• I took 12 weeks of parental leave, and months after returning to work, my position was eliminated.
• It's been almost a year, and I'm still looking for my next full-time role.
• I can't afford childcare until I have a steady job, so I work from home as a freelancer.

It's no secret that when you become a parent, a massive shift in identity occurs.

My whole world had changed, and no matter how much I had prepared for it, I could never truly understand until it happened. Suddenly, you can't take a shower without announcing it.

When that identity shift for me came with a layoff, I had to reorder my entire life twice within a span of a few months.

I was laid off months after coming back to work

I gave birth, and 12 weeks later, I came back to work. A couple of months after my return, I was told my position would no longer be funded at the end of the year. I had three months' notice to find work during the holiday season and an election, but wasn't able to secure a new gig.

I celebrated the new year knowing that I had no idea what would come next. Still, I remained hopeful. It's been almost a year, and I'm still searching for full-time employment.

For many people, jobs are just a means to pay the rent, which is a valid and healthy perspective on employment. But my parents are both people whose careers held a lot of personal meaning for them and made up part of their sense of identity, so I don't think it's a coincidence that I sought out work that gave me a sense of purpose as well.

I always saw myself as a working parent

When I envisioned myself as a parent, even before I had decided it was right for me, I saw myself as a working parent. There was never a part of that dream that allowed for a version of me that didn't have the financial stability and identity that my work gave me. My mom always emphasized, as well as modeled, financial stability and independence for me, and so did other women in my life who parented their kids as single moms.

Work allowed me a clear way to see my contribution to the home. I made a higher income than my spouse. Finances were still tight, as they are for so many families, but I knew that even on a day when I didn't do as much laundry as I planned, I still earned a paycheck to help us pay the rent and afford diapers.

Now I have to recalibrate my identity outside and as part of my relationship to my child. I can't afford childcare again until I have full-time employment, and although I earn freelance payments, they're not enough to cover the vast majority of our needs.

There's value in my unpaid work, too

I choose to understand and value the unpaid work I do as a parent who is home with my toddler most days, even if society largely doesn't, both financially and socially.

I can't define myself by my smaller paychecks. When I show my child how to say certain words or encourage imaginative play, I'm doing something important for my family. My household labor is essentially 24/7 and allows my spouse to do their paid labor.

My days are packed with work as a stay-at-home parent, which I didn't fully understand about stay-at-home parents' days before I experienced them. The mental load of fulfilling and adapting to your child's ever-changing needs, while managing housework, freelancing, and searching for full-time employment, is enormous.

My spouse is a very involved and loving dad, but the practical reality is that I'm the person our kid sees most, and certain responsibilities have fallen to me as a result. We care about resisting strict gender roles in our family, but circumstances have made it so that we have to work extra hard not to fall too deeply into them.

I have flexibility, but sometimes feel isolated

Then there is the fact of social isolation. I have to work even harder to find social interactions with adults outside my home. Occasionally, I reach out to parent groups, attend a library story time, or prioritize asking my mother-in-law to watch my toddler so I can get some time away to see friends or try to make new ones. It isn't always enough, but it helps me keep a sense of self, and it gives my child other people, and sometimes kids, to develop strong bonds with, which is good for them.

Of course, my life isn't all strain and struggle. I have more flexibility to take my toddler to the dentist and play fun games with them between naps. All of those things are magical experiences, and I know that whatever comes next, I'll look back on this time and cherish the memories I shared with them while they were so young. However, I still want my child to know me as someone who loves them dearly but is also independent, with hobbies and a career, so that they understand that such a life is possible for them.

As a family, we will continue to find ways to see beauty and community in life, despite hardship, and value each other's labor, whether paid or unpaid, and be empathetic toward one another. I also value the work of stay-at-home parents more than ever, and I wish I had understood the load they carry much sooner in life. These lessons will be valuable for me even when financial circumstances — hopefully — change.

• Netflix is known for canceling shows before their time, but some shows overstay their welcome.
• "House of Cards" started out critically acclaimed, but it quickly fell from grace.
• It took nearly 10 years to produce five seasons of "Stranger Things."

Last year alone, Netflix canceled over 20 of its original titles, many of them before their time.

Still, it doesn't mean Netflix isn't capable of holding on to some of its originals for way too long.

Did "Fuller House" need to last for more than one season? No. Neither did "13 Reasons Why" nor "Insatiable."

Keep scrolling to see which 11 Netflix Originals lasted longer than they should have.

While Claire Underwood deserved her chance at the top, "House of Cards" should have ended much earlier.

"House of Cards," based on a British TV show of the same name, rightfully earned its critical and fan acclaim for the first two or three seasons.

However, between seasons five and six, Kevin Spacey, who played the diabolical Frank Underwood, was written out of "House of Cards" following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from various people, including staffers on the set of the show.

In 2022, he was ordered to pay the show's production company $31 million for his alleged behavior — the company argued his exit had cost them a large sum in lost profits. This was reduced to $1 million in 2024.

In a UK trial in 2023, Spacey was found not guilty of 12 sexual assault charges against him in relation to accusations brought by four other men.

But even before the accusations and before Underwood was rightfully killed off, the show was wearing thin. There is only so much backstabbing, murder, and political machinations one can take.

Though Claire (and Robin Wright) deserved to have her moment in the Oval Office, the season five finale in 2017 was more than enough to show she was officially taking the power back into her own hands.

"Orange Is the New Black" was, and is, an important show in terms of representation, but after the death of Poussey, it lost its heart.

"OITNB" began as one of Netflix's first forays into prestige TV back in 2013, and it had a buzzy premise: It was based on a real memoir of Piper Kerman, who spent a year in a women's prison.

"OITNB" was the first scripted show to really delve into the prison industrial complex inside a female prison, and made strides towards more trans representation on TV and more same-sex relationships on TV. It also helped educate viewers about what life was like inside a prison.

However, when Black people are disproportionately killed by the police in real life, it seemed almost cruel to viewers to show the murder of Poussey, a Black woman, by a white prison guard during a riot in season four. It also unfortunately played into the "Bury Your Gays" trope, since Poussey identified as a lesbian.

The first few seasons of "OITNB" should be required viewing, but seven seasons and 91 episodes were just too much.

And, while some got a "happy" ending, many other characters along the way suffered more injustices and tragedy, like Tiffany, Maritza, and Red.

With original comedies getting canceled after one or two seasons, there's no reason "Fuller House" should have lasted five seasons.

We'll admit, seeing the entire extended Tanner clan (give or take an Olsen twin) was really fun — for a season in 2016.

The awkwardness of Aunt Becky's mysterious disappearance aside, it's hard to justify keeping "Fuller House" on the air for five seasons when groundbreaking new content like "One Day at a Time," "I Am Not Okay with This," and "The Get Down" only got a season or two.

The story of "13 Reasons Why," which was an adaptation of a novel, was over after the first season in 2017.

You might also call this "Big Little Lies" syndrome — that is, when what should have been a limited series based on a novel needlessly drags on the story.

The Jay Asher novel was the complete story of high school student Clay dealing with the trauma of his high school crush, Hannah Baker, dying by suicide.

However, the show, in addition to being graphic and problematic in its depiction of suicide and other sensitive subjects, dragged on the story for another three seasons, putting characters through an unbelievable amount of pain and suffering. Hannah didn't stick around past season two, even though the show was ostensibly about her and Clay.

"The Ranch" lasted for 80 mediocre episodes from 2016 to 2020.

There was nothing actually wrong with "The Ranch" — at least not after Danny Masterson was written off — but it was just … boring.

The sitcom about a family living on a cattle ranch in Colorado seemed like it would have been more at home on CBS than Netflix, a platform that prides itself on pushing the limits of television.

As already stated, it's hard to explain why this show gets four seasons and 80 episodes, when other, more original shows get half that.

Although "Making a Murderer" was a smash success, the second season was wholly unnecessary.

The first season of this true crime series (though at the time, we didn't know there'd be a season two) was a phenomenon when it was released in 2015.

It was shot over 10 years, and focused on the case against Steven Avery, who first served 18 years in prison due to a wrongful conviction, but was then tried and convicted of a different crime (this time a murder) a few years after he was released. He's currently serving a life sentence.

If the first season took 10 years to make, and there had been no significant updates on Avery's case, how could a second season three years later be worth 10-plus hours investing in?

Spoiler: It wasn't, as explained by Vanity Fair.

While "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" only got one season, many fans of the original wished it hadn't happened at all.

"Gilmore Girls" lasted for seven seasons on network TV, though only six were under the stewardship of co-creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. The last season is generally panned by fans, and the Palladinos maintain they've never seen it.

After the show's end in 2007, Sherman-Palladino said she's always known how the series would end, down to the last four words.

So, when Netflix announced they'd be reviving the show in 2016, fans were elated.

But when the four episodes dropped, fans were left disappointed and bewildered due to Rory's apparent turn into an entitled brat who constantly forgot about her boyfriend and believed she deserved every journalism job out there.

They also weren't happy about the lack of development and communication between Luke and Lorelai almost a decade into their relationship — and don't even get us started on those infamous last four words.

Now, there are plenty of fans who wish "Gilmore Girls" had stayed in 2007.

"Insatiable" shouldn't have made it to air, let alone to two seasons.

When the trailer for "Insatiable" dropped in 2018, it became abundantly clear that Netflix had miscalculated.

While the show thought it had achieved a black comedy "Heather"-esque tone, it was more mean than biting, more cringe-worthy than funny, and generally fat-phobic. It was surprising when it got renewed, but even just two seasons was more than enough from this crew.

The lackluster second season proved "Sex/Life" should've been one and done.

Was "Sex/Life" a good show? No, but when it premiered in 2021, it got people talking about what it's like to balance motherhood with your own personal dreams and a healthy sex life.

It's unfortunate, then, that it was promoted as what Business Insider's Tamar Barbash called "a show about a horny, unsatisfied wife."

It wasn't surprising that it got renewed for a second season, but when season two dropped almost two years later to almost zero fanfare, it became clear that this could've been an interesting limited series that had an open-ended finale. 

Its April 2023 cancellation was almost a given.

"Emily in Paris" has been on so long that she's not even in Paris anymore.

"Emily in Paris" dropped on Netflix in October 2020. We were all still stuck inside due to the pandemic, and it was fun to have something to all hate-watch together.

But here we are in 2025, and the cast is gearing up for the release of season five of this preposterous show about Emily (Lily Collins), a marketing savant, apparently, moving to Paris and systematically destroying the lives of those around her.

Now, Paris isn't enough for her, because she moved to Rome at the end of season four. Please, hasn't Italy been through enough?

We can only hope that season five will see Emily end her reign of terror and return to Chicago.

We're never going to be mad about more "Stranger Things," but we are mad it's taken a decade to wrap up.

This is more of a calendar problem than a content problem. When this show started, the kids were real pre-teens. But just four seasons — and a whopping nine years — later, these kids are adults. As in, "Millie Bobby Brown is a wife and mother" adults.

What we mean is: Why did it take nine years to tell a five-season story?

• John Morgan raised his children to value money and self-reliance despite his wealth.
• Morgan once fired his son from a family business to teach responsibility and earn respect.
• He plans to leave his fortune in a trust for charitable causes, emphasizing gratitude and giving.

John Morgan says he tried to raise his kids with the same grit that shaped him when he was young. He is the eldest of five and started working various jobs at a young age to help his financially strapped family.

Today, his legal firm, Morgan & Morgan, is one of the largest personal-injury law operations in the country, and he has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. He attributes his extreme wealth partly to luck.

"I think when people start making money, they think they're a lot smarter than they actually are, and that arrogance is how they lose," he recently told Business Insider's Kevin Reilly. "And so I believe luck has had an incredible amount to do with what happened to me."

See Morgan's full interview below:

That same mindset is why he tried to raise his kids to be more self-aware than spoiled. "These rich people buy their kids great cars, I never did," he said. "I gave them like an 8-year-old Navigator, and they had to work, and they had to pay for their insurance."

Morgan has three sons and one daughter. His sons now work at his law firm, but when they were younger, some of them worked at WonderWorks, Morgan's chain of science-focused entertainment centers. That didn't go over so well for one of them.

Morgan fired his son to teach him responsibility

"I had to fire Dan once," said Morgan, who had heard that his son, Daniel Morgan, was slacking off at work. "I said, 'Hey man, you're fired. And you're not going out until you get a new job,'" Morgan recalled.

Daniel Morgan told BI in a follow-up email that getting fired for showing up late to work at WonderWorks was embarrassing. "But it turned out to be one of the most important lessons of my life," he wrote.

"The golden rule in our house was that you always had to have a job," wrote Daniel, who said he started working for his dad at age 14.

After he was fired, Daniel Morgan ventured outside the family business. He landed a new job at Boston Market, but it didn't last long. About a week later, Daniel quit because they had him washing dishes, and it made him vomit, Morgan said.

"I said, think about that, Dan. They got you doing the worst job in the place. That's what they think of you," Morgan said.

For Morgan, firing his son was about teaching him perspective and that his last name couldn't buy him respect. It had to be earned.

After leaving Boston Market, Dan found a job at Firehouse Subs, where he "excelled," Morgan said.

Daniel Morgan wrote that working in the fast-food industry taught him "the value of humility and hard work (and showing up on time)." He went on to become a lawyer, along with his two brothers.

"When I eventually joined Morgan & Morgan, I started in the call center and had to work my way up, earning every opportunity," wrote Daniel, who is now a managing partner at Morgan & Morgan.

Morgan says his family is his real fortune

For all the wealth and size of his empire, Morgan's family is what he holds most dear. He built homes for his kids at the beach so they could raise their own families side by side.

"I would not understand life without them," Morgan said. "Now I've got all these grandchildren, which is just another huge gift. And three of them live across the street from me."

While he has ensured his kids are well-off, Morgan says he hopes they appreciate how lucky they are and the value of money. Morgan's mentor once told him, which he's passed down to his children:

"The money belongs to God," he said. Whatever luck granted them this wealth and fortune, it's simply that — luck. The money doesn't belong to him or his family — it's simply theirs to do the most good with while they can, he added.

Morgan plans to put all his wealth into a trust that his daughter will manage once he's gone, he said. The trust will be used to fund causes he cares about, which are providing food, water, medicine, shelter, and clothing to those in need.

He hopes his children will also contribute to those causes after he passes. "What we're now doing is we're taking all of our fortune, and we're going to build a permanent foundation to do just those things, and that hopefully will go on way after my death. So that's the game plan."

Daniel Morgan said he's proud of the mission he and his family are building. "My siblings and I are living proof that my dad's hard lessons paid off," he said.

• The U-505 submarine served 12 patrols and sank eight enemy boats before the US Navy captured it.
• The U-boat is now on display at Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
• Visitors can walk through its control room and bunks that held space for its crew of 59 men.

When the German submarine U-505 was captured by US forces in 1944, the mission was top secret.

Now, eight decades later, the vessel — the only intact German submarine that was captured by US forces during World War II and salvaged — is open to the public at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Built on the docks of Hamburg, the 252-foot-long U-boat was commissioned in August 1941, and, after prepping for combat, was ready for its first mission from January 1942.

The submarine served 12 patrols and sank eight enemy ships until, on June 4, 1944, it met a similar fate when it was captured by the US Navy.

After World War II ended, the submarine was taken to Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire, where it was used for target practice and eventually restored, repainted, and transported across the Great Lakes to its permanent home at the museum in Chicago.

I visited the museum in January to tour the U-505. Take a look inside.

The U-505 submarine is open to visitors at Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

General admission to the museum costs $25.95. Veterans and active military service members can submit an online entry form for free admission.

Tickets for the U-505 tour cost an additional $18 for adults and $14 for children, with a $4 discount for active military and veterans.

Thankfully, I booked my tickets online — other visitors who hadn't secured tickets in advance were unable to see the exhibit because it was fully booked.

I started my visit to the exhibit by watching footage and reading newspaper clippings to learn some of the historical context. Immersive video experiences then detailed the events leading to the capture of U-505.

Then, it was time to enter the submarine.

At 252 feet long, the U-505 is nearly as long as a city block. It is also 31 feet and 6 inches tall.

The U-boat — short for unterseeboot or "undersea boat" — is divided into three sections: the stern (rear), the amidships (middle), and the bow (front).

Inside, the floors were crafted from steel, while the top deck was made of pinewood treated with carbolineum, or wood tar, to preserve it and provide black camouflage. This made the sub harder to spot from the air at shallow depths.

Atop the submarine sits the conning tower, used for navigation, protection, and observation.

The conning tower, per the Museum of Science and Industry, is a "small yet heavily armored horizontal hull" that sits atop the submarine above its control room.

It is equipped with three guns, which, when it surfaced, helped protect it from attacks by Allied aircraft.

The 2-centimeter guns were smaller, rapid-fire weapons designed for close-range defense, capable of shooting 240 rounds per minute.

The 3.7-centimeter automatic cannon fired fewer rounds — 50 per minute — but was more destructive per shot, making it more effective against tougher targets, such as low-flying aircraft or smaller ships.

Bullet holes can be seen all over the conning tower.

On the day of its capture, the U-505 found itself surrounded by US forces, encircled at sea and shadowed from above.

Three US destroyer escorts launched a series of shots while fighter planes released rounds from their .50-caliber machine guns.

Under Captain Daniel Gallery's command, only antipersonnel ammunition — designed to incapacitate the crew without causing severe structural damage — was deployed.

This decision ensured the submarine's hull remained largely intact for potential capture.

German crewmembers honored their captains by adopting and painting unofficial emblems on the conning tower.

Many U-boat crews embraced unofficial emblems to honor their captains and foster a sense of unity. Although not officially sanctioned, these symbols were typically painted on the conning tower and became a point of pride for the crew.

The U-505 displayed three emblems during its 400-plus days of operation, one for each of its captains.

The first emblem, a Rampant Lion wielding an axe, paid tribute to Axel Olaf Löwe, whose surname means "lion." The second, a Greek Axe, honored Captain Peter Zschech. The final emblem, still visible today, is the Scallop Shell, chosen to represent its last captain, Harald Lange.

The first stop on my tour was the petty officer's quarters.

It was slightly dark inside, and the lights were dim. The tiny room was packed with four compact bunk beds for mid-ranking men, our tour guide said.

She stood a few feet from us on what seemed like an elevated floor, but was actually the original height between the submarine's floor and ceiling.

She explained that after the submarine arrived at the museum, some adjustments were made for visitor comfort. The floor had been lowered to create more space, and some bunks had been removed to allow visitors to move around more freely than the sailors could.

Still, she said, "It could be worse. You could be one of the enlisted or lowest-ranked men who slept in the forward torpedo room next to active torpedoes."

In the forward torpedo room, bunk beds flanked a torpedo.

For the men who lived in the forward torpedo room, the torpedo would double as a dining table, Wolfgang Schiller, a U-505 crewmember, told the Museum of Science and Industry in an interview in 1999.

"We sat with our bottom on the bunk and ate on this wooden plank that sat on the torpedo," he said.

During my tour, I could only see the forward torpedo room through a gated hatch, but it was enough to get a glimpse of how compact life was for sailors aboard.

The submarine had four 21-inch torpedo tubes in the bow and two in the stern.

The U-505 carried 22 torpedoes on board.

One of its torpedo rooms, carrying four 21-inch torpedoes, was at the front of the ship, and the other, with two, was at the back.

Per museum records, these torpedoes could detect the sound of enemy ships and direct themselves toward their target.

Once the captain gave the command to fire, depending on the position of the enemy ships, one of the six Acoustic T5 torpedoes was fired offensively or defensively.

Next, I walked past a narrow hallway and saw the galley sandwiched between other sleeping quarters.

Originally, sailors moved from one part of the submarine to another by passing through hatches. However, to make it easier for visitors, museum staff removed some of the hatches.

While walking through the hallway, I almost missed the galley because of its tiny size.

Much like a kitchen in a New York City walk-up apartment, the galley in U-505 could only accommodate one person at a time. Cooks had access to two large hot plates and one small one. There was an additional tabletop hotplate for large pots.

There was also an oven the size of a tiny air fryer below the hot plates.

When the U-505 was on patrol, it carried 12 tons of food.

While patrolling, the U-505 could be on the sea for over 100 days.

This meant that food for the ship's 59 crew members had to be carried in advance and distributed across the boat to maintain balance.

Three daily meals were served on U-505, and after each meal, the cooks had to count every pound of food and kitchen supplies consumed and keep a record of where each item was placed.

Per museum records, crewmembers would consume all the fresh food first and then move to canned items once that was over.

Items included fresh and cooked meats such as sausages, preserved fish, and potatoes. The food list also included 917 pounds of fresh lemons, which would likely help fight scurvy, a disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency.

In 1995, 50 years after the U-505 was captured, museum staff found a loaf of canned bread in the submarine.

Bread — both canned and fresh — was a part of the crew's diet, with museum records indicating that 2,058 pounds of preserved breads were carried on board.

Museum staff discovered one such loaf of canned bread in 1995. It is now displayed in a glass casing outside the submarine at the museum.

The crew had to navigate various challenges while underwater, including high temperatures.

Temperatures could soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during warmer months, making life inside the submarine unbearably hot.

With no air conditioning and limited ventilation, many crew members adapted by wearing only their shoes and underwear to stay cool.

With just two bathrooms on the entire submarine — one of which was used for food storage — traditional bathing was impossible. Instead, the crew went without showers while on patrol and relied on alcohol wipes to clean themselves.

In their free time, the crew entertained themselves by listening to records or playing cards.

Entertainment on board was limited, but light classical music and, sometimes, popular hits of the day reverberated throughout the sub, according to the museum.

American forces found 87 records on board upon capture, our tour guide told us.

Another way the crew kept themselves occupied was by playing a card game called Skat, the national card game of Germany.

Next, we stopped by the radio room, the U-boat's main connection with the outside world.

The radio room served as the submarine's nerve center for communication.

This compact space was packed with dials, switches, and wires. There were also several notebooks on display — these were maintained by the crew, who kept detailed records of the boat's activities.

This is also where the German crew received and deciphered daily messages sent from the main command center.

The control room had a dizzying number of switches, wires, and valves, which were used to control the ship's direction.

The midship compartment, or control room, was packed with crucial controls that kept the submarine running, such as the diving controls for adjusting depth, the gyrocompass for navigation, and the air search radar for detecting threats above.

All calculations before firing a torpedo were done with pen and paper.

Firing a torpedo at the right target at the right moment was a methodical process based on complex mathematical calculations.

In the 1940s, the four torpedo tubes in the bow were already floated and ready to fire, our guide said, adding that the crew just had to wait for the captain's command.

Once a torpedo was fired, the crew used a stopwatch to calculate how long it took to hit its target.

"They are so good at math that they know the exact second the weapon would hit its target," said our tour guide, Elizabeth.

The US Navy captured the U-505 on June 4, 1944.

Our tour guide explained that while the U-505 was on the hunt for supply ships in 1944, US Task Group 22.3, commanded by Captain Daniel V. Gallery, was looking for the U-505.

The Task Group included the aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal and a fleet of destroyer escorts: Pillsbury, Pope, Flaherty, Chatelain, and Jenks.

Captain Gallery and his men tracked the submarine's signals across the Atlantic for a few months until they finally pinpointed the sub's location.

Upon detecting the US Navy's presence, the German submarine dove deeper into the ocean.

The crew members were instructed to prepare for a crash dive — the ship had to get underwater and out of sight as quickly as possible, which meant every person on board, even those off-duty, now had an important job.

They would have to sprint to the forward torpedo room, dogpile on one another to throw off the weight on the front of the boat, and get it to submerge in just 37 seconds. For context, a regular dive would take about three minutes.

Once underwater, the crew needed to conserve sound and oxygen.

The sound of something as simple as a dropped tool could travel for miles and give away the cruise's location.

Then, a depth charge hit the submarine, spinning it closer to crash depth.

Depth charges were explosives designed to explode underwater at a predetermined depth.

Once Captain Lange realized that the boat was sinking, he had a tough choice to make: whether to follow orders that told him to let this boat sink, killing everyone on the board. Or to order a resurface and risk the intelligence of the U-505.

Captain Lange decided to save his crew.

Once the sub resurfaced, the crew was out of luck because US forces surrounded them.

The gunfire on deck went on for six and a half minutes.

One bullet struck Captain Lange's leg — with the captain down, the crew began to scramble.

To prevent the U-505's capture, the Germans tried one last trick.

"They tried to sink or scuttle it on their way out," said our tour guide, Elizabeth, which meant that the crew members could either scatter an explosive booby trap called scuttle throughout the sub or open the sea strainer valve, which would flood the sub.

They decided to open the sea strainer.

Our last stop on the tour was the electric motor room, with a pit stop to see the sea strainer valve.

Eventually, the Germans were evacuated from the boat, and the American crew, led by Lieutenant (junior grade) Albert L. David and nine other men boarded the sub.

At first, men from the boarding party started collecting as many intelligence materials as possible. They searched for classified documents, code books, how-to manuals for the U-505 machinery, and anything they could take with them in case the boat sank.

This is when one of the men found what proved to be more important than classified material at the time: the sea lid for the sea strainer.

Once the valve had been closed, the Americans felt in control of the boat and were able to tow it to Bermuda.

At the end of the tour, I learned how the submarine found its way to Chicago.

Fifty-eight of the 59 German crewmembers on board survived — one was killed by gunfire — and were taken as prisoners of war to Camp Ruston in Louisiana, where they remained until the end of the war.

The U-505 was painted black to conceal its true identity and kept in Bermuda for the remainder of the war.

Eventually, the submarine was taken on a publicity tour of the East Coast to fundraise for the ongoing war against Japan. But, once Japan surrendered, the Navy did not have much use for the sub, and they decided to use it for target practice, which would've eventually destroyed the submarine.

But once again, Daniel Gallery, now an admiral, came to save the ship.

Since he was from Chicago, he petitioned the authorities to take possession of the boat and display it at the museum.

The US Navy approved these plans and in 1954, the sub sailed across the Great Lakes and parked on a dry dock at the 57^th Street beach in the summer of 1954.

On September 2, 1954, the submarine was hauled across Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.

Lake Shore Drive, a major roadway along Lake Michigan, was shut down at night so the sub could be safely transported to its final destination: the museum.

Once there, it was declared a war memorial and made a permanent part of the museum's collection.

At first, the submarine was displayed outside the museum.

The submarine remained outside the museum for 50 years before staff realized the Chicago weather was causing it to rust and decay.

So, after years of planning, the sub was moved indoors — to a 35,000-square-foot air-conditioned room.

Exiting the U-505 exhibit, I was amazed by the life crewmembers had lived on board.

At the end of my tour, a child asked our tour guide, "Why was the U-boat never used again?"

The guide shrugged and replied, "Likely because of all the damages and how compact it was, it didn't work for the Americans."

And yet, decades later, here it stands.

Still imposing, still intact, still capturing the imagination of everyone who walks through its steel-clad past.

• President Donald Trump has warned that airspace "above and surrounding" Venezuela should be considered closed.
• It comes amid mounting tensions between Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
• Trump on Thursday said the US would "soon" begin land action against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers.

President Donald Trump on Saturday warned airlines to consider airspace "above and surrounding" Venezuela to be closed.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."

The US has repeatedly threatened military action against Venezuela in recent weeks, as tensions between Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro have mounted over alleged drug trafficking networks in the South American nation.

Speaking to service members on Thursday, Trump praised the military's work tackling suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers at sea, adding that the US would begin land action "very soon."

The Federal Aviation Administration had last week warned carriers of a "potentially hazardous situation" when flying over Venezuela.

The agency said the "worsening security situation" and "heightened military activity" around the country could present risks to aircraft.

Business Insider has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

• "Wicked: For Good" is adapted from the second act of the Broadway musical.
• Main characters from "The Wizard of Oz" appear in the film, but other references are more subtle.
• The list includes familiar musical cues, symbolic costume designs, and visual callbacks.

Jon M. Chu's "Wicked: For Good" soared into theaters with a $226 million opening weekend at the global box office, beating last year's "Wicked" to become the biggest box-office debut ever for a Broadway adaptation.

As a sequel, an adaptation, and a revisionist spin-off of century-old material (Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published in 1900, while its beloved adaptation "The Wizard of Oz" premiered in 1939), the blockbuster features many elements that will feel familiar to viewers.

All the important characters from its predecessor are back in action: Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande), Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Nessarose (Marissa Bode), Boq (Ethan Slater), Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). Additionally, a gingham-clad Dorothy appears in several scenes, as do the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion.

Still, some details and references in the film are more subtle. Continue reading for 11 Easter eggs you may have missed.

Glinda greets the Ozians with a "Popular" reprise.

Shortly after Glinda is reintroduced in "Wicked: For Good," she's shown greeting a crowd of Ozians in Emerald City. As the double doors open, she strides into view singing the memorable "La-la, la-la" refrain from her Act I solo "Popular."

A behind-the-scenes clip shared on social media seems to reveal that it was Grande's idea to revisit the refrain in this scene.

Other familiar melodies are woven throughout the sequel's soundtrack, especially in the newly expanded opening number, "Every Day More Wicked," which repurposes the melody from "No One Mourns the Wicked."

In addition to writing two new songs ("No Place Like Home" and "The Girl in the Bubble"), composer Stephen Schwartz added fresh material to existing songs from the play. "No One Mourns the Wicked" also introduces brief reprises of "The Wizard and I" and "What Is This Feeling?" from Act I.

Fiyero is captain of the Gale Force, a nod to Dorothy's full name in "The Wizard of Oz."

After the time jump between "Wicked" and "Wicked: For Good," Madame Morrible announces that Fiyero has been appointed captain of the Wizard's police force, dubbed the Gale Force.

In Frank L. Baum's book and its Hollywood adaptation, Dorothy's full name is Dorothy Gale.

One of the winged monkeys is wearing Glinda's pink jacket.

In the film's first shot of Madame Morrible, she's addressing a crowd in the Emerald City, flanked by the Wizard's enslaved flying monkeys.

The monkey to her right is wearing a ripped pink jacket. It's a subtle callback to the scene in "Wicked" when the monkeys are commanded to recapture Elphaba and Glinda. In the ensuing scuffle, one of them rips off Glinda's jacket — and apparently keeps it as a cozy souvenir.

The Wizard is using pop-up books to turn the Ozians against Elphaba.

In "Wicked," a flashback to Elphaba's childhood reveals how the Wizard uses pop-up books as a form of kid-friendly propaganda.

Although he has no magical powers, the Wizard has successfully convinced Ozians that he's all-powerful and god-sent, largely due to his knack for imagery and branding. By targeting children with whimsical merchandise, worship is instilled in Ozians from an early age. As a child, Elphaba herself believed wholeheartedly in the Wizard's goodness and power.

In "Wicked: For Good," the Wizard uses a similar propaganda blitz to sell the "Wicked Witch" narrative, and Ozians are shown hawking a pop-up book in the Emerald City.

A young Glinda pretends to conjure a rainbow, perhaps as a nod to Dorothy's iconic ballad.

In a flashback to Glinda's childhood, she tries and fails to perform magic in front of her friends. However, at that very moment, a rainbow appears in the sky, and her friends assume it's Glinda's doing. Instead of setting the record straight, she replies evasively, "You know how I love rainbows."

Of course, rainbow-colored visuals are littered throughout both "Wicked" films, but this moment seems to draw a more explicit connection between Glinda and Dorothy, who performs the iconic ballad "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in "The Wizard of Oz."

Elphaba hides from Fiyero in the woods, recalling a funny line from their first meeting.

When Elphaba and Fiyero first meet in "Wicked," he nearly runs her over with his horse. "I'm so sorry, miss, I didn't see you there," he says. "You must've blended with the foliage."

This cheeky remark about Elphaba's green skin may have actually come in handy. When she hides from Fiyero and the Gale Force in the sequel, she uses foliage and branches in the forest as cover.

Elphaba's magic turns the famous slippers from silver to ruby.

In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," Dorothy's magic shoes are silver, not ruby red as popularized by Judy Garland in the film version.

In both the play and the movie versions of "Wicked," the shoes are silver so as to match the original text. (Plus, MGM, which produced and distributed "The Wizard of Oz," reportedly still owns the copyright for the design of the ruby slippers. "Wicked" and "Wicked: For Good" were produced by Universal.)

However, there's one moment in "Wicked: For Good" when the silver shoes take on a different color. When Elphaba casts a spell to make her sister fly, the jewels briefly turn red and luminous like hot embers; Nessa complains that her newly enchanted shoes are burning her feet.

Nessa's airborne scene is also notably changed in Chu's version. In the Broadway play, Elphaba's magic allows her sister, a lifelong wheelchair user, to walk for the first time.

"The old narrative was outdated," Bode told Go Magazine. "Overall, the shift makes a lot of sense to me, considering 'everyone deserves a chance to fly.'"

"Wonderful" was changed to include Glinda, and the new version reuses dialogue and choreography from the first movie.

Grande's Glinda joins the extended version of "Wonderful," the Wizard's signature song in Act II. The pair teams up to convince Elphaba to abandon her vigilante ways — and they very nearly succeed.

Thanks to her emotional connection to Elphaba, Glinda's efforts are particularly effective. The movie illustrates this by recalling old cues and touchpoints from their journey in Act I, including choreography from the Ozdust Ballroom scene. Glinda even repeats a few of Elphaba's key lines from "Defying Gravity." ("Think of what we could do. Together.")

"I don't believe Elphaba would ever be convinced by the Wizard," Chu said of adding Grande to the scene. "To me, that was reason enough that if we were going to be convinced that Elphaba would make that turn, that had to come from Glinda first and foremost."

Glinda's wedding look was designed to reinforce her reputation in Oz.

Glinda is marketed to Ozians as "Glinda the Good," a reputation meant to contrast Elphaba's as the "Wicked Witch."

As part of this propaganda campaign, the Wizard gifts Glinda a flying vehicle shaped like a bubble. Madame Morrible explains that since Elphaba can fly, it's important for optics that Glinda also be airborne.

This narrative is reflected in Glinda's elaborate costuming, particularly at her wedding to Fiyero.

Paul Tazewell, who won best costume design at the 2025 Oscars for his work on the first "Wicked" film, told Bustle that he incorporated butterflies and birds into Glinda's wedding accessories to emphasize her public image.

"The idea of the butterflies was to capture airborne elements. Butterflies are very delicate and an inspiration of beauty because they come in a variety of colors and qualities, and they also have iridescent versions," Tazewell said. "That reminded me of the swirling iridescence of a bubble and how that relates to Glinda and the gift of the bubble vehicle. It's a propaganda device that Madame Morrible and the Wizard have created to continue to encapsulate her as a figure of good."

"Also, her necklace is a collection of swallows holding jewels," he added. "Again, things that are delicate, beautiful, and airborne."

Madame Morrible's costumes also feature character-specific details.

Madame Morrible is a sorceress who specializes in weather control. When she conjures a cyclone to sweep through Oz, the embroidery on her outfit resembles a lightning strike.

"I was trying to incorporate meteorological images into all of her decorations as we see her evolve into the figurehead that she is in Emerald City," Tazewell told Bustle.

The film's final shot is a reference to the famous Broadway poster.

In the final moments of the film, Elphaba and Glinda are shown in a flashback to their school days. Elphaba is wearing her classic black witch hat, while Glinda is wearing a white hood.

Glinda turns toward Elphaba and whispers in her ear, mimicking the famous illustration on the Broadway poster.

Chu told Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio that it was "always the plan" to have the last shot be an homage to the playbill artwork.

"I was always going to end on the whisper," Chu said. "And do you know how hard it was to force Universal to never use it in any marketing material?"

In fact, Chu was so determined to keep the last shot a surprise for audiences that he kept the footage hidden from the studio.

"That poster is one of the most brilliant posters ever made. You don't know what Glinda's saying, because they never actually do that in the musical," he said. "But it's sort of the key to friendship. That we have these secrets. And the girls got to choose what they are actually saying in the scene. I don't even know what they said."

• Sgt. Major Carlos Ruiz shared his fitness routine for longevity at 50.
• Ruiz balances cardio, resistance training, and recovery to maintain Marine Corps fitness.
• He emphasizes hydration, proper gear, and adapting routines for sustained health and performance.

For every military service chief, there's a senior enlisted advisor, the person responsible for what's often the most human side of command, including things like troop welfare and fitness.

In the Marine Corps, that's Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz — tall, upbeat, and, at 50, still running miles alongside Marines across the globe.

While generals shape strategy and operations, senior enlisted leaders focus on how those decisions impact the troops who execute them. For Ruiz, that means staying fit and setting the example himself.

"A little bit of running, a little bit of gym, and a lot of PT with Marines," he told Business Insider of his routine, using the military's acronym for physical training. That "little bit of running" might be an understatement though. He recently completed the Corps's annual marathon in Washington, DC, over 26 miles.

Here's how the Corps' top enlisted Marine stays in shape.

Resistance

These days, Ruiz's priority isn't busting records in the squat rack or leveling up in the Corps' martial arts program. It's longevity, something Ruiz said he's keen to protect while still keeping up with, and often out-performing, Marines half his age.

Key to longevity is maintaining his natural build, focusing less on heavy weightlifting and more on training that builds strength without risking injury.

No longer trying to bulk up, he balances cardio and resistance work, trading heavy barbell lifts for dumbbells, kettlebells, and machines that protect his joints.

Even at his rank, Ruiz still takes the Marine Corps' two annual fitness tests, which measure both strength and endurance. The first, held in the year's opening half, includes a three-mile run — his fastest time is about 16:30, or a 5:30-per-mile pace — along with pull-ups and a nearly four-minute plank.

The top pull-up scores for men and women are usually just over 20 and 10 dead-hang pull-ups, respectively.

The other annual test, held later in the year, simulates battlefield fitness, with 30-pound "ammo can" presses, an 800-meter sprint, and a timed agility event.

Ruiz's wife, a retired Marine, puts him through his paces to keep his pull-ups and ammo-can lifts on point. As soon as he comes home after a long work day, he owes her a set of either, depending on which fitness test is around the corner.

"She holds me accountable at home because she's a Marine of 22 years," he added.

"When it's over with the Marine Corps, I want to have another career. I'm not looking to retire out of the world," he said, explaining he's not one to sit still at home. "I want to be functional."

Running

Ruiz is a religious runner.

Most days he runs a breezy five miles. On Sundays, when he's home, he goes for a ten-mile run from his home at the Corps' famous 8th and I barracks in Washington, DC, weaving across the National Mall, and over to the Corps' Iwo Jima Memorial. Sometimes he spies Marine groups on the National Mall working out and pops by to say hello.

His warm-ups, a brisk walk and some stretching, are lengthier these days and an important part of his routine that he says helps to get his mind ready.

"It takes me a long time to warm up. I love the process of getting ready for a run, being alone in my head."

Running hasn't always come naturally, he said, and took time for him to develop a deep love for.

Bad initial experiences can lead many to dislike running, Ruiz lamented — many are thrust into the service with little prior running experience and are forced into mass-unit runs with scores of other people wearing the wrong shoes, with no coaching for form or breathing, and poor diets.

It can easily morph into a short survival test for many and end there, he said. It took years for his own love of running to develop. It is now a sacred part of his daily routine.

For those looking to get into running — and who can afford new shoes — Ruiz recommends getting fitted for the right pair to maximize comfort and prevent injuries. Make running enjoyable, he said, and give it time. It might take a few months before you start to appreciate the routine that's become therapeutic for him.

And for anyone in need of maximum Marine Corps motivation, Ruiz recommended his current running playlist of Marine and Army cadence, the songs troops call out for marching ("double time" tempo can equate to that of a leisurely jog).

Recovery

For recovery, Ruiz sticks to the basics — good food, hydration, and rest.

He knows he'll be sluggish on his daily run if he hasn't gotten enough water or electrolytes, or if he's out of balance with his carbohydrate intake. An out-of-whack diet for Ruiz means "it's not going to be a quality and a comfortable run." Instead, he said, it'll be one "where I spend time struggling to get a rhythm, and not relaxing."

Ruiz is not one for trendy fitness bells and whistles except for one area — tracking his physical data like sleep, heart rate, and run times with a Garmin smart watch. It's something special operations units already do, he said, and an effort he hopes the rest of the military can implement one day for better injury prevention. Such steps could boost retention, he said, mitigating medical issues.

"Fitness in this service should not be a hobby. It must be a way of life," he said. "And we as a service have to provide the tools necessary for that Marine to continue to grow and get to the better version of themselves faster, and not by accident, but by design."

Ruiz downs a protein drink after any workout, but stays away from other drinks or powders, like creatine. But especially because of his age, he said he likes to keep an open mind about trying new things when it comes to fitness, like bands for strengthening small but critical muscles that help with overall balance and strength, like hip flexors.

By 50, people are used to doing things a certain way, he said, acknowledging his own previous stubbornness with trying out new approaches to health and fitness. But now, he said, "it is rewarding to figure out a better way" of maintaining his health.

• MrBeast listed three factors that drive his massive YouTube viewership during a deposition last year.
• He called out his high-budget spectacles, originality, and his obsession with quality as key.
• MrBeast employs around 300 people in his Greenville, NC headquarters to pull off his video stunts.

What is MrBeast's secret to YouTube popularity?

During a court deposition last November, YouTube's top creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, boiled his videos' success to three main factors:

• High-budget spectacles
• Originality
• Obsession over content quality

At a high level, the creator's dominance is rooted in the work of hundreds of creative staffers who help dream up video ideas, build elaborate sets, and ruthlessly optimize to YouTube's recommendation algorithm.

Let's dive into the three key elements of his content strategy, starting with the MrBeast spectacle:

There's no denying that MrBeast is YouTube's king of stunts.

"I buried myself alive for seven days. No one else does that kind of stuff," Donaldson said during the deposition.

Beyond entombing himself, MrBeast has also sent a train barreling into a giant pit and raced a car against a cheetah, among other spectacles.

The creator employs around 300 staffers in his Greenville, North Carolina headquarters — and roughly 450 in total — to help him pull off his wild ideas. He recently hired ex-NBCUniversal executive Corie Henson to run his studio division and expand the company's content slate. The MrBeast team will soon release the second season of its Amazon Prime Video show, "Beast Games," and recently released a separate animated series on YouTube.

While pulling off stunts has become a genre on YouTube, coming up with original ideas that feel unique to MrBeast is also core to the company's strategy.

"We usually have pretty original ideas," Donaldson said during his deposition. "People are like, 'Oh, this is cool, original, far-out content,' and they gravitate towards it."

While many YouTubers end up imitating each other's video ideas, MrBeast's edge stems from making his audience of over 450 million subscribers believe they're always getting something unique. Donaldson is often trying to break a record, like building the largest reality-TV competition set.

"I feel like in this day and age, so many content creators are trying to be him," a former MrBeast staffer told Business Insider earlier this year. "But he will always be MrBeast. He has access to things that no one else does."

Lastly, MrBeast is obsessed with content quality (as determined by his own taste). Former MrBeast creatives told Business Insider that he will sometimes throw out an already filmed video if it doesn't feel up to his standards.

"I'm just really obsessed with the quality of my videos and do everything in my power to make it as good as possible," Donaldson said during his deposition. "It's kind of what I obsessed over most of my life. People can tell the effort we put into them."

• Newport, Rhode Island, is a popular summer destination, but it's even better during the winter.
• It's less crowded in the colder months, and the historic mansions are decked out for the holidays.
• I recommend taking a nighttime stroll near Bowen's Wharf and visiting a seasonal hot chocolate bar.

When the narrow cobblestone streets begin to empty, the usually omnipresent sailboats are tucked away in storage, and the Del's Lemonade trucks are closed for the season, it's clear that winter has arrived in Newport, Rhode Island.

I'm a Rhode Island local who spends time in this coastal city year-round. Tourists usually flock to Newport during summer, and I get it: The city's Gilded Age buildings, sweeping coastal views, and quaint local businesses make it a great beachy getaway.

That said, I believe there's something enchanting about The City by the Sea in the winter, when the mansions are decked out in holiday decor and the crowds have thinned.

Newport fully embraces the magic of the holiday season

One day, pumpkins and gourds line doorsteps, but seemingly as soon as October ends, white lights glisten on trees and Christmas ornaments sparkle along Bowen's Wharf.

Early in December, there's an annual tree lighting at the wharf, complete with carolers, hot chocolate, and warm cinnamon-sugar doughnuts.

There's a lot to explore around Bowen's Wharf, too. The Kiel James Patrick flagship store always decks the halls and becomes a picture-perfect backdrop for Christmas photos.

Nearby is Thames Street, where I love peeking in shop windows to find the best nautical gifts for the holidays.

A must-stop is the store A Christmas to Remember, where you can buy a hand-personalized ornament that looks like just about any object under the sun, from a macaron to a seashell.

For those interested in spending a snowy weekend on the coast, I'd recommend the Almondy Inn, a Victorian bed and breakfast with gorgeous harbor views, just steps away from downtown.

Drive along Bellevue Avenue to see some cheerful, historic glamour

Bellevue Avenue is nothing short of timeless in its beauty, lined with Gilded Age homes. Starting with Salve Regina University's Ochre Court, you can admire rows of beech trees glowing with twinkling lights, and see the historic, châteauesque mansion adorned with wreaths.

Down the street, The Breakers — one of Newport's famous Gilded Age mansions, and a former Vanderbilt residence — hosts its annual holiday light display, illuminating the lawn in festive shades of red and green.

Inside, every room dazzles with holiday charm. You'll find a 15-foot poinsettia tree in the Great Hall, and gorgeous, decorated trees throughout the building.

Winter is the peak time to visit Newport's best restaurants

Without the summer crowds, Newport's best-known spots are even better.

I love seeing the long summer lines at the Nitro Bar, but I prefer being able to walk right in during the winter for pesto, tomato, and mozzarella toast with an iced chai.

For a romantic winter date night, the Clarke Cooke House is perfect for an espresso martini by the fireplace. The Black Pearl also makes an unforgettable cup of warm clam chowder.

Finally, there's nothing better than sharing chicken nachos at Diego's with friends while sipping on white peach sangria.

Although this spot is one I'd like to gatekeep, Mamma Luisa Ristorante Italiano feels like stepping back into my grandmother's Italian home. White tablecloths drape the tables, photos and art line the walls, and the hospitality is impeccable.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the hot-chocolate bar at The Chanler at Cliff Walk, a historic hotel built in the 19th century. Open seasonally through the end of December, there's no better place to grab a cozy cup of cocoa.

With Gilded Age charm, delicious food, and sparkly, holiday vibes, what would be a dark, cold day anywhere else is typically a festive one in Newport.

It was hard to tell who'd known each other for years and who'd just met that morning — the laughter started even before the food arrived.

It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon in September, and I was joining a group of 50 retirees for lunch in Malaysia. They'd been brought together by an expat community that began with one man's efforts to connect people across the country.

The lively crowd of 60-somethings came from all corners of the globe, including Australia, the US, and the UK, and they had each, in their own way, started over here, in the coastal state of Penang.

I had flown up to Penang from Singapore, and I was easily the youngest person there. They greeted me with a few curious looks; someone joked that he wanted to know who my surgeon was.

Most of the retirees I spoke to said they liked that the Malaysian state offered the comforts and conveniences of a major city, but without the hustle and bustle of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Adrian Spencer, 69, had spent his manufacturing career living and working across five continents, including China and the US. Earlier this year, when it was time to retire, he and his wife knew they wanted to settle down in Penang.

The state comprises both Penang Island and a stretch of mainland Malaysia known as Seberang Perai, connected by two bridges. As of July, it's home to about 1.8 million people, including around 179,900 foreigners.

Nearly everyone I met, including Spencer, said they were on the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa program, which was first introduced by the government in 2002 to attract foreigners.

It's not technically a retirement visa, as it's open to anyone above the age of 25. The conditions for the program have been tightened over the years, most recently in 2024. Depending on the category of visa, applicants are required to have a minimum bank deposit of between $150,000 and $1 million and also purchase property in Malaysia.

As of December 2024, there were 58,468 active MM2H pass holders in the country.

Along with its thriving food scene and year-round warm weather, Penang's affordability is a major draw. According to listings on real estate site PropertyGuru, studio apartments can be rented for as little as 1,450 Malaysian ringgit, or about $350, a month. Over the past 12 months, homes in Penang sold for a median price of 272,800 ringgit, or about $65,750.

Life here runs smoothly. There's an international airport, a network of local bus services, and English is spoken almost everywhere. Penang also has a robust healthcare system, including several major hospitals and private centers that specialize in oncology and cardiac care.

It's one of the things that Ward Chartier, 70, thought about when looking for a place to settle. As a cancer survivor, he told me, he wanted an opportunity to volunteer with cancer patients.

He's not alone. Ask enough retirees what they're looking for, and the answers all start to sound the same: comfort, companionship, and a sense of purpose.

Indeed, for many retirees here, Penang's charm begins at breakfast and never really ends. From all around the world, they've made this place home — and they're not looking back.

Do you have a story to share about retiring in Asia? Contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.