Woman lives in 90 square foot apartment in New York

Felice Cohen lives in a 90 square foot apartment in Manhattan. That's not a typo with a missing zero. She pays $700 a month to live one block from Central Park – one hell of a deal –  but she does have to live in what is effectively a walk-in closet. Watch this video and see how Felice manages to live in this tight space.

Turn your house into a billboard and Adzookie will pay your mortgage

Digital illustration of what a painted house will look like

This idea is as novel as they come. Start-up advertising company Adzookie was looking for a novel way to get publicity an it did: Paint entire houses as billboards. In exchange, Adzookie pays the mortgage on the house for as long as the advertising stays up. They launched offer on Tuesday and by late afternoon, they received more than 1,000 applications, one from a church.


"It really blew my mind," Adzookie CEO Romeo Mendoza said. "I knew the economy was tough, but it's sad to see how many homeowners are really struggling."

Houses must remain painted for at least three months, and the agreement may be extended up to one year.

Talk about a win,win situation; The homeowner's mortgage is payed for and they get an ugly-as-sin house; Adzookie gets its advertising at a fraction of what it would otherwise cost.The genius in this is not in the face value of the advertising, but in the priceless PR buzz. 

Researchers say: Let some species go extinct

Image via Wikipedia

Species of animals have been coming and going for millions of years, on their own, without any help from man. Now that we're here and changing the game, we feel the need to intervene. Researchers in Australia have come up with a tool to help decide which species are worth saving. The tool – a mathematical model – helps prioritise which species have the greatest likelihood of continuing to exist. Australia's hairy-nosed wombat and dibbler are among the vulnerable considered to be not worth saving.

Professor Corey Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide, says the tool can help governments prioritise funding for conservation. "We wanted to come up with an index that was really based around theory that we have developed over the last 20 years about what constitutes the best chance for a species to persist over time."

Looks like it's all over for the hairy-nosed wombat.

Related articles

• The 10 Rarest Animals in the World (minxmx.wordpress.com)
• Scientists have new measure for species threat (eurekalert.org)

Perhaps the U.S and Belgium should combine tactics: No government and no budget

Image by Brooklyn Museum via Flickr

With the budget, or lack of a budget, crisis looming in the U.S. it's interesting to note that Belgium has been operating without a government for close to a year, without any noticeable harmful effects on daily life in the country. It is difficult to compare the two crisis and countries; Belgium being a parliamentary crisis with a King to intervene; the U.S. a republic whose politicians refuse to sign a budget bill. Belgium is noted for its heavy bureaucratic government, and the U.S. for its massive government deficits.

The point is this: In a strange way the two countries might just be getting the strangleholds they deserve. Eventually Belgium will get a government, and needs one for many obvious reasons, an the U.S. will get a budget, but their certainly a message buried in their somewhere. "We, the people ... "

Related articles

• John W. Miller: A House Long Divided (online.wsj.com)