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kottke.org posts about food
media diet
That's My Jazz
posted by Jason Kottke Jun 17, 2019
That's My Jazz is a short documentary by Ben Proudfoot about world class pastry chef Milton Abel II, who reminisces about his father, Milton Abel Sr., a world class Kansas City jazz musician. The film is a tender and moving rumination on their relationship and the balance between achieving greatness in the world and being present in the lives of your loved ones.
Ben Proudfoot
crying at work
Milton Abel II
Help This Guy Name His Cheerios
Brian McMullen is giving names to all of the 3,501 Cheerios in his cereal box and is taking name suggestions on Twitter. (via sam potts)
Brian McMullen
My Recent Media Diet, The "It's Not Life or Death, It's Just Tacos" Edition
posted by Jason Kottke May 24, 2019
I keep track of every media thing I "consume", so here are quick reviews of some things I've read, seen, heard, and experienced in the past two months. I never wrote a proper report on my trip to Mexico City, so I put some of the highlights in here. I'm in the middle of several things right now. On TV, I'm watching Our Planet, In Search of Greatness, Street Food, Chernobyl, The Clinton Affair, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, and This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy. I don't normally watch 19 different things at one time, but life's felt a little scattered lately. For books, I'm listening to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond on audiobook and I'm making good progress on Robert Caro's Working (highly recommended).
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. Hard to summarize but there's certainly something interesting on almost every page. (A-)
Fleabag. Bitingly funny and poignant, a real gem. (A+)
Skyscraper. Die Hard + the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia + #sponcon for Big Duct Tape. I love a good disaster movie. (B+)
Mexico City. Great food, vegetation everywhere, beautiful architecture, culturally fascinating, super walkable/bikeable/scooterable. I am definitely visiting here again as soon as I can. (A)
Puyol Taco Omakase. Delicious & fun & a great experience, but I'm not sure the food was obviously so much better than some of the best street food I had in Mexico City. I had this same experience in Bangkok years ago…street food is tough to beat when there's a thriving culture of markets, carts, and stalls. (B+)
The National Museum of Anthropology. One of my new favorite museums in the world. The only thing possibly more impressive than the collection is the architecture of the building. (A+)
Teotihuacán. I had high hopes for this archeological site and I was still blown away by it. (A+)
AirPods. This is my favorite gadget in years, the first real VR/AR device that feels seamless (and not like a Segway for your face). The freedom of wireless headphones feels similar to when I first used a laptop, wifi, and dockless bike share. (A+)
Homecoming. So many things to love about this, but one of my favorites is the shots of the audience watching Beyoncé and the rare moments when she watches them back: "I see you." And also the way they put a cohesive show together while showcasing individual talents and styles. (A-)
Homecoming: The Live Album. Come on, a marching band playing Beyoncé hits? That this works so well is a small miracle. (A-)
Avengers: Endgame. I liked but didn't love it. It was like the ST:TNG finale and the Six Feet Under finale mashed together and not done as well. It also seemed too predictable. (B)
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now that the Thanos narrative arc is complete, this is an underrated installment. (B+)
Casa Luis Barragán. This was like being in someone's creative mind. The layering of the garden reminded me of Disney's use of the multiplane camera in the forest scene in Bambi. (B+)
Gelatin Sincronizada Gelitin (NSFW). I was skeptical of this art performance at first — a bunch of half-naked people painting on a moving canvas using paintbrushes coming out of their butts — but it ended up being a really cool thing to experience. (B+)
Game of Thrones. I'm not quite as critical of the final season as everyone else seems to be. Still, it seems like since the show left the cozy confines of George RR Martin's books, it has struggled at times. (B+)
Wandering Earth. Based on the short story by Liu Cixin (author of the Three Body Problem trilogy), this disaster movie is a little uneven at the start but finishes strong. (B)
Halt and Catch Fire Vol 2. The music was one of the many great things about this show. (A-)
Running from COPS. A podcast about how media and law enforcement in America intersect to great and terrible effect. (B+)
Eating bugs. I tasted crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs at the market: mostly just salty. I had beef tartare and guacamole with grasshoppers on it. They added a nice crunch to the guac. Wouldn't exactly go out of the way for them, but they weren't bad. (B)
Panaderia Rosetta. Did I have one of the best pain au chocolat I've ever had here? Yes. Yes, I did. Also extremely delicious: everything else I tried. (A-)
Against the Rules. A podcast from Michael Lewis about what's happening to the concept of fairness in America. The episode about Salvator Mundi, the supposed Leonardo masterpiece, is particularly interesting. (A-)
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth. I have a new appreciation of how much Tolkien did in creating his books: writing, map making, world building, art, constructing languages. (B+)
Frida Kahlo's Blue House. A striking house with a lush courtyard, but the highlight was seeing Kahlo's work area much the way she left it when she died. (B+)
Street Food Essentials by Club Tengo Hambre. Mexico City is a huge place with so much to do that I wanted to hit the ground running right away, so I booked this street food tour. Definitely a good idea. We sampled so many different kinds of tacos & gorditas & quesadillas that I lost count. Highlights: huitlacoche quesadillas, al pastor tacos, fresh Oaxaca cheese at the Mercado de San Juan, and the blue corn masa used to make tlacoyos at one of our last stops — probably the best tortilla I've ever eaten. (A-)
The Matrix. This came out 20 years ago. I watched it with my 11-yo son the other day and he thought the special effects "held up pretty well". (A)
Electric scooters. I used the Lime dockless electric scooters for the first time when I was in Mexico City and I loved experience. Easier than a bike and a fun & fast way to get around the city. Cons: the combo of the speed & small wheels can be dangerous and cities generally don't have the infrastructure to accommodate them yet. (B+)
Paprika. Inventive and visually dazzling. Purportedly an influence on Christopher Nolan's Inception. (B+)
Oh and just because, here's a photo I took recently in my backyard that makes it seem like I live in Narnia or The Shire:
Past installments of my media diet are available here.
McHive, the World's Smallest McDonald's (for Bees)
A few McDonald's restaurants in Sweden started putting beehives on their rooftops to help save dwindling bee populations and it turned into a national sustainability effort.
More franchisees around the country are joining the cause and have also started replacing the grass around their restaurants with flowers and plants that are important for the wellbeing of wild bees.
To promote the idea, McDonald's constructed what might be their smallest restaurant, actually a fully functioning beehive just for the bees:
Totes adorbzzzz.
Sweet Little Rain, a Coffee Drink Built for Instagram
This drink from Chinese coffee chain Mellower Coffee is called Sweet Little Rain. A puff of cotton candy is suspended over a steaming cup of Americano. The heat from the coffee melts the cotton candy, which drips into the cup and sweetens the coffee. It is both a little bit of genius and unabashedly constructed for creating the perfect Instagram moment.
Cooking As A Service
posted by Tim Carmody May 10, 2019
Alex Danco looks at some short-term and long-term trends and concludes that we may be on our way to a future where most of our cooking is outsourced to other parties.
As Cooking As A Service expanded from [less than] 10% to 25-30+% of our eating, we grew to consume and expect a far greater selection and variety of food compared to when we did all our cooking ourselves. Our consumption choices around what food we eat gradually pivoted from "What am I able to cook for myself" to "Is this exactly what I want to eat, yes or no?" Once you transition into "is this exactly what I want, yes or no" territory, it's very hard to go back; it becomes a part of the standard of living that we expect….
From a couple of anecdotal conversations I've had with restaurant managers about this, it seems like once you open yourselves up as a restaurant that can be found on the delivery apps, a huge percentage of your kitchen volume switches over to fulfilling those orders, and your front-of-house costs get hung out to dry as increasingly unnecessary. Flexible, modular kitchens that are available for rent for any chef who wants to cook in it, and that have easy access to delivery cars and which pay for no front-of-house extras seem pretty obviously like the next iteration of back-end Cooking as a Service, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them pop up everywhere soon enough. If they can collectively bring down the cost of outsourced cooking another 20-30%, I think the economics start looking pretty compelling for outsourced cooking (including delivery) to effectively pay for itself out of the savings incurred by paying for ingredients and cooking equipment in bulk. At that point, kitchens start to truly become optional.
What I think is compelling about this argument (and it's worth reading in full) is that it isn't driven by a single mover: e.g., delivery apps, or supermarket prepared foods, or fast food, etc. It's a whole suite of cultural transformations that are changing all at once, but all moving more or less in the same direction, towards less cooking being done in the home.
The Ecological Footprint of Fish
Artist duo Chow and Lin have produced a visual representation of the amount of small fish it takes to produce large farm-raised fish in China. The three big fish in the middle of the graphic eat all of the other fish surrounding them before they're harvested.
We examined the impact of farm fishing through the large yellow croaker (大黄鱼) which is China's most popular fish.
Working with scientists, fish experts and local government officials, we traversed 4 towns in Fujian China to build a tessellated mosaic of fish portraits to see how much wild small fish is needed to sustain fish farming.
The answer is 7.15kg, 39 species, more than 4000 wild small fish to raise a single kilogram of large yellow croaker.
Chow and Lin
infoviz
The Failure of the Great Tip-Free Restaurant Experiment
Over the past three years, a number of restaurants across the geographic and economic spectrum of America have experimented with eliminating tipping. The practice is outdated, creates a difficult-to-justify wage imbalance between servers and cooks, and can result in mistreatment of staff (racism, sexual harassment) because of the fucked-up power dynamic it creates.
But as Grub Street's Nikita Richardson writes, the no-tip test has largely failed, with many of those places going back to the old ways. This happened for three main reasons:
1. No tips meant higher prices printed on the menu, and customers stayed away from what they perceived as more expensive meals. That $12 burger became a $14.50 burger and all of a sudden, people knew what they were actually paying for their food. What's interesting is that in another situation (say, having to pay to check a bag on a flight), people would be upset at not knowing the price up front and having a "hidden charge" added to their bill when they're drunk and happy at the end of a meal.
2. Servers can make more at tipping restaurants. Places that went tip-free lost a bunch of their staff to places that still had tipping.
Meanwhile, by raising menu prices and thus revenues, the extra money would go toward higher wages for kitchen staff, who could start making $12 to $15 an hour at a time when the state minimum wage was $8.75.
But, it turned out, many front-of-house staffers were more concerned with making money than with maintaining the moral high ground. This February, Meyer admitted that he had lost 30 to 40 percent of his "legacy" staffers since 2015. (One Meyer employee told Grub last year that her wages dropped from $60,000 per year to $50,000 under the new policy.) While he insisted that the employees that replaced them "understand 'Hospitality Included' and are thrilled about it," added employee attrition in an industry where turnover is already 1.5 times that of the private sector average has to hurt.
My regular NYC spot was one of the restaurants that experimented with eliminating tipping, and I can report that the staff was indeed quite skeptical about it and they switched back to the old method very soon. (I believe they kept the raises for the chefs though somehow.)
3. Tips make diners feel powerful. With tipping, you become the boss of your server or bartender and are responsible for a large chunk of their take-home pay.
Generally speaking, Americans hated the practice of tipping when it was first introduced in the late 19th century, perceiving it as a form of bribery for service workers who should simply do their jobs. But as we've adjusted to it, tipping has become undeniably intertwined with a sense of power.
Short of walking into the kitchen and telling off the chef, tipping is the easiest way to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a dining experience.
As a customer, I loved not tipping. I don't feel the need to have power over the staff in a restaurant, I want cooks & chefs to get paid as well as servers, and I've acclimated to factoring the tip into my dining expenses. But it seems that Americans in the aggregate do care about those things, and so here we are.
And if we're going to have tipping in restaurants, we should all know how it works.
If you can't afford to tip 20 percent of the total amount that you spend at a restaurant, you can't afford to eat at that restaurant.
And if your meal is bad?
You still tip. If something truly egregious happened, you ask to speak privately with a manager. If you do not want to speak privately with a manager, and would rather correct this perceived slight by tipping less or not tipping at all, you do not actually care about your perceived slight; you're just using it as an excuse to be a dick.
Nikita Richardson
The Last Avocado
If you had access to the last ripe avocado in the world, what would you do with it?
59 Ways to Cook Your Eggs
Eggs are an extremely versatile food. They taste great alone, make super sauces (including the much maligned mayonnaise, which I love), and can dress up leftovers into a whole other meal — just put an egg on it.
In this video, Bon Appétit editor Amiel Stanek explores almost 60 different ways to cook an egg, from over easy to coddled to grilled to something called "blowtorched egg" (not great). Be sure to catch the Rollie egg cooker in action at ~20:50…yucko. In general, the classic cooking methods beat newer techniques in terms of taste, texture, and convenience.
See also Every Way to Cook a Chicken Breast, Kenji's guide on making perfect hard-boiled eggs, and How to Make Perfect Soft-Scrambled Eggs.
Amiel Stanek
The Rise of the Fast Food Veggie Burger
Joining Carl's Jr. and White Castle, Burger King is adding a tastes-like-beef veggie burger to their menu.
This week, Burger King is introducing a version of its iconic Whopper sandwich filled with a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods.
The Impossible Whopper, as it will be known, is the biggest validation — and expansion opportunity — for a young industry that is looking to mimic and replace meat with plant-based alternatives.
The roll-out will start in the chain's St. Louis restaurants and then proceed nationwide if all goes well. Here's a commercial in which hardcore BK fans can't tell the Impossible Whopper from their beloved beef version:
As an increasingly conflicted omnivore, I would be perfectly happy if all low- to mid-end burgers were replaced by veggie clones — I don't care that the Quarter Pounder I eat once every three months is beef…I just want it to taste like a Quarter Pounder — and then high-end burgers (the ones where you can tell the difference and you eat only rarely) were made from humanely raised beef for which consumers pay an appropriate price that accurately reflects the true-cost accounting of their production. A meat burger that costs a dollar is just being paid for in other ways by someone or something else.
'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' Turns 50 Years Old
posted by Jason Kottke Mar 25, 2019
50 years ago last week, Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar was published for the first time. In a piece for The Atlantic, Ashley Fetters talked to a pair of kid lit experts about why the book remains so popular today.
Part of why both kids and parents love The Very Hungry Caterpillar is because it's an educational book that doesn't feel like a capital-E Educational book. Traditionally, children's literature is a didactic genre: "It teaches something," Martin says, "but the best children's books teach without kids knowing that they're learning something." In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, she adds, "you learn the days of the week. You learn colors. You learn the fruits. You learn junk-food names. In the end, you learn a little bit about nutrition, too: If you eat a whole bunch of junk food, you're not going to feel that great." Yet, crucially, none of the valuable information being presented ever feels "in your face," Martin says.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar was certainly one of my favorite books as a kid — along with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town & Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, and the Frog & Toad books — and it was one of the first books we read to our kids. I remember very clearly loving the partial pages and the holes. Holes! In a book! Right in the middle of the page! It felt transgressive. Like, what else is possible in this world if you can do such a thing? (Also, "caterpillar" is such a satisfying word to say, both correctly and, er, less so… I still default to my childhood "callarpitter" sometimes).
What's Eating Dan?
From America's Test Kitchen and Dan Souza, the editor-in-chief of Cook's Illustrated, a YouTube series called What's Eating Dan? In each episode, Souza picks a different food — pizza, rice, salmon — shares some of the science involved, and then shows us the best way to cook it. For starters, I'd suggest the first episode on burgers and a more recent one on mushrooms:
Dan Souza
The Wasabi Farmer
By some accounts, 99% of the wasabi consumed in the world is not actually wasabi — it's horseradish + green food coloring. Real wasabi is difficult to grow:
Authentic wasabi, known as Wasabia japonica, is the most expensive crop to grow in the world. The temperamental semiaquatic herb, native to the mountain streams of central Japan, is notoriously difficult to cultivate. Once planted, it takes several years to harvest; even then, it doesn't germinate unless conditions are perfect. Grated wasabi root loses its flavor within 15 minutes.
Profiled in the short film above, 75-year old Shigeo Iida is the 8th generation owner of a wasabi farm in Japan, where he's been painstakingly growing the herb in a beautiful valley for decades. He loves his work, but like other aging Japanese responsible for long-lived family businesses, there's uncertainty about the future. (via craig mod)
Shigeo Iida
Creatures of Habit
Ron and Diana Watson have been eating dinner at the same restaurant in Wichita 6 nights a week for 15 years. It's their only meal of the day and they skip the bread because Ron was gaining too much weight from the complimentary dinner rolls.
The ritual is all part of the order Ron Watson likes in his life. A Vietnam veteran, he dines only in restaurants that offer military discounts, and Texas Roadhouse gives vets 10 percent off. He still has some PTSD, he said, and he feels comfortable at table 412, which is a booth at the bar that gives him a good view of the door and everyone coming and going.
The couple also are regular enough customers that they know how to make the most of their money at Texas Roadhouse. Every Sunday through Wednesday, they arrive between 3 and 3:15 p.m. to take advantage of the restaurant's early bird special, which is available from 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and offers a full meal for $9.49.
I'm fascinated by people for whom routine is so important. I definitely have those tendencies; I watch favorite shows and movies repeatedly, wear pretty much the same outfit daily, return to familiar vacation destinations, and order the same dishes at the same restaurants again and again. So much of what I do for kottke.org focuses on finding the new — ideas, people, art, discoveries, culture — that it's comforting to have parts of my life that aren't relentlessly novel. But I also make ample time for new experiences that bring happiness & fulfillment into my life…and the rest I put on cruise control. (via tmn)
Update: From The Atlantic, The People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day.
Many of the people I talked with emphasized the stress-reducing benefits of eating the same thing each day. Amanda Respers, a 32-year-old software developer in Newport News, Virginia, once ate a variation on the same home-brought salad (a lettuce, a protein, and a dressing) at work for about a year. She liked the simplicity of the formula, but the streak ended when she and her now-husband, who has more of an appetite for variety, moved in together six years ago. Would she still be eating the salad every day if she hadn't met him? "Oh heck yeah," she told me. "It would've saved so much time."
Crack Pie, Girly Drinks, and Problematic Food Language
Soleil Ho is the new restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. In a recent article, Ho shared a thoughtful list of the words that she isn't going to use in her restaurant reviews. One of the words is "crack":
In addition to being overly dramatic, it seems really callous to write that a bowl of bean dip is "like crack." No matter how delicious something might be, its effect on me is nothing close to what crack does to people and their families. It's supposed to be funny and edgy to compare a gourmet cupcake to crack because of how far the chi-chi bakery I'm standing in is from the kind of community that has historically been devastated by the crack epidemic. The ignorance is the joke.
One interesting example of its persistence is in the way we talk about Momofuku Milk Bar's "Crack Pie." Writers have called its creator, chef Christina Tosi, a "crack dealer" and used the language of addiction to describe the dish. Honestly, the company should have done the right thing and changed it by now.
Language is power and words are meaningful beyond their simple or intended definitions. For any given problematic word, there are so many other words you can use.
See also New Language for Slavery and the Civil War.
Soleil Ho
Clam Gardens, an Ancient Sea Farming Technique
Despite much recent evidence to the contrary (see Charles Mann's 1491 for example), the view persists that a pristine wilderness awaited European conquerors upon their arrival to the Americas because the existing population didn't really do a whole lot to alter the landscape.1 Take clam gardens for instance. In the Pacific Northwest, indigenous people constructed these coastal structures to deliberately encourage the production of shellfish.
These features are made by constructing rock walls at the low tide line along the edges of bays and inlets, transforming naturally sloping beaches or rocky shorelines into productive, level beach terraces. While clam garden morphology, character, and setting can vary greatly, they generally consist of a well-sorted boulder wall built at the lowest tide line and a terrace on the landward side of the wall. By building the walls at particular heights in relationship to the tides ("tidal heights"), these features expand the zone of the beach where clams thrive. According to local knowledge, clamming beaches, including those associated with clam gardens, were kept clear of large rocks as another means to increase clam habitat. The flattened terrace created by garden walls can range in size from a few square meters on small beaches to well over a kilometer in length. These larger beaches are more like vast fields than 'gardens' in size.
Researchers believe thousands of these gardens and fields were built and have found clam gardens dating back at least 2000 years. The garden's construction may also have encouraged the growth and development of other animals as well.
While much of the Network's focus so far has been on clams in the clam garden terraces (mainly butter clam, littleneck, horse clam, and cockles), our observations and that of our First Nations collaborators suggest that the boulder walls themselves create productive rocky reef habitat for octopus, sea cucumber, whelks, chiton, red turban snails and other critters. Many of these are valued foods for coastal First Nations.
Update: A clam garden is called K'yuu ḴudhlḴ'aat'iija in the Haida language and lux̌ʷxiwēy in the Kwak'wala language. Both languages are endangered, with relatively few speakers and little transmission to the youth in those communities. (via @lilsheba)
This is a prime example of what Sam Arbesman calls a "mesofact".I'm guessing most people reading this learned in school that the Americas were sparsely populated and almost pristine before Columbus showed up, but subsequent research over the past 20 years has shown that this is very much not the case. ↩
What Is a Vegetable? Do They Even Exist?
posted by Jason Kottke Feb 28, 2019
Last night at dinner, we were talking about our favorite vegetables1 and when my daughter said tomatoes might be her pick, my 11-year-old son, who is at that annoying know-it-all stage of his life and loves to shut down his sister on any minor quibble, said "tomatoes are a fruit". I argued back that while a tomato might technically be a fruit, it is culturally considered a vegetable and that he was just being a pedantic dick in order to dunk on his sister (but not in those exact words).
This morning, I ran across this piece by Lynne Peskoe-Yang called Vegetables Don't Exist, in which the author goes quite a bit deeper into what a vegetable is now (and has been in the past).
Botanically speaking, it's still clear: eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, and squash are all fruits. It's equally clear that mushrooms and truffles are fungi, more closely related to humans than they are to plants. But these are all, also, in common usage, "vegetables." Yet when an authority like the Oxford English Dictionary should provide clarity on what a vegetable actually is, it instead defines vegetables as a specific set of certain cultivated plant parts, "such as a cabbage, potato, turnip, or bean." And since carrots and turnips are roots, potatoes are tubers, broccoli is a flower, cabbage is a leaf, and celery is a stem, we find that "vegetable" rarely applies to the entire plant (or to the same parts of the plant), while it also has a way of applying to things that aren't actually vegetables. It is a category both broader and more specific that the thing it's supposed to describe.
The piece also references my favorite thing about the English language (which I first learned about in Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue) about why the food that results from pigs & cows are called pork & beef:
During Norman and early Plantagenet rule, the farm-to-table divide was less of a foodie buzzword than a class distinction: the upper class were served in French while serfs and servants planted, harvested, raised, butchered, and cooked in Anglo-Saxon. The French word for the served food lived alongside the Germanic word for its source. When Anglo-Saxon chickens were slaughtered, they became poultry for the Normans to eat. Food and animal were class-divided döppelgangers: Anglo-Saxon sheep, cows, swine, and doves were transformed into French mouton (mutton), boeuf (beef), porc (pork), and pigeons (pigeons).
(via @legalnomads)
Update: Apparently there is no such thing as a fish either.
If you choose to describe fish as, say, all the animals descended from the salmon lineage, then you've left out lungfish. Oops. If you choose to include both the salmon and the lungfish, you'll see that one descendant of that original fishy-fish that gave rise to salmon and lungfish likewise gave rise to the cow. Suddenly, you're stuck with either having the fish include the cows and humans, which no one wants, or no fish at all. Hello, modern evolutionary science; goodbye, fish.
(thx, paul)
The whole thing came up because I remembered how amazing Momofuku's brussels sprouts are and told the kids its one of my all-time favorite veggie dishes. Other favorites include corn on the cob (from a particular farm in Massachusetts), a perfectly ripe tomato (in caprese salad or on a BLT), asparagus, the snap peas I get from the local farmers' market in the summer, hen of the woods mushrooms, and beets.↩
Lynne Peskoe-Yang
The Mother Tongue
Confessions of an Adventurous Picky Eater
Amanda Mull on How to Stop Hating Your Least Favorite Food:
I've never had a traumatic barf experience with cucumbers, so my aversion is probably just an innate dislike. And the culprit behind my long-term cuke hatred might be in the vegetable's smell, more specifically than its taste. "What we call 'taste' is really 'flavor,' which is a mixture of taste, smell, and texture," Sclafani says. People lose olfactory sensitivity as they age, which is a big reason that many people seem to outgrow childhood aversions: A food that might have been overwhelming to a kid will read as more mellow to an adult. I'm in my 30s, so there's a decent chance that, were I to give cucumbers a fair shake, I'd hate them a lot less than my childhood memories have led me to believe.
In recent years, I've come to the grudging conclusion that I am somewhat of a picky eater (with a couple of caveats that I'll get into below). I grew up in the Midwest in the 80s, which meant I mostly ate meat & potatoes, pizza, and various things on white bread when I was a kid. Campbell soups were wielded by Midwestern parents to super-charge supper casseroles like Escoffier used béchamel or hollandaise. Vegetables were shunned and feared.
In my 20s and out of the Midwest, I started eating a wider variety of foods and some of my least favorite things — broccoli, mushrooms, beets, onions — are now among my favorites. The flavors of Japanese food (sushi, ramen) took a long time to get used to, but now I love them. Other foods — mustard, raw oysters, eggplant — I have repeatedly tried and failed to appreciate as others clearly do. Part of my problem, as I found out around that time, is that I'm a supertaster. That sounds cool, like I'm Spider-Man or something, but it really means that I'm an oversensitive taster, with a proclivity for bland food and sensitivity to bitter tastes (helloooo vegetables).
I've also realized that a lot of the food I ate as a kid wasn't particularly fresh or well-prepared. Tacos were hard-shelled and flavor-packet-based, fish was in stick form, and Chinese food came out of a can. Canned mushrooms aren't that great in comparison to fresh ones, and there's a wonderland of flavorful mushroom varieties beyond the button. In the winter in rural Wisconsin, you couldn't even buy fresh out-of-season vegetables like tomatoes in the grocery store in the 80s.
The weird thing is that I'm actually a pretty adventurous eater. If something is well-prepared and fresh, I will eat it. I never order anything "on the side" at a restaurant or ask them to skip an ingredient I don't care for.1 My answer to a server's "do you have any allergies or dietary restrictions?" is always "no". I eat a lot of things that many other people won't: tongue, liver, brains, tripe, sweetbreads, etc. When I am drinking alcohol,1 I will consume just about any kind of bitter digestif you can throw at me. The key for me, as Mull notes in the article, is that "gentle, steady exposure" can overcome many food aversions. Eventually, the adventurousness wins out over my picky palate. Except for raw oysters…I don't know that I'll ever eat them and enjoy the taste of low tide in my mouth.
The only real exception to this is mustard because if there's a smear of mustard on, for example, a Katz's pastrami sandwich, it completely overwhelms the taste of the pastrami and rye bread for me. The "no mustard" thing has brought me a lot of ridicule over the years from hot dog and hot sandwich purists, but it can't be helped.↩
Which I am currently not, a topic that probably deserves its own post sometime.↩
The Forgotten Father of Pizza in the USA
A recent series of discoveries have upended the widely accepted story of the history of pizza in America and have the NYC food world in a tizzy. The typical origin story of American pizza is this:
In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi applied to the New York City government for the first license to make and sell pizza in this country, at his grocery store on Spring Street in what was then a thriving Italian-American neighborhood.
But research by Peter Regas (who looked in Italian-language newspapers from the late 19th century) has revealed a previously unknown pizza kingpin behind some of the NYC's first pizzerias and moves the probable introduction date of the pizza back into the 1800s.
Of this forgotten older generation, one baker stands out. Filippo Milone came to New York in the late 19th century and likely established two of the most famous New York pizzerias that still exist today, Lombardi's on Spring Street and John's of Bleecker Street.
Regas explains, "Filippo Milone likely established pizzerias in at least six locations throughout New York City. Of these locations, three later became famous under different names: 'Pop's,' 'John's,' and 'Lombardi's.' Pop's in Brooklyn closed decades ago, but the other two in Manhattan still exist. Milone, a pioneer in what has become a $45 billion industry, later died in 1924, without children to preserve his story buried in an unmarked grave in Queens."
Wow! This 1903 advertisement is for a pizzeria of Milone's on Grand St.:
As for Lombardi's founding in 1905, Regas has the receipts for that too:
While proof of that license has never materialized, Regas has tracked down Gennaro Lombardi's birth record, naturalization papers, and other supporting documents that tell a different story. Gennaro Lombardi first came to America in November of 1904 at age 17, classified as a "laborer". If he became involved with the pizzeria at 53 1/2 Spring Street in 1905, it was as an employee not as an owner. By that time, it had already been established as a pizzeria probably by Milone in 1898 but certainly by another proprietor named Giovanni Santillo who followed Milone in 1901.
As Pete Wells writes:
This is as if some other dude we've never heard of wrote both the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers and then handed them over to Adams Franklin Jefferson Madison Hamilton etc.
Regas is documenting his research here on an eventual book about all of this, due out sometime later this year. Boy oh boy, they're gonna have to reprint a lot of NYC pizzeria menus with incorrect origin stories in them… (via @adamkuban)
Filippo Milone
Peter Regas
A Brief History of Cheese (aka Immortal Milk)
posted by Jason Kottke Jan 22, 2019
Featuring the ideas of cheese expert Paul Kindstedt, this TED-Ed video is a quick animated look at the history of cheese and cheesemaking over the last 10000 years.
The best indication of ancient cheese-making lies in pottery fragments that migrating peoples left behind as they moved to new locations. Neolithic peoples sometimes stored cheese and butter in pottery vessels, which left embedded residues of milkfat in the pottery. Even after thousands of years, these ancient milkfat residues can be identified by sophisticated archaeochemical techniques. By following the pottery trail, it is possible to reconstruct the movement of Neolithic cheesemakers out of the Fertile Crescent into northwest Turkey, and then westwards to Europe, where cheese-making evolved into countless new varieties, and eastwards to the Eurasian steppes. With respect to Africa, it is still unclear whether cheese-making arrived from the Fertile Crescent or developed independently there.
Kindstedt is the author of Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization and is based at the University of Vermont, not too far from where I live in VT, land of plentiful hyper-local cheeses…the nearest cheese-making dairy is 1/4 mile from my house. Some of Kindstedt's recent research uses techniques like x-ray diffractometry to study stuff like crystal formation and packing density in cheeses, which takes me back to my research days in college studying the structure of glass. What a fun thing, to discover a whole new vector into cheese appreciation! (via open culture)
Cheese and Culture
Paul Kindstedt
Is Eating Organic Food Better for Us? For the Earth?
In their latest video, Kurzgesagt asks: "Is Organic Really Better? Healthy Food or Trendy Scam?" Using the results of dozens of studies (their extensive list of sources is here), they examine the evidence that organic food is better for our health and for the environment than food produced by conventional methods (with artificial pesticides, fertilizers, etc.). The result is pretty much a toss-up. Their ultimate conclusion: eating more fruits and vegetables of any kind and buying local food that is in season is a better option than eating organic. (Note: the video and studies they used seem to cover only organic produce and not meat. That comparison might have a different outcome.)
"The Invisible Helping Hand"
Feeding America (formerly known as America's Second Harvest) is a non-profit organization that receives food donations from farmers, manufacturers, and retailers and distributes them to food banks around the nation. As this excerpt from Tim Sullivan and Ray Fisman's book, The Inner Lives of Markets, tells it, this system was working pretty well but wasn't as efficient as it could be, resulting in food being wasted and people going hungry.
Food banks might provide feedback on their likes and dislikes, but at its core, the Second Harvest allocation still resembled 1960s-era Chinese central planning (which, free-market economists will note, helped to cause the Great Famine of 1959-61). Second Harvest's management felt that it was falling short in its efforts to get food banks the donations they most needed. Prendergast gives the example of sending potatoes, unbidden, to a foodbank in Idaho that already had warehouses full. Or delivering milk to a bank that didn't have the refrigeration capacity to store it and so would end up throwing it away. In fact, Second Harvest would sometimes turn down food donations from giant food companies because they weren't sure where to send it. Second Harvest was also, at the time, treating different kinds of food as the same — a pound of broccoli was the same as a pound of cereal was the same as a pound of potato chips. When it comes to feeding the poor and hungry, however, not all foodstuffs are of equal value.
So Feeding America asked University of Chicago economist Canice Prendergast to design a market for the donated food, hoping that would make things run more efficiently. After listening to concerns raised by the food banks, particularly from the smaller ones who didn't want to get out-muscled in the market by the larger banks, they came up with an economy where food banks were given shares to bid on the food they wanted each day.
Crucially, the market was overseen by a "central banker", so that certain market dynamics didn't result in a disruption of the ultimate goal of getting the most food to the people that needed it.
Food bank presidents, the market designers discovered, were hoarders of shares. To keep the market from dipping into a deflationary spiral, Prendergast needed to pump extra shares into the market to encourage bidding. There was also the ebb and flow of goods into it to consider. Some days, Kraft might dump half a dozen container — loads of mac and cheese into circulation; other days there'd be none. If everyone used their points to bid on mac and cheese, the prices of, say, potato chips and broccoli would plummet, not because broccoli was suddenly worth less, but because of a temporary surge in the supply of more desirable donations. So extra shares would need to be put into circulation to prop up prices — lest Arnold see last week's lower price of potato chips and bid too timidly on them, misinterpreting short-run price declines as permanent ones. Similarly, in a dry spell of donations, shares would be withdrawn from the market: Since there was so little to bid on, there would be a run-up in prices unless the number of shares also declined.
As a result of their implementation of an economy, a couple of benefits emerged. First, Feeding America learned which foods were most sought after by banks (i.e. those for which the bidding was highest) and were able to be more aggressive in seeking out donors for them. Second, the amount of total food donations doubled, with about 25% of the increase directly attributable to the market:
As Prendergast reports in an academic paper summarizing the Second Harvest market experiment, the annual supply of food donations increased by 50 million to 100 million pounds as a result. Twelve million pounds can be traced directly to the market itself, in the form of excess donations that flush food banks placed into the market in exchange for shares. That's 12 million pounds of food that would otherwise have been wasted.
Canice Prendergast
Ray Fisman
The Healthiest Vegetables, Ranked
MEL Magazine's Ian Lecklitner talked to clinical nutritionist David Friedman (author of Food Sanity: How to Eat in a World of Fads and Fiction) about which vegetables Friedman thinks are the healthiest. Happy to see that asparagus is #1:
"This tasty green stalk comes in first place on my vegetable ranking," Friedman says. "Asparagus is a great source of vitamin K, which helps with blood clotting and building strong bones." Friedman also mentions that asparagus provides vitamin A (which prevents heart disease), vitamin C (which supports the immune system), vitamin E (which acts as an antioxidant) and vitamin B6 (which, like vitamin A, also prevents heart disease).
Asparagus is also loaded with minerals, including iron (which supports oxygen-carrying red blood cells), copper (which improves energy production) and calcium (which improves bone health). "Asparagus increases your energy levels, protects your skin from sun damage and helps with weight loss," Friedman continues. "It's also an excellent source of inulin, a type of carbohydrate that acts as a prebiotic, supporting the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the colon."
Personal faves brussels sprouts, beets, and broccoli also rank pretty high.
Ian Lecklitner
My Recent Media Diet for Late 2018
posted by Jason Kottke Dec 26, 2018
I've been keeping track of every media thing I "consume", so here are quick reviews of some things I've read, seen, heard, and experienced in the last month or so. Look for 2018 media recap sometime later this week.
Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Under-read and under-remarked upon by the tech press…but if you read this just for the Steve Jobs bits, you're really missing out. (A)
The Good Place. Not quite as charmed by this as everyone else, but I'd definitely listen to a weekly hour-long podcast that goes deeper into the philosophy featured in each episode. (B+)
Outlaw King. Not so bad if you're in the mood for medieval battles. (B)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. A letdown after the first film, which has gotten better every time I've rewatched it. Way too much exposition and not enough fun. By the end, I was bored. My kids said they liked it but without much conviction in their voices. (C+)
Bodyguard. Some shows, even my all-time favorites, took a few episodes to get into. Bodyguard hooked me after 5 minutes. (A-)
Function. A podcast on "how technology is shaping culture and communications" hosted by my pal Anil Dash. (I listened to the Should Twitter Have an Edit Button? episode.) The podcast reproduces to a remarkable degree the experience & content of dinner conversation with Anil. (B+)
Andy Warhol - From A to B and Back Again. I was personally underwhelmed by this, possibly because I've seen so much Warhol and read so much about him and his work? (B)
Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future. Absolutely thrilling, like discovering a secret room in your house. Many thanks to Chrysanthe for the nudge. (A)
The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson. Finally finished reading this with the kids. Everyone loved it. (A)
Yotam Ottolenghi's green gazpacho. It was hardly the season for it, but I was jonesing for the green gazpacho dish that my favorite restaurant used to serve. I took a guess that they used Ottolenghi's recipe…naaaaaailed it. Delicious with some shrimp and croutons. Will use less garlic next time though. (A-)
Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay. There's probably a better movie to be made of Jay's life, but this was sufficient for my purposes. (B)
Fawlty Towers. Passing on the family tradition of watching old British comedies to my children. Some of the best television ever made, yessiree. (A)
Ralph Breaks the Internet. Perhaps this is small-minded, but I really wanted to see a little kottke.org shop in the background when Ralph and Vanellope are bopping around Internet City, like a tiny boutique next to BuzzzTube or something. (B+)
The Favourite. Delightful and fun. Loved it. (A-)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The Coen brothers, perfectly tuned to the streaming TV format. The stories reminded me a bit of Roald Dahl's The Tales of the Unexpected. (A-)
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Great acting, particularly from Melissa McCarthy. She reminded me of a young Kathy Bates in this. (B+)
The Day After Tomorrow. I've seen this movie probably 10 times and it seems more and more plausible with each viewing. (A)
Circe by Madeline Miller. I am enjoying this trend of old stories told from new vantage points. (A-)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I was charmed by the first three episodes but the rest wasn't as entertaining. People kept changing their entire personalities from episode to episode and we're supposed to just go along with that? I don't agree with all of it, but I loved reading Emily Nussbaum's pan of the show for the New Yorker. (B-)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Visually dazzling and by far my favorite Spider-Man movie, but I preferred Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. This movie is much more "comics-y" than the live-action Marvel movies and despite much effort, I am just not a comics guy. (B)
Dr. Mario. Used to play this a lot when I was a kid. Still fun. Would love a networked version to play against friends. (B+)
My Brilliant Friend. About halfway through and enjoying it, but it's just not the book (which I loved). (B+)
My Brilliant Friend soundtrack. Max Richter, enough said. (A-)
Summer Games. This track off of Drake's Scorpion has grabbed my attention lately. I love the Chariots of Fire + NES Track and Field vibe of the music. (B+)
On Being with Anand Giridharadas. An interview about his book, Winners Take All. (B+)
The Ezra Klein Show with Anand Giridharadas. This episode was referenced in the On Being interview above and is slightly better because Klein pushes back on Giridharadas's argument and makes him work a little harder. (B+)
Why Is This Happening? with Ta-Nehisi Coates. They talk politics & racism but also how to focus on what's important to you, even if it means quitting Twitter. (B+)
The Importance of Food in Howl's Moving Castle
posted by Tim Carmody Dec 14, 2018
Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki is one of my favorites if not my very favorite movie. I've written about it here before at some length. I use pictures from it as my Twitter background, as my login prompts on both of my computers, and my pinned tweet is a quote about the film and its simple-yet-allegorical applicability to understanding your own life and psyche.
One aspect of HMC I haven't touched on here, but is essential to understanding the film and its appeal, is the importance of food in the film. Luckily, Sarah Welch-Larson at Bright Wall/Dark Room has you covered.
First, there's this remarkably concise and comprehensive survey of food in the Miyazaki-verse:
In Studio Ghibli movies, food is a feast for the eyes. Nearly every one of Hayao Miyazaki's films includes a memorable shot of food, some more extravagant than others. A monk stirring a pot of soup on a cold night in Princess Mononoke. A herring pie, golden and steaming, fresh from the oven, in Kiki's Delivery Service. Ramen noodles piled with toppings in Ponyo. Piles of roasted meat and dumplings spilling across the counter of an enchanted restaurant in Spirited Away. Even the Miyazaki films that don't focus so heavily on food still allow their characters a chance to pause and eat. Nausicaä stops for a moment to eat a small bag of nuts as the world falls apart around her. Porco Rosso eats spaghetti bolognese as he hides out from the Italian authorities. Extravagant or simple, quick or languorous, the shots of food in Miyazaki films all tempt the senses.
Then this close reading of food and its themes in Howl:
In Howl's Moving Castle, food is more than just a necessity. It sustains life, in every sense of the phrase: it helps a body hold skin and sinew together, and acts as an expression of love and care. We get the sense that Howl is a good person from the way he prepares breakfast. He has a sure hand, and a light touch. He might be flighty, but he cares enough to put together a well-cooked breakfast big enough for everyone in the room, including Sophie the interloper.
Food is also an expression of identity. Howl's cooking is simple and elegant, but feels like a feast. The bacon is thick and crackling, and the eggs are perfect, cooked sunny-side-up with not a single yolk broken. Sophie's own choices of food are plain and practical, like her, but that doesn't make them any less valuable than the more extravagant examples of food we see in other Miyazaki films. Her bread and cheese look just as tasty as Howl's bacon and eggs, and they're likely just as satisfying. Calcifer, too, needs to eat, despite being a supernatural creature. He stuffs logs into his mouth, one by one, every time he needs to move the castle. When he isn't active, he's still perpetually consuming wood, albeit at a slower pace; fire is a hungry creature, and will go out if it is not fed.
Hunger in Howl is twofold: it can be the desire to be sustained, and it can be the desire to possess. This second desire takes the form of gluttony, and it is a destructive force. While he's out in his wanderings, Howl comes across battles between the two rival countries. He refuses to fight, but he can't stay away; the war is encroaching. Other wizards who swore loyalty to the king take part in these battles, and on more than one occasion, Howl is chased through the skies by the "hack wizards" who turned themselves into monsters in service of the war. They're horrible half-lizard, half-dragonfly things, all oily skin and gaping mouths full of sharp teeth, open as if ready to devour. Miyazaki's war imagery tends toward images of devouring, but the action of eating here is neither life-giving nor sustaining. War is gluttony, a force that needs to mindlessly consume until there is nothing left.
And this remarkable conclusion:
The kitchen is said to be the heart of a home, and Howl's kitchen was empty until Sophie talked her way in to clean it. Food and love are both life-sustaining forces, but only when held lightly, without thought of possession or ownership. Sophie saves Howl without a thought for her own happiness, and, in return, Howl loves her back of his own free will. Neither takes what the other is not willing to give. Their love is neither greedy nor ravenous, but rather a hunger for food that sustains and leaves the hungry satiated.
I'm convinced: food, and the overlapping and contradictory economies of food, are the keys to this movie! This puts it up with Babette's Feast as my favorite movies about food, love, and community. Thank you, Sarah, for helping me appreciate this remarkable film in a whole new way.
(Thanks too to @nandelabra for pointing this my way.)
Howl's Moving Castle
The Explorer and The Hermit
In a piece called I'm the Food Expert But My Kids Love My Husband's Cooking, Amanda Hesser talks about food, tradition, and the differing cooking styles between her and her husband Tad. When she was younger, Hesser's approach was to experiment relentlessly with her cooking, moving from one new dish to the next. But her husband took a different approach:
One of my other nicknames for Tad is Mr. Efficiency. He obsesses over the shortest route to a destination, orders everything in bulk, is always on time, writes thank-you notes within a day, and absolutely detests standing in line. Especially for food.
When it came to cooking, Tad was characteristically economical. Once we had our kids and our schedules went haywire, he set about mastering a handful of dishes he could pull off on a moment's notice: fish tacos, pasta alla vodka, and Daddy's pasta.
Mr. Efficiency…that could be totally be me. I do occasionally enjoy trying to find new stuff to cook, but their mom is way more adventurous in cooking for the kids. I always come back to my go-tos of caldo verde, taco salad, smoky corn chowder, the world's best pancakes, burgers, and even the occasional tater tot hotdish.
But Hesser's approach to cooking has shifted towards the familiar in recent years after noticing the downside to always pushing the boundaries:
Meanwhile, I continued to roam and experiment, rarely making the same dish twice. I enjoy the hunt for a new great recipe, the push for something better. But it comes at a cost; cooking new things is more stressful because the unknowns are many. Tad would chat with the kids while making his pasta; I would cook distracted, with my nose in a recipe. Even after focused cooking, things don't always work out well, and no one around the table is happy. And it's hard to expect anyone to build an emotional connection to a dish if they're only seeing it a few times.
I am really feeling that tension between novelty and stability lately, and not just when it comes to food. Sometimes I feel like I'm two different people. The Explorer craves new experiences, finds routine boring, and wants to learn new things or he'll feel brain-dead. The Hermit needs the stability of a comfortable routine, finds exploring exhausting, and doesn't want to have to think about what's next all the time. Should I go to my favorite restaurant or try a new place? Regarding travel…should I re-experience somewhere I've been before or head somewhere new? (For my last trip, I did both: a repeat trip to Berlin with a short stay in Istanbul after.) There are certain types of books, movies, and TV shows I like to watch — their reliability is comforting but when I do venture from those paths, the results can be very rewarding and horizon-expanding. Should I spend time with old friends or work on some new relationships?
The part of my life in which I'm feeling this most acutely is in my work. Editing kottke.org is a constant exercise in balancing the familiar with the new. My approach is: "here's something you haven't seen before but packaged in a familiar way" and then do that 9-to-5, day-in and day-out, 52 weeks a year. I bury you (and myself) in novelty, but in a clockwork fashion.1 I never know what I'm going to find on a particular day and you never know what you're going to read, but by the end of the day, every single weekday, there is (I hope!) an interesting, entertaining, thought-provoking, and awe-inspiring collection of things to explore.
But even though I enjoy editing the site and learn about a lot of new things along the way, the work itself sometimes isn't that challenging. There's a lot of repetition, sitting in a chair, and willpower — not insignificant things when trying to accomplish something — but it increasingly feels like I'm on autopilot creatively. Has the site gotten better in the last 5 years? I think so. But have I? What creative boundaries have I pushed along the way? In what ways could kottke.org be better or different that would provide new challenges for me? Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, but my desire to "roam and experiment" (as Hesser puts it) has been on the rise lately for sure.
When I think about how I approach my work on the site, two references come to mind: 1) the Dunkin Donuts guy ("time to make the donuts"), and 2) what the doctor in Gattaca says about regularity of Ethan Hawke's character's heartbeat while exercising ("Jerome, Jerome, the metronome."). ↩
Amanda Hesser
Tad Friend
The Cube Rule of Food, the Grand Unified Theory of Food Identification
On the internet, a fierce debate rages. Are hot dogs sandwiches? Are Pop-Tarts ravioli? Is sushi toast? Into the fracas steps @phosphatide with their brilliant Cube Rule of Food. The idea is that you can fit all food into one of seven categories based on where the starch in a dish is positioned:
For example, enchiladas, falafel wraps, and pigs in a blanket are all sushi because the starch covers four sides of the cube like so:
Likewise, pizza is toast, a quesadilla is a sandwich, a hot dog is a taco, key lime pie is a quiche, and a burrito is a calzone.
The zero-eth category is a salad, i.e. anything that doesn't include starch (like a steak) or in which the starch is distributed throughout the dish (like fried rice, spaghetti, and soup ("a wet salad")).
Remembering Anthony Bourdain, The Last Curious Man
For GQ, Drew Magary talked to the family, friends, and coworkers of Anthony Bourdain for this piece on the life of the late chef/traveler/writer/explorer/whatever. Here's how he got his big writing break, which led to so much else:
David Remnick (editor in chief, 'The New Yorker'): My wife came home one day, and she said, "Look. There's a really nice woman at the newspaper. Her son is a writer. She wanted you to take a look at his work," which seemed…adorable, right? A mother's ambition for a son. I took this manuscript out of its yellow envelope, not expecting much. I started to read. It was about a young cook, working at a pretty average steak-and-frites place on lower Park Avenue. I called this guy up on the phone. He answered it in his kitchen. I said, "I'd like to publish this work of yours in The New Yorker. I hope that's okay." That was the beginning of Anthony Bourdain being published. I don't know if there's any way to put this other than to say he invented himself as a writer, as a public personality. It was all there.
Prior to becoming the best-ever host of a travel show, he'd actually traveled very little internationally (only France and Japan) and his first go of it wasn't successful:
Tenaglia: Japan was a fucking disaster.
Chris Collins (co-founder, ZPZ): The mistakes were very clear. He did not engage with us. He would not acknowledge our presence and that we were there working together.
Tenaglia: I think he was thinking, "Great! I just got a free ride to all these countries."
Collins: It was a ruse. It was, I'm gonna double dip here. I'm going to be able to get paid to go make something, and I'm going to write articles.
Tenaglia: We would go back to the hotel and say, "We are so screwed."
But it turns out this inexperienced traveler & newbie TV host was the exact right person for the job.
He came alive, because those frames of reference were starting to pop. His sudden inclination was to turn and share that with us. You could sense this excitement, like, "Holy crap, I'm actually on the ground in a location that I have studied, that I know, that I have references to." You know, Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, Graham Greene, the Vietnam War. He was percolating with an excitement that was very genuine.
My only complaint about this piece is the length…I would have happily read on for hours.
Paula Froelich (author, journalist): I'll never forget laughing my ass off because he was obsessed with my dog, who's a small dachshund. He'd always walk my dog, and he was so tall and the dog was so long and short, they would look like this movable L.
Drew Magary
How People Ate in Medieval England
In this episode of Modern History, Jason Kingsley and Chris Carr talk about the kind of food that an English knight would encounter on the road…i.e. what might commonly be termed "peasant food". Depending on what was in season, the midday meal offered would be the sort of farm-to-table artisanal fare that urban dwellers crave at their neighborhood bistro on date night: house-brewed beer, artisan bread made from interesting grains, fresh salmon, peas from the garden, and a drizzled sauce made from an unusual herb.
The pair discuss what a knight would eat at home in a follow-up episode. A knight's dedicated cook would consult with his physician on dietary matters and the ingredients and level of processing would reflect the knight's higher status in society, e.g. his bread would be white and not dark, basically the opposite of today.
Jason Kingsley


text:
package wcs;

import static java.lang.System.out;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.Properties;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SpringLayout;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.SpringLayout;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class Configurator extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

	final static String[] labels = { "Sites or JSK Folder: ",
			"Webapp Folder: ", "CSDT Jar:" };

	final static String SELECT_FOLDER = "Select Folder App";
	final static String SELECT_FOLDER2 = "Select Folder WebApp";
	final static String SELECT_JAR = "Select JAR";
	final static String CONFIGURE = "Configure";

	JButton[] buttons = { //
	new JButton(SELECT_FOLDER), //
			new JButton(SELECT_FOLDER2), //
			new JButton(SELECT_JAR), //
			new JButton(CONFIGURE) };

	JTextField[] textfields = { new JTextField(35), new JTextField(35),
			new JTextField(35) };

	JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
	JFileChooser dirChooser = new JFileChooser();

	public Configurator() {

		// beginning
		setTitle("AgileSites Configurator");
		int numPairs = labels.length;

		// Create and populate the panel.
		JPanel p = new JPanel(new SpringLayout());
		for (int i = 0; i < numPairs; i++) {
			JLabel l = new JLabel(labels[i], JLabel.TRAILING);
			p.add(l);
			JTextField textField = textfields[i];
			textField.setEditable(false);
			l.setLabelFor(textField);
			p.add(textField);
			JButton button = buttons[i];
			button.setActionCommand(labels[i]);
			button.addActionListener(this);
			p.add(button);
		}

		// Lay out the panel.
		SpringUtilities.makeCompactGrid(p, numPairs, 3, // rows, cols
				6, 6, // initX, initY
				6, 6);

		fileChooser.addActionListener(this);
		dirChooser.addActionListener(this);
		dirChooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);

		// lay out and show
		getContentPane().add(p);
		getContentPane().add(buttons[buttons.length - 1], BorderLayout.SOUTH);
		buttons[buttons.length - 1].setEnabled(false);
		buttons[buttons.length - 1].addActionListener(this);
		buttons[buttons.length - 1].setActionCommand(CONFIGURE);

		pack();

		setLocationRelativeTo(null);
		setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

	}

	@Override
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
		String cmd = ae.getActionCommand();

		if (cmd.equals(labels[0]))
			selectFolder0();
		else if (cmd.equals(labels[1]))
			selectFolder1();
		else if (cmd.equals(labels[2]))
			selectJar();
		else if (ae.getSource() == buttons[buttons.length - 1])
			configure();
	}

	Properties iniFile = null;
	String jarFile = null;
	String webApp = null;
	String version = "unknown";
	String site = null;
	String defaultpw = null;

    public Configurator(String topdir) {
    	defaultpw = "xceladmin";
    	searchIniJar(new File(topdir));
    }

	private void selectFolder0() {
		if (dirChooser.showDialog(this, "Select") != JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
			return;
		textfields[0].setText(dirChooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath());
		searchIniJar(dirChooser.getSelectedFile());
		if (webApp != null) {
			textfields[1].setText(webApp);
		}
		if (jarFile != null) {
			textfields[2].setText(jarFile);
		}
		if (iniFile == null)
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
							this,
							"The folder is not a JSK/Fatwire/Sites installation folder.",
							"WARNING", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
		enableConfigure();
	}

	private void selectFolder1() {
		if (dirChooser.showDialog(this, "Select") != JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
			return;
		textfields[1].setText(dirChooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath());

		File xcel = new File(new File(textfields[1].getText()), "Xcelerate");

		if (!xcel.exists())
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
					"The folder is not a JSK/Fatwire/Sites webapp folder.",
					"WARNING", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
		else
			webApp = textfields[1].getText();

		enableConfigure();
	}

	private void selectJar() {
		if (fileChooser.showDialog(this, "Select") == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
			jarFile = fileChooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();
			textfields[1].setText(jarFile);
			if (jarFile == null || !jarFile.endsWith(".jar")) {
				JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "The file is not a jar.",
						"WARNING", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
			}
			enableConfigure();
		}
	}

	private void enableConfigure() {
    out.println();
		out.println();
		out.println("CS version: " + version);
		out.println("CS Home   : " + iniFile.getProperty("CSFTAppServerRoot"));
		out.println("CS Shared : " + iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallSharedDirectory"));
		out.println("CS WebApp : " + webApp);
		out.println("CSDT jar  : " + jarFile);

		if (iniFile != null && jarFile != null && webApp != null) {
			buttons[buttons.length - 1].setEnabled(true);
		}
	}

	private void searchIniJar(File file) {
		for (File son : file.listFiles()) {
			// out.println(""+son);
			if (son.isDirectory()) {
			  out.print(".");
				searchIniJar(son);
			} else if (son.getName().equals("omii.ini")) {
				if(!son.getParentFile().getName().equalsIgnoreCase("ominstallinfo"))
				  continue;
				System.out.print("#");
				iniFile = new Properties();
				try {
					iniFile.load(new FileReader(son.getAbsolutePath()));
					// try to locate the webapp folder for tomcat
					if (iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallAppServerType").startsWith("tomcat")) {
						webApp = iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallAppServerPath").replace('\\', '/');
						if(!webApp.endsWith("/")) webApp = webApp + "/";
						webApp = webApp + "webapps" + iniFile.getProperty("sCgiPath");
					}
					// try to locate the webapp folder for weblogic
					if (iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallAppServerType").startsWith("wls")) {
						String jsproot = iniFile.getProperty("csjsproot");
						if (jsproot!=null) {
							webApp = new File(jsproot).getParentFile().getAbsolutePath().replace('\\', '/');
					    	if(!webApp.endsWith("/")) webApp = webApp + "/";
					    }
					}
					// try to set the home folder
					if(iniFile.getProperty("CSFTAppServerRoot")==null)
				               iniFile.setProperty("CSFTAppServerRoot",
                                   son.getParentFile().getParentFile().getAbsolutePath());
				} catch (Exception e) {
					iniFile = null;
					e.printStackTrace();
				}
			} else if (son.getName().equals("omproduct.ini")) {
				System.out.print("#");
				try {
					Properties productFile = new Properties();
					productFile.load(new FileReader(son.getAbsolutePath()));
					version = productFile.getProperty("Version0");
				} catch (Exception e) {
					iniFile = null;
					e.printStackTrace();
				}

			} else if (son.getName().endsWith(".jar")
					&& son.getName().startsWith("csdt-client")) {
				System.out.print("#");
				jarFile = son.getAbsolutePath();

				// heuristic to choose the right version
				if(jarFile.endsWith("-1.2.2.jar") || jarFile.endsWith("-1.2.jar"))
					version = "11.1.1.6.0";
				if(jarFile.endsWith("-11.1.1.8.0.jar"))
					version = "11.1.1.8.0";

			}
		}
	}

	String q(String s) {
		StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
		sb.append("\"");
		for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++)
			if (s.charAt(i) == '"')
				sb.append("\\\"");
			else if (s.charAt(i) == '\\')
				sb.append("\\\\");
			else
				sb.append(s.charAt(i));
		sb.append("\"\n");
		return sb.toString();
	}

	private void configure() {

		String pw = defaultpw;
		if(pw==null)
			     pw = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this,
				"Password for " + iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallAppName"),
				"Password Request", 1);

		if (pw == null)
			return;

		if(site==null)
		  site = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this,
				"Input your custom site name here.\n"+
				"Leave blank if you plan to add a custom site later.",
				"Your Custom Site", 1);

		if(site!=null && site.length()>0)
		 	JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "The site "+site
				+" will be configured in the framework.\n"
				+"However you still need to create this site in Sites,\n"
				+"then generate the code for the site in AgileSites,"
				+"\nas described in the tutorial, section New Site.",
				"IMPORTANT", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

		String url = iniFile.getProperty("CSConnectString");
		if(url.endsWith("/")) url = url.substring(0, url.length()-1);

		try {

			FileReader fr = new FileReader("build.sbt.dist");
			FileWriter fw = new FileWriter("build.sbt");
			BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);
			String line = br.readLine();
			while (line != null) {
				if (line.startsWith("wcsUrl ")) {
					fw.write("wcsUrl in ThisBuild := "
							+ q(url));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsUser ")) {
					fw.write("wcsUser in ThisBuild := "
							+ q(iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallAppName")));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsPassword ")) {
					fw.write("wcsPassword in ThisBuild := " + q(pw));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsHome ")) {
					fw.write("wcsHome in ThisBuild := "
							+ q(iniFile.getProperty("CSFTAppServerRoot")));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsShared ")) {
					fw.write("wcsShared in ThisBuild := "
							+ q(iniFile.getProperty("CSInstallSharedDirectory")));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsWebapp ")) {
					fw.write("wcsWebapp in ThisBuild := " + q(webApp));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsCsdtJar ")) {
					fw.write("wcsCsdtJar in ThisBuild := " + q(jarFile));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsVersion ")) {
					fw.write("wcsVersion in ThisBuild := " + q(version));
				} else if (line.startsWith("wcsSites ") && site !=null) {
					fw.write("wcsSites in ThisBuild := \""+site+",Demo\"\n");
				} else
					fw.write(line + "\n");
				line = br.readLine();
			}

			br.close();
			fw.close();

		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
	 		JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, e.getMessage(),
					"CANNOT CONFIGURE", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
		}
		System.exit(0);
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		final String arg = args.length<1 ? null : args[0];

		SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
			@Override
			public void run() {
				if(arg==null)
				  new Configurator().setVisible(true);
				else
				  new Configurator(arg).configure();
			}
		});
	}

}

/**
 * A 1.4 file that provides utility methods for
 * creating form- or grid-style layouts with SpringLayout.
 * These utilities are used by several programs, such as
 * SpringBox and SpringCompactGrid.
 */
class SpringUtilities {
    /**
     * A debugging utility that prints to stdout the component's
     * minimum, preferred, and maximum sizes.
     */
    public static void printSizes(Component c) {
        System.out.println("minimumSize = " + c.getMinimumSize());
        System.out.println("preferredSize = " + c.getPreferredSize());
        System.out.println("maximumSize = " + c.getMaximumSize());
    }

    /**
     * Aligns the first rows * cols
     * components of parent in
     * a grid. Each component is as big as the maximum
     * preferred width and height of the components.
     * The parent is made just big enough to fit them all.
     *
     * @param rows number of rows
     * @param cols number of columns
     * @param initialX x location to start the grid at
     * @param initialY y location to start the grid at
     * @param xPad x padding between cells
     * @param yPad y padding between cells
     */
    public static void makeGrid(Container parent,
                                int rows, int cols,
                                int initialX, int initialY,
                                int xPad, int yPad) {
        SpringLayout layout;
        try {
            layout = (SpringLayout)parent.getLayout();
        } catch (ClassCastException exc) {
            System.err.println("The first argument to makeGrid must use SpringLayout.");
            return;
        }

        Spring xPadSpring = Spring.constant(xPad);
        Spring yPadSpring = Spring.constant(yPad);
        Spring initialXSpring = Spring.constant(initialX);
        Spring initialYSpring = Spring.constant(initialY);
        int max = rows * cols;

        //Calculate Springs that are the max of the width/height so that all
        //cells have the same size.
        Spring maxWidthSpring = layout.getConstraints(parent.getComponent(0)).
                                    getWidth();
        Spring maxHeightSpring = layout.getConstraints(parent.getComponent(0)).
                                    getHeight();
        for (int i = 1; i < max; i++) {
            SpringLayout.Constraints cons = layout.getConstraints(
                                            parent.getComponent(i));

            maxWidthSpring = Spring.max(maxWidthSpring, cons.getWidth());
            maxHeightSpring = Spring.max(maxHeightSpring, cons.getHeight());
        }

        //Apply the new width/height Spring. This forces all the
        //components to have the same size.
        for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
            SpringLayout.Constraints cons = layout.getConstraints(
                                            parent.getComponent(i));

            cons.setWidth(maxWidthSpring);
            cons.setHeight(maxHeightSpring);
        }

        //Then adjust the x/y constraints of all the cells so that they
        //are aligned in a grid.
        SpringLayout.Constraints lastCons = null;
        SpringLayout.Constraints lastRowCons = null;
        for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
            SpringLayout.Constraints cons = layout.getConstraints(
                                                 parent.getComponent(i));
            if (i % cols == 0) { //start of new row
                lastRowCons = lastCons;
                cons.setX(initialXSpring);
            } else { //x position depends on previous component
                cons.setX(Spring.sum(lastCons.getConstraint(SpringLayout.EAST),
                                     xPadSpring));
            }

            if (i / cols == 0) { //first row
                cons.setY(initialYSpring);
            } else { //y position depends on previous row
                cons.setY(Spring.sum(lastRowCons.getConstraint(SpringLayout.SOUTH),
                                     yPadSpring));
            }
            lastCons = cons;
        }

        //Set the parent's size.
        SpringLayout.Constraints pCons = layout.getConstraints(parent);
        pCons.setConstraint(SpringLayout.SOUTH,
                            Spring.sum(
                                Spring.constant(yPad),
                                lastCons.getConstraint(SpringLayout.SOUTH)));
        pCons.setConstraint(SpringLayout.EAST,
                            Spring.sum(
                                Spring.constant(xPad),
                                lastCons.getConstraint(SpringLayout.EAST)));
    }

    /* Used by makeCompactGrid. */
    private static SpringLayout.Constraints getConstraintsForCell(
                                                int row, int col,
                                                Container parent,
                                                int cols) {
        SpringLayout layout = (SpringLayout) parent.getLayout();
        Component c = parent.getComponent(row * cols + col);
        return layout.getConstraints(c);
    }

    /**
     * Aligns the first rows * cols
     * components of parent in
     * a grid. Each component in a column is as wide as the maximum
     * preferred width of the components in that column;
     * height is similarly determined for each row.
     * The parent is made just big enough to fit them all.
     *
     * @param rows number of rows
     * @param cols number of columns
     * @param initialX x location to start the grid at
     * @param initialY y location to start the grid at
     * @param xPad x padding between cells
     * @param yPad y padding between cells
     */
    public static void makeCompactGrid(Container parent,
                                       int rows, int cols,
                                       int initialX, int initialY,
                                       int xPad, int yPad) {
        SpringLayout layout;
        try {
            layout = (SpringLayout)parent.getLayout();
        } catch (ClassCastException exc) {
            System.err.println("The first argument to makeCompactGrid must use SpringLayout.");
            return;
        }

        //Align all cells in each column and make them the same width.
        Spring x = Spring.constant(initialX);
        for (int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
            Spring width = Spring.constant(0);
            for (int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
                width = Spring.max(width,
                                   getConstraintsForCell(r, c, parent, cols).
                                       getWidth());
            }
            for (int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
                SpringLayout.Constraints constraints =
                        getConstraintsForCell(r, c, parent, cols);
                constraints.setX(x);
                constraints.setWidth(width);
            }
            x = Spring.sum(x, Spring.sum(width, Spring.constant(xPad)));
        }

        //Align all cells in each row and make them the same height.
        Spring y = Spring.constant(initialY);
        for (int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
            Spring height = Spring.constant(0);
            for (int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
                height = Spring.max(height,
                                    getConstraintsForCell(r, c, parent, cols).
                                        getHeight());
            }
            for (int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
                SpringLayout.Constraints constraints =
                        getConstraintsForCell(r, c, parent, cols);
                constraints.setY(y);
                constraints.setHeight(height);
            }
            y = Spring.sum(y, Spring.sum(height, Spring.constant(yPad)));
        }

        //Set the parent's size.
        SpringLayout.Constraints pCons = layout.getConstraints(parent);
        pCons.setConstraint(SpringLayout.SOUTH, y);
        pCons.setConstraint(SpringLayout.EAST, x);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Gravesend Reporter
The Orchard Theatre to undergo massive refurbishment
PUBLISHED: 15:14 20 June 2019
The Orchard Theatre will be undergoing a massive refurbishment. Picture: Dartford Council
A £500,000 redevelopment project for The Orchard Theatre in Dartford has been announced.
A very early artist's impression gives a flavour of what the inside of The Orchard could eventually look like. Picture: Dartford Council
To carry out the extensive works, it will be shut down for six weeks over the summer.
New auditorium seating will be installed on all levels which will increase capacity by 69 to 1,025 and, maybe more importantly, improve sight-lines of the stage.
Everything will be covered in the work, including new lighting and sound systems using energy-efficient equipment.
There are to be access improvements to create additional spaces for wheelchair users.
A fresh seating configuration will allow easy transition from seated to flat-floor events.
And it is all being led by venue operator HQ Theatres and initially funded by the council and off-set by future reductions in the annual management fee paid to HQ.
The authority says all this will significantly enhance the customer experience; allow the venue to widen the range of shows and events on offer; bring access arrangements at the theatre up to modern standards and improve energy-efficiency.
The plan will see the entire auditorium stripped back, with new seats installed in all areas of the auditorium.
To help cater for different events, motorised seating will be installed in the flat-floor area.
This will offer much greater flexibility to visiting producers and allow for a wider range of shows.
New carpets will be installed and cosmetic and decorative enhancements will be completed throughout the auditorium and foyer spaces.
HQ Theatres will project manage the redevelopment having worked with a range of partners and suppliers including seating specialists Auditoria Services, technical infrastructure experts AC Lighting and access consultancy Attitude is Everything who have advised on the access requirements.
Julian Russell, chief executive of HQ Theatres and Hospitality said: "We're thrilled to be unveiling the details of the redevelopment at The Orchard in partnership with Dartford Borough Council.
"The theatre is already a powerhouse venue in the HQ portfolio - punching above its weight in terms of the shows on offer, the audiences served and the range of community events programmed.
"This major redevelopment will position The Orchard brilliantly for future success; improving facilities for audiences and visiting companies; and protecting the council's cultural asset for many years to come.
"It's enormously encouraging to work alongside a local authority with the vision, foresight and flexibility to rethink existing funding models to deliver facility improvements in this way - and of course to have the opportunity to deliver this redevelopment for the people of Dartford whose venue, ultimately, this is."
And Jeremy Kite, leader of Dartford Borough Council, added: "Investing in the theatre is part of our strategy to support quality services, quality facilities and celebrate a venue in the town that can bring our community together.
"With so many councils cutting support for theatres it would have been easy for us to do the same, but it would not have been right. We have an unshakeable belief in the value of the arts as part of a strong society.
"The fact that the theatre is going from strength to strength is testament to the fact that the council has made the right spending decisions in tandem with HQ Theatre's excellent stewardship.
"The Orchard is rapidly gaining a reputation for being one of the best theatres outside of central London."
Lorna Strawson, theatre director at the Orchard, said: "We can't wait to see the finished results and to unveil the wide-ranging improvements to our customers and to visiting producers.
"We know how much our audiences value the theatre. Over the past 12 months we welcomed around a quarter of a million people to a show at The Orchard - with many thousands more engaging with us through our Community and Creative Learning programme.
"These improvements will make sure we're well-placed to continue to offer the widest range of professional shows, community events and creative learning work to our customers for many years to come."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home Article MY E-MAILERS IS SMARTER THAN I: MISOGYNY AND RACISM EDITION.
MY E-MAILERS IS SMARTER THAN I: MISOGYNY AND RACISM EDITION.
Responding to the talk about the roles of sexism and racism in this election, Patrick writes in:
Hi Ezra, Look, it's much more complicated than this. Hillary and Obama both get boxed into particular identities by their race and gender, but they also both have learned to turn those identities to their own advantage. For Obama, it's been easier (at least in the primaries). As a black man, he's constrained from voicing the kind of anger that Edwards expresses every day, because the moment he talks like that, he'll scare the hell out of a lot of white folk who are intimidated by the spectre of the angry black man. But on the other hand, just the existence of that stereotype helps him, because people implicitly trust that he COULD get tough and angry, if he WANTED to, in a way that they don't necessarily trust a white woman could. Hillary, as a woman, has felt that she really had to prove that she could be just as tough as the toughest guys out there. That wasn't necessarily a wrong assessment, but it's boxed her into being pro-military, pro-Iraq war, etc, all kinds of things that I don't want my candidate to have supported. I don't BLAME Hillary for being constrained by identity politics, but I want my president to be someone who's learned how to GAME those politics rather than someone who's been victimized by them, as it seems she has. Not her fault, sure. But if sexism is going to force her to be a super-hawk, I'll vote for Obama.
I think it's too reductive to say that Hillary was only pro-war because she feared sexism, and tripping into the subconscious misogyny of the electorate. All the evidence I've seen suggests that she harbors genuinely hawkish tendencies, and that her vote in favor of the Iraq War was sincere and well thought out. But there's no doubt that she's had to project a peculiar brand of toughness, and that this has made certain elements of the campaign harder on her, particularly as the electorate turned against the war. It's hard to disentangle the reasons she's hewed to a centrist, cautious aggressive foreign policy, but a traditionally Clintonian fear of the underlying militarism of the electorate mixed with the conventional wisdom about the dangers faced by the first female candidate seem like factors.


text:
Tagged Drew Storen
Drew Storen
David Ortiz and the Quest for Robot Umpires
Gabriel Bogart
Boston Red Sox, Features, Opinions & Predictions
Yesterday, in the bottom of the ninth, the Boston Red Sox plated two runs in a furious rally to come within one run of the Toronto Blue Jays. Travis Shaw doubled in Dustin Pedroia to make the score 4-2. That wa...
Blue Jays: Three Storylines to Watch in Toronto
Dustin Saracini
American League, American League East, Features, Headlines, Major League Baseball, Offseason, Opinions & Predictions, Toronto Blue Jays
Dan Hamilton - USA Today Sports There are certain things that Blue Jays fans will remember for the rest of their life. For many, the 2015 season was a first-hand glimpse of baseball played at the highest le...
What will the Nationals bullpen look like on Opening Day?
Patrick Brewer
Features, Headlines, Major League Baseball, National League, National League East, Offseason, Washington Nationals
Originally, I had started writing this article while the Nationals still had both Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon slated to pitch in the back of their bullpen. With the news of the trade on Friday night, that...
The Trade That Made Sense
Raza Malik
American League, American League East, Headlines, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees, Offseason, Opinions & Predictions, Toronto Blue Jays, Transactions, Washington Nationals
Late Friday night, reports swirled about a possible deal between the Nationals and the Blue Jays, regarding Drew Storen and Ben Revere. The Jays had ample depth in the outfield, and gaping holes in the bullpen....
Jays Pull from Outfield depth to Add to Thin Bullpen
Drew Cameron
Headlines, Toronto Blue Jays, Transactions, Washington Nationals
Earlier in the winter I predicted that the Toronto Blue Jays would trade either an outfielder or first baseman/designated hitter in order to acquire more pitching depth. This prediction has somewhat come to fru...
Should the Orioles trade for Drew Storen?
Baltimore Orioles, Features, Major League Baseball, Opinions & Predictions, Washington Nationals
Drew Storen, along with teammate Jonathan Papelbon, have been placed on the block by the Washington Nationals. The Nationals are hoping to open up their eighth and ninth innings for Darren O'Day and Aroldis Cha...
Washington Nationals: Five burning offseason questions
Features, Major League Baseball, National League, Opinions & Predictions, Washington Nationals
Credit: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images North America By this point, enough has been written about the disappointing 2015 season for the Washington Nationals. There's not much point in continuing to pile on. Th...
Report: Nationals plan to keep both Jonathan Papelbon and Drew Storen
Chicago Cubs, Headlines, Major League Baseball, National League, National League Central, National League East, Washington Nationals
Jonathan Papelbon's short time with the Washington Nationals hasn't gone well. In addition to the brawl with superstar outfielder Bryce Harper, Papelbon struggled on the mound, putting up a 2-2 record in 22 app...
Confirmed: Papelbon Trade Was a Mistake!
Evan Marinofsky
Headlines, Major League Baseball, National League, Opinions & Predictions
On July 29, I wrote an article addressing the Jonathan Papelbon to Washington Nationals trade. I said it was a complete mistake then, and I'll say it again. The Nationals made a mistake in picking up Papelb...
Nats' Storen Breaks Thumb, Done For Year
Washington Nationals relief pitcher Drew Storen has been diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb and is likely out for the season, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Drew S...


Earwigs are considered occasional invaders but anyone that lives in the southwest would tell you otherwise. Earwigs are considered a nuisance and can be a problem in almost every house.
These pest can be both scavengers and predators depending on the species. The all enjoy moist areas and are attracted to light. During warm weather they gather in large numbers around the foundation of a structure and frequently invade homes in search of cooler temperatures and water as noted above. Large numbers are found under rocks and debris, in flowerbeds and in turf around a structure. Treatments for control should be focused on those areas.
Depending on species found in the U.S., earwigs will grow from 1/2 inch to 1 inch long. They have pincer-like appendages at the end of the abdomen. They have 6 legs and 2 antenna. They range in color from black, brown to red in color. Some may have 2 stripes. Only a few of the female species can fly.
Treatments should include the wet rooms and walls of a structure and all entry points of a structure. Dust should be used in voids that stay dry where sprays cannot be applied. Outside, all plants and any other materials should be removed from the outside walls. I would suggest at least a foot. Plants, flower beds and turf should also be treated properly for complete control of the insects. Earwigs will return year after year so treatments need to be ongoing.


Mr Sunil Prabhakar has become first Indian to create World Record of Longest Phone Conversation by speaking non- stop for 51 hrs. He successfully broke 40hr record of Tony Wright of UK which was created on September 2007. Sunil Prabhakar called up from his house from Tata Indicom phone to Dr K.K.Agarwal renowned Cardiologist and Head Cardiology Moolchand medcity New Delhi who picked up and initiated the conversation from Vishal Mega Mart Mathura Road New Delhi at 7.00 am on 18.09.2009, later many prominent people like Director, Delhi Institute of Tool Engineering, Delhi Govt. Dr V.P.Dutta and many more registered persons joined Mr Sunil Prabhakar for conversation, which went beyond 41 hrs till early morning of 20th September at 10.00 completing 51 hrs.


Today�s ally is merely tomorrow�s traitor. We will be watching you.
IA allowed (40k approved) but must have actual model.
I don't think I can come anyway, but at the same time, can we lift the ban on Superheavies?
Codex Knights and Orks now have Superheavies as standards, and they are legitimate Codexes. Seems a bit much to totally ban them still.
Sorry Tom but I am old school, an old man and resistant to change.
Personally, I don't believe that super heavies belong in 40k and I am philosophically opposed to them. They should have stayed in Apocalypse IMO. They may be the rules and legit codexes but they will never be in a tournament I organise.
I usually try to go with the flow with what players want but I am standing firm on this one.
100% I'm coming to this.
It's important that such men police the forums constantly to save us from ourselves.
So how does Community Comp work outside the context of the 'comp score' it gives us?
Put me down for a spot, will check for availability and confirm soon.
As defending 2 time champ I demand you move this to Saturday Aug16th.
So with a comp of 20 I'd get 30?
Nope 20 would get you zero points.
Found it, thanks. I'm not sure I agree with some of their ratings, but I like the concept.
Simon I'm curious regarding the inclusion of IA and Community Comp.
Your allowing 40k approved IA but none of those units are costed in the current Community Comp document.
Am I allowed to take IA with no cost in Comp Points? Or is there some other means to be hit with the comp stick that I'm not seeing?
They are working on IA in the comp as we speak but I don't know when it will be out. As this is a practice run for Dauthus I thought I would still allow it. Feed back to the comp people after an event is also something they might appreciate.
If there is something you feel might be over the top let me know and I'll see if I can get an interim cost for it.


The exhibition features illustrated Persian manuscripts and detached folios collected in the early 20th century by Harvard alumnus Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), the famous American art historian and connoisseur of Italian Renaissance painting.
Berenson prized these works at his home in Florence, Villa I Tatti, which he bequeathed to Harvard and which now serves as the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.
According to the website of the museums, the US exhibit offers the first opportunity to see the works outside Italy. They are grouped according to the style in which each was created between the 14th and 17th centuries in Iran and Central Asia.
Additional related works from the Harvard Art Museums, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will also be displayed at the show.
The works were collected by close associates of Berenson who shared his enthusiasm for Persian painting, at a time when this area of art was gaining currency among collectors.
Shedding new light on Berenson's little-known and understudied Persian collection, the exhibition highlights current research from various scholars on Berenson's collecting interests and the artistic and cultural significance of the objects.
Among the works to be showcased at the event, there are several pages from different editions of the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), the long epic poem written by the celebrated Persian poet Ferdowsi (940-1020).
On display also will be Illustrated folios from the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh, the most elaborate and luxurious manuscript of the Ilkhanid period (a division of the Mongol Empire which ruled Iran and the neighboring territories 1256-1353).
Illustrated folios from the Zafarnama (Book of Victory), a biography of Timur completed by the Persian historian Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi in 1426, will also be exhibited.
Besides, there will be an illustrated manuscript of an Anthology of Persian Treatises for Prince Baysonghor (1397-1433), a prince from the house of the Timurid Empire (1370-1507). He was known as a patron of arts and architecture, the leading patron of the Persian miniature in Persia, commissioning the Baysonghor Shahnameh and other works, as well as being a prominent calligrapher.


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Maize Farming At our Agricultural college SaMTEC at Luuq, Somalia
Events on: ,
Centre for Research and Integrated Development (CeRID) is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 2005. It is respectively registered in Somalia and Kenya and has field operations in the Jubbaland and Southwest states of Somalia. CeRID has its headquarters in Belet Hawa town bordering Mandera Kenya from where it provides programme and logistical support to field offices in Luuq, Bardere and Kismayo and runs a liaison office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Vision: CeRID envisions peaceful and self-reliant communities in the Horn of Africa region
Mission: CeRID's mission is to act as an agent of change for peaceful and self-reliant communities through implementation of programmes in education and skills development, environment and NRM, economic empowerment and livelihoods, WASH, peace building and conflict transformation, and equity and women empowerment.
Values: Creativity, Equity, Relevance, Integrity, Dignity