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Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pasta Primavera - Do Hotel Chefs Know that "Primavera" Means Spring?
The thing I can't figure out is how chefs, particularly one running large hotel kitchens, came to call any pasta with vegetables, "pasta primavera." If you order this dish in one of those establishments, you will probably get a plate of pasta, with a heavy cream sauce, some black bits of oxidized basil, and large, undercooked chunks of vegetables, usually of the summer and fall variety.
Unfortunately for many chefs, this recipe serves as a way to clean out the walk-in of past-their-prime vegetables (Mmm…old squash and bell peppers), instead of what it should be - a celebration for the return of fresh green veggies.You will see a great "chefs secret" in this video recipe for keeping the basil bright green. In fact, the second photo here shows the leftovers after 24 hours. They are still beautiful, and didn't turn that nasty grey-green-brown hue that affects leftover basil-based sauces.
I like to choose as many different green vegetables as I can get my hands on for this dish. I managed to include seven varieties, and could have added a few more without a problem. I'll admit, this one does take much more slicing and dicing than I usually subject you to, but the effort will be rewarded with a pasta worthy of its name. Enjoy!
1/2 cup olive oil plus 2 tbsps
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 large leek (dark green parts trimmed off and discarded), chopped, washed thoroughly
2 jalapeno, diced
1 bunch basil
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic
2 green zucchini, diced
1/2 cup freshly shucked peas
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 bunch asparagus, stalks diced, tips left whole
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, or as needed
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 pound fettuccine
43 comments:
"Don't be servin' stuff with schmutz on the edge."
By the way, John... still waitin' on that egg parm recipe you promised two years ago.
Thanks for bein' so hi-culin-arious. - April 1, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Lots of chopping but so worth it. Once you have everything chopped you can put it in the fridge. Always prep my veggies early in the day. Makes things go quickly when dinner time comes and everyone is hungry
- April 1, 2009 at 3:48 PM
- CollegeGourmet said...
This is a great Spring dish. I really wish I could get into the Spring spirit, unfortunately it's still in the 30's here, and it was snowing this morning. I hate Minnesota, you're so lucky to be living where you live, Chef John.
That's OK, I can still make this dish, I'll just have to buy vegetables from your neck of the woods ;) - April 1, 2009 at 5:42 PM
LOL - I'm not surprised that the first video you make, after returning from your trip, required a lot of chopping! It's easy to see you really missed your sharp knives.
- April 1, 2009 at 7:22 PM
I wish we had seasons here in Malaysia. Will still try the recipe once Im able to watch it. Vimeo vidoe clips always seem to be a case of touch and go in terms of loading/playing on my computer for some reason or other.
- April 1, 2009 at 9:22 PM
- blogagog said...
I have to say that I'm not very impressed with this dish, Chef John. Primavera requires colors, not just green. How about some little pieces of carrots, maybe a yellow or red pepper and a few chunks of tomato for color?
It needs something. - April 2, 2009 at 1:17 AM
- Chef John said...
Primavera requires colors? Says who? I have 7 shades of green. Chunks of out-of-season tomato added just for color is exactly what those hack hotel chefs would add. No offense.
- April 2, 2009 at 1:45 AM
I've never had Pasta Primavera this green! It's like Pasta Verde :) Very complicated dish to me, but I should give it a go.
- April 2, 2009 at 3:00 AM
The color come when you eat outside, in the sun!!! Primavera means green! Thank you, chef!
- April 2, 2009 at 6:26 AM
- Michael said...
my my...
- April 2, 2009 at 8:10 AM
I am improvising on the orzo risotto recipe using duck legs and lamb merguez sausage. My question is whether I should use the same spice blend or substitute based on the meats being used especially since cumin and bay leaf have very distinct flavors and may or may not work.
Thanks.... - April 2, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Kyle Young:
Egg parm? Sounds awesome....I could go for some of that too - April 2, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Hey Dan, I know how you feel. We woke up to 4 inches of snow this morning and it's still snowing. The lake we live on is still frozen!
But, I gotta say, when spring does come, it's worth the wait. I can hardly wait to go morel hunting.
Chef John, the primavera does look great--but I think I understand what blogagog is saying--I'll probably add a little FRESH yellow pepper.
Jackie from Washington state - April 2, 2009 at 10:18 AM
- Chef John said...
thanks, but I couldn't disagree more. Yellow bell peppers aren't not in season, and would be coming from far away. I will certainly do a version of this pasta with beautifully ripe local peppers and tomatoes this summer, I just won't call it "Spring" pasta.
- April 2, 2009 at 11:26 AM
- Chef John said...
dan, i would spice separately, they are very different ingredients. that sausage is very strongly flavored.
- April 2, 2009 at 11:29 AM
OK--You win.
I gotta say, though, that everything in the recipe comes from far away from me.
Again I say, 4 inches of new snow and still snowing!
Jackie - April 2, 2009 at 11:34 AM
- Chef John said...
You are so lucky!! When the snow melts and you do have green veggies around, you will taste, enjoy, and appreciate this pasta on a level most of us can only imagine.
- April 2, 2009 at 11:45 AM
- Chanelle said...
This looks amazing! I can not wait to make it, I will as soon as our local farmers market gears up. I love watching your videos!
- April 2, 2009 at 1:43 PM
- Chris said...
Just wanted to say this was delicious. I made this for a date and it was a huge success!
- April 4, 2009 at 2:59 AM
- Mike said...
I tried this last night and had some leftovers for lunch. Surprisingly light with a very nice strong garlic flavor, but not so much smell (coworkers say they can only smell a little bit of garlic). Asparagus are the just wonderful in this dish. Perhaps some baby artichokes in the future.
Wife said it needs some ham. Although some ham might be really good, it would change the flavor profile enough make it a different dish.
It is even better the next day. - April 6, 2009 at 3:28 PM
- Unknown said...
hi just wondering if I could substitute sugar snap peas with normal packet green peas?
- April 9, 2009 at 5:50 AM
- alex galan said...
Great recipe.
love the accent on freshness and in season vegetables.
The shmutz stuff was hillarious. I couldnt stop laughing by myself alone in the room. - April 18, 2009 at 8:44 AM
- Allen said...
Great Dish!!!!
- May 2, 2009 at 2:07 AM
I noticed your basil sauce was thick, but unfortunately there's no measurements to help get the right consistency. "A splash of this and a little of that, with a bunch of this" can make for a nightmare dinner for cooking novices.
- May 22, 2011 at 9:13 PM
- Chef John said...
Not sure what you men, as the ing are listed under the video. Btw, trying to cook by following exact measurements is how novice cooks stay novice. Taste, feel and adjust without fear. If it doesn't work, you will try again, learning along the way. Enjoy!
- May 22, 2011 at 9:58 PM
- Paul D said...
Outrageous. I followed the recipe but substituted the leeks for 1 large vidalia onion from my farmer's market.... The best pasta I have experimented with since Emeril's Cantaloupe & Pancetta sauce. A+
- May 30, 2011 at 6:16 PM
This is really delish!!!!!! yum yum! Can't wait for my Hubby to try it! I already know he will love it! Thank you Chef John!
- February 2, 2012 at 1:14 PM
"trying to cook by following exact measurements is how novice cooks stay novice"... Mr John, you're a genius. I'll try this recipe with wild asparagus, granpa's veggies and chicken broth from free-range chicken. What about some artichoke hearts as proposed by NiceGuyMike? Greetings from Italy
- April 3, 2012 at 3:12 AM
I made this in Paris- staying near a great outdoor market and all of the vegetables were perfect... I should have used more peas and I also used cut up green beans.
It was good but I think there was too much liquid in mine- I was a bit imprecise with the measurements--- so it was a bit bland and heavy on all of the onions. However, the next day it was incredible.
The cooking instructions for the vegetables were great. They were so perfectly done- I would go heavy on the vegetables and light on the pasta. - April 7, 2012 at 4:42 AM
- Josh, Split said...
Hi Chef John,
First up, massive thanks for your blog. It truly is my favourite resource for recipes and food humor!
Second, The girlfriend accidently picked up Peperoncini instead of Jalapenos. Would these work in the pasta or am I better off leaving them out?
Thanks again! - April 10, 2012 at 8:51 AM
- Josh, Split said...
Hi Chef John,
The Mrs accidently picked up Peperoncini and not Jalapenos. Will they still work in the dish? I'm unsure as peperonici is sweet and jalapenos are hot? Are we better off just leaving them out?
Any advice at all is welcome, thanks! - April 10, 2012 at 8:52 AM
- Chef John said...
taste them and decide! Any pepper will work, but you have to like how it tastes. :)
- April 10, 2012 at 11:43 AM
My wife's veggie friends are coming over tonight, so of course I looked to your site for ideas. This Spring Primavera is perfect! Can't wait to try it. Thanks again!
Brooklyn, NY - May 3, 2012 at 3:33 PM
- JTH said...
Made it tonight. Fantastic in every way.
- November 17, 2012 at 3:48 PM
- Splendid said...
I needed to add a few pieces of diced carrots for color.
- April 15, 2013 at 3:22 AM
- Patchin310 said...
Chef John;
As an expat living in China, fresh basil is a bit difficult to get a hold of. I was wondering what would make a substitute for basil? If no other substitute could I jsut use ground basil that comes in a spice bottle? - April 16, 2013 at 12:15 AM
- Chef John said...
It's easy to grow! ;) I'm not crazy about the flavor of dried, but you could try a little.
- April 16, 2013 at 11:14 AM
- Sandy said...
Chef John! You're awesome! I think everyone else was also cooking basil-intensive dishes for dinner tonight, because I had to go to THREE grocery stores before I found one that had any basil left. It was completely worth the basil-hunting quest, though...this was great. I loved the subtle heat from the jalapeno. I wouldn't have thought to include that, but it really made it interesting.
- June 23, 2013 at 9:52 PM
- Unknown said...
Did you use extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil?
Thanks - March 29, 2014 at 2:58 PM
- Unknown said...
It's another approach. I like a mixture of asparagus, red peppers, capers, chanterelles, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, white and green onions plus fresh basil. Of course garlic. A cheese sauce of heavy cream and milk with asiago, provolone picante, romano and monterrey jack cheeses. If too heavy cut back on the amount of cheese and use whole milk but I think you must have at least some half and half in it.
- February 14, 2015 at 6:49 AM
- SeriousBBQ.nl said...
In the summer it would be called "pasta verano" or "pasta de verano"
The whole family loved it! - April 20, 2015 at 10:28 AM
- jarredAwesome said...
Hey Chef,
I'm a big fan of your blog. One suggestion; it's great that you show contemporary methods for recipes (like a blender or shake bottle emanation), but why do Chefs like you and Alton Brown feel the need to dismiss classic methods? Personally, I think both are valid. Knowing how to do it the classic way, can be handy if ever the only have a whisk and bowl handy.
My suggestion would it be to acknowledge the classic method, but show the contemporary one.
Thanks!! - February 14, 2016 at 1:03 PM
- Carol said...
This looks and sounds absolutely wonderful. I have loved every recipe of yours that I've made.
Could this recipe be served successfully over zoodles for a lower carb meal? Would that necessitate any other additions or changes?
Thank you. - March 20, 2017 at 11:46 AM


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Surly Big Dummy Frameset
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It's suitable to loaded as well as unloaded riding. Bags, deck, rails, and rail collars are all designed to improve on previous offerings and work together to make sure your stuff is transported with safety and stability. It's an unbending interface, which when you're carrying lots of cargo, is a good thing to have. Get creative, and get hauling.
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If you are planning to carry a child on your Big Dummy, Surly recommends the use of a child seat. They've tested the Maxxi Yepp seat. Yepp makes an adaptor that allows their seat to mount onto Surly's deck. It works well with the Big Dummy. At this time other child seats are not recommended and will void your warranty. Surly is testing other options. Note: keep in mind Big Dummy weight limits when carrying a passenger.
Contact us for parts packages
WARNING: Cycling can be dangerous. Bicycles and bicycle products should be assembled and serviced by a professional mechanic. Never modify your bicycle or accessories. Read and follow all product instructions and warnings including information on the manufacturer's website. Inspect your bicycle before every use. Always wear a helmet.
Frame | Surly Big Dummy, Surly 4130 CroMoly steel. Main triangle double-butted. TIG-welded cargo specific engineered for stiffness. |
Fork | Surly Big Dummy, TIG-welded 4130 CroMoly, tapered and butted straight blade with single fender eyelet on the dropout, 1-1/8? x 260mm threadless steerer, 51mm IS disc mount, removable cantilever pivots, line/housing guides |
Headset | Cane Creek 40 |
Axles | QR |
Wheel Compatibility | 26-inch |
Accessories & Extras | Surly Stainless seat post clamp, 30mm |
* Subject to change without notice.

subset: commoncrawl


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PBP rims are here. From Tom's VO Imports blog:
For years cyclists have been lamenting the loss of the simple box section rim in a shiny silver polished finish. They were available here and there but you really had to scour local swap meets, eBay and Craigslist. If you did find them they were usually used, and in varying ranges of condition, mostly poor to fair at best and required a careful and very experienced builder to get them close to true.The price is $50 (not $40 as we initially thought; sorry).
Well, no more of that. Velo Orange has worked for months with one of the premier rim companies in Taiwan. We researched different widths, shapes, and materials, and what was being currently sold. It quickly became apparent that we needed to offer an alloy doublewall rim. Doublewall construction adds a bit of weight as compared to singlewall (or open box) rims, but we feel a classic doublewall box design is far superior in terms of overall strength, load capacity, and impact resistance.
The PBP rims in house weigh around 450g. The 19mm outside width and 13.2mm inside width is ideal for tires up to 32mm.
We paid a little more for stainless eyelets and a lot more for a high polish finish. We kept the graphics down to an absolute minimum; there is a simple VO sticker for identity.
The 700c PBP rim is offered in 36 and 32 hole versions. For wheelbuilders, ERD is 606mm.
Since Chris is on vacation, questions in the comments may not be answered for a long time.
UPDATE: After reviewing all the costs we realized that the price of these rims has to be $50, more than we initially thought, but still pretty reasonable. Chris says he was simply looking at the wrong column in one of Tom's infamous (and yard wide) spreadsheets.


text:
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That's just an estimate too because the overall cost for Sandy's destruction is expected to rise.
According to The Huffington Post:
Superstorm Sandy caused at least $29.4 billion in overall damage in New Jersey, according to a preliminary analysis released by Governor Chris Christie's office Friday.
The estimate of the damage caused by the storm, which ravaged the Northeastern U.S. coastline late last month, includes personal property, business, infrastructure and utility damage, Christie said in a statement.
The statement said the preliminary cost estimate is "inclusive of aid received to date and anticipated from federal sources," including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration. Christie said it was a "conservative and responsible estimate" that could be revised higher, Christie said.
Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he planned to ask the federal government for $30 billion in disaster aid for the state. Earlier this month, New York City Comptroller John Liu said the storm was costing New York City $200 million a day in lost economic activity, with that amount likely to top out at about $1 billion.
"This preliminary number is based on the best available data, field observations and geographical mapping, and supported by expert advice from my Cabinet commissioners and an outside consulting company," Christie said in the statement Friday.
Christie said the estimate will be refined in the future to include impact on the next tourist seasons, real estate values and population shifts.
The record-breaking "superstorm" blasted through eight Northeastern U.S. states on Oct. 30, killing dozens of people, battering coastal neighborhoods and forcing mass evacuations. The storm shut down the entire New York City subway system for days.
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Kerry: Die Frage ist nicht, was wir wissen, die Frage ist, was wir tun
Vor einem möglichen Angriff der USA auf Syrien kommt es am (heutigen) Freitag erneut US-Außenminister John Kerry zu, die Position seines Landes darzulegen. Das tut Kerry derzeit. Unter anderem bezifferte er die Zahl der Toten bei dem Giftgasangriff am 21. August mit 1.429.
Zunächst nur zur seiner Rede, mehr dazu dann in einem späteren Thread.
Das Transkript des State Department:
President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria. And last night, the President asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of Congress as well, including the leadership of the Congressional national security committees. And he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week. I will tell you that as someone who has spent nearly three decades in the United States Congress, I know that that consultation is the right way for a president to approach a decision of when and how and if to use military force. And it's important to ask the tough questions and get the tough answers before taking action, not just afterwards.
And I believe, as President Obama does, that it is also important to discuss this directly with the American people. That's our responsibility, to talk with the citizens who have entrusted all of us in the Administration and the Congress with the responsibility for their security. That's why this morning's release of our government's unclassified estimate of what took place in Syria is so important. Its findings are as clear as they are compelling. I'm not asking you to take my word for it. Read for yourself, everyone, those listening. All of you, read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources, evidence that is already publicly available, and read for yourselves the verdict reached by our intelligence community about the chemical weapons attack the Assad regime inflicted on the opposition and on opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs on the early morning of August 21st.
Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack, and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience. We will not repeat that moment. Accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves. But still, in order to protect sources and methods, some of what we know will only be released to members of Congress, the representatives of the American people. That means that some things we do know we can't talk about publicly.
So what do we really know that we can talk about? Well, we know that the Assad regime has the largest chemical weapons program in the entire Middle East. We know that the regime has used those weapons multiple times this year and has used them on a smaller scale, but still it has used them against its own people, including not very far from where last Wednesday's attack happened. We know that the regime was specifically determined to rid the Damascus suburbs of the opposition, and it was frustrated that it hadn't succeeded in doing so.
We know that for three days before the attack the Syrian regime's chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area making preparations. And we know that the Syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons. We know that these were specific instructions. We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time. We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods.
And we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later all hell broke loose in the social media. With our own eyes we have seen the thousands of reports from 11 separate sites in the Damascus suburbs. All of them show and report victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and death.
And we know it was ordinary Syrian citizens who reported all of these horrors. And just as important, we know what the doctors and the nurses who treated them didn't report – not a scratch, not a shrapnel wound, not a cut, not a gunshot wound. We saw rows of dead lined up in burial shrouds, the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood. Instead of being tucked safely in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side by side sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from Assad's gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate.
The United States Government now knows that at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children. Even the first responders, the doctors, nurses, and medics who tried to save them, they became victims themselves. We saw them gasping for air, terrified that their own lives were in danger.
This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people.
We also know many disturbing details about the aftermath. We know that a senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime, reviewed the impact, and actually was afraid that they would be discovered. We know this.
And we know what they did next. I personally called the Foreign Minister of Syria and I said to him, "If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide, then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access so they have the opportunity to tell your story." Instead, for four days they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after block at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days. And when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access, as we now know, was restricted and controlled.
In all of these things that I have listed, in all of these things that we know, all of them, the American intelligence community has high confidence, high confidence. This is common sense. This is evidence. These are facts.
So the primary question is really no longer: What do we know? The question is: What are we – we collectively – what are we in the world going to do about it?
As previous storms in history have gathered, when unspeakable crimes were within our power to stop them, we have been warned against the temptations of looking the other way. History is full of leaders who have warned against inaction, indifference, and especially against silence when it mattered most. Our choices then in history had great consequences and our choice today has great consequences. It matters that nearly a hundred years ago, in direct response to the utter horror and inhumanity of World War I, that the civilized world agreed that chemical weapons should never be used again.
That was the world's resolve then, and that began nearly a century of effort to create a clear redline for the international community. It matters today that we are working as an international community to rid the world of the worst weapons. That's why we signed agreements like the START Treaty, the New START Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which more than 180 countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, have signed on to.
It matters to our security and the security of our allies. It matters to Israel. It matters to our close friends Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon – all of whom live just a stiff breeze away from Damascus. It matters to all of them where the Syrian chemical weapons are. And if unchecked, they can cause even greater death and destruction to those friends. And it matters deeply to the credibility and the future interests of the United States of America and our allies.
It matters because a lot of other countries, whose polices challenges these international norms, are watching. They are watching. They want to see whether the United States and our friends mean what we say. It is directly related to our credibility and whether countries still believe the United States when it says something. They are watching to see if Syria can get away with it, because then maybe they too can put the world at greater risk.
And make no mistake, in an increasingly complicated world of sectarian and religious extremist violence, what we choose to do or not do matters in real ways to our own security. Some cite the risk of doing things, but we need to ask, what is the risk of doing nothing?
It matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and a murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity, even after the United States and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will.
This matters also beyond the limits of Syria's borders. It is about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened, in the absence of action, to obtain nuclear weapons. It is about Hezbollah, and North Korea, and every other terrorist group or dictator that might ever again contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction. Will they remember that the Assad regime was stopped from those weapons' current or future use, or will they remember that the world stood aside and created impunity?
So our concern is not just about some far off land oceans away. That's not what this is about. Our concern with the cause of the defenseless people of Syria is about choices that will directly affect our role in the world and our interests in the world. It is also profoundly about who we are. We are the United States of America. We are the country that has tried, not always successfully, but always tried to honor a set of universal values around which we have organized our lives and our aspirations. This crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community, against the norm of the international community, this matters to us. And it matters to who we are. And it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world. My friends, it matters here if nothing is done. It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.
America should feel confident and gratified that we are not alone in our condemnation, and we are not alone in our will to do something about it and to act. The world is speaking out, and many friends stand ready to respond. The Arab League pledged, quote, "to hold the Syrian regime fully responsible for this crime." The Organization for Islamic Cooperation condemned the regime and said we needed, quote, "to hold the Syrian Government legally and morally accountable for this heinous crime." Turkey said there is no doubt that the regime is responsible. Our oldest ally, the French, said the regime, quote, "committed this vile action, and it is an outrage to use weapons that the community has banned for the last 90 years in all international conventions." The Australian Prime Minister said he didn't want history to record that we were, quote, "a party to turning such a blind eye."
So now that we know what we know, the question we must all be asking is: What will we do? Let me emphasize – President Obama, we in the United States, we believe in the United Nations. And we have great respect for the brave inspectors who endured regime gunfire and obstructions to their investigation. But as Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General, has said again and again, the UN investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons. That is not the mandate of the UN investigation. They will only affirm whether such weapons were used. By the definition of their own mandate, the UN can't tell us anything that we haven't shared with you this afternoon or that we don't already know. And because of the guaranteed Russian obstructionism of any action through the UN Security Council, the UN cannot galvanize the world to act as it should.
So let me be clear. We will continue talking to the Congress, talking to our allies, and most importantly, talking to the American people. President Obama will ensure that the United States of America makes our own decisions on our own timelines based on our values and our interests.
Now, we know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am, too. But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator's wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency. These things we do know.
We also know that we have a President who does what he says that he will do. And he has said very clearly that whatever decision he makes in Syria, it will bear no resemblance to Afghanistan, Iraq, or even Libya. It will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open-ended. And it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well underway. The President has been clear: Any action that he might decide to take will be a limited and tailored response to ensure that a despot's brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons is held accountable. And ultimately, ultimately, we are committed – we remain committed, we believe it's the primary objective – is to have a diplomatic process that can resolve this through negotiation, because we know there is no ultimate military solution. It has to be political. It has to happen at the negotiating table, and we are deeply committed to getting there.
So that is what we know. That's what the leaders of Congress now know. And that's what the American people need to know. And that is at the core of the decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world's most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world's most vulnerable people.
Thank you very much.
(Foto: State Department via Flickr)


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Quick summary
Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale) took the win (also wrapping up the title for the 2012 NUE series), followed by Ben Swanepoel (Squirt Lube) in 2nd, and Christian Tanguy (Team CF) in 3rd. But before all that, I snuck away on the Cooper Gap climb to try to get the Strava KOM with Swanepoel catching me across the top before the Winding Stair descent. Once we hit the single track, I quickly lost ground eventually ending up in 13th place. Exhausted and happy now!
Ride highlights
- The beautiful sunrise leaving the winery
- Chatting with everyone before, after, and during the race
- Riding hard up the Copper Gap climb and leading the race
- The fog across the top of the mountain on the Winding Stair descent
- Sunlight breaking through the fog and rays of sunshine shooting through the pine trees (I think that was near Bull Mountain)
- Getting the chance to see Gerry Pflug climb up a super steep hill on his singlespeed … amazing!
- ALL of the creek/river crossings. For somebody like me who is always thwarted by creeks and rivers on road rides and route planning, it was awesome to be able to just ride straight through the creeks on my mountain bike.
- 6 inch long millipede crossing the trail – I rode around it
- Small deer or fox jumped off the trail in front of me
- Any singletrack that was uphill … especially the climb up to the top of Bull Mountain up steep singletrack through a thick pine forest breaking out into a HUGE grassy meadow at the top of the mountain. I really disliked the singletrack descent down from the grassy meadow, though, because without functional front suspension I got beat up pretty bad on that section ended up in that deep rut both laps having lost control and lucky not to have crashed.
The details
About 100 riders set out before sunrise on a 100 mile mountain bike race. Lightning and light rain gave way to a beautiful sunrise as we rolled out of the winery onto Hightower Church road in a fast neutral section. Shortly before we made the left onto Forest Service Rd 28, I moved up the right side and then immediately followed two riders that surged at the front stringing out the group. As we hit the gravel with some of the steep fast rollers, I tried to stay towards the front but ended up drifting a few spots back.
We were probably a mile into the Cooper Gap climb when I realized that I could make some time on everyone else before the singletrack if I went hard on the climb. This turned out to be a great decision because drilling that climb and taking the KOM was the best part of the race for me. And considering how slow I was compared to everyone else on the singletrack, it wouldn't have done any good to "save energy" for the singletrack. Even after I rode away from the group, I kept on expecting to look back and see the group closing in, but I never saw the group again after the first few switchbacks.
Across the top, Ben Swanepol caught me, and I was able to keep up with him on the rollers before the Winding Stair descent. As soon as we hit the descent, I thought that I would be able to follow his lines and keep up but this lasted only a few seconds before I nearly lost it on some of the washboard (my front suspension was not working right – almost like a rigid fork – I got beat up pretty bad by the rougher sections of the course). So I slowed way down and kept expecting the rest of the group to catch me. But Ben and I must have had a pretty big lead by the top since the rest of the group, led by Jeremiah Bishop, didn't catch me until just after we made the turn onto the singletrack near the bottom of the Winding Stair descent.
I knew immediately that I needed to get out of the way so I pulled off the trail and maybe 7 or 8 riders passed me. Then there was a break so I hopped back on the trail and continued to ride as fast as I thought was humanly possible. But three more riders caught up to me and then we got tangled up as I tried to get off the trail. Hopefully this was the only time I slowed anyone down on the singletrack. This section was short enough that when we hit the next gravel road I was able to drill it and pass a few people coming really close to catching back up to the lead group (less than 50 meters ahead). But as I saw them disappear into the next section of singletrack, I knew that was the last time I would see the leaders.
Within a few minutes of entering the second section of singletrack, the riders that I had passed on the gravel road started catching up to me and I pulled over immediately to let each of them pass. A few minutes after that Gerry Pflug (Salsa) came by on his singlespeed. That was one of the highlights of the race for me as I got to see the top singlespeed racer in America grind up a super steep climb that I could barely clear with my geared bike! Then it got lonely for a really long time. Nobody coming up from behind, and nobody in sight ahead of me all the way to the 2/3 aid station. By this point, I had already given up on a top finish so I focused on making sure I got enough nutrition. By the end of the race, I ended up stopping at FIVE aid stations and making sure I left each one with two full bottles. Still, I didn't get the nutrition quite right because I didn't put anything in the self-supported cooler drop-off and I didn't realize how long it would take to get from aid station 2/3 back to aid station 2/3 for the 3rd time. I'm pretty sure I rode about 10 miles without anything to drink. I backed way off the pace to keep from cramping. Around every corner I kept hoping to see the aid station. When I finally got there, I filled up both of my bottles and then took a third bottle that I filled with a mix of heed and a can of coke. This first time through the aid station, though, was the lowest point of the race for me as I realized that this was going to be at least an order of magnitude more challenging than I had anticipated. I went from leading the race to wondering if I was going to make the time cut-off.
Fortunately, though, a number of things happened within the next few miles of the race that really boosted my confidence. First, Zach Morrey (Blue Ridge Cyclery) caught and passed me. Then Rob Spreng (Dirty Harry's) passed me, too. But Rob passed me shortly before the singletrack turned uphill. So I caught and passed him on one of the uphill sections of singletrack. Then when it turned downhill again, Rob caught up to me and passed me again. We ended up settling into a nice rhythm this way for a long time. He made it to the deep water crossing a few seconds before I did and we were joking about it afterwards that the creek was much deeper than we had expected. The singletrack turned uphill and so I left Rob for a while and eventually caught back up to Zach. I left him on the next long climb and then that is when I ran out of water. I was still ahead of Rob and Zach after leaving the aid station, but they both caught and blew past me shortly after the skies opened up and the heavy downpour turned the singletrack section that I had enjoyed on the first lap and was looking forward to on the second lap into a muddy mess. The mud didn't seem that slippery, but with several more events on my racing calendar this year I wasn't taking any chances with all the collar-bone breaking roots and rocks just laying there on the ground waiting to be fallen on.
The rain stopped fairly quickly, but it was 30 minutes of single track riding before it started to dry out. I caught Rob during the final double track climb up to the gravel road (FS-28) that would eventually take us back to the paved road leading to the winery. I was so elated to be on my way back and to have survived all the singletrack that I absolutely crushed the gravel road and paved road back to the winery. In fact, I was closing in on Zach on the paved road, but as I watched him turn into the winery I knew it was all over to try to catch him b/c of the last technical bits in the winery – which had turned pretty slippery after all the 50 milers and the first 12 100 milers had ridden it. Still it was fun to come flying up the last hill to the cheers of my beautiful wife. What an amazing adventure and what a great experience!
Shortly after finishing with Zack Morrey (Blue Ridge Cyclery) and Chris Peariso (Adventure 212).


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Getting regular aerobic exercise does wonders for your health, decreasing the risk of obesity and diabetes, strengthening the cardiovascular system and perhaps even staving off Alzheimer's disease. The problem is that many people aren't getting the maximum benefit from their cardio workouts because they're either using the machines wrong or failing to pace their exercise correctly.
If you're using an elliptical machine, for instance, don't set the resistance so high that you can't work out comfortably without leaning on the machine for support. "Hunching over or using a death grip on the machine handrail because your incline or resistance is too high for you cheats your body and can throw off your alignment, jarring your spine, shoulders and elbows," says Scott Danberg, the director of fitness at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami.
He suggests challenging yourself enough that it's a tough workout but not so much that you can't use a natural gait with a light grip while you're on the machine; this goes for any cardio machine. For a harder workout on the elliptical, Danberg says you can hold on lightly with one hand and move the other arm, switching arms periodically. "Save the reading for after your workout so you can focus on good form," he says.
(MORE: Prescription for Type 2 Diabetes: Cardio Plus Weights)
If you're staying on cardio machines for too long, that may mean you're not working hard enough. "Decreasing time and increasing resistance can shave off half of your cardio routine," says Sara Haley, a Global Reebok master trainer and independent fitness consultant.
Also, try mixing up your routine. If you're a die-hard treadmill jogger, Haley recommends adding high-intensity machines like the rower or the Jacob's Ladder to your routine; these machines make cardio more efficient by working more muscle groups and burning more calories.
"Employing different planes of motion with lateral trainers like the Ultraslide and the Helix also prevent people from working the same muscles over and over," says Haley. Diversifying your workout will ensure you give all your muscles some love.
MORE: When Mom Exercises in Pregnancy, Her Baby's Heart Benefits


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Greg Hurst
With products like Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram Demonstrations Project, and CDF, Wolfram Research brings algebra into the twenty-first century. This Wolfram Technology for STEM Education: Virtual Conference for Education talk showcases these great products and demonstrates their use in a classroom setting.
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In 1974, Phillip Kunz and his family got a record number of Christmas cards. In the weeks before Christmas they came daily, sometimes by the dozen. Kunz still has them in his home, collected in an old photo album.
"Dear Phil, Joyce and family," a typical card reads, "we received your holiday greeting with much joy and enthusiasm ... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's. Love Lou, Bev and the children."
The cards from that year came in all shapes and sizes, but the basic message was the same. The writers wanted Kunz to know that he and his family were cared for, and also they wanted to share their own news. They included pictures of family members and new homes and smiling graduates with freshly minted diplomas.
It all seems pretty normal, except for one thing: Kunz didn't know any of them.
Kunz was a sociologist at Brigham Young University. Earlier that year he'd decided to do an experiment to see what would happen if he sent Christmas cards to total strangers.
And so he went out and collected directories for some nearby towns and picked out around 600 names. "I started out at a random number and then skipped so many and got to the next one," he says.
To these 600 strangers, Kunz sent his Christmas greetings: handwritten notes or a card with a photo of him and his family. And then Kunz waited to see what would happen.
"It was just, you know, a shot in the dark," he says. "I didn't know what would happen."
But about five days later, responses started filtering back — slowly at first and then more, until eventually they were coming 12, 15 at a time. Eventually Kunz got more than 200 replies. "I was really surprised by how many responses there were," he says. "And I was surprised by the number of letters that were written, some of them three, four pages long."
Why would someone send a three-page letter to a complete and total stranger?
Why did so many people write him back at all?
Following Rules
Robert Cialdini is an emeritus psychologist at Arizona State University who studies how our behavior is affected by social rules that we're only vaguely aware of but which have incredible power over what we do. What happened to Kunz, he explains, is the direct result of one of the rules that most interest him: the rule of reciprocation. The rule, he says, is drilled into us as children.
"We are obligated to give back to others, the form of behavior that they have first given to us," he says. "Essentially thou shall not take without giving in return."
And so if someone passes you in the hall and says hello, you feel compelled to return their greeting. When you don't, you notice it, it makes you uncomfortable, out of balance. That's the rule of reciprocation.
"There's not a single human culture that fails to train its members in this rule," Cialdini says.
This is probably because there are some obvious benefits to the rule of reciprocation; it's one of those rules that likely made it easier for us to survive as a species.
But what's interesting about all this is how psychologists like Cialdini can actually measure the way the rule affects how we behave in all sorts of situations.
Exhibit A: those little pre-printed address labels that come to us in the mail this time of year along with letters asking for donations.
Those labels seem innocent enough, but they often trigger a small but very real dilemma. "I can't send it back to them because it's got my name on it," Cialdini says. "But as soon as I've decided to keep that packet of labels, I'm in the jaws of the rule."
The packet of labels costs roughly 9 cents, Cialdini says, but it dramatically increases the number of people who give to the charities that send them. "The hit rate goes from 18 to 35 percent," he says. In other words, the number of people who donate almost doubles.
You can see the same thing when it comes to tipping.
If a server brings you a check and does not include a candy on the check tray, you will tip the server whatever it is that you feel the server deserves. "But if there's a mint on the tray, tips go up 3.3 percent," Cialdini says.
According to Cialdini, the researchers who did that study also discovered that if while delivering the tray with the mint the server paused, looked the customers in the eye, and then gave them a second mint while telling them the candy was specifically for them, "tips went through the roof."
Servers who gave a second mint got a 20 percent increase over their normal tip.
Many decades ago Cialdini noticed a similar phenomenon when he studied Hare Krishnas in the U.S. He says that in the late 1960s the religion was really struggling financially; it seemed strange to many Americans, so it was hard for them to raise money.
But then they hit on a solution. In airports (and other public places), they would simply give the people passing by what they described as a gift: a flower, a book, a magazine. Then, after the person had the gift in his or her hand, they would ask for a small donation. Cialdini says he spent days in different airports observing these transactions, watching as recipients struggled to come up with the right solution.
"You would see many of them with frowns on their faces reach into a pocket or a purse, come up with a dollar or two, and then walk away angry at what had just occurred," recalls Cialdini. But they would give, he believes, because of the rule of reciprocation. For years, he says, the Hare Krishna religion raised millions of dollars this way.
Reciprocating Influence
There are really dozens of ways that the rule of reciprocation affects us, some of them good, some of them bad. For example, politicians, like the rest of us, are subject to the rule of reciprocation. And so when organizations or interest groups give them money, though they might believe that money won't influence their decisions, it's sometimes hard for them, as it is for us, to be immune.
Cialdini believes you can also see the rule operate in the medical profession.
"You find doctors more willing to prescribe medication based on what gifts, favors and tips they have been given by one pharmaceutical company or another," he says.
This doesn't mean that the rule of reciprocation affects all of us all of the time. Cialdini says different situations trigger different people differently.
But it is powerful. One of those invisible powerful things that can subtly shape how we behave even years after someone has given us something.
Consider the case of Phillip Kunz, the sociologist who decided to send Christmas cards to random strangers.
For years his family got cards from the people he contacted in 1974.
"We got cards for maybe 15 years," he says.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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This April 17, 2013 video frame grab reviewed by the U.S. Military, barb wire surrounds the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. Prison officials opened the prison to journalists, portraying the atmosphere as tense but under control at this detention center. (AP)
© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
GOP-Controlled House Ignores Veto Threat From WH, Passes Sweeping $638B Defense Bill That Would Limit Obama's Power
June 14, 2013
"We floated this out, they said they support it, and they've been lobbying to get votes for it."
WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) -- Ignoring a White House veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted 315-108 for a sweeping, $638 billion defense bill on Friday, which would block President Barack Obama from closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and limit his efforts to reduce nuclear weapons.
The legislation also imposes new punishments on members of the armed services found guilty of rape or sexual assault as outrage over the crisis in the military has galvanized Congress.
Credit: Getty Images
The House bill containing the provisions on sex-related crimes that the Obama administration supports as well as the detention policies that it vigorously opposes must be reconciled with a Senate version before heading to the president's desk. The Senate measure, expected to be considered this fall, costs $13 billion less than the House bill - a budgetary difference that also will have to be resolved.
The defense policy bill authorizes money for aircraft, weapons, ships, personnel and the war in Afghanistan in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 while blocking the Pentagon from closing domestic bases.
Shocking statistics that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year and high-profile incidences at the service academies and in the ranks pushed lawmakers to tackle the growing problem of sexual assault. A single case of a commander overturning a conviction - a decision that even Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel couldn't change - drove Congress to act swiftly.
Both the House and Senate were determined to shake up the military's culture in ways that would ensure victims that if they reported crimes, their allegations wouldn't be discounted or their careers jeopardized.
"This is a self-inflicted wound that has no place in the military," Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both legs and partial use of an arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq, told her colleagues in the final moments of debate on Friday.
The House bill would require a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for a member of the armed services convicted of rape or sexual assault in a military court.
Officers, commissioned warrant officers, cadets and midshipmen convicted of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy or attempts to commit those offenses also would be dismissed. Enlisted personnel and noncommissioned warrant officers convicted of similar crimes would be dishonorably discharged.
The bill also would strip military commanders of the power to overturn convictions in rape and sexual assault cases and eliminate the five-year statute of limitations on trial by court-martial for sexual assault and sexual assault of a child.
Duckworth and several other Democratic women made a last-ditch effort to change the bill to allow a victim to choose whether the Office of Chief Prosecutor or the commander in the victim's chain of command decides whether the case would go to trial. They argued that the bill did not go far enough.
Their effort failed, 225-194, but in an emotional moment on the House floor, a wheelchair-bound Duckworth received kisses, hugs and handshakes after her plea.
The bill also includes a provision requiring the military services to use a single combat uniform. There are now 10 different camouflage uniforms that have cost taxpayers close to $10 million over the last decade, according to Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Ill., who pushed for the measure.
Rather than cut military and civilian personnel due to automatic budget cuts, Enyart has argued for a "joint" uniform as a cost-saving measure.
Despite last-minute lobbying by Obama counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, the House soundly rejected Obama's repeated pleas to shutter Guantanamo. In recent weeks, the president implored Congress to close the facility, citing its prohibitive costs and its role as a recruiting tool for extremists.
This April 17, 2013 video frame grab reviewed by the U.S. Military, barb wire surrounds the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. Prison officials opened the prison to journalists, portraying the atmosphere as tense but under control at this detention center. Credit: AP
A new hunger strike by more than 100 of the 166 prisoners protesting their conditions and indefinite confinement have prompted the fresh calls for closure. Obama is pushing to transfer approved detainees - there are 86 - to their home countries and lift a ban on transfers to Yemen. Fifty-six of the 86 are from Yemen.
"They represent some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world," said Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., who argued that Yemen as a destination made no sense since it is home to an active al-Qaida affiliate.
Countering her argument, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said the nation's intelligence experts have determined that the detainees are an acceptable risk for release and hardly a grave threat to the country.
"Holding them forever is un-American," he said.
The senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Smith said U.S. maximum security prisons are perfectly capable of holding terrorists, with some 300 terrorists, including some of the most notorious, currently incarcerated.
The House voted down Smith's amendment to close the naval detention center by Dec. 31, 2014, on a 249-174 vote. It also backed Walorski's amendment to stop the president from transferring any detainees to Yemen. That vote was 236-188.
Smith said his staff worked with the White House to win votes for the amendment.
"We floated this out, they said they support it, and they've been lobbying to get votes for it," he said just before the vote.
The restrictions in the House bill put it at odds with the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The Senate Armed Services Committee's bill gives the Defense Department additional flexibility to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. and other countries, with the objective of closing the detention facility there.
But, in a move that reflects deep divisions on Capitol Hill over Guantanamo's future, the committee did not hold votes on the provision in the bill, opting instead to have that debate when the legislation moves to the Senate floor.
In its current form, the Senate committee's legislation would permit transfer of terror suspects to the U.S. if the Pentagon determines that doing so is in the interests of national security and that any public safety issues have been addressed, the committee said Friday in a statement detailing the bill's major provisions.
Detainees could be moved to foreign countries if they are determined to no longer be a threat to U.S. security, the transfers are pursuant to court orders, or the individuals have been tried and acquitted, or have been convicted and completed their sentences.
Transfers to third countries also could occur if the Pentagon determines the move supports U.S. national security interests and steps have been taken "to substantially mitigate the risk of the detainee re-engaging in terrorist activities," the committee said.
There are still restrictions, "but there is greater flexibility provided," Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told reporters Thursday night. But the committee's senior Republican, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said he would fight to have the transfer authority stripped out of the committee's bill when it comes to the Senate floor this fall.
Inhofe called Guantanamo "a great asset, a great resource" that needs to stay open.
During two-plus days of House debate, defense hawks prevailed over fiscal hawks as the House rejected two attempts to cut the overall amount of spending authorized in the bill. Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland joined forces with Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina to trim $5 billion that the Armed Services Committee had added to the bill for war costs.
Mulvaney argued that "simply spending more money than the Defense Department asks for doesn't mean we're stronger on defense." Van Hollen called the money a "slush fund."
The House also rejected a measure by Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., to cut $53 million that the Army National Guard spends for World Wrestling Federation and NASCAR sponsorships. McCollum had argued that as the military bemoans the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, the money could be better spent elsewhere.
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The Greek word ευχολόγιον literally means "book of prayers." The Slavonic word Trebnik literally means "book of needs." This type of service book varies widely in contents and arrangements. The most comprehensive edition is the Ευχολόγιον το Μέγα or Great Euchologion contains the prayers of the priest, deacon, and reader for Vespers, Orthros, and the Divine Liturgy; the six remaining sacraments, and other services of blessings (which in the west are often referred to as sacramentals).
The Slavonic Great Book of Needs consists of two parts:
- The sacraments and other sacred rites, which accompany a man from birth and counsels him at his departure into eternity.
- Short prayers for various needs. There is also a calendar and the "Alphabetic Classification of Names," the latter being a list of Christian names.
There are also a variety of more concise editions, that contain only the most commonly done of these services. These texts are often called the Small Euchologion (mikron euchologion), and usually contains the forms for the mysteries (sacraments) other than the Eucharist and ordination, and other common services.
The Small Book of Needs is excerpted from the Great Book of Needs for the purpose of convenience, in order to have a small book for the performance of needs, especially those needs which must be served outside the temple.
There is also a Supplemental Book of Needs in Slavonic, which contains within services such as the orders for the consecration of a temple and the consecration of things pertaining to the temple, such as the church utensils, vestments, icons, and so forth. This Supplemental Book of Needs is often combined into one book with the Small Book of Needs.
What distinguishes the services found in the Euchologion is that they are generally services that are not appointed to be done at any given time according to the Church calendar, but are done as the need arises (e.g., funerals, weddings, baptisms, the consecration of a new church, etc.). Some services are associated with the liturgical calendar, however, such as the blessing of candles on the Feast of the Presentation, the blessing of Palms on Palm Sunday, etc.
The Ieresky Molitvoslov contains some services that are considered Trebnik services, however, this is more of a devotional book for priests than a service book for public services.
In English, there are various editions of the Small Euchologion, but only one (4 volume) edition of the entire Euchologion, published by St. Tikhon's Seminary Press under the title The Great Book of Needs. This collection of the Trebnik services attempts to organize these services in a more logical sequence than the Slavonic Trebnik has been historically published in.
Volume One contains the services associated with the 7 sacraments.
Volume Two contains services for the sanctification of Ecclesiastical items, icons, crosses, etc; and services associated with the liturgical year.
Volume Three contains prayers for various needs, general blessings, and services connected with death, funerals, burials, and commemorations of the departed.
Volume Four contains Moliebens, services of supplication, and other services of blessing.
Br. Isaac Lambertsen has also done a translation of the entire Slavonic Trebnik, as well as services that are unique to the Greek Euchologion, but due to the publication of the Book of Needs by St. Tikhon, the publication of his translation has been put on hold indefinitely.


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After last week's discussion of novelty-print dresses, I decided to give the whole thing a try. I'd been working up a muslin of Simplicity 2444, and figured this would be the perfect chance to try it out in an inexpensive fabric.
Once I had the bodice sewn up, I was struck with design inspiration for the back.
I had seen this detail on a Bettie Page dress and thought it would help break up the print a bit. It was very easy to do, and I plan to outline the construction in another post.
Can I please pat myself on the back for matching up the print across the invisible zipper? That's the pull dangling over the blonde lady's face.
Print placement is obviously important, and I almost ran out of fabric fussing over the layout, even though I had 5 yards. I knew I wanted to get the "Home Sewing Is Easy" banner on the bodice, but not in a weird place.


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I found my sunglasses:
They'd been sitting in there since Monday night.
I live on a quiet street.
Then, after dropping my 17 kids off at child labor summer day camp (their adorable little hands are ideal for making Specialized clothing and accessories), I took a little detour to do some backroads Big Dummy hill climbs while the temperature was still under 90 degrees:
I don't understand the logic of Freds who "train" on crabon bikes with crabon wheels, because where do you go from there? On the other hand, when you spend 90% of your time riding a Big Dummy in flip-flops (fuck yeah, I ride my Big Dummy in flip-flops, it's hot as balls out and I gave up on life years ago), the next time you get on a Fred bike you'll feel faster than an olive oil-drenched Cipo on his way to an orgy.
Yesterday I didn't have my sunglasses and my eyes were burning out of my skull as I attempted to dock a Citi Bike in Brooklyn in the thick of a heatwave. Every week I do the same Citi Bike schlep from Brooklyn Heights to DUMBO (Douches Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), but for the first time my usual dock was full. So was the next closest dock. And so was the next-next closest dock. So now I was stuck with a Citi Bike and nowhere to put it. The Citi Bike app? No help:
By this point I was ready to sell the Citi Bike to a passer-by for $50 and then report my credit card stolen. Suddenly though, I had a stroke of genius: I'll dock the bike at the nearest housing project! The sorts of people who ride Citi Bikes are scared shitless of public housing! Sure enough, there were plenty of docks at that station, though unfortunately I was now nearly as far from my destination as I had been when I checked the Citi Bike out in the first place. Also, I nearly passed out from heat stroke, since immediately after docking the Citi Bike I ran as fast as I could until I saw my first artisanal food truck. Boy, I sure wish they'd finish gentrifying Brooklyn already, because some of these places are scary!
Then, on my way home, I was crossing a one-way street at an intersection with a stop sign when a salmon on a Craigslist Peugeot blasted through it and buzzed me so closely that I could practically feel the frills of his disgusting ass-worn jeanshorts:
He stopped afterwards, which was when I took the above photo. I thought briefly about telling him what he'd just done, but it was just too goddamn hot to get into it and even thinking about it made me tired. So instead I figured I'd just take his picture and make fun of him on the Internet.
Afterwards, I checked out another Citi Bike, and as I rode it I reveled in the fact that I looked nothing like a typical Brooklyn cyclist. No jean shorts, not helmenenent, no messenger bag worn ridiculously high and tight or else ridicuously Sid-Vicious's-bass low like The Green Tank Top Salmon, no brand-new Surly Crosscheck with the reflectors still on it and the handlebars at a weird angle... Just an anonymous schmuck with some corporate advertising between his legs, squinting in the blazing sun because he's lost his sunglasses.
I guess what I'm saying is that I love cycling and I love the cyclists of New York, but they're also huge doofuses, so I want to do everything in my power to disassociate myself from them short of not actually riding a bicycle--just as the NYPD will do everything in its power to stomp out cycling, as Leroy inorms me:
Actually, if I want to disassociate myself from the typical Brooklyn cyclist when I'm in Brooklyn maybe I should just dress like Bret--who, a reader informs me, has made the pages of L'Équipe (or at least a website associated with it):
It's almost as if he's riding in the Tour de France itself, and it fills me with joy and pride to see how far he's come since those early days hawking questionable unguents in the pages of VeloSnooze:
By the way, if you're one of the people who have commented or emailed to let me know that Bret (and Bret, Jr.) are featured in the WorkCycles ad over in the right-hand margin, I can assure you I'm aware of it and am in on the joke:
I may have my head up my ass, but I'm not that out of it.
Speaking of the Tour de France, which I'm not following, Klaus of CyclingInquisition is and he tells me that the captain of the FDJ team actually suffers from going-fast-on-his-bike-phobia:
"Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes. I'm afraid of speed. It's a phobia," he confessed.
Wow. In professional cycling, being afraid of going fast on your bike is almost as crippling as being afraid of needles.
In any case, if you're wondering why there hasn't been a French Tour de France winner since Bernard Hinault, this sort of hiring practice could help explain why.
Meanwhile, race leader Chris Froome is carrying a rare African parasite:
Really, it's pretty clever of him to spin this as a handicap when every parasitologist worth his stool collection kit knows the bilharzia parasite is a formidable cyclist and imparts the gift of superhuman speed upon its host:
Expect to find more members of the peloton administering papercuts to themselves and wading through African swamps during the off-season in the coming years.
Lastly, remember the bike-hating Scion commercial that reduces cyclists to "obstacles?"
Well, they've pulled the ad and apologized:
Scion sincerely apologizes to members of the bicycling community that might have been offended by a recent advertisement. It was certainly not our intention to do so as Scion has great respect for bicyclists. Scion is sensitive to your opinion and in response, has made the decision to remove the advertisement.
In other words, they pay an ad agency a fuckload of money to make commercials for them. At no point in the process does it occur to anybody at the ad agency or Scion that maybe calling cyclists "obstacles" is really fucking stupid. Instead, they just put it out there, and then they make it sound like they're doing the consumer a favor by letting them consult on their ad campaigns for free.
Fuck them.
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one car ad in the history of car ads that I can actually get behind:
Maybe Scion's ad can say "For man-boys who like to pleasure themselves while watching 'The Fast and the Furious.'"
They can have that for free.


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PowerArchiver offers hundreds of features, yet remains easy to use, small and fast. Novice users will find a familiar interface complete with tutorial and detailed help, while more experienced users can take advantage of full Explorer integration, multiple encryption methods and advanced compression algorithms.
Here is a brief list of some of the key features found in PowerArchiver:
- Preview Window
- Full Windows Vista Support
- Superior ZIP Support
- 7-Zip Compression
- Multiple Formats Support Including ISO
- New Queue System (Add/Extract/Backup) and PowerArchiver Starter
- Unmatched Security
- Automated Backups
- Guaranteed Compatibility and Explorer Integration
- Compression Profiles
- Useful Tools


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And, by popular demand, the star of the much beloved Microsoft Word program, That Paperclip Guy, gets his own reality show! Don't miss the fun as he and his plucky sidekick Bulbous tour the nation, terrorizing interns!
So, TV fans, pop the popcorn, grab the remote, and get ready to watch reruns on Hulu! Yeah!
Thanks to Joshua W., Courtney S., Cari C., & Cheryl S. for today's Fail Lineup.


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Monday, January 3, 2011
Tolkien's Influence in Pictures
Rather than blather on at length about this topic, I thought a few pictures might make my point far better than anything I could write here.
Before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, these fine fellows were probably the most popular conception of dwarves in a fantasy context. Heck, before Tolkien, the plural "dwarves" wasn't generally used in English, as witnessed by title Disney chose for his film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Opera aficionados might well have been familiar with Nordic dwarves through Wagner but they're nearly all portrayed as evil, grasping semi-monsters rather than serious and honorable (if still avaricious) craftsmen that D&D and wider fantasy have adopted as their own.
Even more dramatic a shift is clear when you look at popular conceptions of elves. Before Tolkien, elves were generally portrayed as diminutive and vaguely comical (or, more rarely, sinister). The tall, noble firstborn of the world have their roots in Norse legend, but, until Tolkien, that conception was definitely a minority one. Now, outside of Santa's workshop, it's nearly impossible to find an "elf" who doesn't look like one of Legolas's kin.
And, of course, these fellows didn't exist at all until Tolkien. They -- and their knock-offs -- are now everywhere.
Certainly, there were lots of "goblins" lurking in the popular imagination before Tolkien, but "orcs" did not. Likewise, the notion of their being a vast horde forged in service to a Dark Lord is nowadays a staple of fantasy literature (and gaming), but it's of relatively recent vintage and, once more, Tolkien is perhaps its most influential source.
I could go on and on illustrating how many fantasy tropes have their origins in Middle-earth, but I hope my point is made simply by selecting four relatively straightforward examples. It might be an exaggeration to say that J.R.R. Tolkien singlehandedly invented modern fantasy, but he is certainly one of its main progenitors, particularly when it comes to the "furniture" of the genre. Tolkien's peoples and creatures have had a profound impact on the imaginations of nearly everyone who's worked in fantasy since the 1960s. It's safe to say that, without him, fantasy would have been a very different thing than what it became. In that sense, we're all in Tolkien's debt and ought to lift a glass in his honor on this day of his birth.
30 comments:
I agree with this assessment.
I also think in today's market, D&D's amalgamation of various fantasy tropes (including Tolkien's) had such an influence on the culture than the core D&D values from the 1970s and 1980s influenced so many other games, comics, and computer games, that these tropes have supplanted Tolkien as a primary source for how we view fantasy races.
Popular Culture has an impact on how we see things. Over the course of last month, I saw some historical documents about Santa Claus and it's interesting how certain images influenced them. Until Coca-Cola started having artists Draw Santa, a lot of interpretations of Santa was as a small, elf or gnome-like figure.
I think the only problem with tropes is how it can be hard to break out of them..I agree with your assessment on Tolkien and fantasy D&D. You did a great and simple summation.
However I do believe Peter Jackson and his movies will be the default "Tolkien" fantasy inspiration. Along with the Harry Potter franchise and various video games.
In general I believe the inspiration for fantasy will now come from visual media and written works will play less and less a role. Which is ironic considering now much more literary fantasy is available in bookstores today compared to the 70s-80s.Gygax's distaste for Tolkien is moot. He wrote the fantasy supplement specifically because players of CHAINMAIL wanted to be able to run the battle of the five armies from the hobbit and stuff from LoTR. Gygax himself participated in these games. The rules that were simplified then into 0d&d (and the man to man melee rules found in CM are more complicated which led in part to 1e segmented combat rounds with the weapon speed section of the 1e DMG cut and pasted directly from CM) themselves come from Tolkien!
A child may rebel and say he cares not for his father, but his own children are still related to grandpappy.
D&D got it's start directly, not just metaphorically, from Tolkien.Having recently reread the original D&D booklets and Greyhawk, I am confident in saying Tolkien was every bit as much an influence as ERB, Jack Vance, and Fritz Leiber. They are all part of the stew that inspired D&D.
Thieves as implemented in Greyhawk are problematic, but I've seen plenty of variants (and they are easy to find in the OSR blogosphere) that have solved the problem.
Tolkien only changed the "popular perception" of elves, dwarves and goblins (orcs) among the fans of fantasy. If you asked an average person on the street what an elf was they are more likely to describe a diminutive fairy-like laborer for Santa than a tall beautiful Quendi of Tolkien lore.I would agree with what UWS said, earlier --- I also wonder if Gygax perhaps felt he HAD to make a big deal of how D&D and Tolkien's books had nothing to do with each other because of legal action against TSR for 'unauthorized use' by the Tolkien estate or Saul Zaentz or whomever. Didn't TSR also publish at least one "unauthorized" Battle of the Five Armies games in the 70s as well?
However, I also believe that once you create something (a book or film or work of art or whatever) and send it out into the world to be 'consumed' by others, it isn't 100% yours anymore. People will apply their own meanings and interpretations and as the creator I think it's a fools errand to think you can stop them or dictate which is or is not valid. It's what I call 'the creator's paradox.' That which is shared is no longer 100% yours.
Even if Gary wasn't thinking of Tolkien when he decided to include axe wielding dwarves, TREE-ents in the forest, furry footed hobbits, evil goblin armies, orc hordes or bow+sword+magic elves, etc., in D&D, that DEFINITELY was the most popular fantasy reference that the rest of us who picked up the rule books were using. And like most works of art/books/movies/etc., D&D is as much or more about what you do with it than it is an item that just sits on the shelf.Saying Gygax had a "distaste" for Tolkien is an exaggeration at best. For LotR, maybe. But Gygax always spoke and wrote warmly of The Hobbit. And I strongly suspect that the claims about Tolkien not strongly influencing D&D were more motivated by legal, aesthetic, or egoistic reasons than factual ones.
Besides shaping the default characteristics of the standard fantasy "races" in D&D (dwarves, elves, halflings), I would identify one somewhat more subtle (but no less essential) contribution that could have only come from Tolkien:
The size and diversity of the adventuring party as it appears in D&D and similar games.
Conan, John Carter, Cugel, Elric and the like all operate either solo or, more commonly, with one or two trusted yet often disposable companions (James Bond still works that way). The adventurers of Merritt and De Camp work in a family/buddy quartet a la the Fantastic Four or the Penvensie children. Only in Tolkien do we see a group which is big enough to be a committee (9 in LotR and 14 in The Hobbit), made of mostly unrelated protagonists (the four hobbits in LotR resemble a Merritt-style sub-group) of different species. If Conan or Cugel meet beings like elves or wizards, it is as antagonists or unearthly beings. Dwarves and elves in folklore and myth are child-stealing Things or mischievous spirits. But in LotR, the races work together and share a basic "good" worldview. The notion that "solo adventures" are an atypical mode of RPGing is a huge departure from the literary ancestors of D&D, and I don't see where else this idea originates, except in Tolkien.Thomas Denmark said, "Tolkien only changed the "popular perception" of elves, dwarves and goblins (orcs) among the fans of fantasy. If you asked an average person on the street what an elf was they are more likely to describe a diminutive fairy-like laborer for Santa than a tall beautiful Quendi of Tolkien lore."
This may have been true a decade ago, but I think after the LotR films and WoW this is probably not the case, and it will become less true every passing year as the consumers of pop culture get older.From a literary perspective, Tolkien represents a very different sort of take on fantasy than the likes of Howard, Leiber, Zelazny, and Anderson. Indeed, the likes of Howard, Lovecraft, and C.A. Smith are of a very different milieu than Leiber, Zelazny, Anderson, Moorcock, et. al.
Gygax likely downplayed Tolkien's influence on the rules set because OD&D was designed for adventures that were much less the perilous quest against overarching, impersonal, nigh-omnipotent evil, but instead immediate and potentially lucrative. Tolkien's characters' driving force was to save the world, everyone else's motivation was to get rich or die trying. I think that's what it is meant when people say, "Tolkien played little (or no) role in the creation of D&D." Yes, elves, dwarves, halflings, and orcs are all drawn from Tolkien, like it or not. However, the adventure design and character motivation is much less so.I really think that if someone who knew absolutely nothing about RPG's and the fantasy genre of literature sat down and read a myriad of authors (Tolkien, Howard, Lovecraft, Lieber, Dunsany, Moorcock, etc.), then was introduced to the original incarnation of D&D, that person would say, "Wow. It's all in there!"
It isn't so much that D&D = Tolkien, it's that Tolkien was an influence on it -- just another slice of the pie.
I'm also reluctant to believe that EGG hated the good professor's writings. I'm sure he downplayed Tolkien's influence in favor of other literary influences, and I'm sure there was a legal purposes for the public dismissal of Tolkien. I'm sure that he enjoyed the literature, but it just wasn't among his favorites.
As James has pointed out, it is quite obvious what Tolkien has done for fantasy "furniture". Don't get me wrong -- I love the good professor's work, but I'm quite sick of every fantasy author out there trying to emulate him. There's more to the genre and to D&D than just Tolkien.- AnonymousJanuary 3, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Re: Tolkien and Japanese prints, you can clearly see that in some of his art. Look at how he treats water, for example, or the original cover of The Hobbit with the Moon seen through clouds.
Re: out to make your fortune, Bilbo's quest plays with that a lot more, and of course it works out for Sam in an unexpected way. But yes, gold has no hold on them, which is why they end up with it. Dave Cesarano said "OD&D was designed for adventures that were much less the perilous quest against overarching, impersonal, nigh-omnipotent evil, but instead immediate and potentially lucrative."
I think this is a caricature of OD&D. It never specified which "sorts" of adventures it was made for. Overarching Quests, Greedy Forays. . . High Fantasy, Swords&Sorcery . . . the game doesn't "side" with either one. Let's not pigeon-hole the game when it never pigeon-holed itself.The thing is, Tolkien influences fantasy even when it is intentionally trying to avoid his influence.
How much did Tolkien influence D&D? How much did Tolkien influence fantasy? In truth, those questions are much less interesting to me than the degree to which D&D has influenced fantasy.
And, in a different vein, the widespread influence of D&D on computerized games. (You find levels, XP, and hp in games that are just about as far from D&D as you can imagine.)I remember thinking, when I first read Gygax's Tolkien-disclaimer, thirty-odd years ago, "Oh ho, here's somebody trying not to get sued for blatantly turning LOTR into a tabletop game without permission." To my eyes D&D was clearly the offspring of LOTR. I thought of it in much the same light as the disclaimers we'd see on various RPGs in later years, telling us that the publishers didn't endorse or recommend the real world summoning of demons, casting of spells, etc.
Over the years, as my reading embraced more of the other sources Gygax mentioned, I could see greater merit to the original disclaimer, but it's still obviously exaggerated. Gygax doth protest too much.
I still wonder to this day whether the primary impetus behind the overblown denial of Tolkien's influence was fear of possible legal action, or Gygax's simmering annoyance that everyone recognized the influence of Tolkien but constantly overlooked the other sources of inspiration he held dear?Besides shaping the default characteristics of the standard fantasy "races" in D&D (dwarves, elves, halflings), I would identify one somewhat more subtle (but no less essential) contribution that could have only come from Tolkien:
The size and diversity of the adventuring party as it appears in D&D and similar games.
I guess you never heard of:
Jason and the Argonauts
Robin Hood and his Merry Men
The Seven Samurai- AnonymousJanuary 4, 2011 at 9:15 PM
The Water Margin, the classic Chinese righteous bandit story, which has 108 Merry Men. :)
ReplyDelete Opera aficionados might well have been familiar with Nordic dwarves through Wagner but they're nearly all portrayed as evil, grasping semi-monsters rather than serious and honorable (if still avaricious) craftsmen that D&D and wider fantasy have adopted as their own.
Even more dramatic a shift is clear when you look at popular conceptions of elves. Before Tolkien, elves were generally portrayed as diminutive and vaguely comical (or, more rarely, sinister). The tall, noble firstborn of the world have their roots in Norse legend, but, until Tolkien, that conception was definitely a minority one. Now, outside of Santa's workshop, it's nearly impossible to find an "elf" who doesn't look like one of Legolas's kin.
The trend of turning fearsome mythical creatures into harmless bogeymen began in the Middle Ages, when the official position of the Church was that such creatures (a) did not exist and (b) were a holdover from heathen times -just a part of quaint stories told by ignorant yokels. Elves and dwarves aren't the only ones. The Cherubim were depicted in ancient art as terrifying gargoyle-like monsters, only to be transformed into chubby babies with wings. Dragons were also given this treatment: Look at most medieval depictions of St. George slaying the dragon and it looks more like he's slaying a scaly dachshund, not some monstrous fire-breathing beast. Giants were also greatly feared, though for the better part of a century they've been best known for selling peas. Don't get me started on what's been done with vampires!suburbanbanshee said...
The Water Margin, the classic Chinese righteous bandit story, which has 108 Merry Men. :)
I should also point out that a common cliche in countless war movies is where a squad or a bomber crew or the crew of a ship is made up of several ethnic groups and classes (at least one stereotypical Southerner, Italian, Polish, Jewish, farm kid from the Midwest, with an Irish sergeant and WASP lieutenant per group) who not only put aside their differences to fight the enemy, but become loyal friends. Depending on when the film was made, they sometimes allow non-whites to join.@Elfdart
I think you're close to the mark. Gary himself said he based the DnD classes on battlefield forces: fighters = infantry, cleric = medic, thief = spy, magic-user = artillery. DnD did evolve out of wargames, after all. I see the roots of the adventure party in Guns of Navarone-style commando teams with diverse skills, backgrounds and ethnicities.
Besides the Water Margin, Chinese literature also has a multiracial monster-battling adventure party featuring a monkey sorcerer/fighter, a pig-man, a river-ogre and a human monk -- the 16th Century novel Journey to the West!What most surprised me when I read The Hobbit was the idea that the protagonist was "A Burglar." The word is used several times and perhaps "thief" as well. And that whole first chapter is all about a party gethering to make plans to go into a dungeon and kill a dragon and get treasure. The "high fantasy" stuff about saving the world that we get in LOTR isn't there.
I don't know when Bilbo Baggins was created compared to the Gray Mouser or other S&S "rogues" but you could consider adding "thief" (in the sense of someone who sneaks around underground looking for lost treasure) to the list of the furnishings JRRT provided.Yes, elves, dwarves, halflings, and orcs are all drawn from Tolkien, like it or not. However, the adventure design and character motivation is much less so.
That's more or less my ultimate position, when push comes to shove. I think Tolkien's biggest influence on D&D (and fantasy generally) is in terms of what I called "furniture," but the underlying ethos of Tolkien's works is largely absent in it.As said above, Tolkien created the word "dwarves", which did (does?) not exist in the English language.
In terms of literary fantasy, aside from the fantasy race furniture James mentions, Tolkien's most ubiquitous legacies are thematic (the quest against the Dark Lord by the beleagured forces of big-G Good) and structual (the fat fantasy epic, with it's trilogy now extended to the 12+ book "cycle"). Modern fantasy as a genre is unthinkable without these - including the many subgenres that now exist, IMO, mostly as a reaction against the trend begun by the professor. Without his decades-long obsession with reconciling his two irreconcilable passions - the Judeo-Christian mythos with the Anglo-Germanic - high fantasy and all its sprawling, brawling, unkempt brood would never have been born in their modern guises.
Re: D&D, I agree with all that James says about D&D's myriad other influences. I think that the party model, however, without which D&D as we know it does not and could not exist, is directly attributable to Tolkien. Of course there are other examples in literature where folks buddy up in groups, but I don't think we need to go to "Jason and the Argonauts" or any other left-field edge-cases to see where D&D got this from.
The Fellowship in Moria, in the book or the movie, is the canonical dungeon-crawl in pre-D&D fantasy literature.