“Mr. Luciano?”

Thomas Farley is standing in the doorway like a shadow. He has in his hand a small cardboard box, no bigger than his palm and that same expecting look on his face he has when he’s dressing the king of New York himself. Charlie would be lying if he said it didn’t make him ease up, if only by a fraction.

“Hey Farley- c’mere.” He beckons, and turns back to the mirror. He cuts a sharp image in his gray suit- he has to admit it. The French silk is heavy on his frame too, making him feel younger than he is, but the heft makes him stand up straighter too. He could be a banker, imagine that. “Doc outside?”

Farley smiles in a way that reminds him of Goodman. “He’s not coming.” There’s a stab of something in Charlie’s gut but he doesn’t even have a chance to turn before the Colored continues. “He decided it’d be best if you and Meyer did this alone.”

He understands. He does. Still doesn’t make it feel less like a betrayal. “Wants to distance himself if this doesn’t work huh?”

Farley gives him a look as he closes the distance. He could be English taught, Charlie thinks, because the man possesses the grace of any king. He is certainly more educated then the man he serves. “He wanted to give you this.” A sly grin again. He wonders if Thomas practices it in the mirror to mimic the Bankroll. “For luck.”

The tie is the same heavy silk of his suit but embroidered with beautiful gray horseshoes. Fucking doc. Fucking jokes. “The jackass.”

“May I?” Farley doesn’t wait for an affirmation. His fingers are already at his throat, purposefully tilting Charlie’s chin up like he’s a schoolboy attending shul. He wonders- blindly- how many times Thomas has done this for Rothstein, when gambles weren’t certain and there were rats in the walls. He wonders if AR ever felt like this. He doubts it.

Not AR, not king of the gamblers. The man is steel after all, arsenic in ice water for blood and-

Charlie wonders what they’ll say of him, one day. He ducks his head again. “…how d’I look? Hm?”

Thomas hesitates, and something unreadable crosses his face. “Like a sure bet, Mr. Luciano. Will that be all?”

Ebola: The Imperative of Immediate Action, Here and Abroad

October 9, 2014

A panel discussion examining the human rights standards applicable to the epidemic, and the threat posed not only to Africa, but also to the rest of the world with Widney Brown, Director of Programs, Physicians for Human Rights, and former Senior Director for Law and Policy, Amnesty International and Deputy Program Director at Human Rights Watch; Jay Varma, MD, Deputy Commissioner for Disease Control, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and former Medical Epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Odette wakes up to the Colored man’s hand on her and she starts but recovers in enough time to roll to her back and look at him with a smile. “Heya Mr. T. Coming to join me?”

But the valet is already picking up her shoes, those green suede ones she didn’t really like but she wanted Rothstein to buy her something pretty and he obliged because when she was on his arm he only saw her; as if she was Bobbie or Carolyn or Charlie or someone else…

Her head spins from the wine in an ugly sort and she’s pretty sure the dress she had thought so pretty was torn from dancing. Her thighs ache.

And Rothstein isn’t in his bed with her, but at least he’s in no one else’s. She doesn’t have to ask if the poker game is still going on downstairs.

“Just sleep Miss O.” Thomas’ voice is sweet and fatherly. She’s wonders how many lost hearts he’s tucked away at AR’s bidding or if his kindness is all his own.

AR likes to collect the rare as well as the beautiful after all, and in their way each one of them are one of his birds.

I haven't drank a soda since 8th grade. This is not a normal occurrence, I know, but why did I stop? One day when I was a restaurant my dad showed me how many packs of sugar are in one soda, and it really opened my eyes. I use to drink two soda's a day and I think actually seeing what goes into a soda made me change my ways. Now I found a new PSA advertisement to fight soda drinking and obesity in the USA, and I found it very effective. 

The commercial is funny yet it makes a really great point that most people do not think about when drinking a soda. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is behind this advertisement and Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said, "Most people wouldn't eat 16 packs of sugar, but people are drinking that ll the time without noticing."

Obesity, Tooth Decay, Caffeine dependence, and Weakened bones are things that are soda can help cause (read more here). America is a problem with obesity and little advertisements like this I believe can really start getting the word out and start help people to start making better decisions. 

There are a lot of PSA's that people seem to roll their eyes at and ignore. This advertisement takes a different approach with comedy. The humor behind it lies with the reactions of the people in disgust. Ironically they are essentially doing the same thing. So while the advertisement is funny, it is smart and effective at the same time.