Behati Prinsloo is in the midst of a lot of life achievements. She recently had her first child, she just landed a major beauty campaign, and now she and husband Adam Levine have a new home. The pair just dropped $18 million on a Holmby Hills mansion, as Trulia reports, and it is as lavish as West Coast living gets. For starters, the home comes with a coveted pedigree: It was designed by famed architect Casper Ehmcke in 1966 and has all the touchstones of quintessential indoor/outdoor living. There's also the fact that the home has not one but two marble master bedrooms, a rarity.

The property welcomes in guests through a gate, where they arrive at a long walkway into the home, outlined by classic Hollywood palm fronds and tropical landscaping. The black- and white-checkered foyer is illuminated by a crystal chandelier a feature that's repeated in the living room as well as the dining room.

Trulia

Trulia

With glass doors that open into the backyard, Behati and Levine's living room is centered around a fireplace. Naturally, it houses enough space for a grand piano, which the musician will no doubt get a lot of mileage from.

Trulia

Trulia

Trulia

Trulia

Meanwhile, the 9200-square foot home has plenty of room for the growing family which includes the recent addition of baby Dusty Rose. "I have a daughter, I have the most beautiful wife in the entire world," The Voice host said of his family as he was receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame back in February, as Us Weekly reported. "[Dusty's] unbelievable. Im so in love with her. Its crazy." Aside from having two master bedrooms, the home also features another three bedrooms and bathrooms.

Trulia

Trulia

Trulia

Trulia

Plus, there's plenty of room for dining as well. In addition to a formal dining room, the estate also boasts a breakfast solarium.

Trulia

The social couple will have no problems entertaining as Behati and Levine's new home comes equipped with a two-story guest house, a three-car garage, and ample parking on a motor court.

Trulia

But the crown jewel of the $18 million home has to be the custom-shaped pool, which is fenced in with lush landscaping.

Trulia

Trulia

Related: Behind the Scenes with Behati Prinsloo

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Look Inside Behati Prinsloo and Adam Levine's $18 Million Los Angeles Mansion - W Magazine

Of all the additions you can put on a home from a master bathroom to a mudroom to a laundry room a family room may provide the biggest bang for the buck. In part thats because the job doesnt include any pricy plumbing fixtures, stone surfaces, or major appliances, so the costs are comparatively low per square foot.

But also, a family room can be much more than just an addition: By building it next to the kitchen, with an open floor plan, you can create a single, multipurpose gathering space thats well suited to life in the 21st century.

Whats involved

A 16-foot-by-25 foot family room addition constructed over a crawlspace foundation, with vinyl siding, hardwood floors, recessed ceiling lights, and 180 square feet of glass, including windows and atrium-style doors (double French doors with fixed door-sized panels on each side), has a median cost of $84,201, according to Remodeling magazines latest Cost vs. Value Report. You can expect to recoup $53,955 64.1% of your investment when you sell the house.

Make no mistake, this is a big project that will require a building permit, take a big chunk out of your yard, and require a host of different tradesmen to pour a foundation, install a roof, and do everything in between.

Youll have to expand your heating and cooling systems to accommodate the new space, which will likely mean upgrading to larger furnace, central air conditioner and electrical panel, says Phil Kolby, a contractor in Charlotte, N.C. And youll see higher energy and property tax bills as a result of the project.

Is it right for your house?

The classic scenario that calls for a family room addition is a house with a small- or medium-sized kitchen thats segregated from formal living and dining rooms by interior walls. But there are often lower-cost alternatives: You may be able to avoid a full addition project by simply knocking down some interior walls ($2,000 to $8,000 per wall, depending on whether its bearing or contains plumbing and electrical supply lines)as long as youre willing to turn those formal spaces into everyday rooms.

Or, if thats not feasible, because of stairways or other complications, the family room doesnt have to be adjacent to the kitchen. You may be able to create the space by finishing the basement or using a spare bedroom or a bonus room over the garage. Those are far more cost-effective ways to get your family room, says Missoula, Mont., appraiser Bryan Flaherty.

Still, even in this market, Flaherty says an addition may be worth the investment. If family rooms are common among similar houses in your neighborhood, the house doesnt have other major salability drawbacks, and youre not selling for three to five years, its a fairly safe investment. After all, even if you only get half the cost back when you sell, that means youre getting all those years to enjoy the room for 50 cents on the dollar, Flaherty says.

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Work in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has produced computer programs that can beat the world chess champion and defeat the best human players on the television quiz show Jeopardy. AI has also produced programs with which one can converse in natural language, including Apple's Siri. Our experience shows that playing chess or Jeopardy, and carrying on a conversation, are activities that require understanding and intelligence. Does computer prowess at challenging games and conversation then show that computers can understand and be intelligent? Will further development result in digital computers that fully match or even exceed human intelligence? Alan Turing (1950), one of the pioneer theoreticians of computing, believed the answer to these questions was yes. Turing proposed what is now known as The Turing Test: if a computer can pass for human in online chat, we should grant that it is intelligent. By the late 1970s some AI researchers claimed that computers already understood at least some natural language. In 1980 U.C. Berkeley philosopher John Searle introduced a short and widely-discussed argument intended to show conclusively that it is impossible for digital computers to understand language or think.

Searle argues that a good way to test a theory of mind, say a theory that holds that understanding can be created by doing such and such, is to imagine what it would be like to do what the theory says would create understanding. Searle (1999) summarized the Chinese Room argument concisely:

Searle goes on to say, The point of the argument is this: if the man in the room does not understand Chinese on the basis of implementing the appropriate program for understanding Chinese then neither does any other digital computer solely on that basis because no computer, qua computer, has anything the man does not have.

Thirty years later Searle 2010 describes the conclusion in terms of consciousness and intentionality:

Searle's shift from machine understanding to consciousness and intentionality is not directly supported by the original 1980 argument. However the re-description of the conclusion indicates the close connection between understanding and consciousness in Searle's accounts of meaning and intentionality. Those who don't accept Searle's linking account might hold that running a program can create understanding without necessarily creating consciousness, and a robot might have creature consciousness without necessarily understanding natural language.

Thus Searle develops the broader implications of his argument. It aims to refute the functionalist approach to understanding minds, the approach that holds that mental states are defined by their causal roles, not by the stuff (neurons, transistors) that plays those roles. The argument counts especially against that form of functionalism known as the Computational Theory of Mind that treats minds as information processing systems. As a result of its scope, as well as Searle's clear and forceful writing style, the Chinese Room argument has probably been the most widely discussed philosophical argument in cognitive science to appear since the Turing Test. By 1991 computer scientist Pat Hayes had defined Cognitive Science as the ongoing research project of refuting Searle's argument. Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker (1997) pointed out that by the mid-1990s well over 100 articles had been published on Searle's thought experimentand that discussion of it was so pervasive on the Internet that Pinker found it a compelling reason to remove his name from all Internet discussion lists.

This interest has not subsided, and the range of connections with the argument has broadened. A search on Google Scholar for Searle Chinese Room limited to the period from 2010 through early 2014 produced over 750 results, including papers making connections between the argument and topics ranging from embodied cognition to theater to talk psychotherapy to postmodern views of truth and our post-human future as well as discussions of group or collective minds and discussions of the role of intuitions in philosophy. This wide-range of discussion and implications is a tribute to the argument's simple clarity and centrality.

Searle's argument has three important antecedents. The first of these is an argument set out by the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz (16461716). This argument, often known as Leibniz Mill, appears as section 17 of Leibniz Monadology. Like Searle's argument, Leibniz argument takes the form of a thought experiment. Leibniz asks us to imagine a physical system, a machine, that behaves in such a way that it supposedly thinks and has experiences (perception).

Notice that Leibniz's strategy here is to contrast the overt behavior of the machine, which might appear to be the product of conscious thought, with the way the machine operates internally. He points out that these internal mechanical operations are just parts moving from point to point, hence there is nothing that is conscious or that can explain thinking, feeling or perceiving. For Leibniz physical states are not sufficient for, nor constitutive of, mental states.

A second antecedent to the Chinese Room argument is the idea of a paper machine, a computer implemented by a human. This idea is found in the work of Alan Turing, for example in Intelligent Machinery (1948). Turing writes there that he wrote a program for a paper machine to play chess. A paper machine is a kind of program, a series of simple steps like a computer program, but written in natural language (e.g., English), and followed by a human. The human operator of the paper chess-playing machine need not (otherwise) know how to play chess. All the operator does is follow the instructions for generating moves on the chess board. In fact, the operator need not even know that he or she is involved in playing chessthe input and output strings, such as NQB7 need mean nothing to the operator of the paper machine.

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The Chinese Room Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of ...

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Room additions are meant to create more space in your home so that your life can become more convenient and efficient. Room additions by Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen push the limits of conventional design as we strive to bring our customers modern designs that will truly create added value to their home. Room additions can be done to expand an existing space or add completely new room to your home. Whether you need more room for your growing family, want to create a room for relaxation or entertainment, or want to expand your master bathroom to create a relaxation haven, Remodel Works can create a room addition that will make you fall in love with your home all over again. Deciding to do a room addition is a great alternative to the hassle that is moving to a new home by improving upon your current residence. The bottom line of doing a room addition is to make your home bigger to better accommodate your familys needs. With Remodel Works, you can get a room addition that is executed with skill, professionalism, and the highest level of customer service. For us, room additions shouldnt just be bigger, they should make your house better.

At Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen, we do room additions better than our competitors by using state of the art materials from world renowned vendors, having highly trained technicians working in your home, and continuously pursuing improvement within our company so that we can always be the best. There are thousands of horror stories out there of people living with subpar work. Hiring an inexperienced contractor has unfortunately left them feeling helpless and unhappy. Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen never does subpar work as we pride ourselves on the quality projects we create with our clients. We are able to build better room additions because we care. Each and every Remodel Works employee working on your project is dedicated and passionate about creating something you will love.

For your room addition, our designers will take your vision and bring it to life. When we get started on your room addition we will go through your needs and wants so that you get everything you are asking for and more. Once we have your ideas, our designers will take their professional knowledge and create a proposal. As soon as you approve a proposed design, the fun begins. Our expansive showroom has everything you need to create a cutting edge room addition that perfectly pairs style and function. The Remodel Works showroom has unique designs, textures, and quality materials you can choose from. Whether you are looking for a down home rustic feel or something modern, together we can create a bold look that will take your breath away.

Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen strives to be the room addition specialist that goes above and beyond customer expectations. As a family owned and operated company Remodel Works was created to meet the needs of San Diego residents seeking a reliable room addition expert that would be up front with them, create quality projects, and push the limits of modern design. Dont settle, Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen will make your room addition bigger, better, bolder.

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Clairemont Master Bedroom Addition
Check out the progress on our room addition in Clairemont.

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2 6Th Ave, Wanaque, NJ 07420
Immaculate 3 Bedroom Cape Cod, Newer Bath Kitchen, Dining Room, Newer Family Room Addition 20x02, Newly Painted Driveway Recently Re-done, Backyard with Patio Shed.

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Universities can have a hard time resisting the lure of luxury, which keeps room and board prices rising. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

Universities can have a hard time resisting the lure of luxury, which keeps room and board prices rising.

Valerie Inniss took out $11,500 in student loans this year to pay for the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

None of it was for tuition.

The 21-year-old is on a four-year, full-tuition scholarship, won on the strength of her high school test scores. And she qualifies for the maximum federal Pell Grant $5,730 for low-income students.

But that and a campus job were still not enough to cover all her other costs and fees, from healthcare to books. The biggest expense? Nearly $11,000 for room and board, a charge that's risen 15 percent since she started college four years ago.

That breaks down to about $24 a day for food on the cheapest meal plan an amount that's twice what the government says the average American spends per day on food. To share a room will cost $786 a month, which isn't that far below the median monthly rent for an entire apartment or house in America $904 a month.

"I hate it. I absolutely hate it," Inniss says. "But there's nothing I can do about it because I value the education I'm getting here. It's a risk I'm taking."

In addition to steadily raising tuition, but with much less notice, public four-year universities have increased their charges for room and board by 9 percent above inflation in the past five years, according to the College Board. At private colleges, the price has gone up 6 percent above inflation.

Without the inflation adjustment, room and board fees at public colleges and universities have spiked by more than 20 percent since 2009. At private institutions, they're up 17 percent.

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Are the cruise lines going the way of the airlines?

A la carte pricing is coming to cruising -- specifically, to some room service items on two major cruise lines. Carnival Cruise Lines will debut a pilot program next week on three of its ships where some room service items will incur a cost.

The announcement is the second of its kind. Norwegian Cruise Line, a Carnival competitor, recently began testing a $7.95 "convenience charge" for room service on the Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Breakaway. (The food items themselves are still free on NCL.)

On three Carnival ships -- Carnival Imagination, Carnival Conquest and Carnival Pride -- certain room service items will incur a charge as of April 12. Those items include chicken wings, fried shrimp, quesadillas, personal pizzas and sushi, the cruise line said. A wide range of items are still available at no charge, a cruise line representative told ABC News, "including seven different hot and cold sandwiches, three salad choices, three desserts and eight beverages, along with a Continental breakfast menu."

The charge for the items will be $4 to $7. The program may expand to other ships based on guest feedback.

Free room service has long been a favorite feature for cruisers, where food costs are generally considered to be part of the cost of sailing. Should potential cruisers be worried about more fees to come?

Over the years, weve certainly seen a number of new fees rolled out across some cruise lines and we do hear fears of nickel-and-diming from our avid cruisers who are used to the more traditional, more inclusive cruise fare model," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of CruiseCritic.com. "From a broader perspective, what were seeing, especially with big ship lines, is a closer alignment to more of a land resort model."

But she points out that the price of a cruise, while not all-inclusive, includes a lot. Accommodations, dining, kids clubs, entertainment and travel from place to place are all included in the price paid. These new fees, Brown said, are for offerings cruise lines may not have had in the past. And it's true that both NCL and Carnival Corp are adding more to the room service menus as they introduce fees.

"Weve seen that, for the most part, the addition of new fees is for either upgraded offerings or for features that simply hadnt been available before," Brown said, "rather than the lines unbundling fares and charging for what was previously included in the cost of a cruise.

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