Some Of The World's Richest People Have Everything Except What They Desperately Need. Water...

Surprisingly to some, the mega rich like the rest of us, also have to take their hats off to have their hair cut, and the billionaires of California's Montecito where a few of the world's wealthiest reside in some of the most opulent homes on the planet, are, much to their dismay, finding they're having to face some of the same problems as the world's poorest and homeless.
They're fast discovering that their immense wealth doesn't guarantee them the essentials of life, like water. In fact strangely enough, their vast fortunes could be hindering their ability to cope as they find a simple order given to a servant is not sufficient to get them what isn't available and their extravagant lifestyles make them personally ill-equipped to deal with this sort of problem solving.
And water storage facilities like Lake Cachuma are drying up in dramatic fashion, the rich state of California is in crisis, facing the worst drought in history as every day without rain transforms it into what it once was.
A desert...

Pegleg Pants. The Latest Fashion Statement For Men...

Pegleg Pants is one name for them.
Call them what you will.
Not the sort of thing you might see featured on The Sartorialist perhaps but here they are.
As worn by some of the fashionistas on the playa at this year's Burning Man.
Men. Wear them if you dare...

Why Would American Dave Rahimi Fly From California To Sydney Australia To Buy The Very First Apple iPhone6...

Why would American Dave Rahimi fly all the way from California to Sydney Australia to buy the very first iPhone6 other than Apple's Sydney store was, because of the time difference, the first store in the world to open it's doors?
And why would Moon Ray and her husband from Jackson Mississippi wait in line complete with solar chargers, thermal mats, inflatable chairs and mattresses and a membership of the local YMCA so they could have showers, for nineteen days to purchase the first iPhone6 from New York's Fifth Avenue Apple Store?
Five minutes of fame? Something to tell their grandchildren? To impress?
To define who they are as a person?
Who would know, but Apple sold ten million phones to their faithful worshipers in the first three days of the product launch...

Sorry Darling, Can't Talk Now. I'm On A No Cellphone Walking Lane. Will Call You Back...

Sorry darling, couldn't talk, damned inconvenient, was in a no walkie talkie lane and got behind some slow walkers. Talk about sidewalk rage! I couldn't pull out and pass because of talkers walking the other way.
No, nobody looks where they're going, they're all totally addicted to their phones, woops, just bumped into someone. Sorry madam, are you alright, I didn't see you, here let me help you up. Are you still there darling, yes they were having too many accidents and injuries due to distracted walkers talking and texting.
No I won't be home for dinner, I'm in Chongqing, yes in China, yes the one in Asia and they had this innovative idea to make sidewalks safer for the elderly and children...

Krystina Butel Fell In Love With Herself As A Caricature And Has Spent A Fortune On Cosmetic Surgery To Look The Same...

When Krystina was fifteen and on holiday in Ibeza, an old man drew a caricature of her as a souvenir. She fell instantly in love with herself as the artist had drawn her and over the last fifteen years has obsessively altered her looks to resemble the drawing. She's spent over $200,000 on five boob jobs, she's now a 36K, lip injections, botox, teeth whitening, eyelash and hair extensions and the beauty salon owner from West Yorkshire says she's a work in progress. She's planning eyebrow lifts, butt implants, fuller breast augmentation, more botox and even fuller and bigger lip implants. 

I like being different says Krystina, I don't think I'll ever stop having surgery, I'm addicted to it and I don't need anyone's approval. I love how I am.

Her boyfriend loves her too...

Sonja's Random Acts Of Kindness Make The World A Better Place...

Hello Keith
I wish to order your book 'How To Live Well On 
A Small Income'. I will describe my next attempt to give 10 to an unknown person in need. 
It's not easy here, you know?! 
In recent times, from 'privatization' and mafia government, 99% of people in Croatia are poor or nearly poor or much poorer than before, and less than 1% is filthy rich, without morals - and they don't walk around or shop in supermarkets. Not the same, but a similar situation like in Russia, which you might know. So when I try to give 10 to someone - to the school teacher who is searching for something for dinner in a trash can or an unemployed engineer who collects empty bottles, they recognize me as equal, human hearted, hard surviving person 
and refuse to take 10 from me. 
Today I have some money, and when tomorrow the luck turns you will give 10 to me, I said to these persons, but still they didn't want to take my money. So I discovered other tactics: I offer some candies, fruits, cigarettes. That's accepted. Also I invented envelopes with some little money, but for that I have to know where the person in need lives. I write some funny letter about them winning some prize and put them in their mailbox. That way I am not ruining their pride. 
Last year I became the owner of a vehicle, a simple car, and I invented this '10': When I see someone, especially if they're old or weak, on a lonely bus stop, and it's raining or hot or late, I offer them a lift home. You think this is easy, but it's not. An old sick woman with her heavy bags on a hot day refused me twice (after shopping I passed that bus stop without a timetable and saw her still waiting)! 
Have I deserved your book? 
As for my story: sure, do show it to others. 
I'm an unemployed half-ill professor of literature and language, I'm nearly homeless but 
I do have a garden. 
My monthly income for 1/4 time job is around 200 € and my country is not cheap. 
Love, Sonja.

Thankyou Sonja and thankyou too
for allowing me to publish your letter.
You will have received the little book by now.
Much Aroha to you...

Flamboyant Characters From The Streets Of Marrakesh By Moroccan Artist Photographer Hassan Hajjaj...

Born in Larrache, Morocco in 1961, Hassan Hajjaj left for England while still young and then, heavily influenced by the club, hip hop and reggae scenes of London as well as his own North African heritage began finding ways to present his creativity.
A self taught artist, designer and photographer he became a portraitist making wonderful images of his friends, fellow artists
and musicians.
And they would mostly be modelling the exciting and flamboyant clothes he would create too.
You can see more about Hassan here...

The Dean Of Huston-Tillotson University In Texas, Professor Jeff Wilson, Is Happily Living In A 36 Sq Ft Dumpster Bin...

It's not the usual place you'd find a dean of a university faculty residing, but Professor Wilson who isn't your usual sort of dean, went to the dumpster, in Thoreau's words, not 'just because he wanted to live deliberately' but to show his students by example about the environmental impact of day to day life.
Sure, the dumpster doesn't have any bathroom or cooking facilities right now but it's still a great story, one that I think you'll enjoy.
About this man who is, in his own way,
and sharing it with others, walking the talk...

This Australian House Concept Is A Real Cliffhanger...

The Australian prefab architcture specialist Modscape Concepts, have always had the ability to think outside the square, out of left field and now they've gone over the edge with this exciting, is that the word I wonder,
terrifying is more like it, five storied house that literally clings to a cliff face.
Hopefully like the proverbial to a blanket.
Rather than disrupt the natural skyline,
the concept positions Cliff House as it's called, what a great name, precariously over the edge and just above the abyss.
The prefabricated modules are arranged in a vertical floor plan, the rooms stacked atop each other and held securely in place with engineered steel pins. One would enter, I wouldn't, at the floor level with the cliff top, which includes an outdoor patio adjacent to their parking space.
An elevator or stairs connects each floor, with the bedroom, living area and kitchen, each having their own space on the various floors. The interior would be seen as minimalist.
The home opens up on the lowest level to another outdoor space, which seems to float above the water.
I can just imagine fishing from there...

Happy Eightieth Birthday Leonard Cohen...

Happy Eightieth  Birthday to you Mr Cohen.
May your latest album 'Popular Problems' due for release tomorrow be much loved.
As you are. Mazel tov...

Norwegian Designer Stain Korntved Rudd Is Hand Carving A Beautiful Wooden Spoon Every Day For A Year...

The Norwegian designer and remarkable wood worker Stain Korntved Ruud is hand carving a simply beautiful spoon every day for a year.
He's completed over a hundred and thirty of them so far and you can see them all here.
You see, his lovely wife has organised a soup dinner for all their relatives and they have
rather a large family...