Dinadirections

There's an Archie movie in the works! And it may include...Zombies?

Well, initial Zombie rumors have been dispelled, but we can still hold out hope.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a writer for the TV show Glee, will provide the script. Aguirre-Sacasa has worked with the character before, having written the Archie Meets Glee comic books.

While the plot was originally described as Archie taking on zombies, the film is now being talked about as a teenaged midlife crisis movie, which takes place just before graduation.

Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore is attached to direct.

Who do you think should play Archie in the live-action film? Let us know in the comments!

Besides those occasions when we buy one on the subway, we rarely are anywhere where we could come face-to-face with a shark. NJ angler Tom Rostron, Jr. is someone who actively seeks out sharks, but even he thought it was too early in the season for any real action when he went scouting with a friend this week on the Manasquan River. That is until a 303-pound, 8-foot, 4-inch mako shark leapt into the bow of his 31-foot boat...and tried to eat the boat. [ more › ]

If you don't have a dedicated yolk separator, separating eggs always runs the risk of a cracked yolk seeping into your egg whites. But if you use three bowls throughout the process, you'll never need to worry.

Emma Christensen at The Kitchn, like many of us, used to use two bowls, cracking the egg into one, and scooping the yolk into another. A better solution is to pour the whites from each egg into a third bowl, and keep cracking eggs into the newly emptied one. That way, if a yolk cracks, it will only ruin one egg, instead of all the eggs you cracked before it. It does create a little more to clean up, but that's a small price to pay for perfect egg whites.

This is the kind of tip that's obvious in hindsight, but worth keeping in the back of your mind whenever you need to separate eggs for a recipe.

Why You Should Use 3 Bowls When Separating Eggs | The Kitchn

Reading comics, particularly on tablets, is a delightful use of bright, vivid touchscreens . If you're a heavy reader and want to bring your own files, Astonishing Comic Reader is a relative newcomer with a ton of slick features.

Read more...

Chrome: Ctrl-F is one of the top keyboard shortcuts everyone should know. If you need to find more than one word at a time, though, Pearls Extension helps you find everything at once.

The extension allows you to enter multiple search terms across the page you're on, all pages on a specific domain, or across all sites. Each term gets its own color and the searches are remembered even after you leave the page. The extension defaults to searching for exact matches (so, searching for "hack" would not highlight "Lifehacker"), but you can toggle between exact and partial matches.

4 Browser Extensions For Searching Multiple Words On A Webpage [Chrome, Firefox] | MakeUseOf

The internet is aflame with the news that the National Security Agency may be spying on phone calls and internet access of American citizens, and the possibility that they've partnered with some of the biggest tech companies in the world—Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Skype, and others—to request and access data directly whenever they want it. Let's take a look at what exactly is going on, how long it's been happening, and what—if anything—you can do about it.

What Happened?

First, if you read anything on the topic, check out The Atlantic's Government Phone Surveillance for Dummies piece, which puts the whole thing in clear, simple terms.

In detail, allegations arose this week that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on millions of Americans every day through unfettered tapping of telecommunications networks, and through massive data mining efforts performed wieth the help of major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Skype, and others. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, in an expose at The Guardian, exposed a secret court order that had been leaked to him, outlining the NSA's partnership with Verizon to collect the phone records of millions of Americans every day (you can read the full court order here, issued by FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), and to hand over metadata and call logs (but not, as many have pointed out, call data, call recordings, or caller identities). If that weren't bad enough, The Washington Post uncovered a slide deck outlining an NSA program called PRISM, or a massive partnership going back to 2007 where the NSA has access to and has been working with major tech companies to mine their data for keywords, subjects of interest, and to make special requests of those companies in case there's something specific they'd like to look for. Wired has more analysis of the program here.

It's appalling, but to be clear, the NSA's domestic surveillance program isn't exactly new. In addition to the details released this week, the NSA has been wiretapping domestic communications for years—possibly decades. The infamous Room 641A, an interception room operated at AT&T at the behest of the NSA, as an example, opened its doors in 2003, and was only shut down after it was exposed in 2006. Inside, NSA and AT&T technicians captured communications flowing through AT&T's telecommunications networks, processed it, stored it, and transmitted it to the Agency for further study. When an AT&T technician confirmed the existence of the room, he let slip that similar facilities likely existed all over the country, and there was no reason to believe that AT&T was the only organization helping the NSA out—something we've seen proven out, since this latest revelation focuses on Verizon (which, for its part, has declined to comment on the issue, and every other company involved has denied involvement).

For its part, Room 641A was only shut down as part of a class action lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one that continues to this day. The EFF has a wealth of data on exactly how the NSA collects data on American citizens, if you'd like to read more. Keep in mind that this isn't just from direct access to service providers like Google, Microsoft, and Apple, but also by collaborating with internet service providers for access to their networks. That means that even if you decide to boycott companies that work with them, you'll have a hard time finding alternatives that will both get you on the internet and provide you services while you're online. You can check out the EFF's statement on the Verizon leak here, and a full timeline going back to 2001 here.

Plus, the news isn't getting better as the week goes on. More companies are being exposed as partnering with the program, and there are new allegations that the NSA collects records on every phone call in the United States, something that frankly, many people already assumed was the case. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has gone on record saying The Guardian and The Washington Post reports are inaccurate and that their programs operate within the law. Essentially, it's a massive fishing expedition for anything the NSA may find interesting, and the data is stored, processed, and kept for an indeterminate amount of time. Is it personal, personally identifiable data? Very likely. Is it cause for concern? We think so, but that doesn't make you powerless. Ideally, you should get informed and get involved.

Can I Protect Myself?

In theory, yes, but it comes down to a combination of protection and security through obscurity. Even if the NSA is sniffing your ISP's networks and getting your private information from the service providers you use for email, social networking, and web searches (to name a few), there are a few things you can do. The problem with all of them is that they increase the complexity of your activities on the web exponentially with each one you embrace, and they fall down quickly if you're actually a real target for investigation.

This Wired article has some suggestions, like using disposable SIM cards and phone numbers. The problem here though is that you can use disposable numbers and phones as much as you want, but if the person you're calling is tapped and isn't doing the same, it's pointless, because those calls are still monitored. If your pre-paid number or SIM is with a carrier working with the NSA, it's also pointless.

The same applies to using disposable email addresses like Trashmail and Gliph. It doesn't take much effort to find the IP address of a sender, even if the message is from a disposable address or device, and you don't need the NSA's capabilities to do that. Plus, if you’re emailing someone that isn’t taking the same precautions, then the NSA will still have access to the emails you send them...so what's the point? They've outed you, no matter what you've done to obfuscate your identity.

Finally, let's talk about VPNs and private networks like Tor. They're probably your best option to keep your communications private, and we've talked about how to choose a good, trustworthy VPN before. Still, they're not perfect. VPNs and Tor will protect you from someone monitoring your traffic, but not someone monitoring the service you're using, which is the issue here. Encrypting your way to Google is great if someone's watching your communications to and from Google, but if someone's sitting at Google watching what you're doing, you're boned.

Besides, while using a VPN will encrypt your traffic from anyone sniffing your ISP's network, but if anyone has the capability to do deep packet inspection and peek into that encrypted traffic, it's the NSA. Plus, depending on the VPN you use, the encryption may not be that strong in the first place, or their DNS may be leaking all over the place. Then, after all that, the so-called "last mile" of traffic—where your communications are unencrypted by your VPN provider and sent to the actual site you're connecting to—could be tapped anyway. On top of that, if you're connecting to a service that works with the NSA, all that encryption is worthless anyway.

Tor is similar. While all of your communications are anonymized and relayed through private, volunteer networks (here's a primer on how Tor works, if you're not familiar), as soon as your data emerges from an exit relay, it's unencrypted entirely. Again, if someone's sniffing the network at your exit relay's location, you're exposed. If there's anything personal about the data leaving the exit relay—like you're connecting to Google, Microsoft, or one of the other companies that works with the NSA, you're exposed.

It's a pretty dismal picture, but that's the full story. You could take all of these measures to secure yourself and your data, and each one adds more complexity to everything you do online. Even so, if your friends and all the services you use, including your email provider, internet service provider, search engine, and more aren't as tinfoil-hatty as you are and don't take the same measures to protect and secure your identity, you're kind of screwed.

So It’s All Futile?

Look, I grew up in the shadow of the NSA and even worked in places with close ties to the Agency. If there's anything I know, it's that the NSA is one of the biggest, most technologically advanced organizations on the planet, but it's still a government bureaucracy. If that makes you worried, you should be—right now, the entire scandal is still evolving, and is wrapped up in terms of government spying in order to protect American citizens from the threat of terrorism at home or abroad. The NSA has even said—as recently as two weeks ago—that everyone else is spying on American citizens too and that they're trying to prevent a major cyberattack against the United States. Some government officials have gone on record saying they tried to stop the program, and others are introducing bills to put a stop to it.

Other pundits are calling for people to stop the hysterics and calm down. After all, some are pointing out that every tech company implicated in the program has denied involvement, which means that their some piece of the puzzle is missing, or every single tech company involved is lying to our faces. The Washington Post this morning backtracked from its initial claim that tech companies knowingly participated in PRISM, which means either there's more to the story or the program was set up to give tech companies deniability. We mentionted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has gone on record saying the reports from The Guardian and The Washington Post "contain numerous inaccuracies." You should draw your own conclusions—just make them informed conclusions first.

So what can you do? Not much, honestly—the places that most consumer-level privacy and security tools fall down are the places that are well within the reach of an organization with the resources, computing power, reach, and manpower of the NSA. This is especially true given the unprecedented access the NSA had to popular service providers and ISPs.

However, just because you can't do everything to protect yourself doesn't mean you can't do anything. Consider donating to or joining the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups that work to preserve civil liberties on the Internet. As the situation simmers, representatives of all parties have stepped up to condemn the program and promise to investigate it. If yours has, reach out and lend them your support. If yours hasn't, get in touch with them and let them know that they should. The story is still developing, but this isn't an issue that will go away with the right technology. It will take the actions of ordinary people to resolve.

Photos by The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Greg Goebel, Cory Doctorow, Pavel Ignatov (Shutterstock), Fuzzbones (Shutterstock), and Rob Crawley.

A creatively used closet can serve many purposes in a home, and this closet-turned-workspace is one of the smartest (and coolest) uses we've seen. The DIY team at Family Handyman shows you how to build your own space-saving home office in this step-by-step tutorial.

Overview

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to build and install wall shelf cabinets and a countertop and under-mount drawers, including how to adjust the dimensions to fit these projects in your closet. We’ll also show you an easy way to conceal all those cords that usually dangle down behind the desk. We’ve included a materials list, but you’ll have to adjust the quantities to fit your closet. The project shown here is constructed with birch plywood and boards and cost us about $400.

This is a great project for any intermediate to advanced DIYer. There’s no complicated joinery—the wall shelves and drawers are just wooden boxes that are screwed together. We used a table saw to cut the plywood, a narrow-crown staple gun to attach the shelf backs and drawer bottoms, and an 18-gauge nailer to attach the face frames. If you don’t have these tools, you can use a circular saw and straightedge guide to cut the plywood, and a good old-fashioned hammer and nails. It will just take a little longer.

Tools and Materials

• Hammer
• Miter saw
• Narrow-crown staple gun
• Tape measure
• Circular saw
• Drill/driver, cordless
• Level
• Impact driver
• Framing square
• Hearing protection
• Hole saw kit
• Hot melt glue gun
• Safety glasses
• Table saw
• Wood glue

Step One: Measure Your Closet and Customize the Plan to Fit

Start by measuring the distance between the side walls. Keeping in mind that 32 in. is about the maximum width for a plywood shelf, decide how many shelf units you need. To figure out exactly how wide each cabinet should be, subtract 1-1/2 in. from the total measurement and divide the remainder by the number of cabinets. This will leave a 3/4-in. space between the cabinet and the wall at each end that you’ll cover with the face frame. This 3/4-in. space makes it easy to install the shelf cabinets in the closet without worrying about an exact fit.

We needed three 27-1/2-in.-wide cabinets to fit our 84-in.-wide closet. We built the cabinets 47-3/4 in. tall. If you have standard 8-ft.-tall walls, the cabinets will reach the ceiling. After you do the calculations, double-check your math by drawing lines on the closet wall. Draw a level line 28-1/2 in. from the floor to mark the bottom of the 1-1/2-in.-thick countertop. Then draw another line 47-1/2 in. from the floor for the bottom of the wall cabinets. Finally, draw vertical lines for the sides of the cabinets.

You’ll also have to decide how wide to make the drawers. You can use the technique we show here to build drawers in a size and configuration that will work best in your closet. The key is to build the frame and mount the drawer slides before you build the drawers. Then you can measure between the slides (photo 8) and build the drawers to fit.

Step Two: Mount the Countertop

If you haven't heard yet, Gmail is rolling out a new tabbed interface for the inbox on both desktop and mobile. At first glance, this looks great for email organization. On further inspection, these new tabs are confusing as hell. Here's how to make sense of the new tabs and customize them for your own filters.

How the New Tabbed Interface Works

Google describes the new tabs as a way to "put you back in control so that you can see what's new at a glance and decide which emails you want to read and when."

You get five optional tabs, described by Google below. Google automatically sorts your inbox into these tabs using its special algorithms (essentially matching many of Gmail's existing Smart Labels, which automatically filter incoming messages):

• Primary: person-to-person conversations and messages that don't appear in other tabs
• Social: messages from social networks, media-sharing sites, online dating services, and other social websites
• Promotions: deals, offers, and other marketing emails
• Updates: personal, auto-generated updates including confirmations, bills, receipts, bills, and statements
• Forums: messages from online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists

You can also choose to force starred emails from all tabs to display in the Primary tab (in addition to the other tab).

How to Enable and Use the Tabs

To enable the new tabbed view, go to the Gear icon and select "Configure inbox." Once you do that, you'll be prompted to choose which tabs to enable and Gmail will start doing its magic, auto-sorting your inbox.

You can drag-and-drop emails from one tab to the next; when you do that, Gmail will ask if you want to create a filter for that sender to send messages in the future to that tab. Handy! It doesn't, however, move existing emails into that tab.

You can also create your own filters to send emails into specific tabs, as we'll see below, but that's tricky if you don't understand how the new tabs differ from Gmail's existing labels and which messages get sorted into tabs.

Why the Tabs Are So Confusing

The tabs do give you a convenient way to automatically sort your inbox according to Gmail's preset categories and get notifications at a glance for when new emails come in. However, the tabbed view introduces a new, not-so-clear element in Gmail called "categories."

The tabs are based on these new categories. When you create a filter, in addition to being able to label a message, you can now categorize it as: Personal, Social, Updates, Promotions, or Forums from a drop-down box. These, as you see, match the tabs.

The problem is, you already have labels that also match these categories. Gmail, for example, adds Social Updates, Promotions, and Forums as SmartLabels in the left menu. The "Notifications" SmartLabel corresponds to the Updates tab (I wonder why they didn't just call the tab Notifications), but SmartLabels are not the same as Categories. Gmail's pre-designed SmartLabel filters makes it seem like that, but they're really two different things.

I also noticed one problem where certain messages would show up under a SmartLabel, but not a category. For example: Some auto-labeled "Notifications" didn't show up under my "Updates" tab.

It turns out the tabs only include emails from your inbox, not archived emails. In other words, the tabs are really just another view of your inbox. You can have more emails in the corresponding label than in the tabs if some of those emails are archived.

So, a few things we've discovered from testing:

• If you have filters for daily deals emails and similar emails that would get categorized by Gmail as "Promotions" but have it set to skip the inbox (archive them), you won't see them in the Promotions tab unless you change those filters. The same goes for the other tabs.
• If you want to filter messages into a specific tab, you'll have to use the new "Categorize" option, not the labels.
• Gmail has added a new "Categories" label in the left menu with sub-labels for the categories, which match the tabs. In other words, all the messages under specific tabs are also in the corresponding Categories sub-label. Tip: If you want to briefly switch away from tabbed view and see all the emails at once across all the tabs, click on the Categories label.
• Now you'll have labels and categories with the same names. If you want to avoid confusion, you can just delete the old SmartLabels, since you can still access them through the categories in the sidebar. Alternatively, you could just hide them from the sidebar so they don't clutter it up.
• If you want to see the unread count for messages in the tabs, you have to click the Categories label name to expand the sub-labels. The tabs themselves only show when you have new messages, not the number of unread messages.
• Continuing on that theme, the unread count in the inbox label and browser tab only show the Primary tab number of unread messages, not all of your unread messages. That is by design.
• As mentioned above, when drag-and-dropping across tabs, you can create a new filter for future messages. However, this doesn't work if you select multiple email messages and drag them, unfortunately.
• Confused yet? Gmail's SmartLabels aren't perfect, and neither are the tabs. Gmail has been consistently labeling some personal emails as Promotions and putting some promotional emails in the Primary tab for me. It also seems like there's a fine line between Social and Forums messages.

All of this said, it may be possible to harness the organizational power of the new tabbed interface to suit your needs better.

How to Customize the Tabs with Your Own Filters

As mentioned above, you can now create your own filters to categorize messages, thus putting them in one of these tabs. So if you have no use for the "Forums" tab, you can instead use it to collect messages from specific senders or keywords. Unfortunately, there's no way to change the tab name.

The key is to make sure the filter doesn't overlap an existing filter that might counteract what you're trying to do. For example, you can't have "Skip the inbox" on a matching filter, otherwise it won't appear in the tabs at all (since the tabs are organization for the inbox).

To customize the tabs:

1. Create a new filter for the messages you want moved to one of the tabs. (For example, since I have no use for the Social tab on my work email, I'm using it instead to store emails I send to myself from my personal email address. In the search box, I put in "from:[my email address]" and click the down arrow in the search box to find the "Create filter with this search" link.)
2. In the filter options in the next screen, choose the category that matches the tab for the "Categorize as" option. (E.g., I chose "Categorize as: Social.")
3. You'll also have to check "Exclude from SmartLabels" just in case Gmail tries to categorize your email differently (as it did for one of my test emails to myself). Then hit "Create filter."
4. If you also want to prevent Gmail auto-categorizing other messages in that tab, you could also go into your Settings > Filters and scroll to the bottom for the SmartLabel Filters and disable or edit the corresponding filter. However, do this with caution, as it seems there's no easy way to restore the built-in filter. It might be better to configure Gmail's SmartLabels so they skip the inbox and thus skip your tabs. About.com's Email site has the list of each SmartLabel (e.g., "label:^smartlabel_promo" for Promotions). When creating your filter, search for that "label:^" term to filter it out as you'd like.

At the very least, the new "Categorize as:" filter can help you correct any Gmail errors when it comes to SmartLabels. For example, by creating a filter to categorize fellow Lifehacker editors' emails as "Personal," they now appear in my Primary tab, instead of, oddly, the Promotions or Forums one. They're still strangely "Smart"Labeled as Promotions, but at least they're in the right tab.

Thinking about Gmail's new tabs, SmartLabels, regular labels, and filters can feel like you're trying to solve an annoying circular reference error in Excel. However, the new tabbed view might come in handy if you know how to harness it.

And, if it's not for you, it's easy enough to get back the old, non-tabbed view if you prefer that Priority Inbox or other option.

Of all the horrors: A tanker carrying 6,000 gallons of scotch whisky overturned in New Jersey—and then the scotch caught fire! [ more › ]

Many would argue that it's impossible to capture the essence of New York City in a single food item. But that has not stopped Ben & Jerry's, who have launched an online and IRL voting system so New Yorkers can help create a NYC-centric flavor. The company offers choices for possible base flavors and ingredients, including options from local vendors like Liddabit Sweets, Spoonable Caramels and Sixpoint Brewery. But they've left the flavor decision-making to the fans, sort of. [ more › ]

Note to bosses across America: workers may be a tad late this morning. But it's not their fault.

Lines at Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Tim Hortons and LaMar’s are around the corner in celebration of National Donut Day!

Yes, it's time to chow down on a free sample of this timeless breakfast treat, as Dunkin’ Donuts will celebrate the occasion by debuting a new sandwich:

Bacon and eggs, stuffed between a split glazed doughnut.

Indeed, just for today, there's no need to make your own homemade original Krispy Kreme donuts. The chain has got you covered.

What is your favorite type of donut?

Yes, the Web is littered with the corpses of failed online grocers. But AmazonFresh doesn't have to be a cash cow for the retail giant, because Amazon can also drop off books with your bananas. And for consumers, it could mean convenience, no minimum fees, pre-dawn drop-off and maybe even delivery of local, artisanal goods.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Temporary, strong emotions, when we're already feeling down, can significantly reduce our ability to perceive the fat in our food, researchers say. It's the latest finding to show how strong emotions can confuse our sense of taste.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.

[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

These days, finding decent hummus in New York is far from impossible. That said, there are some restaurants that rise above the rest. We loved Israeli chef Shai Zvibak's Local 92; here's his more casual hummus and falafel spot, The Hummus Shop.

The quick-service restaurant manages to be warm and aesthetically appealing despite the narrow and somewhat cramped space. It's hard to go wrong with any of their hummus-based dishes (including hummus by the pound), but we like the sabich sandwich ($6.49) as well.

The sandwich starts off with warm, thick, pita, encompassing a huge, almost overwhelming slice of fried eggplant. Next come generous chunks of warm potato and creamy hard boiled eggs. The subtle notes of these two ingredients are complemented well by nutty tahini, crunchy bites of pickle, and slightly spicy amba sauce. All of this is rounded out by the hummus, which is rich but refreshingly smooth, and melt-in-your-mouth creamy. But we'd recommend you ask them to hold the tomatoes; their bland texture and flavor don't do much to elevate the other ingredients.

The Hummus Shop

101 Ludlow Street, New York NY 10002 (map)
212-260-0661
thehummusshop.com

About the author: Ari Rudess is a Serious Eats intern and student at Wesleyan University. You can check out her Wesleyan food blog at www.wesstuffed.com

Faced with a problem that really stinks, the town of Brunete, Spain has come up with an unusual (and awesome!) solution.

Starting in February, 20 volunteers took to the streets and kept an eye out for irresponsible dog owners.

Any time an individual would allow its canine to defecate without picking up the waste, the volunteer would engage him or her in small talk... learn the name of the animal... look it up in the local date base and - bam! - they would come up with a home address.

A few days later, the offending owner would receive a package in the mail of the poop he or she left on the ground.

After 147 special deliveries made in February alone, the reported sightings of excrement in town decreased by approximately 70 percent, based purely on the eye (and nose) test.

Seriously, people. We all know how much dogs love to walk. Just be sure to clean up after them when they do so pedestrians are equally excited to see their canine friends on the street.

In a sad and unexpected story, the self-help couple and hosts of the radio show "The Pursuit of Happiness" Lynne Rosen and John Littig have been found dead in their apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, from an apparent double suicide.

The pair were found suffocated, with plastic bags tied over their heads.

Outside their radio show, Rosen, 46, was a psychotherapist and Littig, 48, was a musician.

The irony of their death is apparent, as they taught their listeners things like, "It's always too early to quit." This story is still tragic, nonetheless.

Watch a video of the diseased couple's show below.

The Little Prince is one of the most popular books of all time.

As such, it's shocking that a major motion picture has yet to be made based on the French children's novella.

Well, now it's happening! And the voice cast is epic.

James Franco, Rachel McAdams, Jeff Bridges, Marion Cotillard, Benicio Del Toro, and Paul Giamatti will star in The Little Prince movie.

The story follows a pilot who becomes stranded in the desert, where he meets a young prince fallen from an asteroid.

Mark Osborne, who directed Kung Fu Panda, will take the helm on the production.

Mackenzie Foy is also in talks to join the cast.

There is currently no word on production or release schedule.

Imagine Kim Kardashian without her Facebook account. Justin Bieber without his tattoos. Kate Upton without a bathing suit on...

... sorry, we got distracted for a moment there.

But organizers of the Miss World beauty pageant in Bali this September have made a shocking announcement: the 137 women competing will NOT be strutting any of their stuff across the stage in a two-piece.

Miss World Organization chairwoman Julia Morley told Australia's Herald Sun that producers didn't want to offend the many Muslims that reside in Indonesia.

"I don't want to upset or get anyone in a situation where we are being disrespectful," Morley said. "We treasure respect for all the countries that take part in the pageant."

There's a safety issue at work here as well.

Lady Gaga canceled a concert in Jakarta last year after religious protestors referred to her as a "messenger of the devil."

Look for the pageant contestants to don sarongs and other more conservative attire for the beach fashion part of the event.

In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.

[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

A couple decades ago, word got out that pairing lobster with vanilla was a thing that happens. Cue roast lobster with vanilla sauce and savory vanilla lobster bread pudding. Now, in 2013, for the month of June alone, there's lobster french toast at Certé.

The "Count of Stonington" starts with two thick pieces of eggy vanilla-honey french toast, then hits them with coarse sea salt. On comes a fistfull of lobster salad, with small chunks of sweet, tender meat and a generous helping of mayo. The salad gets topped with a thick crisp of Grana Padano, a move that's less about balancing salty with sweet than punching you with it.

I can't say a Lobster French Toast (LFT?) is greater than the sum of its parts, but those parts are pretty well executed, amply portioned, and quite reasonably priced at under $10, tax included. Don't take the sandwich too far, as the bread sogs up fast, but do consider it if you want to take your lobster salad in a new, weird direction.

Certé

20 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019 (map)
212-397-2020
certenyc.com

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the editor of Serious Eats: New York. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

On Monday night, a 10-year-old boy managed to disarm a home invasion robber who was trying to get into his Brooklyn bedroom—the boy slammed his door into the robber's arm, prompting the man to drop the weapon. Then the boy took the robber's gun and fired it, scaring off the perp and his crony. Now the police say that the boy actually traded gunfire! [ more › ]

Dear Peanut Butter,

I get it. I’m a realist. You’re salty and sweet, ooey-gooey and down right delectable, and I was wrong to have tried to hog you all to myself. I can see monogamy just can’t work for you.

What with you going behind my back with Jelly or Honey all those years, it should have come as no surprise to me when I learned you really did have a thing for Bacon. And don’t get me started on Bananas, or, as even my more adventurous friends tell me, Pickles.

But Peanut Butter, it’s time for you to be a realist. We were made for each other.

You know how I know? Because when it came time to pair you up in all the convenience of a toaster pastry, that matchmaker Kellogg’s company didn’t hitch your wagon to Jelly or send you a valentine from Honey. No, they stuffed you inside of me, and damned if I don’t admit we are perfect together.

Why hide our love from the world any longer? I say we announce that we’re back and better than ever. They thought our best days were behind us, what with Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs no longer being the novelty it once was, and our time in pretty much every conceivable Snickers form having run its course. But there’s just something about this new love, born from the Pop-Tart, which just works.

You adorn yourself in a golden wrapper, but it’s what’s beneath that shining attire which counts. Could it be our delicious utility together? Sometimes dull and uninteresting when eaten at room temperature, our Pop-Tart is perfect in any climate.

Tantalizing with a semisweet chocolate aroma, each slightly crispy bite of the exterior frosted shell yields to your peanuty and salty gooeyness. It’s homey and familiar – not pretentious or overly oily like some of those organic designer peanut butters; yet at the same time, it’s wholesome and full bodied, like the Midwestern girl next door. I love how you don’t use chemicals like hydrogenated oils to taste your best, proving that natural taste can definitely go a long way.

Did I mentioned the chew? I know there are some who scoff at your ability to stick to the roof of their mouths, but as we come together in one sweet, salty, chocolaty and smooth amalgamation, even the most rushed eater is forced to reckon with the forces of mechanical digestion and savor our love. Even our outer shell, a bit doughy, tasty and bland on its own (despite the cocoa tint) gets new life during this phase of our relationship, as we rekindle the classic flavors of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

I could go on forever but I think you know what I’m saying. Peanut Butter, it’s hard to screw us up. And yes, Pop-Tart has tarnished the flavorful marriage of power couples before. But in this case, we don’t just go together, we go together in one of the best Pop-Tart flavors that has ever been conceived.

True, there may be minor flaws to our love – you are a bit thin, you know, and I’d love to love more of your filling – but it’s nothing we can’t overcome. But promise me one thing, Peanut Butter. Even if Pop-Tarts decides to start paring you with your old flings, just remember that I, Chocolate, was your first true love.

Love,

Chocolate

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry – 200 calories, 45 calories from fat, 5 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat, 2 gram of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 240 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.)

Other Pop-Tarts Gone Nutty! Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butte reviews:
Fatguy Food Blog

Item: Pop-Tarts Gone Nutty! Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter
Purchased Price: $1.98
Size: 6 toaster pastries/box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Perhaps the single most memorable Pop-Tart I’ve ever eaten. Exceptional balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavor. Tastes like a slightly melted version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, except without the gritty peanut butter texture. Ooey-gooey peanut butter filling, even when not warmed. Sticks in the nooks and crannies within your mouth.
Cons: Only six Toaster Pastries instead of the usual eight. I wish these Pastries were pregnant with an bulging baby of peanut butter filling. On the heavier side of the sugar spectrum for Pop-Tarts. Probably not best to eat the entire box without some sort of liquid to wash it down. Writing a love letter to a condiment.

More orange than a University of Texas football jersey and more texturally variegated than a special edition Pokémon card, it’s the latest, greatest Pop-Tarts box filled with peanut butter toaster pastries!!

Yes, people, it’s here.

After a 27-year hiatus, peanut butter is bursting through the wall of Pop-Tarts with more superhero powers than the Powerpuff Girls and Kool-Aid Man combined and, after three trips to Walmart and a narrow escape from a runaway grocery cart, I have attained my box of six golden delights.

No, your eyes aren’t fooling you. That is a gold wrapper you see and, after an in-depth psychological study, I have concluded that golden wrappers are magic.

Every time I open one, I find myself believing I am Charlie Bucket peeling back the winning Wonka wrapper, then I skip into the streets and burst into song (“I’ve got a golden ticket!”).

Apologies to anyone who had the experience of hearing me sing and thank you, Kellogg’s, for providing me with the fulfillment of a childhood dream, even if it’s only in my mind.

All delusions of winning a trip to see an eccentric, semi-crazed candy maker aside, let’s get down to brass tacks: what do these suckers taste like?

If there’s anything the marketing plan at Google has proven, it’s that simple is always best, and these toaster pastries reinforce just that: absent of jelly or honey, these unfrosted Plain Janes allow the simple, beautiful peanut butter to shine. The crust is sweet, slightly salty, and sprinkled with sugar, harkening back to old-school peanut butter cookies.

The peanut butter inside is of the creamy variety, a touch sweeter and gooey-er than my regular Skippy, which makes it just perfect for the filling. It adds the sugary, salty, roasted-peanut creaminess needed to play off the crackly, sucrose-laden crust.

And, indeed, this is one crackly crust. If you’re unfamiliar with the genus of unfrosted Pop-Tarts, you may want to know that this crust is a little more crumbly than what you might find with a frosted Pop-Tart. The grainy casing of this fella will give your pastry-munching experience more of a shortbread/homemade graham cracker feel. Despite its more delicate nature, the crust holds the filling inside it throughout the toasting, never breaking at the seams.

Have I mentioned toasting would be encouraged? It would be. If these taste astounding right out of the wrapper, they taste even better toasted, a feat I thought impossible at this point. The edges of the crust get slightly crisp and the peanut butter filling softens and collects at the bottom, allowing your last bite to be full of all four of the five food groups: crispy, salty, gooey, and sweet.

And these Pop-Tarts give you agency as a creative human. In the absence of jelly or any other filling, you can add whatever you like to make your own Pop-Tarts “sandwich.” Marshmallow, Doritos, ice cream, ranch dressing, whatever. I’m not gonna judge. You want some jelly with yours? Plop a friendly slab on there or, better yet, go get a box of Strawberry Pop-Tarts and eat both Pop-Tarts together. Now that’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The greatest crime these have committed is that there are only six in a box as opposed to the regular eight. According to a response to a customer on the Pop-Tarts Facebook page, this was done to keep the price level the same as peanut butter is a more expensive ingredient.

(Margaret shakes a blighted fist to the sky!)

Curse you, market of overpriced crushed legumes!!

Number games aside, these are delicious. Up there in my top three, maybe even my top two Pop-Tarts of all time. They are crispy and salty enough to allow me to imagine they’d be perfect for breakfast while being just sweet enough to please the dessert lover in me. Give me a pack of these and some chocolate ice cream and I’m a happy kid. If Pop-Tarts are looking to up their sales, these will make for a growth curve gone vertical in my book.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 pastry – 200 calories, 60 calories from fat, 6 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 0 milligrams of potassium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 16 grams of sugars, and 3 grams of protein.)

Item: Pop-Tarts Gone Nutty! Peanut Butter
Purchased Price: $1.98
Size: 1 box/6 pastries
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Gooey, creamy peanut butter. Shortbread cookie crust. Crackly sugar coating. Even better toasted. Cool box. Golden wrappers. One of the best Pop-Tarts experiences I’ve ever had. Most likely formed by powers of Kool-Aid Man and the Powerpuff Girls combined.
Cons: Only 6 per box. Overpriced crushed legumes. Golden wrappers do not earn you trip to eccentric candy maker’s laboratory. Runaway grocery carts in Wal-Mart. Realizing (yet again) that I am not musically inclined.

Friday is National Doughnut Day. You might want to try Dunkin' Donuts latest creation: bacon and egg between a glazed doughnut.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Finally, the Internet has found a way to incorporate cats.

"Cat Bearding" is apparently a new meme these days. Basically, it entails people envisioning themselves with beards, only with frowning felines as the beard.

See below for visual evidence if that's at all unclear:

If that's not a purrfect web craze, we don't know what is.

Apparently, cat beards tend to make one look disgruntled. Grumpy Cat would be proud, if Grumpy Cat were to acknowledge such a positive concept.

We await the inevitable Taylor Swift cat bearing pic. Not 'cause we think Taylor Swift would look particularly great with a beard, she's just into cat stuff.

Michael Douglas is 68 years old and is married to a gorgeous 43-year old.

And now we know why.

In a very revealing interview with The Guardian, the veteran actor touched on a number of topics, including his 2010 throat cancer diagnosis.

"Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus," Douglas told the newspaper.

Wait... WHAT?!?

"From cunnilingus," the star repeated. "I mean, I did worry if the stress caused by my son's incarceration didn't help trigger it. But yeah, it's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.... And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it."

As for the Oscar winner's current state of health. It's "good," he says, adding:

"I have to check in regularly – now it's every six months – but I'm more than two years clear. And with this kind of cancer, 95% of the time it doesn't come back."

No. Not apparently, unless Douglas himself goes back to Catherine Zeta-Jones for seconds and thirds and fourths...

Taco Bell is facing a social media uprising today after a photo of one of its employees licking a slew of taco shells hit the Internet.

Granted, we know nothing about the picture - might the shell have been headed for the trash? - except that it found its way to the chain's official Facebook page.

But the image has created such a stir that a spokesman was forced to respond via email to The Huffington Post.

"When we learned of the situation we immediately contacted this restaurant's leadership and although we believe it is a prank and the food was not served to customers, we are conducting a full scale investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved," wrote a representative for the restaurant.

In the meantime, at least Taco Bell can take comfort that it's unlikely to lose at least one customer no matter what.

Khloe Kardashian is proud of her weight loss. But not of the coverage it has received.

With a recent tabloid declaring her The Hot Sister because she recently shed 25 pounds, Khloe went on a mini Twitter rant yesterday and took issue with such a headline.

"I am sorry but I do not find it a compliment when I am told I am 'the hot sister," she wrote. "I appreciate the compliment but this is NOT a competition."

Especially when - let's face - either Kim Kardashian or Kourtney Kardashian would win if it were.

Khloe has said in the past that she accepted a long time ago how different a shape she was born with than her famous siblings.

She added in another Tweet: "We are sisters and women need to stop being compared to other women! Beauty is not how we look, it is how we act."

That's actually a nice sentiment. Instead of mocking it, we're gonna point readers to this Brazil fast food chain that gave free food to beautiful women in March. It was actually a cool gesture.