Worth a Listen

Stephen Fry and the Former Prime Minister

That's Mr. Fry in the Middle

I May Have Got Grey Cup Weekend Wrong, But I am Sure about This

From Popular Science: How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

Happy cooking! The Perfect Bird
The centerpiece of the dinner has a puzzle built right in. You have a 15 or so pound object—the turkey—made of two different types of meat that must remain stuck together, at least until after a dramatic table presentation just before serving. The white meat, or breast, is delicate, low in fat, and is at its juiciest at about 155ºF. The dark meat doesn't begin to get tender until its collagen-rich connective tissue turns to gelatin. And that doesn't get going until around 165º. So how can you get both in the oven at the same time, take them out at the same time, and keep them at the correct temperatures throughout?
Food-science expert Harold McGee, author of the encyclopedic culinary reference On Food and Cooking, has come up with the answer. He builds in a temperature differential before putting the turkey in the oven, giving the leg meat a head start at heating up.
Here's how he does it: A couple hours (no more than three) before cooking, he moves the turkey from the fridge to the counter and places sealable plastic bags filled with crushed ice on the breast. As the legs warm up, the breast stays cool. When the breast meat is around 40º and the leg meat is close to 60º, he puts the bird into the oven. It's done when the breast meat reaches between 155º and 160º and the dark meat around 180º. Both meats are perfectly cooked. For perfect browning, McGee applies some final touches to the skin with a heat gun.

Two Articles on Two Consecutive Days that Dis Lada

(The Only Green Lada I could Find for Sale)

More older vehicles going the extra mile
Tony Van Alphen 2007/11/22
The number of vehicles 10 years old or older has increased steadily during the past decade, but statistics now indicate the numbers are accelerating dramatically.
Longer-lasting cars hurt climate: Report
2007/11/21
Vehicles are lasting dramatically longer than even a few years ago, with 43 per cent of passenger cars built 15 years ago still on the road, and this is bad news for the environment, industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers reports.

So what are we supposed to take for this? We should all go and splash out on new cars -- with the resultant pollution and energy caused by producing a new car -- or keep on driving what we have in anticipation of keeping cash in the bank for the coming depression, noting that the sunk cost of energy and pollution caused in your old banger's production (say 10 years ago) will most likely offset any lower mileage per gallon and higher carbon emissions of a new Toyota? I know what GM would think. Health care! But what is The Star thinking? Oh yeah, ad revenue. It's a shame old newspapers don't keep their utility like old cars do.


For the record:

Longest-lasting cars

The proportion of passenger cars 11 to 15 years old still in use averages 60.6 per cent across the industry but varies widely among manufacturers. The latest numbers from 2006, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants with data from R.L. Polk Canada:

Porsche 98.7%
Volvo 87.2%
Lexus 83.8%
BMW 83.6%
Mercedes-Benz 82.6%
Jaguar 81.4%
Toyota 78.2%
Audi 76.5%
Honda 76.5%
Acura 75.9%
Cadillac 74.6%
Lincoln 72.8%
Saab 72.2%
Saturn 69.2%
Buick 68.8%
Chrysler 68.8%
Oldsmobile 67.2%
Infiniti 65.8%
Mazda 64.8%
Volkswagen 63.1%
Nissan 61.0%
Subaru 59.1%
Mercury 54.9%
Dodge 54.6%
Pontiac 53.6%
Ford 53.6%
Plymouth 52.5%
Eagle 51.6%
Chevrolet 48.6%
Hyundai 32.8%
Suzuki 30.8%
Isuzu 19.8%
Lada 5.1%
Industry Average 60.6%
Canadian Press

Of course, a Lada driver is perhaps likely to take less care of his eminently more practical Niva than a Porsche 911 Turbo as well as put much less miles on it, but who am I to say? I haven't seen a Niva for yonks.