A Fashion Low in High Finance - NYTimes.com

Townies is a series about life in New York, and occasionally other cities.

The problem with using staples instead of cuff links to fasten French cuffs is not so much that it doesn?t work ? it doesn?t ? but that people tend to associate the look with an unattractive mental instability.

It seems pretty obvious to me now. A French-cuffed shirt requires cuff links. Full stop. However, 10 years ago, when I first removed the pins and packaging from a dress shirt and threaded my arms through the sleeves, I was that most hapless class of human being ? a college intern. It was my first morning in New York; I had just woken up on my friend Dan?s couch in Murray Hill; and I had one hour to go before the scheduled start of my professional life. I was to be an investment banker, if I could just get dressed.

I was to be an investment banker, if I could just get dressed.

The bank?s welcome packet had advised that the dress code was Business Casual. I figured that meant something sharp, like a pair of Dockers. Or, since I didn?t own any khakis, how about these tan, five-pocket corduroys? One of the belt loops had come loose and, yes, the cuffs had begun to fray where the gaping boot-cut swallowed my shoes and lapped at the pavement. But these were not jeans and thus, by my calculations, were Dress Pants, perfectly acceptable for Sunday church back in Iowa and therefore equally appropriate for one of Manhattan?s revered financial institutions. Dan had already left for work, or else, presumably, he would have questioned some aspects of this logic.

My shirt, however, was another matter. This, I thought proudly as I removed the packaging, was a sophisticated garment. This shirt, I beamed while pulling it over my shoulders, was British. I had purchased it in Scotland on my study abroad trip, a week before my flight to J.F.K. It was the most expensive shirt I?d ever owned; a shade of royal blue that I convinced myself did not exist on the racks of J.C. Penney. I had not tried it on before this morning as doing so would have required confronting my inability to fold clothes, a deficiency particularly acute when it came to dress shirts.

I was about to button the shirt when I realized it. Something was wrong. The sleeves were too long. I have a spindly 6-foot-3 frame with arms that dangle like disturbed pendulums; sleeves are never too long. I brought the cuff closer to inspect. Where were the buttons? Why so many buttonholes? I stared dumbfounded, turning the cotton over in my palm.

Then it occurred to me. I had never seen cuff links, but I was somehow vaguely aware of their existence. This shirt required a piece of hardware that I did not own. My only other dress shirt was still in the packaging, a white version with the same complication. I glimpsed wide eyes of panic in a nearby mirror.

I called Dan. He confirmed my diagnosis, but did not own a set of cuff links. ?Don?t worry though,? he comforted me, mentioning a nearby Brooks Brothers. ?Just walk over to Madison and it?s only a few blocks up. They?ll sell you a pair.?

Would they be open? Was there time? Could I even afford cuff links? In my head these ornaments looked like sparkling women?s earrings holding my sleeves together, simultaneously emasculating and wallet-draining. Couldn?t I just use safety pins? Dan laughed at this. ?On French cuffs? Safety pins? You can try!? I laughed too. Then I rifled through Dan?s drawers. He didn?t have any safety pins.

This was New York City, I told myself. There are storefronts everywhere. I would walk in the direction of my new office and evaluate options on the way. I had about 45 minutes. I would be fine. I was resourceful. Worst case, I calmed myself, there would be a stapler at the bank.

I did a lap through a corner bodega, but nothing inspired me. I paused outside a hardware store, contemplating the utility of duct tape before dismissing it as inferior to staples ? too messy. Then, three blocks into my commute, I passed a tailor. I had never been to a tailor in my life, but I was suddenly confident that tailors handled situations like mine all the time.

The door chimed as I entered. Behind the counter a tired Asian man gathered a pile of shirts and wool pants. He transferred the clothes to a table behind him, placed a white slip beneath them and turned to me.

I asked if he sold cuff links. He narrowed his eyes, chewed his lower lip and cocked his head. ?Do you have any cuff links?? I tried again, pulling out my loose sleeves for display.

?No, no,? he said, shaking his head vigorously. For reasons no longer apparent to me, this came as a surprise.

?Hmm,? I stated, to communicate my disappointment. ?Hmm.? I looked back up at the man. Then I had an idea. ?Couldn?t you,? I asked, pointing to a spool of thread, ?sew my sleeves??

He was no longer confused. He was horrified. ?No, no, NO!? The shaking of his head became a rapid swivel. But the thread would have barely been visible! I could have slept in the shirt and worn it the next day! I tried to negotiate, I was practically pleading. There must be a price at which this man would sew my sleeves shut. He turned away, shaking his head, returning to the stack of clothes on the table. He had his principles. ?No.?

Dejected, I exited the tailor?s. After coming so close to an elegant solution, the office stapler now felt, if you can believe it, unprofessional. Could one even staple fabric? I looked again at my sleeves. I did not wish to look like a pretentious Mr. Peanut, but if the alternative was ragged boxcar hopper, perhaps I needed to reconsider.

The Brooks Brothers ended up being just a few blocks from the office, and presented me with a variety of cuff link options, a few of which didn?t completely resemble women?s jewelry. I purchased a cloth pair and allowed the salesman to treat me like a 5-year-old, threading the cuff links through my sleeves while delivering a pedantic play-by-play, directions that would have spared me 15 minutes of confusion the next morning had I bothered to listen. Instead, I admired my cleaned-up appearance in the mirror. With the sleeves of my shirt tamed and my shredded cords hidden behind the counter, I finally looked like a sophisticated New Yorker.

Within weeks, the bank reverted to a dress code of Business Formal; I guess some folks just couldn?t grasp the nuances of Business Casual.

Townies welcomes submissions at townies@nytimes.com.


D. Craig Elbert works at Bonobos, a men?s apparel retailer.

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The Great Importance Of Presentation Files In Business Presentation

It is thought by professionals that presentation will be at best when using a product such as folders. Since business presentation is very important to all kinds of business, you should take its significance. For you to be directed correctly, take a look on the following details about presentation folders:

1.Company?s files, brochures, and any other printed promotion materials can be put altogether in one folder. It is the simpliest way introduce your enterprise to the general public. Have this indicate as your method of offering facts and message to them. You should use this opportunity to convey messages efficiently to your potential audience.

2.You could make use of these presentation folders when you are going to demonstrate to any company gatherings or meeting.

3.All the printed files inside the presentation folders should be printed with your company?s name, logo, business address, and contact information. All of these would be placed in the upper right side of the paper. This is an excellent advertising for your business and product. If the presenter does this thing, after that, the target audience will certainly determine and understand your company?s excellence.

4.Designs and a little application of colored images will get the attention of your audiences. Pictures to be used must still be connected with the subject matter to be discussed. This would add additional attractiveness and relevance to your topic and all you should do is to support the slides with details.

5.Slit for your business card should be placed appropriately.

To sum it up, business presentation will be productive if and only if companies or the employed presenters are knowledgeable and creative enough to find ways on how to do and make a credible and extraordinary presentation. It?s not very hard to produce a one-of-a-kind business presentation due to the presence of world-wide-web. You are able to research everything including the facts stated in this article.

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Gold Coast Plumbing Service ? The Reasons You Requires One ...

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Plumbing services are needed necessity for your residence. Together with the cleaning and laundering together with your home, it is an undeniable fact that, once or twice you?ll have to receive a plumbing would like to support you with this type of water flow issues. This simply suggests added costs available for you. Nonetheless, it is not an unavoidable circumstance.?

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The Gold Coast plumbing market became essential and has been the normal portion of the designed economy as a consequence of demand for appropriate waste elements disposal and water. It represents a plumbing system and accessories situated in a center or organization for disbursing neat and potable drinking water in Gold Coast and nearby locations. Its recognized from sewage systems because plumbing is regarded as fixing the specific building because sewage system works the whole town or number of buildings.?

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The concept of a water system created from Latin word plumbum that means guide. Before the 1800s, this sector can be quite uncommon. In the process, the health businesses were challenging for far better elimination of waste material. It genuinely stems from Greek, Persians and Roman ancestors customer happiness demand for neat and safe water, public bathtubs and drainages. This is why water robbery, the Romans will likely employ lead pipe.

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The event regarding pipes matured on a really gradual speed. No enhancement is now obvious ahead of the moment the Romans have seen lead plumbing. Right after no cost World War, lead is becoming halted mainly because it was considered that it provides harmful chemicals which often can affect man?s health. At the moment, copper has become introduced and employed as the material to produce pipes. ?

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It had become documented as more secure and many more sensible choice for water lines made out of lead. Plumbing fixtures are created as prospects. Most of these include showers, fountains, bathrooms and urinals. Certainly, every work needs equipment and tools. It involves water meters, pumping systems, gauges and lots of other resources. At this point, the state-of-the-art engineering assists the gold coast plumbing towards process effectively and with no difficulties.

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?Search internet for gold coast plumber get details about commercial plumber.

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Ashton Kutcher To Play Steve Jobs In Biopic: Caption This Photo

A Steve Jobs biopic was inevitable but who would have thought that Ashton Kutcher would have been cast to play the Apple icon? Certainly not me but it sure looks like that is the case, which is why Kutcher has been chosen as Right Celebrity?s caption this photo contest for the week. Variety broke the story that Ashton will in fact play Steve in an upcoming indie film titled ?Jobs?. I have more info on Kutcher?s newest role and I will share that with you in just one second. First though I want to quickly tell you all about our Caption This photo contest. All you have to do to participate is simply take a look at the above pic of the actor and then caption it by leaving your witty remarks in the below comments section. Then check back next Tuesday when a brand new photo and hot topic will be posted and you can find out if your name is in black and white as the big winner. See it is easy and let?s be honest who doesn?t have something to say about Ashton these days. Now on to today’s hot topic that is the Two and a [...]

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Amazon stores 1,700 human genomes in the cloud

Amazon stores 1,700 human genomes in the cloudNot content with speeding up web browsing and hosting federal data, Amazon Web Services are now helping in the fight against disease. Bezos' crew is donating a chunk of free cloud storage to the 1000 Genomes project, which aims to make it easier for scientists to search for genetic variations linked to diseases. These gene-hunters can also use Amazon's Elastic Cloud Compute service to analyze data and discover patterns, although those functions won't come gratis. The DNA sequences of 1,700 mostly anonymous Homo sapiens from around the world have already been logged, but the project needs another 1,000 samples before it meets statistical requirements. Perhaps a free USB gene sequencer and a Prime subscription might entice fresh volunteers?

Amazon stores 1,700 human genomes in the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaza man killed by soldiers as thousands protest Israel policy

Security forces in riot gear deployed in high numbers along the frontiers of Israel and the Palestinian territories in anticipation of a repeat of last year's violence, in which at least 38 people died near the borders with Lebanon and Syria.

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian protester in?Gaza?on Friday as thousands in the Palestinian territories, Israel and neighboring countries participated in an annual protest against the Jewish state's land policies.

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Security forces in riot gear deployed in high numbers along the frontiers of Israel and the Palestinian territories in anticipation of a repeat of last year's violence, in which at least 38 people died near the borders with Lebanon and Syria.

But for the most part, protests were small and organizers kept demonstrators from actually marching on the borders.

The "Land Day" rallies are an annual event marked by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank andGaza?who protest what they say are discriminatory Israeli land policies.

Gaza?health official Adham Abu Salmia said Israeli forces shot and killed Mahmoud Zaqout, 21, and critically wounded another man as they were approaching the Israel-Gaza border during a demonstration of a few thousand people organized by the territory's Hamas rulers.

The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots before shooting directly at Zaqout, in accordance with the army's rules of engagement.

The military said it responded to protesters with tear gas in addition to gunfire. Abu Salmia said an additional 37 protesters throughout?Gaza?were lightly injured, while the Israeli military put the number at about 29.

By midday, skirmishes had broken out between protesters and security forces in the Jerusalem area. Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli troops responded with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber pellets.

Dozens of Palestinians were treated for light wounds in hospitals throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem, including four with serious head wounds from rubber pellets and one hit in the head by a tear gas canister, said Mohammed Ayyad, a spokesman for the Red Crescent medical service in Ramallah.

In southern Lebanon Friday, thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians gathered outside the Crusader-built Beaufort castle 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Israel. Lebanese security forces kept them from moving any closer to the border.

Last year, demonstrators from Lebanon and Syria tried twice to break across the borders into Israel, setting off clashes with Israeli troops in which at least 38 people were killed.

Sobhiyeh Mizari, 70, said she always taught her 12 children "never to forget Palestine."

"We will liberate our land against the will of Israel and its backers," said Mizari, who said her husband was killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon in 1978.

Among the protesters in Lebanon were rabbis from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Neturei Karta, a radical anti-Israel group that believes Jews must live without a country of their own until the coming of the Messiah.

In Jordan, thousands of demonstrators gathered a few kilometers (miles) east of Jordan's border with the West Bank, chanting, "Death to Israel." Israel controls the West Bank side of the border.

"Get out Jews, get out. Jerusalem and the West Bank are in the land of virtue, in Arab-Muslim land, and your dirt will stain it," Hammam Saeed, a hawkish Muslim Brotherhood leader in Jordan, told the cheering crowd. Jordanian media reported that representatives from Neturei Karta, which traditionally supports Israel's enemies, were present there as well.

About 2,000 Arab-Israelis demonstrated in northern Israel, where a large portion of Israel's Arab minority lives.

Several dozen Palestinians who live in east Jerusalem waved their national flag outside Jerusalem's walled Old City. "One, one homeland!" they chanted.

Palestinians were banned from entering from the West Bank except for medical emergencies, and police barred Palestinian men under 40 from praying at a volatile Jerusalem holy site, citing security concerns.

The demonstrators performed their communal Muslim Friday prayers where they stood, praying on their flags instead of traditional mats.

They were surrounded by what appeared to be an equal number of Israeli security forces.

"Israel has no trouble with peaceful protest and respects the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully," said government spokesman Mark Regev.

Many Palestinians, energized by Arab Spring uprisings that have overturned decades-old authoritarian regimes, see massive, coordinated marches as one of the most effective strategies to draw attention to their cause.

"After the Arab revolutions, there's awareness of the importance of popular participation," said Arab activist Jafar Farah. "This has rattled the Arab regimes, and now it's frightening the Israeli government."

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Would you let your teen have sex at home? | Bakersfield Mom

By her own definition, it?s been ?quite a ride? the past few months for sociologist Amy T. Schalet, author of ?Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex.?

Published in November, her book takes a look at the divergent attitudes and approach of parents in the Netherlands and their counterparts in the U.S. when it comes to adolescent sexuality.?

Schalet?s family is from the U.S. and she was born here. But she grew up in the Netherlands because her father, a biologist, taught at Leiden University. She returned to the U.S. midway through college.

The title of Schalet?s book hints at one big difference between American and Dutch parents that has captured a lot of attention: In the Netherlands, teenage couples are often permitted to sleep together in the family home.

Schalet is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has been interviewed on TV and radio and by a variety of online and print publications. She also has written opinion pieces for the New York Times and the Huffington Post.

Recently, she was in Orange County as a featured speaker in the CONSIDER THIS series of discussions presented by Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. About 140 people attended the luncheon.

Schalet?s visit and the publication of her book come at a time of intensifying conflict over women?s reproductive rights and access to contraception and abortion.

A tale of two countries

Schalet began her talk by pointing out the much higher rates of teen pregnancy and teen births in the U.S. than in the Netherlands. A 2007 report referenced in ?Not Under My Roof? showed the birth rate among females ages 15-19 was eight times higher here.

More poverty and less access to socio-economic resources is only part of the explanation, said Schalet, who advocates for the kind of open dialogue between American teens and their parents that exists between their Dutch counterparts.

?Dutch teens have better access to sexual health education and resources and they learn more than just not to do it,? she told her audience.

In the Netherlands, most parents view sex as a natural part of a developing relationship between two young people, and that?s why they allow older teenage couples in a serious, loving relationship to sleep together.

In the U.S., we tend to dramatize teen sex, she said, with talk of ?raging hormones? and boys ?wanting only one thing,? and drawing a line of shame between being a ?good girl? and a girl who has a sexual self.

?Dramatization drives not only teen sex out of the home, but also the conversation about (sex),? she said.

Food for thought

One grandmother in the audience, Natalye Black of Irvine, Calif., said the notion of parents validating a coed sleepover for teens had never occurred to her.

?It made me think, well, they?re having sex in the car or at a party, if one is going to be real about it,? said Black, 73, who has six grandchildren ages 15 to 26. ?It doesn?t say there?s a right way or a wrong way, but it speaks to me to ?consider this.??

The national conversation of late is forcing many to think about ?things that are kind of under the table,? continued Black, adding that she plans to discuss Schalet?s research with her family.

?I?m surely going to talk with my grandchildren about it,? Black said. ?It will be interesting to hear what my children ? their parents ? will say.?

Before Schalet spoke to the Planned Parenthood gathering, she discussed more details of her book with The Register.

Q. What do statistics tell us are the most startling differences in the attitude and approach to teen sex here and in the Netherlands?

A. There?s national statistics and then my own research. I would say some of the most startling national statistics are the teen pregnancy and birth rates. Teen pregnancy rates are about four times as high here. Birth rates about eight times as high.

Another very big difference when we look between the two countries is the percentage of young women who are on birth control at first sex. In the Netherlands, 6 out of 10 young women are on the pill at first intercourse and in the U.S. it?s around 1 in 5.

The average age of first intercourse is similar ? 17, 18. But the degree to which they?re prepared at that time is very different. That shows the different attitudes.

Q. And there?s a distinction to be made between the appropriateness of sexual activity in the early teens and in the second half of teenage years?

A. For the Dutch parents that I?ve interviewed, the moment at which a young person can be ready is typically thought to be 16, 17, 18 ? it depends on how conservative vs. liberal a family is, how mature a young person is.

Q. In an interview you did last month with New England public radio, you talk about how American girls face what you call the ?slander of the slut? or the potential of being ?labeled a slut if they?re too proactive around their sexuality.?

A. Yeah, yeah. It?s very relevant right now ? In both countries there actually is a sexual double standard to some extent. Boys are given more leeway than girls. But in the Netherlands if a girl is in a relationship, she?s not a slut. For wanting sex, for making decisions about sex, that doesn?t make you a slut.

What was fascinating about the U.S. is that the label of the slut seemed to be able to be stuck on any girl for almost any reason. It kind of was this free floating label that even the suggestion of sex, as in the case of Sandra Fluke, seemed to give people permission to call young women sluts.

I?ve been following this discussion very closely with Rush Limbaugh, and I think that it is making people come out and say this isn?t right, this is also not healthy. On some level, even though it?s not usually part of our political conversation, we all know that almost everyone in the United States has sex before marriage, usually before they turn 20, and, if not, before they turn 25.

Saddling girls and young women with this double burden, at least this was a problem that I saw in my research, they often felt in their parents? eyes they would be a disappointment if they were to engage in sex or if they already did.

And in their peer culture they were dealing with the potential of being called a slut without having adults who could say, no, this is part of your life that you are allowed to own and make choices about.

Q. How do you foresee your research, or your book, having an impact on parents and teens here regarding sexuality, health and relationships? What would you want them to get out of it?

A. One of the things that I want people to get out of it is just to see examples of how parents and teens can talk about a sexual relationship more openly. Not only is there a dramatization of teen sexuality, but there?s also especially a dramatization of the teen-parent relationship. Like this has to be hard, this had to be embarrassing, this has to be difficult.

Well, if you never talk about it, it is. But once you start it can become something that doesn?t have to be as difficult.

One reason why I try to point this out is that it?s very important, for both teens and parents, that the relationship, the connectedness, between young people and their parents remain. And what I found in the U.S. families a lot of times is this fear of disappointment. And so there?s not a sharing and then there?s hiding and then people just don?t know what?s going on in each other?s lives.

That?s a problem ? especially for girls but also for boys, who don?t get a lot of support in our culture for understanding their feelings, for forming relationships.

? It doesn?t have to be you permit sleepovers, because many American parents are uncomfortable with that and will remain so. But the point is you can maintain the connection and you can maintain a conversation.

? The Orange County Register

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