Kit Kat

It dates back to the 18th century, when mutton pies called Kit-Kats were served at the political Kit-Cat Club. The origins of today’s product go back to 1935, when a York based candy maker, Rowntree’s trademarked 'Kit Kat'. The Kit Cat, as it was called, was produced for a while, before being discontinued. Eventually, it relaunched and was relabeled as “Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp” before being renamed to its modern title.

In the 1940’s Kit Kat was exported to Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. In the 1970s, a new distribution factory was built in Germany to meet European demand and handle distribution. Agreements were established for Hershey to distribute in the US, and Fujiya to distribute in Japan. In 1988, Nestlé purchased Rowntree’s and Kit Kat with it. Nestlé has global control over the brand, except in North America, where Hershey has licensing rights to Kit Kat.

Eight Real People Inspired Food Names

We usually do not think about how foods are named, but here are a few inspired by their inventor, or other inspiration.
German Chocolate cake is named for an American, Sam German.
Boysenberry is named for Rudolph Boysen.
Eggs Benedict is named for Lemuel Benedict.
Tetrazzini is named for Louisa Tetrazzini.
Alfredo Sauce is named for Alfredo Di Lelio.
Nachos are name for Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya.
Clementine oranges named for Father Clément Rodier.
Chicken a la King named for E. Clark King.

I.E. and E.G.

What “i.e.” and “e.g.” actually mean, you start to see how they are distinct. Specifically, “i.e.” is an abbreviation for the Latin “id est”, more or less meaning “that is”. “E.g.” is an abbreviation for the Latin “exempli gratia”, meaning “for the sake of example”, or the short version, “for example”.

As a general rule, if you can substitute in “for example” where you've used “e.g.”, you are probably using it correctly. Likewise, if you can substitute in “that is” where you are using “i.e.”, you are also probably using it correctly.

The key distinction, with “e.g.” you are stating one or more examples, with “i.e.” you are not talking about anything but what you specifically say.

It is a mistake to include an “etc.” after an “e.g.” list, because “et cetera” is implied, so it shouldn't be included at the end of such a list.

They Never Said That

Sherlock Holmes Never Said, “Elementary, My Dear Watson.”
Captain Kirk never said, “Beam me up Scotty.”
Darth Vader never said, “Luke, I am your father”.
They said things that were similar, but they never actually said those exact words.

What's in a Name, Movie Trailers

The first movie trailers occurred at the end of the films. They were called “trailers” because the advertisements would be spliced directly on the end of the reels, so that the movie advertisement’s film trailed the actual film.

The first known movie trailer to appear in a theater was in November of 1913. It was made by Nils Granlund, advertising manager of Marcus Loew theaters in the United States. The trailer was for the musical The Pleasure Seekers, which was shortly to open on Broadway. In this trailer, he included short clips of rehearsals of the musical. This idea caught on and trailers began appearing routinely after films. This was particularly the case with cartoon shorts and serials that would often end in climactic situations where you needed to watch the next episode in the serial or cartoon to see what would happen. Thus, these trailers, in particular those that advertised the next episode, made a lot more sense at the end of the serial than at the beginning.

Movie studios realized that full film advertisements would be more effective if they showed up before the movie, instead of after, and by the end of the 1930s the switch had been made. Despite the industry’s sincerest attempts over the last 60 or 70 years to get the name changed from “trailers” to some form of “previews”, among industry professionals and English speaking audiences “trailer” is still the generally used term. Recently the general public has begun to use 'previews'.

Of the ten billion videos watched online, movie trailers rank third, after news and user created videos.

Origin of Pills

Before the turn of the 20th century, patients who needed medicine either took it as a liquid or a hard pill. However, the liquids often tasted terrible and the pills usually didn't even dissolve in patients’ stomachs. In 1875, William Upjohn, a University of Michigan student began experimenting with new pill formulas that would be more effective. He is the main reason pills are now such a convenient means of medication.

Mountain Goats are Not

Mountain goats, found only in North America, are an even-toed ungulate of the family Bovidae that includes antelopes, gazelles, and cattle. It is the only species in the genus Oreamnos. The name Oreamnos is derived from the Greek term oros, "mountain," or, oreas "mountain nymph". They are sometimes referred to as goat-antelopes.

They have woolly coats, cloven feet, and horns, but not the same kind as true goats. The fur is thicker and shaggier than that of a domesticated farm goat. Their hooves are specially built for climbing and descending mountain slopes A rubbery padding covers the bottom of their hooves and their horns are long and pointy.

They spend most of their time grazing and their diet includes grasses, herbs, sedges, ferns, mosses, lichens, and twigs and leaves from the low-growing shrubs in their high-altitude habitat.

Brussels Sprouts

If you hate the taste of Brussels sprouts it might be due to your DNA. Brussels sprouts are among the group of cabbages grown for edible buds. The leafy green vegetables are typically small, and look like miniature cabbages. The Brussels sprout has long been popular in Brussels, Belgium, and may have originated there.

In Europe, the largest producers are the Netherlands and Germany. Mexico tends to cultivate them in the Baja region from December through June.

Brussels sprouts have potent anticancer properties. Although boiling reduces the level of the anticancer compounds, steaming and stir frying do not result in significant loss.

Many people seem to not like Brussels sprouts. Scientists explain that there is a mutated gene possessed by about half of the population that prevents a person from tasting the bitter-tasting chemical used to grow Brussels sprouts. If a person does not possess this gene they can taste the chemical, thus making them much more likely to dislike Brussels sprouts. Apparently, I do not have that gene.

Happy Friday

"There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience."

I have learned from experience the joy of having a Happy Friday!