ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2008) — Acrylamide is a chemical formed when frying, roasting, grilling or baking carbohydrate-rich foods at temperatures above 120°C. Acrylamide is thus found in a number of foods, such as bread, crisps, French fries and coffee. Tobacco smoking also generates substantial amounts of acrylamide.

Jim Coleman: How to stop that meringue from weeping

Q: For Valentine's Day, I am making my boyfriend's favorite dessert, lemon meringue pie. I have his family's recipe, and the last time I made it, I followed the recipe exactly. It looked great and tasted great, but there was one problem: The golden meringue pulled away from the edges of the pan, and underneath the meringue was very watery. Can you please send me another recipe and tell me how to prevent this mistake? Is there a way to fix the recipe I have?

- Lynn H.

No, it's not me weeping - all that sobbing is coming from your meringue. Weeping is the culinary term for what is going wrong with your meringue.

COUNTY DA, EVERETT DIAL, FILES FOR REELECTION

The sheriff has to drive them to Coos Bay, Medford, or further and often that person is released from the hospital by the time the deputy gets back to Gold Beach."

Dial said there is now a countywide major crime team organized to respond to major crimes.

"I hope it stays a secret that Curry County is the best place to live in Oregon," Dial said.

Dial and his wife, Amy, live with their pet rabbit, Nigel, a large black and white French Lop.

"He follows us around the house and gets rather bossy sometimes," Dial said. "He won't let us put anything on his chair."

Nigel has his own chair and ottoman, in different rooms.

"He's somewhat petulant," Dial said. "He's not allowed in the room with the washing machine and dryer. He'll get in when he can, then bang his foot on the dryer to let us know he got in."

Dial, a graduate of University of Oregon Law School, was a deputy district attorney for six and a half years in Crook County and came to Curry County as a deputy DA in December 2005.

Fishin' Game: Reds and flounders in foggy Geoghagen's Canal!

Pretty dense fog covered the Rigolets marsh Thursday morning when my fishing team and I headed out to do this week's report. But once the first ray of sunshine broke through the broken clouds to burn off some of the hanging mist, the morning fog had little effect on where we found fish and how we caught them.

Airliner crash-lands at Heathrow

A passenger plane has crash-landed short of a runway at Heathrow Airport, ripping off part of its undercarriage.

All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight BA038 from Beijing. Eighteen people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

An airport worker told the BBC the Boeing 777 pilot, named later as Peter Burkill, 43, said he had lost all power and had to glide the plane in to land.

All BA short-haul flights from Heathrow have been cancelled and others delayed.

BAA, the Heathrow operator, said it hoped to return to "near normal operations" on Friday, but advised all passengers to contact their airlines for up-to-the-minute information.

The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed.

Great tips for decorators, and handy advice for the green-fingered

DIY isn't all about circular saws, sweat and sandpaper... sometimes even the most enthusiastic DIY demon needs to take a break. So hang up that hammer and enjoy this look at the lighter side of DIY...

We all know what a tool is supposed to do, but here's Rod Baker's tongue-in-cheek look at the jobs that tools usually do... Tape measure/rule: A handy item for rechecking the length of an item, such as a length of wood, to confirm that you have indeed cut it 5mm too short/narrow/whatever. Ideally, this item is used only when the shops are shut for the long weekend and, therefore, replacement materials are unavailable. Hot glue: Used for dropping on to fingers when hot, and staying there, despite all efforts to remove it. Also very useful for removing unwanted hair, particularly on the back of the hand and the forearm.