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johnboothus · 4 years

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We Asked 15 Spirits Pros: What Will You Be Drinking on Election Night?

The countdown to the Nov. 3 election is on. As there’s no question that the days ahead will be filled with stress as the nation votes and awaits the outcome, VinePair is turning its attention toward the less serious but still pressing decision of what to drink on election night.

To find out what the pros have chosen to help take the edge off, VinePair asked bartenders and distillers around the country what they will be pouring and shaking up for this momentous event. From historic punches and classic cocktails, to American whiskey and an aptly named natural wine, keep reading below for some expert suggestions on picking the right election night tipple.

The Best Drinks for Election Night Recommended by Spirits Pros:

Martini

Westland’s Peated American Single Malt Whiskey

WhistlePig 10 Year

Grey Goose La Poire

Dark ‘n Stormy

Green Spot Irish Whiskey

2019 Strange Days by Lightwell Survey

Old Grand-Dad 114

Daiquiri with Cañada Cloud Forest Rum

Krug Champagne

Spring44 Vodka

Luna Bay Booch’s Ginger Lemon Hard Kombucha

Ward Eight Cocktail

2006 Clos Cazals Grand Cru Oger Blanc de Blanc

Masterson’s Rye Whiskey

Fords Gin Officers’ Reserve

Keep reading for details about all of the recommended bottles!

“On election day/night, I’m going to have a Martini or two. I’m going to go to bed before the election is called, and wake up to some damn good news and a better day. (And then I’m putting Benedictine in my morning coffee.) I can’t remember the last time 2020 gave me a good morning.” — Alex Negranza, Bar Manager, MARCH and Rosie Cannonball, Houston

“To reduce my anxiety on election night, I will be drinking a dram of Westland’s Peated American Single Malt Whiskey. This Americanized Scotch has [a] great balance of peat and malt while the influence from the barrel keeps both in check. This is my favorite peated American whiskey, except for mine, of course. Hopefully, I’ll feel as even-keeled as this whiskey as the election results roll in.” — Max Pfeffer, Master Distiller, Manatawny Still Works, Pottstown, Pa.

“On election night this year, I will be drinking a WhistlePig 10 Year on the rocks. On a night like the upcoming election, anything less than 100 proof would just be unsatisfactory.” — Henry Ottrix, Bartender, Curio Bar inside Denver Central Market, Denver

“This is going to be a very long and likely stressful night, especially for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community. I’ll want something strong, classy, and comforting. I’m planning on grabbing my bottle of Grey Goose La Poire for a strong and complex Martinez riff. I like a 50/50 ratio with Martini & Rossi Rubino sweet vermouth, with just a splash of Maraschino and classic Angostura bitters, stirred nice and cold and finished off with an orange twist studded with a clove. Better yet, I can make a whole pitcher of them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge to top off my partner and roommates’ glasses every time another state is declared. So go vote right now, and then hit the liquor store.” — Ash Haussermann, Bartender, Clover Club, Brooklyn

“I will be having a Dark ‘n Stormy to summon the rain gods in hopes of good rainfall to bring us back to life. It’s all figurative, of course, but that doesn’t negate the fact that our food chains are suffering, our labor force is weakened, and our economy is in need of massive repair.” — Alba Huerta, Owner, Julep, Houston

“For election night, I’ll be drinking something a little stronger. One of my favorite whiskies is Green Spot Irish Whiskey. I like it neat, and I’ll add rocks later on to exaggerate any changes the ice brings. I like that Green Spot is light, has slow legs, a round mouthfeel, and is sweet and balanced. I always use filtered water for the ice cubes and drink from a rocks glass.” — Chris Hanson, Distiller and Winemaker, Hanson of Sonoma, Sonoma, Calif.

“Without a doubt, I will be opening a tantalizing bottle of 2019 Strange Days natural wine by Lightwell Survey, which I recently purchased at Domestique Wine. I associate natural wines with rectitude and realness. I hope this year’s election is untainted by immorality, and every voice is counted. I hope this year’s election is carried out with the same integrity natural winemakers dedicate to the production of their wines. The American people need to hear the unadulterated truth about our candidates to make an informed vote. With that being said, this bottle represents an interesting, and definitely unique, untainted presidential election. No hidden documents, no sugar-coated lies. This year we taste the truth, not Kool-Aid wine.” — Chad Henry, Bar Manager, Bammy’s, Washington, D.C.

“Old Grand-Dad 114, because it’s got a lot of flavor for a good price in case I need a second bottle that night…” — Kyle Shelgren, Bartender, Roger’s Liquid Oasis, Edgewater, Colo.

“This election night, I’ll be drinking classic Daiquiris made with Cañada Cloud Forest rum from Mexico. The Daiquiri is sharp and fresh, and I think we’ll all need something light and bright on what promises to be a long night. This JFK favorite is on the low-alcohol side, but will do well with an extra shot when the Florida returns come in. And if the numbers aren’t looking so rosy late in the evening, the Cloud Forest rum is the perfect bottle to sip on while I plan my escape to Mexico.” — James Simpson, Manager, Espita Mezcaleria, Washington, D.C.

“If it’s a win, Krug Champagne to toast, and if it’s a loss, at least it was enjoyed while watching the results, and the loss won’t be too hard to take. I think it’s the most underrated Champagne out there and probably still my favorite over even the biggest name brands.” — Piero Procida, Food & Beverage Director, The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Calif.

“Inspired by election night, I came up with this cocktail: ‘The Orange Russian,’ with Spring44 Vodka, Midnight Espresso Liqueur, a splash of milk, and topped with a Clementine Izze.” — Eric Vanderveen, Bartender, The Empire Lounge & Restaurant, Louisville, Colo.

“On election night, I’ll be drinking Luna Bay Booch’s Ginger Lemon hard kombucha. With 6 percent ABV, it has the boozy bite I’ll need to calm my nerves. I love that Luna Bay uses real herbs, fruits, and Yerba Mate tea, so while I’m nervously drinking, I’ll feel better about what I’m putting into my body than many of the alternatives.” — Gareth Moore, Managing Partner and Bartender, Home & Away, San Diego

“On election night, I’ve gotta reach for the Ward Eight cocktail! Not only [is it] delicious, but the history is so much fun! It is said to have been created for a politician in the 1890s to celebrate Massachusetts’ Eighth Ward delivering him the election. It’s pretty simple to make — just rye whiskey, OJ, lemon juice, and grenadine. Historically [and] politically relevant, and enough kick to get you through watching the election results!” — Jenn Tosatto, Bar Manager, Mission Taco Joint, Kansas City, Mo.

“It depends on how the night goes. I’ll almost certainly start the evening with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the work that has gone into the campaign by myself, my friends, and thousands of other people across the country. I’ve actually got a beautiful bottle of 2006 Clos Cazals Grand Cru Oger Blanc de Blancs that is really spectacular, and I can’t wait to enjoy [it]! With any luck, I’ll be drinking Champagne for the rest of the evening. Depending on how things go, I may end up with whiskey. Neat. Specifically some of my favorite Canadian rye — Masterson’s Rye Whiskey. It’s spicy, balanced, and just a delicious spirit that’s great for most occasions.” — Gavin Humes, Director of Food and Beverage, Scratch | Restaurants Group, Los Angeles

“As an expat, I’m not eligible to vote. Usually, I’m traveling and exploring cocktail bars around the world during election season. This year, I’m staying put in Nashville with my family as to keep those around me (and myself) safe and healthy. At home, I’ll be taking inspiration from the tropical cocktail movement and make my home a vacation paradise with drinks that will take my mind to far-flung places. Given my natural affinity towards gin (surprised?), I’ll begin with a Saturn and then the Quarterdeck from Shannon Mustipher’s TIKI with Fords Gin Officers’ Reserve. But, it won’t stop there. … Depending on the result, I think I will start with a punch, such as a Spiced Apple Gin Warmer, and then move on to the Fish House Punch (gin, brandy, peach brandy, Maraschino liqueur, green tea, lemon juice, simple syrup, and Champagne!) … Lastly, just days ahead of the election, I will make the forgotten classic cocktail from Patrick Gavin Duffy’s “Official Mixer’s Manual” (1934) that he named ‘Have a Heart Cocktail’ in the hopes that people vote with their hearts.”— Simon Ford, Founder, Fords Gin, London

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years

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We Asked 15 Spirits Pros: What Will You Be Drinking on Election Night?

The Best Drinks for Election Night Recommended by Spirits Pros:

Martini

Westland’s Peated American Single Malt Whiskey

WhistlePig 10 Year

Grey Goose La Poire

Dark ‘n Stormy

Green Spot Irish Whiskey

2019 Strange Days by Lightwell Survey

Old Grand-Dad 114

Daiquiri with Cañada Cloud Forest Rum

Krug Champagne

Spring44 Vodka

Luna Bay Booch’s Ginger Lemon Hard Kombucha

Ward Eight Cocktail

2006 Clos Cazals Grand Cru Oger Blanc de Blanc

Masterson’s Rye Whiskey

Fords Gin Officers’ Reserve

Keep reading for details about all of the recommended bottles!

“Old Grand-Dad 114, because it’s got a lot of flavor for a good price in case I need a second bottle that night…” — Kyle Shelgren, Bartender, Roger’s Liquid Oasis, Edgewater, Colo.

The article We Asked 15 Spirits Pros: What Will You Be Drinking on Election Night? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/15-best-election-night-spirits/

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alexsmitposts · 5 years

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Cheating Scandal in Admission to Elite American Universities is Telltale Sign of Decay in Higher Education One only needs to give a few lessons about how to apply to US universities – you teach students about the admission policies, motivational letters, etc. However, it is also necessary to make an attempt to get across to them the simple truth that they are most probably wasting their time and money applying to the so-called elite universities, unless they have super-rich parents or sugar daddies (gender notwithstanding). As a graduate of a US academic program, I would advise them that it is better to aim for the average universities, as the quality of education there is just as good, if not better; they are also far more likely to get accepted at one of these. But this advice applies mostly to the above-average students dreaming the Great American Dream, as the best of the tribe would not pay heed to my advice, howsoever logical it might be. As a teacher, what is most discouraging and disheartening to know is that deserving students cannot obtain the places they deserve, just because they are not from families through whom they can call the Clintons and the Obamas family friends. But what is especially discouraging is when foreign students, and those from working class families, who have brains and can actually get accepted, fail to get accepted to their dream Universities. What is even more disheartening is that, when deserving students have asked me over the years how the kids of the rich, famous and the powerful have always managed to enroll in the elite universities, I have had no answer. But I now have. It should always have been obvious – they scam their way in. When, in March, Federal prosecutors in the US charged nearly 50 parents, including celebrities and others in higher education, some of the who’s who among the “rich and famous”, with taking part in a massive cheating scandal designed to get their less than “so bright” children into elite universities, I understood why deserving students I knew were missing out on university seats that should rightfully have been theirs. While a lot many of us will rejoice that the perpetrators have been booked, as someone who understands how the underground power structure of the world works, I know very well that this is just the tip of an iceberg, and something that has been going on for a long time. In reality, elite universities are often just a country club for the brats of the rich. They are full of legacy admissions. One only has to think of George W. Bush, and how he got accepted into Yale and then somehow managed to graduate. The latest scandal even involved paying bribes to a so-called charity, and then using the bribe as a tax write off, a trick your Average Joe would never be able to get away with. I am close to Berea College in Kentucky, which is technically an elite college based on academics, as you had to be poor with lots of brains to get accepted. It is perhaps the only college in America that will not even consider your application if you come from a higher income class and are not in financial need. Back in my day, it had a 12 percent admission rate. You also had to work at least 10 hours a week to earn your keep at various college-based jobs and industries. But I would add the caveat that my characterization of corruption, and better choices of where to attend an American university, is more applicable to undergraduate education. The top universities are still the “go-tos” for masters and PhDs, I would say—those where you get the most bang for the buck. In this context, where academics are key, the admissions process is generally a legitimate one. I still wouldn’t discourage undergrads from applying to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and such-like, because they often get better financial aid packages as well as perhaps more useful connections in terms of internships or work later on. Many such universities have blind admission policies, which means they don’t look at your financial status when examining your candidature. If they find you eligible, and if you don’t have the money, they will find it for you. But for those who fail to get into the American Ivy League, I sincerely advise them to look into other places where the educational experience is just as rich, if not even fuller. What I always try to instill in my students is a sense that education is a way of self-formation, of growth, of something that will make them inherently valuable. I think many of them appreciate that approach. As one of my former students wrote, “My life experience has been so different. I’m quite spoilt, and I continue to be spoilt. Can you imagine the Virginia taxpayer is footing the bill so that I do things I love – read and write? God bless them. I often wonder how and when I’ll give back to so many to whom I owe so much.” But – no offence – that’s a stupid sentiment to have. My friend, albeit well-intentioned, is overlooking how little he is involved in the entire scheme of the world. He is like a slave worrying about the dire condition of other worse off slaves. The true problem is that his only choices are “reading and writing”, and the State of Virginia pays him to remain ineffectual. The “God bless them” statement in his email is to me the ultimate affirmation of his own superiority and his own self-deception. It appears that he thinks his reading and writing are authentic experiences, rather than empty distraction for faux intellectuals. Once hooked by such ideas, foreign students often have a tendency to look down on those less fortunate. Thinking of my own college experience – who wouldn’t want a unique, fantastic education like that, especially if it was on a full scholarship? But you must find the money for most colleges, unless you fit their selection requirements: academically strong, motivated, and committed to the Appalachian region. I was deeply privileged, blessed, and just plain lucky to have managed to get funded. That’s a key element in the mix, needless to say. Another colleague recently shared with me about the status of higher education in the USA, “As part of my Ph.D. studies here in the US, I am participating in a small seminar course on the state of the university and academia in general. It has been very eye-opening. I always knew I wouldn’t want to be a part of the cut-throat publish-or-perish world, but I didn’t realize how, for example, disciplines, sub-disciplines, and tenure committees are as a rule highly specialized and rigid in their expectations – to the extent that, as a professor awaiting tenure, one is actively discouraged from engaging with the world through, say, op-eds in newspapers or blogging or other such public activities.” If you believe me, it is all about your field, and publishing in certain important journals and getting one or two academic books out (which should, in turn, be published by certain key university presses). It all seems a bit much to me. I think I just want to return to the classroom and teach, tenure be damned. But ask me again in a few years, I suppose. That is why plagiarism, even self-plagiarism, is so common amongst university professors – publish or perish. I took a graduate course on the economics of education, and how programs are funded, and universities ranked, based on publications, even volumes of books in libraries. All that goes into the national and world rankings. The other side of the coin is former USSR countries, where little or no research is being conducted. Lecturers are using the same notes year on year and are paid peanuts—no outside research, no office hours and little student interaction in or outside of the classroom. Special Relationship But how is it in Europe, and specifically the UK, the country the US long had a “Special Relationship” with? That may be the next great scandal waiting to happen, as foreign students push out native Brits, who cannot afford to go to university anymore because tuition fees were tripled by the previous coalition government, despite one of the coalition parties, the Liberal Democrats, having won a lot of votes on a public promise that it would abolish tuition fees. Those Brits who can afford to go are now focused on diplomas rather than the once-dominant social aspects of university, for obvious reasons, But their parents have watched in horror as the value of their degrees is progressively eroded, to the point where being well connected is a greater guarantee of a job and a future, exactly what opening up higher education to all was supposed to prevent. Of course, tongue in cheek, such a cheating and bribery scandal could never happen at a British university, as Brits already know not to apply where they are not welcome due to their social class. But like Americans, Brits are also a bit naive at times, especially when it comes to white privilege and the Golden Rule -he who has the Gold makes the rules. Unlike Americans, Brits make a distinction between how you talk to a dustman and how you talk to an elected politician. As they don’t see the problem this causes, as it does in other countries, cheating by those who can becomes a way of life, as universities such as Exeter – described in guides as having a “high twit factor” – amply demonstrate. But keep in mind that the American system is completely different. You can’t get access to Cambridge, for instance, by means of sports achievements. There is no such system there. The entrance requirements for new undergrads are strict, and 87% of the students selected for each year are either from the UK or have lived in the country for most of their lives (it’s really difficult to get accepted as a foreigner on an UG course). The problem is that if you have two candidates, both brilliant, one coming from a state school in a non -prestigious place and the other from an elite school, in all probability they will take the rich kid – or they will send the rich kid to the most exclusive college, e.g. the likes of St John’s or Brasenose, and the poor one to a second-rate college. Why? The UK is effectively run by an aristocracy which still owns 1/3 of the land and has most of the financial power. This class is very well represented in the academic world – to put it simply, it can’t get rid of itself. When it comes to post-grad, MD or MSc etc, the criteria are completely different. There is much more flexibility. But say a rich Chinese or Arab entrepreneur tells the college: if you take my son, I will give you a donation of 25 mln pounds. You know what the college will do, and there are many examples – all those chairs of Islamic Studies, funded by and named after Arab businessmen and sheikhs, haven’t appeared out of academic curiosity or considerations of balance. Who would say no? Another thing to investigate is that there’s quite a rich history of the sons and daughters of people who studied at Oxford or Cambridge, politicians and businessmen, ascending to degree courses by some sort of hereditary right. Is it possible, for instance, that the son of a couple of former Pakistani prime ministers is so gifted that he was able to pass the severe tests again? Was that in his DNA? I’ve never heard of any serious investigation of how so many of these cases occur. They might be more credible through the private school route, where donors buy privilege routinely, but not amongst comparative arrivistes who think privilege can subvert democracy, though not without foundation. . So there you have it – even what makes America Great is not what it used to be, and elite universities are proving themselves to be rotten to the core. But I see hope, as at least the new generation is starting to realize, not only on the international level, that the financial payoff from an expensive American degree is not what it is billed as. But is any degree worth it for that matter?

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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The Paradox of Universal Basic Income

On December 15, 2017, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, issued a damning report on his visit to the United States. He cited data from the Stanford Center on Inequality and Poverty, which reports that “in terms of labor markets, poverty, safety net, wealth inequality, and economic mobility, the US comes in last of the top 10 most well-off countries, and 18th amongst the top 21.” Alston wrote that “the American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion, as the US now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries.” Just a few days before, on December 11, The Boston Globe's Spotlight team ran a story showing that the median net worth of nonimmigrant African American households in the Boston area is $8, in contrast to the $247,500 net worth for white households in the Boston area.

Clearly income disparity is ripping the nation apart, and none of the efforts or programs seeking to address it seems to be working. I myself have been, for the past couple of years, engaged in a broad discussion about the future of work with some thoughtful tech leaders and representatives of the Catholic Church who have similar concerns, and the notion of a universal basic income (UBI) keeps coming up. Like many of my friends who fiddle with ideas about the future of work, I’ve avoided actually having a firm opinion about UBI for years. Now I have decided it’s time to get my head around it.

Joi Ito is an Ideas contributor for WIRED, and his association with the magazine goes back to its inception. Ito has been recognized for his work as an activist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate of emergent democracy, privacy, and internet freedom. He is coauthor with Jeff Howe of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future. As director of the MIT Media Lab and a professor of the practice of media arts and sciences, he is exploring how radical new approaches to science and technology can transform society in substantial and positive ways. Ito's biggest challenge these days, though, is keeping up with his soon-to-be toddler.

Touted as an elegant solution to the problem of poverty in America and the impending decimation of jobs by automation, UBI is a hot topic today in the “salons” hosted by tech and hedge-fund billionaires. The idea of UBI in fact is an old idea, older than me even: Either through direct cash payments or some sort of negative income tax, we should support people in need—or even everyone—to increase well-being and lift society overall.

Interestingly, this notion has had broad support from conservatives like Milton Friedman and progressives such as Martin Luther King Jr. On the other hand, UBI also has been criticized by conservatives as well as liberals.

Conservative proponents of UBI argue that it could shrink a huge array of costly social welfare services like health care, food assistance, and unemployment support by providing a simple, inexpensive way to let individuals, rather than the government, decide what to spend the money on. Liberals see it as a way to redistribute wealth and empower groups like stay-at-home parents, whose work doesn’t produce income—making them ineligible for unemployment benefits. In addition, these UBI advocates see it as a way to eliminate poverty.

Nevertheless, just as many conservatives and liberals don’t like the concept. Conservatives against UBI worry that it will decrease incentives to work and cost too much, racking up a bill that those who do work will have to pay. Skeptical liberals worry that employers will use it as an excuse to pay even lower wages. They also fear politicians will offer it as a rationale to gut existing social programs and unwind institutions that help those most in need. The result is that UBI is a partisan issue that, paradoxically, has bipartisan support.

I was on a panel at a recent conference when the moderator asked audience and panel members what they thought of UBI. The overwhelming consensus of the 500 or so people in the room appeared to be “we're skeptical, but should experiment.” UBI sounds like a good or not-so-good idea to different constituents because we have so little understanding of either how we would do it, or how people would react. None of us really knows what we’re talking about when it comes to UBI, akin to being in a drunken bar argument before there were smartphones and Wikipedia. But there are a few basic principles and pieces of research that can help.

Universal Basic Income, In Theory

Much of the resurgent interest in UBI has come from Silicon Valley. Tech titans and the academics around them are concerned that the robots and artificial intelligence they’ve built will rapidly displace humans in the workforce, or at least push them into dead-end jobs. Some researchers say robots will replace the low-paying jobs people don’t want, while others maintain people will end up getting the worst jobs not worthy of robots. UBI may play a role in which scenario comes to pass.

Last year, Elon Musk told the National Governors Association that job disruption caused by technology was “the scariest problem to me,” admitting that he had no easy solution. Musk and other entrepreneurs see UBI as way to provide a cushion and a buffer to give humans time to retrain themselves to do what robots can’t do. Some believe that it might even spawn a new wave of entrepreneurs, giving those displaced workers a shot at the American Dream.

They may be getting ahead of themselves. Luke Martinelli, a researcher at the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research, has written that “an affordable UBI is inadequate, and an adequate UBI is unaffordable.” I believe that is roughly true.

One of the biggest problems with UBI is that a base sum that would allow people to refuse work and look for something better (rather than just allowing employers to pay workers less) is around $1000 per month, which would cost most countries somewhere between 5 percent to 35 percent of their GDP. That looks expensive compared with the cost to any developed country of eradicating poverty, so the only way a nation could support this kind of UBI would be to eliminate all funding for social programs. That would be applauded by libertarians and some conservatives, but not by many others.

Underpinning the Silicon Valley argument for UBI is the belief in exponential growth powered by science and technology, as described by Peter Diamandis in his book Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think. Diamandis contends that technological progress, including gains in health, the power of computing, and the development of machine intelligence, among other things, will lead to a kind of technological transcendence that makes today’s society look like how we view the Dark Ages. He argues that the human mind is unable to intuitively grasp this idea, and so we constantly underestimate long-term effects. If you plot progress out a few decades, Diamandis writes, we end up with unimaginable abundance: “We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman, and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp.” (Technologists often forget is that we actually already have enough food to feed the world; the problem is that it’s just not properly distributed.)

Many tech billionaires think they can have their cake and eat it too, that they are so rich and smart the trickle-down theory can lift the poor out of poverty without anyone or anything suffering. And why shouldn’t they think so? Their companies and their wealth have grown exponentially, and it doesn’t appear as though there is any end in sight, as Marc Andreessen prophetically predicted in his famous essay, “Why Software is Eating the World.” Most of Silicon Valley’s leaders gained their wealth in an exponentially growing market without having to engage in the aggressive tactics that marked the creation of wealth in the past. They feel their businesses inherently “do good,” and that, I believe, allows them to feel more charitable, broadly speaking.

Universal Basic Income, In Practice

If the technologists are correct and automation is going to substantially increase US GDP, then who better to figure out what to do about the associated problems than the technologists themselves—or so their thinking goes. Tech leaders are underwriting experiments and financing research on UBI to prepare for a future that will allow them and their companies to continue in ascendance while keeping society stable. (Various localities and organizations already have experimented with forms of UBI over the years. In some cases, they have produced evidence that people receiving UBI do in fact continue to work, and that UBI gives people the ability to quit lousy jobs and look for better ones, or complete or go back to school.) Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, has a project to give people free money and see what happens to them over time, for instance.

Altman's experiment, prosaically named the Basic Income Project, will involve 3,000 people in two states over five years. Some 1,000 of them will be given $1,000 a month, and the rest will get just $50 a month and serve as a sort of control group. It should reveal some important information about how people will behave when given free money, providing an evidence-based way to think about UBI—we don’t have much of that evidence now. Among the questions hopefully to be answered: Will people use the cushion of free money to look for better work? Will they go back to school for retraining? Will neurological development of children improve? Will crime rates go down?

As with many ideas with diverse support at high levels, the particulars of execution can make or break UBI in practice. Take the recent, much heralded UBI experiment in Finland. A Finnish welfare agency, Kela, and a group of researchers proposed paying between 550 and 700 euros a month to both workers and nonworkers around that country. Finland’s conservative government then began tweaking the proposal, most importantly eliminating the part of the plan that paid people who had jobs, and only providing UBI for those receiving unemployment benefits instead. It had no interest in whether UBI would allow people to look for better jobs or to train themselves for the jobs of the future. The government declared that the “primary goal of the basic income experiment is related to promoting employment.” And so what started as a credible experiment in empowering labor and liberal values became a conservative program to get more people to go back to crappy jobs—and a great warning about the impact that politics can have on efforts to test or deploy UBI. (We must wait until 2019 to see the full extent of the outcome.)

Chris Hughes, a cofounder of Facebook and not-quite-billionaire, is the person I found with a plan for UBI that’s halfway between Silicon Valley’s techno-utopian vision and the vision held by the liberal East Coast types that I mostly hang out with these days.

His new book Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn outlines his views on UBI, but here’s my brief version of what Hughes is thinking: He believes we can do UBI now. He says we can “provide every single American stability through cash” by providing a monthly $500 supplement to lower-middle income taxpayers through the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. He would expand EITC to include child care, elder care, and education as types of work that would be eligible for EITC. (Currently if the jobs are unpaid jobs, they are not eligible.) Hughes contends that this would cut poverty in America by half. According to his numbers, right now the EITC costs the US $70 billion a year, and his UBI proposal would tack on an additional $290 billion. Citing research by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman showing that less than 1 percent of Americans control as much wealth as 90 percent of Americans, Hughes' plan to pay for that expansion involves increasing the income tax for the top 1 percent, or people earning more than $250,000 a year, to 50 percent from 35 percent, and treating capital gains as income—moving long-term capital gains from 20 percent to 50 percent, hitting the wealthiest the hardest.

He’s putting his money where his mouth is too, underwriting a project that will give $500 a month to residents of Stockton, California.

Will UBI save America? Our Congress and president just passed a tax law that reduces taxes on the country’s wealthiest, but I still think Hughes' proposal is reasonable in part because EITC is a pretty popular program. My fear is that the current political climate and our ability to discuss things rationally are severely impaired, and that's without factoring in the usual challenges of turning rational ideas into law. In the meantime, it’s great that Silicon Valley billionaires have recognized the potential negative impact of their businesses and are looking at and funding experiments to provide better evidence-based understanding of UBI, even if evidence appears to have less and less currency in today’s world.

Am I optimistic? No. Should we get cracking on trying everything we can, and is UBI a decent shot on goal? Yes and yes.

The Future of Work

An Indian tribe with a profitable casino gave its members sizeable cash payments—and illustrated the potential outcomes of universal basic income.

The federal government can future-proof the economy. Meet the New New Deal.

But don't worry too much: Despite worries that automation will take all of our jobs, the evidence disagrees.

Photograph by WIRED/Getty Images

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houstonlocalus-blog · 7 years

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Houston Bands Are Doing It Wrong

Houston Skyline, Photo: Public Domain

If you look real hard around the country, you should be able to find at least one band in every city that’s doing things correctly. If you’re smart about things, you start your band, play locally to get your sound right, and then you start following time-tested methods to further your career. In Houston, however, it seems that most bands are hell-bent on either taking advice from someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or following their own way of doing things, which leads us to where we are today — a bunch of bands doing things the wrong way. Playing free shows, not having recorded material ready to share, not having photos, or hiring unqualified employees that aren’t able to help you actually gain any traction will get you nowhere as a band. Below, we’ll examine the steps I believe all bands should take if they want to actually succeed in the music world. Because to be perfectly honest, this city’s music scene can’t go anywhere if we keep insisting we know what we’re doing without looking to those who have success already.

Before beginning, it should be noted that even if you follow all of these steps it may still take a good while before you actually get any traction as a band. That being said, there are still a ton of bands who’ve done everything right and still have a hard time making waves, possibly because there are a million others doing it as well. Just know that if this is the career path that you want, it’s a very tough and difficult world to get into. And any meme you see shared about owning $5,000 dollars worth of gear to play for $50 dollars is usually shared by someone in a Cheap Trick cover band.

Band rehearsing, Photo: Stocksnap

Step One: Get Good

Let’s not kid ourselves, we have all seen a band suck live. I know that it’s “not nice” to be honest with your buddies’ band, but sometimes they suck. Most bands have this tendency to play shows way too early in this town, and that’s a huge mistake for varying reasons, the largest being that when you aren’t ready, you aren’t ready. In the past five years, I’ve maybe witnessed no more than twenty percent of Houston bands play their first outings like they’re ready to conquer the world. The rest fall into the varying categories of either not having matching guitar tones, really needing to practice a lot more, or not getting the imagery correct. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and “they” say that because it’s true. No one wants to see your band “work it out” in person, so practicing for two to three times a week — minimum — for no less than three to six months is your best bet. Also, recording your practices doesn’t hurt either.

Tone matching is a real thing, and seasoned musicians and people like myself will notice when the tones are off quicker than you’d think. If the drummer needs to tune his drums, or the guitarists are off in levels or tone, or if the vocals sound tone deaf, everyone knows it and it’s painful to hear.

That final one, imagery, may seem crappy to say, but it’s real. While the image of a band shouldn’t matter, it unfortunately does. We live in a world where people care about image. You might not believe that, but don’t forget that there’s a reason the new Macbooks come in colors. It’s of the upmost importance to make a decision of who you are as a band and to get your “look” together. And I promise you’ll get taken more seriously when you do that.

Step Two: Google Your Proposed Band Name

Come on now, how lazy do you have to be to name yourself something that already exists? If this band you’re starting is as legit as you think it’s gonna’ be, the odds are not in your favor that the band that had your band’s name first won’t either send you a cease and desist letter or ultimately win in court when there’s a fight over the name later on. I secretly think this is where the no-vowels-in-band-name thing originated, and it’s definitely where the adding “TX” to a band name comes from. Use social media while you’re at it, and remember that there’s already a band called Metallica — and a band called Battery, and a band called Alcoholica.

Step Three: Play The Wrong Shows First

This may seem counterintuitive, but playing out in the suburbs a couple of times, or at a benefit show at an unpopular venue for someone you don’t know, may be the best thing for every band to do when first starting out. This is not to say that the suburbs have a worse crowd, but the odds of bigger venue promoters or music journalists being at your show is much slimmer out in the burbs. Playing “the wrong shows” will let you get a reaction and tweak any leftover problems you might have, even if you’ve practiced like suggested above. Live music means that if something can go wrong, it will, and the slick moves you practiced in the garage might not go over well when you’re playing at a live show. You can also start learning to do things like setting up your drums before you put them on stage, learning cues for the sound guy on how to ask for more drums in the monitors, and learning how not to act when there isn’t a rider for your band, no matter how worthy your mom said you were of one. There’s nothing worse than watching a band act like they’re Aerosmith and then take twenty minutes to set up their gear onstage. You can also learn how to meet other bands and ask to play with them — before you start acting like you’ve never heard of them six months later.

Photography, Photo: Maria Tyutina

Step Four: Get Photos/Get A Web Presence

I can’t say this enough: photos go a long way. Whatever image you want to portray, photos will make this image easier to comprehend. Sure, you might think that you look like the perfect vaporwave act, but you should remember that those of us who make a living from the music industry are older than you and might not know what vaporware is. Your look will help convey it much better. Also, credit the photographers — please!

There is a trend now where bands don’t think they need a web presence. Those bands are total idiots, and here’s why: everything is promoted through the web nowadays. The only people who shouldn’t have a web presence are politicians and your grandma, and they both do it anyway. You should have an Instagram, a Bandcamp, a Facebook, a Twitter, a Tumblr, a Soundcloud and all the streaming sites too. Stop lying to yourself, the web is the future and you look stupid when someone tells me you’re great and I can’t find you.

Step Five: Record Something

Ugh, how many bands do I have to keep seeing who think it’s a good idea to start booking shows without having recorded material? Granted, the steps above don’t convey that, but by the time you’re playing at actual music venues and not at a bar that happens to have live music, you need to have something for people to hear. I hate to say this, but in today’s easy-access digital age, something is better than nothing, and the fact that anyone — literally anyone — can access these tools for free means you have no reason not to have something recorded. That being said, most people will usually give a new band a pass on the quality of their first recording, and having literally anything out there to give us an idea of your sound is better than having nothing.

In-Store, Photo: Stocksnap

Step Six: Make Friends in the Music Community

You know who gets on good shows? The band that’s easy to work with. Sure, you read somewhere that promoters make a ton of money, but in this town that’s not always the case. When a promoter hits you up on a show in your first year as a band, ask yourself why you shouldn’t play it over why you should. It seems like a lot of bands in Houston think they’re too good to open for a touring act on a Tuesday, when in reality that’s how you get on the weekend shows that have a larger attendance. Being cool with the promoter, not acting like you deserve a set amount of money without bringing out any people you can point to, and accepting your worth go a long way with a solid promoter. Some of the best bands in this city played on bills with less than fifty people in attendance, and music journalists like me saw them before everyone else. Making friends with other bands goes a long way as well. And in all honesty, you could book your band for the next year if you became friends with ten local bands. Being friendly with everyone goes a long way. You may ask yourself how someone gets a song debut in Free Press Houston, or how they get their music written about, so here’s a little secret: those who are easy to deal with are usually who get things first. Furthermore, being kind to a journalist who describes your sound in a different manner than you hear it yourself is much better than messaging them to tell them that they’re wrong — trust me. You may think your band sounds like War On Drugs, but I promise you it doesn’t, so get over it.

Step Seven: Stop Playing Every Week Around Town

Once you really get going, you’re going to gain steam and get offered a ton of shows, and this is when it’s time to decide what to do and what not to do. As mentioned earlier, this city has a ton of solid bands who play way too often. After your first year as a band, start slimming things down to no more than once a month. There’s a power in saying no, and if you can draw at least fifty people every time you play, you can start turning down all of those crappy show offers. This goes for playing what are called “soft ticket shows,” a show that is free. I can’t stress it enough that playing no-cover shows is a good way to kill your band’s career. No promoter worth a damn cares if you drew three hundred people at a brewery because there’s no way to calculate if that actually happened or not. Slow down the no-cover shows you play, no matter how much money you’re getting offered. If they can afford to give you $400 dollars, just imagine how much money you’re leaving on the table. The best way to build a fanbase is to make people want to see you — and pay to see you. Your mom might have said once, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?,” and she was right, no matter how much you hate hearing that. No one cares about your band when they don’t have an investment in you.

Step Eight: Start Playing Outside of Town

Geez, do I have to actually tell you this? As much as I hate to say it, being the biggest band in Houston doesn’t really mean much. And being the biggest band in any city doesn’t really mean much either. Your goal should be world domination, no matter how stupid you think that sounds. The bands that get on SNL, on all the late night talk shows, and on the festivals are leaving their cities behind. Don’t worry, you don’t have to make this difficult. The circle method, which is going out to three surrounding cities first, is the best route. Eventually, you’ll start broadening that circle every time you take it. So this means that playing Galveston, Beaumont, and maybe Huntsville or College Station the first time is best. Then add San Antonio, Austin and San Marcos to that circle. Do this on and on when you’re starting out until you’re ready to visit one of the two coasts. I promise any agent, manager, or promoter will tell you that the ability to draw in multiple cities goes a long way in helping to book a tour. And you’re more likely to visit places within a six hour drive more frequently than you are the two coasts. You should also consider college towns like San Marcos, College Station and Denton first over their larger sister cities because college kids wanna’ hear new live music, and you can grow your fanbase faster if you play to people with nothing to do on a Thursday.

Recording, Photo: TookAPic

Step Nine: Record Properly

Okay, so now you’ve been a band a minute and those old recordings on Garage Band don’t sound so fresh. Now it’s time to hire outside of the group’s friends. This means either recording at home and hiring an engineer to mix and master your material, or going to a studio to make it all. Remember that Houston has multiple Grammy-winning engineers who will record a record out the door, mixed and mastered, for under five grand. So stop going to places that want mammoth amounts of money. Their industry isn’t what it once was, so they’re more likely to record your band for much less than you think, and these places that want exorbitant amounts of money are BS. Also, remember that you don’t need vinyls — you want vinyls — and going that route isn’t best for a newer band. Vinyls are expensive, they’re very difficult to recoup your money from, and you’ll want to sell them at a price point that no one really wants to pay. Cassettes are a great way to sell something physical without selling the farm to get it. A record mastered for cassette and digital is your best bet, and also remember that a solid cover that conveys your sound is better than a cool-looking cover that leaves us all scratching our heads. The cover is a great representation of what the listener is in store for, and pretty much every record label that has success knows this already. You may think that you’ll look like a sellout for following this method, but you already sold out when you took money to play a live show, so stop bucking the system!

Step Ten: Hire Outside For Help

After all of these steps, it’s time to look at hiring someone (or multiple people) to help you out. There are been plenty of bands who hire PR firms before they play outside of town or have a product to sell, and that’s a big waste of money. Those same bands may also have a manager, and that is also a big mistake. You don’t need a tour manager until your band makes money on the road, nor do you need a sound guy or someone to sell your merchandise before that happens. So get over all of that. I’ve seen Lou Barlow from Sebadoh sell his own merch, and he’s much more successful than your band is. Hiring outside forces when you have something to sell and places to go is when you take those steps.

Having an agent who gets you shows around town without getting you shows outside of town is like having a creepy uncle who you always have to give cigarettes to. Obtaining an agent isn’t rocket science; in fact, it’s very easy because they’re essentially all about the money. First, find a band that you sound kind of like that has more success than you (but do this within reason). After that, go to Facebook to find out who their agent is. Now do this nine more times and email all of the agents using the phrases “put us to work,” and “we want to work for you,” and “we want to make you money,” and you’ll get a response, I promise. Make sure that you include a photo, a song, and any pertinent information, including a short bio. If you don’t get a response, follow the process until you do. Don’t email CAA, UTA, or WME unless you want to waste your time, and messaging Billions and Paradigm might yield similar results as well.

If you want to hire a PR firm, just know that you typically get what you pay for, though sometimes even that isn’t true. Before you hire a PR firm, look up their client list and then Google the bands they represent to see what kind of press they’ve gotten in the past two years. That should give you a rough idea of what you’re paying for.

If you absolutely have to get a manager, make sure you have something for them to manage. A manager negotiates your business deals like a recording contract, or if you’re in a Pepsi commercial, or if your music gets into a movie. If they haven’t done that for any of their bands already, then they probably aren’t much of a manager. While managers do more than this, you do need to find what they’ve done first before taking them on as an employee. Remember that a manager shouldn’t get to take two or more cuts either. While it’s become popular for them to push this narrative, just because your manager found your agent that doesn’t mean your manager gets a lifetime cut from your shows. Trust me, you have the rest of your life as a band to have people try to take your money who did very little, if anything, to earn it, so be mindful of who you employ.

Also, make sure you hire a band attorney that you can talk to for free as well. Never, ever sign anything without a music attorney looking at it first, and don’t sign anything without said attorney explaining it to you in the simplest of terms. If you have the money, you might consider hiring a separate attorney to double-check your agreements just to make sure the music attorney didn’t place something in the deal just for themselves. While I don’t know any music attorneys who have done this, there are plenty of tales out there by bands who’ve had it done to them, so be mindful.

Being in a band doesn’t have to be as difficult as some of you are making it. And if you heed these steps, I promise you will make things a million times easier for yourself. As far as listening to your friends about what to do or what not to do, remember that unless your friends are in a band that’s moving thousands of units and touring the globe nonstop, you might not get much from taking their advice. And while this isn’t a definitive list of how to do things, these are all things that every successful band has done in the past.

Houston Bands Are Doing It Wrong this is a repost

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when-dreams-feel-too-real · 1 year

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33 minutes into the new year of 2023 and I'm watching Matilda and eating wispa chocolate.

This is exactly what I need in life, I don't care that I have work to do.

#shower thoughts #2023 #happy new year #i have nothing to contribute to society #that makes me 50 percent better then most politicians in this damn country #the fact that the work i do is art #but pencils aren't pencil-ing right and i have no energy to fix that #it's due in 2 days #ah #college life

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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The Paradox of Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, In Theory

Universal Basic Income, In Practice

He’s putting his money where his mouth is too, underwriting a project that will give $500 a month to residents of Stockton, California.

Am I optimistic? No. Should we get cracking on trying everything we can, and is UBI a decent shot on goal? Yes and yes.

The Future of Work

An Indian tribe with a profitable casino gave its members sizeable cash payments—and illustrated the potential outcomes of universal basic income.

The federal government can future-proof the economy. Meet the New New Deal.

But don't worry too much: Despite worries that automation will take all of our jobs, the evidence disagrees.

Photograph by WIRED/Getty Images