Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

San Francisco 49ers' NaVorro Bowman during a practice at training camp in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015.

San Francisco 49ers' NaVorro Bowman during a practice at training...

NaVorro Bowman hauls down Jordan Norwood on Saturday, one of the linebacker’s nine tackles.

NaVorro Bowman hauls down Jordan Norwood on Saturday, one of the...

Niners inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman attempts to avoid a cut block by Broncos right guard Louis Vasquez as running back C.J. Anderson darts through the middle Saturday.

Niners inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman attempts to avoid a cut...

Twist and cut: NaVorro Bowman’s knee passes more tests

On his second snap Saturday night, 49ers inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman found himself in an eerily familiar position: He was attempting to strip the ball from a wide receiver’s hands in the middle of the field, his legs were splayed and other bodies were flying around his knees.

It evoked memories of a play from 19 months earlier. Bowman’s left knee caved during the NFC Championship Game when Seattle wide receiver Jermaine Kearse crashed into the outside of it after he was walloped by safety Eric Reid.

On Saturday, however, Bowman escaped the scrum unscathed. He was credited with a tackle on Denver wideout Demaryius Thomas and later said the moment didn’t cause him to reflect on the play that resulted in two torn knee ligaments.

“I’m past that, man,” he said.

Bowman acknowledged his 42-snap, nine-tackle, two-sack performance in a 19-12 preseason loss to the Broncos allowed him to overcome some of the lingering mental hurdles associated with his surgically repaired left knee. It erased doubts that he still possessed after his impressive three-snap outing in his preseason debut Aug. 23 against the Cowboys.

For example, four snaps after his tango with Thomas on Saturday, Bowman attempted to avoid right guard Louis Vasquez, who tried to cut block him on a 13-yard run up the middle by C.J. Anderson. It appeared Bowman avoided contact, but he said his left knee was nicked.

“He tried to cut me, and he got it a little bit,” Bowman said. “I took that and ... responded well. And then twisting around trying to get that ball out (of Thomas’ hands). I didn’t feel anything. Those are the things that I’m trying to get accomplished ... this preseason — it’s over now, but that’s what I wanted to get accomplished.”

Bowman clearly doesn’t plan to play in the preseason finale Thursday against the visiting Chargers, meaning he’ll likely take his next snap when the 49ers open the regular season against Minnesota on Sept. 14.

He certainly appears ready for a real game after he thrived Saturday without his bulky knee brace, which he wore in the game against Dallas. Bowman said some of the Broncos, including quarterback Peyton Manning, gave him positive feedback as he flew around during the first half.

And the compliments extended to the locker room: When Bowman said he thought his knee responded well, a reporter said, “It looked like it.”

“Appreciate it,” responded Bowman, who later said he wasn’t about to pat himself on the back: The Broncos “were letting me know I’m playing well, I’m a heck of a player. No one knows how I feel and what I feel. I hold myself to a very high level. All those things are great. But until I please NaVorro, I’ll keep working.”

And what would please him? “I know me,” Bowman said. “There are some plays that I could’ve made that you guys probably wouldn’t think I could make. That’s what I mean by that, just selling out all the way and not really thinking about it. I’ll do that when the time comes.”

He hopes the time will come in prime time against the Vikings, a game he’ll enter still harboring some doubts about his knee. He was encouraged after playing a half against Denver, but he won’t be fully confident until he plays a full game.

“I just wanted to get a half in and now I’m just worried about ‘OK, we go in for halftime. How’s it going to feel after we rest for about 10 or 15 minutes?’ So those are just the things I’m thinking about, not really my play. Once I get it loose, I’m ready to go. We’ll find out Monday night” against the Vikings.

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch

Summary: On his second snap Saturday night, 49ers inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman found himself in an eerily familiar position:  Bowman’s left knee caved  during the NFC Championship Game when Seattle wide receiver Jermaine Kearse crashed into the outside of it after he was walloped by safety Eric Reid.  Bowman acknowledged his 42-snap, nine-tackle, two-sack performance in a 19-12 preseason loss to the Broncos allowed him to overcome some of the lingering mental hurdles associated with his surgically repaired left knee.  [...] four snaps after his tango with Thomas on Saturday, Bowman attempted to avoid right guard Louis Vasquez, who tried to cut block him on a 13-yard run up the middle by C.J. Anderson.  Bowman clearly doesn’t plan to play in the preseason finale Thursday against the visiting Chargers, meaning he’ll likely take his next snap when the 49ers open the regular season against Minnesota on Sept. 14.  Bowman said some of the Broncos, including quarterback Peyton Manning, gave him positive feedback as he flew around during the first half.  [...] the compliments extended to the locker room:  The Broncos were letting me know I’m playing well, I’m a heck of a player.  How’s it going to feel after we rest for about 10 or 15 minutes?’ So those are just the things I’m thinking about, not really my play.


ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation will deploy drones across the territorial waters of Africa's largest oil producer as part of a series of new efforts to help curb rampant oil theft, a company official said Tuesday.

The corporation is launching an "armada of approaches" aimed at ending theft within eight months, Managing Director Ibe Kachikwu said in a statement. The measures include looking at arming the navy with equipment to help them with their patrols and working with law enforcement to increase its presence in the area to protect pipelines, he said.

Kachikwu said that between June 2014 and June 2015, the corporation recorded between 3, 500 to 4,000 theft attempts at the various products pipelines across the country.

"The best security for these pipelines lies with the communities. We are trying to create enough incentives for them to see these pipelines as their own," Kachikwu said.

Millions of dollars in oil is stolen daily in Nigeria and the government estimates around 250,000 barrels of oil are lost to oil thieves per day.

Oil companies blame oil spills on gangs who break into pipelines to steal crude. Earlier this year Shell, the largest oil company operating in Nigeria, agreed to pay $83.5 million to a fishing community in the Niger Delta, who argued the company isn't doing enough to maintain and protect its pipelines from being sabotaged by oil thieves.

While income from agriculture and other industries has increased, Nigeria depends on oil for about 80 percent of its revenue and 95 percent of foreign reserves.

Summary: ABUJA, Nigeria— The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation will deploy drones across the territorial waters of Africa's largest oil producer as part of a series of new efforts to help curb rampant oil theft, a company official said Tuesday. Millions of dollars in oil is stolen daily in Nigeria and the government estimates around 250,000 barrels of oil are...


WEXFORD, Pa., Sept. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- PTC Group Holdings Corp. ("PTC", or "Company") a leading manufacturer of welded and DOM steel tubing and related products announced today that it has finalized an agreement with JPMorgan Chase ("Chase"), under which Chase will provide a $65 million secured loan facility. In addition, PTC announced that affiliates of Black Diamond Capital Management, L.L.C., the Company's private equity sponsor, has made an additional investment of $10 million.

The two transactions, which were finalized on August 27, 2015 significantly increase PTC's liquidity, and provides the company flexibility to expand on its leadership position in the DOM tubing market. The financing involves only PTC's profitable specialty tubing and chrome bar business, which consists of eight manufacturing facilities in Western Pennsylvania and the Midwest. A separate entity, Kentucky-based PTC Seamless, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2015, is not a party to this financing.

Mr. Curt Solsvig, CEO of PTC said, "We are very excited to be working with JPMorgan Chase, and appreciate Chase's and Black Diamond's confidence in PTC. We look forward to partnering with both of them to further improve PTC's profitability and accelerate our growth."

Christopher W. Parker, PTC's Chairman of the Board and Senior Managing Director at Black Diamond Capital Management added that, "The new facility with Chase and incremental $10 million investment positions PTC well for the future. Black Diamond continues to be enthusiastic about our investment in the Company, and looks forward to working with Chase and PTC's management team on a variety of growth-oriented initiatives."

PTC Alliance Corp. is the leading manufacturer and marketer of welded and drawn over mandrel ("DOM") mechanical steel tubing, cold drawn seamless, fabricated, precision tubular components, and chrome-plated steel bars. Major end–uses include construction and agricultural equipment, machinery and appliances, as well as automotive, heavy truck and energy applications. The company employs approximately 1,000 people across its 8 manufacturing facilities.

Black Diamond Capital Management, L.L.C. is a leading alternative asset management firm with approximately $8 billion in assets under management. Black Diamond's control private equity funds focus on middle market companies with market leadership positions within their sectors. Founded in 1995, Black Diamond employs 34 investment professionals and has offices in Greenwich, CT, Lake Forest, IL and London, England.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ptc-alliance-finalizes-65-million-secured-facility-with-jpmorgan-chase-receives-additional-10-million-contribution-from-sponsor-300137735.html

Summary: WEXFORD, Pa., Sept. 3, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- PTC Group Holdings Corp. a leading manufacturer of welded and DOM steel tubing and related products announced today that it has finalized an agreement with JPMorgan Chase, under which Chase will provide a $65 million secured loan facility. In addition, PTC announced that affiliates of Black Diamond Capital Management,...


BRASILIA, July 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's Federal Audit Court will not speed up the settlement of billions of reais worth of overdue payments that have dragged on for years, a court judge told Reuters on Tuesday, easing pressure on President Dilma Rousseff as she struggles to shore up public finances.

Augusto Nardes, a judge at the court known as TCU, is leading the review of Rousseff's accounting of federal government spending last year in a controversial process that opposition leaders say could pave the way for her impeachment.

Rousseff, a leftist re-elected by a narrow margin in October, has until Wednesday to respond to evidence of fiscal irregularities found by Nardes.

Some fiscal experts and lawyers speculated Nardes could speed up the payment of more than 20 billion reais ($6.30 billion) in debts owed to state-controlled banks, dashing any hope the government could meet an already elusive fiscal target this year.

"We will not analyze that issue - speeding up payments - because the government has autonomy over that and is not up to the court to decide that," Nardes said. "We're not the government ... we will decide whether there were illegalities or not."

In his review, Nardes found that the government delayed more than 40 billion reais in payments to state banks to artificially bolster its balance sheet last year. He said Rousseff broke the country's fiscal responsibility law by forcing banks to pay for social programs in order to improve her re-election chances.

The government has acknowledged the delay, but argues it was due to limited cash flow at the time and that other administrations did the same in the past. Cabinet ministers allege the administration did not break the law.

This year the government has paid about half of those arrears, according to private estimates, complicating Rousseff's efforts to improve the fiscal accounts.

After receiving the government's response, Nardes will announce his vote, setting the tone for the remaining seven TCU judges to decide whether to approve the accounts. The ruling, which is expected in August, is not judicially binding and Congress has the final word on whether Rousseff breached fiscal rules.

Still, a negative ruling would put years of heavy spending and a lack of transparency in the spotlight and Brazil's investment-grade rating at risk. It would also give ammunition to opposition lawmakers in their plans to impeach Rousseff, whose popularity is at record lows.

($1 = 3.1730 Brazilian reais)

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Guillermo Parra-Bernal)

Summary: BRASILIA, July 21- Brazil's Federal Audit Court will not speed up the settlement of billions of reais worth of overdue payments that have dragged on for years, a court judge told Reuters on Tuesday, easing pressure on President Dilma Rousseff as she struggles to shore up public finances. Augusto Nardes, a judge at the court known as TCU, is leading the review of...


It's the person who figured out that Rowling's book should be published and the person who figured out how to turn it into a major franchise who should be considered. They made the business moves. Rowling wrote books.

(Read more: From Milken to Madoff: Villains of the CNBC25 list)

Sure, they are fabulous books (well, the last couple could have used an editor). And her insistence that only British actors appear in the films may have saved them (Justin Bieber as Harry? Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dumbledore?!).

I agree — she made a good product. But the product didn't change how people consume books or films or turn around a financial disaster. Our final list of 25 movers and shakers should be about that … not good reads.

(A fair amount of people disagree with me, judging by the votes. You can vote here).

Summary: Apologies to Harry Potter fans, but J.K. Rowling doesn't belong on the CNBC list of the top 25 business movers and shakers over the last 25 years.


The recent BitLicense carve-outs for software developers and bitcoin miners seem to allow for a level of innovation free from regulation. So far, so good. At a glance, the New York Department of Financial Services seems to be on the right track. Providing a regulatory framework in which bitcoin exchanges, online wallets and merchant processing services can operate is an important step forward in the evolution of virtual currencies and legitimizes their use.

Read MorePolice forced to pay bitcoin ransom

However, when one digs deeper into the NFS BitLicense proposal, what we actually see is a regulatory framework that imposes unrealistic requirements on bitcoin users and merchants. You see, a very large part of the regulation deals with trying to remove one of the biggest benefits to society that bitcoin provides: anonymity. BitLicense, as written, forces merchants to collect names and addresses for the simplest of transactions. Can you imagine having to give your name and address at the drive through checkout just to buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin? That's what the proposal is trying to enforce.

So just why is the anonymity aspect such a benefit to society? Since 2013, hackers have stolen over 1 billion consumer records. The estimated cost of this data theft is a staggering $5 billion dollars a year, which inevitably gets passed down to consumers and merchants in the form of higher prices and fees.

There is a global data-security crisis. Indeed, a war is being waged — and that's making it harder and harder for the good guys to win. The hackers only have to succeed a small percentage of the time to make a very big dent on our society. As a result, we are in an era where securing personal information requires more and more complex security and surveillance, by merchants, banks and the government agencies.

Read MoreIs Apple Pay a bitcoin killer?

The system of credit-card processing introduced in the 1940s and 1950s, perfected in the 1970s and 1980s, was never designed for the 21st century, a century in which the Internet and the open-source community and the dark web accelerate technology innovation at a pace far more rapid than slow moving merchant and banking infrastructure can keep up with. To address this global data security crisis requires us to fundamentally re-think what it means for a consumer to spend money. As it stands today, a simple trip to the grocery store or buying gifts online at Christmas, subjects hundreds of millions of people to potential fraud, identity and credit-card theft. Crimes that may affect their credit record, their finances, indeed even their ability to work. Moreover, the current approach to addressing these problems, ring fencing, surveillance, detection and tracking is leading us as a society down a very slippery road. It's an approach that means everything we do, every dollar we spend, our location, everyone we talk to, it all needs to be monitored and tracked, relationships mapped, algorithms applied just to catch a very small number of bad actors causing a very large amount of damage.

Bitcoin solves these problems, because it does not require us to expose personal information just to go out to dinner or shop online. Every transaction is done with a bearer instrument that does not give the receiver any information that might be used or stolen to exact future payments, or perform any fraud. It's just like cash, only designed for the 21st century, designed for the world we live in now. It protects consumers from identity theft, fraud, and reduces the massive costs associated with processing transactions, opening up global economies and bringing massive new consumer markets into an integrated 21st century economy.

Read MoreWebcam hackers may be watching you

Unfortunately, the NFS BitLicense proposal explicitly strips consumers of these benefits, reducing consumer protection, since, as written, it requires bitcoin merchant-payment-processing companies to collect personal identifying information on every transaction, forcing merchants to collect it, thus destroying the huge opportunity that bitcoin presents to solve the global data-security crisis. Requiring this information on every transaction also makes transactions in bitcoin at your local retailer more complex than spending dollars or using a credit card, thus significantly impeding adoption and innovation.

Now, according to the NFS, these rules are introduced to protect us from terrorism and money laundering. But, in the world of fiat currencies these draconian AML and KYC regulations are normally reserved for large transactions in excess of $10,000. Not enforced on local shop owners selling pizzas and coffee. So unfortunately, the NFS BitLicense, as written, will greatly stunt bitcoin adoption by applying these rules broadly across all types of bitcoin transactions. It's an incorrect approach, very flawed, bad for business in New York, bad for Innovation in New York.

We are living in an exciting time. The pace of technology innovation and the globalization of our economies have huge potential to lift millions out of poverty and create new and exciting businesses. As a society we should foster that innovation and guide it so that it improves everyone's lives. Bitcoin and virtual currencies are here to stay. Much like electricity, this technology cannot be un-invented; the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Bitcoin presents us with a huge opportunity as a society to change direction and move away from large centralized repositories of data and indeed control, to a more decentralized, lower impact approach. We should embrace this opportunity, because the current path of surveillance and tracking leads us to an Orwellian future that few would consciously choose.

Commentary by Trevor Murphy, the CTO of BitStash, a company that securely stores bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Murphy was a co-founder of TradingEdge in 1997. He was responsible for the design and development of the first electronic fixed-income trading platform, BondLink, which ultimately processed billions of dollars in daily transactions, and was acquired by Market Axess (MKTX) in 2001. Murphy has been involved in numerous other start-up companies and provides consulting services to venture capitalists, financial services and Fortune 500 companies. Follow him on Twitter @bitstashCTO.

Summary: Here's why these proposed bitcoin regulations are unrealistic, says Trevor Murphy, the CTO of BitStash.


Godrej currently heads the 118 year of Godrej Group, whose business spans consumer goods, real estate, appliances, security solutions, agri-business and many other sectors.

The Mumbai-based company now has operations in 28 countries around the world and aims to expand to more emerging markets.

While the group remains very much family owned, its subsidiaries such as Godrej Industries and Godrej Properties are listed on the India's stock exchanges.

"The advantages of family businesses, is that decision-making can be very quick. Unlike non-family corporates, where the Chairman keeps changing, where the directors keep changing," said Godrej.

"(But) we insist that only extremely well-educated family members join the group. They can remain shareholders, but if they want to join the group, they must be at least as well-educated as our management trainees, who are highly educated people," he added.

Godrej earned his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management before taking the helm of his family business.

Read MoreWhy India's reforms are different this time

Today, all three of his children, Nisa, Tanya and Pirojsha are working in the company.

But when asked which of the three will be his successor, Godrej was reluctant to reveal details.

"We haven't decided that yet. We have a plan on how to go about it, but I think all three will play very important roles. We have several companies in the group, so we'll need to plan."

— For more on Adi Godrej's interview, tune in to Entrepreneur Asia: Power Players on CNBC. The first airing will be on May 7, at 5:30pm sin/hk, with repeats over the weekend.

Summary: Adi Godrej, the 73-year old patriarch and chairman of Indian conglomerate Godrej Group has high hopes for the country's economy.


ZURICH, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Switzerland's lifting of some economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday should allow Swiss-based companies to take advantage if the U.S. and European Union eliminate their own trade curbs.

The Swiss government, acting after a July 14 deal between Tehran and six big powers to curb Iran's nuclear program, officially lifted a ban on trading precious metals with Iranian state bodies. It also eased requirements to report trade in Iranian petrochemical products and the transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products.

While unlikely to have more than immediate symbolic impact, the steps could help Swiss companies aiming to do more business with Iran to respond quickly if and when the U.S. and Europe remove their own sanctions.

The sanctions lifted on Thursday had already been suspended by Switzerland since January 2014, but Swiss companies remain subject to the U.S. and EU restrictions.

"The latest move means that when they are eventually lifted, Swiss companies will be able to act immediately," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at the Petromatrix consultancy in Zug, Switzerland.

"It puts Swiss companies and companies based here in the starting blocks."

The commodities sector is important to the Swiss economy, comprising 500 companies that contribute 20 billion Swiss francs ($20.5 billion), or 3.5 percent, of gross domestic product.

Trading houses including Glencore Plc, Trafigura Beheer BV and Vitol Group employ between 10,000 and 12,000 staff.

Traders did not expect an immediate payoff since transactions are done in dollars and financed by banks that are unlikely to participate in Iranian trades so long as U.S. and EU sanctions remain.

"I don't think anyone would like to risk bypassing world sanctions by going through the Swiss," one trader said.

The government said its move was aimed at promoting "a broad political and economic exchange with Iran" but would monitor the nuclear deal, should problems arise.

The deal Iran struck last month with China, Russia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain aims to rein in Iran's nuclear program in return for relief from U.N., EU and U.S. sanctions that have hurt the Islamic republic's economy. ($1 = 0.9749 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Miller and Michael Shields in Zurich and by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ron Bousso and Christopher Johnson in London; Editing by Keith Weir)

Summary: ZURICH, Aug 13- Switzerland's lifting of some economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday should allow Swiss-based companies to take advantage if the U.S. and European Union eliminate their own trade curbs. The Swiss government, acting after a July 14 deal between Tehran and six big powers to curb Iran's nuclear program, officially lifted a ban on trading...


The details of a proposed mansion tax are still being worked out, but shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said the levy would begin at £3,000 a year. Data from high-end estate agent Strutt and Parker in October showed that the overall transaction value of luxury homes in prime central London locations had fallen by over 20 percent.

Read MoreLuxury London property sees further decline

The decline is part of a larger global trend, however. The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index, which tracks movement in luxury residential prices across 33 cities, rose just 0.2 percent over the July-September period, the weakest pace in two years.

Read MoreGlobal luxury home price growth slows to a halt

On Monday, data from online real estate portal Rightmove showed that the prices of property coming to market in the U.K. fell 1.7 percent in November from the previous month, showing that sellers were competing on property prices "in a bid to stand out during quieter winter months."

Still, having measured the asking prices of 94,260 properties (around 90 percent of the market), Rightmove found that house prices had risen 8.5 percent from November last year.

"Underlying demand remains strong but has been muted by higher prices stretching affordability at the same time as the ability to borrow more to fund those higher prices has been curtailed by tighter mortgage lending criteria," Rightmove's company's director and housing market analyst Miles Shipside said.

"Selling is more difficult than it was earlier in the year, though the mini-boom experienced by much of the country has hit the pause rather than the stop button," Shipside added, calling the upcoming election a "distraction." "The closer we get to May's general election some will put off buying decisions."

- By CNBC's Holly Ellyatt, follow her on Twitter @HollyEllyatt.

Summary: U.K. house prices have increased yet again but property agents warn that political developments are denting growth in the luxury market.


WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's top antitrust overseer, elected with backing from the Tea Party, has fought the Obama administration and has a 100 percent rating from the conservative Heritage Foundation.

But when it comes to enforcing antitrust law, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah stopped well short of faulting the administration.

The Senate antitrust panel's chairman, who was elected in 2010, said in an interview on Wednesday that antitrust enforcement should be nonpartisan.

He also said he plans to hold a hearing on two proposed insurance mergers, both of which he voiced concerns about.

Conventional wisdom says Republicans are less aggressive on antitrust, while Democrats are tougher. Lee disagreed.

"Antitrust law is and should be a nonpartisan issue. It should be an issue that is neither liberal nor conservative," he said.

"I don't necessarily purport to speak for all Republicans, but my own belief is that it would be a mistake to say 'Oh, I'm anti-enforcement of antitrust law."'

Asked his view of current enforcement efforts, Lee declined to explicitly support President Barack Obama's team, but said: "I'm not categorically critical of this administration's approach. ... I'm supportive of antitrust law."

Under Obama, the government has blocked some big corporate combinations, such as Comcast Corp's plan to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, and food distribution giant Sysco Corp's plan to buy rival US Foods Inc.

Lee noted concerns about a plan unveiled in July by Aetna Inc to buy smaller rival Humana Inc, as well as Anthem Inc's agreement to buy rival Cigna Corp.

Both are being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"We're dealing here with among the top five companies in the healthcare space, you have four companies that are involved in one of these two deals. That's pretty significant," said Lee.

He declined to say that the Justice Department should stop either of the mergers. But he said his subcommittee will hold a hearing to discuss them on Sept. 22.

Lee said an Oct. 7 hearing will address how the Federal Trade Commission's merger challenge procedure differs from the Justice Department's.

"We want them to be the same standard," said Lee, who expects to introduce a bill in the next week or two.

Lee said a second hearing in October will focus on how a variety of powerful interests - one example is taxi services - misuse laws to fend off rivals, such as Uber or Lyft.

Summary: WASHINGTON, Sept 9- The U.S. Senate's top antitrust overseer, elected with backing from the Tea Party, has fought the Obama administration and has a 100 percent rating from the conservative Heritage Foundation. But when it comes to enforcing antitrust law, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah stopped well short of faulting the administration.


Photograph by Laurie Bartley and courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

01/28/2016 AT 02:35 PM EST

Growing up with famous parents,

was no stranger to a film set as a kid. She would often accompany her mom,

star Don Johnson, to their various film shoots and watch them work.

But sometimes, she saw a little more than she bargained for.

"I was around for a lot of it and I would watch them," Johnson told Net-a-Porter.com's

Magazine. "But there were also things I could see that I didn't want to, like watch my parents have sex with other people."

Photograph by Laurie Bartley and courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

Racy scenes notwithstanding, Dakota also admitted that watching her mother in fight scenes struck a serious nerve.

"There was a scene where my mom got slapped in the face," she explained. "I lost my mind! I couldn't deal with that at all."

But none of it was enough to turn Johnson off from going into the family business. At just 26 years old, Johnson has earned her place among Hollywood's elite with her breakout role in the steamy romance film

Photograph by Laurie Bartley and courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

And while one might think growing up in the spotlight would help the actress adjust to her growing fame, Johnson still has a strong distaste for the word "celebrity."

"I understood that my family was famous," she said. "I saw the way it felt from the inside, and that put me off to ever feeling like I was capable of gawking at someone because they were famous."

or download the free Edit app at the App Store and Google Play.

Summary: "I was around for a lot of it and I would watch them," Dakota Johnson told The Edit


02/24/2016 AT 08:00 AM EST

, but the reality star is still fighting for her family.

embarrasses her," says a source close to the reality star about

and Twitter rants over the last couple weeks. "Of course she turns to her family when she feels that way."

between the couple, "at the end of the day, she is 110 percent committed to keeping her family together, and there won't be anything that will ever get in the way of that," says the source.

Kardashian has also continued to be supportive of the rapper

, and apparently it's not just an act.

"She loves Kanye and will side with him on almost everything to keep him happy," says the source. "She thinks he is a genius and that he can rarely do anything wrong."

Summary: "She loves Kanye and will side with him on almost everything to keep him happy," says Kardashian source


05/07/2016 AT 07:35 PM EDT

is no stranger to getting inked, but he might have just crossed over to getting facial tattoo.

After Bieber, 22, posted a photo showing a tiny black mark next to his right eye, fans were

that the teeny-tiny mark was permanent. Celebrity tattoo artist Jonboy on New York City shop West 4 Tattoo also shared a photo of Bieber sporting the new ink – along with a curiously red and swollen cheek, perhaps due to the fresh tattoo.

Bieber did not directly address his new ink in his Saturday Instagram post, instead writing, "Resting up for the show in Philly it's gonna be a good one mark my words."

A rep for Bieber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

that he would consider getting a face tattoo – but only when he's older.

Justin Bieber says he'd consider getting a face tattoo https://t.co/4qMdgjrc6o

"Maybe when I'm really old, not super old, but maybe, like, 40s or 50s or something," he said. "One above my eyebrow or something small.

"I think if they're done right, they could be cool, but nothing super crazy all over the face."

Summary: The 22-year-old singer posted a photo of what appeared to be a teeny-tiny new tattoo


SAN FRANCISCO, Cal.. Friday, Feb. 3, 1860.

Pioneers have occasion every day to complain tha "California is getting old prematurely," that every day this virgin land verges more and more into the stale and stupid ways of the East. Prices drop down to the New York standard-our customs are conforming to the habits of countries that are moss bound and done growing. Even with our sports modern civilization threatens to interfere. For instance:

Indian hunting has been a noble entertainment within our borders, especially up in Mendocino County. The State hitherto has stood by, hands on hips, quid in cheek, smiling at the sport, knowing that all it had to do about the bills was to indorse them and urge Uncle Sam to pay promptly. But Gov. DOWNEY has lately sent in some very interesting documents concerning the "Indian Wars" (that is the style) to the Legislature. Gov. WELLER has turned them over to his successor, withholding only such portions as he regarded the "reports of his own secret agents.' These documents consisted of reports made by his subordinates to Gen. CLARK, commanding-officer of the California Department, and the whole tenor of them is to show that the chief employment of the United States troops is to protect the Indians from the wanton outrages of the whites, who seek all opportunities to make up parties to hunt them down. If there is a theft committed, the Indians are charged with it of course, and a hunting party is made up. If an Indian maid is abused, a company of Rangers is promptly organized to burn down the huts and shoot all to whom the girl may possibly have recited her wrongs. Indeed, the Indian-hunt seems to have been the standard entertainment of certain gamey settlers, taking the place of the fox-chase or the husking frolic of older countries. Lieut. DILLON, under date of April 2,4859. writes: "It is currently reported here (in Round Valley) that 250 Indians have been killed." A Mr. HALL had come in to ask if he intended to assist the volunteers. Lieut. DILLON assured him that he could not, and certainly would not, and that after his recent exploit he could expect no sympathy if the Indians should kill every head of cattle or stock in the Valley. HALL said the citizens intended to organize a company to go out and hunt the Indians to extermination. "Last Sunday," proceeds the Lieutenant, "THOMAS HENLEY went over to Eel River, with some of his employes, and finding some huts, surrounded them, and sent an Indian in to tell the Indians to come out and come into the Reservation; that they should not be shot. Four bucks came out, but one of them professed to be lame and unable to walk, whereupon Mr. HENLEY either shot him or had him shot. Mr. HENLEY does not charge these Indians with having stolen anything from him, but says they were too near to him, and he is afraid they will steal; he says he killed this Indian because he looked like a bad Indian, and he did not want to have him around. The three Indians who came in say all the rest of their band would come in but that they are afraid. Should the river get low enough for the men to wade it, I may go to Eden Valley in a few days, and try to get these Indians in, for I think they will all be killed if they do not come in."

Gen. CLARKE writes that the citizens of Mendocino (where the clamor has been loudest for protection) are amply protected. He has been unable to learn that a single white man has been killed in the Round Valley since the opening of the year. But this is the scene of the bloody JARBOE's feats. Says Maj. JOHNSON, writing from Fort Weller, under date of Aug. 21:

"A war of extermination is being vigorously waged by the citizens of Round and Eden Valleys, and a company of men, under one JARBOE, from Russian River, against the Indians who inhabit the country adjacent to Round and Eden valleys. Up to the 12th instant, he said he had attacked 12 Indian rancherias; and I am informed that, up to that time, he had killed some 50 Indians. Three squaws, with young infants in their arms, were captured, and brought in by him, who told me that in the attack on their camp six men, four women and four children had been killed.

A few days after this event some of the settlers of Round Valley turned out and killed eleven Indians over on Eel river, headed by Col. T.J. HENLEY, late Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This party, three of whom were Col. HENLEY's sons, called on me. They acknowledged the killing, and justified it by producing a horse's ear and two tongues, which they stated they had found with other evidences of guilt on the part of the Indians, in the rancheria which they had attacked. None of the party complained of having lost their stock, but said that the Indians had killed stock, and would continue to do do. They killed the Indians, and then discovered what they considered conclusive evidence of their guilt. Col. HENLEY approved of their course, and defends the acts of JARBOE and party. The Indians, driven by these repeated attacks from their usual places of resort, have taken refuge in the almost inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains, where it is impossible for them to glean scanty subsistence; and pinched by hunger, they have doubtless killed some of the stock which, loose and unherded, range for many miles over that vast country. But that they have killed anything like the amount of which they are accused, I do not believe, nor is there evidence to substantiate the charge. Every head of stock that is missing is charged to the Indians.


If you’re still running Apple’s QuickTime media player on your Windows PC, then you’ve got a problem on your hands. Two, to be exact.

Researchers at the cybersecurity firm Trend Micro tmicy recently discovered two critical vulnerabilities in the software’s code. When the company alerted Apple aapl in November, the electronics giant said it would stop supporting the program on Microsoft msft machines. The security firm’s advice: Uninstall QuickTime, quickly.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

The bugs—more technical information on the pair of pests can be found here and here—could allow hackers to hijack affected computers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned last week. The sooner one ditches the software, the better.

Apple has provided instructions on its website detailing how to remove the software from your PC. You can follow the instructions there, or follow Fortune’s condensed version below.

Don’t worry, it’s simple. Here are the steps:

Waste no time, Windows users: The quicker you ditch QuickTime, the more secure you’ll be.

Apple did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.

Summary: Make haste!


Believe it or not, it's Calpernia Addams! Contrary to popular belief, Janice, Heidi and Joanie were all, in fact, born biological women.

Calpernia, who turns 37 on Wednesday, was born male -- and transitioned to female in her twenties.

The 2003 Showtime movie, "Soldier's Girl," dramatized the tragic murder of her Army boyfriend. Calpernia is currently looking for love on the transgendered-girl-meets-boy reality dating series, "

Summary: Believe it or not, it's Calpernia Addams! Contrary to popular belief, Janice, Heidi and Joanie were all, in fact, born biological women.Calpernia, who…


There is considerable disagreement over Donald Trump’s actual net worth.

If you ask the billionaire real estate magnate, he’ll tell you it’s north of $10 billion, while independent experts estimate it to be $4.5 billion or less.

Whatever gauge you prefer, they all rely on estimates of the value of his many real estate assets, like 502 Park Avenue or 6 E 57th Street in Manhattan, which both feature tens of thousands of square feet of commercial real estate space. And unfortunately for Trump, the headlong upward march of commercial real estate prices in America has come to a halt, according to data from Real Capital Analytics Inc. cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Just $25.1 billion worth of office buildings, retail space and apartment complexes were sold in February, according to the data cited by the Journal, down from $47.3 billion in February of last year. The report continues:

Prices, which had been on a steady march higher since 2009, are beginning to plateau, and have started falling in certain sectors and geographies, according to analysts and market participants. An index of hotel values compiled by real-estate tracker Green Street Advisors, for example, was 10% lower in February than it was a year earlier, due in part to reduced business and international travel.

Owners of residential real estate in Manhattan may be running out of luck as well. Take a look at the following data from Street Easy, which shows how Manhattan condo prices have exploded over the past generation:

This trend has helped pad Trump’s wealth in recent years, as he owns many properties with significant residential square footage, but there is evidence that the great Manhattan luxury condo boom is coming to an end. A report earlier this month showed that luxury rental prices in Manhattan fell 4.2% in February from a year earlier.

And it’s not just Trump’s net worth that has been puffed up by the real estate bubble. Shares of publicly traded office REITs SL Green slg and Vornado Realty Trust vno are currently trading at the equivalent of price-to-earnings ratios of 35 and 25, much higher than the rest of the market. Shares of those REITs have been falling recently too.

One reason for the slip in Manhattan real luxury real estate prices is economic weakness in places like China and Russia, which was a source for much of the demand for pricey American real estate.

This is not to say that Donald Trump is at risk of losing his shirt. On the contrary, his ownership of some of the most valuable real estate in the country will ensure that he is a wealthy man for years to come. But the extent of his wealth is dependent on the whims of the market, which may be taking a turn for the worse.

Summary: Commercial real estate prices are falling


Income-hungry investors have been turning more and more to dividend

that focus on stocks that pay out healthy amounts of income to their shareholders.

Although these funds share a common goal -- boosting investors' income -- all dividend ETFs are not the same. In fact, they can have profoundly different methods for determining which stocks make the cut. Here's a closer look at how five ETFs slice and dice the universe of dividend-paying stocks, and a few things you need to consider if you're interested in

This Vanguard ETF seeks out stocks that have a long history of increasing their dividends over time. The index that the ETF tracks starts out by screening for stocks that have raised their dividends every single year for at least a decade, and then applies some additional tests to ensure the stocks it owns are liquid and easily tradable. Currently, the ETF owns almost 150 stocks that have passed those tests.

At just 2.1 percent, the Vanguard ETF's yield is fairly low compared to other dividend ETFs, as current yield is a secondary consideration for the Vanguard ETF. But over time, growing dividend payouts should give investors regular raises in their income levels in future years.

This iShares dividend ETF has the same goal as the Vanguard ETF of picking strong dividend stocks with histories of rising payouts. But the iShares ETF goes at it a slightly different way -- first looking at the highest-yielding stocks in the market and then going down the list, picking only those stocks that have current dividends that are higher than their five-year averages and that pay out 60 percent or less of their earnings as dividends.

The result is a greater number of high-yielding stocks in the iShares ETF's portfolio, with the ETF carrying a current yield of 3.7 percent.

This WisdomTree ETF takes dividend investors outside the U.S.: Its holdings are in promising emerging-market stocks that pay substantial amounts of dividend income. With stocks from China, Brazil, Russia and more than a dozen other countries, the ETF chooses companies whose dividends rank in the top 30 percent of WisdomTree's broader index of dividend stocks and then buys them in appropriate amounts based on the total amount of dividends they pay.

This method produces a mix of stocks of all sizes, and its current 3.4 percent yield as measured by the SEC rewards investors for taking on international exposure in their portfolios.

This SPDR ETF also has an international focus, but it tracks a broader set of companies coming from both developed and emerging markets. Australia represents the highest-weighted country in the ETF, but you'll also find stocks from across Europe and Asia as well as South Africa, Brazil and Canada. Financial, telecom and utility stocks make up more than half the portfolio, which currently produces an impressive yield of nearly 7 percent.

Given the economic troubles in Spain, Italy and other European nations, those high yields reflect somewhat heightened risk levels, but many income investors will appreciate the extra dividends.

For investors seeking maximum dividend yield, this iShares ETF delivers: Its current yield above 11 percent. The ETF achieves that by owning real estate investment trusts that invest in mortgage securities and use highly leveraged strategies to produce double-digit percentage payouts.

Favorable interest rates have produced strong returns for fund shareholders in recent years, but many fear that a coming rise in rates could send mortgage-REIT dividends falling and jeopardize investments that rely on low rates to produce the income to pay those dividends.

Each of these dividend ETFs has a much different risk and return profile. Choose wisely to ensure that you won't take on more risk than you're comfortable with while maximizing your ability to generate income from your investments.

Summary: Dividend ETFs focus on investments that pay out healthy amounts of income to shareholders. But their methods for choosing what they hold can vary widely.


Fox has officially named the Independence Day sequel Independence Day Resurgence and released the first photos from the set.

Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth and Vivica A. Fox have all been cast in the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster, though star Will Smith will not return. It is set to be released in 2016, nearly 20 years after the original broke box office records for the biggest opening of all time. (The Lost World: Jurassic Park broke that record one year later, extra incentive for Independence Day Resurgence to try to steal Jurassic World‘s new box office milestone.)

The first image is of a “Moon Tug,” a forklift Liam Hemsworth’s character operates on the moon.

Summary: Almost two decades later, we get our first glimpse of the sequel


Jen Lilley stars as mischievous bad girl Theresa Donovan on "Days of our Lives."

Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Lilley didn't start acting until attending the University of Virginia when she played the lead in an indie film called "The Loss of Life." After that, she fell in love with acting and averaged six indie films a semester. In addition to acting, she is also a talented singer, dancer and comedian, performing in many improv casts, including the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Lilley will next be seen as the lead in the independent film "The Book of Esther." She previously starred as Maxie Jones on ABC's "General Hospital" and in Weinstein's critically acclaimed feature film "The Artist," winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. She's also known for her comedic skills and starred on MTV's improvised comedy series, "Disaster Date."

Other recent projects include the films "Turnaround Jake," "Revelation Road," "The Olivia Experiment," "The Back-up Bride" and "One Small Hitch," as well as television appearances on "Castle," "Two and a Half Men," "Rules of Engagement," "Criminal Minds" and "iCarly."

Lilley is active in various charities, especially those that focus on protecting children against physical and sexual abuse, as well as those involved with building wells to provide water to those in need. She garnered the National Educators Award for her work in Guatemala and serves as a celebrity ambassador for the child abuse and treatment organization Childhelp.

She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Summary: Meet Jen Lilley on NBC.com.


The Manchester United dressing room is reportedly in revolt, with a number of players taking umbrage to the manner in which Louis Van Gaal has handled various issues. The prominence given to a video analyst, Max Reckers, as well as the harsh treatment dished out to cult hero Rafael (who has since moved to Lyon after making over 100 appearances for United) are thought to be at the top of a long list of player concerns. It would appear Van Gaal is not a popular manager. A number of players he has moved on have openly criticised the renowned disciplinarian, with everything from his man-management, to his tactics, to his honesty called into question. Here, we list some of those illuminating reactions.

Summary: In pictures: With the United dressing room unhappy at the manager's   methods, we round-up the reactions of the players Van Gaal has upset


Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in late-stage talks with Alphabet’s self-driving car division for a technology partnership, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the discussions.

The talks have been ongoing for several months, the Journal reported, as Alphabet seeks industry partnerships, offering a deal to sell self-driving car technology.

Read More: Meet the Future Buyers of Self-Driving Cars

Alphabet and Fiat Chrysler declined to comment.

Fiat Chrysler has been talking with many players outside the car sector about possible collaborations as car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies, including Alphabet’s Google, which has built a prototype self-driving car.

Summary: The talks have been ongoing for several months, reports WSJ


While it seems as if many CEOs were paid regardless of performance in 2015, at least one chief executive can attest to the opposite.

Burberry cut CEO Christopher Bailey’s pay from $10.8 million to $2.7 million in 2015—a 75% decrease as profits tanked and the luxury apparel retailer struggled to show growth, according to its annual report.

That’s because Burberry bases a portion of its pay on profits for the year. That metric, adjusted profits before tax, fell 7.7% to $421 million last year—missing the company’s target.

As a result, Bailey’s bonus feel to zero, while some stock awards failed to vest. Notably, while Bailey did not receive a bonus, nor did any of his executive directors.

“Our overall approach to incentive structures for all staff, including senior management, is based on performance—so when the business does not perform as well, this has an impact on what we pay to our staff,” chairman John Pearce wrote in the report. “And when the share price falls as it has in the past year, this has a substantial impact on historical share awards.”

Burberry’s stock, which trades in London, has fallen 35% in the past year.

The pay cut comes following a year that has been tough on retailers, especially those of luxury goods. Fewer tourists, many from China, have damaged revenue. Burberry is also heavily dependent on department stores—a struggling concept—with 26% of sales derived from wholesale agreements, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Burberry’s poor performance over the past year has also worried investors about whether Bailey was stretched too thin working as both CEO and chief creative officer.

Summary: The luxury retailer bases a portion of its pay on profits for the year.


Summer Crossing By Truman Capote 142 pages. Random House. $22.95

Well, really, darling, you can imagine my surprise when I read that they're publishing a recently discovered manuscript by my dear Truman, and that it's a story about a girl very much like me. Comme moi! This is exactly what the old dear's publishers said in one of those atrocious little press releases they send around to everyone these days: "Dashing, defiant and irrepressibly carefree, the novel's heroine will remind readers of one of Truman Capote's most lasting creations, Holly Golightly in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's."'

I must say I don't even know where to begin. First of all, to be called one of Truman's "creations" -- well, I adored the man of course, and he did a perfectly lovely job of telling my story, but really, it's not as though he created me. I mean how can you say anyone's biographer created them? And to call me "dashing, defiant and irrepressibly carefree"? Quelle horreur! Why, it makes me sound like some ridiculous perfume ad. Or the sappy star of one of those beastly romance novels that always have covers with raven-haired girls wearing low-cut red ball-gowns and posing with their heads thrown back as though they're in the throes of some absolute finito passion. It's just too, too gruesome for words! I mean I wouldn't even burden poor Grady McNeil -- my so-called doppelgänger in this book -- with such a description.

So, what do I think of this Grady girl? Yes, darling, I was just getting to that. My first thought was what in the hell was Truman up to? I know he wrote this eons -- well, at least a decade -- before he wrote up my tale, and so maybe you just have to shrug the whole thing off as a flimsy, youthful endeavor, but still.

To be perfectly frank, there's something -- how should I put it? -- a smidge contrived about the whole enterprise. It's not that I'm competitive with the girl -- far be it from me to be jealous of anybody named Grady -- but I get the distinct impression that Truman just didn't care about her story the same way he cared about mine. And the title of her tale: "Summer Crossing"? Not that I give a hoot about such things, but it just pales next to "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Besides, it's très fou for anyone to want to compare us. Grady's home on Fifth Avenue -- one of those places that you just know smell of silver and alligator leather but completely, and I mean completely, lack that Tiffany's magic -- couldn't be further from where I grew up in Texas: frankly, you might as well compare a Givenchy frock to a hand-sewn apron. Grady never had any sense of traveling from here to there. She never knew what it was like to be some no-account girl from the hills. And she took all those shiny little perks of her life completely for granted: orchid corsages, her mother's cinnamon diamonds, those seaside summers. Why, the girl is 17, and she's never spent a single summer in the red-hot center of a city.

As for her choice of men: well, darling, there's simply no accounting for taste. I've had my share of rats, certainly, even more superrats than I can count, but none of them were supersize, King Kong-type rats like Grady's. Her first love was this über-married preppie rat, who hotfoots it after the poor girl while his wife's pregnant, then the minute the child's born, can't wait to proclaim what a happy family man he is. I mean, yikes and double yikes!

And then there's Clyde Manzer, the one who causes all the ruckus in this book. Really, Truman makes too much of the fact that Clyde's from this lower-middle-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, and that he and Grady come from different worlds: I always told Truman he was far too hung up on class and all that rubbish. The point is that Clyde, who works as some sort of parking attendant, really behaves in the most atrocious manner. They're shacked up in her parents' Fifth Avenue apartment -- Mummy and Daddy have sailed to Europe for the season -- and he treats her like a common whore, rebuffing all her little displays of affection and saying the meanest, coldest things you can imagine. Completely hideola, if you know what I mean. But Grady is convinced this is the man for her.

I suppose a lot of it's rebellion: Grady really wants to be the top banana in the shock department, especially when it comes to her dreadfully stuffy family. And maybe that's where we do have something in common, not just with each other but with all of Truman's people: we're independents, all of us. Call us what you like: outsiders or misfits -- we're not sure where we belong: maybe limboville for ever and ever. We're susceptible to the mean reds and the nasty blues, and we don't really give a damn what other people think, or maybe we do, deep down, but we're just too afraid to admit it.

Anyway, darling, I think poor old Truman probably felt the same way about himself -- which is maybe why his life came to such a bad end after all those wasted years of hobnobbing with the non-hoi polloi and not writing and then writing meanly about his former friends. But maybe it's why he chose to tell my story and little Grady's too. So there, I've said it: Grady and me -- we share something after all.

Summary: Michiko Kakutani reviews book Summer Crossing by Truman Capote; photos (M)


IT was really a beast of a house," Belinda Rathbone said, sitting in the living room of her six-room condo in the Avon Hill section of Cambridge, Mass., on a crisp winter Sunday afternoon. Ms. Rathbone, a photography historian, was describing her initial impressions of the Guynd, a handsome but decaying Georgian mansion in northeast Scotland where she lived for 10 years with her now-estranged husband, John Ouchterlony, the 26th laird of his family's 400-year-old ancestral estate.

The Guynd, the Gaelic word for a high, marshy place (it rhymes with wind), is also the title of Ms. Rathbone's recently published memoir of her decade-long highland fling. In the book she describes in comic detail her attempts to breathe life into a crumbling estate as the American wife of a thrifty Scot who refuses to throw anything away  even shattered wineglasses (with a bit of glue they might be usable one day), pairs of tights (great for filtering lumpy old paint) and an ancient collection of barely functional vacuum cleaners.

According to Ms. Rathbone, several women hired to clean the place quit, defeated by the task of tidying a 32-room house crammed with old bank statements and ancestral detritus that Mr. Ouchterlony (pronounced ock-ter-LONE-ee) could not bear to part with. "There's generations of stuff which needs to be sorted out eventually," Mr. Ouchterlony said in a telephone interview. "You can't just throw things out. Belinda has a rather minimalist approach."

Besides, he said: "In my experience, cleaning ladies don't do much. It's a case of tokenism, I'm afraid."

Looking around her bright and airy apartment, which she shares with their 13-year-old son, Elliot Ouchterlony, you would never guess she had been the chatelaine of such an anarchic home. With the exception of a few knives and forks, the only mementos of the Guynd are in a pile of photo albums.

As they tucked into a lunch of squash soup and Cheddar, mother and son joked about Mr. Ouchterlony's dread of throwing things away, including a pile of old broken telephones on a table in the library.

"They've been sitting there longer than I've been alive," Elliot said, wryly.

Elliot's decision to attend a school in Massachusetts, not Scotland, coincided with the unraveling of his parents' marriage, a subject that Ms. Rathbone chronicles in her book. The tale begins with an account of their whirlwind romance  they made love after meeting at a mutual cousin's wedding in 1990  and concludes with their separation in 2001. (They remain married but have no plans to reunite, Ms. Rathbone said.) The joys and strains of the marriage are depicted through the prism of their efforts to resurrect the Guynd, a house that felt more like a mausoleum when the laird brought his prospective bride to visit for the first time. She was 39, he was 53.

Damage and decay were everywhere. The house had been requisitioned as a barracks during World War II and the beds of wounded soldiers had been dragged across the floor, leaving deep ruts in the parquet. Colorful walls had faded to a grim institutional gray, and everything seemed in need of urgent repair: the cupola in the front hall leaked in heavy rain, the window sashes needed fixing and the basement was piled high with generations of old mattresses.

In spite of the obvious challenges, Ms. Rathbone was intrigued. "I itched to help, to bring this place back to life," she said. "John is so convincing, and I guess I'd never felt quite so needed. This role was clearly waiting for me to take on."

Ms. Rathbone had the front hall painted a cheerful bright yellow and the dining room a stately deep Worcester blue. Fancy wallpapers were ordered from London for the library and for Ms. Rathbone's boudoir, much to the consternation of the laird, who was happy to save money elsewhere. ("Fortunately, we found some nice remnants from a remainder shop on Lexington Avenue," Mr. Ouchterlony said.) A local firm was hired to reupholster timeworn sofas and armchairs in time for a party to celebrate the house's 200th anniversary in 1999.

Summary: Belinda Rathbone chronicles in comic detail her attempts to breathe life into a crumbling estate as the American wife of a thrifty Scot.


Good Humor’s trucks will soon be hitting the road again after a decades-long hiatus, but the iconic ice cream brand’s fleet will be announcing its presence with tweets instead of clanging bells.

Nearly 40 years after sidelining its famous fleet, Good Humor is launching a “Welcome to Joyhood” sampling tour this summer that will see the classic version of the brand’s ice cream trucks making stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Boston, according to Ad Age. Customers looking for an ice cream fix will be able to summon the classic Good Humor trucks by tweeting @GoodHumor. And, in another modern twist, the throwback trucks will be blasting pop music and rock songs instead of ringing their iconic chime bells.

The brand, which is owned by consumer goods giant Unilever UN , sold its classic fleet of white trucks in 1976 and switched its focus to grocery store sales amid rising gas prices. Independent contractors still sell Good Humor products, which include classics such as ice cream sandwiches and strawberry shortcake ice cream bars, from their own ice cream trucks.

This isn’t Good Humor’s first step toward a more modern feel. Earlier this year, one of the brand’s New York distributors decided to spice up the look of its own trucks by adding a flashy paint job and playing newer music. The distributor, Dover Group, also had its drivers swap out their classic Good Humor uniforms — all white with a black bow tie and white cap — for a more current look.

The attempts to pump life into the Good Humor brand come after three straight years of falling sales for the brand in grocery stores, Ad Age notes, citing numbers from market research firm Euromonitor International.

Summary: The Unilever-owned brand will bring back a nostalgic look for a summer tour.


If you think Adam Sackler (played by Adam Driver) on HBO’s “Girls” is a curious character, just wait until you meet his sister.

The former child actress, famous for movies like “Now and Then” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” left it all behind in 1999 when she enrolled at Bard College.

More than a decade later, she’s back and playing Caroline Sackler, the unstable, manic sister of Adam (Adam Driver), Hannah Horvath’s (Lena Dunham) live-in boyfriend.

“I don’t look at the role beforehand — Lena just said, ‘I’ve written this part of Adam’s sister with you in mind,’ and there wasn’t a decision to be made,” Hoffmann, 32, tells The Post. “I just said, ‘Of course I’ll come play with you.’ ” Hoffmann spent her childhood living in Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel. She and Dunham hung out as kids, because Hoffmann’s stepmom, photographer Cindy Sherman, was friends with Dunham’s mom, artist Laurie Simmons.

The two reconnected a few years ago when Hoffmann ran into Dunham at a film festival at Brooklyn’s BAM theater — right before Dunham premiered her first film, “Tiny Furniture.”

The women stayed in touch and last year, Dunham called Hoffmann to tell her about the role of Caroline — the Sackler sibling who makes Adam seem subdued.

“We had a lot of serious, difficult stuff to do,” Hoffmann says about filming “Girls.” “But I just had so much fun. The most fun two days of my life were getting to fight with Adam Driver.”

In Sunday night’s episode, Caroline shows up on Hannah and Adam’s doorstep after a bad breakup, needing a place to stay. “I told you you’re never allowed to stay with me again after you tried to euthanize Grandma Helen!” Adam screams at his sis. “She asked me to!” Caroline shouts back. “She told me she was terminal!”

Like the character she plays on “Girls,” Hoffmann spent much of her twenties “lost,” she says.

“When I went to college in 1999, I left my agents and said goodbye to [acting],” she says. “Then I spent my twenties letting myself not decide and letting myself be lost. It was a very confusing time, and I did not enjoy it.”

Hoffmann lived in Italy for three months, interning for a chef and experimented with being a doula (a midwife of sorts) — her “Girls” character also worked as a doula — before realizing she missed acting. “So I said right then and there, OK I’m going to spend one year furiously acting, like taking whatever jobs,” she says. “[Before that], I would be broke and not audition for something because even the audition would provoke a whole spiral of uncertainty and anxiety about what I wanted. So I just thought: I’m not going to question it all, I’m going to say yes and dive in and have as much experience acting as I can — you know, barring total sh-t.”

Last year, Hoffmann moved to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and took roles in films “All That I Am” and “Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus.” She had a guest spot in FX’s “Louie” and now has a four-episode arc on “Girls.” She recently shot a pilot of her own show.

“I’m really happy to be back at work,” she says. “I’m just relieved to have figured out that I am very interested in acting and love it. It’s great that I’m able to do it — I feel very lucky.”

Summary: If you think Adam Sackler (played by Adam Driver) on HBO’s “Girls” is a curious character, just wait until you meet his sister. Enter Gaby Hoffmann. The former child actress, famous for movies like…


Baidu, the dominant search engine in China, is being investigated by government regulators after social media users criticized the quality of medical ads appearing in its searches.

Chinese social media over the weekend gave widespread exposure to the story of Wei Zexi, a young cancer patient whose family pooled together more than $30,000 for his treatments at a government hospital he found through a Baidu search. The hospital marketed an innovative treatment for synovial sarcoma, the rare form of cancer Wei suffered from. Following an unsuccessful treatment and Wei’s death in April, reports spread that the treatment was much less effective than the hospital had advertised.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) sent investigators to Baidu today, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency

Baidu has endured criticism recently for similar instances in which dubious medical practices were promoted in paid search results. Analysts have estimated around one quarter of its revenues come from medical and health-care advertisers.

For more about cancer research, see this Fortune video:

“We deeply regret the death of Zexi,” a Baidu spokeswoman said today, adding that the search engine had launched its own internal investigation of the matter.

Correction: An earlier version of this story attributed health-care revenue estimates to Baidu. The company does not break out revenue sources. Industry analysts have made estimates.

Summary: Dubious medical ads are creating trouble for the Chinese search engine.


People rarely find themselves looking at a picture of an objectively attractive celebrity and think, Wow, it must be really hard for you to find a date. But lo and behold: It turns out that Tinder, the dating app that has made it significantly easier for the normals to get some, has actually posed problems for famous people.

“We’ve had celebrities reach out to us frequently throughout the last year, sort of calling out various frustrations convincing users that they were actually who they are,” co-founder Sean Rad tells TIME. “One impediment is that sometimes their Facebook accounts, which we pull information from, includes different names than their actual likeness… So [celebrities] were asking for the ability to modify their Tinder name and maybe have a verified badge.”

Thus, like Facebook and Twitter, Tinder is adopting verification badges to help the famous and the plebes intermingle.

Rad had his first concerned celebrity reach out about having difficulty convincing matches of his real identity two months after the app launched in Fall of 2012. “It was awesome [to know celebrities are on Tinder] because it sort of validated our theories that everyone, even people of influence, need help forming relationships,” Rad says. “It’s important to us that our users know we are committed to authenticity on every level.”

On a much smaller scale, Rad and his co-founder Justin Mateen know how difficult it can be to convince Tinder matches of their real identities. For a period of time, the two men listed themselves as the app’s co-founders in their Tinder profile tagline.

“No one believed us, they thought it was lying and say ‘funny joke loser,'” Mateen said in a past interview.

Mateen wants a verification — the honor might not only be bestowed to Hollywood A-listers but also recognizable leaders in other arenas — but, “we haven’t decided if he qualifies yet; his account is in review,” Rad says. “This isn’t something that we are going to loosely hand out.”

Even though Rad won’t disclose which celebrities are having dating app issues due to Tinder/Tindee confidentiality, he assures TIME, “These are A-listers.” Sochi athletes admitted to using Tinder during the Olympics, and other celebrities have opened up about the app to the public. Lindsay Lohan, for example, let her Instagram followers know that she found her brother on Tinder:

So now you’ll know that that Lindsay lookalike is actually Lindsay. Whether you swipe left or right is up to you.

Summary: Would you swipe right or left to Lindsay Lohan?


Adam Giles has told the media he’s still the chief minister of the Northern Territory, despite an overnight leadership spill. Giles is refusing to step down, claiming his challenger made a “tactical error”.

In a press conference on Tuesday, which slammed his own Country Liberal party and hinted at accusations of police corruption and interference, Giles said he was considering whether to step aside or remain as chief minister and predicted territorians would go to an election within three months.

Giles was seemingly ousted from the top job on Monday night after a six-person parliamentary wing meeting voted to replace Giles with the minister for primary industry and mines, Willem Westra van Holthe, with nine votes to five.

However Giles said Westra van Holthe had made a “tactical error” in not having a majority of the 25 legislative assembly ministers or the right combination of ministerial positions in the majority vote for the spill.

Giles said he could not support Westra van Holthe as chief minister because Westra van Holthe didn’t have “the capacity, capability, tenacity or the professionalism to be chief minister”.

“I think that he could go on to be a very good minister in government, but I think today he has made quite a tactical error. If you do want to be chief minister, surely you get your numbers right and get government right.”

Westra van Holthe was set to be sworn in as the new chief minister at 11am Tuesday but just minutes before the ceremony was due to begin, the media were informed it had been cancelled because Giles was refusing to sign a letter of resignation.

The chief minister position must be vacated before the new chief minister can be sworn in, so documents are being drawn up to allow the NT’s administrator, John Hardy, to forcibly kick Giles out.

In refusing to step aside, Giles said he recognised it provided “a high degree of uncertainty” for the Northern Territory.

“This is turmoil within the party. It is turmoil within government and not good for territorians,” he said.

“I could step aside and try and provide that stability. I know that Willem Westra Van Holthe as the chief minister will not put stability throughout the party. John Elferink as deputy will not put stability throughout the party.”

Giles said he had “been in this situation before” and apologised to people watching. “It is a disgraceful thing that has occurred,” he said. “It’s immature politics. If you wanted to change leader, come and talk to me, work it out so there is a seamless process.”

Giles rolled former chief minister Terry Mills just six months after the 2012 election while Mills was in Japan on a trade trip.

A “significant” number of resignations from the party had come in on Tuesday and Giles queried whether the CLP still had the 500 members it needs to remain registered.

A party room meeting at 3.30pm local time would discuss the issues, as well as an investigation into former police commissioner John McRoberts.

The party’s president, Jason Newman, told ABC radio he was not privy to any plans or conversations around the spill.“At the end of the day the reality is the party doesn’t have any role in selecting who the chief minister is or the leader of the day,” he said, adding that it was not surprising he wasn’t consulted.He said the CLP was in the dark “as much as any territorian” about what is going on.When asked about Giles’ claim that there had been a “significant” number of resignations from the party, Newman said only that there had been a “fairly big groundswell of frustration” from the party, prompting cause for concern about the party moving forward.He said he hoped it wouldn’t get to the level that jeopardised the party’s registration.

Giles has been criticised over his handling of the police scandal which saw McRoberts resign after allegations he may have tried to influence a criminal investigation – understood to be that of fraud charges against the former head of NT Crimestoppers, Alexandra Kamitsis.

Giles was on leave for much of the initial revelations and questions were raised by opposition members about his decision to give the police services portfolio to his deputy, Peter Chandler, in a reshuffle shortly before Christmas.

In the press conference Giles accused unnamed parliamentarians of spreading rumours about his involvement with the investigation in order to “destabilise” his position, and claimed there were further rumours around senior police and “members of the political fraternity”, suggesting a possible link to the leadership spill overnight.

Both Westra van Holthe and deputy Elferink are former police officers.

Giles said over the course of the last few weeks’ investigations into the McRoberts affair he had learned “more and more about allegations that different people knew different things at different points in time”.

Giles’ friendship with his controversial former deputy Dave Tollner is also seen as problematic.

Tollner was forced by his colleagues to resign in August after making a homophobic slur to a gay staffer, and Giles initially refused to accept his resignation. Tollner described his party at the time as “a nest of vipers”.

Earlier reports on Tuesday that CLP defectors Alison Anderson and Larissa Lee would return to the party to boost its numbers have been denied by Lee. The CLP has held a majority of just two seats since the pair quit in protest a year ago.

Without Lee and Anderson, the CLP face losing government should Giles and his former deputy and ally, Tollner, resign from their seats and prompt byelections.

The opposition leader, Delia Lawrie, said a general election was the only way to bring stability to government.

“Business needs stability for investment,” she said on Tuesday afternoon. “The public service needs stability to provide services. It’s time to end this chaos of a CLP circus and take us all to a general election.”

The federal Labor MP for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, said the situation was a “farce” and called for “whoever is the NT chief minister” to bring on an early election.

Summary: Chief minister claims his challenger, Willem Westra van Holthe, made a ‘tactical error’ as documents are drawn up to forcibly kick Giles out


For many of us, the first step on the journey to weight loss is through the gym doors. The glistening and toned physiques at the weight rack, on the treadmills, and in spin class briefly inspire us that the best way to shed those stubborn pounds is to lift heavier, run faster, and push harder. But, if this is really the key to permanent weight loss, then why do so many walk away from the gym exhausted, frustrated, and defeated in their efforts?

We often overlook that weight loss is just as much a mental and soulful experience as it is physical. Aligning your mind, body, and soul is the key to sustainable health, and it can often be found among the serene music and warming breaths of a yoga class. Yoga, unlike other exercises, gives you something uniquely special because helps heal your mind, body and soul. Yoga will support your weight loss transformation as you identify with what will ultimately bring you joy and happiness, and it will inspire you to "live with purpose", which will support your decisions to become as happy and healthy as possible.

In that spirit, and in the spirit of the new year, here are 9 ways yoga will support a new relationship with your body and help you lose weight.

Instead of looking at other people and what they're doing to lose weight, yoga supports a quiet state of mind, so you can make decisions that are best for your body. You will be inspired, your energy and vibration will shift, and you will begin to feel gratitude for the smallest things without needing to compare yourself to others.

Your friends and family can be great role models, but to transcend your circumstances, you often have to remove yourself from your current space of understanding. Being around inspirational teachers helps you build your own thoughts and beliefs inspired by their teachings. They will often become a mirror of your own weaknesses and insecurities and help you find a way past them. These teachers who have blazed the trail before you (many of whom have had their own weight loss journey) provide a powerful road map for your own growth.

Having the ability to become part of an incredible community—people who are working towards similar goals right along with you—is incredibly powerful. Your fellow yogis will praise you when you do well, encourage you when you feel hopeless, and help point you in the right direction when you get off track. The power within you is always guiding you; sometimes you just need a bit of help (and positive friends) to harness it.

Spend time meditating and allow yourself to stop over-thinking. In a world of constant information (especially about diets), this is often one of the most difficult things to do, yet it is one of the most important things to learn for your well-being. Turning off all the noise, including your own voice, judgments and outside perceptions, for just 45 minutes truly frees you. It allows you to open up to a sacred space of healing which welcomes happiness and empowers you to make improved decisions when it comes to your food and exercise.

Individuals often experience profound healing and new states of awareness during yoga. Being in an environment where you are not distracted by other things allows you to move closer to forgiveness—one of the most important components of permanent weight loss. We often hold weight because of guilt that we carry inside ourselves. Yoga offers a space of compassion and love that can help propel you forward.

Money, time, work, and toxic relationships can drag you down and make you feel trapped in your current reality, causing binging and unhealthy eating behaviors. You have to live beyond what you have now and believe in what you can become. Yoga allows you to experience this unique space. As the Law of Attraction states, living within the mindset of the future version of you helps it actually come to you!

Yoga is a safe space to embrace your fear, harness the energy behind that fear, and remove it from your life. We're often fearful of things we truly desire, so there is fear around losing weight. Who will we be when we don't have the weight as a protection against the world? Who will we be when we are healthy and filled with energy? Quieting the mind helps us to understand where the fear of losing weight comes from and offers the ability to move through it to create dramatic shifts in your life.

Yoga testimonials often state that individuals were able to break through blockages and limiting beliefs. Most of us carry around childhood memories, past traumas, and pain, causing severe stress in our subconscious that manifests in negativity and fear. Yoga helps create a space where our conscious and subconscious thought patterns can unite to break through these feelings, shedding mental (and physical) weight.

After several yoga classes, your body will begin to cleanse, detoxify, and heal. As your body cleanses and detoxes, you actually retrain your brain from craving junk food to desiring more real, healthy food. Being in an environment that supports that energetic shift in your body will help you stay on track no matter where in the world you may be.

Without a doubt, yoga is one of the best things you can do to create dramatic shifts not only in your mind, but also in your body. Being in an environment where you can focus and make a commitment to your well-being alters your life forever. As you spend several days moving closer to a "new" way of being, you are actually announcing to the Universe that you are ready to permanently live this way.

Here are the best yoga Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration in the New Year:

Summary: For your New Years resolution, look to yoga for a healthier lifestyle that leads to weight loss and toned physiques.


The first Monday of September means that white clothes are out, sales are in, summer holidays are over and classes begin. For many of us (but far from all of us), it’s a welcome day off of work or school, ahead of what is likely to be a busier month than the last.

But the Labor Day holiday has a storied past, one of violence and celebration, that’s embedded deep in the history of the American labor movement. And while it has spread around the world in different forms, Labor Day has distinctly American roots.

Here’s a quick primer on the meaning and history of the holiday.

When did Labor Day begin?

The modern holiday is widely traced back to an organized parade in New York City in 1882. Union leaders had called for what they had labelled a “monster labor festival” on Tuesday, Sept. 5, according to Linda Stinson, a former historian for the Department of Labor (the idea for a general labor festival may have originated in Canada, which today also celebrates “Labour Day” on the first Monday in September). Initially that morning, few people showed up, and organizers worried that workers had been reluctant to surrender a day’s pay to join the rally. But soon the crowds began flowing in from across the city, and by the end of the day some 10,000 people had marched in the parade and joined festivities afterward in what the press dubbed “a day of the people.”

When did it become an official holiday?

The practice of holding annual festivities to celebrate workers spread across the country, but Labor Day didn’t become a national holiday for more than a decade. Oregon became the first state to declare it a holiday in 1887, and states like New York, Massachusetts and Colorado soon followed suit. Under President Grover Cleveland, and amid growing awareness of the labor movement, the first Monday in September became a national holiday in 1896.

Why is it on the first Monday in September anyway?

Labor union leaders had pushed for a September date for the New York demonstration, which coincided with a conference in the city of the Knights of Labor, one of the largest and most influential of the unions. The first two New York City Labor Days took place on the 5th of September, but in 1884, the third annual New York City Labor Day holiday was scheduled for the first Monday in September, and that date stuck.

The September rally would soon clash with International Worker’s Day on May 1, which arose out of what is known as the Haymarket Affair. On May 4, 1886, protesters in Chicago gathered to demand an 8-hour workday. Toward the end of the day, a peaceful demonstration devolved into violence when a bomb was hurled toward the police, killing one officer instantly and injuring others. The police responded by firing into the crowd, killing a still undetermined number of people. The incident enraged labor activists but also fueled fears in America that the labor movement had become radicalized, prompting a crackdown on labors groups: the bomb thrower was never identified, but four people were hanged for their alleged involvement.

In the wake of the Haymarket Affair, Union leaders and socialists declared May 1 as International Workers’ Day, and the day was and continues to be unofficially observed in the U.S. It’s also that date that most other countries officially or unofficially observe as a holiday in honor of workers. But when President Grover Cleveland moved to create a national labor holiday, he chose to avoid the thorny history of that May date.

So what’s the difference between Labor Day and May Day (International Workers’ Day) in the U.S.?

Jonathan Cutler, associate professor of sociology at Wesleyan, described Labor Day as a “government alternative” to May Day in an informative interview with NPR about the Haymarket Affair. May Day may have helped promote the creation of a national holiday, but Labor Day is associated with a different significance. “May Day has always been linked to the demand for less work and more pay; Labor Day celebrates the ‘dignity’ of work,” Cutler said in the interview.

We have Monday off, but does the labor community still actually celebrate the holiday?

Yep. To this day there is still a major parade in New York City (and other cities across the country, large and small), and the #UnionStrong will probably make a big showing on Twitter. It’s true that union membership has been declining for years, but many of the challenges that faced workers more than a century ago are still being overcome today, whether by the growing movement for higher wages in the fast food industry or by overworked tech and finance employees calling for better hours.

“If there is anyone who needs to attend to the spirit of Haymarket, it is the American white-collar professional who works 10 hour days, including many weekends, and who has fewer paid vacation days than other white-collar professionals around the world,” Cutler said in the interview with NPR.

So, are white clothes really out?

Summary: Here's what you need to know about one of America's most important holidays.


Tim Smith, the caddiemaster at Fresh Meadow, said the club required any golfer playing before 2 p.m. to take a caddie, even if the players are driving a cart. ''The reason is twofold,'' he said. ''Caddies keep the course in good shape, by raking traps and sometimes by fixing ball marks and divots. But also, we want to keep up the demand for caddies, so I can keep a good supply of guys showing up every day.

''If caddies were completely optional and one day you suddenly only had a need for 10, then next day, I'd only have 10 guys showing up,'' he said. ''This way, I can keep a full workforce of about 35 caddies because they know there's going to be work.''

With the popularity of lightweight nylon golf bags, the caddie's load is usually lighter than in the days when club members used the bulky leather bags seen mostly these days on the professional tours. But those bags have not vanished from the country club set, and lugging a pair of 40-pound bags five miles up hill and down dale in the heat is no picnic.

Also the older caddies, having built up seniority, usually get the pick of the day's work, usually the first rounds every morning when the weather's cooler. Caddiemasters realize that the men rely on caddying for a living and many members know and request them.

Other golfers prefer a pair of young legs hustling ahead to forecaddie, that is, to stand near the landing area, the better for their young eyes to track errant golf balls sailing into the woods. There is more to caddying than lugging bags and stifling sneezes during backswings. Caddies are expected to track their player's ball, rake the sand traps, tend the flagstick and give yardages and advice if the player asks. Over time, young caddies learn to read the speed and break of the greens and the yardages from various places on the course to the front, middle and back of each green.

They learn to keep some extra pencils and tees in their pocket for players who forget them. They learn to ask on the first tee what brand of ball each golfer is hitting, to avoid confusion identifying them on the course. They learn that clubs should be handed to a player without touching the grips, which can be slickened by sunscreen and sweat. They learn to keep a towel draped over their shoulder with one wet end for wiping the dirt from clubs and balls.

They learn which players to chat up and which to leave alone. Most importantly, they learn which members are the big tippers.

Much can be learned also at the knee of the older caddies, many of them veterans who work at Florida clubs in the winter and take a furnished room here for the summer. Some younger caddies speak of picking up wisdom beyond the golf course, including tips on playing the horses, pinochle, women and life's ups and downs.

Mr. Smith at Fresh Meadow said that the better part of his caddie corps consists of eager young men. They are expected to show up consistently, especially on weekends, and sign in by 6:45 a.m.

Matt Stoja, a 20-year-old from Floral Park and a senior at Siena College just outside Albany, said the hassle was well worth it.

''Who is going to complain about that? You got teenagers here pulling in $1,200 a week, cash,'' said Mr. Stoja, who said he began caddying at age 12. ''Plus, a lot of guys get Wall Street jobs from this.''

Anthony Elia, 18, of Garden City, said, ''It's definitely the best way to pay your way through college. You're home by 6 and where else could I make 1,200 a week?'' Mr. Elia, a student at Florida State University, said he still flies back up to New York on weekends in the fall, just to caddie at the club.

''Hey, the money's here, why not get it?'' he said. ''The best job you can get down at school is working at Sports Authority for $7 an hour.'' He said he had already made $120 from a morning round and was heading off to start his second loop of the day.

You can work for six months and save $15,000,'' he said. ''We have a guy who started as a caddie and is now an F.B.I. agent, but he comes back on Sundays to work because he didn't want to give it up.''

Josh Winston, 19, of Great Neck, stood on a shady slope overlooking a par three where his foursome putted. ''I'll make around $160 this round, no problem,'' whispered Mr. Winston, now in his third summer caddying.

Dustin Riedman of Merrick, a sophomore at SUNY-Buffalo, was preparing to meet his regular Fresh Meadow foursome, which plays once a week and pays much more than most groups.

''I get $300 a round with these guys,'' he said. ''They play for a lot of money, so they tend to give their caddies a lot.''

Nearby, at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, Craig Losi, 17, and Mike Graham, 16, sat under a canopy near the first tee wearing their white caddie coveralls. Mr. Graham was leafing through a newspaper.

''It can be a long day, with the wait,'' Mr. Losi said. ''You come here early and cross your fingers. It's a gamble. Once you get out, you make about $60 a bag and finish in less than four hours. It's a lot of money for a 17-year-old, definitely better than the kids who become box boys at Wal-Mart for the summer, making minimum wage.''

Mr. Losi, a senior at Chaminade High School in Mineola, said he also worked evenings in a library, shelving books. He began caddying in 2002 at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park just before the U.S. Open was played there. The Black is one of the few public courses around where caddies are used, and the park was offering an instructional course.

''All you can really do is learn the basics: yardages, reading greens,'' he said. ''After that, you can't really prepare, because every member has their own little things they want you to do. You kind of learn as you go along what each one expects of you.''

Mr. Graham, a student at Great Neck North High School, said: ''You have to accept that the regular caddies who been here for 15 years are always going to get out first. But some of the members ask for the young guys, because we have a lot of energy. They know we'll hustle around and run windsprints out to forecaddie for them.''

Pat Bland, a retired police officer and caddiemaster at the Montammy Golf Club in Alpine, N.J., has three sons caddying at the club and said he wanted more junior caddies. So far, about 10 of the 42 regular caddies are young guys, he said.

''There is a lot of money in this area; maybe a lot of kids don't want to work,'' he said. ''I think caddying gives a kid independence and builds esteem, because they don't have to ask their parents for money.''

Summary: Several Long Island teenagers discuss their cash-and-carry summers as golf caddies; photos (M)