And you are here why?

*Every* coffee bean is individually examined - this is a passion for excellence!!!

The bell has been rung, the sausage-making has been observed...

From the Style  section of the New York Times , an article about the new HanleyMellon  clothing line (which, lets just say, is not for the proletariat). So, who exactly are Hanley  and Mellon ? They are not exactly starting from the gutter. Mr. Mellon, who comes from the Mellon and Drexel families of Bank of New York Mellon and Drexel Burnham Lambert, grew up in New York City, Palm Beach and Northeast Harbor, Me., and went to the University of Pennsylvania. The walls of the pad he and Ms. Hanley Mellon share at the Pierre are lined with paintings by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Peter Beard and, Mr. Mellon said, “Taylor Swift.”  And the clothing line?  It consists, apparently, of a very limited selection - 10 items - "staples of the jet-set lifestyle", each "inspired by a different place in the world". So far so priveleged, but the pièce-de-résistance  is “I’ve never been to Africa, but I feel like I have this deep affinity for i...

Herewith a brilliant article in the WSJ (ostensibly a "news"paper), which talked about all the Back door tax increases associated with the fiscal cliff fun-ness at the end of 2012. I'm not really going to get into this, 'cept to highlight an image that was included with the article A copy of the image is shown above.  I highly recommend that you click on it to embiggen, and take a good long stare at it.  Please do not laugh uncontrollably.  Or cry.  Both reactions are possible... (Also, do remember that the median household income in the U.S. is $50,100 ) See all those sad people? They're all clearly sad because their taxes are going up. Especially the single mom in the top-left, the one w/ the two kids and the $260,000 income Which is exactly like all the other single-moms out there, especially the ones with two kids, as long as they are making 5.18 times the median income! And the married couple on the bottom right, the ones with four kids and ...

The Onion Talks brings you The Power of Selling Out: Your Customers as Political Capital - yet another gorgeous take-down of TED talks. From the description Nathan Eslinger has spent his career designing cutting-edge websites, like his extremely popular photo sharing platform Ripple. While advertising can produce revenue, Eslinger has found a far more profitable and immediate way to generate income: selling his users' data to oppressive governments.

 I know, I know, it should have been Picture Perfect Parody of Paranoia Pics , but whatever. Anyhow, I present to you, an Above Average production featuring Olivia Munn (and her, um, Chestal Area...) (Video below, still image above...)