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I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Now it's time for our weekly visit to the Barbershop where the guys talk about what's in the news and what's on their minds. Sitting in the chairs for a shape-up this week are writer Jimi Izrael, with us from Cleveland. Here in our Washington, D.C. studios, sports writer and journalism professor Kevin Blackistone, Corey Dade, contributing editor for The Root, and NPR editor Ammad Omar decided to stick around. What do you know?
AMMAD OMAR, BYLINE: Hey, why not?
JIMI IZRAEL: Ey yo.
MARTIN: Take it away.
OMAR: What's up?
IZRAEL: Thanks, Michel. Hey, fellas. Welcome to the shop. How we doing?
KEVIN BLACKISTONE: Great.
OMAR: All right.
COREY DADE: Thanks, man.
IZRAEL: The crew is all here - K.B....
BLACKISTONE: Right here.
DADE: Yes, sir.
IZRAEL: ...You the man. All right, well, you know what, let's get things started - talking about Sports Illustrated. You know, they dropped a bomb on Oklahoma State University's football program this week. Feels like it could be run by Tony Weiner with all this talk of money, drugs and sex. But...
DADE: Wow.
IZRAEL: All these are allegations - all these are allegations, and allegations are that these things were used to kind of build a winning team. Michel?
MARTIN: Well, I mean - well, let's lay it out and then people can decide whether these are...
IZRAEL: Sure.
MARTIN: ...Allegations or not. George Dohrmann and Thayer Evans, who have a track record in this kind of reporting, said that they interviewed more than a hundred sources, overall, including 64 former players. All of the players they interviewed on the record. And the players say they received envelopes full of cash, professors fixing grades. They had a hostess program, which magically wound up with some high school recruits receiving sexual favors. Not sure quite how that happened.
IZRAEL: Wow.
MARTIN: Here's a clip from Sports Illustrated of former Oklahoma players, William Bell, Marcus Richardson and Kevin White.
WILLIAM BELL: Sex is a main thing for a young man, right. I mean, a lot of people did get persuaded that way.
MARCUS RICHARDSON: Marijuana was very common among players on the team. It was - most of the time, it was given to us for free.
KEVIN WHITE: Might buy a new car or a new TV or a big flat-screen TV or something - get a new sound system in their room. That was what let you know who was getting money from the alumni.
IZRAEL: Wow.
MARTIN: And the whole point of this, Jimi, is to turn this into a winning program. Turn a program that had been a losing program into a winning program and to entice the best players to play there and stay there.
IZRAEL: Sounds like Snoop Dogg was on the board there. Thank you for that, Michel. It's a movie we've all seen before, but maybe not to this depth. K.B., you're around the horn with us today.
BLACKISTONE: Yeah.
IZRAEL: I'm going to go straight to you. You write for ESPN. What do you make of the investigation?
BLACKISTONE: Well, you know, it's apparently a fine piece of reporting. I know one of those guys who did it. But the fact of the matter is, you know, 25 years ago when I arrived in Dallas to write for The Dallas Morning News, it was just before SMU got hammered for a second time and got shut down for a year for having a pay-for-place scheme for players that, in fact, was sanctioned by the governor of the state of Texas. You know, you showed up on Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever, walked into the secretary's office, got your envelope and carried on about your business.
So the bottom line is, this is nothing - none of this is new in college athletics, particularly, in the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball. And back then, I was shocked and amazed. And at this point, I'm not. And you know what, this story, unfortunately, kind of deflects the attention from what's the real story in college athletics, and that is it being the most unethical business practice on the face of America right now. Where you have the average salary for a college football coach being closer to $2 million than not, where you have football programs pulling in $100 million in revenue and where you have players being remunerated with room, board, tuition and a pat on the back.
IZRAEL: Wow. Thank you. Corey Dade, we know you played some college ball, right? Do you even think it's possible to run a clean but winning program?
MARTIN: You're talking about the top levels. You mean a clean program that's Division I. Is that's what you're talking about?
IZRAEL: Yep.
MARTIN: People who are going to play in the pros. You're not talking about, you know...
DADE: Yeah. Division I, especially Division I-A. It's virtually impossible. It's virtually impossible. You know, to paraphrase Charles Baudelaire, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
OMAR: Oh, awesome.
DADE: We are still in America under this, you know - under this fantasy that this is about amateur athletics, the sort of edification of young men and women trying to, you know, strive for the best and get their education at the same time. That's a joke. As Kevin just talked about it, it's been a joke for years. You know, this - what I like about this series, it shows the systemic issue here. This is not just about players and coaches. This is about educators, boosters, companies - this is a billion-dollar industry, a billion-dollar industry.
BLACKISTONE: Yep.
DADE: And, you know, there's so many different people, including the media who are complicit because their livelihoods depend upon it. And, you know, I don't know what else to say other than, why is anybody surprised?
IZRAEL: Wow, America, you will never hear Baudelaire quoted in your barbershop. Pop that collar, my dude, pop that collar. A.O., Ammad, weigh in as a fan.
OMAR: Yeah, so...
IZRAEL: Does any of this shock you?
OMAR: No, it doesn't. And like Kevin was saying, a few years ago, this stuff might have shocked you. But I think the most telling thing this week was there was this big five-part Sports Illustrated series, and on the day where part two came out, Yahoo Sports came out with their own investigation that guys at 'Bama and Tennessee and Mississippi State all got paid off.
BLACKISTONE: Yep.
OMAR: And it's interesting because one of the guys mentioned Alabama is their former offensive tackle DJ Fluker. He tweeted a couple months ago after he left that, yeah, I got paid, so what? And then he pulled the Anthony Weiner defense a couple days later like, no, my Twitter got hacked, that wasn't really me.
DADE: Right.
IZRAEL: Yeah.
OMAR: And, you know, the bottom line is that these guys, you know, a lot of them, like DJ Fluker - he was reportedly homeless after Katrina and didn't have a lot of money - you come into this area where there are literally millions and millions of dollars floating about. People are obsessed. The 15 biggest football stadiums in this country aren't pro stadiums - they're college football stadiums. These guys are going to get money unless the NCAA changes things around. It's just an economic fact, really, at this point.
DADE: And the biggest stadium, I will add, is the one where Ammad Omar is from, the University of Michigan.
OMAR: Yes. I was there on Saturday. Holds 15,000...
MARTIN: He was just there on Saturday? Didn't you pick him out?
IZRAEL: Thank you, Corey.
MARTIN: Didn't you see him? Didn't you see him out there?
IZRAEL: Thank you, Corey.
OMAR: But we're clean, for the record.
DADE: Oh, but of course.
MARTIN: Well...
IZRAEL: Uh-oh.
MARTIN: OK, but why are we still talking about this whole business about paying for players? Why is this still a conversation because, apparently, we are paying players.
BLACKISTONE: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I don't have a problem...
MARTIN: So why are we still on this conversation, where kids get sanctioned for selling a signed jersey?
BLACKISTONE: And that's the point. It has obfuscated the issue here. The issue is, it is time to treat these players as what they are, which is employees of the University.
DADE: That's right.
BLACKISTONE: I'm beyond talking about playing them. I'm talking about paying them, giving them health benefits, treating them like anybody else on the campus. That's what needs to be done.
MARTIN: Just for the record, what does the university say about this, Kevin?
BLACKISTONE: The university has pointed out that a number of those players they got rid of. They're disputing a lot of the findings, so forth and so on.
OMAR: Yeah.
MARTIN: Ammad?
OMAR: And the university also issued a statement apologizing but not admitting guilt...
BLACKISTONE: Right.
OMAR: ...Which is my favorite kind of apology.
DADE: Shocker.
OMAR: That never works for me, when I apologize but don't admit guilt. But, hey.
IZRAEL: OK. Well, we're not going to go there, A.O. But, you know, while we got you on the mic.
MARTIN: Word to all of you, it doesn't work.
IZRAEL: While we got you on the mic, A.O., we got to talk about this $100,000 hit that your home team, the Detroit Lions, caught. It's the highest fine ever for an on-field infraction, bro. A, what's up, man? What happened?
OMAR: Yeah. I mean, I might be being a homer on this, Ndamukong Suh, the defensive lineman for the Lions, on an interception return did a little crack-back, cut-block kind of thing against a member of the Minnesota Vikings. And if you read the reports afterwards, you might've thought he pulled out a knife and stabbed the guy on the field, like, this is the dirtiest play we've ever seen.
It wasn't that dirty, in my opinion, but this guy has a reputation for being dirty in the league - is really trying to say that we're looking out for player safety and we're looking after this guy - we're looking out for this guy who's been suspended and fined more times than I can count. But real quick, Lions fans, I think, there's a point where they say, when you've got a defensive tackle, you kind of want him a little bit violent. You'd rather have him on that side of the line than on the clean side of the line. So I think that's the balancing act that's going on right now.
MARTIN: Kevin, what do you thing?
BLACKISTONE: Well, you know, Ndamukong Suh has a reputation that, unfortunately, he's built for himself. He has villainized himself not only in the eyes of the league, not only the eyes of fans, but also in the eyes of his comrades within the NFL players union who, in a couple of polls, have voted him over the past couple of years, the most - the dirtiest player in the league. So he had that going for him.
My only problem with this - the heft of the fine is the disingenuousness in part on the part of the league, given that you are still talking about a generation of football players who have been inculcated over the years through the promotion, marketing, commercialization of gratuitous violence by the NFL itself. And all of a sudden now because of lawsuits, primarily, you want to flip the switch overnight and get them to play by these new rules. And in fact, the rule that Ndamukong Suh broke in this instance was a brand new rule put in just in the off-season.
DADE: Right.
BLACKISTONE: So that's my only problem with it.
DADE: Right, there has to be a cycle through which these players are coached differently and they're drilled differently.
BLACKISTONE: Yep.
DADE: When they're on the field, they're not necessarily thinking that much. They're playing on instinct through muscle memory. And that particular kind of block, that's muscle memory. Now I'm not excusing it. The biggest issue is that the Detroit Lions as a team are the most highly penalized team in the NFL. Jim Schwartz is - this is the kind of thing that Jim Schwartz is on the hot seat for. He may lose his job at the end of this season if they're not winning. They're an undisciplined team and that's the bigger problem.
OMAR: Definitely true.
MARTIN: If you're just joining us, you're listening to our weekly Barbershop roundtable. We're joined by writer Jimi Izrael, journalist Kevin Blackistone, Ammad Omar and Corey Dade. Back to you, Jimi.
IZRAEL: Thanks Michel. OK. Let me see if I still got...
MARTIN: Let's hear it.
IZRAEL: That old...
MARTIN: That's pretty weak.
IZRAEL: Yeah, yeah. I know. I know.
MARTIN: That was very weak.
IZRAEL: Unless you've been under a rock, you know because he's made all the rounds. Arsenio Hall is attempting a comeback. Who remembers this?
IZRAEL: Yes. That's then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton on the saxophone opening the show for Arsenio in those halcyon days of 1992. Arsenio kicked off his new show on the CW this - network this week. We know with a super-secret guest, Paula Abdul and Snoop Dogg. I mean, I'm sorry, Snoop Doggy - Snoop Lion - my bad. You know, and - OK, let me just say, you know, 'cause he's from Cleveland, so I got to give him his points. I guess, I have two problems here that I'm going to try to shrink down. I guess one of my problems is that he spun his narrative to make it about that he dipped out of the public eye to be about fatherhood. His son wasn't born until 1999. His show was canceled, canceled in 1994. So there's that bit. Also, Arsenio's like - you know what - you know what this is?
MARTIN: OK. Is he running for mayor? I'm sorry. What is all this? So what?
IZRAEL: We have to correct the record.
IZRAEL: But, you know, this also like that one time, you know, you got fired from McDonald's and then, like, 10 years later, you decided to go back with your uniform on and your hat and you just showed up for work and nobody called you in, B. And you come in and you want to make a new McLean burger? And you know,
DADE: McLean burger?
IZRAEL: ...You're totally baffled by the McRib. I mean, you're trying to pick up where you left off but nobody asked. Nobody called you back, B. Seriously, what are you doing here? You know, and I'm all - look, look, look, I'm all about the comeback. I'm all about the comeback. But see the problem is, Arsenio picked up, literally - he literally picked up where he left off. But lest we forget, dude, got canceled. Why would you pick up where you got canceled from, my dude? Seriously.
MARTIN: I'm sorry. If you haven't been canceled, you haven't been in broadcasting, if I could just...
OMAR: That's right.
MARTIN: ...Mention that...
IZRAEL: I mean, but having said that...
MARTIN: ...To any of you.
IZRAEL: ...But, OK...
OMAR: That's right.
IZRAEL: So...
MARTIN: All right.
IZRAEL: ...I got two words for you, re-tool.
IZRAEL: Re-tool. Don't pick up from that exact same spot, wearing the exact same suit. No, my dude, come back harder. Seriously, man. Corey Dade - Corey Dade, jump in here, man.
MARTIN: Does anybody like it?
DADE: Hey, hey, Jimi, tell us how you really feel.
OMAR: Yeah, seriously.
IZRAEL: But I love Arsenio, having said all that.
OMAR: Did Jimi get his piece?
DADE: No, I do. I mean, same theme song, same house band name, you know, same Men's Wearhouse suit. I mean, you know...
OMAR: Nothing wrong with that.
DADE: I gave him like two days this week, two days to reminisce about the '90s, and after that it's turn up. You got to turn up, homie. I mean, I'm all for his success. What made him successful back then was that he introduced black culture to American pop culture. Today, American pop culture is black culture. There is no niche that he can fill that's not being filled right now. I mean, Jimmy Fallon's house band is The Roots, a hip-hop band.
BLACKISTONE: Right.
DADE: So the question is, how does he make himself viable now? To me, I think he has the potential to be sort of the TV version of "Tom Joyner Morning Show," you know, his core market is going to be the grown and sexy - the grown and sexy generation.
MARTIN: Why do I feel hurt all of a sudden? I feel I like you're hurting my feelings and I'm not sure why. I don't know.
IZRAEL: That's not even a Men's Wearhouse suit, bro. That's like a Chess King suit. K.B., go ahead, man.
BLACKISTONE: Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, there was a vapor of nostalgia when I turned on the show and checked it out a few times. It was music from the '90s. He was talking about bringing back New Edition and somebody like that. Even down to the low-top hair - low top fade that he was wearing. It really was like that, and I was kind of trying to figure out, like, where is he going to go to with this? Is he going to update this message? But you know what? I'm not even going to call it a comeback 'cause he is picking up where he left off.
IZRAEL: The next guest is going to be Karl Kani.
MARTIN: And Ammad's really quick 'cause he wasn't old enough to stay up that late when Arsenio was on the last time, right.
OMAR: I mean, I'm not hurt by that. I'm not young. Let me just say, I don't get carded when I go out anymore. I'm in my thirties, balding, but when Arsenio was canceled, it was past my bedtime. I had to get my Trapper Keeper ready to rollerblade to fourth grade the next day. But I think even with people my age, there're definitely a little bit interest there and the ratings bear that out. He's actually done pretty well this first week.
MARTIN: Exactly. Could we throw that out there, haters. Haters. Boomer haters - all of y'alls.
IZRAEL: Everybody wants to see you your first time out, you know, when it's been a while, so.
MARTIN: All of y'alls, boomer haters. I don't even know why. Look in the mirror, you. All right, it's been a week full of just - very, very briefly - week full of news. George Zimmerman is in trouble again. Police were called on a domestic violence issue. Anthony Weiner had an interesting sign-off from politics in his mayor's race in New York. Vladimir Putin took on The New York Times editorial page. Now our fellow barbershoper, Arsalan Iftikhar, is not here this week. He usually bestows the ri-donk-uloust of the week award. Since he's not here, Ammad, I have to ask, who do you think gets the award this week?
OMAR: I've got to give it to Mr. Vladimir Putin - the op-ed he wrote in The New York Times. It's been a tough few weeks for President Obama over this whole Syria situation. He hasn't gotten the support of Congress or the U.N. or NATO or anyone. And after all that, Vladimir Putin, you know, kind of drops the mic and kicks him when he's down, and says, you know - and he ends it with this little bit about American exceptionalism, saying that's a dangerous idea. America, you're not that exceptional. Thank you. I'm out.
BLACKISTONE: Yeah, I will second that emotion. You know, Putin had the timidity to try and suggest to this country and this president what to do in Syria after we know what he's done to his own people, particularly in Chechnya over the years. So I'm trying to figure out, where is this coming from?
MARTIN: Corey?
DADE: You know, if I mention Anthony Weiner or George Zimmerman, I'm going to have to take a shower after this. So I've already had my shower for the morning. I got to go again with the guys, Putin. I mean, he's poppin' wheelies on the White House lawn. You know, it's just smacks of hubris, you know, for Russia to weigh in here. The truth of the matter is, you know, this is the first time Russia has been relevant in years on an international issue as far as diplomacy.
MARTIN: They have a vote on the Security Council.
DADE: Yeah, but they've not been...
MARTIN: And they have nuclear weapons. All right, well.
DADE: Yeah.
MARTIN: There it is. I got you. I got you. Jimi, very quickly, one word. Who's yours?
IZRAEL: Tony Weiner.
IZRAEL: Hip-hop salute. Don't hate. Don't hate.
MARTIN: Jimi Izrael is a writer and culture critic. He's adjunct professor of film and social media at Cuyahoga Community College, with us from NPR member station WCPN in Cleveland. Here in Washington, D.C., Kevin Blackistone, sports columnist and professor at University of Maryland - Corey Dade, contributing editor for The Root, and Ammad Omar, one of NPR's finest, our editor with our program. Thank you all so much.
OMAR: Thank you.
BLACKISTONE: Thank you.
DADE: Thank you.
IZRAEL: Yep.
MARTIN: And remember, if you can't get enough Barbershop buzz on the radio, look for our Barbershop podcast. That's in the iTunes Store or at NPR.org. That's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News and the African-American Public Radio Consortium. Let's talk more on Monday. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Also, the retail establishments are full of that Midwestern "can-do" spirit:
I am completely ignorant of "gun culture" and thus have no idea what a "conceal carry class" entails, though I assume it covers how to shove a pistol into your waistband without shooting off your "pants yabbies." In any case, it's comforting to know that if I'm overcome with homesickness I can drown my sorrows in a quart or two of wonton soup and then cry myself to sleep while clutching an egg roll.
Oh, and there's even what appears to be some sort of bicycle superhighway:
This is where we'll be meeting at 4:00 today for a ride over to the University of Minnesota Bookstore for my BRA, and I hope you will come out and join me. (Please leave your guns at home, unless it's more dangerous around here than I think it is, in which case please bring your guns with you and protect me.)
Moving on, yesterday I mentioned the Gent-Wevelwhatever bike race, and I'm sorry I didn't actually watch it because Klaus of Cycling Inquisition has informed me that if I had watched it I might have seen this:
(You have to click on it.)
Speaking of women in cycling, how to get more women on bikes is a popular subject among the advocacy set. Now, I'm not a woman, but I've met a few, and I've come to the conclusion that besides the various glands and stuff men and women really aren't all that different. Sure, men love manly stuff like guns and cinderblocks, whereas women love womanly stuff like pretty guns and cinderblocks upholstered in velvet, but when it comes down to it we mostly have the same needs. In particular, we are all born with a strong desire to not get hurt or killed. For this reason, I believe that the less likely it is you'll get hurt or killed on a bike, the more likely it is people will ride one, regardless of genitalway. Therefore, we should just make the streets safer and be done with it, right?
The only problem is that this solution does ignore one crucial difference between men and women, which is that men are far more likely than women to come up with dumb ideas--especially when those ideas involve anything mechanical. That's why the latest phase of the Gates Belt Drive Anti-Bicycle Chain Conspiracy involves foisting them on women, as I've learned from their latest press release:
For Immediate Release
Gates Carbon Drive™ Reaches out to Women with Videos that Highlight the Clean, Low-Maintenance Advantages of Belt Drive Bikes
Marketing initiative aimed at recruiting new cyclists seeking bikes they can jump on and ride, minus the grease
(Denver, March 26, 2012) – To encourage more women and non-cyclists to ride bicycles, Gates Carbon Drive™ has launched a "Get Belted" video campaign that highlights the clean and low-maintenance advantages of belt drive bikes.
The videos, which can be seen at the Gates Carbon Drive channel on YouTube, show the lifestyle benefits of riding a bike with Gates Carbon Drive. The first video, "High Maintenance Boyfriend," pokes fun at the greasy mess of chains and features a female cyclist who comes home to find a trail of grime left by her filthy bike mechanic boyfriend.
The second video, "Built to Last," highlights the longevity of belt drives (they typically last twice as long as chains) and shows a young mother taking her toddler, who transforms into an adolescent, for a spin in a tow-trailer.
The message: thanks to its cleanliness and longevity, Gates Carbon Drive makes cycling easier and more appealing. "Gates hopes to eliminate some of the barriers to cycling by helping to create low-maintenance bikes that people can just jump on and ride, with no pre-ride lube or work required," says Frank Scurlock, global business development director for Gates Carbon Drive Systems.
"Belt drives offer distinct advantages for time-stressed people," says Todd Sellden, global director of Gates Carbon Drive Systems. "We believe that Carbon Drive is a technology that can get more people riding bikes for health, fitness, and environmental benefits."
Will this automotive accessory manufacturing concern stop at nothing to take over our tiny little human-powered industry? First they tried the "high performance" thing with singlespeed mountain bikes and the NAHBS sponsorship, and now they're trying the whole anti-performance "we love women thing" thing. Yes, only a man could come up with the idea that the one thing standing between women and bikes is a piece of cycling equipment. Sure, women don't want to get their pretty guns and velvet cinderblocks dirty when they ride, but that's why the Almighty Lobster on High created chainguards. Still, it's a highly entertaining piece of anti-chain propaganda:
I particularly enjoyed the squeaky chain sounds they added to the scene in which the doofus with the mustache is cleaning his chainrings:
Gender issues aside, in what universe does a bicycle remain clean, with or without a chain? If you work on a dirty bike you're going to get dirty no matter what kind of drivetrain it has. Even performing maintenance on one of these will make you look like a Victorian chimney sweep if it's ridden often and never cleaned.
But while people may argue about how to get more women into cycling, there's one sure way to drive them out of it, and that's by exposing them to Mario Cipollini. Many people have informed me that Cipollini is now working with a women's cycling team, and the resulting video is filthier than a chain drive on a messenger bike in a Minneapolis winter. This team will be on MCipollini bikes, so naturally the great man was magnanimous enough to give them a chance to be on Mario Cipollini himself, but what he does to these poor women is nothing short of disgraceful:
There's a real lack of explanation in this video, and what you miss are some of the ethnographic subtleties of the mating rituals of the Cipollini alpha male. In Italy, the summoning of a woman of age to the Cipollini domicile is a rite of passage that is cause for both celebration and mourning. While parents are quite proud and send their daughters off with great fanfare, they also know the loss of innocence that awaits her, and so once she departs they wear all black and pray for a month. It is also not uncommon for neighbors and relatives to visit and bring gifts at this time, for they know the daughter will return great with child.
As for the daughters themselves, when a group of women greets the Cipollini, it is customary for them to receive him in an orderly "V" formation:
While the Cipollini himself prepares by performing shirtless index finger warm-up exercises:
Once introduced, the ensuing interactions are highly ritualized. First there is the Supplication:
Then there is the Inspection:
And then, finally, the Selection:
That shoulder tap means only one thing. I shouldn't have to explain what that thing is, but it's very oily, and nine months later there's a child with a full mane of hair and a set of teeth like a whale's baleen.
Of course, modern social conventions require that this primitive ritual takes place under the guise of a team training camp, but it's around this point that some of the more savvy women on the team begin to suspect that Mario Cipollini is not in fact a trained physical therapist:
Nevertheless, he keeps up the ruse. "Cycling comes from the primal rhythmic pulsations of the groin," explains Cipo below:
It sounds much better in Italian. (Actually, pretty much everything sounds better in Italian, including the words, "My team's bike sponsor gave me an STD.")
Here, Cipollini's hands wander to parts of the body that have little or nothing to do with pedal stroke analysis:
Speaking of stroke analysis, here's Cipollini showing exactly how he likes to be stroked:
Whereas this part actually looks worse than it is:
Sure, it may look they're in the process of mating, but Cipollini is merely working out the optimal position for the obligatory "Cipo Was Here" team "tramp stamp."
In any case, once the coupling is complete, Cipollini then mimes the Caressing of the Imaginary Body Parts:
And then they go for a ride during which Cipollini beats them all in a sprint:
Judge if you must, but you only reveal your ethnocentrism.

subset: commoncrawl


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Last night, as I was waiting for my flight in Orlando for my flight back home, all I could think about was the serving of Heidi's Macaroon Tart awaiting me back in Charleston.
I have had a great time teaching at Food Blog Forum on Friday and I can't wait to share pictures and information of what was shared a little later next week. My head is still full and my heart is bursting at the seam. I knew it already, but let me say it again, Food Bloggers Rock! Thanks to Julie who helped plan the whole weekend, I was able to teach a photography and styling workshop today before my flight. Awesomeness again…
Today, I really want to talk about Heidi Swanson's book Super Natural Everyday except everything I want to say never seems enough. Everytime I get a book for review, I make sure to devote a chunk of the week to cook from it. It helps see the thread use by the author to build the book. the stories, the photography. All the dishes I cooked this past week from her book led me down the same path: practical, satisfying, energizing, good and good for the soul.
In one word. I can't wait to cook from it even more. The food is tasty, fresh and Heidi's personality and wonderful soul shows at every turn of the page. A beautiful soul with a wonderful message to share. Good food, made with wholesome ingredients does not have to come in gargantuan portions nor is it difficult or time consuming to make. The flavors in all of Heidi's dishes are a burst of everything that is good with eating and cooking in this world.
And the photography…always loved how Heidi's lets her readers eat with their eyes first. Her photography is authentic and hers. Just as she is. Just as her food.
I emailed her publicist a few days ago and asked if I could hold a giveaway of a copy of Heidi's book for you guys. To my delight, I am happy to be able to share two copies with you guys! If you need a little enticing, check out the recipes for her Shaved Fennel Salad and Macaroon Tart after the jump!
To enter the giveaway:
– leave a comment on this post starting today until Thursday April 14th midnight Eastern time.
– one comment per person
– no anonymous comment please
– two winners will be picked randomly by the hand of the wise, my husband
Note: it may take up to 24 hrs for your comment to appear on the page.
Heidi has this fabulous Buttermilk Cake recipe that she makes with plums but I used Pixie tangerines since they were in season.
I had such a blast cooking, eating and photographing her recipes. I take immense pleasure at shooting other people's recipes and Heidi's was not exception. When it comes from the heart, the photography part becomes a source of intense joy. I hope the next few shots entice you to get her book and start cooking from her book soon.
Shaved Fennel Salad, with permission of Ten Speed Press:
Serves 4 to 6
1 medium large zucchini, sliced into paper thin coins
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed and shaved paper-thin
2/3 cup/.5oz/15g loosely chopped fresh dill
1/3 cup/80ml fresh lemon juice, plus more if needed
1/3 cup/80ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
fine grain sea salt
4 or 5 generous handfuls arugula
honey, if needed
1/2 cup/2 oz/ 60g pine nuts, toasted (I used walnuts)
1/3 cup/2 oz/ 60g/ feta cheese, crumbled
Combine the zucchini, fennel and dill in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice, olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon slat. Set aside and marinate for 20 minutes, or up to an hour.
When you are ready to serve the salad, put the arugula in a large bowl. Scoop all of the zucchini and fennel onto the arugula, and our most of the lemon juice dressing on top of that. Toss gently but thoroughly. Taste and adjust with more of the dressing, olive oil, lemon juice, or salt if needed. If the lemons were particularly tart, you may need to counter the pucker-factor by adding a tiny drizzle of honey into the salad at this point. Let your taste buds guide you. Serve topped with pine nuts and feta.
Macaroon Tart, with permission of Ten Speed Press
Makes 24 bite size servings (I made 2 rectangular tarts with one recipe)
1 1/2 cups/6oz/ 170g white whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup brown rice flour and 1/2 cup millet flour)
3/4 cup/ 2 0z/ 60g unsweetened finely shredded coconut
3/4 cup/ 3.75oz/ 106 g sifted and lightly packed natural cane sugar
Scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
10 tablespoons/5oz/140g unsalted butter, melted
2 cups/50z/140g unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1/2 cup/2.5oz/70g sifted and lightly packed natural cane sugar
4 large egg whites
8 ounces/225g fresh blackberries, halved
1/3 cup/1.5oz/45g pistachios, crushed
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C with a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter an 8×11-inch tart pan (I used two 14×5 ones) and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.
To make the crust, in a large bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar and salt. Stir in the melted butter and mix until dough is crumbly but no longer dusty looking. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan (it should form a solid, flat layer). Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Remove and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the coconut macaroon filling by combining the coconut, sugar, and egg whites. Mix until well combined.
Evenly distribute the blackberries across the tart base. Now drop little dollops of the macaroon filling over the tops of them (dirty up your hands for this part), and mush and press the coconut topping around into the spaces behind the berries. Be sure to let at least some of the colorful berries pop through for visual flair.
bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the peaks of the macaroon filling are deeply golden brown. Let the tart cool, then garnish with the crusted pistachios before slicing into small squares.


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Press Release
EarthCam Presents Exclusive Webcast of New Year's 2004 EarthCam's Online Coverage Includes 7 Cameras Live from Times Square FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, December 31, 2003 -- EarthCam (www.earthcam.com), experts in webcam technology and a leader in webcasting premier events, is proud to announce its 8th annual New Year's webcast (newyears.earthcam.com). Presented by Panasonic (www.panasonic.com), New Year's 2004 will feature live views from 7 Times Square cameras and 9 others located in a select group of worldwide cities that include Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, London, Memphis, Moscow, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. For the second year in a row, EarthCam will offer live coverage of the Panasonic Presents New Year's Eve Times Square Sing-A-Long. The Panasonic Sing-A-Long will be included as part of the streaming video EarthCam will offer live from Times Square beginning at 10:00pm (Eastern). Scheduled to start at 11:15pm (Eastern), visitors to the site will be able to watch the live video and hear the sounds of the Times Square crowd as they unite their voices in a huge chorus to welcome the New Year. Cyndi Lauper will perform and lead the annual Panasonic Sing-A-Long with three songs from her hit new album At Last. Cyndi will begin by entertaining the revelers in Times Square with her soulful performance of At Last, and then, as the words appear on giant Panasonic Astrovision screens, she will invite the revelers to join in singing her amazing renditions of Until You Come Back To Me and Stay. "Since 1996, EarthCam has been webcasting New Year's Eve live from Times Square. At that time, we were excited to be the first online network to do so," said Brian Cury, founder and CEO of EarthCam. "In 2003, we are even more excited about webcasting this annual tradition. We have redesigned and added new features to our site, thus continuing to provide the most extensive coverage for our users." EarthCam, the Official Webcaster of New Year's in Times Square as designated by the Times Square Business Improvement District, will highlight the extensive coverage of the ongoing celebration from the heart of Times Square through its new interactive website. From streaming webcam images to streaming video with audio, EarthCam's feature set includes an interactive cam, panoramas and the ability to email a Times Square postcard to a friend. Viewers to the site will be able to watch Times Square from multiple webcams located in a variety of vantage points in and around Times Square. Additionally, for the fourth year in a row, anyone with a personal PC camera will be able to contribute to the fun by broadcasting their very own New Year's Eve party directly into EarthCam's video chat section of the site.
EarthCam's New Year's 2004 coverage will include: EarthCam's Webcast of the Century in 2000 received an excess of 200 million page views, more than 50 million unique visitors, and served over 80,000 video and audio streams. More recently, EarthCam's New Year's 2003 served over 284,000 video and audio streams. EarthCam.com is the leading network of live webcams and, as the premier webcam portal, offers the most comprehensive search engine of webcams from around the world. EarthCam provides complete infrastructure services to manage, host and maintain live streaming video camera systems for it's corporate clients. Clients include MSN, Yahoo!, Intel, AOL/Time Warner, ESPN, Panasonic, Ford, NASA, Kodak, Toys "R" Us, This Old House and Discovery.com. As the foremost provider of live images on the Internet, EarthCam webcasts events such as the Daytona 500, Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve in Times Square and the Super Bowl for the NFL. WebCamStore.com is EarthCam's full-service e-commerce site dedicated solely to providing webcam solutions. Visit EarthCam at www.earthcam.com. ### |


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As Syrian security forces continue to pound the city of Homs and surrounding areas, "the United States, Europe and Arab countries were set Friday to back a proposal for Syria's president to step aside and allow in humanitarian assistance to end a brutal crackdown against opponents," The Associated Press writes.
The U.S., NPR's Michele Kelemen tells our Newscast Desk, is also "joining European and Arab states [who are] trying to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to allow humanitarian aid into the country."
Clinton is meeting with other diplomats from the "Friends of Syria" coalition in Tunisia.
According to the AP, the diplomats aim to give Assad a "72-hour ultimatum to end the violence and allow in aid" — a demand that "will be backed by as yet unspecified punishments."
Meanwhile, the United Nations has asked former Secretary General Kofi Annan to see if he can negotiate a cease-fire and political transition in Syria.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Whoever said desserts have to be extensively prepared to have the WOW! effect on guests? Do they need to be intricately decorated, with hours or maybe even days of preparation?
I say NO!
I want a dessert to be whipped up, literally, in minutes. I want it to be full of taste and flavor and I want it to use fresh ingredients. I do not want to slog in the kitchen for hours after having doing just that for the main course. And I still want that WOW! effect on my guests faces.
Can all this be true? Is it possible? Or am I selling you dreams.
I say YES! It is true, it is possible and this is a dream. A dream come true!!
This dessert is so perfect in every way that I had to call it a dream cream. It uses the full bodied flavor of fresh raspberries and creamy mascarpone. Paired with the aroma of a vanilla bean and the fluffiness of quark, it becomes just unbeatable. I love the purity of white against the striking red color of the raspberries. It's such a visual treat.
What I truly love in this dessert is the use of fresh organic raspberries. With summer just around the corner my organic store and Farmer's Market is bursting to the seams with a multitude of fresh berries. I cannot even begin to tell you how much we love berries in our household. We literally go through kilos of the stuff. You'll find us adding them to our yogurt, muesli, desserts or just munching on them out of the fridge.
Therefore, in the next few weeks you might just be seeing a lot of great dishes with raspberries, strawberries and co.
Or the "Queen of Berries" as they are called. Himbeere in German, Framboise in French and Lampone in Italian, raspberries are plump, juicy and fragrantly sweet with a slight hint of tartness. They are a perennial summer favorite and have a gorgeous melt-in-your-mouth texture. Raspberries were mentioned by Pliny and had the reputation of being a medicinal plant. It was cultivated and further developed in the Middle Ages, by monks and in the 17th century the red and yellow types of raspberries were already well known.
The raspberry embodies indulgence and health almost ideally. The sweet flavor is only one reason to indulge in the delicate fruit. Rich in vitamin C, folate, iron and potassium, raspberries also provide high amounts of insoluble fiber as well as respectable amounts of the soluble fiber pectin, which helps control cholesterol levels. The fruit is a good source of ellagic acid and other cancer-fighting antioxidants. Since cooking does not destroy these compounds, raspberry jam may also be beneficial. But because the fruit tends to spoil quickly, freeze leftovers to use in cooking. Even the leaves of the raspberry bush are used for medicinal purposes. They have been used by herbalists to treat diarrhea and in midwifery, red raspberry has been connected to female health, including pregnancy. It was considered a remedy for excessive menstrual flow (menorrhagia) and as a "partus prepartor," or an agent used during pregnancy to help prevent complications.
There are more than 200 different known species of raspberries and raspberries contain 10-times more antioxidants than tomatoes or broccoli. Red raspberries are the most common type but there are also golden, amber, and purple berries all similar in taste and texture. Raspberry season begins in June and lasts through October.
Selecting and Storing
Raspberries are extremely perishable and they should therefore, only be purchased one or two days prior to use. Look for berries that are plump, firm and deep in color Avoid those that are soft, mushy or moldy. Make sure that the raspberries are not packed too tightly in pre-packed containers, as this may crush and damage them. Also make sure the container has no signs of stains or moisture which is an indication of possible spoilage.
As raspberries are one of the most perishable fruits, extreme care should be taken when storing them. Before you store them in the refrigerator, remove any berries that are molded or spoiled so that they will not contaminate the others. Place the unwashed berries back in their original container or spread them out on a plate lined with a paper towel, then cover the plate with plastic wrap. Raspberries will keep fresh in the refrigerator for one or two days. Make sure not to leave raspberries at room temperature or exposed to sunlight for too long, as this will cause them to spoil.
Raspberries freeze very well, so I buy them in large amounts to use throughout the months they are not available. Wash them gently so that they maintain their delicate shape, then pat dry with a paper towel. Allow them to completely dry before placing them in the freezer. Arrange them in a single layer on cookie sheet and place them in the freezer. Once the berries are frozen, transfer them to plastic bags or freezer containers. Frozen berries should last approximately ten months to one year. Adding a bit of lemon juice to the raspberries will help to preserve their color.
Berry Raspberry Information:
Varieties, history and more on Wikipedia
Growing your own raspberry: Backyard Gardener
Raspberry facts and picking tips: Pick Your Own
You are all invited to my Big Birthday Bang.
Where: here!
When: June 6th
Hope to see you there!
200g Fresh raspberries - gently washed
200g Mascarpone
250g Quark
1 vanilla bean - insides scraped
75g fine granulated sugar
5 tablespoons milk
juice if 1/2 lemon
Chocolate rolls for decoration - you can also add a mixture of grated white and dark chocolate
Tips and Tricks:
- Substitute quark with thick yogurt.
- Mascarpone cheese should be stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container as it takes on the aromas from other items in the fridge.
- If you do not have a vanilla bean on hand, simply use some vanilla sugar instead.
- If you are using frozen raspberries do not thaw them prior to making the dessert. Use them frozen. However, once thawed the dessert could become more liquidy.
In a large mixing bowl whip the quark, mascarpone, milk and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice and mix to incorporate.
In clean glasses or bowls layer the fresh raspberries and cream on top of each other. Finish with a layer of raspberries. Place in the refrigerator and allow to set for at least 1 hour. Just before serving sprinkle the grated chocolate or decorate with the chocolate rolls.
Makes 4.
Easy going dessert - pure and simple. Here the one doing most of the work is the refrigerator! Soeren just loved this dessert. Ever since I made this every time I ask "What should we make for dessert!" his answer is always the same "that raspberry cream!" Tom and my guests could not stop scraping the remaining cream from the sides of the glasses. The spoons were licked clean and the looks on their faces told me they all wanted seconds. It really did have that WOW! effect.
This is my entry to this month's Sugar High Friday. It is being hosted by Tara of Seven Spoons with the fantastic theme Neutral Territory where we were to make a dessert in a hue of white.
For more pristine white sweetness check out the roundup.
The lovely Padmaja is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging where she chose the wonderful theme Summer Fruits. So, I hope she will accept my sweet offerings with fruity raspberries.
Technorati Tags: raspberry, raspberries, cream, mascarpone, vanilla, dessert, sweet, fruit, berries, SHF, WBB, food, recipe, food blog, photography, nikon d70s
If you like my work, stories and recipes, please take a moment to vote for me in the category you see fit. Vote here. Thanks for your support!
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2007 Meeta Albrecht unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First


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Vine, Twitter's new microvideo-sharing app for the iPhone, this week added a 17+ rating, saying that the app "contains age-restricted material." The change came after some users uploaded pornographic clips onto the app, which features 6-second (or 6 1/2 seconds if you're really counting), slice-of-life .
Apple's App Store guidelines "prohibit apps that make it easy to find user-generated pornographic content," Business Insider notes.
So, a 17+ rating means Vine is only available to those of age, right? Not really.
Apple says it requires a new user to enter his birth date, to "help us verify your identity if you forget your password or need to reset it." But there's nothing to confirm the user's age, making it easy for youngsters to download apps rated for adults.
However, concerned parents can set age restrictions, by app, on iPhones and iPads that their children are using through a device's general settings.
This has Internet safety groups concerned, especially given Vine's warnings on its download page about the types of content the app may contain:
The #porn hashtag and similar searches have been disabled, so users can't outright search "porn." However, they can still find it, using other suggestive keywords.
Vine is following Apple's protocol by notifying new users that they must be least 17 years old to use the app.
But Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of , an Internet safety organization, isn't impressed. She said the technology for age identification — including requiring credit card information — is available and is used by online companies every day, but not always on social networking sites.
"They don't want to implement age verification," Hughes said. "They should be a little more conservative and thinking of safety from the get-go."
Online video giant YouTube, which has been in business since 2005 and is now part of Google, houses billions of clips. And, like Vine, not all of YouTube's content is appropriate for younger audiences. In fact, the terms of service explain that YouTube is intended for users 13 and above:
"... you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. Talk to your parents about what sites are appropriate for you."
But YouTube's community guidelines are much stricter than Vine's. YouTube users are warned not to upload pornography or videos showing abuse, gratuitous violence or graphic images. The viewing community can flag videos or users it finds inappropriate, and those reports are then reviewed by the company. From there, YouTube can deem the video age-restricted or will remove it from its website.
The Vine app initially allowed users to report offensive videos, but its latest update also lets users block other users' profiles from their feed. So the Vine community can flag clips to clean up the feed, but in the end, people will be able to search and find what they want to see. Whether it's G-rated or not is up to you.
Lizzy Duffy is an intern on NPR's Social Media Desk.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Other flights from North America to Catania
Dream destination Catania
Affordable fares now, when you take off on holiday with Condor!
Condor not only offers affordable shorthaul and mediumhaul flights, there are flight offers for longhaul flights as well.
Affordable and convenient holiday flights take off from your departure country, "USA". Book your Santa Barbara (SBA) - Catania (CTA) flight now, and look forward to your "Italy" destination!
Other destinations like Catania from North America