Rexfeng

A modern manufacturing morality tale in which workers and management came together to save an American icon.

Count me in for this new Kickstarter project from Sam Agboola:

To make photo printing fun — for the first time by our reckoning — we’ve designed a photo finishing system ready for the 21st century. Museum quality (Giclée) printers, German 220 gram photo paper from sustainable sources, laser cutters, and robots with carbon fiber arms will allow Flag to deliver prints, for free, that are better than any you can pay for today. We want to turn your memories into mementos you can be proud of.

Our secret to making photo printing free? An advertisement on the back of each print. It will always be tasteful, and we are steadfast in our commitment to never sell or share your personal information with advertisers.

Genius if they can pull it off.

Arianna Simpson:

I walk in and a group of people are already sitting at a long table. I say hi and hover for a second, determining where to sit. Entirely uninvited, and before I even have a chance to react, one guy proceeds to grab me by the waist and pull me into an awkward, grope-y side hug next to him on the bench. To reiterate, I’ve never met this man in my life. I try giving him the benefit of the doubt and make some quip about his being a friendly sort, but it gets uncomfortable pretty quickly when he puts his hand on my leg and leaves it there until I squirm uncomfortably.

I always forget about Interview magazine but I really shouldn't because a) Warhol and b) they consistently pair interesting people together for interviews. Case in point: director Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years a Slave, not Bullitt) interviews Kanye West for the Feb 2014 issue.

MCQUEEN: You've been on the scene as an artist now for 10 years, which is impressive, given the level of interest and artistry that you've managed to sustain in your work. In the process, you've become incredibly influential. So you talk about doing all of these other things, which is great, but there's really no amount of money that could make you more influential than you are now. So my question is: What are you going to do with all of the influence that you have right now?

WEST: Well, influence isn't my definition of success-it's a by-product of my creativity. I just want to create more. I would be fine with making less money. I actually spend the majority of my money attempting to create more things. Not buying things or solidifying myself or trying to make my house bigger, or trying to show people how many Louis Vuitton bags I can get, or buying my way to a good seat at the table. My definition of success, again, is getting my ideas out there.

Thanks to Jonathan at The Candler Blog for the pointer; he also notes Glenn Kenny's super-apt comment:

Clearly the problem with most Kanye West interviews up until now has been the interviewer.

Tags: interviews   Kanye West   music   Steve McQueen

Researchers suspect that India’s unusual mix of polluted air, poor sanitation and contaminated water may make the country among the most dangerous in the world for lungs.

Since the Korean War, the gelatinous meat product has remained a part of the fabric of culinary life in even the most stylish enclaves of South Korea.

In 2004, the U.S. Army made a colossal mistake. It introduced a new digital camouflage called the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), a single pattern designed to work across all environments. Only a few months later, however, as the war in Iraq was intensifying by the day, every soldier on the ground knew the truth: by trying to work in every situation, UCP worked in none of them.

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[Photo: Facebook]

Five year waiting lists. High end concierge calling all around town, looking for a specific bottle on behalf of "an important guest." What retails for $100 and $200 when it can be found, quickly being flipped for $1,000 and $2,000. Today's Bourbon market has all the hallmarks of that other great bull market, the Cult California Cabernet run of the late 1990s. But if the two phenomenon are similar, how so? And what lessons could be learned about today's Bourbon market from yesterday's Cult Cab frenzy? Let's take a look.

There are several attributes of the current insatiable appetite for high end Bourbon that recall the glory days of the Cult Cabernet market. I've made up a reference list of convergences.

1) Limited quantity: Just as the Cult Cabs made "limited production" a phrase forever afterwards associated with the most sought after wines, today's high end Bourbon market seems defined by the scarcity of the older bottlings.

2) A handful of easily recognized brands: In both instances, about five different brands really separated from the rest of the market in terms of consumer demand. Where it was Screaming Eagle, Colgin, Araujo, Bryant Family, and Harlan before, now it is Pappy Van Winkle, Parker Heritage, Eagle Rare Antique Collection, Black Maple Hill, and A.H. Hirsch Reserve.

3) An allocated market: Tight distributor control on who got to purchase how many bottles at wholesale helped shape the contours of the Cult Cab market, and it is at work again with Bourbon.

4) Easy to understand terminology: Kentucky and Bourbon, California and Cabernet. The parameters are pretty straightforward, and don't require much specialized study. This isn't Irouleguy or Listan Negro we are talking about.

5) Big flavors: Noticeable oak and high alcohol, plus maybe a little sweetness on the palate.

7) Distinctly American: Bourbon is a home grown, all-American product and this is a period of increased improvement in American distilling, in the same way that Napa Valley was associated with the rise of American winemaking.

8) The foreign benchmark is even more expensive: When the Cult Cabs were originally released from their respective wineries, they were less expensive than the famous names of Bordeaux, and again it is true that the in demand Bourbons, on release, are less expensive than the famous Scotch brands. This allows people to say "Well, it's still not expensive as it could be!" which is a healthy sentiment for building a market bubble.

9) A similar demographic: The buyers for high end Bourbon today seem to be, by my own observation, overwhelmingly male, and often in the 25 to 49 year old age range. The same audience profile that was snapping up Cult Cab in the 1990s.

10) Original prices in the hundreds of dollars: This is important, because it means that if someone has the access, they can fairly easily put together the capital to buy some bottles for resale. In other words, a large group of folks have the means to engage in bottle scalping. When the original prices are in the thousands of dollars, this is less true.

Which leads us to...

11) The entry into the market of financial opportunists: What really exacerbated the scarcity of the Cult Cab market was people actively buying the wine as an investment, not with the intention to drink the contents. Because if you are planning to drink the bottle, you might only buy so much, but if you are planning to sell the bottle for a profit, well, sky's the limit. And that meant that people were scouring the market outlets for every available bottle. Which made it that much harder for the casual drinker with a passing interest in the category to find a bottle themselves. Which added to the perceived scarcity. The same cycle is in effect with some Bourbons at the moment.

12) A consumer desire for luxury bottlings: During the period of time that Cult Cab exhibited the greatest pull on the market, there was PLENTY of Cabernet around. But it was the normal, non-Cult Cabernet that was widely available, and those weren't being bought with gusto. It was the most expensive and the most rare offerings that the consumers desired and talked about. And once again, there is plenty of inexpensive Bourbon on the market. Simpler bottlings that are widely available. But those are being passed over in the desire to find the specific items that have consumers under their spell.

A good example of this desire for luxury, rather than for more basic bottlings, was the furor over the proposed dilution of Maker's Mark. In that instance, the feedback firmly indicated that customers would rather have a more expensive product than a product of lesser quality. That trend was apparently not lost on the Buffalo Trace distillery, who have started more tightly allocating their mid-range Blanton's Bourbon. Some observers have speculated that this change may facilitate longer aging of the stock that might have gone into Blanton's, and thus more high end aged stock for sale at higher prices from Buffalo Trace, which also produces Pappy Van Winkle.

So what can be learned from all this? If the Cult Cab market of the past is any guide, we will see producers offerings more high end products just as soon as they can, which will have the eventual effect of diluting customer interest. We will also see the producers themselves purchased at very high valuation numbers, as indeed we just witnessed with the agreement of Suntory to purchase Beam. And as occurred with Cult Cab, certain restaurants may be the big beneficiaries of the market, as consumers desiring a sip of something rare seek out restaurants that have what they are looking for. But let me propose one more point: For all the talk about how much the American palate has changed in an attempt to find lower alcohol and the flavors of terroir, one large market segment seems to have kept their focus on the other direction.

· All Wine Coverage [~ENY~]

Airports are often terrible places to be. There are too many people rushing somewhere combined with too many cranky folks leaving somewhere mixed with annoying obstacles in the form of TSA security and rolling luggages. But it's just like that for us normal folk. For first class flyers? It's like being a rock star. One genius man took advantage of his rock star status and used one single first class airplane ticket to eat food for free for an entire year.

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New York City can be cruel and punishing, but it sure looks delightful in these pixelated GIFs from designer Nana Rausch.

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Dating back centuries, the names of our everyday colors have origins in the earliest known languages. According to linguists:

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The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will start on February 6th, 2014. The Russian Empire has built a bunch of brand new arenas for the upcoming winter sports fiesta. This is our collection of the artistic-futuristic architecture of the Sochi Games, built from scratch in the past few years.

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A flip-style case will protect all the parts of your expensive smartphone—from the housing to the display—but at the cost of making you a little slower on the draw when it comes to answering a call. So to solve this 'problem' Moshi has created the SenseCover case which features a touch-sensitive strip on the outside letting you swipe to answer a call without having to open its cover.

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Writing implements aren't going to be supplanted by touchscreen devices anytime soon. But that isn't stopping Bic from hedging its bets and ensuring its classic see-through plastic pens remain relevant. The company's new Cristal Stylus features a rubber tip on the bottom letting you jot notes on a touchscreen device, while the business end still features a ballpoint ink tip for writing on paper.

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Pop-up shops are a dime a dozen these days but, when a brand decides to get weird, it's often memorable.

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Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number will be available sometime between July and the end of September; the game's official Twitter account locked in a Q3 launch window today. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number takes place before and after the events of the ...

Three developers at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada recently offered a novel multiplayer bomb-diffusing game for this past weekend's Global Game Jam. Dubbed Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, the game has one Oculus Rift-wearing, Razer ...

Restaurant managers are often frustrated by elderly people who buy a cup of coffee and stay in their seats all day.

In a sign of how wearable devices are entering the mainstream, a major optical insurance provider will subsidize frames and prescription lenses for customers buying Google Glass.

An anecdote from a student over drug use at the University of Puget Sound led one professor to test sewage in an effort to gauge the use of illegal drugs. "The amphetamine levels go through the roof during finals," says chemistry professor Dan Burgard in an interview with Gizmodo. Sewage tests in Europe have now allowed scientists to map exactly where drugs are consumed, covering entire populations and cities. While scientists can pinpoint usage spikes of cocaine and ecstasy in London, and the increase of marijuana use in Italy, legal and ethical concerns have arisen over police potentially testing wastewater. Gizmodo takes a closer look at the process, leaving questions over your right to privacy when you flush your toilet.

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"Finally, I'm not a slave to my stupid human eyeballs!" Lenny Leonard exclaims as he puts on his Oogle Goggles, a few minutes into Sunday's episode of The Simpsons, entitled "Specs and the City." In it, the citizens of Springfield look at Google Glass from a variety of angles, and come to a surprisingly human conclusion about an incredibly technical device.

Everyone at the Springfield Power Plant receives their Christmas gift from Mr. Burns, and this year, instead of a Hound-A-Day Calendar or a stress ball that's a lot more terrifying than cathartic, they're all given "Oogle Goggles." The new augmented reality headsets essentially do two things: they let the wearer see information about the people and things around them, and let Mr....

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In 2012 Google unveiled an experiment called Build with Chrome, a virtual Lego tool that let you play with tiny plastic bricks in your browser — and two years later the project is finally open to everyone. Originally users had to stake out a plot of land in Australia and publish their creations to that location, but now the tool lets you do the same anywhere in the world. The geographical features make it possible to browse user creations by location, and a new addition also lets you see what your Google+ buddies have built with the tool. You can also filter by specific kinds of creations like buildings.

The WebGL tool works in Chrome, and according to Google you should be able to play with virtual bricks using the Android version...

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The first Porsche ever made has been recovered from a shed in Austria where it sat for over 100 years. The vehicle is called the "Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model" — nicknamed the "P1" for short — and was created by Ferdinand Porsche himself in 1898. The following year, Porsche raced the P1 at an electric vehicle exposition in Berlin and took home first place, completing the nearly 25-mile course 18 minutes faster than the next competitor. Not long thereafter, it seems the vehicle was abandoned. According to USA Today, it was placed in an Austrian shed back in 1902, where it sat until recently.

Up to a 50-mile range with a max speed of 22 miles per hour

The P1 has now been moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where it will...

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The hotly anticipated Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club is now just a week or so away from officially opening to the public, at which point shuffleboard will likely explode into the biggest thing since bowling. The club was taking walk-ins over the weekend, and co-owner Jonathan Schnapp tells Eater that they're "still waiting on a couple permitting issues," but hope to have a set date soon. For now, here are a few more details about the Floridian wonderland to come, from the club's two weeks of soft opening events and private parties so far.

According to the Brooklyn Paper, it costs $40 to rent one of the clubs ten boards for an hour, or $450 to join a 10-week league. The Monday night league has already sold out, but Schnapp and co-owner Ashley Albert just added a second one on Tuesday nights. Cocktails are things like the "Jim Allen," with tequila, creole shrub, mango and lime, and as promised, the club has a bay for food trucks to pull in instead of a regular kitchen. So far Mexicue, Morris Grilled Cheese, and the Kimchi Taco Truck are all among those to make an appearance. Schnapp told Joshua David Stein that he's also planning for some theme nights: "We're going to have lobster rolls and yacht rock...Serge Gainsbourg nights with a crepe truck." Also down the road, expect Wednesday night bingo led by drag duo Murray Hill and Linda Simpson.
· About-to-Open Gowanus Shuffleboard Palace is for All Ages [BP]
· Push Comes to Shove in Brooklyn [NYT]
· All Coverage of The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club [~ENY~]

From Serious Eats: New York

[Photographs: Nicole Lam]

For many, Sigmund's is synonymous with pretzels—big, chewy twists made with flavors like truffle cheddar and feta olive. With her shop on Ave B and multiple pretzel stands, Lina Kulchinsky made pretzels good again in a city where stale, flavorless street pretzels are too-often the norm.

Last summer, Sigmund's went through a total transformation from quick snack shack to friendly neighborhood restaurant. Gone is the communal table and take-out only format; now there's an inviting blond wood bar and cozy tables for two lined up along the wall. With beer taps and a full menu, they also serve a weekend brunch of the classics—but pretzel-ized.

Pretzel Benedict.

First on the menu, and with good reason, is the Pretzel Benedict ($12). Half a pretzel roll is lightly buttered then grilled before getting topped with your choice of meat: kielbasa, pork belly, bacon, or short ribs (or greens if you're veg-inclined). I love the kielbasa, which comes nearby from J. Baczynsky Meat Market in the East Village.

Lightly smoky, the kielbasa has a nice snap when you bite into it. And as it turns out, pretzel bread makes a great base for a Benedict. It soaks up the paprika-spiked hollandaise sauce and the runny yolk without being overwhelmed. It's definitely my favorite dish of the menu.

Corned beef hash.

If you're particularly famished or just hung over, go for the Corned Beef Hash ($12). Instead of the usual hash where everything is cooked together in one skillet and served well mixed, here you have a dish that's more deconstructed. It's a mound of corned beef and sauerkraut on a base of yukon gold potatoes and crowned with two well-poached eggs.

While other hash dishes usually have shredded pieces of corned beef, here the beef is cut thick and substantial. You can actually savor the meat, and you'll want to. Prepared in the kitchen, the beef is first cured and then slow cooked for 5 hours before adding in various spices.

Baked eggs.

For brunchers who want eggs, try the Baked Eggs ($10). Served in a small cast iron skillet, it's complemented by a piece of pretzel crostini. The skillet is also stuffed with a mix of seasonal mushrooms; one visit yielded port0bello, oyster, trumpet royale, and hen of the woods all cooked with herbs and a touch of truffle oil, then baked with the eggs and some gruyere.

A la carte, the brunch items are reasonably priced. There's also a spendier "full brunch" option that will set you back $22 but includes a dish or a sandwich, one brunch drink, coffee or tea, and my personal favorite—the pretzel basket.

Pretzel basket.

This is one of the main reasons I keep going back to Sigmund's for brunch. There's something about a basket of small soft pretzels in flavors like sesame and cinnamon raisin that's irresistible. It comes with their homemade jam and is only available at brunch. At Sigmund's, it's fairly easy to get a table for brunch at peak hours, which is a boon if you don't want to wait to eat. It's a great local spot with thoughtful food and, yes, delicious pretzels.

About the author: Nicole Lam loves food and will go to the far reaches of Manhattan and beyond for a taste of the best ice cream or to slurp an awesome bowl of noodles. She is always adamant about having dessert. Follow her travels and eats on Instagram @niclam

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the favorite of many, and a classic like this deserves maps with similar qualities. Peardian, a veteran user of VGMaps, decided to map the whole game in an amazing-looking isometric view.

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