Boys Club | No Champagne Dump For House of Lords | Men & Stunts | Curry & Testosterone |
/French Roast News
Anne is reading …
House of Lords mends its own caterer because Parliament’s Champagne isn’t good enough BoingBoing
Britain’s Parliament website estimates that about 20% of members of the House of Lords — the upper chamber of Britain’s governing body. Today Lord Fowler will handle oral questions on the Number of NHS medical staff trained in Africa. Earl of Clancarty will lead discussion on the devolution of arts and culture within the UK. Lord Sharkey will be talking about the Higher Education Commission’s report Too Good to Fail. And Lord Marks on Henley-on-Thames will be speaking on the appointment of a chairman for the independent panel inquiry into child abuse.
Lord Faulks will report on legislation concerning the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill. And Lord Boswell of Aynho will lead debate around the Report of the European Union Committee on The Role of National Parliaments in the European Union.
Champagne is nowhere on the agenda, but in real life the unelected House of Lords is having a bubbly meltdown over plans to merge its catering service with those of the House of Commons.
NPR radio took up this tragic national problem a few days ago and now BoingBloing guarantees that we are all part of the pending national tragedy. During this government (whatever that means) the Lords have drunk 17,000 bittles of champagne — about five bottles each) at a cost of £265,770 to British taxpayers.
There are other problems say the Lords, refusing to agree that they are having an elitist temper tantrum. There are mice in Parliament’s kitchens and problems with pay negotiations, argue the Lords. And they will have none of it — as long as the sun never sets on British soil.
(Image: champagne tower, kenichi nobusue, CC-BY)
Can Curry Make You Manly?
Why liking hot curries really does make you the alpha male: Men who enjoy spicy food have higher testosterone levels Daily Mail UK
Researchers at the University of Grenoble in France confirm that men with a preference for spicy foods tend to have higher levels of testosterone.
Curry Cult Catches Fire in the East Village WSJ Metropolis (2010)
On busy weekends, the dining room teems with post-collegiate frat boys high-fiving each other, brave gourmands shooting YouTube videos and ruddy-cheeked culinary tourists posing for photos alongside empty bowls.
Phaal, which contains ten different chilies and emits so much heat that chefs wear a protective mask while making it, first appeared on Brick Lane’s menu in 2002, but an appearance on the Travel Channel’s sleeper stunt-food hit “Man Vs. Food” in 2008 put it on the map for local stunt diners.
Stunt Dining Reaches New Heights
Restaurant Features 180-Foot-High Dinners in the Sky Vegas Eater (2013)
Where do men go when they want to get away from it all? How about a dangling, 180-foot-high dining experience over Las Vegas. Diners are strapped to tables for an hour-long dinner, hanging via a crane over the world-famous Las Vegas Strip.
Guests will be lifted up into the sky with a chef, maître d’ and mixologist each Wednesday through Sunday. A patio bar on the ground will enable the acrophobic to watch their companions rise into the air. Fillet mignon medallions, “Sky Chicken,” vegetarian dishes and dessert were frequent offerings in 2009.
Guests must be at least four feet tall and 10 years old, and weigh less than 300 pounds before they will let you be lifted skyward. Once aloft, if you do need to use the restroom, or someone overly panics, it takes less than a minute to lower the two tables.
In case you think this is some Wild West American idea, Dinner in the Sky has operated in 42 different countries. Las Vegas is their only US location. In fact, you can get married in the sky. To date — no having a baby in such an exhilarating setting.
She Said ‘Yes’
Dutch marriage proposal sees crane smash IJsselstein house BBC
A Dutch bloke decided to pop the question to his future bride in a moment to remember.
The plan sounded simple enough — hire a crane to carry the suitor to the second floor bedroom window of the future bride’s home in the town of IJsselstein. Alas, the execution of this brainiac idea created a near catastrophe, an event triggered by not securing the crane. Six flats had to be evacuated and the would-be fiance jumped to safety. Reports are that the girl said ‘yes’ and the happy couple is off to Paris for a celebration. There is presently no word if the homewrecker is paying for the damages from this Stunt Proposal Gone Wrong. The house may require demolition.
More French Roast Headlines
Five surprising ways to increase your testosterone levels The Telegraph
Proved at last: Men really are idiots. LA Times
Newly published by the venerable British Medical Journal (in its annual BMJ Christmas issue), the landmark study has shown that Male Idiot Theory holds up under strictly scientific scrutiny.
While the latest research does confirm that males can be idiots, it fails to shed light on a larger mystery that has preoccupied this correspondent since girlhood, growing up in a household with six brothers: How did these idiots ever convince the non-idiot gender that they were somehow superior (and worthy of earning close to 30% more, on average, in the United States)?
Anne Answers: Dear Melissa Healy. Don’t you know the answer to this key question of human existence? God has declared male superiority, based on standards of reasonable excellence that women are incapable of understanding. Read up, girl. 
