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Each year on July 22nd (Although the main day is July 22nd, this “fiesta” last three days and is often repeated on the last weekend of Sept), the city of Anguiano Spain honors Saint Mary Magdalene in an unusual way. The Whirling Stilt Dancers festival starts with the parade of the dancers and musicians at 10 am.  At 12 pm there is a procession during which the dancers, always backwards, dance to the virgin along the way. Two hours later after the mass, the whirling (Danza de los Zancos) starts.

It seems that walking on stilts was common in this area of the country because it was a very damp zone, and the tall grasslands doesn´t allow the farmers to see the cattle. On the other hand the farmers used to dance to the virgin asking for good crops.  Both traditions were brought together; every year in July eight dancers on stilts of almost 50 cm high whirls down the stairs of the church and the cobbled street that leads to the town hall. The whirling flight down the steep hill is precarious to say the least. The winner is the one who makes it the furthest.

Along with many other attractions, Dubai now has the deepest pool of water in the world. Not only that, but it’s also a tourist attraction you can enjoy.

Deep Dive Dubai has a 195 foot deep pool is a sunken world you can explore. The first levels have a fully submerged apartment, stores with working lights and displays, a garage with a car you can sit in, and a game room where you can even play pool and many other exciting tidbits to explore. Below that is a more post-apocalyptic world you can explore as you literally go deeper.

It’s always valuable to look before you leap. After taking several trips to Japan, I really loved it and was curious what it might be like to move there.

GoinGlobal had a solid breakdown of the cost of living in Tokyo that I found pretty accurate based on my travels.

A frugal single person might live in Tokyo on about $1,103 USD a month (excluding rent); and a family of four can get by on about $3,984 USD a month (excluding rent), according to Numbeo. However, living costs vary a good deal, depending on lifestyle and accommodations.

Housing is very interesting.

For renting, you can spend anywhere from $1700 per month for a furnished 480 sq ft apartment in an average cost surrounding area in west Tokyo, up to a astronomical $4000 per month for a 900 sq ft furnished apartment in one of the Tokyo wards. As a foreigner, you will almost certainly need a guarantor who is financially liable in case a renter fails to pay rent or make necessary repairs. Even more shocking, renting an apartment also involves a number of fees – fees that can cost the equivalent of five to six months’ rent or more. As an alternative, there is shared housing setups where you can share common spaces. In shared housing, you can renting a simple guest room for $400/mo.

As for buying a place, as a foreigner, it is pretty much off the table until Japan is listed as your official residency and you have at least 2 years of employment with your firm. If you’re curious, prices can range from $7800 per square foot in the western suburbs of Tokyo, up to a jaw dropping $11,000 per square foot in the main wards.

Mind boggling.

Newfields (location for Indianapolis Museum of Art) held a really cool Halloween festival with projection mapping, hundreds of pumpkins, and even a ghost train.

I ran into the Wizard of Christchurch (who later became the Wizard of New Zealand) in the early 2000’s. He is a former academic that would often bring a ladder to the central square and spoke on all kinds of different topics. Using ancient Greek-like rhetorical methods, he would often give both comical and controversial speeches, synthesising modern topics with the ideas/philosophical techniques of famous philosophers in farcical ways.

One of the things he used to talk about was how the world’s maps were created upside-down. Why should north be up? What if you made a map the ‘right’ way up – with New Zealand up top?

Enter Mapworld New Zealand. It turns out, they have one of his maps. A map of ‘the wizard’s interpretation of the upside down world, and the inside out universe.’ Not only is New Zealand up top, but the other countries also have more…creative interpretations.

You can read about his storied past, and how he became something of a tourist attraction in his own right. His gained fame for criticizing right-leaning politicians/agendas in the 80’s to the point it nearly got him arrested. This had the opposite effect of pushing him into fame. He started speaking openly in the city square for decades, criticizing politicians, company greed, cultural norms, and generally being a ‘free thinker’.

Unfortunately, it appears his fame has ended. He was canceled for offending the sensibilities of the left enough that he’s been removed from the city payroll as a tourism promoter. Fame is fickle, and it’s interesting to see how political tides, cancel culture, and ruling party techniques have changed (or not changed).

Cassini mission to Saturn has to be one of the most amazing space adventures that has happened in my lifetime. I’m a huge fan of Saturn – from it’s hexagonal polar storms, to its rings, to its incredible moons. I would hang on every new picture that came from the mission. However, the below shot is one of the best of the lot.

Read more about the picture, the different planets you can see in it, as well as download the full-sized 90mb tiff version here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia17172-the-day-the-earth-smiled

Want to buy an old Italian villa? Perhaps a English countryside manor? Got a few million quid to make your dreams come true? You can spend all too much time browsing the Coldwell luxury listings.