All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

New Destination Bars: “Fever-Tree Porch” Is In “Iconic Location” In NYC

From a Forbes.com online review:

A collection of mixed drinks at the new Fever-Tree Porch at Bryant ParkANTHONY DEEYINGExpect many of those chairs to be filled in the months ahead. The Winter Village is a huge draw, built around a massive ice rink enjoyed by upwards of 300,000 skaters throughout the holiday season. “We want people to enjoy great cocktails and drinks at the Porch, to take time to relax and appreciate the city with all its extraordinary energy,”

Earlier this month, cocktails started pouring at Fever-Tree Porch–a new, branded bar in Manhattan’s tree-lined Bryant Park. The year-long partnership marks the first of its kind between one of New York City’s premiere public spaces and the world’s top-selling purveyor of premium tonics and mixers. It also provides an al fresco outpost for some of the 12 million visitors making their way through the destination, annually. Given its prime location at the corner of 6th Avenue and 40th Street–one of the most trafficked sections in the country–the folks behind it are gearing up to serve as many as 75,000 cocktails over the course of the next 12 months.

To read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradjaphe/2019/11/13/fever-tree-opens-its-first-ever-branded-bar-in-new-york-city/#56dae5434636

Top New Hotels: “Maison De La Luz” In New Orleans Is A “Design Dream”

From a Bon Appétit online review:

Maison de la Luz New OrleansMaison de la Luz is in the Warehouse District, right by the Ace Hotel (they’re sister properties and share gym and pool amenities). Once I stepped inside the lobby, I noticed all the weird but fun safari vibes, courtesy of design firm Studio Shamshiri. There was the very Wes Anderson check-in desk, art on the wall with hieroglyphics, plush ochre- and mustard-hued suede couches, white marble coffee tables with funky feet, and cute mushroom-shaped lamps. It was a design dream.

I travel so much, and at Maison de la Luz it felt more like you were in someone’s home than a hotel. Each room had such a good mix of stuff, like someone picked out every little thing to put on display. It wasn’t a cookie cutter business person hotel. Rather it was an elegant sanctuary in the middle of crazy town New Orleans, and writing this makes me want to go right back—just to stay at this hotel.

To read more: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/maison-de-la-luz-new-orleans

Heart Disease: Stents, Bypass Surgery Provide No Benefits To Stable Patients In Large Funded Trial

From a Stanford Medicine online release:

Stent in Coronary Artery“For patients with severe but stable heart disease who don’t want to undergo these invasive procedures, these results are very reassuring,” said David Maron, MD, clinical professor of medicine and director of preventive cardiology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and co-chair of the trial, called ISCHEMIA, for International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches. 

“The results don’t suggest they should undergo procedures in order to prevent cardiac events,” added Maron, who is also chief of the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

Patients with severe but stable heart disease who are treated with medications and lifestyle advice alone are no more at risk of a heart attack or death than those who undergo invasive surgical procedures, according to a large, federally-funded clinical trial led by researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine and New York University’s medical school.

The trial did show, however, that among patients with coronary artery disease who also had symptoms of angina — chest pain caused by restricted blood flow to the heart — treatment with invasive procedures, such as stents or bypass surgery, was more effective at relieving symptoms and improving quality of life.

To read more: http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/11/invasive-heart-treatments-not-always-needed.html

Top New Travel Videos: “Vancouver Crossing” Directed By Wilkim Tan

Filmed, Edited and Directed by: Wilkim Tan

Vancouver Crossing is a short travel film that sends you on a journey of discovery as you cross through and experience Vancouver’s many unique aspects.

Vancouver Crossing Travel Video by Wilkim Tan 2019

From the beautiful trails of North Vancouver to North America’s largest food market in Richmond, Vancouver Crossing intertwines them together to show the contrast between Vancouver’s bustling urban landscape and it’s scenic nature hikes.

Credits:
Song: “Bloodflow” by Grandbrothers

Vancouver Crossing Travel Video by Wilkim Tan 2019

Website: https://vimeo.com/wilkimtan

Book Review Podcasts: Nicholas Buccola (“The Fire Is Upon Us”) Discusses A Great Intellectual Debate In 1965 (NY Times)

The Fire Is Upon Us Nicholas BuccolaIn 1965, James Baldwin, by then internationally famous, faced off against William F. Buckley Jr., one of the leading voices of American conservatism, in a debate hosted by the Cambridge Union in England. The debate proposition before the house was: “The American dream is at the expense of the American Negro.”

Nicholas Buccola’s “The Fire Is Upon Us” tells the story of that intellectual prizefight as well as the larger story of Buckley’s and Baldwin’s lives.

 

Retirement Planning: Nobel Prize Economist William Sharpe Offers Free E-Book For Retirees

Feom a Barron’s online interview article:

William Sharpe Nobel Prize Winning EconomistRight now, you tend to have investment advisors for retirees, and insurance advisors or salespersons for retirees, and it’s fairly rare to go to somebody who can sell you annuities or invest your money and has no financial incentive to tilt one way or the other. Ultimately, what I’d like to see are people who have knowledge of both annuities and investments, and who are compensated in a way that doesn’t influence the decision.

The idea is that you segment your money. It’s similar to using “buckets” but with a time component. A retiree might have a box for 2020 and a box for 2021, and 2022, etc.

Retirement Income Analysis by William SharpeNobel Prize–winning economist William Sharpe has spent most of his career thinking about risk. He’s behind the Capital Asset Pricing Model for gauging systemic risk and the eponymous Sharpe ratio, which captures risk-adjusted return.

A few decades ago, Sharpe turned his attention to what may be the biggest risk of all for most Americans—running out of money in retirement. The professor of finance, emeritus, at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business created a computer program that eventually covered 100,000 retirement-income scenarios based on different combinations of life spans and investment returns for a retired couple. Sharpe has made this program available in a free ebook, Retirement Income Scenario Matrices.

To read more: https://www.barrons.com/articles/william-sharpe-how-to-secure-lasting-retirement-income-51573837934

Top Political Podcasts: Mark Shields And David Brooks On The Latest In Washington (PBS)

Shields and Brooks Political podcast Nov 15 2019Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including whether public impeachment hearings are making President Trump more or less vulnerable, what stood out about the witnesses who testified so far, whether Trump’s Ukraine dealings are surprising or “in character” and the latest dynamics among 2020 Democrats.

Museum Events: The Huntington Library Builds Centennial Float For 2020 Rose Parade (Timelapse Video)

For the first time in 50 years, The Huntington will join Pasadena’s world-famous Rose Parade® with a spectacular float, themed “Cultivating Curiosity,” to capture the spirit of The Huntington’s Centennial Celebration and highlight the institution’s rare research materials, inspiring art collections, and enchanting botanical gardens that have made it a beloved destination that welcomes 750,000 visitors each year.

Website: https://www.huntington.org/centennial

Technology Innovations: “WI-CHARGE” Charges Smart Devices Wirelessly With Infrared Light

From an Interesting Engineering online review:

Wi-Charge TechnologyWi-Charge says it has a solution to the problem. Its technology allows users to power small devices, such as smartphones, smart fire alarms, and smart locks, from several feet away without any wires.

The technology works by sending out a thin beam of infrared light. A receiver on the enabled device then converts the beam into electricity.

Electronic waste is expected to exceed 50 million tonnes by 2020. That number simply isn’t sustainable.

One company is aiming to get rid of one of the main culprits in e-waste: the electronic cable. Wi-Charge has created a method for powering devices wirelessly using safe and efficient infrared technology.

Aside from having the potential to end a great deal of waste, the company is also aiming to meet a growing demand for power that will only increase with the advent of 5G.

WiCharge_Charging_-infographic_wide_v2

To read more: https://interestingengineering.com/is-wireless-power-the-future-for-charging-smart-home-devices?_source=newsletter&_campaign=YqN5dY3r3bJLA&_uid=46dBBxnxd7&_h=0c209d493fa27bb2c39469a873cbbd733289c833&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=mailing&utm_campaign=Newsletter-15-11-2019

 

Health Reports: CDC Finds That 35,000 Americans Die Of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Each Year

CDC Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States 2019More than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. In addition, nearly 223,900 people in the United States required hospital care for C. difficile and at least 12,800 people died in 2017.

Germs continue to spread and develop new types of resistance, and progress may be undermined by some community-associated infections that are on the rise. More action is needed to address antibiotic resistance. While the development of new treatments is one of these key actions, such investments must be coupled with dedicated efforts toward preventing infections in the first place, slowing the development of resistance through better antibiotic use, and stopping the spread of resistance when it does develop to protect American lives now and in the future.

CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 (2019 AR Threats Report) includes updated national death and infection estimates that underscore the continued threat of antibiotic resistance in the United States. New CDC data show that while the burden of antibiotic-resistance threats in the United States was greater than initially understood, deaths are decreasing since the 2013 report. This suggests that U.S. efforts—preventing infections, stopping spread of bacteria and fungi, and improving use of antibiotics in humans, animals, and the environment—are working, especially in hospitals. Vaccination, where possible, has also shown to be an effective tool of preventing infections, including those that can be resistant, in the community.

To read the report: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/2019-ar-threats-report-508.pdf