Russian Sledges

A profile of Elizabeth Gilbert, whose bestselling memoir may have sunk her literary career.

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Mayor Pedro Segarra issued a statement Thursday calling Chappelle’s remarks ‘‘immature and inappropriate.’’ He sent a Tweet saying Chappelle should ‘‘quit whining, do his job and try some yoga.’’

If your boss doesn’t like that you “like” a competitor on Facebook, can you be fired from your job? According to a federal appeals court, the answer is no, as hitting a “like” button on Facebook is Constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment.

The case before the court involved a former deputy sheriff in Hampton, VA, who says he was fired from his job after the then-sheriff noticed that the plaintiff and other deputies had “liked” another candidate in the race for sheriff.

“Liking a political candidate’s campaign page communicates the user’s approval of the candidate and supports the campaign by associating the user with it,” wrote the three-judge appeals panel, reversing a 2012 lower court ruling against the former deputy. “It is the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one’s front yard, which the Supreme Court has held is substantive speech.”

The lower court had held that clicking a like button on Facebook was “insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection” and had thrown the case out.

But the appeals panel ruled that a simple like statement on Facebook or elsewhere is no different than putting a “Vote for Bob” sign on your front yard; it may tick off your neighbors and cause disagreements with those who have a different opinion, but it’s still your right to say it.

“On the most basic level, clicking on the ‘like’ button literally causes to be published the statement that the User ‘likes’ something, which is itself a substantive statement,” wrote the panel in its unanimous decision.

Even though the appeals court has revived the plaintiff’s case, and given new life to two other former deputies’ cases, the best they can hope for is to get their old jobs back. The sheriff would not have to pay any financial penalties, as the panel held that he is entitled to qualified immunity under the 11th Amendment, which limits the scope of lawsuits against public officials.

Facebook ‘likes’ are protected free speech, says court [TheVerge]
Facebook ‘like’ deserves free speech protection, court rules [Chicago Tribune]

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Refuge du gouter: Self sufficient mountain hut by groupe h

After Boston's Glen James turned in a backpack full of money (and traveler's checks) and received a pat on the back from police, he became the Internet's favorite person of the week. Now a fund-raiser for James started by an Alabama man has raised more than $70,000 and counting. And no traveler's checks!

Read more posts by Joe Coscarelli

Filed Under: happy things ,the internet

(RNS) Philip Berg, the rabbi who made an ancient strain of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah popular among the Hollywood elite, died Monday (Sept. 16).

He was 86, according to the Kabbalah Centre’s website, though the Los Angeles Times says public records show he was 84. He had been in declining health since suffering a stroke in 2004.

“The Rav has left us with incredible knowledge through thousands of hours of teaching, examples of courage that we will never forget, and the comfort of a Kabbalah Centre that we can all call home,” said a statement on the Kabbalah Centre’s website.

Berg, who was born Feivel Gruberger in New York in either 1924 or 1926, established his Kabbalah Centre there in the 1960s. After years of theological disputes with orthodox Jewish leaders, he moved the center to Los Angeles in 1993.

Soon after, he started attracting celebrities such as Madonna — Kabbalah’s most famous adherent — Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears, and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, who held their 2005 wedding at the center. The red bracelets associated with the religious tradition soon became a red-carpet staple.

“Kabbalah teaches that the body is an instrument to do the work of the soul in this physical reality. When the body’s work is done, the soul travels to the upper worlds to serve without limitation,” the statement said. “Today we believe the Rav has begun to share with us from above, and we will all happily remain connected to and inspired by the Rav’s soul and his vision.”

The Kabbalah Centre has been under the leadership of Berg’s wife, Karen, and two sons, Yehuda and Michael, since his 2004 stroke. It has also been under scrutiny by the IRS for tax evasion, and an investigation may still be ongoing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

(Trey Barrineau writes for USA Today.)

 

The post Philip Berg, who brought Kabbalah to the stars, dies appeared first on Religion News Service.

OAKLAND, Maine — Roosters in the small central Maine town of Oakland are free to crow as loud as they like.

The Town Council has tabled a proposal that would have levied fines as high as $100 on the owners of loud roosters.

The Morning Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1boAYCa ) reports that a dozen residents of the town of about 6,200 showed up at the council meeting to oppose the ordinance.

Ethan Pullen says some people like to breed chickens to show at agricultural fairs, and to breed chickens, you need a rooster.

2ozGin 1⁄2ozSweet vermouth, Carpano Punt e Mes 1⁄4ozCynar 1⁄4ozMaraschino Liqueur, Luxardo

Videogame GIFs | Noirlac

a long time ago - Sorcerian (Falcom/Sega - Mega Drive - 1990)

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Absolut, like just about every vodka manufacturer, has a loooong line of flavored spirits to keep up with the incredibly competitive market.

Its latest release, however, is an offbeat one: Absolut Amber, aged in a variety of woods.

The company began limited U.S. distribution in April, but now says it will roll it out across North America by the end of this month.

Absolut Amber is an 80-proof (40% abv) vodka that has been aged for a minimum of six months with a variety of wood, including ex-bourbon barrels, American oak and Swedish oak.

To kick it up even more, a variety of roasted American and French oak chips is added to the aging barrels.

"Absolut Amber will create a whole new category of spirits and has been developed to appeal to vodka, whiskey and rum drinkers,” a company spokesperson told The Spirits Business.

However, it must be noted that this is not the first wood-aged vodka, although the number of distilleries producing it is infinitesimal.

Amber has a suggested retail price of $30 for the litre bottle.

Earlier this morning at Zuccotti Park we interviewed Hipster Cop, a.k.a Detective Rick Lee, who was once again assigned to police Occupy Wall Street for the protest's second anniversary. In our exclusive sit-down (which airs in full tonight on 48 Hours), the NYPD's fashion icon was at turns candid and evasive, seemingly reveling in his fame while also shrugging off attempts to place him on a style pedestal. Here are the top five revelations from our one-on-one with New York's trendiest cop—how well do you know the Hipster Cop? [ more › ]

lacedheartt:

Edwardian Actress: Lillian Gish (1893-1993).

The Vatican’s new secretary of state has said that priestly celibacy is not church dogma and therefore open to discussion, marking a significant change in approach towards one of the thorniest issues facing the Roman Catholic Church.

Andre-Francois Raffray thought he had a great deal 30 years ago: He would pay a 90-year-old woman 2,500 francs (about $500) a month until she died, then move into her grand apartment in a town Vincent van Gogh once roamed.

But this Christmas, Mr. Raffray died at age 77, having laid out the equivalent of more than $184,000 for an apartment he never got to live in.

On the same day, Jeanne Calment, now listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest person at 120, dined on foie gras, duck thighs, cheese and chocolate cake at her nursing home near the sought-after apartment in Arles, northwest of Marseilles in the south of France.

She need not worry about losing income. Although the amount Mr. Raffray already paid is more than twice the apartment's current market value, his widow is obligated to keep sending that monthly check. If Mrs. Calment outlives her, too, then the Raffray children and grandchildren will have to pay.

Original Source

September Giveaway Contest

We’re very excited to announce our first ever giveaway contest. To enter, send us your best menswear look to themensweardog@gmail.com where one winner will be chosen to receive either a pair of Dalton Boots or Strand Cap Toe Oxfords in their size and choice of color, from our friends at Allen Edmonds. (certain restrictions apply and specific colors & sizes may be on backorder.)

Sorry to all of our 4-legged friends out there, this is a human-only contest. But feel free to include them in any photo submissions. Good Luck Everyone!

Contest ends Tuesday September 24, 2013 and the winner will be announced Wednesday September 25.

Running into battle armed with a broadsword, bow, and quiver of arrows was perfectly acceptable if you were fighting in the Hundred Years’ War or fending off some orcs on Middle Earth. But when it comes to World War II, such medieval weaponry looks like child’s play next to the technology of the time.

Selfies, 1998 style.

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On Sunday September 15, 2013, Miss America 2014 was crowned. Who will be the new Miss America?

24 year old Miss New York, Nina Davuluri. Born in Syracuse, New York and having lived in Oklahoma and Michigan, Nina Davuluri is the first ever Indian American crowned Miss America.

When Nina was crowned Miss America, the reaction from viewers is what you’d come to expect from Americans seeing a non-white foreigner with a “weird-sounding name” on their TV screens…

They called her a terrorist, of course!

Because 9/11!

Look like a terrorist = you don’t look white.

"My ignorance must mean that she is the threat!"

So, by the way, these are just the tweets calling the first Indian American Miss America a TERRORIST. More to come…

Original Source

Escalator etiquette

blueruins:

Decanting a devil. Ho! for elf-land! (1878)

A former Navy reservist killed at least 12 people on Monday in a mass shooting at a naval office building in Washington, and then was killed by the police, officials said.

popular shared this story from Marginal Revolution.

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CBS News uncovers a frightening new trend, unregulated dinner parties:

As you sit down to dinner, this story illustrates eating out like you have never experienced before. We are talking about super-secret, illegal dining experiences hosted in homes.

CBS 2 investigative reporter Tamara Leitner went undercover to see firsthand how this underground world works.

It may look like a dinner party, but it’s really an underground supper club.

The diners are a mix of New Yorkers and tourists. CBS 2’s undercover cameras captured one experience — eight people who didn’t know each other eating a meal in a stranger’s home.

Horrifying. CBS, however, missed an even bigger story. It’s one thing when adults subject themselves to danger but surely even libertarians with their heads stuck in the 19th century must recognize that it is something else again when the least powerful among us are subject to these same dangers without their consent. Intrepid economistArt Cardenhas the story of abuse and shame that has remained hidden for too long:

…children–children, mind you–are being fed food that’s prepared in unregulated, uninspected, and possibly less-than-sanitary conditions.

REVEALED: Strange Reason Butterflies Sip Turtle Tears

When Fox Searchlight Pictures‘s $300 million-plus grossing “Black Swan” sought to control its production budget, in part by staffing with unpaid intern labor, it was contributing to the normalization of a practice that has no defensible basis in ethics or law. It took advantage of people’s desperate need to distinguish their résumés and the acceptance of this commonplace if peculiar fact of the youth labor market. Somewhere along the way, a laudable idea that work experience could have academic merit metastasized into an ad hoc free-for-all in which there is little consistency in policy (whether among employers or colleges), little governmental enforcement, and every reason for exploited young workers to cross their fingers and hope that they’re expected to labor for free for only a brief period.

People who defend unpaid internships are defending a notion of what they think unpaid internships should be, rather than what they are. A picture of how they have corrupted the labor market for film and television production, the field I was in, should clarify how damaging this practice has become. It is also holding back the emergence of a more vibrant and sustainable labor market that contributes to the much delayed economic recovery.

The normalization of unpaid internships effectively prevented me from earning a living—despite the steady need for the very kind of skilled labor I was regularly asked to provide. There is a terrible irony that in the midst of an historic employment crisis, you can now find steady work, so long as you don’t expect to be paid. Interns might be students (sold a bill of goods about experiential learning), recent graduates (having internalized the notion that their labor is worthless until they have more experience), or people like me: experienced workers transitioning into a new field (grudgingly accepting a strange “new normal”).

When I left a job on Wall Street—running a training program for recent college graduates whom we paid throughout their training—I first enrolled in a course to be trained and certified in film editing. But as wonderful as the training at The Edit Center in New York City was, the school suggested that the skills we had developed were not necessarily marketable, even though they were sought after by multiple employers.

Instead, we were advised to work for free for several assistant editing jobs and were regularly provided insider “opportunities” to do so while waiting an unspecified period of time for the first random employer to decide our skills were worth compensation. It’s disappointing that schools like The Edit Center apparently care more about maintaining relationships with employers, whose budgets would suffer if a higher standard were insisted upon, than encouraging financially viable solutions for their students.

And this is endemic of the unpaid internship practice, particularly in culture-production industries heavily reliant on freelancers. For workers forever looking for the next gig, this amounts to a ticking bomb. Either your savings (or your parental support) run out or you begin to get paid before it’s too late, meanwhile working unpaid for months at a stretch, providing labor that helps employers make successful organizations run.

My decision to sue Fox Searchlight Pictures was not only to insist on receiving the pay I was owed, but to deter it and other employers from continuing to engage in this toxic practice. It was to signal to other such intern-workers that society already has protections in place meant to prevent this kind of exploitation, to let them know that they are not alone if they find this practice an outrage.

This should be equally objectionable to virtue-of-hard-work conservatives and labor-solidarity progressives. The time has come for the era of unpaid internship wage theft to take its bow and exit the stage, and for a meaningful policy discussion about what a healthy, labor-market strengthening transition from school to work should look like.

You can follow Eric on Twitter at @EricGlatt. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com. 

If an Android device (phone or tablet) has ever logged on to a particular Wi-Fi network, then Google probably knows the Wi-Fi password.

IT WAS only a coincidence that Larry Summers withdrew as a candidate for Federal Reserve chairman five years to the day after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. But it was, in a way, fitting: Mr Summers’s surprise decision, conveyed in a letter to Barack Obama on September 15th, would not have been necessary without the forces unleashed by Lehman’s failure in 2008.

Mr Summers and Janet Yellen, the Fed’s current vice-chairman, were the two leading candidates to succeed Ben Bernanke, who is expected to step down when his second four-year term ends in January. Mr Summers had what in previous eras would be the two most important qualifications to lead the central bank: unimpeachable economic credentials and the trust of the president. Mr Summers had been Mr Obama’s top White House economic adviser from 2009 to 2010. He remains an informal adviser. In any other era most senators, who seldom think about the Fed except when it raises interest rates, would have rubber-stamped the president's nominee. Few would have asked, much less cared, what his or her views on regulation...Continue reading

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Perfection. #GucciMagritte #Surrealness

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I HAVE NEVER REBLOGGED SOMETHING SO FAST IN MY LIFE

OH MY GOD