It is said that the way to someone's heart is through the stomach. Could integration follow the same path? A German butcher has just announced his newest creation: the döner bratwurst. In countries like Germany where sausage dominates the culinary offerings, there is one golden rule: Never, ever ask what's in a wurst. There is, after all, a distinct chance that you won't like the answer. Döner kebab? Sausage? Or both? One German sausage meister, however, has recently broken that rule -- and has done his part to promote German-Turkish integration in the process. He has come up with a brand new product: the döner bratwurst. The new product is made completely from veal and is stuffed into a casing made of sheep's intestine, thereby avoiding pork out of respect for Muslim dietary restrictions. "One can eat it alone with ketchup or in a pita with salad just like a regular döner," inventor Stefan Voelker told the tabloid Bild. Voelker, the report says, is fond of creating new sausage variations in his free time.
It is said that the way to someone's heart is through the stomach. Could integration follow the same path? A German butcher has just announced his newest creation: the döner bratwurst.
In countries like Germany where sausage dominates the culinary offerings, there is one golden rule: Never, ever ask what's in a wurst. There is, after all, a distinct chance that you won't like the answer.
Döner kebab? Sausage? Or both? One German sausage meister, however, has recently broken that rule -- and has done his part to promote German-Turkish integration in the process. He has come up with a brand new product: the döner bratwurst.
The new product is made completely from veal and is stuffed into a casing made of sheep's intestine, thereby avoiding pork out of respect for Muslim dietary restrictions. "One can eat it alone with ketchup or in a pita with salad just like a regular döner," inventor Stefan Voelker told the tabloid Bild. Voelker, the report says, is fond of creating new sausage variations in his free time.
The housing minister has declared the population decline in the Netherlands a national problem. Experts say communities need to begin accepting that there's going to be fewer Dutch people around in the future. With 16.5 million people and a population density of 488 per km2, the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries on the planet. It seems an unlikely country for ghost towns, such as can be found in eastern Germany or rural France. Yet that is exactly what experts are warning for. At a conference on Wednesday, government officials and researchers get together to discuss how Dutch municipalities can deal with a diminishing population. The Dutch minister for housing, Eberhard van der Laan, said he was "slightly depressed" after visiting the southern cities Heerlen and Maastricht earlier this year. There he saw what is unheard of in the west of the country - unoccupied houses, boarded-up shops, schools closing down and companies moving away. Van der Laan has since declared the population shrinkage a national problem.
With 16.5 million people and a population density of 488 per km2, the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries on the planet. It seems an unlikely country for ghost towns, such as can be found in eastern Germany or rural France. Yet that is exactly what experts are warning for.
At a conference on Wednesday, government officials and researchers get together to discuss how Dutch municipalities can deal with a diminishing population.
The Dutch minister for housing, Eberhard van der Laan, said he was "slightly depressed" after visiting the southern cities Heerlen and Maastricht earlier this year. There he saw what is unheard of in the west of the country - unoccupied houses, boarded-up shops, schools closing down and companies moving away. Van der Laan has since declared the population shrinkage a national problem.
Mmm. Perhaps a diary is in order.
I am fortunate in that my kids, when they were mere tots, bullied me into giving up smoking. As soon as I lit up in their vicinity, they would cry out "daddy, you are going to die!". Worse than that, they used to rat me out to my wife when I snuck outside for a quick smoke behind the shed. It was a battle I could not win, so I quit. Filthy habit. ... Many of the smoking-related deaths are horrible. All are premature. But the usual announcements of deaths caused by smoking are framed as if the poor unfortunate smokers would, if only they had not succumbed to the evil weed, lived for ever or, at least, would have lived longer, with a good quality of life and would have experienced a `good death'. Living through the deaths of friends, family and loved ones, I am as sure as a person with only one life to live can be, that there are deaths that are even worse than the worst smoking-related deaths. Having watched non-smokers die of bone marrow cancer, of a long sequence of minor strokes, of the result of a fall causing a major breakage of brittle bones, of a slow brain tumour, of Parkinson's disease and of senile dementia has cured me of the notion of a gentle death or good death. So please, when there is a public announcement that X number of people died during 2009 as a result of smoking-related illnesses, please provide the public with two bits of information. First, how much longer the victims of smoking would have lived if they had not smoked and, second, what they would have been expected to die of instead. ... Smoking is a terrible addiction. Taxation, regulation and education should be used to minimise its incidence. Still, if I ever were diagnosed with Huntington's disease or some other terrible and terminal affliction, I would light up, and not just to save the NHS some money.
...
Many of the smoking-related deaths are horrible. All are premature. But the usual announcements of deaths caused by smoking are framed as if the poor unfortunate smokers would, if only they had not succumbed to the evil weed, lived for ever or, at least, would have lived longer, with a good quality of life and would have experienced a `good death'.
Living through the deaths of friends, family and loved ones, I am as sure as a person with only one life to live can be, that there are deaths that are even worse than the worst smoking-related deaths. Having watched non-smokers die of bone marrow cancer, of a long sequence of minor strokes, of the result of a fall causing a major breakage of brittle bones, of a slow brain tumour, of Parkinson's disease and of senile dementia has cured me of the notion of a gentle death or good death.
So please, when there is a public announcement that X number of people died during 2009 as a result of smoking-related illnesses, please provide the public with two bits of information. First, how much longer the victims of smoking would have lived if they had not smoked and, second, what they would have been expected to die of instead.
Smoking is a terrible addiction. Taxation, regulation and education should be used to minimise its incidence. Still, if I ever were diagnosed with Huntington's disease or some other terrible and terminal affliction, I would light up, and not just to save the NHS some money.
