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Before-And-After Pictures Of An Abandoned Detroit School

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detroit cass technical high

If you want to see some disturbing pictures of a great American city in decline, head over to Detroiturbex.com. The site was created "to raise awareness of the social and economic challenges the city of Detroit faces through photography."

One of their galleries is already going crazy on Reddit.

It shows pictures of Detroit's Cass Technical High School in its glory days superimposed on top of the school after it was abandoned. Happily, there's a twist to this story: the old Cass building was abandoned because new, state-of-the-art facilities were constructed next door.







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13 Must-Have Gifts For The College Student On Your List

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College Campus

Do you have a kid who’s away at school?

To my mind, students are the easiest folks to buy for.

There are so many things you can give them that will make their busy lives easier—and cleaner and more organized.

Housekeeping: Vacuum

It’s doubtful that your child’s dorm room is equipped with a vacuum (it’s even more doubtful that the room has been vacuumed since September).

The Eureka Boss Lite Cordless 96JZ Vacuum Cleaner ($59.95) is perfect for cleanups.

This lightweight, bagless vac converts into a hand vac for quick messes, and it has a convenient wall-mounted charger. (Get 10 percent off your purchase with GoVacuum.com coupons.)



Housekeeping: Bag Dispenser

All the takeout and trips to the convenience store sure generate a lot of plastic bags!

Encourage your kid to use the Orka by Mastrad Bag Dispenser ($11.95) from ReUseIt.

This clever device will let him reuse those bags and provide him with a colorful and clutter-free room. (Get 20 percent off orders of $35 or more with ReUseIt coupons.)



Housekeeping: Drawer Fresheners

Now that you’re not doing your child’s laundry, his or her clothes probably aren’t as fresh as they once were.

Help those dirty garments smell sweet with Fresh Threads Drawer Fresheners ($19.99 for nine fresheners), available in three yummy scents: Subtle Citrus, Classic Clean and Soft Amber.

They’re great for drawers, closets, gym bags, suitcases—you name it!



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Here Are 10 Little-Known Ways You Can Practically Travel For Free

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bahamas pool drinks cheersCheap is good, but free is fabulous.

Our fifth annual roundup of almost-free travel deals features free round-trip flights in the Bahamas, free convertible rentals in Hawaii, free kids' sailings on Disney cruises, and a whole lot more.

 

Kids Sail Free On Disney

Children 17 and under can sail free on most six- and eight-night Disney Cruise Line sailings departing from Galveston, Texas, between January 12 and March 1.

Children must be traveling with two full-fare adults in specific stateroom categories to qualify for the deal.

Extras such as kids' clubs, complimentary room service, and exclusive adult areas are included in all Disney Cruises. 



Free Premium Car Rental in Hawaii

Package provider Pleasant Holidays is offering a free Hertz convertible, SUV, Jeep, or minivan rental with five-night Hawaii vacation packages booked by January 6 for travel from January 1 through February 28.

We just named Hawaii one of the top five bargain destinations for winter, and this almost-free offer adds to the savings you'll find in the coming season.



Free Flight in the Bahamas

Getting to the Bahamas is on you, but once you're there, you can get to one of the many pristine Out Islands of the Bahamas for free.

You'll get two free round-trip plane tickets when you book a four-night air-inclusive package from Nassau to any participating Out Islands Resort, or one free round-trip plane ticket with a three-night air-inclusive package.

The deal is good on bookings made through June 30 for travel through October 31, 2013.



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What You Need To Know About Watchcases Before Buying Your Next Timepiece

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Jaeger-LeCoultre watch

This is an excerpt from Jason Heaton's ebook, "Build The Ultimate Watch Collection."

Artistry in watchmaking is not only in the movement.

An expertly beveled shoulder or contrasting brushed and polished surfaces on a watchcase can be equally eye-pleasing and far more visible.

And while case manufacturing is not as much of a micro-engineering marvel as a watch movement, it can be equally technical and difficult to master.

The primary role of the watchcase is to protect the movement from the elements — heat, moisture, dust, body fluids. But that’s the easy part, thanks to modern gasket materials and the tight tolerances that can be achieved with modern manufacturing.

The hard part is designing a case that states the watch's purpose with good proportions and the interplay of finished surfaces.

Early wristwatch cases were built by simply welding a curved strap bar onto each end of a pocket watchcase, around which leather strap pieces were riveted.

This design made for fairly unimaginative case shapes until the late 1920s and '30s, when integrated “horns,” or “lugs,” were introduced. Watch builders were then able to play with the flow of the case into the lugs, adding twists and flourishes, freed from the constraints of mere function.

Art Deco watches were arguably some of the most beautiful ever produced. The most famous of this era was the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, a rectangular masterpiece of angles and steps.

The Reverso namesake pice de resistance was the reversing case that hid the watch dial from view to protect it from damage during polo matches. The Reverso is still popular today, proof that great design never goes out of style.

As the decades progressed, cases became more varied in shape and size. Whereas in earlier times, when watches rarely exceeded 34 millimeters in diameter, by the late 1960s, brands like Rolex and Omega were creating sports watches up to 40mm across.

The shapes of this time period created what could be considered the archetypal wristwatch shape — a round case body flowing into curved lugs that drape down onto the wrist.

Some lugs were “twisted” into a lyre shape, such as on the later Omega Speedmasters, while Rolex took a more slab-sided approach on. Where surfaces adjoin, often one is polished to a high shine while the other is a matte brushed finish, creating visual interest and light play. These techniques are still used today.

Where watchcases really came into the modern era was in the use of new materials. Traditionally, cases were made of stainless steel or gold, either plated or solid. Now we see cases made from titanium, ceramic and even sapphire.

These materials have properties beneficial to watches—magnetism, corrosion and scratch-resistant—but they are extremely difficult to work with. IWC Schaffhausen was the first brand to really master the use of titanium and ceramic back in the 1980s and '90s, and this past year saw high-end watchmaker Richard Mille build a completely see-through sapphire case.

Creating these cases would have been a mere dream to the case builders of an earlier age, made possible now by state-of-the-art design and manufacturing techniques.

What’s next for watchcases? No one knows, though we may have seen a glimpse with the Cartier Concept One watch with its vacuum-sealed clear ceramic case.

Next time someone tells you that only the movement matters when it comes to watches, tell him to think again and consider the case.

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These Are The World's Booziest Vacation Destinations

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kavos drinking dancing

This week a judge in Toronto ordered a travel agency to refund 19 holidaymakers after their trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico was ruined by urinating Canadian students celebrating spring break.

The March holiday is traditionally a time of excessive merriment for North American scholars, and Mexico's Caribbean coast attracts thousands of revellers.

Here we look at other sozzled spots you might want to avoid on your next wedding anniversary.

Cancun

This purpose built resort town ("Established in 1972" quip the souvenir baseball caps) to the north of the Riviera Maya is a haven for cocktails and debauchery.

Most of the big hotels sit between sea and lagoon on a narrow, 15-mile strip known as the Zona Hotelera.

It's not all about drinking your weight in tequila, however.

The resort can be used as a gateway for trips to deserted beaches and Mayan ruins, as Telegraph Travel's Nigel Tisdall discovered last year.



Magaluf

Unless you're a spotty teenager, there's very little to like about Magaluf (or Shagaluf, as it's often called).

Expect greasy spoons, football fans, and streets lined with the detritus from the night before.

It's a shame really, because much of Mallorca (especially towns like Valldemossa, in the interior) is well worth exploring.



Germany

Germans are the world's second-biggest beer drinkers (only the Czechs knock back more), so any holiday there is likely to be punctuated with large jugs of frothy goodness.

The country is renowned for its beer festivals, of which Oktoberfest is by far the most popular.



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Lessons From Nate Silver On Filtering Out Housing Noise

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really enjoyed this “Charlie Rose”-like interview by late night TV host Conan O’Brien and statistician Nate Silver on his “Serious Jibber-Jabber” series. I recently bought Nate’s book “The Signal and the Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail but Some Don’t” and it’s next on my reading list (actually I bought 2 copies because I forgot I had pre-ordered on Amazon for Kindle and ordered again from Apple iBooks, Doh!).

What I found intriguing about the discussion is how much effort it takes to filter out the noise and get the to meat of the issue as well as getting outside of your self-made insulated bubble to be able to make an informed decision – aka neutrality.

Real estate, like politics, is a spin laden industry whose health is very difficult to gauge if you rely on people and institutions who have a vested interest in the outcome. i.e. Wall Street, rating agencies, government, banks, real estate agents etc.

Some interesting points made:

  • During the bubble, for every $1 in mortgages, Wall Street was making $50 in side bets.
  • Many people during the housing boom saw it was a bubble but didn’t want to miss out. They would see the green arrows pointing up on CNBC screen and it became very hard to be contrarian and be left behind.

The current “happy housing news” that is all the rage seems to draw a parallel with the pundits who got the election outcome all wrong yet all were experienced in politics. The housing herd is disconnecting from what the data is showing.

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Three 'Hedge Fund Guys' In Singapore Are Buying One Of The World's Most Famous Wine Publications

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Robert Parker

Robert M. Parker, Jr., who is one of the world's most prominent wine critics, is selling a "substantial interest" in his bi-monthly publication, The Wine Advocate, to three Singapore-based investors, The Wall Street Journal's Lettie Teague reported.

These three Singapore investors, who were described in another Journal article as three "hedge fund guys", remain a mystery.

From the Journal:

...He declined to name his new investors but described them as "young visionaries" in the financial-services and IT fields who had presented him with a plan he couldn't refuse. "They love wine, but they also saw a great business opportunity," said Mr. Parker, who will become chairman of the new company and will continue to review the wines of Bordeaux and the Rhone for the newsletter.

The investors will handle the financial operations of the publication, Parker told the Journal. 

Parker told the newspaper that The Wine Advocate's headquarters will also move from Maryland to Singapore. He also plans to get rid of the 34-year-old newsletter's print version.  

TWA also plans to start accepting non-wine related advertisements, reviewing Asian wines and holding tasting events in the region, the report said.  

The Wine Advocate has about 50,000 subscribers who pay $75 for six issues, according to the Journal.  What's more is Parker's 100-point rating scale system can make make or break a winemaker.  

[Via: Felix Salmon]

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Men In Tights: 'Meggings' Are Taking Manhattan By Storm

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meggings

Men’s tights, for so long the preserve of ballet dancers and runway models, are taking Manhattan by storm and could soon be seen on the street of Britain.

When trendsetters speculated what would be the defining men’s fashion movement to sweep New York this winter, few opted for the male legging.

But “Megging”, as the male legging is known, is now all the rage in sartorial circles. Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Russell Brand and Lenny Kravitz have all been spotted wearing leggings, while fashion stores Uniqlo, Barneys and Nordstrom are selling tights for men.

The bad news is they are on their way to Britain: Uniqlo is already selling them on its British website, and their success in New York is seen as an indication they will also prove popular here.

 

They are expected to follow on from the trend for “skinny jeans” on men, which have become a staple of the British high street.

One proud “megger” is Mark Dorosz, 34, an English internet entrepreneur who lives on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

“Male tights are so much more comfortable than skinny jeans,” he said. “I’ve always had good legs and it’s nice to show them off all year round.

“There are so many people wearing exotic clothes in New York that nobody cares about a man wearing leggings if it works for him.

“Perhaps people will be laughing around this in 12 months’ time but for now they come up to me and say, 'You look awesome.’”

Some New Yorkers, however, see the “megger” as an affront to masculinity. Gabriel Cru, 35, from the Bronx, said: “Men in tights? Get out of here. We don’t do men in tights in New York. That’s European!”

New York-based British fashion designer Lucy Sykes warned that 'megging’ is a hard look to pull off. “The only guy I’ve seen that looks good in a legging is my friend Neil who works with me at Rent the Runway," she said. "But he’s young, dark and handsome and used to perform ballet at Lincoln Centre.

“Frankly any other man I have seen [in tights] looks a bit of a wally.”

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The 5 Best Ski Mountains For Winter Vacations

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Valle Nevado mountains, Chile

As we transition to the winter months, two kinds of people emerge.

There are the gung-ho winter activities lovers — the people who live for 5 am wake-ups and fresh tracks in the snow, undaunted by even the coldest temperatures.

Check out these awesome mountains >

Then, there are the people for whom the thought of spending several hours outside in 30 degree temperatures sounds like pure torture.

What’s a family to do then, when faced with planning a winter vacation for a combination of ski bunnies and the snow averse?

Here at Hopper we live for these travel quandaries and have pulled together our list of best ski destinations with something for everyone.

To do this, we looked at the biggest resorts in the East and West, narrowing it down to mountains that are easily accessible by plane or car with a wide variety of on and off mountain activities.

From challenging black diamonds to cozy chalets, here are the mountains that offer the best of both worlds:

More From Hopper Travel:

Europe's Best Ski Resorts

Skiing In Vermont

Top Utah Ski Destinations

The Slopes Of Aspen

Stowe Mountain, Vermont

Two very different ways to hit the slopes in Stowe, VT.

Stowe, Vermont is a New England winter wonderland with an Alpine vibe. In 1950 the Von Trapp family (famously depicted in the movie classic Sound of Music) opened a ski lodge in town, and the place has been a mecca for families ever since.

Stowe Mountain Resort is one of the largest in New England, boasting 116 trails over 39 miles. Mt. Mansfield, one of Stowe’s two peaks, is the highest in Vermont and the birthplace of downhill skiing in VT.

The first slopes were carved into the mountain in 1933. With terrain for all abilities (16% beginner, 59% intermediate and 25% expert), everyone from wobbling school kids to wild teenagers will have plenty of trails to choose from.

Non-skiers will be equally occupied. Stowe Lodge boasts a top of the line Wellness Center and Spa for pampering. The town is classic New England with clapboard colonials and a white church.

It’s also home to more than 70 unique stores and several outstanding restaurants. Off mountain activities include dog sledding, a trip to the Ben & Jerry’s factory or a tour and tasting at Boyden Vallery winery.

Under 4 hours from Boston and a little more than 6 from New York, it’s accessible from most everywhere in New England. Burlington is the closest airport, just 45 minutes away from Stowe’s snowy peaks.



Mont Tremblant, Quebec

Mont Tremblant, like the Alps, but in Canada.

Mont Tremblant is like Disney World on ice. Just 90 minutes from Montreal, it’s a winter playground in the vein of the great European resorts, which means awesome skiing and snowboarding but just as much off mountain fun.

First, the ski facts: with 95 ski trails, four separate slopes, and 13 lifts, there’s enough terrain here to keep even the most intense athletes happy and buzzing on adrenaline for days. The off mountain activities are equally buzzworthy.

Tremblant boasts its own casino and over 40 top tier restaurants and bars. The resort village is home to number of chic boutiques as well as a spa and wellness center. Families will love the movie theatre, ice skating rink, acqua club, and dog sled or helicopter tours.

Mont Tremblant also wins for its charming ambiance. Its distinctly European vibe is entrenched by the abundance of native French speaking Quebecois and its quintessential Alpine architecture.

Its village set up, with many of the bars and restaurants accessible on foot and by skis, means it’s easy for families of all activity inclinations to meet up for lunch or dinner.

Flying into Montreal from NYC and Boston is more affordable for East Coasters than a trip out West, and the drive (7 hours from Boston and 8 from NYC) is not so prohibitive either.



Snowbird/Alta, Utah

The best of both worlds, less than an hour apart.

Utah’s Snowbird and Alta resorts are known for being havens for dedicated skiers & snowboarders (note: Snowbird allows both, Alta is skiing only).

While this would suggest it’s not necessarily the best spot for the snow sport averse, its prime location makes all the difference. Only 45 minutes from the surprisingly hip Salt Lake City, non-skiers have access to all the amenities of an urban center.

With an elevation of 10,550 feat, Alta easily trumps Eastern peaks and has 116 trails on 2,200 acres of land. Yes, everything is bigger in the West. Like so many resorts, Snowbird/Alta has a top of the line spa as well as several heated pools and hot tubs for all your relaxation needs.

Further afield, there’s a lot to do in Salt Lake: explore the city’s unique Mormon culture at the Church History Museum and Temple Square or hang with some “hipsters” in trendy neighborhoods like 900 South & 900 East. Enjoy great local food and good music at Tin Angel (very kid friendly) or farm to table fare at the Copper Onion.

Park City, home to the Sundance Film Festival, is only an hour or so from Alta, and another fun day trip for the mountain weary. Since it’s so close to Salt Lake City, Snowbird and Alta are an easy plane ride for most travelers, and since SLC is a Delta hub, chances are you’ll be able to score some affordable flights as well.



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Novak Djokovic Is Launching A Restaurant Chain Which Serves Expensive Donkey Cheese

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Donkey

The Wimbledon champion and world number one player who is passionate about his Serbian homeland where the cheese is made said he wanted to make sure he secured enough to supply a new chain of restaurants that he is opening in the country.

The cheese when it was unveiled earlier in the year joined the burger that costs £3,000 from a restaurant in Las Vegas and a £700 caviar-coated omelette at a plush New York hotel as being one of the world's most expensive foods.

But unlike the posh US producers of the other foods the cheese now snapped up by the tennis ace is made on a donkey farm in Serbia, in Zasavica, that also provides the name of the company.

Slobodan Simic, the manager at Zasavica, said the secret of the cheese's great taste was the fact that it was produced from milk taken from donkey's raised on one of Serbia's most famous wildlife and nature reserves.

The cheese, known as pule, is made only from donkeys and it takes 25 litres of fresh donkey milk to make a single kilogram.

The white, crumbly cheese has been described as similar to Spanish Manchego cheese, but with a deeper, richer taste.

The reserve also produces bottled donkeys' milk, which is said to have been a beauty secret of Cleopatra.

The legendary Egyptian queen was famously said to have bathed daily in asses' milk, and the Serbian company offers a soap bar made from donkey milk for those who can't afford a bath of the stuff.

Other expensive cheeses include a Swedish moose cheese which costs around £630 per kilogram, and Caciocavallo Podolico, a cheese produced from the milk of a rare Italian breed of cow that only produces milk during May and June.

Simic said they agreed to the sale because the tennis ace was a great ambassador for their product.

He said: "It will save a lot of effort having to deal with various restaurants, with only one customer buying the lot we don't have to worry too much about salesmen.

“It is a great vote of confidence as well in what we do here."

The Zasavica farm is the only place in the world where donkeys are milked for cheese.

Donkey milk is said to be very healthy for humans as it has anti-allergen properties, contains only one per cent milk fat, and is drunk only fresh because precious ingredients get lost if boiled.

One of these is vitamin C, which is present in donkey milk in 60 times larger quantities compared to cows' milk.

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British Vandals Get Light Sentence Because Their Graffiti Is So Good

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A London judge decided to impose the "least possible sentence" on three graffiti artists who carried out an "industrial scale" campaign of tagging train cars, The Telegraph reports.

Keiron Cummings, 21, Alex Rowe, 22, and Billy McColl, 17, called themselves "SMT" (i.e. System Tumours) as they caused more than $240,000 in damages by vandalizing trains at night. 

Several of their works were posted on Tumblr and other social media sites.

Judge Henry Blacksell said he understood public frustration at the damage caused, but he didn't want to jail them after all three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

"I will pass the least possible sentence," Blacksell said. "I don't endorse it but I understand the adrenaline rush and the feeling it gives them ... I will by as lenient as I can be. They've got talent and some of Mr Rowe's portfolio you would be proud of."

Here are some of their works:

smt

smt

smt

smt

The least possible sentence still included jail time: Cummings was sentenced two years in prison and Rowe was sentenced to nine months, while McColl was sentences to a six-month youth detention training order.

Here's is a video featuring their exploits: 

System Tumours 2012 Trailer from ben sherman on Vimeo.

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Restaurants Are Furious After London Bans Rare And Medium-Rare Burgers

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the fireplace burger

A London city council has banned rare and medium rare burgers, citing health reasons. 

The Westminster City Council is going to crack down on restaurants and perform inspections where restaurants are asked how they prepare burgers, reported the London Evening Standard

Westminster is the area in Central London located near Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Restaurants are afraid that eliminating partially-cooked burgers could really hurt business. 

"If you follow the guidelines to the letter then you’re going to destroy the burger industry," an executive chef at a swanky restaurant told the paper. "Not only that but you’re opening a Pandora’s box, because where do you finish? Steak tartare, runny eggs … the list is endless."

The new rule is expected to have nationwide implications and spread to other regions. 

Raw and partially-cooked red meat can contain E. coli and other dangerous bacteria.

England was the first country to report a major Mad Cow Disease outbreak in the 1980s, bringing shame to the British government. Cooking meat thoroughly can reduce the risk of contracting the disease. 

DON'T MISS: 13 Fast Food Restaurants With Fanatical Cult Followings >

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People Are Going Nuts For The Starbucks Steel Gift Card On eBay

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starbucks-metal-card

If you missed out on the Starbucksluxury gift cards on Friday, you have a second chance to get the goods over the online auction site eBay.

But only if you're willing to pay.

The exclusive Starbucks Metal Cards, which have a $400 face value and cost another $50 to make, are currently selling on eBay for around $1000 a piece. 

Only 5,000 limited edition cards were available for purchase on Friday through the luxury goods site called Gilt.com.

The cards sold out in less than a minute.

The gift cards come with gold-level Starbucks card membership benefits, such as gifts and free refills on brewed coffee and tea.

Its appeal is exclusivity, Jason Goldberger, executive vice president at Gilt.com, told Bruce Horovitz of USA Today.

"When you're waiting in line at Starbucks, the next person in line won't have it," he said.

The move by Starbucks speaks to several growing trends including America's love of the digital shopping experience and upper-end exclusivity.

The costly gift card follows in the footsteps of another recent pricey rollout, the limited Costa Rica Finca Palmilera brew which costs caffeine-addicted customers a whopping $7 a cup.

DON'T MISS: The Fabulous Life Of Amancio Ortega, The Billionaire Founder Behind 'Zara' >

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A Former Goldman Heavy-Hitter Rediscovered His 20s After Finding Gorgeous Photos In His Attic

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Cat's Christmas

A few years after leaving Wall Street, Scott Mead, a former top Goldman Sachs investment banker, made a remarkable discovery while moving some boxes from his attic.

Or rediscovery, that is. 

Mead, who is known for advising Vodafone's nearly $200 billion takeover of Mannesmann, brought down boxes of old his photographs, negatives and cameras that had not been touched in years.

"I was aware it was sort of the physical baggage--the physical manifestation of some baggage we all park in our brains.  So I brought these down just partly out of curiosity, partly for some inexplicable reason."

He described this rediscovery process to us as "the most overwhelming experience." 

Click here to see his photos >

"It was like traveling back in time," he explained adding that it was like "getting to know another person." 

Mead, who grew up passionate about photography, spent the next year educating himself again and editing and printing these photos he had taken more than 30 years ago.  

"Since then, it has been a really amazing journey -- exhilarating, humbling and everything in between." 

Eighteen months after bringing those boxes down, he put on an exhibition from several of the 8x10 negatives he found and printed called "Looking Back" at London's Hamilton Gallery.

Since then, he has done a number of exhibitions. Of the photographs he sells, 100% of the proceeds go to charity.

Mead has kindly shared some of the photos from his "Looking Back" portfolio with us in the slides that follow.

A few things you should know about the collection before you see them — The reason the images in this portfolio are round is because that's the way the human eye sees the world, Mead explained.

This technique brings the viewer back to a more authentic perception of what an eye, or in this case the camera lens, sees.  The black around it, particularly with the portraits, helps create a framing, highlighting the center of the compositions, he told us.  

Mead told us he first started taking photos at age 13 when he was given a press camera by his grandfather, who was a press photographer and journalist.  

From there, he taught himself how to develop photographs and spent a huge amount of time in his parents' basement.  

He was so enthusiastic about photography, that he studied it in high school and in college.  He focused on photography intensively until his 20s.  

When he began his 22-year investment banking career, photography eventually moved to the back-burner.

That being said, one of the key messages from his work is to highlight these beautiful moments that we might otherwise miss in our extremely busy lives.

"They are about finding what are ordinary places, times of day, patterns of light or shapes which we often overlook in the day to day of all of our busy lives and making them special through composition, print quality and balance—and hopefully conveying a sense of tranquility and peace," he told Business Insider.

First, let's meet our photographer, Scott Mead.



Here's a more recent photo of him. Amazing, right?



Apple Tree, 1974



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HOUSE OF THE DAY: The California Mansion That Lenny Dykstra Lost In Foreclosure Goes On Sale For $15 Million

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lenny dykstra house

For the sports-obsessed, this 13,000-square-foot mansion in Thousand Oaks, Calif. has an incredible backstory.

Custom-built by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, the mansion was later sold to disgraced baseball star Lenny Dykstra for $17.5 million, who lost it in foreclosure after reportedly trashing the place. Dykstra was just sentenced to 6.5 months in jail for hiding assets that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing.

The home was sold at auction in 2010, and the current owners completely overhauled the home and just put it back on the market with a $14.995 million price tag, according to Trulia.

It no longer bears the scars Dykstra left on it, and is absolutely fantastic looking.

For sports fans, this Thousand Oaks mansion has an impressive history.



Wayne Gretzky had it custom-built, and Lenny Dykstra later bought it and lived there for a couple of years.



But the home fell into disrepair, and Dykstra lost it to foreclosure in 2010.



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A French Artist Could Be Onto Something With This Portable Balcony

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Sometimes an artist's concept design is a little ahead of its time. But now that a man can live in an 89-square-foot "tiny home" and US cities are planning to build experimental "micro apartments," 37-year-old French artist Julien Berthier's Balcon Additionnel has become more than just an art installation.

The 2008 project consisted of a Haussmannian-style balcony attached to a boom-truck that allowed it to be quickly fitted and removed from French buildings. The Balcon Additionnel could not be separated from its boom-truck base, and was merely placed close to a series of different architecture facades in order to be photographed, and not actually attached for use.

But could this plastic add-on balcony become a viable architectural extension? Check out the images below.

Julien Berthier's Balcon Additionnel

 

Julien Berthier's Balcon Additionnel

 

Julien Berthier's Balcon Additionnel

 

Julien Berthier's Balcon Additionnel

SEE ALSO:  A 5-Foot-Wide Home In Poland Puts All Other 'Micro' Apartments To Shame

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A Look Back At The Remarkable History Of Porsche

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2013 porsche cayman los angeles auto show coolest cars

At the Los Angeles Auto Show last month, Porsche revealed the 2013 Cayman, the third generation of the two-seat, mid-engine sports car.

60 pounds lighter than its predecessor thanks to a new lightweight body, the Cayman produces 275 hp while getting 32 mpg, an impressive feat.

In light of this, we've decided to take a look at the company's history, from its early sports cars, to its gritty war history, to the modern miracles of its automotive engineering. 

Enjoy salivating over some truly classic machines. 

1900: The first Porsche and the world's first hybrid car.

The 25-year-old Ferdinand Porsche was first brought into the limelight with the electric Lohner-Porsche. 

In the same year, Porsche developed a gas-powered race car and a hybrid vehicle that ran on electricity and petrol. That's called being ahead of one's time. 

The original Lohner-Porsche was developed for the Austrian royal carriage manufacturer Jacob Lohner and Co., and had a top speed of between 28 and 36 miles per hour. 



1910: Porsche turns to racing.

In 1910, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Austro-Daimler touring car. 

The mean machine had an impressive competitive career, achieving three victories at the motor event the Prince Henry Trials. 

For added cool factor, Porsche himself sat behind the wheel to speed his car to victory. 



1923: The birth of two icons.

Ferdinand Porsche rose to become technical director and a board member of the automotive company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.

In 1923, he designed one of the finest sports cars ever: the Mercedes Compressor. 

Four years later, he went back to building race cars, producing the Mercedes-Benz S-Type. 



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Look Stylish And Smart With Mujjo Leather Touchscreen Gloves

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Introducing Mujjo's Leather Touchscreen Gloves.

Why We Love Them: We've shown you Mujjo's standard Touchscreen Gloves before— but now there's an even more stylish option to keep your hands warm. These unisex gloves are made of Ethiopian lambskin with a layer of 100% wool lining on the inside, and are both wind- and waterproof.

The way the gloves work is with a special nanotechnology that allows the entire glove surface to have the same conductive properties of your skin. That means that not only are your fingertips capable of making calls or sending texts, but even your palm and knuckles can, too.

Mujjo Leather Touchscreen Gloves

 

Mujjo Leather Touchscreen Gloves

Where To Buy: Available through Mujjo's website.

Cost: $170.

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: This North Face Apex Jacket Acts Like A Second Skin

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8 Ways Holiday Spending Can Spiral Out Of Control

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holiday-christmas-gifts

When it comes to holiday spending, we're all about making the most of our budget — and that means more than just getting great deals on wish list items.

It's all too easy to go overboard with the holiday spirit, financially speaking, and while you might be acutely aware of how much you're spending per person, you might be unthinkingly dropping cash left and right on hidden holiday costs like wrapping paper and party gifts.

No one wants to play Scrooge, but giving yourself the gift of debt is like getting coal in your own stocking. To avoid the burden of overspending this holiday, we recommend taking a look at these eight expenditures that offer wiggle room for extra savings. 

 

Skip the Wrapping Paper

The EPA estimates that Americans throw away 25% more trash than usual during the holiday season, and much of that is wrapping paper.

Spending money on high-end wrapping paper not only means you're tossing money into the trash, but you're also growing your local landfill. It's hard to find reliable estimates on how much Americans spend per household on wrapping paper, but with gift wrapping options typically priced between $3 and $13 per roll, it's easy to see how the costs add up. Add gift bags and tissue paper to the mix, and you might be looking at $100 or more just to wrap presents for a family of four.

To preserve the fun of unwrapping gifts from Santa, my buddy and former colleague Julia "Bargain Babe" Scott suggests a dozen alternatives to wrapping paper on her blog, MintLife. These ideas run the gamut from using old cookbooks and children's books, to simple brown paper bags with one phrase written over and over. "Tis the Season to Be Green" sounds about right.



Don't Get Carried Away With Gift Cards

As close as your local pharmacy, gift cards have become a very popular way to spread joy in December.

According to the National Retail Federation, 81% of shoppers will purchase at least one gift card this holiday season and spend a total of about $157 on gift cards — the highest amount in the 10-year history of the NRF's holiday consumer spending survey.

Maybe that's due in part to how gift cards can feed off your guilt. You don't want to leave anybody out, right? From co-workers to kids' teachers and coaches, to the paperboy and sanitation workers, gift cards are easy and convenient ways of giving a little something to everyone.

Before getting carried away with the gift cards, though, do what master concierge Michael Fazio recommends with all forms of holiday gifting and tipping: Start with a defined budget and work backwards from there. If you know you have $100 to buy $10 gift cards, then list the 10 people you want to give to, and call it a day. If you play your gift cards right, you might even be able to stretch your budget to include free gift cards that come bundled with other purchases. If the Ghost of Christmas Guilt rears its ugly head, fire up the oven and bake some cookies for the folks you left off the list. And if there's someone you're trying to blow off, may we suggest, umm, fruitcake?



Greeting Cards and Postage Can Add Up

This is a tough one because nothing beats the personalized touch of a hand-written holiday card. That said, you may live in a city such as Chicago, which has remarkably poor mail delivery. And how much are you paying for those fancy greeting cards anyway? If it's $3 to $5 a pop, plus stamps, think of how that adds up when the list grows into the hundreds.

If it's tradition to send out cards, please scope out discounts on greeting cards from the likes of Vistaprint and Cardstore. But remember, it's also possible to segregate your list and send some salutations electronically though services such as eGreetings. If you want to send a bunch of cards by mail, put the kids to work and make some custom cards. A handmade card costs less, but means a whole lot more. Or in the age of email and texting, consider an honest-to-goodness phone call. No greeting card can convey warm holiday wishes like the sound of your voice.



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The Four Essential Rules Of Re-Gifting

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Christmas, gift, presents The last couple of years have seen a proliferation of made-up shopping holidays, with established standbys like Black Friday and Cyber Monday being joined by the likes of Small Business Saturday and Gift Card Exchange Day.

And we can add another to that list: National Regifting Day.

This "celebration" is the brainchild of Regiftable.com, which was started by Money Management International in 2006 to save people from coming out of the holiday season (and into the new year) in debt.

According to the site, Regifting Day falls on the third Thursday of December (this year, Dec. 20) — the day when the most office holiday parties are held (according to MMI's own "unscientific research").

The idea, we suppose, is that regifting is more socially acceptable when the recipient is a coworker rather than a close friend or family member.

But does regifting really pass the etiquette smell test? No less an authority than "Seinfeld" — the same show that codified the taboo against double-dipping — condemned the practice in the episode "The Label Maker."

And despite MMI's research showing that only 10% of people would feel cheated or angry to receive a regift, we were unsure whether it's truly an acceptable practice during the holidays.

To find out, we spoke to Jodi R.R. Smith of etiquette consultancy Mannersmith. She gave us four basic rules of regifting.

1. The item needs to be new and unopened. "If I get a bottle of perfume, take a sniff, and decide I don't like it, it's no longer eligible for regifting." says Smith.

2. Don't regift just because you didn't like it. "Only give someone a regift if it's something you would have gone to the store and got for the person anyway."

3. The gift should be unwrapped and rewrapped for the new recipient. "I don't want them to find a card addressed to me from my cousin."

4. Avoid a "Seinfeld" scenario. Smith says to avoid situations where worlds could collide — if the original gifter and the new recipient roll in the same social circles, it's best to avoid the potential headache.

Those last two points might make it seem as though regifting is something that should be executed stealthily, but that's not always the case.

"There are times that I do tell people, 'Someone gave this to me, and when I got it, I immediately thought of you,'" says Smith. "But that's for everyday gifts. If I'm giving it for a birthday or holiday, then I'll keep the fact that it's a regift on the QT."

So if you are planning to celebrate National Regifting Day this holiday season, it's probably best to keep quiet about it.

SEE ALSO: 50 must-have holiday gifts for $50 or less >

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