junkyman
Legit Super Moderator
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 13, 2011
LEAD STORY
"You eat meat, so why not blood?" asked The Globe and Mail, which sampled several Toronto restaurants' sanguinary haute cuisines, including the Italian eatery Buca's spaghetti with blood-blackened noodles and torta di sanguinaccio (figs, almonds, buffalo-milk creme, on a base custard of dark chocolate and slow-cooked pig's blood). Patrons "thought we were crazy," said chef Rob Gentile, but now "can't seem to get enough." The Black Hoof restaurant uses 10 liters of fresh blood a week for dishes like its own blood custard, seasoned with rosemary and pickled pears. Montreal's DNA kitchen sometimes highlights blood soup and blood pasta. (The Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark -- which some believe to be the best restaurant in the world -- marinates cauliflower in pig's blood.) [The Globe and Mail, 10-18-2011]
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The Continuing Crisis
"I don't get it. I just don't get it. And you're not going to get me to get it," warned Marine squadron commander Lt. Col. Jerry Turner (to a Wall Street Journal Afghanistan reporter writing in October), when learning that a few of his troops were sporting artistically shaped eyebrows sculpted by a barber in the town of Shinwar. "Stylist" Gulam Farooq can't practice on Muslims (forbidden) but said "one or two" Marines come by every day (in between calling in artillery barrages) for tapering. [Wall Street Journal, 10-13-2011]
The Military Times news service, reporting from Afghanistan in August, disclosed a U.S. Marines command directive ordering troops to restrain their audible flatus because, apparently, Afghan soldiers and civilians complained of being offended. The reporter doubted the directive could be effective, in that passing gas by front-line troops is "practically a sport." [Military Times, 8-23-2011]
A vendor at a street market in Leipzig, Germany, was revealed in September to be shamelessly selling personally tailored coats and vests made with fur from house cats. A first report, in the sensationalist tabloid Bild, was doubted, but a follow-up by Germany's premier news source, Spiegel, confirmed the story. The vendor said he needed eight cats to make a vest (priced at the equivalent of $685) and 18 for a coat. However, such sales are illegal under German and European Union laws, and the vendor subsequently denied that he sold such things. [Spiegel Online, 10-5-2011]
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Family Values
Too Soon? An 11-year-old California boy and a 7-year-old Georgia girl have recently decided -- with parental support -- to come out as the other gender. The boy, Tommy, wants more time to think about it, said his lesbian parents, and has begun taking hormone blockers to make his transition easier should he follow through with plans (first disclosed at age 3) to become "Tammy." The McIntosh County, Ga., girl has been living as a boy for a year, said father Tommy Theollyn, a transgendered man who is actually the one who gave birth. Theollyn petitioned the school board in September (unsuccessfully) to allow the child to use the boys' bathroom. Theollyn said the girl first noticed she was a boy at age 18 months. [CNN, 9-27-2011] [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9-14-2011]
Recurring Theme: Italian men are notorious "bamboccionis" ("big babies") who exploit doting mothers by remaining in their family homes well into adulthood, sometimes into their 30s or later, expecting meals and laundry service. Many mothers are tolerant, but in September an elderly couple in the town of Mestre announced (through a consumer association) that if their 41-year-old, gainfully employed son did not meet a deadline for leaving, the association would file a lawsuit to evict him. (A news update has not been found, perhaps indicating that the son moved out.) [Daily Telegraph (London), 9-21-2011]
LEAD STORY
"You eat meat, so why not blood?" asked The Globe and Mail, which sampled several Toronto restaurants' sanguinary haute cuisines, including the Italian eatery Buca's spaghetti with blood-blackened noodles and torta di sanguinaccio (figs, almonds, buffalo-milk creme, on a base custard of dark chocolate and slow-cooked pig's blood). Patrons "thought we were crazy," said chef Rob Gentile, but now "can't seem to get enough." The Black Hoof restaurant uses 10 liters of fresh blood a week for dishes like its own blood custard, seasoned with rosemary and pickled pears. Montreal's DNA kitchen sometimes highlights blood soup and blood pasta. (The Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark -- which some believe to be the best restaurant in the world -- marinates cauliflower in pig's blood.) [The Globe and Mail, 10-18-2011]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Continuing Crisis
"I don't get it. I just don't get it. And you're not going to get me to get it," warned Marine squadron commander Lt. Col. Jerry Turner (to a Wall Street Journal Afghanistan reporter writing in October), when learning that a few of his troops were sporting artistically shaped eyebrows sculpted by a barber in the town of Shinwar. "Stylist" Gulam Farooq can't practice on Muslims (forbidden) but said "one or two" Marines come by every day (in between calling in artillery barrages) for tapering. [Wall Street Journal, 10-13-2011]
The Military Times news service, reporting from Afghanistan in August, disclosed a U.S. Marines command directive ordering troops to restrain their audible flatus because, apparently, Afghan soldiers and civilians complained of being offended. The reporter doubted the directive could be effective, in that passing gas by front-line troops is "practically a sport." [Military Times, 8-23-2011]
A vendor at a street market in Leipzig, Germany, was revealed in September to be shamelessly selling personally tailored coats and vests made with fur from house cats. A first report, in the sensationalist tabloid Bild, was doubted, but a follow-up by Germany's premier news source, Spiegel, confirmed the story. The vendor said he needed eight cats to make a vest (priced at the equivalent of $685) and 18 for a coat. However, such sales are illegal under German and European Union laws, and the vendor subsequently denied that he sold such things. [Spiegel Online, 10-5-2011]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Values
Too Soon? An 11-year-old California boy and a 7-year-old Georgia girl have recently decided -- with parental support -- to come out as the other gender. The boy, Tommy, wants more time to think about it, said his lesbian parents, and has begun taking hormone blockers to make his transition easier should he follow through with plans (first disclosed at age 3) to become "Tammy." The McIntosh County, Ga., girl has been living as a boy for a year, said father Tommy Theollyn, a transgendered man who is actually the one who gave birth. Theollyn petitioned the school board in September (unsuccessfully) to allow the child to use the boys' bathroom. Theollyn said the girl first noticed she was a boy at age 18 months. [CNN, 9-27-2011] [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9-14-2011]
Recurring Theme: Italian men are notorious "bamboccionis" ("big babies") who exploit doting mothers by remaining in their family homes well into adulthood, sometimes into their 30s or later, expecting meals and laundry service. Many mothers are tolerant, but in September an elderly couple in the town of Mestre announced (through a consumer association) that if their 41-year-old, gainfully employed son did not meet a deadline for leaving, the association would file a lawsuit to evict him. (A news update has not been found, perhaps indicating that the son moved out.) [Daily Telegraph (London), 9-21-2011]