Normally a company like Curbed.com, especially one that refused to dish some hard facts about its business, would get zero time from The Great Grey Lady, let alone a 500-word article. But of course, we live in an age of Web 2.0 hysteria and hyperbole.

1,500 metrical tonnes of mussels, delicate shellfishes indispensable for a good fish stew or a dish of "Spaghetti allo Scoglio" have been stolen from their rightful owners, the mollusk-growers of La Spezia's Gulf. The culprits, while well known, cannot be fined or prosecuted.This since they are...

Gonzalez y Gonzalez (625 Broadway, NYC) is the tropical rococo home to the longest bar in NYC. I can vouch for the bright eye candy, but without my tape measure I cannot confirm the size boasting. The food is your standard South of the Border fare and - at least for tonight - the margaritas were only $5.00. I'm not sure if this is normal.

With E3 dishing out preview after preview, Lionhead studios Peter Molyneux spoke about the sequel to the short but innovative game known as Fable. Fable 2 takes place in a now 500 year old town of Bowerstone. Peter also stated that the age of heroes is long over, and the town has now taken on a darker feel. Muskets, trench coats, and swords are...

Before you are tempted to buy that new high-definition plasma television, before you sign up for a 500-channel satellite dish, before you allow a TV set in your child's bedroom, consider this: Your television viewing may be slowly killing you.

Foie gras (French for "fat liver") is "the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage" (as defined by French law).Foie gras is one of the most popular and well-known delicacies in French cuisine and its flavour is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras can be sold whole, or prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and is typically served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as toast or steak.The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BCE, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding. Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China.Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial, due to the force feeding procedure, and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver, and a number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras due to how it is traditionally produced.In modern gavage-based foie gras production, force feeding takes place 12−18 days before slaughter; other methods do not involve force-feeding, and time the slaughter to coincide with the winter migration, when livers are naturally fattened. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube inserted in the animal's cuticle-lined esophagus.Fattened liver can be produced by alternative methods without gavage, and this is referred to either as "fatty goose liver" or as foie gras (outside France), though it does not conform to the French legal definition, and there is debate about the quality of the liver produced. This has only recently been produced commercially, and is a very small fraction of the market.Animal rights and welfare organizations and activists regard foie gras production methods as cruel to animals, while foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health. The Scientific Committee for Animal Health and Welfare of the European Commission reviewed the literature on welfare aspects of foie gras production, and strongly concludes that "force feeding, as currently practised, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds." (Further details.)