Russian Sledges

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Spirit House

Tiny homes for silkworm spirits, dedicate to the loving memory of the deceased, from Zoë Williams.

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AMHERST — Michael Lesy and Lisa Stoffer’s “Repast: Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century, 1900-1910” looks at an era very different from ours. Menus groaned with rich dishes. Pure food, not organic, was the rage. Fast food was just beginning to emerge, at places like the Childs restaurant chain and the Automat.

The Last Stand | Marc Wilson

"Since 2010 I have been photographing the images that make up The Last Stand, that aims to reflect the histories, stories and memories of military conflict. The series is currently made up of 51 images and is documenting some of the physical remnants of the Second World War on the coastlines of the British Isles and northern Europe, focusing on military defense structures that remain and their place in the shifting landscape that surrounds them."

- Marc Wilson

Relish: Center for Urban Agriculture is a Union Square, Somerville, organization that offers classes in everything from beekeeping to beer brewing. Established last spring, Relish helps locals raise chickens, compost, learn about mushrooms, and can. From its headquarters in a small bay garage behind The Independent restaurant, the organization also sells equipment needed for these projects. During school vacations, kids can take week-long classes in printmaking, gardening, and felting. The Relish storefront beckons farmers’ market customers on a warm Saturday morning. A bunny named Harmony attracts curious kids, parents peruse the carefully curated collection of canning supplies, gardening tools, and locally made goat’s milk soap. Behind the storefront is the heart of Relish, a small classroom where workshops are held.

'They really don’t get along, and Morrissey is so eager to detail this not getting along that you come away from “Autobiography” thinking that Morrissey maybe started the Smiths so that he could be joined in the unholy union of protracted legal dispute for a long time, and with several people.'

reminder of the time the Chief Justice of the highest court of the land showed up to work in a costume he designed based off of a community theater production of a lesser Gilbert & Sullivan play

Sampling, ca. 1800: Meanwhile, back in 1800, Connecticut resident Laura Hyde was imagining the other ends of the earth, newly united by international trade routes. She was all of 13 when she made the “Harem Sampler” in “Interwoven Globe,” the fascinating textile show at the Met. On the left of the sampler, embroidered with silk on linen, is the Bay of Bengal. On the right is a Turkish harem Hyde read about in a published letter by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the glamorous wife of an English ambassador.

I'm only gonna axe you once...

This is a content summary only. Click on the story to read the whole thing at InvisibleOranges.com

"New Leaf," a new Animal Crossing shirt ⊟

What a lovely cross-section of an Animal Crossing life, by Adam Works. Reminds me of Camille Young’s amazing sculpture for Fangamer X Attract Mode.

BUY Animal Crossing: New Leaf, AC:NL guide, upcoming games

Uh oh ... Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods is in trouble.

Apparently, the hot sauce odor wafting from the company's Irwindale, California, factory has nearby residents complaining of burning eyes, irritated throats, and headaches. The strong smell forced one family to move a birthday party indoors, and some residents had to leave their homes temporarily.

Now, Irwindale is suing. In a complaint filed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, the city requested that Huy Fong Foods suspend Sriracha production until the problem is fixed. The city reportedly met with the company earlier this month, and Huy Fong agreed to take action. They've since changed their tune, denying the problem and arguing that employees working at the plant have never complained.

A lot could be at stake. Roberto Ferdman at Quartz paints a chilling picture of hot sauce apocalypse:

The company uses only fresh chilies to make Sriracha, which means it has to process them within a day of picking. And all of over 100 million pounds of chilies it uses each year are harvested and processed in a two to three-month period in the fall, which is right about now. So any setback could hit its production for the entire year.

Los Angeles Times reporter Frank Shyong has been live-tweeting his tour of  the Huy Fong Foods headquarters today -- including this alarming bit from the company's CEO David Tran.  

David Tran says that if the city shuts the factory down, the price of Sriracha will jump up. Supplies of Sriracha are lagging behind demand.

— Frank Shyong (@frankshyong) October 29, 2013

A judge is set to review the complaint on Thursday. In the meantime, Irwindale, California, is on its way to becoming internet's least favorite city.

The folks in this town need to suck it up, the rest of us love Sriracha http://t.co/CDX0ETcP06

— Ed Waters (@DoctorZaius68) October 29, 2013

I swear, if Irwindale shuts down the Sriracha factory, I will chain myself to the steps of their city hall and sing spicy protest songs.

— L. Morguetensen (@LMortensen) October 29, 2013

Don't eff with my sauce, you California sissies. RT “@nprnews: Sriracha Factory Under Fire For Fumes; City Sues http://t.co/PEISfeEI9r”

— Tim Rogers (@timmytyper) October 29, 2013

I swear to God, Irwindale, if you shut down the Sriracha factory I'm coming for you. http://t.co/onFwfp5Cp3

— HELLRAISER (@delrayser) October 29, 2013

The city of Irwindale, California must be stopped. Who's with me! http://t.co/TjxMVpVdst

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 29, 2013

Top image: reed_sandridge on Flickr 

"I already am eating from the trash can all the time."

In China’s growing art market, now the second largest in the world, outsize auction results often overshadow false sales data and forged art.

This photograph was apparently taken in the aftermath of a raid led by CIB Chief Bill Mackay – later to be Commissioner of Police – on a house at 74 Riley Street, ‘lower Darlinghurst’. Numerous charges were heard against the 15 men and women arrested.   Lessee Joe Bezzina , pictured [...]

If you tell Facebook you're in a relationship, but don't say with whom, then you might think you've got some privacy. But think again: A newly developed algorithm can identify which "friend" you're dating and predict whether or not that relationship will last. The number-crunching was conducted by a computer scientist and a Facebook engineer, using a dataset of 1.3 million Facebook users who met three criteria. Each was 1) at least 20 years old, 2) listed their relationship status as marr

[Photo: These are used to pour Fernet into guests' mouths at Trina's/Kirsten Amann]
Fernet. More specifically — Fernet Branca. This particular brand of the strange, almost punishing Italian amaro is a calling card of sorts between most of Boston's better bartenders. A customer who is asked to share a shot of fernet at the end of the night with their bartender knows they have been accepted as a friend. What exactly is this stuff and how did it get a hold on Boston's drink makers? Eater asked Kirsten Amann — better known as Kitty — to explain it. Amann is the local brand ambassador for the Branca family, who have been making their version of fernet for nearly 200 years. She explains how she got the job as a (then) non-drinker of fernet, tells a story of someone who took fernet on a very strange trip, and divulges that she once wondered whether anyone actually likes to drink it.

Since not all our readers have had Fernet Branca, how would you describe it? It's not the most user-friendly drink.
(laughs) Welcome to my life. It's an interesting product to sell for that reason. Half the time I'm like (sing-song childish voice) "It's really yucky, you're not going to like it." Then half the time I'm trying to emasculate dudes into drinking it. "I'm a ditzy blonde girl and I can drink six shots of it. You can't handle it." But to someone who's never tried it, I explain it's a bitter herbal liqueur that's consumed in Italy as a digestif. It's designed to settle your stomach after a meal. It's really herbaceous, too — there're forty different herbs and spices. I'll have someone taste it in three sips, like some do with tequila. The first sip is just alcohol, heat, and bitterness. But the second time your mouth is seasoned so you get the herbs, the saffron, mint — all the different flavors. But the third sip actually tastes a little sweet, like licorice. It's a cool trick, because there's no actual sugar.

I usually describe it as Jagermeister for adults or a cross between Anbesol and Pennzoil.
(laughs) I love that! Ben Sandroff says it's like brushing your teeth and getting punched in the face at the same time.

You are the face of Fernet Branca in Boston. How did that happen?
The first time I tried fernet, I thought it was disgusting. It was super foul. I think Jamie Bissonnette gave it to me while I was at Toro — probably right around when I started. I made myself drink it because all of the cool kids drank it. I had a really bad experience which I will not recount for you because I don't want my parents to find out about it. Suffice to say, it meant I didn't drink it for at least a year. Joy Richard is one of my best friends and runs the bar at Citizen. She's always sold a ton of fernet through her bars. They were the first place in Boston to have it on tap. She told me Branca was hiring a brand ambassador. I was really busy and wasn't really considering it, but I went to the meeting anyway. This was when I wasn't drinking fernet at all. I would just drink tequila when people got shots.

I had gone on brand ambassador interviews before. Every time they wanted someone with more sales experience so I didn't think I was going to get this job and marched into the interview with an attitude of "whatever." So I said whatever I felt with this blind confidence presuming he wasn't going to hire me. I told him, "I'm going to get a baby blue Mini Cooper to match the bikes and I am going to put a big Fernet Branca eagle on the side. And I probably need a Vespa." So I went on and on expecting him to tell me to get the hell out of there. But he thought they were actually great ideas and ten days later I was hired. In retrospect, hiring the right brand rep is a lot like dating. I can totally understand why I didn't get the other jobs.

How did you finally become a convert?
Well, I had to start drinking it. I wasn't going to not drink my own product. At first, I thought I'd be better at the job because I didn't like it as much as everyone else. Within two weeks, I was craving a shot at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and it was all over. Any ideas I had of not drinking it were out the window.

It's funny to hear that. It's not dissimilar from most people's first fernet stories. They hate it until they love it. I only met one person who ever liked it on their first try.
It happens here and there. I've done seminars about the science of taste. One of the things we learned is that your sensitivity to bitterness is genetic. I'm actually predisposed to like sweeter things. So it's kind of weird I like fernet. And the reason I do is completely situational. It's because I'm around friends.

Do you think there's an emperor's new clothes aspect to fernet where no one actually likes it?
(laughs) I haven't thought of it like that before. There was a period where I was turned off by fernet because I thought everyone was just pretending to like it. But it becomes a ritual, and you can train your palate to like something. People like it because it makes them part of a club. It's the thing we all drink. People are drawn to that. It's an interesting brand because it's not something you drink because it tastes good, because it doesn't taste good to most people. And the way we drink it is weird too, because it's actually meant to be sipped.

The head of the Branca family is a count. Count Branca came to visit Boston a few months ago. What was his reaction to watching Americans just throw it back?
Oh, he's all about it. He drinks it the exact same way. I've never met someone who can drink as much as Count Branca. It's crazy, it's literally in his blood. The rest of the Italians don't mind, really, because drinking it by the shot means we drink so much of it. "We may not get it, but have at it!"

Who are the big accounts in the area?
The biggest are Citizen, The Franklin, Toro, jm Curley, Coppa. Cornwalls does a ton. Silvertone and Starlite of course are really high on the list. Then there's the whole question: are people selling it or just drinking it and giving it away?

I interviewed Josh Childs from Silvertone and Starlite earlier, and asked him how fernet became a thing in Boston. He said Tom Mastricola and Garrett Harker — who were then working at No. 9 Park — would drink at Silvertone every night. They asked him to start bringing it in, and it exploded from there. Then Garrett started Eastern Standard …
Yeah, it was all Garrett and it just exploded with Eastern Standard. There's a lot of lore associated with the product, like how it's made.

Like the urban legend that the Branca family sets the price of saffron?
Right, they don't. But they do consume a ton of it. I just heard a great story yesterday. I was at a liquor store in Providence. This guy walked in looking to buy beer and I offered him a taste. He had had it before. He had gone climbing for some ridiculous amount of time — like four weeks — in Argentina. You could only carry what was on your back — water purifiers and the like. This one other guy packed a two liter bottle of Coca Cola and a bottle of fernet. When they got to the biggest peak and were celebrating, he whipped out the fernet, and that was the first time this guy I met ever tasted it.

That guy needs a fernet challenge coin. Tell me about the coins, I know they're a bit of a secret.
They were invented by a Las Vegas market manager, as a riff on military tradition where you get a coin for different missions. If you go to an officer's club or people are out in uniform, you pull out your challenge coin. Anyone in the group missing theirs would have to buy a round. If everyone has one, the person who issued the challenge would have to pay. The fernet coins are similar. There are some rules. You have to have it on you at all times. You must be able to produce it in less than 4 steps. You're not supposed to give it away or lose it. The only person who can replace it is the person who gave it to you. I like to punish people for at least a couple rounds if they give the coin away. Just because you're friends with Kitty doesn't mean you get an endless supply of coins. The only person with an endless supply of coins is me.

Is there anyone in the industry who openly admits to not liking fernet?
It's funny, once people get to know me, they'll apologize. "I'm sorry Kitty, I just don't like it." I don't care! I get it. I didn't used to like either. Beau Sturm at Trina's doesn't like it. But he likes the people coming to his bar and drinking it.
· All coverage of Cocktail Week on Eater [~EBOS~]

BOSTON — Massachusetts residents who shop on Amazon.com have just a couple of days left to make tax-free purchases.

Beginning Friday, the state will apply its 6.25 percent sales tax to purchases made from the online retail giant, following an accord reached late last year between the Patrick administration and Amazon.

The tax will not apply to third-party vendors who use the site.

Owners of brick and mortar stores have long complained of being at a competitive disadvantage to online retailers, which are not required to collect sales taxes unless they have a physical presence in a consumer’s state.

Last year’s agreement with the state followed Amazon’s opening of an office in Cambridge and the purchase of a robotics firm in North Reading.

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue estimates that sales taxes from goods sold by Amazon in the state will generate $36.7 million during this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

While supporting the state’s deal with Amazon, a group representing brick and mortar businesses in Massachusetts has called for a federal law requiring states to collect sales taxes from all online retailers.

With reporting by WBUR, The Associated Press and State House News Service

• 2012: Amazon To Begin Collecting Mass. Sales Tax In 2013

Segmentation, a distinguishing feature of the annelids is clearly visible here. Photo by Alexander Semenov.

Nudibranchs, together with a huge variety of other marine molluscs, are commonly known as sea slugs (Coryphella polaris). Photo by Alexander Semenov.

Many tube-dwelling polychaetes have elaborate, colourful tentacles for filter feeding and gas exchange. The funnel-shaped structure (operculum) seals the tube when the animal retreats inside (unidentified serpulid). Photo by Alexander Semenov.

The compound eyes of a cynipid wasp (unidentified species). Some insects have simple eyes in addition to compound eyes, three of which can be seen on the top of this wasp’s head. Photo by Tomas Rak.

The spherical test and impressive spines of a sea urchin. Coelopleurus floridanus. The mobile spines offer protection from predators. Since this species lives in relatively deep water, the purpose of the bright pigments in the skin and underlying skeleton is unknown. Photo by Arthur Anker.

A jellyfish (Bougainvillia superciliris) with a hitchhiking amphipod (Hyperia galba). Photo by Alexander Semenov.

In the cnidarians, what looks like a single individual is often a colony of polyps with specialized functions. In this floating colony (Porpita sp.) there are polyps for providing buoyancy, feeding (tentacles), digestion and reproduction. Photo by Arthur Anker.

The colors and patterns of the sea slugs warn predators of their toxicity. This nudibranch is Chromodoris annulata. Photo by Arthur Anker.

A sea angel, Clione limacine. In this image the grasping tentacles and chitinous hooks are retracted. Photo by Alexander Semenov.

We’ve all grown up learning about familiar animals like fish, tigers, elephants and bears, but this new book from Ross Piper takes the opposite approach: exploring the diversity in size, shape and color of the world’s most obscure and rarely seen organisms. With photography from Alexander Semenov, Arthur Anker, and other animal specialists and researchers, the 320-page Animal Earth promises to open your eyes to a variey of truly bizarre species from deepest oceans and the most adverse climates. The book is set to be published mid-November from Thames & Hudson.

At least a thousand protesters gathered in Santa Rosa today to march in support of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old boy who died at the hands of a sheriff's deputy for carrying around a toy pellet gun. [ more › ]

The Book Of Mormon actor Andrew Rannells appeared at the Tony Awards this year in a comedic number bemoaning the many cancelled TV series starring stage actors, along with Smash's Megan Hilty and Go On's Laura Benanti. But Rannells did make note that Girls would be returning, and now—with Christopher Abbott’s well-publicized departure from the show, along with the merciful cancellation of The New Normal—he's needed there more than ever. Deadline reports that Rannells will reprise his Girls role as Hannah’s gay ex-boyfriend/ex-roommate Elijah, with the added benefit of a promotion to series regular, should the show get picked up for a fourth season by HBO (which seems likely). Not too shabby for the guy who went from playing James in the Pokemon Live theater tour to a Tony nomination to a steady TV gig.

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mercilessrose:

icanttellyouwhotobe:

angrynerdyblogger:

super-redhead:

this would look really cool in a horror film, all from the recordings of an iphone or something, ends on a cliff-hanger then the battery dies

OK SO LET ME TELL YOU A STORY which basically boils down to MY CAMERA DOES THIS.

ALL THE TIME.

Well not all the time but enough times for it to be worrying.

1. The first time I was taking pictures up in the mountains near where I lived and I was taking a landscape shot near this creepy door that just stands alone in the middle of nowhere, and it flashed up “blink detected” and put a square over apparently nothing.
2. The second time I was urban exploring in a fucking abandoned hospital and it came up with the face detected square twice, once outside and once in a dark hallway, and one of those times there was apparently a blink detected.
3. The third time I was urban exploring in an abandoned village and I took a photo of the back garden of one of the abandoned houses and yup, “faces were detected in this image”. 

I’m at least 110% convinced I have a magic camera. It sees dead people.

Y’all fuckers are out here exploring abandoned villages and shit and wondering why you’re seeing ghosts

Hahaha. That last comment

Original Source

Nearly a year after breaking with the Westboro Baptist Church, two of Pastor Fred Phelps' granddaughters are enjoying a new freedom. But as they tell a Canadian newspaper, they also want to extend empathy to those they hurt in the name of a cause championed by the man they call "Gramps."

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damnitamber:

 

"I'm concerned about the fact there seems to be a war on the poor. That if you're poor, somehow you're shiftless and lazy."

That's not from Bernie Sanders of Jesse Jackson. It's from confirmed supply-sider and Republican Gov. John Kasich (OH), after tangling with a recalcitrant state legislature dead set against his effort to accept Medicaid expansion in his state.

The More You Know