Jul 13, 2010

Six Brands That You Thought Were All American

Some common names in the US have non-American owners.

Henkel KGaA, Germany, owns Dial Soap

Arcapita, Bahrain, owns Church's Fried Chicken - (that's why they took bacon off the menu)

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, UK, owns Holiday Inn

Abu Dhabi Investment Council, UAE, owns the Chrysler building in NY

Seven & I Holdings, Japan, owns Denny’s and 7Eleven

Willis Group Holdings, UK, owns the former Sears Tower in Chicago, now officially called Willis Tower

InBev, Belgium, owns Budweiser.

Bacon Found in Closet

Here is the headline, "Third-degree burns, stitches for South Bend brothers-in-law fighting over frying pan" Here is the LINK. I couldn't make this funny stuff up.

Jul 9, 2010

Going to Hell in a Handbasket

This phrase does not seem to be used anywhere but the US. It appears to come from the way criminals heads rolled into a basked when decapitated by a guillotine. The prisoner presumably was going directly to hell for his misdeeds.

Going Metric

Back when I was in grade school, they were going to change the country to the metric system and began to teach us meters, kilometers, etc., but somewhere along the way gave up. Actually, the metric system is easier to use, once you have learned it.

History shows that the US mint created the first decimal currency in the world in 1792. Congress first authorized the use of metrics in 1866 and in 1875 became one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Treaty of the Meter. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 "to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States." It also established the US Metric Board, which was dissolved in 1982. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 amended the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and designated the metric system as the "preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce."

It is back. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued two publications calling for the amendment of labeling laws to allow the voluntary use of only metric units on some consumer products. It says that adoption of metric labeling will simplify domestic and international commerce.

So, the current Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA), which has both, is recommended to be the Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation (UPLR), which has only one - metric. This time they forgot the 'first teach 'em in school' part.

Only 91.44 meters for a touchdown, hmmm. Hey, don't judge me until you have walked almost two kilometers in my shoes. It's 28 today, damn it's hot!

Comparisons:

    * 1 gram is about the weight of a paperclip.
    * 1 kilogram is a little more than 2 pounds.
    * 1 liter is a little more than a quart.
    * 1 kilometer is a little more than half a mile.
    * 1 meter is a little more than a yard.
    * 1 centimeter is a little less than half an inch.
    * 1 millimeter is about the width of a pencil point.

Since we have decided to go with one unit of measurement, maybe we should consider going back to one language (English) on our packages. . .

Food by Weight

TRUE - Buying a dozen eggs in the UK could be a thing of the past, as a new European Union labeling law may soon kick in. The new rule from Brussels, decrees that you can no longer sell food by numbers.

Even promotional offers, such as eight chocolate bars for the price of six, might be banned by the legislation, according to trade magazine The Grocer.

For the first time, eggs and other products, such as bread rolls will be sold by weight instead of by the number contained. The new rules will mean that instead of the package listing it contains twelve eggs, it will show the weight in grams of the eggs inside, for example 672g.

Buns will show 400g inside instead of eight. The rules do not allow both the weight and the quantity to be displayed. Since rolls, eggs, and other items do not weigh exactly the same, each package must be individually weighed and individually labeled.

Needless to say, the food manufacturers, distributors, and consumers are violently opposed to the change. The politicians say it allows the consumers to make more informed choices.  Ah, more political wisdom in action. . .

Speaking of Weight

Girls, don't despair. Here is an ad from the 50s that should make you feel better.

Pets and Chocolate

Most folks know that chocolate is bad for dogs. Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine. Theobromine does not affect the human nervous system as much as caffeine, nor is it as addictive as caffeine, but theobromine addictive and believed to cause chocolate addiction. It is also believed to be responsible for chocolate’s notoriety as an aphrodisiac. Although theobromine increases heart rate in humans, it also dilates blood vessels, which reduces blood pressure. In fact, it is superior to codeine at suppressing cough and can be helpful in relaxing muscles to alleviate symptoms of asthma.

Dogs, cats, rats and other species cannot digest it efficiently. This leads to a buildup known as theobromine poisoning. Incidentally, this can also happen to elderly people who consume large quantities of chocolate.

For animals, milk chocolate is not as dangerous as semisweet, and that is not as dangerous as cocoa powder.

There are other human foods that are not recommended and poisonous to pets, such as Alcohol, Avocado, Coffee, Fatty Foods, Onions, Raisins and grapes, Salt, Yeast dough, Garlic, and Artificial sweetener.

Jul 6, 2010

Bacon Camp

During June, a number of people from around the country descended into Ann Arbor, Michigan for Camp Bacon.

It started early Saturday morning as they sat down to breakfast under a big white tent. Their plates were piled high with hickory-smoked bacon from Edwards of Surry, Va.; long pepper bacon from Arkansas' Ham I Am; and applewood-smoked bacon from Nueske's in Wisconsin; plus bacon scones and a slice of bacon-apple coffee cake for good measure.

This event was more than a destination for porky excess. Camp Bacon was a one-day resort of cured and smoked pork. Many luminaries of the bacon world were there plus new rising stars from California to New York.

"It's a thinking person's bacon camp," said Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Ann Arbor's gourmet mecca Zingerman's, which hosted the event. "I want to get people off the 'I love bacon' thing: 'Give me any and give me more.' I want them to know the differences between them and how to use them." Camp Bacon was Weinzweig's attempt to re-channel bacon enthusiasm. I didn't know it needed to be re-channeled.

Oil Wells in the Gulf of Mexico

API says, "There are 3,559 platforms in the Gulf that have been operating safely for 30 years. An excellent safety record. From 1947 until now, spills in the Gulf represented 1/1000th of 1% of all the oil produced. That's multiple times better than natural seepage. Much better than nature."

These are some of the US agencies that cover oil and gas drilling and production:
Bureau of Land Management,
Department of Energy,
Department of Interior,
Department of Transportation, Office of Pipeline Safety,
Energy Information Administration,
Environmental Protection Agency,
Environmental Protection Agency - Oil Program,
Environmental Protection Agency - Region 8 (Utah, etc.),
EPA Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Site,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
Fossil Energy.Gov (DOE),
Minerals Management Service,
National Energy Policy Development Group (The White House),
National Petroleum Technology Office (DOE),
National Response Center,
Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.