I make my own bread, cakes, and cupcakes from scratch.
They taste better than store-bought and I can make my own for a fraction of the cost.
Whenever I have leftover coffee (instant or ground) I add a tablespoon or two to chocolate cake, rye bread, or wheat bread batter. The coffee adds a lot of flavor to the finished product and the coffee doesn’t go to waste.
2. Freeze bananas
I’ve never liked the taste of overly ripe bananas, but I can use them in cooking.
When I notice a banana is mostly brown, I peel it, put it in a plastic bag, and toss it in the freezer.
Later I’ll use it to make banana bread or add it to cake batter as a substitute for eggs. (Yes, it really works.)
3. Scrub pans with Coke
If you have a 2-liter of Coke going flat, dump it in a burned pan before you toss the bottle.
Coke can actually pull those blackened burn marks off of sauce pans.
Add enough to cover the mark, boil the Coke inside the pan, and wash as normal.
There's a press release making the rounds on the internet this afternoon saying that London police have arrested famed graffiti artist Banksy and revealed his identity.
Don't believe it — the whole thing seems to be a hoax.
We just placed a call to London's Metropolitan Police, who confirmed that the Banksy is still safely under cover.
And there are no reports about the alleged arrest on BBC or CNN, which both supposedly covered the story according to the press release on PRLog.
Tellingly, the contact address for the release is an email address at the domain name www.iywib.com, a humor site (it's currently down).
We have to give the writer some credit, though — the details in the press release are pretty specific. It claims that Banksy is Paul William Horner, a 39-year old male born in Bristol, England.
And it says that he's "currently being held without bail on charges of vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering and counterfeiting."
While the press release seems confined to Twitter for the moment, a few publications seem to have fallen for the hoax.
While the rumor swirls around often, this time it may be true. Banksy was supposedly arrested yesterday in London under charges of vandalism and counterfeiting. He has been revealed as Paul Horner, a 39-year-old male born in Bristol, England.
He is said to be currently held without bail. We will report more details as they are revealed.
You don't need a passport to go on a memorable vacation this year.
Travel experts have ranked the top U.S. vacation spots for 2013, and the list includes a dizzying array of options, from spectacular northern lights in Alaska to the gorgeous beaches of tropical islands.
No matter which destination you choose, you can make it easier on the wallet with tried-and-true travel tricks such as "flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Those are slow days," says Clem Bason, president of the travel site Hotwire.com.
And reserve hotels and cars early, then rebook if you see a lower price.
If the initial price tag looks daunting, "Look at all the expenses, and see where you can save," says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com.
"The airfare might cost a lot, but you might be able to save by booking a house instead of a hotel or eating meals in. And if you have your heart set on a certain time or destination, book early."
Here are a few prime U.S. vacation spots to inspire your 2013 travels.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tenn., is getting a lot of attention these days, thanks to the television show of the same name.
But look beyond TV to the real city, and you'll find a "confluence of music, food and fashion," Bason says. Chefs, fashion designers and musicians are flocking to Nashville because it's an affordable city for startups, making it a "hot spot for live music, new restaurants and one-of-a-kind clothing boutiques. It's guaranteed to be a good time."
In 2013, Nashville is christening a new Johnny Cash Museum and the new 16-acre Music City Center as well as several new hotels, which means you might be able to score a deal on a luxury room, Banas says. "Hotels often offer low introductory rates to show off their new properties."
Nashville's food, hotels and entertainment are overall more affordable than similar experiences in larger cities such as New York, Bason says. "You won't pay out the ears during your visit."
Fairbanks, Alaska
This year, the aurora borealis is reaching the peak of an 11-year upswing in activity, and Fairbanks, Alaska, is a good place to view it.
The northern lights "are a Taj Mahal or a Great Wall of China," says Robert Reid, U.S. travel editor of the website Lonely Planet.
"Seeing them should be on everyone's bucket list. It's the best fireworks show in the world."
Fairbanks offers an excellent vantage point for about 240 days out of the year, especially in late summer when the daylight isn't as strong, Reid says.
But, there's more to do in Fairbanks than just sky watch. You can partake in the Great Fairbanks Pub Paddle, a bar crawl by kayak up the Chena River; take in a dog sled race; or sample local Native American Athabascan cuisine at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.
"It's not cheap to get there, but it's worth it," Reid says of Fairbanks.
Florida
The state of Florida is rolling out the red carpet in 2013 in honor of the state's 500th anniversary.
Juan Ponce de Leon first set foot in the Sunshine State in 1513, near St. Augustine, while searching for the Fountain of Youth.
The fountain has yet to be discovered, but "There are special events planned across the state to celebrate, all year long," Banas says. VivaFlorida.org is "the one-stop shop for event listings."
In addition to heritage trails, historic sites and cultural events, "The space shuttle Atlantis will go on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and Universal Studios is opening its new Transformers ride next summer," Banas says.
"Florida has beaches, theme parks, historic sites, (baseball) spring training, and it's affordable. There are so many low-cost flight and hotel options, and you don't need a passport to have a tropical vacation."
Live and Let's Fly has been silent the last three days as I weighed how I wanted to cover what happened to me on a United Airlines flight from Newark to Istanbul last week.
The situation was both traumatizing and highly embarrassing and I wanted to ensure that I had ample time to consider what transpired before hurling any accusations or failing to understand the other side.
But frankly, the more I replay the incident in my mind, the more certain I become that I was wronged. Here's my story:
Last Thursday I was scheduled to fly from Newark to Istanbul on United's direct flight. The 767-300 was outfitted in a two-cabin configuration, staffed by a legacy United crew, and I had been upgraded to business class. It was my first time on this reconfigured aircraft and my first longhaul in the Continental BusinessFirst seat. Naturally, I wanted to provide a review for you.
As I settled into my seat, I pulled out my iPhone to take a few pictures of the seat. When I held the phone at forehead level to take the picture below, a flight attendant came running over and told me that I could not take any pictures of the cabin. She referenced this section of the Hemispheres magazine:
I looked at the FA, smiled, but said nothing, putting my iPhone away. To be clear, I did not take any more pictures—not a single one. Meanwhile, another passenger was taking pictures behind the curtain and the FA ran over to him and demanded that he stop as well. This passenger had a lively discussion with the FA, though I did not hear the resolution.
Naturally, the FA's warning bothered me and I felt the need to explain myself. I signaled for her to come back and asked her to hang my coat. I then said this verbatim—
"I want you to understand why I was taking pictures. I hope you didn't think I was a terrorist. Here is my business card [offering her one]. I write about United Airlines on an almost-daily basis and the folks at United in Chicago are even aware of my blog."
She took my jacket but refused to take my business card saying, "No, that's okay," then saying, "I did not know that" after I explained my reason for taking pictures. I again emphasize, I took no more pictures.
A few minutes later a Global Services rep came onboard and asked to have a word with me, motioning for me to follow him. As I walked up front, I noticed the FA who had reprimanded me earlier ducked into the front galley and out of sight.
He was direct—"The captain is not comfortable with you on this flight. You'll need to gather your things and we'll find another way to get you to Istanbul." I was flabbergasted. My first thought was that they had the wrong passenger—they must have wanted the passenger who was arguing.
The GS rep stepped into the galley, around the corner, and asked the FA to verify it was me. She leaned forward, our eyes briefly meant, then she quickly hid herself again. Yes, she meant me.
I asked to speak to the captain—surely this was a ridiculous misunderstanding. The GS rep would not let me approach the flight deck but offered to talk to the captain on my behalf. He stepped into the cockpit for a few minutes and a few minutes later the captain emerged. He would not look me in the eyes as we spoke.
Captain: Sir, you are not flying on this flight.
Me: Can you tell me why?
Captain: My FA tells me she told you to stop taking pictures and you continued to take pictures.
Me: That's a lie, captain. She told me stop taking pictures and I stopped. I did try to explain to her why I was taking pictures—I am a travel writer [I offered him one of my business cards and he too refused to accept it].
Captain: Look, I don't care. You are not flying on this flight. You can make this easy or make this difficult. We'll call the police if we have to.
Me: Why are you threatening me? Your FA is lying—I did not disobey any crewmember instruction.
Captain: Look, we're already late. I'd advise you to get off this plane now. Make it easy on yourself. Don't make us bring the police in. Goodbye.
Me: Wait. Captain, may I have one of your business cards?
Captain: I don't have any, but United will have no trouble finding me. My name is...[removed].
With that, he turned and retreated back into the flight deck, with the female first officer looking on.
I looked at the GS rep and shook my head. I walked back to my seat, opened the overhead bin, and retrieved my garment bag and rollerboard. There were whispers throughout the business class and Economy Plus cabins as I made the walk of shame down the aisle.
Again, I was asked to step off the aircraft and said, "Just as soon as I get my coat back." The only FA who knew which coat was mine was still hiding somewhere, so she had to be found in order to retrieve my coat. I never saw her again.
As I walked down the jetway and back into the terminal, I remarked, "I want you to note that I was cooperative in your report and that the FA lied about me taking further pictures."
The GS rep was very understanding, said he sided with me and claimed that he had done his best to make my case to the flight crew, but they "jointly decided" I would not fly. I had a connection in Istanbul that I would now miss—there was no way to get me into Istanbul in time to make my connecting flight to Baku on a separate ticket.
We began working on alternative arrangements that would preserve my upgrade to business class to Istanbul. Because of the sold-out cabins on many routes and my desire to have a decent rest (i.e., not just fly to London or Barcelona with five hours of sleep), I was ultimately rebooked to fly to Istanbul via Washington and Kuwait City, with the final segment on Turkish Airlines in economy class. But I had to buy a new ticket to Baku, which set me back another $225. I won't blame United for that, but this situation comes down to one glaring problem:
The FA lied. Yes, she outright lied about me, falsely stating that I flouted her order and continued to take pictures. The blame lies almost entirely with her. I'll return to her in a moment.
The captain was unprofessional and weak—he could not even look me in the eyes when he spoke to me and he was not at all interested in what I had to say. I believe I am being quite charitable to say I understand his considerations. The problem boiled down to a "he-said, she-said" situation and I don't begrudge the captain for trusting a member of his flight crew over me. But he also no interest in getting to the bottom of what happened; he just wanted to get the flight underway. And the condescending and downright nasty way he spoke to me is no way to talk to anyone, let alone a 1K who has held elite status on United for one decade.
But the true culprit is the FA here. Even though the 9/11 attacks were over a decade ago, maybe I should have never used the word terrorist in my explanation. Maybe the FA was not used to a passenger defending his action. But whatever the case may be, nothing can justify the fact that this FA lied about me.
Even if I give her the absolute benefit of the doubt—that though I did not take any more pictures she genuinely feared I would be a safety threat to the flight—that does not give her license to state mistruth that impugns my character. And if she was indeed scared of me, how pitiful is that? Indeed, the terrorists have won when 11.5 years after the attacks U.S. citizens are scared of a camera onboard an airplane.
This was not an issue of privacy—the real impetus behind United's onboard photography guidelines above. You can see that the picture of my seat did not compromise anyone's privacy. Instead, I believe the FA simply could not fathom why I would want to take pictures of my seat and therefore deemed me a security threat and lied in order to get me off the airplane.
Not only did this episode publicly defame me, it made me question my loyalty to United. I'm not some kettle traveler making a baseless loyalty claim. Regular readers know that I am extremely loyal to United Airlines, fly them often and almost exclusively, write about them even more often, and have accrued nearly 950,000 lifetime flight miles with United—I'll be a 26 year old million miler flyer later in the year.
I have no regrets about this incident (other than not being able to take the flight). I did nothing wrong and the FA who lied about me should be held to account by United. Surely, a liar is more of a security threat than a passenger who wants to take a picture of his seat.
United has not been contacted yet, but I will send them a copy of this story. I welcome an investigation into this incident and encourage my seatmate or any of those seated around me on the flight to chime in should you come across this story. I have nothing to hide other than my humiliation for being thrown off a flight on the pretense of a mistruth.
We understand traveling is not cheap, trust us. That's why when there is some sort of deal we like to share the love with our readers.
This one comes from a land far off, but we have to say it's worth the trip.
The not-so-little airport in the not-so-little country of Singapore has made it easier to get a few more stamps in your passport and see the world with the Changi Travel Program.
This program is intended to make it more appealing to transit through the mega-hub airport. Launched late last year, it means the airport will provide a little cash for you to explore the airport and fill your belly or just relax with a bubble-tea in one of those massage chairs.
For travelers transiting through the airport on Singapore Airlines or Silk Air, you can acquire $20 Changi Dollar Vouchers good for airport concessions.
The CDVs are valid for one-time use at more than 450 retail, food and service outlets in the transit and public areas of Terminals 1, 2 and 3. You can even redeem your 'cash' for entry to the Ambassador Transit Lounge at Terminals 2 and 3 for a quick shower or a bite to eat in between flights. We're just not sure if you can trade in the voucher for a trip down the slide. All you have to do is pop by the information desks in Terminal 2 or 3 to collect the vouchers.
But wait, there's more; from now until June 31, 2013, you can get double the amount of money, valued at $40. Score! Best of all, these vouchers have almost a one year expiration date, so if you find yourself connecting at Singapore a lot, stock up and make your future flights even more enjoyable.
Nicole Snooki Polizzi, of MTV's "Jersey Shore" fame, is selling her Escalade on eBay.
The SUV looks just like what anyone familiar with Snooki's television personality would expect.
The 2011 EXT Luxury pickup has just 6,295 miles on the odometer. The black exterior has been wrapped in a faux reptile skin and spiced up with a lot of hot pink touches.
Snooki also added leopard print mats, and even signed the hood in pink.
According to the eBay listing, the seller is a family friend of Snooki's. The auction will close Sunday evening, and bidding is already up to $68,100.
Head to eBay for more details, photos, and to place a bid.
This brand new 1,896-square-foot Seattle home is a modernist’s dream. With slab quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and clean lines throughout, the house makes a bold, modern statement.
Small-town living is at its finest with this 2,434-square-foot Placerville home. The custom traditional design has high-quality finishes including granite counters and Brazilian cherry floors, as well as a energy-efficient stucco exterior and tile roof.
Salt Lake City winters are out of a storybook with this quintessential cape cod. Arched doorways lead to a cozy living room and fireplace, as well as an updated kitchen with cream finishes and a tiled back splash. The bathroom has also been newly renovated with wainscoting and double sinks.
Secluded on a wooded acre, this Indianapolis estate spans 4,323 square feet. With a third-floor bonus room, large attic, sun room and finished basement, there is no wasted space. The kitchen also provides a large common area with high-end appliances, solid-wood cabinets and an expansive granite island.
Mickleton, NJ
43 Forage Dr, Mickleton, NJ For sale: $450,000 Ten windows and a craftsman porch greet visitors of this contemporary ranch-style home. Five bedrooms and 3 baths, as well as a finished basement, make the house suitable for large family get-togethers. An in-ground saltwater pool is also perfect for summer entertaining.
What's it like in paradise these days? It's a good question to ask in the dark days of winter, especially since I am currently in a position to give a tentative answer. Did I say that I have been in New Zealand for a month and that the summer there, often as unreliable as our own, has been terrific this January and February? We encountered only one wet day in a month.
It sounds pretty good and it was. But as the poetic paradise specialist John Milton could have predicted – he was a young man when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman first encountered the Maori "land of the long white cloud" in 1642 – paradise has its problems too. Many of them are much like ours. It's a point worth making during a cold European February in the fifth year of economic gloom.
Of course, some things are peculiar to New Zealand, slightly larger than Britain but with a population of just 4.4 million. There are blood-sucking sandflies (yet not a single predator that kills humans) and regular earthquakes, occasionally lethal like Christchurch's double hit. The shattered city centre is still boarded up like a war zone, though downtown shops have reopened in portable buildings.
On the remote South Island beach where we attended a family wedding, there was a tsunami warning a few days after we left. Possums, a preserved species 900 miles away in Australia, are regarded as vermin in New Zealand to which they were exported (and where they thrived). Thanks to the Kiwi film director Peter Jackson, Hobbits are a more popular import. The Middle Earth location site is now a tourist attraction.
As for relations between whites and Maoris (14% of the population) they are complex and can sometimes be tense. Yet the latter have a more prominent and secure place in the life and culture of their shared country than any pre-Columbian native people that comes to mind elsewhere. Where else are ex-colonialist whites content to refer to themselves as pakeha, the word the Maoris use? In any case, it may be Asians – 9.2% of the population and a growing chunk of the tourist market – who most shape the country's long-term future in the coming Pacific century. It must look very green, warm and attractive to Japanese and Chinese tourists. Empty, too.
But NZ's similarities with our own north Atlantic archipelago are also striking. The day I arrived, the New Zealand Herald's spread of stories included a plea for Pharmac, the Kiwi equivalent of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, to sanction use of a costly new miracle drug and a boast by the conservative prime minister, John Key, that his move to weaken trade union bargaining rights had clinched the deal to film The Hobbit locally (along with a controversial cash subsidy). The edition also noted rising concern over luxury house prices and a simmering culture war over gay marriage. Sounds familiar?
David Cameron's EU referendum pledge also got a decent show – for old times' sake. New Zealand is still far more British – and less American – than Australia, but the old ties have steadily weakened since the UK joined the embryonic EU in 1973 and forced NZ to look to wider agricultural markets in Asia and to economic diversification. It has tackled the challenge with serious ups and downs but overall success. New Zealand is a much more outward-looking and sophisticated place than it was.
In my experience you never see poverty in New Zealand as you might in poorer neighbourhoods in the US or Europe. Mainly Maori towns have a subdued quality (says me) and health and education, income and crime stats all point to lower achievement. But it's not Detroit or even Tower Hamlets. This remains an unflashy society, basically decent, social democratic in tone, one which gave women the right to vote in 1893 – the first country to do so in modern times – and pioneered many social reforms. It also reversed some of them in the 80s.
International studies today confirm that even self-consciously egalitarian societies such as New Zealand and France (where women got the vote in 1944) are not immune to global trends towards social and economic inequality. Swimming on one of NZ's wide sandy beaches – you can often get one to yourself – the visitor can't help but notice how grand some of the second homes are now becoming. What were once simple wooden huts – known locally as baches – are now transformed into three-storey mansions, self-consciously glamorous.
The flip side of this is a coalition of unions and community groups campaigning for a "living wage" of NZ$18.40 an hour which, at current exchange rates of around $2 to the pound (it was $3 last time I was there) is around £27,000 a year for a couple with two children. Although the country is an efficient food producer Kiwi food does not feel cheap. Nor does its lovely wine. Unemployment is slightly lower than in the UK, but a lot of kids grow up poor.
I could go on, but won't. You get my drift. There's a row over the exemption of charter schools from freedom of information requests, another over perceived weakening of the country's "clean, green" environmental standards, so important to Hobbit-seeking tourists. The rising dollar – NZ is another of those elusive "safe havens" for foreign savings – hurts exports and investment. "We can't grow more agricultural land," one farmer reminded me.
Mainzeal, the third biggest construction firm in the country, has just gone into administration, the victim of overambitious financial engineering by a Chinese-Kiwi owner and of a string of carelessly sealed flat roofs which have generated crippling bills for leak repairs in major buildings. It's not always sunny in paradise; it's often very wet indeed. And it was design and construction flaws in the local TV building that accounted for more than half the 185 deaths in the Christchurch earthquake.
Did I mention the Royal NZ Navy depending on Australian sailors – "cobbers" to Kiwi headline writers – to keep afloat? Or overcharging by telecom monopolies in both countries, which governments threaten to tackle, as governments do? I don't think I mentioned NovoPay, the newly computerised system which has wreaked havoc with Kiwi teachers' payslips for months. And there's familiar concern about stabbings, muggings and murders; 12 killings so far this year – which is a lot among 4.4 million people.
None of which detracted from the family wedding at a hippie-ish place called Gentle Annie on the "wild west" coast north of Greymouth where the Pike river mine disaster cost 29 miners' lives in 2010. Most of the 120 wedding guests were outdoor types who arrived in 4x4 vehicles with surfboards, rafts, kayaks, kids and dogs, even a pony with its own portable electric fence.
They camped, swam, fished and celebrated, then left much as Bedouin tribesmen might. Lovely. The bridegroom, a thoughtful mining geologist and migrant from Clay Cross in Derbyshire, drew my attention to dark smoke emanating from the nearby coalfields which feed China's voracious steel industry. There's been a fire raging underground there for 40 years, he explained.
Even in a remote corner of paradise, the finger of global pollution disfigures the blue sky.
Sometimes even the Masters of the Universe need their own sanctuary from the high-flying world of Wall Street.
Enter Manhattan's exclusive members-only clubs.
No, we're not talking about the ones behind the velvet ropes. We're talking about the ones you might not even notice when you walk by.
These hideaways, which tend to come with steep fees and require an invite to join, can offer members a place to dine, relax and hangout. They have some pretty sweet amenities, too.
Many of these clubs prohibit business meetings and the use of cellphones, offering a reprieve from the work day. Others aren't as strict on conducting business.
We've selected 10 of the city's most exclusive clubs and detailed why they would be ideal for the Wall Street crowd.
Getting into the club is up to you.
Angler's Club
Location: 101 Broad Street (Financial District)
About: The club was established in 1906 by members of the fly-fishing community.
Amenities: The 2,500-square-foot downtown club headquarters features a private 65-seat dining room. The club serves lunches daily for members and guests Monday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to "Forbes,"the club has "perhaps the best angling library in the world."
Dress code: Jackets required.
For The Street:Not only is the club's headquarters located in the heart of the Financial District just blocks from the exchange, but some pretty impressive Wall Streeters have been spotted there including hedge fund legend Paul Tudor Jones, Blackstone's president Hamilton "Tony" James and Silver Lake Partners co-founder Glenn Hutchins.
Membership: In 2011, DNAInfo reported that the club has ~600 members from around the world. Those fly-fishing enthusiasts who want to join have to be invited to the club through introduction of a current member. While women are allowed to visit and be employed by the club, they're reportedly not allowed to be card-carrying members.
About: This elite club — which was founded in 1999 by former Westinghouse Broadcasting exec Susan Stautberg — has been described as the female version of the famous male-only Bohemian Club in San Francisco, California. These ladies, who tend to be in their 50s and 60s, are said to be the top leaders in technology, finance, media, law and retail. As the "The New York Times" put it, the Belizean Grove is "becoming what could be considered the world’s ultimate old girls’ club."
Amenities: How about some awesome trips? These ladies convene either in Central or South America for four-day meetings.
Dress code: Unknown.
For The Street: These so-called Grovers are said to have done deals together and helped each other join corporate boards, according to the "The New York Times." Also, top execs from various companies,including Goldman Sachs, are said to be members of this exclusive group.
Membership: It's for women only. The NYTimes reported there are ~125 members. New members are reportedly chosen by current members and then they're taken to meetings with a membership committee and they get assigned a "big sister." Also, only one person from a company can join the exclusive group.
About: As "The New York Times" put it, "At the Core Club, members have things more unusual in common than Mayflower bloodlines or shared memories of freshman year at Deerfield." Basically, the Core Club is for the ultra-wealthy.
Amenities: The Core Club has its own restaurant, terrace, bar, lounge and private dining room. As a member you can have access to speakers, rare art and artists, a satellite office that you can expense, a spa, salon & barber, fitness studio and a screening room. You also get the keys to some sick sports cars the club rents for its members every year.
Dress code: While most other clubs maintain strict dress codes, the Core Club allows its members to wear jeans if they choose.
For The Street: Chances are at the Core Club you'll be able to rub elbows with the likes of Steve Schwarzman and you might get the chance to meet the best financiers in the world, like George Soros, Woody Johnson, and Carl Icahn, who spoke to club members last year. The late Bruce Wasserstein and the late Ted Forstmann were both members. Perhaps another reason it's ideal for the Street is that unlike most other dining/social clubs, you can actually use your electronic devices and hold business meetings.
Membership: The cost is a $50,000 initiation fee and $15,000 a year to join.
In 1990, there were only 7,000 hard copy images of child porn in the United Kingdom, according to non-profit group NSPCC.
Today there are hundreds of millions of digital images of child porn on the Internet accessible to people around the world.
This radical development means that more children are being abused than ever, with a growing number from the third world and a growing number who are misled into filming themselves with webcams.
Even more shocking is what this implies about the number of people who look at child porn.
"The inhibitions are too few, especially if men are in a room by themselves - it's too easy," he said.
"We need to be asking what is the male psychology that makes them view this imagery? It's not just a few sick men, it's a much larger number.
"As a society we haven't got our heads around that, we need to recognise this and have a rational and sensible conversation rather than see them as monsters or beasts."
That's why some people are looking for new approaches to the problem, such as warnings on the Internet to discourage people who search for child porn and counseling to stop repeat offenders.
"We have to recognise the limited potential of law enforcement to fully deal with this problem," Donald Findlater from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity, tells the BBC.
Life in urban South Africa is so synonymous with crime and fear that a 90-acre gated community like Silver Woods Country Estate can seem like a paradise. Sprawling and secure compound living is prized as a crime-free, alternate version of South Africa.
Silver Woods, as it is known, located in a suburb east of Pretoria, is where Oscar Pistorius resided, and where, on Valentine’s Day, the sports and cultural icon shot and killed his girlfriend in a bathroom off their bedroom. The compound wasn't as safe from crime, it seems, as Mr. Pistorius might have thought.
The case of the gun-wielding double-amputee known as the “Blade Runner,” who made history in the recent London Olympics by sprinting on fiber carbon struts instead of legs, has brought a focus to the elite Afrikaner world of the rich and famous that Pistorius inhabited, a world not far from violence yet lived in comfort.
Today a South African court granted bail to Pistorius at $113,000, saying his fame meant he was not a flight risk. The court said his trial would commence in early June. Family members of Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend and victim, were in court for the first time today.
But magistrate Desmond Nair, after initial cheers from Pistorius supporters, said the sprint star may not return to his Silver Woods abode, and must turn over his passport and guns, and eschew alcohol in the runup to the trial.
Silver Woods is protected by high walls, electric fencing, security guards, laser sensors, biometric “thumbprint” locks, all overseen by closed-circuit cameras. Cars of choice at Silver Woods: Jaguars and BMW X5s.
It is a zone of large mansions, huge chandeliers, golf and tennis, servants brought in by special trolley – the kind of place that has mushroomed in post-apartheid South Africa, as mostly whites left South African cities.
Brentwood South
If Pistorius is the OJ Simpson of modern South Africa, Silver Woods is its Brentwood, the high-end Los Angeles suburb formerly inhabited by the US football and movie star found not guilty of killing his wife.
Garth Jager, director of Garnat Properties, the developer behind Silver Woods, said residents of the estate are more aware of crime than the average South African, a powerful assertion considering how crime-conscious the country is.
“They want security more than anything else. They want to build and live in a safe environment,” Jager said.
“One of the biggest perks sold to us is the ability to live in a crime free space. Meaning you can walk, you can run, you can be out at night and not be concerned,” says a former resident of a nearby gated community, Silver Lake, at first wrongly identified by media as the location of the Pistorius home.
“It’s the kind of stuff the average South African yearns for, the ability to do these kind of things and not be concerned about safety issues,” says the resident, who asked not to be named.
Security and safety became prominent issues in bail hearings this week as Pistorius unveiled his version of the killing of Ms. Steenkamp, saying he shot into a closed bath fearing an intruder. In the unstated parlance of South Africa, many analysts argue that Pistorius was alluding to a robber that was likely black.
One consistent fact about the South African security estates: almost all the residents are white.
“If you drive around as a black person in a car—and I’ll be brutally honest—people wonder why you’re there,” the former resident of Silver Lake says. “Not to justify it but you also have to look at the fact that the affluent of Pretoria are mostly white.”
She said that in her estate, the residents were made up of a combination of South Africans, mostly Afrikaners, and expatriate workers for multinational companies who have offices in Pretoria.
While some black people, such as the woman interviewed, do live in security estates, they are often a minority of a minority, as most blacks are servants or security guards.
Travel can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can pay for.
However, it can also be one of the most expensive.
Fortunately, there are ways to cut costs so you can afford your dream vacation.
Read on for some of the best tips to save on the upfront costs of your next trip.
Flash Deal Sites
If you already have several destinations in mind, then check out travel flash sale sites, which can save you hundreds of dollars! Here are a couple to browse through.
Check Out Underrated Places
Try up-and-coming cities for some of the best deals. Big cities like New York, Rome, San Francisco, and London are always popular, but other places that may not make the rock-star list often offer you more bang for your buck.
Cruise Deals
If you’re planning on stopping by a lot of locations, then take a look at some cruise deals. It may be cheaper to travel by boat with an all-inclusive deal. That way, you may be saving on additional airfare, lodging, ground transportation, and meals.
Use Your Memberships
Check with your organizations to see what kind of travel discounts they offer. Some to consider include AAA, the AARP, or warehouse clubs like Costco. Get discounts on your flight, hotel, and even your planned activities like visits to amusement parks.
Cancel Within 24 Hours
If you change your mind on traveling, then cancel your plane ticket within 24 in order to get your money back without penalties.
Price Predictor
Use tools like Bing’s Price Predictor feature to see if the ticket price is predicted to drop or rise. The tool even gives a “confidence” percentage in its evaluation for a better gauge of accuracy. A third-party audit has found that the Price Predictor works 75 percent of the time.
Book Unpopular Times
It goes without saying that booking unpopular flight times, such as with red-eyes, weekdays, or off-season periods, will garner better prices. Travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays also tends to be cheaper.
Use the Right Travel Credit Card
Signing up for a credit card that will give you great travel rewards would be worth considering. Before doing so, keep in mind that you should only charge what you can realistically pay off soon.
That said, if you know you can pay off what you owe, then travel reward credit cards will be a neat way of earning free flights and hotel stays. Here are some good options.
Currency Exchange
When you're in a foreign country, you can get some of the best currency rates by swiping your credit card or withdrawing money from a local ATM with a debit card.
Go City Card
Research to see if the Go City Card will save you money. It's available in nine US cities and lets you visit selected attractions for free for a fee. It's worth getting if the attractions you are planning on visiting are on the Go City Card's list.
Buy Your Tickets at the Right Time
The best times to buy your tickets are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. More specifically Tuesday at 3 p.m. EST. Don't buy your tickets on the weekends, as they are the most expensive then.
Lock Down Your Seat
If you don't want to commit, some airlines give you the option of holding your seats; Continental lets you hold it for 24 hours and allows you to cancel without penalties. You can also lock down the fare for three or seven days, but it comes with a $5 or $9 fee depending on your chosen time frame.
Track the Prices
If you buy your ticket early, then be sure to track it on Yapta.com to see if the price changes. Yapta will send you an email alert when it finds that you can change your ticket without taking a loss on rebooking fees.
Book Through the Airline
Oftentimes it's better to book through the airline so you'll be able to to see all the hidden fees that are not necessarily revealed through a booking website. You can also sometimes find deals that are only available on the airline's website.
Pick the Right Site
There are some companies like Orbitz that will refund the difference to you if you find a lower rate on a ticket on another site. Research the different travel sites and see which one offers a similar service. After you buy your ticket, keep looking at other sites to see if the ticket price goes down.
Check the Hotel Site
Oftentimes, third-party sites don't show many specials that are featured on hotel sites. Check both the hotel and the third-party site before booking the best deal.
Airbnb
Fancy a stay with a homey feel? Check out Airbnb.com, a site where individuals rent out their rooms or house to travelers. I found some pretty great deals on the site, with discounted pricing on rooms situated in prime locales. The multiple pictures will give you a good idea of what the rooms look like, and if you're still a bit hesitant, there are plenty user-generated reviews for you to check out.
Couch Surfing
Want to not spend any money on your lodgings? Explore CouchSurfing.org, a volunteer-based network in which you can crash on someone's couch for free. It's a great little community that may enrich your travel experience, because your couch-surfing pal might show you some of the local sights. What better way to view the city than through the eyes of a local?
Bonus: you might even make a lifelong friend!
Show Your Loyalty
Becoming a loyal member of a hotel chain will get you lots of benefits, such as discounted prices, better service, and the ability to collect reward points toward a free hotel stay. And if you play your "I'm a loyal member" card and negotiate, then you can even get a full refund on your money when you cancel your stay. I've had to do that a couple times and saved a ton of money in doing so.
Check out the local Craigslist for short-term vacation rentals, but be careful! People who don't their homework can end up forking over cash to a scammer for a vacation rental and not seeing any of it back. Read these safety tips by Craigslist, and try to have a friend check out the place before you send them money.
Hostels
Trim off travel costs by staying at a hostel, and spend about $15 to $35 a night. A popular place to find hostels is hihostels.com. Hostels have evolved from their traditional image, and some of the choices on the website even include private rooms for couples, families, or groups of friends.
If you're a first-timer, then be sure to prep yourself before the trip by remembering to bring things like shower slippers and ear plugs.
Negotiate Hotel Rates
Don't just call it a night at any price. If you're refraining from making reservations before your trip, then try to negotiate a lower rate for your room when you pull in for the evening. You'll find the most success at accommodations with several noticeable open spaces in the parking lot.
Boutique Hotels
Boutique hotels can offer a great price, but be sure to do your research properly, because they can be just as costly and swanky as the higher-end chain hotels. You can check out Orbitz for boutique hotels such as Tablet Hotels, or you can comb through Google search results on your own by using the search terms "boutique hotel [insert city]." Be sure to check out Trip Advisor reviews to see what other people are saying, and if it's in another language, then use Google Translate!
Quote Your Price
You can try your luck and opt to blind book on sites like Priceline.com and Hotwire.com and pay for a room in an unknown hotel. The risk is, you won't be able to cancel or change your reservation after you find out which hotel it is.
Do some digging around on betterbidding.com or hoteldealsrevealed.com to see if there are any tips for improving your chances of getting the right hotel. These are forums focused on how to "game" Priceline and Hotwire sites.
Sign On to the Computer For Pretrip Activity Savings
Now I assume hope you regularly research prices of flights and hotels before booking, but what about activities? Along with the added perk of looking for reviews to determine whether a particular stop is a tourist trap or worth the money, you can also save money booking "big-ticket" items. Museums, theme parks, and other destinations often offer discounts for activities prebooked online because so many people don't do this and are willing to shell out more cash at the door.
Don't be this person, and thoroughly research your destination and activities. In addition to checking out the tourism board, my favorite place to stop is the website of the local paper or city magazine. Periodicals geared toward locals usually have reviews of newer places and upcoming events — sometimes even discounts, too!
Investigate Travel Insurance
You'll be charged anywhere from four to eight percent of the cost of your trip for insurance, but considering what's at stake, the extra money may be worth it to protect your inve
Get a Cheaper, Well-Researched Hotel Room
Using websites like Priceline could get you half-priced hotel rooms. That being said, shop smart! Playing up the best features with professional photos is the name of any hotel's aesthetics game, but stave off disappointment (and final sticker shock) by asking yourself these questions before booking a room.
Offering a great way to see and experience a different culture, a volunteer vacation can be an especially fulfilling way to spend time off. The concept's not for everyone — no four-star hotels or five-course meals, and there's service work involved, making it less of a "break" — but it can be an affordable way to travel somewhere exotic and truly experience the other location separate from the confines of any resort. Here's a helpful planning guide.
Travel Stateside on the Cheap by Setting Fare Alerts
If the best deals you find are still too pricey, then opt for a local vacation for now and postpone bigger travel plans for the location's off-season. Instead, use up some of that hard-earned PTO and take a fabulous staycation in your own city.
Stay in Neighboring Cities
There's a trend of travelers booking lodgings in the neighboring town of the actual city they are planning to tour. By doing so, you can save up to 40 percent off the usual rate.
But of course there are downsides to that strategy. Staying outside the tourist attractions will mean more time commuting, and you may have to rent a car if there isn't a good local public transportation system. Calculate those costs to see if staying in a neighboring city is worth it.
Find the Cheapest Gas For Your Road Trip
A road trip may cost less money than flying, but filling and refilling your tank still isn't cheap. Utilize websites like autos.msn or gasbuddy.com, which track the prices of gas and sort by zip code, in order to find the cheapest place to pump while you're on the road.
Redeem Miles Over the Phone
It's more effective to book travel with mileage points over the phone than online because for most airlines, you don't always get access to full inventory of award seats online.
Take Care of Your Car
Prepare your car for the road by inflating the tires with air. Filling them up will ultimately save you money on gas. Keeping your lead foot to a minimum will also help you get the most mileage from your tank of gas, and you're less likely to be stuck with a pricey speeding ticket.
Estimate Gas Costs Before You Go
When you're budgeting for your excursion, you must consider the inevitable cost of gas. Try using the AAA Fuel Cost Calculator to calculate the cost of your trip. The tool generates its calculations with average regional gas prices and the details you enter, including your starting city, destination, and your vehicle's make, year, and model. Because it uses regional prices, the calculation should be looked at as an estimate, but AAA does update the prices daily.
Pack a Cooler
Bring a full cooler along for the ride to save money and your waistline from too much fast food. But you'll need more than a bag of pretzels to get you by. Take ingredients to make sandwiches, containers with cut-up vegetables, fruit that doesn't require refrigeration (like bananas), and plenty of water.
Keep Your Receipts
When traveling with friends, it can be tedious to split every expense. If your group doesn't want to bother with exact numbers until the trip is over, then simply designate someone to hold on to all the receipts. That person should write down the name of the friend who paid to make it easier to calculate who owes what at the trip's end.
Your boss is caught in the act of "going at it" with a junior colleague, and it's perfectly acceptable.
That's the espionage division of the CIA, according to former clandestine operations officer Reuel Marc Gerecht, who wrote a piece forThe New Republic. For Gerecht, espionage is a loose culture, populated by "bottom feeders," and is better left alone if America wants good intelligence.
From the piece:
When I was in the agency, my colleagues were amused, occasionally disappointed, but never shocked when married officers were discovered cavorting with their secretaries or other co-workers at the office, in parking lots, hotels, and safe-houses—which, of course, are not supposed to be used for trysts. Case officers could get into trouble if their passions led them to keep foreign mistresses no one knew about. The agency maintained an important rule requiring employees to report continuing, meaningful romantic contact.
Historically speaking, Gerecht says, extramarital affairs aren't used as "leverage" against agents. If so, the Russians would have "riddled the Agency" with holes and exploitations.
Generally, Gerecht says, as long as agents are forthcoming with their colleagues, infidelity is not frowned upon — except, of course, in the case of lasting relationships with foreigners.
"Leave punishment for wayward officers to their husbands and wives," Gerecht writes indicating the Agency's generally acceptable stance toward the behavior.
But then there's David Petraeus:
The drama surrounding David Petraeus’s extramarital affair with Paula Broadwellcould change all that. Ever since the agency director’s resignation, a small army of pundits has taken to the airwaves, warning that infidelity could be exploited by foreign intelligence services and used against American officials.
We here at BI Military and Defense were part of that army:
The moment General Petraeus put himself into a position where his private behavior became something he needed to hide from the public — as stated in his resignation letter — he essentially put national security at risk. It's exactly the type of compromise which would put any government worker at immediate risk of losing a Top Secret clearance.
Granted our understanding of security clearances and punishment stems from the military, where adultery is a punishable offense (along the lines of a misdemeanor). Furthermore, Pateaus was a spook in that he worked for the CIA, but he wasn't really a spook.
He was a career military man with a background in military special operations.
From Gerecht:
Unlike the U.S. military post-Vietnam, where senior officers are supposed to be moral role models, the CIA—that is, the Clandestine Service, the engine room of espionage and covert action that has always defined the agency’s ethos—has been much more relaxed about these things.
It's easy to believe that romance, and short meaningless flings, are as much a part of espionage as tiny cameras. This isn't espionage though. This is a head of state. Not just post-Vietnam, but post-Lewinsky.
Following Petraeus' resignation, New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzler wrote an outstanding piece on former CIA head Allen Dulles, who had at least "a hundred" affairs between 1953 to 1961. Consequently, the narrative of Mad Men begins just after Dulles' retirement — relatively speaking, we can't possibly compare acceptable behavior in the workplace between these two periods (if so, I'd be smoking while I write this).
Washington Post writer Olga Khazan notes that very few security clearances have been revoked due to sexual behavior, mostly for criminal sexual misconduct and criminal records. Sexual trysts rarely justified suspending security clearance, she reports, as long as the trists are "fully mitigated by ‘passage of time without recurrence’ and the absence of any susceptibility to blackmail or coercion.”
CNNtalked to an unnamed official who said the FBI investigated Petraeus initially "to see if this relationship posed a potential security risk" — adding that there was no criminal wrongdoing, they just feared he might be "in a vulnerable spot."
And recently, the folks at SOFREP, a website run by and for the special operations community, reported in their e-book that people within the Agency wanted Petraeus out, and that they threatened to ruin him politically if he didn't step down.
Gerecht at least gives some indication of this risk:
The agency maintained an important rule requiring employees to report continuing, meaningful romantic contact. But there was a fair amount of flexibility built in—since operatives, not a sentimental lot, could keep a bed partner for some time and truthfully say that their lovers really didn’t mean all that much to them.
Unreal.
The CIA's espionage division is one thing, being a spy with a cover or a case officer in a foreign land, sure that's understandable — it's not just human, it's secretive information gathering. But infidelity in the workplace, especially if that workplace is in the military or in intelligence, handling Top Secret materials, or if you're a head of a clandestine agency, very much in the public eye, may be another.
Which would explain the Agency's rule of always disclosing an intramural relationship.
Gerecht sites numerous examples of why Americans betray their country — greed, ideology, etc. — and says it's unlikely to happen over a lover. Furthermore, he asks the nation not to set the FBI on more agents. After all, according to Gerecht, having espionage agents with loose morals makes for a stronger America.
From the piece:
Unlike soldiers, who have each other’s backs in battle, case officers build on both trust and deceit. And they work in a promotion system that often rewards intellectually dishonest operatives for making a mediocre new recruit seem like solid gold. This sort of thing tends to make officers jaded pretty quickly. Historically, prudes have rarely done well in the institution.
Gerecht's piece in The New Republic is truly awesome, please go read it for yourself. It's a window into a world most don't get to see.
It's no secret consumers have less cash to burn these days than ever before, but there are plenty of ways to save that don't require diving headfirst into a sales bin.
For some products, there's just no point paying full-price when you can find the same quality in a second-hand or used product.
Textbooks
Textbooks can cost upwards of $200 for some science courses and for a pre-medical student with a full class schedule that could mean dropping up to a grand on reading material — per semester.
Not only can you snap up used books at a fraction of the retail value but you can rent them as well.
Children's clothing
We wouldn't recommend going the used route on important items like car seats or strollers, but when it comes to clothing likely to get wrecked with smashed carrots anyway, there's no shame in browsing thrift shops or asking friends and family for hand-me-downs.
Check out Swapbabygoods.com if you don't have a lot of friends with kids the same age as yours and you're likely to save big.
Cars
Everyone loves that "new car" smell, but hear us out on this one.
The minute you drive a fresh car off the lot, its value drops by about 20 percent anyway. And after just five years, fuggedaboutit.
"A used car that's five years old can typically be about a third of the price of a new car, and the insurance is a lot less than it would be for a new car," according to Investing Answers.
Buying used cars is an economical choice, but you'll want to be weary of hitting the used car lot before doing your research. Sites likeKelley Blue Book are great places to get an idea of how much a used car should be worth.
But in the age of plenty that followed World War I, corporations countered the threat of overproduction with a manipulative psychological strategy.
"We must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture," wrote Paul Mazur of Lehman Brothers. "People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man's desires must overshadow his needs."
This conspiracy, enabled by new sophistication in advertising and ardently supported by the government, was shockingly effective.
For more on the origins of consumer culture, we turn to the BBC's excellent documentary, "Century Of Self."
American corporations were rich and powerful at the end of WW1, but they were worried about the danger of overproduction. What if there people acquired enough goods and simply stopped buying?
Everything from shoes to cars was promoted in functional terms, meant to appeal to a rational consumer.
Banker Paul Mazur of Lehman Brothers saw the way forward: "We must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man's desires must overshadow his needs."
THE MAN in the aisle seat was talking to me about the woman he liked to travel with. She would fly into JFK once a year and they would make their way to the West Coast; he would visit her home country of Iceland regularly and, when he wasn’t spending time with his in-laws, he’d spend it with her. He was silver-haired and silver-tongued. I wondered what his wife thought of this arrangement but did not bother asking. The middle seat in our row was empty and the color beyond the windows was a warm grey and it was the first time in 30 hours that I felt relaxed.
Four hours earlier…
Rooms like this don’t exist in American airports, not that I’ve seen anyway. A woman with two young children sits in the seat next to mine while the smaller baby wails and the larger baby uses the mother’s phone to play pop songs in a language I don’t recognize. The flight to Reykjavik is on time but time has begun to feel like a formality, just another something that gets lost in translation.
Six hours earlier…
I don’t have enough kroner to buy anything in the food court but I have two long flights ahead of me and I know well enough what options I’ll be left with if I don’t eat what I can now. I locate the most affordable kiosk and use my debit card and my American dollars to buy the Dutch version of American Japanese food. I cannot blame my stomach for how it reacts.
Ten hours earlier…
I hover my phone over a table that promises to charge the battery and a lot of nothing happens. I read the instructions over and over and think something is missing. I have the small suitcase sitting in my lap like a child and I grip the larger suitcase between my legs like a lover, like a something I’m terrified of losing. I arch my back downward until my head rests on my elbows, until my elbows rest on the tabletop. For the first time in 24 hours, I close my eyes and fall asleep.
Twelve hours earlier…
I am finally on the other side of the gate, which tells me I’ll be home soon. I walk through a large convenience store and buy chocolate bars for the boy who stayed up with me last night. I hope they don’t melt before I land in New York, even though January in Copenhagen / Iceland / New York makes that unlikely. Afterward I find a wide-open restaurant and order a continental breakfast. It’s the best thing I’ve tasted since landing in Denmark.
Fifteen hours earlier…
I am open to being pitied. It’s twelve or one or two in the American morning and the face of the boy I’m dating takes up the entirety of my computer screen. He tells me he’ll talk to me until I can pass through security and find a place to rest. My exhaustion causes me to speak in my own dialect. The airport is a ghost town but I still insist on sitting protectively on top of my suitcases, just in case, because even in my sleeplessness I am all too aware of my vulnerability.
Twenty hours earlier…
I watch as one man takes on the task of vacuuming the entire airport. He rides in precise, neat rows like a boy who’s grown too old to mow the lawn for a living.
Twenty-three hours earlier…
The only outlet I know of is in the rear corner of a Burger King. I set my suitcases down and make a temporary home for myself. The Danish Burger King has apples or carrots or some other healthy and surprising something. I ignore this and instead drink beer for so long that I grow sober again. I wish to make the most of this experience — to meet a stranger, to make a friend — but when an English-speaking man sits down next to me and makes small conversation, I turn my attention to the computer screen in front of me and miss home in a hopeless, childlike way.
Thirty hours earlier…
I tell Shannon we did everything we could, but she can’t shake the guilt from her face. I urge her to go on. She has a plane to catch, while mine is a day removed from where we stand now. It’s just a day, it’s going to be fine, I tell her, and I’m not sure which one of us I’m trying to convince
Come Sunday, while the stars are celebrating the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby theater, you won't see four-time Oscar winner Woody Allen there in suit and tie.
The director is notorious for turning down his Oscar invite every year.
The only year he attended was in 2002 following 9/11 when he thanked Hollywood for its support of his hometown.
Rumors abound on Allen's whereabouts on Hollywood's biggest night.
Rather, biographer Eric Lax told NPR last year Allen avoids the Oscars for one simple reason: He doesn't believe in it.
"It's really almost impossible, as he puts it, to judge art, that it's so subjective, you can't really say, well, this performance is better than that or that writing is better than this and that, if you get caught in that trap of relying on other people, however great they are, to tell you whether you're any good, you're either going to consciously or subconsciously start playing to that group."
After Allen's 1973 film "Sleeper" wasn't nominated, ABC News quoted him voicing that same sentiment.
"The whole concept of awards is silly," said Allen. "I cannot abide by the judgment of other people, because if you accept it when they say you deserve an award, then you have to accept it when they say you don't."
That's why when Logic E-Cigs reached out to Business Insider and claimed to have a better e-cigarette than other models I was excited to try it out.
Logic offers several types of electronic cigarettes but I tried the rechargable version called the power series.
One Logic Platinum e-cigarette equals two packs of traditional tobacco cigarettes.
Logic claims that its e-cigs allow for 2.5 seconds per puff for 400 puffs total compared to similar products that typically only offer 1.5 second puffs for 400 puffs, which results in less vapor.
Using the Logic wasn't a bad experience for me personally. Logic is slightly longer than a normal cigarette. I tried both the menthol and regular flavors. The Logic's battery lasted much longer than the NJOY. I've been using it sparingly for almost two months and it has not run out of battery.
The pull felt substantial and I exhaled a good amount of vapor. When you first pull on the Logic you'll notice an instant nicotine hit resulting in a small buzz. But after using it frequently the original buzz was almost non-existent.
Some other Business Insider folks tried out the Logic too and here is what they had to say:
Money Game Editor, Sam Ro said, "You get a nice thick cloud of smoke, which is great if you like blowing smoke rings. But it doesn't taste like tobacco, and you really don't get the nicotine fix."
Another reporter remarked, that when they took a pull on the Logic they felt like they wanted to throw up. The reporter believes that this could have been a result of the taste. The nauseousness could have been a result of the reporter not being a regular smoker.
Deputy Editor Gus Lubin commented, "It tastes better than NJOY but looks kind of silly. Anyway neither is as satisfying as a real cigarette — nor as healthy as smoking nothing."
In a perfect world, electronic cigarettes would replace traditional cigarettes, helping to make smokers slightly more healthy. Overall smoking in general is a terrible habit, one which I wish I wasn't so addicted to. For now, I prefer the taste and satisfaction that comes from a regular cigarette until I can kick the habit for good.
Going to the movie theater is an activity that Americans have enjoyed for 
Travel can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can pay for.
But then there's David Petraeus:
It's easy to believe that romance, and short meaningless flings, are as much a part of espionage as tiny cameras. This isn't espionage though. This is a head of state. Not just post-Vietnam, but post-Lewinsky.
It's no secret consumers have 
THE MAN
