‘Knowing the ropes’ has entered popular parlance as a metaphor for acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to do a job. It comes directly from sailing, particularly the days of tall ships when a deck hand had to master the complex arrangement of ropes and pulleys on a particular vessel. Knowing which one did what was crucial to the ship and crew’s welfare and navigation.
A spate of recent food safety lapses have highlighted the need for restaurant managers to renew their food safety training and make doubly sure that staff working on their premises are trained or retrained. This is not only to increase customer safety but also to demonstrate compliance and effort made in the event of a food safety problem, which can mitigate financial penalties.
The event management business is booming. The consumption of things is falling in favour and the consumption of experiences is rising, especially among millennials and younger people. Many of the experiences they crave come in the form of organised events like festivals and concerts. The business events sector is also busier than ever, with regular year-on-year growth in conferences, conventions, expos, product launches and marketing events. All this has led to an uptick in the demand for skilled event management professionals.
Food Safety Managers are not only the overall managers of establishments but also chefs, cooks and owners. It is not enough for these people to have taken some food safety training a long time ago. They need to know about the latest food safety developments and regulations.
Serving alcohol to people can have undesirable consequences if it is not done sensibly. As an alcohol server, it is your legal responsibility to ensure that only people of legal age are served and that they are the ones consuming the alcohol. To conform with state laws you must have an alcohol server certificate that shows you have taken the necessary training.
If you think food safety training is just more government nannying, visit foodsafetynews.com and read the horror stories of E.coli deaths, hepatitis and salmonella outbreaks, listeria and norovirus plagues and the food service establishments that are shut down or heavily fined for causing them. There are new ones every day. Seriously, go and check it out. We’ll wait.
Eat blueberries and you will live for ever. Quinoa gives you superpowers. Being within 100 feet of an egg yolk will kill you instantly. Exaggeration? Yes, but every day we hear dietary messages from the media and food ‘experts’ that aren’t that far from such hyperbole. Social Media use food fads as bait to draw us in and show us ads (thanks, Buzzfeed). There is conflicting advice out there that can make our heads spin. To pick the right things to eat and create a healthy and sustainable diet, the best thing to do is educate ourselves in nutritional science and then make our own choices.
Those involved in the creative process know how hard it can be sometimes to open the floodgates of their creativity when required. If they wait for inspiration, they might find themselves waiting a long time. The old adage about creativity (or was it success?) being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration definitely applies here.
When you turn the key of your Bentley and the engine purrs to life, spare a thought for the minions who designed, manufactured and tested all those moving parts, perfected the aerodynamics, gave it brakes that make it stand on its nose and made the gear changes feel like silk. Minion school is a place called the University of Bolton in England, where they deliver a BSc (Hons) degree in Motorsport Technology.
Stand-up comedy is an interesting instance of the nature vs. nurture debate. Are good comedians just naturally funny people, or have they painstakingly crafted their acts over hundreds of performances so they can push our laughter buttons and get results?
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, studied philosophy at college. Astute viewers will have noted the many references to philosophy in the show – Homer, for one, is so named as a nod to a great thinker (but he thinks it comes from baseball). Critics have noted for a long time that the show does more than merely play with philosophy. Rather than mentioning clever stuff in passing to show its creator’s erudition, the Simpsons actually does philosophy.
