Approving Political Ads

 Political ads conclude with a disclaimer that the politician being endorsed has sanctioned the spot. Usually, the person will say or be quoted as saying “I approve this message." It is a requirement.

During 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed, along with the Stand By Your Ad provision. The Act, which was backed by then-senators John McCain and Russell D. Feingold, was intended to further legitimize campaign contributions by banning large corporate donations.

Stand By Your Ad mandates that anyone running for federal office stamp “I approve this message” as part of their campaign commercials. The goal was to curb muckraking, where candidates would lob insults and accusations at one another. With Stand By Your Ad, lawmakers were hoping political candidates would think twice before engaging in dirty tactics and then attempting to deny any involvement.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is very specific about how that disclaimer should appear. According to the FEC, the written statement must come at the end of the ad, appear for at least four seconds, be readable against a contrasting background, and occupy at least 4 percent of the vertical picture height. The candidate will typically identify themselves and say the message aloud.

If the message was not approved by a candidate, then the spot will typically name the entity that is responsible—a political committee, group, or person. There is also usually language about who financed the commercial.

Negative campaign ads made up 29 percent of political persuasion spots in 2000, and that number rose to 64 percent in 2012. In the week before the 2016 presidential election, 92 percent of ads were characterized as negative.

One possible reason: By stamping a negative message with “I approve,” candidates might actually be perceived as more credible by voters, as they are showing that they are willing to stand behind what viewers infer to be truthful statements.

In a study of 2,000 people using both real and fictional ads, researchers found that “I approve this message” did not change their perception of positive ads or personal attack ads, but did increase their confidence in politicians using policy-based attack ads.

Laughter and Smiles

Find a mirror and observe your face for a while. Look very carefully at your face. It is said that the face is a reflection of the mind. Is your face shining or gloomy? Is it tense or relaxed? Is it joyful or irritated? Or is it more or less blank?

Smile at yourself in the mirror. Watch your smile. Does your smile look natural and comfortable? Is your facial expression too hard to express a big smile because of tension?

Relax your shoulders and close your eyes. Then smile gently and feel your brain. Can you feel your face and brain become relaxed with your smiling? Soon you will feel the same comfort in your heart, as there is an energy line that connects your heart to your brain.

Now laugh intensely, shaking your whole body. First, make your face laugh, then your chest, your belly button, your knees, and finally your toes. When you are laughing, every energy center in your body is wide open, from the top of your brain to the bottom of your feet. Now you will be brimming over with energy.

Incidentally, we are 30 times more likely to laugh if we are with others. Laughing makes us more productive and seem more competent at work. Simpler jokes are considered funnier than complex ones. Laughter helps deal with stress. Even smiling helps.

 

Equinox

 Sept. 22: Happy Equinox! At 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT), autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere while the Southern Hemisphere will have its first day of spring. It happens two times a year, Vernal & Autumnal, spring and fall.

"Equinox" literally means "equal night", giving the impression that the night and day on the equinox are exactly the same length; 12 hours each - about equal almost everywhere on Earth.

Incidentally, the biggest difference between the equinox and the solstice is that a solstice is the point during the Earth's orbit around the sun at which the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator, while during an equinox, it is at the closest distance from the equator.

Birthday Cake Origin

The ancient Egyptians are actually credited with “inventing” the celebration of birthdays. They believed that when pharaohs were crowned gods it represented their “birth” as a god and the day needed to be celebrated.

Ancient Greeks borrowed the tradition and decided it would be even better with the addition of a sweet treat. They made moon-shaped pies to honor Artemis, goddess of the moon, and added lit candles to make the cakes shine like the moon. That is where we get birthday candles tradition from.

Since the ingredients to make a cake were expensive, the tradition did not become popular until around the Industrial Revolution when the ingredients started to become more plentiful.

Cholesterol Level Myths

Setting targets for ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol levels to ward off heart disease and death in those at risk might seem intuitive, but decades of research have failed to show any consistent benefit for this approach, reveals an analysis of the available data, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs are now prescribed to millions of people around the world in line with clinical guidelines.

Those with poor cardiovascular health; those with LDL cholesterol levels of 190 mg/dl or higher; adults with diabetes; and those whose estimated risk is 7.5% or more over the next 10 years, based on various contributory factors, such as age and family history, are all considered to be at moderate to high risk of future cardiovascular disease.

Although lowering LDL cholesterol is an established part of preventive treatment, the approach has never been properly validated, say the researchers. They systematically reviewed all published clinical trials comparing treatment with one of three types of cholesterol lowering drugs (statins; ezetimibe; PCSK9) with usual care or dummy drugs (placebos) for a period of at least a year in at-risk patients.

Each of the 35 included trials was categorized according to whether it met the LDL cholesterol reduction target outlined in the 2018 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines.

The researchers then calculated the number of people who would need to be treated in order to prevent one ‘event’, such as a heart attack/stroke, or death, and the reduction in absolute risk in each study that reported significantly positive results.

Their analysis showed that over three quarters of all the trials reported no positive impact on risk of death and nearly half reported no positive impact on risk of future cardiovascular disease.

And the amount of LDL cholesterol reduction achieved did not correspond to the size of the resulting benefits, with even very small changes in LDL cholesterol sometimes associated with larger reductions in risk of death or cardiovascular ‘events,’ and vice versa.

Thirteen of the clinical trials met the LDL cholesterol reduction target, but only 1 reported a positive impact on risk of death; 5 reported a reduction in the risk of ‘events’.

Among the 22 trials that did not meet the LDL lowering target, four reported a positive impact on risk of death while 14 reported a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events. This level of inconsistency was evident for all three types of drugs.

 

More McDonald's Facts

 McDonald’s first drive-through opened in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The restaurant was located near a military base, and soldiers were not allowed to leave their cars while wearing fatigues.

There are almost more than one-and-half times more McDonald’s locations than hospitals in the United States.

The four McNugget shapes have names; boot, bone, ball, and bell.

McDonald's food is served to more than 70 million people every day, with more than 75 burgers sold every second.

A franchisee is responsible for all the costs of running the restaurant while also paying McDonald’s for rent (up to an average of 10.7 percent of their sales), a $45,000 franchisee fee, and a monthly service fee equal to 4 percent of gross sales.

Add an egg to any burger. Decide what kind of egg you want ( round McMuffin egg, folded eggs, scrambled eggs or scrambled egg whites). You will most likely have to pay somewhere between $1.19 and $1.59 for the egg.

Windex Facts

 

Windex Facts - Things to never clean with Windex - Leather, “Do not use Windex on leather furniture; its alcohol content can cause permanent discoloration.”

Plexiglass, “I often see homeowners make this big mistake: they clean their art pieces framed in plexiglass with original Windex,” says Maria Brophy, owner of Brophy Art Gallery in San Clemente, California. “Windex with ammonia will ruin the plexiglass.”

Shower doors, “In my experience, Windex does not work well on soap scum buildup on a glass shower door.”

Stainless steel, “I don’t recommend using Windex on stainless steel appliances,” says Carol Smith, owner of Toronto-based Hireamaid. “Their finishes and how they interact with Windex can vary."

TV or computer screens, “Monitors can be damaged by the chemicals in original Windex because they can warp plastics, including the tint on your flat panel screen.”

Copper, “The alcohol contained in Windex will affect the patina of the copper and could cause permanent discoloration."

Granite or marble, “Windex should not be used on granite or marble kitchen tops. Cleaners like Windex can etch or dull the surfaces of natural stone.”

Laminate countertop or glass top stove, It’s important to note that original Windex offers no disinfecting or cleaning properties."

Grout, Want the grout in your kitchen or bathroom to be white and bright? Do not reach for Windex—it will not lighten up the lining between your tiles.

Bathtubs, Bathtubs, showers, and toilets are other areas you will want to scrub down and disinfect and not with the original Windex.

National Monte Cristo Day, September 17

National Monte Cristo Day recognizes the indulgent and delicious sandwich. A Monte Cristo is a fried ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese sandwich. The French sandwich called the croque-monsieur inspired the Monte Cristo. However, the sandwich goes by other names, too.

Bennigan’s founded National Monte Cristo Day in June of 2015 to celebrate a delicious sandwich loved across the country. The restaurant is renowned across the globe for its World Famous Monte Cristo.

While the Monte Cristo is typically a savory sandwich, sometimes powdered sugar and jam preserves sweeten it. To achieve the crispy outer coating, chefs dip the prepared sandwich in an egg batter. Then they either pan-fry or deep-fry the sandwich to perfection.

Some like to serve a grilled version. Another version may be served open-faced and heated under a grill or broiler. Monte Cristo is one of my all time favorite sandwiches.

Movie Theater Popcorn

The secret ingredient is in almost every bucket of movie theater popcorn. Manufactured by Gold Medal, Flavacol is the “secret sauce” most movie theaters use in order to produce that popcorn flavor only found in cinemas, stadiums, etc.

Flavacol is a butter-flavored, popcorn seasoning salt made of extra fine salt flakes. The product is made of four ingredients: salt, artificial butter flavor, and Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. The latter are what give movie theater-style popcorn that signature yellow color.

As MTV explains, “Flavacol is used by theaters when cooking the popcorn, not as a topping; it is basically salt with other stuff to give the popcorn that movie theater flavor and color.” It gets added during popping to give popcorn the yellow buttery color. It is essentially just a super-fine salt with some coloring agents. Flavacol contains a proprietary diacetyl-free butter flavoring.

I get mine on Amazon and it is good, but very salty. You can also use in on top of popped popcorn. Start easy, little goes a long way.

 

Dr. Pepper

If you want a drink to go with popcorn, Dr. Pepper is great. It is actually a blend of 23 flavors. All the flavors mixed together supposedly make up the smell of how a pharmacy smelled.

The shelf life of Dr. Pepper depends on the container the soda is in. In glass or cans it is about nine months, and in plastic bottles is about three months. A lot of this depends on how long you had the Dr Pepper, and if it has been opened or not.

The 23 flavors are cola, cherry, licorice, amaretto (almond, vanilla, blackberry, apricot, blackberry, caramel, pepper, anise, sarsaparilla, ginger, molasses, lemon, plum, orange, nutmeg, cardamom, all spice, coriander juniper, birch and prickly ash.

These flavors combined made up the smell of the pharmacy where Dr Pepper was created. Charles Alderton created Dr Pepper in 1885. He worked at a drugstore in Waco, Texas and wanted to recreate the smell from his pharmacy, because he liked how it smelled so much. He successfully recreated the smell of his pharmacy which ended up becoming the smell of Dr Pepper. People say there are still places you can buy the original Dr Pepper made with real cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, but supposedly it does not taste as good as people have reported. They say it tastes strange and does not taste like the Dr Pepper we all love today.

Not only can Dr. Pepper be served cold but it can also be be served hot. Serving Dr. Pepper warm was created as a winter time drink. To make this drink you will need: Dr. Pepper, a lemon, a mug and a saucepan. First you pour the soda into the saucepan and heat it to 180 degrees. Once the soda is heated up you pour it into a mug that has a slice of them lemon in it to give it flavor.

 

Origin Teddy Bear

November 16, 1902, after President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to kill a tied-up bear during a hunting trip, Washington Post political cartoonist Clifford Berryman satirized the event by drawing a cute fuzzy teddy bear. Morris Michtom and his wife soon decided to create a stuffed bear as a children's toy, calling it "Teddy's Bear."

Tootsie Roll Facts

Tootsie Rolls were included in soldiers field rations during World War II to give American troops “quick energy.” They could also hold up under changing weather conditions.

In 1950, U.S. and United Nations troops in Korea put out a call for Tootsie Rolls, a code name for mortar shells. When they opened the airdropped box, they discovered they were actually sent Tootsie Roll candies. Luckily, they turned out to be pretty useful. Because of its malleable consistency, they used it to patch up holes in vehicles and equipment, and it was one of few foods soldiers could easily eat in cold temperatures.

 

Origin of Pop

Soda was patented in the United States in 1809. It created bubbles by mixing water, bicarbonate of soda and an acid to make what was called "soda water."

The word "pop" was added in the mid-nineteenth century and supposedly reflects the popping sound that is made when a carbonated beverage is opened.

The original sparkling waters were naturally bubbly spring waters.  The most notable of these may be Seltzer water from Germany. Generic carbonated water, particularly the kind made at home with what is now referred to as a soda siphon, became commonly known as Seltzer even though it had no connection to the German origins.

Inventors from several countries tried to imitate natural sparkling waters by adding bubbles to still water. Various techniques were invented using different chemical and mechanical methods.

Since then, the simpler technique of combining water with pressurized carbon dioxide gas has come to predominate the commercial market. Despite the fact that sodium bicarbonate is no longer used in their manufacture, the term "soda" has remained attached to the name for drinks made from carbonated water.

 

NBC Chime Origin

The three notes that identify NBC are G, E, C, which represent the original owner, General Electric Corporation.