You have an incredible amount of homoerotic tension with a beautiful
Saracen knight, who converted to the True Faith after your father bested
him in single combat in the Crusades with an enchanted sword.
If you put a little dirt on your face and hands, or change your
carnelian armor for vermilion armor, you will become completely
unrecognizable to the people who have raised you and known you for
years.
You, the Emperor of Rome, are for some reason a part of a medieval-style Marian cult.
Sir Kay has just been viciously beaten by a stranger for his
impertinence, but somehow still manages to insult you from his sickbed.
You have murdered a magical dog for the crime of making you happy…
For the rest of this weekend Mount & Blade: Warband [official site] is free on Steam, finally bringing an answer to the question on everyone’s lips: “What is free this weekend is it Mount & Blade?” It is! Along with all its expansions – Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars and Viking Conquest Reforged Edition are also both free. Imagine me bellowing this information to you like a television mattress salesmen.
Here’s what you should know: it’ll only be free until Sunday – that’s the 30th – at 1 p.m. PDT. There are also some decent sales which slaps a 66 percent discount on all other Mount & Blade franchise titles.
Warband’s Viking Conquest add-on got a recent update following a shaky initial release in December. The game was low on content and high on bugs, as you can read about here. It’s since been fixed up and relaunched by a little team call Brytenwalda.
Mount & Blade creators TaleWorlds have been tapping external developers for Warband expansions while they themselves focus on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Still no word on when that’ll be released, but the project is over here if you want to check in.
A startup co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley has launched two Android phones targeted at mid-range customers in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Sculley was CEO of Apple from 1983 to 1993, famously leaving Pepsi-Cola after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs asked him, "do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or do you want to come with me and change the world?"
Sculley's new company, Obi Worldphone, launched its SF1 and SJ1.5 phones (named after San Francisco and San Jose even though they're targeted at developing markets outside the US) "to address the market need between high-design smartphones at high prices and generic smartphones at low prices," the company's announcement on Wednesday said.
Twitter today made public its hiring goals for increasing diversity in its workplace, committing to increasing the number of women and minorities on its staff and encouraging the world to hold it accountable. "We want the makeup of our company to reflect the vast range of people who use Twitter," said Janet Van Huysse, vice president of diversity and inclusion, in a blog post. The move comes amid growing complaints that women and minorities are woefully underrepresented in the world's biggest tech companies.
Last year, Twitter reported that 70 percent of its employees are men, and 79 percent of people in leadership roles are men. The disparity led a former engineer to file a class-action lawsuit against the company, saying Twitter's hiring process disproportionately favors male employees. Its racial makeup is similarly skewed: The company is 58 percent white and 34 percent Asian; Hispanic employees make up just 3 percent of the workforce, and black employees make up 1 percent.
The company's hiring goals for 2016 call for increasing the percentage of women in Twitter's US workforce to 35 percent, and women in leadership roles to 25 percent. The goals call for increasing underrepresented minorities to 11 percent, and minorities in leadership roles to 6 percent. "Today we've outlined what we believe progress should look like," Van Huysse wrote. "We expect to come back to you next year and show we've delivered, and to be held accountable to it!"
I’m going to be honest, I have never been more proud of myself than I am right now, here and in this moment. I say with all modesty that I am the wind beneath my wings.
It got better.
Yes, my little parody is now number 2 in the category of the book that it’s parodying, right behind the source. If this goes any higher, it will be the most epic “ON YOUR LEFT” the pseudoliterary world has seen.
HELENA, MT—Continuing his lengthy trek around the league, sources confirmed Friday that 36-year-old journeyman fan Brian Ferretti has joined the Arizona Cardinals, his sixth team in the past five years. “Brian has really bounced around the NFL over the last decade, but I think he’s finally found the right fit with the Cards, and hopefully he’ll stay with them from here on out,” said coworker Tom Murray, adding that Ferretti’s recent teams include the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, and most recently the Seattle Seahawks, who he joined right before the 2013 playoffs. “I think he saw the potential of the Cardinals offense this year under a healthy Carson Palmer and decided they were the right team for him. That said, he’s moved a lot from team to team—I mean, he started out with the Cowboys in the ’90s ...
here is an idea: normalise the idea that adopting kids is a valid option even for parents who could conceive a child themselves, and not just an inferior backup option for parents who can’t
Welcome to the Blogtown series we like to call Worst. Night. Ever.
Every Wednesday during our weekly "My, What a Busy Week!" pitch meetings, someone suggests an event which is the equivalent of shooting burning acid into our eyes—but we also realize a more enlightened person might love it! Hence, these "risky" events are often unfairly pushed aside. WELL, NO MORE. Instead of allowing these events to vanish forever, once a year—and only for Worst. Night. Ever.—we attend them. We write about them. We share with you, dear readers, our Worst. Nights. Ever.
Each member of the Mercury's editorial staff will be presented with events that do not match their personality or interests... like, AT ALL. Afterward, he or she will review it right here on the blog! NOTE: Everyone's taste is different, right? So while attending a "weird sex ecstatic dance naked thing" might make Ned absolutely miserable, Dirk would probably love it! As ever, competitors must stay for at least two hours (or until the event is over, whichever comes first) and are not allowed to get drunk, or use any substances (drugs) or distractions (phone/reading material) to dull the pain they may experience.
Next up: Mercury Arts Editor Megan Burbank attends Goddess Temple Portland's Wild Woman Camp-Out!
When my coworkers conspired to send me to the magick-ladies-only Wild Woman Camp-Out )0( Full Moon Lammas* in a distant forest in Vernonia for the full moon, I felt like I’d sort of won the Worst Night Ever lottery. I went to a women’s college! I’ve read The Mists of Avalon! (Did you also love The Mists of Avalon as a young person? Here, I'm going to ruin it for you!) I’ve owned at least one Loreena McKennitt album! My drunk Pinteresting has at times wandered shamelessly into The Pyramid Collection. Maybe Lammas was a mispelling of llamas. I love llamas!
Sure, a Pagan campout with strangers wasn’t something I would have gone to had I not been sent by my employer, but it sounded pretty okay—oh, aside from the teeny-tiny fact that the description made it seem sort of like Burning Man, AKA my idea of hell. I’ve seen The Wicker Man, you guys. Dehydration is the least of your worries! [Eds. note—Dehydration is probably actually the most of your worries.]
*From now on, referred to by the short version: Goddess Camp.
From the event description. The bolds are mine:
Calling all wild women for a shakti-filled celebration of sisterhood and earth communion! On sacred land, just one hour west of Portland, we will come together under the brilliance of the full moon in honor of the ripe abundance of summer and All That We Are. Through drumming, dance, song, and ceremony our bodies remember our connection to the Mother and attune us to Her primal rhythms. Join us as we nourish our feminine spirits and fill our wellsprings with the beauty and bounty of natural sanctuary and conscious community!
We'll be staying on beautiful land with meadow and wooded tent camping, gorgeous views, hiking trails, hot showers, potable water, and port-a-potties. Organic, vegetarian dinner and breakfast will be served at meal times (vegan and GF options available) and an herbal hot tea and cool elixir will be available all day. We will also will be having a sweet magical village with chill integration station (a shady altar space with cards, books, pillows,) tarot readings, fairy hair, massage, art play corner, many of these offerings are included in the ticket price and some will be by donation. We encourage you to bring your offerings, your talents, your heart-fires, the evenings festivities will be a collaborative experience of sharing, song, drumming, storytelling, dance and ceremony.
There was also this schedule:
Saturday: noon - 4:00: Arrive, Set-up camp, Ground into the land 4:00 - 5:30: Opening Circle 5:30 - 6:15: Divine Feminine Dance Flow 7:00 - 8:00: Dinner 8:30 - ?: Fire Ritual & Lammas Festivities
Does this not sound a LITTLE like Burning Man?! I mean, I grew in the Pacific Northwest. I know what shakti is, and while goddess-centered devotion isn't really my thing (although I do find it way nicer to be around than, say, the punitive misogyny of fundamentalist Christianity), I'm cool with it. Life is hard enough as it is, gather ye woo-woo rosebuds while ye may, you do you, YKINMKBYKIOK, etc. But the shades of Burning Man had me very afraid I might be conscripted into a cult, or yelled at for the Mercury's stance on fluoride, or lectured about my unwavering support for vaccines. At the very least, I was worried I would have to talk about my feelings with people I'd never met.
And, well, I’m sure as fuck not going to Burning Man ever (especially now that it’s full of giant monster-bugs!), but only one of my fears came true at the Wild Woman Camp-Out.
After the jump, find out which one! Also, what the fuck is fairy hair?
Arrive, set-up camp, ground into the land: First things first. The camp-out was in a secluded woodsy spot with poor cell phone reception, and the invite came with a sprawling packing list, so I had to bring a lot of provisions—including a tent (borrowed), a crystal (also borrowed—we were instructed to bring “magical items,” and though I managed to rustle up a cool-looking light-up sword in the office, I felt too weird about bringing something that was (a) a weapon, and (b) a phallus), plus a yoga mat (for morning meditation and yoga), and a whole bunch of cutlery and flatware (unlike Burning Man, the Wild Woman Camp-Out is environmentally-friendly!).
I then had to procure transportation to Vernonia, an hour's drive from Portland. Luckily, my long-suffering boyfriend enjoys scenic drives, so off we went! This seemed like a great idea—cruising along, listening to David Bowie, enjoying rural Oregon—up until we pulled into the parking lot, where the Parking Goddess fielding cars took one look at my male squire and said he “didn’t look like a Wild Woman!”—oops, bringing a man, however briefly, to the Wild Woman Camp-Out = minus 1,000 of my hard-earned #misandry points.
I needn’t have worried! At registration, I got the lay of the land from the Check-in Goddess, who had a beautiful flower in her hair and smiled warmly behind a sparkly sign that read “WELCOME SISTARS”—low-key check-in AND an inclusive, gender-neutral spelling of sisters? I’ll take it! Check-in Goddess told me where I could pitch my tent and what woods I could pee in, and where I could get tea and a hydrating elixir at all times. And then I made a friend! Jaimie was also checking in, and we decided to be campsite pals, pitching our tents (okay, Jaimie pitched both of our tents, she also shared her trail mix because she’s delightful) beside the tea and elixir station.
Meanwhile, ladies milled about between lovingly appointed tents strung with cool banners and string lights: ladies in long, floaty dresses and loose-fitting pants, rockabilly ladies with intimidating tattoos, ladies holding babies, ladies with sparkly strands in their hair, ladies putting sparkly strands into other ladies' hair (turns out this is what fairy hair is), ladies giving Tarot readings—and all of them were instantly so nice and welcoming that I felt bad I’d unfavorably compared this event to Burning Man. I decided then and there that I would really commit to my woo-woo weekend. For journalism!
But an hour later, at Opening Circle, this seemed to be a horrible mistake: Lo, there was singing. My croaky getting-over-a-cold voice was NOT happy about this. But in another fortunate turn of events, I learned that most neo-Pagan chants ‘n’ songs are mercifully short, and many wonderfully witchy. Here's one:
We had to talk about our feelings a little bit, but it was fine. It was like being at the most supportive sleepover ever, only with more fierce eye contact and spontaneous laughter and ACTUAL TRILLS. By our opening ritual’s end, I wanted to hug everyone, while knowing full well that this is probably the type of feminism Joan Didion hates.
^^^A celebratory trill, for the uninitiated.
After the opening circle, I went to investigate the "sweet magical village" (skipping the Divine Feminine Dance Flow, for those following along at home), where you could have fairy hair installed on your head, or get a tarot reading done, or soak your feet at a lovingly appointed cooling station. I'd assumed the "art play corner" was a kids' thing (there were a lot of kids who came to Goddess Camp with their moms), but it was actually a tricked-out crafting tent for everyone, and while I am not an aspiring Druid, I am a boss at making collages. While I collaged, Jaimie drew a mandala of my energy. A mother and her toddler daughter came into the crafting tent, and the mother asked the toddler what she wanted to draw. The toddler wanted to draw a man. “A man?” said her mother. “That’s surprising, but okay.” It was perhaps at this point that my anthropological investigation angle morphed into, nope, just having fun!
Fire ritual and Lammas festivities: After dinner (excellent Lebanese from this place, 10/10), I put on my witchy finery (okay, A DRESS) to take part in a Lammas moonrise ritual straight out of The Mists of Avalon. (Turns out that Lammas has nothing to do with llamas, but is a Pagan celebration of the harvest. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
My inner 12-year-old was THRILLED.
In the interest of protecting the privacy of those who were there, I am not going to disclose specifics of the ritual itself—there wasn't any freaky shit, get your mind out of the gutter—but the short version is that we burned stuff, and then ate a bunch of desserts. Also, I recreated the original clipart shorthand for feminism—ladies dancing around a campfire—with 90 new friends. A lovely mother-daughter pair showed me how to charge borrowed crystal next the fire. By the time I went to bed, my tent was cool and I crawled into my sleeping bag wearing every layer I’d packed. In the middle of the night, I heard coyotes howling.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early for Morning Star Meditation and Yoga Flow in a grove of evergreens, then booked it to breakfast, where I sat on a bench next to a singing bowl someone had left out the night before, while bleary-eyed ladies ate granola and there was more feelings talk. The premise of this blog post came up, and while I’d expected the women I met at Goddess Camp to be wary of me and my project, they were exceptionally nice about it. When I explained that I wouldn't normally have gone to a gathering like this, one of my new acquaintances gave me this knowing look and said, “Because you’re so introverted, right?”
This was a nicer way of putting it than, say, "Because you're pathologically afraid of Burning Man-adjacent activities and also sharing your feelings with strangers!" She had perhaps noted my inability to form full sentences before I’d had coffee.
After breakfast, I brushed my teeth in the shade of a giant tree and then went to Closing Circle, which was, like everything else had been, pretty fun. There was a final witchy tune, and then we were sent on our merry way to break-down and load out.
My Xena trill is still hella weak (NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING!), and I’m not planning to become a Pagan (or to ever go to Burning Man). But it was delightful to spend a weekend at peak woo in the company of such friendly strangers. I suppose I could have tried to have a terrible time, but even if I’d been profoundly uncomfortable, it’s hard to argue with getting to sleep in a cool solo tent outside when it’s balls-hot out. And though I was worried I would feel extremely out of place, it turns out there are no pariahs at Goddess Camp—not even if you’re an introverted journalist hogging the cooling elixir. Goddess Camp may not be for everyone, but for me, not even dehydration was cause for concern.
Don't be too disappointed, though: I'm going to my 10-year high school reunion in a couple weeks, and that will probably be new levels of horrifying!
In closing, here's Loreena McKennitt's greatest hit (I tried to find an ad-free version, but the music video is kind of essential). Blessed be!
Laura Kinney (civvies) character sheets for All-New Wolverine by David Lopez
“When I design a character’s clothes I always think of utility and “character.” I can’t see Laura on high heels, but she’s perfect with those gothic platform boots. When you dress a character you’re telling the people who he or she is and what their background is. For this particular one, Laura wears a cool biker’s jacket; I want to show her riding a bike at some point sooner or later…The shoes…I just hope she doesn’t need to use the foot claws.” - David Lopez (x)
Yesterday, Burger King sent McDonalds an open letter proposing that the two fast food chains team up to create a hybrid "McWhopper" burger to celebrate Peace Day on September 21st. Burger King suggested that the "ceasefire" would take place a single pop-up shop halfway between the corporations' headquarters, with all proceeds going to the Peace One Day charity. McDonalds, however, has turned down the offer, with the company's CEO Steve Easterbrook responding via Facebook post to say "we love the intention but think our brands could do something bigger to make a difference."
Dear Burger King, Inspiration for a good cause... great idea. We love the intention but think our two brands could...
It's not clear what "something bigger" might be, but it's at least fun to watch McDonalds respond to the offer without, you know, implying that they're somehow against world peace. Instead, the company has chosen to take the moral high road, telling Burger King that creating the McWhopper wouldn't be "meaningful" enough and piously reminding them that a "friendly business rivalry" doesn't match the "real pain and suffering of war." Let's hope that after this somewhat holier-than-thou response, McDonalds actually comes up with something consequential for September 21st. That way, there might be some genuine benefit from this promotional back-and-forth.
Four Amers: Wolfberger Wolfamer (21% abv), Sommer Fleur de Sommer (18% abv), Wolfberger Amer Fleur de Joie (18% abv), Wolfberger Amer Gingembre (18% abv)
In French, the word amer means bitter. A classic amer is a bitters liqueur infused with orange peel, gentian root, cinchona bark (quinine), and a touch of caramel. Master infusers from Alsace have also perfected infusions using ginger (Amer Gingembre) and “fleur de bière” which combines beer brandy with additional aromatics and spices (Amer Fleur de Joie and Fleur de Sommer).
These ingredients go through a maceration in alcohol with citrus peel, gentian root, cinchona bark, and other aromatics.
An amer can be enjoyed as a classic aperitif or digestif, straight over rocks or with tonic or soda water and citrus. Traditionally though, the Alsatians add beer to it; making an amer bière, literally translated, bitter beer. Pour or pull a draft blonde lager or wheat beer over 1.5 oz. of the amer. (The recommended ratio of beer to amer is 8 to 1). Order matters…amer first, then beer. This allows the amer to open up and combine with the effervescence in the beer to create a rich, frothy, orange aromatic head.
Herradura Ultra Anejo Tequila
Casa Herradura’s Añejo tequila provides the base for Herradura Ultra. The Añejo is blended with Extra Añejo that has been aged for up to 49 months in American White Oak barrels. A subtle hint of agave nectar is added before the liquid is filtered to clarity.
SRP $60
Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy Rum
Alexandre Gabriel, proprietor of Maison Ferrand and rum master blender, and spirits and cocktail historian David Wondrich, have revived this forgotten nectar and have produced Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy Rum.
Plantation Pinapple Rum first appeared in the US at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans in 2014. It was meant to be a ‘one-and-done’ project just for Tales and with a few extra bottles produced for very limited distribution in New Orleans and a few additional states. This first batch sold out immediately and the reaction from bartenders and consumers alike was so overwhelming positive that Gabriel decided to make his pineapple rum a new addition to the Plantation portfolio. Due to the seasonality of the special Queen Victoria pineapples used, Plantation Pineapple Rum will be available as an annual limited edition item with delivery in April/May and July/August each year.
Gabriel and Wondrich relied on several ancient recipes to recreate it, and added a few traditional techniques from their own bag of tricks. The 1824 English Journal of Patent and Inventions and the 1844 Journal of Agricultural Society were their main sources of inspiration.
The rinds (where the pineapple’s essential oil chiefly resides) of ripe Queen Victoria pineapples are infused with Plantation 3 Stars white rum for one week and then distilled in pot stills. Separately, the flesh of the Queen Victoria pineapples are infused with rich, aged Plantation Original Dark Rum for 3 months. Then these two liquids are married together and the rum is put into casks where it rests for three months.
Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy Rum is available now, rolling out nationwide with a SRP of $34.99/750ml
Mezcal Amarás Cupreata
The cupreata agave is found in Guerrero, Mexico only on certain mountain slopes in the Rio Balsas basin. This agave, which is uncommon in the mezcal world, produces a spirit, known for its distinctly vegetal flavor profile. Anchor Distilling Company makes this special mezcal more available in the U.S. with the introduction of Mezcal Amarás Cupreata, a 100% cupreata agave unaged mezcal. This new release joins the brand’s first expression, a 100% espadín agave unaged mezcal, released in January 2015.
Mezcal Amarás Cupreata is produced by master mezcalero Don Faustino Robledo in the small village of Mazatlán in the State of Guerrero. Of the more than 22 different species used to make mezcal, the cupreata agave, or maguey papalote (as it is referred to in Guerrero), is one of the least common agaves used. Semi-cultivated on the steep terrain of the Sierra Madre del Sur highlands at 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level, the plant has bright green, wide, fleshy leaves lined with copper-colored thorns, and takes approximately 13 years to mature due to the harsh climate conditions of the region.
After maturation, the agave plant is harvested and cooked for five days in a conical stone oven covered with palm leaves and soil and heated with sustainable red oak logs. Juice and fibers are then milled from the cooked agave and placed in small ayacahuite wooden vats, incorporating natural spring water from a river close to the Palenque (distillery). The fermentation process is open air, and uses no yeast or other additives to accelerate the process, a crucial element that defines the nose and flavor profile of the mezcal. Finally, the agave is doubled distilled in copper pot stills with direct heat recycled wood from the local sawmill.
43% ABV, 750ml, $59.99 SRP
Copper & Kings Stray Cat Gin
Louisville-based Copper & Kings American Brandy Co. is launching a limited release gin. Double distilled in a Vendome copper pot still, the apple brandy-based spirit was made with classic gin botanicals and aged in a medium-char Serbian juniper barrel for 12 months. It is non-chill filtered and unadulterated by any post distillation infusion of flavor or color.
Only 750 bottles (375mL each) will be produced and sold at the distillery store, with a tiny selection available for bars and liquor stores.
Riserva Speciale is offered in two expressions: Rubino and Ambrato. The new vermouth variations (each priced around $15) will be available in the U.S, for the first time this fall in Miami, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco.
Martini Riserva Speciale is a celebration of Piemonte, which begins with sourcing Italian wines from the region, including small parcels of Langhe DOC Nebbiolo and Moscato d’Asti DOCG. The grapes have been selected by Beppe Musso, Martini Master Blender.
The small parcels for full-bodied Langhe DOC Nebbiolo wines used to create Rubino are blended with extracts of Italian Holy Thistle and Red Sandalwood from Central Africa to deliver a bright ruby red vermouth, which inspired the name of the expression. The balance of botanicals creates a full-bodied herbal and complex style of Vermouth Di Torino with a long aftertaste.
The floral and aromatic blend of small parcels of Moscato d’Asti DOCG wines, used to create Ambrato, produces a honeyed Vermouth di Torino. The yellow Cinchona bark from Ecuador and Chinese Rhubarb create a light bitter taste profile.
Saint James Cuvée 1765 Rhum Agricole
Saint James Rum is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year with a special commemorative bottling. The commemorative bottle, named Saint James Cuvée 1765, is a blend created in homage to the original 1765 style. From the outset the brand was a pioneer in its category, being the first rum to create vintage specific blends, and designing an innovative square bottle in order to maximize storage and minimize breakage on the long sea-voyages to its original export markets. Today the Rhum Agricole is still produced in Martinique, which has the only rum AOC (appellation controllée) in the world, and more precisely in Sainte-Marie, on the East coast of the island. In order to be able to be marked with "Rhum Agricole AOC Martinique", the rum must be produced from sugar cane grown in an authorized area.
Principe de los Apostoles Gin from Mendoza, Argentina
Southern Starz, a California-based wine importer, announces an exclusive import and distribution agreement with celebrated Latin American mixologist, Tato Giovannoni to import and market his luxury gin throughout the US, effective immediately.
The addition of Principe de los Apostoles marks the first entry of Southern Starz into the luxury spirits category and seeks to show that there is far more to Argentina than just Mendoza Malbec.
Los Apostoles was crafted by Tato Giovannoni, Argentina’s leading mixologist,at his speakeasy bar “Floreria Atlantico” in Buenos Aires. The concept was to create a gin that was representative of the flavors of South America and would mix well with tropical ingredients. The search for Botanicals led Tato to the Province of Misiones where Yerba Mate is organically farmed, and there he found pink grapefruit, eucalyptus, juniper and peppermint to round out the mix. Working with award-winning master distiller Rolando Hibling in Mendoza, Tato worked on a formula that would produce a botanical Gin using only Argentine ingredients.
The Gin is produced in an old Alembic dating back to the 19th century – imported from Baden Baden. In 2014, Decanter Magazine declared Los Apostoles “ the first Luxury Gin in Latin America.” Its flavors are unique to South America and will be a mixologist’s delight. The first shipment arrives at the end of April. There are a few states that have not been assigned and Southern Starz is seeking to complete its national footprint for this product. It will retail for approximately $35/btl (750ml).
Appleton Estate Rum Blends Renamed
Previous Name
Current Name
Appleton Estate V/X
Appleton Estate Signature Blend
Appleton Estate Reserve
Appleton Estate Reserve Blend
Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old
Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old
While making no changes to the liquid, Appleton Estate announced a new naming classification and packaging design for its core range.
The Belgian Wheat Act Genever Style Gin
The Belgian Wheat Act is a Genever Style Gin distilled from a Belgian Wheat beer and declares Sons of Liberty’s entry into, and redefinition of, the gin category.
Sons of Liberty brewed a Belgian Wheat beer composed of barley, wheat and oats and infused that mash with coriander, sweet orange peel, lemongrass, cascade and chinook hops. The Belgian Wheat Act is distilled four times, but never over 160 proof.
In the gin basket, the same botanicals present in the mash are infused with the spirit in addition to juniper berries (a requirement for gin). The motive behind The Belgian Wheat Act’s unique distillation was to carry the distinct flavors of the Belgian Wheat beer through to the gin and to clearly identify its origin to the consumer.
Ivy City Gin
One Eight Distilling will introduce its first gin to market with the release of Ivy City Gin, an American dry gin distilled from locally-sourced grains (63% rye, 26% corn, and 11% malted rye), with forward notes of Juniper and Spicebush, and a subtle bouquet of additional botanicals.
Ivy City Gin will be sold at the distillery and at participating Washington, D.C. retailers beginning on Friday, June 12th, followed by distribution to area bars and restaurants later in June. As part of its ongoing commitment to the Ward 5 community, One Eight Distilling will donate $1 from every bottle sold in D.C. this year to Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. in support of ongoing projects in Ivy City.
Goral Vodka
Imported Vodka made from a late harvest, select variety of Durum Wheat and Tatra Spring Mountain water in a 12th century village that has a 600-year old distilling tradition dating back to the 14th Century.
The vodka is inspired by an ancient recipe discovered in the preserved distillery discovered beneath L’ubovna Castle. A Goral is a local Mountain Ranger who lives in the High Tatra Mountains and excels in physical strength and spiritual purity.
Priced in the $24.99-27.99 range for a 750ml. Lime, Cranberry and Grapefruit Flavors will be available in Summer 2015.
Disaronno Riserva
Disaronno unveils Disaronno Riserva, a limited edition release and the brand’s first new product since the original liqueur was created in 1525. A combination of Disaronno and blended Scotch whisky, Disaronno Riserva is aged in vintage Marsala wine barrels at the company’s own Cantine Florio in Marsala, Sicily.
The innovation was inspired by a trip to the Highlands and Speyside in Scotland, where Mr. Reina selected the whiskies that would best marry with Disaronno. The whisky was combined with Disaronno in Saronno, Italy, where the historical headquarters of Illva Saronno are located. It then traveled to Marsala at the Cantine Florio, where Riserva was aged.
The Cantine Florio is located near the sea, which allows the temperature and humidity to create the optimum conditions for the product's aging process. This process, which lasts twelve years and takes place in the historical and valuable oak barrels that date to 1938, have long contained Marsala's important reserves. The Marsala wine barrels create a unique flavor and spice in the liquid.
Just 10,000 bottles were produced, and will be available at luxury retailers while supplies last at a cost of $349 per 750 mL bottle.
Patrón Citrónge Mango
Patrón Spirits introduces a new addition to the Patrón Citrónge liqueur portfolio. Patrón Citrónge Mango, available starting in June 2015, is crafted from Ataulfo mangos from the Mexican states of Nayarit and Chiapas.
Increasingly popular in cuisine and cocktails, the Ataulfo mango used to create Patrón Citrónge Mango is characterized by its oblong shape, bright yellow skin, nonfibrous flesh, and rich, sweet flavor. The refreshing mango taste is smooth and sweet with light citrus notes and a hint of pineapple and peach. Patrón Citrónge Mango Liqueur is crystal clear with a natural, sweet aroma.
The cork-finished frosted bottle, available in 375ml, 750ml and 1 liter sizes.
Brugal Papá Andrés 2015 Alegría Edition
Leading rum brand Brugal and brand owner Edrington are proud to unveil a new blend of Papá Andrés, the most exclusive aged rum from the Brugal family’s own private reserve. Papá Andrés has been created and enjoyed by the Brugal family for five generations. This is only the second time it has ever been released for sale.
For over 100 years, a limited number of casks containing the Brugal family’s private reserve rum have been guarded in Brugal’s warehouses in Puerto Plata. Once in a while a small portion of this rum is carefully extracted from the resting casks and used to blend a special limited edition bottling. The cask is then replenished with a selection of that year’s best aged rums and laid down again.
Traditionally enjoyed only at important family celebrations, this private reserve rum came to be known as Papá Andrés, in honor of the company’s founding father, Don Andrés Brugal Montaner. Just 1,000 of the Brugal Papá Andrés 2015 Alegría Edition decanters will be produced, priced at US$1,500 each (40% ABV), with all profits going to the Brugal Foundation which was established in 1988 to support development and reduce poverty in the Dominican Republic.
Netflix quietly raised prices in Europe this month by one Euro, following a similar increase for US viewers last year.
The move comes as the streaming-media company marches across the world–launching in Japan, Italy, Spain, and Portugal this year–and tries all sorts of pricing models to test out just how much people are willing to pay for its service.
Being able to charge higher prices globally is important because Netflix has been counting on its international revenue to replace the sales that are evaporating from its US DVD business. It’s now in 185 million broadband homes outside the US, or a third of the international marketplace, according to a research note from UBS.
But the practice has led to wildly different prices around the world, ranging from an average monthly revenue per user of $15.11 in Denmark to $4.85 in Argentina, an analysis by UBS found.
When the company enters Japan in September, UBS said it expects Netflix to try out a new pricing scheme where the spread between its low-tier service (users can watch one screen at a time) and high-tier plans (four screens, including HD and ultra HD) will be much wider than in the US.
The idea is to come in cheaper than Hulu Japan ($7.85) on the low end but keep revenue per user in line with its international average by setting the prices for the premium plan 53% higher than the standard plan. (UBS estimates the mix will create an average $8.01 per user in Japan).
And if Netflix can figure out how to succeed in Japan, it augurs well for its chances in the massive Chinese and Indian markets, which UBS calls “particularly challenging” because of the countries’ insular markets, foreign company restrictions, and highly-competitive media markets where many online-video services are free to consumers and supported by ads.
'Michoud did the least exciting yet most necessary job in NASA’s overall workflow. Astronauts trained elsewhere; no launches took place here. Instead, Michoud made fuel tanks—specifically the Space Shuttle’s External Tanks. And before the Space Shuttle, Michoud kept busy producing the tanks for the Saturn rocket that took the US to the moon. Without Michoud, the space program as we knew it didn’t exist.
In 2011, it finally didn’t. NASA halted the space shuttle program, and Michoud—a facility once devoted entirely to building parts for said program—quickly faced a much more traditional business dilemma. If it wanted to stay open, let alone keep most employees in work, what next?
In most office spaces, such a scenario would qualify as a disaster. But after surviving the storm of the century and still meeting the extremely tight deadlines of space, anything Michoud faced going forward felt like a cake walk.
“That night gave the people hope to go through the bad times,” Wood says. “After you’ve been through Katrina and NASA decides to change direction on Constellation and shut it down, I think people were like ‘OK, so what? Katrina is worse than this, let’s keep going.’ It gives you perspective. I’ve been through some of the worst times you can go through, whatever bumps in the road in the future are just bumps in the road.”
Today, Michoud continues to hum along. It’s a multi-tenant operation, home to a number of companies contracted to use the space and its tools through Space Act Agreements. Blades for wind turbines are created near dummy torpedoes for the navy to train with, and old Building 420—where external tanks were retrofitted initially after the storm—now serves as a studio for Hollywood productions in the area (remnants of the GI Joe franchise are visible from the outside). Perhaps most exciting of all the activity taking place here, Michoud is once again in the business of building its way to the stars. NASA’s Space Launch System, the first vehicle in the organization’s Mars aspirations, is being built here. These days on the grounds, Michoud's levees have been raised 2-to-3 feet all around, and the pump house is remotely operable to boot.'
It may not look like much, but Building 320 housed the 38 members of Michoud's ride out team during Hurricane Katrina. (credit: Nathan Mattise)
Update, Sept. 7, 2020: It's Labor Day Weekend in the US, and even though most of us now also call home "the office," Ars staff is taking a long weekend to rest and relax. The end of August marked 15 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, the federal levees failed, and the city of New Orleans changed forever. We planned on resurfacing a few pieces from the archives to keep the lights on over this holiday, so we're resurfacing this look at how NASA managed to weather the impact of Katrina at its Michoud Assembly Facility just outside New Orleans. This story originally ran in August 2015 and it appears unchanged below.
MICHOUD, La.—On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina came, the federal levees failed, and chaos ensued in the New Orleans metro area.
By now the damage is well documented. So many people were displaced that New Orleans still only sits at approximately 80 percent of its pre-storm population a decade later. More than 1,200 people died—the most for a US storm since 1928. And 80 percent of the city flooded, causing property damage since estimated at $108 billion by the National Hurricane Center. Almost regardless of metric, Katrina stands as the most devastating Atlantic storm to ever hit the US.
Samsung Pay will formally launch in the United States late next month, but if you want to try it before that, there's now a beta you can register for. It's open to anyone who owns a Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 5, or S6 Edge+ on all major carriers except for Verizon. If you've got AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, or even US Cellular, you're eligible to take part. Unfortunately, the nation's biggest mobile provider is only willing to say that it's "evaluating" Samsung Pay at this time, and Verizon could very well miss the September 28th launch.
You'll also need a debit or credit card from Bank of America (Visa / MasterCard) or US Bank (Visa only) for the beta; Samsung is obviously hoping to add more financial partners in the coming weeks. Apple already has a huge head start. Just because you meet the requirements doesn't guarantee you'll get into the Samsung Pay beta immediately; Samsung warns that it's "accepting a limited number of participants at this time." If you get in, you'll receive an email in whatever inbox is linked to your Samsung account.
Google has responded to European Union regulators' claims that its search results violate antitrust law, saying its search results are focused on "improving quality" and are not anti-competitive.
"Google increases choice for European consumers and offers valuable opportunities for businesses of all sizes," wrote company general counsel Kent Walker in a Google blog post. "Economic data spanning more than a decade, an array of documents, and statements from complainants all confirm that product search is robustly competitive."
The blog post accompanies Google's formal legal response that was filed today. European Union antitrust regulators formally charged Google with anticompetitive conduct in April.
'only available for iOS and sold exclusively in Apple stores'
'Tacos el Tuca and Lil Burma have the distinction as the first merchants in the country to adopt the PayAnywhere device, which is so, so San Francisco.'
'On the retail side, it's currently cheaper than the impending model from Square ($39.99 for the PayAnywhere device versus $49.99 for Square's); they're also offering free transactions on merchants' first $5,000 in sales, waiving the usual 2.69 percent fee per transaction.'
Lil Burma and Tacos el Tuca are the first in the country to use the technology.
While San Francisco has recently been rightfully recognized as America's number one food city, it's still known (for better or worse) as a leader in the tech industry. Which is, of course, a double-edged sword— who else will can pay for these $200+ tasting menus popping up around town?
So obviously when Apple reached out about some potentially food-related tech news, Eater was interested— food and technology is only becoming more inextricably entwined with each startup and app launch. We agreed to meet at the SoMa StrEat Food Park for an under-the-radar meeting with Jennifer Bailey, Apple's VP of ApplePay to find out more.
As it turns out, Apple has partnered with Michigan-based North American Bancard to introduce the PayAnywhere Mobile credit card reader to the market. The device, which is currently only available for iOS and sold exclusively in Apple stores, plugs into a merchants iPad or iPhone to turn it into an Apple Pay-equipped machine. To demonstrate, Bailey purchased lunch for a group of hungry reporters at the Lil Burma food truck, by magically flourishing her iPhone 6 and Apple Watch at the reader to complete the transaction. (If the ease of technology wasn't a solid endorsement on its own, Lil Burma's tasty samosa salad surely didn't hurt.) Tacos el Tuca and Lil Burma have the distinction as the first merchants in the country to adopt the PayAnywhere device, which is so, so San Francisco.
Security and ease of use for customers (plus the disconnection from actual currency that often encourages higher spending for some) seems like a decent reason for merchants like food trucks (or any business that requires mobile transactions) to adopt the technology. Additionally, for non-Apple customers, the reader still has card reader abilities that can be used with any card accepted by the merchant. On the retail side, it's currently cheaper than the impending model from Square ($39.99 for the PayAnywhere device versus $49.99 for Square's); they're also offering free transactions on merchants' first $5,000 in sales, waiving the usual 2.69 percent fee per transaction.
For anyone who's been to a food truck event like Off the Grid, shaving valuable seconds off of each transaction might just make enough of a difference in reducing long lines for burritos or crépes or whatever food-on-a-stick that is currently on offer.
So food truck operators, juice kiosks, farmers market sellers and restaurants: is this a thing? Tell us what you think of this technology upgrade in the comments.
Verizon Wireless' announcement three weeks ago that it's no longer offering contracts and device subsidies was missing one caveat: customers who are still on contracts can continue to renew them and get new phones under the traditional subsidy model.
"Yes, Verizon customers can keep and renew their two-year contract, and take advantage of any subsidized devices we offer as part of that contract," Verizon said in a clarification it issued Wednesday. "A good example: you’ve been waiting to buy a soon-to-be-launched smartphone on Verizon’s network. Yes, you can renew your current contract once that cool new handset launches—and take advantage of subsidized contract pricing."
Contract customers can also keep their current monthly price and buy a new device on an installment plan that spreads the cost over 24 months, interest free. The installment plan is the standard option for new customers.
AT&T has struck a deal with the US government to get nearly $428 million per year to bring 10Mbps Internet service to parts of rural America after protesting that it shouldn't have to provide speeds that fast.
The money comes from the Connect America Fund, which draws from surcharges on Americans' phone bills to pay for rural Internet service. AT&T accepted the money even though it argued last year that rural customers don't need Internet service better than the old standard of 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. The FCC ignored AT&T's protests in December, raising the Connect America Fund download standard to 10Mbps while leaving the 1Mbps requirement unchanged.
Eight months later, AT&T is now willing to provide at least 10Mbps/1Mbps service to 1.1 million rural homes and businesses in 18 states in exchange for "$427,706,650 in annual, ongoing support from the Connect America Fund," yesterday's FCC announcement said. The FCC said this will bring broadband to 2.2 million customers, apparently assuming an average of two people for each home and business.
CloudPull seamlessly backs up your Google account to your Mac. It supports Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, and Google Drive (formerly Docs). By default, the app backs up your accounts every hour and maintains old point-in-time snapshots of your accounts for 90 days.
Sprint is offering a year of free cell phone service to DirecTV subscribers that switch to its network. The deal — which includes unlimited talk, text, and 2GB of data — is a direct shot across the bows of rival AT&T, which recently acquired the satellite TV provider for $49 billion. AT&T has been offering DirecTV customers up to $500 a line if they switch to its service, but Sprint is hoping to outbid them with its new deal (valid until September 30th).
There are, of course, caveats. DirecTV customers tempted to switch will have to pay a $36 activation fee, and once their free year is up they'll automatically be moved to a $50 a month plan until they pay off their Sprint phone. (DirecTV customers who are already with Sprint can also get in on the deal by adding a new line to their wireless plan.) Anyone who wants to take advantage of the offer will have to upload a copy of a recent DirecTV bill to Sprint's website or drop by a Sprint store with some form of proof.
"DirecTV customers [...] shouldn’t have to settle for AT&T wireless."
"DirecTV customers love their TV service, but they shouldn’t have to settle for AT&T wireless," said Sprint's chief marketing officer Kevin Crull in a press statement. A spokesperson for AT&T, Brad Burns, replied: "This ranks right up there with a desperate Hail Mary pass to a petite defensive lineman. With Sprint’s network and the many asterisks on this deal, we’re feeling good about our offers."
Giving away a year's worth of free service is certainly an extreme move, even in 2015's somewhat frenzied wireless market. Still, for consumers there's only one important question: do you save more money with AT&T or Sprint? The answer, unfortunately, depends on exactly what you're looking for in a wireless plan, although CNN Money pegs the upfront value of the deals as $900 from Sprint or $620 from AT&T.
When I go to a bar with male and female friends, the server often places the pink drinks in front of the girls and the beers in front of the guys, regardless of who ordered what. As a feminist, I should probably get very annoyed at this patriarchal repression of my alcoholic freedom.
The truth is, though, that I like pink drinks. The first cocktail I ordered on my 21st birthday was a vodka and cranberry. I almost always order some fruity little drink cause I can’t shoot whiskey, which makes me wonder: do men and women in fact drink differently? Some differences are obvious: men can drink more. But we can dig into the subtler differences using two Twitter datasets:
Tweets from drunk people: half a million tweets collected over the course of a year (June 2014-July 2015) containing the hashtags “drunk” or “drunktweet.” Example:
Let me just hide my phone under a lamp it will be safe here #drunk#thoughts
Both sets of tweets come from all over the world: about half are from US timezones, “Europe/London” and “Europe/Amsterdam” are the most frequent non-US timezones.
As you might imagine, drunk men and women differ in ways besides what they’ve chosen to get drunk on. Here are the most male and female-dominated hashtags in the drunk tweets dataset:
Drunk women are are more likely to express affection and take pictures in stereotypically female ways (#pout is female-dominated, and so are #makeup and #selfie). Apparently gay men like to drunk tweet, although there are no obvious counterparts from gay women. Some of the male-dominated hashtags mix actual porn and legitimate tweets (#naked and #passedout, for example; I tried to filter out porn, but it turns out that drunk men really like to talk about sex). We can use a technique called sentiment analysis to look for differences in emotion expressed by each gender. Women express more positive emotion and are more likely to mention friends and family, while men curse more.
Is the stereotype of the “girly drink” accurate? I looked at the tweets mentioning specific types of alcohol to find out. The charts below show the percentage of women using specific drinking-related hashtags.
All the beers are male-dominated, but some beers are more manly than others: light beers (especially those with “light” in the name) have more women tweeting about them than IPAs.
Wines are more gender-balanced: sparkling wines tend to be female-dominated, and white wine is slightly more female-dominated than red wine.
Vodka and whiskey are male-dominated (with women more likely to misspell “Johnnie Walker” as “Johnny Walker”—come on, ladies!). The most female-dominated cocktail hashtags include #cosmo, #sexonthebeach, #margarita, and #pinacolada.
All the fruit flavors are female-dominated, while malt and rye skew male.
So the stereotype of the girly drink is extremely well-supported in the Twitter dataset. But there are some caveats here. I detected the gender of the Tweeter from their first name, but this doesn’t work for people who don’t provide names, who use psuedonyms, or whose gender does not fit a binary description.People tweeting while they’re drinking are probably an unusual population (can you really be having that good a time?). The girly drink stereotype may make men shy about broadcasting their love of margaritas on Twitter. Even if women really do drink more margaritas, is that really because they like them more, or because they’re socially pressured to do so? There is some evidence that men and women have different senses of taste, and that women are more likely to be “supertasters” with more taste buds. But social factors undoubtedly play a major role; television advertising, for example, has reinforced the girly drink stereotype, with men appearing twice as often as women in beer commercials. Gender preferences for alcohol also change over time: the share of female whiskey drinkers has more than doubled since the 1990s, and in the 19th century women were the primary producers of whiskey.
The Twitter data support the idea that gender differences in drinking preferences, far from being immutable, are shaped by social factors. One of the most obvious differences between men and women is that men tweet about #beer about twice as often as they tweet about #wine, whereas women tweet about #wine slightly more often than #beer. But this is not true for all men and all women. Here are three exceptions.
Women on Fourth of July drink more like men than they do like other women: their #beer tweets outnumber #wine tweets more than two to one.
Men who identify as gay in their Twitter profiles tweet about #wine about as often as they tweet about #beer—a pattern more similar to women than to men who do not identify as gay.
State-by-state differences. In Colorado, men tweet about beer eight times as often as they tweet about wine; in California, it’s much closer to equally often. Women in New York tweet about wine twice as often as beer; women in North Carolina tweet about beer twice as often as wine. There are huge differences between states, in other words, and women in beer-skewed states show a greater preference for beer than men in wine-skewed states.
So, yes, the “girly drink” appears to be universal law—unless you happen to be a gay man or a woman on the Fourth of July or a man in California or a woman in North Carolina. Even the most pronounced gender skews can depend heavily on social conditions.
(Est. 1992) "The National Archives Foundation is an independent nonprofit that increases public awareness of the National Archives, inspires a deeper appreciation of our country's heritage, and encourages citizen engagement in our democracy. The Foundation generates financial and creative support for National Archives exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives, introducing America's records to people around the U.S. and the world."
Design by: Students at honors class in identity design at School of Visual Arts (New York, NY) Selected Logo: Joy Im
Opinion/Notes: The old logo was respectable; nothing fancy, nothing terrible. The new logo, although done by students, clearly has the minimalist approach of Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv and, in this case, it works quite nicely to communicate the American-ness and archival-ness of the foundation by using what could be read as open books that form a star in the negative space using a red, white, and blue color palette. It doesn't get more straightforward than that. The typography is neutral and fairly forgettable but it wouldn't add much to make it stand out more. Overall, it's a very appropriate logo for the organization it represents.
Select Quote: Every semester Sagi, Tom and Ivan teach an honors class in identity design at SVA. As a part of the course the students do real-world work for a real client using the firm's methodology. This year the students worked on new identity designs for the National Archives Foundation […]. They chose a mark designed by a student named Joy Im. […] "The refresh of our brand marks an important milestone and the start of a new era for the National Archives Foundation," said Foundation Executive Director Patrick M. Madden. "We were thrilled with the opportunity to work with SVA students as part of our commitment to cultivate a greater understanding of the American journey."
The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises.
Super Opinionated.
![The less common, even worse outcome: "3: [everyone in the financial system] WOW, where did all my money just go?"](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/engineer_syllogism.png "The less common, even worse outcome: \"3: [everyone in the financial system] WOW, where did all my money just go?\"")
