Uber, the uber-popular car service app, will be offering up to three free rides, at a maximum of $20 per ride, to any and everyone in Rhode Island between now and 6pm on Saturday. Yes, you read that right. Free rides. For everyone.
The company recently expanded into Rhode Island, and it's been known for making a big splash when it enters a new market. They once offered free rides to all of Brooklyn for the weekend. For those who aren't familiar, the service uses a mobile app to connect people in need of a ride with Uber drivers in their area. You can request a ride anytime from anywhere, and you don't need any cash – you pay for the ride through your Uber account. Needless to say it's become very popular very quickly with young urban dwellers and professionals.
Now the #RILOVESUBER promotion is on. Just sign up for Uber or download the app, request a ride, and the rest is on them. Of course, they expect high demand, so if you already know what you're doing this weekend you might want to start booking your rides now. And if you need somewhere to go with your free ride, your Uber receipt will get you discounts and bonuses at over a dozen Providence bars and restaurants, including The Avery, The Eddy, Hot Club, Vanity and even StyleWeek.
Find more info here, and get your free ride. More
A pair of local treasure hunters is on the trail of American legends in the new Travel Channel show DigFellas, which premiered this fall.
Bill Ladd, of Warwick, and Howard Hewitt, of East Providence, spend each half hour episode searching for artifacts at sites linked to figures and stories from the annals of American history. In the first episodes, they’ve tracked Blackbeard and Zorro and unearthed an old, rusted pistol on a battlefield of Billy the Kid.
Ladd and Hewitt, who both got hooked on treasure as kids, have been hunting together for about a decade since meeting in a metal detecting club in Taunton. The pair first got noticed for their colorful videos on YouTube, where they whoop and cheer over their best finds around New England.
The antics continue on their reality show, complete with color commentary, their collectors’ motto of “passion over profit” and Ladd’s signature “Yeeeeah!” Amid the excitement of the hunt – and finds – Ladd and Hewitt offer capsule history lessons on the characters they’re chasing and speculate on just how Billy the Kid might have dropped a revolver in the heat of battle. DigFellas airs Wednesday nights at 8pm on the Travel Channel.
Politics is Rhode Island’s favorite sport. Even though it’s still more than a year away, people are already gearing up for the 2014 election. The governor’s race looks like it’s shaping up to be a particularly bruising one. However, Mayors Angel Taveras and Allan Fung, two presumptive candidates for governor, have boldly chosen civility over callousness – at least for one night. The two competitors and friends have decided to face politics in a new way: together. The Mayors of Cranston and Providence invite all who can attend to An Evening with the Mayors: Civility in Politics, on Tuesday, October 22 at the Quonset O Club. The event features a buffet dinner. It’s sponsored by Rhode Island Commandery, Military Order of Foreign Wars, marking this night of innovative debate and consensus as an homage to reason and unity in Little Rhody's history.
Tickets are $40 per person in advance and available by calling 401-738-3844 or mailing check to RIMOFW at 26 Mohawk St, Coventry, 02816. See www.rimofw.org for further information. More
This year’s Rhode Island Comic Con features throwback reunions that will have the fan boy/girl in you giddy with excitement. Relive the 1960s caped crusader and crew escapades from the original Batman TV series as the Not-So-Dark Knight himself, Adam West, his trusty sidekick Robin (the once boyish Burt Ward), and the femme fetal powers of Yvonne Craig (Batgirl) and Julie Newmar (Catwoman) reunite for panel discussions and meet and greets. However, if you’re a '90s child like myself, you’ll be clicking your heals with nostalgic glee as actors from the beloved series of Power Rangers TV shows reunite for fans. Appearances include Jason Frank (Red, Green and White Ranger), Walter Jones (Black Ranger), David Yost (Blue Ranger), Catherine Sutherland (Pink Ranger), Robert Axelrod(Lord Zedd), Barbara Goodson (Mandilok), Kerrigan Mahan (Magna Defender), Paul Schier (“Bulk”) and Jason Narvy (“Skull”).
This year’s surprise guest is movie legend Danny Glover, star of such recent blockbusters as 2012 and classics like the Lethal Weapon series. And of course, fans can be sure to enjoy all ranges of fantasy and comic favorites, too. November 2-3; Saturday 10-7pm; Sunday 10-5pm. $15 kids day ticket, or $20 for weekend. $25 adult day ticket, $35 weekend. For tickets and information visit their website. More
1. The island’s first inhabitants called it Manisses, which means “Island of the Little God.”
2. Sixteen families first settled the island in 1661; their descendants live here still.
3. A passenger ship called The Palatine once caught fire off the island’s coast, killing
all aboard; some say the ghostly ship can still be seen burning on quiet nights.
4. In the winter, fewer than 1,000 people call the island home; the island’s tiny K-12
public school educates about 115 students.
5. The island has had a strong conservation movement since the 1970s, and now,
more than 43% is set aside as public open space. The island’s goal is to get to 50 percent.
6. Tradition has it that the island has 365 ponds, one for each day of the year – although modern geographers say it’s more like 300.
7. Once a premier Victorian vacation destination that drew families complete with steamer trunks and full-skirted “bathing costumes,” the island is full of the ghosts of grand hotels that burned down. One such is the Ocean View, just above the town’s post office, where the US Congress once held a summer session.
8. More than 2,000 pleasure boats crowd the Great Salt Pond on an average during July Fourth weekend.
9. The statue of Rebecca at the Well was erected by the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, but a close look at the modern day statue (a faithful replica of the original) and her grapes and amphora hint that the late-1800s statue supply company may have mixed up the biblical figure with a more wine-friendly Greek goddess, Hebe.
10. Recently retired island nurse Mary Donnelly helped the sick and injured for 50 years and established a local charity, the Mary D Fund, which has been featured on every major news outlet. (Google it.) August’s annual Mary D Ball is the social event of the season. More
Ingredients:
6-8 fresh mint leaves
Crushed ice
2-3 oz. bourbon
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. water
Directions:
1. Muddle mint leaves, sugar and water in a glass.
2. Fill glass with crushed ice.
3. Pour in bourbon.
4. Garnish with a sprig of mint
Enjoy. More
Sarah Schumann doesn't fit the stereotypical image of a commercial fisher: she's a woman, first off, with a master’s degree in Environmental Policy. As she explains in this month's So Rhode Island cover story, her goal is to make the ecosystem a more stable and sustainable environment for people and fish to exist co-dependently.
Schumann now has the opportunity to spread her message even further than her base here in Rhode Island, now that she's earned a TogetherGreen Fellowship award from Toyota and the National Audubon Society. The Fellowship was launched in 2008 to encourage diverse environmental leadership and fund innovative conservation projects and ideas. The TogetherGreen Fellowship gives 40 local leaders $10,000 to help engage a wider audience in environmental conservation, which works well with Schuman’s mission to involve and educate fisherman and their customers about the ecosystems from which their seafood is sourced.
Her project, Eating With the Ecosystem, is a culinary tour of the native species from the fishing areas around New England, with a marine scientist and local fisherman explaining the ecological context behind each item on the plate. The next part of this dinner series will take place at Cook & Brown Public House in Providence on September 10, with a focus on the seafood native to Southern New England. Buy tickets here. More
The staff in our office has always been largely female (roughly a 3:1 ratio) and while that has mostly been for the good, we always knew it might come back to haunt us one day. That day has come. Shine America, the production company behind critically acclaimed scripted shows (The Office, Ugly Betty), reality TV hits (The Biggest Loser, Nashville Star) and, well, other things (MTV's Date My Mom, that short-lived American Gladiators reboot), is now looking to the biggest little for its latest reality TV inspiration. They're currently seeking male business owners for what is sure to be the thinking guido's answer to Jersey Shore: the soon-to-be-a-pop-culture-phenomenon Rhode Island Boys. According to the casting call, Shine America "has a fascination with Rhode Island's small businesses," and they're looking for male-owned businesses with predominantly male employees — which means our moment in the harsh, unflattering spotlight of reality TV will have to wait. However, we promise the fine folks at Shine America that if they'll reconsider maybe doing Rhode Island Boys and Girls, we'll deliver all the cussing, petty infighting, drunken tantrums, on-camera meltdowns and delusions of self-importance they could ever possibly hope for. In the meantime, if you think your business fits the bill, contact LDI Casting for more details. More
Who can forget all the buzz last summer regarding a movie being filmed in our area starring powerhouse celebrities Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton? The time has finally come to see our beloved state and its beautiful scenery up on the big screen in acclaimed director Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. The film is set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965 and tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact and run away together in the wilderness. You may have heard rumors of Bruce Willis and Bill Murray spottings at Tiverton’s Standish Boatyard. (The boatyard was just one of the many staging areas for the film.) The Hollywood stars were said to have been very friendly and down to earth. Be sure to look for the much-anticipated motion picture, set to premiere as the opening film of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on May 16. It’s scheduled for an American release on May 25. More
Imagine our surprise when these sweet cupcakes arrived at our office this morning. Clearly, someone at the newly renamed Big Blue Bug Solutions, formerly New England Pest Control, knows that the best way to get our attention is with food. It seems like the name change was inevitable, given the fact that their mascot, the famed "big blue bug" Nibbles Woodaway, is one of the best-known and most iconic corporate symbols in New England. We wish them luck with the name change, and thanks for the sweet treat (from the also iconic Wrights Dairy Farm, no less). More
This week, Roger Williams Park Zoo debuted a new program: animal feedings. Small groups can actually go inside the giraffe paddock to get up close and personal with the Zoo’s three giraffes: Sukari, Amber and Jaffa Prince. Our executive editor, Julie Tremaine, was the first non-employee to try out the program (and to get drooled on by a giraffe). More
You've spent your entire zoo-visiting life being told not to feed the animals, but finally your days has come. Beginning April 1, Roger Williams Park Zoo will host group feeding sessions, in which visitors will have the chance for an up-close encounter will giraffes, penguins and seals. There will only be a handful (cue rim shot) of spots available for these feedings, and tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. The first giraffe feeding is at 2pm on April 1, with penguin and seal feedings to begin later in the spring at 11am. They will take place daily until Labor Day, and on weekends in October. We know some of you out there are probably really excited about this, but please don't shove any little kids to the ground in your scramble to get one of those tickets. More
For the second month in a row, Vogue magazine has shot a cool, blonde, Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister along the equally cool Rhode Island coastline for its cover. In December, it was Charlize Theron, shot in Newport...
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