Nothing compares to the aroma of a steak or a rack of pork ribs sizzling on the grill. While some people might think that spring is still too far off to think about grilling, barbecue enthusiasts are already thinking about ways they can tune up their techniques before the season officially arrives. Here are some barbecue accessories that are sure to interest both beginning and expert grill chefs.
While many people have converted to the gas grill for its efficiency and ease of lighting, most will admit that only charcoal can give that classic grilled flavor. One popular solution to this quandary is the charcoal basket. Made of durable stainless steel, charcoal baskets are designed to sit right on top of a gas grill’s burners. This enables the coals to heat quickly and be ready for cooking in no time at all, providing the best of both grills: the simplicity of the gas and the great taste of the charcoal.
For a delicious wood smoke flavor, wood chips of many different varieties, including hickory, alder, maple or applewood, are available for grilling or smoking food. Each different type of wood imparts a different flavor. Many gas grills come with baskets or drawers that are especially for wood chips, or a basket for this purpose can be purchased separately.
The Rib-O-Lator is a great new gadget that can transform the inside of a grill into a rotisserie. Easily installed inside most medium to large grills, the difference between Rib-O-Lator and other rotisserie attachments is its four tray design. This accommodates many items that ordinary rotisseries can’t handle, such as ribs. Food on these trays is cooked by indirect heat, which has many benefits. It has been proven to seal the juices inside the meat, making it tender, moist and more flavorful than ever. The trays help to contain the juices, preventing dangerous flare-ups and keeping the grill cleaner. Furthermore, its trays afford space to cook a lot of food at once, and it requires much less supervision than traditional barbecue techniques.
Another interesting product is the Flavordome Barbecue Flavoring System, which is a set of grilling products that trap in heat, smoke, reduce fire and burn, and create cleaner smoke flavor. It comes with several excellent rubs and sauces to use in conjunction with the tools.
Grilling baskets are simple yet ingenious – a great way to grill delicate foods such as fish and vegetables without them dropping through or sticking to the grating. These baskets are like small cages that hold food securely, and come with a handle so that you can easily flip them. They come in regular and non-stick varieties as well as in many sizes. Use of a corn basket, for instance, can eliminate the all-too-common problem of charring when grilling whole corn ears. Larger grilling baskets can accommodate vegetables and smaller meat items at the same time. Many of these baskets feature long, detachable handles. This allows the grill lid to be closed during cooking to maximize flavor.
Iron brands for marking food on the grill make a unique gift for barbecue enthusiasts. Grill chefs will enjoy the fun of stamping a “signature” on their barbecue masterpieces. Brands might say Dad or Chef, but can also be customized with initials or names.
Grilling techniques from chef to chef are as unique as barbecue enthusiasts themselves, and everyone has their own tips and tricks for making that perfect steak or rack of ribs. Whether you’re looking for a way to reduce cleanup time or an entirely new method of using your grill, these tools offer something for just about everyone.
Posted in Food And Drink tagged Barbecue Enthusiasts, Flavor Wood Chips, Rotisseries by Stephen with No comments
Why Don’t People Work and Act Safely on Site?
Do you drive to work?? Hang on, what’s that got to do with CDM 2007 or construction site safety? you might be asking. Well, bear with me while I use this common example to lay bare the truth about human error, and highlight behavioral characteristics which can make or break construction site safety.
So, back to the driving question:
Following the good practice in your vehicle handbook would dictate that before you drive away you should check lights, brakes, fluid levels, tyres etc. But how many of us do this? In reality I would venture to guess that it would be a struggle to find anybody (including health & safety specialists) who went through these checks on a daily basis.
We just don’t want to waste the time – right? Statistically, on a reasonably new vehicle, the chances are that nothing will be far enough out to cause us a problem. Ok, if the tire pressures are a bit low then fuel economy might suffer a bit and the tyres might wear slightly quicker, but such things are not immediately noticeable, when set against the fact that we are going to be late for work if we don’t leave NOW!
Driving off without making those checks is a risk, but a calculated one. The very fast risk assessment the driver has mentally carried out probably resulted in a calculation something like this:
a) My car/van/truck is not that old – nothing should fall apart yet;
b) I always have it serviced by the main dealer at the specified intervals so everything has been checked not so long ago;
c) It’s highly unlikely that something is bad enough to cause a problem, and if it is, driving just down the road will highlight any problem before I get to the motorway;
d) If I don’t leave now I’ll hit more traffic and be even later than I am now;
e) It’s so unlikely that anything is badly wrong that I’d just be wasting a lot of time for nothing;
f) I’m not going to waste my life being a train spotter – My mates will think I’m an idiot;
g) It’ll never happen to me.
The above scenario illustrates some of the reasons people don’t necessarily act in the safest possible way whether it’s a legal requirement of CDM 2007 or not.
Stephen Fry has been quoted as saying that what he does with temptation is to give in straight away as it “saves time on faffing about.” The fact is: we’re all human and susceptible to common temptations – think of new year resolutions, speeding on the motorway, or giving up drinking / smoking.
In terms of CDM 2007 and construction site safety: If? an accident occurs where someone gets hurt, a common reaction of Site Management is to look for an “idiot” to blame, but is this reasonable? It is generally assumed by standard site safety management systems that when we walk into a workplace or onto a construction site we will immediately experience a personality metamorphosis and become earnest, logical deep thinkers, but this is a simplistic if not downright naive expectation. It is much more likely that if the safe method is slow, awkward and a nuisance then it’s just a question of how many workers will succumb to the temptation to take “short cuts” and how often.
Remember that people will normally be attracted to answers that are immediate, certain and (at the time) positive. Say for example: A chimney has been taken down manually. The bricks need to be removed to a skip but the only method available is a bucket on a long rope. So the choice is lower the bricks down one bucket at a time, or throw bricks down from the scaffold. Throwing the bricks is unsafe and banned by construction site safety procedures, but offers an immediate solution and could be seen as “positive” because time might be saved. Or consider this: what’s easier: Sitting down to produce risk assessments safe working methods, policies and site safety Plans which will comply with CDM 2007, or taking a chance that the HSE won’t find out?
In reality it’s far more effective to design out temptation than to implement harsh punishments. In the driving example at the start of this article, the vehicle manufacturer’s have responded by looking for solutions that are positive, convenient and immediate. For example: we would generally notice dashboard warning lights. A brake warning light glaring at us is highly visual and much more likely to make us pause, check and take action – after all there wouldn’t be a light if it didn’t connect to the serious stuff.
In the bricks / scaffold example: Putting in place a CDM health & safety plan which identifies the work order and risk assesses the stages would highlight the issue, and a chute discharging directly into a skip could be specified in good time to avoid the temptation to throw bricks from the scaffold.
Having straightforward highly visual CDM system documents which highlight site issues means little time is required to produce a site specific plan. This can be more easily discussed with the workforce, saves time and money by identifying and avoiding critical hazards and ensures compliance with CDM regulations.
KEY POINTS
Human error is inevitable. To reduce the consequent risks we need to analyse the work, predict where errors might occur / the reasons for them and take preventive action. If unsafe behaviour has immediate and apparently positive consequences, people will be tempted to take “short cuts” To reduce risk we need to predict where the temptations will occur, and design out shortcuts / make the safe method an easy, painless and rewarding way to do the job. Ask the opinions of people involved in the task: what is slow / awkward / a nuisance about doing this job? Discuss and take action based on the answers. I hope that you can see the case for using visual techniques which involve the workforce in site safety, leading to identification of effective, but easier and more economical methods of ensuring excellent construction site safety. Using highly visual methods which fully comply with the spirit of the CDM 2007 regulations will give you the ability to spend more time on practical site safety and less on reading or producing pointless reams of paper. And that’s got to be good news!
Posted in Business tagged Construction Safety, Construction Site by Stephen with No comments
The black skirt tetra’s scientific name is Gymnocorymbus ternetzi. Tetras belong to the Characid family. Black skirts are also commonly referred to as black tetras or black widow tetras.
The black skirt can be recognized by its characteristic black “skirt”. There is also an albino version or white skirt tetra that is commonly available commercially. These are variations that occur naturally in the wild. White Skirt tetras are often dipped in pastel colors and marketed as fruit tetras. This dying process is counterproductive to the fish’s health. They are much more prone toward illness and have a greatly reduced life span. White skirt tetras have also been made to change color by being fed dyed foods. These tetras are generally healthy and will revert to their natural pigmentation once they start ingesting unaltered food.
The black skirt tetra will reach its adult size of about 2.5 inches when it reaches about one year of age. Black skirts display their strongest coloration when young. As the fish grows older, the black skirt tetra will become duller and fade to a silvery gray. They have an average life expectancy of around five years.
Tetras have a docile nature. They function well in community fish tanks as long as none of the other members of the community are overly aggressive. The tetras species are shoaling fish. They swim in groups. Therefore it is a good idea to add multiple tetras to your community tank. Four to six is ideal.
The black skirt tetra is indigenous to South America. They inhabit subtropical river basins in Bolivia, Brazil and northern Argentina where water temperatures stay between 68 and 79? F. Like most fish that originate from South America, they are accustomed to soft, slightly acidic water. Aquarium water can be filtered through peat. Or water softener can be added to the water. Products such as Tetra’s Black Water Extract can be purchased at most fish specialty stores. This extract closely approximates the conditions of Amazon River water in your fish tank.
Because they are a smaller variety of fish native to predatory waters, the black skirts are hiders by nature. They take readily to heavily planted environments. Black skirts are prone to swimming in the middle layer of your aquarium.
Black skirt tetras are carnivorous in their natural habitat. But in captivity they are not picky when it comes to what they eat. Any tropical fish flakes will do just fine. Tetras are fin nippers by nature. They should not be kept with fish that have long, flowing fins such as Angelfish and Bettas, especially if you have a group of tetras.
Breeding Black Skirt Tetra
They are egg laying fish. They tend to scatter their eggs to increase the likelihood of survival. It is difficult to distinguish the difference between males and females unless the female is carrying eggs. In the reproduction cycle the female’s body tends to be a little rounder than the males. After spawning, adult fish should be removed to prevent them from eating their eggs.
The eggs will hatch in about 24 hours. Black skirt fry are very tiny when they first hatch. The fry can be fed commercial liquid fry foods when newly hatched. When they get a little bigger their diet can be changed to powdered fry food or newly hatched brine shrimp. Powdered egg is an acceptable substitute.
Posted in Pets tagged Dying Process, Water Products, Water Softener by Stephen with No comments
In the last few months of his life, he lived the very existence that he had feared virtually all his life. Broke, down trodden and almost destitute, the end of a the greatest living Victorian playwright, poet and thinker ever to tread the evil Earth should have been one of dignity and of superior grace. Instead, he lay, suffering what he would have been disappointed with – an ear infection (that later proved to be meningitis) and no real amount of mourners at his bedside. He had taught the world of the stiff Victorian values and what they had truly meant to someone who had felt a deep disconnection with the outside world. He had turned the establishment up side down; he had freely spoke in aesthetic terms that had once only been left to baggy shirted poets dying of syphilis. He captured the essence of Victorian life through both men and women and made a mockery of everything that they had stood for. Not unlike Miller for that instance, he also delved deep into the soul of a human life and bared it wide open to all as being evil and sinister in it’s daily actions.
Yet, he appeared, as we read about him now, flamboyant, gay (in it’s truest sense) and colourful. He had left behind him a legacy of satire, wit and dry humour that was decades before his time. Since his death on November 30 1900, there have been imitators, satirists, philosophers who have dived in to his works like dipping into great pools of analysis. Describing, dissecting and remarking on each line he ever wrote, we learn about not just his observations of the tight lipped world around him but how troubled he was within is own soul. Many thinkers and Wilde followers have argued since that he was simply an intelligence before his time – once being mocked for his love of beauty and all things created in a God like fashion, he would, it would seem, be more at home in this era, striding most graciously down the Kings Road, stopping every so often to glance inside some colourful boutique. Yet, with this surreal vision, we realise how, as character of sadness he truly was, yet his beginnings were of such hopes for a young man’s future…
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Born into a well to do Anglo-Irish family in Dublin on October 16th, 1854, he was immediately surrounded with not just the statutory gurgles and choochi coo’s of the adult world, but straight into an existence of knowledge and self growth. Whilst his father was not just a highly admired surgeon and a great writer of books on archaeology and folklore, his mother was a highly acclaimed writer, who held many an afternoon tea with the greatest literature creators of the 19th Century. What child could not fail to inherit such deeply intellectual talents from his parents? Perhaps due to his parents incredible brains, Oscar was doomed to roam the world in inner conflict right from the start. Yet he was completely at awe with his upbringing and his love of literature and books on anything grew naturally to him. He was taught at home by his parents and then didn’t attend school until his was almost 10 years old. Perhaps it was the distance from other children other than his own brother and sister, (she died when Oscar was only 13 and this affected him deeply for the rest of his life) that perhaps triggered an unhappiness within. It had certainly given him great power to observe the adults, warts and all, around him most closely.
Attending Oxford, he started to gather together pieces of scribbled poetry whilst studying English at Magdalen College. Not the greatest poet in his dormitory, as his intellectual brain was still in it’s infancy. Like Arthur Miller, he went on to receive awards for various prose although many failed. He was around this time in his life, a member of a student group full of Victorian hippies all trying to grow their hair and wear colourful and unusual clothes in a Bohemian fashion. They sat around and discussed art, poetry, beauty, wit and philosophy (as boys do, as one is put in mind of the film, ‘Dead Poets Society.) However these young men were innovative thinkers of their generation and already anti establishment to the hilt; if only dope had been passed around, we may have been exposed to Monty Python a heck of a lot earlier.
He eventually married in 1884 after having his heart broken by another woman who left him for Bram Stoker. (what on Earth for?) He had been so much in love that he vowed never to return to Ireland again. He kept to this, surprisingly and only visited briefly twice in the rest of his life. He had wed Constance Lloyd, a pretty girl whose character was not going to bound him in any such way. She was a devoted wife and mother to their two sons and was well educated and independent in her own right, whilst Wilde was free to write and edit the Woman’s World magazine and give lectures, mostly away from home. He had been used lecturing the curious middle classes on Aestheticism (The Justin and Colin of his time) and wrote a lengthy series of children’s fairy tales that were widely received.
Indulging further into his obsession with aestheticism, he lavishly spent their money (her allowance) on fanciful things and wildly decadent decoration for the house. At this time he had written some poetry (published) and a handful of mediocre plays, thus resulting in very little in the way of a good wage. Whilst struggling with money and the keeping of a wife and two fats growing sons, he was already battling with his inner feelings as a husband and father. Although he never lay anything before his domestic duties, he had known for a long time that his attractions for anything lustful where of a homosexual nature. As in Victorian England, the act of such an ‘unbiblical’ manner was a crime and came with a punishment of imprisonment. Wilde had mixed in circles where ‘rent boys’ were available to him, thus a need was, temporarily, eased. In wasn’t long before his inner battle was raised even more when he believed that within himself, there was an evil that couldn’t be cured. His plays were seen, on the surface as being witty, satirical and a jibe at the upper Victorian classes and their lack of education.
Below that surface, he portrayed every character as someone of sinisterism and evil thoughts against one another. In his black and depressing novel, ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray,’ (published 1891) there were strong similar characterisations made between Gray and Wilde. It was later used against him at his trial for indecent acts as a written character witness. He was cross questioned and firmly accused of writing an autobiography instead of a novel. (How strange minded the Vic’s were!) Yet his story was of a being who was gradually eaten up by his own evil thoughts that it drives him to suicide. Critically immoral, the Victorians ruled it out as a damaging piece of work whose strength was only for the eyes of madmen. Despite this and perhaps secretly pleased with the passions he was stirring amongst the London audience, he published it even so.
There then followed a series of four plays that focussed on the absurdity of the adult behaviour between the players and towards each other. Politically correct and up standing, they were laced rather beautifully with wit, farcical attractiveness and well observed in the mannerisms of the human being. They touched us with the relationships between the generations and more importantly, between men and women. He was, undoubtedly, a great philosopher of the interactions of men and women. After writing and editing a leading woman’s magazine, he had got to realised the failings of each sex. Thus pleasing a heterosexual crowd so much so, that when he was eventually arrested in May 1895 for gross indecency, it was an incredible shock to his vast admiring audience. It was made even more incredible when it was also in this year that he achieved the two most highly acclaimed plays of his life. ‘An Ideal Husband,’ and ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest.’
Regaining his wit and astute sarcasm for his trial, the sentence may not have been so destructive to his spirit if it wasn’t for the way he was standing in the dock in the first place. After accusing his lover’s father of libel, (the 9th Marquis of Queensberry,) the tables were quickly turned upon Wilde. Since Lord Alfred’s father had continually cornered the lovers with firing questions, Wilde had always managed to out wit the inquisitive old man. Strangely, it was Lord Alfred who urged Wilde to take him to court. To keep his long term lover close to him and to protect him, Wilde agreed, although he was warned against the idea by other close watchers. Unfortunately the tables were violently turned when after the case was thrown out, the prosecuting council learnt of Wilde’s previously unknown sexual behaviour and Wilde was arrested instead. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years hard labour, which he survived, quite broken in spirit, but still however, alive. It was argued by many of those close to Wilde and his social circle that why wasn’t every upper class boy accused of sodomy as it was apparently an activity of the highly educated snobs?
He continued to write and within his time at Reading prison, he wrote a letter which is now on display at the British Museum but was not allowed to be made public until 1960.
Many critiques have been published about the uncompleted works of Oscar Wilde. He had left amongst an elaborate life, a large collection of never seen before poems, play and prose of all sorts. They have been, in a scattered manner, published since his death. His son, Vyvyan published some prose and grandson’s after him, have continued to carry on his memory, publishing more work. Yet it’s the mind behind the wit, intelligence and observational humour that we still are captivated by today. He has been mentioned in pop music, (The Smiths’ ‘Cemetery Gates,’ and James Blunt’s ‘Tears and Rain,’ are recent examples of this.) As well as many theatre triumphs and fanatical flops have graced our West End on the life and loves of this unusual playwright. Never, I don’t think, have the literature circles felt such a magnetic pull towards an influential writer.
Many websites can be found in relation to the dissecting of his works and of the man himself. You can read the entire novel, ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray,’ online if you really are in a good mood or you can find other sites that will talk endless hours to you about the misconceptions of Oscar Wilde, as if we should be finding some way to forgive ourselves for putting to sleep a man who taught us about life and behaviour light years away from the biological and the mathematical theories. He was, through characters, the stand up, alternative comic of his day, yet we still don’t give him that credit and only remember him as an old fag who was self indulgent and flamboyant.
He once said, ‘Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative,’ and that is exactly what he gave us. His life was very much inconsistent and it is for this that we find a certain curiousness. Yet although he was at battle with himself for most of his life, he must have found, if only for a brief moment, a certain inner peace. He also said, ‘You can survive everything, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation,’ and this to me means that he knew how much his work would be forever admired and adored long after his own existence, so the rest of it, didn’t really matter.
“The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for” (Oscar Wilde.)
Works to adore and admire;
‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ – 1891
‘Salome’ – 1894
‘A Woman Of No Importance’ – 1893
‘An Ideal Husband’ – 1895
‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’ – 1895
Stephen Fry very wonderfully played a long awaited role as Oscar in the film, ‘Wilde.’ 1997.
?Michelle Duffy (sam1942 on ciao and dooyoo) 2006
http://www.oscarwilde.com
Posted in Arts And Entertainment tagged Dignity, Left Behind, Mourners by Stephen with No comments
