Prudential Douglas Elliman executive vice president Christopher Poore wouldn't want to be living or selling in any other period in New York City more than right now.

The New York Daily News asked Poore, "In which era in NYC history would you want to be selling or living?"

He responded:

Right now. The market is hot as supply is limited. New development is also on the rise. It is truly an exciting time.

Poore is one of the city's top real estate agents, so he has his thumb on the pulse of what's happening in the world of New York City real estate.

And it's on track for its best year ever.

"Without question, 2012 is shaping up to be the best year in Luxury Sales ever recorded," Donna Olshan, of Olshan Realty, told Business Insider last week.

Poore told the Daily News to keep an eye on Hell's Kitchen and NoMad (north of Madison Square Park). He said the two are emerging neighborhoods with "burgeoning culinary and shopping scenes," and that  new Developments are also popping up in the areas.

DON'T MISS: A Duplex At Trump Park Avenue Is On Sale For $25.9 Million

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This morning, Mercedes-Benz released photos and details of the brand new, much anticipated SLS AMG Black Series. It does not disappoint.

Inspired by the SLS AMG GT3 race car, this Black Series is built for luxury driving at blazing speeds. The 622 horsepower delivered by the hand-built engine are not the best out there, but it's hard to find a car that combines that sort of power with these looks.

The SLS AMG Black Series, here in bright yellow, will make its public debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month.

It was inspired by the SLS AMG GT3 race car.

The 6.3-liter V8 engine is hand-built and generates 622 hp. Only the SLS AMG Electric Drive has more (740 hp).

That's good for a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds, and a top speed of 196 mph.

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What tricks do sellers and their agents use when setting the price of a home? To find out, we looked at the asking prices of homes for sale on Trulia since October 2011, excluding foreclosures, to see whether certain numbers show up in home prices more than others. We found that some numbers are a lot more popular than others, and different lucky numbers turn up in home prices in different regions of country.

Of course, lucky numbers aren’t the only factor sellers and their agents use in setting asking prices. A seller who loves the number 54 isn’t going to price a home at $540,000 if it’s really worth $200,000. But they might work “54” somewhere into the price without straying too much from the home’s expected value, such as pricing at $200,540.

To find patterns, we looked for numbers that appeared anywhere in the asking price, and we paid special attention to the “last non-zero digit” in the price. For instance, in the above example, the last non-zero digit of $200,540 is 4, and the last non-zero digit is 9 in $149,999, $259,900, and $11,900,000. 

Nearly all home prices – 96% – end in 0, and the vast majority – 91% – end in 00. The last non-zero digit is the number that “costs” the least to set based on marketing psychology, tradition, or superstition because it won’t change the value of the home as much as digits further up in the price. It turns out that 9 is, by far, the most popular last non-zero digit in asking prices, so let’s start there.

The Power of 9
The number 9 shows up in a lot of everyday prices. A Ronco knife set costs $39.99, the featured product on Trader Joe’s website last week was roasted & mashed sweet potatoes for $2.49, and my 16-gig iPad mini is $329. Why do prices of goods so often end in 9? One theory is that people rarely have exact change when a price ends in 9, and in a traditional retail store the cashier needs to open the register to make change, and therefore can’t cheat the storeowner by pocketing the cash and not recording the sale. Of course, that’s irrelevant in a world of credit cards, debit cards, and online shopping, so another reason prices end in 9 is perception: those Ronco knives sound like a much better deal at $39.99 than at $40 because the price is in the $30 range, rather than in the $40 range.

Do home prices use the same psychology? Absolutely. Even though the vast majority of home prices end in 0, the most common last non-zero digit is 9: more than half – 53% – of home prices have 9 as their last non-zero digit. The next most common is 5, which is a nice halfway point between round numbers. No other digit comes close to 9 and 5.

Do sellers use 9’s to make asking prices seem cheaper? We put on our data-miner hardhats and dug a little deeper to find out. It looks like the answer is yes, for a couple of reasons:

1. Expensive homes are less likely to have a 9 in the price. Only 25% of homes listed for one million dollars or more have a 9 as the last non-zero digit, compared to 53% of all listed homes. Perhaps sellers think buyers who are ready to spend two million on a home won’t be fooled into thinking it’s a bargain at $1,999,900, and those buyers probably aren’t looking for bargains in the first place.
2. On homes with price reductions, the reduced price is even more likely to have a 9 as the last non-zero digit than the original price was. In other words, as sellers get more eager – or desperate – to sell, they’re more likely to price with a 9. On homes with reductions, the original price had 9 as the last non-zero digit 52% of the time, while the reduced price had 9 as the last non-zero digit 54% of the time.

Since lower-cost homes and reduced-price homes are more likely to have 9 in the price, it seems sellers or their agents use 9’s to signal a good deal.

Here’s a puzzle: 9 is the last non-zero digit in more than two thirds of listings in upstate New York (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse) and several New England metros (Boston, Hartford, Worcester, MA), but in less than one third of listings in El Paso, Omaha, Tacoma, Seattle, and Honolulu. Why would sellers in upstate New York and New England think 9 is the right pricing strategy so much more than sellers elsewhere? We’re stumped.

Lucky Numbers Across the USA
Pricing with 9’s is a strategic move to make homes (or Ronco knives) seem like a better bargain. But what about lucky 7, unlucky 13, and other numbers with special meaning? Let’s spin through the digits:

• 13: For a variety of reasons, triskaidekaphobia is widespread. Lots of hotels and office buildings skip the 13^th floor, and Friday the 13^th has long been considered a highly unlucky day. Plenty of sellers skip the number 13, too. We looked for the number 13 anywhere in a home price – such as $136,000 or $213,900 – and found it to be much less common than the numbers on either side of 13. The number 13 appears in asking prices 13% less often than the number 12 and 17% less often than the number 14.

• 7: Where is 7 lucky? Las Vegas and Reno, of course, where 7’s are what you want to see on the slot machines. You might not think selling a home has a connection to gambling, but home prices in Nevada are more likely to have a 7 in the price than in the rest of the US. In Nevada, 3.8% of list homes have 7 as the last non-zero digit, compared with 2.8% of listed homes outside Nevada – which means that 7 is 37% more common in Nevada than in other states. Triple-7 is very rare in home prices anywhere – it’s found in only 8 out of every 10,000 asking prices – but is three times more common in Nevada than in the rest of the country.

• 3:16 and 6-6-6: These numbers represent the good and bad of Christian numerology. John 3:16 ranks #1 in many lists of the most popular Bible verses, even before Tim Tebow put those numbers on his eye-black. At the other extreme, the number 666 represents the devil. We guessed these numbers would resonate the most in America’s Bible Belt, which covers most of the South, aside from South Florida, and is disproportionately Baptist. (For our analysis, we used the Association of Religion Data Archives to identify counties with high shares of Baptists.) Our hypothesis held true: both 316 and 666 are significantly more likely to appear in Bible Belt home prices. The number 316 is 27% more likely to appear somewhere in a home price in the Bible Belt than in the rest of the country – though 316 is very rare everywhere, showing up in roughly 3.4 out of every 10,000 asking prices nationally. And good wins out over evil: the number 666 shows up in less than 1 out of every 10,000 asking prices. Even so, 666, like 316, is more common in Bible Belt home prices than outside the Bible Belt – 39% more common, in fact. Apparently, in this region, both God AND Satan are in the details.

• 8: Nevada may love its 7’s, and the Bible Belt its 316, but nothing approaches the importance of the number 8 in Chinese culture. The Chinese word for 8 sounds like a word that means “prosper,” “fortune,” or “wealth,” making 8 a very lucky number in Chinese culture. Need proof? The Beijing Olympics officially began at 8:08:08 pm on 8/8/08, and United Airlines flight 888 is non-stop San Francisco to Beijing. For home prices, we compared the prevalence of 8’s in neighborhoods where the US Census reports that the majority of residents are of Asian ethnicity, like Monterey Park in Los Angeles and Flushing in Queens, NY, with the rest of the US. (The Census doesn’t distinguish between Chinese and other Asian backgrounds.) In non-Asian-majority neighborhoods, 8 is the last non-zero digit in just 4% of home listings. But in Asian-majority neighborhoods, 8 is the last non-zero digit in 20% of home listings. And, among homes listed for at least a million, a whopping 37% of homes in Asian-majority neighborhoods have 8 as the last non-zero digit!

Setting the right asking price for your home isn’t all science and it isn’t just an art: sellers and their agents pick numbers to signal their strategy, and to appeal to the traditions and superstitions of local buyers. Housing is local, and so are lucky numbers in home prices. And that’s just one more reason to know the market when you’re selling your home.

(To recap, check out this infographic outlining all the findings below.)

NOW READ: 6 Features Every Home Buyer Should Have On Her Wish List >

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Even if you don't believe in lucky numbers, you should remember how many people do.

WSJ's Sanette Tanaka compiles some amazing statistics about the role of lucky numbers in real estate listings:

• In Asian neighborhoods, where the number 8 is associated with wealth, 20 percent of listings contain that lucky number, compared to only 4 percent of listings in non-Asian neighborhoods.
• In the Bible Belt, homes are 27 percent more likely to include 316 in the listing price, a tribute to John 3:16 in the New Testament. Strangely enough the number 666, which is associated with the devil, is also 39 percent more common in the Bible Belt.
• The number 13 is 15 percent less likely to appear in a listing, than 12 and 14 throughout the country.
• 55 percent of luxury listings have the digit 5 in the price, because humans associated 5 as the middle between 1 and 10, we think it's in the middle between a bargain and expensive.

Chinese seem to pay the most attention to lucky numbers, according to the WSJ. They also avoid unlucky numbers, like 4, which sounds like their word for death.

DON'T MISS: Some Real Estate Agents Will Go To Crazy Extremes To Sell A House

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A London commodities trader racked up a £40,000 bill, or about $63,000, in his quest to impress a Hollywood star during a night out with his friends.

According to multiple sources, the man — who has not yet been identified — was celebrating Halloween at the exclusive club Raffles in Chelsea. He arrived at around 9:30 p.m, but the spending really got going at around 11:00 p.m. when Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro arrived and sat near them, according to the Daily Mail.

One onlooker told The Sun: “The trader was clearly getting into the spirit of the night, and he wasn’t holding back .. He’d obviously had a good day at the office and wanted to treat his friends."

By the time the party ended at two in the morning, the man had spent $5,200 on two bottles of Belvedere vodka, $38,100 on three bottles of Dom Perignon champagne, $2,400 worth of Don Julio 1942 tequila, and $140 on Red Bull. The bill also included a tip for $8,000.

“This is one of our higher spends," according to a Raffle spokesman. “We’re a members only club so obviously we attract a wealthy clientele and we’re more than happy to serve them when they want to enjoy themselves.” 

LONDONERS KEEP GETTING IN TROUBLE: Hedge Funders lose their cool while trapped in an elevator

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Late fashion designer Gianni Versace's Miami mansion just took a huge 20 percent price chop, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

The home, which was put on the market earlier this year for $125 million, is now just $100 million.

 A special type of buyer will go after this place — it's truly wild.

Versace bought the home in 1992 for $10 million and then invested $33 million in the property, adding a 6,100-square-foot south wing, a 54-foot-long mosaic-tiled pool lined with 24-karat gold, a mosaic-covered courtyard, and frescoes on the home's walls and ceiling.

The house has 10 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, and overlooks the ocean.

Called Casa Casuarina, it was transformed into a boutique hotel after Versace's death.

The listing agent told Forbes that they had already received about 15 calls inquiring into the property back in June, but clearly none panned out.

Jill Eber, the listing agent, told The WSJ that the seller, Telecom entrepreneur Peter Loftin, lowered the price "to open it up to more prospective buyers, just as Miami hits its busy selling season."

Welcome to 1116 Ocean Drive.

The listing agents, The Jills, produced a comprehensive video tour of the property.

A morbid fact: Versace was killed outside the house in 1997.

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It's starting to cool down on the East Coast, and we can't think of a better way to warm up than next to a fireplace.

We wouldn't mind curling up near any of these gorgeous fireplaces.

 This fireplace from Chesney's is called The Langley. It's in their Regency collection. The fireplace is 58 3/16" wide x 51 7/16" high. You can purchase it here.

 This fireplace from Eldorado Stone Fireplace is called the "SoHo Boutique." The fireplace is 49 1/2" high and 61" wide. Buy it here for $1,499.

We love this stone fireplace from Napoleon. The bricks used weigh 132 lbs. Buy it here through a dealer.

 This clean face gas fireplace is on sale from Town and Country. The fireplace has an electronic ignition which lights at a push of a button. Buy it here. 

 This Tennyson Ivory Electric fireplace doubles as a bookshelf. It's on sale through the Home Shopping Network for $749. Buy it here.

DON'T MISS: The 10 Most Outrageous Ski Homes Currently On The Market

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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pressuring financial services to relax fees for New Yorkers in the superstorm's path.

He's already blocked insurers from charging consumers hurricane deductibles on their claims, and now he's rolling out two new breaks for victims — on student loans and local bank fees. 

Anyone living in Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Rockland Suffolk or Westchester counties can request a 90-day grace period on student loan repayments from October 27th, 2012 to January 25th, 2013. Ditto for military workers who pitched in during the relief efforts.

Given the fact that 80 percent of delinquent student loan borrowers live in and around the New York City area, this should be a welcome relief.  

To request an extension call 1-866-991-4372 or email Dept736@hesc.ny.gov.      

#Studentloan#relief will give NYers breathing room to focus on rebuilding & restarting their lives after the storm, Gov says

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 9, 2012

There's also good news for bank customers. A handful of major state banks have agreed to waive fees and penalties until at least Nov. 15, and in some cases longer. 

The banks include: M&T Bank, Apple Savings, Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, Emigrant Savings Bank and New York Community Bank.

“Thousands of New Yorkers’ lives have been disrupted by the storm — including their usual financial obligations and activities," Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “To help New Yorkers, major state-chartered banks have agreed to drop fees and penalties so consumers won’t have this additional cost. I call on any state or federal chartered banks that have not yet waived fees to follow suit."

Check with your bank for full details, but here is a general list of fees that will be forgiven:  

• ATM fees.
• Late payment charges.
• Penalties for checks returned because of insufficient funds.
• Overdraft protection transfer fees.
• Penalties for early withdrawal of savings in circumstances where the customer has a demonstrable need for the funds resulting from the disaster.

Want to help in the relief efforts? Why not give the roof over your head >

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A few weeks ago, Audi gave me the chance to spend a day driving the 2013 S6, S7, and S8 around Bear Mountain in upstate New York.

A gorgeous autumn day would have been great in just about any car, but behind the wheel of the S models, it was something else altogether.

When I drove the Cadillac XTS, I was impressed by the car's performance but disappointed by how separated I felt from the road.

That's not the case with these thrilling cars.

The S Models

Audi calls the S line the "dressed up" version of the A models, and by that, they mean more powerful.

The S8 provides the most room and raw power. The S7 is the most beautiful of the three, and the compact S6 is for those who do not need a large backseat.

Jump to photos of the S8's luxury features >

With 520 horsepower, the S8 provides more power than you need if you plan on acknowledging speed limits: It goes from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds flat.

The smaller S6 and S7 each get 420 hp, for a 0 to 60 mph time of 4.5 seconds.

Each offers different driving modes: Comfort and Auto are meant for highway driving. Dynamic mode lowers the car a few millimeters and makes the steering wheel and throttle more responsive, better for driving on winding roads and hills.

Pricing And Competition

With the S models, Audi is competing with the Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Jaguar. (Cadillac is working its way back into this top tier, with the new XTS and ATS.)

The S6, S7, and S8 start at $71,900, $78,800, and $110,000, respectively. (The A6, A7, and A8 start at $42,200, $60,100, and $72,200).

The fully loaded S models I drove were worth $79,270, $94,570, and $128,295, respectively.

The $110,000 starting point for the S8 makes it a better deal than the $140,000 2012 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG (536 hp, 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds).

The 2013 JaguarXJ Supercharged starts at $90,475, but only produces 470 bhp. The S6 is less expensive than BMW's M5 ($90,795), but does not provide nearly as much power.

Fuel Economy

Like just about every automaker, Audi talks a lot about fuel efficiency. It replaced the 2012 S models' V10 engines with more reasonable twin-turbo V8s that provide more power for their size.

Nonetheless, the fuel economy numbers are not especially impressive: The S6 and S7 get a combined 20 mpg; the S8 gets 19 mpg. Project Leader Gerald Bonn called the cars the "logical combination of dynamic and efficient" driving.

That's partly true: The cars offer both, but not at the same time. In Dynamic mode, I averaged a measly 15 mpg.

Handling

Last week, I wrote that trying out the S models' adaptive cruise control (ACC) made me ready for a self-driving car, based on how comfortable I was letting the car do all the work.

But out of the nearly six hours I spent driving around Bear Mountain, I spent at most 20 minutes using the ACC. Because these cars are fun to drive.

To make sure the other journalists present and I got the most out of the experience, Audi programmed the cars with itineraries packed with winding mountain roads and hills.

The S6 stood out in these conditions. A bit smaller than the S7 and miniature in comparison to the S8, its compact body and 420 hp make for a thrilling drive. Even the large S8 performed admirably on hard turns while going downhill.

Luxury

Despite their emphasis on performance, the S models are luxury cars. The S8 is a living room on wheels, with massaging, heated, and ventilated seats. The S6 and S7 are less excessive, but have the same leather interiors and are nearly as comfortable.

All three come with Audi Connect, the infotainment system that includes Google Search and Maps and satellite radio. Each car comes with WiFi, which worked well, even in a relatively rural area.

Check out our full breakdown of the S8's features >

The Verdict

Realistically, there are no American roads where the difference between 420 and 520 hp is a big deal; either is plenty.

So, in choosing between the S models, there are four points that make a difference on an everyday basis: size, features, handling, and looks. The S8 wins the first two, the S6 the third, and the S7 takes looks.

For luxury, buy the S8. For driving, take the S6. For beauty, go for the S7.

SEE ALSO: A Photo Tour Of The Luxurious Audi S8 >

Disclosure: Audi provided travel and meals for me to drive the S6, S7, and S8 models at Monteverde at Oldstone in Cortlandt Manor, New York.

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This is The Whole Story Photo Album by Debra Folz for Helmut Lang.

Why We Love It: This visually arresting photo album is a part of Helmut Lang's new collaboration with Grey Area, a store and gallery combo. The project is based around artist-designed objects that are for sale in Helmut Lang stores and online, in this case Debra Folz's gravity-defying book.

The album can fit 24 four-by-six inch photos in either landscape or portrait format, and the spine is removable to allow the accordion pages to fold out and showcase the entire book at once. Folz's work is as much a standing sculpture as it is a photo album, and comes in either black or grey.

Where To Buy: Available in Helmut Lang stores or online.

Cost: $150, not including $25 if customers choose to customize the spine text.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

See Also: Eton Boost Turbine For Your Smartphone

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It's slim pickings in New York City real estate right now.

The inventory of residential listings in Manhattan is the lowest it has been since the early 2000s, according to Stribling's latest State Of The Market report.

The current inventory of residential residences for sale is hovering around 6,000 units, according to the report.

That means demand is high, even in the down economy.

But low inventory doesn't necessarily mean that real estate prices will rise.

Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, ECP and director of marketing and business development at the firm, explains inventory's effect on prices in the report:

This is difficult to predict. The voracious appetite of parents buying apartments for their college-age youngsters has fueled the volume of sales of studio and entry level one-bedroom apartments. With interest rates at record lows, it is a far better investment for this segment of the market to buy rather than rent apartments for their offspring.

At the same time, potential buyers for large apartments with three to five bedrooms are thwarted by the lack of inventory. As a result, bidding wars for properly priced apartments are on the increase again. This demand for inventory has equally fueled the rage for new condominium offerings.

The average apartment in Manhattan sold for $1.4 million in the third quarter.

DON'T MISS: Startup Founder Takes Us Inside The Funky Williamsburg Crash Pad He Uses Between Business Trips

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What does it take to be Condé Nast Traveler's best hotel in the world? Turns out, you need a perfect score of 100 like the Qualia hotel on Hamilton Island, overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.

This year's best hotel was determined by a reader's choice survey and received perfect ratings across the board for its rooms, service, food, location, design, and activities.

The adults-only retreat has 60 pavilions with floor-to-ceiling windows, infinity-edge plunge pools, an expert chef, and access to staggeringly beautiful beaches. Qualia retails from AUD $975 ($1,103 US) per night for a standard pavilion to AUD $4,200 ($4,365 US) for the beach house during the tourist season.

This is not the first award for the luxury resort, which has also previously won World Travel Awards' Australia's Leading Resort title in 2012, and made it onto the UK Condé Nast Traveler Gold List last year.

Qualia is located in an exclusive precinct on Hamilton Island's northern-most tip, and has 60 private pavilions that look out onto the Coral Sea and Whitsunday Islands.

Source: Qualia

The architecture is a combination of local timber and stone, handcrafted for each pavilion and common area. The buildings are surrounded by native Eucalyptus trees.

Source: Qualia

The North-facing Windward Pavilions have breathtaking views of the Coral Sea.

Source: Qualia

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15 Central Park West, the ultra-luxury building that's home to Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein and Sting, among others, is a hard act to follow.

Acclaimed real estate author Michael Gross thinks another luxury tower, the much-hyped and still-under-construction One57, is going to have a hard time emulating 15 CPW's success.

"One57's marketing has clearly followed that of 15 Central Park West, but you're dealing with two different markets," said Gross, who wrote "740 Park Avenue: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building" and "Unreal Estate."

For one thing, 15 Central Park West, on the corner of West 61st Street and Central Park West, is set in a much more established residential neighborhood. It was always marketed as as "family building" and for "New Yorkers who lived here already," Gross said.

One57, on the other hand, is a few blocks to the south and east in a neighborhood that's not exactly known for its residential life. Buyers in this new glass building have admitted they plan to use it as a trophy home or crash pad when they are in Manhattan for business.

Foreign buyers have been dominating the New York luxury real estate market in the past couple years, and this is especially true in 15 Central Park West's re-sale market and for the first-time buyers at One57.

That's the main difference between 15 Central Park West and One57 right now: the type of first time buyers, according to Gross.

Gross acknowledged that it's hard to tell for sure what a new luxury building's story will be when it's still under construction, but it's hard not to pay attention to a building with so much hype.

"It's clear (Gary Barnett of Extell Development) is trying to take a past model and make it applicable to a new century," Gross said. "And to me that the fact that it is both modern and part of the continuum of luxury development in New York, That's what makes it fascinating."

Of course, it remains to be seen what effect the infamous "dangling crane" from Hurricane Sandy has on One57's construction timeline and prospective buyers. Forty percent of the building still needs to sell.

Now see what One57 will look like when it's finished >

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At an Audi event in late October, I had the chance to drive the 2013 S6, S7, and S8. All are impressive cars. The S6 and S7 are very similar, with minor differences in design and performance.

But the S8 is something else. The "dressed up" version of the A8, it is the most luxurious car I have ever driven. It is nicer and more comfortable than my living room.

The short list of features includes massage seats, myriad driver assistance technologies, an excellent sound system by Bang & Olufsen, and a cruise control system that can almost make the driver irrelevant.

On top of all that, it is a hugely powerful car that is a ton of fun to drive. Read my full review, or check out photos of the luxury ride.

Disclosure: Audi provided travel and meals for us to drive the S6, S7, and S8 models at Monteverde at Oldstone in Cortlandt Manor, New York.

The fully loaded S8 I drove was worth $128,295, enough to make me very careful on mountain roads.

The front seats are heated, ventilated, and even have massage functions - great for a really relaxing drive.

The lines of the interior are meant to "wrap you up," product manager Anthony Foulk said.

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Things are still really bad in flood-devastated parts New York City: water and electricity remain scarce, debris is still prevalent and there's lots of uncertainty about what, if any, financial relief will be forthcoming.  

But there's a disparity among the city's residents about who has the wherewithal to do something about it.

We've exclusively obtained an email exchange among condo owners at a flooded apartment in Lower Manhattan who'd just found out they wouldn't be able to return home for months.

We underlined all the good stuff. Among the uniquely New York items you'll find:

• Proposing writing letters to the Mayor's office, Congressmen and Senators
• Then saying you yourself are too busy to write said letters
• Voicing outrage that other nearby apartments have returned to normal
• Proposing impromptu and probably awkward socializing
• Joking about having one's therapist on speed dial 
• Debating whom, when and how to sue
• Hiring a "Rolls Royce" law firm versus a "Jaguar" or "Corolla"

Read on to see some stuff that could probably only happen in New York City.

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In the plains of Tanzania, most animals give birth just before the rainy season starts.

My visit to some of the country's national parks and game reserves last month was timed perfectly, because I saw a ton of adorable newborns, from hippos to impala.

It was impossible not to snap a million photos. Here are the best ones.

Click here to see the animals >

Disclosure: Our trip to Tanzania, including travel and lodging expenses, was sponsored by the Tanzania Tourist Board, Africa Adventure Company, Singita Grumeti Group, Coastal Aviation, Qatar Airways, Tanzania National Parks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Wildlife Division.

Baby Impala, The Selous

Baby Elephant, The Selous

Baby Giraffe, The Selous

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In "Skyfall," the latest James Bond film that opens in American theaters today, 007 spends time on a gorgeous yacht sailing around China.

That yacht, the 'Regina,' is available for purchase, and it looks as good as it does in the film. On sale for €11 million ($14 million) by Fraser Yachts, it's no cheap ticket, but it's not a bad deal either.

For those who want to a short stay on the 'Regina', launched in February 2011, it is available for charter by Pruva Yachts, in Turkey: One week costs €50,000 ($63,560).

The 183-foot yacht has 1,140 square meters of sails.

It is also equipped with two engines.

It can cruise at 12 knots (13.8 mph).

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Jackie Samuel has made headlines by advertising her $1-a-minute cuddling business to just about anyone in her upstate New York home, now called the Snuggery.

Although Samuel doesn't have cuddling license — she tried to get one only to realize it doesn't exist — she has told interviewers that she can rotate through 100 different positions and has studied the "Cuddle Sutra." 

The Cuddle Sutra does, in fact, exist.

Written by Rob Grader and published by Sourcebooks, "The Cuddle Sutra: An Unabashed Celebration of the Ultimate Intimacy" shows different positions for the art of snuggling, which actually has various alleged health benefits.

The photos are of fully clothed people contorted into oddly named positions ... like the "Melting Butter."

The 68 1/2

The Main Squeeze

The Melting Butter

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Fast-fashion retailer Zara is on a mission to take over the world, and in the process it has changed the whole fabric of the industry. 

Zara's strategy involves stocking very little and updating collections often. Instead of other brands that only update once a season, Zara restocks with new designs twice a week, reported Suzy Hansen at the New York Times. 

That strategy works two ways, according to Hansen. First, it encourages customers to come back to the store often. It also means that if the shopper wants to buy something, he or she feels that they have to in order to guarantee it won't sell out. 

As a result of its massive success, Zara is making luxury retailers pretty nervous. Zara tries to build their stores as close as possible to the luxury boutiques like Stella McCartney and Chanel. Meanwhile, those retailers are trying to stay far away from the fast-fashion company. 

“They broke up a century-old biannual cycle of fashion,” an analyst told Hansen. “Now, pretty much half of the high-end fashion companies” — Prada and Louis Vuitton, for example — “make four to six collections instead of two each year. That’s absolutely because of Zara.”

Another important way that Zara has impacted the fashion is by negating the idea that expensive clothes are more desirable. Kate Middleton has often been photographed in the brand, and getting something chic for a steal is something to brag about. 

Zara also fits in with another trend: today's demanding consumer. 

Now that shoppers can get what they want from virtually any channel for a variety of prices, they're becoming much more discerning about what they want.

That means that a company that sells high fashion for low prices and offers constant new merchandise is set to do well in today's marketplace, and other retailers should be rushing to emulate Zara's model.

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While there are plenty of luxurious hotels out there, some hotels take luxury to a whole other level (which means prices on a whole new level, too).

But when you really need to unwind away from home, there’s no better way to indulge than heading to a luxe hotel with an equally luxe spa for some much-need pampering. 

Whether they’re offering oils of gold, creams of caviar, or bathtubs of wine, these hotel spas aren’t shy about offering their guests the royal treatment—and charging them royally, too.

Evian Bath: $500

Spa: Spa V at Hotel Victor, South Beach

Not many of the treatments at Hotel Victor in South Beach come cheap, but the Evian bath is particularly pricey. The bath, consisting of 1,000 bottles of the French mineral water, is only available to guests of the $10,000 per night penthouse suite, and includes champagne, dessert, and an additional treatment of choice for two.

White Caviar Illuminating Facial: $1,000

Spa: La Prairie at The Beverly Hills Hotel

Dropping $1,000 to cover your face in fish eggs may seem excessive, but it’s a small price to pay for a glowing, youthful complexion. The 90-minute treatment at the La Prairie Spa at the Beverly Hills Hotel is actually a steal, however, considering you get to take home the products from the White Caviar Illuminating System, which are valued around $1,500.

Balancing Diamond or Emerald Massage: $300

Spa: The Spa at Trump hotels

It’s not surprising that the top signature treatment at Trump hotels is the diamond (or emerald) massage — your pick. The treatment, which debuted at the Trump International Las Vegas and the Trump Chicago, starts at around $300, but only gets more expensive as the special add-ons are included.

The massage is said to balance your chakra with its gems, heal with its rare oils, and drain your bank account with its Trump-size price tag.

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