Our condolences to mountain climbers but Everest can officially cark it: the Emirates A380’s new onboard lounge is now the coolest place to reside in the stratosphere.

The UAE company’s flagship Airbus was hardly due for a makeover, having received a multi million dollar interior upgrade only last year, but you certainly won’t hear us complaining. And with Business Class tickets going from around $8000 (First Class from $11,000) you’d expect to be sipping your champers in the latest-in-luxury.

Highlights of the lounge include:

• Trademark horseshoe shaped bar
• More seating space (along the windows on each side)
• Design reminiscent of a private yacht cabin
• Each seating area has a table and window view
• Can accommodate up to 26 passengers comfortably
• Light champagne colour scheme, accompanied by a glossy dark wood trim
• Soundproof curtains
• Mood lighting
• 55 inch LCD screen
• Gourmet canapés and hand-picked wines
• Limited edition spirits and signature cocktails

For those of you who love to live vicariously, feast your eyeballs on this new video Emirates released yesterday, for a private, 360-view of what you’re missing. For those who have the money (or budgeting skills) to be capricious, the onboard lounge is open to both business and first class customers, so snagging a business class flight aboard an A380 is the best value way to experience the toe wriggling pleasure that is a delectable whisky at 40,000 feet.

RELATED: Etihad’s $27,000 Travel Class – Take A Virtual Tour

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Rockwell. Sam Rockwell. Never heard of him? Neither had we until today.Dig a little deeper though and you’ll find that Rockwell is quite the distinguished (and seasoned) actor of films ranging from Iron Man 2 through to Frost/Nixon. A slew of awards including a Golden Globe resides in his lofty CV but it’s his penchant for style that we want to chat about today.The 49-year-old American actor recently stepped out for a press conference in New York City and his dress attire could only be described as casual cool.A black floral printed shirt with contrasting motifs, charcoal checked trousers, a pair of thick framed glasses and tappers from the 1950s era was all Rockwell needed to mark the arrival of his style statement.And for that, we salute you Mr. Rockwell. Rock on.RELATED: Michael B. Jordan Owns The Classic Polo Shirt At The Cannes Film Festival 

The post Sam Rockwell Is The Unlikely Style Icon You Need To Keep An Eye On appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

When you look at the impossibly tanned bodies of the super-humans that make a career out of nonchalantly cheating death, getting into their mindset might seem a bit of a stretch. And guess what: you’d be right. Their physique, however, is 100% attainable.That’s not to say it’s easy, as Laird Hamilton, renowned surfer and big-wave pioneer, reminded us. But if you train like him, you’ve at least got a chance. 54 years old and still testing himself in both the worlds of business and action sport, Laird is a testament to what is possible given the right mindset.That in mind, we did our best to suppress our inner fanboys and had a chat with him in San Francisco with Cartier earlier this year. We talked about his training routine, his diet and his business, as well as parenting and samurai swords. What remained evident throughout is his love for the ocean, his disdain for limits, and his canny knack of getting the best of both worlds—or at least the very best of this world (he spends winter in Hawaii and summer in California), and an insatiable appetite for self improvement.Although we had assumed he must be going to California to chill, what with there being “no waves” (by his standards) in summer in Hawaii, Laird told us he actually trains harder than ever in the off-season. “You can be more disciplined,” he said, “Because you’re not going to need that energy for the ocean as much, there’s not as much going on.”

A post shared by Laird Hamilton (@lairdhamiltonsurf) on May 14, 2018 at 8:51am PDT

“And what does the training look like?”, we asked. “Depends on where I’m at physically. If I need to lift it will be more weight; if I’m tight I’ll stretch, I have a pretty holistic approach to training. There’s a certain amount of breath-work, which has to do with cardio stuff and hypoxia training and then there’s thermo regulating, which is heat and ice.”

“I’m always implementing a certain amount of heat and ice.”

“I have some pool training routines,” he told us, “And a thing called XPT life, and that is a training kind of health and wellness seminar that we bring people through in the summertime that we do for a three day experience. We take 25 people and we run them through a dietary and philosophical approach to health and wellness, and then a bunch of different modalities: whether it’s breath-work, mobility, lifting or pool training.”

“The pool training is my most unique because we made it up—we developed it and it’s a combination of weight training and swimming together.”

Everyone from navy seals to professional athletes, jiu jitsu fighters and international rugby players have made use of this program. But the question remains: what does it offer the average guy? “Well,” he is quick to point out, “The amount of work you can implement with no negative impact—that’s the point of difference.”

“We can push the system excessively hard without breaking it.”

“If you lifted that amount of weight outside the pool and did that kind of reps you’d be broken. So (this training program) helps you minimise injury, increase cardio capacity, then make you a lot cleaner—a better swimmer—in the water.”

#santabarbara @gabbyreece and I are on our way. Get ready @xptlife. Making moves. : @kennacolbs

A post shared by Laird Hamilton (@lairdhamiltonsurf) on Oct 17, 2017 at 9:30pm PDT

If you are coming back fro an injury, you’re not alone: “I’ve got a fake hip, I’ve done my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), I broke my ankle 9 times… I have a bunch of stuff that I have inflammation in, but in a way my training is way more sophisticated, which makes up for the fact that I’m not 20 years old anymore.”In order to thwart these old recurring injuries, and prevent new ones, Laird pays close attention to his diet and lifestyle training, which are specifically designed to implement recovery. “Everything is focussed on supporting the system instead of breaking it down. So I’m not just hammering it and going out and drinking all night, coming in and training all day—and just grinding on the thing. I’m giving it a little bit more respect by nurturing it a little more.”How can the average 9-5 human implement this? By “Making sure you get your sleep, eating good food, reducing things that create inflammation, taking things that help with inflammation, and then breath-work and stretching and just more variety and maybe less try to stay away from high volumes of super repetitive motion.”“I used to be super into cycling,” he reveals, “But I kind of geared it back a little because the posture was bad; there’s certain things that if you keep doing them they are going to create something that’s going to stop you.”

A post shared by Laird Hamilton (@lairdhamiltonsurf) on Dec 2, 2017 at 12:09pm PST

And what’s up with hydrofoiling? What happened to the humble surfboard? According to Laird, “I’m so focussed on hydrofoil surfing that my interest in conventional big wave riding has dissipated quite a bit. Unless I can do it with foils, I’m not interested.”

“I think that foiling is going to go ballistic. The fire is just kindling.”

There are a number of reasons he likes it so much, including, “The speed, the fact that you’re not affected by the surface texture, the fact that you can ride waves that are virtually unrideable on a surfboard—using the waves energy in a way that we’ve never been able to use before—so we can tap into it like what a glider does for flying.

“Foiling opens up a lot of territory in surfing that isn’t being surfed. Not only can you do stuff on waves that you’ve never been able to do, you can make waves that have been un-makeable.”

But does it really work in big waves? “In the back of my mind I’m always looking at it as a tool to ride bigger surf because that’s what I do, that’s what I gravitate towards, but yeah foils are amazing (at any size), as somebody who’s been surfing for almost 50 years, when you feel the sensation and you get to be on one, you feel like a kid again.”

“I see surfers who have surfed for a very long time going crazy. It’s going to explode.”

Laird also has an entrepreneurial side. In recent years he’s released a golf board, apparel, superfood and is currently planning on expanding operations to Australia. If that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, he’s also got three daughters to keep him on his toes. “Girls are tough, especially teenagers, they’re like… I have one graduating from college, one’s a teenager and she’s… (let’s just say)… hormones are tough. It’s like mental jui jitsu.”For Laird, parenting is like making a samurai sword. “If you wanna make a samurai sword you take steel, you heat it up, red hot, you pound it with a hammer and then you stick it in ice. And you just do that over and over and eventually it’s the strongest steel in the world.”

“Your kids—they take you, they heat you up, they beat you with a hammer and then they stick you in ice, and you become the strongest steel in the world. And by the end of it you’re like: I can’t wait until you have kids.”

A post shared by Laird Hamilton (@lairdhamiltonsurf) on Jun 30, 2018 at 10:51am PDT

Fortunately for Laird, he has a lifetime of stress-handling experience to draw from. After surfing big waves, he told us, the come-down from the adrenaline high can be hard to handle. The solution? “Become conscious that it has that effect on your system… nurture yourself a little bit… get good sleep, get massages, help yourself understand because half the solution is identifying the problem.

“The only thing after up is down.”

As for his favourite waves, he talks up the “stretch we had at Jaws” back when there were no crowds, but can’t go past the “magic moment” at Teahupoo, because of what it meant. The Millennium wave he rode in 2000, “Was proof of what I had believed to be true, what I had been implementing that meant we could ride the unrideable, and so that was evidence. That was a monumental one.”

The post Laird Hamilton’s Workout Could Be Your Ticket To A Sculpted Body appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Bible-thumpers claim it’s because they are spiritually inept. Your hairdresser will tell you it’s because all the non-crazy “lookers” are taken. Successful ones say they like the lifestyle. Unsuccessful ones blame it on their looks. But of all the unlikely sources, Reddit has apparently got to the bottom of why men are single.In fact the thread, “Guys, why are you single?”, proved so insightful it was taken seriously by scientists from the University of Nicosia and published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science. Go figure.Although answers like, “Because I suck dick at text communication,” or “I spend all my money on car parts… and I’m happier for it, lol” are hardly the high water mark for scientific research, many of the answers are refreshingly honest:

• The Venn diagram of girls I like and girls that like me looks like Mesut Özil’s eyes.
• Because I’m a 41-year-old with all the qualifications and achievements of a 19-year-old.
• Because i can masturbate.

Although they would sound out of place in a psychology class, others like, “I don’t try. That might just be me in denial, but I legitimately don’t try. I make no efforts to not be single,” definitely fit into Maslow’s hierarchy or Freud’s theses somewhere.

• Being fat and shy surely isn’t helping me out.
• There are plenty of fish in the sea. Unfortunately, I live in the desert.
• I don’t dare speak with people…

And our personal favourite blamed the world of fashion; “Tinder is a shit show filled with single moms wearing a camo hoodie.” Anyway, sartorial questions aside, why is it that 34.5% of the adult population “identify as single and have never cohabited or married” (Evolutionary Psychological Science)?

Great thing about being single in your late-30’s is knowing for sure that you’re the problem.

— Solomon Georgio (@solomongeorgio) August 11, 2018

According to professor Menelaos Apostolou, Reddit shows men stay single for three main reasons: they suck at flirting, they believe a relationship will compromise their life goals, or they are handicapped by genetic/environmental circumstances (“I go to an engineering school”).

“The mismatch between ancestral and modern conditions has resulted in several individuals lacking the adaptations necessary for attracting and retaining mates, individuals can increase their fitness by opting out of relationships, and individuals have constraints that prevent them from attracting a mate.”

In his paper, “13,429 responses from a recent Reddit thread were analyzed, and 6794 responses were coded and classified in 43 categories. The conclusions are as follows:

Top 10 Reasons Men Are Single (According To Them)

1. Poor looks2. Low self-esteem/confidence3. Low effort4. Not interested in relationships5. Poor flirting skills6. Introverted7. Recently broken up8. Bad experiences from previous relationships9. No women available10. OverweightOne surprising outlier, “fear of commitment,” came in at no. 39, suggesting that the fuccboi bachelor stereotype may not be all it’s cracked up to be. If this isn’t you, howevs, and you’re looking for inspiration to make your next move, check out the following guide…RELATED: How To Successfully Ask Out The Girl Of Your Dreams

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Guilty non-pleasure, ingrained habit, that-thing-you-have-to-do-to-keep-your-job—whatever you call the sense of dread responsibility that comes over you when you decide to open that ever increasing pile of correspondence, it’s probably even worse for you than you thought.

Sure: you’re well aware it’s a pain, but what you probably didn’t know, which has just been discovered by a team of scientists in Virginia, is that even if you resist the perverse urge to open your work email at 3pm on a Saturday, the mere thought that you should could harm your mental health—and compromise the well being of your family.

William Becker, the author of the study, “Killing me softly: electronic communications monitoring and employee and significant-other well-being,” demonstrated this by researching the effect the expectation of being expected to check your work email out of hours has on volunteers and their family’s anxiety levels.

“The competing demands of work and nonwork lives present a dilemma for employees… which triggers feelings of anxiety and endangers work and personal lives,” he said.

What he found was surprising. Although previous studies have proven working extra hours has a negative impact on family life, this study showed that the mere expectation that employees would be “on call” (with regard to email) significantly affected their mental health and family life—even if they were never actually emailed during “nonwork” time.

When you send that last work email on a Friday… pic.twitter.com/ocrYliLGsu

— brobible.com (@BroBible) August 10, 2018

Unlike work-related demands that deplete employee resources, physical and psychological, by requiring time away from home (e.g. business trips), “the insidious impact of ‘always on’ organizational culture is often unaccounted for or disguised as a benefit—increased convenience, for example, or higher autonomy and control over work-life boundaries,” Becker said.

“Our research exposes the reality: ‘flexible work boundaries’ often turn into ‘work without boundaries,’ compromising an employee’s and their family’s health and well-being.”

Seeing as these negative health outcomes are (in the long run) costly to employers too, Becker recommended companies, where possible, reduce expectations to monitor electronic communication outside of work.

As reported by Science Daily, “When that is not an option, the solution may be to establish boundaries on when electronic communication is acceptable during off-hours by setting up off-hour email windows or schedules when employees are available to respond.”

Another key issue, Becker said, was that organisational expectations should be communicated upfront.

“If the nature of a job requires email availability, such expectations should be stated formally as a part of job responsibilities.”

The study suggested that knowing these expectations in advance may reduce anxiety in employees and increase understanding from their family members. He also suggested people struggling with these issues explore mindfulness and meditation—skills which teach you to relax, and focus only on what you can control.

This area of study will only become more important as, “Employees today must navigate more complex boundaries between work and family than ever before,” (Academy of Management). In the meantime, here’s a state of mind we should all aspire to…

I hate how after a vacation I can’t remember my work email password or why I’m doing this with my life.

— Johnny Acronyc (@johnnyacronyc) August 7, 2018

RELATED: Cool Home Office Ideas That Will Make You Love Work 

The post Opening Your Emails After Hours Could Be Slowly Killing You, Study Finds appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Watchmakers who want to establish themselves in the adventure category usually take one of two routes.

Hit up an influencer in activewear for some redundant hashtags, or send their latest smart watch hurtling into a pile of jagged rocks with a mountain biker attached. This particular mountain biker.

Uncovering A Hidden Message

Long before this sweet marriage between my face, the gravel, blood and profanity, there was Montblanc – a purveyor of luxury goods with genuine roots seeped in the spirit of exploration.

Take their unique logo for example. Most wouldn’t know that Montblanc’s signature six-pointed white snowcap logo is actually a top view of Mont Blanc mountain, the title-holder for the highest mountain in the European Alps.

This symbol along with the recurring ‘4810’ number on Montblanc’s creations is an identity which represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship backed by an ambition to hit new heights of innovation. It’s also a sneaky nod to the mountain’s 4,810 metre height.

Whilst we don’t have a cruisey five kilometre mountain to climb here in Australia, we do have helicopters and a secret resort which sits 1,100 metres above sea level. Close enough.

Our little excursion into the Queensland wilderness provided us with the perfect opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Montblanc’s latest timepieces. But before we get to that…

Luxury Amongst The Clouds

Spicers Peak Lodge sounds like a nice spot where amateur campers go to roast pine cones and get attacked by bears. It is not. They don’t do pine cones here and the bears are dressed as majestic cows grazing away their best days against the backdrop of a World Heritage Listed national park.

With our immediate concerns foiled, Montblanc choppered a small group of us along with their latest watch collection to the secluded location far from the pressures of civilisation (and any viable source of cigarettes, apparently).

This was an adventure to showcase a name that’s been driven by curiosity and innovation for 112 years. The connection between Montblanc and Spicers Peak Lodge? A synergy of luxury, attention to detail, innovation and new heights between the two names.

Needless to say the accommodation provided a level of service that would rival most metropolitan luxury boutique hotels – no small feat considering the staff need to reside on site just to keep the place running. What that means for you and your guests is relaxation, exploration, hiking, mountain biking, fine dining, whisky tasting and personal services like massages – should you require it.

It’s one of the least likely locations you’d find this level of service but if you can find a vending machine on a secluded mountain then this shouldn’t surprise you.

The natural landscape of Spicers Peak Lodge made for a unique backdrop to take in the vintage timepieces from the German luxury name.

Montblanc Summit: The Unbreakable Smart Watch

To say that we took this watch for a spin is an understatement – it was more of a violent collision course. With Montblanc’s first ever smart watch wrapped around my wrist for a proper mountain biking session, it was quickly subjected to all sorts of conditions a mechanical watch would crumble under.

Cold weather, insane shock, dirt, water, perspiration. It took it all in, happily chimed along and told the time with an easy tap of its vibrant 1.39-inch AMOLED screen. Legibility wasn’t an issue at all throughout the day and we barely noticed the weight on the wrist regardless of its 46mm case size.

And then we gave the Montblanc Summit its biggest test run. Little note to novice mountain bikers: When traversing down a steep hill at speed littered with gravel and protruding boulders twice the size of your head, don’t confuse your rear brakes with your fronts. Left clutch – front. Right clutch – rear.

This 90s BMX kid chose incorrectly and found himself hurtling over the handlebars towards the terrain after sticking a gnarly jump. The compression pants were destroyed, the knees were bloody, the face was bloody, the lip slightly busted.

“Am I bleeding?” was the first words I uttered to our guide. His reply was “Oh…um, drink this, spit it out.”

Comforting guy he was. We continued to complete our trek with the watch astonishingly unscathed and in full working order. It was a minor excursion which showcased Montblanc’s ability to not just craft fine luxury products, but also modern tools designed to take on your greatest (mis) adventures.

At its core, the Summit runs on Android Wear 2.0 custom built for smart watches. This allows for a host of features like a world timer with 24 time zones, built-in heart rate monitor, a running tracking app and nifty travel problem solvers like Google Assistant, Foursquare, Uber and a voice-activated translator. It also plays your tunes via Bluetooth connectivity should you need to drown out the world.

On the aesthetic front the Summit evokes classic good looks thanks to a design DNA inherited from Montblanc’s 1858 collection. This can be seen in a curved sapphire crystal which makes its way onto a smart watch for the first time ever. It’s by no means delicate though. This watch is housed in a robust stainless steel and titanium case which is one of the defining reasons why its face held up better than ours.

The demand for personalisation is also met with Montblanc offering four different cases and eight different straps alongside plenty of watch face options to create over 300 style combinations for picky wearers.

Not a bad proposition for a luxury vintage watchmaker looking to conquer new heights in a digital world.

FIND OUT MORE 

The post We Drew Blood To Prove The Strength Of Montblanc's New Smart Watch appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Quite simply, obsession creates rapid progress. We all speak of finding a balance in our many life endeavours. But in my experience, a balanced approach brings more slow and steady results, and in today’s world slow and steady just doesn’t cut it.

In fact, throughout my whole life, I have had a tendency to approach things with pure obsession and passion, but also put in methods to prevent burn out too soon. To me, this is my balance.

Maximum Pain Brings Maximum Gain

Instead of going through life at a constant steady climb like jogging up a hill, I prefer to switch between a flat out sprinting and a steady walk. Think about when you go for a run, that slow jog is so boring! It’s not too fast, not to slow. It’s a moderate challenge, without exerting much pain at all. Sprinting is what requires maximal effort. It’s a measure of power, strength, skill, and endurance.

There is always a lot of pain involved. It’s the fastest path between point 1 and 2, and you tend to have NO distractions. You have a clear vision, tunnel vision. You can’t possibly be thinking of anything else. This is when you’re focused on only the task at hand, this is execution time.

Walking is at the most opposite end of the scale. You are purposefully taking it easy, recover and relaxation time, time to look back on the sprint phase and re-zero your target for the next task. Here my mind is free to explore, observe and wonder. This is my time for brainstorming and reflection. For me, this is a holiday, a day at the beach, time with my family, a ride on the Harley.

The word ‘obsession’ often comes with a bad stigma to some, but for me it’s how I live my life. Do you know the actual definition of obsession? Let’s take a look.

RELATED: The Truth About Using Peptides & How They Impact Health

Obsession Defined

There are three key definitions for obsession:

• An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.
• A state of which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently especially in a way that is with a huge amount of passion.
• An activity that someone is very interested in or spends a lot of time doing.

You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t think that description sounds too bad, to be honest. It gets me excited and hungry for my next project. The value of obsession comes down to what that person is obsessed with.

My obsessions are what drive me to be successful, living a healthy progressive lifestyle is a priority for me. Stop looking at obsession in the wrong light and open your eyes to the fact that it’s only as good or as bad as the things you are obsessed with.

Obsession Comes From Simple Goals

I remember my first obsession; Playing FIFA (soccer) on my PlayStation. Controlling how quick those players could make decisions and play the ball with pinpoint accuracy. Seeing the play on screen before it happened. I wanted to be able to think that fast in real life, I wanted to be able to react and play that sharp. I was obsessed with being as good as a virtual reality soccer player. So I did…

I would spend every spare minute of my time in the backyard kicking and playing with the soccer ball. Hitting it against the wall as hard as I could and reacting to the bounce, to improve my reflexes and touch. I would conduct sprints up my driveway to increase my speed and power, sometimes dragging a rubbish bin or two to add more weight. And I would continue to study the game both on the PlayStation and Fox Sports, every last detail of the player’s moves. I would be the captain of every team I played for (and I did).

I was absolutely obsessed with this for a period of time until I felt I had reached my peak and built a solid foundation of knowledge. Then it was time to look back and reflect and choose my next task; this is pretty much how I have approached everything I have ever been interested in. 

When I am at this stage I won’t limit how many hours a day I commit to the tasks needed to progress and learn, which means I learn fast and progress quickly. When you’re obsessed you can go from a beginner to advanced in a very short space of time on the task at hand.

My biggest take away from here is when you immerse yourself in something, you will progress fast and succeed quickly, don’t hold yourself back or let anyone else hold you back. Chase your dreams no matter how crazy they may seem, yes this could take focus away from other areas of your life but it’s OK, you can make these up later.

Stay dedicated to your passion in Life.

Ready To Finally Build That Ripped Body?

Here’s how to build the ultimate Special Forces body based on a 7 step program devised by Scott Evennett.

Scott Evennett is a health, fitness and mindset expert who has served in the Australian Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) as an Australian Commando

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Some people have bad days and others are having a day like this unlucky bastard who screwed with the wrong woman. This Mercedes-Benz S63 ‘was’ worth a cool $400,000, however today it was trashed by a jilted lover with a spray can and baseball bat in Adelaide’s CBD.

The angry woman smashed up the car with the bat after bombing the car with the words “cheater”, “slut” and “man whore”. Angry much? Witnesses said the young woman gave zero f*cks as she trashed her ‘ex’ partners luxury Mercedes-Benz. You go, girlfriend.

It’s safe to assume the police will have no problem finding her… expect vandalism charges to be laid. As for the bloke, he’ll always be a low dog. There’s no cure for that, mate.

According to The Advertiser, it is believed the vehicle was only purchased last week. Ouch!

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Have you ever wondered what 16 days, 5,500 hours and 1,100kg of paint looks like condensed into 57 seconds? Plus an Airbus A380 in need of a 3000 square metre touch up?

Today is your lucky day.

Although their fleet of A380’s are soon to be refurbished, “As part of a major cabin upgrade…Offering more space and refreshed interiors to enjoy onboard,” (Qantas), that’s not all that’s getting a facelift.

The Australian flagship carrier recently released the following video to satisfy your curiosity, showing the process by which Qantas jet exteriors remain bright and shiny.

RELATED: Being A Wine Enthusiast Can Now Get You An Upgrade

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