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We found the following method for roasting red chilli peppers: preheat oven to 450F or 230C (this, appropriately, is about as hot as most ovens go); spread the peppers evenly on a cooking sheet; roast the peppers for about 4-5 minutes until the skins blister; watch carefully so they do not burn.

Someone in Espoo, Finland, did this yesterday but forgot the last step. In fact, they forgot about their roasting chillies and went out.

Nasty things happen when chillies are left roasting. In this case, four people in the next-door apartment found that they were having trouble breathing. Someone managed to ring for help and pretty soon they were all in hospital being treated for respiratory problems.

Meanwhile firefighters had to try to get into the apartment where the chillies were still blistering away. The firefighters put on industrial-strength gas masks, but even so the first man in had a coughing fit and had trouble breathing.

One firemen said there was no smoke, but the air smelled like "pepper spray".

The four neighbours taken to hospital recovered.

Do not try this at home, and remember never to underestimate the final step of a recipe.
news.com.au

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Europe, Finland, Health

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Free parking for pregnant women? Don't be naive!

January 24th 2011 02:49

: Vyoos news

There are times when my naivete steps up and smacks me across the bridge of the nose.

Here I was nodding in agreement with the words of a New York City Councilman named David Greenfield who supports a proposal that pregnant women be granted the freedom to park anywhere for the duration of their pregnancy and another 30 days after giving birth.

"New York is a tough place to get around. A difficult pregnancy makes it tougher. This should make it a little bit easier," he added.

I nodded.

But then I read the words of several experts who pointed out the shortcomings of the plan.

Take Sonia Ossorio, who is executive director of the National Organization For Women. "Parking privileges for women experiencing difficult pregnancies is a thoughtful idea," Ossorio allowed. However, "I don't want to see a short-term privilege like easy parking create an environment that further stigmatizes pregnancy," she said. "Workplace discrimination against pregnant women is on the rise already, and if women say they need special parking spots, it could feed the perception that they're weak."

Why didn't I think of that?

Paul Steely White, of the transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, was another to shed expert light on an issue obviously more complex than I at first understood.

"The city already has too many special parking permits - and too many people abusing the system with fake placards and scams," White said. "This would create another group entitled to park on curbs where there is no room already."

I really hadn't thought about the people abusing the system with false placards and scams. I'm so grateful we have all these experts to rely on.

The free parking plan for pregnant women will be introduced to New York City Council next week. It sounds a good idea - you know, based on common sense and caring and stuff - but what would I know?

Sadly, there are other nave people around still running with the original idea. "Being eight or nine months pregnant is hard, so this is a good benefit," said 29-year-old New Yorker Asma Lat.

Asma needs to read the rest of this report. Looking at the free parking plan in such simple terms would never win cred in the National Organization for Women.

Apart from being pregnant, what would she know?
www.nydailynews.com

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Bureaucracy, Health, North America, US, Pregnancy

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Dave Ismay gets a life

November 22nd 2010 09:36

: Vyoos news

Dave Ismay: big spender

What do you do when you are told you have three months to live? For Dave Ismay, a 64-year-old Briton who has spent a lifetime on stage as a comedian, the answer was: make a bucket list.

This Ismay said, was a list of things to do before he kicked the bucket.

His list included buying a Mercedes, visiting Australia, playing golf in Ireland, finishing a book about his life and auditioning for a part in a big pantomime, even though he had no idea if he would live to see the end of the season. Or even opening night.

Ismay won the pantomime role, and crossed all the other items off his list too. Well, all except one. The last one: Immortality. He might have had only months to live, but his sense of humour was surviving just fine.

He crammed all the list's activity into two months, and then returned to the real world by agreeing to independent, second-opinion liver biopsy test.

Ismay's original diagnosis was advanced cirrhosis of the liver, caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Ismay claims he was perplexed by this because, in his honest opinion, he had never been a heavy drinker. But how do you argue with a liver which shows all the signs of taking your life within weeks?

That's why the independent opinion seemed worthwhile. Nothing to lose.

The result of that second opinion deeply shocked Dave Ismay. Essentially, it was this: you aren't dying. You are suffering from hereditary haemochromatosis, a condition which leaves too much iron in the blood. And which is treatable.

Now Ismay has to re-budget the rest of his life. He spent all his savings having fun before he died.

He's cheated death. We suggest he cross immortality off his list as well.

dailymail.co.uk

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Europe, UK, Health, Human nature

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Melissa's miracle

September 30th 2010 11:09

: Melissa's miracle

We love stories that feature heroism, determination, invention and, most of all, a happy ending.

Melissa Peacock is a 17-year-old from Bradford, England. She suffers from a rare condition called intracranial hypertension, or IH, which causes a build-up of spinal fluid in her skull which results in headaches

[ Click here to read more ]

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