Check Out the Skinniest House in the World

by Suzanne Labarre

There are skinny houses. And then there is Jakub Szczęsny's Keret House, which could make Calista Flockhart look like a fatty. At its most generous, the proposed place, in Warsaw, Poland, will clock in at 4 feet wide. At its narrowest, it'll be just 28 inches wide -- thinner than the average doorway. And we complain about our sardine can in New York...

The house (officially an "art installation," because it doesn't meet Polish building code) is slated to fill a crack between a pair of buildings in Warsaw's Wola district. When construction's finished in December, it'll be the thinnest house in Warsaw and possibly the whole world. We did aquick Google search and couldn't find anything leaner.

Szczęsny designed the house to be a work space and home for Israeli writer Etgar Keret. It'll also be a "studio for invited guests -- young creators and intellectualists from all over the world." If, that is, they're willing to drop half their body weight to fit inside.

ArchDaily.com

Kidding, kidding. In all seriousness, though, the house is a pretty remarkable feat of architecture. If everything goes according to plan, Szczęsny will manage to squeeze in designated rooms for sleeping, eating, and working. The place will have off-grid plumbing inspired by boat sewage technology and electricity lifted from a neighbor. To save space, the entry stairs will fold up at the press of a button and become part of the first floor.

Aesthetically, the Keret House isn't gonna win any beauty contests. It's been compared to everything from a pregnancy test to a sanitary napkin. (Our vote is for "pregnancy test.") Our biggest concern, though, is that it's hardly got any windows. How's it going to "produce creative work conditions," as ArchDaily reports, and "become a significant platform for world intellectual exchange," if it feels like a sensory deprivation chamber? Won't Keret go insane? But maybe that's the point. It's not like he'd be the first artist to benefit from going crazy.

ArchDaily.com

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"buy the whole darn South Dakota town for $800,000."

Own your own town for $800k

By Mike Krumboltz | The Upshot – 3 hrs ago

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Had it with life in the big city? The traffic, crowds, and high rent got you down? Then may we suggest you consider investing in the town of Scenic, South Dakota? And by "invest" we mean "buy the whole darn town for $800,000."

That's right. The small town, which admittedly has seen better days, can be yours for just a bit more than an average home in San Francisco. So, what exactly do you get for your $800k? Quite a lot, actually. You'll get a dance hall, a saloon, two jails, a train depot, two stores, and some more empty buildings.

According to ABC News, the town is for sale because the current owner, Twila Merrill, has been diagnosed with cancer. Merrill's daughter, Lee Ann Keester, remarked, "I have to take care of my mom. Family always comes first... But it's just time, everything comes with time... [My mom] would love to do it until she's 100, but her health won't permit her."

True, the town won't be mistaken for New York or even Green Acres. However, based on the pictures, it does have a certain Old West charm. One can almost picture John Wayne ambling down the street. It does look like a ghost town--and with fewer than 10 residents, it's mighty close to becoming one.

This isn't the first time an entire town has gone up for sale. Some may remember actress Kim Basinger's ill-fated purchase of Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. Basinger planned to turn the town into a tourist draw, complete with film festival. But things didn't quite work out as she planned. She was later forced to sell the town at a huge loss due to financial problems of her own.

And Basinger isn't alone. As an article from MSN points out, many have purchased towns only to see that the dream of "owning their own zip code" turn into a nightmare. It's one thing to be a landlord and have to fix a renter's leaky faucet. It's another to be responsible for an entire town of faucets (and toilets, and electricity, and crime prevention, and, and, and...)

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Could accused Norway killer land in luxurious prison?

By Liz Goodwin | The Lookout – 6 hrs ago

Norway's luxurious prison, Halden Fengsel (Heiko Junge/Scanpix/Reuters)

Confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik may end up serving time in a newly built maximum-security prison that's considered among the world's most luxurious, according to The Telegraph.

The prison, Halden Fengsel, opened last year outside of Oslo and houses around 250 male inmates. But a Norwegian news outlet TV2 claims Breivik will more likely end up in Ila prison, which is less cushy than Halden, but still "a far cry" from the bare cells of American prisons. The BBC reports that Breivik is already there now in a bare cell containing nothing but a toilet, a table and a chair.

The documentary photographer Alex Masi writes that the cells in Halden are equipped "with an en-suite bathroom, a flat-screen TV and various comforts. They measure 12 [square meters--about 129 square feet] and are divided up into units (10 to 12) which share a living room and kitchen," much like a college dorm. Time Magazine described the cells as resembling an Ikea showroom, complete with "stainless-steel countertops, wraparound sofas and birch-colored coffee tables."

The art budget for the facility came in at more than a million dollars, Masi says, while the cells are brightly painted and lack bars on the windows. Inmates take specialty cooking classes or choose from many other courses at an in-prison high school. They can jog around the 75-acre wooded facility or even climb on the prison's rock walls.

Click image for more prison photos. (Trond Isaksen/Statsbygg)

You can see more of Masi's photos of the prison by clicking the image above and at Time.com.

According to Time, prison guards are required to help each inmate make his sentence "as meaningful, enlightening and rehabilitating as possible." About half of the prison guards are women, since research has suggested that a corps of female guards can help reduce aggression among the prison population. The unarmed guards eat meals and play games with prisoners.

According to Raf Sanchez at the Telegraph, the region's governor, Are Hoidal, said at the prison's opening ceremony that prisons should focus on "human rights and respect."

"We want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people," he said.

Sanchez adds that only 20 percent of Norwegian prisoners return to jail within two years of their release, a very low recidivism rate. (For comparison, a 1994 study suggested that more than 60 percent of released prisoners in America were arrested again within three years, while 51.8 percent returned to prison. The U.S. rate of incarceration also dwarfs Norway's.)

According to Foreign Policy's Robert Zeliger, most murderers in Norway serve 14 years or less. A criminal may only be sentenced to 21 years before the government must evaluate him or her for release. Those still deemed a threat to society receive an addition five-year sentence before undergoing another evaluation. "Life without parole" is not an option.

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California "Dream Act" approved for illegal immigrants

By Alex Dobuzinskis | Reuters – 11 hrs ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law on Monday a bill allowing illegal immigrants to receive privately funded scholarships to attend the state's public colleges and universities.

The bill, dubbed the California Dream Act, passed the state Legislature earlier this month and aims at helping illegal immigrants who earned a diploma after attending at least three years of high school in the state.

Enactment of the California measure came three days after opponents of a similar law in Maryland collected enough signatures to force a state referendum seeking its repeal.

"At the end of the day, if we're going to continue as a powerful, equal-opportunity society, we're going to have to invest in our people," Brown, a Democrat, said at the signing ceremony in the library of a Los Angeles community college.

The California law is named after national legislation in Congress to give young, undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years a pathway to citizenship through college or military service.

The federal bill failed to win passage in December 2010, and its chances have dimmed since a newly elected Republican majority took control of the House of Representatives.

Critics say the California Dream Act gives illegal immigrants a false promise because their status will not change after graduating from college and they will remain unable to find legal employment. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed an earlier version of the bill last year.

But Julian Rivera, 20, a student at the University of California at Berkeley who entered the United States illegally with his parents at age 12 from Mexico, said the measure could make it easier those like him to afford to stay in school.

"It doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what your background is, it just matters that you have passion for something and you want to do it," he said. "This is a country that has given us that freedom."

OPPOSING "THE DREAM"

Patrick McDonough, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates who helped lead the petition drive for the repeal initiative there, said U.S. citizens who are struggling to pay for college should not have to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce financial resources.

"People would say, 'Why should we, when we're having tough economic times ourselves, pay for someone who is here illegally?'" he said.

The new California law is fairly limited in scope, making undocumented students who qualify eligible for private scholarships. A separate bill under consideration in the legislature would allow illegal immigrants to seek publicly funded scholarships as well.

State law already allows illegal immigrants who qualify for admission to a four-year state university to pay in-state tuition rather than the more expensive out-of-state tuition rate. But four-year institutions are still beyond reach for many undocumented students without financial aid.

Twelve other states also grant in-state tuition eligibility to illegal immigrants based on attendance and graduation from a state high school, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana have laws barring illegal immigrants from in-state tuition benefits.

Passage of legislation in California and Maryland to extend private scholarships to illegal immigrants comes as a number of states, led by Arizona, have taken steps to crack down on the undocumented.

"You're going to see the red states go more the Arizona approach and blue states the California Dream Act approach," said John Skrentny, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at University of California, San Diego.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Gorman and Cynthia Johnston)

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The Strangest and Most Unusual Homes You Can Buy

The Strangest and Most Unusual Homes You Can Buy

By Morgan Brennan, Forbes.com

July 15, 2011

Mushroom House, as it is known, features connected 'pods'. Photo: Rich Testa of RE/MAX Advance

When Robert and Marguerite Antell told architect James Johnson they wanted to build a fun, artistic home, he handed the couple a coke bottle with a flowering sprig of Queen Anne’s lace. “This is your new home,” he explained. Forty years later the cream-colored pod that they built from his plans hit the market for $1.1 million in Pittsford, N.Y.

The “Mushroom House,” as locals call it, is comprised of five connected “pods,” or housing structures, including two living areas, a patio, a master suite with office, and a guest pod with two bedrooms. More than 10,000 tiles bedazzle the walls, floors and counters throughout. Completed in 1971, the distinctive building has undergone an extensive update and garnered landmark status.

In Pictures: Strange And Unusual Homes For Sale

It is just one of 12 unique, unusual and in some cases, downright strange, homes for sale right now in the U.S. With the help of Trulia.com, Realtor.com, Sotheby’s International Realty, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and Stribling & Associates, we culled through listings nationwide to find our favorite nontraditional abodes that make McMansions look mundane. Prices for the homes we highlight vary from as little as $225,000 to as much as $13 million.

One of the interior rooms in the Mushroom house. Photo: Rich Testa of RE/MAX Advance

Our list includes a regal church converted into posh condos, including a stained glass-bedecked $1.5 million, three-bedroom unit in westernPennsylvania; a haute houseboat docked inSeattle for $3.45 million; and a $8.5 million Mountain Village, Colo. estate constructed of recycled mining materials and equipped with an enclosed steel and timber bridge.

Such properties don’t always snag buyers (at least not right away). They’re not for everyone. Yet the Mushroom House’s listing agent says the property is enjoying a high interest level. “It’s like you’re living in a sculpture,” explains Rich Testa of RE/MAX Advance, noting that construction of a home like this today would cost upwards of $4 million. “We are marketing it to higher-end buyers and we have done and continue to do email blasts and direct mailings to patrons of the arts.”

Pittsford’s flower power pad isn’t the only home striving to be a work of art. Los Angeles’ Schnabel House is a $13 million “village of sculptural forms” erected by renowned architect Frank Gehry (whose work includes Dr. Seuss-esque structures as the MIT Stata Center and New York by Gehry). The geometric Schnabel House is built of stucco, glass, copper, steel and lead, flanked on one side by a giant reflecting pool. The 1989 estate just underwent an extensive renovation overseen by Gehry himself, hitting the sale block once complete.

For those looking for something more historical, America has a fair share of nouveau castle keeps, like Tennessee’s hulking Crantzdorf Castle that has been asking $19.5 million. New York City’s northern-most borough, The Bronx, has one on the market for just under $3 million. Located in the tony Riverdale neighborhood that the Kennedy family once called home, the medieval-style manse is fashioned after a 16th Century outpost in Croatia. The 1925 stone structure touts a private courtyard and a two-story turret, and sits on one of the highest points in the city.

“It’s not Walt Disney-ish, it’s more a solidly built home with all the castle features,” says Peter Browne, the property’s co-listing agent. His real estate brokerage, Stribling & Associates, shares the listing with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “I think whoever buys this will have a lot of people who want to come visit ‘the castle.’”

Here are some of the strangest and most unusual homes you can buy:

Converted Church
459 40th Street 2
Lawrenceville, PA.
List Price: $1.5 million

This church was converted to condos, including this 3-bedroom unit with 38-foot vaulted ceilings, and stained glass windows. Photo: Realtor.com

Frank Gehry's Schnabel House
526 N. Carmelina Ave
Los Angeles, CA.
List Price: $13 million

The “village of sculptural forms” is built of copper, stucco, wood, glass and lead - featuring a reflecting pond off of the master bedroom. Photo: realtor.com

Floating Home
2369 Fairview Avenue E6
Seattle, WA.
List Price: $3.45 million

This docked, custom home sits atop the water in a gated “floating waterfront community”. Photo: Trulia

Desert Nomad House
6353 West Sweetwater Drive
Tucson, AZ.
List Price: $975,000

Comprised of three steel and glass cubes, these Sonoran Desert modules are meant to be as much an artistic statement as a residence. Photo: Forbes Images

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5 Outrageously Expensive Fast Foods

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Fast food has been consistently popular all over the world for decades, for reasons that are pretty compelling--it's tasty, it's filling, and most of all it's cheap. Much has been made in recent years about the health impact of these foods, but it's done little to keep customers away. After all, a typical fast- food restaurant allows a family of four to eat for $20, and in this economy that's a likely source of repeat business, regardless of the health implications. 

More from CNBC.com:  • Outrageously Expensive Fast Foods • America's Weirdest Restaurants • Top Selling Super Foods

Still, would people be willing to pay more for fast food if it were made with better ingredients? Would they be willing to pay more for a hamburger made of high-quality beef? What if it was made from fresh Kobe beef from the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan and smothered in foie gras and black truffles, while perched atop a brioche truffle bun dotted with edible, 24-karat gold leaves? Would the average fast-food consumer be willing to part with a few extra bucks for such an experience? 

Over the past few years, several businesses have tried to find the answer to this question by creating their own variations on fast food and giving them unnervingly high prices. Some were one-of-a-kind items with proceeds earmarked for charity, and others remain regular items on the menus of upscale restaurants. But what they all have in common is a price many times higher than anything normally found inside a Happy Meal. 

What are some of the most outrageously expensive fast foods ever made? Click ahead to see them, in order of least to the most expensive.

Philly Cheese Steak

Barclay Prime | Barclayprime.com

Created by: Barclay Prime 
Location: Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia 
Price: $100 

Most major American cities have at least one trademark food item. New York City has the bagel, Chicago has deep-dish pizza, and Philadelphia has the Philly cheesesteak. The sandwich consists of thin slices of steak and melted Velveeta cheese on a roll, and you can get one anywhere in the city for just a few dollars. 

Barclay Prime, a luxury steakhouse near Philadelphia's historical Rittenhouse Square, offers its own upscale take on the sandwich. Until very recently, it offered a $100 cheesesteak sandwich made with Kobe beef, Taleggio cheese and poached lobster. In 2011, the sandwich was redesigned, but the restaurant has yet to disclose its details.

Bagel

Westin New York at Times Square

Created by: Frank Tujague 
Location: The Westin New York at Times Square, New York City 
Price: $1,000 

Few foods are as heavily identified with New York City as the bagel. Other cities have their own variations on it, all profitably sold and happily consumed. However, no other U.S. city has ever come close to capturing that certain je ne sais quoi particular to the New York bagel. 

Although the bagel is readily available at any time of day or night to anyone with a dollar to spend, Frank Tujague, executive chef at the Westin New York at Times Square,  decided to deviate from its standard business model in 2007. He fashioned the world's most expensive bagel by topping it with white truffle cream cheese, goji berry jelly and gold leaves. The price for this creation was $1,000 and all proceeds from its sale were donated to the Les Amis d'Escoffier Scholarship, a charity benefiting impoverished culinary students.

Pizza

YouTube

Created by: Domenico Crolla 
Location: U.K. 
Price: $4,200 

Pizza is a popular fast food that can stretch a few dollars into a satisfying, if greasy, meal. Domenico Crolla, one of the U.K.'s foremost creators of Italian cuisine, operates a restaurant called Bella Napoli that specializes in gourmet pizzas going far beyond the average $2 slice. 

In 2006, Crolla created the most expensive pizza on record. Dubbed the "Pizza Royale 007," its toppings included cognac-marinated lobster, champagne-soaked caviar, venison and edible flakes of 24-carat gold. Crolla estimated that the pie was worth approximately $3,700, but it fetched $4,200 on an eBay auction from lawyer Maurizio Morelli.

Hamburger

FleurdeLyssf.com

Created by: Hubert Keller 
Location: Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas 
Price: $5,000 

The hamburger has been the fast-food gold standard for decades, and the first thing many people think of when they want a quick and inexpensive bite. There have been multiple attempts to recast it as a high-end item, such as the one created by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud with wine-braised short ribs, which cost $120. The Old Homestead Steakhouse in Boca Raton, Fla., created the Tri-Beef burger in 2005, whose mixture of Japanese Wagyu, American Prime and Argentine beef drove its price up to $125. Even Burger King got into the act, introducing a Japanese beef burger at its West London branch that sold for $186. 

All of these hamburgers are bargains compared to the FleurBurger. Designed by chef Hubert Keller, the FleurBurger is available only at Fleur de Lys, a restaurant in Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Casino. The bruger is made of Kobe beef, topped with black truffles and foie gras, and served on a brioche truffle bun. It comes with a bottle of Chateau Pétrus 1990, which is imported from Italy and served in Ichendorf Brunello champagne flutes, which the customer gets to keep. Customers also receive a certificate that the restaurant mails home, proving the authenticity of the purchase. The final price tag for the experience is $5,000.

Sundae

Serendipity 3

Created by: Serendipity 3 
Location: New York City 
Price: $25,000 

The ice cream sundae brings many idyllic images to mind, such as the laughter of a child, with a dimpled, cherubic face dotted with glistening chocolate sauce and errant dabs of whipped cream. The New York City restaurant Serendipity 3 is world-famous for such concoctions, and it made headlines in 2004 when it created the "Golden Opulence" sundae in observance of the restaurant's 50th anniversary. 

Priced at $1,000, the dessert easily set the Guinness World Record for most expensive ice cream sundae. It features Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla bean ice cream, edible leaves of 23 karat gold, sauce by Amedei Porceleana and salt-free dessert caviar. Anyone thinking about ordering one is required to make a 48-hour advance reservation. 

In 2007, Serendipity broke its own record with the intentionally misspelled "Frrozen Haute Chocolate," priced at $25,000. This sundae raised the stakes set by "Golden Opulence" by using 28 cocoas and an 18-karat gold bracelet with white diamonds at the dish's base. It also comes with a side of Knipschildt Chocolatier's $2,600-a-pound La Madeline au Truffle , and is eaten with a diamond-encrusted golden spoon that the customer can keep.

For more outrageously expensive fast foods, visit CNBC.com.

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