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Archaeologists have found remnants of eight spices on a sandstone slab from an archaeological site in Vietnam, showing the early adoption of ingredients and techniques from South Asia.Unearthed in an ancient village in southern Vietnam, the cookware—roughly the size and shape of an anvil—was likely used to grind the spice and other ingredients familiar in today’s curries...An analysis of 717 grains of starch recovered from the tools revealed the presence of eight different spices: turmeric, ginger, galangal, sand ginger, fingerroot, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Many of the grains also showed signs of deformation, indicating that they had been damaged during...

On February 27,* 1623, the Dutch East India Company beheaded twenty who had been waterboarded into confessing to a terrorist plot. As in modern times, this scenario originated with resource competition in the Muslim world … in this case, competition for spice, in Indonesia. European colonialism had pitted the Dutch East India Company against its British counterpart on the archipelago, both scrabbling after the lucrative trade in cloves and pepper, with garnishes of nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, and ginger. The two rival powers had, as we lay our story, recently come to a tense truce, dividing the commerce between them —...

Renowned as the voice of cycling, ex-professional and NBC Sports analyst Paul Sherwen died Sunday. He was 62. The cycling community was reeling Sunday at news of Sherwen’s death. One of the most well-known and familiar personalities in cycling, his career as racer and later as broadcaster stretched decades. Officials from NBC Sports, where he covered five Olympic Games as well as 33 editions of the Tour de France as a commentator, sent a message of condolences. “We are saddened to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Paul Sherwen, who passed away this morning at his home...

A 28-year-old man from Gävle in eastern Sweden, previously in trouble for his “llama-like” spitting in strangers’ faces, went amok while in hospital last summer, injuring staff in an alleged nutmeg induced rage. The man was behind a series of incidents in central Gävle in January, where he spat unknown people in the face “like a llama”, according to local paper Gefle Dagblad (GD). A month later, police arrested him on suspicion of harassing two sisters by sending them death threats and rude comments via text messages. The man was then held in custody by police until his verdict on...

TAMPA, Fla. - There are new concerns for parents, as a common household spice is now being abused by teenagers to get high.  Video of kids smoking, eating and drinking large quantities of nutmeg to get high can be found all over YouTube.com. According to various online reports, Nutmeg contains Myristicin, a compound that can cause euphoria and hallucinations. Potential side effects from getting high off Nutmeg include: vomiting, dizziness and convulsions. When shown some of the YouTube videos, random people on the street were shocked to hear this was happening.  "What other kind of seasoning could you possibly try...

Our dear FRiend and FReeper extraordinaire nutmeg is having major surgery today. Her neurosurgeon will be repairing a complicated spine problem that has caused nutmeg significant discomfort for a lengthy time. Nutmeg is a dedicated conservative, attending countless FReeps and other conservative gatherings from New England to Washington D.C. for many years. We look forward to seeing her again at many more conservative events.