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Thursday, August 20, 2009
My One Project Runway Peeve (Okay, Two)
I thoroughly enjoyed the show tonight, but I realized that going into my sixth season of watching Project Runway, there is one thing I just can't stand anymore.
Have you noticed that at each runway show, there's a voice over from the designer as their creation is modeled that always goes something like this:
Oh my God, when my dress walked down the runway, I just couldn't believe it.
I almost cried when my dress walked down the runway; it was soooo amazing.
People. DRESSES DO NOT WALK. PEOPLE WALK. I mean really, would it kill you to say "When I saw the model in my dress, etc." or even better you could use the model's name! Yes, models have names! Gracious.
And the other thing I would like to complain about is that there is such a disdain for home sewing on this show. From my beloved Tim Gunn, no less. In the All-Star Challenge tonight, he dismissed something as "matronly" and "a little home sewing, if you know what I mean." And Sweet P's cheeky flowerpot dress was derided by one of the judges as looking "a little bit homemade."
I get what they're trying to say, course. There's a different connotation between handmade and homemade. But what I don't understand is why these designers think they're doing something so rarefied, so separated from the fashion sewing that people do at home, like it's an entirely different skill set.
But perhaps I'm being a little sensitive.
What do you all think? Are you bothered by any of this?
29 comments:
I totally agree. I havent watched a whole lot of episodes. It is only shown on a really obscure channel here, and i think it must be an early season... I dont know if all of the contestants have been to design school or not, but there is definately some snobbery in their view of 'home sewing'.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is disparaging of home sewers because I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make what I sew look NOT home sewn. It's like when Michael Kors says that something looks "Becky Home-ecky." It's not disparaging home sewists, because personally, I don't want to look Becky Home-ecky, either. With all the energy that I put into seam finishes, finding just the right fabric, the right lining, the right interfacing, all the hand sewing, if someone told me that my dress looked home sewn, I'd be insulted. So I don't think that the remark was disparaging to home sewers, but more so a statement about perhaps sloppy sewing, or poor fabric choice. We've all been guilty of those things, but as you become a better sewer, you also become better at avoiding those pitfalls. You would think, that people who call themselves designers, would be experienced enough to avoid that, and I think that was what Tim was getting at. Perhaps a better choice of words would have been "amateur." I have seen whole blogs on how to avoid having things look home sewn, and on PatternReview.com, there are huge, ongoing discussion threads about "How to make my clothes look less homemade." "Homesewn" is something that most of the home sewists that I know are trying to avoid too, so I don't think the remark was disparaging. I didn't take offense, I felt like I knew exactly what he meant.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousAugust 21, 2009 at 7:58 AM
I caught on to the home sewing comments too. Like a knife to the heart!
I didn't realize that it was taking place in LA. Not that it should matter but I like the NY atmosphere better.
You bring up a good point about the models esp. since they have the new Runway Model show afterwards. The network is trying to give the models more recognition, but the designers need to also. What's ironic is that those designers, at some point, had to learn how to sew. They weren't born knowing all the couture tailoring tricks. So somewhere in the world are their first "homesewn" garments. Wouldn't it be nice to see them? Wouldn't that add an interesting dimension to a show that's all about launching someone's fashion career? Hm....
ReplyDeleteI admit I was totally glued to the tv last night during the kick-off of the project runway season. I'm a little ashamed that I watched some much tv in one sitting, but there it is. I completely agree with your issues with the "homemade" comment. I took it to heart since I'm sure that's what they would say about my own garments. Also, I hadn't noticed before that the designers said "watching their dresses walk", I know it will irk me every time I watch the show! As I'm sure we're going to hear many a designer saying similar things through the rest of the season.
Also, not to ramble, but I just wanted you to know that I just discovered your blog and I simply adore it! I really want to make that vintage portrait top. It was amazing! How can I find that pattern???I agree 100%. Dresses don't walk, people walk. I absolutely detest the "it looks homemade" comment. I personally am not ashamed of the fact that I make my own clothes. Even on a bad day, the clothes I make have straighter seams and more secured hems and buttons than anything I can get in retail (at a moderate price). I'm not sure why they feel so superior -- clothing made in factories at slave wages is better than home sewing? I think not. Is there any love that goes into that garment? No. This subject matter is really a pet peeve to me and I think it's the choice of words. "looks like homemade" is insulting. Perhaps people should think about that statement that then say what they really mean -- perhaps: sloppy, cheap, rushed -- because, trust me, I've seen those same things in retail. And yet, no one seems to say "it looks like it was rushed through a factory to make production deadline." Hmmm
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michelle - the comments about homemade,were merely a reference to a need for a higher quality. I don't think it is really directed towards the home sewing community.
I also think that sewing and designing from a croquis are part of the same trade, but still different. I am just about to take a class to learn to make my own patterns. I still need to learn to drape. What can I say, I love my Project Runway. lol
As far as dresses walking, I think they could easily change it to: "When I saw my dress on the runway" - that way they still are focusing on their item without sounding ridiculous.Good points all around! Michelle, I think I agree that these criticisms are really a broad euphemism for something else--amateurism or sloppiness or dowdiness perhaps. I think perhaps the thing that gets to me is the amount of snobbery involved in fashion. Yeah, I know that will never change, but man! It's annoying to me.
Bryan, they can't get rid of the crying because those are the moments of comic relief for me. Yeah, I'm a jerk and I laugh while they're crying. Especially last night--that guy was a hot tranny mess!
Vogue Vigilante (awesome screen name, btw) I'm actually working on a tutorial to make a top similar to the portrait neckline blouse. I'm hoping to have it done soon. If you'd like the original pattern, repeatedly ask your friend Google for Vogue pattern #7630. It's not especially rare, so it will show up eventually.
Thanks for reading!I agree somewhat, but on the other hand, "home made" as used on the show implies someone with fewer skills, don't you think? I mean Becky - Home Ecky sort of implies a beginner who has not thought out fabric, colors and techniques. Attention to detail that may not be the purview of some home sewers.
Yes we who are serious about what we sew do want to escape that "home made" look and go for "hand made".Hello. I don't think we have that show here in the UK, but it does sound awfully pretentious!! Homemade/handmade is one of my bugbears and a connotation that I wish would change. These days 'home-made' things are of a much superior quality to most things you can buy in the shops, 'handmade' or otherwise!! but what is home made if it isn't hand made??? x
ReplyDelete- HillaryAugust 21, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Yeah, considering how many of the garments the contestants send down the Project Runway catwalk are glued, pinned or otherwise anything other than actually sewn together in a way meant to last more than about 100 paces, it makes the home-sewing barbs a little rankling.
ReplyDelete I was super excited about the Lifetime Project Runway switch because I haven't had Bravo since season 1. I love Tim Gunn, but that comment pissed me off. Here is 3 reasons why:
#1 It disparages anyone who ever learned to or does sew at home. It offends me because I learned to sew at home, from my mother and grandmother, and it is because I learned to love the craft that I later decided to study fashion in school. Both my mother and grandmother were perfectionists and extremely opinionated about color, fabric choice, fit, and quality workmanship. That comment was a slap in the face.
2# It promotes a narrow, elitist view of fashion design. The suggestion that good design does not come out of the home sewing room is untrue. For instance, the Mulleavy sisters started their critically acclaimed line, Rodarte, out of their parents HOUSE.
Sure, there have been plenty of polyester Prom dress nightmares, but it is NOT necessary to go to school to be creative or to know what you are doing with a sewing machine.
3# It's hypocritical. Project runway has licensed patterns to Simplicity pattern company. Chances are, fans of the show who sew at home are buying those patterns. .... I'm glad DVF and Michael Kors** didn't say it, because they both have licensed their patterns to Vogue (McCalls Pattern Company).
**I'll give MK a pass on the "Beck-home-ecky" comments, because in home ec, we all used project kits and crappy machines and I think I was one of like 3 people who actually wanted to sew at all. There really wasn't any creativity in home ec, it was all about proficiency.
So, I REALLY hope I don't hear that comment again. It's such a turn off. I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't appreciate it.Yeah, it bothers me a bit too, but I can see where they are coming from as Michell noted. I think we all strive to get a away from that homemade look.
On the other hand they could just call it "sloppy construction" and be done with it. So yes there is a certain derogatory tone towards those who sew at home in the show.Hey - I'm with you - let's start a revolution. i know a lot of "home sewists" who do beautiful and exquisite work and put most RTW to shame. The point has been made by we sewing bloggers that it's the LACK of sewing knowledge that is the cause of the poor workmanship in RTW today.
When I trek to NYC fab district the people helping me often comment about hos nice it is to work with someone who actually knows how to sew and they don't have to sit there and tell the buyer they have to buy 4 yards for an evening gown!!!
This is one of my pet peeves too - they berate the "home sewist" (I refuse to use sewer), and yet these designers haven't got a clue about good workmanship.
For whatever the problems "The Fashion Show" had - at least Issac had the guts to stand up and say that you have to know how to sew to design!
To be honest I missed the comment from Tim or I would have been fuming too.- AnonymousAugust 25, 2009 at 9:42 AM
I need to find a way to watch Project Runway. We don't get Bravo anymore...
I agree--I think the home sewing comment is a little misplaced. There are a lot of people sewing at home who are doing just get by kind of work or making poor fabric choices out of ignorance or lack of access to better ones...perhaps it's them that have made the stereotype. You obviously and the readers of this blog, and I would hope myself (though I'm learning--not just upping my sewing skills but trying to find my style) are not in this camp. We aspire to make each garment a little better than the last. I'm pretty disgusted with the lack of quality of ready to wear these days. Things are sloppy--off grain, with facings that roll to the outside, of horrible fabric, and expensive to boot. And fundamentally, it bothers me to spend a lot of money on something that was made in China by some poor woman hunched over her machine trying to fill her quota for the day. I mean, she has a family and works hard--doesn't she deserve some of the glory for that garment instead of that designer? My guess is if she had her way, she'd do a better job.
As for models, they do indeed have names and it makes me sad to see them treated differently. I went to an exhibit of Yves Saint Laurent's clothes in Montreal last year, and I walked away thinking that he was such a master of detail and that his poor models must have starved themselves to fit into his clothes. I wanted to start my own version of SPEW. :) I was not impressed with the show, due to the comments like those. I was also bothered by the snobbism of designers over home sewers, yet, as pointed out, the line is produced by Simplicity. My grandmother and mother made better clothes than what I saw come out of the season I watched (4 I think)
ReplyDeleteYes, the models have names. But I'm sure that proper grammar isn't exactly high on the priority list on PR. :P
I do have to say that the "homemade" thing does annoy me a lot more, though. I've been sewing for about 21 years now, since I started when I was a kid. (Putting that number down is a little scary.) My friends always ask me if I made something instead of where I bought it, but generally in terms of a compliment. I've spent the last couple of years focusing on trying to make my garments look more "finished", inside and out-- truthfully, I think that a lot of the things I make fit and hold up better than a lot of the things I could buy RTW. (Especially on my budget.) I'd prefer if they used the term "amateurish", or something along those lines, because while I know I don't always make the best choices in fabric, and I do have a long way to go in learning how to properly fit myself, I *know* that I can construct better than a lot of what gets turned out there. (Granted, they have stricter deadlines, but still.)
My biggest pet peeve, though, is when a designer shows up on there and says he/she doesn't sew. Or doesn't know how to sew. Or doesn't like to sew. This is season six. They should know by now that there WILL be sewing!! And as much as I disliked "The Fashion Show", I did appreciate Mizrahi's comment that a designer should know how to construct a garment.
One final comment: I really hate the term "Becky Home-ecky." Worst twisting of my name ever.- AnonymousNovember 14, 2009 at 9:57 AM
I just had to add this one....homemade and handmade are a lot better than what we used to call "mammymade". I'm just sayin'.
ReplyDelete - PROJECTRUNWAYLUVRJanuary 9, 2010 at 6:31 PM
Oh, give them a break, give me a break! Project Runway is a designing show. NOT A LOVE MODELS AND GRAMAR SHOW!!!!!!! If you really care that much, call the producer.
ReplyDelete - AnonymousJanuary 22, 2010 at 10:18 PM
I agree that quote by our beloved Tim Gunn bothered me too.
ReplyDelete - AnonymousMay 14, 2010 at 12:51 PM
If they're so professional, how
come the contestants aren't using
I'm a home sewer schooled by my
tailor mother and master tailor grandfather and a thimble is a must! I see where you are coming from, but even when I was learning to sew as a kid, my own mother would make me take things apart and re-do them if it "looks homemade". She would always tell me "there is a difference between handmade and homemade, you want the former, not the latter". This could be influenced by her own formal training (she studied at Parsons, interestingly enough).
"Homemade" in this sense, would mean something that smacks of being amateur...Walmart fabric tacked together on a poorly tuned sewing machine by someone with the lack of skills to make a properly finished garment, leading to a finished product in poor taste. I know this isn't how anyone wants their work to be viewed, and I would say anyone who reads this blog is obviously trying to put more thought and time into their sewing than what this "homemade" image would imply.
"Handmade" always implied to me the idea of tailoring and couture sewing...precious and perfect hand stitching that when finished properly over a good deal of time has better fit and fashion than what can be had off the rack. Obviously, this is what most people would strive to achieve, but for many, it is an unreachable goal because they work too slap dash and don't learn proper techniques, dooming them to end up with garments that look like they where sewn together by a disinterested middle schooler in Home Economics class.
The point is, if all you aim for is to make something (rather than aiming to make it WELL) you will yield an undesirable result every time.I know this is an old post, but I just found you when I signed up for your craftsy class! I just started sewing last year, after having a "meh" experience sewing in 4H when I was 11. I love it, and I know you'll think I'm crazy, but my favorite part is doing the alterations so the pattern fits my "telephone pole with boobage" body.
Anyway, I wanted to comment on this post, because even though I do think it's a little disparaging, I also see the other side. I made some fleece ponchos for my little girls (twins!) and they wore them to their father's house. He asked when I got them. My daughter said, "Mommy made these!" He argued with them, saying there was no way I made them, and they must have misunderstood. I felt flattered that he thought my ponchos were "store-bought."


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School has started. The weather too has decided that summer vacation is over. The car windows have signs of frost in the mornings and dusk comes in early. BS started 2nd grade and seems to like her class teacher a lot.
We have the same bus driver since last year, a sweet soul who drops off BS right in front of home and always has a cheery word in the morning. This is important because our current situation is such that walking even a few yards to a bus stop and waiting for the bus to drop off in the afternoon would be very inconvenient. The driver could have easily told us to do that given that there is one more kid down the road but thankfully she didn't. Thank God and bus drivers for the small blessings they scatter our way.
The only change BS faces is in her section and hence a change in some classmates. She hasn't complained about it yet and continues to meet her old friend during recess.
The morning commute however has been worse, worser(?), worsest(?) with start of school and looks like it is me who is the most overwhelmed with the start of a new school year. There is so much to get done during a day that I just wish the earth would spin slower or the girls grow up magically and go to college, live in a dorm, make their own meals and leave me alone. It is another thing that when that time comes I will cry my heart out, write sob stories and book a vacation to Greenland.
Talking of growing up either I am going nuts or the world is no longer the place of my childhood but I seem to have weighted questions on my mind these days. Like how do I tell BS to be safe when I am not around, I meant not "not around for ever", momentarily, an hour or two or eight. Like is it okay to drop her off at one of her activity classes and then spend that 45 minutes contemplating what to make for dinner while roaming the streets with shrieking LS in the car seat.
Do you sit through your kid's activity classes or do you just drop and pick up ? What if it is a solo activity and you are not too familiar with the instructors ? What do you do, I desperately need to know.
The Alu Gajor er Tarkari/Potato and Carrot sabzi is a quick dry dish usually prepared during the winter days back home when the first sweet orange carrots of the season have made their appearance and green peas are in plenty. It would be served with rutis hot off the tawa on cold evenings or with parota/paratha on Sunday breakfast.
I made neither ruti nor parota. But I like it with rice and BS does too.
Sometimes I give BS rice mixed with a dry vegetable dish or lemon rice/fried rice for her school lunch.This was a friend's brilliant idea and works for at least one lunch a week. The Alu Gajor er tarkari works well towards that purpose. I wish I could say BS happily ate this lunch of hers. But I will be honest, she didn't. I made her eat the leftover at home though and that she happily did.
Read more...
Alu Gajor er Tarkari
Chop 3 potatoes in small cubes.
Peel and chop fresh carrots in cubes or longitudinally(cubes preferred). You can use frozen mix of carrots and peas too. I had 1 cup of carrots and 1/4 cup of green peas.
Heat Olive Oil/Canola Oil in a fry pan
Temper the oil with 1/2 tsp of Kalonji/Nigella Seeds and 4 green chili. If you like the smell of Hing/Asafoetida add a pinch
When the spices pop, add the potatoes and 1/4 tsp of turmeric. Saute for a minute
Add the carrots and saute for one more minute. Next add the peas. Add salt to taste.
Edited to Add: I add a tsp of fresh grated ginger too. I forgot.
Cover and cook with intermittent stirring. Sprinkle a little water if necessary, only little. The potatoes should retain their form and not be mushed up.
When the veggies are all done, not mushed up but done, add a few drops of lime juice and adjust for seasonings. This is usually a light dish with no spices overpowering the taste.
Similar Recipes:
Beet Gajor Chechki

subset: commoncrawl


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OK. In the next few days, cable companies announce how they did financially in 2012. Most industry watchers expect some negative trends to continue. More people are canceling their cable subscriptions. They are called cord cutters, because they are getting TV from the Internet and over the air, not their cable cords. But they're not the only problem the cable industry needs to worry about. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Meet Comcast's worst nightmare.
JOE GOULD: Hi. My name is Joe Gould and we're in my apartment in Washington D.C.
ULABY: A few weeks ago, Gould rigged up a high-definition antenna to his flat-screen television and one of those boxes that lets him legally stream shows from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, even live coverage from CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: ...Somalian forces. Obviously, people...
ULABY: Then Gould did what so people many have fantasized about. He called his cable company and said take a hike. Sure, Gould and his wife will miss watching all those hot, buzzy new cable shows. But they will not miss watching their cable bill creep up and up and up to nearly 200 dollars a month.
GOULD: We're thinking, OK, we could put a payment on a car for that much.
ULABY: The Joe Goulds of this world have cable companies so concerned, some are even using their precious commercial time to try to get people back.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: There's a lot of things to take advantage of with Time Warner Cable.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: You can have a better TV experience too. Come back to Time Warner Cable and get up to...
ULABY: It's a little hard to track who's an actual cord cutter, like Joe Gould, and who just canceled her cable subscription because she lost her job a few years ago and had to move back in with her parents. This is what we know. About 97 percent of Americans get cable and satellite TV. Three years ago, it was 99 percent. So we're talking a one percent drop per year.
BRAHM EILEY: That's not really a big number at the end of the day.
ULABY: Brahm Eiley tracks these kinds of trends for his company, the Convergence Consulting Group. He says for the industry, this is sort of a big deal.
EILEY: People get very, very excited about these numbers but the truth of the matter is, it's still very small. And everybody's kind of been waiting with bated breath for the television to go through some form of revolution.
ULABY: Like the revolution we thought might come when the world's most powerful technology companies came stomping into the television arena: Apple TV. Google TV. Tech writer Peter Kafka is still waiting.
PETER KAFKA: None of them have gone ahead and done it so far.
ULABY: Partly because not even the mighty Google or Apple has managed to buy the rights that would let them stream sports events live online.
KAFKA: That shows you that the existing, sort of, TV industrial complex is very strong, very healthy, very hard to break down.
ULABY: So far, TV's resisted crumbling in the face of piracy. Which is, of course, a factor for lots of people cutting the cord. There's even a rising generation called nevercords. They're the young people who grew up watching TV online and hate the idea of shelling out for cable.
Peter Kafka says it's not hard to figure out how to be a cord cutter. But it's intimidating. It's almost like being a vegan in terms of who's doing it.
KAFKA: You'll notice a lot more of it I think if you're in New York or the Bay area, maybe Los Angeles, definitely college towns. You'll notice lots of people who are either eating vegan food or not paying for cable, but to assume that the rest of the country is behaving the same way is wrong.
ULABY: After all, McDonalds and the cable companies are doing just fine with miniscule drops in sales and subscriptions. Real consumer change could take decades. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Known for interviews with presidents and Congressional leaders, Inskeep has a passion for stories of the less famous: Pennsylvania truck drivers, Kentucky coal miners, U.S.-Mexico border detainees, Yemeni refugees, California firefighters, American soldiers.
Since joining Morning Edition in 2004, Inskeep has hosted the program from New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, Cairo, and Beijing; investigated Iraqi police in Baghdad; and received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for "The Price of African Oil," on conflict in Nigeria. He has taken listeners on a 2,428-mile journey along the U.S.-Mexico border, and 2,700 miles across North Africa. He is a repeat visitor to Iran and has covered wars in Syria and Yemen.
Inskeep says Morning Edition works to "slow down the news," making sense of fast-moving events. A prime example came during the 2008 Presidential campaign, when Inskeep and NPR's Michele Norris conducted "The York Project," groundbreaking conversations about race, which received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for excellence.
Inskeep was hired by NPR in 1996. His first full-time assignment was the 1996 presidential primary in New Hampshire. He went on to cover the Pentagon, the Senate, and the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he covered the war in Afghanistan, turmoil in Pakistan, and the war in Iraq. In 2003, he received a National Headliner Award for investigating a military raid gone wrong in Afghanistan. He has twice been part of NPR News teams awarded the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for coverage of Iraq.
On days of bad news, Inskeep is inspired by the Langston Hughes book, Laughing to Keep From Crying. Of hosting Morning Edition during the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession, he told Nuvo magazine when "the whole world seemed to be falling apart, it was especially important for me ... to be amused, even if I had to be cynically amused, about the things that were going wrong. Laughter is a sign that you're not defeated."
Inskeep is the author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, a 2011 book on one of the world's great megacities. He is also author of Jacksonland, a history of President Andrew Jackson's long-running conflict with John Ross, a Cherokee chief who resisted the removal of Indians from the eastern United States in the 1830s.
He has been a guest on numerous TV programs including ABC's This Week, NBC's Meet the Press, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, CNN's Inside Politics and the PBS Newshour. He has written for publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic.
A native of Carmel, Indiana, Inskeep is a graduate of Morehead State University in Kentucky.


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For Obama, diplomatic openings on 3 fronts
Sep 22, – President Barack Obama arrives at the United Nations on Monday with diplomatic openings, the result of help from unexpected partners, on three fronts: Iran, Syria, and elusive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
All three pathways are fraught with potential pitfalls and hinge on cooperation from often unreliable nations. Obama also risks being branded as naive and misguided if the efforts fail, particularly in Syria, where he's used the prospect of diplomacy to put off a military strike in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack.
Still, the recent developments mark a significant shift on a trio of issues that have long proved problematic for Obama at the United Nations. His former Iranian counterpart used the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings, which open Monday, as a venue for fiery, anti-American speeches. Failed Middle East peace talks led the Palestinians to seek statehood recognition at the U.N. despite staunch American objections. And the Obama administration has been stymied on Syria at the U.N. Security Council due to intractable Russian opposition.
But this year, Iran has a new leader who is making friendly overtures toward Obama, raising the prospect of a meeting at the United Nations. U.S.-brokered peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians have resumed — though on an uncertain course. And Russia has joined with the U.S. on a diplomatic deal to strip Syria of its chemical weapons.
Joel Rubin, a former State Department official who now works at the nonproliferation organization Ploughshares, said the confluence of events underscores an often frustrating aspect of diplomacy. "You never know when it's going to break," said Rubin. He said Obama's biggest test now is to recognize if opportunities morph into stalling tactics.
Obama's advisers cast the sudden signs of progress as an outgrowth of the president's long-standing preference for resolving disputes through diplomacy and, in the case of Iran and Syria, with pressure built up through economic sanctions and the threat of military action.
"He said we'd be open to diplomacy, we'd pursue engagement, but that there would be pressure if Iran failed to take that opportunity," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. And on Syria, Rhodes said it was the credible threat of a U.S. military strike "that opened the door for this diplomacy."
Aides say Obama will address developments on Iran, Syria and Middle East peace in his speech to the U.N. on Tuesday. The issues will also be at the forefront of some of the president's bilateral meetings with world leaders, including a sit-down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, whose country is burdened by the flow of refugees from neighboring Syria.
But Obama's most closely watched meeting may end up being with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani. No encounter is scheduled, but U.S. officials have left open the possibility the two men might talk on the sidelines of the international gathering.
If they do, it would mark the first meeting of U.S. and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years. A meeting could also be a precursor to renewed talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program — though bridging differences over Iran's right to enrich uranium and maintain those stockpiles will be a far tougher task than arranging a handshake.
The election of Rouhani, a moderate cleric, signaled frustration among many Iranians with their country's international isolation and the crippling impact of Western sanctions. Obama and Rouhani have already exchanged letters. And the new Iranian president's rhetoric has so far been more palatable to the U.S. than former leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who would threaten Israel as well as lambast the U.S. in his annual remarks at the U.N.
Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, said Rouhani shares with Obama a need to prove to a domestic audience that diplomacy can garner concrete results. "If he can't show that his diplomatic approach will pay more dividends for Iran that Ahmadinejad's theatrics, then it's back to the conservatives being in the driver's seat. And the flexibility that Rouhani currently has will be lost," Parsi said.
As Rouhani considers re-engaging with the U.S., he's closely watching diplomatic developments in Syria, an Iranian ally. A chemical weapons attack near Damascus in August brought the U.S. to the brink of a military strike. But an idea floated by Secretary of State John Kerry turned into a last-minute overture from Russia — another backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad — and resulted in a deal to turn Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles over to the international community.
The breakthrough was particularly unexpected given that Russia has thwarted U.S. efforts to punish Assad through the U.N. Security Council. When Obama was on the verge of launching a strike against Assad's regime, he said the U.N. had an "incapacity" to address Syria's violation of international agreements banning the deployment of deadly gases.
Now the U.S. once again sees a role for the Security Council. The U.S. wants the panel to approve a resolution making the U.S.-Russian agreement legally binding in a way that is verifiable and enforceable. But a key obstacle remains, given U.S. and Russian disagreement over whether to put the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.
Chapter 7 deals with threats to international peace and security and has provisions for enforcement by military or nonmilitary means, such as sanctions. Russia is sure to veto a resolution that includes a mandate for military action.
The prospect of diplomacy in Iran and Syria has overshadowed tenuous progress in recent months in restarting direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Talks resumed this summer after months of prodding by Kerry, but the prospect of a resolution on issues that have long had the Israelis and Palestinians at odds remain as slim as ever.
Palestinian leaders, frustrated by the stalemate, have taken their case in recent years to the United Nations, where there is broad support for their bid for statehood. While the U.S. supports Palestinian statehood, it says that status can only be achieved through direct negotiations with the Israelis.
That's put Obama in the awkward position of arguing against Palestinian efforts during his previous trips to the U.N. American opposition stymied Palestinian efforts to become full U.N. members in 2011, but the Palestinians succeeded in a bid to gain implicit statehood recognition last year.
The 2012 measure passed overwhelmingly, with the U.S. and just a handful of other nations voting no.
Category: International


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Login via uID
It's time to kick those interstellar punks all the way back to Uranus and beyond. But don't go all trigger happy on us: you need to make your shots count and use your power ups to maximum effect and pick up the ammo they drop.
TIP: try and bag more than one of these critters at a time to get multi-kills and more points! Good luck. We're counting on you!


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< Features(Redirected from Features/AOS)
Appliance Building
Appliances are pre-installed, pre-configured, system images. This feature consists of a tools and meta-data that make it easier for anyone (ISVs, developers, OEMS, etc) to create and deploy virtual appliances. The two components of this feature are the ACT (Appliance Creation Tool) and the AOS (The Appliance Operating System)
- Name: David Huff
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 10
- Last updated: 09-26-2008
- Percentage of completion: %100
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=457152
current version: appliance-tools-003-4.fc10
Detailed Description
ACT: The Appliance Creation Tool is a tool to create Appliance Images from a kickstart file. This tool uses the liveCD creator API as well as patches to the LIVECD API originally written by Daniel P. Berrange to create a multi-partitioned disk image. These disk images can then be booted in a virtual container such as Xen, KVM, and VMware. This tool will be contained in the applianace-tools
package. This package contains tools for building appliance images on Fedora based systems including derived distributions such as RHEL, CentOS and others.
AOS: The AOS is a scaled down version of Fedora with a small footprint containing only the packages necessary to run an appliance. The hardware supported by this spin of Fedora would be limited, primarily focusing on virtual containers such as KVM and VMware. The goal is to create a base that developers can build their applications on top of, only pulling in packages that their software requires. A "start from the bottom and build up" mentality.
This is similar to the concepts of JeOS (Just enough operation system).
See more info on the project at:
Benefit to Fedora
The tooling will:
- enable developers who want to build a fedora based appliance.
- enable developers to build a pre-installed multi partitioned disk
- start to form some continuity around what Fedora appliances will look like.
The proposed AOS spin will:
- provide a template for developers who want to build a fedora based appliance.
- provide a minimal version of fedora for those who want to start form the ground up and add only what they want/need
- allow developers to "kick the tires" of the AOS without having to build it from scratch.
- Requires new package appliance-tools
- Requires hosting an AOS kickstart file in the kickstart pool
- Requires hosting a binary image on http://spins.fedoraproject.org/
- May require tooling changes to build/host an appliance image rather than a livecd iso? (appliance image = tar.gz which contains a binary disk image and meta-date used to launch the image.)
Target audience would mainly be developers wanting to quickly develop appliances based off of fedora
Test Plan
Test Appliance-creator tool in appliance tools package
Since rawhide is not fully functional yet, the latest Appliance Tools packages have been built and are available for download at http://thincrust.org/download/. To install and test appliance-tools follow these instructions:
1. First, install F10 from rawhide
2. next, install all prerequisites using yum: *note to use kvm you must be running a full virt box
yum install libvirt virt-manager libvirt-python python-virtinst qemu kvm virt-viewer
3. next, install the latest versions of appliance-tools and livecd-tools. *note as of this writing these packages are not in the rawhide/testing repo. You will need to manually install these packages to test appliance-creator.
rpm -Uvh http://thincrust.net/download/appliance-tools-003-3.fc10.noarch.rpm \ http://thincrust.net/download/livecd-tools-018-1.fc10.thincrust.$(uname -i).rpm
4. build the appliance:
# appliance-creator -n ThinCrust -c /usr/share/appliance-tools/aos-rawhide.ks --cache /var/tmp/act/
5. launch appliance image:
# virt-image ThinCrust.xml
6. use "virsh list" to see if its running and get the IDNUM
# virsh list
7. connect to appliance and log in with root/thincrust and verify its running:
# virt-viewer IDNUM
Test AOS image boots
- not needed to test until the aos spin is available via spin sig
1) Download image 2) Launch image on kvm via virt-image (repeat for X flavors of Fedora) 3) Launch image on VMware??
- In all cases the expected results are really "It boots, we can log in"
User Experience
- Users can download a pre-built binary image and run in a container such as vmware or KVM and be able to have a demo up and running in minimal time
# wget http://thincrust.org/downloads/thincrust.tar.gz # tar xvfz thincrust.tar.gz # virt-image ThinCrust.xml
- Users can build there own version of the AOS locally using the appliance-creator tool
# appliance-creator -n ThinCrust -c /usr/share/appliance-tools/aos-f9.ks --cache=/var/tmp/livecd/ # virt-image ThinCrust.xml
- patches in Livecd-tools
- [PATCH] added get_partitions to kickstart.py
- [PATCH] re-factor imgcreate/fs.py module
- [PATCH] added compat shims in fs.py for old api
- [PATCH] switch internal code to use new api
- commited on 08/05/2008 08:27 PM
- [Fedora-livecd-list] 7 commits - imgcreate/creator.py imgcreate/fs.py imgcreate/kickstart.py imgcreate/live.py
- commit: 5a3a91fe44795fb0d5c1f6215081b214d0af3f5b
- There may be a soft dependency on the "fedora upstream" or "based on fedora" trademark discussion. We think it would really make this a strong feature if there was a story similar to: "Build the appliance, and brand it this way." without this, we need to provide alot more robust un-branding tools/doco.
Contingency Plan
- port all functionality of new api re-factor imgcreate/fs.py module into applinace-tools package
- http://thincrust.net/
- Discussion of this project takes places at the email@example.com mailing list:
Release Notes
Fedora 10 now includes tools which make it easier for anyone (ISVs, developers, OEMS, etc) to create and deploy virtual appliances. These tools are extensions of existing fedora tools, Meta-data, and best practices for appliance development and delivery. With these tools anyone with basic scripting experience can build virtual appliances.
Release Engineering
Building The Distributable Appliance
1.Install all prerequisites using yum: *note to use kvm you must be running a full virt box
# yum install libvirt virt-manager libvirt-python python-virtinst qemu kvm virt-viewer livecd-tools appliance-tools
2. Download the AOS kicksatrt from http://git.fedorahosted.org/git/?p=spin-kickstarts.git;a=blob_plain;f=fedora-aos.ks
3. As root, build the appliance from the loocation the kickstart file was downloaded.
# appliance-creator -n fedora-aos -c fedora-aos.ks --cache /var/tmp/act/
4. Tar and Compress the image
# tar -czvf fedora-aos.tar.gz fedora-aos-sda.raw fedora-aos.xml
5. To test the created file (do this after step 4 to not modify the image by running it)
# virt-image fedora-aos.xml
6. Use "virsh list" to see if its running and get the IDNUM
# virsh list fedora-aos
7. Connect to appliance and log in with root (no password) and verify its running:
# virt-viewer IDNUM
Users Expected Scenario
1. Download the tar.gz from the spins website or a torrent.
2. Unpack the files
# tar -xzvf fedora-aos.tar.gz
3. Launch the image
# virt-image fedora-aos.xml
4. Use "virsh list" to see if its running and get the IDNUM
# virsh list fedora-aos
5. Connect to appliance and log in with root/thincrust and verify its running:
# virt-viewer IDNUM


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The Sommet superfamily has been updated with a new serifed member. Expanding on Sommet's successful design principals, Sommet Serif is there when you need legibility for continuous text. Its interesting forms lend it to use as headlines as well. Sommet Serif is available with six weights and complementary italics and plenty of OpenType features. Sommet Serif features a tall x-height, and its letterforms are compact, perfect for when layout space is at a premium. Sommet Serif also includes oldstyle figures and small caps. Use Sommet Serif whenever you need a powerful and contemporary serif. In addition, be sure to check out the sans, rounded, and slab members of the superfamily. 1/3rd off for a limited time!
Welcome to the official insigne type design studio blog. The latest information about our upcoming typefaces and articles about type design, typography, graphic design, small business and advertising.


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Council takes stand against Cuccinelli opinion
The City Council Tuesday decided to draft an official resolution reinforcing the citys commitment to human rights after Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli opined last week that gay state workers are not protected from discrimination under Virginia law.
The decision, which sparked protests in Richmond, sparked a discussion at City Hall as well.
At a time when we keep talking about how important jobs are in the Commonwealth that we would have elected officials essentially putting into place policies that send a pretty clear picture to the business communities and others that we dont want any kind of tolerance or acceptance in our work places in Virginia is wrong, Councilman Rob Krupicka said.
He added that the law is anti-business at its base, if not also inappropriate and immoral.
Councilman Frank Fannon said Cuccinelli was simply interpreting Virginia law, not making it.
Theres just all these laws at the state level that we have to make sure we follow I guess, Fannon said.
Council members directed the citys Office of Human Rights to draft a resolution that may be signed by regional neighbors as well to reinforce the citys and regions commitment to equality for all.
The statewide controversy prompted Gov. Bob McDonnell to issue an executive directive Wednesday, stating, Employment discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated by this administration. Consistent with state and federal law, and the Virginia and United States Constitutions, I hereby direct that the hiring, promotion, compensation, treatment, discipline, and termination of state employees shall be based on an individuals job qualifications, merit and performance.
The directive does not make the statement law.
Councilman Paul Smedberg said the original decision was against the very basic level of human decency and forced people to live a life of lies.
Frankly, it doesnt get any worse than that, he said. Its really sad.
Green means go, red means ticket
While the state government didnt pass the City Councils preferred legislation regarding red light photo enforcement, a bill passed that allows the operation of red light cameras to fall under the auspices of private companies.
Driver information would be available to the camera operators to relay ticket information, which has worried some, but the city wants to reserve their law enforcement units for other threats to public safety not administrative work.


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UFC Store
"I see a lot of guys get comfortable with just being in the UFC. I don't want that to happen to me." - Nah-Shon Burrell
You can hear the reluctance in the voice of Nah-Shon Burrell as he hesitates to call his May 2012 loss to Chris Spang in Strikeforce what he really wants to. Ultimately, the welterweight abandons modesty when talking about his last loss.
"I don't want to say it but…it was a fluke. It was," Burrell tells UFC.com.
Spang got Burrell out of the cage quickly in the first round with strikes and "The Rock-N-Rolla" was none too happy about it. Adding to his frustration was having to wait a long time for his opportunity to redeem himself with another fight.
Strikeforce was on its way to being folded and began having fewer events, and fewer opportunities for contracted fighters like Burrell to do what they love to do and pay their bills. The financial stresses and self-doubt began to creep in to the Philadelphia fighter's mind.
"I knew I was good, but the more time that passes and you don't fight, you start second guessing yourself. 'Dang, I might not be that good,'" he reveals.
"[Financially] It was hard. It was rough. But I have good management and they helped me out. I have a good team and they all made sure I was taken care of," he continues.
They also made sure to encourage Burrell to do his due diligence and continue to train, even as it seemed like he would never get another fight. Month after month dragged by without a fight for him but he still got up each morning and made sure he'd be ready in case he got the call. Eventually, Strikeforce had its doors shuttered completely and it was announced that some of their fighters would be making a transition over to the big leagues – the UFC.
Burrell waited and worked. Coming off of a loss, he knew he didn't have the best shot at being picked up by the promotion, despite having an excellent overall professional record. "I hadn't gotten the call yet and I contemplated giving it up," Burrell admits.
"But every day I still went to the gym, every day I ran. I did what I was supposed to do. Just in case I got the call, I wanted to make sure I was even remotely in shape. Even though I had doubts, I never stopped working."
Working involved lots of water, running, salad and grilled chicken on a meager diet of no more than a thousand calories a day for Burrell. He knew that if he were to get the call up from the UFC, it would probably be to fight on short notice, so he wanted to keep his weight in check and his skills sharp.
In addition to this strict diet, he was doing MMA sparring every day and boxing sparring with future boxing hall of famer Bernard Hopkins. According to Burrell, word had spread about him being a quality fighter with a unique, pressuring style, and Hopkins' people began bringing "The Executioner" in to work with the MMA welterweight.
All the hunger pangs, punches and sweat ended up not being in vain, as Burrell got the call he was dreaming of, the one that would keep him in the sport. He remembers the moment vividly.
"I was on a crowded train and one of my co-managers, Brian Gillespie, called me and asked, 'how much do you weigh?' the 23-year-old recounts.
"You always lie a little bit when you answer that question (laughs) and I said, 'oh, about 188 to 189.' He said, 'good, because the UFC just called. Would you like to take a fight on the card next week?"
Burrell says that the fight could have been the next day and his answer would have been the same – an emphatic "Yes!"
"You don't turn them down," he explains. "I'm ready and have been sitting out seven or eight months. I'm ready. I was just smiling so much the rest of that train ride. It was so hard to remain calm, I was smiling so big."
Even now, he smiles as he remembers the moment. He was set to fight fellow former Strikeforce fighter Yuri Villefort at UFC 157 on February 23rd.
There wouldn't be many more smiles for about another week, however, as he struggled to make weight on short notice. Burrell says that he had not been drinking enough water all along to cut the weight he needed to make the welterweight limit.
He tried and tried all through fight week but a couple hours before the Friday weigh ins, "I was in the gym and my body stopped sweating. It wasn't sweating at all. I was like, 'Oh my God.' When I realized this, I did a couple more sessions in the sauna. I did a steam sauna, a dry sauna and jumped in the whirlpool. Still, my body wasn't dropping any more water weight.
"We called [UFC site coordinator] Burt [Watson] to let them know somewhat in advance and be a little bit professional - even though not making weight isn't professional - that there was a chance I might not make weight. I felt horrible. Not really physically, it was more of a mental thing because I didn't know what else to do. That was how I usually cut the weight. I had messed up. When I got the call I was not drinking enough water."
He was told to drink two gallons a day but could only stomach a gallon. Burrell got to the scale at the UFC 157 weigh ins knowing he'd be heavy, but he still didn't feel extra pressure. "My whole thing was, 'if they let me fight, he can't beat me," he says.
Coming off of a loss and then failing to make weight might add to the stress of a UFC debut but Burrell says that he felt confident that if his opponent accepted the fight despite his being over the weight limit, he'd get the job done.
"I had heard him say that he was more explosive than me and better everywhere than me. I knew that was a lie. It wasn't my best day but he still couldn't beat me. So, at the weigh ins I was just thinking, 'please take the fight,'" he said.
Villefort took the fight and Burrell proved himself right in earning a unanimous decision win. After his roller-coaster year, the UFC debutant felt only relief as his hand was raised in the Octagon for the first time.
Now, he looks towards the future with a renewed hunger and motivation to succeed as a professional fighter. He's gone through too much to get complacent and self-satisfied.
"I'm not letting [the fact that I've won in the UFC] hit me," Burrell promises. "I see a lot of guys get comfortable with just being in the UFC. I don't want that to happen to me. I'm focused on fighting and putting on good shows. I didn't let it set in. I am just trying to stay in shape and sneak my way on to that coming Jersey card. I took a couple days off and now I'm back to training."
Power Slap


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May 06, 2014 | Carpet One Floor & Home
Do you like to entertain, host family dinners or just dine in style? Your dining room is one of the rooms your guest will spend the most time in. And you want it to look amazing. We recently had the opportunity to ask designers Glen Peloso and Jamie Alexander for the inside scoop on their beautiful and creative dining room. Take their advice and use this dining room inspiration to create a beautiful room of your own.
BDMS: What was your inspiration for this room?
G&J: The dining table set the tone for this room. Whenever you start to design a room, select the largest element first, which is the anchor of the space and provides you with a functional space if that is the only element you have.
BDMS: The light figures in this room are very unique. Why did you choose them over a more traditional dining room lighting fixture?
G&J: We loved the organic detail of the fixture and it fit in well with the idea of "style spots" for this trade show. We also really like the fact that the fixture was open enough to make it feel airy. It also allowed for the element of the Edison bulbs which create a beautiful warm glow to the space.
BDMS: Why did you choose to add a bench to the seating arrangement?
G&J: The bench seating provides the room with both function and a more casual feel than do the traditional dining seating we are accustomed to. With the proliferation of open concept kitchens the more casual dining area is ever more popular. The bench makes the space seem more causal.
BDMS: Why is this rug great for this space? Do you have any rules for rugs in dining rooms? What type of flooring would you include under this rug if it were in a home?
G&J: Rugs should be approximately 36 inches smaller than the dimensions of the room. If the room is particularly large than you want to be sure that you select a carpet that is 30 inches larger than the table top. This allows for all the chairs to be on the carpet when they are pulled out from the table during a diner.
In a residential application we would still like to see a hard wood under the carpet to rim the room. You ideally have approximately 15 inches of hard wood exposed around the carpet edge, depending on the dimension of the table.
Two well respected names in design – celebrity designer Glen Peloso and Jamie Alexander –came together to co-found and be the principals of Peloso Alexander Interiors. Both have extensive experience in commercial, hospitality and residential design and bring a combined 35 years of experience to every client space. They create environments that merge their clients lifestyle, personality and architecture. Being at the forefront of design their work has appeared in both print and TV throughout North America. They recently launched a collection of furniture available at boutique furniture stores nationally. Learn more at Pelosoalexander.com, or follow Glen and Jamie on twitter @glenandjamie andFacebook.com/pelosoalexander


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Click Here to Enter on-line Shop
The Peterman Acoustic Stompbox is the most original wooden stompbox, Hand crafted, in the beautiful Hunter Valley Vineyards area 1.5 hours from Sydney in Australia, they are made by Peterman from the finest Australian and international timbers.
Although funny enough, the most popular and biggest seller is actually made from a rubber Hockey Puck The "Puck'n Stompa", optionally encased in timber. Known also as a timber acoustic stomp box, foot percussion, foot pedal, cajon foot pedal, percussion box, box drum, porch board Bass, rhythm box, acoustic drum box, stomp box drum, foot stomp, bass drum trigger, foot stompbox, bass foot pedal, peterman pedal hand drum and many other names around the world. In the on-line shop you will find my current stomp boxes, that are hand made in Australia. I ship these units all over the world Including Rose Island so now you can buy stomp boxes online and not worry about the distance!!
The sound you hear from the stompbox is purely DI, the Camera microphone and voice microphone have been muted during the actual playing... No EQ was applied to the stomp track.
(however a little multipressor was added to the mastering, for level and Youtube purposes.)


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Eric Stults (2-0, 2.61) vs. Aaron Cook (0-1, 10.22).
- In case you forgot, the Dodgers hit three home runs off Cook less than a week ago.
- Don't look now, but...Dodgers top MLB Power Rankings (SI.com)
- Attention, Ned Colletti:
12-year-old girl throws perfect game against boys (AP/Google)
Perfect-Game Jersey Girl to Throw Out First Pitch at Citi Field (Bloomberg)
Highlights from Mackenzie Brown's perfect game in Bayonne |
Odds that Mackenzie pitches a perfect game against the Mets tonight? Sign her up, Ned!


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The potential elimination of many tax preferences currently afforded life insurance is one facet of today's fiscal cliff discussions that is often overlooked.
Current proposals include provisions that could result in the imposition of taxes and elimination of deductions for both individual and corporate-owned life insurance policies, the proceeds of which are received tax-free under existing law. Clients today assume that the tax-free status of life insurance is a given and may have even engaged in fiscal cliff planning that involves the purchase of life insurance to provide a source of tax-free investment income. Given today's political climate, it is important that clients realize that no tax preference is safe and that the tax benefits they have come to expect from life insurance are no exception.
The Life Insurance Fiscal Cliff
With the fiscal cliff looming, no tax preferences are immune from Congressional scrutiny. Various proposals to impose taxes on life insurance proceeds and policies are circulating and, while it is unlikely that all of the proposals will become law, it is entirely possible that life insurance will not escape the fiscal cliff discussions unscathed.
For example, while taxing the interest that accrues within a policy would not completely eliminate its tax-preferred status, it would provide substantial revenue to the Treasury. Today, when a life insurance policy earns interest, that interest typically increases the cash value of the policy tax-free, accumulating to provide a fund from which the policyholder can borrow tax-free.
Many business owners and high-net worth clients purchase life insurance specifically because it provides a tax-free investment that accumulates during many years that can be withdrawn without worrying about capital gains or the new investment income taxes at some point in the future.
In the case of corporate-owned life insurance, corporations often borrow to purchase or pay the premiums on a life insurance policy. An exception to the general rule allows a corporation to deduct the interest paid on any related debts if the policy covers the life of an officer, director or employee of the corporation—essentially providing a double tax motivation for corporations to purchase life insurance. However, eliminating this exception could generate an estimated $7.3 billion in tax revenue over 10 years.


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It may not be sexy, but sweet potato pie is GOOD. Now, I love my pumpkin...in all kinds of baked goods...but I must say, where pie is concerned, I prefer sweet potato.
The pie is really pretty simple. (And I'm begging you to give it a try.) If you cook the sweet potatoes the day before, you can put this pie together in a jiffy.
Sweet Potato Pie with Brown Sugar Whipped Cream
{slightly modified from Everyday Food, issue 7}
sweet potato puree:
3 large sweet potatoes
water to cover
10 graham crackers (the full sheets, rectangles)
3TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
pinch kosher salt
5 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 and 3/4 c. cooled sweet potato puree
1/2 c. half and half
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
whipped cream:
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. light brown sugar
Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks of approximately the same size...about 1.5".
Place an oven rack on the lowest shelf and preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until blended. Whisk in the cooled sweet potato puree, half and half, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and allspice until completely smooth. Pour into the prepared crust and use an offset spatula to smooth the top.
{Isn't dollop a good word?}
Promise me you'll make it? Ok? After one bite, you might decide sweet potato pie is sexy after all.
{Cheryl of TidyMom is having her 3rd annual Love the Pie party! Come see all of the other delicious pies linked up!!! It's like a pie potluck!}


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The next time a child is abducted near you, your cellphone may shriek to life with an alert message.
A new national Amber Alert system officially rolled out earlier this month to millions of cellphones, and because the alerts are automatically active on most newer phones, the messages have already taken tens of thousands of people by surprise.
The newly-expanded emergency alert system is an effort by FEMA to update the way it reaches people with new technologies, but local officials and others worry that the lack of public education and some initial stumbles may undermine the program's purpose, especially when people are startled and annoyed and choose to opt out.
Lisa Rott was jolted from her sleep at 1:44 a.m. earlier this month in her Sarasota, Fla. home. A high-pitched tone sounded in spurts for about 10 seconds while her phone buzzed multiple times.
Initially Roth, 50, was worried something had happened to her elderly mother. Then she saw the message: "Emergency Alert: Amber Alert. An Amber Alert has been issued in your area. Please check local media."
"I thought it was spam," said Rott, who works for AT&T as a process engineer. And because her cellphone has a New Jersey number, she wasn't sure exactly where the alert originated. The next morning Rott searched online for both New Jersey and Florida incidents yielding one likely possibility — hours away from her home.
"What are we supposed to do?" Roth said. "They're not telling us what to do, they're not even telling us what to look for in our area."
Later that morning Rott called AT&T, her service provider, and asked them how to make the "worthless" messages stop.
Dozens of people have similarly taken to Facebook and Twitter to comment on being startled awake, scared by their phone's activity, and frustrated by the lack of information.
FEMA officials said they are aware of the confusion the Amber Alerts have caused and are working with the U.S. Department of Justice to include more information in the text messages.
"There's a very delicate balance between how much is enough and how much (alerting) is too much," said Damon Penn, who oversees the FEMA emergency alerts system. "The big concern is over-alerting, and that's what we're focused on."
The federal agency requires people sending the alerts to be trained and to ensure that the alerts meet specific criteria. But officials are still working on trying to determine whether an alert should be sent out in the middle of the night, what information to provide, and how best to use the system, Penn said. The agency has started an education campaign, he said.
"My biggest concern is that people, if they don't understand what it means ... will opt out of the program," said Bob Hoever, a director at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "And it's critical that we continue to have their participation."
The organization activates the messages seen on billboards and now cellphones once officials tell them an Amber Alert is necessary. Since the program's inception in 1996, Hoever said Amber Alerts have helped officials safely return at least 602 children.
So far, 19 Amber Alerts have been issued under this new system in 14 states including Texas, Ohio, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to figures kept by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
While no Amber Alert has been issued in California under the new system, authorities say it's only a matter of time and people need to know it's going to happen.
"I know this is not our system, but we're going to be receiving the phone calls when this goes off," said California Highway Patrol Capt. Greg Ferrero, California's Amber Alert coordinator.
Ferrero said he's seen the stir caused by the alerts when they caught people off guard in Florida and Texas, where four have already been issued. He said FEMA needs to tell the public about the system, and has sent in suggestions to improve the program such as providing people with details like the license plate or where the abduction occurred.
Los Angeles Police Department Det. Kevin Coffey trained local law enforcement officers on the alerts last week and found most were surprised by the new reach they already have.
"We've never had this ability," Coffey said. "We're going to have instantaneous connectivity with every person with a cellphone within our county and potentially multiple counties in the state."
Timothy Griffin, a professor of criminal justice at University of Nevada, Reno has studied Amber Alerts for the last eight years. He said he favors an Amber Alert system that's more targeted, but his research also questions whether the system's effectiveness has been oversold.
"Amber Alerts, in most cases, make no difference whatsoever," Griffin said. "Even when you look at ones where Amber Alerts make a difference, it doesn't happen fast, within that crucial three-hour difference" that the alerts are supposed to target. But he said he's hoping this system will prove him wrong.


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Something that only comes around once every four years and doesn't involve either politics or Olympic competition deserves its own mention:
Wednesday is Feb. 29.
Leap day, that is.
Our friend Linton Weeks has put together a handy list of 24 things you could do with the extra 24 hours. (And yes, we know that some of you have already started your day; but, hey, we're an East Coast-based blog.)
The Tennessean says thousands of people around the world are going to be out "geocaching" — using GPS coordinates to find hidden treasures and the bragging rights that apparently come with success finding them on a peculiar day.
The Jersey Journal reminds us that in some countries, if a woman asks a man to marry her on Leap Day, he's supposed to say yes.
The Wall Street Journal contributes "great" sports moments in leap day history, which actually don't seem that remarkable. Maybe hockey great Gordie Howe scoring his 800th goal, but the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Portland Trailblazers 90-87?
The Pioneer Press breaks the bad news to criminals: "In the eyes of the law, a year has 12 months, not 365 days." That could mean one more day behind bars for some.
All we want to know, though, is:
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Ephrem the Syrian
Our Righteous Father Ephrem the Syrian was a prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, but especially among Syriac Christians, as a saint. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is January 28.
Ephrem is also variously known as Ephraim (Hebrew and Greek), Ephraem (Latin), Aphrem and Afrem (both Syriac). However, "Ephrem" is the generally preferred spelling.
- Syriac — ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ — Mâr Aphrêm Sûryâyâ.
- Greek — Ὅσιος Ἐφραίμ ὁ Σῦρος; — Hosios Ephraim ho Syros.
- Latin — Sanctus Ephraem Syrus
- English — Saint Ephrem the Syrian
- Arabic — أفرام السرياني — Afram as-Suryani
Ephrem was born around the year 306, in the city of Nisibis (the modern Turkish town of Nusaybin, on the border with Syria). Internal evidence from Ephrem's hymnody suggests that both his parents were part of the growing Christian community in the city, although later hagiographers wrote that his father was a pagan priest. Numerous languages were spoken in the Nisibis of Ephrem's day, mostly dialects of Aramaic. The Christian community used the Syriac dialect. Various pagan religions, Judaism and early Christian sects vied with one another for the hearts and minds of the populace. It was a time of great religious and political tension. The Roman Emperor Diocletian had signed a treaty with his Persian counterpart, Nerses in 298 that transferred Nisibis into Roman hands. The savage persecution and martyrdom of Christians under Diocletian were an important part of Nisibene church heritage as Ephrem grew up.
St. James (Mar Jacob), the first bishop of Nisibis, was appointed in 308, and Ephrem grew up under his leadership of the community. St. James is recorded as a signatory at the First Ecumenical Council in 325. Ephrem was baptized as a youth, and James appointed him as a teacher (Syriac malpânâ, a title that still carries great respect for Syriac Christians). He was ordained as a deacon either at this time or later. He began to compose hymns and write biblical commentaries as part of his educational office. In his hymns, he sometimes refers to himself as a "herdsman" (`allânâ), to his bishop as the "shepherd" (râ`yâ) and his community as a "fold" (dayrâ). Ephrem is popularly credited as the founder of the School of Nisibis, which in later centuries was the centre of learning of the Assyrian Church of the East (i.e., the Nestorians).
In 337, emperor Constantine I, who had established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, died. Seizing on this opportunity, Shapur II of Persia began a series of attacks into Roman North Mesopotamia. Nisibis was besieged in 338, 346 and 350. During the first siege, Ephrem credits Bishop James as defending the city with his prayers. Ephrem's beloved bishop died soon after the event, and Babu led the church through the turbulent times of border skirmishes. In the third siege, of 350, Shapur rerouted the River Mygdonius to undermine the walls of Nisibis. The Nisibenes quickly repaired the walls while the Persian elephant cavalry became bogged down in the wet ground. Ephrem celebrated the miraculous salvation of the city in a hymn as being like Noah's Ark floating to safety on the flood.
One important physical link to Ephrem's lifetime is the baptistry of Nisibis. The inscription tells that it was constructed under Bishop Vologeses in 359. That was the year that Shapur began to harry the region once again. The cities around Nisibis were destroyed one by one, and their citizens killed or deported. The Roman Empire was preoccupied in the west, and Constantius and Julian the Apostate struggled for overall control. Eventually, with Constantius dead, Julian began his march into Mesopotamia. He brought with him his increasingly stringent persecutions on Christians. Julian began a foolhardy march against the Persian capital Ctesiphon, where, overstretched and outnumbered, he began an immediate retreat back along the same road. Julian was killed defending his retreat, and the army elected Jovian as the new emperor. Unlike his predecessor, Jovian was a Nicene Christian. He was forced by circumstances to ask for terms from Shapur, and conceded Nisibis to Persia, with the rule that the city's Christian community would leave. Bishop Abraham, the successor to Vologeses, led his people into exile.
Ephrem found himself among a large group of refugees that fled west, first to Amida (Diyarbakir), and eventually settling in Edessa (modern Sanli Urfa) in 363. Ephrem, in his late fifties, applied himself to ministry in his new church, and seems to have continued his work as a teacher (perhaps in the School of Edessa). Edessa had always been at the heart of the Syriac-speaking world, and the city was full of rival philosophies and religions. Ephrem comments that Orthodox Nicene Christians were simply called "Palutians" in Edessa, after a former bishop. Arians, Marcionites, Manichees, Bardaisanites and various Gnostic sects proclaimed themselves as the true Church. In this confusion, Ephrem wrote a great number of hymns defending Orthodoxy. A later Syriac writer, Jacob of Serugh, wrote that Ephrem rehearsed all female choirs to sing his hymns set to Syriac folk tunes in the forum of Edessa.
After a ten-year residency in Edessa, in his sixties, Ephrem reposed in peace, according to some in the year 373, according to others, 379.
Over four hundred hymns composed by Ephrem still exist. Granted that some have been lost to us, Ephrem's productivity is not in doubt. The church historian Sozomen credits Ephrem with having written over three million lines. Ephrem combines in his writing a threefold heritage: he draws on the models and methods of early Rabbinic Judaism, he engages wonderfully with Greek science and philosophy, and he delights in the Mesopotamian/Persian tradition of mystery symbolism.
The most important of his works are his lyric hymns (madrâšê). These hymns are full of rich imagery drawn from biblical sources, folk tradition, and other religions and philosophies. The madrâšê are written in stanzas of syllabic verse, and employ over fifty different metrical schemes. Each madrâšê has its qâlâ, a traditional tune identified by its opening line. All of these qâlê are now lost. It seems that Bardaisan and Mani composed madrâšê, and Ephrem felt that the medium was a suitable tool to use against their claims. The madrâšê are gathered into various hymn cycles. Each group has a title — Carmina Nisibena, On Faith, On Paradise, On Virginity, Against Heresies—but some of these titles do not do justice to the entirety of the collection (for instance, only the first half of the Carmina Nisibena is about Nisibis). Each madrâšâ usually had a refrain (`unîtâ), which was repeated after each stanza. Later writers have suggested that the madrâšê were sung by all women choirs with an accompanying lyre.
Ephrem also wrote verse homilies (mêmrê). These sermons in poetry are far fewer in number than the madrâšê. The mêmrê are written in a heptosyllabic couplets (pairs of lines of seven syllables each).
The third category of Ephrem's writings is his prose work. He wrote biblical commentaries on Tatian's Diatessaron (the single gospel harmony of the early Syriac church), on Genesis and Exodus, and on the Acts of the Apostles and Pauline Epistles. He also wrote refutations against Bardaisan, Mani, Marcion and others.
Ephrem wrote exclusively in the Syriac language, but translations of his writings exist in Armenian, Coptic, Greek and other languages. Some of his works are extant only in translation (particularly in Armenian). Syriac churches still use many of Ephrem's hymns as part of the annual cycle of worship. However, most of these liturgical hymns are edited and conflated versions of the originals.
The most complete, critical text of authentic Ephrem was compiled between 1955 and 1979 by Dom Edmund Beck, OSB as part of the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium.
"Greek Ephrem"
Ephrem's artful meditations on the symbols of Christian faith and his stand against heresy made him a popular source of inspiration throughout the church. This occurred to the extent that there is a huge corpus of Ephrem pseudepigraphy and legendary hagiography. Some of these compositions are in verse, often a version of Ephrem's heptosyllabic couplets. Most of these works are considerably later compositions in Greek. Students of Ephrem often refer to this corpus as having a single, imaginary author called Greek Ephrem or Ephraem Graecus (as opposed to the real Ephrem the Syrian). This is not to say that all texts ascribed to Ephrem in Greek are false, but many are. Although Greek compositions are the main source of pseudepigraphal material, there are also works in Latin, Slavonic and Arabic. There has been very little critical examination of these works, and many are still treasured by churches as authentic.
The most well known of these writings is the Prayer of Saint Ephrem that is a part of most days of fasting in Eastern Christianity:
- O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, meddling, lust of power, and idle talk.
- But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to thy servant.
- Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother, for thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
- O God, be gracious to me, a sinner.
Veneration as a saint
Though St. Ephrem was probably not formally a monk, he was known to have practiced a severe ascetical life, ever increasing in holiness. In Ephrem's day, monasticism was in its infancy in the Egypt. He seems to have been a part of a close-knit, urban community of Christians that had "covenanted" themselves to service and refrained from sexual activity. Some of the Syriac terms that Ephrem used to describe his community were later used to describe monastic communities, but the assertion that he was monk is probably anachronistic.
Ephrem is popularly believed to have taken certain legendary journeys. In one of these he visits St. Basil the Great. This links the Syrian Ephrem with the Cappadocian Fathers, and is an important theological bridge between the spiritual view of the two, who held much in common.
Ephrem is also supposed to have visited Abba Bishoi (Pisoes) in the monasteries of the Wadi Natrun, Egypt. As with the legendary visit with Basil, this visit is a theological bridge between the origins of monasticism and its spread throughout the church.
The most popular title for Ephrem is Harp of the Spirit (Syriac Kenârâ d-Rûhâ). He is also referred to as the Deacon of Edessa, the Sun of the Syrians and a Pillar of the Church.
With the Tradition of the Church, Ephrem also shows that poetry is not only a valid vehicle for theology, but in many ways superior to philosophical discourse. He also encourages a way of reading the Holy Scripture that is rooted in faith more than critical analysis. Ephrem displays a deep sense of the interconnectedness of all created things, which leads some to see him as a "saint of ecology."
"Whenever I have meditated upon You I have acquired a veritable treasure from You; whatever aspect of You I have contemplated, a stream has flowed from You; there is no way I can contain it. Your fountain, Lord, is hidden from the person who does not thirst for You" (Faith 32:2-3).
"The hutzpah of our love is pleasing to you, O Lord, just as it pleased you that we should steal from your bounty."
"The hater of mankind, in his shameless impudence, attacks the Holy Church in the person of her servers. O Lord, do not leave Thy holy Church without Thy care, that the promise that Thou didst utter concerning her invincibility may not be shown false."
"Blessed is the person who has consented to become the close friend of faith and of prayer: he lives in single-mindedness and makes prayer and faith stop by with him. Prayer that rises up in someone's heart serves to open up for us the door of heaven: that person stands in converse with the Divinity and gives pleasure to the Son of God. Prayer makes peace with the Lord's anger and with the vehemence of His wrath. In this way too, tears that well up in the eyes can open the door of compassion."
"The Seraph could not touch the fire's coal with his fingers, but just brought it close to Isaiah's mouth: the Seraph did not hold it, Isaiah did not consume it, but us our Lord has allowed to do both."
- (Ephrem is) "The greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only theologian-poet to rank beside Dante." — Robert Murray.
Troparion (Tone 8)
- By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
- And your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
- By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe.
- O our holy father Ephraim, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!
Kontakion (Tone 2)
- O holy father Ephraim,
- As you meditated constantly on the final judgment,
- You shed abundant tears of sorrow,
- Making your struggles examples that we could follow and imitate,
- And awakening the slothful to repentance:
- You are indeed a father of high renown.
- Brock, Sebastian P (1985). The luminous eye: the spiritual world vision of Saint Ephrem, Cistercian Publications (ISBN 0-87907-624-0)
- Brock, Sebastian (trans.) (1990). Hymns on paradise: St. Ephrem the Syrian. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York (ISBN 0-88141-076-4)
- Griffith, Sidney H (1997). Faith adoring the mystery: reading the Bible with St. Ephraem the Syrian. Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (ISBN 0-87462-577-7)
- Matthews, Edward G and Joseph P Amar (trans.), Kathleen McVey (ed.) (1994). Saint Ephrem the Syrian: selected prose works. Catholic University of America Press (ISBN 0-8132-0091-1)
- McVey, Kathleen E (trans.) (1989). Ephrem the Syrian: hymns. Paulist Press. (ISBN 0-8091-3093-9)
- Wikipedia:Ephrem the Syrian
External links
- Margonitho: Mor Ephrem the Syrian
- Saint Ephrem the Syrian Library
- Anastasis article
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Ephraem
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Ephraem Syrus"
- Ephraim the Syrian from the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
- Venerable Ephraim the Syrian from the website of the OCA
- Selections from the Hymns of St. Ephrem the Syrian on the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ in the Flesh (PDF) - Arranged responsorially by Fr. Josiah Trenham
- Prayer of Saint Ephraim
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Across Continents, Syrian Family Seeks Assad's Ouster
The Nachar family has long been on the radar of the Syrian government, and since last year, they have become even more visible.
When Syrians first started openly protesting inside the country in the spring of 2011, 29-year-old Syrian Karam Nachar was working on his doctorate in Middle East history at Princeton University. He joined demonstrations outside U.N. headquarters in New York.
"Sometimes we come here just to vent. A lot of the time we are chanting in Arabic –- not even in English. You want to feel a sense of camaraderie and community," he said at one of the weekly demonstrations.
This activism, even thousands of miles removed from the Middle East, was new for Syrians. Even in the U.S., many feared Syria's security police would target them here or relatives back home. This community has been transformed over the 16-month uprising in Syria. Karam Nachar was an early activist, his role much larger than protesting on the street.
"A lot of people worried that their parents would be arrested on their behalf," he says. "This wasn't a concern for me because my father was already arrested several times."
Samir Nachar, a well-know dissident from Aleppo, Syria, was arrested in 2003, jailed for three years, and banned from leaving the country.
By early spring of 2011, Karam Nachar was "full throttle" supporting the revolt.
He raised money to buy medical supplies and communication gear smuggled into Syria. He was up before dawn to connect with activists inside Syria. He became a voice for the opposition in the U.S., calling for international intervention to bring down the regime.
He couldn't tell his father about how active he's become because it was too dangerous to talk on the phone, with the family line monitored by the government.
Calling Home
Then in May 2011, he finally arranged a secure call to Aleppo and discovered that his 67-year-old father was taking even bigger risks, which included demonstrating in the suburbs of Damascus.
"And that's when my dad told me: 'I was in Douma, there were 20,000 people there. It was an unbelievable feeling.' " Karam Nachar says. His father, he says, "sounded like a little kid."
Late last year, his father took another risk and became a founding member of the Syrian National Council, the first organization of dissidents from inside and outside the country. Western and Arab governments hoped the SNC would emerge as a potential government in exile.
But Samir Nachar's public role endangered his family in Aleppo, and Karam Nachar had to make a more anguished call in October to his mother and sister.
"I said, 'Listen, I have bad news,' and they said, 'What? Dad is not coming back?' And I said, 'No, it's worse. You have to leave.' "
He had to persuade them that it was too dangerous to stay because the regime was likely to come after them.
"Don't think you're safe just because you are women," he told his mother. Nachar sent some trusted friends to help his mother and sister quickly pack and cross the Turkish border.
"There's not a single day that passes by without me feeling very guilt. I feel extremely guilty for being here," he said in May in an interview in a New York cafe.
Guilt is not uncommon in a revolt that's claimed so many lives. It's made more intense for Nachar by the memory of another young Syrian, Bassel Shehadeh, who left his studies in the U.S. to join the revolt. He was killed in Syria on May 28.
"Bassel was someone who came from the exact same background that I come from," Nachar says. "It hit me so hard because he's someone who had to actually sacrifice the exact same things that I have right now. And he was so brave. And I definitely have survivor guilt. I feel that ultimately the people who survive this revolution are not the best people because the best people have already died."
Reuniting In Turkey
Not long after Shehadeh's death, Nachar finished his studies at Princeton and flew to Turkey.
More On Syria
In June, in a cramped apartment in Istanbul, the Nachar family was reunited. A flatscreen TV is tuned to a live stream broadcast of a demonstration in Aleppo, the low hum of the chants is the background to a family discussion.
In this politicized family, everything is open for debate.
Over sweet tea and cookies, Samir Nachar listens as his daughter Zaina and Karam talk about the growing strength of the armed opposition in Syria. His wife, Nouran, bitterly complains that the SNC, the organization her husband helped to created, has failed to unite.
"I'm more disappointed than Samir," she says.
Zaina's critique is tougher. She's listened in on conference calls, SNC meetings that begin as talks and end in fights.
"We get to hear their meetings. But after a while, we were like, 'Come on — this is what we left for? These small mediocre maneuvers and playing games?' "
Armed Opposition Has The Leading Role
It is a widely held view that Syria's political opposition is still too fractured to take over should the Assad regime collapse.
Samir Nachar acknowledges to his family and a visitor that the armed rebels, loosely organized as the Free Syrian Army, have the momentum now.
But he blames the international community, saying it has failed Syria. There was no protection from this ruthless regime, he insists. Desperate Syrians then started fighting back, taking arms from any source, including radical Islamists.
"I am fearful for the country," he says. "Things are pretty bad, and they are heading to a place where things are completely out of control."
Karam shares the worries of his father.
They both agree that the longer the armed rebellion drags on, the stronger the Islamists will become.
"It makes us terrified, I mean, it's worrisome, absolutely, " Karam Nacher says. "At the same time, the only way to deal with this is to engage even more and try to limit the damage as much as possible."
The damage to Syria is the familiy's biggest concern and reflects a wider conversation in the Syrian opposition.
Is there still hope for a political solution? They all agree that the Assad regime must go. But if violence is the only answer, what is the price?


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Fords have vowed to fight the defrocking "tooth and nail," which just happens to be the same way they attack and devour a gigantic sandwich:
In any case, the Fords first came to my attention when they said some incredibly dumb shit about cyclists, and since then I've taken perverse delight in watching their buffoonish reign of terror. Therefore, while I am of course pleased on behalf of my overly polite neighbors to the north, I must confess I'll also be kind of sad to see them go:
As for what the Fords should do next, I'd suggest that they make a bid for the US presidency. Sure, technically you're supposed to be born here, but nobody really goes by that, since everybody knows our current president was born in a terrorist training compound in a remote part of Pakistan. (I saw all about it on the Fox news.) Also, the United States prides itself on being the land of the free and the home of the obese, and once you hit 300lbs you're automatically granted citizenship.
Speaking of asses who hate cyclists, a reader tells me that a Swedish woman was recently hit by one:
Here's what happened:
"I was cycling down a bicycle path near the street when I saw the car coming toward me," she told the local norren.se news website.
At first Nordqvist thought the car would turn to avoid hitting her, but the next thing she knew, the passenger's protruding posterior sent her hurdling to the ground.
Ass-themed alliteration aside, the police are baffled:
"I'm not sure how I should put this since I've never seen anything like it," Joakim Oja of the Skellefteå police told the paper.
But that's only because they live in civilized society, whereas here in Canada's menstrual cup even the "greenest" police officer would immediately recognize this as a typical drive-by mooning gone awry. Anyway, it's a good thing she was wearing a helment:
Or at least she was wearing one after the incident.
Of course, in a world where we're all just a single wayward ass away from disaster, it's important that we learn to empower ourselves. And according to one Kickstarter, there's nothing more empowering than making your own bread--except for making your own bread with stuff you portaged with your custom-fabricated carb-mobile:
Yes, nothing says lovin' like some fresh-baked smugness from the oven:
I am a bread baker with a utopian agenda. To most, the end product of a freshly baked loaf is most tangible and delicious, but more important to me is getting people excited about the act of baking one's own daily bread, and the challenge that presents to the ready made culture that is our "stuffed and starved" American lifestyle. Baking bread is a skill that has been lost in the prepackaged, preserved food environment where we are stuck in the cycle of market-based mass food consumption. Lisaruth's Lovin' from the Oven bread making demos help connect people to a primordial skill that I believe to be the gateway to other means of self-empowerment and the participation in creating one's own reality. One gains ownership over one's food sources, and the possibility for human connection arises. One slows down.
I'm not so sure I'd call buying a pre-baked loaf of bread an act of gross consumerism, though I do have respect for Lisaruth, for I too bake my own bread. Indeed, when I made my exodus from Brooklyn, the forces of gentrification were bearing down upon us with their Best Made axes, and I did not have time to let my bread rise. Lo, the result was a brittle and flavorless cracker-like slab I call "matzoh," and if you too would like to partake in it just give generously to my Kickstarter campaign and I'd be happy to teach you how.
Alas, I don't know what I miss more about Brooklyn--the throngs of people clamoring for entry into overpriced dining establishments , or the gigantic curbside containers full of cabbie pee:
Actually, while I'm assuming it's cabbie pee, I guess it could also have been left there by someone who was waiting on one of those 12-hour gas lines right after the hurricane. Either way, it's only a matter of time before Brooklyn "mixologists" start collecting these things and using them to "curate" exotic cocktails:
One of these $17 drinks contains locally-produced urine that was sustainably harvested by bicycle. Can you guess which? (Hint: it smells faintly of asparagus.)
Maybe they can serve Number Ones in the bar at that new Brooklyn velodrome that nobody wants:
"It's just so self-evident that this is his personal passion," said Peter Flemming, co-chairman of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Council and one of the most outspoken critics of the plan. "The track-cycling community is devout, I'm sure. The snowboard community is devout, too. There's no sport that doesn't have its devotees."
Mr. Flemming added, "He's paying for his building, and then the city gets stuck with it."
Fr. Flemming might have added golf to that list of sports, but then he'd have to acknowledge how much public space the city already devotes to people hitting balls with sticks and then walking after them.
Then again, I do acknowledge that there are more valuable gifts than velodromes. For example, if I had billions of dollars instead of just the hundreds of millions I currently do and wanted to give the city a bike-themed gift then I'd start a bike share system. Sure, we're supposed to be getting one anyway, but who knows when that will actually happen at this point. Plus, mine would be a lot better, and instead of unsightly docking stations I'd just have indentured Portland framebuilders in cages who would build each customer a bespoke bicycle out of bamboo. Then, when you're done you just dump it in the East River--or maybe feed it to the thousands of wild pandas I will unleash upon the city.
Now that's philanthropy.