By Nancy Slotnick, on Tue May 21, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
How POPS changed my life.
I am referring to Privately Owned Public Spaces, not those cupcakes on a stick that they sell at Starbucks. Those are just weird. Though they are only 170 calories and they’re darn cute. But I digress.
Public space changed my life the first time in ’99, when I met my husband on a street corner. Now it’s changing my business life—who knew that all one has to do is go out in public? I guess on some level I did.
As with most things in my crazy-sexy-cool life, I came upon the POPS serendipitously. [Disclaimer: Please note that my characterization of my life may be highly exaggerated given that I have an eight-year-old son, a pile of bills to pay, and an anxiety disorder. But at least on Tuesdays, I have a crazy-sexy-cool life.]
I was trying to find retail space in New York City for a potential Matchmaker Café site that would fit into my budget. My budget was a maximum of $0. A girl can dream. I came across the empty space in Lincoln Center, next to the Apple store, that used to be Ollie’s, and I noticed that it was empty and locked. I was walking down that block on a frigid winter Tuesday because it is the same block where my husband and I met on the street, incidentally. For those of you who believe in fate, this fact is significant.
I did a quick survey of the premises, knowing that the space had been a public space and having a gut feeling that it wasn’t supposed to be closed. I had no understanding of POPS or their legalities, but something seemed fishy. Thanks to the handy “Open to Public” POPS sign and to the magic of Google, I had the email address of Professor Jerold Kayden, within minutes. He literally wrote the book on the POPS. And within a few more minutes, he emailed me back!
So, short story long, we had a phone meeting and I was told that yes, it’s true, that POPS is not allowed to be closed. But no, in fact, I could not make a Matchmaker Café in that space for free, even if it is benefitting the public, because that would be commercialization of the space. I was crushed. But he invited me to his conference at Harvard to learn more about public space and its uses. It was a free conference. And my old stomping grounds. So I went. It was a crazy snow storm but I put on my Dickie’s coveralls that have a Matchmaker Café patch on them and I got on the train.
Read the rest of… Nancy Slotnick: How POPS Changed my Life
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon May 20, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
Many people travel in search of a place. There is an idea among travelers, whether spoken or not, that one day they will come across a place so perfect they’ll lay down roots. Even among non-travelers there is an idea that there is somewhere that will feel the way home should. The people will like you, the scenery will inspire you, work won’t be work…in short, in the perfect place life will be perfect. The core of this idea is that a place can make us happy, not that we make a place happy. Couchsurfing in the Middle East showed me that it is up to us to make a place, a home, spending our energy making a life rather than trying to find one.
Having met and stayed with expats the world over, the people we met in Oman and UAE were different, they had made their lives there. Most of the young people we’ve met working abroad were abroad because they didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives. We even met one person who moved to Asia because they clicked on a facebook ad promoting teaching opportunities. There is no discounting the amount of work that everyone teaching abroad must do, from visas to physically moving across the planet, but, in general, most of the young expats I met were abroad not because they knew what they wanted to do, rather they were there because they didn’t know what they wanted to do. At their worst they were killing time, at their best they were hoping to find themselves. In the UAE and Oman though, the people we met were dynamic, seizing the opportunity to live in a rapidly changing place, who were making a life abroad.
Read the rest of… Matt & Erica Chua: How to Make a Life Abroad
Time spent in the public sector as an accidental bureaucrat has made me a keen observer of how states and countries use tax incentives to attract and retain corporate investment and jobs. I have watched companies extract mind-boggling incentives from the taxpayer simply by either moving or threatening to move jobs across state and country borders. While tax incentives may be great for corporations they make little or no sense when viewed through a community lens. Corporate tax incentive deals are a terrible use of taxpayer dollars.
Communities everywhere have lost leverage to companies who now have all the buying power. Corporations have disaggregated their business models moving capabilities around the world like chess pieces. Companies are no longer dependent on a single location and force communities to bid against each other competing on who will offer the biggest tax breaks. Communities are treated like commodities. The pricing food fight is intense and all at the taxpayer’s expense. There is no net new value created when companies move activities and jobs from one community to another. Consider Captain Morgan & The Hobbit.
My favorite example of bad tax incentive deals gone crazy is the movie industry. Community leaders and politicians fall all over themselves to bring movie productions to their localities. It must be about having pictures taken with movie stars because it isn’t about the economics of the deals the movie studios cut playing communities against each other. The going discount to attract movie production in the U.S. ranges from 30 to 40% of the total production costs in the form of tax credits that can be sold to local taxpayers. I have reviewed several of these deals and can’t begin to make economic sense out of them for anyone other than the movie studio.
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Captain Morgan & The Hobbit
I found this handsome WWII navy pea coat at an antique store in the sleepy town of Winsted, CT, this weekend. Priced at $60, it was hard to walk away from the smart, sturdy-looking thing. It’s a size 36 (equivalent to a small) and in excellent shape. Check out the hand-stitched arm patch,
Read the rest of… Julie Rath: Rathie Spies: Vintage Military Pea Coat and Web Belts
I want to warn everyone that reads this, if you are not open minded and are stubborn about changing the way you view exercise and nutrition please stop reading now. What I mean by this is these are 17 facts that I have learned through 8 years as a personal trainer and coach and 15 years of personal workouts. Some of these I have learned the hard way and others are as clear as day but all are a list of facts that will help you achieve your goals (as long as you choose to accept it.)
Steady State Cardio will not get YOU Results- I see it everyday, gym goers check in the gym and immediately head for the treadmill or elliptical. If you asked them what their goals were they would say body fat loss, increased muscle tone and weight loss. OK? Why are you heading for the treadmill then? Take a U-Turn and head for the weight section. And yes I am talking to you, all of you! Big, tall, skinny, small I don’t care we all need to spend some quality time with the weights. Period. Next!
Resistance Training will boost your Results- A continuation of number 1. All shapes and sizes should be picking up resistance training. Increased; metabolism, decreased osteoporosis, feel better and look better. What else do you need? Nothing that’s what.
The Word “Tone” Does not Exist- So stop saying it. In muscle anatomy and kinesiology there is not term muscle “tone.” When you use this term you mean less fat and more muscle or “lean.” Let’s lose this term please.
Static Stretching is a Waste of Time- Don’t stretch, warm-up. Doing the old school 1980’s Jane Fonda stretching routine is not going to make you more flexible and its not going to decrease chance of injury. Instead of bending over and touching your toes, get on a foam roller and roll your hamstrings out. Instead of stretching your hip flexors, do some explosive reverse lunges to a knee tuck. Stop stretching, thank you.
Bananas are not the only Food in the Universe that Have Potassium- quite the contrary there are better foods, with less sugar that has plenty of potassium. Broccoli, kiwis, and sweet potatoes just to name a few are packed with high amounts of potassium. Bananas have too much sugar, eat apples or kiwis instead.
Squat, Everyone- Everyone should squat regardless of what your doctor tells you, if you can’t squat you can’t use the toilet. Think about that. Enough said.
Deadlift, Everyone- “Dead lifts are for men.” Oh yeah? Have you ever picked a box off the ground? You just did a deadlift. Dead lifts are great for developing posterior strength (you need that mister I sit at a desk all day) and are a great overall body developer. Do them but do them right!
Stop Swinging the Dumbbell Around in an Attempt to Warm Your Shoulder- This doesn’t need much explanation but I see people do this all the time and it’s dumb. Your rotator cuff muscles are as thin as paper and applying this type of circular motion with added resistance is bad news. Just stop it!
Perform Multi-Joint Movements- if your goal is decreased bodyfat, increased strength and better overall bodies start squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and swinging. If you goal is to be a body builder and you want bigger arms, continue doing bicep curls.
Walking Does not Count As Exercise- Humans were made to walk, we are blessed with great mobility and the ability to run, sprint and walk. You cannot count walking around the block as vigorous exercise. You can do that with your eyes closed, try doing something more difficult. Maybe add a vest!
Less Crunches and More Planks- You want to work your core? Try doing more planks and concentrate on extending the amount of time you can hold it. Try doing less crunches, they are a waste of your time and bad for your lumbar spine.
Doing Abs will NOT give you a 6 Pack- Still flabbergasted that people believe this. Proper diet and nutrition coupled with great genetics and discipline is what gives people the 6 pack. Not crunches. Next.
Do More Pushups- One of the best exercises, period. Shoulders over hands, core and quads tight, head, shoulders, hips and ankles in a straight line. If you can’t do them, start doing them against a wall and progress from there.
Supplements are not the End All Be All- Supplements are just that, supplements for foods you can’t or do not get through food. They will not cure the world and will not give you the body of your dreams. Supplement when necessary. A few of my favorites; whey isolate protein, Branch Chain Amino Acids, Glutamine and Omega 3 fatty acids.
If you Sorta Eat Right, You Will Sorta Look Right- Want to look your best, eat your best. Next
Proper Form Rules All- Do not sacrifice weight for proper form. Learn how to squat/deadlift/press correctly. Stop bouncing and making trainers cringe. It will catch up to you one day.
Lift then Run- Lifting weights prior to cardio will burn twice as much fat as doing it in the reverse. A study showed men that did resistance training prior to doing 30 minutes of cardio burned a 100% more bodyfat than those that did the exact opposite.
Now you guys tell me which ones you want me to expound or defend. I’m ready, trust me.
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue May 14, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
As last fall’s election made painfully clear, we are a bitterly divided nation: liberal vs. conservative, urban vs. rural, blue vs. red. States in particular have gotten increasingly polarized, with many state legislatures in the control of super-majorities, and each with their own occasionally defiant ideology. Some are pro-business & anti-regulation, some have enacted their own abortion restrictions, some have legalized marijuana even for recreational use, etc. And many states have well-accepted images – Texas has cowboys and oil mavericks, Florida is the home of retired grandparents with New York accents, and thanks to the TV show Portlandia, Oregon is now known to be laid back yet trendy. And so forth.
But what’s happening to California? We’re still a lopsidedly blue state, known for our mild weather, tourist attractions, and botoxed spray-tanned movie stars, but we also used to be the proudly progressive state, or as my Long Island father-in-law calls us, “the land of fruits and nuts.” However, now 12 states plus the District of Columbia are ahead of us in legalizing same-sex marriage. And that includes all of New England, which used to be a bastion of Puritan conservativism. (In my freshman history class at Yale, where I was the only student from the west coast, we learned that the early colonial settlers preferred New England to Virginia because they feared the milder southern weather would encourage indolence and leisure – the professor helpfully added, “so that could explain what’s wrong with California.” Fortunately, I have neither blond hair or a tan, so no one realized I was one of those self-indulgent slobs who’d been corrupted by sunny weather.)
But I digress – Minnesota’s vote for marriage equality is a cause for celebration, and I also understand that legislators in California are waiting for the Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8, but it’s still just a little embarrassing to realize that the way state legislatures are jumping on the bandwagon, we probably won’t even make it to the top 20. And of course there are plenty of liberals in Minnesota, but we don’t exactly think of it as a wild and crazy state full of drag queens and hemp growers. Minnesota has always defied easy categorization, with stoic, independent residents who don’t mind the harsh weather, a place whose congressional delegation can include both Al Franken and Michelle Bachmann, a state which includes wide open spaces and the thriving Twin City area where Mary Tyler Moore threw her hat in the air. So sure, I expected they might come around on marriage equality, but I still thought California would get there first. Now is our only example of leadership going to be allowing right-turn-on-red, as Woody Allen once observed? (Congrats to any of you who recognized that as a line from Annie Hall, and yes, I’m one of those fair-weather fans who prefers Woody Allen’s funny movies . . . . )
Oh well, we can drown our sorrows in organic chai lattes and kale smoothies (which by now they probably have in Minnesota too), and sing this song celebrating the latest good news on marriage equality despite California’s diminishing hipness . . .
By Nancy Slotnick, on Tue May 14, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
A lot of girls swear by the “thank you” text after a first date. (We’re assuming the guy pays- because he should. :-)) And most guys say that they like to get the thank you text. Or email. But whenever something’s done out of obligation it loses its power. I’m not denying the importance of thanking the guy. But look at the text above, and now imagine saying (or hearing it) it in your most sexy sultry voice while looking a guy straight in the eye, leaning in and showing a hint of cleavage at the same time? Now that’s a powerful move.
Timing is everything. My husband and I missed the first season of 24. We got introduced to it when Fox ran a marathon on Labor Day of 24 hours consecutively, just as they really happened when Jack Bauer was really there. It was so realistic. Well, not really. But the draw of watching it in real time was so powerful that we became instant addicts of the show for life. We couldn’t even bear to go to the gym that Labor Day (well, we did but they had TV’s there) or go to sleep because of what we were missing. It was never the same in future seasons of course but we were happy loyal fans most of the time. It was the timing that got us.
So too is dating. The momentum, the pace, the immediacy as well as the suspense (you can’t give it all up in the first episode) are all what make things exciting. That’s why you have to “leave it all on the field” on the first date. Don’t get complacent and think- I’ll just send the thank you email tomorrow and then I can show how I feel on the 2nd date. You might not get a 2nd date!
Speaking of 2nd date, a lot of the clients that I coach ask me what to do after the first date to make the second date happen. My answer to the girls is this: Nothing.
As I alluded to above, what you do to get the 2nd date always happens on the 1st date. You can’t try to strongarm it afterwards. It just doesn’t work. On the 1st date, be flirty, interesting and interested. Be on time; thank him if he pays. If he doesn’t pay, be very skeptical. (Unless you asked him out.) Always kiss on the 1st date if you like the guy. Don’t maul him; it should come from him but help him create an opportunity for it to happen. Then say good night sweetly and turn and walk away with a spring in your step. That’s what I mean by “leave it all on the field.”
Read the rest of… Nancy Slotnick: “thx 4 the drinks. I had a great time.”
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon May 13, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
I like vegetarians, they taste good. Nowhere else is this better understood than in South America, where meat isn’t just part of a meal…it’s the meal. Balanced diet? That’s when your plate has an equal amount of meat on all sides, right? Vegetables? We feed those to the animals, so it’s pretty much in the meat, right? Seemingly ridiculous to say at home, a proper South American parrilla (or asado) ignores the Surgeon General’s warnings about eating healthy for meat, meat, and more meat.
.
.
Where’s the beef? Such a question doesn’t even make sense to South Americans who love their beef with sides of chicken, sausage, fish and anything else that once moved under it’s own volition.
Read the rest of… Erica & Matt Chua: South America’s Must-East Meal
Have you ever heard someone say they want to be a polymath? Have you ever heard anyone ask, how do I become a polymath? I haven’t. The word comes from the Greek polymathes or having learned much. A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. When we think of polymaths we tend to think of dead scientists from another era like Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci. Rarely do we apply the moniker in modern times. We need more polymaths. We need a generation of youth who want to be polymaths when they grow up.
It’s easy to wrap our minds around the idea of a polymath in the context of ancient eras long gone. The entire body of knowledge on earth was accessible to an elite few. Those with an exceptional mind, privileged access, and the freedom to focus on interdisciplinary study, could become polymaths. In 384 – 322 BC Aristotle studied under Plato in ancient Greece. His writings spanned many subjects including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. In the late 15th and early 16th century Leonardo da Vinci was a prototype of the universal genius or Renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, architect, philosopher and humanist. Where have all the polymaths gone?
Polymaths need not apply in an industrial era defined by specialization. As the entire body of knowledge exploded beyond human capacity to absorb it, silos creating manageable chunks were inevitable. Each silo represents an opportunity to develop expertise and deludes us into thinking the brightest and hardest working among us can absorb all the available knowledge within it. The industrial era constrained knowledge access, limiting it to the privileged few. Barriers to entry proliferated along silo and socio-economic lines with exclusive professional credentials established in the name of protecting the public interest from charlatans without prerequisite experience and knowledge. In the industrial era, knowledge in the wrong hands was thought to be dangerous. Our current education and workforce development systems were designed for an era defined by specialization. It worked fine until it didn’t.
Three important inflection points have emerged calling to question an over reliance on specialization.
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Calling All Polymaths
It was cold and windy here in Manhattan today, and so of course my first thought was boot-related: “what can a guy wear on his feet on a chilly pre-Spring day when the temperature barely makes it over 50 degrees?”
He can’t bring out the old rugged Red Wing-types (although they are just about my favorite thing in the world), as that would be pessimistic.
It’s almost May…we should be peeling off layers, not putting them on! There’s got to be some middle ground. And that’s when I thought of Heschung’s Ginko Boot ($575). I spotted them in Barney’s about a month ago, and they caught my eye for their unique look.
They’re elegant and a little less serious than some of the tougher boots I’ve featured in this space.
The contrast between the tan leather and natural canvas makes them stylish in their own quiet way. And I love the how the stitching pops against the canvas background.
Oh, P.S., I just added a separate blog category for BOOTS. So now my boot crush is official.
I did a quick survey of the premises, knowing that the space had been a public space and having a gut feeling that it wasn’t supposed to be closed. I had no understanding of POPS or their legalities, but something seemed fishy. Thanks to the handy “Open to Public” POPS sign and to the magic of Google, I had the email address of Professor Jerold Kayden, within minutes. He literally wrote the book on the POPS. And within a few more minutes, he emailed me back!
