Bob Sessions, Penguin Group Australia’s head of publishing, acknowledged the proofreader for the Pasta Bible should have picked up the error, but said it was nothing more than a “silly mistake”. The Pasta Bible recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto was supposed to call for black pepper. “We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know,” he said. “We’ve said to bookstores that if anyone is small-minded enough to complain about this… silly mistake, we will happily replace (the book) for them.” Penguin has said it would reprint 7 000 books, at a cost of £12 000, but books already in stores would not be recalled because doing so would be “extremely hard”, Sessions said. –– Sydney Morning Herald.
OVERDUE: If former US President George Washington were alive today, he might face a hefty overdue library fine. New York City’s oldest library says one of its ledgers shows that the president has racked up 220 years’ worth of late fees on two books he borrowed, but never returned. One of the books was the Law of Nations, which deals with international relations. The other was a volume of debates from Britain’s House of Commons.Both books were due on November 2, 1789. New York Society Library head librarian Mark Bartlett says the institution isn’t seeking payment of the fines, but would love to get the books back. The ledger also lists books being taken out by other founding fathers, including Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and John Jay. The entry on Washington simply lists the borrower as “president”. –– AP.
DETECTING A FORTUNE: A bricklayer in the UK who gave up work in 2003 to spend more time with his metal detector has found more than £500 000 worth of valuables.Peter Beasley (68) digs for six hours-a-day, three days-a-week on fields close to his home in Waterlooville, Hants, reports the Daily Telegraph.He has sold a Roman pendant worn by Caesar for £30 000 and is selling a Norman ring later this year with a guide price of £80 000.His biggest sale was a haul of 250 Roman coins found in fields near Petersfield for £100 000 to the British Museum in 1996.Beasley said: “I just love exploring and it is all about the discovery. I came into this business as a hobby to keep me out of the house but it is serious.“I am fascinated by the history of our land and it is the buzz of finding something it is a great feeling to dig something up that you know is hundreds of years old.” –– Daily Telegraph.
‘HENCREDIBLE’ COCKEREL: Unit-ed Nation (UN) scientists are to study a cockerel which swapped sex after a fox raid on his enclosure wiped out all his hens.Gianni’s Italian owners say he started life as a red-blooded rooster on his farm in Tuscany.But within days of the fox raid, ‘he’ was laying eggs and trying to hatch them as he brooded over his new life in the hen house.Now scientists at UN’s Farm and Agriculture Organisation are to study the bird’s DNA to see what made him change.“It may be a primitive species survival gene. With all the females gone he could only ensure the future of his line by becoming female,” said one expert. –– Orange.
