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SPOTTED: A Bright Yellow Roadster Cruising In Germany

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Despite criticism of electric cars, there's no denying that Elon Musk got it right with the Roadster, which he is now offering to buy back. Apparently this driver hasn't heard about, or isn't interested in, the new deal.

The yellow Roadster, one of 2,500 sold, was spotted in Speyer, in southwest Germany. The photo was posted on ExoticSpotter.com, which shared it with us.

Have you spotted a rare or unusual way of getting around in your travels? Did you take a photo? Do you like sharing? Let me know via e-mail: adavies@businessinsider.com or on Twitter: @adavies47.

yellow tesla roadster germany

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Negotiate A Rent Reduction If Your Luxury Building Drops Its Amenities

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Hot Tub BoatQ. I just moved into an apartment in a full-service condo building. 

Prior to signing the lease, I was told that there were plans to add retail space and to construct a common roof deck, but that it would not happen during the duration of my tenancy. 

However, I was notified last night that the gym, laundry room, and bike storage room would be closed for an undetermined amount of time due to construction in the building.

I pay a substantial amount of rent to live in what is touted as a "luxury building" with great amenities.  I'm planning on calling the landlord and asking for a rent reduction during the period the amenities are unavailable.  The condo owner used a standard REBNY condo lease.  Do you have any suggestions about how to proceed with the landlord?

A. Though the standard REBNY lease does not contain a provision that clearly states whether you are due a rent reduction, you may be able to negotiate one with your landlord. 

First, you should review your lease and pay particular attention to Section 13 – Services and Facilities and Section 21 – Property Loss, Damage, or Inconvenience.  These sections basically provide that there will be no reduction in rent for the loss of standard services (e.g. cold and hot water, heat, and elevator service) unless required by law, that you will have access to the building’s amenities at your own risk, and that you will not be entitled to a rent reduction in the event construction in the condo results in a temporary loss of light or view. 

As you can see, none of these provisions specifically address whether you are entitled to a rent reduction if construction in the condominium results in your inability to use the facilities, and as a whole these provisions protect the landlord from rent reductions in the event that the condominium takes actions that inconvenience you.  However, you can still make a plausible argument to your landlord that your rent should be reduced because you will not have access to the amenities for an extended period of time.  Your argument would be particularly strong if you can demonstrate that the rent you pay is substantially higher than that for similar apartments in the neighborhood that are in buildings without amenities.

Begin by determining for yourself what monthly reduction would make you whole.  $200, $350, $500?  Base your argument on comparable rental prices in doorman buildings that lack amenities such as a gym, laundry room, and bike storage as that is what your building is about to become.  You might choose to frame your argument by calculating the total anticipated cost of the rental abatement by multiplying the monthly reduction by the number of months the facilities are expected to be closed. 

For example, if you ask for a $350 monthly abatement and the facilities are to be closed for six months, the total cost of the rent reduction to the landlord is $2,100. Presumably such a number is a fraction of your monthly rent in a full-service Manhattan condo building and thus may not seem so unreasonable to your landlord.

Your best leverage might be to remind your landlord that the potential costs and loss of rental income associated with a dispute could far exceed the total amount of the abatement you are requesting.  Further, you should appeal to your landlord's sense of fairness by reminding them of what your expectations were at the time you entered into the lease and of your disappointment upon hearing of the reduction in services you will be inconvenienced by. 

Ultimately, your landlord will need to determine whether they are open to negotiating with you and you will need to determine how far you are willing to go in the event that your landlord does not offer you an abatement that satisfies you.  Do keep in mind that the consequences for withholding rent absent an agreement to do so can be severe, so get any arrangement in writing as an addendum to the original lease and avoid unilaterally deciding to reduce your rent by sending a check for less than the full amount.   

Mike Akerly is a New York City real estate attorney, landlord, and real estate broker. He is also the publisher of the Greenwich Village blog VillageConfidential.     

The information provided here is for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and cannot substitute for the advice of a licensed professional applying their specialized knowledge to the particular circumstances of your case.

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A New Report Shows That The Gender Gap Has Gotten Wider In The US

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Gender man woman

The World Economic Forum just released its annual Global Gender Gap Report 2012, and it does not look good for the United States, who took home the 22nd spot.

The report, which first began back in 2006, tracks 136 countries and measures the size of a nation's gender gap with 14 indicators broken down into four key areas:

1. Economic Participation and Opportunity: Takes into account female labor force participation rates, the ratio of female-to-male earned income, the ratio of women to men among technical and professional workers, and the ratio of women to men among legislators, senior officials, and managers.

2. Educational Attainment: Measures the gap between women's and men's access to education in primary-, secondary- and tertiary-level education, and the female literacy rate as compared to the male literacy rate.

3. Health and Survival: Studies the sex ratio at birth (meant to target countries with a strong son preference), and the gap between women's and men's healthy life expectancy, as calculated by the World Health Organization.

4. Political Empowerment: Measures the gap between men and women at the highest level of political decision-making, minster-level positions, and parliamentary positions. It also includes the ratio of women to men in terms of years in executive office. (One major problem with this category is that it's missing data on the participation of women and men at local levels of government.)

The Global Gender Gap Report then gives each country a score between 0 and 1, 0 representing total inequality and 1 meaning total equality.

This year, the United States ranked 22nd of the 136 countries, with a score of .7373. And despite a lot of talk in the news about equal rights for women and female empowerment, this is the country's lowest score since 2009. Last year, the United States was ranked 17th, just beating Canada and right behind the United Kingdom with a score of .7412.

See the top 25 below, and for a full round-up, visit the World Economic Forum's website.

  1. Iceland (0.864)
  2. Finland (0.845)
  3. Norway (0.840)
  4. Sweden (0.816)
  5. Ireland (0.784)
  6. New Zealand (0.781)
  7. Denmark (0.778)
  8. Philippines (0.776)
  9. Nicaragua (0.770)
  10. Switzerland (0.767)
  11. Netherlands (0.766)
  12. Belgium (0.765)
  13. Germany (0.763)
  14. Lesotho (0.761)
  15. Latvia (0.757)
  16. South Africa (0.750)
  17. Luxembourg (0.744)
  18. United Kingdom (0.743)
  19. Cuba (0.742)
  20. Austria (0.739)
  21. Canada (0.738)
  22. United States (0.737)
  23. Mozambique (0.735)
  24. Burundi (0.734)
  25. Australia (0.729)

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The 21 Most Common International Flights Out Of America

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british airwaysNearly two and a half million passengers flew between New York City and London last year, making it America's largest international aviation corridor.

This fact comes from a Brookings report on the economic benefits of international air travel.

Cities with international aviation links enjoy a "positive effect on local employment ... points of convergence for new ideas of capital ... [and] spillover effects that benefit other sectors and people."

#21 Los Angeles area and Mexico City

518,220 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2011.

428,714 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2003.

20.9% growth

Source: Brookings analysis of Sabre data



#20 Miami to Buenos Aires

533,507 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2011.

207,924 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2003.

156.6% growth

Source: Brookings analysis of Sabre data



#19 Miami to Nassau, Bahamas

538,089 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2011.

516,541 passengers to and from the U.S. in 2003.

4.2% growth

Source: Brookings analysis of Sabre data



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Brazilian Student Sells Her Virginity For $780,000 Online

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Catarina Migliorini

A Brazilian student has sold her virginity in an online auction for $780,000 as part of a documentary organised by an Australian filmmaker, according to reports.

Catarina Migliorini, 20, was the subject of 15 bids, with a Japanese man named only as Natsu winning on Wednesday night, Australian media reported.

They said Miss Migliorini would be "delivered" to her buyer on board a plane to Australia and that she would be interviewed before and after losing her virginity at a secret location.

Filmmaker Jason Sisely, who reportedly began his project in 2009 and caused outrage when he put posters up in Sydney and Melbourne saying "Virgins Wanted", said Miss Migliorini was ecstatic and had not expected such a high level of interest.

"The auction closed last night and Catarina is extremely excited. She was speaking to her family in Brazil online and they were extremely happy for her," he told Australian online news site Ninemsn.

"But I guess they didn't expect her to do something like this."

He said the act would be consummated, but not filmed, in the next few weeks.

"We will fly over the winner to Australia and obviously, for the sake of the film and privacy, we can't disclose where and when the act will take place," he said. "I have to leave some details for the documentary."

Miss Migliorini defended the move.

"I saw this as a business. I have the opportunity to travel, to be part of a movie and get a bonus with it," she told Folha newspaper.

"If you only do it once in your life then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer."

Sisely told Ninemsn that under the terms of the auction a condom was compulsory and Natsu must be tested beforehand for any sexually transmitted diseases.

"I'm looking forward to my audience's response to the film," he said.

Source: Agencies

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Check Out The Insane View From Frank Sinatra's Former New York City Apartment

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Frank Sinatra's former Manhattan apartment, on E. 72nd Street, is back on the market for $7.7 million, and the views are simply jaw-dropping.

The posh penthouse has a wrap-around terrace and floor-to-ceiling windows to take advantage of the incredible views, according to Real Estate Weekly.

Sinatra owned the apartment from 1961 to 1974.

The apartment features four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and spans 3,200 square feet.

Check out the views:

view from frank sinatras apartment

 

view from frank sinatras apartment

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See Why Buyers Are Going Crazy For The New Gramercy Park Luxury Apartments

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gramercy

The creators of luxurious 15 Central Park West just unveiled their newest construction: the glitzy 18 Gramercy Park building.

It's not even completed yet and it has already sold more than 80 percent of its 16 units.

Originally constructed in 1927, the building has been renovated by the Zeckendorf Development Group and Robert A.M. Stern architects, who preserved the building's history while modernizing it with luxury amenities.

As of right now, the only known high-profile resident who has purchased a unit in 18 Gramercy Park is Leslie Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets, who bought the $40 million duplex penthouse.

Each apartment encompasses an entire floor. The standard model has four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, spanning about 4,207 square feet.

We toured the second-floor model apartment last night for the opening. Each apartment spans a floor and has multiple exposures.



From the dining room, you can access the terrace. Each apartment has around 2,000 square feet of outdoor space.



A chef from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group prepared snacks in the kitchen.



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Suddenly There's A Controversy About The Most Expensive Zip Code In America

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TRIBECA 10013

Last week Forbes named the Upper East Side's 10065 as the most expensive zip code in the country.

But real estate site Property Shark ran its own list, and 10065 wasn't even in the top five. Instead TriBeCa's 10013 was crowned the most expensive zip code.

Property Shark explains the disconnect:

First, [Forbes] relied on asking prices rather than closed transactions, saying that by doing so their list would be a reflection of “each market’s current activity.” For their top zip code (10065), the median sale price found by PropertyShark is $1.1 million, while the median asking price according to Forbes data is $6.5 million. Have prices in the Upper East Side gone up 6 times since the closings of the property transactions we used in order to compile the median sale price? Not a chance!

Second, they have not included coops. How relevant are any real estate stats published for Manhattan that don’t take into account half of the borough’s transactions? Not very, and this reminds us of a similar debate on the relevancy of the Case-Schiller Index to Manhattan real estate market. 

According to our data, the priciest zip code in New York City is in fact TriBeCa’s 10013 with a median sale price of $2.5 million (coops included). Number 2 on the list is 10007, another TriBeCa zip code, proving why TriBeCa has been topping the list of the most expensive neighborhoods in NYC for several quarters in a row.

Check it out:

most expensive zip codes

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Here's What You Should Get The Person Who Has Everything

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scrooge christmas carol

What rich people really want for Christmas is ... clothes.

Forty percent of rich people named clothes as one of the gifts they would really like to receive this year, according to a survey by the American Affluence research center of the top income decile. Surprisingly rich men want clothes even more than rich women.

What else do they want? iPads!

Fourteen percent of rich people said they want an iPad or similar device, but among super rich people — with over $6 million income — a full 29 percent said they wanted a tablet.

Meanwhile, 93 percent of rich people plan on giving too, with the average rich person spending $2,154 on gifts last year.

See more below:

chart

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: A Santa Monica Home Where You Can Walk On Water Is On Sale For $18.75 Million

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former Sam Francis house, $18.75 million in Santa Monica Canyon, Calif.

A 12,400-square-foot home in Santa Monica, which was the former home of painter Sam Francis, has hit the market for $18.75 million.

The home has eight bedrooms and an excessive 13 bathrooms.

The true beauty and glory of the home comes with its water features. The property has fountains throughout and effortlessly combines indoor and outdoor living.

But here's the most amazing feature: the pool actually flows through the kitchen. It's covered by bullet-proof glass, allowing people to literally walk over water. 

There are two homes on the compound, making the estate perfect for either two families or for someone who wants to use one house for work and one to play.

"The first thing people notice about the estate are the monastery doors," West Side Estate Agency listing agent Carol Bird said. "You go through these beautiful gates and enter a very zen green with all of these water effects."

"When you're in the house, you feel one with nature," the listing agent, Bird, said.



The sound of the water features drown out the noise of the city below.



Christopher Sorensen, the architect, told us that the project took five years to complete.



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The All-You-Can-Eat KFC Buffet Is The Unicorn Of Fast Food

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kfc buffet

It's the stuff of legends — the all-you-can-eat KFC buffet.

Apparently, all you have to do is pay $8.99 and you can fill yourself with drumstick and mountains of mashed potatoes.

"The tip came in by way of a frantically excited friend of mine who spotted the unicorn-of-a-fastfood-specimen on a recent drive through the city of Banning, a town residing in the Southern California county of Riverside," writes Elie Ayrouth at Foodbeast.

"While this isn’t the only KFC in the world with a reported all-you-can-eat buffet, it’s the first time I’ve been privy to it."

Here's a pic of the fabled buffet:

kfc buffet 

Have you run into an all-you-can-eat KFC buffet lately – including the one in Banning? There should be more around the country.

Shoot me an email at kbhasin@businessinsider.com.

NOW SEE: A Step-By-Step Look At How McDonald's Makes Its Fries >

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YACHT OF THE WEEK: Take The Family On A Cruise On The $39 Million 'Were Dreams'

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yacht week were dreams sale charter luxury

Built in 2008, the "Were Dreams" is the perfect yacht for a family cruise. With large cabins separated by sliding walls, parents and children have their privacy but are never too far apart.

The yacht is 172 feet long and has a top speed of 15.5 knots. It is listed for sale by Ocean Independence, for 29,500,000 ($38,782,255).

The sun deck has plenty of space for hanging out.



And shade for those who want to avoid sunburns.



There's space for eating on the bridge deck, below it.



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SPOTTED: A Chrome Nissan 350Z In China

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Nissan stopped making the 350Z back in 2009, but this one still looks good, thanks to a chrome finish. It's not nearly as outrageous as the 'Winning' car from the Gumball 3000 or a half-chromed Bugatti Veyron, but it's not too shabby, either.

It was spotted in Urumqi, in northern China near Mongolia, and posted on Car News China, which shared it with us.

chrome nissan 350z roadster

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Here's What Happened To The Woman Who Lost Five Homes To Hurricanes

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melanie-martinez

Few stories stood out in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac than that of school bus driver Melanie Martinez, who huddled in her attic while the storm tore her home to shreds.

It wasn't the first time. Since the age of 3, Martinez, now 50, has seen five different homes destroyed by hurricanes, first  Betsy (1965), then Juan (1985), then George (1998) and Katrina (2005).

Days after Isaac passed, Getty photographer Mario Tama followed the Martinez family as they salvaged water-logged belongings from the wreckage. When we published his photos, the story caught the eye of OceanSafe, LLC, a large manufacturer of hurricane-proof building materials.

"[We] were touched by Melanie Martinez's story and are interested in assembling a team of people to help her rebuild without any out of pocket expenses," a company spokesperson said in an email. 

Initial plans were made and Martinez scouted property suitable for rebuilding. Then OceanSafe stopped calling.

"They wanted me to pay for [the property]," Martinez told me. "They were wanting to build it on my old land ... but I told them I wanted to get out of the flood zone."

Weeks went by, and with no sign of OceanSafe, Martinez was left with few options. Since September, she, her husband, who is disabled, and elderly mother have lived in her daughter's one-bedroom apartment. It's  far from a permanent solution, but the insurance money she's expecting from FEMA has yet to come through.

"It's just gotten hard," she said by phone Thursday. "We couldn't wait for them to build a house."

After weeks of trying, Business Insider got in touch with OceanSafe President Joseph Basilice Thursday, who helped explain the situation from his end. The real problem, he said, has been asking for charity from businesses in a community that has endured so much hardship.

"I've tried several avenues to get her something to get donated and I can't," he told me. "Even if we can get the material, we're just a manufacturer. I needed a building arm to actually do construction for her and right now nobody's jumping in to help... Everyone feels like they've done enough."

Terri Cercovich, a Louisiana native and managing editor of the Plaquemines Gazette, calls it 'Katrina Fatigue': There's a limit to people's generosity.

"It's easy to say [to homeowners], 'Well, move,' but what if you're an oyster fisherman like my family?" she told me in September. "How are they supposed to move to the suburbs of New Orleans and be two hours away from their boats?" 

Despite facing a lost opportunity with OceanSafe, Martinez hasn't had time for complaining. She's been through worse.

"We [just bid on] a house, a three-bedroom in Picayune, Mississippi," she said. "I wanted a bigger kitchen, but we're cramped up here and every time I go to buy a house, somebody else beats me. It's not the nicest house, but it'll do."

See Also: How Hurricane Isaac ravaged Martinez's home >

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The 23 Least Sexist Countries In The World

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Finland Helsinki

This week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its 2012 report analyzing gender inequality throughout the world, The Global Gender Gap Report 2012.

The report highlighted the changing nature of gender relations throughout some of the world's most diverse countries. But primarily, it featured the latest update of the Global Gender Gap Index

Introduced by the WEF in 2006, the index is a "framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress." The ranking metric is made up of four sub-categories: economic, political, education and health-based criteria.

Each of the 135 countries analyzed received a sub-score in all of the four categories on a 0-1 scale, and then an overall score based on the four sub-scores.

23. Mozambique

Overall score: 0.7350

Economic and participation opportunity score: 0.7988

Educational attainment score: 0.8267

Health and survival score: 0.9612

Political empowerment score: 0.3533

Source: World Economic Forum



22. United States of America

Overall score: 0.7373

Economic and participation opportunity score: 0.8143

Educational attainment score: 1.0000

Health and survival score: 0.9792

Political empowerment score: 0.1557

Source: World Economic Forum



21. Canada

Overall score: 0.7381

Economic and participation opportunity score: 0.7877

Educational attainment score: 0.9909

Health and survival score: 0.9780

Political empowerment score: 0.1959

Source: World Economic Forum



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This Was The Moment I Realized What The Wild Really Looks Like

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Tanzania Lions

After traveling more than 24 hours, I arrived yesterday at Sasakwa Airstrip in northern Tanzania, on the western corridor of the Serengeti, as part of a press trip to visit hotels and safari camps around the country.

My travel group was met by Simon, our Tanzanian tour guide, in an open-sided off-road vehicle. After a day's worth of travel, I expected to head straight to our lodge at Singita Grumeti Reserve's tent camp, Sabora.

Instead, I wound up on a three-hour game drive through a privately run reserve in the middle of the Great Migration, seeing more big game than most people see in a lifetime, including a close look at a lion eating a wildebeest. 

Matthew, our Coastal Airways pilot, took us from Arusha, Tanzania, to Sasakwa, in the center of Singita's Grumeti Reserve, a private 340,000 acre park.



Our 12-seat plane dropped us off at Sasakwa airstrip before heading to the Kenyan border.



Apart from the red dirt airstrip and a small tent, there was nothing but plains in every direction.



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Beautiful People Are Boring [STUDY]

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model wearing lipstickAs scientists find that attractive people tend to be conformist, you have to agree that ugly has more fun.

Beauty is boring. And the evidence is piling up. An article in the journal Psychological Science now confirms what partygoers have known forever: that beauty and charm are no more directly linked than a high IQ and a talent for whistling.

A group of scientists set out to discover whether physically attractive people also have appealing character traits and values, and found, according to Lihi Segal-Caspi, who carried out part of the research, that “beautiful people tend to focus more on conformity and self-promotion than independence and tolerance”.

Certainly, while a room full of beautiful people might be impressively stiff with the whiff of Chanel No 5, the intellectual atmosphere will be carrying a very low charge. If positive at all.

The grizzled and gargoyle-like Parisian chanteur, and legendary lover, Serge Gainsbourg always used to pick up the ugliest girls at parties. This was not simply because predatory male folklore insists that ill-favoured women will be more “grateful”, but because Gainsbourg, a stylish contrarian, knew that the conversation would be better, the uglier the girl.

Beauty is a conformist conspiracy. And the conspirators include the fashion, cosmetics and movie businesses: a terrible Greek chorus of brainless idolatry towards abstract form. The conspirators insist that women – and, nowadays, men, too – should be un-creased, smooth, fat-free, tanned and, with the exception of the skull, hairless. Flawlessly dull. Even Hollywood once acknowledged the weakness of this proposition: Marilyn Monroe was made more attractive still by the addition of a “beauty spot”, a blemish turned into an asset.

The red carpet version of beauty is a feeble, temporary construction. Bodies corrode and erode, sag and bulge, just as cars rust and buildings develop a fine patina over time. This is not to be feared, rather to be understood and enjoyed. Anyone wishing to arrest these processes with the aid of surgery, aerosols, paint, glue, drugs, tape and Lycra must be both very stupid and very vain. Hence the problems encountered in conversation with beautiful people: stupidity and vanity rarely contribute much to wit and creativity.

Fine features may be all very well, but the great tragedy of beauty is that it is so ephemeral. Albert Camus said it “drives us to despair, offering for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time”. And Gainsbourg agreed when he said: “Ugliness is superior to beauty because it lasts longer.” A hegemony of beautiful perfection would be intolerable: we need a good measure of ugliness to keep our senses keen. If everything were beautiful, nothing would be.

And yet, despite the evidence against, there has been a conviction that beauty and goodness are somehow inextricably and permanently linked. Political propaganda exploited our primitive fear of ugliness, so we had Second World War American posters of Japanese looking like vampire bats. The Greeks believed that beauty had a moral character: beautiful people – discus-throwers and so on – were necessarily good people. Darwin explained our need for “beauty” in saying that breeding attractive children is a survival characteristic: I may feel the need to fuse my premium genetic material with yours, so that humanity continues in the same fine style.

This became a lazy consensus, described as the “beauty premium” by US economists Markus M Mobius and Tanya S Rosenblat. The “beauty premium” insists that as attractive children grow into attractive adults, they may find it easier to develop agreeable interpersonal communications skills because their audience reacts more favourably to them. In this beauty-related employment theory, short people are less likely to get a good job. As Randy Newman sang: “Short people got no reason to live.” So Darwin’s argument that evolutionary forces favour a certain physical type may be proven in the job market as well as the wider world.

But as soon as you try to grasp the concept of beauty, it disappears. Our convictions about ugliness and beauty are the wrong way around. Beauty is characterless uniformity, while ugliness is fascinating, full of variety and a stimulating challenge. Maybe John Keats was wrong and it’s a thing of ugliness that’s a joy forever. For his part, Proust thought a taste for the ugly was aristocratic, since it suggested a noble reluctance to be merely pleasing.

Besides, definitions of the beautiful continuously change, mocking yet more thoroughly the victims of this conspiracy. The history of taste shows there are no fixed standards over time. The approved and the disapproved come and go. Thus Rubens’s roseate lard barrels in the 17th century, Kate Moss’s scrawny skeleton in ours.

Slaves to beauty are slaves to a passing moment. Kate Moss, listen to me. In 25 years, you will look ridiculous. Beautiful people can become ugly customers. And they will likely be more interesting for it.

'Ugly: The Aesthetics of Everything’ by Stephen Bayley (Goodman Fiell) is available from Telegraph Books for £23 + £1.35 p&p. Call 0844 871 1515 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

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Two Toddlers Allegedly Killed By Nanny In Upper West Side Tragedy

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nyc, new york skyline, sunrise, city scape, bi, dng

This is simply an unspeakable tragedy.

From New York Post:

A mother returned home to her luxury Upper West Side apartment on Thursday evening to find two of her children, a 2-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, fatally stabbed in a bathtub by the family’s nanny, the authorities said. The nanny herself lay on the floor, near a bloody knife, with an apparently self-inflicted slash to her own throat.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the mother, Marina Krim, had left her apartment a block from Central Park at 57 West 75th Street to take one of her children, a 3-year-old girl, to a swimming lesson. The two other children were left with the nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, 50.

According to the report, the screams could be heard throughout the building when the mother came in to find the children.

The father of the children, Kevin Krim, is the head of digital for CNBC.

The New York Post has more.

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The Hottest Real Estate Agent In The US Is Only 25 Years OId

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oren alexander real estate agent

Oren Alexander celebrated his 25th birthday by breaking the record for the most expensive home sold in Miami, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Indian Creek mansion sold for a cool $47 million. 

Alexander's accolades don't stop there. He's been named to Forbes' 30-under-30 most successful real estate agents list, was ranked No. 1 company wide for GCI Month of August, and was the top selling agent for Prudential Douglas Elliman in August 2009.

Alexander is apart of a growing trend of younger agents trying to break into the real estate scene. While Alexander might be a star of the younger generation, the median age of a real estate agents is still 56 years old, according to The WSJ.

Coming from a real estate family, Alexander learned the ropes of the luxury market from his parents at the age of 18, before heading off to the University of Colorado.

Alexander told The WSJ:

"Quite frankly, I'm addicted to my job—the hours, the lifestyle. I love that I get to hang out with wealthiest people in the world and it's considered work. Plus, being a broker is entrepreneurial—and entrepreneurship is dominating right now."

Currently, Alexander is marketing more than $175 million in property — including a $95 million mansion in Alpine, N.J.

To help market his luxury properties, Alexander takes to Twitter, tweeting photos of new properties going up around the city, or when news breaks in the industry. He has more than 4,800 followers.

The Real Deal dubbed Alexander "The Party Boy," spotting him at hot-spots such as Mister H or the Mulberry Project. He and his twin brother, Alon, were also named two of NYC’s hottest bachelors by Gotham Magazine in 2011.

DON'T MISS: Tour The $47 Million Mansion Oren Alexander Just Sold

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An 85 Year-Old New York City Steakhouse Is Closing Its Doors

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gallagher's steakhouse

Gallagher's Steakhouse is closing in January, Crain's New York reports.

The restaurant, located on West 55th Street, has been open since 1927 and is known for letting customers choose their own cuts. The restaurant cited economic reasons for its closure.

We know they have a lot of fierce competition, especially in Midtown where you have a ton of steakhouses like Wolfgang's and the new Striphouse, which has been garnering some attention.

Still, after the closure of Ben Benson's this spring, this hurts.

Click here to see the awesome steakhouses that remain>

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