who says killing is not legal?

The Lethal Injection

In the short time before an execution by lethal injection, the prisoner is prepared for his death. This can include a change of clothing, a last meal, and a shower. The prisoner is taken to the execution chamber and two IV tubes are inserted in to his arms; a saline solution is fed through the tubes. These tubes are then fed through the wall in to an anteroom from where the execution will be carried out. The anteroom contains direct telephone connections to officials who have the power to stay the execution. Once the IV tubes are connected, the curtains are drawn back so that witnesses may watch the execution, and the prisoner is allowed to make his last statement.

Unless a stay is given, the execution begins. There can be one or more executioners, and sometimes in the case of multiple executioners, the lethal dose is given by only one so that no one knows who delivered it. The executioners are shielded from the view of the prisoner and witnesses. The drugs can be delivered by a machine, but due to the fear of mechanical failure, most US states prefer to manually inject the drugs in to the IV. The drugs are then administered in the following order:

Sodium thiopental: This drug, also known as Pentathol is a barbiturate used as a surgical anesthetic. In surgery, a dose of up to 150mg is used; in execution, up to 5,000mg is used. This is a lethal dose. From this point on if the prisoner is still alive, he should feel nothing.

Pancuronium bromide: Also known as Pavulon, this is a muscle relaxant given in a strong enough dose to paralyse the diaphragm and lungs. This drug takes effect in 1-3 minutes. A normal medical dose is 40 – 100mcg per kilogram; the dose delivered in an execution is up to 100mg. 

Potassium chloride: This is a toxic agent which induces cardiac arrest. Not all states use this as the first two drugs are sufficient to bring about death.

Saline solution is used to flush the IV between each dose. Within a minute of two after the final dose is given, a doctor declares the prisoner dead. The body is then sent to the coroner for verification and sometimes an autopsy and is released to the family for burial or is buried by the state.

A Nice Cup of Tea By George Orwell

Evening Standard, 12 January 1946.

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

• First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

• Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

• Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

• Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

• Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

• Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

• Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

• Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

• Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

• Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

• Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
  
  
  Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
  
  

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

(taken from The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 3, 1943-45, Penguin ISBN, 0-14-00-3153-7)

Reading about reading

Tired of not knowing what’s out there in the book world? Want to know in-depth stories about writers and their current work? Or what books are around the corner? Bookslut makes selecting your next read easier if not more interesting. Articles and features section are most useful in this sense as they go through book summaries, not the Amazon or back of book way,  but rather giving you a peek into the essence of a book, rather like a personal opinion from its resident contributors. The interview section also boast a long list of authors discussing their work, words, and life.

 

Oh, by the way, this site has also been named one of the 50 best websites by Time - one of the best literature websites by The New York Times, and has won two Blog Awards.

it says.. "read me".

let's go green once in a while. read virtual mags.

i promise you there are nice photos. :)

Why I buy Vanity Fair and who is Annie Leibovitz

You seen her where Yoko Ono and John Lenon dons the cover of the magazine rolling stone in the dawn of the 80s and still permeate our visual contemporary culture to this day, you might have also seen her where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes embracing their new born baby girl Suri ,which I personally will admit to have scour the internet to satisfy my curiosity, or maybe it was that risque photo where Keira Knightly, Scarlett Johansson, and a fully dressed Tom Ford is spread amongst lushly looking black velvet, and maybe it was that recent controversial "naked" portrait of Miley Cyrus that garnered your attention more.

However you look at it these photographic pieces of Americana was done by a very tasteful Annie Leibovitz, if not a spendthrift one at that. (googling her will tell you why) Her portraits of our ever fascination of celebrity and social who's who satisfies our thoughts if not curiousities, her image of them is stark, often capturing the spirit if not the essence of the subject, it has the power of hindsight to know what the audience wants and frankly they dont disappoint one bit.

So never mind the awards, and accolades, the scandals and what not, and never mind your empty walls you wish you had put something up, and never mind that most of us cant even afford her, I'm paying a visit to my local ubiquitous Indian back issue news stands and I'm getting as much vanity fair magazines as I can possibly scour and hopefully one day have the audacity to frame it up together with my other more personal photos. Till then it's the most accesible prints of Annie Leibovitz's works I can think of.

I also find that if you prefer less fashion oriented and more social political content in American fashion magazines, Vanity Fair will be most suitable as is Esquire magazines. Also as a last note, I might add that Annie Leibovitz's serves as only a contributing photographer and not all issues of vanity fair magazines contains her works, but you can almost be certain that any famous and important figure in American society will have the higher chances of being covered by her.

for an internet Annie Leibovitz quickie click here

eye read Anthony Bourdain

Back in the year 2004 I was reading a rather depressing book pharmaceutically titled Prozac Nation and whilst almost finishing the book, I had thought that it was an eye opening subject that is rarely talked about in my living social fabric, but also at the same time it was a grim read, literally dirty, not in that sexual way, but in the very real sense that it made me felt I hadn't taken a shower for weeks, that I hadn't really looked at myself in the mirror, or check to see if I had eaten anything at all for the day. It was sad and whilst it gave me a somewhat point of view that sort of agrees to mine, I felt that it will be one book that I will come to forget, get over with, the subject as well as the psychological condition. Because frankly reading that book gave me reflections of the self? its capability if you will let it distort, will and mostly certainly do.

And so it was one of those stay in days reading in the kitchen, cigarettes and coffees, a light snack here and there to fester the completion of the book I find so disparagingly hard to complete, then my housemate barge in from the colder autumn days that came spilling not only the cold from the outer but the innards?of her rather posh shoulder bag, and there it was, white cover, with a portrait of a rather handsome looking American, slightly thinner, taller, harder looking Richard Gere look alike, an American no doubt, it has to be somehow I thought to myself. And although I didn't think much of it, it pique my buds enough to ask her what the book was about. She had but lightly in her very own diplomatic character told me that it was about the world of cooks, restaurants, and food. Bless her, she did open up a whole new realm for me there.

Needless to say, I was hooked from the very first page. The language of this man is straightforward, no nonsense, and he writes likes he speaks, it was on a very personal level that so much so I wished every autobiography was written that way, unforgiving, straight from the heart, no veneers, smokescreens, or any fancy words at that, only if it's really very necessary, his metaphors are brilliant and easy to grasp, and if you didn't, he'll explain it to you, and it's humorous even at times, but enough on the writing.

This man dishes out everything he knows in this book, it's almost like a starter pack for anybody who wants to read about the world of culinary arts and the underbelly of it. You get a sense he's not leaving you in the blind, everything is told, no one is spared but their names, and you're not just getting stories about food and their little own lexicons, its everything else that comes with it, all the sex, revenge, bad tempers, bad management, the nook and crannies, profanities, the sex, the drugs, the rock and roll, the binging and every part of the meat you can imagine and even more. At the same time, he tells you the finer things in life, the joy of cooking and eating, the beauty and sacredness of food, but also the sadness about certain dying artisan craftsmanship happening in the world, the sadness about suicidal Michelin stared chefs, and the glories and failures seen and heard on and off the record in the culinary world.

So anyone that has seen his TV shows, and enjoyed it, but never picked up a copy of his best-selling book, I assure you, it's going to be worthwhile. Everything that you thought you liked about this man and his life is magnified better in the book. Personally, it almost feels like he was doing the show and writing the book at the same time, but only much better in detail and with no censorship, at least it felt pretty damn close that he did. Oh and by the way, I never did return the book to the lady that came in from the cold, neither had I finish reading Prozac Nation?

P.S. if you happen to have already read "Kitchen Confidential", check out his Les Halles Cookbook, I assure you his "edgy" manner of speaking and personality continues there.

"...food is the most beautiful thing in this world that truly nourishes..." - anonymous.

best spread in town. We fink.

One would expect this spread will be filled with much advertising, humongous headlines and more columns than we care to read about. Instead it reads more like someone really smart feeding you important current information in and around the car industry without treating you like a complete child. It would also sit handsomely beside you and garner some attention modestly abet the generous size, because frankly, a glossy issue of “Top Gear” or “Car” just makes me slightly ashamed that I actually spent more 10 cups worth of white coffee for a single monthly issue. It will then show you all of its family and friends photos (in this case, cars) and then some, explains to you rather unbiasedly how each and everyone of them are related, came about, and what might their future hold, all rather unbiasedly but at the same time, very justly opinionated.

So yes, Wheels Weekly is fast! It comes every week, and it comes with very good sized photos! We are talking about mostly at least full, if not half off an A3 sized page. The layout is clean, direct, and tasteful, and that also means we’re getting more of what we pay for, its content is relentlessly important and relevant if you’re passionate about the world of automobiles and if you’re not, it drives you to that “place” anyway.

So never mind that cup of white coffee, or going online and typing in keywords, Wheels Weekly serves you indefinitely on that level of wakefulness.

Available in local newsstands and exclusively @ mynews.com

Price: RM3.90 (West Malaysia)

Come ride with me!

Dear finkers,

There seem to be another new car magazine in KL, and its gana come our way weekly in news stand. So watch out for "Wheels Weekly" naturally at your local news stand. While their website explains what content they will mostly be covering, I had just lightly brush over them until I get a copy tomorrow and hopefully give you my 2 cents about it. But judging by its cover stories I have a feeling this new mag sets itself apart quite differently. Watch this space.