MACAU, Macau - A Macau casino mogul bid US$330,000 for a pair of white truffles, including one weighing nearly a kilogram, matching the record price he paid at the same event three years ago for one of the giant tubers.Billionaire Stanley Ho made the winning bid Saturday at a charity auction through representatives of his company, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau.
The pair included a huge truffle dug up in the central Tuscany region weighing 900 grams as well as one found in Molise weighing in at 400 grams.
The auction was staged at Ho's Grand Lisboa hotel in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, with bidders participating simultaneously in Rome and London through satellite link.
White truffles are the most expensive and highly prized of Italy's truffles, and among the most famous are those from Alba in the northern Piedmont region, where pigs or dogs are used to sniff them out during the September-December hunting season.
During the autumn truffle season in Italy, restaurants offer pasta and other dishes containing the edible fungus at sky-high prices.
Slivers of the delicacy, with its strong aroma, are prized to flavour pasta sauces and rice dishes.
In 2007, Ho paid $330,000 for a white truffle unearthed in Tuscany weighing 1.497 kilograms.
Ho is best known for his casino monopoly in Macau, a gambling enclave in southern China near Hong Kong.
Sixteen lots of white truffles from different areas in Italy went on the block, raising a total of $373,500 for various charities in Macau, Britain and Italy.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Macau casino mogul Ho bids $330,000 for 2 white truffles at auction, matching 2007 record
Monday, November 29, 2010
Infamous vehicles
Ten vehicles that have become celebrities in their own right, and where they are today
Photo: Ted Soqui, Sigma, Corbis
When an automobile is involved in a notorious incident - a well-publicized crash, an assassination attempt, a police chase - the stories live on through history while the car often fades into oblivion. But sometimes that car or bike resurfaces years later and becomes a celebrity in its own right. "There's power and influence associated with these cars," says Leslie Kendall, curator of the Los Angeles-based Petersen Automotive Museum. Here some of the most infamous cars throughout history and where they are now.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Flying Snakes' Secret Revealed
The snake dangles 49 feet (15 meters) off the ground, tail entwined around a branch. Suddenly, the animal rears up and launches, flinging its body toward the forest floor.
In other reptiles, the leap would be suicidal, or at least an invitation for broken bones. But the snake in question is a Chrysopelea paradisi, one of five related species of tree-dwelling snakes from Southeast and South Asia. When these snakes leap, it's not to nosedive; it's to glide from tree to tree, a feat they can accomplish at distances of at least 79 feet (24 m).
What no one knows is exactly how these reptiles manage to fly so far without wings. Now, a new study finds that the snakes' amazing aerial abilities may all be in the way they move.
"For any flier, you really need to know the basics: How fast is it going, what's the shape of the flier, what is the shape of the wing," study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, told LiveScience. "With this new study, we now really get insight into what the exact position of the body is as it's in this really developed glide."
Socha presented his research today (Nov. 22) at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The study will be published this week in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Driving PSA voted ad of year despite avoiding shock tactics
A powerful public safety announcement showing why your loved ones want you to buckle up has been voted YouTube's ad of the year.
It will have you thinking of others every time you get in your car and start the ignition.
The 90-second commercial titled "Embrace Life" begins with a man reaching his hand out as if he is holding car keys and starting the ignition.
He starts to drive and looks over at his wife and daughter as if he is thinking about them while driving. They smile back.
All of a sudden, the man looks stunned as his eyes open to perfect circles. His daughter mimics his expression. He swerves while his wife and daughter jump up from the couch and put their arms around him as if they are his seatbelt keeping him in his seat and saving his life.
"I wanted to create a visual metaphor addressing how a single decision in a person's day can greatly influence both their own and their loved ones' lives," said writer and director Daniel Cox, who didn't want to shock or scare the audience.
"The family living room represents the feelings many people equate with their own car, in that it represents a level of safety and protection from the 'outer' world."
Watch the commercial:
Friday, November 26, 2010
Landfall for 3 teens who spent 50 days adrift in the South Pacific
SUVA, Fiji - Three teenage boys who spent 50 days adrift in a tiny boat in the South Pacific walked ashore on shaky legs Friday after their chance rescue — celebrated on their home island hundreds of kilometres away as a miracle that brought them back from the dead.
The trio — Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 — told rescuers they survived on rainwater they collected, a handful of coconuts, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their 3.5-metre aluminum boat.
The boys set off Oct. 5 from their home island to one nearby. It's not known how they went missing, but the outboard motor may have broken down at sea.
Worried family members reported them missing and the New Zealand air force launched a sea search. No sign of the tiny boat was found, and the village of 500 people held memorial services, expecting never to see the boys again.
They were picked up Wednesday by a fishing trawler, undernourished, severely dehydrated and badly sunburned, but otherwise well. The ship's first mate said the area they were in is way off any normal commercial shipping routes.
They drifted 1,300 kilometres from where they set out — Tokelau, a bucolic collection of coral atolls north of Samoa that is New Zealand's territory.
A Fiji navy patrol boat met the trawler Friday and escorted it into the harbour of its capital, Suva. The teens were met by New Zealand consular officials and taken directly to a hospital for medical checks. Looking thin, the three walked off the boat without speaking to reporters.
Tai Fredricsen, first mate aboard the tuna boat San Nikuna, said a crew member spotted a small vessel bobbing in the open sea northeast of Fiji on Wednesday. "We knew it was a little weird," he said.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Macy's Thanksgiving parade dazzles NYC
NEW YORK — A high-kicking Kung Fu Panda and a diary-toting Wimpy Kid joined the giant balloon lineup as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade unfolded Thursday, drawing tens of thousands of spectators to the annual extravaganza on a chilly, overcast morning.
As millions more watched the live broadcast on television, entertainers on tap included Kanye West, Gladys Knight and Colombian rocker Juanes.
The Broadway cast of "Elf" performed and they were to be joined by the cast of "American Idiot," along with marching bands from across the United States.
An inflatable version of Virginia O'Hanlon, the 8-year-old girl whose letter to the editor elicited the response, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," made its debut.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
How to invest in emerging markets now
China plans to focus its economy on domestic consumers; that's probably a good tactic for investors, too. Here are 9 stocks (you may not have heard of) to help.
By Jim JubakAt the end of October, China's Communist Party formally endorsed the country's new, 12th five-year economic plan. For 2011-2015 the plan envisions changing China from the world's factory to the world's market. During this period, China's leaders intend to change the economy from one driven by exports to one focused on domestic consumers.
I think investors should pursue something like that transformation in their stock portfolios. Most investors who have put money into the world's emerging economies have bought the big export companies in those economies: a Vale (VALE, news, msgs) or Petrobras (PBR, news, msgs) in Brazil, an Infosys (INFY, news, msgs) or Coal India in India, a Petrochina (PTR, news, msgs) or Lenovo Group (LNVGY, news, msgs) in China. Even investors who don't own these companies have likely heard of them.But I think it's time to develop your own five-year plan that shifts some of the money in your portfolio that you've allocated to overseas equities from export-driven companies to companies that focus on consumers within Brazil or India or China or . . . .
You don't need to abandon those exporting powerhouses all at once, or even at all. But you do need to rebalance your portfolio to include more companies that focus on domestic growth.
Let me give you the two reasons for undertaking this rebalancing. And then give you a short list of stocks that you should consider as potential tools for that rebalancing.
Reason No. 1: Beat the bubble
First, if you're worried that the aggressive monetary growth coming from the Federal Reserve and China is inflating a new bubble that could burst as early as 2011, you should add domestic-focused emerging-market stocks to your portfolio.
