“A bakery that sold cakes with a Buckfast-laced ingredient is at the centre of a licensing investigation after the Ayrshire firm was criticised by alcohol awareness groups. Patthead Bakery in New Cumnock sold a limited number of ‘cronuts’, a cross between a croissant and a doughnut invented in New York, with traces of [Scottish bum wine] added to the filling…. The cakes were criticised by Dr Evelyn Gillan, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, as a ‘cheap gimmick.’”

“Federal food safety workers who monitor dangerous bacteria have been recalled from furlough to track an outbreak of salmonella linked to Foster Farms chicken that has hospitalized a high proportion of victims, including some with hard-to-treat infections…. About 42 percent of patients reporting complete information have been hospitalized, about double the proportion typically expected from a salmonella outbreak, Reynolds said. Of 183 complete cases, 76 patients have been hospitalized. Among those, many infections appear to be resistant to the most common antibiotics used to them, she added.”

I am not saying this website is going to turn into a Danny Brown fansite, with all Danny Brown videos all the time, but I am saying that, for me, this afternoon is going to turn into a Danny Brown afternoon, with this song over and over. I like it, is what I’m trying to get at.

“Conservatives & Liberals Equally Smug, Study Finds”

“The forests of Europe are a gold mine of gourmet mushrooms, and professional foragers are breaking laws to get their hands on them. Four of them tried to run over a forestry worker last week in Germany, where mushroom-madness is widespread.” There are photos, but they are just of mushrooms, so really you should only click through if you want to read more of the story.

by Abe Sauer

• “Does ‘Gravity’ Kowtow to Chinese Ticket Buyers?” — Oct. 6, 2013 (Bloomberg)

• “All that kowtowing, and what’s there to show for it?” — Oct. 1, 2013 (Rolling Stone)

• “Movie moguls once collaborated with Nazis. Are they now kowtowing to Chinese Communists?” — July 1, 2013 (National Review)

• “By this rate of Hollywood kowtow…” — June 24, 2013 (Empire)

• “Curiously, there is no moral outrage that Hollywood is kowtowing to a regime with far more serious human rights abuses. At this rate, in ‘Iron Man 4’ Robert Downey Jr. will move his base of operations to the Forbidden City permanently” — May 7, 2013 (Wall Street Journal)

• “Hollywood kowtows to China’s artistic licence” — Apr. 26, 2013; (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• “Other films have kowtowed to the censors…” — April 25, 2013 (The Scotsman)

• “As Chinese directors increasingly look to push the limits of expression set by the government, does Hollywood’s kowtowing undermine their efforts?” — May 5, 2013 (The Hindu)

• “Hollywood is increasingly kowtowing to propaganda officials’ tastes and codes.” — Feb. 26, 2013 (Metro UK)

• “Rolling out the Red Carpet: Why is Hollywood kowtowing to China?” — Feb 22, 2013 (Foreign Policy)

• “Western producers’ willingness to kowtow to Chinese sensitivities is beginning to border on self-censorship.” — Feb. 6, 2013 (Spiegel)

• “Superheroes aren’t meant to kowtow to foreign powers. But when it comes to China….” — Jan. 26, 2013 (The Times)

• “How Hollywood is kowtowing to China” — Nov. 2, 2012 (The Telegraph)

• “Kowtowing to Beijing over stereotypes” — July 25, 2012 (The Australian)

• “Hollywood is — you’ll pardon the expression — kowtowing to the Chinese.” — June 1, 2012 (WNYC On the Media’s Bob Garfield)

• “It is, indeed, the most glaring example of Hollywood films kowtowing to Chinese censorship since the last one.” — May 31, 2012 (A.V. Club)

• “Perhaps they shouldn’t be kowtowing to the Chinese in the first place….” — May 31, 2011 (Business Insider)

• “’Red Dawn’ remake: Is Hollywood ‘kowtowing’ to China?” — Mar. 17, 2011 (The Week)

• “Hollywood’s kowtow: ‘Red Dawn’ dumps Chinese invaders” — Mar. 16, 2011 (Salon)

• “Why Hollywood kowtows to China” — Mar. 11, 2013 (The Guardian)

But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of other underused “Chinese” terms that will let your audience know you’re a whipsmart writer when it comes to a crackingly clever cultural turn of phrase. For example, look what the wordsmiths at the New York Post did to put some color in this drab collection on August 4th: “Shanghaied: Hollywood freely collaborated with Hitler and China is next.”

Abe Sauer is the author of How to be: NORTH DAKOTA. He is currently working on a book about Chinese consumers.

“It seems reading literary fiction temporarily enhances our ability to empathise with others.”

“After a year-long search, Garment District landlords and business leaders have picked a name to highlight the neighborhood’s ongoing transformation from clothing factories to hip office buildings and boutiques: the Garment District.”

“Pogues guitarist Phil Chevron has passed away following a long battle with cancer.” He was 56.