4 Real Life Scrooges

clipped from humor.gunaxin.com

4.Andrew Carnegie: Second richest man in history

Carnegie was so cheap, that he once “lost a dime. It is said that he got on his knees, and searched for the dime until he found it.” This guy, who is worth the GDP of Zimbabwe, looking for something that most of us wouldn’t have given a second thought.

3. John Elwes: The man Dickens based Scrooge on

Elwes was so damn stingy, that he has an entire section in his Wikipedia page dedicated to his “Miserliness”.

2. Hetty Green: Richest woman in the world

When her son Ned broke his leg as a child, Green tried to get him into a charity hospital ward. When they recognized her, she vowed to treat the leg herself. Ned eventually contracted gangrene, and he had to get his legs amputated. To be fair, in her old age, Green began to suffer from hernia, but refused a $150 operation for herself.

1. J. Paul Getty: Douchebag

Getty installed a payphone in his 700 acre mansion, refused a $17 million ransom on his kidnap grandson, suspecting it was a ploy by his grandson to squeeze money out of him. The family agreed to pay $3.2 million of the ransom when they received the boy's ear in an envelope. Getty negotiated the ransom down to $2 million and charged his grandson 4% interest on the ransom money. The grandson was eventually returned but because of the trauma became a drug addict which left him paralyzed, blind and mute.

Homeless Guy 'Mustard' Sings Radiohead's Creep

Mustard sings Creep from Rex Kramer on Vimeo.

Some Hope Yet

Despite the grim prospects for the future of humankind brought about by environmental issues such as climate changes, there is still hope yet for us.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

New Species Discovered Around the Globe

This giant woolly rat found in

Papua New Guinea is just one of hundreds of species previously unknown to science that were brought to light in 2009

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Critical Habitat for Polar Bears Proposed

"That is a huge, positive affirmation that losing the polar bear is unacceptable," said the Center for Biological Diversity's Cummings.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Massive Marine Monument Created

Undersea mud volcanoes, submerged islands, and waters teeming with sharks and other predators got a new lease on life

designated a federally protected area

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Walmart Going Green?

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Brazil Deforestation Rate Slows

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Solar Cells Printed Like Money

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Beer Maker Calculates Water Footprint

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Google Earth Gets an Ocean

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Initiative to Protect Corals Launched

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and East Timor—launched an initiative in May to address overfishing, unsustainable coastal development

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com.au

Salmon Return to Paris

The species had disappeared from the river by 1900