enplay for %E2%80%9CPrecious%E2%80%9D and in his acceptance speech, called Buddy and Todd %E2%80%9Cmy role models, my heroes.%E2%80%9D All three boys attended Harvard, where Buddy immersed himself in a range of social circles that mirror the diversity of his Dakota gatherings. He was elected first marshal of his senior class. %E2%80%9CHe was a thoughtful and serious person,%E2%80%9D said John Tomlinson, a classmate. %E2%80%9CHe always had a military bearing. His hair was always just right. He sat with good posture. His clothes were always perfect.%E2%80%9D Mr. Fletcher began his career at Bear Stearns and then moved to Kidder Peabody. In 1991, at 25, he accused Kidder of racial discrimination, saying it had reneged on pay that he said he had been promised. New York Stock Exchange arbitration panels awarded him $1.3 million but ruled that Kidder had not discriminated against him. He hung out his own shingle, Fletcher Asset Management, and among his successful strategies was to invest in cash-starved companies with otherwise sound businesses, including Zenith, whose recovery brought the firm huge profits. He moved his firm into luxurious headquarters on the 48th floor of the General Motors building on Fifth Avenue with breath-stealing views of Central Park and the world beyond. In 1992, after having offers rejected on three other apartments at the Dakota, Mr. Fletcher bought a first-floor unit for $465,000, becoming the second black buyer in the building%E2%80%99s history, after Ms. Flack. Other than Ms. Fletcher%E2%80%99s mother, who now sits on the board, there have been no others. (His father died in 1990.) He was starting his charitable giving , with a $1 million pledge in 1994 to the N.A.A.C.P. But he was also experiencing some of the battles that come with success. A college friend and business partner, Michael Meade, left his firm in 1995 and then sued over his compensation, in a dispute that Mr. Meade now describes as %E2%80%9Ctwo young kids fighting over money.%E2%80%9D They settled in 1997 and didn%E2%80%99t speak for five years, but now do business together.
NYTimes profile of controversial gay Dakota resident Buddy Fletcher
Everyone knows that Stephen Austin and Sam Houston were gay, but the oil millionaire were all pervs (or worse) too. "The parties usually kicked off on Friday evenings when a dusty maroon Chrysler pulled up the long gravel drive, heralding Sid Richardson's arrival from West Texas. The gambling and drinking lasted late into the night, when the guests would wobble into the bunkhouse Murchison had erected just for his friends, a dozen beds arrayed in one large room, cowboy style. "He (Murchison) adored the boys (his sons) and paid tuition for them to attend public schools in University Park; most days they arrived at school in a chauffeur driven Pierce Arrow. Weeknights they all piled into one bed together with their father. Murchison swore he wouldn't marry until they were grown." from Burrough's "Big Rich" "The master suite alone had eight full sized beds for Murchison, his two sons, and whatever pals were staying over - 'so we can stay up all night talkin' oil,' he explained to his decorator." "It was a man's world, the days spent hunting and fishing, the nights playing cards. Richardson never married, and no one can remember a single woman who anyone considered his companion, leading to rumors about his sexual proclivities." Followed by the obligatory anonymous rumor of (female) prostitutes flown in.
I don''t believe it. I don''t think there is one ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD as long as all the parts work.%0D
What about with the added challenge of doing it as a Diabetic? Mario Battali is doing the NY Food Stamp challenge this week and Chef Karl Wilder is joining him and doing is as a diabetic. I suggested we go to the Harlem benefit next week as a meet up, but I think we should be doing it also to collect food for the food bank. If the gays show up the event becomes golden. More links inside.
BANGOR, Maine -- A US Airways jet from Paris was diverted to Bangor, Maine, on Tuesday after a passenger showed "suspicious behavior" on the flight, federal authorities said. US Airways spokesman Andrew Christie said the Charlotte, North Carolina-bound Boeing 767 landed in Bangor about noon because of an unspecified "security issue." The flight carried 179 passengers and a crew of nine, airline spokeswoman Liz Landau told CNN. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the jet to Bangor. The aircraft landed after a passenger "exhibited suspicious behavior" during the flight, the Transportation Security Administration said. "Out of an abundance of caution, the flight was diverted to BGR, where it was met by law enforcement," the TSA said. No further details were available.
On an iTunes buying spree. I like very lush, evocative orchestral scores. My latest purchases are Elmer Bernstein's Age of Innocence, Bernard Hermann's Vertigo and Ryuichi Sakamoto's The Last Emperor.
The Associated Press MEXICO CITY - Two decapitated bodies were found inside a burning SUV early Wednesday at the entrance to one of Mexico's most luxurious malls, feeding fears drug violence is infiltrating privileged realms previously thought safe. Police recovered the mutilated bodies before dawn off a toll highway at a shopping mall entrance in the heart of the Santa Fe district that's a haven for international corporations, diplomats and the wealthy. The heads and a threatening message were dumped a few yards (meters) away, Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement. Hours later, the government released a drug war body count recording more than 47,500 victims in five years, echoing independent death tolls tabulated by Mexican media. Local media published images of the charred car and reported that a note written on hot pink paper was signed by the drug gang Mano con Ojos, or Hand with Eyes. Mexican police had said the gang was weakened by the arrest of its leader, Oscar Osvaldo Garcia, in August. The victims, a man and a woman in their 30s, had not been identified, prosecutors said. They said the SUV with license plates from neighbouring Mexico state had been stolen. The Centro Santa Fe mall where the charred car was found is one of the country's largest and most glamorous, housing high-end retailers like Coach, Prada, Hugo Boss, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mexican department store Palacio de Hierro. The dump scene was cleaned up so quickly that shoppers weren't even aware anything had happened. The car was left only hours before Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard guided a tour of a bridge construction site 300 yards (meters) away. Ebrard spokesman Diego Gutierrez said there was nothing to indicate the bodies were a message to the mayor. Mexico's sprawling capital has been something of a haven from the brutal cartel violence that has claimed thousands of lives along the U.S. border and in outlying states. But gangs have been fighting over an increasingly lucrative local drug market for more than a year, mainly in the capital's working class outer neighbourhoods and suburbs. The Santa Fe district has been spared much of that violence and managed to maintain its reputation as a manicured bubble built atop a former landfill on the western edge of Mexico City. The financial district houses the Mexican headquarters of major corporations, Hewlett Packard and IBM among them, and Iberoamerican University, one of Mexico's top private schools. Modern, heavily guarded high-rises where wealthy Mexicans and foreigners live dot the hilly landscape. But as the fight among splintering drug cartels intensifies, brazen attackers have reached even into the coun