With the challenging times, one needs a sense of humor to keep the optimism high and the hope alive.  Or you might give ode to a time when life was all about decadence, debauchery and displays of fabulous-ness.  The 70′s! When Andy Warhol and Studio 54 paved the sidewalks of New York and the world followed. Yet on the other side of the street, Wall Street to be exact, gold spiked to $800.00, Inflation rates were over 14%, OPEC limited the supply of Oil, there were wars in the Middle East and the U.S. economy was a disaster. Hmmm….sound familiar?  We just do not learn do we?  Well, with the sense of humor at hand for a mere £20,000.00 you can purchase these fantastic clocks, installed in 1971, they overlooked The London Stock Exhchange until the mid 90′s.  Retrouvius is the proud holder of the clock collection and while you are at it, spend some more money on their houseware goods, they are fantastic.

In South America, tribe members in the rain forest are similarly pleased with mobile GPS devices that enable them to define borders to protect their land from big oil companies on the take.

Sculptor

In a small town in Texas, teachers are packing heat. High schoolers guess which teachers are concealing guns as they make their way through the cafeteria line or head into their classroom. The idea to put guns into teachers’ hands came from a school administration scared of the nearby highway and the distance from the sheriff’s station in town, worried security guards would be quickly taken out while teachers would be helpless to stop a massacre at school. Our national education system has been at a steady decline for decades. Maybe that particular Texas school is rife with rational, responsible law enforcement-trained pedagogues?

Who’s going to protect the students from their frazzled, armed teachers? Are the kids going to be allowed to show up strapped? I’d pack my golden pistol if I were you.

Don’t you wish you’d held on to that Colt 45 bobblehead you bought for your man at a garage sale? Not only is Colt 45 hipster pop, honing in on Pabst Blue Ribbon at limited open bar events, the bobblehead doll is worth thousands as a collectible.

WorthPoint.com reports: The Houston Colt 45 doll is the most uncommonly found bobblehead, and its book value is upward of $10,000. One of the things that make this one unique is that, as the name of the team suggests, this doll carries a pistol.

Protesters in Philly found murals promoting Vice Magazine’s “Tales from Colt 45″ party series offensive. Apparently dolls packing heat aren’t offensive but graffiti art is dangerous business.

A year later, Wharton returned for the unveiling. Three buildings were in place: a dormitory for orphans, a dining hall with a kitchen, and a craft-making lounge for HIV-afflicted women. Wharton had embarked on what is a new trend in travel for the wealthy. Up 6.5 percent, “travel-anthropy” is growing amongst mid-life affluents. For a pretty penny, say $2,000-$3,000 a day, companies offer a way for travelers to experience both luxury and reality while the people in need receive all the monetary benefits.

Exquisite Safaris was created 2 years ago based on a trip David Chamberlain-CEO- took to Haiti with his grandparents in 1972. “When we are very young children, we know how to feel,” Chamberlain says on his website. “It’s innate. But as we lead a lifetime, we pick up so many feelings and ideas, that our sensitivity goes away.”

Buenos Aires is a hot travel destination for architecture, wine and tango enthusiasts. Voluntario Global takes some of them out of the cafes and cobblestone shopping districts for the day and gives them the chance to give back to the city’s underprivileged kids living in nearby shantytowns, through education, culinary, and media projects fueled by travelers who volunteer.

More and more companies are jumping on the charity-travel bandwagon; all it takes is that first experience that snaps you into realizing how well you live and how easy it is to help.

Some question travel-anthropy’s “feel good nature.” Noel B. Salazar, PhD anthropology candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, says that many affluent tourists are going to these “alternative” destinations simply for the “brag factor.” Boom Bip thinks those who boast about their vacations do it regardless of the philanthropic angle. There have always been slide shows of vacation photos; matching shots in mumus forced upon friends and family.

If you have made a significant contribution to someone’s well-being and helped a community out of abject poverty, by putting the money down to make it happen, then go ahead and boast. In fact, tell everyone so that they might be inspired to help out as well. Brag away!

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