Word: straws
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...Lowdown:When a book opens with a paean to the wonderful smell of burning buffalo dung - "At times I've dipped my face into the smoke and picked up the odors of cinnamon and cloves, dried straw and pumpkins" - you know it's going to be a dirty read. But there's really no other way to talk about hunting, and Rinella's tale of tracking buffalo in Alaska is alluringly visceral in its description. His multichapter description of killing, skinning and chopping up a buffalo cow is alternately stomach-turning and riveting. It's easy to understand the allure...
...Puns I note that Peter Baron, the inventor of the straw that adds flavor to a drink, was forced to call it the Sippahh because his original name, Suckahh, did not go down well in the U.S. [Nov. 24]. It occurs to me that as an Australian, he was probably keen to call his new straw, containing friendly bacteria, the Buggahh. D.C. Cardwell, Langwarrin, Victoria
...been a part of human eating culture since ancient man realized the fruits of a hunt would stay edible for a while if they were stored in the back of a cold, dark cave. Ancient Greeks and Romans hauled ice and snow down from the mountains, wrapped it in straw or buried it in cellars where it slowed down food spoilage, although "leftovers" back then were more along the lines of fall harvest foods that could be stored and eaten when sustenance was scarce...
...area in spring 2007, the first sign we were entering a dead zone was the carcass of a camel. Camels can go three weeks without water in the Sahara, so the heap of fur, hair and bleached bones was an ominous sight. We entered a mud-walled, straw-roofed village. Instead of giving the usual smiles and waves, the children ducked away. A few minutes later, we crested a rise in the road and were confronted by nine janjaweed horsemen, rifles over their shoulders, white turbans around their heads. We'd gone before they could react, but we were...
...creatures are encased row after row, 400 to 500 pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates seven feet long and 22 inches wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw, or engage in stereotypical nest-building with the straw that isn’t there, or else just lie there like broken beings. The spirit of the place would be familiar to police who raided [a puppy mill] only instead of 350 tortured animals, [there are] millions—and the law prohibits none...