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When dealing with acne skin care, most of the medical professionals commonly suggest that people affected with acne must practice certain acne skin care methods that will help improve the condition of their skin.
Acne, as you may already know, is a very severe skin disorder that affects thousands of people from all over the world. It not only affects the surface of the skin but also the inner layers of the skin. Acne usually occurs on the face, neck, chest and back, and it starts during the adolescence period.
During the past several years, a good number of acne experts and skin care professionals have conducted many studies on how to prevent the formation of acne. And fortunately, these skin care specialists have come out with certain acne skin care tips that can be of great help for fighting acne. I have selected the three simpler yet most powerful acne skin care tips that you can follow in order to have a healthier skin. These are mentioned below:
Acne Skin Care Tip # 1: You Should Always Clean Your Skin Very Gently
First of all, personal hygiene is very necessary for fighting acne. So as what most experts usually suggest, you should gently clean your skin with a mild cleanser at least twice a day. This simple acne skin care step is deemed important for fighting acne since washing your face or the other affected areas will wipe away the acne-causing bacteria found on the skin. Also note that although you are sometimes told to scrub your face, scrubbing is not a good acne skin care move since it will just trigger the development of acne, worsening the condition. In addition to this acne skin care step, it is worth noting that astringents are not always suggested unless the skin is very oily. And, they must only be applied on the oily spots.
Acne Skin Care # 2: You Should Refrain from Frequently Holding Your Skin
Another helpful acne skin care tip is to avoid frequently handling of the skin. Don't pinch, pick or squeeze your pimple since it will only worsen the condition. Many of the people have considered this acne skin care step as one of the most important acne skin care pointers knowing that it may only cause infection and scars formation. As this acne skin care tip holds, you should avoid rubbing and touching your skin lesions if possible.
Acne Skin Care # 3: Always Choose Cosmetics Carefully
This last acne skin care tip holds that people who are being treated for acne must change some of the cosmetics they use. Note that in order to avoid the onset or the development of acne, the cosmetics you plan on using like the foundation, blush, moisturizers, and eye shadow should be oil free. Aside from that, this acne skin care tip also holds that you must avoid oily hair products for they may cause closed comedones. Therefore, those products that are labeled as noncomedogenic should be applied.
It is a fact that many of us are very conscious of our skin condition. And as such, we are always wanting to have a fresh, good-looking skin as much as possible. Unfortunately, many of us also fail to come to the conclusion that simple steps are the best ways to accomplish this goal. We often are blind enough that we don't see what's really right or wrong for our skin. We often fall in so much frustration and desperation that make us go buy any high-priced beauty products that in the end just turn out to be a waste of time and money, and even worsen our acne. Hopefully, the above mentioned acne skin care tips will be a good start to help you enhance your skin condition.


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So here is what you need:
1) Criminal report from all the applicants (from FBI for Americans, and RCMP for Canadians),
2) Marriage Certificate if you are married,
3) Eight passport sized photos,
4) A complete copy of your passport, from cover to cover. Every page,
5) A copy of another photo ID, for example, driver's license,
6) A utility bill for your property here in Panama. Not important if you are renting, or if you own. A rental agreement or Hotel reservation will even work for this.
Now, the first two documents need to be legalized in your home country. A public notary can do this for you. In Canada, an attorney can do it as well, but I'm unsure about the USA. Once notarized, they need to go to the Panamanian Embassy, or Consulate for their OK. In Canada, you may need to send these documents to the Department of Foreign Affairs before the consulate as well. It would be wise to confirm that with the Panamanian Embassy. Don't do all of this too early, because many of these documents expire after 3 or 6 months.
In order to qualify for this visa, you will also have to have a Panamanian bank account. Normally, your immigration lawyer can assist you with this. I have attempted to assist a few clients but it can be time consuming, and the lawyers are better suited to it. This account will have to have a minimum of $5000 USD plus $2000 for every dependant that will be applying.
You must prove employment, or the promise of employment. In order to do this, you will have to set up your own corporation, and hire yourself to run it. There, you have a job. (If you really do have a job, then no company required). The lawyer will take care of this step for you as well. The cost is normally in the $1000 dollar range. You will have a further expense of $300 dollars per year to renew your Tasa Unica (keeps your company on the books) and $250 per year for your resident agent, which is usually your lawyer as well. This is the government's contact if they need to speak to the confidential owner of a corporation. That $250 dollar fee may vary with what attorney you choose, but I'm not 100% on that.
The fees involved with the visa itself look like this. There is an $800 dollar "repatriation fee" for each applicant, and $250 for the National Treasurer (just a fee I guess) for each applicant. Legal fees will be additional and could run around from $1200 to $2500 per person.
That leaves you at about $3500 for the lawyer, and another $1000 or so in fees. Probably a pretty average figure of $5000 dollars if you get shopping from firm to firm, but I would definitely advise doing your own price shopping. You need to be sure to get an all in price, because charges and fees, translations of documents, stamps, temporal cards, permanent cards, and multiple entry visas will just keep coming, it is a long process, and there are many steps involved.
Here's a little bit about the process. To start, once you have all your documents, bank accounts, corporation etc., you will have to physically visit the immigration office here in Panama to register. Quite the experience, with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people there at every moment of the business day. You will bring with you, your passport, and 2 passport sized photos. The lawyers will accompany you normally. They translate for you, and assist you to find the right windows etc. An English speaker would be 150% lost in there without a lawyer I think. In fact, when you think about their fee, and the time they spend in that immigration office, at $450 dollars an hour in Canada, the same process would probably cost tens of thousands of dollars, and it does in many countries. Another fact is that the lawyer or an assistant is usually there 3 or 4 hours early just to wait in line to get a low number. Quite the process!
Once you are there and registered, and the Immigration Department has all of your documentation, you will receive a temporary residence card. This will allow you to stay in the country until your permanent residence application is prosessed. You must not leave once this visa is granted until you have asked your attorney for a multiple entry visa, or you will be fined $2000 dollars upon your return. A multiple entry visa can be applied for and granted within 3 days.
The entire process, depending on many factors, can take from 6 months, up to a year. And what a bargain!!
I hope that helps, if anyone has anything to add, feel free in the comments section below. Panama has many laws, but quite often they are more suggestions or guidelines, so some people may have slightly varying experiences.
Cheers!!! See you in Panama!

subset: commoncrawl


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What to do if you think you have hearing loss
Most people who have hearing loss aren't born with it. Instead, hearing loss creeps up on us over time, usually caused by exposure to loud noises, aging, or some combination of the two.
Statistics show that the prevalence of hearing loss doubles for every decade of life, which explains why one out of three people 65-74 have hearing loss, nearly half over 75 have it, and four out of five people 85+ have hearing loss.
In other words, for most of us, hearing loss is normal and natural — just part of living a long, eventful life.
In this blog, we'll walk through what you should do if and when the inevitableness of hearing loss happens to you.
1. Get your hearing tested
If you think you have hearing loss — either by exhibiting common signs, or because your spouse, friends, coworkers or family members keep questioning your hearing ability — you should get your hearing tested.
To do that, you can start with an online hearing test (take our one) — or you can visit a hearing professional to get a thorough, definitive hearing evaluation.
2. Choose between ignoring it…
If it turns out you have hearing loss, you have a choice — you can ignore it and deal with the challenges, or you can treat it.
Some of the challenges of hearing loss are subtle and barely noticeable, like needing things to be repeated, or missing out on small everyday sounds.
Some are more obvious and impactful, like mishearing important information, or feeling left out of conversations and activities.
Still others can be profound, health-related issues, like how hearing loss is linked to increased risks of depression, anxiety, falls and hospitalizations, social isolation, and even dementia.
…or treating it
But doctors and scientists from institutions including Johns Hopkins Medicine and Columbia University have long noted that treating hearing loss can help with many of these challenges, and studies have shown that for people with hearing loss, using a hearing aid is associated with a reduced risk of falls, depression, anxiety and dementia.
3. Visit a hearing healthcare professional
When you are ready to treat your hearing loss — and Johns Hopkins' Dr. Frank Lin recommends treating it "sooner rather than later…before these brain structural changes take place" — you can start by talking to your doctor or general practitioner (GP). Or, go directly to a hearing healthcare professional, like an otolaryngologist (ENT doctor), audiologist or hearing aid specialist.
4. Get to the bottom of your hearing loss
Your appointment with a hearing healthcare professional is your chance to get all your questions answered about your hearing loss. While not every practice or clinic will do things exactly the same, you should expect some common procedures when you go in for your first visit.
• Fill out paperwork — including intake papers with health history and hearing questionnaire.
• Complete a hearing evaluation — this typically includes a visual inspection of your ears and a hearing test in a sound booth.
• Review your audiogram — the results of your test will be in the form of an audiogram, which is a graph that measures your specific hearing loss.
• Discuss treatment options and next steps — this may include a technology demonstration and hearing aid recommendation.
5. Ask to try hearing aids
If hearing loss is confirmed during your appointment, hearing aids will most likely be recommended. Hearing aids are by far the most common way to treat hearing loss. They can help a majority of people who have hearing issues, especially if the hearing aids have been fit by an experienced professional, and programmed and customized to the individual's unique hearing and lifestyle needs.
Most states require a 30- to 60-day trial period for hearing aids. And even in states that don't, most hearing professionals will offer it. This is a no-brainer opportunity to try them for yourself and experience the difference they can make in your everyday life.
6. Request ones that are tailored to you
Hearing aids are not one-size-fits-all. That's why getting them in-person — from a licensed professional — is the way to go. The two of you will work closely to select the right hearing aids for you, which will be based on many factors including your degree of loss, personal style and feature preferences, how active you are, and more.
7. Experience the difference they make
Once you get your hearing aids, take advantage of the trial period and wear them at home, outside, during work, while watching TV or enjoying leisure activities, and around your friends and loved ones.
See and experience for yourself why so many hearing aid wearers say that wearing them changed their life and how they wish they had treated their hearing loss much, much sooner.


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When thirteen-year-old Tulip Bonnaire's super-cute crush, Dexter, is threatened with expulsion from Poison Ivy Charm School, she can't help but take the case. Someone has put a spell on Garrett's Levitation skills and all the evidence, which includes the testimony of a sea hag stone, is pointing to Dex. Tulip can't imagine Poison Ivy without Dex, so she's intent on proving his innocence. But that means delving into an old secret to find out who turned Garrett into a washed-up warlock.
"Any news yet?" He sat down on his bed and wedged himself against a mountain of pillows.
I was about to answer when a glint of gray caught my eye. A stone the size of a cookie, with an uneven hole in the middle of it, sat on his bedside table. "Is that your enchanted sea hag stone?" The one that had started all the trouble?
"Yeah. Glad she finally woke up and told me 'bout Dexter busting into my closet."
I ignored him and approached the troublemaking pebble. Its smooth exterior was cool against my skin when I rolled it between my fingers. Not a sign of life existed until I dropped it – kinda accidentally – onto his table. Thud.
Dark, creepy eyes appeared, lined with spiky, green eyelashes. A tiny mouth with slimy black lips emerged around the hole. And a long, carrot-shaped nose covered in warts jutted out. "Hey, you. Don't drop me like a bag of dirt." Her voice screeched like a spider monkey on a rampage.
I laughed. "You talking about Garrett's Lev performance?"
Garrett cleared his throat. "That's not my fault. It's a spell."
"Don't you drop me again, you idiotic hooligan." The sea hag had a 'tude stronger than Alexandria's.
I wanted to fling the stupid stone out the window, but that wasn't the best way to get information. If the dumb hag had seen Dexter, maybe she'd seen something else that could help me solve the case.
"Sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to."
"Yeah, right. I know a rock dropper when I see one."
I stifled a smirk and a smart comment about a rolling stone. "You see anything else suspicious in Garrett's room?"
She batted her needle-like eyelashes. "Nothing but that nerd 'lock who slipped in here like some moron ghost who hasn't mastered being dead yet. He fumbled with the door forever before crashing in like a nitwit."
Anger shot through my veins like an ink pen explosion. First Garrett had insulted Dex. And now some stone with a hideous, old hag face? Who do they think they are? I grabbed the dumb rock with both hands and pinched the sea hag's ugly warty nose, intent on breaking it off.
But she bit me!
Her moldy teeth chomped down on my fingers, drawing blood.
"Ouch! You stupid sea hag!" I tried to hurl her against the wall, but her grip was like a pit bull's.
If pit bulls had carrot-shaped noses, spider monkey voices, and moldy teeth.
"Get this thing off me," I yelled at Garrett. "Or I'll drop your case."
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Author Bio:
Patrice Lyle has never met a ghost story she didn't like. She's been fascinated with the paranormal since childhood. She attributes this fascination to having heard old family stories of ghostly wreaths, ESP, and money hidden in the lining of antique purses. She grew up on the Oregon Coast and has a Master's Degree in Writing Popular Fiction. Now she lives with her husband and two cats on Florida's Space Coast, where she's working on her next novel under an umbrella on the beach. For more information, please visit her website at www.patricebooks.com.


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EVEN AS ELECTION-YEAR news cycles move on, the nation faces the aftermath of a prolonged and dramatic heat wave. July 2012 broke two records: It was the both the warmest July ever recorded and the warmest month—period—ever recorded in the lower 48 states. In our home of Chicago, temperatures crept past 100 five times. Moreover, the extreme drought of 2012 is not a random event, but part of a worrisome trend.
Global climate change has come to the heartland. Unless we take collective and decisive action, 102 could become the new 93. And it's not just armpits and foreheads that will sweat. We have already glimpsed the future, and it is not pretty: massive forests burned in Colorado; major power outages; thousands of acres of crops lost to drought in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and elsewhere. These ominous events are indications of the "new normal" unless we make widespread changes in fossil-fuel consumption.
The farming crisis has been acutely severe—and it is directly related to climate change. This summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated more than half of all U.S. counties as disaster areas (1,584 in 32 states). Fred Below, a crop biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bluntly summed up the reality: "It's like farming in hell."
Ironically, agriculture is the human activity that emits more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than any other source, including transportation and industry. A key reason: Today's agriculture intensively depends on burning fossil carbons. (Methane emission from cows and rice fields, and deforestation to clear farmland in the global South, are also contributors.) Being so dependent on fossil fuels means that the food sector is the greatest contributor to global climate change—and that rising oil costs increase food costs, squeezing the poor and marginalized.


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Arcade Parties in Orlando
Your child is obsessed with playing video games at home and can't tear themselves away from the computer. For their birthday, host an epic party at an arcade. Your guests will spend hours playing video games, battling each other in laser tag, testing their skills at bowling and doing other fun activities. We've found the best family fun centers that offer parties for kids and teens in . Unsure of what type of video game party to have? Check out our three suggestions below.
3 Ways to Play Video Games on Your Birthday
Gamers rejoice. Did you know that there are multiple ways to play your favorite video games on the day of your birthday party? We've listed three of the most popular ones below:
1. Family fun center: If you have a family fun center in your town or nearby area, then you already know how lucky you are. Family fun centers are a modern take on classic arcades. Play arcade games to win tickets for prizes. Depending on the venue, family fun centers offer exciting attractions, such as laser tag, inflatables, bowling, indoor rides, bumper cars and go karts.
2. Retro arcade: Your kids are probably too young to remember the classic video games of the 70s and 80s, but you sure remember how fun they were. Some arcades offer a mix of modern and vintage games. The kids will be amazed by the stunning graphics of Pong while you struggle to play Guitar Hero.
3. Video game trailer: Bring the arcade to you by renting a mobile video game trailer. Find a service that will provide a bus or trailer filled with TVs, game consoles and seating for multiple people. You will be the envy of the entire neighborhood with your own personal arcade parked in front of your house.
Planning a party for your video game-obsessed kid?
KidsParties.Party will help you find a venue or service in your area.
Simply choose your state and select .
Need a recommendation? We'd be happy to help! Call 732-298-6015 or contact us.
You can find all arcade party venues by clicking here.
Create invitations for your party with our free software right here. Just customize any template the way you'd like, download your finished product, and print it onto high-quality photo paper.
You can also make one of those templates into a birthday card. Find a video-game related birthday wish here for your little gamer.
Are you a business?
If you have an arcade place to host children's parties, you can register today to get listed.


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Chapter 7: The Revolutionary Front
SATURDAY, November 10th….
The Military Revolutionary Committee declares that it will not tolerate any violation of revolutionary order….
Theft, brigandage, assaults and attempts at massacre will be severely punished….
Following the example of the Paris Commune, the Committee will destroy without mercy any looter or instigator of disorder….
Quiet lay the city. Not a hold-up, not a robbery, not even a drunken fight. By night armed patrols went through the silent streets, and on the corners soldiers and Red Guards squatted around little fires, laughing and singing. In the daytime great crowds gathered on the sidewalks listening to interminable hot debates between students and soldiers, business men and workmen.
Citizens stopped each other on the street.
"The Cossacks are coming?"
"What's the latest?"
"I don't know anything. Where's Kerensky?"
"They say only eight versts from Petrograd…. Is it true that the Bolsheviki have fled to the battleship Avrora?"
"They say so…."
Only the walls screamed, and the few newspapers; denunciation, appeal, decree….
An enormous poster carried the hysterical manifesto of the Executive Committee of the Peasant' Soviets:
….They (the Bolsheviki) dare to say that they are supported by the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies, and that they are speaking on behalf of the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies….
Let all working-class Russia know that this is a LIE, AND THAT ALL THE WORKING PEASANTS—in the person of—the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN SOVIETS OF PEASANTS' DEPUTIES—refutes with indignation all participation of the organised peasantry in this criminal violation of the will of the working-classes…. From the Soldier Section of the Socialist Revolutionary party:
The insane attempt of the Bolsheviki is on the eve of collapse. The garrison is divided…. The Ministries are on strike and bread is getting scarcer. All factions except the few Bolsheviki have left the Congress. The Bolsheviki are alone….
We call upon all sane elements to group themselves around the Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution, and to prepare themselves seriously to be ready at the first call of the Central Committee….
In a hand-bill the Council of the Republic recited its wrongs:
Ceding to the force of bayonets, the Council of the Republic has been obliged to separate, and temporarily to interrupt its meetings.
The usurpers, with the words "Liberty and Socialism" on their lips, have set up a rule of arbitrary violence. They have arrested the members of the Provisional Government, closed the newspapers, seized the printing-shops….This power must be considered the enemy of the people and the Revolution; it is necessary to do battle with it, and to pull it down….
The Council of the Republic, until the resumption of its labours, invites the citizens of the Russian Republic to group themselves around the….local Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution, which are organising the overthrow of the Bolsheviki and the creation of a Government capable of leading the country to the Constituent Assembly.
Dielo Narodasaid:
A revolution is a rising of all the people…. But here what have we? Nothing but a handful of poor fools deceived by Lenin and Trotzky…. Their decrees and their appeals will simply add to the museum of historical curiosities….
And Narodnoye Slovo(People'sWord—PopulistSocialist):
"Workers' and Peasants' Government?" That is only a pipedream; nobody, either in Russia or in the countries of our Allies, will recognise this "Government"—or even in the enemy countries….
The bourgeois press had temporarily disappeared….Pravada had an account of the first meeting of the new Tsay-ee-kah, now the parliament of the Russian Soviet Republic. Miliutin, Commissar of Agriculture, remarked that the Peasants' Executive Committee had called an All-Russian Peasant Congress for December 13th.
"But we cannot wait," he said. "We must have the backing of the peasants. I propose that we call the Congress of Peasants, and do it immediately…." The Left Socialist Revolutionaries agreed. An Appeal to the Peasants of Russia was hastily drafted, and a committee of five elected to carry out the project.
The question of detailed plans for distributing the land, and the question of Workers' Control of Industry, were postponed until the experts working on them should submit a report.
Three decrees[1] were read and approved: first, Lenin's "General Rules For the Press," ordering the suppression of all newspapers inciting to resistance and disobedience to the new Government, inciting to criminal acts, or deliberately perverting the news; the Decree of Moratorium for House-rents; and the Decree Establishing a Workers' Militia. Also orders, one giving the Municipal Duma power to requisition empty apartments and houses, the other directing the unloading of freight cars in the railroad terminals, to hasten the distribution of necessities and to free the badly-needed rolling-stock….
Two hours later the Executive Committee of the Peasants' Soviets was sending broadcast over Russia the following telegram:
The arbitrary organisation of the Bolsheviki, which is called "Bureau of Organisation for the National Congress of Peasants,"is inviting all the Peasants' Soviets to send delegates to the Congress at Petrograd….
The Executive Committee of the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies declares that it considers, now as well as before, that it would be dangerous to take away from the provinces at this moment the forces necessary to prepare for elections to the Constituent Assembly, which is the only salvation of the working-class and the country. We confirm the date of the Congress of Peasants, December 13th.
At the Duma all was excitement, officers coming and going, the Mayor in conference with the leaders of the Committee for Salvation. A Councillor ran in with a copy of Kerensky's proclamation, dropped by hundreds from an aeroplane low flying down the Nevsky, which threatened terrible vengeance on all who did not submit, and ordered soldiers to lay down their arms and assemble immediately in Mars Field.
The Minister-President had taken Tsarskoye Selo, we were told, and was already in the Petrograd campagna, five miles away. He would enter the city to-morrow—in a few hours. The Soviet troops in contact with his Cossacks were said to be going over to the Provisional Government. Tchernov was somewhere in between, trying to organise the "neutral" troops into a force to halt the civil war.
In the city the garrison regiments were leaving the Bolsheviki, they said. Smolny was already abandoned…. All the Governmental machinery had stopped functioning. The employees of the State Bank had refused to work under Commissars from Smolny, refused to pay out money to them. All the private banks were closed. The Ministries were on strike. Even now a committee from the Duma was making the rounds of business houses, collecting a fund[2] to pay the salaries of the strikers….
Trotzky had gone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ordered the clerks to translate the Decree on Peace into foreign languages; six hundred functionaries had hurled their resignations in his face…. Shliapnikov, Commissar of Labour, had commanded all the employees of his Ministry to return to their places within twenty-four hours, or lose their places and their pension-rights; only the door-servants had responded…. Some of the branches of the Special Food Supply Committee had suspended work rather than submit to the Bolsheviki…. In spite of lavish promises of high wages and better conditions, the operators at the Telephone Exchange would not connect Soviet headquarters….
The Socialist Revolutionary Party had voted to expel all members who had remained in the Congress of Soviets, and all who were taking part in the insurrection….
News from the provinces. Moghilev had declared against the Bolsheviki. At Kiev the Cossacks had overthrown the Soviets and arrested all the insurrectionary leaders. The Soviet and garrison of Luga, thirty thousand strong, affirmed its loyalty to the Provisional Government, and appealed to all Russia to rally around it. Kaledin had dispersed all Soviets and Unions in the Don Basin, and his forces were moving north….
Said a representative of the Railway Workers: "Yesterday we sent a telegram all over Russia demanding that war between the political parties cease at once, and insisting on the formation of a coalition Socialist Government. Otherwise we shall call a strike to-morrow night…. In the morning there will be a meeting of all factions to consider the question. The Bolsheviki seem anxious for an agreement…."
"If they last that long!" laughed the City Engineer, a stout, ruddy man….
As we came up to Smolny—not abandoned, but busier than ever, throngs of workers and soldiers running in and out, and doubled guards everywhere—we met the reporters for the bourgeois and "moderate" Socialist papers.
"Threw us out!" cried one, from Volia Naroda. "Bonch-Bruevitch came down to the Press Bureau and told us to leave! Said we were spies!" They all began to talk at once: "Insult! Outrage! Freedom of the press!"
In the lobby were great tables heaped with stacks of appeals, proclamations and orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee. Workmen and soldiers staggered past, carrying them to waiting automobiles.
To The Pillory!
In this tragic moment through which the Russian masses are living, the Mensheviki and their followers and the Right Socialist Revolutionaries have betrayed the working-class. They have enlisted on the side of Kornilov, Kerensky and Savinkov….
They are printing orders of the traitor Kerensky and creating a panic in the city, spreading the most ridiculous rumours of mythical victories by that renegade….
Citizens! Don't believe these false rumours. No power can defeat the People's Revolution…. Premier Kerensky and his followers await speedy and well-deserved punishment….
We are putting them in the Pillory. We are abandoning them to the enmity of all workers, soldiers, sailors and peasants, on whom they are trying to rivet the ancient chains. They will never be able to wash from their bodies the stain of the people's hatred and contempt.
Shame and curses to the traitors of the People!…
The Military Revolutionary Committee had moved into larger quarters, room 17 on the top floor. Red Guards were at the door. Inside, the narrow space in front of the railing was crowded with well-dressed persons, outwardly respectful but inwardly full of murder—bourgeois who wanted permits for their automobiles, or passports to leave the city, among them many foreigners…. Bill Shatov and Peters were on duty. They suspended all other business to read us the latest bulletins.
The One Hundred Seventy-ninth Reserve Regiment offers its unanimous support. Five thousand stevedores at the Putilov wharves greet the new Government. Central Committee of the Trade Unions—enthusiastic support. The garrison and squadron at Reval elect Military Revolutionary Committees to cooperate, and despatch troops. Military Revolutionary Committees control in Pskov and Minsk. Greetings from the Soviets of Tsaritzin, Rovensky-on-Don, Tchernogorsk, Sevastopol…. The Finland Division, the new Committees of the Fifth and Twelfth Armies, offer allegiance….
From Moscow the news is uncertain. Troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee occupy the strategic points of the city; two companies on duty in the Kremlin have gone over to the Soviets, but the Arsenal is in the hands of Colonel Diabtsev and his yunkers. The Revolutionary Committee demanded arms for the workers, and Riabtsev parleyed with them until this morning, when suddenly he sent an ultimatum to the Committee, ordering Soviet troops to surrender and the Committee to disband. Fighting has begun….
In Petrograd the Staff submitted to Smolny's Commissars at once. The Tsentroflot, refusing, was stormed by Dybenko and a company of Cronstadt sailors, and a new Tsentroflot set up, supported by the Baltic and the Black Sea battleships….
But beneath all the breezy assurance there was a chill premonition, a feeling of uneasiness in the air. Kerensky's Cossacks were coming fast; they had artillery. Skripnik, Secretary of the Factory-Shop Committees, his face drawn and yellow, assured me that there was a whole army corps of them, but he added, fiercely, "They'll never take us alive!" Petrovsky laughed weariedly, "To-morrow maybe we'll get a sleep—a long one…." Lozovsky, with his emaciated, red-bearded face, said, "What chance have we? All alone…. A mob against trained soldiers!"
South and south-west the Soviets had fled before Kerensky, and the garrisons of Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Tsarskoye Selo were divided—half voting to remain neutral, the rest, without officers, falling back on the capital in the wildest disorder.
In the halls they were pasting up bulletins:
To be communicated to all Commanders of Staffs, Commanders in Chief, Commanders, everywhere and to all, all, all.
The ex-Minister Kerensky has sent a deliberately false telegram to every one everywhere to the effect that the troops of revolutionary Petrograd have voluntarily surrendered their arms and joined the armies of the former Government, the Government of Treason, and that the soldiers have been ordered by the Military Revolutionary Committee to retreat. The troops of a free people do not retreat nor do they surrender.
Our troops have left Gatchina in order to avoid bloodshed between themselves and their mistaken brother-Cossacks, and in order to take a more convenient position, which is at present so strong that if Kerensky and his companions in arms should even increase their forces ten times, still there would be no cause for anxiety. The spirit of our troops is excellent.
In Petrograd all is quiet.
Chief of the Defence of Petrograd and the Petrograd District,
Lieutenant-Colonel Muraviov.
As we left the Military Revolutionary Committee Antonov entered, a paper in his hand, looking like a corpse.
"Send this," said he.
The Kornilovist bands of Kerensky are threatening the approaches to the capital. All the necessary orders have been given to crush mercilessly the counter-revolutionary attempt against the people and its conquests.
The Army and the Red Guard of the Revolution are in need of the immediate support of the workers.
1. To move out the greatest possible number of workers for the digging of trenches, the erection of barricades and reinforcing of wire entanglements.
2. Wherever it shall be necessary for this purpose to stop work at the factories this shall be done immediately.
3. All common and barbed wire available must be assembled, and also all implements for the digging of trenches and the erection of barricades.
4. All available arms must be taken.
Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Worker's and Soldiers' Deputies,
People's Commissar LEON TROTZKY.
Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee,
Commander in Chief PODVOISKY.
As we came out into the dark and gloomy day all around the grey horizon factory whistles were blowing, a hoarse and nervous sound, full of foreboding. By tens of thousands the working-people poured out, men and women; by tens of thousands the humming slums belched out their dun and miserable hordes. Red Petrograd was in danger! Cossacks! South and southwest they poured through the shabby streets toward the Moskovsky Gate, men, women and children, with rifles, picks, spades, rolls of wire, cartridge-belts over their working clothes…. Such an immense, spontaneous outpouring of a city never was seen! They rolled along torrent-like, companies of soldiers borne with them, guns, motor-trucks, wagons—the revolutionary proletariat defending with its breast the capital of the Workers' and Peasants' Republic!
Before the door of Smolny was an automobile. A slight man with thick glasses magnifying his red-rimmed eyes, his speech a painful effort, stood leaning against a mud-guard with his hands in the pockets of a shabby raglan. A great bearded sailor, with the clear eyes of youth, prowled restlessly about, absently toying with an enormous blue-steel revolver, which never left his hand. These were Antonov and Dybenko.
Some soldiers were trying to fasten two military bicycles on the running-board. The chauffeur violently protested; the enamel would get scratched, he said. True, he was a Bolshevik, and the automobile was commandeered from a bourgeois; true, the bicycles were for the use of orderlies. But the chauffeur's professional pride was revolted…. So the bicycles were abandoned….
The People's Commissars for War and Marine were going to inspect the revolutionary front—wherever that was. Could we go with them? Certainly not. The automobile only held five—the two Commissars, two orderlies and the chauffeur. However, a Russian acquaintance of mine, whom I will call Trusishka, calmly got in and sat down, nor could any argument dislodge him….
I see no reason to doubt Trusishka's story of the journey. As they went down the Suvorovsky Prospect some one mentioned food. They might be out three or four days, in a country indifferently well provisioned. They stopped the car. Money? The Commissar of War looked through his pockets—he hadn't a kopek. The Commissar of Marine was broke. So was the chauffeur. Trusishka bought the provisions….
Just as they turned into the Nevsky a tire blew out.
"What shall we do?" asked Antonov.
"Commandeer another machine!" suggested Dybenko, waving his revolver. Antonov stood in the middle of the street and signalled a passing machine, driven by a soldier.
"I want that machine," said Antonov.
"You won't get it," responded the soldier.
"Do you know who I am?" Antonov produced a paper upon which was written that he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of the Russian Republic, and that every one should obey him without question.
"I don't care if you're the devil himself," said the soldier, hotly. "This machine belongs to the First Machine-Gun Regiment, and we're carrying ammunition in it, and you can't have it…."
The difficulty, however, was solved by the appearance of an old battered taxi-cab, flying the Italian flag. (In time of trouble private cars were registered in the name of foreign consulates, so as to be safe from requisition.) From the interior of this was dislodged a fat citizen in an expensive fur coat, and the party continued on its way.
Arrived at Narvskaya Zastava, about ten miles out, Antonov called for the commandant of the Red Guard. He was led to the edge of the town, where some few hundred workmen had dug trenches and were waiting for the Cossacks.
"Everything all right here, comrade?" asked Antonov.
"Everything perfect, comrade," answered the commandant.
"The troops are in excellent spirits…. Only one thing—we have no ammunition…."
"In Smolny there are two billion rounds," Antonov told him. "I will give you an order." He felt in his pockets. "Has any one a piece of paper?"
Dybenko had none—nor the couriers. Trusishka had to offer his note-book….
"Devil! I have no pencil!" cried Antonov. "Who's got a pencil?" Needless to say, Trusishka had the only pencil in the crowd….
We who were left behind made for the Tsarskoye Selo station. Up the Nevsky, as we passed, Red Guards were marching, all armed, some with bayonets and some without. The early twilight of winter was falling. Heads up they tramped in the chill mud, irregular lines of four, without music, without drums. A red flag crudely lettered in gold, "Peace! Land!" floated over them. They were very young. The expression on their faces was that of who know they are going to die…. Half-fearful, half-contemptuous, the crowds on the sidewalk watched them pass, in hateful silence….
This pass was issued upon the recommendation of Trotzky three days after the Bolshevik Revolution. It gives me the right of free travel to the Northern front—and an added note on the back extends the permission to all fronts. It will be noticed that the speaks of the Petersburg, instead of the Petrograd Soviet; it was the fashion among thorough-going internationalists to abolish all names which smacked of "patriotism"; but at the same time, it would not do to restore the "Saint."…
Executive Committee
Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers'
Military Section
28th October, 1917
No. 1435
The present certificate is given to the representative of the American Social Democracy, the internationalist comrade JOHN REED. The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies gives him the right of free travel through the entire Northern front, for the purpose of reporting to our American comrades-internationalists concerning events in Russia.
For the President
For the Secretary At the railroad station nobody knew just where Kerensky was, or where the front lay. Trains went no further, however, than Tsarskoye….
Our car was full of commuters and country people going home, laden with bundles and evening papers. The talk was all of the Bolshevik rising. Outside of that, however, one would never have realised that civil war was rending mighty Russia in two, and that the train was headed into the zone of battle. Through the window we could see, in the swiftly-deepening darkness, masses of soldiers going along the muddy road toward the city, flinging out their arms in argument. A freight-train, swarming with troops and lit up by huge bonfires, was halted on a siding. That was all. Back along the flat horizon the glow of the city's lights faded down the night. A street-car crawled distantly along a far-flung suburb….
Tsarskoye Selo-station was quiet, but knots of soldiers stood here and there talking in low tones and looking uneasily down the empty track in the direction of Gatchina. I asked some of them which side they were on. "Well," said one, "we don't exactly know the rights of the matter…. There is no doubt that Kerensky is a provocator, but we do not consider it right for Russian men to be shooting Russian men."
In the station commandant's office was a big, jovial, bearded common soldier, wearing the red arm-band of a regimental committee. Our credentials from Smolny commanded immediate respect. He was plainly for the Soviets, but bewildered.
"The Red Guards were here two hours ago, but they went away again. A Commissar came this morning, but he returned to Petrograd when the Cossacks arrived."
"The Cossacks are here then?"
He nodded, gloomily. "There has been a battle. The Cossacks came early in the morning. They captured two or three hundred of our men, and killed about twenty-five."
"Where are the Cossacks?"
"Well, they didn't get this far. I don't know just where they are. Off that way…." He waved his arm vaguely westward.
We had dinner—an excellent dinner, better and cheaper than could be got in Petrograd—in the station restaurant. Nearby sat a French officer who had just come on foot from Gatchina. All was quiet there, he said. Kerensky held the town. "Ah, these Russians," he went on, "they are original! What a civil war! Everything except the fighting!"
We sallied out into the town. Just at the door of the station stood two soldiers with rifles and bayonets fixed. They were surrounded by about a hundred business men, Government officials and students, who attacked them with passionate argument and epithet. The soldiers were uncomfortable and hurt, like children unjustly scolded.
A tall young man with a supercilious expression, dressed in the uniform of a student, was leading the attack.
"You realise, I presume," he said insolently, "that by taking up arms against your brothers you are making your-selves the tools of murderers and traitors?"
"Now brother,"answered the soldier earnestly, "you don't understand. There are two classes, don't you see, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. We——"
"Oh, I know that silly talk!" broke in the student rudely. "A bunch of ignorant peasants like you hear somebody bawling a few catch-words. You don't understand what they mean. You just echo them like a lot of parrots." The crowd laughed. "I'm a Marxian student. And I tell you that this isn't Socialism you are fighting for. It's just plain pro-German anarchy!"
"Oh, yes, I know," answered the soldier, with sweat dripping from his brow. "You are an educated man, that is easy to see, and I am only a simple man. But it seems to me——"
"I suppose," interrupted the other contemptuously, "that you believe Lenin is a real friend of the proletariat?"
"Yes, I do," answered the soldier, suffering.
"Well, my friend, do you know that Lenin was sent through Germany in a closed car? Do you know that Lenin took money from the Germans?"
"Well, I don't know much about that," answered the soldier stubbornly, "but it seems to me that what he says is what I want to hear, and all the simple men like me. Now there are two classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat——"
"You are a fool! Why, my friend, I spent two years in Schlüsselburg for revolutionary activity, when you were still shooting down revolutionists and singing 'God Save the Tsar!' My name is Vasili Georgevitch Panyin. Didn't you ever hear of me?"
"I'm sorry to say I never did," answered the soldier with humility. "But then, I am not an educated man. You are probably a great hero."
"I am," said the student with conviction. "And I am opposed to the Bolsheviki, who are destroying our Russia, our free Revolution. Now how do you account for that?"
The soldier scratched his head. "I can't account for it at all," he said, grimacing with the pain of his intellectual processes. "To me it seems perfectly simple—but then, I'm not well educated. It seems like there are only two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie——"
"There you go again with your silly formula!" cried the student.
"——only two classes," went on the soldier, doggedly.
And whoever isn't on one side is on the other…"
We wandered on up the street, where the lights were few and far between, and where people rarely passed. A threatening silence hung over the place—as of a sort of purgatory between heaven and hell, a political No Man's Land. Only the barber shops were all brilliantly lighted and crowded, and a line formed at the doors of the public bath; for it was Saturday night, when all Russia bathes and perfumes itself. I haven't the slightest doubt that Soviet troops and Cossacks mingled in the places where these ceremonies were performed.
The nearer we came to the Imperial Park, the more deserted were the streets. A frightened priest pointed out the headquarters of the Soviet, and hurried on. It was in the wing of one of the Grand Ducal palaces, fronting the Park. The windows were dark, the door locked. A soldier, lounging about with his hands in the top of his trousers, looked us up and down with gloomy suspicion. "The Soviet went away two days ago," said he. "Where?" A shrug. "Nie znayu. I don't know."
A little further along was a large building, brightly illuminated. From within came a sound of hammering. While we were hesitating, a soldier and a sailor came down the street, hand in hand. I showed them my pass from Smolny. "Are you for the Soviets?" I asked. They did not answer, but looked at each other in a frightened way.
"What is going on in there?" asked the sailor, pointing to the building.
"I don't know."
Timidly the soldier put out his hand and opened the door a crack. Inside a great hall hung with bunting and evergreens, rows of chairs, a stage being built.
A stout woman with a hammer in her hand and her mouth full of tacks came out. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Is there a performance to-night?" said the sailor, nervously.
"There will be private theatricals Sunday night," she answered severely. "Go away."
We tried to engage the soldier and sailor in conversation, but they seemed frightened and unhappy, and drew off into the darkness.
We strolled toward the Imperial Palaces, along the edge of the vast, dark gardens, their fantastic pavilions and ornamental bridges looming uncertainly in the night, and soft water splashing from the fountains. At one place, where a ridiculous iron swan spat unceasingly from an artificial grotto, we were suddenly aware of observation, and looked up to encounter the sullen, suspicious gaze of half a dozen gigantic armed soldiers, who stared moodily down from a grassy terrace. I climbed up to them. "Who are you?" I asked.
"We are the guard," answered one. They all looked very depressed, as undoubtedly they were, from weeks and weeks of all-day all-night argument and debate.
"Are you Kerensky's troops, or the Soviets'?"
There was silence for a moment, as they looked uneasily at each other. Then, "We are neutral," said he.
We went on through the arch of the huge Ekaterina Palace, into the Palace enclosure itself, asking for headquarters. A sentry outside a door in a curving white wing of the Palace said that the commandant was inside.
In a graceful, white, Georgian room, divided into unequal parts by a two-sided fire-place, a group of officers stood anxiously talking. They were pale and distracted, and evidently hadn't slept. To one, an oldish man with a white beard, his uniform studded with decorations, who was pointed out as the Colonel, we showed our Bolshevik papers.
He seemed surprised. "How did you get here without being killed?" he asked politely. "It is very dangerous in the streets just now. Political passion is running very high in Tsarskoye Selo. There was a battle this morning, and there will be another to-morrow morning. Kerensky is to enter the town at eight o'clock."
"Where are the Cossacks?"
"About a mile over that way." He waved his arm.
"And you will defend the city against them?"
"Oh dear no." He smiled. "We are holding the city for Kerensky." Our hearts sank, for our passes stated that we were revolutionary to the core. The Colonel cleared his throat. "About those passes of yours," he went on. "Your lives will be in danger if you are captured. Therefore, if you want to see the battle, I will give you an order for rooms in the officers' hotel, and if you will come back here at seven o'clock in the morning, I will give you new passes."
"So you are for Kerensky?" we said.
"Well, not exactly for Kerensky." The Colonel hesitated. "You see, most of the soldiers in the garrison are Bolsheviki, and to-day, after the battle, they all went away in the direction of Petrograd, taking the artillery with them. You might say that none of the soldiers are for Kerensky; but some of them just don't want to fight at all. The officers have almost all gone over to Kerensky's forces, or simply gone away. We are—ahem—in a most difficult position, as you see…."
We did not believe that there would be any battle…. The Colonel courteously sent his orderly to escort us to the railroad station. He was from the South, born of French immigrant parents in Bessarabia. "Ah," he kept saying, "it is not the danger or the hardships I mind, but being so long, three years, away from my mother…."
Looking out of the window of the train as we sped through the cold dark toward Petrograd, I caught glimpses of clumps of soldiers gesticulating in the light of fires, and of clusters of armoured cars halted together at cross-roads, the chauffeurs hanging out of the turrets and shouting to each other….
All the troubled night over the bleakflats leaderless bands of soldiers and Red Guards wandered, clashing and confused, and the Commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee hurried from one group to another, trying to organise a defence….
Back in town excited throngs were moving in tides up and down the Nevsky. Something was in the air. From the Warsaw Railway station could be heard far-off cannonade. In the yunker schools there was feverish activity. Duma members went from barracks to barracks, arguing and pleading, narrating fearful stories of Bolshevik violence—massacre of the yunkers in the Winter Palace, rape of the women soldiers, the shooting of the girl before the Duma, the murder of Prince Tumanov…. In the Alexander Hall of the Duma building the Committee for Salvation was in special session; Commissars came and went, running…. All the journalists expelled from Smolny were there, in high spirits. They did not believe our report of conditions in Tsarskoye. Why, everybody knew that Tsarskoye was in Kerensky's hands, and that the Cossacks were now at Pulkovo. A committee was being elected to meet Kerensky at the railway station in the morning….
One confided to me, in strictest secrecy, that the counter-revolution would begin at midnight. He showed me two proclamations, one signed by Gotz and Polkovnikov, ordering the yunker schools, soldier convalescents in the hospitals, and the Knights of St. George to mobilise on a war footing and wait for orders from the Committee for Salvation; the other from the Committee for Salvation itself, which read as follows:
To the Population of Petrograd!
Comrades, workers, soldiers and citizens of revolutionary Petrograd!
The Bolsheviki, while appealing for peace at the front, are inciting to civil war in the rear.
Do not dig their provocatory appeals!
Do not dig trenches!
Down with the traitorous barricades!
Lay down your arms!
Soldiers, return to your barracks!
The war begun in Petrograd—is the death of the Revolution!
In the name of liberty, land, and peace, unite around the Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution!
As we left the Duma a company of Red Guards, stern-faced and desperate, came marching down the dark, deserted street with a dozen prisoners—members of the local branch of the Council of Cossacks, caught red-handed plotting counter-revolution in their headquarters….
A soldier, accompanied by a small boy with a pail of paste, was sticking up great flaring notices:
By virtue of the present, the city of Petrograd and its suburbs are declared in a state of siege. All assemblies or meetings in the streets, and generally in the open air, are forbidden until further orders.
N. Podvoisky, President of the Military
Revolutionary Committee.
As we went home the air was full of confused sound—automobile horns, shouts, distant shots. The city stirred uneasily, wakeful.
In the small hours of the morning a company of yunkers, disguised as soldiers of the Semionovsky Regiment, presented themselves at the Telephone Exchange just before the hour of changing guard. They had the Bolshevik password, and took charge without arousing suspicion. A few minutes later Antonov appeared, making a round of inspection. Him they captured and locked in a small room. When the relief came it was met by a blast of rifle-fire, several being killed.
Counter-revolution had begun…
[1] Two Decrees
On the Press
In the serious decisive hour of the Revolution and the days immediately following it, the Provisional Revolutionary Committee is compelled to adopt a series of measures against the counter-revolutionary press of all shades.
Immediately on all sides there are cries that the new Socialist authority is in this violating the essential principles of its own programme by an attempt against the freedom of the press.
The Workers' and Peasants' Government calls the attention of the population to the fact that in our country, behind this liberal shield, is hidden the opportunity for the wealthier classes to seize the lion's share of the whole press, and by this means to poison the popular mind and bring confusion into the consciousness of the masses.
Every one knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful weapons of the bourgeoisie. Especially in this critical moment, when the new authority of the workers and peasants is in process of consolidation, it is impossible to leave it in the hands of the enemy, at a time when it is not less dangerous than bombs and machine-guns. This is why temporary and extraordinary measures have been adopted for the purpose of stopping the flow of filth and calumny in which the yellow and green press would be glad to drown the young victory of the people.
As soon as the new order is consolidated, all administrative measures against the press will be suspended; full liberty will be given it within the limits of responsibility before the law, in accordance with the broadest and most progressive regulations….
Bearing in mind, however, the fact that any restrictions of the freedom of the press, even in critical moments, are admissible only within the bounds of necessity, the Council of People's Commissars decrees as follows:
1. The following classes of newspapers shall be subject to closure: (a) Those inciting to open resistance or disobedience to the Workers' and Peasants' Government; (b) Those creating confusion by obviously and deliberately perverting the news; (c) Those inciting to acts of a criminal character punishable by the laws.
2. The temporary or permanent closing of any organ of the press shall be carried out only by virtue of a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars.
3. The present decree is of a temporary nature, and will be revoked by a special ukaz when normal conditions of public life are re-established.
President of the Council of People's Commissars,
Vladimir Ulianov (Lenin).
On Workers' Militia
1. All Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies shall form a Workers' Militia.
2. This Workers' Militia shall be entirely at the orders of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
3. Military and civil authorities must render every assistance in arming the workers and in supplying them with technical equipment, even to the extent of requisitioning arms belonging to the War Department of the Government.
4. This decree shall be promulgated by telegraph. Petrograd, November 10, 1917.
People's Commissar of the Interior
A. I. Rykov.
This decree encouraged the formation of companies of Red Guards all over Russia, which became the most valuable arm of the Soviet Government in the ensuing civil war.
[2] The Strike Fund The fund for the striking Government employees and bank clerks was subscribed by banks and business houses of Petrograd and other cities, and also by foreign corporations doing business in Russia. All who consented to strike against the Bolsheviki were paid full wages, and in some cases their pay was increased. It was the realisation of the strike fund contributors that the Bolsheviki were firmly in power, followed by their refusal to pay strike benefits, which finally broke the strike.


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Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Cookie Debate
There's a contentious debate going on here about what the best variety of cookie is. The husband doesn't play favorites (it's not normal, I know), but he's quick to say what he dislikes. He doesn't much care for shortbread, thinks meringue cookies like these are too sweet, and is downright intolerant of chunky cookies, especially if they contain raisins or nuts. I, however, think all cookies are worth appreciating, be they soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, crisp and crunchy biscotti, cakey and tender madeleines, rich and dense lemon bars, or light and delicate tuiles. While I don't discriminate against any cookies (OK, I admit I'm with the hubby on the raisin-hate—let's just say that my grandparents fed me my entire life's allotment of raisins when I was a kid), I do have a favorite cookie type: sandy and crumbly. Give me a shortbread or spritz cookie, and I'm a happy camper. Even better if it's dipped in chocolate. Care to join the debate?
Ganache Filled Spritz Cookies
Printable Recipe
2 ounces heavy cream
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 ounces sugar
1 ½ ounces powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 ¼ ounces eggs, at room temperature
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
9 ounces cake flour, sifted
Bring the cream to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl, add the hot cream, and whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, powdered sugar, and salt on medium until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low until blended. Add the flour and mix on low until the dough comes together, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a cookie press and press cookies about an inch apart onto parchment-lined baking trays. Bake for 17 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Transfer cookies to a rack and let cool to room temperature.
Spread a scant teaspoon of the ganache onto the bottom of one of the cookies and sandwich together with another cookie. Sandwich together the remaining cookies with the remaining ganache in the same manner.
Makes about 20 sandwich cookies. If you don't have a cookie press, simply use a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe cookies onto the baking trays in decorative shapes. Cookies keep for several days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.
12 comments:
- Gala said...
Love the shape you chose for the cookies!
- September 6, 2009 at 12:15 PM
- Jill G. said...
I can't wait to make these! They look irresistible:)
- September 6, 2009 at 12:24 PM
- veron said...
Such lovely cookies. You know, the cookie I like depends on my mood..on whether it's morning or afternoon. Morning i love biscotti and shortbread cookies with coffee or tea. And then after lunch, the chocolate chip cookie whether crisp or chunky is the cookie of choice..of course I zap it a bit in the microwave for that melty chocolate effect.
- September 6, 2009 at 5:43 PM
- Jennifer said...
These are SO perfect!
- September 6, 2009 at 8:09 PM
- Finla said...
I am with you if there is chocolate i am in :-)
- September 6, 2009 at 11:43 PM
- Jason Sandeman said...
I am partial to a Czech cookie called Vinoklovie Rholicke.
They are cresents made of Walnut powder that are like a shortbread, dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar.
I have never been ale to tell if they go stale or not, because they never last that long! - September 7, 2009 at 9:40 AM
- pixen said...
Your cookies are sooooo delicious and beautiful! The beautiful photos really great! Really, I don't bother any debates... I rather have those cookies and a large bowl of that gorgeous ganache to dip, please!!! But deep down inside, I do disliked raisins in cookies when I was a kid and still today. I don't mind on raisin bread or scones but not 'IN' my cookies or biscuits! The taste of burnt and sticky raisins stuck between my teeth really unappetizing for me :-|
- September 7, 2009 at 10:33 AM
- avaserfi said...
Those look gorgeous. Did you use a cookie press or pipe them?
- September 7, 2009 at 12:17 PM
- Lucy Vaserfirer said...
These were made with a cookie press. - September 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM
- Heidi said...
As I have gotten older and as I have baked more, I honestly have come to appreciate all sorts of flavors and textures in cookies that I swore that I'd never eat. A certain cookie may not be my first choice but if they are made well, I can appreciate what they are all about. Nuts are pretty much not my thing though although I will TASTE something that includes them. I have also made spritz cookie sandwiches and am always amazed at how fancy they look when in reality, they are so quick and easy to put together. I believe I have some posted on my blog. Now after reading about yours, I want to make them again. I have some chocolate ganache in the fridge leftover from something else so maybe I need to pull it out and use it between 2 spritz!
Heidi - September 7, 2009 at 9:42 PM
- amy and ann said...
I guess my all time fav. is shortbread. Butter, sugar, flour. You just can't beat that. Dipped in chocolate too.
ann - September 8, 2009 at 6:26 AM
- Jada said...
I agree with you on the shortbread-types dipped in chocolate. Or with fruit jams. Or almonds. YUM!
- September 10, 2009 at 7:36 PM


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My family rode out Harvey until water poured through walls
HOUSTON >> At 4:30 a.m. Sunday, my husband, Rafi, woke me up. "There's water in our bathroom. We need to look around," he said.
Our sunroom already had six inches of water. Outside, the water outside was right at our door. My son's room was picking up water from the backyard. We woke everyone and put towels at the doors. Seems silly now, but at the time it seemed the right thing to do.
And then the water just started rushing in through the walls. Within an hour it was at my ankles.
We moved our picture albums to counters. We picked up laundry baskets, clothes from bottom drawers and shoes. My boys — 10-year-old Eliran, 14-year-old Ron and 15-year-old Shaked — grabbed the summer homework they had spent hours completing and put it on top shelves — no way they were going to redo that! Laptops went to the kitchen counter along with tablets and phones.
Further reading:
• More rain, more dead: Harvey floods keep Houston paralyzed
• Photo of mother and baby's rescue becomes symbol of storm
• Images of torrential rains in Texas
• Where to donate to Harvey victims (and how to avoid scams)
Text messages flew between neighbors: It was only 6 a.m. and the water was at the middle of my shin. A neighbor and colleague from work said he had more than a foot of water inside and was calling for rescue. I decided we could wait a little longer. Surely there were people in greater need.
By 7:30 a.m. I knew we needed to leave. The water was just under my knees. I grabbed Ziploc bags and stuffed two pairs of jeans, two T-shirts, underwear and moisturizer inside. I took all the chargers and went to the kitchen. The water was at my knees.
I called 911 and told them we needed to evacuate. I was still calm. I explained that we were fine for now but need to get out.
And then we waited.
Houston has seen hurricanes, tropical storms and floods. But even for me, a non-native Houstonian, it had been clear since Thursday this was not going to be a typical event.
The days and hours that followed became a blur of activity. My mind was working overtime. I wanted to make sure my sons were safe. Food, gas and cash were also priorities.
But then, there was work. I am the director of communications at the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC), the city's crime lab, and we had to make sure evidence was secure. As a former Associated Press journalist, my crisis management instincts kicked into high gear as the storm approached.
The forecasts for Harvey were terrifying. Still, our Houston neighborhood of Meyerland was not told to evacuate, and since 2010 when we moved to Houston we had been through four floods. We didn't really consider fleeing. Either way, I would have had to remain in the city because I am an essential employee at work.
It rained hard from Friday into Saturday, but it slowed down by mid-morning Saturday. Our family, along with many others in the neighborhood, went out to peek at our local waterway, Braes Bayou. It was high, but looked like it could take more rain.
We went to the supermarket to buy strawberries, Klondike bars and peaches — hurricane necessities.
And then, around 7 p.m. on Saturday, the deluge began. The skies opened, and massive amounts of rain fell. The weather report predicted more, but we went to sleep — until my husband woke me in the pre-dawn hours Sunday.
As the water rose in our home and we awaited rescue, my two older boys went to lie down: one on the dining room table and the other on his now-floating bed. The higher the water got, the more polluted it looked. There were huge cockroaches crawling from the muck.
At 11:30 a.m. there was a loud splash. The TV in the living room had tumbled into the water. The fire department had answered our call but could not say when they would arrive. My boys were getting nervous.
The water was more than halfway up the lower kitchen cabinets. I called 911 again, and friends sent some phone numbers for the Coast Guard. Emergency dispatchers answered, but couldn't indicate where in the evacuation effort we might fall. The Coast Guard phone numbers were busy.
We sat on the kitchen counters. The water hit the top panel of the dishwasher. It was 12:30 p.m. It was clear we needed to do something other than just wait.
We had already posted pictures to Facebook of our inundated house. Now, it was time for some Facebook crowdsourcing. So I posted that we needed someone with a boat in Meyerland to get us out. The two older boys and my husband got on the roof to try to flag down boats going down what had once been Wigton Drive, but was now a roaring river.
People shared the post, and quickly we got on an evacuation list put together by a neighborhood rabbi who had organized some people with motorboats to evacuate residents.
The boys grabbed some clothes and we put everything in garbage bags. At 2 p.m. a boat arranged by the rabbi arrived. The water in our house was waist high. We needed to get out from the laundry room. The washing machine had turned on its side in the water, and so had the stand-up freezer. We climbed over it and out into the driveway.
The water outside was over my head and I had to swim. On the boat were several other families, including two elderly people, a 6-month old baby and two dogs. As we made our way toward the local church that had become a shelter, the boat's propeller hit the ground and we all got off.
Wading through knee-high water, with white plastic garbage bags full of clothing and laptops on our shoulders, we made our way toward the church, which had no power. There were at least 100 people there and no cots, but it was dry, and we made it our home for the night.
We made a ravioli dinner, using a flashlight to see, and we slept on the floor. But we knew we were lucky. Others had water in their homes over their heads and had broken through their roofs to get out. Elderly people did not have their medicine. Everything we lost is material. We will rebuild, and our family is whole.
At 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, as I was about to go to sleep at the church, my phone rang.
It was the Houston Fire Department, calling to ask if we had gotten to dry ground — 16 hours after I had first called for help.
Ramit Plushnick-Masti was a journalist for The Associated Press from 2002 to 2014 in Jerusalem, Pittsburgh and Houston.


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When editing LaTeX with Vim and previewing the pdf with a pdf viewer, you would like to be able to click on a word in the pdf viewer and have vim automatically jump to the location in the source file you clicked on. This is called backwards search, since clicking in the pdf viewer updates the vim location. To update the pdf viewer to a page containing the current location in Vim, see Open pdf to the current location in a LaTeX file.
There are some instructions here, but they should be copied into this page.
Find how to do this on Windows.
Mac OS has a package called pdfsync and a supporting viewer (I strongly recommend PDFView) can be configured to run a custom script when the user command-clicks inside the document.
To enable backwards search, install and configure the gvim-pdfsync plugin.
- Automatic LaTeX plugin has forward and backward search which works for quite a few viewers: xpdf (v3.03), evince, okular, xdvi, open (on MacOs). Unfortunatelly, the plugin doesn't officially support Windows.
- LaTeX Suite also support forward and reverse searching.