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HOUSE OF THE DAY: The $18 Million Malibu Mansion Being Sold By 'Real Housewives' Star Camille Grammer

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camille grammer $17.9 million malibu home

"Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills" star Camille Grammer has listed her grand Malibu mansion for $17.95 million, according to celebrity real estate blogger The Real Estalker.

The nine-bedroom, 12-bathroom home sits on 4.75 acres of land.

Camille Grammer is third ex-wife of sitcom star Kelsey Grammer. As Trulia points out, the couple owned the home through a trust and since their divorce settlement is sealed, it's unclear whose name is actually on the title.

The gated home has ocean views and a five-car garage.

Welcome to Serra Road in Malibu.



Camille and Kelsey Grammer purchased the home in 1998 for $4.5 million.



The main mansion was designed in 1969.



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This 15-Square Mile Neighborhood Is Responsible For 7 Percent Of South Korea's GDP

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korean pop PSY Gangnam

Park Jaesang is an unlikely poster boy for South Korea's youth-obsessed, highly lucrative, and famously vacuous pop music.

Park, who performs as Psy (short for psycho), is a relatively ancient 34, has been busted for marijuana and for avoiding the country's mandatory military service, and is not particularly good-looking.

His first album got him fined for "inappropriate content" and the second was banned. He's mainstream in the way that South Korea's monolithically corporate media demands of its stars, who typically appear regularly on TV variety and even game shows, but as a harlequin, a performer known for his parodies, outrageous costumes, and jokey concerts. Still, there's a long history of fools and court jesters as society's most cutting social critics, and he might be one of them.

Now, Park has succeeded where the K-Pop entertainment-industrial-complex and its superstars have failed so many times before: he's made it in America. The opening track on his sixth album, "Gangnam Style" (watch it below), has earned 49 million hits on YouTube since its mid-July release, but the viral spread was just the start.

The American rapper T-Pain was retweeted 2,400 times when he wrote "Words cannot even describe how amazing this video is." Pop stars expressed admiration. Billboard is extolling his commercial viability; Justin Bieber's manager is allegedly interested. The Wall Street Journal posted "5 Must-See" response videos. On Monday, a worker at L.A.'s Dodger stadium noticed Park in the stands and played "Gangnam Style" over the stadium P.A. system as excited baseball fans spontaneously reproduced Park's distinct dance in the video. "I have to admit I've watched it about 15 times," said a CNN anchor. "Of course, no one here in the U.S. has any idea what Psy is rapping about."

I certainly didn't, beyond the basics: Gangnam is a tony Seoul neighborhood, and Park's "Gangnam Style" video lampoons its self-importance and ostentatious wealth, with Psy playing a clownish caricature of a Gangnam man.

That alone makes it practically operatic compared to most K-Pop. But I spoke with two regular observers of Korean culture to find out what I was missing, and it turns out that the video is rich with subtle references that, along with the song itself, suggest a subtext with a surprisingly subversive message about class and wealth in contemporary South Korean society.

That message would be awfully mild by American standards - this is no "Born in the U.S.A." - but South Korea is a very different place, and it's a big deal that even this gentle social satire is breaking records on Korean pop charts long dominated by cotton candy.

"Korea has not had a long history of nuanced satire," Adrian Hong, a Korean-American consultant whose wide travels make him an oft-quoted observer of Korean issues, said of South Korea's pop culture. "In fact, when you asked me about the satire element, I was super skeptical. I don't expect much from K-Pop to begin with, so the first 50 times I heard this, I was just like, 'Allright, whatever.' I sat down to look at it and thought, 'Actually, there's some nuance here.'" 

One of the first things Hong pointed to in explaining the video's subtext was, believe it or not, South Korea's sky-high credit card debt rate. In 2010, the average household carried credit card debt worth a staggering 155 percent of their disposable income (for comparison, the U.S. average just before the sub-prime crisis was 138 percent).

There are nearly five credit cards for every adult. South Koreans have been living on credit since the mid-1990s, first because their country's amazing growth made borrowing seem safe, and then in the late 1990s when the government encouraged private spending to climb out of the Asian financial crisis.

The emphasis on heavy spending, coupled with the country's truly astounding, two-generation growth from agrarian poverty to economic powerhouse, have engendered the country with an emphasis on hard work and on aspirationalism, as well as the materialism that can sometimes follow. 

The neighborhood is the home of some of South Korea's biggest brands, as well as $84 billion of its wealth, as of 2010.

 

Gangnam, Hong said, is a symbol of that aspect of South Korean culture. The neighborhood is the home of some of South Korea's biggest brands, as well as $84 billion of its wealth, as of 2010.

That's seven percent of the entire country's GDP in an area of just 15 square miles. A place of the most conspicuous consumption, you might call it the embodiment of South Korea's one percent. "The neighborhood in Gangnam is not just a nice town or nice neighborhood. The kids that he's talking about are not Silicon Valley self-made millionaires. They're overwhelmingly trust-fund babies and princelings," he explained. 

This skewering of the Gangnam life can be easy to miss for non-Korean. Psy boasts that he's a real man who drinks a whole cup of coffee in one gulp, for example, insisting he wants a women who drinks coffee. "I think some of you may be wondering why he's making such a big deal out of coffee, but it's not your ordinary coffee," U.S.-based Korean blogger Jea Kim wrote at her site, My Dear Korea.

"In Korea, there's a joke poking fun at women who eat 2,000-won (about $2) ramen for lunch and then spend 6,000 won on Starbucks coffee."

They're called Doenjangnyeo, or "soybean paste women" for their propensity to crimp on essentials so they can over-spend on conspicuous luxuries, of which coffee is, believe it or not, one of the most common.

"The number of coffee shops has gone up tremendously, particularly in Gangnam," Hong said. "Coffee shops have become the place where people go to be seen and spend ridiculous amounts of money."

The video is "a satire about Gangnam itself but also it's about how people outside Gangnam pursue their dream to be one of those Gangnam residents without even realizing what it really means," Kim explained to me when I got in touch with her. Koreans "really wanted to be one of them," but she says that feeling is changing, and "Gangnam Style" captures people's ambivalence.

"Koreans have been kind of caught up in this spending to look wealthy, and Gangnam has really been the leading edge of that," Hong said. "I think a lot of what [Psy] is pointing out is how silly that is. The whole video is about him thinking he's a hotshot but then realizing he's just, you know, at a children's playground, or thinking he's playing polo or something and realizes he's on a merry-go-round."

Psy hits all the symbols of Gangnam opulence, but each turns out to be something much more modest, as if suggesting that Gangnam-style wealth is not as fabulous as it might seem. We think he's at a beach in the opening shot, but it turns out to be a sandy playground. He visits a sauna not with big-shot businessmen but with mobsters, Kim points out, and dances not in a nightclub but on a bus of middle-aged tourists.

He meets his love interest in the subway. Kim thinks that Psy's strut though a parking garage, two models at his side as trash and snow fly at them, is meant as a nod to the common rap-video trope of the star walking down a red carpet covered in confetti. "I think he's pointing out the ridiculousness of the materialism," Hong said.

(If you're wondering about the bizarre episodes in the elevator and with the red sports car, as I was, it turns out that those are probably just excuses for a couple of cameos by TV personalities, which is apparently common in South Korean music videos.)

None of this commentary is particularly overt, which is actually what could make "Gangnam Style" so subversive. Social commentary is just not really done in mainstream Korean pop music, Hong explained. "The most they'll do is poke fun at themselves a little bit. It's really been limited." But Psy "is really mainstreaming it, and he's doing it in a way that maybe not everybody quite realizes." Park Jaesang isn't just unusual because of his age, appearance, and style; he writes his own songs and choreographs his own videos, which is unheard of in K-Pop.

But it's more than that. Maybe not coincidentally, he attended both Boston University and the Berklee College of Music, graduating from the latter. His exposure to American music's penchant for social commentary, and the time spent abroad that may have given him a new perspective on his home country, could inform his apparently somewhat critical take on South Korean society.

Of course, it's just a music video, and a silly one at that. Does it really have to be about anything more complicated? "If I hadn't seen that behind-the-scenes, I would have said he's just poking fun at himself," Hong said of the official making-of video, which is embedded above. It's mostly of Park or Psy having fun on set, but at one point he pauses in filming.

"Human society is so hollow, and even while filming I felt pathetic. Each frame by frame was hollow," he sighs, apparently deadly serious. It's a jarring moment to see the musician drop his clownish demeanor and reveal the darker feelings behind this lighthearted-seeming song. Although, Hong noted, "hollow" doesn't capture it: "It's a word that's a mixture or shallow or hollow or vain," he explained.

Kim seemed to feel the same way about the video, though it's so cheery on the surface. "He was satirizing more than just this one neighborhood," she told me. On her blog, she suggestedthe video portrayed the Gangnam area, a symbol of South Korea's national aspirations for prosperity and status, as "nothing but materialistic and about people who are chasing rainbows." Pretty heavy for a viral pop hit. 

"I think it all ties back to the same thing: the pursuit of materialism, the pursuit of form over function," Hong said. "Koreans made extraordinary gains as a country, in terms of GDP and everything else, but that growth has not been equitable. I think the young people are finally realizing that. There's a genuine backlash. ... You're seeing a huge amount of resentment from youth about their economic circumstances." Even if Psy wasn't specifically nodding to this when he wrote the song and shot the video, it's part of the contemporary South Korean society that he inhabits. "The context is all of these tensions going on where Koreans are realizing where they're at, how they got there, what they need to do to move forward."

It's difficult to imagine that much of this could be apparent to non-Koreans, which Kim told me is why she decided to write it up on her blog. "I thought people outside Korea might take it just as another funny music video. So I wanted to explain what's behind [it] and the song." Still, is it possible that the video could have caught on for reasons beyond just its admittedly catchy beat and hilarious visuals? After all, Korean pop really does not seem to typically do well in the U.S., and this has gotten enormous. "It's kind of the first genuine pop-culture crossover from Korea," Hong said, noting it's "more in the American style." Maybe it's possible that, even if the specific nods to the quirks of this Seoul neighborhood couldn't possibly cross over, and even if the lyrics are nonsense to non-Korean speakers, there's something about obviously skewering the ostentatiously rich that just might resonate in today's America.

Whatever the case, Koreans seem to be proud of their first big musical export to the U.S., Hong said, noting that the Korean media has meticulously covered the video's tremendous reception here. "Koreans are definitely talking about it and pointing to it as a source of national pride." Maybe there's something relatable about Gangnam style.

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Egyptian Designer Sentenced to 500 Lashes After Crossing Saudi Princess

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nagla wafa

Human rights activists are pushing for the release of Nagla Wafa, a 39-year-old Egyptian wedding planner, designer, and mother of twin teenagers who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2009, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

Wafa was sentenced to 500 lashes and five years in prison after accusations of cashing a check from a Saudi princess without following through on their plan to launch a restaurant together. She has since suffered 50 floggings per week and, despite distortion to her spine, Wafa currently faces a staggering 200 more floggings as of May 2012, the LA Times reports.

Human rights organizations are accusing Saudi Arabia of unlawfully detaining Wafa. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights has filed a complaint with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Egypt's National Council for Women has sent a letter to the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Cairo demanding a halt to Wafa's flogging sentence and her release for "lack of conviction."

Since Wafa's family has gone public, Saudi Arabian authorities have reportedly kept her from having any outside contact. She was previously allowed one phone call a month.

As of yet, the majority of Saudi Arabian and Egyptian officials have remained tight-lipped on Wafa's case, most likely due to the strained political relationship between the two countries, according to the LA Times. Bad blood was created back in April when hundreds of Egyptians protested for the release of Ahmed Al-Gizawi, an Egyptian lawyer arrested on drug charges, outside Saudi Arabia's embassy in Cairo.

Now read about Saudi Arabia's women-only cities >

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Here's Why A Salad Costs $11 In New York City

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SaladThe Background

“Since when does a salad for lunch cost $11 in New York City?” said Bundle CEO Jaidev Shergill. As we try to budget our money and keep unnecessary spending at a minimum, food becomes a major player in keeping our wallets full (or empty).

In order to save money, many people make their own lunches or bring leftovers from the night before to work. A survey by the placement firm Accounting Principals revealed that 66 percent of all American workers spend about $2,000 per year on lunch—because many of us buy instead of bring.

If you value lunch as a way to break up the day and socialize with colleagues, you’re going to have to learn how to beat the pricey Make-Your-Own-Salad phenomenon. We looked at the breakdown of the $11 salad and just how these merchants hike up the cost of vegetables in a plastic bowl.

The make-your-own-salad boom has spawned hundreds of local lunch joints specifically catering to those on-the-go workers who want an in-and-out type of lunch. This trend has become so popular because it’s personalized, quick, and healthy. From “premium” ingredients to limits on the number of items, it’s easy to rack up a hefty bill when it comes time to swipe your credit card. Unsurprisingly, according to Bundle, these salad shops’ highest traffic days are weekdays.

The Breakdown

Sprout Café, a salad-centric shop in Palo Alto, CA, has an outstanding Bundle score of 90 and an average spend of $13—its main menu item is the make-your-own-salad. We begin with the choice of a full salad or a half salad, whose prices are a mere $1.45 in difference. When looking at the two prices, it seems to be worth it to go with the bigger salad because it’s just not that much more money. It also seems like you’re getting a great deal. The natural progression is to choose your lettuce first—but at Sprout, if you want arugula, you’re going to have to shell out an extra $0.50. After some research, however, this extra charge makes sense considering arugula is some of the most expensive lettuce you can buy in grocery stores. The next step is to choose your ingredients.

Let’s keep in mind that as of now, without any ingredients, a full arugula salad with no ingredients is already $7.45. You can choose up to six regular ingredients at no extra charge, but each additional item is $0.50. In the mood for Applewood smoked bacon, avocado, or shaved Parmesan? Be prepared to pay $1.00 each for these “premium” ingredients. Other optional ingredients that fall under the steak, poultry, and seafood categories can cost up to $4.95 extra, including pepper-crusted seared tuna. What seems to be just another salad ingredient can actually put your salad’s price over the edge. Last but not least, you must choose your dressing (if you’d like “extra” dressing, you’ll pay an extra $0.50). 

In total: A full arugula salad ($7.45) with six regular ingredients (no extra charge), two premium ingredients (+$2.00), and one grilled portabella mushroom (+$1.95) will total $11.40 (without tax).

Chop’t, a salad lunch shop in New York City, has a high Bundle score of 81 and a typical cost of $11. Its base lettuce salad is $6.99, and again, arugula is an extra $0.49. At Chop’t, each customer gets four free “choppings”—a.k.a. “regular” ingredients, and each additional chopping is an extra $0.49. Moving on, we examine our “premium” ingredient options. If you’re craving cheese, edamame, organic tofu, egg whites, or slivered almonds, be prepared to pay for it. Thankfully, the salad dressings are free. 

In total: A mesclun mix salad ($6.99) with six choppings (+$1.00), two premium choppings ($3.98) will total $11.97 (without tax). 

So, where does the $11 salad come from? Now you know, and now you’re—hopefully—able to cut costs when you crave a quick leafy lunch.

Now discover the 12 salads that are worse for you than a Big Mac >

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The 10 Best States To Be Young In America

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Between crushing student debt and a staggering 13.9 percent unemployment rate, there's no denying the recession has been unkind to America's young adults.

Even so, we may be putting too much focus on the big picture when it comes to gauging how badly young people are faring, says MoneyRates.com financial analyst Richard Barrington.

"There are so many stories about how difficult conditions are for young adults ... but one thing that we know is that conditions vary greatly from state to state," Barrington told Business Insider. "Probably the clearest example of that is the unemployment rate. While it's steadily remained around 9 percent nationally, in some states it's under 5 percent." 

In a new study that hones in on where 20-24 year olds have the best shot at thriving in today's economy, Barrington analyzed 9 key lifestyle factors in all 50 states––including youth unemployment, education costs, car insurance, housing, nightlife, and overall healthfulness. 

10. New Hampshire

You'll pay more to attend a four-year university in New Hampshire, but cash-strapped college grads can take comfort in its decent employment rate for young workers.

"Despite scoring high on the availability of bars, fitness clubs and youth-oriented stores, New Hampshire's population is relatively low on young adults," Barrington says. "That's a pity, because unemployment for that demographic is relatively low there."

Stats: 

Youth unemployment rate: 8.7%
Percentage of population aged 20-24: 9.3%
Average car insurance rate: $1,631
Average cost of higher education: $26,234
Median rental cost:  $918



9. Utah

With nearly more than 11 percent of its residents in the 20-24 year age bracket, Utah has far more going for it than stunning scenery.

"While not great on most lifestyle factors, Utah has very low unemployment among young adults, and the lowest average cost of four-year colleges," Barrington says.

Stats:

Youth unemployment rate: 8.5%
Percentage of population aged 20-24: 11.51%
Average car insurance rate: $1,733
Average cost of higher education: $5,745
Median rental cost:  $793



8. Alaska

"Since it is one of the most youthful states in the country, perhaps it should be no surprise that Alaska offers some attractive stats in most of the lifestyle categories," says Barrington.

"The tough part is finding a place to live: According to the Census Bureau, Alaska has the nation's lowest rental vacancy rate.

Stats:

Youth unemployment rate: 12.80%
Percentage of population aged 20-24: 10.54%
Average car insurance rate: $1,925
Average cost of higher education: $15,431
Median rental cost: $1,007



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15 Of The World's Strangest Exotic Fruits

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“I ate a whole lemon, raw, and it was delicious,” says Katie O’Neill, a Philadelphia-based medical student.

No, she wasn’t on drugs, but her perception was chemically altered: after eating miracle fruit, nearly everything tastes (temporarily) sweet. The experience is so psychedelic that many have dubbed it “flavor tripping.”

Click here to check out the world's strangest exotic fruits >

Miracle berries, native to West Africa, are a trendy example of the weird world of exotic fruits. A sure sign that you’ve landed somewhere new, such fruits intrigue and challenge us, whether by their unfamiliar size, shape, texture, or smell. The stinky durian fruit, for instance, has become infamous among travelers to China and Southeast Asia.

“I was thrown off a bus once because I had one in my bag,” says travel writer Mikaya Heart. But she’s quick to add that durian is one of her favorite tastes: “It is very succulent and oily, the consistency and color of really thick custard. I would eat it every day if I could.” With a little effort, you can find durian and other exotic fruits without flying halfway across the world; start your search at specialty grocery stores or ethnic restaurants.

Such crazy, beautiful, and above all, natural fruits are a vivid reminder of the planet’s incredible, if precarious, biodiversity. As many farmers mass cultivate the same breeds of common fruit over and over again, other versions may die out to make room for bestsellers like Golden Delicious. At the same time, fruits once considered exotic (like mango or, recently, acai) can find their way into the American mainstream, which makes encountering an unfamiliar fruit that much more of a tantalizing novelty.

Case in point: David Slenk lived with a Peruvian family in Lima during a yearlong trip through South America. At dessert time, they served him a weird fruit: “bright white and kind of mushy, chopped up and covered in orange juice,” he recalls. “I’d never seen anything like it before. I took a cautious bite, couldn’t believe my taste buds, then finished the entire bowl in seconds.”

That’s how Slenk discovered that he loves cherimoya, a green fruit with a fleshy white inside and black seeds. “It’s almost enough to make me move to Peru forever.”

Keep reading for more exotic fruits bound to stimulate your senses.

More From Travel + Leisure:

America's Favorite Cities: 2012 Survey

The World's Strangest Street Food

The World's Strangest Supermarket Items

Best Italian Restaurants In The US

Akebi

This brilliantly purple fruit thrives in northern Japan, in the Tohoku area, but only briefly, making an appearance for about two weeks in early autumn. It grows on a wild vine and, for many Japanese people, is a symbol of the changing seasons. When the fruit is ripe and ready to eat, it pops open on one end. The gooey pulp inside is slightly sweet, while the rind is slightly bitter and is usually used as a vegetable. Do as locals do, and slurp up the flesh along with the seeds.



Jaboticaba

Native to southeastern Brazil, this strange bowling ball–esque fruit grows right off the main tree trunk. The deep-purple fruits have a white pulp inside that can be eaten raw or used in jellies. “Jaboticaba was very fun to eat,” recalls Tyler Burton, who lived in Brazil for two years. “You gently bite into them and the juice squirts out into your mouth, and you spit the seed and skin out.”



Cherimoya

What’s green and scaly all over? Cherimoya fruit, although the inside is white and creamy, with many dark brown seeds. It’s currently grown throughout South and Central America and South Asia (the name originally comes from the Quechua word chirimuya).

Mark Twain called it the “most delicious fruit known to men,” and generations later, that reputation is holding up. Dan Clarke, who works for Real Peru Holidays, a company that specializes in vacations to Peru, says, “The usual English translation for it is ‘custard apple,’ which sounds tasty enough, but doesn’t come close to capturing the creamy sweetness.”



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Daughter Of Former NYC Budget Director Dies After Being Found With Huge Gash On Chin

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carlisle brigham

A 29-year-old woman believed to be hiding from a failed marriage died after being found with a massive gash on her chin on the second-floor landing of a Lower East Side apartment building.

Police initially believed Carlisle Brigham, daughter of New York City's former budget director James Brigham, was murdered but are now considering the possibility her death was an accident, The New York Daily News reported Monday.

“I knew something had gone seriously wrong when I flipped her over,” Mizanur Rahman, a neighbor who found Brigham, told the Daily News. “There was blood in her nose, there was blood coming out of the mouth and a huge gash on her chin.”

She was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center but ultimately died.

Investigators think it's possible she "struck her chin in a fall down a flight of marble stairs," New York Magazine reported Monday.

Brigham was reportedly drinking at a wedding Sunday night. Her roommate said she was still drinking Monday morning when he left for work, according to New York Magazine.

Brigham married Anthony Champalimaud last August. He was reportedly working in London when she died.

Brigham worked at the American Museum of Natural History but left in April, NY1 reported.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

DON'T MISS: Mother Of Alleged Baltimore High School Shooter Had A Sign With A Gun On Her House >

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What It's Like To Fly On The 787 Dreamliner [Infographic]

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United has not yet taken delivery of any Boeing 787 Dreamliners, but the airline is already gearing up for the additions to its fleet.

This new infographic from the airline explains how flying on the Dreamliner will be completely different than flying on any other plane, from the cabin altitude to the overhead storage space. Oh, and United's 787s will eventually come equipped with wifi.

We're still not sure when United will receive its first 787, but here's what you can expect (click to enlarge):

[via Jaunted]

united 787 infographic

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REPORT: There Is A Video Of Prince Harry Partying Naked In Vegas

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prince harry vegas pool

Last week, photographs emerged of a naked Prince Harry partying with girls in Vegas. 

Now someone is shopping around a video of the incident, RadarOnline reported. 

The photographs of Harry with nude women were first published on TMZ. The photos were supposedly taken after a game of strip billiards.

Radar reported that there were inquiries into how much the video was worth: 

“There is video of Harry partying naked with women in the Las Vegas hotel room,” a source familiar with the situation said. “There have been some very quiet inquiries to see how much the video is worth.

“If the video goes public this could be the biggest Royal scandal ever.” (The video was not offered to the outlet that bought the photographs, according to the source.)

“The video has not been shopped around yet, its existence is being kept as discreet as possible,” the source told Radar. “With all the attention the photos got, the people with the video know it could be worth a fortune.”

Just as a reminder, here's a list of the other stupid stuff Harry's done. 

DON'T MISS: Pictures Of 25 Superstars When They Are Kids >

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Meet The Billionaires And Celebrities Who Live On Miami's Indian Creek Island

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indian creek island

With just 33 homes and a population of 86, according to the 2010 census, Indian Creek Village is one of the wealthiest and most exclusive places on the planet.

The village, located on a tiny island in Miami that's primarily occupied by a golf course, is home to billionaires and A-listers from business tycoon Carl Icahn to supermodel Adriana Lima.

But don't plan to take a self-guided tour next time you're in Miami. According to Forbes' Morgan Brennan, who recently wrote about the island, "the sole entrance is heavily guarded, and a private police force patrols the island via boat, jeep and Jet Ski 24 hours a day."

Brennan uncovered a handful of Indian Creek Village's super-rich residents. We're taking a closer look at their mansions.

This is Indian Creek Island. At .4 square miles, it's one of the smallest, wealthiest, and most exclusive communities in the U.S. We'll start our tour at the top left corner, and go counterclockwise.



The first home on the island belongs to Norman Braman, a car dealership tycoon. He bought the home for $3.9 million in 1991. We're fans of all the outdoor sculptures.

Source: Forbes



An unnamed foreign buyer bought the home next door in August for $47 million, making it the most expensive home ever sold in Miami. Here it is while under construction (and a listing photo, inset).

Source: Forbes

Click here to tour the house >



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Doctor Refuses To Treat 200-Pound Woman Because Of Her Weight

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Obese PersonAccording to the CDC, more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese. And in addition to heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, there now seems to be another health risk—denial of medical treatment.

Shrewsbury, MA resident Ida Davidson says she was turned away from a new primary care physician, WCVB-TV reports. The reason? Davidson weighed over 200 pounds, and the doctor, Dr. Helen M. Carter, had decided in the spring of 2012 to stop admitting obese patients who put her staff at risk.

In an interview with WCVB-TV, Dr. Carter explained, "After three consecutive injuries (with other patients) trying to care for people over 250 pounds, my office is unable to accommodate a certain weight and we put a limit on it."

And Carter is completely within her professional rights to do so. Under Opinion 9.12 of the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, both physicians and patients are free to decline a relationship. "A physician may decline to undertake the care of a patient whose medical condition is not within the physician's current competence," the code says.

While the AMA says doctors cannot turn away patients due to "race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis that would constitute invidious discrimination" weight is not specifically listed.

But with a growing movement fighting to legitimize weight-discrimination, perhaps the Code of Medical Ethics will undergo future changes in policy.

But for now, let's face it—with 35.7% of Americans clinically obese, it would be really bad business to turn them all away.

Now find out which state has the highest obesity rate >

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Check Out This Awesome Tennis Balls Art Installation In Spain

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tennis balls installation

Spanish artist Ana Soler has made an incredible art installation of suspended bouncing and rebounding tennis balls as a metaphor of action and reaction.

Her "Cause and Effect" piece includes some 2,000 tennis balls suspended with very fine nylon thread throughout the Mustang Art Gallery in Alicante, Spain.

The installation invokes a sense of stopping time and reflecting on consequences, but since we are in New York and the U.S. Open just started, we can't help but think about tennis taking over the city for the next two weeks when we look at photos of this art work.

See also a video about the "Cause and Effect" installation here >



See also a video about the "Cause and Effect" installation here >



See also a video about the "Cause and Effect" installation here >



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Here's All We Know About The Mysterious Daughters Of Vladimir Putin

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Russian president Vladimir Putin may appear in the news on a daily basis, but almost nothing is known about his daughters, Mariya, 27 and Yekaterina, 25.

As adults, they have never been photographed by the Russian media and it's said that the Russian public would not recognize the women if they ran into them on the street. The girls have always been carefully guarded by the Russian government and were even pulled out of school and taught at home once their father hit the spotlight.

Even so, they make great fodder for the Russian blogosphere. Most of what's known about them is unconfirmed rumor, but here are a few of the more interesting tidbits we dug up:

  • They are apparently friends with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's daughter Barbara, who speaks Russian. According to a 2002 article in The St. Petersburg Times, the girls spent vacation together swimming and sightseeing in Sardinia.

  • In 2010, it was rumored that Yekaterina, the younger daughter, was to wed her longtime boyfriend, the son of a South Korean admiral. But those rumors were flat-out denied by the Kremlin and in April, when the rumors resurfaced, the father of the man again denied that the reports were true, according to The Wall Street Journal. The pair did, however, meet at a dance in Moscow and supposedly dated for a decade.

  • Even less has been written about Mariya's love life, but Dutch and Russian news sources have connected her to Jorrit Faassen, a Dutchman who has held high-level positions at subsidiaries of Gazprom, the state-owned gas company, The New York Times reported.

  • In 2005, the Russian paper pravda.ru reported that the girls had enrolled in St. Petersburg University. Mariya was said to be studying biology and geology, and Yekaterina had enrolled in Oriental studies, according to the article. But even though classes had started when the article was published, neither girl had been spotted on campus.

  • Their whereabouts today are completely unknown. In a May 2012 article about a rare sighting of Putin's (possibly) estranged wife, Lyudmila, The New York Times noted: "Their daughters attended college under assumed names, and many of their classmates did not know their true identities. Even now, it is not known if they live in Russia or abroad, and what, if anything, they do professionally."

That's about all we could find on Putin's daughters. Compared to the heaps of information that are available on President Obama's young daughtersand even considering Russia's censorship of the mediait's fascinating that coverage of Putin's daughters is virtually nonexistent.

But if a recent report on Putin's wealth, which declares he has $1 billion in the bank and access to 43 aircraft, is true, we can be sure his daughters are living comfortably, somewhere out of the spotlight.

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Why The Brand New Barclays Center Is Covered In Rust

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Barclays Center

It's one month and counting until the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn opens its doors. But because of an interesting choice in construction materials, the building already looks as though it has aged decades.

The material of the arena's facade is made of what is known as weathering steel, or Cor-Ten, The New York Times' Elizabeth A. Harri writes. The steel develops a layer of rust which protects the metal against moisture, and slows the corrosion process. The result is a tawny hue that stains the concrete below orange as the steel drips—not exactly a passerby's dream.

To prevent the steel's color from bleeding onto the sidewalk (and daily commuters), all 12,000 pieces of the Barclays Center steel were weathered at an Indianapolis Plant before they ever reached Flatbush Avenue. The steel was put through more than a dozen wet-and-dry cycles a day, which is roughly comparable to weathering the material naturally for six years.

“This should keep [the rust] to a minimum," said executive vice president and director at Forest City Ratner Robert Sanna, the developer of the Barclays Center, to The NY Times. "And you won’t have to worry that it will stain your sweater as you walk by.”

Though weathering steel is not an unheard-of material in New York City architecture, it has garnered mixed reviews from casual observers. But with a sold-out Jay-Z concert on the day of the opening and a host of other popular acts scheduled throughout the fall, chances are the new arena won't have a problem drawing a crowd despite its looks.

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Travel Is Getting More Fun Now That We Don't Have To Deal With Humans

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Self-service kiosks might be the coolest thing to happen to airports since the lounge

As the Journal pointed out on Monday, airports are moving away from human interactions to a do-it-yourself model where online booking, check-in kiosks and mobile boarding passes are the norm. 

"I saw the Journal's story and I was thinking, what took them so long?" said consumer advocate Christopher Elliott over email. "A lot of aspects in the check-in process have been begging to be automated for years." 

With self-service kiosks, where people check and tag their own bags, airport lines could move a lot faster, and that's a good thing for our sanity and wallets. 

For starters, if there's no reason to check a bag then there will be less incentive to leave items at home or turn to shipping services like Lugless, which literally lug bags from destination to door and charge rates starting at $39. If you're cool with checking your bag, why ship it? 

The automated check-ins could also do away with cluttered cabins and delayed boarding times, both of which tick off travelers and hang penny-pinchers out to dry when there's no room to store their bags, and they have to pay to check them.

"There are lots of inefficiencies in the check-in process today," said Elliott. "Have you ever stood in front of a ticket counter and watched an agent type away furiously, trying to fix something or change your seat assignment? That can be automated." 

All this automation might be the beginning of a whole new travel era, one that's just what the passengers ordered. Last spring, 75% of worldwide fliers told SITA, the Geneva-based airline IT provider, that self-service is the way to go.  

Could self-directed boarding be next? 

DON'T MISS: 23 secrets to booking cheap flights > 

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Urban Outfitters' New Booze-Themed T-Shirt Line Is Just Its Latest Misstep

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This time, Urban Outfitters upset Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 

The retailer, which caters to teens and young adults, has a new t-shirt line with slogans like "I Drink You're Cute" and "Misery Loves Alcohol."

MADD told the New York Daily News that the shirts sent the wrong message about alcohol. 

But Urban Outfitters has had its fair share of controversies in the past couple of years. Let's relive a few: 

-Urban was criticized for a lack of diversity in its catalogs. The retailer used a white model to promote a line based on the Cosby Show. Columnist Cindy Augustine at AdWeek wrote a column questioning why the chain used all-white models. 

-The chain released a t-shirt with what appeared to be a Holocaust symbol. 

-Urban had a t-shirt line depicting Irish people as drunks. 

-The Navajo tribe sued Urban for allegedly misusing its name in a line of accessories. Urban eventually changed the name. 

-An independent artist accused Urban of copying her designs and distributing them to the masses. 

-Urban also sold a greeting card that included a slur against transgender people. 

At this point, we think Urban's antics are stunt marketing. Maybe it's working--the company posted great sales results last week. 

DON'T MISS: Now Best Buy Is Even Losing Out To Mom And Pop Chains >

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VIDEO: Check Out The Luxurious First Class Suites On An Emirates Jumbo Jet

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YouTube user Volterrific treated himself to a first class ticket on a recent Emirates Airlines flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong, and recorded the whole experience to the delight of folks who are used to sitting economy.

The ticket cost a relatively meager $550, likely because the flight is a quick three hours, Volterrific wrote.

As you can see from the video below, it was a three hours well spent. Volterrific took a shower at 40,000 feet, ate a delicious looking meal, and even shook up a drink behind the bar.

[Laughing Squid via Gawker]

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The US Cities Where People Are Least Likely To Use Their Vacation Days

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If you are one of the millions of Americans who haven't made use of their vacation days yet this year, it might be because of your zip code.

Inspirato, a members-only leisure vacation club, conducted an online survey within the U.S. to determine if where you live impacts your R&R time. Executed by Harris Interactive, 2,534 respondents (roughly 250 per city) were polled across ten major U.S. hubs on their travel habits between 2008 and 2012.

Chicago respondents seemed most vacation-averse, with only 55 percent of respondents saying they took a yearly vacation. Those living in Washington D.C. were the most likely to take an annual vacation, with 73 percent saying they clocked out once a year.

Los Angeles residents were mostly likely to take frequent vacations, with more Angelenos saying they took four or more getaways a year than residents of any other city.

San Francisco dwellers, on the other hand, were statistically the most likely to have unused vacation days remaining.

Here are the complete results, based on the five-year average, 2008-2012, of the percentage of residents who have taken a vacation each year:

insprato

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: This $20 Million Upper West Side Apartment Has One Of The Greatest Living Rooms Ever

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It's not enough that the living room inside the apartment at W 77th Street has views of the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park. It also has 24-foot ceilings and is as long as half a basketball court.

The living room is the centerpiece of a 4,200-square-foot apartment that is on sale for $20 million.

It might be hyperbole, but we see what the New York Daily News means when it writes of the apartment "with the exception of where kings and queens live, this might be the greatest salon of any city apartment in the world."

The apartment has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one half bath.

Welcome to W 77th Street.



The living room has ceilings that are 24 feet high.



The steel-cased picture window is movie-screen-sized, and takes up almost an entire wall.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Why Half Of Brooklyn Hates The New Barclay's Center Stadium

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This fall, the Nets will call the billion-dollar Barclays center home and Brooklyn will have a pro sports team for the first time since 1957. Basketball fever is abuzz in the borough, but not all Brooklynites are thrilled about how the behemoth structure is going to change the landscape and skyline across the East River.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) is one of the most vocal activist groups fighting not just the Barclays center, but the entire "Atlantic Yards" development throughout Park Slope and Prospect Heights. They're not alone: Curbed New York took to the streets to ask people what they thought of the new stadium, and not all were in awe of it.

Here's some of the reasons why people loathe the Barclays center:

  • The entire $4 billion project would use $1.6 billion in public funding.
  • Oppenents claim that the project would abuse the state's power of eminent domain -- "taking private property from one owner to give to a private entity for a private use, instead of a public use," according to the DDDB. In fact, in a brief filed with the New York State Court of Appeals, a handful of opponents of the project claim as many as 2,929 could be "indirectly" displaced.
  • Locals fear the stadium will bring an influx of traffic and tourists, threatening the world-famous Brooklyn atmosphere. The newly revamped Atlantic Station and the entire Atlantic Yards project could create similar problems. Just look at the congestion around Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.
  • Astronomical housing prices in Manhattan have pushed young professionals and creatives into Brooklyn. Locals fear that the project will drive up housing prices and extinguish these cultural hubs. Meanwhile ome businesses in the area have already closed shop due to rising prices.
  • A lot of residents think it's ugly, and some go as far as calling the Barclays center an "eyesore."   The facade of the building is covered in Cor-Ten -- a type of weathering steel. While it is popular among architects, it can look "unfinished," and rusty. It also tends to drip relatively early compared to other types of steel, and leaves a rusty residue on the pavement below. It could get "really funky looking" a materials expert at the architecture firm Jan Hord Pokorny Associates told the NYTimes.

Not all believe that the Barclays Center is a step towards the demise of Brooklyn. Approximately 2,000 jobs will be created as a direct result of the stadium.

The stadium's presence could also help bring patrons and additional business to restaurants, bars, and shops in the area and indeed the whole city. Meanwhile plenty people and businesses would cash in on rising rents in the area.

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