Meghan Markle has made headlines recently for her alleged acts of “bullying”, and in the process has copped a substantial amount of vitriol.
But now the tables have been turned in a Channel 9 60 minutes segment that dug deep into the latest royal scandal involving the claims that the Duchess of Sussex intimidated and belittled her staffers.
When the allegations first emerged, Buckingham Palace announced it was conducting an inquiry, but it has since said it won’t release the findings. It’s a curious move that’s left many puzzled. What did they discover, that they don’t want us to know about?
And could it be that the facts actually reveal instead of being the bully, Meghan is the one who’s been bullied?
In the segment, 60 minutess reporter Tom Steinfort asked British television host Trisha Goddard, a rare and staunch supporter of the Duchess of Sussex: “Who do you think is the victim of bullying?”
“Meghan Markle,” replied Trisha Goddard, who was also a former Australian TV star featuring on such shows as Play School.
“They can’t go too all out on Prince Harry, so let’s go for the evil scheming woman, that whole thing about women taking men away and driving them somewhere and destroying them. I mean how misogynistic is that?
“I think what’s she done wrong is not to be of the correct stock. I think what she’s done wrong is to be an American, to be an outsider… also she she’s a strong woman.
“I’m not saying she’s perfect, but I’m sorry but Prince Andrew doesn’t get as much consistent vitriol.”
Steinfort then asked: “So what do you think is at play here – is it sexism, racism, or a heady combo of both?”
To which Goddard replied: “It’s all those and above. We know through the polling that the Sussex’s poll highest among youngsters, under 25s.
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“It’s the dinosaurs screaming when it comes to an outsider, and a female, and a female of color, then that is something that you are going to come down on because it shouldn’t be allowed,” she said on 60 minutes.
When asked if she noticed a pattern in the kind of people that attack Meghan, Goddard said: “Yeah. White, male, pale and stale”.
“Can we just stop messing around and call this for what it is – it’s bullying.”
She said it’s quite baffling why Prince Harry and Meghan are loved in America, but there’s so much controversy around them from the Brits.
“In the US people really like them they – they can’t understand what’s going on in Britain other than snobbishness, and I’m sure there’s a lot of that going on.
“You can’t blame them if they want to stay in the States can you?”
However, the bullying claims continue to swirl around Markle.
Also featured on the 60 minutes segment was Valentine Low, the royal correspondent for UK newspaper The Times. He said it was Meghan’s explosive Oprah interview that was the tipping point for several palace staffers who decided to reveal their claims of bullying to the world.
“What I was told was that in late 2018, Jason Knauf, who was Harry and Meghan’s communications secretary – so one of their very closest advisers – sent an email to his boss saying that Meghan had been bullying staff,” Mr Low said.
“He said that a couple of members of staff had been driven out by Meghan’s behaviour. and
he was also concerned for how much pressure was being put on their private secretary, their
very closest adviser, an Australian woman called Samantha Cohen.
“Now this was an explosive allegation, but the point is, nothing happened,” he said.
He said the palace simply didn’t know what to do.
“They didn’t know how to cope with such an unusual situation, and they didn’t know how to cope with Meghan.”
David King has questioned Brett Ratten’s post-game comments following St Kilda’s 12-point win over Hawthorn on Saturday, telling the Saints coach: “You can’t have it both ways”.
After coming too close for comfort in almost blowing a 44-point lead in the third quarter, scenes at the final siren were somewhat subdued for St Kilda fans.
The narrative after the game was a strange one given the last quarter drop-off where the Hawks kicked five goals to one, but Ratten questioned that during his press conference.
“Probably everyone that speaks about us speaks about half-empty,” the Saints coach said post-match.
“Every time we speak to somebody we’re not going so well, we don’t do this, we don’t do that.
“We won the game of footy.
“We didn’t play the game for four quarters how we wanted to, but we took four points.
“Everyone can keep looking at how negative the Saints are and what the Saints are doing, we won a game of footy. It would be nice if people say well done for a change.”
The win over Hawthorn came just two weeks after St Kilda released inner-sanctum footage of Ratten imploring his players to challenge each other and drive standards on the field following a disappointing loss to the Western Bulldogs.
“We’ve got to push, not concede. We’ve got to ask more of each other, not allow it to happen.”
That footage came among questions of on-field leadership, and the drop-off against Hawthorn failed to dispel that theory.
However, the win importantly moved St Kilda into the top eight, and the victory could have been bigger had they not kicked 10.15.
“They should have smashed Hawthorn on the weekend,” King said on SEN’s Whateley.
“I’m a little bit with Ratts on this game, they kicked 10.15 and 5.8 from set shots, you’ve just got to have a better return than that.
“You’ve just got to be able to put these games well out of reach and break the hearts of the opposition.”
However, King questioned the comments in relation to what Ratten said a fortnight ago.
“I agree with Ratts a little bit, but hey Ratts, it was only seven days ago you were sitting in front of the group saying we’ve got to raise the bar,” the dual-premiership Kangaroos added.
“So which is it? Can we be positive about what you’re doing as a group, or are we still challenging internally for guys to get better and raise the bar?
“You can’t have it both ways.
“I like what they can do, I don’t always like what they actually do.”
Despite finishing Round 20 in the top eight, the Saints face an uphill battle to hold that spot, playing Geelong, Brisbane and Sydney in their last three games.
When Alfred Boyadgis hit an oil slick a few years ago and smashed his motorcycle, the mounting on his helmet camera acted like a lance. He punched into the side of his helmet and he was lucky to escape serious injury.
Boyadgis wondered why the camera couldn’t be built into the helmet. Indeed, in such a smart world, why was his helmet so dumb? Why couldn’t it have warned him of that hazard and helped keep him out of an accident, rather than just protect him once he was in one?
The Forcite helmet: the name means being able to predict what is about to happen on the road.
Boyadgis teamed up with fellow industrial designer Julian Chow in Sydney and, after nearly 100 prototypes, they launched the Forcite helmet, which is now attracting interest around the world. It has a built-in camera, along with recording equipment, speakers, microphone and an innovative information system using colored lights and audio that is claimed to be far less distracting than projecting information onto the viewer.
“The company is called Forcite,” says Boyadgis, “because it’s all about having that future vision about what’s going to happen next along the road.”
Force is working in tandem with motorcycle brands to enhance the helmet’s safety features.
The latest version of the helmet can record trip details and incidents, warn of hazards ahead (though not oil slicks, yet), and indicate when to turn left or right without the rider looking down at a screen.
Thanks to the over-the-air updates, it is hoped to incorporate vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and car-like features such as blind spot and collision warning systems. Force is working with motorcycle manufacturers to link these upcoming systems.
The McKinney Fire along California’s border with Oregon exploded in size Saturday to 80 square miles and forced the evacuations of more than 2,000 people in the Siskiyou County community of Yreka.
Officials said early Sunday morning that the 51,468-acre fire — the largest so far in California’s still-early wildfire season — was 0% contained. State Highway 96 was closed along the Klamath River and several other small, rural communities remained evacuated. The fire remained at 0% containment Sunday evening, but no new evacuations were ordered, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said just before 7 pm An updated amount total wasn’t provided.
The fire, however, remained at least 5½ miles from Yreka, according to an online map of the fire perimeter the Yreka Police Department shared Sunday morning on Facebook.
“Little progression was observed on the fire’s edge closest to Yreka City,” the fire’s incident commanders wrote in their 8 am update. A fire-mapping plane that flew over the perimeter Sunday afternoon continued to show minimal spread toward Yreka, Siskiyou County’s seat and home to 7,807 people.
Larry Castle and his wife, Nancy, were among the 2,000 people in Yreka who were told they had to leave their home Saturday night. Officials were going through neighborhoods tying red flags on the mailboxes of every house that they’d checked to ensure the occupants had left.
Larry Castle said he loaded up a trailer with some of his prized possessions, including his motorcycle and his rifles, and he, Nancy and three dogs headed to Mount Shasta to spend the night at their daughter’s house.
He was hopeful that recent brush and tree thinning projects foresters had conducted on the ridge-top above Yreka would save the town, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“You look back at the Paradise fire and the Santa Rosa fire and you realize this stuff is very, very serious,” he said, referring to wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that burned thousands of homes and killed dozens of people.
A scorched pickup truck remains on California Highway 96 in Klamath National Forest as the McKinney Fire burns nearby on Saturday. Noah Berger AP
Fire creates lightning and winds
The massive smoke plume from the fire was creating its own weather, including lightning storms. Lightning strikes sparked other small fires, including one west of Fort Jones, according to Klamath National Forest officials.
“The area remains in a Red Flag Warning today for a threat of dry lightning and strong outflow winds associated with thunder cells,” officials wrote in their 8 am briefing. “These conditions can be extremely dangerous for firefighters, as winds can be erratic and extremely strong, causing fire to spread in any direction.”
The fire erupted at 2:38 pm Friday at Highway 96 and McKinney Creek Road southwest of the Klamath River, and the cause remains under investigation.
Officials haven’t provided a tally of buildings destroyed, but maps show the fire has burned through small, isolated communities, including the unincorporated town of Klamath River, home to about 190 people, 20 miles west of Yreka.
The fire burned down at least a dozen residences and wildlife was seen fleeing to avoid the flames.
Photos from the Grants Pass Daily Courier showed homes and the community center destroyed in Klamath River as well as burned vehicles on Highway 96.
Officials said they spent the nighttime hours keeping homes and buildings in the Klamath River area from burning. Other small communities under evacuation include those in Seiad Valley, Scott Bar and Horse Creek.
Stephanie Bossen of Klamath River and her dog, Biggie, were in Weed on Sunday trying to find a place to stay. Because she was staying Yreka when the fire hit, she did not know if her home de ella survived. She said she’d been growing increasingly nervous as the temperatures climbed into the 100s over the past few days.
”I knew that was gonna be bad, because all the dry heat and it’s been such a drought around here recently,” she said. “It was gonna be bad somewhere. I just hoped it wasn’t so close to my house.”
A horse grazes in a pasture as the McKinney Fire burns in Klamath National Forest on Saturday. Noah Berger AP
Hikers and pets evacuated
On Saturday afternoon, Yreka police evacuated a mobile home park called Oakridge Mobile Estates “due to its proximity to the fire and the need for additional time for this group of residents to safely evacuate,” the police department said in a Facebook post.
Authorities were providing buses to residents who needed transportation out of the area and set up an evacuation center at the Weed Community Center, 161 E. Lincoln Ave. Twenty-two people stayed at the shelter Saturday night, said Stephen Walsh, a spokesman for the area branch of the American Red Cross, which is operating the site.
On Saturday, Fairchild Medical Center, the main hospital in Siskiyou County, moved patients, out of “an abundance of caution,” to out-of-area hospitals as far away as Sacramento, a hospital spokesman said.
But the hospital, located in a part of Yreka that is currently under an evacuation warning, remained open Sunday.
Officials also began compiling lists of animals lost or found because of the fire; Updated information on animal sheltering and how to find animals lost in the evacuation zones is available on the Siskiyou County website.
In the past 48 hours, the Rescue Ranch — a nonprofit dog adoption and rehabilitation center in Yreka — has seen more than 130 animals, mostly dogs, dropped off by evacuees who are unable to keep their pets at emergency shelters or motels, Natalie Golay, a Rescue Ranch spokeswoman, said Sunday.
“They’re still coming in,” she said. One was a puppy that a news photographer picked up from outside a home that burned inside the evacuated area. Golay said the owner, who lost his home, was reunited with his dog on Sunday afternoon. The pup’s name is Patches. It’s not an entirely happy ending, however. She said Patch’s owner fears for the lives of three other dogs he had to leave behind in the frantic evacuation.
NOT FOR BROADCAST: Putting this out for the owner. Small pup, estimated to be 4 months was found roaming within the fire zone. The pup was brought back to the town of Yreka and surrendered to the Rescue Ranch Inc as suggested by fire officials. #McKinneyFirepic.twitter.com/BOnKYFu6Sc
The group put out a call on Facebook seeking stainless steel pails, dog food and other donations to keep the dogs fed and cared for.
Meanwhile, search and rescue teams from Oregon and California have been locating hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail and escorting them to safety. The 2,650-mile popular hiking trail runs from Mexico to Canada and meanders for 110-miles through the evacuated area.
Around 60 hikers were transported in public transit buses from the California side of the Red Buttes Wilderness Saturday afternoon, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon.
The McKinney Fire is the largest to date this year, matching nearly all of the acreage burned in California so far in 2022 before it ignited.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday in Siskiyou County.
Angela Crawford watches as a wildfire called the McKinney fire burns a hillside above her home in Klamath National Forest, Calif., on Saturday, July 30, 2022. Crawford and her husband stayed, as other residents evacuated, to defend their home from the fire . Noah Berger AP
Flames from the McKinney Fire consume trees along California Highway 96 in Klamath National Forest, Calif., Saturday, July 30. Noah Berger AP
Scorched vehicles and residences line the Oaks Mobile Home Park in the Klamath River community as the McKinney Fire burns in Klamath National Forest on Saturday. Noah Berger AP
Angela Crawford leans against a fence as the McKinney Fire burns a hillside above her home outside Klamath National Forest on Saturday. Noah Berger AP
The Klamath River Community Hall is seen destroyed by the McKinney Fire in the community of Klamath River, Calif., Saturday, July 30, 2022. (Scott Stoddard/Grants Pass Daily Courier via AP) Scott Stoddard AP
In this remote image provided by Cal Fire, the McKinney Fire burns in Siskiyou County as seen from the Antelope Mountain Yreka 1 observation camera, early Saturday, July 30, 2022. (Cal Fire via AP) Cal Fire AP
Sacramento Bee photographer Sara Nevis contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 31, 2022 7:56 AM.
Sam Stanton has worked for The Bee since 1991 and has covered a variety of issues, including politics, criminal justice and breaking news.
Ryan Sabalow covers environment, enterprise and investigative stories for McClatchy’s California newspapers. Before joining The Sacramento Bee in 2015, he was a reporter at the Auburn Journal, the Redding Record Searchlight and the Indianapolis Star.
It’s the sort of call that suggests Genex’s board has a rosy outlook, viable Plan B and/or an iron-clad grip on its share register. It’s also a call that makes it pretty clear the capital hungry renewables developer isn’t working as an ASX-listed vehicle; how else do you explain a bid at a 70 per cent premium being knocked back?
The rejection shows a huge gulf between the market and the board’s view on value. Genex shares have traded at or below 15¢ since March, and hadn’t closed above 20¢ all year (until Skip/Stonepeak turned up last weekend, as Street Talk revealed).
The board wants shareholders to think about last year’s trading, when Genex was regularly around Skip/Stonepeak’s 23¢ mark, and small cap broker target prices of 29¢ to 35¢.
It also reckons there’s signs of better times ahead, even if that wasn’t reflected in its share price or Paradice Investment Management/First Sentier’s selling one week ago. There’s strong wholesale electricity prices are in its favor in the near term, which makes its solar farms more valuable, while the longer term story is propped up by Labor government policy to target 82 per cent renewables by 2030.
Clearly, Genex needs to do a better of selling that story, starting with management’s pitch to Skip/Stonepeak.
Skip/Stonepeak’s expected to play nice, for now at least. He knows it’s sitting in a strong position courtesy of a 19.99 per cent pre-bid stake.
Hello, dear reader! Welcome to another edition of Ask Giz, where we answer your reader-submitted questions from all over the techy, science and generally nerdy space.
If you’d like us to answer one of your questions, head on over to our Ask Giz submissions page.
Today’s question comes from Vanessa in Sydney. Vanessa wants to know:
“How do pilots ‘make up’ time in the air?”
Thanks for the question, Vanessa! Talking to my publisher about this one in planning this Ask Giz, she was pretty intrigued by how time was made up during a return flight from NYC. Travel (despite some glitches) is a thing again, so I imagine it’s a curious question among many international travelers (of which, I am not. The furthest I’ve flown is to Brisbane from Sydney).
So, let’s get to it. Pilots: how do you do that?
How do pilots ‘make up’ time in the air?
Making up time in the air isn’t actually sci-fi or as nerdy as it may seem: it’s really the result of well-organized planning between plans and air traffic control.
Air traffic control is the team at the airport that controls… The air traffic. Like, they speak to the planes in the air and make sure things are kept orderly up in the air space as the planes move from waypoint to waypoint.
Keep those waypoints in mind. Like in, say, a racing videogame, plans must pass through these waypoints to get through the airspace as indicated by air traffic control, like ordering traffic along with traffic lights.
But if you’re running a few minutes behind, one of these waypoints may be removed, shaving a few minutes off your flight time. This wouldn’t normally be done, but if there were a delay of some sort, such as slowing winds or problems at the airport, air traffic control can remove a waypoint if they talk to the pilot.
Here’s what Jim Cox, a retired airline pilot, told How Stuff Works:
“[Airline traffic control] has preferred routing out of and into large cities. They require that routing be the filed flight plan routing; Depending on traffic ATC may approve a request to shorten the flight path between navigation waypoints.”
So that’s kinda it. Making up time is usually something you’ll hear on longer flights experiencing delays, but shorter flights with fewer waypoints may be less likely to “make up” time.
No wormholes required
If you’ve got a curiosity of the Gizmodo type, we’d like to hear it.
Ask Giz is a fortnightly series where we answer your questions, be it tech, science, gadget, health or gaming related. This is a reader-involved series where we rely on Gizmodo Australia’s audience to submit questions. If you have a question for Giz, you can submit it here. Or check out the answer to our last Ask Giz: Why is My Poo Green?
Fremantle Dockers great David Mundy has announced he will retire from the AFL at the end of the season.
Key points:
David Mundy will end his career in the top 10 for most AFL/VFL games played
Fremantle has paid tribute to Mundy, calling him a major part of the club
The Dockers will honor his career during the round 22 western derby
Mundy, 37, made his AFL debut for Fremantle in 2005 after being drafted from Victoria, and has played 371 games to date.
That places him 10th on the list of most AFL/VFL games played, and the Dockers veteran is set to move into outright 9th place at least by the time he hangs up his boots at season’s end.
“I’m incredibly proud, I’ve been living my dream for 19 years now and I’ve loved every bit of it,” Mundy said in announcing his decision to retire.
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“Not all of it has been easy, there’s been quite a few, really hard and emotional bits to it, but I’ve been able to grow as a person and as a player throughout my time at Fremantle and I wouldn’t have it any other way”.
Fremantle football manager Peter Bell was quick to point out how significant Mundy’s career had been in the context of the club’s history.
Mundy says he is “incredibly proud” of his career with the Dockers.(AAP: Julian Smith)
“Dave has been a major part of where we are as a club and where we are headed,” Bell said.
“He’s a great character who understands the bigger picture, understands what the stresses of being a player are, and understands more broadly the other decisions and leadership that we need as a football club.”
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Fremantle will honor Mundy’s career during the round 22 western derby, the club’s final home game of the season ahead of the finals series.
While the game will be the fans’ chance to say thank you to Mundy, the veteran said it was also important for him to be able to pay tribute to the club.
“It’s been an incredible thing to be apart of to be honest, to receive that kind of love and respect from the fans,” he said.
“It’s something that’s really grown in the back half of my career and I find it really hard to describe how it makes me feel. It’s obviously very special and I really appreciate that support.”
Their final argument was that the informal way Cain conducted a final session at the Coroners Court on December 16 – including hearing individually from families about the impact of the deaths – “could reasonably have given rise to an apprehension of bias in the mind of an informed and fair-minded lay observer”.
Vicky Kos, the former director of nursing at St Basil’s in Fawkner.Credit:Jason South
Justice O’Meara rejected each one of these grounds for not appearing before Cain.
Among those listening to Monday’s ruling was Klery Loutas, whose mother, Filia Xynidakis, died in the nursing home, not of COVID-19 but of what she described as sheer neglect.
Loutas said she was relieved Kontis and Kos would have to appear before the coroner.
“What these poor souls suffered [in St Basil’s], it’s quite shocking what they endured. I feel a sense of relief that we are going to get another piece of the puzzle,” she said on Monday. “Understanding what happened before the outbreak, how prepared St Basil’s was or wasn’t, it will help us understand how and why it happened, and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The current team that runs St Basil’s in Fawkner, where 56 residents live, have successfully controlled a new outbreak at the home that began last month. By mid-July, there were 27 residents and four staff members with a COVID-19 infection, federal health department figures show, but by last week, that number had fallen to just one resident.
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Meanwhile, also on Monday, WorkSafe laid nine criminal charges against the Fawkner home, which is owned by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
The charges against St Basil’s included failing to provide a safe working environment, adequate instruction and supervision for staff at the home, and a safe place for residents. Of the 117 people residing at St Basil’s in July 2020, 94 caught COVID-19. Out of 120 employees, 94 caught the virus.
Charge sheets show that the alleged offenses occurred between March and July 2020, when the facility was expected to implement measures to keep COVID-19 out and to adequately deal with an outbreak. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $1.49 million.
The case will return to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in December.
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The energy and healthcare deal from Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer would raise taxes on millions of Americans earning less than $400,000 annually, Senate Republican say, citing non-partisan data.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found that taxes would jump by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023 and raise another $14.1 billion on taxpayers who make between $200,000 and $500,000.
During the 10-year window, the average tax rate would go up for most income categories, the Senate GOP said, citing the data from the joint committee. And by 2031, new energy credits and subsidies would have people earning less than $400,000 pay as much as two-thirds of the additional tax revenue collected that year, the release said.
“Americans are already experiencing the consequences of Democrats’ reckless economic policies. The mislabeled ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ will do nothing to bring the economy out of stagnation and recession, but it will raise billions of dollars in taxes on Americans making less than $400,000,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee as a ranking member, and who requested the analysis.
“The more this bill is analyzed by impartial experts, the more we can see Democrats are trying to sell the American people a bill of goods,” Crapo added.
The Manchin-Schumer plan would spend $369 billion on energy and climate initiatives.AP/J. Scott Applewhite
But Democrats are objecting to the GOP’s assertions with a spokesperson for Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden stating families “will not pay one penny in additional taxes under this bill,” according to Politico.
The spokesperson, Ashley Schapitl, also said the JCT analysis isn’t complete because “it doesn’t include the benefits to middle-class families of making health insurance premiums and prescription drugs more affordable. The same goes for clean energy incentives for families,” Politico reported.
The Manchin-Schumer plan would spend $369 billion on energy and climate initiatives and another $64 billion to continue federal health insurance subsidies.
Manchin believes the bill is “not putting a burden on any taxpayers whatsoever.”Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz
The measure would raise $739 billion over a ten-year span with much of that money coming from a 15% corporate minimum tax, the West Virginia Democrat and Senate Majority Leader from New York said.
Manchin, in touting the bill, said it “would dedicate hundreds of billions of dollars to deficit reduction by adopting a tax policy that protects small businesses and working-class Americans while ensuring that large corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.” .”
He said on CNN Sunday the bill is “not putting a burden on any taxpayers whatsoever.”
On “Meet the Press” he said, “I agree with my Republican friends, we should not increase and we did not increase taxes.”
Aldi shoppers are obsessing over the discount supermarket’s latest “magic” Special Buys kitchen item, with stock selling out in parts of the country.
Members of the Facebook group Aldi Mums, which has more than 235,000 followers, are flocking to Aldi stores in an attempt to get their hands on a Crofton defrosting chopping board which is on sale for $16.99.
The multipurpose board is not your traditional chopping board, as one side is specifically dedicated to defrosting meat and other frozen items in a matter of hours.
There’s also a garlic or ginger grinder on the top of the board as well as a built-in knife sharpener.
The product description says that the board’s aluminum plate “assists in quickly and evenly defrosting frozen foods” while its drip line “catches moisture and reduces mess as food thaws”.
From defrosting lamb cutlets to thawing a kilo of mince, Aldi mums are raving about the product online which could be why some Sydney and Brisbane stores have sold out of the Special Buys item.
One Aldi mum used the board to defrost an entire turkey while it was still in the fridge.
“I had a bit of a panic after the fresh whole turkey I ordered for Saturday’s Xmas (sic) in July was delivered frozen with the advice of allowing a minimum of two full days to defrost fully before cooking,” she wrote to the group.
“Cue minor panic and the defrost board – result – a whole 6kg turkey defrosted in one afternoon, approx. five hours – turned each hour – this is a game changer!!”
The multipurpose board isn’t just used to defrost meat, with some finding it thaws other frozen food in a matter of minutes.
“I got one the other day and used it last night to defrost a few slices of bread. It took at least five mins (sic),” one member of the group commented.
“Got one for myself and mum today after a post on here a few days ago… the FOMO (fear of missing out) was real!!!” said another.
“It’s magic,” a third wrote.
But not all are convinced, with some skeptical about the board’s ability to defrost meat without batteries or a power source.
“Can you tell me how that’s better (or how it works) than just putting it on an ordinary rack or on the bench. Genuine question,” one group member asked.
“Is there something in the board that makes defrosting meat somewhat quicker than leaving it on the kitchen sink to defrost for a few hours?” questioned another.
For those wanting to know the secret behind how the product works, aluminum is a great conductor of ambient heat which is what gives the board the ability to thaw meats safely and efficiently without power.
Aldi’s defrosting chopping board may be trending among Aldi fans, but defrosting boards have been around for some time.
There’s also a range of brands available online for those who may have missed the boat on the Special Buys product.
As for those trying to find alternative thrifty ways to defrost meat, these members from the Aldi Mums Facebook group had the following recommendations.
“I use a metal baking tray, without non-stick coating, and it defrosts meat quickly,” an Adelaide mum said.
“I use a high standing cake rack. Perfect!” another said.
“I’ve always defrosted my meat on the edge of my stainless steel sink. Works to treat every time! I learned it from my grandma!” said a third member.
The 25cm by 36cm defrosting chopping board is still available in some Aldi stores and will be out on shelves while stocks last.
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