Gleanings of Wheat

What does he think his punishment should be? No video games for a WHOLE weekend. Wow.

Well, I stumbled upon an interesting little post today. Here's the bulk of it: Researchers used pureed cooked cannelli beans to replace 25%, 50%, and 75% of the shortening in a brownie recipe. They also baked brownies without any beans. The resulting goodies were rated for looks, color, tenderness, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability by 120 untrained student, faculty, and staff volunteers. The 25% and 50% bean brownies were rated about the same overall as the 0% bean brownies (75% bean brownies were not as well received).

And I'm not the least bit surprised. I know it sounds awful that this doesn't shock me, but really it doesn't. I'm disgusted that she would do this , but really not all that surprised. Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process. I know some will say that this is vastly different from a woman aborting an unplanned pregnancy, and I'll even admit to a point that this is true. But the end result is the same, a defenseless child has been slaughtered. Just in this case it has been slaughtered in the name of art. Both instances are selfish, but in this case the girl is willing to stand before the world and boldly disp...

Now this is interesting! This guy gets mugged, gives the kid his jacket and takes him out to dinner. Seriously, I'm impressed. Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. "He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm." The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you ...

One North Texas-based televangelist missed a Thursday deadline to answer a Senate inquiry about his ministry's finances, while another responded and insisted it did nothing wrong. Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, in Wise County, delivered a packet of information Thursday to the office of U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, who last month launched an investigation into whether six nationally known ministries had abused their tax-exempt status. Grapevine-based Benny Hinn Ministries did not meet the deadline for answering questions put to it by Mr. Grassley, but released a statement saying it planned to respond by Jan. 30. ... Of the four other ministries targeted by Mr. Grassley, only Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo., had delivered information by Thursday afternoon. ... John Copeland, Kenneth Copeland's son, said by phone Thursday that Kenneth Copeland Ministries and its affiliated Eagle Mountain International Church have followed the law. “The Bible says if you do good, y...

I found this post over at Culinary Musings and since I have a profound love of garlic I figured I'd post it. 1. A Clove for Courage The Greeks and Romans believed that garlic increased courage. Greek commanders fed garlic to soldiers before battle, perhaps making their breath as lethal as their weapons. Roman soldiers also ate garlic for courage, but their commanders went a step further. Romans planted fields of garlic in conquered countries. They wanted the courageous effect of garlic to transfer from the garlic field to the battlefield – hopefully to Roman soldiers only, not their enemies. 2. Strength in Numbers (of cloves, that is) Many cultures believed that garlic increased strength and stamina. Greek Olympic athletes chewed it for stamina before competition. Both Greek and Roman soldiers ate garlic before and during battles. The Egyptian laborers who built the pyramids ate it as part of their daily ration. One year, unusual flooding on the Nile caused a shortage of garlic, s...

Alabama Boy Kills 1,051-Pound Monster Pig Jamison Stone's father says the hog his son killed weighed a 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. Think hams as big as car tires.