Alabama monk Brother Joseph Zoettl In 1912, a Bavarian-born Benedictine monk at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, began building miniature cement copies of some of the world’s best-known religious sites, using postcards, pieces of marble and donated costume jewellery as his main guides. Brother Joseph Zoettl spent the next 46 years turning a four-acre…

The architecture adheres to traditional Balinese principles, with the residence divided into a number of independent pavilions linked by open-air decks and sheltered walkways. Imagine if a piece of Bali was carefully taken apart, shipped across the Pacific, and reassembled along one of Hawaii’s most dramatic coastlines. So the answer is a gorgeous oceanfront estate,…

Brazil’s eucalyptus industry was built on a simple promise: grow trees quickly, harvest them for pulp and create a renewable supply for the global paper industry. Over decades, however, the enormous plantations have transformed landscapes across parts of the country, raising concerns about what happens to water beneath the trees. In one eucalyptus-growing region of…

Jeffrey Skoll. Image Credit: Skoll World Forum Jeff Skoll, eBay‘s first full-time employee and president, played a crucial role in building the company before leaving after its 1998 public offering. He helped turn an online auction business into one of the defining technology companies of the internet boom, then chose a different path from the…

Eight-time All-Star centre Dwight Howard recently put his Georgia estate back on the market with a $3.25 million increase from last year. The retired NBA star hiked the asking price to $11.25 million, making it the most expensive home for sale in the suburb, according to a report by Mansion Global. Now, its price is…