On the r/AskReddit forum, someone recently posed the question, “What was the most out-of-touch-with-reality thing a wealthy person has ever said to you?” Numerous people have responded by sharing their experiences with affluent and unenlightened individuals. Check out some of the responses below.

“Not to me but near me “I would pay money to see The Hunger Games if it was real”.”

“In college I was washing a bowl in the sink and someone said “that’s the weirdest thing about college for me, not having a dishwasher.”

I said “man I didn’t have one until high school and it was s**t so it couldn’t clean pans.”

Him: “oh, I meant like someone to wash the dishes for us…”

Me: “you’re joking, right?”

He was not joking, but I got invited to their upstate place for spring break so that was cool

Edit: it had a pots and pans mode, which we tried exactly once. Turns out it couldn’t wash anything even remotely stuck on, so we usually just washed them by hand anyways.”

“One time a client’s kid gave a coworker an iPad. Brand new, unopened box. My coworker was a little uncomfortable receiving such an expensive gift from a kid.

The kid just said “don’t worry, I just grabbed it out of the gift closet.”

We were confused, so we asked him what a gift closet is. Apparently, their family keeps a whole closet loaded with stuff like this – Apple Watches, cameras, iPads, etc so that whenever they need to give a gift, they always have something on hand.”

“Oh you get seasonal depression? Why don’t you just go to the Caribbean for a week and the Mediterranean the next? It always helps me.”

“A button fell off my jacket. My rich friend recommended where to buy a new jacket. When I took out the needle and thread, he was very confused.”

“My boss asked me why I didn’t just buy a house in her neighborhood instead of renting an apartment. The houses there were $300-500,000 (very pricy for my area), and she was paying me $9/h….I had literally just applied for food stamps.”

“A coworker of mine was talking with a parent once (summer camp in a rich town). The parent mentioned how she loved my coworkers dress, and wanted to know where she bought it, with the stipulation that it cost under $10,000… turns she had bought the dress on clearance for something like $10. When she explained this, the parent just laughed like it was a joke, saying “no really, how much was it.” Never seen someone thaaat out of touch.”

“Back when I worked in payroll a doctor yelled at me because his administrator didn’t process his bi-monthly incentive on time so it missed his check. He was supposed to go pick up his new Mercedes with that money (it was 6 figures) so he threw a fit to have a check cut that day. Two weeks later that same doctor did not approve a check to be cut for an hourly employee whose hours (2 weeks worth) didn’t get approved on time because it was only $1000 and they wouldn’t miss it. I had to go above him to get it approved because I knew that employee would definitely be negatively impacted by not being paid on time.”

“Our CEO mourned having to sell 4 of the company’s private jets in a town hall meeting because it was really personal to him and hurt. Meanwhile the personnel cuts were described as necessary in the same meeting.”

I was complaining about mortgage payments, and she said “I know, I finally just took the money out of savings and paid mine off so I wouldn’t have to worry about it every month.”

“Why don’t you just buy a house? It’s going to be cheaper than paying rent.”

Thanks. Just let me find the down payment that I don’t have yet.

“I have a friend and she is very wealthy. She was talking about finding a charity for Christmas. I mentioned that there were people going places and paying off Christmas lay a ways. I mentioned a town I grew up in as a possibility. I told them the per capita income is 9k. And she said, “9k a month!!!! How do those people live!!!” Then I had to tell her 9k a year. She was floored.
Edited to say: she is actually a very very sweet and caring person and donates millions a year to so many wonderful places and causes.”

“My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.”

“Why have roommates at all? I don’t think anyone I knew had roommates. Seems like too much trouble. Just spend the extra hundred on rent and live at peace.

-an 80 year old man.”

“Poor people are poor because they’re lazy.”

I do IT for the 1% in LA. This is my life all day. “My son crashed his Mercedes, so he and I will stop by the dealership to pick up a new one.”

“You sure he won’t crash that one too?”

“It’s just a car, we can always replace it.”

“This actually happened:

I work for a large tech company. My first year there, I had a co-worker that had God level money. We were booked for a business trip to London. I boarded the flight, didn’t see him, thought he missed the flight.

I get off the plane and he’s texting me from our hotel in London. He arrived 5 or so hours before I did. I get to the hotel, check-in and meet him for dinner. I ask if he took an earlier flight as I didn’t see him.

Nope. He told me he was racing his vintage Ferrari(s) in Southern California, lost track of time. Realized he was probably going to miss the flight so he flew his own jet to NY (with the Ferraris on-board), then “grabbed a flight on the Concord” and beat me to London.

And he genuinely said this like he’d just grabbed Starbucks on the way home. He was incredibly down to Earth and very humble, but his assessment of everyday life related to travel was so far out of my realm of reality.

That was my first brush with God level money.”

“Why does public transport still exist?” This dude was legitimately convinced that there is no reason for public transport to still exist. He thinks that everyone is rich enough to afford cars.

“When I had to explain to my roommate that I couldn’t go with him on an expensive multi-week vacation because I had to work and all of my money was going toward the rent/car payment/etc coming up. His dad paid for his rent, his car, his university tuition, his vacations, etc.”

“I complained about going an entire summer without ac, and she asked me why I didn’t buy a new car.”

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1. That’s not how that works dude.

2. And we know this because the officer questioned them?

3. Lesson of the day? Clean your glasses before you resort to calling 911.

4. Off to a great start eh?

5. Yet another judge with bad judgement.

6. A BB gun could solve this problem….just sayin’.

7. I’d like to see the officer’s body cam footage for proof.

8. Another caller with dirty glasses perhaps?

9. Here’s a group of people who need some glasses.

10. That must have been one big burrito.

11. The police believed this story?

12. That time the LOL got someone arrested.

 13. And in other news local store sells out of tin foil.

14. He got off easy.

15. So, did the police make him take a shower? I need closure to this.

16. And???

17. Sometimes you just can’t help yourself.

18. Chocolate covered mushrooms sound good to eat why?

19. Glad her answer made it into the report.

20. Perhaps it was a suggestion for a New Year’s resolution?

21. Just normal Canadian behavior? I gotta visit Canada.

22. Better its cats than ghosts.

23. How tall was that curb?

24. Sounds like an interior decorator broke into her house.

25. What it looks like when you lose all communication with your spouse.

26. It was the rolling pin that gave it away….really?

27. And….problem solved.

28. Someone get that kid some glasses please.

29. Are we sure the caller doesn’t live on Sesame Street?

30. Exactly what does a coin have to do to be “suspicious”?

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James Ross-Munroe and Kane Wiblen went on Australia’s Today Show to discuss the incident and, in the process, gave one of the most entertaining interviews ever.

“The only gym I go to is Jim Beam”

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The bank had been closed since the 1980s, and mostly forgotten.

It had largely fallen into disrepair, and seemed hopeless.

But artist, urban planner, professor, and Rebuild Foundation founder Theaster Gates had another idea. He saw potential in the old building when no one else did. And we mean that quite literally — no one else thought the 20,000 square foot building would amount to anything.

In fact, the city of Chicago was so convinced it was worthless that they sold it to Gates for a dollar. One dollar.

Gates set out to restore the building, and after a whirlwind of repairs, the old bank’s doors were open to the public once again during Chicago’s Architecture Biennale.

The repairs even preserved some of the old, damaged elements of the building and combined them with the refurbished ones, allowing people to literally see the history and transformation of the building.

But of course, it wasn’t exactly a savings and loan bank anymore.

Instead of a bank for money, Gates and The Rebuild Foundation turned the space into an art bank — in Gates’ words, “an institution of and for the South Side…a repository for African American culture and history, a laboratory for the next generation of black artists.”

Called the Stony Island Art Bank, it will be home to events and exhibitions, and serve as a research and residency space for artists, scholars, and curators.

The Art Bank houses a collection of 60,000 glass slides from the University of Chicago and the School of Art Institute, the vinyl archive of house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles, and the personal book and magazine collection of John H. Johnson, who founded Ebony and Jet magazines.

Gates hopes that the Art Bank will serve as a community center for Chicago’s South Side. It’s open to the public, making it a great educational and cultural resource.

He describes the space as “an institution of and for the South Side,” and “a space for neighborhood residents to preserve, access, reimagine and share their heritage, as well as a destination for artists, scholars, curators, and collectors to research and engage with South Side history.”

(via Colossal)

You can learn more about the Stony Island Art Bank on its website. If you’re in the Chicago area, it’s open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. You can also check out other projects the Rebuild Foundation and Theaster Gates are working on, too.

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The toddler from Dallas struck up a friendship/hero worship of his garbage man, real name Oladele Olurunrinu, and always looked forward to seeing him, the local ABC affiliate reported.

“I think this is Deacon’s first friend [where] he really understands what friendship is,” said his mom, Summer.

But sadly, their friendship is coming to an end. The Ross family is moving to a different house off of O’Dee’s garbage route.

The time came for Deacon to say goodbye to his first friend. He carried over a basketful of treats his mom made for him to give to his pal to say thanks for being his friend.

O’Dee said he hadn’t realized how much Deacon loved him, but that now “I can see it.”

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The Sanzhi “UFO houses” were built in Tawain by a Chinese company called the Hung Kuo Group, and though the buildings look like they’re part of an awesome space village, the project was abandoned two years into construction. The reasons for its abandonment have inspired local legends. Some hypothesize that it was merely an economic problem, but others think there might have been something paranormal at work.
Construction began in New Taipei City, Taiwan, in 1978. These structures were designed to be vacation resorts for U.S. soldiers serving in East Asia.

The resort was basically a live-in water park.

Construction stopped in 1980 before the first guests could check in.

Many cite poor funding as the main reason for the abandonment, but some suspect that paranormal activity drove the builders away.

Although the view from the Sanzhi homes is beautiful, it came at a cost. Rumor has it that the resort was built on top of a graveyard of dead Dutch soldiers. The workers said they were often visited by spirits who were none too pleased to have their slumbers disturbed.

Mysterious accidents began occurring on site, many of which were fatal.

Several of the workers committed suicide without any indication that they were unhappy before they took their own lives.

Urban explorers who break into the site say that the area remains haunted by both soldiers and Hung Kuo workers.

There’s yet another legend which claims that the area was once home to a sacred dragon that should not have been disturbed. So basically the area is now doubly cursed.

Although abandoned, the ghostly resort became an underground tourist attraction for fans of science fiction and apocalyptic worlds (who are also fond of illegally entering private property).

Images of the abandoned resort have been used for amateur and professional films, including an MTV short.

Despite an online petition, the abandoned resort was demolished in 2008.

In 2010, the land was leased to another company that hopes to make yet another resort and water park atop the old. Let’s hope the spirits have quieted since the destruction of Sanzhi.

.

I’ve always been in love with the cheesy 1980s depiction of what the future should look like, so I would have been first down the water slide if this ever opened. Had this structure been built on a less haunted site, it probably would’ve been a hit.

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Everyone’s least favorite rodent has been tasked with cleaning up the lethal leftovers of war. Land mines kill thousands every year, but these rats have been trained to save lives by sniffing out the scent of explosives. The group responsible for training the rodents is APOPO – which stands for Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling in Dutch, or Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development in English.

Using positive reinforcement that is respectful to the animals, these African pouched rats are taught to identify explosives and then alert their handler.

They’re perfect for the job – they’re highly intelligent and have a keen sense of smell. They are small enough not to trigger mines, yet large enough to be easily identifiable in the field. No rat has been killed in a minefield.

They can clear two hundred square meters in just 20 minutes. It would take humans with metal detectors five days to cover the same area.

Since 2000, they have found over 9,000 buried land mines and bombs all across Tanzania and Mozambique. They’ve also found thousands of small arms and ammunitions stashed in the ground.

The rats normally live for up to eight years, but are retired when they turn six. They live out the rest of their days as hero’s, munching on avocados, apples and bananas, and being loved on by their handlers.

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This is the Eshima Ohashi bridge, which connects the cities of Matsue and Sakaiminato over Lake Nakaumi.

Yikes!

This bridge looks like multiple accidents waiting to happen, but the locals cross it every day.

The bridge, which rises 44 meters (about 145 feet) into the air, was designed with a relatively steep incline so that ships could pass beneath it. And as long as they aren’t afraid of heights, drivers can see some pretty amazing panoramas. It’s also just over a mile long and pretty narrow, with no guardrails between the lanes.

Sounds like a fun commute, no?

The bridge actually looks like this. The incline is magnified from the driver’s point of view because of the compression of perspective, which makes it appear crazy-steep when it’s really just kind of steep.

We had you going for a bit, didn’t we? Think about it. If the incline were really as steep as it appears in the images above, you’d see much more of the cars’ roofs than you do. It’s an optical illusion!

The highest point of the bridge looks even more impressive with the mountain under it!

Though it’s not the roller coaster ride that it appears to be from a head-on perspective, the bridge is still on the steeper side, and motorists must exercise extra caution.

Check out this video for a first-person perspective of the Eshima Ohashi.

Now that you know about the illusion, do you think you’re up for a little drive?

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However, some of us take a bit longer to move past our newly single status, and deal with being alone in ways that might seem odd to others. Such is the case for Florida’s Edward Leedskalnin, who spent nearly three decades getting over his former fiancee by building the most beautiful and bizarre creation.

This is Coral Castle, a series of structures Edward Leedskalnin created over a 28-year period.

Originally from Latvia, Leedskalnin was abandoned by his then-fiancee on the day before their wedding. He then made his way to America and came down with tuberculosis. When he arrived in Florida, Leedskalnin bought a parcel of land and got to work on what he then called Rock Gate Park, now commonly known as Coral Castle.

No one really knows how Leedskalnin built Coral Castle.

The castle is actually made from a type of limestone that is often found near fossils and/or coral. The castle and all its structures weigh a whopping 1,000 tons. Despite the weight, Leedskalnin moved the structures from several locations over the years, before finally settling in Miami in 1936. When asked how the castle was built, Leedskalnin would often give various misleading or ridiculous answers and claim that it was, “not difficult if you know how.”

Like the rest of the castle, the entrance gate is a true miracle of engineering.

The entrance gate to the castle weighs many tons, but can be opened with a soft touch. For years, visitors had no idea how such a heavy object could be moved with such little force. Engineers eventually discovered that the gate rested on an automotive bearing, which moved the massively heavy door back and forth without a problem.

The castle grounds include a variety of sculptures, also made by Leedskalnin.

Leedskalnin was not an expert sculptor by any means, but his sculptures give a fittingly somber tone to his castle.

Leedskalnin also wrote a number of books and proposed quite a few odd medical and philosophical theories.

He believed his tuberculosis was made better through the power of magnetism, and wrote several theories about using magnets and electricity for healing purposes. Leedskalnin also wrote a book on moral education and the need to keep young girls, “chaste and faithful.” However, it could be argued that these bizarre writings were part of his traumatic breakup, just like the castle.

Edward Leedskalnin lived in the castle, and died during its construction.

Though he died of a kidney infection in 1951, Leedskalnin was still hard at work at perfecting this monument to his “Sweet Sixteen” — reportedly the woman who jilted him in Latvia. Before his death, Leedskalnin greeted visitors from the second floor of the castle and asked them to contribute 10 cents as an entrance fee to see his hard work.

Coral Castle is now a registered historic site.

After Leedskalnin’s death, the castle changed hands several times until a company came in and made it a tourist attraction. The castle today is more or less in the condition Leedskalnin left it in before he died. It’s recognized today as a small but important part of South Florida’s history.

Signs from the castle’s original construction are still affixed to the walls.

I think it’s safe to assume that admission’s gone up over the years.

Spending 28 years on building a castle with your own hands takes focus and dedication. Imagine what Edward Leedskalnin could have done in that time if he moved on and met someone else. Sure, he wouldn’t have created such a wonderful work of living art, but at least he also wouldn’t have been so heartbroken. He really must have been affected by his breakup!

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They’re actually the work of a single man — one Jim Power — who’s been living and working in the area for 34 years. He collects broken bits of china and glass and cements them to lamp-posts, walls, and whatever else he can. His art brings some much-needed color to the city.

Power created this mosaic outside a former cafe on St. Mark’s Place.

As businesses come and go, the mosaics remain. They give visitors a little insight into the neighborhood’s rich history.

Power sees his mosaics as a way of bringing character to the neighborhood, which is already known for its counterculture music and art movements. As neighborhoods and populations change, though, Power fears that his life’s work may be destroyed.

He’s nervous about the area losing its character through gentrification. So far, though, the mosaics have been kept as they are.

Power scours the city for fragments to incorporate into his art. Some of them have surprising detail and beauty.

Many of his mosaics reference the East Village’s signature art and music culture. Others are dedicated to the city’s workers, including the FDNY.

Power travels the area with his dog to check on his art pieces. He cleans and repairs them as needed.

Power’s main goal is to create a space where people can appreciate the art and beauty all around them, and to celebrate the creativity of his fellow East Villagers. He also sees it as a way to give back to the city he loves.

“The people in the Village love this art,” he says. “When you go to the Empire State Building, you look at it and walk away from it. When you come to the East Village, you walk through the art. It’s a museum all around.”

He really enjoys his work.

Here’s a look at Power and his views on preserving the character of the East Village. (Oh, and did we mention how adorable his dog is?)

Just like so much street art, many people don’t know the story behind the East Village mosaics. Though this gives them an air of mystery, getting to know their history and meaning makes them so much more delightful — and important. This knowledge would bring more people together to ensure that these amazing mosaics are never lost to gentrification.

If you’re in the East Village around Astor Place, be sure to keep an eye out for these creative, unique mosaics!

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge introduced their newborn daughter to the world Saturday.

Unlike last time, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did not address the crowds. Palace officials said that it had been “a long day.”

Despite having given birth TEN HOURS ago, Kate looked flawless, as per usual.

The couple have not announced their baby girl’s name, which is normal for royal babies. Prince George’s name was announced two days after his birth.

The Princess of Cambridge slept throughout her first official appearance.

After their brief appearance in front of the cameras, the Duke and Duchess exited the hospital with their baby girl in a carseat to head home.

They held hands as they made their way to the car.

The princess was wrapped snuggly in a shawl and a tiny knitted hat.

After loading his daughter into the waiting car, Prince William cheekily said, “Two out of two,” referencing the fact that he successfully got the carseat buckled into the vehicle.

He then climbed behind the wheel to drive his wife and child home to Kensington Palace, to start their life as a family of four.

Earlier, the Duke of Cambridge brought Prince George to the hospital to meet his new baby sister.

https://youtu.be/-lawp32opxU

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