The World's Weirdest Skyscrapers

The world's weirdest skyscrapers – in pictures: From the Elephant Building to the ‘Death Star’, architects and developers are going to ever stranger lengths in their efforts to stand out from the crowd. Where will this ridiculousness end? Click all pictures to enlarge.

Above - Elephant Building, Bangkok: Designed in 1997 by one of Thailand’s most celebrated architects, Sumet Jumasi, this triple-towered oddity pays homage to his country’s national animal. Boasting 32 storeys of offices, shops and luxury apartments, the building’s ‘ears’ are multi-storey balconies while the tusks are home to its management company.

                            

Porsche Design Tower, Miami: Amazingly, America’s ‘cars in towers’ narrative is not done yet. Porsche – better known as manufacturers of flashy sports cars – is building a 60-storey skyscraper in Miami. But rather than regular ground-level or subterranean parking, the pièce de résistance of this $560m building is its three drive-in elevators. When the building is completed next year, its drive-in lifts will allow residents to bring their beloved vehicles right up to their apartments. Apparently there’s space for up to four cars in some units.

Umeda Sky Building, Osaka: Osaka’s 19th-tallest building consists of two 40-storey towers connected by a ‘floating garden observatory’ on the top two floors. But just for a bit of added fun, the empty space between the buildings is criss-crossed by the world’s highest glass escalator. Those suffering from vertigo may wish to look away now.

Castalia, The Hague: In the Netherlands, this pair of towers is desperate to blend in with its nation’s architectural heritage – not easy when you’re 104 metres tall. Constructed in 1998 using the core of an older building, the renovation added a 35m Dutch gabled roof on each tower – purely for decoration. Home to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Castalia is more fondly known as ‘the tits’ of Den Haag, thanks to those perky rooftops.

Abraj Al-Bait Towers, Mecca: Rising over the holy mosque of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia, this 600m Big Ben copy (also known as the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel) is the third tallest building in the world – with the world’s largest clock face, naturally. The tower looms over what was once a desert but is now home to luxury apartments, shopping malls and hotels for all the pilgrims who travel to this holiest of sites at this time every year.

Aqua, Chicago: Designed by American architect Jeanne Gang in the city that invented the skyscraper, Chicago’s 82-storey Aqua tower happens to be the tallest building in the world designed by a woman – but that’s not why we’re including it. To capture the urban views, balconies jut out into the sky giving the tower its undulating figure, resisting the angular typologies of Chicago’s traditional tower design.

Tianzi Hotel, Langfang: This bizarre 10-storey creation made it into the Guiness Book of Records for being the world’s ‘biggest image building’. Perhaps not a skyscraper in the traditional sense, the beaming depictions of Fu, Lu and Shou (Chinese gods of fortune, prosperity and longevity) certainly stand out against the skyline. Enter the hotel through the white bearded fellow’s right foot, and take a nap in the hotel’s most luxurious suite – located in his giant peach.

Robot Building, Bangkok: Just down the road from the Elephant Building, architect Sumet Jumasi designed the HQ of the United Overseas Bank as a 20-storey robot representing the computerisation of banking and friendly face of modern technology. Every feature of this android has a practical use: the eyelids are sunshades, the eyes are meeting rooms, and the antennae are lightning rods. Jumasi said his robot was a protest against ‘bland international style in architecture’.

AlDar Headquarters, Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates boasts the world’s tallest skyscraper, the 830m Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and now is also home to the world’s first circular skyscraper. No longer restricted to using steel-frame technology to create tall, straight towers, the UAE-based MZ Architects have built a revolutionary ‘stacked dinner plate’ prototype – at a cost of around £1bn.

Antilia building, Mumbai: The 27-storey private residence of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, was named after a mythical island in the Atlantic, and is said to have more floor space than the Palace of Versailles. The building boasts three helicopter pads, underground parking for 160 cars, and requires some 600 staff to run it – all for a family of five.

Fake Hills, Beihai : Is your overly flat city in need of some rolling hills? Why not just build them, as the Chinese coastal town of Beihai did. This ‘does what it says on the tin’ residential development, designed by MAD Architects, combines high-rise and groundscraper typology to emulate mother nature’s contours in what is otherwise a very low-level city.

Lippo Centre, Hong Kong: Nicknamed the Koala Buildings for the way their extrusions cling to the glass towers, American architect Paul Rudolph – best known for his brutalist concrete structures – hoped to make this skyscraper a little less ominous by adding the C-shaped extensions to Lippo’s exterior. Instead he made it look like something straight our of Transformers.

Sutyagin House, Arkhangelsk: Wooden skyscrapers could be the future of flat-pack cities, but one man in Russia set the precedent almost 25 years ago. Nikolai Sutyagin (a former gangster) spent more than 15 years piecing together this wooden house on the outskirts of Arkhangelsk, continuously adding new levels until it grew to 13 storeys. Without a permit for his precariously balanced structure, the building’s tower was demolished a few years ago, and the remaining four storeys burned to the ground shortly afterwards.

‘Cell Phone Building’, Kunming: Despite appearances, this 11-storey building in China’s southern Yunnan province is actually quite functional. The screen is the upper-storey window for the penthouse office, while the buttons let light into the lower offices. But we can’t help thinking this old-school handset is due an upgrade by now.

Marina City, Chicago: In the 1960s, when the US’s obsession for the automobile was in full swing, architect Bertrand Goldberg designed these two, 65-storey residential towers with no fewer than 896 parking spaces inside each one. Incredibly, the lower 19 floors of the skyscrapers still house nothing more than a spiral parking ramp. With Chicago now facing an affordable housing crisis, maybe it’s time to put the cars outside?

Tour Triangle, Paris: While many major cities have witnessed a high-rise boom, Paris has remained relatively low-rise thanks to restrictive building regulations. But the ban was finally lifted in 2010, and this 42-storey glass pyramid is due to land, UFO-like, in the 15th arrondissement in 2020. As the first modern tower to be built in central Paris for more than 40 years, it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb.

Cross Towers, Seoul: Danish studio BIG (architects of the New York Dry Line) has proposed the godfather of all clickbait architecture for South Korea’s Yongsan Business District development: ‘the Hashtag’ skyscraper. Designed to get around height regulations while maximising density, the two high-rises are connected by horizontal towers, forming a hash. Although still waiting for the green light, it seems only a matter of time before this #bigdream becomes a #bigreality.

                           

Tower Infinity, Seoul: Also coming soon in Seoul, the 450m Tower Infinity was dubbed the world’s first ‘invisible tower’ by its designers, GDS Architects. Projectors and cameras on the façade will capture the view around the skyscraper before stitching them together in a real-time display, giving an illusion of invisibility – perhaps not the best idea given the tower’s location, right next to Seoul’s Incheon Airport.

Full Moon Tower, Baku: With AlDar’s headquarters having set the precedent for disk-shaped skyscrapers, the Azerbaijani capital will soon be home to not one but two new massive rotund buildings – known as the Full Moon and Crescent Moon hotels. Designed by South Korean firm Heerim Architects, some are suggesting the Full Moon Hotel – with its indented hole and slick facade – took inspiration from the Death Star in Star Wars.

Phoenix Towers, Wuhan: The British architects Chetwoods has unveiled plans for this pair of skyscrapers in the Chinese city of Wuhan. When completed, the taller of these colourful towers should top the Burj Khalifa by 172m, and is intended to beat Saudi Arabia’s impending Kingdom Tower to the title of world’s tallest building when it opens in 2017/18. As if that’s not enough, the smaller tower promises to house the world’s tallest garden.

Five For Friday

How do you wash over 500 window panes? If you're professional window washer David Michael Corbiere the answer is "one at a time." Corbiere hails from Gatineau, Quebec but if you need to get a hold of him he is currently washing the windows at Roberta Bondar Place... he might be there for a while!

Bangkok: Scraping by in the sky - Developers have studded the Thai capital with such residential and office high-rises. But some have turned into “ghostscrapers” — high-rises that were abandoned in the fallout of Asia’s economic crisis of the late 1990s. Dangling from ropes, window cleaners toil on a high-rise building in Bangkok. Developers have studded the Thai capital, and cities throughout Asia, with such residential and office high-rises. They soar above teeming neighborhoods, gleaming, expensive towers of steel and glass.

But some have turned into “ghost towers” or “ghostscrapers” — high-rises that were abandoned in the fallout of Asia’s economic crisis of the late 1990s. They loom ominously, unfinished, empty and decaying. One of the most notorious is in Thailand’s capital, on the banks of the broad Chao Phraya River in the heart of Bangkok. The 49-story Sathorn Unique building was to contain hundreds of state-of-the-art condos and fancy shops. With dreams of luxury lost in a financial quagmire, the giant concrete shell has stood empty for more than a decade, home to squatters, debris and graffiti — but no windows to clean.

Woman survives fall from 17th floor: Early on Wednesday, the city woke up to the tragic news of a U.S.-returned 31-year-old software engineer falling to her death from the 11th floor of an apartment at Sahakarnagar. A day before that, a woman had a miraculous escape from a similar situation.  Nagarathna (36), a domestic help at the posh Elita Promenade apartment complex in J.P. Nagar 7th Phase, survived a fall from the 17 floor of the balcony she was cleaning early on Tuesday morning. She managed to escape with a broken leg as the railing on the 15 floor broke her fall. She is now recuperating in a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road.

A resident of the apartment, who did not wish to be quoted, said that the woman was cleaning the window pane from the sit out of an apartment on the 17 floor at around 5.30 a.m. The flat’s owner was in the U.S. and has given Nagarathna, a key to the apartment. She had bolted the door from inside and had started cleaning the window pane, reaching it with the help of a metal ladder, when she slipped. “She slipped and fell off, but somehow her leg got stuck to the railing of the sit out of the flat on the 15 floor. It was too early in the morning and to make matters worse, the 15 floor flat was also locked. A few boys living in the neighbouring flat heard her cries and crossed over to the balcony and managed to rescue her. In the meanwhile, the others got the security manager to open the 15 floor apartment and she was taken to hospital,” the apartment resident said.

Nagarathna is said to have suffered a fracture in the leg, but is refusing to speak to the media. She is yet to give a statement to the police. But, those who were witness to the incident, even though much later, called it “the rarest of rare cases,” even going as far as to say Nagarathna is “the luckiest woman to be alive.” 

“I like all my windows. They know who I am. I use one big stick with a squeegee. It’s very easy,” he said. His secret for clean windows? I use water and shampoo. Two drops of shampoo in one gallon of water.

Windows And Memories Of 53 Years At The Hotel Del Coronado: At 84 years old Carlos Flores Gonzalez has a lot of memories. He has seen many people come and go through the windows he has washed at the Hotel del Coronado. He has seen presidents. He has seen children, who used to smear the windows with their tiny fingers, grow up and bring their own children on vacation.

Fifty three years ago Gonzalez was hired as a bus boy at the hotel but soon moved to a job as janitor. He remembers his supervisor Mr. Peralta, a very tall man. “He was the boss and he watched me work. I asked him ‘Why do you watch me all day? I don’t like that,” recalls Gonzalez sitting on a bench outside the hotel which he cleaned pulling out a rag from his pocket before we sat down. “ Mr. Peralta said ‘don’t worry I have something better for you.’ ” So Gonzalez began his career at the Hotel del as a window washer.

Every day he can be seen washing the first floor windows and incredibly enough he is the only one doing it. He is strong and does not look his age. “I like all my windows. They know who I am. I use one big stick with a squeegee. It’s very easy,” he said. His secret for clean windows? I use water and shampoo. Two drops of shampoo in one gallon of water. “But you need to use a squeegee,” he pointed out.

Gonzalez thinks of retiring these days. “My legs are tired. I like working here. I talk to different people everyday. On the ocean side there are lots of people. I remember the little ones who grew up and when they come back remember me and say ‘Hi Carlos.’ I see them telling their children ‘when I was a little boy I came here,’ ” said Gonzalez proudly.

Gonzalez grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and his schooling went up to sixth grade. When he was a young man, his uncle Eduardo, who lived in Vista, told him to call him when Gonzalez was in Tijuana and he would pick him up. “Baja was not a state, it was a territory. It became a state in 1954,” he explained. His first wife passed away and he remarried a younger woman and now has a 17-year-old son. His son from his first marriage is 26 and was deployed to Iraq for two years, he explained.

Gonzalez shuffled through his memories at the Del. “When I started working here my pay was $1.07 as a bus boy then $1.10 an hour as a window washer. Before that I worked in construction for Harmony Homes and made $3.75. But I could eat here three times a day,” he explained. Before the bridge was built, he drove his car onto ferry to cross. “Before it would take close to half-an-hour to cross,” Gonzalez said.

He has seen almost all the presidents who have stayed at the hotel. “Mr. Reagan was very nice. He would come once or twice a year and would say hi. He knew my name,” Gonzalez recalled. He also remembers seeing Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz when he was at the hotel in the 60s. Former First Lady Laura Bush came often with a group of girlfriends. Of Former President Bill Clinton he said, “Best president you saw in your life.”

Gonzalez has seen many changes occur at the hotel. He remembers when the entrance did not have a porte cochere and also the beautiful roses in the rose garden. He pointed out a Chinese restaurant was in the current location of 1500 Ocean and the International Room (now the Emporium) had pictures of cities around the world. He also remembers the small changing rooms around the pool.

Gonzalez smiles when he tells of the time when the hotel pool was filled daily with ocean water. The water was pumped in and sardines got trapped and people would take them home to eat. There was also more wildlife. “You could hear the seals, big ones ... now nothing. There were also many pelicans,” he said.

Gonzalez loved the coffee shop with outdoor tables located at the corner of the ballroom on the west side of the entrance. “It looked beautiful. Lots of people came,” he said. A lot has changed in the 53 years he has worked at the hotel. “There has been a lot of change that cost a lot of money,” he said.

Gonzalez still drives to work from his home in Spring Valley and his work day starts at 6 a.m and ends at 2:30 p.m. “It’s a beautiful place to work,” he said.

Justin Laningham owns Kiss My Glass, a mobile glass repair service.

Glass service that catches your eye (Hanford) — When it came to coming up with a business name, Justin Laningham wanted it to be good. He knew there are multiple glass repair services in the Hanford/Lemoore area, and he wanted his to really stand out. Some went for the straightforward approach. Not Laningham. “I just wanted something catchy,” he said. He thought long and hard about it, and about a year ago, he launched the mobile service called Kiss my Glass.

It’s emblazoned on the side of his extended white van, in green and black, complete with a green kiss mark. It gets attention, it draws comment and — most importantly for Laningham — it sticks in people’s minds. That’s important in an industry where there is intense competition, usually boiling down to price. The name was only the first element of a multi-pronged strategy to get a leg up on the field. His mobility is a key factor. As he drives around, the van serves as a moving billboard, mobile workshop and supply depot all rolled into one.

Window Cleaning News

Bank of Thailand must reconsider policy rate hike regime - Pictured above, window washers work on a high-rise building in Bangkok. They are among hundreds of thousands of workers waiting to hear the fate of the government’s plan to raise the minimum wage, which critics say could lead to a rise in inflation.

Homeless window cleaner living on bench in Richmond Green has been offered help finding a home. A homeless window cleaner who won a place in the hearts of Richmond residents has been offered a helping hand to find a home. Richard Dipple, 63, has been living on a park bench in Richmond Green for several weeks after becoming homeless when the owner of his Richmond Hill home died. At the request of concerned neighbours, who live alongside the Green, the Richmond and Twickenham Times highlighted Mr Dipple’s plight. Richmond Council and homelessness charity Spear have both pledged to help him find emergency housing and a permanent home. Councillor Nicola Urquhart, Richmond’s cabinet member for adult services and housing, said: “We are aware of Mr Dipple’s situation. We were contacted by a concerned member of the public three weeks ago and both the council and Spear tried to find him to offer help, but without success. “If Mr Dipple would like to come in to the Civic Centre in Twickenham, I’m sure we would be able to help him. “His age means he’s a high priority case and, while he would need to be assessed in the same way as other homeless people, we would provide emergency housing for him in the short term while that was being done.” Mr Dipple has not yet decided if he feels ready to officially register as homeless but is considering the council’s offer of help. Previous blog here.

A talented non-league footballer who played for both Bamber Bridge and Chorley killed himself at his home, an inquest heard. But at the hearing into Lee Pryers’ death, his father, John and friends said there was no obvious reason why he would take his own life. The inquest heard 31-year-old Mr Pryers, who lived alone in Smethurst Lane, Deane, near Bolton, had trials for Bolton Wanderers and was taken on as an apprentice playing for the reserve and youth teams. The full-back was later released and continued his playing career with various clubs including Bury, Leigh RMI, Chorley, Fleetwood Town and Bamber Bridge. When he finished playing football, Mr Pryers worked as a window cleaner and enjoyed keeping fit. The inquest was told although he did not indicate to family or friends he had a problem, he sent a text to ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Jackson the day before he was found dead saying he was depressed and did not know what to do.

Falls can be deadly for elderly: The death rate from falls for senior citizens has risen sharply in the past decade. Two in 10 older adults who fall are likely to die, and four in 10 will never recover to be fully independent again. But there are ways to protect your loved ones. When Nancy Reagan fell last month, the arm that broke her fall may have saved her life. She was lucky. So was Mary Ann Palermo. "I was climbing up the ladder, washing a window, and I had my foot in the sink and I had these little plastic things in there and so away I went. And down I went," Palermo said. To avoid falls, here are a few tips: exercise can improve leg strength and balance; watch for medicines, such as those for blood pressure and heart ailments, that cause dizziness; update eyeglasses; add light in the home; and install grab bars to kitchens and bathrooms. "And I won't climb anymore, no," Palermo said. But Palermo can walk again, albeit with a new hip, and she's back doing things again with her granddaughter. Older adults often fear broken bones and fractures, but it's the traumatic brain injury that causes almost half of the deaths from falls.

Police appeal for information following anniversary of West Norwood murder: Police have issued a fresh appeal for information following the murder of a man in West Norwood. Ricardo Cunha, a Portuguese national who worked as a window cleaner, was shot dead shortly after 11pm on Saturday, September 11, 2010, at his flat in Pondfield House in Elder Road. On the night he was killed, Mr Cunha and his girlfriend were watching television in their bedroom when they were disturbed by noises outside. Mr Cunha went to investigate by looking out of the living room window and was shot. His family has been left devastated by his death. Police have recovered an unusual gun which they believe was the murder weapon. The gun, a British made Webley mark six revolver, is thought to have been produced in 1924 and is in good condition. Police think the gun may have been kept by someone as a keepsake for the war and it may have been taken in a burglary. "Ricardo was a young man with no criminal past or connections. Despite taking statements from over 200 people who knew Ricardo or who lived near where he was killed the motive for his murder remains unknown." A reward of up to £20,000 is available to anyone who can help bring Mr Cunha’s killers to justice. Previous blog here.

CORVALLIS, Ore. Caught on tape. A man who vandalized several businesses windows in Corvallis wasn't too sneaky about it.  He's seen in clear view writing on a glass window of a local business. He etched in what appears to say "Trunk" or "Trunked" in several windows at at least 20 different businesses in downtown Corvallis.  And police say they need your help to find the suspect. On Saturday morning, business owners along 1st and 2nd Streets were surprised to come into work finding those words etched deep into the window glass. And the guy responsible?  You can clearly see him on surveillance footage provided by a local chiropractor. Police are hoping the community will recognize him from the video.  You can see he has a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm and has short, blonde-ish hair. And now all those businesses affected, some that rely heavily on window shopping, will spend several weeks looking at those words. "The window displays sell and they look terrible now, you can't see in and you see all these scratches," said Doriel Roett, Mona Lisa's Custom Framing owner. "It's annoying, I mean we try and keep our windows clean and attractive and now it's got these huge words all over it," said Cathy Holdorf, Sibling Revelry co-owner. And it's going to cost the shop owners.  Police estimate the damage is anywhere from $20,000-$50,000. Corvallis police say they do have a few leads, but have not identified anyone as a suspect yet.

Clear responsibility on work-site safety: Causing an accident that costs a life would be an enormous burden for anyone. For one Indian expatriate, however, that burden became more than just guilt or personal responsibility - it became an extended jail sentence because he did not have enough money. As The National reported yesterday, Sakeer Hussain Kutty, who was sentenced to three months in prison for accidentally causing the death of a colleague in June 2008, ended up serving three years because he could not pay the blood money to the victim's family. Mr Kutty's case shows not only a case of personal tragedy, but an unnecessary waste of resources: he lost three years of his life, the courts dealt with repeated hearings in the case and the state paid for his incarceration. There has to be a better way.

Clear legislation on workplace safety, company responsibility and liability, and insurance and compensation claims could save time and expense, not to mention offer better protections for employees. At present, companies are not legally required to obtain liability insurance. In cases where accidents happen at the workplace, there is often an ambiguity about who should be held responsible. Window cleaners without harnesses; construction workers without hard hats; welders without masks: we have all seen the hazards just by walking by a work site. Regulations for construction site safety in particular have improved in recent years but accidents will always happen. The question is, what then?

Now, Marines are cleaning windows: For almost two decades, Marines and sailors with 7th Communication Battalion have volunteered their time and energy at Hikarigaoka Nursing Home in Kin-Cho. “Most of the work the Marines do is outside like window cleaning and yard work, but the Marines have a great relationship with us,” said Shimabukuro. “During our annual Hikarigaoka Nursing Home festival, the Marines bring food and we put on a show.”

More falling glass: Yesterday Westfield Stratford City – the largest shopping centre in Europe – finally opened its doors. And it was a smashing start. A glass roof panel fell 30ft to the floor, shattering noisily on impact, just yards from where London Mayor Boris Johnson was giving a radio interview. The only casualty was the mayor’s London pride, but if brushing aside bad news was an Olympic sport, Bojo would be a gold medal prospect and he rubbished any suggestion that the centre’s construction had been rushed. “They are doing a brilliant job,” he insisted. “Whatever happened over there will be cleared up as soon as possible.”

How to best spend a little extra cash - Dear Action Line: I found a $20 bill blowing down the street the other day. I looked upwind, and seeing no one frantically approaching, put it in my pocket. How do I best spend this great windfall? - E.S., Tulsa. Increase clarity: BankRate.com says clean windows in your home will give you a much needed emotional uplift, so for $20 buy the window-washing garden hose attachment that holds window cleaner and turns the hose into a window-washing machine.

An unemployed former bank worker hanged himself in an "execution role play" after paying two escort girls to humiliate him in the woods, an inquest heard. Coroner Roger Hatch recorded an open verdict at Gravesend Coroner's Court. He ruled that there was "no evidence" to suggest the former assistant vice president with the City-based bank had intended to take his own life after being told it may have been just a "miscalculated" role play. Mr Birch had been made redundant in 2009 and was having trouble finding new work. On July 30, he asked escort boss Louise Howard to arrange the "execution". Mr Hatch asked her: "He told you not to worry, that he would have a safety harness on like the ones that window cleaners use.

Oh, Come On, Men Aren't Finished. Women are joining men as partners in running the world, not replacing them. Is the technology industry finished? Is engineering finished? Is the military finished? I haven't even mentioned that men hold the lion's share of dangerous, dirty, and necessary jobs that few women seem to want. Men tend to be the truck drivers, builders, oil-rig workers, roofers, loggers, coal miners, taxi drivers, and window washers. Are those jobs passé?

An alcoholic who terrified his wife and stepson by setting fire to their bed as they slept has been jailed. Philip Wilkinson (37), of Richardson Way, Whittlesey, crept into the room where his wife Rebecca and her 11-year-old son were sleeping, after he had downed a three-litre bottle of cider. Yesterday he appeared at an emotional hearing at Peterborough Crown Court, where he was locked up for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered at a previous hearing. The former self-employed window cleaner – who had been jailed for six years in 2002 for armed robbery – sobbed as Cheryl Williams, prosecuting, told the court how Mrs Wilkinson had been terrified when she woke up to find her mattress and sheets on fire at their Richardson Way home. While both victims escaped serious injury, Judge Sean Enright said Wilkinson’s aim had been to “terrify” the pair.

Scotland’s latest unemployment figures are depressing enough at 7.5 per cent or 204,000. But they are a slight improvement on the last set of figures and they are less depressing than the numbers for the UK as a whole, 7.9 per cent or 2.5 million. It is true that the private sector provides more than half of all employment in Scotland and that the number of small or medium enterprises is growing, slightly. But they only account for a little over one third of the economy (37 per cent of turnover), and most of them are one-man businesses in the service sector: joiners, plumbers, window cleaners, taxi drivers etc. The number of large private businesses (over 250 employees) has in fact gone down in the last year to just 2,260. And all these valiant enterprises, large and small, are being hit by the cuts in the public sector.

MURRIETA: Homeowner watches deer crash through window - A Murrieta homeowner was looking out her dining room window Thursday when a panicked three-point buck came crashing through the glass right at her. "I screamed like a girl," Denise Goglanian said. The deer, which was later shot and killed by authorities, had been reported to police late Thursday morning walking in the street near Lincoln Avenue and California Oaks Road. They found it in Goglanian's backyard on Avenida Arconte, where it had wandered through an open gate. Goglanian, who lives in Temecula, said she had been preparing it for a renter to move in. Window washers had been there that morning and when Goglanian arrived to lock up, police were there. They went inside and saw the buck out the back window, pacing and panting.

The cost of taking advice is becoming clear: Where can you turn for financial advice? The bloke in the pub? Your window cleaner? Your bank? You may think you'll get more honest help from the first two these days, but for decent advice you need to go to a professional. The financial advice industry has been tarnished by a series of scandals, ranging from insurance mis-selling through to blatant theft of clients' funds in isolated cases. Yet there are still tens of thousands of advisers out there willing to take cash from you in return for their help.

Ryan Moor launched Thursday evening’s Clark County PubTalk by describing his journey from window washer and punk rock musician to founder of a silk-screen equipment business that employs 70 and earns $25 million in annual revenue. Moor, with spiked hair and barely in his 30s, described how his father’s sales of Amway products stirred a childhood interest in entrepreneurship. “It gave me the ability to learn how to dream,” Moor said. He started small, earning money trapping moles, pressure washing houses, and cleaning windows before joining a punk rock band in high school. Moor began printing silk screens for shirts in his mother’s kitchen for his band, eventually making shirts for other bands. The idea of a business was born, with Ryonet selling online and using YouTube as a major form of product marketing.

‘Love Boat,’ ‘Happy Days’ theme writer helped write the soundtrack of our lives: You may not know the face, or even the name, but you assuredly know the music. Charles Fox wrote the theme songs for Happy Days, for The Love Boat, for Wide World of Sports. He’s written several pop standards, including Killing Me Softly With His Song. Fox brings passion to every topic that comes up, but his special passion is Nadia Boulanger, who 52 years ago gave free lessons to a window washer’s son from the Bronx.

As a Red Army conscript when the Soviet Union was showing signs of ill health, like many artistic types, he could sense the zeitgeist. “Change was in the air, one could feel this,” he says. This change spurred Jalakas from Estonia to Finland on a tourist visa from where he illegally didn’t return. He found work as a window washer, but fate was conspiring for a different life path than manual labor in Helsinki. Jalakas made his way to Denmark where he became involved in theater and to Berlin as the Wall came down, “a truly amazing time.” Back permanently in Estonia by 1990 and with some formal training behind him at Tallinn’s Pedagogical Institute studying theater production, he determined to do something utterly novel: start an independent theater.

WALLINGFORD - There's a new shop of oddities in town - and it's far from pedestrian and decidedly not for the faint of heart. The place is Shadowland, a small, red-walled store of horror, art and spiritual ephemera at 438 North Colony St. that is a labor of love for Eric Morton, a local musician and lifetime collector of rare and unique items. Eric Tangey, 40, a Wallingford native and owner of D&E Services, a professional window cleaning business, said he was glad to see the store open, filling a void for the arts in Wallingford. Tangey is also an airbrush artist and was drawn to the rare artwork inside. "When I saw it I went in there and said there was nothing around like it," he said. "He really is into supporting Connecticut local artists and bands, and artistry in and of itself. I really hope it does well"