Consumer Reports has released the June 2009 issue of their magazine. Featured in this edition are articles on cybercrime, home repairs you shouldn’t ignore, DIY landscaping, independent car servicemen, and reviews of toilet paper, knives, laptops, desktops, tradmills, and mixers.
Boom time for cybercrime
The economy and online social networks are the latest fodder for scams
Suspicious site
An online job search led to waves of spam and a disabled computer for Dan and Pat Quigley.
One in five online consumers were victims of a cybercrime in the past two years, according to the latest Consumer Reports State of the Net survey. That means there’s a strong possibility that your money will be added to the $8 billion we estimate cybercrime cost consumers or that your computer will join the 1.2 million others that we figure were replaced because of software infections during that time.
The overall rate of cybercrime hasn’t declined much over the five years we’ve tracked it. Crooks continue to take advantage of new technologies. And consumers, corporations, and the government haven’t done all they could for protection.
The problem stands to get worse as rising unemployment and foreclosures fuel a wave of recession-oriented Internet scams. And the soaring popularity of social-networking services, such as Facebook, is creating more openings for identity thieves.
5 home repairs you shouldn’t ignore
Use our expert advice to stop trouble in its tracks
Too little, too late
By the time this home’s owner discovered the water damage, his roof had to be removed down to the rafters.This article is the archived version of a report that appeared in June 2009 Consumer Reports magazine.
You might be tempted to put off fixing your home until the economy rebounds. Rebuild the patio? Sure, right after your 401(k) rallies. But some problems, if left unchecked, can lead to thousands of dollars in repairs (rebuilding a foundation wall, for instance) and might even compromise your family’s health, such as mold contamination.
The trouble signs are easy to spot, provided you know what to look for. What’s more, contractors aren’t as busy now, so they’re likely to be more flexible on price. Here are the five biggest red flags of home maintenance, with our advice on how to deal with them. No problems? Check out these Simple spruce-ups.
- Runaway rainwater
- Roof and siding
- Pest infestations
- Mold and mildew
- Foundation cracks
How to squeeze a nickel
Here’s hoping you find new ideas among these staff and reader tips
Lawn care
Grow annuals from seeds. It’s much easier to buy flats, but seeds are very inexpensive.
Rather than buy plants, trade plant clippings with friends. They’re free!
Be your own landscaper. Doing basic lawn care yourself is good for you—and for your wallet.
Lab Tests
‘Greener’ roll saves you green
Greener choice
Marcal’s Small Steps was a good value among the recycled products.
Our latest tests show that toilet paper made of recycled ingredients could help you save money as well as the planet. At just 8 cents per 100 sheets, Marcal’s Small Steps was among the least costly, recycled or not. But don’t expect top strength or softness.
When we did a full report on toilet paper (May 2009), our sensory panel found that all three recycled products in the test scored only mediocre for softness. But those products were reformulated before publication, so we did not include them in the Ratings. Instead, we did a follow-up on their successors. Marcal’s Small Steps, a two-ply paper, is the softer, reformulated version of the Marcal 1000 and Marcal Sunrise.
Independent service is more satisfying
People who took their car to an independent mechanic for maintenance were generally more satisfied than those who went to a dealership, according to our survey involving 349,000 vehicles.
Eighty-four percent of owners reported being very satisfied with maintenance performed at independent shops compared with 77 percent at dealerships. But they were more satisfied with the dealer service of some car brands than of others.
Among the highest-scoring dealerships were Lexus, Buick, and Acura. On the other end of the scale, Volkswagen, Suzuki, Jeep, and Nissan owners were far less satisfied with dealer service. Overall, four domestic-car dealers—Buick, Saturn, Mercury, and Cadillac—scored relatively high.
Volkswagen owners were among the least satisfied with their dealership maintenance. Still, 82 percent said they were very satisfied with maintenance performed by their independent mechanic.
Andrew Epstein, an assistant professor in New Haven, Conn., who took the survey, says the independent shop that services his 1990 Volkswagen is “very thorough and thoughtful, and always gives me a good sense of how important something is to fix.”
Among owners whose cars needed repairs and maintenance, the difference in satisfaction with dealers and independent shops was even more pronounced: 75 percent were very satisfied with independents vs. just 57 percent with dealerships. Lexus, Acura, and Buick service departments came out on top, while Volkswagen and Jeep dealers rated among the lowest.
Shopping Comparison of Notebooks and Laptops
Netbooks are a lighter, cheaper alternative to traditional laptops. Plus: New standard laptops and desktops
Plus product reviews on:
Knives
Nine sets show a fine edge.
Treadmills
Ramping up the innovations.
Mixers
A classic model whips the competition.
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Conde Naste has published the May 11 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Featured in this issue are articles on interrogating torture, the flu and the border, and what is it about the word “swine” ?
Interrogating Torture
How to account for the past.
by Philip Gourevitch
The Talk of the Town
Standstill
The flu below the border.
by Alma Guillermoprieto
Samela’s Shammash
Sammy Davis, Jr.,’s menorah for sale.
by Lizzie Widdicombe
By Any Other Name
What is it about the word “swine”?
by Lauren Collins
The Financial Page
Monsters, Inc.
How banks got big.
by James Surowiecki
Annals of Innovation
How David Beats Goliath
Secrets of highly effective underdogs.
by Malcolm Gladwell
Reflections
The Fifth Blade
Evolution and the razor.
by Adam Gopnik
Shouts & Murmors
Making Friends
by Amy Ozols
Onwards and Upward with the Arts
The Art Doctor
Conserving contemporary art.
by Rebecca Mead
Department of Education
The Instigator
L.A.’s charter-school crusader.
by Douglas McGray
Profiles
Brain Games
The Marco Polo of neuroscience.
by John Colapinto
The Reporter at Large
The Long Shot
Contemporary China finds its auteur.
by Evan Osnos
Fiction
“The Autobiography of J.G.B”
by J. G. Ballard
Books
Helen Gurley Brown, cosmopolitan.
by Judith Thurman
Briefly Noted: “How to Win a Cosmic War”; “The Parents We Mean to Be”; “Natural Elements”; “Out of My Skin.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins’s radical poetics.
by Adam Kirsch
The Theatre
Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms.”
by Hilton Als
Pop Music
The choral approach of Grizzly Bear.
by Sasha Frere-Jones
The Current Cinema
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Fighting,” “Tyson.”
by David Denby
Poems
“Galveston, 1961”
by Richard Wilbur
“Obscurity and Regret”
by C. D. Wright
“Hackers Can Sidejack Cookies”
by Heather McHugh
Critics’ Notebook
“Merchant of Venice,” at BAM.
by Hilton Als
“The Late Film,” at BAM.
by Anthony Lane
Mastodon, at the Fillmore New York.
by Sasha Frere-Jones
Tables for Two
Shang
by Andrea Thompson
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This weeks issue of The Week magazine has arrived in mailboxes. Features this week include: Can Chrysler survive bankruptcy? Republicans: Is there a path back to power? Obama weighs Supreme Court options. Signs of an economic recovery. Swine flu threat recedes.
Arts & Leisure
Books
Also of interest … secrets of the brain
Books
Author of the week: Ayelet Waldman
Novel of the week: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti
Book of the week: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
Music
Bob Dylan: Together Through Life
Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan
Film
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Battle for Terra
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
New on DVD
People and Gossip
Gossip: Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn
Gossip: Rudy Giuliani
Gossip: Carrie Prejean
Gossip: The Vatican
Hulk Hogan’s painful decline
The book that ruined Gay Talese
Brooke Shields’ maternal karma
Lifestyle
New cars: 2009 BMW 7 Series
The best … space savers
Tip of the week: How to make an iPod battery last
Best websites to make meetings efficient
For those who have everything: The Thunderbolt R2G2
Travel
Europe: Small nations, momentous pleasures
Last-minute European travel deals
Book List
Best books … chosen by Michael J. Fox
Stage
Stage: Ragtime
The week’s other opening: Accent on Youth
Art
Exhibit of the week: The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984
Where to buy … Jean-Marie Périer: First-person Access
Television
The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
Movies on TV this week
Show of the week: Independent Lens: Crips and Bloods, Made in America
Extras
Business columns: The business case for female leaders
Business columns: For sanity’s sake, expect the worst
Issue of the week: Can Chrysler survive bankruptcy?
Making Money
Workplace
What the experts say
Health-care costs: A fight for answers, and relief
Main Stories
Obama weighs Supreme Court options
News & Opinion
Obama weighs Supreme Court options
Signs of an economic recovery
Swine flu threat recedes
Controversies
Republicans: Is there a path back to power?
Best Columns – US
Punishing whites for being white
The end result of torturing Zubaydah
Prosecutors who’d rather ignore rape
Quote of the week: Jonah Goldberg
Best Columns – Europe
France: The philistines who want to ruin rosé
United Kingdom: Will YouTube destroy the prime minister?
Best Columns – International
Russia: How the U.S. protects its arms dealers
Canada: When parents keep their kids ignorant
India: Election time in the world’s biggest democracy
Talking Points
Pakistan: Fears of a nuclear Taliban
Torture: What would Jesus do?
Biden: The accidental fearmonger
Cursing: Not on TV, you don’t
Briefing
How Star Trek conquered the universe
How They See Us
Is it Spain’s place to investigate Gitmo?
Obituaries
Jack Kemp
Salamo Arouch
Health and Science
Health & Science
Health scare of the week: Sweetened drinks make you fat
Polls
Poll watch
Cartoons & Short Takes
Polls
Poll watch
Editor’s Letter
Editor’s Letter: O, be some other name!
It Wasn’t All Bad
Routine day hike becomes three-day nightmare, and more
Boring but Important
Targeting tax havens, and more
Only in America
Workplace racial-sensitivity pamphlet called insensitive, and more
Good Week – Bad Week
Saudi Arabian children, and more
Tabloids
Pilot saved by portable toilets, and more
Noted
People with ordinary sore throats and fevers flood ERs
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Condé Nast has pubished the May 2009 issue of Allure magazine. In the May issue of Allure, they reveal the best-selling blush in the country. Discover easy solutions for your biggest skin nightmares, a workout for flat abs, the top ten makeup and hair trends for spring, and more. Plus, see five celebrities bare it all and see our plan for the best diet shortcut.
Blake Lively
The anti-gossip girl.
Get a Great Body
The fastest way to flat abs. Plus: The useless moves to skip.
The Cheater’s Diet
Deprivation, starvation, temptation…you know how the story ends. Here, tips that let you have your cake—and lose weight, too.
They say cheaters never win. We beg to differ: Just try our tip-a-day weight-loss plan and you’ll be entered to win a three-night trip for two to Miraval Tucson Resort & Spa (including one spa treatment per person each day, a private consultation with a nutritionist, and three gourmet meals daily) and $100 of E.L.F. Studio makeup every year for the next 20 years.
Backstage Beauty
Dark eyes. Red lips. Hot buns. Rosy cheeks. The top ten spring trends, hot off the runway.
Five Celebrities Bare It All for Allure
Sharon Leal, Padma Lakshmi, Eliza Dushku, Chelsea Handler, and Lynn Collins stripped down for our May issue— and revealed more than their bodies.
Skin Embarrassments
12 embarrassing skin problems. Cellulite, back-ne, ingrowns, scars… Sure, we all have flaws we’d rather not talk about, let alone show the world. The quickest, easiest solutions to what may be the most mortifying skin issues.
Love the Sun
Hold the wrinkles!
Latitude Adjustment
Clothes that soak up the sun and drink up the pool: The best splashy prints, sporty shapes, and coral-reef colors for summer.
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Golf Digest magazine has published it’s June 2009 issue. Featured in this issue are 20 destinations every golfer should go to. Also, a question and answer session with Phil Mickelson.
20 Places Every Golfer Must Go
The game’s best off-course attractions
True golf fans can’t get enough. Even if they’re not playing or watching golf, they’re thinking about it. We designed this feature with that golfer in mind. From Seoul to St. Andrews, from Ohio to Arizona, we’ve collected the game’s 20 top off-course attractions. You’ll find tributes to icons, bars where tradition is always on tap, gravesites of golf legends, hallowed hallways, a clown’s mouth, and more. Some of these attractions are near famous golf courses; others are more remote. Many are moderately priced or even free. But, most important, each is steeped in the game we love.
- Arnold Palmer’s Restaurant
- Bobby Jones Exhibit
- British Golf Museum
- The Dunvegan
- Jack Nicklaus Museum
- The Himalayas Putting Green
- In Celebration of Golf
- Old and Young Tom Morris Grave Sites
- Par-King Skill Golf
- Pine Crest Inn
- Ping Plant Tour
- 17 Mile Drive
- The PITCH AND PUTT Course at Turnberry
- Slammin’ Sammy’s at the Greenbrier
- Sky 72 Golf Club Driving Range
- The Tap Room/Club XIX
- Urban Golf
- USGA Museum
- Vintage Pinehurst
- World Golf Hall of Fame
Q&A: Phil Mickelson
The man with three majors, a dinosaur head and a 300-pound meteorite is no dodo
With the 2009 U.S. Open coming to Bethpage Black in June, Phil Mickelson again is thinking about trying to win the national championship he covets on a course he thoroughly enjoys. He’s had a few close calls and a few that were not so close, such as last year’s Open at Torrey Pines in his back yard of San Diego. On Monday of Open week, he required seven hours of intravenous treatment at a local hospital after a viral infection caused dehydration. Another case of dehydration earlier this year in Miami requiring Saturday-night IVs didn’t stop Mickelson from winning for the 36th time in his PGA Tour career, putting him just three wins short of joining Tom Watson and Gene Sarazen in 10th place on the tour’s all-time list.
In extensive interviews with Golf Digest, Mickelson, who turns 39 two days before the start of this year’s Open, addressed a number of subjects, including New York sports fans, UFOs, criticism from Tiger Woods’ caddie, a late collapse in the 2006 Open, business ideas conceived during sleepless nights, players who enjoy busting his chops, and some drastic policy changes he would like the tour to adopt (after a public spat with the commissioner). Oh, and then there’s the dinosaur head in Phil’s home office.
3 Dads, 3 Stories
Father’s Day tribute: excerpts from Chicken Soup for the Soul
My Summer Vacation
Six writers on their favorite golf getaways
Lesson Tee
Swing Sequence: Zach Johnson
He’s not long, but here’s what makes him so quick
Annika Sorenstam
My 3 keys when between clubs
Phil Mickelson
Focus on your swing path to hit the high floater
Tiger Woods
My healthy knee has changed how I drive into the ball
David Leadbetter
Fix your slice before it starts
Tom Watson
Par depends on the weather, as Byron Nelson told me
Jim Flick
Picture Fred Couples’ swing to fix an over-the-top move
How To
Featured Tip: Butch Harmon
Groove a good weight shift
Cover Story: Make More Birdies
The fine art of scoring: beating fear, tension and not yourself
Can You Feel It
How to find your touch on three short-game shots
Dr. Bob Rotella
My 10 rules on mental fitness
Steep Vs. Shallow
To hit stronger, straighter shots, swing the other way
Breaking 100-90-80
Tips and drills on iron play
U.S. Open Preview
A Flat Finish
For all of Bethpage Black’s strengths, its final hole isn’t one of them. So the USGA considered using the Red’s for a finish
Viewer’s Guide
TV times, hole diagrams, the playing field, the Virtual Open contest, websites and more
R-O-C-C-O!
A year later, Mediate reflects on his near miss against Tiger: “People act as if I won.”
The Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge
How hard will the Black play for our three celebrities and contest winner? The USGA says there’s no need to fear
Bethpage Basics
How the pros will work the driver — and you can, too
Next Stop: 200 Majors
Dan Jenkins looks back at covering 60 years of classics
What Could Have Been
Ben Hogan survived a crash to make history, but it robbed him of glory
Equipment
- Latest Gear: Mallet putters
- New Looks: Lightweight shoes
- Bomb & Gouge: Driver aerodynamics
- What’s In My Bag? Ernie Els
Columns
- Jerry Tarde: 18 questions for David Fay
- Tim Rosaforte: Retief Goosen’s putting fix
- David Owen: Food for thought
- Dan Jenkins: Report from the Masters
The Digest
- On The Tee: Nick Watney
- Guru: Playing with family
- Fitness: Lightning myths
- Rules: Stroke savers
- Books: 14 to check out
- Style: Watches as investments
Travel Digest
- Long Drives: Memphis to Little Rock
- Ambush: Bratton brotherhood
- Q&A With John Smoltz: The Boston Red Sox reliever talks about his aspirations of making it on tour and the golf course in his backyard
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The June/July issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine has been published. Featured in this issue are wedding centerpieces, Rach’s Wedding, Summer Fruits & Veggies, recipes, and summer cookout.
Wedding Centerpieces
These easy DIY centerpieces from some of our favorite designers are great for any wedding, and will save you serious cash!
There’s no reason to hide your mismatched stemware in the back of the cabinet anymore! With just a few flips of the glass, designer Annie Selke—owner of home furnishings company Pine Cone Hill —created a modern candle-and-flower arrangement that we’re just crazy about for an outdoor warm-weather wedding. Her idea: Place your goblets upside down on a table, tuck large blooms underneath and top with colorful votives. It may only take a few seconds to pull together, but the elegant impact will last all night.
Rach’s Wedding
Check out behind-the-scenes photos of Rach’s big day.
Summer Fruits & Veggies
Now’s the time to head to your local farmer’s market for the freshest, tastiest seasonal ingredients. Most of what you pick up will be delicious on its own, but these recipes—some of our summer faves—will really make your produce pop.
Tips:
Pat strawberries dry with paper towels right after rinsing, or they’ll absorb water and lose flavor.
Slice and freeze fresh peaches or other stone fruit and use instead of ice cubes in lemonade.
To finely shred zucchini, place in a food processor and pulse.
You can easily seed a cucumber using a melon baller or a spoon.
Ripen tomatoes by storing them in a paper bag on the counter for a couple of days.
Good For You
Lighten up! We’ve downsized your favorite recipes to make them figure-friendly—your waistline (and tastebuds) will thank you.
- Fish ‘n’ Chips’
- Huevos Rancheros
- Lean, Mean Meatloaf
- Double-Chocolate Pudding
- Firecracker Enchiladas
- Breaded Pork Chops with Sage Cream Gravy
- Salmon Cakes
- Skirt Steak Sauerbraten
- Many More
Summer Cookout
When the weather’s warm and the days are long, we think: cookout! Fire up the grill, invite your gang over and serve up a spread of barbecue-friendly food, like burgers, ribs and chicken, along with all the fixings. We’ve got great recipes, how-to grilling videos, party ideas and more. (P.S. No grill? Lots of these recipes are delicious without!)
- All-American BBQ
- Birthday Barbecue
- Cowboy Cookout
- Block Party
- Pool Party
- Alfresco Fiesta
- Summer Picnic
- Summer Cocktail Party
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Condé Nast has released the June 2009 edition of Architectural Digest Magazine! Featured articles include a taste of english country style in the Smoky Mountains, easing a historic farm into the present is a labor of love, in the heart of napa valley, a contemporary farmhouse settles in, creating a stylish throwback to the 1970s, and soaring volumes in the country allow a family to reach out and connect.
Tale of Toad Hall
A Taste of English Country Style in the Smoky Mountains
A profound love of the land, mixed with a lifelong passion for home entertaining, is the driving force behind the imposing collection of five log structures that Kreis and Sandy Beall have built on a picturesque 32-acre site in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. With southern understatement, the Bealls and their Atlanta-based interior designer, Suzanne Kasler, refer to the compound’s 12,000 square feet of buildings, including the princely main house, as “log cabins,” much in the way that southerners might self-deprecatingly refer to the majestic two-story columns of their plantation houses as “sticks.”
The logs in question are more than amply proportioned antique timbers collected, as Kreis Beall explains, “by a man in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a passion for finding and gathering timbers from old log barns.” If they form a robust and richly textured background for the Bealls’ vast collections of 18th- and early-19th-century European furnishings and household ornaments, as they do, they also adamantly refuse to remain in the background. Joined by rugged boulder chimney breasts, the logs set the tone for the interiors’ unshakable and comforting stability.
Back to Basics
Easing a Historic Farm into the Present is a Labor of Love
Certain houses have to wait longer than others to find the right people to bring them back to life.
In 1935 the Colonial Revival architect Richardson Brognard Okie built one of his classic Pennsylvania farmhouses for a Philadelphia investment counselor named Robert Boltz. The client purchased 340 acres and commissioned Okie to design a working dairy farm, complete with a main residence, five outbuildings and a man-made lake and water raceways that ran an actual waterwheel. Drawing on both American and English vernacular styles, as was his habit, Okie gave his client one of his beautifully detailed design pastiches: The main house was made of stone and featured such trademark Okie gestures as a recessed porch with double arches, a chunky pediment over the front door, dormer windows on the second floor that are inset through the cornice, set-back wings with different rooflines, lanterns on shelf brackets, and custom hardware in a range of designs.
Neither the client nor his architect was playing farm, however. The basement of the main house, which is lined from floor to ceiling in white subway tile, featured built-in tubs piped with cold well water in which milk cans were kept until they were picked up for distribution. There was a bank barn for milking the cows; a large L-shaped building containing work spaces and implement sheds; and a blacksmith’s shop, where all of the property’s hardware was hand-forged following Okie’s drawings. There was a double-sided corncrib, which was converted into a caretaker’s house, a later functioning corncrib, and…well, it comes as no surprise that by the end of the 20th century the expansive estate had been sitting on the market for several years.
Wine Country, Italian Style
In the Heart of Napa Valley, a Contemporary Farmhouse Settles In
Constructing a residence from scratch that feels as if it has always been there is an exacting art. Its success depends on a seemingly endless array of details—the use of fieldstone that might have been dug from local earth, for instance, or the anchoring presence of gnarled trees with languorous branches that look as though they have survived a hundred summers.
Presented with a rare tabula rasa in coveted St. Helena in California’s Napa Valley—the surrounding vineyards destined to become Duckhorn merlot—designers Jacques Saint Dizier and Richard Westbrook, of Saint Dizier Design, and architects Hugh Huddleson and Karen Jensen Roberts set about creating what Saint Dizier calls an “anti-villa,” a farmhouse-inspired hamlet at the end of a quiet road for a peripatetic couple and their visiting family.
“We thought of the residence as if it had an agricultural purpose,” says Saint Dizier, who is based on the other side of the mountains, in Healdsburg in Sonoma County. “We wanted to bring in the vines, make the house a believable part of the vineyards.”
The Architectural Digest Greenroom
Creating a Stylish Throwback to the 1970s Backstage at the 81st Annual Academy Awards®
Stephen Shadley is no stranger to big Hollywood productions—or to what it takes to pull one off. “When I started out, I worked as a scenic artist at 20th Century Fox,” says the native Angeleno turned New Yorker. “In those days backdrops used to be hand-painted.” Later he turned to interior design, and he has counted an array of stars among his clients. For the Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, Shadley was able to draw on his extensive Tinseltown experience, creating an oasis reminiscent of a chic 1970s pad atop the Hollywood Hills—one that was “quiet and contemplative, with a soft palette so no matter what someone was wearing, it would look good,” he explains.
The centerpiece of the space tucked just off stage at the Kodak Theatre was a photographic backdrop of the city taken from Mulholland Drive. In a fitting turn of events, the image came from the scene shop where he first worked. The backdrop gave the greenroom’s famous visitors “a sense of being outside for a moment,” he remarks. “They could look at the sky and gather their thoughts.”
Shadley employed a few other tools from his Hollywood bag of tricks to make it feel a little bit more like home. “I had just finished a project that had massive stone walls and huge expanses of glass,” he reports. The designer was so happy with the results, “I had a scene shop replicate the stone. When you looked at it, you had the sense that they were real,” he says.
Theory of Relativity
Soaring Volumes in the Country Allow a Family to Reach Out and Connect
Sometimes it takes a building to explain the obvious. Having completed a weekend house in southwestern Michigan, a Chicago couple with three children, two to eight, recently discovered one of the primary laws of space and human nature: Kids expand into the space allowed. “In our place in Chicago, we’re kind of on top of each other,” observes their mother. But in the country, the kids expatiate into the 7,800-square-foot house and 30 acres of surrounding farmland. “When we arrive, they run around the lawn, then they do laps inside the house, in the great room and in the circuit from the master bedroom to the other end of the house. After a while, they hang out with their toys in the basement, and then it’s up into the bedrooms.”
For urban kids, space is freedom, a call to joy in a much larger sandbox.
When the couple commissioned Chicago architect Margaret McCurry to design their getaway, the bottom line was to create a trampoline for the kind of family life that now seems extinct in America—the all-in-the-family lifestyle that once teemed on 1950s television. The boys would bunk together in the same room (fitted with shiplike beds) and, between pillow fights, learn how to share their common bathroom. The cousins would visit during Huckleberry Finn, gone-fishin’ summers, and they’d all spend weeks together in an informal family camp cornering grasshoppers in the cornfields. They’d pick berries in the summer and apples and pumpkins in the fall. The husband, an entrepreneur and publisher, comes from a big midwestern Catholic family, and he wanted a house that would bring, and keep, the immediate and expanded family together. There’d be a pool: Families that swim together, get together.
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Reader’s Digest magazine June 2009 issue has been released. Featured in this issue are 4 summer vacations you can afford! Georgia: Tallulah Gorge State Park, Michigan: Bay City State Park, Colorado: Deer Ridge Junction, Oregon: Mt. Hood-Columbia River Gorge Loop.
Summer Trips You Can Afford
Georgia: Tallulah Gorge State Park
Originally a tourist town in the late 1880s, Tallulah Falls is now a 2,694-acre state park. Running through the park is the Tallulah River, the force that created this two-mile-long, 1,000-foot-deep Tallulah Gorge. A suspension bridge 80 feet above the bottom of the gorge offers breathtaking views of the waterfalls below. Several hiking and mountain-biking trails traverse the interior of the gorge and the surrounding area. A free permit, available at the interpretive center, allows access to the gorge floor. Trails entering and exiting the gorge and on the gorge floor are very difficult and should not be attempted by visitors with health problems. Also available are trails that offer scenic views of the waterfalls cascading into the gorge.
Michigan: Bay City State Park
In the late 1800s the fortunes of Bay City, like those of many other towns in Michigan, were closely tied to the timber industry. The Victorian mansions of the lumber barons who settled here remain as a testimonial to their once-opulent prosperity. Other architectural gems from that era can been seen in the Midland Street Business District, including a château-style Sage Library.
Colorado: Deer Ridge Junction
As Rte. 36 climbs the flank of Deer Mountain, the view to the rear embraces a line of lofty summits crowded shoulder to shoulder. The champion is Longs Peak, towering above its neighbors at 14,259 feet.
At Deer Ridge Junction the drive joins Rte. 34 — the start of legendary Trail Ridge Road. Bisecting the national park, the 48-mile route rises to more than 12,000 feet, meandering for 11 miles across stark tundra that looks as though a part of Alaska had been transplanted to Colorado.
Oregon: Mt. Hood-Columbia River Gorge Loop
Few landscapes can equal the magnificence and variety of the one encircling Mt. Hood. Mountaintops under a continuous cover of snow, verdant forests laced with rushing streams and waterfalls, fertile farmlands, and the awesome gorge of one of America’s great rivers — these are among the treasures waiting to be discovered here.
We Love Dad
Father’s Day is June 21. Make it memorable with our ten thrifty and thoughtful gift picks, plus ten ideas for fun things to do with Dad on his day.
A Father’s Parenting Style
Will McAlpine, two and a half years old, likes to “help” his dad, Eric, in their suburban backyard in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. As father and son toss grass, leaves and rocks into a wheelbarrow, Eric points out different colors and shapes. Sometimes they pause during their chores to observe planes and clouds overhead. What they don’t pay attention to is the mess of mud on their shoes — or how they leave a trail of dirt in their wake when they enter the house.
David Pike of Charlotte, North Carolina, relishes reading to his three young daughters at bedtime. He reads familiar favorites like Goodnight Moon and Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham. Just as the girls’ mom, Katie, thinks David has the kids settled down, “a giggle fest erupts,” she says. Five-year-old Aidan begins pleading for David to “squirb” her (the family’s term for making funny sounds on their bellies). “Squirb me. Squirb me too,” squeals three-year-old Herron. By now everyone is wide awake.
Response to Our Report on Cancer Screening Tests
Read how the national cancer organizations responded to our controversial special report on cancer screening tests, published in the April 2009 issue.
Read a letter from the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society
The April 2009 article “Cancer Screening: Doing More Harm than Good?” is a surprisingly irresponsible piece of journalism for a publication the stature of Reader’s Digest. This article needlessly placed doubt in the minds of your readers about life-saving screening exams. As the issue hit newsstands in March, which is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I find it extremely troubling that the article presented an unbalanced perspective on colorectal cancer screening and colonoscopy, “(We don’t know for sure if it reduces the risk of death…)” and quotes from Dennis Fryback, PhD, who stated that because he has no family history of colorectal cancer, he does not need a colonoscopy, calling it like “an expensive lottery ticket. I might get extra time, but chances are much better that I won’t get anything.”
Consignment or Thrift Shop Secrets
Consignment shop owners share their secrets, tips and best etiquette advice.
This usually isn’t the place to make a fast buck. Some shops issue checks quarterly—and pay you only if your item sells.
Some of my merchandise is brand new: When a boutique goes out of business, I’ll pick up the inventory and flip it to you.
The recession means times are changing, and so is our inventory. Women’s suits and formal wear aren’t selling the way they used to, but smaller furniture for smaller houses is in demand.
Consignment shopping is probably the only consumption that’s environmentally friendly: When you buy an item you’re keeping it out of the landfills, where an estimated 85 percent of used clothing winds up every year.
Vote for the Best Joke in America
Which of the ten jokes picked by our judges was your favorite? Cast your vote. The winning gag will compete with submissions from 29 global editions for the title of Best Joke in the World in our September humor issue.
Fast and Delicious Recipes
Get out of the kitchen! Get ten more fast and delicious dishes, ready in under 25 minutes, prepared with 5 ingredients or less. From Taste of Home
Vanity Fair released their June 2009 issue. On the cover is Jessica Simpson, their main feature, whose childhood as a preachers daughter, to becoming a pop icon, with the highs and lows, are detailed in this exclusive interview. Also featured are stories on Bernard Madoff, the Kennedy Dynasty, Wall Streeters, and Francis Bacon.
“Hello, Madoff!” The Madoff Chronicles, Part II: What The Secretary Saw
Few people outside his family knew Bernard Madoff better than Eleanor Squillari, who spent two decades as his private secretary, then helped the F.B.I. gather evidence against him. In collaboration with Mark Seal, Squillari reveals for the first time the strange behavior of her former boss (often kind and generous, sometimes nasty and lewd), describes the frantic last days at the office, and pieces together clues to the shadow business, two floors below theirs, that was the ticking time bomb of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
The Jessica Question
After a tough few years—two movie duds, a risky foray into country music, and tabloid headlines about her weight—Jessica Simpson is at the crossroads of Obscurity and Re-invention. What brought the 28-year-old pop star, now also the controversial girlfriend of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, to this moment? Talking to Simpson about her life and loves, the author charts the inevitable rise of a preacher’s daughter from Abilene, Texas, the pervasive influence of her manager father, and the radiant quality that, through thick and thin, has made her a woman to watch.
Simpson, 28, who flashed like a jet through the pop-star sky, with her first Top 10 hit coming at age 19 (“I Wanna Love You Forever”), followed by other hit records, the MTV reality show that made her a household name (Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica), and several films, is currently surrounded by handlers—publicist, father and mother, pop-star sister (Ashlee), quarterback boyfriend (Tony Romo, of the Dallas Cowboys)—who together, like a high-altitude rescue team, try to get her down the sunny side of the slope.
“I think she absolutely needs to re-invent herself,” said Tommy Mottola, who, as the head of Sony Music, signed Simpson to her first major-label record deal in 1997.
Hell In Crisis
Think things are grim for Wall Streeters in the here and now? Edward Sorel and Richard Lingeman envision the scene in hell, where the Devil is talking bonus cuts, the Pit of Remorse is packed with frustrated financiers, and trophy wives are weeping over the eternal torment of their broke husbands’company.
The Lion And The Legacy
Senator Edward Kennedy’s diagnosis of brain cancer, in May 2008, touched off an extraordinary medical battle—and a veiled rivalry over who might succeed him as symbolic head of America’s fabled dynasty. Would it be R.F.K.’s oldest son, Joe? J.F.K.’s daughter, Caroline? Or the senator’s second wife, Victoria? An excerpt from the new book Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died reveals the family’s shifting dynamics, the confrontation that led Caroline to drop her political bid, and the triumphant, grueling winter of the last Kennedy brother.
In front of the Kennedy compound, he lobbed a tennis ball into the water, and Sunny dived in after it. Suddenly he felt his jaw tighten, then noticed his left arm become numb. Dear God, don’t let me go like Dad, he later recalled thinking. He had a horror of having to spend his last years in the same condition as his paralyzed father, Joseph P. Kennedy, fully conscious but imprisoned in a useless body. According to one family friend, he fell to the sand and realized he could not move. The dogs reacted with frenzied yelps and barks, and several workmen, hearing the commotion, came running to the senator’s aid. They carried him back to the house and summoned Victoria Reggie Kennedy. When Vicki saw her husband’s condition, she let out a scream. Then she phoned 911.
Brush With Death
As the Metropolitan Museum of Art puts on a Francis Bacon retrospective, John Richardson spotlights the cruel genius of the late British artist’s work, recalling the dark comedy of Bacon’s 1968 trip to New York.
Fortune’s Children
They may be rich, young, and beautiful, but the heirs and heiresses photographed in Bruce Weber’s portfolio have work to do, as artists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. Bob Colacello reports on how 38 scions—including a Hearst, an Agnelli, a Kennedy, and a Churchill—are using the family brand to forge their own legacies.
Oh, to be young, rich, beautiful—and doing something. At a moment when the economy is teetering and populism is all the rage, today’s gilded youth have got their work cut out for them, and they know it. Whether it’s expanding the family business or striking out independently, launching a career in the arts or plunging into philanthropy, the 38 heirs and heiresses to fabled names and consequential fortunes in this portfolio seem determined to make a contribution to society at large while carving out identities of their own.
Outtakes from Bruce Weber’s portfolio of the next generation of heirs and heiresses, including Margherita Maccapani Missoni (above). “With the opportunity I have been given by birth, I would be ashamed if I didn’t do something for others as well as myself,” says Agnelli scion Lapo Elkann, who calls himself a creative entrepreneur and is involved in everything from introducing an Italian vodka to supporting a hospital in Tel Aviv that cares for both Israelis and Palestinians. “We all have to prove ourselves, no matter who we are,” says Lapo’s cousin by marriage Rebecca de Ravenel, a fashion consultant. “I was very spoiled, but I knew that I wanted to work. I was working in a vintage shop when I was 17, and every Saturday morning I’d clean the windows.”
Columns
Splendor In The Grit
Between Serpico and Carrie Bradshaw, the grime-caked, crime-ridden metropolis of New York morphed into a glass-towered, tourist-friendly mall. Now that the teetering economy has some predicting a return to 1970s-style turmoil (ford to city: drop dead!), James Wolcott shares a dirty little secret about that much-maligned decade: it was actually kinda great.
New Kids On The Set
Mark Seliger spotlights the young cast of Fame, who will be telling the world to “remember my name” in the upcoming remake of the hit 1980 movie.
The Players Club
Mark Seliger and John Heilpern spotlight the critical mass of headline talent—Geoffrey Rush, Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda, James Gandolfini, et al.— that has transformed this Broadway season into a play-lover’s paradise. Video: Interviews from the photo shoot.
Anatomy Of A Miracle
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 lost thrust in both engines after a freak collision with a flock of geese. From the gruesome meeting of birds and fan blades to Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s now legendary Hudson River landing, William Langewiesche details exactly how 155 people faced—and escaped—death, thanks to one remarkable pilot and a band of revolutionary Airbus engineers.
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The March/April 2009 issue of Blue Ridge Country magazine has been published. Featured in this issue are articles on dowton Lexington, Virginia, three national parks, gray fossils, Miss Lucy Morgan, Remarkable Trees of Virginia, and clean rivers.
Downtown Lexington, Va
Explore small-town shopping and Civil War history.
Rich history runs through the walls of old buildings downtown and walks with visitors in the aged brick that lines the sidewalks, some of it the same that Civil War generals trod on. Small-business owners greet travelers and locals in their shops and restaurants; paintings of Shenandoah Valley scenery hang in gallery windows, created by artists in surrounding Rockbridge County. College students from Virginia Military Institute and Washington & Lee University frequent the streets.
Several bed and breakfasts skirt the edge of town, and Llewellyn Lodge was home base for our trip, less than a 10-minute walk from Lexington’s historic attractions.
75-year Milestones
Three national parks prepare to celebrate major anniversaries in three consecutive years.
It is a misty gray afternoon, the fresh spring leaves of tulip trees and chestnut oaks saturated with the moisture that is so common in these mountains, wisps of fog curling around arching rhododendrons and moss-covered boulders. The trail rises steadily before me, as my hiking boots suck and release the sodden soil. I try to put some space between myself and a pair of equipment-laden magazine photographers, inhaling the thick, wet air as I take in the scenes and scents of one of my favorite Smoky Mountain hiking trails – to Grotto Falls.
This is the fourth time I have hiked this trail in the last 10 years, and it looks much the same save for the skeleton wreath of needles on still-standing hemlocks that once densely shaded the path here and arced over the tripping streams found along the way.
“Are you sure this hike is only two miles?” one of the photographers calls to me from down the trail, scurrying to catch up.
“Only two,” I call back and quicken my pace to take in the woods alone. I imagine for a moment what this forest was 75 years ago when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded, designed, like its sister Shenandoah, to be less than a day’s drive for half the population on the east coast. I am only one of millions who have come to take refuge in the great parks of the southern mountains.
Gray Fossil Site
Pot-bellied rhinos, tapirs, red pandas and alligators. Badgers, peccaries, short-faced bears, sabre-toothed cats and ground sloths. Camels without humps and three-toed horses the size of dogs.
Not the kind of animals you’d expect to encounter a couple of miles off I-26, midway between Kingsport and Johnson City, Tennessee.
Yet 4.5 to 7 million years ago, that’s exactly who was drawn to a watering hole, and whose buried remains were accidentally exposed nine years ago during a routine road improvement project.
Miss Lucy Morgan
A woman founded a school and revived a lost art in the midst of the Great Depression.
Miss Lucy, as she was known to the many students, teachers, and friends who loved her, did not look the part of a mover and shaker, but she was. In fact, she was almost single-handedly responsible for the revival of hand-weaving in America.
“She was short and petite, and she always had this little loom with her, and her hands were always busy,” says Morgan’s grand-niece Susan Leveille, a weaver herself in Dillsboro. “She had a twinkle in her eye and was full of life. She was always flitting around. That was the family way.”
Photography
Book feature: Remarkable Trees of Virginia
In a new book, author and lecturer Nancy Ross Hugo, Virginia Tech Department of Forestry extension specialist and professor Jeff Kirwan and photographer Robert Llewellyn beautifully document the oldest, tallest, most historic and best-loved trees in the Commonwealth.
From the Introduction
Trees aren’t the only things that sometimes get bigger than you thought they would. When Jeff Kirwan and I launched the Remarkable Trees of Virginia Project in 2004, we conceived of a book that would celebrate some of Virginia’s finest trees and a website through which people could nominate their favorite trees. Neither of us had any idea we would be sorting through over 1,000 tree nominations and traveling over 20,000 miles to see trees.
Guest Columnist
Mary Anne Hitt
Clean Rivers and Childhood Lessons
When i was a girl growing up in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee, my sister and I would spend endless hours on the rivers – the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon, the French Broad, the Little River – swimming, fishing, tubing and doing nothing in particular. Those rivers not only kept us busy and out of trouble, but they also instilled in us a deep love of our mountain home.
The only dangerous thing about the rivers in those days was the occasional piece of broken glass or rusted metal lurking on the bottom. I never understood why some neighbors used the streams as their personal dumping ground for old appliances, bottles and cans, but we joined other neighbors in hauling the trash out of the river.
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