AndreaReina

Copyright is indeed fraught with misunderstanding and general ignorance. IANAL, but for what it's worth here's what I have understood from doing my own research as a photographer. I believe I found most of this information on wikipedia, and there was some from a copyright lawyer who was kind enough to put some stuff up on his website (don't remember who, unfortunately) Copyright applies to any idea when it first takes tangible form. For these purposes, tangible refers to any form outside of simple thought. Putting it down on paper, playing it on a musical instrument, telling someone else about it, etc: tangible doesn't need to mean a physical, enduring medium. A copyright notice is not necessary except to establish the year of first publish, and the author of the work. For almost all purposes, insofar as the published material is an original creation, all use of that material requires permission from the author. The big exception, and the one that few people understand, is fair use. This is the area where a lawyer is most needed, but again, here's what I understand. Fair use is actually quite restrictive. What's most relevant to us is being able to use material to further discussion on a topic. In the arts this usually takes the form of parody (hence Andy Warhol, Weird Al Yankovic, etc) but in any case the material must make a significant contribution to the discussion. jsager01's citation would fit this, where what I've read here suggests La Rosa's use does not have such validity. In any case citation is required. A professor of mine had a rather simple policy: if it was a commercial entity, she sent them an invoice for the use of her image. Otherwise, she sent a polite note stating that the picture was hers, and to please remove it or apply attribution (I don't remember which). With regards to Pim's article, as many have said the case is hardly cut-and-dried. The standards for academic writing are very similar to the eG ethical code: you assert that anything not cited is either common knowledge or your own work/thinking. I would suspect that it's somewhat the same for professional journalism. Hindsight, which is always 20/20, suggests that when Virbila finished writing the article, she should have tried to reconstruct what she might have heard before hand, probably in a manner like this: "How did I make the decision to check this place out? Was it a recommendation from a friend, intriguing signage, a blog I read?" Following the trail back and investigating those sources will reveal what was probably copied, what was original work, and what were opinions that the two coincidentally shared. One tricky thing is that it's not always possible to make that back-trace. Isaac Asimov wrote a very interesting article on the subject; I think it's found in "Gold". Essentially, people read and see plenty on a daily basis, and sometimes an idea first encountered seems fairly innocuous: we think "that's interesting", promptly forget it and move on. But it stays in the subconscious, surfacing when it's most appropriate. Sometimes, especially with a formula like "the little <x> that could" that has become so much a part of the general lexicon, it really is a case of coincidence. The more things that correspond, and the more unique those things, the less likely that is, and that's the basis on which I would judge a case of plagiarism. Of course, if one is conscious of the source they have a legal, as well as ethical obligation to disclose it. And now that I've written all this I notice the OP was asking about other cases of such, but since the discussion had since gone to include the vagaries of copyright law I'll leave this anyway for anyone that might be interested. It isn't thread necromancy until it reaches the second page, right?

A very interesting read! Back home in the Philippines we use vinegar with crushed chili and soy sauce with green calamansi/calamondin as near-universal dipping sauces. The local variation on roast pigs and chickens involves stuffing the body cavity with lemongrass, and they're usually served with pickled green papaya.

That MattyC made an ad-hominem attack doesn't render the rest of his argument invalid, however. I wish we could have more hotel staffers chime in, because I'd love to hear more. Sure, the people frequenting these forums for the most part tip well; the same would not necessarily be true of other people. My agreement is completely predicated on one person saying that at hotel restaurants, the prevailing practice is to not tip, or tip poorly. Based on that, putting the tip on the bill has as much validity as putting it on a large party's bill -- in hotel restaurants only. I believe it was Fat Guy that said in the thread about babies and children in restaurants, that generalizing is necessary. It ticks us off because our practices and tastes are outside the general public's, but such is life. Now, if MattyC's assertion that most people dining at a hotel restaurant don't tip, then no, I wouldn't say it's valid. Can we get someone that can confirm or refute this statement?

I am reminded of a discussion some friends and I had about restaurants here in the San Francisco Bay Area (don't know if it happens elsewhere) automatically adding an 18% gratuity to the bill for parties of 6 or more. In the end my conclusion is that it's because tips do tend to be less with large parties. Payment is often dutch, but on a single check, so people calculate what the menu price is for food they ordered, often forgetting tax AND tip; in a situation like this someone always gets the short end, typically the last person who gets "all the rest" on his/her card, and the staff who then see a lesser share of the tip. I tend to agree with MattyC -- as long as service professionals must depend on gratuities, it's a necessary evil. It's not even something that's easily fixed by the single places in question paying their staff a living wage, since they then have to raise their prices, which then seem (artificially) inflated in relation to other places. This is the only country I know where sales tax is not already figured into the sticker price of items, and it's for the same reason -- so that things seem cheaper than they actually are. But to fix that would require a change in the entire culture, which will take time.

ScoopKW: What's the difference between gas-heated ceramic tiles and a gas broiler? If I'm not mistaken they both cook through radiation. Is it a question of increased efficiency or heat output in the former?

I believe that since mechanically any seam is weaker than an unbroken material, you proof it seam side down so that the gasses are retained in the loaf instead of escaping into the atmosphere. Then you bake it seam side up so that you don't have to do any slashing of the loaf -- slashing is to produce a weak point where the crust can expand, and the seam does that nicely. It's also convenient because one of the easier ways to get the loaf off the proofing linen and onto your hands is to place one hand on top, take the linen in the other, and flip. Now the seam is on top, and you just drop the loaf into the dutch oven. Cooking the loaf under a stainless steel pan does indeed get that beautiful crust without having to use a dutch oven, steam injection, or water/ice cubes in a pan. I've used the lid of a roaster pan for my ciabatte, and it works great. If results aren't what they could be, try spritzing the inside of the pan with just a little water, give it a little head-start.

Wakey wakey, eggs 'n bakey. I wanted to make the omelet of my childhood: tomatoes, mozzarella, black olives. Alas, I was out of both the mozza and the olives... And then I remembered the bacon I bought a little bit ago. Broil the bacon in a cast iron skillet, scramble eggs in skillet afterward, using the bacon grease and residual heat. Pop some bread in the toaster at the same time, and my eggs and toast finished simultaneously. Assemble, and eat! Simple yes, but oh so good. In my haste to devour it I didn't think to take pictures. Bruce: those eggs look and sound absolutely divine. I'll have to try it sometime.

If you read all the text on those cans of oven cleaner, you'll find it's caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). For anyone curious, the soda and gunk chemically combine to form soap, though don't try bathing with it as it'll still have a heavy surplus of hydroxide. For those without a self-cleaning oven, try putting the broiler on high. Definitely works on a gas oven, though I don't know how effective it is on electric. As long as it simply stays on, it ought to work, I imagine. I found out about the broiler by accident, I was storing my Lodge skillet in the broiler drawer, figured that the heat wouldn't harm it. Next time I pulled it out (after making two batches of flatbread in a 500F oven) some of the seasoning just turned to dust, revealing the grey iron beneath.

Good to hear that Vanilla Saffron is quality stuff. I use wine for the extraction, since it's integral to the dish I make anyway (risotto alla milanese). Alcohol (from what I've heard and seen) doesn't need a high temperature, so I just put it into the wine the morning before I cook.

How do you guys measure (and buy) your saffron? Use whole, fractional-gram packets? Measure with (tiny) measuring spoons? Count threads? Pinches? Weigh them? I used to use italian powdered saffron, which came packaged in 1/8th gram packs, used whole multiples of those. Typically one or two. Devilishly expensive, but I'd poach them from my dad's kitchen so no skin of my nose. I've since moved out (of the country!) and can't find those packets, nor do I want to pay the packaging markup. I'm thinking about buying some from www.saffron.com, but don't have a way to portion it out in my cooking. The standard methods seem a little imprecise (pinches or teaspoon measures of threads), or way too laborious (counting threads). I'm thinking about getting a scale for it, probably in the .05 to .01 gram range of accuracy. So, what's your method, and are you satisfied with its consistency when re-making the same meal?

I'm with SuzySushi: milk for cooking, water for drinking. Good, fresh, (young) coconut water is my absolute favourite thing to drink. It's light, refreshing, slightly sweet with a certain je ne sais quoi. It's also terrific as a hangover cure, lots of electrolytes. I've never heard of coconut cream, so I can't really comment on it, though from what I'm reading it seems like it's coconut milk with additives, so I wouldn't see the point.