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Arlen Ness is the godfather of custom motorcycles. While there are and were many customizers out there who can use an English Wheel and make perfect welds, it was Ness who was the first to really push the boundaries in the 1970s, and push them very hard, on a consistent basis. If you opened any number of motorcycle magazines on a consistent basis from the 1970s on through to the 1990s, chances are good you came across a Ness creation in all its glory. And there was glory to spare.
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Not content simply with fancy paint schemes, fat tires and extended forks, Ness separated himself from other customizers not only with his wild design ideas, but with his marriage of those ideas to performance. Indeed, his most iconic bikes were rarely choppers, they were a mashup of power, aesthetics and never-been-there-before form factors. Ness’ legacy is long and deep enough that there’s even a fantastic book about him and his bikes.
Ness opened up engines and then added all manner of devices to improve mixing gasoline and air. He was a big, big fan of superchargers, and one was not always enough. Exposed belt runs, lengthy carb plenums and circuitous exhaust plumbing are all Ness hallmarks. The way he wrapped outrageous yet functional power increases in eye-popping designs was what lifted him above the rest.
After an enjoyable ride from L.A. to S.F. on a new Indian, I had to drop the bike off at Ness’s bustling dealership in Dublin, which is nestled near Silicon Valley east of the Bay Area right off the 580. Ness sells Victory and Indian models as well as a selection of used machines and custom-made parts. There’s an expansive service center for all manner of bikes, both mundane and insane. But up on the mezzanine, he has a jewel-like museum crowded with many of his most famous creations. More of his iconic bikes are scattered around the dealership.
After dropping off the Indian and with a few minutes before a cab came to whisk me off to the Oakland airport, I got out my camera for a too-short visual tour of several decades of Ness’ endless creativity.
If you ever pass through Dublin, California, the Ness dealership and museum should be a mandatory stop. Prepare to be blown away.
Don’t ruin your cigars: here’s how to properly season a new humidor
Seasoning secrets every cigar lover could use
If you're a newcomer to the world of cigars or just bought a brand-new humidor, you'll need to season it. And no, I'm not saying to add salt and pepper to it. If you've never heard of it, you might ask, "What is seasoning for a humidor?"
Don't think you need to flavor the box or anything — seasoning is really about getting the wood inside your humidor so as not to rob your cigars of precious moisture. Easy to understand, and getting it done is relatively straightforward as well. The trick is figuring out the "why," and we'll get into that in a bit. But let's first discuss seasoning a humidor.
The NBA’s ultimate celebration tool: The victory cigar
A look at the players and coaches who smoke to celebrate
Sports are synonymous with celebration. After winning the biggest trophy of their lives, athletes want to indulge in the payoff that comes with seeing their dreams realized. Teams go into the locker room, where a waterfall of champagne hits them in the eyes, and swimming goggles seem to be a requirement, lest you walk around on the best night of your life half blind. While drinking is often the activity of choice after winning a championship, the NBA has an alternative symbol of greatness that other sports don't use nearly enough: the victory cigar.
Basketball is a team game, but it's also an individual canvas for solo superstardom. After winning an NBA championship, the coaches and players who sit atop the throne have long smoked a cigar in the locker room, during the parade, or even on the bench before the clock has hit zero. There's nothing quite like a good stogie to signify the ultimate win over the rest of the league, but how did the victory cigar get so ingrained in NBA championship celebrations? We want to take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the historical moments and people who made the cigar what it is within the NBA today.
Red Auerbach's victory cigar on the bench
Red Auerbach: The Story Behind the Victory Cigar + His Disdain of NBA Officials - Red on Roundball
From ER to The Pitt, these are the best medical shows ever made
Throughout TV's long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there's so much drama built in to working in a hospital.
Personally, I've found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.