The pressure's off

If you want to buy a pressure cooker from Williams-Sonoma, please respect their sensibilities and use their online portal. They've taken them off their Boston-area shelves temporarily, as a sign of "respect" in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon violence.

Somehow I doubt that pressure cookers are big sellers at Williams-Sonoma or anywhere else. I have never used a pressure cooker or pressure canner in my entire life. I've always had a lot of "respect" for their tethered force. I would see the University Extension office notices in local publications encouraging people to bring their pressure cookers and canners in for a test of the appliance's seal before the canning season got underway. Risky things and extremely efficient.

And now an old-fashioned item long associated with cooking roast in a hurry or canning green beans is a new-fangled means for cowards to use to deliver hurt and death to random strangers.

Out of respect for Williams-Sonoma's nerves, I will avoid their stores.