus to tech investments and philanthropy.

Scroll on to see inside the mansion.

The five-bedroom home at the top of a cul-de-sac in Atherton was Schmidt's primary residence for the last several decades.

The former CEO purchased the Atherton home for around $2 million in 1990, according to estimates by Zillow. The home was built in 1969, according to the listing.

Atherton, a small town in San Mateo County, is known to be a hotspot for tech moguls, like former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, and former HP CEO Meg Whitman.

Schmidt is one of several tech executives that have called Atherton home.

Tech investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, as well as early Tesla investor Alan Salzman, have also bought properties in Atherton.

The prestigious town is about a 45-minute drive to San Francisco and less than 20 minutes from the headquarters of Google, Meta, and Tesla. The average household income in Atherton is over $450,000.

It isn't the only home Schmidt bought in California. He bought Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi's 7,000-square-foot Montecito mansion in 2007.

He bought the home for $20 million and used to rent it out for weddings. However, he reportedly struggled to keep renting it after Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries used the home as their wedding venue and divorced soon after.

The billionaire also bought a Southern California "French chateau" in Los Angeles in 2014, about five minutes from the Playboy Mansion.

He also bought homes on the East Coast. In 2013, he purchased a $15 million penthouse in New York City and reportedly spent millions soundproofing it.

Schmidt and his wife purchased a home in Nantucket in 1999, where she reportedly spent most of her time.

The billionaire also reportedly paid $67.6 million for a 267-foot superyacht in 2023.

The exterior of the guest house has an outdoor fireplace, an amphitheater on one side, and a cascading water feature on the other.

Both the guest house and main home were designed by Schwanke Architecture.

The home has multiple terraces and access to the outdoors in almost every room.

The home has ample access to natural light with large open doors and windows throughout the home.

The estate has five bedrooms, eight total bathrooms, and a fireplace in the living room and family room.

The two-story home also has a wet bar, according to the online listing by The reSolve Group.

The sold mansion includes three acres of park-like grounds and an outdoor pool.

The property has a 3.36 acre lot and 5,265 square foot living area, according to the listing.

Like many Atherton homes, landscaping surrounding the house creates a secluded feel to the property.

Both the front and back of the house are shaded by large trees and greenery. The back of the house also has a fenced area to create privacy.

The estate includes a diverse selection of mature plants and specimen trees from Amdega Conservatory imported from the UK.

The greenhouse is equipped with wooden shelves, a sink, and black and white floor tiles.

The home also has several areas for growing plants or produce.

In addition to the greenhouse, the outdoor area has several planting plots.

The home embraces the California landscape of while incorporating European design.

Dark wooden furniture and flooring contrast against bright green outdoor openings in the estate.

• Russia is expanding arms production by buying secondhand tools via China to evade sanctions.
• A new report sheds light on how the Kremlin is circumventing Western restrictions.
• There's a lack of compliance in the secondhand market, the lead researcher told the FT.

Russia is rushing to expand its arms production by buying secondhand machine tools from China through covert networks to get around Western sanctions.

A report from Washington-based nonprofit think-tank The Center for Advanced Defense Studies, or C4ADS, said that Russia's arms manufacturers were "scrambling to expand their production capabilities using whatever they can get."

And Russian defense industry analyst and lead researcher Allen Maggard told the Financial Times that the decades-old machine tools Russia is importing are still effective.

"Just because a machining center is two or three decades old doesn't mean that it's incapable of producing simple components for weapons," he said.

"This speaks to a lack of compliance in the second-hand market, not to mention that manufacturers are unlikely to care about where their products end up after being sold," he added.

Getting around sanctions

Since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has had to find the supplies needed to keep its war machine going.

One of Russia's greatest vulnerabilities is its reliance on foreign technologies, including machine tools that automate the manufacture of precision-guided munitions and aircraft parts, among other key defense equipment, the researchers wrote in the report.

Faced with restrictive sanctions and export controls, the Kremlin has turned to complicated arrangements with opaque companies that act as middlemen.

Many Russian military suppliers have been placed under sanctions by the US. However, they are finding workarounds.

One supplier, AMG, increased its buying of high-end defense equipment made by a Japanese company, Tsugami, from $600,000 in 2021 to $50 million in 2023, according to customs documents.

In 2023 more than 60% of Tsugami sales were to China.

The rise from AMG has come through two middlemen, according to the report: Amegino, a US-sanctioned company based in the UAE and owned by Andrey Mironov, and ELE Technology, a company based in China that fraudulently claims to be part of US company Gray Machinery.

Glenn Gray, the president of Gray Machinery, told the FT he'd never heard of the company.

Tsugami also told the publication that it hasn't sold any products directly to ELE.

Documents seen by C4ADS show that Amegino and ELE have worked together to procure goods for Russia, according to the report, with Amegino acting as a broker, commissioning Chinese companies such as ELE to ship goods to Russia.

C4ADS found other similar cases including a Russian company, UMIC — not sanctioned by the US but thought to be owned by the wife of the owner of AMG — acquiring machine tools made in various countries around the world, but all bought in yuan through Chinese traders and shipped from China.

UMIC and ELE did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment.

• A record 128,000 millionaires are expected to move countries in 2024, according to a new report.
• Data from Henley & Partners shows the UAE has the largest predicted inflow of millionaires.
• This is the third year the UAE, dubbed a "wealth magnet" by the firm, topped the list.

Millionaires are choosing one place above all to move to, according to a new report: the United Arab Emirates.

According to data from the latest report by Henley & Partners, a firm that advises the wealthy on where to move to protect and grow their assets, 6,700 millionaires are projected to move to the UAE this year.

That's nearly double the inflow to the US, which had the second-highest expected migration of millionaires, at 3,800.

The US, however, still has the largest overall population of millionaires, followed by China, it said. The UAE came in 14th.

The annual wealth report suggested that a record-breaking 128,000 millionaires, defined as individuals with liquid investable assets over $1 million, are expected to move countries this year.

The firm dubbed 2024 a "watershed moment in the global migration of wealth."

The firm's calculations are based on millionaire migration data from the first six months of 2024, rounded to the nearest 100, supplied by wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth.

China is actually on track to lose the greatest number of millionaires in 2024, with 15,200 high-net-worth individuals, or HNWIs, expected to leave the country, it said.

This is a 10% increase from last year, it added, when China also had the highest outflow of millionaires.

The UK is predicted to see the second-highest expatriation of millionaires in 2024, it said, with 9,500 likely to leave. This is double the 4,200 who left the UK last year.

The UK, particularly London, is feeling a steep reversal in its status as a hub for the ultrawealthy. Policy changes targeting the ultrawealthy ahead of elections this summer are to blame, according to Hannah White, director of the UK think tank Insitute for Government, per the report's press release.

According to the release, the UAE has positioned itself as a global "wealth magnet" thanks to its nonexistent income tax, "golden" visas, and luxury lifestyle.

This is the third year in a row that the Emirates has landed the top spot on the list.

Dubai, the UAE's luxurious epicenter, has seen a boom in real-estate investment, with luxury apartment complexes due to be completed in 2024 and 2025 selling out in just one day.

Attracting and retaining HNWIs is an important strategy in geopolitical relations.

Dominic Volek, the head of private clients at Henley & Partners, said millionaire migration could inject capital and talent into the host nations as a "debt-free source of funding for governments," per the report.

• Billionaire Elon Musk spoke to WPP CEO Mark Read in an interview at Cannes Lions on Wednesday.
• On the topic of the future of AI, Musk reminded the audience he cofounded OpenAI as a nonprofit. 
• He said he named the company after "open source," and made a dig at the direction it has taken.

Elon Musk reminded the audience at Cannes Lions on Wednesday that he was the person to name OpenAI as he made a jab at the direction the company has taken since then.

Musk took to the festival stage as a guest speaker in an interview with WPP CEO Mark Read, where he discussed technical innovation.

During the conversation, Read breached the topic of AI and the future of tech.

Musk, who cofounded OpenAI in 2015 but reportedly left the company three years later, has often traded barbs over the future of AI with OpenAI's current CEO, Sam Altman.

He even filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing them of betraying the firm's founding principles, which he has recently dropped.

On the topic of OpenAI, Musk told Read he had started the company, in part to offset Google.

"It was very much a unipolar world where Google was completely dominant in AI," he said.

Musk added that the company was "formed with a lot of good intentions." He said, "The 'open' in OpenAI was meant to stand for 'open source,'" adding, "I named it."

This isn't the first time Musk has alluded to his role in christening the AI company responsible for ChatGPT. In a post on X in 2023, he made a similar comment.

Musk reiterated his ongoing qualms with OpenAI with a final dig: "Now it's closed-source for maximum-profit AI, which is different from what was intended. I don't know how it got there."

This aligns with Musk's remarks about his displeasure with the current direction of OpenAI, which was founded as a nonprofit.

It shed that status in 2019, to operate as a "capped-profit" company to "raise investment capital and attract employees," per a company blog post at the time.

The company announced a partnership with Microsoft the same year, which initially invested $1 billion into OpenAI.

After launching publicly in November 2022, ChatGPT attracted 100 million users in just two months. Microsoft then increased its investment, reportedly pouring a further $10 billion into the AI firm.

Musk's pessimism about AI is largely directed at its development as a "for-profit" industry. He has been outspoken about the safety issues related to AI in the hands of corporate, for-profit entities. In 2020, Musk said he feared Google's Deepmind could one day effectively take over the world.

But Musk's discussion with Read suggested his opinion could be shifting. He told the executive: "In the positive scenario, the AI will be doing its best to make you happy. So that might work out pretty well."