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Some observations about Buell motorcycles May 25, 2008

I’ve been following Buell since they appeared on the scene. Initially people were having all sorts of maintenance issues, similar to old Harley Davidsons (their parent co.), but they seem to have come a long way in that dept, although I hear tale that the Japanese bikes are still better in that dept.. Something that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

Poking around the Buell site today I ended up watching the videos Eric Buell made a couple years ago about Buell’s “Radical Principles“, and that’s where I discovered what I think really sets Buell apart from many manufacturers. They’re making bikes for real world road riding not track racing. Given, what’s good for one is frequently good for the other. But, I think this approach has a much better chance of resulting in a bike that’s suited to the riding you’re really going to do on it, as opposed to the riding you wish you’d do on it.

Later on I came across this quote where he was talking about Buell owners:

We tend to be more individualistic than other motorcyclists and less likely to follow the crowd. We tend to be nice people and - this will sound corny - but I’ve also seen that we’re extremely appreciative of other people. What I also like is that we seem to have an extraordinary level of tolerance - you just don’t see any rude attitudes, which is really cool. We have a lot of really successful people riding Buell Motorcycles who could be arrogant and stuffy, but they’re not. And that’s because we’re true to who we are. We’re not riding a Buell to prove to other people that we’re cool. We know who we are. Let me give you a perfect example of what I mean by this. Buell tends to not attract the kind of people who want to pretend they’re someone they’re not. Buell owners think, “I know I can buy a bike that will go 200 mph, but c’mon, when am I ever going to do that?” We just have a different mindset. Maybe we’re purists, rather than poseurs. We just want to have fun, and we want a great motorcycle to help do that. Maybe we’re born that way, huh?

Those are the kind of people that I want to associate with. I don’t ride to look cool. I ride because I love riding. I’ve never gone over 80mph on a bike because I don’t need to, and I want to stay safe. This combination of design philosophy and attitude have made me seriously reconsider Buell as an option.

We’re not interested in a spec war with other bike makers and our customers aren’t either. We’re trying to build the best sport bike, not the best race bike, so our riders can have more fun in their lives.

I like that…

Popularity: 5% [?]

Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge - Review May 24, 2008

Laurell K Hamilton is the undeniable queen of this genre, but it took her about eight Anita Blake books to approach the quality of writing that Caitlin has given us in her first outing. Eventually Laurell improved her skills but morphed her books into soft-core porn with vampires. Ugh.If you’re like me and enjoy a bad ass heroine in a gritty urban fantasy setting then Night Life is something you should pick up.

There’s only one problem: the cover. If you pay attention to the cover you will think this another cheesy romance novel with werewolves. The only redeeming thing about the cover is that Caitlin probably had little control over it, and, if you didn’t know already, the author rarely writes the descriptive text on the book cover. The perceived cheese is slightly due to Caitlin’s way of naming things: our werewolf heroine is named “Luna”, and the story takes place in “Nocturne City”. Normally, I’m totally fine with a little tongue-in-cheek naming, but when combined with the descriptive text which describes Luna as a “tough-as-nails police officer” and notes that “…when she investigates prime suspect Dmitri Sandovsky, she can’t resist his wolfish charms.” it just screams cheesy crap to me. The final red flag is the girl on the cover who looks like a seventeen year old goth wannabe.

Getting back to the book itself: the first few pages are a bit rough, especially “I could smell her blood because I’m a werewolf.” I feel for Caitlin, because trying to convey that your protagonist is anything other than normal human within the first couple pages is an unenviable task, but still… Fortunately the writing improves quickly, and while it didn’t immediately suck me in, it wasn’t bad, and it showed enough promise to keep me reading, and reading, and reading until 2 AM Monday morning when I forced myself to put it down and get some sleep before work.

The book was so enjoyable, and I was so thoroughly caught up in it, that when I was unable to find it the next morning, or after days of searching, I was prepared to go out and re-buy it just to finish it. Luna is a well written, and multifaceted character you enjoy reading about. Her shortcomings are, thankfully, not the emotional equivalent of the movie women who can’t run twelve feet without tripping over nothing, but realistic and believable human complexities. The relationship that builds between her Dmitri is very quick, but Caitlin manages to make it not feel like an excuse to write multiple sex scenes (there’s only one), or one of those totally contrived “I hate you. Take me now.” relationships. While there’s nothing terribly surprising about it, it’s relatively realistic, layered, and well done. Just like all the other denizens of Luna’s life, which leaves Caitlin with a great foundation for future books to build on.

It’s not perfect, and you’ll probably find a few nits to pick but nothing notably bad. I do prefer the way werewolf packs, and the transmission of werwolfism were handled by authors like Patricia Briggs, Kelly Armstrong, or even Ms. Hamilton. I’m not thrilled with what eventually happens to the members of Dmitri’s pack, or how easily it seems to have transpired. And, there are a few things just after the final fight that leave me going “wait, what exactly….”, but I’m still putting it down knowing I’ll buy her next book without hesitation (or looking at the cover).

I hope that her publisher pulls their heads out of their asses and tries to market her next book based on what’s inside of it instead of what they hope their target market wants to hear. Caitlin is a talented writer, whose work I happily put alongside that of authors like Patricia Briggs, Kelly Armstrong, Kat Richardson, and Kim Harrison. Hopefully these women will be able to convince publishers that Urban Fantasy readers don’t just want trashy romance novels with magical beings thrown in.

P.S. Thank you Caitlin for having the balls to use the word “cock” in the sex scene. I am so sick of members and throbbing hardnesses. Can you imagine anyone using those in real life? “Oh baby, show me your throbbing hardness.”

P.P.S Check out Kat Richardson’s review of Night Life.

Popularity: 11% [?]

If Patton was a coder… May 19, 2008

General Patton said that “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” If he was a coder he might have said “An automated test violently executed now is better than a perfect test next week.”

Popularity: 4% [?]

The financial cost of motorcycle safety May 17, 2008

New motorcyclists tend to spend most, or all, of their pennies on their new bike without considering, or perhaps realizing, just how much it’s going to cost to protect themselves on the bike. Of course, having just bought the bike, there’s no way they’re not going to ride it….

While I covered the items you’ll want to keep you safe in “So you want to ride a motorcycle… and not die” I didn’t cover what it would cost. Afterwards I figured it would be useful to put together a list of your basic safety items, and what you can expect to pay for them, so that new riders can plan accordingly. I’m mostly just going to be using low end prices, the cheapest you can get away with and still be safe. You can easily pay many times more for most of these items from different manufacturers.

• Helmet: $100+
  • You can easily spend $700 on a helmet but, in general, price has no impact on safety. Make sure it’s snug and comfortable and full face (you do want to keep your nose and chin right?). More money tends to buy you nice-to-have features, like inner slide-down sun-shields, or integrated rear-view mirrors.
• Riding suit: $250+
  • One piece, two piece, it really doesn’t matter. Just make sure it’s good material and has CE rated armor. If you shop around you can find a pants and a jacket for about $150 each. But these will rarely have hip or back armor at that price. The most affordable solution I’ve found is the Fieldsheer Highland II , but it should be combined with…
• High Visibility Vest: ~$70
  • If your riding gear doesn’t have a high-viz top you should add in a high vis vest. This is also required if you’re riding on a US military base.
  • Yes, a normal lightweight mesh construction worker’s visibility vest will increase your visibility, but they don’t generally hold up well under highway speed winds.
• Back / Chest armor: $60-$300
  • If your jacket / suit is lacking and you want to improve your protection in this dept. you want to go with something by Knox.
  • If your jacket / suit has back armor you can get away with just the chest piece which will cost you about $60. Large busted women are out of luck when it comes to chest armor. However, the back armor that comes in most jackets / one-pieces is rarely as good as a full back pieces from Knox.
  • If you just want back armor Knox has a couple solutions ranging in price from $160-$240
  • If you want back and chest armor you’re looking at $250-$300 for one of their Gilets (vests).
  • They’ve also got shirts that would go under your current jacket and have shoulder, elbow, chest, and back armor for about $270
• Gloves: $30+
  • It’s not uncommon to find closeout sales on good gloves. What’s tricky is finding a closeout that’s in your size. As with most things you can pay much, much more. If you’re planning on riding in cold weather too you’ll probably need two pairs and it’s likely that one of them is going to cost you at least $80.
• Boots: $100+
  • You can sometimes find good closeouts on these but in general expect to pay $150-$200. These really aren’t optional. A friend of mine, who is a good driver, struck a motorcyclist who ran a stop-sign and totally tore up the riders foot (which was unprotected). Unless you get boots that are specifically designed to be waterproof you’ll need some waterproof booties for them. It’s amazing just how fast your feet can get soaked in a downpour.
• Tires: $400+ (if you need them)
  • Good tires tend to cost roughly $150 each. But, getting that rear wheel off the bike to change it is going to add in an hour or more worth of labor. So call it $400. If you’ve just gotten a brand new bike you’re probably fine sticking with what it came with.

Grand total (minus tires) is roughly $850 + shipping or sales tax. If you’re buying a used bike you’ll probably need to add new tires to the mix. Since you’re probably going to buy from a bunch of online retailers we’re talking over $1k with shipping and without the tires.
There are, of course, many more things that you can add but these are, IMNSHO, the basics we all should have. There’s a saying that boats are just holes in the water that you throw money in to. I find that if you’re really into motorcycles they can be too because everything is about 5x more expensive than it is for a car. What’s worse is that while most of the mods you’d make to a car make no practical day-to-day difference, there are a ton of mods you can make to a bike that do make a huge difference in performance, handling, safety, or all of the above.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Fieldsheer Highland II Review May 3, 2008

The Fieldsheer Highland II is a surprisingly affordable and thoroughly armored one-piece motorcycle suit. At $230 from Motorcycle Closeouts it’s quite possibly the most inexpensive way to get a full compliment of CE rated armor including hip and back. Its nearest competitor is the $450 Olympia Phantom (scroll for more).

Sizing:
It is critical, with a one piece, that you really read the sizing chart. Don’t just go with whatever size you “normally” are. The problem is, of course, that there’s no adjusting the distance between the crotch and the shoulders of a one-piece. If you’re too tall in a two piece the coat simply overlaps the pants less. In a one piece your have heavy duty fabric being yanked into your groin. I’m 5′9 1/2″, 140lbs, and according to the size chart I was a medium, so that’s what I ordered, and it fits perfectly.

The waist is very roomy but easily, and comfortably, tightened via a strap on each side with velcro on it’s end.

Temperature & Rain:
The coldest I’ve had this out in, so far, is on the highway in 47 degree weather with an average intensity rain storm for about forty minutes. Prior to going out I was concerned by the reports I’d read of people complaining that riding in heavy rain left them with a wet crotch. I took special care to do up the inner flap that covers the zipper and is designed to keep the weather out and had no wetness whatsoever. When I took it off at my destination I found pretty much what you’d expect. The outer shell was slightly damp, but the plastic coating on the inside of the fabric had done its job and kept any of that from getting to me. There’s a nice breathable mesh to keep the plastic from touching your skin. The marketing claims that the coating has holes large enough to let water vapor from your skin pass out, but is still small enough that drops of water won’t make it in. I can tell you from experience with a dog bed that I didn’t realize was similarly coated that putting this in the dryer will most likely destroy the waterproofing.

As for temperature, I have to preface this by saying that I’m the type of person who keeps her house at 71 degrees. If it’s cooler than that I feel chilly and will typically put on a lightweight zip-up hoodie type thing. Wearing jeans, and a t-shirt under the Highland II with its insulated liner in, everything that was covered felt quite comfortable, whilst, for comparison, my exposed chin (still need to get the insert for my helmet) was not quite cold enough to be painful (to give you an idea of how cold I’d be without the Highland’s protection). On the return trip at about 11 pm, with the exterior of the suit not 100% dried out, the rain had stopped and the roads had dried enough that I raised my top speed about 10-15mph and ended up feeling slightly cool on my upper arms, like maybe I should have worn a long sleeved t-shirt. See the note below about the silver mesh material.

Inside, with the insulated liner in, this thing is a sauna. Once I put it on I couldn’t wait to get outside in the rain I was so hot. The liner is thin, but surprisingly effective. I’ll update this come winter and let you know how it holds up.

The wettest I’ve had this is was an absolute downpour. Not quite as bad as they get down in SC where all traffic stops because even cars can’t see past their front bumper, but within a couple minutes there was half an inch of water or more over everything but the crown of the road. By this point doing up the zipper flaps before starting my ride had become habit and the only things that got wet were my feet, the bottom edge of my jeans (over my boots), and the cuffs. It felt a lot like when you put on a latex glove and stick it in water. Your senses tell you you’re getting wet, but you really aren’t.

Hot weather: I’ve seen a number of people posting on message boards that this suit was too hot in the summer, but I’ve ridden in 90+ degrees (officially it was 91 but the thermometer dangling on my zipper said 98) with 48% humidity, wearing jeans and a t-shirt underneath (without the insulated liner, obviously), and the results were better than expected. I need to preface this by saying that I wear an Olympia Nova high-viz vest over it which, unfortunately, blocks wind from pushing directly into the chest vents (see below) on the Highland II. By keeping the Highland’s zipper open about 6 inches while on the highway I found myself warm but not uncomfortably so. My back did sweat under the armor but I didn’t sweat anywhere else. At one point I actually had it open farther but zipped it up more to keep wind from puffing up my sleeves and didn’t have any worries about being too hot when I did. I’ve got to think that while the Olympia vest was keeping air from getting directly to the vents it was also reflecting a lot of the heat that would have otherwise been absorbed by the black of the suit.

The sun was really beating down though, and going through constant stoplights within the city had me quickly sweating all over.

As far as temperature goes I will happily use it again on hot highway runs, and cold winter anything, but for the really toasty days I’ll be wearing a cooler two-piece. Of course, even being naked wouldn’t help the fact that the motorcycle itself was starting to nuzzle its thermometer’s red-line.

My only real complaint, as far as temperature is concerned is the porous silver material on the upper arms. The problem is that there is so little of it that it provides no noticeable cooling on hot days and it’s so porous that on cool days your biceps end up getting chilled, while the rest of you is perfect. I’d hate to have to put in the lining just to warm my biceps because then I’d probably overheat. I’ve seen a FirstGear jacket made entirely from something similar and I think it would probably be great when used all over to keep you cooler, but I think the Highland II would be better off without it. It’s not effective in the heat and too effective in the cold.

Ventilation:
The chest vents are essentially as wide as they could possibly be. They are horizontal zippers that go all the way from the center zipper out across the chest and down the arm a few inches. They’ve got big long fabric tabs with a thin foam insert to keep them out straight, and make them easy to pull open or closed with gloves. I would like to see a hard plastic insert in, or as, the tab because I just can’t feel them with gloves and have to look to find them, but they’re high enough up, as they should be, that it can be awkward to see while wearing a helmet. Also, there’s no cinch or velcro or anything to hold them open wide like the Olympia Phantom.

The insulating liner, unsurprisingly, blocks the openings. And I think this is acceptable. If you’re wearing a thermal liner you probably want to stay warm. I opened them up even though I had the liner in, just too see if they’d have an effect and it did help cool things slightly. I would prefer it if there was maybe a slit in the liner to let some of the air in to make this more useful on days that straddle the line between cool and warm. But, this is a really tricky thing for anyone to get right, and I’m not entirely sure how it’s addressed by other manufacturers.

Unfortunately the chest vents are the only vents on this. One problem, that most jackets and suits have, is that high-viz vests will block much, but not all, of your only source of ventilation. Another, is that, without any arm vents, if you open the main zipper too far down your chest, and have the wrists done up around your gloves, the arms will puff up and provide a good amount of wind resistance which tires out your arms. If I could add one thing it would be some sort of vent across the back. If it came in a high-viz color I wouldn’t need the vest and wouldn’t worry about flocked air.

In 90+ sunny weather my legs (with jeans) were warm, like putting on jeans straight out of the dryer, which makes me think some leg vents might be beneficial, but I can’t think of a one-piece that I’ve seen that has any, so I don’t count this as a failing of the Highland II at all.

Armor:
The armor is what convinced me to buy this. I didn’t find anything else in this price range (one piece or buying top and bottom separately) that had CE rated hip and back armor. I have seen a couple comments about the hip armor being uncomfortable but I had absolutely no problems with that. It’s a bit weird feeling at first, but after a few minutes I just forgot it was there. I would note that you have to be careful to make sure the hip armor doesn’t get folded over when you put the suit on. The velcro holding it on only goes down the center and there isn’t any at the front or back of the hip armor which I think is a mistake.

I had to go to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and while there I didn’t feel like taking the thing completely off because carrying it around would have been a pain, so I just slipped out of the top half so that I wouldn’t melt (I had the insulated lining in). That’s when I discovered that the back piece is tall enough that you actually have to fold the suit down at the waist or the armor will make the top of the suit poke out from your back. This is actually a good thing. It means there’s enough in there to make a difference (41 cm). And folding it down is a non-issue once you realize you have to. It’s not like wearing a Knox Contour back protector but it’s far better than most tops seem to offer. It does not have any chest armor but Motoport is the only company I’ve come across that has suits with built in chest armor and I could buy four of this suit for one of theirs.

Pockets:
The thigh pockets are nice and deep and are done so that each one is actually two pockets in the same location. One is accessed from the top via velcro and one from the side via a zipper. The pocket was deep enough, and the velcro strong enough, that I think I’d have trouble getting anything out of it while moving (toll money maybe). There’s a tiny pocket just above the left wrist that makes no sense to me. Maybe it’s for change, but it would be really difficult to access at a toll booth. I think it might be useful to keep quarters in for meters. There are two internal breast pockets. The one on the left is surprisingly deep. The right one is smaller but still big enough for a cell phone and wallet with room to spare . The external pocket on the right breast has a vertical zipper and could hold a cell phone or camera or something like that. The left breast has another dual pocket setup about six inches square. There’s also a zipper at pants-pocket level that would allow access to your pants pockets from the outside but the hip armor gets in the way. All of the outer pockets that open at the top are designed so that when you velcro them closed the top of the pocket actually folds over like a brown paper lunch bag, so as to keep out the rain.

Overall I like the pockets but wish there was one I felt I could access more easily, with gloves, for toll booths.

As an aside, I realize it’s nit-picky but I’d like to see a zipper in front of the hip armor so that I could at least access the front pockets in my jeans and maybe squirm my hand back to the back pocket. I tend to throw my keys in a back pocket when I’m getting things together, and if I forget to take them out before I put on the suit I have to undo velcro and zipper and squirm an arm out of the top then reach back in to get them, then reverse the process. Also, I’d love it if it had a back pocket like the Olympia Phantom to shove a CamelBak into.

Velcro & Zippers:
One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen about the Olympia Phantom is that there’s so much velcro on it that it constantly gets stuck to itself when you take it off and you have to un-stick it all when you want to use the suit again. I haven’t had that problem at all on the Highland II. They’ve made judicious use of velcro everywhere. There are two horizontal velcro closures that go around the top of each boot and undoing them makes it really easy to get your boots on and off, or lace them up, or whatever. However, the positioning of the boot velcro leaves something to be desired. The horizontal closures point directly inward, and, if you tend to lift your leg straight up from the ground, has a tendency to catch on the footpegs. I had to train myself to swing my legs forwards and up so as to avoid this. These, I feel, should be moved to the back of the leg.

The zippers all feel well made and are nice and fat. the main zipper goes down the chest and down the inseam of the left leg. There’s a matching zipper from the bottom of the right leg up the inseam to about the crotch. Pocket zippers are easy to use.

I’ve got no complaints about its closure system at all.

Getting it on and taking it off:
I find that it’s really easy to get on and off as long as you’re not wearing your boots. The problem with this is that it takes an annoyingly long time to undo your shoes, take them off and then put them on again and do them up afterwards. Yes, we’re talking maybe a minute tops (for dealing with the shoes), but when all your fellow just threw their coats back on and headed back out it kind-of sucks. Actually donning the garment takes about 30 seconds.

You could unzip the legs from the heel to the crotch and then put your booted feet through but I find that the lining catches on my soles and I end up looking like an idiot standing on one foot while gently wiggling the other one in the air because the inner mesh isn’t designed to withstand much force. Even if I didn’t (look like an idiot, or have trouble with the lining catching), I wouldn’t want to do this if my shoes were anything but perfectly dry for fear of wiping whatever might be on them on the inside of the suit. The Olympia Phantom, on the other hand, seems to be trivial to put boots through, of course it has the downside of dealing with the velcro that constantly sticks to itself.

Visibility:
The thing that left me going back and forth between this suit and the Olypmia Phantom was that while this suit had more armor in case of a crash, the Olypmia had an incredible neon green that would help prevent the need for armor in the first place by making riders more visible. The Highland II has a thin retroreflective strip across the back and the top of the chest vents, a wide vertical retroreflective strip that comes up about six inches from the leg bottom, and retroreflective piping around the edge of the elbow and shoulder armor. The silver accents on the arms and left breast pocket looks quite reflective in person, but isn’t notably more reflective at night than your average gray shirt.

I understand that the market demands cool looking things not visible things, and that the Olympia Phantom in neon green is not particularly stylish looking. But, the point of buying safety gear is to stay safe not win a fashion pageant and I would much rather look dorky on my bike and be seen, and avoided, by everyone than be “cool” and unnoticed by cagers.

I think Fieldsheer has done a really poor job of making the Highland II visible at night. Yes, it could be worse, but only barely. Rev’It has show that you can make stylish looking technical garments from lighter, more visible colors (check out the Cayenne Pro jacket), and the Olympia phantom is blazingly visible, if not stylish. If we are to assume, that for economic reasons, they’re only going to put it out in one color, and feel that black would sell best there are still a number of things I would improve: The retroreflective strip on the back needs to be at least twice as tall. I’d add retroreflective strips down the outside of each leg and arm to make it visible from the side. While I’m thankful that there’s anything on the leg at all, you want the reflective stuff to be up high, directly in a drivers line of sight. Down by my feet misses the point somewhat. The retroreflective piping around the shoulder and elbow armor looks neat, and I’m glad it’s there, but I am totally unconvinced that it would help add to my safety in any measurable way.

Comfort / fit:
No complaints at all. The sizing chart worked for me. There’s no pulling at the crotch or neck, the armor seems to fall in just about the right place. The neck closure is adjustable and fits comfortably. The hip armor wasn’t uncomfortable at all, and quickly forgotten about (as it should be). People who are a little plump in the midriff should be fine and those who are closer to their target weight should be able to cinch the belt around the middle to get it just right.

Maintenance:
The top half of the liner is held in with one long zipper, like most coats. The lower half is velcroed in. The top is, unsurprisingly easy to remove. The bottom is surprisingly easy. The zippers running all the way down each leg make it very easy to open up and get to.

The booklet that comes with it only says how to clean the armor inserts (wet cloth) but doesn’t mention how to clean the suit itself, which is just stupid. My guess is that this is a hand wash only, or maybe Nikwax in the gentle cycle. Avoid the dryer at all costs. I believe that sticking it in a dryer will ruin your waterproofing.

Materials:
The majority of the Highland II is 600 denier Carbolex which is a polyester material with an abrasion resistance roughly double that of 500 denier Cordura (also polyester based). If you want great abrasion resistance / tear strength that won’t melt, you get Kevlar, and that costs the manufacturer something like $50 a yard, so it’s going to cost you a very pretty penny. Fortunately the shoulders, elbows, knees, and shins are also protected with a “ballistic overlay”. Ballistic Nylon is 1050 denier nylon and was originally designed to stop flying shrapnel from nearby bullet or artillery hits, but not the bullet itself. These days it seems to mostly mean that it’s really heavy duty. What Fieldsheer doesn’t mention in the marketing is that the ass is also covered. Seeing as they took the time to put a special butt covering, I think it would be great if they’d have added a piece of 1/8″ dense foam underneath it for extra cushioning.

As tear resistance and abrasion resistance seem to go hand in hand I would guess that the tear strength of 500 denier Carbolex is roughly 45 lbs. Jeans are 4.5, 620 denier Cordura is 35, competition grade leather is 80-110, and Kevlar is about 1260. My personal belief, based on what I’ve read, is that the abrasion resistance of Carbolex and Cordura is high enough to withstand the vast majority of crashes and that most of your high impact places are also covered by armor and the “ballistic overlay” so, until I can afford a thousand dollars or more for kevlar one piece, I’m ok with these materials.

Conclusion:
Overall I feel this is an excellent value for the money, but I’m not thrilled with the idea of using this without a nice high visibility vest over it, and mid-summer it’ll be toasty in stop and go traffic. I am thrilled with the fact that someone is offering a suit that also has CE rated hip and back armor at such an affordable price. Fieldsheer deserves massive kudos for this, because it removes any excuse for people not wearing proper armor. If money is tight but you’re concerned about getting some real protection then I would highly recommend the Fieldsheer Highland II. If you can spend $450 you might want to go with the Olypmia Phantom because the Phantom has excellent reviews when it comes to waterproofing and better reviews for warm weather (but worse for cold), although the phantom appears to be more of a pain to get in to.

Since I live in new england, and ride year round (as long as the roads are clear) the majority of the time I’m on my bike is not “warm weather”, I’m not too worried if it is a little toasty. My everyday wear is now the Highland II, a Knox Gilet Air underneath it (in the winter) for the improved back protection, and an Olympia Nova High-viz ves.

A Note:
I’ve been updating this review as get with this suit in more weather conditions, and will continue to do so.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Not as absent as it seems April 28, 2008

I haven’t posted here much, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been posting. ;)

You see, I try and keep this blog fairly focused on useful articles, and leave my personal life out of it. As you may have noticed, some of the personal had been creeping back in here, and then I dabbled with a couple comics… but I really did want to keep this more… useful.

Well, for those of you who’ve been reading via syndicated feeds, or not paying attention to the sidebar on the site, I’ve been actually drawing something every week day, and accompanying it with a personal entry about the day over at comic.masukomi.org You’d think from the name of the site that they’d be in comic format, and that was the original intent, but a comic requires a short story to tell and it turns out that my day-to-day life involves a lot of staring at screens… Instead of a comic, I ended up with little snapshots of things that captured my attention, random events, introspective moments, and thoughts that percolated through my brain…

Looking back through them to grab some example links for you, I find that, together, they make an interesting little look at my life. Well, interesting to me at least… but maybe to some of you too. I always find it interesting to get little glimpses into some peoples lives. It’s why I follow some of the people I do on Twitter.

So, if you think a daily drawing (sometimes detailed, sometimes not) with no punch line, and some optional related thoughts might be interesting, please check out comic.masukomi.org, and don’t worry, I’ll keep posting here, but now that the comic side exists I can keep this more focused, and I just haven’t had anything particularly applicable to add here as of late.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Dessert Response OR F* Tibet April 16, 2008

Warning: The following will probably be offensive to the humor impaired.

To those who aren’t geeks, and don’t live with them, I must first explain a bit about geek humor. We love word plays. We love intentionally seeing the humor in taking people at what they say instead of what they mean. In this case Silly Man didn’t say what he meant so we could only assume he was referring to what came before.  Also, in general, we have no regard for geopolitical borders. We generally consider all nationalities equal and believe that everyone should be free regardless of where they happen to be on the planet. I have, obviously, edited this, to protect the innocent. However, if you work at the company where this happened please leave anonymous comments with some of the other desert responses.

a_geek: Meanwhile my company has gone to total hell. All because of dessert.
masukomi: I can’t tell if you’re joking or not
a_geek: Let me see how many emails have been sent on the matter of dessert.
a_geek: approximately 1250 since last Friday.
masukomi: arguing for having or not having some? Or, is it an issue of what the dessert is?
a_geek: It’s more of an issue about a particular dessert.
a_geek: Let me see…
masukomi: oh? this sounds interesting
masukomi: has hr become involved? has anyone been sent to “sensitivity training”?
a_geek: Here’s the original email, sent to [a C-level]

Hi [C-level],

This is from the menu of the [ place to eat ] on April 10:
Free Tibet Goji-Chocolate Crème Pie with a
Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Date Crust
Macadamia Crème, Raw Cacao Powder, Vanilla Bean, Agave, Coconut
Flakes, Goji Berries, Coconut Butter, Strawberry Infused Blue Agave
Syrup, Medjool Dates, Sea Salt

If there is no good answer and action from the Company, I will leave
[company name]. I know I am not important for [company name], but it’s the only thing
I can do to protest, and I don’t want to work at such a company.

–[Silly Man]

masukomi: …. the complaint is that he’s Chinese and it’s offensive that [company name] should be suggesting that Tibet be freed?
masukomi: I think [Silly Man] should leave anyway for his inability to write a coherent e-mail stating his issues.
masukomi: He didn’t ever actually say what he wanted an answer to
a_geek: That was one of the original points.
masukomi: You could read that and think an appropriate answer was to create a response desert.
Maybe an “oppress Tibet meringue pie”
a_geek: There’s been suggestions for “war of northern aggression chitlins” on MLK day.
masukomi: Hahahah! Excellent!
a_geek: As well as “Free Northern Ireland Dessert” which someone in London quickly corrected and said it should be called “Bloody Sundae”.
masukomi: hehe
masukomi: damn, I want in on this thread. It must be leaked!
a_geek: There’s been apologies, petitions to recant apologies, a suspension, a petition to retract the suspension, and a donation fund for the suspended.
masukomi: hahaha…. can I just tell you how much I love geeks?
a_geek: And now there’s suggestions for [company name] tshirts which say “F* Tibet” on the back so those pro/anti-tibet can both wear it.
masukomi: Hah
masukomi: that’s awesome. I wan’t that shirt.
a_geek: I would totally get one and wear it.
masukomi: just so that when they get all offended at whichever side they think I’m supporting I can respond by getting all offended that they could think such a thing.
a_geek: But email has basically imploded at this point. Clearly a number of people aren’t getting any work done.

And yes, I made the shirt. And yes, you can have one too.

Popularity: 7% [?]

How to create a Test Suite in Perl’s Test::Unit v0.25 April 9, 2008

If your Test Case is a package whose goal is to test all aspects of a particular class then a Test Suite is something which kicks off a collection of related Test Cases. As with most things in Test::Unit it’s really easy to do and also terribly documented. So, without further ado…

You need something to kick off all your tests:

-----------------------

use Test::Unit::HarnessUnit;
use My::Test::Suite::Package;

my $testrunner = Test::Unit::HarnessUnit->new();
$testrunner->start("My::Test::Suite::Package");

-----------------------

Next you need the test suite it’s going to kick off:

-----------------------

package My::Test::Suite::Package;
use base qw/Test::Unit::TestSuite/;

# returns an array of the fully qualified names of the TestCase
# based classes you wish to run.
sub include_tests() {
    return ('Some::Test::Case',
        'Some::Test::Case2',
        'Some::Test::Case3);
}

1;

-----------------------

That’s it. Happy testing.

Popularity: 6% [?]

So you want to ride a motorcycle… and not die April 5, 2008

Lets be totally clear here. The statistics say that your are roughly as likely to get in an accident while driving a motorcycle as you are while driving a car. The obvious difference being that a car has a safety cage, and a motorcycle has, well… nothing. So, if you have a brain, you’re going to want to take steps to compensate for that missing safety cage. There’s no guarantee any of this will keep you from dying but it’ll seriously increase your chances of survival.

DISCLAIMER: I’m just a chick who likes to ride. I’m not a racer. I’m not a manufacturer or a scientist. Everything here is purely my opinion based on the research I’ve done. I’m compiling it here in hopes that it’ll save you from having to do quite as much digging as I’ve had to do.

Before we get started I’d like to point you to WebBikeWorld.com It’s filled with tons of useful information and reviews and something you should definitely bookmark.

• Visibility
• Armor
• Garment Materials
• Helments
• Boots
• Gloves
• Tires
• Headlight Modulators
• Speakers / Earplugs
• Things you wouldn’t expect

Visibility

The majority of this article is devoted to things that will keep you safer in a crash. But, wouldn’t it be better to avoid the crash in the first place? In 2004 a study was published that compared rider conspicuity and crash related injuries.

After adjustment for potential confounders, drivers wearing any reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37% lower risk … than other drivers. Compared with wearing a black helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk… Self reported light coloured helmet versus dark coloured helmet was associated with a 19% lower risk.

I don’t know about other countries but in the U.S. riding motorcycles is so consistently associated with looking cool that riders not only prefer dark colors (primarily black) in their gear, they practically demand it of manufacturers. And yet, one of the most consistent pieces of advice you hear is to “assume you are invisible.” With just a little bit of searching you’ll find tons of posts in blogs and message boards of motorcyclists who have made unquestionable eye contact with the driver of a car only to have that driver continue to head straight for them as if they didn’t exist, or riders who have been clipped by mirrors of cars passing too close.

We need to take every measure possible to stand out. To not only be seen, but to snap people out of their no-think patterns. While I heartily agree that most of that black gear does look cool, you have to ask your self which looks cooler: high visibility gear, or skin grafts over 55% of your body. For me the choice is obvious. Get the high-viz gear, a light colored bike, add some retro-reflective stickers to your helmet (look for 3M Scotchlite stickers at any auto parts store), ignore the advice of squids, and ride like you’re invisible.

If you’re mumbling something to yourself about there being no way you’ll go out looking like a dork, don’t worry, there are manufacturer’s like Rev-It who make some light colored gear that looks damn good. But, you’re going to pay.

In addition to visibility there’s a good post at Motoblag about the other “layers of protection” that help keep you from ever getting into an accident.

Armor

Armor is, of course, critical. If the armor is worth buying it’s CE rated. There’s CE level 1, 2, and 3. Most things are Level one rated which is a hell of a lot better than nothing but you really want to shoot for two because it transmits one half as much energy to you upon impact. Level three is for racing and I have yet to encounter any consumer level stuff that’s rated level 3. As with most things Wikepedia has a nice article that covers the basics. Ratings refer to kilonewtons, and in case you don’t know, “A kiloNewton (kN) is a measure of force, rather than a measure of static weight or mass. Force is calculated by multiplying mass by acceleration. One kiloNewton equals approximately 100kg when the accelerating force of gravity is acting on it.”

“Armor can be placed into one of three categories with level 1 armor being the least protective and level 3 being the most protective. Level 1 armor is rated at 50 joules, level 2 at 75 joules, and level 3 at 100 joules. In order to achieve a rating armor must be able to absorb that amount of energy in an impact and transmit less than 35 kN of force. “

Padding is not armor. There are a lot of motorcycle jackets out there with a little foam padding down over your spine. This is totally useless. It doesn’t hurt to have, but it doesn’t help either.

The next question is “what to armor?” The answer is, absolutely everything you can.

Jackets will typically have shoulder, elbow, and fore-arm armor. Which leaves your spine and chest unprotected… pfft, who needs a spine or internal organs! So, you’re going to need to compensate. There are some companies that make form fitting, comfortable spine and chest protectors that won’t leave you looking like a football player. Knox is the brand you’ll see pretty much everywhere. Here’s a video showing some Knox back and chest armor.

Pants will typically have knee and shin protection but no hip. The only separate hip armor I’ve seen has been, essentially, armor shoved into pockets on bicycle shorts (Knox makes this too), and while I can envision putting on such a garment when suiting up for a motorcycle race, it’s unrealistic to expect anyone to don such a thing for their daily commute to work, or regular weekend rides.

Garment Materials

Here it’s pretty simple. You have two best choices are Cordura/Dynatech, Kevlar, and SuperFabric. Cordura (like all cloth) comes in various Deniers which has a variety of related definitions which essentially mean how dense the fabric is. The higher the number the better. I’ve seen garments with denier’s of 2000. Denim Jeans and 70 denier nylon require 4.5 pounds of force to tear. That’s it. That’s nothing. 620 denier takes 35 pounds which still doesn’t sound like a lot to me when you crash at highway speed. 1000 denier is 110 pounds which is getting better and is about the same as really good, new leather, but it’s still not much when you compare it to good kevlar which requires over 1,200 pounds to tear and SuperFabric which claims to have 14 times the abrasion resistance of kevlar (not sure about the tear resistance). There aren’t many manufacturers that offer Kevlar, and right now RevIt is the only company I’ve heard of that’s using SuperFabric (which has microscopic pieces of ceramic embedded in it).

What’s important about this is that the harder it is for your suit to tear the less likely the road (or whatever else you’re rolling over) will have a chance to scrape away flesh.

But, there’s a subtle issue that doesn’t get nearly enough talk-time. Melting. The friction of your weight being shoved across asphalt at 60+ mph is severe and quickly converts into a lot of heat. What’s worse than road rash? Road rash with plastic melted into it. So, do your research and avoid suits that are made from polyester. On a related note I’ve read anecdotal evidence that if you’ve got something like good Kevlar that won’t melt the heat will still be there and possibly melt any polyester clothing you’re wearing under it.

Leather is, always a popular choice, and has really good abrasion resistance (not Kevlar good but..), and obviously won’t melt, but not all leathers are created equal. Some leather is supple and soft and feels oh so comfy, and as a result does a crappy job of protecting you. Also, leather alone only provides abrasion resistance. It won’t keep you from breaking bones.

Racing leather is good (or they wouldn’t race in it) but the more you use it and break it it becomes softer and more flexible which decreases its ability to protect you. But who wants to put on a skin tight leather one-piece to go to the store? No-one I can think of. There is some good gear out there made from leather, that can be easily thrown on over normal pants, and has good armor. Don’t forget the fact that leather is just plain hot in the summer. Also, leather absorbs water, which makes it heavier, and more uncomfortable. No, opening your jacket is not a viable solution to the heat problem. This exposes your chest and means that the coat could get pulled down your arm/back, which would, in turn, move the armor away from your elbow and forearm and spine (if it had spine protection to begin with).

Chaps will help with abrasion on your legs but personally, if I had to choose between having my butt scraped off or my legs I’d choose my legs. I appreciate the ability to sit down.
Denim… if it wasn’t obvious from the numbers above denim, anywhere on you body, is brain-dead stupid and offers you no real protection whatsoever. You may as well be naked. Yes some manufacturers make denim jackets with good armor, but what’s the point if the material holding the armor is so easy to tear that the armor could be ripped out of it in an instant? While this may be unlikely (I doubt anyone’s tested it), I’m not willing to risk it.

Regardless of what material you choose it’s important that you get something that has lots of good venting so that you won’t be tempted to leave it at home on those hot days. Color also plays a factor here. Dark colors are not only harder to see but also absorb heat more and make you hotter. If you live in a colder part of the world you may want to consider getting separate winter and summer gear.

Helmets

When it comes to helmets there are three certifications: DOT (required to use in the US), Snell (independent standards body), and the ECE 22-05. There’s a great deal of controversy over the validity of Snell certification for motorcycle. Motorcyclist Online does a good job of explaining the problem with a series of recent tests they did.

The end result is that if you’re concerned about the number of Gs that will be passed on to your brain during a crash you anything DOT approved is decent, anything ECE 22-05 is better. Making helmets that meet the unrealistic Snell tests results in harder helmets that tend to pass on more Gs to you, BUT they still pass DOT so they’re still decent. In the end, when all the helmets are whacked with hard things, the cost of a helmet has no bearing on how safe it’ll keep you.

The price difference between helmets pretty much determines which bells and whistles you get. Like lighter materials, fancy paint jobs, LED lights on the back, easy to remove washable clean liners, or visors designed to not fog in the dead of winter.

It should be obvious, but if safety is your concern your only choice is a full face helmet with chin guard. The two non-obvious things that I may have conceptually grasped when I was a new rider but never truly appreciated then was just how much of a pain in the ass the sun and fogged visors can be.

Sun:
You can’t flip down a shade to keep the direct sun out of your eyes like you can in a car. With most helmets you’re stuck with whatever vizor you happen to have on at the moment the sun appears. If your helmet is form fitting (as it should be) you may find that (sun)glasses don’t work as well as you’d wish because they get moved up or down a little by the padding. My recommendation is to invest in a tinted visor. But, if you ride at night too you’re going to want a helmet that lets you switch it for a clear one really easily. This is where something like Scorpion’s SpeedShift comes in handy. It makes it very easy to pop off the current visor and replace it. Scorpion and HJC (and others?) make helmets with retractable inner sun-visors, which is extremely cool. I’d love to get my hands on one of those for this summer. If you know of another manufacturer with a similar feature, please let me know.

Fogged visors:
It’s not as much of an issue in the summer but if you find yourself riding in cool weather this is a massive pain in the ass. With my old helmet I’d have to lift the visor at every stop-light or it would totally fog over and then put it down again when I started moving lest I freeze. Scorpion is also well known for helmets that don’t fog easily. It’s partly the coating on their visors, and partly the way they direct air over, or away from, them. They also make a snow helmet with a two paned visor with built in electric heating element.

Rear view mirrors:
Side mirrors are notorious, on street bikes for giving you a great view of your elbows. What you really want, is a rear-view mirror. Currently only Reevu makes a helmet with a built in rear-view mirror. It’s very cool, but it’s also pricey and hard to get in the U.S..

WebBikeWorld has a good motorcycle FAQ that you should definitely read.

Boots

Motorcycle boots are a lot like ski boots. You want to keep your ankle from twisting, prevent the heel or ankle bones from damage upon impact, and have a material that will survive being dragged across the road. The things you want that a ski-boot doesn’t offer are the ability to more-easily bend your ankle vertically (for shifting), nice grippy bottoms, the ability to walk like a human. Some boots will also provide you with good shin protection, because the armor in your pants probably doesn’t extend down terribly far below the knees. Everything else is style, and there are a lot of styles to choose from. Many have armor in the right places but most of the time it isn’t CE rated so you’ll just have to use your best judgement. When choosing a boot don’t forget about waterproofing.

Don’t forget your laces! Racing boots don’t have laces. There’s a really good reason for this. Your laces can get caught on a peg, or go flapping around in the wind, get caught in the chain, make you crash, and tie your foot to the falling bike so you can’t get off. Oxtar makes a bunch of shoes you could walk around town in but have built in protection AND something to cover the laces, but unless it goes up your leg a bit it won’t help prevent twisted ankles well. If your boots have laces, always tuck them under.

Gloves

The main thing to consider about gloves is the temperature you’re going to use them in. You’ll probably want a summer and winter pair because, speaking from experience, riding in the cold, with the wrong gloves, is a painful experience, and it slows down your hand’s reaction times. I’ve never seen gloves with CE rated armor, as it’s probably nigh-impossible to create ones that anyone would wear. Some have hard carbon fiber and / or Kevlar protection on the knuckles and back of the hand, but I haven’t seen any winter gloves like this. You’re going to want to keep your eyes open for gloves that protect your wrist (Gauntlets) and offer some protection for the end of your ulna (the outside bone in your forearm).

As a programmer I would be screwed without the use of my hands, so I always wear full leather gloves with some sort of extra padding or armor across the back and fingers (mine have Kevlar too) to keep them as safe as I can. Waterproofing is even more important in gloves than it is in boots because they’re right out there in the front getting pounded with water, but it’s pretty hard to get right, and if a glove is waterproof it means it’s not going to breathe well, so you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t. My advice is to invest in some waterproofing spray, and maybe consider different gloves for rain vs dry if your hands tend to get sweaty. Boots at least get a little rain protection from the angle you hold them at (or from the front of a scooter).

Tires

Tires make a huge difference. Just like a car there are different tires for different conditions. What’s more notable is how little tire a motorcycle has touching the road. The less you have touching the ground the more critical it is that those few inches of rubber are in top condition. Most car drivers can’t really tell the difference between various tires, except maybe when the roads are wet. Not so with motorcycles. Check out this review of the Continental Road Attacks from an experienced rider to get an idea of just how dramatic the change can be with a different tire. When choosing a tire be sure to get one that’s appropriate for how you ride. Some tires are much better suited for wet weather(you can’t tell just by looking at the treads) but some riders never ride in the rain. Some are better if you go off road, but don’t offer a huge benefit to riders who stay on the asphalt. Seek advice and read up before you buy.

One thing that’s frequently overlooked is tire pressure. Tire pressure affects how well you stick and how long your tire lasts. Under-inflated tires can lead to cracks in the grooves that simply can’t be repaired. Motorcycle Cruiser has a good post about what makes a motorcycle tire and 10 tire tips.

Headlight Modulators

I don’t have any personal experience with headlight modulators but there are many people who swear by them and are convinced they’ve saved their lives. If you’re not familiar with them they’re devices that “rapidly [vary] the intensity of a motorcycle headlight from between 20% and 100% of normal steady-burning power.” They also have them for brake lights, blinkers, etc. There is no question that this grabs the attention of humans.

While some (all?) states do have laws prohibiting non-emergency vehicles from having flashing lights FMVSS 108 (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) (49 CFR Part 571.108 S7.9.4) allows motorcycle headlight modulation systems in all 50 states so long as they conform to the standard. Title 49 USC 30103(b1) (US Codes) prohibits any state from forbidding a system that conforms to FMVSS 108. I don’t know how this plays out in other countries.

Speakers / Earplugs

In some states it’s illegal to use a helmet with speakers (or headphones under a helmet). In MA it’s illegal to even posses a helmet with speakers. Talking on the phone give you worse reaction times than being drunk (no joke). Music is going to make it harder to notice the sounds of bad things happening.

However, there’s definitely something to be said for having a GPS speak directions to you over a Bluetooth headset, especially when you’re going through a series of close turns. I’d much rather pay attention to the road and hear the directions than have to navigate unfamiliar intersections and look down at a moving map.

Earplugs are interesting. When most people think about earplugs they have little to no real experience with them and think that they just make it harder to hear things. But that’s not really the case. Most disposable earplugs primarily cut out excessive high frequencies. Yes, they’re going to reduce your ability to hear quiet things too, but you probably wouldn’t hear that over your exhaust system anyway. You definitely wouldn’t hear it over your exhaust system with music playing loud enough be heard over your that. They’ll also help prevent permanent damage from long term exposure to loud noises (your muffler). If you’ve ever gotten off your bike and realized you couldn’t hear your friends as well as you could when you got on then you’ve actually incurred hearing damage. Generally this isn’t permanent but enough repeated exposures and it will be.

“Hearing damage can be cumulative and permanent, especially at levels above 85dB, a level at which most motorcycle riding takes place.” - WebBikeWorld

WebBikeWorld has a good page on earplugs and hearing protection.

If you don’t believe me about being able to hear well with earplugs try this: Next time you go to watch a band play live, stop off at your local drug store and pick up some cheap foam earplugs. Try listening to the concert with and without them. You’ll never go to a concert without them again. Everything sounds clearer and better.

Things you wouldn’t expect

Water:
When you’re on long summer rides staying hydrated is, without question, and indispensable safety measure. Getting heat stroke on a bike is deadly. When you’re not hydrated enough your body can’t sweat and rapidly begins to overheat. Your body can produce half a gallon of sweat an hour. If you’re not consuming as much as you’re sweating you will overheat. If you think you’ll be sweating at all, get a CamelBak, or pull over for regular drink breaks.

Tire Guage:
I covered tires briefly above, and I highly recommend you read the article I linked to. But, the short short version is to always have a tire gauge and use it before every ride. Know what pressure your tires should be at for wet and dry conditions. Have your own electric pump at home (they’re only like $25) and know which gas stations in your home area have pumps you can use.

Thermal Regulation:
The hot: Most people just think about staying cool. And that’s definitely important. As I mentioned above it’s important to have gear that isn’t so hot you’ll be tempted to leave it at home. Go for light colors with lots of good ventilation. Make sure your garments have removable liners and wicking material against your skin.

The cold: You’d think that just adding layers would help, and it does, to some degree, but the wind is a killer. It can be surprisingly painful when it finds holes in your coverings. The problem is that as your body temperature drops so do your reaction times. Hands are one part of your body you want to keep nice and toasty because delayed reaction times when grabbing that break lever is not something you want. Get some winter gloves. And if you’re going to be doing any riding in sub 50 deg. (Fahrenheit) weather you should seriously consider getting some heated grips. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful heated grips are.

Overall, if you’re going to ride in cooler weather you need gear that is specifically designed to keep your warm and cover you without any holes. You’ll want winter gloves. Many helmet manufacturers offer some sort of plastic chin insert that you can use to keep the air from pouring in and freezing your chin. They also cut down on the road noise. Waterproofing is also important because while highway wind-chill can be incredibly uncomfortable without the right gear you really don’t want to discover what it feels like when you add being wet to the mix. Be sure to look for reviews online before buying. Some gear isn’t all it’s marketed to be.

Conclusion

Looking cool is not a good enough reason to not wear armor, especially not when there’s some excellent protection out there that looks good too, but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Stay safe, and either spend what it takes to do so or don’t ride. Your life and livelyhood are not worth one more ride.

Related: I’ve put together a basic overview of what you can expect to pay (at the low end) for the main items here in The Financial Cost of Motorcycle Safety.

—-

If you spot any errors in this post, or things you think could be improved, please let me know so that I can correct them. I’ve already added and tweaked a few things based on your comments, and the safer we can help keep our fellow riders the better.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Kate’s incredibly simple Catfish recipe March 30, 2008

I’m a big fan of dishes that are easy and fast. One night I was at the store, saw some catfish and decided to buy mysef a fillet. When I got it home I had to find some way to make it interesting with my limited spices. The result has a flavor that very much resembles the physical texture you want to shoot for: lightly seared on the outside that, once breached, reveals a nice soft middle. This will take less than 10 minutes to prepare and cook.

Near East makes a sun-dried tomato and rice box that, like everything of theirs, is trivial to make and goes well with this*. We had it with a nice red wine this time but, in retrospect, the flavor is a bit too powerful for wine. Knudsen’s spritzers worked well but I think that the perfect drink for this would be mango juice, although you might want to swap the sun-dried tomato rice with a simpler rice-pilaf if you went that way. If you live near an Indian restaurant you may want to snag some Mango Lassis because this’ll be a little hot. But, neither Miller, nor I, are fans of hot foods and we both like this dish.

Ingredients:

• catfish filet
• crushed red pepper (preferably freshly ground)
• black pepper (also freshly ground)
• oregano
• olive oil

You’ll want 1/2 - 3/4 of a fillet per person. Your pan should be medium high: hot enough to sear the outside  of the fish but but not so hot that it won’t have time to cook all the way through.

Coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer of olive oil, and when it’s hot throw it the whole fillets. Quickly grind on a healthy amount of black pepper (imagine you’re having sunny side up eggs and you reallllly like black pepper). Grind on the red pepper. Grind on more red pepper. Hmm, no I don’t think you understand. You see how much black pepper you put on? Yeah, you want about 125-150% of that amount. Throw on the oregano and quickly flip the filet. Don’t try and do it slow and gentle. Catfish gets really flaky as it cooks and once it starts to break apart it’ll just disintegrate. So, get your spatula under there, and lift and flip in one quick motion (but don’t slap it down, and watch out for hot oil spatter).

Coat the seconds side just like you did the first.  Cover and let sit for a few minutes. Once the bottom has started to sear flip it, leave the cover off for a minute to let the moisture escape that had built up before, make sure it’s still got enough olive oil left, then cover for a few more minutes. Take the cover off and after a minute or so, turn off the heat. You want to be careful at this point because the fish will flake really easily.

What to expect: This will have a strong initial hit that will clear out your sinuses followed up with the gentle flavor of the fish. I think the peppers actually make the catfish flavor a seem lot milder than i remember from my childhood. The searing is really critical to pulling this dish off. If after that first spice side is flipped back it doesn’t have a nice red-gold sear going on turn it right back over. It’s a lot harder to redo it after the other side is done because it’ll fall apart easily.

Notes: Miller suggests dill instead of the oregano. I say experiment with almost any dried green leafy bits you have laying around. I’m going to try dried parsley next time. The oregano isn’t quite flavorful enough. I recommend starting to grind after it’s already in the pan so that the spices that miss the fish fall into the oil and thus get cooked into it as you go. I don’t cook this with lemon juice, or personally think that it adds much to the flavor when added afterwards but it doesn’t taste bad at all and pouring some on after does tend to calm down the heat if it’s a bit much for you.

*I have no idea how long the rice takes to cook. I just stuck it in my kick-ass rice-cooker and told it when I wanted it to finish. I can’t tell you how how awesome this rice-cooker is. Yes, I realize it’s “just a rice cooker” but it is really well made, wonderfully designed, and does a kick-ass job of making sure different rices, and rice and veggie combinations come out right, and compensating for when I put in too much water (easy to do when you’ve got moist veggies in there too).

Popularity: 8% [?]