Depending on your age, you may not remember a time before the internet. If you don't, here's a terrifying thought for you. In those dark days, if we wanted to know something, we had to go and find a book. We couldn't stream our favorite movies either, so if there was nothing on we wanted to watch, we'd get entertainment from books, too. For centuries, books were the gateway to all human knowledge. For the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, they still are.
That's why random acts of generosity, like the one from this awesome bookshop owner, are vital. Not only are the books low cost during the day, they're free to borrow them at night, and if you can't afford to pay, you don't. This is a business owner putting his faith in humanity to do the right thing - to pay if they can afford to pay, and to bring books back when they're borrowed.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.