• Republicans want Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser to testify in a committee hearing scheduled for Monday.
• Kavanaugh's accuser, Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, has not responded to committee officials seeking her testimony.
• Republicans on the fence about supporting Kavanaugh say they would be disappointed if Ford does not testify and fully expect the committee to move on in that case.

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are swiftly organizing a hearing for lawmakers to hear testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her when they were both teenagers.

But while Ford has yet to accept the invite and Democrats are advocating for a completed FBI investigation before any hearing takes place, Republicans on the fence about Kavanaugh are already hinting that a no-show means the process will have to go on as planned and unlikely to nudge them toward voting against his confirmation.

When Ford went public with her allegation that Kavanaugh held her down and groped during a high school party in the early 1980s, which had been previously kept secret in a letter only viewed by a few Democratic lawmakers, a handful of Republicans requested delaying any votes on his confirmation. They demanded to hear from both sides in an under-oath setting.

After hours debating amongst themselves, top Republican brass decided to host another hearing slated for Monday. But Senate Democrats are not complying with Republicans wanting to conduct follow-up calls with the parties involved in the burgeoning scandal. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, has demanded that the FBI conclude their own investigation into the allegations, despite the fact that appears to not be happening.

To make things more complicated, Ford and her attorney have not responded to inquiries from Republicans on the committee. That is where things get into a bind for Democrats who might have been looking to court GOP senators on the fence about supporting Kavanaugh.

"I would hope that if someone is given the opportunity to voice a concern that they have that they would do so," Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker told reporters on Tuesday. "So that would be quite something if she decided she did not want to testify and I would assume the committee would then move on as they should."

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who like Corker is retiring at the end of the year, told CNN he would back Republicans moving forward with the confirmation if Ford does not talk to the committee in an official capacity.

And both Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed concern that Ford might not show. Murkowski said it would be a "a very interesting and unfortunate turn of events."

Trump says Kavanaugh is eager to tell his side of the story

Democrats have felt a lot more confident in recent days that Kavanaugh's nomination could be toast, but that newfound optimism might evaporate if Ford decides not to attend the hearing.

Kavanaugh, on the other hand, has been adamant about pleading his case, according to President Donald Trump.

"We will delay the process until it's finished out. I guess we’ve invited everybody," Trump said during a joint press conference with the President of Poland on Tuesday. "I know — I can tell you this — that Judge Kavanaugh is anxious to do it. I don’t know about the other party, but Judge Kavanaugh is very anxious to do it."

Trump also said that he has not spoken to Kavanaugh since the allegations surfaced.

While the GOP's chances of confirming Kavanaugh once appeared to be fading, they might gain new ground. And unlike past cases where prominent figures have been under fire for sexual misconduct allegations, like in the case of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, many Republicans are not jumping ship.

The party is overwhelmingly standing by Kavanaugh.

SEE ALSO: Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation chances are starting to unravel

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• Amazon is considering offering banking services to customers, according to published reports.
• Many consumers would be interested in a free checking account from the company, Bain found in a new survey.
• Although interest is highest among Amazon Prime subscribers, even customers who don't shop at Amazon would be interested in such an account, the consulting company found.
• Amazon's potential in financial services could be particularly threatening to traditional banks, because consumers are far more loyal to the e-commerce giant, Bain found.

Amazon is likely to find some ready customers if it follows through with its reported plans to launch a banking service.

And that could be bad news for traditional retail banks.

Significant portions of consumers — including nearly two-thirds of Amazon Prime subscribers — say they would sign up for a free checking account from the e-tail giant, consulting firm Bain & Co. said in a new report. Meanwhile, consumers expressed much more loyalty to Amazon than to national or even regional banks, Bain reported.

"Our survey suggests that Amazon can count on significant demand for basic banking services," Bain partners Gerard du Toit and Aaron Cheris said in the report. They continued: "The threat from Amazon [to traditional banks] is real and imminent."

The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Amazon was in talks with JP Morgan Chase to partner on a banking account that the e-tailer would offer to its customers. The report followed months of speculation that the company had its eye on entering the financial industry. Amazon has yet to officially unveil any banking services, but it's widely expected to do so.

Consumers are interested in banking with Amazon

Consumers are likely to be receptive if it does. Some 65% of Amazon Prime subscribers would sign up for a free account from the company if it came with 2% cash back on their purchases from the company, Bain found in its new survey.

But even many non-Prime members are interested. Some 43% of Amazon customers who aren't subscribers said they would sign up for that kind of free account from the company, as did 37% of consumers who aren't Amazon customers at all.

Perhaps more ominously for traditional banks, younger consumers were more interested in a banking account from Amazon than older ones. More than 60% of consumers aged 18 to 34 said they would sign up for a free banking account from Amazon, according to Bain's report. By contrast, fewer than 40% of consumers 55 and older said they would.

Younger consumers are generally more likely to switch their financial service providers than older customers.

But also troubling for banks, interest in signing up for an Amazon checking account increased with income among consumers of all ages. More affluent consumers tend to be more profitable for banks than less affluent ones.

Amazon customers are loyal; bank customers, not so much

Amazon also an opportunity because it's earned much more customer loyalty than banks have, according to the report, drawing on their comparative Net Promoter scores. Those scores represent the difference between the portion of survey respondents who are highly likely to recommend a company to their friends and family and the portion who likely wouldn't or might even disparage it.

The e-commerce giant had an overall Net Promoter score of 47 in Bain's survey. Regional banks, by contrast, collectively had a score of 31. National banks scored an 18.

Banks had a lower Net Promoter score among those who are interested in signing up for an Amazon bank account than among those who weren't, du Toit and Cheris said in the report.

"For banks, the level of customer loyalty will likely serve as a leading indicator of defection," they said. "The more displeased consumers are with their bank, the more willing they are to consider Amazon."

Should Amazon get into financial services, it will be tapping into an attractive customer base. Amazon customers tend to be wealthier and have higher incomes than the average American, according to Bain's data. The company's customers on the whole account for some 75% of the nation's wealth, while Prime customers alone control some 45%, according to the consulting firm.

SEE ALSO: Amazon's Alexa is getting smarter about sports — it can tell you the odds of the next NFL game and give you an update on your favorite teams

SEE ALSO: Amazon has quietly taken a big and fast-growing stake in a $7 trillion market

SEE ALSO: A gold mine is buried 'under the weeds' at Amazon — here's why it could take the company beyond the $1 trillion mark

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• White House counsel Don McGahn was reportedly blindsided when President Donald Trump tweeted that he would leave the administration when he had no plans to do so, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
• Trump's announcement about McGahn's employment came after a bombshell Times article reported that McGahn had given 30 hours of volunteer witness testimony in Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
• McGahn was witness to a number of crucial events, including Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey.

White House counsel Don McGahn was reportedly taken aback to see President Donald Trump announcing his departure from the White House in a tweet when he had no plans to do so, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The tweets came after a bombshell New York Times article in August reported that McGahn volunteered himself to be a witness in the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign's potential role in it.

McGahn gave over 30 hours in testimony over the course of nine months of interviews, The Times reported.

The subsequent Times follow-up on the Trump legal team seems to indicate that Trump pushed McGahn out of the administration over the Mueller interviews, despite Trump's strong implication that McGahn left on his own accord.

Sources with knowledge of the president's thinking previously told CNN that Trump was "unnerved" by McGahn's testimony, which McGahn reportedly gave to shield himself from incrimination in the Mueller probe.

McGahn was front-and-center for several crucial events Mueller is now examining as possible instances of obstruction of justice. These include Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey, Trump wanting attorney general Jeff Sessions to oversee the Russia probe after recusing himself, and Trump's reported attempts to fire Mueller.

In the wake of news that McGahn had cooperated with Mueller, Trump fired off a series of tweets attacking Mueller and his team of prosecutors as "disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs" who enjoy "ruining people's lives," while simultaneously claiming he approved McGahn's cooperation.

Reacting to Trump's tweets, former federal prosecutor Joyce Alene Vance said, "Any prosecutor knows, you don't waste 30 hours on a witness who's got nothing."

SEE ALSO: White House lawyer who may have incriminated Trump in extensive Mueller interviews is leaving the administration

DON'T MISS: Experts say federal investigators now have 'the perfect storm of cooperators' against Trump

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Aliens have always captured our imaginations. The universe is large and filled with other planets but somehow it seems like humans are alone. So we decided to break down three theories on why we haven’t found any aliens yet. Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: Odds are, somewhere among the estimated 100 billion planets in our galaxy, intelligent alien life has taken hold. So the question is, why haven't we found even a hint of it? While scientists could stick with the classic reasoning that alien life simply doesn't exist, or maybe it just doesn't exist near us, mounting evidence to the contrary has inspired an increasing number of experts to explore new avenues of possibility.

In 2017 a team out of the University of Oxford proposed the Aestivation Hypothesis. It's the idea that most aliens are hibernating, sort of like a bear but for longer. The scientists reason that just about any advanced civilization will eventually merge with machines, forming a fully digitized society that can think, act, and function on levels beyond our imagination. The only problem with that is cooling. Processing systems here on Earth, for example, become 10 times more efficient when they're in an environment that is 10 times colder. So digital aliens would see the logic of hibernating for a few trillion years or so while the universe expands and cools. That way, they can then devote more processing power toward important activities, like conquering the galaxy, instead of simply keeping their systems from overheating.

Another idea proposed in 2016 is what's called the Gaian Bottleneck Hypothesis. It addresses the fact that many young rocky planets no older than one billion years have extremely unstable climates, and eventually grow too hot or too cold for life to exist long-term. Take Venus, Earth, and Mars, for example. Four billion years ago, each planet had the right conditions for life, and may have even harbored simple microorganisms. But as far as we can tell, only life on Earth survives today; the reason, according to the Bottleneck Hypothesis, is that early life on Earth evolved rapidly, releasing large amounts of gases like oxygen into the atmosphere that ultimately helped stabilize the climate. But this behavior is likely the exception than the norm. So perhaps the real reason we haven't found aliens yet is because, well, they're all dead.

But what if life could flourish in a completely different environment, safe from extreme temperature fluctuations and radiation? That's what planetary scientist Alan Stern proposed in 2017, about a year after evidence suggested that Pluto harbors an underground ocean. In fact, worlds like Pluto, Europa, and Enceladus, that have an icy shell above a vast subterranean ocean, may offer a better incubator for life than Earth-like planets, which are more vulnerable to extreme temperature changes and high-energy radiation that strikes the surface. If this turns out to be the case, any intelligent life that may be swimming on these worlds would be shut off from the rest of the universe, potentially unable to communicate.

Whatever the reason may be, we must answer the question of how we can improve our search for what would be the grandest discovery in human history.

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• Theresa May's former deputy policy chief ally Will Tanner warns that the prime minister and the  Conservative party are "sleepwalking into opposition.”
• Tanner, who is now Director of the new Conservative think tank Onward, spoke to Business Insider in an exclusive interview.
• Tanner described the move of ethnic minority voters away from the Conservatives in 2017 as "painful" and suggested that attempts to win over younger voters had been "patronising."

LONDON – Theresa May and the Conservative party are "sleepwalking into opposition,"a former senior aide to prime minister has told Business Insider.

Will Tanner, who was Deputy Head of the Policy Unit at Number 10 until he resigned in the aftermath of May's failed 2017 general election campaign, said the party had failed to stop young and ethnic minority voters from deserting the party.

Tanner, who is now the director of Onward, a new Conservative-aligned think tank, said that May had failed to find a new direction for the party and now risked the "terrifying" prospect of a government led by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

"The energizing zeal of pre-2010 policy or that of the first months under Theresa May [is] not there anymore, and we're sleepwalking towards opposition. The prospect of a hard-left government is terrifying, it would be a tragic end to what could've... could still be a reforming government". 

He added: "After eight or nine months out of politics I was depressed by the lack of zeal and energy. Centre-right thinkers had run out of steam."

The Conservatives have failed to win over BAME voters 

Tanner also bemoaned the party's failure to win over ethnic minority voters with the party overseeing a 6% swing to Labour in the general election.

With BAME voters also turning out in greater numbers, some analysts believe it cost the Conservatives even more than previously, with the Telegraph reporting it could be the reason May failed to secure a majority.

Tanner labelled the 2017 slide back "painful", saying that the party needed to do much more to demonstrate "that the Conservative Party gets it and is on their side". 

He said that while a greater representation of ethnic minority politicians in the party would be welcome, it was more important to recover efforts begun under former prime minister David Cameron to convince BAME voters on policy.

"It doesn't matter where you're from, you can still have the relationship with those communities...Cameron did it well as PM, and May did it too as Home Secretary with Afro-Carribean communities over stop and search and mental health," he said.

Attempts to win over millennials have been "patronizing"

Tanner also spoke out about the "patronizing" attempts to win over younger voters by senior Conservative politicians.

"There are a lot of assumptions about millennials [being] individualistic, I don’t believe that to be true, and not true in aggregate either," he said.

" Non-political Millennials value community and the NHS, not necessarily in favour of lower taxes, but are aspirational and enterprising... It’s patronising and ill-thought through to generalise."

Onward are set to launch a major polling and focus group research project looking at the policy preferences of young people.

The research is set to include how young people perceive political parties and how they can be attracted to centre right ideas.

Tanner said that he wants to "challenge the widely held assumptions and identify the reasons they don't vote Conservative, and what attracts those that do to the centre right."

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• In the wake of a reported investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla said on Tuesday that it had received and cooperated with a voluntary request for documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) but had not received a subpoena.
• According to Jay Dubow, a partner at the law firm Pepper Hamilton who previously worked as a branch chief in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC, it's too early to tell where the DOJ's inquiry may lead.
• The agency's request for documents from Tesla doesn't necessarily mean the SEC is moving closer to an enforcement action against the company, he said, but "it raises the temperature" on Tesla.

In the wake of a reported investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla said on Tuesday that it had received and cooperated with a voluntary request for documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) but had not received a subpoena.

The automaker's statement followed a report from Bloomberg, citing two people familiar with the matter, that the company is facing a criminal investigation by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California into public comments the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, made about taking the company private. (The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) The SEC is also reportedly investigating those comments. 

While Musk said via Twitter on August 7 that he had "funding secured" for a deal to convert Tesla into a private company, subsequent news reports and statements from Musk suggested that he might not have had legally binding agreements in place to finance a go-private deal at the time he published the tweet.

According to Jay Dubow, a partner at the law firm Pepper Hamilton who previously worked as a branch chief in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC, it's too early to tell where the DOJ's inquiry may lead. The agency's request for documents from Tesla doesn't necessarily mean the SEC is moving closer to an enforcement action against the company, he said, but "it raises the temperature" on Tesla.

While the SEC can levy fines on companies and bar executives from serving as officers of public companies, the DOJ can issue more serious punishments, such as prison sentences. That being said, neither Tesla's statement nor Bloomberg's report suggests that either agency is approaching some sort of enforcement action, according to Dubow.

From here, the agencies will likely coordinate to some degree but pursue separate investigations, Dubow said. If the DOJ decides it needs certain kinds of information from Tesla, such as bank or phone records, it will call for a grand jury and issue subpoenas.

Below is the full statement Tesla gave Business Insider about the DOJ's inquiry.

"Last month, following Elon’s announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it. We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process. We respect the DOJ’s desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received."

Have a Tesla news tip? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk might be doing some weird stuff — but that's nothing new for the car business

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• Chinese recruiters are scouring the country in search of suitable carrier pilots for China's expanding fleet of aircraft carriers.
• The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy faces a pilot shortage, among other problems, as it attempts to build a blue water navy capable of power projection.
• The ongoing pilot recruitment program reportedly marks the first time the navy has directly recruited pilots to fly the carrier-based Shenyang J-15 "Flying Shark" fighter jets.

China's navy needs Maverick and Goose — and many, many more fighter jocks for its growing carrier force.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy is desperately searching for pilots to fill its carrier air wings as the country pushes to build a formidable carrier fleet.

The PLAN launched its 2019 pilot recruitment program Sunday, with "the highlight of this year's recruitment [being] the selection of future carrier-borne aircraft pilot cadets,"according to the Chinese military, which noted that as China's armed forces shift from "shore-based" to "carrier-based" abilities, the PLAN intends to develop a pilot recruitment system "with Chinese naval characteristics that can adapt to carrier-borne requirements."

The language appears to indicate a strategic shift from home defense to power projection on the high seas, thinking consistent with Chinese efforts to build an advanced blue water navy.

The lack of pilots trained for carrier-borne operations and combat has been a problem for China in recent years. "They don't have a whole lot of pilots. Not a lot of capacity in that area," Matthew Funaiole, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained to Business Insider in August.

By the end of 2016, there were only 25 pilots qualified to fly China's carrier-based fighters, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

Recruiters will travel across the country to 23 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions to find suitable navy aviators. "Some of the pilot cadets recruited this year will receive the top and most systematic training as carrier-borne aircraft pilots," a PLAN Pilot Recruitment Office official revealed.

Pilots selected and trained to fly carrier-based aircraft will fly the fourth-generation Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark, the heaviest carrier-based fighter jet in operation today and the type of fighter that composes the carrier air wing for China's only operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

The ongoing recruitment program, according to SCMP, marks the first time the Chinese navy has directly recruited pilots for the J-15, a problematic derivative of a Soviet prototype which has been blamed for several fatal training accidents. In the past, aviators from the navy and air force who were trained to fly other types of aircraft were pulled to fly the J-15.  

"Becoming a naval pilot is the best choice for those who want to become heroes of the sky and the sea," the Chinese military stressed Tuesday, emphasizing the Chinese military's interest in developing advanced power projection capabilities.

China is rapidly building an aircraft carrier fleet with one carrier already in service, another undergoing sea trials, and a third in development, but China is still very new to complex carrier operations. Chinese Navy pilots successfully completed their first nighttime takeoffs and landings in May.

"An elite team among the pilots also has carried out night landings, widely considered the riskiest carrier-based action, and have become capable of performing round-the-clock, all-weather operations," the China Daily reported Wednesday.

In addition to a pilot shortage, China still struggles with power and propulsion, aircraft numbers and reliability, carrier launch systems, and a limited experience with carrier operations.

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• President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court.
• The Senate, tasked with the confirmation process, is split at 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats.
• Republicans will need a minimum of 50 votes, because Vice President Mike Pence can cast a tie-breaker.
• But each party is looking to lock down all of their members as quickly as possible.

When President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals judge, to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, it immediately created a horse race for Republicans to lock down at least 50 votes in his favor. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are looking to block the nominee.

Because of the split nature of the Senate, in which Republicans control 51 seats and Democrats have 49 (including two independents who caucus with Democrats), the confirmation process will come down to the wire. Republicans need a minimum of 50 votes, creating a scenario in which Vice President Mike Pence could cast the deciding vote as the tie-breaker.

Most senators are reliable to toe the party line as to how they vote for Kavanaugh. But the vote count will likely be closer than ever, because of a mix of two moderate Republican in Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with a handful of Democrats facing tough reelection bids this November in traditionally red states.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's series confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh began on Tuesday, September 4, when political infighting enveloped much of the panel. But the committee's chairman, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, vowed to continue moving forward with the process.

Kavanaugh's confirmation appeared to be on the ropes when a woman came forward accusing him of sexually assaulting her when they were both teenagers in the early 1980s.

The Judiciary Committee has scheduled an additional hearing with Kavanaugh slated for Monday, September 24. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh, has declined to testify until the FBI has investigated the matter.

This graphic serves as an ongoing whip count of who is leaning which way and whose final vote is still up in the air. It will be updated accordingly.

SEE ALSO: Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination has suddenly gotten back on track as Republicans grow impatient with his accuser

DON'T MISS: The woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault reportedly had to move out of her house and hire private security after receiving death threats

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• Twitter is starting to place ads within tweets on publishers’ websites, starting with a group of titles including The Street.
• The move hints at Twitter’s plan to make revenue from programmatic advertising that uses automated software to place ads on publishers’ sites.
• Twitter is testing the technology with local news publishers and blogs that commonly plug streams of tweets into their websites apps.

Twitter has a plan to make more money outside of Twitter — while also helping publishers squeeze out a bit more revenue.

After setting up a cryptic landing page in May for a program dubbed Twitter Timeline Ads that pitched publishers on a new way to make money, the program is now live with some outlets.

The new program places ads into Timelines — or strings of tweets — that these publishers embed into their websites.

The Street is one publisher employing the new program. For example, on the right-hand side of its site a section pulls in a real-time feed of anchor Jim Cramer's tweets. On Tuesday, display ads for Discover popped up between tweets and linked to the brand’s website. 

Twitter said that the Timeline Ads program includes large, medium, and small publishers. 

However, a few years ago such custom Twitter Timelines could be found on lots of websites. But now they seem to be less common as many web publishers have de-emphasized on their websites to focus on distribution across social platforms.

That said, the tactic is still common with local news and mid-size publishers. Advance Local — which owns AL.com, Syracuse.com, and The Oregonian/OregonLive.com — is also participating in Twitter's beta program.

Twitter has a shot at becoming a bigger programmatic ad player

Programmatic advertising is a massive market for both Facebook and Google but Twitter has been slower to move into automated ad buying outside of its own site and app. Twitter did purchase the ad tech firm MoPub for $350 million in 2013, but that business is primarily focused on helping mobile app publishers manage their ad inventory — and less on desktop ads.

With the new initiative, Twitter says the top 20 tweets in a Timeline are eligible for ads. Ads will be slotted between the first and second tweets, the 7th and 8th tweets, the 13th and 14th tweets and between the 19th and 20th tweets.

The ad revenue will equally split between Twitter and publishers, as Business Insider has previously reported.

Twitter's test is leaning on ad-tech companies to serve display ads within Timelines but it's not hard to imagine that Twitter may start serving Promoted Tweets in Timelines. That could open up new ad inventory that Twitter can pitch to advertisers as reach outside of its own apps and site.

In the case of the ad that appeared on The Street’s website, it was served by RocketFuel, according to the AdChoice logo in the corner of the ad, which details the ad-tech companies that serve consumers ads. As of August, OpenX was another "authorized partner," according to previous copy that appeared on Twitter’s website.

“We are continuing to evolve and iterate the ways in which we can work with publishers to help them generate revenue through unique real-time content monetization opportunities, on and off platform," said a Twitter spokesperson. "We are running an alpha test to explore new channels of demand with OpenX, and are looking forward to seeing how this evolves."

Twitter wants to stay away from spammy display ads

To participate in the ad program, publishers are encouraged to set up ads.txt, the digital advertising industry's initiative backed by the IAB Tech Lab to prevent un-authorized tech vendors from selling ads on publishers' sites. In doing so, publishers theoretically keep ad fraud out of their inventory and only work with a limited number of ad-tech partners.

While Twitter has mulled a subscription version of Tweetdeck, the bulk of its revenue comes from ads sold on its platform. Half of its revenue comes from video.

The move into serving ads directly into websites opens up a potential new form of revenue for Twitter and hints at a larger push into programmatic advertising.

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• Fast-food menus have been filled with bizarre menu items, but few have been as controversial as Sonic's pickle juice slush. 
• Sonic manages to convince shoppers to buy pickle juice slush and other more out-there menu items with a strategy that one executive described to Business Insider as "the Costco factor." 
• By offering mega-deals on bizarre menu items, Sonic and other fast-food chains convince customers to give them a chance — similar to Costco's emphasis on offering free samples to prompt customers to make a purchase. 

Fast-food menus are weird — and they're getting weirder. 

Taco Bell debuted a taco with an egg shell. Tim Hortons rolled out a super-limited release of a Buffalo sauce-flavored latte.  And, Sonic has its pickle juice slush. 

"People's minds are open to trying things," Scott Uehlein, Sonic's vice president of product innovation and development, told Business Insider. 

One reason for the increasingly adventurous menu is what Uehlein calls the "Costco factor." 

"You walk into Costco, and you can basically have your lunch there," Uehlein said. The abundance of free samples are geared toward convincing people in buying things that they may have otherwise not added to their shopping carts. 

"Costco, if you watch what they taste, it's things that are $10, $11, $12, not things that are $2," Uehlein said. "There's a high barrier of entry there." 

Sonic had adapted that strategy to the fast-food chain's own needs. 

"Five years ago, I might have had to put out tiny little taste cups and tell people 'try the pickle juice slush,'" Uehlein said. "Now, we can sell it at happy hour, so you can try it for not a lot of money." 

With deals and bundling more out-there items with more standard fare, Sonic has been able to debut Uehlein's sometimes twisted creations — pickle slushes, burgers that substitute beef for mushrooms, and footlong Philly Cheesesteaks served in hot dog buns.

According to Uehlein, convincing customers to try and item — just once — is crucial in making the item a beneficial addition to the menu in the long term. Pickle juice slush, for example, sounds repulsive — but if people are able to get it half price, they might realize that it is shockingly enjoyable and keep buying the limited-time offering while it's on the menu. 

It also helps that people are getting more adventurous in general about what they're interested in eating. People are seeking out more complex, creative, and sometimes simply strange options, so menus are naturally going to get weirder as a result. 

"I think our palates are growing up," Uehlein said. 

SEE ALSO: We tried Sonic's bizarre pickle juice slush, and it sparked an existential crisis

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• Two weeks into the 2018 NFL season, Seahawks rookie punter Michael Dickson is already the most captivating special teams player in the league.
• Dickson didn't get his start in American football until 2015, but quickly rose to prominence in college and was eventually picked by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
• Through two weeks, Dickson is amongst the league leaders in punting statistics and has also utilized his drop-kicking abilities on several occasions for the Seahawks.

Special teams players, like referees, are usually doing their jobs best when they go relatively unnoticed.

For kickers, punters, and long snappers, the lights shine brightest in their moments of failure, and a long, anonymous career is an enjoyable, prosperous outcome of their time in the NFL.

A few special players break this mold — Justin Tucker has made a name for himself with his uncanny ability to hit field goals from 60+ yards out, and Marquette King's booming punts and dance moves brought him more attention than you might expect for a punter.

Just two weeks into his professional career, the newest member of this list of standout special teamers is Michael Dickson, rookie punter for the Seattle Seahawks.

Dickson made a splash in college, most notably winning MVP of the Texas Bowl, as he helped lead the Longhorns to a 33-16 victory over Missouri. In that game, Dickson kicked 11 punts — 10 landed inside the 15-yard line, seven inside the 10-yard line, and four left Missouri pinned within five yards of their end zone.

At the 2018 NFL Draft, the Seahawks picked Dickson up in the fifth round, and after an impressive preseason, beat out 10-year veteran Jon Ryan for the starting job. With punts like this, it's easy to see what Pete Carroll and company saw in their rookie.

Now, just two weeks into the season, Dickson's already made quite an impact for Seattle.

Dickson has punted the ball 13 times, putting five inside the 20, and no touchbacks. He is also third in the NFL in net punting. His first regular-season game came at Mile High Stadium against the Denver Broncos, where he helped give the Seahawks an edge in the battle for field position early in the game.

Dickson has also proven to be one of the more versatile special teamers in the league, serving up a dropkick for Seattle against the Bears on Monday night — the first in the NFL since 2015. 

While Dickson's dropkick might not be the norm, it's a useful tool for the Seahawks to break out in certain situations.

In this case, Seattle was kicking off from midfield thanks to a penalty on an extra point attempt. Rather than a traditional kickoff, the Seahawks opted for the dropkick, which allows for a longer hang time and thus better downfield coverage on the return.

The most amazing aspect of Dickson's rise to special teams stardom is how much room he still has to grow. Born in Australia, Dickson honed his powerful leg playing Aussie rules football with his first attempt at kicking at American football not coming until 2015.

With the Seahawks open to using Dickson in unique ways — they even attempted an onside dropkick — there's a good chance these aren't the last highlights we get out of him through the 2018 season.

SEE ALSO: NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where all 32 teams stand going into Week 3

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• The future of media agencies is as grim as ever, according to a new report by market research firm Forrester released this week.
• Continuing transparency issues, clients taking media-buying in-house and programmatic advertising leading to the commoditization of services threaten the very raison d'être of media agencies.
• Media agencies must evolve to become media consultancies to survive, bringing more value, accountability and overall marketing strategy to the table, says the report.

It's been two years since the Association of National Advertisers issued a bombshell report that painted the media buying world as being rife with opaque financial practices and widespread illegal rebates.

And while many media buying agencies at that time vowed to clean up their practices — their future is more grim than ever, according to a report released by the market research firm Forrester earlier this week.

Since the ANA report, brands have reevaluated billions of dollars of media spend, and only become increasingly more skeptical, says Forrester.

For instance, marketers have called into question agencies' ability to gauge whether ad spending actualy works, while focusing on what they see as wasteful media plans,  irregular ad rates and unclear discounts.

In fact, as many 64% of marketers have said that they intend to review their media agencies.

"To marketers, it represents the need for checks and balances," wrote analyst Jay Pattisall. "To agencies, this represents an apocalyptical onslaught to their models and profit margins."

Here are the biggest factors threatening the existence of media agencies, according to Forrester:

An ongoing lack of transparency in ad buying

Transparency remains a thorny issue among brands and their media agencies, and Forrester puts the blame squarely on agencies. The researcher found that agencies are usually reluctant to accept client audits of past work and brand safety guidelines.

• According to the authors of the report, half the media agencies contacted refused to formally participate in the research, limiting visibility into their operations.
• A prominent example cited is the US Army declining to include its incumbent media agency in a review due to allegations surrounding rates and discounts.

"Given the cloud of suspicion hanging over the industry, agencies that behave in this manner appear to be non-transparent, despite offering clients full transparency," it says.

Brands bringing media functions in-house

Besides being frustrated with a lack of ad buying transparency, the need for for efficiency and a thirst for more control over consumer data have led to an increasing number of brands take media operations in-house and set up their own internal teams.

This, the report notes, is "an existential threat to media agencies, forcing them to justify their value."

• 64% of respondents of Forrester's 'In-House Agency Forum' survey, for example, said that they use in-house agencies in 2018, an increase of 52% from a decade ago. The survey includes the 70% of marketers who command strategy and campaign direction in-house for programmatic advertising.
• Deutsche Telekom and JPMorgan Chase are examples of brands that have moved portions of their media business in-house.

Media offerings becoming increasingly commoditized 

With programmatic advertising becoming widespread, anybody from agencies and marketers to programmatic consultancies can now automate the media-buying process. This threatens the very raison d'être of media agencies as access to digital media and planning capabilities is no longer limited to a few.

In a programmatic environment, media agencies no longer retain any buying power (clout and negotiating — staples of TV buying — don't really matter much), and the wide availability of demand-side platform technology commoditizes their offerings, forcing them to look for other areas to bring value.

Media agencies, therefore, must ramp up their offerings beyond buying power and traditional media planning and buying services. They must bring more value, accountability and overall marketing strategy to the table, adopting a more media consultancy-type role if they want to survive, says the report. 

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People are hungry for more data availability on their mobile devices — for photos, videos, music, games, texts, and other digital content. But at the same time we all want to keep our monthly and yearly service costs down.

Fortunately, there are several ways to operate mobile devices more efficiently. Here's how you can enjoy content on your device while not having to worry about using too much data — and spending too much money.

Deploy apps that track your data usage.

There are plenty of apps designed to track cellular-data usage. These offerings include features such as screens that show the percentage of cellular data used in a given month, notifications of how many days are left until the current allotment ends, and cellular usage versus WiFi usage. Users can set alerts to let them know when they've reached certain data-allotment milestones. Other features keep track of how much data is used daily and set monthly forecasts for expected use. And some even include the ability to track usage in real time so that you can quickly see when lots of data is consumed at any one point.

Sign up for a low-cost data provider.

Some providers, such as SIMPLE Mobile, offer data costs that are low, providing a way to operate your mobile device more cost-effectively. SIMPLE Mobile has a variety of 30-day no-contract wireless service plans that provide flexibility in terms of price and capabilities. The company provides nationwide coverage on a lightning-fast 4G LTE network, and offers 30-day service plans starting at $25 a month (plus taxes and fees).

Use data-compression apps.

One way to reduce data usage effectively on your smartphone is by using a data-compression app. It is especially helpful if you send and receive large data files, such as music and videos, which tend to eat up a lot of data if they're transferred without compression. Compressing such files before sending and receiving them can save quite a bit on data usage, and it's simple to do. The technology can also be used for web browsing and email. Best of all, some compression products can reduce the downloaded size of webpages by a huge percentage without affecting the online experience.

Delete apps you don't use much.

It doesn't make much sense to hold on to data-consuming apps you seldom or never use. Many of the apps you have installed on your phone might not be of any use anyway, depending on how you use it. Do an inventory of apps to find out which ones you can delete. This could enhance operation of the device and reduce data usage.

Limit the data usage of each application.

Limiting the amount of data usage by apps on your device is another good practice, and especially useful if you run a large number of apps. Many apps continue to run even after you close them, in some cases via background processes. Setting data-usage limits for all or most apps can ensure that the apps will not exceed a designated threshold for data usage. And it's easy to do: On an iPhone or iPad, simply go to the settings menu and select "enable restrictions." On Android phones, go to the settings menu and select "data usage" and then tap the "set mobile data limit" box.

Find out more about SIMPLE Mobile plans.

Disclaimer: Please always refer to the latest Terms and Conditions of Service at SimpleMobile.com.

This post is sponsored by SIMPLE Mobile.

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• Verizon has a large, seven-building campus in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
• The space can accommodate a total of 6,000 employees.
• Business Insider swung by One Verizon Way and took a tour of its facilities.

Verizon's corporate headquarters may be based in New York City, but the telecom giant has another big presence about 30 miles to the west.

Verizon's recently-renovated operational headquarters are located in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The office complex, known as One Verizon Way, can accommodate 6,000 employees.

Verizon moved into the space in 2005. The most recent round of renovations began in 2016 and wrapped up in 2017.

Business Insider visited the space and took a tour with Verizon's Executive Director of Global Real Estate Joe Rossi.

Here's a look inside Verizon's Basking Ridge campus:

SEE ALSO: At PayPal and Venmo's New York offices, employees enjoy as much free food as they can stomach, from Taco Tuesdays to secret stashes of candy

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Verizon's operational headquarters takes up 138 acres and consists of seven interconnected buildings. The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge surrounds the campus, which means that employees often spot turtle and bird eggs around the site.

Verizon set up shop in its Basking Ridge compound in 2005. Previously, AT&T and Pfizer occupied the space.

Source: New York Times, New York Post

The office complex is known as One Verizon Way, but that's not all there is to the space.

Most of us don't think much about the color of our toenails unless we're picking out polish for a pedicure. But believe it or not, the shade of your toenails can actually tell you a lot of information about your body's overall health. 

A healthy toenail is smooth, consistent in color, and generally pinkish. Different shades, spots, or lines could indicate health issues.

Dr. Miguel Cunha of Gotham Footcare spoke with INSIDER about the way different afflictions can affect your toenails, and how to know if you need to seek medical attention. Read on to find out what the color of your toenail could say about your health. 

If your nail is black or purple, you probably already know why.

Nails that have turned a black or purple shade have likely experienced a "subungual hematoma," Cunha told INSIDER – aka, they've been bruised. You typically have to drop something pretty heavy on your toe to cause this kind of trauma, so you likely know how it got that way.

The good news is, you generally don't have to do anything to heal a bruised toenail. The bad news is, it'll take quite some time to go back to normal. Your nail will continue growing and push the bruise down to where you'll eventually clip it off. Cunha noted that, "this will take several months, as the toenails only grow a millimeter per month."

The other option, which you'll probably want to avoid if you can, is to have the nail removed by a professional.

"This option is only necessary if the nail becomes painful which can happen sometimes if the pressure of blood accumulating underneath the nail plate becomes abnormal and excessive," Cunha said. 

If your toenails are yellow or brown, they're probably infected.

Toenails that are unusually thick with a yellow or brown-tinge are most likely the result of a fungal infection. A microscopic fungus, Cunha said, may affect one or more nails at a time.

"These microscopic organisms typically thrive in dark, warm, and moist environments," Cunha said. "The insides of shoes are a perfect environment to harbor fungal organisms." He further explained that what often starts as athlete's foot – a skin infection – may spread to the nail itself.

"As the nail fungus penetrates deeper into the nail, it may cause the nail to discolor, thicken, and develop crumbling edges – an unsightly and potentially painful problem."

The treatments for this issue vary based on the severity of the infection and can include a topical treatment, oral antifungal medications, or procedures like microdrilling, which creates small pores for medication to more deeply penetrate the nail. If your nails are looking yellow or brownish, see a doctor — they can perform a nail biopsy and begin treating it.

Brownish-greyish nails that don't have the texture of a fungal infection, however, can suggest a deficiency in B12. Consider taking a supplement, or speaking with your doctor if the problem persists.

White spots or lines typically mean repeated trauma.

Cunha said white lines or spots on nails are the results of a repeated pressure or trauma, but not one severe enough to cause a dark bruise. The culprit may be something as simple as frequently wearing ill-fitting shoes that pinch or rub the toenail in the same spot constantly. Apart from ceasing whatever's causing the damage, Cunha recommends certain supplements to help with healing.

"Take a nail fortifying vitamin such as hair, skin, and nails biotin, or even prenatal vitamins for females," he said.

Ultimately, however, this is another one you're just going to have to wait out. The spot will likely remain visible until it is replaced by new growth.

White nail discoloration can also be caused by anemia, so if your shoes or other potential sources of injury don't seem to be the cause, consider checking with a doctor to see if you might have an iron deficiency.

It is easy to assume that celebrities take themselves a little too seriously, or that they can't take a joke.

But these celebs prove that they're in on it when they appeared in movies as themselves — or fictionalized versions of themselves — like Justin Bieber in "Zoolander 2" posing for a selfie before he's murdered, or Eminem coming out as gay in "The Interview."

Keep scrolling to see what famous faces have poked fun at themselves in movies.

Neil Patrick Harris revitalized his career with his turn as a drug-using, womanizing, party boy version of himself in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," and its two sequels.

Harris steals the show in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" when he makes his first appearance, high on ecstasy and begging Harold and Kumar for a ride. He goes on to steal their car, and generally plays a terrible version of himself. In real life, Harris is a happily married man with two children, and no ecstasy habit to speak of.

The first installment of the "Harold & Kumar" saga was released two years before Harris came out as gay— but the third installment, 2008's "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," addresses this by claiming that Harris and his husband David Burtka (who also appears as himself) are faking their relationship, and that Harris is pretending to be gay to take advantage of women.

Harris' role in the movie, which is about two stoners who desperately want to get to White Castle to grab some munchies, can directly be attributed to his current success. Before "Harold & Kumar," he was only known for his role as Dr. Doogie Howser in "Doogie Howser, MD.," when he was just a teen. The roles just weren't coming in, according to Harris.

So, without "Harold & Kumar," we probably wouldn't have Barney Stinson, his iconic opening number at the Tony Awards, or the newest iteration of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Both Selena Gomez and Margot Robbie appear in "The Big Short" as themselves. They're both used to explain complicated financial terms to the audience in ways the average viewer could understand.

"The Big Short," which details the events leading up to 2008's financial crisis, introduces the typical movie-goer to many complex financial terms and situations, which is where Robbie, Gomez, and a few other celebrities come in.

Gomez appears at a blackjack table next to Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler. She's tasked with explaining what a synthetic CDO is, by using the simple metaphor of a blackjack game.

Robbie's scene is her in a bubble bath drinking Champagne, and explaining what exactly the mortgage crisis was — that banks were issuing riskier and riskier mortgages in order to keep profits up.

Obviously, no one would expect Robbie or Gomez to have extensive knowledge of the financial crisis — people still believe that beautiful women are inherently dumb.

Everyone in "This Is the End" played fictionalized versions of themselves, but Michael Cera's cocaine-fueled monster was the highlight.

To be fair, everyone plays a pretty terrible version of themselves in "This Is the End," which depicts what would happen to a bunch of Hollywood stars during the apocalypse, but Cera's performance as an angry coke-head who screams at all his friends and gropes Rihanna is pretty hilarious.

It goes directly against the nerdy persona he established in "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" and "Superbad." No one wants to think that the sweet Paulie Bleeker from "Juno" is actually a mean-spirited maniac.

Fittingly, Cera goes on an embarrassing note. He accuses all of his friends of stealing his cell phone, gets impaled by a fallen street light, and then realizes he had his phone the whole time. He then meets his demise by descending into a fiery sinkhole.

• In a recent podcast appearance, Kristen Bell said she likes to smoke weed every so often.
• Now, she's being shamed by online trolls.
• People are also criticizing her for smoking when her husband Dax Shepard is sober.
• But in the interview, Bell said that Shepard doesn't mind when she smokes weed.

Kristen Bell is pretty transparent when it comes to her relationship with her husband Dax Shepard, the trials and tribulations of being a mom, and her mental health.

And in a recent episode of Marc Marion's "WTF"podcast, the "Frozen" star brought her trademark down to earth sensibility. During the interview, Bell said that she likes to smoke weed every so often.

"I like my vape pen quite a bit. I smoke around my husband and it doesn't seem to bother him," Bell said. "Weed rules. Weed is my drug of choice, for sure."

But the actress said she doesn't smoke all the time.

"I can't smoke around my kids, which is a phenomenal amount of hours each week," she said. " [I use my pen] like once a week if I'm exhausted and we're about to sit down and watch '60 minutes,' why not?"

During the interview, Bell stressed that although her husband is sober he doesn't seem to mind that Bell drinks or smokes weed around him.

"He likes drugs and alcohol,” Bell explained. "He's just aware that he lost his privilege with them because he can't handle it. His brain does not have the chemistry to handle it."

Still, people are criticizing Bell for what she said on the podcast.

Some are mom-shaming the actress.

Although Shepard shut down this particular mom-shamer, reiterating that the kids don't see it happening — just as Bell said on the podcast.

But many are defending Bell.

Amid the slight, many online are coming to Bell's defense — including her husband.

"That would be like a diabetic expecting their partner to never eat dessert. Get real!" Shepard tweeted in response to criticisms that she wasn't being supportive by not also being sober.

Many of Bell's fans are echoing that sentiment.

Sai Sailaja Seshadri, the founder of Women's Republic and the co-founder of Women of Color Creatives, said people shouldn't judge Bell.

"Just a reminder that you're a s----- person if you're going to judge Kristen Bell or her parenting ways when her *occasional* smoking does not affect her ability to parent and also when her sober husband himself doesn't care about her smoking," she wrote.

And, let the record show, Bell has publicly supported Shepard's sobriety in the past. On September 1, the actress took to Instagram where she penned a touching tribute congratulating him on 14 years of sobriety.

"I know how much you loved using. I know how much it got in your way. And I know, because I saw, how hard you worked to live without it," she in the caption of her post. "I will forever be in awe of your dedication, and the level of fierce moral inventory you perform on yourself, like an emotional surgery, every single night."

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• Amazon is expected to become the third largest digital advertiser, behind Facebook and Google, according to eMarketer researchers.
• But as the company's market share of the ad and retail business continues to expand, the company may run into the same kind of scrutiny that has dogged other large ad platforms, such as Google's. 
• Some observers already see behavior that makes it difficult for smaller third-party manufacturers that sell through Amazon to compete.
• The retailer's ad business is growing at a time when regulators in the US and Europe are taking a hard look at the business practices of big retailers and tech giants.

Researchers with eMarketer tell the Wall Street Journal that Amazon could soon become the third largest US digital advertiser, behind Google and Facebook — an impressive benchmark considering ads are a side business for the web's biggest retailer. 

But as the Amazon continues to grow its ad business, it must prove that it can avoid the same regulatory scrutiny that has plagued other powerful ad platforms, such as Google search and Facebook's social network. More specifically to Amazon's core retail business, CEO Jeff Bezos must be careful not to alienate customers with the glut of ads that are now far more prevalent at his web store.  

"There's an interesting debate right now, about whether the ads are customer-centric enough," said Andrea Leigh, vice president of client services at Ideoclick, a Seattle-based ecommerce consultancy, in an interview with Business Insider.

Amazon representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Researchers from eMarketer on Wednesday estimated that Amazon will generate "$4.6B in domestic ad revenue." The research firm said that Amazon's share of the overall market will reach approximately 4.2 percent. That's enough for the retailer to overtake Microsoft and Oath, the Verizon-owned media site, in digital advertising.

The two largest players, Google and Facebook, hold a combined 58 percent of the market with $64 billion, eMarketer says.  Amazon's $5 billion is tiny in comparison, but the retailer's ad business is growing faster than either of the two frontrunners, according to analysts.

Amazon appears ready to cut deeper into Google and Facebook's market share. Before that can happen, however, it has to avoid the same regulatory hurdles that has at times tripped up each of them.

The news of Amazon's ad growth comes as lawmakers in the United States and Europe are looking at whether some of the business practices of big tech companies are anticompetitive. Google has been accused multiple times of tweaking search results to favor ads for its own products and services over rivals.

Last year, the European Union hit Google with a $2.8 billion fine after deciding the company had done exactly this. Google is appealing that ruling.

Certainly, Google has a much larger share of search than Amazon has of retail and market share is always a factor in how regulators decide if a business is anticompetitive. But Amazon's share of the retail market continues to expand More than half of all product searches occur on Amazon, Leigh said.

Amazon is starting to attract the same sort of scrutiny in Europe that has dogged Google. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the EU has begun a preliminary probe into how Amazon treats the merchants that sell via its platform. One doesn't have to look too deeply into Amazon's ad business to discover some eyebrow-raising behavior, say observers. 

Keying in a search term for any product on Amazon and the top part of the search-results page is typically stuffed with ads. The ads belong to companies that  bid on and purchase the right to advertise in this all-important area of Amazon site's. 

During a presentation at the Code Commerce conference on Tuesday, Leigh told attendees that Amazon is sometimes "predatory" in its advertising practices, according to the HubSpot Marketing Blog. She said Amazon will sometimes reserve the  valuable real estate on its search-result pages for its own private-label products, Leigh said on stage, adding that sometimes Amazon will even display the ads on a competing product's detail page.

In an interview Wednesday with Business Insider, Leigh said: "It used to be people would log on to Amazon and a good product with a good price could go viral. Now, it's all pay to play. It's hard for a brand, without some financial means, to compete." 

When asked whether this was legal, Leigh said she was not a lawyer or an expert at antitrust. She did, however, say Amazon's practices appear to be effective.  She said that Facebook and Google and other players in the digital ad business "should be afraid." 

And as for the possibility that shoppers could be turned off by the addition of so many ads at Amazon, Leigh said that this is one of the big questions in the ad business. 

"Amazon bases their ads on how relevant they are to customers," Leigh said. "If ads are really relevant to you, do you mind? I think that the answer is you don't mind."

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Owning a dog is one of life's greatest joys, but nobody's happy when Fido has to stay home alone — especially for long periods of time. Separation anxiety is a problem for many dogs and their owners, particularly when pets are young. And even normally calm dogs may freak out during bad thunderstorms or fireworks.

Fortunately, there are many safe, effective ways to make your dog feel better when home alone. Here are 11 anxiety-reducing pet products that will keep your pup calm.

PetChatz's camera lets you video chat with your dog and dole out treats.

Think FaceTime, but for your pet. The PetChatz's two-way video camera lets you see and communicate with your dog remotely and vice versa. The app-operated device even dispenses treats, deploys aromatherapy, and tracks your dog's activity.

Thundershirt's anxiety jacket makes your pup feel safe and secure.

Just like swaddling helps infants feel safe and secure, the technique can lessen anxiety in dogs.

Thundershirt's dog anxiety jacket takes this fast, drug-free approach to manage separation anxiety and problem parking. According to the company, it's more than 80% effective.

Dr. Lyon's calming aid is a homeopathic remedy for canine anxiety.

Made of nutrients like vitamin B1 and l-tryptophan, as well as herbal extracts like chamomile flowers and ginger root, Dr. Lyon's soft chews are an edible stress buster to keep your dog in a good mood. Your pet might love the natural cheese and liver flavors.

From working long hours to styling displays, those who work at Halloween pop-up stores know what it really takes to have a successful scary season. Here's what it's like to work at a Halloween store during the peak season, according to former employees.

While INSIDER cannot independently verify these stories and individual experiences, they are certainly interesting.

You never know what your hours are.

"... Unfortunately, the schedule expectations were absolutely insane. Shifts could last anywhere from four to 12 hours and your hours varied from four to 48 hours, weekly.

"Even worse? The manager reserved the 'right' to change shifts without warning. You were expected to constantly check the scheduling app because at any time, including with less than an hour's notice, the manager could shorten, lengthen, push back, push forward, remove, or add a shift on your schedule."— Quora userBeck Mageau

Customers aren't always the most respectful.

"[There was a lot of] theft by employees and customers ... [I encountered] the worst retail customers I've ever experienced. I don't know what it is, but people have no respect for these pop-up stores.

"You'd take away packages of wigs from someone and explain why they aren't supposed to take them out, and 10 minutes later you'd find them hiding in a corner doing the exact same s---. And I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about adults.

"Or, you find someone in an aisle trying to dress their child. You ask them to go to the changing room and tell them where it is, then as soon as you're one aisle away, you hear them telling their kid to shut up and put [the costume] on because they'll be done quick. When you go back again you find four to five costumes on the floor mashed together with broken accessories. These are ADULTS.

"You also have very little loyalty because no one really cares about a job they won't have in a couple of months. I worked there for so long because I love Halloween, and it was a fun job … "– Reddit user TessDevin

For some, working one season is enough.

"I worked for a [Halloween store] years ago. Setting up was so much fun. Theft is a big problem so you may be put in one section and asked not to leave that area — not even to bring someone to another area. Opening costumes on the floor is also a HUGE no-no. I didn't understand why at first, but at the end of the season, you wouldn't believe how many costumes were missing random accessories. All in all, a pretty good experience, but I wouldn't do it again."— Halloween Forum user mikieofthedead