Deaths cut close to home [Hand Dryers]
An emotional Judith Collins has revealed her personal pain at the loss of a cousin, murdered when her husband breached a protection order. The Justice Minister spoke to the Herald on Sunday yesterday, after announcing plans to use GPS monitors to track violent men and stop them going near women they had threatened or attacked. There have been questions this week about why the police did not respond to pleas for help from Katharine Webb, whose former husband, Edward Livingstone, shot dead their son and daughter then turned the gun on himself in Dunedin this week.
But the GPS proposal dates back further. In July 2012 Collins' cousin Robyn Prole was brutally killed by her husband Rex Prole, despite a protection order banning him from approaching or contacting her. Livingstone's violence brought back memories of Robyn's death. "She'd only been married for about two years before he murdered her," Collins said. Robyn's first husband had died in his 20s from a congenital heart problem, leaving her to bring up their son, Alex, whom she adored.
"She met this Rex Prole person at her church where he was supposedly a rehabilitated prisoner," Collins said. "She brought him to a National Party function that I was speaking at and introduced me to him. I thought he was a bit dodgy, but it wasn't for me to judge. Next thing she was married to him. She was very happy after many, many years - she was well into her 50s - to have found someone else. That was about two years before he killed her." The cousins were "quite close" and Collins was a guest at the wedding, but after a while communication broke down. It turned out Rex was violent towards Robyn.
She was 57 when she died. She had left him and got a protection order after a violent incident but he had breached the order. "The day that he killed her she went to collect the mail from her mailbox at the house that they had owned," Collins said. "She drove in, didn't even get out of the car but opened up the window and he walked up to her. He had a kitchen knife in his hand and he stabbed her straight into the throat and she bled to death in front of the neighbours." The only positive thing Collins had to say about the 65-year-old builder was he had pleaded guilty. Collins said Robyn, the daughter of her father's sister, was a kind person who only ever saw the good in people, even when there was no good. Asked how Robyn's death influenced her work as Justice Minister, Collins said: "Obviously I need to be very professional as I am about these matters, but I am very aware of the way in which this can happen to anybody in any family. It has a devastating effect."
Monsoon founder invests in Loaf [Hand Dryers]
Peter Simon, founder of Monsoon and Accessorize, has taken a significant minority stake in Loaf, the British furniture and homeware retailer, for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Charlie Marshall, Loaf has become the UK's fastest-growing homeware company, with average annual sales growth of 81% over the last three years.
With plans to grow turnover from 20m to 100m over the next few years, Loaf had been looking for a suitable partner to help.
Charlie says: "Peter shares our values and approach to business. With 40 years' experience of growing two of Britain's most successful retail names, his guidance and advice will help ensure we achieve our goals of filling the gap in the UK market for laid-back furniture and becoming a household name."
The predominantly-online store launched five years ago, when Marshall started out selling a select range of 12 beds and just one mattress. Having lost a whole Saturday trying to buy a bed, he saw an opportunity to make the shopping experience as quick and hassle-free as possible – two years, 187 mattress and bed factories later, Loaf was born.
While most were waiting for the financial markets to improve, Charlie saw the downturn as the ideal time to launch a business. He attributes Loaf's success to responding to consumers' demand for distinctive-looking and characterful furniture which does not burn a hole in the pocket.
This fuss-free formula paid off, and in 2012 Loaf launched into other areas of the home with sofas and kitchen tables, which now make up a significant part of the business. The company will expand again in Spring 2014 into kitchen accessories and storage, console tables and home office furniture.
The 40-strong team based at Loaf's West London showroom-style HQ is set to grow to 60 over the next few months. To achieve Charlie Marshall's expansion goals, retail destinations called Loaf Shacks are planned to run alongside the online offering.
Taming the urban griller [Hand Dryers]
The Great Aussie Barbecue can be a sordid affair. Mediocre ingredients are routinely overcooked, then shared, charmlessly, among celebrants long past caring. In truth, there has seldom been anything great about it, until food fashions intervened. Dishes such as pulled pork, smoked brisket, fall-off-the-bone ribs and smoke-infused chickens have emerged as the stars of the barbecue revolution. The minimum requirements for slow-smoked and painstakingly roasted dishes are an old-fashioned Weber kettle, a mountain of charcoal or briquettes, lashings of hickory chips and tolerant neighbours. The following recipes will breathe authentic barbecue personality into dishes unfamiliar to most backyard barbecue vandals - dishes that will help them to return from the dark side and emerge as superheroes of the grill.
Slice about 1 to 2 centimetres from the top (stem end) of a fig and cut a deep cross into the top. Squeeze the bottom of the fig to open up that cross and insert a wedge of the best blue cheese you have to hand - roquefort or gorgonzola are ideal. Then, wrap most of the fig in a strip of good prosciutto, tucking it in, rather than skewering it, and sit the fig on a halo of foil - made by loosely rolling, from corner to corner, a square of foil torn from a standard roll, and twisting into a circle - on a hot gas grill. Drop the lid and cook until the prosciutto crisps, the fig softens and the cheese melts. Eat.
For the dip, crumble a quantity of blue cheese - ideally roquefort, but gorgonzola also works quite well - into Best Foods or Hellman's bottled mayonnaise. Try two large chunks of blue cheese, each bigger than a golf ball, with a cup of mayonnaise. Use a fork to mash the cheese into the mayonnaise, then thin the mixture with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Mix until smooth. Cover and chill. Prepare a dozen chicken wings (24 segments) by snipping off and discarding the top joints and then dividing them at the main joint. Toss the resulting ''flats and drummies'' in EV olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Cook them, covered, on a well-oiled gas grill at a temperature over 200C. Turn them after five minutes and again after another five. They will cook in about 15 minutes. Ensure that they have cooked evenly and that all sides are crisp and golden with dark char marks. Prepare a glaze by placing half a stick of butter (125 grams) into a saucepan and squirting Sriracha chilli sauce over it until it is well covered. Heat gently and stir well to emulsify. Place the hot, cooked wings in a large bowl and pour the butter and chilli sauce over, tossing to coat evenly. Lift on to a platter to drain and cool slightly before serving them alongside the dip.
A Kenilworth cake baker on a mission [Hand Dryers]
A few years after Gertrude Troyer's family gave up its horse and buggy, she hopped in her brother's 1960 Pontiac Bonneville headed for Kenilworth. They didn't know how to get there, so they just drove to the White House and eventually found a pay phone. She was a 21-year-old country girl from Plain City, Ohio, on her way to a short stint volunteering for her Mennonite church in an impoverished Washington neighborhood. Forty-six years later, she's still here, standing on her tippytoes at 5:20 a.m., using a butter knife to help slide a plastic bucket of sugar from the shelf above her counter to begin work on a rush of cake orders for Christmas. Gertie, as everyone calls her, has made it here as a missionary, a summer camp organizer and a construction office custodian. She has taken abuse from surly teens, has prayed with relatives of the murdered and now helps support herself running a makeshift cake-baking business in the brick home she shares with one of the girls she first mentored decades ago.
Wearing a black veil over pulled-back gray hair, a red cotton cape dress that covers her from neck to ankles, and Asics running shoes, Troyer tackles her morning's baking agenda — one strawberry supreme, three red velvet, a poundcake — with the same Cultivating trees is a steady way of life buoyant relentlessness she has brought to the rest of her life in the city. "Most people know that's not the norm. Most people don't just leave their home towns and go someplace else almost completely opposite, and stay," said her housemate, Cynthia Sharpe, 58, who was just 11 and living in the Kenilworth Courts housing project when Troyer arrived.
At first, Sharpe said she didn't see Troyer "as an individual," just as one of the friendly missionaries who came to help out. Another quizzical neighborhood kid was Vincent Wright Jr., now an officer with the D.C. police. "I was like, 'These are some homely-looking folks,' " Wright recalls. "That dress makes them look like, what's that the girl on 'Little House on the Prairie,' Melissa Gilbert or something?" She grabs eggs in her right hand and cracks them with a sharp knock against the egg in her left. Like some just-in-time manufacturing guru, she moves fast: batter in, rotate pan, cakes out, repeat. Flour gets measured to the hundredth of a pound on her digital scale. "It's the way I've been doing it for years, and it comes out right," said Troyer.
She grew up Amish and learned to bake without electricity in her mother's kitchen. By age 15, her father reluctantly followed local church leaders as they shifted toward a less conservative religious tradition as Mennonites. Although they still aspired to live as Jesus would, they did so with cars and electric lights. Troyer's frugal roots remain. She uses an empty 25-pound Domino sugar sack as a trash bag, and scrapes the paddle of her stand mixer with her fingers to get off every bit of batter, then scrapes her fingers with the spatula to get the last few drops. She's still smarting over the time, years ago, when a pair of red velvets went bad. She used cake flour, not self-rising. They were dry and flat, and went to the birds. "I was so beat out I did that," she said, before translating the German-influenced holdover phrase for the uninitiated. "I was disgusted with myself. That's exactly what it means." Then she burst out in the playful, wholehearted laugh that has melted tough kids, skeptical adults and longtime customers alike.
Man shot by deputy during alleged attack is cleared to stand trial [Hand Dryers]
A Moses Lake man accused of attacking a Grant County sheriff's deputy can stand trial according to prosecutors. Prosecutor Angus Lee stated an evaluation by Eastern State Hospital staff shows Corey L. Minatani, a 41-year-old man, is competent to stand trial.
Minatani is charged with two counts of assault in the first degree, after allegedly attacking his wife and a Grant County sheriff's deputy in August 2012. An order allowing the proceedings against Minatani hasn't been entered. Another hearing is scheduled for Dec. 23.
Issues between Minatani and his wife reportedly came to a head about two weeks before the incident and they planned to get a divorce. While Minatani was picking up their children in Port Orchard, she reportedly invited a man to spend the night with her, according to Moses Lake police.
Minatani reportedly tried calling his wife during the course of the night, and became upset as she ignored his phone calls and decided to return home. When he arrived, he allegedly told the other man to leave, and began arguing with his wife. During the fight, he reportedly switched between being homicidal and suicidal, and attacked her with his hands and at least two kitchen knives.
Minatani's son called police, and the victim reportedly ran out to meet them. The deputy, after hearing reports that Minatani was suicidal, entered the residence. Minatani allegedly responded to the deputy calling for him by asking if the deputy had his gun out.
When the deputy said his gun was out, Minatani reportedly stepped into the hallway holding a knife and a serving fork, and said, "Officer, you better put both hands on your gun."
Minatani allegedly approached the deputy, ignoring warnings to stop, until he was about 5 to 7 feet away from the deputy and crouched as if he was going to lunge. The deputy shot Minatani in the chest.
Twenty cookbooks from 2013 that will inspire greatness [Hand Dryers]
I can’t think of many retail experiences more social than the cookbook section of a good bookstore in December. While over in Fiction or True Crime, or around the slippers and Slankets display at your local big box store, the pre-holiday browsing is so often a solitary pursuit, cookbook lovers can’t help themselves from talking with each other. From the buying to the reading to that unique other thing that cookbooks allow – the feeding of friends and loved ones – cookbooks are a shared experience.
These are my picks for the 20 best cookbooks of 2013 – the books so good that I can’t stop thinking about them and cooking from them. (Or telling people about them.) Consider this my excited shout from across the aisle.
Fuchsia Dunlop, a Brit who trained as a chef in Chengdu, China, is the go-to Western authority on regional Chinese cooking. Her latest, loaded with easy, extraordinarily tasty recipes (gingery beef brisket soup with goji berries), is also peppered with easy-to-follow instructions on Chinese cooking basics, from using a wok to proper knife cuts. Indispensable.
There are no high-end sushi creations here this accessible, beautifully written book by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat is a guide to the dumplings, curries, rice, ramen, noodle bowls and deep-fried delicacies – the soul cooking – that most Japanese people eat every day.
Portuguese might be one of the planet’s most underrated cuisines; it is also a vital (if perpetually overlooked) part of Canada’s culinary heritage. With ridiculously tasty takes on both straight-up Portuguese and Portuguese-Canadian classics, Carla Azevedo’s terrific collection might change that. My favourite Canadian cookbook of 2013.
Valerie Gordon, a Los Angeles-based pastry chef, combines smart advice with uncommonly sophisticated flavours: sweet-and-savoury pumpkin seed toffees, and buttery galettes filled with apricots and basil cream. The cake section lays out seven basic cake recipes (orange; hazelnut; matcha; golden butter) and nine fillings (passion fruit buttercream; gianduja ganache), which readers can mix and match.
Written by Rick and Michael Mast, a pair of bean-to-bar chocolate makers, the recipes in this love letter of a cookbook are designed for the extra-good stuff, instead of the usual waxy commodity chocolate. From its pies (chocolate and beet) and cakes (dark and stormy chocolate) to its exquisite savouries (chocolate ricotta pancakes), drinks and confections, the results taste out of this world.
In news announced to accompany the sale [Hand Dryers]
In general in the Mojave Desert, it can be hard to tell whether yellow-rumps are migrating or resident: even the ones that are just passing through tend to take their time. But in the Ivanpah Valley, it's quite rare to see yellow-rumped warblers in summer: Those shopping at the business Tuesday the citizen science site eBird displays no records of yellow-rumps in tthe Ivanpah Valley between late May and late September for the past 10 years.October is generally the local peak of the yellow-rumped migration season, and so it makes sense that last month would not only provide the first recorded yellow-rumped casualties at Ivanpah, but that they would be the species most amply represented in the list of victims.The fact that most of the yellow-rumped warbler bodies recovered showed signs of solar flux injury is serious cause for concern. Though the species tends to hunt for its insect food from perches in trees, usually foraging in among the branches in typical warbler style, it's more flexible in its habits than many of its cousins. Not only do yellow-rumps often leave the trees' canopies to grab a likely insect, but they also take detours on long flights to grab an invertebrate snack on the wing.
Those long migration flights often take place in the company of large groups of other yellow-rumped warblers, meaning that a tempting source of insects along a flight path may divert a large number of birds.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that its staff have seen large numbers of insects apparently attracted to the Ivanpah site while that site has been producing solar flux. It doesn't seem too far-fetched that a crowd of bugs would in turn attract hungry migrating warblers.About half the dead yellow-rumps were noted during surveys of the inner portions of the solar fields, with the remainder found "incidentally" -- by workers engaged in unrelated pursuits. (In its compliance report BrightSource maintains that birds injured by solar flux would fall within the first few tiers of heliostats.) This means that the vast majority of the project site is not being surveyed for dead and injured birds, so that the actual numbers may well be considerably higher.
Yanchak said the resident punched the man in the face [Hand Dryers]
Michael Yanchak said a resident of the home saw a man walk to the front door and heard someone rattle and attempt to kick the door.When the 29-year-old resident opened the front door, the man had a knife, the resident said. An altercation began and the man attempting to enter the house stepped forward.Yanchak said the resident punched the man in the face, causing him to stumble backward. During the altercation, the resident suffered a cut on his arm that did not require medical attention, Yanchak said.The man then fled in an older-model, drab-blue Dodge Neon that had been backed into the drive next to the resident's vehicle, Yanchak said.Police believe the license plate was from Pennsylvania.The man who attempted to enter the house is white, about 5 feet, 10 inches to 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing between 180 to 190 pounds. He is believed to be in his mid-40s with short brown hair, brown eyes. He was clean-shaven. The man was wearing a gray sweatshirt and black jeans, police said.
This is the fourth similar event in the township, with three houses in an adjacent neighborhood being burglarized Friday night, police said.Front doors were kicked in or opened at houses on Stratford, Hemlock and Oakwood drives. Julrich Drive is connected to the Stratford Manor neighborhood through innerconnected residential streets.Untraceable cash was taken during the Friday burglaries, with electronic items, jewelry and prescription medication being left behind, police said.When asked if the most recent incident was related, Yanchak said it was hard to determine. However, he asked that all township residents look out for their neighbor's residences and if anyone or anything appears to be suspicious, call 911 immediately.He suggests homeowners watch houses to the left and right of theirs, and the three houses across the street."It's not snooping, it's being a good neighbor," Yanchak said.A woman wanting a cab ride from a Long Beach donut shop is the subject of an investigation after she was caught on camera brandishing a knife and trying to hit the taxi driver with a hammer, police announced Tuesday.
In case of transportation of goods is concerned [Hand Dryers]
Various payment options are also given for Japanese used car auction. It will help in making adjustments in your busy saving plan. Most of the online websites also arrange for delivery, they have subsidized rates at which shipping can be done. In most cases shipping cost is already included in the final cost of the car.There is enormous number of manufacturing companies producing immense range of semi trucks; due to this they have distinctive identity in different parts of the country. Diesel Trucks, Transfer trucks and 18 wheel Semi trucks are the most popular types of semi trucks for sale. In case of transportation of goods is concerned, Semi trucks forms the first option by almost every top leading manufacturer company. This feature has made semi trucks one of the most popular among the trucking industry with the consideration as the helpful and astounding trucks for sales that are available in the market of trucking.Semi trucks are used in the regions like Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and North America. These countries serve as a huge market for the business of construction and transportation. The condition of these vehicles is agile with appropriate maintenance, easy to pickup goods and makes hauling as well as towing smooth with comfort.
Their availability in varied sizes, forms and makes, for instance, Dodge, Freightliner, Chevrolet, Kenworth, Peterbilt, GMC, Isuzu, Mack Trucks gives the buyers lot of scope for choosing their semi truck. These are well known as heavy duty trucks too. Irrespective of what kind of business you do, may it be small or large choosing appropriate trucks is vital in order to suit your business structure and activities causing no harm to your business.The structure of these trucks is attractive and can grab anyone's attention by their exclusive features of picking up goods and transferring them from one place to another. It's really an added advantage to have semi trucks if you serve trucking business. These are very helpful in expansion of business activities. It's is not really possible for everyone to afford a new truck for his business activities. So, they can opt for used trucks as they can also serve your purpose if the appropriate truck is chosen and bought from reliable dealer or searched on site truly committed with the sales of quality used trucks.If at all you are planning to buy a used truck, then Kenworth would be the best option with respect to money and even quality of heavy duty and medium duty trucks. Since 1923, Kenworth has been making some of the strongest built and appreciative trucks.
This is not just any weekly cruise [Hand Dryers]
I found this phrase the other day and it certainly sums up the way I feel about travel.Of course, after reading the quotation, Judge Edward Smith ordered Bruch to serve I started thinking about my list of places I have been and places I can't wait to discover. I am often asked what is next on that list and, ironically, it continues to get longer, not shorter.While it is difficult to choose one vacation to go on next, there is a cruise departing Aug. 30, 2014, that not only goes to places I have been waiting to cross off my list but also stops at one of the most beautiful destinations I have ever traveled to: Aitutaki.This is not just any weekly cruise on one of the mega ships that carries thousands of passengers, it is a special 12-night trip to Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands and Society Islands on the beautiful m/s Paul Gauguin. The renowned Paul Gauguin, which is ranked as 5 stars, was built specifically to sail the waters of the South Pacific. With just 332 guests and 217 crew members, the 1:1.5 crew-to-guest ratio is one of the highest in the industry.While Paul Gauguin is a luxury experience, the company offers an extraordinary value.
All-inclusive fares include spacious ocean-view accommodations, all meals, beverages, including select wines and spirits throughout the ship, all entertainment and gratuities.Spacious suites and staterooms (more than 70 percent of rooms have private balconies), a choice from three open-seating dining venues and an extensive spa are among the ship's luxurious attributes. The atmosphere aboard this recently renovated ship radiates Polynesian flair. The Gauguines, local Tahitians who serve as cruise staff, entertainers and storytellers, add the unique personality of Tahiti to every sailing.Water sports are some highlights of the Polynesian experience, and the Paul Gauguin is constructed to take full advantage of the area's irresistible waters, offering accessibility to ports and adventures that other ships can't. The ship's small footprint enables it to navigate lagoons that larger ships would never dare to enter. The winner of the 2012 Kenilworth Arts Council's Kenilworth Painting Prize (Acquisitive) Ian Gunn has packed his bags and jetted off to the United Kingdom for the next four months using his prize money to combine both travel and study.
