World

Priced out of Melbourne, an Australian couple bought 1.5 hectares in Tasmania for $330,000; in 2022 they began a recycled bottle Earthship and completed the home nearly three years later for $880,000

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For Matt Ellis and Kate Tucker, buying a home in Melbourne became a familiar cycle of hope, bidding and disappointment. The couple wanted to remain close to their community and friends, but they were repeatedly outbid in the inner city market. Eventually, they looked far beyond Victoria and found a more affordable path near Cygnet … Read more

In 1999, David Letterman bought a 2,700-acre Montana ranch after avoiding celebrity country; he says the property has buffalo, horses, barbed wire and weeds

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After his decision to leave late-night television, Letterman and wife, Regina Lasko, moved back to Indiana In 1999, television host David Letterman bought a 2,700-acre ranch in Montana. According to Realtor, the ranch is one of several properties owned by Letterman, who has spoken openly about moving away from the pressures and lifestyle associated with … Read more

At 100, Atlanta’s Barbara Haig still drives her white Ford Mustang; she says caution, not age, will determine how long she stays behind the wheel

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Haig has been fond of convertibles for years. After giving them up for a period, seeing other drivers enjoying the spring weather with their tops down convinced her that she was ready for another one. At an age when many people are content to slow down, Barbara Haig is still putting the top down and … Read more

In 2001, Bear Grylls bought a remote Welsh island for £95,000; after four years rebuilding its only house, it now runs off-grid on wind, solar and harvested rainwater

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In 2001, Bear Grylls bought a remote island off the coast of north Wales for £95,000. At the time, the island had just one house, which Grylls described as a “complete wreck”. He and his friends then spent four years rebuilding the property, turning the isolated place into a family retreat.The island is about six … Read more

A former fuel-tank farm beside an Alaska national park visitor center has been erased; a young conservation crew restored 15,000 square yards of landscape and built 500 feet of new trail

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The project also created about 500 feet of new pedestrian trail, connecting the visitor center with the Lakeview Tinitun trail and the broader trail network. What was once a utilitarian patch of ground beside an Alaska visitor center is now becoming part of the landscape again. At Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, a young … Read more

A $100 billion “ghost city” became a home for tech entrepreneurs, but the experiment lasted less than two years after it began | World News

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Forest City was meant to become a futuristic metropolis near Singapore, but its empty towers and quiet streets earned it a very different reputation. That unusual setting later attracted a group of technology entrepreneurs who saw the underused development as an opportunity to test a new way of living and working. In 2024, Network School … Read more

Two giant dams changed Europe’s second-longest river. Decades later, scientists found the Danube Delta was being starved of sediment | World News

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The Danube does not arrive at the Black Sea as it once did. For thousands of years, the river carried enormous quantities of sediment towards its delta, steadily building and reshaping the low-lying landscape where river channels meet lagoons and the sea. That process changed after large-scale engineering works altered the river upstream. Following the … Read more