The Retreat

The First Ever Retreat Music Festival

I bumped into Bart of Eagleowl and Kays Lavelle fame the other day. We were both hanging out in one of the achingly cool vintage vinyl record stores where you tend to find hip cats like us… Okay, it was Tesco’s… but anyway, I promised I’d post a reminder about the fabulous Retreat festival Bart’s [...]

Summer Associate of the Day: Doing the Conde Nastie?

Setting aside the Sapphic Smooch, it's been a slow summer in terms of juicy summer-associate scandals. As a result, we're forced to bring you a story that may be apocryphal. Here it is. It supposedly took place in the sleek-and-sexy offices of Skadden, housed in the celebrated Conde Nast Building at Four Times Square. Does being in close proximity to Vogue-visiting supermodels make people horny? From a tipster (but not at Skadden; it came through the grapevine): Does Skadden normally make its su...

Unusual Collaborations at Creative Capital

Ethan ZuckermanI’ve spent three days hanging out at the Creative Capital retreat at Williams College (Editor's note: For full disclosure, Worldchanging's Alex Steffen has also been...

Stocks end in big retreat on credit fears

Wall Street finished Monday in a sharp decline, reeling from continued concerns about the credit crisis and the battered U.S. economy.

Pants Down: An Eyewitness Account of an Ill-Fated Firm Retreat (Part 1)

[Ed. note: This is the first contribution to ATL by former practicing attorney Hope Winters (not her real name), whose byline you may see in these pages from time to time. Please note that a few years have passed between the events in question and the writing of this account. Accordingly, as is often the case with memoirs, it may contain errors, as well as a certain amount of poetic license. Enjoy.] When I was a first-year associate at a major international law firm, I got the e-mail, on an othe...

WAR/POLITICS: Are We There Yet? Victory in Iraq and the 2008 Election

"Events, dear boy, events." --Former British PM Harold Macmillan on the greatest threat to any government's plans. "In chaos there is opportunity" --Variously attributed. It's time for Republicans to decide: are we willing to stake the election on the proposition that we have won the war in Iraq? I. Prelude: Early 2007 Way back at the beginning of 2007, at the beginning of the marathon primary race, the Republican frontrunner, John McCain, and the Democratic upstart, Barack Obama, committed them...

sneaky peaks.. Paper Possibilities Scrapbooking Retreat CAIRNS, this October 25th and 26th 2008.

Ok I have mentioned that i do travel for classes.. and one of my FAVOURITE weekends away is up in beautiful Cairns with the amazing team at Paper Possibilities..( Yes I DO realise I am a very lucky girl.) I...

Celestial Seasonings, Others Partner With Boulder On Biomass Study

Celestial Seasonings, ConocoPhillips, Alexander Dawson School, Cal-Wood Education Center, and Saint Malo Catholic Retreat Center are teaming up with Boulder County to research using wood material as a sustainable fuel source for heating their facilities. The project is funded by a $39,000 grant from the Governor’s Energy Office, through the U.S. Department of Energy under the [...]

India: In Kerala, a Fragrant Ayurvedic Massage; Masala Spice Wrap with Ginger and Cardamom

A basin of marigolds, plumeria blossoms, rose petals and curry leaves greets visitors to the spa at the Taj Malabar in Cochin. 7:28 AM: It’s fresh and cool outside. The bright red orb of the rising sun flickers through the leaves of the palm trees. A white egret streaks down the canal that runs along the worn brick path. As I leave the villa, I can smell wood smoke in the air. An unknown bird issues a pure, haunting call. A few minutes later I am sitting in a small room in the Ayurvedic Cente...

Arctic sea ice minimum extent in September 1982, 2005 and 2007

The red line indicates the median minimum extent of the ice cover for the period 1979–2000. This figure compares the Arctic sea ice extent in September for the years 1982 (the record maximum since 1979), 2005 and 2007 (the record minimum). The ice extent was 7.5 million km2 in 1982 and only 5.6 million km2 in 2005 and down to 4.3 million km2 in 2007. As has been observed in other recent years, the retreat of the ice cover was particularly pronounced along the Eurasian coast. Indeed, the retre...