Thrifted Finds and Clever Design Hacks Put the Polish on This Old Colonial
There were a few times over the past two years of renovations that Des Moines-based decorator Ruthie Jackson might have had doubts about buying a 1935 Colonial that needed major updates. Like the time water from the upstairs shower rained through the ceiling onto her toddler son below (who clapped with joy). Or when carpet was lifted to reveal termite-damaged floorboards. Or when the HVAC needed fixing during a hot Iowa summer.
But the home had the ZIP code, floor plan, and architectural detail of her dreams, plus only two other owners in its 80 years. Ruthie, husband Greg, and kids Emmeline and Everett were not afraid to take on the project to turn it into their forever home.
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Big-ticket repairs left limited funds for decorating, so Ruthie's resourcefulness became the home's saving grace. Neighbors' castoffs and pieces that belonged to the previous owners found new life in her hands. A thrifting network of her mom, sister, like-minded friends, and followers of her Instagram account messaged her about finds. Her trusted tool kit of double-stick duct tape, gel stain, and Rub 'n Buff took care of the rest. "There's freedom with a small budget. It's easier to make decisions when you don't feel like you have to commit for a lifetime, and there's less fear to paint or add details," Ruthie says.
Her love for switching things up means the Jackson house will always be a work in progress, but Ruthie is proud of the evolution. "Daily incremental progress adds up to a big transformation," she says. Ruthie often uses her home as a lab for clever, budget-savvy design ideas. One example: She covered the back of the living room bookshelves with vintage wallpaper (an eBay find that echoes the sofa) held in place with double-stick duct tape for easy removal.
Ruthie created a mercury glass effect by covering sheets of Mylar paper with light, uneven coats of metallic gold spray paint. Between each coat, she flicked water on the wet paint then blotted with a damp sponge for texture. She installed it like wallpaper above the fireplace.
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To cover the staircase, Ruthie cut and stapled five indoor/outdoor runners in place. "Adding stair rods helps hide the seams," she says.
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The long room had ample square footage but needed freshening and a thoughtful furniture arrangement. Once the carpet came up, Ruthie thoroughly scrubbed the floors, patched small holes with wood filler, and blended flaws with a coat of coffee-color gel stain and a top coat of high-gloss wood-floor restorer. Furniture groupings divide the room into two zones: a sitting area by the fireplace and a game table on the other end. Identical striped rugs connect the spaces.
Ruthie found the sofa using one of her favorite tricks: Craigslist email alerts. "I like to be specific: 'Pottery Barn Chesterfield sofa.' The listing showed up in my email, and I pounced," she says. The cushion fabric was slightly pilled, so she smoothed the surface with a razor. Ruthie updated the chairs by painting the seat upholstery with chalk-finish paint and applying sealing wax over top.
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Black chalk-finish paint and wallpaper taped behind the shelves updated a traditional hutch that belonged to the previous owners.
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Rather than rip out the knotty pine paneling in her dining room, Ruthie applied Gray oil-based Gel Stain from General Finishes. It goes on thick, making it ideal for vertical surfaces, and dries to a rich, even finish.
The color on the walls (along with Rust-Oleum Charcoal Ultra Matte Interior Chalked Paint on the ceiling) and refreshed furnishings were all Ruthie needed to transform the space. Polishing the brass and cleaning the crystal on the chandelier renewed its sparkle. Ruthie acquired the dining table from the previous owners. The style was more '60s country French than Ruthie likes, so she modernized it by painting the legs with black chalk-finish paint and screwing on gold feet (a trick she repeated on the hutch). Blue-and white peacock pattern curtains lighten up the dark walls.
"When you need to work with pieces that don't match, a dark color on the walls makes everything feel cohesive," Ruthie says. The dark table and chairs blend with the walls, and the vintage patterned rug underneath pulls everything together.
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After the doorway was widened, Ruthie had the cabinets reconfigured to create a peninsula. Before painting the cabinets (Benjamin Moore's Black Forest Green), Ruthie popped the decorative molding off the doors. Ruthie applied metallic Rub 'n Buff wax for golden accents on a mod all-black light. Black ribbon trims basic Roman shades on the windows. Ruthie used more double-stick duct tape to secure it.
For $200, a local metal fabricator wrapped a double thickness of plywood in stainless steel for the peninsula countertop. Brass corner plates ($6 on Amazon) cover sharp edges. Ruthie built benches for the eating area out of leftover butcher block and hairpin legs. Seat cushions hung from hooks serve as backrests.
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The wet bar niche features midcentury-era glass-front cabinets that Ruthie loved. The metal interiors were a dated harvest gold, so she modernized them with Antique Gold Rub 'n Buff on the backs and peel-and-stick wallpaper on the sides. Butcher-block countertops, a subway tile backsplash, and new hardware connect the space to the kitchen.
If Russia Hacked Burisma, Brace for the Leaks to Follow
The oil firm Burisma sits at the center of the Venn diagram of two of the Kremlin's hacking obsessions: It's in Ukraine, Russia's favorite playground for all manner of cyberattacks. And it's at the core of a political controversy that might further divide the US and aid Donald Trump's reelection campaign. All of that makes Burisma an almost inevitable target for another hack-and-leak operation of the sort that Russia carried out against the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign in 2016—once again with the goal of influencing a US election.
Now the first evidence has surfaced, in a report from security firm Area 1, that the very same team of Russian hackers who hit those targets may in fact have hacked Burisma. If so, the next step in the Kremlin playbook is very likely another round of selectively leaked documents aimed at swaying the 2020 election result. The possibility raises a tough question: Did the US learn anything from the last round? Or are voters—and the media—as susceptible as ever to a well-executed Russian influence operation?
On Monday evening, The New York Times reported, citing Area 1, that the hacking group known as Fancy Bear or APT28 targeted Burisma with a phishing campaign that began in November, just as the company found itself at the center of a political maelstrom. Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden's son Hunter served on its board until last year, and Trump's impeachment has centered around allegations that he pressured the Ukrainian government to open a corruption investigation into Burisma to harm the senior Biden's campaign.
"Emotions will trump facts, and nuance and detail go out the window."
Thomas Rid, Johns Hopkins University
For now, it's still not entirely proven that Russia did hack Burisma. Some cybersecurity analysts see Area 1's evidence tying the phishing campaign to Fancy Bear—and determining that those phishing emails worked—as less than definitive. (Security firm ThreatConnect, for instance, looked at some of the same phishing domains used in the campaign late last year and concluded with only "moderate confidence" that Fancy Bear was behind them. Area 1, meanwhile, tells WIRED that its findings are "incontrovertible" and that it has more evidence that it declined to share publicly.)
But given the potential for even the slightest speck of Biden dirt found on Burisma's server to carry political weight, a hacking campaign targeting the firm or other Biden-linked organizations was almost inevitable, says Clint Watts, a research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and author of the book Messing with the Enemy. As are subsequent leaks.
"Anyone who's worked with Hunter Biden should be having a panic attack right now," Watts says. In some respects, he argues, a Russian influence operation based on stolen files is even easier in 2020 than it was in 2016, when Russian intelligence used an invented "hacktivist" named Guccifer 2.0 to distribute Clinton's stolen files to news outlets.
"Last time they did broad hacking to find as much information as possible to dig through and find derogatory narratives," Watts says. "This time they’ve got the president advancing a very specific narrative already. So rather than finding the dirt, this time they can pursue a narrative that's already out there and make it come true."
Lessons Learned—and Not
Still, Watts argues, most Americans are by now at least aware of Russia's influence operation tricks. If politically charged documents leak publicly following reports of Russian hacking, many voters and reporters would likely look at them far more skeptically than they did last time, when many prominent news outlets published stories from Russia-leaked documents.
But that doesn't mean media outlets won't still pick up leaks, or that Fancy Bear won't selectively release emails or documents that some voters will interpret as confirmation of anti-Biden suspicions. "If media runs with it this time, they do so willingly. Some people will be complicit," Watts says. "A Fox News audience will say, 'We need to know, and the Russians helped us find out.'"
Poker hacks for beginners: Tips and tricks to ace the game
Varun Mahna
The game of poker has witnessed unprecedented growth in the recent past. The factor that it changes a person’s fortune overnight has grabbed the eyeballs of poker enthusiasts and escalating demand for it. The role of the internet has been instrumental in giving a push to the game of skill, thus making online poker more popular than offline.
For a newbie who gets butterflies in his stomach to start with poker, he needs to balance the fun and excitement so that he can quickly scale his/her skill sets and maximize their returns.. Which road should he opt to become the next biggest poker star?
Enumerated below are the tips and tricks that will help the beginners to ace the game.
Always start with stakes with which you are comfortable
As a beginner, always remember that your main goal is to hone your skills as a poker player, so before jumping into the actual practice, it is suggested to play stakes one is comfortable with and can manage their bankroll.
• Managing the bankroll for a newbie would be able to help him to practice better with a calm mind and play the game without fear of going bust.
• A player’s skill level multiples when he increases the time spent on learning the game. , Starting the game with stakes not supported by one’s bankroll and losing, will demotivate the newcomer. Starting with controlled bankroll will also allow the user to concentrate on their gameplay and sharpen their skills.
Play only when you are in a good emotional state
It is said that an emotional player cannot succeed in any game forms. Winning or losing is a part of the game, so make your head that you may face loss while playing poker and you need to deal with it while playing the game. It is always advisable to start with a fresh mind; when a newbie is at a subtle mindset.
Many a time, a player makes a silly or stupid mistake when he is tired, angry, or even when he is drunk, and this costs him. A player should avoid poker games when he feels terrible, this is one of the best steps which can help him to become a poker star.
Stick to one table when you start playing
The trick can work like a wonder when a beginner is following it while playing poker. As a newcomer, his goal is to learn the game strategy and concentrate on absorbing all the essential information. So leave multi-tabling on the first few days, only to get a better and clear understanding of the game. Concentrate well when the opponents are playing what hands they have at showdown. Also concentrating on your positions, along with playing tight-aggressive approach can help you excel in the game of skill and tricks.
Take your time
Taking decisions automatically is not considered to be healthy practice while playing poker. This is a common mistake that even many known players commit and often losses their chance of winning money. Always take your time and think about the tricks and tips shared with you for the best outcome, especially when a player is a newcomer in the world of poker. It can be overwhelming thinking about everything at once, for example, your positions, poker hand ranking, etc.
Study the Game
Like any sport, poker requires a lot of practice to master. Not only is this practice restricted to playing the actual game but also reading a lot about poker to improve one’s game. There is a ton of online material, both paid and free, for a player to reap benefits from. Spending time researching for best strategies and practices will reap benefits in the future for any new player and develop a confident playing style. Seeking help from professional players in the later part of one’s journey is also a good way to continuously improve.
Conclusion
As per the World Poker Tour, there 100 million poker players worldwide and it can be said that every top player had once tasted loss at the table and they bounced back & become a million-dollar winner.
As a newbie, one has to start somewhere to earn name and fame in this game. Start your journey with these magical tips and tricks to become a poker star. Remember, Poker is a game easy to learn and tough to master.
(The author is Founder & CEO, PokerDangal)Get access to India's fastest growing financial subscriptions service Moneycontrol Pro for as little as Rs 599 for first year. Use the code "GETPRO". Moneycontrol Pro offers you all the information you need for wealth creation including actionable investment ideas, independent research and insights & analysis For more information, check out the Moneycontrol website or mobile app.
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