Jim Paull

Enlarging the font size on your phone is one of those famous old-people tech habits, like putting “...” all over your texts, or posting Facebook memes about sauerkraut. But it’s healthy for younger people too—it reduces eye strain, according to Intelligencer.

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  NATION:    Motorists have questioned the Transport Ministry’s plan to make buckling up a.

The post No Need For Compulsory Child Seats When We Have Bibik Arms, Drivers Say appeared first on The Tapir Times.

If you’ve ever seen a ghost, you have something in common with 18 percent of Americans. But while there’s evidence that our brains are hardwired to see ghosts, the apparitions we see tend to vary. Historians who study and catalogue ghostly encounters across time will tell you that ghosts come in a...

Cheese pizza ghosts are the only kind of ghost you'll want haunting your kitchen this Halloween. A quick combination of English muffins, pizza sauce, and sliced mozzarella cheese come together for a festive snack or dinner.

The secret to cute and easy cheese ghosts? A flower-shaped cookie cutter.

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Avon is getting personal, with the launch of its ‘Personalised Beauty App,’ which will allow its six million representatives to deliver a more tailored level of service to clients.

The beauty giant has announced the debut of its ‘Personalised Beauty App,’ which will deliver diagnostics via a phone camera and a unique calibration card, processing information through a unique algorithm to help representatives perfectly match foundation shades to each client’s skin tone.

“At Avon, we are putting an end to the one-size fits all approach and recognising that women don’t just want the latest product, they want real beauty insight tailored to their individual needs – not just for foundation, but for their whole beauty colour regime,” said Louise Scott, Avon’s Chief Scientific Officer, in a statement. “Early results indicate that this technology provides a benefit that really resonates. We’re providing a solution women want.”

The app, which was developed in partnership with Techkon, is currently available in Avon’s two biggest markets, the UK and South Africa.

Avon is not the only brand harnessing technology for a more personalised approach to beauty. Earlier this year, Neutrogena unveiled the ‘Neutrogena Skin360’ app and an accompanying ‘SkinScanner’ phone attachment designed to provide personal skincare analysis.

Global beauty app YouCam Makeup also jumped on the trend in 2018, with the launch of a custom virtual on-demand ‘Beauty Advisor’ experience allowing app users to test products virtually and link up with beauty professionals via live video chat for real-time beauty consultations using augmented reality.

Watching cooking competitions on television like Chopped is one thing, but actually being in a real kitchen stadium and seeing, smelling, and even tasting what the chefs are making? File that under amazing. I just attended the Barilla Pasta World Championship in Milan, Italy, and saw 18 chefs from around the world compete in the ultimate carb-cooking contest.

The championship is the Olympics in pasta cooking, complete with lots of patriotic flag waving and a gold trophy for the winner. This year's winning chef, Carolina Diaz from Chicago (the United States also won last year!), sweated and cooked her way to victory and also gave me an awesome tip that I plan to use when cooking pasta from now on.

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Most of us go through life with only a vague idea of how much caffeine is in what we eat and drink. That coffee should wake us up; this soda is probably caffeine-free. But if you want to use caffeine effectively, you really need to know the amount in your favorite sources. You can’t properly time your caffeine…

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Two people have reportedly fallen to their deaths off Taft Point in Yosemite Park.

The incident, which is currently under investigation, occurred sometime on Thursday, Oct. 25. The male and female were recovered by National Park Service rangers, however, their identities and how the fall happened are still unknown.

Yosemite Park’s no stranger to tragic incidents. Just last month, in September, Israeli tourist Tomer Frankfurter, slipped and fell to his death while attempting to take a selfie. Aside from all the accidents and fatalities, the park — Taft Cliff particularly — remains a popular spot for engagement and wedding photos. Photographer Matthew Dippel recently reached viral fame with a picture he snapped of an anonymous couple mid-marriage proposal.

The photo has been shared more than 20,000 times and continues to garner likes and comments. “It’s a super-popular place in Yosemite,” Dippel told CNN. “Really popular for engagements, proposals, weddings. There were at least three or four different brides and grooms up there doing their post-wedding photos, so it’s definitely not an uncommon thing to see up there.”

Featured image by Beihua Steven Guo via Getty Images

Exotic!

High-quality cookware sets will set you back a pretty penny, but this copper Cuisinart one has a lot to offer at a good price. Available today on Amazon for $199, it’s $100 cheaper than what it goes for elsewhere.

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Exotic!

A Florida man celebrating his upcoming wedding on a cruise to Bermuda died Friday after falling on board the ship.

Christopher McGrory, 29, was taking a Bahamas Paradise Cruise with his friends to celebrate his bachelor party. Reports say that around 8pm on Friday, McGrory fell from a high deck on the 1,680-passenger Grand Classica ship, hitting the deck below, according to the Palm Beach Post. He did not fall overboard.

Marcia Lehmann, who was also on board the ship, told the Palm Beach Post that she was coming out of a show when she heard a “code blue” alert over the ship’s PA system.

“I’m thinking someone had a heart attack,” Lehman said, noting she saw a crowd gathered around a staircase on the ship’s eighth deck, looking at the decks below. She looked at the scene below. “All we could see was pools and pools of blood and (part of) a white sheet,” she said to the Post. “He fell above us, so it had to have been either the 10th or 11th (deck).”

The Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s Grand Classica vessel has a total of 10 passenger decks, with other attractions on the ship’s higher decks, according to the company’s website. The ship, which has been operating two-night cruises to the Bahamas since April, sailed out of the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport in the Bahamas.

 

The US Coast Guard brought McGrory to shore, and local paramedics to him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was scheduled to get married on Dec. 1.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the guest’s family at this time,” a Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line spokesperson told the Palm Beach Post. “We commend the crew and U.S. Coast Guard for their swift response.”

The tragic incident follows another fatal bachelor party of US tourists rafting in Costa Rica in which four of the revelers and their guide died in a sudden flash flood.

Featured image of the Grand Classica by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line via its website.

HONG KONG: Asian equities mostly fell again Wednesday extending the previous day’s geopolitics-fuelled sell-off, with energy firms taking another battering in response to an oil market rout.

Investors around the world are fleeing riskier assets such as stocks and high-yielding currencies in search of safety as a wave of negative issues dominate the news.

Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, pointed to “a toxic geopolitical cocktail of nagging concerns” from Chinese growth, stuttering Brexit talks, Italy’s budget standoff with Brussels and the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Even US stocks — which have been supported in recent months by a strong economy despite sharp losses elsewhere — are feeling the strain, Innes added.

“Significant for global equity investors, the US equities Teflon persona was seriously questioned as price action suggested there is one asset class investors fear: equities,” he warned in a note.

“And like migratory birds heading south for winter, the icy chill enveloping global stock markets has sent investors flocking to safe to haven assets.”

Despite an afternoon bounce, Wall Street’s three main indexes ended with losses following a mixed round of earnings.

In Asia, markets fluctuated throughout the day.

Hong Kong, which dived more than 3% Tuesday, lost 0.5% in the afternoon.

Shanghai rose 0.3% but the Friday-Monday surge from Chinese officials’ coordinated support has been almost forgotten, while observers said a steady drip of stimulus announcements were also unlikely to provide a long-term solution.

“Recent measures may stabilise the market’s confidence for a while but more fundamental steps are needed,” wrote Vincent Chan and Pearl Xu, strategists at Credit Suisse.

Tokyo ended 0.4% higher but Seoul dropped 0.4% and Sydney was 0.2% lower.

Singapore rose 0.3% but Taipei, Wellington, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta all dropped.

Wall of worry

David Kudla, chief executive officer of Mainstay Capital Management, told Bloomberg Television, “We’ve come up upon a tremendous wall of worry for US stocks and stocks around the world. Concern among investors is the deceleration in earnings growth.”

Energy companies were among the worst hit after both main contracts plunged more than 4% Tuesday after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the major producer would boost output and spare capacity to help maintain supplies.

Prices had hit four-year highs this month with sanctions due to be imposed on Iran next month, while Venezuela continued with an economic and political crisis and US data pointed to a pick-up in demand.

However, they have dipped in recent weeks owing to growing concerns about the global economy, particularly China, and a rise in the US dollar, which makes the commodity expensive for holders of other currencies.

While Brent and WTI were essentially flat Wednesday, Sydney-listed Woodside Petroleum fell 1.3%, while Inpex tanked 3.3% in Tokyo and CNOOC dived 3.4% in Hong Kong.

Investors are also keeping an eye on Italy after the EU rejected the populist government’s big-spending budget, the first time it has turned a member away over spending rules violations.

With Rome likely to ignore the decision, the move puts the two on course to a clash, just as the EU struggles to reach a deal for Britain to leave the bloc with a deadline imminent.

In early European trade London rose 0.4%, Frankfurt added 0.6% and Paris was up 0.2%.

Key figures around 0720 GMT

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.4% at 22,091.18 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5% at 25,211.85

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3% at 2,603.30 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4% at 6,981.11

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1461 from $1.1472 at 2040 GMT

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2960 from $1.2985

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 112.39 from 112.41 yen

Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN eight cents at US$66.35 per barrel

Oil – Brent Crude: DOWN 10 cents at US$76.34 per barrel

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5% at 25,191.43 (close)

A literary analysis is the process where you read a literary work very closely to figure out how the author gets their main points across. Start by taking notes on the text and reading it very carefully, then develop and outline your argument. Write the analysis according to your outline, and proofread it carefully before turning it in or sending it on.

EditSteps

EditTaking Notes and Developing Your Argument

1. Write down ideas as you read through the text. The first time you read through your text, take notes on things that stand out, such as the main conflict, the characters' motivations, the tone, and the setting.^[1]
   
   • Mark pieces of the text that seem interesting or noteworthy. Does the author seem to be making a major statement in one section? Are they suddenly being more philosophical? Highlight or make a note about that section.
   • For instance, one of the main quotes you see repeated from George Orwell's novel 1984 is "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." As it's the Party's (the country's only political party) main slogan, that keys you into the fact that it's going to be important to the story. It's a good idea to use a certain color highlighter to mark this statement every time it's made. This makes it easier to spot the statement so you can analyze where, when, and why Orwell is repeating the line.
2. Note the literary devices the author uses. Literary devices are things the author uses to tell the story or make a point. They could include alliteration, imagery, metaphors, allusions, allegories, repetition, flashback, foreshadowing, or any number of other devices the author employs to write the story or poem.^[2]
   
   • For instance, imagery is how the author uses vivid language to help create mental pictures. It can set the tone of the work. Take this example from George Orwell's novel 1984, which is presented as the fourth paragraph in the novel:
     • "Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere."
   • Just from this short text, you get a sense of the harshness of the world, drained of color and very cold.
3. Focus on the key themes the author seems to be expressing. Themes are the major ideas the author seems to be repeating throughout the text. They can be things like religion, government, good versus evil, authority, social structure, coming-of-age, war, education, or human rights, to name a few. Identify the themes as early as you can in your reading, as this makes it easier to annotate examples of the themes as you read.^[3]
   
   • In 1984, some of the main themes Orwell focuses on are war, authority, and social structure.
4. Look at the form of the work. The form refers to how the text is constructed. In a long work, it can mean how the work is divided and whether it's in first-person or third-person. In a poem, look at the line breaks, the stanza arrangement, the shape of the poem, and even the negative space the writer uses. Think about why the author chose this particular form and how it helps present the ideas.^[4]
   
   • Think about how the form and content relate to each other. Then, consider how they might be in tension with each other.
   • For example, a poem often contains less information than a novel, so the writer might use the form to draw attention to the unknown or unanswered questions.
5. Consider the historical context of the work. No work is written in a vacuum, so the time period and location where the author is writing will affect the text. Research where the author lived, the time period the novel was written in, and what was going on at the time.^[5]
   
   • For instance, 1984 came out just after WWII in 1949, when fascism had threatened to take over the globe. However, equally important, Orwell had witnessed the problems of totalitarian regimes in places like Spain and wanted to warn against the advancement of totalitarianism in any form, from the political left or right.^[6]
6. Decide what the author's purpose is in writing the text. An author can have several purposes for writing a text. Your job is to identify at least one of them you can write about. Don't worry about what you choose, as long as you can back up what you think the purpose is with evidence from the text.^[7]
   
   • When identifying the author's purpose, examine the historical context of the novel, as well as the author's themes. You can also read other analyses and reviews of the text, as well as interviews of the author.
   • For example, one of Orwell's main purposes in writing 1984 was to show how if citizens don't keep their government in check, it can lead to a totalitarian government where every movement and thought is scrutinized.
7. Brainstorm about how the author shows their main purpose. Connect the notes you took on the text with what you consider to be one of the author's main purposes. Think about how the author is using these devices to make their point.^[8]
   
   • For instance, in the slogan "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength," you get a introduction to the author's purpose. It gives the reader a view of what's ahead: citizens in this society are required to swallow contradictory statements from the government without question, a concept known in the novel as "doublethink."
8. Decide on your argument by focusing your topic. Focus on one element of the story that exemplifies what you think the main purpose is. Think about what stands out about that particular topic to you. Why does it seem important?^[9]
   
   • For example, maybe you decide that you want to focus on how imagery sets up the tone for the novel 1984. Why is that important? Without that imagery, the novel would be very different, and Orwell would have had difficulty setting up a believable world for the reader.

EditOutlining the Paper

1. Write a thesis statement. The thesis statement is the main idea of your paper. You want to cover your basic argument to let your readers know what you plan to argue. For a literary analysis, you should connect the main idea or theme of the work to a specific way the author shows it.^[10]
   
   • For example, you might write, "In 1984, Orwell's use of imagery to establish a bleak and dreary world is key to bringing home his theme that totalitarianism is something to be avoided at all costs."
2. Organize your argument from start to finish. How you organize your essay is up to you. One typical method is to go through the book in order, providing your evidence starting at the beginning of the book and moving towards the end.^[11]
   
   • Alternatively, it may make sense to you to begin with a historical introduction to the work to provide context.
   • Another method is to present your most important part of the argument first and work down from there.
3. Set up your main ideas or paragraphs. Write down a Roman numeral for each main idea you want to cover in your essay, as well as your introduction and conclusion. Next to the Roman numeral, jot down that main idea in a shortened form.^[12]
   
   • For instance, you might write:
     • I. Introduction
     • II. Provide background information and historical context for 1984
     • III. Introduce the author's main theme
     • IV. Establish how imagery helps create the theme
     • V. Conclusion
4. Add the main points you want to cover in each paragraph. Under each Roman numeral, use letters and then Arabic numerals to go into more detail about what you want to cover in each section. You can be very specific or just cover the basics. However, the more specific you are, the easier it will be to write your essay.^[13]
   
   • Your detailed outline might look something like this:
     • I. Introduction
       • A. Introduce work, including author, title, and date
       • B. Thesis: In 1984, Orwell's use of imagery to establish a bleak and dreary world is key to bringing home his theme that totalitarianism is something to be avoided at all costs.
     • II. Provide background information and historical context for 1984
       • A. Discuss World War II
       • B. Bring up Orwell's experiences in Spain
         • 1. Experiences of fascism influenced work
         • 2. Feared totalitarianism on the right and left
       • C. Coined phrase "cold war"
     • III. Introduce the author's main theme
       • A. Warning against totalitarianism
         • 1. Party in complete control
         • 2. No privacy, even for thoughts
         • 3. Orwell thought this was the logical conclusion of a complete totalitarianism
     • IV. Establish how imagery helps create the theme
       • A. Book begins with bleak, colorless imagery, sets up tone
       • B. Description of urban decay creates a feeling of the world falling apart
       • B. Contrasting imagery when Winston has experiences with Julia, re-establishes purpose of main imagery
     • V. Conclusion

EditWriting Your Essay

1. Introduce each main topic with a couple of introductory sentences. With each point you make, provide a short introduction to it at the beginning of the paragraph. This just establishes what the idea is. It can also connect the idea to the rest of your text.^[14]
   
   • For instance, you might write, "From the very beginning of the novel, Orwell establishes that this world is bleak and dreary, one that no one would want to live in."
   • When writing a literary analysis, you must draw your argument out through the whole essay. That means that with each paragraph you add, you need to connect it to the main thesis of the essay. Doing so helps your reader see the overall point you're making.
2. Backup your points with quotes from the text. When you're writing a literary analysis, you must show your reader where you found the evidence in the text. That means, when you make an assertion about the text, you need to add a quote or paraphrase the text to back up what you're saying.^[15]
   
   • Go over your annotations to find good quotes. Then, explain what the quote means and how it supports your point. Make sure your analysis of the quote takes up at least as much space as the quote itself.
   • For example, you might add, "From the very beginning of the novel, Orwell establishes that this world is bleak and dreary, one that no one would want to live in; he writes: 'Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.'"
   • Don't forget to provide proper citations for the text.
3. Analyze how your evidence backs up the main point you're making. With this step, you need to answer why the point you're making is important. Show the reader that the evidence you provide relates to your main argument.^[16]
   
   • For example, to complete the paragraph after the quote you provided, you might write the following:
     • This world is harsh to inhabitants, "cold" and foreboding, without even color to break up the monotony. A bright, sunny day doesn't even provide a reprieve from this bleakness, and Orwell uses passages like these to establish that this world could be the future, a harsh reality with no escape into fantasy or pleasantries.
4. Write your introduction. If you haven't already, fill in your introduction. Part of your introduction should be your main thesis, but you should also introduce the main points you want to make throughout the essay, as well as the work itself.^[17]
   
   • Try to draw your reader in with your introduction. You could write:
     • Imagine a world where every facial expression, every movement, every word you say is endlessly scrutinized by an overreaching government. Anyone who breaks the rules or steps out of line is punished harshly. If it sounds like a bleak reality that no one would want to live in, that was entirely George Orwell's point in writing the novel 1984, a book that creates a picture of a dystopian future where citizens are controlled by a totalitarian government. In 1984, Orwell's use of imagery to establish a bleak and dreary world is key to bringing home his theme that totalitarianism is something to be avoided at all costs. This point was driven home for him by his time spent in Spain under fascism, as well as political climate of the time, which was World War II."
5. Create your conclusion. In the conclusion, you need to draw your argument back together and tie it up neatly for your reader. That way, they can see how everything fits together.^[18]
   
   • For example, you might write:
     • For Orwell, the fact that the world could be headed towards totalitarianism was disastrous. That fate, no matter whether it came from the right or left, was something every citizen should fight against. In his novel, Orwell shows the logical conclusion of a world controlled by totalitarianism, and it's through the literary device of imagery that he draws the reader into that world. Once the reader experiences that dreary world, they will want no part of a government that could thrust them into that harsh reality.

EditPolishing Your Essay

1. Make sure your argument makes sense from beginning to end. Try to read through your essay as if you had never read the text you're analyzing. Can you follow the argument with just the assertions, evidence, and analysis you've provided? If you can't, try going back through and filling in any blanks.
   
   • You can also ask a friend to read through it to see if they can follow it.
2. Take out phrases like "I think" or "In my opinion." When you're first writing a literary essay, you may be timid about your analysis. Most everyone is! However, when you present your argument, leave out these phrases. It weakens your argument, and signals to the reader you're not confident in what you're doing.^[19]
   
3. Proofread your essay by reading it out loud. Watch for any mistakes your spellcheck catches, but you should also check it yourself. Reading it out loud helps you slow down and catch more mistakes in the text.^[20]
   
   • For instance, you may notice words that are wrong or places where the sentence structure sounds a little funky.
4. Let someone else proofread it. It always helps to have another set of eyes when proofreading. Ask a friend, parent, or classmate to go over your essay to see if they catch any grammatical mistakes.
   

EditTips

• Be sure you have a clear understanding of the essay assignment before writing your analysis. Always to follow the teacher's instructions and guidelines.

EditRelated wikiHows

• Write a Language Analysis

EditSources and Citations

EditQuick Summary

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GEORGE TOWN: A cat which was found alive after being buried for more than 24 hours in the landslide in Bukit Kukus here on Saturday died this morning after suffering from internal complications.

Firemen had pulled the cat out from the mounds of earth and rocks from Friday’s landslide and its miraculous survival had brought some cheer to the rescuers and animal lovers.

A veterinary surgeon had earlier said the cat was likely to survive despite its crushed hind legs but the injuries it sustained proved too much and the cat died at 9.15am today.

Buddhist Tzu Chi Merits Society, which helped rescue workers bring the cat to a veterinary surgeon, said it appeared to be in good spirits yesterday and was able to stand on its front legs.

“We were prepared to spend whatever money to nurse it back to health. We also wanted to put it in a cat’s home for rehabilitation,” the society’s Penang commissioner Khoo Boo Leong said.

He said the vet had wanted to amputate the cat’s hind legs this morning.

Khoo said the vet’s initial findings showed that the cat died due to a crushed stomach.

Earlier, the fire and rescue department also found the remains of two other cats at the site.

Society keeps spirits up with food and care

The Tzu Chi society, besides providing aid to the cat, has also helped provide some 150 firemen with hot meals and water over the past three days.

It also set up two large tents, complete with chairs and tables, for members of the media.

The Tzu Chi members also provide breakfast, lunch and snacks at the site.

Khoo said the society wanted to do its bit to help search and rescue personnel and also members of the media reporting on the landslide.

Khoo said the society would continue to offer food until the search and recovery process is over.

Thirteen victims were buried in the Bukit Kukus landslide. Eight bodies have been recovered from the site so far.

So, what’s the difference between oxtail stew and oxtail soup?

Very little, to be honest, aside from a few small yet key components that make all the difference in flavour.

Both dishes contain oxtail as well as other common ingredients like carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and beef stock.

But while oxtail stew uses “fresher” herbs like thyme, bay leaves and rosemary, Malaysian oxtail soup (as well as the Indonesian-style sup buntut) uses stronger, complex spices like cinnamon, star anise and cardamom.

And even though the actual weight of the herbs and spices used are very little in contrast to all the other ingredients, it’s amazing how much of an impact it makes to the overall flavour of the dish.

While not everyone likes the “spiciness” of Malaysian-style oxtail soup, if you’re a fan, you may be surprised at how easy it is to make. It does require time though, but oxtail soup keeps well and always tastes better the next day anyway.

Ingredients: Serves 8

For the pressure cooker:

• 2kg oxtail, pre-cut into 4 to 5cm chunks from the butcher
• 1 litre beef stock
• 1 3” cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 30g ginger, lightly smashed
• 12g galangal, lightly smashed
• 5g lemongrass, bottom only, lightly smashed (about 1 lemongrass)

Aromatics:

• 520g large onions
• 25g garlic, peeled
• 130g celery, the entire stick, leaves removed and reserved for the soup below
• 25g Chinese celery, stalks only, leaves removed and reserved for garnish
• 35g ginger

For the soup:

• 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm long sticks and then sideways into 4
• 385g potatoes, peeled and halved
• 300g tomatoes, quartered
• 75g green chilies, about 5 pieces
• 25g green birds eye chilies, about 14 pieces
• 85g snake beans, torn into 4-5cm long strips, optional
• Celery leaves, sliced finely (see Aromatics above)
• 5g lemongrass, bottom only, about 1 stick
• 2 pieces kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
• 1 parcel sup bunjut
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 500ml beef stock
• 1 lime, juice only
• 2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
• 100ml cooking oil

To serve:

• Fried shallots
• Chinese parsley, leaves only
• Lime, halved
• French bread, sliced at an angle, about 2cm thick and buttered generously

Method

Preparation

• Put all pressure cooker ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook on high heat until ready. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, read our tips below.

• Remove the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn down the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour.
• While the oxtail simmers, remove leaves from celery and Chinese parsley and set aside for the soup and garnish.
• In a food processor, blend all aromatic ingredients until fine. If needed, add a little water to aid the blending process. Set aside until oxtail has simmered for an hour.
• Prepare and cut the rest of your ingredients while waiting

Let’s cook oxtail soup

• In a stockpot, heat cooking oil until ready for frying.
• Add in blended aromatics and lemongrass stalk. Sauté until lightly caramelised, about 15 minutes.

• Pour the entire contents of the pressure cooker into the stockpot. Do this carefully as the pressure cooker will be heavy and very hot.

• Add in sup bunjut, potatoes, kaffir lime leaves, black pepper, fish sauce and beef stock.
• Bring to a boil on high heat and let it boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add carrots, tomato, snake beans and all chilies (if using). Also add lime juice. Boil for another 20 minutes.

• Turn down the heat to simmer and let it cook for a final 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This extra cooking time really enhances the flavours of the soup.
• When ready to serve, dish out one or two pieces of oxtail into a bowl and fill it with soup. Sprinkle fried shallots, Chinese parsley, and add a wedge of lime. Serve with buttered French bread on the side.

Extra tips

• If you don’t have beef stock, use chicken stock instead.
• No pressure cooker, no problem. Add all pressure cooker ingredients to a stockpot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down the heat to simmer, remove cover, and cook for about two hours or until the oxtail is fall-off-the-bone tender.
• The optional snake beans are especially useful if you have kids in the house who don’t like to eat their vegetables. If you don’t like snake beans in your soup, they won’t impact your soup’s flavour if you skip them.
• If you don’t plan to eat it straightaway, your oxtail soup will taste even better tomorrow. Let it cool completely in the stockpot before transferring the soup to airtight containers for storing in the fridge. When you’re ready to reheat your soup, skim any solidified oil on the surface of the soup for extra strong flavours.
• If you’re storing your soup and don’t plan to eat it all in one go, portion it into single servings for easy heating. You can also freeze extra soup for two to three months.

Pretty easy, right? And it doesn’t require that much attention too during the cooking process besides the occasional stir. If you want a heavier meal, this oxtail soup recipe also goes great with ghee rice.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com

Butterkicap is a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.

According to a religious survey conducted by the Ligonier Ministries, a large swath of Christian evangelicals appear to not understand basic core beliefs of their religion no matter how much they profess to love Jesus. As pointed out at the Friendly Atheist, the ministry commissioned a survey of...

Sometimes walking through Ikea feels like you’re in a maze where the walls are built from eye-catching organizational units. You both can’t and don’t want to leave. This isn’t an accident—Ikea is trapping you on purpose.

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GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) today advised people to drink boiled water whenever possible although it agrees with a minister’s claim that water can be drunk directly from the tap.

It said this in the wake of a statement by Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar that it was “100% safe” to drink water directly from the tap and that he himself drank tap water.

CAP research officer Hatijah Hashim said tap water should be drunk as a last resort and offered tips to those who intend to do so.

Speaking to FMT, she said as most tap water was treated with chlorine, those filling up a cup of tap water should not drink it right away, but should leave it for a minute to let the chlorine evaporate.

Hatijah said this was because at room temperature chlorine would escape into the air.

“By boiling the tap water, you speed up the evaporation of chlorine. Hence, we recommend all to drink boiled water whenever possible.

“Otherwise, just fill a cup of tap water, leave it still for about five minutes and drink it. Treated tap water is safe,” she said.

Hatijah said most water treatment plants in the country used a mix of flouride and chlorine to treat water, which was safe as it met standards set by the World Health Organisation.

She said besides chlorine, a high content of iron was prevalent in tap water in some areas. She said water that had high iron content was usually reddish or brown in colour and might taste “rusty”.

Hatijah said water with iron content was safe for consumption, although the taste might not be agreeable to most people. She said to counter this problem, a cheap water filter with a cleanable element could be used.

Water Watch Penang president Chan Ngai Weng, however, said the answer to the question if tap water was safe to drink was a yes and a no.

He said while it was true that tap water was generally safe to drink as chlorination would have killed any bacteria present in water, there were other factors to be considered.

Chan said tap water was safer if a person’s house was close to the treatment plant and the main water pipes to one’s home were new.

He said the new pipes should be at least a “few years old” and not cast iron pipes that could corrode.

Chan said this included the piping at home. He said if the house was less than 10 years old, it was likely the piping might not be corroded.

“Your tap water is safe if there are no repairs or upgrading works by the water service provider that can pollute and contaminate the pipe water… and also if there are no leaks in the main pipes or the pipes in your house,” the professor in water resources management said.

Chan said conventional water treatment did not filter away heavy metals, and microbial and organic contaminants.

“People do not become suspicious until some in the community start to get sick. Water near agricultural areas may contain harmful organic material from pesticide or fertiliser application.

“Similar contaminants can get into the water near industrial plants. These chemicals are not removed from the water in conventional water treatment,” he added.

A US Customs and Border Protection K9 agent sniffed out something suspicious at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) on Monday.

Hardy the beagle, a CPB Agriculture Detector on the agency’s “Beagle Brigade,” found a whole roasted pig in an Ecuadoran passenger’s checked luggage at ATL. When authorities opened up the bag, they found the head of the roasted pig inside, wrapped up in tin foil, CBP said in a statement.

The cooked pig, which weighed about two pounds, was destroyed by CBP agents after it was discovered. The agency says all pork and pork products from other continents are banned from entering the US to prevent pig-based diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease for example, from being introduced to the public. All fruits, vegetables and food products must be declared to CBP upon entry to the US.

A woman on a Delta flight re-entering the US from Paris learned this lesson the hard way when she was fined $500 for failing to declare an apple in her purse in April (the fine was later dropped). It isn’t clear if the swine-carrying passenger was fined for stowing away the roasted pig.

“Our best defense against destructive pests and animal diseases is to prevent the entry of prohibited agriculture products from entering the United States,” said Carey Davis, CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Atlanta. “This seizure at ATL illustrate the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K9 partners in protecting the United States.”

Hardy the beagle is a 6-year-old rescue dog who has been working the agriculture detection beat with CBP at the Atlanta airport since 2015.

All images by US CBP.

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Two male penguins who built a nest together from ice pebbles at Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium are now fostering an egg given them by aquarium staff who suspected they were more than friends. The penguins, Magic and Sphen, formed a bond ahead of the 2018 breeding season, before starting to collect the...

If you received a silent phone call (or several) from Hawaii last week, it was probably a butt dial. Or, more specifically, a foot dial.

Last Thursday, a gecko made a few house calls to everyone in the recent call history of Ke Kai Ola, the Marine Mammal Center hospital and education center that cares for Hawaiian monk seals, according to AP News.

One of the recipients of these calls was Claire Simeone, marine mammal veterinarian and director of Ke Kai Ola, who was at lunch when the calls from the center started coming through.

Simeone didn’t hear anyone on the other line when she answered. She hung up, but the calls continued — nine in the course of 15 minutes. Alarmed, she went to assess the scene for herself, worried that there might be a “seal emergency,” she recalled in a Tweet.

Meanwhile, others began reporting prank calls from Ke Kai Ola.

According to her Twitter retelling, Simeone spoke with the phone company, Hawaiian Telcom, to determine if the calls were occurring because of a potential software issue or a “phone on the fritz.”

The man from the telephone company confirmed that “a bazillion calls” were being made from a phone line within the center, but that it was not a technological difficulty.

Simeone began exploring the hospital — the office, the viewing room, the so-called fish kitchen — to find the source of the rogue calls.

When she entered the laboratory, she caught the culprit in the act: a green gecko was crawling over the phone’s touchscreen.

The gecko, she explained, was using “his tiny gecko feet” to call “everyone” in the hospital’s recent call list.

After taking a picture of the gecko in the midst of making a call, Simeone moved the gecko outside, and proceeded to do a bit of damage control.

“I had to send out a note to all of our staff and volunteers, who may have received telemarketing calls. I immediately hired the gecko.”

Taking advantage of the newfound media attention, Simeone took the opportunity to talk about the hospital’s important work caring for injured, sick and orphaned Hawaiian monk seals so they can be returned to the wild.

“If there’s a little gecko that helps us share the story of conservation, then that’s a win,” she said.

Photo by Cavvy01/Getty Images

KUALA LUMPUR: A foreign worker suffered head injuries after falling some 40 feet, when the plaster ceiling of the lobby at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur in KL Sentral came crashing down early this morning.

According to a report from the KL Fire and Rescue Department, the ceiling collapsed just before 3.40am. At the time, repairs were being carried out on the wiring.

Some 1,500 square feet of the ceiling collapsed, causing the foreign worker from Bangladesh to fall.

He was treated at the site by emergency services before being sent to the Universiti Hospital in Petaling Jaya.

A check by FMT found part of the hotel lobby blocked off.

A Hilton Kuala Lumpur spokesman said during an overnight routine maintenance work on the lobby ceiling by an approved maintenance contractor, an incident occurred causing a part of the ceiling to give way.

The area will be temporarily closed to the public. The ORO Café, Chambers Bar and the Lobby Lounge will not be in operation until further notice.

I spent four hours at my favorite kind of dinner party, and I never left my couch.

I traveled the world and laughed and wrote all caps notes like "LAYER YOUR SALT!" and "CREATE HEAT ZONES" and "I AM DELIGHTED!!!"

I got to bask in the food glow, and you can too, thanks to the first season of Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix, the new show based on Samin Nosrat's award-winning cookbook. Drop your weekend plans, because this is the show you need to watch.

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WASHINGTON: Forget about the high-tech military challenges from China and Russia, the Pentagon is facing a fast-growing national security threat that could be even trickier to tackle: America’s obesity crisis.

A study released this week has found that nearly one-third of young Americans are now too overweight to join up, a worrying statistic for military officials already facing recruitment challenges.

“Obesity has long threatened our nation’s health. As the epidemic grows, obesity is posing a threat to our nation’s security as well,” the Council for a Strong America states in its new report.

The Army last month announced it would miss its goal of attracting 76,500 new recruits in 2018. The shortfall is of about 6,500 soldiers — the first time since 2005 the service had missed its hiring targets.

A strong US economy and tight jobs market played a role, but the numbers highlight the dwindling pool of applicants the Pentagon has to draw from.

According to the Defense Department, obesity is one of the top reasons why a stunning 71% of Americans aged 17-24 do not meet the military’s sign-up requirements.

“Given the high percentage of American youth who are too overweight to serve, recruiting challenges will continue unless measures are taken to encourage a healthy lifestyle beginning at a young age,” states the study, entitled “Unhealthy and Unprepared.”

Other factors such as prior drug use or a lack of academic qualifications are also taking a toll.

The report, compiled by a group of retired generals and admirals, notes that the obesity issue is a particular worry as it comes when fewer young people are interested in joining the military in the first place.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general, last month said the shrinking pool of Americans eligible to serve was a “big concern.”

“It’s a sad state of affairs when 71% of the 18 to 24-year-old males in this country cannot qualify to enter the United States Army as a private,” he said.

The problem should be addressed at the local level, he said, praising efforts of retired service members who are working in schools “to try to restore physical education where it’s been taken out, to try to get school lunches to be things that fuel the body, instead of just giving them crummy food.”

Pudgy soldiers
The obesity problem persists even after boot camp.

According to retired Army major general Jeffrey Phillips, the military spends more than US$1.5 billion each year treating obesity-related health conditions and filling positions vacated by unfit troops.

“I saw it myself: pudgy soldiers visibly pushing, or beyond, the ‘height and weight’ standards,” Phillips wrote in a Military Times commentary.

The new report says the Pentagon has recognized the long-standing obesity problem, and is taking steps to improve the health of its troops.

One Army program, known as the Performance Triad, “aims to improve soldier readiness and encourage healthy behaviours, and to provide support to soldiers in these areas.”

The Army has also introduced a new physical fitness test that measures the likelihood recruits will go on to meet the physical demands of their selected military job.

Many military facilities are equipped with top-notch gyms, and dining facilities on US bases around the world often provide nutritional guidelines.

The report concludes that the solution lies in ensuring children and parents learn about the vital importance of healthy eating and physical activity from a young age.

“Basic training lasts weeks, but building strong troops takes years. Encouraging healthy lifestyles early in life will help our nation prepare for future challenges,” retired Air Force general Richard Myers said.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year found that 2.2 billion people worldwide are believed to be overweight, and more than one in 10 people are obese, fueling a global health crisis that claims millions of lives every year.

Of the world’s most populous countries, the United States leads the way in terms of obesity among children and young adults, at 13%.

PETALING JAYA: For years, Malaysian horror movies have portrayed the “pontianak”, a female ghost in traditional Malay folklore, as the supernatural being most greatly to be feared.

It’s not just Malaysia, either – according to a 2016 research paper from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) titled “From International Horror Films to Local Filem Seram”, Singapore and Indonesia also feature the pontianak as a long-haired woman with fangs who screams in a high-pitched voice and can only be subdued with a sharp nail to the back of the neck.

This begs the question of why, for horror flicks, the ghost is nearly always a woman.

Adrian Lee, a film studies lecturer from USM’s School of Communication, says the female portrayal of ghosts is largely due to patriarchal elements in local writing.

“There is definitely a discussion on patriarchy in this,” he told FMT. “Women are not satisfied with the domination of men, so what happens? They must die or be eliminated so that this domination is also destroyed.”

Film expert Mahyudin Ahmad wrote in 2006 that patriarchal elements are often the main focus in movies.

“Women are depicted with various negative characteristics and features while male characters are often portrayed in a positive light,” he said in his article “Box Office Films and Ideology: A Study on Selected Films in Malaysia”.

According to Lee, women are a favourite target for ghost characters because they are often seen as abject and unclean due to their menstruation cycles.

“They are seen as dirty and dangerous, and threatening towards men.”

Referring to the film “Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam”, directed by Suhaimi Baba, Lee said the title character, Maryam, played by Maya Karin, embodied the pain and anguish felt by women.

“Maryam is a beautiful woman, a famous gamelan dancer who was killed during pregnancy because she rejected the marriage proposal of a rich man, Marsani.

“After her death, Maryam returns and haunts Marsani to get revenge. Maria, Marsani’s daughter, becomes possessed by Maryam’s spirit whenever she performs gamelan.

“During the final part of the film, Maryam confronts Marsani to demand justice for her death.”

To turn patriarchal elements around, Marsani is then forced to kneel before Maryam. After this, the spirit of the Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam is finally at peace.

 

Beef and broccoli ranks high on my list of takeout favorites. The savory combination of tender beef, sweet broccoli, and vibrant carrots cooked in an umami-rich garlicky sauce is pure comfort in a bowl — especially if I can eat it in my pajamas on the couch.

Homemade beef and broccoli from the slow cooker gives me the exact same satisfaction, as well as the ability to customize the sauce to my liking and use up beef and veggies that might be languishing in the fridge or freezer. Plus, the slow cooker does all the work of cooking the beef and vegetables for you, either while you cozy up on the couch or run errands. Here's how you can make beef and broccoli at home that I promise you is even better than takeout.

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These creamy, crunchy potatoes are inspired by buttery garlic bread. READ MORE...

When it comes to food-focused boards, cheese and/or charcuterie are usually the star. I love both of these things, but they don’t have to be the focal point of a snack board, especially when there are so many other types of snacks.

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