CHOPPING

Police release security images of vandal chopping tulips with umbrella: Police on Thursday released images from a security camera showing a man chopping down tulips with his umbrella alongside a road here, following a spate of similar attacks in Maebashi, the Japanese capital city of Gunma. Images from video footage show the man lopping off the tops of tulips in Maebashi. (Photo courtesy of Gunma Prefectural Police)[via Arbroath]

So the website 23/6 has a disturbing poll asking the public who should die in the Sex and the City movie. Aside from how disturbing it is to ask viewers who should get the ax in the movie, the polls were surprisingly unsurprising. The bloodlust out there is really gunning for either Samantha or Carrie to bite the big one. In a stroke of kindness though, the poll takers believe that anyone who sees the actual movie will most likely kill themselves. Apparently Cynthia Nixon let it slip that someone is going to die in the film. I highly doubt any of the core 4 will actually perish...though for her own sake, I'd suggest Kim Cattrall avoid any sharp objects. No...it'll probably be someone like Bitzy Von Mufling or some obscure character from the past like "funky spunk guy" or "the comic shop po

If you’re still one of the millions of people who have real wood burning fireplaces you may be buying your wood precut. But there are still several of you who are doing it the old fashioned way and chopping your wood supply every year. For some people this is a nuisance, for others it’s therapeutic. [...]

I’m going to lead off this week’s article with an update on my lawn situation: I’ve now mowed it myself three times. In return, I’ve received one “thank you”, but no hint that Alex actually intends to buy a new mower and resume his landlordly groundskeeping duties. I’m not really complaining though. The initial fight with the pull-starter of my neighbor’s rickety old pushmower, the act of pushing it back and forth across the lawn, detaching the bag to empty the clippings, the smell of fresh-cut grass mixed with exhaust; they’re all whimsical reminders of childhood chores.The only problem with this lawn care arrangement, as I touched on before, is that I think I’ve more or less assumed responsibility for it….Oops.That’s the problem with low expectations: if you set t

The place I work gets really cold now during the night, so we decided to start the fireplace up. In our little farmhouse we have one woodsaw, four chainsaws and two axes. The Kiwis decided that that’s not good enough… ShareThis

These four color-coded polypropylene chopping boards are designed to avoid cross-contamination of various food types: red/raw meat, white/cooked foods, blue/fish, green/vegetables. The boards are stored in an ABS plastic horizontal filing unit with a non-slip rubber bottom. The index chopping boards, designed by Damian Evans, are an extremely good idea. I'm always having to either clean my cutting board or find a different one when I forget that I shouldn't cut my meats up first, always cut your vegetables and fruits first. Get it over at the MoMA store for $85.chopping boardvia swissmiss

I was privledged enough to come across a copy of the 1986 Roger Corman produced “Chopping Mall” aka Killbots, starring Tony O’Dell (Head of the Class, The Karate Kid, The Puppy Saves the Circus) and Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet). Chopping Mall starts off cleverly, with a street tough breaking into a jewelry store window, [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Populations of tiger, bull, dusky and other sea sharks have plummeted by more than 95 percent since the 1970s as fisherman kill the animals for their fins or when they scoop other fish from the ocean, according to an expert from the World Conservation Union, or IUCN.At particular risk is the scalloped hammerhead shark, whose young swim mostly in shallow waters along shores all over the world to avoid predators.The scalloped hammerhead will be listed on the 2008 IUCN Red List as globally "endangered" due to overfishing and high demand for its valuable fins in the shark fin trade, said Julia Baum, a member of the IUCN's shark specialist group."As a result of high and mostly unrestricted fishing pressure, many sharks are now considered to be at risk of extinction," Baum s

Posted by mobile phone: Today, Fed Chairm Ben Bernanke indicated that the central bank is poised to continue lowering rates in order to stave off a recession. Here in San Francisco, the housing... Curious about San Francisco Real Estate? Want to know how to buy? When to sell? Who's doing what? Here's the place to find out what you want?or need?to know about the market.

Posted by mobile phone: Today, Fed Chairm Ben Bernanke indicated that the central bank is poised to continue lowering rates in order to stave off a recession. Here in San Francisco, the housing... Do you want to know what's happening in the mile or so around Dolores Park? Stop by the blog for neighborhood photos, current events, and a little Real Estate info, too.

For most of us, baseball is just a game; for others, it's more than that. Well, today Joe Torre's job is on the chopping block as the New York Yankees lost 6-4 last night to the Cleveland Indians. In a game which looked much closer than it actually was, the Yankee bats fell flat, Chien-Ming Wang was terrible, and the Indians executed plays and got the big hit when it was needed. Paul Byrd, despite the criticism and his lifetime record against New York pitched a decent game as well got the Bronx Bombers to hit the ball into play -- to a fielder most of the time.Mike Mussina did his best to keep the Yankees in the game, but his effort was in vain.I had a baseball round-table with Jason from My Baseball Bias, Ian from Sox and Dawgs and Sooze from Babes Love Baseball during the game; alas, it was a forgone conclusion as early as the fifth inning that the Evil Empire may have seen their last days as a dynasty.After the game, during the press conference, America saw a sullen, reflective Jo

     The badass ninjutsu quartet, known as The Urban Ninjas begin their sword training the only way they know how… By slicing the hell out of beer cans! This is rare, never-before-seen footage of the underground mercenaries in action… Stay tuned as more video of the The Urban Ninjas becomes available on AlexLandis.com!Share This

Page Six is reporting that TeenVogue may be following in Jane's (the magazine and its website will be shutting down as of August 2007) late footsteps.Although the Conde Nast rep says it's "not true", the likelihood that this is more than just a rumour is quite reasonable. I don't know what I'd do if TeenVogue ceased to exist. Not only will it mean no more fashionable Harry Potter trio spreads, but what's LC (star of Laguna Beach and more recently The Hills: follows her life, including her internship at TeenVogue) going to do??Hopefully this is all just speculation.Perhaps we can get a petition started? How does that sound?Catch.*Romany*

This 9-cup Kitchen Aid KFP740CR food processor is great find. It’s so quiet you can have a conversation while it’s running! One particularly nice feature is the double bowl. The small 4 cup bowl inside the bigger 9 cup bowl is ingenius. The mini-bowl is handy for small amounts such as grinding nuts or a few vegetables. [...]

One thing is for sure, you can never predict who will cave under pressure and who will rise to the top. On this show, projecting your personality is as important as cooking for the next network star. This week's competition had the contestants grill a dish that would make the cover of the July issue of Bon Appetit magazine.Nikki, who was cut, made the mistake of rehearsing her presentation ahead of time. Consequently, she seemed fake and wooden on air. In addition, she presented a Jamaica Me Crazy Jerk Chicken that had no jerk! Oooh, that's so not good. Especially when the cover of Bon Appetit magazine is the prize. So Nikki, who cooks in sexy high heels, was cut for over scripting her presentation and for an inferior recipe.The winner, Rory, felt that after last week's awful performance she had something to prove. So she made her special grilled ribs and added a visual twist: grilled canteloupe. This impressed Barbara Fairchild, editor in chief of Bon Appetit magazine, enough to wi

A West Indian man was offered a job to do landscaping in New York. His new employer arranges for his flight, then calls him and reminds him to bring his tools. So the man packs and heads for NY. Upon arrival at JFK, security asks him to open his bags. As he opens one of the bags, a cutlass falls out. "Why are you coming to America with this for?" asked the officer. The man replies "I come to chop bush."

A West Indian man was offered a job to do landscaping in New York. His new employer arranges for his flight, then calls him and reminds him to bring his tools. So the man packs and heads for NY. Upon arrival at JFK, security asks him to open his bags. As he opens one of the bags, a cutlass falls out. "Why are you coming to America with this for?" asked the officer. The man replies "I come to chop bush."

This week, I was sent by Channel Nine an advance copy of the first episode of their new TV series Chopping Block. The format is simple. Each episode, two restaurants in either Sydney or Melbourne compete against each other to win $20,000. Both restaurants are reviewed by the show’s restaurant reviewer, and after the review each restaurant has to $5000 budget to overhaul of their décor, service and menu in order to win over the critic on his next visit. The restaurant that’s done a better job wins. It’s a bit like the Block vs My Restaurant Rules but nowhere as drawn out of either of those two programs. In the episode of the Chopping Block I was sent it was Café Parlo vs Café 43 from the beach side suburb of Cronulla where there are almost 50 restauran

{mosgoogle right}MAEBASHI -- Police on Thursday released images from a security camera showing a man chopping down tulips with his umbrella alongside a road here, following a spate of similar attacks in the city.Police have launched a search for the man, who appears to be aged between his 40s and 50s.The suspect, dressed in a suit and tie, was captured swinging his umbrella violently to lop the tops off tulips in planters near the Gunma Prefectural Government headquarter [...]