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The 3 Most Powerful Ways To Change People Who Don't Want To Change
Surprise! Millions of middle class Americans will remain uninsured despite Obamacare
Gallup: Obama admin's 5.6% unemployment number is "a big lie"
Bakers ordered to pay up to $150,000 for refusing to bake cake for lesbian wedding
BOOK: Hillary Offered Edwards Attorney General in 2008...
BOOK: Hillary Offered Edwards Attorney General in 2008...
(Third column, 17th story, link)
Related stories:
GOLDMAN SACHS CEO key investor in son-in-law's hedgefund...
How To Stock Your Home Bar
No one's coming over to your house for a flaming cocktail. Conversely, no one's coming over to your house if you have no booze at all. You don't need to get too wild, but you need to be prepared. Friend, you need to stock a home bar.
These two Irish Seahawks fans sneaked into the Super Bowl without tickets and ended up sitting in th
These two Irish Seahawks fans sneaked into the Super Bowl without tickets and ended up sitting in the fourth row.
OBAMA VOWS BORDER FENCE -- IN OUTER SPACE?
FAA starting to regulate business on moon...
Field Report: New Shotguns at SHOT Show
The SHOT Show, held January 20-23 in Las Vegas, is like candyland for hunters and firearms aficionados, with 12½ miles of aisles hosting some 1,600 exhibitors for industry folks and a few lucky journalists, it’s the place to see and test new guns, including a number of new shotguns for field and clays. These were a few of my favorites:
Benelli
If Apple designed an over-under field gun, Benelli’s sleek-looking new 828 U, the Italian company’s first-ever over-under, might be it. The 828 U has several technologies that help minimize recoil: two springy plates on the breech face, which compress to absorb the kick of a shot, and a recoil pad with internal buffers that rebound sequentially to absorb shock before it reaches your shoulder. It also comes with a shim kit (wedges you can insert between the stock and the receiver to adjust fit), a first for an over-under, and the featherweight carbon-fiber rib and aluminum receiver contribute to an easy 6.5-6.6 pounds, depending on barrel length. After a few rounds, the 828 U felt quick to the target, comfortable, and intuitive. From $2,499.
Browning
The 725 Citori over-under was introduced in 2012 as a 12 gauge, followed by a 20 gauge in 2014. Now we get the fabulous 28 gauge and smaller .410. The 28 is my favorite —I could’ve smashed targets all day with that gun. But the .410 was a pleasant surprise, too. The biggest complaint with small gauge shotguns is that they’re too light and “whippy” for a controlled swing to the target. Browning addressed that problem by adding the barrels to the larger, heavier 20 gauge receiver. Some may complain the 28 gauge is too heavy at 7 pounds, 2 ounces, though I found the gun nicely weighted during rounds of clays. Both come in field and clays models with different barrel lengths. From $2,539.
Beretta
The “486 by Marc Newson” is a custom side-by-side that artfully reinterprets Beretta’s 486 Parallelo upland gun. The standard (if you could call anything Beretta makes “standard”) 486 features a safety/barrel selector at the end of a long steel strip known as a top tang, which extends from the receiver. For this version, Newson, a London-based industrial designer, eliminated the top tang, integrating that switch directly into the slender walnut stock, like those found on traditional English bird guns. From $24,995.
Clays shooters should enjoy Beretta’s new DT11 ACS (All Competition Sporter). It shaves one pound from the original, reducing the weight to 9 pounds. A fully adjustable rib and comb allow the gun to be tuned for sporting clays, skeet, and trap. From $9,500.
Fausti
With a fresh line called Italyco, the Italian gunmaker continues its strategy of bespoke shotguns. Fausti bills the Italyco side-by-sides and over-unders as “The Antique of the Future”—in reference to the rounded, neoclassic elegance. These guns are tailor-made with individually measured stocks and specifications. Prices vary depending on materials, barrel lengths, and engraving, starting from $8,960.
Irwin Greenstein is the publisher of Shotgun Life.
Sneak Peek: A Musical Legacy Restored
Nearly fifty years ago, six musicians posed on the front porch of a regal but dilapidated antebellum mansion in Macon, Georgia. Vines crept over the porch and paint peeled from the white columns. But the resulting image was a stunner, and those musicians—the Allman Brothers Band—used it as the cover of their 1969 self-titled debut album. Now, thanks to a nearly complete renovation, the Bell House is ready to lay the foundation for a different kind of Southern music.
The Allman Brothers Band's self-titled debut album cover. Photograph courtesy of Capricorn Records & The Allman Brothers Band Museum
Gearing up for its February 20 grand opening, the Bell House will soon be the permanent home of what has been called the “Julliard of the South,” the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. Founder and Grammy-nominated violinist Robert McDuffie had long eyed the home and remembering it from his childhood growing up in Macon.
“The minute I saw that house, it’s the one I wanted for the center,” McDuffie says. “Covet is the word that comes to mind. I thought, ‘music needs to be made in that place.”
McDuffie followed the tradition of America’s great conservatories (think the Peabody) that convert grand old homes into musical institutions. And this house has been grand.
The Bell House today. Photograph by Maryann Bates
Originally built in the Victorian style in 1855 by Nathan Beall, the Bell House sits along College Street in College Hill Corridor—a two-square mile area that unites Mercer University’s campus and historic downtown Macon. In 1900, retired Confederate Captain Samuel S. Dunlap added eighteen massive Corinthian-style columns for Greek Revival flair. The house has seen multiple owners since then and was listed on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 1972. For two decades, it operated as Beall’s 1860 (“A famous restaurant where everyone would take their date when they had a little extra change,” McDuffie says) until that spot closed in the 1990s. In 2001, university trustee Gus Bell purchased the home and renovated it for offices, then donated the home to the university in 2008.
Around that time at a university dinner, McDuffie approached Bell about the home to convince him to consider its musical roots. Bell took note. In 2012, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation chipped in a $1.5 million grant to turn the mansion into the Center’s home and renovations soon began.
Vines creep over the porch before renovation. Photograph by Leah Yetter
The biggest undertaking was converting the second floor to a teaching and practice space with state-of-the-art acoustics. The center limits its enrollment to twenty-six students so the young musicians can have personal access to visiting instructors.
A 60-seat performance hall on the first floor maintains the home’s historic character—leaving original walls intact to create two separate salon rooms.
Salon. Photograph by Walter Elliott
Modern art, like this piece (below) by artist Steve Penley of composer Philip Glass, McDuffie, and conductor Marin Alsop, adorns the space.
Photograph by Walter Elliott
“I saw the end game when I was dreaming about it,” McDuffie says. “I always thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to make music in that place? It’s begging for music.’ And now it’s like I’m playing in that dream.”
Photographs by Walter Elliott
A Campaign to Save the Disappearing Diner.
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
It’s been forty-five years since Joni Mitchell first sang that fateful line on her hit track Big Yellow Taxi, but her words continue to ring out to this day. That line has been repeated, and repeated, and repeated over the years but for as straightforward as her sentiment may be, we’re still struggling to grasp the song’s message. This is especially true here in New York, where more and more so-called institutions of the city seem to be disappearing by the day. And no industry seems to be both more at risk, and more revered than restaurants.
At this point, it seems as if any restaurant that’s been around for more than five years, doesn’t serve some blogger approved, Instagram-ready menu of avant garde delicacies, and/or hasn’t found their niche food fad yet, is endanger of shuttering at a moments notice. And in turn, each “we’re closing” announcement is met by a chorus of complaints, and groans, and claims that New York is over. Inevitably though a week passes, and we all forget about it. We bounce back to whatever “hot new restaurant” is peaking that week, or to our favorite dollar slice spot, depending on our particular palette preferences. And honestly, when was the last time any of us ate at Soup Burg, or Cafe Edison, or El Greco or Odessa?
Often we only patronize these places once their fate has already been sealed, in a last ditch effort to say “yup, I was there.” But for the proprietors of these beloved, yet under frequented establishments, that is simply not enough. Starting today, I’d like to propose a different approach. Instead of waiting around for the death rattle of yet another classic New York establishment, why don’t we all actually make an effort to keep these businesses afloat. Let’s start with diners. Once a staple of this fast-paced city, New York’s greasy spoon numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. Diner food is rarely exceptional, but it’s never going to let you down. There’s an innate comfort that comes from eating no-frills food in a place that hasn’t been renovated since well before you were born.
So, get out there and order some corned beef stacked on rye, or a bowl of Chicken Noodle so packed with pasta it’ll make the broth seem like a mere afterthought, or maybe even a hamburger that you don’t have to wait two hours for. I don’t care what you order, just do your part, and help to keep those griddles hot, those surly waiters employed, and those spoons as greasy as ever.
Waverly Restaurant – 385 6th Ave. at Waverly Pl., Greenwich Village
Tom’s – 782 Washington Ave. at Sterling Pl., Crown Heights
Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop – 174 5th Ave. at West 22nd St., Flatiron
Joe Jr. – 167 3rd Ave. at 16th St., Gramercy
Tom’s Restaurant – 2880 Broadway at West 112th St., UWS
Stage – 128 2nd Ave. at Saint Marks Pl., East Village
Viand Coffee Shop – 673 Madison at 61st St., UES
Square Diner – 33 Leonard St. at West Broadway, Tribeca
Manhattan Three Decker – 695 Manhattan Ave. at Norman Ave., Greenpoint
Cup & Saucer – 89 Canal St. at Eldridge St., Lower East Side
Stop Inn – 60-22 Roosevelt Ave. at 61st St., Woodside
B&H Dairy – 127 Second Ave. at St. Marks Place, East Village
La Bonbonniere – 28 8th Ave. at West 12th St., West Village
Shopping Mill Valley | Guideboat Co.
A few months back while visiting San Francisco I met up with Tellason founders Tony Patella and Pete Searson. I’ve known those guys since 2009 when I first interviewed them for ACL and over the course of a few years we’ve become friends. As Tony and Pete are good guys who know a lot about what’s going on, I do my best to connect with them whenever I visit the Bay Area. When we met up for breakfast we spoke about Oakland amongst other things, and I told Pete and Tony how I have been hearing a lot about the city and how I was keen to check it out. They suggested a few places that they thought were interesting and I made a plan to spend the day out in the East Bay. We finished up our coffee and right before I was about to depart Pete mentioned a new shop out in his hometown of Mill Valley. “Oh yeah, you’re going to love this place.” Pete said. After checking things out in Oakland for most of the day I headed for my last stop of the day in Marin. And that’s the story of how I discovered something new in Mill Valley and how I came to love the Guideboat Company.
Inspired by a childhood in the Adirondacks, Stephen Gordon founded Guideboat Co. to be an amazing collection of well-made and long lasting things loosely organized around collection of boats and a nautical theme. The beautiful new store occupies a historic old saw mill which helped give this affluent North Bay town it’s name. It’s the perfect use for the long mothballed site that many in Mill Valley had worried would not be preserved. While it could certainly be considered off the beaten path for a flagship store, Guideboat is an enthralling retail showcase for this ambitious new endeavor. Though this isn’t the first retail launch for Gordon. Way back in 1979 he founded another little company you may know called Restoration Hardware. Guideboat’s other founder Chad Hurley is also no stranger to success himself, having co-founded YouTube. After spending a few hours in the shop in Mill Valley, I’d say these serial entrepreneurs are on to something.
Taking inspiration from the boats, camps and sights of the Adirondacks, Guideboat draws its inspiration from that days Gordon’s youth.
“Growing up in the Adirondacks, many of Stephen Gordon’s fondest memories are of early morning rows on Lake Champlain and of 19th century Guideboats on the waters of the Upper St Regis and Loon Lakes. Acquiring a rare 1892 J.H. Rushton Guideboat a few years back he became intrigued with the idea of helping others create similar memories, young and old alike plying the waters. Gordon decided to build a new Guideboat, an identical Rushton hull design, an affordable rendition, American cherry trimmed, bronze fittings, hand made.”
The Mill Valley shop is a great expression for what Guideboat is all about. It’s the first of what I understand will be several retail stores, with an important catalog and online counterpart. When you walk into the old mill you can’t help but to be drawn to the incredible the boats. They are stunning pieces which should prove irresistible to anyone with a beating heart and access to any available patch of open water.The shop also offers a healthy component of menswear with an eye towards the classic and utilitarian qualities which so often show up on ACL. Stalwart brands like Steele Canvas, Red Wing Heritage, Pointer Brand, Billykirk, Sperry and of course Tellason. There’s also Guideboat’s own clothing, as well as knives, blankets, home goods and all sorts of other interesting and well-made things. You’ll find the best shoe polish, my favorite chapstick and all sorts of other tchotchkes that we can’t live without. The place is basically everything a guy like me is interested in, which explains why I was at Guideboat for nearly three hours that day. There’s really just too much concentrated goodness in one place for one to digest in a hurry. It’s definitely worth the drive from the city. Shit, it’s worth the trip from New York.
Here I was spending the day expecting to be dazzled by cool guy Oakland (here’s my verdict on Oakland: off to a start, but not ready for prime time) and then I end up finding Guideboat and being so very much being positively overwhelmed in Mill Valley, of all places.
In a back building there’s also a collection of vintage Adirondack boats that are part of Stephen Gordon’s private collection that are on display for all to see. It’s in this “Adirondack Room” where you can learn more about how these boats were built and used throughout the lakes of the region. It’s an impressive collection that’s sure to leave an impression. It also helps you appreciate Gordon’s passion for these boats and you better understand just what has inspired the Guideboat Company.
The War On Terror Has Cost Taxpayers $1.7 Trillion [Infographic]
Save Us From All the SAVE Acts
It's a well-known fact among people who follow
public policy that the more grandiose or cutesy a piece of
legislation's name, the worse policy it will be. Maybe there's a
seminar freshman lawmakers are forced to take or something: How
to name your bill so as to obscure the massive expansion of
government power and spending within 101. Standards like the
"Patriot Act" are surely taught, but anyone can pick a
noble-sounding misnomer, really. Gold stars only go to legislators
who can string together a hyperbolically descriptive title that
also shortens to an evocative acronym.
Last week, we witnessed one stellar example of this. The "Stop Advertising Victims of Sexual Exploitation" Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and scuttled along to the Senate, shortens sweetly into the "SAVE Act." It's near-perfect, really, squeezing in the emotion-laden phrase "victims of sexual exploitation," a call to action ("stop"), and an ultimate goal or payoff (they're SAVEd!). Of course, the type of sexual exploitation the bill is concerned with—sex-trafficking, i.e. forcing someone into prostitution against their will—is already criminalized, as is aiding or abetting sex-traffickers. Under already existing laws, placing an advertisement for a sex-trafficked adult or minor is illegal. The aim of this bill is to hold websites such as Craigslist liable for such advertisements, even though these sites do not screen user-generated advertisements and are home to tens of thousands of postings daily. The goal seems to be getting classified-ad clearinghouses to stop running personal ads and adult-oriented ads entirely in order to avoid potential prosecution should an ad for a victim of sexual exploitation slip through.
But personal ads are far from the only thing Congress wants to SAVE us from. In searching Congress.gov last week, I turned up all sorts of legislation that acronyms-up to SAVE. Who'd have thunk? Lawmakers really like portraying themselves as our heroes. Here are 10 SAVE Acts introduced by U.S. legislators since 2010.
Securing the Assistance of Victims of Exploitation
(SAVE) Act of 2015
A bill "to preserve the access of victims of trafficking to
information about their eligibility to receive SNAP benefits."
Small Businesses Add Value for Employees
(SAVE) Act of 2014
A bill to "amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage
retirement savings by modifying requirements with respect to
employer-established IRAs."
Securing Assistance for Victims' Empowerment
(SAVE) Act (2014)
A bill to "amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the
specific exemption for professional football leagues" and to
"provide an additional authorization of appropriations for the
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act."
Serving America's Veterans Effectively
(SAVE) Act of 2014
A bill "to promote identification of veterans and their health
needs in furnishing of items and services under the Medicare,
Medicaid, and other programs," and to authorize the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to "make grants to organizations to
educate health care providers on appropriate health care for
veterans."
Sensible Accounting to Value Energy
(SAVE) Act of 2014
A bill to "reduce the amount of energy consumed by homes, to
facilitate the creation of energy efficiency retrofit and
construction jobs, and for other purposes."
Secure America Through Verification and
Enforcement (SAVE)
Act of 2013
A bill "to provide immigration
reform by securing America's borders, clarifying and enforcing
existing laws, and enabling a practical employer verification
program."
Military Sexual Assault Victims Empowerment
(SAVE) Act (2013)
A bill to establish "a program that ensures that veterans and
members of the armed forces may receive treatment from private
providers for military sexual trauma."
Savings, Accountability, Value, and Efficiency
(SAVE) Act (2013)
A bill to "reduce waste and implement cost savings and revenue
enhancement for the Federal Government."
Campus Sexual Violence Elimination
(SaVE) Act (2013)
A bill to "amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve
education and prevention related to campus sexual violence,
domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking."
Save Our Industries* (SAVE)
Act (2010)
A bill to "provide for preferential duty treatment to certain
apparel articles of the Philippines." (*This legislator clearly
failed the acronym class.)
Safe Schools Against Violence in Education
(SAVE) Act (2010)
A bill to "require states to allow a student who is attending a
public school that does not have a safe climate for academic
achievement, or who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense
while on school grounds, at a school event, or on a school bus to
transfer to a safe public school within the school district. "
(Just to be clear: This is intended as a lighthearted look at Congressional linguistics. I haven't thoroughly evaluated the content of all of these bills, most of which went nowhere, and I don't mean to imply that all of them were terrible.)
Ira Stoll on Why the GOP Should Run a JFK-Style Conservative for President in 2016
The most
influential figure in the Republican presidential contest just may
be a Democrat who died more than 50 years ago, John F. Kennedy.
When Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer recently predicted Marco Rubio as the eventual 2016 winner, Krauthammer praised the senator from Florida with a label encapsulating political vigor, pro-growth ideas, and a robust foreign policy of peace through strength: “Kennedyesque.” Ditto for Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas. On the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, Cruz published a remarkable piece crediting Kennedy with laying the foundation for Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts and Cold War victory.
The time has come, writes Ira Stoll, for the GOP to nominate a JFK-style conservative for president.
Obama Adviser Podesta Caught Green-Handed In Major Ethics Violation
This is pretty par for the course. The idea with these folks is that they are “doing well while they are doing ‘good.'”
This is how much crony capitalism is justified in Washington DC.
At this point the only way these guys can get into any trouble with this stuff is if an interest directly hands a wad of hundred dollar bills to a politician while a reporter records the transaction. And even then.
One doesn’t have to be above the law if one can simply write the law to one’s (low) level.
Obama Budget Creates Second Death Tax...
Consumer spending weakest since '09...
Consumer spending weakest since '09...
(Third column, 4th story, link)
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PAPER: Perils of strong dollar...
January's Market Volatility: Blip or Omen?
1 million illegal border-crossers already given work permits!
1 million illegal border-crossers already given work permits!
(First column, 7th story, link)
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Not authorized by law...
18 million new foreign workers since 2009...
SESSIONS: Investigate...
Reid rallies Dems ahead of amnesty vote...
GOP Leaders Shy Away From Fight...
Smartest Man On Planet (Obama, If You Didn’t Know) Thinks George Washington Lived In White House
The US Army wants you to look at code it uses to spot cyberattacks
Believe it or not, the US government doesn't always keep its cyberwarfare code a secret. The Army Research Lab has quietly posted the source code for Dshell, a tool it uses to both spot and understand cyberattacks against the Department of Defense. T...
Chuck Hagel Admits He Was Pressured by The Obama White House To Release GITMO Detainees
American Sniper Is Surprisingly Popular in Iraq
This is a slow-mo look at how a DSLR's shutter works
It's always cool learning how stuff works. Case in point: cameras. More specifically, digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) pictograph boxes. The chaps over at YouTube channel The Slow Mo Guys have taken their trademark ultra-high-speed camerawork and, w...