When it’s time to pick up a bag of charcoal, there are almost as many options in the barbecue aisle as there are candy bars at any grocery checkout station. And the debate about which one is best is a heated one — literally.

What burns hottest? What burns longest? What delivers the best flavor? What meats would pair best with it?

So we held a trial by fire for six kinds of charcoal, testing them to answer these chin-scratching questions. Every brand was given a full chimney starter’s worth of coals, which amounts to about 50 briquettes, or about a pound of the hardwood varieties that aren’t uniform in size.

With each test, the grill was cleaned out so no residue from any previous cook remained, allowing each charcoal to stand on its own merits. And with each type, I cooked an 8-ounce, thick-cut sirloin steak, seasoned only with kosher salt and coarse-ground black pepper, on a classic 20-inch kettle-style Weber grill. Each steak was given five minutes per side (10 minutes total) to see if it would reach the ideal medium-rare finish of a 135-degree internal temperature in that time.

No lighter fluid, was used and all charcoal was started with a propane torch. Here are the findings, with each charcoal rated Grill On, Average or Bag It.

B&B Competition Char-Logs: By far the most unusual take on charcoal ($19.99 for 30 pounds), these briquette logs are shaped like thick slices of pool noodles with a hole in the middle and are built more for longer cooks like low-and-slow smoking than your standard backyard cookout.

They took about 40 minutes to get to 450-500 degrees, but even after all that time, the size of the logs remained about the same. They failed to deliver charcoal flavor to the steak, although it did get to medium-rare in the 10-minute window I allowed.

But the strength in this brand is its ability to hold high heat for a long time with pieces of wood stacked on top. There is a reason “competition” is in the name: It’s a staple in that community and is the foundation for scores of briskets and pork ribs. Rating: Average

H-E-B Grand Champion Applewood: Apple doesn’t get much love in Texas, so this H-E-B variety ($4.48 for 8 pounds) begged for a taste test. I smoke a lot of pork with apple, and it produces a sweet, smoky finish. In charcoal form, the flavor wasn’t quite as dominating, but this brand fired up to 500 degrees in 20 minutes and stayed there like a book reader on a park bench.

The high heat delivered a crispy gristle on the steak that sealed in the seasoning like a blanket and allowed the beef flavor to stand out more than the fuel. This is a knockout charcoal that would work with anything, and it’s the runaway winner of the test. Rating: Grill On, and overall winner

Jack Daniel’s: The bag ($4.98 for 4 pounds) looks like the famous whiskey label and is infused with the white oak wood used to make the barrels of the good stuff. It also comes with a side bag of six pieces of actual barrel wood that you can use to add flavor.

It failed to generate heat, unable to get much hotter than a max of 325 degrees inside the closed grill dome, even after an hour of lighting the coals. And the real bummer was there was absolutely no trace of the whiskey flavor. Also, those barrel pieces burn off way too quickly to add anything of significance to the cook.

This charcoal is nothing more than a gimmick, producing a ho-hum steak that couldn’t get beyond the rarest of rare in 10 minutes. Rating: Bag It

Kingsford Original: This old warhorse ($6.99 for 8 pounds) has been around for more than 100 years and is the standard for backyard grilling. That leads to a little tension among cookout champs because it’s akin to the big-box store picking on the little guy, but it got to be the big name because it’s a tremendous product.

Kingsford heats very quickly (500 degrees in 15 minutes) and produces the nostalgic flavors of your childhood. It’s clearly designed for the hot dog and burger community, but it tackled the steak like a champ, and there’s no reason it can’t continue to be your default for anything else you throw at it.

The only drawback is that the briquettes get very ashy and burn off quickly, so it will require at least one or two reloads for cooks that extend beyond one hour. Rating: Average

Royal Oak Hardwood Lump: This hardwood lump variety ($7.98 for 8 pounds) is made with a mixture of oak, maple, hickory and other select woods with pieces that can range in size from a golf ball to a Coke bottle. It wastes no time getting hot, hitting 475 degrees under the dome in 20 minutes, and the temperature held for more than an hour.

Royal Oak burns very cleanly, and the wood chunks don’t get overly ashy, which makes this a great option for “S,” allowing you to toss the meat or vegetables directly onto the fire.

There were zero issues with the steak getting to medium-rare, but the flavor wasn’t a standout. Rating:
Average

Viva Pancho: Made in Mexico, Viva Pancho ($5.39 for 8 pounds) is pure mesquite, with chunks of random-size hardwood.

It burns hot and fast, reaching 500 degrees under the dome within 20 minutes of ignition. It held a steady temperature of at least 400 degrees for more than an hour. It produces so much smoke, you’ll smell like a chimney sweep after the cook, but it produced a wicked-good steak with a sweet yet smoky bite that hit the perfect medium-rare temperature in 10 minutes.

Great all around, but I would not use it for longer cooks because of the harshness of the mesquite smoke. Rating: Grill on

cblount@express-news.net

The post H-E-B, Kingsford, Jack Daniel’s, B&B, Royal Oak and Viva Pancho appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Mariebella Emilia Eliza Carmen Duran Rodriguez

2023 Princess of the Fiesta de Taos Mariebella Duran

Chuck McLaughlin/Sean Kelly portraits

Mariebella Emilia Eliza Carmen Duran Rodriguez was born in Taos in August. 3, 2006, and is the daughter of Thomas Duran and Bella Rodriguez-Duran. She is the granddaughter of the late Carmen Oliveza Rodriguez, Jose Enrique Rodriguez, Carmen Valerio Duran and Jose Tomas Duran.

She has four siblings; Cynthia (Brandon), Richard (Roxanna), Rachel (Benny) and Nicholas (Jannelle); and three nephews, three nieces and one on the way.

Mariebella is a Taos Academy graduate and an honor student. She is active on the student council and is secretary of the National Honor Society.

Mariebella plans to complete her high school diploma and an associate degree in minors from the University of New Mexico in 2024. She would then like to pursue a degree in Speech Language Pathology at New Mexico State University.

She is an active member of San Francisco de Asis Mission Parish, where she has served as an altar boy for the past nine years—and as an instructor for new ministers. She also founded a youth choir in San Francisco and plays guitar there. Mariebella is also very active in the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe and has been participating in the youth group for the past seven years.

Enrique and Patricia Gonzales

Robert and Victoria Gonzales

Lillyanna & Emelina Lujan

Claren and Stephanie Martinez

Claudio and Antonette Martinez

Gary & Samantha Martinez & family

Meregildo & Debra Martinez

Aunt Helen and Uncle Isaac Montoya

Dolores & Gilbert Pacheco

Sonia, Pat, Tony and Frankie Romero

Jessica & Sierra Trujillo

Patrick, Celsa Vigil & Boys

Allyson, Megan, Elizabeth and Jacqualyn

Knights of Columbus Taos Valley Council 7313

Las Pistoleras Cultural Institute of Arts

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Redwolf Plumbing & Excavating LLC

Romero’s Rio Grande Propane San Francisco de Asis Church

STADZ Records Inc. (Jimmy Stadler)

Natalia Augustina Veronica Flores

2023 Princess of the Fiesta de Taos Natalia Flores

Chuck McLaughlin/Sean Kelly portraits

Natalia Augustina Veronica Flores was born on November 8, 2003 in Taos. Natalia is the eldest daughter of Mark T. Flores II and Rosa O. Flores. Natalia has one sibling, her younger sister Tatiana Flores.

Her grandparents are Tina Jo Martinez and Juan and Maria Sanchez. Maternal great-grandparents are the late Jose and Ramona Sanchez of Jalisco, Mexico, and Pedro and Elisa Solis. Paternal great-grandparents are Polito E. Martinez and Tina V. Martinez of Talpa, NM along with George M. Flores and Edith A. Flores of Santa Fe.

Natalia grew up in Taos, where she attended St. Francis Church of Ranchos, where she completed her First Communion and Confirmation. Natalia was a 2022 graduate of Taos High School where she excelled in both her studies and her sports as a Taos High Varsity cheerleader. She worked hard alongside her team and became a three-time state champion and runner-up.

To continue Natalia’s education, she attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona from 2022-2023. She looks forward to being closer to her family and friends and will attend the University of New Mexico in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Chuby’s Construction Co.

Adventure Ski Shop – Moises Martinez

Gutierrez Enterprises, Inc.

Elevated garage door – manual vigil

Marlene and Arnold Quintana

Martyr’s Steakhouse – Kimberley Armstrong

KSWV 99.9FM Que Suave/Gonzales Family

The Plumbers—Max Stroback

Ariana Juliette Ruth Masters

2023 Fiesta de Taos Princess Ariana Maestas

Chuck McLaughlin/Sean Kelly portraits

Ariana Juliette Ruth Maestas was born on May 12, 2006. She is currently a student at Taos Academy Charter School and will graduate next May. In the last four years she has received scientific awards at regional and state level. This year she made it to the Regional Science Fair in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and won first place in her category – medicine and health.

She competed in the state competition in Socorro, New Mexico, and received second place in her Behavioral Sciences, Social Sciences, Biomedical and Health category, along with two special awards. Ariana has competed and made it to the Nationals in Washington, DC

After graduation, she plans to join either the Air Force or the Army and is considering becoming a kindergarten teacher. She has been with the Civil Air Patrol for four years. She also participated in a dance group with Lucita Trujillo for eight years and now serves as a mentor to other students in the class.

Ariana is the daughter of Michelle Maestas and the late Moises Maestas. Her siblings are Naticia, Miranda, Jonathan, Shawn, Dominic and Tanya, her great-grandparents are the late Flavio and Antia Abeyta, Bences and Corina Maestas, and Ernest and Carmen Velarde. Ariana comes from a very loving, caring family and is a passionate assistant to the Lord Mayor of the Church of San Francisco de Asis.

Josh Vigil & Tonya Maestas

Michael Wilfred and Olivia Gonzales

Stadz Records – Jimmy Stadler

Diamond Finish Construction

Frances and Ernestine Cordova

Burrito Heaven – Ristras de Taos

Johnny & Christine Valerio

Tomasita Garcia & Flavio Abeyta

Evelyn Abeyta and Francine Cordova

Johnathon Star & Shawn Masters

Dominic J Duran Bau

Margaret and Loriann Trujillo

Tao’s Financial Strategies

Church of San Francisco de Asis

Michael and Suzanne Valerio

Zaira Yarely Ruiz

2023 Princess of the Fiesta de Taos Zaira Ruiz

Chuck McLaughlin/Sean Kelly portraits

Zaira Yarely Ruiz was born on April 24, 2007. While her birth was planned by the grace of God and the advice of the doctors in Taos, she was born in Bernalillo due to a high-risk pregnancy.

She is currently a junior at Taos High School. She loves to dance and was a member of the Mystic Dance Team where she competed nationally. She was also involved in a UNM program for high school students called STEM.

Zaira dreams of one day becoming a music producer. She has volunteered at special events at Taos Health Care, also known as the Taos Living Center. At the age of six she was a gymnast. From a young age, she participated in the first mariachi band at Enos Garcia Elementary School. At the age of two, she took part in the children’s parade as a flower, and at the age of eight as a Moiana character.

She enjoys spending time with family and alone, watching shows and creating diamond artwork. Her family is from Mexico, however she moved to the United States 22 years ago making her of Mexican descent and Native American.

She has an older sister, Karen A Ruiz (Cortez), and a brother, Jael S. Ruiz. Her parents are Angel Ruiz and Monica Mandujano (Ruiz). Her paternal grandparents are the late Angel Ruiz Senior and Rosa Maria Gandara (Ruiz). Her maternal grandparents are Monico Mandujano and the late Maria del Carmen Chavez.

Antonio’s Mexican Restaurant

Roberta Montoya & Infinity Martinez

Frances & Ernestina Cordova

Diamond Finish Construction

The post 2023 Fiesta de Taos Royal Courtroom | Fiestas appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Orrick Smith, new owner of Warwick Plumbing (Photograph by Jessie Moniz Hardy)

If you are desperately hunting for that hard-to-find part for a toilet or tub, or you need a more efficient way to heat your water, Warwick Plumbing has you covered.

Orrick Smith launched the plumbing supply business in September, looking to give plumbers, journeymen and DIY-ers in Bermuda another option.

“Stuck in the Atlantic, there were some things that were hard to find even prior to the pandemic,” Mr Smith said. “I find everyone has to go shopping in different locations, getting one piece from here and the next piece at another store.”

Mr Smith thinks his plumbing supply company will help the problem.

“Another plumbing supply store is much needed,” he said.

Business has been slowly picking up since he opened at 15 Ten Pin Crescent, Middle Road, above the Warwick Laundromat.

“Journeymen and plumbers are putting the word out there for me,” he said. “A lot of the people who have come here have been very excited and glad that I did this.”

Orrick Smith, new owner of Warwick Plumbing (Photograph by Jessie Moniz Hardy)

There has been particular interest in his Rheem Ruud heat-pump hot water heaters.

“It is a heater that acts almost like an air-conditioning unit,” he said. “It will cool your whole basement or garage while it heats the water. It uses about 60 percent less energy than a regular hot water heater.”

Right now the water heaters are hard to get due to a microchip shortage. Mr Smith said some big box stores in the US have even taken them off the sales floor because it is hard to meet demand for them.

“Right now I have a 165-gallon unit and a 250-gallon unit,” he said. “They sell in the $3,000 range but no one really bats an eye at that. People are just happy to find one locally.”

Mr Smith gets the heaters from a supplier in the US and then stores them in Florida until they need to be shipped to Bermuda.

“I try to think ahead,” he said.

He started his career working in the hotel industry.

“I was a bus boy and waiter for many years,” he said. “The hotel wanted me to be the maitre’d, but I did not want to be one. I was happy in the industry. I worked with the Marriott Castle Harbor Hotel right until the doors closed. But I was tired of the hotel industry.”

Wanting to do something different, he went to work for Dunkley’s Dairy as a general handyman doing everything from putting up cameras to fixing the air conditioning and the plumbing.

“I learned on the job,” he said.

It wasn’t difficult.

“I have a way of figuring out how things work, just by watching how others do things,” he said.

As a child, he would always put toys or models together without reading the instructions first.

“I would just figure it out as I went along,” he said. “I was always good with my hands.”

Later, he worked for Bermuda Air Conditioning as a salesman. Knowing his talent for figuring out mechanical issues, the company would sometimes send him out to troubleshoot a problem. He would have a look at what was going on in the field and report back to the experts.

At Warwick Plumbing, he is not doing any actual plumbing, but he can use his knowledge to advise customers on the parts they need for different projects.

“I can also direct them to a plumber if they need one,” Mr Smith said.

He has a good relationship with some of his plumbing supply competitors.

“Sometimes they will call and say they are sending a customer my way because they don’t have what he needs, and I will do the same for them,” he said. “It is just so people can finish a project. If you have a leaking toilet you don’t want to go to Amazon.com, particularly if it’s a tenant’s toilet.”

So far, Mr Smith has not had any major challenges setting up shop.

“I had it in my mind exactly what I was going to do,” he said.

He has tried to arrange the aisles so that they are visually appealing and convenient for professionals looking for parts for certain types of projects.

“I have had a lot of compliments on the arrangement of the shelves,” he said.

There has been the occasional glitch. For example, he ordered a store mat with Warwick Plumbing’s logo on it, but it arrived with the W upside down, so it looks more like an M.

At present, he is the only employee.

“You have to creep before you walk,” he said. “I am still new. I am always progressing and adding more to the shop as we go.”

Mr Smith does not have a website yet, but one is coming in the future.

To contact Warwick Plumbing, call 236-4311 or e-mail orrick@warwickpl.com

The post New plumbing enterprise opens in Warwick – The Royal Gazette appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The Justice Department has secured a number of Wi-Fi access points that may allow administrators to access industrial control equipment, according to a tip from The Register.

Four unsecured wireless networks named Boiler Pump 1 through Boiler Pump 4 were freely accessible in the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) until The Register informed officials what was going on.

The nets were all visible from the ground floor of the Queen’s Building, an extension of the original 1960s neo-Gothic courthouse. The RCJ is home to the UK’s highest civil courts, including the Court of Appeal.

A source told us that connecting to the passwordless access points exposed a login page for what appeared to be an industrial control system developed by Armstrong Fluid Technology. Armstrong’s website contains PDF copies of equipment manuals with default administrator passwords, which Armstrong calls “Level 2” access.

“Level 1 allows the user to change the operating parameters and reset them to the factory settings, but not save them as the factory settings in the manual, just before we reveal the fairly simple Level 2 password, which we will not reveal here.

A malicious person who connected to the unsecured access point and looked at the branding of the pumps login portal could easily have added two and two and given administrator access to the pumps. Their shutdown could have caused the water pipes to freeze overnight as winter sets in, potentially forcing the building to shut down * and delays in legal proceedings.

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service spokesman Jake Conneely told The Register, “The staff has taken immediate action to ensure that these facilities are inaccessible and that security is maintained across the courts.”

We have been informed that the WLAN access points have been deactivated until further notice.

A tech-savvy attacker could use the access to the pumps as a starting point for further network exploitation. Such pivots of harmless devices are routine for ransomware attackers as well as for hostile nation states, as compromises with a focus on digital supply chains have shown in recent years. One such attack was targeted at Accellion’s Internet-connected file transfer devices.

A knowledgeable source from a pentesting company who did not name The Register because they did not speak on behalf of their employer confirmed that HVAC system components typically come with a Wi-Fi access point for local access by maintenance companies . They suggested wiring the boiler pump control into a larger building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) facility that permanent staff can remotely access.

The existence of the vulnerability is surprising: As the largest and most prestigious civil court in the country, the RCJ complex is a public space, which means that those responsible for the RCJ HVAC systems should expect others to be able to use the unsecured wireless access points . They may also have been visible from a public road that runs behind the Queen’s Building.

Airport-style security checkpoints at the main entrance of the RCJ will search anyone who enters. The age-old right of every Briton to enter a courtroom and sit in the public stands to watch the proceedings means that physical access to the Queen’s Building is impossible.

As far as we know, pump access has not been maliciously exploited – but if you’ve had a particularly cold day in court recently, it may be worth asking why. ®

Boot note

* Or maybe not, as the Evening Standard’s court correspondent said today:

It’s ridiculously cold at Inner London Crown Court this morning where the jury has been told they can keep their hands, coats and gloves on if they want.

If this happened in an office building, or maybe the Justice Department headquarters, people would be angry …

– Tristan Kirk (@kirkkorner) November 22, 2021

The post Royal Courts of Justice HVAC programs had unsecured Wi-Fi AP • The Register appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The Royal Caribbean Group today announced the results of an independent study conducted in conjunction with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) of the diffusion of aerosolized particles through a cruise ship’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

With the support of the Healthy Sail Panel – a group of world-class experts brought together by the Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the Royal Caribbean Group hired the UNMC and the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) of the University of Nebraska to do the Conduct this research.

ADVERTISING

The study was conducted by UNMC and NSRI scientists aboard the Oasis of the Seas in July 2020 to gain a full understanding of the role of HVAC systems in airborne particle transmission around cruise ships. In particular, it examined the effectiveness and efficiency of on-board air management – such as supply, ventilation and filtration – and analyzed airflow in various areas of the ship, such as guest cabins, crew quarters, lounges and other public areas.

Trendy right now

A team of five medical professionals who specialize in bioaerosols found that the transfer of airborne particles through the ventilation system between areas on board was undetectable in most test cases, both in the air and on surfaces is.

The research was originally conducted to support the Healthy Sail Panel’s comprehensive recommendations on industry best practices to protect guests, crew and the communities they visit, presented to the CDC last September.

The Royal Caribbean Group’s existing HVAC systems, always at the forefront of implementing the latest industry innovations, were already robust and efficient enough to provide exceptional filtering of incoming and outgoing air, continuous fresh air intake and maximum ventilation in all ships. However, based on the results of the UNMC study and the recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel, the Royal Caribbean Group is adopting new practices and adding additional protective layers to further minimize the possibility of aerosol particle spread.

In the future, onboard settings will be adjusted to allow the maximum number of air exchanges per hour, and system-wide upgrades will include MERV 13 filters to add another layer of protection. The Royal Caribbean Group’s medical facilities have already been fitted with independent ventilation systems, complete with hospital-grade HEPA filters.

“Our existing HVAC system is designed with several layers in order to continuously bring in the sea air and filter it several times before it reaches our guests and our crew. We are pleased that the study concludes that our robust system is effective at reducing transmission, ”said Patrik Dahlgren, senior vice president of global marine operations for the Royal Caribbean Group and a member of the Healthy Sail panel. “By taking a scientific approach and implementing the recommendations of the experts at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the National Strategic Research Institute, we have created an environment that is even safer for our guests and crew. And that without compromising on comfort – which is always in the foreground, because this is the vacation of our guests and the home of our crew at sea. “

An overview of the UNMC study commissioned by the Royal Caribbean Group and details of how the HVAC system works on board can be found here.

More information is available at royalcaribbeangroup.com.

The post Royal Caribbean Group Releases Analysis on Cruise Ship HVAC Programs appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.