.Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Cooking food on slabs of salt
Pink Himalayan salt mined in Pakistan has caught the fancy of chefs, who have been using grains of it for seasoning, hunks of it for decorative accents and slabs of it for serving. Many food shops sell it in fine and coarse crystals.Now, quartz-like slabs of it that can be used for cooking at home are being sold.
The thick 8-by-11-inch piece of solid salt can be placed directly on a stove burner and heated gradually; it will not melt. Lightly brushed with butter or oil, it will fry eggs that come away with quite enough salt. The same goes for jumbo shrimp, fish steaks or fillets, thin slices of beef and Portobelo mushroom caps. The slab can go in the oven or on a grill and can also be chilled or even frozen to use for serving sushi or other seafood. It will retain the cold for an hour or more.
Scrub it with a stiff brush or plastic scouring pad after use and rinse it quickly. It must be thoroughly dried overnight before heating again; water will degrade the surface.
The slabs are $40 at Sur La Table stores and surlatable.com. Slabs in a variety of sizes are also sold at saltworks.us.
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Little Hummingbird Stings Like a Bee
In 1914, Austrian watchmaker Georg Grabner created the Kolibri, the "Hummingbird" pistol. The smallest autoloading pistol ever made, it fires a .11 caliber bullet. He marketed it as a self-defense firearm for women to carry in their purses.That is a 5 round magazine next to a 3mm cartridge. That translates to a .11 caliber bullet.
The tiny 3 grain bullet has a muzzle velocity of about 650 feet per second. That means that the gun has about 1/2 the power that my air pistol produces. The projectile is so small that it would certainly penetrate if you shot someone's bare skin, but it also means that I really can't conceive of it doing anything but pissing an attacker off. Unless you managed to shoot his eye out, of course.
PICTURES and More
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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed
Woman Bites Off Her Boss Penis
A secretary bit off the penis of her employer while giving him oral sex in a car.
It was reported yesterday that while the 30-year-old woman was performing oral sex on the man, the car was hit by a reversing van.
The impact of the crash, caused the woman to bite off her lover’s organ.
The daily reported that the incident occurred in a Singapore park where the couple met after work.
To make matters worse for the woman, her husband had sent a private investigator to spy on her after suspecting that she was being unfaithful.
The investigator said he had followed the woman and her boss to the park.
"On reaching the park, they did not alight from the car. Not long after, the car started to shake violently.
After the car was hit by the van, there was a loud scream from the woman whose mouth was covered with blood," he said.
The woman later followed her lover to the hospital with part of the sexual organ.
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Court grants teen breast removal
An Australian teenager, who was born female but lives as a male, has been given permission by a court to have both breasts surgically removed.
The 17-year-old, known as Alex in court and referred to as a boy, has a psychological condition that makes him unhappy with his gender.
The Family Court in Melbourne said the removal of both breasts would help Alex to build a new life as a boy.
The decision has angered Catholic groups, who view it as irresponsible.
Alex has "gender identity dysphoria", a psychological condition where a person believes they are the opposite sex, the Age newspaper reported.
Alex has been on hormone treatment since he was 13 to prevent menstruation, it said.
He applied to the court for a double mastectomy before he turned 18 - the age at which he would not need the court's consent and which he would no longer receive social support services as a minor. Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant said Alex, who lives life as a male, was socially constrained by the breasts, avoided being hugged and wore binding at the beach.
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Austrian gets world record for 707,335 coffins
An Austrian carpenter has found a macabre way of getting into the Guinness Book of Records: Over a 30-year career, he's built 707,335 coffins.
Officials in Austria's Salzburg province say Herbert Weber has been honored for constructing more caskets than any other known carpenter.
Weber says he started making coffins in May 1978 at Moser Holzindustrie, a woodworking company in Bischofshofen.
Officials said Tuesday they plan to present the 50-year-old carpenter with a certificate from London-based Guinness World Records Ltd.
They've chosen a fitting backdrop: Weber will be feted at the International Funeral Home and Cemetery Trade Fair, which opens Saturday in Salzburg.
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Grandma Arrested for Child Porn
Wal-Mart worker in Pennsylvania reported 59-year-old Donna Dull to local authorities after Dull dropped off some film that included shots of her three-year-old granddaughter in and just out of the bath. Dull was arrested—roughly, she says—and charged with producing and distributing child pornography. The charges were dropped 15 months later when a Pennsylvania special prosecutor overruled the local DA. Only Dull, her attorney, and police and prosecutors have apparently seen the photos, which are now under seal. She's now suing.
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A secretary bit off the penis of her employer while giving him oral sex in a car.
It was reported yesterday that while the 30-year-old woman was performing oral sex on the man, the car was hit by a reversing van.
The impact of the crash, caused the woman to bite off her lover’s organ.
The daily reported that the incident occurred in a Singapore park where the couple met after work.
To make matters worse for the woman, her husband had sent a private investigator to spy on her after suspecting that she was being unfaithful.
The investigator said he had followed the woman and her boss to the park.
"On reaching the park, they did not alight from the car. Not long after, the car started to shake violently.
After the car was hit by the van, there was a loud scream from the woman whose mouth was covered with blood," he said.
The woman later followed her lover to the hospital with part of the sexual organ.
.
Court grants teen breast removal
An Australian teenager, who was born female but lives as a male, has been given permission by a court to have both breasts surgically removed.
The 17-year-old, known as Alex in court and referred to as a boy, has a psychological condition that makes him unhappy with his gender.
The Family Court in Melbourne said the removal of both breasts would help Alex to build a new life as a boy.
The decision has angered Catholic groups, who view it as irresponsible.
Alex has "gender identity dysphoria", a psychological condition where a person believes they are the opposite sex, the Age newspaper reported.
Alex has been on hormone treatment since he was 13 to prevent menstruation, it said.
He applied to the court for a double mastectomy before he turned 18 - the age at which he would not need the court's consent and which he would no longer receive social support services as a minor. Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant said Alex, who lives life as a male, was socially constrained by the breasts, avoided being hugged and wore binding at the beach.
.
Austrian gets world record for 707,335 coffins
An Austrian carpenter has found a macabre way of getting into the Guinness Book of Records: Over a 30-year career, he's built 707,335 coffins.
Officials in Austria's Salzburg province say Herbert Weber has been honored for constructing more caskets than any other known carpenter.
Weber says he started making coffins in May 1978 at Moser Holzindustrie, a woodworking company in Bischofshofen.
Officials said Tuesday they plan to present the 50-year-old carpenter with a certificate from London-based Guinness World Records Ltd.
They've chosen a fitting backdrop: Weber will be feted at the International Funeral Home and Cemetery Trade Fair, which opens Saturday in Salzburg.
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Grandma Arrested for Child Porn
Wal-Mart worker in Pennsylvania reported 59-year-old Donna Dull to local authorities after Dull dropped off some film that included shots of her three-year-old granddaughter in and just out of the bath. Dull was arrested—roughly, she says—and charged with producing and distributing child pornography. The charges were dropped 15 months later when a Pennsylvania special prosecutor overruled the local DA. Only Dull, her attorney, and police and prosecutors have apparently seen the photos, which are now under seal. She's now suing.
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Woman vows to lose weight after getting stuck in bath
Firefighters were called out to free a 22-stone (308 lb) woman who was stuck in her bath for five hours.Rosemarie Batey, 49, promised to lose weight after the embarrassing incident at her home near Tantobie, County Durham, which ended with her needing hospital treatment for cuts.
The grandmother of three was taking a midnight shower when the bath tub cracked open, causing her to slip and get wedged.
Her 23-year-old son Stuart was asleep in bed and did not hear her cries for help until the morning, when he called for emergency help.
A fire engine was sent from Consett fire station and firefighters used a six-inch electronic saw to cut away the bath tub and all the time the woman only had a shower curtain to spare her blushes.
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Smuggler had songbirds fastened to legs
No airport should be without their bomb sniffing dogs and bird hunting cats.A man was charged Tuesday with smuggling songbirds into the United States by hiding more than a dozen of them in an elaborate, custom-tailored pair of leggings during a flight from Vietnam to Los Angeles.
Sony Dong, 46, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March after an inspector spotted bird feathers and droppings on his socks and tail feathers peeking out from under his pants.
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Face Transplant Recipient: 'I'm Not a Monster'
When Connie Culp heard a little kid call her a monster because of the shotgun blast that left her face horribly disfigured, she pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like. Years later, sporting the nation's first surgically attached face, she's stepped forward to show the rest of the world what she looks like now.Her expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understood. Her face is bloated and squarish. Her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles.
But Culp had nothing but praise for those who made her new face possible.
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Mobile toilet seat wins award for wacky warning
A toilet seat that can be attached to a trailer hitch has gained national recognition - for a warning label that says you'd better not use it while the vehicle is moving.
Organizers of the "Wacky Warning Labels" contest say "The Original Off-Road Commode" is this year's winner. The contest, now in its 12th year, is intended to highlight claims that frivolous lawsuits have distorted the U.S. civil justice system.
Steve Shiflett of Georgia won $500 for submitting the toilet seat's warning that it's "not for use on moving vehicles."
Hunters are a chief target audience for the toilet seat, which is sold by Wylie, Texas-based Convenient Sports International.
The company is "very pleased" with the recognition, said Mike Willis, president of national sales.
The seat is not designed to lock onto a trailer hitch.
Company officials added the warning about two years ago after learning that at least one consumer had modified their product and was driving around with it on the back of his vehicle.
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Organizers of the "Wacky Warning Labels" contest say "The Original Off-Road Commode" is this year's winner. The contest, now in its 12th year, is intended to highlight claims that frivolous lawsuits have distorted the U.S. civil justice system.
Steve Shiflett of Georgia won $500 for submitting the toilet seat's warning that it's "not for use on moving vehicles."
Hunters are a chief target audience for the toilet seat, which is sold by Wylie, Texas-based Convenient Sports International.
The company is "very pleased" with the recognition, said Mike Willis, president of national sales.
The seat is not designed to lock onto a trailer hitch.
Company officials added the warning about two years ago after learning that at least one consumer had modified their product and was driving around with it on the back of his vehicle.
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Off-road Commode on Fox News
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Off-road Commode Web Site
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DO YOU SEE IT?
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