AdamSmith

Sarah Palin Claims Jesus Celebrated Easter The Daily Currant Oct 23, 2013 Sarah Palin claimed today that Jesus Christ celebrated Easter during his time on Earth. In an interview with Fox and Friends this morning, the former Alaska governor promoted her new book about the left's "war on Christmas" and argued that all Christian holidays should return to the traditional versions practiced by Jesus. "It makes me so gosh darn angry," Palin explained. "The liberal left in this country has targeted Christian holidays and is trying to secularize them right out of existence. "When Jesus celebrated Easter with his disciples there were no Easter bunnies or egg hunts. There were no Easter sales at department stores or parades in the street. Easter was a special time of prayer and Christian activism. "Jesus would gather all the townspeople around and would listen to their stories about the meaning of Easter in their lives. Then he would teach them how to love one another, how to protest Roman abortion clinics and how to properly convert homosexuals. "You can't even do things like that these days without getting called out by some wacko left-wing human rights group. Christians had more freedom under Roman rule than we do now in our own country! We need to return Easter back to the way it was when Jesus was alive." Gospel of Palin Easter is a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after he was crucified by the Romans in the 1st century A.D. It is the most important holiday for Eastern and Orthodox Christians, and also has great significance in the West. Because Easter is a celebration of Jesus's resurrection from the dead, it is highly unlikely that he celebrated the holiday before his death. Its first recorded instance is sometime in the mid-2nd century. This seemingly obvious fact was not lost on the Fox and Friends team, who instantly challenged Palin's assertions. "Sarah, you know that we love you," started co-host Brian Kilmeade. "I can understand if you think Christian holidays have become too secular and you want to return to the days of the early church. But you have to know that Jesus never celebrated Easter right? I mean you have to know that. What do you think Easter celebrates?" "Well, Brian, Easter celebrates, you know, sticking it to all the liberal lefties out there who want to be taking our guns and our freedom," Palin responded. "It celebrates the rights of the unborn and the right to religious freedom, to not have government come in and tell you who to believe in and who not to ..." "It celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus," Kilmeade interrupted. "It celebrates his death and resurrection from the dead. Now Sarah, tell me how can Jesus celebrate his own death before he died?" Palin stared blankly into the screen for about 15 seconds, before co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck cut to commercial. http://dailycurrant.com/2013/10/23/sarah-palin-claims-jesus-celebrated-easter/ P.S. Under the facebook post where I found the above, a friend commented: "To be fair, every time Jesus celebrated Easter, he would preface the service with the words, 'spoiler alert.'" Obamacare Website Accidentally Enrolls Thousands in Sex Offender Registry The Daily Currant Oct 21, 2013 The federal health care exchange at Heathcare.gov has accidentally enrolled thousands of applicants in the government's sex offender registry, the latest of many technical failures to hit the troubled site. According to several senior officials, since the exchange went live on Oct. 1 around 40,000 individuals looking to buy insurance have instead been listed on the National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), a searchable database of rapists, molesters and others convicted of sex crimes. The mix up was first discovered by people searching for sex offenders in their neighborhoods, only to find their own names. Administrators are uncertain how such an error occurred, but they note that both websites were built by the same contractor, CGI Federal. In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius acknowledged the problem, but sought to assure the American public that it would be resolved eventually. "Unfortunately due to a technical issue, a number of people applying for health insurance are now mistakenly listed in our national sex offender registry," the statement reads. "We deeply regret this error and hope to fix it as soon as possible. "Due to the extreme volume of traffic this site is currently experiencing, however, it may be several months or years before we are able to erase these names from the list. Please accept our apology." Atlantic Ire The Healthcare Exchange Marketplaces serve as the cornerstones of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. By allowing consumers to easily compare health insurance plans, they hope to facilitate the vast expansion of coverage envisioned under the new law. However, the roll out of the exchanges has been marked by persistent technical failures that have prevented millions from using them. Originally dismissed as "glitches" by the Obama administration, these problems now clearly represent profound design flaws in the system. Today's revelations will no doubt escalate criticism of the exchanges in particular and the law in general, and may lead to dire political consequences for the president. Several of the individuals affected are understandably upset and angry with the Obama administration. "I'm never voting Democrat again," says Pete Anderson, a welder from Dallas whose crime is listed as indecent exposure. "I tried to rent a new apartment today and was turned down because of the bogus charge in the registry. This never happened with Blue Cross. " "The Republicans may be crazy," agrees Tamara Russell, a substitute kindergarten teacher from Eugene, Oregon. "But at least they don't publicly call you a necrophiliac on the Internet. This is so wrong." Others were quick to use stronger language. "This is bulls**t," proclaims freelance writer Dashiell Bennett. "I haven't had sex with a donkey in years. And even then, I never got caught. There's no way I should be on that list." Victims of the this latest Obamacare mix-up have promised a class-action lawsuit against the government to compensate them for the emotional distress and repetitional damage. http://dailycurrant.com/2013/10/21/obamacare-website-accidentally-enrolls-thousands-in-sex-offender-registry-2/

Nice! Brazil Crowns Transgender Beauty Queen in Daring New “Miss T” Contest by Mac Margolis Oct 24, 2013 5:45 AM EDT The Daily Beast Brazil crowned a winner in its second annual Miss T competition, which is winning fans and challenging definitions of femininity and beauty in tradition-bound Latin America. Mac Margolis reports. Tall and tan, young and striking, Raika Ferraz is not the girl from Ipanema. But she has just been crowned queen of Brazil’s newest and most daring beauty contest. Raika Ferraz waits to hear the announcement for the winner of the Miss T Brasil 2013 transgender beauty pageant in Rio de Janeiro on October 22, 2013. (Yasuyoshi China/AFP via Getty) Besting 27 other transgender and transvestite contenders from 11 Brazilian states, the 21-year-old model and escort from São Paulo paraded in a bikini and then in an evening gown to win the second annual Miss T competition before an emotional crowd at the Teatro João Caetano, one of Rio de Janeiro’s most traditional stages. With a smile as big as Brazil, that not even a mouth full of corrective braces could spoil, Ferraz was overcome with emotion as she took her bows and swore to uphold the honor of the transgender community. As well as a bouquet and the gleaming tiara, she won an all-expenses-paid excursion to Thailand for the global version of the beauty contest, Miss International Queen 2014, plus the right to a sex change operation in a Bangkok hospital. Ferraz, however, demurred, creating an instant buzz across the gender-bending spectrum where genital surgery is often held up as the final passage to freedom for those convinced they were born in the wrong body. “I love being the way I am,” she said. As Miss T, Ferraz will, like her heterosexual counterparts, travel widely and represent the transgender cause throughout Brazil. Less clear is whether she will be able to conciliate her crown affairs with her apparently thriving escort service, TransEscort, touted on a plush, photo-studded website. Though the rumble in the Rio audience suggested that not everyone was in agreement with this year’s choice of Miss T, the coronation itself was hailed as stiletto-heeled step for the cause of equal rights and a blow to hate crimes against lesbians, gays, transsexuals and bisexuals. “The competition was an important demonstration for people who traditionally have no voice in society and are still seen as victims or as culprits on the police blotter,” said Majorie Marchi, president the Rio Association for Transvestites and Transsexuals, Astra-Rio, which sponsored the contest. “The trans community doesn’t just want the right to food and sustenance. We are about music, entertainment and art.” Marchi celebrated the fact that this year’s event was backed not only by the city government of Rio, which put up 70 percent of the budget, but also by a number of private investors, such as noted fashion designer Almir França, a Brazilian cosmetic surgery clinic, and the Kamol Cosmetic Hospital in Bangkok. “Our voice is being heard across the country,” she said. As well as a bouquet and the gleaming tiara, she won an all-expenses-paid excursion to Thailand for the global version of the beauty contest, Miss International Queen 2014. Others are less sanguine. Acclaimed transgender model Lea T, who made her name on the catwalks of Europe, still sees obstacles to anyone who dares thwart the behavioral codes of the straight world. She should know. The son of a Brazilian football star who says she was never comfortable in a male body, Lea put up with insults, pranks and outright aggression for years because she was different. “There is still plenty of discrimination against gays, the transgender community, and anyone with an alternative form of sexuality,” she wrote in an email from Italy, where she is part of the cast of the local version of Dancing with the Stars. “We still have a long way to go.” Still, others see progress. One of them is Jane di Castro, a famous Rio de Janeiro transvestite stage artist and singer, who kicked off the Miss T contest in Rio with a pulsing Brazilian rock tune that has become the competition anthem, Exagerado (Exaggerated), by the late Cazuza, a popular stage star who died of AIDS in 1990. “I think prejudice has its days numbered,” says Di Castro. “The [Miss T] beauty contest is one more example how we are winning more recognition and space in society. Gays are coming out of the closet. They can’t hold us back.” She also sees an aesthetic sea change in Brazil. “I’ve seen beauty contests and competitions for Miss all over the world, but never have I seen any as feminine as this year’s crew of transgender models,” Di Castro told the Daily Beast. “And that includes heterosexuals, too.” Will “trans” beauties and heterosexuals one day compete for the same crown? “Mark my words, we will see a transvestite Miss Brazil,” she said. “I might not be alive by then. But then again, whoever thought transgender couples could legally marry, like I did? That’s progress!” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/24/brazil-crowns-transgender-beauty-queen-in-daring-new-miss-t-contest.html

Forget mass government espionage -- here's what The Guardian knows is really important: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/oct/24/how-to-eat-biscuits

I try to follow what a high-tech CEO I knew used to berate his sales force to do: "Sell what you've got!"

He has stopped. It is the press now continuing to publish what he gave them before leaving Hong Kong.

Aww I want a kid like that. (One that is run by batteries! )

Yes, my dear, you have put your finger on it. The breach of protocol here was our getting caught. How gauche.

Ah! Nothing jogs the memory like flattery. Our CharliePS, long ago in a galaxy far, far away (well, on the Other Site, at least), posed an open question to the forum, to the effect of: What pleasures do you think will take the place of sex for you, once the sex drive wanes? I came up with: Savoring the smooth satin lining and the measured gait of my pallbearers.

Merkel calls Obama over reports her phone may have been tapped by US Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal mobile phone may have been monitored by the US, according to a German government spokesman German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called US President Barack Obama about the alleged monitoring of her mobile phone Photo: YVES HERMAN/REUTERS By Raf Sanchez, and Peter Foster in Washington The Telegraph 8:23PM BST 23 Oct 2013 The White House was today scrambling to head off a major diplomatic incident after the German government said it had received information that US spies may have tapped Angela Merkel’s personal mobile phone for years. In the most significant protest by a world leader since Edward Snowden began leaking details of the US’s global surveillance network, Mrs Merkel called Barack Obama and demanded his personal assurances she was not being monitored. The president promised his German counterpart that US intelligence “is not monitoring and will not monitor” her communications but the White House did not explicitly rule out the possibility she had been bugged in the past. German diplomatic sources said they were still not satisfied with the White House’s explanation and would demand further clarification over the “completely unacceptable” allegations. The row comes two days after France summoned the US ambassador to Paris to demand an explanation to reports that America swept up 70 million French telephone records in a month including politicians and business leaders. In the latest flare up with a European ally, the German government said it had received information that the National Security Agency had targeted Mrs Merkel’s personal mobile over a series of years in an effort to gain diplomatic intelligence. Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Mrs Merkel, said the spying “would be a serious breach of trust” and that the German leader “unequivocally disapproves of such practices, should they be confirmed, and regards them as completely unacceptable” “Among close friends and partners, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the US have been for decades, there should be no such monitoring of the communications of a head of government,” he said. The German government did not elaborate on what information it had been given but the call to Mr Obama appeared to have been prompted by information from Der Spiegel, a news magazine that has begun publishing information from Mr Snowden’s trove of stolen classified US files. Der Spiegel reportedly approached authorities with a US document that contained Mrs Merkel's mobile phone number, triggering the sharp German response. Mrs Merkel telephoned the president on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before he went into a sensitive meeting with Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, who was expected to confront him about US drone strikes. “Today President Obama and Chancellor Merkel spoke by telephone regarding the allegations that the US National Security Agency intercepted the communications of the German chancellor,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “I can tell you that the president assured the chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor.” Mr Carney did not answer a question about whether the NSA may have intercepted Mrs Merkel’s communications as part of a broader eavesdropping sweep. He also did not rule out the possibility that the US had in the past monitored her telephone, a nuance that was picked up by German diplomats. “I would just urge you to look at the tenses used by the White House,” one German source told The Telegraph. “They speak only about the present and the future – we 'are not’ monitoring and we 'will not’ monitor, but not about the past. The clarification we are seeking is about the issue over all.” The row with Germany comes two days after Le Monde, the French newspaper, published claims that the NSA was collecting millions of records of French telephone calls. “This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens,” said Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister. Charles Rivkin, the US ambassador to Paris, was summoned to the French foreign ministry to address the claims and Mr Obama spoke to Francois Hollande on Monday. However, Mrs Merkel’s personal phone call to Mr Obama is the most direct and potentially serious protest by a fellow world leader. Last month, Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian president postponed a planned state visit to Washington in protest at claims the US was intensely spying on her country. Globo TV reported that the NSA targeted Mrs Rousseff’s aides, collected billions of Brazilian emails and telephone records and hacked the internal network of Petrobras, the state-run oil company. As revelations of US spying mounted in recent months, Mr Obama ordered a review of how the NSA conducts its intelligence gather. “The US is reviewing the way that we gather intelligence to ensure that we properly balance the security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share,” Mr Carney said. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10400825/Merkel-calls-Obama-over-reports-her-phone-may-have-been-tapped-by-US.html

And oddly enough... http://www.embalming.net/

What, another reference to BN's blog?

Not sure whether arousal or disquiet is the stronger emotion evoked by the notion it might be detachable.

In case it helps the diagnostic record, I don't sign out before closing my browser, and now under both Win8/FireFox 24.0 and iPhone 5/iOS 7.0, the system keeps me logged in all the time, on both platforms.

So it occurred that it might be a hoot to subscribe to Casket and Sunnyside, not the band (!) of that name but rather the funeral-industry trade journal referenced in Jessica Mitford's not-for-the-fainthearted exposé The American Way of Death. Upon googling, turns out the mag ceased (de-!) publication some years ago. I did, though, find some images of it, and related ephemera...

I don't know. Yesterday I saw very similar in a KFC in a small town out in the sticks in NC. Not Chapel Hill! Rather one of the fading mill towns that dot the Piedmont, where open gay expression and behavior were unimaginable a few short years ago.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/21/yachtsman-describes-horror-at-dead-rubbish-strewn-pacific-ocean

Pope "suspends" him, one step short of removal: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/23/pope-suspends-german-luxury-bishop

Such as a cute gardener. ...Someone like the Marble Faun in 'Grey Gardens,' say.

You brought it up! So to speak.

Glenn Beck is on serious drugs. Watching the Tea Party et al. try to take down Norquist for acknowledging at least small bits of realpolitik promises some amusement. Glenn Beck Presents ‘Just the Beginning’ of Why You Need to Pay Attention to Grover Norquist Oct. 21, 2013 8:45pm Erica Ritz theblaze.com Glenn Beck on Monday began what he said is “just the beginning” of his work to reveal the background and motivations of Grover Norquist, the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform. Beck began by playing recent clips of Norquist calling out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his efforts to derail Obamacare, noting that while he used to joke about the left’s portrayal of Norquist as a “big power player,” he’s since revised his dismissive opinion in light of the warnings that you “don’t ever take this guy on unless you’re prepared.” Beck’s show Monday primarily concentrated on Norquist’s alleged connections to Islamists. He invited Frank Gaffney, the president of the Center for Security Policy, and Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, to weigh in. Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist attends a press conference discussing the taxation of marijuana businesses outside the U.S. Capitol September 12, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images) “[Norquist] is the guy responsible for a lot of the Muslim Brotherhood stuff that goes on in the White House, isn’t he?” Beck asked the two. “Glenn, I think most people who know Grover only as a prominent anti-tax guy in the conservative movement would find that statement unbelievable, and to be honest with you I would’ve, but for the fact that I saw it first-hand as a result of sharing office space for what I think of seven biblically long years with Grover Norquist,” Gaffney remarked. “I saw terrorists in his office space. I had colleagues come to me and say, ‘You know there’s a Muslim Brotherhood front operating out of his office suite?’” “It was called the Islamic Free Market Foundation, or Institute,” Gaffney continued, saying it is more commonly known as simply the Islamic Institute. “This was an operation that was created by a man who’s now serving time in federal prison for terrorism by the name Abdurahman Alamoudi.” Gaffney added that at MuslimBrotherhoodInAmerica.com, where viewers can find a ten-part course on the Muslim Brotherhood by the Center for Security Policy, there is a clip of “Norquist at a meeting in Dearborn, Michigan in October 2011 put together between George Soros’ progressives or leftists, radicals, and the Islamists.” “[Norquist] talks very candidly about what amounts to an influence operation that he’s been running against a prominent conservative Republican Senate leader, and you just can’t come away from this with any conclusion other than he knows exactly what he’s doing, and what he’s doing in this case is advancing the agenda of not just Muslims, but Islamists, and I’m afraid that’s the kind of thing that he’s got to be held accountable for,” Gaffney said. Glenn Beck speaks with Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, and Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, about Grover Norquist. (Photo: TheBlaze TV) When asked why he would have such connections, Greenfield weighed in: “Well the Muslim Brotherhood, like the communists and the Nazis before them, are experts at setting up front groups with innocuous names and finding people who would be useful to them. Norquist was useful to them, and in some ways, they were useful to him.” Greenfield later added: “If you were a freedom guy, then why would he be backing an ideology associated with a complete totalitarian regime? Why would he be backing the…misfortunes of the conservative movement? And why would he be doing everything possible to undermine the possibility that the Republican Party can back a freedom-based agenda?” Beck concluded by saying this is a “complex issue,” but that it is time that somebody takes on the “establishment Republicans” and tell you “exactly who’s who.” “If you’re for the Constitution, I don’t care if you’re a liberal or a Democrat or a Republican and a conservative, I don’t really care, if you’re for the Constitution of the United States of America,” Beck said. “That’s our dividing line, and there are too many in the Republican Party, so let’s clean out our own house first.” http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/21/glenn-beck-presents-just-the-beginning-of-why-you-need-to-pay-attention-to-grover-norquist/

Address to a Haggis28 January, 2013 in Charcutepalooza, Meat | 1 comment I first had haggis about ten years ago, when visiting my great aunt and cousins in Yorkshire and Scotland; I had not had it since…until yesterday. My introduction to haggis was a positive one, and I resolved on my return from that trip to find some in the States to accompany the scotch I brought back with me. Turns out, however, that haggis is not easy to come by in America. In the intervening decade, however, my meat skills have improved and internet food lore has blossomed and so, for the 254th birthday of the poet Robert Burns, I managed to make all my haggis dreams come true. First, a bit of background: it is a longstanding Scottish tradition to serve a haggis on Burns’ birthday, and to recite his poem “Address to a Haggis” as a toast. I’m not that into Romantic poetry, but I’m always up for a party with whiskey and offal. So, I decided to have a Burns Supper. The 25th of January fell on a Friday this year, so my birthday party was a little belated. I needed the extra time, though, to get my haggis together. For those of you who don’t know, a haggis is traditionally made from the pluck and paunch of a sheep. Translation: mutton heart, lungs, and liver are stuffed into a sheep stomach. One of the volumes in my collection (A Taste of History: 10,000 of Food in Britain, from the British Museum Press) tells me scholars believe the dish originated in prehistory, when hunters would pack the brains and entrails of a kill into the animal’s stomach and cook it over an open fire. Mrs. Beeton has a recipe for the dish; her instructions are a little spotty, though, so I took extra guidance from Tim Hayward’s illustrated haggis article at The Guardian. The first, and most difficult, step in my haggis journey: finding sheep organs. I thought about going to a Greek or halal butcher in Queens, but in the interests of meat quality and time saving, I decided to look into farmers market butchers. Thankfully, 3-Corner Field Farm, which has a stand Saturdays at the Union Square Greenmarket, agreed to supply me with liver and heart. Sadly, it turned out that consumption of sheep stomach and lung is illegal in New York. I found another intrepid haggis-maker who’d used beef tripe as a lung substitute (for spongy texture) and decided to go this route. The Guardian calls for boiling the offal the night before and letting it sit in its broth overnight. I didn’t have time to buy tripe until Saturday morning, so I decided to trust in Mrs. Beeton and do my boiling morning-of. I cooled the pot in the fridge and was ready to go by early afternoon. “Going” in this case involved organ grinding. OK, food processing. I pulsed the tripe and heart and, according to Tim Hayward’s recommendation, I grated the liver – also in the processor. I imagine this process was a lot more difficult back in the day. Grated liver, by the way, is…a little weird. I moved on, though, and while I was toasting Irish oats for the haggis I also used the processor to grate onions. Mrs. Beeton calls for nutmeg to flavor the haggis, and Tim Hayward used thyme, sage, and rosemary. I decided to go the hybrid route: nutmeg, thyme, and rosemary. And some good plain salt and pepper. The last secret ingredient is beef suet. I had to order this from England: Chowhound’s NYC boards failed me. If anyone has a local source, please help me out. Anyway, the mix looked pretty much…like dogfood. New York, as I mentioned, has outlawed sale of sheep stomach. Since I’m now pretty intimately familiar with it from my assorted charcuterie efforts, I immediately thought of using beef bung. Tim Hayward, it turns out, had the same idea. This stuffed haggis might not look as plump and lovely as some sausages I’ve posted here – but as you saw above, it cooks up quite nicely. I left it half-empty to start, because it expands as the oatmeal in the filling cooks and absorbs juices. And while it was cooking, I whipped up a few classic accompaniments: oatcakes… …and some awesomely-named rumbledethumps (mashed turnips and potatoes with cabbage and cheddar). For whiskey, I put out Oban and Laphroaig – one easy, one peaty. Both went over well, and both paired beautifully with haggis. I got a surprising number of people to try haggis (the whiskey may have given courage to some), and it went over very well. Haggis, for all its fearsome reputation, is quite a mild-flavored dish: the liver dominates, the spices bring its earthiness out nicely, and the oatmeal gives it great texture. It’s a bit late now for a Burns Supper – but if you feel moved to make haggis for any reason (and you should), here’s one way to go about it. Haggis (Makes one haggis) One beef bung (as wide as possible) One sheep liver and one sheep heart 1/3 lb. honeycomb tripe 2 Spanish onions 400 g beef suet 500 g Irish (pinhead) oatmeal 1 tbsp. chopped rosemary 1 tbsp. chopped thyme 3 tbsp. coarse sea salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1/2 a nutmeg, grated fresh 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the liver, heart, and tripe, and simmer for 90 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. 2. While the offal is cooling, soak the beef bung in cold water for at least 60 minutes. 3. Reserve 2 cups of the cooled cooking liquid from the offal, and drain the rest off. Chop the heart and tripe into sections about 2 inches across, and pulse in a food processor until both reach a consistency similar to oatmeal. The meat should have texture – it should not be smooth like pate. Place the chopped meat in a large bowl. 4. Using a food processor grater attachment (or a hand grater), grate the liver and add it to the other offal. 5. Chop the onions finely using a knife, or grate them with a food processor grater attachment if you have one. Add the onions to the offal mixture. 6. Spread the oatmeal on a baking sheet and toast it in 350-degree oven for 5 minutes. Add the oatmeal to the already-mixed ingredients. 7. Add the spices and suet to the offal, onions, and oatmeal, and mix well. 8. Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. 9. Drain the bung and pat it dry, and begin stuffing it using your hands. Push the stuffing down to the bottom of the casing and pack it tight enough to push out air bubbles – but don’t force it. Fill the casing halfway. Press the air out of the empty half and tie it shut using butcher’s string. Then push the filling up into the empty half, so it is evenly distributed along the length of the casing. 10. Gently lower the haggis into the boiling water. Immediately puncture it in about a dozen places, using a skewer or the tip of a narrow-bladed knife. 11. Reduce to a simmer, and cook for 2 hours. Drain the cooked haggis and let it stand for about [Here the text breaks off, for whatever arcane reason.] http://www.cookbookarchaeology.com/?p=2254