Russian Sledges

Vintage Booklet - Heian Military Ensemble :: Hairdressing in Vogue in Kyoto from End of Tokugawa to Beginning of Meiji :: Kamakura Boys Attire - Published Taisho 7 1918 (by Naomi no Kimono Asobi)

KYLE

BBC The Life of Birds

The Toy, Charles & Ray Eames

Even psychic paper can only do so much. :)

kaisergeiser:

Quoth the raven,

BRUSHIE BRUSHIE.

The Pope concelebrates Mass today with the cardinal who presided over the largest payout to abuse survivors in the U.S.

Death threats and denial for woman who showed college athletes struggle to read:

The death threats, Mary Willingham expected. More shocking was the denial from the University of North Carolina.

sports, women in the public sphere, etc.

HOLLIS:

Explore HOLLIS: a user friendly search and discovery tool for library materials and more.

Authors: Larsen, Katherine, author. Title: Fangasm : Supernatural fangirls / Katherine Larsen and Lynn S. Zubernis. Published: Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2013] Online: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebookbatch.PMUSE_batch:muse9781609382155 Description: xiii, 249 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm Contents: Prologue — Falling down the rabbit hole — Seeking asylum — Get a (sex) life — Hollywood Babylon — Fear and loathing in Vancouver — Don’t ask don’t tell — Coming out in LA — Playing the fame game — Stuck in ihe middle (with you) — Working for the man — The sweet spot — The monster at the end of this book. Notes: Includes index. Subject: Fans (Persons)
Supernatural (Television program : 2005- ) Authors: Zubernis, Lynn S., author. Other titles: Project Muse UPCC books. ISBN: 9781609381981 (pbk. : alk. paper) | 160938198X (pbk. : alk. paper) | 9781609382155 (ebook)(invalid) | 1609382153 (ebook)(invalid) HOLLIS number: 013823639      MARC      HOLLIS Classic Link to this record: http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|013823639

Bookwheel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

February 14th also know as the day you drink your lonesome away will in fact not suck this year! Come dressed in your best! Keep in mind this is a tight ship and bands will be on time. We got the joint from 10pm-1am, so lets fit all the love we can in there! Hallelujah The Hills The Dazies F A G E T T E S USA NICE GUYS

Many in the Korean-American community in Queens voiced outrage that the restaurant had appeared to disrespect several older Korean people who treat a neighborhood branch like their living room.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones, the preeminent digital type foundry, has broken out into civil war.

Type designer Tobias Frere-Jones claims he has been cheated out of his half of the company by his business partner, Jonathan Hoefler. In a blistering lawsuit filed today in New York City, Frere-Jones says he was duped into transferring ownership of several fonts, including the world-famous Whitney, to Hoefler & Frere-Jones (HFJ) on the understanding that he would own 50% of the company.

“In the most profound treachery and sustained exploitation of friendship, trust and confidence, Hoefler accepted all of the benefits provided by Frere-Jones while repeatedly promising Frere-Jones that he would give him the agreed equity, only to refuse to do so when finally demanded,” the suit claims. Here’s the full complaint:

Hoefler couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Messages left at the offices of HFJ weren’t immediately returned.

Frere-Jones joined the company that would come to be called HFJ in 1999. The suit portrays Frere-Jones as the firm’s design genius, and Hoefler as the business and marketing man. In public, the pair have generally been regarded as equals. But the contract that made it so, according to the lawsuit, was never written down and signed. Frere-Jones claims he had an oral contract with Hoefler that entitles him to half the company.

The dispute came to a head last year. ”Stop it. I’m working on it. Stop harassing me,” Hoefler allegedly wrote to Frere-Jones last summer. The suit claims, “On October 21, 2013, for the first time, Hoefler explicitly reneged on his personal agreement to transfer 50% of HTF to Frere-Jones.” (HTF refers to the Hoefler Type Foundry, the company’s original name.)

Frere-Jones’s lawyer, Fredric Newman, a senior partner at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, said in a phone interview, ”The two partners tried to resolve it, but couldn’t, and so Mr. Frere-Jones had no choice but to sue to enforce his rights.”

The firm is perhaps the most important type designer of the 21st century. Its fonts have graced the branding of billion-dollar companies, and the covers of glossy magazines. Movie-trailer warning labels in the United States are set in Gotham, an HFJ typeface that was also famously used by Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

HFJ’s typefaces have won admiration from designers by taking advantage of the limitless environment of digital design. Where most typefaces only had two weights and two styles in one width, HFJ became known for creating typefaces with several weights and several styles in several widths that included advanced features like alternate characters, and support for multiple alphabets.

bunnyfood:

Brushie

(via Imgur)

bunnyfood:

Brushie

konekay:

Brushie Brushie Brushie :D

Preserves: Central Bottle Wine + Provisions, Juliet Tomato Jam with Hand Harvested Fennel Pollen, Massachusetts

The last time I posted about how much I love my Bernina, I got this question: what should I look for when shopping for one?

It is tricky to know where to start when the options (and price points) are so vast. Bernina offers everything from the cute little Bernette line to full size machines, from a totally mechanical model to enormous pieces of advanced technology that can do everything but make you a cup of tea.

To help navigate the terrain, I took a visit to Modern Domestic, a fantastic sewing studio, fabric shop, and Bernina dealer here in Portland. I followed around my friend Meredith, who seems to know just about all there is to know about each and every model. This is one of the ways Bernina stands apart from a lot of other companies. Their sales folks really know their stuff.

I’d like to talk about the machines I saw in a little more detail another day, because there were some impressive options. But today, I just want to help you with the basic question of where to start.

Start at the bottom

The first thing you should know is that the models build on each other. So the features that are included in the lower and less expensive models will be included in the higher models.

Meredith walked me through the machines starting at the lowest model number and price point and moving up, explaining all of the features added along the way. I found this incredibly enlightening, because it forces you to ask “would I want / need / use that feature?” You’ll encounter features you’d never thought of but might find very useful.

If you don’t know where to start, I’d recommend starting at the bottom and asking your dealer to give you a walkthrough just like this. You’ll learn a lot.

Questions to ask yourself (and your dealer):

So based on Meredith’s experience talking to hundreds of customers, and my own notes on the major differences I noticed between models, I came up with this list of questions to ask yourself before you fall in love with a particular machine.

• What kind of things do you like to sew? If you’re into quilting, you may want some of the extra features and accessories built specifically for quilters. If you do a lot of garment sewing, you may want certain specialty stitches, buttonholes, and a freehand system.
• What would you like to sew in the future? Are there types of sewing you might do in the future? Or do you plan to do more of one particular kind of sewing? What about machine embroidery?
• How often do you sew? If you sew constantly, it will probably be worth it to invest in a machine with more capabilities. If it’s a once in a while activity, or you just want to make curtains and hem pants occasionally, a bare bones machine could be just fine.
• Are you new to sewing, or more experienced? This is an interesting question because, as Meredith pointed out, beginners may appreciate more automation with their machines. She likened it to a car transmission. If you’re just learning, it’s much easier to focus on just driving if you don’t have to worry about switching gears.
• What features do you like about the machine you currently have? What do you dislike? If you’re like I was before buying my first Bernina, this could actually be a little tricky. Back then, a machine was a machine to me. It worked or it didn’t. But I knew I didn’t like the horrid noises it would make, or the fact that the handwheel would sometimes fly off for no reason.
• How do you feel about the size of your current machine? Would you like something more compact on your sewing table? Or do you need more room for large projects?

Nifty features to consider

Based on all the machines Meredith showed me, I noted a long list of possible features you might think about before walking into a dealer. This is the kind of list I wished I’d had to help me decide on my model, so hopefully it helps you too.

It may not be exhaustive, but should cover many of the differentiating features. Check off what you want, what might be “nice to haves”, then talk to a dealer about your dream machine. I ordered these generally going from the most common features up to the most specialized ones.

• Computerized (vs. mechanical)
• Simple to use (without extraneous features)
• Automatic buttonhole
• Decorative stitches (decide which ones are important to you)
• Alphabets
• Memory function (so it will remember your stitch settings)
• Quilting feet, like the walking foot and 1/4 inch foot. These come with some machines.
• Freehand system for less reaching
• Fancy buttonholes, like the keyhole buttonhole
• Mirror image functions (so you can flip a stitch to go the other way)
• Full shank foot (as opposed to just snap-on feet. Highly recommended!)
• Compact size (some machines are 3/4 size, others are full size)
• Knot tie feature
• Advanced foot control (lets you raise and lower the needle with your foot!)
• Extra wide stitch width
• Touch screen
• Embroidery capabilities (some come with the embroidery module, with others you can add it on)
• Automatic thread cutter
• 9 hook oscillating bobbin (which can hold up to 100 yards of thread)
• Extended arm
• Automatic needle lowering (you start to sew, and the needle lowers automatically)
• Dual feed (great for slippery fabrics)
• Large screen
• Stitch designer (you can actually draw your own stitches on the touch screen!)
• Shape designer (you can design shapes as well!)

(In this photo, Meredith has just drawn a stitch with her finger on the touch screen of the Bernina 880, and on the left, you can see the stitch previewed in repeat. Amazing!)

If you have a Bernina, please chime in! Are there features a new owner might not think about but you can no longer live without? Other questions she should consider before purchase?

I was discussing techniques with a tailor by email and was having trouble describing something so I thought "blog post".

We typically find two types of tailored sleeve in men's suiting- English tailors often cut what is known as a 50-50 sleeve, whose under sleeve is roughly the same width as the top sleeve. More common today is a sleeve with what is known as a "false forearm" because the forearm seam is offset from the from of the sleeve by around an inch in order to conceal it. The offsetting of this seam can cause a kink near the elbow if the sleeve is not shaped properly. The under sleeve is cut roughly 1/4" longer than the top sleeve along the forearm seam; some tailors work this fullness in and shrink it out when pressing the forearm seam. I have a different take on this.

Notice the concave shape of the forearm seam when the sleeve is flat.



Now when I turn the seam back to replicate the offset of the seam in the finished sleeve, notice that the front of the sleeve is straight and the seam is now convex, rather than concave- this is what can cause the break in the sleeve.



To counter this, instead of shrinking out the fullness on the under sleeve, I stretch the top sleeve using a steam iron or by moistening the cloth to within 1 1/2" of the cut edge, pulling on the cloth as I hold the sleeve as shown (this can also be done after the seam is sewn, when opening the seam).


Notice how the edge of the sleeve ripples because of the stretching. The top sleeve seam is now 1/4" longer than it was, and even with the under sleeve seam.



And now when I fold back the front of the sleeve, the fold is now nicely curved and the seam is now the proper, concave shape.

Suntory’s $16 billion acquisition of bourbon giant Beam Inc. has focused attention on the huge opportunities for growth in the rapidly consolidating global booze industry: Japanese have acquired a taste for bourbon, China is getting into fine wine, and Indians are increasingly thirsty for whiskey.

In fact, India is already the world’s largest whiskey market—sort of. As Quartz has reported, Indians are also the world’s biggest rum drinkers, but what’s sold as whiskey there is really the same stuff, derived mostly from molasses. Either way, because of its huge population, India’s per capita consumption of spirits is actually pretty low, with plenty of headroom, although there are limits—devout followers of the country’s two largest religions, Hinduism and Islam, generally shun alcohol. Euromonitor expects Indian sales for Scotch whiskey to grow by 18% a year.

About a year ago, spirits giant Diageo thought it had sealed a grandiose plan to plunge into the Indian market by buying a majority stake in the country’s biggest liquor company, United Spirits. Not only would it own inexpensive home-grown Indian brands, but it would be able to sell its own high-grade brands of imported whiskey, like Johnnie Walker, which Indians love but often find expensive and difficult to obtain due to high customs duties.

In November, 2012, Diageo thought it had finalized a $2 billion deal for a 53% stake in United Spirits. Roughly half of the shares would come from the stock market; the remainder would come from owner Vijay Mallya. And then it all went horribly awry.

Mallya, an eccentric tycoon saddled with debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, had already pledged most of his stake to his creditors, whom he owed some $2.5 billion. The creditors moved to block the sale, and in December a state court in India ruled in their favor, ordering that Mallya’s sale of stock to Diageo was null and void. It was a significant blow to Diageo, which has maneuvered for three years to gain access to Indian drinkers.

Diageo is contesting the recent Indian court ruling, and a company spokesperson insisted the share deal was “genuine and bona fide.” To make matters worse, Diageo was also a potential bidder for Beam, but it came to naught because of concerns a deal wouldn’t get anti-trust approval.

Meanwhile, United Spirits is facing increasing competition at home from Diageo rival Pernod Ricard and homegrown Allied Blenders and Distillers. It is also looking to sell Whyte & Mackay, the British distiller that Mallya bought during better times. Even if Diageo triumphs in its legal battle and wins United Spirits, it may arrive in India with quite a hangover.

Forest Scent, Pavel Bautin. Russia. 2010 IAPLC Grand Prize Winner

Pale Wind, Takayuki Fukada. Japan. 2013 IAPLC Gold Prize

Whisper of the pines, Serkan Çetinkol. Turkey. 2013 IAPLC Top 27

Verve!, Chow Wai Sun. Hong Kong. 2011 IAPLC Bronze Prize

Way to heaven, Dmitriy Parshin. Russia.

Wild West, Stjepan Erdeljić. Croatia.

Georgi Chaushev, Bulgaria. 2012 IAPLC Top 100.

Francisco Wu, Spain. 2012 IAPLC Top 100.

Long Tran Hoang, Vietnam. 2012 IAPLC Third Place.

Pilgrimage, Shintaro Matsui. Japan. 2013 IAPLC Fifth Place.

No, these aren’t exactly your childhood goldfish bowls. The world of competitive aquarium design, or aquascaping, is just as difficult, expensive, and cutthroat as any other sport but requires expertise in many different fields to guarantee success. Aquarium designers possess large amounts of expertise in biology, design, photography, and excel in the art of patience, as individual aquascapes can take months if not years to fully mature into a completed landscape.

The world’s largest nature aquarium and aquatic plants layout competition is the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) which annually ranks hundreds of competitors from around the world with Asian and Eastern European countries generally dominating the top slots. While it’s somewhat difficult to track down galleries of winners from every year, above are some amazing entries from the last few years. To see more, oh so much more, check out: IAPLC Grand Prize Works, IAPLC 2011 Top 27, IAPLC 2013 Top 6, IAPLC 2012 Top 200 (or here), and the first Eastern European Planted Aquarium Design Contest.

popular shared this story from Boing Boing.

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Spencer Chen did an A/B test on the efficacy of "booth babes" at a big trade-show, staffing a booth in one part of the floor with scantily clad models, and another with older women recruited for their people skills, dressed in professional attire.

The results were clear for Chen: the "grandmas" generated far more sales-leads and conversions than the "babes." What's more, the kind of attendees the "babes" attracted were less valuable to Chen's companies: rather than roping in executives with purchase-decision power, they brought in young "IT nubs" who just wanted to get their pictures taken with models in sexy outfits.

Importantly, Chen's point isn't just that booth-babes turn off women at trade shows, but that they also turn off men, and he says he has the data to prove it.

The results? They were great. The booth that was staffed with the booth babes generated a third of the foot traffic (as measured by conversations or demos with our reps) and less than half the leads (as measured by a badge swipe or a completed contact form) while the other team had a consistently packed booth that ultimately generated over 550 leads, over triple from the previous year.

Everyone on the team was genuinely surprised by the results but duly convinced. It was like showing some hardened sales reps a new golf swing. I was able to replicate this a few more times throughout the year with even better results since we had a chance to further optimize our new “staffing plan.”

Booth Babes Don’t Work [Spencer Chen/Tech Crunch]

(Image: booth babe atari, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from bdu's photostream)

Film and cultural studies, Hampshire College