Useful post from Slashfood:

Caramelized onions are one of those magic ingredients. They add amazing flavor to the most simple of meals, require very little energy to prepare and make other people think that you are an extraordinary cook. All it takes is a nice, big skillet (I use a 12 inch cast iron one), five or six large onions cut into thin rings and some time.

Pre-heat the skillet for a few minutes before adding a small amount of olive oil (around a tablespoon). When the oil coats the bottom of the pan and shimmers, add your mountain of sliced onion (at the beginning of cooking, that pan was filled to the brim with onions) and immediately turn the temperature down to low. The secret to making gorgeous caramelized onions is that you want to cook them on the lowest temp your stove can manage while still producing heat. Then, every 10 or 15 minutes, move them around the pan with some tongs. You want them to darken but not blacken. The goal is to cultivate and enhance the sugars in the onions without creating an acrid flavor. You know they are done when you take a taste and they are soft and sweet, with no crunch at all.

Caramelized onions are great for a vast number of dishes. They make an amazing appetizer on a toasted baguette with brie, they’re fabulous on homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella, they can serve as the base for french onion soup and they elevate a regular sandwich from basic to amazing. And they keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

The Anonymous Liberal:

I was going to comment on the statement the President made as he signed the new FISA amendments into law, but Jack Balkin beat me to the punch. The title of his post sums it all up: Bush to Democratic Congress: Your Complete Capitulation is Not Good Enough. Jack highlights this part of the President’s statement:

When Congress returns in September the Intelligence committees and leaders in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms requested by Director McConnell, including the important issue of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Jack responds:

I particularly love the phrase “alleged to have assisted our Nation.” In his letter to Congress the other day Intelligence Director Michael McConnell spoke of “liability protection for those who are alleged to have helped the country stay safe after September 11, 2001.” Apparently “allegedly helped us stay safe” is Bush Administration code for telecom companies and government officials who participated in a conspiracy to perform illegal surveillance. Because what they did is illegal, we do not admit that they actually did it, we only say that they are alleged to have done it. Or perhaps the Administration is suggesting that although such parties are alleged to have helped the country stay safe, there’s no evidence that their repeated violations of federal law actually did much to promote our security. No, they couldn’t mean that.

My guess is that President Bush plans to award those who allegedly helped save the country with alleged medals.

My post would have essentially said the same thing, only less eloquently.

I’ll add, though, that the potential liability the telecom companies face for their participation in these activities appears to have been the driving force behind the Bush administration’s eventual decision to submit the NSA program to the FISA court for review. As James Risen reports today in the New York Times:

In fact, pressure from the telecommunications companies on the Bush administration has apparently played a major hidden role in the political battle over the surveillance issue over the past few months.

In January, the administration placed the N.S.A.’s warrantless wiretapping program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and subjected it for the first time to the scrutiny of the FISA court.

Democratic Congressional aides said Sunday that they believed that pressure from major telecommunications companies on the White House was a major factor in persuading the Bush administration to do that. Those companies were facing major lawsuits for having secretly cooperated with the warrantless wiretapping program, and now wanted greater legal protections before cooperating further.

If Congress were to retroactively immunize these companies from liability, as President Bush is demanding, it would remove one of the few remaining points of leverage that still exists to try to pry the truth out of the administration about what happened over the last six years.

I never thought to see the Democrats so craven, so enabling of actions they claim to oppose. And editorials note it as well:

Last week, under heavy political pressure from the White House, Congress approved the White House-backed version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which provided expansive spying authority to the Bush administration. The White House had earlier rejected a compromise bill that provided powers sought by the Director of National Intelligence, opting instead to play politics with the issue.

In the past two days, at least nine major newspapers have editorialized against the FISA legislation, with the New York Times today calling it an “unnecessary and dangerous expansion of President Bush’s powers.” Some examples:

USA Today:

A skittish Congress [i.e., craven Democrats - LG] allowed itself to be stampeded last week into granting the president unfettered surveillance power. When it returns to Washington, it should do what it can to make sure that the sun goes down on this flawed measure. [Link]

Washington Post:

To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law — or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions. [Link]

The New York Times:

Read the rest of this entry »

It saves time, produces many fewer reported instances of noncompliance, and reduces headcount: have the people doing the implementation responsible for oversight of implementation. ThinkProgress:

The new law expanding the Bush administration’s spying powers “gives Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responsibility for creating the broad procedures determining whose telephone calls and e-mails are collected. It also gives McConnell and Gonzales the role of assessing compliance with those procedures.”

Old Faithful at Yellowstone erupting against a night sky.

Current as of 3/26/2008.

I’ve mentioned blade sampler packs so frequently—and it’s such an important idea to convey to the novice DE shaver—that I thought I should do a post just on that topic.

The sampler packs arise from the unpredictability of any individual shaver’s response to any brand of blade. Each brand has those who love it and those who hate it, along with those who are indifferent. Some brands may have a preponderance one way or the other, but even if only a few hate (or love) a brand, what if you are one of those few? You can’t use the brand statistically: “I love this particular blade 60%, and hate it 35%, and am indifferent 5%.” With the individual shaver and a particular blade, it’s a 100% decision. So the individual shaver has to try multiple brands, rather than simply pick those that are (statistically) popular. (See this post for results of a series of polls on how well shavers like certain brands—and note that for every brand, some like it, some don’t like it, and some are indifferent.)

If it were not like this—if shavers responded in the same way to a blade (which many novices believe is the case, and simply ask “Which blade is sharpest?” as if that would be the best blade for them)—then there would exist only one brand of blade: THE blade. Perhaps it would be sold in different colors of packages, or with different decorations printed on the blade, but everyone would use it because it is the “best” blade.

But life is not like that, and so the sampler packs exist. Originally, there was only one sampler pack, offered by LetterK on BadgerandBlade.com and ShaveMyFace.com. LetterK later established a Web site that sells a variety of sampler packs (WestCoastShaving.com), and two other vendors began selling sampler packs (ConnaughtShaving.com in the UK, and RazorandBrush.com in the US)

So far as I know, these are the only three current sources for sampler packs. So far no sampler pack is offered in Canada, though these three vendors do, I believe, ship to Canada. Links to the vendors’ packs, in alphabetic order:

• Connaught Shaving (in the UK)
• Razor and Brush (in the US)
• West Coasting Shaving (in the US)

I’ll discuss each in turn (and ignore shipping costs in the comparisons). In general, I suggest getting as many brands to try as possible: the largest sampler pack, and sampler packs from both RazorandBrush and WestCoastShaving if you live in the US. Moreover, try as many brands as you can buy locally. You have only a statistical prediction of which brands you’ll like, and for your own individual experience, that’s not enough (as pointed out above). So the more brands the better.

Some of the blades (Treet Blue Special, Treet DuraSharp HiTech Steel) are made of carbon steel rather than stainless steel. Carbon steel can take a sharper edge than stainless, but carbon steel also will rust. Here’s how to handle that for razor blades. As it happens, the Treet Blue Special is very definitely a “best blade” for me.

Experienced shavers all recommend that, as soon as a novice finds a brand that seems to work reasonably well, he should be faithful to that brand to polish his technique, and not try another brand until he’s consistently getting good, smooth, nick-free shaves — perhaps a month or two. The shorthand for this is “fidelity,” which means using the same blade brand, razor, brush, and shaving soap or cream until one’s technique is sound.

Once your technique is sound, you can begin the exploration. In particular, it would be unwise to skip from brand to brand to brand, one shave each: you would never then learn the particularities of a brand of blade and whether it actually works for you. It would be like trying to learn tennis while using a different brand of racquet for each set: you’d never find your groove.

Of course, once you’re getting good shaves, you might think, “Why try another brand? This one’s doing okay. Better just to stick with it.” I have my own view of the benefits of an extended exploration, but indeed some shavers simply stick with the first brand they encounter that gives they consider a good shave. I’ve read comments, “This brand seems to tug a lot, but when I’m finished, I have a good shave, so it’s a good blade.”

I don’t agree: if a blade tugs a lot, it’s not a good blade for you. Shaving is about the process as well as the end result: both should be pleasurable. That’s what I recommend that shavers explore a wide variety of brands of blades after their shaving technique is established: so that they can find the best brand for them, not just an acceptable brand.

If you try a new brand and get a terrible shave, discard that blade and try another blade of the same brand—it may have just been a bad blade. (Rare, but it does happen.) If the second blade of the brand also gives you a terrible shave, discard it and mark that brand off the list: it’s obviously not for you.

EXCEPTION: If you have more than one razor, try the blade in another razor before you give up on it. A blade that’s terrible in the HD might be wonderful in a Gillette Super Speed and vice versa.

Call the blade that so far works best for you the “best blade.”

1. Shave for a week with the current “best blade.” This sets the baseline for comparison.
2. Shave for a week with a new brand of blade (unless it fails the test of two terrible shaves).
3. If the new brand is the better of the two, it is now your new “best blade”: go to 2 to try another new brand.
4. If the new brand is not the better, go to 1.

By using this approach you’re always comparing just two brands: your best so far and a new brand. That makes the comparison easy, and by always starting the comparison with a week shaving with the “best,” you not only get a break from testing, you get a fresh reminder of what a blade that’s good for you feels like before you try the next new brand.

One experienced shaver discovered that sometimes two different brands are almost equal in quality, and that for those, using each brand on alternate days allows for a closer comparison.

When you decide against a brand, jot down a note on why you’re rejecting it (too dull, nicks too frequently, irritates your skin—whatever), put the note and the remaining blades of that brand in an envelope, write the brand name on the envelope, and put it aside. After six months or a year, you might want to try the brand again to see whether things (your prep, technique, razor, etc.) have changed and the brand is now good for you. If not, pass those blades along to someone else—for him, they may well be a “best blade”.

For me, my own current best blades are: Treet Blue Special, Astra Superior Platinum, Astra Keramik Platinum, the Wilkinson family (Economie, UK, and German), Zorrik, Polsilver Stainless, and Iridium Super. Sputnik blades are also good, especially after the first shave. Once Feather and Tiger were among my favorites, but I finally decided that they was too ready to nick for no reason. They’re like a high-powered but unstable motorcycle: great performance but unpredictable. You may have a different experience. Gillette 7 O’Clock ExtraSharp (not to be confused with the 7AM brand) were so sharp that I couldn’t comfortably use them—not erratic, just very, very sharp. Some guys like them a lot—but be careful with them.

With a microscope you can see the actual differences in the edges of different brands. At the link are microphotographs of the edges of Dorco New Platinum ST300,Personna Platinum Chrome (”Red Box”), Crystal Super + Platinum (”Israeli Personna”), and the Treet Blue Special. The Treet clearly has a well sharpened edge—but still it works well for only a minority (for whom it works extremely well).

It is wrong to assume (as some do) that the West Coast Shaving sampler has the “good” blades and the others are inferior or of lesser quality. It’s simply not true, as you’ll find when you try the blades yourself. The “good” blades are those that work well for you, and (for me) I found my “good” blades in Razor and Brush’s largest sampler pack.

Connaught Sampler Packs

Popular: Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum, Super + Platinum (”Israeli”), and Wilkinson Sword Classic (German)
7 brands, 35 blades total, £8.90, or US 52¢ per blade

Standard: Astra Keramik Platinum, Astra Superior Platinum, Gillette 7 O’CLOCK Sharp Edge, Iridium Super Stainless, Nacet Stainless, Polsilver Stainless, Sputnik Teflon, Tiger Superior Stainless
8 brands, 40 blades total, £7.90, or US 40¢ per blade

Treet Plus: 7am Platinum, Sharp Stainless, Super-Max Platinum, Super-Max Stainless, Treet Carbon Blued ‘Black Beauty’, Treet Dura Sharp Carbon, Treet Platinum, Treet Stainless / Trig
8 brands, 40 blades total, £5.90, or US 36¢ per blade

UK: 7am Platinum , Astra Keramik Platinum, Astra Superior Platinum, Crystal / Super + Platinum ‘Israeli Personna’, Derby Extra , Dorco Platinum, ELIOS Inoxidable , Feather New Hi-Stainless, Gillette 7 O’CLOCK Sharp Edge , Gillette Platinum ‘Swedish Gillettes’, Iridium Super Extra Stainless, Merkur Super Platinum, Nacet Stainless, Polsilver Stainless, Sharp Stainless , Sputnik Teflon , Super-Max Platinum , Super-Max Super Stainless , Tiger Superior Stianless, Treet Carbon Blued ‘Black Beauty’, Treet Dura Sharp Carbon, Treet Platinum Super Stainless, Trig Silver Edge Stainless, Wilkinson Sword Double Edge , Zorrik Super Stainless
25 brands, Small: 125 blades total £16.90, or US 27¢ per blade;
Large: 250 blades total £26.90, or US 22¢ per blade

Obviously, the UK is the best buy, and it is also better in that you get more different brands to try.

Razor and Brush Sampler Packs

Sampler Pack #1 (Small): American Personna Super Platinum Chrome, Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Sharp Stainless, Sputnik Platinum Chrome, Treet Blue Special (carbon steel), Treet Platinum Chrome, Wilkinson Sword Classic (German)
7 brands, 45 blades total, $9.00, or 20¢ per blade.

Sampler Pack #2 (Extended): 7AM Platinum Hi Stainless, Astra Superior Platinum, Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Dorco Platinum Chrome, Feather Hi-Stainless, Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge, Sharp Platinum Chrome, Sputnik Platinum Chrome, Tiger Superior Stainless, Treet DuraSharp HiTech (carbon steel), Treet DuraSharp Classic Stainless, Treet Platinum Chrome, Wilkinson Sword Classic (German)
13 brands, 90 blades total, $18.50, or 21¢ per blade

Sampler Pack #3 (Large): American Personna Super Platinum Chrome, Astra Superior Platinum, Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Dorco Platinum Chrome, Feather Hi-Stainless, PolSilver Stainless, Sputnik Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Super Stainless, Treet Blue Special (carbon steel), Treet DuraSharp HiTech (carbon steel), Treet DuraSharp Classic Stainless, Treet Platinum Chrome, Wilkinson Sword Classic (German)
14 brands, 105 blades total, $22.00, or 21¢ per blade

Sampler Pack #4 (Extra-Large): 7AM Platinum Hi Stainless, Astra Superior Platinum, Derby Extra Super-Stainless, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Dorco Platinum Extra, Feather Hi-Stainless, Personna Platinum Super Stainless (”Israeli”), Sharp Stainless, Sputnik Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Super Stainless, Tiger Superior Stainless, Treet Blue Special (carbon steel), Treet DuraSharp Classic Stainless, Treet DuraSharp HiTech (carbon steel), Treet Platinum Chrome, Trig Silver Edge Stainless, Wilkinson Sword Classic (German)
18 brands, 125 blades total, $26.00, 21¢ per blade.

Sampler Pack #5 (Huge): 7AM Platinum Hi Stainless, Astra Superior Platinum, Derby Extra Super Stainless, DORCO 300 Platinum, DORCO 301 Platinum Extra, Feather Hi-Stainless, Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge, Gillette Platinum (a.k.a. “Swedes”), Iridium Super Extra Stainless, Merkur Super Platinum Stainless, Personna Platinum Super Stainless (Red Israeli), Sharp Stainless, Sputnik Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Platinum Chrome, Super-Max Super Stainless, Tiger Superior Stainless, Treet Blue Special, Treet Classic, Treet Dura-Sharp Carbon, Treet Platinum Chrome, Trig Silver Edge Stainless, Wilkinson Economie, Wilkinson Sword Classic, Zorrik Super Stainless
24 brands, 165 blades total, $35.00, 21¢ per blade.

I recommend Sampler Pack #5 because it offers more brands to try. Here’s how to order.

Sampler Pack #6 (Gillette): All the blades in this pack are made by Gillette (Procter & Gamble): Astra Keramik, Astra Superior Platinum, Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge, Gillette Platinum (a.k.a. “Swedes”), Iridium Super Extra Stainless, Polsilver Stainless,
Sputnik Platinum Chrome
7 brands, 45 blades total, $15, 33¢ per blade.

East Coast Series
In addition to the above sampler packs, Razor and Brush offers the “East Coast” series of sampler packs, which have the same brands and number of blades as the corresponding West Coast Shaving sampler packs.

Economy: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Wilkinson Sword (UK)
4 brands, 30 blades total, $5.00, or 17¢ per blade

Choice: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”)
5 brands, 40 blades total, $11.50, or 29¢ per blade.

Standard: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum
5 brands, 40 blades total, $16.00, or 40¢ per blade.

Extended: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum, Red Pack Israeli, Wilkinson Sword (UK)
8 brands, 60 blades total, $19.50, or 33¢ per blade.

Large: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum
5 brands, 50 blades total, $20.00, or 40¢ per blade.

West Coast Shaving Sampler Packs

Economy: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Wilkinson Sword (UK)
4 brands, 30 blades total, $5.50, or 18¢ per blade

Choice: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”)
5 brands, 40 blades total, $13.75, or 34¢ per blade.

Standard: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum
5 brands, 40 blades total, $18.00, or 45¢ per blade.

Extended: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Dorco Platinum Chrome, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum, Red Pack Israeli, Wilkinson Sword (UK)
8 brands, 60 blades total, $21.50, or 36¢ per blade.

Large: Crystal Platinum Chrome (”Israeli”), Derby Extra, Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum, Gillette Platinum (”Swedish/Euro”), Merkur Super Platinum
5 brands, 50 blades total, $24.00, or 48¢ per blade.

The Extended has the best price per blade and also the greatest number of brands, so that’s the one I would get.

I recently exchanged messages with a guy who coaches college football, who said that August is his favorite time of the year: getting the squad ready for the playing season.

I got to thinking about that. It has a characteristic of many experiences that we enjoy: the same, yet not the same. Think of a musical note. Played twice, it’s just the same. Played once and then the octave: same and yet not the same.

So each August, I would imagine, it’s much the same: checking out equipment, getting to know new players, running drills, and so on. Yet it’s not the same: some new guys, some guys have left, different problems, and so on. It’s a niche version of the “back-to-school” experience that we all have had—and, I think, enjoyed (in later years).

Rituals have this character: the same each time, yet different. Even the shaving ritual has some of it, but it happens too frequently to build up resonance, which seems to require some time between repetitions.

I’m thinking of Thanksgiving dinner, for example. Once a year, so that the last occurrence is well in the past. Yet in the repetition, one recalls those past dinners: a kind of time-travel resonance in the ritual, brought about by having many of the same people, many of the same dishes, and many of the same rituals (each person saying something they are thankful for in the past year, for example, or a traditional walk, or watching a game, or whatever).

The resonance is amplified, I think, if each occurrence brings back some unique markers: a special dish (orange-almond-cranberry sauce), special dishes (the Thanksgiving turkey platter),  a special tablecloth and napkins, special decorations brought out each year.

This, come to think of it, is why so many people like to decorate for holidays, especially Christmas: all the old decorations, table settings and set-up, treats (Lizzies, for example) along with the new tree (but still a tree), the new friends, new presents (but still presents), and so on. The number of special once-a-year decorations give a larger and stronger foundation, as it were, for the resonance. (This insight is helpful to me, who never liked decorations because I didn’t understand the idea. Put them all up and then take them all down? Why not just skip them? Now I understand—and I think most people understand immediately, at some level. Perhaps they just immediately tune in to the resonance.)

Where does this come from, this appreciation of repetitions that are the same yet different? Perhaps it’s very basic, from evolving on a world with seasons that repeat each year—for example, every year a winter: the same, yet different. Each autumn: the same, yet with its own differences.

To return to music: we do like to hear old pieces again—either the same performance (recorded) or a variation (a different artist, a different orchestra in a different concert hall). And even in the short run, music seems to exploit repetitions: the repeating chorus, the repeated theme, with variations.

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645), author of The Book of Five Rings, was a great swordfighter of Japan. His skills became so great that in one famous duel he didn’t bother to use a sword: he just carved a wooden sword from an oar on the way to the duel:

In April 14, 1612 aged approximately 28, Musashi had his most famous duel with Sasaki Kojiro who wielded a nodachi [two-handed Japanese battle sword - LG]. Musashi came late and unkempt to the appointed place — the remote island of Funajima, north of Kokura. The duel was short and Musashi killed his opponent with a bokken that he had carved from an oar, while traveling to the island.

This occurs to me because of the succession of good blades I’ve been experiencing. Though I can discern some differences, they all seem excellent. Giovanni, the proprietor of RazorandBrush, says in a comment that he put in his sampler pack the cream of a vast universe of blades—he actually used the blades and rejected those that he didn’t like. So his sampler pack is a biased sample already, but still—with blades, different shavers react differently. I would expect to find some that I didn’t like (except in the unlikely event that he and I have the same response to blades).

So I decided to try an American Personna blade this morning, to determine whether I have somehow transcended blade limitations. (The AP has an indifferent reputation, though, as always, some really like it a lot.)

I used Mr. Glo, of course, and I’m wondering whether the use of that pre-shave soap (Musgo Real Glyce Lime Oil soap, to give it its proper name: MRGLO) is what has made the difference. Certainly when I first used it, I noticed a jump in the quality of the shave. So, maybe…

Then I lathered, using Acqua Di Parma shaving cream (still working on a generous sample I got)  and my Simpsons Harvard 3 Best Badger. Very fine lather.

I loaded an English Rocket (sort of a better-made Super Speed) with a new American Personna blade. A very good shave. A couple of minor nicks (not even requiring My Nik Is Sealed), though it seemed a tame blade. Perhaps a tiny bit of razor burn. But a very smooth face in three passes.

So: what’s up? Of course, with AP, as with all blades, YMMV. And they are currently sold (in drugstores, Wal-Mart, and the like) at a price way above what they’re worth (IMHO). Still, a good shave.

In this latest edition of the book, I did add that, in addition to the sampler packs, a shaver should also buy all brands of blades available locally to include in the testing. Based on this morning’s experience, good advice.