Duke Ellington and President Harry Truman comparing musical notes at the White House on September 29, 1950. During another visit to Truman’s White House, the president, “wanting to converse as one piano player to another,” dismissed his guards and, as Mr. Ellington described it, he and the president acted like “a couple of cats in a billiard parlor.” Photo: Bettman/Corbis. PRE-ORDER for my new coffee table book Vintage Black Glamour is now available! http://vintageblackglamourbook.com/
“His arrogance is breathtaking,” Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, director and senior fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, told LifeSiteNews. The “president repeatedly insists that his personal values and beliefs are equated with the nation's values and beliefs. When he insists that those controversial ideas constitute a human right, the president is saying that the deeply-held religious beliefs of many Americans are irrelevant.” He is also disregarding the views of most Africans, they say. An estimated 72 percent of all African nations have passed or are in the process of passing laws restricting public homosexual behavior. Crouse told LifeSiteNews President Obama's actions are a form of “cultural imperialism – exporting the sexual crusade of a very small minority of Americans with outsized influence,” who have tried “to tear down the moral foundations of our nation as well as the rest of the world.” “It is unseemly for an American president to dictate to other countries what their cultural, moral and religious traditions ought to be,” Dr. Crouse told LifeSiteNews. “And it is hypocritical for him on the one hand to say America is unexceptional and bow to other national leaders and then on the other hand, seemingly from a position of moral superiority, tell other nations that their beliefs are inferior to his supposedly enlightened, exalted views.” “The homosexual activists are not content with acceptance and respect as human beings,” she said. “They, and now our president, are forcing the world to approve and mainstream their homosexuality.”Uganda's law includes the penalty of life imprisonment for "repeated homosexual acts."
Olympic figure skaters may look like the picture of grace and sophistication when they’re skating for the gold, but these high speed photographs show the derpy side of figure skating.
Their facial expressions seem to say “oh god, this is going to hurt!”, “why are you hitting yourself?” or “boy are these pants tight!” but they’re probably just trying their hardest and caught up in the moment, oblivious of the derpy look on their faces.
But whether they’re making faces because they’re exerting so much energy and concentrating so deeply, or because they just don’t care about the cameras flashing all around them, one thing’s for certain- any one of these derpy photos would make a great new Facebook profile pic!
Russian Sledgesvia firehose
Russian Sledges'In 2006, [Seattle] unveiled a new tagline: “Metronatural.” Meant to encapsulate Seattle’s wealth of both urban and outdoor life, the branding effort also met its critics. “It sucks. Lose it. The quicker the better,” wrote Timothy Egan, a Seattle native and columnist at the Times. “Sounds more like a manicured, effete fellow wearing a hemp shirt—or perhaps some kind of automotive laxative,” said another dissenter. Tom Norwalk, the current C.E.O. of Seattle’s official destination-marketing organization (a revised version of the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau), understands that the brand may have confused people more than it informed them. “We got into trouble because I think it has a totally different meaning in Germany,” he said. “A ‘nudist colony,’ I think, is how the translation came out in one newspaper. So that faded away slowly.”'
A man jumped off of JP Morgan's Hong Kong headquarters to his death, according to George Chen of the South China Morning Post.
Employees of the firm say that he is a forex trader with JPM, though the SCMP is still waiting for confirmation from the bank.
This comes at a delicate time for the financial industry, when a spate of deaths — mostly in London — have alarmed observers.
Witnesses say that police tried to stop the man from jumping from the 30 story building, 10 floors of which are used by JP Morgan, around 2:00 or 3:00 pm, but to no avail.
UPDATE 7:58 am EST: JP Morgan ahs confirmed that the man who jumped was a 33 year-old employee at the firm with the last name Li. He was a junior investment banker.
For the full report, head to SCMP>
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MIT President L. Rafael Reif says he and MIT are standing behind students threatened by New Jersey with legal action if they don't turn over detailed information about a "proof of concept" project involving the online currency Bitcoin.
THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WERE STOLEN DURING A BREAK IN ON THE EVENING OF 12TH FEBRUARY 2014 ON "PETER FINER ANTIQUES"!!!
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD NO MATTER IN WHICH COUNTRY YOU LIVE IN!!!!
If you have any information on the whereabouts of these items please contact Peter Finer on: T: +44 (0)20 7839 5666 or E: gallery@peterfiner.com
Russian Sledgesoh no
The Boston Bibliophile reports Seek Books on Centre Street is shutting down:
I've just about fallen in love with Asimov, the beautiful white bookstore cat, and Jeff and I have made afternoons of visiting West Roxbury- lunch, stops at other shops along Centre Street, a cupcake at Sugar Bakery- every now and then. We found a lot of treasures at Seek, which specializes in classic SF and collectibles and has always had an impressive selection for the small size of the store. We bought some things yesterday and we are going to try to stop by before it closes for good. If you're in the Boston area, do him a solid and help take some inventory off his hands before he departs for New Mexico.
Pazzo Books, at the other end of Centre, announced in January it was shutting down as well, which will leave West Roxbury with only the book section at the Hallmark store.
Russian Sledges#metadata
Some (perhaps algorithmic) drudge on the Google Books assembly line has a (perhaps accidental) sense of humor. Tracking down a surprising apparent antedating of a piece of managerial jargon, I found this:
In the Google Books index, this is Margaret Croyden, Lunatics, Lovers, and Poets: The Contemporary Experimental Theatre, published in 1974. But the content is Shrinivas Pandit, The Alchemy of Leadership, published 2009. The quoted publisher's blurb could almost fit either book:
A distillate of author's interviews of the current crop of successful leaders, this book detects the essence of leadership in the mental make-up, personal traits, beliefs, faith, vision and working style of successful Indian leaders. It enables entrepreneurs to understand their growth trajectories for reaching their goalposts and leaving a lasting legacy.
Amazon seems to have picked up on the same crossed wires:
And likewise AbeBooks:
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According to a new profile in the Washington Post, a four-year-old lobbying group calling itself “Consumers for Paper Options” turns out to be an astroturfing group funded by the Envelope Manufacturers Association (EMA) and “the paper industry’s largest trade group, several of North America’s biggest paper manufacturers.”
What do these paper-pushing people want? More paper delivery of government statements in the name of the elderly and those with slow or no Internet access. The Post notes that the group recently managed to add a provision to a bill that would require “the government to plan for resuming paper delivery of annual Social Security earnings statements to some of the nation’s 150 million future retirees.”
Despite the fact that the group claims to represent digitally challenged consumers, its executive director is John Runyon, a veteran DC lobbyist.
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Russian Sledgesvia GN ("Rejection")
A climbing plant peels off a brick building, in an effect reminiscent of a snake shedding a layer of skin, in this curious photo posted by redditor this_bores_me.
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JANELLE MONAE (AGE 28) - ATLANTA, GA - SINGER
Trombone Shorty wants this year's halftime show to be "a big party, the way we do here in the Big Easy."
While Pharrell Williams is headlining the NBA All-Star Game Entertainment Series this year, with a performance during the player introductions on Sunday night (Feb. 16), the halftime show -- featuring Earth, Wind & Fire, Janelle Monae, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Dr. John and Gary Clark Jr. -- is the evening's event that promises to synthesize the vibrant musical culture of this year's All-Star Weekend host city, New Orleans. Earth, Wind & Fire's soul classic "Shining Star" and Monae's "The Electric Lady" title track will be among the songs performed, and everything will be played live at the New Orleans Arena.
"It's been a great process, and... I'm blessed to be a representative for my city," Shorty, the city's most high-profile brass musician, told Billboard on Sunday, hours before the performance is broadcast live on TNT. Shorty has acted as a musical ambassador for the NBA, personally contacting other artists to see if they would be interested in collaborating on the halftime extravaganza.
"I was like, 'This would be great, but I think it should be bigger,'" says Shorty, who recent made his GRAMMYs ceremony debut by performing alongside Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Madonna last month. "I'm in my city, and I could have done something by myself, but I was like, 'No, we need some other people with us.'"
Monae, who was honored as the Rising Star at last year's Billboard Women in Music event, was one of the first people Shorty contacted. "I'm really great friends with Trombone Shorty, who's like the king of New Orleans in terms of live music," says Monae. "He played on [my song] 'The Electric Lady,' and we just thought it was fitting. He was like, 'There are no other females performing -- I want it to be you.'"
Despite having a gig on Saturday night in Tampa, the guys of Earth, Wind & Fire took an early plane out to New Orleans, after Shorty gave them a ring a few weeks ago. "They were actually going to use 'Shining Star' in the piece that they were doing," says the legendary funk group's Verdine White, "and an idea came to them to reach out to them and see if we could do it live."
Original Airdate: Sunday February 16, 2014 (ICE SPORTS)
Russian Sledgesvia saucie
Master Distiller, Lance Winters along with the team at St. George Spirits collaborated with Steven Noble and Juli Shore Design to create St. George Spirits labels. The goal was to communicate its value as “America's Oldest Artisanal Distillery”.
"Our inspiration was ephemeral; apothecary, guilloche, currency, tickets, and cigar art. Then we applied the explore to packaging for 3 gins, 2 whiskeys and 1 rum. After the packages were complete we oversaw the photo shoot to create a library of images to use for marketing."
St. George California Agricole Rum
Made from 100% California sugarcane, St. George California Agricole Rum (formerly Agua Libre Rum) is a pure, primal, unapologetic expression of fresh California cane.
Intensely grassy, sultry, and robust, this rum is not for the faint of heart—but for those who love it there is no substitute.
St. George Botanivore Gin
Because of its broad botanical recipe, this gin is the most versatile of the three, with floral coriander seeds balanced by juniper and earthy California bay laurel. Botanivore also features fresh ginger, dill and celery seed, and cilantro, giving it an herbaceous brightness. Therefore, the illustration incorporates those ingredients to capture the essence of that distinctive flavor.
St. George Dry Rye Gin
Made with pot-distilled rye and a minimal recipe of cracked juniper berries, caraway, black peppercorn, grapefruit and lime peel, this gin has a pear aroma with deep malty, woody flavors. All the ingredients are once again positioned within the illustration to help pronounce those flavors as if luring you into an unforeseeable bear trap.
St. George Terroir Gin (Mt. Tam Edition)
This drinks like a walk in the woods. It’s made with hand-harvested juniper berries, wild Douglas fir from Mt. Tam, California bay laurel and coastal sage. It’s what John Muir would have carried in his flask. The label tries to convey the outdoors with the symbolic California bear with Mt. Tam as a backdrop.
Designed by Juli Shore Design
City: Oakland, California
Country: USA
Illustration: Steven Noble
Russian Sledgesvia willowbl00
Jason Jones talks to a Russian woman protesting against Russia’s anti-gay laws.
don’t give up. we’re all so close.
Russian Sledgesvia rosalind
Russian Sledgesvia willowbl00
Russian Sledgesautoshare: implicit graham wright
Russian Sledgesthe bill died in the senate, thank god: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/us/politics/in-kansas-right-joins-left-to-halt-bill-on-gays.html
A reader alerted me to it, in the wake of the Kansas House of Representatives passing a law that would allow widespread discrimination against any gay or straight people who could even faintly be connected to a wedding or even commitment ceremony. The obit is for a pillar of the local community:
Bruce G. “Butch” Neis was born March 15, 1953 in Lawrence, KS the son of Samuel G. Jr. and Elizabeth Kindig Neis. He was a farmer, a welder and owned Bruce Neis Trucking. He was a lifetime member of the Eudora Township Volunteer Fire Department. He also was a member of Eudora Emergency Medical Services for 22 years and a 14-year sponsor of the All-Night After Prom Party at Eudora High School.
Among his survivors are
two sons; Richard B. Neis (spouse Carrie) of Eudora, KS, Aaron M. Neis (partner, Thaddeus Winter) of Honolulu, HI … and two brothers; Samuel D. Neis (spouse Bill Spinney) New Bedford, MA, Russell D. Neis (spouse Tina) …
My italics.
You know why the Christianists will lose? Because they are insisting that a man like Neis disown his partnered gay son and his married gay brother. Happily the far right does not seem to have succeeded in tearing this particular family apart. Update from a reader:
A footnote to your post: The Lawrence Journal-World, on whose website that obit appeared, will not, as a matter of corporate policy mandated by its extremely right-wing ownership, run notices of same-sex marriages. However, their obituaries run exactly as submitted by funeral homes, with no editing, so the mention of the man’s sons’ partnerships slipped through. And in fact, the obit you linked to actually is on a third-party site, Legacy.com, which handles online obituaries for the Journal-World (and many other newspaper websites). So it evaded the newspaper’s own editorial/advertising policies against honoring gay life events. Sadly, there’s still quite a ways to go in acceptance of gays in Kansas – even in Lawrence, by far the most liberal and open community in the state.
Russian Sledges#connecticut
CTpost.com reports that Walmart’s error came to light after an area man recently tried to purchase a gun safe at a Walmart in Danbury, CT.
The store charged around $30 in taxes on the $497 safe and refused to refund this money even after the shopper showed them a copy of the relevant state law. An appeal to Walmart HQ finally resulted in a refund, but this was not an isolated incident involving an ill-informed employee.
Others have complained about incorrectly being charged the sales tax, and when reporters checked with Walmarts in Connecticut, all the stores carrying these safes confirmed they were charging sales tax.
A rep for Walmart claimed this was a coding error on the safe and said it was a new item for the store, even though one area man contacted — and got a refund from — Walmart HQ back in December. That same customer recently noticed that he’d been charged sales tax on a gun lock — also exempted from the tax by state law — back in July.
A rep for Walmart says the nation’s largest retailer is “sending out an internal note to our associates explaining that gun safes are exempt from sales tax in Connecticut and other states that have similar laws.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has said the state’s Attorney General should investigate Walmart’s compliance with this nearly 15-year-old law.
“If Walmart is charging a sales tax on these safety devices, it is breaking the law and violating the spirit and intent of a measure intended to protect people, their families and the community,” Blumenthal said. “Appropriate remedies should be levied, including penalties.”
You can now follow Chris on Twitter: @themorrancave
Russian SledgesThe Rose is where Keebler works, right?
Maybe we’ve been watching too much Olympic coverage, but we’ve got winter sports on the brain. And we’ve found that après-ski cocktails are delicious whether you’ve been carving up the slopes yourself or just enjoying the Super-G on television.
So tonight, after your last run of the day (or if you need a break from endless sappy montages), mix up the Quit N’ Time. The recipe was created for the 50th anniversary of the Park City Mountain Resort by its neighbor, High West Distillery & Saloon, which is right at the bottom of the mountain—in fact, at the end of a ski run called Quit N’ Time. The tipple is a combination of rye whiskey and hot spiced lemonade: the perfect way to cap an evening.
For a hot drink with a bit more kick, go with the aptly named Howitzer. This steamy combo of cognac, bourbon and red wine gets an extra jolt from spicy cinnamon syrup. It’s one of several warm beverages on the winter menu at The Rose in Jackson, Wyo., which was launched by Alex Day and David Kaplan, the talented duo from New York’s Death & Company and a host of other notable watering holes around the world.
If you want a beverage with dessert, try celebrity mixologist Kim Haasarud’s decadent S’more Snow Martini (pictured above) that calls for chilled hot chocolate, dark crème de cocoa, Baileys Irish Cream, vodka and toasted miniature marshmallows. Haasarud is, appropriately, one of the producers of the Après Ski Cocktail Classic in Aspen. (This year’s edition takes place next month.)
So come in from the cold and fix one of these concoctions now.
Contributed by High West Distillery & Saloon
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION:
Add both ingredients to a mug and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
*Spiced Lemonade
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION:
Add the sugar, lemon, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean and 16 ounces of water to a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour. Strain, and measure the volume of the mixture. Stir in equal volumes of lemon juice and additional water.
Contributed by The Rose
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION:
Add all the ingredients except the water to a mug and stir to combine. Top with the water and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
*To make Cinnamon Syrup, simmer 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 2 cinnamon sticks for an hour. Strain before using.
Contributed by Kim Haasarud
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION:
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake, and strain into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish with 3 to 4 miniature marshmallows and toast with a crème brûlée torch if desired.
This recipe was served at the 2013 Apres Ski Cocktail Classic.
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from  ryan panos.
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Fort Boyard, the Useless “Stone Vessel” | Socks Studio
Located in a sea bay between Aix and Oléron Island (La Rochelle, France), Fort Boyard is a stone building conceived as an artificial island, originally built to protect the harbours of Aix Island (Île-d’Aix) and Rochefort. Due to the limited ballistic artillery range in the late 17th century, the site was seen as a gap in the line of defense which the fort should have filled.
Fort Boyard is oval-shaped, 68 metres (223 ft) long and 31 m (102 ft) wide. At the centre is a yard enclosed by walls 20 m high: on the ground floor the tickness of the walls is carved by stores and quarters, while the upper floors are occupied by casemates for guns and mortars. The first floor also houses the services, kitchens and canteens, the entrance to the guardroom, a police room and the latrines. Four sets of stairs connect the different floors. The façade on the interior yard is composed by three superposed floor of arcades, while on the exterior the fortified wall is only pierced by embrasures for the cannons. The language of the building, with its oval shape and the disposition of the exterior embrasures, seems inspired by the image of a 17th century vessel. For this peculiarity the fort is sometimes referred to as the “vaisseau de pierre” (stone vessel).
Russian Sledgesvia rosalind
send me a globe, please
Russian Sledgesvia rosalind
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Russian SledgesI am very uncomfortable with this
