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NYC mansion with abandoned renovation relists for $25M An Upper West Side mansion is back on the market for $25 million — the same price it asked in 2019. The landmarked property, at 3 Riverside Drive, was once owned by broker and developer Regina Kislin, the daughter of Sam Kislin — a Ukrainian-born metals trader. The elder Kislin, a former member of the New York City Economic Development Board, also has decades-long ties to Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, and one of Trump’s late partners, Soviet-born billionaire Tamir Sapir. The younger Kislin bought the spread for less than $10 million in 1995. In 2017, the residence was bought at auction for $15.8 million — a dramatic drop from its original $40 million asking price in 2012. At 37 feet wide, the mansion is almost double the size of most townhouses. Built in 1899 by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert in a French Renaissance Revival style, it features elaborate gargoyles and cherubs carved into its facade. Inside, however, the scene is less picturesque. The seller was part-way through a major renovation when he abandoned plans. But the mansion does come with “approved” plans by Italian architect Achille Salvagni for over-the-top details such as a “half-Olympic-sized” marble pool, a stadium-seating movie theater, a rooftop terrace, radiant heating throughout, an onyx-walled hot tub and bulletproof windows for the lower front of the house. The home, with some 19,000 square feet of space, also comes with approved plans for nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. It looks out to Riverside Park, the Hudson River and gets good natural light, according to the marketing materials.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/27/inside-abandoned-disney-like-village-made-of-empty-castles/ Haunting photos reveal hundreds of abandoned castles left to rot in Turkey Is this the creepiest place on Earth? Hundreds of Disney-like castles built for wealthy Gulf investors are now sitting empty. The haunting images are making the rounds online as developers struggle to revive the decrepit neighborhood — now the stuff of nightmares. Located in Turkey, the abandoned village first began construction in 2014, and was initially designed as a luxury community for foreign buyers. Known as the Burj Al Babas project, the village — located on the base of Turkey’s northwestern mountains — appears to be a diorama of miniature villas. The residences all look the same, with bluish-gray steeples and Gothic fixtures, calling to mind the castles in Disney films and theme parks. But hit by a devastating economic downturn in Turkey, the once-grand plan crumbled, leaving the mini chateaus hollow. They now join the ranks of the world’s creepiest abandoned dwellings. Its developers, the Sarot Group, failed to come up with the required amount of money to finish the project and sought bankruptcy protection in 2019, despite money that was left from the $200 million budget. The developers had intended to use the region’s hot springs to heat each home, claiming that the water had healing properties. “You can drink the waters, and it cures stomach ailments and kidney stones,” the Sarot Group’s CEO, Mezher Yerdelen, told the New York Times in a 2019 interview. “If you bathe in it, it heals skin problems, rheumatism, and slipped disks.” Homeowners also would’ve had the option to choose from three different layouts. The villas were designed to feature a jacuzzi on each level, and residents had the option to install an elevator and indoor pool. Buyers snapped up more than 350 of the houses, which are priced between $370,000 and $500,000, depending on location, Yerdelen told the Times. Of the more than 732 villas, about 350 were sold to Arab investors. By 2018, half the buildings were underway until Turkey’s economy took a major hit and many of the sales fell through. In October 2018, Turkey’s inflation rate reached 25% — the highest it had been in 15 years, largely influenced by the decline of the nation’s currency, the lira. “Our sales dried up,” Mezher Yerdelen added. Some customers canceled their agreements, some stopped their payments. Today, the village remains idle, with no plumbing, heating or any sign of human life. Thomas Brag of Yes Theory documented his experience exploring the village last month. “A lot of these unfinished abandoned projects, it always looks like they left halfway through a workday… like you still see some boots on the ground, and gloves, and construction equipment,” Brag . “There is still raw materials here that are valuable and that’s always the strangest part about going to half-finished construction abandoned places,” Brag added. “[i’m] thinking about what it must be like to be a construction worker here when they were doing this and then being told to just stop what you’re doing and then you just never really found out what happened to it.”

DEAR ABBY: I'd like advice on how to handle a problem that crops up every time family members invite me out to a dinner they are paying for. I know the rule of etiquette is to order an item that's the same or less than what the host is ordering, but I am often asked to order first. This means I have no idea what the payer's meal will cost. If it means ordering something on the menu other than what I'd rather have -- a burger instead of a steak -- in that case, should I offer to pay for my own meal? What if they won't hear of taking any money from me? Can I still order the steak since my offer to pay was refused? -- LIKES TO FOLLOW THE RULES DEAR LIKES: A way to get around ordering first might be to say, "I haven't decided yet. I'd like to hear what the others are ordering." However, if you would be uncomfortable doing that, and your hosts won't let you have a separate check, be a gracious guest and enjoy every bite of your steak dinner. "Lets all go a to a vegan place," and that way you know NOBODY will be ordering anything.

Where do you feel that tingly feeling you feel when you poo?

So you're a friend of Bill? I'm glad you've gotten your drinking under control! ???

I don't know what any of that means, but COOL! :cool:

DEAR ABBY: My daughter was accepted at a college of her choice in Pennsylvania that offered loads of grant money. Our out-of-pocket is about $6,000 if she gets a Stafford loan or works this summer to help with the $4,500 that would be the loan. My husband is insisting on a community college, which she doesn't want to attend. He constantly cites the fact that our house is in foreclosure and that he owes money to the IRS for his business, which is why things can't be. I think our children should be able to do things if they're workable. I encouraged them all through school to do their best and follow their dreams. My husband offered no assistance with homework or anything else. Any compliments they got for extracurricular involvement and excellent grades, he'd always say it was because of me -- and rightly so, but it was also them. Incidentally, our firstborn wanted to go to a particular college, but his father convinced him to go to the community college by promising he'd pay for it and get him a car. He never even taught the poor kid to drive. I offered professional driving lessons, but my son declined. Now my husband is using the same tactics on my daughter. Should I send her to follow her dreams against his wishes? You can't stifle them forever. -- ENCOURAGING MOM IN NEW YORK DEAR MOM: With the house in foreclosure and money owed to the IRS, your husband is right to be concerned. Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry because of circumstances beyond our control, specifically the volatile economic climate we have been experiencing. That said, I think you may be overdue to have a frank talk with your daughter about what she may have to do in order to supplement the grants being offered by the college of her choice. If she is willing to work over the summer and possibly beyond -- and considers taking out a student loan of her own -- she should be given the chance to live her dream. Suzy Orman: I hope your daughter is going to study something that will enable her to make a lot of money someday so she can buy her parents out of the poorhouse her stupid mother insisted they move into so she could get a degree and then go work in a McDonald's because no jobs were available. DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have been together 15 years. We used to be inseparable. He was my best friend. Ever since our daughter was born nine years ago, we rarely spend time together. Most of his free time is spent in the basement doing woodworking; I spend my time upstairs or outside. I don't think he enjoys my company anymore. I have told him this, and he says it's not intentional, and he loves me more now than ever. But it feels to me like we are growing apart, and I am very lonely. Because my daughter is who I spend most of my time with, she is the one who suffers my moods when I'm sad and upset with him. What can we do to be friends again instead of just parents? -- MISSING IT IN OHIO DEAR MISSING: Explain to your husband that you are lonely and need more of him than you have been getting since your daughter was born. Start exploring child care options and then schedule some adults-only date nights for just the two of you. This works for many other couples, and it may help the two of you renew some of the excitement that was there when you were child-free. Your daughter is a prime age for sex traffickers... (just sayin')

This week's episode was really good. It took place the morning after George Floyd's death... the firehouse's chief brought in a grief counselor for anyone who needed to talk. Initially, everyone was uninterested, but eventually they went to her, one by one. At the end of the episode they put up a note onscreen that the writer of the episode had donated her fee to a fund for racial education and that the episode had been enlightened by the experiences of... and then they listed some behind-the-scenes personnel on the show and all of the actors, so it seems that the writer spoke to each of them and included some of their real-life thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Several of the characters spoke about things from their childhoods, so I wonder if any of them were the actor's true experiences. Even if you don't watch the show, there's only occasional references to ongoing storylines, so you wouldn't be totally lost if you wanted to watch.

Rescuers on behalf of the Moscow Zoo have successfully captured an orphaned polar bear, first discovered and cared for by a group of kind-hearted gold miners in the Arctic. The female cub was found alone on the remote island of Bolshevik in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, one of the northernmost territories of Russia. Believed to have lost its mother, the hungry youngster came sniffing about the miners’ base last year, most likely seeking food as the bear was still too young to have learned to properly hunt. After catching the rascal trying one-too-many times to break into their shed, the miners began to feed the helpless animal. A mutual trust grew over the course of many months, until they had managed to tame the wild beast to behave more “like a dog,” according to rescuers. “All we knew was that the cub’s mother died, and that it was months ago when it discovered the base attracted by the smell of food,” said Andrey Gorban, director of Royev Ruchei Zoo in Krasnoyars, who helped oversee the bear’s transport from Bolshevik to the rescue center in Moscow according to the Siberian Times. Feeding bears isn’t just dangerous; it’s illegal — as domestication could impair the juvenile bear’s hunting skills. However, this cub had been abandoned at such a young age that it’s unlikely it would have survived without the help of the miners with hearts of gold. “For right or wrong, they fed the endangered animal and through that tamed it,” said the zookeeper. Even if they had been concerned, for their lives or the cub’s, there was no way to get in touch with animal experts. “The workers could only get in touch with us at the end of their work stint, as they had no communication link at the base,” Gorban explained. When their employment contract ended in February, the workers hurried back to let rescuers know that a defenseless cub was alone on Bolshevik without food or protection from predators. “We were told that the men were leaving back to the mainland, and the cub had stayed there alone,” Gorban told the Russian news outlet. “Our only hope was that they left quite a big open rubbish site, so there was a chance that the cub could feed off it for weeks.” Every polar bear counts these days as fewer than 31,000 of them are left on Earth, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Added Gorban, “The shift workers saved its life, the cub had no chance to survive.”

Pigeon breaks into NYC apartment, lays eggs on bed and now lives in window Man fills bowling ball with father's ashes — then rolls perfect game

NYC rents are in free fall, now reaching record lows https://nypost.com/2021/04/23/nyc-rents-continue-to-hit-record-lows/

‘The Simpsons’ recasts Hank Azaria’s gay character with gay actor “The Simpsons” has replaced another Hank Azaria role. Julio, a gay, Cuban character will now be voiced by a gay, Cuban actor: Tony Rodriguez. Most will know Julio as Marge’s hair stylist and ex-lover of Waylon Smithers in the long-running comedy show, which has recently faced a reckoning over the diversity of its characters. The re-casting started with Azaria’s Apu, which the white actor agreed perpetuated harmful stereotypes about Indian Americans. “Tonight I make my debut on The Simpsons as gay, Cuban Julio,” Rodriguez, a longtime performer with the Upright Citizens Brigade, wrote on Instagram last month. “This is a dream come true for me and I was already a living cartoon.” The comedian made a bid for the role in February on social media. “In the past two years, I have seen myself more in the show, and by that, I mean specifically the part of Julio, who is gay like me, he’s Cuban like me,” Rodriguez said in an IGTV video The move comes after months of soul-searching for “The Simpsons” creators and cast following criticism that the character Apu. In an interview with Dax Shepherd on his podcast “Armchair Expert,” Azaria expressed remorse. “Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize,” he told Shepherd. “And sometimes I do.” Azaria was initially defensive over the part, after Hari Kondabolu, an American comedian of Indian descent, first called-out “The Simpsons” over their insensitve depiction of Indian immigrants in his 2017 documentary “The Problem with Apu.” Azaria has also since stepped down as the voice of black character Carl Carlson, who will now be played by actor Alex Désert, a prominent voice actor featured in a number of animations including Disney XD’s “Spider-Man: Maximum Venom” and Adult Swim’s “Mr. Pickles.”

Cher’s four-year journey to help save an abused elephant from a Pakistani zoo is documented in “Cher & The Loneliest Elephant” now on Paramount+ and premiering May 19 on Smithsonian Channel. The special follows the iconic singer/actress’ efforts to rescue Kaavan, a 37-year-old elephant kept chained to a wall, alone, in an Islamabad zoo in squalid conditions. His mate, Saheli, died in 2012 from gangrene caused by the chains on her legs, causing Kaavan to rock back and forth from stress and anxiety. Kaavan’s plight was brought to Cher’s attention in 2016 through the efforts of animal rights advocate Anika Sleem, who launched a #FreeKaavan social media campaign that quickly gained traction. “I had been trying to save an elephant here I really loved with absolutely no luck,” Cher told The Post. “Fade out, fade in, some years later…I have to thank the kids — I’m sure not all of them are kids, but I just call them that — on my Twitter site because I would never have done this without them bothering me. It was #FreeKaavan every time I was on [the site] and I kept thinking, ‘OK, if I don’t answer them they’ll leave me alone.’ Kaavan the elephant reaches out his trunk to take a piece of fruit from Cher. “But they didn’t, thank God,” she said. “My first thought was, ‘I’m not going to be able to do anything [to help Kaavan]; I’m just an entertainer and he’s in Islamabad and there’s pandemic.’ I felt hopeless, but then I remembered a friend I met in Qatar, [musician/activist] Bob Geldof’s manager, Mark Cowne, and just cold-called him. I said something really stupid like, ‘You might not remember me but we rode in a car together and I know you’ve saved elephants in Africa. Can you help me?’ I want to save an elephant in Pakistan.’ “A couple of days later he was there in Islamabad,” she said. “He’s a big guy and he went up to [zoo officials] and said, ‘Take [Kaavan’s] shackles off, put some corrugated metal on top of this bulls–t thing he’s living in, it’s not big enough for him, and put some water in that little pool,’ which they did.” Cher flew with a small security detail to meet Kaavan in Islamabad, then on to Cambodia to welcome him at the sanctuary. Cowne contacted animal rights group Four Paws International. Led by experienced veterinarian Dr. Amir Khalil, they were tasked with transporting Kaavan from Islamabad to a 30,000-acre animal sanctuary in Cambodia. It was risky, since Kaavan was in Musth, a periodic condition in which male elephants’ testosterone rises dramatically, causing aggressive behavior. It also necessitated a specially constructed container Kaavan had to be trained to enter so he could make the seven-hour air journey to Cambodia. Cher, meanwhile, flew with a small security detail to meet Kaavan in Islamabad, then journeyed on to Cambodia to welcome him at the sanctuary. “I had to make a decision whether I was going to go to Islamabad in a pandemic and not knowing what the people there were going to think of me, or even if they knew who I was,” Cher said. “I was hoping they didn’t know, because then they would know I’m this chick from America who was naked for almost her entire life and that wouldn’t have gone down so well. But I met a lot of nice people there.” As viewers will see, Cher and Kaavan bonded over a piece of watermelon, with Dr. Khalil close by. “I felt the connection,” she said. “We hung out and sang a real bad [rendition of] ‘My Way,’ which is not a song I think I would ever sing in my life. Elephants adore music; I don’t think people have any idea how the emotions of human beings and elephants are the same. They have compassion and anger and they can reason — they do better with human qualities than we do. “When Mark first unchained Kaavan he didn’t know that he could move…they’re still getting rid of the burns on his ankles [from the shackles]…and putting all kinds of medicine on them. Can you imagine chaining your dog to something for so long and not letting him move for no apparent reason?” Kaavan’s trip to Cambodia was uneventful, and he will now transition (in three stages) into living in his natural habitat, roaming free and surrounded by other elephants. “I watched him when we first got [to Cambodia]. It was night, but it wasn’t completely dark, and I was standing behind the crate when Kavaan had to back out of it,” Cher said. “I watched him walk around the enclosure and saw his back — he was just curious and was looking around, there was not one shake of his head or his body. He wasn’t freaking out or anything. “And there are girl [elephants] there,” she said. “[Kaavan’s keeper] Derek said he was having some communication with the females and I said, ‘Oh my God — a new house and chicks at the same time!’ You saw him with one of the girls holding trunks. The tips of their trunks are much more sensitive than fingertips.” Cher said she will eventually return to visit Kaavan. She co-founded an international charity, Free The Wild, with Cowne and his wife, Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, to rescue other animals in dire straits. “I’m going to Thailand and then I’m going to stop in Cambodia to see [Kaavan], but not now because it’s too hard,” she said.