multitasksuicide

Are you feelin' the band's first new song in twenty years?

The post Drop Whatever it is You’re Doing and Listen to the Title Track from At the Gates’ At War with Reality!!! appeared first on MetalSucks.

The original firm, BakerHostetler, bowed out due to "political pressure," so the House has hired William Burck to handle its lawsuit against the president over Obamacare.

Here's the first trailer for "Big Eyes," Tim Burton's forthcoming film about the strange 1950s story of talented artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) whose sociopath husband Walter Keane (Christopher Waltz) took all credit for his wife's incredibly popular and influential paintings. Read the rest

THE central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia is an impressive building—its neoclassical facade looming over most of a block. But inside, though chandeliers still hang from the ceilings and the floors are of polished marble, there is a feeling of neglect. A musty taste hangs in the air; many of the books are rather battered. “The building opened in 1927 and we’ve really not touched it since then,” says Siobhan Reardon, the library’s president and director. “And you can tell.”

That, happily, is now changing. On September 11th Philadelphia announced it had secured a $25m grant from the William Penn foundation to update its old libraries. Yet libraries in general are struggling. Americans tell pollsters they love them, but fewer use them. In June the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency, published data showing that library visitor numbers have declined in recent years. Polling published on September 10th by the Pew Research Center, a think tank, revealed that more people say they are going to the library less than going more, with a sharp gap among the young.

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Saipancakes

When I was watching Boyhood I assumed that some moron would point out that the protagonist’s social milieu was overwhelmingly white. And it’s out: Not Everyone’s Boyhood. Many of my friends have a hard time accepting I identify as conservative, but reading stuff like this makes it clear why I’m conservative, I feel like puking over […] Continue reading →

1945.

Lauren Bacall and Harry S. Truman.

Ides of ApolloWhen we last left our heroes, they were doing a little something I called "dream doom." I wasn't the first to call them that, but I found it appropriate enough. The earthy female vocals delivered in an ethereal style, the slow but not terribly heavy guitar riffs, and overall dreamy feel was pretty well summed up by that. With Old World New Wave, they've changed direction. They

"One Night" because taking enough of it will make this night your last.

this is your periodic reminder that old-timey medicines did not fuck around

(via Seanan McGuire)

These are the ones that don't get a full hearing from me. But that doesn't necessarily mean you won't enjoy them. Volume IV: Long in the Tooth (2014) Volume IV is named after my favorite Sabbath album, and they have influences I really like: mid-period COC ("Blackwater"), Mastodon ("Utero/Long in the Tooth"), Alice in Chains ("Save Your Servant"), doom, hard rock, and more. But it doesn't have

Tito’s vodka was doing great for the past 15 years, then hit a gigantic speedbump this week in the form of a class action lawsuit.

Tito’s therefore provides a good example of when an approval is not really an approval. Tito Beveridge has more than 30 TTB label approvals for his vodka from 1997 to 2013 (as in the above image, from LabelVision). They may not do him much good in this lawsuit, even though, in years past, most would assume the federal approval would be dispositive. It’s a good thing most TTB approvals are not paper anymore because these would “not be worth the paper they are printed on.”

Summary:  in Hoffman v. Fifth Dimension, Inc., Gary Hoffman (a consumer) sued Tito’s vodka on behalf of all Tito’s customers in California, claiming that the company misleads people about whether the product is “handmade.” The lawsuit was filed September 15, 2014 in San Diego county court. The federal government reviewed and approved the Tito’s labels, but has no definition for the term at issue.

The classic case of an approval that is not really an approval would be your garden variety Napa Valley Chardonnay, Vintage 2010. TTB will take almost every one of those italicized words at face value. To the extent any one of those words is not true, your approval is not going to help you too much, in the event of an inquiry. Like an IRS tax return, the COLA (and any formula approval) is, to a surprisingly large degree, something of an honor system, stapled together with the penalty of perjury on every such document.

Updates:
9/16/2014: Judge Eddie C. Sturgeon is assigned to handle the case.
9/23/2014: Tito’s apparently put out a press release, sketching out a defense. I sure hope they have more. They took a jab at the plaintiff for botching the defendant’s proper name, Fifth Generation, Inc. Shanken points out that the brand is at 1.3 million cases per year (that’s a lot of hands!). Tito says “he will vigorously contest the lawsuit.” Tito largely hangs his hat on the fact that TTB approved the labels.
9/25/2014:  the plaintiff amended the defendant’s name, from Fifth Dimension, Inc. to Fifth Generation, Inc. In so doing the plaintiff declared being ignorant of the company’s true name, when filing the complaint on 9/15/2024. This is odd because the plaintiff used the correct name on the Affidavit of Venue filed the same day. Plaintiff did a good job covering this point, though, in the original complaint, by saying:  “Plaintiff is ignorant of the true names and capacities of the defendants sued herein as DOES 1-100, inclusive; therefore, Plaintiff sues these defendants by such fictitious names. … Plaintiff will amend the complaint to allege their true names and capacities when ascertained.”
9/30/2014: things just got much more serious for Tito, as the case ballooned into a nationwide class action suit. The amended complaint states:  “This is a nationwide class action case brought on behalf of all purchasers of vodka (“Vodka”) manufactured, distributed, marketed, and/or sold by FIFTH GENERATION, INC. dba Tito’s Handmade Vodka (hereinafter “TITO’S”).” Also boding ill, the original and amended complaints refer to Sidley Austin (suggesting that the small San Diego firm on the plaintiff side, may be working with a much bigger firm.) The same small law firm, in San Diego, just recently won hundreds of thousands of dollars in another labeling suit as described here in The Wall Street Journal.
10/3/2014: a copycat lawsuit filed in Florida on 10/25/2014, in federal court this time, under Florida law.
10/14/2014:  and now another lawsuit, this time in Illinois.
10/21/2014:  finally I was able to find a copy of Tito’s response. I looked around but was not able to find the press release earlier.
10/27/2014: Tito has a full-throated defense of his vodka today. I think he is saying it is in fact substantially made in a pot still in Austin. In Wine & Spirits Daily he says, “I, Tito Beveridge, believe the pot still distillation process, like that of single malt scotches and French cognacs, is the cornerstone of craft spirits production, period.” There are lots of other words in Tito’s statement but I can’t find much in it to suggest the degree or extent of this much-vaunted pot-/hand-/craft-production. Is it a fig-leaf kind of thing, or the main way the product is made? I see lots of other jazz about foreign companies, etc. but precious little new information about how this product is made, or anything important that makes it any more “handmade” than the next 500 vodkas.
11/10/2014:  another lawsuit, this time New Jersey.

The Forbes article explains:  “Tito’s has exploded from a 16-gallon pot still in 1997 to a 26-acre operation that produced 850,000 cases last year, up 46% from 2011, pulling in an estimated $85 million in revenue.” The article strongly suggests Tito is about to be a victim of his own success. You can say this post is a prime example of a lawyer taking something clear, like an affirmative, direct approval, and blurring it up to say it’s not really an approval. That would not change the messy, complicated reality, that TTB is not the only sheriff in town. We have a “system” and though it may be cumbersome, it actually does work pretty well. TTB approves Palcohol. Fine. That’s only one level. Then the private sector jumps in (i.e., us). This triggers the states, legislators, media, trade associations, on and on, to take action. TTB can’t and probably does not need to “do it all.” Customs jumps in on imports, states jump in on Santa and bitch issues, and now there is a clear right of private action in all such disputes. The floodgates are well open. A few weeks ago, in light of the Pom v. Coke decision, we predicted a flood of lawsuits around label claims. Some said “the sky is not falling.” Well, the water is starting to rise pretty high. Tito is up to his waist. Templeton is up to its knees. Bass and Becks are up to their ankles. All from private action with no trace of governmental intervention. Skinny Girl got dunked a few years back and we will need to go back and look to see how much water she swallowed.

The Tito’s lawsuit (Hoffman v. Fifth Dimension, Inc.) is here. Some juicy highlights are as follows (and on this page).

This is a class action case brought on behalf of all purchasers of all vodka (“Vodka”) manufactured, distributed, marketed, and/or sold by FIFTH DIMENSION, INC. dba Tito’s Handmade Vodka (hereinafter “TITO’S”). Through a fraudulent, unlawful, deceptive and unfair course of conduct, TITO’S, and DOES 1 through 100 (collectively “Defendants”), manufactured, marketed, and/or sold their “TITO’S HANDMADE” Vodka to the California general public with the false representation that the Vodka was “handmade” when, in actuality, the Vodka is made via a highly-mechanized process that is devoid of human hands. There is simply nothing “handmade” about the Vodka, under any definition of the term,1 because the Vodka is: (1) made from commercially manufactured “neutral grain spirit” (“NGS”) that is trucked and pumped into TITO’s industrial facility; (2) distilled in a large industrial complex with modern, technologically advanced stills; and (3) produced and bottled in extremely large quantities (i.e., it is “mass produced”).

The plaintiffs are asking for all the money, plus attorney fees, punitive damages, interest, costs, and taxes:  “all monies acquired by means of Defendants’ unfair competition.”

Right about now, every beer, wine and spirits company should be re-examining their labels, new and old, approved and prospective, and making sure every part is on firm ground. If you lack TTB approval it may hurt you a lot, but if you have it, it may not be sufficient to save you.

* A small disclaimer is, I have no idea about the underlying facts here. I am evaluating this from my couch, based on TTB approvals, public records, the plaintiff’s allegations, and the press. We look forward to presenting Tito’s side of the story, when it comes out.

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A "mosaic chart" of Middle Eastern relationships

THE rise of Islamic State has upended geopolitics in the Middle East and drawn America's military back to the region. Though IS is popular among militants, the group has no allies on the political stage, making it even more isolated than the official al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. Our "relationship mosaic" above visualises the rapports among countries, political groups and militant organisations in the Middle East. It provides a quick glimpse of who is friends with whom (albeit a simplified depiction of relationships; the "neutral" category, for instance, embraces a large number of possibilities). The Syrian government is disliked by many countries but supported by Iran and Russia. The Iraqi Kurds count numerous friends and no sworn enemies among the entities listed. And the chart shows the degree to which America needs to play a delicate diplomatic game in holding together allies that may not always be friends with each other.

As a scientist, I freely admit that I inspect my poop every day. And after reading this paper, I'm glad I do. That's because one of the most obvious signs of colon cancer is a bloody stool, and you can only detect it if you're looking at your doo-doo regularly. But do most people inspect their poops? Well, these gastroenterologists decided to find out. It turns out that I'm in the minority; only 27% of participants looked at every poop and wipe, and a whopping 6% never looked at either their

People who drink a lot of coffee - and other caffeinated beverages - find it more difficult to identify and describe their own emotions. This is the claim of a new study, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, from Australian researchers Michael Lyvers and colleagues: Caffeine use and alexithymia in university students. "Alexithymia" - Greek for "no words for feelings" - is the psychological terminology for an inability to put ones emotions into words. Lyvers et al did a surve

We need to make flash moshing a thing!

The post Iron Reagan’s “Miserable Failure” Video is a Rousing Success appeared first on MetalSucks.

Charles And Diana See That You’ve Switched From A Windsor To A Four-in-Hand Knot.

Guess what they think.

Suits Are Action Clothes.

Jimmy Carter, 1976.

Cambridge Wine Time.

The blazered Duchess of Cambridge.

Do you remember the Sham 69 classic If The Kids Are United, They Will Never be Divided? That’s just how I feel today, post-Scottish referendum. I’m chuffed that we’re to remain a UK – and not just a K – as we’re a great family, bickering, dysfunctional, and yet irrevocably intertwined, just like all the best families, from The Simpsons backwards. Being half Welsh, and spending my formative years in Ireland, I know more than most that can we happily co-exist while championing our cultural differences. And I hope we’ll continue to evolve while finding meaningful ways to devolve.

Most metal pizza pie EVER.

The post How About Some Slayer Pizza to Go with Your Carcass Sandwich? appeared first on MetalSucks.

turnoverchange:

Sartoria Formosa.

Get the details in here.

The post Scion is Making a Slayer Car! appeared first on MetalSucks.

All-out savage warfare.

The post The Heaviest Thing You’ll Hear All Day: Anaal Nathrakh’s New Song “Monstrum In Animo” appeared first on MetalSucks.

To celebrate 10 years in business, small Austrain watchmaker, Habring, has developed their first movement. According to the brand, the movement was not only developed in Austria but will also largely be manufactured and assembled there as well. It is called the A11, which refers to “Austria” and the fact that it started development in “2011.”

The caliber A11 will act as the base movement which will power all Habring watches going forward. In the watch shown, the movement is called the A11B (B is for Basis). The manually wound, three-quarter plate caliber beats at 4Hz, has a 48-hour power reserve, 18 jewels and 99 total components. It has a tangential screw fine adjustment system, anti-magnetic escapement with a Carl Haas hairspring in chronometer quality, KIF shock protection pursuant to DIN and NIHS and it has elaborately refined by hand with polished edges, decorative engravings, perlage and so on.

The new Felix wristwatch comes in a sleek 38.5 mm by 7 mm three pat stainless steel case. It is fully polished and has a convex sapphire crystal. The crown is double-sealed, as is the sapphire crystal caseback.

The dial is silver-white in granulated metal with black print and polished, black oxidized steel hands. The minimalist design looks great. You can choose between either an Arabic or Roman numeral “12.” And by request, you can have the small seconds function omitted, for an even cleaner look.

Water-resistance is 30 meters. The serial number is engraved between the lugs at 6 o’clock. The Habring Felix is paired with a light brown leather strap. The retail price is approximately $5,700.

For more, visit Habring.

The Air Force has instructed force support offices across the service to allow both enlisted members and officers to omit the words "So help me God" from enlistment and officer appointment oaths if an Airman chooses.

In response to concerns raised by Airmen, the Department of the Air Force requested an opinion from the Department of Defense General Counsel addressing the legal parameters of the oath. The resulting opinion concluded that an individual may strike or omit the words "So help me God" from an enlistment or appointment oath if preferred.
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“DON’T WASTE THIS IN COFFEE,” writes a caps-lock-loving reviewer named Edward, who goes on to extol the virtues of eating Nestle Coffee-Mate with a spoon. It’s tempting to think he’s joking, but the caps lock and the “Verified Purchase” shown on the review have convinced me he’s serious as a coffee-creamer-induced heart attack.