The end of Baymere, the lavish 33-room midcentury modern estate of Willis Du Pont in Coconut Grove that was listed on the market for $22 million, was sad and quick. After surveyors determined the property to be absolutely soaked with toxic waste—it was built on as much as 100,000 tons of toxic soil carted over from the “Old Smokey” incinerator over in the West Grove—the house sold for $11.4 million and was demolished. Perhaps it was appropriate for an heir to chemical fortune, Willis Du Pont, to build his house above a toxic wasteland in 1964. The current owners, who might be heirs to a Venezuelan oil fortune, demolished the house and apparently plan to build five luxury residences on impermeable surfaces and new top fill that should cap the contaminated soil, rendering it safe. · Live Like A Du Pont In The 1960s, In This $22M Grove Estate [Curbed Miami] · Du Pont Mansion In Coconut Grove Is Buried In Poison [Miami New Times]
Tag Archives: north salem estates for sale
New York Times Explores North Salem’s David Letterman’s Book Of Satire | North Salem Real Estate
The New York Times recently visited with North Salem resident David Letterman to discuss his new book, “This Land Was Made for You and Me (but Mostly Me).”
Letterman teamed up with illustrator Bruce McCall to create a book of satire that pokes fun at some fictitious habits of the cultural and financial elite.
The Times describes the book as a vehicle for some of Letterman’s ideas that he wouldn’t be able express on his late night talk show.
Bill Gates’ custom-built home in Medina, Washington | North Salem NY Homes
Software tycoon Bill Gates turns 58 today. Because he’s the world’s second-richest person (topped only by Carlos Slim, according to Forbes), you might expect him to have some pretty impressive living arrangements — and guess what, you’d be right.
He built his 66,000-square-foot main residence on Lake Washington in Medina, Washington, over the course of several years. It was assessed this year (and the three years before that) at $120.6 million, down from a 2008 high of $150 million.
Some time ago, U.S. News & World Report ran a fairly extensive article plus slideshow (with renderings, not photos) about the home. But Gates — who was originally quite voluble about the home — hasn’t talked much about it since. Among its unique features:
• A 2,100-square-foot library has secret bookcases and a dome with oculus. The ceiling is engraved with a quote. “He had come a long way to this blue lawn,” it reads, “and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.” It’s from “The Great Gatsby.”
• It has a pool with a “fossil motif” floor. You can swim under a glass wall to emerge near a terrace outside.
• Only about 20 percent of the home is family living space, including four bedrooms and nanny quarters. Much of the rest of the square footage is given over to a reception hall, offices, conference facilities, a computer room and other gathering spaces.
• The compound has seven bedrooms and 24 bathrooms — and six kitchens, presumably because the home hosts receptions and conferences.
• It has a “trampoline room” whose ceiling is 20 feet up.
• “Miles of communication cable, largely fiber optic, run throughout the house,” U.S. News reported, “linking computer servers powered by the Windows NT operating system. In each room, touch-sensitive pads control lighting, music, and climate. Visitors will wear small electronic pins, which will let the computers know who and where they are. Lights and other settings will adjust automatically. Floors throughout the house (and the driveway) are heated.”
• Much of the home is nestled into the hillside and underground. According to the architects: “A sod-covered guesthouse is sited at the highest point of the property. Invisible on approach and entered between two concrete walls, the building is choreographed to give a sense of moving through the earth to discover the distant lake and mountains.”
But our favorite discovery of all when researching this post? You can own Bill Gates’ home too! Just download the paper toy version at PaperToys.com.
A virtual tour of the home:
10 Simple Tips to Becoming a Better Blogger | North Salem Realtor
It was in 1439 a professional goldsmith created an agent for worldwide change. This invention facilitated enormous evolution to society in Europe and globally. The machine he created called the “printing press” provided for the first time, the means for the mass production of books.
His name was Johannes Gutenberg and he was German.
Over 3,600 pages a day could be printed compared to the forty that could be produced by hand printing. This was an increase in production of over 9,000 percent!
This machine changed everything.
Francis Bacon, the English philosopher said in 1620 that printing was one of three things that “changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world”. It introduced the era of mass communication which changed forever the structure of society and culture.
Ideas Crossed Borders
Authors such as Luther and Erasmus became best selling authors and their thoughts and writing allowed the blossoming of the middle class. The status of the elite was challenged. Literacy rose sharply. The monopoly and power of the religious and political leaders was threatened.
It led to the unrestricted circulation of information and perceived radical ideas that now crossed borders quickly and efficiently.
The Age of Digital Self Expression and Creativity
In the 1990′s people started expressing themselves with online diaries. According to Wikipedia, Justin Hall was one of the earliest bloggers who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 as the Web started to become widespread.
The phrase was coined “web log“, which has through the wonderful world of language, been transformed into the term “we blog” and hence “blogging“.
The tools for blogging have evolved to the point that the less technical of the population can now publish text, video and images simply and easily without understanding a single line of coding or computer programming. Tools such as WordPress and Tumblr have broken the technical tyranny of the geeks.
Self expression and creativity has exploded online and allowed anyone with enough passion and discipline to publish their ideas via rich digital multimedia.
Blogging plus Social Media
The rise of social media has allowed bloggers to display and market themselves and their content globally without having to pay a cent to a newspaper, television mogul or to the mass media elite.
Bloggers that were previously undiscovered became global brands on topics as diverse as food, fashion and technology. Marketing your blog was no longer restricted to building an RSS or email subscription list.
Publishing and marketing has been democratized. Freedom to express yourself globally is available in seconds and it is also mobile.
The age of the printing press is now threatened after 573 years. Print media marketing has now been surpassed by digital media for the first time in history.
So How do you Become a Better Blogger?
It is quite simple really.
- Blog late or early
- Blog while travelling
- Blog on holidays
- Blog even when your friends think you’re mad
- Blog on the bus
- Blog on the plane
- Blog when the boss isn’t watching
- Blog when your partner nags you to stop blogging
- Blog when your passion has taken a holiday
- Blog when you think no one cares about your blog
How About You?
Stephen King the world famous best selling author was asked “how do your become a better writer?” He answered that question in two ways. One word at a time and write 1,000 words every day.
That is what it took for him to become the success he is today.
What are you going to do to become a better blogger? The world is your oyster and it is the biggest opportunity in over 500 years. You are witnessing the biggest change to communication in 20 generations.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below.
Want to Learn How to Learn How to Become a Better Blogger?
My book – Blogging the Smart Way “How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.
It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.
I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 121,000.
You can download and read it now.
via jeffbullas.com