President Obama’s French food tested by ‘taster’

I’ve always heard of this, but never knew if it was just an urban legend or not.

PARIS (AFP) — A US “taster” tested the food being dished up to President Barack Obama at a dinner in a French restaurant, a waiter said Sunday.

“They have someone who tastes the dishes,” said waiter Gabriel de Carvalho from the “La Fontaine de Mars” restaurant where Obama and his family turned up for dinner on Saturday night.

“It wasn’t very pleasant for the cooks at first, but the person was very nice and was relaxed, so it all went well,” he said on the Itele news channel.

Asked by AFP to comment, the restaurant confirmed the report.

The US Secret Service has always refused to confirm that US presidents travel with a food “taster”, in line with their policy of discretion on all security related issues.

But it is known the Service goes to great lengths to scrutinise the source and the preparation of food served to US presidents whenever they eat out of the White House to ensure it is not tampered with.

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Our Population Center is Moving

The mean centre of US population is “the point at which an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the US would balance perfectly if weights of identical value were placed on it so that each weight represented the location of one person on the date of the census”, in the definition of the US Census Bureau itself.

Strange Maps

mean_ctr_pop_us_1790-2000

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Recycled Glass Head

A friend at work recently bought one of these as a gag-gift at Pier 1, she said it reminded her of the 80’s.

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The sales rep told her that they have trouble keeping these in stock.  I found that a bit weird, but I totally love the product description:

If you ever wanted a clear head, here’s your chance! Made of recycled glass, this art sculpture shows everyone you’ve nothing to hide. Makes life a little more interesting, no?

Posted in Goofy, Pop Culture | 1 Comment

Jimmy Johnson Was Going to be on Survivor?

The need to compete did sneak up on Johnson in the oddest of ways recently, though. Survivor is one of his favorite shows. And he wanted to be on it. So he went out back on the private beach, Rhonda with the video camera, and explained to the producers why he should be allowed even though he worked for a rival network. He filled out thick files of paperwork and signed contracts. He got his yellow-fever shots. And he was headed to Africa for 45 days of seclusion when the doctor called about some of his tests. One artery to his heart was totally blocked, another blocked 70 percent. He wouldn’t be going anywhere. He has lost 30 pounds since.

MiamiHerald.com

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