The entire Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard has disappeared.
Thieves in France have broken into a vineyard and stolen an entire crop of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, say police.
They struck in Villeneuve-les-Beziers on Sunday night, taking advantage of a full moon and using a harvesting machine to seize 30 tonnes of the crop.
I see. No one noticed a harvesting machine working through 30 tons under the full moon.
New laws have been passed to prohibit the sale of synthetic marijuana. They are not working
Barely six months after Kansas adopted the nation’s first ban on K2, even police acknowledge that the laws are all but meaningless because merchants can so easily offer legal alternatives.
Simple changes to the ingredient gets around the letter of the law. Law enforcement is unable to keep up with this technical change, but the letter is also quickly out of date.
[Clemson University chemistry professor John Huffman, who developed the compounds in 1995,] doubts that law enforcement agencies will be able to devote the necessary resources to identify such complex creations as “1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole,” the substance’s scientific name. The compound sold as K2 is also known by the scientific shorthand of JWH-018, a nod to its creator’s initials.
“The guy in the average crime lab isn’t really capable of doing the kind of sophisticated tests necessary” to identify the substance, he said.
It is a good study of the marriage between security filters and compliance language.
The law tries to be so specific that it names a particular chemical makeup. Attempts to ban thus stimulate innovation and new chemical compounds. The more effective approach is to educate the market about harm. A problem with that, of course, is that the harm has been hard to quantify or even describe. All I saw was increased heart-rate, and that is hardly cause for alarm. Another approach could be to write a requirement more broadly. A problem with that is it may infringe upon other legal, let alone beneficial, behavior.
Speaking of filters, when it is hard to prove harm and hard to write a narrow definition the legal system perhaps should be able to avoid passing an ineffective law.
The BBC tells of potential harm from Restaurant dishcloths ‘full of bacteria’
Dishcloths used in restaurants and takeaways harbour unsavoury and possibly dangerous bacteria, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said.
The HPA visited 120 kitchens in north-east England.
The researchers found 56% of cloths tested were unacceptable, carrying faecal bacteria or in some cases dangerous bugs such as Listeria.
An environmental health expert said it was “pure luck” that spared more customers from illness.
There must be a better explanation.
The story also has an interesting point relative to information security compliance: hygiene risk is said to be highest from simple procedures.
Jenny Morris, the principal policy officer at the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health, said that many restaurants and takeaways were good at following “more complicated” requirements for good hygiene, but fell down on simple things such as dishcloths.
I have never been a fan of the bagel. Ever since my grandfather told me the joke about the Brooklyn bakeries of the old days…one hot summer day a man goes in to place an order. He sees a guy in the back of the bakery, shirtless and covered with sweat, slapping dough balls against his chest before he sprinkles on onion and bread crumbs and then tosses them into a 700F degree oven. The customer says to the man at the register “That’s disgusting! So that is how you make the shape of a bialy?” The man at the register says “Yeah, that’s nothing. You should see how he makes the bagels!”
Seriously though, even the best Brooklyn bagel never left me as satisfied as the Bialy. The more I have read about the history of the Bialys, and their origins in Bialystok, Poland, the more convinced they are a great start to the day. They are unlike the bagel in that they are not boiled, they have no sugar and they use high protein flour.
The amount of protein in a flour influences the gluten produced, as explained by the Oregonian. High protein means better structural support as the bread rises, which allows the bialy to be light and airy on the inside while crispy on the outside.
Bialys also differ from bagels because they tend not to come in a million flavors. However I suspect the crazy flavor phenomenon of bagels was a late byproduct of their wide popularity. Blueberry bagels? Come on, that never ever would have happened in Brooklyn. Sesame yes, chocolate chip, no.
Here is the best recipe I have found so far for the Bialy; as soon as I find a brick oven that can go to 700F I will be taking my shirt off and making these.
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------- --------------------------------
6 cups high protein flour
3 cups very cold water
2 tbsp non-iodized kosher coarse or sea salt
1/2 oz fresh bakers yeast -- I used dry instant
Topping
1 med sweet white onion. -- 1 c when finely chop
2 tbsp coarse bread crumbs (from bialys)
3 tbsp poppy seeds & a little garlic salt
Another Topping
1 Tbsp oil
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1/3 C onion & a little garlic powder or garlic salt -- minced
1/2 Tsp salt -- kosher
Prepare toppings 3-5 hours before needed. Peel and chop onion very
fine. Mix 1 tbsp crumbs into onions and set aside, loosely covered.
Reserve extra crumbs. After about 3 hours make sure mix has
thickened to texture of loose wet sand. Can add more crumbs -
waiting 10 minutes between each addition.
Mash yeast into 1/2 cup cold water. When dissolved, stir into
remaining cold water. Add 5 c high protein flour and salt into
bowl. Mix and slowly add flour only if mix is too sticky, or more
water if needed. Gather dough and place in large, unoiled glass or
ceramic bowl. (Do not knead yet) Cover loosely with towel and set in
warm, draft free corner. Let rise for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, or until
double, or until an indentation made with finger springs back into place.
Knead 10-20 minutes. Shape into ball and place back into bowl,
covering loosely with towel. Let rise in warm, draft free corner for
1 1/2 hours until depression made with finger springs back into place.
Punch down dough, divide into 4 postions, roll each between palms
into ropes that are about 2 inches in diameter. From each rope,
pinch off 3-4 pieces. Roll each gently into ball between lightly
floured hands. Cover shaped rolls to prevent them from dying out as
you work with remainder. When all are formed, cover with kitchen
towel and let them rest 45 minutes.
Slide baking stone onto shelves in lower third of oven and preheat 450.
To form center indentations, work with well floured hands and left
each round of dough slightly off work surface and slip index and
midddle fingers of both hands underneath, with both thumbs working on
top. Press and lightly stretch center bottom dough, forming a well,
not a hole, and leave aboaut 1 1/2" rim of unpressed dough.
When all are formed, add onion topping. If you are going to use
poppy seeds, brush top of bialys with tiny bit of water so seeds will
stick. Smear about a scant teaspoonful of mix over each bialy with
fingers, being sure to get thin coating in well and around its top
edge, spreading the well slightly again. Then sprinkle 1/2 tsp
poppyseeds over each bialy..
Put on stone, leaving 1 inch between. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until
bialys are golden brown