World's 7 cities where land is completely free

As small towns suffer from a continuing flight from rural toward-more urban living, some economic development groups and governments in these troubled areas have chosen to stay and fight.

The Homestead Act of 1862 is no longer in effect, but free land is still available out there in the great wide open (often literally in the great wide open). In fact, the town of Beatrice, Nebraska has even enacted a Homestead Act of 2010 .

As with the homesteaders of the 1800s, the new pioneers must not be the faint of heart—they can’t be the type to shy away from the trials of building a home from the ground up, or the lack of Starbucks on every corner, or unpaved roads (extremely remote location and lack of infrastructure is probably what caused a well-publicized land giveaway in Anderson ,AK to flop). If the Google Maps overhead view of the vast open space surrounding the modest street grids of these towns doesn’t instill cabin fever, then read on—these parcels are up for land grabs.

Marne, Iowa

Marne is a southwestern Iowa community with a population of just 149 or so, about 60 miles from Omaha and 80 miles from Des Moines. It was never a big town (pop. 617 in 1875), but the head count really began declining around the turn of last century, through the teens and 20s. “The decline of the family farm affects rural areas like this, says Mayor Randy Baxter. “Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there more smaller farms, and small towns supported the folks in the country, but now those homes aren’t there anymore.”

New Richland, MN

New Richland is a town of about 1200 in southern Minnesota, 75 miles from the outskirts of the Twin Cities, offering lake recreation and many fine churches. If this sounds like home, then consider a free 86’ x 133’ lot on the Homestake subdivision on the northwest side of town. Those who claim lots must build a house on the property within one year.

Kansas

Kansas has so much free land offered throughout the state by local Kansan governments and development groups that there’s an online hub to organize all the information, the appropriately named Kansas Free Land .

“Most rural areas in Kansas have been declining in population since 1900, so rural Kansas communities either fight or disappear,” says Jenny Russell, Republic County Economic Development Coordinator for Republic County in northern Kansas.

Beatrice, NE

One city in southeastern Nebraska that reaped the benefits of the original Homesteading Act of 1862 has created a new version of what worked so well before. The Homestead Act of 2010 offers several parcels of land for free on a first-come, first-served basis. As with the original act, applicants must occupy their parcels of land for five years.

With a population of about 12,564 and situated just 40 miles south of Lincoln (via the Homestead Expressway) and 99 miles from Omaha, Beatrice is one of the most populous and more accessible locations on this list. In this case, the aim is not to stave off the death of a town with a dwindling population, but to clean up neglected properties and get them to generate taxes and utility fees once again.

Muskegon, MI

Hoping to attract industrial employers, the city and county of Muskegon, Michigan, (pop. 174,344) launched Muskegon 25 .Under this program, companies that will bring in 25 full-time jobs or more will be granted industrial park property for building, complete with all services, gratis. In addition, the industrial parks are situated in low tax “Renaissance Zones.”

Muskegon Area First is hoping to attract food processing industry, other suppliers for local industries, and alternative energy providers. New or existing companies creating 25 jobs are allotted five acres, 50 jobs get 12 acres, 75 jobs get 20 acres, and 100 or more jobs get 20 acres. The program also provides discounts at rates proportionate to the amount of jobs created. The 25-job companies are entitled to 50% off water and sewer bills, and the discounts increase from there, down to 20% of the full rate.

Curtis, NE

Curtis is known as Nebraska’s Easter City due to its famed 40-year-old Easter Pageant tradition. This 3.266-square-kilometer community of approximately 832 persons in southern Nebraska’s Medicine Valley has the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture and an airport three minutes away.

Sound good? All righty, then: Curtis offers two options for free-land claimers. Consolidated Companies, Inc. created Roll ’n Hills lots to boost the local economy by providing free sites on paved streets with all utilities for single-family homes. Three of those lots now have occupied homes, says Ed Coles of Consolidated, and nine remain.

Camden, ME

Camden is the coastal exception in this otherwise-landlocked list of free land locales. The charming New England berg of about 4,052 citizens is offering 3.5 acres of land near Camden Harbor for a business that will create at least 24 jobs .The former industrial site on the Megunticook River, refurbished by the Town of Camden, comes equipped with 3 Phase Power, Sewer, Water, Cable, Broadband, and parking is available for up to 300.

Clearly, this is a prime deal for the right company. The Town of Camden is hoping for a company from industries such as biotech, information technology, financial services, medical labs, film, or green businesses. In fact, those last two listed industries are encouraged, as creative economy employers are encouraged and environmentally friendly businesses are given preference in this search.

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World's most expensive dress valued at 3.5m pounds ( 307,478,028.71 rupees) in pics.

Ladies, this diamond studded black dress is all yours - if you can afford to shell out 3.5 million pounds.

Encrusted with 50 two carat black diamonds and weighing 13 kg, the dress is a creation of British designer Debbie Wingham.

it is the world's most extravagant dress valued at 3.5 million pounds which sparkled on the catwalk at a fashion show in Ukraine, 'The Telegraph' reported.

The black dress received a mixed response from the audience at the show, which also featured several other diamond-encrusted dresses from Wingham's collection.

A visitor was all praises for the dress, pointing how good it looked both on camera and in real life.

"It really emphasises the star quality of the person who wears it," a visitor said.

However, some people even criticised the dress, saying they regretted the diamonds that had to be "killed" to make the dress.

"I don't even want to try this dress, either to show it off, or to have pictures taken. I regret that so many diamonds were 'killed' by such an ugly-looking dress," the paper quoted a lady as saying.

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Ramjit raghav World’s oldest dad at age 96

The world’s oldest dad, Ramajit Raghav, has beaten his own record after fathering his second child in two years at the age of 96.

> ‘I’m healthy and I enjoy my wife. I care for my wife and I give her everything she needs. She is a very happy woman.’

The pensioner hit the headlines in 2010 when he became the world’s oldest father at 94, beating a previous record set by an Indian farmer Nanu Ram Jogi when he was 90 in 2007.

The nonagenarian and his partner Shakuntala, who is in her 50s, have halted their three-times-a-night lovemaking in order to focus on their new son Vikramjeet.

'I'm healthy and I enjoy sex with my wife. I think it's very important for a husband and wife to have sex regularly,' Mr Raghav, from Haryana in northern India, who spent nine decades as a bachelor, told The Sun.

"When she asks I will go on all night but for the sake of my child I've put our needs aside for now."

His partner added that she does not think her husband seems old, saying: 'He can make love like any 25-year-old man - even better because he can go on all night. And he's a wonderful father.'

Mr Raghav, who was a wrestler in his younger days and still works nine hours a day digging fields, is confident he will be around to see his offspring grow up, challenging reporters to come and see him in another ten years.

He has taken the world record for world's oldest dad from Indian farmer Nanu Ram Jogi, whose wife gave birth to his 21st child when he was 90 in 2007.

In the UK, the oldest father is 79-year-old Raymond Calvert, whose 25-year-old partner gave birth last year.

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Bangalore's awesome street art

Snarling tigers, statuesque dancers, cricket superstarts, a freeze-frame from Raja Ravi Varma, even a mural from Conan the Barbarian -- these are not ordinary pictures. They are streetside murals in banglore citi...

An Indian auto rickshaw driver passes a wall mural depicting a tiger in Bangalore on July 22, 2010.

An Indian college student walks past a wall mural depicting a tiger in Bangalore on July 30, 2010.

Commuters drive past a painting on the side wall of an under-pass road in Bangalore on November 9, 2009. Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) - Greater Bangalore Municipal Body - has embarked on the idea of painting the city walls with colourful motifs and designs. This will not only make the road-side walls get a character of their own, but also please the eyes of commuters. The exercise is also an effort to get rid of the posters and to provide an employment opportunity to artists and also give them a chance to show their talent.

ndian women pass a wall mural in Bangalore on July 30, 2010.

Sari-clad Indian women stand infront of a mural depicting former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly (L) and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (R) in Bangalore on July 20, 2010..AFP PHOTO/Dibyangshu SARKAR Sari-clad Indian women stand infront of a mural depicting former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly (L) and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (R) in Bangalore on July 20,

An Indian couples on a scooter drives past a wall mural in Bangalore on July 21, 2010.

An Indian woman walks past a wall mural depicting Jesus Christ in Bangalore on July 22, 2010.

An Indian man passes a wall mural depicting Conan the Barbarian fighting a dragon in Bangalore on July 30, 2010

An Indian college student stands by a wall mural in Bangalore on July 21, 2010.

An Indian woman walks past a wall mural depicting an elephant in Bangalore on July 21, 2010.

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Hongkong Billionaire Offers $65 Million (342 cr) to Any Man Who Can Marry His Lesbian Daughter

Would you like $65 million? Are you irresistible to women—all women?

if you answered yes to both these questions you need to get to Hong Kong as fast as you can, because billionaire Cecil Chao Sze-Tsung has an offer you’d be foolish to refuse. The property magnate will give that princely sum to any man who can marry his 33-year-old daughter, Gigi (pictured). The only problem? Gigi is already married—to a lady.

“I don’t mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted,” Sze-Tsung—who refuses to acknowledge his daughter married a woman in April—explained. ”Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work

As for Gigi, an architect educated in England, she she told the BBC that she found her father’s offer “entertaining.”

He told the South China Morning Post the prize money was "an inducement to attract someone who has the talent but not the capital to start his own business".

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he added.

Cecil Chao, an unmarried billionaire shipping magnate from Hong Kong who claims to have slept with 10,000 women, is offering $65 million to any man who can marry his daughter. For the record, his daughter is openly gay. 33-year-old Gigi Chao has been in a relationship with a woman named Sean Eav for the past seven years, and its rumored they were married in France last April. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Hong Kong back in 1991, same-sex marriages are still illegal.

Chao says he would never force his daughter to marry anyone, but he must believe in money. Chao explained that he doesn't care if the suitor is rich or poor, but notes that the "marriage bounty" is a way to draw someone who has the talent (but not the capital) to start his own business.

Good luck, gentlemen. Your future father-in-law sounds like a real treat.

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