Chineasy is a strategic, easy-learning project by entrepreneur ShaoLan Hsueh that teaches people to recognize Chinese characters through simple illustration. Watch ShaoLan's presentation at the DLD conference, and learn key characters and phrases in the video below.
Many thanks to our friends at DLD for giving us permission to publish this presentation.
With the global elite gathered at Davos for the World Economic Forum, a groundbreaking new report released yesterday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists detailing the massive offshore holdings of many of China’s “princelings,” and the newly released results of the Hurun Report’s annual survey of China’s high-net-worth individuals, China’s wealthy are in the spotlight this week.
Adding to this coverage is research firm Wealth-X, which has just released a white paper with eight predictions for China’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the upcoming Lunar New Year.
According to the paper, the richest of China’s ultra-rich will grow their fortunes faster than their merely ultra-high-net-worth peers, and their assets will become more liquid in the coming year.
They’re also going to be buying a huge number of new private jets and spending much more on luxury outside the mainland than they already are, according to its predictions. Here is the full list:
1. The population of Chinese UHNW individuals with net worth in excess of US$500 million will grow by almost 6% to 535 individuals, while the growth of the Chinese UHNW population is expected to stagnate.
2. Chinese UHNW individuals with net worth in excess of US$500 million will experience 4% growth in wealth to US$630 billion. Total Chinese UHNW wealth is expected to increase by only 2%.
3. Despite this performance, China’s total UHNW population and wealth will exceed Japan’s by 2026, the next Year of the Horse.
4. The liquidity of the average Chinese UHNW individual will increase from 12% to nearly 14% of net worth, still lower than the world average of 25%.
5. The proportion of Chinese UHNW individuals deriving their wealth from industrial conglomerates will increase from 5.5% to 6.5%.
6. 18% more of Chinese UHNW individuals’ luxury spending will be done outside Greater China (i.e. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong) this year, primarily in American and European markets.
7. The Chinese private jet market for UHNW individuals will grow by 30% in 2014.
8. Currently, only 1,050 UHNW individuals are non-resident Chinese living outside Greater China. This population will grow by 8% this year to 1,135.
Imagine you are a child. Girl or Boy. You are 13, 14 or 15, and gang members in your school are threatening to beat you, kidnap you or kill you.
They want money, but you are poor. They threaten to harm you and members of your family if you don’t pay them large sums and there seems to be no way for you to obtain those sums.
This is the situation faced by increasing numbers of teens living in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as gangs spread increasingly throughout their countries.
The kids are scared to death and clinging to a desperate hope: Escape their tormentors, get to the US, find work and send money back to protect their families. Unfortunately, the numbers of these “unaccompanied minors” is exploding.
According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which is alerting the public about this new trend, the numbers of children who will cross into the US without adult supervision is expected to be 60,000 this year. This represents nearly a tenfold increase in the number of unaccompanied minors in just three years.
According to a fact-finding delegation led by the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, there is a “perfect storm” of contributing factors pushing teens to leave their homes and attempt a perilous journey to the US. In addition to the fear of violence from gangs, these “push” factors include:
The absence of economic opportunity;
The inability of individuals and families to support themselves
The lack of quality education and access to education; and
The desire to reunify with family members in the US.
The USCCB held a forum on this disturbing trend on Jan. 9. Among those who attended was a consular official from Guatemala’s diplomatic corp. She told attendees that her country is overwhelmed with the number of migrating children. Since 70 percent of the kids are turned back at the US border, Guatemala is trying to identify funds to deal with the returned migrant youth. They would love to establish programs to help the kids stay in Guatemala, but for the most part the funds are not available.
Migrating teens often make multiple attempts till they make it into the US. USCCB believes that 30% eventually make it in, but they often incur significant debts to pay to smugglers, sometimes as much as $5,000 to $8,000. Farms and homes are being mortgaged to pay for these “coyote” fees. So when the teens get to the US, they are often desperate to find work and repay the loans.
The journey to the US is particularly dangerous for the migrating teens. Children are losing limbs as they try to board trains. Teen girls are especially vulnerable. Advocates believe 60% of girls are assaulted or raped during their trips; nearly one in four become pregnant on the journey. Both boys and girls are vulnerable to being trafficked.
What happens when the children make it to the US? Imagine being here at a very young age and being separated from your family. You may not speak the language. You have no safety net. US nonprofits are struggling to deal with the services needed by this most vulnerable population.
From our work on the Child Labor Coalition, we believe that many of these unaccompanied youth may end up performing hand harvest work in agriculture, a difficult and dangerous job. Most of these children will not make it into a school system. Their futures are very uncertain.
What can be done to help the incredibly vulnerable children trying to flee violence and dire poverty in their homelands? The USCCB delegation to the four source countries came up with several recommendations.
They include providing legal representation to the migrants, considering asylum for those children whose fear of gang violence is credible, having child welfare experts help assess the migrants when they are captured by border agents, and investing in prevention programs in the sending countries.
The 'Movember' movement, which sees men across the world grow out their facial hair in November to raise awareness about prostate cancer, has officially nicked the bottom line of at least one razor company.
The FT's Barney Jopson reports Procter & Gamble CFO Jon Moeller said there has been a secular decline in facial shaving that had been "exacerbated in the quarter we were just in because of the prostate cancer-related movement in North America to not shave facial hair in the month of November.”
A search of earnings transcripts on Seeking Alpha shows this appears to be the first time Movember had been cited in a shaving company's earnings report. The number of men who participate only topped 2 million in 2012.
P&G reported flat headline sales this morning, while second-quarter earnings fell 16%.
But core earnings beat Wall Street expectations. And Moeller added that "body shaving" was on the rise.
“While the incidence of facial shaving is somewhat down, the incidence of [male] body shaving is up, and we can take advantage of that and plan to do that as well,” he said.
"Movember" began in 2003 in Australia. In 2012 the U.S. faction of Movember-ers raised $21 million.
Our language needs quotation marks. Without them, we couldn't know who said what to whom or even what they meant.
Unfortunately, using them can prove tricky. Quotations marks appear in both double and single form with other punctuation placed inside or outside of them depending on the situation.
We've broken down what you need to know to use them correctly in American English.
The Uses
Direct quotes require quotation marks. If you want to write exactly what someone said or wrote, you'll need to use double quotations marks to offset the sentence or phrase.
Example: My brother said, "We should go to the liquor store and buy some Scotch."
Note: If a full paragraph of quoted material is followed by more quoted material, don't place a quotation mark at the end of the paragraph. Do, however, begin the next paragraph with a quotation mark.
Some titles require quotation marks. Many grammar guides — including the Associated Press Stylebook, which BI follows — list every title you need to surround with quotation marks. But we prefer a simple guideline for general writing: If the creative work exists inside a larger creative work, use quotes.
For example, you'd place an essay featured in a book within double quotation marks, while the book's title simply requires italics. A single track on a CD also needs quotation marks, as would an episode in a TV show or an article in a newspaper or magazine.
You can also use quotation marks to emphasize a word or phrase, often marking sarcasm or irony.
Example: Let's go "buy" some Scotch. (Maybe you intend to steal or otherwise nab a bottle for free.)
But many writers discourage these so-called scare quotes. They can mislead readers and seem a bit too snarky.
The Rules
First, let's address single quotation marks.
One rule covers this: Use single quotation marks instead of the standard double quotations within another quoted phrase. This holds true for direct quotes, titles, and scare quotes appearing in another quoted phrase.
Example: "Your brother just said, 'We should go to the liquor store and buy some Scotch,'" my friend explained.
Next, we'll go over proper punctuation placement around quotations. Again, these rules refer to American English. Don't listen to the Brits.
Periods always go inside quotation marks, except in sentences with a citation. (You can look up MLA and APA references on your own.)
You'll also never double-up on punctuation. Use a comma, period, question mark, etc., but don't use two of those in a row.
Commas at the end of quoted phrases go inside quotation marks.
Example: "We should go to the liquor store and buy some Scotch," my brother said.
Even though the quote in the above example is a complete sentence, never use a period until the end of the entire sentence.
Commas preceding quoted phrases go outside quotation marks.
Example: My brother said, "We should go to the liquor store and buy some Scotch."
If attribution occurs in the middle of a quote, place the first comma within the quotation marks and the second outside.
Example: "We should go to the liquor store," my brother said, "and buy some Scotch."
A comma will almost always separate a direct quote from an attribution. The only exceptions to this are when "that" precedes the quote or if the quote isn't a complete sentence.
When using question marks, placement depends on whether the entire sentence is a question or only the quote is a question.
If only the quote is a question, the question mark goes inside quotation marks.
Example: My brother said, "Should we go the liquor store?"
Even if the quoted question occurs in the middle of a sentence, you still need the question mark (and no comma).
Example: My brother said, "Should we go to the liquor store?" as we walked out the door.
If the entire sentence is a question, however, the question mark goes outside the quotation marks.
Example: Did my brother say, "We should go to the liquor store"?
Lastly, if both the entire sentence and the quote are questions, put the question back inside the quotation marks.
Example: Did my brother say, "Should we go to the liquor store?"
When you're quoting a question that's quoting another question, it's extremely difficult to know where to put the question mark. Technically, you should place a question mark between single and double quotation marks — as strange as that looks.
Example: My friend asked, "Did your brother just say, 'We should go to the liquor store'?"
The same rules for question marks apply to exclamation points.
Finally, colons and semi-colons always go outside quotation marks. You might think you won't ever use a semicolon, but it has nuanced purposes.
Now that you know all about quotation marks, you might really need to buy that Scotch.
NOW WATCH: People From Across America Reveal Their Favorite Regional Sayings
Great architects know how to meld personality and functionality in the astounding buildings they design.
Our friends at ArchDaily are determining the best new buildings from around the world. After receiving nominations from more than 3,500 projects featured on its site in the past year, the publication is asking readers to vote for their favorites.
We're taking a closer look at the nominees grouped by categories from commercial architecture to housing. Vote for your favorites at ArchDaily through January 29.
COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE: Fuel Station + McDonalds, Georgia
In a recent article for BBC Future, Frank Swain called Sophie de Oliveira Barata "the undisputed queen of personalized prosthetics."
With a background in art and special-effects makeup, she worked for a prosthetics manufacturer before deciding to strike out on her own. "It meant I could use my creative skills and do something massively rewarding," she told The New York Times.
In her UK studio, she creates remarkably realistic and wildly imaginative prosthetic limbs, custom-made based on each person's requests and dreams. She calls it The Alternative Limb Project.
Some of her bespoke prosthetics integrate surreal designs like snakes or stereos, but some are so real it's uncanny. She gave us permission to share images that show some of her realistic prosthetic creations as well as how they are made.
Here is Sophie de Oliveira Barata at work in her studio crafting a leg. She told us in an email that from start to finish, a realistic arm or leg takes her about a month to make.
While she's making a limb, the client who ordered it is invited into the studio while she works, so that she can match their skin tone, freckles, and limb shape exactly. Here is one of the prosthetic arms she's created. Check out how it's covered in freckles, just like her client's natural arm.
"Creases, blemishes, freckles and veins can be reproduced," de Oliveira Barata writes on her website. You can see the realistic creases in the palm of the hand below.
Super Bowl Squares is one of the most popular ways for Americans to bet on the Super Bowl. It's played on a 10 by 10 grid of squares, which people buy for a fixed price. Each square is assigned two numbers that aim to match the score of the Super Bowl. To get you ready, we crunched the numbers -- more than 14,000 games -- to see which numbers have the best odds of winning.
But when you're a restaurant that has inhabited West 55th Street since 1927, there's usually someone out there willing to keep the lights on. In this case, owner Marlene Brody sold the restaurant to Dan Poll, the operator of Boathouse.
“For more than 86 years, Gallaghers has been a part of the fabric of New York City,” said Poll, restaurateur and new owner of Gallaghers. “With this renovation, we’ve preserved the heart of the restaurant while completely modernizing the dining room, open kitchen, and event space upstairs, not to mention our updated menu.”
Naturally we'll be there checking it out, picking our own cuts of steak.
A significant portion of that cost came from the construction of nearly a dozen new venues.
Sochi was a resort town before it won the right to host the games. Two massive groups of venues had to be constructed essentially from scratch, at a high cost.
Some of the venues (the mountain ones especially) are spectacular. Others are a little bland.
The Olympic venues are divided into two areas — the "coastal cluster" and the "mountain cluster."
Let's start in the mountain cluster, which sits in the Caucasus Mountains.
The biathlon and alpine skiing center in Krasnaya Polyana.
A 35-year-old man who was known around the northern Belgian town of Ghent for dining and dashing was found dead in his apartment this week, the Associated Press reports.
Over the course of five years, Titus Clarysse reportedly dined at more than 100 restaurants in the area — ordering lavish meals and then leaving without paying the check.
Though it's still unclear whether Clarysse's infamous dining habits are connected to his death, Belgian officials are looking for suspects and calling his death a case of murder or manslaughter.
"Curse him? Maybe. But kill him? That makes no sense," Tim Joiris, head of the Ghent region restaurant and hotel federation, said to the AP. "We are not talking about an aggressive guy. He was just happy-go-lucky about it."
Clarysse depended on government aid and often ate extravagant meals that went far beyond his weekly 40 euro welfare check. After he finished his meal, he would just explain to restaurant staff that he had no money to pay the bill, according to Grub Street.
Though some would let him walk out with no penalty, others would call the police. Clarysse spent several nights in jail, which, according to Dutch newspapers, didn't bother him too much since he had eaten a good meal beforehand.
We gathered a few tips for cooking steak, bacon, and more.
From more hygienic practices, to hacks that will make cooking easier, here is the best advice we could find.
1. Using the same cutting board for meat and vegetables.
Uncooked meat will leave bacteria on everything it touches, including your cutting boards, utensils and your own hands.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends using separate boards for meat and vegetables.
But "if you can only have one board, cut all your vegetables first then go to your meat or fish, and wash in between,” Makiko Itoh, who runs the blog JustHungry.com, advised in a recent thread on Quora. “You should also keep all cooktops and work surfaces clean. Not to be overly paranoid but better safe than sorry later. Remember as a home cook you're the last line of defense food-health-wise for you and your family.”
To properly wash everything that has touched uncooked meat, use hot water and soap. The USDA also advises sanitizing cutting boards with bleach.
2. Thawing uncooked meat at room temperature.
The "danger zone" for bacterial growth in food is between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. So don't listen to anyone that tells you thawing meat on the counter is a good idea.
The USDA advises using a cold-water bath or the refrigerator to thaw meat. The latter method is the easiest: You just take the meat out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator. The meat should be thawed in 8 to 24 hours, depending on the weight.
For a quicker option, use a cold-water bath.
For this method, tightly seal your meat and place it in a bowl or pot of cool water. Change the water every 30 minutes so it continues to thaw. The process should take an hour or less for a one-pound package. A three-to-four pound package may take two or three hours.
3. Cutting meat too soon after cooking.
It's important to let your meat cool for a couple minutes after cooking. "That cooling-off time helps the juices, which migrate to the center of the meat, to be distributed more evenly throughout," according to Cooking Light magazine. "With small cuts like a steak or boneless, skinless chicken breast, five minutes is adequate. A whole bird or standing rib roast requires 20 to 30 minutes. Tent the meat loosely with foil to keep it warm."
4. Keeping raw meat in the refrigerator for too long.
For raw ground meats, poultry and most seafood, the USDA recommends refrigerating for no more than two days. Raw roasts, steaks and chops (beef, veal, lamb, and pork) can stay in the refrigerator for up to five days. So if you aren't going to cook it right away, it's best to freeze it.
5. Not properly freezing your meat.
If you are getting meat from the butcher, don't just throw the wrapped package into the freezer and forget about it. The quality of the meat will be preserved better (and you won't get freezer burn) if you wrap it properly in wax paper or aluminum foil (or both, as described here) and then seal it in an air-tight freezer bag.
6. Crowding your pan.
"Food releases moisture as it's cooked, so leave room for the steam to escape," Cooking Light advises. By overcrowding the pan, you won't get the brown, caramelized crust that is critical for flavor.
7. Frying bacon in a pan.
To avoid the splattering, smoky mess of frying bacon on a stove top, consider cooking it in the oven. It's a surefire way to get the perfect, crispy strips you want without all the work and mess that the traditional method demands.
Simply place the bacon strips on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and stick them in the cold, unpreheated oven. Turn the heat to 400 degrees and set the timer for 18 minutes. Your bacon will be golden and crispy every time. For another oven-baked bacon recipe, click here.
8. Slicing meat at room temperature.
If you are slicing meat into small chunks for a stir fry or a stew, partially freezing it will make cutting a lot easier. Popping thawed meat in the freezer for about 30 minutes should do the trick.
9. Using worn wooden cutting boards with raw meat.
Some cooks warn against using wooden cutting boards with uncooked meat, poultry and seafood, saying bacteria can get stuck in the grooves of the wood. However, the USDA says nonporous surfaces, such as wood, are fine for raw meat as long as the boards aren't worn and cracked and they are properly cleaned and sanitized.
"Once cutting boards become excessively worn or develop hard-to-clean grooves, they should be discarded," the USDA advises.
10. Using warm water to thaw your meat.
Beginner cooks can become impatient with the cold-water thawing method, and might think that using warm water will quicken the process. But using warm water is no safer than letting it sit out on the counter, because it subjects your meat to the "danger zone."
Not all of us paid attention in high school English class, but that doesn't mean the assigned books weren't worth reading (or re-reading).
And maybe it's finally time to enjoy "The Grapes of Wrath" and other classics, instead of just the CliffsNotes version.
Miriam Tuliao, assistant director of central collection development at the New York Public Library, helped us create a list of 25 American classics everyone should read.
From John Steinbeck's masterpiece to Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," these 25 titles are worth your time (listed here in alphabetical order).
Do you think another book belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments.
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Published in 1943
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is the heartwarming coming-of-age story of the young and idealistic Francie Nolan as she grows up in the slums of Williamsburg during the early 20th century.
An avid reader and lover of penny candy, Francie is a sweet and lovable narrator who must also face the horrors of life — battling sexual assault, extreme loneliness, and lost love — in an effort to survive (and prosper) despite her environment.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
Published in 1884
Considered to be one of the great American novels, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" follows Huck Finn and his friend Tom Sawyer as they travel along the Mississippi River and through the 19th century antebellum South with a freed slave named Jim.
It was the first book written in vernacular English, and though it's frequently challenged for use in the U.S. public school system's curriculum due to racial stereotypes and frequent slurs, many modern academics argue the book is an attack on racism.
The lengthy "Atlas Shrugged" is set in a fictional dystopian United States where all the world's movers and shakers have abandoned society, leaving the world and the remaining people in a state of flux.
No matter your opinion on the underlying concept of the book — that capitalism is goodness itself — Ayn Rand's philosophical book is considered by many to be her magnum opus and one need not agree with her to appreciate it.
In an interview at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, we asked Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America, if the 2020 mark seemed premature.
He declined to speculate about others' efforts, but said, "I don't see that happening for BMW."
Willisch did little cheerleading for cars that drive themselves: "We would not say that going from A to B automatically should be done by the car. It should be done by the driver. Otherwise the whole notion of being the 'ultimate driving machine' would go away."
It might be good for lesser brands, he added: "Maybe if you have some car, some brand that's not at all exciting to drive, it probably is okay if you're driven by the car. Because you're not losing anything."
The point is, if you buy a BMW, you'll want to drive it, not let some computer have all the fun. An exception would be driving in heavy traffic, when driving is boring and you might as well read the newspaper.
But that stance doesn't seem to match up with the show BMW put on at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month in Las Vegas. It presented a prototype M325i which didn't just drive itself around a track — it drifted. That's the coolest thing a self-driving car has done since Google's version took a blind guy to Taco Bell.
To find out where BMW really stands on this, we turned to Dave Buchko in product and technology communications. He explained there is in fact a happy middle ground.
"BMW does not make cars for people who don't like to drive," Buchko told us in an email. But it recognizes that boring or aggravating driving circumstances (long highway distances, heavy traffic) create a risk for a risky "lapse in attention."
The CES demonstration, "while fun, was not meant to suggest that the company’s aim is to build the self-drifting car but to demonstrate that in order for highly automated driving assistant systems to be viable," they have to be able to take over in intense conditions. Thus, the awesome shot of the car sliding sideways around a corner, fully in control.
"We still think that whatever electronics you have in the car," Willisch said, "it should support the driver, not dominate the driver."
So you drive when you want to. The car can take over when things get boring or dangerous. For those who love being behind the wheel, but hate traffic and prefer not to crash when things get out of control, that's great news.
Microsoft on Friday apologized for promoting its cloud-computing service, Windows Azure, with a marketing campaign that implied: "So easy, even an older woman can do it."
An earlier tweet on its @WindowsAzure Twitter account showed a picture of a woman with the words: "What do you do when your 68-year-old secretary needs Active Directory Multi-Factor Authentication? Ask Dear Azure."
By the way, despite the geeky term, "Multi-Factor Authentication" isn't all that complicated. It simply means using two kinds of passwords to log in, like typing in a password and also swiping a keycard.
The tweet caused backlash, as people pointed out the wrongness of the so-simple-your-mother-can-do-it concept.
And that prompted Microsoft to apologize.
The happy ending is that people liked Microsoft's apology. As James Arlen, who goes by the handle @myrcurial, noted in a reply tweet:
Saying "I screwed up" is much > than saying "It is unfortunate that you were offended"
It's fair to note, however, that as far as corporate culture goes, Microsoft is about average in the tech industry; about 24% of Microsoft employees are women, or about 23,800 people, the company says. The Census Bureau says that nationwide, women make up about 27% of the science and technology workforce.
But the incident showed how hard it is to shake this stereotype. There's even a website dedicated to outing the times tech companies use it, called Geek Feminism. It explains:
Female computer users (particularly middle-aged or elderly ones) are often used as a hypothetical or even actual test of ease of use, on the assumption that if such a person can use a program, anyone can. No phrase expresses the meme of female technical ineptitude more neatly than "So simple, even your [grand]mother could do it." This is a very commonly encountered form of condescension.
On top of that, this is the second time this week we noticed Microsoft tweeting something that could be interpreted as sexist. Earlier this week, its BizSpark Twitter account promoted a new Russian online beauty contest called "MissWeb."
MissWeb is a part of Microsoft's BizSpark program for startups. Some impressive companies got their start as BizSpark members, like Yammer and Huddle.
In this case, MissWeb is a site that asks men to vote for women based on their looks.
But as Microsoft spokesperson explained:
With more than 75,000 startups participating in the BizSpark program, we are here to support the entrepreneurial community. We have a robust review process to ensure that startups accepted into the program meet our requirements. We do not judge business plans of applicants and instead let the market decide the viability of their company. If a startup is involved in unlawful activities, we revoke their membership.
Are you a woman over 40 working in the tech industry with a story to tell about what that's like? We want to hear it. We are discreet. jbort@businessinsider.com or @Julie188 on Twitter.
It was a record-breaking 12 months. TSA officers discovered 1,813 firearms, more than 80% of them loaded. That's an all-time high, and a 16.5% jump over 2012's haul of 1,556.
Included in the "notable firearm incidents" category is the time officers found a fully loaded .22 caliber gun in the boot of a passenger at Salt Lake City. Also, the seven undeclared firearms found in a checked toolbox at Miami.
Here's sampling of some TSA firearm finds:
When you search 1.7 million passengers a day, you find more than guns. There were a lot of swords hidden in canes as well:
And fragments of a human skull, discovered in clay pots in a checked bag at Fort Lauderdale. "They did slow screening down a bit since the area quickly became a crime scene," the TSA writes.
Someone hid this wood and metal mace in their carry-on bag:
A particularly scary find was this inert suicide vest belonging to an explosives instructor, discovered at Indianapolis in March. At the time, the TSA recommended that other instructors "contact their preferred shipper about mailing the training aids to their destination."
And this is just a sampling of the throwing stars found in 2013:
So far in 2014, things haven't slowed down. The TSA reported earlier this month it found 42 guns, 37 of them loaded, in the space of a week.
We recently saw renderings of the apartment building's interiors, and the designs are magnificent.
Designer Deborah Berke's says her focus was to make the most of the apartments' perch above the city. Double-height ceilings and beautiful oak flooring are highlights, while huge square windows provide an unparalleled view.
The building has two penthouses, one on the 96th floor that sold for $95 million and another on the 95th, currently priced at $85 million.
The building's architect Rafael Viñoly made news back in September when his Walkie Talkie building wreaked havoc on London's streets, emitting a reflection so hot it melted cars and literally fried eggs on the sidewalk. But if these renderings are any indication, this building should be more of a success.
From the outside, rows of six 100-square-foot windows give the building the square look of a waffle iron.
Inside, Berke's design is just as geometric. The huge windows are in a straight line from the front door, making the most of the apartment's perch above the city.
According to Berke, the oak herringbone floors are a take on Park Avenue's more traditional apartment buildings.
The kitchens will be outfitted with sleek marble countertops and stainless steel appliances.
But the kitchen's best feature has to be this 10-foot-long marble breakfast bar framed against the window. Just imagine enjoying your morning coffee here, with all of Manhattan sprawled out below you.
The master suite's floor plan was designed so that the bed would be perfectly aligned with the window, offering the best views possible first thing in the morning.
The master suite has separated his and hers bathrooms. Looking north from the marble-covered shower, you'll get a peek of Central Park and the Upper East Side. And to the south, views of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and the Freedom Tower can all be enjoyed from this free-standing tub.
432 Park will dramatically change the skyline around Central Park once it's completed in 2015.
Listen to designer Deborah Berke discuss her renderings and concept below.
People are getting fat. The exact statistics are disputed, but around 35% of Americans and 25% of British people are now obese.
With all this excess body fat hanging around, those of larger proportions have certain priorities when purchasing a new car. Road handling and fuel economy are all well and good, but fitting inside is more important. Fitting inside a car is not just a matter of comfort, it’s also a safety issue. If the driver’s breastbone is too close to the steering wheel, the risk of injury becomes much higher in the event a crash.
But while there’s all sorts of things for a larger driver to consider, such as the adjust ability of the steering wheel, an automatic gearbox and the length and strength of the seatbelt, it’s the size and shape of the seats that matter the most.
As a general rule, the bigger the car, the more comfortable a fat person will be. But while SUVs might seem like the best bet, there are plenty of midsize cars that are designed with a larger behind in mind. A flatter and wider front seat in a small family car is better suited to fat rolls than an SUV kitted out with bucket-style seats.
We have searched high and low for the cars that will best fit your obese frame and the obese frames of your family and friends. Here are our top picks.
Toyota Land Cruiser
If you’re going to go big, do it properly. The Toyota Land Cruiser is not only indestructible, as fleets of UN-branded ones throughout the world will testify, they are also carnivorous inside. With 61.0 inches of front shoulder room and 59.8 inches of front hip room, the Japanese behemoth puts other SUVs to shame.
Audi A8
If you want interior space, you want a luxury sedan, and if you want a luxury sedan, you want an Audi A8. It might not have the badge cachet of its Mercedes or BMW rivals, but the latest A8 is the ultimate way to travel in luxury. The unparalleled engineering doesn’t stop with the driving mechanics, it continues into the cabin. If the 60.1 inches of hip room in the front aren’t enough, you could hire a chauffeur and recline first class – airline style, in the back.
Chrysler 300
The Chrysler 300 looks like the type of car that is used to deliver horse heads around town. The mafia look is enhanced if you avoid the temptation to install the Bentley style grill and stick with the chromed egg crate design. As well as looking mean, the Chrysler sports a very generous interior, with 59.5 inches of front shoulder room and 56.2 inches of front hip room it should have no problem swallowing your bulk.
Ford Taurus
In the 1990s, before it fell out of favour with the car-buying public, the Ford Taurus was the best selling car in the United States. But now it’s back and Ford have given it a secret weapon that might help it regain its place on the bestsellers list: ample waist room. Its 57.9 inches of front shoulder room and 56.3 inches of front hip room should be more than sufficient for even the most dedicated Big Mac eaters.
Lincoln Town Car
For those whose width even the widest of car seat won’t accommodate, a front bench seat is the best option. Unfortunately, 2011 saw the death of the bench seat with the Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS, Chevrolet Impala, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis all going out of production, so your purchase will have to be second hand. The Lincoln is a classic and easily the pick of the bunch, as long as you’re not wider than the car, there will be a way of fitting you inside.
Ford Transit
While cars no longer come with bench seats, small commercial vehicles still do. The Ford Transit, which has been a fixture of European roads since 1965 and has finally made its way into North America, is the finest light commercial vehicle ever made. It doesn’t quite have a bench seat, but with no centre console there’s nothing to restrict overflowing muffin tops.
Nissan Altima
The Nissan Altima is as dull as dishwater. Nothing quite says “designed by a committee” like Nissan’s mid-size family car. But with 56.8 inches of front hip room, it appears that Nissan knew its target audience. Just remember not to buy the new model which came out in 2013 and was a little more stingy with its girth allowances.
Honda Accord
Another runaway Japanese success, Honda has shifted millions of these mid-sized family cars since they first started producing them in 1976. The front seats have 56.6 inches of hip room, but that’s not the big story here. The Honda’s seats have minimal bolstering on the side which works wonders for shoehorning even the widest of rear ends into position.
Acura ZDX
The bizarre looking ZDX was developed by Honda for Acura, its luxury car division, and has more going for it than sci-fi chic. It comes stuffed with technological niceties including a “collision mitigating braking system” and advanced ventilated seats. Not only do the seats stop pools of sweat from forming, they are really wide; the ZDX has 57.3 inches of hip room.
Cadillac Escalade
Go big or go home. The Escalade is the only choice when size is all that matters. While it might have been derided by the car press for its appalling ride and obnoxious styling, the Escalade is perfect for the big-boned. The seats themselves aren’t massive, but there’s acres of space on either side of them that will happily accommodate any overspill.
Hiroo Onoda, soldier of the Japanese imperial army, died on January 16th, aged 91
Before he approached the tent where his commanding officer waited on March 9th 1974, Hiroo Onoda did two things. First, he inspected his rifle. (The Arisaka 99 still worked perfectly; over almost 30 years he had treated it as tenderly as a baby.) Then he retied his boots. Nothing must be slipshod. A soldier of the god-emperor had to be pure, prepared and spiritually invincible.
He had taken elaborate care to get this far. All his guerrilla training had been employed in case, as he suspected, he was walking into a trap. He had planned the meeting for the evening, when there would be just enough light to recognize a face but not enough to hinder his escape, if necessary. Palm and bosa trees hid him as he crept down from the mountains. To cross clearings, he camouflaged his threadbare army uniform—more neatly sewn patches than uniform—with sticks and leaves. Wherever it was safe, he rested.
It was helpful that, after three decades living off the land, he was familiar with every inch of Lubang Island in the Philippines. He knew when local farmers would be about, and where, because he stole coconuts and mangoes from them and shot their cattle in order to survive. Sometimes he killed the farmers, too. After all, this was war, and he had his orders. The orders were that, though the rest of the Japanese army had withdrawn from the island in February 1945 when the Americans invaded, he, as an intelligence officer, should stay, spy on the enemy and wait for his colleagues to return. So he had waited.
In the beginning he commanded a unit of three men, but they had died at various points, two shot by the Philippine police. The war had gone very quiet, so quiet that in 1964, to his surprise, America and Japan competed in apparent amity at the Olympic games. But the island still crawled with American agents and spies, who kept dropping leaflets urging him to surrender. All of it was trickery, he thought. He told the young Japanese hiker who eventually found him that he would not stop fighting until his commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, ordered him to cease in person. So on that day in 1974 the elderly major, now a bookseller, especially summoned from Japan, gave him his new orders. Mr Onoda at once laid down his rifle, 500 rounds, his ceremonial sword and sword-belt and his dagger in its white case, and saluted the flag of the rising sun.
If it was not a surrender, it still felt crushingly like one. For Major Taniguchi informed him not only that the war was over, but that Japan had lost. Mr Onoda’s first thought was: how could they be so sloppy? Rather than lose, rather than lay down arms like this, a Japanese soldier was supposed to die. And he felt like dying. “Do not live in shame,” General Tojo had written; “leave no ignominious crime behind you.” His mother had given him his dagger, as he left for active service, to kill himself with if he was captured.
She meant it, for when he behaved uncontrollably at the age of six she had taken him to the family shrine to commit harakiri then and there. Of course he hadn’t been able to cut his small, quaking belly. Who could, at six? Later, it would have been almost easy. But in fact his orders in 1945 had been to stay alive, not to die. Intelligence officers were more useful that way. It meant he risked being an outcast when he returned to Japan, simply because he had not made the supreme sacrifice and added his name to the divinities honour ed at the Yasukuni shrine. His duty, however, was to spend every moment serving his country in exactly the way he had been told.
That civic imperative was what mattered, he said later; nothing personal or individual. But pride entered the equation, too. He was fiercely competitive, honed with kendo and swimming—though also with a 50-a-day cigarette habit before he went into hiding—and loved to show off how well he could fend for himself. The man who kept neat and trim for years in the jungle had also cut quite a figure at 18 in central China, as a traveling salesman for a lacquer ware company, driving a 1936 Studebaker and wearing English tailored suits. He had style and stubbornness as well as self-discipline. Outside reports said he wept uncontrollably as he laid his rifle down. He merely wrote that, in the course of delivering a night-long field report that covered 29 years, he faltered once or twice.
Returning to Japan as a hero, he did not know what had become of the place. He found it cowed, drowsy, and denuded of self-confidence. Japan was blamed for the East Asian war when, in his view, it had had no choice but to fight in order to survive. The Americans, who had stripped the country of its military power and made the emperor a cypher, also seemed to have drained away the national will. After barely a year at home, loudly on the right of politics, Mr. Onoda left for Brazil to be a cattle-rancher and take a wife. He eventually came back to establish a school where modern Japanese children could learn to survive in the wild, like him.
In 2007 he offered his “words to live by” to the Japan Times. Almost all were to do with civic duty and self-reliance. One thought stood out: “There are some dreams from which it is better not to wake.” By which he meant, he explained, his long dream of war.
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Hiroo Onoda, soldier of the Japanese imperial army, died on January 16th, aged 91
