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The 50 Coolest New Businesses In America

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Sunshine Tavern, brunch

Year after year, cities across America continue to surprise us with new, innovative, and downright awesome businesses.

This year we've already brought you the coolest new businesses in Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, and now we've gone nationwide, finding the hottest restaurants, boutiques, startups, and everything in between across the U.S. 

There's a corner store with a bike-through window, a mobile shop that sells vintage clothing from a 1960s trailer, America's first pizza museum, and a Chinese restaurant that serves dumplings that look like Pac-Man characters.

Some of the businesses are based in brick and mortar stores, while others—like food trucks and mobile shops—sell their wares on wheels. We've also included several online-only businesses.

From San Francisco to New York (and everywhere in between), we've found the coolest new businesses in America that opened or expanded within the last year and a half. Email MNisen@businessinsider.com if we left off your favorite.

Baco Mercat

408 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, Calif.

What it is: An inventive new restaurant from former Lazy Ox chef Josef Centeno.

Why it's cool: The restaurant is named for, but is definitely not limited to, one of the chef's wildly popular and signature creations, the baco, described as a "hybrid taco-gyro thing" with fillings like pork belly, beef carnitas, and oxtail hash. Other dishes include Caesar-style Brussels sprouts, sauteed peaches, and coffee-charred rib eye.  



Bacon Bacon

205 Frederick St., San Francisco, Calif.

What it is: Bacon-centric food truck.

Why it's cool: Bacon Bacon comes in the form of a food truck and a brick-and-mortar restaurant. And both serve, yepyou guessed itall things bacon. 

The Bacon Bacon Truck rolls around San Francisco distributing six bacon-friendly sandwiches, including a pork meatball banh mi and grilled cheese, as well as french fries and root beer. Bacon Bacon also sells a bacon bouquet and chocolate-covered bacon.



Bearded Bastard

Based in Austin, Tex., found on Etsy

What it is: A new brand of mustache wax.

Why it's cool: The man known as Jeremiah Newton, who also sports an impressive face full of hair, started Bearded Bastard to help soften the burliest of beards and tame the unruliest of mustaches. Products so far include the Woodsman mustache wax and Woodsman beard oil, but the new Austin-based company is developing many new man-inspired oils and tonics, which will be available soon.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Have A Pint At New Zealand's New Hobbit Pub

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Hobbit Pub New Zealand

For anyone who has ever wanted to have a pint with Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, you're in luck — New Zealand has a new addition to its Hobbiton tourist town, and its none other than The Green Dragon, the famed Hobbit watering hole.

Tourists and residents alike can now enjoy non-Hobbit-sized drinks at the brand new pub, located near Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand.

It is a part of the film set used for the new Hobbit movie and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and has been rebuilt with a functioning fireplace, plumping, and water pipes after being burned down for The Return of the King.

Hobbiton manager Russell Alexander told The Daily Mail that he estimates the release of the new Hobbit trilogy could bring in 100,000 visitors over the next year alone. And Hobbiton Board director George Hickton hints that The Green Dragon may even convert into an inn for overnight stays in the future.

Welcome to the sleepy town (slash film set) of Hobbiton.



It's located on an actual sheep and cow farm in New Zealand, so you can even cuddle and bottle feed the pet lambs.

Source: Hobbiton Tours



The rolling green hills of the Kaimai Ranges are simply stunning, as are the film sets themselves.

Source: Hobbiton Tours



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New York Steakhouse Maven Explains The Right Way To Order A Steak Dinner

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laurent tourondel

Dinner at a steakhouse isn't cheap, and knowing how to order can make the difference between a great meal and a mediocre one.

We asked Laurent Tourondel, the chef behind some of New York City's greatest steakhouses, including BLT Steak, BLT Prime, and the newly opened Arlington Club, to share some pro tips for getting the most out of your next steakhouse outing.

What are the major differences between the main cuts of meat on a steakhouse menu?

Different cuts come from different parts of the animal, so that’s the main difference, but mostly what you will notice is the fat content ratio to lean meat, and how it is incorporated. Filet Mignon is marbled, which means the fat is more evenly distributed, while a different cut would have more surrounding the flesh. 

Which cut tends to be the best value in terms of price and quality?

Skirt steak is very flavorful and a great value. We have an American Wagyu skirt steak on the menu at Arlington Club and it’s a great piece of meat. Our guests really enjoy it.

What should you order if you want to splurge?

Definitely the Cote De Boeuf for two. It’s the ultimate cut of meat, kind of like a ribeye for two. It has more fat and is a thicker cut with great flavor.

What's the best answer when the waiter asks how you want your meat cooked?

Medium rare – always.  It’s very important not to overcook as some tend to do.

What is the biggest mistake diners make when eating at a steakhouse?

I don’t think you can go wrong at a steakhouse, but I’d say maybe it’s that they don’t know what they like. I always tell people to try a few cuts of meat in one sitting and really know which cut you enjoy most. We all have different preferences so it’s best to know what you personally enjoy.

What is your favorite side dish with steak?

I love creamed spinach. I have been preparing it with fontina and nutmeg for the menu at Arlington Club and it’s the best I have made yet!

How to know which wine goes with which steak?

Always ask the sommelier.  We have somewhere around 450 wines at Arlington Club and that can get very overwhelming. A good rule of thumb is to go with a red with steak, and a hearty wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon because it’s deep and full bodied.

Would you ever order a non-red wine or a cocktail with a steak?

No, only red, personally, but to each their own!

Any favorite holiday wines to try at this time of year?

Right now, I am enjoying Veuve Cliquot champagne that is just amazing. It’s the perfect New Year’s/Christmas celebratory sparkler. You can’t go wrong with this at a party. Also, Rieslings are great for the holidays — they’re sweet and fruit forward whites, and go well with Holiday desserts, where my mind is at right now!

SEE ALSO: What It's Like To Run The Kitchen At BLT Fish

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Harvey Weinstein's New York Neighbors Hate Him Because Of His Barking Dogs

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harvey weinstein

Harvey Weinstein is in the dog house.

The Miramax and Weinstein Company co-founder's Greenwich Village neighbors are apparently fed up with the movie mogul's barking hounds.

According to the New York Post, Weinstein and his fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, let their beloved four-legged friends, Rocky and Myrtle, bark to their hearts’ content in the back yard of their $14.9 million, five-story, eight-bedroom townhouse on Bank Street.

Neighbors tell the Post, "The barking begins at about 8 a.m. and can span hours at a clip."

West 12th Street resident Richard Falcone told the paper, “He doesn’t give a damn — that’s his attitude." 

Falcone's wife, former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton, told the Post of her famous neighbors: "Graydon Carter told me that Harvey Weinstein is a very good neighbor ... Well, he may be a good neighbor on Bank Street, but his name is mud on West 12th Street.”

Sheraton described the dogs’ barking as “very loud and cutting," adding that "It’s just a lack of consideration. Instead of taking the dogs out and walking them they just let them out in the yard.”

Neighbors have reportedly tried everything to silence the yapping pups.

One neighbor purchased an ultrasonic bark-control device, others have posted handmade signs on trees, and some have even complained to the Department of Environmental Protection, the agency responsible for noise complaints — all to no avail.

“311 calls and all other so-called legal means have failed to get him to control his constantly yapping dogs," wrote a neighbor in a letter to the editor of monthly neighborhood publication, WestView News. "Only bad press could stop Harvey Weinstein from ignoring the grief he is causing his neighbors.”

SEE ALSO: The most appalling homes ever featured on 'Hoarders' >

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If You Think New York Real Estate Is Expensive, These London Records Will Blow You Away [Infographic]

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The highest end of New York City's real estate market is booming, with apartments being listed  and sold  for prices nearing nine figures.

But that's practically pocket change compared to real estate prices across the pond, where a home is on sale for $476 million, nearly five times the price tag on the most expensive listing in New York.

This neat infographic by The Real Deal's Christopher Cameron lays out London's lead by the numbers.

SEE ALSO: The Most Expensive Mansions For Sale In London

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Aesop Essentials For Your Masculine Maintenance Routine

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This is the Aesop Dapper Gentleman Grooming Kit from MR PORTER.

Why We Love It: Skincare routines aren't just for women — when it gets cold outside, men's faces can take a beating, too. Which is why this carry on-friendly Aesop grooming kit should be on your gift list this year.

It comes with a cleanser, hydrating cream, shaving serum, spray-on moisturizer for easy application, and a lip cream. The ingredients are all plant-based with anti-oxidant properties, and all of the products smell refreshing, not floral.

MR PORTER Aesop grooming kit

 

MR PORTER Aesop grooming kit

Where To Buy: Available through MR PORTER.

Cost: $150.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

SEE ALSO: Make Your Own Flavored Popcorn Like A Pro

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Ex-Hedge Funder Sells $29.6 Million Co-Op In One Of NYC's Most Famous Buildings

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dakota

Former hedge fund manager Bruce Barnes has sold his three-bedroom apartment at The Dakota, a storied apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side where he is also the president of the co-op board, Curbed reports.

The apartment was listed for $29.6 million in April, and had recently undergone a renovation to restore its 19th century details, according to the listing with Brown Harris Stevens.

Barnes said last year that hoped to downsize and spend more time outside the city. He said he would finish the remainder of his term at the helm of the co-op board.

While the buyer remains anonymous, he or she is one lucky owner: the apartment is one of the largest in the building, with expansive views of Central Park.

The Dakota, on the Upper West Side, is perhaps best known as the location of John Lennon's murder.



Barnes' apartment, on the twelfth floor, has panoramic views of Central Park.



Eight windows face the park directly.



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You'll Never Believe These Photos Are From An American Airlines Plane

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american airlines 777-300-er boeing

Have a look at these photos. Just look at them. What airline would you think that is? Surely not American Airlines, right?

Well, as the title of this post gives away, it is American Airlines and it will be something you can experience relatively soon as the airline just took delivery of this brand new Boeing 777-300ER today.

American is the first US carrier with this updated aircraft, which improves on original flavor 777-300s with longer wingspan and almost 2,000 nautical miles more range (hence the "ER," which stands for "Extended Range").

It's now the largest plane in American's fleet, with 310 seats. Kind of hard to believe it's only a twinjet with two engines, but those engines happen to be among the most powerful on a commercial airliner currently plying the skies.

Boeing 777-300ERs are not exactly super brand new, since deliveries of the 777-300ERs commenced from Boeing in 2004, but the US has had to wait these past eight years to get one for ourselves.

There's one more reason to get psyched for the new American plane. New livery! That's right—when American spray paints this plane with the trademark "AA," it'll supposedly reflect the slick rebranding they've been rolling out, which started with their "Onwards and Upwards" initiative.

As of now, the plan is to inaugurate the new plane January 31 on the Dallas/Fort Worth nonstop to Sao Paulo, Brazil route.

american airlines 777-300-er boeing

american airlines 777-300-er boeing

american airlines 777-300-er boeing

SEE ALSO: Take A Virtual Tour Of Airbus' Crazily Futuristic Concept Plane

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How A Stray Cat Befriended Demi Moore At Art Basel Before Flying Home On Kanye West's Jet With The Hilton Sisters

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The most unexpected breakout star of Art Basel Miami Beach wasn't an artist, gallery owner or hard-partying celeb — it was a stray cat who was spotted rubbing elbows with the likes of Demi Moore, the Hilton sisters and Kanye West.

The cat was first picked up by Demi Moore at the exclusive Chanel dinner at the Soho Beach House, where the feline ate gourmet meats and cheeses atop the actress' lap. Fellow dinner guests such as (from left) Wendi Murdoch, Karlie Kloss and Dasha Zhukova didn't even seem to faze the cat.

Demi Moore stray cat celebrities

Then, during a Diane Von Furstenberg lunch at the Soho Beach House on Thursday, the Hilton sisters (seen here with the Brant brothers), picked up the kitty and later put it up in their hotel suite at the nearby Fontainebleau. The sisters took the liberty of appropriately naming the cat "Soho."

Hilton Sisters Cat Brant Brothers Art BAsel Miami

On Sunday, newly-named Soho boarded the Jordache private jet that Kanye West was also on, according to the New York Post.

Kanye West private plane cat

Paris and Nicky Hilton were also on the New York-bound plane.

Paris Hilton private jet cat on a plane

But it was Nicky Hilton who eventually adopted Soho for good, giving the once stray cat a glamorous new home. On Monday, she Instagrammed this photo of the feline in Los Angeles, writing "Oddest napping place ever."

Cat on a computer Nicky Hilton

Welcome to your new life, Soho!

SEE ALSO: See how stars partied at Art Basel >

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Millennials Will Have A Hard Time Entering The Housing Market

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rent, own, home-ownership, moving

In this day and age, the 18- to 34-year-old crowd have lived up to their reputation as perpetual renters. Most blame the trend on the housing crisis, which led so many homeowners to downsize and stunted the home buying power of younger consumers. 

But whatever trauma the Great Recession had on the minds of millennials, it hasn't stymied their hopes for owning a home of their own one day, a new study shows. 

Real estate tracker Trulia found more than 90 pecent of millennial renters plan on buying a home in the next two years.

The question is whether they'll find what they're looking for. The housing inventory has been far from stellar lately, down 23 percent since last year and a whopping 43 percent since 2010, Trulia estimates.

trulia

"Many [Millennials] think today’s low prices and low mortgage rates will last," says Jed Kolko, Trulia's Chief Economist. "They may be in for sticker shock if the cost of homeownership has returned to normal levels by the time they’re ready to buy.”

Then there's the affordability factor to consider. People in their 30s saw their wealth diminished the most during the recession, a recent Pew study found, and the underemployment rate is estimated at more than 15 percent.

It's true that home prices have been slowly rebounding, which will hopefully give sales a boost –– 22 percent of homeowners say they'll likely sell in the next year –– and beef up the offerings. Today, 27 percent feel more positive about owning a home than half a year ago, while 19 percent say they're more negative, according to Trulia.

It's certainly not the overwhelming majority's sentiment –– 72 percent still say homeownership isn't their idea of the American Dream –– but it's a hint that consumers' optimism in the housing market might steadily be returning.

"Millennials have been shaken, not scarred by the housing bust," says Kolko. “Nearly all of them want to own a home some day, if they’re not homeowners already."

SEE ALSO: This 20-something learned how to flip her house the hard way >

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One World Trade Center Is Finally Getting A Spire [Photos]

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The first part of the spire atop One World Trade Center was lifted into place by cranes this afternoon as onlookers watched.

Several parts of the 408-foot, $20 million steel contraption arrived at the construction site yesterday by barge, nearly a month after starting their journey at the plant outside Montreal where they were fabricated, according to the AP.

Other parts of the spire are being trucked in from plants in Canada and New Jersey.

The 104-story glass tower reached full height in April, and will stand 1,776 feet tall once the spire is in place and it is complete, likely in early 2014.

Check out some photos from the spire-raising earlier today.

A barge transported sections of the spire from Port Newark to Lower Manhattan yesterday morning.

wtc spire barge

Crews prepared to lift the first section atop the building.

wtc spire

The first section of the spire is hoisted by cranes.

wtc spire

SEE ALSO: Glossy Images Show What 1 WTC Will Look Like When It's Complete

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Facebook INTERNS Make $25,000 More Than The Average US Citizen

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drunk interns

Facebook is the #1 company to work for in the world, according to a new study by Glassdoor.

The career site recently ranked the 50 best companies based on employee reviews and corporate data it collected.

After looking at the salaries of even the lowest people at Facebook, it's easy to see why employees are happy there.

According to 28 reviews on Glassdoor, Facebook pays its average intern $5,602 per month.

That ends up being a base salary of about $67,000 per year. According to the Social Security Administration, that's a good $25,000 more than the average US citizen makes, which is $42,976.

Facebook and other tech companies pay their interns well because they want first dibs on young talent. It's not easy to find engineers or designers right now, and all of the big tech companies poach from each other.  Some dangle salaries in front of current students and encourage them to drop out.

Maybe investor Marc Andreessen is right. A math-based degree is the way to go.

Here are some of the other average salaries at Facebook (click to enlarge):

glassdoor facebook salaries 2012

SEE ALSO: Employees Say They LOVE Working For These 20 Tech Companies

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10 Ways To Blow Your Cash Before The Apocalypse

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bank vault cash

If you're not living under a rock, you've probably heard that the world is supposedly ending on December 21st because the Mayans ran out of room on their calendar. And for those of you who are living under a rock — keep living there! The world is about to end.

After the apocalypse happens  believers think it might be a massive solar flare, black hole, or interplanetary collision  your money and credit cards are probably going to be useless because we'll all be bartering with shiny rocks and toilet paper or, you know, dead.

So to keep your thoughts happy and to blow your money before it's worthless, check out our list of things you should do before the end of the world.

Taste the world's best steak.

The Japanese restaurant Aragawa is known for two things — it's incredibly rare charcoal-broiled Kobe beef steak made from specially-fed Japanese cows, and its outrageous $550 per head price tag.

But what do you care? The world's ending, buy a plane ticket and indulge while you can.



Climb Mount Everest.

Not many people can afford the $10,000 permit to climb Mount Everest, let alone all the gear and the team of experts it would take to do so.

You're looking at $75,000 easy when you factor in training sessions, your Sherpa team, and the plane ticket to even get to Nepal. But hey, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment when you do, not to mention a great view as the world explodes.



Check out the ultimate spa.

Getting a facial, massage, pedicure, and manicure may not sound like the manliest spa in the world, but playing golf on two championship-level 18-hole courses against the gorgeous Sicilian backdrop might change your mind.

Book the Presidential Suite at the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort for $11,600 a night to really get relaxed (before we all die).



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Here's Why So Many Crazy Russian Car Crashes Are Caught On Camera

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russia dash cam truck crash

Videos of car accidents filmed from dashboard cameras have become such a popular genre on YouTube, it seems every driver must be filming his every move.

Why is that?

In a post on Animal, Russian ex-pat and journalist Marina Galperina offers a few reasons, which boil down to dangerous driving conditions and the unreliability of Russian traffic police.

Driving in Russia is hazardous: Last year, 200,000 traffic accidents killed 28,000 people. (More than 32,000 died in car accidents in the United States in 2011, a much lower figure per capita.)

Addressing those high levels in 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev blamed the "undisciplined, criminally careless behavior of our drivers," along with poor road conditions.

Drivers certainly play a role, but Medvedev did not mention Russia's traffic police, which, Galperina writes, "is known throughout their land for brutality, corruption, extortion and making an income on bribes."

That is not hyperbole. Russia ranks 133rd among the world's nations in corruption (where number one is the least corrupt), according to Transparency International. Much of that corruption is on the part of the traffic police, an institution that, along with kindergartens and higher education, was ranked by Russians as the country's most corrupt. In a recent poll, 32 percent of Russians surveyed called traffic police the most corrupt institution.

So going to the police with a legitimate complaint is far from sure to produce a good result.

In addition to authorities they deem untrustworthy, Russian drivers must contend with the possibility of being attacked by another driver. The below video compiles fights between drivers that feature crowbars, slapping, punching, and worse.

Then there are pedestrians who get themselves hit by cars on purpose, for a payoff. A video compilation (below) of failed scams offers a few examples.

Overall, in a country where traffic conditions are horrible, insurance scams and roadside fights are always a possibility, and the police are widely viewed as corrupt, video evidence of one's innocence can be a very valuable thing.

Here the fighting compilation:

And the pedestrian scams:

Now for nearly three minutes of dash cam videos:

SEE ALSO: Photos Of 20 Lamborghinis Destroyed In Car Crashes

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See How Much People Are Tipping This Holiday Season [Infographic]


This Report May Make You Give Up Rare Steak For The Rest Of Your Life

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steak

It is often said that true steak lovers know that the meat is meant to be consumed (medium) rare.

For them, this report from the Kansas City Star may be heartbreaking. Reporter Mike McGraw spent a year looking into the meat industry's meat tenderization process, and what he found was very disturbing.

According to the report, the meat industry is increasingly relying on mechanical tenderization to produce more meat, faster by making tough cuts more edible. The problem is that this process could put Americans at higher risk of E. coli poisoning, as it pushes dangerous bacteria inside the meat where quick cooking will not kill it.

The industry calls meat that has undergone this process, "bladed" or "needled" meat, and a 2008 survey found that 90 percent of beef producers are using it on some cuts.

One 87-year-old grandmother, Margaret Lamkin, was forced to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of her life after eating a rare steak at Applebees that contained pathogens that nearly destroyed her colon.

From the Kansas City Star:

Lamkin, like most consumers today, didn’t know she had ordered a steak that had been run through a mechanical tenderizer. In a lawsuit, Lamkin said her steak came from National Steak Processors Inc., which claimed it got the contaminated meat from a U.S. plant run by Brazilian-based JBS — the biggest beef packer in the world.

“You trust people, trust that nothing is going to happen,” Lamkin said, “but they (beef companies) are mass-producing this and shoveling it into us.”...

In a 2010 letter to the USDA, the American Meat Institute noted eight recalls between 2000 and 2009 that identified mechanically tenderized and marinated steaks as the culprit. Those recalls sickened at least 100 people.


Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/06/v-project_one/3951690/beefs-raw-edges.html#storylink=cpy

Hollow needles used during the tenderization process sometimes inject marinades to the meat for flavoring. Plus, there is no label that shows whether or not meat has been "bladed" or "needled" when you go to the grocery store.

Read the full report at the Kansas City Star>

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A Photographer Takes Us Through The Labyrinth Of Art Basel Miami

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art basel miami nick vlcek

The most buzzed-about event in the art world  Art Basel Miami Beach  wrapped up Sunday after five design-filled, party-filled days and nights.

Photographer Nick Vlcek was on hand to capture the action at the main fair and numerous satellite fairs and events taking place during Art Basel.

He shared his photos of the most outrageous art he saw, and shared some insight into those works.

"More 250 major galleries from around the world gathered in the Miami Beach Convention Center for the eleventh year of Art Basel Miami, where this year the works of over 2,000 artists were offered for sale. Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa was featured prominently by an outdoor work and in this piece titled Marianna H at the Galerie Lelong booth."




"A look inside one of several black canisters by Ivan Navarro that contained phrases like 'SHOU,' 'MOUTH,' and 'WHISPER,' at the Paul Kasmin Gallery where they were reportedly snatched up at $65,000 each."



"Life Breathes the Breath (In) is a lacquered bronze work by Marc Quinn showcased in the booth of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac of Paris, France."



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A Purdue University Professor Discovered How Grilled Steak Can Mess Up Your Body

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steak-grill

The chemicals that result from grilling a steak can make you fat, and contribute to other diseases, according to research one Purdue University professor published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry(h/t Futurity.org).

It's all about how proteins and sugars come together at high temperatures. That process creates glycated proteins that, research indicates, are connected to age related diseases (like cardiovascular disease) and help fat cells mature.

Immature fat cells are called "precursor" cells and they usually lose their ability to become mature as humans age. Glycated proteins change that, according Professor Kee-Hong Kim's findings.

From Futurity.org:

The byproducts of glycated proteins—advanced glycation end products, or AGEs—interfere with cellular processes that should kill immature fat cells in older animals. That means those animals, or people, may accumulate more fat cells than they should, and those cells store compounds that can lead to inflammation and certain types of diseases.

AGEs interact with a protein called p53, which usually begins cell death and aging programs for immature fat cells. With p53 disrupted, the immature fat cells survive and can accumulate lipids.

“It’s not immediately toxic, but if you’re exposed over a long period of time, some portions of the glycated materials accumulate in the cells or tissues, and over time, that contributes to inflammation and oxidative stress,” Kim says.

Kim is working on confirming this info in an animal model. Full disclosure — we hope he finds out he's wrong.

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Your Luxurious Bengali Leather Comes From These Pits Of Hell

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bangladesh tannery

The smell catches you from blocks away: a throat-tightening mix of bad egg, rotten meat and acrid ammonia. Among the rickshaws, barefoot men push carts piled with grey-blue skins. In the open gutters a tide of the same unearthly blue slowly pushes through a scum of animal hair, bits of skin and rubbish. More chemical waste, oily black, is carried in open tins through the narrow, busy alleys on poles bent over men's shoulders.

This is Hazaribagh. The name means "a thousand gardens", but there are no flowers here. The slum is the most polluted place in Dhaka, itself one of the most polluted cities in the world. Last month, 111 people died in a Bangladesh factory making cheap clothing for western brands. That was a historic disaster; this industry in the centre of the country's capital is a slower, but far more lethal catastrophe. According to the World Health Organisation, 90% of Hazaribagh's tanning factory workers will die before they're 50. Half – some 8,000 – have respiratory disease already. Many of the workers are children.

Thousands more Bangladeshi lives are blighted by the millions of litres of waste that pour, untreated, from the tannery district gutters, through a crowded housing area, and into Dhaka's main river. Levels of chromium, lead, organohalogens and other toxins exceeding statutory maximum levels are entering the water and poisoning Hazaribagh's wells. The chemicals travel downriver, into a rice paddy and the Bay of Bengal ponds where prawns are farmed for export.

Yet the industry in the heart of Bangladesh's capital is booming, because high-quality "Bengali black" leather, much in demand by European leather goods makers, is cheap. A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report claims that's chiefly because of the factories' refusal to clean up or pay decent wages, and the Bangladeshi government's failure to step in despite repeated promises. The industry, worth half a billion pounds in exports last year, is crucial to this desperately poor country.

Hazaribagh's 150 factories were at their busiest when I visited in November, processing the hides from animals killed in the Eid-al-Adha festival. Casual labour from the country's poor rural areas had flooded into the slum, swelling the workforce to about 15,000 people. The first factory we entered was a bare shed the size of a squash court, dominated by cement tanks. The floor was covered in sacks of chemicals. Against one wall was a pile of limed and salted hides, still covered in hair. Other skins at various stages of the pickling and bleaching process sat in the vats or dripped on racks, while a 12 ft high drum rumbled on rollers in the corner, drying the leather. There was no ventilation other than holes in the brick walls.

Two men in their 20s, Monir and Saiful, were perched on the rim of a tank, wielding long tongs to pull blue whole skins from a stew of sodium metabisulphite and ammonium chloride. All the pair had on was short rubber boots on their bare legs, below their loincloths. They were getting splashed by the acids and stopped to hose water into their wellies. They are usually paid 8,500 taka (about £60) a month, for a seven-day week, though they never know how much work there will be. The boots they have to buy themselves – they rarely wear gloves and never goggles. Some of the workers sleep on a shelf above the vats.

"We start at 7am, and sometimes we work till 3am the next morning," says Saiful. "When I started four years ago, I hated it. I wanted to quit, but I got used to it. I have no option, I am poor and I have to support my family." Both laboured in the rice fields before they came to Dhaka, but their wage in the tannery is not much better – only enough to cover food and living costs. "I have a daughter, just five months old," says Monir, scratching at the dermatitis that affects most of the workers we met. "I hope she doesn't come to work here."

Both men said a small factory like theirs is a good place; the owner even allowed three days a month sick leave. But in one of the biggest factories, Ayub Brothets – in a vast room where the leather, part-cured, is cut and treated – we saw skinny boys, feeding skins at high speed into huge presses. They wore shorts and flip-flops. There were no safety rails round the machines. Mohammed Riaz, from Noakhali in Bangladesh's north, told me he was nearly 15; he came to work here with his father at 12. His wage is only 3,500 taka a month.

Sharing a wall with one of the huge Hazaribagh factories are the crumbling rooms of the Taj Mahal Tanneries district high school. A teacher there, Mohammed Yusuf, says a third of the children in his class of 13-15-year-olds work in the tanning factories. "They do the night shift and then come here. They have all sorts of health problems; they don't understand things and they fall asleep in class.'' He thinks the government should close the factories but says they won't. Yusuf has a friend who lost two fingers in a machine accident in one of the factories and received no compensation: a familiar story.

This is largely a place of men. But in a factory belonging to Fortuna Group, one of the best-known exporters of Bangladeshi leather, I met six women, padding through the chemical puddles on the factory floor in saris and flip-flops or bare feet. They said they earn 3,000 a month, working upstairs in the cutting rooms or among the tanning vats as cleaners.

"When I work down here, it burns my eyes," says Nasima. "We work seven days a week. My body and head often ache and I get dizzy." Her son Ala'uddin, now 16, has worked in the factory since he was 13. Her husband drives a bicycle rickshaw. Nasima says he gets stomach aches – a common complaint, possibly related to the sodium bisulfite. "The teacher didn't want him at school. I want to him to work here; if he was outside on the streets, he would meet bad influences." Two of the women stagger past carrying an open barrel between them. It must contain 50 litres, and is labelled formic acid – which can cause oedema and subsequent failure of the lungs.

The HRW report, released in October, has caused a stir. "Some people are a bit angry," says Mohammed Aslam Mia, chief engineer at a factory called the Bengal Leather Complex, employing 500 men. The Italian embassy, he says, has written to three factories named in the HRW report, demanding they improve conditions. "But nobody acts, though everyone talks about health and hygiene. Government wants to shift us to another site, but it won't work." Mia admits he suffers skin problems and deafness.

Since the 1990s, attempts have been made to move the factories outside the city. The EU has offered to help pay for the process. But the government has failed to act on that proposal or on high court orders demanding action at treatment plants for the factories' toxic effluent. HRW reports that the industry now wants $98m in compensation before it will move. It points out that the tanneries association's lawyer is the nephew of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, though without offering any evidence of wrongdoing.

"Thee tannery owners are very rich and politically powerful," a senior Bangladesh environment ministry official told HRW in June, explaining that his office was not "doing anything for Hazaribagh" because it was too busy overseeing the garment sector, which attracts more public attention.

For Mia, the solutions lie with the customers. "If we can sell at a higher price then it is possible, maybe, to develop a better industry, and do more for the employees." He points out how foreign companies' insistence on standards has improved the garment sector. "But the leather sector is the opposite. Europe[an] people come here, international leather buyers, and we ask them this – we buy your chemicals, and then you say we're not hygienic. So give us the hygienic chemicals. There are vegetable methods for tanning that work – you just have to let us use them."

Medieval European cities used to keep tanneries and their offensive smells outside their walls, by law. Now, because of the demand for luxury at the cheapest possible prices, the industry is pushed out to where it is easier to ignore the moral reek.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

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Idyllic Island In Key West Saved By An Obscure Law

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wisteria island

In the middle of Key West Harbor, there's a modern-day Gilligan's Island just a short dinghy ride from Schooner's Wharf. It's 21 acres of wild green space with a rusting barbecue grill and an empty beer keg swinging from a tree.

And if you thought the fictional island on the 1960s TV show harbored a quirky assortment of characters, get a load of the ones who've figured in Wisteria Island history:

There was Key West luxury developer Pritam Singh, who lived on the rent-free paradise as a hippie.

There were the pot-smokers, partiers, poets and picnickers -- as well as artists, vagrants and nature-seekers -- who used it to get away from civilization for hours, days or even weeks at a time.

Navy SEALs trained for secret missions on its terrain. Thieves used it, too, as a chop shop for stolen outboard motors.

And don't forget Dennis Walsh, a guy who sold dirty jokes for $1 to tourists on Duval Street and enjoyed walking his dog on the island's beach.

Over the past four decades, it seems like just about everyone has used the island except its acknowledged owners: the Bernsteins, a well-to-do family with New York roots who developed most of nearby Stock Island. "We kind of ignored it," Roger Bernstein said.

But in 2007, Bernstein and his brother, Jordan, decided it was time to turn their "trophy property" into a luxury resort. Those who loved the scruffy island -- created during a Navy channel-dredging project around the turn of the last century -- had other ideas.

Among them were Naja and Arnaud Girard, who own a Key West marine assistance and boat salvage company. The couple have fond memories of their two children playing on the island with kids from other live-aboard families who grew up on boats anchored off its shore.

The Girards started poking around Washington, D.C., archives and online databases, trying to find a way to keep at least some of the island undeveloped. They hit the jackpot: documents that suggested the Bernsteins could not own the island because the Navy had not given up title to Wisteria until 1982. And, when it did, it transferred it to the U.S. Department of the Interior, not the state of Florida.

"This came out of nowhere," said Barry Richard, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig, which is representing the Bernsteins. "I have to say it came out of a relatively low administrative level . . . and may well be, at some point, reversed administratively. But it is not a risk we can take."

As a result, Key West's local drama has turned into a federal case: F.E.B. Corp. vs. the United States of America.

The ownership controversy prompted the Monroe County property appraiser to slash the island's valuation to $17,900 (it once was $700,000), and it has brought to a halt the Bernsteins' effort to turn Wisteria into a resort that mirrors its twin spoil island, Sunset Key.

The Bernstein brothers are shocked that the feds are disregarding the warranty deed their late father, Ben, obtained for $155,000 in 1967, the four decades worth of property taxes they've paid and the Submerged Lands Act of 1953, which they believe confirms their ownership.

"This is a land grab by the federal government of epic proportions," Roger Bernstein said.

But according to Naja Girard, the "real land grab" occurred in 1951, when the state auctioned off the island. She dug up documents that showed the Navy claimed ownership at the time and objected to the auction. The state went ahead anyway.

The winning bid was $2,769 by Paul Sawyer, acting as an agent for longtime state Rep. Bernie C. Papy Sr., known as the King of the Keys. He took over the warranty deed for $6,100 in early 1952.

"The honorable Papy knew everyone," Naja Girard said. "And he knew the Navy was planning on putting a fuel depot with tanks on Wisteria Island."

The Navy didn't end up needing Wisteria, but Papy still made a nice profit. He sold Wisteria in 1956 for $115,500 to Connecticut businessman Amaryk Aldo. Six years later, it changed hands again, purchased by a mystery group of six men known as Wisteria Island Inc. They, too, did nothing with the island, finally agreeing to sell it for $160,000 to Key West native David Wolkowsky and his partner, Clayton Partin.

"We had big, big plans," said Wolkowsky, now 93. They hired the New York firm that designed the Lincoln Center. It came up with a luxury complex that was eye-popping at the time: 60 homes, a yacht club and a three-hole golf course.

Wolkowsky said he borrowed $20,000 from Ben Bernstein to complete the sale. But when he asked for an extension to repay the loan, Bernstein would not give it to him and instead took over the purchase agreement in 1967. "I never knew there was any problem with the title," Wolkowsky said.

Ben Bernstein had considered creating a houseboat row on the island, but he died in 1973. His widow, Miriam, took over the family enterprises with the help of her two sons.

"Rumor had it that old lady Bernstein didn't care if anybody was out there and didn't want the island developed," said Cliff Hartman, a palm-frond weaver who once lived on the island. "She wanted it to be a sanctuary for hermit crabs and butterflies."

Not so, said Roger Bernstein; over the years, the family entertained ideas for a campground and other projects, but none seemed right.

Miriam Bernstein died in 2004, and three years later Roger Bernstein presented a development plan to Monroe County for 35 vacation homes, 35 rental cottages with 85 bedrooms, five workforce houses, a bar, restaurant, retail store and boat moorings.

The Bernsteins fought the island's residential-conservation zoning, which allows only one house per 10 acres.

"It's not a pristine tropical island; there's garbage trees on there and garbage bushes," Roger Bernstein said. (The invasive Australian pines that dominate the landscape, along with Brazilian peppers, led to its nickname, Christmas Tree Island.)

Bernstein argued that the island had become an illegal dump and a haven for criminals. Last year, he hired 17 workers to haul away the tons of garbage and debris. The cleanup took three weeks, and required more than 100 boat trips.

"You wouldn't believe the stuff we got off that island," said Jim Vernon, who helped. The list included a gorilla mask, a rusted knight-in-shining-armor outfit, musical instruments and a vacuum cleaner.

The Bernsteins' F.E.B. Corp. filed suit against the United States in August, arguing that the federal government ceded ownership of the submerged bay bottom on which the island was later built when Florida was admitted to the Union in 1845. Even the U.S. Navy thought the Bernsteins owned the island in 2005 and 2006, their lawyers say, when it entered into license agreements to use the property for Navy SEAL training.

But the Bureau of Land Management determined the Navy owned the land at the time of the first private sale, with documents that include a 1924 executive order in which President Calvin Coolidge reserved the island for naval purposes. The feds also cited a 1928 lease the Navy entered into with Lowe Fish Co. for a shark-skinning operation on the island.

Roger Bernstein says the feds have no current need for the island, while he wants to build something the community can be proud of, just as the family did on nearby, blue-collar Stock Island: affordable housing, a working waterfront for fishermen and Bernstein Park, which the county had eyed for a jail.

The proposed Wisteria Island development would generate jobs and growth, yield tax revenue and require no city services, Bernstein said. "How many cities would say no to that?"

But in a tight community like Key West, Arnaud Girard said there should be some "give and take."

Bernstein said he has tried to work with the community, proposing a facility to service the nearby live-aboard boaters, most of whom now dump their sewage directly into the harbor. It would offer a store, dog park, dinghy docks, laundry facilities, pump-out station and ferry service, he said, for just $300 per month.

Last month, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami filed a motion to dismiss F.E.B. Corp.'s lawsuit, arguing that the statutory window for such a claim closed more than 50 years ago.

The F.E.B. Corp. responded that the United States had never acquired title to the island.

"So if the federal government grabs it and no federal agency wants to use it, the island will go to public auction," Bernstein said.

"Somebody is going to buy it, and it's not going to be me. . . . It's going to be somebody who wants to turn a quick buck and get out. Somebody who doesn't give a damn about Key West." ___

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