Five Guys Likes a Greasy Bag

Nothing but raves, indeed. Well, go into any Five Guys* and the walls are covered with oil resistant laminated accolades from Zagat**. Yup Zagat. The Zagat survey, created in 1979 by the Zagats (Tim and Nina), polls diners themselves. In 2010, Five Guys nipped In-N-Out Burger for the best fast food burger. It was a contentious win inasmuch as the West Coast loser was disputatious. Sour pickles perhaps? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/17/five-guys-best-burger-zagat-fast-food-survey-2010_n_684302.html#s127401&title=Best_FastFood_Burger

The chain has exploded onto the scene. From Fives Guys themselves: http://www.fiveguys.com/history.aspx

History

• 1986: The first Five Guys location opens in Arlington, VA.
• 1986 - 2001: Five Guys opens five locations around the DC metro-area and perfected their business of making burgers… and starts to build a cult-like following.
• 2002: Five Guys decides DC metro-area residents shouldn't be the only ones to experience their burgers and start to franchise in Virginia and Maryland.
• 2003: Five Guys sells out of franchise territory within 18 months and starts to open the rest of the country for franchise rights.
• 2003 - Present: Five Guys expands to over 750 locations in over 40 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

Facts

• There are over 250,000 possible ways to order a burger at Five Guys.
• We use only fresh ground beef.
• There are no freezers in Five Guys locations, just coolers. Nothing is ever frozen.
• We use only Peanut oil.
• Our menu is trans-fat free.

 Five Guys sure gets some hoity-toity clientele. Look at  BO. After ordering, he ate some peanuts (free for all) while waiting. The native Hawaiian chatted up while queuing for his 100% trans free fat fat meal to be readied.

Oh, about those free peanuts. Five Guys is sooo cool the company warns about peanut allergy, asking customers not to take the peanuts out to the neighborhoods where allergic children could suffer. Although peanuts are popular, deaths can occur.

For sure, the burgers are delicious, wet and messy. Plenty of napkins are provided. All of the toppings are "free". Well for the price of the burger (over a fin), the toppings should be "free". Each burger is made to order, cooked well done and delivered wrapped in foil, like the kind found in most home kitchens. Most times fries are ordered, too. Well they should be. With huge, 50 pound bags of potatoes piled in the middle of the dining floor, one gets the idea the potato gig-a-doo is important to the Five Guys schtick. Especially when the bags are labeled Five Guys!

"

Moreover, FG goes on to tell the customer where exactly the day's potato offering were grown. Gotta like that. FG is serious about its fries. For example,

The fries themselves are thick, with skin, fresh, WELL cooked, congestive heart failure seasoned, greasy, limpish yet firm (hmmm). Yes, they are good!!! Like chocolate, FG's fries are addictive and guilt inducing. The portions are OVERSIZED. A small order is plenty for two chow hounds. Which leads to the greasy bag.

Five Guys is a bare bones kind of place. Basic this and that; chairs, tables, flooring, lighting etc. The tin foil burger wraps and plain brown bags go along with this motif. But the bag, the grease stained bag is a notable feature of the experience. So notable that Five Guys brags it by describing "Fanatics" as,

You might be a Five Guys Fanatic if:

• You know all of the 15 free toppings by heart
• Your heart skips a beat when you see a grease stained brown paper bag***
• The sight of foil causes you to salivate
• Your hand is tired from drawing intensecomment card pictures
• You "look-up" when trying to order at fine dining establishments

Five Guys is current and chic. The website is useful and concise. Ordering online is nice, saving time and effort. The FAQ's are informative. http://www.fiveguys.com/faq.aspx

All in all, Five Guys is a "you get what you pay for" burger joint. Better than the lower priced burger chains, which like to use "sauces" to enhance their burgers, FG's meat is ultimately the difference. Fresh ground beef...

 "While our beef is neither organic nor are the cattle free range, our distributor purchases raw materials from the major meat suppliers in the US who are required to treat the cattle humanely and follow all the procedures set forth by the USDA."

Also, the limited menu allows FG to do a little well. Besides burgers, FG offers only hot dogs, while competitors add new items every week. FG says..

"Five Guys does not currently have plans to add any items to our menu. We follow the philosophy of focusing on a few items, and serving them to the best of our ability. If we were to add to our menu, then you can guarantee that we would only do so if we could serve the highest quality product possible. For example, there are a lot of great milkshakes out there, and at this point we think that others are doing it better than we could!"


So, Five Guys is a winner, an American original. Burgers and fries, perfect together. Especially at Five Guys. Ta-Da!

E cosi va...

*Five Guys takes its name for the five sons of founders Jerry and Janie Murrell.

**Zagat or Zagat's sounds like stugots, but they are similarly sounding non related words. Stugots is derived from the Italian words (que)sto cozzo, literally this dick, familiarly the dick, the cock. Stugots was the name of Tony Soprano's boat in the HBO hit, The Sopranos.

The Stugots=The this dick (cock)
lose the "The"

*** emphasis added

USA Health Care, Banged for a Buck

Joe Kernan

Joe Kernan, one of CNBC's AM Squawk Box troika*, boldly asserted on April 27, "We got the best health care in the world." Indeed Mr. Joe, you do. All of the joes with CNBC jobs and all of the joes in Congress and all of the joes with public school teaching jobs and all of the joe cops and all of the joe firemen and all of the joes with good health insurance, wherever and whomever they are,  have IT.

In his own pomp-ASS way, Kernan was right. Virtually all of the people watching or listening to him are well situated. They have good health insurance. The kind of insurance with minimal copays and generous pharmacy benefits and negligible deductibles. Needless to say, the rich and privileged guests, who pontificate on the show, are also in the sweet spot of health care. Rah, Rah joes.


BUT if Joe would have taken a minute to think his pomp-ASS statement through, he would have qualified it as applying to a certain class of joes. Mr. Kernan would have considered that the health care system in the USA, well, is not that good - overall. The US ranks seventh in health care delivery out of the seven major industrialized nations of the world. The problem resides in the 45 million unisured and the other 60 million or so of underinsured. Yet the USA SPENDS and SPENDS...

Ezra Klein has done a great job of laying the medical costing situation out with three graphs. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-three-most-important-health-care-graphs-in-the-world/2011/04/13/AFtU1E6E_blog.html The work and presentation of these here-in-below graphs are the product of the Kaiser Family Foundation. To begin, understand that America spends more $$ per capita than any other country in the world.

USA is the LEADER

Now, equally compelling is the fact that America has decidedly outpaced the extent of spending by any other country over the last 15-20 years. The next graph demonstrated that the explosion in health care per capita costs in the States looks like a runaway train.

Gotta wonder where this is going

Now it must be kept in mind that the US expenditures include both private and governmental outlays. So, even though Joe Kernan likes his "private" health care system, the US expends MORE GOVERNMENT $$ per capita than any other country, even those which have only public, government health systems, such as Great Britain. Look at the health outlays from private and public derivations as a percentage of GDP from a number of countries.


Klein goes on..."But perhaps the piece de resistance is this chart, showing the percentage of gross domestic product that countries spend on private and public health-care expenditures. The United States spends more through the government than — deep breath — Japan, Australia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Canada or Switzerland:"

"In other words, we’re spending more on government-provided health care than most countries where government-provided health care is pretty much all there is. In the end, what’s remarkable about the American health-care system isn’t just how much we spend but how inefficiently we spend it.** And I suspect that these charts are actually understating our spending, as I doubt that they capture the enormous cost of the tax break for employer-provided health insurance, which I doubt is classified as “spending” in their figures."


To put it succinctly, in terms of cost effectiveness, comparing the USA vs. Great Britain, Klein says, 


"Per capita spending in Great Britain hovers around 40 percent what it is in the United States, and outcomes aren't noticeably worse. The absolute disparity between what we pay and what they get illuminates a troublesome finding in the health-care literature: Much of the health care we receive appears to do very little good, but we don't yet know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Purchasing less of it, however, doesn't appear to do much damage."*** http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_health_of_nations#


So, Americans will pay more and more for less than a great health care delivery system. No substantial changes will or can occur in the short of medium term. President Obama has fallen on his face with health care reform. The congress is fractious. So, things will stay as they are. The lucky joes will share in Kernan's "best" system. The less lucky will dis-enjoy the health care standards of poorer, less advantaged countries. Yup. Yup-eroo.

E cosi va...

*Besides Kernan, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla
**emphasis added
***Klein does not deal with the effects of defensive medical costs. It's huge and understated. Tort reform is a pipe dream. Without the threat of suit, docs would order much less in terms of testing and treatment.

Dov Done Done It, Eh?

Added March 23, 2012

$260M sex slave suit against Dov Charney tossed

A Brooklyn court won't have to deal with the X-rated claims made against American Apparel chief Dov Charney, who was accused in a $260 million lawsuit last year of turning a teen-age girl into his sex slave.The racy allegations made by Irene Morales should instead be heard behind closed doors in arbitration, Supreme Court Justice Bernadette Bayne ruled, after a California court had already ordered the same case into arbitration.

4 more, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/sex_slave_lawsuit_against_dov_charney_QbbaVC6MhDVo13Fz4yTBuL

Poor Dov Charney. In his own way, he is a genius. Surely he is uber quirky and a sex hound, but many men are both quirks and hounds. And they are loved. With his USA based vertically integrated company making, of all things clothes, he is an oddball. Beyond that, though, American Apparel, pays decent wages to its employees, who enjoy a pleasant and progressive work environment. So what if he gets sued for sexual this and that with regularity. So what. If this were the 60's...

His most recent legal joust, filed in California, alleges that Dov and AA ran afoul of the law as such:

1. Defamation,
2. Emotional distress,
3. Invasion of privacy, and
4. Online impersonation. http://www.styleite.com/media/dov-charney-defamation-lawsuit/

The plaintiffs include Irene Morales, Alyssa Ferguson and Tesa Lubens-Dehaven. In addition, Kimbra Lo has joined in the suit with Ferguson and Lubens. One of the clever maneuvers at AA is to have its employees execute arbitration agreements, which force any outstanding disagreement with the company to be handled behind closed doors.

Morales

In Morales' New York case, wherein she alleged Charney forced her to be his sex slave, the judge ruled that the dispute had to arbitrated before it could go to a court of law. The above delineated California plaintiffs hope that the AA arbitration clause can be averted. Perhaps newer, non sex based, causes of action will not prompt forced arbitration.

No doubt, Charney is a hard to love whack-a-doo, but so what. Here are 5 facts about him: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/08/dov-charney-5-facts-about-the-american-apparel-founder-facing-a/

1. He's Canadian
According to Charney's official bio, he was born in Montreal to creative parents (his father is an architect, his mother is an artist).

2. He saw the business potential of T-shirts at an early age
Charney's parents sent him to Connecticut for a year of pre-college study at the prestigious Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school. That's when he developed an interest in American T-shirts, which he saw as "iconic, unique and in most ways better than the T-shirts we had access to in Canada." Charney began bringing bulk packs of T-shirts back to Montreal; he launched American Apparel shortly thereafter, from his dorm room at Tufts University. After evolving from T-shirt importer to manufacturer, in 1997 he relocated to Los Angeles, establishing AA's headquarters there.


3. He's a strange interview
In a 2004 Jane magazine profile, writer Claudine Ko described watching Charney and a female employee "put on a show," implying that said "show" involved sexual activity. Later, during an interview, Charney began masturbating in front of Ko (after asking permission). In a follow-up story, Ko replied to critics who questioned her decision to stay put and take notes: "I'd like to know what kind of reporter would walk out on a story like this," she wrote.


4. He's been accused of employee mistreatment before
Three employees filed sexual harassment lawsuits against Charney in 2005. Additional charges came in 2008, claiming (among other things) wrongful termination and that Charney conducted meetings in the nude. These and other claims against Charney have never been proved in court, and he has denied the allegations.

5. He was sued by Woody Allen
Not for sexual impropriety, don't worry. In May 2007 American Apparel took a break from billboards featuring scantily clad girls to put up billboards featuring a picture of Allen in "Annie Hall" dressed as a Hasidic Jew. Allen sued, claiming his image was used without permission. Charney settled the suit with a $5 million payment.


Despite the idiosyncratic Mr. Charney, AA is doing well enough to stay a step or two ahead of its creditors.  The ads remain titlillating and superb. Here are some samples from the current online AA catalog.

It is without doubt that Dov creates a dust up wherever he lands. He is just one of those people. In some ways, the hirsute, free thinking and free spirited Mr. Charney would have been better situated if he lived his halcyon days in the 1960's. Toke, toke, toke. The days when a man could love a woman and she would love him back without the thought of legal recompense. Sho enuf. Say Bob Dylan!

E cosi va...

Enough with the Birth Certificate, On with the Wedding

Perhaps as a result of Donald Trump's rants or in spite of them, Barack Obama has put forth another birth evidence, this time the so-called long form certificate. Keep in mind he has been in office over two years! The birthers have been relentless in their assertions that Mr. Obama was NOT born in the USA (some say Kenya). Arguendo, he would have to forfeit the Presidency, inasmuch as he wouldn't be natural born.

As is his custom, the President took to the airwaves this morning. He explained that this was the birth certificate in question. Mr, Obama had sent his attorney to Hawaii to pick up the document and she carefully cradled it back to DC. (As an aside, who paid for all of this hippity-hop?) The erstwhile DONALD said he was "proud" that the certificate appeared. The hair wonder* credited himself for the production of the long awaited PROOF. But he wondered where the document had been all this time and he did, indeed, question its authenticity. Now there's a surprise.

What must the rest of the world think about this poppycock? Not that the Libyans, the Russians, the Sri Lankans, the Japanese, the Brits and the rest of them don't have their own nonsensical issues. A royal wedding, hahaha. But a birth certificate? C'mon! 

Sensical in a world scope

The dollar is increasingly soft, the national debt is challenging $14.4 trillion and its legal limit, 50 million Americans don't have health insurance, unemployment is over 9%, the nation is in two and a half wars and Americans are quibbling about a birth certificate. Would stupid Americans be an apt descriptor for any of this? Nah, not when America has the best of most things in the world. Nah not when...

20th? It's the 21st

The 2012 presidential campaign is heating up. The old men are being rolled out; to wit, Paul, Giuliani, Romney and Trump. Ryan and Pawlenty are younger men exhibiting a bit of Brownian motion as well. And there's always Huck Huckabee and Newt Gingrich, men without classification since their transcendence is ageless. And of course there la donna, Sarah, Sarah Palin.While all of these blokes and the blokette are going to spend a lot of cash and time pursuing their power trips, the country will side slide at best, or proceed with its already in progress down fall.

Hey Americans ->focus, focus, focus or fuck-us. Indeed. Focus on what's important. It isn't a stupid birth certificate. It is high time to get together as a nation and pull out of the American miasma.

Oh don't forget to set your east coast alarms for 4 AM Friday. Bet all are dying to see Kate's dress. Well, well. Tally-ho.

Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was finally revealed to the breathless public — a stunning white gown with long lace sleeves and a suprisingly plunging neckline designed by the creative director of the McQueen label, Sarah Burton.

Burton, 36, took over the iconic label last year after its founder, fashion rebel Alexander McQueen, committed suicide.

The McQueen label, which is known for its edgy looks, was not considered a frontrunner since Middleton favors more traditional fashion choices.

But it appears the maverick designer and elegant Middleton met halfway for the stunning dress, which is reminiscent of the one that Grace Kelly wore during her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Middleton’s dress was topped off with a veil made of yards of lace, covering her long hair and draped around her shoulders, drop diamond earrings and a small tiara.

Wedding planners had gone to great lengths to keep Kate's designer and gown secret until she emerged from her Rolls-Royce outside Westminster Abbey. A large white tent was erected at the entrance of the hotel in order to allow her to get into the car without revealing the dress.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/royalwedding/royal_wedding_dress_designed_by_ilScUpiDmgly8Zu49Ps2LI#ixzz1KuSijKMg

E cosi va.

*Hair wonder

Finger running anyone?

Donald Trump to the Rescue

It's 2011, not yet yet 9-11, but... Almost 10 years!! The lost character of America is captured in the devastation that remains at Ground Zero. The old America would have cleaned up the mess and rebuilt the towers, only bigger, better and bolder. Sadly, with its tail between its legs, the USA has become expert at sticking wands between the legs of its air travelers. Terrorized, the Home of the Brave is terrorized.

OK, OK, ennooooouuuugh. Rebuild those towers. Tell the world, yeah tell them. Clean up that mess. Is there a leader out there who can do this? Hmm, what would the Donald say? What would the Donald do?*

Donald Trump

 E cosi va

*Donald Trump unveiled his proposal for replacing the World Trade Center originals with taller and impressive towers, as a statement against terrorism. ...The Ground Zero redevelopment project was a subject of various disputes between architects, politicians, as well as Government and Police officials.

Donald Trump considers the present plans for the Freedom Tower is just an empty skeleton suggesting a capitulation. In his opinion, the new building that would be erected at the end of 2008 has to be both a security and an architectural model, but mostly a symbol of rebirth.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Donald-Trump-wants-to-build-stronger-and-taller-Twin-Towers-2055.shtml

Central Park with New York Fog-In

Twenty-One Nipples for April, Four for Bai

Bail Ling

April is nearly over, so.... Let's close it out with twenty-one incredible nipples. Amazing is the variability of the human form. With Spring in bloom, Summer can't be far off. Indeed.

Many of these images can be found on "the things that excite me". http://thingsthatexciteme.tumblr.com/archive This is one remarkable and breathtaking site for lovers of the female form. Here are some images to check out and compare. Each image is lovely and distinguishable. Indeed!

UNO è pallido

DUE è rosso

TRE è Sasha Grey

QUATTRO

CINQUE

SEI e appontito

SETTE

OTTO con la barra del capezzolo

NOVE e Kate Moss

DIECI

UNDICI è blu

fine DODICI su

Spring has sprung! Dopo la molla segue l'estate...* Yay.

Oops, almost forgot, OK, Bai Ling for Four!

E cosi va....

*After spring follows summer.

ADDENDUM

capezzoli di indennità
(bonus nipples)